Even before the trailer was released, I was excited to watch this movie. When you watch movies like 'Aaranya Kaandam', the kind of experience you get will only leave you to crave for more. And when you hear names like - Vijay Sethupathi, Fahad Fazil, Ramya Krishnan, etc., your expectation grows multi-fold. Finally, when the trailer was released, it did perfect justice to the huge expectations. But will Thiyagarajan Kumaraaja deliver? Will the audience understand the genius that is Thiyagarajan Kumaraaja? Or Will 'Super Deluxe' succumb to the same fate of 'Aaranya Kaandam'? We'll get to all of these in a bit but first things first.
Vijay Sethupathi - I don't know how many know about this trivia - Maniratnam was mighty impressed with the performance of Mohanlal in 'Iruvar' that, after he finished the shoot, he told Mohanlal - 'I will never direct you again.' And he never did. The reason I'm citing this here is that I don't think Vijay Sethupathi should ever act again. He should retire after this movie. I have seen a handful of world movies in different languages but I'm telling you no actor/acting in the world can compare to what he has done in this movie. Being a diehard Kamal fan from childhood, I can tell you this is a role that even legends like Kamal, Mohanlal cannot do justice to. And the fact that Vijay Sethupathi made it look so easy and convincing speaks volume about this man's talent, dedication, and hard work. The role of a lifetime. You might have already seen Vijay Sethupathi as a transgender in the poster and in the trailer, but nothing will prepare you for what he has done in the movie. I repeat, NOTHING!
No one can depict the beauty of a Father-Son relationship in the most unimaginable situations like Thiyagarajan Kumaraaja does. Take Aaranya Kaandam for instance - In one of the many parallels in the movie, we get a Father-son duo - A once rich Father who lost all his money in gambling and let down his family and a son who is angry on his Father for letting him down but will never give up on his Father. In fact, his dialogue sums up the entire movie. When a Police ask, "Unga appa na unaku avlo pidikuma da?" he replies, "Apdi lam illa. Aana avaru enga Appa..". In Super Deluxe we get a similar parallel, A transgender father who left his family, and a son who never gives up on his father no matter how much he is angry on him. And so beautifully the son sums up their relationship when he utters this dialogue while crying - "Nee aambalaya iru, pombalaya iru.. Aana enga kooda iru..". The boy who plays Vijay Sethupathi's son has just nailed it.
Fahad Fazil plays a poor husband. Poor - not as in financially poor, but the most unfortunate kind of poor - 'has-a-wife-who-cheats-him-with-his-college-boyfriend-in-his-own-bed' type of poor. I don't know who wrote Fahad Fazil's character, but the bits and pieces he speaks then and there just like that, have very deep meaning and Fahad Fazil being the brilliant actor he is, has portrayed his character with so much conviction. Samantha plays a modern-day girl who always finds her torn between culture, tradition, desires, love, and sex. The best thing about Thiyagarajan Kumaraaja is that he never judges - even his characters. He leaves it entirely to us. Whether what Samantha did was right or wrong? Well, that depends on WHAT is right and WHAT is wrong.
Only Ramya Krishnan can play the role of a 'Rajamatha' and a 'Sex worker' so convincingly that we actually think these are two different actors. Such a versatile actress! In the center of all this hoopla are the 3 boys whose actions who, like a domino effect, sets up the entire story in action. The story begins and ends with them. Whenever they come on screen, complete entertainment guaranteed. These 3 might be the best find of this year.
P.S Vinod and Nirav Shah are the cinematographers for this movie. I don't know who did which part but the shots in all the parallels are beautifully composed that you may want to watch the movie again just to appreciate the amount of work that has gone into cinematography. There are blurred shots (For example, there is this one shot where the camera focusses on a group of ants blurring what happens in the background when the everyone in Vijay Sethupathi's family is debating about his gender) , POV shots, Out of Focus shots all of them perfectly placed to give you the feeling that you are watching the stories unfold right next to you, that you are a silent spectator to all the craziness that is happening.
Yuvan has once again proved that when it comes to BGM he is, THE BOSS. The music complements and in most scenes elevates the entire scene into a whole new level. Ilayaraja has once said the best background music is no background music - meaning the composer should know when to use BGM and when to be silent and let the dialogues take the center stage. It's no surprise that Yuvan has mastered that craft. In a dialogue-heavy movie like this and with masterclass dialogue writer like Thiyagarajan Kumaraaja, Yuvan has perfectly blended silence with his amazing BGM. The success of Yuvan's BGM is making you hum the hit Ilayaraja Number, "Anthiyila Vaanam.." after watching the movie.(You have to watch the movie to understand this). Like Karthik Subbburaj, Kumaraaja also uses many Ilayaraja songs to set the mood of a scene and it works charmingly.
Back to where we started.
Has Thiyagarajan Kumaraaja delivered? - Hell Yeah!!
Will the audience understand the genius that is Thiyagarajan Kumaraaja? When the title card read, 'A Thiyagarajan Kumaraaja movie' there were whistles and claps (A feat only a handful director like Maniratnam, Karthik Subburaj has managed to achieve).
Will 'Super Deluxe' succumb to the same fate of 'Aaranya Kaandam'? I don't think so. You ask me how? The applause and whistle at the beginning for Thiyagarajan Kumaraaja had turned into a standing ovation after a 3 hour long running movie when the title card read in the end - 'Written and Directed by Thiyagarajan Kumaraaja' (Again, a feat only handful directors like Maniratnam, Karthik Subburaj has managed to achieve).
So, is 'Super Deluxe' a social movie that speaks about the struggle of transgenders? Is it a Drama that mocks the society and its so-called (double) standards? It has a cat and mouse game - Is it a thriller? Is this an Adult comedy? It has aliens in it - Is it a science fiction movie? Is the too much darkness in the movie makes it a neo-noir? Or is there even a genre that this movie can fit into? The beauty is that you cannot fit 'Super Deluxe' into one genre. It's beyond all that. All I know is 'Super Deluxe' is a rare masterpiece. A once in a lifetime experience. A movie that transcends all the boundaries of film making, a movie that makes that thrills you, excites you, makes you laugh, smile, cry, whistle, think and in the end sticks with you, forever.
Super Deluxe, to me, is a drug. A drug that makes you an addict and cures you of the addiction, all at the same time.
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