Sri Talkies in the "Sarabham" teaser

Sri Talkies gets acknowledged by the makers of the Tamil movie "Sarabham". Watch the below video @ 0.40 secs. 

Into the Storm

My review: Into the Storm

"Into the Storm" is yet another serving of a disaster movie which is an ode to the 1996 blockbuster hit "Twister". It has come armed with advanced computer generated visuals of the tornado and its aftermath which is just jaw-dropping. What it gained over the "Twister" in the form of its terrific making and fascinating visuals, "Into the Storm" looses it when it comes to an engrossing tale and power-packed acting. The story is as cliched as you can guess with a all sorts of cliched characters and contrived situations. And to make the matters worse, the acting is not that promising.

A hard-nosed storm chaser who risks it all, his reluctant understudy, a confronting weather analyst, a straightforward vice-principal of a local school, his sons - one an introvert and another an extrovert, couple of adrenaline junkies....yes you have them all playing their parts amidst the marauding tornados. They get themselves into dangerous of situations and invariably get themselves out of trouble as well. And it is quiet astonishing that every-time the tornados miss the lead bunch like invariable the bullets evade our action heroes. 

Except for its eye-catching visuals and awesome technical wizardry, movie fails to offer anything as much as the soft skills goes. As a result all the the hardwork that the technical team has put does down the drain due to lackluster writing and pretty ordinary performances. 

On the whole, Steven Quale's "Into the Storm" is strictly for the adrenaline junkies, who don't just bother about  the soft skills.

Bottomline: Into your nerves. 

2/5 

Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania

My review: Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania

A tribute to the all time cult romantic blockbuster "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge"(DDLJ), Shashank Khaitan's "Humpy Sharma Ki Dulhania"(HSKD) follows the route laid by the former studiously adapting itself now and then with the sense and sensibilities of today's generation and current trend of movies. Thus it can be said it is an updated version of DDLJ but does it create the same impact the former managed is a big question to ponder over. And the answer is no but yet it is not a bad film either.   

Shashank has done a pretty decent job as the script writer and director presenting to us a breezy romantic comedy that is a throwback to the early 90's when the kinds of DDLJ, "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai", "Dil To Pagal Hain" ruled the roost. He keeps the background strong from those days of lively romantic comedies which gave ample importance to families and relationships but also spices the proceedings up with the contemporary mores and value systems. In the end the two hours that one spent watching the movie just breezes by with qualms absolutely whatsoever. 

Varun Dhawan impresses with his subtle performance though there is ample scope for boisterous histrionics he has dished to us so far. He has shown that he is not just a good comedian but also has potential in him to be a good actor. Alia Bhat just seems to have hit the purple patch in her career so soon. Whatever she touches seems to turn gold and this time too she is too good in her role of a typical Punjabi "dulhania " Kavya. Ashutosh Rana for a change gets a pleasant role who is reasonable instead of one of those cliched roles that he has been getting recently off-late. 

On the whole, "Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania" is one of those simple romantic comedies that you will enjoy with your loved one no matter how cliched it may seem.

Bottomline: DDLJ reboot 

3.5/5

Avatharam

My review: Avatharam

"Avatharam", directed by Joshiy starring Dileep and Lakshmi Menon is a bland action thriller that has nothing new to offer. Age old revenge drama with stale romantic -comedy of the first half and cliched action thriller in the second half fails to get off the mark from the word go. Nothing in this movie is new to be seen. Dileep tries to spice up his role from inspirations from his past successful movies but sadly nothing much moves the audience. It is as if everyone has just gone through their motions when they were making this insipid affair.

Other than the distracted Dileep, movie also has Laskhmi Menon riding on her terrific form in Tamil industry in the most banal role of  her career so far. She has sparse screen-space and that too is under-cooked. Others in the cast perfectly fit the contrivances that the writer Vyasan Edavanakkad has let out unabashedly. Technically movie is good, well shot by R.D.Rajasekhar. Deepak Dev's music doesn't have anything to go by as far as the novelty is concerned.  

After the successful "Run Baby Run", Joshiy seems to have stuck on his trough with this one being the third straight washout from him. On the whole, "Avatharam" is boring movie. Period.

Bottomline: A tepid affair. 

2/5

Sarabham

My review: Sarabham

C.V. Kumar's Thirukumaran entertainment is fast building a reputation for itself as a brand that is reliable, off-center and avant-garde as far as its products are concerned. It has come to a point that if they are involved with a movie then that one is bound to be good and a safe bet for your money. In this background comes their latest release "Sarabham"quizzically with subdued promotions for which the company is known for. Yet another talented youngster is being introduced by Kumar with this movie, Arun Kumar. 

A "Con movie" in its real sense unlike the imposters that we have seen in the recent past, "Sarabham" has one of the neatly written suspense thriller screenplay of the year so far. If anyone could have guessed the story right then he must be one of those ultra smart persons with sky high IQ. Such is the unpredictability of the screenplay that there are twists and turns that keeps you engrossed without a moment of laxity. The pace that the director has stuck with is just about perfect for the story to be told.

SPOILER ALERT : It is just refreshing to see how the youngster has sculpted the female protagonist's role (who actually ends up being the lead protagonist with everyone else playing second fiddle) , giving it so much prominence, shades and a rounded arc. In the days when female leads are used (or rather misused)  just as the eye-candy of the male lead and off course the frontbenchers, it needs guts and vision for Arun to write such a role which is not only bold but also that has numerous shades that are well conceived. And to opt for a unknown face for the role is just about supreme confidence that he has on his script though it turns out to be a blessing in disguise for not only Salony Luthra nails the role to the T, a known face would have surely failed to do the justice to the script.

Naveen Chandra is okay in his role of the greedy architect Vikram but at many crucial sequences maintains the same quizzical expressions. He needs a lot of honing to do as far as his histrionic ability is concerned. Meanwhile Salony Luthra is just terrific in her role. She is effortless, seems to have mastery over her methods and perfectly fits the character that the writer has etched out for her. She is at ease with various shades of emotions and relaxed with her Tamil dialogues (lip sync, I meant ). With the variations in her body language and emotiveness with her expressive eloquent eyes, she is sure a promising introduction to Tamil cinema. One wonders how Tamil cinema uses her in the future. Naren gets to play a substantial role this time and he is one of those supporting actors who surprises you with the amount of improvement he shows with each of his movies. Here too he is apt and gives a brilliant performance, taking recourse to subtlety when many would have ventured into overdramatics.

In Britto Micheal's music all the songs are terrific while his background score is class apart. It is quiet surprising to know that such a new entrant to cinema has come out with such a brilliant work. His background score definitely elevates the movie to a higher level. Cinematographer Krishnan Vasanth is another strong pillar who provide for the magnificence of the end product. His lighting, especially in the interior and night scenes,  are of international standards. It is quiet an astounding feat that these youngsters are capable of getting such high quality output with the economical resources at their disposal. Technically movie is topnotch. 

On the whole, Arun Kumar is yet another promising and exciting new talent that has graced the Tamil cinema over the past couple of years. It would be a great shame if "Sarabham" goes unnoticed submerged under the deluge of better marketed and promoted movies with whom it is competing. Unmindful of the end result, "Sarabham" will be remembered as one of those perfect movies that graced the Tamil cinema, for that Arun Kumar and C.V.Kumar, take a bow. 

Bottomline: That's how you make a con movie, peepol.      

4/5      

   

Jigarthanda

My review: Jigarthanda

Karthik Subburaj has already created a sensation with his debut movie "Pizza" with his unique screenplay and novel approach to its making. Riding on truck load of expectation arrives his second feature film "Jigarthanda" after a delay of a week. With this he reaffirms the fact that "Pizza" is not a flash in the pan endeavor and he is here to stay for a very long haul. He seems to be a  master in pulling the rug from under your feet going by his two movies so far. Unpredictability, novelty and euphoria which goes along with it seems to be the USP of his writing. "Jigarthanda" is yet another fine example of what these exciting line up of young filmmakers are capable of.

When one initially saw the promos of the movie, one can't but help lament, "Oh no! not another gangster story !". We have seen it all in the past decade or so which has been dotted with gangster movies of all types and variations. Yet it needs guts on the part of Karthik to take up a gangster subject and still make the audience go gaga all over it. The unpredictability of the screenplay is once again in the forefront, main reason for the movie to click with the audience. Like none of us would have anticipated how different can a horror movie be made in "Pizza", this time around too it is practically impossible to have anticipated such a new dimension of a gangster flick (though a musical is a bit little farfetched).

Karthik somehow manages to keep his screenplay razor sharp and swift not allowing the viewers to think about the logic and reasoning. Even before your cognition could take over the proceeding the next one starts which you end up savouring than devouring it. Though the first half is part humorous and part thriller, like he has shown that he is not a fan of sticking on to a genre and have penchant for cross-crossing between the genres, movie turns full-blown comedy riot in the second half. Though along with it the seriousness of the proceeding get watered down and movie fails to create any awe in the second half.

Simha is the power-packed performer of the movie, overshadowing everyone else in the cast, including Siddarth. Waiting all along in the fringes it is time an actor as talented as he is, getting all the limelight. He exudes mastery over the craft in a role which is part mysterious, part evil and part gullible. Siddarth fits in as a perfect foil playing the second fiddle for Simha, but he is good in his part. Lakshmi Menon has nothing much to do in a miniscule role. Karunakaran seems to be in terrific form these days. After a gala time in "Yamirukka Bayamey", he enthralls the audience once again with his unique face and expression (or the lack of it) and witty dialogue delivery. Vijay Sethupathi, whose presence has been kept under wrap all these days surprises with a brief cameo.

Santhosh Narayanan is fast becoming a master musician and his proficiency is evident in both songs as well as the background score. In this movie, more than his songs, he is terrific in his background score. Songs too are not the routine stuff, they too cut across the genres and patterns.

Movie is technically brilliant. Gavemic U Ary is the cinematographer who has done brilliant job with his lighting and shots. Movie gives you a feel of watching an international movie as far as the making and technical side is concerned.

On the whole, though "Jigarthanda" has terrific screenplay and making but somehow I feel that it is couple of notches below "Pizza"missing its wow factor and goosebumps.

Bottomline: Cools your heart indeed.

3.5/5

Thirumanam Ennum Nikkah

My review: Thirumanam Ennum Nikkah

Debutant Anees comes across as a youngster with potential but his ability to translate all of it on to the screen is found wanting in his debut movie "Thirumanam Ennum Nikkah" (TEN). Movie opens into a promising premise that has potential for a riveting romantic comedy. And the promise is somewhat fulfilled in the first half with quiet a few moments of cute romance and witty comedy. But as the movie progresses into the second half the problem starts with the writer-director trying into chew more than he could handle. 

Unnecessary sermonizing trying to appease the two religious groups he has focused on in the story and tedious espousing of their rituals make up for a dreary viewing. And just as the audience gear up for the finale thinking every knot is untied and movie has come to it's logical conclusion Anees comes out with  a boring protraction that does more harm than good to the final analysis of the movie. The inability to show restrain as and when it needs to be shown is more to do with inexperience than anything else. 

Anees should well learn from this and we only can expect a far better product from him next time, he seems to be having it in him.Movie is not a total wash out. There are scenes which are interesting, novel and at times quiet intelligent too like when the lead pair try to serve Biriyani for each other and how it all ends. Dialogues are also witty at times and dreary at times. 

Jai is getting no where with his roles and inability to improve upon his limited skills as an actor. It is quiet shocking to see an actor who is 13 films old is still all at sea in the histrionic as well as in other skills like dance and monotonicity of his dialogue delivery. Nazriya Nazim looks younger(!), cute and comfortably overtakes her lackadaisical co-star. Rest in the cast play a heady mixture of interesting new characters and beaten-to-bushes cliched ones. 

The main USP of the movie is its music album by Ghibran. It is one of the most refreshing albums in the recent times with "Kannukul pothivaipen" leading the charts. "Enthara enthara" and "Chillendra chillendra" are the other fine songs from the talented youngster. Movie's production values are pretty average with tacky making by a lackluster technical team comprising of Loganathan, the cinematographer and Kasi Vishwanathan, the editor, giving it a b-grade feel. 

On the whole, Anees has frittered away a potential engrossing plot as he digress from the first to the second half, along the way showcasing his talent here and there.

Bottomline: An average and tacky wedding. 

2.5/5