'Attakathi' fame Dinesh, who had a decent outing with 'Cuckoo' has taken up a lead role with some commercial elements for the first time. 'Thirudan Police' is touted to be a melodramatic comedy fare, with some serious moments in between. Co-produced by S.P.B Charan, can debutante Caarthick Raju come up with a decent feel-good entertainer ?
Dinesh has chosen an apt script for him, where he can showcase his acting histrionics and at the same time, try his hand at comedy. He is convincing as the loafer turned constable, but at some places, he looks quite stiff and rigid. He must certainly improve his dancing capabilities and be more natural in the songs, as his uncomfortness romancing the heroine, is quite obvious. Iyshwarya Rajesh has nothing to offer here and only appears for some romance portions and song sequences. Muthuraman as the main antagonist was okay but its Rajendran and John Vijay who steals the thunder with their comedic acts. The pair complemented each other well and brought out the better comic timing from each other. The climax scene was hilarious ! Upcoming comedian Bala Saravanan is a riot with his dialogue deliveries and voice modulation. His natural demeanor works as a charm for him and sooner or later, he is sure to reach new heights ! Veteran Rajesh sparkles in his short role as a strict constable father and the others like Naren, Nitin Sathya, Krishnamoorthy, Renuka, Uma Iyer, Rajendranath, Vaiyapuri and etc make up the rest of the cast, with a very dignified special appearance from the legendary S.P Balasubrahmanyam.
Sruthi Kannath's costume designing sufficed the needs of the script and most of her work would have been on the heroine since the hero and the other main characters appear in police constable outfits, most of the time. Dhilip Subbarayan's action choreography was very realistic and apt and the highlight would be the jail lock-up fight scene involving Dinesh, Rajendran and John Vijay. The colony chase and the ensuing fight sequence, during the beginning of the movie. Art direction is by Jacki and the set properties for the police station set and also for the police housing colony was very realistic. The difference in class between a superior and a lower-level police officer was well showcased through the projection of their houses. Praveen K.L's editing was clean as usual and the fight sequences were very well edited. Siddharth's cinematography is functional and there's nothing really outstanding with his work, except for the fast movements through the housing colony, involving a fight sequence between Nitin Sathya and Dinesh.
Yuvan Shankar Raja's musical score is way below average for his standards and its pretty much run of the mill, stuff. "Moodu Panikkul" is a duet shot on Dinesh and Iyshwarya Rajesh in the highlands of the lush, green Kodaikanal. The panoramic views are the usual stuff, we are accustomed to. "Dheivame" is a situational bit song, which was shot on Rajesh and is also used during the end credits, and highlights the love of a father. "Ennodu Vaa" is a party dance number and featured Vijay Sethupathi and Aruldass in cameo appearances. Rajendran and John Vijay amuses with their lady get-ups for this song ! "Pesadhe" is the pick of the lot and melody number and has montages of Dinesh and Iyshwarya Rajesh, which was mostly shot in the housing colony area. Yuvan Shankar Raja's background score was just functional and nothing more than that.
Caarthick Raju's story is nothing new and the revenge element is as old as the hills. But the lighthearted treatment of the script is a bit refreshing and the melodramatic moments were kept bare minimum, apart from a fiery verbose speech by Naren. The song placements looked forced and disturbs the flow of the screenplay. Also, there plot development could be more organic and less jarring. The script highlights the pitiful and poor lives of the lower-level police constables and their daily miseries. Their lifestyle and struggle were well captured and how their higher officials make use of them, were explicitly shown. Caarthick Raju has infused the comedy element well into the script but at times, it makes us to ponder on how are we suppose to treat certain scenes, as either being serious or as light-hearted moments. The dialogues are a big plus to the film, especially for the comedy portions, and in particular for Bala Saravanan, who mouthed it perfectly. The end credits, which has photographs of all the technicians with their respective fathers, is an ode to fatherhood and was a nice touch. A film without lofty ambitions, 'Thirudan Police' is meets its expectations, though there are rooms for improvements.
'Thirudan Police' - Funny hide-and-seek !
Ratings: 2.5/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
Balaji Mohan simply oozes quirkiness and wittiness in his writing and with the runaway success of his debut, he is back with an intriguingly titled film, 'Vaayai Moodi Pesavum'. The trailers and teasers spelled a fun rom-com, with a young cast and crew and a stylish presentation idea, can Balaji Mohan pull it off for the second time ? Can Tamizh cinema-fans expect a jolly, good ride with 'Vaayai Moodi Pesavum' ?
Making his Tamizh cinema debut is Dulquer Salmaan, the son of Malayalam Superstar Mammootty breezes through his role as the cherubic and talkative sales agent. Building upon the confidence of his Malayalam films' success, Dulquer makes a fantastic debut in this film and is also nearly flawless with his Tamizh pronunciation and dialogue delivery. A definite talent to look out for and hope Tamizh cinema utilizes his acting capability more and better. Nazriya Nazim was simply too good as the beautiful but introvert medical doctor. She perfectly nailed her character and shares good vibes with Dulquer. Madhubala or Madhoo makes her comeback to Tamizh cinema and my word, she looks gorgeous even after all these years and her experience speaks for her, with those minute and fabulous expressions, she gave ! There's a brigade of character artistes in this film and all of them are just wacky personalities. From the mumbling politician R.Pandiarajan, his wise-cracking assistant Kaali Venkat, the foul-mouthed Arjunan, the crazy 'Nuclear Star' John Vijay and his die-hard fan Ramesh Thilak, the always-drunk 'Robo' Shankar, the grumpy and wealthy, old Vinu Chakravarthy, and finally, Balaji Mohan himself as the wily newscaster, made their marks as each one of them has their own different sub-plots in the film. Besides them, there are a few more artistes like RJ Balaji, Nakshathra Nagesh, Abhinav, Satya Priya, Kamala Krishnaswamy, Abhishek, Mime Gopi and etc in the cast. Cool casting, indeed !
Niranjani Ahathian takes care of the costume designing and her work adds more color and charm to the film's presentation. The characters looked lively and colorful thanks to the vibrant costumes, especially for the gorgeous ladies, in the film ! Art direction is handled by A.R Mohan and his art work seamlessly blended with the natural surroundings. The indoor set-up of the lead characters' homes and rooms, were well detailed and had a sense of stylishness to them. Abhinay Sunder Nayak handles the editing, and though his cuts were smooth and easy on the eyes, he could have trimmed some scenes of the several sub-plots of the film. Some episodes become tiresome after a while and is only there for the funny-gag quotient. Nevertheless, it was still a clean and neat work from him. S.Soundar Rajan's cinematography was excellent, especially with the way he projected Munnar, as the cool and beautiful hill station, with his color tone and lighting pattern. Besides that, his camera movements add more zing and fun into the screenplay and complements Balaji Mohan's writing.
Young and fresh music composer Sean Roldan, popular within the independent music album circles, makes his debut in Tamizh cinema. The light-hearted touches and also the groovy touches he gives to his track, has its own charm and effect for the songs. "Shut Up" is the title track and appears during the beginning credits, which has a plain color palette based animation. "Podhum Ini" is the first track and is shot on Dulquer, with plenty of cut-shots, well put together by Abhinay and Munnar's green hillsides were beautifuly captured by S.Soundar Rajan. "Kadhal Ara" is the funky love track, which has mini fantasy episodes in the song, which had simple set works and interspersing of the original story track. "Udaigiren" is a slow, pathos number, which was shot on most of the main characters, especially with the lead pair, in their sad moments, which were shot and shown in montages. "Maatraparavai" becomes a sort of 'happy-endings' song for the characters which were facing separate dilemmas, in their respective sub-plots. The theme tracks such as "Mr.Fix-IT", "Beedhiya Kelappa Jazz" and "The Sound of Silence" appear sporadically, throughout the film, and feature prominently in the second half. Sean Roldan's background score in the second half, adds a good deal of impetus for the film's screenplay, since everyone goes 'silent' in the film. A very good debut !
What works in Balaji Mohan's 'Vaayai Moodi Pesavum', is the simple message of how important and pertinent communication is to each and everyone, and how people take granted of it, being presented in a very fun, and quirky format ! The sub-plots, though has their own respective agendas, are simply funny and very well written by Balaji. Adding more credence to the fun-factor are Balaji's minute and creative ideas, be it the bulletins running during the prime news, the epic YouTube mash-up of R.Pandiarajan's mumbling act, the 'censoring' idea of Arjunan's foul-mouthed ramblings, the spoof and satire of cinema artistes and their real life antics, and etc, etc. Balaji has a proper structure to his screenplay and the second half, falls perfectly well, in which the message was articulately presented. The styling and overall look of the film, be it music, color, picturization, fonts and etc, complemented the script very well, and turned 'Vaayai Moodi Pesavum' as a cool and breezy, up-market entertainer of the year, thus far ! The second half slackens in the pace category, especially with the sentimental episodes, but nonetheless the scenes, were handled maturely. As mentioned earlier, the characters were very well written, keeping in mind the comedy element, and helping the artistes to make their characters stand out, are the humorously written dialogues, which had plenty of witticism, in them. Balaji Mohan has definitely set out a trend in light humor genre, and that too with a dash of fiction in it. This is what you call a whiff of fresh breeze, in Tamizh cinema !
'Vaayai Moodi Pesavum' - Eccentricity woven into the script, with tenacity !
Ratings: 3.25/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
Pooja Umashankar, the beautiful and talented Sri Lankan makes a comeback to Tamizh cinema, after a 4-year hiatus, with her last release being the critically-acclaimed Bala film, 'Naan Kadavul'. She teams up with debutante Balaji K.Kumar, an University of California graduate and a story board artist, who has worked for internationally reputed advertising firms such as Ogilvy & Mather, JWT, Saatchi & Saatchi. The trailers and teaser promised us a dark and emotional thriller, so did the final product live up to the expectations ?
Pooja makes a strong comeback, with a refined performance as Rekha, the desperate-for-cash prostitute. Her body language and dialogue delivery is spot-on, and she brought out the character very well. Her nervous expressions and trembling voice, gave plenty of realistic touches to her performance. But the real scene-stealer, is the young child prodigy Malavika Manikuttan. She is simply superb with her nuanced expressions and perfect timing in her dialogue delivery. She is a revelation and possess a maturity, beyond her adolescent age. Surely, a great find for Tamizh cinema ! Vinoth Kishan uses his eyes very well to bring out the silent, creepy mannerisms of his character. John Vijay, as the scheming villain, makes use of his opportunity fantastically, with great voice modulation. Lakshmy Ramakrishnan and Amarendran Ramanan, were very natural and realistic with their character portrayals.
Jayalakshmi Sundaresan, handles the costume designing very well, and she certainly brought out the apt look for Pooja and Amarendran. 'Thalapathy' Dinesh's action choreography was neatly executed, which had some deadly blows dished out by some of the characters, especially by Vinoth in the climax. Very realistic yet powerful ! Sathyaraj Natarajan, kept the duration of the film as crisp as possible, but the second half drags a little, which could have been avoided. Some post production works are a little tacky, especially the night shots of vehicles, but it could be due to the small-scale budget of the film. Edward Kalaimani, has done a really good job in the production design, especially with the set-work of John Vijay's garage-like set. The detailing was minute and complicated ! Also, the interiors of the various homes featured in the film, was very neatly propped up. Sivakumar Vijayan's cinematography was good, especially with the experimentation of the color tone, which ranges of sepia, dusty brown, and dark blue effects, which complements the mood of the sequences. Also, the night and rain shots, were well captured.
Girishh Gopalakrishnan of 'Marina' fame handles the music department. "Theeradha Mounam" is the opening song of Pooja and had some good slow-motion camera techniques, complemented by rain shots. "Penne" is a situational song, appearing in bits, in the late second half. And "Vidiyaatha Iravu" is the climax song, which fit very well for the situation and ups the mood of the climax portions. Girishh's background score elevates the thrill factor and suspense-building elements of the script, and tracks such as "Rage" and "Redemption" were very well scored, and used in the film.
What attracts us to the film, is the slow yet suspenseful screenplay, narrated by Balaji K.Kumar. He keeps us guessing on the next proceedings, with some intelligently handled sequences, those of John Vijay's, especially. What Balaji K.Kumar really deserves appreciation for, is his focus on the script and narration and the tight handling of the screenplay. There are no excessive and unwanted scenes thrust into the screenplay, which does a lot of good for the film. The subject of the script, was handled very well and pertained to an important and critical social issue, plaguing the world. Balaji's plot was well structured and he manages to give importance to his characters, which ensued a marked impression on the audience. The climax, is the real clincher for the film, and was very intelligently handled and executed. The biggest drawback of the film ? Nothing film wise, but its the fact that the story is not original. 'Vidiyum Munn' is an "inspiration/adaptation/remake/copy" or whatever you want to call it as, of the critically-acclaimed 2006 British film, 'London to Brighton' directed by Paul Andrew Williams. Well, nearly everything was lifted from this film, be it the idea, screenplay, characterizations, plot setting, sequence execution, the surprise ending and etc. Balaji K.Kumar has tweaked the story and some characterizations a little, in order to adapt to the Tamizh sensibilities and commercial factor. But apart from that, many scenes are a just direct copy from the original, including from dialogues to shot composition !
'Vidiyum Munn' - It can be more pleasant, if Balaji K.Kumar gives the original film and its makers, the real credits.
Ratings: 3/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
Sasi, who is known for his sensitive and emotional story-telling methods, is back with a flick after the critically acclaimed 'Poo'. However, this time the landscape is urban and theme is an action-oriented suspense thriller. The film has been long in the making, for nearly 3 years and is a very, very vital film for Bharath, if he is serious about salvaging his acting career. Also, Bharath has put in tremendous effort to sculpt his physique, which is marketed as a USP of the film. So how does this fresh pairing works out, aided by a new team of technicians ?
Bharath has poured his best efforts to look and bring out the raw emotions of his characters, especially with the rough, bearded look. His dancing skills are of no questions, and has handled his stunt sequences not too bad, either. He has shown good maturity in handling his character but there are lots of room for improvements in terms of dialogue delivery and timing. He could work out more on his modulation, certainly. But bravo to the man, for his excellent output of his laborious hard-work, put in maintaining that eight-pack physique. The need of it for the script, is a different question altogether, but still hats-off to him. Of the two female leads, Mrithika has the meatier role and she does a fairly good job. Pulling off the innocent and naivety-filled character, seems to be an easy job for her. But still there is a long way to go. The petite and svelte-bodied Erica Fernandez was okay in her role, though she was not given enough screen space nor the proper room to stamp her mark. Nevertheless, another good looking glamor-girl is available for Tamizh cinema. Santhanam, chips in with his comedic one-liners, which is spread unevenly in the film, while also having a scope for more serious sequences. Sudesh Berry is a disappointment as the antagonist, as he is not convincing and looks out of place, though his' was an interestingly-motivated character. The film's small cast such as Letchumi, Ravi Ratnavelu, Rajbharath, Manobala, Swaminathan and etc are there to fill out the necessities of the script.
P.R Ganesh's costume designing was apt, in bringing out the persona of the characters and their current circumstances. Rajeevan's production design was simple but on the dot, especially with the interiors of the room sets used, such as bungalows and psychiatrist's counseling room. But the car-wreck should be the actual highlight of his work. Ravi Sri Chandran's action choreography was well handled, and fits the capabilities and physical aspects of Bharath, very well. Subarak's editing is a little too sharp and it hurts the flow of the screenplay. A smoother transition from one sequence to another could have made the film, even more better. But kudos to his work for the song sequences. Saravanan Abimonyu's cinematography was good. He has experimented with lighting and color tones for the various change-overs and mood of the script, and it has brought good results for the film. The car-accident sequence was very well and professionally handled, by the new cinematographer.
Newcomer Simon's music is just average but his love melodies, are pleasant numbers. "Rowdy Girls" was shot as Erica's opening song and was picturized in a harsh landscaped area, with minimal props and few dancers. Erica's costumes, made her look elegant. Some good editing by Subarak for this song. "Saregamapa" was used used as a background bit-song in few scenes of the film. "Mudhal Mazhai Kaalam" has montages and dance sequences mixed, with the latter shot on simple sets and had seamless dance work from Bharath. "Kaadhal Indha Kaadhal" was shot on Erica and Bharath, and has few montages used as a situational song. "Vizhiyile Vizhiyile" is the pick of the lot, and was shot in localities of Malaysia such as upmarket streets and parks, as well as indoor dance portions. Subarak has experimented with some editing methods for the song. A decent work from the crew, indeed ! "Elavu" was shot in a club-like setting, with dark lighting and featured John Vijay in a cameo, and was used as a situational song. "Ghanni Khamma" was shot in North India and featured Mrithika in the song, which was only used as a bit song. The background score was just functional, but the melody numbers have been used well.
Sasi, is a director who can handle his subject very well. He has used Aravind and Suresh Kumar's basic storyline, and developed a screenplay, with many intriguing mini plots and some fine twists and turns. However, the crux of the film is the love episode of Bharath and Mrithika, which was not up to the mark. The direction was a little disappointing, because the love episodes were not strong and emotionally, powerful enough to drive the film further. To have this sort of work from a director, who is a master in sensitive love portrayals, is a disappointment. But Sasi tries to make up for it by packaging the film with enough suspense elements and revealing it one by one, as the film progresses, though the non-linear screenplay is a little turn-off. The relationship between Erica and Bharath was not worked out well too, as it is inorganic and has no depth in it. The dubbing for the artistes are substandard, and is the real turn-off, actually. Sasi should have worked out well in regards to his casting. There are minor continuity mistakes and the detailing is a little amateurish. A more gripping screenplay and direction, could have worked wonders for the film. Songs have been ill-placed, as well and spoils the flow of the screenplay.
'Ainthu Ainthu Ainthu' is a neat thriller, but with its own shares of flaws.
Ratings: 2.75/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
G.Boopathy Pandiyan, an excellent comedy script and dialogue writer turned director, is back after a three-year hiatus, with his last release being the dud 'Kaadhal Solla Vandhen'. He teams up once again with Vishal after 'Malaikottai', which was released 6 years back. Vishal has been consistently missing the elusive hit-status mark for his films, and his career looks like to be in an imminent danger. Will or can this duo strike back again, and that too with Santhanam in their company ?
Vishal is pretty much in his comfort zone with this script and he has delivered earnestly, what was expected out of him. His execution in stunt sequences are well filmed thus far, and it continues in 'Pattathu Yaanai' as well. His dance is improving film by film. And that's about it with his performance. As for debutante Aishwarya Arjun, well, she is there. In songs and the build-up sequences before them. (Was Arjun briefed about the actual state of his daughter's debut film ?) Santhanam, the only saving grace in the film, tries his best to muster some humorous portions out of the poorly written scenes. He has tried a different type of modulation for his dialogue delivery and it works to some extent, and his body language has marked improvement. But unfortunately, he goes missing in the second half, until the climax, where he makes an appearance for a brief moment. Murali Sharma and John Vijay play the roles of the main antagonists and only the latter makes some mark in the film, and that too due to his good comedy timing. The rest of the cast such as Chitra Letchumanan, Mayilsamy, Jagan, Karthik Sabesh, 'Vada Poche' Sarithiran, 'Pattimandram' Raja, Seetha, 'Besant' Ravi, Rajendran, Swaminathan and Singamuthu appear in insignificant roles, alongside Subbu Panchu and Mouli, who make cameo appearances.
Sai and Vasugi Bhaskar's costume designing was in sync with the needs and wants of the commercial demands of the script and thanks to Vasugi, Aishwarya looked more presentable in the songs. Anal Arasu's stunt choreography was also in sync with the necessities of a commercial caper, and the second half stunt scene, shot in the rain, is particularly more impressive than the others. Karthik Rajkumar's production design was minimal and his props, sufficed the needs of the sequences. A.L Ramesh's editing is just functional. Nothing experimental, in style. Vaidy.S's cinematography reminds us of R.D Rajashekar's work in Vishal's previous, 'Vedi'. The bright yellow hue, gives a bright look for the entire film and his shots for the second half stunt sequence, canned with rain effects, looked good.
S.S Thaman's musical score, is pretty average to say the least. Repeated listening might pave way for some sort of liking to them. "Thattungada Mealatthae" is the opening song of the hero and his bunch of friends. The song was shot on barren crop fields, with minimal art work and some comedy bit thrown into, involving a glamorous 'item girl'. "Enna Oru" is the pick of the lot among the songs, and is shot on the lead pair and which happens to be a fantasy song. The sand work in beaches and colorful streets are the highlight of the songs, with pretty costumes designed for Aishwarya. "Raja Raja Naandham", has a mix of dance and montages blended into it. The montages were some comedy bits and the dance portions were shot in an simple manner. "Poosani Kai" was shot at an open balcony terrace, featuring Mayilsamy and the lead pair, with the former involving in some quirky dance movements. "Thale Kaalu" is the archetypal 'kuthu' song warranted for such 'masala' flicks. The song features, as usual, colorful sets and groups of colorfully dressed dancers. Sabesh-Murali duo handles the background score department, surprisingly. They have done justice to their work by giving good focus for the comedy portions and also for imbibing Thaman's tunes into their re-recording.
Its unforgivable for someone like Boopathy, who has a very good humor-filled script-sense, to come up with such a tepid and lukewarm script. The script is jarringly out of logic and sense. The scenes are disjointed and there is no proper continuity in the flow of the screenplay. The comedy sequences are low in humor and high in irritable factor and many of them are unwarranted ! The story is prehistoric. The over-used trend of having Ilaiyaraaja's composition is also incorporated into the screenplay. Its just puzzling to come up with a conclusion, as to what was Boopathy's idea, behind this project ? Is it supposed to be 'masala'-filled humor film or vice-versa ? Only he has the ability to narrate the answer to us (hopefully !). As mentioned earlier, Santhanam's dialogues are the only saving grace in the film, and he alone has greatly helped the script in sustaining our remaining meager interest of us' on the film.
'Pattathu Yaanai' - Success still eludes Vishal, successfully !
Ratings: 2/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
Adding to the list of next-gen different thinkers of Tamizh cinema, here comes Alphonse Putharen, who churns out a bilingual in his debut venture. Simply titled as 'Neram', this film evoked curiosity with its well-cut trailer and a rocking video song, "Pistha" which had lyrics taken from Sathyan Anthikkad's 'Kinnaram'. With a totally new cast and some known faces, did the young and compact team of 'Neram' lived up to the expectations ?
Nivin Pauly from Malayalam cinema, makes a decent debut in 'Neram'. He is idealized as the chap-in-bad-luck very well and brings out the emotions, pretty well. There is definitely room for improvement in regards to expressions and dialogue delivery, but credits for Nivin for delivering a neat performance comfortably. The cute and pretty Nazriya Nazim, steals our hearts with a spirited and believable performance in the character of the cute girl-next-door type. Its a little minus though, in regards to her character getting lost during the middle of the story. All in all, we have the next homely-cute girl of Tamizh cinema in Nazriya ! Simhaa, who has been making names appearing in 'Pizza', 'Soodhu Kavvum' and etc dons an antagonistic role for the first time, and its a complete makeover for him. He looks very much convincing and menacing as 'Vatti' Raja. Better films and directors can bring out even better performances from him ! Thambi Ramaiah and John Vijay shares a special 'chemistry' in this film with their repartee and counter dialogues ! The rest of the cast such as Charlie, Ananth Nag, 'Crane' Manohar, Deepak Nathan, RJ Ramesh Thilak, D.Crawford, Anand Chandrababu, Sabaresh Varma, Sai Prasad, Sherif, Akhilan, Vijay Muthu and etc made their presence felt. But the real icing on the cake was Nassar, who was a scream in his role as 'iPhone' ! The veteran certainly brought the house down with his antics and excellent dialogue delivery.
The film carries very good technical work, from a relatively young and ambitious crew. Muralidharan's costume designing was very apt for the characters, as each artistes were made to look convincing as the characters they played. Rajakrishnan M.R's sound mixing was spot on, especially for the chase and stunt sequences, which brought out the effect well, on screen. 'Run' Ravi's stunt was very natural and realistic, and mostly involved chase sequences, which were well conceptualized and shot. Mohana Mahendiran's art work involved many props, used to fill up backgrounds involved in the film. The work was minimal, but efficient. The director, Alphonse Putharen himself takes up the editing work, and the film was very astutely directed, according to his vision of the script. The chase sequences were very smoothly done and also not to forget, the lovely montages in the songs. Anend C.Chandran's cinematography was gritty, has several moods in the film, pertaining to the sequences and has good framing sense. The sepia color tone was very well handled by the young cinematographer and he certainly shares a great sense of understanding with the director. Very well done job !
Newcomer Rajesh Murugesan delivers refreshing and cool music, which complemented the script and style of film-making of the director's. "Kadhal Ennule" is a sweet melody picturized on the lead pair in montages, showing their lovey-dovey moments. The camerawork had plenty of close-ups, which brought out the love moments pretty well. "Kaatru Veesum" is another simple yet beautiful number, which was used as a cheeky situational song, shot on Nazriya and Deepak Nathan. The slow motion effect was well used for this song and Mandaiveli was never shown so beautifully on screen. Even the simple streets looked so fresh and pristine ! The popular "Pistha - The Run Theme" was used during the penultimate chase sequence and also for the end credits, which the latter has gone to be a viral video on social medias. The theme music tracks such as "Neram Theme", "Phone Booth" and "Thiruttu Isai" were well placed as background scores with additional lovely rendition of Beethoven's classic Für Elise !
Alphonse Putharen's script which was developed with a team consisting Pradeep Palarr, Mohsin Kasim, Jegesh Vijay, Krishna Shankar and Sherif, is a simple thriller with some very well conceptualized sequences. The usage of the Chaos Theory or popularly known as 'The Butterfly Effect' was a cheeky, nice touch. There are moments in the film, which keeps our attention hooked to the screen, and there are moments were the momentum falls flat and goes slow-mo. Pradeep Palarr's dialogues, especially the one's involved between Thambi Ramaiah and John Vijay were brilliantly and cheekily written ! As mentioned before, the chase sequences, which plays an the most important part of the film was very well conceptualized. The story telling was pretty smooth, probably due to the editing work carried out by the director himself. The premise is engaging, the thrill effect is there, but still the audiences will be left feeling wanting more from the script and idea of Alphonse Putharen. Right from the beginning, with the opening card starting off with Quentin Tarantino's saying which goes, "I steal from every movie ever made" the premise takes off very well, but the end product falls a little bit short of meeting our expectations. Nonetheless, the film was still a tension-free product, with good dosages of entertainment.
'Neram' - worth watching and investing our time !
Ratings: 3/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
Director S.M Vasanth, known for his critically acclaimed hits such as 'Keladi Kanmani', 'Aasai', 'Nearukku Ner' and etc is back after a long 6 years absence, with 'Satham Podathey' being his last release. A unique compilation of artistes, S.M Vasanth tried to weave three different story-lines, based on three couples, from three different landscape backdrops. How did all three story-lines merge or complement each other, is what we are looking for. So, is it worth a shot ?
Veteran Arjun, looks very fresh and shines in the role of a swimming coach. His body language and composed dialogue deliveries, are indicators of his vast experience. One sincerely hopes, that Arjun continues to choose such films henceforth and stop continuing mindless action 'masala' scripts. Cheran breezed through his role but is not entirely convincing as a foreign-returned. Also, its Cheran who has the lesser number of screen time among the heroes. Vemal, struggles as a smooth-talking charmer and its clearly evident that he is finding it hard to shake off the rural/town guy image, for which he is known for. Muktha Bhanu had the best of the female roles, and kudos to her for stealing the show, with her nuanced performance. Debutante Lasini is not bad, but has a long way to go, as her expressions were still not so organic and natural. The other debutante, Surveen Chawla tries her best to fit into the role of Arjun's student cum lover, but she misses her mark. The rest of the cast such as Thambi Ramaiah, Appukutty, Sathyan, Naren, John Vijay, Ravi Raghavendar, Shanthi Williams, Bosskey, Sivakumar, Chandramohan, Rajan and etc were functional.
The technical department of the film, dished out just above average works, except for the soundtracks. Sathya N.J's costume designing was apt, as each characters looked their part, but Vemal's look could have been altered for the better. Magi's art direction was neat, as most of the scenes were canned in real locations and the props matched the backdrops, showcased in the respective story-lines. The editing was handled by S.N Fazil and S.M Vasanth together, and probably both minds did not gel well during the cutting process. The film looked very choppy, with loose hangings and non-cohesion in the transition from one scene to the other. Bhojan K.Dinesh's cinematography work was very good and he captures the mood of each the three distinctive backdrops of hillside, coastline and city landscapes, very well. But the framing and close-ups could have been better.
S.M Vasanth's films always had fantastic soundtracks, and 'Moondru Per Moondru Kaadhal' is no exception either. This film is probably one of Yuvan Shankar Raja's best works in recent times, and nearly all the songs were fantastically scored and well mastered. Brilliant work, Yuvan ! But sadly, the song picturization quality was not up to the standards of the soundtrack. "Kaadhal Endhan Kaadhal" is a haunting, yet peppy number which comes during the opening credit sequence, with the backdrop of the Kovai sea and also appears in a montage sequence during the Cheran-Bhanu episode. "Unakkaagave Uyir" is an experimental dub-step type song, and was picturized on the Vemal-Lasini pair, also in montages. Lasini was shot beautifully by Bhojan, with good framing sense. "Padapadakkudhu" also appears during the Vemal-Lasini episode, but was shot on Robert and Blaaze making cameo appearances as 'Sanjay Ramasamy' and 'Sivaji The Boss' wannabes. The song had simple set work of light bulbs and dim-lighting for the backdrop. "Aaha Kaadhal" is a montage song, shot on Bhanu falling for Cheran and was mostly shot along the coastal lines of Kovai. "Mazhai Mazhai" was shot on Arjun and Surveen, who was in scanty sarees. The song was lacks any imagination and was shot in and around Binny Mills. "Stop The Paattu" was shot on a food court premise of a business complex and had Ritvik Varun, the son of S.M Vasanth, making a cameo. Ritvik does dance well, but is too camera conscious and looks uncomfortable in performing in front of the camera. The background score is handled by Tubby-Parik and is average, though most of the soundtrack is inspired from the songs. Not up to the expertise of Yuvan, but it was still functional.
S.M Vasanth should be appreciated for coming up with decent and believable characters and dilemmas faced by the characters. But what leaves a lot to be desired, was a proper screenplay ! Shankar Raman and S.M Vasanth's joint screenplay-writing was very badly structured and there's no proper connectivity between each story-lines. The pace was very lackadaisical in nature and the film moves in a very tepid manner. Though the songs were good, they were ill-fitting for the screenplay and as said before, poorly picturized. The message is something laudable, but falls flat and the writing is lethargic. Dialogues were pretty archaic, if you take into the current standards and tastes of the younger lot, but there were some sparkles, here and there. But still, kudos to S.M Vasanth for not thrusting unnecessary double entendres and glamor into the screenplay.
'Moondru Per Moondru Kaadhal' - definitely not on par with S.M Vasanth's earlier films. And definitely not the cup of tea of the present youngsters !
Ratings: 2.25/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
A very interesting attempt, 'David' is the first "direct" Tamizh film of Bejoy Nambiar, the former assistant to Mani Ratnam and the director of the critically acclaimed Hindi flick, 'Shaitan'. Shot in Hindi and Tamizh, 'David' is an intriguing tale, depicting two characters of different backdrop, era, and characteristics but connected by one single element, which is the name of David and a message attached to the name. Multi-narratives are a rare breed in Tamizh cinema, and kudos to Bejoy, for attempting to make one. The Hindi-version has an additional storyline, making it as three protagonists, but Bejoy plays safe with two in Tamizh. With two powerhouse performers in Dr. 'Chiyaan' Vikram and Jiiva, did Bejoy nail it ?
Starting with Dr.'Chiyaan' Vikram, this film must have been a welcome relief for him, as he has enjoyed doing the role of a bride-punching, liquor-guzzling (that too through a funnel !), notorious, fisherman. He was endearing and charming in his portrayal throughout his episode and his relationship with Tabu was wonderfully written and picturized. An excellent performance from 'Chiyaan' after a very long time. Jiiva on the other hand, was the exact opposite, with a very serious but energized portrayal. He displays the correct level of intensity and expressions needed for the emotional scenes and proves once again that he is one of the best performers in Tamizh cinema, among the younger breed of leading heroes. The other best role in the film was of Tabu's and what nonchalant, and matured performance from her ! She simply sizzles as 'Frenny', the friend cum adviser of Vikram. Deepa Venkat's dubbing was okay for her but still it takes out the originality of the character. Isha Sharvani, was angelic and sweet as the deaf and mute girl and was very apt for the role of 'Roma'. Lara Dutta comes out with a neat and composed performance and got her pronunciation right for the lip-sync. Saurabh Shukla is a scream in his role, whereas Nassar was as good as always as the devout Christian priest. The rest of the cast such as Rohini Hattangadi, John Vijay, Nishan, Prahlad Kakkar, Shweta Pandit, Sheetal Menon, Sunder Ramu, Manish Jha, Sathish Kaushik, Rubi Chakravarti and etc all were very apt and performed realistically in the film. A big cast, but wonderful performances from all. Bejoy should be lauded for the characterization of all the roles, enacted in the film, which were well written.
One will look forward to a Bejoy Nambiar film for the technical finesse, and Bejoy does not disappoint us. All technicians involved in this project are some of the best in the industry, and Bejoy has used their capabilities to good use. Ameira Punvani and Falguni Thakore's costume designing was very apt for each era and characters involved in the dual-story lines of the film. The look for both Jiiva and Vikram was perfect. Stunts were very well choreographed by Javed Aejaz and what makes the stunt sequences authentic, is that the fights for each lead protagonists imbibed the characteristics of the protagonists, be it the drunk Vikram or the angry Jiiva. Well done, Javed ! Rajeevan's production design was very natural and authentic. The props for each setting, be it Mumbai or Goa, were very much original and his presentation made it look believable. Sreekar Prasad's sharp editing kept the pace of the film bearable and nearly avoided being too languorous. Ranganat Ravi's sound designing was also spot on, with the necessary minute sounds, well implemented in the film. The film definitely belongs to the two very talented cinematographers, R.Rathnavelu and P.S Vinod. The former's picturization was very exotic and pleasing to the eyes, with perfect lighting and the appropriate 'sunny' tone of the Goan episode. Whereas, the latter's Mumbai shots were gloomy, dark and gritty in nature. The fight sequence was fantastically shot, with brilliant lighting and color tone used for it. Both cinematographers showed their expertise in their respective episodes, and it was indeed a very smart and creative move by Bejoy to employ different cinematographers each episodes.
One of the highlights of the film is the soundtrack and the eclectic-mix of the artistes involved, gives different shades to the whole album. Nonetheless, the soundtrack is a trend-setter and warrants repeated listening, for one to appreciate the music. But sadly, the songs were just used sparingly in the film and is woven into the flow of the screenplay, which cut shorts the length of a song ! "Vaazhkaiye" by the Bramfatura duo, is the opening song and also serves as the theme music of the film. It was picturized in , covering the climax sequences of both story-lines. "Maria Pitache", composed by Remo Fernandes, was shot on Dr.'Chiyaan' Vikram brawling with fellow drunkards, in a set resembling a Goan hut cum bar setting. "Machi" by Modern Mafia, is a montage song, shot in a first-person perspective technique, on Jiiva's daily routine as a guitarist. "Theerathu Poga Poga" is a lovely song composed by Maatibaani, shot on Vikram, Nishan and Isha having fun together. R.Rathnavelu's lighting and camera movement was good for this song. "Iravinil Ulavavaa" is a catchy song composed by Prashant Pillai, which was shot beautifully on Vikram and Isha, in a "boatride-under-the-moonlight" scenario. "Manamey" is a thumping song, full of percussion beats, composed by Prashant Pillai featuring Tao Issaro. As mentioned earlier, P.S Vinod's cinematography was brilliant in this song which was shot on Jiiva taking on a bunch of guys. The rain effect was put to good use, with minimal lighting and apt color tone. "Kanave Kanave" by Anirudh Ravichander is a beautiful, soothing melody used in both story-lines and was placed appropriately in the screenplay, but was used minimally, sadly. The "Light House" track by Remo Fernandes was used throughout the Goan episode as a background score and not to forget, Mikey McCleary's background score, especially for the Mumbai episode was brilliant.
First things first. Bejoy Nambiar is a director of substance and it is evident in his narration and directing skills. He somehow magically makes an ordinary scene to look extraordinary, powerful and gripping with his narrative skill. The Vikram-Tabu sequences were handled with high-level of composure and maturity and is a delight to watch for its casual treatment ! There is a deep and philosophical message, underlying in the script, which is revealed, post the inner-battle of the lead protagonists and the screenplay by Bejoy Nambiar and Natasha Sahgal was not bad. But what spoils the film, is the heavy-dubbed feel we get, while watching it. A majority of the artistes involved in the Hindi version is retained for the Tamizh version and the dubbing was awful in most of the scenes. The poor dubbing spoils the originality of the film. The dialogues by Manikandan.G and Venkat Subbaraj was of no help as well, as it lacks the depth in creativity and sounds plain simple. Though the film looks fine if you go scene-by-scene, the overall story-telling was a letdown, as there's not much connectivity between the two story-lines and each track had a different mood and pace to it, which might test the patience of viewers. Also, its unforgivable for a director of Bejoy's class to make silly mistakes in detailing. One glaring mistake is the scene where Nishan sings the "Pondaatti" song from the film 'Osthe' at Isha. Mind you, the film came out in 2011 but the timeline of the Goan episode was 2010 ! Such silly mistakes must be avoided as it further spoils the interest of the viewers.
'David' is a unique and interesting attempt from Bejoy, which has excellent technicians who delivered superb outputs in the film, especially the cinematography and music department. But disappointingly, it did not really live up to the expectations it generated prior to the release. A film which could and should have been much better, as it promised a lot, but served pretty less than what was promised.
Ratings: 3/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
Vishal is back with another action film, which is directed by Thiru, who has collaborated with him in the dampener, 'Theeradha Vilaiyaattu Pillai'. For Vishal, this is a very critical film, because he has been treading the wrong path where a slew of his previous releases, all were failures. In order to survive, this must click for him. With an interesting star cast, and picturized in Thailand for most duration of the film, 'Samar' intrigued viewers with its slick trailer, which did not give out any particular hints. So how did the movie fare ?
For Vishal, this movie is a throwback to his 'Sandaikozhi' and 'Thimiru' days were he underplayed his role, with controlled performance. He has put his strong and built physique to good use in the action scenes. The no-nonsense and introvert characterization was carried out well by Vishal and it is enjoyable for us to watch him perform in this manner. Well done, Vishal ! Trisha, does her part well and was confident in her dialogue delivery and for dubbing in her own voice. She looks good and was at ease throughout the film. Sunaina barely had anything to do other than to act in a couple of scenes and to dance for a song, though her character was needed. Critically acclaimed performers Manoj Bajpai and J.D Chakravarthy fall way short of in delivering strong and outstanding performances, though they are very much capable of delivering it. Blame the director, for the poorly sketched characters of Manoj and J.D. The rest of the cast such as Jayaprakash, Sampath, Sriman, Azhagam Perumal, John Vijay, Uma Padhmanabhan and others are adequate.
Vasugi Bhaskar's costume designing was very apt for each characters, where the costumes reflected the personality of each characters. Sound designing by Renganaath Ravee was good, especially in the stunt sequences. Jacki's art work was adequate, considering that the majority of the film was captured in real life locations and his work blends in well with the surroundings. Ruben's editing is just nice, especially for the stunt scenes, which is the trump card of the film. Stunt choreography is the highlight of the film. Each stunt scenes were solidly choreographed and most importantly, was very natural and realistic. It is a delight to watch such pumping action scenes, neatly executed in Tamizh cinema. Kudos to the stunt choreographers, Kanal Kannan, Rajashekar, Jimmy from Singapore and also to Nang of the Baan Rig team from Thailand. Great work by them ! Complementing the stunt sequences, is Richard M.Nathan's stunning cinematography (who also makes a small cameo appearance in the film). He has used plenty of aerial shots in and around Bangkok. His color tone and lighting aptly follows the changes of locations in the film, as the story progresses. Another good job well in his portfolio !
Yuvan Shankar Raja's music is a letdown for this film. His score is average considering the fact, he can deliver chart-busting songs. "Oru Kannil Vegam" is the introductory song of the protagonist and depicts his life as a forest ranger. There are plenty of pleasing aerial shots by Richard in this song and captures the beauty of the forest in different lights. "Azhago Azhagu" is the pick of the lot from the album. It was picturized on the three characters of Vishal, Trisha and Sunaina and was shot entirely in and around Putrajaya city of Malaysia with some iconic buildings and landmark being the backdrop. "Poikaal Kudhirai" is an interesting number, which was well placed in the film. There are plenty of cut-shots, which are mostly picturized at night and features many facets of Bangkok and its surroundings. "Vellai Mayil" is a romantic number shot on Vishal and Trisha, with aerial shots along the sea shore and besides that, shot mostly within posh hotel premises. The final song "Raajavin Thottathil" is a hot, club number shot on sexily-clad item girls and features the two antagonists of the film, enjoying themselves. The lighting and camera movements by Richard M.Nathan complements the mood and feel of the song. Background score was handled by Dharan Kumar and he shows is prowess in good sound mixing with apt background music, be it for suspense scenes or for romantic scenes.
Director Thiru has delivered an interesting plot and theme, laced with the right amount of commercial aspects for this film. He has handled the majority of the screenplay quite well, maintaining the suspense, gripping twists and turns and some surprises towards the last 15 minutes of the film. The film keeps us guessing until the last 15 minutes, on what is happening in the film, until the secret is revealed. But once the suspense is unraveled, the film looses its fizz and ends on a rather tepid manner, which makes us to feel that the overall end product could have been better. The director rightfully avoided inserting any comedy scenes into the screenplay. Dialogues by Thiru and S.Ramakrishnan was very much suitable for the script, being straight-forward and not overtly dramatic, except for those uttered by the antagonists. The idea of the script definitely has an inspiration from some Hollywood and Korean films, but Thiru has cleverly adapted the idea to suit the taste and sensibilities of Tamizh audience.
After a long time, we get to see a good movie from Vishal and though it could have been presented in a better manner, it still delivers a decent action thriller, with enough thrills and chases in keeping our attention. Not so great, but not bad, either.
Ratings: 2.75/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
'Etho Seithai Ennai' came out without any fanfare or publicity at all, which makes us to brush of this film outright, just before noticing the cast of the film ! It has some veteran artistes who are making their odd return to the film industry and also the hero Shakkthi, son of veteran director P.Vasu. Does this film deserves any sort of publicity ? Definitely not at all !
Shakkthi makes his comeback after a small guest role in 'Yuvan Yuvathi'. He has established himself as a proper actor, who can emote and deliver dialogues confidently, with some little bit of charm in his previous films. What's not watchable here, is the ridiculously etched out sequences in which he has to perform the acts of heroes done in the 80's and early 90's. He has just performed what the director wanted, and there's nothing special here, which is worthy enough for a comeback. Liya, who did a role in 'Peraanmai' makes her comeback as well, which is not worthy off. She struggles in her role and there's no chemistry at all between her character and that of Shakkthi's which makes their love portion sequences like a sore thumb ! Anand Babu and Anandh makes their comebacks too, through this film and together with John Vijay, all three of them look like the cinematic, and over-the-top villains whom we are used to seeing, time immemorial. Bhanuchander, Ilavarasan, Sai Prashanth, Devi Priya makes their presence in small roles and Srinath makes us chuckle a bit in his sequences, with his funny dialogues and body language.
On the technical front, this film has nothing to offer us. 'Rock' Prabhu's stunts were okay, though some portions look overtly-done. K.R Shree, has very less budget to afford, I guess, so his art work is very minimal, with some props here and there. Muthulakshmi Varadhan's editing was poor with the continuity of the story getting hit badly. Ezhil Arasan's lighting was poor which makes his cinematography of the film look like the work of an amateur, befitting for a short film. Ganesh B.Kumar's tunes are not hummable at all. "Muzhu Nilavu" was shot within a bus setting with the lead pair, with some narrow angles. "Pogamal Oru Naal" was shot within a campus setting, shot at night mostly, with some few background dancers thrown into the frame. "Kadhil Mattum" was shot in foreign locales, Venice to be precise, which gives the film a different look but the song composition was bad, with poor angles, which does not bring out the beauty of the place being focused upon. 'Falling in Love" is a montage-filled song, showing the flashbacks of the lead pair and their encounters with each other.
J.Elvin Bosser, the director tries to weave a story of rivalries, love and back-stabbing in the story, but the events stands out mutually exclusive of each other and though the director tries to weave all the subplots together, it did not gel well, making us to wonder, why so and so proceedings are taking place in the script. The rivalry portion was poorly executed, leaving us not hooked to it and worse, not able to comprehend, why the rivalry is there in the first place and what makes the characters to bay out for each other's blood. The love sequences too did not look thoroughly convincing nor interesting.
'Etho Seithaai Ennai' - No idea, what the director wanted to convey as a film !
Ratings: 1/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
"Kalakalappu @ Masala Cafe" is the film which brings us back the Sundar.C which everyone recognized. A director with fantastic comedy sense. Some of his films are cult classics for slapstick comedies such as "Murai Maaman", "Mettukudi", "Ullathai Allithaa" and etc. Even commercial films of his have fantastic comedy sidetracks and "Ullam Kollai Poguthey", "Winner", "Rendu" being the examples. Since he took a sabbatical from directing and venturing into acting, the director in Sundar.C was sorely missed. This film did bring up hopes, with Sundar.C directing for the 25th time and that too with Shiva and Santhanam in the cast, the expectations were high.
Usually Sundar.C has his films centered on a few characters and the comedic situations will be based on them. But in this movie, though you have two heroes and two heroines, there's a host of artistes and all of them plays fantastic comedy roles. Starting off with the lead heroes. Vimal as usual was casual and comfortable in his role. The soft-nature and naive character suits him very well. Meanwhile Shiva was a scream throughout the film, especially in the first half. His one-liners were fantastically delivered by him and the movie is replete with them. Lines like "Kathirikka Knife & Katrina Kaif", as well as "Aduthan figurekku aasaipaduranukku ellam, thannode figure sappeya thaan mattum" are exemplary of the hilarious lines in the movie. Anjali as the health inspector was apt for her role and she was good with her comedy lines and showed her glamorous side in songs. Oviya delivered what was expected from her as well, and she too upped her glamor quotient in songs, but her comedy timing was not up to the mark. Santhanam, the current King of Comedy makes an entrance in the second half as a comedic villain and the second half belongs to him. He raises the bar even further with his one-liners and the second half chasing scene, involving him, Vimal and Manobala was a laugh riot. Ilavarasu, John Vijay, Subbu Panchu, V.S Raghavan and etc, everyone did their roles very well and each of them had something to contribute, comedy wise.
The film was made on a moderate budget, so the technical aspect of the film was just average but still good enough. Rajendran's costumes was apt for each and every artistes, making them look perfect for the characters that they played. Praveen K.L and Srikanth N.B's editing was good as usual, but they could have trimmed a little in the second half. The comic-book style pauses was well done. 'Thalapathy' Dinesh's stunts were funny and a little over-the-top, which was necessary for this genre of film. Gururaj's artwork was decent. The "Masala Cafe", before and after revamp, both was well done by him. U.K Senthil Kumar, a regular of Sundar.C's films has done a neat job, especially in capturing the mood of the small, beautiful town of Kumbakonam. The mansions, temple ponds and street views were pretty sights. The interiors of the cafeteria could have been done a little better. Music director, Vijay Ebenezer has come out with simple and sweet songs. The pick of the lot will definitely be "Thirumbi Paarthu" picturized on Vimal and Oviya in the green fields. Simple artwork and choreography was enough for that song, which looks nice on screen. "Unnai Patri" picturized around mansions and houses of the film plot, but still proved enough to hold our attention with the proceedings happening in the screen. "Mokka Manusha" was done within a tight area, that is around the cafeteria set and it involved lots of dancers in a small, congested area, which could have been done a little better. The opening song "Masala Cafe" and "Angelina" has montage sequences and some of them did have the necessary comedic elements to it. "Ivalunga Imsai" was picturized on the four lead artistes of the film. Both ladies were pretty glamorous in it and the lighting work and set work matched very well.
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Sundar.C has scripted the film with full of slapstick comedy scenes. Flaws and illogical sequences are aplenty in the film, but that's overlooked for the fun factor Sundar.C promises. The basic plot of the film was taken from a German film titled "Soul Kitchen" but Sundar.C has aptly modified the story and added sequences apt for the Tamizh audience which actually brings the roof down with the silliness and humorous manner in which the scenes were done. Definitely Sundar.C's biggest asset is his dialogue writer, Badri. His dialogues were a scream and nearly each scene had its own one-liners and they were aptly written for the characters which mouthed those lines. Sundar.C should be appreciated for his choice of artistes for each roles. The choices were very well made, even for the small characters which comes in one or two scenes.
Kalakalappu @ Masala Cafe is just a silly, plain and enjoyable fun ride for all viewers. Logic, common sense, rationality and seriousness are not to be associated with the script but that's not a complain because the film doesn't need those factors. Sundar.C is back to what he is best at and thoroughly fulfilled the expectations of the film.
Ratings: 3/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
Mouna Guru, was a making progress silently with Arulnidhi as the protagonist. The "Vamsam" star was in need of a hit because of the poor outing of his previous commercial "Udhayan". Backed by his home production, this movie is directed by newcomer Santhakumar and has some good technicians behind the camera. As not much expectations were placed on this movie, the same factor has worked out for the success of it, by emerging as the dark horse/silent winner in the box office trade, thanks to the neat work done by the crew.
Arulnidhi shows potential once again here as his performance was quite good and his dialogue delivery was in sync with the character he portrayed. If he works out more on his expressions and body language, he has a very good future in Tamizh cinema. Heroine Iniya has nothing much to do here, other than be the love interest of the hero, but it's not the 'sake-of-having-one' kind of a role. All the other character artistes like Krishnamoorthy, Madhu, K.Balakrishnan, Sujatha and etc did their roles well but the real scene stealers were John Vijay as the corrupted police officer and Uma Riyaz Khan as a pregnant investigative officer. Both were fantastic with their subtle expressions and body language and this movie will stand as one of their best ever roles in their entire career. Mouna Guru is one of the rare films which has its entire cast dishing out decent and non-overboard acting.
The film has some decent technical works. Thaman's music is a plus for this film with "Yenna Idhu" and "Anamika" songs being the best of the lot. His background work is very much commendable and one of his better works and nearly as on par with his best "Eeram". The usage of silence in the climax scenes worked very well in enhancing the thrilling effect. Dhilip Subbarayan's stunts were very natural and minimally used, making it more realistic to watch. A.A Devaraj's production work and Mahesh Muthuswamy's camera work was very effective and well done. Raja Mohammed could have trimmed some portions of to speed up the screenplay, especially in the first half.
The real hero of this movie is the director Santhakumar. One of the best aspects of the film is the usage of characters. Nearly all characters had a role in moving the screenplay forward and even the antagonists were well used and not as just 'punching-bag' for the protagonist. In-fact there is not even a single scene showing heroism and each character has its own shades and color which makes it more believable. It is difficult in Tamizh cinema for directors to come up with decent enough thriller which can hold the attention of audiences till the very end, without compromising few factors. The events starts to unfold one by one and each scene were well executed with no nonsense approach. The unpredictable small twists and turns holds the interest of the audiences. Some might find the screenplay to be little slow in the first half, but it's just an minor issue.
Mouna Guru is a decently well made thriller which never fails to get the appreciation of viewers. Hoping to see more classy and better work from director Santhakumar.
Ratings: 3/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
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