Special 26 is Truly Special !

When a first time Director makes a movie like "A Wednesday", he will forever be burdened by the weight of expectations. His second movie will face the same fate as an Amitabh Bachchan's son or Sachin Tendulkar's son faces. Unless of course, he can better himself. Neeraj Pandey's "Special 26" released with similar background. Does it work ? Has Pandey bettered himself ? read on...

First of all what is NOT so Special about the movie...

01] Kajal Aggarwal: Not her fault. Catering to so called mass effects, her role is unnecessarily extended like a rubber-band. It actually pulls the movie down by a few notches.

02] Songs: Seriously whoever conceived songs in this kind of a movie needs a proper scolding. They act like bumps in the road during a thrilling ride.

03] Peter England: Not the fault of the Company. We just get a glimpse of a Peter England in a story happening in 1987. A minor flaw, but all the same a flaw.

04] Sunil Gavaskar: Well, what was he doing on TV, playing a Cricket match in Sharjah in late 1987 ? He had actually retired from Cricket on 17 March 1987, a day before the movie begins !

And now, what is Special about it ?

05] Neeraj Pandey: He has exceeded himself. A superb second film to follow up a first one. An extremely well researched movie with very few glitches.

06] Anupam Kher: Lost somewhere in the Indra Kumar - Ashok Thakeria kind of buffoonery, this giant of an actor of "Saaransh" fame is the highlight of the movie. In a role that demands him to be serious and scared while making us giggle, Kher is pure delight. So are the names of his count-less children.

07] Manoj Bajpai: One of the finest actors of this generation got his due mostly in Prakash Jha movies. Here, he is at his best as the honest and somewhat arrogant CBI Officer Wasim Khan. One of his better movies !

08] Akshay Kumar: His best role and movie in a long time. Period !

09] Jimmy Shergill: One more under-rated actor gets a fabulous role as Inspector Ranveer Singh and he has done complete justice.

10] 100 Rupees and honesty: Good to see 100 Rupee note getting respect. The thug returning the officer's honestly earned 100 rupees shows the values people had in that era. Even the kids don't have respect for either 100 rupees or honesty these days.

11] Divya Dutta: "Sirjee, Asli kaam toh yeh log karte hain". In spite of looking older, this lady entertains with her comic act.

12] Kajal Aggarwal: Her role was extended unnecessarily in not her fault. The young lady looks beautiful in 80s style costumes and emotes well.

13] CBI: Central Bank of India... How many people really know the real expansion ?

14] Black Money: Hiding money in the Pooja room, inside the bed and in car seats was fashionable those days. Amitabh Bachchan always managed to find it if he was playing Inspector and invariably managed to escape with it if he was the "Don" !

15] The Phone: The huge black phones with 4 or 5 digit numbers and the cord-less connection phones as large as the dumb bells are sheer nostalgia.

16] Hello: The old style phone tapping was in currency during this period and this has been shown to help crack the case. Zail Singh once blamed Rajiv Gandhi of tapping his phone. Ironically these two begin the proceedings in the movie.

17] Cars: Old cars, Ambassador, Maruti, Padmini, Fiat and not a single new generation car on the roads makes it look absolutely authentic. So is the Connaught Place of the yore. A lot of meticulous work has gone into this. Appreciated !

18] Humor: Extremely subtle. So subtle, most people would miss it if not attentive. A subordinate officer clad in Lord Shiva's getup [under cover], walks past a serious discussion between Bajpai and Shergill, casually greeting them with a "Good Morning, Sir". This is serious comedy !

19] English: "I want to do my Country". This is not the pretentious "Don't angry me" or "Child in the arm pit" stuff. This is real English spoken in India in 1987 and even today !

20] Chulloo Bhar Paani: I don't know how many times this dialogue has been used in Hindi cinema. But I bet it can't be bettered after Manoj Bajpai's Classic act in the climax. The actor turns even the trivial into a classic.

21] Minister: Ministers those days did fear the CBI even though it was post Indira Gandhi era. The guts shown by P. K. Sharma when he slaps the Minister defines the mood of the movie.

22] Dialogues: Neerak Pandey's dialogues are just point blank. The seriousness, humor and timing all are just perfect and are made worthy of a long stay in our minds by some extremely good actors.

23] Rajesh Sharma: as Jogindar, one of the 4 in the gang is life-like. He lives the role. We don't see any 'acting' !

24] Kishore Kadam: As Iqbal, the fourth in the gang is another competent actor.

25] Illustrated Weekly of India: Long dead papers and magazines like Dharmyug come to life adding to the nostalgic value. Old is truly Gold !

26] The heist: Finally, after such duds like "Thees Maar Khan", we get to see an extremely competent 'heist' movie in Indian cinema. A genuinely delightful climax adds to the brand-value !

My Opinion: An extremely well made movie with some forgivable glitches. Would have been much better without the songs and with lesser of Kajal Aggarwal. Yet, this one is Special and is a must watch !

Kadal : All at Sea !

Mani Ratnam's "Kadal" [Sea] is a long [2:44 hours] walk on a beautiful beach infested with the good, the bad and the ugly people. But unfortunately it never ventures into the deeper oceans of the mind and stays superficial till the end.

The story credited to Jeyamohan and Mani is about the triumph of good over evil. It takes the beaten and rocky path and lets both the youngsters [Gautham Karthik and Thulasi Nair] down. Only good thing is a strong come back by Aravind Swamy as Fr. Sam.

Arjun's role is extremely poorly written and the reason for his claims to be the Satan remains unsubstantiated. Why does he foster so much of hatred remains a mystery. But he still manages to pack power into his performance.

Gautham Karthik is intense, gawky and suits the role to the tee. Thulasi Nair is supposed to be an angelic figure. Somehow the charm is missing in spite of an earnest performance by the little girl.

As a generation, our taste in cinema was redefined by Mani Ratnam with movies like "Geethanjali", "Anjali", "Nayagan" "Thalapathi" and "Roja". The usual Mani ingredients like the shadow and lights play, the black and white backgrounds and the omnipresent rain grace "Kadal" too. But somehow, the soul is missing. Even "Ravan" had more soul than this movie.

For me, Mani playing safe is Mani having lost the confidence. Why should he resort to a theme any new-comer Director would have handled beats me. Was it to launch two star-kids ? But given their pedigree, they too deserved better.

With all this rant, I must add, the movie is technically brilliant with international quality camera-work and some breath-taking shots of the sea. But the content never ventures beyond the ankle deep waters. A. R. Rahaman's music is good but this must rank as his most ordinary score in a Mani Ratnam movie.

So here are the main reasons why was I disappointed by Mani Ratnam's "Kadal"

Logic in movies is not always a prerequisite of a commercial Cinema. But, Mani making such blatant mistakes like...

1] Not a shred of justification for the extremely hostile and wicked "Satan" nature of Bergmans [Arjun] !

2] Father Sam [Aravind Swamy] gets punished depending on just one woman's word. No investigation was done about those dressing materials, blood on the beach and the boat and other tell-tale evidences of the existence of Begrmans in the boat. No effort at all was made by the Church to find out the truth of a reputed Priest from a very rich family. No Church in the world would sit quiet ! Under which law was he imprisoned for 4 years ? This is a HUGE GAPING hole in the plot that can't be glossed over.

3] In spite of some magnificent shots of the 'Sea' and the Cyclone, Mani never tries to delve deeper into Psyche of either Father Sam or Bergmans at any point. Why ? Instead of wasting time on those boy taking the girl on boat scenes, he could have tried to enter a little deeper into these characters !

4] Thomas' [Gautham Karthik] affection or devotion for Chetti [Ponvannan] in spite of consistent rejection and humiliation is tough to understand. He harbors enormous grudge for everyone with no reason often but continues to adore the person he believes to be his 'Father' !

5] Telling us Beatrice is like a kid in her mind is one thing. But making her look convincing is other. Mani made "Geethanjali" [Girija Shettar] extremely ethereal yet convincing in "Geethanjali" / "Ithaythe Thirudaadai". Young Thulasi Nair suffers not because she is deficient but the characterization has let her down. Sad !

These are 5 of the many reasons I felt let down by "Kadal". I never felt the thrill of a ride into the "Sea". It was all shallow throughout but for technical brilliance !

Expectation is a beast that bites from both ends. Damned expectations; this would have been a damn good movie from any other Director. Overall, I was all at "Sea" and Disappointed with one more below par movie from an Icon we have venerated. But, Dear Mani Ratnam, I still believe in you and hope your next movie will take you back to where you belong; at the top !