Dhayanidhi Azhagiri's Meeka Entertainment collaborates with Varun Manian's Radiance Media for this oddly titled filmed, 'Vadacurry'. Saravana Rajan, a former assistant of Venkat Prabhu makes his debut in this film, which has the 'Subramaniapuram' pair of Jai and Swathi Reddy back together. The director confesses in the beginning stages, that the film's title has no whatsoever connection with the script, so what will this film be all about ?
Jai dons a role which has no dissimilarities from his previous works. Its the same quintessential middle-class boy, who is soft-spoken yet sneaky and a little naughty in nature. Its a neat performance from him and the director has some deadpan-humor type of dialogues for Jai, which our hero delivers effortlessly. Swathi Reddy looks very pretty and cute but as it is with regular Tamizh cinema, her character has no bearing on the script. The film definitely belongs to RJ Balaji, who keeps us entertained with his quintessential gibberish dialogues, for which he is popular for. He is the lifeline of the film and without him, it would have been pretty difficult to carry ourselves watching this film. The rest of the cast such as Aruldoss, Kasthuri, Ajay Raj, Sai Prasath, Misha Ghoshal, Ramachandran and etc have pedestrian roles. There are cameo appearances from Venkat Prabhu, Premgi Amaren and Mahat Raghavendra, with Venkat having more screen timing.
Anusha Dhayanidhi is in charge of the costume designing and her works for the lead pair is commendable, which is realistic yet pleasing for the eyes. Swathi was very pretty and cute, in particular. Action choreography is handled by K.Ashok and the major sequence is the climax fight, which was very neatly composed and is not over-the-top, and also suits Jai's physical attributes and personality. Tha.Ramalingam takes care of the art department and his props setting was spot on, especially with Jai's lower middle class home setting and also with the numerous factory and warehouse environment, which were pivotal to the script's story-line. Praveen K.L's editing is crisp, and he keeps the duration of the film short, where it reaches just above 2 hours. The editing in songs, especially has his stamp all over and added more quality output for the visuals. Cinematography is by Venkatesh.S and has done a neat job. The warehouse sequences have good lighting, which enhances the quality of the visuals and the climax fight sequence was well shot.
Music is done by debutante duo Vivek Siva & Mervin Solomon, who worked as sound engineers for Anirudh Ravichander before. The songs are peppy and blends well with the mood and presentation of the film. "Kelunganne Kelunga" is the opening song and was shot on Jai and the characters revolving around him and his lifestyle. The lower middle-class scenario was well captured for this song, which has plenty of montages, put well by Praveen K.L. "Low Aana Life-U" sung by Anirudh Ravichander, had the much talked about special appearance of Indo-Canadian Bollywood star Sunny Leone, a former popular and celebrated pornographic actress. The song has a groove to it, though the picturization was a little letdown, bar the presence of Sunny Leone, providing the glamour quotient. The pick of the album, "Nenjukulle Nee" was shot on Jai and Swathi Reddy with dance sequence interspersing with some montages and has Jai rooting after Swathi. A female version of this song appears soon, and was shot on Swathi. "Ullangkaiyil" was shot creatively with some VFX works done by Lovren Studios, which had the concept of Jai, getting entrapped within a smartphone and its world of applications. "Vaada Nanba" is a situational bit song, which appears during the climax portion. The background score was neatly arranged by the duo and looks like they are a very good prospect for Tamizh cinema.
The film has an extremely simple central plot and the director comes up with sequences, pertaining to this single idea. But the story only moves in the second half, leaving the entire first half redundant ! Youth audience might overlook this flaw due to the good songs and RJ Balaji's wacky dialogues and comedy portions. Saravana Rajan, keeps the proceeding simple and is not very adventurous with his story-telling. But the director's character writing was a big letdown. Jai seems to be in a confused mood throughout the film and its odd seeing him react the way he did during the entire second half. The romance sequence is lifeless and is a complete time waste, especially with Swathi's role being projected as a selfish bimbo. The antagonists were lacking vigor and the surprise the director throws at us after all the suspense-building process, eventually fails to shock us, due to this lack of strong characterizations issue. Some loopholes are evident in the story-line, which the director has failed to take notice of, and there are unwanted sequences in the film, which carries no extra quality input, for the script. The only thing which keeps us glued to the film is RJ Balaji's antics and the 'surprise' element the director keeps in store for us, in the climax in which the villain is revealed.
'Vadacurry' - RJ Balaji to the rescue !
Ratings: 2.5/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
With expectations comes great responsibilities. For Venkat Prabhu though, those responsibilities are meant to be light at heart, no matter how huge the hype is. The fifth from the 'Venkat Prabhu Brotherhood', the expectation was generally high, due to Karthi being in the cast and also for Yuvan Shankar Raja's blockbuster music, which ironically is his 100th milestone film. Produced by Studio Green, can Venkat score another super-hit, following the blockbuster success of 'Mankatha' ?
Karthi, who has been facing a career crisis with continuous flops, bounces back with a refreshing and likable portrayal. Venkat has exploited the charm factor of Karthi's and turned him into a smooth-talking, girl-magnet playboy. He wins over his legion of girl-fans with his naughty smile and good looks. He has adopted an apt body language for the role, and his dialogue delivery was spotless. More brownie points for him in terms of dancing and fighting skills, as he has shown marked improvement from one film to another. A sigh of relief for Karthi, indeed ! His partner Premgi, was at his usual best and underplays his capabilities, by allowing himself to be ridiculed all the time and be the butt of jokes. It works well for the movie and his character is the perfect foil for the hero. But typecasting will catch up with him, sooner or later ! Hansika Motwani looks ravishing and seems to have a good hold of her character. There's a big contingent of supporting casts such as Nassar, Jayaprakash, Sampath, Prem, Ramki (a good comeback - the man still looks the same !), sizzling & hot Mandy Takhar, Madhumitha, Subbu Panchu, Uma Riyaz Khan, Shanmugasundaram, Nithin Sathya, Sam Anderson, Aadhavan, Badava Gopi, Tharika, Vijayalakshmi and etc. And there's even cameo appearances of Venkat's boys such as Jai, Aravind Akash, Vaibhav, Mahat, Ashwin, Vijay Vasanth and etc. That's some star-casting, atypical of Venkat Prabhu films !
The film carries excellent technical outputs from all the technicians involved. Vasuki Bhaskar's costume designing plays a big role, in projecting the characters in a very urbane manner, while not losing the essence of the each characters. Very good job ! Silva, who also scores his 100th assignment with this project, has handled some high-octane action sequences. The car chase sequences have been very well handled and executed, while the climax fight sequence, shot in an construction site, takes the cake among all the fight sequences. Production design by Videsh is at top-notch quality, with plenty of detailing for all of the set works. The interiors of posh hotels and also of different types of homes, were well set up. The outdoor sets such as the roadside biriyani stall and etc, were very real-like and natural. Fantastic output from Videsh ! The film would not be as good as it is without the editing duo of Praveen K.L and Srikanth N.B. They have experiment with different cutting patterns, and has done meticulous work in many sequences, especially with the opening title card and also for some song sequences. They keep the story tight and gripping but at the same time, did not lose the fun elements to their scissors. Venkat's regular, Sakthi Saravanan cinematography is a big plus-point for the film. The glossy look and rich colors, with perfect lighting, brings out the joy and fun factor of the script. His Steadicam usage is commendable and adds more zing, to the action sequences.
Yuvan Shankar Raja reserves some of his best for his cousin Venkat and 'Biriyani' is no exception. The soundtrack is a big hit and complements the script, perfectly like hand in glove. "Biriyani" title track fits perfectly as the mood-setter and has clever editing works by Praveen and Srikanth, who presents the title credits by infusing some scenes of the film, in a graphic novel style. The pick of the album, "Naah Na Naah" was shot on a beach-house party atmosphere and involves most of the star casting. The setting was glittering in glitz and glamour and has some cheeky comedy portions, interspersed. "Pom Pom Penne" had elaborate set works, such as Moulin Rouge and Mary Poppins-like setting. The lighting by Sakthi Saravanan adds more glamour to the richly produced song, and Karthi proves his mettle in dancing. "Mississippi" is the sultry song shot on Karthi, Premgi and Mandy Takhar, who was simply irresistible with her sexily choreographed dance moves ! Some light-hearted moments are there too, thanks to Premgi. "Run For Your Life" comes as a situational song, where two drastic sequences were interspersed together. One is of a clubbing scenario featuring Malaysian artistes Psycho Unit and the other, the high-octane chase sequence. Brilliantly edited by Praveen and Srikanth ! "Edhirthu Nil" is the emotional climax song, shot on the hero and other important characters, making a daring, action plan. Yuvan nails it in the background score department as well, with complementary sound effects.
Venkat Prabhu's USP is his screenplay, and with 'Biriyani' he has managed to maintain the suspense element until the very end, by keeping the cards close to his chest. He has a very clear picture of what he wants and how he wants it from his technicians and his artistes, and that delivers most of the final output wanted. As always with Venkat, he infuses humor in the most unwanted and gravest of situations, which sometimes results in a crackling, comedy portions. Venkat has given most of the important characters, a good detailing and depth, with their identities and mannerisms. The dialogues, though are not family-friendly and incorporated lots of double entendres, which would find reception among the youngsters. For those who was expecting a different attempt from Venkat, they might find it a little tad disappointing, because the run of events, featured in the screenplay will definitely remind us of Venkat's previous ventures like 'Mankatha' and 'Saroja'. Also, some of the proceedings are a wee-bit farcical and out-of-place, but as promoted, its a Venkat Prabhu 'diet' after all and why care of logic in the first place ! And as it is always, don't forget to watch the fun and funny bloopers in the end !
'Biriyani' - A hearty meal, for those with the correct expectations !
Ratings: 3.25/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
Comedy genre is not something new or fresh for Tamizh cinema audience, but infusing fantasy element into it, is a rarity. AGS Entertainment produced, 'Naveena Saraswathi Sabatham', is the debut directorial venture of K.Chandru, who has co-written the script of 'Tamizh Padam' along with C.S Amudhan. With a fresh and experimental combination of next-gen comedy artistes, K.Chandru has attempted to entertain us with comedy, albeit with a clear message. How did this 'modernized vow' of Saraswathi turn out to be?
Jai, after his pleasant performance in 'Raja Rani', had pretty much nothing to do. He was in his utmost comfort zone and has aptly used his shrill voice, for the right moments. Debutante heroine, Niveda Thomas looks sweet and performs well, with good dialogue delivery, which was perfectly dubbed by her dubbing artiste ! Alas, she has an extremely short screen timing, hence the limited acting scope for her. Sathyan and C.Rajkumar of 'Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom' were at ease with their roles, particularly Sathyan, who did a great work with his expressions and body language, especially for a photo-shoot sequence in the first half. The one with the 'meatiest' role is none other than 'VTV' Ganesh, who rocks in some sequences, with his trademark dialogue delivery and antics, especially in the second half. On the other side, Subbu Panchu, Devadarshini and Manobala, donned the roles of religious deities Shiva, Parvathi and Naradar, respectively. They were apt choices for their roles and gave good dialogue deliveries, and Subbu Panchu should be appreciated for his funny expressions and voice modulations. Venkat Prabhu and Sam Anderson make fleeting cameo appearances. The rest of the cast such as R.S Sivaji, Chitra Lakshmanan, Swaminathan, Badava Gopi, Vishal Venkat, Rekha Suresh, Ramya Ramakrishnan and etc were apt for their respective roles.
M.P Vanitha Srinivasan's costume designing was okay, though the shoe-string budget is a little evident, especially with the GOD characters. The conventional real-life characters too, were well presented, in terms of costumes. Dhilip Subbarayan's action choreography sufficed the needs of the script, quite well. M.G Murugan's production design is vital, and he has done a good work with the Mount Kailash abode, with touches of contemporary. An unique idea, indeed and kudos to him, for pulling it off. The private abode of Shiva, is the highlight, with modern art paintings adorning the walls ! T.S Suresh's editing was not flawless, as the film moves at a snail's pace in the second half, and the some sequences dragged the length of the film. The transition from GOD's world to the episodes taking place in Earth, could have been smoother. J.Anand's cinematography was average, apart from the beautiful shots of the island for a song sequence, late second-half.
Music has been handled by newcomer Prem Kumar, and the melodies are worth listening. "Kaathirundhai Anbe" was shot on Jai and Niveda, in montages, with the quirky element of the heroine holding a microphone and singing from it, all the time ! "Saturday Fever" is a clubbing song, and was shot on the gang of four, comprising Jai, C.Rajkumar, Sathyan and 'VTV' Ganesh. The typical color lighting and scantily-dressed Asian girls, are there in the song. "Vaazhkai Oru" is also shot on the four buddies stranded alone in an uninhabited island, with montages of them spending time by doing what they can afford to do. "Nenjankuzhi" is the pick of album, shot on the lead pair, and had some beautiful shots of the island, against the backdrop of dark clouds and blue ocean. R.Kannan, handles the background score and he gives his input with some unique, modern sounds.
The trailer and teasers suggested a touch of 'Hangover', but the director has dismissed the idea, through a dialogue uttered by the protagonist. K.Chandru's script has a good and timely message to the viewers, but the message presentation was corny and ends up being dull. However, K.Chandru should be applauded for his unique ideas (Lord Ganesha on treadmill, Lord Murugan and his Temple Run game on the iPad, Naradhar with a guitar and Lord Shiva with his iMac and etc) along with creative and cheeky dialogues (especially for the 'heavenly' episodes, with the right amount of English and Tamizh mixture, giving those episodes a contemporary feel). The first half was interesting, especially the GOD sequences, which were cutely conceptualized and well executed. The introduction of the human being characters were okay to some extent. But the second half becomes quite tedious with long drawn sequences and K.Chandru tries to cover it up, by spoofing some of the popular Tamizh films. The script is pretty obviously wafer-thin, so K.Chandru should have trimmed the second half, quite considerably. Also, why are Tamizh cinema directors still trying to do cover up with the foreign locations ? Kuala Lumpur has been passed out as Bangkok in this film, and its about time for directors to realize that, its not easy to fool any audience, anymore !
'Naveena Saraswathi Sabatham' - A fantasy comedy, with preachy messages.
Ratings: 2.25/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
Venkat Prabhu is back with a not just a bang but a LOUD one with this biggie, Mankatha with none other than the "King of Openings" in Tamizh cinema, Ajith Kumar. Both of them needed a hit as Venkat's previous Goa was a non-performer and Ajith's previous two films Asal and Aegan were big drabs and huge disappointment for his fans. This combination was very much anticipated with interests since Venkat never worked with a major star before and moreover this turning out to be Ajith's Golden Jubilee 50th film. The promos and trailers were very impressive and the final product too was quite a puncher, just falling short of being truly exceptional.
Technicians of the film has worked wonders for it and all the hard work put in was evident on the screen. Vasugi Bhaskar's costumes were very apt for the characters and thanks to her suggestions of giving Ajith a salt-and-pepper look, "Thale" was looking smashing in the film with his blazers and suits. After Rajnikanth, none would have looked as suave as Ajith. Arjun's looks and costumes were stylish as well and Trisha's dresses made her look elegant and pretty. Silva's stunts were brilliant with the shooting scenes in the warehouse and the climax fight sequences were well executed. Venkat Prabhu should be applauded too for mixing in good car and bike stunt sequences for Ajith, since it is his forte. Art director Videsh did a commendable job as well by giving authentic looks to the sets, be it Ajith's stylishly made apartment home, the warehouse, the cinema theater and the "Leisure Bar" setup. Praveen K.L and N.B Srikanth, the editors work was neat and the "Chess Board" scene was the highlight of their editing prowess. Mankatha will be one of cinematographer Sakthi Saravanan's best works ever. Be it the movements made in the opening scene of Ajith and the angle's chosen for the fight sequences, it's clearly visible that he had a gala time shooting this film with his lenses. The car chase and heist scenes plus the "Chess Board" sequence, are some of his exemplary works. Job very well done by him.
Yuvan Shankar Raja delivered good numbers for the film with the "Vilaiyaadu Mankatha" number and the "Theme Track" being the best of the lot which were perfect build-ups for Ajith. His re-recording work was very well done, with various styles of music experimented in the background scores. The "Vilaiyadu Mankatha" number was the best picturised, being shot in a discotheque with brilliant ambience and foot-stepping moves by Kalyan, being perfect match for Yuvan's beats. "Vaada bin Laada" number was very well conceived with the constantly changing fittings and furnitures well done by the VFX team. "Machi Open the Bottle" was peppy and well shot with energetic dance movements and "Balle Lakka" being casual and lightweight with the added glamour of skimpily dressed dancers. "Nanbane" track was well conceived and wonderfully written by the legendary Vaali. "Nee Naan" song picturised on Vaibhav and Anjali was straightforward and the montage sequences worked well for the song.
Describing Ajith's performance in a word is impossible but he was a class apart from any other artiste in the film. He was in a league of his own and hats off to "Thale" for being daring enough to choose a character which was not only grey in shades, but a out-and-out bad***. His dialogue delivery was brilliant and he oozes charm, grace, style and awesome screen presence. It's a big gift for an actor or a hero especially to be adored in a totally antagonistic character and after MR Radha, Rajnikanth, Raghuvaran and Sathyaraj no other actor was able to hold the attention and interest of the audience by playing a bad & mean character, with a touch of class. It's not a exaggeration to say that after Rajnikanth, no one else had such strong aura and charisma in playing the lead role. "Thale" has ROCKED!! It's a good changeover for Arjun who was doing mediocre films on his own and he was well presented and needless to say of his action sequences, he was on top form. Premji with his cute and terrific comedy timing takes the cake among the sidekicks. Vaibhav and Ashwin were natural in their respective roles and Mahat had a decent entry. Jayaprakash and Aravind Akash was adequate without going overboard, though Subbu Panchu's acting was a little bit wooden and forced. The heroines had nothing much to do in this boy's flick, but they were needed to move the plot from one scene to another. Trisha was cute and it's a welcome to see her dub in her own voice. Anjali, Andrea and Lakshmi Rai did what was expected from them.
The director has always insisted that the script was written first but end of the day the question arises whether the racy script complemented Ajith's persona or whether it was Ajith's charisma and presence which complemented the script. It works both ways, though the second proposition has more weightage than the first one. Venkat Prabhu's screenplay was very racy especially in the second half, where he brought out all the big guns one after the another, with new twists and turns being churned out every few moments. This move by him made the audiences to be on their edge of the seat. His forte in his scripts are the comedy portions being infused in serious scenes and it was evident in this film as well but lesser in number compared to his previous scripts. He must be appreciated though for putting in cheeky comedy lines, involving the artistes themselves, be it Premji's parody of Rajnikanth and Silambarasan or even relating to the alter-ego's of the characters, with Ajith's dialogue of saying "Naanum Evvalavu Naalathaan Nallavanaaga Nadikkurathu" being the best (even Anjali had her previous popular dialogue "Nijamathaan Solriya" which was popular in her debut film "Kattradhu Tamizh"). The amalgamation of few creative and interesting ideas elevates the script. Though the film has plenty of plus points, the script has it's pitfalls in the form of loopholes which can arouse plenty of unanswered questions.
It takes great guts for an actor who's idolized by thousands and thousands of fans as hero, to play a totally mean and diabolic money-minded character and Ajith deserves a big round of applause for having the guts and gumption to pull it off and that too in such stylish manner. If at all the script had no loose ends, this would have been a classic commercial entertainer.
Ratings: 3/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
