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May 11, 2008

Captain Goes Global !

Posted by Just Another Film Buff under All Posts, Kollywood, Review | Tags: , , , , , , , , |
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What do you get if you cross a Vijaykanth script with Vettaiyadu Vilayadu? Yes, You are right. Captain catching Kashmir-born Tamil terrorists (Theeviravadhinga) in Canada. That is exactly what happens in Captain’s 150th, “Arasangam“. After giving epics such as “Chocklet” and “Madurai”, R. Madhesh is back with this rib-tickler…oh sorry, nerve-wracker.

Arivarasu (Captain Vijaykanth) is called for action after the kidnap of Manoj (Biju Menon), a friend-cum-police inspector who was on the trail of a bunch of terrorists who were instigated by Chandru (Rahul Dev), a Tamil terrorist led by Martin, a Canadian mafia who resembles Manoj (Whew!). So all Captain has to do now is to go to Canada, talk in Tamil to all the Canadians, catch Martin admist lots of bombings, come back to India to diffuse a retina-authenticated bomb that is on a train travelling miles away from Captain.

Though the film is predictable to the extent that one can countdown to the song and fight sequences (believe me, I did), the movie does offer a few twists and turns to make you believe that there has been a serious effort put in. The scenes where Captain blushes before his love are 30 years too late for him. The film goes through the loop song-speech-fight-sentiment interspersed with the twists and proceeds to the ending one is longing for.

The pick of the cast is Biju Menon, who does a good job both as Manoj and Martin. The imported heroines Navneet kaur and Seril Brindo are props, period. Rahul Dev (yet again) can rename himself “the actor who plays terrorists in Captain films”. Another typical performance by Captain.

Madhesh seems to be a very liberal director. He has allowed all the actors to speak in the languages they want. The editing too, has been a culprit in exposing the sickening re-recording. Srikanth Deva‘s background music (at times) is in the same league as Braveheart and other great Hollywood scores. This is because they are the same. The stunt sequences are not all that bad.

Do not go for the film if you want to see the turning point of Tamil cinema or even if you want a hi-octane thriller. But if you are game for some clean mean fun, Captain-style, then “Lets Start The Mizzon“!

Verdict:

 

April 19, 2008

Only God Can Save This One!

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This is it. One of the two movies I was looking forward this year is here (The other one OBVIOUSLY being “Dasavatharam”). After having seen V. Priya painful fall from “Kanda Naal Mudhal” to “Kannamoochi Yenada”, I did not want to see another successful debutant taking a hard second step. But “Arai Enn 305-il Kadavul” is a large disappointment from a person who gave the genuinely comic “Imsai Arasan, 23-am Pulikesi“.

Rasu (Santhanam) and Mokkai (‘Ganja’ Karuppu) are two roomies living in a wretched part of the city. Their life follows the highly predictable path of humiliation-humiliation-humiliation. With no consolidated job in hand and a love life that is strictly one-sided, Rasu is left with no other option than to curse his creator. And ho! look who’s here…it’s Him (Prakashraj). With the usual “Still don’t believe I’m god?” conversation followed by some gimmicks, God reveals the source of His power – a completely portable, rechargeable galaxy controller box* (*Batteries not included). Our mortals turn green-eyed and steal the galaxy box from God himself!. What follows is their realization that you don’t need superpowers to solve your problems and superpowers don’t solve all your problems.

With an offbeat storyline such as this, what you expect as a follow up to “Imsai Arasan…” is something that is uniquely rib tickling and perhaps even slightly satirical. Not only does “Arai Enn…” fail to maintain a consistent streak of humour but also breaches the thin line between thought-provocation and preaching. The film does intend to create a festive atmosphere with its battalion of characters, but fails to handle them with equal sincerity. As a result, these characters become nothing but props that act as targets to God’s kind deeds. Also, the toying around with the galaxy box goes on for too long, thoroughly hampering the already hurt second half.

Santhanam is not able to emote. You tend to expect a Lollu Sabha punchline (like “Yenna Goinda, nethu rathiri kottaru ashtu full tight pola…”) every time the camera focuses him. Not to mention ‘Ganja’ Karuppu who takes ages to deliver the punchline. Surprisingly, it is the underdogs (Buvana’s mother, ‘Java’ Sundaresan and Mokkai’s nephew) whose performances are commendable. As usual, the heroines (Madhumita and Jyothirmayee) are punctual for their duets and both of them do have an unexpected “twist” at the end.

Vidyasagar‘s score is passable with “Kadhal Sei” being one of the better ones. The biggest technical fall for the movie has to be in the editing department. The first half hour has scenes where you are left puzzled about what’s going on and the meddling around with the galaxy box comes way too late in the second half. A lot of effort has gone into the special effects and it shows (except for some fleeting shots).

In all, “Arai Enn…” is far from interesting and way too short of the standards set by Chimbudevan‘s debut. The movie takes much liberty in endorsing its views than in providing entertainment throughout. Without doubt, Chimbudevan has ideas that could well save a drowning industry, but those are like fine works of glass. Even if one breaks, it is a great story unfortunately wasted. Chimbudevan has to clean up the remains of “Arai Enn…” and move ahead carefully.

Verdict:

 

March 23, 2008

All That Sparkles Is Not Silver!

Posted by Just Another Film Buff under All Posts, Kollywood, Review | Tags: , , , , |
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vellithirai.jpg“Oh, Prakashraj and Prithviraj with Viji at the helm?”, I thought, “It’s Duet movies, it must be good.”. Generalizations suck, don’t they?. It doesn’t matter how famous the cook is, it’s all about the recipe. Vellithirai becomes a cinematic embodiment of this statement.

In one of the best Tamil film openings of recent times, Vellithirai pays tribute to all the stalwarts of Tamil cinema. The film then takes us into the lives of all the unfortunate beings trying to climb the massive tree of Filmdom. The dialogue and the film itself is at its best in their period. All is well till the first plot twist where Kannaiyan steals the script of an assistant director Saravanan and hence becomes a star. The rest of the film tracks how Saravanan wins the battle fair and square and fixes his private and professional life.

The movie suffers from a very inconsistent tone with a very light-hearted first part, a depressing middle where Prakashraj seems to be the only comic relief (At this point, the movie comes to an extent where the protagonist breaks out of the diegesis to comment on the nature of the scene) and an end part where there is no breathing space with Prakashraj himself turning evil. The climactic sequence portrays Prakashraj as if he was a dull head and removes all the weight that could have been associated with his character.

Prithviraj is the pick of the actors and does a good job as the struggling assistant director. Prakashraj turns what could have been the performance of the year into a farce. Gopika is a totally needless add-on that just hampers the movie. M. S. Bhaskar is funny all right, but not memorable at all. Yes, it is a great cast sadly misused. This could well be G. V. Prakash‘s biggest disappointment so far with no song worth humming. The song sequences themselves create excuses for appearing. My guess is that all this is a compromise they have made during the translation from the Malayalam original Udayananu Tharam.

In all, the movie fails to cast the same effortless charm that Mozhi did and exerts itself for nothing. The film becomes a victim of the clichés it mocks and falls prey to its own ideologies. Ironically, the film is dedicated to all the people who have tried to make good films!. This is definitely a step down for Duet movies and I hope it will more than compensate for this in Abhiyum Naanum and Mayilu.

Verdict:

 

March 22, 2008

In Search Of The Nadir…

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I always thought it couldn’t go below Narasimma. But then it has happened. In the end of 2007 came “Yaarukku Yaaro“, taking the state by storm. Though not more than a handful of people knew that it released, the following it has amassed has taken it to a cult status (Imagine, this thing has torrents floating around the internet!). In spite of a lot of hindrances by friends and well wishers, I watched the film. I just didn’t want to miss out the experience of watching the worst Tamil film ever made. I must confess I was not disappointed at all.

Davit is an automobile engineer/scientist who has always aspired to make the most inexpensive four wheeler (I don’t know if the car was inexpensive, but it was definitely cheap!), affordable by all. In his quest, he is caught between the love of two women in his life. Dheeba, a doctor who has helped him financially to set up his industry and Manjoo, his college mate who returns from Canada to take him along. Davit is torn apart by the moral questions that surround him. This is one of the rare gems that completes the climactic showdown in just 8 minutes and the final twist in around 6 seconds. To add to the agony, the film has an intentional “comedy track” which, needless to say, fails utterly.

Sam Anderson is primarily the reason for the film’s present status and has excelled in scenes he doesn’t appear in. My hunch is that the poor thing was kidnapped and threatened to play the role. Varnika (Hence forth called as “Dream girl 1”, DG1) and Jothi (“Dream girl 2”, DG2) play the love interests (OMG). DG1 has not done what she was asked to do while DG2 has done more than she was asked to.

The film could have hidden behind Narasimma if it were not for the <any derogatory adjective> technique. I wonder why Joe Stanley has taken all the blame for the movie. Produced by Universal Thavamani Cine Arts (No way related to the Hollywood production house), the film has Christianity written all over it, with sin and redemption portrayed in the most distasteful manner. Special mention to the tradition-defying song-sequences (all shot around the same landfill) which has to be seen to be cursed.

However, this film actually shows one thing: How a technical failure is magnified in contrast to a failure in script. That is why Narasimma seems like Indiana Jones in comparison. I should be kicking myself for writing a blog on this piece of junk, but my duties as a responsible film-goer overwhelms.

Verdict:

 

March 21, 2008

Fearless Casting…

Posted by Just Another Film Buff under All Posts, Kollywood, Review | Tags: , , , , |
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After his previous winner “Chittiram Pesudhadi”, Mysskin is back with “Anjaathey” starring Prasanna and Naren. With Prasanna in a never-seen-before role, the film was one of the films to be watched out for. So, here I am, writing my thoughts and opinions on the film.

The plot of the film is fairly simple. Krupa and Sathya are two friends who are headed towards different lives. By a small inciting incident blown over, their fates take a U-turn and their lives proceed unexpectedly, thanks to Daya. What follows is the realization of their lives by the friends and the moral questions that surround them. With the exception of the slightly overlong climax and about 2-3 overdone scenes containing stereotype situations (M. S. Bhaskar cursing his son, Sathya, for one), the flick boasts of uninterrupted and fast screenplay.

Naren is the pick of all the performances and is all set to set a firm foot in Kollywood. The scene where he realizes the rights and privileges of a policeman oozes with good performance. Prasanna’s portrayal of an eccentric but meticulous baddie with his own set of idiosyncrasies is commendable but not very memorable. Though Pandiyarajan remains for almost the whole movie, he seems to be there only as a comic relief.

Not only Mysskin’s name seems to be Russian, but his techniques too. The extreme close-ups and the montage flow of action in the film are reminiscent of the pre-war soviet cinema. The brilliant use of non-diegetic sound for almost the whole climax provides the grandeur a showdown must have. The cinematography of the film is a very strong point. However, the unrestrained use of free-cam becomes distracting at times. Also, the experimental rapid cutting during the early part of the film does no good to the film. Though the film is very racy through out, it is almost completely humourless. The film cries for relief in the first half with even the costumes and the lighting being dark. The dialogues would have been hard-hitting only if it were not mixed with English in a tasteless manner. The background score has aided the movie big time, except for some obvious emotional manipulation.

The film could have avoided the love track completely, but how else will the director push in one more song?. And where was Krupa’s sanity and composure (that he maintains when he is with Daya) when he failed the IPS test?. All said, the film certainly tells us three things: 1. Naren is here to stay, 2. Mysskin is a bankable director and 3. Prasanna can do more than run around trees and can say more than “Kudunga aunty, naa bag-a thookittu varen…”!

Verdict:

 

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