Vijay Vasanth, one amongst the big bunch of Venkat Prabhu's 'Chennai 600028' boys, who does the occasional cameo appearances in Venkat's film, is back in the limelight with a lead role. This small budget thriller 'Yennamo Nadakkudhu', directed by a newbie P.Rajapandi is a home production of Vijay Vasanth's brother, V.Vinothkumar of Triple V Records. Can Vijay Vasanth make a decent mark, after the poor outing in 'Mathil Mel Poonai' ?
Vijay Vasanth benefits from a good characterization provided by the director. There's the rustic element based on the geographical background of his character, yet there's the benevolent aspect to his character, which makes his likable and acceptable as a hero. He has definitely improved a lot as an actor, and there's more composure and conviction in his portrayal. But there are some niggling issues, especially in the romance sequences, and he could work out his body language, for the action sequences. Mahima Nambiar, who previously did the Samuthirakani starrer, 'Saattai' makes a decent outing and has a pivotal role to play. Saranya Ponvannan is a treat to watch, especially with her animated expressions and North Chennai slang, which she delivered to the T ! Rahman as the main antagonist is passable, as well as the others in the cast such as Prabhu, Thambi Ramaiah, Sukanya, Azhagam Perumal, Ashwin Raja, Namo Narayanan, Vincent Selva, Sounder, Thirumurugan and etc, who holds the movie together, with neat performances in convincing roles, with good characterizations.
Dakshayini's costume designing was simple and apt for the script, though her work is limited due to the timeline of events in the script, in which the bulk of the events, happen in a single day. M.S Jayakumar's art designing sufficed the needs of the script. The climax portion, which required a good dose of construction based props, was well executed and the detailing of the lead pair's houses, should be noted too. K.Ganeshkumar's action choreography was good, but the chasing sequences in the climax, could have been toned down to reduce the unnecessary heroism element. Also, a more realistic approach would have worked for Vijay Vasanth's image and body language, wherein a more stylistic action choreography, handled in the film would have suited an action hero, pretty well. Praveen K.L and Srikanth N.B duo handled the editing department, and as always, their fast paced cutting pattern, gave the film an extra lift, and the taut screenplay keeps the attention of the audience, quite well. Cinematography is by A.Venkatesh, and his work is commendable, especially with the action sequences, which had tight close-ups and the climax chase sequence, which was well shot.
Premgi Amaren, scores the music for the film and it fits the mood of the script. "Aagayam Vizhigiradhe" appears during the opening credits. "Ora Kannu" is the pick of the lot, and has plenty of sequence shots, well edited and put together by Praveen K.L and Srikanth N.B. In-spite of the plenty of cuts, the song has a smooth transition from one scene to another and had the indoors and outdoors, especially the beach as the locations. "Meesa Kokku" has a temple festival like atmosphere and is a dream sequence between the lead pair and includes the hero's mother ! Saranya Ponvannan makes her appearance, throughout the song and has also sung her portions. "Vaa Idhu Nethiyadi" was picturized on Prabhu, in a flashback sequence, which had the typical dance routine, shot against a festival backdrop, reminiscing the 80's style. "Money Money" was the best shot song in the film and featured Raju Sundaram as the main dancer. The song was shot in a dance club-like atmosphere with the atypical color lighting and sexily dressed female dancers, with some nice camerawork by A.Venkatesh and the trademark cutting pattern by the editor duo. Premgi's background score, works well with the film and there are traces of Yuvan Shankar Raja-inspired score, here and there.
Written and directed by P.Rajapandi, the film makes an interesting watch, thanks to the abundance of twists and turns, which comes at a rapid pace in the tense climax portion. The director has played his cards well, and arranged the screenplay appropriately, so that the climax will keep the audience on their seats' edge. The film does not lag much and has a pretty straightforward screenplay, with no unwanted meandering. G.Radhakrishnan's dialogues are okay and fits the need of the script, but some comedy dialogues, mouthed by Ashwin and Thambi Ramaiah, were chuckle-worthy. P.Rajapandi has handled his artistes quite well, especially with well written roles, which had clarity in it. But the film slackens in certain places, especially with the placement of songs, and the lead scenes of songs, which were quite dull and boring. Some minor loopholes and gaps are there in the film, but P.Rajapandi covers it up, with a fairly engaging screenplay, with a no-nonsense approach. A little more finesse in the execution, and this film would have been much, much better.
'Yennamo Nadakkudhu' - Well handled, small-budget action-thriller !
Ratings: 2.75/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
'Sillunu Oru Sandhippu' from debutante Ravi Lallin explores, the topical theme of love among teenagers and how ones' life progresses after the all the puppy, lovey-dovey moments. Ravi Lallin has packed the film with various opinions on love and marriage-hood. With a young but small cast, can Ravi Lallin deliver a convincing and entertaining film, that too in the popular genre of love and romance, with a rather poetic title?
Vimal, a favorite among Tamizh cinema directors for rural and semi-rural based roles, makes an attempt to change that image with a cool, foreign-return character. His attempt, sadly goes in vain, due to his struggle in imbibing the body language and dialogue delivery senses of a typical city-slicker, and that too, someone who comes after spending a lengthy time in the United States ! Its very evident that he is very uncomfortable in such roles and its even more appalling to see him play a teenage-school student ! What was Ravi Lallin thinking ? There are two heroines in the film, and they are Dipa Shah and Oviyaa, respectively. The former takes the bigger piece of the cake, in terms of screen presence. She was adequate for her role, but her character was poorly written and lacks depth and originality. Oviya, has an extended-cameo type of role, and appears once in a while. The rest of the cast such as Manobala, Charu Haasan, Ashwin Raja, Velmurugan and etc had nothing much to do, and most of them lack substance in their performances. But the blame should fall on the director for writing such poorly-etched characters.
The technical work in the film was just average and there's nothing much to shout about. P.Ganesan did a decent work in the costume department, making the characters look good on screen. Dhilip Subbarayan's action choreography was not bad and he must be commended for choreographing it, in a manner which suits Vimal's style and mannerisms. R.D Vijay's art direction was minimal but suffice, especially for the props used as house decors and for the class room setting. Suraj Kaviq's editing was just plain ordinary. Rajesh Yadav and Aaro's cinematography was simple. The shots of Ooty were pleasant to the eyes and the color tone used throughout the film, was suitable for the script. S.M Faizal's songs were just below average. Since Ooty served as the backdrop of script, all the songs were picturized in the cool Ooty region. "Adi Aathi" the only hummable number was picturized on Vimal and Oviya, in montage sequences, depicting their developing relationship during their teenage days. The song appears another time, during the latter part of the film, and is again shot on the same pair, but with more dialogue portions and some unnecessary picturization done in Malaysia. "Bussey Bussey", was literally shot with the bus being used as the backdrop, with the addition of glamorously-clad item girls. "Min Miniaye" is a montage song with some dance choreography in between, and was shot on Vimal and Dipa Shah, this time. "Yaayum Yaayum" is a situational-cum-dream song, shot on Vimal and Dipa Shah, with the heroine being subjected to some glamorous portions.
Ravi Lallin's script was very amateurish and shoddily written. The characters lack depth and originality, as mentioned earlier, and its unbelievable to watch Dipa Shah perform a heroine character so rooted in Tamizh culture, which is such an out-dated idea ! Also, boos to Ravi Lallin for the inclusion of crass and distasteful comedy portions, which borders vulgarity, where female characters are shown in unnecessary angles, for no apparent reasons ! The director had some messages which he wanted to convey, but it was done so, in a very preachy manner, which was too boring and lame ! The screenplay lacks cohesiveness and some of the sequences stick out like a sore thumb and did not gel with the overall storyline. As said earlier, the characters look too caricaturish and none of the artistes had a decent role to play !
'Sillunu Oru Kadhal' is a poor product, with nothing new and fresh to offer.
Ratings: 1.25/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
