Fox Star Studios and path-breaking producer, C.V Kumar of Thirukumaran Entertainment have joined hands and produced an intriguingly titled project called, 'Mundasupatti'. Directed by newcomer Ram Kumar of 'Naalaiya Iyakkunar' fame, this movie is based on a short film which Ram Kumar did for the television reality show. A lot is riding on this film for Vishnu Vishal, and can 'Mundasupatti' and Fox Star Studios salvage his career ?
As for Vishnu Vishal, this is a perfect comeback for him because he is at ease in doing a full length comedy film, though it is his career first. His laid-back dialogue delivery was pretty cool for his character and his screen presence is commendable. The props which accompanies him throughout the film, complements his character, be it the Yashica camera or his scooter. Nandita too looks super comfortable in the her simpleton village belle role. Her body language and mannerisms fits the character quite well and she's pleasing presence in the film. But the two guys who steal the show is Kaali Venkat and Ramdoss, as the sidekick and an aspiring actor, respectively. Kaali Venkat scores with his dialogue delivery which has plenty of sly remarks. The actor was able to carve a style for himself and is omnipresent, throughout the film. Ramdoss, plays an eccentric but humorous character to near perfection. His unique voice modulation and dialogue delivery, with flashy costumes, makes his character to have a certain charm. Veteran Anandaraj delivers the goods, with experience backing him up thoroughly and he too holds his special moments in the film. The rest of the cast such as Gajaraj, Aadesh, Pasupathiraj, Madurai Mohan, 'Lollu Sabha' Manohar, Rahul, Supramani, Kovai Uma, Kambam Meena and etc blends into the film and its plot setting very well.
The film has slick and top notch technical works, considering that it is a medium budget film. Jegathesan handles the costume designing and his work was excellent, especially for the costumes of Vishnu Vishal, Kaali Venkat and Ramdoss, who appeared most of the time in the flashy and colorful 70's & 80's look, especially with the bell bottom pants. Complementing the costumes, is the art direction work, done by Gopi Anand. The properties, especially like the old Yashica camera, Jawa scooter and camera equipments are the highlights. Also, the village and town streets and the small stores, were very well researched and executed by Gopi. Terrific job ! Leo John Paul's editing has a smooth transition from one scene to another and there are some unique cuts in some scenes, but he could have trimmed the duration of the film, especially in the first half. 'Billa' Jagan's action choreography complements the style of the film and whatever action scenes required were neatly composed and executed. P.V Shankar's cinematography was excellent, especially with the handling of vibrant tones and colors, yet the earthy and warming feel of the script was retained. His indoor shots deserves particular mention, especially with the funeral sequences, in which good lighting and camera angles were used.
Sean Roldan's musical score was fun and groovy and it complements the quirky nature of the script. "Uchiyile Udhichavane" is the opening song, which highlights a superstitious beginning of the villagers towards a 'deity' and is a situational song. "Idhu Enna" is a beautiful melody, used as a background score sporadically, throughout the film, which can look overused for some viewers. "Rasa Magarasa" is wacky funeral cum love song, and was shot on all the pivotal characters of the film, which had a funeral scene as the story and some funny moments in it. "Killadi Oruthan" is shot on Vishnu, Kaali, Ramdoss and Nandita and highlights the plight of Vishny and Kaali, serving their 'punishment' for abusing the trust the villagers had on them. There are a few comical montages shot for this particular song. "Kadhal Kanave" is the proper duet song for the lead pair, which was entirely shot in a village setting and has plenty of montages interspersed. "Aambule Singam" plays during the end credits, which has additional scenes from the film. Sean Roldan's background score too must be commended, especially for the funny and rollicking sounds he infused, which raises the humor quotient to several notches. Sean definitely deserves credit for the light-hearted moments of the film !
Debutante Ram Kumar makes no bone about his intentions in coming up with a clean comedy film and he has succeeded to certain extent. The wacky story-line, which has many silly elements infused into the script, tickles our funny bones. There's nothing pretentious with the script and story and the film is meant to be enjoyed as a silly film. Ram Kumar's idea is simple and he weaves a wacky situational comedy around the idea, with the peppering of humorous dialogues and apt characterizations, which were neatly performed by impressive artists. There is no logic nor any believable element with the story, but that should not be the hindrance in enjoying the film ! The intermission sequence was a rip-roaring episode and Ram Kumar keeps the momentum going on with more memorable sequences in the second half. The final 20 minutes of the film is pure fun and comedy, which keeps us entertained non-stop. The length of the film is a concern though, and since the original idea was a short-film, the strain in stretching the film's duration for more than 2 hours, is evident here and there, especially in the first half. Nevertheless, 'Mundasupatti' will make sure that you finish watching the film, with a smile on your face.
'Mundasupatti' - A sure-shot winner for Fox Star Studios and C.V Kumar's Thirukumaran Entertainment !
Ratings: 3/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
The small budget film 'Poovarasam Peepee' is the debut film for Halitha Shameem, a former protege of Pushkar-Gayathri, Mysskin and Samuthirakani. Co-produced by cinematographer Manoj Paramahamsa, a film on kids is very much welcomed, due to its rarity in Tamizh cinema, except for the recently released 'Goli Soda'. So, can Halitha pull off another charmer like Pandiraj's 'Pasanga' or?
The protagonists are the kids and the trio of Pravin Kishore, C.Gaurav Kaalai and Vasanth have come out with decent performances. Pravin Kishore has a very good screen presence and timing with his dialogues. C.Gaurav Kaalai, has the capability to bloom into an artiste with good dialogue delivery. Vasanth, the cherubic comedian of the trio, looks very comfortable in doing his role. The rest of the kids such as Varshini, Agalya, Gayathrishree, Bharathi, Guhan Kaalai and Ajith are apt for their roles, especially the former two. The antagonists played by Giri Prasath, Kaali Venkat, Sai Hari, Sundar, Karthik and etc have come out with what was expected from them. Kaali Venkat stood out among this lot, with his convincing and confident performance. Samuthirakani makes a cool cameo, towards the climax.
The film was mostly shot on real locations, hence the art direction mostly comprised of props. T.Muthuraj must be complimented for the prop settings he did, especially with windmill and the tree swathed with answer sheets. Also, the minute detailing on the props used by the kids was very authentic and reflected the setting the kids belong to. Editing task has been handled by the director herself. Though she neatly arranges her sequences, the editing was abrupt and thanks to too many sub-plots, the film drags unnecessarily. Some chopping could have done wonders to the film. The film's real highlight is the beautiful cinematography work done by Manoj Paramahamsa. The rain sequence, deserves a special mention for the exquisite framing and camera movement. There are plenty of good landscape shots and Manoj's creativity speaks volume, if you notice the sequence featuring the boys discussing about answer sheets on a tree. Halitha Shameem also takes charge of the color grade of the film and it complements the look and feel of the script, quite well.
Aruldev's music composition passes muster. "Ko Ko Ko" is the opening introductory song for the kids and was shot entirely on a rural school compound. The song highlights the naughty pranks thrown by the kids in the school and Manoj's tight angle in cinematography, deserves mention. "En Ulagam" is a bit song, highlighting the squabble between the boys, in regards to their mini love episodes. "Gnayiru Dhinangalil", throws focus on each individual kids' ambitions and personal joys. The final climax song is the "Angry Birds" song, which has montages of the kids on their plans to bring down the culprits. The background score by Aruldev was okay, though the beginning portion, which had heavy melodramatic score, was really unwarranted.
Halitha Shameem's script is unique in its idea of having juvenile boys solving a crime case. That's an obvious inspiration from popular writer Enid Blyton's formula for her 'Famous Five' series of story books. Halitha seems to have a knack for funny and quirky dialogues, but the staging and execution was far from flawless. There are plenty of sequences with abrupt endings, which jerks the screenplay, losing maximum impact, in the process. Halitha throws in a lot of unnecessary sub-plots which drags the film and at the same time, does not linger enough to register in our minds nor evoke any empathy from us. But still, Halitha should be appreciated for sticking to the lead characters and drawing up sequences, befitting the age and capabilities of the young kids. The radio broadcast sequence, takes the cake among Halitha's ideas. Halitha has trod the fine thin line, of balancing adult issues together with kids inquisitiveness very well, which deserves appreciation. A surprising aspect of the film, must definitely be the liberal usage of English among the rural kids and some of the terminologies used, definitely reflects the impact of globalization.
'Poovarasam Peepee' - Kids will take a liking to the film, adults might find it as a neat and family friendly time-pass.
Ratings: 2.5/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
Balaji Mohan simply oozes quirkiness and wittiness in his writing and with the runaway success of his debut, he is back with an intriguingly titled film, 'Vaayai Moodi Pesavum'. The trailers and teasers spelled a fun rom-com, with a young cast and crew and a stylish presentation idea, can Balaji Mohan pull it off for the second time ? Can Tamizh cinema-fans expect a jolly, good ride with 'Vaayai Moodi Pesavum' ?
Making his Tamizh cinema debut is Dulquer Salmaan, the son of Malayalam Superstar Mammootty breezes through his role as the cherubic and talkative sales agent. Building upon the confidence of his Malayalam films' success, Dulquer makes a fantastic debut in this film and is also nearly flawless with his Tamizh pronunciation and dialogue delivery. A definite talent to look out for and hope Tamizh cinema utilizes his acting capability more and better. Nazriya Nazim was simply too good as the beautiful but introvert medical doctor. She perfectly nailed her character and shares good vibes with Dulquer. Madhubala or Madhoo makes her comeback to Tamizh cinema and my word, she looks gorgeous even after all these years and her experience speaks for her, with those minute and fabulous expressions, she gave ! There's a brigade of character artistes in this film and all of them are just wacky personalities. From the mumbling politician R.Pandiarajan, his wise-cracking assistant Kaali Venkat, the foul-mouthed Arjunan, the crazy 'Nuclear Star' John Vijay and his die-hard fan Ramesh Thilak, the always-drunk 'Robo' Shankar, the grumpy and wealthy, old Vinu Chakravarthy, and finally, Balaji Mohan himself as the wily newscaster, made their marks as each one of them has their own different sub-plots in the film. Besides them, there are a few more artistes like RJ Balaji, Nakshathra Nagesh, Abhinav, Satya Priya, Kamala Krishnaswamy, Abhishek, Mime Gopi and etc in the cast. Cool casting, indeed !
Niranjani Ahathian takes care of the costume designing and her work adds more color and charm to the film's presentation. The characters looked lively and colorful thanks to the vibrant costumes, especially for the gorgeous ladies, in the film ! Art direction is handled by A.R Mohan and his art work seamlessly blended with the natural surroundings. The indoor set-up of the lead characters' homes and rooms, were well detailed and had a sense of stylishness to them. Abhinay Sunder Nayak handles the editing, and though his cuts were smooth and easy on the eyes, he could have trimmed some scenes of the several sub-plots of the film. Some episodes become tiresome after a while and is only there for the funny-gag quotient. Nevertheless, it was still a clean and neat work from him. S.Soundar Rajan's cinematography was excellent, especially with the way he projected Munnar, as the cool and beautiful hill station, with his color tone and lighting pattern. Besides that, his camera movements add more zing and fun into the screenplay and complements Balaji Mohan's writing.
Young and fresh music composer Sean Roldan, popular within the independent music album circles, makes his debut in Tamizh cinema. The light-hearted touches and also the groovy touches he gives to his track, has its own charm and effect for the songs. "Shut Up" is the title track and appears during the beginning credits, which has a plain color palette based animation. "Podhum Ini" is the first track and is shot on Dulquer, with plenty of cut-shots, well put together by Abhinay and Munnar's green hillsides were beautifuly captured by S.Soundar Rajan. "Kadhal Ara" is the funky love track, which has mini fantasy episodes in the song, which had simple set works and interspersing of the original story track. "Udaigiren" is a slow, pathos number, which was shot on most of the main characters, especially with the lead pair, in their sad moments, which were shot and shown in montages. "Maatraparavai" becomes a sort of 'happy-endings' song for the characters which were facing separate dilemmas, in their respective sub-plots. The theme tracks such as "Mr.Fix-IT", "Beedhiya Kelappa Jazz" and "The Sound of Silence" appear sporadically, throughout the film, and feature prominently in the second half. Sean Roldan's background score in the second half, adds a good deal of impetus for the film's screenplay, since everyone goes 'silent' in the film. A very good debut !
What works in Balaji Mohan's 'Vaayai Moodi Pesavum', is the simple message of how important and pertinent communication is to each and everyone, and how people take granted of it, being presented in a very fun, and quirky format ! The sub-plots, though has their own respective agendas, are simply funny and very well written by Balaji. Adding more credence to the fun-factor are Balaji's minute and creative ideas, be it the bulletins running during the prime news, the epic YouTube mash-up of R.Pandiarajan's mumbling act, the 'censoring' idea of Arjunan's foul-mouthed ramblings, the spoof and satire of cinema artistes and their real life antics, and etc, etc. Balaji has a proper structure to his screenplay and the second half, falls perfectly well, in which the message was articulately presented. The styling and overall look of the film, be it music, color, picturization, fonts and etc, complemented the script very well, and turned 'Vaayai Moodi Pesavum' as a cool and breezy, up-market entertainer of the year, thus far ! The second half slackens in the pace category, especially with the sentimental episodes, but nonetheless the scenes, were handled maturely. As mentioned earlier, the characters were very well written, keeping in mind the comedy element, and helping the artistes to make their characters stand out, are the humorously written dialogues, which had plenty of witticism, in them. Balaji Mohan has definitely set out a trend in light humor genre, and that too with a dash of fiction in it. This is what you call a whiff of fresh breeze, in Tamizh cinema !
'Vaayai Moodi Pesavum' - Eccentricity woven into the script, with tenacity !
Ratings: 3.25/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
