YENNAMO YEDHO MOVIE REVIEW

Gautham Karthik, is back to the silver screen with 'Yennamo Yedho', after the impressive debut in the Mani Ratnam directed, 'Kadal'. With a relatively young and unknown cast, this project should put Gautham's cinematic career path, into his own hands. So, how did 'Yennamo Yedho' turned out ?

Gautham Karthik, definitely has the talents and potential to make it big in the Tamizh film industry. His screen presence is admirable and his energetic demeanor, makes him a charm. His dancing skill is quite good, but he can definitely work out on the expressions and dialogue delivery, which can enhance the dynamics of his character. Rakul Preet Singh, looks pretty and gets most of her lip sync right. She shares a good chemistry with Gautham, but performance wise, she can definitely do way much better. Her expressions and overall performance, do look artificial, at times. Nikesha Patel has not much to do, whereas Prabhu provides some form of lighter moments in the film. Anupama Kumar sufficed the need of the script and the others like Azhagam Perumal, Madan Bob, Manobala, Shakeela, Surekha Rani, Sai Prakash, Manohar, Raja Sankar, Sinitha, Kalpika and etc play inconsequential roles.

Sai and Shiva takes care of the costume department and their work was okay and fulfilled the script's needs. Kumar's art direction was just apt, especially with the wedding scenarios and the interiors of the locations such as posh bungalow homes. I.J Alen's editing was simple and neat, and there were no gimmicks with his approach. Action choreography has been handled by B.Thyagarajan and the initial car sequence was well handled. Besides that, the action is very limited since the film is a romantic comedy. Cinematography is handled by Gopi Jagadeeswaran, and his work has nothing extraordinary about it. The car action sequence was well handled, but other than that, its just average. 

D.Imman has scored some peppy numbers for the film, which will find place among music lovers. The pick of the lot, "Nee Enna Periya" sung by Anirudh Ravichander, was shot on the lead pair, with a roadside dhaaba erected for the song, followed by a farm-house like location with the pool-side being the main designated area. "Mosale Mosale" was shot on the lead pair, and this time the locations are in Thailand, where some portions have been shot on the rooftop of a city skyscraper and the rest canned in a Buddhist temple. "Muttaalai Muttaalai" is another peppy song, sung by D.Imman himself, and had the lead pair dancing to the tunes, in the city of Bangkok, with plaza squares and other urban landscape being the locations. "Shut Up" sung by Shruti Haasan, was shot on Gautham, in a club-like location. The typical colorful lighting, back-up dancers and a quintessential item girl, were all present in the song. "Podhaadha" is a pathos bit song, shot on the misfortunes of the heroine, whereas "Pudhiya Ulagai" has montages of the protagonist's own misfortune. D.Imman's background score was above average, and his melody based scores were the highlights.

Debutante Ravi Thyagarajan wields the megaphone for this film, but the film is a remake of the super-hit Telugu film, 'Ada Modalaindi' which starred Nani and Nithya Menen in the lead roles. The story and screenplay belongs to Nandini Reddy and though the Telugu original turned out to be a hit, the Tamizh version unfortunately fails to deliver. The supposedly breezy rom-com, turns out to be a dull affair. The sequences are not synergistic, which leaves us with loopholes and gaps in the screenplay, in addition to its snail-pace. There is apparently no reasoning nor logic in the continuity of the story and everything seems to happen at the convenience of the director's liking. The direction was below average, especially with the handling of the characters and plot setting. R.K Vidhyadharan's dialogues were below average too, apart from a couple in some comedy portions and scenes pertaining to Anupama Kumar's character. In conclusion, 'Yennamo Yedho' is truly a disappointing product and its pitiful to see a talent of Gautham's calibre, to be featured in such a sub-par feature film.

'Yennamo Yedho' - A truly half-baked attempt !

Ratings: 1.75/5 STARS

BY:TAMIL 

PUTHAGAM MOVIE REVIEW

Vijay Adiraj, a veteran of television shows and drama serials, makes his splash on the big screen as a director, with a script which was borne out of an idea, he came across 14 years back ! He goes for the safer route by employing a very young and new cast, aided by veteran character artistes and good technicians. Touted to be a smart thriller, did this 'Puthagam' made us turn its pages, in excitement ?

Starting off with the lead, actor Sathya, the younger brother of Arya, finally makes his screen debut through this film. He passes muster with a decent performance, though there are evident sequences in the film, where he tries to ape his more-popular brother. With more experience, Sathya can climb up the ladder, but definitely he has a lot to catch up, especially in the emoting and dialogue delivery. The pretty Rakul Preet Singh, makes her debut as a leading lady in Tamizh cinema, after her small role, in the decent, gritty thriller, 'Thadaiyara Thaakka'. She looks more comfortable in her role and got her lip sync (dubbing done by Renuka Kathir) right, but her final output needs more conviction. Sanjay Barathi (the son of actor-director, Santhana Barathi) and Vignesh of 'Kadhalil Sodhapuvadhu Eppadi' fame, delivered sincere and honest performances. Jagapathi Babu was nonchalant in his role as the cool private detective, and aided by a less-convincing Rachana Maurya. There's a big gang of seasoned artistes such as Suresh, Aishwarya Rajesh, Manobala, Santhana Barathi, 'Thalaivasal' Vijay, 'Crazy' Mohan, Delhi Ganesh, Uma Padhmanabhan, Fathima Babu, MJ Shriram and etc, enacting important and minor roles in the film. All of them lived up to the expectations and most of them would have just cruised in their roles, with ease.

The film carries decent work on the technical front. Gita Gurappa's audiography was spot on. Dhilip Subbarayan choreographed decent stunt sequences, which suited the characters performing those sequences, be it the nervy Sathya or the composed Jagapathi Babu. G.K's art direction was simple and neat. His detailing for the bachelors' apartment, the middle-class home interior, club settings, television channel office suits, everything was just fine and good enough for the script. Kevin's editing was flawless and he made sure that the progression from one scene to the other, was smooth. One person, who must be credited for making the film look colorful, is the cinematographer, J.Laxman. He has brought out the colorful and fun-loving life of the youngsters and at the same, maintained a dark-look theme for the more serious portions. Also, he has portrayed Rakul in a very pretty manner, through his lenses. His camera-movements, especially for the action sequences are noteworthy. 

James Vasanthan's music was passable, but not good enough to hold our attentions, thoroughly. "Kondaadathaan", is a typical youngster's opening song, which had quite a few cut-shots and picturized in theme parks and a few Chennai landmarks. "Mella Pookudhe", is a typical James Vasanthan melody, which was picturized on the lead pair, romancing around a majestic looking building, in Thailand. Rakul was looking pretty in the sarees, which were designed by S.Subbarao. "Italica" is a dull and lame club song, shot with the item girl Rachana, performing in typical, night-club settings, which had decent lighting. "Say That You Love Me" was shot on the sandy and picturesque beaches of Pattaya, Thailand on the main lead artistes of the film. The final song, "Money is Funny" was shot in a music-video style, picturized on all the artistes involved in the film, with a stage and LED-screen as its backdrop, showing currencies of various countries. The song appears during the end-credits and has also some bloopers, inserted in it. The background score was a tad decent enough for the film.
 
Vijay Adiraj's intention was to make a taut and neat thriller. Though the intention was honest, the execution was far from being flawless. A thriller needs to be engaging and be crisp in the length of the film. But 'Puthagam' drags a lot in the first half, which makes us wonder, where is the film heading to. The suspense and thrills only begin just before interval, making us to endure all the unnecessary comedy and sentimental portions, which looked more suited for a normal television serial. Though Guhan Sreenivasan's dialogues are quirky and smart in some portions, the film had plenty of lengthy dialogue sequences, which extends the duration of the film, even longer. A knock-on effect of being a veteran of the television circle, Vijay ? Though it was cheeky of Vijay to add a small twist in the end, the audiences could have already lost interest in the film, due to its uninteresting narration. The final twist does hint us of a potentially exciting sequel, but the question of will it be worthy or not, depends on the improvisation skills of Vijay.

'Puthagam' - A flawed attempt in making a racy, crispy and taut, commercial thriller.


Ratings: 2/5 STARS

BY:TAMIL

THADAIYARA THAAKKA MOVIE REVIEW

With a chaste Tamizh title to the film, Magilzh Thirumeni has changed tracks from the soft romantic, 'Mundhinam Parthene' to this action-packed thriller. The former assistant of Gautham Vasudev Menon has lots to prove with this new attempt on a different genre than his previous work. Arun Vijay is coming back to screens after a two-year absence, with his home production 'Maanja Velu'. This film is produced by the same firm as well and Arun Vijay needs a solid hit to cement himself as a saleable actor in Tamizh cinema.

Arun Vijay, has put in a sincere and honest effort in his role as the private vehicle driver Selva. His buff body was apt for this action packed role and he pulled off the stunts scenes effortlessly. His body language and restrained emotions was very life-like. Not to forget, a decent dialogue delivery, in sync with the characterization warrants him a good dosage of appreciation. Wishing him luck for serious success, which has been eluding him for a very long time. Mamta Mohandass makes a comeback after three years after 'Guru En Aalu'. This is her first Tamizh film post-marriage and she was the perfect foil for Arun Vijay's protagonist role. The chirpy and bubbly personality is a fresh breathe of air, in this otherwise dark film. Rakul Preet Singh, a former finalist of Miss India pageant makes her splash as an actress through this film, and though she was okay, her character was not properly exploited, hence limiting her histrionics skills. Murugadass and the other bunch of friends roles provides some laughter here and there. But the real scene stealers are the antagonists artistes, Maha Gandhi and Vamsi Krishna. Both of them were menacing and gritty with their performances with their brooding screen presence and non-exaggerated expressions. Kudos to both of them!

The team comprises of technicians who knows their work well and the film has some decent efforts. Costumes were apt and perfect for the roles, not being too flashy and tacky with Ganesh doing for Arun and Deepali Noor for both the ladies. Mohana Mahendiran used proper props to complement the scenes, which were shot mostly in real locations. Praveen K.L and Srikanth N.B's editing had fast-cuts and the movie moves in rapid pace with the duration slightly more than two hours. Thaman's music was simple with only two songs making it into the film. "Kelamale" was shot in a breezy manner with only a single location with various angles and simple choreography by Nagendra Prasad. "Poonthamalli" is a typical dance number and had fast movements by Noble with the addition of Debi Dutta as the 'item' girl. Thaman should improve more on his re-recording in order to avoid the 'heard-before' feel. 'Anal' Arasu has choreographed simple and neat action sequences and the blows delivered looked very real especially the back alley fight featuring Arun Vijay and Aruldass and also the climax fight scene in a factory warehouse. Sukumar's camera work was efficient with the well-shot night effect sequences, heavily used in the second half and the tone used which was apt for the script.

The script was concise and intelligently written, which is a welcome relief among the glut of nonsensical crass commercial flicks churned out these days. The intelligence does not stop only in the twists and turns but also continues in the form of light and subtle humor of the characters. The innocence of the protagonists friends, the quirkiness of the protagonist, the stubborn-yet naive heroine and even the antagonists had subtle humors to their characters which is a refreshing thing to watch. Magilzh has etched out each characters well and established them with correct dialogues and mannerisms which doesn't give them a caricature-kind of feel. The romance scenes between the lead pair is quirky, cheeky and mature and guess its the rubbing off of the charm of Magilzh's mentor. The best aspect of 'Thadaiyara Thakka's' script is the twists and turns which is shown in the second half especially. It keeps the audience guessing and waiting for 'the moment'. But the same factor is the minus point of the film as well. The amount of twists and turns are plenty and they are thrown to the audience at a rapid pace which actually makes the audience to be unsettled and confused. The second half takes a dip in pace but overall it was a decent effort of intelligent writing from the director.

'Thadaiyara Thakka' has a decent script, good action scenes, life-like characters and neat performances from the artistes. If the second half was polished with a neater screenplay, the movie would have been even better.


Ratings: 2.5/5 STARS

BY:TAMIL