[Pic: terminal movie]

Steven Spielberg, other than creating visual magnificence’s in his movies, has also a soft side. The last few films, spoke of it, way too much. Despite the soft side was even well known from Schindler’s List and Amistad, the last four/five films have brought out an interesting side of Spielberg. Having been inspired hugely by Spielberg films, I’ve created myself, a personality of Spielberg to be a technical showman. And Schindler’s List was nothing but a different film for this showman. But Artificial Intelligence and Catch Me If you Can broke those assumptions on him. They showed how Spielberg has grown-over the techie image. I believe, Spielberg has evolved into a style of filmmaking that allows him to take a simple story and weave it into an amazing masterpiece.

The Terminal is one such film. More than the premise of the story, the humane side stands out, clearly displaying the different arena of film making, where Spielberg now treads. The film talks about a man who gets stranded in the JFK Airport, New York because of a legal logical hole in the law. No one could do anything about it, just like Victor Navorski. He couldn’t get anywhere. He abides the law, stays in the airport terminal for months and finally gets a chance to step in the American soil. What would he do ?

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It’s the time of rehashes. With the recent kollywood heroes(namely two, guess who ?) movies being re-made from re-made movies, Gandhi Krishna has certainly delivered a re-hashed movie, with lots of interesting moves in the script. Chellamay, may well be called Kadhal Konden 2.0, except for variance the director has shown in the script and the backdrop of the movie is a lot different from the original.

If Selvaraghavan, used a orphan kid, to talk about possessiveness, love, affection and sympathy between the kid and a girl of his same age, Gandhi Krishna makes a similar relationship a little complex. The girl with whom the protagonist or anti-hero(however you may call), is related to, is an elderly mother-figure for him. Worse, she is also married. So we have a true hero here, too. However one is prone to get miffed by the perplexed situations that doesn’t tell you for a long time, how the hero considers his relationship with girl.

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Kudaikkul Mazhai isn’t science fiction but can be classified as one. The recent post of science fiction has nothing to do with this. After the movie, while I was biking down, this was the first thing I realized.

While the concept of Schizophrenic delusion is relatively an infant in Tamil films, we have had quite a few number of films that have dealt with Schizophrenics. Kamalhassan‘s Aalavandan edged on this issue. Parthiban‘s Kudaikkul Mazhai deals in-depth with a Schizophrenic. It doesn’t make a documentary out of a him rather it sits inside his head and give the audience a first-hand experience of Schizophrenic delusion. While there could be many comments/suggestions on how the movie could be taken better, Parthiban needs a huge pat for venturing and trying his hand on this zone, tactically.

With just two characters occupying the screen for most of the time, Parthiban’s lead role can be regarded as one of his best. That old man in Houseful movie is still his best, in my opinion. Karthik Raja, doesn’t come short in the background score, like the songs. The theme music and it’s picturisation being one of the best scenes of the movie. The song Adiye Kiliye written by Parthiban and sung by the Maestro himself is enticing.

The art direction plays a very important role. The house in which Parthiban moves around has been very very creatively made that you find the most unusual thing in the most unusual place. Each frame has so many different things that you may be blink to grasp the idea behind them. The paintings and the animals in the house are symbolical, very tough-to-grasp at the first sight. The creative juices has overflown and it literally reaches above-the-head (my head, not yours). The tilted empty ink bottle pasted to the wall, the clock on the roof, the huge Coffee-day tissue framed on the wall, the nice drawings on the cardboard talk about Parthiban and his team’s hard work.

The drawback may be the script. There are obvious shots like the bearded Parthiban doing something and a Maruthi Car zipping near the telephone booth that literally gives out the suspense of the movie. If meticulously seen one could understand the hallucination plot which makes the rest of the movie a long wait for the climax. It’s inevitable for someone to see shades of Guna and Kadhal Konden in the second half of the movie. Also the script could have been cut short at various places to avoid the feeling of a drag, especially the twin of Parthiban who comes from Sinapore, talks his life, throughout. However, I liked his reference to Pattinathaar songs before he gets a bullet onto his body .

The titles show Rudhran to be an assistant director of this movie. This famous psychiatrist, is known for his talk show that he made for Raj TV called Unnai Arindhaal. He also explains the protagonists case in the end of the movie. Rudhran’s help in unleashing the mind of a schizophrenic is clearly visible throughout.

With that well targetted trailer and the publicity, Kudaikkul Mazhai, half-crossed the well of success. With a slight overdose of creativity, it crosses the other half, but not as expected. Excitement is assured if you walk into the movie hall without expectations.

Azhaghiya Theeye will not move you, will not make you feel nausea with blood baths, will not make you cry in buckets. It is one of those movies where you might find your spirits lifted because of the very light-hearted subject it represents. Prakash Raj and Radha Mohan need to be congratulated for they managed to produce/direct a good movie in a shoe-string budget.

At the same time, it is not a very different movie as it is advertised. Such movies have always sprung out of the dark just like Sollamaley or Kannethire Thondrinaal or Agathiyan‘s Kaadhal Kavithai and so so. When you make a movie with at such low costs as what Prakash Raj says you rely on heavily on the story and the actors. Both have done their part well. Be it Prasanna who is caught in an unexpected situation or that Kumaravel as Chitappa, have done a great job in the acting department. Navya Nair would still need some time to apply acting gears.

What I loved about the movie is the references in dialogues to other movies. From Mannathi Mannan to Boys, the characters continously refer to one or other, the reference to Thiruvilayadal being the best. Radha Mohan should have been a movie buff to have scuh amazing references. Great job dude; from one movie buff to another.

Prakash Raj seems to have acted this role just after Gilli. Especially when he calls Hi! Chandran, it reminds me of Gilli Muthupandi calling Trisha, Hi! Chellam.

Amidst the action masalas and the aruvaa times this is certainly a movie that cools you down, a warm interlude.

[Pic: imdb.com]

Manoj Night Shyamalan‘s Village isn’t still out in Chennai. But the promos have already started. Last week, Star Movies featured two nights of Night’s movies. The first one was his not-so-hit movie, Unbreakable. Unbreakable is unmistakably one of unnoticed Shyamalan’s movie that had an amazing surprise twist. Even Signs didn’t have a surprise twist on par with Unbreakable. Forget Sixth Sense, it’s a movie par excellence. Unbreakable is also one of my favorite movies, all time.

Most of us believed in comic heroes, at least during our childhood. And so a kid also believes in comic heroes. What if his father itself is a real life comic hero? What if the comic hero himself takes time/effort to believe that he is one? What if life leads a man to a secret labyrinth after an accident? So goes the premise of Unbreakable. Being a comic addict, I just loved the idea of the movie made on a comic hero.

Bruce Willis as David Dunn amused me with his startling performance. We have seen Willis perform as an action hero but here he is an action hero without knowing he is. And so his subdued performance lightens up his capabilities as an actor. Samuel Jackson as Elijah Price, who is a physically frail comic book fanatic, creates ripples in us. The last time I enjoyed this duo was in the third serving of Die Hard called Die Hard: With a Vengeance. Remember Jeremy Irons saying ‘Simon Says’ in that mesmerizing voice.

Though many were disappointed by Shyamalan for Unbreakable after a movie like Sixth Sense, he proves his story telling ability once again. With two people who are connected to each other by their extremities, Shyamalan weaves a web of beliefs, comic books, super heroes and so so.

Samuel Jackson’s characterization as MR. Glass inspired me a lot. A true believer in himself, an optimist, a man despite his physical illness gets out finding a man who is directly opposite to him physically. No one, No one except Samuel Jackson would have done this role such perfectly. Let me know if you didn’t love that character when he shouts in agony, They call me MR. Glass. Riveting performance. And as he extends his hands to Bruce Willis in the final scenes, I never expected IT to happen.

I watched the movie a couple of years back in the DVD, I couldn’t believe the surprise twist in the ending and re-played the final scenes again. It’s easy to create a mystery from the beginning of the movie and keep it alive but what’s important is to unleash it by fulfilling the expectation bestowed on the mystery. Shyamalan did it convincingly.

I hope his latest offering The Village, keeps up to the same expectation that we have on this Indian storyteller.

[Pic: vasoolrajambbs.com]

Who would require a movie review for Vasool Raja MBBS? Actually it’s a crime to write a review for a movie like this. Wait. Read the next line before you think of firing me. You don’t actually need to read/write a review for this movie. The primary aim of the movie, I believe, is not to do any lifetime achievement in cinema. Rather the aim (other than cinema business) is to deliver laughs. And Vasool Raja does it royally and rightfully. Are you convinced now. Take a breather. Among the numerous laughs the movie gives, there is also an obvious kind pat to the doctors reminding them that patients need to be treated as humans and not as just cases.

Crazy Mohan known for this indomitable verbal and situational comic sense, has done a fantastic job for Vasool Raja. The only point is that, this movie is like Kathala Kathala has innumerous verbal jokes. Not the kind of comedy that you can remember until weekend and yap with him/her on the beach and laugh again with them. They are ephemeral in nature. Jokes like Dim Dip Dim and Manamirundhaal Marghabhandu are absolute crackers. Crazy is the uncrowned king of Tamil film comedy. Let Mouli forgive me for that statement. He wasn’t all that comical in his latest Nalla Damayanthi.

Not much with Kamalhassan. He has not makeup stunt [except for the first few scenes]. No huge dialogues and no persistent pathos that would allow him to make a loud cry throughout. It seems that he has had his breakfast, took a walk around his house, saw the shooting spot and came inside to enact a role called Vasool Raja. Very casual like what we have seen before in Pammal K Sampantham, Michael Madana Blah Blah, Tenali and of course Panchathanthiram. It is an accepted fact that he has a flamboyant comic sense. He just underlines one more time.

Let this not make you think I’m fastidious, but Bharathwaj hasn’t been upto the expectations. Though he isn’t fully to be blamed for the not-so-good songs and their picturisation, he could have taken his time in the composition. I have really loved his music for his previous films and thought he could weave a magic, having Kamal as the cast.

I hate to compare the Hindi Bhai and the Tamil Thambi but it seems impossible. One reason, why I Munnabhai MBBS was because I saw a song clip in MTV. That song in the hospital where Sanjay Dutt expresses his romantic encounters completely blew me away with the music and the performance of Sanjay dutt. I was placing my bid on Kamal’s performance of the same song in the Tamil version. Instead of a similar song, it was replaced with a silly song called Azhwarpettai Aandava which sounds/resembles like that Kandasaamy song in PKS. A true let down. Also that belly dance song looked like a cheap insert unlike the hindi version.

We know that Airtel is the prime sponsor for the movie but every time anyone’s cell phone rings onscreen it has a loud AirTel tone. Annoying and the height of embedded advertising. It is very clear that the movie was super produced in two-three months. Kamal’s next film cop haircut is visible from that Switzerland duet. If only Kamal can ditch those absurd looking coolers that he keeps wearing in every duet of every comedy film, how nice.

Blessed are those who haven’t seen the original version. Yeah, if you haven’t seen the original, watch Vasool Raja for the sheer Crazy Mohan and Kamal combo. They deliver. If you are the unfortunate one like me, watch it still, for the Kamal version of the don-turned-doctor-turned-don. Limited Feast assured, still.

When I took a flying catch of the Ananda Vikatan which the paperwala threw to my balcony, today morning, I flipped through the pages fast to see what Vikatan had to say about S J Surya‘s New. (Un)Fortunately, Vikatan did sport a review of New this week and I am upset about the biased outlook of the popular Tamil media, especially Vikatan. Keeping this discussion to the fag end of this review, New is a movie filled with gross vulgarity and intense close-up cleavage shots. Last week, on Saturday, when I watched New in the Udhayam theatre, I felt it had nothing new in it except that it’s a pretentious flick in form of a breakthrough science fiction film.

Over two years in production, this movie started with Ajith and Jyothika as the lead pair. Due to untold reasons both of them moved out of the movie, so S J Surya decided to star himself along with Simran. There is a rumor that Surya told the story to A R Rahman in a Chennai-Mumbai flight. The excited Rahman then agreed to tune for the movie.

All that details aside, New is inspired(?) from the Tom Hanks and the beautiful Elizabeth Perkins starrer Big where a 5th grade kid wishes to a festival wishing machine and the next day morning the kid becomes Big as Tom Hanks. With a mind of a kid, Tom Hanks goes through the adolescence and also manages to get a girl friend in this process and finally he becomes a kid again. This story added with some garam masala, customizing for tamil/telugu audience(!) has become as NEW. Having enjoyed S J Surya’s direction in Vaali and Kushi, though both have some shades of other movies, I was completely disappointed in the route S J Surya has taken to ensure that the film is a success.

The only solace is some intelligent screenplay tricks that he has managed to do and the MTV type music videos with the help of A R Rahman. Full scores for Surya for the picturisation of the songs. Great job. And A R Rahman with rocking tunes like New, Sakkarai and the Amma song. SPB‘s comes back in the Sakkarai Inikkira Sakkarai song. The experimental spiderman song also gets full points.

S J Surya, stars as a man with a kid’s mind. New to the front-of-camera, he wades through the character and passes it. But one always gets a feeling that he could have done this rather comical character better that what it is. His intonations at times don’t go with his body language. Simran does her role convincingly well.

The movie is clouded with explicit dialogues and unnatural bedroom situations, which gives the viewers some time to enjoy. But every time when people clap for such scenes, I have no idea, where the Tamil cinema is heading for. I am definitely not against sexually explicit scenes in Tamil movies. We can be as explicit as possible but vulgarity or unnecessary comical scenes that make one get a sick feeling about the humor sense of people can be avoidable. You can either make a healthy comedy out of sex or make it seem crazy. This one belongs to the later category. Especially when the kid gets a devilish idea and leans on Simran in the auto, the scene where Surya explains what happens in the bed with Simran, Balaji making explicit visual descriptions while saying Kiran to Simran and when Surya talks about Simran to Karunas are some of the avoidable scenes. These are just scenes. A huge array of dialogues have also found their way through the censors.

The movie is already a hit and there is no way the media can oppose it. Because when people bend their heads towards the movie, the media too has to go by it. Ananda Vikatan, which out rightly rejected to review Shankar’s Boys and just said ‘Chee…’ as the review for Boys, has given 34 marks to New. Now isn’t that being unbiased. Vikatan also drops a line that because this movie is just about a husband/wife relationship and not exploting the curiosity of adolescence, the movie is ok to be reviewed. I hate to call this as a husband/wife bedroom story. This one talks about a eight year kid, getting transformed into a 28 year old guy’s body and getting a baby. Also the review compares Surya’s acting skills with that of Jim Carrey. Huh !. The TV media says New is a new experiment and people have accepted it. So much for the experiment, guys. Poor Shankar who got flamed in Boys for showing the reality.

Calling all the dads/moms who walked out of cinema halls of Shankar’s Boys, for a viewing of this New. Watch it, Enjoy it. Sure, it doesn’t show any of the real things what your teenage boy/girl does. It doesn’t show how they date girls in mahabalipuram, it hides the fact that they read porno books, it also doesn’t call love as the function of a teenage mind. It doesn’t show any of those realistic expressions. It’s fiction. So enjoy dudes!.

While Prasanna wrote the huge applauding comment for the Virumandi review, I didn’t know he was as passionate as he is about movies. He had mentioned in a comment that he and friends had tried their hand on a short film and he would like to send a copy to me. So we fixed up and met at Prasanna’s place to watch his short film Ini Bhayam Illai.

Ini Bhayam Illai runs for just 16 minutes. It has a very simple theme. The short screenplay however has added a lot of value to this rather interesting piece of work. All the 15+ minutes I was glued to the screen to see what would happen next. IBI talks about the guilt of two people who are unconnected. One’s guilt was due to a simple act committed. And the other for a guilt uncomitted. So the shots move back and forth among these two people and finally gives an philosophical ending to the theme.The theme has been well thought about, very well re-created on screen.

Prasanna who has written, directed and starred the film has done a good job. He and Jithin are the protagonists and he has carried the role of a student who commits a simple act which leads to a guilt that is unsurmountable. The other suprise package comes from Rajesh, who has done a supporting role, amazingly well.

As Prasanna said that the whole movie was shot with a HandyCam in MinDV format, I was suprised for the quality of movie which was so good. With 10 hours of editing in a professional editing studio, this shortfilm really deserved one for the movie itself has more scene cuts than the number of actors in it. That clearly elevates the movie to higher standards. I have to appreciate prasanna for the ‘telling-without-telling’ idea in the screenplay.

With people taking such good shortfilms with just a handycam, films are no more the toys of a rich producer. And as more and more such shortfilms are being shot, more and more reality creeps in. What a welcoming move that is.

P.S: Prasanna would be happy to screen you the movie. you can reach him at his email, rsprasanna[at]hotmail[dot]com. He also acted in the play Death by Vaanam Vasappadum fame Karthikkumar’s Evam group. This play was a recent hit in chennai and it is inspired by Woody Allen’s movie by the same name(?). Here is the piece of introductory text by Prasanna about the shortfilm.

Two men. Each burdened by guilt.

One, for an act committed. The other for an act not committed.

The Beach. The sound of the waves. Only their fears holding them back

Will they confront their fears? Ini Bhayam Illai.

*No Spoilers Ahead*

As you stroll down the dark cinema hall to watch Aayitha Ezhuthu and if you are a few minutes late, you might assume that the climax is around. So begins the latest Mani Ratnam flick Aayitha Ezhuthu. And hey, you needn’t worry for there is lot more to come and even if you miss this first scene, the scene repeats more number of times than the cost of your popcorn. Aayitha Ezhuthu is about serious cinema and not just for the popcorn eating cinema commoner.

Aayitha Ezhuthu’s premise is all about the rare species of progressive youths who are not opportunists and escapists from stamp paper scams and water-scarce society of the modern day India. It is Mani Ratnam’s expression of the angst against the middle class escapist mentality of the country and his endeavor to handover the country to such modern, intellectually progressive youth.

While conveying this Mani Ratnam chooses to adopt a style of film-making which is still in its experimental state, at least in India. The basic rule for the screenplay is that there no rules. There are only directives. Playing with this fact, Mani Ratnam has taken liberties to play with the style of film making. While he has adopted the classic structure that demands to introduce the characters, create the conflict and give an ending, he has just meddled with the timing of each the above mentioned components. Though I haven’t seen any of the movies they say has inspired Aayitha Ezhuthu like Ameros Perros, City of God or Kurasowa’s Rashomon, I personally think they might have had little to do with this film. As reported Aayitha Ezhuthu doesn’t sport overlapping events or even points of view. The movie, if observed meticulously, is told from a third person’s point-of-view.

In Mani Ratnam’s earlier super hit Alai Payuthey, the movie oscillates from the past to present and in one point the flashback merges with the present event. This same thing if you deploy as three flashbacks which gets merged with the present through a common incident, you get Aayitha Ezhuthu.

Pity the media as it reports the highlight lies in this connection of three stories to one point. It merely takes a pulp-fiction writer to manufacture such stories. The ‘Maathiyosi’(think different) lies in shaping these characters and using them to unfold the story in the later half. But in Aayitha Ezhuthu, the character build-up occupies for more than two thirds of the movie. The reason being all the three characters form the core of the movie and the movie details up their lives and their view of life. So every character’s story is detailed until which the other characters wait for their chance.

The risk involved in having such a story-telling style is that, relating to a character becomes tougher as there is no one central character that gets focused. It is only finally when the repercussion of that common incident gets focus, we clearly see the main theme and the protagonist of the movie. Despite these risks and shortcomings, it’s Mani Ratnam’s sheer ability to keep up the interest of the viewer with his character sketching. But after the two flashbacks and one common incident, one will tend to feel what the director wants to convey. Well, there is a long dense second half to come. But patience waits for none and you tend to loose it by the first half.

Madhavan as Inba Sekhar fails poorly to portray ‘the guy from streets’. Just because of Writer Sujatha’s Chennai slang the character of Inba Sekhar escapes without a curse. His Chocolate boy image and his intonations bring out the urban actor in him. With the kind of character that Mani Ratnam and Sujatha has etched out, one would expect a splendid and powerful performance from Madhavan. Though by his characterization Madhavan would tend to get noticed it is one of Mani Ratnam’s biggest mistake is to cast Madhavan for this role.

Surya as Michael Vasant, a child prodigy who comes from a middle class Christian family. Mike is rigidly violent and a genius of his own kind. Be it the way he rigs the politician or the way he proves that the universe is made of dense matter with a single equation, the character of Michael Vasant is here to stay with us. Surya has played his role very subtly like Kakkha Kakkha and gets full points for his perfect body language. Surya enters the flashback with the same walk into a mall just like Karthik in Mouna Ragam. The strength of his character doesn’t lie in all the powerful stunts he does with Madhavan but by the intelligent dialogue delivering skills of Surya.

Sidharth, the rascally flirtatious young man comes as a relief to the rather serious movie and his flashback just after the second half of the movie reminds us the romantic yester-year Mani Ratnam. For Sidharth is very natural and he portrays the present day $ dreaming yuppie youth. Actually it is Sidharth’s life that get entirely changed by the Napier Bridge incident and not the other two.

Bharathi Raja as Selvanayakam is convincing and does his role better than expected. A great find. Meera Jasmine who pairs Madhavan has done an appreciable job and it is her character that earns all the sympathy. Easha Deol’s character could be easily avoided because she does nothing more than just appearing on-screen. Trisha is also convincing as Meera.

Writer Sujatha again steals the show with his appropriate dialogues for the three characters. The difference he has shown in the dialogues of each character shows the genius he is.

Ravi K Chandran excels with his camera techniques, as expected. The kind of hand-in-hand exercise Ravi K Chandran, Editor Sreekar Prasad and Stuntman Vikram Dharma has done makes the stunts very remarkable.

Art Director Sabu Cyril is certainly a let down. His sets for Madhavan’s house, near the Chennai port is very artificial. The streets and roads leading to Madhavan’s house is clearly noticed as sets. We all know that each character gets a color. If only it was subtle, it would have won the praise. But these contrasting colors is so evident even in the sets and costumes. Madhavan’s neighborhood is fully painted red which makes it very artificial. For Surya, even the prison walls also are in Green. And the worst thing is for Sidharth, from the discotheque, his basketball walls and his bike, all feature blue. Even Trisha is forced to wear blue costumes to pair Sidharth. Not the kind of color thrust that we expect from a Mani Ratnam film.

Not all songs are picturised like typical Indian film songs. That’s however a relief. But Fanah and Hey Goodbye Nanba songs fill up that gap. A R Rahman also scores very subtly for Aayitha Ezhuthu. The extra bit song for Surya-Easha Deol in pallavan bus is a surprise. Mani Ratnam – A R Rahman deliver this surprise every time. Each character gets a theme of music and the music flows throughout the flash back for all the three characters. This background score is however very subdued and the difference can be heard only in a theatre. Having said that, this is certainly not the best of Mani Ratnam – ARR combo.

It is a fact that time pass films de-humanize the viewers and give a superman image to the heroes. Mani Ratnam has always tried to portray his heroes as practical humans. So he does that with class in Aayitha Ezhuthu too. Mani Ratnam spontaneously evolves towards the leftist line of thinking as his protagonist believes the change should not only be made in urbanized cities but also from villages like Neikaaranpatti.

Just like how Shakespeare’s Macbeth starts very sensationally with the introduction of the three witches, Aayitha Ezhuthu story starts right from the first second of the movie. It is just that Mani Ratnam takes time to set the dramatic need to the characters; the movie looses the chance to find a place in the viewer’s heart. If the movie fails it is because of this experiment that he has chosen to make. Though this effort may prove costly for him, Indian Cinema would go a long way because of such pioneering efforts. Mani Ratnam proves again that good film-making is an exercise in style.

Now, I understand why Writer Sujatha is averse for his books taking shape as movies. From Gayathri to Karaiyellam Senbhagapoo, Writer Sujatha has communicated his apprehensiveness in transforming his books to movies. Writer Sujatha’s book Irul Varum Neram, based on a real-life situation which happened in Bangalore was fictionalized by him as a novel. Vaanam Vasappadum pitifully joins that long list of attempts of making a movie from novels. Sujatha’s story is very moving and powerful. It’s just that the transformation of a novel to a movie hasn’t happened as expected.

The story deals with the case of a rape and aftermath of the rape. The viewpoint is from the rape victim and so it draws a consummate picture of the pain and hardship, a rape victim undergoes. The media has just briefed this as the story in its reviews. The story also deals in-depth on lives of two teenagers and their spoiled childhood. This dwelling in the mind of the teenager’s childhood that has makes the story a different one.

The movie goes on like pulp-fiction. It weaves through the intersecting stories of a young couple and two spoiled brats. As the movie begins and starts jumping from one story-line to other, Sujatha and PC Sriram get applauded for their skills of taking us through this exciting ride. Few such movies have been taken in Tamil especially in this pulp-fictionary format. However if you ever get to read these crime & killer pulp-magazines casually you would appreciate this style.

The biggest let down in the movie is the screenplay. PC Sriram and Lara’s screenplay is lagging and such a powerful story would require a racy screenplay. Also the editing has let down Sriram’s efforts to bring the story to life. At this juncture when I say that editing has been a let down, frequent songs also take credit for lagging the story.

Mahesh Mahadevan music is the most interesting component in the movie. All the 7 songs are highly melodious. Especially the Harini’s lullabying voice in Megamey might fetch her accolades. Seithi Suda Suda Seithi is a magic. With that high-pitched voice of Ranjith, they could have done a lot in the movie. The song however gets played in the background and goes without notice. However they have at least used this song in the trailers. Vaanam Vasappadumey song is also appreciable just like the duet from Hariharan and Sujatha called Kangal Theendi.

It’s very incidental that this was Mahesh Mahadevan’s last movie. I am sure he will be remembered Poonguil Paadinaal from Nammavar but it is this movie has been his all-time masterpiece. Kudos to him but we are definitely missing a great musician.

The beginning scenes and the Vaanam Vasappadumey song brings a sense of DejaVu. They are heavily inspired by Alai Payuthey. Even though you would compel yourself to disregard this thought, the hero bikes himself bikes with headphones over his head reminding the Alai Payuthey Madhavan.

Karthik Kumar is promising except for some scenes he looks as though he is controlled by the director. Poongothai as the heroine doesn’t contribute much to the movie. Especially her artificial dialogue delivery irritates at time. The two newcomers (not sure if they are new) as two teenagers have acted their heart and soul for the movie. Highly Impressive performance.

PC Sriram’s displays his technical craftery as a cameraman. But I am just left to feel if he could have done better as a director. Especially after his last movie as Kuruthi Punal, it is true that one would have expected much more from him.

1. The Last Samurai :

It was great to see Tom Cruise in this remarkable role of Captain Algren who is a plan less American soldier. His self-esteem and his sense of being a soldier gets him in-between two worlds which have their own philosophies. There lies perhaps his greatest challenge and this challenge is all about the battle of two completely different psychologies.

Tom Cruise gets two thumbs up for producing this saga of a samurai. Also he has disciplined himself for a role like this. He has managed to bring to life, the American soldier who is caught amidst two eras in Japan. This will be one of the milestones in his filmography after Mission Impossible. Ken Watanabe as Katsumoto brings to life, a true samurai hero. He manages to bring in facial expressions well to balance his character with fewer dialogues. The movie also talks about the Samurai culture and their strong way of life.

As the director Edward Zwick remarked in his interview, it was a time of transition. In every culture, that moment of change from the antique to the modern is especially poignant and dramatic. It is also wondrously visual. Each image, each landscape, each room tells the story, the juxtaposition of the old and new. A man in a bowler hat strolls beside a woman wearing a kimono. A man firing a repeating rifle faces a man wielding a sword.

However, the process of Tom Cruise getting mentally bent towards the Samurai is very detailed. Very dragging at times. A must watch for tom cruise fans and also others who love to watch inspirational stuff.

2. Udhaya :

This movie is from director coming from the camps of Mani Ratnam. Azhagam Perumal, the director of Dum Dum Dum and the latest Joot started this film as his first attempt. But before the film was out, it had various hiccups and that delayed the film’s release. The film was in production for more than 2-3 years which is evident from the looks of the stars getting changed from scene to scene. It’s a classic example of how a film fails in the box-office because of the timing of its release.

A R Rahman being the music director has done justice for the songs. Thiruvallikkenni Kaari gets a pat for AR Rahman.

Any day this movie will be on Ungal Sun TV. So watch it then.

3. Kill Bill :

I want to place my review of Kill Bill Vol 1 after watching Kill Bill Vol 2. Being a huge fan of Quentin Tarantino since his Pulp Fiction, I felt a little let down by looking at those blood fountains pumping out of those Japanese heads since they lacked the finesse and the creativity of Q.T. However it was more gore and violent than The Passion of the Christ. Actually both movies shouldn’t be compared for the violence. Passion of the Christ was more historical violence and Kill Bill was very fictional.

However, I’m inquisitive to watch The Bride take over Bill in Vol 2. Incidentally, I also developed a liking for Uma Thurman since her role as Poison Ivy in Batman and Robin. She is one hell of a female and she hasn’t got roles that matched her capabilities. I wish and hope Kill Bill Vol2 fills the gap. The reviews of Kill Bill Vol2 are out and they are promising and making me more curious. Let’s wait and watch on the big screen.

Co-incidentally I watched The Last Samurai and Kill Bill on consecutive days and it was a Japanese overdose for me ;-)

4. Vaanam Vasappadum :

Will write a brief review on this. Read my pre-release note on Vaanam Vasappadum.

We clap, laugh and adore Vijay as he takes over his contemporaries in the race to super-stardom. Gilli portrays a Vijay as a comic hero who battles his villains logically while his physical powers are exaggerated dramatically. Having said that Gilli offers nothing less than sheer entertainment and an edgy thriller for the Tamil film industry which is deprived of such films.

Dharani‘s magic has worked third time. This time he has reached the way to the top gracefully and is sure to remain there for sometime. From Dhill to Gilli, dharani’s journey has been calculated, planned and executed with discipline. Gilli is certainly not a yet-another-telugu-remake of Okkadu. Gilli’s incidental story is not a man’s saga or epic tale. But its production values and entertainment mix has taken the movie to high scales.

It talks about an angry, young and brave Chennaite’s slice of life. Gilli Vijay’s naive bravery earns him the animosity of Prakashraj, a local dada, who chases him and Trisha from Madurai and tries to get him killed. This and the following course of incidents form the crux of the movie. While the movie details the chase of Prakash Raj / Vijay, it also branches out to explain the kabadi aspirations of Vijay and what the aspiration leads to.

The movie starts with a top gear and doesn’t stop until the end of first half. With the movie oscillating between Chennai and Madurai, it finally comes back to Chennai in the second half and settles. After Vijay reaching Madurai for a Kabadi match after the first hour of the movie, the movie gears up. From then on to the intermission, the story itself is told with the help of action. It is one of the very few movies where action itself carries the story forward. Especially the car chase is one of the best action packed chases seen in Tamil cinema. With Vijay pushed to a situation to take Trisha as hostage and help himself out of the clutches of Prakash Raj displays Dharani’s effort make the viewers say WOW. If you want a complete helluva Gilli trip, don’t miss this sequence.

The second half slows down to unfold the story, romance and other commercial elements. But at the same time, Dharani has worked hard to keep the movie going with the songs and the chase, chasing one another. In this nail biting thriller, the comedy and songs form a vent to the tension. The climax with Vinayak Chathurthi processions and the Kabadi match proves the planning and the hard work of the entire crew.

Vijay with his reduced make-up and his Chennai slang personifies the yester year Rajinikanth. His facial expressions and his comical sense make us re-collect the superstar himself. If that is position which Vijay aims to reach in the near future, this is his giant step towards that. Vijay shoulders most of the movie on himself like his previous flicks and carries the movie with a charming style. He also handles the comedy dept for himself while giving a slice of it to Dhamu (Nari). Vijay has also done appreciably well in action sequences which is the heart of the movie. His dialogue delivery skills have improved over the time and here in Gilli, he presents the contemporary Chennai youth.

Trisha looks classy but her role gets reduced to a Barbie doll. Trisha’s costumes in Appidi Podu song look dazzling. Three Cheers to Nalini Sriram, her costume designer. Also Jennifer who enacts the sister of Vijay has done extremely well and one would think they could have given the same importance of the sister role to Trisha also.

The best part that happened to Gilli is Prakash Raj. His comeback after a long time is glaringly well executed. His role as Muthu Pandi suits him well. Prakash Raj and Kamalhassan may not have anything in common but this kingpin-cum-dada Muthupandi role reminds me some shades of Virumandi. Prakash Raj dazzles when he looks at Trisha with an idiosyncratic look and says Chellamey !! I…Love you da!

Vidhyasagar‘s uses the same Dhool formula here too. All songs call for huge crowds and every song has a celebrative mood. However, the night skied Chennai sets and Kokkarakko songs stays tight. It has a very strange feel and is sung well. Appidi Podu song has been picturised and tuned well. It is a special song to get the audience ready for the climax. However the song Yaaro Yarivano during sumo chase reminds us of Kakkha Kakkha but it does the job.

Maniraj’s sets of the Triplicane area is amazing. Only if you get a producer like A M Ratnam, you can think of such a huge spending for a set. But Dharani has used the set well and it finds a place in most songs and important sequences. Combined with the sets, Gopinath’s camera and avid editing races the movie throughout. The action sequences speak of the advanced technical wizardry that Tamil cinema is going through. Rocky Rajesh – the stunt director, Gopinath – the cinematographer and VT Vijayan – the editor gets a mention for the fabulous action sequences. Aalavandan boasted of Hollywood-like action sequence but Gilli, silently grabs away the title.

This movie would be a hit for the kind of team effort Dharani has roped in. Also his brilliant screenplay has made the movie one very fast without too much flaws. Dharani also doesn’t bother too much to give a finger to the logic. Combined with his intelligent story telling skills Dharani also gets a mention for the changes that he has made to the Tamil version of Okkadu which makes the movie adapt to the Tamil tastes.

Gilli is a movie to be watched in a theatre to enjoy the movie thoroughly. This movie will be a sure shot hit, not just for its entertainment and production values but for the incredible understanding of delivering what people want. And that’s exactly what we want.

Bharathiraja’s Kangalaal Kaithu Sei was a big disappontment. Given Bharathiraja’s earlier thrillers like Sigappu Rojakkal, Tik Tik Tik and Captain Magal, this movie wasn’t even close to any of them. First of all, this cannot be even called a thriller. Cause there was nothing in the movie to be thrilled about.

B.Raja still loves to remain in 80s where he was the master of the game. I was majorly disappointed because of the splendid trailer that they etched out for this movie. The promos were classy and called for the best movie making capabilities. But unfortunately the movie was loosely connected with the story. Also we have no clue as to how the hero manages to steal the diamond.

The major let down was the characterizations. In this millenium, a enthusiastic young business man who actively screws up a reporter who asks a stupid question, behaves like a jamindaar in his house. The way in which the hero communicates with his hand to his servants is irritating and looks like S V Rangarao types.

A R Rahman has worked really hard to bring out some really good numbers. Aha Thamizhamma and Azhagiya Cindrella song stays in hearts. I loved the audio of Anarkali song which has some amazing tabla music. But the picturisation was bad with the heroine dressed in Anarkali costumes runs in the sea shore all along the song. Sujatha‘s dialogues just shine in few places.Also the editing which is synonymous to Alaigal Oyivathillai times is very disturbing the pace of the movie.

Priyamani, the heroine looks nice and I hope she would do well in her next movie with Balu Mahendra and Dhanush called Athu Oru Kanaakkaalam. In KKS, She was left with no scope to act. Being compared with the cindrella doll, she behaves just like a doll. Mudhal Mariyadhai is one Bharathiraja’s best film ever. I only hope he can still films like that, which can stand over time.

Are u thinking that I am still puzzled how the hero was able to steal the diamond. Never mind I didn’t understand the rest of the movie also.

Watching Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, I was breath-taken, shocked and literally found myself shattered by all that blood and other very infamous violent devices used on christ’s body to physically abuse him.

The Passion of the Christ follows the last 12 hours of Jesus’s life. Passion meaning suffering in Latin refers to the agonizing events in the final 12 hours of Jesus Christ’s life. Starting from Getsemane where Jesus is betrayed by Judas and gets arrested by the leaders of Pharisees, the movie walks along with Jesus from then to his last breath on the cross in Golgotha.

Much as been argued and debated on this highly controversial Mel Gibson’s adaptation of perhaps the greatest story ever re-told. Leaving the accuracy of movie and comparison of the depiction with the biblical truths to the biggies, I would stick with the movie and it’s clandestinely beautiful technical craftery.

As the scenes where the christ is beaten-up and tortured unfold, I couldn’t avoid the feeling that it is an exaggeration par excellence. But as the movie continues to unravel the true epic of Christ, one would accept it wasn’t exaggeration after all.

Perhaps the most authentic scene in the movie was when the Christ is scourged, whipped as the blood pours from all over his body by the Romans. Added to it, he is also beaten by a torture device called flagrum or the cat o’ nine tails, a whip with multiple straps and embedded with barbed metal tips to catch and shred the skin, leading to huge blood loss. In one of the most graphic shot where this flagrum is used on the christ’s body, it gets stuck below his rib cage and gets pulled violently causing a tear in the body from where the blood rushes out like a fountain.

As described by many, it is one of the most violent movies of all time. Mel Gibson as the director wants to show this torture of Christ in detail. It’s awe-inspiring and gruesome but the power of the movie lies in these scenes which are never scene before on-screen.

As Gibson being one of my favourite actors, I would have wished him to play the Jesus himself. But Gibson following the rule, no star bigger than the film itself, paves way to Jim Caviezel, the actor who stars as Jesus. With Caviezel’s amazing sharp eyes and some authentic photography by Caleb Deschanel, Mel Gibson’s brings to life a great hero.

Adding to the authenticity, the whole movie talks the biblical language. Aramaic, a ancient Semitic language closely related to Hebrew that today is considered by some linguists to be a dead language. So you sit through the whole movie with sub-titles that distracts you from watching the movie. This wouldn’t be called a compromise as Mel Gibson makes his Jesus talk like the same Jesus who lived 2000 years back.

This movie is certainly not an entertainer. As some said in a review, that if this movie entertains you, you are a sadist. Also for kids, this movie would be hard to sit through.

Mel Gibson as a director sparkles during those flashback scenes when Jesus recollects his past during Crucification. As Mary sees Jesus carrying the cross and falls down flat in the streets of Jerusalem, she remembers Jesus as a child who stumbles and falls down near the house. She runs fast to catch the child before it falls. But unfortunately the child falls down and gets hurt. This universally accepted sentinmental scene also finds a place in this movie.

With some appreciable BGMs and real-to-life Jerusalem street sets, The Passion of the Christ calls for a breath taking description of the life of the Christ. But what’s tough to comprehend is the human nature during the times of Christ which is dubbed as violent, barbaric and ruthless. Probably thats why Jesus preached Love thy Neighbour. Co-incidental to the above lines, as type them, Kamalhassan yells through the speakers, Anbe Sivam… Endrum Anbe Sivam. Do you think timing can be more perfect than this ?

Kovil is that kind of movie which you would like to see in doordarshan as a sunday movie. Chandamama type villages called Pulliyangkulam and Vepangkulam have religious boundaries and two youngsters of different religions fall in love which eventually brings war and peace to these villages. Like Kathal Virus, this movie has been misplaced in the history. It is kind of a commercial story that could have been a silver jubliee hit, two decades back. But at this era of crossover films, the way in which the movie is presented blows the old trumpet again.

Saami director Hari’s ability to race the script has risen the expectation for this Simbu starrer. But it is right on the director’s part to try various styles before settling down. Kovil is scripted in a very patient manner which disturbs one’s patience. But Hari manages to bring in some relaistic touch with such a pace to the movie. Also I am not sure if it is fair to show a character of a particular religion to be very fair and the other one belonging to a different religion as a fanatic.

Simbu has managed to do a clean job without yapping too much. He has clearly downplayed his Little SuperStar image which gives some confidence for his future producers. If he can etch such good roles, he could mould himself into the next new line of heroes. Though at some emotional scenes, his body language is similar to his dad, this kid has a long way to go.

Harris Jayaraj needs to be blamed for duplicating his effort. The situations and the songs are similar in Saami. You can even blame the director for that. But having composed Collegeukku Povom song very similar to Kamban Engu Ponaan song is unacceptable. Even if you listen to it for the first, you can just humm the original song.