Kollywood Movie Reviews #ept

Aasai [Desire] (1995)

Writer: Vasanth

Director: Vasanth

Producers:
Mani Ratnam
S. Sriram

Starring:
Suvalakshmi as Saraswathi "Yamuna"
Ajith "Thala" Kumar as Jeevanantham
Prakash Raj as Major Madhavan

Song of the Review (Konja Naal Poru)

Ada Kaamaatchi Meenaatchi Enna Paero Naanariyaen (I do not care if your name is Kamatchi or Meenatchi)

Scene of the Review

The bus makes a stop at one of the bus stops. Jeeva rushes inside the bus. As it is raining outside, there are rain drops that are falling in the bus (yet Jeeva remains oblivious of this). What does catch Jeeva's eye is the girl in front of his seat, touching the rain drops that land on the edge of the window. Jeeva stares at the girl in admiration. The girl on the bus, Yamuna, notices Jeeva's stare, so she stops playing with the rain drops. The ticket collector is about to make his way into the bus. Yamuna is searching for a ticket deep inside her bag. Jeeva realizes that Yamuna does not have a ticket, so he gives her his ticket. When the ticket collector comes to check his ticket, Jeeva is sent out of the bus. As a result, he is berated by the officials who have him under their clutches.

General Comments

After my long hiatus on Kollywood, I am finally back in full form! This movie helped me rediscover my love for the Tamil film industry all over again. There were times when I felt disengaged from the Kollywood fever, but after watching this movie, I felt my passion for Kollywood come back to life!

Before I watched this movie, I was not much of a Thala fan. I respected his work and I respected him as a person, but I never got around to watching any of his movies. After watching this movie, I found a new love for Thala. In fact, I cannot wait for "Thala 57" to hit theaters! Initially, the role of Jeevanantham was supposed to go to Suriya in efforts to kick start his career as an actor. At the time, Suriya was not interested in acting, so he rejected the role. Later on, Suriya did begin his career as an actor as a lead role in one of Vasanth's other films "Nerruku Ner" [Face to Face] (1997). Frankly, I believe that he passed up a good offer. Aasai is a film that I would watch again. When I watch a movie multiple times, those movies tend to be great movies! In all honestly, I cannot even imagine Suriya in Thala's place. There was just something about Thala's acting that kept me glued to the screen. He also made me smile in admiration.

Suvalakshmi is a doll in this movie! I loved her face. She has one of the cutest faces in Kollywood. When people take a glance at her, people are immediately drawn to her. She has that power to hold one in. This movie marked her debut in Kollywood. As this movie was her debut, she did not fail to impress with her stellar acting skills. It is her scenes that I watch multiple times. I love her facial expressions. One of the many things I love about Kollywood is that Kollywood does not put emphasis on the "ideal" body image or the "perfect" look. On various websites, you hear about actors' struggles with weight. In Kollywood, there are not very many weight-loss stories and that is what I love about Kollywood. I love the fact that Kollywood is a welcoming film industry. It put emphasis on the actors' skills rather than their body. Although Suvalakshmi is not heavily made up or extremely skinny to the bones, one just loves her the moment one sees her on the big screen. It is a shame that she does appear in films anymore!

Prakash Raj has the skills to take people by surprise. In all of the movies I read about, Prakash Raj had roles as a benign character. He was the type of person to either play a father role or a benevolent companion to the lead actors. His role in this movie took my impression of him in another level. Not only was he a lot slimmer and younger, his role as the cunning and sly Major Madhavan was a role I was not expecting of him. The fact that he had these antagonistic roles prove how versatile of an actor he is. I believe that an actor is doing his job as an antagonistic actor if you hate him in a certain movie. Not only was I expecting this role from Prakash Raj, I also hated him from the deep core of my heart.