The film is made in a typical tamil cinema formula, except glamour. The film starts and moves in a predictable way. The turning point in lead character’s life is not that convincing. After that logicless sequences follow. Two songs were good in the first half. Liked them.
Second half was boring. Felt sympathy for the goondas in climax. The logic of fights and story is made with a lower class tamil audience in mind. Sindhuraj has to learn a lot about script writing.Nothing else was worth mentioning.
Rating 5.5/10
Q: How did you reach cinema? Was it a long time ambition?
A: It was not planned or a dream for me to become a film maker. My parents were teachers. I went to Madras for learning color processing, considering it would be an additional qualification for securing a job in Dubai. In Madras, I was staying with people in the “assistant” category from the film industry. There were one Venugopal Chokli a lyricist, one Subramanian a music director and one playback singer Dinesh. All the second sundays were compulsary holidays for them. On such days, all of them gets together for making songs. It happened to be my responsibility to write situations for the new songs. Thus my friends found that there was something inside me for becoming an assistant director. Music director Rajamani was the godfather of the group and I became an assistant director of Kamal sir through them. I got the permission from Kamal sir only for working in a single film with him, and I joined the set of “Pradeshika Varthakal”. On the very first day in the film’s set, I realised that my field is cinema. I didnt have any aim in my life untill then.
Gradually the job became a bit boring for me. An assistant director may watch a film hundreds of times before releasing it in the theatre. But cinema is completely different when its released in theatre. Its not the same one which we watch in lab till last day
before the release. The majority viewers’ attitude influence us in the theatre while watching a film. Thats the main reason sometimes we feel a film is bad in theatre but like it while watching on television. That is the psychology of theatre. Actually I laughed only for a few scenes in Meeshamadhavan. But it was surprising to see the crowd response in the theater, as the jokes were seen umpteen times by us (the makers) but it was fresh for the viewers.
Q: Your First film was Maravathoor Kanavu. How was the film born?
A: I worked as an assistant of Kamal for around fourteen films. During the intervals of Kamal films, I worked with other directors. By the time I worked as associate director of Nizar, K K Haridas etc. I worked with K K Haridas’ “Vadhu Doctor aanu”. Its the producer of Vadhu Doctor aanu who made the first offer to me to become a director. I was married at that time and had a stable income during that period, by working as associate director for five ir six films a year. So it was a big risk to direct a film that time because if it fails, I may not get new films and cannot work as an associate anymore. For avoiding that offer i told that I will consider to direct a film only if Sreenivasan or Lohithadas would write a script for me. But Alex (producer) asked Sreenivasan (who is doing a small orle in that film) for a script for his new film. Sreenivasan asked for the director and Alex told that its the associate director guy. Sreenivasan’s reply was a big surprise- he agreed to write if Alex’s director is me. Actually those words made me to look into myself and to realise that I had grown enough to become a director.
Q: What about your team work & films with Ranjan Pramod? How was your team formed?
A: After taking the diploma from Adayar film institute, Ranjan joined as an assistant of Rajeev Menon(ad film maker). Then Ranjan planned to direct a film simultaneously in Tamil and Malayalam. I was working as associate director that time. Seven Arts Mohan recommeded my name as associate director to him. Ranjan came to meet me and I agreed without any hesitation. But due to some other reasons, that film didnt happen. Later I became director. After Maravathoor Kanavu, Seven Arts Mohan approached me for a film with the date of Suresh Gopi. But I was not interested since Suresh Gopi’s police films were not of my taste. He told Ranjan has a story for Suresh Gopi and Ranjan came with the story to meet me. He told he will explain the story in a few lines and I can choose someone else to write the script for it. But after hearing the story, I insisted that Ranjan
himself must write script and he did it. Thats how my first first film with Ranjan happened. But it failed in the box office.
But I took a challenge that if I would do a film after it, i would be with the same team. Randam Bhavam was better than many sub standard films which were superhits of that time. That decision lead to Meesha Madhavan. After the success of Meesha Madhavan, we couldn’t work together.
Q: Majority of your films’ music is scored by Vidyasagar. What about that?
A: That is not coincidental. Vidyasagar’s music demands good visuals. His music compels me to opt for better visuals. He delivered the best for all of my films. Public appreciate it a lot and consider our team’s music as the best while the film releases. So there is no reason for me to avoid Vidyasagar.
Q: What about your favorite films and directors in world cinema.
A: Actually Iranian films influenced me a lot. Majid Majidi is my favorite director. I used to attend film festivals and attended Berlin film festival twice. A lot of good films in the world releases in Berlin film festival. So we can watch them before anyone else.
Q: Among your films, which film gave you the maximum satisfaction as a film maker?
A: I would say none of my films gave me a complete satisfaction. While watching my own films, I can see only the mistakes and minuses in it. Thats the fate of almost all film makers. The mistakes will project more infront its creators. Classmates, Meeshamadhavan etc gave a lot of pleasure for me. But that pleasure cannot be termed as satisfaction. I have more attachment with Classmates, since the public created an emotional relation with that film.
Q: Can you explain more about how Classmates’ happened?
A: After Rasikan’s failure, I was on a break. That film was a complete mistake in my career. Randam Bhavam, Pattalam etc might be flops, but those films had its own merits. But Rasikan was a mistake. After its failure, I was under a lot of pressure. Even some actors and technicians in that film blamed me. During that time actor Saddique told that there is a new writer James Albert and he had a story with him. But I was not atall in a mood to hear anything for cinema. But I agreed to hear the story since Saddique insisted. I was all set to avoid James in ten minutes. But when he started, I couldn’t tell him to stop. He took almost 3 hours to complete the story. Then I realised that I must do that film. But I had committed Chanthupottu and Achan Urangathaveedu that time. James started the scripting work. We used to meet during the shooting of Chanthupottu and
Achan Urangathaveedu for the discussion about script. Initially the flash back portion was situated in a Bangalore based campus. But we decided to relocate it into a campus which is familiar to all of us(The suggestion was from producer Lal). A lot of modifications were done to the script. Jayasurya’s character was a different, that of Indrajith’s was villain. James was so flexible to accept the suggestions, and its quality is proven by the public.
Q: More about Achan Urangatha Veedu.
A: Writer Babu Janardhanan told the thread of the film during a car journey from Shornur to Ernakulam. I feared a bit initially, since the subject is somewhat repulsive for our audience. When we read a news about an accident, we believe it will not happen to our family. Thats the same feeling regarding the news of sexual abuses. Its not about our sister or mother. It creates a mild orgasm inside us while reading such news. The interval scene of the film points towards malayalees’ attitude. People dont care about the tragedy, they need to see the body used by 40 men. The film was a necessity against this attitude.
But it flopped in the box office. It dried out almost all my savings, as the producer left the film mid-way and I completed it with my own money. Classmates was a relief after that.
Good editing and graphics for the title scrolls in the beginning. One or two excellent shots by Amal as a camera man. Nice back ground score by Gopi Sunder. Atlast Hummer… There ends the positive parts of the sky hyped Sagar Alias Jacky. Nothing else.
A complete let down by director Amal and writer S N Swamy. and 100% irresponsible approach by Mohanlal. He could have worked atleast for reducing the weight when working for such a big film. He looked better in Red Chillees.
The film starts no where and ends nowhere. The script is a big ZERO. So nothing to mention about the story line. I think the name ” S N Swamy” is just used for titles. dialogs are poorly written. Amal Neerad should understand that taking slow motions and having enough rain and umbrellas didn’t create a cinema. But one shot stands out, a shot in the night while villains chase Bhavana. Brilliant lighting and camera work there. Actor Sampath had done a good job.
Action scenes (just gun shot scenes) were taken without any logic. The shooter who can kill Jacky’s friend from 2 km away cannot shoot straight into Jacky from closer dist. Jacky can shoot villains from open position(without cover) but villains with cover cannot aim atleast single bullet at open Jacky… pathetic direction from a man who learned cinema from RGV.
Then romance… similar situation like “Irupatham Nootandu”, but the makers forgot Lal’s age today. The love song was completely unnecessary. A matured romantic relation is given for Manoj K Jayan (Shobhana) but it was a teenage love for aged Jacky.
As a whole, SAJ is another attempt by today’s malayalam film makers who believe all the viewers are idiots. Our cinema is not going to survive until they change this attitude.
verdict : Stay Away
Rating 3.5 /10 ( for technical work only)