[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

Vaagai Sooda Vaa- Its all about Learning!

Direction: Sargunam

Music: Gibran
Cinematography: Om Prakash

Cast: Vimal, Iniya, K. Bhagyaraj, Ponvannan, Thambi Ramaiah and others

After watching Kalavani and enjoying it, i knew i wanted to watch Vaagai Sooda Vaa... Vimal and Sargunam seems to be a good combo...

As the screen came to life and the movie began, it was obvious this was a movie set in the 1960s or 70s...  Bhagyaraj is seen making a promise to his wife that he will get his son a Job with the Government office, that of a teacher atleast and have the family name held high among his clan....



While waiting for the Government job to fall in place, Veluthambi[Vimal] joins the  Grama seva and aims at spreading the value and importance of education. He is sent on an assignment to the desolate village called Kandeduthankaadu near Tanjore. Though he is reluctant, his father[Bhagyaraj] urges him to take it up atleast to gain experience as they cannot afford the 100Gms of Gold asked as bribe for the Government job.  He lands in this village that is filled with families who are into Brick making.

He is offered the shack that was used to store the goat, much to the chagrin of the man in charge of the goats[ few scenes where the goat is sent to chase him around are so howlarious]...Anyways, back to the story, he then seeks out Madhi[Iniya] to offer him meals daily [she is quite the cheeky one, gives him pot of ragi porridge with green chillies and when he goes complaining to the women of the village, sneaks in and replaces chillies with some meat only to take them away again as soon as the women leave]... Madhi falls in love with him, dreaming of their life together....

With time, he realises the kids in the village would rather play around or go work in the Brick stacking unit than come study.. he tries to lure them by offering to tell stories, but he is unable to come up with an interesting story....

And in between all this, there is one man [Elango], who looks insane , walking around chanting "i hear birds, i hear them all around me" living near the entrance of the village.. One night he comes to visit  Velu telling him "you should not go, i shall leave" and the next morning passes away...

 There are powerful enemies lurking about... The local bigwig JP (Ponvannan) who treats the villagers like slaves and demands they repay him if they say a word against him... and the last thing he wants is for them to learn and become educated. It is only when Velu puts out a challenge to the villagers on the number of bricks laid out that the villagers understand how they are being conned and the women instantly agree to send their children to study...   

The arrogant owner (Ponvannan) now locks horns with Velu, sending out his goons to kick Velu out of the village. but he is saved by the gang that opposes Ponvannan, the man who redeems the villages of their dues as well. 

Meanwhile, Velu gets a letter that the Government job has come through and gets set to leave the village... As he is bidding goodbye, he tells the kids who have by now become attached to him that he will be back soon... One kid, comes upto him shows a slate with his mother's name written on it [albeit with a tiny error] and then drops some coins into his hand and tells him to bring back a notebook to write in... This tugs at Velu's heart and he goes to the bus stand and tells his father he cant leave this village now... Not when they are ready to learn...

Alas, he returns to the goat shack only to be told by the village medicine man that a letter came for velu, which he read that said the Grama Seva is unable to pay him what was promised and that he should pack up and leave....  

Having given up the Government job and with no pay from Grama Seva, Velu continues to teach the children of the village... The beautiful turn of events is when the villagers come together and payhim from their petty earnings.

The movie has quite a few touching scenes and moments...It has been set in a village that is in the middle of nowhere and is completely barren.... It is a slow movie, but gains momentum in the 2nd half... I enjoyed the movie immensely...  Do watch it!

[Movie] Reel on.. II

More Movies i've seen over the past 2 weeks!

Ugly Truth

Director: Robert Luketic


Starring: Katherine Heigl, Gerard Butler, Bree Turner, Eric Winter  .

Rating: ***1/2

  Abby Richter, an ambitious television producer in Sacramento hasnt had a boyfriend or some action in quite a while...one night when she is at home, her cat presses on the remote and "The Ugly Truth" by Mike Chadway is on, Abby calls in and argues with him on-air. The next day, she discovers that the station is threatening to cancel her show because of its poor ratings, and the station owner has hired Mike to do a segment on her show to boost the TRP ratings.

At first, the two are at war till Mike finally convinces Abby to listen to him to conquer the man of her dreams, a doctor named Colin who lives next door.She follows Mike's instructions step by step, with quite a few goof ups thrown in... and finally realises she is someone else with Colin, and has fallen in love with Mike... This is a movie whose humour is nothing ne, but its one of those feel good, light, Romantic comedy flicks..

Watch it for Gerard Butler... remember 300 and PS I Love you?? ;)Oooh!!!

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Death at a Funeral

Directed by Frank O

 

Starring: Matthew Macfadyen, Rupert Graves, Alan Tudyk, Daisy Donovan, Kris Marshall, Andy Nyman, Jane Asher, Keeley Hawes, Peter Vaughan, Ewen Bremner, Peter Dinklage, Thomas Wheatley, Peter Egan........

This was a movie i had picked up awhile ago, saw bits and pieces till finally last evening me and my friend decided to give it a go and cracked up completely..... It stars a mostly British ensemble bunch of actors, most of whom look familiar and yet are unfamiliar.

The death of the Daniel and Robert’s father and the attempt to hold his funeral is what the plot circles around.. the occasion brings a whole lot of dysfunctional family members together. And amidst all this, when a midget of a man shows up threatening to reveal the deceased man’s shocking secret[That their dad was gay and he was his lover]  unless he gets some cash-15000 pounds, the two brothers are forced to figure out a way to deal with this blackmailer. With every scene, you are left laughing, completely flabbergasted at the chaos that is unfolding.... 

The hallucignic durg that Simon takes, making him go cuckoo, how Martha tries to keep him from jumping off the roof [ where he stands buck naked]... her useless brother, who was the reason all thsi happened [ who created the pill and put them in a Valium bottle] and so many other wierd members of the clan, each with their own set of problems and worries..!!! 

A fun movie, that is not so much as original comedy, but you will definitely have a few good laughs...

Its being remade in Hindi as Daddy Cool!! God save Bollywood and the rest of the world that watches it in hindi!! wonder how it will be!! hehe... 

[Movie] Reel on.. I

The past couple of weeks, work has been good, busy but not crazy busy, so managed to catch quite a few movies.. Indian and Foreign.. Am just gonna go ahead put up the names and a mini review on them...!! :)

Kanthaswamy

Director: Susi Ganesan

Actors: Vikram, Shreya Saran and a host of others... 

Rating: **

A movie that has been in the news forever was quite a disappointment and had way too many frills and fancy stuff.. After 3hr 15min, we walked out thinking had it been for an hour, it would have had quite an impact. the story is also nothing very new, or original, its all about how Vikram and his 10 buddies are the new age Robin Hood, taking from the corrupt rich and giving among the needy....Revolving around the Kanthaswamy temple, it is a movie where wishes made by Devotees on the tree comes true...  Way too many traces of Gentleman and Anniyan is a bit of a spoiler here... !! 

  

Shreya- dont even get me started on her.. Not only does she not look good[ some mite beg to differ..] but Suchi's voice is a total mismatch... Flat with zero emotions... And whoever did dance choreo for Shreya needs to take dance classes.. The best scene acc to me is the Fight in the corn field and ofcourse the En Peru 

meenakumari dance by Umaith Khan.. Her dance, lip sync and movements were soo awesome, i loved it... 

Watch the movie if you are a crazy Vikram or Shreya or Shankar Fan... dont expect too much, you wont be disappointed!!

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Quick Gun Murugan

Direction: Shashanka Ghosh

Cast: Rajendra Prasad, Naser, Raju Sundaram, Vinay Pathak, Ranvir Shorey, Rambha, Anu menon aka Lola kutty..

Rating: **

Quick Gun Murugun is an unlikely Superhero with sufer Gun powers. A Sincere South Indian Cowboy who considers it his duty to serve and protect all around him. All i knew of this character were the little snippets shown on MTV and the Ennada rascala in Om Shanti Om!!

The movie basically revolves around [mis]adventures of Quick Gun Murugun and his fight with his arch villain Rice Plate Reddy!Not to forget the Rowdy MBA and Mango Dolly who are all part of his clan!! Rice Plate has a bee in his bonnet because he wants to be the supreme overlord of Dosa-makers, and kidnaps anyone who possesses the perfect recipe for making lip smacking Dosas.
 

Though i dint really enjoy the movie, or wasnt laughing my head off, there are some funny scenes , only one i remember is the  take off on Clint Eastwood's 'The Good, The Bad and The Ugly' parodied  in Carnatic mix... A movie meant for those who like Slapstick comedy, and dont mind seeing Southies being ridiculed!! maybe if i were a northie, i mite enjoy it more.. who knows!! :)

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Ninaithale Inikkum

Director: Kumarvel

 

Actors: Prithviraj, Karthik Kumar, Shakthi, Priyamani 

Music :Vijay Antony 

Rating: ***

Ninaithale Inikkum is a remake of the Malayalam film "Classmates".... Its just a tough guy with a heart of gold Shiva beats up bad guy Vasu. He has the support of friends Shakthi and Bala.

On the other side is Meera , the daughter of an MLA and she opposes Shiva at every turn. Then there's Sethuraman the silly hostel warden, the cook Subramani and a pointless lecturer character who make up the college side of things. Completing the troop is Shali  a quiet Muslim girl, who at the end you see a completely different side to... The story just ping pongs between present and past, making you wonder what you are watching... and if this is the today or yesterday!!! 

Loads of bits and pieces for the audience to remember, until the end where they finally fall into place..
i've heard the mallu original is a beautiful movie, after watching this 2hrs of "makes no sense, songs start off for no rhyme or reason" movie, i think i'll take a peek at the Mallyalam version to understand the story!!! 

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[Movie] Achchamundu Achchamundu

Debutant director: Arun Vaidyanathan

Cast: Prasanna, Sneha, John Shea; 

Music: Karthik Raja; 

 Achchamundu Achchamundu  is a one of a kind movie, infact i dont think i've seen any other on this subject made in the Tamil movie industry!!  What is it about you ask ? its about child abuse and paedophiles!!! Yes.. no, dont shirk away and say "Chee, i aint gonna watch this movie"... You need to... Its a kind of an eye opener for people who think anybody who smiles and is nice to their child is simply being loving and caring.. yes, most people are, biut there are the other kind who we ignore.. or are unaware of!!

Set in New Jersey, its the story of Senthil Kumar (Prasanna), and his happy lamily-- wife Malini (Sneha) and child Rithika [Akshaya]. They have all acted well, except most scenes the accent and style portrayed seems very fake and just doesnt sit well with the audience. During the first half hour, i kinda got bored, the movie seemed to be in bits and pieces, untill it progressed eventually giving us no clues where it was headed...

This is where, a painter Robinson (John Shea) enters the story, he is a psychotic paedophile[For those who dont know the meaning, pls click on link -- they are people who lust affer children.and sexually abuse them]  . The minute he agrees to paint their basement for a throwaway price of $1000, the couple trust him with not just their home, but the security code to their home alarm system. He is sweet towards Rithika, and so she spends time with him unaware of his ulterior motives.. Through the movie, there are subtle hints here and there on Robinson's character.. A child is shown tied up in the boot of his car, another boy goes missing after Robinson gets him an ice cream, but because of his external portrayal, he gets away with it!! 

Meanwhile, Malini gets pregnant and it is time for Senthil to go to Florida for a conference, but the night before that he spots a thief of sorts trying to attack his house. He then takes Malini's fears seriously, cancels his trip and decides to stay put at home with his family [ figuring that is the only way to protect them] . 

Unable to resist further, Robinson decides to make his move into their home, and  how Senthil saves his family from the clutches of the psychotic child abuser forms the climax.

Arun Vaidyanathan has to be applauded for choosing such a sensitive theme. and presenting it well. Not in one scene do we feel wierd or disturbed.. Towards the end, there are news /newspaper clippings, and statistics on Child abuse across the world shown on the screen...

The movie is not gripping or has some mind blowing scenes, nor have the actors been utilised to their max, but  the way the director handles his theme leaves much to be desired.!! 

Movies I've been Binging on.. Part II

Ok... now here are the movies i saw this week... brot home the DVDs and freaked out on them...

Juno-
Sweet story about a girl who gets pregnant, and how she deals with it.. her family, the couple who wish to adopt the baby, and the boyfriend....


Blind Dating-
Romantic funny movie about a blind guy, his wacko bro, and the girls he tries to date and the one he finally finds who is meant to be his.... :)


United 93-
A horrifying true story about Sep 11th hit, but of the 4th plane that crashed elsewhere, with the passengers taking over the plane and not letting the terrorists succeed.. however, in the process they do sacrifice their lives.. a moving tale of lives....


Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...and Spring-
A wow movie set in the middle of nowhere, the relationship between a master and his student, and how the boy goes thru life over the seasons... brilliant movie.. must watch....

Viaje a Darjeeling-
A wierd movie.. couldnt make much sense of... about three brothers, and their journey to find their mom.... funny, serious, quirky... and well,offbeat...