MADRAS MOVIE REVIEW

'Attakathi' fame Pa.Ranjith is back with his second venture and its again for K.E Gnanavel Raja's Studio Green. The cartoonist, who was an associate of Venkat Prabhu has chosen North Chennai as his base and the people and conflict surrounding them as his theme. The bone of contention is intriguingly a wall and how people's lives are intertwined due to the wall's importance to this particular society. Its a very important film for Karthi, who needs to make a firm comeback for a series of duds. Did 'Madras' charm us ?

For Karthi, this film is definitely a big sigh of relief, because he has delivered and exceptional performance. It stands right next to his 'Paruthi Veeran' in terms of quality and 'Naan Mahaan Alla' in terms of comparison. He has literally lived and breathed as Kaali and its refreshing to see him gel with the other artistes and doesn't stand out as an exaggerated protagonist. The conveyance of emotions through his facial expressions and eye movements, were brilliant. Fantastic comeback, Karthi ! Mallu girl, Catherine Tresa Alexander, known for her Telugu films, makes her Tamizh debut and she too makes a good impression with an adequate performance, personal appearance and good lip-sync, which makes her character look very belieavable. Kalaiarasan as Anbu, who has an equal amount of space as Karthi's, is simply riveting and terrific in his performance. 'Madras's is definitely a feather in the cap, for this chap. An absolute dynamite ! There's a battalion of theater artistes who were so natural and flawless in their performances, such as Hari, who played the lunatic Johnny, Ritwika as Mary, Rama as Kaali's mother, Vinod as Maari, Nandakumar as Kannan, Ilavarasan, Jaya Rao, Aadhi, Vijesh, Powell and etc. Bang on performance from the entire cast !

K.Selvam's costume designing was very apt and realistic and was in sync with the North Chennai milieu and also to each character's unique identities and personalities. Sound designing by Anthony B.J Ruban must be appreciated for his brilliant work. The action sequences were brilliantly handled and the sequences which had big crowds, were very well designed. Action choreography is handled Anbariv duo, and their stunt sequences were top-notch. Though the violence is heavy, but it was handled very effectively and looked very authentic. The pre-interval chase and fight sequence was so organic, it stuns you at some moments. Great work ! Tha.Ramalingam is in charge of art direction and his minute detailing for the real-life locations were of paramount importance. Being an artist, his work created the right ambiance and maintained the gloomy yet earthy look, throughout the film. The wall paintings are the highlights of the art direction department ! The film works big time, also due to the near-flawless editing by Praveen K.L. The action sequences were very finely edited and the final output was remarkable. He keeps the film's pace even and there's absolutely no jerks in the screenplay. The occasional songs in the second half and some minor action sequences, do slow down the film a little, but such action dramas need such lags, to keep the momentum smooth. Murali.G's cinematography is a major plus point for the film. The urbane mood of North Chennai was brought to the silver-screen so beautifully. The various locations such as Vyasarpadi, Royapuram, Perambur, Jamalia, Sathyamoorthy Nagar and Ram Nagar areas, were very cleverly put together and shown as a single location and the multiple top-angles helped to achieve the purpose. The night effect shots are the highlights of Murali.G's work. The lighting and color tone delivered the pulsating mood, very well. 

Santhosh Narayanan continues to excel with each film and with Pa.Ranjith, he has managed to forge a good combo. The musical score itself breathes as another character in the film. The title track "Madras" gives great energy to the screenplay and is the introductory song of all the major characters of the film. The entire lifestyle of the North Chennai people was well captured for this song. "Kaakidha Kappal" is a rather amusing but pathos number, which had unique choreography from Sathish. The song is a sort of heart-break song for the lead protagonist and how it affects his normal life, with plenty of montages shot on Karthi. "Irandhidavaa" features Gana Bala in a cameo appearance and is a situational song, which has a funeral backdrop. The emotional intensity in this song, leaves us a mark on the audience. "Naan Nee" is a melodious love track, which has montages of Karthi and Catherine Tresa Alexander, which had other locations of the Chennai city such as beaches and posh upmarket areas, in its montage sequence. "Aagayam Theepiditha" follows quickly and has montages of Karthi trying to woo back Catherine Tresa Alexander, after a major dispute between them. Santhosh Narayanan's multitude theme tracks such as "Kaali Love Theme" and "Suvar Theme" injects life into the script and serve as great background score. The background score is an experience on its own, and please do give notice for Santhosh Narayanan's excellent work, which had so many dimensions and variations. Hats off, Santhosh !

As mentioned earlier, the bone of contention in this story is a single wall, and though it might sound silly and amateurish, the deep, underlying political rivalry behind that wall, is the crux of 'Madras'. The wall politicking creates a cascading effect on the characters, who belongs to the opposite political factions. What's incredible in Pa.Ranjith's script writing and with his directorial execution, is the astuteness of the issue and the attention to detail in presenting the story, in an convincing manner. What looks very simple from the outset, the story reveals the hidden complexities of the events and situations of faced by the people belonging to such areas. Pa.Ranjith's screenplay has the gripping element needed for such high-voltage drama genre and it never veers off into unwanted territories. Pa.Ranjith, keeps it tight and simple and its very evident from the very first scenes, where the director himself would give the introduction of the characters and the theme, with a voice-over. The composition of his shots and how he presents each scene is very unique yet compelling. Friendship, love, hate, anger, betrayal, revenge and all sorts of emotions were well handled by Pa.Ranjith and he infuses each emotions through the various characters, present in the film. His character designing is top-notch and the final message delivered, deserves special mention. 'Madras' is definitely a very, top-class cinema from Pa.Ranjith and it works big time. Take a bow Pa.Ranjith, you have truly arrived !

'Madras' - An eye-opening trip to North Chennai !


Ratings: 3.25/5 STARS

BY:TAMIL

JIGARTHANDA MOVIE REVIEW

Listed as one of the most eagerly expected Indian film of 2014 by Forbes India Magazine, the long awaited second film of Karthik Subbaraj gets released ! 'Jigarthanda' is said to be the first script of Karthik Subbaraj and eventually it was 'Pizza' which got made first. With a fantastic cast and crew, can Karthik justify all the expectations created and fulfill the expectations of Tamizh film connoisseurs ?

Siddharth is a fantastic choice by Karthik for the lead role, and he is ultra-convincing with his performance. As the meek and opportunistic budding film director, he was just very good with his composed expression and nonchalant acting. His dialogue delivery too was excellent and he nailed his character to perfection. Lakshmi Menon was adequate and carries a role with a morally ambiguous nature, very comfortably. She has limited scenes, but she impresses in where ever she gets her space. Karunakaran rocks with his comic timing and the informal and casual approach to his role, works very well. His antics in the second half are just pure rip-roaring comedy. A super star comedy artiste, in the making ! But the film definitely belongs to Bobby Simhaa, who was just simply terrific as the antagonist 'Assault' Sethu. Right from his deadly & electrifying introductory scene, he was simply a class act and made complete justice to the role and belief of Karthik Subbaraj for casting him. This is definitely a lifetime performance from Bobby Simhaa and one should expect a shower of awards for his acting, in the coming year. Take a bow Bobby Simhaa, you have truly arrived ! The film has a big cast which includes Ramachandran Durairaj, Naren, Guru Somasundaram, Soundara Rajan, Ambika, Sangili Murugan, Delhi Ganesh, Vinodhini, 'Munnar' Ramesh, Bala Singh, Rajkumar, Bagavathi Perumal, Sudha, Ajay Rathnam and etc and most of them were just perfect for their roles. There are interesting cameos from Nassar, Vijay Sethupathi, Nalan Kumarasamy and Vetrimaaran. Do not miss the awesome cameo sequences of Vijay Sethupathi, especially !

Natraj and Satya takes the responsibility for costume designing and they have done a very good job. The designing for Siddharth and Bobby Simhaa's costumes are noteworthy and highlighted their lifestyles, perfectly. Action choreography is handled by 'Billa' Jagan and this is one of his best works so far. There are no heavy action blocks with elaborate stunt movements, but the neatly executed action scenes, do deserve some mention. The action scenes drip with heavy violence, but they are essentials to such scripts and fulfills the demands of the story. Raju is in charge of art direction and though most of the film was shot in live locations, Raju's detailing work for the interiors of the Madurai homes, needs to be mentioned. The detailing for Karunakaran and Bobby Simhaa's home setting stands out in the first half, and the shooting spot setting for the second half were brilliant. Vivek Harshan's editing was very neatly done, and the connectivity between each sequences were just smooth, in spite of the rough and rugged nature of the sequences. Yet, he could have trimmed the film, especially in the second half which takes its own sweet time to conclude. Cinematography is by Hariharan, who was credited as Gavemic U Ary in the film. His work elevates the film's screenplay to the next level and he his outdoor and night shots, especially the rain sequence just before the intermission, was brilliant ! His lighting and color tone for the indoor shots, deserves special mention as well. The film is littered with brilliant compositions, camera movements and framing by Gavemic U Ary, and he is definitely a top class material in Tamizh cinema ! Vishnu Govind and Sree Sankar's sound effects and design work was top-notch. Their work stood out in scenes which had no background score and the action sequences bears their hallmark.

Santhosh Narayanan continues his trailblazing form and once again proves that he is a wonderful talent. Most of the songs are played in the background and each one of them aptly complements the nature of the script. "Ding Dong" has montages of Siddharth and Karunakaran tracking Bobby Simhaa and serves as another perfect setting to showcase Simhaa's character's antagonistic nature. The one particular action block involving a car, has fantastic lighting work from Gavemic and an even more fantastic editing by Vivek Harshan ! "Kannamma" was shot on Siddharth and Lakshmi Menon and has montages of them getting together in love. "Baby" is a fun song which appears twice in the film and serves as a background song. "Paandi Naatu" is the only choreographed song in the film and it was shot in a deep and water drained well and had all the lead characters performing. The lighting by Gavemic was very good for this particular song and finally "Jigar" plays during the end credits. Santhosh Narayanan's background score elevates the script to another step up and the vibrant nature of his work complements the screenplay very well. The swag and quirkiness element in the background score, adds more fun quotient to the film. Way to go, Santhosh Narayanan !

What works for us in the film, is the fantastic characterization of the lead artistes and the extraction of performance from them by Karthik Subbaraj. But what's strikingly good in the film, is the quality of writing and the transfer of the output from a bounded script to a feature film. The unabashed nature of Karthik Subbaraj's script and dialogue writing deserves applause. The film does not fit into any specific genre, but still its highly entertaining with an equal amount of intelligent artistry, combining very well. The film has wonderful stretches of comedy portions and all of them are fresh, innovative, quirky yet splendidly humorous ! Also, one should take note of Karthik Subbaraj's smart writing where he cleverly insert's elements of meta-cinema and it gels well with the script's original story-line. Karthik Subbaraj makes a scathing mockery of the practices and people of current Tamizh cinema, in a very succinct manner. Karthik Subbaraj should also be applauded for his uninterrupted screenplay, though there are non-linear narration used in the film. What may irk some film-buffs is the changeover of the film's purported genre in the second half. The first half was all drama in its full glory but the second half was more of like a black comedy/dark humor satire. The transformation of Bobby Simhaa's character paved the way for the comedy quotient in the second half, but the necessity for such a changeover for that character is definitely a question mark, indeed with some cinematic liberties taken. Also, the basic plot and idea of the film has a striking similarity with the critically acclaimed 2006 Korean neo-noir gangster flick, 'A Dirty Carnival', directed by Yoo Ha. Nevertheless, 'Jigarthanda' is still one of the best films to come out in 2014 and Karthik Subbaraj's artistry and craftsmanship, must be appreciated.

'Jigarthanda' - A sip too hard to resist !


Ratings: 3.5/5 STARS

BY:TAMIL

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

PIZZA - II: VILLA MOVIE REVIEW

A trend-setter in 2012, Karthik Subbaraj's 'Pizza' won the fans and critics alike, and its no surprise that the producers want to cash in on its name, by turning it into a franchise. 'Pizza - II : Villa' is directed by newcomer Deepan Chakravarthy, and please make no bones about it, it is definitely not a direct sequel to 'Pizza'. Then what else it could be ? The namesake, purely for profitable purpose ? One has to think about it after watching the film, rather than making assumptions before a viewing.

Ashok Selvan, who made his debut in 'Soodhu Kavvum' plays the lead role here for the very first time. Though he looks confident, the acting was not exceptional, and definitely there were plenty of room for improvement. His expressions could have been better and more intensity in his portrayal would have done great justice to the role. Still, Ashok tries his best to give you the 'writer-look' and with his nearly apt body language. Sanchita Shetty, performs an extension of sort of her 'Soodhu Kavvum' performance, minus the humor. The pair has no proper chemistry between them and the romance sequences, actually fell flat. Though the lead pair has rendered their best, its still an injustice to the potential of the script and scope of acting. Keep improving, folks ! The rest of the cast such as Nassar, Kaali, Jayakumar, Vegan Rajesh, Veera Santhanam, 'Pizza' Venkatesh, 'Boys' Rajan, Ramanathan, Anjali, Aaryan, Sarath, Vinoth, Jith, Ram and etc were adequate in their limited screen timing and presence.

Technically, the film has some very good output from the relatively, young and talented crew of technicians. First of all, congratulations to the sound department for its brilliant work. Arun Seenu with the effects, Vishnu Govind and Sree Sankar dealing with the designing and the experienced M.Gita Gurappa taking care of the Dolby Atmos mixing, the sound engineering is riveting, especially in the second half. Kudos to the sound department ! 'Billa' Jagan handles the action choreography, and whatever action sequences present, were neatly executed. Production design by Maayan Ela's sufficed the needs of the script, though the budget was quite tight. Good detailing work with the props of the villa and also for the interiors of other plot settings available, interiors especially. Leo John Paul should be credited for the tight editing, and ensuring the screenplay is racy, especially with a slow-moving type of story-telling involved. The climax was well put together, though the end could have been little more smoother in scene transitions. The man who the director should be really thankful, is the cinematographer Deepak Kumar Padhy. Deepak's framing, and the quick camera movements in the second half created the perfect mood and feel of the script, added with Maayan's well set ambiance. Deepak, experiments with indoor lighting and he comes out with flying colors, in his attempt. The eerie and chill factor needed was justified by Deepak's work !

Santhosh Narayanan, rocks once again with his musical score. "Kaanum Gnanam" is a perfect soundtrack for this script and was used as the introductory song of the villa, featuring Ashok exploring the indoors of the villa for the first time. The lighting and framing for this song by Deepak, was really good ! "The Villa" and "Varaipadam" are background scores and were well used for the appropriate situations. "Boomiyil" is a melodious number shot on the lead pair, with many montages used for the song. Leo's editing was smooth for this song. "Pa Pa" was shot on Ashok on his venture of fact-finding and also had plenty of montages. Santhosh's background score was fabulous and his contributing to the script, is immense. This man is certain for great heights, provided that he's got talented directors with good scripts.

First of all, kudos to the producer and director for launching the idea of a 'Pizza' franchise. Let's clear the air, first. This is no direct sequel to Karthik Subbaraj's film. The similarity ? Both are thrillers. The difference ? The first installment was a supernatural/horror thriller with a twist, whereas the second is more of a psychological thriller. Its evident from the opening sequences that Deepan Chakravarthy has crafted the script in such a way that, it does not scare or fright you with atypical horror movie tricks. Deepan creates an eerie atmosphere throughout the screenplay and its more about the characters' dilemma and their understanding of what's happening around them. Deepan should be appreciated for his research and scientific explanations about paranormal activities, which are very interesting, in Manikandan.K's dialogues. But there are flaws in the direction, where the extraction of performance from the lead pair is below par, and the intensity needed for such scripts, missing. For some audience, this film can bore you, till the climax is reached. But the director made up for it, with a sucker punch of an ending, which has a promising prospect for a direct sequel. 

'Pizza - II : Villa' is a neatly executed film, but a more matured writing, direction and performance could have done wonders to this flick.


Ratings: 2.75/5 STARS

BY:TAMIL

SOODHU KAVVUM MOVIE REVIEW

The explosion of daringly innovative new directors in Tamizh cinema, continues with another fellow alumnus of "Naalaiya Iyakkunar", Nalan Kumarasamy. Known for his unique style of attempting black/serious comedy, Nalan has teamed up with the potential 'Superstar' of shoe-string budgeted different films, Vijay Sethupathi, for his debut mainstream cinema venture. A bizarre title, talented crew, a visionary young producer in C.V Kumar, and influential distributors in Studio Green, there could be no other better platform for Nalan to launch himself into the stratosphere of Tamizh cinema.

To start off with the cast, where else can we open up other than the man of the moment, Vijay Sethupathi. As Das, the leader of the motley, chaotic 'kednaping' crew, he should be commended for choosing to play a role which is off much senior to his actual age. His paunch and looks have been very well sketched out and he fits into the role as perfectly as a glove. Brilliantly, composed performance ! Perfect body language added more sheen to his acting delivery. This boy's place is definitely cemented and he is for sure here to stay as a poster boy of the unique small-budgeted films. Way to go Vijay !! The pretty and petite Sanchita Shetty, a literal dream girl, was near-perfect with her dialogues and lip-sync but she could work out more on her body language to improve her performance. The other three crazy guys of the 'kednaping' crew were fantastic as well. Simhaa's soft image worked out very well for his character, RJ Ramesh was brilliant with his voice modulation and Ashok Selvan's expressions were spot on. The rest of the cast such as the incorruptible politician M.S Bhaskar, the psychotic silent-killer Yog Japee, the straight-in-the-face Radha Ravi, the scheming son Karunakaran and whacky henchman cum gangster Aruldass, were too good in their roles.

'Soodhu Kavvum' is definitely one of the films to have had all of its technical department, deliver fantastic outputs. Costume designer Shiva did a wonderful job with Vijay Sethupathi's costumes, which gave Vijay the dirty, odd look. Whereas Sanchita was looking very pretty in Reshma's costume designing, which was a necessity as she is an 'dream-girl' after all ! 'Billa' Jagan's stunt choreography was very professionally done, with precision executions, which was a difficult thing to do, since Yog Japee's stunts had changing backdrops ! Not to be left, the bar fight sequence, was also well choreographed. Vijay Adhinathan's art direction was veridical in detailing. The dingy, half-torn, home of the lead character, which was filled with odd props, the moderately decorated house of a minister, the warehouse setting, and also for the "Kaasu Panam" durbar sequence. Everything was bang-on and its laudable achievement, since he has done it, with moderate budget. Leo John Paul's editing was sharp yet smooth. The transition from one event to another was smooth and his hard-work was evident throughout the film, with many cut-shots and montages pierced together into particular sequences. Brilliant work ! B.Dinesh Krishnan's cinematography complemented the mood and feel of the directors vision of his script, which gave the film a neo-noir look. His lighting and angles for many sequences were unique touches, which added more fun element to the script.

One of the exciting talents of the current Tamizh film music arena, Santhosh Narayanan has once again smashed it, with a brilliant album, which has fantastic outputs mastered by Steve Smart, who has contributed his talents to Madonna and Michael Jackson ! The theme music, "Sudden Delight" is literally a sudden delight which is played sporadically along the film's screenplay. "Mama Douser", a zany song sung by Andrea, was picturized on a bar fight, with fantastic lighting and props, with good camera movements, and also re-used again later for a thrilling chase sequence. "Coma Na Come" is a montage filled song, which showcased the 'kednaping' crew with their funny 'kednaping' ordeals. "Kaasu Panam" was fantastically picturized, with Karunakaran in a dream song, which resembled the old Durbar courtyard of ancient Indian kings. 'Gaana' Bala makes a groovy cameo in this song as well. "Sa Ga" is a short situational dream song, which resembled like a lullaby, shot on the lead pair, showcasing Sanchita in an angel-like role, comforting the brutally battered Vijay. "Ellam Kadanthu" is another situational song, showing Karunakaran's rise in politics, picturized in montages. This same song was also picturized separately for promotional purposes, with most of the cast singing the lines, in scenes of the films ! The background score was brilliantly composed, with unique tracks for each characters and they did not overwhelm the flow of the screenplay. 'Soodhu Kavvum' is a milestone in Santhosh's career !

What works for 'Soodhu Kavvum' are the crazy and quirky ideas layered throughout the film, and none of them were simply thrust into the film for the sake of it. A creative script and story (jointly developed by Nalan with Srinivas Kavenayam) is further strengthened by the strong and well-written roles of the main artists. Each of them uniquely varied from each other and has their own sense of comic timing. The congruence of all these characters led to a zany and wacky situations, and these episodes were very well conceptualized and executed by Nalan, who deserves a big round of applause, for achieving it. And what worked well for the film was the manner the concepts were executed, which was very light-hearted, yet quirky in nature. The experimentation did not go wrong for Nalan most of the time, but there was a light dip in pace in the second half, which stretched the duration of the film. Yet it can be forgiven, since the final output was master-class. Nalan also impresses with super dialogues, which were well timed and delivered perfectly by the acting cast. Wacky ideas, creative script, fun screenplay, near-perfect execution, an aptitude cast, a quality crew, what else can we ask from Nalan's debut noir-comic film ?

'Soodhu Kavvum' - scooped our attention, in a big way !


Ratings: 3.5/5 STARS

BY:TAMIL

PIZZA MOVIE REVIEW

'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

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