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Monday, June 4, 2012

Is it Sathyan or Is it the sound?



In Nanban, when Satyaraj explains about his pen that is specially designed to be used in space, Sathyan gives an exaggerated cartoonish smile, and is accompanied by Harris Jeyaraj’s comic tone (Watch from 3:58) - the kind that S.A.Rajkumar plays in comedy scenes of Vikraman films. That very moment Sathyan becomes a caricature, a person who should always be laughed at. Is it because of Sathyan’s expression or is it because it is Sathyan playing the role or is it that ridiculous tone used in the background or it is the combination of all these aspects? I am just wondering what the scene without that tone in the background would have conveyed about the nature of Sathyan’s character. I cannot know for sure.


3 comments:

Unknown said...

the music during this scene is quite serious. so that comic tone becomes all the more essential to highlight sathyan's expression/character.

P.S. Suresh Kumar said...

Sripathy Ramesh - I guess there is no need to highlight Sathyan's expression in that scene. Actually, the sound there distracts the key emotion of the scene. As per the original film, that character wasn't designed to be laughed at from the very beginning of the film.

The same scene from 3 Idiots

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8DFjbBvI5I&t=4m30s

In 3 Idiots, when Omi Vaidya The Accordion that plays adds a serious, aspirational tone to the whole scene.

Unknown said...

True Suresh. The Hindi version is much better and the character aspires to get that pen. In Tamil version, probably Shankar tried to bring in that cartoonish expression that you pointed out which might be why HJ (or the sound designer) could have included that tone. Sound Effects is always a separate department. This particular tone - I am not sure if it is from HJ or from the Sound Designer.