MUTHIRAI

My Review: Muthirai




At present there seems to be a severe shortage of scripts in Tamil cinema & hence almost all movies that have released this year have met with miserable failure barring a very few. It is a great mystery indeed that no talented writers are there at the moment . “Muthirai” is yet another disappointing fare which is technically very good but content wise very stale & yawn inducing.

Nitin Satya is the only saving grace of the movie who tend to cheer up the sagging morale of the viewers here & there . All the witty one-liners in the movie are reserved for him & he expresses them with wonderful timing .

“Daniel” Balaji though the hero of the movie don’t have much scope for acting .He is stone faced more so in the song sequences .

Laxmi Roy has some scope to showcase her acting talents while Manjari Fadhnis has no scope .

Movie has a slew of television actors as supporting cast along with talented Kishore who all have done a decent job in some very routine roles.

Music by Yuvan Sankar Raja is not that inspiring to stay in the seat during the songs.

Saleem’s cinematography is excellent .Infact script like this does not warrant such hardwork from him but he excels.

Anthony’s editing confuses the viewers with scenes suddenly springing up from no where.

Story , screenplay & “creative direction” (!) is by Anees Tanveer . She has not strained much .She has made a kichadi form many old movies & come up with this one.

Srinath is the director of the movie.

On the whole don’t waste your money .

Nowadays venturing to a tamil movie has become very dangerous since not only money but our health may also get robbed by doing so.

Bottomline : SKIP.

1.5/5

MAYANDI KUDUMBATHAR

My Review : Mayandi Kudumbathar





Rasu Madhuravan's "Mayandi Kudumbathar" got released with a hype since it has 10 directors in it's cast & hence the expectations were high . The end result partly lives up to the hype with most of them doing a pretty good job though the one who is cast in the central most chracter , Tarun Gopi falters .

Rasu Madhuravan has taken up a simple story & presented it in a very clear & lucid manner onscreen .Story of the life of father & his sons are not new to Tamil Cinema but the presentation here is so natural & earthy that one may get a feeling of being part of the family showcased here . If only director had cast some one with a flair for natural acting or tried to guide Tarun Gopi to act subtly , the impact of the movie would have been more.

Tarun Gopi as the central pivot of the family does a bad job .He over acts a great deal which gives a clue or two about why most of the characters in his movies over-act.He plays the spoilsport in most emotional sequences which leads to peals of laughter than silence in the theatre. It is shoking to see him as a 12th standard school boy..!

Among other director-actors Manivannan , PonVannan , Rajkapoor , Seeman , Ravimariya , G.M. Kumar does a good job in that order . Seeman's dialogue delivary in not that clear in couple of places .

Singampuli & Mayilsami provide some good humour for the movie. Mayilsami scores in the emotional sequences too.

Poongodi is better than Tarun though there is scope for improvement.

Couple of melodies from Sabesh-Murali are humworthy while BGM is nothing novel but effective.

Bala Barani's cinematography amply supports the proceedings without distracting them.

Rasu Madhuravan presents a good movie which is suited exclusively for the family audiences & will do well especially in the south Tamilnadu .

On the whole if one over look the over-acting of Tarun Gopi , movie is good.

Bottomline : Tasty like Madhurai Muniyandi Vilas Biriyani.

3/5

THORANAI

My Review :THORANAI




Vishal's next is "Thoranai" after some pretty ordinary time at the box-office .After reading many review of the movie i watched this movie & was deeply disappointed with every one who said there was nothing new in this movie. Those who said so may not have watched this movie with their minds & eyes open.Director Saba Ayyapan has made many novel not-seen-before-in-TC-scenes in "Thoranai" which all have obviously missed out. Lets see them one by one .

Novelty 1 :- For the 1st time in TC history , Saba has broken the monotony of Hero-intro-fight-then-intro song - sequence .Here Hero has no intro fight but only intro song .Those who were looking for fight sequence were taken aback.

Novelty 2:- Usually in village family of TC , father does all the corporal punishment on the errand sons while mother does the weeping part.But here mother does the action part while father does the weeping part .Director shows his inclination for gender equality here ( "only here" ).

Novelty 3:- For all those who are bored of seeing heros mouthing all the punch dialogues in the action movies here comes a huge "relief." Here everyone from the temple preist , hero & heroine's friends , apartment's watchman , secretary & an old woman living there , comedy inspector & his constable .....not to forget the villans & their henchmen .....all mouth umpteen number of punch dialogues.Thus for the 1st time in TC history , director has treated every one in the film akin to a hero which reveals Saba's socialist bent of mind.

Novelty 4:- This one is the most revolutionary of ideas we have come across in recent years in Indian Cinema itself. How long will we see a old man drooling over a young girl {am not talking about the kanths , kumar's & raj's of TC }ala Amitabh in Nisabdh. Here by conceiving a romantic angle between Santhanam & Paravai Muniyamma , Saba has crossed all the creative boundaries which not even legendary KB sir would have thought of.

Novelty 5:-This reveals' director's naughty face. When everyone anticipate a duet & get ready for a smoke or two , he springs a surprise by not having a duet but a fight instead (though not even that prevents the exodus out of the theatre) & when one least expect of a song he introduces one to the shock of one & all..!

Novelty 6:- This one tops all. This shows the foresightedness of the makers of the movie.Knowing pretty well that after the opening weekend , the theaters will have a deserted look & to cheer for the few who risks their life by venturing into one , they have added applause & whistles in the surround sound which tend to cheer up the risk takers. They appear only when Vishal appears on screen is a let-down though..may have added them for shriya , prakashraj & Santhanam too. (in the mean time the sound snores of a dozen co-audience will cheer you up..)


Now coming to the review , Saba Ayyapan shows a very good flair for comedy & he does a neat job at it.The first half is shouldered solely by Santhanam-MAyilsami comedy .The second half is a torture with oft repeated masala movie rituals.

Among actors Prakashraj & Kishore does a neat job while Vishal strictly follows Vijay's mannerism , body language & dancing styles but he doesn't succeed in his endeavor.

Shriya : No comments.

Santhanam steals the show in the 1st half.

Other departments are nothing worthy of any mention.

One advise to Saba Ayyapan is that he has it in him to work wonders in handling comedy subjects & hence he must stick to his forte in the future.May be we may get another Sunder.c.

On the whole , tune into Siripoli & Adhitya for Santhanam's comedy scenes & that is all about it.

Bottomline : Old stale wine in an age old mud pot.

2/5

MANJAL VEYIL

My Review : Manjal Veyil



The long delayed "Manjal Veyil " finally gets a release this week .The shows onscreen for this is a movie which may have worked in the mid-nineties when we used to have number of such movies with friendship-love angle thrown in with a tragic climax. But this movie sadly look woefully out of place in 2009 .Movie moves at a very slow pace which may test your patience .

Prasanna & Sandhya have nothing much to do as far as acting in concerned though the whole movie revolves around them.Prasanna looks jaded & disinterested while Sandhya looks plump .Bala , the 3rd hero comes & goes in a role with limited scope & time-space.

M.S.Baskar's comedy misses this time.

R.K. (of "Ellam Avan Seyal ") evoke more laughs than M.S.Baskar (though unintended) as the Villan Rajesh with some very funny wig.

Baradhwaj's music is boring to say the least .

Technically the movie is shoddy & tacky.

Vaseegaran who has written & directed the movie must have been living in totally different era totally detached from the present trend.

On the whole , skip this headache inducing movie for good.

Bottomline: Catch your favorite 90's movie in a DVD instead.

1.5/5

MASILAMANI

My Review:



Sun Pictures have seem to have created a brand for themselves with their movies having a reputation of being wholesome family entertainers sans logic & sense . Their latest offering "Masilamani " is nothing different from their other products. By this movie they have succeeded in keeping their success spree continuing .

The movie is nothing but "Thullatha Manamum Thullum " in the 1st half & "Naam Iruvar Namaku Iruvar " in the second half with ample doses of comedy & good humour & some pretty good songs to boot . The first half meanders without any purpose except for some good comedy from Santhanam- Srinath - M.S.Baskar trio .It is only in the second half does the movie gains steam & moves at a very good pace keeping one hooked to the seat.

Nakul dances like a dream .Watch out for his fleet footed numbers "Sikku sikku Boom boom " & "Odi odi vilayadu ". He has tried to become a mass action hero only in his second movie & do succeeds to some extent.

Sunaina has limited scope when compared to Nakul but she has done well within that .

M.S.Baskar scores over Santhanam & Srinath in the comedy .

Others in the cast have done decent jobs as well.

D.Iman's music is a huge plus point for the movie with "Divya Divya " & " Dora Dora " lingering long in our minds.

Vetri's cinematography is not spectacular but adequate .

R.N.R.Manohar has written & directed the movie which has nothing new as far as the content is concerned but has mixed in all the ingredients to keep the people who long for mindless entertainment .

On the whole another entertainer in the lines of "Ayan " .

Bottomline : Keep your brains at your home & watch it.

3/5

KULIR 100'

My Review : KULIR 100'



In Tamil Cinema so far teen movies have dealt only with adolescent infatuations often presented in a voyeuristic manner but here comes a teen movie which is clean & deals with a different subject altogether .For this Anitha Udeep the creater of the movie deserves applause . She has a good eye for visual presentation as well not that bad at direction also . If only she had a good script to back up with she would have hit the bulls eye.

"Kulir 100'" what begins as a school campus story , turns into to one up-manship game between the hero & his seniors , friendship , romance ,murder & revenge thriller.....it ends up tiring the viewers . As a result the movie which raises our expectations in the first few reels lets us down half way through.

Sanjeev as the hero Surya is OK as far as acting goes .He dances well & looks smart (infact smarter than what his role of a student from low class background demands).Has Simbhu dubbed for him???

Riya is a cigarette smoking , punch dialog mouthing , Villan Bashing ,loud mouthed heroine .She looks matured than a 11th student though.

The actor who plays Babloo do succeeds in evoking a few laughs while the ones who play the villainous trio impress.

L.K.Vijay is the real hero of the movie .His cinematography is excellent & captured the natural splendour of Yarcaud in all its glory. Another worthy addition to Tamil Cinema.

B.Lenin must have chiseled the second half better since it seem to go on & on.


Bobo Sasi's songs rock to the core . Each of the songs are fresh & foot tapping with "Manasellam" topping the list. However his BGM is nothing new rather mundane.

It is a good try from Anitha Udeep but armed with a better script she would have done wonders. One can't help the feeling of being alienated from the happenings & settings in the movie.Also there is a shred of artificiality through out the movie.

On the whole the movie is interesting only in parts.

Bottomline : script plays the spoilsport .

2.5/5