Raavan's Release

After months of speculation the word is out on much awaited film from Mani Ratnam, the sources close to the director point to a June release as Mani Ratnam is getting ready for its audio launch in April. Rumor mongers have worked over time in speculating the films title and it is now officially confirmed that the movie will be named “Raavan” and is said to be released in all languages simultaneously as planned earlier in June.

The movie has a stellar star cast including Tamil Super star Vikram, Miss world AIshwarya Rai , Abhishek Bachchan among others. Oscar Nayagan A.R Rahman scores the music, while director Mani Ratnam has written and directed the film.

Trisha out of Aadukalam

Director Vetrimaran revealed in an interview to a popular daily on replacing Trisha with Topsy in Aadukalam. Trisha was initially signed to play the lead role in the film opposite Dhanush, but the lady backed out later. Vetrimaran says that Trisha had participated in the first schedule of the shooting and shot some scenes for four days. But the team did not get permission to shoot in some of the locations they had planned and her dates expired.

In the intermediate time, the lady bagged a prestigious offer in Bollywood and the team decided to let her go. Vetrimaran clarifies that there is no misunderstanding with Trisha.

The director is also gung-ho about the project being marketed by Sun Pictures as he is sure it will give it a very big reach.

Angadi Theru Film Review

**The movie starts of with the hero-heroine doing some mischives.Later on it moves to flashback. Jothilingam(Mahesh) comes from a poor family and due to circumstances he works as a sales person in Senthil Murugan stores,a famous textile shop in Ranganathan street,T Nagar,with his friend Pandi,Kana Kanum Kalangal fame Pandi. There he meets Kani(Anjali) and falls in love with her. The way both fall into love has been portrayed quite naturally by the director. The movie is all about how these kind of sales people,are treated in the shop by the concerned authorities. Director A.Venkatesh and my favorite writer Pazha.Karuppayya have acted as villains. Venkatesh,who is called as Karunkaali by the workers,has simply rocked in that role as a ruthless supervisor. Pazha.Karuppayya,the Annachi, resembles a popular shop in T Nagar, especially when he comments about Sneha’s saree, when the ad film was being shot :D.

These villains torture everyone working there and the sales people are treated like slaves. One girl even commits suicide for loving a guy in that shop, due to Karunkaali. That much cruel person he is. So how he troubles the lead pair and how they escape from this shop and what kind of difficulties they face and how they overcome these difficulties is the story precisely.What really keeps us tied with this movie is that the realistic portrayal and excellent dialogues(Kudos to Jayamohan). The best part of the movie is that it shows different kinds of people, suffering in many ways, but still prefers to work and doesn’t beg. For example, one person keeps on asking everyone to give him a job. None responds him, but an old lady gives him some money to buy food. This person refuses to get that money. Instead he gets some water and cleans ugly the public toilet and does some minimal decoration to it. After that he sits outside the toilet and collects money from people for using it. Then he is shown as living a better life. Another excellent scene that got standing ovation from audience is that, a dwarf man gets disappointed when his new born child is also dwarf like him whereas his wife feels happy for it. When questioned she says, “I have been sweeping in this street along this person only,if the child is not dwarf people will question the legitimacy of the fatherhood of this child. But now none will question”. Like there are lot of good scenes in the movie.

Coming to Mahesh,the hero, a new face , he has done an excellent job. His acting doesn’t look like a debutant at all. Great,keep it up :-). And Anjali too has played her girl-next-door kind of role perfectly. Other artistes like Sophiya,Pandi, an old man selling remote covers in platform and even Sneha :D and everyone else has been given equal importance and they have done justice to their roles. There is space for comedy too. The scene in which Lingu narrates his love experience with Ashwini is a hilarious one. Music is good. Aval appadi ondrum azhagillai song is too pleasant to hear and it was also picturized nicely. Un perai Ketkumpothe song is an excellent melody and Shreya Ghosal and Naresh Iyyer’s voices makes it too sweet.BGM is also nice. Vijay Antony and G V Prakash has handled the music,both have done a neat job,though songs composed by Vijay Antony is better than GV. Na.Muthu Kumar again proves that he is the common man’s lyricist. The naïve and innocent lyrics like aval appadi ondrum color illai aanal athu oru kurai illa,aval uduthum udayum pidikkavillai irunthum gavanikka marukka villai, shows what a clean thinker he is.Again in the song Kannil Theriyum Kaalam Kayyil varatha,he stresses on mechanical life of people and the dreams and desires of a common man. One can even say that Muthukumar is the best lyricist in current generation.

Camera man Richard M Nathan deserves a special mention here. We all might have gone to T Nagar. We all know about the kind of rush in Ranganathan Street. It is not easy to even walk. But this man has shot the scenes, that too with hidden cameras. This is no mean task to achieve and his camera work is outstanding in this movie. All said and done,the best thing in this movie is, it has shown the people with lot of negatives(I mean difficulties, due to nature and circumstances) in a positive light. None of the characters loses its confidence and till the end they fight for a decent living. At the same time I was really moved to tears when I realized how difficult is the life of people working in Saravana Stores or Sankarapandiyan Stores. The movie says all the characters and dialogues are fictitious. But it doesn’t look like a fiction. It is a movie about people whom we come across daily but hardly get noticed.

Vasanthabalan stands tall with such versatile movies(though he has done just 3 movies).Vasanthabalan is Kollywood’s Usanthabalan.

Verdict : Exceptionally well made

Rating : 4/5**

Yuvaraj's New Girl Friend

He's not just talented with the bat, he's gifted when it comes to women, too. Yuvraj Singh is to Indian cricket what John Mayer is to American music (sans the sleazy talk). And Bollywood seems to be his favourite hunting ground.

After dating Kim Sharma and being linked with Deepika Padukone - there was also a rumour that he was dating Vivek Oberoi's ex-girlfriend, Grace - he's found himself a new girlfriend, Aanchal Kumar.

You may remember Aanchal from countless catwalks and a brief appearance with Abhishek Bachchan in the title song of Bluffmaster.

The two were spotted together at an IPL bash in Bangalore recently. And turns out, when the paparrazi tried to take their photograph, the cricketer said,''Please don't click us, she's my girlfriend.''

Well, let's hope this one lasts more than just a few innings...

Bhumika's salary goes down

It is known that Heroines will have a short life and it is the only time they can fill their bags with money. But beautiful Bhoomika demanded only moderate remuneration when she is the top actress in tollywood. Now the heroine is charging less than 40 lakhs as the producer are bargaining showing her age and Marriage as reasons it seems.


This beauty was one of the best few years back..She didnt charge much like the heroine's of present.Nowadays she hardly gets a chance in Tamil cinema to make a comeback..

Aishwarya Rai Alset for 2010

With two of the biggest releases this year in Tamil going to be Aishwarya Rai’s the year definitely looks belonging to her. And as both the films are directed by the biggest, hottest and the highest paid directors in Indian cinema Aishwarya’s stature assumes rare significance.

First is ‘Endhiran’ directed by Shankar With the one man industry Rajinikanth already ensuring the success Aishwarya Rai will also travel with him in this sci-fi film which is said to be made at the cost of Rs. 125 crores. ‘Endhiran’ is expected to make Aishwarya the biggest ever Tamil star in recent times. With Sun Pictures at the helm of affairs the promotional blitzkrieg will also be the largest ever in Tamil history.

The other big film is Mani Ratnam’s ‘Raavan’. ‘Raavan’ is a modern day adaptation of Ramayana. Ash plays the role of Sita. Vikram plays Ram in Hindi and Ravanan in Tamil. Cheeyan says Ash’s role is the toughest in the film. So her dramatic talents will also be seen once again in Tamil.

With one film to the masses and the other to the classes Aishwarya will rock the year without doubts. More over both the films are bi-lingual in masters and multi-lingual when dubbed and that will increase the name and fame many folds for the most beautiful woman in the world,

But Aishwarya’s characterisation in both ‘Endhiran’ and ‘Raavan’ are well-guarded secrets till now.

Deepika padukone-Katrina Controversy

The differences between Katrina Kaif and Deepika Padukone are quite evident but there seems to be some connection between the two beauties. Katrina Kaif is the first brand ambassador for Vijay Mallya’s Royal Challenger Team at IPL and now Deepika Padukone has been signed as the new brand ambassador for the same team.

Looking at another connection between the two, Katrina Kaif’s beau Salman Khan is highly impressed by Deepika Padukone whereas Deepika’s ex-beau Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina are best pals.

 The sources revealed that the owner of the team is making sure that both the beauties did not drop to the stadium at the same time.

Mundhinam partheney film review

Story Analysis:

Sanjay is a guy who works for an IT company, he opens up his mind and speak about the gals whom he have met in his life. Story is all about the three gals whom interfered in Sanjay's life. First gal is pooja,, sanjay tries very hard to impress and correct her. That relationship doesn't last forever,, all of a sudden pooja marries NRI guy and leave to USA. Second gal is arthy, dance master by profession. Again sanjay falls in love on her at first sight & correct her by using his tricks. That relationship too doesn't last for ever due to some reason. Third gal is Anu,, its none other his project mate in the company where he works. The remaining story is about how sanjay and anu join together and marry each other.

Cast & Crew Analysis:

Sanjay being a newcomer, did reasonably well, yet he need to improve in acting. There are three actress in the movie namely pooja, ekta, and lizna. All looked alike,, none acted well. They were showcased as a doll. Serial actor sai prasanth did well, especially few comedy tracks were good. Music by taman is worth mentioning. 3 songs were good and back ground music was cool. Debut director magi thirumeni's way of telling the story was impressive.

General Analysis:

The movie was very slow. The duration of the movie is just two hours, but when seeing it, it was like 20 hours mega serial. Too many songs in the movie, that may be the reason movie was not impressive. Director being an associate of romance legend gautham menon, we can see lot of traces of gautham's trademark scenes like kissing, English dialogues etc.. This movie has got many scenes which can be enjoyed in parts, but on the whole this movie is not up to the mark. I personally feel that, the director made the movie only for A class multiplex audience. So it's totally waste of time to watch this movie in local theaters.

Expected No Days Of successful Run: 20 days

My Verdict: Below Average

Bottom Line: Strictly for multiplex audience

My Ratings:2/5

Love sex aur dhoka film review

During the times when Khans, rom-coms and multi-starrers rule the roost of Hindi cinema, it indeed is a daring effort to make a movie with complete set of new-comers, distinct narrative presentation and handling reality content with a dose of fiction(sans fantasy). LSD has scored full marks in seeing this through and the effort is definitely laudable.Dibakar Banerjee, the ace director who had a nice comedy in Khosla Ka Ghosla and a masterpiece in Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye to his forte now has this dark voyeuristic fiction drama to his helm.

With the title leading to the very perception, Love Sex aur Dhoka is not that regular story about relationship from love to sleaze and hence betrayal and cheating. LSD is a collection of the three hard-hitting short stories and interconnected within each other in a non-linear fashion that puts the logical flow in place in the otherwise three distinct stories(read 'camera-tales') making it one dark packaged presentation. One cant obviously be not reminded of similar narratives or the chapter-titling(a la desi ishtyle though) between the stories as in Pulp Fiction or Sin City. The raw content in LSD overrides this inspiration/reference through the tight storytelling by Dibaker and Kanu Bhel.

The stories are commonly bound by the fact that a camera is the medium of story telling - a hand-held, a security cam and a spy cam. Dibakar portrays innocence, charm and subtle romance in the story of Love, with a film student making his diploma certificate movie, gets romantically struck to the lead girl of the movie. Along with the likable romantic depiction of the lead pairs, this is one piece that evokes quite a few laughs with some mocks on our conventional bollywood love stories. While Sex deals with the social stigma of MMS and internet video scandals, with a loan-burdened security cam guy trying to get some sleaze videos from a super-store and make some money out of it, Dhoka dwells around the dark side of the media industry - casting couch and news sensationalism, with a wannabe music video lady artist trying to avenge a casting couch request coincidentally bumping into a newsman trying to make some sting news for his living.
While these may not be everyday stories of our neighborhoods or our candy-floss Hindi movies, Dibakar has chosen some of the commonly occurring incidents in the society that one may not fail to agree to, again ensuring the fictional part of the movie is atmost taken care of hence not lending a documentary/art/cult touch. What makes these three stories distinctly interesting is the tautness in narration carried out by Dibakar and the fashion in which each story converges into the other with conclusive ends of their own.

A full length movie from the camera's point of view is bound to leave the audience dizzy however cinematographer Nikos Andritsakis ensures that the viewers don't hit the threshold. One may often think this is the easiest part of a low cost movie allowing the camera to take its own route or just stay static, thankfully the shots seem to have been completely planned, designed and executed so very well. The edits by Namrata Rao have also contributed to the crispness and narrative flow of the movie, her part of the job has again been neatly executed. Thankfully again, there are no songs to disrupt the tautness of the movie, but the BGM just goes good with the treatment as needed

Stunning performances from the artists is another big bonus, bringing a sense of realism, never leaves the audience thinking that they are faces that have never been seen before. It sure is a tough task to portray as the characters written out with such finesse and make it appear as though they really are them, kudos to the hard work by the artists here. If you loved the cute guy who is a film student, you empathize with the innocent shopgirl at the store and you sure are to be awestruck with the character of the popstar at his precision in singing and playing instruments and on the other side alluring women as though its his easy daily job.

So whats up with LSD? It may not be the path-breaking differently treated movie. You may have felt a deja-vu with Pulp Fiction or Blair Witch Project, but what stands on top is the conviction with which the it has been made and presented - strong, dark and yet simple. The fact that the face of Hindi cinema is still not just Khans, but sometimes its the Anurags, Vishals and Dibakars who also add that winning flavor is upheld here and Hindi cinema truly deserves more of these new treatments to keep such good work going with the fullest motivation.

Actress Ranjitha thrown out of Raavan movie.

who is 39 years old and was acting in the movie Raavan which is being directed by the top director Mani Ratnam, was removed from the movie by the director. The reason for her removal was the hidden camera scenes of herself with the top young saint of Tamil Nadu. The hidden video film showed that the actress Ranjitha was in bed with the self claimed millionaire saint Nithyananda and the video clips was shown all over the world by the Sun TV. Because of this her reputation was badly damaged and is being hated by Tamil people. This caused the director to remove her scenes from the Raavan movie and a new actress will take her role. The movie is in the near to release position.

Actress Ranjitha and Swami Nithyananda video clips.

I can marry tomorrow: Priyanka Chopra

She’s back from the States after a shooting schedule of three months, and even if there is still a bit of jetlag, Piggy Chops isn’t showing any of it. The actress was in Delhi to cheer for the Indian Hockey team, all energy and enthusiasm. “I was very excited to at least try and attend one match,” she said.

And any plans for the IPL? “Not yet, I’m just focussing on hockey. I love cricket as well, I hope to catch some of the matches if I can.” Ask her which team she’d be rooting for, and she says hastily, “Oh, I don’t pick, a lot of my friends are on these teams, so I’m not picking any teams, at all!” Does that mean she’ll be cheering for everyone? “I’ll be cheering for the game.” Clever reply, we have to say. “Every time I watch a game, I’ll say ‘hmmm, so which is the team I’d like to pick today?’” So what will help her decide, which team has cuter guys, maybe? “Errr.... umm... well as a single girl I could say yeah.” Hold it, did she say single? “Yeah, definitely, you can hold me up to that,” she laughs, “But no, I always go with the stronger side baba, I like to play it safe! I like to be on the winning side, always.” Would Priyanka perform at any of the matches, or post match ceremonies? “Not yet, but it would be fun I think, to do it,” she says.

She was recently in the news for being contractually forbidden by producer Sajid Nadidwala to tweet about her next with Ranbir Kapoor, Anjaana Anjaani; what does she have to say about that? “Actually, that’s not happened, and I don’t know where that one’s come from. Because if you see any of my tweets, I never speak about my film, only about my experiences. The contract hasn’t happened, I’ve only read about it myself,” says PC.

Speaking of Twitter, and she’s pretty active on it herself, what does she think of the whole ‘living online’ phenomenon? “Well, I think there’s always those phases of everything, you know. And it’s such a fast world at the moment, that people really don’t have time for other people. And this is a way of being in touch. It’s made the world a smaller place for sure; speaking to friends and family abroad, they know what I’m doing in my life. So, in that way, I think it’s a great thing to have happened. But yes, the actual touch and feel of real people, the mystique of not knowing, you miss out on all those things.”

But hasn’t that also reduced the charm of stardom, that quality of being removed from the real world... Earlier, there used to be this aura and mystery surrounding a star, fans would wait for hours outside a shooting location just to get a tiny glimpse, but now they get live updates right from their living rooms... “But I don’t think that has anything to do with Twitter, or Facebook, or being online,” Priyanka chips in, “I think that’s an era which had kind of died off a few years ago. I think it’s because of the fact that stars are a lot more available, like I’m talking to you in an interview right now because I’m in Delhi, or I’ll be doing five commercials – I’m in your bedroom.”

In her next film for Vishal Bhardwaj, Priyanka plays a character who murders seven of her husbands. What’s easier, playing the pretty face, the seductress, the siren, or the murderer? “I just don’t like it easy, I think,” comes her quick reply, “The more it challenges me, the more it excites me. I think I like to mix the bag a little bit. I’ve done Kaminey, Dostana, and I’ll be doing Don, and Vishal’s film; I like jumping from one to the other.”

Having being linked with so many of her co-stars, does she want to settle down, set the rumour mills straight? “You know, it’s not really planned. I can’t just say, ‘Okay, I want to get married tomorrow.’ There’s a technical problem – I’ll need to find a guy!” she chuckles. “Whenever I’ve had a plan, God’s said, ‘Uh oh, I’ve something else planned for you!’ I’m single at the moment, and the link-ups, they’re a part of your job. You have a nice conversation with a guy, and they say, ‘Ooh!’ When it’s a tad here and there, it’s fine. But when it’s stretched for a long time, I get very affected. I find it embarrassing that my dad would pick up the paper in the morning; sometimes I hide the paper and stuff! People forget that I’m also a daughter, or my brother might read it.”

Priyanka chopra- Double celebration time

Priyanka Chopra, who looked stunning in a sari as she received the National Award for best actress, has another reason to celebrate with her family - her dad is releasing a music album!

"My entire family including parents and my grandparents were here for the National Awards ceremony. It's was a big moment for me and I wanted my entire family to be part of it. On Saturday, my father's music album releases. So the family has double reason to be together," Priyanka said from New Delhi.

Priyanka, who got the best actress award for her performance in Fashion, is looking forward to shooting her second film with Vishal Bhardwaj. Tentatively titled Saat Khoon Maaf, Priyanka has seven husbands in the film.

While she already has Naseeruddin Shah, Mohanlal and Neil Nitin Mukesh as husbands in the movie, Anu Kapoor is the latest actor to join Priyanka's bandwagon of husbands.

Anu and Priyanka are joined by their love for music and singing. And many antakshari sessions with the two heading teams are anticipated in Coorg during the shooting.

Katrina kaiffaints again

Katrina kaif she is the queen and dream of many young persons.Our hot beauty Katrina Kaif had done it again; over exerting herself… The actress, who had been making news for her weak health, recently collapsed on the sets of Farah Khan’s ‘Tees Maar Khan’.

The shooting of the film is currently said to be happening in Malshej Ghat. According to sources, when the incident happened, the team was shooting an important sequence.

All was set and had been going fine… But just when Katrina stepped in for the shot, she fainted; alarming the unit and her co-stars. Immediately Farah and the production team rushed to her aid. They had called up a Mumbai hospital and a doctor was flown down to the location.

Sources close to Katrina revealed that she was immediately put on a saline drip and has further been advised strict bed rest. The extreme heat on location didn't help matters much and caused severe exhaustion to the actress.

Besides, Kat said to have been shooting endlessly and travelling for her endorsement commercials and other film projects.

Ha, obvious reasons for going weak, madam…. Take our advice Kat, take it easy…

Shruthi signed by murugadoss

Filmmaker AR Murugadoss, the man behind the blockbuster Ghajini, has signed Kamal Haasan's daughter Shruti and Tamil superstar Suriya for his next project.

Suriya, who will soon be making his Bollywood debut, has previously worked with Murugadoss in Ghajini, whose Hindi remake starred superstar Aamir Khan.

Shruti, who made her movie debut with Hindi Luck, has been creating waves not only in Bollywood but also in the South. She had composed the music for Unnaipol Oruvan and is currently working on a Telegu movie.

The new untitled film with Murugadoss is her debut in Tamil cinema.

The music composer for the film is Harris Jayaraj and the cinematographer is Ravi K Chandran. Udhayanidhi Stalin will produce the movie, which begins shooting this April.

Ram Gopal Varma abt Rann

Director Ram Gopal Varma describes his forthcoming movie as a "men's film" and says it was natural for Amitabh Bachchan to spearhead the show in the promos of the movie.

"Isn't that obvious? With the kind of personality and the stardom that he enjoys, it is but natural that Amitabh Bachchan would be spearheading the entire film," said Varma.

If one goes by the film's synopsis, there are other characters like Sudeep, Riteish Deshmukh, Mohnish Behl, Paresh Rawal and Rajat Kapoor who have been described to be quite important. What sort of space and time has Varma managed to create for these characters?

"Every other character is important; otherwise it wouldn't have found place in the film. There won't be any character that would feel short-changed or left out in the film," said Varma.

Where do Neetu Chandra, Gul Panag, Suchitra Krishnamurthy or Simone Singh fit in?

"Women are supporting characters in 'Rann' which is indeed a men's film. They may not be directly involved in the conspiracy or the entire drama that ensues in 'Rann', but they definitely bring in a humane aspect to the proceedings," said the director.

"Suchitra plays the role of a programming head with Amitabh Bachchan's new channel and she is in constant conflict with him since she can see the cut throat competition in the outside world. On the other hand, Gul is indifferent to what's happening in the country and first thinks about herself and her man (Riteish Deshmukh) before anything or anybody else."

Neetu Chandra, who had replaced Raima Sen in the film's cast just before the shooting, is paired opposite Sudeep and also has a few scenes with Amitabh Bachchan.

"Hers is one character which keeps her completely out of the entire political equation and does not understand the intricacies of power games and hidden motivations behind actions of people. Bring them all together and they represent the common man," said Varma.

Produced by Sheetal Vinod Talwar and Madhu Mantena, Rann is set for release Jan 29.

Salman khan-katrina controversy

Bouncers of Bollywood pair Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif were involved in two unpleasant incidents and the victims in both the cases were women journalists.

As Salman was leaving the venue after the muhurat of Smita Thackeray's film Society, one of his bodyguards was seen dragging away a female reporter and eventually hurting her.

The journalist, like her colleagues, were trying to get a byte of Salman.

Instead of stopping his guards, the actor was seen laughing sarcastically at the incident and was also heard saying "Have the abuses been recorded," as he walked out.

On the other hand, there was a somewhat similar incident here at the FICCI-FRAMES Conference in which Katrina was also present.

The actress was being pursued by a number of reporters while leaving the venue and one of her bouncers stepped on a journalist's foot, forcing her to cry out in pain.

"Why are you pushing me like this," the journalist was heard saying.

But unlike Khan, Kaif expressed her concern towards the girl, asking her whether she was fine and told her bodyguard to "be careful" while handling the crowd.

Rann Review

What makes RGV take a social subject but make a movie that doesn't glorify the problem as much as a filmmaker like Madhur Bandarkar would, is probably why he doesnt end up getting an award(should I have said a National Award? ). But one must say this has always been the 'RGV treatment' or the style of presenting movies with his own touch of fiction. A solid reason why his movies are still in great business even if they are not the cult kinds .

Rann, probably one of the most anticipated movie to begin with for this year, is this one serious story of what media and mediamen are capable of. A tale that talks of how media can change the dynamics of a country, how greed of a few men can influence people through a strong medium called television channel and its sensationalism.

The movie talks nothing that we do not know of, it depicts exactly what happens inside the studios of all our famous television channels. It portrays the antics by media moguls to create news(than to report news) and to create sensationalism to increase their TRPs which in turn increases their ad revenues. Where Rann scores is that it does not show the warfare between media competitors rather its the battle between the judicious and malicious use of media. Salutations to RGV for not making this storyline as a surreal docu-drama, rather garnishing it with his own style of commercialism.

Vijay Harshwardhan Malik played by Amitabh Bachan is a very righteous person who thinks media is the third eye of the common man and it should bring out all the truth he needs to see. He has been running and heading his television channel India 24*7. His son Jai Malik, played by Sudeep joins him in business after returning from the US. Jai has his unconventional ways of running business, which Vijay is hesitant of but would like to give a try to keep his son's thoughts running.

In such a step, Jai is shackled in problems of competition. He ends up in the vicious circle of his brother in law(Rajat Kapoor) and a bad politician Mohan Pandey(Paresh Rawal). Mohan in the pretext of helping Jai, seeks to use India 24*7 to strengthen his political career. Jai, in greed to be among the top media guy plays a part in the plans of Mohan Pandey.

Rann has its own doses of cliches too. The underdog hero becoming the savior of the nation at the end, the final power-packed emotional outburst of Vijay Malik and so on.

With respect to the performances, I must say Sudeep topped it all. The gray character Jai Malik played by him is probably the most memorable performance of the movie. He has always been one of those good picks from the Kannada industry who has a lot of mettle for acting. RGV has definitely made a good choice in Sudeep for the character of Jai Malik, the over ambitious media tycoon who has his own dose of nervousness and vagaries as a character. Amitabh Bachan might have had a cake walk in this role. After seeing him as Auro in Paa, I felt this must have been something that he would have done even when asleep. Nevertheless, its his charisma that carried out the Vijay Malik's character with the dignity it deserved. Vijay Deshmukh as the young and honest journalist and Monish Bhel as the opponent to Jai Malik's business were other credible roles. There was not much of women power in the movie, Suchitra Krishnamoorty, Gul Panang and Neetu Chandra just did their roles perfectly and couldnt have been better.

I would credit the writings by Rohit as very powerful ones in the script. Some of the dialogs were so well placed and had right messages going out. It just created that impact the scene wanted to carry and full marks to Rohit and RGV for ensuring this. Not much to talk on the music, it really could have been better.

RGV's choice of the tone and Amit Roy's frames were just perfect to complement it. RGV knows the mood of the movies he makes, if he had the dark tone in Sarkar or the eerie ones in his scary movies, he got the right tone of a studio look in this movie. Great job by Amit Roy too on that. A clean production execution with not much of sets, locations or artists just complimented to the movie's crispness.

Rann is not the movie that you would want to watch to keep your mood on a upbeat. Its probably not that Saturday night fun movie but it sure is the one that you would want to catch up when you have those occasional serious thoughts running in your mind about the society around you.

If not a must watch movie right away, it sure is a perfect one when you want a serious one, with that 'RGV touch'. :)

Thanks Maaa review

Sensible, Recommended, For Movie Buffs - One of the Best.

I recommend this movie to each and every reader who is mature enough to understand the burning issues around child abandonment.

Municipality (the main lead of movie -national award winner child-Patel) has acted really nice. Story opens with a group of children(all of them abandoned again) from slum. They are used to doing small-time robberies. Soda ( One more good actor -child) leads their gang, and motivate all to go for such activities. Municipality is good at heart. But, he is grepped by police for pocket picking. At the same night, he attempts to ran away from there. Meanwhile he sees a lady put(read abandon) her new born(2days old) baby outside the home and speed away in a taxi. He prevents the baby from being attacked by a dog and takes it with him and decides that he would find the mother and hand the baby to her. Now story moves on as a journey of this small baby and Municipality in pursuit of its mother. The emotions are described very well by Irfan Kamal (director). Municipality names baby as Krish and does everything to take care of the baby crossing the dark sides of Mumbai,protecting the baby at each stage. The journey shows the hard realities of our society, reflects in each and every scene of the movie. Does Municipality find the baby's mother or does he retain the baby like any other abandonded little kid? Watch the movie to understand some spine-chilling realities of the society we live in. Acting and cinematography adds an extra charm to the motion film.

The movie was made before Slumdog millionaire, so please discount any influence from the Brit movie.. And I feel this movie is far better in presentation. Yes, it is purely Indian, with no Brit flavors.

I felt bad when only 7 folks were in the cinema hall for such a good piece of creativity. Though this film is not an entertainer it is very nicely handled and presented. It definitely is engaging and does not give you the feel of a 'regular-award-winning-art-movie'. If you are mature enough and you like movies apart from the regular ones, you will sure appreciate it.

From me, this movie rates at 4 out of 5.

DID YOU KNOW: IN INDIA 270 children ARE LEFT (just with in 1-7days of born), EVERYDAY. Go and see this fact.

Cinematography - 4/5 Acting - 4/5 Screenplay (story telling) - 4/5 Music - 3/5 Direction - 4/5 Overall -4/5

Aval peyar thamizharasi review

“Aval Peyal Thamzharasi ” written & directed by debutant Meera Kathiravan has a simple story with a lucid screenplay aided by very good acting by everyone concerned & wonderful music and crystal clear cinematography . But after the movie gets over one gets a feeling of something is missing. Strength of these kinds of realistic movies lies in the unpredictability of the story line which is what is lacking in APT .Movie is predictable except for the turn of events that take place in & around the interval.

Meera Kathiravan shows excellent visual sense with good & simplistic story telling capability. What lets him down is that most of the scenes & situations here are oft repeatedly seen in movie of this genre like “Poo ” , “Thendral ” , “Azhagi”..etc. Only difference here is that instead of a negative climax which most young directors have a penchant for ( even if it looked forced in ) , Kathiravan has gone in for a happy ending here rightly so. But how long can we watch young kids doing all mischief & indulging in village games in a song, wailing mother, strict grandfather , comedy village government teacher , ….in the name of reality. One wish young directors who want to make realistic movies must explore many uncharted territory which are abound in our country side.

Jai has good scope & he has made use of it very well. The hard work he has put in his looks matching various age he plays & the body language and expressions which is diverse for all the three stages are done exceedingly well. The thing is that he must follow such good performances by equally good ones to stay in the race.

New face Nandhagi belies the fact that she is indeed a new face. She gets the emotions & expressions right in most of the places. Yet another talent unearthed. Whether she is made use of properly by Tamil cinema remains to be seen.

Kanja Karupu raises few laughs while Theodare Baskaran , Rama , one who plays grandfather & brother of the heroine , all have done commendable work.

P.G.Muthaih’s cinematography is as good as it was in “Poo” .Darkness play an important part in the movie & he has picturised it well.

Vijay Antony’s music & background score is yet another add-on for the movie where he has tried a new genre which he has not tried yet. “Guju Gugu Goods Vandi ” , “Vadakka Thekka” & “Othaiyadi Pathiyil ” are good numbers.

On the whole , APT is a good try but fails to move you.

Bottomline : Sincere but simplistic .

3/5

Karthik calling karthik review

A very simple story, but one that keeps on quizzing you till the end. More important is the realism in the movie. All scenes and things that reveal the twists are perfectly logical. I have never seen such a edge of the seat thriller story narrated without any action or supernatural occurings.

Karthik, a intelligent but conserved guy without self confidence becomes a failure in his professional as well as personal(love) life. He decides to commit suicide, but he gets a phone call, the person in the other side of the phone declares that he is also karthik and he is there to help him. On other Karthik's advice, Karthik succeeds in his professional life and wins over Shonali(his lover) too. All is well till he reveals the truth about another Karthik to Sonali. Sonali advises him not to pick his phone call and he dint pick the call and next day when Karthik picks up the phone, the infuriated karthik challenges him that it is going to be end of his success. Next day, he loses his job, love and becomes pennyless(moneyless). Karthik wants to find the other karthik and get rid of him from his life. Does he succeeds or not becomes the second part of story....

Few scenes are simply stunning. Especially the scene in which, the Psychiatrist attends the call from other Karthik infront of Karthik, gets horrified and runs out of his house.

Farhan, I dont know before that he is an actor. He lived as Karthik. The way he expresses his fear, when he waits for Phone call and methods he adopt to escape from other Karthik are superb scenes.

Deepika is gorgeous. I went to movie for her and Uff teri ada song even after hearing bad reviews from my friends. Shankar Essen Loy are commandable, Hey Ya and Uff teri ada still remains in my mind. They did an awesome job in bgm too(which is very essential for a thriller script)

Nicely executed plot from a concept tht is killed by 2 tamil cinema previously....

Verdict: Go for it... You just cant watch it again or after hearing spoilers.so watch soon and avoid spoilers....

Vinnai thandi varuvaya review

In order to start a review for this romantic journey of Gautam Vasudev Menon's Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaayaa, I had to go back and refresh during the initial promotions of this movie. It did create a lot of expectations when Gautam interestingly cast his cast with popular romantic movies such as Kandukondain Kandukondain, Alaipaayudhey, Uyire and his own Kaakka Kakka. And the tag after these stills goes as 'A different Romantic Story' AGAIN. Now after watching the movie, if one can recollect these stills and promos made, the tag which said AGAIN was genuinely a ‘A Different Romantic Story’.

Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaayaa??????

So what's Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaayaa? It's romantic journey and the chemistry between Karthik and Jessy. It's so poetic that the feel has been given in the form of narration in the first half where Karthik (Simbhu) explains about the cyclone that hit him in his life and it moves on the same life cycle during the second half. Not often you see concentration on the screenplay in Tamil Cinema or at least in the recent Tamil Cinema. But Gautam disproves the fact that Tamil Cinema is not stereotype. Karthik, the lead character in the movie, is an aspiring movie maker and he makes uses of this lead throughout the movie without any point of discontinuity in the screen play. At the end, he eventually becomes a director, yet another time, when you have a love failure, you tend to be successful in your career.

Simbhu - Keep it up!!!

I was under a complete shock when I heard Simbhu is doing the lead character is Gautam's romantic movie. But he has done exceptionally well for the character. It will be even better if he continues to do the same in other movies as well. The main problem is the mass gimmick, over shadowing these stars thereby making them to do cheap stunts in the movie which will definitely be totally irrelevant. But wonder how many Gautams or Selvas would be needed for our mass heroes??? Even in the stunt scene, clear narration was given to showcase the talent he possesses as a boxer in his school days. More importantly, the stunt scene or rather a threatening scene was actually a real life threatening scene. Simbhu has deviated from his usual roles and has given something which I would say it as a neat and clean role.

Ganesh - Worth-a Worth-illaya??

I should definitely talk about casting and I cannot forget the man, Ganesh, who does the role of a Cinematographer in the movie. The man is known for his ultimate voice which initially was a bit irritating and but later it went hilarious and interesting. People would be able to identify him as the librarian with a peculiar voice informing Simran about Krishnan in the movie Vaaranam Aayiram. Yes, we have the same man here doing a lengthy role as a person who comes along with the lead character throughout the movie. He has even reduced the role for a separate comedian with his interesting sighs and discomfort ness. "Worth-a Worth-illaya" it's simply great to listen and see such dialogues rendered from his voice.

She is beautiful - She is Sexy too!!!

What about the doll 'Trisha' as Jessy? My goodness, I should thank Gautam Menon for making her come in saree 90% of the movie. As Karthik says in the movie, She is beautiful, She is Sexy and of course she is hot. Probably this should be her first film which I can think of where she has really ACTED. All that is needed for the role is a confused state of mind and more importantly a character which one would probably hate for the decision that she takes and the way she confuses and gives reason to Karthik. I think she has got full marks but again, the same principle holds good for Trisha too just like Simbhu. Rather than being a mere doll in all the movies.

Oscar Winner's decent show!

Now comes the Oscar winner ARR. Well, I could probably remember only one director who has effectively utilized ARR for a musical treat. None other than Mani is whom I was talking about. Here, Gautam Menon has used Rahman to at least good if not the best. The songs were clear chartbusters before the movie was released and still ruling the music office. Gautam was reasonably well in picturising the songs though not great. Here, we tend to notice that more or less all the three songs in the first half were picturized in a more similar manner. Poor Rahman failed to create magic in the background score. I agree the BGM was good, but not perfect in many places. Wonder what made Rahman to go for a rock music for the scenes that portrays Trisha's confused state of mind. That piece of note is seriously jarring and irritating to hear that it disturbs the entire scene.

Manoj was brilliant with the camera. Initial scenes, especially in the sets where Karthik tries to meet directors were shot on a hand motion camera is really catchy one. Also the songs were beautifully shot in many locations. Not to forget the close up and out of focus shots were shot really well. Of course, it was directors’ way of thinking and style of making.

Gautam Vasudev Menon

The man behind all the credits, Gautam Vasudev Menon. In the masala times of Tamil Cinema, it's quite a relief factor with people like Gautam Menon, who can give sensible audience respect and quality movies. Courage is needed to mock your own movies. Gautam Menon does that in VTV where Karthik when he says that he wanted to work as an assistant director to Gautam Menon, Ganesh mocks him by saying "Why do you want to make a Tamil movie in English?" Also when he goes to Kerala to search Trisha, he mocks Vaaranam Aayiram mentioning about the travel to the US. The director has done brilliantly well especially the screenplay needs a special mention. I enjoyed the first half narrative style and the current on play technique for the second half. Especially the climax twist is really good. More than that, he has molded the cast to perform what he wanted is stunning. I said stunning because of the lead pair here who doesn't own anything to their credit in the name of acting

Shutter Island Review

When Tendulkar is at prime form what do we want him to do? Take on the best bowlers - previously it was Akram, Waqar, McGrath, Warne, later Lee and Akthar and now, Dale Steyn. That's what precisely Scorsese has done. He has taken an extremely challenging story and given it in a way that will blow your mind away.

Warning: Please do not wikipedia the movie or read the book. I did not and I enjoyed the movie. Beware of some spoilers below

Teddy Daniels (DiCaprio) is a Federal Marshall, a war hero from WW II who is assigned to investigate a disappearing person from the Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane along with another deputy marshall, Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo). The hospital is situated on an island (source of title) whose only connection to the outside world is a ferry controlled by the authorities on the Island - Dr. John Cawley (Ben Kingsley) and his police force. Teddy suspects that the folks on the island are engaged in some unethical activities with patients they are supposed to treat there. Teddy sees that most of the folks on the island are either insane or are coached to act/lie to him. Parallely, some of his past comes back to haunt him as well - his wife's death in particular. And on top of all this, Teddy's migraine get worser by the hour.

The movie now enters a vortex and the twist that comes is a master twist, though it has many 'clues' in the scenes before the actual twist.

The screenplay and direction are terrific. They cause the intended effect on the viewer. The subtle background score raises the tempo and keeps you on the guessing game till the director chooses to reveal his cards. The cinematography, again, chooses to be pliant to the story's needs :)

On the acting front, it is a 2 man show - DiCaprio and Kingsley and both of them try to out do each other. DiCaprio, after Departed, Blood Diamond, Revolutionary Road and now S.I is firmly on track to join the league of celebrated actors.

I'm constrained to not write more as I do not want to give away anything (spoil the movie for most of you). But if you want to really to come out of the theater thinking "Whoa! What did I just see back there??!!", think about this review!

Bottom Line: Haven't you checked when it is releasing in your locale yet? And if it is already released, haven't you booked for the next show?

My name is khan Review

The movie is about a man’s determination to meet the president and tell him that His name is Khan & he is not a terrorist.

Pluses:

1.King Khan-It takes extreme guts to play this role, a role where the character has major disabilities & fears. King Khan’s major capability is his ability to emote. In this movie that power has been revoked due to the physical limitations of the character. So with a dead pan face & no scope to show his feelings; he has to express himself through only the dialogues provided to him. Credit must be given to KJO & SRK that they have been able to credibly do the same.

2.Kajol-Her name is Kajol & she is one of the best actresses ever. Period. Wow, what a performance, as a single mom who loves her kid or as the wife of rizwan khan everything about her performance is awesome. In fact, the movie was meandering in the beginning but as soon as kajol comes on screen…It’s has an electrifying effect. For all producers & directors & actors who use female actors as props without a proper role, this movie shows that a well written female character can be a very good addition to the movie & not a drawback.

3.Director-By far the best movie of KJO.

Minuses:

1.The movie takes its own sweet time in building a momentum. So some patience is needed for fully liking this flick. Also the movie is atleast 10-15 minutes too long. The Georgia sequence in pre-climax was unnecessary.

2.The reaction of Kajol after she comes to know that her son is a race attack victim is way over the top. I do understand that a person may say a lot when she/he is angry but still the way she accused rizwan & her dialogues in the football ground were a bit over.

3.Who gave KJO the brilliant idea of getting a dupe of president Obama. It was a very bad decision & caused un-intentional laughter.

Verdict: This is a very sweet simple movie which gave just one message…LOVE. It tells us to not be diplomatic in replies but instead tell the truth. Do watch it for brilliant performances by King Khan & Kajol.

Theeratha Velayattu Pillai Review

Vishal is fast becoming one of those who have immense potential but losing it all in the crucial aspect of script selection which is pathetic to say the least. His latest offering “Theeratha Vilayattu Pillai” is a case in point.

Written & Directed by debutant Thiru , it is boring movie with a contrived plot with pathetic pageant of male chauvinism both in the story line as well in the dialogues which gets under one’s nerves so much that half way through the movie instead of rooting for the hero , the whole theatre is seen rooting for one of the three unfortunate girl who is shone with guts & gumption to challenge the hero. So dismal is the writing that the hero ends up as a villain unexpectedly (for the writer that is).

Vishal has tried his hands on comedy but he must understand that in order to stay put in the industry one must not ape others but must develop own style & methods. Here all he does is copy Vijay’s manner of dialogue delivery & style .

Among the three heroines Neetu Chandra is the only one with scope & she does justice to her role .She needs to have a look at her Make-up though.

Others in the cast like Tanushree Datta & Sarah Jane don’t have much to do. Prakash Raj comes once again in a oft repeated role of a thug with a Madhurai background.

Shanthanam is the one who keeps the audience glued to the seat in the first half though he disappears in the second half.

Among Yuvan Shankar Raja’s songs “Ennal Jannal Vanadha ” & “ Poo mudhal pen varai ” are hum-worthy.

Arvind Krishna’s cinematography is routine & supports the story without any undue gimmickry except for the action sequences.

Thiru shows some potential in the comical situations but his writing lets him down a great deal.

On the whole , T V P is a yawn.

Bottomline : Chauvinism galore.

Asal Film Review

“Too many cooks spoil the broth” .The proverb is apt for the movie “Aasal” .

“Misnomer” is the appropriate word that best describes the title.

“Waste of time” is the feeling one gets after coming out of the theatre watching this insipid fare.

Watching it one gets a feeling that “Aasal ” might have been made by a person who used to write & direct those infamous Tuesday evening serials in Doordarshan Podhigai backed by a superb cinematographer &producers with lots of money to spend & freedom to film the movie wherever he likes – France , Malaysia , …..even the Moon.

3 persons are credited with Story, Screenplay & dialogues but even if one of them where aware of what they were doing, movie would have come across half decent . I am damn sure Saran has nothing to do with this pathetic writing & “direction”less movie .If he has actually been associated with the movie, then he must have done so in stupor.

Ajithkumar looks suave , stylish , elegant , debonair , classy…..am at loss of adjectives & that is all about him . By shedding his “Ultimate Star” tag AjithKumar has led by example for his peers to follow for which one has to salute the man but when his sobriquet “Thala” is used in each every opportunity , some reasonable but many a times contrived it makes one wonder in future we will have to put up with new usages like- “Thala” constable for ‘ head-constable ‘ , “Thala” light for ‘head-light’ , “Thala” ache for ‘head ache’………in all of his movies.

Sameera Reddy has more scope to perform in a trite role . Is she a cultural attaché of Indian embassy or an item-girl…. Bhavana’s is worse.

Generally acting in the movie is pedestrian with people like Kelly Dorjee & Rajiv Krishna more for comic relief while Yugi Sethu & Suresh are at best plain irritating .

Less said about the Music by Bharadwaj the better. Except “Dusyantha” rest of the songs are pathetic .

Prashanth D. Misale ,the cinematographer is the “Aasal” hero of the movie. His hard work is evident in each & every frame . Cinematography of the movie is on par with any of the international productions. Technically the movie is top grade. If only the brainy part of the movie was on par with it , “Aasal” would have become a cult movie .

On the whole , “Aasal” is anything but it.

Bottomline: Misnomer.

2/5

Tamil Padam Review

"Tamil Padam" cuts the ribbon for a new genre in Tamil Cinema. Sitting in front of the big screen with loads of expectations due to reviews and promos, still the film satisfies you, what more do you need as a movie freak. Probably the first of its kind, a spoof movie in tamil cinema which has laughed its way to the banks by continuously keeping the cash register ringing. Yes, the film has succeeded at the Box-Office as well.

What is in the Movie?

It is very easy for a Tamil Cinema fan to understand the story. The film is all about a Mass Hero in Tamil Cinema. The hero is born like Thalapathy and reaches Chennai where he grows up into a Pokkiri in a single shot by riding a cycle, he targets 4 baddies in Chennai like in Thirupachi and executes it the Style of Anniyan and finally escapes from the law like Citizen. Apart from this they have targeted all the commercial hits in Tamil Cinema for the spoof ride. The concept of Villan flying 300 feet against the theory of gravity, the hero turning rich in a single song, the supporting characters who act as college students even at late 40s (Vivek Vadivelu) are exaggerated to make it look funny and it works out as well. Shiva does a fantastic job, especially two scenes, the Bharathanatiyam scene (Kadhalan Spoof), Interval Scene (Run + MGR Spoof), the advantage Shiva has is his expression which is being expression-less. The Director seems to have interpreted the audience pulse perfectly in comedy, this is proved by his selections of scenes spoofed on screen and the way it is portrayed. Though, the film has a producer who cannot be troubled by the any other actor or director for making their film’s spoof the team has ensured that they do not go to the extent of hurting anyone except the “Nattamai” insulting Silambarasan. The unknown language of Music directors in Tamil Cinema are all used in one song “Omaha Zeeya” even it does not fail to impress the audience.

The music was okay for this script as it does not demand importance for music. There are no songs which would impress you to the extent of listening every day. Venniraadai Murthy, M.S.Bhaskar and Mano Bala were not used properly. The heroine was beautiful , but CENSORED. The second half was slower and least impressive when compared to the first half. Probably the director was carried away with the screenplay in the first half, the climax again was a big letdown except the finishing slide.
Would this movie make any difference in Tamil Cinema?

Tamil Padam escapes because of a rib-tickling first half. In my opinion, we have not had a full length comedy movie since Ullathai Alli Tha by Sundar.C. Tamil Padam is not a totally impressive product but a saleable one because of its first half. Tamil Cinema badly needs another Ullathai Alli Tha.
I doubt if another spoof movie would become a hit. This film is lucky enough not to face a tough competitor,if Aasal and Goa were up to the mark the result of Tamil Padam would be the other way around. Though we truly need to boost up the Director for a new effort in big screen, I do not recommend the director to try Tamil Padam-2.
I hope that the elements spoofed in this film would be as a list of DONTs for the mass-masala directors and actors in future.

MY CLAPS TO: Shiva, Screenplay First Half, Kuppusamy (Kandhasamy’s Spoof)

Verdict: Laugh it out in the first half, sleep it out in the second half but don’t miss it.

Jeyam ravi thinks different

It has been quite refreshing to see 'Jayam' Ravi working hard these days to give different movies. From playing the lead in Jayam to Peraanmai, the lad has come a long way for sure!

Jayam Ravi says that, with the threat of sounding clichéd, the line diving commercial cinema and quality cinema is becoming blurred by the day. And he further said that as long as the movie does allow him to work within his 'Boy Next Door' characterizations, he is interested in being a part of movies with varied story lines.

Here's to wishing more good movies from the lad! Let the 'Jayam' be an ever present part of Ravi's life!!