DHONI MOVIE REVIEW

Dhoni is the second directorial venture of veteran Prakash Raj, but the first in Tamizh. As with the case of his first film, this time too he has made a movie based on a story of another director, that is Mahesh Manjrekar which was made into a Marathi film titled "Shikshanachya Aaicha Gho". The movie evoked curiosity once Ilaiyaraaja was confirmed as the music director. The music album garnered acclaim for the live-recording method used by Raja sir after so many years. Considering that Prakash Raj is a no-nonsense actor and who promotes good movies through his production units Duet Movies and Silent Movies, Dhoni is expected to be a movie with good and decent quality.

Though the movie was promoted as tackling issues of father-son relationship, the whole movie is centered on Prakash Raj. He is the soul of the movie and he has delivered and honest and heartwarming performance. Being a veteran, he knows where to deliver all the subtle and sensitive emotions and he has pulled of the role of the caring middle-class father, Subbu very, very well. It is a good diversion for Prakash Raj who's usually called in to do the lame antagonist roles. He stands out in most of the scenes but the television show and breaking the bat episodes are the stand outs. Akash Puri, who is debuting through this film, carries out his role quite decently, though it was obvious he's not too comfortable with the language as the dubbing artiste's voice was not in sync with his dialogue delivery in a number of scenes. Radhika Apte leaves a mark with her sweet personality. A host of experienced artistes features in this film and all of them delivered natural performances. Be it Nasser, Brahmanandam, Chaams, Tejasri, 'Thalaivasal' Vijay, Thanikala Barani, Singamuthu, Murali Sharma, Balaji, and etc. Brahmanandam was a scream in his small role and as usual fantastic with his facial expressions. Kudos to the cast.

Technically the film carries quality output. First of all Isaignani Ilaiyaraja's music was a treat to all fans of his music. The songs were a throwback to his heydays and all of them were picturized in montage sequences. Special mention must be given for the "Vaangum Panathukkum" number which had a special cameo appearance of Prabhu Deva throughout the song and cutely choreographed by Dinesh. Raja sir's re-recording was subtle and was underplayed. Art direction by K.Kathirr was commendable, especially the registrar office sets and the house of the protagonist. Kishore T.E's editing was flawless and S.S Vasu's costumes were natural. KV Guhan's cinematography captured the ambiance of middle class life very well and helps the viewers to relate to the emotions of the characters, especially when the camera moves along with the characters.

Mahesh Manjrekar's story is not something revolutionary as the issue of education has been tackled few times in Indian cinema with "Taare Zameen Par", "3 Idiots" and it's recent remake "Nanban" all highlighted the issue of education being a burden, rather than a joy for kids, nowadays. Screenplay by Prakash Raj and T.J Gnanavel was OK but certain sequences could have been avoided as it was a little cinematic and over-the-top. But it is only a minor issue, as overall the script was well written with subtle humors, emotional turbulence and the trappings of middle-class life were all wonderfully presented which is the USP of the script, as it is something every audience can relate and empathize with. Besides that, another major strength of the film is the dialogues by T.J Gnanavel. They are emotional and soft in nature, yet sharp with in reality. Job very well done by T.J Gnanavel. Prakash Raj has balanced his work as the director and protagonist very well, with good selection of artistes and extracting good work from all of them and at the same time, delivering a fantastic performance.

Hope Prakash Raj continues this wonderful journey as a director and churn out more meaningful cinema like this. Dhoni is a well made film, with a soft-natured screenplay yet manages to deliver a thumping message to all.


Ratings: 3/5 STARS

BY:TAMIL

AZHAGARSAMIYIN KUDHIRAI MOVIE REVIEW

Suseendran, is back with his third film and this time too, has chosen a totally different genre from his previous film. He's also made a daring and unthinkable move by appointing Appukutty as his hero which many others will choose not to do. Having Ilaiyaraja as a major asset for the film, Suseendran has made a simple and heartwarming film which emphasises the fact that story is always the king.

On the acting front, Appukutty has delivered his best or finest performance and it was a correct move by Suseendran to appoint him as the hero because no one else could have done justice to the role other than Appukutty. With the dark skinned, curly hair and plump body, Appukutty stole the show with his sincere performance and the best scenes of him would the part where he fights back with the villagers for his horse and the emotional bursts of him revealing the importance of the horse to him. Saranya Mohan appeared in a small role and she did her act well though she doesn't suit the role of a villager perfectly but it can be excused as the director wanted to project an unimaginable beautiful girl from the perspective of a average village guy (Appukutty). Prabhakaran and Advaitha, the other pair was life like and did a neat portrayal of their characters. Besides that, Krishnamoorthy, Soori and the others in the cast was very much life like and should say lived they're role. All the minor characters, from the intelligent small boy, to the local shaman, the 'minor', the village president and teacher and etc has done their role to near perfection and most of them had a scene or two where they scored brilliantly with their performances.

On the technical side, the film was good with the crew delivering exactly what the script demanded. Isaingani Ilaiyaraja kept it subtle with his songs, and Kuthikira Kudhiraikutty song being the pick of the lot which has fantastic delivery by Raja sir himself. The background score has also been delivered neatly and was not overpowering. Theni Eeshwar, the debuting cinematographer did a good job by capturing the natural beauty of the hillside villages of Theni and also for using proper angles in important scenes. Being a good photographer has helped him a lot. Anal Arasu choreographed a near perfect fight sequence involving Appukutty and the villagers which was very natural and kudos to him for bringing not over doing the stunts. Kasi Vishwanathan, the editor could have done a better job in the first half which was moving slowy to establish the scenarios and milieu of the film.

The real hero of the film is definitely the story and dialogue writer Bhaskar Shakthi. His simple and sweet story of the relationship between the horse(s) and the protagonist/villagers was very direct and heartwarming. His dialogues were a big plus to the film with all the situational comedies woven into the film beautifully. Certain scenes do stand out for the comedy aspect like the long drawn fund-collecting scene by the village heads, the parotta shop scene involving the small boy (it was cheeky of Suseendran to bring in Soori in that scene) and how the atheist village youths makes fun of the village's festival predicament. Although the whole plot revolves around the village areas and set in the 80's period, yet nothing was boring or cliched and Suseendran must be applauded for showing the villagers in a different light yet presented them in their natural elements.

Azhagarsamiyin Kudhirai, a whiff of fresh air for the audience but some degree of patience and love for cinema is needed to appreciate films of such genre. Hope such efforts come more often in Tamizh cinema.

Ratings: 3/5 STARS

BY:TAMIL

PONNAR SHANKAR MOVIE REVIEW

Prashanth, the man brought up with a silver spoon during his teenage years in terms of cinema expertise as his father Thyagarajan gave him all he needed to become a movie star. Dance classes, martial arts, gymnastics, fencing, horse-riding, and etc etc. Of course Prashanth had a brilliant opening with Vaigasi Poranthachu and subsequently delivered hit movies and that too under distinguished directors like Mani Rathnam, Balu Mahendra and K.Balachandar as well. After a lull period he came back with a massive hit in Jeans under Shankar's direction earning credits for his complicating double role performance as Visu and Ramu. Things were expected to look good for him but nearly 25 films after Jeans, sadly only a couple of them were good movies. For a star who has worked with big directors and good talents, he came up with countless of useless films and to make situation worse he had a torrid personal life as well. After 5 years, he's making a comeback with this big budget film Ponnar Shankar which raised some eyebrows with the trailer.

There was a great deal of expectations on the film with Prashanth donning double roles once again and plus a big star cast which includes, Jeyaram, Prakash Raj, Nasser, Napoleon, Raj Kiran, Prabhu, Khusboo, Sneha, Riyaz Khan, Vijayakumar , Ponvannan, Delhi Ganesh, Ponnambalam, Seetha, Sukumari, Santhana Bharathi, Lakshmi Ramakrishnan, Bose Venkat, and etc. With such a cast, audiences will expect a power packed performance from all but most of the characterizations were weak and don't really leave any deep impact with the viewers. Should say almost, all of the talented performers were wasted. Prashanth, showed all his extra skills and was apt for the roles of Ponnar and Shankar but he has very less dialogues to speak. Besides that the only artistes who were given scope to do some commendable acting were Nasser and Raj Kiran. Nasser oozes confidence and utters each dialogue with utmost care which shows the amount of experience he has. Raj Kiran delivered some power packed expressions which was luckily not over the top. Rest of the cast only has a few scenes between themselves just to carry the story further. Heroines, Divya Parameshwar and Pooja Chopra were just there for bringing 'colors & freshness' to the scenes (though we should be very jealous of Prashanth for being extremely lucky with heroines throughout his career having had plenty of good looking Mumbai heroines; and the two heroines in this film were former final round participants of Miss India).

Technically the movie was OK and art director Muthuraj should be appreciated for creating so many wonderful sets although films nowadays deliver even more realistic settings. Still he should be given a round of applause for a great job especially for the royal courtroom, song sets (the first song) and war zone sequences. Shaji's camera is adequate with some good aerial shots and slow motion capture (especially the solo song of the heroines). Don Max did well with the editing and stunts by Kanal Kannan and Ravi from Mumbai is OK except for some over-the-top flying and jumping which could have been done better and so too the graphics which was under the supervision of Prashanth. The big disappointment was Isaignani Ilaiyaraja. None of the songs sticks to our mind and the re-recording is just so and so. A huge letdown from the maestro

Coming to the captain, Thyagarajan should be appreciated for putting this film together considering the logistical nightmare of handling so many people in the film as thousands of them were involved in the fight and dance sequences. No matter how grandeur the film is, the script and screenplay is the main point of any film and Kalaingar's script is not powerful and should say quite weak. It doesn't leave any impact on the viewers which is a negative aspect considering that this is a historical script. Dialogues are very simple and direct but doesn't match with the story as most of it sounds very contemporary which won't gel well with historical stories.

Final verdict, it's a good attempt in Tamizh cinema but not quality enough in terms of a solid and powerful package though all of them should be appreciated for trying out something honestly.

Ratings: 2/5 STARS

BY:TAMIL

Nandhalala Movie Review

Director Mysskin is back after his last critically-hit film Anjaathey. This movie was in the cans for a long time due to lack of interest from Ayngaran to release it and not finding a suitable period. Nandhalala has not changed the style of Mysskin although the genre is different this time. The basic story is simple but then as his previous films ie Chithirem Pesuthadi and Anjaathey, Mysskin has maintained a good screenplay to hold the attention of the viewers. Although it's only a remake of the Japanese film Kikujiro, Mysskin deserves appreciation for coming out with a heat warming film and most importantly to give Raja sir the chance to score outstanding compositions.

Basically the movie is a road trip of 2 'kids' in search of their respective mothers. One to show his love towards his mom, and the other to loathe her existence. The movie works in parts as at times it is slow and at times melancholy and touching. It takes a lot of guts for a director to base his movie on only 2 characters for a major portion of the film and for that aspect, bravo to Mysskin. Not only that he did the role of a 'kid' himself and did a splendid performance especially in the climax. Aswath Ram, the other kid did a commendable job as well as the boy who longs for the affection of his mother. Both of them had a good chemistry between them although their characters are poles apart. Along their journey they come across different characters and each of them were from various walks of life. It was interesting to see different sets of people which actually gives the film a beautiful look. Snigdha as the commercial sex worker was apt for her role and Nasser and Rohini came in cameos.

Camera by Mahesh Muthuswamy was beautiful considering that there's no set and extravagance involved here. All the lush and greenery scenery of the towns and villages and the rustic lifestyle was wonderfully captured on the camera. Plus the still shots used and the movement of the camera following the character in certain scenes and the low angle shots are testimony to the brilliance of Mahesh. Another important 'character' in the film is the music of Raja sir. It is very obvious from the first frame of the film that his music is going to be the major backbone of the film. His music is just too good to listen to and we must be thankful to Mysskin for giving this script to Raja sir. Only he can bring out the soul-stirring and melodious music, regardless whether it's the songs especially the 'Mella Oornthu Oornthu' number or the BGM. Raja sir is the KING!!

What makes Nandhalala viewable for cinema lovers, is the silence maintained mostly in the duration of the film and dialogues are just used when it is needed the most. At times the silence of the film is what really makes us sit and watch while Raja sir fills the scene with his brilliant compositions. It gives us the feeling of watching a piece of art unfolding in front of our eyes in a motion picture format. Plus Mysskin never fails to bring in the emotional quotient which is was well brought out by the actors. All the emotions shown by the actors are very genuine and life-like. One has to watch the movie to feel the beauty of emotions and music blending together beautifully.. Among the scenes, the part Mysskin confronts the road bullies and smashing the beer bottle is really hilarious and also the scenes involving the policemen.

Nandhalala is a different film from Mysskin and it beautifully portrayed human emotions be it love, anger, disappointment, agony, frustration and etc on the screen. The 2 characters in the film started their journeys with a certain intention in their mind but the harsh reality they ended up encountering changed their life and teaches them to accept life as it is. Nandhalala is more of an art film compared to being called commercial cinema and Mysskin must be lauded for bringing a different film filled with emotions and music.

Rating: 3/4(stars)

BY: TAMIL