[movie] Jilla & Veeram

It was something I had not done in ages, I was watching movies on the day of their release, and this was courtesy a friend who had an extra ticket and had sweetly remembered me! 

I watched Jilla 1st in Sathyam, Vijay's dad and few others from the movie where also in the theater [ya ya I saw them while I was waiting for my friend]. The movie is about a father and his adopted son, starts off like Sarkar where the duo rule the town going on to take on resemblances to Saami and then somewhere loses the entire plot to get twisted and knotted. To top it off, there were not one or two but nearly 5 songs within the 1st hour that had me cringing. 

Even though Vijay's movies are quite similar in their genre, the masala, almost like your Jackie Chan movies which you can watch , this was slightly unbearable. I could not sit through the 3+ hours. By the time Interval sign came on, I was ready to run out screaming "what is wrong with movie makers" , but then had to endure the remaining 2nd half with my head bursting with questions and hanging on to the small thread of hope that there might be some redemption somewhere.!! Nope, none...

Phew! I had survived that ordeal... yes literally come out not having killed anyone.

 It was now time for the next movie of the season- Veeram, starring Thala Ajith. I had seen his earlier release Aarambham amidst milk abhishekam and what not, so was quite wary!

This movie is about 5 brothers, yes, you read it right- Ajith being the eldest of the lot and there are 2 others who get a bit if screen time but the remaining 2 are there for what reason I wondered... Tamanna was much better when compared to Kajal Agarwal of Jilla. This movie also reminded me of the earlier Anandam featuring Mammotty as the eldest of 5 brothers [dont ask me why, I just remembered that movie]. It is about Ajith believing marriage will break their bond, but reality is that each brother apart from him have a lover on the side. So, they work hard at getting Ajith to fall in love so they can all get together with their partners. 

Now what was amazing between the 2 movies is that some scenes are exactly the same, lot of actors are there in both the movies and both are 3+ hours longgggggggggggggggggg... Only plus for Veeram is that it is much better entertainer and has fewer songs when compared to Jilla.. I cant help it if Vijay fans are offended or out to get me, but heck, this is my blog and I write what I feel! :D

Go watch either of these at your own risk, dont say I dint warn you!! :D

Mankatha- Game of In or Out

"Mankatha"- the title says it all...  Ajith has pulled off quite a performance in his 50th Movie and Arjun along with the rest of the team adding to it, although i wonder what was the reason behind making this movie in  the 1st place!

After Chennai 28 that was based on Cricket, Venkat Prabhu has taken on yet another sport as the theme for his next movie-"Mankatha".. It is based on the sport that involves Money and the Men involved.  

Vinayak mahadevan [Ajith], a cop suspended for letting a Terrorist go is the KING MAN in this plot... He plays a Bad ass who is focussed on nothing but MONEY.. The movie is Ajith all the way- with his loud laughs, body language, suave moves, and dialogue delivery.... and ofcourse it shows very obviously that Venkat Prabhu has tried very hard to portray Vinayak as Danny Ocean from the Ocean Series, and it kinda obviously falls flat...

Coming back to the story, Vinayak goes about his days meeting people, and enjoying a carefree life, that also includes his gilfried Sanjana (Trisha) who is the daughter of an influential local goon Arumuga Chettiyar (Jayaprakash of Yudham Sei fame).

Vinayak is a fun guy, who will do anything for money, but goes about it quite smooth- befriending the right kind of people, tech savvy enough to plant bugs to learn about the plan others are making and all the while living his life to the full...

The movie loosely involves the Betting that goes on  in the IPL matches... Assistant Commissioner of Police Prithvi (Arjun) is given the case to end the betting scandal.

Arumuga Chettiyar discovers that Rs 500 crores is the money involved in the betting for the Final IPL match. He uses his nexus with underworld in Mumbai and tries to route it through his recreation centre- Golden Theater in Mumbai.

He has a team of young guns, amongst who Sumanth (Vaibhav) is Arumuga Chettiyar's protege. Sumanth makes a plan with the Police officer Ganesh (Ashwin) to loot the money. Also joining them in the plot are Mahanth (Mahanth), who runs a bar in Mumbai and Prem (Premgi Amaran) an IIT pass out who's recently landed in Mumbai with money dreams in his eyes.

Vinayak comes to know of their plan and takes over as the leader guiding them through the loot, till one morning he along with Ganesh and Sumanth land at the place where the booty is stored to discover it all gone! Mahath and Prem have gone missing which makes it obvious that they have disappeared with the cash.  

This is when Arumuga Chettiyar begins the hunt for the treasure, interrogates Sumanth by threatening to hurt his wife and chases after the gang to repossess his loot. Vinayak follows every move of Arumuga Chettiar, and this is where the chase begins to heat up ...  

Some interesting dialogues in the movie--

* Thappu seiyurathellam sernthu senjuringa aana thandanai mattum thaniya avanukka?

* Sathiyama inimey kudikkavey kudathu da.

* Oh.. Sanjay Ramasaamy.. Mel maadi. Avar marakkurathukulla pooidunga.

* Inimey namma ellam thanni adicha, orey brand aa maintain pannanum. Mix  panna kudathu.

* The King!! No no no.. The King Maker!!

* Over confidence udambukku nallathu illa King Maker.

* Cha cha cha cha Ivan ippadi solla mattaney? Yeppudi solluva sollu…

* Money money money money money Ummah

* Vaada Bill Gates!!

* Action King!! I’m impressed!! Gimme More!!

 

Let me not reveal the spoilers... but Ajith and Arjun have managed to pull off the twist in tale quite well... Venkat Prabhu has created a movie that shows of Ajith's various facets... which have also been delivered well.. The movie has strong traces of Ocean 11 series, and Italian Job as well.. It does have a Hollywood style direction as well, which was good to see in a Tamil movie...I know i have said this earlier, but heck, i cant get over the similarities ....

I wish movie makers realise they can create movies without song sequences and the audience will still enjoy them... A background score would have been good enough.... In this movie, i felt there was no need for a heroine leave alone half the tracks belted out, some of which made no sense..!! Again, Venkat Prabhu has created another song like the Saroja Samaa nikalo with this "Machi open the bottle" for Premji...

The bloopers during the credits are worth a watch... yet another 1st in the Tamil film industry!! This was the best part about the movie!! but then being able to endure 3hours just for a few laughs?!!