Jeeva

My review: Jeeva

Suseendran's "Jeeva" deals with the caste politics in Tamil Nadu cricket, a pertinent and a topical theme that often gets overlooked by both the media as well as the general public. The fact that 14 out of 16 players selected for India from Tamil Nadu are from one particular caste is not only shocking but a case of castiest terrorism. One must at the outset congratulate Susee for his courage and honesty with which he has approached this movie. But the problem with the movie is that it is not that gripping. 

First half meanders its way boringly with a very ordinary romantic portions interspersed with how the protagonist gets himself introduced to the divisional cricket at the state level. Nothing much interesting or engrossing in this half, as a result though it runs for only an hour it feels longer. Somehow the second half redeems the situation to an extent with razor sharp dialogues adding up to the levity. And it a relief that unlike most of the sports films made in India the protagonist need not indulge in heroic contrived battle against the system or a mighty opponent to show his might in a crowd-pleasing manner. Rather the writer-director has opted for a more "real" conclusion for the story. He has also done his homework right for there have been a lot of success stories like the one dealt with in this movie and many of those with the IPL team Rajasthan Royals, the team even the movie's protagonist plays for. 

Vishu is good, the fact that he is a cricketer himself has lend some much needed authenticity to his role. SriDivya is charmingly good while Lakshman is a revelation in his role of fiery Ranjith. Movie has a very good support cast, though by and large small time actors, their performances are terrific. Soori is in a fine form in this movie. D.Imman's music is not up to his own high standards he has set for himself in the recent times. Madhie's cinematography is terrific, especially the on field cricket sequences are excellently  picturized.  

Suseendran's intent is laudable, first for taking up an offbeat subject and second dealing it with conviction and honesty. But somehow he fails to churn out an engaging screenplay and allow the movie to meander itself to the end except for some fireworks here and there. As a result though the movie is just above two hours, one might get a feel of watching a movie that is too long for comfort.

Bottomline: A twenty20 on a slow pitch. 

3/5

Aranmanai

My review: Aranmanai

Only way to sit through Sunder.C's "Aranmanai" is to make peace with yourself that you are actually watching the 1970's-80's horror movies that used to get telecast in Raj digital plus on a lazy weekday afternoons when you are just back from your school. Just forget about the effort that you have put in or the money you have spent to watch this movie on big screen which it clearly doesn't deserve. 

But even if you compare it with the 70's-80's standards, movies of those times however tacky they look, they usually have actors who perform their best and succeed in making the viewers forget the insipidities on the prowl. The makers know when to unleash the horror, when to go it slow and when to break all hell loose. But "Aranmanai" is a case of poor scripting, lazy direction and below-par acting. There is not even a single scene where the viewers gets surprised or terrorized, the most bare essential of any horror movie. When horror element itself doesn't work, then the whole movie which is built on its basis falls apart. 

The movie is predictable to the core, right from the first scene till the last frame where they sow seed for a sequel. A ghost who is lovelorn, lover who is happily married, the possessed wife, savior of the family who tries all his might to overcome the evil designs of the ghost, the group of villains who are the reason why a timid village belle turn into a ghost and their gory deaths at the hands of it, a religious seer and a devotional song, whatever horror movie cliches you can think of are all present in this movie. As a result, the movie fails to makes any impact on its viewers. 

Only aspect that keeps the viewers seated in the auditorium is the comical aspects in the movie. Santhanam does succeeds to an extent in keeping the viewers in good humor with his typical sarcastic timing comedy. The flashback scenes too add up to the comedy with a clean shaven Vinay and trying to act Hansika. Andrea tries her maximum in the horror sequences, but her paucity of talent is evident in most of the other sequences. 

Bharadwaj seems to have got caught in the time warp too for all the songs are of the b-grade 70's-80's standards. Karthik Raja's background score does nothing in accentuating the horror, rather it is an ear-sore.  Technically movie is tacky and doesn't belong to the 2014's. 

On the whole, "Aranmanai" is a very poorly and lazily made horror movie sans any horror. Santhanam's usual comedy and many unintended comedies may keep you in your seats, but it is too trivial a movie to merit a viewing in a cinema theater.        

Bottomline:  a dilapidated palace. 

1.5/5  

Burma

My review: Burma

Tamil cinema is now abuzz with the neo-noir heist thrillers, following the cult internet following of "Aranya Kandam", touted as the first one of this genre in Tamil. Now Dharanidharan makes his debut with "Burma", a movie that deals with car robbery or rather "car seizing" as they call it, in the neo-noir style. Movie is stylish, well written, well performed and well made. Running just 98 minutes, the movie is taut too. The problem is there is nothing inventive or challenging to show in the script and it fails to create any tension or thrill in the audience. The movie fails in creating the "mood" that might have made this one a hell of a ride. In the end the makers have just settled for a ride. 

Though the movie's running time is economical, there are four songs which not only affects the fluidity of the narration but also plays the most important part in the movie's failure in creating the mood. But having said that, there is enough in the movie to go gaga about it. The unique characterization of the people who inhabitate "Burma" yet who feel and look real is testament to the terrific writing and presentation by Dharanidharan. Though there are not many heist scenes, the one in the highway when Burma and his accomplish con the gang with their BMW is one of the many well written scenes in the movie. But the main aspect of these type of movies is the surprise element in the twists which is not that evident here.

Movie has a wonderful cast comprising a mix of power-packed veterans and upcoming young talents. Sampath Kumar is just terrific as Guna who ends up at the receiving end each time in the hands of Burma, but still he maintains the majestic visage throughout the movie. Atul Kulkarni is adequate in a role that he has done umpteen times so far in his career. Michael is promising in the titular role of Burma. He needs to work on his dialgoue delivery. Reshmi Menon exudes confidence in her role while Karthik Sabesh is a riot in his role of Boomer. He has couple of terrific scenes to showcase his talents. Each and every character has a well rounded character graph and have uniqueness in their conception. 

"En Moochum Venam" is a delectable number by Sudharshan M Kumar who has composed the music for this movie. By and large his work is promising. Movie has enchanting visuals which are high on colours shot in a sleek glossy manner by Yuva. For a movie shot with a shoe-string budget, the production values are quiet high. 

Dharanidharan shows promise with the off-beatness of his script and mastery over his presentation, but needs to work on his scripting. It is by no means a routine lazy effort but can't be categorized as a trend-stter either. On the whole, "Burma" joins the list of all those well made movies with unique flavours made by the new generation of Tamil movie makers spearheaded by those from the short film circuit, but falls way short of being the best.  

Bottomline: Fast but not furious enough.

3/5

  

Sigaram Thodu

My review: Sigaram Thodu

Gaurav's "Sigaram Thodu" is an average routine commercial fare with the director using the theme of ATM robbery as just a icing which is too thin and too redundant. If you remove those scenes in which they have fairly well explained the modus operandi of the ATM robbery, the movie is a dud that has nothing new or interesting in it. 

The first half is almost a non-entity with a boring romantic portion in which the lead pair fall in love in a space of one week on a pilgrimage trip, yawn! Flickers here and there in the form of some terrific timing comedy from Satish are the only salvaging parts of the first half. Second half too fails to evoke any interest with each and every twists unfolding so conveniently that even those investigative movies of Jaisankar in the 60's and 70's look far more better than this one. 

After a successful "Arima Nambi", this is not a movie that Vikram Prabhu ought to have chosen. It is a poor selection of script and he fails to gain anything out of it. In fact in those scenes in which he comes in the cop uniform, one can only hear peels of laughter in the auditorium. His styling is totally clownish in this movie. Monal Gajjar has a pleasant face but acting talent is what she needs to hone a lot. It is sad to see Sathyaraj relegated to such cliched roles these days. Satish is good with his comic timing while Erode Mahesh has nothing much to do. 

It is one of those rare poor albums from D Iman in the recent times. He neither does anything of note in the background score as well. Vijay Ulaganth's cinematography is good and glossy. Movie is high on its production values with all the technical departments having done very good jobs. 

The Malayalam movie "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" dubbed into tamil as "ATM Thirudan" is a better movie that dealt with the theme of ATM robbery. When compared to it "Sigaram Thodu" is no where in the vicinity of it, either in the plausibility or the sensibility. 

Bottomline:  Way off the target 

2/5

Amara Kaaviyam

My review: Amara Kaaviyam

After his impressive debut with "Naan", Jeeva Shankar seems to lost a bit of steam with his second movie, "Amara Kaaviyam". Though the story is nothing new, it could have been spruced up with a better taut screenplay. But Shankar doesn't seem to have any grip on the screenplay which he allows to meander loosely, as result the impact the movie ought to have created fizzles out. The problem lies not only in the screenplay but also his direction, which somehow fails to engage the viewers. A filmmaker like Selvaraghavan could have had a field day with a story like this. 

"Amara Kaaviyam" is a routine teenage love story with a twist in the end which seems more forced into the narrative rather than the story coming to its conclusion. Movie for the majority of its running time lacks substance and feel artificial. Except for couple of touches here and there like the mature handling of teenage love by the parents of both side and a cop for once who is sensible and practical rather than the Tamil movie caricature, by and large movie doesn't boast of many scenes which could move you emotionally. Even the climatic portions that could have worked out terrifically gets bogged down by the insufficient emotionally connecting moments in the movie up-till that point. 

Sathya is good as the protagonist, but the scarcity of emotional and histrionic repertoire shows. Dove eyed Mia is a good find for Tamil cinema. She emotes well and has a good future. Movie has a largely unknown support cast but by and large they all have done terrific jobs themselves. Why Thambi Ramaiah, only the director and Ramaiah, himself can answer.   

Movie's USP is its music and Ghibran has once again done excellent job with it. All the five songs in the album are good to hear and pictured well by the director who also couples up as the movie's cinematographer. However, Ghibran's background score is jarring at many places.

On the whole, after watching this movie only thought that comes into one's mind is that potential for a great romantic drama is been wasted. 

Bottomline: Neither immortal nor a masterpiece. 

2.5/5     

Peruchazhi

My review: Peruchazhi

Arun Vaidyanthan's "Peruchazhi" has an intersting plot but the execution is that like the school kids' skit. Though he right away requests the audience to switch off the mobile and logic, the happenings are so juvenile that it would be difficult for any grown-up for that matter any kid with an IQ of more than 90 to savour this parody. Implausible situation, infantile scenarios and tomfoolery marks the two and half hour running time of this so-called political satire.  

Only saving grace of the movie is the dialogues which are witty most of the times and the people who gets to mouth it, Baburaj and Aju Varghese. They save this sinking ship from drowning and are the only reason why any sane person could sit through this inane movie. 

Mohanlal tries his might to stay afloat above all the ridiculous and  childish scenes which is quiet sad to see. A talented actor he is, it is bad that he has come down to this level. Wish he gets back on track from the dismal year he is having post "Jilla", "Mr.Fraud" and now this. Baburaj is the rock-star of the movie. He is terrific and keeps the audience in splits with his combination of slapstick as well as dialogue oriented comedy. Aju Varghese forms a perfect foil for him, the duo are just comical. Mukesh is once again typecast while Ragini Nandwani don't have much to do. Poonam Bajwa sizzles in a cameo. 

Arora's music is good, studiously follows the commercial cinema template with hero-worshiping rap-theme to boot. Arvind Krishna's cinematography is colorful and technically movie is of high standards.

On the whole, if one make no bones about lowering his/her intelligent quotient couple of notches below then "Peruchazhi" is the film for you. For the more saner people, SKIP is the word.

Bottomline: Nibbles away your brain !

2/5