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Friday, February 18, 2011

Yudham Sei (2010)


The general consensus of Yudham Sei: “An edge of the seat thriller.” I agree with the choice of words. I was actually on the edge of my seat contemplating on walking out of the theatre. That was thrilling, compared to the film.

Yudham Sei is self-indulgent pretentious garbage that I wouldn’t watch even if I was to get paid for it. Homeless beggars would rather sleep on the streets than sleep in an air-conditioned theatre that screens the film. Director Mysskin has tried too hard to make a powerful film by playing with the audience’s emotions. With the film he shocks, provokes, inserts twists, milks sentiment as and when he wishes.

The lead character is J.Krishnamoorthy. He runs fast, he takes on eight people with a penknife and wears leather shoes. The man is labeled as a “good” guy. That’s how the central character of the film is written. He has hardly any depth. All you know is that he is “the best police officer” and that he wants to find his kidnapped sister. How are we to understand him and his wants? He is glorified by making every other character around him seem insensitive. This is the limit of Mysskin’s talent. He might be able to capture and invert beautiful shots of cobwebs, cardboard boxes, watermelons, snakes, skies, lampposts and water, in various colors of light, but a consummation of all that doesn’t qualify as a film. It’s no more than a power point presentation of google image search results.

You know right from the beginning that it’s a talented crew and they could be good at what they do. Unfortunately, they’re in the wrong hands. Mysskin uses them in all the wrong ways. He has an eye for detail but not the honesty of an artist. He goes to the extent of making a direct reference to Rashomon by using the film’s name. It wasn’t a tribute or a token of appreciation; it was a shameless attempt at letting the audience know that he’s someone with international exposure to films. As if we’ve forgotten about him not giving credit to the original material that Nandalala was adapted from. Mysskin has low self esteem, he doesn’t have faith in his script and therefore he tries to get the music to drive the film. Newcomer K certainly has talent but it’s the truth, everyone has to start at the bottom.

The screenplay is laughable. It’s so horribly contrived. Half the story is narrated by a nearly dead man who laughs and drinks despite having two bullets lodged in his intestine. The characters keep doing things that are out of character. Mysskin, the director should never hire Mysskin, the screenwriter again. From Mysskin’s films, it’s pretty obvious that he’s a film-maker only because he wants to be one, not because he enjoys making films. It’s shabbily overdone and the visual metaphors just make it worse. Yudham Sei is like eating a burger filled with just mayonnaise. You’re going to feel like throwing up. I could write another thousand words about why the film sucks so hard, but I’m going to spare you of that. It’s poison. Stay away from it.

Rating – 0/10

23 comments:

  1. Dai mooditu kelambu da naaaye...Oru nalla padatha appreciate pana therla, apram ena mayithuku ni lam blog ezhudura...ni ena avalo periya appatakara...

    Periya parupu madiri pesara, unnale oru short film a vadhu urupadiya eduka mudiyuma da venna....

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  2. Very well written review, love the detailed description of the movie's flaws. I haven't watched Yudham Sei, but now I'm not going to- because I hate burgers filled with just mayo.

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  3. I love reading your reviews. The film def might be a "distaster " to say the least. But thanks to that got to read such an entertaining review! :)

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  4. Wow, this one sounds really bad.
    I don't think I've ever seen a film I would give 0/10 to, but then again I do tend to avoid bad films...
    Great review Rohit!

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  5. @anonymous:ROFL! entertaining !!
    @sel:"Homeless beggars would rather sleep on the streets than sleep in an air-conditioned theatre that screens the film" - Best emphasis man! After this sentence I only read the post for the jacking and sarcasm and not for the 'review' as such. It sure was a fun read!

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  6. Sel, just outta curiosity .. will you ever ever rate a movie 5/10??

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  7. Bruno, one of my early reviews. Here's a list of all the movies I gave 5/10.

    http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=41938153&s=reverse_uservote&o=280

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  8. Honestly I think its an unfair review - if the idea is to bish bash a film then why write a review? It did have its loose ends, technically definitely not the best - but it did deliver an edge of seat entertainer - definitely not like a alltimefavtop10 kinda movie but DEFINITELY worth a watch atleast - in an age when the film makers DARE to make films like Maapillai etc this is not a "laughable" effort - atleast 5-6/10

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  9. P.S - I jst read ur previous reviews and it seems like ur a biased, prejudiced and have preconceived notions - for instance technically "Do the Right thing" was SHITE - other Spike Lee Joints were def better - look we can jst go on haranguing abt this but the bottom line is - a film by definition is a form of entertainment that enacts a story and this one does tht - honestly 0/10 is reserved for some special f***ed up movies - either tells me you havent or are not seeing enough movies - if u wish to further this discussion do let me know - else accept that 0 is a bit harsh (AGAIN not at all going and calling Yuddham Sei as a MUST WATCH BRILLIANT ALL TIME BEST FAV movie) - but its NOT 0/10 material - S

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  10. Yudham Sei is pretentious. There's so much effort gone into the film as I've said but it wasn't necessary. If you have the right idea, you don't need to take upside down shots or show a spider web as a visual metaphor to say that it's a trap, or to show an upward arrow to say that his life is going uphill from now. Yudham Sei is a horrible commercial masquerading as art. I prefer straight out commercial films to films that are trying too hard to show their art especially when they have heroes beating up five people with pen knives. 0 is not harsh. It's the worst film I've ever seen.

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  11. It's not a laubhable effort. It takes itself so seriously that it insults my intelligence.

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  12. Wait - Where does it say "I am an Art film!!" Art/ Commercial/ Mass are tags given by reviewers me thinks. Hope there is no personal vendetta against Myskkin (yeah i agree on the Rashomon bit etc) but dude its a movie and it does make u watch it - essence of a good film is to ensure it reaches to one and all - I hate elitist films for that reason - not saying I watch mass movies but the wannabe elitist is what I hate - - Sai (he of the prev 2 comments)

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  13. Dude that first guy was hilarious, think its Vikram using a Tamil dictionary or Microsoft Word - Tamil.

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  14. Harsh review to say the least..you might have been hungry while watching the film..the reference to burgers makes it even more suggestive :) Remember that a reviewer should never ask the reader to stay away from a movie..its his choice..of course its your right to say you disliked it. For eg. I liked the movie and I know a lot of ppl who loved it..now reading your review some of them might have missed out on a good watch. I liked the way you had put down your thoughts on the movie though.

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  15. 0/10 for this review..Worst ever..I think you have also posted the same in IMDB..This is one of the best movies released in tamizh and don't spoil its reputation..

    And regarding mysskin not giving credit to kikujiro for its theme,when no one on earth gives credit to the original, why he alone should be questioned.. Harris jeyaraj never gave credits to all his lifted tunes, Shankar didn't credit syndey sheldon for anniyan, Gautham menon didn't credit 500 days of summer & psycho, even manirathnam never credited valmiki or vyasa...As far as I remember Vetriman seems to be only person to credit the true creators...So you can't blame mysskin..

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  16. Great review dude! I liked the movie somewhat after the first screening.. but have then thought on and off about the many artificial notes in the movie. I completely agree with you that Mysskin "is a film-maker only because he wants to be one, not because he enjoys making films". I would rate it much more than 0... but I agree Mysskin messed up some hard work by everyone else involved.

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