'Puli' Trailer Releases To Massive Viewer Response
The producers of the eagerly anticipated Tamil action-adventure fantasyPuli (English: “Tiger”) released their official trailer online yesterday to a massive reception of nearly 2 million views in the first 24 hours on Youtube. As an avid fan of South Indian movies and a devotee of the marvelous lead actress Srivedi, I hate to be one to pour cold water on the campaign, but I have to say I’m disappointed and underwhelmed.
I’m going to draw a lot of fire from the huge fanbase of lead actor Ilayathalapathy Vijay for saying this, but his appearance in the trailer put me off a bit. With his slight build and pretty boy features, Vijay looks oddly miscast as a heroic warrior. I’m hoping his acting talents will transcend his physical mismatch for the role, and I’ll be delighted to have my expectations surpassed, but his impish mugging in the trailer suggests that his character is more like a mischievous teenager than a leader of men.
Vijay is not the only, or even the most important issue I have with this 2-minute advertisement for the film. For one thing, the trailer’s opening looks cheap and only half-finished. The first three shots are visual effects images, one an establishing panorama that looks like it was lifted from one of the Star Wars sequels, and then two closer images that look more like low-resolution pre-visualizations than finished shots. Then the trailer moves into a jarring series of shots with strobing, headache-inducing images that set a cheap, gimmicky tone for what follows.
I’m mainly looking forward toPuli as the hopefully glorious return for actress Srivedi to Tamil cinema (did I mention I’m a big fan?). Her last performance as a sweet but put-upon and unfulfilled housewife in the 2012 dramedyEnglish Vinglish was absolutely luminous; I defy anyone not to cry at the moment in the film when her character softly pouts at her husband’s thoughtless dismissal of her success as a small businesswoman who makes and sells delicious ladoos. She miraculously conveys a whole lifetime of crass disrespect from her spouse in that one tiny facial gesture.
But Puli’s trailer left me feeling that Sridevi’s enormous talents may be wasted here. For one thing, her character’s face is obscured by harsh makeup that not only hides the actress’s beauty, but also appears to mask her ability to convey her character’s emotions. Again, I hope I’ve gotten the wrong impression, but I’m not
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Finally, the new trailer, like the previous teaser trailer, leaves the viewer clueless as to what the movie is about. Yes, there’ lots of kinetic action and some visually impressive images, but no real story trajectory. This, I’m afraid, is the most worrisome aspect of the trailer, a sinking feeling that the Puliemperor has no clothes.
Puli was written and directed by Chimbu Deven and stars Vijay, Sridevi, Prabhu and Shruti Haasan, with music by Devi Sri Prasad and cinematography by Nataraja Subramanian. The film will release in Indian theaters on September 17th.
The producers of the eagerly anticipated Tamil action-adventure fantasyPuli (English: “Tiger”) released their official trailer online yesterday to a massive reception of nearly 2 million views in the first 24 hours on Youtube. As an avid fan of South Indian movies and a devotee of the marvelous lead actress Srivedi, I hate to be one to pour cold water on the campaign, but I have to say I’m disappointed and underwhelmed.
I’m going to draw a lot of fire from the huge fanbase of lead actor Ilayathalapathy Vijay for saying this, but his appearance in the trailer put me off a bit. With his slight build and pretty boy features, Vijay looks oddly miscast as a heroic warrior. I’m hoping his acting talents will transcend his physical mismatch for the role, and I’ll be delighted to have my expectations surpassed, but his impish mugging in the trailer suggests that his character is more like a mischievous teenager than a leader of men.
Vijay is not the only, or even the most important issue I have with this 2-minute advertisement for the film. For one thing, the trailer’s opening looks cheap and only half-finished. The first three shots are visual effects images, one an establishing panorama that looks like it was lifted from one of the Star Wars sequels, and then two closer images that look more like low-resolution pre-visualizations than finished shots. Then the trailer moves into a jarring series of shots with strobing, headache-inducing images that set a cheap, gimmicky tone for what follows.
I’m mainly looking forward toPuli as the hopefully glorious return for actress Srivedi to Tamil cinema (did I mention I’m a big fan?). Her last performance as a sweet but put-upon and unfulfilled housewife in the 2012 dramedyEnglish Vinglish was absolutely luminous; I defy anyone not to cry at the moment in the film when her character softly pouts at her husband’s thoughtless dismissal of her success as a small businesswoman who makes and sells delicious ladoos. She miraculously conveys a whole lifetime of crass disrespect from her spouse in that one tiny facial gesture.
But Puli’s trailer left me feeling that Sridevi’s enormous talents may be wasted here. For one thing, her character’s face is obscured by harsh makeup that not only hides the actress’s beauty, but also appears to mask her ability to convey her character’s emotions. Again, I hope I’ve gotten the wrong impression, but I’m not
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Finally, the new trailer, like the previous teaser trailer, leaves the viewer clueless as to what the movie is about. Yes, there’ lots of kinetic action and some visually impressive images, but no real story trajectory. This, I’m afraid, is the most worrisome aspect of the trailer, a sinking feeling that the Puliemperor has no clothes.
Puli was written and directed by Chimbu Deven and stars Vijay, Sridevi, Prabhu and Shruti Haasan, with music by Devi Sri Prasad and cinematography by Nataraja Subramanian. The film will release in Indian theaters on September 17th.
