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Archive for January 2013

Written by Hariharan Anbazhagan in , , , , ,


Vishwaroopam - An Elegant Sweep!



After a lot of panic and last minute postponement, certain theaters in Bangalore gathered some courage to screen this movie that was long pending. Controversies and Kamal operate hand-in-glove, but even for him this time it was too hot to handle as he had to concede to the demands of the theater owners to avoid telecasting it on DTH as per the initial plan and in the second round it was due to a religious outburst against the movie. Come what may, the proof is still in the pudding. At the end of the day if the film does not deliver with its content, even the protesters would be cutting an embarrassing face. But in this case, the movie delivers on various fronts and does make some very strong statements that could make or break certain popular beliefs.

Vishwanath (Kamal), a Kathak dance instructor leads a normal life with his wife Dr.Nirupama (Pooja), a nuclear oncologist who has married him for convenience to get a permanent US residentship. Clearly unimpressed with her husband’s feminine traits, she has a shady relationship with her boss, Deepak (Samrat Chakrabarti) and decides to marry him. To collect some strong evidences against her husband in order to file for a divorce, she employs a spy to detect her husband’s nefarious activities (if any). Things get messy due to this action of hers and her husband’s true identity gets revealed and so does his mission to save numerous lives in the US, thus making way for a better humanity to prevail thereafter.

The movie was technically one of the best in Indian cinema in recent times and it can even give so many Hollywood spy thrillers a run for their money. The subject of terrorism has been the core of the script and for the major part of the movie he kept us engrossed with it. Kamal had invested his own sweet time to give us a peek into Afghan’s backyard and pondered upon the factors that influence the seeds of terrorism, which is a very delicate subject and given the nature of the script, however careful one might be, the bean was going to be spilt at some point and nothing could be done about it.

While describing the evolution of a terrorist and the ambience surrounding him, too many metaphors were used in the storytelling aspect which was signature of director Kamal Haasan. The scene where the young boy who was made to sit on a swing by Kamal is one such example. As always Kamal touches upon his popular ‘beliefs’ on God and religion that met with some applause among the urban crowd in the auditorium.

Another highlight of the movie was the brilliantly orchestrated action sequences. The first fight in the warehouse speaks for itself and was one of the best that has swept Tamil cinema in the past decade! Also the war zone scenes, although shot in extravagant sets were made to look authentic and effective. Every gunshot and explosion was made to be felt with impeccable impact.

Kamal, “carried the movie on his shoulders” would be an understatement. He was omnipresent throughout the movie, whether it was in front of the camera or behind. As a scriptwriter he has tasted yet another success especially with intelligent dialogues which were food for thought at times for the ones who like to use their intellect.

Poojakumar as the ‘intelligent’ of the two heroines somehow reminded me of Asin in ‘Dasavatharam’ - must be something to do with her dialect or the garrulous characterization.

Kamal must have wanted to do a little bit of a ‘Bond’ and so there came Jeremiah, whose character in the script was of least significance, but somehow she too stays with Kamal till the end.

Shekhar Kapoor as Kamal’s superior officer was calm and composed and delivered the controlled aggression with ease.

Rahul Bose was given equal footage as that of Kamal and made for a powerful villain.

Nassar in a guest appearance impressed with his smatter of Arabic and gelled with the role.

Cinematography by Sanu Varghese was awesome. Be it the polished interiors of the US FBI offices or the rough terrains of the Afghan like sets, his eye for detail has been immaculate. Also a good job with the motion capture technique that froze the frame at numerous critical junctures which made a difference to the movie watching experience by deviating the norms.

Editing was another crucial area that was okay. But I felt that the movie could have been a bit racier in the middle during the Afghan portions where we tend to get restless after 15-20 minutes and from there on it was somewhat of a drain.

BGM and music by the trio of Shankar-Ehsan-Loy was there to support the movie. All the songs were used as backdrops for better narration and ‘Vishwaroopam’ was the pick of the lot.

The movie fired on all cylinders and delivered a solid script with great audacity and adroitness, even though there were very many loose ends to it and some questionable facts!

Also brace yourself for a sequel that is underway!!

Verdict: Good

Rating: 3/5

Written by Hariharan Anbazhagan in , , , , , , , , , ,


Aaroganam (Crescendo) - An Emotional Ballad!



Lakshmi Ramakrishnan who can be seen every now and then in an affectionate mother’s role or any other supporting role in Tamil movies has donned the director’s hat for the very first time for her directorial venture, Aaroganam. The movie that got released in October 2012 was not a commercial success but was lauded by the critics for its neat presentation and that propelled me to watch it after 3 months of its release!

Keeping the duration under 90 minutes, the director had a clear agenda in place - to establish the lead character’s emotions through her mental condition (bipolar disorder) and angst for her loved ones. The story of Aaroganam centers around the happenings in a day where a mother of 2 gets lost and her children try and find her whereabouts thereby revealing her past life through intermittent flashbacks.

Firstly I would like to congratulate Lakshmi for choosing such an offbeat subject where she needed to walk the tightrope in order to keep the narrative engaging. Secondly, being one of the few female directors in the industry, the predicaments of her unconsciously exhibiting staunch feminist ideals through her movie would have been ripe and if she was to take a neutral stance in order to do away with such a predicament, she had to ensure that the male ego was not bashed too much; winning the latter duel in particular might have been challenging for her and whether she was successful in that is debatable.  

As far as the lead role of ‘Nirmala’ played by Viji Chandrasekar goes, she had been portrayed to carry a palette of emotions. The role was a challenging one and it required some quality experience since the extreme emotions had to be brought out well. Viji seemed to have been tailored for the role and one can hardly imagine anyone other than her playing the character. She was the epicenter around which the entire proceedings revolved.

‘Nirmala’s’ children, played by newcomers Jai Queheni and Veeresh were brilliant in their respective roles. Especially Queheni who essayed the role of ‘Selvi’ who was portrayed to be demure and shown to vent out a controlled rage on seeing her estranged father, made the role look authentic and gave a feeling that one is taking a peep at the happenings in the neighborhood.

The duo of Rajee Vijayasarathi and Uma Padmanabhan had their roles cut to shape and made a lovely middle aged pair who represented the society’s upper crest. Sampath as a psychiatrist and Jayaprakash as the crooked politician were there to beef up the supporting cast, though I could not make out the significance of Jayaprakash’s role and I felt that he was wasted. Also the man who essayed the role of Nirmala’s husband, Marimuthu, did a great job as the angry and incapable middle aged man who fights it hard to make ends meet with a wife who has a mental condition.

Shanmugasundaram, the cinematographer, made sure that the camera traveled along with the characters. He has used very many candid shots and more often than not one can see the camera being placed at odd places making room for some very interesting composition and that helped in establishing the depth in the emotions.

Editing by Kishore had to be lauded for merely keeping the movie under 90 minutes which has become a rarity even in Hollywood these days! Also the cuts from the present to the past was not confusing for the major part if we are to tide over a few jerks during the initial transitions. A club song towards the climax could have been avoided as it appeared more like a commercial compromise.

Music by K added strength to the movie especially the lively BGM. Throughout the movie one can observe that natural sounds have been used in order to establish the premise of a scene and that was sort of a novelty. Off the two songs, the one that was used for the montage shots during the movie’s course fitted the bill.

The movie has largely achieved its motto of providing a slice of the day-to-day battle fought by a single mother with bravado and sheer willpower, but somewhere along the line we cannot avoid the feeling of watching a plain documentary that was largely bland without much spice or sugar but still kept us glued to the show to an extent.

Verdict: Good Attempt!

Rating: 3/5

Written by Hariharan Anbazhagan in , , , , , , , , ,


Samar (War) - Game On!



Emerging from the rubble, swamped with last minute release issues, the third  release for Pongal 2013, Samar, made hardly any pre-release buzz nor a post release splash in its first 2 weeks. Directed by Thiru who had a flop with his debut, this being only his second movie, I did not expect anything magical from his stable. However, this movie caught me by surprise with a very vital element of movie making - the script and the narrative! Vishal who was already tottering on the ground for the past few years with some masala rehashes under his belt and the best of the lot, Bala ‘s ‘Avan Ivan’ proving futile at the box office, he was almost pushed to the corner in order to deliver the goods at any cost. This script, I should say, has come to his rescue.

Falling into the genre of mystery thriller, Samar narrates the story of a trek guide from Ooty who gets lured to Bangkok and pushed into a mess. The reason for him being caught in the mess  sounded quite interesting and different and that kept the proceedings alive and ticking!

The plot as such has been given a different treatment, especially the way in which the villains treat their victims in order to make them fall prey to their mind games. I can even go a step further and would call it the first time ever in Tamil cinema that such villain-ism with a difference has been established.

Vishal was at the thick of things, always ready to thrash goons and romance women. He should be appreciated for the sole reason to have chosen such a script where the hero for most part of the movie loses to the mind games of the villain.

Trisha, looked old and carried a sleepy tone in her voice and modulation, but delivered the goods as and when it was required.

Sunaina, was there for a cameo and didn’t do much as there was no scope for her character.

The supporting cast of Jayaprakash, Sampath, Sriman and  John Vijay looked majestic but their respective roles were limited.

The villain duo of Manoj Bajpai and JD Chakravarthy appeared funny and weak as they tried to put on a ‘Joker’s’ hat on screen.

Music by Yuvan disappoints except for ‘Azhago Azhagu’ which was peppy.

Cinematography by Richard captured the misty Ooty and glittering Bangkok with equal panache.

Editing by Anthony L. Ruben was okay and kept the movie engaging, but there were abrupt cuts and the BGM was not kept consistent as there were far too many rises and dips that could be sensed and made the happenings look out of sync.

Two of the songs in the second half and some logical loopholes in the script pulled it back, but overall, this movie would keep us hooked for a while and if we do not play the guessing game in the middle of the movie on who is pretending to be good and who is not, we might  as well enjoy it.

Verdict: Above average!

Rating: 2.5/5

Written by Hariharan Anbazhagan in , , , , , ,


Kanna Laddu Thinna Aasaiya (Dear, like to eat laddu?) - ‘Power’ Punch!



Yester year’s comedy super hit, Bhagyaraj directed ‘Indru Poi Naalai Vaa’ has been remade into KLTA. Santhaanam’s maiden production venture and directorial debut of Manikandan, the film was right on the money from the very first frame till the end with the sole agenda to tickle our nerves and to entertain the viewers by giving a lovely Pongal Feast!

For those who are not aware of Indru Poi Naalai Vaa’s storyline - 3 happy-go-lucky guys in a small town try to woo a lovely young girl in their neighbourhood with their demeanour and charms. Among the 3 one emerges victorious, while the remaining 2 help their love succeed against a few odds.

The combination of ‘Power Star’ Srinivasan, Santhaanam and Sethu was a balanced one and it largely harps on Power Star’s notorious popularity that was lapped up by classes and masses alike. I was surprised to see the crowd cheering up for Power Star’s introduction more than Santhaanam’s. Power Star was given a lovely canvas to unleash his PR exercises which he did with utmost poise and had utilized the opportunity well enough to up the ante.

Santhaanam was charming and was the axle on which the story rotated. He was always in control of the happenings in the script and carefully steered its course with his quick wit and repartee that made one guffaw many a times.

Sethu, donned the official hero’s hat and looked decent, though his performance was average.

Vishaka Singh as the female lead was okay and fitted the role without much hassles.

VTV Ganesh, Kovai Sarala, Devadharashinee, Raja and others were used as elements meant to smoothen the rough edges of the script and to polish it further, there was Simbhu who appeared in a guest role as himself, with Gautham Menon adding to the beefy cameo cast!

Music by Thaman was nothing exceptional, though the lyrics were interesting at times.

Editing could have been better. The placement of songs was a big let down. Had a couple of songs been chopped, the movie would have been much more racier.

This movie can be watched with the sole belief that laughter is the best medicine in this whole wide world for any kind of illness! When compared with its original counterpart,  this one loses hands down in terms of screenplay and freshness in content, but still can be enjoyed like a tub of salted popcorn!!

Verdict: Enjoyable!

Rating: 2.5/5

Written by Hariharan Anbazhagan in , ,


Shaitan (Devil) - The Devil Inside!



This Bollywood movie that was released more than a year back caught my attention because of director Bejoy Nambiar who is about to test Kollywood waters soon through his bilingual, ‘David’. So I made it a point to watch this flick that marked his debut and more than anything I stumbled upon some rave reviews about the film prior to watching it!!

Shaitan narrates the story about a group of laid-back youngsters who get caught in a quagmire wherein they try to play a ransom game with their parents in order to get out of the quagmire. In the process, they lose out badly and pay a hefty price. The story also leans on the vulnerabilities in our ever tainted law and order system and its ridiculously obvious loopholes that time and again has been proved ineffective in order to tackle the contemporary forms of crime.

Hats-off to Bejoy’s refreshing presentation. The way he established each character and the chemistry between them had to be lauded. He took his own sweet time to narrate a character’s background and added a certain color to it which paid off well in the latter half when the respective characters attain their peak in order to tie the loose ends. Also the dialogs were penned with an element of satire that helped in defining the features of a particular character!

Though there were a number of characters, the ease with which every character was handled, went a long way in binding the film together and making it a grippy affair. The characters were neither painted in black nor in white, but each one had a unique color whose name was unknown, but the color can be enjoyed on screen. The casting department has to be appreciated for this and a keen eye for detail during casting.

Rajeev Khandelwal as the ‘dirty harry cop’ was riveting. He expressed his anger, angst and inability to mend the system through his violent acts. At the same time he acted with dexterity and called the shots when the situation demanded him to use his brains more than his brawn.

The 5 member youngster squad consisting of Kalki, Shiv, Neil, Gulshan and Kirti were an interesting lot who could be related by any upmarket spoilt brat from cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore or Chennai.

Music and BGM by the 4 member squad of Prashnat, Amar, Ranjit and Anupam gelled well with the narrative and helped establish the plot convincingly. The songs were used in montages and that gave the film a grand and urban appeal.

Cinematography by Madhi, the man from Kollywood, has surely made a mark with this movie with an amazing piece of work. The angles were unique and shots were terrific and helped largely etching the frames with conviction.

Editing by Sreekar Prasad, the veteran technician was top class. He made the story move at a rapid pace and the cuts were of international standard.

One of the biggest downsides that I saw was in the plot that takes place in the second half, wherein the characters were just shown to chill out for a while even after knowing that they were in deep shit. Also certain plot turning points appeared sudden, as if they were pushed into the narrative in order to create a ripple or two.

The movie can be definitely classified as a one time watch for its fresh presentation and the content.

Verdict: Good!

Rating: 3/5

Written by Hariharan Anbazhagan in , , , , ,


Alex Pandian - The Bad, The Worst and The Ugly!



Director Suraaj played lucky with few of his previous outings like ‘Thalainagaram’ and ‘Padikaathavan’ which were runaway hits, thanks to the comedians who acted in those flicks as they were the binding force for the entire movie. His latest flick, Alex Pandian starring Karthi stands testimony to the fact that he hasn’t changed his formulaic appeal.

The movie opened with a chase sequence thats typical to a masala movie wherein the lead pair were being chased by hooligans of varying sizes with long hair and unbuttoned shirts that has been seen so many times at least in the past decade. Following a long drawn out train fight, they jump into the water and escape.

After the initial mockery, the story cuts to a small town where Karthi lands up at Santhaanam’s house as a ‘distant relative’. In the ensuing laugh riot, Karthi happily played second fiddle to Santhaanam and kept us calm without much worries. But it did not last long before the interval, the bad men caught up fast and Karthi once again had to take up the axe to grind the baddies in equal installments, narrated a stale flashback and ended up winning hands down with Anushka obviously by his side.

Director Suraaj might not have believed in logic but at least he should have acknowledged the fact that audiences have some brains. Liberally using the script to his advantage and employing so many villains in a single movie (around 5 to be precise) have been an age old formula used by directors like ‘Perarasu’ who himself has taken a sabbatical owing to the tiresomeness experienced after watching his own films.

A handsome actor like Milind Soman who has a suave baddie in him has been trivialized among the group of caricatural villains. Also, in the scorching hot sun, Milind and his men walking through the streets with a blazer evoked laughter more than anything.

This is yet another sorry tale for Karthi as an action hero after his previous colossal flop, ‘Saguni’. One can sense the desperation within him to establish himself as a salable action star. Its sad to see that the competition is getting the better of him. For him the road is still wide open but his attitude towards audiences’ taste has to change if he is going to taste success once again.

Anushka had no dialog in the first half and appeared in just 2 or 3 scenes. In the second half she appeared for quite sometime and throughout the time she was on screen, she kept running along with Karthi. A very weak role in terms of characterization.

Santhaanam, as I said before was the only saving grace. One can only watch his string of comedy  scenes as a separate DVD or when aired on satellite televisions.

Music by Devi Sri Prasad was a lift off from so many of his previous albums and the beats were hackneyed.

Editing and camera did their best to provide the jerks and swing from low and wide angles which is a critical feature of such flicks.

The movie can definitely be ignored and watched on satellite televisions for any one of the forthcoming festival days!

Verdict: Boring!

Rating: 1/5