JEEVA MOVIE REVIEW

Director Suseenthiran, who had a fantastic 2013 with two solid film in 'Aadhalaal Kaadhal Seiveer' and 'Paandiya Naadu' is back once again and its a return to sports-based theme. 'Jeeva' is produced by himself, together with cinematographer Madhie and art director Rajeevan, under the newly formed Vennila Kabadi Team Productions. Co-producing the film is The Next Big Films production unit, alongside actor Arya under his own production company The Show People. Distribution is handled by Arya's company together with Vishal's Vishal Film Factory. Being a project entirely funded and distributed by industry friends, can Suseenthiran strike a hat-trick ?

After the success of 'Mundasupatti', Vishnu Vishal has once again done it in 'Jeeva' with a very clean and neat performance. Being a real-life cricketer himself, Vishnu Vishal performed very naturally and with consummate ease. His diction is good and he is showing more improvement with his dialogue deliveries and modulation. Job, well done ! Sri Divya has substance in her performance and she manages to show a gamut of expressions on her face. Her lip-sync, too is spot on and with a very pretty and pleasing personality, hope she gets more good roles to explore her acting credentials. Soori's character is something unnecessary for the script, though we don't mind the few occasional chuckles, he creates with his sharp dialogue deliveries and apt sense of comic timing. The film has plenty of supporting artistes such as Lakshman Narayan (another real-life cricketer), Charlie, Harish Uthaman, Vinoth Kishan, producer T.Siva, G.Marimuthu, V.Madhusudhan Rao, Akhila, Monika, Bava Letchumanan, Muthuraman, Mahendran and etc. Nearly all of them had good acting scope and made good use of their screen timing. Co-producer and distributor Arya makes a cameo appearance towards the end of the film. 

C.Harikesh handles the costume designing and his work sufficed the needs of the script. The changeover for Sri Divya from a school-going girl to a college student, deserves mention. All artistes looked their part and the costumes made everyone look original and authentic. 'Anl' Arasu's action choreography was minimal and functional. G.C Anandhan's art direction gave the film a very realistic look and ambiance. The set properties, especially for the 80's and 90's era deserves special mention. The detailing in the middle-class homes depicted in the film, is another highlight. Editing is handled by Ruben, and there's nothing much to complain about his work. The cricket game shots, were well edited, which keeps the momentum of the scene from not depreciating. Cinematographer Madhie's work is enthralling and the color tone and the various style of lighting employed for different scenes, elevated the mood of the film and gels well with Suseenthiran's presentation. Madhie has tried his best to bring out the grandeur and awe-inspiring moments of an actual cricket matches and he succeeds to a certain extent. The angles he employed for the tense moments in the cricket games, were no less brilliant and is a visual treat !

D.Imman's compositions gels very well with the film and is almost complementary to Suseenthiran's narration. "Ovvondrai Thirudugirai" is a beautiful number written by Vairamuthu and is a duet number shot on the lead pair, with many montages of their teenage lovey-dovey moments. The lovely blue tone employed by Madhie for this track, brought out the romantic mood of the song, very well. "Oru Rosa" is a booze number, which had popular cinematographer cum actor Natarajan Subramaniam @ Natty, in an cameo appearance. The typical dim lighting from Madhie and the wine shop and bar set work put by G.C Anandhan fits the bill. "Netru Naan" is a wonderful, melodious bit-song, shot on Vishnu and Sri Divya. It depicts the moment the protagonist sets his eyes upon his lady, after disengaging himself from her for a couple of years. Sri Divya's looks complemented the song's lyric, very well ! "Oruthi Mele" is a charming, naughty number shot on the lead pair, surrounded by some of the supporting cast, such as Soori and Lakshman Narayan. The college campus ambiance, with an urbane look and modernist art work by G.C Anandhan, gave the song a lively look, alongside the colorful dancers. "Enge Ponai" is a situational pathos song, which comes just before the climax. D.Imman's background score was mellow and very soothing for the ears. He has toned down his usual melodramatic scores, and the move worked very beautifully in 'Jeeva'. Hoping to hear more such lovely background score from him !

The base of Suseenthiran's story is a typical underdog-triumphing-in-the-end mould, which we would seen for umpteenth number of times. But the treatment of the theme and the issue of casteism or a form of social stratification based on caste system, is very well explored and narrated here. Suseenthiran does not shy to point out the system which plagues the Tamil Nadu cricketing scenario and how only a select group of players from a specific community, makes the cut for the team selection and how others are discarded, just like that. Santhosh's dialogue writing does the work for Suseenthiran with very simple, straight-forward, earthy but contemporary dialogues. The confrontational scene in the second half, has some of the stronger worded dialogues and its the real highlight of the film. Not to forget, some of Soori's one-liners too deserves a praise ! Suseenthiran and Arun Balaji's screenplay has a very smooth flow, apart from the occasional songs, which were minor bumps. The precise allocation of timing for romance, comedy, sentiment, bromance, and pathos quotients in the screenplay, keeps the film engaging. Suseenthiran's direction deserves praise, for his astute handling of his characters and the script's subject. There's no preachy moments, yet the message was conveyed in a very subtle manner and its always nice to have an underdog overcoming the improbable hurdles, lying in front of him. Its definitely a hat-trick for Suseenthiran !

'Jeeva' - A simple, honest and soulful sports drama !


Ratings: 3/5 STARS

BY:TAMIL