Anjaan - Tamil Movie Review

On the lines of Baasha Bhai and Vishwa Bhai, here comes a powerful Raju Bhai who enjoys killing and also finds time for some love. A simple story revolving around a revenge spree is what Anjaan is all about. The dazzling Suriya looks dashing and smart. The Neymar like hair do, toned down costumes and exquisitely built body are all thoroughly convincing.

 

Santhosh Sivan's yellow DI throughout the film gives the much needed look to the Mumbai based underworld film. There was no darkness in the compositions, to bring out the brevity of the script. All the gloss and shine goes with the art direction and shot divisions. Anthony sets a pace and rhythm to this almost 3 hour long commercial film. Lingusamy has written the film based on the 'present to memories' filled non-linear narration to detail a suspense attempted story. Dialogues to a great extent are acceptable except for one that keeps coming along.

 

The Tamil mass audiences want popcorn films. Essentially, the film has to get over before the eatable gets over. Anjaan takes its own sweet time to start and wrap. Though not much time is spent on how Raju and Chandru became a name to be feared, the Raju Bhai phenomenon is given the typical cliched hype almost till the second half.

 

Samantha is cute and apt. The love portions almost work. Yuvan's background score gives varied colors. The siren used in the BGM during the build-ups is an experimentation. Special attention could have been given to the lip-syncs.

 

Starting from the perspective of the challenged Krishna who goes on the picaresque search of his lost brother, the story dwells too much on the already experienced cinematic liberties like the act of love, friendship and revenge.

 

The pre-interval stunt sequence needs a special mention. Stunt Silva has made it look live and realistic. Thanks to Suriya, Vidyut gets his slice of stunts in the flashback. Dissolved characters, unfurnished villains, stereotypical narration and song placement duds the flow of the film. The comedy portion of Brahmanandham forcefully put post-interval catering to the Telugu audience, is a speed breaker to the already lurching movie.

 

The predictable climax makes the whole product less impactful. One palpable connect towards the denouement is a life saver. Anjaan goes to the list of, 'Could have been better' movies.

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Kadhal Solla Aasai - Tamil Movie Review

Kadhal Solla Aasai

Synopsis: Mahesh (Ashok) falls in love with Suchi (Washna Ahmed), the secretary of a big businessman Ravikanth (Ravi Raghavendra). 

Review: Mahesh saves Ravikanth from the goons of Verumpuli (Naan Kadavul Rajendran), a local politician whose enemity the businessman has earned as a result of beating him to a deal. In return, Ravikanth offers Mahesh the job of protecting him from the politician. Mahesh accepts, in the hope that his job will help him get close to Suchi and eventually win her love.

However, before he can do so, there is trouble on the family front. Coming to Mahesh's rescue is Gautam (Madhu Raghuram), the son of Ravikanth, who too falls for Suchi as she resembles his first love who is no more. Suchi slowly realizes that she is in love with Mahesh. But by the time she is ready to express her love for him, Mahesh begins to distance himself from her. What happens next forms the rest of the story...

Director K S Tamil Seenu has come up with a clean, decent entertainer. He needs to be commended for the way in which he has attempted to make small, pleasant improvisations to situations that we have otherwise often witnessed in Tamil cinema. The story might seem a little cliched but the manner in which the director has handled it makes it reasonably interesting.

Take for instance, the sequence in which Mahesh
saves Ravikanth from Verumpuli's goons. Under normal circumstances, one would have expected a fight to erupt between the hero and the baddies. But that is not what happens as Mahesh prefers to use his brains instead of his brawn to outwit the thugs. Violence is kept to a minimum throughout the film and that needs to be rewarded with a brownie point.

The casting seems perfect and the actors too deliver. Ashok, Madhu Raghuram and Washna Ahmed play their roles with conviction and have no problem turning into their characters. Ravi Raghavendra, M S Baskar and Naan Kadavul Rajendran only add strength to the film with their performances. The film's music by Lekha S is decent as is its cinematography by Jacob Rathinaraj.

On the flip side, the comedy sequences appear forced on several occasions. Such sequences also make the film boring in parts. Then, there are certain lapses when it comes to logic. But if one chooses to ignore these, then one has a reasonably enjoyable film on offer. This isn't a great film, but it isn't unbearably bad either.

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Oru Modhal Oru Kadhal - Tamil Movie Review

Oru Modhal Oru Kadhal

Synopsis: Karthik is left heartbroken when his girlfriend, Subha, breaks up with him. Thankfully, his grief is short-lived as he chances upon Anusha, his student, who could be THE girl for him.

Movie Review: Karthik is an aspiring director and the second son of a highly respected doctor. He is in a relationship with Subha, his college mate. He also has a gang of good-for-nothing friends. Under pressure from her parents, Subha breaks up with Karthik, which leaves him heartbroken.

While he is moping around, he gets an offer to work as a trainee lecturer at a media research centre in Bangalore. There, he brightens up after seeing that his class includes a bunch of "hawt" girls with model looks. He also falls in love with one of them, Anusha, who, too, flirts with him. A year later, he goes to meet Anusha in Delhi for a project and the two realize that they are in love. They break the news to Anusha's Punjabi family who are only too eager to fix up the match. So, too, are Karthik's parents, and so the tale ends in a picture perfect wedding.

Having titled the film as Oru Modhal Oru Kadhal, director K
eerthi Kumar splits his movie into two parts — the one before the interval (the "modhal" from the title) involves Karthik's failed affair with Subha, while the post-interval segment (the "kadhal") narrates his real love story with Anusha. While this approach seems interesting on paper, it doesn't translate into an engaging film on screen. The first episode takes up too much time and so, by the time the actual love story starts, we are weary. And, the Karthik-Anusha romance is developed hastily and unpersuasively that we do not really care for them to get together. There is also an attempt to do a 2 States in the concluding scenes — a Punjabi family and a Tamil family coming together because of a wedding — but this is done in a halfhearted manner that there is no real crisis for us to really invest ourselves.

The film often has the feel of an amateur effort, its humour is corny, the plot is weak, and the acting by the lead pair is strictly functional (Vivek keeps smiling while Megha is all at sea). And, yet, despite all these flaws, it manages to leave you with a smile by the time it ends. We indulgently laugh at the silliest of jokes as we realize that this is a modest film with modest ambitions. After all, a mildly amusing film is preferable to a dull one.

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Marumugam - Tamil Movie Review

Marumugam

Synopsis: Mayan murders women who repulse him, all the while seeking a homely girl to marry. He finds her in Radhika but when she learns about his dark secret, he decides to kill her as well.

Movie Review: The psycho killer plot has been done to death (pun unintended) in Tamil cinema and this film tries to build upon the image of Daniel Balaji, who is known for playing deviant characters. The plot is a variation of what has already been done years earlier, in films like Sigappu Rojakkal, Nooravathu Naal and Oomai Vizhigal — a misogynist young man with a past murders women, all the while seeking a homely girl to marry. But when she learns about his dark secret, he has to kill her as well.

Here, Mayan (Daniel Balaji), a clay modeling artist, murders women who are sexually attracted to him and disposes their body by using it to model his creations. He tries to marry the homely (he thinks so) Radhika ( Preeti Das), who, actually, has a careerist boyfriend in Ram ( Anoop). Mayan gets engaged to Radhika but learns of her love affair and takes her with him to Kodaikanal without anyone's knowledge. When the girl comes t
o know of his real character, she tries to flee but is it too late?

Marumugam essentially deals with the Freudian Madonna-whore complex but it is least interested in exploring this angle and tries to keep everything at the surface level. This isn't wrong, as it could still have made for a solid thriller but the banal script with lethargic characterizations, corny lines, wooden acting (even Daniel Balaji, who can ham pretty well, is bland) and flat staging don't even indicate B-grade TV serial quality. The only appreciable thing here is the title credits sequence, which captures the vibe of lurid pulp thrillers, something that the film tragically fails to realize.

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Adiyum Andamum - Tamil Movie Review

Adiyum Andamum

Synopsis: Dr Karan, a psychiatrist, joins a medical college and research facility in Ooty the same day, a television journalist, Shalini, arrives there to do a reality show. Within hours of arriving at the centre, the doctor senses the presence of a spirit which he assumes is trying to communicate a message to him. He begins to believe that the centre holds dark secrets which the dean and his staff are seeking to preserve. He confides in the journalist about his findings and the two set out to find the truth. The journalist soon finds out that there is indeed a problem but that it is not at the facility but with the doctor...

Movie Review: One isn't sure what actor-turned-director Kaushik's motives are. If he has looked to make a film that seeks to raise awareness on the trauma of patients suffering from disassociative amnesia and those dear to them, then one cannot deny that he has succeeded to a fair extent. If, on the other hand, he has only looked to deliver an intense, emotional love story, then, one must concede that he hasn't made it past the post. And the reasons for that all lie primarily with the script.

By the end of the first half itself, one gets to know that this is no supernatural thriller. The second half has a flashback in which fresh characters are introduced in a hurry. Too many details are packed in this half - the doctor falling in love with his student, she being raped by two college mates, her trauma and as a result her injury, the doctor's dilemma and finally, his medical problem. Needless to say, all the sequences come hurtling at you one after the other, giving you very little time to come to ter
ms with them. As a result, it has a telling effect on your conviction about the plot.

Then, a little more attention to dialogues could have helped avoid contradictions. For instance, there is one scene in which Karan is shown working. He is seen teaching medical students and while doing so, punishes his girlfriend Priya by asking her to get out. He goes in search of her immediately after to convince her at which point she asks him about his day and he says that it is his day off. 

Having said that, one must give credit to the cast for the effort that they have put in. Actors Ajaay,Mitali Agarwal and Kavita Srinivasan are convincing in their roles. But the film's biggest strength is its music, scored by L V Ganesan. Ganesan's background score is brilliant and that along with Vaasan's visuals and D Narayanan's sound effects, stands out. These three can certainly take a bow!

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Ayirathil Oruvan - Tamil Movie Review

Ayirathil Oruvan

Synopsis: Manimaran, an idealistic doctor, becomes a slave on the orders of the dictator of Neithal Nadu, after he is caught treating a rebel. How he gets the slaves to fight for their homeland, while romancing a princess and working for a pirate leader, forms the plot.

Movie Review: Re-released almost 50 years after its original release (1965) in a digitally restored version, this classic MGR film, which paired him up with his future protege Jayalalithaa for the first time, remains a swashbuckling adventure with hardly a dull moment. It is remarkable that for an almost three-hour film, the film whizzes past from scene to scene and any problem that we may have with the dated staging or the theatrical acting or the frequent hero worship by the characters is washed away by the narrative momentum.

The plot revolves around Manimaran (MGR), an idealistic doctor who becomes a slave on the orders of the dictator (Manohar) of Neithal Nadu, after he is caught treating a rebel. The slaves are sold off to Sengappan (Ramadoss), the governor of Kanni Theevu, whose princess Poongodi (Jayalalithaa) is attracted towards Manimaran after witnessing his integrity, bravery and leadership quality. When pirates headed by a ruthless leader (Nambiar) attack the island, Manimaran and the slaves battle against them after they are assured by Sengappan that they will be set free for their help. But, the governor backtracks from his promise and so, the slaves abandon the island and join the pirates. The pirate leader takes them to his land only to betray them and forces Manimaran to work for him. Meanwhile, Poongodi is captured during one of the pirates' raids and is brought as a prisoner to the island. The leader lusts after her but Manimaran saves her honour by buying her at an auction. Misconstruing his actions, the princess detests Manimaran but realizes her folly in due course. Meanwhile, the slaves decide to break away from the island and fight for their nation's cause, but the pirate leader catches them in the act. But, he too undergoes a change of heart,
and joins the slaves in their mission to capture the dictator who is on a sea voyage.

Despite this essentially being a "masala" film, we can see the thought that has gone into the script. The film is uses the classic three-act structure to narrate the story. We have the prologue where Manimaran becomes a slave; the first act takes place in Kanni Theevu, the second in the pirates' island while the last act is the rousing climatic battle on the ship; there is even an epilogue where we get to see if Manimaran becomes Neithal Nadu's leader or not. Every sub-plot has a proper arc and is brought to a closure. The whole plot is set in motion because Manimaran chose to treat a rebel, and in the end, everything is resolved because he treats the dictator, brining the arc to a full circle. The romance between Manimaran and Poongodi is no exception. It starts off with her wooing him then turns into a tiff and eventually gets a happy ending. There is real chemistry between MGR and Jayalalithaa, and we get to see that in how they trade off quips that were uttered by each other in earlier scenes, especially in the tiff phase of the relationship. Even the comedy track, involving Manimaran's sidekick Azhaga and Poongodi's maid Themozhi is well integrated into the plot, and we can see the influences for contemporary comedians in Nagesh's performance. The only narrative thread that is left unresolved is that of Sengappan, who is shown plotting a coup of sorts when Poongodi leaves Kanni Theevu.

If you are still unconvinced, you should go see the film at least for its wonderful songs and spectacular stunts, especially the swordplay, which is athletic and precise. There are sword fights inside confined spaces (one inside a house and the other on a ship), and a literal cliffhanger on a rocky seashore. These are presented minus the frenzied editing that we have come to associate with stunt scenes today, in lengthy takes, with the actors themselves sparring most of the time, which makes them truly incredible to behold.

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Aaha Kalyanam - Tamil Movie Review

Aaha Kalyanam

Synopsis: Shruthi, an enterprising 20-year-old girl, partners with Sakthi, a happy-go-lucky youngster to set up her dream business — wedding planning. They decide to not mix finance and romance but a night's revelry changes their equation and they part ways. Will they be able to admit their actual feelings? 

Movie Review: "Wedding planning? Will that work out here?" Sakthivel asks Shruthi Subramaniam, as she reveals her business plan. "Why not? Isn't marriage universal?" she shoots back, and for a moment, it feels like this is the sort of conversation that the makers of Aaha Kalyanam would have had before remaking Band Baaja Baaraat. The genre of the film — romance — is universal, and romance is what drives most of our movies to an extent. So, it is not really surprising that this remake works fine. That said, however, like the concept of wedding planning, the film too feels a little alien, and we don't really fall in love with it entirely.

The chief reason for this is the casting — Vaani Kapoor hardly looks like a Tamizh ponnu and her lip sync is often amiss that, despite her making it up with her expressions, we do not get attached to the character of Shruthi. Nani is certainly better, though his whiny accent screams Telugu (which the director cheekily acknowledges through a comment from a character) but he manages to compensate for it with wit and roguish charm. The innumerable songs and the overpowering background score (by Dharan), too are Bollywood-ish while the wedding festivities, for all the colour and flair, feel more North Indian. 

And, yet, for all these flaws, Aaha Kalyanam manages to hold your interest and that is mainly because of Habib Faizal's winning script. Debutant Gokul Krishna sensibly sticks faithfully to the original and lets the inherent drama in the script drive the story. The plot involves the classic romance movie set-up — opposite characters getting attracted to each other — and the wholesome characterization of the leads gives the film some punch. 

Twenty-year-old Shruthi is, by nature, a planner. She has decided what she wants to take up as a career, has charted how she will go about achieving it and has even decided when she will give it up to marry as per her parents' wishes. Meanwhile, Sakthi is clueless about the future. All
he knows is that he doesn't want to take up his family's business — farming. So, he is captivated by Shruthi's idea of turning a wedding planner and tries his best to partner with her. She seems to like his insouciant charm and takes him aboard Getti Melam, her wedding planning company, but is very particular that their financial arrangement shouldn't become a romantic tangle. But, this being a love story, that inevitably happens, when the two, during a night of drunken revelry, end up in bed. The morning after, she is smiling at the development while he is confused about the transgression. After all, hadn't she wanted not to let their friendship get to the next level? He becomes indifferent while she gets resentful and soon, they part ways, setting up their own businesses (and floundering). But when an opportunity comes up their way to get together again, will they take it up and finally express their actual feelings to one another? 

It is not a spoiler to say that they do (this is a breezy romance after all) but the film manages to reach this point with enough interesting twists that make it worth a dekko.

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Idhu Kathirvelan Kadhal - Tamil Movie Review

Idhu Kathirvelan Kadhal

Synopsis: Kathirvelan falls in love with Pavithra but there are quite a few obstacles that he has to cross before he can marry her...

Review: Kathirvelan is your average boy next door, with a loving family. He is a Hanuman devotee who doesn't want to be interested in girls. He goes to Coimbatore to patch up his sister with her husband (she has eloped top marry the guy but has returned after a minor tussle) and there, he meets Pavithra, the girl living opposite his brother-in-law's house. He, not surprisingly, falls in love with her and with the help of his friend Mayilvaganan tries to woo her. But she thinks she loves Gautham, her friend who is actually a rogue. There is also an enmity between her dad and Kathir's brother-in-law. And, then, there is Kathir's dad, who, already betrayed by his daughter, expects his son to stay true to him.

If Udhayanidhi wanted to play it safe in his debut Oru Kal Oru Kannadi, he continues in the same vein here and so, your reaction to this film, obviously, is OK OK. He is the happy-go-lucky guy who is not above going after his girl (read stalking) but is decent enough to wish her happiness even after she rejects him. And, with a plot that feels only too familiar, director Prabhakaran (who earlier directed Sundarapandian) loosely strings together scenes that are funny in parts (largely due to Santhanam's one-liners) and sentimental enough to bring in the "family audience".

The film isn't bad per se but displays very little ambition and is only mildly interesting.

Every conflict is resolved in a matter of two or three scenes — and in very convenient fashion — that nothing seems to be a serious-enough obstacle. Gautham only wants to bed Pavithra, while she has fallen i
n love with him, but this sub-plot gets resolved through a scene in which Kathir overhears Gautham's intentions and warns Pavithra. The long-standing enmity between Kathir's brother-in-law and Pavithra's father, which could come between their romance is resolved lightheartedly with a mimicry artist, in a cinematic manner! Even the final problem — of convincing Kathir's dad — is resolved with a couple of heavy-handed sentimental dialogues. In one scene, Santhanams exclaim how many flashbacks he will be made to suffer, and it is as is the director is telling us that he realizes these problems, and assuring us that as long as it is entertaining, we needn't bother.

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Pulivaal - Tamil Movie Review

Pulivaal

Synopsis: Kasi picks up a phone that belongs to businessman Karthik on an impulse. What he doesn't realize is that the phone had compromising videos of the latter, which soon leads to trouble for both the young men.

Movie Review: The one question that we want to ask after walking out of Pulivaal is — why can't Tamil film directors make a thriller film without including pointless songs and annoying comedy tracks? This film, an official remake of the Malayalam film Chaappa Kurishu (which was inspired from the Korean thriller Handphone), is a cat-and-mouse thriller between two men who are neither good nor bad, just victims of circumstances. Initially, we think of the rich Karthik (Prasanna) as a playboy (he even is planning to dump his co-worker Monika and marrying Pavithra, the girl his parents have in mind for him) and our sympathies are all with Kasi (Vemal), who works in a departmental store. But, halfway through, we start empathizing with Karthik while Kasi becomes a person who is toying with him. These slightly grey characters, who are the film's protagonists, make Pulivaal mildly refreshing.

The film opens with a nicely-edited montage (TE Kishore is the editor) of their daily lives — Karthik selects from a bunch of newspapers, while Kasi takes a peek at the day's news at the tea shop; Karthik takes a shower in his luxurious bathroom while Kasi has to wait
in queue at the public toilet and fetch water to take a bath; and so on. And, Karthik, not surprisingly, owns an iPhone while Kasi uses a phone that is bound together by a rubber band.

The mobile phone is what sets the plot in motion as Karthik's iPhone ends up in the possession of Kasi. And, it is important for Karthik to retrieve the phone because it holds a video of him having sex with his employee Monika. Kasi, who has taken the phone on an impulse, is guilty and decides to return it, but, before he can do so he realizes that he can use Karthik to get back at people who are mean to him — like the hostile Valliappan (an irritating Thambi Ramaiah), his store manager. He also doesn't know how to use the phone but, can Karthik track him down before someone learns of the phone's content?

This is definitely a juicy plot and in Vemal and Prasanna, Marimuthu has actors who look their parts. And, yet, he slips because he cannot nail the tone required for this subject. He devotes a rather large amount of time on trivial elements that hamper the story's flow — like Valliappan's romance with a co-worker (with Ilaiyaraaja's songs turning into BGMs), Soori's comedy (which is a compilation of many SMS jokes), and out-of-place songs (that are unimaginatively picturized). Every time something tense happens, the actions cuts to some of these mundane scenes and so, we never really get involved with the story. It is only in the final 30 minutes that the film shows some signs of sticking true to its genre but, by then, it is too late.

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Madha Yaanai Koottam - Tamil Movie Review

Madha Yaanai Koottam

Death is an imposing presence in Vikram Sukumaran's Madha Yaanai Koottam. The film begins with a death and the back stories of the characters are revealed to us by the troupe which performs at this funeral. The threat of another death always seems imminent and by the time that happens, the film turns into a young man's struggle to defeat death that stalks him obsessively.

The passing of Jayakkodi Thevar ( Murugan Jee) sets the film's plot in motion. He is a powerful patriarch in Theni, with two wives. He lives with his second wife Prema (Ammu), and their son Parthiban (Kathir) and daughter Deepa, while his estranged first wife Sevanamma ( Viji) lives with her son Boologarasa and her dear brother Veera Thevar (Vela Ramamoorthy), who is quite powerful though less influential than her husband. Though things seem calm on the surface, there is always an undercurrent of tension in the relationships between these people and when Jayakkodi Thevar passes away, it spills over.

Prema and her children are prevented from entering the funeral house despite Boologarasa's protests by Veera Thevar, but very soon things take a turn for the worse when Kathir accidentally kills his son in order to protect his stepbrother. Now, he becomes a hunted man as Veera Thevar wants to avenge his son's death by murdering Kathir.

The first thing that strikes you in Madha Yaanai Kootam is the fetishistic detailing that has gone into shaping the film. The rituals in a funeral are portrayed elaborately, which only makes the film strongly atmospheric and help set it apart from similar south
ern Tamil Nadu-set action dramas. Like Ameer in Paruthiveeran, Sukumaran instantly transports us into the film's world, with the audio-visuals of therukoothu artists, parai, oppari, crackers and a sea of earthy faces. Ragul Dharuman's harshly lit frames (despite the excessive use of flares) and Raghunanthan's insistent background score lend the rawness this tale of misplaced pride and power politics demands, though how the film managed a 'U' certificate, despite the violence, is a bit of a puzzle.

The film loses a bit of steam in the second half as it soon turns from being a deceptive and volatile multi-threaded plot into a very familiar one-track narrative about revenge. The hunt for Kathir turns a bit repetitive quickly, and this earthy tale becomes cinematic, once Kathir evades his pursuers and seeks refuge in Kerala. His romantic angle, which lent some lighter moments in the first half, suddenly becomes distracting. His actions following his return to Theni feel false as well, as Kathir suddenly is turned into a larger-than-life character, after having spent most of the film as a young man at the mercy of circumstances. The climax, when he challenges and singlehandedly takes on his foes, feels totally out of place.

Still, there are things that Sukumaran does right even in this slightly underwhelming portion — like Sevanamma's actions, her interesting relationship with Veera Thevar and the subplot involving Ponram, a rival bigwig, who wants to take over the fiefdom of the Thevars.

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Biriyani - Tamil Movie Review

Biriyani

Venkat Prabhu definitely knows how to have a cake and eat it too. Fun is certainly the core of all his movies — not only the fun he has while making a film but the fun the audiences have while watching them — even when the genres are varied, be it a sports movie (Chennai 600028) or a thriller (Saroja), or even a noir (Mankatha). That is the case with Biriyani as well. It is essentially a murder mystery but Venkat seasons it with his brand of wink wink nudge nudge filmmaking, and turns it into an engaging entertainer. 

The plot revolves around Sugan (Karthi), a compulsive flirt, and his friend Parasu (Premgi), who is always unfortunate when it comes to women (Sugan is mostly to blame). Sugan has an on-off relationship with his girlfriend Priyanka (Hansika), a TV personality, and he makes an impression on business tycoon Varadarajan (Nasser), who is being investigated by CBI officer Riyaz Ahmed (Sampath) for a quarry scam. Meanwhile, the duo encounters the sultry Maya (Mandy Thakkar), who invites them to her hotel. They pass out in her room but when they wake up, the cops are chasing them, blaming them for the disappearance of Varadarajan. What is the mystery here?

It was only recently that we had Naveena Saraswathi Sabatham, which was based on the premise of The Hangover. And, now, we have Biriyani, which seems to be the Venkat Prabhu version of The Hangover. Early in the film, Venkat shows a scene from The Hangover pla
ying on the TV. Parasu jokingly remarks that it is not a great film because he remembers everything even when he is stone drunk. At that moment, the scene seems like a mere pop cultural reference but it is only when we see Sugan and Parasu trying to remember what happened in Maya's room do we realize that it is Venkat's way of foreshadowing things. This happens quite a bit in the film — with the occupations of Sugan's friends and girlfriend (which come in handy when they try to solve the mystery) and their fracas on the road with another car, and you understand the thinking that has gone into the script. There is even a plausible reason for Hansika's bad lipsync — she is Priyanka Sharma! There are also clever employments of modern-day fads — when Sugan searches for Maya, Parasu 'watsapps' the picture to their friends, a flash mob in a crucial scene not only becomes a provider of one more clue to Sugan but also functions as a tribute to actor Ajith. The director also smartly strews his red herrings — Varadarajan's son-in-law (Ramki) who stands to gain most from his disappearance, Riyaz, a hitwoman who could have been employed by Varadarajan's rivals.

The film does take some time to get take off despite beginning with a car chase (too much time is spent on establishing Sugan's flirtatious nature), there are a couple of instances that are too much of a coincidence (the people with whom Sugan and Parasu have a quarrel just happen to have a Varadarajan connection, Riyaz's cop friend Vikram having something to do with the case) and the climax gets a little convoluted as Venkat goes for a twist ending (much like in Mankatha) rather than a straight one, but the script is racy enough (in both sense of the word) that you do not mind them much.

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Sandhithathum Sindhithathum - Tamil Movie Review

Sandhithathum Sindhithathum

The interval twist seems to still hold fascination for many of our filmmakers. Only recently, we had Jannal Oram where we had a long-winded first half whose whole purpose was to nudge us towards the interval twist that sets the film's actual story in motion. At least, in that film, we had proficient actors and a director who knew the basics and tried to keep things at an agreeable level until he got into the story. And, now, we have Sandhithathum Sindhithathum, which has an interval twist that kick-starts the story as well.

The plot revolves around Selvam and Gopika, who work in Bangalore and live in the same house though they don't realize this fact until later (somewhat similar to what we saw recently inVanakkam Chennai). Gopika's colleague Aravind is the local big shot Devaraj's son and his pastime is raping girls whom he refers to "akka" and "thangachi". He tries to force himself on Gopika but dies in a freak accident but Devaraj decides
that Selvam is the murderer and pays off the cop Kempe Gowda to finish him off in a fake encounter. 

It has elements for a decent thriller but we are forced to sit through mundane scenes and insufferable acting, not to mention out-of-the-blue songs. It is indeed a mercy that the latter portions are just about bearable but even here the filmmaking hardly crosses the bar for minimum proficiency. It is hard to believe that it is made by the guy who gave crowd-pleasers like Naane Raja Naane Mandhiri and Anna Nagar Mudhal Theru.

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Ivan Vera Maathiri - Tamil Movie Review

Ivan Vera Maathiri

Gunasekaran, a socially responsible youth, kidnaps Easwaran, the brother of Sadasivam, the law minister, after the latter orchestrates violence among students. Sadasivam loses his post and Guna releases his captive but Easwaran wants revenge...

You have kidnapped the brother of a minister. He is also a ruthless gangster but you have managed to keep your identity (read face) a mystery from him. You have reached the place where you are hiding him, and right at that moment, you get a call from your girlfriend. You attend the call rather than ignoring it (or even texting a 'will call bk ltr') and go on to discuss banking details, saying out loud her account number, despite the chance that your quarry could hear it and use it to discover who you are. If such a circumstance feels logical and plausible enough for you, then, Ivan Vera Maathiri is right up your street. Else, steer clear!

The film opens with visuals of violence unleashed on some students in a law college (with policemen remaining mute spectators), a not-so-subtle reference to the incidents that occurred in a Chennai law college in 2008. Gunasekaran (Vikram Prabhu), a 26-year-old advertising professional, is affected by the news, and decides to take on Sadasivam, the law minister, who orchestrated the assault. To do that, he kidnaps his brother and hit man Easwaran ( Vamsi Krishna), whom the minister has unlawfully brought out of jail in parole. Guna's idea is to hold the man hostage until his parole lapses, humiliate the minister in public and make him resign his post, and take away the power that made him a fearsome individual. Guna also meets Malini ( Surabhi), an airy-fairy college student, who falls in love with him.

Meanwhile, Sadasivam resigns and becomes the target of a police investigation, and a contented Guna releases Easwaran. Now, the prey becomes the hunter, searching for hi
s captor, despite being pursued by the hard-nosed cop Aravindan ( Ganesh Venkatraman).

If the screenplay was the strength of Saravanan's debut Enageyum Eppothum, here, it becomes a weakness as the director's attempts to make a "different" vigilante film get lost in implausibility, patronizing (a line about girls who do not receive calls or SMSes being "good girls" is downright condescending) and sub-par acting. He has the outline of a terrific action movie plot; generally, it is the hero who is at the receiving end in the first half and goes after his tormentor in the latter portions after piecing together his identity but here, it is the opposite. However, the scenes aren't particularly interesting beyond a strictly functional level. Guna isn't directly affected by the violence in the college and so, his decision to turn a vigilante should have been compelling. But what we get are a couple of scenes where he is aroused by stray remarks. And, while his plan to hide Easwaran seems well thought out, the manner in which he goes about smacks of carelessness. He reveals his real intention to his captive, gives him a blatant clue to his identity, and worse, when the minister is arrested, lets Easwaran loose on the streets rather than ensuring that he gets into police custody. And, in the end, Aravindan is conveniently shown as someone who believes vigilantism to be good.

But the weakest section is the romantic track — Malini is certainly the latest in the ignominious list of daft heroines in Tamil cinema. She allows Guna, a stranger to her at this point, to use her house loo, and later carries a fish all over the city after he leaves it with her. Saravanan wants these scenes to be funny but they only trivialize Malini's character. And to add to her insult, we are repeatedly told, she has 18 arrears! Even after Malini and Guna fall in love, we never sense their chemistry. That Vikram Prabhu is far more convincing as an action hero than in the romantic scenes also doesn't help.

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Thagaraaru - Tamil Movie Review

Thagaraaru

Four thick as thieves (literally) friends earn a lot of enemy with their roguish behaviour. When one of them is murdered, the other three thirst for revenge. But who among their foes is behind the deed?

Saravanan (Arulnithi), Senthil (Pawanjiy), Pazhani (Sulile Kumar) and Arumugam (Murugadas) are orphans who are close-knit friends since childhood. They are bureau pullers who do not really think anything of life, drifting along as the wind blows. They invite the wrath of a local inspector when they steal from his house as an act of bravado. They also rub the big shot (Aruldas) who had hired them for a job on the wrong side by demanding more money. And, when Saravanan falls in love with Meenakshi (Poorna), he and his friends become the target of her goonda father (Jayaprakash). When Pazhani is murdered, the other three thirst for revenge. But who among their various enemies is behind the deed?

If there is one thing that Ganesh Vinaayac's Thagaraaru has going for it, it is the director's intention to not turn his film into a typical action film. The film is actually stock full of elements that we have seen in earlier Madurai-set films — as in Thoonganagaram, we have four friends who are the protagonists, they are aimless drifters resorting to a life of crime like the guys inSubramaniapuram, like Sriya Reddy in Thimiru, the heroine, despite all her love for the hero, has an arrogance, her father, who like the father in Kaadhal, is a fearsome man in the area, a self-important cop, who is one of the adversaries of our heroes, as in Aadukalam. And yet, the director manages to spring in a surprise or two in this tale which is a conflict between friendship and love.

At the same time, while the twists and turns help the film from never turning into a boring affair, we also wish that the film was sharper (like the countless sickles we see in it). It has tension but that isn't nail-biting. It has romance but that is so run of the mill. It has some emotional moments but we never feel that much for the main characters. The performances, while competent enough are never compelling (Arulnithi tries to be a charmer in the romantic portions but he is not helped by the broad characterization; neither his wooing in gaudy clothes nor his Dhanush-like lungi dance endear the character to us). Even the climatic twist, which is very good, at least on paper, is surprising but not truly shocking.

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Eswer Gomathi - Tamil Movie Review

Eswer  Gomathi

Petty thief Eswer is mistaken for Gomathi's lover by her family members, who are big shots in their village. Despite Gomathi trying to prove the truth, they are hell bent on marrying her off to Eswer. 

Films centred on the premise of mistaken identity is not new to Tamil cinema but Eswer Gomathi feels redundant because it is nothing but a film full of sloppy recycled situations and jokes. We are shown that Eswer and his friend (Balasaravanan, who is the only one who seems to have a sense of comic timing in this cast and thereby becomes the film's saving grace) have swindled their partners in crime of a considerable sum of money, which they want to give to Eswer's sister, who is clearly in a bad marriage.

However, they are so careless that they leave the bag containing the money unattended on a train. And, Gomathi's family is portrayed as a bunch of nincompoops who believe everything that Eswer says. Even when their own daughter tells them that he is a thief, they are o
nly suspicious about her! In the name of comedy, we are presented with one implausible situation after another, that you stop caring about anything. That the acting is amateurish only makes it worse. Maybe, that is why Sakthivel ends the film in a hurry; everything — including Eswer and Gomathi falling in love — is resolved all too conveniently in the space of three minutes.

We only wish the director had realized much earlier that the film was becoming an exercise in pointlessness.

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Kalyana Samayal Saadham - Tamil Movie Review

Kalyana Samayal Saadham

Recently engaged Raghu and Meera decide to have some between the sheets action only to discover that he cannot get it up. With their wedding day nearing, does Raghu have it in him to man up and take charge? 

"Idhu en appa amma un appa amma thaatha paati oda kalyanam," says Meera to Raghu on the eve of their wedding. Theirs is an arranged marriage, but oddly enough the two have also fallen in love with each other in the period between engagement and marriage. But, now, they have had their first real 'fight' as a couple, and it is when they are making up after this tussle that she utters this line, implying that "their wedding" is being hijacked by the rest of the family. It isn't that she doesn't want both their families around; she is a modern-day girl and it is just that she feels the day should rightfully belong to them, bringing them even closer but instead, all it has actually done is to keep them apart. In an earlier scene, Raghu chides his mother when she says that they have lost all negotiation powers after he openly admitted to liking Meera at the "match fixing" function and tells her that marriage is not a business deal.

And this, in essence, conveys what Kalyana Samayal Saadham is all about. For all its initial premise involving Raghu's erectile dysfunction (temporary, of course), the film is actually about the dilemma of present-day youngsters who want to be respectful of their parents wishes while at the same time try to lead life their way. In the end, Raghu's problem becomes a
metaphor of sorts — by standing up for Meera, he also becomes a man in bed.

But, for all the subtext, the film plays out like a bubbly romantic comedy. The first 15 minutes — which involves the events leading up to Meera and Raghu getting engaged — play out like a romantic fantasy and director Prasanna deftly changes track, turning it into a comedy about erectile dysfunction, when the leads decide to have some between the sheets action only to discover that Raghu cannot get it up. He becomes naturally obsessed on this, and despite the reassurance of Meera, goes to everyone from quacks to astrologers to solve the problem. Prasanna treats these segments quite cheekily but never resorts to crassness. And gently (and deftly), he nudges this lighthearted material into serious territory, and the events that occur during the wedding are a demonstration of how external forces can tear apart a loving couple.

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