Nandalala - Movie for music

It is good that Mysskin is reading a lot, seeing lot of world cinema and wants to render a movie like Kikujiro to Tamizh audience. The intention would have been justified if Tamizh cinema was already seeing many Anjaadhes and Mysskin says "No No No. Why only this kind of cinema? Let me a show a travel of a mentally affected adult and a school boy in search of their mother. I will show many characters in the travel"

But that is not the case now. Movies like Anjaadhe (I meant 'like Anjaadhe' not based on the story or screenplay. I meant that as a different kind of movie which had a good reception)  are not getting released frequently. So may be, Mysskin could have ventured into many such projects and later tried a movie like Nandalala. Well it could be a great movie which is appreciated by people like Kamal Hassan, but I felt this is too early both for his career and Tamizh cinema (Definitely not to degrade Tamizh cinema. Of course, Tamizh cinema is also part of world cinema and it has its own significances).

I am not sure if Mysskin saw the theatrical version of the movie. I felt lot of open ends. If I get a chance to meet  him, I am having list of doubts to be clarified by him. Or I am not sure, if I had to think more or see the movie some more number of times to get those doubts cleared. But I am sure about one thing. He had lot of scenes in hand and released only half of them. Some scenes end abruptly.

Ok, with all those bashing (well not really bashing!) let me get into the good thinks of the movie. Star cast... Mysskin has definitely done a decent job and so is Snigdha. The boy Ashwath scores a lot.

Cinematography by Mahesh Muthusamy was brilliant. Those isolated thar roads with complete green on both sides were treat to watch. Camera angles were also very different from a typical Tamizh (or even Indian) movie.

Music... Frankly speaking, I felt that Mysskin took this movie just for BGMs of Ilayaraaja. There were very less number of dialogues and it was music of Raaja which was speaking most of the times. But it is unfortunate that most of the songs were not picturised. Mella Oorndhu Oorndhu (though only Pallavi) was placed nicely. Goosebumps during Onnukkonnu Thunai irukkum (What a voice of Yesudas!) and Thaalaattu ketka was very emotional. I would like to see the movie some more times in large screen just for the BGMs of Ilayaraaja. We like to hear Ilayaraaja's music while travelling. This movie itself is a travel and only Isaignani can give the best music for such a movie! No doubt for the same reason Ilayaraaja's name was given more importance in posters.

If Mysskin had given some completeness, it would have been a great success in box office too. Now I think, only Ilayaraaja fans, fans of soft poetic cinema and people who know the feel of missing their mother would like this movie.

Mynaa - Unconventional

I think, director Prabhu Solomon was very clear about 2 things.

1. Keep the characters as natural as possible
2. Show the hill villages and Munnar as beautiful as possible.

He has accomplished both the tasks successfully. Congratulations for that!

Why did I call this movie 'Unconventional'? The travel of story is something very different from whatever is shown so far. But how good was that difference is a big question.

We have seen movies where the story approaches tragedy but end up on a happy note and vice versa. TR movies, Sethu  etc.were great successes because of that total shift post interval. But this movie was frequently cycling between tragedy and happiness. Audience at some point of stage were tired of the twists. "Hey epdi dhan ya padatha mudikka pora?" was the reaction.

There were brilliant comedy scenes (esp the one after bus accident). But they were scattered and not placed properly. I was not clear, what kind of screenplay Prabhu Solomon was trying to deliver!

Songs could have been better. I felt Selvaganesh (Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu fame) would have been a better choice.

Amidst all those complaints from my side, this movie definitely deserves a good appreciation (which many reviews have given and the theatres are running with good crowd!). Climax was awesome! The complete crew gave a wonderful performance. The small boy (who comes in lungi and calls 'Ai Suruli') deserves a special mention. He was too good!

Amala Paul also deserves a special mention ;) She was very good, both in appearance and acting!

If the director had streamlined the travel of movie even better, this movie would have been listed in 'Best Tamil cinemas'. Now it just deserves a pat on the back!

Uthamaputhiran - A decent entertainer

Mithran Jawahar-Dhanush combination worked out  once again in Uthamaputhiran (as usual to some reasonable extent). I would rate this movie 2nd after 'Yaaradi Nee Mohini' in their combo.

Dhanush... We have to appreciate Dhanush for having realised quickly (after Sullan) that heroism and image driven movies are not his cup of tea. He is consistent in delivering casual acting. In Uthamaputhiran also he has maintained his consistency. But Dhanush, we are expecting Pudupettai kind of performance also at times from you.

Genelia.. I have always considered Jenelia's cuteness as over dosage. But she has kept things within limits in this movie. Surprisingly (may not be surprising for her fans), she looks gorgeous in this movie. Be it the wedding Saree in the initial scenes or the jeans-Tshirt during their travel to pudukottai or half-saree in Dhanush house, wow! Beauty!!! But it is sad that we could not see her much in 2nd half.

Vivek.. This can be called a 'kind of come back' movie for Vivek. I was able to see people continuously laughing throughout the second half (because of Emotional Ekambaram). This is a response which Vivek didn't get for quite some years because of Vadivelu's replacement. But definitely, I wont call this is a great comedy work by Vivek. Though there couple of quality humour scenes, others were only for people who tend to laugh even for the simplest of comedies.

Star cast is huge in this movie with K.Bahgyaraj, Karunas, Ashish Vidyarthi, Sundarraj, Rekha, Ambika and the list is huge. One person whom I would wish to mention is that telugu actor (Jayaprakash Reddy). Over acting! This Jayaprakash, Brahmanandam etc might be great comedians in Andhra, but that too much of reaction is not what we at Tamilnadu are looking for.

Songs of Vijay Antony doesn't show signs of becoming big hit as his songs usually are.

Mithran Jawahar. He has successfully managed to give another decent remake. But I have a question (for both him and Raaja). Whatever movies they have remade so far are not very different or trend setting movies from other languages. All these are very casual entertainers. We have the potential in TN to give better entertainers. Of course, remaking is not something wrong but when it is believed that tamil film industry has pool of creative people, why do so much of remakes?

Uthamaputhiran is like a happy and easy drive in highway without bothering about route (here I relate to logic). It can be a nice feel to see this movie together with family in theatre (or at home with a decent print of DVD. Sorry for promoting piracy).