After a break of 4-years, Shankar's S Pictures is back in limelight and this time he is distributing the film made by his former protege, Karthik G.Krish, which is produced by I Studios Entertainment. 'Kappal' promises to be a comedy-riot and is mainly targeted at the urban youngsters. When ones love is in trouble, he/she depend on his/her friends. But what if the friends are the actual problem here ? 'Kappal' explores this situation and did Shankar's protege make his mentor proud ?
For Vaibhav, who has been doing supporting roles, this is a big break for him and his role is an apt character for his style of acting. The character had enough comical shades to it and Vaibhav has made good use of his opportunity. His comic-timing is getting better and even his acting his improving as well. More experiments with his dialogue delivery and voice modulation can help him improve his performance. Debutante heroine Sonam Bajwa looks super cute, elegant, hot & sexy, all rolled into one. She scores in some portions and shows promise. With better choices of films, this young lass can shoot herself into the A-list of Tamizh cinema heroines ! 'VTV' Ganesh was in his usual elements and rocks in a few scenes, with his unique style of dialogue delivery. The team of Karunakaran, Arjunan Nandhakumar, Venkat Sundar and Karthik Priyadarshan complemented Vaibhav well and they had their own moments too. Robo Shankar, George, Steve and etc had supporting roles and among them, Steve stood out for his performance in a character, which strangely mimicked Silambarasan.
S.Tamil Selvan is in charge of costume designing and as per the script's demands, the characters looked their roles, especially Sonam Bajwa, who was looking charming and sexy, in her chic costumes. Art direction is handled by K.Arusamy, and his work gave the rich detailing in terms of set properties. 'VTV' Ganesh's house set-up, as well as the posh houses shown in the film, were aptly propped. K.Arusamy certainly made good use of the budget given ! Anthony's editing was surprisingly jerky, and he could have certainly trimmed many portions, which was slowed the pace of the film. Dinesh Krishnan.B of 'Soodhu Kavvum' fame has handled the cinematography work and it is very slick and functional. The way he has did the lighting for the indoor locations, gave the sequences the apt look and the rich-look of the film was achieved, thanks to his camerawork.
Natarajan Sankaran's musical score works well with the script's presentation style and the flow of the screenplay. "Oru Cup Acid" sung by Santhosh Narayanan is shot in Vaibhav, Karunakaran, Arjunan Nandhakumar, Venkat Sundar and Karthik Priyadarshan and serves as their introductory song. The whole song was shot in a college campus and has montages of the quadruplet of friends spoiling every attempt of Vaibhav in a finding a girlfriend. "Kaali Pasanga", also sung by Santhosh Narayanan, is a comical situation song, in which Vaibhav thwarts a group of rowdies by spewing bad words at them. The VFX executed by WEFX team is commendable. "Ekka Chakkama" is shot on the lead pair and has montages of their love scenes, shot in and around posh and urbane locations of Chennai. The pick of the lot, "Kadhal Cassatta" was shot on the lead pair and a group of dancers, against a candy & sweets themed, set work done by K.Arusamy. Both the sets and Sonam Bajwa looked yummy, indeed ! Dinesh Krishnan.B's camerawork deserves mention for this song. The cult-hit 'Isaignani' Ilaiyaraaja groove number, "Oore Vittu Ooru" from the film 'Karakaattakaaran', is used in this film, though the audio CD had a different remix-version. It was shot against Vaibhav, Karunakaran, Arjunan Nandhakumar, Venkat Sundar and Karthik Priyadarshan, in and around Chennai locations and they were accompanied by a group of dancers, dressed up as super-heroes. "Friendship" is a pathos song, and has montages of the main lead and the supporting artistes, dealing with the break-up between the hero and heroine. Natarajan Sankaran's background score is quirky and works well for the film's mood.
Karthik G.Krish's simplistic but realistic approach and treatment of the script, makes 'Kappal' a fun viewing for most of the time. The hero and heroine's characters were well etched and handled, and the detailing in their characters, could have been a little more articulate. The screenplay was simple and straightforward, although there are some lagging moments, which could have been edited out, alongside some unwanted song sequences. Karthik G.Krish's plus point seems to be his dialogue writing and there are plenty of one-liners, which were very funny and entertaining, especially in the first half and mouthed by 'VTV' Ganesh. There are some loopholes and continuity mistakes in the film, which the makers could have been more careful of, but Karthik G.Krish manages to divert our attention away from those mistakes, with back-to-back comedy sequences. The climax is a riot, especially with Steve's character and the antics played by Karunakaran, Arjunan Nandhakumar, Venkat Sundar and Karthik Priyadarshan. There are some adult-oriented comedy portions and dialogues, which we believe, is a toned-down version from the original scenes.
'Kappal' - Some rough water, but a safe sail overall !
Ratings: 2.5/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
Remaking a successful film is a very tricky and arduous task and the difficulty increases many folds, if the original is a critically-acclaimed film. Vidya Balan's 2012 starrer, 'Kahaani' is considered as a contemporary classic in the thriller genre and is acclaimed for its pulsating twists & turns filled screenplay. Sekhar Kammula has been roped in for this bilingual, which has Nayanthara, enacting the role made memorable by Vidya Balan. Can this adaptation retain the same tenacity and fervor of the original ?
If you have watched the original, you must be aware that the whole film is a one-woman show, and Nayanthara has done some sort of justice to the lead role of 'Anaamika'. She understands the nuances of her character well and has delivered a rather decent performance. She does have the commanding screen presence and ability to carry the whole film on her shoulders. And as always it is, she looks fabulous in her sarees ! It would have been better if she could have dubbed for herself, though Deepa Venkat's dubbing was apt. Vaibhav Reddy, who plays a rookie cop, delivers a measured performance, with a serious demeanor throughout the film. Pasupathy, is finally back to the silver screens after some time. As the Special Agent, he fits the character quite well, though the characterization was a tad too loud and lacks depth. A better handling of his character by the director, would have yielded better results. Naresh, Sri Ranjini, Harshvardhan Rane, Thagubothu Ramesh, Vinay Varma and etc were befitting of their roles.
Technically, 'Nee Enge En Anbe' does have some good and decent efforts from the technical crew. Nishka Lulla, had designed the costumes for Nayanthara and our lady was simply gorgeous in her attire. But still the necessity for such good-looks for a grim subject is a different perspective, which needs to be questioned. 'Dragon' Prakash handles the action choreography and his work sufficed the needs of the script. Chinna handles the art direction, and he has done a really good work with the props. The hotel room setting and the area around the hotel, ie the road-side stalls, the Durga Dewi shrine and the busy market, were realistically drawn and has splendor in the detailing, especially for the festival like celebration sequence, in the climax. Editing is taken care by Marthand K.Venkatesh, and he keeps the film tight and concise with the duration, although the climax could have been laid out better, which would have added more intensity to the proceedings. Vijay C.Kumar's cinematography stands out, for the raw and gritty look he gave for the film. The color tone and the camera movements, complement the script's mood and feel, pretty well. The charm of the old Hyderabad and the Charminar, as well as that part of Hyderabad's lifestyle was well captured, with plenty of outdoor shots. Music is by veteran M.M Keeravani or credited as Maragathamani in Tamizh. The film would have lost its lustre, if it wasn't for this man's background score. The score was thumping and plays like another character in the film. Only two songs are there in the film in which, "Evvidam Naan" is a montage track, whereas "Aval Appadi" appears during the end credits. Kudos to the M.M Keeravani once again, for the splendid background score, especially with a Qawwali-piece !
The original 'Kahaani' was conceived by Sujay Ghosh and co-written with novelist Advaita Kala. The killer screenplay was developed by a team of writers, consisting of Sujay Ghosh, Suresh Nair and Nikhil Vyas. For the remake, director Sekhar Kammula has joined hands with veteran renowned Telugu novelist Yandamuri Veerendranath. The screenplay adaptation, disappointingly is not as good as the Hindi original. The first half does not set the needed pace and most of the important sequences, fall flat. There is not gist and vigour in the screenplay, nor any attention-grabbing scenes. The characters were not well-etched out and makes a glaring statement of the director's substandard handling of characterizations. Also, a number of loopholes and mistakes are evident in the film, which the writing and direction team failed to take notice of. But what irks most is the half-baked attempt in presenting a proper bilingual. Some Telugu dialogues were just directly dubbed into Tamizh, which gives the film, a dubbing-film like look, in spite of Brinda Sarathy and Mahesh Sai's Tamizh dialogues. Some dialogues do stand out, such as the ones written for the interrogation scenes. There are plenty of Telugu dialogues in the film, which the script demands, but better subtitling could have helped the audience in comprehending, what's being said and argued. Apart from all these, one should take note that the writing duo has significantly changed the original 'Kahaani's plot and screenplay, and has altered the important twists & turns apparent in the original. To put it bluntly, 'Nee Enge En Anbe' looks like a simplified version of 'Kahaani'.
'Nee Enge En Anbe' - No where near 'Kahaani', yet its a decent watch. Wonder, why the producers insisted for such a low-appealing title. Hmmm.
Ratings: 2.75/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
Debutante director Shree, a former associate of Shankar during the 'Endhiran' days, has joined hands with some of his mates from the 'Endhiran' stable and comes out with 'Damaal Dumeel'. Touted to be a neo-noir genre or black comedy with some dashes of comedy, it features lesser known artistes such as Vaibhav and Remya Nambeesan as the main leads. Can Shree come up with a crackling product, befitting of the title ?
Vaibhav carries the whole film on his shoulders, because the plot is woven around him. He looks good, enacts well, but the screen presence is missing and he doesn't stand out, especially during the most crucial sequences. A better characterization and vision from the director could have brought out a more enthralling performance from him. Remya Nambeesan has nothing much to do, and is just adequate enough. Kota Srinivasa Rao, keeps our funny bones tickled, with some good comic timing and expressions and his screen presence, is what actually keeps our attention towards the film. The veteran just breezed through the role, yet left his mark. The same cannot be said about Sayaji Shinde, though. His character is of equal importance with Kota's, but the characterization was weak, and his role suffered from poor detailing. Charlie, Venkat, Manobala and a host of newcomers and junior artistes, make up the rest of the small cast.
The film carries some decent technical outputs from the technical crew. Action choreography is handled by G, and his stunt sequences are kept simple and sufficient for the need of the script. The altercations between Vaibhav and the other artistes, taking place in the protagonist's apartment, were realistically staged. K.Arusamy's art direction was neat, especially with the interior works of the protagonist's apartment setting, as well as with the climax paint factory premise. The vision was simple, yet well pulled-off. Editing by Paramesh Krishna was adequate, and he has kept the running time to less than 2 hours. Some of the visual splits, which he employs in the second half, is interesting. Cinematography by A.M Edwin Sakay, was neat and purposeful. The camera movements and the angles used by the cinematographer was simple, yet it did the job of conveying the story's mood and style.
S.S Thaman's soundtrack is good and fits the movie's flow. "Saga Saga" is the opening number and acts as the introductory song of the lead pair. The song was shot in a nightclub, which had all the atypical dark shots, with different lighting. Deepika Kamaiah makes a cameo in this song. The titular track, "Dumeel" is a situational song, featuring montages of Vaibhav, Kota Srinivasa Rao and Sayaji Shinde, trying to figure out plans and 'tactics'. The editing by Paramesh Krishna for this particular song was slick. "Pogadhe Pogadhe", sung by Remya herself, is a bit-song, highlighting an unfortunate incident between the lead pair. "Odi Odi" appears in the climax, and is also a situational song, with some visual split-ups, well thought by the director and executed by the editor. The "Damaal Dumeel" theme music, appears sporadically, throughout the duration of the film. S.S Thaman's background score was good too, especially for the crucial 'twist-and-turn' scenes. Overall, this film would have been a walk in the park for S.S Thaman.
For a first time filmmaker, Shree has some clever ideas, which he has tried to execute well. Unfortunately, the film is riddled with inconsistencies with the scripting and writing. The dialogues by Shree, was just bland and unexciting, which should not be the case in a black comedy. Especially, when you had some good films from the same genre, with excellent dialogues (Soodhu Kavvum & Moodar Koodam). The lifestyle and issues faced by the IT-based employees, were well presented, though and Shree can be commended for that, as well as for not dragging the screenplay with unnecessary sequences. The screenplay was just apt and the director immediately starts off the film, based on the crux of his plot. As mentioned earlier, the artistes suffered due to poor characterizations, wherein their characters lacked the depth and detailing needed, which makes it almost impossible for us to empathize with the lead pair. There is no organic development in the story-line, and everything happens so quickly, without any rational quotient to it. There are plenty of blatant loopholes and glaring gaps in the plot, which were not addressed by the director. The ending was pretty much too simple, which makes all the earlier proceedings to just go kaput, for no reasons. The comedy sequences too, did not work out well, apart from those, which features Kota Srinivasa Rao. Conclusion, 'Damaal Dumeel' would have worked out fine, if this was a short film.
'Damaal Dumeel' - Tame, celebratory 'shoot-out' !
Ratings: 2.5/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
