Movie Review – Captain Miller

An Eye Sore, Ear Jar, Misfire of a film.

Never in my wildest dreams, did I imagine a film I chose to watch in theatres, out of my own interest, would be this bad. I should have understood by seeing only ten tickets booked for the show. But thinking that it has become a trend to watch films in OTT, I thought I was in for something special. But my first movie experience in theatre for this year ended up to be a debacle. It was nothing but a star vehicle disguised in the form of corny art film, which in the end misses to be both.

The film starts with all guns blazing and ends the same way and gets our ears impaired. I was sitting in the last row of the theatre. Similar to how I was sitting for ‘Oppenheimer’ Being a Nolan film, there were lot of fan boys who were defining where to sit for optimal film viewing, film hearing experience, when to loo, how much your bladder can hold etc. This film didn’t have any such advice. I was excited for the bass at the start of the movie and even was appreciating why it’s always a terrific feel to watch film in theatres but by the end of it, I was dead and tired. I was in the state of, “sugar patient ra naanu”.

Dhanush was getting high praise for his role of Captain Miller. It’s becoming very problematic when non Tamil people judge Dhanush’s acting. They were raving about ‘Raanjhanaa’ at the time of the release. Guess Bollywood is so tuned by its larger than life hero’s that even such a normal realistic acting feels like epitome of acting experience to them. It was the same for Miller. Dhanush does nothing extraordinary.

It was very difficult to understand what the film was trying. Was Arun Matheswaran, kidnapped by Dhanush and at knife point, was made to write an artsy story with commercial elements. The film was boring and bland, for the sake of appropriate adjective. There is Dhanush, who is Analeesan or Eesa who later becomes Miller or Captain Miller. Even a fourth standard student would be able to decode what the director was trying to do with names. He’s Eesan, the great god of destruction, who would come out of myth to save the village and in the journey kills a few thousand people and gets killed a lot of his people. It’s very difficult to understand when would he side with whom, yet he’s showcased as a character with clear motives.

There were a lot of corny dialogues, symbolisms and rapturous music. Hell, even the art direction was elementary. In the end nothing makes sense. It just feels like a loud ‘Maryan’ Dhanush’s choice of heroines are great to see in instagram but they do nothing in the film. In a film where she’s supposed to be strong with arms and words, the only scene Priyanka Mohan feels at home is when she smiles. What a misfit. Velmati (Priyanka Arul Mohan), except for her name was a disaster in all aspects. Truly resonating the fact that she’s nothing but a Melugu Doll.

There were two more interesting peculiar characters, Sengolan (Shiva Rajkumar) and Captain Rafiq (Sundeep Kishan). There is one shot where the three of them join hands and do an ‘Aayutha Ezhuthu’. By that time, I was tired to even criticize. Seriously, when there was so much guns and bombs around, who comes with a sword and bow and arrow to fight. (I could only remember Hawkeye coming with his bow and arrow and making a great scene dumb in the first Avengers movie.) And that was supposed to be heroic. Is this even the guy who made ‘Rocky’. And don’t get me started with the parallels he was trying to show between the two films with the help of ammunition.

Of course action films like these come up with a certain suspension of disbelief but the whole film being so was unacceptable. How was even Dhanush dodging so many bullets in the interval, why were none shooting at Dhanush when he was surrendering? Why were all the characters so one dimensional. Why so much Deus ex machina in a supposedly noncommercial movie. And who was this guy with munda baniyan and sunglasses, who comes out to save all the main characters just in time. But thanks to him, he was the only fun factor in an otherwise dull action movie. And finally that reveal, oh my god, it was truly exhausting. What should have been like the scene where Parthiban raises hand in ‘Aayirathil Oruvan’ ends up to be like a total spoof? Is that sculpture supposed to look like Dhanush, or is it just me.

Out of three hours, the only scene which works is, when Eesa is in the army camp, Abdool Lee (Sembatta / Stephen) is criticized by one from the group getting the name. That reaction of Dhanush when he says, “enga ponalum ipdi oruthan vanthuran” was the only natural aspect of the whole film which tries to do so many things, without knowing what.

After ‘Rocky’ I was truly happy for Arun Matheswaran, so much so that, I didn’t want to immediately watch ‘Saani Kaayidham’ and exhaust his filmography. But after ‘Captain Miller’ I seriously doubt whether he has anything in him. More than anything, the film was such a disappointment.

Movie Review – Soorarai Pottru

A momentary success

“Paya pudichitan… elaam Technology,” said Delhi Ganesh about Suriya in Ayan and eleven years after that’s what exactly he has done, by releasing his movie in OTT platform. With no problem for First Day First Show tickets not being available, everyone who were interested in the movie watched first day first show at the luxury of their home. But what’s special is, it made even someone who’d not have been really that interested to watch First Day First Show of the movie too, to have watched it on the very first day. Thanks to the curiosity. There might have been few films to release directly in OTT platform before this one but this is the first star movie to release. It’s definitely not an easy decision to make, in spite of not being a fan of Suriya, I highly appreciate that.

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Ideally this is what Kamal would have wanted with his ‘Viswaroopam’. It became a blockbuster and was enjoyed widely in theatres along with the typical theatre moments like the transformation scene. But all that is a different issue. Down the line, like how ‘Alibabavum 40 Thirudargalum’ would be remembered as first colour film, this would be remembered as first major OTT film. I too watched the film with same curiosity like many. I don’t remember following the updates of any Surya film before that. May be ‘Ghajini’, that too just to make sure that it’s not as good as ‘Anniyan’. But that’s it.

The movie opens with the trailer scene where a Deccan Air flight is trying to land and conveniently every swear word which Nedumaaran Rajangam/Maara/Maaran (Suriya) says is not lip synced on screen. Either it is a clever move to avoid censors or Suriya being a typical goody goody guy didn’t want to swear on screen. But it doesn’t matter, the swear words don’t have an impact here like a Vetrimaran film or isn’t used in a fancy fashion like a GVM movie. Vijay Kumar has to be appreciated for ingenuine writing. In Sudha Kongra’s previous movie, ‘Irudhi Suttru’ too the swear words were so ingenuine. Plus, Maddy’s character demanded it, which he delivered to perfection. I still remember the last dialogue to the association head, “tha ne gaali da”

The movie doesn’t take a linear screenplay, may be Sudha wanted to make a more impactful film so there is a high-tension opening scene, a sad interval scene and again a high climax. I don’t see any other reason for making the film in nonlinear fashion. Anyways that doesn’t affect the flow of the film. The songs do though, which is a problem with any Tamil film. The director has tried her best to make a fast-paced biographical movie, which is not at all easy unless you’re a Scorsese but whenever songs appear, no matter how good it is, it spoils the flow. Even while I was watching with the family, I was intrigued and had a conversation only during the songs. That’s something that could have been taken care.

Suriya does a fabulous job in the movie. Even the name suits him so much. Generally, no matter how hard he performs he looks desperate but here he has great screen presence. Thanks to the tight frames where they haven’t given him space in the open, all our concentration lies on him. The two best scenes of the movie where the one where his country people give him money and the climax scene. Both being emotional ones he performs really well. In fact, that’s the plus point of the movie, it’s something which audience could emotionally connect to.

Aparna Balamurali too does a fabulous job. I recently watched ‘Sarvam Thaala Mayam’ and wasn’t much impressed of her but here he does a fabulous job. Especially with her diction of Tamil. She matches Suriya scene to scene. Paresh Rawal as Paresh Goswami too does a fair job and so does Prakash Belawadi as Prakash Babu. Wish the latter had been the villain as I’m a big fan of him. He could have added more dimension to the story. Mohan Babu as M. Bhaktavatsalam Naidu got to be cutest hateable person on screen.

Overall, the movie would win hearts, it has its moments but still like how ‘24’ is enjoyable but not a coherent film, ‘Soorarai Pottru’ too feels the same. It’s a tad lengthy, the situations are repetitive with the hero going down on one scene and raising from ashes in the next scene. It happens again and again. Instead the director could have invested on one situation and built the scene through it, rather than giving moments of excellence again and again, something on the lines of ‘Guru’. By the time the film ends, we lose connect to the character, it becomes evident that he’d anyways win. It in a way is a mark of losing interest but thankfully it doesn’t go to that level. What should have been an edge of the seat thriller becomes a drama film with time.

Sudha Kongara is good at making star vehicles without it being called so. ‘Irudhi Suttru’ too treaded on the same lines which worked more because it was like a comeback movie of Madhavan. Similarly, this movie too works more as Suriya’s different attempt rather than being a different movie. It being a biographical movie can be cited as an excuse but that can’t last long.

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 – Visaranai

A good film which could have been greater

‘Visaranai’ was one of the films which was in my list for a long long time. At the time of release, it was so low profile that I didn’t know it was by Vetrimaaran. But anyways it didn’t look like his other films too, so I wasn’t interested much in it. The whole film had a documentary kind of look so I didn’t want to venture out into a tear jerker like ‘Angadi Theru’ and spoil my mood. ‘Visaranai’ looked like the film which was only made for awards but when I watched now, I knew there were a lot of misconceptions.

Even before the start of the film, I knew that it was not going to be a positive movie. As soon as the film opened my thought was proved to be right. Right from the notes at opening and when Pandi’s (Dinesh Ravi) friend Murugan (Aadukalam Murugadoss) says that watchman would ask for money for starting so early, the tone of the film was set. We see Inspector Muthuvel (Samuthirakani) and gang searching for a someone in the area where Murugan works in the stores. The cuss words were free flowing throughout the film and were superbly written. Good that I watched in Netflix, nothing was cut and felt proper. Vetrimaaran is always good in that aspect. The nativity is superb, especially with respect to Chennai slang.

The first part of the film was about Pandi and his friends getting caught by the police for reason unknown, where they’re asked to confess for a crime which they haven’t committed. Those scenes were shot well and was very intense. The first part of the movie, till the point where they go to court could have been a proper docudrama. Maybe it’d have been a totally negative film but it’d have proved the point. Maybe he wanted to start off with that concept as Vetrimaaran’s initial plan was to make this as an experimental film.

Things get better in the second half where they get released but we always have the fear at the back of the mind like they do. A lot happens in the second half. The film enters into a thriller mode from a realistic mode and again they’re used as scape goats. The sequence after the made-up suicide lets down the whole movie. The movie loses its sheen post that. Even though interesting, the climax where the encounter scenes start was a letdown and the last shot was a total disaster. It ended up giving a satisfaction of watching an edge of the seat thriller rather than being depressed about the situation.

Vetrimaaran has this knack of making movies with ‘impact’. Impact here would mean keeping us grooved to the movies, like how he did in ‘Asuran’. He isn’t getting near what he achieved in ‘Pollathavan’ post that film. Most of his movies end up being liked for its shock value. It’s more like a well-made horror film. He always gets a great story, a revenge drama or a man in crisis and then creates situation where people would sympathize with them, hate the antagonist and the protagonist finally kills them or gets used to kill. I won’t call it as experimenting. He knows the craft; he uses it to the fullest effect to reap the yields.

Wish his movies would be more multidimensional than being about one person’s tyranny. I’d like to see how he could create characters from both the spectrum and give life to it by telling both their positive and negative side. All we’ve seen in his film is hatred going higher notch by notch as the film passes. We back the protagonist so much so that we get blinded by whatever happens around him.

Movie Review – Ugly

Ugly with a capital F

You get the meaning of the word right from the word go. One of the most horrible opening sequences. Great music and a woman trying to commit suicide but quickly deciding against it seeing a ‘kid’. A kid not so lovely where you go ‘aww’. In fact, in one scene a policeman says that people don’t kidnap dusky girls (incidentally her name is Kali) in India, they only kidnap the pretty ones. That’s how horrible the whole mood of the film is. There is no slightest of clue to know that the film was going to revolve around her. But she was terrific in that role.

A lot of things happen, we know none are happy. An alcoholic wife, an irritated police officer, a failed ex actor, his friend who had an affair with his wife, a b-grade actress with whom the actor stays. So, its FUBAR situation in every angle. A poor (not so poor) kid who’s in the midst of these things, gets kidnapped. Now do you understand the situation.

There was not a single scene that feels relaxed. Immediately after the kidnap, a chase happens. Just by going up and down in a staircase the kidnapper irritates you. Post that, Rahul (Rahul Bhat) and his casting director Chaitanya (Vineet Kumar Singh) go to the police to file a case. Its a scene which gets on you. Inspector Jadhav (Girish Kulkarni) is someone whom you’ll instantly hate. He was prolific. The whole scene was superbly made. All we notice is Jadhav’s acting but other two too were great, just by the way they nod their head.

What makes both kidnapping and the complaint scene great was the way it was built. When the kid Kali (Anshika Shrivastava) gets into Rahul’s car we see him as a macho guy who’s uninterested, he goes to a house and sits with his feet on the table, that would be shown in the camera. We see him in a villainous mode, as a powerful person, but as soon as he loses his daughter and goes to police his heroism is gone. Similarly, Jadhav who infuriates them with his jokes would be shell shocked knowing that the lost kid is Shoumik Bose’s (Ronit Roy) daughter. Thus, losing his heroism too. It happens with everyone. In the preceding scene Bose hits Rahul who is unable to retaliate, he shows who’s the powerful man. In a much latter scene after Rahul gets arrested for robbery, we see him telling Rahul that if at all anyone could save the child, it would be him. We all know what happens at last. So even Bose’s heroism goes up in tatters.

That’s how beautifully the scenes were written. Gem of a writer Kashyap is. He is a great director, a better writer and the best maker, a visionary. The way he conceives the whole scene is just tremendous. He shows all the craft through one prolific scene i.e. the one after Shalini’s (Tejaswini Kolhapure) brother Siddhant (Siddhanth Kapoor) gets his share of fifty lakhs. Him dancing to the song with money in his underwear was tremendous in itself but what’s greater is the layers on top of it. Police would have already been outside his door when he was dancing, he wouldn’t have been knowing that he was about to get caught any time. On the other hand, Bose gets shot by his wife where the scene cuts but he doesn’t die, quite possible as she couldn’t hit the target, she’s not a trained professional. Bose comes with the gun and points it at Siddhant, it was already a terrific scene and would have been great end to the scene even with layers but he faints while pointing the gun at him, that makes the scene a genius one. Even if my both hands had been tied, I’d have come out of it and clapped for that scene.

There was not a single good character in the film. I thought the two men will unite and finally find her, even that doesn’t happen. The question of morality too gets questioned. Whether its right for them to blame the situation for what they do or they’re just plain evil or that’s how ugly the whole world is. The whole movie was shot in just everyday locales so there isn’t anything special or different but we see the lives of people to be so fucked up.