Review of Netru Indru Naalai -- A stage show by Maniratnam

It was a gr8 evening. The show, Netru(Sterday) Indru(Today) Naalai(Tomorrow), was perfect in every aspect... Be it on Lighting... Be it on Sets... Be it on Choreogrphy... Everything was perfect.. Except the timing... ;-) As usual, they started by 1hr delay(ie: Indian Time), as against 6:30PM mentioned in the pass.
First they started with Chandralekha(ie: the old one, produced by Gemini pictures), which recieved lotta acclamation on tat time, for its magnificiant settings in 60's itself... Some other songs played in the Netru Section were...
1. Yaaradi Nee Mohini 2. Viswanathan velai vendum 3. Atho andha paravai pol 4. Engey Nimmathi 5. Naan aanai ittal, etc...
For some ot those songs, the stage was decorated in Black & White. It was really very pleasant to see those settings. Wat a work by Sabu Cyril. But, it was clearly seen for normal viewing only... In the screen, the black & white was not presented well.(I hope, it will be clearer while showing it on Vijay on the first week of March)

After this B&W, it was Gemini color. They beautifully recreated the sets for the song, "Viswanathan velai vendum". The costumes were simply gr8. And, the choreography too!! One special for the song "Avalukkenna". They had started the song, as if TMS sang in the movie then the song dance sequences started.
I think, they cud hav fixed the camera in its possition by covering all of the stage. 'coz, the choreography team worked hard to perform each steps in every part of the stage. But, these camera persons were sincerely capturing Shilpa Shetty. ;-) eg: In the previously mentioned song, the sequence was like this... It shows the picturisation of the song in the sets for a movie. So, the cameramen(ie: the dancers, not the real cameramen!!) took the camera and were covering the shots. They ran all over the stage. But, these Vijay TV cameramen shot only few parts of the stage. So, those who see in the TV may miss those nuance things... Anyway, these things are unavoidable in commercial section. :-(
For this Netru section, Sabu Cyril was the back bone. He picked the show to a greatest height with his skills.
Other mentions in the "Netru" section were... Sobhana's dance. Wat a performance man!! Her crew performed for a musical piece and for a piece 4m Mozart. For the first piece, the choreography was bit difficult, since it had lotta instruments in the stage and they had to play in a synchoronized manner with the audio output. I heard tat MR cancelled the show after they planned in Sep 2005, only 'coz of Shobana's unavailablity of dates. Really her performance boost the show to one another level. One another appreciable thing... Prakash Raj... His expressions in the song "Engey Nimmathi" was awsome.
After this Netru, Indru section started with the ever greatest "Ilamai Itho Itho"... As u all know, it was lighting which played the major role in tat song. Some other songs were...
1. Raakkamma Kaiya thattu 2. Annathai Aaduraar 3. Aayiram thamarai mottukkaley 4. Thillaana thillaana 5. Chaiya Chaiya, etc
For this too, settings played a major role. And, the lightings too... A small eg for MR's perfectionism even in small things too... In Annathey aaduraar (4m the movie Aboorva Sagotharargal) song, thr was a poster in the backround. And, it was Malai Kallan, an MGR starrer movie, released in 70s. And, Aboorva sagotharargal was released in the 80's. In Aayiram Tharamai song, they reproduced the song very well. 'coz some of the song sequences were picturised in a river. Sabu Cyril simply did it without any water. I was expecting a much in Chaiya Chaiya song... So, little bit disappointed. The train set was superb. But, they just showed us the engine and danced in front of the engine. hmm.. sth shud be compromised, coz this is not a movie!!
The highlight of the day was Kamal singing "Thenpandi Seemaiyiley"... Wow..he sang with the same feeling, wat he evoked in the movie. Absolute brilliance man!!
Another one was ARR's theme song for Banyan. The song sounds like western. Beautifully orchestrated and the humming was wonderful.
While changing the sets, they started playing some sounds, which made the audience to keep guessing wat song they wud play. (For, Indru section, thr was a mismatch, I think so!!)
Anyway, I didnt really get wat MR wanted to tell abt Naalai(tomorrow) concept...!! It seems the song had some theme, but I cudnt catch the inner beauty... Sorry. Lemme try to find it in the TV.
But, I didnt think tat MR wud opt for some nos like "Appadi podu", "Machan peru madurai", etc... Commercialisation?? But, thank God... He packaged all of those nos in a single sequence, which existed for only 7 or 8 min.
The sad point is... Appriciation 4m ppl... I heard applause, only here and there. It seems, most of the ppl might not hav known the beauty and work behind those sets and lightings to bring the "Sterday, today, tomorrow" feeling. But, they all started dancing for that packaged song. Okay.. wat to do!! Expectation and views differ.
One other thing, the police didnt even care abt those standing in front of others. They cud hav avoided it. Other than this, the security was gud. Anyway, after all the programme was for a gud cause!! So, lets leave it.
Collectively the event was very gud. Once the programme was over, Madhavan and others lifted MR to their shoulders. He deserved it!!