Kireedom - A Crown in Ajith's Head?

I watched Kireedom today for a multitude of reasons. Primary reason was it was going to be the last Tamil film that i was gonna catch on the silver screen for months to come. Secondary reason was it offered a get together with my BITSian friends. Third (Wonder how it would have sounded if I had used "Tertiary Reason" :) ), as a kid I had fallen in love with Mohanlal's performance in the classic original Kireedom (1989) which won him a special President's Medal for acting. So I wanted to see it just for the sake of curiosity to know how much has been retained in its 2007 avatar and how the Ultimate Star Thala Ajth 's performance matches with Mohanlal's. Another reason was Aalwar-after acting in probably the worst film of his career, I was pretty confident nothing could match its mediocrity.

I had certain apprehensions whether it would end up as another tribute to the never say die spirit of Ajith fans who lap up all his wonderful subjects like Ji, Jana, Anjaneya and Aaalwar. Thankfully it didn't turn out to be so. Of course, there is the unavoidable intro song, which with words like "Thala aadumbothu Vaal Adalaamo" clearly spells who the song is written for. It plays to the gallery of Ajith Fans, who would take it as a slight against Vijay and would stupidly rejoice at that with wonderment at their Thala.

I had high expectations from G V Prakash Kumar (who is incidentally younger than me, that makes me feel old), the music director who gave my favourite album of 2006, Veyyil. I thought he would live up to the name of his uncle A.R Rahman. But I was disappointed a little. The songs are good, not great like Veyyil. Background score is adequate, but cliched at many points. At some points though, his brilliance shows. Maybe i expected too much. After ARR, only Harris Jeyaraj promised much, but now even his music is stale as he always recycles from his own songs and even copies blatantly from some English songs. So after Veyyil, i had pined high hopes on GV Prakash Kumar as another ARR in the making, but after Kireedom, i have second thoughts regarding that. Hope he comes out with another Veyyil in the future.

The intro song was mediocre, the melodies were OK, but the last song Kanneer Thuliye shocked me, it was straight lifted from his own uncle's work Poongatrile (Ey Ajnabee) from Dil Se (or Uyire, as u wud have it). Even the charanam sounded too similar. It may be tough to stay away from ARR's influence after working under him for so long, but surely tat ain't reason to do this. Hope he doesnt go the way of the Yuvans, Devas and Srikanth Devas.

The film remained surprisingly true to the original, except for the initial scenes of Ajith and Trisha, which were romantic and funny too. Vivek was not upto his mark, though his antics when Trisha and Ajith are romancing on the water tank and his dialogues on how tough it is to be a Rowdy these days evoked laughter, even from Challa :) Santhanam was suprisingly better than Vivek, though some of his jokes had double meanings attached (not that I am complaining :) )



The main crux of the story is how the dreams of a father and the life of his son is shattered by the twist of fate that befalls them. How a guy aspiring to be a Sub Inspector, is forced to take the aruvaal by circumstances, which also make him seem like a rowdy to be feared and respected to the people. How some incidents change the way everyone, including his family and his fiance's look at him and what happens in the end. To summarise, there is a Tamil proverb " Panamarathukku adila paal kudicha ellarum kallu kudikurathaa thaan karuthuvaa"
(He who drinks only milk under a palm tree, wud be suspected of drinking toddy)

The various emotions that pass through the protagonist was excellently captured by Mohanlal in the original. Does Ajith recapture the magic? Well, not completely. He is good, and surely much better than most of other actors in that at least he tries sincerely. But still, there is something that tickles me somewhere in his performances, not just in this film but always.
Somewhere he strikes me as being artificial, and forgive me there is still a trace of that eunuch in Varalaaru left in his body language. Maybe a Kamal or Vikram (in their younger days) would have suited the role better.

Trisha is used to carry the story forward in the first half, but disappears for most of the second half. But her character is such, and the story doesnt need more of her presence. Rajkiran performs well as father though he is a shade lesser than Thilakan of the original.

But the film is very much watchable, it is really good that they have decided to stick the original ending which augurs well for Tamil Cinema. A Brave attempt, as the film walks on a slippery pole on one side of which is commercial cinema and the other offbeat cinema. It's in no way boring and Ajith is good, if not Mohanlal enough. Ajith must atleast be congratulated for trying something different unlike Vijay, who thrives giving the same old wine in the same old bottle.

On the whole, the film is watchable and very good by Tamil standards.