A very interesting attempt, 'David' is the first "direct" Tamizh film of Bejoy Nambiar, the former assistant to Mani Ratnam and the director of the critically acclaimed Hindi flick, 'Shaitan'. Shot in Hindi and Tamizh, 'David' is an intriguing tale, depicting two characters of different backdrop, era, and characteristics but connected by one single element, which is the name of David and a message attached to the name. Multi-narratives are a rare breed in Tamizh cinema, and kudos to Bejoy, for attempting to make one. The Hindi-version has an additional storyline, making it as three protagonists, but Bejoy plays safe with two in Tamizh. With two powerhouse performers in Dr. 'Chiyaan' Vikram and Jiiva, did Bejoy nail it ?
Starting with Dr.'Chiyaan' Vikram, this film must have been a welcome relief for him, as he has enjoyed doing the role of a bride-punching, liquor-guzzling (that too through a funnel !), notorious, fisherman. He was endearing and charming in his portrayal throughout his episode and his relationship with Tabu was wonderfully written and picturized. An excellent performance from 'Chiyaan' after a very long time. Jiiva on the other hand, was the exact opposite, with a very serious but energized portrayal. He displays the correct level of intensity and expressions needed for the emotional scenes and proves once again that he is one of the best performers in Tamizh cinema, among the younger breed of leading heroes. The other best role in the film was of Tabu's and what nonchalant, and matured performance from her ! She simply sizzles as 'Frenny', the friend cum adviser of Vikram. Deepa Venkat's dubbing was okay for her but still it takes out the originality of the character. Isha Sharvani, was angelic and sweet as the deaf and mute girl and was very apt for the role of 'Roma'. Lara Dutta comes out with a neat and composed performance and got her pronunciation right for the lip-sync. Saurabh Shukla is a scream in his role, whereas Nassar was as good as always as the devout Christian priest. The rest of the cast such as Rohini Hattangadi, John Vijay, Nishan, Prahlad Kakkar, Shweta Pandit, Sheetal Menon, Sunder Ramu, Manish Jha, Sathish Kaushik, Rubi Chakravarti and etc all were very apt and performed realistically in the film. A big cast, but wonderful performances from all. Bejoy should be lauded for the characterization of all the roles, enacted in the film, which were well written.
One will look forward to a Bejoy Nambiar film for the technical finesse, and Bejoy does not disappoint us. All technicians involved in this project are some of the best in the industry, and Bejoy has used their capabilities to good use. Ameira Punvani and Falguni Thakore's costume designing was very apt for each era and characters involved in the dual-story lines of the film. The look for both Jiiva and Vikram was perfect. Stunts were very well choreographed by Javed Aejaz and what makes the stunt sequences authentic, is that the fights for each lead protagonists imbibed the characteristics of the protagonists, be it the drunk Vikram or the angry Jiiva. Well done, Javed ! Rajeevan's production design was very natural and authentic. The props for each setting, be it Mumbai or Goa, were very much original and his presentation made it look believable. Sreekar Prasad's sharp editing kept the pace of the film bearable and nearly avoided being too languorous. Ranganat Ravi's sound designing was also spot on, with the necessary minute sounds, well implemented in the film. The film definitely belongs to the two very talented cinematographers, R.Rathnavelu and P.S Vinod. The former's picturization was very exotic and pleasing to the eyes, with perfect lighting and the appropriate 'sunny' tone of the Goan episode. Whereas, the latter's Mumbai shots were gloomy, dark and gritty in nature. The fight sequence was fantastically shot, with brilliant lighting and color tone used for it. Both cinematographers showed their expertise in their respective episodes, and it was indeed a very smart and creative move by Bejoy to employ different cinematographers each episodes.
One of the highlights of the film is the soundtrack and the eclectic-mix of the artistes involved, gives different shades to the whole album. Nonetheless, the soundtrack is a trend-setter and warrants repeated listening, for one to appreciate the music. But sadly, the songs were just used sparingly in the film and is woven into the flow of the screenplay, which cut shorts the length of a song ! "Vaazhkaiye" by the Bramfatura duo, is the opening song and also serves as the theme music of the film. It was picturized in , covering the climax sequences of both story-lines. "Maria Pitache", composed by Remo Fernandes, was shot on Dr.'Chiyaan' Vikram brawling with fellow drunkards, in a set resembling a Goan hut cum bar setting. "Machi" by Modern Mafia, is a montage song, shot in a first-person perspective technique, on Jiiva's daily routine as a guitarist. "Theerathu Poga Poga" is a lovely song composed by Maatibaani, shot on Vikram, Nishan and Isha having fun together. R.Rathnavelu's lighting and camera movement was good for this song. "Iravinil Ulavavaa" is a catchy song composed by Prashant Pillai, which was shot beautifully on Vikram and Isha, in a "boatride-under-the-moonlight" scenario. "Manamey" is a thumping song, full of percussion beats, composed by Prashant Pillai featuring Tao Issaro. As mentioned earlier, P.S Vinod's cinematography was brilliant in this song which was shot on Jiiva taking on a bunch of guys. The rain effect was put to good use, with minimal lighting and apt color tone. "Kanave Kanave" by Anirudh Ravichander is a beautiful, soothing melody used in both story-lines and was placed appropriately in the screenplay, but was used minimally, sadly. The "Light House" track by Remo Fernandes was used throughout the Goan episode as a background score and not to forget, Mikey McCleary's background score, especially for the Mumbai episode was brilliant.
First things first. Bejoy Nambiar is a director of substance and it is evident in his narration and directing skills. He somehow magically makes an ordinary scene to look extraordinary, powerful and gripping with his narrative skill. The Vikram-Tabu sequences were handled with high-level of composure and maturity and is a delight to watch for its casual treatment ! There is a deep and philosophical message, underlying in the script, which is revealed, post the inner-battle of the lead protagonists and the screenplay by Bejoy Nambiar and Natasha Sahgal was not bad. But what spoils the film, is the heavy-dubbed feel we get, while watching it. A majority of the artistes involved in the Hindi version is retained for the Tamizh version and the dubbing was awful in most of the scenes. The poor dubbing spoils the originality of the film. The dialogues by Manikandan.G and Venkat Subbaraj was of no help as well, as it lacks the depth in creativity and sounds plain simple. Though the film looks fine if you go scene-by-scene, the overall story-telling was a letdown, as there's not much connectivity between the two story-lines and each track had a different mood and pace to it, which might test the patience of viewers. Also, its unforgivable for a director of Bejoy's class to make silly mistakes in detailing. One glaring mistake is the scene where Nishan sings the "Pondaatti" song from the film 'Osthe' at Isha. Mind you, the film came out in 2011 but the timeline of the Goan episode was 2010 ! Such silly mistakes must be avoided as it further spoils the interest of the viewers.
'David' is a unique and interesting attempt from Bejoy, which has excellent technicians who delivered superb outputs in the film, especially the cinematography and music department. But disappointingly, it did not really live up to the expectations it generated prior to the release. A film which could and should have been much better, as it promised a lot, but served pretty less than what was promised.
Ratings: 3/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
The entire team behind the successful, 'Deiva Thirumagal' is back yet again, with some changes to the cast list. A.L Vijay, has penned an action script this time and he looks to be smitten by a real life personality, Daniel Kish who is an expert in echolocation and President of World Access for the Blind, a non-profit founded in 2000 to facilitate "the self-directed achievement of people with all forms of blindness" and increase public awareness about their strengths and capabilities (Wikipedia). A.L Vijay has sketched protagonist Vikram's character, using Daniel Kish as an inspiration, which is a unique presentation in Tamizh cinema. So, how did A.L Vijay and Vikram combine this time, amid a heavy marketing spree by the producer, UTV Motion Pictures.
As, with any A.L Vijay film, 'Thaandavam' too has a big cast and that too, a star cast ! Vikram, whose last release, 'Raajapaattai' was a washout at the box-office, comes up with a sincere and excellent performance as the intelligent and brilliant RAW officer. He has less dialogues to mouth, this lack of dialogue delivery is covered with fantastic expressions through his eyes and body language. He enacts his scenes in a very subtle and refined manner. His character looked very real and convincing and also credits to A.L Vijay for incorporating the inputs of Daniel Kish to enhance the look and attitude of the character Vikram, enacts. As usual, Vikram rocks ! Jagapathi Babu, the veteran Telugu artiste, makes his debut appearance in Tamizh cinema through 'Thaandavam' and he too notches a very composed and neat performance, though he appears sporadically during the duration of the film. Anushka, was a revelation here, with a calm and beautiful performance. A.L Vijay taps in the other side of Anushka, that is the soft and beautiful side of her acting. She shares a crackling and wonderful, matured chemistry with Vikram, though her height makes it a little obvious, that she towers above Vikram ! Plus, Deepa Venkat's dubbing for her blends in perfectly for the character played by Anushka. Amy Jackson, comes in for the 'pretty-doll' role and has done what can be expected from such roles. She should be appreciated for her near-perfect synchronization with the dubbed voice, done by Savitha, which has plenty of Tamizh dialogues, since her character has a mixed parentage of Tamizh and English. Nassar and Santhanam takes much of the remaining screen time among the big lot of character artistes, with the former in his best elements as usual, with an astute performance and the latter with his rocking comedy sense and dialogue delivery. There's a big army of supporting cast which gives the film plenty of dramas and events and nearly all of them are experienced and fantastic performers, such as Saranya Ponvannan, Lakshmi Rai, Kota Srinivasa Rao, Sayaji Shinde, M.S Bhaskar, Thambi Ramaiah, Delhi Ganesh, Sujitha and etc.
'Thaandavam' is one of the technically-better made movies, which has released in Tamizh cinema this year. The usual suspects, which are associated with A.L Vijay are here again and all of them have given very good outputs. Falguni Thakore and Devyani Kapoor scores full marks for their costume designing. Vikram, Anushka, Amy Jackson and Jagapathi Babu were looking uber-cool and stylish throughout the film. Manohar Verma handles the action scenes very well. He has done good homework in incorporating the echolocation factor in composing the stunt sequences and Vikram adjusted his body language very well. The park scene was the best of the lot. R.K Naguraj's artwork was extensive. Lots of props would have been used for the London shoots and during the New Delhi portions. Nothing extraordinary from him, but neat and nice work. Anthony's editing was flawless but he could have trimmed the movie more because of the sluggish pace of the screenplay. Nirav Shah does a splendid job in capturing the beauty of London's city landscape. His lighting comes into much appreciation for following the mood of the script and screenplay. The superb cinematographer was at his best form, as usual ! Great work by Nirav Shah in utilizing the RED Pro 5.0 camera for his cinematography !
G.V Prakash Kumar, who's combination with A.L Vijay has always been a success delivers a neat work here, though not all songs are catchy. "Yaaradi Mohini" is the introduction song of Amy Jackson and was shot in soft lighting amidst beautiful locations of London such as Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, Big Ben, the Westminster Parliament and etc. Amy looked pretty and hot in her lovely costumes, but she struggles a little in the dancing category. "Adhigala Pookal" is a short number, mostly shot in montage sequences in New Delhi, depicting the early life of marriage-hood between Vikram and Anushka's characters and a piano theme piece of the song, appears mostly in the first half, with Vikram playing the tune in a church. "Will You Be There", is a dream song for Amy Jackson, who starts to fall for the hero, Vikram. It was shot mostly in slow-motion montage sequences, with song establishing shots on Amy Jackson. "Anicham Poovazhagi", is a colorful song with a marriage backdrop and has plethora of character artistes involved. This song is a semi-dream song, ending with the marriage between Vikram and Anushka. "Uyirin Uyire" was beautifully shot in the Dover hills under sunset and Nirav Shah used the chopper to capture the beauty of the hills and also the sand artwork utilized for the song. Anushka and Vikram were adorned with simple but beautiful costumes. The pick of the lot among all the songs is the duet, "Oru Paadhi Kadhavu". This was shot in montage sequences, showing the blossoming of love between Vikram and Anushka and is replete with scenes of sweetness and cutesiness, throughout the song which ends at the Taj Mahal. Beautiful cinematography by Nirav Shah in this song. G.V Prakash is improving in his background score and the "Shiva Thaandavam" theme is a complement for the script.
A.L Vijay's marketing technique of emphasizing echolocation as the USP of the film, was a clever move but that factor was just a gimmick, as once the film ends, viewers will realize that its after all, an average revenge flick. The plus-points in A.L Vijay's films are the sensitiveness and maturity in handling the script. But what pulls down the film is its lethargic and slow narration. For an action film, this level of pace, is unacceptable because boredom will start kicking in as the film progress into the later stages, but the director tries to salvage the attention of his audience, by including a major twist in the second half of the film. Though the twist is welcomed, the justification for the twist falls flat and is not entirely convincing. Also, there are some obvious logical flaws in the script, which are very much questionable and not thoroughly convincing. The dialogues though, are very well written and articulative.
'Thaandavam' is a film with high in standards, when it comes to technical quality and also with good performance from the lead artistes but is hampered by a slow screenplay and weak story-line A.L Vijay must work harder and smarter, if he wants to be noticed in the coming years.
Ratings: 3/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
Two winning personalities coming together creates lots of expectations and excitement. Suseendran, fresh from his critically well-received "Azhagarsamiyin Kudhirai" and 'Chiyaan' Vikram, after the heart-warming performance in "Deivathirumagal" join hands for "Raajapaattai". From the very beginning itself, the production team has made it very clear that it would be an out-and-out commercial movie on par with Vikram's earlier hits like "Dhool" and "Saamy". Besides that, the film comprises of good technicians and it was supposed to be a cracking film from the crew. Alas, the end product was of poor quality and far from what the audiences wanted to see.There's no doubt that Vikram is a brilliant actor, and also it is not wrong to choose a commercial film to sustain the pedigree in the cinema market, but it should be a film with enough flavor to cater to the mass image of the hero. Here Vikram does carry the whole movie on his 'very broad' shoulder, but what is the point of carrying a burden which has no worth? 'Chiyaan' has a very limited role here and the much hyped 17 different get-ups were just small time cinema gimmicks, though he was brilliant as usual for carrying different body language for each get-ups, especially in the "Villadhi Villain" song and in a few scenes in the second half. Vikram looks too 'matured' for the funky, cool colors and it does not suit him very well. Deeksha Seth, makes her debut in Tamizh cinema here and as usual she has nothing much to do other than to look pretty in songs. Legendary director K.Vishwanath as the old grandpa was very adorable and cute with his fantastic timing and expressions but too bad his role too was limited to the first half. The rest of the cast including Pradeep Rawat, Avinash, Sana, Thambi Ramaiah & Mayilsamy was pretty much ordinary and only the stunt actor Aruldass evokes laughter once in a while.Harikesh and Shobana Kailasam should be applauded for the costumes department as their work was very neat and the hero-heroine pair looked wonderful in the "Paniyepani Poove" song and also with Vikram's funky costumes, though whether it suits him or not is a secondary issue, but it suited the character of 'Anal' Murugan very well. Meanwhile, stunts by 'Anal' Arasu was a bit over-the-top in certain shots but the fight sequences taken in the rain and in the market street was very well coordinated. The technician who has contributed the most is definitely the art director Rajeevan. The whole movie were shot on sets and each set was very natural be it the housing colony, the street market, the film sets, everything was done very neatly. Class work from him, as usual. Mu.Kasivishwanathan did a decent job in the editing department by keeping the film very short and not draggy with unnecessary scenes. Madhie's cinematography was pretty much ordinary this time, but the fight sequences in the rain and in the market street were well captured with clever positioning of camera angles. Yuvan Shankar Raja's song was quite average this time with only 2 songs hummable, which are "Podipaiyan Polave" and "Paniyepani Poove" being the best of the lot. "Podipaiyan Polave" was done with montages and in choreography in colorful and simple sets, erected by Rajeevan in the beach. "Villathi Villain" was picturized in a pretty lame manner with Saloni Aswani making a special appearance in the song. The only bright spark was the various get-ups of Vikram who pretty much fitted into everyone of it! "Paniyepani Poove" was picturized in a rather simple and elegant manner in autumn-filled locations. The much publicized "Laddu Laddu" song featuring 2 hot gals, Shriya Saran and Reemma Sen fails to attract attention as it was placed in the ending credits, which by the time many audiences would have left the cinema hall. Yuvan's background score was pretty decent and neat with the opening rap-bit sung by Emcee Jesz sounding attractive and energetic.The main drawback of the film is the poor screenplay of Suseendran. Though the story, written by co-director Seenu is a much relevant issue of today, Suseendran's screenplay was very lame and dull. It didn't create any impact, didn't generate any zing and didn't keep the audiences hooked to the screen, even though the film was only running for little more than 2 hours! All the jokes and comedy portions fell flat except for a couple of scenes, thanks to the cute and K.Vishwanath and the poor 'henchman' Aruldass. There confrontation scenes between the protagonist and the antagonists too was very lifeless and looks amateurish with no excitement generated to keep the audiences on their edge of the seats. The only saving grace is the no-nonsense dialogues by writer Baskar Shakthi where a couple of them were real hard 'punches'. "Raajapaattai" was a total disappointment from a talented crew, which left many audiences thinking was the movie meant to be taken as a serious film or a spoof of some sorts. Vikram promised a pucca mass masala commercial but end of the day, the audiences were treated to a very bland and tasteless product.Ratings: 2/5 STARSBY:TAMIL
Deiva Thirumagal or if we choose to stick to the original title which was Deiva Thirumagan, was creating lots of buzz and expectations among fans of Cheeyan Dr.Vikram and the general audience as well, thanks to the teaser of Vikram inviting people to the theaters. Once the film, went into the hands of UTV, the media was bombarded with lots of videos, trailers, interviews, stills and etc which created a big hype over this film. Besides that, this is the next offering of director AL Vijay who's last was the super hit and much acclaimed Madrasapattinam. Do both AL Vijay and Vikram live up to the expectations?? It's a thumping yes and they did it with heartfelt honesty.
Dr Cheeyan Vikram, has done a fantabulous job. There are no words to describe his talents as an actor and after a long time, Vikram has delivered a knockout performance and certainly this film will be in the ranks as one of his best performances on screen. The seasoned actor has delivered in all aspects, be it emoting, voice modulation and body language. He has literally lived as the character Krishna, and it must be extremely taxing for him, mentally especially to prepare for this role and to pull it of easily. Although, he garners the viewers' sympathies throughout the film, the court room scene and the following ending sequence was the best and his reactions and emotions conveyed through his eyes, was totally heartbreaking. Simply superb from him. Cheeyan, you ROCK !!
Anushka as the struggling advocate Anuradha should be applauded as well for coming up with a very composed performance. Certainly this one was her best performance in her entire career so far, apart from Arundhathi. Besides that it's a welcome relief to see her in a well etched, homely role, which is more of liker her actual persona rather than the glamdoll, glamorous role she's used to doing. Amala Paul continues her decent run with a matured performance and if she continues this form, she will mold into a very good actress. Nassar as the cunning and feared lawyer, is impressive and very much apt for that role and it must have been a cake walk for the veteran performer. Santhanam, is on a hot streak and though he has lesser scope as a comedian compared to his other movies, he doesn't fail to evoke laughter in every scene which he appears. He has improved himself with better modulations and expressions and his best scene is the "Tea-Coffee" scenes. Totally hilarious. AL Vijay has the same behaviour as director Hari by having lots of co-artistes in the film. All of them such as MS Bhaskar, Sachin Khedekar, Y Gee Mahendran, Krishna Kumar, Surekha, "Black" Paandi, Karthik Kumar, Madurai George, MR Kishore, Priya, Master Amresh, NL Srinivasan did their roles decently and effectively.
But out of all this big group of performers, the actual scene stealer is the little girl "Baby" Sarah, a top child model from Mumbai who did the popular Boyfriend-Girlfriend ad for McDonalds. She's such a cute little thing and conquers the hearts of all the viewers as the daughter of Vikram in the film. It's a very matured performance actually from a girl who is known for being very expressive and outspoken and she has left a deep impact among audiences just like how Shamili did in the classic Mani Ratnam film "Anjali".
AL Vijay gets the best of technicians in this film and the first to be mentioned is the music composer GV Prakash. This combinations is turning out to be one of the best in Tamizh cinema and GV Prakash's music goes hand in hand with the entire script. All his songs are good and soothing to hear, be it "Aariro", "Vizhigalil", "Kadhai Solla Poren" which was beautifully written by Na Muthukumar and not to forget his theme track "Life is Beautiful". His background score also complements well in the film and it does manage to pull the heartstrings of audiences in certain places. Definitely one of his best work. Nirav Shah's camera is another major asset for this film. His camera movements in the opening sequences and the angles he chooses to capture the emotions of the artistes, really elevates the mood of the film and he showed his skill as an ace cinematographer in the picturization of the "Vizhigalil" song. Santhanam's sets, especially the chocolate factory and in the interiors of Krishna's house are very realistic and simple. Anthony as usual was decent in the editing department, though he could have done little better in the first half. Deepali Noor's costumes was perfect for the entire cast and she really made all three girls, Anushka, Amala and Sarah to look beautiful in the film.
AL Vijay did say that he was got the inspiration for Krishna's character by observing people he know off in real life besides films such as I Am Sam and Rain Man. Judging by the storyline, it looks like not only the characterization of Sean Penn in the film I Am Sam was his inspiration but the whole basic storyline of that film, is an inspiration as well. AL Vijay has taken the basic thread of that Hollywood film and tweaked/fine-tuned it and presented his own version of that storyline. He handled the script and the characters very maturely and presented it as a very honest and sincere film. His dialogues are one of the highlights and the movie has many good one's. There are nothing much to complain apart from the slow moving first half.
Deiva Thirumagal has certainly lived up to expectations it created and leaves a deep impact in the hearts and minds of the audiences and it's no surprise to see or hear people having tears in their eyes once the film was over. An emotional, sensitive and honest film.
Ratings: 3.5/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
