In the new wave of Tamizh cinema's next-gen directors, here comes another entrant from the 'Naalaiya Iyakkunar' stable. P.Ramesh, winner of the reality show's Season 2, makes his debut with 'Thegidi', an intriguingly titled thriller. Produced by C.Senthil Kumar on behalf of Vel Mediaa, the brother of C.V Kumar of Thirukumaran Entertainments, this small-budget flick made good promises with its theme and slick trailer, involving the world of private detective agencies. With a talented technical team backing him, can P.Ramesh pull it off in feature films too ?
Ashok Selvan, who previously did the lead role in Pizza II - Villa, plays the protagonist here. He has done a fairly good job with his performance, but he can definitely work out on his expressions and emoting capabilities. Though subtle expressions worked out well for the role in this film, more would be needed for films of other styles and variations. He tries to balance the equation of being slick & smart and the man in trouble, quite well. But he certainly shares a good vibe and chemistry with Janani Iyer. Janani, looks sweet & pretty and has good scope to perform, though her character has its limitations, in terms of contributing to the screenplay's importance. Jayaprakash proves yet again that he is soon becoming a master in doing any sort of character roles with finesse and ease. Kaali, was particularly impressive in the short and cute role of the protagonist's confidant. The rest of the cast such as Jeyakumar, 'Kavithalaya' Krishnan, Sounderajan, Venkatesh, Rajan Iyer, Rekha Suresh, Shalu, Asritha and etc meted out decent performances, within their scope. A small but befitting cast !
What's great about the technical department of this film, is the fact that they are not only young and talented, but can work in sync, with one another ! 'Billa' Jagan's action choreography was neat and well executed, especially with the posh bungalow house fight sequence between Ashok Selvan and Jeyakumar. The non-fight sequences, could have been handled and presented in an more realistic manner. S.S Murthy handles the art designing and his work complements' the story and director's presentation and vision of the script. The interiors of the detective agency setup, the protagonist's home, the heroine's simple middle-class colony and etc were very propped and presented well for the audience. Leo John Paul's editing is smooth and almost spotless, ensuring that the movie follows a steady pace in the second half, but at the same time, ensuring the movie is crisp. Dinesh Krishnan.B, who made name with 'Soodhu Kavvum', scores yet again in the cinematography department. His visuals are clean, fresh, and pleasing for the eyes. There's not much gimmicky acts from him, but his work sufficed the need of the script.
Debutante Nivas K.Prasanna, makes a very promising debut with 'Thegidi. The songs are very soothing and melodious. "Neeyum Dhinam" is the opening song, played during the opening credits sequence, which had the film's scenes, portrayed in a cartoon/comic strip style. "Needhane" is a haunting tune, which was shot on Ashok Selvan, who was portrayed to be in the middle of his assignments of "shadowing & surveillance", shows in montages with some clever editing pattern. The pick of the album, "Yaar Ezhudhiyadho" was shot on the lead pair, depicting the protagonist, following the heroine as part of his assignment. The indoor shots were very impressive, particularly the lighting, especially with the library scenes. "Vinmeen Vidhaiyil" is a love duet, shot on the lead pair again. The song had montages of the lead pair developing their relationship. The shots of the urbane park and lake was impressive, especially with the color tone and hue, used by Dinesh Krishnan.B. "Kangalai Oru" is a situational, pathos song, highlighting the issues of trust between the lead pair. Nivas K.Prasanna, impresses in the background score as well, especially in the climax and pre-climax sequences, with engaging sounds and implementing silence at the appropriate moments.
P.Ramesh must be appreciated for not exaggerating anything beyond the means and needs of his script, just because of his transition from short-films to the silver screen. The premise of private detective agencies and the theme of "hunter becoming the hunted" is interesting. P.Ramesh kept the cards close to his heart, and slowly started piling up the suspense elements before the interval. Though the film is a thriller, the romance angle was very tastefully written, with brilliant dialogues and apt direction, which makes us to root for the lead pair. The research and detailing work was apt for the script, but more in-depth details could have given a more complex mood to the script. The thriller and suspense track is quite simple, to be frank, and for those who are thriller/suspense aficionados, this film's plot would be a piece of cake, when it comes to cracking the answers. The minor loopholes and gaps in the story-line and some screenplay continuity issues, can help the active-thinkers to easily connect the dots, especially when half the suspense is revealed quite early in the second half. The motive given by the antagonist characters for their actions, is quite new and refreshing to notice. Though the climax was supposed to be the sucker punch, the writing could have been better, especially with the antagonist's reasons and justifications for "its" actions. The ending though was open-ended and reminded us of a tiny element which some audience could have overlooked. A 'Thegidi - Part 2' ? Maybe.
'Thegidi' - A simple and interesting thriller, executed neatly !
Ratings: 3/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
Srikanth, makes a comeback through 'Paagan' under the directorial debut of Mohammed Aslam, a former associate of Ameer. This is indeed a crucial project for him, as it can salvage his career as a hero in Tamizh cinema. Along with a relatively small cast, this film promised us a decent comedy with some sentimentalism attached, to make itself appealing for the mass audiences. Will 'Paagan' save Srikanth, who had a decent outing in 'Nanban' ?
Srikanth, is a good performer but he needs solid script and acting scope, if at all he wants to make it bigger. Sadly, in 'Paagan' he has nothing much to offer, other than being comical throughout the film and being emotional in certain scenes. He is a total miscast in the film because and this proves to be one of the biggest drawbacks of the film. He looks too polished and refined for a character who hails from the village and is an out-and-out rural folk. Also, his costumes did not help to counter-balance the effect, because it is illogical to see him wearing neat and tidy attires, which contradicts with the character he plays. Other than that, there is nothing much to speak about his performance. Janani Iyer makes her second appearance on screen after 'Avan Ivan' and this is a proper heroine role for her, though it was strictly just a Tamizh-cinema conventional heroine. Looking pretty and petite, it is refreshing to hear her dub in her own voice and adds authenticity to her character. Soori and 'Black' Paandi appears as sidekicks for nearly throughout the film, with each of them performing in styles which they are popular for. Some sequences do evoke laughter but majority of them fell flat and was boring. Kovai Sarala was in her essence but it was a little too loud and over-the-top. George, Anu Mohan, director A.Venkatesh makes small appearances in the film, though they have nothing much to contribute to the flow of the film.
The technical team of the film was just functional and none of the department was outstanding in their work. 'Supreme' Sundar's stunts were a little innovative since it involves bicycle chase sequences and the usage of the bicycle as part of the stunt choreography. N.K Rahul's artwork was simple and natural, with the village house props and bungalow house props noticeable Kevin's editing could have been better since the movie moves at a very slow pace and also the climax portion should have been better. J.Laxman has captured the essence of Pollachi and Tirupur quite well with his camera, utilizing the lush greenery of the former and the industrial backdrop of the latter. Also, many shots were taken with the camera mounted on the bicycle, to get the feel of the ride of the protagonist. James Vasanthan's music was melodious and soft but it was boring ! None of the songs were hummable or interest-evoking. "Thatti Thavi" is a sequential song, featuring the 'bonding' of the protagonist with his bicycle and featuring many bicycle shots, obviously against picturesque Pollachi. "Poonthendral" is a typical heroine introduction song, featuring Janani Iyer prancing around with a couple of dancers and this too was shot against a lush and green Pollachi. "Simba Simba" was shot on a market set featuring the main casts of the film, minus the heroine and featured few cut-shots. "Ennai Mannipaya" a sad song shot on the lead couple, uses the Jimmy Jib quite well along the high terrains and hill-side areas. "Ippadi Oar" a typical dream song, was shot along temple lakes, with soft and breezy color tone and ample usage of the Jimmy Jib. The background score of the film was just functional and hearing all these poor scores, makes us wonder what happened to the man who gave beautiful scores in 'Subramaniapuram'.
Mohammed Aslam, who is in charge of the writing and direction department. As a viewer, one has no idea who Aslam wanted to project as the protagonist of the film, is it Srikanth or himself (since he gave the voice-over for the bicycle). The direction was poor because none of the character were believable and the direction of the script is also confusing because the viewers have no idea whether is this a full-length comedy film with little sentiments or the other way around. None of the events in the film looks serious and there are big gaps in the screenplay with many questions left unanswered. The climax too was a perplexing because, the viewers have no clue, why the sudden turn of events are taking place and it has nothing to contribute to the story as well !
'Paagan' is a poor product from Aslam, as there's no good direction, proper characterization or even story to tell in the movie.
Ratings: 1.5/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
Avan Ivan, one of the most eagerly expected films of the year, thanks to the hype around Bala and the coming together of two of Tamizh cinema's macho heroes, Arya and Vishal. Arya has been going great guns in the box office with most of his recent films becoming hit and for Vishal, this is a crucial film because his fate is totally the opposite of his friend. Besides that, Bala had promised a commercial based film this time, deviating from his usual pattern. How is the outcome?? Quite honestly saying, it is a disappointing one from Bala, script wise.
The major backbone of the film is the performance of the male leads in the film. Vishal was simply mind-blowing and definitely this film will be one his best ever performances in his whole career. Performing is one task, but doing it with a squint eye, is a totally whole new level. Right from his opening scene, where he cross dresses as woman dancer and dances brilliantly, and his interactions with Ambika and the part where he had to climb a 70 feet tree, he has performed an awesome job. The ultimate scene is definitely the 'Navarasa' performing one.. Hats-off to Vishal. His body language, expressions and voice modulation which has a slight effeminacy touch with the near perfect dubbing of actress Senthikumari for Vishal's woman voice, was simply out of the world. No surprise if he brings in lots of awards. Arya meanwhile plays more of a secondary role, but he too did well especially with his rocking and expressive body language and dialogue delivery which really shows how he has matured into a good actor. His best scenes will be the interaction with GM Kumar in the waterfalls and also the climax where he scored really well with his emotions. GM Kumar had a superb comedy timing and effortless performance, not to forget the dare-bare act in the pre-climax. Besides that Ambika, Prabha, the small boy who comes along with Arya and the police inspector all did a decent performance. The biggest drawback was the heroines. Not to say they didn't do well but usually in Bala's films, heroines have tremendous potential to score in acting but in this movie both Janani Iyer and Madhu Shalini have nothing much to do with the former having some scenes to perform while the latter literally has so less dialogues which won't even come to a single page!! RK making a late entry as villain was OK and he should be appreciated for the fight sequences. Suriya makes a decent cameo.
Technically the film has a decent work. Suresh Urs's editing is perfect, Muthuraj's sets especially the interiors of the Zamindar palace and the cow shed are authentic. Vasugi Bhaskar's costumes are natural and not over-the-top. Suchitra Chandrabose's choreography in the opening dance sequence and Arya's dance sequence with Prabha were lively and natural. Super Subbarayan's stunts are realistic and kudos for the actors to perform them well. The final fight scene in the cow ranch and in the swamp area was raw and hard hitting. Arthur A.Wilson's cinematography was brilliant as usual, especially with his angles in the fight sequences and also the camera movement focusing the characters and the beautiful shots of Theni are noteworthy. Yuvan Shankar Raja is on a hot streak and it continues in this film as well but sadly the songs from the album are missing in the film and replaced with bit-songs apart from the "Rasathi" song which has a slight difference from the album track. His background score impresses in a few places like the track involving Vishal-Janani especially the "Kaavalkaara Kizhiye" bit song and also the climax scenes.
Among Bala's 5 films, this one has the weakest script although he did not fail to transport us into a remote village world filled with various type of people whom we never met or will not meet in our lifetime. Bala himself admits that his films has no story and he makes films based on characters rather than a story-line, but his previous films indeed had some story which left a lump in throat of the viewers. Alas here, the emphasis has been given to comedy portions in the name of commercialism, and only the last 20 minutes having the real Bala touch. It might be purposely done by Bala, keeping financial business aspects in mind, but after more than an hour, viewers get tired of waiting for some story or plot and instead get more of the buffoonery acts of the male leads. It looks like Bala wanted to play safe by putting in comedy scenes bearing his trademark with the two leading heroes, and at the same time to safeguard his reputation, throws in a serious plot in the last 20 minutes. This can be a dampener as threading a middle path in Tamizh cinema is akin to walking on a tight-rope and guess Bala has slipped this time. Yet, dialogues by Ramakrishnan complements the characters drawn out by Bala.
Avan Ivan is watchable thanks to the brilliant performance of the male leads and Bala should be more careful when he wants to attempt a commercial cinema.
Ratings: 2.5/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
