Touted as an 'Isaignani' Ilaiyaraaja's "musical festival", 'Megha' is the first film for Ashwin Kakumanu and Srushti Dange, to don the role of a lead pair. Directed by debutante Karthick Rishi, 'Isaignani' Ilaiyaraaja's songs have been giving the film the needed publicity but will that transform into a successful venture for all parties ?
Ashwin Kakumanu has proved his mettle in playing character roles of lesser proportions, but for the first time, he carries the entire film on his shoulders. His smart and presentable appearance helps him to fit the character well and he has tried his best in delivering an earnest performance but he falters in those heavy-duty scenes and really needs to buck up in those areas. As for Srushti Dange, she passes of as the atypical innocent and naive Tamizh cinema heroine, and she too needs plenty of improvement from her side, in order to succeed as an artiste. Jayaprakash has the best role among the character artistes and the veteran is dependable as always, but there's something not right with his characterization, though. The rest such as Angana Roy, Naren, Vijayakumar, Meera Krishnan, Y.Gee Mahendran, Ravi Prakasam, Nithya Ravinder, Sasikumar, Sai Prashanth, S.Selvakumar and etc did their roles well, although the necessity for some of the respective artistes' characters, is a big question mark.
Sathya N.J's costume designing sufficed the needs of the script, and each character were realistically attired. Action choreography is handled by 'Action' Prakash and though the scope is minimal, his work was decent and fitted the film's nature. Mani Karthick is in charge of art direction and his work was good, considering the limitations of the film's medium budget. The laboratory and office scenes, as well as the wedding hall set-up was well put up. Ramsudharsan's editing could have been slicker, since the film's duration is a tad too long, and he could have avoided some abrupt cuts, which is unacceptable for today's standards. Cinematography plays a big role in the film's look and R.B Gurudhev has given a nice look throughout the film and the way he portrayed the rain sequences, needs special mention. Also, his lighting and color tone for each sequence tracks, brings out the right mood and feel.
What adds soul to the film, is definitely the musical score of 'Isaignani' Ilaiyaraaja. Though the excessive number of songs is a hindrance to the screenplay, the fit the scenes really well. "Mugilo Megamo" sung by Yuvan Shankar Raja, plays during the opening credits, which had lovely CG portions of the blue sky and beautiful clouds. The classic "Putham Pudhu Kaalai" from 'Alaigal Oivadhillai' has been remixed here, and is used for a marriage sequence, featuring the lead artistes. The lighting by R.B Gurudhev and wedding decoration set-up by Mani Karthick, adds more class for the song, though the composition of sequences could have been better. "Chellame" is the first duet for the lead pair and had a rain soaked Chennai street, in the dead night, as its backdrop. "Kalvane" is another melody shot on the lead pair and this time, its and out-and-out indoor song, which was complemented by apt color tone and lighting by R.B Gurudhev. "Jeevane" sung by 'Isaignani' Ilaiyaraaja himself is a situational song, featuring the male lead in search of the female lead. The film ends with 'Isaignani' Ilaiyaraaja's version of "Mugilo Megamo" during the end credits. The background score has the 'Isaignani' Ilaiyaraaja stamp all over it, and they would make a decent listening, on its own. 'Isaignani' Ilaiyaraaja at his casual best !
Karthick Rishi has tried to balance two genres, romance & investigative thriller, into a single screenplay. The investigative thriller block was decently written and the element of the hero being a forensic ballistics expert, is an interesting idea, though it was not fully capitalized, apart from a scene or two. The romance portion is the weaker side of the screenplay, wherein the romance track lacks the spark and intensity needed by several yards, and the lead pair is unconvincing as a lead pair. And some dialogues in this portion is just unintentionally, way too cheesy, for current norms ! There's no organic development in the love track and everything seems to happen just like that. The characterization of the artistes is a little weak and as mentioned earlier, some characters appear and disappear in the film, for no solid reasons. The film does have some sweet spots, in terms of writing, but they are few and far between. The screenplay lacks pace, especially in the second half when the whodunit element is revealed a little earlier than it should have been. And that leaves us, with some unanswered questions, which exposes the loopholes in the script.
'Megha' - Nice template, but less conviction in execution.
Ratings: 2.5/ STARS
BY:TAMIL
'Irumbhu Kuthirai' is the comeback film for Atharvaa Murali, after the critically acclaimed 'Paradesi'. Directed by debutante Yuvaraj Bose, a former associate of Arivazhagan, the film's USP is the script being based on motorcycle race backdrop and super-bikes. Produced on a generous budget by AGS Entertainment, can Yuvaraj race into Tamizh cinema as another young prodigy ?
After the hard struggle and excruciating pain in 'Paradesi', Atharvaa Murali dons a conventional hero role and it looks like he has been working out on his physique. He looks better and has improved his dialogue delivery and timing but his character lacks the zing and energy needed. Unfortunately, this film lets him down, on acting performance aspect. Priya Anand, looks gorgeous and is the regular Tamizh cinema heroine (friend turned damsel-in-distress turned lover !). The lead pair looks compatible on screen, but their chemistry fails to sizzle. Johnny Tri Nguyen is a surprise casting and fits the role of a really mean baddie, but somehow his character becomes unintentionally funny (especially with the Tamizh dialogues !). Among the character artistes, its Devadarshini who's role as the protagonist's mother, is an interesting choice. We are seeing some serious performances from her, and hope she continues to showcase her acting skills. The rest of the cast includes Raai Laxmi & Jagan (both looking out-of-sync with the film), Manobala, Mayilsamy, Joe Malloori, Anupama Kumar, Swaminathan, Sachu and Joshna. Alisha Abdullah (India's first female national racing champion & only female biker racer) has a cameo, which the needs of it can only be comprehended by the director.
Thanks to AGS Entertainment, the films has rich production values and slick technical outputs. Muruganandam takes care of the costume designing and Priya was given the most attention, as she was simply cute and lovely in he simple and casual clothing. He could have worked it out better for Raai Laxmi and Jagan, who looked completely weird and unflattering. Art direction is by Sakthee Venkatraj.M and though most of the film was shot outdoors, the set work and properties for the homes of the lead pair, the bike sales gallery and the warehouse like set-up for the pre-climax fight sequence, looks good. Action choreography is by 'Kanal' Kannan and he has made good use of Johnny Tri Nguyen's martial arts skill. Though the execution was okay, the choreography did not really match Atharvaa's personality and it was a little over-the-top, especially with the ropes. William Ong, takes care of the bike action sequences, and being an expert in it, there are no complaints with his work. T.S Suresh must be commended for the crisp running time of the film and for his work in the action scenes, but the film has a very jarring pace and the continuity takes severe beating due to this. Cinematography is by R.B Gurudhev and Gopi Amarnath and both of them have given good visuals, be it Pondicherry or the Italian countryside and Venice city. They have tried to match the visuals of Italy with Pondicherry and they have managed to work it out in bits and pieces, though the cover up is pretty obvious.
G.V Prakash Kumar's music is decent but the songs fail to create any impact due to the bad timing and placement in the screenplay. "Hello Brother" is the introductory song of Raai Laxmi and was shot in a bar like set-up, which incorporated plenty of color lighting. "Ange Ippo Enna" is a melody between the lead pair and has many cut-shots of the lead pair, texting each other in which grand and majestic buildings in Venice becomes a backdrop for this song. "Alai Paayum" is almost a similarly shot song, but this time it's a dance number and has more coastal and cliff side locations in the song, which was also shot in Italy. "Penne Penne" is a pathos song, shot on the lead pair and has Pondicherry's colonial and colorful buildings as its backdrop, with many cut-shots, in it too. "Pondicherry" was visually the best shot song, which is an item number featuring the tall, dusky and hot Akshara Gowda. Johnny Tri Nguyen and Alisha Abdullah makes appearance in the song as well, which had a ringside like set-work and good lighting, which complemented the song very well. G.V Prakash Kumar's background score, especially for the climax race sequence is adept. His signature scores for the love portions, are highlights of the background score, too !
A Tamizh film on superbike racing is certainly a refreshing and unique idea, but ideas alone will not make films, watchable. Yuvaraj Bose's plot for the script is so simple, which an adolescent teenager can come up with ! His screenplay lets you down terribly and the film lacks the great energy needed, especially since its about super-bikes. As said earlier, the placement of songs irks us even more and the unwarranted comedy and sentimental portions are a big bore. The love portions lack the sizzle needed and is pretty ordinary. But Yuvaraj's sequence setting doesn't go overboard and he comes up with casual scenes, pertaining to the characters' dilemmas and stature. But for such scenes to hold up on its own, you need strong and interesting dialogues, which Narsim fails to deliver. The dialogues are just pretty much conventional and sufficed the needs of the script. Yuvaraj does spring a surprise, in late second half, but its way too late to save the film and the audience's attention. Instead of tweaking the script and closing down the gaping loopholes in the screenplay, Yuvaraj succumbs to the contemporary Tamizh cinema pressure and fills his film with unwanted elements. Weak characterization further dampens the mood of the film and by the end of the film, you wouldn't have felt like you have watched a film !
'Irumbu Kuthirai - Instead of galloping, it stuttered !
Ratings: 2/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
'Vathikuchi' is an interesting venture from A.R Murugadoss's production company, which he has co-produced with none other than Fox Star Studios India. With the intentions of churning quality movies, Murugadoss and Fox Studios are collaborating for the second time after the successful, 'Engeyum Eppodhum'. This time too, its a former assistant of Murugadoss, who is calling the shots as director. P.Kinslin's debut directorial venture has Deliban, the younger brother of A.R Murugadoss, being introduced as the hero. So, how did this project fare ?
Like it or not, Dileban is being promoted as an action-hero material by A.R Murugadoss. To some extent, Dileban does deliver the basic outputs expected out of an action hero. He is adept in pulling off action scenes, puts his bulky and well-built physique to rough treatments, and has good stamina. But that alone will not make the audience to root for you. There is the acting performance side to being an actor, and Dileban has way lots of room to improve. He maintains a single expression throughout the film (its not convincing, even if the director wanted Deliban to be projected as the as-cool-as-cucumber type !) The dialogue delivery has no modulations in it and he looks stiff in certain sequences. If he is to survive, he needs more practice in acting ! Anjali's role looked like an extension of her 'Engeyum Eppodhum' Manimegalai, with a little modification, with more naughtiness and chirpiness. Her own dubbing makes it perfect for the role but she has to start taking care of her physique more. Saranya Ponvannan was the archetypal sporty and casual mother, we had seen in many recent movies. Sampath Raj and Jayaprakash have easy roles, as they would have done such roles several times, in their previous films. The rest of the cast such as Ravi Maria, 'Pattimandram' Raja, V.C.R, Rajshree, Bala Singh, Sri Ranjani and etc sufficed the need of the script. But what was the director thinking by having Jegan play a negative role ? It was a terrible miscast as he is nowhere near being convincing enough, and ends up looking comical. Its either perfect his acting skills or just concentrate doing on what Jegan is comfortable at !
The film carries some decent technical work. R.Krishnamoorthy and M.J Raju's sound works were good, especially in fight and shoot-out sequences. Sanjey Karan's artwork was decent enough for the simple script, with appropriate props, as most of the shooting was in live locations. Praveen K.L and Srikanth N.B's editing work, keeps the film compact, even with the accomodation of the lacklustre romance and comedy portions. Their handling of the flashback portions and also the fight sequences, was very professionally and maturely done. Rajasekar's action choreography was a big letdown with excessive and terrible rope usage, in the fight sequences. The bad handling of the ropes, makes the action sequences too exaggerated and fake in nature. R.B Gurudhev handles the camera skillfully, with clever usage of the slow-motion techniques for the action sequences and his choice of lighting and color tone, gives the film a raw look, but with a blue tinge.
M.Ghibran's musical score was fantastic, with quirky tunes and background score. "Kuru Kuru" has montages of the hero, going after the heroine, after getting the green-light from her. This song has some well framed, shots. "Amma Wake Me Up" is a groovy and impish song, picturized on the heroine and her bunch of friends, with their shopping 'adventures' and antics. In tandem with the lyrics, the song has been mostly shot in and around shopping malls. "Kanne Kanne" is a dreamy song, where the hero imagines being married to his heroine, and has plenty of montage sequences. "Ari Unnai" is a situational song, showing the hero, getting caught in a dangerous situation. M.Ghibran rocks in the background score with unique sounds, and he is definitely a cut above the rest, among the upcoming young music directors. Expecting more from him, after this and the brilliant debut in 'Vaagai Sooda Vaa' !
P.Kinslin's script is engaging in bits and pieces. The narration was interestingly told in flashback mode but the narration must grow organically and not forced upon. Kinslin shows some talent in handling his script, but his dialogues were not up to the mark, where better writers would have done wonders, especially in the monologues. Also, Kinslin's unnecessarily injects his film, with typical hero machismo, where he is portrayed as the do-gooder and struggles to come to a smooth end. Kinslin's character development was half-baked, especially with the antagonists. The worse was Jagan and his bunch of scheming friends. Which schemers would go on mouthing-dialogues, instead of seizing the opportunity to kill off their targets ? But here, you can see all sort of silly antagonistic antics, especially by Jegan ! But Kinslin should be appreciated for portraying lives of the middle-class characters from a myriad of raw outskirts of Chennai, such as Tambaram, Avadi, Ambattur, Samathuvapuram and etc.
'Vathikuchi' does not live up to the promises it made, but a little more of deft handling and maturity in the script and direction, would have made this film, much better. Keep improving, P.Kinslin !
Ratings: 2.75/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
