Kalaippuli S.Thanu, known for his lavish expenses for his productions, is back after the huge success of 'Thuppaki'. This time, its the protege of his 'Thuppaki' director A.R Murugadoss, called Anand Shankar. The youngster has assembled a good team and has cast the fast emerging Vikram Prabhu and the current favorite of youth, Priya Anand. With a good production unit and a good technical crew behind him, can Anand Shankar replicate the success of his mentor for the same producer ?
Vikram Prabhu is getting good with each film of his and in 'Arima Nambi', he pulls of the action hero image, quite comfortably. His lanky physique, with a good screen presence helps him to nail the character quite well. The actor has been working on his looks and dance movements as well, and it seems to be paying off well ! Priya Anand has a very fashionable and upscale look to her character. She fits the bill and is the pivot around which the script revolves. She gets it right in the performance department as well, with an acute and mature acting. J.D Chakravarthy makes a deadly entry as the surprise antagonist of the film, and though the intense actor keeps our attention, the character somehow fizzes out to be an average villain we get to see in most Tamizh films. Arjunan, Yog Japee, Aruldass and etc have taken up some important character roles and there are cameo appearances from Lekha Washington and M.S Bhaskar, with the latter coming up with a terrific performance !
Costume designing is handled by Chaitanya Rao, Komal Shahani and Perumal Selvam, and their work was very good, complementing the look and design of the film. Since the film projected an upmarket feel, the lead artistes' costumes were trendy and stylish. One of the film's biggest asset is the action choreographer Dhilip Subbarayan. His action sequences were superbly staged and executed, especially the one before the climax. Though the action sequences were brilliantly executed, its quite obvious that the choreography is an imitation and has been inspired from the Bourne series, starring Matt Damon and directed by Paul Greengrass. Even the henchmen depicted, has the same hairstyle and body language ! T.Muthuraj's art direction was superb, especially with the detailing he has given to the posh apartment, hotel room, and office premises shown in the film. The properties bear a chic and stylish look throughout and adds more glossiness to the film. Editor Bhuvan Srinivasan's cuts are worth mentioning, especially for the action sequences, but he could have definitely trimmed the film's duration, especially for the lagging second half. Ace cinematographer R.D Rajasekhar proves once again, why he is known as a specialist cameraman for action scripts ! The visuals are superb and he has rightly captured the upmarket ambiance very well, especially for the song picturizations. His lighting for the night shots are fantastic as well and his work definitely helped the film achieve its intended look and feel.
Popular percussionist 'Drums' Sivamani makes his debut as a music director in this film. His music blends well with the script, though they are not chart-busters. "Yaaro Yaaraval" was shot in a Hard Rock Cafe ambiance, with excellent lighting and camera movements, within a limited space. The song has a MTV-music video like feel to it, and Vikram Prabhu shows his comfortableness in handling dance and song, as well. "Naanum Unnil" is a belly dance number, featuring svelte dancers in glamorous costumes. It was intended to look like a music-video shoot and R.D Rajasekhar's lighting comes handy, in giving the song the right mood. "Idhayam Un Idhayam" is a romantic duet, and was shot in the exotic and heavenly location of Erawan Falls, situated in the Erawan National Park of Kanchanaburi province, Thailand. The beautiful blue waterfall is a visual treat for the eyes, and R.D Rajasekhar has tried his best in delivering the scenic location from all sorts of interesting angles. Background score by Sivamani gelled well with the scenes and complemented the feel of the script. A decent debut for Sivamani !
Anand Shankar, a protege of A.R Murugadoss, has diligently followed in the footsteps of his mentor. His clever scripting for the first half keeps us glued to our seats, due to the onslaught of action sequences and the guessing game going on. Anand Shankar, keeps it simple with no irritating comedy portions, unwanted romance sequences nor heavy build ups for his protagonist. He maintains the tense mood for most of the film, and has inserted the action sequences at the right moment. His detailing work is excellent, especially with the clues, suspense element and also for his research homework on gadgetry and current world scenarios. There are one or two surprises thrown in the script, which keeps us enthralled. The first half was very well crafted and executed. But the second half takes a little beating, where Anand Shankar has taken the quintessential Tamizh cinema liberties, by infusing some 'masala' elements into the film. The second half drags unnecessarily and all logic took backseat, especially in the climax, where J.D Chakravarthy's antagonist role turns the whole police department into his private henchmen and our protagonist is as good as a trained secret service officer ! There are plenty of small loopholes and loose ends in the script and the director gives away the all-important crucial story of the script quite early and it also lacks some finesse in its writing. But Anand Shankar can be appreciated for his directorial skills and his handling of scenes, as well as good characterization works.
'Arima Nambi' - A trustworthy commercial film !
Ratings: 2.75/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
'Kalyana Samayal Saadham' has a very friendly-friendly look and feel to it, but debutante director R.S Prasanna, had an undercover "agenda" in his script, which is one of the most discussed about issues among adults. Newly-married, to be precise. With an ensemble cast of supporting artistes and a fresh, young technicians, this Arun Vaidyanathan (maker of Prasanna-Sneha starrer, 'Achamundu Achamundu') produced, did it live up to the expectations ?
First things, first. The lead pair has done a brilliant job, with their performances. The lead pair looked like a perfect match for each other, and its certainly a fresh pairing. Prasanna, must be applauded for taking up this role without any inhibitions, which might stroke the egos of other contemporary Tamizh cinema heroes. He is flawless with his dialogue delivery and has delivered a nuanced performance, underplaying whenever needed. He has improved his timing, in regards to comic sense. Lekha Washington makes a comeback, and she is a very apt choice for the role of a modern, Tamil Brahmin, IT-educated, bride. One wish that she gets more good roles, especially when we have a scarcity of good-looking and an able performer, among the girls ! The lead pair shares a good chemistry as the love-smitten, engaged couple and complements each other's character, quite well. The supporting cast such as 'Delhi' Ganesh, Uma Padmanabhan, Ragav, 'Kaathadi' Ramamurthy, Dr.Sharmila, 'Crazy' Mohan, M.J Shriram, Praveen, Neelu, Srilekha Parthasarathy, R.S Sivaji and etc were really lovable and cute in their roles, especially the seasoned veterans.
The film's technical crew has worked in tandem with the director's vision and presentation style, which is very commendable. Preethi Kanthan's costume designing was extensive, as she has kept the lead pair look very contemporary, yet retained the traditional Brahmin-look among the upper middle class, urban Brahmin community. Lekha was particularly pretty in the traditional attires. Sathyaraj.N's editing was neat and crisp, as he has kept the running time short and also for the excellent work he did in the "Facebook" themed song sequence. Arusamy's production design was simple yet sufficed the needs of the script. The Tamil Brahmin wedding scenarios and the beach-wedding, sets are the highlights of his work, in this film. Krishnan Vasant's cinematography works, is complimentary to the script's style and plot setting. He has maintained a pleasant look, throughout the film and his lighting gives a more joyous look for the second half of the film.
Flautist Naveen Iyer, prominent in the Carnatic circuit, makes his debut as music director, albeit under a different name, Arrora. His song compositions are in sync with the mood and feel of the script and also with R.S Prasanna's presentation. "Mella Sirithai" is the pick of the lot, which is very creatively shot and edited to look like a collage of Facebook timeline postings of the lead pair, with some situational dialogue sequences, interspersed. Brilliant stuff ! "Pallu Pona Raja" is a situational song, with plenty of montage sequences, focusing on the hero Prasanna, facing the 'crisis' of his life, before his impending marriage. "Kadhal Marandhaayada" is also a situational song, shot in a 'sangeet' ceremony setting, with plenty of characters and extras involved, but at the same time highlighting the unpleasant situation, faced by the lead pair. "Kalyanam 2.0" was used in bits and pieces in a couple of situations and "Modern Kalyanam" was used as the pre-climax song, featuring the reception function of the lead pair. Arrora scores well in the background music department too, and is definitely someone who can come up with pleasant melodies. Good debut !
R.S Prasanna must be appreciated for taking a bold, universal subject, which is seldomly discussed among newly weds and also for those who have an active sexual life. What's strikingly nice and pleasant in the film, is the realistic presentation by the director, who has penned life-like scenarios, surrounding the upper-class urban, Tamil-Brahmin milieu. Nothing is over-dramatized or very theatrical with R.S Prasanna's script and the dialogues, co-written along with producer Arun Vaidyanathan, are very subtle, smart, emotional, yet resonate a real-life feel and emotions to the script. The director seems to know the needs of the script very well, and has extracted good outputs from his artistes, who were helped by the director's well-written roles. Each character is very life-like and real, with very less cinematic approach in the artistes performance delivery. R.S Prasanna's screenplay is very straightforward and he has not tried any gimmicks, terms of techniques, which kept the audience at ease. As mentioned, dialogues are certainly good and comical, especially those by the lead pair and 'Crazy' Mohan. The second half seems to slow down a little, but the emotional content was needed to give, a more realistic appeal for the developments of the script.
'Kalyana Samayal Saadham' - R.S Prasanna has handled a 'dirty' issue in a squeaky-clean, light-hearted manner. Certainly delivered what it promised !
Ratings: 3/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
