JANNAL ORAM MOVIE REVIEW

'Jannal Oram' marks the comeback of Karu Palaniappan after his below average performance in 'Mandhira Punnagai'. Karu is known for his sensitive portrayal and family friendly milieu, apart from his last project. Backed by some of his favorite artistes, can 'Jannal Oram' bring back the success to Karu Palaniappan, a once-promising script and dialogue writer in Tamizh cinema ?

The film has a big cast of artistes, and everyone has some screen timing to stamp their marks. But unfortunately, the high number of artistes does not add value to the script. That's due to the average performances and lack of emotional content for each artistes to register their capabilities in the minds and hearts of viewers. R.Parthiban, as the rural, middle-aged Casanova, mouths his dialogues fluently in a different accent. Vemal, is pretty much in his comfort zone and gets to romance the heroine in songs and pull off some action sequences. Vidharth leaves a better impression on us, although his characterization was just a mere extension from the protagonist role he did in 'Mynaa', albeit with a twist. Among the ladies, both Poorna and Manisha Yadav have limited acting scope, though the latter had more screen timing. A gang of character artistes such as Ramana, Rajesh, Yuvarani, Ilavarasu, Santhana Bharathi, Sanjay Bharathi, Bala Singh, Sri Ranjani, Singampuli, Krishnamurthy and etc get to do their usual stuffs.

Dhilip Subbarayan's action choreography was apt for Vemal, Vidharth and Parthiban. It was not over the top, but not fiery, as well. Rajeevan's production design complemented the script very much. The rural house setup was apt for the milieu of the script, with relevant props. The village setup too looks very much believable. Simple, but neat work from one of the best ! Saravanaa, could have done better with the editing department. The proceedings in the second half moves at a snail's pace, and some trimming could have increased the tempo of the script. Arbhindu Saaraa, definitely owns the film, through his good cinematography works. The hill stations have been very aptly captured from his lenses and at the same time, Arbhindu maintained a natural look for the whole film, which is very much the style template of Karu Palaniappan's films. His experimentation with different angles or view-points of the bus, is commendable.

Vidyasagar, the trusted aide of Karu Palaniappan, disappoints us with below average song compositions. Though melodious, they don't capture your attention nor the interest, pretty much. "Athili Pathili" is the opening credits song, shot on the lead characters' bus' journey it makes in a day. The hilly terrains and lush greenery is a cool sight for the eyes. "Ennadi Ennadi" also has the bus as the backdrop, but the focus is on the characters this time and Vemal gets to woo Manisha in this song, shot with montages. "Unnai Paarkkama" was shot on Vemal and Manisha Yadav, against the backdrop of Athirappilly waterfalls and its surrounding lush and green forests. "Aasa Vacha" had a village festival backdrop, with apt props by Rajeevan for the production design side. The song also had separate shots of Vemal-Manisha and Sanjay-Poorna, interspersed into it. "Ela Malathoppu" is a situational song, and covered most of the lead characters' dark moments they were facing through. "Aatho Appatho" is a promotional song which was not used in the film. The song had the puppet play shot, as its backdrop. The background score was quite ordinary, for Vidyasagar's standards.

Though Karu Palaniappan has made this film, the script and screenplay does not belong to him, and its the first time Karu has attempted a remake film. 'Jannal Oram' is the official remake of the 2012 Malayalam film, 'Ordinary' which turned out to be a super-hit. The story was written by Sugeeth and screenplay by Nishad K.Koya and Manu Prasad, the makers of the original film. The problem with the film, is that it moves at a leisurely pace and the viewers could not muster what to expect from this film, even from half-way into it ! Karu, slowly introduces us to each characters one by one, and that proceeding had nothing novel in the methodology perspective. The first half was insipid, and the only thing which kept us watching were the dialogues, written by Sugunakumar K.E. There are a few sharp dialogues, atypical of Karu's film dialogues, but they are few and far between. There is an unexpected twist just before the climax, but it was far too late to save the film and was overtly stretched, as well. Karu Palaniappan, should have done more homework in fine tuning the original script, to suit the tastes and pace of a typical, 'good' Tamizh-film. Nevertheless, kudos to Karu for delivering a very clean film, which can be watched by anyone.

'Jannal Oram' - Below average showing from Karu Palaniappan. Where's the guy who made 'Parthiban Kanavu' ?!


Ratings: 2.25/5 STARS

BY:TAMIL

NAAN MOVIE REVIEW

Vijay Antony made everyone sit up and notice, literally, when the announcement came that he is going to produce a film. But it was a bigger surprise, when he decided to cast himself as the protagonist. Many asked and wondered, why the necessity for him to plunge into production and acting when he is doing successful as a music director. Well, Vijay Antony is a brave man and a little sensible one, when he decided to collaborate with his ex-college mate Sankar, now known as Jeeva Sankar, a former associate of late cinematographer Jeeva. When friends come together, a good outcome is expected, especially when the friends are talented. So, does 'Naan' delivered the promises it made, of being a good film with interesting twists, during the promotions?

The cast is relatively small and simple. Vijay Antony takes the protagonist role, which suits him to T. But the problem is, he needs to improve drastically if he wants to continue acting. He has done an average job, but there was not much variations in expressions and dialogue delivery and most of the time, his performance was very monotonous. There are scenes which gives him good scope to perform, which Vijay Antony fails to capitalize. His look and physique, do match the character etched out, by the director, but you need solid performance, if you want to make a good film and that too, a thriller. Sidharth Venugopal, makes a comeback in this film, after his outing in 'Aanandha Thaandavam'. He is uber cool and composed with his performance. He too, suits the character very well and his presence makes the film to take a little colorful and cheery look. Rupa Manjari takes the best role among the girls in the film. She looks good, fresh and performs smoothly, especially with her dialogue delivery. Anuya Bhagvath and Vibha Natarajan, has nothing much to do, rather than appear in questionable roles. Vijay Victor, Krishnamurthy and others fills up the other characters in the film.

The film carries simple and neat technical work. Editing by Suriya was very neat, especially with the montage sequences in the songs. Vithiesh, the art director has minimal work, but excels in it. The interiors of the house setting is an example, be it the posh bungalow house or even a small cramped, middle-class house. Rajasekar's stunts were very natural, which involves struggles and pushing/shoving. Kudos to him ! Sound designing by R.Janarthanan and Sakthivel should be appreciated as well, especially for the climax scene. Jeeva Sankar takes care of the cinematography, and one look at some scenes, and you are instantly reminded of Jeeva. With bluish color palette and soft-lighting, the film carries a dark and subtle look throughout and nothing was too colorful or blaring, in nature. His well composed camera movements, needs to be appreciated too. Vijay Antony takes care of the music, and as usual, he has delivered some peppy numbers. The pick of the lot will definitely be "Makayala". The club number was well shot and edited with good dance movements by Shobi. The lighting and color tone, created the perfect ambiance for the song. The other three songs, "Ulaginil Miga", "Thappellam", "Dhinam Dhinam" are all montage sequences. The first being shot in juvenile home, showcasing the upbringing of the protagonist. The second song involves about the impersonation moves made by the protagonist and the final song involves about the predicaments of a few characters. His background score too, is pretty good, and follows the mood and flow of the script.

Jeeva Sankar has come up with an interesting and a good idea of an intelligent thriller script, which has some shades of popular Hollywood films such as, 'The Talented Mr.Ripley' and 'Taking Lives'. The story is interesting and suspense factor was really taken care of. Some intelligence is evident in the screenplay by Jeeva Sankar but the biggest drawback, is the loopholes left out unplugged and few questions which goes unanswered, leaving the audience with the question of, "Is there a sequel to this ?", hanging in the balance. As some intelligence is seen in the screenplay, so does some flaws and glitches in the narration. Also, the director has taken the liberty of finishing of few questions, abruptly without letting the script to end organically. A sequel is possible and within the same setting, but it is upon the directors' discretion to come up with one. Along with Neelan K. Sekar, Jeeva Sankar has come up with simple and crisp dialogues, which suits such thriller films.

'Naan' is a bold attempt by Vijay Antony and deserves a pat for backing a good project. But this could have been a much better affair if Vijay Antony had gone for some acting classes before and if Jeeva Sankar has had polished the script, by closing all the holes in it. 'Naan' - not so great, but not so bad, either.


Ratings: 2.5/5 STARS

BY:TAMIL