unnai pol oru wednesday....

six of us descended upon sathyam cinemas to watch kamal hasan's latest flick "unnaipol oruvan" - remake of the hindi film " a wednesday". as i had just watched "a Wednesday" for the millionth time a week back , it was tough to avoid comparisons.nevertheless i liked the Tamil version, though not as much as the hindi one. the star appeal of Mohanlal , Kamal Hasan etc ultimately appeals to you .For those who haven't seen the original , this fare will be engaging and keep you gripped.however the charm of an original never transpires in a remake and i felt ,the same happens here.

to put the story in a few lines . the commissioner of police I.G.Maarar(mohanlal , complete with a thick mallu accent) gets threatening phone calls from Mr Unknown(Kamal Hasan) demanding the release of 4 accused terrorists in exchange that he will diffuse 4 bombs kept in various locations in the city . how this problem is solved as time progresses and how it affects the people involved ( Anuja iyer(the cigarette toting journo , arif((a very smart and suave) Ganesh venkatraman and Dr Reddy(i forgot his name in the movie !!)) forms the rest of the story.

the movie has certain contextual changes to adapt to the tamil milieu... trains are not given as much importance as they were given in a Wednesday.the bomb blasts referred to are the ones which happened in sri perambathur and Coimbatore.anupam kher in Hindi is plain clothed throughout the movie as here Mohanlal is clothed in khakhi giving the more dramatic effect. all this is well appreciated as relating to it is better this way.the cinematography is glossy and all the techie stuff shown is mind blowing.. for someone who does not know anything about gadgets much , i found all the preliminary scenes of Kamal setting up all the hi fi stuff impressive(all of this was not in the Hindi version).

Anuja iyer is impressive in her limited screen time , the two police officers shine and are powerful(Ganesh venkatraman is my new favourite ) . Mohanlal impresses as usual but his thick mallu accent can leave you confused at times. Lakshmi who plays chief secretary is effective and her exchanges with Mohanlal are witty but one wonders if her role was absolutely necessary.what was the need to include the phone conversations with the chief minister ?it felt fake though some of the responses in the conversations is sure to make one smile. Sreeman comes as the actor in need of protection and it is hard to miss who he is aping.the implications are just too obvious not to notice.Random scenes like that of the hacker(was he the guy who came as the small boy in anjali and sathileelavathi??)are stereotypical but at the same time puts a smile on your face. the fact that this movie has done away with super man - like fights and songs is a welcome relief and thats defying stereotypes for you.

Coming to kamal, he is terrific. no doubt about that. your heart goes out to him when he breaks down and recounts a horrific incident. after 50 years at this, he definitely is very good.there are too many English dialogues though..in a way it enhances a class act but will probably appeal to the multiplex audiences more. how far is he the "common man"?? that was the only thing where i felt nasserudin shah shone- his simplicity and how ordinary he was, was hard to miss.he was convincing because of this act and the power he brought in to a role like this.nevertheless kamal is good.

Watch the movie definitely . if you haven't watched the original , you are bound to appreciate this film better. and for those who have watched the original... give this a shot anyways.....its a Kamal movie after all!!

poorvaja