Chimbu Deven, one of the creative directors of Tamizh cinema, is back after 'Irumbu Kottai Murattu Singam'. As always this film too is intriguingly titled, this time as 'Oru Kanniyum Moonu Kalavanikalum'. Arulnithi, an earnest performer needs a solid hit to cement his presence in Tamizh cinema. With Chimbu Deven in helm, can this film deliver a different yet entertaining flick for us ?
Arulnithi, shows good progress from film to film. Here, he proves his mettle in handling comedy throughout the film and with his subtleties, he delivers a very decent performance. There's not much of scope for him, in terms of the range of emotions and variations in dialogue deliveries, but he still makes good use of the subject taken and convincingly portrayed the role of the protagonist. Sharing equal space with him is K.Bagavathi Perumal of 'Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom' fame. He continues his 'NKPK' act very well, and his one-liners are the best in the film. His dialogue deliveries are perfectly timed and neatly presented. A little more expressions can certainly do wonders for him. Good job ! Bindhu Madhavi plays the 'third musketeer' and she should be appreciated for picking an unconventional role. The attractive lass has delivered a clean performance and hoping to see more of her in Tamizh cinema. Ashrita Shetty has an important role, but with limited scope and screen presence, she makes use of what she had in the script, quite well. The rest of the big cast, who played minor characters such as Karthik Sabesh, Manobala, Jayaprakash, Naren, Aruldas, Paandu, Nassar, M.S Bhaskar, 'Delhi' Ganesh, V.S Raghavan, Ravi Raghavendra, Benjamin, Sriranjini and etc were effective and some of them had some witty detailing to their characters, which worked out well.
Costume design has been handled by Sai, and considering the limited scope offered by the script, his works sufficed the needs of the script. Dhilip Subbarayan's action choreography was adequate, especially for the pre-climax fight sequence and for the chasing sequences, which were shot in many real locations. T.Muthuraj's art direction also had lesser importance to the script, since bulk of the movie's portions were shot in real locations. Yet, the minor detailing in the protagonist's apartment, the church wedding scenario and etc deserves appreciation. Raja Mohammed's editing was very much linear, and that helped the flow of the story, so that the screenplay could be straightforward in fashion and easy to understand for the common folks. S.R Kathir's cinematography techniques were effective for the script's demands and needs. His works are very simple and there's nothing fancy about it, which gives the film a realistic look. Also, his camera movements and top-angle shots for the chase sequences, add more zing to the narration.
Natarajan Sankaran's musical score was passable. The melodious "July Madham" was picturized against a chase sequence between Naren, Arulnithi and Bindhu Madhavi, which has interspersing of montages shots of Arulnithi and Ashrita. "Moonu Kodi" is the next chase sequence, this time featuring all three main leads and was mostly shot on rooftops of high-rise apartments and narrow back-lanes. "Bachelor Enakke" plays when the end credits roll. The four theme tracks, "Breeze-African", "Marriage", "Storm-Indian" and "Theme Thunder (Trance)" - the title track, plays throughout the film and at important placements, and also serves as the basis for the background score. Natarajan Sankaran is capable of better musical deliveries, and hope he improves his background score.
Chimbu Deven always had a penchant for unique concepts for each of his film, and in 'Oru Kanniyum Moonu Kalavanikalum' its about the importance of time passages. Chimbu Deven starts the film with a quote from the Holy Bible regarding time, and what we get is a palate of fantasy, reality, sci-fi, and myth. Chimbu Deven's tells us that each minute dictates its own course of fate for each human being, and how one's life can alter by the slightest of time change and various minute elements, omnipresent around us. His screenplay narration is Chimbu Deven's example for the concept that he conveys. Chimbu Deven's quirkiness in writing is evident, with all the minute detailing he gives for many of the minor characters, for example a psychotic inspector's penchant for kid's magazine, the colony secretary's affair and etc. These small details adds the fun element for the script. But the screenplay slowly turns out to be more tedious, when the chain of events are repeated twice, but with different repercussions, since each episode starts a minute later than the previous. The gags are not super exciting or rip-roaring fun, which makes us feel exhausted by the time, the 'real' climax, climaxes ! Also, the concept was exaggerated and its nearly impossible to believe that everyone's life would change just by a minute or two. Nevertheless, Chimbu Deven's dialogues are fun and humorous, especially those mouthed by K.Bagavathi Perumal. Not to forget, he should be also appreciated for his smart writing for minor sequences, such as the various stages of watermelon being cut, in each chronological timeline. Chimbu Deven has credited Tom Tykwer's German classic 'Run Lola Run', Akira Kurosawa's Japanese classic 'Rashomon', Kamal Hassan's 'Virumaandi' and etc as his inspiration. It should be noted that, the film's concept has similarities with Jake Gyllenhaal's 2011 techno-thriller, 'Source Code'.
'Oru Kanniyum Moonu Kalavanikalum' - An intelligent concept, a simple story-line and some fun gags in between !
Ratings: 2.75/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
Director S.M Vasanth, known for his critically acclaimed hits such as 'Keladi Kanmani', 'Aasai', 'Nearukku Ner' and etc is back after a long 6 years absence, with 'Satham Podathey' being his last release. A unique compilation of artistes, S.M Vasanth tried to weave three different story-lines, based on three couples, from three different landscape backdrops. How did all three story-lines merge or complement each other, is what we are looking for. So, is it worth a shot ?
Veteran Arjun, looks very fresh and shines in the role of a swimming coach. His body language and composed dialogue deliveries, are indicators of his vast experience. One sincerely hopes, that Arjun continues to choose such films henceforth and stop continuing mindless action 'masala' scripts. Cheran breezed through his role but is not entirely convincing as a foreign-returned. Also, its Cheran who has the lesser number of screen time among the heroes. Vemal, struggles as a smooth-talking charmer and its clearly evident that he is finding it hard to shake off the rural/town guy image, for which he is known for. Muktha Bhanu had the best of the female roles, and kudos to her for stealing the show, with her nuanced performance. Debutante Lasini is not bad, but has a long way to go, as her expressions were still not so organic and natural. The other debutante, Surveen Chawla tries her best to fit into the role of Arjun's student cum lover, but she misses her mark. The rest of the cast such as Thambi Ramaiah, Appukutty, Sathyan, Naren, John Vijay, Ravi Raghavendar, Shanthi Williams, Bosskey, Sivakumar, Chandramohan, Rajan and etc were functional.
The technical department of the film, dished out just above average works, except for the soundtracks. Sathya N.J's costume designing was apt, as each characters looked their part, but Vemal's look could have been altered for the better. Magi's art direction was neat, as most of the scenes were canned in real locations and the props matched the backdrops, showcased in the respective story-lines. The editing was handled by S.N Fazil and S.M Vasanth together, and probably both minds did not gel well during the cutting process. The film looked very choppy, with loose hangings and non-cohesion in the transition from one scene to the other. Bhojan K.Dinesh's cinematography work was very good and he captures the mood of each the three distinctive backdrops of hillside, coastline and city landscapes, very well. But the framing and close-ups could have been better.
S.M Vasanth's films always had fantastic soundtracks, and 'Moondru Per Moondru Kaadhal' is no exception either. This film is probably one of Yuvan Shankar Raja's best works in recent times, and nearly all the songs were fantastically scored and well mastered. Brilliant work, Yuvan ! But sadly, the song picturization quality was not up to the standards of the soundtrack. "Kaadhal Endhan Kaadhal" is a haunting, yet peppy number which comes during the opening credit sequence, with the backdrop of the Kovai sea and also appears in a montage sequence during the Cheran-Bhanu episode. "Unakkaagave Uyir" is an experimental dub-step type song, and was picturized on the Vemal-Lasini pair, also in montages. Lasini was shot beautifully by Bhojan, with good framing sense. "Padapadakkudhu" also appears during the Vemal-Lasini episode, but was shot on Robert and Blaaze making cameo appearances as 'Sanjay Ramasamy' and 'Sivaji The Boss' wannabes. The song had simple set work of light bulbs and dim-lighting for the backdrop. "Aaha Kaadhal" is a montage song, shot on Bhanu falling for Cheran and was mostly shot along the coastal lines of Kovai. "Mazhai Mazhai" was shot on Arjun and Surveen, who was in scanty sarees. The song was lacks any imagination and was shot in and around Binny Mills. "Stop The Paattu" was shot on a food court premise of a business complex and had Ritvik Varun, the son of S.M Vasanth, making a cameo. Ritvik does dance well, but is too camera conscious and looks uncomfortable in performing in front of the camera. The background score is handled by Tubby-Parik and is average, though most of the soundtrack is inspired from the songs. Not up to the expertise of Yuvan, but it was still functional.
S.M Vasanth should be appreciated for coming up with decent and believable characters and dilemmas faced by the characters. But what leaves a lot to be desired, was a proper screenplay ! Shankar Raman and S.M Vasanth's joint screenplay-writing was very badly structured and there's no proper connectivity between each story-lines. The pace was very lackadaisical in nature and the film moves in a very tepid manner. Though the songs were good, they were ill-fitting for the screenplay and as said before, poorly picturized. The message is something laudable, but falls flat and the writing is lethargic. Dialogues were pretty archaic, if you take into the current standards and tastes of the younger lot, but there were some sparkles, here and there. But still, kudos to S.M Vasanth for not thrusting unnecessary double entendres and glamor into the screenplay.
'Moondru Per Moondru Kaadhal' - definitely not on par with S.M Vasanth's earlier films. And definitely not the cup of tea of the present youngsters !
Ratings: 2.25/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
'Neethane En Ponvasantham' a beautifully-titled movie, is one of the most expected films of the year, thanks to the expectations which bounds to arise when the director, Gautham Vasudev Menon comes back to his comfort zone, that is love stories. Added to that, the blockbuster hit of the soundtrack, scored none other than the genius, 'Isaignani' Ilaiyaraaja, elevated the film's expectations several notches higher, since the score was one of the best to come out from Raaja sir's stables. With excellent technicians and gorgeous looking casts, this film had all the necessary elements to score at the box-office.
Jiiva has delivered a refreshing and thumping performance as the cool, casual and handsome chap. His dialogue delivery and body language were so precisely, he embodies the character Varun Krishnan, perfectly. The spontaneous reactions and composed expressions, are the highlights of his character, though he was not entirely convincing as a school-boy, looks and physique, wise. Samantha Ruth Prabhu, was simply gorgeous in the film, and she too delivers a fantastic performance as Nithya Vasudevan. Her transition from a teenage 'angel' to a beautiful woman, looks and mentality/behavior wise, was smoothly handled by her. Its an advantage certainly for Samantha to dub in her own voice, which gives an authentic feel to her character. With more such roles, she could hone her acting skills even more, and she is definitely a good performer, in waiting. Jiiva and Samantha, literally lived and breathed as Varun and Nithya. Kudos to both of them. Santhanam was absolutely rib-tickling and smashing in his comedy portions. Though his usual teasing and double entendre dialogues were there, it was presented in a different style, which makes him look fresh. His scenes with debutante Vidyullekha Raman, parodying 'Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya' was a scream, with 'VTV' Ganesh, making a surprise cameo !! Ravi Raghavendra, Ravi Prakash, Sriranjani, Anupama Kumar, Christine Thambuswamy and etc were very apt for the film, and incorporated mannerisms and body language of typical Gautham Vasudev Menon's film characters.
The core of Gautham's favourite technicians are present in this film as well. First off, M.Ravi's stills, especially for the promotional posters, were beautiful and chic. Nalini Sriram's costume designing was a pleasant to the eyes of the viewers. The lead pair was looking simply ravishing, especially Samantha (Gautham's heroines are always portrayed beautifully). Rajeevan's art work was neat and in-tune with the script. The simple but wonderful sets for the songs, and the props for the plot settings, were very original and appropriate. Anthony was at his best as usual, with no gimmicks and tricks in the editing department. His work in the songs, especially the smooth transition from one scene to the other, was class. The cinematography was catchy, with correct color tones and appropriate angles for the important scenes. The pre-interval, lengthy scene, was shot well, capturing the emotional outbursts and body language of the lead pair. It was nearly impossible to differentiate the works of the three cinematographers who worked in the film but, S.R Kadhir, M.S Prabhu and Om Prakash, all share the credit for a neatly and aesthetically shot film.
'Isaignani' Ilaiyaraaja comes up with a beautiful and heavenly soundtrack. Most of the songs are gems in their own respective genres, but the instrumentation was fresh from the genius. Gautham Vasudev Menon, utilized Ilaiyaraaja extremely well, and the latter produced a wonderful, wonderful album which was recorded and mastered at the Angel Studios, England for which Anglo-Indian Music Productions was hired, providing singers, an 108-piece orchestra and percussion. "Pudikile Maamu" a half rock-half folk song, is the introductory song, with Santhanam opening it up, humorously. The dance for this song was stylishly choreographed by debutante Sathish Krishnan. There were plenty of cut-shots and it was precisely edited by Anthony, with good camera angles. "Vaanam Mella" is a flashback song, rewinding the past of the lead pair and a different color tone was used for the song, which was stretched for a longer duration. The pick of the lot, the melodious, "Saayndhu Saayndhu" was perfectly composed for the situation. It was placed when the love was proposed by the lead pair to each other by each other. This one too, has plenty of cut-shots and montages and smoothly edited by Anthony and some gorgeous art work by Rajeevan. "Mudhal Murai" is a situational song, showing the agony of the heroine living a lonely life without the romances of the hero. The song used montages and has plenty of close-ups of the heroine, but it sounds too heavy for the flow of the script. "Kaatrai Konjam", another situational song, highlights the travel journey of the hero in meeting the heroine after a gap. Actor Nani makes a smart cameo, in this song. "Ennodu Vaa Vaa", has some good camera movements and highlights the hero trying to woo back the heroine, and is also another situational song. "Pengal Endral" is a high-octane pathos song, showcasing the painful break-up of the lead pair, in montage sequences. "Satru Munbu", the final song, beautifully fits into the script and shows the sorry state of the heroine, fearing for the worst. This song too was stretched for the entire climax, portion. Ilaiyaraaja's background scoring is legendary and needs no specific mention, but here the magical touch was missing, since part of the songs were used sparingly as background score and dialogues taking more prominence, where Ilaiyaraaja, keeps everything else, muted.
Gautham Vasudev Menon has collaborated with Reshma Ghatala, in regards to the story, screenplay and dialogues of the film, and the pair has produced an excellently written script. The script was minutely observed and broken down, casually laid out, has in-depth and detailed dialogues. This is definitely Gautham's most maturely written love story, so far. He has taken off from where he left in 'Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa'. The complexities of the nitty-gritty details of love affair and arguments between the love couple, were explicitly and articulately portrayed. Gautham's success starts from the sketching of his characters. They all look familiar, just like any other individuals next door, but to shape them up in just pure writing, is an extraordinary feat. The lead pair has depth in their characterizations and look realistic, believable, and contemporary, which makes it relatable for any young, urban folks out there. The imperfections, the egoism, the hustle and tussle, the pressure, the disappointments, joy, sorrow, and the powerful, deep love between the lead characters, were just beautifully portrayed. Dialogues are extremely nuanced, and measured, smartly written but are of the heavy-duty category. And also, Gautham smartly makes sure that the names of the lead pair are mentioned constantly throughout the film, which convinces our minds to register those characters as Varun and Nithya, instead of just Jiiva and Samantha. The love portrayed here is more organic and natural since, it has a beginning from childhood and we see it develop through their teens and early adulthood. All these does not stop only with the characters of the lead pair, but also extends to the supporting characters, especially to family members of the hero. However, the pace of the film suffers, especially in the climax, which moves in a leisurely pace, which can test the patience of many viewers.
'Neethane En Ponvasantham' is not just another love story from Gautham, but a complete dissection of the love relationship between a man and a woman, who are filled with imperfections, but are expected to behave favorably towards each other. A definite cult-status worthy film in a decade or two and a classic in the romance genre in Tamizh cinema.
Ratings: 3/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
"Kadhalil Sodhappuvadhu Eppadi", a 10-minutes short film made by Balaji Mohan was a huge hit on social networking sites once it went viral, has now been made into an 2-hour feature film by the same man. It brings back Siddarth into Tamizh cinema after his last release, the lame "180-Rules Kidaiyaathu". What made the short film go viral, was the relevant theme of love failures among college going youths but making it into a feature film is a different ball game and with the aid of Nirav Shah and Siddarth as producers, Balaji Mohan is sure one lucky, chap.
What makes the film appealing is the perfect, youthful casting. Siddarth as the college kid who always fumbles in love was very apt and thanks to his young looks and suitable pitiable face, was the perfect choice. Since he has experience in his side, he manipulates his emotions well and also his voice modulation, especially in scenes which he has to render his dialogues facing only the camera. Natural and flair, job well done by Siddarth. Amala Paul, was neat and decent and was very much natural as the middle class college kid. A big strength to her character is Deepa Venkat's dubbing as the voice of her character, which was near perfect. Added to that, her sweet looks complemented Parvathi, her character. Besides that all the additional characters were very much natural, from Suresh, Ravi Raghavendar, Sriranjani and etc. A special mention must be made of the actors playing friends of Siddarth, retained from the short-film. They were very good with their portrayal and do manage to bring down the roof with their antics. Especially the chubby guy. He was a scream with his comedy timing and dialogue delivery. Hope to see more of him.
Technically, the film carries good work by the crew. Ramya Ananthi's costumes were very lively and apt. Her costumes for both the lead pairs were colorful and complemented their good looks and it was pleasing to the eyes of the audiences. T.S Suresh's editing was neat and crisp keeping the duration of the film to just above 2 hours and A.R Mohan's art direction, especially the interiors of the lead characters' homes and campus classrooms were well done. But the biggest asset to the film is Nirav Shah's fresh cinematography. The angles, movements in song picturizations all were big boost to the film keeping the frames breezy and fresh, throughout.S.Thaman's music was in-tune with the mood of the film, being lighthearted and fun. "Parvathi Parvathi" and "Aanantha Jaladhosham" were well choreographed by Chinna Prakash and Gayathri Raguram, especially in the opening bits. Both songs were quirky and fun with pleasing cinematography. "Azhaipaaya Azhaipaaya" and "Thavarugal" were done in montages and followed the mood of the script. Well written by Madhan Karky.
Balaji Mohan's initial success with the short film was the quirky and fun manner in the way he handled the script, but he managed it very well in converting it into a feature film. He retained most of the scenes incorporated in the short film. Though it can be appealing to first time watchers, film buffs who are aware of the short film, may find it less interesting to see the same scenes once again, with the same camera angles, gimmicks and even the names of the characters as well! That could have been avoided. But that doesn't stop one from enjoying the film. Its a fresh take on the goof ups committed by youths in their love lives and Balaji's dialogues are additional strength to the film, especially when it comes to one-liners. His depiction of how men and women vary in particular situations were spot on, especially the coffee house scene, where the lead characters were shown thinking in diametrically opposite ways! Also it is nice to see a film without negative characters which is a rarity nowadays in Tamizh cinema. There is a subtle message woven into the script but Balaji takes his own sweet time to present it which can make certain audience anxious to see some serious story telling in the script. Not only the lead characters were contemporary in their approaches, but even the sub-characters, too were very urbane and cool, which helps the film from not being jolted unnecessarily.
"Kadhalil Sodhappuvadhu Eppadi" is a very aptly titled, well made time-pass film, keeping in mind the current issues involving youths in love, aided with well written script/dialogues and also some with decent technical output. Hope Balaji Mohan's work will be an inspiration for more small time short-film directors to come up with even better scripts and feature films.
Ratings: 3/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
