Yudham Sei (2011) : Heart-breaking. A near-to masterpiece by Mysshkin.

Long shots, wide angles, camera focusing on legs, very weird BGM, beautiful usage of Violin and Piano, and a different story - this is a movie directed by Mysskin.
I have to say this - this is yet another different attempt.


Movie: Yudham Sei / Wage war
Language: Tamil
Starring: Cheran, Dipa Shah, Lakshmi, Jayaprakash
Music: K
Cinematography: Sathya, Editing: Gagin
Release: Feb 2011
Scene 2. 4th Minute
Sky crackers.. dark background but can feel the sky.
Few seconds.. camera unchanged ... now we can see few legs..
Camera moving right wards.. (like a boundary camera in cricket ground).. lot of legs.. two wheelers..
Can identify the spot - it is some kind of a celebration.
Camera moving upwards.. now a top angle shot, as if the camera is in a crane..
It all seemed like a single shot.. without a single variation.
- there is Mysskin's signature.
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Scene. 20th Minute
Top angle shot.
Camera placement is just above a street light.
We can see Cheran sitting on the roadside, only light is the light from the street light.
5 to 8 seconds shot.
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Plot: Boxes with human 'hand' starts appearing in various parts of the city, and have missing cases of young girls and boys. CBCID J Krishnamurthy is called to solve the case.
Review: Is this your first Myshkin movie, then you will be amazed by the style of this presentation. Are you already a fan of Myshkin movies, then you might feel some kind of deja' vu (Anjaathe) and still you will feel his hunger for different and bold movies.
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With few twits and turns Mysskin had maintained the suspense level high till the pre-climax scene. I had seen this kind of movies (in India) only in Malayalam cinema where the suspense is kept till the last reel. Eg: Oru CBI Diary Kurippu. And 'Yudham Sei' is close to the mentioned classic and at times higher than all cop movies from India. Though a comparison is not possible 'Yudham Sei' have one completely unwanted scene, the kuthu song. Yudham Sei is 'Oru CBI Diary Kurippu' of Tamil cinema Industry.
It had a lot of scenes where viewers clapped with so much thrill, the scenes which have Mysskin's signature touch and few of the scenes, bgm.
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Few dialogs require appreciation
Dialog 1
Jayaprakash: 'J Krishnamurthy...'
Cheran: 'thats not my name'
Jayaprakash: 'but that name suits you..'
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Dialog 2
Jayaprakash: 'the observer is observed...'
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Dialog 3
Cheran: 'Have you seen Rashomon movie?'
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Dialog 4
Jayaprakash to Cheran: 'You know, J Krishnamurthy used to read a lot novels and it seems you too...read a lot of fictions'
- the way director referred J Krishnamurthy and Rashomon is very appreciable.

My favorite scenes:

1. * The reaction of a mother when she saw her daughter's body hanging..
Mother falls down sideways and camera shot of the legs hanging upside down ( like the view of the fallen mother).
Mother goes unconscious.
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2. * The reaction of two characters in a scene which changes the path of the story.
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Music: One of the strength of the movie is its bgm - violin and piano, at times drums will suck you to the mood of the movie even if you try to avoid it. The style of music is definitely, very evident that its the style of Mysskin. Music director's name is 'K', he has done an excellent work. A scene shows the power of music - when Cheran searches for a proper place to fight - BGM deserves appreciation - makes us tensed. Many of the scenes have 'Silence' as the BGM. Best usage of BGM in recent years was seen in 'Nandhalala' (Ilayaraja), 'Yudham Sei' added to the list. Coincidentally, Mysshkin is the director of both the movie. I feel no director in Indian film had never used bgm so effectively like this.
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Performance: Decent. Cheran's body language reminds us of 'Narien' in Anjaathe. Without argument this is the best performance by Cheran. Supporting casts such as Lakshmi, Jayaprakash etc, all have done a very good job.
Technical: Sathya (Cameraman) helps Mysskin to come out with a very different visual experience, also with Mysskin's signature shots. The placing of camera is very different (similar to the style of Ram Gopal Varma), the camera angle is very odd and which helps the mood to spread to us.
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Minus: Movie comes with 'A' Certificate. This movie is too much for kids to watch, you have to keep kids at home while watching this movie.
Eg: There is a scene which shows 'making holes on living human body using drilling machine'. Too much violence will keep family viewers away from the theater. Many scenes will disturb even a very matured person, strictly the movie is for adults.
The boldness is one of the strength of the movie but the same boldness is its minus as well, at times.
2 scenes I felt uncomfortable: 'Kannitheevu...' song. Removing this song would have taken this movie near to a masterpiece. A song like this in a movie like this is unnecessary.
Jayaprakash's revealing scene after hitting with 3 bullets reminded of 80s films.
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Warning: this movie is not for everybody and I don't feel everybody watching this movie will be enjoying this. But this movie will be most enjoyed / moved by those who had enjoyed world classics, those who had enjoyed movies like Se7en, Memories of Murder, Oldboy, Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance etc..
With a little more effort the movie would have ended as en ever time classic.
End Product: Fell short of the word 'masterpiece' still its an awesome attempt in Indian cinema. Mysskin is a new age Indian director who can match the class of Chan-Wook Park.
Bet you - this movie will increase your pulse rate.
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A master murder mystery, heartbreaking.
Rating: 4.5 / 5

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