'Thirumanam Enum Nikkah' has been lying in the cans for quite sometime and finally, Aascar V.Ravichandran's production has released. Directed by debutante Anis, this was suppose to be the debut venture of Nazriya Nazim, though her other ventures managed to release earlier. A film touted to be on the lines of 'Monsoon Wedding', did Anis come up with a decent product ?
Jai was in his usual elements and he fits such lightweight roles. If you are a Tamizh cinema film-buff, you would have by now guessed the level of performance from Jai. Meanwhile, Nazriya Nazim looks charming and has her moments, but the characterization was poor, hence the lesser scope for performance, for this lass. Heebah Patel looks good, but her role has no purpose and leaves no mark. The rest of the cast such as Jamal (voiced by Nassar), Dinesh, R.Pandiarajan, Mayilsamt, Deekshitha Manikkam, Badri Narayanan and etc were okay with their performances.
Vanitha Srinivasan's costume designing was good, especially for the lead pair, and her homework on two distinct cultures of Hindus and Muslims, was evident on screen. The costumes, especially for Heeba were gorgeous ! Action choreography was handled by Kanal Kannan and there was only one action block in the film. The initial chase and fight sequence was well executed and was not so over-the-top. Mu.Kasi Vishwanathan's editing was very functional and there were no gimmicks from the editor's table. Art direction is handled by Crawford and Dharmendra and both of them have done a good job with their respective tasks. The detailing for the Shia Muslim household, as well as Tamil Brahmin community's homes is notable, especially with the set properties. Loganathan Srinivasan's cinematography sufficed the needs of the script. His work in capturing the rich culture of Shia Muslim and Tamil Brahmin, is commendable.
The silver lining of the film is the brilliant musical score from M.Ghibran ! The songs are fantastic and it complements the mood and feel of the script. "Yaaro Ival" is a situational song, which was used initially as Nazriya's introductory song. The song appears sporadically throughout the film, in bits and pieces. "Rayile Raa" has Jai trying to impress the heroine and was shot on a railway platform and a medical camp-like set was put up for the song. Loganathan's rain shot, with the rays of sun, deserves mention. One of the pick of the lot, "Kannukkul Pothivaipen" is a cute and lovely song, shot on both Jai and Nazriya, in a Tamil Brahmin household environment, with the Golu Festival as the backdrop. The rooftop shots, with different rangolis looked lovely, especially with Loganathan's lighting for the particular portions. "Khwaja Ji" is picturized on Jai attending a Shia Muslim ritual, and is an eye-opener (literally !) for those who are unaware of the traditions of that particular Muslim denomination. "Chillendra" was shot on Jai and Heebah and is another celebration song, and this time it's the Ramzan festival. Jai's costume designing in this song, deserves mention. "Enthaara Enthaara" is the other chart-buster song and it was shot on Jai and Nazriya, developing their feelings for each other, which had plenty of montages. M.Ghibran's background score elevates the boring and half-baked sequences and its a pity that his brilliant scores are simply wasted !
Did Anis come up with a decent product, as asked earlier ? The answer is a resounding NO ! The script has a very wafer-thin plot and there's no connectivity at all between the sequences and the proceedings of the screenplay. There's no proper explanation of the dilemma faced by the lead pair and Anis did not convincingly portray the actual feelings of the lead pair. Were the pair in love with each other ? Or did they actually fall in love with the other's religion and not the individual ? Did they feel unconnected with their own community's trappings ? On an even serious note, was Anis trying to 'promote' Shia Muslim teachings and practices and not bother about story-telling and character development ?Only Anis has the answer ! To make it even worse, Anis falls for the commercial compromises, such as songs, an unwanted action sequence, half-baked romance portions and woefully portrayed serious/emotional scenes. There is no effort in detailing, in terms of writing & execution and Madhan Karky's dialogues too were abruptly cut short, which leaves the characters with unfinished dialogue portions !
'Thirumanam Enum Nikkah' - A blunder of an attempt in making a good film, which unfortunately had excellent musical score and interesting plot ideas !
Ratings: 2.25/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
Dhayanidhi Azhagiri's Meeka Entertainment collaborates with Varun Manian's Radiance Media for this oddly titled filmed, 'Vadacurry'. Saravana Rajan, a former assistant of Venkat Prabhu makes his debut in this film, which has the 'Subramaniapuram' pair of Jai and Swathi Reddy back together. The director confesses in the beginning stages, that the film's title has no whatsoever connection with the script, so what will this film be all about ?
Jai dons a role which has no dissimilarities from his previous works. Its the same quintessential middle-class boy, who is soft-spoken yet sneaky and a little naughty in nature. Its a neat performance from him and the director has some deadpan-humor type of dialogues for Jai, which our hero delivers effortlessly. Swathi Reddy looks very pretty and cute but as it is with regular Tamizh cinema, her character has no bearing on the script. The film definitely belongs to RJ Balaji, who keeps us entertained with his quintessential gibberish dialogues, for which he is popular for. He is the lifeline of the film and without him, it would have been pretty difficult to carry ourselves watching this film. The rest of the cast such as Aruldoss, Kasthuri, Ajay Raj, Sai Prasath, Misha Ghoshal, Ramachandran and etc have pedestrian roles. There are cameo appearances from Venkat Prabhu, Premgi Amaren and Mahat Raghavendra, with Venkat having more screen timing.
Anusha Dhayanidhi is in charge of the costume designing and her works for the lead pair is commendable, which is realistic yet pleasing for the eyes. Swathi was very pretty and cute, in particular. Action choreography is handled by K.Ashok and the major sequence is the climax fight, which was very neatly composed and is not over-the-top, and also suits Jai's physical attributes and personality. Tha.Ramalingam takes care of the art department and his props setting was spot on, especially with Jai's lower middle class home setting and also with the numerous factory and warehouse environment, which were pivotal to the script's story-line. Praveen K.L's editing is crisp, and he keeps the duration of the film short, where it reaches just above 2 hours. The editing in songs, especially has his stamp all over and added more quality output for the visuals. Cinematography is by Venkatesh.S and has done a neat job. The warehouse sequences have good lighting, which enhances the quality of the visuals and the climax fight sequence was well shot.
Music is done by debutante duo Vivek Siva & Mervin Solomon, who worked as sound engineers for Anirudh Ravichander before. The songs are peppy and blends well with the mood and presentation of the film. "Kelunganne Kelunga" is the opening song and was shot on Jai and the characters revolving around him and his lifestyle. The lower middle-class scenario was well captured for this song, which has plenty of montages, put well by Praveen K.L. "Low Aana Life-U" sung by Anirudh Ravichander, had the much talked about special appearance of Indo-Canadian Bollywood star Sunny Leone, a former popular and celebrated pornographic actress. The song has a groove to it, though the picturization was a little letdown, bar the presence of Sunny Leone, providing the glamour quotient. The pick of the album, "Nenjukulle Nee" was shot on Jai and Swathi Reddy with dance sequence interspersing with some montages and has Jai rooting after Swathi. A female version of this song appears soon, and was shot on Swathi. "Ullangkaiyil" was shot creatively with some VFX works done by Lovren Studios, which had the concept of Jai, getting entrapped within a smartphone and its world of applications. "Vaada Nanba" is a situational bit song, which appears during the climax portion. The background score was neatly arranged by the duo and looks like they are a very good prospect for Tamizh cinema.
The film has an extremely simple central plot and the director comes up with sequences, pertaining to this single idea. But the story only moves in the second half, leaving the entire first half redundant ! Youth audience might overlook this flaw due to the good songs and RJ Balaji's wacky dialogues and comedy portions. Saravana Rajan, keeps the proceeding simple and is not very adventurous with his story-telling. But the director's character writing was a big letdown. Jai seems to be in a confused mood throughout the film and its odd seeing him react the way he did during the entire second half. The romance sequence is lifeless and is a complete time waste, especially with Swathi's role being projected as a selfish bimbo. The antagonists were lacking vigor and the surprise the director throws at us after all the suspense-building process, eventually fails to shock us, due to this lack of strong characterizations issue. Some loopholes are evident in the story-line, which the director has failed to take notice of, and there are unwanted sequences in the film, which carries no extra quality input, for the script. The only thing which keeps us glued to the film is RJ Balaji's antics and the 'surprise' element the director keeps in store for us, in the climax in which the villain is revealed.
'Vadacurry' - RJ Balaji to the rescue !
Ratings: 2.5/5 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
'Raja
Rani' has been making quite some buzz since its inception due to all
the big names associated with it. Produced by none other than A.R
Murugadoss, who collaborates with Fox Star Studios (the Indian
subsidiary of 20th Century Fox) for this rom-com. Directed by a newbie
Atlee, who has assisted Shankar in 'Endhiran' and 'Nanban' and also
known for his YouTube-hit short-film 'Mugaputhagam', it has the best of
casting with good-looking artistes and best of upcoming technicians,
behind-the-scenes. Hence, does 'Raja Rani' justify all the hype and buzz
it bombarded in the medias ?
First, things first. Let's start
off with the lead pair Arya and Nayanthara. Arya oozes charm and wits in
his role. He is at total ease with the character he plays, but the
actual plus point is his performance and matured handling of the
emotional scenes. And the ladies' guy, shares great rapport with both
heroines featured in the film. This film would have been a piece of cake
for Arya ! Nayanthara made a perfect comeback to Tamizh cinema, after a
three-year hiatus. A very composed and heartfelt performance from her.
She definitely has the advantage of enacting the best-written role in
the film, but still credits to her for pulling it off easily.
Definitely, one of her career-best performance, thus far. And its an
undeniable fact that she is the actual fulcrum of the movie.
Jai,
makes a splendid appearance as the naive, innocent, timid Surya. His
antics were good relief in the first-half, and his voice modulation as
well as dialogue delivery complements the nature of his character. The
latest sweetheart of Tamizh cinema, Nazriya Nazim has one of the
'cutest' heroine introductory scenes in Tamizh cinema ! The girl
personifies cuteness and proves her mettle in dishing out typical
bubbly-crazy Tamizh cinema heroines, perfectly. Sathyaraj plays the
uber-cool urban dad, many teenagers and youths would die to have one for
themselves. His stylish make-over looks very refreshing on-screen.
Santhanam, has his right balance of emotional scenes as well, and he
delivers it finely. But nonetheless, his comic is brilliant as usual,
especially in the flashback sequences, featuring him in an odd-wig, with
a Rajni-type mannerism. Sathyan was terrific with his comic timing and
complemented Jai, very well. Rajendran's suave avatar was a crackling
surprise and the other characters such as Manobala, Singamuthu, Dhanyaa
Balakrishnan, Wang, Arun Raja, Misha Ghoshal and etc did their parts
well.
Atlee
has appointed four various costume designers for the film and each of
them, Deepali Noor, Chaitanya Rao, Sathya N.J and Kavisa Rebello, should
be congratulated for their excellent work in the costume department.
All the artistes were looking at their best, be it in any scenes. The
heroines were stunningly pretty, especially ! Dhilip Subbarayan's action
choreography was simple and neatly executed. T.Muthuraj's production
design was of A-grade ! The setting, be it for ordinary or for the
songs, everything looked colorful, fresh and sparkling. The posh
apartment setting, or even the middle-class home setting was very
minutely done, in detailing. A swanky environment is what you get and
feel for most of the film's duration. Very good job, T.Muthuraj !
Ruben's editing could have been better, especially with the lengthy
climax portions, though his edits are fine for the songs. The real hero
of the film is definitely the cinematographer. A sure-hot, next
hot-property of Tamizh cinema, George C.Williams captures the sunlight
beautifully and his color-palette usage were just terrific ! Brilliant
visuals and deft camera-handling. The next big cinematographer has just
arrived !
G.V
Prakash Kumar's songs were complementary for the setting and mood of
the script. "A Love for Life" theme music plays in the opening
sequences, which had the church wedding scene. The framing and
photographic-shots were just too good ! "Hey Baby" has good montages
between Arya and Nayanthara and then transcends into a drunkard-song
type, with even Gaana Bala making a sneaking cameo appearance. The
second part of the song was shot in dark, dead-night streets of Chennai.
"Chillena" was shot on Jai and Nayanthara, and had plenty of sequences,
shown in montages. The usage of sun light and color by George
C.Williams, in the opening portion of this song was catchy. "Unnale" is a
bit-song, also shot on Nayanthara and Jai, with different backdrops of
each character, shown interspersing. "Oday Oday" was shot on a lavishly
decorated Binny Mills and was picturized on Arya and Nazriya. The
colorful sets and costumes, complemented the mood of the song well.
"Imaye Imaye" was shot on Arya and Nayanthara, and was used as a
situational song, with a couple of montages, edited well. G.V Prakash
Kumar handles the background score very well too and definitely 'Raja
Rani' would be one of his best works, collectively.
Now,
the theme of life after love is not something unique nor novel. This
same theme has been handled by greats such as Mahendran and Mani Ratnam
in their films, 'Nenjathai Killathey' and 'Mouna Ragam' respectively.
The only difference is that, such a themed film was missing all the
while for the current generation of social network-crazed youngsters.
Atlee shows maturity in the way he handles his artistes and getting the
best from them. But the hallmarks of a good director-in-making, does not
stop with that alone. The actual crux, which is the script, has plenty
of flaws and weaknesses, in terms of logic and organic, emotional
development. The foundations are there, but Atlee fails to establish a
strong reason for the lead pair to overcome their past relationships and
to accept their new life-partner. If you are to watch this film in
hindsight, you could actually realize the amateurish writing and the
kiddishness of the theme's presentation. The film has its own good
moments and sequences and a couple of well written dialogues, but it
just ends there. The flick fails to actually satisfy the rom-com genre
its supposed to be and its only a rom-com in partitions. The long-drawn
out climax is a turn-off as well, and there are some discrepancies in
the character development aspect. As for Arya and Nayanthara, though
this film did not do any sort of damage to their respective careers,
such films can be avoided, as they have progressed ahead with more
challenging and varied roles.
'Raja Rani' - A misguided,
supposedly rom-com, with fantastic production outputs. A fairly good
rating, only because of the technical outputs artistes' contribution.
Ratings: 3/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
AR Murugadoss's move to become a producer by promoting his assistant as a director was keenly watched by Tamizh cinema followers. AR Murugadoss is well known for giving taut and racy scripts but his debut production venture is more of a realistic and simple film with a hard hitting message for all people. Besides that, Fox Star Studio's decision to co-produce it shows the faith kept by them on the script. Saravanan is lucky enough to have such a good platform to launch himself into the cine-field.
The biggest asset and strength of the film is the superb and naturalistic performances by all four lead artistes. Starting off with Jai, the actor has played a soft-spoken, good hearted, cute boy role to perfection. His subtle dialogue delivery and body language. This movie will definitely be one of his best in his career. Not a dramatic role, but a simple and effective one. Sharwanand, the Telugu actor comes back to Tamizh cinema after "Kadhalna Summa Illai" has done a neat and simple role as well. As the city boy, he has managed to perform the exact way as what the director wanted to project, as a nice city boy, that is. Anjali, comes in as a bold and daring girl who has a strong mentality. She scores in the climax portions and certainly comparisons will be made with her previous memorable role as Kani in "Angadi Theru". She definitely deserves applause for a refined performance. Ananya, a town girl who comes into the city was cute and innocence, personified. She gets her expressions right and she deserves a pat for dubbing in her own voice which gives a more realistic look for her character.
The technical aspects of the film has been kept to the minimum so that the film doesn't look too cinematic. R.Velraj's cinematography was very effective for the film and his camera caught all the necessary details especially in the accident sequences. The accident scenes were very well made and the team should be applauded for capturing those details in bus in an in-depth manner. C.Sathya's music is pleasant especially the two chart-topping numbers "Govinda Govinda" and "Maasama" and both numbers were captured well with good montage sequences. Sarala Vijayakumar's costume designing was natural too. Kishore T.E's editing, especially the bus accident scenes were neatly done. Audiographer Krishnamoorthy's work should be applauded for incorporating natural sounds vital for the accident scenes.
Saravanan's script was simple, neat and straight-forward and there was no unnecessary twists and turns. The biggest strength of his script is the characterizations of his leading artistes as well as the cute, humorous and some thought-provoking love portions. Also, Saravanan's attempt to highlight some of the other characters traveling in the bus, should also be applauded for he has presented them all naturally and it creates a deeper impact upon the audiences as they could relate themselves with those characters. Although the accident sequences were very,very well made it could be too hard to digest for some audiences who will find it too stomach-churning.
Engeyum Eppothum, a honest and simple movie with a very strong and important social message for the audiences. A debut venture to be proud of for AR Murugadoss, Saravanan and Fox Star Studios.
Ratings: 3/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
