The creator of the now cult-classic, path-breaking, trend-setting 'Subramaniapuram' M.Sasikumar plays "the creator" in Bramman, in a metaphorical sense. M.Sasikumar, who is on a stroll of acting and producing, has done a film for an outside production, this time under the baton of debutante Socrates, a former associate of Kamal Haasan. The trailer and promotions very evidently showcased this film as on out-and-out commercial entertainer. How entertaining was this 'Bramman' ?
Sasikumar, who is synonymous with rural-based films, goes for a changeover here with a city-based lead character. He has tried to adapt himself into the quintessential Tamizh cinema male leads, by wearing designer clothes, executing over-the-top action sequences and of course romancing his heroine in beautiful foreign locations. Basically, there's nothing to talk about in regards to his performance. The same can be applied to Lavanya Tripathi, a former Miss Uttarakhand who has done two Telugu films and making her bow in Tamizh. She's comfortable in her role, but she's not convincing with her acting performance and basically appears for the sake of having a heroine for songs and romance portions. Santhanam provides the laughter in the first half, and though his one-liners are good, they do not invoke much laughter. Soori takes the helm in the second half, and as usual delivers what is expected. Naveen Chandra has an important role, but lacks the screen presence to solidify his position in the film. The rest of the cast such as Malavika Menon, Lateef Omar, Jayaprakash, Vanitha Krishnachandran, Chams, Prof.Gnanasambandhan, Surekha, Ajay Rathnam and etc sufficed the needs of the script, whereas there were cameo roles done by Jai, Vaibhav and Madhu Shalini.
Sathya N.J's costume work was spot on, especially for M.Sasikumar, who goes for a changeover here. The modern outfits looks apt for him and so does the Lavanya Tripathi, who looked chic. Silva's action choreography was average and a little over-the-top, though the intention of choreographing it in such a manner, can only be known to him and the director. R.K Umesh has handle the art direction and his works sufficed the needs of the script. The props used for the old, dilapidated theaters and the celebratory-like atmosphere all had believability factors. Nice work ! Raja Mohammed's editing was neat and crisp, though the first half could have been better-handled, especially when it is loaded with plenty of unwanted scenes. Cinematography has been handled by Jomon T.John and Faizal Ali, with additional photography by Satish Kurup. The framing, lighting and angles, all had an average-stamp throughout the film. A pedestrian outcome, in short.
Devi Sri Prasad's tunes has his mark all over, and its pretty average, this time too. "Voda Voda" is a situational song, used as a background score during the opening first few scenes. It had a small cycle chase and some light action choreography work done by Silva. "Vaanathil" has M.Sasikumar doing the dance number, aided by back-up dancers, after experiencing love for the very first time. The song had plenty of props, resembling a typical city street-setup, which had realistic work done by R.K Umesh. "Un Kannai Penne" is the first shot on the lead pair, in foreign locations. The Swiss Alps, becomes the backdrop yet again, with greeny pastures and snowy mountains as the main landscapes. The best tune from the lot is, "En Uyirin Uyiraaga" which was shot in Venice, Italy on the lead pair. The song mostly covered the city landscape, with the backing of a couple of dancers. "Vaada Vaada" had Padmapriya doing an item number, and though its a welcome to see her doing glamorous dance sequences, the song was poorly shot, with dull picturization. Background score by Devi Sri Prasad, is passable.
The most alarming aspect of Socrates' handling of the screenplay, is the non-present element of any serious issue or focal point, in bringing forward the story. Each issue which we encounter seems to peter out in the following scenes, and we had to wait till the entry of Naveen Chandra, to actually have any sort of attention on the story. The first half is just aimless and clueless, with comedy and romance sequences being belted out, alongside unnecessary speed-breakers, in the form of songs. The second half has a decent output, especially when Socrates highlights the lesser-talked about issues in Tamizh cinema and its film productions. The characterizations are weak, very weak in fact and no one has any sort of strong impact with their screen presence, except for Jayaprakash. What's very obvious with film is that, the commercial elements are simply thrust into the film, for the sake of having them, instead of incorporating them into the script, organically. End of the day, we can realize that Socrates had an interesting idea, which could have been developed into a nice commercial film, but the screenplay goes haywire and the direction is equally poor.
'Bramman' - What happened to the creator of 'Subramaniapuram' ?
Ratings: 2/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
M.Sasikumar, who had a decent score at the box-office with his last 'Sundarapandian', is back once again with the same pair in Lakshmi Menon, and more 'importantly' back in his home turf, Madurai. Directed by a former associate of Boopathy Pandian, Muthaiya has played it safe by scripting a story based on what he and the lead artistes are comfortable with. With Madurai as backdrop, its inevitable to expect plenty of bloodshed and violence. But were they all justified ?
Starting off with the M.Sasikumar. We have seen him before as a Madurai youth, so there's nothing refreshing here, in terms of performance and characteristics. He has been portrayed as the quintessential rough-and-tough, machoisme-filled Madurai rogue. His comedy timing is getting better and better and he has improved a lot in terms of being comfortable with dance and action sequences. Not bad, but there's nothing much better, either. Lakshmi Menon has an inconsequential role, who just comes in like a typical Madurai girl-next-door. It has been the umpteenth time Saranya Ponvannan played an emotional, rural mother and she just breezes through her role. There's nothing much for the character artistes such as Rama Prabha, Vaijayanthi, Lal, Rajasimman, Gnanasambandhan, Namo Narayanan, Murugadass, Saravana Sakthi, and etc to perform, but the particular guy among a group of friends, who dons the role of 'Pappu' evokes some laughter with his dialogue delivery.
The technical department's work just passes muster. Natraj's costume designing was apt, as each artistes looked the characters they played, very much, and evidently showed the various social strata displayed in the film. Dhilip Subbarayan must be commended for choreographing action sequences which suits M.Sasikumar's personality and style. The opening scenes, though very much morbid in nature, was somewhat, stylish. Suresh Kallery's art direction sufficed the need of the script. The props for each situations and locations looked perfect and any exacerbation was toned down. Gopi Krishna could have done a lot better, especially with the length of the film. His editing for song sequences were smooth, though nothing new in treatment. Mahesh Muthuswami's cinematography was sadly, only functional and the man's true potential has been not exploited. The opening night chase sequence was well shot, but apart from that, nothing else sticks to our mind.
M.Ghibran, has tried to be innovative again with his musical scores but pithily not a single number is hummable. "Thaattiyare" was used as a simple opening song sequence for the protagonist and only plays for a very short time. "Kaathu Kaathu" has dance choreographer Dinesh and his dance crew dancing for the opening song for the heroine, which has been shot in narrow streets and alleys of a smaller town in Madurai. "Aruvakaaran" is a montage song, picturized on the lead pair, showcasing the blossoming love of the heroine on the hero. "Aatha Un Selai" is a sentimental situational song, also shot with plenty of montages, shown as flashbacks, picturized on the hardships faced by the protagonist and his mother. Also, we do have an uncredited Malaysian song, "Akkamage" by Malaysian artiste Darkkey. The song was picturized on M.Sasikumar, dancing in modern outfits amidst dancers, in the narrow streets. The background score, was lacklustre and uninteresting in terms of quality and output. Do not bring down your quality, M.Ghibran !
Coming to the script and direction, debutante Muthaiya has penned plenty of scenes and sequences, but a good, major portion of them do not serve any purpose at all and is absolutely redundant ! The storyline is wafer-thin and the presentation is very much outdated. If one has to come up with negativeness of the film, the list will be endless, for sure ! Stories based in Madurai, always have had a litany of gory sequences, but what Muthaiya executed in the climax, was mind-numbing and shocking. Also, its pretty lame and archaic to watch the director make use of old Ilaiyaraja classics, excessively. The screenplay wanders without any aim the direction has been pretty poor. M.Sasikumar, should read more into scripts and choose to come out of this Madurai-circle and enhance his repertoire. And for Muthaiya, please do keep up to date with the tastes and mindset of present film watchers.
'Kutti Puli' - Doesn't even raise a 'meow' !
Ratings: 1.75/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
.jpg)
Vijay Vasanth, is trying hard to have his big ticket to stardom with a solo hero role. In this intriguingly titled film, he gets a chance under newbie, Barani Jayapal and has Vibha Natarajan, who did a small role in 'Naan', as his pair. Touted to be a film based on real life events, how did this movie fare?
Vijay Vasanth, has some acting chops as a character artist, but as a lead hero, he is nowhere near the material of being a lead actor. He is too static with his expressions and emotion-displays. The sudden changeover of a demure, quiet boy into an action hero, is unfathomable. A word of advice, to him. Have more practice, before jumping onto the bandwagon ! Vibha Natarajan, has a pretty heavy physical role in this film. One should appreciate her for putting in strenuous efforts for all the physical activities, demanded by the script. Performance wise, she definitely has miles to go. Thambi Ramaiah, dons a small role in the film, and though he is in his elements, he fails to evoke laughter and the comedy track looks too cliched. The kids did a good job. Apart from them, the film has a good number of character artistes, such as Kaarthik, Gnanasambandhan, Neelima Rani, Prabha, Meera Krishnan, Balaji, Swaminathan and etc were sufficient enough for the script. But some of them really need acting classes, if they want to be recognized as actors in the future !
The technical department's work was adequate. A.R Ram's costume designing was not bad, keeping in mind, the various backgrounds the characters come from. 'Miracle' Michael's stunt choreography was decent. The second half fight sequence between the antagonists and an ascetic, was well choreographed. Michael shows some talents and better scripts, can bring even better work from him. M.G Sekar's art direction was neat, especially for the interiors of the old classrooms and school setting, and the contemporary middle-class homes. Praveen K.L and Srikanth N.B's editing acuteness is visible in the songs and stunt sequences, but its shocking to see National Award-winning editors to commit small, silly mistakes ! Hope more attention could have been given to the editing works ! L.K Vijay captures the fresh greenery of the undisturbed forests. The roving cinematography tries to add some pace to slow and mundane screenplay.
Ganesh Ragavendra's musical score was average. "Oru Poo Pookira" was shot on the lead pair, proposing to each other and has plenty of montages, with beaches, streets and shops as backdrops. The pick of the lot among the songs, was the "Vandhaarai Vaazha" track sung by Silambarasan. The Chennai-trumpeting song was also shot in montages, showcasing the young boys experiencing a day in Chennai. The song was obviously shot in landmark areas such as Spencer's Plaza, Mahabalipuram and the Marina beach as well. "Rathathil Nuraiya" is a situational song, picturized on the young boys on a chase and their journey to juvenile jail. "Manase Thirudiya" was picturized on the lead pair and showcase them getting married and their journey to the hometown, post-marriage. "Irulai Katti" is also a situational song appearing during the climax, shot on the lead pair, being chased by the antagonists, in the thick, green forest. The background score has nothing to shout about.
Barani Jayapal, has utilized a non-linear method for his screenplay. Though that's a clever way of narrating a script, the fault lines in the fundamental element of a film, which is, a solid script ! The purported comedy sequences using the kids, fell flat and fails to to even raise a chuckle from us ! But what's astonishing is the amount of violence thrust into the script and that too portraying kids as archetypal Tamizh cinema antagonists, with cruel and criminal mindsets ! The morale-lesson Barani tries to convey is understandable, but there is no justification nor conviction in portraying those kids, dabbling in such blood-soaked violence. What's worse is the insipid romance portions between Vijay and Vibha, which is lacking in any emotions nor feelings ! The director has failed to extract good performances from his artistes, as well.
'Mathil Mel Poonai' - a miserable film with no sense of continuity nor engagement !
Ratings: 1/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
.jpg)
