Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows

My  review of Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows shall follow, but for now want to leave you with this awesome quote from the movie-

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

Yes i love cars....

I am one of those who gets a high watching shows on Cars, Gadgets & Gizmos.... Fashion & jewellery could never match up to these!! Cookery- eh,.. maybe!!

So, i sit up late into the night, doodling on my laptop,with one eye looking out of the corner at the TV screen or the clock on the Laptop screen.... I am waiting for TOP GEAR!! I have seen earlier episodes online, thanks to friends, but the TV shows are to die for as well... Each episode is fascinating in its own way, but this one featuring Rowan Atkinson, the man we know as Mr Bean & Johnny English was howlarious.. 

The 2nd episode i enjoyed immensely was at the Icelandic volcano...



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Scammed by Anonymous

 

Book: Scammed

 

Published by Grey Oak/Westland

Pages: 182 pages

When i picked up this book, i read the brief synopsis and wondered what it would be about. But i must tell you, the author had me in for a surprise, as there was quite a bit of twist and turn within the 1st few pages. 

 

The protagonist of Scammed is Hitesh Shah, who is an accountant and quite vexed with his current job. Like every other hard working person, he waits patiently for that glorious moment, when his boss, also a friend Sahil will call him into his office for the appraisal and offer him a promotion. Alas, it is not to be so. he discovers the promotion has gone to another woman in the office, who is much less deserving. Unable to take a decision, and yielding into his boss's offer that 6 months down the road Hitesh will be promoted, he goes on with his day, being miserable. Working on the accounts of a client, he discovers there is quite a bit of muck and underhand jobs going on, added to the fact that the partner assigned for the project Sandra is most of the time missing. 

 

Through the client, he discovers Sandra has been having illicit affairs under the pretense of being ill. Fed up with people around him, Hitesh decides to complete the assignment for Supreme Motors and look for something better. He goes home to a mother who is worried about him and always trying to hook him up with some girl or the other, and a father who is never happy and always looking for a quarrel, disagreement. 

 

Hitesh approaches the client, Venugopal Reddy with the findings of the audit and also with a proposal. Venugopal is quite a sleazy businessman who also has quite a bit of Political connections. This is also when Hitesh reconnects with his School sweetheart Sushma, they go around, go out, he buys her fancy things, and even asks her to marry him. Around this time, Venugopal fires and takes into action all those who had been cheating him, and ropes in Hitesh to launch the Rental car company, which comes as a much deserved break for Hitesh, who goes on to quit his job at Smith & Donald.

Supreme Motors does well, infact the company grows beyond dreams, giving Hitesh a new lease on life. However, like a stack of playing cards, things start falling apart. Complaints pour in from Franchisees, people are talking about abusive drivers, franchisees approved without Hitesh's go ahead and just about everything else one can dream of. Amidst all this, Sushma breaks up with him saying she has a flourishing career ahead of her. 

One morning, Hitesh is woken up and told that one of the members of Supreme Motors Mohan Babu has committed a murder and things are going from bad to worse for the company. Like many Bollywood movies, people run, some disappear, and others are blamed for no fault of theirs. If you have seen/read Pelican Brief, you will know what am talking about. With the help of Payal and another employee, Hitesh goes into hiding, just till things settle down. Angry and upset, he tries to figure out a way to solve the mess that has unfolded. Sushma and Sandra file case on Hitesh saying he abused and sexually harassed them.

With no other option, Hitesh runs from town to town with no one but Payal by his side. He gradually falls in love with her, realises how valuable she has been and goes on to marry her! With the help of the Chief Minister, he clears his name, and brings out all the trash to open, killing the chance that all the crooks had of instigating him and getting away scott free.

The book was quite engaging, i read it in one go and quite enjoyed the pace!! Yes, it did feel filmy, but i must give it to the author for maintaining pace, and keeping it real!!

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!!