Debutante Dharanidharan's intriguingly titled, 'Burma' is a neo-noir crime-thriller, based on car seizing activity and what sort of implications one can have, if he chooses to dabble with risks. With proven artistes such as National Award-winning Atul Kulkarni and Sampath Raj, 'Burma' teases us with some interesting tidbits in its teasers and trailers ? Is it another interesting new-age Tamizh cinema from a debutante ?
Michael Thangadurai of Vijay TV comes up with a decent performance and its certainly way much better than his debut, 'Nalanum Nandhiniyum'. The rugged look and body language fits his role well and the young lad makes his mark, unscathed. Reshmi Menon though, has the atypical Tamizh cinema heroine role, of being the bubbly-natured, moral-support kind of partner for the protagonist. Karthike Sabesh, steals the show with his natural acting and is so apt as the short-of-smartness, a*rsehole aide, who puts his buddy in the spot, during the most of unwarranted times ! Excellent comic timing and subtle expressions from Karthik Sabesh. Kudos to him ! Sampath Raj and Atul Kulkarni came up trumps, as the swag car-seizing veteran and a powerful and intimidating boss, respectively. They bring lots of flavors in their acting and they definitely deserve their share of appreciation. The rest of the cast such as Madhu Raghuram, Sharath Kumar, Deepak Paramesh, Tarun, Kani Kusruti, Diana Vishalini, Deena, CM Bala, Mahendran and etc plays an eclectic mix of characters, very neatly.
The film is a good package of technical outputs, which is sync with the mood and needs of the script. Vishnu Govind and Sree Sankar's sound designing deserves special mention, especially for the various types of car sounds, for each different cars and also for the minute detailing in many sequences, which adds more depth for the scenes. Director Dharanidharan has handled the costume designing as well, and each character has been delineated very well, in terms of costumes and it shows the amount of timing spent by the director in sketching each characters. Mahesh's action choreography sufficed the needs of the script, especially with the car chases. Sivaraj's art direction is elaborate in detailing, especially with the set properties. The cluttered car sheds, ramshackle cottage, make-shift homes and etc were perfectly done and it gels well with the script's necessities. Half the story-telling is done, with the art work itself ! Vivek Harshan's editing is crisp and spot on, but still more trimming could have helped the screenplay's smooth flow. Yuva's cinematography adds the zing to the script, with his unique and innovative angles and framing sense. The weird top-angle shots and slow-motion shots, together with right color tones, adds vibrancy to the film. With better scripts, this young chap can explore more of his talents !
Sudharshan M.Kumar's musical score is in sync with the mood of the film but the songs placement slackens the film's pace. "Vaddi" is the opening title song and serves as a character introductory song, with a pop-culture like colorful template. "En Moochu" is duet song and is mostly shot on the lead pair of Michael Thangadurai and Reshmi Menon. The song is full of montages of the pair, being love-struck. "Jungle in the City" is a bit song, used as a situational song, which was shot as a chase scene between Michael Thangadurai and Sampath Raj. "Kalavu Pona" is a situational pathos song, which was shot on Michael Thangadurai and has few montages in it. "Run for Money Dude" is a dance number, which had props such as flashy cars and colorful lighting as its backdrop. Sampath Raj is predominantly featured in this song. Sudharshan M.Kumar has made use some of his theme music pieces such as "Seizing Mania", Counting D Cars", and "Kings of Garage" as background scores and they perfectly complement the shot compositions of the director and cinematographer.
What strikes you obviously with 'Burma' is Dharanidharan's detailing in his writing. The film is full of style, swag, attitude and wry comedy. The neo-noir theme fits the story pretty well, and Dharanidharan's inspiration seems to lie in Western style of film-making. His sense of story-telling is astute and he implements his ideas with unique cuts in the editing department, which adds more quirkiness to the screenplay. The organic manner of story development is a welcome relief, and each scenes is carefully put together, so that there are no jarring moments. Unfortunately, the first half lacks some conviction, especially with the romance tracks and the second half loses steam, as it heads towards the climax. But Dharanidharan somehow makes up for it, with the character designing and the detailing he pours into each character and how he sets the ambiance around the characters, so that the right effect is brought out from the artistes. The dialogues written by Dharanidharan is another added plus point for the film, in which the sarcasm quotient is high. The director deserves appreciation for his antithesis handling of the climax and the final scenes, which has a unique twist and an open-ending.
'Burma' - Attention-seizing !
Ratings: 2.5/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
Listed as one of the most eagerly expected Indian film of 2014 by Forbes India Magazine, the long awaited second film of Karthik Subbaraj gets released ! 'Jigarthanda' is said to be the first script of Karthik Subbaraj and eventually it was 'Pizza' which got made first. With a fantastic cast and crew, can Karthik justify all the expectations created and fulfill the expectations of Tamizh film connoisseurs ?
Siddharth is a fantastic choice by Karthik for the lead role, and he is ultra-convincing with his performance. As the meek and opportunistic budding film director, he was just very good with his composed expression and nonchalant acting. His dialogue delivery too was excellent and he nailed his character to perfection. Lakshmi Menon was adequate and carries a role with a morally ambiguous nature, very comfortably. She has limited scenes, but she impresses in where ever she gets her space. Karunakaran rocks with his comic timing and the informal and casual approach to his role, works very well. His antics in the second half are just pure rip-roaring comedy. A super star comedy artiste, in the making ! But the film definitely belongs to Bobby Simhaa, who was just simply terrific as the antagonist 'Assault' Sethu. Right from his deadly & electrifying introductory scene, he was simply a class act and made complete justice to the role and belief of Karthik Subbaraj for casting him. This is definitely a lifetime performance from Bobby Simhaa and one should expect a shower of awards for his acting, in the coming year. Take a bow Bobby Simhaa, you have truly arrived ! The film has a big cast which includes Ramachandran Durairaj, Naren, Guru Somasundaram, Soundara Rajan, Ambika, Sangili Murugan, Delhi Ganesh, Vinodhini, 'Munnar' Ramesh, Bala Singh, Rajkumar, Bagavathi Perumal, Sudha, Ajay Rathnam and etc and most of them were just perfect for their roles. There are interesting cameos from Nassar, Vijay Sethupathi, Nalan Kumarasamy and Vetrimaaran. Do not miss the awesome cameo sequences of Vijay Sethupathi, especially !
Natraj and Satya takes the responsibility for costume designing and they have done a very good job. The designing for Siddharth and Bobby Simhaa's costumes are noteworthy and highlighted their lifestyles, perfectly. Action choreography is handled by 'Billa' Jagan and this is one of his best works so far. There are no heavy action blocks with elaborate stunt movements, but the neatly executed action scenes, do deserve some mention. The action scenes drip with heavy violence, but they are essentials to such scripts and fulfills the demands of the story. Raju is in charge of art direction and though most of the film was shot in live locations, Raju's detailing work for the interiors of the Madurai homes, needs to be mentioned. The detailing for Karunakaran and Bobby Simhaa's home setting stands out in the first half, and the shooting spot setting for the second half were brilliant. Vivek Harshan's editing was very neatly done, and the connectivity between each sequences were just smooth, in spite of the rough and rugged nature of the sequences. Yet, he could have trimmed the film, especially in the second half which takes its own sweet time to conclude. Cinematography is by Hariharan, who was credited as Gavemic U Ary in the film. His work elevates the film's screenplay to the next level and he his outdoor and night shots, especially the rain sequence just before the intermission, was brilliant ! His lighting and color tone for the indoor shots, deserves special mention as well. The film is littered with brilliant compositions, camera movements and framing by Gavemic U Ary, and he is definitely a top class material in Tamizh cinema ! Vishnu Govind and Sree Sankar's sound effects and design work was top-notch. Their work stood out in scenes which had no background score and the action sequences bears their hallmark.
Santhosh Narayanan continues his trailblazing form and once again proves that he is a wonderful talent. Most of the songs are played in the background and each one of them aptly complements the nature of the script. "Ding Dong" has montages of Siddharth and Karunakaran tracking Bobby Simhaa and serves as another perfect setting to showcase Simhaa's character's antagonistic nature. The one particular action block involving a car, has fantastic lighting work from Gavemic and an even more fantastic editing by Vivek Harshan ! "Kannamma" was shot on Siddharth and Lakshmi Menon and has montages of them getting together in love. "Baby" is a fun song which appears twice in the film and serves as a background song. "Paandi Naatu" is the only choreographed song in the film and it was shot in a deep and water drained well and had all the lead characters performing. The lighting by Gavemic was very good for this particular song and finally "Jigar" plays during the end credits. Santhosh Narayanan's background score elevates the script to another step up and the vibrant nature of his work complements the screenplay very well. The swag and quirkiness element in the background score, adds more fun quotient to the film. Way to go, Santhosh Narayanan !
What works for us in the film, is the fantastic characterization of the lead artistes and the extraction of performance from them by Karthik Subbaraj. But what's strikingly good in the film, is the quality of writing and the transfer of the output from a bounded script to a feature film. The unabashed nature of Karthik Subbaraj's script and dialogue writing deserves applause. The film does not fit into any specific genre, but still its highly entertaining with an equal amount of intelligent artistry, combining very well. The film has wonderful stretches of comedy portions and all of them are fresh, innovative, quirky yet splendidly humorous ! Also, one should take note of Karthik Subbaraj's smart writing where he cleverly insert's elements of meta-cinema and it gels well with the script's original story-line. Karthik Subbaraj makes a scathing mockery of the practices and people of current Tamizh cinema, in a very succinct manner. Karthik Subbaraj should also be applauded for his uninterrupted screenplay, though there are non-linear narration used in the film. What may irk some film-buffs is the changeover of the film's purported genre in the second half. The first half was all drama in its full glory but the second half was more of like a black comedy/dark humor satire. The transformation of Bobby Simhaa's character paved the way for the comedy quotient in the second half, but the necessity for such a changeover for that character is definitely a question mark, indeed with some cinematic liberties taken. Also, the basic plot and idea of the film has a striking similarity with the critically acclaimed 2006 Korean neo-noir gangster flick, 'A Dirty Carnival', directed by Yoo Ha. Nevertheless, 'Jigarthanda' is still one of the best films to come out in 2014 and Karthik Subbaraj's artistry and craftsmanship, must be appreciated.
'Jigarthanda' - A sip too hard to resist !
Ratings: 3.5/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
