Asian adaptation of Jane Austen's novel
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Kandukondain Kandukondain (also known as I Have Seen it in English) is a 2000 Tamil film directed by Rajiv Menon. The films was also dubbed into English and other languages. The movie stars Ajith,Mammootty,Aishwarya Rai and Tabu. The film is a contemporary Indian take on Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility.
Kandukondain Kandukondain,directed by Rajiv Menon, comes across as a refreshing change from the formulaic films churned out by Bollywood week after week. The film, a major improvement over his previous film Sapnay, looks at the trials and tribulations of a family consisting of a mother and three daughters and about the men who walk into the lives of the elder two girls of marriageable age. In a cruel interplay of destiny and betrayal, the family stripped of their house and belongings sets out to the city to build a new life. How they eventually find success and love and learn to live a life of dignity is what the film is all about.
Music for the film is composed by A.R. Rahman and the movie is said to have the most unique sound of his to date in the millenium. He has undoubtedly infused a whole new different sound in this one.
A.R.Rahman's music score for this film fetched audio rights worth Rs2.2+ crores. This record still remains unbeaten as the film audio market has gone into recession since 2000.The music by A.R. Rahman goes a little innovative on his usual heavy use of synthetic sounds and a lot of it is, in fact, based on ragas of Carnatic music
The film works quite well even if some of the problems faced by the characters and their solutions appear a little too pat and predictable like Tabu solving the computer programming glitch in the office and immediately being promoted. The contrast between the two elder sisters - the elder one (Tabu) sober and cautious, the younger one (Aishwarya) vivacious and passionate is well brought out and the unique bond they share among themselves is truly heartwarming. However the narrative flow of the film could have been smoother. At times the story follows the travails of one sister for far too long before suddenly coming back to the other. Also, the faithful servant who follows the family to the city is never established earlier so her decision to do so comes more as a bolt out of the blue.
The film is aided by two strong central performances by Tabu and Aishwarya Rai and they are more than ably supported by Mammooty (who is as usual outstanding), Ajith and Abbas though admittedly the latter is handicapped by a sketchily underwritten role. His flamboyance and sweeping Aishwarya off her feet doesn't quite come off.
The film is well shot by Ravi K. Chandran with an appreciable aesthetic sensibility and visual sense barring a couple of tacky special effects as in Tabu's flat with the fireworks in the background. . Among the songs, Aishwarya's song in the village fields stands out for its innovative picturisation.
A couple of technical flourishes stand out like the lead into Aishwarya's first song and the cut from the train to the tracks in Egypt to the song between Tabu and Ajith.
What is interesting is that instead of dubbing the film in another language, the makers have had the film subtitled in English. According to Rajiv Menon this helps the film retain its 'very Tamil' flavour yet be understood perfectly by outside viewers. Also since the film is a story of relationships and focuses on performances with lots of close-ups, dubbing into another language and mismatched dialogues would take away from the film. Though the subtitles work well and the film is enjoying a good run at the box office, albeit in a limited release, this restricts the audience to a minority who would understand and appreciate a good effort like this.
Menon acknowledges the role of Sringar Films who picked up the film and hoped this would start a new trend like Hyderabad Blues did. One could thus break down language barriers while retaining the authentic flavour of the original film. And after all, isn't Cinema a universal medium? -
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Cool, poasfdt is it The BGMS of this movie entitled "KK" in Aunt Agony the same ones right?
Listened it> Mindblowing sound stuff. Like a story book , novel it flows like.
http://www.sgforums.com/?action=thread_display&thread_id=173635&page=0 -
check out poasfdt's dedication in Aunt Agony....it is one the best pieces i heard in my life. romantic and the mood:- it is simply fascinating. It goes well with the above story and pics...like fairytale
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The 2 bits called "proposal" and "lovers United" really touched me...
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Comparison of other Adaptations:
12 out of 12 people found the following comment useful:-
Jane Austen's story as never told before!, 19 April 2001
Author: mastana from Los Angeles
That Jane Austen's novel "Sense and Sensibility" is a terrific piece of literature goes without saying. Ang Lee adapted Austen's story for his film of the same name. The film won Lee accolades for his ability to portray the relationships that Austen weaves with finesse. Seven seas across from Hollywood, Indian filmmaker "whizkid" Rajiv Menon has created a second, and an even better visual adaptation of Austen's book. "Kandukondain Kandukondain" is simply an enthralling and enchanting adaptation of a great piece of literature.
While he borrows the basic plotline from Austen's novel, Menon changes and adds to numerous portions of the story. Setting it in contemporary, modern Indian society, Menon gives the film a more identifiable and consumable quality than Lee's version. The principal characters of the two sisters, played by Tabu and Aishwarya Rai are a notable diversion from the conventional nature of female characters in Indian cinema. These are strong, determined, and capable women. Unlike the norm of female characters in many Indian films, these women do not have an obsession with love. It is just an integral part of their life which the film focusses on. Rajiv Menon's ability to handle the relationship between the characters of the two sisters and the men who come into their lives and leave, is highly impressive. While Ang Lee did a commendable job in his treatment of the relationships, one could not identify or even feel for the character because the nature and society in which they were set were too distant. In "Kandukondain Kandukondain," the characters are real. They are one of us, we are one of them.
Menon has added a lot more material to the plot in order to increase the film's saleability. However, what sets this film as a class apart is the fact that the addition of "masala" as Indian film industry auteurs like to say it, does not interfere with the artistry of the film. Menon uses the conventional technique of mass-hybridization and creates an amazingly entertaining, yet fulfilling, "feel-good" film.
A.R. Rahman, the musical genius, adorns Menon's film with some exceptional music. The songs are simply wonderful with Vairamuthu's lyrics drawing inspiration from the poems of Bharathi, perhaps one of the most prominent personalities in the history of Tamil literature. Bharathi's poems also form an intricate link in the story that is used as a catalyst to build relationships. This artistic, and poetic feel is something that not only Lee's adaptation lacked, but even the original work by Austen.
The cinematography by Ravi K. Chandran is breathtaking. The extensive use of color stands out, but never gets too loud to be replusive. The color combinations are very pleasant and used effectively to create meaning within every shot of the film. The sets during songs like "Kannamoochie" seem to involve numerous characteristics of modern three dimensional abstract art. The remaining songs are picturized on locations in 70 MM CINEMASCOPE from the rice fields and waterfalls of South India to the pyramids of Egypt and the castles of Scotland.
The film boasts exceptional performances from both Tabu and Aishwarya Rai. Mammootty is the pick of the lot with his highly sensitive, and underplayed performance as Major Bala. Ajit, Manivannan, and Srividya are very competent. On the whole, "Kandukondain Kandukondain" is a masterpiece of Indian cinema because of its ability to wholesomely entertain with a lot of intelligence, sense, and sensibility. -
Review no #2 Hope that helps
Indian movies are unlike any other movies I have ever seen--and I've seen a lot of foreign films! I was initially surprised to see some very odd clichés--even in a drama like this reworking of Jane Austin's Sense and Sensibility the actors periodically break into MTV-like music video songs! The first couple times, this movie really surprised me--as out of no where, groups of dancers magically appeared and the main characters suddenly appeared in such diverse locales as Scotland and Egypt! However, once I got past the oddness of this and the music, I found I actually liked the musical numbers--they were strangely endearing.
But, the best thing about this story was the script. It started off weird--with a group of Indian soldiers being ambushed while on a peace-keeping mission. I certainly did NOT remember that when I read the book!! Try to look past this and the singing and you will find a very vibrant script with characters you really care about and that will touch your heart. I found myself getting quite misty-eyed near the movie's conclusion!
The few Bollywood films I've seen have usually thrown me for a loop - I have trouble holding on to all of the plot points when the music videos interrupt - but this one grabbed me and wouldn't let go. When the dancing happened, the story wasn't destroyed. The constant gorgeous visuals helped carry me through, and the actors were completely engaging. It was great to be able to enjoy Jane Austen again, without knowing quite what would happen next.
Someone must have misunderstood the system when rating this movie. It's far better than the 6.1 it has right now. The only trouble I noticed was that Miss World kept outshining her surroundings, and occasionally drew my attention away from the story. No complaints, thoug -
Jane Austen;s book was good but what's the diff with Ang Lee's movie?
Listening to the link i think it is not bad at all. -
holy bollywood version?!
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again u smaplionheart, stop it lar
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isn't this film a flop? I saw it way back in 2000
But feel it excels in both in the audio and the visuals.
Interestingly, though the film did not work in India, but went for a profit in overseas. different from the Ang lee's version. This has music, bright colors, lavish costumes, bright sets, eye popping song & dance routines like a broadway musical
Indeed Jane Austen's story as never told before!
The Music
The music is the star of the show. Even non indian film critics who watched the film share that opinion . Totally new sound. The experience is wow. strangley enthralling if I were to describe it.
I must acclaim the fact that the real treasure of music...Face it , rahman given his best effort of the 2000 times. There are no Rahman pop songs in here. The general feel which Rahman gave was that of a fantasy story
the digital music of A.R Rahman gives birth to the foyer of gravest feelings in their purest form it comes alive in DTS sound like magic, the song which is at the Scottish castle or is it at Loch Ness?
all about imagination and fantasies. envelopes all around your ears if u own a good home theatre setup.
You should hear this song while gazing at the video and you would find it extremely nice.
The song in Egypt has such nice melody and visual (Orange bright hues) you can never forget -
As for the visuals. It is interestingly creative. The storybook of Austen in bollywood sense.
Kerala paddy fields, Scottish castle ,Pyramids in Egypt. stunning visuals -
this attempt was never repeated. I wish Rajiv Menon will do the "Cindrella" or a "Shakepeare" like this. Now the Hindi side is doing things like this after seeing Menon's film. Devdas , Parineeta and other storybook adaptations
The indian films now at present of full of violence and same stories over again. Hero runs into some gangasters and saves the girl concept.
And anyway Raji Menon's next film (after 6 years now) is in the works. I think it is based on a Shakepeare novel has the Parineet heroine Vidya.
A.R.Rahman will doing the score again. (3rd time together) . Their first 2 teamup both won national awards for best music