Thalapathi

This film is about 15 years old. i watched it quite a few times and it never fails to impress me. As said earlier it is a modern version of the Mahabharata, with Rajni as Karna.

Its starts with a 14 year old mother forced to abandon her son and the son grows up in the city slums far away..he befriends a underworld don and swears loyalty to death for him Meanwhile the mother gets married and has a son who becomes a top government official. Nobody knows of her earlier son except for her husband. Thing come to head as her younger son is posted to where the elder(who the mother doesn't know is her son) is dominating.

Watch the movie to see what happens. The mother-son scenes are amazingly touching

For this movie, 10 out of 10 is probably too low. That's how good this movie is. Among Tamil cinema's timeless classics, it came in the late 80's and now its 2010 but still I watch it with the same enthusiasm and clap/whistle at some of the dialogues from this film. Maniratnam had a hard time directing Rajnikanth and Mammootty but if he can give a product like this through such hardships, I pray he goes through such hardships again (Sorry Mani Sir!). Ilayaraja is the life and soul of this film. Rajni's best ever performance along with Mammooty. There were the few Nayagan inspirations (Doing good for 4 people cannot be wrong, the inspector beating the hero and then the inspector getting killed by the same hero, etc). Who else can take the Karna-Duryodhana friendship from the Mahabharatha and weave such a magical story in accordance to today's times? Mani is magic!

The movie with the combo of Mani and Thala's of neighboring states and with splendid tunes from Illayaraja ,a certain delight is a sure bet !! Trite , crisp dialogues are characteristics of this movie just as any mani ratnam flick is. The scene which stands out for its 'crispness' comes the intensely set one in which Rajni after being imprisoned in the initial scenes is released as somebody else turns in as approval for the crime which he created. Surya,(Rajni) unaware of who has sent him, walks across to him n asks him, " YYYYEN?" After a few pauses he gets the reply," DEVA!! ". He comes out of the room and walks in the corridor just to witness Deva (Mamooty) and there begins the friendship between Surya and Deva which is so deep, committed and brilliant. The tone of most of the scenes keeps one gripping and with its melodramatic ingredients and songs, contributes to a bit of dilution of its intensity though. The storyline, a slight adaptation of mahabarata with superstar playin the Karna character to finesse is simply awesome.

A sure must watch flick !!

The opening scene in black and white, prove Maniratnam as a director who emphasize color as emotions in movie.When it combines with Ilayaraja's Chinna Thaiyaval tune will made anyone's heart melt.Superstar's entry scene is really exciting.No doubt Maniratnam can make fight sequence as real as possible.Superstar had brought up his acting talents for a new level in this movie.Although gangsterism is should be the main theme, friendship tend to overtake it.But in some ways it might be a plus point too.For Arvindsamy, he do his best for a first movie.With Mani anyone will do best for the first movie it self.Action,Drama,Real Tamil Cinema defines Talapathi. I'm not sure how many times i watch this movie.But i want to watch it again and again.Best combination of Tamil cinema:Manirathnam, Ilayaraaja and Superstar.I wonder if this team would meet up again.If does, it will be another milestone in Tamil Cinema.Although I had watched Talapathi years ago, i choose today to write here because i had a dream today; I dream of watching Talapathi show on first day of its release(which i missed).The feeling was REALLY amazing.Although this dream will never come true,I like the dream.

A fight between two brothers (Rajnikanth and Arvindswamy) is a classy version on Modern Mahabbaratha, is truly unique. Maniratnam has adapted the screenplay to the modern version and it's really awesome. Mammootty as Rajnikanth's friend Deva is amazing. Music and cinematography by Illayaraja and Santosh Sivan (The terrorist) commend each other. For me it's the best gangster movie made in India. Just loved the movie from beginning till end.