[Movie Review] Kumki

After hearing rave reviews, i nudged a few friends to watch Kumki. Alas, it was not to be, we were at the theater, Inox, waiting for the doors to open when a staff came over to tell us there was some technical issues and the screening was cancelled. Our hopes fell and we were disappointed. Anyways, that weekend an excolleague of mine called asking if i would like to catch up, and what do you know, it began with us watching Kumki, at Escape Cinemas, Express Avenue. 

I had seen and enjoyed Director Prabhu Solomon's earlier movie Mynaa, which is set in the village and is very rural. Wondered if maybe this movie too would be similar. There ends the similarity. The setting was the only common factor between the two flicks. 

What was Kumki about? 

It is a fairly simple tale about Bomman (Vikram Prabhu, Sivaji's Grandson & Prabhu's son),a mahout who along with his uncle and another help[played quite well by Thambi Ramaiah and Aswin] go from town to town with their elephant [Manickam]. They get invited to temple functions and other such small festivals. On the other side is the village of Adhi kadu [in the region of Panimalai, Marthandam)]where a wild elephant Komban has been on rampage. The wild elephant attacks women who are out in the field and has killed quite a few, especially during harvest season. Unable to deal with the menace and determined to not run away to another town [which is what the cops suggest the villagers do], the village chief calls for a Kumki [a trained elephant used to tame wild elephants] 

The scene where we are introduced to Komban and his rage is quite disturbing. He is all set to trample Alli [Lakshmi menon] when she slips and just about escapes.  One day when heading back to base after a brief spat with the officials after Bomman fails to show Manickam's papers [which his uncle had lost somewhere along the way], the man who helps them Mani annan receives a call from the village asking if the Kumki elephant is ready to be transported to the village. 

The twist in the tale happens now, the ordered Kumki elephant's mahout is stuck with some personal emergency and says he will take about 3days to reach the village. In the meanwhile, Bomman volunteers to go to the village and hold fort till the real Kumki elephant takes over. The villagers welcome and treat Bomman, his clan and Manickam with great revere. While they are under the assumption that Manickam is a kumki, reality is that Manickam is indeed a very timid elephant who shies away from breaking coconuts

In a turn of events, Bomman sets eyes on Alli and falls in love with her, forgetting the real purpose of thier visit to the village. He decides to stay on, telling the owner of the real Kumki that he will manage, and train Manickam to deal with any kind of emergency. Eventually, he understands the severity of things and comes to a point where he says  "i cannot mislead the villagers, i am putting everybody's life at risk, we should just leave" What happens next is the climax of the movie...

As real as the visuals are, i felt the director could have shown more scenes of Manickam and his antics, and of Kumban as well. The songs are beautiful, especially Sollitaale Ava Kaadhala ,Ayyayayo Anandhame and Onnum Puriyalai. The romance is sweet, the pride the villagers have of their property and heritage is amazing.
Vikram Prabhu has done an amazing job, for a debut artist. The scenes where he cajoles and pampers the elephant, the push ups he does on its tusks, wow... shows the relationshiop between a mahout & his elephant.   Lakshmi Menon fits the role perfectly and has played her role well.  Thambi Ramaiah is wacky as always, and infact i felt he got more screen space than others.

A movie worth a watch.... yet another offbeat story..

I would rate it 4/5

Mounaguru

Directed by Santha Kumar and produced by M. K. Thamizharasu, this movie is quite offbeat amongst the run of the mill, romance, villain strewn movies churned out by the Tamil Film Industry... 

I was sceptical when i heard it starred Arulnithi, but with names such as John Vijay, Iniya, and Uma Riyaz Khan, and a few good reviews from friends, i told myself it will be worth a watch!

Last night, marched into PVR and got set to watch this "Crime thriller" as many had labelled it... From the beginning to the end, the movie was well chalked out and i was quite impressed with Arulnidhi's acting....

it is the story of a college student Karunakaran[Arulnidhi] who is a good student, but gets into trouble often. Due to this, his mom moves bag and baggage to Chennai where her Older son gets admission for Karunakaran at Aruldoss college, with accomodation in the hostel. His wife's sister Aarthi [Iniya] is living with them and so their apartment is quite crowded. What starts off as initial teething trouble soon becomes a nightmare and Karunakaran is caught up in a scam for no fault of his.

4 policemen - Assistant Commissioner Marimuthu (John Vijay), Inspector Rajendran (Madhu), Sub-Inspector Selvam (Balakrishnan) and junior policeman Perumalsamy (Krishnamurthy) are crooks down to the T. when they stumble upon a car crash, they open the boot to discover a bag filled with money, decide to loot it, and even go to the extent of killing the driver who is still alive...

From there on, begins a snowball effect, to hide their actions, they keep passing the blame onto others. One lady the AC has sexual connections with records his actions in her bedroom in an attempt to blackmail him and get rid of him. But this proves fatal for her, and she ends up losing the camera and her life.

Amidst all this drama, love blossoms between Karunakaran and Aarthi... but that is known only to his mom.. One day, during the holidays when Karuna returns to the hostel [ he is alone as others have gone off home], he finds a bag outside his room, pours out its contents and while wondering whose bag it is, is caught by the 4 crooked cops.. They were infact waiting to see who the student was who had called and blackmailed them about the murder and money... 

One thing leads to another, and finally karuna ends up in a mental asylum. Cops and the psychiatrist convince Karuna's family that he has lost his mind.  The twist comes in the form of Pazhaniammal [Uma Riyaz] who is investigating the murder and stumbles upon the truth. And finally, just when they have everyone caught and guilty, she is given orders to let them go as the murder could lead to issues between the 2 states.

karuna then takes matters into his own hands, kills all the cops and then gives in and goes into the mental asylum....

The movie is well paced and quite well scripted. There are no cliched scenes in the crime or the romance, just subtle nuances. But, i did think the end was going to be different... Wonder why the director chose this path!!! ... All in all, its a good watch... And one more grouse i have with movie theaters- We dont need intervals in all movies, especially English, Animated and Such thrillers... it just cuts into the flow of the movie!!

Overall Rating - 4/5

Muran- sleek and smooth...

 

 

Genre: Thriller
Directed by:  Rajan Madhav 

Cast:  Cheran, Prasanna, Jayaprakash, Nikitha, Hari Priya, Suma

The story is fairly simple: it is about these 2 guys, who are poles apart in terms of their personalities and how fate brings them together, leaving one of them no choice but to follow suit... The 2 men are Nandha [Cheran] and Arjun[Prasanna] 

The movie opens with Cheran and some others sitting in a table having a drink while Prasanna is standing on the ledge asking a waiter to count to 3 so he can jump down and hopefully fall into the Swimming pool.. he is piss drunk and not in his senses, but hell bent on doing this feat...   

And the following day it so happens that Arjun gives Nandha a ride to Chennai when his car breaks down [no thanks to a bunch of drunk driving rash on the highway].. With time, they start sharing their life stories... As the flashback unfolds, Nandha passionate about music, plays the guitar talks about being married to  Indhu (Nikitha) who hates music, wont give him a divorce till she gets her hands on her father's possessions and is possibly having an extramarital affair. Nandha is vexed with his marriage, but then he smiles once again when he meets Lavanya (Hari Priya) with whom he develops a strong bond and possibly even love.

On the other hand, there is Arjun, son of a millionaire and, all he wants to do is party and blow money [kinda like Ranbir in Wake up Sid]. He talks about how his father Devarajan (Jayaprakash) has ruined his life, the love he had for Linda [who worked in his dad's office and who was forced to have sex with his dad during an official trip and thtereon committed suicide].. Arjun talks about how Nandha can move on with Lavanya if his wife was taken out of the equation and how his life would be better when his dad is removed from the picture.  

 

Arjun loves Thrills, while Nandha is a "play it safe" kinda guy. But Nandha realises Arjun is serious about this plan of his... But then, he walks away giving Arjun the number of a leading psychiatrist to seek out!!

This is where the movie takes quite a turn and twist.... One day, as Nandha goes about his routine he receives a call that his wife met with an accident and has died.. He is stumped and shocked.. That evening, he receives a surprise visitor... no prizes for guessing.. it is Arjun who comes to say "no need for Thank you" :-)

It is then that we feel chills down our spine, wondering what is Arjun really capable of! Arjun has actually put his words into action, proving he was serious and that he now expects Nandha to do the 2nd part of the deal- kill Devaraj.... Nandha does try, but fails and then calls it quits!
 

And as days go by.... he comes to know what Arjun is capable of , the extreme he goes to which leaves Nandha with no choice but to follow suit and go kill Devaraj based on the plan laid down by Arjun... What happens next is the grand climax and finale... let me not spoil it for you....

A friend mentioned that the movie was inspired by Hitchcock’s film, Strangers on a Train (1951).. Now since i have not seen this, i quite enjoyed it and felt the movie had a very Hollywoodish touch to it, the sleek neat way of execution, with each scene flowing smooth...  

Its a movie that will have you glued to your seats, wondering what next.. who will kill whom... if Nandha or Arjun will get caught.... 

The songs are ok, i dont really remember any of them...

Plot is good, the pace is maintained through the movie... 

Cheran and Prasanna have done an amazing job, doing justice to their roles to the dot.. Prasanna as a bad guy is quite a feat, it suits him!!