Paa (2009) ***1/2

Some times after you have achieved a lot in your career ,you give options for others to experiment in you! Its like grandfather lending his time and patience for his grandchildren.Amitabh has nothing to prove for himself .But if he has to take one movie in which you wouldn’t see BIG-B as Amitabh is Paa.Because Paa is a director’s movie and Paa goes as the finest experimentation done by Balki with Amitabh which succeeds as a gentle breeze.This movie brings the 60+ actor in a completely surprising performance !

Paa ( Which should have been named Maa) tells the story of 12 year old kid Auro who is affected by Progeria who was born due to a love tale between Vidhya and Amol Arte .Vidhya goes away from Amol for his selfish stance about having child.Thirteen years later Amol a MP , meets his son in a school function .

Its not difficult to enter in to the world of 12 yr old Auro who is affected by Progeria .He is sharp,witty,emotional,funny,naughty and serious too.He has question and comments like the normal kids of his age.Every body are good with Auro and every body takes care of him ,they are conscious of what they are doing when Auro is near them.It makes comfortably ride with Auro ,not introspecting much in to his inner feelings.Not even a second, You can even find the shades of Amitabh in the whole movie.The whole episode brings a simple ,moving presentation of a human being. You will some of the best humorous scenes in the recent past in this movie when Auro discusses with his friend and when his friend compares himself with his dad. Absolute price less fun and you would not seen such a sharp dialogues in the recent past.

Movie is engaging for its sharp,humorous dialogues and performances.The acting matches the writing.Abishek’s role has some dramatic scenes involved but can be excused considering the whole presentation’s quality. The movie fantastically depicts the relationship between a mother and kid .It just takes the peek inside the difficulties of a single mother in raising a kid who is affected by serious disease. There is one scene where Vidhya’s Mom tells Abishek on why she is very adamant” Raising a kid single handedly makes a woman strong”.VidhyaBalan could not get a better role than this and she has lived to the character which Balki dreamt of.Its not at easy to look and emote like a Mother of a 13 year old but Vidhya has swept it away with such a brilliance.

Paresh Rawal is such a natural actor that he can impress you even with a single minute of his appearance. He plays the caring father, Veteran politician, Mentor in the movie one of the very well written roles of the movie.I expected the full version of the Ghum sum song in the movie but sadly it became a bit song.BGM of the movie is grand and it makes us understand why Balki wanted only Ilayaraja to compose for him.

Looking at the camera you can see who is the Godfather of modern day camera of Indian cinema.Camera is so fresh and it just picks the mood at the right moments.Balki has given a fantastic emotional and rightly paced movie which makes a wonderful watch.Go for it !

Rating :***1/2

Classic remake!!

Take a guess whats being remade,Whats being composed again? Ninaivo oru Paravai will be heard again for Bharathiraja’s son debut with remake of Sigappu Rojakkal.It would be definitely challenging to match the standards of Kamal,Sridevi,Bharathiraja,Ilayaraja .But the present team has roped one of the talented natural actors.Jeeva will play the role which was played by Kamal.Yuvan would be composing .Official news is yet to be released.Lets wait.

Yogi (2009) **

I sometimes get carried away by the eminence ,Yogi is one example.I expected a fresh movie from Ameer,who claims that he has written the story of Yogi.Yogi is a out and out copy of Book by Athol Fugard / Academey award winning movie Tsotsi,just that the climax is just remade to Tamil sentiments.Yogi is a discontinous ,slowpaced movie which never picks the pace and never lets us get involved with the movie.

Yogi is written by Ameer and directed by Subramaniam siva ( Thiruda Thirudi).Yogi is the guy who has a troubled past due to his father ,he grows as the ruthless ,drugged arrogant man.The story is told in the slums of Thiruvanmiyur.Yogi when he robs a hotel he finds himself with a infant whose mother is meets with an accident when Yogi tries to steal her car.Yogi decides to live a new life with the baby but odds makes his life difficult and even worse.

Ameer as yogi is good but I don’t understand why Ameer was so fascinated by this story.Why he wants to give a heroic image ? I assumed that he should have been impressed with Tsotsi novel as a whole.Ameer has a perfect physique and eyes to give an alarm as a gangster but just that some times it looks so cinematic with the stunts.Some times its very difficult to understand Directors .Paruthiveeran was a cult classic and I trusted from that on Ameer movie wouldn’t have any exaggerated stunt sequences nor a repeated sequences.Even Ameer would have worked on that.But some how the final product lacks the grip and it abides to the commercial formula as a copied tale.

Sequences which were told as Ameer’s past were irritating though its not exaggerated. Some how I felt there was some kind of compulsive dreadfulness showered for the sake of thrusting on his present behaviour. But sadly it was predictable. The baby which has acted should have had a terrible time.The scenes where a snake enters in to the box and the scenes where the ants crawl over the face of the kid makes us feel distressed.Truly there wasn’t any natural intensity which was evolving .Yuvan shankar raja and Ameer make great music but here I find Yuvan’s work with no representation.Madhumitha and Snehan has delivered a neat performance.

If this is Ameer’s influence on a movie where he has scripted and acted then I wasn’t comfortable and I was totally disappointed with it. Subramaniam siva is not known for attempting these kind of movies,There is no point in attempt unless you deliver with clear chords.My friend used to say I hate the word ‘Good attempt”.I am slowly getting inclined to that saying.Good attempt is a failure.I doesn’t work with the movies.
Rating :**

Yogi in trouble

I have booked for friday evening show for Yogi and now I hear the news that its release may be (??) postponed due to stay in Madras High court.

!!!

As I have not be reveiwing DVDs for some time for various reasons,I have decided to write more on movies ( Reviews on new releases would continue) .Hope to catch you all more often with writeups+the reviews for weekend
Readers for whom the blogspot URL is blocked at their offices,you can try http://kkarthik.posterous.com/ which follows the same posts as in Woohhaa.

Pazhassi Raja (2009) ***1/2

When these two men make film the whole Malayalam industry stands still and watches it.The magic of M.T.Vasudevanair and Hariharan deserves it and the two are the most respected and highly honoured pair in Indian Cinema.When they make a movie on a freedom fighter we need to look in to the depth of the character than the film itself.My friend Sooraj invited discussion on MT and Hariharan an year ago,and from then on I have been reading some thing about MT.Pazhassi Raja as a movie is a crafted work from the legends of Indian cinema with some constraints. MT,Hariharan,Ilayaraja,Rasool Pookutty,Mamooty.What else you can ask for ?

Keralavarma Pazhassiraja(Mamooty) is a brave king of Kerala who stood against the British Colonial rule when his neighbour kingdom were surrendering themselves to the East India Company.Pazhasi Raja moves with his men to the Waynad woods and attack the British force with Kurichiyar natives through Guerilla warfare.British force defeated and frustrated plan in wily manners to bring him down.But the Men of Pazhassi Raja never surrendered to the English men.Thats history !

First and foremost thing ,I watched in the Tamil version of Pazhassi Raja and I wasn’t comfortable with the dialogues penned by Jayamohan.It was discontinuous,hyper toned and it was not impressive at all.I experienced the same in Nan Kadavul with Jeyamohan who is actively now getting in to dialogues.I would sincerely request him that he should either look for correcting the skill of dialogue or stay away from Movies.He is a respected writer but film dialogues are much different which doesn’t come to the same frequency as we read a book.If Tamil version doesn’t impress amidst all the greatness below then it should be because of Jeyamohan.I was totally bothered on this.

Mamooty has lived with honour and valour in this role and he just makes us prove time and then why he is one of the best actors in Indian Cinema.He is an inspiration for acting in many sense though he hasn’t mastered the art of stunts.His body language and expressions are very influential in some scenes when he doesn’t speak a word. Sarathkumar as Edachena Kunkan is a revelation of a character for the Tamil Actor.This will easily become the best in his career.The best thing about these characters are its human side though they get enacted in the War movie.MT’s script doesn’t leave even the characters of Padmapriya and Manoj K Vijayan to go in a shade .

Hariharan’s direction is well aware that he is making a movie of a generation and about the revolt which took place before 1857.The budget constraints are very well visible but to bring a technically brilliant direction with this production values is truly amazing and respectable.I could definitely say this wouldn’t go as a great of Malayalam cinema but this would surely make the industry flourish which is in a back foot note for production and budget reasons.MT’s script tries to capture many aspect of soldier’s emotion,Sometimes it kills the time.The movie is three hours long and it could have been reduced .

Ilayaraja is Ilayaraja ,Yesudas sings only if its Ilayaraja,The orchestra and the BGM makes this man a legend and he will be forever.Pazhasi Raja needs a bigger platform though its speaking about a small hero of freedom fighter,It delivers with immense energy to move the Standards of Malayalam Production values.I respect that .Watch this movie for some of the splendid performances and the magic scripting of MT.

Rating :***1/2

2012 (2009)

I was wrong ,I thought I wouldn’t like this movie.Because I can not expect any human side of a movie in Roland Emmerich works,still the movie kept me thrilled for its visuals and graphics work.Its a wonder movie for the special effects and nothing was able to stop the imagination of Roland Emmerich.You have to be in the film to enjoy these moments in the screen ,I agree there is much in the film if you take out this.This goes discontinued but the graphics builds the movie for which it intends to.

Roland Emmerich doesn’t waste our time much , he blows the whistle for global cataclysm from the beginning and we have the heroes John cusack, Amanda Peet,Danny Glover and much more who fight to survive and save the people.I don’t have any thing to say on the story line .The tag line says it all “ we were warned “.All we see how our world goes down and how some of the landmarks of the world gets destroyed .We experience the free fall of the buildings and the maps getting disorganised .End of the day there is a race which survives who start their life from 01.01.0001 .

This is the perfect ground for Roland Emmerich ,he displays his imagination and screenplay in such a way that the viewers don’t think about the week link of the plot and characters too.I guess some of the scenes in this movie shouldn’t be introspected much I think.For example the ark starting from China ? Serious problem about the movie which I wasn’t comfortable is that the movie doesn’t put what it wanted to convey.Infact it doesn’t tell any thing to us. Lets not get in to it.Emmerich doesn’t wants us to get in to it.He doesn’t bother about the critics he takes the inspiration from all his movies and gives a special effects show which is worth your ticket.

Movie puts a real show in demonstrating 100 ways to survive during floods and earth quake .Fly in a plane when volcano is erupting,hit the Eiffel tower ,run when the run way is getting divided,You can speak in cell phone in India when the whole country is destroyed.Indian cellphone towers are so powerful !!!! But this all are fun and factors of engagement when you watch this.Because Emmerich doesn’t think any thing small its massive destruction and 2012 shows it all in a immaculate manner.

When I came out of the hall dark clouds were passing by and we had a horrible jam in the traffic ,we had a to fear ”Am I still in the movie”.Go for this movie purely for the special effects which you would not have watched earlier.

Inglourious Basterds (2009)

I was in sathyam for Inglorious Bastards and I was amazed to hear the shrill whistles when the name Quentin Tarantino appeared in the Title card.Its very difficult to be Quentin Tarantino because if any thing just resembles his style ,it can be easily branded as Copy cat from Tarantino.With Inglorious Basterds he just earns the uniqueness more with style and craft which he is made of.

Inglorious Bastards is told in chapter and We laugh at the scenes which aren’t funny but this what the intention of Tarantino also.Jew Hunter (Christopher Waltz) allows a girl Shosanna (Mélanie Laurent) to escape.Four years later the same girl finds her opportunity to kill a Nazi premier league in a Film premier. Aldo Raine recruits a team of eight Jewish-American soldiers to France as civilians to create panic to the Nazis.The missions of the Bastards and Shosanna meet ,Jew hunter strikes a deal with Bastards, but the Bastards remain clear to their mission.

Christopher waltz as the Jew Hunter is witty ,dangerous,thickly accented ,he drives us crazy with his long conversations in the tense moments of his victims.He knows what is he up to and this would be one of the best written character of Tarantino like Samuel Jackson character in Pulp fiction.Initially it was DiCaprio who was suppose to play this role ,Waltz has made a phenomenal presentation of a Nazi Hunter with poise and intensity.He makes the real bastard in the movie in hunting down and making the deal with Bradd Pitt.You cant enjoy his character but you cant stop being too keen on his way of expression and handling the clause.

We get to see the charming but quiet serious Mélanie Laurent whose opportunity to take revenge on the Nazi’s comes her way in the form of the premier show .She is not clumsy but she is definitely unlucky .Shosanna character defines the plot for the movie.We know who she is ,but the real meaning comes when she puts the final plan against Nazis.Brad Pitt is quiet amazing in his performance he has a very unusual accent but had a very clear course to take it up.He doesn’t give up even when he is caught and his humour continues with the Jew Hunter which actually deceives the Jew Hunter.He is much relaxed and he enjoys every second of his performance.


We see a French man cutting woods in the initial scene and we obviously get thrilled about the brutality of the initial scene going to be ,but its composed .We have a definite adventure right from the scene one.Sure we have scalps being removed,heads being brutally beaten up but still the blood of the movie remains in the well crafted script. Thats Tarantino ! The cult status of his movies makes us expect assorted music and characterisation. This movie doesn’t disappoint with any thing but this is definitely a diverse mould from Tarantino.We know about the lengthy conversation which he fits in his scenes which continues about a argument with no leads, Tarantino this time puts here with a differently poised scene in the bar with Nazi and German Actress.

At some point you need to agree that this is the matured movie of Tarantino for its stage and plot.Than Pulp fiction there were lots of meaning in the script which makes it much more engaging.I loved this movie truly for the characterisation and the splendid script of Tarantino.

Kanden Kaathalai (2009)

This one more example to show how the task of remaking of movie is difficult.Kanden Kathalai has the perfect cast and team to remake the highly loved Jab We Met.Jab We met was enjoyed for many factors like the crazy attitude of Kareena ,The silence of Shahid and ofcourse this movie came when the duo ended their real life relationship.Kanden Kathalai had tried its level best to match the expectation but some where the magic of Jab We met was missing.

Sakthi an industrialist ,heart broken meets Anjali a bit of cranky and bit of realistic girl in a train journey,lots of twirls we end up at Theni at Anjali’s house.Her parents arrange for Engagement between Anjali and Mokka Rasu.Anjali runs away with Sakthi to meet her boy friend Gautham.Sakthi returns back to Chennai while Anjali is let down by Gautham.Sakthi goes in search of Anjali to take her back to Theni .

Kanden Kathalai has its moments of reality and good aspect of it is the change in the script which has helped the movie.KK works for Tamannah and Santhanam.Theni is a refreshing aspect for the movie though we didn’t get the real feel like the Mumbai Patinda travel .Tamannah is witty,cranky,realistic.She had almost acted in every movie like the one in KK.We don’t see Karishma in Tamannah.But sadly we weren’t able to stop comparing Bharath and Sahid. Confidence of Bharath is drastically missing which has let down this movie in many parts.Its mainly because of the dialogues of the movie which sounds histrionic ,some of the important parts of Bharath were just translated from Hindi which didn’t work out.

The real hero of the movie is Mokka Rasu ! This is one big movie for the comedian after Siva Manasula Sakthi ,he has given a great touch to the comedy track.Though it might look daft comedies but if you see there are some characters in real life around us which would resemble Santhanam .R.Kannan was highly impressive with Jeyam Kondan one of the finest movies of last year ,I loved it since it was a typical Tamil movie with stable emotional contents.Kanden Kathalai was a perfect stage for him to show his skills ,but Kannan relied so much on the Chennai – Theni journey which was infact abstracted exactly from the Hindi version.The first half of the movie didn’t work out much as it was expected.This scenes should have been supported by good dialogues but Pattukottai Prabakar dialogues hears as just translation.

We enjoy the movie when we reach Theni thanks for Mokka Rasu and some good sequences which follow .Its not a bad remake but some aspects didn’t help as it was supposed to be.

Rating : **1/2

Adhavan (2009)

Atlast I had some time to catch up Adhavan,I didn’t expect any wonder from KS Ravikumar .He is the same ,he didn’t change even a single bit since his movies with Sarathkumar.Surya on the other hand is irritating to watch with him grim face as a anti hero! Its also very difficult to write about a movie which has nothing special and impressive.

Adhavan is a difficult watch for its plot .Its an age old story told with new costumes and fresh camera.Adhavan a contract killer is on a mission to kill a Judge( Murali) who is about to submit a report on Child kidnapping.Adhavan enters in to the family of Murali to Kill him .At the climax we are asked to believe that Surya is the son of Murali to some how end this story.Adhavan takes the revenge against the people who are against his Dad.

Surya definitely has to come out of this hangover of exotic locales and grim face .Its irritating to imagine him as a rough assassin with this outlook.I wasn’t able to believe even for a single second that he is a contract killer ,every thing looks so artificial in his behaviour.Surya has to venture in to new area of acting than going along with safe bet like KSRavikumar ,Hari.I am not keen in watching Surya as a commercial hero.

Movie definitely belongs to Vadivelu,the theatre erupts in laughter when he is threatened by Surya .With out Vadivelu this movie would have been a big torture.I don’t know why Saroja Devi was grabbed in this movie.

KSRavikumar is known as the most successful commercial director in Tamil cinema.It true he delivers a formula in this movie unchanged from his earlier movies.There are many takers for his movies even I am not for his party.Adhavan is irritating but Vadivelu provides the relief .My friend messaged me after seeing this movie on the first day “ Madhaaaaavaaaaaaaa Mudiala “ Its true.

Rating : *1/2

Peranmai (2009)

Its difficult when you dont have many movies for Diwali,The ultimate joy of Diwali ends when there isnt much movies around your city.This Diwali is one of the dry diwali for movies .Peranmai is a much expected movie from SP Jananathan who had made E and Eyarkai .SPJ tries to be different and he succeeds in most of the parts.Movie will mark a difference for Jayam Ravi who has given a great performance in this role.

Peranmai is about a NCC trainer Dhuruvan who hail from a tribal caste.He takes the responsibility to take five girls to trekking in a dense forest as a part of the training program.Dhuruvan and team find a group of Foreign men who intrude in to the forests for a deadly reason.Dhuruvan along with the girls fight against the men for a cause.

Movie boldly speaks about how the society treats backward class person even he attains a respectable position.Ponvannan as the Forest ranger speaks how people humiliate the reservation quoto and their allocation to jobs.Movie doesn’t lashes out or preach against the society ,it simply puts the truth and makes a clear mockery on the mindset of so called “upper caste”.Thats the intelligence of this movie and apart from that it takes a different space as the villain ,A nameless gang who are against the interest of the country but they have a mission .

Jayam Ravi looks fit and energetic for this role ,You will not see a better NCC trainer than Jayam Ravi ,he has worked relentlessly on his voice and I could find from his broken voice box.He is the man who stands for the definition of Peranmai is the superior quality of a man with complete control on his body and soul .Jayam Ravi works hard with the Girls and controls his emotions when he is humiliated. Five girls performance has to be applauded for their commitment and stunning energy through out the movie.

SP Jananathan gives a pro reservation movie blended with international substance which we are fighting today.The first half of the movie takes a lot of time to settle because of the training and I felt the whole movie ends as training because Jayam Ravi trains the girls till the climax.SPJ’s climax is a fantastic touch but it needed justification, I couldn’t understand why the girls who travelled along with Ravi became silent at the end after performing so much .

Many questions in this movie goes unanswered but the movie can be definitely watched for it SPJ’s take on Reservation and Jayam Ravi’s fantastic performance.

Rating :***

Short film for Joy of Giving week contest

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQNf6D-Mu2Q

Team Vikrti Presents--A video for a short film competition and as a part of the celebration of the JOY OF GIVING week.
Team--Aparna , Karthik, Subu, Suvirnath, Sushanth, Srihari, Raja
CAST--Fab (Gitanjali Dilip), Srividya, Leander, Prashanth, Prabu, Karthik (parkour), Karthik (loyola)
Music --Band Oxygen

Wake up Sid(2009)

I was too busy for the three days that I couldn’t find time to write about the movies which I watched during weekend.Wake Up Sid after its promising trailer and refreshing songs doesn’t live up to the expectation due to some thing which is unexpected.Movie is slow but for me I wasn’t comfortable with Konkana sen ,Can you believe it was her character which didn’t make me comfortable when looking in to the whole movie.

Sid Mehra is a rich kid ,not spoiled though but self arrested .He wears cartoon sox and loves Simpson's cartoon.Surfs with his apple mac about cars even before the night of accounting exams.He is not aware of the word seriousness nor perfection.He meets Ayesha(Konkana Sen) in a party ,an wannabe journalist who is a perfectionist and though both of them are from different worlds they get each other in a friendship.Sid comes out of his house when his Dad questions about his exam results and stays with Ayesha.How the world of Sid awakes due to Ayesha is the whole movie.

Konkana is an amazing actor but I cant keep on seeing the same characterisation .What was needed was refreshing like Ranbir’s character.Even her costumes were much like Luck by chance character played by her.Konkana is struggling for her career in all her movies.Her character is a matured character but even she looked so matured for Sid .Her character is not to fall in love with Sid but slowly get in to the world of Sid .For us that slowly takes away the time completely. Movie is about the two characters and we dont see any thing new ,We are given with something where every thing happens unbelievably with out any struggle.

Ranbir is stunning with his performance,He is handsome ,refreshing,funny,harmless and interesting too.You would like his character but you wouldn’t like to be him .The character Sid is poetic at times ,that makes him to change and evolve from his self arrest.Some how the romance between Sid and Ayesha didn’t make an impact ,though these coming age movies doesn’t have a dramatic emotions to impress.I liked Character Laxmi who played the fat friend of Sid,she was very expressive and realistic.

I love the music of this movie and I am repeating it in my play list almost for a month.Wake up sid starts off promising resembling much like Dil Chahta Hai but fades away as the movies moves .We don’t have a impressive screen play which could have lifted the Ranbir’s performance.But still the movie shows Ranbir can act well.

Rating :**

No movies this weekend,I didnt want to watch Whats your Rashee ? .I am eagerly awaiting for Wake up sid .The songs of wake up sid -Fresh and good.

Unnai pol Oruvan (2009)

So the stupid common man of Tamil Nadu in screen in the face of Kamal Hasan.Experience of A Wednesday is fresh in minds for all who have watched it and its inevitable we compare both the movies.But at one point I decided to forget the original version to enjoy this movie.And Unnai Pol oruvan succeeds to reach the viewers through performances and ofcourse through loyal remake which it had followed.

Unnai Pol oruvan is about a common man’s action when he is pushed to the limits of patience in this society ,his outburst puts the City police to look for the bombs which says that he had planted around the Chennai city.He demands for the release w terrorists and he puts a unconventional end for his action which the commissioner of police didn’t want to disturb.

Kamal in his good form ,not trying to experiment and abiding by the script.Its good to see Kamal making a good remake unlike Vasool Raja which spoiled the charisma of the character.Kamal’s emotional outburst to Mohanlal in the later parts shows how he improvises himself for every scene.Mohan Lal’s pronunciation should have been watched closely though he sounds good.Major portion of the dialogues are with Mohanlal and he sweeps it with a classy touch of style and aggression. I enjoyed Mohanlal’s bodylanguage which is one of the reason why is considered to be a legendary actor.

Some of the new additions in this movie is character of Lakshmi as Secretary .The typical IAS/IPS tussle was well brought in the crisis time .Mohanlal brings his anger and confusion to a patient state when had to decide on the common man.Director Chakri Toleti had bet on a script which can hardly fail and he is loyal to script with out major changes.Shruti’s music has a perfect platform to prove her skill and it brings the mood in a intense manner.

All said the movie lacked the momentum of thrill because of lack connection between the common man and terrorist ,A Wednesday has a scene where police will have a doubt that Nasurudeen shah would be the boss of terrorist group and there will be a masked photo in the presentation which will make the viewers to think in different ways about the common man until he unveils himself.I don’t know why Kamal didn’t want this scene though it doesn’t add meaning to the movie but it adds up the intensity.I was surprised to see why Cops of Tamil Nadu police didn’t even try to predict about this man.

But still Unnai Pol oruvan is a good remake with out songs ,loyal to original script and I enjoyed for the good performances of Kamal and Mohanlal.

Rating :***

Eeram (2009)

There were two things which were on my mind when I came out of the hall about movie Eeram.One I was totally impressed by the director Arivazhagan ,Second thing was “ shouldn’t this movie be 15 minutes shorter which could have made this a great movie.’ But for this ,I would definitely say this movie is a must watch for all the tired and frustrated viewers.

Eeram has lots of suspense which takes its beginning from a suicide of Ramya(Sindhu Menon) in an apartment ,making herself drowned in a bath tub.Vasu(Adhi),a police officer also who is the past lover of Ramya wants this case to be investigated by himself .Lots of strange things happen in a short time after the death and Vasu doesn’t have any clue of what’s going on.But he is very much sure some thing very intentional is prevailing around .When every thing is exposed at a point we are absorbed in the script. We have still more to come but it becomes very lengthy .

Lots of logic ,lots of very meaningful justification ,intelligence that’s the director for you.When did you hear some fresh dialogue. I would definitely say Eeram has lots of influence of Sujatha’s words and Arivazhagan has blended his words in a very intelligent manner to make this a very fresh and suspense thriller.I can definitely say I loved the dialogues of this movie more than any thing.Movie needs lots of work to make the viewers to get convinced about the actions of Vasu and that happens through Arivazhagan’s words and his logic.Instincts are powerful means of communication when one is searching for answers.He has used it in a complex but in a very meaningful manner.

Adhi the ” Mirugam” Guy makes an impressive performance and he is allover the script.His accent is different but clear with a touch of sophistication.Adhi is a guy who doesn’t want to get in to sentiments and not also in to instincts but his notions drive him to chase the mystery behind the death.He is helpless and he wants to solve this for some reason.He has his mindset very clear about at one point of time which leads him to solve this.Adhi’s voice takes him over in this movie.Sindhu Menon and Nandha make a very impressive performance.Director is very careful is making their character as each characterisation is very vital for this movie to maintain the suspense.

Movie has a refreshing and serious camera work by Manoj Paramahamsa.He brings the darker moments in an intense mood which really lifts this movie.Arivazhagan should be a Sujatha fan because of Srirangam flashback,Sindhu’s book and also her interest.

Shankar is very clear in his production and he has succeeded this time too.This movie might be lengthy in the secondhalf but it’s a must watch for this season for its impressive directorial debut of Arivazhagan and Adhi’s performance.I havent spelt even a percentage about the suspense about Eeram ,Go watch it.

Rating :***1/2

National Awards are here !

List of winners
Best Film: Kanchivaram
Best Director: Adoor Gopalakrishnan for Naalu Pennungal
Best Actor: Prakash Raaj for Kanchivaram
Best Actress: Uma Shri for Gulabi Talkies
Best Lyrics: Prasoon Joshi for Maa, Taare Zameen Par
Best Playback Singer: Shankar Madhavan for Taare Zameen Par
Best Female Playback Singer: Shreya Ghoshal for Jab We Met
Best Art Direction: Om Shanti Om
Best Family Welfare Entertainment Award: Taare Zameen Par
Best Overall Entertainment: Chak De India
Best Film on National Integration: Dharm
Best Screenplay: Feroz Khan for Gandhi, My Father
Best Supporting Actor: Darshan Jariwala for Gandhi, My Father

Ninaithale Innikkum (2009)

After watchin this movie every body will understand its not easy to remake a movie .First thing is the right script and next is the right time for a remake ! Ninaithale Innikkum disappoints in both aspects.Ninaithale Innikkum remake of the Malayalam hit Classmates tries to invent scenes for Tamil and it lets class down with a poor screenplay and with a stage which doesn’t suit Tamil Cinema.

Niniathale Innikkum is about a batch of college students ,their nostalgic moments in the past and their reunion after nine years.Sakthi ( Prithiviraj)and Vasu ( Karthik)always have problem at college between them selves and Siva is their common friend.Vasu wants to break Sakthi’s love with Meera(Priyamani) by making her stand against Siva in college election.Some unpleasant things happen and students reunite for a cause after nine years.During the reunion many truth evolve and many get answers.

College politics is a culture in Kerala and it goes very much with General politics in Kerala.Here College politics is not a big factor nowadays .I felt little difficulty in understanding the real heat of the politics which the movie tries to show.First factor is that the political things were not at all shown.Movie is a let down mainly because of this very center point ,It wasn’t not able to keep up the momentum nor it was able to produce some interest to the viewers.I was watching like a baffled looking for some thing to happen for the first forty minutes .

Prithiviraj in my words is not so impressive as he doesn’t have much to do other than some stunts and some heat arguments.One guy who was very impressive was Karthik as Vasu.His theatrical skill and training makes him one amazing actor and he proves his selection of movies.I would like to see more movies from him.Priyamani irritates through her accent .

Vijay antony has to seriously look on his background music .Movie’s camera is difinetely fresh and it gives us a great treat to watch.I wouldn’t give a thumbs for any thing in this movie other than the camera .

GNR Kumaravel should have been over confident in making some original scenes in this remake.Its not a bad idea to bring a originality in remakes but you need to have the right movie for the right stage.Also it needs to skill to make some interesting and gripping screnes to make a thriller! I forgot to mention it’s a thriller and there is a suspense in the movie which wouldn’t affect you so much .
Rating : *

Quick Gun Murugan (2009)

When you enter the hall for Quick gun Murugan you have no idea about the movie other than the promo in V channel which was aired 15 years ago .But when you watch this 90 minutes movie you will feel this movie is a great watch and a good fun in the Indian stage.Quick gun Murugan not only takes the Tamil movies but it takes the whole Indian movies for a crack .QGM rides on the sentiments and lousy emotions which appears in Indian cinema for fun and he succeeds .Its a out and out harmless laugh riot for all the viewers .

QGM (Rajendra Prasad )is the Desi Cowboy who fights for cows against the Non Vegetarian Rice plate Reddy( Naser).QGM gets killed in the fight between the two ,when Murugan stands against Reddy who tries convert all Vegetarian Hotels to Non Vegetarian.QGM returns to earth with the special permission from ChitraGupta to take revenge on Reddy.But twenty five years passes away by that time and Reddy grows up as a business tycoon who wants to estabilish his brand McDosa.Its a fun battle between the two of the home made comic characters till the end.

First thing about this movie is its cast.Its has got the talented bunch of actors who make us laugh and who speak English and Tamil in the Desi manner.Interestingly this is a huge task for the director Shashanka Gosh to develop this movie from a promotional ad to a full length movie,its not funny any more some times when you hear those English accent as we hear that day in day out in our work place.But the best thing is the humour element is well brought by the director to make us laugh.

Nasser is the best of the lot with his wild mannerisms and comic emotions .He makes a mark as a legendary actor who can fit in any role .Rajendra Prasad with his mark as “ Mind it “ and ‘ I say” makes us feel we are among the new genre of movie making in Indian cinema.

I truly welcome this original script with wild and bold attitude it’s a long way for this character QGM from a promo.Surprisingly there are lots of blood shed in this movie which is not encouraging .I loved many of the dialogues which was written based on our own movies with a touch of humour in it.A lot of home work has gone in the movie a prefect example is the scene when Mango dolly polishes her nails in the bed when Reddy speaks on phone.A typical Bollywood item girl activity in the 70’s.

I give a thumbs up for this movie which has originality in the script and Mind it there are lots of Maa stuff and Tension da stuff which can make your mind feel free for the 90 minutes you watch this.

P.S : Read in news paper that the sequel to this movie would be " Good Bad and Idly"

Rating : ***

Kanthasamy (2009)

There are some things which you can not change in tamil cinema and its directors .One is Learning from experience and the other is repeatability ! If there is a big budget movie then its going to be only Robin Hood type movie ! How much years we are experiencing the same story line and the same old climax before the court with the hero supported by masses.I am fed up with this type of story line.A blend from Shivaji and Anniyan looks really funny and I had thought Susee Ganesan as a intelligent director after watching his previous movies but he has fallen as the same victim.Kandasamy is not a movie which you don’t know nor its going to give you a new experience .Kanthasamy doesn’t live up to expectations and hype.

Kanthasamy IPS( Vikram) is the CBI officer who targets filthy rich industrialists for IT raids.In the mean while prayers of devotees in Lord Kanthasamy temple gets answered in a unique manner.Kanthasamy with his team of his friends help the poor people prayer in a super hero avatar.CBI prompts its team to find the truth behind the Kanthasamy temple.Every thing narrows down to Kanthasamy and it’s a ride from India to Mexico and then back to India .

There is no suspense in the movie and its not a spoiler that I said the story line .There is vikram every where in the movie.Kanthasamy doesn’t look different in screenplay or in its presentation.Its good to see Vikram on screen after some years and he should seriously think about acting in these kind of over hyped movies.Vikram is amazing as Kanthasamy IPS but he doesn’t get help from the story line! Movie moves fast but the problem is we know how the investigation would go and how Kanthasamy is going to evade the investigation.

Kanthasamy is a man who had a fighting younger days and aspiring days to become an IPS officers ,He hunts the big fishes of Money world and puts them behind the bars .He knows what he is doing behind the scenes as the super hero Kanthasamy but we are left with no clue about the motive of the cause.Prabu easily narrows down that super hero Kanthasamy is CBI officer Kanthasamy ,its possible only in movies.

Intelligent movies are movies which have intelligence applied in every sense of visuals and script.Susee Ganesan tries to project this movie as an intelligent movie through his rich visuals and jargoans which is actually ridiculous.He has used some idiotic assumptions and logic to show twists in the plot.

Vadivelu is a big let down for this movie and every body wants Prabu in their big budget movie.Camera has done lots of interesting work which is encouraging and entertaining ! Susee Ganesan’s choice of locales ,but I wouldn’t accept a CBI office looking like a IT park.Lots of reality is missing in many of the scenes,which looks exaggerating.

Kanthasamy would entertain many people but it a average movie which will survive through Vikram’s energy.Movie wouldn’t be a big trendsetter as it was hyped as there is nothing new in the movie.The movie could have been a good movie if the treatment was good .Sadly we don’t have it here.I don’t know I don’t feel like applying my mind to write a review for this movie even.

Rating :**

Kaminey (2009)

Dhan tana tan! This brings the magic for the movie. The magic is there all over the characters and music .Kaminey is the much anticipated movie of the year and it proves that it has got the things to make it a special movie.Shahid Kapoor’s much needed elevation to the big league has come through this movie.Shahid didn’t dissipate any of the chance provided to him and he is the gripping dynamism in the movie. Kaminey by far is the best movie in this year.

Kaminey pays tributes to lots of old Hindi masala movies and its a unpredictable ,engaging journey of twin brothers.Charlie(Shahid 1)who chose to follow the wrong route finds himself messing with Narcotics department because of his greed to chase his dream.Guddu(Shahid 2) who marries Sweety (Priyanka Chopra)is put in to problem because of her brother who is a Gangster and also in to political movement .

Kaminey easily breaks many of the usual formula though touching many usual styles,Those were infact brought to us in a very intense and dark manner .Its more like Guy Ritchie movie ,Gangsters chasing a unknown person.But If not for Vishal Bharadwaj this movie would have been a mess for its editing and screenplay.Movie has a exemplary presentation which is sure not a simple .Its complex and its not at all spoon fed to the viewers.You will be engaged with the movie from the beginning and the fever never fades away.You have to stay in the movie till interval to get the real magic of Vishal.He proves that he is a master in his skill ,he brings the very ordinary twist in a style and he puts forth the stage for a big encounter .This movie is about the ugly drug dealers,tiny gangsters,Mafia,Cops but I am warning don’t expect the usual plot ,You have to do a little work in the movie to get involved.

Shahid Kapoor is now in the big league with this movie and its not a easy to be in the center stage of this movie.Its a extraordinary performance from the actor and he carries the movie with the dual role in style and intensity.Shahid is there in the movie from the very first minute ,he proves he has got the substance to exhibit in a complex drama.This is the break point for the man and lets watch hism from now on.Priyanka adds a mark to her recent performances.She is sweet ,intelligent and daring .

We find lots of difficulty to travel with Vishal because of the number of characters he tries to show us.We don’t know who and what in the first instance ,it’s a intelligent way to keep us guessing which would have gone other way if it was mishandled in a slighter manner.Vishal has a dark sense of creating his character though its not negative but its not usual .Lots of movements and characters alone doesn’t make this racy ,The camera and the editing is one the rocking aspect in this movie.The differentiation between the two characters is brought by the tone in the visuals.

My Ipod plays Kaminey repeatedly ,its not for the hype but for its quality music and the wonderful lyrics by Gulzaar.Film doesn’t disappoint in picturising those songs.Dhan tana tan is the USP of this movie it lives ,we also run along with Charlie when the music plays.With all the aspects of the movie Kaminey also had some problems for me.Too much of characters were infact disturbing me to get along with the main character.The chemistry between Guddu and Sweety worked but I felt Sweety’s character forced Guddu to the love which is not a justifiable for the character.Too much of time is consumed in the first half which could have been avoided.

The quality of Vishal’s skill puts behind all these negatives and we get a entertaining and gripping Bollywood movie .Its the movie which will get a status for Vishal and Shahid and also for Dhan tana tan .Go watch it ,You cant miss this twins .
Rating :****

Public Enemies (2009)

Its very difficult to avoid Public enemies because it has got high level precision and clarity.There are many things which the movie lacks for a great movie but surely this one is up the charts for Michael Mann .Public enemies is the life of John Dellinger,the Maverick Bank robber.

The movie happens during the great depression and John Dillinger targets the rich banks for his hunt and he does it with style and accuracy.He is so dominant that his actions makes mockery over the American security.Melvin Purvis(Christian Bale) is the man to get Dillinger .The movie shows the FBI’s initiative to incorporate scientific, data-driven methods into its mission.

Johnny Depp looks like Original Dillinger and he even smiles like him.Johny Depp’s portrayal is sensual,stylish and powerful.He gives the balance to his robbery and his romance with his girl Billie Frechette (Marion Cotillard),Christian Bale is aggressive and motivated but we don’t know any thing other his mission to get Dillinger.Dillinger is self created and true outlaw whereas Melvin is a systematic agent which makes a obvious combination of real rivalry between them.But Mann didn’t want both of them to look like Abagnal and Carl Hanratty.This is not a cat and mouse game but a serious officer’s mission and very intelligent Robber’s journey.

Too much of details and study makes the movie to miss some of the very visible information for the viewer.Melvin Purvis character lacks the grip we are unable to expect anything else from him other than getting Dillinger.We find difficulty in locating who’s who in the earlier part of the movie till the movie settles down.

Once the movie settles we get the experience of the Dante Spinotti’s HD camerawork! Shaking camera and visuals which are really a different experience.But it creates mess in some parts before we get used to the actual intensity of the visuals.The visuals are sleek and very lucid but don’t know during loud gun battles the camera looses its projection and we hardly find comfort in those scenes.Audibility is also a problem in the live recording.But Mann’s study and clarity in his works for aesthetics is amazing and gripping which makes this movie a violent battle between two antagonists

Melivin’s trap to get Dillinger is a gripping moment and defines the movie overall.It tells the character of Dillinger in a manner which answers every thing about the powerful public Enemy who lived in 30’s.This may not be the best of Depp’s performance but this will remain remarkable for his accurate portrayal of John Dillinger.

Mothi Vilayadu (2009)

To be very frank I walked out of the movie in the middle! It is really difficult to watch a Saran Movie,Every time I expect “ Atleast this time “ But he has the reputation of making some mediocre movies in the past which had unexpectedly become a commercial hit.This time with the trailer and songs I expected a decent entertainer.It was such a irritating and amateurish performance onscreen and direction which made me to walk out of the hall.

Vinay and Kalabavan Mani make a funny story about family,Business and revenge,Till first half of movie you have nothing to enjoy other than the Kajal Agarwal's smile ,but with second half of the movie comes the most irritating part .No Logic,no point where the movie leads,some rubbish dialogues and twists makes a painful watch.I would clearly say this movie is one of the worst made movie this year for its screenplay and performance.Even the dubbing looks so irritating in this movie.I could not understand how can Saran take his screenplay for granted to give such a movie .

I feel bad for wasting two hours of my life in watching this movie which speaks about the high profile business people life and their games in a idiotic way.One convincing factor is the songs and Music! Colonial cousins have delivered peppy tunes for this movie which looks good onscreen.I should be honest , If I expect a neat entertainer with good screenplay from Saran then I am the biggest fool !

Trash

Achamundu Achamundu (2009)

Arun Vaidhyanathan intentions are appreciable ,This is a pressing issue going around the world.Child molestation is a universal stigma and cause we all have fight against.Movie speaks about Child molestation and brings out the statistics of happenings around the world .

Senthil Kumar ( Prassana) who works in U.S as a software employee with his wife Malini ( Sneha ) and his daughter Rithika.Senthil and Sneha employs Robertson( John Seah) to paint their house .The problem starts there and the couple and child undergoes lots of trauma to come out of the incident which happens because of John Seah .

Movie moves in a irritating pace and it can not be graded as a thriller ,I would say this is a Offbeat movie and as a movie its not interesting watch referring the plot.We are made to know who is the culprit and what would be done and what would happen in the middle of the movie itself and it gives no interest for us to anticipate or expect any thing from the screenplay.

Technically the movie is good ,shot completely with high resolution Redone camera it has technically sound art work .Performance wise too this movie is good and nothing to complain.But all I have to say this has no extraordinary sense of appeal to a viewer apart from the intention of the movie .

This movie is clearly advertised as thriller and it should stand for it atleast,first one hour goes in a snail pace and we don’t know whats the intention of the movie at all.We have some very normal instances which are tied together to make a climax which is really not convincing.Screenplay part of this movie has no life from the director. I know i am going against many of the reviews which are here in this media ,but seriously I mean it.

But the theme of the movie has to be brought and told as this movie does .Its a responsibility and we need to understand the seriousness of the movie in the right cause.I fully support that .

Rating : **

Gulaal(2009)

There are some people who make movies which leaves you thinking.Anurag Kashyap is one such director.After his modern day take on Devdas its now Gulaal.Gulaal was supposed to be his lauch pad but got delayed due to many reasons.Gulaal is a different make over for Hindi film from the talented director leaving his captivated DevD.

Set in the modern day city of Rajasthan story revolves around Student politics and Rajput fight for power.Dileep Singh( Rajsingh Chaudary) who gets in to the University election which is controlled by Dukki Bhana ( KK Menon ) a local Rajput who inflicts the armed movement in the society against the Government for their loss of power.Dileep singh gets entangled in the plot by illegitimate children of a Rajput king and he becomes the victim.Dilip looses many things and he turns against the stigma which was thrown to him.

Gulaal is one of the dark and anger filled movie by the director.It has no lighter moments which gives the feeling of heaviness .Movie is told in a very complex manner with lots of characters ,each of them with unique screen presence.The astounding choice of characterisation is to be noted in this movie. Deepak Dobriyal and Piyush Mishra as brother of KK Menon are some of the characters which needs a mention in this movie.

KKMenon is amazing and he is one of the intense actors today in Indian cinema,Rajsingh gives a stunning performance as the character of Dilip.He portrays the struggle between the Rajput politics and University politics.Abhimanyu singh scores as Rananjay gives the movie a lift during the first thirty minutes.Anurag chooses his music in a very unique manner,Piyush Mishra music has intelligent lyrics which speaks on Love,power and revolution.

Movie is unwantedly made very complex as the director has lots of stories told along the main plot which makes this movie dragging at many instances.Movie is fierce but it lacks the pace which would have given a cult status to this movie.The plot and characterisation are very impressive but it needs a very clear mind to enjoy this movie.This speaks about love,tussle between the Rajputs,Mobs,Loyalty in a very dark manner .A must watch and highly impressive.

Hangover (2009)

Its not just a comedy film but a riot of comedy.You have to sit and expect what turns bizarre in the next minute.Its not about the funny things which happen around in the movie but the very reality touch being given to the movie makes it very interesting.Hangover is a treat for your weekend .

It’s all about a bachelor party going wrong before marriage .Four friends Phil,Stu,Allen,Doug start a trip to Lasvegas two days before their Doug’s marriage.On the night at Lasvegas they start the party with a drink which messes the whole party .When they wake up they find every thing weird.confused .There is a Tiger in the bath room,A baby in the bedroom and the seators burning.And the worst thing they don’t have a clue what happened the before night.How the friends reach to marriage is Hangover.

Hangover spells out fun and wit in a very casual and realistic manner where you have no time to follow the things going on.Non stop humour is always fun to watch any day and Its been quiet some time that I watched a movie like this and it gives a contentment when coming out of the hall.The best thing about this movie is that this could happen in real life and where we mess up lot of regular things when we are on a trip.We will be forced to behave as a different gene when we are away from home and this happens for the four friends.They make fun,they get beaten up,They get arrested and they do all the nonsense possible to make us entertain in a very unpredicted manner but in a logical manner.

Zach Galifianakis steals the film with his role as the brother in law of Justin Bartha.His casual and hilarious actions digs the laughter out of you ,with out even a single dialogues.The bond between the actors are amazingly matchless and they bring this very ordinary plot to a grade of greatness.The whole mess brought as photos at the end of the movie gives the final touch to the movie.
The film doesn’t have any rules to make this restricted but it surely doesn’t offend any where.Hangover gives a thought for you to plan a trip immediately because we cant stop enjoying the experiences of these guys .

Rating :****

New York (2009)

Newyork is what they call in Hindi as Bakwas in its script. FBI detained many of the Muslims in U.S as suspects and tortured them ,Later released with lack of evidence.In that task many were innocent muslims.Here in Newyork FBI detains a innocent man but watches and plays undercover with a man who is evidently confirmed as terrorist.The whole plot and intention is lost there.

Omar ( Neil Nithin Mukesh ) is detained by FBI in connection with Terrorism.Later he understands that FBI wants him to play the undercover to find Sameer ( John Abraham) who is his collage mate who is married Maya ( Katrina Kaif) who is also Omar’s friend.Kabir khan’s movie claims to have researched a lot about the 9/11 events and the detainment activities carried out by FBI but its left in vain by the very weak screenplay and plot.

Neil Nithin Mukesh is in trouble from the beginning of the movie but he manages to put a show.John Abraham character is messed up totally and I am confused with his selection of movies nowadays.Irfan Khan is a cool customer and he proves here too with his interrogation.But his accent for a Bollywood movie looks very artificial.

Movie moves in a very painful pace and it kills the patience in many shots.Though its brought in very true intention the movie doesn’t have the strength to prove the point against .Movie is confused in its construction,its in a dilemma to be a Bollywood style or as a very serious style.It never strikes chord in both the sides.Movie has very normal dialogues which really makes this movie a boring affair.

I wasn’t convinced with the intentions nor the performances though the team wanted to present a reality which happens in every part of the world against Muslims.Kabir Khan fails miserably in his intentions to bring that due to lack of nerve and depth in screenplay.It looks a very serious disaster for a viewer like me.

Rating : *

Nadodigal (2009)

It could not be a chance that Sasikumar acted in subramaniapuram though he was Director of the movie.If he would have taken a decision by not acting in that movie I can very clearly say that we would have not got Nadodigal as intense and as interesting as its now.Nadodigal is a welcome movie after a series of debacle in Tamil industry this year.

Nadodigal is about the three friends Karunakaran( Sasi Kumar ) ,Pandi ( Bharani ) Chandran ( Vijay ) .Director Samuthrakani teams up the three as similar we see in Subramaniapuram ,the three friends start towards Namakkal from Rajapalyam to rescue a love of Karuna’s friend who is the son of Ex M.P.In the mission Chandran’s leg gets amputed and Pandi loses his hearing ability and Karuna looses his granny. At one point of time the friends turn against the lovers when the realise some truth.

Samuthrakani knows what to deliver with Sasikumar and he gives a bang movie in style. We forget the time passed by when we watch the fast paced screenplay.The screenplay of the first one and a half hour is so tightly wound which makes us feel that it is happening for ten minutes.Samuthrakani has to be credited for this story line and reality which he has shown in this movie.The visual selections and characterisation makes credit to the skill of the director .

Now to sasikumar ,This man is indeed a hero material and he had carried with such a macho performance and maturity.Any slipped performance could have shown his character as a normal cinematic character but this story line is very intelligently held by the character of Karunakaran.Sasi kumar deserves and receives applause in the halls for his performances in the chasing scenes and particularly when he sends the lovers away from their parents.

One character which should be praised and commended should be the character of Bharani.This man is interesting, frightening ,funny and ofcourse he is amazing in the role of Bharani.He is a typical villager who brings the anger and wit in a natural manner ! Sundar C Babu has composed a very lengthy song “Sambo siva sambo” which brings the theme of the movie.

Nadodigal shouldn’t be compared with Subramaniapuram but it would be compared.Nadodigal brings the theme friendship in a very powerful and darker manner ,It’s a must watch and it easily becomes the best movie made this year .

Rating :***1/2

Masilamani (2009)

I managed to watch some movies this weekend after some break.I am not very much ok with the movie releases .There had been no Hindi releases and some very ordinary Tamil releases for the past some month.Highly advertised by Sun TV for its home production movie Masilamani arrives this weekend.

Masilamani is Nakul who comes back after the so called hit Kadhalil Vizhunthen with his pair Sunaina as Divya.Masilamani is a remake of Tullatha Manamum Thullum in a lighter way.But the treatment and family space claims it a different movie , ofcourse the title is also different.Divya misunderstands Masilamani as a rouge ,Masilamani is a guy who can not tolerate social crimes and he always finds himself before Divya as a guy who fights in the streets.Masi falls in love with her ,to impress her ,he gets introduced with her family as a Mani and impresses them.Divya meets Mani and lots of drama and usual and expected climax.

Nakul has improved a lot and he needs to work on his pronunciation ,which could get him in to good shape.The chemistry of Nakul and Sunaina has nothing new to offer.Movie looks very ordinary with nothing to offer new or interesting.There are some very usual and mix of scenes which were told in many movie for the past twenty years.

If you have to make a decent collection and attract then book Santhanam.As usual with his funny comments he rocks .He has been doing really good this year with SMS ,Thoranai and now in Masilamani to some extend.He cant save the movie but it’s a relief .M.S Bhaskar puts himself in many get up of Ghajini,Rajini and Kamal to create some fun.

On the whole Masilamani is the old mix in a new name .I don’t how much effect the Sun TV advertisement( The movie release was announced in the SUN NEWS ) would have on the success but as a movie its not a very bad movie but its not worth it .

Rating :*

Thoranai (2009)

I don’t know the releases are not in full flow as it was three months ago,We see a release only two weeks once and then the distribution gets stagnated for months.This week we got Thoranai,Vishal was banking much on this after his debacle Satyam.

Thoranai is a movie which has the story of 70’s and 80’s.Younger brother Murugan ( Vishal ) comes to Chennai in search of his brother .He gets entangled with the gang war of two Dons of the city Tamil Arasu ( Prakash Raj ) and Guru ( Kishore).Its left to Vishal to clean up the gang to take his brother home .

Movie is not worse but couldn’t be treated as a good entertainer thought.Movie entertains in parts with Santhanam doing the magic again through out the first half.He can switch off from his double meaning verses.Vishal doesn’t want to try any thing new as he did stupid in Satyam.This time what makes him loose is the PUNCH DIALOGUES.I couldn’t sit for a second when he speaks those dialogues.Its irritating and it had made the movie miss the grade .Its not only Vishal every one in the movie speaks very lengthy dialogues for no reason.Even in the climax when Vishal pleads to Commissioner he speaks a lengthy throat which actually looks funny.

Prakashraj and Kishore make a good combination of opposite poles but the dialogues between them irritates the whole show.Shreya has nothing to offer other than the songs which appears so idiotically every thirty minutes as a protocol.Santhanam does it again as he did the magic in SMS.He gives a laugh riot with Vishal which is the relaxing part in the movie.Movie could have turned out to be a good entertainer if the over aggressiveness and some over reaction of Vishal was reduced.He had turned out to be copying many actors at the moment which leaves him empty in the screen.Some body in Tamil Industry fight to win against Vishal ! I see no body since his first movie had won fighting against him.He cant continue long if its repeated again.

Director Saba Iyyappan has a very average debut which is doesnt turn out as he wished .Thoranai is an average movie for action lovers ,strictly amateur action nothing very much interesting.

Rating : *1/2

Sarvam (2009)

I think this movie is meant for the breaking the hangover from NanKadavul for Arya.Because this has nothing else to offer for us.The costumes looks stylish from Anuvardhan and some usual romance in the firsthalf which entertains us and the amazingly intense camera of Neerav Shah.Vishnu Vardhan disappoints his return with Sarvam.

Movie has traces of inspiration from Hollywood flick 21 grams but it’s a Kollywood version all together.Karthik ( Arya )an architect falls in love with Dr. Sandhya ( Trisha ) and follows her persistently to get her acceptance.When Sandhya accepts his love , it doesn’t live long ,Sandhya dies in an accident.Chakravarthy a former football coach roams in search of Naushad and his kid Iman to take revenge for the death of his son who dies in an accident where Naushad is involved.Iman gets the heart of Sandhya through a heart transplantation and Karthik comes in for rescue of Iman from Chakravarthy.

Arya looks stunning after we had seen in the much spoken Naan Kadavul.Arya carries the first half with his comic romance and in the second half he doesn’t have much to offer but to run.Trisha has a very brief role.Chakravarthy in a much expected role goes as a psychopath killer who along with his dog Bruce spend their time in the movie by searching whereabouts of Iman.The movie as a whole is restricted to ten characters where we don’t see much of drama nor thrill to carry till the end.

Neerav shah has been maintaining his stylish camera work with Vishnuvardhan.His visuals speak for his work and its refreshing to watch Munnar and dark woods through his lens.If I had to speak about the music ,I have to literally abuse Yuvan Shankar raja for choosing his singers.The song “ siragugal vandhu “ is the most pathetically pronounced song in the entire Tamil cinema history.I can not digest the words “ “Ulugum “ when its spelt though it had a good tune.

Vishnu vardhan could have made this movie little more interesting with the chases as its restricted to very little characters and it has no edging sequences.The much expected character Bruce Dog also is just a publicity.Movie slows down in the second half and its predictable in major parts.I am disappointed with Sarvam.

Rating : **

Mohamull songs

I was hunting for Mohamull audio CD for a long time .Even in the web i was not able to find the songs of Mohamull till I found this.I dont download songs usually ,But when you dont get the songs in stores any where ,this link provides all the six songs from the movie.

Enzzoy!!!

http://www.newtamilhits.com/tamil_movie_songs_free_download.asp?MovieId=22

Meiporul(2009)

I was getting lots of Spam SMS about this movie and the poster of this movie was irritating for me .It read “ Tamil cinemavai mattra vanthirukkum oru thiraipadam “ meaning “ Movie which has come to change tamil cinema “.If you ask me frankly its so rubbish and idiotic to think as such even for publicity .I would definitely agree this movie had a different space but it had nothing new other than the characters because we don’t see any known faces.

Meiporul is a thriller which is shot entirely in USA.Sam( Krish Bala) and Devi (Anusha) are happy couple who live in USA.Things change when Sam meets Rajan who predicts the things through his Extra sensory perception.Rajan tells about Sam’s death ,horrified Rajan starts acting in a different manner.Things unwinds when Sam’s friends brings these things to a different light.

One thing about this movie is that the actors struggle to act and even to spell the dialogues.They act as if they are acting !.It was disturbing through out the movie when you don’t have performance in the movie.Sam’s friend (Narayanan) is the only actor who has give a good performance.I don’t know who selected the characters but seriously when you are looking for a thriller and quality movie these things would disturb you and irritate you .I was told all the actors are first timers !

Movie has some twists but its not a edge of seat thriller which can make you sit glued in the movie.Movie has different treatment and things are similar to the Hollywood script but we don’t expect a U Turn in thrillers any more.A decent racy movie with good performance would have done good job for this movie .Sorry for the director Natty Kumar !

Rating : *

Pasanga (2009)

Due to IPL there were no big releases in the month of April, I guess the movies are back .This week had three releases .I chose to go with trusting SasiKumar .Pasanga is a different movie for many reasons.Its about kids but its not only for kids.Pasanga has the flavour to every body to enjoy.If you think its a prequel of Subramaniapuram or a movie inspired from City of Gods then you will be for a surprise when you watch.

Pasanga is about school life politics and rivalry between two kids Anbarasu and Jeeva(Sriram) who are in their school.Jeeva a notorious kid of Maths teacher Sokkalingam.Anbu(Kishore) a brilliant kid of a middle class father.Both fight for their supremacy and Anbarasu’s good attitude brings jealous to Jeeva and his friends in their class,Jeeva hates Anbu and slowly the fight between the kids spread to their family due to unexpected incidents.Pasanga ends by the kids getting united through their family and some understanding between them.

Pasanga is the flavour of the vacation for the school kids mainly.There is no big laugh riots ,no sentiments ,no frill stars but Pasanga works out when the movie moves goes on.Its because of the astounding performance of all the actors who had given a fantastic performance.I would say many of the actors in the industry can just look this movie for real performances.You can not enjoy this movie if you have a attitude that the scenes looks very much kiddish ,You will enjoy the movie when you start involving with the kids and it makes us go back to school when we just look in to the fights and arguments.

The two kids who had stolen the movie are the lead Kishore and Sriram.Every moves and fights gives fun and a interesting tale of a school life.The romance between Meenakshi Sundaram and Sophi Kannu is a laugh riot which balances the movie when it comes out of the school.Parents make impressive performance with the kids who feel the accountability of being parents at the right time .

First thirty minutes was not very much convincing but slowly when the movie picked up there were lot of good things for the kids and parents .A conversation between the parents to understand themselves is a touching note of the script .The movie has unique viewpoints and interesting characterisation which makes this movie enjoyable.Movie had brought the script in a very well shape.Good work by the debutant director Pandiraj who had the guts to give the movie when the whole industry is depending on star cast .James Vasanthan makes us hear Balamurali Krishna after a long time ,James Vasanthan has delivered a good BGM for this movie.

I would totally go with the intention of the Producer Sasikumar’s intention to make movie with newcomers .This movie is different and it wouldn’t disappoint you if you are keen about good movies.Enjoy pasanga because it’s a worthy movie for this summer.

Rating : ***

Request :)

For some time my reviews will be short due to some constraints.I will catch up with the older format soon.

Siva Manasula Sakthi (2009)

Every body said it’s a B Grade movie ,But some how I cant accept it ,Its a entertainer and I needed it badly.Jeeva rocks in the movie with his performance with the new girl Anuya ,SMS is a out and out entertainer with out any big story line.Movie directed by Rajesh is well supported by humour scenes of Jeeva and Santhanam.

Siva a middle class guy who meets Sakthi in a train.Both have acceptance problem between them and they fight each other every time they meet and slowly they discover the love for each other.How Siva and Sakthi falls in love is SMS. Movie is noteable for the hilarious comedy by Jeeva and Santhanam through out.They make you laugh out with the day to day humour which we go through with our friends .There is romance in the movie which didn’t entertain me.For me it was good watch with avoiding usual dramatic finishes and sentiments.No wonder it’s a run away success in Chennai.

Anantha Thandavam ( 2009 )

So the wait is over ,Last movie I saw in theatre was Yavarum Nalam and I don’t remember when I had a big gap like this.I was expecting Anandha Thandavam more than the new hero Sidharth and even the producer,I had even gone in the extend of buying the book for some of my friends to read it.I didn’t expect a debacle like this.Heart wretched I could really see where the movie went terribly wrong.AT is a movie which has no directorial brilliance in it had failed due to very bad screenplay and performance.

AT is based on Sujatha’s Classic Pirivom Santhippom.A story of young Ragupathi who meets his father’s Boss daughter Madumitha when he returns after his education to Tirunelveli.Ragupathi instantly falls in love with the innocent girl Madumitha and He is liked by Madumitha’s parents who go in the extend of engaging both of them.Things go against with the arrival of Radhakrishnan a NRI who sweeps Madhumitha’s family with his Dollar life.Madhu marries Radhakrishnan.Heart wrecked Ragupathi fails in suicide too and his dad motivates him to persue his MBA in Newyork where he meets Rathna.Ragu meets Madhumitha in Newyork and his life goes in for a roller coaster again.

What is touching here is the dialogues penned by Sujatha ,You may not have the opportunity to listen to those intellectual dialogues once more .His last movie before his death.What is sad here is Director Gandhikrishna wanted to be so loyal that he tried page by page making of the movie,I could some of the characters like Mary being omitted ,but the characters are more in moving to the next page rather creating a mark to us.It is very pathetic to see Gandhikrishna was not able to make a screenplay from a great love story .Probably he should have taken the clue from Eric Segal’s Lovestory where it stood loyal to the movie making and also the book.

Sidharth as Ragupathy is so much dumb more than the character itself .I could understand it is his first movie but the days are gone that we must not expect any thing great in the first movie.Tamannah delivers a beautiful performance as Madumitha and she impresses with her innocence.Rathna character didn’t stand tall with the performance.Mohanram character is well crafted as in the novel. It was very good to see Kitty after a long time in Ragupathy’s father role.He delivers a sound performance where Sujatha speaks most of the time.I would love to see him in more characters.

What went wrong.Ragupathy character was totally messed up.Sidharth is struggling to react for many scenes.Rathna character was nothing impressive.On the whole the movie excluding Kitty and Tamannah looked as if I am watching a B Grade movie as the character selection had some over acting performance in it.Music was below average .Screenplay had no thought and it tried to make the novel as it is.This has made the movie to look like a series of events than a interesting story.

Pirivom Santhippom had a feel which gave the readers to feel sorry for the character Ragupathi and feel pity of the character Madhumitha.But the movie never did so.The movie failed to bring the magic what Sujatha brought in Novel.Personally it’s a let down for me as I had recommended this movie to many of my friends and I am the one who is disappointed much more than any body both with the movie and for recommending it.

Rating : * 1/2

I am Back

Give me some time ,I will be back..I was down for a month,I am getting recovered.And Anantha Thandavam movie is releasing on my birthday April 10th .What more I can ask for .

Best wishes

K.Karthik

Meanstreets (1973)

Once when Farhan Akthar director of Dil Chahta Hai was interviewed on his passion on movies ,he said “one day I want to make a movie like Mean streets”.I didn’t realise what could be this movie that day.Some day when you feel so dull or with your usual things ,you got to watch Scorsese.Scorsese is a specimen which can be never matched.Name any of his movies; every thing has its unique style ,though mostly it revolves around drug,Mafia or violence.The other day when Mathi and I were discussing on Scorsese Mrs.Mathi was furious to say Scorsese repeats his movie in different names.Mathi jumped to justify but I kept quiet,She should watch Mean streets for it uniqueness as a movie and style.

Meanstreets also involves Mafia ,Violence but it moves around friends .It deduces among two friends Good Guy Charlie( Harvey Keitel) who is the nephew of Local Mafia boss and the other guy Johnny boy ( Robert De Niero)who is mentally unstable . Charlie is tested by his friendship with Johnny Boy, whose purposeful disregard of those to whom he owes money places both in danger.

The movie stands for its technical greatness and its daring visuals through out the movie.Movie breaks lots of formula to put forth its style which later became Scorsese style.For example the stunts in the pool which looks like real life stunt and the moments of their care after it. Scorsese brings the loyalty among New York's Italian-American community in the lives of Charlie and Johnny Boy.

Movie has undoubtedly superb performance by two great actors Robert De Niero and Harvey Keitel.You can not see typical De Niero –Scorsese characterisation but its very different to see the actor who does stupid things which always puts him in danger.Harvey is a realist and he is faithful to his family,friend,Love and his religion.But he is repeatedly tested in all the aspects of his life.He doesn’t have answers as he is always bound by the rules of each of his belief.

Movie moves slow and you can not expect the fight for power or the boss of bosses attitude in this movie but it has the rarity of style to make you sit and peek in through out.It speaks from the minds of two friends and their conflicts and closeness in a unique manner.Rock music,Sin,Loyalty,comic violence every unique style has its say in this movie.It starts from the daily activities to their dreams to destination.

Meanstreets is considered to be one of the greatest of Scorsese movies and I could say its rare piece of exhibiting two variant characters and their friendship.Its a difficult film to watch as we see the characters who could have moved on a different potential but get beaten by the system and selfishness .Regardless of its characterisation and their leads it marked as one of the landmark movies of Scorsese.

Dev D (2009)

I hate Sanjay Leela Bansali’s Devdas for many reasons.Its a grand and luxurious portrayal of a stupid guy which was no where close to reality.When I was watching that movie I was thinking the same ,why in 2000’s you have to make such a kind of period movie which has no meaning to what the reality of history.Abhay Deol does this with style and we can understand the movie from the beginning what a modern day Devdas would be.

Dev D is the modernday version of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's classic Bengali novel Devdas conceptulized by Abey Deol and directed by talented Anurag Kashyap.Story is the same ,but they have lot of real incidents which have been grabbed inside which gives the feel for this movie.We know who is Devdas.Who is Paro and Chandramukhi /Chanda .But they have different stories behind them to become the characters what we see in the movie.

I was discussing with my friend about this movie and the character Dev and Paro.He said bet you wouldn’t like this guy Dev and he was right.he is fully with dope,always in to sex,he never uses the right words even to woman he loves. He is a hypocritical sensualist,who was destroying himself and he doesn’t know what he is doing and he never introspects himself till the moment he looses every thing.Dev throws Paro in a doubt and then he realises he needs her which becomes late for him.He is educated and never sympathises on himself or others.When he finds Paro again ,he understands himself that life has moved on.Abhey Deol is sparkling as an actor in this movie,Lots of promise can be laid on him in his future movies.

One character which steals the movie apart from Dev is the character of Chanda( Kalki Koechelin).Inspired by MMS scam which took the country by shock before five years the character Chanda finds herself as Sex worker after it.Director took lots of study on this real life character who is a sex worker in Delhi ,Anurag didn’t exaggerate any of moments of her character and she slowly finds herself meaningful with Dev.Dev after being thrown to streets realises the importance of Chanda in his life and that is the moment he analyses his whole life.

The movie is a daring attempt in portraying a spoiled guy and it just uses lots of verbally accusing scenes which makes humour some times and uneasy some times.Some times we can even understand the movie portrays the modern day youth and rich kid in a manner through this movie.

I saw lots of old couples moving out of the theatre in the middle.Make sure you watch it with this warning.But on the whole it was an intelligent movie in many parts and it knows that its telling a story of a disgusting character and even he doesn’t allow us to take sympathy on him.Movie breaks the boundries of Indian cinema in many place in portrayal ,music and dialogues and above all the concept of Devdas is amazing .Go watch it for sure.If you miss it ,you will still sympathy on classic Devdas.

Rating : ****

Yaavarum Nalam (2009)

If you ask me any day I would say I am a Madhavan fan,I don’t know why but some how his earlier films have always fascinated me ,But I would not accept his movies off late were good.Because it was crap selection of movies he was doing.Thank God he did Yavarum Nalam I would say.Yavarum Nalam has turned as one of the best thrillers made in Recent times for its screenplay and some amazing performance .It still steals your heartbeat with an innovative concept and some real chilling moments .This movie can scare you down and bring to edge of the seat in the later part of the movie.

Yavarum Nalam tells the series of incidents which take place in a house bought by Madhavan.The women at his home are eccentrically addicted to TV serials .Things go wrong for Madhavan from the day one at the home and slowly he realises some thing seriously wrong at home.A TV serial watched by his family members resembles his day to day life and at one point he realises it exactly coincides with the future events .Madhavan gets in to it to find that the serial is only visible at his home and he hides the things to his family and seeks the help of his friend who is a police officer.He realises the episode which happens is because of the evil spirits which seek revenge for an incident which took place years ago.


If we always forget the logic when we watch Hollywood thrillers ,then for the sake of this movie we need to forget the logic.But I can assure the screenplay and the series of events makes us to experience a super thriller after a very long time.I don’t remember when I watched a tight paced thriller which was clearly made .It speaks about the medium for the evil spirits in a very intelligent manner and it brings out very justifiable plot at the end.Director Vikram has taken time to settle down and when he puts the real show we understand his confidence over the script.

One of the biggest asset for the movie is P.C.Sriram’s camera ,it just breaks the stereotyping of horror movies with its visuals and it just takes off very naturally to really creepy moments in frame.Madhavan was very normal when he started off but slowly I was able to see his emotions getting terrified as we do.He couldn’t understand and his confusion was well brought by his actions.Every character in the movie had very impeccable character definition and its one of the very pleasing point in the movie.

Speaking about the movie itself, it takes very wise turns and I was able to read the climax but I am not sure whether it was easy to read.But I feel the clues provided should have been little more tight lipped than this, which could have given a shock for every body.Medium of spirits through TV is some thing novel and its well brought in the screenplay .The initial thirty minutes was little slow and it was not comparable in presentation when compared to the rest half.But I could say that would be forgotten when the Madhavan understands the spirits at home.With out our knowledge we get ready for the horror ride .

Rating : *** 1/2

Frequency (2000)

Some times weird imagination of the movie will take us by shock and will entertain us.This was one of the movie which was recommended by Ashok and I had the chance to watch this movie in his DVD .

A son who gets a chance to communicate with his Dad who is dead 30 years ago through old Radio.He speaks to his dad and alters the series of incidents which took place for the thirty years ,The movie begins as Frank Sullivan (Dennis Quaid) firefighter and family man who spends his nights talking to strangers over a HAM radio.He is a die hard of fan of Mets .Movie moves to 1999 ,when Frank's son John has grown up into (Jim Caviezel) and become a police officer,accidentally he gets his Dad’s Radio which was dormant for years.

When he finds some one is speaking in the radio,John realises its his Dad who was dead thirty years ago.Every night he speaks with him to tell him what had happened and they investigate on the serial murder which happened in 70’s .It might be funny to elaborate the sequences of the movie ,but the real funny thing is it works .The movie grows on its worthy scenes to show a worthy thriller.It moves from the father son relation ship to the serial killer and the methodical way to win the time against two parallel sets.

Every body likes to change the moment of their life to change or revive ,Both John and Frank get their moments and they build upon it to make their life and get united.It gets complicated for both of them to understand and believe but some how they make it up.The subplot will interest you equally to the main time frame as we have the same killer living during the John’s period also.

One of the logical flaw which I found was that the killer appearing at both the period at the same frame which could have turned to be a letdown some how the pace of the movie makes us forget about it.Some times these kind of movie never makes us think “why this ?“because of its intelligent presentation. James Caviezel as the son and Dennis Quaid as Dad make up their moments ,they struggle between themselves and they realise what they are getting along.

Frequency is a good watch as its fairly plausible and it gives the viewers to enjoy the movie rather questioning about the plot.If you really have the moment to change your past what would you do ? .This movie can sell of its own to the viewers with that particular tag and its perfect screenplay makes it complete .

Valkyrie (2008)

“He let things come to him, and then he made up his mind ... one of his characteristics was that he really enjoyed playing the devil's advocate. Conservatives were convinced that he was a ferocious Nazi, and ferocious Nazis were convinced he was an unreconstructed conservative. He was neither “-Nina von Stauffenberg

History writes Von Stauffenburg as one of the prolific and leading Nazi officer of his times whose his organizational abilities, and his radical revolutionary approach but end to inactivity in the Nazi resistance force.He was one man who from the first believed that the War is lost and he was the reason behind the operation Valkyrie.His professional approach and his resolve was the reason which made him to act accordingly to avoid unnecessary blood shed and further damage to Germany.

Operation Valkyrie is about the secret mission initiated by Von Stauffenberg to assassinate Adolf Hitler and avoid uprising in Germany after Hitler .It also had aimed to bring an alternate power in Germany after the war.Movie speaks in a brief manner about the moments before the July 20 1944 and after it .It speaks around Von and his failed mission to assassinate Hitler.

Tom Cruise resemblance and his deliverables support the character to an extend,but some how the energy needed for this character is missing .Tom Cruise execution of the role works and it intensify the mood to make us understand ,We are given with one of the memorable roles but it is one of the well understood role in a way to represent one of the memorable characters of World War II

The film supports the history and it moves as a meticulously made thriller.The mood and the characters support it ,though we know the failed mission .What happens next is well known but why it happened is well brought in the screenplay.Bryan Singer brings out the research and the deliberation to the thriller.Authenticity of the history can not be argued as it still remains as a conspiracy .It moves as a cold and tensed movie which gives the thrill through out the movie.

The movies shows very clearly that not all Nazi generals were supporting Hitler and some cared for the Nation.This is a strongly procedural and elegant movie in its style and its presentation.You cant expect a edge of the seat thriller but it classifies as a thriller for its mood of course though you know it.It disappoints in the end with usual style of World war movies but indeed it’s a tight movie and a worth watch.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)

For quiet some time me and my brother had been watching some intense movies and thrillers were the kind of movies which fascinate us.If you asks us which are some noteworthy movies in it the list would surely include Seven,Fightclub,Zodiac.We have built a level of fascination towards David Fincher’s movies and we discuss about his works on a detailed manner.Curious case of Benjamin Button was expected by us over a year ,after we read about it in Wiki.

Some where I read “ You would grow Older when you see Benjamin grow young “ that’s the story of Curious case of Benjamin Button.Its a fairy tale of a man who ages in the reverse physically.He is born as a eighty year old child but when time goes by he becomes young.He grows in the care of Quinne a nurse of a oldage home.The movie goes as a narration as old age lady Daisy hears the diary of Benjamin read by her daughter.Daisy remains with Benjamin till his death to love him and take care of him.


Some times you don’t know how did things comes to creators so differently ,when I was watching this movie I was feeling the same.It was so different for me with the stages of life when Benjamin gets younger day by day physically and but some how we start getting curious about his make overs than his actual life.That was the one disappointment or the feeling I had when I watched this.I started concentrating more on the reception of Benjamin than his actual feelings.The best part part about the character is he never gets hidden and he never gets shy to actually fall in love.He is not like the guy we saw in Forrest Gump.But his emotions are close with the Forrest.Following his love Daisy when she meets with accident ,Living with her or meeting his father after years or the meeting of the Russian Lady tells the meaning of this abnormal guy.

Brad Pitt in a very composed role and Fincher makes great roles for him .” Look at you ,You are perfect “ Cate Blanchet says looking at the young Brad pitt and we wait for that moment from the beginning.The love between them is moving but it is also a piece of cinematic artifice.We have a magnificent performances from both of them which can make you forget the length of the movie too. A masterpiece show of Makeup and it deserves the Oscar it won! And spell bounding camera shows the time moving ahead of Benjamin.

Some what it tries to stick to the novelty and the dark moments of humour are underplayed with the philosophies of life taking the centerstage .The curiosity towards his life makes us experience what a human form could be on the unimaginable manner ,showing us we are born and we die as child,

David Fincher with out his usual intense thrillers and serial killers shows a different territory of his style ,I am not bothered about the reality but it’s a splendid movie in all sense for the characters and its presentation.One of the moving and touching movies which I experienced in the recent times.

On the night of Oscars!!!

Am I getting too reactive about it ,I don’t know.I may be.From “Sottu Nilam Doi “ to BAFTA and then to OSCARS.Criticise or argue,Oscars are recognition at the highest level with respect to Marketing and Publicity.Redcarpet for the Man we loved for years from Roja.Movies got grand opening because of this man.Movies ran packed houses for his Music.

You don’t have to sit and compare his music with yesteryear's Maestro music ,We need to accept his music soothes and makes us happy and young.I don’t know western Music to argue about on a comparative factor.For some days my IPOD plays MasaKali and Jaiho repeatedly.Slumdog may be a movie with extraordinary recognition but his Music is definitely not ordinary in Slumdog.

My friend was saying “ You guys ( Tamil ) have already lost him ,Now Bollywood also will loose because of this movie “ True it is.Rahman after this will be for the international.As a average music lover,I wish him the luck and wishes for the night to get coveted Oscar.Dont ask me why we are so excited to get the award of American Movies.I had set the alarm for 06.30 am to hear the acceptance speech from him .

Delhi 6 (2009)

One thing for sure that I have learnt from the past years of movie watching is don’t manipulate any thing.When I went for Delhi 6 it was the same.I tried manipulating the movie before even watching it.Some times I feel I am getting over aggressive on movies which creates hype.Delhi 6 is a movie from the heart of Rakesh Omprakash Mehra.He had ambitiously made the lives around Delhi in the movie ,which is more of an characters than the story.

Roshan(Abishek Bacchan ) a half Muslim Half Hindu NRI who brings his dying grandmother to Delhi to spend her rest of her life in the place which she left years ago.Roshan quickly finds himself along with new friends and new relatives in Delhi.Director has made numerous characters whom he had been with for years to bring out the culture and heritage of Delhi.The part of Delhi is horrified by rumours of Kala Bandhar ( Black Monkey ) which creates trouble and its invisible also.Hindu Muslim conflict arises due to the Monkey chapter and Roshan gets trapped in this when he tries to save Bittu ( Sonam Kapoor ) whom he loves .

Delhi 6 is about the life of Delhi,We are less aware of the life and characters of capital city.” Yeh Sehar nahi hain,Yeh Mehfil hain !( Its not a city it’s a party )” is the right word for the city .There are brothers who don’t see eye to eye but their family live through the loose bricks ,there is a arrogant cop,there is a servant who is being tortured since he is innocent,There is a lord who lives in the memory of his lover and there is a young girl who aspires to become Indian Idol.And all are happening in the movie.We are presented with a variety of characters with fun and life.Nothing till the first parts crosses reality and it touches your heart in a manner.The life of an NRI is shown with such a manner which will not make you judge about his character.Is he struggling or is he on a vacation or on commitment ? You can not take his character where its heading towards …Sadly we are not able to find it till the end also.

Ravishing thing about the movie is Sonam Kapoor who is fresh and beautiful like a flower ,Her acting skills are far better than the present day actress I would say.She has a very less screen presence but an impressive presence.Abishek has moved along the movie,He had not strained nor he had acted so casually and I would say its not impressive also.I think it so happened that he is the lead actor.Some thing is seriously missing in this role,which had failed to bring the magic to bind the characters together.Waheeda Rahman is a magical beauty for years and at seventy she is amazing!

Songs speak for the movie,Masakali and Gendha Pol are my personal favourite and it looks amazing on screen too.The amazing music makes you to sit along the characters .Mola mere is one another trademark music of ARR. Binod Pradhan's cinematography brings chandni chowk before you.

The movie on the whole is disappointing for many reasons.First the rumours about the Kala Bhandhar is shown repeatedly which irritates you.The confrontation of Muslim and Hindhus takes a turn on the lightness of the movie and it ends up in a very cheap climax.It so happens the climax with preaching reminds of Rang de Basandi.When the characters unite together we don’t find a genuine reason and it has no justification what so ever why was it ended.

Delhi 6 moves in snail pace as it takes time to settle but when it settles the director has nothing to offer ,he switches to usual Hindu Muslim conflicts.I wasn’t impressed by the plot as a whole.The characters remain in you but not the movie as a whole.In bits and pieces its impressive.On the whole it’s an average movie with an message which is conveyed out of compulsion !

Rating : ** 1/2

Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu (2009)

Come to think of it, expectations from a sports movie are not that high. It's usually about the village guy journey from obscurity and failure to being recognised, appreciated and feted. It all ends in a nailbiting climax.Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu follows the same premise but this time its about a team as a whole .

Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu is set in a village near Pazhani where the kabadi team which is ambitious and daring but they are far off from Victory always.Mari who is a farm servant also mingles with the team but doesn’t get the place in the team.Mari falls in love with a Girl who comes to watch Festival in the village.They love each other but get separated as the girl has to leave the village after the festival.Mari decides to wait for her.Meanwhile the Mari gets in to the Kabadi team and the team by luck participates in state level tournament due to help of Proffessional coach Kishore.How things turn up for the team and how the girl reaches Mari is the rest of the movie.

Its good to see a movie on the ethnic sport of Tamil Nadu,Kabadi is in the blood of the Village people of Tamil Nadu and the feel of the winning moments of Kabadi is well brought up by the director Sushidharan.Kabadi is regarded as a masculine art than a sport in this part of the world needs fresh faces and its well assembled in the movie.Movie works in a way for the fresh faces they had brought in. Void of heroism Tamil film is pleasant to watch .

Some times we get the boredom of the Madurai side story and the same typical love story .I don’t know how much love story does Madurai still have? Some parts of the movie looks normal due to normal scenes in the first part of the movie.It didn’t work I would say.The scenes shot in Pazhani should have even more sharper and funny than it is.Director had missed a super hit because of this.

Kishore had delivered a splendid display of maturity as the coach with rustic and stern coach .His dialogues blended with Tirunelveli slang is enjoyable.Vishnu as Marimuthu is good to watch.There are characters who can make fun with their typical village humour.

What works in this movie is the execution of the plot.It never wanted to go overboard and it didn’t want to cross the limits of the underdog.It underplays and it had given intensity to the movie,thrilling climax and the climax looks believable.But the climax is something which we wont expect in these kind of movie and it ends like a sad poetry.

Rating : ** 1/2

நான் கடவுள் (2009)

பலர் வியந்திருக்கலாம் ,ஏன் இன்னும் நான் கடவுள் விமர்சனம் இந்த பகுதியில் வரவில்லை என்று.நான் படம் திரை இட்ட அடுத்த சில கட்சிகளிலே பார்த்து விட்டாலும் ஏனோ என் மனம் ஒரு வித திருப்தி அடையாது போல் இருந்தது.பல முறை யோசித்து பார்த்தும் ,அடையாத ஒரு அதிருப்தியை அடுத்த சில நாளில் மீண்டும் ஒரு முறை தனியாக சென்று பார்க்கலாம் என்று முடிவு செய்து பார்த்தேன்.இரண்டாவது முறை படத்தை ஒரு ரசிகன் என்ற முறையில் அல்லாமல் ஒரு விமர்சகனாக இருந்து பார்க்க நினைத்தேன்.அதில் வெற்றி அடைந்தேனா என்று தெரியவில்லை,ஆனால் பாலாவின் நான் கடவுள் ஒரு மைல் கல் .

பாலா என்ற படைப்பாளியாக இருப்பது ஒரு சுலபமான விஷயம் அல்ல.பாலாவின் படைப்பாக இருப்பதும் ஒரு சுலபம் அல்ல.அதற்கு உரிய வீரியமும் ,விஷயமும் அடக்கி அதை ஐந்து வருடம் கழித்து வெளியே வருவது அசாத்திய நம்பிக்கை உரிய காரியம்.பாலா என்ற மனிதனுக்குள் இருக்கும் கதைகளை நாம் என்றுமே பார்த்தது இல்லை.பாலா என்ற படைப்பாளி நமக்கு காட்டும் உலகம் நாம் பார்த்திராத உலகம்.சினிமாவை அறியாத உலகம்.இந்த முறை உலகம் கொஞ்சம் மாறுப்பட்டு இருக்கிறது,இதை நான் ஏன் சொல்கிறேன் என்றால் உலகையும் அதன் வாழ்கையையும் அடக்கி தங்கள் வாழ்கையை வாழ்ந்து கொண்டிருக்கும் அகோரி பற்றிய ஒரு சித்திரம் இந்த நான் கடவுள்.

ருத்ரன் என்ற ஒரு இளைஞனை தேடி காசிக்கு செல்லும் தந்தையின் கதையாக தொடங்குகிறது படம்.தன் மகனை ஜாதக குறியினால் பதினான்கு வருடம் காசியில் விட்டு விடுகிறார் தந்தை.தன் மகனை ஒரு அகோரியாக பார்த்த உடன் மனம் உடைந்து போகிறார்.ருத்ரனின் குருவிடம் பேசி அவனை தன்னுடன் அழைத்து சென்றாலும்,ருத்ரன் என்ற மகா சக்தியை இயல்பான மனித வாழ்க்கைக்கு கொண்டு வர முடியாமல் திணறுகிறது குடும்பம்.இதற்கிடையில் தாண்டவன் என்றொருவன் ஊனம் உற்றவர்களை வைத்து பிச்சை எடுக்க வைத்து பணம் பண்ணுகிறான்.தாண்டவனால் அழிக்கப்பட்ட ஒரு அபலை குருட்டு பெண்ணிற்கு எப்படி மோட்சம் அழிக்கிறான் ருத்ரன் என்பது " நான் கடவுள்"

முதலில் பாலா ஏன் U/A சான்றிதழ் வாங்க முனைந்தார் என்று புரியவில்லை,இப்படி ஒரு கதையை A சான்றிதழலில் திரை இட்டு இருக்கலாம்.படத்தில் அகோரி என்ற விஷயத்தில் தோன்றும் முக்கியமான ரௌதிரங்கள் வெட்டி ஏறிய பட்டிருக்கின்றன.படம் முழுவதும் சென்சார் வெட்டு.பரிதாபமாக தோன்றுகிறது,சில இடங்கள் குழப்புகிறது.பாலாவின் உழைப்பு சென்சார் என்ற விஷயத்தில் அடங்கிவிட்டதே என்று கவலையாகவும் இருக்கிறது.

ஆர்யா என்ற நடிகனை செதுக்கி இருக்கிறார்,ஆர்யா உழைப்பு ஒவ்வொரு அசைவிலும் தெரிகிறது,அங்கங்கள் பொறி பறக்க அவர் வீசும் கோப கணைகள் சுட்டு எரிக்கின்றன.அவர் ஆடும் ருத்ர தாண்டவம் நம் நெஞ்சை எதோ செய்து விட்டு செல்வது உண்மை.ஆர்யாவின் அந்த நடைக்கே பல முறை படம் பார்க்கலாம்.விருதுகள் காத்திருக்கின்றன.ஆச்சர்யம் ஆனால் பூஜா என்ற நடிகை பாலா என்ற கலைஞனால் வெளி வந்திருப்பது.பாலாவின் கையில் அவர் நடிப்பு நெஞ்சை வருடுகிறது,பல இடங்களில் கண்ணீர் முட்டி விட்டது உண்மை.கடைசி காட்சியில் அவர் ருத்ரனிடம் மன்றாடும் காட்சிகள் கண்ணுக்குள் இருந்து அகல மறுக்கும் காட்சி.

பிச்சைகாரர்களை வைத்து படம் எடுக்கிறேன் என்று இன்று வரை எடுத்த படங்களை ஒதுக்கி தள்ளி இருக்கிறது படம்.பல இடங்களில் நம்மால் ரசிக்க முடியாமல் விக்கித்து போவதை ஒத்து கொள்ளவேண்டும்.பல இடங்களில் அவர்களது ஆனந்தம் கூட நமக்கு பரிதாபத்தை தான் வரவழைக்கிறது.உலகில் இருக்கும் மறுபாதியை நம் மனம் ஏற்று கொள்ள மறுக்கிறது.தாண்டவன் என்ற கதாபத்திரம் ஒரு கோர தாண்டவம்.அவனை அழிக்கும் காட்சி ஒரு ருத்ர தாண்டவம்.அந்த ஒரு சண்டை காட்சி இந்திய சினிமாவில் இது வரை எடுக்க படாத ஒரு முயற்சி .இதை படமாக்க இருப்பதி ஆறு நாட்கள் ஆனது என்று அறிந்தேன்,ஆனால் அதில் தெரியும் நேர்த்தியும் ,வேறு கொண்ட இரு மனிதர்கள் மோதிக்கொள்ளும் அசைவுகளும் நம்மை பிரமிக்க வைத்து விட்டன.

ஆர்தர் வில்சனின் கேமரா இருளையும் நம் மனதில் ஒரு சோக வயலின் போல் இசைத்து காட்டுகிறது.ருத்ரனின் கோபத்தையும் ,பார்வைகளையும் அவர் கொணர்ந்து இருக்கும் நேர்த்தி ஆச்சர்யம்.பிச்சைகாரர்களுக்காக அவர் பயன்படுத்தி இருக்கும் மண் நிறம் மிக மிக துல்லியமான கலை வேலைப்பாடு.இந்த படத்திற்கு பாலா எவ்வளவு வேண்டி இருந்ததோ அதே அளவு இளையராஜாவும் வேண்டும்.உத்தம் சிங்கை அவர் இசை அமைக்க அழைத்த பொழுதே அறிந்து கொண்டேன் படத்தின் இசையின் ஆழத்தை.ருத்ர நாமம் பஜே ,பிச்சை பாத்திரம் பாடல்கள் அவரது ஞானத்தை வெளிப்படுத்தும் இசை .படத்தின் பின்னணி இசை மிரட்டும் தருவாயில் மிரளவைக்கிறது,கண்ணீர் சிந்தும் வேளையில் அழ வைத்து விடுகிறது.

படத்தின் எனக்கு ஒட்டாத ஒரு விஷயம் வசனம்.ஜெயமோகன் ஒரு தேர்ந்த எழுத்தாளர் தான்.ஆனால் படத்திற்கு அவர் வசனம் தேவை இல்லை என்றே தோன்றியது.

சில விஷயங்கள் எனக்கு நெருடலை கொடுத்தது
1.சென்சார்

2.ஆர்யாவின் கதாபாத்திரத்தில் ஆழம் இருந்த அளவு நேரம் இல்லாமல் போனது.

3.அகோரி என்பவன் யார் என்று சொல்ல வேண்டாம் ,ஆனால் அவன் என்ன செய்வான் என்று காட்டி இருக்கலாமே.

3.யாருக்கும் அடங்காத ருத்ரன் எப்படி போலீஸ் ஸ்டேஷன் வந்தான்பதினான்கு வருடம் கழித்து வரும் தந்தை மகனை ஒரு கணத்தில் கண்டு பிடித்து விடுகிறார்,ஆனால் தாயார் நம்ப முடியாமல் திணறுகிறார்.

4.ருத்ரனின் செயலை இன்னும் ஆழமாக கொண்டு செல்லாமல் பிச்சை காரர்களின் வாழ்வில் அதிக நேரம் சென்று இருப்பது.

5.தேவை இல்லாத அந்த போலீஸ் ஸ்டேஷன் காமடி காட்சிகள்.

6.பிச்சைகாரர்களின் சிரிப்பை ஒரு சில நேரத்திற்கு மேல் ரசிக்க முடியாமல் நாம் திணறுவது.

பாலாவின் நான் கடவுள் இந்திய சினிமாவில் கண்டிப்பாக ஒரு மைல் கல் தான் ,ஆனால் அதில் நாம் எதிர் பார்த்த முழுமை பெற்றோமா என்பது சந்தேகம் தான்.பாலாவின் துணிச்சல் கதைகருவில் இருந்த அளவு சான்றிதழ் வாங்குவதில் இல்லையே என்பது வருத்தம் தருகிறது.அகோரி என்ற ஒரு விஷயத்தை அவர் கொண்டு வந்திருக்கும் நிலைப்பாடு ஆச்சரியம் அளிக்கிறது ,அதே நேரம் அதை பற்றி புகட்டா விட்டாலும் ,அதை மேலாக சொல்லி இருக்கலாம்.பாலா என்றுமே நமக்கு ஊட்டி விடுவது இல்லை என்பது அறிந்ததே,ஆனால் இதில் இருக்கும் ஒரு வித அசௌகரியம் நம்மை ஏன் ,எப்படி என்று கேள்வி கேட்க வைக்கிறது.

பாலா என்ற மகா கலைஞன் உருவாகி இன்று பெரும்மலையாக வளர்ந்து இப்படி ஒரு படம் தந்ததில் ஒரு சாதரண ரசிகனாக பெருமை தருகிறது,பல நாட்களுக்கு பிறகு பார்முலா இல்லாமல் கதை பார்த்த சந்தோசம் வருகிறது.கதாநாயகனும் ,நாயகியும் ஜோடி சேர வேண்டும் என்ற ஒரு விஷயத்தை உடைத்து எரிந்து இருப்பது ஒரு துணிச்சல்.இசையின் முக்கியத்துவம் காமெராவின் பலம் அறிந்த ஒரு படைபாளியின் படைப்பு நம்மை நிமிர செய்கிறது,ஆனால் ஒரு வித திருப்தி தருகிறதா .இல்லை.அதற்கு காரணம் படத்தின் இருள் ,படத்தில் இலையாடும் சோகம்.ஒரு வித இறுக்கம்,படம் முழுவதும் சபிக்க பட்டவர்களின் உலகம்.எங்கு பார்த்தாலும் புலம்பல் ,கண்ணீர்,பல இடங்களில் நெஞ்சம் கனத்து போய் விக்கி விடுகிறது.

எப்படி பார்த்தாலும் இவை எல்லாம் குறைகள் என்று சொல்ல முடியாது,ஏற்று கொள்ள முடியாத உண்மைகள் என்று கூட சொல்லலாம்.இந்த கருத்தை புத்தகத்தில் சொன்னால் கூட குழம்பிவிடும்.எப்படி இருந்தாலும்,பாலாவின் நான் கடவுள் ,அவர் ஒருவரால் மட்டுமே சத்தியமாக படும் படைப்பு.பாலா இன்று மறுக்க முடியாத ஒரு படைப்பாளி.தமிழ் சினிமாவின் தலையாய உண்மை கலைஞன் ,

இன்னும் எத்தனை வருடங்கள் காத்திருக்க வேண்டும் அடுத்த பாலா படத்திற்கு நான் விமர்சனம் எழுத என்று தெரியவில்லை?

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Best Before the Oscars - Ashok's choices

Check out the below link for Ashok's choice of Best movies (Foreign Films ) in 2008.

http://amusicment.blogspot.com/2009/02/best-films-of-2008.html

I felt bad that in the listed movies I wasnt able to watch any of the movies except Dark Knight and Wall E .Eagerly awaiting for David Flincher's Curious case of Benjamin Button.

Nagesh will be missed forever.

The man who defined Comedy in Tamil cinema,Nagesh undoubtedly one of the legends of Indian cinema and greatest comedian India has ever produced is no more with us.Nagesh will be missed !