'Sutta Kadhai' made noise for its unique teasers and posters. Coming from the stable of total newcomers, it piques the interest of audiences with new ideas and creative presentation. With some good artistes in the casting, did this pulp-fiction inspired film live up to its expectations ?
Television host and celebrity Balaji Venugopal and Venkatesh Harinathan play the two bumbling, dubious constables to a certain respectable degree. Balaji as the dumb kleptomaniac, uses more of his facial expressions and dialogue delivery to delivering his acting chops whereas Venkatesh, who has partial hearing disability, utilizes his good body language to bring out the character's personality. Nassar, was the true scene-stealer with his impeccable expressions and comic timing. The veteran simply oozes class, especially with his snooze mode antics. Lakshmi Priya Chandramouli fits her character and pulls off some stunt movements with confidence. Jayaprakash leaves a good mark with his unique dialogue delivery. R.S Shivaji, Lakshmi Ramakrishnan, M.S Bhaskar, Jayamani, T.P Gajendran, Shanmuga Sundaram, Rinson and etc fits the crazy characters they enacted.
T.Ramesh's stunt choreography is a little over-the-top, but it was essential for this sort of script and Lakshmi Priya, handled most of them quite well and with ease. Sivakumar's costume designing was okay, considering the shoe-string budget he worked one, with some good, minute detailing. Sivaraj's production design should be appreciated, especially the police station set and the various props used for different plot settings, such as forest, comic book world and etc. Surya's editing was though slick, in regards to the length of the film, drags big time in the second half. Nizar's camera work is commendable, especially the way he has utilized the natural landscape of Kodaikanal and adapted it very well for the design and mood of the script. The night effect shots, were professionally handled, especially in regards to lighting. Kudos, Nizar !
Music of the film was handled by the Madley Blues band, consisting of Harish Venkat and Prashanth Techno. Songs were decent, but nothing really brilliant about it. The opening song, "Kattukulle" was terrifically designed, using the comic book template design, where the director intricately weaved the whole film's plot. Superb idea and execution ! "Yelay Yelay" had plenty of montages and focused on the lead pair of bumbling cops, rooting for the tribal female lead. "Dingu Dongu" was shot on a cheap liquor bar setting, with plenty of earthy tone and feel to it, which was complemented by apt set properties. "Twist on Top" is a situational track number, with good camera movements and angles, focusing on Jayaprakash's episodes. "Anbe Aaruyire" was the climax, situational song and featured a few characters going against each other, in a dark forest. Nizar did a very good job with the lighting, and the slow motion effect added to the pulp-fiction effect, the director was striving to present. The background score was adequate and fun.
Written and directed by newcomer, Subu, 'Sutta Kadhai' is basically a dark-comedy film, inspired by the 'Sambasivam Crime Comics' template. The problem with this idea, is that many will not be able to relate to such Tamizh pulp-fiction comics, and that was a craze for youngsters of a generation ago ! The fun quotient of comic book story-line and presentation did not translate smoothly from the print edition to it's celluloid version. The characters, though unique and quirky, do not stand out properly and is marred by poor writing and characterizations especially in the second half. What's unpalatable is the fact that the film is crisp in duration, yet drags big time in the second half ! The funny moments and twists in the second half, falls flat entirely. A dark comedy should be not be just dark in visual presentation, but also in its writing. Subu can be commended for his various absurd sequences, but the connective thread is missing and the story becomes dull.
'Sutta Kadhai' - Novel attempt, but not so good execution.
Ratings: 2.25/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
Shiva, who is fresh from the release of the average-grosser, 'Thillu Mullu' comes up with another comedy caper, which has all the ingredients associated with a 'Shiva'-brand film. A relatively compact team of newcomers, the unit of 'Sonnaa Puriyaadhu' is captained by Krishnan Jayaraj, who was an associate of C.S Amudhan. Bearing the hallmarks of his guru, Krishnan has also dabbled in a spoof-like script and with Shiva in the helm, can they strike another success just like 'Tamizh Padam' ?
Shiva, with his quintessential poker-face reactions, evokes the laughter in most of the scenes and it looks like the whole film has been laid rest on his shoulders alone. His timing and dialogue delivery are just near-perfect, which hits the right, intended notes. He particularly, rocks in the dubbing process sequences, which were just a scream ! Some minor references to 'Chennai 600028' and 'Tamizh Padam' brings 'sweet memories' to us. He has also tried his hands in 'singing' and be sure to check out the opening song he "Rosa Hai" in the very beginning of the film ! Vasundhara Kashyap delivers a neat performance and actually excels in some scenes, but she lacks the necessary charm and 'punch' needed to be on par with Shiva, which is a must for this particular script. Savitha's dubbing works well for Vasundhara.The rest of the cast such as Manobala, 'Blade' Shankar, Vatsala Rajagopal, Aarthi, R.S Sivaji, Meera Krishnan, Singamuthu, Saravanan, Pradeep, chips in at the relevant moments. Not to forget, a funny Sam Anderson cameo is also infused into the script, alongside Gangai Amaran.
Producer Saandika Amarnath, doubles up as the costume designer as well, and the characters looked good in her choice of clothing. T.Ramalingam's production design was not bad, especially with the props of the interiors of plush apartments and also of a well-erected television studio setting. T.S Suresh's editing is just functional and so does R.Saravanan's cinematography works.
Yathish Mahadev's song recordings were below par, though. The opening credits sequence, starts off with the "Theme Song" of 'Sonnaa Puriyaadhu. "Kelu Magane Kelu" is an sort-of opening song for Shiva in the film, and was shot in general, public places and locations such as malls and parks. "Devathaiye" is a montage song, shot in the greens of the rural and focuses on the marriage episode of Shiva's buddy, in the film. "Gaaliyaana Saalai" is a love melody between the lead pair, and has been shot at a pristine seaside resort by cinematographer R.Saravanan. "Un Thozhil" is a pathos song, which functions as a situational song and was shot in slow montage sequences of Shiva's. Instrumentals such as "Sagaroo" and "Dance To It" are used at certain points of the screenplay.
Krishnan Jayaraj has developed a screenplay based on a simple idea envisaged by Yathish, but the actual USP of the film must be credited to the dialogues. Written by K.Chandru and D.Saravana Pandian, the lines are pretty humorous and cheeky. And with Shiva at action, there's no need of assurances for them to make sure that their dialogues will reach the audiences. Krishnan Jayaraj has tried to pull off something like 'Tamizh Padam' but his attempt unfortunately, goes vain as the screenplay and direction lacks class in handling. Some of the sequences were amateurishly and poorly dished out, especially the television game sequence. Though T.S Suresh has tried to keep the pace of the film as crispy as possible, the second half drags a little, but the blame should fall on the director's shoulders as, it is his screenplay which stretches the pace. But credits to him for coming up with good characterizations, especially of Vatsala Rajagopal's, who plays an elderly woman who is obsessed with her iPad and an active user of social medias !
'Sonnaa Puriyaadhu' - Works in bits and pieces. And only for a few, folks ! (Shiva fans, to be precise)
Ratings: 2.25/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
'Maalai Pozhudhin Mayakathile', a wonderfully titled movie, this film is by newcomers entirely from the crew. It garnered attention through the success of one of its song on Youtube, "Oh Baby" hitting more than 200,00 views. Also, music director Achu's songs were very well received, especially the haunting, melody numbers. Well designed and photographed, it carried an interesting premise, that is the whole movie will be set in a coffee shop and what happens between the characters in that coffee shop, who are stuck inside, due to heavy rain. Did the film charm us as how the music did?
The protagonist role was done by Aari, who previously did the Shankar produced 'Rettaisuzhi'. He has an aroma of confidence with him and his appearance makes him a delightful to watch, to some extent. Heroine, Subha Putela, Miss India South of 2010, makes her debut in Tamizh cinema. Her performance is quite average and its a little obvious that she is struggling with the language. Not much of acting scope for her, as she has very less emotions to display. The rest of the cast did justice to their respective roles, be it Panchu Subbu, Sivaji R.S, Tejasvini, V.Balaji, Karuna, Sathish and etc. Choreographer Nandha and Ashwathy Warrier makes an appearance in a song.
Technical wise, the film has some decent output from the crew. Stills and designing by Maneksha and Jeff was good and romantic, keepin in mind with the theme of the film. JPK Prem used minimal but just necessary amount of props in the film as 90% of the film is based only around the coffee shop. Editing by M.Thiyagarajan was decent, and costumes were done by Narayanan Nagendra Rao and Gopi Amarnath, who are the director and cinematographer of the film. Gopi Amarnath, has captured some good shots in the songs and the color tone used in the film, especially the ambience it created for the coffee shop scene, was splendid. Not to forget, the beautiful rain shots, too. Achu, has delivered some beautiful melodies in the movie. "Oh Baby Girl" picturized against a bulbs-lit backdrop, was shot in a music-video format, something similar to the Asian music videos. Also it had some good choerography by Nandha. "Nerathin Neram Ellam", a poem recital was shot on the lead pair sitting romantically on a bench, with close-up shots, and a soft blue tone. "Yaaro Ivalo" was shot in colorful locations with good lighting. "Yen Intha Thideer" was shot in a dark color tone, with some ballerinas dancing around the sad protagonist. The song has been shot in the washroom of the coffe shop portrayed, so the angles were a little close and tight. The pick of the lot of the songs, is the 'Yen Uyire" track sung by Karthik. It was shot like a dreamy-sequence, in fog-filled, green pasture atmosphere. And also there's another version used at the end of the film, sung by 'Bombay' Jayashree. "Kadal Karaiyinile" a retrospective-montage song was picturized on the hero, reminiscing about the girl he met. Achu has also delivered soothing background score for the film, especially with the violin section.
Narayanan Nagendra Rao, the director, would have been inspired by Gautham Vasudev Menon's style of romance film, but sadly his script has nothing to offer, story wise. The script is very weak, dialogues are preachy, and the characters has no depth in them. There is no chemistry between the lead pair and there's no organic story development. Actually, no one can figure out what is the actual story of the film or what the director wanted to convey, in the first place ! Trying to present a romantic scene should be just left for advertisements and not feature films, unless you have a solid script and screenplay!
'Maalai Pozhudhin Mayakathile', a poorly written film with no story to tell ! Its a pity that Achu's wonderful music was wasted, entirely. The only other thing that can be appreciated is the 'effort' of the team to use live sound recording instead of dubbing the voices for the artistes, which gives a realistic feel to the settings.
Ratings: 1.5/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
