OK Kanmani, OK OK- Passion-Compassion, as my beloved says.

While media is abuzz that Mani has touched a subject that is taboo in most of India, live-in, I disagree, as the movie is not about live-in's at all. At no point in the movie does anyone discuss the pro's and con's or is there any lengthy discussion about it, suggestive or otherwise.
What really happens is that 2 people of similar thought process meet, fall in love, live together, understand the bonding of marriage and in the end, get married. What transpires between them has been told in a fashion that is truly Mani in style.

Maniratnam, once again, proves that he is a master of his art. The eloquence with which the movie moves from one segment to another is simply brilliant. You almost miss the transition.

Simple love story. Boy meets girl. Both like each other. Live together. Experience separation. Get married. What makes it interesting are the other 2 characters in the movie. Prakash Raj as Ganapthy uncle and Leela Samson as Bhavani aunty.
In literal terms, the movie is "made" by them, rather than the 2 lead protagonists. The bonding they share and the effect it has on the leads is what the movie is all about. That they teach the young leads what marriage and compassion is, is an understatement. It is a message to the audience at large on the institution of marriage and what companionship really means.
While at one end, it is all about romance, physical relationship and wooing. The other end portrayed by the older couple epitomizes the care, companionship, patience and love that is enduring.

Again, not at all about live in's and more about love in it's truest sense.
 

I - Eye Candy (A Review of Shankar's I)

A movie with no message from Shankar that does not live up to a Robot (Enthriran) or Sivaji. A 3 hour entertainment from start to end. Phenomenal physical effort from Vikram. Awesome locations. Well choreographed songs and stunts. All this make the movie passable.

Single line story of vengeance. But for Shankar's treatment, the movie would have been a box office disaster. The first half of the movie resembles an ad film end to end. Shankar teaches how to make a "commercial" fare. Branding at it's best.

Vikram as the bodybuilder and as the model excels in his body language and his madras tamil is excellent and supplements his role to a large extent. Amy Jackson as Dia has done a good job. 
Ramkumar in his first outing does a neat job. Ojas Rajani as the transgender stylist makes an impression. Suresh Gopi as Dr. Vasudevan does a usual good job.


As for the story a rags to riches story for Lingesan the local gym owner who dreams of a Mr. India title and to that end wins Mr. TamilNadu and adores Dia the model. He makes 4 known enemies as he becomes a reluctant model alongside Dia and makes it big. John, Dia's x partner, Osma the transgender stylist, Ravi the body builder who loses to Lingesan in Mr. Tamilnadu and Indra Kumar, the industrialist. While all these are known, Vasudevan remains the unknown element, or Shankar thinks. The fact that Dr. Vasudevan pines for Dia is a no brainer from the first scene. That could have been avoided by Shankar. How all of them torture Lingesan because he has hurt each in one way or the other. And how Lingesan exacts his vengeance on all of them forms the crux of the story.

Screenplay is awesome. Somewhat lengthy stunt sequence, in the first instance, but otherwise good ones. Songs are well choreographed and picturised. Locations, as said earlier, needs a second mention. Virgin locations from China make for interesting viewing.

Overall, not a message drive Shankar movie like Anniyan, India, Gentleman. More on the lines of Kaadhalan, Sivaji etc. Not a science fiction like Robot. Nevertheless, makes for gripping viewing.

"Cinema" viewers might not accept that this is good movie. But entertainment value is great.

Kaththi - Vijay Mass, ARM Sharp

ARM proves his mettle. Vijay proves, yet again, he has substance. It is a given that Vijay is good with his dance and stunt sequences, and as Jeevanandham, he proves he can emote as well. As Kathiersan he excels in romance, dance, action and some superlative emotions.

ARM handles a very touchy subject to many with aplomb. Not many directors today would have the courage to pick 2 subjects that are close to every Indian's heart and marry them for a successful commercial flick. Hats off to ARM. The mass suicide scene is at once captivating and sends the message right home.

The starting sequence with Kathir (Vijay) trying to escape from prison and then taking a 30 min quick flashback  where he shown actually helping the prison guards apprehend another escaped convict and the use of the blue print with 3D imagery depicts ARM's sharp direction and technical capabilities. Vijay does escape at the end, after helping the prison guards apprehend the other.

The story then moves to Chennai and you have Kathir meeting Ankita (Samantha) and then saving Jeeva's (Vijay again) life. Coming to understand that the Kolkotta police are searching for him, takes Jeeva's place in the old age home and the story then develops quickly.

The plight of a farming village which struggles without water supply and Jeeva fighting their cause comes to Kathir's notice and he vows to himself to help them out. How he helps them. What happens to Jeeva, who is sent to Kolkotta prison as Kathir, forms the rest of the plot.

The action sequences by Anal Arasu definitely needs a mention, especially, the coins sequence. Brilliant. Yes it is over the top. But then, this is a Vijay film. You don't like over the top, you do not watch Vijay films. Anal also has to be applauded for not keeping the action sequences too long, which would have made it too much to view.

The climax is well thought out and the speech after that clearly depicts plight if farmers and their struggle.

Yaar Petra Magano, by KJ Yesudas & Anirudh, brilliant. Must mention.

Overall a must see for Vijay fans and a good film from ARM.

Jigarthada.. Cool customer!!!

 
It is indeed difficult to write a review without a spoiler and if I do it, it will take away the interest in the movie so I refrain from it, deliberately and hence, the review itself is short.
 
It has to be mentioned at the beginning that the first few minutes of this movie does not make good for what comes later. What comes later is just loveable.
 
It is old news that Bobby Simha has done a great job. He is a revelation in the movie. Be it the aggressive scenes, the lighter ones. He excels.
 
A wannabe director, Siddarth, is asked to make a gory gangster movie and he hits on the idea of making a movie of someone alive and not someone who has been. Digs out Assault Sethu as the candidate and goes in search of Sethu and his story to Madurai. What he does next to get his story makes for interesting watch.
 
He chooses 3 sources, one a drunkard, one a x-rated movie fan and one a shop owner who dishes out boring stories. How he gets his story forms part of the movie and what he ends up doing with the story, makes for even more interesting watching.
 
The twist, if we can call it that, comes from the lady lead in the movie. What could have been made sloppy is handled very well by the director. His ingenuity in making even the smallest of roles make a big impact is laudable. Acting teacher Moorthy makes a mark. The sequences are a laugh riot.
 
The movie in itself, which the wannabe director, makes and how it comes out should be watched on screen. Any spoilers will lessen the interest in the movie.
 
Change of heart of Sethu, which is not a spoiler, as you will understand when you watch the 
movie, is notable and how he uses "gibberish" is fantastic. Hats off to Karthik. And "Anbe Sivam", again in gibberish in the back ground? Or is it us the viewer, who is hallucinating there? Such is the impact of the movie.
 
Watch it to understand the last few lines.

Velai Illa Pattadhari - Review

Velai Illa Pattadhari - Review

VIP - A Personal take

Danush matures as a "mass" actor, moped makes a statement, heroine looks like a girl next door, cliche!!

What really transpires is that the director's casting is fab. Screenplay works wonders. Dialogues, under stated, but powerful where it needs to be, funny where it needs to be, carries emotions where it needs to. The underlying pain of an unemployed youth is caputred with grace and not the usual painful way of portraying. Even the comparison scenes are made to evoke a smile, rather than just disgust toward the perpetrator or empathy toward the receiver. The director has balanced them verywell and a kudos to him, else, the whole experience could have ended being a painful watch.

Coming to the performance. Danush underplays and wins. Saranya and Samuthrakani do a good job. Amala Paul, looks pretty, does what is expected, which is little. Amul baby, the villain, looks smart, delivers well. Others, including Vivek, do not deserve mention as they just come and go.

The story line is simple. An unemployed youth, who is focussed on getting an engineers job and nothing else. Uncompromising. An employed brother. Parents who just want their elder, unemployed son to win in life and nothing else, but in their own ways. A love interest. A tragedy. Employment. Challenges and how the youth overcomes those challenges. Sounds simple. The treatment is what matters, proves the director. Each stage of the movie is captivating. Be it the mother-son-father interactions, the romance between the unemployed and the employed heroine, the altercations between the villain and the hero, all have been made interesting. The lengthy dialogue that Danush delivers during one such face off with the villain is sure to capture the imagination of the youngsters. Traces of Rajini's style is very evident in Danush, but you can blame that on my ardent devotion to the Superstar. Even if that is true, it suits Danush and hence no complaints. The flick of the hair, the click of the fingers so to say.

Overall a good watch. Entertained. And yes, Danush proves that Raguvaran, can be a hero, and that too a mass hero!!

Veeram Jilla

adi thadi.. dishum dishum

Usually I write about one movie at a time, but this time and not just because I watched them both back to back, I am trying to move away from that norm and review two movies at the same time.

If Jilla can be classified as an adi thadi movie, then Veeram is dishum dishum. Both lack logic, not that we are expected to. These are commercial masala flicks.

Jilla sent me back to the times when we used to eagerly await a Rajinikanth movie release. Just for style and action, not much for substance. This is Jilla. Mohanlal does the role that would have typically be done by Prabu. And excels, as is usual. Vijay excels in the fight and dance sequence. Not much of emoting for both. Crisp quick climax. Must watch for Vijay fans and action lovers. No one else in the movie need mention.

As a much respected friend of mine recently emapthised, where will these fellows go for new stories to suit mass heroes. So, let us not bother about the story too much. It is all straight forward. Man kills man, watched by the son of the killed. Man dies for man, watched by the son of the dead. Both grow up for the man that is common in both the above. One with respect and other with vengance. The movie is about the growth of the boy with respect, his planned entry in to the police force to dance to his "fathers" tunes, his change of heart and attempts to set right the father while the other with vengeance in his heart trying to wipe out the whole family. Sampath as the man with vengeance filled in his heart is adequate. Mohanlal and Vijay fill their shoes well. Kaajal Agarwal as the heroine does well in the song sequences. Come to think of it, she does nothing else in the movie. The others in the movie either come in and disappear or come in and get beat by Viajy/Mohanlal.

As for Veeram. This is a more complex story, supposedly. 5 brothers. The eldest having raised them from their childhood has sacrificed everything for them. They are an unruly pack and all having immense respect for their eldest brother, who does not like the idea of marriage since it might break the bond they share. Eventually most of the other brothers fall in love and try to somehow kindle an affair between Ajith, the eldest and Tammanah. Ajith tries to dance and fight. During these action sequences, I seriously had a thought that this movie was written with Chiyan Vikram in mind and not Ajith. Without digressing, Ajith makes a few enemies and when he goes to Tamannah's house to ask her hand in marriage the enemies follow him. He trashes everyone, saves the family, job done, only to understand that Tamannah's father has his own flashback and set of enemies who want to eliminate the whole family. In the end, all is well. All the bad boys are beaten and the hero wins the heroine's family's heart.

Both time pass movies makkale. Watch for entertainment value alone.

Viswa - Let Down - Roopam

The way the movie kick starts is all good. The firt 15-20 minutes, till the first action sequence is great. Kamal as the Kathak exponent excels, as usual. His mannerisms, way he walks, talks, all very reflective of the art form he is in love with. His transformation to the blood thirsty assassin/spy is very well captured. The visual effects are out standing. The background is conducive of the happenings on the screen. All is well, till then.

Post the action sequence, the film falls flat on its face. Why would Kamal want to make such a run-off-the-mill spy thriller is very questionable. Why again would he want to involve so much of human emotions is a bigger question.

What starts off as a promising thriller runs on to become a "why war?" documentary and again brings us back to the wafer thin plot of a spy thriller. And keeps doing this again and again. One moment you are in Afghanistan and the next in NYC. Not that this type of story telling is not good cinema. Just that once you are in Afghanistan, it is all about jihad(holy war), children, hapless wives, mothers, mutilated bodies, war torn towns. And once you are in NYC you follow the wafer thin plot of a wannabe spy thriller. And the sequence keeps repeating again and again and again, till you grow weary of it.

Why do film makers and Kamal at this new age think that spy cameras installed in offices, data stored in hard disks and thumb drives and cash kept in lockers in office are a great idea of a film? Why would it interest movie goers to know that the actor Kamal is a realist but then the character in the movie is a devout muslim who has lost his faith in all gods? How many times will we need to bear the "punch" dialogues around Kamal and his "endha kadavul" type cliches. Maybe it is just me. But it was overbearing.

The movie is well shot. Technically brilliant. The BG and overall music is good. Performances are, ahem, nice. But the characters are just wasted, actually, blasted away to non-existence.

How many times would you need to show a boy with innocence written all over his face become a suicide bomber? How many times a good doctor is killed, just for the heck of it? Do we need all this to understand the mindless violence that is called war, holy or not?

Trying to balance between the documentary and the spy thriller, Kamal fails in impressing the audience with either.

What is Andrea doing in the movie? Why an MI6 agent? Too many unanswered equations.

Overall, a nights sleep wasted and belief in big budget, big star movies depleted to the core. Small budget movies like Pizza, Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanum have made worthy watching than the Billa's, Maatran's, Alex Pandian's and now Viswaroopam joins the let down bandwagon.