Sundar.C, known for his slap-stick and sit-com based movies, is back with another offering but this time its in tune with the current flavor of horror comedy genre. Packed with the usual commercial 'masala' elements such as dance, comedy and action, can Sundar.C pull of another hit with a huge cast and a significantly higher budgeted, 'Aranmanai' ? Will the mix of horror and comedy be in a right proportion ?
Coming to the huge cast list, almost every frame in the film has more than 2 artistes involved and its a constant riot. But its an out-and-out female-centric film and the main lead roles are played by Hansika Motwani and Andrea Jeremiah. Hansika Motwani's second half show was decent enough for this film. She's surprisingly convincing as a village belle and looks bubbly and pleasing. Her screen presence is good as she keeps our attention well. Her lip-sync is getting better but still there's plenty of room to improve. Andrea Jeremiah fits the sensuous role perfectly, and her voice is an added advantage to her character, especially in the transformation scenes. Its definitely a good performance from her, but she somehow her character doesn't sink in to the proceedings easily. Sundar.C plays himself the most important male role and is functional in that role. Santhanam keeps us in splits, though not all of his one-liners were chuckle worthy. The big cast of the film includes Vinay Rai, Raai Laxmi, Kovai Sarala, Manobala, Kota Srinivasa Rao, Saravanan, Chitra Letchumanan, Santhana Bharathi, Swaminathan, Nithin Sathya, Aarthi, Ganesh, Akila, 'Kadhal' Dhandapani, Meera Krishnan, Alwa Vasu, Yogi Babu, Soundar, Gowtham, Raj Kapoor and etc. Though most of them were all over the screenplay, their relevance and importance to the script is a big question mark.
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The film's technical aspects needs special mention, for their inputs. Vasuki Bhaskar's costume designing for the female leads are noteworthy, and all character's costumes blends in well with their respective characterizations. The film is loaded with VFX and computer graphics and the teams from Prasad EFX Group and Sinthu Graphics, deserves special mention. The final climax scene is completely ruled by the VFX, especially with the river water sequence and the solar eclipse effects. The color tone gave the climax a perfect look and its a visual treat indeed. Kudos to them ! Action choreography by 'Thalapathy' Dinesh was over-the-top, especially for the climax sequence, although Sundar.C's introductory fight scene was decent. Art director Gururaj deserves appreciation for his splendid work ! The whole film is based on the huge palace set which was erected and its completely filled with apt set properties. The set-work brought out the look needed for the film and aptly complemented the horror element of the script. Also, his work for the other village festival and etc sequences were rich in detailing. A feather in the cap for Gururaj ! Editing by N.B Srikanth was okay but he could have trimmed the length of the film, which runs unnecessarily long. U.K Senthil Kumar, a veteran and firm favourite of Sundar.C is the cinematographer for this film and his work was functional, but the climax sequence stood out, especially for the scenes involving the river.
The songs of the film is scored by Bharathwaj and frankly speaking, the songs were just pretty boring and lukewarm. "Kaththi Parvakaari" is the opening song for Vinay Rai and Andrea Jeremiah. Its like a mini-road song, which has all the rural hot-spots in it. The lush greenery and colorful art work by Gururaj, especially with the colorful village festival like set properties, deserves mention. "Petromax Lightu" is a typical dance song, involving Santhanam, Nithin Sathya, Sundar.C, Vinay Rai, Andrea Jeremiah and Raai Laxmi. The indoor scenes were well captured and the song's idea stems from the song "Maama Nee Vaama", which featured in Sundar'C's classic slap-stick comedy, 'Ullathai Alli Thaa'. "Sonnathu" is a female melody shot on Hansika Motwani and Vinay Rai and also had all the typical village locations such as paddy fields, water dam and rural homes as its backdrop. "Unnaiye" is a situational song, which sounds like a typical Rama Narayanan 'Amman' film songs and has a huge Hindu festival as its backdrop. The splendor and richness of the event was well captured on camera and also incorporated plenty of VFX in it. There are cameo appearances from singers Manicka Vinayagam, Dr.Sirkazhi G.Sivachidambaram and Sivashankar Master. The background score is handled by Karthik Raja and his work was functional and fits the horror based sequences, well.
The story by Sundar.C reminds us of other Indian horror flicks, such as 'Manichitrathazhu', 'Chandramukhi', 'Yaar', 'Muni', 'Kanchana' and etc. Its not a very novel attempt, but Sundar.C and S.B Ramadoss' screenplay tries to keep us waiting for the outcome and potential twists and turns, though the proceedings were pretty much, predictable. One must admit that though the film may entertain quite a few, there are plenty of obvious loopholes and unanswered questions in the film. The film tries to pick up some speed in the second half, especially one the the surprise is revealed during the interval junction, but is hampered by some dull songs and comedy tracks. Venkat Ragavan and Sundar.C 's dialogues were pretty ordinary too, apart from some efforts in the one-liners for Santhanam. Some visuals might be a turn-off or little disturbing for those who are young aged but other than that, 'Aranmanai' isn't really a scary flick. Sundar.C's direction sufficed the needs of the script, although the Rama Narayanan's 'Amman' film-like climax, was over-the-top.
'Aranmanai' - Unmajestic and run-of-the-mill kind, bearable horror-comedy !
Ratings: 2.5/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
'Irumbhu Kuthirai' is the comeback film for Atharvaa Murali, after the critically acclaimed 'Paradesi'. Directed by debutante Yuvaraj Bose, a former associate of Arivazhagan, the film's USP is the script being based on motorcycle race backdrop and super-bikes. Produced on a generous budget by AGS Entertainment, can Yuvaraj race into Tamizh cinema as another young prodigy ?
After the hard struggle and excruciating pain in 'Paradesi', Atharvaa Murali dons a conventional hero role and it looks like he has been working out on his physique. He looks better and has improved his dialogue delivery and timing but his character lacks the zing and energy needed. Unfortunately, this film lets him down, on acting performance aspect. Priya Anand, looks gorgeous and is the regular Tamizh cinema heroine (friend turned damsel-in-distress turned lover !). The lead pair looks compatible on screen, but their chemistry fails to sizzle. Johnny Tri Nguyen is a surprise casting and fits the role of a really mean baddie, but somehow his character becomes unintentionally funny (especially with the Tamizh dialogues !). Among the character artistes, its Devadarshini who's role as the protagonist's mother, is an interesting choice. We are seeing some serious performances from her, and hope she continues to showcase her acting skills. The rest of the cast includes Raai Laxmi & Jagan (both looking out-of-sync with the film), Manobala, Mayilsamy, Joe Malloori, Anupama Kumar, Swaminathan, Sachu and Joshna. Alisha Abdullah (India's first female national racing champion & only female biker racer) has a cameo, which the needs of it can only be comprehended by the director.
Thanks to AGS Entertainment, the films has rich production values and slick technical outputs. Muruganandam takes care of the costume designing and Priya was given the most attention, as she was simply cute and lovely in he simple and casual clothing. He could have worked it out better for Raai Laxmi and Jagan, who looked completely weird and unflattering. Art direction is by Sakthee Venkatraj.M and though most of the film was shot outdoors, the set work and properties for the homes of the lead pair, the bike sales gallery and the warehouse like set-up for the pre-climax fight sequence, looks good. Action choreography is by 'Kanal' Kannan and he has made good use of Johnny Tri Nguyen's martial arts skill. Though the execution was okay, the choreography did not really match Atharvaa's personality and it was a little over-the-top, especially with the ropes. William Ong, takes care of the bike action sequences, and being an expert in it, there are no complaints with his work. T.S Suresh must be commended for the crisp running time of the film and for his work in the action scenes, but the film has a very jarring pace and the continuity takes severe beating due to this. Cinematography is by R.B Gurudhev and Gopi Amarnath and both of them have given good visuals, be it Pondicherry or the Italian countryside and Venice city. They have tried to match the visuals of Italy with Pondicherry and they have managed to work it out in bits and pieces, though the cover up is pretty obvious.
G.V Prakash Kumar's music is decent but the songs fail to create any impact due to the bad timing and placement in the screenplay. "Hello Brother" is the introductory song of Raai Laxmi and was shot in a bar like set-up, which incorporated plenty of color lighting. "Ange Ippo Enna" is a melody between the lead pair and has many cut-shots of the lead pair, texting each other in which grand and majestic buildings in Venice becomes a backdrop for this song. "Alai Paayum" is almost a similarly shot song, but this time it's a dance number and has more coastal and cliff side locations in the song, which was also shot in Italy. "Penne Penne" is a pathos song, shot on the lead pair and has Pondicherry's colonial and colorful buildings as its backdrop, with many cut-shots, in it too. "Pondicherry" was visually the best shot song, which is an item number featuring the tall, dusky and hot Akshara Gowda. Johnny Tri Nguyen and Alisha Abdullah makes appearance in the song as well, which had a ringside like set-work and good lighting, which complemented the song very well. G.V Prakash Kumar's background score, especially for the climax race sequence is adept. His signature scores for the love portions, are highlights of the background score, too !
A Tamizh film on superbike racing is certainly a refreshing and unique idea, but ideas alone will not make films, watchable. Yuvaraj Bose's plot for the script is so simple, which an adolescent teenager can come up with ! His screenplay lets you down terribly and the film lacks the great energy needed, especially since its about super-bikes. As said earlier, the placement of songs irks us even more and the unwarranted comedy and sentimental portions are a big bore. The love portions lack the sizzle needed and is pretty ordinary. But Yuvaraj's sequence setting doesn't go overboard and he comes up with casual scenes, pertaining to the characters' dilemmas and stature. But for such scenes to hold up on its own, you need strong and interesting dialogues, which Narsim fails to deliver. The dialogues are just pretty much conventional and sufficed the needs of the script. Yuvaraj does spring a surprise, in late second half, but its way too late to save the film and the audience's attention. Instead of tweaking the script and closing down the gaping loopholes in the screenplay, Yuvaraj succumbs to the contemporary Tamizh cinema pressure and fills his film with unwanted elements. Weak characterization further dampens the mood of the film and by the end of the film, you wouldn't have felt like you have watched a film !
'Irumbu Kuthirai - Instead of galloping, it stuttered !
Ratings: 2/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
