Unnai Pol Oruvan Trailer - Initial Reactions !!

The trailer of the much awaited Kamal hassan - mohan lal starrer 'Unnai Pol Oruvan' was officially out a couple of days back.

The trailer to me looked very impressive. The cinematography with the red one camera looked sleek. The bgm by shruthi was adequate, though the 'unnai pol.. ennai pol..' background initially looked kinda out of place on repetitive viewings sounded good. With the look of it Kamal was in top notch form and was looking like he was having fun. As we have a Telugu version (Eenadu with Venkatesh playing Lals character) releasing simultaneously its trailer was also out a day before the Tamil version. the trailer is the same in Telugu but what was interesting even in this one minute trailer is that, we see Kama acting out the same scene in two different ways. In the trailer the scene where he says he has a placed a 3 kg rdx bomb in a police station near the IGs office and sarcastically asks will that be possible for any suppan, kuppan etc to do.. you could see a subtle difference in the two versions. I for one loved the way he did that scene in Telugu when compared to Tamil. Looks like we Kamal fans are in for a double treat.

As like any other Kamal movie the trailer has been met with varied reactions, we have a huge set of Kamal fans who have gone berserk and cant stop praising the trailer, then we have kamal detractors who don't seem to satisfied with the trailer and who are sure it’s not gonna work at the box office, then we have the neutrals who seem to have been quiet impressed with the trailer. Overall there seems to be a positive response for the trailer though there were a few questions raised.

As this is a remake, the comparison to the original is inevitable. Quiet a lot of people, a few Kamal fans included have voiced out that Kamals character doesn't actually fit the common man bill and his dialogue delivery seems to be too commanding with a touch a of heroism in it. Their argument is that Naseerudin Shah looked jaded, old but the same time was able to reflect an underlying frustration and anger with his performance. He was able to bring out the helpless state of common man who is fuming beneath. My counter argument is that for everyone who has watched 'A Wednesday' will know that how vital the climax is. The monologue by Mr. Shah where he reveals himself as a common helpless man who decided to take it up against the system is one scene which would have had a lasting impression on anyone. So when people try to relate Kamals performance in the trailer they should try to relate it to those initial scenes of the movie where Mr. Shah commands the entire police force to his calls and completely forget the common man picture out of their minds. Then their doubts will be answered. There is no thumb rule that a common man should look thin, old and tired, he can very much be a handsome looking man with a French beard and glasses. For a man who can successfully grow three feet tall or three feet shot to fit into the character will definitely know what he is doing.

Another big question that poses Unnai Pol Oruvan is that will the subject of terrorism and bomb blasts will work the same way in south India ?Will the people be able to relate it ??? A big YES is the answer. Accepted that people from say Chennai don't have first had experiences of terrorism when compared to those in Mumbai, but still you can’t doubt the film’s success purely based on this. If 'Roja' ,'Bombay','Kuruthi Punal' could work wonders with the audience why not 'UnnaiPol Oruvan'. Added we do have cases of bomb blasts ( Coimbatore, Hyderabad and Bangalore) in South India too. While 'A Wednesday' had a back drop of Mumbai and its train blast on a Wednesday, this one could very much be a case of a general reaction to all the bombing happening around with Mumbai included. In a scene in the original Anupam Kher asks Naseerudin shah if he is doing this for revenge as in if has lost some one dear in the bomb blast, for which Shah reacts asking " do we really have to really react only after losing some one dear ??". Same way this very much could be a case of “do we really have to react only after a blast in our own city?". It all boils down to how well the subject is executed and presented. The script is already a proven success and with Kamal on board you can be rest assured that it executed and presented well.

Kamal is some one who seldom disappoints us in all these years, am damn sure his 50th year in cinema would be no different.