Debutante Dharanidharan's intriguingly titled, 'Burma' is a neo-noir crime-thriller, based on car seizing activity and what sort of implications one can have, if he chooses to dabble with risks. With proven artistes such as National Award-winning Atul Kulkarni and Sampath Raj, 'Burma' teases us with some interesting tidbits in its teasers and trailers ? Is it another interesting new-age Tamizh cinema from a debutante ?
Michael Thangadurai of Vijay TV comes up with a decent performance and its certainly way much better than his debut, 'Nalanum Nandhiniyum'. The rugged look and body language fits his role well and the young lad makes his mark, unscathed. Reshmi Menon though, has the atypical Tamizh cinema heroine role, of being the bubbly-natured, moral-support kind of partner for the protagonist. Karthike Sabesh, steals the show with his natural acting and is so apt as the short-of-smartness, a*rsehole aide, who puts his buddy in the spot, during the most of unwarranted times ! Excellent comic timing and subtle expressions from Karthik Sabesh. Kudos to him ! Sampath Raj and Atul Kulkarni came up trumps, as the swag car-seizing veteran and a powerful and intimidating boss, respectively. They bring lots of flavors in their acting and they definitely deserve their share of appreciation. The rest of the cast such as Madhu Raghuram, Sharath Kumar, Deepak Paramesh, Tarun, Kani Kusruti, Diana Vishalini, Deena, CM Bala, Mahendran and etc plays an eclectic mix of characters, very neatly.
The film is a good package of technical outputs, which is sync with the mood and needs of the script. Vishnu Govind and Sree Sankar's sound designing deserves special mention, especially for the various types of car sounds, for each different cars and also for the minute detailing in many sequences, which adds more depth for the scenes. Director Dharanidharan has handled the costume designing as well, and each character has been delineated very well, in terms of costumes and it shows the amount of timing spent by the director in sketching each characters. Mahesh's action choreography sufficed the needs of the script, especially with the car chases. Sivaraj's art direction is elaborate in detailing, especially with the set properties. The cluttered car sheds, ramshackle cottage, make-shift homes and etc were perfectly done and it gels well with the script's necessities. Half the story-telling is done, with the art work itself ! Vivek Harshan's editing is crisp and spot on, but still more trimming could have helped the screenplay's smooth flow. Yuva's cinematography adds the zing to the script, with his unique and innovative angles and framing sense. The weird top-angle shots and slow-motion shots, together with right color tones, adds vibrancy to the film. With better scripts, this young chap can explore more of his talents !
Sudharshan M.Kumar's musical score is in sync with the mood of the film but the songs placement slackens the film's pace. "Vaddi" is the opening title song and serves as a character introductory song, with a pop-culture like colorful template. "En Moochu" is duet song and is mostly shot on the lead pair of Michael Thangadurai and Reshmi Menon. The song is full of montages of the pair, being love-struck. "Jungle in the City" is a bit song, used as a situational song, which was shot as a chase scene between Michael Thangadurai and Sampath Raj. "Kalavu Pona" is a situational pathos song, which was shot on Michael Thangadurai and has few montages in it. "Run for Money Dude" is a dance number, which had props such as flashy cars and colorful lighting as its backdrop. Sampath Raj is predominantly featured in this song. Sudharshan M.Kumar has made use some of his theme music pieces such as "Seizing Mania", Counting D Cars", and "Kings of Garage" as background scores and they perfectly complement the shot compositions of the director and cinematographer.
What strikes you obviously with 'Burma' is Dharanidharan's detailing in his writing. The film is full of style, swag, attitude and wry comedy. The neo-noir theme fits the story pretty well, and Dharanidharan's inspiration seems to lie in Western style of film-making. His sense of story-telling is astute and he implements his ideas with unique cuts in the editing department, which adds more quirkiness to the screenplay. The organic manner of story development is a welcome relief, and each scenes is carefully put together, so that there are no jarring moments. Unfortunately, the first half lacks some conviction, especially with the romance tracks and the second half loses steam, as it heads towards the climax. But Dharanidharan somehow makes up for it, with the character designing and the detailing he pours into each character and how he sets the ambiance around the characters, so that the right effect is brought out from the artistes. The dialogues written by Dharanidharan is another added plus point for the film, in which the sarcasm quotient is high. The director deserves appreciation for his antithesis handling of the climax and the final scenes, which has a unique twist and an open-ending.
'Burma' - Attention-seizing !
Ratings: 2.5/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
Director Arivazhagan, who made name with the well-made thriller 'Eeram', is back after a hiatus with 'Vallinam'. Being in the making for about 3 years, this sports based flick has Nakulan aka Nakul making a comeback of sort. Produced by Aascar V.Ravichandran, can Arivazhagan deliver another well-packaged film and make a firm mark in Tamizh cinema ?
Nakulan takes it serious this time and has delivered an earnest performance. His enthusiasm and physical atheleticism fits the role of an amateur basketball player. The vigor and energy he posessed helped him to adapt quite naturally as a sportsman and its very much commendable of his effort to undertake basketball training as a preparation for the film. He has experimented with his dialogue delivery, which is more subtle and mellow compared to his earlier films, but its not convincing overall, especially in the climax. Nevertheless, its a very decent performance and hoping he delivers more. Debutante Mrudhula Basker carries herself comfortably as the heroine, though she has not much scope as a character in the film's overall plot. A standard performance, standardly dubbed by Savitha. Siddharth Jonnalagadda plays the antagonist and his body language and facial expressions fits the character well, and aptly voiced by Aravind Krishna but his character loses steam as the film progresses. Jagan provided the comic relief and his satirical comments and one-liners are fun to listen to. Jayaprakash scores in his brief but important character role with a gray shade but Atul Kulkarni's true potential was not utilized at all though his character carries some weight in importance to the story. The rest such as Amzad Khan, Anumapa Kumar, Chandru, Mathivanan Rajendran, Santhana Bharathi were adequate with good cameos from Krishna and Aadhi, as well as RJ Balaji.
Shanmugha Priya handles the costume designing and her works sufficed the need of the script, since its a college based script, which has not much of an extensive research and execution. Sibu Joseph J.V's editing pattern fits the style and story presentation of Arivazhagan's script, though many a few sequences could have been edited out to make it a little racier. Silva's action choreography was good, especially in the pre-climax fight scene as well as the much spoken about train sequence in the very early stages of the film. T.Suresh's production design must be commended, especially for the climax basketball court set, which really imbibed a basketball tournament feel to it. Also, the props used for interiors such as the swanky and posh heroine's home, or the boys hostel rooms were very apt and realistic. Bhaskaran K.M's cinematography is a real asset to the film. The basketball game theme provided a good platform for him to showcase his expertise in coming up with creative shots and angles. The credits should be shared with Arivazhagan who handled each basketball matches' game and action set pieces, alongside with specialist game choreographer, Mime Gopi. Besides the games', Bhaskaran K.M's color tone and the light hue approach for some scenes, are eye-pleasing. But he could have avoided the overusage of shadows, particularly in the beginning sequences.
S.S Thaman's previous collaboration with Arivazhagan in 'Eeram' was splendid and it looks like Thaman has found a partner who extracts the best from him. 'Vallinam' has very good scores and background music as well, which fits the mood and nature of the script and proves to be very effective in conveying the director's vision. "Maaman Macha" is a typical college-buddy song, with plenty of montages and dance scenes interspersed in betweem. Bhaskaran K.M's cinematography in this particular song was good, especially with the light tone. The pick of the lot "Uyiril Uyir" is a letdown, in terms of picturization. The song had montages of the hero finding himself falling for the heroine, as well as dance sequences against a cowboy and hip-hop theme bacgrounds. "Nakula" is a romantic number shot on the lead pair, on the beaches, during the high-tide moments. "Vallinam" is a situational song, highlighting the progress of the hero's basketball team in the tournament, which had good lighting for the basketball matches. "Uyiril (Reprise)" is a bit-song showing the separation of the lead pair and had good framing from the director and cinematographer. Thaman's background score works very well for the film, especially with a special 'Vallinam' theme track which plays during the opening credits scene.
Arivazhagan has chosen basketball as a tool to highlight the actual theme of his script, which is the discrimination and marginalization of sports in the society and the over-trumpeting of cricket. Its interesting to note that the director has chosen cricket as an 'antagonist' for his film. Arivazhagan's subtle story presentation and sharp dialogues, goes hand in hand, pretty well and proves to be his forte and USP. But the film has its own shares of flaws. There's no depth in the writing, where more intensity could have really revved up the proceedings of the screenplay. The romance and friendship portions are shallow in terms of writing, and the dramas fail to make a serious mark. The detailing in narration is missing, which is essential for these sort of story presentation, which has a slow and steady pace screenplay. A more organic development could have helped the film to achieve better output and its annoying to notice Arivazhagan's attempt in adhering to standard Tamizh cinema "masala" commercialization. But Arivazhagan should be appreciated for showing the basketball game as a proper game and his artistes as proper basketball players. The authenticity and detailing in those aspects are applaudable. Also, one can note that Arivazhagan has a a good sense of setting up frames, which shows his distinct touch of quality. In conclusion, Arivazhagan deserves kudos for choosing a sports-based theme for his script and highlighting the plight and discrimination of other sports in the state, but its definitely not on par with his 'Eeram'.
'Vallinam' - A not-so hard consonant ! Expected more.
Ratings: 2.75/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
Its the season of Thai Pongal and what better way is there to unwind the festival day, other than watching the brand new film releases ? And kick-starting 2014 with a bang is Ajith Kumar, in the elegant shirt-dhoti combo, living up to the spirits of Pongal ! After a string of urbane roles, Ajith Kumar has reverted to the traditional, rural look (remember 'Attagasam' ?) and teamed up with Siva of 'Siruthai' fame. Can "Thala" start the year with a bang and a back-to-back hit-ratio ?
As the main lead, Ajith Kumar helms the entire film on his shoulder and the film would not have sustained even a single bit, without his sheer presence. The man is majestic and charming, suave yet rural and as always it has been, performs all the action sequences by himself ! His mild changeover in the second half, in terms of facial hair, suits him still and he carried the role with aplomb. "Thala" had a field-day with this project and he has flexed his acting and fighting muscles, in every sense. And the train fight sequence ? Bravo to this gutsy hero ! Tamannaah, is there and that's about it. DOT ! The next person to take the cake is definitely Santhanam, with his wacky one-liners in the first half, who is in sizzling form whereas Thambi Ramaiah takes up the second half, and makes a buffoon out of himself. A National Award and still willing to take up such ludicrous roles ? Time for assessment ! Bala and Vidharth has the meatier roles among the band of younger brothers and they did what they are allowed to do by the character. Suhail Chandok and Munish are the remaining ones. As for the protagonist, Atul Kulkarni did what he was told and Pradeep Rawat was made to look like a fool, in the end. So much so for being a villain ! There is a huge group of peripheral character artistes in the film such as Nassar, Ramesh Khanna, Avinash, Appukutty, Abinaya, Suza Kumar, Mayilsamy, Vidyullekha Raman, Devadarshini, Ilavarasu, 'Crane' Manohar, Sujatha, R.N.R Manohar, Kalairani, Manochitra, Pawan and etc, who were simply there in the frame for no reasons. Waste of budget !
T.Rajan's costumes were okay, the characters looked their parts, just like what a commercial film, would demand. Milan has done a very detailed and labouring work in the production design department. The were just plenty of set work and numerous set properties, which gave the film a resplendently, rural look. Most of the film was done on artificial sets, and Milan and his team must have been on-the-run, all the time. A very well designed production, indeed ! Mu.Kasi Vishwanathan, could have done more trimming because the second half was just simply lagging in pace, but the stunt sequences were very well presented. Silva, K.Ganesh, Pammal Ravi and Vicky have handled the action choreography, and they sure did have a gallery of time, composing the shots ! Silva handled the train fight sequence, which had very dangerous moves, especially with Ajith hanging in the balance from the train, with 300 feet of depth below him. K.Ganesh handled the climax fight sequence, which was a little over-the-top. And the same applies to the works of the other two. Demands from director ? Perhaps, so. Vetri must have studied Ajith Kumar's body language a lot, and its pretty obvious that he has projected "Thala" in a very manly manner ! The rain shots are the best shot sequences of the film !
Devi Sri Prasad aka DSP, or whatsoever has tuned way, below-average compositions for the film ! None of the songs were really catchy nor did they linger in our minds. "Nallavanu Solvaanga" is the introductory song of Ajith and his band of brothers. There are plenty of montages in the song, with some action sequences as well. The set work by Milan, was of top-notch quality, though. The market set-up had all the little, intricate details needed to bring out the authentic look. "Thangame" and "Ival Dhana" were shot in the picturesque Switzerland (where else can they go !). The former had the usual foreign back-up dancers, and was shot in the city landscape. Whereas the latter had the best shots, with beautiful images of snowy mountains, lush & green landscape and etc. "Jingu Chikkan" is the customary temple festival song, with most of the character artistes, being involved. Once again, neat work Milan ! The pick of the lot among the songs, will definitely be the "Ratha Gaja" theme track, which was played out during the high-octane action sequences. Suits "Thala" to a T ! The background score was passable. Complement's the script.
The story was developed by Siva and Bhupathi Raja, and its pretty obvious that their reference were the corny village movies of the late 80's and 90's. A very, very, very old wine in a not-so-new, bottle ! Siva has teamed up with Bharathan for the dialogues, and some of them packs some punches, especially when delivered flawlessly by "Thala" himself. Tailor-made dialogues, aren't they ? Siva has single-handedly managed the screenplay and direction department. The first element was just a mess, second half, especially. Direction ? He nailed it. How difficult can it be to simply direct a film, which can be easily slotted into the films belonging to previous decades ? Its pretty obvious that some elements of the script has been simply thrust, just for the sake of a grandiose effect, and to extract the "larger-than-life" star power of Ajith Kumar. One must switch of their brains and leave the logical thinking at work, if you are to watch flicks, such as these. Siva should be appreciated for smartly incorporating Santhanam into nearly all the scenes of the first half, because if it wasn't for him, the screenplay would have been absurdness played for the entire duration ! Siva has certainly brought Tamizh cinema backwards by a few steps with 'Veeram'.
'Veeram' - The rating below is purely for the "Thala" Ajith Kumar factor, alone. Santhanam can take some credits, too.
Ratings: 2.75/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
After the colossal flop of 'Billa 2', Ajith Kumar aka "Thala" is back once again, and this time in a true multi-starrer, with Vishnuvardhan at the helm. The stylish 'Billa' remake still linger in the minds of movie buffs, and its a tricky tight-rope for this combo, as they have to ensure the hype is met and at the same time re-launch the career of hit-maker A.M Rathnam as a producer in Tamizh cinema once again. Backed by good technicians and a solid cast, what does 'Arrambam' has for us ?
For "Thala" Ajith Kumar, this is a piece-of-cake sort of role, and he waltzes through it with style and elan. His impeccable timing in dialogue delivery, broods excitement and adds more classy touches to his performance. His look is an added element, which further elevates his stylish avatar as AK. The man, pulled off all the stunt sequences by himself, in a very professional manner and deserves a big round of applause for taking the risk. There are plenty of shots, which highlights the stylish element of Ajith's and it is a treat for his die-hard fans. Though the grey-shaded role is repetitive, no one actually bothers about it, as Ajith is enjoyable in such roles. Arya is lively with his comic timing and his antics and a little surprise is there in store, in regards to his appearance. Though his role pales in terms of screen appearance, he still makes his mark. Nayanthara is the stylish diva here and she pulls of some action sequences effervescently, and also manages to oomph the glamour quotient, nonchalantly. Taapsee Pannu was cute as the naive amateur journalist, though her character has not much relevance to the script. Kishore rocks as the tough cop, while Mahesh Manjrekar is a good addition to Tamizh cinema. Atul Kulkarni, Suman Ranganathan, Akshara Gowda, Naren, Murali Sharma, Krishna and etc had stylish rendering in their characterizations. Not to forget, Rana Daggubati made his official entry to Tamizh cinema with a solid cameo appearances.
Action choreography is a real highlight of the film, and there were plenty of them, induced into the screenplay. 'Billa' Jagan, Lee Whittaker and Kecha Khampakdee of the 'Jaika Stunt' team, rocked in the action choreography. The bomb-threat encounter scenes were very professionally choreographed and executed by the team. And the shoot-out sequence shot in a warehouse, was very well planned as well. Anu Vardhan and Pinida P.Shamdasani's costume designing was fantastic and all characters looked brilliant in the stylish costumes, especially Ajith Kumar, Nayanthara and Taapsee. Production design by Lalgudi N.Ilayaraja blends well with the script's needs and was very realistic. The interiors of apartments and buildings were very well detailed and each props complements the mood and plot setting of the script. Multiple National Award-winning editor, the veteran Sreekar Prasad's editing is taut and he manages to tighten the grip on the screenplay, by ensuring there's no over-stretched sequences. The story moves fast and kudos to the veteran for a neat work. Cinematography is big highlight of the film, done by Om Prakash with some few sequences canned by P.S Vinod. The camerawork is stylish and the aqua-green color tone, complements the mood of the script. There were plenty of hand-held shots and appropriate usages of steady-cams. The Dubai sequences were very stylishly done, but the real highlight is the bomb-threat action sequence, which was brilliantly shot and edited.
Yuvan Shankar Raja always had a great combination with Vishnuvardhan and they have churned out chart-busters But 'Arrambam' is a disappointment, because the tunes were repetitive and not enthusiastic enough, to further spur the energy of the script and cast. The opening song "Adada Aarambame" was shot on Ajith, accompanied by dancers, and the heavy Maharashtrian percussion instruments. The fort in Maheshwar was the backdrop, and the bright daylight adds more gloss to the song. "En Fuse Poche" was shot on Arya and Taapsee and had some cute montages, with colorful ambiance The simple special effects complemented the mood of the song. "Melaala Vedikkuthu" was shot on Ajith, Nayanthara and Rana with splashes and splashes of Rangoli Colors, which was a visual treat in terms of color palette. "Stylish Tamizhachi" was Akshara's introduction song and featured her in a glam-doll role and was shot in a clubbing arena. Yuvan's background score is a letdown and it does not capture our attention. Not the best of works from Yuvan and Vishnu combo.
Vishnuvardhan, known for his stylish, visualistic story-telling, engrosses us most of the time in the screenplay, which was co-written by the 'Subha' duo, D.Suresh and A.N Balakrishnan. The sequences were well etched and executed and some of them very well exploited the stylish mannerisms of Ajith Kumar. Nonetheless, there were a few drag moments, especially in the second half, which could have been avoided. This is due to the very cliched flashback sequences and some sentimental and emotional ones, as well. The letdown in their script, is the predictable nature of the story-line, which kills of the excitement factor. And for ardent movie buffs, they would have spotted that the entire script is a clever adaptation of the 2001 Hollywood action-thriller 'Swordfish' starring John Travolta, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry and Don Cheadle. Vishnu and 'Subha' duo have taken the basic plot of 'Swordfish' and adapted it with some real-life Indian scandals. There are plenty of loopholes and logical gaps in the script and screenplay, which are to be ignored if one wants to enjoy this film thoroughly. The 'Subha' duo have written some killer, punch-dialogues in the film, which will definitely be well received by the fans. Vishnuvardhan has a neat directorial touch and has good grip of his script and end-product, but still 'Arrambam' is not as gripping as his 'Pattiyal'.
"Lets make it simple" - 'Arrambam' is a Vishnuvardhan, 'masala' entertainer. Enjoyable and neat. Nothing more, nothing less.
Ratings: 3/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
