SAGUNI MOVIE REVIEW

Karthi, the actor with an impressive box-office performance record is back to the silver screen after more than year of his last super-hit release, 'Siruthai'. This movie created good expectations, thanks to the return of his combination with Santhanam, the current "King of Comedy". Also, the coming together of few veteran actors and a political-satire template, generated good amount of  curiosity among the mass 'masala'/commercial cinema lovers. 'Saguni' is a character from Mahabharata. He is a schemer and comes up with interesting knots and twists in the epic mythology story. Judging by the trailer, Karthi's "Kamal" character too appears to be someone who is similar in nature to 'Saguni'. Will this new-age 'Saguni' enthrall the audience?

Karthi has turned in a natural performance. Nothing great to do in front of the camera, as his character nor the script did not demand intense scenes which evokes serious emotions. His warm yet naughty demeanor, catches the attention of the audience. He runs the show throughout the film and he appears in nearly most of the sequences. His dancing skills has improved quite a lot but he has to keep in check of his weight, because inconsistency in body shape is a terrible thing to watch in a movie. Santhanam rocks in his role as "Rajini" Appadurai and his camaraderie with Karthi was good. His one-liners were brilliant as usual and what made it more amusing was the banter between him and Karthi as "Rajini-Kamal". Though the film was marketed, with this combination as its main USP, it did not really meet the expectations it created and failed to beat their previous performance in 'Siruthai'. Heroine Pranitha (dubbing by Savitha), has nothing much to do/offer apart from appearing in a couple of scenes with the sad looks and looking pretty in songs. The big cast of veterans did what was expected out of them. Each and everyone delivered the right amount of expressions and body language needed for their roles. Prakash Raj (replacing Salim Ghouse), Kota Srinivasa Rao (dubbing by Rajender), Nassar, Raadhika takes the bulk of scenes among the lot. Prakash Raj was as efficient as the antagonist, Kota Srinivasa Rao was less serious and had more funny expressions which is a welcome relief. Nassar was fantastic with his comedy timing and dialogue delivery as the God-man and Raadhika had different shades to her character, from the Idly-seller to the Mayor. The rest of artistes like Roja (dubbing by Jayageetha), Kiran (replacing Mumtaz and dubbing by Priya Anand), V.S Raghavan, Manobala, Devadarshini, Delhi Ganesh, Naren, Chitra Letchumanan and etc fill up the screens with their timely presence. Anushka makes a cameo as a cute police officer and Andrea Jeremiah appeared in a small scene in a blink-and-you-will-miss role.

'Saguni' has a good team of technicians involved. Costumes by Neha was good especially for the lead pair in songs and also for the styling of Karthi in the second half which gave him a smart-look. 'Anal' Arasu's stunts was not bad with only two sequences and the better one was the short scene shot in the bar. Rajeevan once again does a neat job. The film involved lots of real-life locations, so its more of tweaking job for him to make the scene look believable, especially with the multitude of props. The election scenes and his set for the "Manasellam" song are noticeable. Veteran editor Sreekar Prasad seems to have struggled a lot in the editing department. The movie was unnecessary long but judging from the teasers and trailers released, he must have done lots of chopping as many scenes were already missing! P.G Muthiah did what was needed for the film in the cinematography department. His lighting and top angles shots were good. G.V Prakash, flexes his skill this time in a out-and-out commercial script. "Kandha Karavadai" was a simple and chill song with the energetic Shankar Mahadevan behind the mic. It was shot in plenty of locations like harbor, streets, flyover, buildings and etc. Sreekar did well in making the song look smooth with his editing. "Manasellam" had beautiful sceneries  from the Eastern European countries with soft lighting and the set work too was not bad with good lighting and color tones. "Vella Bambaram" was shot in the city centers of Poland and also had a soft and cute color tone throughout the film with chirpy dance movements from the lead pair. "Pottadhu Patthale" had a good bar set but could have made it look even more realistic. This song had good and unique dance movements with Santhanam too making his efforts. "Annachi" song was a rather situational one with extensive props from Rajeevan. G.V should have done better in his background score. He repeats the same track he used for his 'Veyil' theme-music in one of the scenes and apart from Anushka's sequence, the film had pretty average score from him.

Shankar Dayal made the script in such a way where, the first half had all the comedy portions and romances and the second half with all the twists and turns of the 'Saguni'. The intention of making and out-and-out commercial movie was very much evident and keeping that in mind, he has taken the liberty of over-looking logic and coherence in the story. The characters are all cinematic and just black-and-white, either they are good/innocent or dirty/villainous. The film does have one or two witty one-liners here and here, but its far apart from each other. Songs were unnecessary speed-breakers, especially in the first half. The director promised again and again through interviews that each character has its beginning, transition and end phase to them but sadly he did not live up to his words as many characters have no proper depth to them and some of them just disappear from the screenplay without any explanation.

'Saguni' is a pretty average product and though the intentions of doing a commercial 'masala' cinema was made out clearly, the film did not live up to the expectations and promises it made. An average time-pass 'masala' flick.


Ratings: 2.5/5 STARS

BY:TAMIL

MUPPOZHUDHUM UN KARPANAIGAL MOVIE REVIEW

Atharvaa Murali makes a comeback with this wonderfully titled film, after the demise of his wonderful father, actor Murali. "Muppozhudhum Un Karpanaigal" has been marketed as a trendy, urbane and slick thriller with good music and cinematography. Debutant Elred Kumar who helms the director's chair is surprisingly the producer behind RS Infotainment, and its a rarity to see a producer turning into a director. Added to that, Amala Paul has been glamorized up for this film and the chemistry between the leading pair is the selling point of the film.

Atharvaa as the troubled IT employee made his mark as a decent debutant in "Baana Kaathadi" continues his fine form in this film as well. He dances well and shows good agility in stunt sequences, and showed more improvement from his first film. With the guidance of more prolific directors, this guy has very good potential to be a powerful performer. Kudos to him for carrying this whole film on his shoulders, though its only his second outing. Amala Paul was cool and breezy throughout the film and so far, this has been her most glamorous outing yet in Tamizh cinema with trendy and chic costumes, a straight contrast to her "Kadhalil Sodhappuvadhu Eppadi" looks. Besides that, it was a change with Chinmayi doing the dubbing for her this time, which actually suits the character which she plays. With two releases at the same time, she is the current hot babe of Tamizh cinema. Jayaprakash was cool and trendy as usual, with this flawless dialogue delivery and voice modulations. Nassar was decent as usual in an limited role and Anupama Kumar and Yashika did what was expected from them. The biggest disappointment though was Santhanam. His comedy track was totally unnecessary to the screenplay and most of his jokes didn't really take off well.

Since Elred Kumar himself has produced this film, it is obvious that he has spent lavishly and its evident through the fantastic output of the film. The DI work by Gemini Labs was well done in 6K and shows very good picture quality. Kiran's art direction was trendy with the posh apartment and office of IT suites, all depicted in a very stylish and contemporary style. But not only that, the artwork in village sequences too were very natural and minimal. Antony L.Ruben's editing was neat, but he could have trimmed the film a bit and made the screenplay racier with the arrangements of scenes. Rajasekar's stunts incorporated some new style of fighting techniques like Parkour and Beacon but he could have avoided the use of the ropes as some stunt shots look fake. Deepali Noor's costumes made the characters look chic, casual and trendy, especially for Amala Paul who comes in various designer dresses throughout the film. The biggest asset to the film though, is cinematographer Shakthi. His framing and visuals were fantastic with such cool and breezy shots, giving the whole film a very calm feeling. The usage of blue tone nearly throughout the film, maintains the cool and aesthetic feel. This man, has a great future in cinema and will be one to lookout for. Kudos to Shakthi!

GV Prakash's music was cool and trendy as well. "Mazhai Pozhiyum" was well captured in the Grand Canyons and follows a road travel theme throughout. One of the rare occasions, where cinematographer Shakthi adopts a different tone color in the film where the whole song was given a warm feeling, with light orange tinge. "O Sunandha" was done in montages and follows the lead pair throughout Bengaluru with well placed angles in camera. "Oru Murai" is the best of the lot and though the picturization was hyped up as it was done in the world's largest gift shop, Bonanza Shop in the Las Vegas strip, it didn't really live up to the hype it generated. But it was still well shot, with cool choreography by Brindha and shot in music video style. Not to forget, the wonderful lyrics of Thamarai. "Sokku Podi" is the usual set-song and the sets were done keeping in mind with the cool-blue theme of the film and Prasanna's choreography was decent. "Yaar Aval Yaaro" was also done in a music video style with untried Gothic theme and the graphic works by Pixon was decent. "Kangal Neeyae" is another flashback montage song, aesthetically shot and also incorporates a warmer color tone. The disappointing fact is that, the songs are a drawback to the film as it slows down the screenplay and was more of a roadblock in the story. GV Prakash should avoid lifting tracks from other sources as one piece of his BGM work was directly inspired from Zack Hemsey's "Mind Heist" track which was incidentally used as the music piece in the initially trailer of the mind-bending Christopher Nolan's classic "Inception"! His other haunting piece which comes throughout the film, was well scored though.

The problem with Elred Kumar's film is that, it has a weak script though the basic storyline is an interesting one. Though the film was made to look like a classy one, once in a while it incorporates unnecessary commercial aspects like comedies, flashbacks, sentiments and etc. Initially, the film was touted to be a romantic thriller but then the romance quotient was not properly emphasized leaving the audience with only the thrills to savor. The script does have its good moments, especially with the scenes just before interval, which really keeps the audience guessing of what is happening. But the thrill and momentum was not sustained at all, and sadly few questions went unanswered and loopholes were evident here and there in the screen which cannot be excused and as mentioned earlier, songs were just pure roadblocks. A couple of dialogues were crisp and witty but they are far in between in the screenplay. A few different perceptions where thrown into the screenplay which looks forced.

Elred Kumar titled the film spot on beautifully, enhanced the film with good technicians and was lavish in spending but let us down with a loophole-filled script.


Ratings: 2.5/5 STARS

BY:TAMIL

MAYAKKAM ENNA MOVIE REVIEW

Mayakkam Enna was anticipated with great expectations thanks to the chart-busting tracks of GV Prakash and also having the stamp of Selvaraghavan-Dhanush combination which has worked wonders before. Dhanush is on a all-time high, fresh from becoming the National Award winner, but he had to score in this film as his previous 2 releases, Mappilai and Venghai were damp squibs. As for Selvaraghavan, it's a total changeover from Aayirathil Oruvan and the theme was something he handles very well and known for, darker personalities of common people and their relationships.

The film belongs to Dhanush as he delivered a smashing performance. Certainly one of the best in his whole career, Mayakkam Enna brought out more refined performances from Dhanush. He scored in all the transitional periods, be it from the amateur photographer, to a caring husband, a drunkard on the verge of losing his sanity and finally a matured man who has seen success. His facial expressions and the subtle emotions were well punctuated with controlled dialogue delivery and intonations. It's really difficult to pick out the best scene of his in the film and its amazing to see Dhanush evolving into an intense performer. He has raised his bar and more accolades are on the way to his doorstep. Debutante Richa Gangopadhyay couldn't have asked for a better entry into Tamizh cineam. She is the pivot of the script where, the story unfolds around her and is very much impressive. Selvaraghavan's films do have strong women roles and here it goes to Richa. She is neck-to-neck performance wise, with Dhanush and her best scene was certainly the outburst she did in the second half. With no dialogues, it was a brilliant moment from her and she pulled it off with intense emotions and body language. Another added plus point to her is the dubbing of Deepa Venkat as the voice of her character. Kudos to Deepa as well for a near perfect dubbing and adding strength to the character of Yamini. Sunder Ramu, a professional photographer himself, makes his debut here as a friend of Dhanush and he was very much adequate and pulled off the fun portions of the film, very well. Raviprakash as the scheming ace photographer was good and it's a good changeover from his roles. Mathivanan, Soni, Shilpi and Rajiv completes the cast and all were very natural and reflected the current trend among friends in real-life, on-screen.

GV Prakash's music was already a huge hit and this is certainly one of his best albums ever. It's very rare these days to see an whole album becoming a chartbuster. Picturizations were neatly done as well. "Voda Voda" was fun with animations thrown in between and it was done in a quirky manner. "Kaadhal Yen Kaadhal" had the usual dance routine but the placement of the song was perfect and elevated the mood and feel of the song further. "Naan Sonnadhum Mazhai" had a neat cut-shot style with montages and so as "Pirai Thedum" though certain styles in "Naan Sonnadhum" was similar to the song "Pul Pesum" in the movie 'Pudhupettai'. Background score was on par with the quality of the songs and it was a brilliant touch by GV Prakash to use silence in necessary places to propel the impact of the scene further. Job very well done! The other strong element of the film is cinematographer Ramji. Since the film revolves around a photographer, many scenes were beautifully shot akin to a picture-postcard frames especially the shots in the forest and busy streets and lanes though he could have toned down the coloring of certain portions to be more natural. Kola Bhaskar's editing was very crisp but he could have trimmed a few scenes more in the second half. Kiran's job as an art director was simple and clear cut but a higher production cost could have ensured even better outputs especially with the awards presentation sequence. Gitanjali Selvaraghavan's costumes made the hero-heroine pair to look simple and at the same time, trendy.

Selvaraghavan chose a simple and easy plot to convey this time, yet it has all the necessary ingredients expected in his films. Dark emotions, weird relationships, subtle comedies and hard-hitting emotions. As promised, this film showcased the current situation among the youths and teenagers. Any director can come up with such simple story-lines but only talented people can make it engaging and hard-hitting and Selva is one. He conceived powerful and emotion-filled scenes and extracted nothing but the best from the artistes. The bus-stop scene, post-abortion sequence, pre-"Kadhal Yen Kadhal" scenes all had the stamp of Selvaraghavan throughout. Another brilliant touch from him is the usage of silence as a tool in making progress in scenes. There was one obvious flaw towards the end, in the film which doesn't correlate with the timeline of the plot and Selva should have corrected it to maintain continuity.

Mayakkam Enna, a real treat for Selvaraghavan fans. A simple one though, this time.

Ratings: 3.5/5 STARS

BY:TAMIL

DEIVA THIRUMAGAL/DEIVA THIRUMAGAN MOVIE REVIEW

Deiva Thirumagal or if we choose to stick to the original title which was Deiva Thirumagan, was creating lots of buzz and expectations among fans of Cheeyan Dr.Vikram and the general audience as well, thanks to the teaser of Vikram inviting people to the theaters. Once the film, went into the hands of UTV, the media was bombarded with lots of videos, trailers, interviews, stills and etc which created a big hype over this film. Besides that, this is the next offering of director AL Vijay who's last was the super hit and much acclaimed Madrasapattinam. Do both AL Vijay and Vikram live up to the expectations?? It's a thumping yes and they did it with heartfelt honesty.

Dr Cheeyan Vikram, has done a fantabulous job. There are no words to describe his talents as an actor and after a long time, Vikram has delivered a knockout performance and certainly this film will be in the ranks as one of his best performances on screen. The seasoned actor has delivered in all aspects, be it emoting, voice modulation and body language. He has literally lived as the character Krishna, and it must be extremely taxing for him, mentally especially to prepare for this role and to pull it of easily. Although, he garners the viewers' sympathies throughout the film, the court room scene and the following ending sequence was the best and his reactions and emotions conveyed through his eyes, was totally heartbreaking. Simply superb from him. Cheeyan, you ROCK !!

Anushka as the struggling advocate Anuradha should be applauded as well for coming up with a very composed performance. Certainly this one was her best performance in her entire career so far, apart from Arundhathi. Besides that it's a welcome relief to see her in a well etched, homely role, which is more of liker her actual persona rather than the glamdoll, glamorous role she's used to doing. Amala Paul continues her decent run with a matured performance and if she continues this form, she will mold into a very good actress. Nassar as the cunning and feared lawyer, is impressive and very much apt for that role and it must have been a cake walk for the veteran performer. Santhanam, is on a hot streak and though he has lesser scope as a comedian compared to his other movies, he doesn't fail to evoke laughter in every scene which he appears. He has improved himself with better modulations and expressions and his best scene is the "Tea-Coffee" scenes. Totally hilarious. AL Vijay has the same behaviour as director Hari by having lots of co-artistes in the film. All of them such as MS Bhaskar, Sachin Khedekar, Y Gee Mahendran, Krishna Kumar, Surekha, "Black" Paandi, Karthik Kumar, Madurai George, MR Kishore, Priya, Master Amresh, NL Srinivasan did their roles decently and effectively.

But out of all this big group of performers, the actual scene stealer is the little girl "Baby" Sarah, a top child model from Mumbai who did the popular Boyfriend-Girlfriend ad for McDonalds. She's such a cute little thing and conquers the hearts of all the viewers as the daughter of Vikram in the film. It's a very matured performance actually from a girl who is known for being very expressive and outspoken and she has left a deep impact among audiences just like how Shamili did in the classic Mani Ratnam film "Anjali".

AL Vijay gets the best of technicians in this film and the first to be mentioned is the music composer GV Prakash. This combinations is turning out to be one of the best in Tamizh cinema and GV Prakash's music goes hand in hand with the entire script. All his songs are good and soothing to hear, be it "Aariro", "Vizhigalil", "Kadhai Solla Poren" which was beautifully written by Na Muthukumar and not to forget his theme track "Life is Beautiful". His background score also complements well in the film and it does manage to pull the heartstrings of audiences in certain places. Definitely one of his best work. Nirav Shah's camera is another major asset for this film. His camera movements in the opening sequences and the angles he chooses to capture the emotions of the artistes, really elevates the mood of the film and he showed his skill as an ace cinematographer in the picturization of the "Vizhigalil" song. Santhanam's sets, especially the chocolate factory and in the interiors of Krishna's house are very realistic and simple. Anthony as usual was decent in the editing department, though he could have done little better in the first half. Deepali Noor's costumes was perfect for the entire cast and she really made all three girls, Anushka, Amala and Sarah to look beautiful in the film.

AL Vijay did say that he was got the inspiration for Krishna's character by observing people he know off in real life besides films such as I Am Sam and Rain Man. Judging by the storyline, it looks like not only the characterization of Sean Penn in the film I Am Sam was his inspiration but the whole basic storyline of that film, is an inspiration as well. AL Vijay has taken the basic thread of that Hollywood film and tweaked/fine-tuned it and presented his own version of that storyline. He handled the script and the characters very maturely and presented it as a very honest and sincere film. His dialogues are one of the highlights and the movie has many good one's. There are nothing much to complain apart from the slow moving first half.

Deiva Thirumagal has certainly lived up to expectations it created and leaves a deep impact in the hearts and minds of the audiences and it's no surprise to see or hear people having tears in their eyes once the film was over. An emotional, sensitive and honest film.


Ratings: 3.5/5 STARS

BY:TAMIL

AADUKALAM MOVIE REVIEW

One of the most eagerly expected movies of the year. After the big success of Polladhavan, the Dhanush-Vetrimaaran duo is back once again with this rooster-fight based film and what a show it was!! Vetrimaran has surely cemented his place as one of the finest contemporary directors of Tamizh cinema and thank GOD, Polladhavan's success was not a fluke. Making a rural based film is not new to Tamizh cinema, considering the fact that after the success of Paruthi Veeran and Subrmaniapuram, more Madurai based films have come out with it's share dose of violence and bloodshed. But what makes Aadukalam stand out is the different backdrop it's based on and the realistic portrayals of the human beings involved in such backdrop, in this case the playing field of rooster-fights. Definitely this is an international class film which makes us to be proud of.

One man which makes this movie so commendable is the lead hero Dhanush. What a performance from this guy who proved all the naysayers that he's a hero with substance and for breaking the stereotypical mould of a hero. This is certainly one of Dhanush's best performance after Kadhal Kondein and Pudhupettai. Vettrimaran has done a fantastic job of extracting the best from Dhanush after Selvaraghavan and Balu Mahendra. Every single movement, emotion and dialogue delivery of Dhanush is so life like that we must say that he has lived as Karuppu. No matter which scenes they are, from the joy he showed hearing the heroine loves him, the disappointment he faces learning the bitter truth, the loyalty he shows towards his mentor, the emotional scenes after the death of his mother and the determination of keeping his rooster still in the match, Dhanush has simply lived the role and his performance was mind blowing with the fluent accent of Madurai, delivered flawlessly. Certainly he's on the list next year for the best actor's awards nominations list. Literatuer Jayabalan as Pettaikaaran was a revelation with stunning body language and emotions conveyed through his eyes and not to forget the almost perfect dubbing of Radha Ravi for him.. Simply marvelous. Kishore once again was a powerhouse and the dubbing for him done by Samuthirakani was apt with the slang but it would have been much better if Kishore spoke in his own voice which would have been more impactful. New gal Tapsee carried the role of and Anglo Indian quite well but she still has a lot of catching up to do. All the small roles done by junior artistes were real and life like.

Technically the film is top notch with Velraj's cinematography being the important backbone of the film. All the small details of the ring side of rooster fight, the small and dingy houses and the shots of the roosters was awesome. The night effect shots was beautiful as well with minimal lights giving the surreal feel. The color tone used for the film is well matched with the theme of the movie. GV Prakash once again struck big time with his songs especially Yathe Yathe and Aiyaiyo Nenju being the highlights. The BGM adds weightage to the films quality. Art direction was perfect with every minute details drawn out from the ring side, the farm houses, the bar sets and also the Anglo Indian houses. Stunts by Rajasekhar was realistic with the last fight scene being the best of all the fight scenes in the film. All credits should go to Vetrimaaran the director for doing intense research and presenting the audience a totally different world of rooster fighting with sheer quality in presentation. The only drawback in the script is the slow second half where the screenplay takes time to unravel the reasons behind the riveting climax.

Final verdict, Aadukalam is just a touch of class and hope Vetrimaaran continues to present us with different themed films in the future with more quality in mind. A big thumbs up to him for making Tamizh cinema proud..

Rating: 4/5 STARS

BY: TAMIL