Debutante director Shree, a former associate of Shankar during the 'Endhiran' days, has joined hands with some of his mates from the 'Endhiran' stable and comes out with 'Damaal Dumeel'. Touted to be a neo-noir genre or black comedy with some dashes of comedy, it features lesser known artistes such as Vaibhav and Remya Nambeesan as the main leads. Can Shree come up with a crackling product, befitting of the title ?
Vaibhav carries the whole film on his shoulders, because the plot is woven around him. He looks good, enacts well, but the screen presence is missing and he doesn't stand out, especially during the most crucial sequences. A better characterization and vision from the director could have brought out a more enthralling performance from him. Remya Nambeesan has nothing much to do, and is just adequate enough. Kota Srinivasa Rao, keeps our funny bones tickled, with some good comic timing and expressions and his screen presence, is what actually keeps our attention towards the film. The veteran just breezed through the role, yet left his mark. The same cannot be said about Sayaji Shinde, though. His character is of equal importance with Kota's, but the characterization was weak, and his role suffered from poor detailing. Charlie, Venkat, Manobala and a host of newcomers and junior artistes, make up the rest of the small cast.
The film carries some decent technical outputs from the technical crew. Action choreography is handled by G, and his stunt sequences are kept simple and sufficient for the need of the script. The altercations between Vaibhav and the other artistes, taking place in the protagonist's apartment, were realistically staged. K.Arusamy's art direction was neat, especially with the interior works of the protagonist's apartment setting, as well as with the climax paint factory premise. The vision was simple, yet well pulled-off. Editing by Paramesh Krishna was adequate, and he has kept the running time to less than 2 hours. Some of the visual splits, which he employs in the second half, is interesting. Cinematography by A.M Edwin Sakay, was neat and purposeful. The camera movements and the angles used by the cinematographer was simple, yet it did the job of conveying the story's mood and style.
S.S Thaman's soundtrack is good and fits the movie's flow. "Saga Saga" is the opening number and acts as the introductory song of the lead pair. The song was shot in a nightclub, which had all the atypical dark shots, with different lighting. Deepika Kamaiah makes a cameo in this song. The titular track, "Dumeel" is a situational song, featuring montages of Vaibhav, Kota Srinivasa Rao and Sayaji Shinde, trying to figure out plans and 'tactics'. The editing by Paramesh Krishna for this particular song was slick. "Pogadhe Pogadhe", sung by Remya herself, is a bit-song, highlighting an unfortunate incident between the lead pair. "Odi Odi" appears in the climax, and is also a situational song, with some visual split-ups, well thought by the director and executed by the editor. The "Damaal Dumeel" theme music, appears sporadically, throughout the duration of the film. S.S Thaman's background score was good too, especially for the crucial 'twist-and-turn' scenes. Overall, this film would have been a walk in the park for S.S Thaman.
For a first time filmmaker, Shree has some clever ideas, which he has tried to execute well. Unfortunately, the film is riddled with inconsistencies with the scripting and writing. The dialogues by Shree, was just bland and unexciting, which should not be the case in a black comedy. Especially, when you had some good films from the same genre, with excellent dialogues (Soodhu Kavvum & Moodar Koodam). The lifestyle and issues faced by the IT-based employees, were well presented, though and Shree can be commended for that, as well as for not dragging the screenplay with unnecessary sequences. The screenplay was just apt and the director immediately starts off the film, based on the crux of his plot. As mentioned earlier, the artistes suffered due to poor characterizations, wherein their characters lacked the depth and detailing needed, which makes it almost impossible for us to empathize with the lead pair. There is no organic development in the story-line, and everything happens so quickly, without any rational quotient to it. There are plenty of blatant loopholes and glaring gaps in the plot, which were not addressed by the director. The ending was pretty much too simple, which makes all the earlier proceedings to just go kaput, for no reasons. The comedy sequences too, did not work out well, apart from those, which features Kota Srinivasa Rao. Conclusion, 'Damaal Dumeel' would have worked out fine, if this was a short film.
'Damaal Dumeel' - Tame, celebratory 'shoot-out' !
Ratings: 2.5/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
'Pizza', an uniquely titled film, has been evoking interests among Tamizh cinema audiences for its refreshing package and interesting knot by the debutante director, Karthik Subbaraj, a former contestant of 'Naalaiya Iyakkunar' series, which involves the supernatural element. Tamizh cinema has a mediocre record when it comes to the horror genre, but well-made films such as 'Eeram' and 'Yaavarum Nalam', gave hopes for the horror-loving folks. Produced by C.V Kumar who churned 'Attakathi' before this has retained the entire team which worked in 'Attakathi' sans the director ! So, is this movie worth the watch ?
Vijay Sethupathi's ticket to the bigger league in Tamizh cinema is this film, and he has taken his chance very well. A very good performance, it must have been quite arduous for him to perform alone in the frames and he pulls it off, effortlessly. Watch him being vulnerable and frightened in the bungalow scenes ! With more challenging projects, this man will definitely climb the ladder of fame and success in Tamizh cinema. Remya Nambeesan, plays a girl-next-door role with modern approaches and she does her part quite well, ably assisting Vijay Sethupathi. The entire supporting cast including Naren, Karuna, Jayakumar, Simha, Pooja, paint artist Veera Santhanam, Kavithasri were very realistic in their portrayals.
Karthik Subbaraj should be applauded for capitalizing the talents of fantastic technicians. The sound designing, which is a very integral part in a horror genre, was brilliantly done with Vishnu Govind and Raja Krishnan doing the mixing and designing. But the main attraction of the sound designing, was the incorporation of Studio 301 Inc, which is based in Australia and also the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. The contributions of Sandro Costantino, Phil Hartl, a master violinist, and Leon Zervos, the sound mastering engineer, whom, have several Oscar and BAFTA nominations as well as several Grammy awards to their credits, that too on a 7.1 surround sound system ! Dhilip Subbarayan's stunt scenes, be it the one shot in the bungalow or on the street-side was very realistic and natural. T.Ramalingam's art work was very neat and contemporary, be it the interiors of the bungalow house or the small-spaced quarters of the lead pair. Leo John Paul's editing is a big asset to the film, because he keeps the screenplay riveting and suspenseful. The transition during the dark, haunted portions were smooth and non-disruptive to the flow of the film. Gopi Amarnath's cinematography was wonderful. His framing for the romance portions were very subtle in nature, but his real talent was evident during the haunted portions, which has no lighting except from the emanated from the torchlight ! Also, the camera movement was smooth and not dizzying, which was a relief for the viewers. Great work by Gopi !
Santhosh Narayanan, who shot to fame with 'Attakathi' tries different genres of music in this film. "Mogathirai", a very blues type of song was well picturized, capturing the romantic moments of the lead pair, and the framing of the camera by Gopi Amarnath during the rain portions were beautiful, with slow motion technique. "Rathiri" and "Engo Odugindrai" were used more of like a background score, with the former appearing during the first half and the latter during the climax. 'Gaana' Bala pulls of a song which is total alien to him, genre-wise which has a very jazz and blues feel to it, which is titled "Dhinakku". The song features as a ringtone in the film and is also played during the end-credits. The background score was very subtle and fresh from Santhosh Narayanan and he efficiently uses the creepy silence factor during the scary portions.
Karthik Subbaraj's, screenplay was a little slow during the first half, which takes its time to introduce the viewers, to the characters and their dilemmas. But the sequences were penned in an interesting manner, with subtle comic situations and pleasant romance scenes. But he showed his talent and capacity in handling the scary portions very, very well and the shocking climax portion, which has a major twist for the audience, is a true sucker punch ! Brilliant screenplay writing by Karthik !! Though the story, written together with Prasad Ramar, was very simple, but the screenplay was very smartly written by Karthik, which brings a sigh of relief and also smile to the viewers ! The chemistry between the lead pair though, lacks the fire in it and the overall movie leaves a short-film like feel to the viewers, but these are just minor weaknesses in the film, which can be overlooked.
'Pizza' is definitely a must-watch for the audiences and Karthik Subbaraj is a talent to look out for !! The smart screenplay leaves us guessing in the first half, which leads us to a relieving but shocking climax ! Welcome to Tamizh cinema, Karthik Subbaraj !!
Ratings: 3.5/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
