'Jannal Oram' marks the comeback of Karu Palaniappan after his below average performance in 'Mandhira Punnagai'. Karu is known for his sensitive portrayal and family friendly milieu, apart from his last project. Backed by some of his favorite artistes, can 'Jannal Oram' bring back the success to Karu Palaniappan, a once-promising script and dialogue writer in Tamizh cinema ?
The film has a big cast of artistes, and everyone has some screen timing to stamp their marks. But unfortunately, the high number of artistes does not add value to the script. That's due to the average performances and lack of emotional content for each artistes to register their capabilities in the minds and hearts of viewers. R.Parthiban, as the rural, middle-aged Casanova, mouths his dialogues fluently in a different accent. Vemal, is pretty much in his comfort zone and gets to romance the heroine in songs and pull off some action sequences. Vidharth leaves a better impression on us, although his characterization was just a mere extension from the protagonist role he did in 'Mynaa', albeit with a twist. Among the ladies, both Poorna and Manisha Yadav have limited acting scope, though the latter had more screen timing. A gang of character artistes such as Ramana, Rajesh, Yuvarani, Ilavarasu, Santhana Bharathi, Sanjay Bharathi, Bala Singh, Sri Ranjani, Singampuli, Krishnamurthy and etc get to do their usual stuffs.
Dhilip Subbarayan's action choreography was apt for Vemal, Vidharth and Parthiban. It was not over the top, but not fiery, as well. Rajeevan's production design complemented the script very much. The rural house setup was apt for the milieu of the script, with relevant props. The village setup too looks very much believable. Simple, but neat work from one of the best ! Saravanaa, could have done better with the editing department. The proceedings in the second half moves at a snail's pace, and some trimming could have increased the tempo of the script. Arbhindu Saaraa, definitely owns the film, through his good cinematography works. The hill stations have been very aptly captured from his lenses and at the same time, Arbhindu maintained a natural look for the whole film, which is very much the style template of Karu Palaniappan's films. His experimentation with different angles or view-points of the bus, is commendable.
Vidyasagar, the trusted aide of Karu Palaniappan, disappoints us with below average song compositions. Though melodious, they don't capture your attention nor the interest, pretty much. "Athili Pathili" is the opening credits song, shot on the lead characters' bus' journey it makes in a day. The hilly terrains and lush greenery is a cool sight for the eyes. "Ennadi Ennadi" also has the bus as the backdrop, but the focus is on the characters this time and Vemal gets to woo Manisha in this song, shot with montages. "Unnai Paarkkama" was shot on Vemal and Manisha Yadav, against the backdrop of Athirappilly waterfalls and its surrounding lush and green forests. "Aasa Vacha" had a village festival backdrop, with apt props by Rajeevan for the production design side. The song also had separate shots of Vemal-Manisha and Sanjay-Poorna, interspersed into it. "Ela Malathoppu" is a situational song, and covered most of the lead characters' dark moments they were facing through. "Aatho Appatho" is a promotional song which was not used in the film. The song had the puppet play shot, as its backdrop. The background score was quite ordinary, for Vidyasagar's standards.
Though Karu Palaniappan has made this film, the script and screenplay does not belong to him, and its the first time Karu has attempted a remake film. 'Jannal Oram' is the official remake of the 2012 Malayalam film, 'Ordinary' which turned out to be a super-hit. The story was written by Sugeeth and screenplay by Nishad K.Koya and Manu Prasad, the makers of the original film. The problem with the film, is that it moves at a leisurely pace and the viewers could not muster what to expect from this film, even from half-way into it ! Karu, slowly introduces us to each characters one by one, and that proceeding had nothing novel in the methodology perspective. The first half was insipid, and the only thing which kept us watching were the dialogues, written by Sugunakumar K.E. There are a few sharp dialogues, atypical of Karu's film dialogues, but they are few and far between. There is an unexpected twist just before the climax, but it was far too late to save the film and was overtly stretched, as well. Karu Palaniappan, should have done more homework in fine tuning the original script, to suit the tastes and pace of a typical, 'good' Tamizh-film. Nevertheless, kudos to Karu for delivering a very clean film, which can be watched by anyone.
'Jannal Oram' - Below average showing from Karu Palaniappan. Where's the guy who made 'Parthiban Kanavu' ?!
Ratings: 2.25/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
Director Ram, renowned for his dark and critically-acclaimed 'Katradu Tamizh', is back after a hiatus with 'Thanga Meenkal'. To be initially produced and acted by Karunas, the film has undergone transformation in casting and production, with Ram himself making his splash as a lead actor and Gautham Vasudev Menon co-producing it with J.Sathish Kumar. Ram's intense and thoughtful writing, is a pleasure for those who crave intellectual script-writing. Will this be a proper follow up to the outstanding, 'Katradu Tamizh' ?
Ram, as a lead actor is undoubtedly fabulous in his role as an affectionate, but with a different sets of strong but radically different views and philosophies, against his conventional folks. He has breathed life into the role of Kalyani and being the writer himself, there can be only a select few in the industry who can pull it off, other than the director himself. The character does look over-emotional and hyper-sensitive, but the traits are the actual elements, which adds myriad of shades to the emotional content of the film. Sadhana, makes a very strong debut as a child artiste in this film. It takes a lot of conviction and maturity beyond her tender age to pull of the character, envisioned by the director, with utmost ease. And Sadhana did just that, with a magnificent portrayal of Chellamma. Hats off to this child prodigy ! Nabhukumar Shelly, who plays the mother of Sadhana, is another splendid performer, whose nonchalant and nuanced performance, marks her firm presence in some sequences. 'Poo' Ram and Rohini were befitting of Ram's old-school parents, and they were natural and realistic in their respective portrayals. Another child artiste, Sanjana makes her debut as well, and she's an absolute sweetheart, in her own rights ! The rest of the cast such as Umapathy, Lizzy Variyar, Ramya and others were very apt for their roles. Padmapriya makes a very noble and lovely guest appearance. Kudos to Ram for a great casting !
Ram has the privilege of having the best of technicians as important film crew members for 'Thanga Meenkal'. Rajashekar has choreographed very natural and realistic action sequences, wherever it warranted. Production design was handled by Rajeevan and since most of the film were shot on actual locations, Rajeevan has appropriately put in necessary props for the settings, especially with the classroom setting and also with the protagonist's home. Veteran master editor, Sreekar Prasad's editing is flawless and though the film is a little stretched, the flow was not disrupted at all, and the slow-moving screenplay was a necessity for this script. Arbhindu Saaraa's cinematography was beautiful, especially with the scenic, hillside and lush mountainous landscape, wonderfully captured with his lenses. Also, the rustic beauty of Nagercoil was well captured as well. Ram has extracted the best of works from a newbie, pretty much !
Yuvan Shankar Raja, reserves some of his career-best works for Ram, and 'Thanga Meenkal' is not an exception. "Aanandha Yaazhai" is a beautiful melody, shot on Ram and Sadhana having their little escapades, in the spectacularly, breathtaking Achankoil hilltop region. Its an absolute treat for the eyes and the coloring for the graphic portion was well handled. "Nathivellam" has plenty of montages shot in and around Cochin as well as Nagercoil, with very well-shot frames. "First Last" was shot on Sadhana, in an exam-oriented backdrop, with the school, serving as the location. "Yaarukkum Thozhan" is the final song, which also has few montages and some of it were shot in the deep regions of Wayanad, with its misty and surreal greens pastures, serving as perfect backdrop. The background score was superbly handled by Yuvan and 'Isaignani' Ilaiyaraja would have been proud by his offspring's achievement. Hats off, Yuvan !
Though the entire focus has been projected on the deep and loving relationship shared between father and daughter, Ram has actually brilliantly veiled the issue of the dark-side of private-funded schools, which runs on donations done by parents. Ram has wonderfully weaved in the agony gone through by poor-performing kids in such high-demand private schools, who vouch on their false-promises, of providing excellent education. The theme is something very topical and contemporary in nature, in respect to the current living conditions of middle and upper-middle class sections of the Tamil Nadu populace. As for the crux of the film, Ram has etched out many beautiful and poignant scenes for the father-daughter relationship episodes, and has also not forgotten about the other obvious characters present in the family, with equally well-written sequences. The story has been given credits to Ram and Shri Sankara Gomathy Ram. For those who were expecting another hard-hitting, high intensity, 'Katradu Tamizh'-type of film from Ram, 'Thanga Meenkal' might be a slight disappointment, but nonetheless, Ram proves yet again that he's a fabulous and well-read and well-thought writer. A big round of applause for the producers, for showing real passion by producing such a gem of a film.
'Thanga Meenkal' - A passionately done, sweet film with the highest order of acting and writing.
Ratings: 3.75/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
