MIRATTAL MOVIE REVIEW

'Mirattal' is the comeback vehicle of actor Vinay Rai after 3 years of absence in Tamizh cinema. This film is a remake of a hit Telugu film titled 'Dhee'. As it is the flavor of the season to have Santhanam, in its cast, this film too has him playing the sidekick to the hero.

Vinay Rai looks at ease, pulling off the character of Babloo and plays comedy quite well too. But he has to improve his dancing skills a lot, if he wants to make it out as commercial artiste. Sharmila Mandre, a Kannada actress makes her debut in this film. Her expressions and emotions are pathetic and seriously needs to go for acting lessons, if she intends to make a living as a performing artiste. Prabhu breezes through his role and Pradeep Rawat as the antagonist was loud and his character looks silly. Santhanam was the best asset and only asset of the film. He is simply funny with his dialogue delivery and fantastic one-liners. The film is full of such witty one-liners, which keeps you entertained for sometime. Accompanying him in the comedy portions are 'Ganja' Karuppu, Pandiarajan and Mansoor Ali Khan. Besides them, Rishi, Uma Padhmanaban, Yuvarani and Bosskey dons small roles in the film.

The film carries very average technical standard. Vivek Harsha's editing work was just normal, as in to compile a set of scenes into a film. E.I Mayan's art work was average too, with sloppy work in the birthday sets. D.Kannan's camera work has nothing to shout about apart from few scenic locations shot in England covering areas such as Richmond, Windsor, Bath, Surrey, Oxfordshire and around the University of East London. Praveen Mani's songs were boring too. "Radio Radio" a typical 'kuthu' number was shot in England around housing complex areas and "Kalla Paarvai" was shot with castle and greenery backdrop. "Mugamoodi" was shot with a birthday celebration background, involving the other cast members.

Director Madhesh's film has a script which is as old as the hills and nothing novel about it. Also the presentation was pretty lame and only Santhanam was helping the audiences to not fall sick. The only saving grace act from the director is to include Santhanam in the film and to pen funny one-liners for him. The story has plenty of flaws in script wise and the supposedly 'thrilling' climax was just lame.


'Mirattal' is just a one-time watch and that too for the comedy portions only.


Ratings: 1.5/5 STARS

BY:TAMIL

ISHTTAM MOVIE REVIEW

Vimal and Santhanam who have recently enjoyed success in the form of Sundar.C's 'Kalakalappu' is back with their next offering as a pair in this film. 'Ishttam' is a remake of the moderate urban-hit Telegu film 'Yemaindi Ee Vela'. Debutant Prem Nizar takes his bow as a director and he is backed by the current hot-shot music director Thaman. Also its a project Vimal was looking forward to as it was supposedly be the film which will change his 'village' image.

Vimal, for the first time, has donned a urban boy role which was a good change over for him. But sadly that was the aspect which is the biggest sore point of the film. He did not fit the role at all. Being projected as one in a IT-based industry, certain mannerisms are expected and Vimal missed them. His English pronunciation was bad, making him totally unconvincing as a spoilt city-brat. Nisha Aggarwal, the younger sister of Kajal Aggarwal makes her debut here and she too disappoints with her performance. She is glamorous but her expressions were plastic-like and emotionless and her lip sync was out of out of place, as well. The lead pair had no chemistry between them and both were uncomfortable in pulling off intimate scenes convincingly. Santhanam, the current King of Comedy, tries to evoke some laughter but most of his one-liners were pretty average. Being repetitive in making crude jokes on women and beer, will not do any favor for him anymore. Anoop Kumar, Parvathi Nirban, Pragathi, Yuvarani and the others make up the cast and dished out what was expected from them.

Technical wise this film has average works. Sai Suresh kept the work simple but the continuity of the screenplay was a little wobbly. Mohanjee C.H makes his debut as an art director. His work is kept pretty much simple as well with ordinary daily-life settings used mainly. The interiors of the lead pair's house as well as the girls hostel room are the examples. Camera work was nothing to talk about except for Shekhar V.Joseph's foreign locales but that too is not an uncommon thing in Tamizh cinema these days. The only technician who shone was Thaman. His songs were peppy and had various styles. The pick of the lot are the "Dhinakku Dhina" and "Oru Megham" numbers. Both were shot in typical foreign locations amongst old buildings, snow-capped mountains, green hill-stations and city centers. "Yenmele Indru" was shot indoors involving intimate moments between the lead pair and finally "Aaruyire" was a typical pathos song shot in montage sequences.

The story is by Sampath Nandi and it revolves around the mentality of the current youngsters and how rash are their decision-making skills, especially when it comes to life partner. Dealing with the issue of pre-marital sex needs conviction and Prem Nizar loses out on that element. His screenplay was very average and it gets sentimental and preachy towards the end. The scene which was the turning point in the script was averagely executed, leaving no mark or effect on the audience.

'Ishttam' is a poorly done film, with weak script and poor screenplay which makes it a dull affair.


Ratings: 1.5/5 STARS

BY:TAMIL