Thirrupathi Brothers has finally released their biggie of the season, and its none other than the very, very highly anticipated Suriya-N.Lingusamy project, 'Anjaan' ! Both Suriya and N.Lingusamy is back after personal highs with the 'Singam II's success for the former, whereas the latter enjoyed his run of success in distributing some medium-budget films. In collaborating with UTV Motion Pictures, which released it in record number of cinemas, the project has created a huge anticipation among fans of Suriya across the globe. Can they hit the bull's eye and rake in the moolah ?
For the powerhouse performer in Suriya, 'Anjaan' seems to be a pedestrian affair for his caliber. The stylish makeover, makes him look fantabulous on screen, and he has good screen presence, throughout the film. He carries the entire film on his shoulders and its an out-and-out Suriya flick, indeed. Samantha Ruth Prabhu is at her most glamorous avatar thus far in Tamizh cinema and that's about it. Nothing more, nothing less for a quintessential Tamizh cinema heroine ! The buff and manly Vidyut Jamwal has a role of equal importance as with Suriya's but the dubbing and light-hearted manner of his character leaves no impact on screen. But still kudos to this guy, for pulling off his elaborate stunt sequence all by himself ! The most unforgivable inclusion in the casting is of Manoj Bajpai's, as the antagonist. Its a sheer waste of talent for casting him in this poorly-written role, which is a disgrace to the brilliant performer's acting histrionics ! Soori and Brahmanandam (obviously as an attraction for the Telugu folks !) are there for the unwanted comedy portions and the others in the cast were Dalip Tahil, Murali Sharma, Asif Basra, Joe Malloori, Chetan Hansraj, Manobala, Sanjana Singh and etc and most of them looked so out of place, due to the bad lip-syncing and dubbing !
Deepali Noor, one of the most sought after costume designer of the industry, takes care of the costume designing in 'Anjaan'. Her warm and dark colored attires for Suriya, gives him a smashing makeover and it suits this specific hair/facial hair style, used for this film. Samantha looked gorgeous, be it in the conservative attires or even the skimpy clothes, worn for the songs. Better handling and focus could be given for Vidyut Jamwal, whom lacked style and Manoj, who looked unnecessarily too colorful. The action choreography is handled by Silva and his work needs special mention. The action blocks looked fantastic, yet powerful and realistic at the same time. Suriya's aptitude in pulling of such action blocks, adds more zing to the sequences and Vidyut Jamwal too has his own action block, in the second half. Excellent work by Silva ! Hot-shot editor, Anthony's cuts were brilliant as usual, and there's a very good smooth transition between each shots, but he should have definitely trimmed a bulk of unwanted scenes, due to the excessive running time of nearly 3 hours ! Rajeevan handles the art department and his work have the film a rich and glossy look, especially with the bar and hotel sequences and the set properties for the song sequences. Ace cinematographer Santosh Sivan ASC, ISC rocks with the Red Dragon Camera, fitted with 'Angenieux Lens'. His cinematography work and the bright yellow and warm color ambiance, adds more sheen and glossiness to the film. His angle placements, framing and camera movements for the action sequences, are the real highlights of the film, especially for the pre-interval stunt scene !
Yuvan Shankar Raja has delivered chart-busters, with his previous N.Lingusamy collaborations. But with 'Anjaan' the songs are just pretty passable and sounds ordinary, without the touch of magic and charm in them. "Bang Bang Bang !" is the opening introductory-sort of song for Suriya's mobster role. There are plenty of action montages interspersed in this song, which had a rich in color, upmarket bar setup, done by Rajeevan. Also, do check out the song for the special appearance of the hot Swedish-Iranian model/actress/choreographer Maryam Zakaria ! "Kaadhal Aasai" is a love song, shot on the lead pair, with plenty of montages and some dialogues, beautifully framed by Santosh Sivan, though the Sufi-styled song did not suit the proceeding. "Oru Kan Jaadai" is a fast number shot on the lead pair, and has the popular Miramar beach in Goa, as its backdrop. Fans of Samantha, don't miss out this song ! The pick of the album, is the peppy dance number, "Ek Do Theen", sung by Suriya himself. The song was shot in the picturesque location of Morjim, Goa. The cinematography and dance choreography complemented the feel and nature of the song's mood. "Sirippu En" is an item number and the final song of the film. Bollywood actress Chitrangada Singh, dons the item girl role and the lighting of Santosh gives the song the right mood, though the final output lacked the oomph factor. Yuvan Shankar Raja's background score was a letdown in many places and some of the film's signature hook-lines sounds insipid and unintentionally funny. Least expected from Yuvan Shankar Raja !
Let's get straight to the point. 'Anjaan' is possible the worst product to come from N.Lingusamy's directorial stable ! Its not because he is a bad filmmaker, but he has set high standards for how a contemporary commercial/'masala' Tamizh film should be and its time he has a retrospective view of his own past films, to amend his mistakes. The film is so lifeless, dull, uninspiring and has gaping loopholes, with no attempt in coming up with an organic development of emotional contents ! Brinda Sarathi's dialogues may sound powerful, but it all fell flat, due to the below average staging and execution of the sequences by N.Lingusamy. Giving a stylish makeover for the lead protagonist and having a maverick cinematographer will not hold the audience's attention for much longer than 15 minutes. What's inexcusable is the languorous approach with the screenplay, which takes its own sweet time in unraveling and delivering the guns. How is it possible for N.Lingusamy to overlook such fundamental aspects, especially when his previous films such as 'Run' and 'Sandakozhi', had brilliantly fast-paced screenplays, with the right amount of 'masala' elements ? Because of this, even the atypical, N.Lingusamy's trademark surprises and twists in the plot, which always ooze wonderful zing and power, goes kaput ! There's no character delineation in the film, which leaves us with half-baked characters and as mentioned earlier, its totally unforgivable, especially when you have talented artistes such as Suriya, Manoj Bajpai, Samantha and etc as your cast ! Like it or not, Suriya & N.Lingusamy has 'Anjaan' as a very ugly mark in their repertoire of films. D-I-S-A-P-P-O-I-N-T-M-E-N-T ! Big time !
'Anjaan' - Reportedly, Suriya & N.Lingusamy have discarded 3-4 scripts before zeroing on this. Now, that sounds scarily worrying !
Ratings: 2.25/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
'Rummy' enticed the viewers for its throwback to the 1980's era and for the slick trailer, with great background score by D.Imman. The current hot-shot of Tamizh cinema, Vijay Sethupathi joins hands Inigo Prabhakaran after 'Sundarapandian' for this debut film of Balakrishnan.K, a former associate of Lingusamy.
The biggest surprise one would get while watching the film, is the fact that its Inigo Prabhakaran who is the actual protagonist and hero of the script, and Vijay is just relegated to second-hero status. Nevertheless, Inigo Prabhakaran has delivered a very earnest performance, and one should appreciate his dedication in improving his acting nuances. But does he possess the necessary screen presence to pass off as a main hero, is a debatable question. Meanwhile, Vijay Sethupathi comes out with a realistic performance and better screen presence. Having lesser screen timing for him, is definitely a sore point. Iyshwarya Rajesh has the meatier role among the female leads, and she strikes up a good chemistry with Vijay Sethupathi. Her big and expressive eyes is an asset for her, and she was made to use it for the climax. Gayathrie Shankar fits her role well, though she can try to be more expressive and confident with her dialogue deliveries. Soori provides the laugh and this man is slowly creating a special place for himself, with good dialogue deliveries and comic timing. The rest of the cast such as Sentrayan, Sujatha, Sivakumar, Munnar Ramesh, Joe Malloori, Vignesh Vijayakumar and etc did what was expected from their characters.
G.Veeramani handles the art direction department, and he has done a fairly decent job, with the 80's era properties such as phones, cars, movie posters and etc. He managed to recreate the ambiance of the 80's era, with present locations. Raja Mohammed's editing could have slicker since, the second half drags and the first half has poor cohesion in screenplay, which gives the film a ponderous pace. Director's demands, perhaps ? Dhilip Subbarayan's action choreography was adequate, with some heavy doses of violence, due to the demands of the script. C.Premkumar's cinematography was okay, with plenty of low-angle and tight close-ups and the usage of trolley shots, added better effects to the sequences. Some of his framing, highlighted the old-school feel of the plot settings.
D.Imman's songs and background score is the real highlight of the film. His melodies are getting better and better and he is definitely having a rocking time, currently. "Adiye Enna Raagam" was shot on Inigo Prabhakaran and Gayathrie Shankar and had the ancient rock and cave temples of rural Tamil Nadu as its backdrop. Such landscape is a treat to the eyes, for sure. The pick of the lot is definitely the melodious "Kooda Mele" song, shot on Vijay Sethupathi and Iyshwarya. The song too had plenty of beautiful rural landscape, shown in montages. "Yethukaaga Enna" is shot once again on Inigo Prabhakaran and Gayathrie Shankar and had a similar setting as their earlier duet, but this time in an ancient temple bakground. "Oru Nodi" is a situational, bit-song shot on Vijay Sethupathi and Iyshwarya, late in the second half. D.Imman's background score adds more emotions to the sequences, and he has definitely established himself as one of the leading music director's of Tamizh cinema.
Balakrishnan.K handles the story, screenplay and direction and Mona Palanisamy takes care of the dialogues. When it comes to the dialogues, there's nothing much outstanding. Most of them were just pretty, ordinary dialogues, which suited the needs of the script. The story and screenplay has more drawbacks, though. The pace is too slow and there's no coherence in how the story develops. There are plenty of unnecessary sequences, which does not add any value to the film, nor any importance to the story. At the same time, Balakrishnan.K's screenplay has plenty of gaps and loopholes, with plenty of unanswered questions and some proceedings insipidly tied-up for the sake of story-telling. Some of the characters are there for no reasons and make an entry and exit, aimlessly. There's not much novelty in the attempt, and its basically an aping act to replicate the 'Subramaniapuram' success, or to be more modest, could be the 'Sundarapandian' success, too. The climax has a sort-of shocking ending, but its not too entirely unpredictable or stunning enough to make one go "wow".
'Rummy' - Why did the director titled the film as such ? Clueless.
Ratings: 2.25/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
