Ye Maaya Chesave (2010)
I pretty much hated this movie from the beginning itself- Karthik (Chaitanya) was one of the most irredeemable assholes I have ever seen on screen, and the story was your average 90s "romantic" trash that should have been left behind in that decade. What was the most infuriating part, however, was that the director tried so hard to make it "modern", with all the kissing and the use of English swear words. If only all that effort had been geared towards writing a semi-decent script, we might have had a winner for the ChaySam shippers out there. But no. No, no, no. Whatever "chemistry" they even have here is ruined, by the script and the direction. Sigh. There really is no justice to be had in this unfair world.
Another thing that was outrageous was the weird, jerky camera work that lowkey ruined the visuals of Kerala. And the anti-minority sentiment that prevails over the entire movie? So not subtle. I mean, of course, the Christians are oppressive and patriarchal. Of course!! Also, the dialogues? TERRIBLE. Who talks like that?? And moreover, who tolerates being talked to like that? Ugh, there is absolutely nothing that can be salvaged from this movie (except Sam's debut movie adorability, and A.R. Rahman's soundtrack), but the worst part is still yet to come.
This is what I texted a friend while watching this movie- "12 minutes in, and Ye Maaya Chesave feels like a bad rip-off of the Tabu-Ajith storyline in Kandukondain Kandukondain." And boy, was I not wrong. The whole engineering graduate who wants to make films bit? Yeah, Manohar did it better. Karthik could NEVER. Sowmya (Tabu) and Manohar (Ajith) had an organic, beautiful love story- to call the Karthik-Jessie saga a love story would be stretching the definition of that term. There was absolutely no stalking involved in the former, while the latter contains shameless, unapologetic stalking which of course the girl doesn't really object to. Go to hell, Gautham Vasudev Menon. I must clarify however, that this is all just conjecture on my part- I may as well be drawing parallels where none exist. But god. Some of it was glaringly obvious, especially because Rajiv Menon himself is "thanked" in the beginning (albeit for different reasons). Also, as I have said before, the Manohar-Sowmya climax scene is my favourite scene of all time, and the scene where they first meet is my second favourite scene of all time. NONE of the scenes in this atrocity even come close to that. In fact, I was laughing at one of Chaitanya's dramatic monologues (I still love him, but boi should stick to Manam style comedy, or impersonating his grandfather), and feeling highly misanthropic during the climax (my exact thought was- "these two deserve each other", and I meant that in the worst way possible.
Basically, the purpose of this entire rant was to say that if someone wants to watch a movie about a man who is struggling both with his ambitions as a film director, and with his love life, don't waste your time with Ye Maaya Chesave, when Kandukondain Kandukondain exists. Plus, it has other sub-plots that are vastly superior to this fuckboi of a movie as well. Okay, I think I am going to go back and watch my favourite scene again after finishing this "review", to cleanse myself.
In conclusion, I just want to say that the reason why I hated this movie with every fibre of my being was because it had great subversive potential, but it ended up being nothing but a highly misogynistic and anti-minority narrative. I'm just glad ChaySam got to recreate the two weddings bit in real life. However, #ChaySamDeservedBetter. A
Another thing that was outrageous was the weird, jerky camera work that lowkey ruined the visuals of Kerala. And the anti-minority sentiment that prevails over the entire movie? So not subtle. I mean, of course, the Christians are oppressive and patriarchal. Of course!! Also, the dialogues? TERRIBLE. Who talks like that?? And moreover, who tolerates being talked to like that? Ugh, there is absolutely nothing that can be salvaged from this movie (except Sam's debut movie adorability, and A.R. Rahman's soundtrack), but the worst part is still yet to come.
This is what I texted a friend while watching this movie- "12 minutes in, and Ye Maaya Chesave feels like a bad rip-off of the Tabu-Ajith storyline in Kandukondain Kandukondain." And boy, was I not wrong. The whole engineering graduate who wants to make films bit? Yeah, Manohar did it better. Karthik could NEVER. Sowmya (Tabu) and Manohar (Ajith) had an organic, beautiful love story- to call the Karthik-Jessie saga a love story would be stretching the definition of that term. There was absolutely no stalking involved in the former, while the latter contains shameless, unapologetic stalking which of course the girl doesn't really object to. Go to hell, Gautham Vasudev Menon. I must clarify however, that this is all just conjecture on my part- I may as well be drawing parallels where none exist. But god. Some of it was glaringly obvious, especially because Rajiv Menon himself is "thanked" in the beginning (albeit for different reasons). Also, as I have said before, the Manohar-Sowmya climax scene is my favourite scene of all time, and the scene where they first meet is my second favourite scene of all time. NONE of the scenes in this atrocity even come close to that. In fact, I was laughing at one of Chaitanya's dramatic monologues (I still love him, but boi should stick to Manam style comedy, or impersonating his grandfather), and feeling highly misanthropic during the climax (my exact thought was- "these two deserve each other", and I meant that in the worst way possible.
Basically, the purpose of this entire rant was to say that if someone wants to watch a movie about a man who is struggling both with his ambitions as a film director, and with his love life, don't waste your time with Ye Maaya Chesave, when Kandukondain Kandukondain exists. Plus, it has other sub-plots that are vastly superior to this fuckboi of a movie as well. Okay, I think I am going to go back and watch my favourite scene again after finishing this "review", to cleanse myself.
In conclusion, I just want to say that the reason why I hated this movie with every fibre of my being was because it had great subversive potential, but it ended up being nothing but a highly misogynistic and anti-minority narrative. I'm just glad ChaySam got to recreate the two weddings bit in real life. However, #ChaySamDeservedBetter. A
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