PONMAALAI POZHUDHU MOVIE REVIEW

'Ponmaalai Pozhudhu' has been in the making for quite sometime. Featuring the debuting Aadhav Kannadhasan, the grandson of the legendary lyricist/writer Kannadhasan, A.C Durai makes his debut as well as a director in this flick. Love seems to be the primary theme here, though the powerful performer, Kishore's participation gives some hope for us, for a different angle as well. How did this flick fare ?

Aadhav Kannadhasan fits the role of the protagonist of this film. He is confident in front of screen and has a good sense of dialogue delivery methods. He seems to be in comfort zone, even with heavy-duty emotional scenes, with tight close-ups, but nevertheless the young lad has plenty of things to look upon and to contemplate improving. Gayathri, looks very realistic and natural as the young and chirpy lass. A perfect lead pair for this particular subject ! Kishore, in his limited role was a scene stealer, with very nuanced and composed performance. His expression and usage of his eyes and body language to bring out the feel and mood of his character, was just a cut above the rest in the cast. Anupama Kumar, had a cool act as Kishore's wife in the film. She just breezes into her role and its about time for Tamizh cinema, to fully utilize her talents. Aruldass, scores in his realistic portrayal as the rude and suspecting father of the heroine while Sri Ranjani was apt for her less-impressively written role. 

Sarala Vijayakumar has worked well in the costume designing, as the characters looked their part, pertaining to their backgrounds and social demography. Silva's stunt choreography was in tune with the need of the script and what the characters can demand. Sanjey Karan's production design was simple and functional. The props for the middle-class homes setting was well done, though the up-market posh bungalow could have been dealt better. Ramsudharsan's editing was sufficed the need of the script, as the length of the film was crisp, though the transition from one sequence to another was jerky. Rajavel Olhiveeran's cinematography was average.

C.Sathya's musical score was neat and sounds pleasant. "Vaarkodhume" was the opening number, which was shot on the hero and his bunch of friends partying in an up-market bungalow. The club setting worked out well for the song, though the detailing could have been better. Rajavel's roving camera movements over the glamorous dancers, were apparent. "Masala Chicks" has few cut-shots and was picturized on the lead pair and dancers, with few backdrops such as the school compound, shopping complexes and the outdoors. "Nee Indri" is a situational song and had montages of the lead pair, picturized going through a separation. "Adikkadi" is the pick of the lot among the songs. Shot on the lead pair, who looked good, the song was picturized in Calcutta, with some of its landmarks utilized. "Iravugalil" also had montages interspersed with song picturization using famous landmarks as backdrop-sets. The background score of the film, was disappointing, as it is too loud and uninspiring.

A.C Durai, handles the universal theme of love for this flick, and his focus of attention is the juvenile gang. The 'puppy love' theme is something which has been handled by some legendary directors, to upcoming newbies, so there's nothing novel about it. What matters is the treatment and execution, which A.C Durai falters. The direction and writing falls completely flat. The minute saving grace would be Kishore's episodes and sequences, where some good lines and points are made. But other than that, the making is very insipid and sort of amateurish, though that might be complementary for the theme. A.C Durai wanders between the love-episodes and the father-son duo relationship and the film suffers, due to this needless wandering between themes. The faulty making does not commensurate with the good intentions of highlighting a sound social message, relevant to parents and teenagers, as well.

'Ponmaalai Pozhudhu' - Insipid and amateurish.


Ratings: 1.5/5 STARS

BY:TAMIL

NADUVULA KONJAM PAKKATHA KAANOM MOVIE REVIEW

 Vijay Sethupathi, who is on a roll with continuous successes, has starred in another different attempt, which has a unique and quirky title. Directed by Balaji Tharaneetharan, this film is said to be inspired from a true incident, which ironically happened to the cinematographer of this film, C.Premkumar ! Will Balaji continue the new wave of next-gen directors such as Balaji Mohan and Karthik Subbaraj ?

The casting of the film is pretty simple and neat. Vijay Sethupathi is the pivot which the whole film centers on, and he has done clear justice to the film. Delivering a measured and composed performance, Vijay has done a brilliant job as a temporary memory loss patient. His expressions, looks and dialogue delivery was very apt and splendid. Though it can look easy to maintain the same reaction throughout the film, it is indeed difficult to maintain the consistency and he has handled that part very well. Looks like this man will be the next indie super star ! Gayathri of '18 Vayasu' fame makes a minor appearance in the film and was adequate. Vigneswaran as Saras was serious and intense with his performance, while Bagawathi Perumal and C.Rajkumar were a scream throughout the film. Their personal duel and bantering between each other were explicitly humorous, though none of it was intentional ! Bagawathi, who happens to be a real-life witness of the incident was brilliant with his 'advising' and authoritative imposition. C.Rajkumar was funny with his petrified and shocked looks, all through the movie. The bonding and seriousness between the friends were very natural and real. The rest of the cast were apt, such as Usha, Kameshwar Rao, Madhumathi, Raju Sivashankaran and etc.

Shankar's costumes were very apt and resonated the middle-class milieu perfectly. Dhilip Subbarayan's stunts choreography was very minimal but adequate. A.S Lakshmi Narayanan's audiography could have been better with some timing missing in few places and in certain portions the background score was a little louder. C.Veeramani's art direction was simple and effective, especially for the props in reception and wedding sets and not to forget the hospital scenes. R.Govindaraj should have done much better in the editing department, because the film was too lengthy and after a certain period of time, the monotony kicks in, which might test the patience of viewers. But his work in the cricket episode was good. C.Premkumar's cinematography was effective, with plenty of close-up shots and low, tight angles, which were relevant to such story-lines  which needs to capture the looks and emotions of the characters, clearly. His handling of the camera for the cricket episode was cheeky too, with slow motions, which adds to the fun and humor quotient of the film.

Music of the film was very refreshing and pleasantly done by Ved Shankar, a product of A.R Rahman's KM Music Conservatory. The "Excuse Me Sir" was a funny introductory song of the vital four friends characters, and features many cut shots and montages. None of the other songs were featured in the film, unfortunately though the "Oh Crazy Minnal" sung by Andrea was a hit, and the "Omelette Potta" song with some basic set designs and props were used for promotional purposes only. Siddharth Vipin, an assistant keyboardist to A.R Rahman, takes care of the background score. His cheeky score helps elevate the humor quotient in some places and some places reminds us of his mentor, especially in the end track, which sounds like inspired from the "Sandai Kozhi" song from 'Aayutha Ezhuthu'. End of the day, a neat musical score for the film.

Balaji Tharaneetharan has made the film in such a way, where it mimics the real life. Not in any scene it looks like a cinematic film. A definitely refreshing movie, since the comedies are very situational, but what makes it much better is the mood of the film. Though the whole film is serious from start to finish, we will fail not to laugh out loud at the misfortunes of the four friends characters and their arduous task in taking care of the complicating situations. The director keeps the viewers guessing till the end, regarding the fate of the lead hero, but the process is slow, which can put off some viewers. The dialogues are very quirkily written, reflecting the naughty and humor sense of the males. Boys and men would definitely, enjoy this film much more than the fairer sex. The plot and narration is pretty much straightforward and the end credits was pretty touching. 

'Naduvule Konjam Pakkathe Kaanom' -  movie where you can 'LOL-out' out throughout the film. One of the best situational comedies to ever come out in Tamizh cinema !


Ratings: 3/5 STARS

BY:TAMIL

18 VAYASU MOVIE REVIEW

R.Panneeselvam, the director of the well-received 'Renigunta' comes up with another novel and unique script with '18 Vayasu' with the same crew of 'Renigunta' backing him. Produced by S.S Chakkaravarthy with his son Johnny in the lead, this film evoked curiosity with a unique psychiatric syndrome as a theme. Having such themes is not new, since Tamizh cinema fans are accustomed to watching such theme-based films, like 'Sigappu Rojakkal', 'Guna', 'Aalavandhaan', 'Anniyan', and even the latest '3'. What's peculiar here is the theme of clinical lycanthropy, which involves a delusion that the affected person can transform into, has transformed into, or is a non-human animal !

To start of with the cast, the protagonist and heir of the producer, Johnny has done a good job indeed with his character. He is suited for the role of a mentally-affected person and kudos to him for imbibing the body language of animals very aptly. The last stunt scene where he fights like a bull, must have been very painful and exhausting for him. This chap deserves some appreciation for his hard work. Newcomer Gayathri looks okay and homely but she needs intense acting course if she wants to be successful in her career. She looks uncomfortable in her role and is not entirely convincing. Rohini plays an important role but was wasted with very little screen timing. Kannada actor Sathyendran, plays another mentally-challenged person and evokes laughter at times with his antics but tends to go overboard. Yuvarani, J.S, Sevazhai, Krishna Davinci and others make up the cast.

This film has a compilation of talented and interesting technicians behind the film. Sanjay Karan's artwork is minimalistic with little props except for a couple of bazaar sets used for songs. Anthony is behind the editing board, and he tries to keep the pace of the film from not slowing down, but he was unsuccessful largely, thanks to the slow direction of the script. Rajasekar has done a brilliant work with the stunt portions. As this film needs special detailing, he has done his homework very well and brought out the maximum output from Johnny, in executing the stunt scenes. The bull-like fight in the climax, was the best. Great work ! Shakthi, is the man behind the camera and he too has done some wonderful job with interesting low-angles and close-ups. He has managed to capture the dry and dusty landscape the script demanded and maintained a yellow and dusty color tone for the film throughout, except for the night scenes. Also, with the correct length, Shakthi manages to picturize the fights properly and ensured that the hard work done by the stunt choreographer and the protagonist, does not go waste.

Popular hip-hop and rap music artists and producers, Dinesh Kanagaratnam and Charles Bosco duo are the people behind the music of this film. If you keep in mind of their previous works, this album will be a little surprise for you. Most of the tracks in this album are melody numbers, which they are not popular for. "Entha Ulagil" is a good melody number picturized against the lead pair, where the protagonist meets his heroine for the first time and its love at first sight with bazaar sets around. "Aanum Illa" is a song picturized on transgenders and transsexuals, in a night backdrop along the long street with hawker stalls. An unnecessary song in the story line. "Enakkena Nee" is a joyful number, picturized on the lead pair with small number of dancers thrown into with round-trolley shots used mostly in real locations. The pick of the album "Unnai Onru" was picturized in the now unavailable-for-shoot, Madurai Thirumalai Nayakkar Mahal with minimal props and simple costume designs, shot in a typical dance number with plenty of dancers. "Podi Podi Pennae" is a number, picturized on the protagonist, on the run and has strong lighting and dusty tone throughout.

R.Panneerselvam, excited and enthralled us with his previous 'Renigunta' because of the unique stunt scenes and the exciting chase. But here, though the idea and concept was novel and unique, the direction and scripting lets us down big time, due to the bad handling of the director. Except for the lead protagonist, the rest of the cast members have poorly conceived and etched characters, which makes them look like caricatures. There is no cohesion and proper flow in the screen play. Though the songs were nice, they are wrongly placed and makes the screenplay to lag in pace. As the film progresses, boredom sets in with the viewers having no idea of where the film is progressing. Many questions go unanswered and characters go missing for no obvious reasons.

'18 Vayasu' is a tedious affair, with slow and lazy screenplay and a bad direction. After watching this, the viewers would definitely wonder, "Is this film from the same guy who directed 'Renigunta' ?"


Ratings: 2/5 STARS

BY:TAMIL