Jeyam Kondan

My Review : Jeyam kondan

At the outset the debutant director Kannan seemed to have decided to pay tributes to "Agni Natchatram", "Illam", "Sanda Koli" and "Run" in making this movie . He has not even left the Washing powder add in which two kids fight with the slushy mud .

Plot : Hero accidentally provokes a Dada ,who makes it a mission to repay the hero of his losses come what may . Love and sibling rivalry forming the backdrop.

Vinay : Looks smart with his mush and beard . He does what is expected from him by the director.Must take care as far the lip sync to the dialogues are concerned .

Bhavana : Has nothing much to do , but whatever she does is impressive and she looks very beautiful . Has dubbed for the first time and her voice reminds us of Priyamani (Paruthuveran) and Kushboo (Vigneshwar).

Lekha : Has more scope to perform which she does adequately . Special mention to the scene in which she cries her heart out after the death of her mother .

Kishore : His role is extension of that he did in "Polladhavan". Does the routine Dada act .

Comedy : Santhanam score more over Vivek though both evoke some laughter. Vivek's character is very similar to what he did in "Parthiban Kanavu."

Music : Vidhyasagar leaves his stamp in two songs .As far as the BGM is concerned it is mixed bag .

Cinematography : Balasubramanyam's capture of the foreign locales and Madurai's rural areas are soothing to the eyes . He has stood by the director throughout.

R.Kannan: Story , Screenplay & Direction are by R.Kannan. The movie begins very interestingly with both the siblings playing one-upmanship game for selling the property of their father to fund their ambitions . But later after the entry of Dada into their lives the movie goes downhill . Screenplay goes haywire in the second half with the most biggest comedy of the movie reserved for the climax .

Movie is interesting in parts but on the whole it fails to impress

Bottomline : Jeyam Kondan Jeyam kolvadhu Kadinam .

3/5

Sathyam

My Review : Sathyam

It is sad to see actors devoting hell a lot of time in preparing their body and doing a movie for a year without out bothering about the script or taking the audience for granted . After Vikram did it for "Bheema" it is now the turn of Vishal for "Sathyam".

Plot: Cop story on the line a many that followed the success of  "Idhuthanda Police" and "Karthavya" in Telugu in the early 90's.

Vishal: He looks dashing , charismatic and manly (though his voice betrays him ). He has worked hard on his body and body language to suit a character of a cop to the T but one wonders what would have been the result if the same amount of hard work was put on the script .

Nayanthara: She has done what is expected from here nowadays -- oodles of glamour and skin show . Wonder how long will she be able to do this alone .

Upendra: He looks dashing on the screen with all the powerful dialouges reserved for him.But the turn-off is that he hams a lot throught out .

Villan gang consisting of Kota Srinivasa rao , Ravi Kale and Prabhu N'paul ,all do things that we have seen in N number of Telugu movies of the past .

Music by Harris Jayaraj -- the credits say so .

Cinematography: R.D.Rajasekhar has done a commendable job though the frames appear jaded a lot .

Antony in the name of editing hurts our eyes.

Technically the visual effects and CG department have done a very commendable job --only redeeming factor in the movie.Kudos to them .

Rajasekar who debuts with the movie seems to be heavily inspired by numerous cop movies of the yore that was churned out in tollywood .The movie gives an impression of a telugu movie dubbed in tamil in many scenes . Except Vishal none seem to lip sinc with the dialogue , Here & there A.P. number plates of the cars & A.P.police uniforms make a sudden appearances --furthur vindicating that it may have been dubbed from telugu .

Bottomline: Yet another biggie biting the dust .

2/5

Kuselan

My Review:Kuselan

Kuselan , a classic example of how a script which is so natural in one language can be made very artificial in another . Nothing can be termed natural in this tamil verson of Malayalam blockbuster .

Plot: How circumstances create a wide gulf between a poor barber and his childhood friend who has become the numero uno star of TN.

Pasupathy : Hero of the movie (whom everyone seem to forget) has given a performance which goes up & down throughout the movie . There are scenes where his is brilliant esp. in the climax but mostly he is monotonous .

Meena : Irritating to the core with her childish voice adding to the woes . (She is mother of a 15 year old !!!!)

Rajnikanth : Who has done a neat cameo , nothing to blame . In the climax scenes he comes to his own .

Supporting cast : Huge list includes Prabhu , Vijaykumar , Geetha , Nayanthara , Mamtha mohandas , R.Sundarrajan ..................! Of them only R.sunderrajan manages to stand high among the crowd . Nayanthara's job is to fill the job of a item girl which she does with aplomb .

Comedy : Though there are a battalion of comedians none succeeds in evoking a laugh. Ironically the " Dolphins jumping in the village pond " takes the cake in comedy department .

Music: Chellame song is good . Rest don't stick . G.V.Prakash may have done better in BGM.

Cinematography: Aravind Krishna has done a very commendable job . Esp .in Chellame & Saral songs his work is of high class .

P.Vasu : Dialogs are good. Esp. the exchanges between Rajni & Sunderrajan , Pasupathy & Geetha , & the Climax speech are excellently written .

But where the movie falters is that in the screenplay . It fails to keep one interested & engaging . If there must be an example of how to keep songs without any justification it is this movie.

Yes the climax is one of the best in recent times . But if Mr.Vasu has thought that TC audience are Sentimental Idiots who will endure so much of pain for 2hrs just to appreciate that 20 mins , then he is totally mistaken .

Verdict : Pathetic

2.5/5

At the box-office it is very good times for "Subramanyapuram " which will continue its march un-opposed .

Subramaniapuram

My review:Subramaniapuram

SUBRAMANYAPURAM is the address of yet another promising young director, M.Sasikumar, who not only has a keen eye for details but also a very good visual sense. Mark the man , you will get to see greater things from him in the future.

Plot: Nothing new - "kathi eduthavan kathiayaleye saavan " .But the treatment is very fresh .

Acting :

Jai:  Who resembles Vijay in his looks and Simbu in his voice , has gone to the next level from his Chennai 28 days. Very impressive in his expressions and emotions esp. at the climax .wow! Need to improve dialog delivery though.

Swathi : Very good looking ; her eyes convey all the messages while her mouth remain a "mute" spectator . One for the future.

Sasikumar: as an actor , a real revelation . Brooding eyes and rude body language - apt for that character.

All supporting actors have done more than a decent job esp. Kanja Karupu, heroine's scheming Chithappa , the disabled friend of the heroes .

Art direction : a very professional debut. The ambience , properties , looks - every thing from the ads in the background , vehicles , number plates , dresses , 10 Rs note -very authentic in bringing the 80's feel . KUDOS MAN.

Cinematography : Kathir has gone along with the narration without disturbing it with gimmicks . He , along with the art director and director , present to us a visual symphony on screen.

Music : James Vasanthan , Tv anchor, is another hidden talent unearthed in the movie.2 songs are very good and BGM suits very well the mood of the movie.

M. Sasikumar - story , screenplay , dialogue and direction. Has done a meticulous job of presenting a story and screenplay , though cliched , in a new ambiance and succeeded in it too. Story lacks novelty , Screenplay in the 1st half wavers and drags and too much of blood and gore (some scenes are definitely not for the weak hearted) BUT hard-work of the team shows overshadowing these negatives with a very excellent presentation.

Bottomline: I doubt the future of the movie in B.O but the FUTURE LOOKS VERY BRIGHT FOR ALL THOSE WHO ARE PART OF THIS MOVIE .

IMPRESSIVE (but for the Blood bath)

3.5 / 5

Muniyandi, Vilangiyal 3am aandu

My review: Muniyandi, Vilangiyal 3am aandu

PLOT: Age old revenge tale in the backdrop of college politics and caste fued.

BHARATH : Reliable as ever . He can do this type of roles even if woke up at mid night.He tries to imitate his "mentor"in the opening song , comedy scenes & some romantic scenes.

POORNA: A credible debut who is good at both histrionics & dance but her hard work seem to be let down by a bizarre characterization which reminds us of the Shobana-Vijaykanth movies of yesteryears (Pattuku oru thalaivan , enkitta modhadey....)

Ponvannan has a dignified role which he underplays with elan. But it is painful to see a National Award winner like Thara reduced to run of the mill mother roles. Villians compete one another in the ham-fest .

VADIVELU : Out of 6 scenes , 2 evoke laughter esp. that scene in which he kills the old lady &escapes .

VIDHYASAGAR: Credits say he is the MD. Is it so Vidhya?? One of the worst BGM score in recent times.

Cinematographer takes us to the lush green coconut fields of Pollachi but the action scenes are painful to the eyes.

THIRUMURUGAN: After a sensible debut , he follows it up with a senseless routine masala action fare which is not his forte. Nothing wrong in trying out an action movie but it should keep the audience interested . Here unwarranted sentiments , female bashing scenes , dialogues & songs, item number .......mars the proceedings.

He seems to carry the "Metti Oli" sentiment baggage on his shoulders yet trying an action flick . AND he is left stranded in the middle .

BOTTOMLINE : It is like savoring a chicken briyani prepared by the chefs of Saravana Bhavan . Not spicy & tasty.

Go for it if you like experimenting with your money & time

3/5

Uliyin Osai

My review : Uliyin Osai

After some lackluster movies in the recent past , the Grand Old Man of TC is back with an engrossing tale and razor sharp dialogues added with some soulful melodies of the Maestro .

PLOT : Chola king wants to complete his long cherished dream of constructing the Big temple at Tanjore adorned with sculptures of 108 abhinayas . He imports a world renowned sculptor for this .Whether he succeeds in fulfilling his dreams ?

ACTORS :

Vinith dances like a dream . He shows us how he has mastered Bharatham and its abinayas .Of the two heroines Akshaya has more screen space and scope to perform while Kirthi Chawla has very little to do. But the real surprise is both have done more than a decent job in Bharatanatyam. Manorama - Kovai Sarala - Kanja Karupu comedy track falls flat. Other cast include Sharathbabu , Thalaivasal vijay have done well.

Technically movie is shoddy .

Ilavenil's direction is amatuerish at certain places. But on the whole not a bad job.

The real attraction of this movie is 1- Karunanithi  2- Ilayaraja.

ILAYARAJA : His music is not aimed at DTS but DHS (deathless human soul) . All songs are good . Treat for classical music lovers . Can watch the movie just for his music.

KALIGNER : Take a bow to this man , who seems to have all the time in the world to do everything possible. Screenplay is lucid , flows merrily with some interesting twists and turns.

Coming to dialogues , he has shown age has nothing to do with talen. Be it punches like " PARAKA THERIYUM ENBATHARKAGA SURIYANUKUL PARAKOODADHU " or mischievous ones like "IRANDU KILIGALIL YAAR VENDUM" ... "IRANDUM KIDAITHAL SANTHOSAMEY" or thaughtful ones like "PROKALATHIL ADAIYUM VETRIGALAI SARITHRAM KOLAI PATTIYALIL SERTHUVIDUM.." . He is god of dialogues in chaste Tamil.

BOTTOMLINE : Give it a try if you love Bharatham , Tamil language and Tamil music. 

Genre: Historical

Director: Ilavenil

Cast: Vineeth, Keerthi Chawla, Akshaya, Manorama, Sarath Babu, Kovai Sarala, Ganja Karuppu, Thalaivasal Vijay, Sriranjani, Balasingh and Udaya.

3/5

Vallamai Thaaraayo

My review: Vallamai Thaaraayo

Plot: Story of a husband-wife who after divorce end up as lovers.

Parthiban: This would go down as the most extreme form of underplay that one would get to see. Yes there are 1 or 2 typical Parthibanisque witty lines and sadly that is it.

Chaya Singh: Except the censor certificate she is there all through the movie. She is good at emotions and expressions but all the good things she does gets undone by a very poor characterization of her's.

Comedy track by Karunas : [:-x].................[:-(]

Film is full of bizarre characters like that of Devipriya , Anandraj and most ridiculous of them all is Srikanth.

Music : BGM is hardly present while songs are ritualistic.

Rajarajan's camera has faithfully stood by the director .

Madhumitha, the debutante director , gets hold of a good concept but fails to deliver it in a convincing manner. Most scenes seem to go on endlessly as there is drought of interesting scenes as well . Though the movie is only of 2:15min it seem to run forever with the comedy track making the experience more painful.

Madhumitha though had a good team , won the toss on a batting track and elected to bat , was badly let down by her main players - story , screenplay and direction . Wish she gets their support in the future.

Bottomline: Director needs more VALLAMAI in her writing .

2/5