-"Love that makes human a robot and the robot a human."- Enthiran
Shanmugam Shankar ( Director, Producer, Writer ) has only one story starting with Gentleman, Kadalan, Indian/Hindustani, Muthalvan/Nayak, Anyan/Aparichit, Shivaji, Enthiran/Robot.
Yes One 'Man' Saves the world ! A world ruled by institutions...His 'man' upturns the institutions and saves the world from getting corrupted.
Lets condense his main elements :
His Kitsch and Camp style of jokes and editing. His 2D female characters. The so called Tamilness of his approach. The non-slick/tacky cinematographic look of his films. The fight against authority and establishment. Exclusive Indian patterns on sets. Extensive and expensive set designs for songs. Last but not the least the larger than life portrayal of anything in the film.
The Imagery : Unlike a lot of his contemporaries he indulges in a lot of unusual imagery patterns. Repeated imagery in his films include the snake swallowing the corrupted system. Be it the Prabhu Deva sending 2D animation out of his body in gentleman or without the head and leg in Kadalan, Kamal Hassan dressed as a cop with a special knife to irradicate corruption, the common man pouring milk on Arjun covered with mud, the skeleton performing Bharathanatyam in Jeans, the hair in front of the lens to represent then angry self in Anyan, the street theater in Boys, Rajnikanth walking with loads of money flying in the air, or micro-prosessors turning into
butterflies and flowers and many many more.
The Beauty : The beauty of Shankar as a director or person lies in the fact that his films look terribly honest. He is so rooted and honest in his approach that it becomes easy for him to connect with any audience. To attract a piece of metal in Enthiran/Robot he has a simple solution unlike hollywood -- no theories, no science, no logic just turn the 'Magnetic Mode On.'
The Religious Tamilness : His films have this unusual method of sticking to the vedas and its methods (Anyan) or hindu mythological (Muthalvan, Shivaji, Jeans) imagery references which help the story. Looks like he is a firm believer ! Even the Enthiran/Robot gets a lightning strike to activate its artificial intelligence.
Lack of a strong form or technique could be his biggest downfall. His clear vision to change the world overnight using cinema is what I am in complete disagreement with. Many of his films become extremely and crudely male with the female as a model to attract the audience. In the end I would appreciate his anti-hollywood feelings and his honesty.
Note : 'Boys' is one my personal favourite from his body of work. The film is a shift from whatever I have written till now about him. It has a lot of his trademark styles though.
His remake of 3 Idiots is as horrible as the original so I refuse to mention it he he!
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