Thursday, October 1, 2009

"Unnai Pol Oruvan" Or "A Wednesday" - The Hindi Version Leads!

I was eagerly waiting for the release of Unnai Pol Oruvan, the reason was; i was left with a feeling of awe when i watched the Hindi Version of the movie titled "A Wednesday".

Both are equally good in its own style and my choice would be "A Wednesday" just for the severity of the Mumbai blasts which disturbed the entire nation.

Nevertheless, Kamal Hasan and Mohanlal were great donning their role brilliantly. The only issue is the sensitivity of the Mumbai blasts where it was more intense among common people. Even though i am not from Mumbai, i felt the Mumbai blasts was somehow more disturbing in the life of a common man. Having said this, i am not denying the fact that people from Kovai or a common man who felt the pain of Kovai blasts only must be knowing the pain of the same. The only difference is when it happened in Mumbai the pain was even more severe and the entire country was disturbed by the incident. This role was very well enacted by Nasiruddin Shah in the Hindi Version. I blame myself for not even knowing anything about the Meenambakkam blast. Of course, it was an eye opener when Kamal Hasan brought this point in the movie. Am not sure how many people knew about this incident!

I somehow do not like Kamal Hasan claiming that Unnai Pol Oruvan is different from the Hindi version which had come first. The credit has to be given to the original version as the entire movie was based on the idea of the same. The only difference between the two versions are, the Hindi Version considering the Mumbai blasts and the Tamil Version considering the Kovai and Meenambakkam blasts. Having said this, Kamal Hasan ofcourse is a boon to the film industry and no hard core hatredness towards him in anyways!

The casting for the Tamil version is brilliant! I must mention a few people who have done a great job apart from the legend of Tamil and Malayalam Industry. The Cop role played by Ganesh Venkatraman of Abiyum Nanum Fame and the journalist role played by Anuja Iyer was Fantastic. Both seems to have an immense potential in acting. I could come to this conclusion by observing the differences in role played by them and their flexibility, comparing with their performances in other movies. Wish they go a long way in the film industry.

The screenplay is equally good in both Tamil and the Hindi Version.

Lastly, the background score for the film is just apt in the Tamil version. When i first listened to the songs after the audio release function of the movie, i thought Shruthi Hasan is going to screw up the movie with her western music influence. I must say, what i thought was wrong and the music is just perfect for the movie. No songs in the movie except Allah Jaane which goes along with the story, it just appears in the audio album. Allah Jaane with Kamal Hasan singing in Nasal voice is not sounding great in a few places, however it is a good try.

In short, Unnai Pol Oruvan is definitely a worth watch while the Hindi version "A Wednesday" is one step ahead in the race!

2 comments:

Sumi said...

Nice analysis bala!!

Aarthi said...

Good review! Felt nostalgic of movies which really made me think beyond my comfort zone - U.P.O was one which fit such a zone!

Was browsing casually for UPO's review and ended up @ ur blog!

Enjoyed the read!

Wishes from KL !:)
Aarthi