Siruthai Film Review

No qualms on formulaic flicks. If the variables are near to nil, the formula renders no use. Oops. Thats too much of math in the review, isn't it?? Well, the art of film-making is a math too. Petty flaws near and far could not just flip the movie, but flop its prospects too. Sadly, 'Siruthai' is one such movie, that comes with a formulaic, yet gripping storyline, that falls prey to a half baked execution. Lets take a sneak peek of where this 'Siruthai' Roars and where it Squeaks.

Roars:

Santhanam: Much inspired from the eminent humorist Goundamani, Santhanam has nothing new to offer for a vintage Tamil spectator. Still, he manages to tickle your rib in most of his attempts during the movie. A helping hand to place the movie from a 'worse' track to a 'bad' track.

Karthi's': The good done by Karthi to the movie stops with a casual, yet catchy performance as 'Rocket' Raja, an easy-go-lucky thief and the differentiations he managed to pull of through his looks and body language from this character of his to the other 'wannabe' powerful character of his.

Tamannah: Doesn't fail to make you drool in spite of a loosely knit love track.

Squeaks:

Screenplay & Editing: The much to be concentrated areas of screenplay and editing were weighed less for more attention to the Karthis, that left him lift the entire burden of the movie. The very essence of a successful movie, particularly commercial ones is that its snags should be overshadowed by its advantages. 'Siruthai' fails in that aspect. The illogical instances were extensively highlighted.

Cop Karthi: At a few places, Karthi as an upright, rough cop was a terror to the villains. At other places, he was almost a terror to the audience. Blame the screenplay, not him! A character that required the aggression of Sivaji Ganesan's SP Chowdhury, got stuck midway between Vadivel's Telex Pandian and Rajnikanth's Alex Pandian. Pity you, Rathnavel Pandian.

Siruthai is a total timepass if and only if you are one who likes Santhanam's flavour of comedy and eager to see Karthi in a larger than life role.

Kollywood fans are prone to keep kidding successful stars when they slide down. Sadly, guess Karthi would be 'that' centric attraction hereon.

Sorry, Karthi.. Jintha tha jintha jintha jintha tha tha... :)

My Verdict: 4/10

Aadukalam Film Review

After fighting an enduring battle outside the theatre to get myself a ticket, I entered the cinema hall, battered and bruised, all set for Aadukalam nevertheless. The ambience was just right; I was watching a movie in a village after a long time as I hadn’t booked tickets in advance. The mood of the people around seemed to be in blissful confluence with the onscreen characters.

The movie starts off with a breezy voiceover by Vetrimaaran, a slide show encapsulating the history of rooster-fighting making up the background. As the title suggests, the movie is about battlefields and the fights that are orchestrated on and off the same. It’s also a tale of pride, ego, confidence, revenge and infidelity.

Rooster fighting forms the backbone of the movie; the movie see-saws through the lives of characters in the heart of Madurai who are solely dependent on the same for livelihood. The resulting possessiveness about the “art”, the honour and pride that comes with it proves to be Aadukalam’s Aadukalam. The characters, their emotions and their actions are chiseled in accordance with the happenings on the battle-field!

Everything that happens as a result of the battlefield endeavors and results make perfect sense; they take the movie towards the rightful destination modeled on realism. But it’s the side-tracks and the romantic interludes that fail to strike a chord. The romance in this movie can be compared to that in “7g”: in both cases, the heroine accepting the hero’s proposal seems impossible just because the female leads in both the movies find their respective pairs repulsive initially; also for the simple reason that their characters are diametrically opposite and so are their family backgrounds. The scenes outlining the lead actress’s disgust for the hero are so strong in both the movies that, though the directors of the respective movies try very hard to make us comprehend to the ensuing battle of love between the two at an emotional level, they fail. But I have to add that Vetri’s effort to fool us with his romantic fantasy has surely met with more success than Selva’s. Acting is reason enough to give this movie a shot. I loved the old man who plays “Pettaikaran” more than Dhanush in this flick. Dhanush’s acting prowess, especially in the movies where he plays the “locallu” guy is well known. To emulate Dhanush and make a mark when Dhanush is playing his favourite character takes a lot of effort and surprisingly, the old man seems to have done it with graceful ease. Having said that, Dhanush himself has come up with a cracker of a performance. He reverberates with oodles of energy scene after scene and after Selva, Dhanush seems to be very comfortable working with Vetri! The partnership is a success again. Kishore is another asset to the team.

GV has come up with beautiful songs for the movie and they have beautifully blended with the mood; the placement of the songs warrant mention. The BGM though, didn’t appeal to me. It seemed very repetitive and monotonous. Editing is one big letdown in this movie: I wonder why our filmmakers are so intent on stretching a movie to 150 minutes and beyond. To make things worse, a lot of scenes have been scissored abruptly. Aadukalam is what it is solely because of its screenplay. The emotions have worked wonderfully well and the innovative engineering of a plethora of reactions around the red-hot core of rooster fighting made for intriguing viewing. The computer generated rooster fights have come out very well and the level of interest here is sure to keep the audience on seat edges. Lighting seems to be another neglected element in the movie, with the director making it difficult for us to differentiate between characters in a few scenes. Apparently, the director has employed this technique to reflect the emotions; but he needn’t have done it to this extent! It also takes the sheen of the otherwise flawless cinematography. One big surprise in Aadukalam was the disappearance of a seemingly important character after the end of the first half, who was apparently used only for the build up.

To sum it up, Aadukalam is refreshingly innovative and deserves applause for Vetrimaran’s eye for excruciating detail and desire for perfection. The movie is not without its set of flaws though. Go enjoy this flick and raise the bar on your expectation meter for Vetrimaran’s next venture! Hope he comes up with such innovative themes devoid of clichés in the future.

kaavalan Film Review

Having witnessed Sura-The Disaster FDFS,I had my doubts about watching Kaavalan.However all the "will it release/won't it" did its part,and suddenly I was all excited about this latest Venture of Vijay.

The movie starts off with a shot of a train,followed by few scenes of a woman giving birth to our protagonist.

So 1980s was the thought running through my head.This is followed by a couple of mundane,disjointed scenes where Vijay is introduced and His character of Bhoominathan is established.

Bhoomi gets into fights and considers Muthuramalingam as a demigod,Simply because he had an extra seat in his ambassador and is willing to drop a struggling pregnant lady at the hospital.So when hears about the impending danger Muthuramalingam faces he decides to pack his bags and serve as his Kaavalan.Again so 1980s.What follows is a song/fight sequence and you begin to wonder, "Won't Viay ever learn his lesson."

He has!When inquired about how his movies feel all to similar,Vijay has maintained that,its what his fans want and he is happy to play the same role over and over again to Please them.However the rest of the TC fans,have found his movies repetitive and it reflects badly on the Box office reports.The first 20 mins of the movie were similar to his previous movies and this could be to attract his "fans" and B&C audiences! What follows is anything but similar to Vijay movies of last 3 years.There is no looking back hereon.

Vijay is sent as the Body Guard of Asin to her college,and although he is just another student like asin studying in the institution he dresses up in a bodyguard uniform so that everyone knows that he is her BG.


Asin is tired of Vijay following her all around the college and decides that the only way to make him give up on his uniform is by pulling a prank on him.The film moves at a rapid pace and the pre interval block is engaging.

The 2nd half carries on from where the 1st left of,and is every bit as engaging. I am not going to dwell on the details of the 2nd half,to avoid spoiling it for you.

The movie had been Amazingly crafted and had impressed me for a good portion of 2 hours!The climax is a bit of a damper for me personally!It goes on a bit too long for my liking.Having said that,I have noticed that Several people have acknowledged that the climax is one of the major positives of the movie-So I leave that to your discretion.

Now to the Artists & Technicians involved:

Vijay: "The one man entertainment troupe is back."was the quote from one of the popular reviewers.So True.he is well and truly back.He underplays his role as Bhoominathan-The innocent,charming, humorous lover boy! Here he is not spewing punch dialogues directed at rival actors/politicians.Nor does he mesmerize us with his dance!Yet he manages to centre of attention,with his screen presence and comic timing.The scene at Botanical garden is a clear sign of how the actor has changed in 1 movie.

Asin: Hardly do you come across a Vijay movie,where the Actress has scope for performance.Then again,this isn't like every other Vijay movie.She plays her role credibly,however I felt that she broke into tears in every other scene-Which could have been avoided.

Vadivel: Lets get this straight,he isnt as funny as he was in friends!Not close to it!But he isn't as bad as he was in Sura/Villu either.Vadivel is funny and helps to carry the plot forward.

Cinematography: Top Notch.I am not certain about who has handle the camera here,but whoever it is has done a fantastic job.

Vidhyasagar: The BGM is appealing and all songs other than "Vinnai Kappan" are pleasing!Vidhyasagar is something of an enigma,you never know what to expect of him.He follows one great album with another poor one. He maintains his track record,He is Good in kaavalan and is appalling in Siruthai[more on that later]

Siddique: He doesn't have a great script,but he has a tight screenplay laced with comedy and makes the best use of the cast he has assembled.Job well done.

Bottom line:I am not really a fan of romantic movies,however this one is engaging and keeps the audience guessing.Its the perfect entertainer for this Pongal,and I hope it goes onto become a success at the Box office,simply for Vijays courage to 1.Finally break away from his formula. 2.Stand up against the mighty forces and ensure that his movie released against all odds. And also Because its a Good movie and deserves to enjoy Box office success.

Rating:3.5/5 There is no .5 on claps and Boos.So I had to go either 3 or 4,and I decided to go with 4,simply cos

Its something Different

Raajneeti Film Review

Raajneeti, writer-director Prakash Jha’s sprawling portrait of a political family, is a mixed bag. The film has moments of ferocious power and just as many flaws.

The narrative has a propulsive movement in the first half but becomes dramatically inert in the second. Jha, who has fought elections in Bihar himself, creates a real sense of the machinations and sordid deals that fuel politics but then hobbles it with outlandish twists and some decidedly ‘filmy’ moments – like a ridiculous love-making scene that is triggered because the characters get wet in the rain.

Apparently getting soaked in Bollywood still equals sex. And, as almost all the female characters in this film find out, having sex even one time, still equals babies.

The performances are strong—especially Ranbir Kapoor, Arjun Rampal and Nana Patekar—but the characters are largely one-note.

There has been much hype about Katrina Kaif learning lengthy Hindi dialogue for the film. She’s clearly worked hard but her luminous looks rather than acting are still her trump card.

Raajneeti is a film with ambition and scale but it works in fits and spurts. Jha’s political epic is too busy and bumpy and never quite fulfils the potential inherent in the story.

Raajneeti sources as much from The Godfather as it does from the Mahabharata. So we have sets of cousins whose rivalry spills into the open as soon as the head of the family suffers a stroke.

The film begins with a back-story of Sooraj Kumar, the Karna-like figure played by Ajay Devgn. Abandoned at birth, Sooraj is adopted by a Dalit family.

In quick succession, so many characters are introduced that Jha uses a voice-over to explain who is connected to whom and what the political affiliations are. It takes a good 15 minutes to take in the details and place the characters but the story-telling is engaging and soon you’re caught up with this Machiavellian family in which the plotting begins even as the father is still being treated by doctors. As the stakes get higher, the moves get bloodier.

Eventually, Samar Pratap, the Michael Corleone figure played by Ranbir Kapoor, the young brother who is working on a PhD on Victorian poetry, gets sucked into the murderous struggle for power.

Until here, Jha and his co-writer Anjum Rajabali tell the story with assurance and flair. But then the momentum dips and the intrigues become less and less interesting. Critically, Samar’s conversion to a ruthless murderer isn’t convincing. One minute he’s the student and the next, he, like everyone else is trigger-happy with bombs and guns.

Jha even borrows The Godfather’s famous severed horse-head scene.

Only here, a politician wakes up to find his male lover’s throat slit. Sadly, the gut-wrenching twist, when Kunti reveals to Karna that he is her son and therefore warring with his own brothers, is not done very effectively.

For the true power and emotion of that moment, watch Shyam Benegal’s Kalyug, in which the Mahabharata is transported to a business milieu. Shashi Kapoor who plays the Karna figure crumples slowly as he becomes aware of his own tragedy.

In its second hour, Raajneeti lets go of logic. We know that politics is an amoral, brutal cesspool but even so, leading politicians themselves murdering their rivals on a street in broad daylight is a bit of a stretch.

In a climactic shoot-out, we even have a perverted version of the Gita sermon in which the Krishna figure, played by Nana Patekar, insists on cold-blooded murder. Come on, finish them, he says.

Of course there is no one to root for in this gallery of rogues but more troublesome is the specious morality of the film. After a few feeble apologies, Samar Pratap finds a semblance of redemption.

Eventually then, Raajneeti is as exhausting as it is compelling.

Raavan Film Review

The low-caste Beera rules the forest in Raavan, Mani Ratnam’s richly atmospheric adaptation of the Indian epic The Ramayana.

Though the film takes place in the present, Mr Ratnam’s forest remains an appropriately primeval place for mythic doings, full of fog and mists and rain and Beera’s mud-painted followers (shades of “Apocalypse Now”).

Raavan (Ravana in Sanskrit), as every Indian knows, is the demon in The Ramayana who kidnaps Sita, the wife of Rama: king, deity and model husband (as Sita is the model wife).

Early on in Ratnam’s film the question is asked: Is Beera (a gleefully hammy Abhishek Bachchan) Robin Hood or Raavan? He’s both — and more a hero in this telling, set on his turf, than is the Rama character, a cop called Dev (Vikram), who matches Beera in brutality and cunning, but not in heart.

Raavan has Bollywood glamour aplenty, with the lovely if occasionally dramatically challenged Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek’s wife, playing the Sita stand-in.

The real star, though, is Ratnam, a talented visual storyteller who directs action crisply and fills the screen with striking images. (One, of Bachchan’s falling body landing gracefully on a tree branch, is so good he uses it three times.)

Artful but not arty, Ratnam, whose films include Dil Se and Guru delivers the goods: There are songs and dances (A R Rahman of Slumdog Millionaire fame did the excellent score), and an eye-popping climactic battle, between the bad-good Beera and the good-bad Dev, on a teetering suspension bridge. And that, folks, is entertainment.

This film has been designated as a Critics' Pick.

Raavanan Film Review

Let’s get this straight. Raavanan is not Mani Ratnam’s attempt to venerate the epic villain whose name the movie is titled after. It’s not also a study on complex human relationships weighed down by trust, conviction or quandary. It’s a pure cinematic retreat spanning across the dense jungles of Southern and Central India with exceptional cinematography (Santosh Sivan and
 
Manikandan), by-now cult songs (A R Rahman) and interesting performances by its lead actors. And the significance of the movie appears in the same order mentioned above.

Mani’s conviction of illustrating an unachievable love story between the two leads (Aishwarya Rai and Vikram) is palpable from the very start of the movie. However, the blossoming of love doesn’t quite form the back bone of Raavanan so much. The movie digresses into other aspects - a man hunt, flash backs, revenge drama and so on and so forth. The man hunts lack dexterity, the revenge drama that is triggered by the death of Vikram’s sister seems engineered and Prithviraj often comes across as stiff – showing unnecessary tautness in the character that is probably designed to defy emotions (may be because he is in his Khakis?).

But all that is absolved, as the movie stunningly unfolds often drenching itself in the monsoonal deluge making you feel rain-soaked. If you have any doubt about Mani’s eternal love affair with rain, Raavanan stands as a remarkable testimony. It rains in the song sequences, in encounters and in emotional scenes. And at other instances, the sky is constantly downcast as if threatening to pour down. And the cinematography captures it all in delightful exuberance.

For the most part, Vikram owns the movie seizing it magnificently even from Mani’s own hands. His love blooms out of astonishment at the outwardly courage displayed by Aishwarya Rai and he makes those scenes persuasive for the viewer. He infuses life into the character and shows no jaggedness, falling for a married woman thus replicating, probably the characters of Raavanan. Suhasini’s profound dialogues come in handy in many places and the viewer is made to read between lines quite often.

Aishwarya Rai’s semblance of the late Padmini is unmistakable, it could be her dialogues or the way she manages her composure attentively even in the hardest of terrains the character puts her through. The lady sure has attempted to reach on par with Vikram in performance in many sequences. Kudos to Mani for a dignified portrayal of his lead woman. There is a refreshing strength in Ragini’s character brought out well by Aishwarya.

Prithvi plays a toughie police officer and somehow his character portrayal leaves a few questions unanswered: for instance, his love for Aishwarya Rai is weighed down by his commitment and that singular fact does not come across convincingly.

Priyamani plays the ill-fated Vennila and leaves a lump in your throat. Karthik in his second innings steals the show. Prabhu and Munna play support roles that ebb and flow with the movie.

Cinematography by Santosh Sivan is brilliant and has rendered the perfect support for Mani. His probing lens takes the audience through the thick jungles, the mighty waterfalls and the rough terrains of India. Music and art direction play equally momentous role in Raavanan as its lead actors. If not for Rahman’s songs and background score, Vikram’s unrequited love wouldn’t have been so painful for us. The songs have already been much debated about and leave no scope for further discussion. One word though: it’s not for nothing “Usure Pogude…” has achieved a cult status. You tend to try hard not to fall in love but fail with the song as Vikram heaves a sigh of relief, having seen Aishwarya Rai breathing and alive after a steep fall.

Sameer Chanda’s art direction complements the ruggedness and splendid beauty of the nature in the jungles so well you refuse to believe anything is man-made.

A major drawback is the lack of ‘Tamil’ feel in the film and its music; it more appears for the audience north of Vindhyas in many places. What Mani loses out is the pace over the later part of the first half; he gains it back with a major twist in the climax. Although you have a few questions about the incidents leading to the finale, those are done away with - thanks to the elegiac climax.

Verdict: Watch Raavanan, it’s visually poetic!

Singam Film Review

Singam - Saamy's alter ego

Everyone in the tinsel world seems to know the sacred mantra - "Discover your winning formula and use it endlessly till you tire your audience out". When stars can follow this animatedly why not directors!! Director Hari has intently executed his working principle and fairly succeeded in his attempt sided with the marketing stalwart Sun Pictures who can package even the worst nightmare to look and feel like your most enticing dream.

Hari can duly be nominated for the best copier award who has managed a flawless remake of his own Blockbuster Saamy with different lead artists and a very few tweaks mostly insignificant to the actual plot and audience. There are too many familiar takes from the real McCoy that it gets very difficult not to see Saamy in every frame when you have actually spent $16 for Singam!!!

Surya, as always looks handsome. There is nothing much to look forward with his acting as he is played his part just fine. With the exception of a few places, when tackling the bad elements where he literally roars in an undesirable high pitch breaking with a croaky effect, he is passable.

The star's forte is his charisma in romantic clippings or at least that was how he came across to a few fans of his like me until he tied the sacred knot. He used to be an on-screen romantic delight with a spectacular co-star chemistry leaving a deeper impact than the movie itself. Of late the star's dancing skills are much better than his romance in the movie.

In Singam, the director has avoided chummy scenes with forethought honoring the obvious height difference which would most likely bring on criticism rather than appreciation. Thus, Anushka's presence is felt only in the few songs where she single handedly entertains the audience with her ample anatomy coupled with sensuous movements.

Comedy has taken a new definition with the so-called comedian Vivek. The scenes where this clown appears evokes every feeling but laughter with annoyance topping the list. All his scenes are a deliberate inclusion on a confirmed drooping mission. The movie would have been better off if VT Vijayan had considered using his "Cut" tool seriously on this buffoon's scenes.

With such a pathetic delivery, the Chinna Kalaivanar was bragging his soul out on the Cassette release function telecasted on Sun Channel a few days ago. His speech was so reassuring that I had my hopes very high only for an awful disappointment. He is the proverbial empty Vessel!

Surya's dance needs a special mention. It is not easy to have forgotten the Aval varuvala stunts by Surya which was called dance in those days. The star has scaled up enormously that he can very well be added to the league of dancer-actors in the industry - my personal favorites being "She stole my heart" and "Kadhal Vandhaale". Music was neither great nor boring..but DSP could have avoided singing in every song. He didnt spare the BGM either!!

I have a great regard for Prakash Raj who has played the anti role. In my opinion, he is one of the few versatile stars this industry has been gifted with. There are movies that I have watched including one starring Sibi Raj in the lead role, only because Prakash Raj was one of the casts. But for Prakash Raj, I wouldn't have cared to watch it even on Sun TV!! But neither was he convincing nor justified in the movie. The Prakash Raj air was completely missing. Looks like he had played the role just to add on to his bank balance!!

If you haven't watched Saamy, which I would think is inconceivable, then you might find Singam terrific. For those of you who are obsessed with Saamy (like me), Singam is yet another movie

Sura Film Review

Sura is the first vijay movie which released without any hype/expectations. But still, inspite of huge promotion done by sun pictures, the movie lags very much. Just imagine, what would have happened if the producer himself release the movie directly without help of sun pictures??? The answer is very simple, it might be out of theaters in less than a week.

Story Analysis:

In the recent years, none of the vijay movies will have a story, the same holds true in the case of sura too. Sura(vijay) a fisherman who lives with 100's of people in yaazh nagar located near sea shore. All the people see him as their leader and take any decision by consulting him. Villan Dev gill plans to build a theme park in the place where sura & co live, so he tries to shift all the people from that sea shore area to some other area. But sura interferes and advice the people to stay back in the same yaazh nagar. There the problem starts between hero and villain. As usual the remaining story is about how hero tackles all problem and kill the villain. I mean the same cat & mouse game which we have seen in 'n' number of movies in tamil cinema.

Cast & Crew Analysis:

Vijay played the lead role, his character is similar to his previous movies, so i don't need to explain it. But special mention should be made regarding his dance in naan nadandhal song, his dance was awesome. Tamannah played the role of lady love, as usual she appears for songs, little bit over make-up and over acting. Costume selection for tamannah was not that good, but she danced well along with vijay.

There are 'n' number of villains and i can't name all of them, but dev gill's character was not portrayed properly, looked like over acting. Vadivelu, the real Saviour of the movie, his combo with vijay was ok but not as good as pokiri but its 1000 times better than villu comedy track.

Cinematographer Eghabaram didn't do well, lot of irritating close up shots and screen color tone was very dull, he could have done better. Music by mani sharma was ok, bommaiyee and naan nadandhal song was good, regarding background score it was similar to telegu billa's bgm. I don't know who is the editor of this movie, he should have trimmed lot of scenes in many places and made the movie racy.

Captain of the ship, S.P Rajkumar should have concentrated on the story rather than thinking about where to place fight, songs, how to show vijay in the opening scene etc... he failed miserably and he also missed a chance of delivering a block buster movie by having gr8 combo like vijay and tamannah.

General Analysis:

First half was very slow,but it was like seeing sun tv news. i would rather say, vadivelu saved the movie in first half. But in second half, I didn't understand what was happening, it was very very worst along with sluggish screenplay. Other than vadivelu and vijay's dance, nothing is worth mentioning in this movie. And towards the end, especially the last 15 mins, really tested the patience of all the audience. The climax was very weak and looked so silly.

Major Highlights Of the Movie:

Intro of vijay was chance less,the full theater laughed instead of shouting and whistling. Only vijay can come out of water and fly in air for few seconds.

As usual many long jumps high jumps, for a change vijay have tried diving too, I think vijay is one of the potential candidate to participate in Indian Olympics.

Tamannah is fair, and its universal truth, in order to show vijay as a fair guy when standing near tamannah, they applied so much of powder on vijay's face,but i think they forgot to put make up for vijay's hands,, so face was in one color and rest of the body parts in one color.

In all the recent movies, vijay used to try a new get up, in pokiri it was imsai arasan 23 am pulikesi then in villu he tried out bharathiar get up etc..etc.. In sura he tried out avatar singh get up.. i mean the scene in which he comes as customs officer. That getup was very funny.

Only Vijay can attack the enemies using sivakasi rocket. Even by seeing it, enemies get scared and run away.

Just because of vijay buying 5 rupees pen from a blind person, tamannah falls in love at that moment. The love chemistry between tamannah and vijay is zero.

On the whole, it's a movie which can be avoided if you hate to watch masala movie. But a visual treat for all vijay fans, so don't miss it. Anti vijay fans do see it and laugh to the core for 3 hours.

Expected No Of Days Of Successful Run: 20 Days

My Verdict: Flop

Bottom Line: Ayya Vijay please change your track or else quit from tamil cinema.

My Ratings:1/5

Up in the Air Film review

Up In The Air is a terrific film. It’s sparkling. It’s sad. It’s deeply engaging and painfully insightful.

George Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, a man who fires people for a living. He spends 300-odd days a year on the road but this isn’t a problem. Bingham has turned air travel into high art. He’s happy to call a soulless airport hotel home. But Ryan’s comfortably numb life gets a jolt when he is asked to take a younger colleague on his road show. And he enters a relationship with a woman who seems as happy as him to keep it no-strings-attached. She says: think of me as you with a vagina. But that not as easy as it seems. Ryan discovers that family and relationships are a little more than mere baggage.

Working from a novel by Walter Kirn, director Jason Reitman creates a film that is so poignant and rich, that you actually find yourself sympathizing with Bingham, a man who is a corporate downsizer and gives motivational talks on how to avoid commitment.

Reitman doesn’t sugar-coat the humiliation and sadness of being fired. What Bingham does is brutal and nasty.

At one point, his colleague, played terrifically by Anna Kendrick, eagerly asks: For the love of God, can I fire the next one please! But Reitman expertly and effortlessly mines this material for laughs and emotions that never veer into melodrama or sentimentality.

The centerpiece of the film is of course Clooney’s heart-wrenching performance. Here is a global superstar working his legendary charm. But at the same time, he isn’t afraid of being and looking human, and more than a little frayed at the edges.

Up In The Air will devastate you even as it makes you laugh. If you’re going to see one film this weekend, make it Up In The Air.

Paiyaa Film Review

Paiyaa is the first summer release, which had huge expectations due to promotions and the good looking stills of tamanna. But the end product doesn't look promising as expected. In the trailer, they had mentioned Paiyaa to be from the makers of run, sandakozhi,,, but to be frank, paiyaa doesn't even get close to those blockbuster movies from Lingusamy,

Story Analysis:

Karthi(Siva) an engineer by profession is in search for a job,during that process he end up landing in Mumbai and gets into trouble with Mumbai dada(Miliand Soman). Tamanna (Charu) is an innocent gal, due to some family trouble, she runs out of her home and is also in search for a job in bangalore. As usual villains follow her to bring her back to home, this is where Siva meets her. Siva falls in love with charu at first sight. At certain point, he also gets a chance to take charu to mumbai to drop charu at her grandmother's home. During the journey, siva's love strengthens but he wouldn't get a chance to propose her. As usual again all the baddies land at Mumbai and Siva fights them.The climax is all about how siva save himself as well as charu from the gang & how Siva and Charu join together.

Cast and Crew Analysis:

This is karthi's first commercial film, so at times when he speak some serious dialogues, the audience are at splits. He still has the hangover of 1000 thil oruvan movie. But still, he did his part well. He should improve a lot in dancing and concentrate more on his sense of costumes.Tamanna looked ravishing and cute. She has improved a lot in acting. Special mention should be made about the costumes of tamanna, It really suited her well and color tone of her dress was perfect.

Miliand Soman looked dangerous but didn't impress us in anyway. Apart from him,, there were 'n' villains and all looked alike with huge body and long hair, it was irritating to see them.

Yuvan was the biggest plus for this movie, all songs were catchy, and he scored well with the back ground music, everything was perfect. Editing by anthony was good. Cinematography by madhi was worth mentioning. Few of the stunts looked good and as usual some superman stunts were there.

General Analysis:

I think Lingusamy can't ever come out from the effect of making run/sandakozhi. In the same fashion, there is a fight before interval and a fight in climax.First half was good with some comedies and songs, But the second half was not up the mark. Towards the end, the speed of the screenplay was very slow.

In spite of having 4 choreographer's for the movie, all the visuals for songs were not up to the mark, to put in one word, all songs were wasted on screen. They should have done justice to yuvan's music. karthi should join in some dance school and learn to dance soon, he cant just randomly lift his legs and hands and go around the actress in forth coming movies.

Over all it's a movie which can be seen once for the sake of yuvan's music, tamanna and of course karthi. Apart from it, this movie has got nothing great which is worth mentioning. But tamanna fans don't ever miss this movie.

Expected Days Of Successful Run: 30 Days

My Verdict: Above Average

Bottom Line: Tamanna fans don't ever miss this movie and especially addada mazhai song !..

My Ratings:2.5/5

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**

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.

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.

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.

Goa Film Review

GOA !!! Maybe the name magic does it again. And yes, its Venkat Prabhu's Holiday.

Contains SPOILERS. Read at your own will.

Movie starts with a village panchayat (in Pannaipuram) gathering with our own Vijayakumar (vaibhav,s father role) as the Panchayat Leader. Vaibhav, Premji and Jai are the ones on whom the Panchayat has been called for. Reason ? They ran away from Pannaipuram to the next village for some entertainment .

And one fine day these three decide to run away for a week to Madurai and execute it too. And now the camera shifts to Madurai. Azhagar(character name) , frnd of Jai who marries a foreigner and gets a chance to settle down in london gives these 3 youngsters a clue that even if they can travel to Goa and meet a foreign girl and marry her, their life would be settled forever.

Now the camera shifts to Goa. Meanwhile, Premji steals some amman jewels back from pannaipuram before they left to Madurai. This is the knot Venkat prabhu uses to shoot the climax and the end card.

Sampath and Aravind Akash have done a fantastic job of being Dostana's Danny and Jack respectively own a resort beachside Goa where they Pia is a in-house singer. Jai, vaibhav and Premji join this tamil group and stay in their resort.

premji finds a foreigner for himself while Jai and Vaibhav find Pia and Sneha respectively. Lets not get into explaining how Their love scenes are framed but straight into the climax. let me mention that these love scenes are howvere shot in a nice way without any exaggeration.

Sneha owns India's bigges Casino ship inside which Vaibhav ends up locking the jewels which Premji had stolen from temple in Pannaipuram. By this time Sneha dn Vaibhas have mutually agreed on separation. reason shown for this is pretty loose just like how their loves starts too. So no regrets.

Climax shows how the whole gang of "good guys" get into the ship and recover the jewels. And once thats done, the camera goes back to pannaipuram with all parents and panchayat happily agreeing and approving of all these guys new pair and eventually their marraige.

Prasanna is shown as Sneha's first husband who recommends Vaibhav to get rid of Sneha as she is a Physco :P

Simbu comes in the final reel getting introduced to Sneha as her next husband and the movie ends with Sneha , Simbu hugging each other and the Manmadhan Simbu wiping away blood off his nose.

Yuvan has done a wonderful job , be it the album or the BGM .

Camerawork is excellent with Goa shown right inside your retina.

Overall, Venkat prabhu once again comes up with a NO STORY , mild spoof kinda screenplay which has been very well executed and presented by the whole Goa team.

Please do not encourage Piracy. Watch Goa only in theatres .