Movie Review – Jailer

Where is Thalaivar heading to?

Ya ya, “Thalaivaru Nerantharam” and all is fine but what really it does apart from making a seventy year old man keep on walking in slow mo throughout the film. If slow mo is what I want I’d have rather watch Megan Fox in ‘Transformers 2’. Between ‘Jailer’ and ‘Leo’, probably the only two movies, which I thought, would’ve been nice if I had watched in theatre last year, I thought ‘Jailer’ would be better, because people were raving it. But apart from few moments which Rajini would make his own, no matter how crappy the director is, as a film ‘Jailer’ didn’t appeal. ‘Leo’ even though wasn’t great, at least had good filmmaking skills compared to this. What’s worse is even though I criticize, I enjoyed it while watching. That is dangerous.

Seeing Thalaivar in promos where he polishes his son’s shoes and gets ridiculed by his grandson, I thought the movie would have tried to create fake humility, but fortunately it was not the case. Nelson’s comic take worked. “Tiger” Muthuvel Pandian (Rajinikanth) is shown as a powerful man right from the word go, even when he is kidnapped when his son is on a mission. I must say, it was well handled. I expected, that for some time, he would play underdog and suddenly come to power but it was not the case. It might have worked better this way but would have been usual. Anyways the first part where he was not the ‘hero’ was only short lived and largely unappealing. There was not even an iota of sadness when we get to know that his son is killed. The director absolutely doesn’t give us any time to reminiscent.

Post that its usual Rajini template, only that there were three more people to walk in slow mo along with him. Even though monotonous, it all works due to the music and Rajini’s screen presence. But there is absolutely no creativity. Music is the same old, jarring, high octane pieces, which would last for the time being. One guy during some conversation casually said that Anirudh is a trending guy and not a trendsetter like Harris. There are complaints about Harris but that’s for another day. For now Anirudh’s music is working.

The crux of the story is nice, Nelson has packaged the story well with dark humor, the climax twist works, the villain is good, the cameos are good, even Tiger’s son Arjun (Vasanth Ravi) is good in whatever space he gets. I can get your mind voice, “ithuku mela vera ena da venum”. But altogether there was something missing. The film doesn’t feel coherent. Somehow Nelson and Rajini together sell this film. But we don’t get to feel for the events happening in the film. The highs are lows are ebbing. When Arjun dies, when the treasure is obtained, and all the main points in the film, we don’t feel the sadness or the elation, the characters feel. We just nod to what the actors say in that specific scene. But may be a lot many liked it because the emotion in the climax shot was brilliant, it hits the nail right on the head.

The trend of cameos are irritating. They just pull in people from different industry just for face value to sell it. We don’t get to know anything about them and absolutely no back story. We are applauding them for the stars they are and not for the role in the film. As it’s the beginning, it’s exciting but I’m sure it’s going to become a trend and soon become a cringe fest like Marvel Cinematic Universe. But I confess, the climax scene where they all light up the cigar together, I couldn’t sit in my seat out of excitement.

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 – Leo

An actor in fine form and a director who believes in his craft, sell this mediocre film, thanks to the sincerity.

Thanks to a lot of backlash, it took me a while to watch the film. For the hype it generated before it, I too, like many of you, wanted the film to fail. But it was surprisingly cool. Good that I already got to know about the fake flashback and boring second half. I was prepared for a snooze fest. But I was happy how Lokesh made an ambitious project, within his limits, in a blockbuster format movie. Lokesh and now Nelson, even though are lifting the standards of blockbuster genre with their way of handling cinema, it’s sad to see that they are inspiring a bunch of youngsters in just making a good film as a road to a big star’s project.

The film starts with an amazing Sandy and his gang stealing a house. Their whole part was done superbly and left to surprise as what they’re capable with, may be in some other film of LCU. Of course the looks and the way Sandy behaved was a template psycho character, yet it still worked. In fact the whole first half worked like a charm. It’s lovely to see how Lokesh is making a genre of his own, with this fake identity thing. He makes the story with a lot more respect than other masala filmmakers do.

The much coveted Hyena sequence happens next. It’s a reasonably well choreographed sequence. But don’t know why Vijay never gets his wig right. VFX was top notch. There are bound to be comparisons with the grizzly bear sequence of ‘The Revenant’ (a film and a sequence which I didn’t like) but it’s understandable that they couldn’t go to the level of that, with the limited expertise and budget available. Overall the sequence was a fair deal and how it acted as a setup for many things in the movie, about Parthi’s (Vijay) affinity towards animals, Joshy’s (Gautham Vasudev Menon) shooting skills, Siddhu’s (Mathew Thomas) javelin skills etc. Only because of that scene, in the second half when Siddhu throws the Javelin at Parthi, it was that powerful, otherwise it would have been bland like Andrea with the bow and arrow in Master. Also loved the suddenness of the title card post. It was short and sweet.

Vijay was at his charming best. I’m afraid I’m becoming a fan of him. I hate to confess but he’s aging like a fine wine. In this film as a father of two kids, his chemistry with them were amazing. Especially the “Karu Karu Karupayi” sequence, he absolutely owned it. Both Trisha and her character was dull and boring and there was absolutely no chemistry between the two of them, which was sad to see. It’s really difficult to be a woman testosterone filled Lokiverse. The only kind of women which would appeal in his films would be like that of Agent Tina (Vasanthi).

The highlight of the film would definitely be the fight sequences, whether or not it was clinical, whether or not it worked for you, each one was taken with so much effort and sincerity, every fight had a theme. It was like watching Shankar film’s song. Even though by now it had become redundant, he was the first person who invested (not just the money) on songs. But hopefully this concept doesn’t get beaten to death and become an excuse for bad writing.

By the time, the glass breaks and we hear the “Badass”, Lokesh almost sells the film, with the help of terrific Vijay. Anything and everything which happens in the film post that (except for that click of a tongue to call Subramani) is him trying to have a conclusive end to the film. The flashback was a disaster, especially as soon as Elisa Das (Madonna Sebastian) appears in the film. How are we supposed to sympathize for a character we had just seen? And Leo escaping the place too wasn’t convincing.

It’s followed by few high octane sequences and one sudden breakdown of Parthi in front of his wife. In cricket, you can say how well a batsman is in form, by the sound of ball striking the willow. That scene felt like it. Vijay doesn’t do that type of sequence anymore. There he doesn’t cheat only his wife but us too. Such terrific acting. The character reveal in the end was just ‘meh’ but how Lokesh has cleverly found out what works for Vijay and what doesn’t is shown in the end by his supposed comic take in the dinner table and his hesitancy in picking the call in the climax. A similar sequence would be there in ‘Master’ where he’d with his students and climb the stairs saying, “apdi enatha than da pesitu irupanga”. Its minute things like these which Lokesh has extracted from Vijay, which makes the film nice.

I hate to believe that he’s adding songs just for the market. I guess he too enjoys it. It was okay for “Pathala Pathala”, even though unnecessary, everyone were happy to see Andavar having his due of fun but “Naan Ready” was totally unnecessary and cringe. I don’t want to read too much into his idea of drug free society and LCU. It just feels like the message in ‘Thulluvadho Ilamai’, where they show everything and ask them not to do.

Movie Review – Ponniyin Selvan: II

An alluring ode to the epic

Even though together it has to be viewed as a single film, the part two of Ponniyin Selvan felt lot more grounded than Ponniyin Selvan: I as things felt in place. Except for the one badly staged climax fight, the film was perfect in its treatment. There wasn’t a single mass scene in an epic which people were trying to make for generations. Even though not the finest films of Mani Ratnam, he time and again shows what a matured director he is. The movie is so good that it makes us forget about the book and enjoy the film as a Mani Ratnam product.

Like I said before, there wasn’t a single adrenaline pumping scene. There could’ve been so many scenes which he could have made to make people jump with joy but he keeps it to absolutely minimal. Whatever minimal things it was, it was reserved for Ponniyin Selvan (Jayam Ravi). Lucky Jayam Ravi, who shines in the film quite surprisingly. And one of the few characters who get some screen space apart from Nandini (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan).

Ideally this film should have been a spin-off of Ponniyin Selvan with Nandini and Karikalan (Vikram) track, it in fact felt like it. Because the part two works pretty much like a love story, which Mani Ratnam is brilliant at. It’s not just the senior Nandini and Karikalan who make you glued to the screen but even their younger versions do a fabulous job. It takes great guts to start an epic film with so many heroes as a fairytale between two young adults. Seriously, Mani Ratnam deserves a bow.

Even though Nandini and Karikalan’s angle add great depth to the story and the entire film revolves around the plot. It’s Aishwarya’s show all the way. There were lot of people (North Indian’s) appreciating Vikram’s acting but mostly they’d not have seen a Ravanan or Pithamagan. This film is nothing in front of that and an ideal way to treat the character would’ve been to introduce around the interval of the first part and kill him in the climax, that’s how it happens in the book and it’s most impactful. Wonder why Vikram’s screen space was so elongated when realistically he doesn’t have fan following who’d make people come to theatre just because he’s in part two. As for the performance, even though the combination scenes with Aishwary was great, it was one of his weakest performances.

Probably the greatest scene of the book where Karikalan meets Pazhuvettarayar should have been lot more dynamic but here it falls flat because, right from the word go, Sarath Kumar doesn’t look like a menacing villain and doesn’t feel like a challenge at all to Vikram. Ideally Sarath Kumar should have been a ‘you know who’, who should have been called a Voldemort by Vikram, to the shock of everyone. People who had not read the book are never going to understand that scene now.

Unlike the first half, Vanthiyathevan (Karthi) doesn’t have much to do in the second part because the film is lot more focused and serious, thankfully so. Even though it’s a drama at the end of the day, at least a little bit effort could have been put in the action sequences, which were pretty bad. And if at all the idea is to make it an intense drama, why to have the needless climax war sequence, which spoilt everyone’s mood as it was not necessary and was not shot well too.

Ideally it’d have been perfect as a single film. Whether you make it as a two part film or five part film or a series, you still can’t take every little thing from the book. To even compare it that way is not right. It’d have been lovely if it had been in the tempo of a Thavamai Thavamirundhu and shot as a single film. There were easily few unnecessary scenes in first part and few scenes from second half too could’ve have been removed and made it into a film close to four hours. May be they wanted to cash in on the opportunity. Anyways at least we get to see this.

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 – Love Today

Trending the new waves

After a debaculous ‘Comali’, ‘Love Today’ was at the top of my must not watch list. Like any guilty pleasure movies, emotions overtake you at the least imaginable moments. ‘Love Today’ was a houseful on a Friday night even after one month of its release and the crowds were enjoying like anything. It was all understandable but the unprecedented success would have dumfounded even the makers I believe. What’s scary is, if youngsters benchmark itself is going to be these “trending” movie, would Atlee become their Godfather.

The first twenty minutes of the movie was hard to digest. The protoganist, Uthaman Pradeep’s (Pradeep Ranganathan), acting was difficult to digest but it in a while, it sets in. The biggest advantage Pradeep had as an actor was his boy next door look. He reminds us of one of the guys, whom you’d not have thought would be in your friends group but he’d have eventually got into it, without no one knowing how. Or he’d have been the funny guy in the next group of friends, whom even though you like, you wouldn’t really feel like talking to him. I saw him in that perspective, more so on the latter. Generally, we think from protagonist’s angle. It didn’t happen here, if it had happened for you, it’d have been lot more enjoyable for you.

He was a surprisingly good actor. His acting works especially for this character where he had to be loud and dramatic. His interviews too were trending for the same reason, as he had this college humor in tact with him. But how long it would last is the question. After ‘Comali’ I thought he wouldn’t exist but he gave a bigger hit with ‘Love Today’ so for now he’s fine.

Obviously between the leads, everyone would vouch for Nikitha’s (Ivana) character for her acting skills. She was beautiful and did a terrific job in romance scenes but generally most of the heroines are good in romantic scenes. It’s the male stars who always falter. But here Pradeep does a fabulous job. Especially the scene where he tries to pin Nikitha’s saree in a scene, he would give even top heroes a run for money.

There were few laughs in the first half and slightly less in the second half but most of it were already the ones which had been trending in Facebook. It wasn’t a full on laugh riot. If Comali took certain cringe factors and used everything together to get 90s kid’s attention, here it takes to another level. Unfortunately it works and that’s the scary part, exactly like how something is very problematic if you start liking Atlee’s film. These are films with absolutely no ambition. They are youngsters who are supposed to take risks and experiment, not showcase something for temporary joy.

Having said all that, it was not an easy task to have just a single concept of phone exchange as crux and move the story forward. Long time I had written a story about two people talking to each other in office chat. Being a fan of dialogues, I had written it, which I wanted to make it a short film. I had no idea how to make these conversations look like they’re not monotonous. Pradeep’s biggest success here was in achieving that. Except for that one scene in bathroom where all the chat windows were given life, there wasn’t any openly “different” way of showing the texts. In fact it was done so well that people don’t feel that they’re reading only the texts.

Pradeep somehow uses elements against Uthaman’s character in the second half and makes it harsh and relatable. But still the film felt like an attack on Nikitha’s character more than Uthaman. Nikitha explaining to her sister and Uthaman explaining to her mother about how the other parties were not so bad was outright cringe. It was just like the rain scene in ‘Comali’. But there is no other way to come to a conclusion. Having good actors proved to be an advantage for these scenes. Post that it was a series of confessions and pep talks. By this time you’re already in the zone and accept what he says.

In the end the film fares better than ‘Comali’ in both the comedy aspects and emotional ones as the former was more fun and relatable and the latter was made acceptable by some intelligent filmmaking and acting. Plus his choice of actors, especially the females were nice. Everyone was pretty (reminded me of Shankar songs extras) and given at least some time to be registered. He wasn’t trying to show only the heroine as goddess and others less superior to her.

P.S: This was the first time three not so famous/trending songs of Vikram had come in a single film as pop culture reference. Ennodu Nee Irundhaal, Chi chi chi, Ithunundu Muthathile. Of course he credited Vijay and not Vikram. All that was understandable.

P.S.S: Don’t tell me he’s a fan of Vikram, I’d be damned!

Movie Review – Nizhalgal

A long term wish

It was a long term wish to watch the movie but due to largely depressing comments I tried to avoid it. Thanks to its anniversary along with ‘Varumayin Niram Sigappu’, I got a chance to watch this movie. The comments indeed were real. It was a largely depressing movie and on top of it was an unsettling movie. It shows promise with certain scenes and just when we want to lured by it, it puts us off with a completely abysmal scene. Of course it was a different attempt and director Bharatiraja wanted to explore something. But was the experiment a success, is a question which is left to be desired.

If you compare with ‘Varumayin Niram Sigappu’, it doesn’t even stand a chance because, ‘Varumayin Niram Sigappu’ was clinical. There was nothing you could find fault with respect to that film. May be your ideologies can differ and you can hate something, some characters but the end product was something which was perfectly planned and executed. But when it comes to ‘Nizhalgal’, even though it can be appreciated for trying to do something out of ordinary, it was not clear whether the confusion was intentional as part of the script or the director himself was confused with what he has written.

We see three characters, Prabhu (Rajasekaran), Gopi (Ravi) and Hari (Chandrasekhar) trying to attain a goal in life. Prabhu is a weed smoking college student, trying to attain salvation. Someone who doesn’t know what really he wants in life. Gopi is an individual trying to get a job, because he’s an idealist, he lands into problems and Hari, an aspiring music director. The only relatable thing between all three of them was the confusion. In the process of identying who they really were, they lose themselves.

Mahalakshmi (Rohini) plays the love interest of Ravi but not clear whether she has affections for Prabhu as well. Rohini played her part to perfection and was atrociously beautiful too. In fact, she looked like the only well written character. Prabhu as much as he wants to be shown as scholar, doesn’t really appear so. Maha and others around him had to constantly hype his character citing what a different individual he was. And his weed smoking scenes were badly shot too. Wish some research had been made. Cinematically too his character wasn’t appealing.

Gopi’s character on the other hand gets defined in that one interview scene, which definitely could have been better made. At least Hari’s character was better when it comes to the other two and Chandrasekar being a naturally charming individual amongst the rest, he was better suited for the role.

It’s a shame that Ilayaraja has come up with his best work for this film. The actors especially don’t deserve such great songs. And the songs too were not matching with the film, especially the lyrics. Wonder what the idea behind it was, because the songs were wholly optimistic, whereas the film was entirely pessimistic. Interesting thing was, in spite of that, the film was a musical because all the songs had a proper lead too it, it was also shot well with scenes cinematically defining the lyrics. Funny thing is that it was a confusing film for the same reason. The film need not have a proper path, individuals can be confused but if the film doesn’t even have a proper blueprint and doesn’t know what it was trying to exhibit, then it’s a problem. ‘Nizhalgal’ felt like one such film.

Of course there are enough problems even before the climax or the pre climax sequences, which was a total disaster. The conclusion felt forceful and wanted to depict all characters to be out of their mind. In a way it was a dystopian society. But starting with the death of Gopi’s father, it triggers a series of death. First being Mani’s (Manivannan) son Singam (Master Haja Sheriff), then the money lender (Janagaraj) and then the leads. The entire sequence felt hurried and makes the audience lose interest. It makes people disown the individual and the end of the movie only feels like a relief out of their depressing world.

Movie Review – Maanaadu

A Venkat Prabhu Fun Ride

Only a Venkat Prabhu film can guarantee a fun ride like this. An absolute guilty pleasure. I’m not saying this to demean the film because it was a sincere attempt, but nevertheless a great guilty pleasure. Thankfully the film doesn’t go to ‘Tenet’ mode and keeps its food grounded with the fun factor more than anything else. With enough number of puns and funs, the movie not only thrills you but keeps you engaged till the end. It’s like one of the rides in the theme park which gives you an unexpected satisfaction.

The movie begins with a usual big hero gimmick but it can be easy overlooked as it was not irritating. The first twenty minutes of Venkat Prabhu’s films would always be the worst, if it doesn’t pick up after that, it means that it’s a debacle. But movies like ‘Saroja’ and ‘Maanaadu’ pick up post that and give enough satisfaction. So the flight scene, a mandatory glass break, a needless song etc. bores you out, but by now everyone would have got used to Venkat Prabhu’s style of filmmaking so they’d have been okay. The films tension starts as soon as S. J. Surya gets introduced and consequent death/deaths.

We get to know about his reliving post the first death and movie was well shot for those sequences, with these many people. It’s not a movie to knit pick on the missing details but something we’ve to just go with the flow and enjoy. So it was a fairly enjoyable ride. Wish Kalyani Priyadarshan had got some more role rather than just being a dumb heroine. Wonder how if she does the same in Malayalam movie, it works but in Tamil movie it feels dumb. Others were just irritating characters with just no value. The whole film was just a faceoff between S J Suryah and Simbu.

Abdul Khaliq (Silambarasan) is an NRI returning from Dubai for a friend’s marriage. In fact to marry off a friend by abducting the girl for it, but a turn of events makes him realize that he has some bigger purpose and continues reliving the same day. The logic was silly but it’s good that they didn’t delve deep into that except for a short explanation. The whole Hindu-Muslim thing too was absurd and needless. Wish it didn’t try to be of any bigger purpose than it really was. But anyways if we dig deep, it’s our mistake, these needs to be dealt at surface level and washed off. Then you’ll get an enjoyable ride.

Generally in a film like this, after we get to know about the reason of time loop, it becomes redundant but the interval block where it was revealed that DCP V. Dhanushkodi (S. J. Suryah) too loops back in time, it becomes interesting. Kudos to Venkat Prabhu for keeping the audience in hook till the climax. Some tactics like dying many times during fight and coming back to escape from death was handled efficiently. But isn’t it how a normal human would have the death probability. Only because our heroes are super powerful they escape these many deaths naturally.

In all its one of the movies which was fun but could have been a lot more fun if watched with a crowd in theatre.

Movie Review – Rocky (2021)

Love thy violence

In what looks like a marriage between ‘Old Boy’ and ‘Super Deluxe’, this looks like a first proper film in the gore genre for Tamil cinema. Something which ‘Boys’ did to Adult film genre in Tamil cinema. The director, Arun Matheshwaran seems to have a strong liking towards violence and it wasn’t used just as a showbiz tool but as a world which he has created. Even though parts of it would definitely remind you of Korean films, it doesn’t come out as a film where the violence gives you a sadistic high but a definitive scare. May be because it’s the first film where this amount of gore had a native flavor to it.

The posters of the film was done brilliantly with all the characters together, Rocky (Vasanth Ravi), Manimaran (Bharathiraja) and co. It gave a Thevar Magan feel with Bharathiraja sitting in front and Rocky standing behind him with a number of associates. It felt like one whole gang who were fighting together against someone but on watching the film we realize it’s the complete opposite. May be the poster was done so intentionally to give a shock or done with the idea of the past of them. Even without the hidden meanings it was brilliant but after we get to know the story, it only becomes better.

As soon as the movie starts we get to know that it has a world of its own, just like ‘Super Deluxe’. The timelines are quite confusing because the film doesn’t take a traditional angle where the hero ages physically. Going by the angle that Manimaran’s son (Rishikanth) killed Rocky’s mother Malli (Rohini) and Rocky avenged him for that and spends time in jail, there was hardly any change physically of Rocky. It’s a kind of film that a question for that shouldn’t be raised. Just like how someone comes out of blue to try to kill Rocky’s Niece Malli (Anisha). Films like these give confidence to young directors to create whatever they like, without the need to stick by the tradition.

But even in a film which tries to be its own, why do you have to have songs. Especially the song when Rocky meets his sister Amudha (Raveena Ravi) spoils both the sequence before it and post it. It was a beautiful long shot to her room and back to road, giving a chill but thanks to the song we get to breathe a sigh of relief, post that we see Amudha dying in front of Rocky. The song could have easily been avoided to have the emotions swinging from tension to sweetness to horror but guess the director wanted to use the song as a tool for sweetness, which only led to relaxation. In fact it was the only point of relaxation in an otherwise solid tense movie.

Quite contrary to other Hitman movies, this film doesn’t feature bulked up people as goons but rather fragile ones actually. The horror is in their action and not looks. Especially Manimaran’s introduction scene where he explains how he was successful in fishery business was lit. Because till then Thanraj (Ashraf Mallisery) looks comic in his act of going front and back in a road roller but only when it looks like a threat we get to know what a horrific villain he was.

It could have been a terrific climax after all the blood and gore, but Lokesh Kanagaraj single handedly has spoilt the entire generation’s expectations by giving a definition an overdose of gun action in Kaithi. That’s why every other film which has similar climax looks meek. But thankfully, an actor with an otherwise average voice modulation, delivers one hell of a punch in the climax, which gives enough climax to watch the film till end with the glee, “Maman thangai magalaana, Mangai unakaaga, Ulagai vilai pesuvaar”

Movie Review – Ponniyin Selvan: I

A non-gimmicky, classy period flick which makes us enjoy the film like a book reading session.

Finally the dream for so many filmmakers across generations has been made true by a filmmaker who has been considered as one of the India’s finest. But what makes the film special was the treatment by Mani Ratnam. For a film which has been a dream for many directors, Mani Ratnam’s version was a crisp, condensed and sincere adaptation of the book, which in fact makes us forget about the book while watching the film. That’s the biggest plus of the movie because it doesn’t come out as a loaded barrel of pent up emotions but straightforward polished film. Mani Ratnam shows what a great director he is my keeping his self-indulgence in check and making the most Non Mani-ish film which shows his respect to the subject and sophistication to the direction.

Aditya Karikalan (Vikram) comes out of smoke in the very first scene along with Vallavaraiyan Vanthiyathevan (Karthi) and that’s about the only massest unnecessary scene in the whole film. Otherwise it just talks about the characters. The film appears to be made in such a way that you’re present at the situation, witnessing the glory, heartbreak etc. but feeling sad inside about so many misdeeds. It’s kind of being in the midst of chaotic family like Chekka Chivantha Vaanam but it’s an emotion which didn’t work there but worked here.

Ideally Karikalan should’ve appeared only around the second half or even may be the second film and should’ve erupted the whole crowd but was handled differently by Mani. In fact it was curious and discerning to an extent to think whether Mani Ratnam has become a fan of Vikram and that’s why there were so many close ups and long shots. The emotion was similar to ‘Ravanan’ but here it doesn’t work. In fact Vikram appears to be the only person whose character who was not well written. He hardy gets any screen space but doesn’t get to hold fort even in that. It could have been easily glorified but Mani Ratnam chooses not to. Vikram’s character was the slight spike in the graph on an otherwise constant tempo movie.

The movies charm was Karthi, what an actor, Mani Ratnam has got the pulse of audience with Vanthiyathevan character. Karthi does it superbly and shares a great rapport with Azhwarkadiyan Nambi (Jayaram), just like the book. Probably the only character which got me reminded of the book. Periya Pazhuvettaraiyar (R. Sarathkumar) comes down as a morose man but doesn’t incur the fear which comes across in the book whereas Chinna Pazhuvettaraiyar’s (R. Parthiban) character was superbly written. Easily the most menacing character in the movie. There wasn’t much built up for Arulmozhi Varman aka Ponniyin Selvan (Jayam Ravi) but as a gentle skillful king he was perfect.

The real fire power of the movie was the two ladies, Nandini (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan) and Kundavai. (Trisha) How brilliantly was the clash of egos between the ladies handled. Aishwarya looked effervescent as Nandini and her scenes were superbly lit by Mani Ratnam to give a feel of her powers of beauty. She truly gets a demigoddess status whenever she acts in a Tamil film. Trisha on the other hand was surprisingly good with her cunningness and looked dashingly beautiful too. The scene where she waits an extra second to make Nandini come down the steps to greet her, inspite of being instructed by Periya Pazuvettaraiyar not to, was the only cinematic scene of the whole movie I believe but that was superbly done.

For a movie which could have been done in any way, Mani Ratnam choses to keep sincerity and exposition at front and carefully reveals the character. When all were of the opinion that it was going to go slam bang in the ‘Bahubali’ way, this was a film of a marked craftsman, someone who knows his art and not influenced by any other. This shows why Mani Ratnam is called a great director. I guess the film would go the ‘Vikram’ way were people would fear to call it a bad film even though they didn’t like it. May be the culture proudness is going to make the film a hit, even if not being entirely liked by a section of audience.

For a film of this scale, wish it had more grandeur and better music. The production values was really average. Expect for the climax sequence with the ship, the canvas was not big and awe inspiring. Thanks to the exposure to all the Hollywood series, this effort looks meek and the music too was average. Mani seriously misses Vairamuthu and his wordplay in the songs. Even the whole Tamil flavor in the movie was pretty normal for a historic movie. In all the movie was a surprise package and for the lack of better word is a proper film.