PODAA PODI MOVIE REVIEW

After a long await, 'Podaa Podi' finally makes its cinema release after its launch, way back in 2008. Touted to be a dance and musical with dosages of romance and comedy, the makers of the film promised a clean and youthful entertainer for the audiences. With a young cast and peppy music, debutante director Vignesh Sivan, makes a confident entry with no experiences, whatsoever in the cinema field beforehand ! 

A favorite kid of controversy, Silambarasan is back a year after his last release, 'Osthe'. As Arjun, Silambarasan fits this role to T and he delivers a very good performance, effortlessly. Needless to say, his dancing and singing skills came in handy a lot, and he has utilized those set of skills to the core, here. He should be applauded as well, for daring to take the role of a young father, which is a hard role, to pull off. His emotional outburst confronting Shobana in the second half, was the best scene for him and it shows his maturity in handling emotional scenes. Besides the director, the heroine, Varalaxmi Sarathkumar too makes her debut. Its an apt and tailor-made role for her as well, since she's an accomplished dancer herself. Her boisterous and chatterbox-like characteristics suits her image very well, and she too delivers her best, when it mattered the most. An added advantage for her, is her ability to dub for herself and with the right projects, she's bound to move forward in Tamizh cinema. Kudos to her for persevering in delivering a good performance, on par with an experienced hero ! Veteran accomplished dancer and artiste, Shobana does a minor role in this film, but sadly it was a poorly written role for her. It could be due to editing, but her appearance in the film is very far and few in between. It was awkward to hear Vivitha dub for her. 'VTV' Ganesh appears in a couple of scenes, and as usual, he is a scream in most of his scenes.

Designer Sabir should be appreciated for his eye-catching designs. There's only one fight sequence in the film, and it was choreographed in a realistic manner by Rod Wan Ruff. Costume designing is an important part for such musicals and youth-oriented films and in this case, Vineesha Arora Sarin has done a good job with vibrant colors which suits the characters played by Silambarasan and Varalaxmi. Art direction was not bad from Ute Bergk and Kiran. The sets plays a big role in establishing the mood of the scenes, especially during the dance sequences. The interiors of the house of the lead artist as well as 'VTV' Ganesh was simple, yet urban and chic. Anthony's editing was a big help for the film, with his seamless cuts, especially for the opening song, "Love Panlaama Venamaa". Cinematographer Duncan Telford has captured the vibrant and hippie culture of the London quite well and the dance sequences, especially which are the highlights of the film.

Music director Dharan Kumar makes a comeback after two-years of absence after his last on-screen release, 'Thambikku Indha Ooru'. His contribution is the biggest plus for the film. His songs are vibrant and groovy, which gives you the dance-and-musical feel to the film. The film is littered with songs and it starts off with, "Love Panlaama, Venamaa". This song has fantastic choreography by Robert, who makes a cameo appearance alongside 'VTV' Ganesh, Premji and Santhanam. Duncan Telford handled the camera very well for this song, with colorful sets by Kiran. Added to that, you can see "tidbits" from Silambarasan who appears in get-ups of his previous films. "Un Paarvaile" is a situational song, shot in a dance studio and comes to during a crucial part of the script, where the hero learns of the heroine's involvement in dance classes, with some funny acts, here and there. "Podaa Podi", the title track has montage sequences along with the dance sequences with unique camera movements and colorization from Duncan. "Hare Rama" is another montage-sequences filled situational song showing the break-up period of the lead pair. "Mattikitten" has some elaborate dance sequences, which reminds us of Western musical-and-dance stage shows. The song features unique lighting during the dance portions, added with some montage sequences. "Appan Mavane" was shot extensively in Disneyland Hong Kong, backed by group dances and fireworks. The "Theme Music" piece was portrayed in a dramatic manner, which comes during a crucial dance competition sequence. The climax song, "I Am A Kuthu Dancer" was well shot with good lighting, and it highlights most of Silambarasan's iconic 'kuthu' songs, with energetic dancing from the lead pair. Dharan Kumar also scores in the background score department as well. Looking forward to better works from him !

Vignesh Shivan, a very young and debuting director, makes up for his wafer-thin story, with interesting dialogues and breezy screenplay. What's commendable is that, he made it a point to clearly sketch his lead characters with good characterization. Their fashion sense, point of views, likes and dislikes, everything looked believable and relatable for the youth audience. Also, its always interesting to see two polarly-different characters liking and falling for each other and in this case. Dialogues are a highlight of this film, because they were very casual and tongue-in-cheek, which leads to simple yet humorous scenes. Vignesh Shivan has articulated very well about the current, modern-day youths, who are impulsive, stubborn and idealistic, which relates very well with the youth audiences. The screenplay was not bad, which has couple of good scenes thrown in here and there, especially in the second half, which consists most of the serious portions of the film. Vignesh Shivan did prove in making a youth-oriented film, but his scripting is still very much teenage-oriented. Only his next films can determine the actual talent of Vignesh Shivan.

'Podaa Podi', a neat entertaining film which is strictly for teenagers and youths ! 


Ratings: 3/5 STARS

BY:TAMIL

SAGUNI MOVIE REVIEW

Karthi, the actor with an impressive box-office performance record is back to the silver screen after more than year of his last super-hit release, 'Siruthai'. This movie created good expectations, thanks to the return of his combination with Santhanam, the current "King of Comedy". Also, the coming together of few veteran actors and a political-satire template, generated good amount of  curiosity among the mass 'masala'/commercial cinema lovers. 'Saguni' is a character from Mahabharata. He is a schemer and comes up with interesting knots and twists in the epic mythology story. Judging by the trailer, Karthi's "Kamal" character too appears to be someone who is similar in nature to 'Saguni'. Will this new-age 'Saguni' enthrall the audience?

Karthi has turned in a natural performance. Nothing great to do in front of the camera, as his character nor the script did not demand intense scenes which evokes serious emotions. His warm yet naughty demeanor, catches the attention of the audience. He runs the show throughout the film and he appears in nearly most of the sequences. His dancing skills has improved quite a lot but he has to keep in check of his weight, because inconsistency in body shape is a terrible thing to watch in a movie. Santhanam rocks in his role as "Rajini" Appadurai and his camaraderie with Karthi was good. His one-liners were brilliant as usual and what made it more amusing was the banter between him and Karthi as "Rajini-Kamal". Though the film was marketed, with this combination as its main USP, it did not really meet the expectations it created and failed to beat their previous performance in 'Siruthai'. Heroine Pranitha (dubbing by Savitha), has nothing much to do/offer apart from appearing in a couple of scenes with the sad looks and looking pretty in songs. The big cast of veterans did what was expected out of them. Each and everyone delivered the right amount of expressions and body language needed for their roles. Prakash Raj (replacing Salim Ghouse), Kota Srinivasa Rao (dubbing by Rajender), Nassar, Raadhika takes the bulk of scenes among the lot. Prakash Raj was as efficient as the antagonist, Kota Srinivasa Rao was less serious and had more funny expressions which is a welcome relief. Nassar was fantastic with his comedy timing and dialogue delivery as the God-man and Raadhika had different shades to her character, from the Idly-seller to the Mayor. The rest of artistes like Roja (dubbing by Jayageetha), Kiran (replacing Mumtaz and dubbing by Priya Anand), V.S Raghavan, Manobala, Devadarshini, Delhi Ganesh, Naren, Chitra Letchumanan and etc fill up the screens with their timely presence. Anushka makes a cameo as a cute police officer and Andrea Jeremiah appeared in a small scene in a blink-and-you-will-miss role.

'Saguni' has a good team of technicians involved. Costumes by Neha was good especially for the lead pair in songs and also for the styling of Karthi in the second half which gave him a smart-look. 'Anal' Arasu's stunts was not bad with only two sequences and the better one was the short scene shot in the bar. Rajeevan once again does a neat job. The film involved lots of real-life locations, so its more of tweaking job for him to make the scene look believable, especially with the multitude of props. The election scenes and his set for the "Manasellam" song are noticeable. Veteran editor Sreekar Prasad seems to have struggled a lot in the editing department. The movie was unnecessary long but judging from the teasers and trailers released, he must have done lots of chopping as many scenes were already missing! P.G Muthiah did what was needed for the film in the cinematography department. His lighting and top angles shots were good. G.V Prakash, flexes his skill this time in a out-and-out commercial script. "Kandha Karavadai" was a simple and chill song with the energetic Shankar Mahadevan behind the mic. It was shot in plenty of locations like harbor, streets, flyover, buildings and etc. Sreekar did well in making the song look smooth with his editing. "Manasellam" had beautiful sceneries  from the Eastern European countries with soft lighting and the set work too was not bad with good lighting and color tones. "Vella Bambaram" was shot in the city centers of Poland and also had a soft and cute color tone throughout the film with chirpy dance movements from the lead pair. "Pottadhu Patthale" had a good bar set but could have made it look even more realistic. This song had good and unique dance movements with Santhanam too making his efforts. "Annachi" song was a rather situational one with extensive props from Rajeevan. G.V should have done better in his background score. He repeats the same track he used for his 'Veyil' theme-music in one of the scenes and apart from Anushka's sequence, the film had pretty average score from him.

Shankar Dayal made the script in such a way where, the first half had all the comedy portions and romances and the second half with all the twists and turns of the 'Saguni'. The intention of making and out-and-out commercial movie was very much evident and keeping that in mind, he has taken the liberty of over-looking logic and coherence in the story. The characters are all cinematic and just black-and-white, either they are good/innocent or dirty/villainous. The film does have one or two witty one-liners here and here, but its far apart from each other. Songs were unnecessary speed-breakers, especially in the first half. The director promised again and again through interviews that each character has its beginning, transition and end phase to them but sadly he did not live up to his words as many characters have no proper depth to them and some of them just disappear from the screenplay without any explanation.

'Saguni' is a pretty average product and though the intentions of doing a commercial 'masala' cinema was made out clearly, the film did not live up to the expectations and promises it made. An average time-pass 'masala' flick.


Ratings: 2.5/5 STARS

BY:TAMIL

KO MOVIE REVIEW

KV Anand's ambitious film Ko was raising eyebrows from the initial days of announcement, thanks to the peculiar title (still in doubt why the film is named as such) and for the casting of Simbhu for the protagonists role who was fresh from the success of Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa. Things took a change and Jiiva was roped in to the film. Anand's last, Ayan was a blockbuster and automatically the expectations were sky high and that too with a young and chic cast. Jiiva was in need of a hit to establish his name as one of the top performers in Tamizh cinema and it is a delight to say that he made the absolutely right choice.

Jiiva was at his best in portraying the role of a photo-journalist and also in his looks. His body language and his passion to cover the hot news with stunning pictures was very well brought out by him and no one else could have done justice to his role. His dialogue delivery is impressive and his emotional expressions were in place. Kudos to KV Anand for projecting his hero in such a way and for also utilizing the camera as his 'weapon'. Ajmal was another apt choice for the role of a young aspiring politician and his looks and and dialogue delivery too was very much perfect. Debutant Karthika Nair make a decent entry to Tamizh cinema. She has the looks (beautiful eyes), physique and talents as well . It will be better if she can dub for herself after improving her Tamizh though Chinmayee has once again done a brilliant job for the dubbing. Piaa Bajpai takes the cake for the best performance among the female artists as she was the live-wire in the film. As a bubbly and enthusiastic reporter, she has delivered a natural, spontaneous and chirpy performance and also provided the comic relief for the audience. Veterans Prakash Raj and Kota Srinivasa Rao and Bose Venkat as well had very limited screen presence although both of them did their roles to perfection. All the supporting cast in the film has done justice to their role and helped the film to move forward. It was also good to see people behind the camera to make an appearance in the film such as art director Kiran, writers Suresh-Bala and editor Anthony too.

On technical aspects, Ko boasts some of the best in the industry and all of them delivered their best. Starting off, cinematographer Richard M. Nathan did a wonderful job in capturing intense moments of the film very aptly with the climax fight sequence (close-ups') and the bomb blast scene. His camera movement in the bank robbery scene was first class and the use of Phantom Flex camera for the high resolution capture of action scenes in the climax was a splendid job. Besides that, he has captured the beauty of Norway and Harbin in the song sequences very well and it was an absolute treat to the audience. Art director Kiran's sets especially the bank and the press office was near perfect and looked very authentic. Costumes by Swetha Srinivasan was cool and chic which really gave the lead casts the classy and stylish looks especially Jiiva's apparels and Karthika's saris. Anthony could have trimmed some scenes, although the cuts in the climax was class and the arrangements of photos in the title credits was very creative. Lakshmi Narayanan's sound designing was realistic especially in the climax and bank robbery scenes. Choreography should have been much better by Dinesh, Brindha and Gayathi Raguram. Not to forget, Peter Hein's stunts was no-nonsense especially the climax fight sequences which was pulsating but he could have avoided some cinematic liberties in the initial bike chase scenes.

Coming to the music, Harris Jeyaraj has delivered what KV Anand wanted needless to say most of the songs has been chart-busters especially the 'Ennamo Edho' and 'Venpaniye' being the pick of the lot. His background music was very much in tune with the film and thankfully it was not loud. Lyrics especially by Madharn Karky for 'Ennado Edho' was beautiful with the inclusion of unheard chaste Tamizh words. Although songs were good, the concept behind the picturizations behind few songs didn't really match the mood the songs create. For example, 'Ennamod Edho' was picturized exactly like 'Vizhi Moodi' though this is a even more melodious and haunting number where group dancing and interspersing of normal scenes would not really bring out the feel of the song, though Anthony's editing was good. For 'Amali Thumali' picturizing on exotic locations was not a matching option as it is a peppy song where group dancing would have done added more zing to it but nevertheless, locations were simply breathtaking. 'Venpaniye' and 'Gala Gala' was done aptly but 'Aga Naga' was a total disappointment. When a big celebrities list (Abbas, Adharva, Bharath, Ganesh Venkatraman, Harris Jeyaraj, Jai, Jeyam Ravi, John Vijay, Kannan [director], Karthi, Krish [singer], Madhan Karky [lyricist], Narain, Peter Hein, Sasikumar, Shakthi, Siva, Suriya, Anjali, Anuja Iyer, Reema Kalingal, Sanjana Singh, Sona Heiden & Tamannah) was present, the director blew off the chance of making an awesome video music. Besides that, what was it with the graphic censoring by the Censors'? That was totally unnecessary and was a hindrance in the video. Come on Censor Board members, that was ridiculous. Overall, songs were good to listen but sadly they were the actual speed breakers of the screenplay.

KV Anand must be commended for coming up with a realistic film within the commercial formats. He gives respect to the intelligence of the audiences and came up with a interesting and smart script. Being a photo-journalist himself, his experiences has come in handy. He has portrayed the moments behind the publication of each breaking news in newspapers and how the scenario of a press office will look like especially the portrayals of other characters in such offices. Besides that, KV Anands has strongly portrayed how journalism and politics go hand in hand in Tamil Nadu and how intense situations can change of a single news publication. Writers Suresh-Bala should be applauded for coming up with very contemporary and simple dialogues which are not cinematic but at the same time catchy and quirky.

Overall, Ko delivered the promises it made and engages us throughout the film especially with the unpredictably stunning climax which catches the audiences with surprise. Kudos to the whole team for coming up with an entertaining film and Simbhu blew off a big chance to do a good film. Make wise decisions next time, buddy.

Ratings: 3.5/5 STARS

BY:TAMIL