Get your Tamil right...

I havent been this hopping mad ever. Actually, wait, the 1st time was when I endured Chennai Express. I could NOT sit through the movie, no matter how skimpy Deepiga's outfits where.. Yes, I know I have misspelt her name but I have done that intentionally!! Why cant I? When you can happily go about walking all over our beautiful Tamizh, I shall mess up your names! Gah.. 

How dare you show Dudhsagar lake and pass it off as a Village in Tamil Nadu? Call me next time you lose your way towards Tamil Nadu.

How dare you create a fake village in God knows where and make it look all cute and prim and proper and get people to assume that is how people lived..

How dare you mix up religions and create a temple with a God from a different sub case and a priest from another and assume my thatha would let that slide 

How dare you show a tradition that does not even exist - guy carrying a girl up the temple and make it seem like they are the most LOVING couple!! blah.. 

How dare the Deepiga keep saying "Bokwas" and make it look like that is how we talk!! Hullo, come have a conversation with me- i shall dazzle you with my tamil, hindi and english.. 

Phew!! Just when I thought I was done picking out all the bones from this torture of a movie, there came another one... 2 States.

I am not a fan of Chetan Bhagat, he should have stopped after five point someone!! No, did he listen to us? No, he went on to do few more things with pages inbetween [ I refuse to call them books] and am sure he scribbled knowing some director somewhere will lap em up and he would go on to become the next Shakepeare!! Bleddy Hell... 

So, there is this thing with pages in it called 2 states that got lapped up and made into a movie-- starring the dead pan Arjun kapoor and the pretty yet dumb Alia bhatt. He is a north indian boy and she  is a south indian girl. That is all.. There is nothing south indian about her or the entire set in " so called Chennai"

What surprised me was that Ananya [ Aalia] speaks beautiful Hindi while her tamizh is very fudged up.. And she is said to have grown up in Chennai all her life.. Next time call me, I shall come tutor actors in Tamil.. Hindi too if required! 

The boy lands in Chennai, they show the airport and he gets into an auto- FYI there are no autos inside the airport [get your facts straight], he then goes down the city, crossed the Chennai central [ almost telling the viewers - see how correct we are in details] and then suddenly next turn is into Pondicherry lanes [ the yellow wall and tall grey windows and narrow lanes that are so unique to Pondicherry]

The roads are filled with kolams, really? Not in the middle of the day!!  And not all of us put elaborate kolams outside our home daily... 

The house has a courtyard in the center and the lady of the house loves to sing.. how typical, right? Except here she is turned down by all the bhagavathars... [no explanations offered] and suddenly one day Arjun organises her show at his office function and she sings like a Nightingale!! Really?? wtf.. 

Again, the generalisations that Amrita Singh spews on the "Madarasis" is just so steriotypical and so 1940s!!! And we Tamilians do speak beautiful English, in case you did not know!! 

Well, I can go on and on... But am tired and fed up.!! All I wanna say is = Next time you Bollywood folks decide to make a movie set in TN or if the character is a Tamilian, call me for some insights!! I promise you- the movie will fare better~ 

[Movie] Goli Soda

There is this movie group I am a part of which gives me my dose of which movies to watch and which to skip. There are instances where we end up discussing a director or an actor for days to end. And that is where I heard of this new tamil movie that had released last week - Goli Soda. What a name,right? I wondered what it could be about. And again I relied on the group to throw some light. All that I read was rave reviews about the kids who had acted in the movie and the director who had taken on such a subject and executed it brilliantly. 

A friend said "it stars the same 4 boys who acted in Pasanga".. I met her reply with blank stare because I hadn't watched the movie. And thus was born an impromptu plan to watch the movie. We booked tickets at PVR and were at there on time. 

The movie opens at Koyembedu Market with a bunch of kids running around unloading trucks and catching up on some sleep at odd hours. They get paid by a lady they call "aachi" and sit in the terrace looking at the girls who walk by to school. They have fantasies of romancing girls, talk about dates and make big plans. They go by their daily routine, but the only thing that plagues them is the lack of "identity". They don't have a family, no education, no home and all they do is work in the market. The lady asks them what their future plans are and if they plan to keep doing what they do and be nobody? This is what triggers them off and that is where Goli soda takes off as well. 

Aachi (Sujatha Sivakumar) takes them to meet Naidu (Madhusudhan), the president of the Market Association, a man who is respected, but above that is feared.  He generously allows them the use of one of his shops at the market, which the boys convert to a small restaurant "Aachi mess" ubt then comes trouble in the form of Mayilu [Naidu's brother in law/ main man] who frequents the shop, starts drinking & smoking and goes all out one night by bringing in a woman there.  That is when the retaliation begins, the fights, the harassment, the chaos and then the climax of this movie.  

The four boys - Kishore, Sree Raam, Pandi and Murugesh, and the 2 girls  are the heroes of this movie!! Right down to the climax, the movie had us glued and wondering what is going to happen next..  It shows that strong dialogues or big lavish sets are not what makes a movie powerful, good dialogues and neat execution works magic!! 

The only drawback of the movie are the scenes with Powersta/Sam anderson and the background score... Wish the former had been done away with and the latter had been better...!! 

Kudos to Vijay Milton for taking on this subject and being true to the plot till the end..

Overall Rating- 4/5 

[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

{music} Agam - Classical & Rock meet

Oct 5th was the date

Karamaj arangam was the venue

What was happening? AGAM was coming to perform for a charity cause!

We were excited

I was going to be attending a concert after ages, the last one being Bryan Adams in Blore!! 

Agam is a Bangalore-based band who are into Contemporary Carnatic with a dash of rock blended into their performances. Formed in the year 2003, the band is made up of 

• Harish Sivaramakrishnan (MAIN vocals & violin), 
• Ganesh Ram Nagarajan (drums & vocals), 
• Swamy Seetharaman (keyboards, also the lyricist), 
• Praveen Kumar (lead guitar),
• Vignesh Lakshminarayanan (bass guitar & vocals), 
• Sivakumar Nagarajan (ethnic percussions), 
• Jagadish Natarajan (rhythm guitar). The only change in the band has been that Jagadish’s replaced Suraj Satheesh as the rhythm guitarist last year.

The very 1st time I heard these guys was on Coke studio and then came Madras Market performance. Subsequently I did listen to quite a few of their pieces thanks to YouTube and then went ahead and purchased their album - The Inner Self awakens.. From thereon, there has been no turning back! Infact, I also fell in love with their version of Aromale and Dil se re as well.. 

[image courtesy: google]

Ok, now that you know who Agam is, let us get back to the concert.. On Saturday, friends came over picked me up around 6pm and we reached the venue at 6.10 pm. The place looked pretty deserted, we had a small doubt if the concert was indeed happening that particular evening. There were no banners, no posters, nothing. It was complete silence. I was back in Kamaraj Arangam after nearly 15yrs!! 

Walked into the hall, collected our tickets and waited around for the hall to open. In the background, we could hear the band doing sound checks and last minute practice. We were happy listening to them from the distance. And then, around 6.30, the doors opened and we found seats, making sure the cameras were not in our path. 

[Image courtesy: youtube]

Soon people started filing in, but it wasn't as much as we expected. We were quite upset and sad to see the hall sparsely full, but then we decided to focus on the band and enjoy the music. The show started around 7.45 and it was absolutely mind blowing.

The instruments came to life and then Harish started singing, and that was it...What a voice he had and then for another song he also played the violin... Let us not forget the amazing guys on guitar and drums and the piano. We were lost to the world. We enjoyed every piece, every second of the evening. We were happily singing away, clapping and grooving to the beats..  

[Image Courtesy: www.thehindu.com ]

The band took a break from their songs and belted out Aromale which got the crowd going, and then came Dil Se which was again a big hit with the crowd. They also sang a new composition and few that is found on their soundcloud stream. 

As they say, all good things come to an end.. The show went on till about 9.30 when they closed with Rudra... We dint want the night to end.. Sigh!  Wait, we were not done! After the performances were done and most of the crowd left, we made a beeline for the stage, spoke to all the band members and heard about their upcoming shows, their work life and much more................... 

If you love these guys, and want to watch them live, make sure to mark Oct 18th in your calendar and be there at Havana, Raintree... And follow them on facebook to know more!! 

You can learn more about them from

Wikipedia

Website

Facebook 

Youtube

Event page for 18th Oct

[Movie] Chennaiyil Oru Naal

Director:  Shaheed Kader
Production: Listin Stephen, Raadhika Sarathkumar
Cast: Sarath Kumar, Cheran, Prakash Raj, Jayaprakash, Prasanna, Malika, Radhika, Lakshmy Menon, Parvathy
Avg user rating: 4/5

So, a few weeks ago a friend called and asked if i wanted to do a movie. Scouted around the Sathyam site and found tickets for Chennaiyil Oru Naal. It looked like an interesting movie, had quite a star cast. Only when we reached the theater did I discover it was a remake of a Malayalam movie called Traffic which is based on a true story [ one that took place right here in Chennai back in 2008]. As the movie began, I got engrossed and by the end was quite floored. Subsequently I got home, dug up the internet, read about the incident and must say quite impressed with the people who came together to help a little girl get a new lease on life.

So, what is the movie about? Well, it is all about saving a life and tough decisions that need to be taken.

The Chennai city police commissioner [Sarath Kumar], has to make this operation a success. It is his duty to ensure the heart makes the journey from Chennai Global hospital to CMC in Vellore. The police constable Sathyamoorthy [Cheran] volunteers to drive the car carrying the heart to redeem his lost reputation, and takes on the challenge to cover the distance of 170 kilometres in 90 minutes to save the life of a young girl who is the daughter of a superstar Gautham Krishna (Prakash Raj) and Radhika. All of this takes place on a single day, Sep 16th!

How it all begins is two friends, Ajmal and Karthik (Sachin) are on their bike heading towards Karthik's office where he is all set for his 1st interview with the superstar, Gautham Krishna  for the television channel. But on the way, he meets with an accident and is the twist in the tale.His body is gone, his brain is gone, he is on a machine and so the doctors suggest they pull the plug on him so they can use his heart on the little girl who needs it all the way across in Vellore.

To add to the drama, there is the story of Dr Robin [Prasanna], his wife and friend that kind of distracts us from the main story. but thankfully, that is only for a few minutes and the movie gets back on track. The final stretch of the drive through the small town was the highlight of the movie for me.How the entire town comes together, clears the path so the car can go with no hiccups, the cameo role by Surya who encourages people to help the mission succeed and the final note from Surya about organ donation was a tad over the top, but what the heck, it adds to the jazz of the movie... 

Quite an inspiring movie, offbeat, no song and dance, quite real. Do watch if you want to see one where so many people come together for a purpose. 

Movie Review: Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom

A movie that had me rethinking the future of tamil movie..

A movie that had me in splits through the hours... 

A movie that gave me hope that small movies were here to stay...

. 

Am talking about "Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom [NKPK]" . I had heard of this few months ago when my friend announced that her student was doing the music. Few days later, i got to hear the songs in her CD and fell in love with them instantly. The lyrics, the style and the tunes were all so catchy. Esp the Oh Crazy minnal song by Andrea. 

And finally, the movie had hit the theaters and was getting good reviews. The only thing that stuck in my head was that none of the reviews mentioned the music, the songs... Anyways, paying no head, few weeks ago, I booked 2 tickets, dragged mom and went for the movie [ we watched it in Sangam cinemas, PH Road]. 

NKPK is a story about Prem Kumar (Vijay Sethupathi) who has a small accident while playing cricket with his friends Bagavathy aka Bugs (Bagavathi himself), Saras (Vigneshwaran) and Bajji aka Balaji (Raj Kumar) and loses his memory[the last one year] 

Enna achchu? Oh, namma cricket vilayidinom..

Nee ball potta 

Nee thaane bat panina?

Naa pidikka ponein.. 

Oh.. vitutena??

Kal thavari keezha vizhundutein.. 

Inga thaan adi padiduchu.. anga thaan medula oblongeta irukku

Shockla short term memory loss aayirukum

its ok, athuva sariya poyidum..
Watch: Trailer

This is a dialogue you will hear atleast a million times, well, i exaggerate, but atleast 30-40times through the movie. But, you are not wondering why they are saying the same thing!! You are completely tuned in gasping and watching intently.

 Vijay Sethupathi [Prem] is brilliant throughout. But his three friends have acted just as well, they have kept the plot going, had us all guessing what is going to happen next...   The brilliant casting and acting is the highlight of this movie. Agreed, some scenes seemed weak, but they all tie together beautifully. We were in splits through the movie, we understood why the dialogues were repeated, and we wondered what will happen to Prem and his wedding, will he be able to go through with it? Oh and this is the 2nd most amazing scene in the movie- the wedding scene...Vigneswaran [Saras] simply rocked.... The entire theater was howling with laughter and it dint stop till the very end...

Another amazing dialogue -
avan kulla irutha suppression, depression, uppression, fobia, anxiety, disorder, complex, kastam, nastam, soham, bayam... ellam pidingitu velia vandirchi...

 

Even though i missed the Oh Crazy minnal song, it made sense to have kept it off, the movie dint need songs at all.. The 4 guys stole the show.... Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom was a pleasant surprise, and it is a huge success, even though none of the cast are popular, nor did it have any item numbers or masala. Shows that different genres also work, especially when directed well..  

A must watch for tamil movie fans.... 

I would rate it 4.9/5 :-)

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

Rajapattai- Old wine old bottle new shelf & packaging..

A friend and i were spending time catching up and as we headed out of Amethyst, she asked "do you think we'll get movie tickets? any movie??" Taking a chance we headed over to Satyam cinemas, and lo behold got tickets for Rajapattai... There were no other shows at that time... Crossing our fingers, hoping the movie is bearable, we located our seats and got comfortable....

I had seen the Madan's show on TV the previous day where he interviewed Rajeevan, the Art Director and Susindran, the Director...  Crossing our fingers, hoping the movie is bearable, we located our seats and got comfortable....

... Vikram is back , unfortunately with no bang.. it is only a Crash boom bang, painful landing, all thanks to a weak plot .. He has acted well, essayed off the various roles well, looks good in the fights and the awkward romance scenes!! I have become wary of his movies, not including Deivathirumagal .. Since Kanthasamy, he seems to be taking on the wrong kind of movies, that do nothing for him as an actor and the versatile actor he is known to be!

This movie is all about the good guy beating the bad guy, except here the good guys are all stunt men, and wanna be villain actors... While the bad guy, is a bad lady, something that seems to have become a trend from Swarna akka character [forgot the name of the movie she featured in] 

Vikram and his protege are all doing small stunt roles in movies when he chances upon an old man sitting alone in the temple. The Thatha's son wants him to write over the Orphanage he runs to the Bad lady, in return for which the son was promised a MP/MLA seat... The son is after the dad and the dad-Dakshinamoorthy [K Vishwanath] seeks refuge with Anal Murugan [Vikram]. The group who hangs around with Vikram are quite sweet, sometimes funny too.. infact, the movie wore on to a point where the Thatha was the entertainer and rest were just side kicks...

Oh, lets not forget the heroine, rather so called heroine of the movie- Pooja [Deeksha Seth], she cant act, she cant dance, well she pretty much cant do nothing... I think she was a model who accidently landed this role.. In the movie, she has probably 4-5 dialogues, in ALL!!

My friend who's worked with a leading name from the Ad industry has met most of the actors from north and south, she chimed "these stunt actors are so soft and sweet in person... they just seem scary because they are big/tall"

The 1st half was well paced and had us engaged, but post interval, the movie lost direction and went haywire.. They suddenly introduced a Character- Vapa, who was behind the bad lady... One fine day, vikram and his clowns track him down, plan to take him down right there outside the Mosque.... After a bit of struggle, they manage to kill him, only to arouse the bad lady's anger further....

There are a few comic scenes , and then the antics by Thatha to help Vikram land the woman he has been eyeing... But beyond that, the movie is passe.... Wait for it to be screened on TV!!

I liked the sets that had been created for the movie... esp the one with the small windmill with butterflies for the song.. Apart from that, nothing worth remembering or talking about! Susindran has taken on a challenge, but not sure if he has delivered through.... He had Vikram, wish the story was better thought out and made use of Vikram's versatility!!

Mayakkam Enna

So, it was weekend and we were looking at the movies that had been released to see what we could catch... Since my Saturday was packed, we decided to hunt for tickets for Mayakkam enna for sunday.... The only theater that had tickets was AGS, Navalur OMR.. "What the heck, lets go check it out" we said in unison and i went on to book the tickets!!

The ride from Nungambakkam to Navalur took about 40mins, the theater complex is beyond Sathyabama College and Asiana Hotel... It sits majestic but only on entering did we realise it was barren [ empty...] but for the 5th floor with movie screens and the floor below- meant for Food court with 3 outlets..! The theater was huge, but the crowd was a very local crowd.. Infact two guys who came and plonked in seats behind us were DRUNK and belting out all the choicest colourful Tamil swear words!!

We sat back, sipped on our drinks and hoped the movie was worth the drive.....

Starring: Dhanush, Richa, Sundar Ramu and a whole host of others i have never seen before!!
Director: Selvaraghavan

Selvaraghavan and Dhanush have come together to release a movie that is all about a young boy finding his dreams and the hurdles he has to overcome and the people who stand by him through the ardeous journey.... Just that i get the feel Selvaraghavan has this streak in him to mess with people's head along the story....

The Story-Karthik Swaminathan (Dhanush) is a young boy who is passionate about photography, living his life on his own terms.. His friends call him "genius" and pretty much all they did through the movie was sit around drinking and bad mouthing others.... The same happens when Sundar brings his new girlfriend Yamini [Richa] who is met with sneers and flurry of not so pleasing words!

Anyways, back to the plot, Karthik works hard, takes photographs of just about everything that catches his eye, but it fails to give him a break.. He works hard and wants to leave a mark as a photographer.  Though he does portfolio and weddings assignments, his passion is wildlife photography.

Even though their 1st meeting was bitter, for some reason Yamini is drawn to Karthik and tries getting close to him, going on to tell him she loves him and not Sunder..  After quite a bite of drama between the friends, Karthik & Yamini get married. Karthik one day goes to meet a renowned photographer Mathesh Krishnamoorthy [Ravi Prakash], who gives him a project to prove his worth.. Alas, Mathesh kicks Karthik out saying his photographs were crap, but then one day Yamini asks Karthik to pick up the National Geographic magazine in which his very photograph is published but with credit to Mathesh.. This drives Karthik over the edge, he falls down, and becomes mentally unstable- an angry violent drunk young man!!

Yamini sticks with him no matter what, sends out his photographs to every magazine and publication in hope of getting him a break.... Which eventually happens via the Kumudam magazine at an ad agency... 

In between, there is a lot of drama between the couple, the scenes that had me wondering what is up with Selvaraghavan, why does he want to mess with our heads like this? show some gruesome scenes[ a miscarriage, blood stains on the floor] and sights..... But i guess that is the turning point in the movie where even though there is a rift between the young couple, there is a breakthrough in Karthik's life and he goes on to reach great heights....

The movie is painfully slow, very dark [literally- no lighting] in many scenes and sometimes you wonder where the fastforward button is... But one thing for sure, the movie is packed with emotions and drama... 

I loved the locations and cinematography wherever there were scenes with Danush heading off for a photo shoot... The lighting, settings were lovely in those locations!!

But there were some scenes, little things that had me wondering "Why oh why... what do the directors think when they are making the movie...." Do all movie makers assume Audiences are stupid, or that they dont notice these small nuances?

• The maple leaves falling in the forest.... 
• A Cormorant posing for Danush in the middle of a forest 
• The mystery behind what happens to the cars? [in the scene where Danush goes to pick up Yamini who is stranded with a car breakdown in a bus stop and then he runs away the minute they kiss which is interruped by a call from Sundar]

Newcomer Richa has done a good job of being this "stiff upper lip, i have an attitude" kinda girl.... Danush has acted well, essayed the role to perfection i would say.... but this is not a movie for all...


If you enjoy movie about Friends
If you like Danush...
If you have been humming the songs from the movie..
If you enjoy watching people sit around drinking for hours
And if you are prepared for selvaraghavan's style... Go watch Mayakkam Enna!! else, give it a miss!!

Velayutham

Oh here is Superman, well not really
Oh wait, is he Robin hood, nope, not really
Oh then he is a man in disguise, doing good, nope, not really
he is simply Vijay... the actor!!
and then there are a zillion others who come and go in the scenes!! 

The Story is of how a imaginary character created by Bharathi [Genelia] comes to life via Velayutham[Vijay] and fights against all the evil [the muslim terrorist, fake note printing, corrupt consciousless Home Minister...]

The movie opens with Bharathi and her two friends [journalist] working towards bringing to light the evil going on underground, but the villains kill her friends, and hurt her pretty bad, tossing her into the river, assuming she is dead.. She manages to write a note saying there is a person who is born to kill all the evil and signs off saying "velayutham" seeing the Vel in a nearby temple.. Much to her surprise, there is a man named Velayutham who seems to be doing exactly what she had in mind....

Velayutham is a milk man from a small town, creating havoc in the name of love for his sister [ Saranya Mohan] much to the chagrin of the villagers, who are just waiting to kick him out. The antics he does for his sister are howlarious and heart warming to see the amount of love. He has taken care of his sister since their parents left them, bringing her up, and getting her married to a suitable boy. Oh, and there is Vaidehi [Hansika Motwani], the pretty village girl who has a thing for Velayutham but he does not bite the bullet and keeps dodging her...

The movie then moves to Chennai where Vijay lands to encash the chit he had been collected over the years for his sister's wedding where he meets another investor, and ofcourse Santhanam, the small time theif who is terrible at stealing... Under the pretext of taking care of Velu and his family, Santhanam gets them to stay with him in hope of doing away with the 15lakhs once Velu encashes the chit fund....

The twists and turns that occur from the time Velu lands in Chennai to his sister's wedding is a mix of uneblieveable acts, gimmicks and acrobatics...  Director Raja seems to have been inspired by Vikram's Anniyan to a point where he gets Velu into a costume complete with a sword and has him flying in air, riding a horse out of nowhere and discovering evil men everywhere he lands.... Starting with Velu getting off the train and riding off a bike parked in the station waiting for someone to pick it up, which had a bomb that explodes just as Velu abandons it in the chase after Santhanam, to returinng a suitcase that his sister spots in the crowded Ranganathan street, leading him to follow the bad man and return the suitcase, wherein the bomb explodes at their abode where they are busy stashing away Fake notes.... 

The grand finale that takes place in the Stadium where the Home Minister promises to reveal the identity by making the Muslim terrorist dress up in Velayutham's outfit and conning the audience, which fails miserably leading to the truth coming out in the open...

There are so many scenes in the movie that made me wonder - what was Raja thinking when he took on this script....

No Doubt this is a good come back for Vijay... but there are so many parts in the movie that are just wierd, unbelieveable and funny[not in the haha funny, but what the hell kinda funny]...

A meeting called by the Home Minister with NOT a single COP in sight
An auditorium full of people and not a single guard
A knife plunged into Genelia, but she comes out like nothing happened
A fair and city bred looking Hansika who is the daughter of Bhaskar in a village 

Good to see Pandiarajan back in the big screen... 

and there is only so much that Santhanam can also do to keep the audience awake!! :D

Too much ....I just dont buy it!!!

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!

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!!

Engeyum Eppothum

My uncle called asking "ethavathu cinema irukka, nalaikku polama?" and that was all i needed.. After a quick check with some friends on which movie to pick, i spoke to uncle, mom & dad and booked tickets for Engeyum Eppothum at Satyam Cinemas 12.15pm Show... It was the 1st time Dad and uncle were heading to Satyam, so there was an added splash of excitment amidst us.

After watching the movie, i am sharing my review ... 

Directed by M. Saravanan
Produced by A. R. Murugadoss

Starring : Jai
Anjali
Ananya
Sharvanand

Even before the credits rolled in, we saw the Fox Studios come alive on the screen. Must say, it was a proud moment to see Fox coming into the Tamil movie scene as well.. This is Fox Star Studios' first Tamil production in association with A R Murugadoss!! Kudos!!

So, what is the movie about?Well, it is a love story, not one, but 2, oh wait.. i think it is 3 or 4 :-)
And then there is the Bus accident that kind of ties everything together

Whats the big deal about this, you might think.. But you need to watch the movie to know why!!
Everyday we watch new channels showcasing incidents of bus accidents and train colisions and we feel sorry for those who lost their lives and for those who have been left behind. We do wonder what kind of life they had led, or what they were embarking on the journey for.

Well, this is exactly what M.Saravanan has done through this movie. He takes us forward, giving us a closer look at the lives of those who were in one such accident, and shows what their lives were like, the work, romance, problems they faced before and why they were on the bus in the 1st place..

With just a handful of characters, the director has created a movie that is not only fun, filled with life, humour, romance, emotions and one that has the audience reacting in every scene..  What begins at the Bus stand is a journey with so many twists and turns, that at the end we are all holding our hearts in our hands,wondering where this is going.... 

The Movie

Amudha (Ananya) comes to Chennai from her village to attend an interview. Stranded in CMBT bus stand, she takes her sister's advice and seeks help from a stranger Goutham (Sarva) to find her way around the city and reach her interview on time. She is very scared and reluctant at the beginning, but soon warms up to him to a point where she gets him to take her not only to the interview, but to her sister's place.. She insists on travelling by Share auto, reports to her sister about her suspisions about him, and judges him through the day..  

Amudha returns to Tiruchy eventually, but realises she has fallen in love with Goutham. She then heads off to make the journey to Chennai to find him[so much so she does not even know his name], just when Goutham boards the bus to visit her in Trichy[ all he knows is her name and that she is from Tirchy]  

 As a new day dawns, in Trichy, another romance is spurting off between Kadhiresan (Jai) and  Manimegalai (Anjali). They aare such contrasts in their personality that it makes us chuckle everytime they meet, and every dialogue Manimegalai thrusts on him.. Their romance takes off rough, but soon finds smooth roads, and finally they decide to visit the village near Trichy to meet Kadhiresan's parents.

This is when tragedy strikes... Near Villupuram, both the buses collide. What happens then is the crux of the movie...

The director takes us back to each of their lives, giving us a glimpse of what was going on before the accident before he brings us back to the scene of the collision... 

 It is amazing to watch Manimegalai take charge and order people to be taken to hospital, including Kadhiresan, who is hurt and bleeding from his ears... Goutham spots Amudha on the bus, injured and sends her off to a hospital... The finale is at the hospital.... Do the couples unite or do they have to go their ways heart broken? Who survives? who doesnt? Who are the other passengers on the bus and what was their connections?

Watch the movie to know more.. 

Good stuff

The movie is probably the only one i've seen in years that is as close to reality as possible...  

Very well made .... 

And the characters are all etched out perfectly... 

The Govinda Song

Downers:

Wish the director dint show so much goriness of the accident, but i guess its needed to hit the reality button home

In the scene where Amudha and Goutham travel around the city to get to the place of her interview, the maze thry travel left me puzzled.. ---->>> From CMBT to Egmore [saying it is Kilpauk]---> from there they seem to go to R A Puram and then to Nungambakkam high Road and finally to Ethiraj Salai [which is supposed to College road]

Again in the scene between Manimegalai and Kadhiresan WHO ARE IN TRICHY, she takes him shopping to ESPIRIT, Khader nawaz khan road[spending 150bucks on auto], blows Rs6000, and then hops across to Barista [above Best wishes, nungambakkam high road] and then she heads off home [in Trichy] and he goes home[in Trichy]

Movie makers- please understand that your audiences do NOTICE things, minute details and we are not DUH!

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?!!

Rules Kidaiyathu... 180.. Nootri Enbathu

Couple of days back, 25th June to be exact saw 3 good friends, bloggers march into Escape Cinemas in Express Avenue and get all set to watch the movie 180- Nootri Enbathu... We had all seen trailers, all but me had been tripping on the music and now we were curious about the story, the plot, the acting, etc... 

Cast: Sidharth, Priya Anand, Nitya Menon, Mouli, Tanikella Bharani, Gita, MS Narayana, Laskhmi Ramakrishna, Janaki Sabesh, Sricharan, Misha Ghoshal, Cees Van Toledo, Xango Henry, Manager Cheena аnԁ others
Director: Jayendra

Music: Sharreth

Here is how the movie went... 

Ajay or Aj (Siddharth) is sitting on the foot steps of Ganges river in Varanasi while a small kid performing the last rites for his father plays around with a toy car... We then come to know that Ajay has come to India when he moves into a space in Mouli-Geeta's house.. He pays them 6months rent in advance and says he is going to be there for only 6 months. He befriends the paper boy, is one day seen ironing clothes, the other day racing an auto driver who demands an exhorbidant amount from an old lady... No one really knows who he is or what he is upto? It baffled us to see him throw around money like he was a millionaire and yet not see him do any work.  

One day, Vidya (Nithya Menon), a photo journalist spots Siddharth, is fascinated by what she sees and tracks him down. They get friendly, start hanging out, pretty soon Vidya falls for him... Every now and then we see Ajay go into a blimp, spaced out and lost in thoughts. It does make us wonder what the story behind that is, but we are kept captivated by his naughtiness and liveliness.... 

All is well till Mouli tells Ajay 6months is up and the very next day, he is off with his bags packed, ready to scoot off into the horizon.. And then, there is the photograph that the ironwala kid hands over saying he found it in Ajay's trousers.. 

You can also listen to Rules Kidaiyathu here

The 1st half is quite enthralling, with amazing visuals and fun songs.. The photography is simply wow.. As my friend Gils said, we were getting 3D effect at 2D rates!! :D

Anyways, let me not digress...

Ajay is off to the bus stand when Vidya comes looking for him, to profess her feelings. She chases him on her bike, and as we watch, she meets with an accident.... This is where the past is revealed and we learn more about this elusive Ajay..  Vidya has a spine injury and Dr Ajay kicks into action, taking charge and getting his Chief in USA to be prepared to operate on her. 

His past involves his friend Sam and sweetheart Renuka(Priya Anand). He's a well accomplished doctor in USA who falls in love with Renukam marries her and has a fairy tale life till things take a turn completely. This is the stage where we understand why the movie is called 180. It signifies the 180days he has left to live...  

As he discovers news of his illness, he distances himself from Renuka

Decides to disappear from her life

Packs his bags and leaves the country...................... 

he almost fakes his death and remains invisible to all those he knew in USA! 

And now, because of Vidya's injury he was back in USA... Was he ready to reconnect with Renuka? or will he choose Vidya and start a life with her? Does he live or does he die? The director decides to take us on a journey so long and winding that at the end of the movie, we felt like we had been sitting in the theater for 180hours!!  uff....

My Analysis:
The movie starts off light and fun, but suddenly goes through a tunnel and comes out after what seems like forever. The director got caught and dint know how to cut the chase... Wish the movie was crisper and shorter, more to the point... 

The visuals are amazing... it shows that the director has an Ad background.. The colours, outfits, camera, photography are simply amazing.....  

Positives:

Camera work.
Siddharth, Nithya, Mouli, Geeta, Priya have all acted very well... 
Rules kidaiyathu song picturisation was fun!!
The final Climax.

Negatives:
The story.
Dragging 2nd half

Unnecessary twists...
Overacting in some places... 

Overall rating: 2/5 [merely for the camera work] 

Wait for it and watch it on DVD or TV!!

[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!!!

====================

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...