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Archive for May 2013

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


Kutti Puli (Little Tiger) - Crouching Throughout!



After exploring every possible plot around the ‘Madurai Genre’ of movies, debutante director Muthaiah still feels that there is some juice left in the heavily beaten up pulp. He might be right, but in this case, all he was able to deliver was a reheated ‘Chicken Biryani’ which got spoilt a few days back!!

Kutti Puli narrates the tale of a do-gooder (Sasikumar) who faces all odds for the sake of others without caring much for his own or his family’s well being. Sentiment, love and action were overdosed with a rehashed screenplay that made one to doze off almost 15 minutes into the film. The movie heavily dwelled on Sasikumar and his image as a ‘saleable star’. The character of Kuttipuli was well established but failed to make an impact due to a weak script that lacked the punch.

The timeline in which the story unfolded was not well established. The director seemed to have taken a time warp as there was no signs of mobiles or any day-to-day gadgets used in the movie and also the scenes seemed to be largely inspired from the village flicks of the 80s and early 90s. Though they were well received once upon a time, it looked seriously outdated in the current context!

Sasikumar was apt for the role but again his futile attempt at climbing to stardom with mass numbers, fights and punch dialogs have to condemned. It goes to show that he has not understood his strengths and weaknesses.

Lakshmi Menon had a dream debut, but she might want to badly forget that she has done such a pathetic role in this movie. She had no scope to perform and was wasted!

Saranya was sort of a silver lining as she played a role to anchor the supporting cast but was of no use as the story lost focus and limped its way before falling short of the finishing line.

A bunch of younger lot who tried to bring out some laughter hardly managed anything as they ran out of steam more often than not.

The new villain seemed to have been designated to be beaten down by Sasikumar, though his premise looked scary.

Music by Gibran was forgettable. He used so many Ilayaraja numbers to bring out the chemistry between the lead pair and this technique has been used extensively by so many before, that we can’t help lamenting about it.

Editing by Gopi Krishna was disappointing as the movie dragged and was not engaging at any juncture.

Another example for pathetic film making where the director has tried to harp on the star value without paying much heed to the content and presentation only to be doomed!

Verdict: Waste of Time!!

Rating: 1/5

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


Neram (Time) - Tick Talk!




Another delayed review, firstly due to a delay in watching the movie because of limited screen releases and secondly due to a hectic week that pulled and tested every nerve on my body.
Coming back to Neram - a bilingual, released in Malayalam and Tamil, had managed to gather a pre-release buzz even with a whole new cast and crew, thanks to its distributor, Udhayanidhi Stalin and a viral music video on the lead pair that got them accolades even before they acted in the movie.

According to the debut director Alphonse Puthran, Neram (Time) is of two types - Nalla Neram (Good Time) and Ketta Neram (Bad Time)! So our protagonist (Nivin Pauly) is having a hard time due to recession by losing his job and then to make ends meet gets a loan from the merciless money lender, ‘Vatti’ Raja (Simha). Meanwhile his personal life also seems to be torn to tatters. At the end he is saved due to certain circumstances thanks to a series of events that brings his fortunes and also a happy ending!

As with every new breed filmmaker, Alphonse Puthran has once again pushed the bar high with respect to storytelling and other technicalities like sound and cinematography. The script was quite gripping and had a whacky feel to it with out-of-the-box dialog delivery and body language from so many from the supporting cast. The story happens within a certain time frame in a day and also the director had to narrate a complete script within that time which was a daunting task. The challenge was taken and dealt head on.

Every scene in the movie appeared to be cliched but added a zing to it due to a spice-up either during the beginning of the scene or at the end. Slap stick in the comedy has been largely employed to bring out the laughter.

Nivin Pauly and Nazriya Nazim simply resemble a made-for-each-other couple! They enjoyed a crackling chemistry with very little screen time to establish their love. Nazriya Nazim was not only an eye-candy but performed her role with grace and glitter.

Simha as Vatti Raja, played a perfect villain’s role and would have been keenly noted by the Kollywood A-list for more such roles!

The supporting cast of Thambi Ramaiah, Nassar, John Vijay and Ananth Nag were adding strength and depth to the narrative and made the movie to briskly progress without any lag.

Music by Rajesh Murugesan was fresh and lively, especially the ‘Gaana’ number, “Pistaahhh....”

Cinematography by Anand C. Chandran was awesome as the colors were natural and blended with the happenings as is. The songs were picturized in a lively fashion as well and the angles pleased the eye more often than not!

Editing by the director himself was largely convincing except that he has exploited the slow-motion technique a tad too much and sometimes it brings in a rehashed feel to the narrative! Also the “Pistahh...” song appearing twice in the movie is sort of a dampener.

The movie can be watched for its novel narrative, comedy and a package that would draw family audiences to the theaters once again.

Verdict: Above Average

Rating: 3/5

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


Ethir Neechal (Swimming Against the Tide) - Fun & Frolic!




With the mercury rising close to 40 degree C in TN, the need of the hour is a refreshing and minty cool escapade as promised by debutante director Durai Senthilkumar’s ‘Ethir Neechal’. Produced by Dhanush, the movie carried a good pre-release buzz thanks to its vibrant title drawn from K.Balachander’s yesteryear hit. Also a bunch of carefully curated PR activities around the film got them noticed every now and then. But as always the proof is in the pudding; May 1, the movie got released and is being flocked by family audiences and youth alike. I was lucky enough to get the last ticket at a multiplex in Bangalore to see what’s so exciting about the movie as claimed by so many others who watched it.

Ethir Neechal is the story of a guy (next door) whose suffering carries a unique tone and that’s because of his name! He goes for a name change and everything seems to fall in place. Once again the forgone evil resurfaces and this time it seems to play spoilsport with his love life and so he decides to take it head-on.

The movie’s premise was crisp and clear and the director had no qualms in establishing that the hero’s family is lost within the first 15 minutes of the movie. In doing so, he focuses the narrative on Harish alias ‘Kunju’ (Sivakarthikeyan) for the rest of the plot to unwind without any jitters. The first half that establishes our hero’s problems and him wooing his girlfriend Geetha (Priya Anand) was a well conceived concept that was refreshing. The second half however took an about turn and was quite serious and had a cliched ending where everyone knew what was to come. Also the reason for such a rapid turn of events was not so convincing, but the screenplay took care of the logical loopholes.

Sivakarthikeyan has become red hot in the trade for such down-to-earth roles that has a blend of both comedy and sentiment. A keen observation on the kind of roles that he chooses would compel us to draw an anomaly with Malayalam star Dileep who does a variety of roles. Though these are early days to predict, Sivakarthikeyan seems to have got his foot on the right track. With his natural body language that is conditioned for a comedian, he can be versatile and convincing to do other challenging roles.

Priya Anand as Geetha ‘Miss’ was an eye candy selection and was too good for a nursery school teacher. She is one of the few heroines in the industry who has a Tamil origin and can speak the language at ease, though I was able to find a lot of awry lip-sync which might be due to some technical errors at the editing table.

Nandita as Valli, an athlete/coach was truly an out-of-the-box casting. After a demure role in ‘Attakathi’, this was only her second outing and she was willing to experiment in a ‘hard candy’ like role that demanded a subtle yet powerful performance - delivered with poise!

Satish as our hero’s sidekick was sort of a ‘Santhanam-replacement’. Though it was relieving to see someone other than Santhanam do such a role, the dynamics of the character demanded some cliches like the sidekick getting jammed at every possible juncture brought out laughter but at the same time made one wonder how to break the fourth wall for such a role?

Jayaprakash, Raviprakash, Manobala and Swaminathan form the rest of the crew and they helped in adding sentiment and comedy in equal doses wherever possible.

Also there were a beeline of cameo performances from Dhanush, Anirudh, Nayantara and ‘Attakathi’ Dhinesh which helped the movie gain some commercial mileage.

Music by Anirudh was a highlight and the song ‘Bhoomi Yenna Suthudhe’ which was already a rage among the FM stations was fresh to watch on screen as well. The songs were also well placed making room for a tight packaging.

Editing is another department that is to be lauded as they have managed get the audiences hooked for more than 90% of the movie especially the first half that passed off like a breeze. The second half however was marred by sentiments and had to carry some heavy baggage to do some justice, especially with an emotional flashback of Nandita hindering the pace a bit.

Cinematography by Velraj was nothing exceptional but was neat and delivered what was required.

Director Durai Senthilkumar has scripted a winner that has laughter as the mantra not only for the peaceful mind of the audiences but also for the movie’s producer and distributors alike.

Verdict: Breezy Entertainer

Rating: 3/5

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


Soodhu Kavvum (Conspiracy Snaps) - Clowns Galore!




The mushrooming number of independent filmmakers in Kollywood have had a remarkable effect at the box office in recent times paving way for talented debut directors to make a mark and prove themselves. Producer C.V.Kumar of Thirukumaran Entertainment has successfully done it in the past with movies like ‘Pizza’ and ‘Attakathi’ which attempted to be pathbreakers and were quite successful in their attempt. This time around with the production of ‘Soodhu Kavvum’, the production house has once again underlined its thirst for an alternative movie genre with director Nalan Kumarasamy making his debut.

Soodhu Kavvum is a fun thriller that showcases a gang of abductors who kidnap people for ransom and they do this with some ‘moral principles’ to safeguard their business. In one of their kidnapping attempts, they get entangled in a quandary wherein the hunters become the hunted.

The movie was largely convincing due to the choice of actors and the characters they portrayed. The humor flowed along with the narrative, which made the script look authentic. In Kollywood, the subject of kidnapping have been utilized predominantly in darker shades in the past, but in this movie it has been given a novel color that was satirical and convincing at the same time.

Actor Vijay Sethupathy has become the darling of small time producers and debut directors as his last 3 movies were hits and they were all from the stables of first timers. His attempt to show difference in characterization with each movie should definitely be appreciated and in this movie he sported the character of a 40 year old man with a salt and pepper look. His body language and timing has improved and that proves to be a great asset for him to display his satire with ease.

The others in the gang including Simha, RJ Ramesh, Ashok Selvan and Sanchita Shetty were there to join the frolic. Sanchita Shetty’s role was particularly interesting and it adds to the humor quotient of the script and also speaks volumes of the character of Vijay Sethupathi - an intelligent move!

MS Bhaskar in a principled politician’s role was truly an example of alternative thought and was a relief of sort as we have become tired of watching wicked politicians on and off screen. But that was compensated by Radha Ravi who was cast as the wicked CM!!

Karunakaran as the ‘principled’ minister’s son was truly a flash in the pan and rocks the boat with some twists.

Yog Japee as the cold blooded encounter cop was ruthless in his role.

Music by Santosh Narayan set the tone for the movie and helped the scenes gather pace at times. But there were no numbers to be lapped or lauded.

Cinematography by Dinesh Krishnan was convincing and editing by Leo John Paul could have been better especially during the second half where two unwanted songs surfaced out of nowhere and for no reason.

The movie  had some logical loopholes wide open and tested our rationale at times, but overall it was more than a decent attempt. Though this one is nowhere near Vijay Sethupathy’s last movie - NKPK, it had very many genuinely funny moments and can definitely be declared as a one time watch!

Verdict: Above Average

Rating: 3/5

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


Moondru Per Moondru Kaadhal (3 People 3 Love stories) - 3 Idiots!




Director Vasanth has always delivered some offbeat movies that stays with you for a while for some reason or the other. His style of dialog writing is profound in the sense that it drifts away from the realms of cinema (read it as Tamil cinema). I am not a great fan of his screenplay but I usually find it strangely amusing as that of a kid who is constantly fighting a losing battle. His latest offering, MPMK had all the trademarks of ‘a vasanth movie’ that is stale and it was outdated in every sense.

MPMK is a multi-threaded movie where 3 love stories are woven together and attempts to bring out the purity of love, thus adding a new dimension to it wherein he has made one of the leads mention the notion behind the million dollar question ‘What is Love?’. His answer is ‘Love should not take away anything, but it should give something’ which was a new perspective. But the pain that we undergo to understand this message at the climax is 2 hours and 25 minutes of melodrama and boring dialogs. The story just doesn't have any twist and if at all it seems to have a few, it would be riddled with some stupid sentiments.

To be honest the last time I have seen so many ‘good’ characters in a movie was in Vikraman’s ‘Vaanathai Pola’. Similarly in MPMK, all the characters shown were idealists who were prisoners of their morality and conscience. Its like tasting the ‘manna dew’!

The first pair - Varun (Vimal) and Anjana (Lasini): Their love story was shot in typical Vasanth style with long dialogs which were unwanted and unimpressive. Vimal was once again attempted to be cast as a refined youth and his natural profile just doesn’t gel with it and constantly puts him in embarrassment, especially during the dialog delivery when he attempts to mouth some English words. Lasini is a decent find for an ebony girl, who has that urban looks and is a model material.

The second pair - Gunasekar (Cheran) and Mallika (Bhanu): Set in a sea shore, their love story is the matured of all. A social message has been spun into this love story that can be applauded, but again having a song repeated twice in the same love episode made room for many a yawn. Cheran was his usual, while Bhanu’s role was more solid and she was the only one who stuck to the slang of the region (Muttam).

The third pair - Harris (Arjun) and Divya (Surveen Chawla): They can be called as a flashy and contemporary pair and also their episode aims to hold water for the movie’s commercial compromises as it starts with a song. Arjun had his role cut to shape as that of a swimming coach and Surveen had the luxury to flaunt her glamorous body in a swimsuit more often than not.

I think age is catching up with Vasanth and that is getting reflected in his stories; his last ‘Satham Podathe’ also carried some info about alcohol rehabilitation and herein he depicts that there is hope for prisoners once they get released from prison. These are undoubtedly some noble things, but treating the audiences like a bunch of students in a moral science class proves to be a risk always. Also he has become a responsible ‘Kollywood father’ who wants to badly give his son a launch pad. ‘Ritwik Varun’, Vasanth’s son was launched with an unwanted song at the fag end  when the audiences were almost crying for help to relieve them from this painful narrative. He was unimpressive and had every sign of an amateur star kid who wants a free ride on his dad’s back.

Music by Yuvan was the saving grace, though the songs were packed close together.

Editing was by Fazil and Vasanth himself. Phewww.... what a nightmare the audience had, especially when a song got repeated thrice including the title number. Worst job!

Cinematography by Bhojan was the silver lining as he captured the 3 landscapes (land, water, hills) with perfect frames and vivid colors.

I am still trying to make sense for Vasanth’s attempt to set his 3 love stories in 3 different landscapes - well, as an afterthought I found it meaningless to introspect, as the movie by itself is totally meaningless!

Verdict: Avoidable!

Rating: 1.5/5