Since the title is very much self-explanatory, 'Vanmham' is basically a story of revenge and vengeance. That is not something very novel or daringly new in Tamizh cinema, but presentation and narration can make a big difference to a mundane subject. Being a double hero subject, can Jai Krishnaa, an old timer of Tamizh cinema and an former assistant to 'Ulaga Nayagan' Kamal Haasan, come clean with his debut film ?
Doing rural subjects is not something new to Vijay Sethupathi but we get to see him perform out and out action sequences, and sporting the white dhothi for throughout the film. He is very natural and mouths the Nagercoil accent very well. The performer in him sneak peeks in a scene or two but otherwise, its just an average outing for him. Kreshna is sincere and has come up with an earnest performance. His voice modulation is better and he has shown some improvement in his acting capability. Sunaina, looks pretty and that's about it with her role. Madhu Sudhan Rao, Anjali Rao, Bose Venkat, Muthuraman, Sriranjani, Radhamani Ammal, Vinodhini, Subburaj and etc completes the rest of the cast. Sadly, no one stood out for their performances, due to poor characterization and detailing.
'Supreme' Sundar's action choreography works for most of the time. Its not raw, quite filmy but somehow it works out. There's nearly equal amount of action footing for both lead heroes but Vijay Sethupathi gets the more intense ones. Shiva Yadav takes care of the art direction and his work fits the bill. The detailing for the inner section of the rural homes were well propped. The market scene stands out, if its pertaining to his work. Veteran Suresh Urs' editing was functional but he could have definitely chopped down plenty of scenes to spice things up, or to at least speed up the proceedings. The film takes it's own sweet time in unravelling and the unnecessary melodramatic moments are just mere speed-bumpers ! Bala Bharani's cinematography is passable and he has captured the beauty of the southern areas of Tamil Nadu, particularly Nagercoil and Kanyakumari very well. The quarry area, surrounded by deep waters, were well captured, especially during the intense fight scene, just before the interval.
S.S Thaman's musical score is frankly, below average. "Paadatta Paadatta" is the obligatory introductory song for both, Vijay Sethupathi and Kreshna. The typical song-and-dance routine number featured both heroes, with the backing of group dancers, shaking their legs, in and around picturesque areas of Nagercoil. "Aetti Enge Pore" is a duet song, picturized on Kreshna and Sunaina. Some of the beautiful spots of Nagercoil was shot by Bala Bharani, especially of the small water dam and river areas. Kreshna and Sunaina shares good chemistry but the substance was missing from this combination, due to poor writing. "Maname Maname" is a pathos song, and has montage shots of all the main lead characters of Vijay Sethupathi, Kreshna and Sunaina and nearly all the other character artistes. S.S Thaman's background score is passable.
Being an associate of 'Ulaga Nayagan' Kamal Haasan, Jai Krishnaa should have realized the responsibility lying on his shoulders. Being an old-timer of the industry, his knowledge of presentation and contemporary film-making is, sorry to say, grossly missing ! The film has such an outdated theme of revenge but what's inexcusable is the bland, insipid and boring narration and dialogue writing of the film. The film's presentation is very archaic and is full of melodramatic moments, which would have worked out in the 80's and early 90's ! There's plenty of unnecessary action sequences thrown into the linear screenplay. There are plenty of loopholes and unanswered questions in the film's screenplay. Apart from the Nagercoil/Kanyakumari setting and the native accent used in the film, nothing else captures our attention. A certain sequence of the film is directly lifted from the 1998 Malayalam film, 'Kanmadam' starring Mohanlal and directed by A.K Lohithadas. The film is shockingly dreary and flavorless and sadly another liability to the film-based business people.
'Vanmham' - Vijay Sethupathi, you are suppose to be the poster-boy of new-age Tamizh cinema !
Ratings: 2/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
Vishal is back with another action film, which is directed by Thiru, who has collaborated with him in the dampener, 'Theeradha Vilaiyaattu Pillai'. For Vishal, this is a very critical film, because he has been treading the wrong path where a slew of his previous releases, all were failures. In order to survive, this must click for him. With an interesting star cast, and picturized in Thailand for most duration of the film, 'Samar' intrigued viewers with its slick trailer, which did not give out any particular hints. So how did the movie fare ?
For Vishal, this movie is a throwback to his 'Sandaikozhi' and 'Thimiru' days were he underplayed his role, with controlled performance. He has put his strong and built physique to good use in the action scenes. The no-nonsense and introvert characterization was carried out well by Vishal and it is enjoyable for us to watch him perform in this manner. Well done, Vishal ! Trisha, does her part well and was confident in her dialogue delivery and for dubbing in her own voice. She looks good and was at ease throughout the film. Sunaina barely had anything to do other than to act in a couple of scenes and to dance for a song, though her character was needed. Critically acclaimed performers Manoj Bajpai and J.D Chakravarthy fall way short of in delivering strong and outstanding performances, though they are very much capable of delivering it. Blame the director, for the poorly sketched characters of Manoj and J.D. The rest of the cast such as Jayaprakash, Sampath, Sriman, Azhagam Perumal, John Vijay, Uma Padhmanabhan and others are adequate.
Vasugi Bhaskar's costume designing was very apt for each characters, where the costumes reflected the personality of each characters. Sound designing by Renganaath Ravee was good, especially in the stunt sequences. Jacki's art work was adequate, considering that the majority of the film was captured in real life locations and his work blends in well with the surroundings. Ruben's editing is just nice, especially for the stunt scenes, which is the trump card of the film. Stunt choreography is the highlight of the film. Each stunt scenes were solidly choreographed and most importantly, was very natural and realistic. It is a delight to watch such pumping action scenes, neatly executed in Tamizh cinema. Kudos to the stunt choreographers, Kanal Kannan, Rajashekar, Jimmy from Singapore and also to Nang of the Baan Rig team from Thailand. Great work by them ! Complementing the stunt sequences, is Richard M.Nathan's stunning cinematography (who also makes a small cameo appearance in the film). He has used plenty of aerial shots in and around Bangkok. His color tone and lighting aptly follows the changes of locations in the film, as the story progresses. Another good job well in his portfolio !
Yuvan Shankar Raja's music is a letdown for this film. His score is average considering the fact, he can deliver chart-busting songs. "Oru Kannil Vegam" is the introductory song of the protagonist and depicts his life as a forest ranger. There are plenty of pleasing aerial shots by Richard in this song and captures the beauty of the forest in different lights. "Azhago Azhagu" is the pick of the lot from the album. It was picturized on the three characters of Vishal, Trisha and Sunaina and was shot entirely in and around Putrajaya city of Malaysia with some iconic buildings and landmark being the backdrop. "Poikaal Kudhirai" is an interesting number, which was well placed in the film. There are plenty of cut-shots, which are mostly picturized at night and features many facets of Bangkok and its surroundings. "Vellai Mayil" is a romantic number shot on Vishal and Trisha, with aerial shots along the sea shore and besides that, shot mostly within posh hotel premises. The final song "Raajavin Thottathil" is a hot, club number shot on sexily-clad item girls and features the two antagonists of the film, enjoying themselves. The lighting and camera movements by Richard M.Nathan complements the mood and feel of the song. Background score was handled by Dharan Kumar and he shows is prowess in good sound mixing with apt background music, be it for suspense scenes or for romantic scenes.
Director Thiru has delivered an interesting plot and theme, laced with the right amount of commercial aspects for this film. He has handled the majority of the screenplay quite well, maintaining the suspense, gripping twists and turns and some surprises towards the last 15 minutes of the film. The film keeps us guessing until the last 15 minutes, on what is happening in the film, until the secret is revealed. But once the suspense is unraveled, the film looses its fizz and ends on a rather tepid manner, which makes us to feel that the overall end product could have been better. The director rightfully avoided inserting any comedy scenes into the screenplay. Dialogues by Thiru and S.Ramakrishnan was very much suitable for the script, being straight-forward and not overtly dramatic, except for those uttered by the antagonists. The idea of the script definitely has an inspiration from some Hollywood and Korean films, but Thiru has cleverly adapted the idea to suit the taste and sensibilities of Tamizh audience.
After a long time, we get to see a good movie from Vishal and though it could have been presented in a better manner, it still delivers a decent action thriller, with enough thrills and chases in keeping our attention. Not so great, but not bad, either.
Ratings: 2.75/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
After the critically-acclaimed and National Award-winning film, 'Thenmerku Paruvakaatru', Seenu Ramasamy is back with 'Neerparavai', a film portraying the life and times of the fishing folks. Interestingly, this film is produced by Udhayanidhi Stalin, through his Red Giants Films banner, which is a new turn for him, who is used to produce big-budget films, with top notch stars. Collaborating again with Vairamuthu and N.R Raghunandan, and incorporating rock-solid cast, can Seenu Ramasamy, strike it again ?
As mentioned, the film does have a rock-solid casting and all of them have done justice to their roles, be it major or minor. Starting of with the protagonist, Vishnu does very well with his body language and dialogue delivery. Not to forget, the fantastic expressions, which are necessary for non-dialogue portions. With more such good films, the actor in Vishnu can grow into a solid performer. But Sunaina steals the spotlight from him with a restrained and fantastic performance ! The de-glamorized look and her expressive eyes works well for her role and this film has the best performance for her so far, in her career. Well done, Sunaina ! Nandita Das, plays the older version of Sunaina, and also has the more heavy-duty portions, though its bewildering why Seenu has to opt for another actress when Sunaina can handle it well. Deepa Venkat's dubbing for both Sunaina and Nandita was pitch-perfect. Close on the heels were, 'Poo' Ram and Saranya Ponvannan, who excelled in their roles. The casting was perfectly done and each artistes, such as Samuthirakani, Vadivukarasi, Thambi Ramaiah, Azhagam Perumal, Aruldass, 'Black' Paandi, Yogi Devaraj, Imman Annachi, Anupama Kumar, Varsha Ashwati, Nandagi, Seenu Ramasamy himself in a cameo and etc were a perfect choice for their roles !
V.Moorthy's costumes were fitting for each character, especially for the changeover of Vishnu from a wastrel to an hardworking chap. 'Super' Subbarayan's stunt choreography was well choreographed, and the props usage such as boats, oars, nets and even the fishes were handled well ! It is indeed nice to see him choreographing decent and not over-the-top kind of fight sequences. V.Selvakumar's art direction was functional, especially for the props in settings such as sea shore houses, the small church and other small venues. M.Kasivishwanathan's editing is flawless and smooth, eventhough the pacing is a little slow. His work in the song sequences, were good. The biggest asset of 'Neerparavai' is the cinematography by Balasubramaniem. His shots and frames are beautiful and pleasing to the eyes, be it the sandy beaches, or the rural homes. His handling of angles and color saturation setting were splendid, especially in the songs and in the beach fight sequence. 'Neerparavai' is definitely a milestone in Balasubramaniem's career.
N.R Radhunandan's music complements the script as well, with perfect tunes and soothing instrumentations. The male version of "Para Para" song is a sheer delight for the eyes, with beautiful framing and color tones used by Balasubramaniem. The sunset beach, the rain drops, everything works out very well for the song. "Ratha Kanneer" is a situational song, highlighting the struggle of the protagonist in getting out from alcohol addiction and was picturized him struggling in the rehab centre. "Yaar Veettu" is another situational song, in flashback mode, picturing the introduction of the protagonist as a child and his upbringing. Some beautiful shots of the sea features in this song. "Meenukku" is a romantic song picturized on the lead pair and has very bright lighting, thanks to the scorching sun. The song has some good framing from Balu. "Devan Magale" is another romantic song, with intimate montage sequences featuring the lead pair which purportedly has Vishnu giving '100 kisses' to Sunaina ! The female version of "Para Para" song is a situational song as well, capturing the agony of the heroine, not knowing the fate of the protagonist who is missing, and also used just before the end credits, picturized on Nandita and the sea. N.R Raghunandan's background score is just as pleasant as the songs as well. Looks like Seenu Ramasamy, N.R Raghunandan and Vairamuthu has forged a solid partnership !
Seenu Ramasamy's script is not as powerful and emotionally stimulating as his previous 'Thenmerku Paravukaatru' but what makes us engaged with 'Neerparavai' is the characters, which are portrayed in the film. The characters look very real and non-cinematic in any manner and variety of complexities they show throughout the film, holds our attention well. Seenu's narration is a little slow paced and the plot line is quite thin, but it does not affect the film since the rhythm pattern of the film, is maintained consistently, throughout. Important questions and social issues are brought up in a very neat manner, without being overbearing and the comedy portions are weaved smoothly in the screenplay. Dialogues, jointly written with popular writer Jayamohan, are brilliantly penned. Another element Seenu should be appreciated for is the designing of characters which are not portrayed in 'black or white' format, keeping us from being judgmental towards the characters.
Kudos to Seenu for coming out with a matured and articulative film ! Though it might not be as emotional as 'Thenmerku Paruvakaatru', 'Neerparavai' is still a pleasant watch of emotional human dramas and pertinent issues.
Ratings: 3/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
Director Perarasu, or comically called as 'Oorarasu' for titling his movies based on names of towns and cities, is back with a film which has been long in the making. After his back to back successes with 'Thirupachi' and 'Sivakasi', none of Perarasu's following films made bucks at the box office. Yet, it still amazes to see him churning out movies, and that too without deviating from his usual formulas ! Here, he teams up with Bharath, who himself badly in need of a hit film, in order to survive in Tamizh cinema.
Bharath, appears as a gym instructor in this film, and does what was required by the director. He aptly mouthed all the 'punch' and fiery dialogues written by the director. In order to to be realistic, he has buffed up his physique a little. He dances, fights, emotes and 'wins' the approval of the audience An archetypal 'commercial cinema hero' ! Sunaina looks okay but she stutters a little with her dialogue delivery, which looks out of sync with the dubbed voice. Rajkiran as an ex-military, was at his usual self. Pandiarajan, Ashish Vidyarthi, M.S Bhaskar, Chitti Babu, Appukutty, Kottachi and etc all were just there for apparently no reasons, except for Ashish who is the antagonist of the film. Its bewildering for us to watch him essaying the same role again and again and again, and yet he still continues to do the beaten-to-death roles without any remorse !
A.Seenu, the costumer of the film did not do his homework well, because the lead pair were dressed in designer clothes, though they were portrayed as ones from the middle-class segment. 'Theepori' Nithya's action choreography was awful G.K's art work, Jaysankar's editing and Bala's cinematography were all pedestrian. Perarasu decides to take the mantle of music director as well and churns out unnecessarily 7 songs in the film and none of them were interesting ! "Vaana Vedikkai" is a typical Perarasu's hero-intro song, with plenty of dancers and shot around packed streets. "Nee Enakku" was shot in European cities against established landmarks. "Yemma Yemma" was shot in a village-festival environment, with minimal set-work "Saamikku" and 'Evano Oruvan" were situational numbers, one of a sad situation and the other of an uprising situation. "Adi Vaanavil" a melodious number is also shot on European cities and finally "Vannarapettai" was shot in Binny Mills which resembles like a garage set work and also around some mining areas.
Perarasu's script is poor in quality and taste, very old-fashioned, formulaic, bland and ridiculous. Perarasu sticks to his pattern of screenplay and sketches compilation of scenes containing plethora of emotions. This film makes us skeptical of Perarasu's knowledge of contemporary films, and the latest trends of Tamizh cinema. Is he still trapped in some 'inescapable' time warp ? The tidbits appearing in the film, reminding us of Vijay and Ajith's films with Perarasu gives credence to that doubt.
'Thiruthani' - a shame for the actual Thiruthanigan !!
Ratings: 1/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
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Rasu Madhuravan, known for his village-type, old tearjerkers, is back with another offering in 'Paandi Oli Perukki Nilaiyam' but sadly there's no deviation from his previous track. He has Sabarish and Sunaina as the lead pair this time, with a bevy of known and unknown artistes playing unimportant characters in the film, and appear just for the sake of sentimentality.
Sabarish, son of popular stunt director 'FEFSI' Vijayan makes another splash, or should say tried to make another effort to prove his mark as an actor. He has an interesting get-up, which reminds us of Vikram's image in 'Pithamagan'. He has clarity in his dialogue delivery but there's no variations in it nor in his body language, which makes his performance look very caricature-like. His expressions are very standard and normal, which does not make him look outstanding from the overcrowded hero circle of Tamizh cinema. Being a son of stunt artiste, he delivers good action skills but his dancing capability seems to be limited. Sunaina looks okay, with decent face and physique and she has some acting capabilities which is not exploited here properly. The only thing which was used properly was her physical features in short, skimpy clothing. Karunas, 'Thambi' Ramaih, Soori and Singam Puli provides some comic relief here and there with their trademark buffoonery antics, and Singam Puli especially continues with his silly and amusing dialogue deliveries. Raj Kapoor, Vaiyapuri, K.Selvabharathi and etc makes up the big cast of the film and all of them delivered what was expected from them by the director.
The film has nothing to shout about technical wise. 'Supreme' Sundar's stunt scenes are okay and bearable but oddly, it looks very similar to the ones composed in 'Pithamagan' ! Veera Samar's art work is minimal, with the microphone and sound service shops, as well as the interiors of village houses looking natural. Suresh Urs keeps the film's pace watchable without much lag but he could not save much, thanks to the poor quality of the script. U.K Senthil Kumar, a veteran cinematographer captures the village portions, properly but other than that, there's nothing much to shout about in his work, apart from one or two good shots in the stunt scenes. Kavi Periathambi's music work is lame and boring. "Azhagu" is the introductory song of the protagonist with boring picturization, based on film festival setting and bad looking 'glamor' girl. "Mudhan Mudhalai" is a song shot in paddy fields and slowly transforms to the scenic localities of the Langkawi Islands in Malaysia, and also featuring Sunaina in revealing outfits. "Kettukodi" is a poorly remixed song of the old Sivaji Ganesan's 'Pattikaada Pattanama' film. This song was shot in the Bukit Bintang and KLCC areas of Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, with mostly streets being shot with Sunaina, in short and body-hugging clothes. "Azhagana" song is shot in village setting with background dancers and is a slow-paced melody with more scenes from the Malaysian streets being covered with the lead pair dancing in a silly manner. "Dandanakra" is another festival song, but this one shot at night with again a badly looking 'glamor' girl as the lead dancer !
Rasu Madhuravan should either stop making films or should try to change his direction in cinema, if at all he wants to survive ! The story is out-dated and would have worked out in the 70's or 80's. The dialogues by him are mediocre, the romance portion between the lead pair looked very theatrical, the presence of many village folks as artistes making it look like another tearjerker. When even new, upcoming directors are experimenting with novel ideas, Rasu Madhuravan has stuck with a typical revenge story, which is boring and least interesting. Also, his characterizations were poorly etched out, leaving many looking like cartoons.
'Paandi Oli Perukki Nilayam' is a poor, poor product and its baffling to think what made Sunaina to accept such a film !
Ratings: 0.5/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
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