The creator of the now cult-classic, path-breaking, trend-setting 'Subramaniapuram' M.Sasikumar plays "the creator" in Bramman, in a metaphorical sense. M.Sasikumar, who is on a stroll of acting and producing, has done a film for an outside production, this time under the baton of debutante Socrates, a former associate of Kamal Haasan. The trailer and promotions very evidently showcased this film as on out-and-out commercial entertainer. How entertaining was this 'Bramman' ?
Sasikumar, who is synonymous with rural-based films, goes for a changeover here with a city-based lead character. He has tried to adapt himself into the quintessential Tamizh cinema male leads, by wearing designer clothes, executing over-the-top action sequences and of course romancing his heroine in beautiful foreign locations. Basically, there's nothing to talk about in regards to his performance. The same can be applied to Lavanya Tripathi, a former Miss Uttarakhand who has done two Telugu films and making her bow in Tamizh. She's comfortable in her role, but she's not convincing with her acting performance and basically appears for the sake of having a heroine for songs and romance portions. Santhanam provides the laughter in the first half, and though his one-liners are good, they do not invoke much laughter. Soori takes the helm in the second half, and as usual delivers what is expected. Naveen Chandra has an important role, but lacks the screen presence to solidify his position in the film. The rest of the cast such as Malavika Menon, Lateef Omar, Jayaprakash, Vanitha Krishnachandran, Chams, Prof.Gnanasambandhan, Surekha, Ajay Rathnam and etc sufficed the needs of the script, whereas there were cameo roles done by Jai, Vaibhav and Madhu Shalini.
Sathya N.J's costume work was spot on, especially for M.Sasikumar, who goes for a changeover here. The modern outfits looks apt for him and so does the Lavanya Tripathi, who looked chic. Silva's action choreography was average and a little over-the-top, though the intention of choreographing it in such a manner, can only be known to him and the director. R.K Umesh has handle the art direction and his works sufficed the needs of the script. The props used for the old, dilapidated theaters and the celebratory-like atmosphere all had believability factors. Nice work ! Raja Mohammed's editing was neat and crisp, though the first half could have been better-handled, especially when it is loaded with plenty of unwanted scenes. Cinematography has been handled by Jomon T.John and Faizal Ali, with additional photography by Satish Kurup. The framing, lighting and angles, all had an average-stamp throughout the film. A pedestrian outcome, in short.
Devi Sri Prasad's tunes has his mark all over, and its pretty average, this time too. "Voda Voda" is a situational song, used as a background score during the opening first few scenes. It had a small cycle chase and some light action choreography work done by Silva. "Vaanathil" has M.Sasikumar doing the dance number, aided by back-up dancers, after experiencing love for the very first time. The song had plenty of props, resembling a typical city street-setup, which had realistic work done by R.K Umesh. "Un Kannai Penne" is the first shot on the lead pair, in foreign locations. The Swiss Alps, becomes the backdrop yet again, with greeny pastures and snowy mountains as the main landscapes. The best tune from the lot is, "En Uyirin Uyiraaga" which was shot in Venice, Italy on the lead pair. The song mostly covered the city landscape, with the backing of a couple of dancers. "Vaada Vaada" had Padmapriya doing an item number, and though its a welcome to see her doing glamorous dance sequences, the song was poorly shot, with dull picturization. Background score by Devi Sri Prasad, is passable.
The most alarming aspect of Socrates' handling of the screenplay, is the non-present element of any serious issue or focal point, in bringing forward the story. Each issue which we encounter seems to peter out in the following scenes, and we had to wait till the entry of Naveen Chandra, to actually have any sort of attention on the story. The first half is just aimless and clueless, with comedy and romance sequences being belted out, alongside unnecessary speed-breakers, in the form of songs. The second half has a decent output, especially when Socrates highlights the lesser-talked about issues in Tamizh cinema and its film productions. The characterizations are weak, very weak in fact and no one has any sort of strong impact with their screen presence, except for Jayaprakash. What's very obvious with film is that, the commercial elements are simply thrust into the film, for the sake of having them, instead of incorporating them into the script, organically. End of the day, we can realize that Socrates had an interesting idea, which could have been developed into a nice commercial film, but the screenplay goes haywire and the direction is equally poor.
'Bramman' - What happened to the creator of 'Subramaniapuram' ?
Ratings: 2/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
M.Sasikumar, who had a decent score at the box-office with his last 'Sundarapandian', is back once again with the same pair in Lakshmi Menon, and more 'importantly' back in his home turf, Madurai. Directed by a former associate of Boopathy Pandian, Muthaiya has played it safe by scripting a story based on what he and the lead artistes are comfortable with. With Madurai as backdrop, its inevitable to expect plenty of bloodshed and violence. But were they all justified ?
Starting off with the M.Sasikumar. We have seen him before as a Madurai youth, so there's nothing refreshing here, in terms of performance and characteristics. He has been portrayed as the quintessential rough-and-tough, machoisme-filled Madurai rogue. His comedy timing is getting better and better and he has improved a lot in terms of being comfortable with dance and action sequences. Not bad, but there's nothing much better, either. Lakshmi Menon has an inconsequential role, who just comes in like a typical Madurai girl-next-door. It has been the umpteenth time Saranya Ponvannan played an emotional, rural mother and she just breezes through her role. There's nothing much for the character artistes such as Rama Prabha, Vaijayanthi, Lal, Rajasimman, Gnanasambandhan, Namo Narayanan, Murugadass, Saravana Sakthi, and etc to perform, but the particular guy among a group of friends, who dons the role of 'Pappu' evokes some laughter with his dialogue delivery.
The technical department's work just passes muster. Natraj's costume designing was apt, as each artistes looked the characters they played, very much, and evidently showed the various social strata displayed in the film. Dhilip Subbarayan must be commended for choreographing action sequences which suits M.Sasikumar's personality and style. The opening scenes, though very much morbid in nature, was somewhat, stylish. Suresh Kallery's art direction sufficed the need of the script. The props for each situations and locations looked perfect and any exacerbation was toned down. Gopi Krishna could have done a lot better, especially with the length of the film. His editing for song sequences were smooth, though nothing new in treatment. Mahesh Muthuswami's cinematography was sadly, only functional and the man's true potential has been not exploited. The opening night chase sequence was well shot, but apart from that, nothing else sticks to our mind.
M.Ghibran, has tried to be innovative again with his musical scores but pithily not a single number is hummable. "Thaattiyare" was used as a simple opening song sequence for the protagonist and only plays for a very short time. "Kaathu Kaathu" has dance choreographer Dinesh and his dance crew dancing for the opening song for the heroine, which has been shot in narrow streets and alleys of a smaller town in Madurai. "Aruvakaaran" is a montage song, picturized on the lead pair, showcasing the blossoming love of the heroine on the hero. "Aatha Un Selai" is a sentimental situational song, also shot with plenty of montages, shown as flashbacks, picturized on the hardships faced by the protagonist and his mother. Also, we do have an uncredited Malaysian song, "Akkamage" by Malaysian artiste Darkkey. The song was picturized on M.Sasikumar, dancing in modern outfits amidst dancers, in the narrow streets. The background score, was lacklustre and uninteresting in terms of quality and output. Do not bring down your quality, M.Ghibran !
Coming to the script and direction, debutante Muthaiya has penned plenty of scenes and sequences, but a good, major portion of them do not serve any purpose at all and is absolutely redundant ! The storyline is wafer-thin and the presentation is very much outdated. If one has to come up with negativeness of the film, the list will be endless, for sure ! Stories based in Madurai, always have had a litany of gory sequences, but what Muthaiya executed in the climax, was mind-numbing and shocking. Also, its pretty lame and archaic to watch the director make use of old Ilaiyaraja classics, excessively. The screenplay wanders without any aim the direction has been pretty poor. M.Sasikumar, should read more into scripts and choose to come out of this Madurai-circle and enhance his repertoire. And for Muthaiya, please do keep up to date with the tastes and mindset of present film watchers.
'Kutti Puli' - Doesn't even raise a 'meow' !
Ratings: 1.75/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
M.Sasikumar is back after the lacklustre performance of his previous film 'Porali' at the box-office. This time he is back into his own territory, that is the Madurai-based script with friendship at its base intertwined with a simple love story. He has given his assistant S.R Prabhakaran a chance to direct a film for his own, Company Productions. Also, Sasikumar dons the mantle of hero in this film as well but this time, with some little difference from his previous angry, sickle-carrying, violent roles. So will this 'Sundarapandian' seduce the audience, successfully ?
Sasikumar, with his usual thick beard, is a good performer here but what is different from his previous films is that, here he gets to romance a girl and also carry less emotional dialogues and expressions. He gets to perform more comedy portions and his adeptness in doing such sequences is a big plus for the film because it helps us to get off the image of his previous films, from our minds, while watching this film. He appears nearly throughout the film and his subtle dialogue delivery gives a touch of class for his acting chops. Debutante Lakshmi Menon, looks very cute and homely and with her big eyes, manages to show emotions appropriately and her subtle performances makes her to be the next good performing heroine in Tamizh cinema. Kudos to her ! Soori is a revelation in this film, with a more subtle and relaxed dialogue delivery and body language which works very well for the scenes and his character is a complement for Sasikumar's protagonist role. He underplays his comedy sequences and is impressive throughout the film. The core strength of the film is the good characterizations and each artistes performing their roles, had done justice to their work and nearly everyone comes out a big winner, performance-wise. National Award-winner Appukutty, Vijay Sethupathi, Inigo Prabakaran, Naren, Thennavan, Sujatha, Sounthara Raja, Thulasi and even minor artistes have the depth and screen presence to make their mark. The director has won half the battle with his excellent casting !
K.Natraj's costumes were very apt and befitting for the characters, especially for Sasikumar, in order to bring out the naughtier side of his and also for the rest of the cast, which gives them the authentic rural look. Dhilip Subbarayan's stunt choreography is good, with the orchard fight scene, being the highlight, where the artistes uses the starches and coconuts as weapons. The stunts looked realistic, which was fitting for the size and physique of Sasikumar. Debuting art director, A.K Muthu gets it right with appropriate props to fill the houses of the township homes, shown in the film. V.Donbosco has done a neat job in the editing department, especially in the climax fight sequence. C.Premkumar of 'Pasanga' fame dons the mantle of cinematographer and he has done a neat job as well. He has captured the rustic and rural look very well, especially in the barren, dry lands in the climax. The bus portions too were well shot, though it involves tight spaces and crowded areas. N.R Raghunanthan's music is hummable with only four songs in the film. "Kondaadum Manasu", the introductory song of the hero, was picturized with many dancers, with a good mix of old and young folks, with plenty of close-ups and wide shots against temple and paddy field backdrop. "Kadhal Vandhu", is a situational song, with many montages involved, mostly inside the bus and along the journey of the bus route, with funny scenes, overall. "Rekkai Mulaithen", was shot on the lead couple, also on a montage method, showing them happily being in love with each other in many locations such as bus, hills, roads and college areas. The final song, "Nenjukkule" is another situational song, this time involving more dramas between the lead pair and the other characters surrounding them. The background score too gels very well with the look and mood of the film, which complements very well for the sequences in the screenplay.
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S.R Prabhakaran, gets his inspiration from his mentor's films, because there is a heavy feel of 'Nadodigal', 'Porali' and 'Subramaniapuram' evident in the film (also thanks to Samuthirakani's voice-over for the introduction scenes) . But the strength of the film is the rather fair screenplay and good humor scenes infused throughout the script. The first half serves as good build-up for all the serious dramas in the second half, with light and funny comedy scenes. But the sucker punch is at the climax, where a couple of surprising twists and turns are revealed, though some cinematic liberties were taken. Also, the director should be lauded for sketching strong and colorful characters. His dialogues too are a big help for the script, as the right words brings out the emotion quotient of the scenes, appropriately and spontaneously. The screenplay is rather neat and direction looks promising. Overall, S.R Prabhakaran has done a decent job, indeed !
'Sundarapandian' is engaging and entertaining but Sasikumar should venture out from his comfort zone and do different themes besides, the usual love, revenge and friendship because, stereotyping will be a bane for his cinematic career, be it for any role (actor, director or producer).
Ratings: 3/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
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