If you are willing to overlook the now normalized anti-Brahmin Hinduphobic subliminal messaging in Tamizh movies, the movie is a decent adaption of the writing. Kalki's plot is imaginative, intricate & sprawling, with multiple characters, with adventure, thrills, subterfuge, mystery, action, drama & romance. It has all the NavaRasas. Owing to its scale, people tried & failed to make a movie out of it, since releasing a movie as multiple parts wasn't an idea back then. The story is better suited as a TV series. As a movie, the narrative is linear & some characters were either removed or relegated to small roles.
The make-up artists did a great job. The relatively old Aishwarya & Trisha still look good. The art is good. The music is decent with decent songs & good back-ground music. The lyricist who wrote the Murugan song wonderfully using the Tamizh name of Seyyon while using Thiruppugazh like lyrics. Arunagirinathar pioneered using words with specific sounds to indicate the end of phrases or a beat in the Thiruppugazh which was used here. It was lovely to hear the old Tamizh. The actors did a good job. It was nice to hear Vedic chants & Vetrivel.
Now, to the bad.
In the book, Azhwarkadiyan Nambi is an intelligent spy sent by ArulMozhi Verman. The banter between Nambi & VanthiyaDevan is sharp but respectful & good-natured. But Tamizh cinema & literature has been caricaturing Brahmins for decades now. When was the last time you saw a positive Brahmin character in a Tamizh movie? The movie converts Nambi into a buffoon. He is called derogatory names, repeatedly assaulted & water-boarded by VanthiyaDevan in an attempt at humor. His sacred thread is cut & he complains like a buffoon. In the light of Dravidar Kazhagam folks
boasting on video on physical attacks on Brahmins with quotas on cutting their sacred thread and repeated physical attack recorded, this continues normalizing brutalizing Brahmins as subliminal messaging. He could simply have stuck to the story & character as represented by the author.
Madurantakan, the Shivan Adiyar, says that he will no longer follow Shiva & rips off all his Rudraksham Malai. Why this explicitly Hinduphobic scene deviating from the book?
Devars are Maha-Muruga Bhaktas. They will have the Vibhuthi Thiruneer & Kungumam always. Not having it means that someone has passed away in the family. They also had a unique hair style in those days. Vanthiya Devan has a bare forehead & the current day Western hair cut.
ArulMozhi Verman, who called himself Siva Pada Sekaran does not have the Thiruneer Vibhuthi is all scenes. He is also not wearing the sacred thread.
The dialog delivery of Vikram & Aishwarya's dubbing artist in SenTamizh was wonderful. All others struggled. The previous generation actors were fluent in SenTamizh. In just one generation, that skill seems to have gone. Many English educated Tamizh people can no longer even read Tamizh, let alone write it. Independent India has been a disaster in increasing mental English colonization & subjugating its native languages. Some Indic languages have already gone extinct. It is only going to get worse from here.
In an early trailer, it said: Ponniyin Selvam rather than Selvan before it was pulled. Lack of attention to detail.
The lead actors cast were too old for the actual characters in the story. ArulMozhi Verman was a mere 19 year old boy in the story. The casting could have been better. This could have launched some young careers.
From people who haven't read the book, I heard that the pace is quick & hard to follow. You need a background to understand the movie. But then, the mystery of certain acts would be lost.
The song on Murugan had interesting art & costumes. But it depicted the Chozhas, the patrons of high culture, somewhat semi-barbaric.
The actress playing Vanati is highly flexible & a good dancer. But wasn't good looking enough to play the future Rani (queen).
I wish that Tamizh cinema had directors with the skill of KS Gopalakrishnan who could make Dharmic movies. ManiRatnam is a decent director who has done a decent job but has chosen to de-Hinduize & add anti-Brahmin elements to the film to the extent possible. VetriMaran & KamalHassan, both excellent in the film profession, have chosen to publicly display their ignorance of history, showing how deep the Marxist-Missionary propaganda has been internalized. This is a reminder that excellence in one field does not mean knowledge in another.
In Marxist strategy, it is important to capture education through academia, entertainment & media. Once captured, in just two generations, per Marxist theory, the commoners can be taught to hate their ancient culture & follow Marxism. ManiRatnam's son, Nandan, was a star at a Communist party meet where he publicly admired Marxism & wrote a paper on Leninism. He now studies theology in Christ college. A classic Marxist-Missionary product. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
