NAAN SIGAPPU MANITHAN MOVIE REVIEW

After the rousing success of his debut home production 'Pandiya Naadu', Vishal is back once again, this time co-producing a film, with UTV Motion Pictures. 'Naan Sigappu Manithan' brings back the combo of Vishal-Thiru for the third time. Their last release 'Samar' was an interesting film, with plenty of surprises in store which got the audiences hooked. Here, the medical disorder of narcolepsy takes center stage, and that piqued the interest of all who caught up with the trailer. Can Vishal strike a second success consecutively ?

Vishal picks a similar character to his 'Pandiya Naadu' in this flick as well, but the narcoleptic condition creates a curiosity around his character. The subtle and understated demeanor of his character makes the fans root for him or to put it bluntly, he's the mass hero without all the commercial heroism ! Vishal gets a good dose of uplifting to his character, thanks to the arrangements of the director's screenplay. With a warm, earnest and measured performance, Vishal is going great guns, especially with all the falling in sleep (literally !). Lakshmi Menon, gets a makeover of an up-class but homely city-bred girl and she continues to defy her actual age by performing in a very matured and professional manner. Her chemistry with Vishal worked out well for the film. Sunder Ramu plays an important character, and though he is good as just the common friend of the hero, he needs to up his ante for the more challenging sequences, in which he was unconvincing with his portrayal. Jagan provides some comic relief in the first half and the rest of the cast such as Iniya (who plays an atypical female lead), Saranya Ponvannan, Jayaprakash, 'Pyramid' Natarajan, Rishi, Srinivas, Mayilsamy, Aarthi, Ramnath Shetty, V.I.S Jayapalan and etc were adequate.

Vasuki Bhaskar did a commendable job with the costume department, especially with the lead pair who looked their roles and reflected the socio-economic background the characters belonged to. Art direction is by Jacki, and his works are of good standards. The interiors of the houses, be it the protagonist's middle-class home or the heroine's posh bungalow and etc were perfectly propped. Ruben handles the editing department and his cuts kept the flow of the screenplay quite well, though the late second half gets a little slow in pace. Nevertheless, the action block in the climax was well edited. Dhilip Subbarayan handles the chase sequences and his work sufficed the needs of the screenplay, whereas the climax action choreography has been credited to Pradit Seeluem (Nung Stunt) of the One & Action Team from Thailand. The climax stunt sequence was intense and the choreography matched the intensity and Vishal's body language. Cinematography by Richard M.Nathan and his works complements the nature and mood of the sequences. The second half goes completely gritty and dark in nature and his top-angle shots, as well as the night and water-based shots adds more strength to the film.

G.V Prakash Kumar's music is not up to the usual standards, but some songs might find place in the hearts of people after viewing the film. "A Restless Soul" is the theme track and is played right at the beginning credits and is repeated at important junctures of the screenplay. "Yelelo" is the first song and marks the joy of the protagonist in achieving something he was fighting for. The church set, as well as the Binny Mills set-up by Jacki was well designed, and the song had couple of locations which adds different flavor to the picturization. "Penne Oh Penne" is the love duet of the lead pair and has been shot in picturesque locations of Rajasthan's Jodhpur and around the Hill Forts and deserts of Rajasthan. The lighting and camera angles by Richard M.Nathan and choreography by Shobi are the highlights of the song. "Idhayam Unnai" was shot in the snowy landscapes of Chandigarh's Kullu Manali. The song, which has a sober mood to it, has some arresting framing by Richard M.Nathan and the color tone complements the song's theme. "Lovely Ladies" is a dance number shot on the main characters and has the typical colorful lighting and pumping dance numbers as the highlights. G.V Prakash Kumar's background score is commendable, because the score raises the seriousness of the sequences and is gives a good finishing touch to the film. But the score gives us a sense of deja vu, especially piece which is similar to Zack Hemsey's "Mind Heist" track, which is popular for Christopher Nolan's 'Inception' trailer.

Thiru's handling of the narcolepsy factor is really praiseworthy because, the disorder was not just simply thrust into the script for the sake of USP. In fact, the narcolepsy element is ingrained into the core of the script. It keeps us hooked to the protagonist and keeps the curiosity factor fresh for most of the film, especially in the second half. The first half is a cool and breezy episode, where we have some lovely but unconventional love sequences, the protagonist's dilemma in facing the most basic things matters in life, the issue of disapproval for the lead pair's love and etc. Admirably, Thiru's handling of the emotional and sentimental scenes in the first half and the beginning of second half is mellowed and matured. The proceedings were not too melodramatic, which does not bore us. Thiru adopts the standard practice in contemporary Tamizh cinema, by narrating a lightweight first half, with all those lovey-dovey moments, and then shift gear into serious business for the second half. The second half starts off with a brutal and violent sequence, which diverts the film into a revenge-saga. Thiru's trump-card for keeping the audiences on the edge of their seats, is the handful of twists and turns, or to put it more aptly, shocking surprises, in the narration. The logic takes a backseat and Thiru takes liberties by loosely tying up the knots, without any convincing reasons and the loopholes blatantly overshadowed by the drama, unfolding upon the audiences. The story in the second half is just too simple and conveniently tied up or in layman terms, lazy writing. The songs further impedes the pace of the film and is also badly placed. Thiru's dialogues, especially in the first half are witty and catchy, though. Overall, 'Naan Sigappu Manithan' is a not-so-bad commercial entertainer, with an intriguing medical disorder element.

'Naan Sigappu Manithan' - Non-sleep inducing 'masala' entertainer !


Ratings: 3/5 STARS

BY:TAMIL

MUGAMOODI MOVIE REVIEW

After false alarms such as 'Kandhaswamy' and 'Velayudham', finally we have an authentic super hero film made in Tamizh cinema, keeping in mind of the Indian sensibilities and milieu. An ambitious project from Mysskin, this UTV backed film was supposedly meant for Suriya who had to pull out from this project and finally Jiiva stepped into the project and became Tamizh cinema's first super hero. "With great powers, comes great responsibilities". The responsibility is even greater for the director who is going to direct the super hero who has those great responsibilities. Did Mysskin live up to the expectations because he has a very good proven track record and considered to be one of the intense and detailed film director in Tamizh cinema, among the current young and established directors.

Coming to the performance, Jiiva has really done well for the role. Though he has been trained in martial arts before, he took this role seriously and the pain of undergoing intense training was evident in the performance while executing the complex martial arts moves. His dialogue delivery too was very appropriate and facial expressions were spot on. With more serious films under the baton of experienced and talented directors, he will definitely be one among the best of actors in Tamizh cinema. Another flawless acting from Jiiva ! Its been sometime since we saw Narain in the silver screen, and its commendable for him to step out of the conventional roles and do a negative character or precisely the villain. He has given his best, did what Mysskin told him to do so and has worked really well to buff up his physique and also to undergo months of martial arts training. His looks too was very intimidating but his performance in the second half was very questionable. Probably, Mysskin should answer why he asked Narain to perform as such. Pooja Hegde, a second runner-up winner of Miss Universe India 2010, makes her debut through this film. She looks pretty but lesser make up should make her look better. Acting wise, she was just okay. Nassar plays a an important role as the police officer who is on the hunt and he was in his usual best. Flawless and perfect ! Selvaah, makes his appearance as the master of Jiiva, and he has a beautiful role to perform. Kudos to him as well for taking the pains to train for this role. His emotional expressions were subtle, yet strong. The rest of the cast such as Girish Karnad, Naren, Anupama Kumar, Murugados, Sivaraj, Amalados, Darshan and etc does what was taught to them by Mysskin.

'Mugamoodi' has the best of resources with UTV backing it and certainly Mysskin extracted what can be extracted from them. For the costume of 'Mugamoodi' the super hero, it was designed by one called Gaebriella Wilkins, a costume designer for distinguished production units such as Disneyland Hong Kong and Cirque Du Soleil. She has done a good job with the mask especially, considering the fact, the costume was made out of five materials only. Besides her, Amritha Ram the costume designer has done a decent job with the usual clothing of the characters. The costumes of Jiiva and Pooja Hegde for the songs were simple, yet elegant. And not to forget, the costume for the antagonist, Narain.  Radhika, has done well with the choreography section, incorporating some of Mysskin's quirky dance moves. Tapas Nayak, has done good work with the sound designing, especially for the chasing scenes and the night sequences and not to forget, the action sequences. Balasubramaniam, has done a decent job with the art work, especially the hospital set and the room of the Girish Karnad, with all the gadgetry and also the bar setup as well. Gaugin, could have done better with the editing because the second half was quite slow and many scenes which was required, was deleted by him. Cinematography by Sathya was good, with the regular wide-angle shots and lengthy shots, which are a must for a Mysskin film. The night effect shots were well done too, with apt lighting, capturing the moods very well. The highlight of the movie is definitely the stunt choreography and hats off to Tony Leung Siu-hung, an acclaimed expert in Wing Chun - a close-combat form popularized by the legendary Bruce Lee. Tony has had sparring moments with the legend himself, and ironically Wing Chun was developed by Ip Man, the master of Bruce Lee, of whom a feature film was made of, and Tony was the stunts choreographer for that film ! He has trained the artistes very well and with the additional support of 'Action' Prakash, each stunt sequences were unique, realistic and powerful. One of the best action sequences to come out in Tamizh cinema !

Music by K was really good. There are only three songs in the film and it starts off with the "Bar Anthem", a typical Mysskin film song with foot-tapping beats and dance movements, this song was shot in a simple bar setup and had good lighting by Sathya. The pick of the album, "Vaaya Moodi Summa Iruda" was shot in Switzerland, in lush and beautiful scenic locales. The lead pair looked lovely and had soft and fresh color tone throughout the song and "Maayavi" too was shot there in night sequences with the protagonist being the 'Mugamoodi' and the heroine, yearning for him. Though the songs were well shot, its a head-scratching question of why the need for a foreign-location song. The theme music was riveting by K but he could have avoided the techno beats, which are awkward for a dark themed film such as this but his string section composition was brilliant. A real talent to look out for.

Mysskin starts off the movie very well with a suspenseful scene, and the Marvel-type comic book title card was cute, but all that is just secondary when it comes to the overall film. The first half of the film was good, with necessary introductions of the characters and the establishment of the super hero character. But the second half was slow and and quite amusing for the intensity built up in the first half. A couple of scenes were executed well, but the editing choice of Mysskin was not good and he should have worked with his editor in retaining the true essence of his script. In order to establish a super hero, you need to have a real, good, super villain. Narain was good, but his character suffers due to poor handling by Mysskin and by the end of the film, Narain looks like a comical villain with laughable and very fake mannerisms and dialogue delivery. With such a bad villain, your favoritism for the super hero will suffer big time, and it suffered indeed. The birth of 'Mugamoodi' was too simple and conflict goes kaput. The film was imbalanced as Mysskin tried to please all sections of audiences and his action failed big time. The film gets caught in between being dark/serious and simple/appealing. When one finishes watching it, he or she would feel disappointed because Mysskin has done brilliant works before in 'Anjaathey' and 'Yuddham Sei' and this time, its too simple, light and comical and is not hard-hitting as what he wants it to be. This could have been done purposely to attract the children, but Mysskin should know that its very, very difficult to please all of the people, at the same time and he should have used it for some other script, rather than for this. And the other main mistake by him is to etch a rather caricature-style villain who looks like a mean and menacing one, but spews silly and funny dialogues in the end.

'Mugamoodi' is good and not so good, at the same time. Its good, for being a proper super hero film within the Tamizh sensibilities and for its superior technical works. Its not so good because Mysskin's script lacks the raciness and excitement and we have watched better works from him, in the form of his own earlier films. Low intensity, low excitement, slow presentation, 'Mugamoodi' could and should have been better than this.


Ratings: 3/5 STARS

BY:TAMIL