Under The Spot Light: Vedigundu Passange

Like Boggler Blogger's Facebook page by clicking the link below for more post!

https://www.facebook.com/bogglerblogger

It all started with Vilayattu Passange, which progressed to Vetti Passange, and now it came to Vedigundu Passange and this marks an end to the Passange Trilogy. Produced by Veedu Production, Vedigundu Passange is the final installment in the Passange Series and Dr Vimal Perumal once again directs it. Vedingundu Passange boasts a star studded cast with the names like, Denes Kumar, Sangeetha Krishnasamy, Kuben Mahadevan, Alvin Martin, Vikadakavi Magen, Seelan and many more. The film was released on 26^th July 2018 simultaneously in Malaysia, Singapore, India, Sri Lanka and London. Boggler Blogger was invited for both Press and Premier Screening of Vedigundu Passange and here is my review of the film.

Story Review

If you have watch the previous two installments of the Passange Series, you would know the series concept has always been light hearted story filled with good comedy and beautiful songs. Vedigundu Passange doesn’t run far away from this framework.

In a nutshell, Vedigundu Passange is about how an Urumi Melam player falls in love with his childhood sweetheart and the process that takes place for him to win her over. The film also touches on a very important social message regarding the community and a key message delivered here was about to always know what kind of circle of company you are hanging out with in order to avoid being with the wrong group of people.

With these two portions being the key theme flowing in the film, it is filled with so many comic relief moment that will make you laugh throughout the film and accompanied by beautiful songs at the right moments.

The comedy in the film is perhaps one of the biggest strength in the film and as much as I was expecting Kuben and Alvin to be the one dominating the humor portion, but it was David Anthony who stood the most for me in those moments. Every time Kuben and Alvin were to do something funny, the counter from David would just top that and make you laugh further.

Another thing I enjoyed about the film is that when the film ends, you could hardly hate any of the characters. There would be one character in the film who seem to be like the bad person or the villain but when it all comes to an end, you would actually feel for that character and I found it as a nice touch.

As much as I enjoyed the film much there were a few things which was a letdown for me. To begin with was how thin the storyline was. The film had a very good theme to it but I didn’t feel the script tap much into it and kept the story very surface level and a lot of things became very predictable. I feel a stronger screenplay and more twist could have made Vedigundu Passange a more exciting film rather than a feel good movie.

Second was that fact the film had more cast than the story demanded. I felt many characters were placed in the film serving the same purpose and that meant the depth and weight of the character had to be split into more cast thus reducing the scope of performance of the actors. Keeping things neater in terms of character and a stronger plot would have made Vedigundu Passange even better than what is it today.

                 Rating: 3.0/5.0

Director Review

Dr Vimala Perumal

In a world where directing 1 film itself is a monumental challenge, I have to congratulate you for releasing your 3^rd film. That is no easy feat and deserves applause for that. Coming to Vedigundu Passange, the biggest compliment I can give to you as the director from the film is that Vedigundu Passange is perhaps technically the cleanest Malaysian film I have watched in cinemas.

From the moment go, I was impressed with the frames and shots in the film. More importantly, the clarity that is shown in each shots was coherent and kept the audience hooked. It felt so good to watch a film, which delivered quality technical work that can be seen on screen.

Another favorite part of the movie was during the “Vadaa Vilayadu” song sequence. Fantastic job from you and your team in going all out to create a Thiruvizha environment. I can only imagine the amount of art work and detailing that goes behind that scene and it was very well done and so beautifully captured. It shows so much watching it on screen.

Speaking about artwork brilliance, I have to credit you on the “#LoveMood” song. I enjoyed the fact that we have a song that is based on creating sets and beautifully capturing it. The song has been a huge hit and it demands beautiful picturization to do justice to the song and you delivered it. I loved the artwork gone into the song and the use of VFX throughout it.

One of the key task a director should get right in a film I believe is casting and you surely do score here well. You got it right with your key character casting but what impressed me the most was the selection of David Anthony. When the movie ended it was he who stood out a lot for me in terms of his humor sense in the film.

As mentioned before, I felt that what wasn’t right was that the fact the film had one too many cast who shared the same purpose. You had a few different smaller tracks going on in the film and fitted in cast in there, which I think could have been avoided to make things sharper and neater.

Another part which disturbed me slightly was that the choice of shoots. It is not a criticism but I felt the film had too many close up frame shots of the cast delivering dialogues. It felt like the character was speaking to me instead of speaking to another character in the film.

I hope you continue to make more films Dr Vimala Perumal. You have shown that you a wonderful director over the course of this 3 films and shown that you have been improving film on film. That is a great sign showing that you are continuously learning and I believe that will bring you far as a director.

                Rating: 3.5/5.0

The Cast

Denes Kumar

Easily one of the most established names in the Malaysian Tamil Film Industry, having Denes on board for this film is surely an added value to the film. Playing the role of an Urumi Melam player from Sekinchan, Denes character is someone who seems to have grown up with the small village area.

Thus he is shown to have a small circle of friends and a very loud character who is equally chilled and laid back throughout the film. That allows his character to have a lot of scope to deliver in terms of comedy and as always Denes delivers up to par.

His on screen chemistry let be with Sangeetha or the father character or with Kuben & Alvin worked on well and goes on to show why Denes was the right pick for this role.

                Rating: 3.3/5.0

Sangeetha Krishnasamy

Hands down one of the most talented actress in the country, I am so pleased to see her do more Tamil film roles. Here Sangeetha play the role of a fashion designer and the childhood love interest of Denes while being a sister to a police officer in Seelan.

The fact that her character knows Denes’s character since childhood makes it more acceptable on how quickly the duo can fall in love as it feels like there was a crush developed during childhood from Denes’s character at least.

However apart from being a lovely cute heroine, her character doesn’t seem to have much more to offer on screen. With that limited scope given, Sangeetha Krishnasamy seemed to have delivered her performance with ease and effortlessly.

                Rating: 3.1/5.0

Kuben Mahadevan & Alvin Martin

This two pair were the comic duo of the film and they definitely will tickle your funny bone throughout the film. Kuben plays the role of Coco while Alvin plays the role of Jing Cha who are both Denes’s childhood friends and members of the Vedigundu Passange Urumi Melam Team. Alvin is also the cousin of Sangeetha in this film.

Watch out the iconic laugh by Kuben in this film. I swear to you it is super cute and that laugh from him itself is enough to make you laugh in the film. The comedy portions were equally balance between this duo, with each other taking turns to throw in some banter over one another or towards Denes throughout the film.

No doubt that one of the biggest strength of the film has the comedy portion of the film and this should be credit much to this wonderful duo and of cause my personal favorite from the film, David Anthony.

                Rating: 3.4/5.0

The Music

Vivek-Mervin

It is so amazing to see that a film of ours were able to sign on of the rising music directors in Kollywood. Personally that shows that the quality in our films are increasing are we are able to win the confidence of overseas talents to be part of our film. That is a great sign of progress.

The musical duo composed 4 tracks in this film and they are equally brilliant in their own way. My personal favourite songs were “Vedigundu Passange Theme Song” which was super peppy and pacy and always gets my energy levels up with the other song being “#LoveMood”. This is a beautiful love song that will easily get you hooked on.

Vivek- Mervin has done a good job throughout the film in terms of background score and their music was definitely another pillar of strength to this film.

                 Rating: 4.3/5.0

Final Verdict: Vedigundu Passange Is Going To Vedikeran The Box Office

Final Rating: 3.4/5.0

Uni- Art Festival Weekend: Why Was It Special.

Its throwback time and let go back a month in time to the 23^rd and 24^th of June 2018. You may wonder why to those exact dates. Well those dates are indeed a special one for art lovers because Unique Arts Culture & Heritage Foundation Negeri Sembilan had organized a 2 day art festival.

Festivals are always fun and moreover when it is an art festival. In case you missed the opportunity to attend this art festival last month, allow me to take you through with my writing on why this event was special and a big hit.

This art festival brought us a set of performance called the “Ancient Arts of India” whereby the audience were treated to number of classical Indian dance such as Bharatha Naattiyam, Thiruvathakali, Kummi and various more. Not often do you get to witness various type of classical dance for a cheap price in a single day.

With that being done, the festival peaked with some local flavor performance. Being call the “Unique Arts of Malaysia”, it kicked off with a dance called Datun Julud. For those who doesn’t know, Datun Julud is traditional dance performed by the women’s of Orang Ulu from the Kenyah tribe of Sarawak. It is also known as the hornbill dance.

More Malaysian traditional dance followed on such as Daling-Daling which is the traditional dance of the Orang Bajau. That was then followed by Tarian Randai which a folk theater tradition of the Minangkabau people who incorporates music, singing, dance, drama and Silat. To cap of the list of performance was the Chinese Umbrella Dance and Branyo which is Malaysian dance that originated for the Portuguese colonization of Malacca.  

The icing on the cake for the night was to have YBhg, Tan Sri Dato Seri Utama Dr.Raid Yatim to officiate the event and thus launching the “Uni-Art Fest 2018” in grand style. Alongside him was his wife, Puan Sri Datin Seri Utama Masnah Rais and the legendary Dato David Arumugam who presented educational grants to 2 outstanding students of Unique Arts Academy and awarded certificates of recognition to 7 of Negeri Sembilan’s artists who have contributed to the same purpose.

And that was a wrap for day 1, phew what a day it was right?

Day 2 kicked off with a couple forum session in the morning speaking on topics like “Importance of Performing Arts”, “Arts Can Discipline Every Kid” and “Arts is a Profession”. It was a healthy interactive session between the students and the guest speakers.

With the forum done and dusted, we were then treated with a musical session. The session was kicked off with a Tarian Randai before the main performers took the stage.

Bring the best of East-West Fusion to you, EKAM an offshoot of AKASHA were the big performers of the concert. Using musical instruments such as Sitar with Guitar, Mridhangam played to Bass Guitar, EKAM delivered a diverse genre of music.

The band gave life to the crowd by playing tracks such as Damascus, presenting the exotic rhythms of the long ago Persian era; and American blues on the sitar, in Brickfields Blues from their album titled ‘Into…AkashA’. The connection and seamless bonding of Eastern and Western instruments and world genres presenting itself, took the listeners deep into a sublime environment of musical bliss; deep into AkashA.

The concert took a break with an Indian traditional dance performance by members of Unique Arts Academy, and then to continue part two of the concert. A very pleasant blend of traditional and contemporary, resonated well with the audience who cheered them on enthusiastically to their ‘Chasing The Camel’, ‘Ipoh Hor Fun’, ‘Karakoram Highway’ and ‘Bafana Bafana’ from their 2^nd album titled ‘Karakoram Highway’ itself.

After two days of art magic being created in Negeri Sembilan, EKAM was the fitting way for Uni-Art Fest 2018 to bid goodbye. With so many amazing performance and session, this is why Uni-Art Fest 2018 is something very special indeed.

8 songs from MOJO’s Retro Rahman that made the night, LIT!

By, Tharanie Rajendran

I’m pretty sure you already know what kind of Rahmaniac I am by now with my previous article, Rahman and Me and that would’ve been enough to show you how excited I was with MOJO Project’s Retro Rahman. This is the closest I’ve ever been to his live music and it is because Retro Rahman was a genuine effort of bringing the man himself here, by arranging his singers to be a part of Mojo’s round 3 concerts of 2018, Retro Rahman.

Out of all the songs sung that night, I handpicked 8 songs that are close to my heart, that cradled me back to A.R.R.’s golden era, the 90’s.

Chinna Chinna Aasai

“Chinna Chinna Aasai” is the first song I sang, with the karaoke set we have at home. I can’t be sure how old I was, but I remembered on how beautiful Vairamuthu has penned this song, that liberates a village girl’s thoughts on how beautiful life can be, without the luxuries we have in life.

Haripriya got up on the stage last Saturday and owned the song, creating a whole new version that was equally good as the original. I have never heard Haripriya singing this but the innocence that is portrayed in her young voice was simply beautiful.  She did utmost justification to the song, and I’m pretty sure she’s another Minmini in the making!

Ennavalae

Who else can justify the song “Ennavalae” that the voice that was chosen by Rahman Ji to be recorded for the hearing pleasure of all. Over 2 decades has passed, but this song is still the theme for many lovers till today. No one can deny the cozy feeling this song gives upon hearing it.

But MOJO’s style isn’t only bringing the talent to perform what they can, but to spice it up, adding more colours to the song. For this, credits goes to the crowd’s favourite Nikhil, on the flute! Nikhil’s flute added such magic to the song, and lifted the spirit. In return, he received many proposals from around the ballroom.

Vennilavae

If you ask me to choose top 5 all time Rahman songs, “Vennilavae” would be in the list. I love this song so much and because I have heard this song on repeat since the song first came, I am very sure I know the niche bit and pieces of the singing that singer Hariharan put in, that made this song an absolute crowd favourite.

Singer Unni Menon performed this song at ease, to perfection. I can say that I wasn’t a huge fan of him till I witnessed his talent in person. It takes a lot of guts for a well-known singer like him to perform a well-known song from another well-known singer (Hariharan) on live stage. To me, he justified this beautiful composition very well.

Nila Kaigirathu

“Nila Kaigirathu” was Singer Harini’s first song, as a playback singer. It was also recorded when she was only 15 years old. I couldn’t help but wonder how many times did she sing this song on and off stage, as it is basically Harini’s trademark song. The song captures the innocence of a child who is enjoying the small parts of life that the adults are too busy for.

This feel good song definitely put the whole group of audience in a warm, cozy mood with the Harini’s voice that felt like honey to the ears. Another song that didn’t age with our fast paced life, it felt to be reminded that this is in fact what we need.

Sowkiyama Kannae

“Sowkiyama Kannae” is a song that I cannot finish listening without having tears in my eyes. It reminds me of a toxic relationship I was in, where I actually loved this man who cheated on me. Despite everything he put me through, I was like is like “Sowkiyama kanne?”

This painfully beautiful song was sang by Haripriya, is close to both her and me. For her, its because this is the song she sang which caught A.R. Rahman’s attention during Super Singer Juniors. For me, oh well, I have already spoken enough about it. This emotional song felt different in person, live on stage. It felt stronger, it felt connected and it was simply breathtaking. Thank you Haripriya for choosing to perform this song.

Telephone Manipol

The surprise element “Telephone Manipol” carried was indeed jawdropping! Who expected our own THR Raaga’s Aanantha to sing a duet with Harini? And it was finesse! I really appreciate your guts to agree to this and you did a wonderful performance matching to singer Harini, Aanantha!

Nathiyae Nathiyae

Singer Unni Menon was quick to realize that Nikhil the flute artist was stealing the show and after his performance for “Nathiyae Nathiyae” he mentioned that Nikhil is going to have the largest fan base among the audience at the end of the day. Nikhil’s flute performance to compliment Unni Menon’s voice was magical.

What can I even say about Unni Menon’s Nathiyae Nathiyae? It gave me goosebumps. The song felt live and real. I may not use the exact words to explain this, but a humble personal opinion for this song is that “Nathiyae Nathiyae” live  was way better than “Nathiyae Nathiyae” in the movie.

Urvasi

If you know me, you know the deep deep appreciation I have for Urvasi! It was a trendsetter, and till date my wake up song, whenever I’m feeling sleepy or groggy at work. This song keeps you going!

The last person that I expected to pick up the mic when this music started was Unni Krishnan. The sweet, cute Raju Bhai basically transformed to a whole new avatar and it was fun to watch him move as he sings this upbeat song. Although it wasn’t mirroring the original or what Benny Dayal would’ve done, it was definitely a great effort coming from this 40-year-old man who is very much of an introvert.

All in all, Retro Rahman was a beautiful effort to bring the composition of Mozart of Madras to live and I owe MOJO a big THANK YOU. Thank you for not limiting this event to be a 90’s A.R.R. Thank you for handpicking versatile singers like those who performed. Thank you for having the round by round arrangement and portraying many many genres. Thank you for hosting this beautiful night, star studded, yet very well balanced!

Rahman and Me

By, Tharanie Rajendran

When I was 14, I was called out at the school assembly for the best-written essay under the English Language Society's essay writing competition. The title was “My idol” and I vividly remember when everyone else was writing about their dad, a teacher or someone they know in person, it took me approximately 2 hours to write 4 full pages about A.R. Rahman.

I swear it is no surprise to anyone who has been there during my preteens that I turned out to be a writer. The first piece which I wrote that made everyone realize that it is not only a dream and I can actually write, is that essay, my idol, A.R.Rahman.

Coincidentally, it was the year that A.R.R. Ji won an Oscar and a Grammy for Slumdog Millionaire (2009) so the world was already celebrating him and there were fans popping up like mushrooms after a rainy day. But for me, I fell in love with that man the first time I listened to Pettai Rap and Urvasi from Kadhalan.  I was like 4? I remember not allowing Amma to change the channel every time the song was on. It was so fresh back then!

My life has always been in tuned with music, Carnatic especially. I grew up listening to many songs and I do very much remember that every time there was a Rahman song playing (literally) anywhere, I shut everyone up until its finished (Hey, we didn’t have the privilege to get it recorded or rewind all the time, so don’t judge!). I mean, who could over look his golden era of the 90’s? Every song was unique, every song was fresh and every song gets you on the loop, till date!

Mentioning Kadhalan just now, I can never overlook Ennavalae. Easily Unni Krishnan’s best song and every 90’s couple’s favourite duet. Because of my Carnatic background, I do know the amazing vocals of Unni Krishnan prior to his film debut but little did I know at the very young age, it was his voice that made me go to sleep almost every night when I was a kid with the song Uyirum Neeye. Again, another A.R.R. Ji’s masterpiece.  Now that he is coming to Malaysia to (definitely) perform Ennavalae, who wouldn’t want to miss it?

On the other hand, there is Unni Menon, who has sung over 3000 songs in South Indian languages  and won A.R.R. Ji his first National award (for his first movie!). He has a very unique, yet very manly voice. The Mozart of Madras put it to good use with songs like “Oh la la la” from Minsara Kanavu and “Poorale Ponnuthayi” from Karuththamma.

A big reason I love A.R.R. Ji is that he is always welcoming new talents. Just like how he found Haripriya from Super Singer Junior 4. She wasn’t the title winner but she wowed him with her “Soukiyama Kannae” and now touring the world with him (doesn’t this remind you of Naresh Iyer a little?) Great news is that, Haripriya will be here this July 7^th too!

Speaking about Haripriya and new talents, you know who else has a similar story? Singer Harini! Yes, she was in a singing competition when A.R.R. Ji and filmmaker Suhasini Maniratnam approached her to sing her first song in the Tamil playback industry, Nila Kaigirathu. She was only 15 then and I don’t have to go through her success story , recording over 15 songs with A.R.R. Ji alone!

And you guessed it right, all these expectional honey-voiced talents are coming together for Retro Rahman, a tribute concert, highlighting the 90’s songs of A.R.R. Ji. Unnikrishnan, Unni Menon, Harini and Haripriya are to date touring around the globe with A.R.R. Ji and having all of them on the same stage for Retro Rahman is close to having A.R.R. Ji here!

Now who would want to miss this ? To get your tickets for Retro Rahman: A Tribute, head over now to www.airasiaredtix.com or call 012-2000505.