#mani ratnam makes me unhinged

[hollogramhallucination]

i'm asking the universe for a romance movie with aishwarya rai and vikram. pls.

[shaevilux]

Just woke up and still thinking about PS-1. Spoilers ahead.

Vikram. My god. His role is reminded me of an evolved and refined version of veera from raavanan. That scene where he's going on a tirade and he's so expressive and gesticulating and the camera won't stop moving around him and shit?

Like that legit reminded me of that scene in raavanan when he's talking about his rage clouding his fear or something I forgot what exactly but he was talking to an forest guard he has captive. Anyway, yes. Get Vikram for these kinds of intense dramatic scenes and make sure the cinematography really amps the drama up. He definitely can play borderline unhinged really well and mani ratnam will definitely let him chew the scenery.

But the cinematography that annoyed me was the action cinematography. The larger scale battle when the armies collided? You really got to immediately muddy the action with shaky cam? Like why? I'm sure there's some good choreography just perfect it and then show it in full. It feels cheap to have an actually good looking action setpiece but wussing out with shaky cam. I refuse to believe it's a stylistic choice. That's just plain bad.

I want more elephants. Can't believe that's a note I have but it's the chola dynasty. War elephants are a must. I don't care that it's not feasible to get a bunch of elephants and train them for a movie or the cgi budget won't allow creature effects just do it. I want war elephants.

I like the naval scenes. The ship designs and the horses coming out of them was all really cool to look at. I like the ending setpiece with ponniyin selvan and vanthiyadevan fending off the pandis on the ship. A little dark with a lot more hectic camerawork and weird editing choices to hide the imperfections, but as a whole with all the water spraying about and the ship breaking and everything it was very good.

Can't believe they're getting aishwarya rai to play mandakini as well lmao. Tamil movies really like having the same actors playing father/son or mother/daughter, huh? Just add some white hair and a bit of make-up that is simultaneously supposed to age them up but also make them hot but fails at both so it just looks weird. Not that we actually saw oomai raani properly but that's definitely what's gonna happen.

I'll keep posting more thoughts and shit I have but for now, I just want that track that plays when Nandhini and Kundavai meet. *saaya sakkarai*

[hollogramhallucination]

“That woman made me senseless. O Demoness! You are my breath, you are my wound. My body is covered with scars, but the scar she inflicted stops my heart.”

aishwarya rai as nandini and vikram as aditha karikalan in ponniyin selvan: II (2023) dir. mani ratnam

[hollogramhallucination]

me, after re-reading the books then seeing PS2, still thinking about nandini and aditha

thank you mani ratnam sir