Madrasapattinam - Movie Review

Madrasapattinam, the name transports a person to the pre-independence era and the movie, true to its name, is set in the colonial times. However, this movie is not another freedom struggle story, though it is not devoid of it either. If one can believe, it is a love story set in the Empire days. You might think that I am going against my policy and revealing the story but there is nothing else to it and also considering the considerable time since its release in theaters it must not matter much.
Even though it is only a love story, there are some special elements that make the movie pretty interesting (probably not engrossing). After seeing the movie many would say it is "inspired" by movies such as Titanic and Lagaan and this is true to a large extent but still it is a very nice attempt by the Director
The most promising aspects of the movie are
1. The sets which brought to life the bygone days of the glorious Madras (Chennai has its own glory) erected by Selva (worked with Sabu Cyril earlier). The Buckingham Canal (I cannot imagine how much it has degraded. Chennai/Madras people should fight the government to restore it to its old glory at the earliest. It is a good legacy of the British we can have), the Central Station of yesteryears are best brought to life and the trams (cannot fathom the reasoning of the politicians to get rid of them)
2. The camera by Nirav Shah is great and he has captured the essence of Buckingham Canal.
3. Music by the prodigal genius of G V Prakash Kumar
4. Direction by Vijay is pretty slick. There is no ounce of over acting but some scenes seem a bit melodramatic. But at the same time some of the scenes are brilliantly captured. The wrestling match and the wry smile on the Indian Police Inspector's face, the spontaneous reaction of Arya to Amy speaking tamizh, the scene where in the Governor of Madras when walking out of the station, the activist questioning his authority since Independence was upon us, the characterization of the travel agent are some of the highlights.
5. Arya (he has actually acted after his good performance in Naan Kadavul)
6. Amy Jackson - can't believe she is in her teens. She looks so mature but she has also delivered in her acting and she is exquisitely beautiful. Very sophisticated.

The downfalls of the movie are
1. Flimsy story line
2. The execution grounds (not sure if they had one, but if it was there then it was duly captured)
3. Some of the actors were not properly utilized.
4. MSV's voice in the Meghame Meghame song (killed it)
But not many, come to think of it or it could be that I am blind to those aspects.

Do watch the movie and see how much of the good legacies of the British have been erased and how much of the protocol's established by them are still in force and also how they are being misused. We should take the good ones and try to reestablish these legacies.