After the successful 'Thegidi', TCS Studios and C.V Kumar's Thirukumaran Entertainment have joined hands once again for another small/medium budget film, 'Sarabham'. Named after a mythical half-lion & half-bird creature, this film is the debut venture for its director, Arun Mohan, who happens to be the son of popular comedy artiste Anu Mohan. With C.V Kumar's support, can 'Sarabham' be another feather in the cap for Thirukumaran Entertainment ?
Lesser known Tamizh and Telugu actor Naveen Chandra comes up with an above average performance and has mouthed the dialogues properly, which enabled Gautham to dub in perfect lip-sync for him. He can work out more on his expressions, which goes flat at times. With more films, he should work it up and improve his acting credibility. Debutante heroine, the Delhi model Salony Luthra was impressive in some sequences, but falters in the emotionally-charged scenes, which was a necessity due to her unconventional character's various dimensions. Her characterization reminds us of Angelina Jolie's brooding and mysterious Hollywood roles, she donned. Raagini Sree's voice suits Salony, to the tee. She can do better and she has to do better if she's to survive as an actress. Naren, comes clean with a very measured performance, but the actor can definitely deliver more. The whole film is based on these three artistes and the supporting cast such as 'Kadhal' Kannan, 'Boys' Rajan, Shankara Narayanan, Thilak, Sam Anton and etc are just there to fill up the script's needs.
Technically the film is sleek, with some good outputs from the able technicians. Vishnu Govind and Sree Sankar's sound designing was a big boost for the film, because of the many background score-less scenes. The climax action sequence, deserves appreciation. Preethi Kanthan's costume designing was apt, especially with Salony Luthra's costumes, which demanded changes in accordance to the changeover of her character. But better designing could have been worked out for Naveen Chandra and Naren. Anbariv's action choreography was minimal, but was effectively and neatly executed, with only the climax scene having a real sense of action. A.Gopi Anand's art direction sufficed the needs of the script and his work with the posh apartment setting of the protagonist's home and the female lead's home, deserves mention. The posh, upmarket feel and look was achieved. Leo John Paul's no-nonsense editing worked well for the script and the duration was kept tight, with the running time going just above 2 hours. Krishnan Vasant's cinematography adds the necessary glossy touch and his work complemented the director's vision, especially with the distinctive camera movements and also for the lighting, which gave the film a fixed mood and look, throughout.
Music is handled by Britto Michael and his scores are just passable since the songs are just situational and goes along the screenplay. "Pudhidhaai Or Iravu" was shot on the lead pair and has montages of them, roaming around Chennai at night. Krishnan Vasant's lighting for the shots was okay, though the clubbing sequence could have been better. "Bodhaiyil Paadhai" was shot on Naveen Chandra and is also full of night shots and montages of the Chennai streets at dead-night. "Neram" sung by Usha Uthup appears during the end credits. Britto Michael's background score worked well for the film, especially with the inclusion of the "Sarabham Theme" track sung by Malaysian artiste Rabbit.Mac, at the right moments (during the 'surprise' moments, to be precise).
Arun Mohan has knitted a tight screenplay revolving around the three important characters alone, which keeps the proceeding from not going out of path. But the screenplay lacks pace and some spunky energy needed for such simple thrillers, especially when you have lesser known artistes, who struggles to hold our attention or have the charismatic appearance. Also, the screenplay gives space to some loopholes in the script and also left some questions being unanswered, especially with the scenes involving the police. What Arun Mohan makes up for the lack of pace, are the shocking twists in the second half. He keeps his cards very close and slowly unravels to us one by one, before jolting us with a big surprise, right after the interval. That surprise element keeps us engaged, but for those audience who likes to simply keep guessing, some might actually predict the correct outcome in the climax. Another novelty of this particular script is the grey nature of all the characters portrayed in the film, which was a little unique. K.Rajaraman's dialogues are above average, but if more attention were given to the dialogues, it would have elevated the impact of some sequences, by a few notches. Nevertheless, this simple thriller is worth checking out, if you have some time to kill.
'Sarabham' - Patience and attention are necessities, if you are ought to enjoy it.
Ratings: 2.5/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
The creator of the now cult-classic, path-breaking, trend-setting 'Subramaniapuram' M.Sasikumar plays "the creator" in Bramman, in a metaphorical sense. M.Sasikumar, who is on a stroll of acting and producing, has done a film for an outside production, this time under the baton of debutante Socrates, a former associate of Kamal Haasan. The trailer and promotions very evidently showcased this film as on out-and-out commercial entertainer. How entertaining was this 'Bramman' ?
Sasikumar, who is synonymous with rural-based films, goes for a changeover here with a city-based lead character. He has tried to adapt himself into the quintessential Tamizh cinema male leads, by wearing designer clothes, executing over-the-top action sequences and of course romancing his heroine in beautiful foreign locations. Basically, there's nothing to talk about in regards to his performance. The same can be applied to Lavanya Tripathi, a former Miss Uttarakhand who has done two Telugu films and making her bow in Tamizh. She's comfortable in her role, but she's not convincing with her acting performance and basically appears for the sake of having a heroine for songs and romance portions. Santhanam provides the laughter in the first half, and though his one-liners are good, they do not invoke much laughter. Soori takes the helm in the second half, and as usual delivers what is expected. Naveen Chandra has an important role, but lacks the screen presence to solidify his position in the film. The rest of the cast such as Malavika Menon, Lateef Omar, Jayaprakash, Vanitha Krishnachandran, Chams, Prof.Gnanasambandhan, Surekha, Ajay Rathnam and etc sufficed the needs of the script, whereas there were cameo roles done by Jai, Vaibhav and Madhu Shalini.
Sathya N.J's costume work was spot on, especially for M.Sasikumar, who goes for a changeover here. The modern outfits looks apt for him and so does the Lavanya Tripathi, who looked chic. Silva's action choreography was average and a little over-the-top, though the intention of choreographing it in such a manner, can only be known to him and the director. R.K Umesh has handle the art direction and his works sufficed the needs of the script. The props used for the old, dilapidated theaters and the celebratory-like atmosphere all had believability factors. Nice work ! Raja Mohammed's editing was neat and crisp, though the first half could have been better-handled, especially when it is loaded with plenty of unwanted scenes. Cinematography has been handled by Jomon T.John and Faizal Ali, with additional photography by Satish Kurup. The framing, lighting and angles, all had an average-stamp throughout the film. A pedestrian outcome, in short.
Devi Sri Prasad's tunes has his mark all over, and its pretty average, this time too. "Voda Voda" is a situational song, used as a background score during the opening first few scenes. It had a small cycle chase and some light action choreography work done by Silva. "Vaanathil" has M.Sasikumar doing the dance number, aided by back-up dancers, after experiencing love for the very first time. The song had plenty of props, resembling a typical city street-setup, which had realistic work done by R.K Umesh. "Un Kannai Penne" is the first shot on the lead pair, in foreign locations. The Swiss Alps, becomes the backdrop yet again, with greeny pastures and snowy mountains as the main landscapes. The best tune from the lot is, "En Uyirin Uyiraaga" which was shot in Venice, Italy on the lead pair. The song mostly covered the city landscape, with the backing of a couple of dancers. "Vaada Vaada" had Padmapriya doing an item number, and though its a welcome to see her doing glamorous dance sequences, the song was poorly shot, with dull picturization. Background score by Devi Sri Prasad, is passable.
The most alarming aspect of Socrates' handling of the screenplay, is the non-present element of any serious issue or focal point, in bringing forward the story. Each issue which we encounter seems to peter out in the following scenes, and we had to wait till the entry of Naveen Chandra, to actually have any sort of attention on the story. The first half is just aimless and clueless, with comedy and romance sequences being belted out, alongside unnecessary speed-breakers, in the form of songs. The second half has a decent output, especially when Socrates highlights the lesser-talked about issues in Tamizh cinema and its film productions. The characterizations are weak, very weak in fact and no one has any sort of strong impact with their screen presence, except for Jayaprakash. What's very obvious with film is that, the commercial elements are simply thrust into the film, for the sake of having them, instead of incorporating them into the script, organically. End of the day, we can realize that Socrates had an interesting idea, which could have been developed into a nice commercial film, but the screenplay goes haywire and the direction is equally poor.
'Bramman' - What happened to the creator of 'Subramaniapuram' ?
Ratings: 2/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
