After a year's absence, Radha Mohan makes his return with a bilingual, which has been produced by none other than his best buddy, Prakash Raj. The director is known for his sensitive and clean scripts such as 'Azhagiya Theeye' and 'Mozhi'. This time though, he has chosen a rather controversial but topical theme of honor killing, as his base, for his story. Working with debutantes, can Radha Mohan deliver another winner, without any hitches ?
Allu Sirish, the younger brother of Telugu star Allu Arjun, makes his debut as a hero, through 'Gouravam'. Though its not fair enough to compare him with his more illustrious older brother, Allu Sirish, is miles behind from being recognized as an actor ! He tries earnestly to perform, but sadly his expressions, body language and dance & stunt performances were contrived, rather than natural. He looks too stiff and rigid and the sense of awareness of the camera, is clearly visible for the audience. Yami Gautham, who made a splash in Bollywood with 'Vicky Donor' makes her debut in Tamizh. She looks good and performs neatly, but she does look out of place and is a miscast, sort of. Also, her role was pretty weak and was way too stereotypical. Elango Kumaravael and Sricharan were the better of the supporting casts and there's a big group of artistes, including seasoned-veterans and newcomers such as Prakash Raj, Nassar (who was completely wasted), L.B Sriram, Harish, Anupama Kumar, Brahmaji, Lakshmi Priya Chandramouli, Swaminathan, Muthukaalai, Pavithraa Lokesh and etc, who were adequate. But kudos to the acting crew, for getting their lip-sync spot on, especially by the lead pair, who's dubbing was taken care off by Vasu and Mahalakshmi.
The technical crew has put in an average work, into the film. S.S Vasu's costume designing was spot on, especially for differentiating the various classes of castes in a village and also for the pretty dresses of Yami Gautham. Silva's stunt choreography was just nice, especially the one done in an orchard. K.Kadhirr's art direction was simple but neat, especially the tightly erected village houses, and the aftermath of a riot set-up in the village. The interiors of the houses, were well done, in detailing. I.J Alen's editing was not bad, though he could have spotted some obvious mistakes in the film, and trim them out of the narrative. Preetha's cinematography was quite ordinary, but appreciation for her work on the stunt sequence, shot in an orchard.
S.S Thaman's musical score, goes along with the script, and complements the story and style of presentation of the film. "Oru Graamam" is a situational song, used twice in the film, which has montages of flashbacks, presented in quick-cuts. "Mannadhachu Panthu" is a well written song by Madhan Karky, which was shot on dancers and the lead characters, with the backdrops of villages, hill-top, lakeside and etc. "Ondraai Ondraai" is an 'youth-anthem' sort of, with the dancers and extras, along with the lead artistes, dressed in denims and khakis. The locations were mostly within the village surroundings, with barren lands, and plantations, as well as quarry locations. "Maname Maname" song was only used as a background score in the film. As the same with the song, Thaman's background score too, was complementing the script, quite well.
Radha Mohan, who is aided by his close associate Viji, in the dialogues department, is known for his cute and charming story narration and sequences, interwoven into the script. 'Gouravam', is an antithesis of that elements though, where the film is just full of melodrama and outdated scenarios. Viji sparkles intermittently, especially for the humor-laced dialogues which were cheeky, but sadly the rest of them is too mundane and boring. There's no freshness in the presentation, with plenty of outdated shot compositions, being implemented ! There were unwarranted lecturing and explanations, throughout the film, which makes the proceeding to bore, for the audience. The story development was very cliched as well, and its appalling to notice Radha Mohan's film to have many silly mistakes and loop-holes littered, here and there. The film moves in a very casual-pace and only picks up some kind of momentum, late in the second half.
'Gouravam' is a decent film, with low engagement factors ! It is certainly nowhere near the league of 'Mozhi'.
Ratings: 2.5/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
Prakash Raj as a producer has delivered some feel good breezy movies all under the baton ship of Radha Mohan and they've joined hands once again. But the only difference is that, this time they've gone for a thriller and that too of a flight hijack. This is something new and unattested in Tamizh cinema and it was interesting to see how much they've captured the essence of the theme and also to see how Radha Mohan has come out of his soft and mellifluous themed movies. Moreover Telugu major star Nagarjuna is back to Tamizh cinema after a very long gap.
Radha Mohan has dished out a pretty good decent thriller. Though the films picks up the pace only after Nagarjuna's character was introduced, Radha Mohan has ensured that the screenplay doesn't deviate from the main theme with unnecessary elements. He deserves a pat for underlining the ineffectiveness of the elected government who are more interested in holding to their power, the selfish acts of media people who goes to certain extent just to sensationalize issues by giving false statements and even endangering the lives of others just for the sake of higher TRP ratings. As the case in Unnaipol Oruvan, the common man's anger and frustrations on political and religious issues are also highlighted well through Gnanavel's dialogues which are hard hitting at certain times. The best part of the film is definetly the last 20 minutes of the film which is laced with suspense. Technically the film is good, with Guhan's camera capturing well the interiors of the hijacked plane and also of the airport. But the real hero of the film is the art director Kadhir who has done a really fabulous job in the art department. The detailings on the flight and also of the Tirupathi Airport was near perfect. Kudos to him. Praveen Mani's rerecording is passable thought the only title track was good.
On the acting front, Prakash Raj and Nagarjuna has done their roles as the bereaucrat and commando respectively, in a very dignified manner. Prakash Raj's best must be the scene where he bursts in anger and could no longer be patient with the demands of the terrorist. He poured his anger our, literally. Nagarjuna did a cool role with no heroism although the dubbing voice didn't really elevate the originality feel. Other than these 2, the big supporting cast are the main pillars of the movie. The variety of characters, Kumararaja as the patriotic unemployed youth, Manobala as the popular TV astrologer, Prithviraj as 'Shining Star' Chandrakanth and Sams as his big ardent fan, Thalaivasal Vijay as the Rte Colonel, Rishi as a doctor and Sana Khan as the ordinary teenage gal, MS Baskar as the priest and a whole lot more of them. Each and everyone of them performed to their best and was really convincing. Sams and Pritviraj episodes was really hilarious but the scene stealer is the actor who impersonates as Yusuf Khan, terrorist role.. He was simply awesome with the scared to death kind of role and together with Brahmanandam, they rocked the scenes. MS Baskar has done a serious role this time with conviction. Overall each one of them delivered they're best..
On the whole, Radha Mohan has dished out a different movie which appeals to all section of audience. Hope this movie succeeds to spur on more good films in Tamizh cinema. Let the journey continue on.
Rating: 3.5/5 STARS
BY: TAMIL
The technical crew has put in an average work, into the film. S.S Vasu's costume designing was spot on, especially for differentiating the various classes of castes in a village and also for the pretty dresses of Yami Gautham. Silva's stunt choreography was just nice, especially the one done in an orchard. K.Kadhirr's art direction was simple but neat, especially the tightly erected village houses, and the aftermath of a riot set-up in the village. The interiors of the houses, were well done, in detailing. I.J Alen's editing was not bad, though he could have spotted some obvious mistakes in the film, and trim them out of the narrative. Preetha's cinematography was quite ordinary, but appreciation for her work on the stunt sequence, shot in an orchard. 
