Posted by Vamsi Deepak Gadey (
12 August 2004, 7:30am
The Average of Mani Ratnam is also the best of
Bollywood. That’s the way I had like to describe Yuva.
Considering Mani Ratnam’s masterpieces, Yuva is
certainly low on substance, but Mani is absolutely in
his element with his impeccable style of painting his
frames. It is these ‘but’ts of style, the trademark of
Mani, that make Yuva still a good piece of cinema.
“Yuva” represents half a billion Indian people whose
ideas shape the ideals of tomorrow’s India. Mani
classifies them into:
-the RamGopalVarma-ish (Satya) Lallan, one who is on
the wrong side of the law, and knows only one rule of
life – “Live life king size by hook or by crook”.
-the revolutionary (Legend of Bhagat Singh) Michael,
one who is the change agent of the degenerating
socio-politic fabric and believes in “If its to be,
its upto me”
-the cutie-sweetie-wittie-flirtie (Saathiya) Arjun, a
happy-go-lucky guy with this – “I ll take care of
myself and the world will take care of itself“
attitude
These are the X, Y, Z axes of a graph called Yuva,
heading in three different directions.
All of us can map ourselves somewhere on the graph,
and that’s the strength of Mani’s characterization.
So, what went where with Lallan, Michael and Arjun.
The Opening Shot: Lallan, Michael and Arjun run into
each others lives accidentally.
Their origin is the Howrah bridge, which boomerangs
each of them into an episodic flashback of their lives
(and girls). Now, this sparks off a series of events
that lead to a very expected normal ending – the
victory of good over bad.
The Ending shot: Lallan in jail. Michael and Arjun are
the new jeans-clad MLAs representing the future of
Bengal(and India).
This very unlike Mani Ratnam ending only leaves you
asking for more. Mani sir, we only expect a “Yuva
Janta Party” – a sequel to Yuva. But, there is nothing
wrong with happy endings. Dil Se seems to have taught
Mani Ratnam a lesson he didn’t want to learn.
The theme of unleashing the spirit of youth and
making a statement to them, loses steam with too much
of everything. But, its the unmistakable freshness of
Mani’s screenplay that keeps the narrative from
degenerating into a 3 story, 1 ending Darna Mana Hai
narrative. But, Ravi Chandran’s camerawork and Sreekar
Prasad’s editing oozes energy of the youth into the
film.
The songs certainly slow the pace of the film. But,
its always a tremendous feeling to reverberate to
Rahman-Mani combination.
Ajay Devgan as The Legend of Michael,as good as ever,
is again the same angry young man.Vivek Oberoi is
WakaW - his usual Saathiya brand of yuppie self. But,
Abhishek is the real scene stealer, with an incredible
performance – whether its his walk or talk or look. He
is splendid as the Lallan of the masses. Another scene
stealer is undoubtedly Om Puri as the Bengali Babu,
proving his credentials yet again.
The one-and-only Mani Ratnam is how people like me and
so many others, call him for his incredible ability to
balance style and substance. Only this time, the
balance has not been perfect. Otherwise, it’s
definitely worth going for Yuva and plotting yourself
on the Yuva chart and calculating your YQ (Yuva
Quotient).
Current Mood: Cheerful
Current Music: Fanaaa...
Bollywood. That’s the way I had like to describe Yuva.
Considering Mani Ratnam’s masterpieces, Yuva is
certainly low on substance, but Mani is absolutely in
his element with his impeccable style of painting his
frames. It is these ‘but’ts of style, the trademark of
Mani, that make Yuva still a good piece of cinema.
“Yuva” represents half a billion Indian people whose
ideas shape the ideals of tomorrow’s India. Mani
classifies them into:
-the RamGopalVarma-ish (Satya) Lallan, one who is on
the wrong side of the law, and knows only one rule of
life – “Live life king size by hook or by crook”.
-the revolutionary (Legend of Bhagat Singh) Michael,
one who is the change agent of the degenerating
socio-politic fabric and believes in “If its to be,
its upto me”
-the cutie-sweetie-wittie-flirtie (Saathiya) Arjun, a
happy-go-lucky guy with this – “I ll take care of
myself and the world will take care of itself“
attitude
These are the X, Y, Z axes of a graph called Yuva,
heading in three different directions.
All of us can map ourselves somewhere on the graph,
and that’s the strength of Mani’s characterization.
So, what went where with Lallan, Michael and Arjun.
The Opening Shot: Lallan, Michael and Arjun run into
each others lives accidentally.
Their origin is the Howrah bridge, which boomerangs
each of them into an episodic flashback of their lives
(and girls). Now, this sparks off a series of events
that lead to a very expected normal ending – the
victory of good over bad.
The Ending shot: Lallan in jail. Michael and Arjun are
the new jeans-clad MLAs representing the future of
Bengal(and India).
This very unlike Mani Ratnam ending only leaves you
asking for more. Mani sir, we only expect a “Yuva
Janta Party” – a sequel to Yuva. But, there is nothing
wrong with happy endings. Dil Se seems to have taught
Mani Ratnam a lesson he didn’t want to learn.
The theme of unleashing the spirit of youth and
making a statement to them, loses steam with too much
of everything. But, its the unmistakable freshness of
Mani’s screenplay that keeps the narrative from
degenerating into a 3 story, 1 ending Darna Mana Hai
narrative. But, Ravi Chandran’s camerawork and Sreekar
Prasad’s editing oozes energy of the youth into the
film.
The songs certainly slow the pace of the film. But,
its always a tremendous feeling to reverberate to
Rahman-Mani combination.
Ajay Devgan as The Legend of Michael,as good as ever,
is again the same angry young man.Vivek Oberoi is
WakaW - his usual Saathiya brand of yuppie self. But,
Abhishek is the real scene stealer, with an incredible
performance – whether its his walk or talk or look. He
is splendid as the Lallan of the masses. Another scene
stealer is undoubtedly Om Puri as the Bengali Babu,
proving his credentials yet again.
The one-and-only Mani Ratnam is how people like me and
so many others, call him for his incredible ability to
balance style and substance. Only this time, the
balance has not been perfect. Otherwise, it’s
definitely worth going for Yuva and plotting yourself
on the Yuva chart and calculating your YQ (Yuva
Quotient).
Current Mood: Cheerful
Current Music: Fanaaa...
