'Irumbhu Kuthirai' is the comeback film for Atharvaa Murali, after the critically acclaimed 'Paradesi'. Directed by debutante Yuvaraj Bose, a former associate of Arivazhagan, the film's USP is the script being based on motorcycle race backdrop and super-bikes. Produced on a generous budget by AGS Entertainment, can Yuvaraj race into Tamizh cinema as another young prodigy ?
After the hard struggle and excruciating pain in 'Paradesi', Atharvaa Murali dons a conventional hero role and it looks like he has been working out on his physique. He looks better and has improved his dialogue delivery and timing but his character lacks the zing and energy needed. Unfortunately, this film lets him down, on acting performance aspect. Priya Anand, looks gorgeous and is the regular Tamizh cinema heroine (friend turned damsel-in-distress turned lover !). The lead pair looks compatible on screen, but their chemistry fails to sizzle. Johnny Tri Nguyen is a surprise casting and fits the role of a really mean baddie, but somehow his character becomes unintentionally funny (especially with the Tamizh dialogues !). Among the character artistes, its Devadarshini who's role as the protagonist's mother, is an interesting choice. We are seeing some serious performances from her, and hope she continues to showcase her acting skills. The rest of the cast includes Raai Laxmi & Jagan (both looking out-of-sync with the film), Manobala, Mayilsamy, Joe Malloori, Anupama Kumar, Swaminathan, Sachu and Joshna. Alisha Abdullah (India's first female national racing champion & only female biker racer) has a cameo, which the needs of it can only be comprehended by the director.
Thanks to AGS Entertainment, the films has rich production values and slick technical outputs. Muruganandam takes care of the costume designing and Priya was given the most attention, as she was simply cute and lovely in he simple and casual clothing. He could have worked it out better for Raai Laxmi and Jagan, who looked completely weird and unflattering. Art direction is by Sakthee Venkatraj.M and though most of the film was shot outdoors, the set work and properties for the homes of the lead pair, the bike sales gallery and the warehouse like set-up for the pre-climax fight sequence, looks good. Action choreography is by 'Kanal' Kannan and he has made good use of Johnny Tri Nguyen's martial arts skill. Though the execution was okay, the choreography did not really match Atharvaa's personality and it was a little over-the-top, especially with the ropes. William Ong, takes care of the bike action sequences, and being an expert in it, there are no complaints with his work. T.S Suresh must be commended for the crisp running time of the film and for his work in the action scenes, but the film has a very jarring pace and the continuity takes severe beating due to this. Cinematography is by R.B Gurudhev and Gopi Amarnath and both of them have given good visuals, be it Pondicherry or the Italian countryside and Venice city. They have tried to match the visuals of Italy with Pondicherry and they have managed to work it out in bits and pieces, though the cover up is pretty obvious.
G.V Prakash Kumar's music is decent but the songs fail to create any impact due to the bad timing and placement in the screenplay. "Hello Brother" is the introductory song of Raai Laxmi and was shot in a bar like set-up, which incorporated plenty of color lighting. "Ange Ippo Enna" is a melody between the lead pair and has many cut-shots of the lead pair, texting each other in which grand and majestic buildings in Venice becomes a backdrop for this song. "Alai Paayum" is almost a similarly shot song, but this time it's a dance number and has more coastal and cliff side locations in the song, which was also shot in Italy. "Penne Penne" is a pathos song, shot on the lead pair and has Pondicherry's colonial and colorful buildings as its backdrop, with many cut-shots, in it too. "Pondicherry" was visually the best shot song, which is an item number featuring the tall, dusky and hot Akshara Gowda. Johnny Tri Nguyen and Alisha Abdullah makes appearance in the song as well, which had a ringside like set-work and good lighting, which complemented the song very well. G.V Prakash Kumar's background score, especially for the climax race sequence is adept. His signature scores for the love portions, are highlights of the background score, too !
A Tamizh film on superbike racing is certainly a refreshing and unique idea, but ideas alone will not make films, watchable. Yuvaraj Bose's plot for the script is so simple, which an adolescent teenager can come up with ! His screenplay lets you down terribly and the film lacks the great energy needed, especially since its about super-bikes. As said earlier, the placement of songs irks us even more and the unwarranted comedy and sentimental portions are a big bore. The love portions lack the sizzle needed and is pretty ordinary. But Yuvaraj's sequence setting doesn't go overboard and he comes up with casual scenes, pertaining to the characters' dilemmas and stature. But for such scenes to hold up on its own, you need strong and interesting dialogues, which Narsim fails to deliver. The dialogues are just pretty much conventional and sufficed the needs of the script. Yuvaraj does spring a surprise, in late second half, but its way too late to save the film and the audience's attention. Instead of tweaking the script and closing down the gaping loopholes in the screenplay, Yuvaraj succumbs to the contemporary Tamizh cinema pressure and fills his film with unwanted elements. Weak characterization further dampens the mood of the film and by the end of the film, you wouldn't have felt like you have watched a film !
'Irumbu Kuthirai - Instead of galloping, it stuttered !
Ratings: 2/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
Comedy genre is not something new or fresh for Tamizh cinema audience, but infusing fantasy element into it, is a rarity. AGS Entertainment produced, 'Naveena Saraswathi Sabatham', is the debut directorial venture of K.Chandru, who has co-written the script of 'Tamizh Padam' along with C.S Amudhan. With a fresh and experimental combination of next-gen comedy artistes, K.Chandru has attempted to entertain us with comedy, albeit with a clear message. How did this 'modernized vow' of Saraswathi turn out to be?
Jai, after his pleasant performance in 'Raja Rani', had pretty much nothing to do. He was in his utmost comfort zone and has aptly used his shrill voice, for the right moments. Debutante heroine, Niveda Thomas looks sweet and performs well, with good dialogue delivery, which was perfectly dubbed by her dubbing artiste ! Alas, she has an extremely short screen timing, hence the limited acting scope for her. Sathyan and C.Rajkumar of 'Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom' were at ease with their roles, particularly Sathyan, who did a great work with his expressions and body language, especially for a photo-shoot sequence in the first half. The one with the 'meatiest' role is none other than 'VTV' Ganesh, who rocks in some sequences, with his trademark dialogue delivery and antics, especially in the second half. On the other side, Subbu Panchu, Devadarshini and Manobala, donned the roles of religious deities Shiva, Parvathi and Naradar, respectively. They were apt choices for their roles and gave good dialogue deliveries, and Subbu Panchu should be appreciated for his funny expressions and voice modulations. Venkat Prabhu and Sam Anderson make fleeting cameo appearances. The rest of the cast such as R.S Sivaji, Chitra Lakshmanan, Swaminathan, Badava Gopi, Vishal Venkat, Rekha Suresh, Ramya Ramakrishnan and etc were apt for their respective roles.
M.P Vanitha Srinivasan's costume designing was okay, though the shoe-string budget is a little evident, especially with the GOD characters. The conventional real-life characters too, were well presented, in terms of costumes. Dhilip Subbarayan's action choreography sufficed the needs of the script, quite well. M.G Murugan's production design is vital, and he has done a good work with the Mount Kailash abode, with touches of contemporary. An unique idea, indeed and kudos to him, for pulling it off. The private abode of Shiva, is the highlight, with modern art paintings adorning the walls ! T.S Suresh's editing was not flawless, as the film moves at a snail's pace in the second half, and the some sequences dragged the length of the film. The transition from GOD's world to the episodes taking place in Earth, could have been smoother. J.Anand's cinematography was average, apart from the beautiful shots of the island for a song sequence, late second-half.
Music has been handled by newcomer Prem Kumar, and the melodies are worth listening. "Kaathirundhai Anbe" was shot on Jai and Niveda, in montages, with the quirky element of the heroine holding a microphone and singing from it, all the time ! "Saturday Fever" is a clubbing song, and was shot on the gang of four, comprising Jai, C.Rajkumar, Sathyan and 'VTV' Ganesh. The typical color lighting and scantily-dressed Asian girls, are there in the song. "Vaazhkai Oru" is also shot on the four buddies stranded alone in an uninhabited island, with montages of them spending time by doing what they can afford to do. "Nenjankuzhi" is the pick of album, shot on the lead pair, and had some beautiful shots of the island, against the backdrop of dark clouds and blue ocean. R.Kannan, handles the background score and he gives his input with some unique, modern sounds.
The trailer and teasers suggested a touch of 'Hangover', but the director has dismissed the idea, through a dialogue uttered by the protagonist. K.Chandru's script has a good and timely message to the viewers, but the message presentation was corny and ends up being dull. However, K.Chandru should be applauded for his unique ideas (Lord Ganesha on treadmill, Lord Murugan and his Temple Run game on the iPad, Naradhar with a guitar and Lord Shiva with his iMac and etc) along with creative and cheeky dialogues (especially for the 'heavenly' episodes, with the right amount of English and Tamizh mixture, giving those episodes a contemporary feel). The first half was interesting, especially the GOD sequences, which were cutely conceptualized and well executed. The introduction of the human being characters were okay to some extent. But the second half becomes quite tedious with long drawn sequences and K.Chandru tries to cover it up, by spoofing some of the popular Tamizh films. The script is pretty obviously wafer-thin, so K.Chandru should have trimmed the second half, quite considerably. Also, why are Tamizh cinema directors still trying to do cover up with the foreign locations ? Kuala Lumpur has been passed out as Bangkok in this film, and its about time for directors to realize that, its not easy to fool any audience, anymore !
'Naveena Saraswathi Sabatham' - A fantasy comedy, with preachy messages.
Ratings: 2.25/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
Here we go ! Another week and another comedy film being released in Tamizh cinema. Creativity seems to be lacking, where producers are only thinking of pouncing on quick-bucks by producing comedy capers. But hey, a comedy film is still a film and it has to be good, in order to be successful. Shiva and Santhanam, are 'deadly' combination comes together after a brief flirt in 'Thillu Mullu'. Directed by I.Rajasekaran, a former associate of M.Rajesh, each comedian has a heroine each, but how did the movie live up to, in the end ?
Performance wise, Shiva and Santhanam were very pretty much in their comfort zone. Too much of comfort, frankly speaking ! Shiva with his poker-face reactions and Santhanam with his one-liners, are complementary to each other with their distinctively different styles and timing. But their gags together were not of rip-roaring quality, but just plain-silly gags. As for the heroines, Dhanshikaa, has the meatier role and, for an actress of her potential and substance, this was just a pathetic show. Though she could have wanted to do a simpler, attractive-looking, easy-going role, such roles doesn't not offer her much, other than a pay-packet. Sandhya makes her return after quite some time, and she was okay with her comic timing and in a limited portion of sequences. 'Powerstar' Dr.S.Srinivasan makes a cameo and does plenty of spoof gags, though he is improving with his dialogue delivery and comic timing. Devadarshini's role was just insipid and ridiculous. The rest such as Ilavarasu, Rekha, Manohar, Aarthi, Chitra Letchumanan and etc were just there to fill up the spaces.
Shanmugapriya.S's costume designing sufficed the need of the script, especially with the lead pairs looking good. 'Thalapathy' Dinesh's stunt choreography was over-the-top, though the script warranted it. T.S Suresh's editing has nothing to shout about, apart from the fact that it was just neat and the length of the film was short. K.Kathir's production design was okay, trying his best to make the surroundings to look convincing enough. Especially with the props. Vetri's cinematography was average but pleasant in a few shots.
Vijay Ebenezer's songs were below average and none of them were interesting to listen to. "Friendae" was shot on both Shiva and Santhanam, with a swanky shopping complex as a backdrop. "Needhane Endru" is a dream song on Shiva and Dhanshikaa, which had montages and was shot in common places such as beach, malls and theme parks. "Boomi Nalla" was also picturized on Shiva and Dhanshikaa, in a colorful, rural setting done by K.Kathir. While Dhanshikaa showed the glamorous side of her's, Shiva dabbled in real dancing ! "Oru Kannadi" was picturized on a bar setup, erected by K.Kathir. The song was shot on Shiva boozing around and also had Dinesh, the choreographer, throughout the song. "Yaaru Kitta" was like a face-off song, between Shiva and Santhanam and was shot in a wedding atmosphere-like, decorated home. "Nothing Wantu" appears during the end credits.
I.Rajasekaran is clearly motivated by his mentor's style of writing scripts, that is without a proper story but full of funny gags. There's nothing wrong in aping the same methodology, but the execution goes horribly wrong in 'Ya Yaa'. I.Rajasekaran tried to fuse both slapstick comedy and serious story-telling into one screenplay and both elements did not stick well. The film slowly wanders no where, and the screenplay goes completely haywire with farcical and unwanted sequences dished out for no apparent reasons. Some of the gags are filled with double entendres, which could have been avoided. Also, there is a lackaidisical attitude with the final product, with badly done post-production. Many sequences had the dubbing and lip-sync going completely non-sync !
'Ya Yaa' - A half-baked attempt in making quick-bucks, by harping on to the recent trend of comedy films being release.
Ratings: 1.75/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
Tha. Prabhu Raja Cholan, a former associate of Shankar makes his debut as a director in the uniquely titled, 'Karuppampatti'. Started three years ago, 'Karuppampatti' finally sees the day, and luckily the hero Ajmal, has a better market, thanks to the big success of 'Ko'. With interesting locations such as Paris and the extreme opposite of it, in rural Tamil Nadu villages, 'Karuppampatti' promises a good and family-friendly time for the viewers. But is it really good as a film ?
This is Ajmal's first film as an out-and-out hero or as the protagonist. It is quite evident that he has performed sincerely, though his reactions do tend to go overboard at times. Probably, more experience could have helped him to be more composed. But kudos to him for attempting to play two diametrically different roles and has worked well, in displaying the difference between both the roles, which are set in different eras. Ajmal shows some promise and with more films, he can scale the heights of stardom. Aparna Bajpai would have probably bagged this role, thanks to her role in 'Eesan' which she did long time back. She too has the opportunity to perform in two roles but sadly, her roles were not sketched out properly, nor do they have any significant importance to the film. Her sweet smile and pleasant appearance, is a plus for her, though. M.S Bhaskar handles the comedy portions of the first half, and he was good with his dialogue delivery and modulation. Meanwhile, its Jagan and Srinath, who takes care of the humor quotient in the second half. Jagan, was pretty good, particularly with his dialogue delivery and expressions, whereas Srinath was too loud and irritating. A big troupe of supporting artistes are there, such as Devadarshini, Chetan, Ganesh, Alex, Mahadevan, R.S.G Chelladurai, Balasubramaniam, Prem and etc, and many of them have left their mark, wherever they could.
The technical output of the film was not bad, surprisingly. Vasugi Bhaskar has done a good job, on a low budget, especially when it comes to the fashion styles of the 70's and the current generation. But more work could have done to make the characters of the village folks of the 70's to look more authentic and believable. Abdul Razak's make-up sufficed the needs of the artistes. 'Rock' Prabhu's stunt was simple and cleanly executed by Ajmal. Production designers, Vengal Ravi and Veeramani should be lauded for their simple, yet efficient art direction. The props and background were convincingly done to represent the specific eras portrayed in the film. The interiors and props for the 70's era, was the highlight, together with the sets for the songs. B.Lenin's editing was just perfect for the film, without making it too draggy. Santhosh Sriram and Sanjeevi Sathyaseelan, handled the cinematography department very well. The camera movements and framing were perfect, as well as the clarity in their works, especially for the village portions.
Kannan's tunes for the film was average and not really hum-worthy. "Kannamma" is the first song, which is a bit song, picturized on village girls, celebrating the festival, by playfully pouring turmeric-contained water on men. It has good camera movements and nice black-and-white tone to it. "Oh Indira" has Telugu actress Archana doing a dance jig with Ajmal, in a simple, yet flashy club set. The lighting was particularly bright, which captured the essence and mood of the song quite well. "Naughty Raja" had very bright and colorful lighting in the set work, which resembled the 70's hippie disco backdrop. The editing for the song was neatly done, so that it resembles similar type of songs, picturized in those days. "Karuppampatti" is a typical village song, with the Pongal celebration as the backdrop. It had plenty of dancers and the colorful festivity mood, in the air, especially with the big number of sugar canes used for the song. "Adaleru Kaalai" is another celebratory village song, this time glorifying the victorious state of the protagonist in a bull-fight. It too has similar colorful ambiance and plenty of dancers, with plantation fields, serving as the backdrop. The background score was just normal, and there's nothing much to discuss about it.
Tha. Prabhu Raja Cholan, must be credited for earnestly trying to be as original as he could, wherever the script necessitates. For example, the liberal use of French during the Paris portions, the non-stereotyping of villagers as the supreme good human and the usage of black-and-white tone for the flashback sequences. The detailing is evident, but it is not enough, in terms of his script writing. We are not given enough justification or rationale explanations on why the senior Ajmal was averse to his fellow villagers, though he is one among them. Some characters just vanish without leaving any mark on the screenplay and the the junior Ajmal's comfortable assimilation into the supposedly, "alien" village, is too good to be true. And the integration of all the characters into the village once again, was just too simple. All these only showcase the lazy writing of the director. Its puzzling to note how the director can leave out a simply detail in the dialogues portion, especially for the younger Ajmal, who seems to be uttering more English, instead of French ! He grew up in Paris, didn't he ? The director has set his sight in capturing the family audience's attention, but the script lacks the zing and the intensity of the emotional quotient, needed for such family dramas. Perhaps, Tha. Prabhu Raja Cholan would have intended for a light-hearted, simple film yet, it fails to fully engage us.
'Karuppampatti' is watchable in bits and pieces. A more deft, script-writing could have helped the film, to achieve its actual intention.
Ratings: 2/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
