Enthiran

My Review: Enthiran





Wait is over & here it is for all to see, Shankar’s dream project “Enthiran”, starring Rajnikanth & Aishwarya Rai. Movie is produced by Sun Pictures & music by A.R.Rahman & is billed to be the most expensive movie ever made in India. So naturally movie of such magnitude gets & has gotten everyone excited. Does all the hype & hoopla gets reflected in the end product is a different question altogether.

If you detach Rajnikanth & the amazing visual effects from the movie, with all its wretched writing & appalling screenplay it would have been easily the worst product from Shankar. Somehow the performer in Rajnikanth (he is amazing in the role of the Robot especially with the negative shades reminiscent of his memorable villainy of yesteryears) & the visual effects of the US-based Stan Winston Studios and Industrial Light & Magic seem to blind everyone of the many pedestrian aspects of the movie.

While watching the movie one gets resonating thoughts from one of Shankar’s own production “Arai En 305il kadavul”. Like how Shanthanam & kanja Karupu make use of the power of the almighty , here too Shankar seems to have done the same with the mighty money that has been invested in the movie. Especially the final 30 mins are freaking insane which sure gratifies juvenile instincts of the grown up kids.

Shankar needs to get all the accolades for making this movie happen in the first place. Notwithstanding the run of the mill script , he has shown the hard work , perseveration, imagination & moreover guts to conceive & create movie of this magnitude & making the world turn back & make notice of a Tamil movie. If only he had concentrated more on the script , then it would have made Indian film industry proud .

Rajnikanth is the prime reason why the movie is getting all the notice it is getting . It is a delight to watch him the role of the Robot with all the negative shades. One saw glimpses of that in “Chandramuki” but here he has satiated many people’s desire to see him a role with hard core villainy. Even at 60+ , the charisma he exudes on screen is unbelievable.

Aishwarya Rai looks radiant & dances well. Unlike in most of her movies here atleast she has done some amount of work albeit in showcasing his dancing skills. Otherwise she continues in her merry ways as far her acting skill is concerned.

Danny Denzongpa , Shanthanam & Karunas are all grossly underutilised.

A.R.Rahman’s music , which was proclaimed to be another main point of the movie , falls flat. No song has the quality that the previous one’s of the Shankar-Rahman combo had. Background score is at best mediocre.

Rathnavelu’s camera work is adequate. His efforts couple with that of the visual effects team make the viewing grand & in some instances jaw dropping.

Anthony’s editing is adequate overall but at times very ordinary especially the song sequences jumps out all of the sudden.

On the whole , “Enthiran” is a “Pizza made in Muniyandi vilas”

Bottomline : For the kid in you..

3/5

Boss (a) Baskaran

My Review : Boss (a) Baskaran





M.Rajesh has shown in his debut movie “SMS” that humour is his forte which he has reaffirmed in his second one too , “Boss (a) Baskaran” . It is a funny ride all through with no scope for boredom in between. Those who have liked “SMS” would definitely like this one too though it is not as fresh & as humorous as the former , it is good in its own way.


Its been long since one has ‘LOL’ed even though many movies which proclaimed to be a full length comedy came & went without whimper. It speaks a lot about the comic talent that the director M.Rajesh has for not many directors have ventured into comedy scripts on & on , that too successfully at that.


Story wise there is nothing novel to expect but the presentation laced with ample doses of humour does the trick. Shanthanam high jacks the movie single handedly with his witty humorous one-liners . M.Rajesh who used Shanthanam’s potential to the maximum in his previous movie too has once again done justice to the comedian’s talents. And to his credit Shanthanam has taken maximum advantage of the scope provided & he acquaints himself well.

Arya is good in a lighter role after loads of serious roles in the recent past. It is good to see macho Arya in such a down to earth role with lots of scope for comedy .


Nayanthara is good though her scope is limited she too does well in comedy parts.
Support cast includes Vijaylaksmi , Panchu Subbu , Chitra Laksmanan , Lakshmi Ramakrishnan , Rajendran & the rest provide fine support .


In Yuvan Shankar Raja’s music "Thathi Thaavum Paper Naan" , "Iyley Iyley" & "Yaar Antha Penthan" are delightful melodies. BGM score is average though.



Sakthi Saravanan has nothing much experimentation to do but prudently show the happenings to us through his lens in a diligent manner.


At 2 hours & 15 minutes , “Boss (a) Baskaran ” is a crisp comedy caper & good time pass . If you like Shanthanam brand of comedy , then it is Non-contest.

Bottomline : No-brainer for your lighter side ..

3.5 / 5

NAAN MAHAN ALLA

My Review: Naan Mahan Alla



Most of the directors whose debut movie is a hit try to take a conservative path by repeating the genre of their first movie in their second one also. This invariably ends up as a disaster while those who endeavour on an altogether different path would succeed more likely than not. Suseenthiran has taken the second path & the result is all for us to see “ Naan Mahan Alla” . After a lacklustre “Paiyya” this one has come as a refresher for Karthi.

All accolades for Suseendiran for he has improved leaps & bounds as far as story telling & effective use of visuals are concerned. Its been long since one has seen action sequences presented in such an aesthetic manner as in this movie. Director has succeeded in creating as much impact by not showing gore or violence explicitly which only substantiate the growth of him as a director. Movie is realistic and disturbing yet artistic which is a very difficult combo to accrue .

On the downside , Suseenthiran may well have avoided certain scenes & sequences which reminds one of “Pollathavan” & kudos that he has resisted the inclusion of meaningless duets & song sequences and also irritating comedy sequences.

He is amply supported by his troop headed by Mathi , the cinematographer . He has executed the vision of the director as visuals which is a sheer poetry onscreen.

Karthi is improving with each one of his movies & his choice of movies are amazing for a newcomer. But still he shows some amounts of “Paruthiveeran ” hangover in him especially in the action sequences & sentimental scenes.

Kajal Agarwal is just ornamental while Jayaprakash has improved a great deal in his histrionics. All those 5 youngsters in the anti roles are amazing in their enactment . Infact almost all the supporting cast are remarkable .

Kasi Vishwanathan’s editing is crisp while Baskar Sakthi’s dialogues are crisper & casual.

"Iragai Pole" in Yuvan Shankar Raja’s Music & voice is a blissful number while his BGM is awesome as ever.

On the whole , “Naan Mahan Alla ” is a promising movie from a promising youngster.

Bottomline : Must watch.

3.5/5

Thillalangadi

My Review : Thillalangadi



“Jayam ” brothers Ravi & Raja have always given remakes of telugu movies & each and every one of them used to be a good choice which went on to become hits. They have tried to keep their records straight this time too by remaking immensely successful Telugu movie “Kick”. But the law of averages tend to have caught up with them this time.

To begin with “Kick” is a bad choice to remake though it was a huge hit in Andhra the story line is very much confusing with a lots of loose ends untied. Whether the screenplay is to blamed or the editing , the final product is stale one with scenes ending abruptly & beginning hurriedly.

And nearly 3 hour is too long a length for a movie of this genre & after a point of time viewers get disinterested of the happenings in the movie. Comedy which was billed as one of the USPs of the movie falls flat . Both Vadivelu & Shanthnam fail to tickle the viewers.

“Jayam” Ravi looks smart in his new hair style . Either bad acting or poor characterisation or a combination of both , Ravi’s role is one of the most irritating one I have come across in the this year so far.

Tamannah fits the bill of the heroine with scope to do some comedy which she does amply. Her footwork has also improved immensely as her lip sync.

Shaam is adequate while other supporting actors ham their level best to make it a aural torture which is further aggravated by the background score of Thaman.

"Sol Pechu" is perhaps the only song which stands both in the picturization & music is concerned. It is a delight to watch multiple Ravi’s & Thamannah’s dancing around. Novel concept & well conceived.

Rajasekhar’s cinematography is excellent in the chase sequences & action scenarios.

“Jayam” Raja has miscalculated this time perhaps for the first time. Lets wait & watch what he does with his first “original” feature film next.

On the whole , “Thillalangadi” is a easy route for a severe headache.

Bottomline : Sicko Sick...!

2/5

RAAVANAN

My Review : Raavanan



Manirathanm’s “Ravanan ” a perfect example of self-indulgence at it’s pinnacle. One is at loss of words when such a pathetic writing comes from one of the legends of Indian cinema.


It is a good idea to recreate an epic in it’s modern interpretation only if it is plausible to the situations &scenario the writer has in his mind. “Dalapathy” is a good example for that. But if the writer starts at making a movie with the one &only aim of doing a modern day adaptation of the epic & all the situation and scenarios are forced into for that end we get to see only such half backed & unpalatable attempts like this movie or for that matter the recently released & very over-rated “Raajneethi”.


The movie boasts of one of the best visuals that we have seen in Indian cinemas yet. It has first class acting from all the actors concerned.But the movie gets let down by a very average writing both script as well as dialogues.


Second half atleast had some semblance of sanity in it but the first half is as wretched as it may get.To make the matters worse Suhasini’s dialogues are horrible with people then & there mouthing different dialect as they wish. Prithviraj asking for a lie-detector test on Ashwarya Rai will go down as one of the most hilarious moment (howsoever unintended it may be ) in Indian cinema.


Ambience , attires as well as the backdrop all look alien to Tamil culture & ethos which reminds us of that misadventure Maniratham & Barathiraja ventured into , “Tajmahal”.


Vikram has done his part well but his role is shoddily written. Whether he is a normal person or a maniac with hallucinatory behaviour is anyone’s guess.


Ashwarya must have worked hard for the role with all those risky shots in such a unfriendly terrain but as far as acting goes she has nothing much to do with her wooden face to make the matters worse.


Prithviraj’s role is another example for the bad writing the movie plagued with.As far as others go Prabhu, Karthik & Priya Mani have done well.


The main attraction is the cinematography ,credits shared by Santosh Sivan & Manigandan. The manner in which they have captured not only the nature’s splendour but also the human vulnerabilities is a poetry on celluloid. If only they were backed up by a solid writing things would have been even better.


A.R.Rahman’s music is average .His music for Maniratnam’s movie seem to have fallen to a pattern which he must address in the future.



On the whole, “Raavanan” is a complete letdown.


Bottomline : Bad writing.


2/5

Singam

My Review: SINGAM




Surya’s 25th movie “Singam” written & directed by Hari is a treat for the action lovers.The movie moves at a breakneck speed even before one realizes the movie gets over leaving very little time in between for the viewers to think about the logic or lack of it.

To his credit ,Hari has tried to make it as much plausible as he possibly can while maintaining the tempo of the movie right through except for maybe the songs which are only 4 ,thankfully.The flow of the screenplay is lucid & vivid that makes the viewing enjoyable & less strenuous.

When one enters the movie hall with a preconceived notion that it may be yet another masala potboiler nothing much to look forward to , what follows is two and half hours of engaging cinema .It is time for Sun pictures to rejoice & repeat their successful association with Surya after that immensely successful “Ayan” last year.

Surya is charming & dashing as ever though he tries hard to portray the role of the ruffian police.He is clearly uncomfortable in the areas where high decibel dialogue delivery is mandated. He has improved his dancing & fighting skills . The makers’ hard work in masking the massive difference in height between the lead pair is appreciable onscreen.

Anuskha has nothing much to do but to follow in similar vein as to her performance in her previous movies like “Vettaikaran”. She however sizzles in the song numbers though.

Prakashraj in yet another role of a dada which he will do with ease even in the middle of his midnight sleep.

Vinek does succeeds in spewing humor in couple of instances in a role which is a takeoff from that of Vadivelu in “Marudhamalai”.

Devisriprasad’s music has nothing to note while Priyan has done a decent work as the cinematographer.

Hari’s career is a mixed bag with a mixture of commercially super hit movies like “Saami” , “Vel” , “Tamil” as well as duds like “Seval” , “Aaru ” , “Arul”….. “Singam ” is sure to find a place in the former list.

On the whole , it is a time pass movie for the commercial film lovers.

Bottomline : Racy entertainer.

3.5/5

Irumbu Kottai Murattu Singam

My Review : Irumbu Kottai Murattu Singam




Simbudevan known for his fantasy movies with comical undertones has come up with yet another one with “Irumbu Kottai Murattu Singam” (IKMS) .Here he has tried to pay his tribute to the cowboy genre of movies of the yore. The setting in itself is an interesting one – quiet fascinating for the kids while a trip down memory lane for the older viewers.

Movie has typical Simbudevan stamp of political satire & political references sprinkled all over which are enjoyable but he ought to have worked hard as afar as the scripting goes which is very loose & lackluster to be honest. Scenes tend to get repetitive & frankly tiring to say the least with people jumping onto horses every now & then ,songs springing out of nowhere adding to the misery of the viewers.

Another downer is that the comedy quotient is very low in the movie & hence when enters the theatre looking forward to having a blast laughing , naturally one is bound to get disappointed with when things are on the contrary.

Dialogues are the major strong point of the movie which keeps the viewers awake . None is spared with writer Simbudevan having a field day taking dig at all & sundry ,especially the India- US nuclear deal , Western World Imperialism , state of affairs in Sri Lanka & our apathy towards it , to mention a few.

The attention to details that Simbudevan has is amazing. Infact the background & the minute detailing in the background are more enjoyable & hilarious than the main movie in itself.

The casting of the movie is also impressive with everyone from Raghava Lawrence to V.S.Raghavan playing their parts well.Special mention to M.S..Baskar who have the audience in splits whenever he is onscreen with his bizarre language. Saikumar gets to mouth almost all the hard hitting dialogues .Nasser is another actor who stands up tall among the crowd.

Na.Alagappan’s visuals pay homage to the grand old man of cow boy genre movies in Tamil ,Karnan. Also his use of color tones are interesting for he tend to use them in accordance with the original movie that is getting referred to , like for instance the camera work & color tone used have a heavy inspiration from the “Indiana Jones ” series of movies. Whether it is intended or coincidental is for the makers to clarify.

G.V.Prakashkumar’s songs are very average with none hummable while Sabesh-Murali’s BGM reminds that of the old cowboy movies.

On the whole, family & kids may enjoy IKMS for its petty humor & novel settings but for the majority of the cinegoers it is a tiresome experience .

Bottomline : IKMS- not roaring loud enough to merit attention.


2.5/5