Remaking a successful film is a very tricky and arduous task and the difficulty increases many folds, if the original is a critically-acclaimed film. Vidya Balan's 2012 starrer, 'Kahaani' is considered as a contemporary classic in the thriller genre and is acclaimed for its pulsating twists & turns filled screenplay. Sekhar Kammula has been roped in for this bilingual, which has Nayanthara, enacting the role made memorable by Vidya Balan. Can this adaptation retain the same tenacity and fervor of the original ?
If you have watched the original, you must be aware that the whole film is a one-woman show, and Nayanthara has done some sort of justice to the lead role of 'Anaamika'. She understands the nuances of her character well and has delivered a rather decent performance. She does have the commanding screen presence and ability to carry the whole film on her shoulders. And as always it is, she looks fabulous in her sarees ! It would have been better if she could have dubbed for herself, though Deepa Venkat's dubbing was apt. Vaibhav Reddy, who plays a rookie cop, delivers a measured performance, with a serious demeanor throughout the film. Pasupathy, is finally back to the silver screens after some time. As the Special Agent, he fits the character quite well, though the characterization was a tad too loud and lacks depth. A better handling of his character by the director, would have yielded better results. Naresh, Sri Ranjini, Harshvardhan Rane, Thagubothu Ramesh, Vinay Varma and etc were befitting of their roles.
Technically, 'Nee Enge En Anbe' does have some good and decent efforts from the technical crew. Nishka Lulla, had designed the costumes for Nayanthara and our lady was simply gorgeous in her attire. But still the necessity for such good-looks for a grim subject is a different perspective, which needs to be questioned. 'Dragon' Prakash handles the action choreography and his work sufficed the needs of the script. Chinna handles the art direction, and he has done a really good work with the props. The hotel room setting and the area around the hotel, ie the road-side stalls, the Durga Dewi shrine and the busy market, were realistically drawn and has splendor in the detailing, especially for the festival like celebration sequence, in the climax. Editing is taken care by Marthand K.Venkatesh, and he keeps the film tight and concise with the duration, although the climax could have been laid out better, which would have added more intensity to the proceedings. Vijay C.Kumar's cinematography stands out, for the raw and gritty look he gave for the film. The color tone and the camera movements, complement the script's mood and feel, pretty well. The charm of the old Hyderabad and the Charminar, as well as that part of Hyderabad's lifestyle was well captured, with plenty of outdoor shots. Music is by veteran M.M Keeravani or credited as Maragathamani in Tamizh. The film would have lost its lustre, if it wasn't for this man's background score. The score was thumping and plays like another character in the film. Only two songs are there in the film in which, "Evvidam Naan" is a montage track, whereas "Aval Appadi" appears during the end credits. Kudos to the M.M Keeravani once again, for the splendid background score, especially with a Qawwali-piece !
The original 'Kahaani' was conceived by Sujay Ghosh and co-written with novelist Advaita Kala. The killer screenplay was developed by a team of writers, consisting of Sujay Ghosh, Suresh Nair and Nikhil Vyas. For the remake, director Sekhar Kammula has joined hands with veteran renowned Telugu novelist Yandamuri Veerendranath. The screenplay adaptation, disappointingly is not as good as the Hindi original. The first half does not set the needed pace and most of the important sequences, fall flat. There is not gist and vigour in the screenplay, nor any attention-grabbing scenes. The characters were not well-etched out and makes a glaring statement of the director's substandard handling of characterizations. Also, a number of loopholes and mistakes are evident in the film, which the writing and direction team failed to take notice of. But what irks most is the half-baked attempt in presenting a proper bilingual. Some Telugu dialogues were just directly dubbed into Tamizh, which gives the film, a dubbing-film like look, in spite of Brinda Sarathy and Mahesh Sai's Tamizh dialogues. Some dialogues do stand out, such as the ones written for the interrogation scenes. There are plenty of Telugu dialogues in the film, which the script demands, but better subtitling could have helped the audience in comprehending, what's being said and argued. Apart from all these, one should take note that the writing duo has significantly changed the original 'Kahaani's plot and screenplay, and has altered the important twists & turns apparent in the original. To put it bluntly, 'Nee Enge En Anbe' looks like a simplified version of 'Kahaani'.
'Nee Enge En Anbe' - No where near 'Kahaani', yet its a decent watch. Wonder, why the producers insisted for such a low-appealing title. Hmmm.
Ratings: 2.75/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
'Ithu Kathirvelan Kadhal' made the right noises for the production value, thanks to the producer and protagonist of the script, Udhayanidhi Stalin. After the super-hit 'Oru Kal Oru Kannadi', he is back on the silver-screen with his "other-half" Santhanam, but this time under the baton of S.R Prabhakaran, who delivered the sleeper-hit 'Sundarapandian'. How does this equation fare, especially when you have good artistes and technicians as support ?
Udhayanidhi Stalin shows lots of progress in his acting repertoire. His dancing, emoting, dialogue delivery and the timing, as well confidence is way better than his debut. But, he has plenty of space for more improvements. Especially, when it comes to romance sequences, which brings us to Nayanthara. Being an experienced and able performer, she easily overshadows Udhayanidhi with her acting skills, is more convincing and has better screen presence than the Udhayanidhi. Nonetheless, they look like a good match, but Udhayanidhi has to buck up, if he's to attain more acting credentials ! Santhanam does his regular routine of being the hero's sidekick cum love-guru and as expected, delivers what he can. Not rip-roaring but still amusing enough, especially with his popular one-liners. Sunder Ramu has the only negative role of the film, and has not much of scope to score with his performances. Not to blame him, but his shallow characterization, that is. Chaya Singh makes a very pleasant comeback as a character artiste and the rest of the cast such as Naren, Murugadass, Saranya Ponvannan, Jayaprakash, Vanitha Krishnachandran, Dr. Bharath Reddy, Mayilsamy, Swaminathan, Kala Kalyani and etc, though underused, were befitting of their respective characters.
Rajini Vishal's costumes were chic and elegant, especially for Nayanthara, who looks gorgeous, especially in the chudithars and suits ! Dhilip Subbarayan has been credited for action choreography, but there's nothing substantial nor apparent, except for any functional purposes. Don Bosco's editing is crisp and neat, but he could have definitely handled the first half better, which drags unnecessarily with unimportant scenes. V.Selvakumar's production design was spotless, especially with the props used in the farm house and also of the other real locations. Balasubramaniem does not need foreign locations to showcase his expertise in cinematography, yet he does make use of his opportunities well. His lighting and angles for the indoor locations, especially of the rural farm house, looks pleasant for the eyes. He has tried to project a colorful tone overall for the movie, keeping in mind of 'Oru Kal Oru Kannadi's template.
Udhayanidhi's favorite, Harris Jeyaraj scores the music for this film. Though the songs have the stamp of his, its a below-par album actually, and the songs are not really exciting nor fun. "Pallakku Devathai" looks like another rehash of "Venam Machan", but a lesser sprightly version. It serves as Santhanam's introductory song and has a college backdrop with back-up dancers and minimal artwork by V.Selvakumar. "Vizhiyae Vizhiyae" is a soft-number picturized on the lead pair, against the picturesque Swiss mountains. The lush-green landscape looks very cool and pleasant with colorful costumes for the lead pair. Nothing extraordinary with the camerawork but good locations by the unit. "Melae Melae" is a peppy number shot on the lead pair, this time in urbane Spain. Modern architectures acts as the background and Udhayanidhi proves his dancing improvements in this song. The best song of the album, "Anbe Anbe" has plenty of montages shot on the lead pair. Though the picturization was functional, it fails to do justice to the sweet composition of Harris Jeyaraj. The final song, "Sara Sara" is the typical rural-based dance number, shot in green villages and barren fields, with village-based set properties and appropriately dressed back-up dancers. The background score is a letdown, though Harris impresses in one or two occasions.
The makers have insisted during the promotions that they have tried to strike a balance between 'Oru Kal Oru Kannadi' and 'Sundarapandian', and precisely that's what the film looks like. Unfortunately, this concoction does not mix up well, thanks to the disconcerting screenplay. The film does not fall properly into neither the rom-com nor the family drama genre, though the latter based sequences, has better writing. There is no cohesion nor a smooth flowing continuity in the screenplay, which creates space for unnecessary gaps. The emotional sequences portrayed has no organic element in it, and looks staged. The screenplay has a very orthodox arrangements, pertaining to the regular Tamizh cinema format of fun-and-frolic in the first half, and seriousness and crisis in the second half. Some sequences are archaic in the handling and some sentimental scenes are as good as the sensibility-degrading mega-serials shown in Tamizh satellite channels. Heck, even the conceptualization bears the same manner ! The characterizations is equally weak as well, with no depth in purpose for changeover of behaviors, which leaves us having no empathy for any characters. S.R Prabhakaran had a good material for a neat commercial entertainer, but his execution fell flat !
'Ithu Kathirvelan Kadhal' - An "Inbetweener" attempt of rom-com and family-drama, ends up being insipid !
Ratings: 2.5/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
After the colossal flop of 'Billa 2', Ajith Kumar aka "Thala" is back once again, and this time in a true multi-starrer, with Vishnuvardhan at the helm. The stylish 'Billa' remake still linger in the minds of movie buffs, and its a tricky tight-rope for this combo, as they have to ensure the hype is met and at the same time re-launch the career of hit-maker A.M Rathnam as a producer in Tamizh cinema once again. Backed by good technicians and a solid cast, what does 'Arrambam' has for us ?
For "Thala" Ajith Kumar, this is a piece-of-cake sort of role, and he waltzes through it with style and elan. His impeccable timing in dialogue delivery, broods excitement and adds more classy touches to his performance. His look is an added element, which further elevates his stylish avatar as AK. The man, pulled off all the stunt sequences by himself, in a very professional manner and deserves a big round of applause for taking the risk. There are plenty of shots, which highlights the stylish element of Ajith's and it is a treat for his die-hard fans. Though the grey-shaded role is repetitive, no one actually bothers about it, as Ajith is enjoyable in such roles. Arya is lively with his comic timing and his antics and a little surprise is there in store, in regards to his appearance. Though his role pales in terms of screen appearance, he still makes his mark. Nayanthara is the stylish diva here and she pulls of some action sequences effervescently, and also manages to oomph the glamour quotient, nonchalantly. Taapsee Pannu was cute as the naive amateur journalist, though her character has not much relevance to the script. Kishore rocks as the tough cop, while Mahesh Manjrekar is a good addition to Tamizh cinema. Atul Kulkarni, Suman Ranganathan, Akshara Gowda, Naren, Murali Sharma, Krishna and etc had stylish rendering in their characterizations. Not to forget, Rana Daggubati made his official entry to Tamizh cinema with a solid cameo appearances.
Action choreography is a real highlight of the film, and there were plenty of them, induced into the screenplay. 'Billa' Jagan, Lee Whittaker and Kecha Khampakdee of the 'Jaika Stunt' team, rocked in the action choreography. The bomb-threat encounter scenes were very professionally choreographed and executed by the team. And the shoot-out sequence shot in a warehouse, was very well planned as well. Anu Vardhan and Pinida P.Shamdasani's costume designing was fantastic and all characters looked brilliant in the stylish costumes, especially Ajith Kumar, Nayanthara and Taapsee. Production design by Lalgudi N.Ilayaraja blends well with the script's needs and was very realistic. The interiors of apartments and buildings were very well detailed and each props complements the mood and plot setting of the script. Multiple National Award-winning editor, the veteran Sreekar Prasad's editing is taut and he manages to tighten the grip on the screenplay, by ensuring there's no over-stretched sequences. The story moves fast and kudos to the veteran for a neat work. Cinematography is big highlight of the film, done by Om Prakash with some few sequences canned by P.S Vinod. The camerawork is stylish and the aqua-green color tone, complements the mood of the script. There were plenty of hand-held shots and appropriate usages of steady-cams. The Dubai sequences were very stylishly done, but the real highlight is the bomb-threat action sequence, which was brilliantly shot and edited.
Yuvan Shankar Raja always had a great combination with Vishnuvardhan and they have churned out chart-busters But 'Arrambam' is a disappointment, because the tunes were repetitive and not enthusiastic enough, to further spur the energy of the script and cast. The opening song "Adada Aarambame" was shot on Ajith, accompanied by dancers, and the heavy Maharashtrian percussion instruments. The fort in Maheshwar was the backdrop, and the bright daylight adds more gloss to the song. "En Fuse Poche" was shot on Arya and Taapsee and had some cute montages, with colorful ambiance The simple special effects complemented the mood of the song. "Melaala Vedikkuthu" was shot on Ajith, Nayanthara and Rana with splashes and splashes of Rangoli Colors, which was a visual treat in terms of color palette. "Stylish Tamizhachi" was Akshara's introduction song and featured her in a glam-doll role and was shot in a clubbing arena. Yuvan's background score is a letdown and it does not capture our attention. Not the best of works from Yuvan and Vishnu combo.
Vishnuvardhan, known for his stylish, visualistic story-telling, engrosses us most of the time in the screenplay, which was co-written by the 'Subha' duo, D.Suresh and A.N Balakrishnan. The sequences were well etched and executed and some of them very well exploited the stylish mannerisms of Ajith Kumar. Nonetheless, there were a few drag moments, especially in the second half, which could have been avoided. This is due to the very cliched flashback sequences and some sentimental and emotional ones, as well. The letdown in their script, is the predictable nature of the story-line, which kills of the excitement factor. And for ardent movie buffs, they would have spotted that the entire script is a clever adaptation of the 2001 Hollywood action-thriller 'Swordfish' starring John Travolta, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry and Don Cheadle. Vishnu and 'Subha' duo have taken the basic plot of 'Swordfish' and adapted it with some real-life Indian scandals. There are plenty of loopholes and logical gaps in the script and screenplay, which are to be ignored if one wants to enjoy this film thoroughly. The 'Subha' duo have written some killer, punch-dialogues in the film, which will definitely be well received by the fans. Vishnuvardhan has a neat directorial touch and has good grip of his script and end-product, but still 'Arrambam' is not as gripping as his 'Pattiyal'.
"Lets make it simple" - 'Arrambam' is a Vishnuvardhan, 'masala' entertainer. Enjoyable and neat. Nothing more, nothing less.
Ratings: 3/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
'Raja
Rani' has been making quite some buzz since its inception due to all
the big names associated with it. Produced by none other than A.R
Murugadoss, who collaborates with Fox Star Studios (the Indian
subsidiary of 20th Century Fox) for this rom-com. Directed by a newbie
Atlee, who has assisted Shankar in 'Endhiran' and 'Nanban' and also
known for his YouTube-hit short-film 'Mugaputhagam', it has the best of
casting with good-looking artistes and best of upcoming technicians,
behind-the-scenes. Hence, does 'Raja Rani' justify all the hype and buzz
it bombarded in the medias ?
First, things first. Let's start
off with the lead pair Arya and Nayanthara. Arya oozes charm and wits in
his role. He is at total ease with the character he plays, but the
actual plus point is his performance and matured handling of the
emotional scenes. And the ladies' guy, shares great rapport with both
heroines featured in the film. This film would have been a piece of cake
for Arya ! Nayanthara made a perfect comeback to Tamizh cinema, after a
three-year hiatus. A very composed and heartfelt performance from her.
She definitely has the advantage of enacting the best-written role in
the film, but still credits to her for pulling it off easily.
Definitely, one of her career-best performance, thus far. And its an
undeniable fact that she is the actual fulcrum of the movie.
Jai,
makes a splendid appearance as the naive, innocent, timid Surya. His
antics were good relief in the first-half, and his voice modulation as
well as dialogue delivery complements the nature of his character. The
latest sweetheart of Tamizh cinema, Nazriya Nazim has one of the
'cutest' heroine introductory scenes in Tamizh cinema ! The girl
personifies cuteness and proves her mettle in dishing out typical
bubbly-crazy Tamizh cinema heroines, perfectly. Sathyaraj plays the
uber-cool urban dad, many teenagers and youths would die to have one for
themselves. His stylish make-over looks very refreshing on-screen.
Santhanam, has his right balance of emotional scenes as well, and he
delivers it finely. But nonetheless, his comic is brilliant as usual,
especially in the flashback sequences, featuring him in an odd-wig, with
a Rajni-type mannerism. Sathyan was terrific with his comic timing and
complemented Jai, very well. Rajendran's suave avatar was a crackling
surprise and the other characters such as Manobala, Singamuthu, Dhanyaa
Balakrishnan, Wang, Arun Raja, Misha Ghoshal and etc did their parts
well.
Atlee
has appointed four various costume designers for the film and each of
them, Deepali Noor, Chaitanya Rao, Sathya N.J and Kavisa Rebello, should
be congratulated for their excellent work in the costume department.
All the artistes were looking at their best, be it in any scenes. The
heroines were stunningly pretty, especially ! Dhilip Subbarayan's action
choreography was simple and neatly executed. T.Muthuraj's production
design was of A-grade ! The setting, be it for ordinary or for the
songs, everything looked colorful, fresh and sparkling. The posh
apartment setting, or even the middle-class home setting was very
minutely done, in detailing. A swanky environment is what you get and
feel for most of the film's duration. Very good job, T.Muthuraj !
Ruben's editing could have been better, especially with the lengthy
climax portions, though his edits are fine for the songs. The real hero
of the film is definitely the cinematographer. A sure-hot, next
hot-property of Tamizh cinema, George C.Williams captures the sunlight
beautifully and his color-palette usage were just terrific ! Brilliant
visuals and deft camera-handling. The next big cinematographer has just
arrived !
G.V
Prakash Kumar's songs were complementary for the setting and mood of
the script. "A Love for Life" theme music plays in the opening
sequences, which had the church wedding scene. The framing and
photographic-shots were just too good ! "Hey Baby" has good montages
between Arya and Nayanthara and then transcends into a drunkard-song
type, with even Gaana Bala making a sneaking cameo appearance. The
second part of the song was shot in dark, dead-night streets of Chennai.
"Chillena" was shot on Jai and Nayanthara, and had plenty of sequences,
shown in montages. The usage of sun light and color by George
C.Williams, in the opening portion of this song was catchy. "Unnale" is a
bit-song, also shot on Nayanthara and Jai, with different backdrops of
each character, shown interspersing. "Oday Oday" was shot on a lavishly
decorated Binny Mills and was picturized on Arya and Nazriya. The
colorful sets and costumes, complemented the mood of the song well.
"Imaye Imaye" was shot on Arya and Nayanthara, and was used as a
situational song, with a couple of montages, edited well. G.V Prakash
Kumar handles the background score very well too and definitely 'Raja
Rani' would be one of his best works, collectively.
Now,
the theme of life after love is not something unique nor novel. This
same theme has been handled by greats such as Mahendran and Mani Ratnam
in their films, 'Nenjathai Killathey' and 'Mouna Ragam' respectively.
The only difference is that, such a themed film was missing all the
while for the current generation of social network-crazed youngsters.
Atlee shows maturity in the way he handles his artistes and getting the
best from them. But the hallmarks of a good director-in-making, does not
stop with that alone. The actual crux, which is the script, has plenty
of flaws and weaknesses, in terms of logic and organic, emotional
development. The foundations are there, but Atlee fails to establish a
strong reason for the lead pair to overcome their past relationships and
to accept their new life-partner. If you are to watch this film in
hindsight, you could actually realize the amateurish writing and the
kiddishness of the theme's presentation. The film has its own good
moments and sequences and a couple of well written dialogues, but it
just ends there. The flick fails to actually satisfy the rom-com genre
its supposed to be and its only a rom-com in partitions. The long-drawn
out climax is a turn-off as well, and there are some discrepancies in
the character development aspect. As for Arya and Nayanthara, though
this film did not do any sort of damage to their respective careers,
such films can be avoided, as they have progressed ahead with more
challenging and varied roles.
'Raja Rani' - A misguided,
supposedly rom-com, with fantastic production outputs. A fairly good
rating, only because of the technical outputs artistes' contribution.
Ratings: 3/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
