Chimbu Deven, one of the creative directors of Tamizh cinema, is back after 'Irumbu Kottai Murattu Singam'. As always this film too is intriguingly titled, this time as 'Oru Kanniyum Moonu Kalavanikalum'. Arulnithi, an earnest performer needs a solid hit to cement his presence in Tamizh cinema. With Chimbu Deven in helm, can this film deliver a different yet entertaining flick for us ?
Arulnithi, shows good progress from film to film. Here, he proves his mettle in handling comedy throughout the film and with his subtleties, he delivers a very decent performance. There's not much of scope for him, in terms of the range of emotions and variations in dialogue deliveries, but he still makes good use of the subject taken and convincingly portrayed the role of the protagonist. Sharing equal space with him is K.Bagavathi Perumal of 'Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom' fame. He continues his 'NKPK' act very well, and his one-liners are the best in the film. His dialogue deliveries are perfectly timed and neatly presented. A little more expressions can certainly do wonders for him. Good job ! Bindhu Madhavi plays the 'third musketeer' and she should be appreciated for picking an unconventional role. The attractive lass has delivered a clean performance and hoping to see more of her in Tamizh cinema. Ashrita Shetty has an important role, but with limited scope and screen presence, she makes use of what she had in the script, quite well. The rest of the big cast, who played minor characters such as Karthik Sabesh, Manobala, Jayaprakash, Naren, Aruldas, Paandu, Nassar, M.S Bhaskar, 'Delhi' Ganesh, V.S Raghavan, Ravi Raghavendra, Benjamin, Sriranjini and etc were effective and some of them had some witty detailing to their characters, which worked out well.
Costume design has been handled by Sai, and considering the limited scope offered by the script, his works sufficed the needs of the script. Dhilip Subbarayan's action choreography was adequate, especially for the pre-climax fight sequence and for the chasing sequences, which were shot in many real locations. T.Muthuraj's art direction also had lesser importance to the script, since bulk of the movie's portions were shot in real locations. Yet, the minor detailing in the protagonist's apartment, the church wedding scenario and etc deserves appreciation. Raja Mohammed's editing was very much linear, and that helped the flow of the story, so that the screenplay could be straightforward in fashion and easy to understand for the common folks. S.R Kathir's cinematography techniques were effective for the script's demands and needs. His works are very simple and there's nothing fancy about it, which gives the film a realistic look. Also, his camera movements and top-angle shots for the chase sequences, add more zing to the narration.
Natarajan Sankaran's musical score was passable. The melodious "July Madham" was picturized against a chase sequence between Naren, Arulnithi and Bindhu Madhavi, which has interspersing of montages shots of Arulnithi and Ashrita. "Moonu Kodi" is the next chase sequence, this time featuring all three main leads and was mostly shot on rooftops of high-rise apartments and narrow back-lanes. "Bachelor Enakke" plays when the end credits roll. The four theme tracks, "Breeze-African", "Marriage", "Storm-Indian" and "Theme Thunder (Trance)" - the title track, plays throughout the film and at important placements, and also serves as the basis for the background score. Natarajan Sankaran is capable of better musical deliveries, and hope he improves his background score.
Chimbu Deven always had a penchant for unique concepts for each of his film, and in 'Oru Kanniyum Moonu Kalavanikalum' its about the importance of time passages. Chimbu Deven starts the film with a quote from the Holy Bible regarding time, and what we get is a palate of fantasy, reality, sci-fi, and myth. Chimbu Deven's tells us that each minute dictates its own course of fate for each human being, and how one's life can alter by the slightest of time change and various minute elements, omnipresent around us. His screenplay narration is Chimbu Deven's example for the concept that he conveys. Chimbu Deven's quirkiness in writing is evident, with all the minute detailing he gives for many of the minor characters, for example a psychotic inspector's penchant for kid's magazine, the colony secretary's affair and etc. These small details adds the fun element for the script. But the screenplay slowly turns out to be more tedious, when the chain of events are repeated twice, but with different repercussions, since each episode starts a minute later than the previous. The gags are not super exciting or rip-roaring fun, which makes us feel exhausted by the time, the 'real' climax, climaxes ! Also, the concept was exaggerated and its nearly impossible to believe that everyone's life would change just by a minute or two. Nevertheless, Chimbu Deven's dialogues are fun and humorous, especially those mouthed by K.Bagavathi Perumal. Not to forget, he should be also appreciated for his smart writing for minor sequences, such as the various stages of watermelon being cut, in each chronological timeline. Chimbu Deven has credited Tom Tykwer's German classic 'Run Lola Run', Akira Kurosawa's Japanese classic 'Rashomon', Kamal Hassan's 'Virumaandi' and etc as his inspiration. It should be noted that, the film's concept has similarities with Jake Gyllenhaal's 2011 techno-thriller, 'Source Code'.
'Oru Kanniyum Moonu Kalavanikalum' - An intelligent concept, a simple story-line and some fun gags in between !
Ratings: 2.75/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
The current flavor and poster-boy of Tamizh cinema, and the apple-of-the-eye of the family audiences, Sivakarthikeyan is on a hot-streak after back to back successes. This time he is in his comfort zone of comedy, with a rural backdrop and an equally comical Soori as his aide. Directed by Ponram, a former under-study of youth-centric humor genre master M.Rajesh, 'Varuthapadatha Vaalibar Sangam' has been making noise with the right kind of noises, thanks to D.Imman's chartbusting songs, pre-release. Will this be a clean hat-trick for Sivakarthikeyan in 2013 ?
Sivakarthikeyan delivers what best comes to him with finesse and the rural character suits him to a T. His timing is terrific and his dialogue delivery is near flawless. His expressive facial expressions and body language is a major asset to his role, as well. Bringing the best out of him is Soori, who plays the perfect foil for Sivakarthikeyan. With funny counter-dialogues and measured counter-reactions, Soori and Sivakarthikeyan are complementary to each others' characters. The film is basically built upon their gags and antics, and they have understood the demands, perfectly. Job well done, boys ! Sri Divya makes her debut in Tamizh cinema, and this sweet-looking, docile-natured element, fits her image very well. Not to forget, this girl has the right capabilities to actually do decent acting. Has very good potential to deliver better performances in the future, subject to proper scripts. Sathyaraj is a marvel in his role as the heroine's father, especially with the majestic mustache of his. The veteran's look and make-up was well designed, giving more believability to his role. Performance wise, the man just simply rocks with his impeccable comic timing and dialogue deliveries. Bindhu Madhavi plays a short but cute role and the rest of the cast such as Rajendran, 'Kathal' Thandapani, Raja, Gopal, Sri Ranjani, Vinodhini, Swaminathan, Kumaravael, and etc were very apt for their roles.
The film has some good technical outputs, thanks to its young crew. Vasugi Bhaskar's costume designing was on the dot, especially for the lead pair, which looked very natural. She should be commended for her part in Sathyaraj's costumes as well. 'Super' Subbarayan handles some simple action sequences, especially the midnight fighting sequence, shot in a plantation. G.Durairaj's, production design was neat, especially with the props for the village sequences, covering various different backdrops such as wedding, festivals and etc. The design blended well with the actual, natural surroundings of the rural setting. Vivek Harshan's editing was neat and he delivered what was expected from him, though more trimming could have made the film look sleek. Balasubramaniem's cinematography is an asset to the film, as his work blends well with the rural setting. The colorful, yet earthy tone the film carries throughout is a pleasant sight for the eyes. His lighting for the songs, especially gives the frames a rich yet earthy tone.
D.Imman is on fire and he delivers another winning album with 'Varuthapadatha Vaalibar Sangam'. The title track, "Varuthapdatha Vaalibar Sangam" which introduced the 'singer' Sivakarthikeyan to us, was shot with good framing and had good village settings as backdrops. "Yennada Yennada" is a cute montage song, shot on Sivakarthikeyan, Sri Divya and Bindhu Madhavi, with a love triangle on the anvil. The best song of the album, "Oodha Color Ribbon" is a foot-tapping song shot on Sivakarthikeyan and Sri Divya, with some song-purpose, conceptualized montages and also in village festival setting. "Kannaale" which is absent from the audio list, is a pleasant bit-song, played during a wedding scene. "Paarkaathe" is a montage song shot on Sivakarthikeyan and Sri Divya, who have finally professed love to each other. "Indha Ponnungale", another chart-buster, was shot on Sivakarthikeyan and Soori and serves as the typical drunkard song, shot in minimal but good lighting by Balasubramaniem. D.Imman also scores well in the background score department, with thumping scores and pleasant tunes. Way to go, D.Imman !
Debutante Ponram, follows his guru's safe template of a humor structure for a whole script, and infuse it with good dialogues. The dialogues, have been taken care of by M.Rajesh himself, and as usual he does not fail to deliver, though they were not the best of punches from him. The storyline is a wafer-thin one, and only the entertainment quotient, keeps the audiences engaged with the film. The screenplay wobbles a little in the end, after an unexpected, but pleasant twist in the climax. Kudos to Ponram for making use of Sivakarthikeyan's image and talents properly, to suit the mood and feel of the script. The gags arrive one-after-the-other and only in the late second half, the mood goes sombre for few moments. There is no any pretext of a great film with this and that. The makers promised a decent, laugh-riot and that is what has been delivered.
'Varuthapadatha Vaalibar Sangam' - Clean hat-rick of success for Sivakarthikeyan, indeed !
Ratings: 2.75/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
S.Ezhil, who made a mini comeback of sorts with the decent comedy-drama 'Manam Kothi Paravai', is back with another film which has abundance of comedy portions written throughout the script and aided by nearly the same band of artistes, who were present in his last endeavor. Will S.Ezhil strike it back-to-back ?
Vemal, takes up the male lead role and there's nothing contemporary with his portrayal. He has played the village lad role, relentless of times and he repeats it here as well. There are rooms for improvement as always, and he can at least strive to do something different with his dialogue delivery, with these conventional roles. Bindhu Madhavi looks ravishing in her pretty half-sarees, but is a little out-of-place, if you one is to consider her role's as a village belle. She has potential to be deliver better performances, and hopefully, may better scripts knock her doors. Soori has started to come out on his own and has established himself as a lead comedian. His dialogue rendition reminds us of Vadivelu's, especially with the English words. Nevertheless, he still manages to raise some chuckles, albeit in a non-sterling manner. Singampuli is a riot, with his lively antics and spotless dialogue delivery and well accompanied by Chams, as well. The rest of the cast such as Vinu Chakravarthy, Gnanavel, Ravi Maria, Naren, Singamuthu, Vanitha and etc were befitting of the needs of the script.
Vasugi Bhaskar has done a good job, especially with Bindhu's costumes and her sarees and also for Vemal, who looked much presentable. Dhilip Subbarayan's action choreography is just functional, as per demands of the "masala" elements of the script and is well suited for Vemal's image. Sivaraj's production design was neat, especially with the props used for showcasing the interiors of rural homes, as well as for village festival sets. Gopikrishna's editing sufficed the basic needs of the film. Nothing spectacular about it. Sooraj Nallusami's cinematography complements the wants and needs of the director and he has pretty much, achieved the objective of bringing out the essence of a typical Tamizh cinema rural, commercial film.
D.Imman's score uplifts the mood of the film, with above average scores. The pick of the lot is the opening number, "Oru Ore Ore". Picturized on the lead pair on a temple festival backdrop, the song has good props and set work done by Sivaraj. "Ammadi Ammadi" is a sensuous number shot on the lead pair, in various sets of a small, fruit warehouse. Bindhu looked good in the song and the lighting complemented the feel and mood of the song. Sivaraj, once again does a neat and simple job, with the correct placement of fruits and other props, in the song picturization. "Nilavattam" is another village-festival song, but has been shot in a night sequence. The song has been shot with bright lights and feature a more lively ambiance. Muktha Bhanu makes a guest appearance for this song, and the damsel looks much better in a trimmer physique. "Pom Pom" appears in the end credits, with song picturization done on top of a moving bus. The lead pair was featured along with dancers and the visuals were interspersed with some blooper moments of the film. The background score was done well, but does not stand out as outstanding. Nonetheless, a decent output from D.Imman !
After the decent success of 'Manam Kothi Paravai', S.Ezhil has take a short-cut of sorts in making quick bucks, by aping the same format and template he has used for that film, in 'Desingu Raja' as well. There is no originality in the storyline nor are there any serious attempt in making a decent emotional plot-line for the film. Only S.Ezhil should answer if this film is meant to be an out-and-out comedy entertainer or an average drama, laced with comedy. Though S.Ezhil has projected it as the latter, the former proposition looks likely to be the actual case. In 'Manam Kothi Paravai', there was a serious element or undertone in the film, which formed the actual crux of the storyline and it was wrapped with good comedy portions. But in 'Desingu Raja', there seems to be no inclinations at all, to even attempt a properly structured, emotional content. S.Ezhil gave sole priority to comedy sequences and has laced the whole film, with plenty of them ! The climax is what you call the archetypal, lazy & farcical writing, notoriously prevalent in Tamizh cinema. N.Rajasekar's dialogues, is a big advantage for the comical portions of the film. S.Ezhil can be at least appreciated for keeping the duration of the film, bearable.
'Desingu Raja' - Slapstick comedy, at its average.
Ratings: 2.5/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
Director Pandiraj, who debuted with the charming 'Pasanga', has dabbled in different attempts before, such as 'Vamsam' and 'Marina'. All three films were different from each other, but he has realized that his forte is comedy, and that's a safe bet in current circumstances, at the box office. With two upcoming small budget, safe-bets in Vemal and Sivakarthikeyan, Pandiraj has promised a clean film with a good dosage of comedy. Did he succeed ?
Vemal was flawless in his role, as it is his comfort zone, playing middle-class, youngster. He certainly has improved very much, in dialogue delivery and voice modulation. He looks more confident in dance and emotional scenes as well. Neat job ! Sivakarthikeyan was exploited of his terrific comedy timing and good mimicry skills. It is second nature to him in delivering 'killer-blow' punch dialogues, since he was a versatile television presenter before. His dancing capabilities are not bad, either. More good films, and this top-notch entertainer, will find huge success in Tamizh cinema ! Bindu Madhavi, plays a good foil as Vemal's pair. She gets to play a "different" Tamizh heroine, contradicting the norms of such backdrop-based films. She gets to bash the hero, for a change and plays the more assertive one, rather than the hero ! Whereas, Regina Cassandra is a breathe of fresh air, and this girl is good in what she does. With her experiences of doing Telugu films beforehand, her expressions and performance have an unbidden nature to it, a far cry from her 'Kanda Naal Mudhal' days ! If she dubs in her own voice, it would do wonders for her. Soori was havoc in the film, with his exceptional dialogue delivery and comedy timing ! He was at complete ease in his role, and delivers the dialogues at the right note, ensuring the comedy hits on the right moment ! This film will be one of his best in his repertoire. The rest of the supporting cast such as 'Delhi' Ganesh, Sujatha, Gopal, Muthuraman, Manoj Kumar and etc were apt for the roles they played.
K.Natraj's costume designing and G.Vijayakumar's make-up sense, was very much in tune with the script. They ensured the lead folks, looked their roles, without being too flashy. Especially for the heroines, as both girls were looking as the simple and sweet girl-next-door. Rajeevan's art direction was spotless, in terms of quality. He created authentic market and bar settings for the songs and the props for the election sequences, were very authentic and immaculate. Athiyappan Siva's editing was smooth, but he could have done a little trimming in the first half, as there are couple of standalone, unwarranted sequences. Rajashekar's stunt work was over-the-top, but it was in dictation of the script and scene. Vijay's cinematography complements the backdrop of the film's setting, and he captures the native look and feel of Tiruchi quite well, with the RED Pro 5.0. His poised handling of the camera movement, adds strength to the scenes, especially those which were shot indoors.
Yuvan Shankar Raja's tunes were simple and neat for 'Kedi Billa Killadi Ranga'. The peppy "Oru Porambokku" sung by him, together with Silambarasan, was picturized on the triumvirate of Vemal, Sivakarthikeyan, Soori and as well as with the other friend character. The song is about the negativeness of drinking and ironically, it was shot showing the characters enjoying drinking and dancing for the apparent "one, final time". Rajeevan's set work, especially the brightly-lit street set-up was very authentic. Vijay's framing sense was apt as well. "Konjum Kili" was shot on the Vemal and Bindu. It was shot in real locations, such as temples, streets and markets. The color tone of the song was suitable and he captured the facial expressions of the artistes, quite well. "Suda Suda" was shot on Sivakarthikeyan and Regina, and has plenty of montages, edited into the song. It too was shot on plenty of real locations such as railway station, market, streets, railway tracks and etc. "Ulladha Naan" has the backdrop of a campaign election, and was shot on the main leads, in their council election campaign. The props and set-up by Rajeevan was top-notch. "Deivangal Ellame" is a situational song, with montages of the difficult moments in the lead heroes' lives. The background score was good as usual, with some typical melodious hook-lines, used sparingly.
Judging from what Pandiraj has done, its quite evident that he has put his bets on comedy. His clarity in it is laudable, and kudos to him for coming up with a neat and family-friendly film, with plenty of fun-filled moments. The strength of Pandiraj, is his witty dialogues. Starting off with Samuthirakani's voice-over, Pandiraj has packed the first half, with gags over gags. The dialogues were very cleverly written, and shines with good creativity. Pandiraj (he does appear in the film along with the editor Athiyappan and dance choreographer Dinesh, before the credits) has come up with novel, but funny sequences throughout the film, and has extracted the correct level of performance from his artistes. His antithetical situations and dialogues reminds us of Pandiyarajan's movies of the 80's and 90's, unmistakably. But, the script takes a sharp diversion in the climax, and out of a sudden, you get to see some melodramatic moments and sentimental dialogues. And that's when we realize Pandiraj's notion of wrapping his intended message, with loads of comedic gags. Also, its a little bizarre to notice his heroines mellowing to the charms of the heroes out of the blue, in the second half, whereas they were in resistance, throughout the first half ! Apart from this minor blips, the film was presented neatly and packaged properly, with the correct dosage of comedy, romance, songs and sentiments, without going too preachy nor draggy.
'Kedi Billa Killadi Ranga' is levity-filled fun film, which is good for unwinding on a stressful day.
Ratings: 3/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
'Sattam Oru Iruttarai' finds itself a new coat of paint, through a remake by the grand niece of the original's director. Sneha Britto, a 19-year old grand niece of S.A Chandrasekhar and niece of 'Ilaiyathalapathy' Vijay remakes the cult hit, which was released some 3 decades back. Backed by her parents as the producers and her grandfather as the creative head, Sneha Britto, makes some changes to the script for the suitability towards the current context, factor.
Thaman Kumar, a relative newcomer, replaces the Vijayakanth, and sadly, he is not match for the latter. Thaman is no where near the fiery and spirited performance of Vijayakanth in the original, which cemented his place among Tamizh cinema elite and elevated the film to a cult status. Thaman struggles in nearly every department and he has a hell lot to do, if he wants to stick to acting and surviving in this cut-throat cine-field. Reemma Sen, has a substantial character to play, but there's nothing special to discuss about the performance. It looks like, she felt uninterested half-way through acting in the film. Piaa Bajpai and Bindhu Madhavi has nothing much to offer, other than to be the eye-candies of the film. The rest of the cast such as Radha Ravi, Suresh, Sampath Ram, Krishnamoorthy, 'Erode' Mahesh, 'Tiger Garden' Thanga Durai, Adams and etc has even less substantial roles, and it puzzles the audience, especially on the necessity for a large number of unimportant characters. S.A Chandrasekhar, tries to impress in his late cameo, though.
The technical department's contribution to the film, was just functional. Art direction by A.Vanaraj, was okay, especially with the interiors of the sets, such as houses and police stations. M.R Rejeesh's editing was sloppy, especially in the first half, which had bumpy narration. 'Billa' Jagan's stunt choreography was adequate, especially the climax fight sequence. C.J Rajkumar's cinematography work was passable, with good choices of techniques but nothing noteworthy. Vijay Antony's music was poor and not catchy at all, which is a big disappointment for the audience, especially when the movie is faring badly. "Nimirndhi Nil" was shot with Thaman and Bindhu, performing a stage act, along with dancers on a laser-lit setting. "Adam Eval", also shot on the same pair, was picturized in Bangkok, with those scenic Buddhist monasteries, beaches and parks. "Thirumba Thirumba" and "Uyirin Uyire", both were shot on Thanam and Piaa this time, and had montages sequences, showing the love moments of the couple, going around Hong Kong. The final track, "Poochandi" is a typical folk song, with heavy beats and features the all there lead artistes, Thaman, Piaa and Bindhu dancing along with the back-up dancers in the park, with blandly-colored but skimpy costumes for the heroines. The background score too was too out-dated and boring. Not enough motivation, Vijay ?
The handling of the script was very amateurish. Though S.A Chandrasekhar puts in his effort as the creative head, it was not enough to save this film. Sadly, the original is still miles ahead better in terms of cinematic value !! There's no logic in the screenplay, the direction is poor, the acting is amateurish, the characterizations were awful, and sadly, there's no narration at all. The only scene, which makes us to take a look, is the end, where S.A Chandrasekhar, points out his opinion on the current state of law and order in India. The handling of the police episodes, is a disgrace to the actual officers, where police where made to look like idiots ! The original had the melodrama as its USP, together with good music and performance, but here its all about the glossiness and no conviction from the director. R.Ruban's dialogues too were, not up to the mark, as well.
Its not wrong to be ambitious, but Sneha Britto should not plunge into direction at the expense of her parents' financial support, and the backing of her successful grand father and uncle, in the cinema industry. It will be better for her to learn the nuances of direction first, before deciding to direct a film. Sorry my lady, though truths hurt, a truth is still a truth ! 'Sattam Oru Iruttarai' is poor. Very poor !!
Ratings: 1.5/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
Tamizh cinema has grown in leaps and bounds technically but in story/script wise, it has achieved very good progress in dabbling with different genres and novel themes. In "Kazhugu", a similarly novel theme line has been chosen as the backdrop of the story. The movie revolves around the people who does the extremely challenging job of corpse retrievers in the Kodaikaanal hills. It shows a different side of world and people whom we are not accustomed or familiar with. In that sense, "Kazhugu" is intriguing to certain extent. Sathyasiva, a debutant has dared to come up with a script revolving dim characters and the trailers and teasers projected a thriller-kind of genre for this film.
Starting of with the protagonist Krishna. He has put in good effort to pull of the character of 'Sera' since it demands a good physical energy to portray such character but his emotions could have been much better. Especially in comedy portions where, good comedy timing is important. It's even more important to have one,when you have Karunaas and Thambi Ramaiah with you throughout the movie. Also he has to try to improve more on his voice modulation. With more experience, hope he can master the art of dubbing. Bindhu Madhavi, who did a small role in "Veppam" has done a small and sweet role in this movie. She has a good smile but then when it comes to acting, she has lots more to improve. She got her basic emotions right, but in some portions it could have been much better. Karunaas was good in his character role and it would be nice to see him more in such roles. His dubbing was very well done and the scenes done in the bar was a funny one! Thambi Ramaiah continues his good run in this movie too and he mixes serious and comedy into his role very well. His funny dialogue delivery adds more fun into his role, especially with the banter he shares with Karunaas. Jayaprakash has another grim role but his character was not very well utilized, considering the fact he plays the antagonist.
The movie has average technical works done. Pinida P.Shamdasani's costumes were limited but it does work for the movie since the movie demands such attires for the lead artistes. Remiyan has done a decent art work especially when it comes to the little houses, tea factory, interiors of Karunaas house and etc. Praveen K.L and Srikanth N.B does a neat job in this film as well, especially in the opening sequences besides the climax portions. T.Ramesh's stunt choreography was decent. The fight between the protagonist and the henchman, in the factory was well done. Satya.J's cinematography captures the edge of the high hills in Kodaikanal very well and the scenes done in the deep forest was beautifully shot. He maintained a grim and dark look throughout the film, thanks to the natural surrounding of Kodaikanal. Yuvan Shankar Raja's music was needed to make this film marketable and he did justice by delivering a hit song in "Aambalaikkum Pombalaikkum" ghana-song. The simple beats and quirky lyrics by Snehan makes the song a fun-filled one. It was neatly shot roadsides and the additional neat touch was delivered by dance choreographer Dinesh with his simple and enjoyable dance moves. Added to that Karunaas and Thambi Ramaiah did deliver their part into making the song a hit. The "Aathadi Manasudan" was done in montage sequences which had cute expressions from Bindhu Madhavi. "Paathagathi Kannupattu" is another montage song and it was wonderfully sung by Yuvan, which sounds like a soft lullaby. His background score was simple and adequate with the love bit music being the best score.
Debutant Sathyasiva has come with a simple and straight-forward script but the story was not as gripping and thrilling as on expected. Especially in the second half, the movie didn't look like heading into anywhere and only late climax, we got to see some actions. He should have given more importance to the antagonist role done by Jayaprakash. What keeps us entertained though is the lovely banter shared by Karunaas and Thambi Ramaiah. The initial body-recovery scene, the wine bar sequence and the marriage sequences were done humorously. The dialogues by the director was differently and interestingly done. Especially regarding the corpses being retrieved, the spats between Karunaas and Thambi Ramaiah and also the love proposal methods by Thambi Ramaiah. The climax fight scenes were done in a violent way, and it could have been toned down a little.
"Kazhugu" offered a different and interesting backdrop for the audiences which can make them to sit up and take notice but in order to maintain the interest, the story should be gripping. The homework was very well done by the director, but the script work could have been much better to incorporate more suspense and thrills into the screenplay. Anyways, this movie is a welcomed effort and happy to see director Sathyasiva not succumbing to pressures of adding unnecessary commercial 'mass-masala' ingredients to pep up the script. "Kazhugu" is a decent time pass movie but could have been much better.
Ratings: 2.5/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
Veppam, became the first film produced by Gautham Menon's Photon Kathaas, after the company pulled out of Suseendran's Azhagarsamiyin Kudhirai project. This film which happens to have a former associate of Gautham, Anjana Ali Khan as the director, evoked good initial curiosity among the viewers with the slickly made trailer and for Joshua Sridhar's music. It has a very young cast and crew and it was expected to deliver a good product. In the end, the film did not click much with the audience, because of the lack in-depth in the script.
Nani, the Telugu actor made a decent entry to Tamizh cinema with this film in a rugged character. He maintained a good body language throughout the film and he can improve more on the expressions aspect. Karthik Kumar finally came out of the stereotypical roles of "foreign mappilai" which he is always associated with. As the mechanic, he has given his best acting so far and he did very well in the emoting section, especially with the good use of his eyes. Nithya Menen has nothing much to offer plus the dubbing voice used for her doesn't match at all with her character. The voice is too polished and suave for a character brought up in a slum. Bindhu Madhavi, scored more on acting front among the ladies as a commercial sex worker though both the ladies has limited screen presence. Muthukumar who did the role of Nani's elder brother was riveting and rugged too and the use of Gautham Vasudev Menon's voice for him was very much apt. The rest of the cast was true to their roles though not all of them has a well-etched out ones'.
The biggest asset for this film on technical front is Joshua Sridhar's music. After chartbusters in Kadhal and Kalloori, this man was missing in action and it's a very much welcomed relief to have him back. Among the songs, Mazhai Varum and Kaatrile Eeram are the standouts and are his personal best as well. Om Prakash's cinematography is another added support to this film. His picturizations resonates the mood of the scene and switches alternatively from dark, to bright to soft and warm. He captured the interiors of the small, cramped houses of the characters very well, and the Mazhai Varum song was brilliantly shot with the correct choice of colors in that song. Rajashekar's stunts, especially the climax fight was impressive. Anthony must have had a walk in the park in the editing department.
Anjana Ali Khan has set this film in North Madras, which is turning out to be the favourite of Tamizh cinema directors after Madurai in terms of geographical aspect of a film's setting. She should have perfected the script even more, as the story only picks up the heat in the second half and added also it moves back and forth for a few times, thanks to a number of incidents thrown into because of unnecessary number of characters, which doesn't really sit well with the audiences making them to feel disconnected with their interest for the film.
Veppam could have been more riveting and nail biting, if the script underwent more work though the intentions of the director was honest and sincere.
Ratings: 2/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
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