'Thirumanam Enum Nikkah' has been lying in the cans for quite sometime and finally, Aascar V.Ravichandran's production has released. Directed by debutante Anis, this was suppose to be the debut venture of Nazriya Nazim, though her other ventures managed to release earlier. A film touted to be on the lines of 'Monsoon Wedding', did Anis come up with a decent product ?
Jai was in his usual elements and he fits such lightweight roles. If you are a Tamizh cinema film-buff, you would have by now guessed the level of performance from Jai. Meanwhile, Nazriya Nazim looks charming and has her moments, but the characterization was poor, hence the lesser scope for performance, for this lass. Heebah Patel looks good, but her role has no purpose and leaves no mark. The rest of the cast such as Jamal (voiced by Nassar), Dinesh, R.Pandiarajan, Mayilsamt, Deekshitha Manikkam, Badri Narayanan and etc were okay with their performances.
Vanitha Srinivasan's costume designing was good, especially for the lead pair, and her homework on two distinct cultures of Hindus and Muslims, was evident on screen. The costumes, especially for Heeba were gorgeous ! Action choreography was handled by Kanal Kannan and there was only one action block in the film. The initial chase and fight sequence was well executed and was not so over-the-top. Mu.Kasi Vishwanathan's editing was very functional and there were no gimmicks from the editor's table. Art direction is handled by Crawford and Dharmendra and both of them have done a good job with their respective tasks. The detailing for the Shia Muslim household, as well as Tamil Brahmin community's homes is notable, especially with the set properties. Loganathan Srinivasan's cinematography sufficed the needs of the script. His work in capturing the rich culture of Shia Muslim and Tamil Brahmin, is commendable.
The silver lining of the film is the brilliant musical score from M.Ghibran ! The songs are fantastic and it complements the mood and feel of the script. "Yaaro Ival" is a situational song, which was used initially as Nazriya's introductory song. The song appears sporadically throughout the film, in bits and pieces. "Rayile Raa" has Jai trying to impress the heroine and was shot on a railway platform and a medical camp-like set was put up for the song. Loganathan's rain shot, with the rays of sun, deserves mention. One of the pick of the lot, "Kannukkul Pothivaipen" is a cute and lovely song, shot on both Jai and Nazriya, in a Tamil Brahmin household environment, with the Golu Festival as the backdrop. The rooftop shots, with different rangolis looked lovely, especially with Loganathan's lighting for the particular portions. "Khwaja Ji" is picturized on Jai attending a Shia Muslim ritual, and is an eye-opener (literally !) for those who are unaware of the traditions of that particular Muslim denomination. "Chillendra" was shot on Jai and Heebah and is another celebration song, and this time it's the Ramzan festival. Jai's costume designing in this song, deserves mention. "Enthaara Enthaara" is the other chart-buster song and it was shot on Jai and Nazriya, developing their feelings for each other, which had plenty of montages. M.Ghibran's background score elevates the boring and half-baked sequences and its a pity that his brilliant scores are simply wasted !
Did Anis come up with a decent product, as asked earlier ? The answer is a resounding NO ! The script has a very wafer-thin plot and there's no connectivity at all between the sequences and the proceedings of the screenplay. There's no proper explanation of the dilemma faced by the lead pair and Anis did not convincingly portray the actual feelings of the lead pair. Were the pair in love with each other ? Or did they actually fall in love with the other's religion and not the individual ? Did they feel unconnected with their own community's trappings ? On an even serious note, was Anis trying to 'promote' Shia Muslim teachings and practices and not bother about story-telling and character development ?Only Anis has the answer ! To make it even worse, Anis falls for the commercial compromises, such as songs, an unwanted action sequence, half-baked romance portions and woefully portrayed serious/emotional scenes. There is no effort in detailing, in terms of writing & execution and Madhan Karky's dialogues too were abruptly cut short, which leaves the characters with unfinished dialogue portions !
'Thirumanam Enum Nikkah' - A blunder of an attempt in making a good film, which unfortunately had excellent musical score and interesting plot ideas !
Ratings: 2.25/5 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
'Naiyaandi' made its news due to the unwarranted "body-double" accusation pointed at the makers by the upcoming "next-big-heroine" of Tamizh cinema, Nazriya Nazim. In her first big-hero project, Nazriya's claim to fame suddenly became infamy. All's well that ends well and the movie got released smoothly. A.Sarkunam's first big hero project with Dhanush, promised a good family entertainer, on the lines of the director's 'Kalavaani'. Was all the hype and hoopla, justified in the end-product ?
For Dhanush, its back to the light-material scripts, and 'Naiyaandi' turns out to be too light for him. He simply waltzes through his role. The National Award-winning actor did not strain a bit, acting capability wise and shares good rapport with his supporting cast members. When expectations are sky-high when this man comes out with a film, and its tad disappointing that 'Naiyaandi' does not meet that expectations. After her claim to fame with 'Raja Rani', Nazriya gets a solo heroine role and she looks pretty much in her comfort zone. Looking cute and bright, she displays her acting skills convincingly. Among the glut of comedy actors, Sriman and Sathyan were an amusing pair in the second half, with their comedic antics. Soori vibes well with Dhanush whereas Vamsi Krishna was resorted to a farcically written antagonist character. Meera Krishnan, Pyramid Natarajan, Sathish, Immanuel Annachi, Singampuli, Ashvin Raja, Naren, Sachu, Manobala, Prof Gnanasambandhan and etc were adequate fits for the supporting roles.
K.Natraj's costume designing was apt for the rural-based characters and Nazriya looked cute in the songs, especially. R.K Vijay Murugan's production design sufficed the needs of the scripts. Be it the elobarate village festival setting, or the for the songs, the sets were neatly erected, with good detailing. The lamps and bells stacked in the protagonist's house is one such clear example. Dhilip Subbarayan's stunt choreography suited Dhanush's personality and the final climax sequence reminds us of the 'Sandaikozhi' climax action sequence. Raja Mohammed's editing was a letdown, and some sort of connectivity is missing in the transition from one sequence to another. R.Velraj's cinematography work is a big plus to the film. The visuals are crystal clear and the rural landscape is a pleasant sight for the eyes. Also, R.Velraj's lighting was commendable for the sequences featuring the lead pair, surrounded by lamps and bells.
M.Ghibran's work just passes muster, though he is a creative person with unique sounds infused in his song arrangements. "Marriage Marketil" was uniquely done, with a full animation concept, featuring the debacles faced by Sriman and Sathyan, in finding brides, respectively. "Ae Le Le" was shot on the lead pair, and has some majestic and beautiful Swiss localities in the background, such as lakes and mountains. "Yendi Paathagathi" is a bit-song shot on Dhanush and featured some good framing by R.Velraj. "Munnadi Porapulle" is a duet shot on the lead pair and accompanied by foreign dancers. The song featured more urban landscapes such as rivers and harbors. The much publicized "Teddy Bear" song was picturized keeping kinds in mind, with vibrantly colored sets with a gaming arcade backdrop and costumes for the dancers. "Inikka Inikka" is a sensous number, which was shot cleverly by R.Velraj with plenty of close-ups of the lead pair. Nazriya was looking very good in her sarees. Though the background score had plenty of unique ideas, they don't linger in our minds.
A.Sarkunam, known for his nuanced handling of his scripts, fails to entertain us this time. An inspiration from the 1993-Malayalam super hit film 'Meleparambil Aanveedu', starring Jayaram and Shobaran, the script is almost farcical in entirety and turns out to be a quintessential damp squib ! The entire comedy portions in the first half is a big letdown and only with the presence of Sriman and Sathyan, funny elements serve its purpose. The performances of some supporting artistes are too casual. The script has no purpose at all, and there seems to be no serious element at all, apart from the climax, which is rarely palpable. The screenplay is a letdown and there seems to be no smooth progress from one scene to another nor any logic or continuity. Some sequences stood out like a sore thumb and has no purpose in the film. Dialogues were insipid and boring. It really boggles our mind, thinking what convinced Dhanush to accept this film. A.Sarkunam's script has a time immemorial formula written all over, if you view it with a hindsight. Throw in some exaggerated sequences and characters, and all you get is a complete mess and wastage of good artistes and technicians' capabilities.
'Naiyaandi' - An appalling product from A.Sarkunam ! Its shocking to see it coming from the director who gave us 'Kalavaani' and 'Vaagai Sooda Vaa'.
Ratings: 2/5 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
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
