ARAVAAN MOVIE REVIEW

Vasanthabalan, a film-maker who makes films which revolves about deep human emotions and harsh realities of the unforgiving world, comes up with a period film this time. Vasanthabalan's handling of his script is a well-known fact and there i no doubts in his capabilities of offering a good film. His past records speaks for him with "Angaadi Theru" nearly missing the National Award and "Veyil" managed to get itself showcased in Cannes Film Festival. This time he has chosen to make a film based on India's National Academy of Letters/ Sahitya Akademi-winning novel "Kaaval Kottam" by Su.Venkatesan. Vasanthabalan has only taken a small subplot of the novel comprising 10-20 pages out of the 1000 pages and made it into a film. A film long in the making, it was much waited as Vasanthabalan has promised a racy and fast-paced entertainer. Did he deliver on his promise?

Characterization is very important for a period film because the artistes involved in such projects need to be as convincing as possible to portray the character that they play, or else it will fail to register in the minds of the viewers. The problem in "Aravaan" is that, all the characters were not properly etched out. The body language and dialogue delivery of most of the artistes was very contemporary in nature and did not reflect the 18-th century Madurai, which was portrayed in the film. Aadhi who was dishing out back-to-back failures in "Ayyanar" and "Aadu Puli" has done a good job, especially in scenes involving heavy physical movements such as the "Jallikattu" and racing sequences. His buff body is the result of extreme hard-work and he deserves a pat for it. A spirited performance from him and he was accompanied by another good performer, Pasupathy. It's been 3 years since the last we saw him and he too has not failed to deliver good performances. His hard-work is evident in the opening burglary sequence. Both Aadhi and Pasupathy has literally carried the film on their shoulders. Dhansikha and Archana Kavi dished out what was needed for their characters with Archana Kavi coming out as a better performer, though the former had more scenes. International performer Kabir Bedi was given a loose character with not much scope to perform. Singampuli's dialogue delivery do tickle the funny bones but its not in-tune with the timeline of the film. Bharath, Anjali, Swetha Menon and Sruthi Prakash makes cameo appearances to fill out the roles needed to push the story further. All the other extras should be credited and applauded as well for toiling in harsh conditions portrayed in the film.

S.Rajendran's costume department did a decent job with appropriate costume and detailings such as tattoos, jewelries and other accessories. Rocky Rajesh's stunts looked fake at certain sequences, especially when the "flying" effect comes into the fray. RK Vijaimurugan has done a wonderful job in the art department. His work on the village area brings to life the Madurai of the 18th-century and that too the life of thieves not kings and queens, only. Praveen KL and Srikanth NB's editing work was fine especially in the first robbery sequence and flashes of the good work comes sporadically throughout the film, though they could have shortened the length of the film, which was unnecessarily slow. Siddharth was brilliant with his cinematography. The opening robbery scene was the highlight with tight angles and interesting rotation shots, in the picturization of the houses. Also the running and chasing scenes in the forest as well as the "Jallikattu" scenes which were shot on normal photography camera's were very well made. Job very well done. Singer Karthik has made a decent debut in "Aravaan" as the music director. His songs vere simple and "Oore Oore" and "Nila Nila" being the pick of the lots. The former was the best shot song in the film with good camera movements and choreography, which kept the energy level of the song sustained throughout, and the latter with some postcard-worthy frames. "Naagamalai" and "Unnai Kollaporen" were done with montages and some good choreography evident in "Naagamalai" and also Vijaimurugan's good set-work of the local deity temple.

The script of "Aravaan" has its good and its weakness. On the positive aspects, this film manages to capture the attention of the audience due to its different periodic portrayal which revolves around an interesting group of ethnic tribes. Their culture, practices, lifestyle, custom are well portrayed and the "Oore Oore" song is the testimony of this statement. The minute details of the burglary methods of the tribal thieves, piqued the interest of the viewers. The hard-work of the entire crew is applaudable as its is no joke to film in barren lands with no basic necessities and its even more difficult to shoot action scenes in dense forests. Also, Su.Venkatesan's dialogues are a big help for the film. The flip side of the script is its length and screenplay. Vasanthabalan fails to sustain the excitement of the audience and the engrossing factor goes missing. The second half of the screenplay was not properly written with the movement in the timeline going back and forth which confuses audience, plus some sentimental and song sequences acted as speed-breakers to the pace of the script. A good suspense factor was kept secret until the climax of the film, but it was not put to use to its maximum effect, which pulls down the excitement level. Vasanthabalan could have avoided including additional stories and should have taken a better look at certain aspects of the screenplay, regarding the time-frame and appearance of the people. In the end, Vasanthabalan did come up with a message regarding the abolishment of capital punishment, but it doesn't really settle into the script well, and it baffles audiences on why he came up with that idea in the first place.

Vasanthabalan failed to keep his promise of producing an engrossing film but nevertheless, "Aravaan" is a good attempt at different cinema. A decent rating for the efforts of crew.


Ratings: 2.5/5 STARS

BY:TAMIL

KADHALIL SODHAPUVADHU EPPADI MOVIE REVIEW

"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

180 - RULES KIDAIYAATHU MOVIE REVIEW

Siddharth after a very long gap of 7 years has returned to the Tamizh cinema movie scene with this film. Accompanied by 2 lovely ladies and a good technical team as the crew, this film evoked curios response from the teasers which showed impressive visuals and when the audio was launched, even more people were interested in the movie with the songs being received well. With such good responses, the expectations on the film was fairly good. Alas, the movie did not live up to all the expectations it has created.

Beginning with the cast, Siddharth has delivered a very matured performance, thanks to all the experiences he has garnered over the years of doing several Telugu and Hindi films. He did a good job in all emotions, be it romance, or panic-stricken, anguish and guilty-ridden reactions and etc.. He holds the attention of the audiences with his charm and presence throughout the film. Nithya Menen manages to keep up with Siddarth in her portions and she did it effortlessly. Her best sequences would be the ciname hall scene. Priya Anand did a decent job as well and she had the more serious and meaty role of the 2 heroines. Though there are room for improvements, she acted well and dubbed well too. Sricharan, Mouli, Geetha and the rest of the small cast did what was expected from them but Mouli was the most impressive, pulling out witty and funny dialogues in most of his scenes.

The two USPs' of the film are the cinematography and music. Director of Photography, Balasubramaniem did a fantastic work in handling the cinematography for the film. Using RED ONE camera throughout, the film was sparkling in all frames and kudos to him for capturing the subtle beauty of Kasi, Chennai and San Fransisco with extra emphasis on lighting. Definitely the talking point for cinematography in this film will be the opening song, "Rules Kidaiyathu" which has been shot using the Phantom Flex all over and the output is simply stunning with all the slow-mo actions, beautifully captured. Besides that, the "Sandhikaadha" song has been picturized well too. Credits must be given to 2 other technicians for the good-look factor of the film and they are G.Balaji for the processing of the digital images and internationally reputed colorist Kevin Shaw for giving the film a international class quality in terms of coloring. Meanwhile, music by Sharreth is very different and experimental but soothing to the ears. Pick of the lot will definitely be the "Nee Korinaal" number followed by "Santhikkatha" and "Thuru Thuru". Though his songs were very nice and melodious, the background score was a bit of a letdown where unnecessary loud music was thrown in. Art director V.Selva Kumar's interior of the houses was lifelike. Costume designer Komal Shahani and make-up artist Bhanu's works are very well noticeable in the form of the lovely and beautiful looking heroines.

Story and screenplay by Jayendra and the Suresh-Bala duo was dissappointing. Probably the saying "too many cooks, spoil the broth" can be used for this factor. Although they had a story to tell, the screenplay was very rickety and doesn't go in a flow. Besides that, there are some loopholes and questions which went unanswered in the film. Dialogues wise, the film has a few pretty good lines, especially in the opening scene when Siddarth says to a small boy "Naanum Manovaa irukka aasaipaduren" and the one-liners of Mouli.

Overall, the movie had a good opening but by the end of the film, viewers tend to feel dissappointed as there was no punch in the film even when the director had story and a good message to say. Also it is best to avoid presenting scenes shot in one particular country and then passing it off as another. In this all the hospital and airport scenes were done in Malaysia but showcased as happening US in the film. Viewers nowadays cant be fooled by such gimmicks anymore.

Ratings: 2.5/5 STARS

BY:TAMIL