Vishal is back in action for Deepavali once again and he has joined hands with director Hari, who is fresh from the blockbuster success of 'Singam II'. After a lengthy 7-year gap with 'Thaamirabarani', this duo is back in action with a typical, commercial "masala" film, full of sentiments, action, glamour, song-and-dance and comedy and produced under Vishal's own Vishal Film Factory banner. With the usual huge supporting cast and his trusted technicians, can Hari and Vishal score back to back hits in their respective careers with 'Poojai' ?
This is a perfect platform for Vishal to flex his muscles and showcase the machismo side of his. This is a very apt and comfortable setup for Vishal and he has come out clean, with an energetic yet subtle performance. He has matured more as an actor and manages to stamp his mark with his screen presence. Job, well done ! Shruti Haasan is only making her third appearance in Tamizh, after a two year absence from '3'. She replicates her Telugu cinema act, with a simple modern-day, girl-next-door performance and ups the ante in the glamour department, for the songs. Mukesh Tiwari as the main antagonist was passable, though a better actor would have created an heavier impact. Soori, 'Black' Paandi and Immanuel Annachi takes care of the comedy portions, and though one or two scenes are funny, thanks to the quirky dialogues, their tracks were redundant, on an overall basis. The huge supporting cast, consisted of some of the best character artistes such as Sathyaraj, Raadhika Sarathkumar, Jayaprakash, 'Thalaivasal' Vijay, Prathap Pothen, and also other artistes such as Manobala, R.Sundarrajan, Abhinaya, Kausalya, Renuka, Sithara, Aishwarya, Janaki Sabesh, Awadesh Mishra, Vinay Bihari, Mathumila Mano, Sanjay Singh, Sounthara Raja, Barath Raj and etc. Most of them do fill up the spaces but their relevance and importance to the film, is another question entirely.
Costume designing by Vasuki Bhaskar and Chaitanya Rao fits the bill, and the lead pair looked natural and realistic. Shruti Haasan was particularly, glamorous in the sons sequences. Some of the character artistes, costumes could have been better and not over-done. Action choreography is by the once-in-demand-once-upon-a-time, Kanal Kannan. As it has mostly been with Kanal, the action sequences were over-the-top, repetitive and unwarranted. The opportunities were there in the screenplay for an pulsating action choreography, alas it was wasted for good ! K.Kadhirr's art direction was splendid, especially with the elaborate market set-work, which looked realistic and also with the grand & posh mansion, apartment and office settings, which had all the necessary props to enhance the setting. Veteran V.T Vijayan and T.S Jay duo takes care of the editing department, and their quick-cuts helped overcome the obvious flaws of the action sequences. The film moves at a good and steady pace, but there are many redundant scenes, which could have been edited out, to make it racier. Hari's right-hand man and regular, Priyan is the cinematographer here as well, and his work suffices the need of the script and complements, Hari's presentation style, very well. Especially with the top-angle and chopper shots.
Yuvan Shankar Raja's musical score is below average for his standards and only a couple of the songs are really hummable numbers. "Soda Bottle" is the opening item-number song, shot on Vishal and has a cameo appearance from Andrea Jeremiah, who had a glamorous make-over for this song. K.Kadhirr's market set was well shot by Priyan for this song and most of the detailing of the art work was visible on screen. "Devathai" is the pick of the lot and was shot on Vishal and Shruti Haasan, dancing in scenic urbane and hill stations of Switzerland. Shruti Haasan was at her glam-best, for the first time in Tamizh cinema. Some montage sequences were interspersed along the choreographed portions. "Ippadiye" is a folk dancer number, with elements of trance music from Yuvan Shankar Raja. Its an atypical Hari song, shot on the lead pair, in a simple yet colorful set, accompanied by colorfully-attired group dancers. "Uyire" is a situational pathos song, also shot on the lead pair and comes at two different places. "Odi Odi" is the final situational song and was had plenty of chases and sentimental scenes, and serves as the prelude for the climax portion. Yuvan Shankar Raja's background score was functional enough but for his standards, it could and should have been way much better.
As with all Hari films, 'Poojai' too has the commercial, mass "masala" template with its script. Hari has repeated the same formula for the umpteenth time and arranges the screenplay in an sequence of comedy, action, song, sentiment and this sequence repeats throughout the whole screenplay. There are no twists and turns in the script and the story has a very linear and straightforward timeline. The story only picks up pace just before the interval and stutters occasionally after that, with some redundant songs and comedy portions. There's no cohesion nor coherence in the screenplay and many scenes do not gel well and sticks out like sore thumbs. There's not enough of emotional depth, be it in the hero/villain episode nor the hero/heroine portions, as well. The action sequences tire you after a point of time and it doesn't really fire up the emotion in us. Though all of Hari's films has the same template, he gets it right with some scripts, which has the right proposition and proportions of the "masala" quotients. But with 'Poojai' there seems to be miscalculation and obvious flaws, in the execution of the script and even in the directorial department as well.
'Poojai' - An average 'darshan' with some working bits and pieces !
Ratings: 2.5/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
Vijay Adiraj, a veteran of television shows and drama serials, makes his splash on the big screen as a director, with a script which was borne out of an idea, he came across 14 years back ! He goes for the safer route by employing a very young and new cast, aided by veteran character artistes and good technicians. Touted to be a smart thriller, did this 'Puthagam' made us turn its pages, in excitement ?
Starting off with the lead, actor Sathya, the younger brother of Arya, finally makes his screen debut through this film. He passes muster with a decent performance, though there are evident sequences in the film, where he tries to ape his more-popular brother. With more experience, Sathya can climb up the ladder, but definitely he has a lot to catch up, especially in the emoting and dialogue delivery. The pretty Rakul Preet Singh, makes her debut as a leading lady in Tamizh cinema, after her small role, in the decent, gritty thriller, 'Thadaiyara Thaakka'. She looks more comfortable in her role and got her lip sync (dubbing done by Renuka Kathir) right, but her final output needs more conviction. Sanjay Barathi (the son of actor-director, Santhana Barathi) and Vignesh of 'Kadhalil Sodhapuvadhu Eppadi' fame, delivered sincere and honest performances. Jagapathi Babu was nonchalant in his role as the cool private detective, and aided by a less-convincing Rachana Maurya. There's a big gang of seasoned artistes such as Suresh, Aishwarya Rajesh, Manobala, Santhana Barathi, 'Thalaivasal' Vijay, 'Crazy' Mohan, Delhi Ganesh, Uma Padhmanabhan, Fathima Babu, MJ Shriram and etc, enacting important and minor roles in the film. All of them lived up to the expectations and most of them would have just cruised in their roles, with ease.
The film carries decent work on the technical front. Gita Gurappa's audiography was spot on. Dhilip Subbarayan choreographed decent stunt sequences, which suited the characters performing those sequences, be it the nervy Sathya or the composed Jagapathi Babu. G.K's art direction was simple and neat. His detailing for the bachelors' apartment, the middle-class home interior, club settings, television channel office suits, everything was just fine and good enough for the script. Kevin's editing was flawless and he made sure that the progression from one scene to the other, was smooth. One person, who must be credited for making the film look colorful, is the cinematographer, J.Laxman. He has brought out the colorful and fun-loving life of the youngsters and at the same, maintained a dark-look theme for the more serious portions. Also, he has portrayed Rakul in a very pretty manner, through his lenses. His camera-movements, especially for the action sequences are noteworthy.
James Vasanthan's music was passable, but not good enough to hold our attentions, thoroughly. "Kondaadathaan", is a typical youngster's opening song, which had quite a few cut-shots and picturized in theme parks and a few Chennai landmarks. "Mella Pookudhe", is a typical James Vasanthan melody, which was picturized on the lead pair, romancing around a majestic looking building, in Thailand. Rakul was looking pretty in the sarees, which were designed by S.Subbarao. "Italica" is a dull and lame club song, shot with the item girl Rachana, performing in typical, night-club settings, which had decent lighting. "Say That You Love Me" was shot on the sandy and picturesque beaches of Pattaya, Thailand on the main lead artistes of the film. The final song, "Money is Funny" was shot in a music-video style, picturized on all the artistes involved in the film, with a stage and LED-screen as its backdrop, showing currencies of various countries. The song appears during the end-credits and has also some bloopers, inserted in it. The background score was a tad decent enough for the film.
Vijay Adiraj's intention was to make a taut and neat thriller. Though the intention was honest, the execution was far from being flawless. A thriller needs to be engaging and be crisp in the length of the film. But 'Puthagam' drags a lot in the first half, which makes us wonder, where is the film heading to. The suspense and thrills only begin just before interval, making us to endure all the unnecessary comedy and sentimental portions, which looked more suited for a normal television serial. Though Guhan Sreenivasan's dialogues are quirky and smart in some portions, the film had plenty of lengthy dialogue sequences, which extends the duration of the film, even longer. A knock-on effect of being a veteran of the television circle, Vijay ? Though it was cheeky of Vijay to add a small twist in the end, the audiences could have already lost interest in the film, due to its uninteresting narration. The final twist does hint us of a potentially exciting sequel, but the question of will it be worthy or not, depends on the improvisation skills of Vijay.
'Puthagam' - A flawed attempt in making a racy, crispy and taut, commercial thriller.
Ratings: 2/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
Prakash Raj as a producer has delivered some feel good breezy movies all under the baton ship of Radha Mohan and they've joined hands once again. But the only difference is that, this time they've gone for a thriller and that too of a flight hijack. This is something new and unattested in Tamizh cinema and it was interesting to see how much they've captured the essence of the theme and also to see how Radha Mohan has come out of his soft and mellifluous themed movies. Moreover Telugu major star Nagarjuna is back to Tamizh cinema after a very long gap.
Radha Mohan has dished out a pretty good decent thriller. Though the films picks up the pace only after Nagarjuna's character was introduced, Radha Mohan has ensured that the screenplay doesn't deviate from the main theme with unnecessary elements. He deserves a pat for underlining the ineffectiveness of the elected government who are more interested in holding to their power, the selfish acts of media people who goes to certain extent just to sensationalize issues by giving false statements and even endangering the lives of others just for the sake of higher TRP ratings. As the case in Unnaipol Oruvan, the common man's anger and frustrations on political and religious issues are also highlighted well through Gnanavel's dialogues which are hard hitting at certain times. The best part of the film is definetly the last 20 minutes of the film which is laced with suspense. Technically the film is good, with Guhan's camera capturing well the interiors of the hijacked plane and also of the airport. But the real hero of the film is the art director Kadhir who has done a really fabulous job in the art department. The detailings on the flight and also of the Tirupathi Airport was near perfect. Kudos to him. Praveen Mani's rerecording is passable thought the only title track was good.
On the acting front, Prakash Raj and Nagarjuna has done their roles as the bereaucrat and commando respectively, in a very dignified manner. Prakash Raj's best must be the scene where he bursts in anger and could no longer be patient with the demands of the terrorist. He poured his anger our, literally. Nagarjuna did a cool role with no heroism although the dubbing voice didn't really elevate the originality feel. Other than these 2, the big supporting cast are the main pillars of the movie. The variety of characters, Kumararaja as the patriotic unemployed youth, Manobala as the popular TV astrologer, Prithviraj as 'Shining Star' Chandrakanth and Sams as his big ardent fan, Thalaivasal Vijay as the Rte Colonel, Rishi as a doctor and Sana Khan as the ordinary teenage gal, MS Baskar as the priest and a whole lot more of them. Each and everyone of them performed to their best and was really convincing. Sams and Pritviraj episodes was really hilarious but the scene stealer is the actor who impersonates as Yusuf Khan, terrorist role.. He was simply awesome with the scared to death kind of role and together with Brahmanandam, they rocked the scenes. MS Baskar has done a serious role this time with conviction. Overall each one of them delivered they're best..
On the whole, Radha Mohan has dished out a different movie which appeals to all section of audience. Hope this movie succeeds to spur on more good films in Tamizh cinema. Let the journey continue on.
Rating: 3.5/5 STARS
BY: TAMIL
