CUCKOO MOVIE REVIEW

Fox Star Studios and The Next Big Film has come together after the successes of 'Engeyum Eppothum' and 'Raja Rani'. 'Cuckoo' made the right noise from the start, with its promotional teases, trailer and great musical album by Santhosh Narayanan. Written by Raju Murugan, a popular writer of the Ananda Vikatan magazine and a former assistant of N.Lingusamy, will 'Cuckoo' pull our heart-strings and drench us in love ?

Dinesh, who still had the halo of 'Attakathi' around him before this release, had finally released himself from the shackles. Dinesh carries the role with aplomb and it would not be an exaggeration to state that this was one of the finest blind acts, performed in Tamizh cinema. Kamal and Vikram nailed it in 'Rajaparvai' and 'Kasi', respectively and Dinesh follows suit with an earnest performance. His body language reflects the homework he did in preparation for this role. His theater background certainly helped in his dialogue deliveries and expressions. A lifetime performance, indeed ! Debutante Malavika Nair, who has acted in 'Vazhakku En 18/9's Malayalam version 'Black Butterfly' is no less impressive than Dinesh. Her eye movements and the pleasant personality she resonates, are charms of their own. She impresses particularly in the pre-climax and climax portions with brilliant conviction. Welcome to Tamizh cinema, Malavika ! Murugadass's dialogue delivery was spot-on, especially with the comical dialogues and shows that he is an untapped talent. Visually-challenged debutantes, Elango and Sangeetha gave lovely performances as well. The bunch of odd characters around the lead pair have great detailing to their characters which gave them space to leave a mark. 

Natraj's costume designing sufficed the need of the script, where all the characters portrayed comes from the lower strata of society. Malavika's attires, gave her a very pleasant look, throughout the film. T.Ramalingam's art designing was in sync with the script. Most of the film was shot in real locations, but the drama troupe ambiance, and props for most the of locations gave the film a very realistic look and color. Shanmugam Velusamy's editing could and should have been tighter. Though the film's story-telling follows a slow pace, there are excessive scenes which lengthens the duration of the film unnecessarily and the continuity slackens a little in the second half. M.K Leen's action choreography was in tune with the need of the script and scenes. P.K Varma, who made name with 'Attakathi' has cranked the camera for 'Cuckoo' as well. He has captured the director's vision very well and many shots spews artistic brilliance ! The close-ups, as well as the railway station and train sequences, are the highlights of the film. The moist and wet color tone used in the film, looks very appealing and further enhances the charm of the sequences and the accompanying background score.

Santhosh Narayanan's music proves that he is a force to reckon with, in Tamizh cinema music. The quality and aesthetic outputs in his albums, are nearly unmatched in recent times. The good show follows with 'Cuckoo' as well. "Enda Mappilai" plays as a background score, in a funny situational scene. "Potta Pulla" portrays the lead hero falling for his heroine and has montages of him trying to impress her and getting more friendlier with her. "Kalyanamam Kalyanam" is the only song which has a typical 'dance-and-song' setup to it. The song had good lighting against a night backdrop and featured the litany of minor character artistes dancing in celebration. The pick of the album, "Manasula Soora" highlights the love episodes of the lead pair and has plenty of cute and sweet montages. "Agasathe" has the reconciliation episodes of the lead pair, picturized using montages. "Kodaiyile Mazhai" was beautifully placed as a situational song in the climax, and really portrayed the heart-wrenching feel, needed for those particular sequences. Santhosh's background score definitely has a magical touch and feel and reminds us some of 'Isaignani' Ilaiyaraaja's brilliant melody scores. Exceptional technical output from Santhosh !

Raju Murugan has iterated that this story of 'Cuckoo' is based on a true story of visually-challenged man he met during his writing days. Keeping that in mind, Raju Murugan must be appreciated for getting all those tiny detailing, in terms of characterizations and plot setting required for such realistic narration. He definitely has a good framing sense, especially with the close-up shots for the right sequences, bearing testimony to it. Raju Murugan's comedy sense is great, especially for his dialogues for Murugadass and Dinesh. Playing as himself, Raju Murugan's narrator role does not leave much impact on the script and his own character suffers some continuity issues, in terms of screen timing. Raju Murugan has been sincere to his script by not incorporating unwanted commercial elements into it, but the screenplay suffers due to a long running duration. Also, instead of being emotional and sensitive, the script goes highly melodramatic and sentimental, especially in the climax, which reminds us of the yesteryear tearjerkers of Tamizh cinema. The scenes are structured in such a manner, where explicit sentimental and tear-jerking scenes are arranged one after another to invoke sympathy upon the lead pair. Nevertheless, Raju Murugan has handled a touching love story of a visually-challenged pair with deft. A better screenplay handling would have yielded much better results.

'Cuckoo' - Love is Blind !


Ratings: 3/5 STARS

BY:TAMIL

ATTAKATHI MOVIE REVIEW

This film initially made news for the unique posters created by the makers. The curiosity increased several folds once critically acclaimed directors such as Vetrimaran, Thiagaraja Kumararaja, Chimbudevan, Venkat Prabhu and Pandiraj endorsed it. Directed by Pa.Ranjith, a former associate of Venkat Prabhu, Studio Green purchased the distributing rights and through good promotional activities, 'Attakathi' received the right attention it wanted. The promo trailers and songs captured the imagination of the youth audience and promised something casual but different.

Half the battle of winning the approval of the audience and critics is won, if you have the perfect casting and Pa.Ranjith scores very well in this department. Most of the cast are newcomers and obviously the film belongs to the protagonist Dinesh, who has done a remarkable job. Having a theater background and experience acting in small roles in films such as 'Aadukalam' and 'Mouna Guru', Dinesh has done really well considering the fact that he is not accustomed to the lifestyle of the character he played, yet performed very naturally. His transition from a higher secondary school boy, to 'Route Thala' was well captured and depicted. His dialogue delivery too was very well done. Kudos to him ! There are many girls in the film and it takes some time to understand who is the actual heroine. Nandhitha who eventually dons the heroine's role looks very homely and cute, especially in her school uniform attire. Besides, her we have Sofia, Shalini and Aishwarya, who did what was required for their role. The rest of the cast has no known artistes, and this makes the film look very fresh and natural.

The film carries very good technical work. First and foremost, R.S Raja, should be appreciated for the stills which were the attention-grabber, pre-release. Dilip Subbarayan has choreographed very natural fight sequences. The body language of those performing the stunts were casual and realistic, with the kicks and punches, captured well with the camera. Most of the stunt scenes takes place in the latter half, once the hero has positioned himself as 'Route Thala'. Ramalingam, the art director has done a simple yet effective work in the art department. The setting is quite tricky because, the plot revolves around the beginning of the 21st century and centered around a semi-rural, semi-urban surroundings. Though actual locations helped a lot in projecting the correct setting, his props such as posters and household items were realistic touch. Leo John Paul would have had a tough time in the editing department, because the whole movie is a light-hearted one and filled with humorous scenes. So the editing, needs to be carefully done in order to avoid tedious and slow pace. His work in the songs was good. Cinematography was natural and earthy, thanks to P.K Varma's natural lighting and with the assistance of RED Pro 5.0, his camerawork was solid, especially in night sequences and the late evenings, where he captures the soft and warm, earthy dew moments.

A major highlight and USP of the film is the music by Santhosh Narayanan. In tune with the mood of the film, the songs too were light-hearted and mastered crystal clearly by Leon Zervos, a multiple Grammy and BAFTA awards winning sound engineer. The pick of the lot from the Blues-genre songs was "Aasai Oar Pulveli". A warm and breezy song, it was shot with montages and wonderful lighting, capturing lovely evening moments of the lead pair in colleges and their surroundings. "Aadi Pona Aavani", a song which got popular due to its singer 'Gaana' Bala is the other best one from the album. Picturized mostly inside the bus, the lead artist performed and emoted very well for the song, making it look very natural and lively. "Adi Yen Gana Mayil" is a pathos song, shot humorously at a real funeral house, which involves funny dancing by the protagonist. "Podi Vecha" is also shot with montages and involves lots of chasing and fights, which highlights the rise of the protagonist as a 'Route Thala'. "Nadukadalule" is another funny and quirky song, shot at night which was picturized having the protagonist singing, and surrounded by his friends and family. The lighting was very apt for the song and captured the mood perfectly. "Vazhi Parthirunthen" is a situational song, which comes with the flow of the song, showing the pain of the protagonist waiting anxiously for his girl. Santhosh has done quite well in the background score too but he must avoid inserting music during dialogue portions as well, cause it is a unnecessarily deviates our attention.

Pa.Ranjith has crafted a simple and natural film, which does not deal with any serious issues. He has captured the life and times of the youths who are from the semi-rural, semi-urban area very well and depicted what were their activities and mentality, which will be an eye-opener for those who are not accustomed to those areas where the people belong to the lower-middle class category. The film has plenty of light-hearted, humorous scenes laced with casual and natural dialogues. The film slows down in pace in the second half and a minor turn-off for those who would want to watch serious cinema is that, the film has no solid story to tell ! We are just taken into a journey of the protagonist, who keeps on falling in love even after failures over failures. The climax has a small shock for the viewers, which takes us back a little. Having a background in drawing comics, Pa.Ranjith was able to visualize his scenes properly and at the same time, keeping them crisp and short. Besides that, he has done the role of the narrator of the plot as well.

In short, 'Attakathi' is recommended for those who would want to watch something ligh-hearted but at the same time, fresh and natural. The sweet and charming moments in the film will compensate for the lack of a serious story and the slow paced second half. Thumbs up for the first-timers !


Ratings: 2.5/5 STARS

BY:TAMIL