Uttama Villain - A Movie Review

Cast - Kamal has continued with Andrea and Pooja Kumar in this movie as well. You also have Urvashi, Parvathi Menon, Jayaraman, K Bhalachader, Nasser, K Viswanath, MS Bhaskar. 

Movie is about a star who is about to die and his last wish. Manoranjan(played by Kamal) is a superstar. He is married to Urvashi and has a son. He is a superstar and movie starts with a release of a new movie. Kamal plays the typical hero (hiding his drinking from public, etc.) and his manager played by MS Bhaskar ensures that the superstar image is well managed. 

Manoranjan comes to know that he is going to die due to brain cancer and wants to do a final movie with his mentor (played his real mentor KB) and that too a period comedy. Some niceties - KB plays Margadarshi and Manoranjan plays a character in the movie who is immortal. 

K Viswanath plays his father-in-law who also produces most of his movies. Jayaraman plays the step father of Parvathi Menon who plays the daughter of Kamal from his yester year love affair. Andrea plays his personal physician who is also his mistress. Pooja Kumar is the heroine in his movies(within movie). With so many affairs you are left wondering if it is a bit biographical. Nasser plays the villain in the movie being made. 

The film goes back and forth between what happens in the life of the star and the movie that is being made. Whether Kamal is able to complete the movie before his imminent end makes the rest of the story. 

Even though he wanted to do a comedy as his last movie - you were left wondering where the comedy was?  

KB keeps praising Kamal during the making of the movie - which beyond a point gets very irritating. 

There is a tiger animation and it was very amateurish. 

Songs - I personally liked the fast paced Single Kiss-kae.. But the dancing by both Kamal and Pooja Kumar was a huge let down. Other than that no other song was anything to write about. 

Urvashi has acted well as Kamal's wife and so has Parvathi has his daughter (even though she still claims that Jayaram is more her father than Kamal). Andrea looks beautiful as always and Pooja kumar - not sure why she was there in the movie. The scene when Kamal comes to know about Parvathi and his meeting her were beautifully enacted by Kamal. 

The sets are good in the period part. 

Neither the comedy nor the serious part of the travails of an actor who is facing death makes an impact on you. 

Oh Kadhal Kanmani - A Movie Review

Watched OKK yesterday night. Cast - Dulquer Salman, Nithya Menon, Prakash Raj and Leela Samson. 

Movie is a romantic love story. The hero and heroine meets in Mumbai station. Next they meet at a friend's wedding and then get to know each other, don't want to get married but stay together and then get influenced by the relationship between Prakash Raj and Leela Samson and finally get married. 

There is lot of resemblance to Alaipayuthey and Ayudha Ezhuthu (Siddharth and Trisha story). Here also the hero wants to go to US and heroine to Paris.  

Dulquer's second tamil movie and he has done a good job and this being a sync sound he has done a good job in dialogue delivery also. However, you get a feeling that there is a bit of Madhavan from Aalipayuthey in the initial scenes. He plays the role of a video game designer who wants to become the next Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg. 

Nithya Menon - Especially in the church scene looks beautiful. Uses are big eyes to good extent and acted beautifully. She is an Architect and want to pursue her Architecture studies in Paris. 

The best part of the movie is the pair of Prakash Raj and Leela Samson - They play the hosts for Dulquer initially and then Nithya Menon when they start living together. Very subtle acting not going overboard. Leela Samson is a very good find as an actress, she plays an character with Alzheimer's.  

What is with Mani Ratnam and having a song or dialogue sequence of the hero and heroine under a bed sheet. You have seen it from Bombay days. Also as he explained when a movie is made in Mumbai how can you not have the trains. 

Songs - Mental Manadhil - I personally liked the picturasization of that song. Fast paced and beautifully done. 

Initial part of the movie meanders and then picks up speed just before intermission and then you know what is going to happen in a typical tamil movie and that's how it ends with the hero and heroine getting married - but still continue to go about their individual careers. 

There is no separate comedy track and there are some scenes and dialogues which make you laugh - Overall a light romantic movie and good entertainer. I didn't watch Kadal, but this movie is much better that Raavan. 

OKK is definitely more than OK. 

Komban - Movie Review

It has been a long time since I watched a movie so went to watch Komban over the weekend. 

Cast includes Karthi, Lakshmi Menon, Rajkiran, Kovai Sarala, Super Subburayan and some unknown villain characters. 

Movie is set in the background of 3 villages - No effort was spent on establishing what the issues are between the people of the villages. Karthi falls for Lakshmi menon and marries her. Not really sure what bad things villains do. Karthi claims that he doesn't like what they do - But no one tells what that is. Just because they are called as villains and the hero beats them up we have to accept that they are villains. 

Some stupid cliches like Lakshmi Menon saying she has to accept her husband whatever he does - not sure if even village girls say such things now. But this is after she leaves him and goes with her father - no logic. 

Suddenly Karthi in one scene beats up Rajkiran and next scene goes to their house and apologizes and in the end says that father-in-law is like his father. Not sure how such transformation happens. 

Rajkiran in the climax shouts like a cat and dog - not sure if that is the custom or what. Seeing it for the first time in a movie. 

In the end Karthi beats up the villains and the movie ends. After Madras you expected Karthi to continue to act in good movies - not to be. There is no story or screenplay in this lousy movie. 

Most important reason why I went for this movie to understand what was the fuss about - I think I found out. PT leader doesn't like people having such moustaches and if the hero of the movie sports such a moustache he will create trouble - happened with Virumandi and with this also. I found nothing derogatory and offensive in the movie. 

Overall a very lousy movie to watch. Please avoid. 

I - Movie Review

Watched I last night at Santham. Watching a movie in Sathyam Cinemas after a very long time. 

There was a lots of expectations on the movie with Shankar, AR Rahman, PC Sreeram and Vikram.  

The cast includes Vikram who is a body builder, Amy Jackson who is a model, Upen Patel who is also a model, Suresh Gopi who is a family doctor for Amy Jackson, Santhanam who plays a friend of Vikram. 

Story is very simple - Vikram goal is to become Mr India and he also has a crush on Amy Jackson who is a super model. He gets to meet her once and things move along till they fall in love. Vikram becomes a model and replaces Upen who is a also a model. Upen also has a crush on Amy. Vikram rejects a cola ad for obvious reason which irks Ramkumar (Sivaji's son) who plays a rich businessman. Upen, Ramkumar, Osma (who is a TG stylist) and Suresh Gopi join together to take revenge on Vikram - Osma has a crush on Vikram and Suresh Gopi on Amy. The super model Vikram becomes the hunchback and the rest of the story is about how he seeks revenge. 

The story keeps going back and forth between the revenge part and the flashback. 

The movie runs more than 3 hours. And with a simple revenge story - you really feel that the movie runs. 

You get what you expect from a Shankar movie - grandeur and beautiful background. Other than that nothing that makes it a Shankar movie. We have seen commercials - but aila aila song is filled with commercials. That should be a first. 

Songs - Except Merisalayittaen and Aila nothing much to talk about. Not sure why that the third look of whatever it is (other than the hunchback and normal) is required in one of the songs. 

You need a strong villain to make the hero look good - you don't get that with Upen, Ramkumar and surprisingly with Suresh Gopi also. Vikram has taken lots of effort to play the body builder or the hunchback. Amy looks beautiful but surprisingly in many scenes there is no lip sync also. Santhanam can be said as a saving grace with his comedy - He has had two good movies - Lingaa and I in the last month. Vikram's age shows especially in close up scenes. 

This is a simple revenge story - which could have been made in a small budget without going to China or spending a lot of money and definitely in a lot shorter time (both running time and the time for filming this movie which took more than 2 years)

All in all I could be termed as a let down from Shankar. 

God is a Gamer - Review of Ravi Subramanian's Novel

After Vanity Bagh, read God is a Gamer by Ravi Subramanian. With kids it's been difficult for me to read any book in a short duration. (Not that I do a lot of baby sitting or taking care of them). Read this book over last weekend. 

Like other Ravi's books this is a thriller with banking industry as the background. This book details how Bitcoins are used currently. 

This book is also like his earlier books where there are 3 or 4 stories and in the end he will show how all are brought together. 

In this also you have a Senator in US who is assassinated, a banker commits suicide in Mumbai, Another banker is killed in an accident, there is an ATM heist in US and the book is about how all this is ties together in a thrilling way. 

You have Aditya who runs a successful BPO and gaming company with his lieutenant Sundeep. They launch a new game which doesn't do all that well and in comes Aditya's estranged son Varun who takes care of the gaming business. 

Malvika who runs the Indian arm of NYIB commits suicide (but her daughter, Tanya,  feels she is killed by the Finance Minister). Tanya feels that the Finance Minister has an affair with her mother. 

Tanya and Varun fall for each other and Varun provides emotional support to her post the death of her mother. In parallel there is a Senator who is killed and a large ATM heist is carried out in the US where about 5 Million is taken from bank accounts in few hours. 

There are some random laptops that bursts because of overheating. 

Who killed the Senator, who is behind  the heist, was Malvika killed, why were the laptops bursting form the rest of the story. 

This is a very good thriller. Makes you want to finish the book quickly. The author will make you think about few people who could be involved but has some good twists along the way. Also this books shows how Bitcoins are currently used for all illegal purposes. 

All in all a very good thriller novel. 

Vanity Bagh - Review of Anees Salim's Book

I finally got to read Vanity Bagh by Anees Salim over the year end break. This book won the Hindu Literary prize in 2014. To be frank, till this book won the prize I have not heard of a writer called Anees Salim. Came to know that he has written four books and Vanity Bagh is his second. 

Vanity Bagh has subtle comedy running through the book. This story takes place in a fictional town called Mangobagh, which has two localities Vanity Bagh dominated by Muslims and Mehendi dominated by Hindus. The story is narrated in Imran Jabbari's voice. 

Imran is the son of the local imam and he and his friends form a gang called 5 1/2 men(all with Pakistan politician names) influenced by a half retired crippled don. They do re-possess a car and other than do nothing as a gang. 

After a while they get a job to be couriers and till a serial bomb blasts happens don't realize the enormity of what they had done. Two of them get caught and are sentenced to 14 years + in jail. Clearly showing how some unemployed youth get caught in the terror world without realizing what they are doing. 

The story goes back and forth between how Imran plots to jailbreak and the flashback of the incidents before he gets to jail and is also told with quotes from people from the town. 

Initial few pages are slow. Once you start getting into the thick of things, this is a very good read. All in all a good book to read. 

PS : Not sure what Anees has on Resul Pookutty. He has taken on Mickey on him in many parts of the book. 

Lingaa - A Movie Review

Watched Lingaa yesterday night.. Had tickets for 11am show but didn't take off from office to watch a Rajni movie.. Would have if I was able to get an earlier show.. In certain theatres there were shows from 1am yesterday... I think everyone knows the cast and crew of the movie.. 

It was always nice to watch Rajni movie on the first day... Each dialogue would be lapped up by his loyal fans.. This movie starts off that way in the introduction song.. Rajni looks stylish... The song doesn't have the punch that you expect in a typical Rajni intro song... Also felt like seeing Amitabh dancing - you all know how it is.. 

Started watching shouting thalaivaa... slowly the enthusiasm dies down.. not much punch in the first half.. Santhanam shines well in the first half and the second... 

When the first half ends you feel exhausted.. It's a bit long... The train fight sequence is well choreographed.. But there are certain scenes were it is clear that there is dupe being used for the sequence... Anushka looks beautiful... 

Second half is also predictable.. We know who the villain is and we also know what he is upto and we also know that our hero will stop him.. We didn't want Rajni to look like Golden Star NBK.. Agreed he has done such things in his earlier films but things have evolved... People laugh at stunts like he jumping with a bike from a cliff on top of an hot air balloon and doing a bicycle kick on a nitrogen bomb :(

Lingaa is a typical Rajni movie - He gets dragged into a situation which he is not initially keen to take up.. then understands the situation after hearing going through the flashback where he gives up all his wealth.. destroys the villain and saves the people... We continue to watch it because it has Rajni.. One main thing missing is that Rajni doesn't have a strong villain in this movie... 

Sonakshi Sinha is ok.. other support casts do their bit.. nothing great to talk about.. Karunakaran is just hanging in there.. not much to do.. There are certain scenes where it is obvious that Anushka is taller than Rajni.. what was Randy doing? 

Making - I expected the dam to look like a set but it wasn't that bad.. Many shots have been taken in an actual dam.. which was good.. Otherwise nothing great to talk about... Except Mona mona don't like any other song... Rahman lets down... 

Some scenes are good in a typical way - where Rajni talks about being contended with what he has or that everyone has to leave something behind when they leave... you expect these in Rajni movies.. 

Overall the saving grace were Rajni and Santhanam comedy... The movie is way too long.. 

Should you watch it.. we all watch any Rajni movie.. Will I watch it again - No, even though I had tickets for today morning, didn't go... Heard that there were tickets available in counter in certain theaters today itself.. 

Kaaviya Thalaivan - A Movie Review

Watched Kaaviya Thalaivan on the first day night show. 

Movie is set in the 1930s and 40s. The cast includes Nasser, Siddharth, Prithviraj and Vedika. 

Nasser runs a theatre company in which Siddharth and Prithviraj are part of. Ponvannan who was playing the lead role (raja part) in all the dramas is sent out of the company and it is between Siddharth and Prithiviraj to take up the lead role. 

Siddharth is selected over Prithviraj and there starts the Prithviraj's enmity towards Siddharth. Add Vedika into the mix with a two one sided loves and things get out of hand. To the extend that Prithviraj ensures Siddharth is kicked out of the company and also the climax. 

The movie doesn't show the great acting talents or details of the theatre during that period. It is just a movie of how two people who grow up together fall apart. Not sure why this movie needed a 40s setting? 

Siddharth impregnates two people in the movie - First a daughter of a Zamindar (Why did I get a feeling that this girl had a mustache? ) and second is Vedika and in between wavers becomes a drunkard and also becomes a patriotic person to stage only patriotic dramas. 

Prithviraj on the other hand makes it big in the theatre world and makes a lot of money before he starts losing it all in the theatre itself. 

Vedika has nothing much to do. Even though some people claim that she has a character with substance. Why did she fall for Siddharth that she wanted to bear his child is a question that you are left with - Just because the hero who she doesn't see for years becomes patriotic? 

Music is good and Rahman has ensured it brings the 40s feel to the movie. 

On the whole I didn't see much in the movie. It was a simple story which didn't require a 40s setting. It was only OK. 

Madras - A Movie Review

Was intrigued by some of the interviews and news articles that came up in the last few days about this movie. 

This movie released about 3 weeks back and I read some good reviews about the movie but somehow didn't get to watch it. After reading the recent spate of views watched this movie over the weekend. 

The director mentioned about some of the aspects that he had used like the color blue - associated with the ambedkarite parties - used extensively in many frames and also the book the the hero reads in a particular scene. That's when I realized how I miss such minute details when watching a film and how each element is there to convey something. I still didn't catch the book in the movie though :(

The casts include Karthi(Kaali), Catherine(Kalaiarasi), Kalaiarasan(Anbu), Johnny(Hari). The music is by Santosh Narayanan. This is Pa. Ranjith's second movie after critically acclaimed Attakathi. 

The story takes place in North Madras. The main issue is about a wall (a pretty large wall in a housing board flat) and how two political parties want to reserve it for them. Anbu is in a party and he wants to take over the wall which is used by another party. Kaali is his friend and he works in an office. 

Kaali falls for Kalai and the usual things happen before they fall for each other - Does such movies need a love angle? And secondly Catherine definitely doesn't look the part. Ritwika who plays Anbu's wife looks the part and could have even played the role of the heroine (if one is really needed)

The first half is breezy and before you realize you are at intermission. Once the movie starts we know that Anbu will get killed and I was surprised that he was not when the first half ended. However, he gets killed in the beginning of the second half. When it comes to North Madras there has to be a gaana - unwritten rule of tamil cinema. Could have been avoided. 

Second half is a bit of a drag with the director trying to include some of the commercial elements like gaana (mentioned above), love, etc. Movie would have been much better if these could have been avoided. 

The second half is about how Kaali takes revenge for Anbu's killing and what happens to the Wall. 

This is a good movie. 

Music is by Santosh Narayanan. Songs are good - Naan Nee, Enga ooru Madras, Kakitha kappal are good. BGM is also good. 

In terms of acting everyone has done a good job. You don't get to see the usual Saranya or JP as parents - which is a welcome move. 

Happy to have watched a good movie. Watch it if you get a chance. 

You might also want to read some of the articles that I referred at 

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-metroplus/impure-tamilians/article6490030.ece

Best line in the above article is Roja reminding Paakku thool to KB :)

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/madras-a-critique-of-dalit-politics/article6507818.ece

Jiggarthanda - A Movie Review

Watched the Jiggarthanda movie on Saturday.

Cast includes Siddharth, Lakshmi Menon, Karunakaran, Bobby Simhaa (the real hero). This is Karthik Subburaj's second movie after the super hit Pizza.

Movie starts off with a scene from a realty show (which you generally see in almost all realty shows of two people fighting). The hero is a budding director and makes a short film which a acclaimed director (Nasser) claims as a kuppa padam and the other judge of the show a producer claims the movie is excellent and promises to produce Karthik's movie. The producer asks him to make a nice gangster movie - showing DVDs of Scarface, Godfather etc. He nicely says make a movie like these or even make these :)

Karthik wants to make a gangster movie by studying a real gangster. Off he goes to Madurai to study Assault Sethu played by Bobby Simhaa. A dreaded gangster in Madurai. As per the cops a "oru madhiriyaana pyscho". Introduction scene establishes that very clearly. He burns a journalist who writes about him.

Karthik uses his friend Urani (played by Karunakaran - be it Pizza or Sudhu Kaavum or this movie, he is establishing himself as a good actor) to get around in Madurai. Heroine Kayal and her mother cooks for Sethu. They are also saree theifs. He wants to use her but she falls in love with him.

After much struggle Karthik to find out about Sethu, he finally gets to hear everything from his horse's mouth. Sethu also wants to act in the movie. Movie is made finally and this is where the movie turns from a gangster movie to a comedy movie. The movie finally ends in an expected way - which was a let down.

There was a bit of a drag in the early part of the second half.

Kannama song is good but was forced on us. There was no need for such a song in that situation.

BG music is good by Santhosh Narayanan.

In terms of acting Bobby Simhaa rocks as the gangster. Siddharth surprisingly doesn't overact. Lakshmi Menon - not sure why there was a need for a heroine in this movie. Karunakaran as usual does a decent job. Vijay Sethupathi shows up in a cameo.

Overall the movie was very good. Successive hit for Karthik Subburaj.   

Sathuranga Vettai - A Review

Watched Sathuranga Vettai over the weekend. It has been a while since I watched any movie, the last one was Rio 2 (don't think I wrote a review about it).

Disclaimer - I was too sleepy for a night show and was going in with lots of expectations based on all the positive reviews.

The first half of the movie is good with the hero played by Natraj running one fraud scheme after another like MLM, selling a Snake to a businessman, temple hiest, etc. First half is breezy

It is a typical con movie, where at some point in time he gets caught by the person he is trying to con and how he escapes forms the second half of the story. Second half is a drag.

You would have heard all the good dialogues in the radio advertisements so it didn't make much of an impact on me.

The villain makes a good debut (at least I have not seen him before).. Ishaara as the heroine ok.

Overall because of the disclaimers above I didn't like it that much. 

Vaayai Moodi Pesavum - A Movie Review

Watched Vaayai Moodi Pesavum on Saturday night at AVM Rajeshwari. Watching a movie in this theatre after a long time, it is the same lousy theatre. Not sure why they cannot renovate this? They have such a huge space available. The ticket cost Rs 40, which was a huge surprise also.  

Anyhow, coming to the movie this is the second directorial venture of Balaji Mohan after his successful debut - Kadhalil Sothapuvadhu Eppadi. 

Like his first movie this is also a light hearted rom-com. 

Cast includes Dulquer Salman, Nazriya Nazeem, Madhubala (Surprised to see her in mother's role already - still looks beautiful). 

Dulquer is an orphan and happy go lucky guy who works as a sales representative and his only aim is to become a RJ. He meets Nazriya who is a doctor and is in love with another person (this guy comes once in a while, we don't even know what he does for a living). Madhubala plays Nazriya's mother and Abhishek her father. Both look very young to play parents. 

The entire movie happens in a hill station. The people of the hill station suddenly get affected by "dumb flu". Things move along when government bans people from speaking as the flu spreads only when speaking. The entire second half of the movie is like a silent movie with no dialogues. 

Things flow along till the heroine dumps the other guy and falls for the hero and there is vaccine for the flu. 

Others in the cast include - Vinu Chakravarthy, John Vijay, Ramesh Tilak, Arjunan(seems to be a regular in Balaji Mohan's films), Robot Shankar and Pandiarajan. Balaji Mohan himself plays a TV news reader. 

Dulquer does a decent job in his first job. Nazriya has a sad look all through the movie and fits her role well. All support cast have done a decent job. 

Vaayai Moodi Pesavum and Kadhal arai onnu songs are really good. 

Overall it is a decent movie to watch. Good time pass.  

The Illicit Happiness of Other People - Review of Manu Joseph's second book

I read Serious Man, Manu Joseph's first book after nearly 3 years after it was published. It was an excellent comedy. I just loved that book, so was expecting a lot when I bought his second book. I had not read any reviews of the book. However, I knew it was on the short list for the Hindu Lit prize. 

However, I realized that this book was not a comedy in the first few pages itself. This book is about drunkard father's search for his son's suicide. This book starts off dry but it slowly grows on you.
Plot - Ousep Chacko is a drunkard journalist who lives with his wive Mariamma Chacko and sons Unni and Thoma Chacko in Chennai. 

As I had mentioned, the story is about Ousep's search for reasons for Unni's death. Unni is a cartoonist and he is kills himself. Ousep gives up his search for a while and 3 years after Unni's death he gets the copy of Unnni's last caroon. He thinks that the book will give him some clues and starts his sarch again.  

He goes around meeting different people who could provide some reasons for his son's death. There are various characters he meets - Unni's classmates Sai, Somen(he struggles to get to meet this guy), Balki, a Schizophernia expert (supposed to be a mental disorder), his neighbors daugher, a gay teacher, a nun who has vowed to silence, etc. 

Towards the end I was desperate hoping that Ousep really finds the reason and that was a success of the author. 

What I didn't like in the book - I somehow felt that the Schizophrenic expert character was introduced just to give the author some credentials to write about the mental issues. Also there was one page in the book which was added for no particular reason which calls MGR as silly and confused and ridicules JJ. There is absolutely no connection to the book and Manu Joseph probably wanted to express his view, isn't that the purpose of writing books? Also saying all malayalees are drunkards, not sure what was the necessity to typecast... 

Overall a very good book and I won't be surprised if N Ram gives the Hindu Lit prize to Manu Joseph for that one page :)

Biriyani - A Movie Review

Watched Biriyani yesterday night. This was my first movie at the PVR Cinemas. It was a decent experience. 

Movie is the 5th directorial venture of Venkat Prabhu. It is a typical Venkat Prabhu movie where some innocent guys gets into some trouble and how they come out of it. We have seen it in Saroja, Goa, etc. 

This movie was important for Karthi who has been having a string of flops. 

Cast includes Karthi, Hansika, Premji (a must have in all VP's movies), Nasser, Sampath, Subbu Panju, Madhumita, Ramki, Jayaprakash, and the typical VP gang of friends. We also have Uma Riyaz who has a good role. 

Karthi and Premji work in a tractor dealership after completing their engineering (that is a surprise - Mahindra probably induced that decision with lots of in movie ad placements). Karthi has a sister played by Madhumita and whose marriage is fixed with Subbu (manager of the dealership). Shamugasundaram(regular in VP movies) plays Karthi's father. Hansika Motwani plays a reporter and Badava Gopi (another regular in VP movies) plays a cameraman. Nasser plays a business tycoon and Ramki is son-in-law. Jayaprakash plays the role of an AC who is a side kick for Ramki and Sampath plays the role of a CBI officer. 

Karthi is a Casanova who is in love with Hansika. However, that doesn't stop his flirtatious ways. He is a doting brother for his sister played by Madhumita (sadly delegated to sister roles so soon). Premji always is shown as someone running behind girls in all VP movies. Not sure why. In this movie also he is shown falling for every girl he sees but sadly to have Karthi have them fall for him. The sad part about all VP movies is that girls are shown as objects. 

Story - Karthi and Premji go to Ambur for their branch inauguration and at the end of the party they go out for a plate of Biriyani. There they meet Mandy Thakkar (who plays Maya) and when they wake up next day with the dead body of Nasser with no clue what happened the previous night. How they get out of the mess forms the rest of the movie. First half is filled booze, bikinis, and typical VP fun. Second half is a decent thriller where the director will make you believe that the villain is one person but the twist in the tale at the end is interesting. 

Acting - Karthi has done a decent role but in certain scenes he doesn't emote well. Like when he realizes that he is in such a big trouble there is absolutely no paraprappu in his face (which is done well by Premji). Hansika doesn't have much to do. Premji is irritating at times but mostly has underplayed so is ok. Uma Riyaz has a decent role as a hit woman but her reaction (supposedly anger) in the station scene is pathetic. She should have played it more subtle. Mandy Thakkar is HOT as a seductress. 

Some scenes have no logic - Karthi going around everywhere (after his face was published in all papers and TV) with just a cap and not being recognized mostly. Karthi with a singham mustache being called as Surya by Hansika. The van in which Karthi's sister is kidnapped coming back just for a fight. Uma Riyaz shooting in the construction area and being a hit woman she is a pathetic shooter.  Premji is disguised as Nasser.  

Some scenes are good - Where VP in his typical style acknowledges that the movie has taken some inspiration from Hangover or the scene which imitates the Naduvula konjam Pakatha kanom or Nasser saying evalavo panittom edha panna mattoma? Nice to see a good fight scene between the hero and a lady (even though there is a typical tamil movie dialogue - "evalavu neram ponnunu pathaen before fighting with more force"). 

There are some double entendres which are typical in VP movies. 

All in all this Biriyani tastes good. 

Vanakkam Chennai - A Movie Review

Watched Vanakkam Chennai yesterday. The multi-plex which has 4 screens had other new releases like Nayyandi and Kayavan and this was the only movie which was house full. It is another story this screen was not even 1/4th in terms seating capacity to the other three screens.

Debut for Kiruthiga Udhayanidhi, daughter-in-law of the former first family of the state. It's the first time that a lady from their family is getting into movies/entertainment industry. She sticks to the tried and tested romantic genre.

Cast includes Siva, Priya Anand, Urvaasi, Santhanam, Nizhalgal Ravi, Nasser, Rahul Ravindran, Renuka.

The story is pretty simple, the lead pair are forced to share an apartment and in the process fall in love. Cut to flash back, the girl is already engaged. Finally the lovers unite. The handling is nothing new. Songs are loud. Comedy is pathetic. Too many characters who are wasted, Urvaasi(who comes as a cop and a neighbor to the lead pair) a class actress is hardly used. Nasser comes in one scene, Santhanam (who now a days comes from the first scene till the climax in all such movies) makes his presence only during the interval. Rosy aunty & uncle - irritating to the core. Nizhalgal ravi(heroines father), nothing much to do. America mapillai (sorry London mapillai) another character added for the sake of showing a possible villain to the love story. Renuka (Siva's mother) has something to do. Aarthi, Swaminathan, Mano Bala all come in single scenes.

Santhanam even though comes only half of the movie, does the same thing that he has done in many other movies. Trying to help the lovers. Some scenes are good - How the heroine handles a driver on landing in Chennai(by acting as if calling her dad and giving full details of the car and the driver to ensure the driver behaves),  Siva mentioning about ring removal gel(when he actually uses saliva to remove the ring from the heroine) . Why do we need a holi scene in a tamil movie?

Siva is his usual self. Same poker faced look. Cannot dance. Priya Anand is good with her expressions.

Songs are ok but the RR is bad. The last song which comes when the credits roll is good.

Overall the movie has nothing new, comedy is also not good. Overall a very average movie. 

Aadhalal Kadhal Seiveer - A Movie Review

Watched the movie Aadhalal Kadhal Seiveer(AKS) yesterday. The theatre was not even 25% filled, and this was the first weekend. The director has had a 50-50% success at the box office so far. His first movie Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu was a run away hit. Who can forget that parotta comedy?

Story is about the teenage or I should say college love and the larger impact that it leaves the next generation. The hero loves the heroine in college but she treats him more as a friend. He threatens to commit suicide and she relents. They go on an outing and she gets pregnant. The parents get involved and they agree initially to get them married but there are some conditions laid out. The girls parents don't agree and in the interim the lovers decide that they don't want to get married.  And then the climax scene leaves a huge lump in your throat. There is a baby that is born and the girls parents leave the kid at an orphanage and after a couple of years try to get the heroine married of to another guy and the hero is shown flirting with another girl. Cut to show the baby who is without any footwear picking up a ball in hot sun and running and stops and cries because he couldn't bear the heat of the sand.

In terms of performances - The hero(Ramesh) unless he is related to the producer or director, not sure how he got this role. Cannot emote. Heroine(Manisha) in her second outing after Vazhakku en has done a decent job.  In terms of support cast the heroines mother played by Tulasi has done a very good job. All other parents including the much acclaimed Poornima Bhagyaraj and Jayaprakash don't have much to do. The heroines friend Jenny (not sure who the actor is) has done a very good job. She continuously opposes the relationship. Arjun (Kadhalil sodhapuvadhu eppadi fame) also does a very good job as a friend of both the hero and heroine.

Songs are good and have been a hit.

There are some scenes which are good, like where an uncle of the hero comes and wishes him on becoming an uncle and Arjun says seekaram appa kuda ayiduvan sir. Also the scene where the heroine before they fall in love advising the hero that once you get a bike any girl will fall in love and the next scene we have the hero asking his parents for a bike.

On the whole the movie is short and runs less than 2 hours and it doesn't bore you. To me personally except for a few laughs here and there and climax scene, there was not much in this movie. Much more was expected from the director (who I personally feel has not lived up to the high standards he set for himself with his first two films - Vennila kabadi kuzhu and Azhagar samiyin kudhirai).

Nice change with Nazriya Nazim

Tamil Cinema is known for being hindu centric.. Most leading actors change their Christian and Muslim name to gain acceptability by the majority community. Vijay, Vikram and Nayanthara are some leading Christians who have a Hindu sounding names and then there are Rajkiran, Shaam, Arya being some of the muslims who have hindu sounding names to gain acceptability.  These are some names that I know of, there could be lots more...

It is really nice change with Nazriya Nazim who has started acting in Tamil movies come with her original muslim name and is gaining acceptability. This is indeed a welcome change.

SRK and Rajni usage

I am a hard core Rajni fan and the term Thalaiva is sacred to us.

SRK has a good following in Tamil Nadu but still wants to increase his reach. He used Rajni for a seen in the drab Ra.One. Thankfully that one scene helped him make some money out of that crap of a movie.. His typecasting of Tamils in that movie was disgusting to say the least. Eating noodles with Curd, who the hell does that? Agreed that south Indians love their curd rice but that was yuck.

Now he has gone one up with his so called lungi dance. I have no clue of what Rajni has to do with that song except for his large posters in the song. Not a single dance move in that song resembles any of Rajni's moves (thalaivar doesn't dance and we know that). There is nothing about Rajni in that song except the term Thalaiva. Even lungis used in the song are the only south indian linkage in the song.

One request to SRK, don't use our thalaivar for your commercial reasons.