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Archive for February 2013

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


Ameerin Aadhi Bhagavan (Ameer’s Aadhi Bhagavan) - Double Header!


Director Ameer’s last directorial venture was the cult classic ‘Paruthiveeran’ (2007) which has an effect at the box till date as it redefined film-making by giving birth to the largely popular ‘Madurai-genre’ of movies. Young and upcoming directors from that geography still prefer such a genre to be a safe bet as it would be lapped up by the classes and masses if executed well. What can one expect from such a director’s stable and that too after a gap of 6 years?

Aadhi Bhagavan’s narrative starts in Bangkok with the life of an upcoming don Aadhi Shanmugham (‘Jayam’ Ravi) who does anything for money. He meets ‘Karishma’ (Neetu Chandra) revives her from misery. While he is about to tie the knot with her, things turn upside down as he is taken for a ride by another mafia group that tries to steal his identity. Aadhi fighting the odds and emerging out of the quagmire has been told in a predictable way with an appreciable twist.

The first half unfolded at its own sweet pace and as we are about to get frustrated with the movie, a twist kicks in just before the intermission and regains our confidence. But that was the only twist that formed the core of the script. Other than that the movie looked pretty ordinary for Ameer’s standards. The movie travels from Andhra to Bangkok to Mumbai and thus there is a language issue - the characters were shown mouthing dialogs in their own language and everything gets dubbed in Tamil; I felt that it was a novel way to instill authenticity but at the same time it proved to be a slight discomfort since it gave a feel of watching a dubbed movie.

‘Jayam’ Ravi in a double role (I didn’t know it was a double role before watching the movie) had a tough time wearing the hat of an action hero as he resembled the same candy floss romantic guy like in so many other movies. He has also tried to sound masculine with a base voice since his voice has an inherent shrillness. The other character demanded him to portray some effeminate traits and so it would have been a challenge for any hero, but he has done a good job at it.

Neetu Chandra as Karishma/Rani had the meatiest role for a heroine. She took the plunge post interval and challenges the don girls who have been portrayed in Indian cinema so far.

Supporting cast were of little significance as they are either killed at some stage or would help in killing someone.

Technically the movie was nowhere near Ameer’s last few ventures as the camera and editing were disappointing. Editing especially could have been used to trim the movie by 20-30 minutes by chopping unwanted songs and that could have made the movie much more engaging.

Music by Yuvan was below average and the song placement was another dampener that Ameer would concede to his beeline of woes.

The first disclaimer before watching the movie is one should not try to read the story since the twist might sound predictable and the whole story would fall flat. So please go with low expectations. The next one is the overdose of action and violence. The movie is nowhere near Ameer’s league of his previous ones and falls much below expectations. Ameer could have done a better job with the content and a streamlined screenplay.

Verdict: Not a Must Watch (Don’t read the story before watching!)

Rating: 2.5/5

Written by Hariharan Anbazhagan in , , , , ,


Haridas - Noble Views Told in a Feeble Voice!



With a very lite pre-release buzz and hardly any promotion, Haridas managed to hit a few screens last week. I was expecting a novel storyline or a usual story told in a novel way - the movie fell in the former category. Director GNR Kumaravelan has made a poignant effort to handle the subject of autism and has managed get a decent outcome.

Sivadas (Kishore) is a deadly encounter cop who is given the sole responsibility to eliminate the goons from the city especially the fearsome Aadhi (Pradeep Rawat), who plays hide and seek with the cops. On the other hand Sivadas’s mother expires leaving behind his motherless son (Haridas) whom she was taking care of till then. Haridas happens to be a special child diagnosed with autism. The story from thereon moves on how Sivadas moulds Haridas’s life by identifying his strength with the help of his son’s caring school teacher, Amudhavalli (Sneha) along with balancing his career that gives him sleepless nights.

At the beginning of the movie there is a disclaimer that the movie is a fictitious account based on true events and that got reflected well. But the sole problem that I was able to identify with this movie was the slow pace. Also a bland screenplay along with a low key star cast added to its woes. One cannot expect a twist in such a realistic genre, but the director should have ensured to seal the audience to their seats with a gripping screenplay since he had some ammos in the form of an encounter cop’s story as the backdrop. Though the two storylines synced, there was hardly any edge of the seat moments that one would expect.

Kishore was brilliant as an encounter cop - his body language and a naturally bald-head was apt for the character.

Master Pritviraj Das as Haridas has done a great job to carry the delicate role of an autistic kid. He in fact carried the movie on his shoulders along with Kishore to ensure that the audience felt the pain of both the father and the son.

Sneha had yet another neat role that had its boundaries clearly demarcated; this role might prove to be the last nail in the coffin for her glamor zone as she was looking gorgeous with her conservative outfit and a benevolent attitude did a world of good for her characterization!

Pradeep Rawat would soon forget the movies that he has acted so far as he cannot be shown as a good guy. As a goon he looked deadly as always.

Yuhi Sethu as the pediatric neurologist gave some wise ‘gyaans’ about autism in his own style and cheered up the bland proceedings a bit.

The production value was average, with music proving to be below average at the hands of Vijay Antony who normally delivers decent stuff.

Cinematography by Rathnavelu was nothing special especially considering his previous outings in films like Enthiran, Vaaranam Aayiram and so on.

Editing by Raja Mohammed was really pathetic as the movie lagged in pace.

Even with as many lows that one can find out, it should be conceded that the movie had a few streaks of brilliance, especially the scenes that brought out the society’s awareness about autism, speaks volumes about our attitude towards the differently abled. The director should be congratulated for the sole reason to have chosen such a noble subject and has tried his best to voice his opinion to percolate some inspiring thoughts!

Verdict: Average

Rating: 2.5/5

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


David - Half-Cooked!



Composite films in Tamil cinema have been silently washing the shores since ‘Oru Veedu Iru Vaasal’ days which was directed by ace director Balachander and the most recent was ‘Vaanam’ which was a telugu remake. 'David', directed by Bejoy Nambiar belonged to such a genre that had 2 different scripts of varying intensities that shared a common climax.

The film opens showing both the characters of David (Jiiva & Vikram) at their tipping point with Jiiva pulling out his knife gearing to stab a politician and Vikram on the other end trying to propose to a bride at her wedding. Then slowly we are given a sense of the time zones wherein Jiiva’s story takes place in Mumbai in the year 1999 while Vikram’s was the more contemporary one taking place in Goa in the year 2010. Jiiva is an aspiring guitarist who wants to make it big in life but falters, but when he finds a foothold, fate intervenes and spells havoc in his life. On the other side, Vikram is a drunkard and a loafer who leads a loser's life after his would be dumps him before their wedding and is unlucky with his bridal search. His best friend’s fiance has a soft corner for him and so he falls for her. He tries to woo her through various means without any success and does one last time during his best friend’s wedding. The happenings that unfold thereafter and the consequent climax forms the story of this half-cooked movie.

To put it straight, Jiiva’s portion of the story was interesting with respect to the narrative and had a much stronger intensity than Vikram’s which was weak and boring. Though Vikram managed to put up a brave show as a loafer, he was not able to entertain us even by a whisker. The things that were supposed to be jokes were flat and lifeless. His combination with Saurabh Shukla who acted as his spiritual father was just not working. Above all, Vikram’s part of the story was a dubbed one from Hindi and hence lacked nativity.

On the other hand Jiiva’s portions was shot in Tamil and had credible performances from Jiiva and others in the cast. Nasser as Jiiva’s father added spine to the supporting cast. Lara Dutta in a small role in Jiiva’s portion was neat and fitted the bill of a middle aged widow. Also Rohini Hattangadi as the wicked politician and John Vijay as a crooked goon were there to add the grey shades to the narrative.

In Vikram’s portion, Tabhu was the known face among the supporting cast. Isha Sharwani as Vikram’s friend’s fiance was attractive and did the best for her role. Since the entire portion was not engaging, the performances were the last thing to ponder into.

Editing by Shrikar Prasad was perfect given the nature of the script. He could do very little for making Vikram’s portion better as there was literally no content in it.

Camera by duo Rathnavelu and Vinod was brilliant. Be it the beaches of Goa or the rainy Mumbai, the camera brought in the mood with good lighting techniques and brilliant choice of colors.

Music was by 5 different music directors. Among them, Anirudh’s ‘Kanave’ stood out and grabs us with its sheer rendering prowess by Anirudh himself.

This movie carried a Bollywood watermark and thus the narrative looked weird at times. Heard that there was a third stream of narrative in the Hindi version and that was the most interesting of the lot. Unfortunately the director sidelined that one in the Tamil version and that clearly shows the target audience for this movie.

Rating: For Vikram’s portion - 1/5; For Jiiva’s portion - 3/5; Avg - 2/5

Verdict: Watch only Jiiva’s portion of the story or watch the movie on your TV

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


Kadal (Sea) - Rough Tides!



The czar of direction in contemporary Indian cinescape, director Mani Ratnam has joined hands with ace Tamil writer and author of many heart throbbing novels, writer Jayamohan and his favorite A-list of technicians to come up with ‘Kadal’. Over the past three decades Ratnam has brought in so many radical changes in the field of film making by sticking to his agenda without compromising on the commercial elements and content and delivering stuff with a unique style that defies the traditional film making protocols more often than not. Has the man carried his charm all the way or has he bent his knee to the contemporary commercial compromises?

Kadal’s story in a nutshell, centers around the ever popular ‘Good Vs. Evil’ theme. Father Burgman (Arjun) and Father Sam (Aravind Samy) are at opposite poles due to circumstantial compulsions. Father Sam arrives at a Christian fishing village with a mission to reform the people over there. Also he reforms and mentors Thomas (Gautham Karthik), a neglected youngster. His intentions are shattered when Burgman shows up once again in the village out of the blue. Meanwhile Burgman takes Thomas by his side to help him with his malicious activities. The story drifts its way when Thomas falls in love with Beatrice (Thulasi), daughter of Burgman and finally ends with good winning over evil in a torrential climax.

The plot of the movie is an intricately woven one that underpinned human emotions within each frame. The sea apart from acting as a motif for the storyline, personified a parallel world by being a host to so many creatures that are good and bad, weak and strong, calm and interesting within it and that was depicted by the kind of characters that was portrayed on screen.

There were so many in the supporting role led by Aravind Samy as Father Sam. He has definitely made a memorable comeback and this would do him a world of good as he played the role with an element of aggression and equal poise. He looked as smart and handsome as he was in the early 90s while he was introduced. Also Ponvannan in another supporting role was equally effective, Lakshmi Manchu in a cameo was good and Kalairani was apt for the role of a Christian nurse.

Arjun as a baddie was sort of a master stroke as he coughs and gushes vendetta with his eyes and guffaws away his way through.

The most expected lead roles from the star kids - Gautham Karthik and Thulasi Nair were not disappointing. Their chemistry did workout, though one cannot feel the sort of chemistry that used to be there in Ratnam’s romantic flicks. I found Gautham to be more enterprising of the two and Thulasi was playfully funny and had a genuine reason for that kind of an act as the script demanded it.


Music of AR Rehman, like in most other Mani Ratnam movies was the soul of the narrative and paved the way forward in unwinding intricate scenes that were made to cut short and simple. Especially watch out for the initial ‘Chithirai Nila’ song that was panned in a very touching way where a kid loses his mother and the innocence of the child was exploited to pull our heart strings.

The other songs including ‘Elay Keechan’, ‘Adiye’ and ‘Moongil Thottam’ were panned with a great taste which is a trademark of Mani Ratnam. However, ace cameraman Rajiv Menon who acted as an eye for these on-screen delicacies had captured the details with dexterity. The fight during the climax in the torrential downpour would have been challenging for any cinematographer and certainly needed a world class mastery of the art. But I was pleasantly disappointed to see that Mani Ratnam’s fetish for darkness has reduced considerably and almost all the scenes were shot in broad daylight with visible faces.

Dialogs by Jayamohan and Mani Ratnam were razor sharp and interesting. The colloquial southern dialect was however confusing at times. However, it added to the script’s authenticity.

Editing by Mani’s loyal man, Sreekar Prasad was the weakest link in the whole movie. The length of the movie, especially the second half has pulled the movie back from reaching the finishing line and the songs were placed so close to each other that there seemed to be an overdose of romance within a very little span of time.

Another big let down for the movie was the script’s critical turning point - I am still wondering what made Thomas (Gautham) join hands with Burgman (Arjun), especially after learning that he was the downfall of his mentor, Father Sam (Aravind Samy). Also the run down to the climax was sudden and the climax was cliched to say the least. Kadal can be watched with very low expectations and please forget to watch your time as the movie takes its own sweet time to find its course before coming to an end in a jiffy.

Verdict: Average

Rating: 2.5/5