After the sensitive and decent debut in 'Aarohanam', Lakshmy Ramakrishnan is back again in the director's seat with her second venture. Curiously titled, 'Nerungi Va Muthamidathe' is a road movie, with a multiple-person narrative based screenplay. Consisting of a fresh cast, with some old-timers and a young technical crew, can Lakshmy Ramakrishnan outdo her debut and deliver a clean film ?
Debutante Shabeer comes out clean with his first film and looks convincing. He can work out to improve his screen presence and his expressions, nevertheless he looks like a promising actor, waiting for his big moment. Piaa Bajpai makes her return to Tamizh cinema and though she appears more often than the other artistes in the film, she has a very limited role and her character doesn't have screen timing and space. She's okay, but she could do more. Kannada actress Sruthi Hariharan makes her Tamizh debut, and in a very small role with very limited screen timing, she comes unscathed. Hoping to see more of her in Tamizh cinema ! There's a big list of veteran Tamizh cinema character artistes and there's the likes of A.L Azhagappan, Viji Chandrasekhar, Y.Gee Mahendra, Thambi Ramaiah, 'Thalaivasal' Vijay, Ambika, Shyam Sagar, Gautam Kurup, Bala Saravanan, producer A.V Anoop, Ramakrishnan, Kavithalaya Krishnan and etc. Bala Saravanan and Thambi Ramaiah gave the film's lighter moments and A.L Azhagappan alongside Gautam Kurup and a cameo by Lakshmy Ramakrishnan herself, don the antagonist roles. The experienced folks nailed their characters and delivered no-nonsense performances.
Sai Naresh handles the costume designing department and his work fits the bill and all the characters looked their roles. Its refreshing to see Viji Chandrasekhar's character donning stylish wears, especially if you consider how Tamizh cinema has portrayed widows. 'Mirattal' Selva's action choreography was functional and looked very realistic and kudos to the director for incorporating stunts only when it is needed. Art direction is taken care by Raja A.S and G.Kumar, and the duo have executed their roles very well. The vegetable factory, the interiors of the protagonist's town home, Viji Chandrasekhar's posh bungalow, everything looked realistic and was aptly propped. Sabu Joseph V.J's editing work has no gimmicks, functional and sufficed the needs of the script. Cinematography is handled by Vinod Bharathi.A and its very evocative, with vivid visuals and purposeful camera-movements. The dry and hot Trichy/Karaikal outskirts were effectively used and portrayed through his lenses and adds more color to the script.
Music is by the Madley Blues team, consisting of Prashanth Techno and Harish Venkat. Music is a big strength to the film and the Madley Blues team has delivered a very refreshing score and goes along with the screenplay very well. The songs are situational and fits the mood of the scenes well. "Hey Sutrum Boomi" focuses on Piaa Bajpai and a group of youngsters having an outing, with montages of them having fun in a beach house atmosphere. "Kaligaalam" is a situational song, sung by Shankar Mahadevan and has its focus on the main leads, especially on Sruthi Hariharan's character's journey. "Yaar" has montages of Viji Chandrasekhar and Piaa Bajpai and focuses on their troubled mother-daughter relationship. "Yaarum Paakama" starts of with Viji Chandrasekhar performing as a lead singer of an pop/rock band and it continues till the end credits, finishes rolling. The background score by the Madley Blues team, is very refreshing, cool and is very apt for the script. It gives a different color to the story and accompanies along as an additional character itself. Good work, guys !
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Lakshmy Ramakrishnan has gone for a different subject and moved away from the feminism based scripts. A road movie, can be tiring and boring for some people, due to the slow nature of the screenplay but with 'Nerungi Va Muthamidathe', she has kept us guessing till the end, which holds our attention, very well. The multiple-person narrative, doesn't give away any suspense elements early and kudos to Lakshmy for coming up with a clean screenplay with no hiccups in the narration. What keeps us hooked is the interesting small twists and turns, which comes one after another during the climax. But, the zing and zest was missing from the narration, which could have made it more engrossing. Also, the ending looks contrived, which she could have avoided. Lakshmy Ramakrishnan has done her homework and the detailing in the plot setting is laudable. Her choice of issues discussed is very pertinent, relevant and topical and being a women herself, the way she handled the issue of violence against women, was very subtle. But some of the issues needed more explanation and many questions and issues are left unanswered or unexplained. Her characterizations were not bad, but they need more depth, which many characters lacked. A better dialogue writer could have given stronger content but Lakshmy's work was commendable. End of it, what works for 'Nerungi Va Muthamidathe' is the sincerity and honest work done by Lakshmy Ramakrishnan, and may this be a stepping stone for even better works from her.
'Nerungi Va Muthamidathe' - Lakshmy is showing improvement as an film maker !
Ratings: 2.75/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
G.V Prakash Kumar, experiencing a high-point in his career, has ventured into production and its a film for newcomers ! Directed by debutante Vikram Sugumaran, a former assistant of Balu Mahendra and the fellow dialogue writer for Vetrimaaran in 'Aadukalam', 'Madha Yaanai Koottam' has its roots in Theni and is based on the "Seimurai" rituals and proceedings. Will Vikram live it up to his guru's expectations ?
Debutante hero Kathir, handled his role quite effectively. His dialogue delivery is quite measured and composed. His ability to handle action sequences are not bad, though he can deliver better performances. Definitely a good and raw prospect, who can be sculpted into a fine actor. Just watch out from being stereotyped ! Oviya, pretty much has nothing to do, to be frank. Her character is inconsequential to the script and narration and is there in the film for purely commercial reasons, alone. She sticks out like a sore-thumb, due to her odd character placement. The antagonist Vela Ramamoorthy looks menacing and majestic with his body language and dialogue delivery. Veteran Viji Chandrasekhar, delivers a very intense and nuanced performance, and she pulled it off effervescently, thanks to her talent and experience. The supporting cast such as Murugan, Ammu, P.Gopalakrishnan, Virumaandi, Anju, Theni Mahalakshmi and etc were good and befitting of the characters they enacted.
Gopi Prasanna, has handled the designing aspect quite well, and presented the rustic and gritty look, needed for the script. Kishore T.E's editing is crisp and neat and his editing style, fits the mood and presentation manner of the director's script. The action sequences, especially were slickly edited. 'Rock' Prabhu's action choreography is fantastic, and pumping with emotions and raw nature to it. The stunts have been realistically choreographed and any cinematic artificiality has been avoided at all cost. The final output is brilliant and he deserves applauds for his choreography. Well done, Prabhu ! Ragul Dharuman's cinematography is impressive, especially with his framing and camera angles. The color tone, gives the film a very raw, rustic and gritty look, which really resembled the nature of the script. And he must be congratulated for the maximum usage of natural lights, which gives a beautiful, natural look & feel for the script.
N.R Raghunanthan's soundtracks fits the need of the script, very well. "Unnai Vanangaathu" is a situational song, featuring local street artistes delivering a sketch-like narration of the characters of the script. Ragul's natural lighting is a highlight of the song and the funeral scenario had fantastic detailing ! "Kana Kondakaari" is shot on the lead pair and had plenty of montages of the hero falling for the heroine, with plenty of indoor-shots. "Kombu Oothi" is another situational track, projecting a glitzy and grand rural wedding, with plenty of good detailing and camera angles. "Mukkaluthu" is used as a background song, capturing the funeral procession of a main character of the film, which also had very good detailing. "Enga Pore" is a pathos song, shot on the protagonist, who is on the run. The song had plenty of good landscape as backdrops and Ragul has captured the rustic beauty of Kerala, very well. "Yaro Yaro" was shot on the lead pair and had plenty of montages as well, shot against the backwaters of Kerala. N.R Raghunanthan's background score is even better than the songs and the score is pretty much complementary and is in-tune with the mood of the script.
Vikram Sugumaran has done a great job with his detailing of the rituals and occasions of the rural folks of Theni. He manages to transport us into their world, very effectively and that is something which many directors, be it new or even the experienced, fail to do so ! He should be applauded for getting good output from his cast and technical crew as well and has a good understanding of his exact wants and needs. But the plot is quite straightforward and has not much twists and turns, except for the climax, which is a little dampener. This is due to the proliferation of such rural-based, violently action-oriented dramas in Tamizh cinema, in recent times. The intensity of the action and drama is quite high at times, which does not give much space for the characters to register well with the audience, in terms of emotional connectedness. Dialogues were very well written, and resonated the plot milieu and characterizations of the artistes. Vikram is certainly a good prospect, and with better script and screenplay writing, this talent is bound to go higher in Tamizh cinema.
'Madha Yaanai Koottam' - A very well made first-attempt from the makers. More improvement and a bigger success, is definitely on the way !
Ratings: 2.75/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
A proven versatile actress of substance and a hot-favorite among directors to play strong female leads in their movies, Lakshmy Ramakrishnan, forays into direction for the very first time, without any apprenticeship under any directors, other than some tutelage experience with some of the directors that she has worked with. And in her very first film itself, she has taken the difficult subject of bipolar disorder. Moreover, its a comeback of sort for Viji Chandrasekhar, a capable and proven actress who has been missing in action for some time.
Viji Chandrasekhar shines brightly with a very good performance and the way she uses her eyes is a highlight, which adds more believability to her bipolar disorder-affected character. Her voice modulation and expressions were perfect and she is the pivot of the film, where the entire story unfolds through her experiences. The very difficult task of enacting mood-swings were done very comfortably by Viji. Job well done ! Director Marimuthu comes out with a restrained performance as well, and so too Jai Queheni. Veeresh looks a little uncomfortable on screen, though. Rajie Vijay Sarathy fits well into the role of an unmarried successful women entrepreneur but her performance was not convincing, though her looks reminds us of Lakshmy and ironically Lakshmy was the one who dubbed for her. Uma Padmanabhan looks casual and befitting. Sampath Raj makes a cool late entry, meanwhile Jayaprakash and Krishnan makes up for some funny moments, though their roles do not contribute to the film in anyways !
Though the film was shot on a low-scale budget, the film carries clean work in the technical department. Sruthi R's costume designing was apt, especially when it comes to the differentiation between the different class of people portrayed in the film. M.Gita Gurappa's audiography was in sync and gives a natural feel to the film. Dhilip Subbarayan coordinates some risky stunts well. Prem's art direction was spot on, especially for the interiors of the poor household of the lead character and the middle class lifestye and not to forget the club set. Kishore T.E's editing was smooth and flawless and keeps the film as short as possible. N.Shanmugasundaram's cinematography was good, with lots of close-ups, tight angles, and natural lighting. Music director K, does a brilliant job in the music department. "Indha Vaan" is a situational song with scenes and montages establishing the character of Viji who is suffering from bipolar disorder. "Dhisai Ariyaadhu" is another short song which also has some montages, reminiscing the sacrifices of the lead character for her children. "Thappaattam" was catchy and well shot in a club setting in the luxurious Le Meridien hotel. The lighting was apt and some catchy dance movements were choreographed. The background score too was in sync with the mood and feel of the script, enhancing the writing of the director. Good work, K !
Lakshmy Ramakrishnan's intentions of highlighting a serious psychiatric disorder among the lower-class people, which most of the time goes unnoticed, is noble and laudable The script is short and crisp but the screenplay lags good space and might test the patience of the viewers. Lakshmy should be appreciated for portraying the pressing issue of bipolar disorder in a very subtle and nuanced way, rather than going for a overtly-emotional and crude manner. But the narration of the script suffers a lot due to the imperfections in handling the direction department. There are a lot of English dialogues, which does not fit in well if you would want to establish a take-away message for all social strata of life. The message is not delivered smoothly and convincingly, though audiences will somehow figure out the travails and difficulties faced by such psychologically affected patients. Also, its baffling to see why Lakshmy decided to incorporate some characters into the script, which are of no use to the story. In spite of these mistakes, its laudable that Lakshmy has handled the script in a sensitive manner, especially in delivering the take-away message in a subtle manner, rather than being preachy. And also for portraying human emotionals in an realistic manner.
'Aarohanam' is a good try by Lakshmy but in order to be a successful director, she needs to honer her skills in writing. Short-films would be a great medium to practise since the film was indeed done in a short-film style rather than a motion picture.
Ratings: 2/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
