The reunion scene of Kabali with his wife is brilliant. Ranjith has done a great job.it needs a brilliant matured mind to enact the scene like that.Ranjith will play a long innings in Tamil film industry. He should be having lot of ideas. He will try to connect the black with the dalit activism in his future films.The movie has certain templates similar to Madras.To get educated, shout for the dignity, get it.there will be always your own people who will get you down for petty issues.And it would continue.Surprised to see a person less than 35 with much ideas and enacting it so well.Great work.
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While Baradwaj Rangan can dedicate so much time for Maniratnam's movies why can't he atleast recognize that there is so much work done in the movie Kabali.Why is there such a condescending attitude.Is it not portrayed beyond doubt that Kabali is a dalit.Why can't Kabali be shown as a person who just works in Malaysia migrated recently.Why he is shown as a plantation worker.Why is there a reference to his wife as belonging to a different caste.Why is it referred more than once that he is a educated person and he knows his rights and only shouts for them.Why is it referred that he is not just a rowdy but politically indoctrined person by Tamilnesan.The final dialogue by Kabali ,is it not a shout by a dalit against the upper caste irritation against the growth of dalits through education.Is the reference to the coat suite more than once was without any meaning.Is not Kabali with big gun in the final scene resemble Malcolm X.Was not the choreographic sequences in Madras and Kabali had a reference to black.Is all these done without any sort of hard work , just like that.Why not a pat on the back for such a brilliant work.What was the last time when a movie was made about tamils outside Tamilnadu.
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Ranjith's Scriptwriting:
In the movie Madras , the friendship between the Protoganist and his friend is not established in the movie.It doesn't grow in the movie.It is already grown before the script starts.Ranjith knows that they are thick friends and assumes the audience will also understand so.He doesn't have a scene or two to establish how both of them value their friendship and why.This is because in scriptwriting, sometimes the writer assumes the audience as educated as himself about the characters and the setting.
In advertisements, we have only 30 sec to 1 minute for the characters to get established and sell the product.So they appear as middleclass man, house wife, Retired Grandfather, all worried about the skin problem of their only kid which was because they accidentally used a soap other than Hamam.
Here the audience accept the characters as such.They are plastic.We sometimes see print advertisements on paper or on billboards which also has a similar establishment of characters and relationships.They are already developed before showing to the audience.It uses the symbols, colours, physique of the person to strike a chord with the viewer, so that he gets the same feeling about the social status and the mood of the person in the Ad.
There is a similar way of Raniith's screenwriting in establishment of certain characters or developments or relationships.For example , in the movie Kabali there are references to different things.If there was a scene between Tamilnesan and Kabali drinking a cup of tea, and Tamilnesan asking about the personal life of Kabali , we would get a better understanding on how closely they were , and how much impact Tamilnesan makes on Kabali.Also , if there was an scene or two on why Kabali decides to Rebel and not stays as he is.
The decision of Kabali or the relationship between Kabali and Tamilnesan is not established, it is shown as something that developed outside the script.Ranjith can draw.I think this somehow influences his characters.They are sketched before the script.The lines are not drawn in the script.They are already drewn.Mostly in Ranjith's movies they don't change.They are what they are.He shows us the grown characters and a stage and then starts the drama.
He doesn't take time to grow them and set a stage and then to play.The Play starts at scene 1.Lot of movies take almost one hour of time to establish the characters and the problems and only then the play actually starts.For example , in movie Dalapathy , Surya is established, then Deva character is established , then Arjun and then the stage is set and the play starts.It is one way of screenwriting.
Ranjith assumes that through references, certain portraits, dialogues he can take care of the establishing and stage setting.For example , he assumes that audience know North Madras.He assumes that the viewer can get an idea of Kabali through the flashback and references.
That is how Kabali is given to us as a Grown character and if we are able to consume it is well and good , else no.Maybe he thinks that the viewer has to connect the dots.This seems to be his way of screenwriting.
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