Yuddham Sei

We have directors and then we have directors like Myshkin.  What a movie Yuddham Sei had been!  I don't remember when was the last time Tamil cinema gave an excellent thriller movie but this movie is definitely a must watch for all edge-of-the-seat-thriller-lovers.  Even before the intermission in the movie, I could tell that the director has really worked very hard on the script, a process often taken for granted by Tamil cinema.  It has all the ingredients for a beautiful thriller to keep the audience's eyes glued to every frame of the movie till the end and yes, Myshkin definitely has all the worthiness to put in the ending credits as 'A Film by Myshkin'.

To first speak of the movie, I would take the screenplay, which is the highlight of the movie.  With only 5-6 slides for the opening credits (thank god as there was no title song for the credits), the opening scene itself starts with a knot in the story demanding the audience to be alert right from the first frame of the movie.  One may think that the next scene would be the introduction of the hero but no, another knot is introduced.  The principal characters are then slowly introduced and with more knots, more characters are introduced.  However, the director should be appreciated that the screenplay was not confusing with these many characters.  With each knot, the movie really gets exciting and makes one implore the next scene to untie the knots but the director has kept the audience guessing till the last frame.  And I was so happy that there was only one song sequence and that too fitted beautifully into the screenplay.  There was no flaw in the entire screenplay.  One may think that the father and mother should have ambushed the killers at the climax scene and not run directly at them with butcher knifes when the killers had guns but the state of the father and mother was to avenge for their daughter's death at any cost, even if it had to give up their lives.

The next wonderful aspect of the movie is the acting of the actors.  The best acting that stands out in my mind is that of Lakshmi Ramakrishnan because the other principal actors were all pros and one wouldn't been expecting a par below average acting from them - they usually deliver the best goods out of them.  In the climax scene, her acting reminded me of the T-X character played by Kristanna Loken in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.  There was not a slightest emotion showed in her face and she behaved like a real robot with only one objective in all her mind, body and soul - retribution at any cost.  Also it was really brave of her to shave her head for the movie.  The next one is Jayaprakash as Dr. Judas Iscariot.  The director's choice of choosing him to tell the audience the justice behind all the killing was not bad at all and Jayaprakash had justified the same.  Other characters were in place to play the supporting roles in the movie.

Myshkin has his unique way of narrating a thriller.  Even though the scenes in the first half  were a bit slow, it was still very interesting and kept me wondering what the next scene would be.  I think it is because the audience should understand the depth of the story especially since it is a thriller.  And I also felt the tempo was same throughout the movie and never lagged behind anywhere or rushed thru in the climax.  The next uniqueness of Myshkin are the fighting scenes in his movie.  I was really happy to see no stuntman flying miles for a kick from the hero like a cannon ball from a cannon.  The scenes were really enjoyable and quite realistic.  Another highlight of the movie is the cinematography.  I felt that the camera spoke a lot than the characters.  And what a background score delivered by the music director!  It is his music that gives the decoration to each scene in the movie.  To conclude, Myshkin has delivered his best brilliantly and has made a must watch movie in the history of Tamil cinema.