Bharat Ane Nenu

Bharat Ane Nenu is good. It starts with an usual intro song, but soon after the song, the actual story begins. It's an out and out political movie with commercial elements. I think after a very long time, a good movie for Mahesh Babu. He has boldly acted as Chief Minister, something which many mass heroes would not do.

There are some scenes which shows how irresponsible our society is, especially the traffic violations. You just have to clap for those scenes. When Mahesh Babu imposes heavy fine for traffic violations(for ex : Rs.30,000 fine for driving in wrong side). Actually, there was good response in theater. Not sure, those who clapped for the scene, would welcome the same rules if imposed in reality.

It's refreshing to see a CM, while going to assembly, seeing a girl in bus stand, calling her for a coffee, falling in love with her. Don't ask, even in a political movie, should it be like this? Those scenes were enjoyable. There is also a scene about private schools swindling money. His own party seniors betray him on a CB-CID inquiry. Those scenes were good.

The first half, had heroism, within a story. It had an interesting interval block too. The second half was totally different. Infact we can say the first half half was in one genre and the second half is in a different genre. The pre-interval scenes were like how a young man, who returns from London, due to his father's death, changes the system. But before the hero could change the system completely, the director has changed his mind it seems.

Take diversion from changing the system, its time to unleash the hero Mahesh Babu. He challenges the villains, fights all alone, beats a bunch of rowdies, dances with heroine etc. I would not say it wasn't good. Those scenes worked out too. mainly because of Mahesh Babu's charisma and electrifying screenpresence and terrific BGM by DSP. Without DSP, I doubt, the impact would have been same.

The movie doesn't spare media too. Of course, a political drama would be incomplete without importance to media. In this movie, media is so powerful that it is able to bring some 'change'(dont want to reveal). Whereas, in real life, I doubt if they would be able to do that to a CM. I have heard about one CM, who had a daughter and her mother was not his wife. When a journalist reported this, a defamation suit was filed against him and he was arrested. Later, that CM confessed it in his own style, saying that the woman was not his wife only his daughter's mother. Media used to wonder at his oratorial skills for comments as mentioned above...It has been almost 40 years, still the incident is in news. Anyway that's a different story.

Had only a thoughtful first half was backed by a similar second half, Bharat Ane Nenu might have ended up as an epic. Koratala Siva could have thought about it. Anyway, the movie is good and it will be a commercial blockbuster too

Kavan - Review

Kavan it starts well,but lack of an interesting script and poor supporting cast , lets the movie down, though it entertains a bit.. when you are making a movie about media terrorism, you should have a good actor, who can scare you with his mannerisms and looks, as a villain..You should have an equally good actor, as his rival..Some Akashdeep plays the villain here, leave alone scaring you, he doesn't even looks serious.. reminds me of some old comedians in good old Doordarshan serials.. and the man who plays his rival is none other than our legend T Rajendar.. I was thinking whether this is a spoof movie. A good actor, instead of T Rajendar, might worked out very well. Bose Venkat as a drunken politician fails to make any impact..

What saves the movie is Vijay Sethupathy's screen presence and acting.. He does well in scenes mocking Arnab Goswami and loud anchors..The interview scene with Bose Venkat was enjoyable, because of Vijay Sethupathy, especially VS's sarcastic expressions and smile..Madonna doesn't have much to do,she too can be seen with Vijay Sethupathy.. Vikranth as Abdul, makes his presence felt.. This is the second time I liked Vikranth's acting after Pandiyanadu..

On seeing names like SuBa and Kabilan Vairamuthu, I had an expectation that Kavan would be on par with Ko, if not better.. But the mediocre writing is the major drawback of Kavan..It's really disappointing to see these guys too adding some usual commercial stuffs about terrorism,minority, naxalites etc without a proper justification.. They have added some dialogues to satisfy the crowd that outrages on issues like methane extraction, nuclear power etc.. I am fully ok with writing communist dialogues in movies, agreed it sells,.. But when these dialogues fail to create any impact due to a poor script, you end up with disappointment..  For example, a movie like Joker, with a strong script and brilliant performances, made me enjoy the communist propaganda.. But definitely not Kavan.. Though the Kalpana story was handled well, Vikranth's Abdul character is pretty ordinary.. Kind of cliche. There is a dialogue about Rangaraj Pandey,Gopinath,Arnab Goswami that you have to attain their stature to bring some change in the society, though I partly agree popularity and stardom will help you in bringing a change, I dont think either of them has done anything good to the society :D

Hip Hop Thamizha's music is as bad as the villain's performance..The rap music for Bharathiyar poems was highly irritating. Probably one of the rare scenes in the movie which showed the reality, that how much irritating these 'reality shows' are. Someone should tell the music director Adhi, people call him 'modern Bharathi' to troll him, something like Sir Ravindra Jadeja. This guy took it too serious it seems.

Kavan, though better than the director's previous movie Anegan, is strictly average..

Saith'Aah'n - Review

Vijay Antony knows how to sell a product profitably. He doesn't command a huge fan base, but all his movies opens with houseful shows and infact sustains in the long run. This time he is back with a thriller(or science fiction or horror or revenge story or a message oriented movie or something else). Before writing more, the review may have spoilers, so if you haven't watched the movie and don't want to lose the excitement of watching the movie, you can skip the review.

Director Pradeep Krishnamoorthy should be appreciated for showing his respect for Writer Sujatha. Sujatha's photo is shown in title card and the director says, half the movie is based on writer Sujatha's novel. Thank you Mr.Pradeep, as a Sujatha fan, I was really happy to see the tribute shown to my favorite writer.

Yes, Saithan is based on Sujatha's Aah.. Reading novels itself is an experience. The beauty of reading is, we are left to imagine how the characters and the environment would be. It is not easy for a director to make a movie that can match the expectations of the readers. But Saithan's problems are actually different.

Here, the protagonist(Vijay Antony) is a psychologically disturbed software engineer - Dinesh Kumar.  He has a beautiful wife and caring mother. And he has good friends and a caring boss too. Suddenly he starts hearing voices in his head. That voice tells him to commit suicide. He consults a psychiatrist(Kitty) and says, he is not sure of whose voice it is - may be that of God. He speaks about Jayalakshmi teacher and some unknown names. How did he got to know about these people? Who are these people? From where they are? Whose voice is it? Did Dinesh Kumar commit suicide? Is Dinesh really disturbed? Or is he playing pranks with some motive? That is what Saithan is all about.

The script sounds interesting, isn't it? It was a novel written by Writer Sujatha in early 90s. Vijay Antony, as an actor hasn't shown any improvement but his command over box office has grown up to an unimaginable extent. He appears in almost all the scenes and its really unfortunate that he keeps his face rigid throughout the movie. He doesn't even attempt to show different expressions. But the heroine Arundhati Nair has done well.

The director says half the movie was based on Sujatha's novel, but he doesn't say what the other half is. The movie is nothing but rearranging the events in Aah with some stupidity in the name of scientific experience. We are suddenly introduced to a bunch of clowns as villains. Without villains, how can you show our hero is a 'mass'? To be fair, the first half is good, but the second half tests your patience and the climax leaves you disappointed.

Saithan may end up as yet another commercial blockbuster for Vijay Antony. If it happens, he should thank Joe D'Cruz for his clever dialogues and he can pat himself for an engaging background music.

The director has made a mockery of the novel by making Vijay Antony play both Dinesh and Sharma. He hardly makes any impact as either Dinesh or Sharma. The most interesting part of the novel was the way the flashback was narrated. In novel, there was a futurologist, who would hypnotize Dinesh Kumar and find out what he was going through. The psychological disturbance was explained very well(in novel). Aah didn't have villains. In Aah, Dinesh will kill his wife and what follows next is an exciting court sequence, involving the famous Ganesh-Vasanth. I am not sure, whether to complain or feel happy for leaving out this court sequence. Who knows Vijay Antony might have played both Ganesh and Vasanth too, so I should only feel happy.

Dear Pradeep Krishnamoorthy, inspiration is different from what you did. For this, you could have used the novel as such, it still would have worked wonders in box office, I swear. But you will not do.

Commercial cinema needs some 'saithans' like mass elements, transformation scenes,fights, romance, sentiments, songs etc. What could have been an exciting psychological thriller, ends up as an usual mass masala movie because of the saithans mentioned above. Unless and until these 'saithans' are destroyed, we will never get quality movies.

Saithan - strictly for masses. If you are looking for some cleverly written psychological thriller, you would only end up with disappointment.

ReMo - A disgusting RomCom

ReMo a perfect example for how a bad movie, with an obnoxious storyline and misogynistic dialogues will strike gold at box office.. You have an actor, who is the most liked one by kids and has a mass appeal in the lead, still end up dishing out some socially irresponsible crap movie.

Usually, I don't reveal the storyline completely while reviewing a movie. But revealing the storyline is not going to make a difference for this particular movie and it also will give an idea about the movie.

Our hero is a good-for-nothing guy. He suddenly watches a girl crossing him and immediately falls in love with her. He is all set to propose her and straight away reaches her house, only to witness her engagement..The depressed lover boy doesn't give up easily. One or two incidents convinces him that the girl is born for him, so he goes in disguise as a woman and starts working with the heroine, who is a 'doctor'. He convinces her that her fiancé doesn't look good and a bad choice for her. The well educated doctor heroine falls into the trap laid by our 'intelligent' hero. One fine day, the hero in lady get-up, says some boy wanted to convey his love to the heroine and out of curiosity she agrees to meet him. He proposes her in a 'unique' way and gradually she falls for him(or gradually she realizes that she already fell for him in the first meeting itself). Now, somehow there should be a justification for this 'intelligent act' of our hero. So, as usual, show heroine's fiancé as a bad man. The climax says 'all iz well'.

This story is not something new to Tamil cinema. We have seen this in Kathal Mannan, Youth, Vaseegara etc. But as per my knowledge, those movies didn't openly endorse stalking and eve teasing(though personally I don't like those movies too). Throughout the movie we have dialogues ridiculing women and glorifying/justifying scoundrels and rogues. 'pasangaloda indha nilamaiku ellam ponnunga seira thappu thaan kaaranam', 'nichayam thaana aachi kalyaanam aagala la', 'ponnungaloda full time velaiye pasangala azha vekkaradhu dhaana', 'kaadhalikkira ponna kidaikanam nu muyarchi pannaadhavan, andha ponnu kidaikala nu varutha pada thagudhiye illadhavan' (though she is engaged to someone else), 'Appa Amma paatha ponnundradhuke ivlo scene podriye, avane sondhamaa love panna ponnu na avan evlo edhir neechal pottirupaan', when heroine refers to girl, who is an acid attack victim, you get an immediate justification with another guy ready to marry her 'lovekaaga uyira kudukravangalukum irukaanga, uyira kuduthu love panravangalum irukkaanga', 'enna maadhiri pasangaluku vera vazhi illa' etc. More than these dialogues, what is painful is, the kind of response it receives. Audience clapped and whistled for all these dialogues.

Throughout the movie, our hero whistles at the heroine and she responds to it, and there is a song to this lovely sequence. The message is clear, guys have all the rights to stalk, whistle and cheat on a girl. No matter whether she is engaged or married( though ReMo is magnanimous enough to spare married women). If she doesn't accept the proposal, then men again have all the rights to blame/abuse her. The nurse get-up is used well to make fun of the body of women.

I don't find anything good in this movie. It doesn't even have an engaging screenplay with almost all the scenes predictable. One or two scenes evoke laughter where Yogi Babu appears. Cinematography is awesome, thanks to P C Sreeram.

With so many incidents of stalking making it to headlines, the director has not bothered about it all. He happily justifies stalking and surely is going to achieve commercial success too, as a result of which, is going to come up with more such craps.

Otherwise, ReMo is a clear case of torture.

M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story hits a sixer

M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story - an entertaining biopic about an inspiring captain. The first scene itself creates interest in the movie. The walk, warm up,mannerisms etc brings M S Dhoni before our eyes.The background score is too good and inspiring.

As the title says, this is an untold story about Dhoni. I am not sure if everything shown in the movie is true, but its all packaged well to make it interesting. If you are going to expect this biopic to be based on Dhoni's experience in Indian team, I am sure you will be disappointed. But it has a lot to offer with respect to cricket. Right from the transformation of football goal keeper Mahi to wicket keeper Mahi, everything is connected well. The commentary of those commentators during his school days were enjoyable too. When he says, 'I know this boy, if he plays for an hour, this place will be heavily crowded', theater erupted in a thunderous response.

Throughout the movie, the dialogues are good. There are some intelligent dialogues that typically defines Mahendra Singh Dhoni, like, 'none can correct or spoil your game, playing natural game is your strength','You cannot afford to have distractions while playing for country','I am not scared of hard ball' etc. The director also doesn't forget to take a dig at the state of affairs in Bihar. 'You want to know, why only less no. of cricketers Bihar is producing, right? For us politics is more important than sports'. 'The letter didn't reach us on time, in this place, will anything work properly?'. When you are making a biopic, casting is very important and Neeraj Pandey has done his best. Well, while watching Yuvraj Singh, for some reason I couldn't stop laughing. But the guy has a striking resemblance to Yuvi. Anupam Kher, Bhumika,Dhoni's mother,friends etc everyone were apt, director makes no mistake.

There are certain things which Neeraj Pandey could have concentrated more. Dhoni is an unorthodox batsman, whereas here the cricketing shots looks bit different from actual MSD's, though the helicopter shot is an exception. He plays that exactly as M S Dhoni would play.Another point is, Dhoni is known for his patience and cool attitude,in pressure situations. The director could have added more scenes, showing how calm and composed Dhoni is. There are two scenes, where he walks away out of disappointment and sadness, consoles himself and comes back. But that looked pretty ordinary. The movie is a bit lengthy. To avoid controversies, they didn't give more footage to CSK part it seems. As mentioned in the beginning, I am not sure, how much real the love stories shown. Anyway the love stories shown are cute and enjoyable, definitely not boring.

Anyway, the movie is already a commercial blockbuster. M S Dhoni is celebrated in Tamil Nadu like anything. Initially, when Sushant Singh says his name 'Mahi', I couldn't hear anything, only using lip moments I had to guess, so much of claps and whistle in theater. When you make a cricketer's biopic, especially the one who played after 1990,you cannot avoid Sachin Tendulkar. Sachin's poster, boundaries, autograph etc, they have lot of reference to the God of cricket. Similarly, there are some scenes referring to Dada too. After all, it was Saurav Ganguly, who brought in M S Dhoni. Crowd cheered equally to all the cricketers Dada,Sachin,Dravid,Sehwag, Kohli etc. In short, the theater atmosphere was electrifying.

Neeraj Pandey knows how to sell this quality biopic to masses. The first and last scenes are good enough to take it to masses. At the end, the man, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, himself appears on screen and the audience leave the theater with a huge cheer.

If you do not belong to those group of people, who hate M S Dhoni from the heart for no reason, I am sure you will like the movie.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni : The Untold Story, told in an interesting way.

Pink - Review

It may be late, still I feel, it is must to write a review for this movie. Pink is not an usual film or even I should say, its not an usual feminist film. Pink is reality. It just the reflection of our society. The movie starts off with one guy getting hurt and 3 girls, who looks tensed and nervous. On a fateful night, something happened between those influential guys and these 3 girls. What happened? Who is at fault? Who are these girls? What the guys do to these girls? How these girls handle them?. That's all Pink is about.

What distinguishes Pink from usual movies is, the way it slaps the society for its hypocrisy. Pre-interval scenes prepares the audience for an engaging court sequence in the second half. With a haunting background score and interesting screenplay, I bet you, not a single scene will divert your attention towards your electronic gadgets. It is the post interval scenes, that makes Pink, a special movie in the history of Indian cinema.

Amitabh Bachchan, who comes as a lawyer, completely dominates the second half of the movie. The dialogues by Ritesh Shah and the director Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury, are sharp enough to tear into the prevailing misogynistic attitude of the society. Based on the cross examination, Amitabh suggests he can write a safety manual for women and suggests some rules too, all sarcastically. These dialogues are not meant to just laugh out and move on, but should realize how arrogant the society is towards the women. For example, one of the rules, 'a girl should not drink with a boy. Drinking is a bad habit and it would make your character questionable, only if you are a girl. For boys, there is no such rule and for them, drinking is a bad habit only health issues'. Another rule for women's safety is, 'a girl should not laugh and crack jokes with a guy and should not touch him too. If she does so, it will be considered as 'hint' for sexual relationship'.

Think for a moment, aren't these dialogues true? Isn't there a difference in criticizing a drinking woman and a man?Does the society treats both of them same way? Definitely no. These are all pretty simple quotes. But the director walks that extra mile and brings in an important topic. A woman, because she is not a virgin, because she had sex with some people of her choice, should not be taken for granted. Even if she is a prostitute, none should touch her without her consent.

The movie neither endorses nor criticizes, the act of a woman having sex,with multiple people. It's just the choice of the individual. Others doesn't have any right to abuse such women. Simply, they live their life, as they wish. None compels you to follow their style. You are free to make your choice, but do not peep into others' privacy and call them by names.  The point which the director tries to establish is, if a woman(whoever it may be) says 'NO', it means 'No' and men are supposed to understand this. She may be anyone, may be your girl friend or your wife, you cannot touch her without her consent. When questioned about virginity, the judge asks if this statement can be recorded secretly, but she refuses the offer and boldly says, 'I haven't done anything wrong, let the world know'.

There are some nuances in the movie, for which, the director Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury, deserves a pat on his back. After the case becomes popular, people start speaking so many things, about these girls.While Amitabh and Tapsee are jogging, someone identifies her and says something like 'hey look, she is that girl'. She feels humiliated and covers her face and starts running, Amitabh uncovers it and asks her to run. This particular scene has conveyed a strong message to the society. When you are a victim, you have done no wrong, but being abused by the society, don't run away. Don't get into a shell. You have been victimized, its not your fault. It's the fault of someone else. Only the guilty should feel humiliated and not the victim. Our society is full of insane people and hypocrites. Their stand on issues will differ based on the person involved.Don't care about what it says. You haven't done anything wrong, be bold,face the situation, fight it out and emerge victorious. Hiding and running away is an act of cowardice.

The man whom Kirti Kulhari loved sincerely, breaks up with her and leaves her alone and moves on. Tapsee calls him a coward.When your girl is in trouble, stand by her. Don't run away. If you do so, you are a coward - message conveyed here.

All the meaningful dialogues written by the trio(Ritesh Shah,Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury
and Shoojit Sircar) gets life by Big B's majestic voice. Especially the feminist poems he recites during the end-card, receives thunderous response. What an actor Amitabh Bachchan is!!!!

I couldn't find any negatives in the movie. At the end, after observing the arguments, a woman police gets emotional and congratulates Amitabh Bachchan. The audience too, would like to congratulate the director similarly, for delivering this masterpiece.

 Undoubtedly, Pink is a landmark film in the history of Indian cinema. If you haven't watched it yet, go for it. 

Kabali - Review

#Kabali is watchable.. Rajni rocked,Ranjith failed.. Rajni's electrifying screenpresence and some good scenes makes it a watchable film.

Probably for the first time in the last 2 decades, Rajni has teamed up with an young director, which increased the expectations from the Kabali team. Except Rajni,everyone else failed.The movie has positives, I am not denying it.It is clearly a Ranjith film and Rajni has not influenced him at all.The director was given full freedom(which not many who directed the superstar got).Yet the director has tried to balance between the Superstar's image and his own agenda.

Rajni is an excellent actor, he hasn't done many challenging roles in recent past.But in Kabali, he has done very well.

I would not say this is a challenging role or some kind of method acting,but without too many mass scenes,Rajni was able to create an impact. One need not describe his walks or mannerisms, even a hater would clap for that while watching him on screen.His smile,the way he cries on hearing about Radhika Apte,the Pondicherry sequence etc are enough proofs to show what a quality actor Rajnikanth is. This is a different Rajni and completely satisfied with his brilliant performance.

Unfortunately, except Rajni,Radhika and Dhanshikaa,everyone else were very bad.John Vijay as Rajni's friend,itself a miscast.He looks jaded and tired.A brilliant actor like Kishore was wasted.He just shouts and shoots.Nothing to say about the other villain. 'Attakathi' Dinesh has played a comedian(ofcourse,unintentionally).The other guy,who played Johnny in Madras was indeed irritating. Among the supporting cast,the guy who takes care of Rajni's accomodation in Chennai,was the best.

Santhosh Narayanan songs failed to gel with the movie. The re-recording was a big let down,not sure who is responsible for this - Santosh Narayanan or Ranjith?

From the beginning,there are only dialogues and no surprise elements. Its a very predictable screenplay and a poor script.Yes, some dialogues like the one about birds, one shown in teaser,one about the coat-suit etc, recieved thunderous response.One can rely on dialogues, but should be backed by good scenes. All the 'Free life' scenes were artificial and it only tests your patience, at times.One couldn't avoid getting a feel of watching some documentary.

Rajni's intro scene was good,its a good idea to show the superstar going in search of his wife and taking on the enemies.In this journey,Ranjith should have given some powerful scenes to Rajni,whereas the director didn't do that. Rajni was also another character throughout the journey and that journey moves at a painfully slow pace.

The only way the director made of use of the superstar's mass image was to utter some dialogues,that is,to carry forward his agenda.I don't want to discuss whether the agenda is right or wrong.Infact, there is nothing wrong in utilizing a hero of Rajni's stature, to utter such dialogues.I would also appreciate the superstar for accepting such a role.But Ranjith failed to provide any justification for keeping such dialogues.

We all believe in some ideology,its quite natural. It is ok to make a movie to justify what we believe in.It is also fine to have one or two dialogues to cater our audience. When you make a movie,which isn't exactly based on your ideology and yet you try to thrust your views on audience through scenes and dialogues,which are not well connected to the script,you would end up making some halfbaked stuff. That is what happened with Kabali :-).

K Balachander -The Bhishma Pitamah of Tamil Cinema

K Balachander, now remembered as someone who introduced the big 2 - Rajni and Kamal, while his achievements are much more than just introducing these 2.He has introduced more than 65 artistes and technicians. Has more than 100 directorial ventures to his name. What distinguishes K Balachander from others is the variety of scripts he has handled.

He made his debut as a dialogue writer in MGR's Dheiva Thaai. During the shooting of Dheiva Thaai, KB used to remain isolated and calm.Not many other technicians working for the movie, were aware of who this young man was and out of curiosity people inquired about him.Once they came to know that he was the dialogue writer of the movie, one man asked him, 'you could have told us you are the writer and joined us during our meetings?', KB replied firmly, 'I want my dialogues to speak about myself'. The man who asked this question was none other than the legendary Tamil poet Vaali and  sensed this man is going to achieve greater heights. He mentioned this incident in his book 'Naanum indha Nootraandum'.

KB was basically a playwright and to my knowledge, none in Tamil cinema has handled the 'drama' genre better than KB. When you make movies in this genre(drama),your script should be backed by meaningful dialogues and strong performances. A director who gets this combination right, can give everlasting classics. For instance, you watch an Edhir Neechal, Nagesh will be accused of stealing money and none would believe him. One simple dialogue, Major Sundarrajan will understand he is innocent. When people lists out the stolen things accusing Nagesh, spontaneously Nagesh would respond, 'Nayaroda watch adha vittuteengle?'(you missed Nayar's watch). Dialogues like these and actors like Major Sundarrajan,Nagesh, Muthuraman etc has made these movies a classic.

When KB had a heart attack in a relatively young age,he was worried that he may die without achieving anything.But,he consoled himself saying, 'ok I have made a movie like Punnagai, so even if I die,the movie will speak up for myself'.He said this in an interview.But at the time of his death, he has given plenty of classics :-).

If you ask me to pick some best movies in the history of cinema, Punnagai will find a prominent place in my list.You can make a movie about Gandhi,you can also make a movie about the debate - whether Gandhi was right or wrong, but to make a film on Gandhian principles is always a challenging task,which KB pulled off with ease.Punnagai is all about Gandhian principles and I swear, if someone watches the movie, they would think of leading an honest life(ofcourse they may change later :D ).

KB has not hesitated to take on social issues too. His Achamillai Achamillai explains how a noble young man turns corrupt and demonic after joining politics. Through the character of an old man and a character called Sudhandhiram, Balachander mocks so many corrupt practices. Dialogues like 'Sudhanthiratha ella payalum thanakku saadhagamaa payanpaduthikaraanga, Suthandhiratha azha vittirukaangle,Sudhandhiram nee en porandha ne enakku vilangala' etc shows KB's creativity.

Kalyana Agathigal - not many would have heard about this movie. I have mentioned about it earlier too.This is one of my favorite movie. This is another simple movie with strong characterization and meaningful dialogues. The movie openly criticizes religious conversions in the name of love or marriage. The hero is a christian and the heroine Saritha is a Hindu and the hero wants Saritha to convert to Christianity. He says, we don't demand dowry as your Hindus do and Saritha replies, 'instead of money,you people are asking my religion. Isn't this a form of dowry robert?'. Finally she says,'Robert knew I was a Hindu and still he was in love with me, but now he says his religion is more important to him than me and our love. I cannot give up my age old tradition and culture.; When the hero calls her,she plays Kandha Sashti Kavasam and disconnects the call, meaning she is not ready to convert. Not many can make such hard hitting films.

His Unnal Mudiyum Thambi, a Kamal starer(remake of Rudra Veena,a Chiranjeevi directed by KB himself), deals with liquor prohibition and bringing discipline in an entire village. The hero leads from the front and makes his village liquor-free. While narrating the story, an age old gardener's character is introduced to us.The gardener says, 'indha mannula naama porandhadhuku oru artham irukkanam na,indha mannuku naama edhaachu thiruppi seyyanam nu oru nambikkai'(we should do something to this world to make our lives meaningful). The gardener continues,'I cant construct schools or lakes,I am just contributing as much as I can. I will plant daily atleast 2 saplings a day.The trees which I have planted are my children'.This old man becomes an inspiration for Udaya Moorthy(Kamal Hassan). His act of planting trees makes the hero question himself about his contribution to the society.It was then, the hero goes on to inspire the entire village and achieve total alcohol prohibition. Kamal Hassan or Chiranjeevi might have played the protagonist, but the impact this gardener character created was much more than what the hero's character could do(I am writing this with due respect to Kamal and Chiranjeevi).

His musical sense was another aspect that made him a commercially successful director too. Its highly impossible to get producers for your movies without delivering commercial success. You cannot deliver commercial hits with art movies. Infact, delivering commercial hits itself is a unique art. KB was able to extract the best from any music director. Ninaithale Inikkum had more than 12 songs and the movie was a genuine musical hit. He was able to get some lovely melodies like Sangeetha Swarangal Ezhe kanakka from Maragatha Mani. Sindhu Bhairaivi, Punnagai Mannan, Puthu Puthu Arthangal etc from Ilaiyaraja,Duet & Parthale paravasam from A.R.Rahman.

KB's Oru Veedu Iru Vaasal is one movie that had 2 stories, which again was an experiment. People enters cinema industry with lot of hopes and dreams After all, cinema is a dream factory. Rightly Sujatha wrote a novel based on cinema and titled it 'Kanavu Thozhirchalai'(dream factory).This dialogue comes in Oru Veedu Iru Vaasal.


His Ek Duuje Ke liye had a tragic climax, with the hero and heroine committing suicide. Inspired by this, a couple committed suicide in Goa. As a remedy, KB made another movie - Vaaname Ellai, against suicides.People who met with disappointments in their life happens to meet each other and they decide to commit suicide after enjoying their life for 100 days.Towards the end, we are introduced to Mr.Gandhi Raman, a differently abled man, who has done lot of social welfare activities. His presence and words inspires these youngsters and the movie ends with these people taking oath to remain confident and fight all the odds with courage. Watch this scene, none will ever commit suicide.

He made Manmadha Leelaimovie about a sex pervert sans vulgarity), Nootrukku Nooru(brilliantly portrayed how society frames up an innocent young man with fake charges and how he comes out of it all successfully),Neerkumizhi(about cancer patient), Navagraham(family drama which shows how a stranger can influence a family which doesn't have unity),Major Chandrakant(one of the best movies in the 'drama' genre) etc. He is a king of family dramas too viz Iru Kodugal,Velli Vizha,Baama Vijayam,Puthu Puthu Arthangal,Poova Thalaya,Sindhu Bhairavi etc.

As a KB fan, I clapped for all the scenes featuring K Balachander, while watching Uttama Villain in theater :-). Today the entire world is aware of Tamil Cinema mainly because of Superstar Rajni and Universal Hero Kamal. One cannot doubt their talent. Rajni and Kamal are legends. But KB also introduced Nassar,Prakash Raj,Vivek,Radharavi etc. Almost everyone from Balachander's school has achieved greater heights

It is possible to write a series of posts about KB. Given the variety of scripts he has handled and the kind of artists and technicians he has introduced, there is nothing wrong in calling him the Bhishma Pitamah of Tamil Cinema.

Sethupathi - An enjoyable cop film

Sethupathi- is good. Vijay Sethupathi has tried a full length mass movie this time and it has worked out very well. He has a tremendous screen presence and a charismatic body language which makes this movie enjoyable. It has a very good first half, second half starts off slowly,but later the movie gains momentum and ends up as a good entertainer.

The romance portion should appears a bit stretched. The supporting cast(including the children), villain and the heroine are good enough to keep up the momentum. It has enjoyable dialogues( the one like 'innum konja emotional ah sollunga' by a media person :D ) and mass scenes, especially handling the rowdies when they surround the hero's family. Songs,by music director Nivas K. Prasanna, are good too, 'naan yaaru' both the versions are terrific with visuals. Throughout the movie audience were clapping and whistling and the movie is sure to attract family audience as well. Director S. U. Arunkumar who made his debut through Pannaiyarum Padminiyum, is back with Sethupathi and the movie is most likely to become a commercial super hit.

Sethupathi - an enjoyable Vijay Sethupathi show B|

Miruthan Review

Miruthan as projected,its a zombie film. The movie is full of zombies and the hero fights them. The duration of the movie is just less than 2 hrs and to an extent its fast too. If the expectation is just to go for a movie which is different and racy, this movie is ok,but if you are looking for some exciting thriller, then Miruthan will surely disappoint you.

Dog bites can cause hydrophobia(fear for water) which is a symptom of rabies in humans. And yes, people diagnosed with rabies,will be fierce and behave like a maniac. If left untreated, they will die within few days. Nowadays, treating dog bites is very simple. All you have to do is to take injections periodically. The director Shakti Soundar Rajan has taken this simple concept and developed a script based on it.

There is nothing wrong in using a simple concept to make an interesting film. But in Miruthan,there are no interesting scenes or tense moments,which are essential for any thriller. The zombie concept seems to be just an exaggeration of hydrophobia/rabies, which didn't work for me. Jayam Ravi just keeps shooting the zombies for most part of the movie. Kaali, Manohar(the one who plays minister) and Sriman,provides comic relief. Their comedy scenes and 2 songs are good. Lakshmi Menon and the girl who plays Ravi's sister are ok, as they don't have much to do. Only one scene(detection of anti-bodies to the virus) stood out. I feel had the director built the screenplay based on the concept explained in that scene, it would have been an interesting movie.

Instead of merely shooting the zombies, had the director made more research on zombies and come up with an interesting screenplay, Miruthan would have been a satisfying experience. Miruthan is not so interesting zombie.

Maya - The magic works very well

Maya,the Nayanthara starer is a unique horror film.Right from the beginning, till the end, the movie manages to keep you engaged.There are lot of scenes which may scare you, especially the visual and sound effects.We have seen lot of horror flicks with a storyline of a woman(or man too) getting killed by goons in a cruel manner and the victim takes revenge after becoming a ghost.Maya takes a different route.I don't want to reveal anything more than this. Nayanthara's screenpresence has helped the movie a lot.It is heartening to see Nayanthara accepting such roles.Well done :-). Different attempt from the director Ashwin Saravanan and it is convincing too. Appreciate the director for working on a good script instead of trying to ride on the 'ghost-movie-wave'.One or two scenes reminds us of Demonte Colony.Anyway Maya rocks.

Yatchan‬ - Movie Review

‪#‎Yatchan‬ is watchable. Kind of above average movie. it has an interesting plot,but Vishnuvardhan should have either made it as an out and out action film or a proper comedy film.there are some good scenes and some boring scenes too.with a decent climax, movie is watchable once. Yuvan Shankar Raja - time has come to give voluntary retirement.the build up towards the interval block became irritating because of the 'Champion' song.

Payum Puli - Review

#‎PaayumPuli‬ is average.it has a boring first half and a decent second half with a very usual climax. it seems Suseendhran has run out of ideas.Vishal looks good and has a very good screenpresence.He neither underplayed nor overacted,neat job. I didn't like him in movies like Satyam or Vedi where he played cop,but he fits well in PaayumPuli(he comes in cop dress only in 1 or 2 scenes though).Arul Doss' character is impressive.He comes only for 2-3 scenes,but he has done well to give a special mention. Paayum Puli jumps,but falls short :D

Bahubali - The Epic

The most expected movie of the year - Bahubali,directed by S S Rajamouli, has finally hit the silver screens.I watched the Tamil version.Rajamouli gained popularity all over India after his fantasy flick Magadheera - starring Ram Charan.The dubbed version itself was well received among even non-Telugu speaking audience.Then he went on with Eega(Naan-E in Tamil and it was not a dubbing, but a bilingual),which again went on to become a super hit.Now he has made Bahubali as a bilingual again(some say its trilingual - Tamil,Telugu and Hindu,but not sure).What's Bahubali all about? I can answer in one word - Grandeur.Ofcourse Bahubali has more to offer.

Well in the name of review,I don't want to reveal too much about the story. Infact,more than story it is the narration and the visuals that keeps us engaged till the end.This is how the movie goes on - the tribal people see a hand carrying a kid in water,asking for help.The kid is brought up by Rohini and she names him Shivudu. The boy keeps asking whats there in the hills behind waterfalls and he attempts to climb that hill many times,but he fails.Needless to say,who that kid is - hero Prabhas. One fine day he sees an angel like girl calling singing and dancing at him,Somehow he climbs the hill and finds out a rebel group.Who are they?What's their goal?How Prabhas joins them and what he finds out? This is what Bahubali part-1 is all about.

Rajamouli's screenplay has more scope for 'mass' scenes than any suspense element.Performance-wise everyone has done their part very well.Tamanna as Avantika, has tried her best to act as a rebel.Her angry expressions and fights justify her casting.Other heroine Anushka as Devasenai, has less footage compared to Tamanna, but its a powerful character.Anushka's make-up and dialogues are well received by the masses. The very first scene when Anushka was shown,people started whistling.Glad to see a heroine having such a mass appeal,especially when her character is not an usual glamorous one.Sathyaraj rocked as Kattappa - the loyal slave.In one scene Sathyaraj fights with 'Kicha' Sudeep.It was choreographed very well.The energy shown by Sathyaraj in that scene makes it a treat to watch.Sudeep as Aslam,comes in just 1 scene.He may get more footage in second part it seems.Still I doubt it as he gets a special 'Thanks' in the title card.

Palvaalthevan(Rana) is a ruthless king.He kills his own people,tries to kill his cousin,doesn't mind people dying when his 100 feet gold statue is raised.Such is his lust for power.He looks good and has a good screenpresence.He had to work really hard to be accepted as a villain.His hard work paid off. Prabhas as Bahubali and Shiva fits to the character perfectly.He is not such a big mass hero, but his tall and strong physique is appealing.His physqiue makes some scenes like lifting the Shiva statue believable.There are mass scenes for Prabhas.His entry into the Magizhmadhi kingdom is the best sequence. Theater erupted to a thunderous response for the golden statue scene.There are more mass scenes like his walk after chopping off the head of a prince,lifting the Shiva Lingam,fighting in battle field etc.

Rajamouli has shown the quality called 'Rajabakthi'(people's devotion towards the king) very well.I have read this in novels as well,how a 'good' king will be treated by the people of his country.In one word - he will be treated like a God.We can see that from the expressions of people.It was so natural especially in the statue lifting scene.

CGI work was ok,not bad.It could have been bit better,but with an Indian budget,we have to compromise on this aspect.Flying scenes,the snow ride etc were bit amateur.But the battlefield scenes are the highlight of the movie.It was picturised so well that one could feel as if he is returning from real battlefield. Of course, one can argue that there are better Hollywood movies.Always there will be a better option,without comparison I can say the battle scene was marvelous.The funny language of 'Kalakeyas',the competition between Rana and Prabhas to outsmart each other in defeating the enemy to get crowned,Prabhas' inspirational speech and the grand sets and CGI work makes the battlefield scene a mind blowing experience. 

There will be comparisons between Magadheera and Bahubali.The question of whether Bahubali is better than Magadheera is unavoidable.Magadheera cannot be called as a period film as only the flashback portions involve all those wars and kingdoms.But Bahubali is completely a period film. Magadheera had a reference to Sagapthiya Vamsam, people of which will kill atleast 100 people before their death in wars to save the country, with the hero Ram Charan himself playing a warrior from Sagapthiya Vamsam. Bahubali has Kattappa,a strong and bold warrior,who is capable of saving the entire kingdom,but remains a slave to kings due to the promise of his ancestors.Magadheera had electrifying scenes like confrontation between Ram Charan and SriHari,RamCharan and DevGill etc. Bahubali doesn't have such confrontation scenes with villain directly.Probably I should say till now we didn't see such a scene as the movie is still not over.The director gives a clear lead to second part in the climax.Otherwise both the movies follows the 'mass template' faithfully. There are scenes of head chopping,item song etc in both the movies.Magadheera had better songs compared to Bahubali. But Maragatha Mani's BGM gives the much needed mass feel.

I have written about almost all the important characters except Ramya Krishnan.She deserves a special write up.16 years ago,her Neelampari character was a huge hit among masses.Her acting had such a reach that people teared off the screens in some theaters because she insulted Rajni(in movie). In these 16 years she has done many movies,but her Sivagami character in Bahubali creates the same impact.You get goosebumps when she feeds both the babies and says both are her sons(Rana and Prabhas), runs the kingdom in the absence of an able king,fights the traitors,brings up the children. The crowning scene was terrific.Ramya understood the character very well and has given what it actually needs.She stands up tall,with a proud smile on her face praises one prince and crowns the other.If I remember correctly only Ramya speaks punch dialogues,ex 'adhuve en kattalai,enadhu kattalaye Saasanam'.Splendid performance.If you ask me to watch it a second time,without any second thought I would go mainly because of Ramya Krishnan.She has lived as Raj Mata. I am sure Ramya will have a part in second part too.

We should ignore people who sit in home and say "my uncle's sister's friend's brother's daughter texted me 'Bahubali' is average,so its average".We have seen movies like this since black and white days.MGR's 'Adimaippen' had somewhat similar script.But that we can say for any movie. Bahubali is a tested and tried formula script with grand visuals and soulful performances.Royal salute to Rajamouli for making the characters speak proper Tamil.Credit goes to Karky(dialogue writer) as well. Its not only a visual treat but its epic. Go for it!!!

Papanasam - Recreates the 'Drishyam' Magic

Papanasam is a faithful remake of the malayalam classic 'Drishyam'.I am writing this review after watching both the movies - Papanasam and Drishyam.Before watching Papanasam,I had an opinion that it was highly impossible to recreate the magic of Mohan Lal's Drishyam. There were reasons for that.Be it Mohan Lal or Meena or the children who acted as their daughters or even the Muslim who runs the tea-shop,their performances were very natural. On the other hand,I thought Kamal may overact and spoil the character in an attempt to overtake MohanLal.There were many who thought like this.But 'Papanasam' gave a tight slap to us.We felt like Kamal through his 'Choyambulingam' character saying 'chinna pasangala yaar kitta?' to us.

Remaking a classic, which was also commercial blockbuster, is like walking on a tight rope. That too, Drishyam is a complicated case.Mohan Lal's George Kutty character doesn't demand any special appearance or loud dialogues.George Kutty is a common man, who earned all his properties by sheer hardwork and leads a happy life with his family.How he faces a difficult situation and how he overcomes it.That is what the protagonist of Drishyam or Papanasam is supposed to do.When Mohan Lal has already done this perfectly,the task of doing this role again in a different language is going to be a real challenge.Kamal took up the challenge.

The story is simple.Choyambulingam(Kamal) is an ordinary man,who has come up on his own, marries Gautami without getting any dowry.He has 2 daughters.At times voices out against the corrupt policeman(Kalabavan Mani).One day his family faces an unexpected problem.What the problem is?Is Choyambulingam able to solve it?If yes, how? This is what Papanasam is all about.Recently,we have seen lot of thriller/horror movies.In such movies, the screenplay will revolve around an incident and the audience will be left guessing - 'who is behind the incident?'.But Papanasam is a different thriller.Here you will be tempted to know what will be the next move of the protagonist rather than thinking 'what would have happened when the incident took place'.You will understand this while watching the movie. 


Biggest success of Papanasam is its casting and performance.Baby Esther and Asha Sarath played the same roles in original version as well.I thought Gautami is a miscast after watching Meena.I felt Meena had a better screenpresence than Gautami,but that did not spoil the character.Gautami has done well.Hope she gets more offers after Papanasam. The elder daughter Niveda,corrupt policeman Kalabhavan Mani,Ilavarasu as constable, Arul Dass as sub-inspector have done well too.Nothing was artificial.Baby Esther's eyes, expressions and dialogue delivery would leave you spellbound. Asha Sarath as a tough police officer and a caring mother has done exceedingly well.It seems she is doing acting in this role for third time( after Malayalam and Kannada versions).

 But it was M.S.Bhaskar as the tea-shop owner stood out.He was damn brilliant.People will usually say 'he lived as that character',that sentence will suit Mr.Bhaskar very well.His local slang,expressions,body language etc proves his quality.I can proudly call myself as a fan of this actor.He was terrific in movies like Mozhi,Uttama Villain etc.Compared to those movies,he has less footage in Papanasam,but he has proved his mettle in this role too.Other than M S Bhaskar,I feel one more character has come out very well in Tamil - Anant Mahadevan's Prabhakar,who comes as husband of Asha Sarath.He was impressive with his innocent expressions and body language.This particular character alone I feel Tamil version is better than Malayalam.

Ghibran's BGM and songs are pleasing.The background music is neither too loud nor quiet. Ghibran has given as much as the situation demands.Sujith's cinematography takes you to Papanasam itself.Lovely visuals.'Yeya En Kottikara' song has a soothing music and pleasant visuals.

 I have mentioned lot of positives about the movie,but Kamal as Choyambulingam elevates the standard of movie.Full credit to director Jeethu Joseph.Though he has directed the original version,it is not easy to create the same impact again.Handling Mohan Lal and Kamal has its own advantages and difficulties.They are known for their acting skills,so it is quite normal for even an average movie-goer to expect some impressive performance. The advantage is they are capable of doing it,difficulty is extracting it perfectly.The director has mastered the art it seems. 

There are some scenes which are enough to differentiate Mohan Lal and Kamal.Mohan Lal shows an unimaginable calmness in his face and his body language conveys the message 'you have underestimated me and you are going to pay for it'. The same scene,Kamal does bit differently.He just gives a sarcastic look towards the police. It was like saying 'now you might have understood who Choyambulingam is'. Audience were crazily whistling and clapping for this particular scene.Again in climax, Mohan Lal maintains his calmness on his face still we are able to notice the tears in his eyes.Here too his expressions and body language says,'yes,it may be wrong.even we are not happy with that,but there was no other option,for me my family is important'. Whereas Kamal was completely different from Mohan Lal in climax.He starts of kind of normally, gradually he gets emotional and suddenly he breaks-down.Splendid performance it was. In short, Mohan Lal and Kamal have acted differently but with complete perfection. Those who have watched Drishyam and Papanasam will never say Kamal was better than Mohan Lal or Mohan Lal was better than Kamal.

There is another important point about this script.Anant Mahadevan once says 'our son is misusing your affection'.Parents should control their children - both son and daughter. When parents fail to control their children on some aspects,they will only end up suffering.Just because someone is a 'son',he doesn't get the license to do some 'small' mistakes. Ignoring some 'serious' mischief of the 'sons' is the starting point for most of the crimes in the society.

As I have mentioned in the title, the Kamal-Jeethu Joseph combination has recreated the 'Drishyam' magic in Papanasam too.Instead of walking out of theaters, when the hero does not fight with the villains using muscle power and uses his brains,the audience are whistling clapping like anything.Papanasam is going to be a huge hit for Kamal and undoubtedly this is the best movie of Kamal in the last 12 years.To be honest,I don't find any negative points in this movie.It is flawless. If you are a fan of good cinema,without any second thought,book your tickets for Papanasam.