Aadukalam - Test Cricket

First of all, congradulations to director Vetrimaaran for conceiving/choosing cockfight as the base story and successfuly bringing the life of people passionate about it on the screen. It might be real or graphics, but definitely it was astonishing to see those cockfights in close up shots.

Dhanush was brilliant once again. Be it his slang or casual nayandi or sympathetic feel in face, he was too good. It is definitely one of his good performances but still his best continues to be Pudupettai.

Tapsee was looking like custom made for this movie. I doubt if she is worth the hype surrounding her. She may not become a top heroine.  A wague guess.. If her market as heroine goes down, she can definitely become a glamour actress (FYI, in this movie she didn't do a glamour role).

Overall, the star cast (esp Kishor and Jeyabalan) was very good in this movie. There was not even a single average/less than average acting. It again proves that it is director who is responsible for acting too. One more pat to Vertrimaran.

Music by GVPrakash is widely appreciated by audience. I couldn't understand how this Yaathe has become such a hit and getting big applause when it comes in screen. Definitely the steps of Dhanush in that song has added value. I enjoyed "Ayyayyo". SPB, your voice is always fresh!

This is the general comment about this movie. First half was interesting and 2nd half was boring. I don't want to call the 2nd half as boring. The 2nd half was completely about betrayal which is definitely out of current trend. There was a time when betrayal movies was a trend. Now, no one is ready to see hero being betrayed for more than 10 mins.

If director had some how put a gripping cock fight in climax, no one would have called it as a boring 2nd half and even I would have given the review title as "Aadukalam - 20 20". Just that Vetrimaran wanted to give the movie the way he wanted, I would call this movie as a test cricket which displays a good game played by everyone with the end result as 'Draw' (Of course Day 4 and Day 5 will be boring for many).

Manmadan Ambu - Rib tickling

First half was boring.

Sentiments like French lady death, Ramesh Aravind sickness, Urvashi's cry etc. didn't work out.

The idea of live dialogue recording didn't help movie by any means. Actually, sub-titles were diverting the attention. 

But only people like me who wants to remember all those stuffs and try to write will have it in mind. Otherwise, you will see just smiling faces outside theatre because, the last 1 hour made everyone forget about all those minus points.

You have to keep laughing and clapping during last 1 hr. Thank you Manmadan ambu team for that treat.

Kamal need not prove himself as a best actor since it is 'taken for granted'. We may tell "Thats enough, Kamal. You are the best". But his search for new things will never stop. 'Nee neela vanam' song picturisation is the best example for that. Visual in reverse but Kamal's lip in synch with the song!! Wow, what a performance! Proud to be a Kamal fan.

Madhavan was awesome. Proved once again that it is the film maker who is responsible for extracting the best from actors. Madhavan was best in Manmadan Ambu.

Trisha was beautiful. Her acting was also nice. Good going Trisha!

Sangeetha got her first good performance. Actually she got more scope than Trisha to perform. Well done Sangeetha!

The complete star cast, especially Kunjan, Ushauthup and that small boy did a splendid job.

Cinematography was perfect! Manush Nandan gave a quality visual.

Music: Devi Sri Prasad - Well, I am not very much impressed by the songs but the BGMs were definitely good.

Kamal as a writer has proved once again. The dialogues in last 1 hour was on par with crazy mohan dialogues (I am not sure if there was any contribution from Crazy Mohan for this movie).

Finally, ever successful KS Ravikumar. Kamal kind of writer definitely needs KSR kind of director to make the movie entertaining for everyone.

It is proved once again that Kamal-KSR combination will never go wrong!

Eesan - A decent attempt

While Sasikumar was so far dealing on villages and south Tamilnadu, this time he has given a full fledged city movie (with some scenes in 2nd half showing village). He has succeeded in showing the city culture (ECR, pub, party etc.). I was actually feeling like seeing a Venkat Prabhu movie.

The way he portrayed politicians and police was simply superb! No exaggeration and at the same time no adakki vaasithal. Ulladhu ullapadi! I would like to tell some dialgues which were very good but at the same time I am hesitant to spoil. So watch it in large screen!

His movies will usually have good amount of humor. But that is missing in this movie, may be he didn't want to interrupt the thrilling screenplay with comedy. Actually speaking, Sasikumar didn't succeed well in rendering a thrilling movie.

Though he managed to leave so many open ends and create a puzzle of how he is going to join everything, he didn't maintain a good thrill. But the introduction of that small boy was a good twist.

Vaibhav Reddy, yet another good performance. But he has to come out of the 'city guy' image and try some different type of movie too. 

Azhagappan was too good as a politician. 

Samuthrakani, as a character did a good job. But definitely he cannot be accepted as a hero. He is very stiff. There should be some dynamics for a hero. But I think, even Sasikumar didn't want any one as hero in this movie.

Abhinaya is gorgeous. Good that she got some scope to come in modern outfits too.

The complete crew has acted well. All were natural and helping for the smooth travel of movie.

James Vasanthan.... Songs are nice to hear but nothing got retained in mind. BGMs are ok ok type.

Final words to Sasikumar. You have got a good amount of family audience. Then why so much violence in this movie? Scenes following rape, final 15 mins of killing are horrible. You could have avoided them.

So how is Eesan? A decent attempt but definitely lacks Sasikumar's touch.

Chikku Bukku - Sleep Well ;)

Chikku Bukku is a run of the *SLOW* mill story. It has 2 (boring) love stories which merge in the climax without any impact.

An 'as usual role' for Arya and as usual decent acting by him.

Shriya was trying to act like Jenelia. But she didn't realise that Shreya or Jenelia or any heroine cannot help this movie by any means.

60% of Santhanam comedies were good (though they were not in synch with movie). And it is unfortunate that he comes only in 5% of the movie. Total disappointment for audience who came to theatre just because he was present in the movie. They were expecting a Boss Engira Baskaran kind of treat. Santhanam, FYI. You have gained a position so quickly which Vivek and Vadivelu took good amount of time to reach. Do try to retain it.

Music by Colonial cousins.... Dhayavu senju paduthaadheenga pa. Pls stop with your albums. You guys are not fit for film music.

Director Manikandan.. Ada poya useless fellow!

Friends, if you go for morning or afternoon shows you will feel sleepy. If you go for evening show also you will feel sleepy. If you go for night show, you will definitely sleep ;) Should you pay and have an uncomfortable sleep in theatre?

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).