Movie Review – Vendhu Thanindhathu Kaadu

A rock solid premise, which almost ticks all the boxes

I was so so skeptical about watching the movie in spite of repeated good reviews and recommendations from friends. The first look poster of Simbu leaning on a stick reminded me of Dobby and it was such a caricature of someone doing “sacrifice” for a movie. Simbu, off all especially, doing that accentuated the feel. Thankfully I watched it in TV and that too break free. Never have I seen a break free Tamil movie before. May be all the good things happened together and the experience was phenomenal, at least, almost.

‘Vendhu Thanindhathu Kaadu’ screams novel-ism right from the word go. The first act especially would make any viewer who had read Jeyamohan to imagine the film in print form and think how lovely he’d have written it in the novel. The first scene where the Muthuveeran a.k.a Muthu (Silambarasan) comes out with thorns sewn upon his body could have been more elaborate and shot better but still had a great rustic feel to it, which people often complain that Gautham doesn’t do. Though the claims are stupid and a director need not break his urban style of filmmaking just to prove a point. What i was thought wouldn’t be organic, looked organic. May be thanks to Jeyamohan.

Throughout the film, the best aspect was the heroism and how subtly it was done. It starts with the dialogue of Muthu saying that he’d burn the whole forest. There isn’t any postmortem scene after it to glorify that sentence and that’s mature filmmaking. Something you expect only in a Mani Ratnam movie. Also the dialogues were lit, with Nellai Tamil and had Jeyamohan touch to it, loved the first one especially where the postman comments, “Mullukae mul veli potu velama seiratha intha oorla than vae pakaen” (Only here will you find thorn-farming done behind a thorn-fence) could it more poetic than this. Beautiful thing there was, it doesn’t get lost even in the translation.

Continuing with the first act, how Muthu’s mother Latchumi (Raadhika Sarathkumar) immediately recognizes the threat that Muthu would be and leaves him to some acquaintance of her was the best part of the whole movie. It could stand along with the first act of ‘Dharma Durai’ How lovely was that part written, leaving us in a state of confusion as to what their relationship would be. And that was complimented well in the direction department by closing the door when Esakki (R Richard James Peter) asks about the story to Muthu in the Parotta stall.

The transformation from the village story to urban story was neatly made. There was no unnecessary, over the top slow Mo sequence. Everything happened organically and Simbu too does a decent job. The plot was the main thing which keeps us hooked and there were scenes after scenes of brilliant dialogues. Kaarji’s (Sara) dialogue at gun point where he tells about why he still believes Simbu wouldn’t kill him, Paavai (Siddhi Idnani) telling about how she was in that place for the last fifteen years were all superbly written. Only a writer can write this. Scenes like those proves how seamlessly the collaboration would have been. How organically each of them (Jeyamohan majorly) would have pitched in.

The track between Kutty Bhai and Sridharan was splendidly written, made and acted. Kutty Bhai was spitting venom in each and every scene. The scene where he says, “vandhu un kai vanatha kaatu” gave me chills. Gautham does really well in those psychotic sex thrillers. It’s a shame that Nadunisi Naaygal flopped, he’d have explored the genre superbly in the first half. May be audience were not ready to accept it in a Tamil film as it was done unapologetically.

Even though the role of Paavai was miniscule and felt unnecessary. It had to be there for the plot twist. Rawther (Jaffer Sadiq) who was responsible for that plot twist, felt more unnecessary than the actress. He was more irritating than the heroine. Probably the only irritating character of the whole movie.

Even though Simbu had done a decent job, I wouldn’t rate is as great because, he just did bare minimum, rest all was taken care by script. Ideally this should have been a film with someone like Teejay, Kathir or Akhil who acted in Kalloori as lead. Akhil in fact would have been a perfect choice. The film would have felt even more believable. But the other side actors were mostly brilliant, especially Kutty Bhai (Siddique) and Sridharan (Neeraj Madhav). But if there was one standout actor, who was above it, it was Raadhika, seriously, what an actor.

Having said everything, why, really why do you want to end the film like that. I thought that Simbu with a beard was a marketing gimmick and a self-parody done superbly. I was getting reviews that the climax was bad. When Simbu takes a walk down the stairs after keeping the wrapped up gun up there, I was unwrapping mine and all gearing up for defending the climax but only after that I understood the pain of audience. It’s a film which should have been left at that point and to make it part two feels pointless. I’m assuming it would be ultra-flop. Let’s see whether I’d be proved wrong.

P.S: Delhi Ganesh as Iyer for such a short scene was a tribute to Nayakan?

Movie Review – Sarvam Thaala Mayam

A rollicking start to a rock bottom end

Some time back, there was a topic doing rounds, called a ‘great first half and silly second half films’. This film fits to tee to that description. I was never interested in this movie at first place. G V Prakash in his regular shabby avatar was a no brainer to avoid the film in spite of having Rahman in music department and Rajiv Menon directing the film. In fact, the posters I thought was a parody but thanks to a recommendation by dear friend, I thought of watching the film and ended up being pleasantly surprised.

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The story is about a young Peter Johnson (G. V. Prakash Kumar), a crazy Vijay fan, who plays music during new releases of Vijay, who doesn’t have much ambition in life. During one chance encounter he goes to deliver mridangam to Vembhu Iyer (Nedumudi Venu) at which times he gets awed by his playing, which makes him want to master the art of mridangam. Being a regular local drums player, he has fast hands and that makes Vembhu Iyer notice him but he doesn’t admit him as his disciple immediately. After a lot of effort Peter gains the trust of Vembhu Iyer.

Even though it feels like a regular rag to riches story, the making is so organic and lovable. We get so attached to the character so that we don’t want him to fail. Also, the friendship angle between Peter and Nandhu/Nandhagopal (Sumesh), another disciple who learns along with him, was nice because his introduction was a curious one where Vembhu Iyer rejects the proposal of shaking hands citing that someone injured his hand. What we think of attitude is actually his respect for art. I have a firsthand experience of it because a guitar teacher whom I know met with an accident while going in bike and injured his finger so he never uses bike but only car. He may minimize expense in other things but would never take a bike instead of car. So, what I thought would be gentle insult turned out the other way around when Nandhu too joins his class and both Peter and Nandhu strike a friendship. Throughout this phase, there was no direct mention of cast or creed, the music united everyone, which was beautiful to watch. Till now it had all the ingredients of a breezy Rajiv Menon film, like that of ‘Kandukondain Kandukondain’ and I thought the film was going to proceed in the same vein but from the interval juncture things went awry.

Nandhu getting wooed by Anjana (Dhivyadharshini) to enter into a reality show where Peter gets caught instead of him and eventually losing the trust of Vembhu Iyer and injuring his finger was nice and tense. But the second half was a total disaster. He who loses everyone starts on a road trip to learn music and title song appears for it. It was as silly as it could get. Ideally that should have been the most inspiring part of the story but the directors nowadays who take travel for granted make these irritating montages and make people cringe for these songs.

The second half went wayward because the reason for Vembhu Iyer to follow the music program and wanting to prove the world that he’s the best looked silly beyond words. Even though his wife’s argument is valid and the scene was lovely, it doesn’t make someone with the stature of Vembhu Iyer to bow down so easily. She was terrific throughout the movie even though she didn’t have any dialogue. The second half still had its moments. The above scene was one, the scene in car with Vedaraman (Sikkil Gurucharan) was a lovely one. Something on the lines of ‘Uttama Villain’ car scene with Andrea. Even the scene where the judges talk outside the scoring avenue was good but altogether it wasn’t convincing in any way. Plus, when the movie ends as if its all for a silly TV program, it was disappointing to the core.

All in all, it was a really good attempt. They had tried something new. But the way it started, it looked as if it was due for something big but instead ends like a reality show cat fight. The movie was definitely nice but I thought by the end I’d like be liking it much more.

Movie Review – Putham Pudhu Kaalai

What starts like a loveable lockdown romance ends up being a numbing corona tale

The theme is lockdown and there are five films about it, the number of mentions of lockdown and corona would be a nice exercise to do while watching the short films because almost every film has a mention of it, a number of times. As if we haven’t heard the news and read the newspapers enough, the terms are annoying to the core. And given the limitations, all filmmakers try really hard to do something worthwhile where some end up successful and some end up desperate but everyone end up doing literal tales with very little cinematic value.

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Let’s look at each of the films, one by one.

Ilamai Idho Idho

The first film is generally a make or break film when it comes to an anthology. So, it has to be carefully selected so that it sets the mood right plus the other films has to be better than the first one, otherwise audience will easily lose interest. ‘Ilamai Idho Idho’ works for its curiosity and terrific cast. Even though Kalidas and Kalyani are cute as a young couple, it’s the seasoned campaigners Jayaram and Urvashi who steal the show. At first when they transformed to young self, I was disappointed because it felt like an insult to old age, to employ young people to act them out but the mix and match of cast worked well as a whole.

Coming from a lady director, the eye for details is amazing, the spoon in the bowl and wet towel on bed are like every household’s melodrama, which one a woman can note. May be for an upper middle-class person with maids to support for every need, this might look cute. But for an average individual, they’d know how annoying these things can get. After the drama, the film ends on a happy note too. Well begun is half done.

Avarum Naanum – Avalum Naanum

The titles, voice over, a delayed heroine entry, English speaking people. You know you’re in for a GVM retreat. Thankfully its not a love story but a story between a grandad and his granddaughter which is done in the same romantic way as how Jessie meets Karthik. Needless to say, M. S. Bhaskar is excellent, for a change, as an educated urban scientist and Ritu Varma as an IT employee, who from a recent hangover of ‘Oru Manam’ looks all the more fabulous as a GVM heroine.

Of all the shorts, this one feels the least desperate, even though there are a lot of mentions of mask and corona. There is an overtly dramatic scene between them both, where the subject is excellent but dialogues were written very poorly, a trademark GVM mistake. Thanks to the cast, they make the scene work. I loved the idea of how a man feels for her daughter’s loss of passion, it’s a great subject which GVM has touched upon but it doesn’t carry on with the same flow. Like any other GVM film, more than the film, we end up loving the heroine and her costumes.

Coffee, Anyone?

The film’s downfall starts from here. A tale of sisters, something which should have had a Jane Austen flair, falls flat because of over enthusiasm of real-life sisters, Anu Hassan and Suhasini Maniratnam, through acting and directing, respectively. Obviously Suhasini has directed because whoever came up with the idea, discussed with their peers and decided to do a lockdown film, it’s not that they hunted for talents. So, this is a pretty bleak subject. An ailing mother whom we first think has corona but thankfully not, her three daughters, one of whom had born late and a father who takes care of wife.

The film is about hope but its as hopeless as it could get, the subject is like how a teenager would write short story, there is absolutely no surprise. There is no logic but only magic but the magic doesn’t work because its like seeing the age-old act for the umpteenth time. If the GVM movie was literal in narrative, this film is literal right from the title. The climax with the granny holding a cup of filter kaapi lokes like a more irritating version of Ashwagandha, Athi Madhuram mixed 3 roses tea ad.

Reunion

Seriously, what was even tried here. It has Andrea who’s hot as hell and wears great gym wears at home and even sings an awesome English song but that’s that. Of all, this looked like the most pointless film. Like a film of an old man who so wanted to prove that he is young. It was a reunion of sorts where a singer meets doctor who has crush on her. There are drugs, biryani and adidas thrown in. Poor Gurucharan C, apart from singing that Ooh la la la song, there isn’t one scene he looked comfortable. Especially going near Andrea, he had a constant fear like a high school student trying to talk to a pretty girl. The climax where he says that the poem is for her, is a point which the audience would have decoded even before the script was written.

Miracle

This would have been a film which most people had eagerly waited for. The film starts with trademark Karthik Subbaraj shots, music and pun. Wonder how Bobby Simha acts so well when it comes to his movies. He was effortlessly funny in this film too but the show stealer would definitely be his friend, Sharath Ravi, who was terrific with his comedy timing. But that’s that. It’s not a film by filmmaker Karthik Subbaraj but only by a short filmmaker Karthik Subbaraj. The film would qualify as one of the films made by contestants but not by a maestro. He’d have easily made this film during his Nalaya Iyakunar days, who knows maybe it’s one of the films he had in mind during those days but couldn’t make. So, he had made it this time with better production value. Except for the scene where the tyre rolls with “Oru kili uruguthu” background, there wasn’t anything funny. But it’s a troupe which has been beaten to death by now, so it fails even in that aspect.

So, my rating of the short film would be almost of the same order it appears on screen.

Reunion < Coffee, Anyone? < Miracle < Avarum Naanum – Avalum Naanum < Ilamai Idho Idho

Movie Review – 2.0

0.0

I guess this could go down as the most disastrous film that I watched this season. Absolutely abysmal and totally out of place. An idea which went awry by pathetic execution and making plasticky characters out of great actors. Sticking to an age-old template which was beaten to death even in rebirth. I wonder why the film was even made at first place and I feel bad for Rajni, more than that, what’s really the need for him to act in such a horrible film. Thank god I didn’t watch it in theatres in 3D, which would have been annoying three times more.

The movie has a decent idea and cool graphics but just that. Everything has already been done in ‘Enthiran’ so what really is the need to make another film. It was like making ‘Dark Knight Rises’ post ‘Dark Knight’, a film where even title couldn’t be original. I think the opening credits take good five minutes. It was used to showcase the 3D effects. Who has so much time to just see objects coming and falling on our face again and again? People who are interested in that would rather go to theme park and do that.  Once that is done, the story immediately starts. I was happy for that. But what Shankar could achieve in Indian, Anniyan etc., he couldn’t here. He couldn’t hold interest of the audience by the cell phone killings. It’s a repetition of what he has done a million times. I’m sure anyone who had watched his previous films would exactly say how many killings would happen, what would the interval block be like, when will the flashback come and finally a great grand climax, post that a cute little twist. 2.0 is an example of how awry his execution went with his formula.

Amy Jackson is a great choice for robot. But even she was given a pathetic role. She now doesn’t fit either as human or robot. Rajnikanth was such a misfit here. Don’t know how someone who did the same role from Enthiran could go horribly role. I guess it’s the characterization and dialogues. Absolutely nothing for Vasi to do. On top of it Aishwarya’s annoying voice over. It looked like a film of 90’s. It’s outdated even for Rajni’s age and experience.

I remember Shankar telling that there would be no songs and movie’s runtime would only be eighty minutes. I was happy that for once he’s going to stick to strictly what’s necessary. Then Rajni comes out in another interview and says that they felt the film was lagging at some parts so added songs. Wow what a revelation. Again, Shankar comes back and says (you know Shankar’s film takes years to complete) that they still have some black box which they’re trying to figure out. Seriously? You make such a big budget film with biggest star and you start the film without having answers for everything?

And for two years and thousand crores what did he imagine. Birdman takes mobile form and kills public. Only one mobile shop where people go and buy mobiles time and again. All his revenges are planned at people related to that mobile shop. And the road in which it is present is clearly sets, even an UKG student would identify that. Even Perarasu makes better sets in his films.

I was okay with all these debacles but when Bakshi enters Rajni’s body, that got me agitated like anything. There were dark circles for Rajni. I was seriously doubting whether it was Enthiran Part-2 or Muni Part-2. Only B grade horror films would use those tricks. Rajni looked like a man possessed and his action to release 2.0 was hopeless. Why couldn’t he just show two of his fingers rather than all the monkey acts. Finally, Vasi gets saved after being hit by a bullet, his body alone comes out and Pakshi gets killed. Man, seriously, 1000 crores?

The side actors are absolutely abysmal. All poorly dubbed characters with pathetic expression. Wonder why such poor selection of actors were made. All this makes Akshay Kumar’s role the best one in the movie. It’s not because his character was well written. It’s because the other characters were so bad that even a less bad character like that of Bakshi Rajan felt like an epic one.

The ending with 3.0 was the grandson of all jokes, if you haven’t had it enough by then.