Annual Report - 2009

Year 2009, the year where again wasn't a very prominant year for Tamil Cinema. We have had big surprises in both forms. Most anticipated movies failing to satisfy the audience and we had a few dark horses as well. We also had a few stars to whom year 2009 was in deed a boon and likewise the other side shares a major space too.

So to the statistics, Tamil Cinema had seen approximately 103 movies this year, just marginal difference from the last year where we had close to 117 movies. This time we had around 8 movies officially considered as remakes from other language and of course there are a bunch of unofficial remakes as well. Out of the 8 movies, a special mention should go to 'Unnai Pol Oruvan' which was remade into tamil from the usual remake principle.
Sasikumar, the director turned producer turned actor had two of his products this year and both of them got a great response from the audience as well as the critics. His production venture 'Pasanga' satisfied many and also earned accolades. 'Nadodigal', a tale about friendship, directed by Samuthira Kani also tasted success at the box office with it's racy screenplay and a polite and clean acting by all the cast. It's very clear that this man has raised in a swift and become very popular in a short span.
Tamanna will anticipate every year to be a 2009 when she wakes up every morning. She had 4 movies released this year and out of which 3 were bagged by Sun Pictures and 1 turned out to be a block buster and other 2 were considered as hits. She has also got good list of movies in the pipeline with the next one 'Payya' pairing opposite to Karthi. Hope she continues to do the same in the years to come.
Coming to Music, it was Vijay Antony whose started with his peppy numbers to attract the listeners. He started with 'A Aa E Ee' and closed the year with another chart buster 'Vettaikaran'. Not to forget Sun Pictures who played a vital role in the field of marketting in media and in radio stations. But still, the music director earns full credit for his foot tapping numbers. Yuvan Shankar Raja also had 5 movies which released this year and turned out to be a good chartbuster. His Sarvam and Kunguma Poovum Konjum Puraavum songs literally occupied the hello tunes.
Now comes the master who literally rules the 2009. Yes, it's Sun Pictures. They were able to turn every movie released this year at least a hit. And they also have the year's biggest block buster 'Ayan'. But, they must also focus on a few quality movies which are desperately trying hard to get released because of various distribution reasons. If they start doing that, they can even promote those movies in the best way than any other distributor.

Official bombers
Every year, every site brings you the most anticipated movies in this year. 2009 is no exception we have had many expected movies from big stars and directors. Well, as usual, unfortunately, most of the movies failed to even just meet the expectation. It all started with the opener of the innings with Vijay's Villu. Coming from the expection Vijay-Prabhu Deva combo, it was trashed even by the actor's fans. Good nightwatchmen innings by Vadivelu and glimpse skin show by Nayan were just the condolence factor for the movie.
Sarvam, by Vishnu vardhan, carried the expectation from the block buster 'Billa' failed to even cross 25 days. Again, some good show by the camera man Nirav Shah and pleasant music by Yuvan which had left the movie songs to become a chartbuster and it was Nirav who had a good name with the critics for this fabulous photography especially the night shoot sequences in the movie. It also had Chakkravarthy who added more expectation, but eventually, it was all the script and the screenplay which the audience expect than the stars or the directors.
Cheran's Pokkisham was another bomber which had quite a reasonable expecation. The lengthy biography literally tested the patience of the audience. Repetitive scenes and dialogues added pain to the agony. Thought a few critics appreciated the movie, it still a loss for Nemichand Jabak.
Immediately following Pokkisham was 'Kanthasamy'. Perhaps, the most anticipated movie of the year I can call. Critics just ripped the movie to the maximum they can. Once again Kalaipuli Dhanu failed to witness profit with his yet another big budget movies. Susi ganesan, thinks he can become Shankar in his third movie like how Shankar become. This movie had nothing great except for some skin shows and songs.
Aadhavan, KSR-Surya combo is yet another bomber where Surya carried intense expecation from Ayan and also KSR who need no explaination for the anticipation he creates. The hype created for the 10 year role bombed again and KSR must seriously consider the fact that story is again a key element in movie making and he shouldn't depend on Ramesh Kanna. Vadivelu is again a life saver in this movie with his spontaneous comedy has just saved the movie to cross the bridge.

Worthy Numbers
Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu, had all new faces and with the notable Villian Kishore doing a decent role of a coach was really a worthy watch exception to the artifical climax where the director unnecessarily planted a tragedy. Not many movies with having a subject as a sport has been seen in Tamil Cinema. The director has utilized the script in a proper way and mixed it with the native feel of village and given us a worthy product.
Naan Kadavul, 4th product from the macho man, Bala. Easily the best movie released in this year, though failed in the box office, it just swept every critics. This is also probably most anticipated movie this year, last year and the previous year as well as it was made for nearly 3 years because of various issues. I wish this movie and the cast and crew gets reasonable accolades for the fantafabulous performances.
Yaavarum Nalam, a long time no see from the actor Madhavan and a long time no see from the Horror genre to Tamil Cinema. Directed by Vikram Kumar, this horror flick tasted success in both forms. The film dominated the box office as well as it was acclaimed critically. This movie also differentiated itself from the usual in-the-name-of horror flicks where we saw gory horrifying blood shed faces in the name of ghost. Yaavarum Nalam is certainly one of the better products this year.
Delayed 'Kanchivaram' from Priya Darshan, story about a weaver during the freedom struggle. The movie has already fetched a National Award for Prakashraj for his fantastic performance. The movie which was censored years back finally hit the screens of Tamil Nadu this year.
Pasanga, from the school of Sasikumar, the director's assistant Pandiraj proved a different class. With just pasanga as the cast, he just moulded the movie perfectly to win the satisfaction amongst the audience. Sasikumar should be given a special mention for producing as well as encouraging such aspiring talents.
Eeram, from the production house of S Pictures, comes another talent in the name of Arivazhagan. Yet another horror genre, thought it had loop holes, it was still made very well. The concept for the product, Water, was efficiently used by the director with incorporating nuances and symbolism.
Unnai Pol Oruvan, the brilliant remake of 'A Wednesday'. Hardly we have seen a movie which runs for just 2 hours and it's very hard to see a movie without any songs in the current era. But the master who has done Ph.D was brave enough to give a fantastic remake also bringing in the ace actor Mohan Lal. UPO was certainly a standard movie that could possible be an inspiring movie for aspiring movie makers.
Peraanmai, the diwali cracker, has managed to blossom very well dealing with a patriotic script. SP Jananathan, yet again proved to be a class director with casting Jayam Ravi in an unusual role from his stereotyped character.

Hollywood Rulers
Titanic and Jurassic Park wave has just arrived in the form of 2012 and Avatar. Quite surprisingly these movies shattered all other regional movies not just in Tamil Cinema, but it just swept other movies to the corner in all the regions it got released in their regional dubbed version earning gross quite more than the big star movies.

So, let's hope the next year to be a better year than 2009 and we also have a few most anticipated movies eagerly waiting to hit the silver screens in the year 2010.

Vettaikaran - A jumbo pack of tortures

Every fan of Tamil Cinema would love movies and directors who takes Tamil Cinema to the next generation. But there are a set of respectful artist in the industry who wants to refresh the audience with past memories. One such set is the team Vettaikaran.

Let me also refresh my viewers with the 70s and 80s story board template.

Hero Introduction with an opening song - What the motto of the hero - Heroine Introduction - Obstacles for motto - Life changes - Intermission - Revenge of the hero for the obstacle - One failure from hero's side - Final Fight.
Note : Unwanted song sequences in between is highly encourged.

Our director, Babu Sivan has strictly adhered to this template and has taken the audiences two decades back with this mind boggling movie. And not to forget the mass hero Vijay, who never disappointed the audiences. He started with one benchmark movie in the start of 2009 and he has maintained to deliver another benchmark in the end.

Story - Torture # 1
I have already shared the story board template and I have also mentioned the fact that the director did not deviate the policy. Well, let's not blame on this movie alone, there are quite a lot of inspiration for the movie which the director has cunningly capitalized for a few releases in the recent past. Surprisingly, all the inspiration were real blockbusters and official contenders for oscars. Even if someone had to miss any scenes while returning from the break can easily understand the continuity without troubling fellow viewer. More importantly, Babu Sivan has literally understood what Tamil audience wants and thinks and has brought the same on screen. One can even predict what will be the next dialogue while watching. Who else can better understand the audience mind than the director Babu Sivan???

Dialogues - Torture # 2
Enough!!! Is the word that the audience utters when some character in the movie starts speaking. Usually, the lengthy dialogues are meant for the hero but our director has slightly given chances for other artists in the movie so that they can also shine well in their future movies for the role of an advocate. Lengthly dialogues itself is a terrible pain, what do you say about lengthly dialogue with message and that message has absolutely no relevance to the sequence or the situation or the story or for the movie itself??? He starts telling message in the opening scene and continues till the end even after the climax. Another special mention should go to the punches in the movie. Slowly he started reducing these punches on screen, but now he has started doing that again with this movie.

Logical Screenplay - Torture # 3
I agree that one should not expect any sort of logic in Vijay's movie. The man is known for this and in fact, the audience are even ready to accept him doing a Superman character without the movie being a fantasy. He has given a big impression on the audience and made them to accept it. But I am not talking about that. I am talking about the exceptional logical reasons in the name of screenplay. +2 four attempts and clearing the 5th time like his idol is rib tickling. The villian can recognize Vijay only when he is wearing a scarf around his forehead and he don't even know who he is when he is not wearing the scarf is mind boggling. An assistant commissioner becoming an honest police man because villian took over his *keep* is out of the world. A bomb, I mean a real bomb, explodes and it's specifically designed to explode just the chair with doing no disturbances to the people standing an inch closer to the chair is sensible smart. Targetting the villian with his weak point where doesn't know swim is an exceptional twist. All these scenes can be excused, one can't forget the climax. A clear example for an edge of the seat thriller with an innovative twist is a real thunder.

Direction - Torture # 4
The captain of the movie has miserably failed with his direction as well. Cleverly following the template he also impresses his mentor Dharani in movie making. Most of the scenes you would have a flash that it would have seen a similar scenes elsewhere. A flying sequence before the interval, an item number song towards the end, most of the revenge sequences.. what not??? The so called change over pre and post interval for Vijay and the Devaraj IPS character had come in numerous movies in the past. The casting is another major area where he fails to impress. Funniest part is their character names and it makes us think again who is the director of the movie because there is already an established director who always keep such interesting names to the characters. Unnecessary message, I am not sure if it's the director's idea or whether he was forced to keep such dialogues. We need a rescue team here.

It's seriously high time Vijay should change the style. We never want Vijay to do a Hey Ram or Raam. We would want him to break this stereotype of following the same template in all his movies. This is seriously a miserable situation. Audience are not the same old audience who claps and whistles for everything. The movie has just two positives. One is Vijay Antony who has seriously given splendid numbers. Though they are relevant for the movie or not is a second thought, but he has certainly given good music for a Vijay movie. The another major advantage which overshadows this awful crap is the distributors Sun Pictures. It's quite obvious what the movie will be claimed to be in the near future. But this should not overshadow Vijay and make him to work with him again.
Image Courtesy : Cinesnacks

Kitchen Killadi - Fried Rice

Here comes the ultra receipe from the world's ultimate chef, Vikram. How to prepare a Fried Rice? Often, when we attempt to prepare a fried rice, no matter however we prepare, we cannot even get close to how it's prepared in Fast Food or in any top star Hotels. But the following receipe will assure you that you get the actual FRIED RICE.

Deal-a No Deal-a?

Ingredients

Basmati Rice (Double Deer Brand) - 2 Cups

Chopped Onion - 1/2 Cup

Spring Onion - 2 nos
Chopped Capsicum - 1 Cup
Carrot (Cut Vertically) - 1 Cup
Cabbage (Shredded) - 2 Cups
Beans (Cut into tiny pieces) - 1 Cup
Egg - 2 Nos
Agino Moto - 2 Tbl Spoon
Sugar - 1 Tbl Spoon
Black Pepper - 2 Tbl Spoon
Soya Sauce - 1/2 Tbl Spoon
Oil - 2 Tbl Spoon
Salt - As needed (தேவையான அளவு)

Note : Ingredients quantity are subjected to ONLY one person. ஒரு ஆள் மட்டும் தான் சாப்பிட முடியும். Please increment the ingredients if you want to prepare for more people.

Instructions :
Take a frying pan. Before that please light the stove. Keep the frying pan (something that you use for frying pappad). Add oil in the pan and leave it for a minute. Now, add the chopped onions and fry the onions until the பச்சை வாசனை goes. Now take the raw egg and break it on to the pan. Keep beating the egg with a கரண்டி as the egg easily sticks to the pan which will make it difficult to scratch. Keep beating the egg in the pan so it becomes like a burjji. Now add the shredded cabbage, carrot, capsicum and beans to the pan and keep acting as if you are cooking something with the கரண்டி. This is very important or else அடி புடிச்சிடும்.
Now keep the stove in slim mode as you are going add a few more ingredients without disturbing the setup. Add the boiled basmati rice. Make sure the basmati rice is boiled in the correct format. I mean, the rice shouldn't stick. If you blow the rice, it should move and that's the பதம். After adding the rice to the pan, add salt, sugar, agino moto and soya sauce.
Why are we adding all these things? Salt, as everyone knows gives taste. Sugar will give color. Agino Moto gives flavour. Soya Sauce again gives color.
Now keep the stove in full flame and keep mixing the contents nicely and throughly. If you are an expert, you can even lift the pan and flip flop the contents but make sure you don't dump the contents on the floor by doing this circus.
இந்த மாறி பண்ணா சும்மா அந்தரா வரும்.

Please try to prepare fried rice in this format and write your valuable comments.

Meet you next time with another brilliant receipe!!!

Inglorious Basterds - Quentin Tarantino is the best of them all

To start with, I am not a great fan of Tarantino's work. Of course his Pulp Fiction remains to be in my list of top 100 movies of all time, but with Inglourious Basterds, he defintely proved that he has not lost his bloody brilliant screenplay. Here goes the story as IMDb says so, In Nazi-occupied France during World War II, a group of Jewish-American soldiers known as "The Basterds" are chosen specifically to spread fear throughout the Third Reich by scalping and brutally killing Nazis. The Basterds soon cross paths with a French-Jewish teenage girl who runs a movie theater in Paris which is targeted by the soldiers. If one would want to know details about World War II, please visit World War II. But that doesn't act as a pre requiste to understand the movie. The movie is in deed deals about WWII, but since this was made by Tarantino, one who mastered in non linear play, you don't see any visuals of a war battle except a few which is shown in a different way in the movie than it's actual content. But yes, this movie is highly fictious that WWII which is considered as one of the tragic event is conveyed probably in a more funnier way and more interesting manner.

Who is the best basterd? We have a huge list of top class actors in the movie from Brad Pitt to Diane Kruger to August Diehl. But there is one man who steals the show. Col. Hans Landa, performed by Chris Waltz literally steals the show with his witty nature and splendid performance. This is probably a clever and smart casting by Tarantino to pick a german speaking actor to play this role. This is in fact the first American movie for Mr. Waltz. The way he builds the anxiety towards the end of the scene is something remarkable. He just blew me in the very beginning of the movie in the chapter 'Once upon a time in Nazi-Occupied France'. In fact in most of the scenes in the movie, which is comprised of chapters, the chapter starts in a slow pace with an ordinary conversation and slowly it picks the pace and finally it ends with bang bang bang!!!

Trivia : Guess who was supposed to do this role? It's our chocolate boy DiCaprio supposed to play this role but later QT decided to stick to the tag that he wants a german speaking actor to play this role and The Jew Hunter just did a cake walk.

The first chapter gives us a lot of symbolism and some director's trademark sequences. Director gives us a realistic feel by allowing the English to speak English, Germans to speak German and French to speak French. Addition to that, when playing the subtitle in English while the characters converse in foreign language, you could notice a few words abdruptly translated in their native language. For instance, you can see 'Oui' meaning 'Yes' appearing as 'Yes' (translated term in English) in a few places and wanted appearing as 'Oui' in French-English in some places. Likewise, you could notice the same in other words in other chapters as well. As the conversation starts, Landa greets and treats the French family in a polite manner and opens a room to the family to speak about himself where he is of a character who wants to know what people speak about him. This is evident as he asks LaPadite to tell him about the rumours that he heard. As the conversation gets deeper, you can notice Landa once again asking for milk and once again greets his family and their cows in French. There is actually a different notation conveyed there. 'A votre famile et a voas vaches je dis Bravo' means he thanks the ladies in the family and the cows for the milk. 'Vache' in french means cows. 'Vache' also means Vagina. Hope you got what Landa wishes to convey to LaPadite. He somehow threatens politely to make LaPadite admit that he is hiding the Jews.

Now comes Aldo, the Basterds. Their clean aim to not just killing Nazis, but leaving a fear to the world that there is a group exists which brutally kills Nazis. This is clearly shown in the way they kill each and every Nazis that appear before them. And the scene where the Basterds teases the Nazis is one of the top notch funniest scene in the movie. The way Aldo introduces his men about their bravery and why were they part of the Basterds was conveyed in one of the most funniest manner. Special mention to Hugo Stiglitz. Not to forgot Donny boy who breaks the skull with his baseball tushy. We just missed his introduction scene like who Hugo had!

We have Shosanna, the girl who escaped from chapter 1 comes again in Chapter 3 after 4 years. Now she owns a cinema and changed her name. Mr Zoller, the german soldier who is known for his bravery in the recent war where he killed more than 300 enemies single handedly approaches Shosanna for a different reason. But this suspense was maintained in the initial scenes between the two. Our Jew Hunter doesn't miss Shosanna. He comes again as a security officer appointed for the premiere. We have the director's trademark here as well. Landa orders for a milk and that makes Shosanna to hiccup. He keeps increasing the anxiety when he asks Shosanna that he wanted to ask something to her! But alas, he says he forgot may be that's not important! Shosanna sighs with a big relief! This shows how fearful the Jew Hunter is!!!

Ah, I am getting more deeper into the chapters, let me just try to input a few thoughts and nuances alone. Let's get inside the premiere of 'Nation's pride', Shosanna's move, Aldo's plan and Landa's clever and cunning step. The final chapter of the movie, this has almost all the characters in the picture. The conversation between Landa and Bridget von Hammersmark is a great tease play inquiring about Mountain Climbing in Paris. The Italian character names played by the Basterds are real time directors and they are of course Tarantino favourites. The Nation's Pride movie which is a movie with-in the movie is actually directed by Eli Roth. Shosanna sends a message to the German with her footage at the end. The plan to burn the germans and kill Hitler are good to watch though they are very artificial if you had to think logically. Clever Landa goes for an agreement deal with Operation Kino via Aldo. All just happens in a GO.

Inglorious Basterds is truly a movie with great fun and real surprise.

Garbage Express - Rotten movies analysis Part 1

Don't get surprised! It's about movies movies movies! Yes, the following movies have hit the silver screens and I had a chance or rather volunteered to watch them in big screen in some local theatres. I am sure, I will come with more bunch of stupid cinema of 2009 when I have time.So, where shall we start with!

Do you know that we have got a Tarantino already? Bala Ganesha is TN Tarantino with his debut movie 'Eesa' with non linear screenplay with something very close to Pulp Fiction. He has led a very good example to giant directors who really wanted to be QT. I should have recorded the comments when such irrelavant scenes hit the play. Well, you can and allowed to try QT, but you got to be little sensible at least with the jumble. You cannot insert an item number during the climax which is a tragedy climax. And surprisingly you call it a non linear narration. That's non linear bull shit! Anyways, even with a linear narration, the movie is definitely a trash product.

Next one in the list is 'Suryan Satta Kallori'. Well, all of a sudden I listened to one 'Gaana' song which had these lines 'Jeansu paanta avuthu puttu lungiyathaan katti puttu kitta vaaayendi'. But I did not watch the movie for this song, it was quite surprise that when I was watching this movie, I came to know that this song belongs to this movie. Director Pawan, tried to address the real life scenario that TN witnessed with Law College Students in the movie. But poor fellow, he doesn't know direction. Well, what did the actors do? Except for some known villians I seriously wonder whether the lead actor, oh yea, the hero is the producer for this movie!!!

Jagan (na)Mogini, the diwali's dark horse with once again Vadivelu who starred in all the three movies released for Diwali. Well I actually caught this movie a week after Diwali for lone reason :-P This one is the remake of yesteryear movie with the same title. We could recollect all faces whom we would have seen in Vittalaachaarya's movies. Though Namitha had to shed lot of weight in this movie, Jaya Malini, Jaya Malini dhaan. We also have Jothi lakshmi, yesteryear item queen casting as Nami's mom. For those who doesn't know about the story, we have Nami - Raja as lovers in the past, Nami will be killed by Raja's relatives. Madam takes a revenge after death. But now Raja will be in love with Nila. Who wins the battle is the story! The director blindly trusted on Namitha who can bring audience to this movie but he has chosen a wrong film to remake. It's a pain in the wrong place for die hard fanatics of Namitha.

This one that I am going to point is perhaps the Eiffel tower! Yes, it's the different man, Sivagiri! Holy christ, can a movie erupt laughter in the title card? Sivagiri does. Opening scene for the Macho Man, will defintely make you fall from the seat and roll on the floor and you need someone to control your laughter. Story about two men, one will be on a revenge mode and other obviously tries to save or defend. Well one guy is supposed to be an IPS with waist size scoring an half century and the other guy is a scientist. Now who is the good guy and who is the bad guy? I guess since the hero comes in the kakki uniform is the good guy, oh yes, I forgot to tell you that he is an IPS in the movie. You know something, first ever in Indian cinema, the IPS officer comes as a college student for an OPERATION KINO :-P The bad guy goes to an extent of making bio weapon. Did I tell about what the revenge is all about? National integrity? He wanted to kill the guy who married a girl whom he had a crush in the past! He goes to the extreme of making bio weapons. Holy Christ!!!

I promise many would wanted to watch this movie on seeing the posters on the road side. Yes, I am talking about 'Madhavi', the homely looking women in her bathroom costume poster! Well, for those who watched because of the posters, same pinch :-P The story is closely looped to K.B's classic 'Moondru Mudichu'. Please don't scold me, it's seriously have a similar or kinda similar plot. Well you don't have a role played by Kamal in 'Moondru Mudichu' but we have Rajni, Sri Devi and Rajni' dad. The anti hero's acting is more than enough to call this movie a piece of crap!

Hero - Heroine misunderstanding. Love blossoming between them. Deciding to marry. Girl's father against the marriage. Sending henchmen to kill the hero. Hero somehow escapes from them. Hero loses his girl. Hero dies/finds another girl/becomes mentally retarded. This theory of basic equation fits a movie called 'Nesi' where the director chooses the option C in the climax and has taken the movie from the climax to give a flash back feel. THE MOVIE IS A TRASH. PERIOD.

Peraanmai - Powerful Action Adventure

When he directed 'E', the director wasn't known at all though his 'Iyarkai' is a very good movie. 'E' got an initial to this director and with that expectation, leaves him with his third venture 'Peraanmai'. This time, the director again used patriotism in its usual form. Saving the country's pride from terrorists reminds us none other than Vijaykanth, who is known and also done such a plot plenty. Well, there are reason for choosing Jeyam Ravi for the lead role. The Protagonist is seen with 5 lovely girls. Else, our captain would have made it a cakewalk.

That's the plot, saving the country's pride, launching a rocket, from unknown forces is the plot of Peraanmai and the director has written and executed the plot in a power packed action adventure and in a form of travelogue. 5 girls will 1 guy in a deep forest trekking makes us think how the story would have been connected in a justifiable manner. Yes, the director has done a remarkable justification to bring in 5 girls go with a man for a trekking. Jayam Ravi is the in-charge for NCC training camp for girls and he picks 5 girls from the group and take them for a one day trekking where they unleash the unknown forces trying to shatter India's pride and eventually they fight for the country's pride.

The above para is the main plot, but the director also shares a sub plot where he dictates a life of scheduled tribes and their education or rather the interest in education. He has shown how a guy from such caste behaves and also a portion shows their lifestyle. It was a surprise or rather a shock to see Jeyam Ravi in 'komanam'. In the same scene, the NCC girls, teases him. Also, when they hear the same person to be in-charge for them, they show a feeling of sigh because of his caste. A few other scenes were also used to showcase this underestimation of the caste.

First half of the movie focus primarily on the camp and the girls. It shows lifestyle of a women camp and the kind of language they use. Here is where, the censor board played a vital role. It tested the patience of the audience as most of the double meaning dialogues were muted. The director primary intention behind those dialogues are to imply the real lifetime scenario of what used to happen in a women training camp and in their rooms. And these 5 girls were not just picked for the sake of skin show and they have done a reasonable job. Immense focus is given to realism. And the director knows the importance of this realism and whenever he picturizes something, he comes up with an explanation. This is a good learning thing for the audience as they can come to various things about different things told in the movie.

Ponvannan character is shown very well in the first half as it acts as an important piece of justification towards the climax and also the second half where he hunts for Jayan Ravi in the forest. His character is shown as a person who earns popularity and at the same time he makes sure that his respect isn't disturbed. Presence of Vadivelu I would say kinda apt for the movie as it doesn't affect the pace of the movie much and also he did not use a separate track either that spoils the movie.

Moving onto the second half, the story primarily or rather completely shot in the deep forest. This is perhaps the first tamil movie which is shot extensively in forest. When the director called it a trekking, he meant trekking. Even when the team, when the so called trekking turned into a tragedy, uses the same situation as a learning experience for the NCC girls. He explains what to do and what not to do? Their travelogue instances leaves the latter portion of the second half to act as valid evidences.

The action sequences involved between the unknown forces and the NCC team is very realistic. Initially I felt it's gruesome to see some gory stunts but it's needed for this movie and well explained by the director. Again the director connects the first half instances with the second half sequences. It's shown how the girls practise during the training camp, how they shoot, how they react, etc., and accordingly the weapons will be distributed to them. It's a very good move by the director, where Jayam Ravi asks for the senior officer Kalpana's opinion on whom to distribute the weapons. As I said earlier, wherever the director says something, he makes it very logical with substantiating evidences.

With almost half of the movie shot in deep forest, with day/night scenes, it's not an easy job for the cinematographer. Unknown man, Sathishkumar steals the show. Amazing shot sequences. Shooting inside the forest itself is a very tough job and the color correction is used fantastically and more care is taken to enrich the shot especially during the night shots in the deep forest. Man, it's very difficult to shoot the chasing sequence inside the forest, and they have done it very well with the help of crane shots and run along shots.

Editing was real smooth throughout the movie. Again, the forest sequences and the switch over scenes from day/night has been cut brilliantly. Fast motion war game between the terrorist forces and the team has been cut crystal clear by VT Vijayan.

Action sequences again is amazing. Here, it's almost a carnivore strategy being used in all the fight sequences. A carnivore hunts its prey by grabbing the neck first and the prey eventually loses and surrenders. Likewise, in order to hunt a prey that's bigger than it's physical size, it hunts gradually making the prey immobile. Exactly the similar thing is followed in the stunt sequence where Jayam Ravi cuts the opponent's neck so that they don't shout which might alarm others and similarly, he takes a cunning movie with poisoned knife to hunt the giant Roland Kickinger.

Music is not bad and the BGM was OK in places. The songs were used effectively, what I mean effective is that they did not use the entire song. The climax song is really good with the voice of Madhu Balakrishnan giving more energy to the song.

Dialogues and the slang used in the movie is something noteworthy. As I said earlier, censor played a havoc in the first half but good that Sangam cinemas shares the muted dialogues and the reason why they muted. Anyway, they aren't very important though it gives a sigh to the audience when the audio goes mute then and there. Well, now the slang, literature tamil, 'Thooya Tamil' is used mostly in the movie. Another in direct and very good attempt by the director. One must know that, handling a plot where you have ammos, rocket launcher, directions, forest, landmines, rocket, computer, etc., it's quite tough to use literature tamil dialogues but it was done without any slightest glimpse of sighness from the audience. You can also observe, slowly the NCC girls starts speaking proper tamil after communication with Jayam Ravi. Why I am stressing so hard is because, towards the end of the movie, there will be scene where the girls come to know that Jayam Ravi speaks good english and wonder why he didn't speak to them in English. Jayam Ravi replies "Enga Makkaluku naan english pesina puriyaadhu, ungalukku naan english pesinaan pudikaadhu".

One area where the movie fails to the expectations is the CG. But the portions involving CG are minimum and it's negligible. Another thing which I often use for Jayam Ravi movies is his voice. I am still waiting for THE director who wants to experiment dubbing someone for Ravi. I often quote his voice doesn't sound mature. It's acceptable if it's a college boy, lover boy, chocolate boy role, but with a Captain's role, such a voice doesn't give us a complete result. But we have to appreciate the fact that he has done a good homework for the role he has taken.

Verdict : Peraanmai for Tamil Cinema

Aadhavan - Absolutely Horrible

It has become a pattern in Tamil Cinema to have such stories where the hero, who initially is a goon turns into a good boy with a supporting flashback. Aadhavan too joins the list. With this traditional 'paarambariyamaana' story, KS Ravikumar with the help of Suriya and co, tried something which is NEVER NEW to us.

Suriya, the actor who has seen progressing his star status in the recent past, has also started the same formula followed by other top stars in the field. Too many self praises, favouring punch dialogues, dragging the line up MGR-Sivaji-Rajni-Kamal-?????, etc., Well let's get into the review.

Professional Assassin is our Aadhavan, SURIYA, who is shown immediately with an introduction song with one of the good old dialogue, "UNNA AZHIKKA ORUTHAN PORAKKANAM". Goodness, how long are we going to use this dialogue for the hero introduction??? He has been assigned a project to kill a judge and this happens to be the first target failure in Suriya's career. Suriya takes this as a challenge and enters into Judge's family and tries to kill him is all the story about. Well, there is a so-called suspense in the story, if not, then I would be contradicting that tag 'paarambariyam'.

The judge, late Murali's family will challenge someone to remember the names and the type of relation. I guess, remember, I guess the strength of the family will be close to 30 excluding the National Security Forces who safeguards the family on their vacation. The yesteryer actress, Saroja Devi, is the eldest in the family and her son is Murali and the rest and their relationship??? Even the director didn't bother to explain them as it might waste a length of reel in their introduction. Well, the main item, sorry, the main heroine is also a part of the family, our thaara, yes Nayanthaara. Assuming she is calling Murali as Uncle, we can come to a conclusion that she is not the daughter of Murali. These are small nuances in the movie which will make the audience to identify their relationship. Also seen are around 4 couples in their family. We shall Ramesh Kanna, what are they, who are they, when time permits!

The way Suriya enters into the family blackmailing Vadivelu leaves us a clear picture about some suspence which was very hard to find. Having shown Suriya as a professional assassin and the attempt that he makes to get inside the house and the series of attempts to kill the judge is horrific. But we need to assume that they are a part of the humour track. To be honest, the humour part of the movie is really good and full credit goes to the co-hero Vadivelu. It's probably the best part in the first half except the interval that comes immediately after the first half.

Just before the first half ends, we had a song, I couldn't even remember what the song was? Second half started with a song? Man, you just gave us the interval, why again??? Well, the interval will leave the audience go mad as Suriya breaks the suspense to Nayanthaara and of course the audience will still be clueless whether to believe what Suriya said is true or false!!! Well, it's been quite a while since Suriya has entered into the house, so, there should be something that strikes the actual villian to raise his tempo isn't it?? Yes yes, we never go disappointed. So now, the story breaks further deep as Suriya is almost caught and that is when, Surya unwinds the flashback. Remember, the flashback is actually about the connection between Nayanthaara's birthday & her mom Anu Haasan's death falling on the same day. But the 10 year old computer graphics Suriya makes each and every scene a roll on the floor laughter. Man, why do you need this? Just because your childhood photo is being used to describe your young age, we never asked you to come as a 10 year old boy. Please think something before you do and there are something in the world which is not possible and you must be knowing it or at least now learn.

Moving on to the technical aspects, cinematography is decent enough for this movie. Locations are pretty cool and attractive and makes it look rich. But again, they aren't mandatory thing for this movie. It's not worth spending money to shoot songs in foreign locations and that too places where they never shot any movie. But the attempt should be appreciated and overrall a decent photography.

Editing was strictly OK in the movie. The editor has used all possible effects in the song 'Hasli Pisli' song. Otherwise, the editing was kinda ok in the movie.

Stunts in the movie was horrific. It has become a trademark in Red Giant movies, where the hero keeps flying instead of other modes of transport. The climax fight choreography is absolute pathetic with 0% logic and 100% humour. The first choreography is nothing but the bond choreography with ropes and dupes playing a vital role.

Music, Harris, perhaps the first time, just 2 songs were good in the movie. Both the songs, comes in the second half out of which one is picturised very badly. Vaarayo song was amazing to listen, but horrible to visualize. Hasli Pisli is only the saving soul for his music. The first time ever in the history of Tamil cinema, there is a punch dialogue for the music director. It's been noted that Harris lifts tunes. In order to stop the bad mouthing, there is punch in the movie that says 'lifting tune is not the matter, all we need is a HIT'. BGM is nothing great in the movie. Often an english track is used for stunts, which doesn't elevates the scene at all. It's an average number for Harris.

K S Ravikumar fails to concentrate on the screenplay and he heavily used Vadivelu in the movie who almost occupies equal space in the movie with Suriya except for the songs. Too much of casting is seriously ridiculous and annoying. The same movie could have been moulded into a very good commerical entertainer if he hadn't followed this usual 'Paarambariyam' concept. But the cameo role of KSR and Udhayanidhi Stalin is a tip to the audience that 'Oru Nayaagan Udhayamaagiraan'

Verdict : Save your money

Unwinding the 'Singer Kamal'

Unwinding the secret and exploring the unknown about Kamal Haasan

Often, when we utter the word Kamal Haasan, we tend to talk more about his *on screen* performance which primarily deals with acting and his experimental works *on screen*. We also talked plenty on screen writer Kamal Haasan and the director Kamal Haasan as well. Well, let's give some rest to the actor, writer, director Kamal Haasan and let's wake up the other facts about the Legend and also explore the hidden facts about this master mind with respect the songs IN GENERAL.

Now, the funniest thing when we say songs!!! Songs, Songs, Songs!!! What do we infer when we talk about songs? Is it just the music director? Certainly not! There are more and more sub classification!. Thanks to the recent programme in Vijay TV, where they touched, I repeat, they just touched about this field with respect to Kamal Haasan. Let me try my best to unwind more.

Our man started this at the age of 6. Yes, we are in deed talking about the Kalathoor Kannama fame Kamal, who rendered beautifully the song "Ammaavum Neeye, Appaavum Neeye". Of course, we have witnessed several other child artist to render singing for someone in many songs. But Kalathoor Kannama is unique. How is it unique? The screen presense and the camera focus on the subject in this song distinguishes from the rest of the world. You can notice the fact that, the camera deliberately focus on our star. To be in precise, assuming the song stretches for 5 minutes, camera would have focussed on our hero for 4+ minutes. This is not an easy task to do a lip sing at the age of 6. But the end result what achieved is nothing but PERFECTION. Is this all the beginning???

The next point is just for the fact. Kamal Hassan become a playback singer in the movie 'Andharangam', his mentor KB directed movie where he sung a beautiful song called "Naairu Oli Mazhaiyil" which gave him confidence and also recognition to sing more songs in the future line up. And the next movie that invited Kamal to sing happened to become his 100th movie, Raaja Paarvai, where he sung the song "Vizhiyorathu Kanavu". This is when Kamal got this offer more frequently because of the Maestro Ilayaraja, the combo, which always provided massive melodies.

It happened so soon, and that too with a National Award winner, Kamal Haasan song the famous "Kulla Nari" song in the movie "Moondram Pirai". Interesting fact is that, this song proved to be a benchmark song of story recite. It doesn't carry a rhythmic music or any raaga associated with it. It was composed more of a story recite with a nursery rhyme rhythm because of Sri Devi.

Kanne Thottukkavaa Kattikkavaa
Kattikkittu Ottikkavaa
Thottukkittaa Pathikkumae
Pathikkittaa Pathattumae
Anjugamae Nenju Enna Vittu Vittu Thudikkudhu
Kattazhagi Onna Yenni Kannu Muzhi Pidhungudhu
Kothi Vida Vendumendru Kokku Enna Thudikkudhu
Thappi Vida Vendumendru Kendai Meenu Thavikkudhu
Kulikkira Meenukku Kulir Yenna Adikkudhu
Pasi Thaangumaa Ilamai Ini
Parimaara Vaa Ila Maangani

Who can forget this beautiful prelude piece of fast number that comes before the song 'Vanidhamani Vana Mogini' song from the movie 'Vikram'. How often have we come across such a prelude piece with rhydhamic words ending each line and more importantly beautifully sung by the Legend followed by the ace singer SPB to contibue with the song. Oops! Did I miss the opening fusion number?? Vikram!!!! Vikram!!!! Vikram (Robotic voice)..... yes, the fusion number which apparantly comes as a title song is really sickening because we did not get enough chance to witness this song visually or even in radio! We have seen songs where the voice modulation takes place throughout the song. But this song is exception and the exception is because of the singer. The man, modulates his voice in Pallavi, Charanam1, Charanam 2 and even in the opening precursion.

Now comes THE song, which I bet, every soul who have seen Tamil movies wouldn't have failed to listen. Yes, we are talking about 'Then Paandi Cheemayile'. The song comes 4 times in the movie, the title, death of Saranya, death of Nizhalgal Ravi and the climax. The opening bit was sung by the Maestro, who needs no musical instrument and yes the song comes without any instrument and we happen to listen to just the voice of the Maestro. And then the three occasions, Kamal steals the show as a playback singer. You must concentrate on the verbal notes sung by Maestro and Kamal Haasan. Maestro uses 'Azhudha manasu thaangaadhey' stressing on the exact script 'Zha' phonetic sound, whereas, Kamal will use 'Aludha manasu thaangadhey' with the phonetic sound 'la'. This makes a lot of difference and quite obviously the latter sung by Kamal adds more value and life to the song. Another difference between the two is 'Yaar Adichaaro' and 'Yaar Adithaaro'. I leave to the readers to identify who uses what?

Here comes another benchmark song, which was never every utilized in Tamil Cinema before. And complete marks goes to the man, Kamal Haasan, who is the 100% inventor for this song. We are talking about 'Kanmani Anboda Kadhalan' from the movie Guna. I hope many would have heard the dramaticized version of the conversation between Kamal-Santhanabarathi-Ilayaraja. Assuming it to be true, you will get to know that, the concept of a conversation based number is purely because of Kamal Haasan. Can someone *try* to imagine the song sung by any ace singer other than Kamal himself? If it had happened, how would the song be? Good on Ilayaraja that he didn't let our imagination to become wild!

Another 'Vani thamani' number being used in 'Saandhu Pottu'. In both places, the ace singer SPB joins the club to make it beautiful. The latter one being a conversation with the villian and comes a teaser number with poetic stanzas. This also comes at the end of each Charanam with a sarcasatic smile to end the note.

Oru vaaikozhupedutha aduthavan varatu izhupitha
avan thol urippavan da tamizhachi paal kudichavanda
Ada vishayangal pala arindhavan naan vivarangal pala purinjavan naan
Sandaikku vandha savaal vitta
Thadiyathan Pudichuthaan
Kai viralula suthura suthula
Annaachi unnai naan punnaaku thinna vaippean

Kamal, never ends here in this movie. He joins with another legend S Janaki amma and challenges her with 'Inji Iduppazhagi'. Who can forget the opening style of note and the sarcastic comment for the same. 'Marandhuruveengalonnu nenaichean'. The singer Kamal Haasan, concentrate so much on the language with respect to the character/role in the movie. Devar magan, being a southern caste related role, he stresses on 'alagi' instead of 'azhagi'. Adding to that, he also stretches a few words to ensure the slang being used. Of course, S Janaki is no exception either in this song.

Rukku Rukku Rukku
Hare Baaba Rukku... Oh my darlinguuuu (coughs)

Yes, for people who doesn't know about the singer behind this song, it's the Ultimate Kamal Haasan. What else this man can try in a field where he has least experience. How can one imagine to sing like an old lady justifying to the role that he enacted in this movie. Thought this is purely a commercial movie, Kamal Haasan still wants to improvise on whatever he does and this is a clear example. Yet another old lady voice was again witnessed in Dasavatharam, where Krishnaveni Patty, the man, sings a small stanza 'Usurodu Irukkan Naan petha pilla'. Well, though both being a aged lady character, there is some significance difference in the voice modulation. The caste, the actual age, the tremble all being considered while singing.

Well is this too much? Well, I really stop because there are still more to explore. 'Aalavandhan' had the gigantic voice of Kamal singing 'Kadavul Paadhi Mirigam Paadhi'. The amount of base put in this song implies the seriousness in the character. Another song from the same movie is 'Siri Siri Siri' which is more a joke recite. The lyrics will have a mixture of english and tamil continuity and it will be beautifully rendered by Kamal. 'So kala kala kalavena siri Kannil neer vara siri...So Siri'.

Master in Malayalam as well. Perhaps the first song which was sung completely in Malayalam in a Tamil movie. The film is shortly called 'MMKR' and the song is 'Sundari Neeyum Sundara Nyaanum' where Kamal again joins with S Janaki who is again a native of Andhra. But the product was 101% perfect to the core. He makes sure that he properly stresses the words in Malayalam with proper phenotics. I, being a native of Kerala, precisely a Palakad Iyer, I can honestly comment on the slang which has come to the core perfection.

Now comes the expert in Madras Slang. We have witnessed our man, speaking in Madras slang in many movies. He steps further by singing in the same style as well. He started with 'Kandasamy Madaaamy Munnusaamy' in PKS. This song also discovered the lyricist Kamal. Yes, Kamal penned the lyrics for this song which takes a dig about Marriage and ties it beautifully with the Lords. Initial comparison between the usual *saamy* to the Lord *Saami* is simply top notch. Well, more importantly, the song comes as a real stunt man singing the song with the Madras Baashai. 'Iyyapan amsama kundhikittu irukkura style paar'. Another Madras slang that our man gave to us is 'Kaasu Mela Kaasu Vandhu' from the movie Kadhala Kadhala, where he sings along with a singer from North, Udit Narayanan. Even this song is so special that it will have some realistic glimpses. In the middle of the song, Delhi Ganesh will interrupt the song and Kamal will question "enna mudinju pocha". Also he tries to imitate the stammering in the song which is a short and catchy one. Well the man didn't stop there, he moves another step and did 'Aalwarpettai Aandava' in Vasool Raja MBBS. Another advice based song on love failure. This song proves the fact that a song can be so enjoyable even if nuances that happen in life is said in our local slang. "pannandu vayasu manasil pattamboochi parakkume" is something the lyrcists capitalize it using poetic lyrics.

Another highlight song in his career is 'Raja Kaya Vachaa' from Aboorva Sagodharargal. The prelude conversation with Aachi Manorama is so nice with typical Madras slang. This song draws a sensational comparison with car-women with tremendous analogy. The word *sogusu* in this song will be addressed in different phonetic in all the three places.

Not just Tamil, but also in English. Our man has also sung a pop number in the movie Nala Damayanthi for the promo. 'Stranded on the Streets' is the song and once again, he proved language is not a barrier for him at least. He also tried a different style in 'Aalankatti Mazhai' from Thenali is another unique number.

Our man doesn't stop here! He has also rendered his voice for songs which doesn't feature him. He started with 'Muthe Muthama' for Ajith in Ullasam with a peppy number under Karthik Raja music and travels to Yuvan for singing 'Neruppu Vaayinil' in Pudhupettai.

With Virumaandi, the lyricist Kamal shared more space in the lyricist ocean. The song 'Unnai Vida' made him a proper lyricist and not just another run of the mill. He wrote the song and he sung the song so beautifully with some pleasant music from the Genius. In the same movie, he also sung the song 'Kombula Poova Suthi' which is more a victory pleasure number claiming his glory. Again comes the voice modulation when he utters 'Ethana Thazhumbirukku' with a low base voice leaving the background singers to chant 'onnu rendu moonu'.

'Yele Machi Machi, Thala Suthi Suthi' from Anbe Sivam is another *yesapaatu* (competitive) song, where he competes with Madhavan on topic *Bodhai*. He steps as a choreographer in Hey Raam for the song 'Raaman Aanalum' again the man, gives his voice. This time it's a trio number.

Having said all these, having written for pages, it doesn't make a complete meal, if I leave 'Yaar Yaar Sivam' from Anbe Sivam. This song was so popular for the *M-A-G-N-I-F-I-C-A-N-T* voice of the Legend. The song was sung with a vibration that leaves goose bumps when you listen to this number. No wonder it leaves a deep impact on the listener and it gets registered in the heart of the listener purely because of the magical voice.

Unnai Pol Oruvan - Review

"A remake of 'A Wednesday'. 'A Wednesday' is a superb movie. Kamal is remaking this master piece into tamil. It was the best movie of the year 2008. Oscar winning performances from the leads Nasser and Kher. Two legends joining hands in a movie.

Excuse me! I have at last watched 'A Wednesday' last wednesday."

Before I get into my review, one should thank, the legend, Kamal Haasan for choosing this movie to remake when we are in a period of stealing (remaking) masala blockbusters from other region. With his star value, he needn't choose to remake this movie but still he did and I congratulate for the passion this man has for Cinema. But the same HERO image has also been a disadvantage for him to choose this movie but at least, a few bunch of audience are always ready to accept a neat movie from anyone and Kamal is no exception.

Often when you remake a movie, the audience who has seen both versions, tries to draw a comparison and sometimes the audience can skip the comparison as well. But 'A Wednesday's comparison cannot be skipped. Hats off to the Story man, Neeraj Pandey whose original product was so honest and reliable though it had an another version release. And I am no exception that, I cannot stop myself comparing between the two. Having said that, 'A Wednesday' is not a *GREAT* movie. It's just a *GOOD* movie. It's a NEAT movie. The whole movie was carried by some stunning performances from the lead characters Nasser and Kher which added flavour to the movie and of course the script, the main strength for the movie. Alright, it's not a place to review the original! Move ON!

Story
Remaking a suspense thriller is one big risk in the industry and none seemed to care for that. Well, yes, people who witnessed both, it's sheer a frame by frame makeover. But the actual story as such carries a great momentum to the movie thought it starts dull with no clue of what's going on. The twist in the story steals the movie completely away from the performances of the characters. Talking about the changes been made to the story, there are pros and cons. There isn't much change in the main plot of the movie but a few changes were made to the screenplay.

I am completely against the opening scene. Why on earth one would show a common man preparing explosives? I agree the star value of Kamal being the reason, but does it make any justice to the story's suspense? Another introduction is that of the journalist or rather the Televison news channel, telecasting Bush-Musharaf models was irritating. Though the intention behind the scene was to give a justified answer to the journalist being called for the HEADLINES of the DAY, highlighting her with this example, dragging the scene was in deed irritating. On the other hand, the original had the 'Electric Baba' episode which was again irritating, but it at least shows how these news channel earn TRP for their channel with such cheap shows. Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu's voice was one pathetic take. Adding to that is our Lakshmi, the Chief Secratariat. Especially the conversation that she will be having with Lal, the commissioner. Thought it was good only at some places, it was more irritating overall. Another good aspect was the names of the terrorists with an inclusion of an Hindu's name instead of having 4/4 Muslims. But again, the Hindu terrorist was a meare comedian when it comes to live or die situation and that's unlikely with the muslim terrorists.

Performances
Initially, after watching 'A Wednesday', I was seriously thinking if Lal could give a performance that was given by Kher. Lal showed his middle finger to me! One big minus he had was his accent when it comes to Tamil and English. But it was a good choice to make him as a native of Kerala who can be excused for his MTI. But this man has more screen presence in the movie just like the original version had. But there is a difference between Nasser and Kamal. Kamal being a popular artist let Lal steal the show and of course Lal did a great job. He was rough and tough as well as soft and jovial at places.

Kamal, who had one major portion of the picture in his hand had delivered it with his TOP NOTCH acting. Other than that piece, he did not have much scope to vent his talent but what was done by him was always perfect. But the so called *common man* picture which I saw very clearly in Nasserudin Shah, was not visible in Kamal. Thought this man had done minute corrections to that of a common man, I still cannot the see the clear picture. Though his body language tells him that he is just a common man, his star value overrides. Small corrections and additional gimmicks makes him NOT a common man. But isn't there a difference between Kamal and Nasseruddin Shah? The place where the ACTING between the two compete, Kamal steals it completely away from Nasser with his emotions and the non glycerine tears. Thought the short story that was rendered by Nasser had more connection and justification to what and why he does, Kamal's acting just makes the audience to AWWWWWE.

Another notable performance is Aarif, played by Ganesh. You must have seen this tall man with beard with a punjabi look in Abhiyum Naanum. It was a perfect casting for the character played by him. He has done a neat job and doesn't overreact being too discipline. The other cop has also shared a decent space and done his role perfect.

Dialogues
Dialogues though most of them are copied from the original version, it was Kamal who added the regional native to the dialogues tieing them with the incidents related to the native. Dialogues were more powerful especially during the major portion of the picture where Kamal had to speak about for 15 mins. It had some message being conveyed to the audience and it carried the pace and fire to make the audience realize what is what! Of course, it too had it's humour content as well. Lal has done a good job though some of them were little hard to accept the slang.

Shruti Haasan, she definitely needs some time to breathe before she touch any instrument and gives a name called BGM. Good that the movie did not give her a chance to do music. BGM was very bad in most of the places especially in scenes where a content based dialogues were rendered. She just mute the voice and turn on the karoke. She definitely needs time.

RED camera
It was quite funny and shocking that I forget RED camera was used throughout the movie and I got reminded because of the end credits. Well, I seriously didn't any difference in the camera except for some resolution change which is very much negligible change. But certainly it wasn't a bad show at all for the audience.

Direction
1) You have a Great Script. 2) You have India's best actors in front of you. 3) You have a DVD of the original version with you. Why the hell did you choose the third option?

Verdict 1 : For freshers, it can be a fantastic movie with a thrilling experience and some good performance.
Verdict 2 : For experienced, boys, you have Kamal Haasan and Mohan Lal. What else you do you need?

Eeram - A Justified Revenge

A product from 'S' pictures, oops! Sorry, a genuine product from Arivazhagan, the debutant director from Shankar's school direction, add into the quality directors list of Tamil Cinema with his debut product 'Eeram'. One who watches the movie without knowing the technical crew details wouldn't believe that this movie is directed by a debutant. The quality of the movie reveals how much effort has been spent in shaping the story. Each and every frame of the movie tells us the hard work done by the respective technicians.

Aadhi, the mirugam fame, who had appeared literally like an animal in the movie Mirugam has come as a cop and believe it, this guy was apt for this character. There is a flash back sequence where he is played as a college going guy and he has played with almost perfection. His physique is his biggest plus for this role and he has dubbed for himself and it had the rough and tough feel for a cop. Occasionally he surprised me to think whether Prithviraj dubbed for him, but I was made a fool at the end. The dialogue delivery was so good and apt for both the roles he played in the movie. Why I am stressing on the dialogues is because it's simple brilliant in the movie. Aadhi's voice modulation from a village native character(Mirugam) to a cop character(Eeram) is an outstanding attempt. Nowhere in any scenes, he leaves a negative impact with his performance and at the end of the day, Aadhi has done the role with neat perfection.

Nandha, the man whose career swings between good and pathetic roles again chooses to do some good numbers. He has got some good line up in the near future. Well, the role that he has done in this movie top notch. It's an unusual role, of course such a role has been done in the past by a few great actors. Nandha's role is so important that I cannot reveal his role. Here again, the dialogue delivery is so calm and composed. The reaction in a few scenes are so good and the unusual portrayal of his character where he wants everything to be different is also catchy and it's been used as a key thing in the movie.

Sindhu Menon and Saranya has done a good job. Especially Sindhu Menon whose character is actually kernel for the movie. I am not sure how the director must have picked for casting this role who has not been seen in Tamil Cinema for the past 3-4 years and also she hasn't done any significant role in the past either. But Sindhu menon has utilized the chance given to her and has done exceptionally well. Both forms of her role, viz, lover girl and a house wife, she has showed the modulation in the body language but maintaining her mannerism. When I said maintaining her mannerism, yes, that's something important for the movie and you will know when you watch it. Saranya, though hasn't got enough scope for performance in this movie, she has done her best.

Rest of the cast were good but I wasn't quite impressed with a few cast living in the apartment. Aadhi's friend has again shown modulation in the body language from the college time and being a cop. While Nandha's friend Vicky who usually comes up with humour role has done some serious role and lived the expectation without spoiling the story pace.

Editing has been fantafabulous in the movie. The editor's job in this movie is very important as the directed has used Change Over techniques and Scene answer method in a few places. The editor has cut the movie in perfect places to make it smooth and look continuous. In one scene where I was spellbound by his work is the scene where there will be a enquiry session with Aadhi and a parallel conversation scene between Nandha and his friend. These two parallel scenes will be in a Scene Answer method where the questions asked in one scene will have a indirect answer from the other scene. It's was so smooth in this place and you never feel a discontinuity in the scenes. Similarly, the flash back scenes and the original current scene will have a change over with an element/subject/object interconnecting both the scenes. Once again, the editor has done a remarkable job here.

BGM for a movie like this is very important and almost the same track was used throughout the movie for a particular variety of scene. But never it was irritating and it was decent for this movie. The lover track was also good with some rhythmic number. Songs were definitely not needed for this movie and the director has to be appreciated for making the songs for minimal use.

Almost 85% movie was shot in blue tone and one would never get irritated or would sense artificial or unnatural in the scenes. The blue tone was used to implifiy the color of water which is used for an important purpose in the movie. The shots were selected so nice and it was also handled very well by the cameraman. As I was mentioning about the change over from flash back to the current play, you can notice a flash of the change over will be made black n white when it comes to the live play. The flash back scenes were shot with natural colors expect for the rain scenes and the change over to the current play which is in blue tone was matched by the black n white flash. The low angle shots, the bird eye shots, POVs, Underwater shot, Object's POVs, Mirror magic shots, well there are many shots like that which will defintely amuse you and surprise you.

Arivazhgan, the name indicates, isn't it? "Indha Kadhayil varum kadhaapathirangal annaithum VAZHAKAMPOL karapanaye", it is from here, the director makes the audience to think that there is something different in the movie. I was often stressing about the dialogues in the movie. It was beautiful and it was so good that it will increase or match the negative aspects of the scene. Dialogues were never direct in the movie and in a few scenes, it was just a MAGIC. The converstation between Sindhu's dad and Aadhi is one place where the exchange of words were top notch. Often the director gets a roaring claps from the audience for his dialogues. Sindhu menon was shown writing in left hand while filling the application form and the south paw thinge was utilized perfect and it plays an important role in the movie. Director's imagination and the camera man's angle will add suspense and surprises to the product. There isn't a separate comedy track in the movie, but the dialogues were humourous and sensible. The movie runs for about close to 170 minutes, which I feel is the only negative aspect in the movie. The director had some places to chop the scenes and make it look more crisp. Well, I am not allowed to write more on the director as I feel it would contain the spoiler :-)

Eeram - A Surprise Package

Pushpak - Post Morterm Analysis

Note : This article is a complete post morterm analysis of the entire movie segmented into chapters. The author has explained the general terms as well as some nuances attached to it. The author recommends to watch this movie and then read the article.

Pushpak, directed by one of the underrated directed called Singeetham Sreenivasa Rao (SSR) is what I am going to do a post mortem. It was also dubbed, oops, sorry released in Tamil as Pesum Padam, which was very contrary to the movie. I in fact loved the tamil title more than than the hindi. It's quite funnier to use the language for a movie which actually needs no language to watch. Let's start the post morterm.

First and foremost, Pushpak is not *yet another movie* kind that it was taken just for the sake of entering into the history. It deals a lot. Each and every scene was conveyed with a brilliant body language from each and every cast in the movie. It's not a movie where the cast were purposely silent, it leaves the audience an impression that the cast in the movie perhaps didn't find a necessasity to speak. The scenes where shot brilliantly to follow the same formula.

Introduction - Overview of Anand Bavan
Playing the title card with a background score of a movie running in a talkies is the place where Kamal lives adjacant to it. It was a night shot and the title card ends with a bizarre string BGM in the movie and moves to the next morning. This scene depicts the serial flat system where Kamal lives. It was portrayed in the form a servant maid. She starts to sweep along the corridor and surpasses the rooms (houses) continuing to sweep. One should listen to the background music here. As and when she sweeps and surpasses the rooms, the music from the radio changes according to the caste of the people and the rooms she passes by. It starts with some unknown Indian language music and then moves to Tamil devotional song and then to news. The servant maid then passes an old man smoking and watching her assets since she was dressed in a Odissi style revealing her assets. Just to see more glimpses of her, the old man put the ash from his cigarrate and asks her to clean the place to watch her assets in a better angle. Here also if you notice, the old man puts a sodakku and ask her to clean, which can clearly convey her a message. Once she clean, the old man bends to catch her cleavage, but alas, she notices it and drops the dirt and move on. The siren signals at the background when she climbs up the ladder to sweep another room where Kamal stays indicating that the working hour has started and still the hero is sleeping. Obvious reasons indicating that he is an unemployed youth. She knocks the door and peeps into the key hole to see his position of sleep and Kamal opens the door from sleep and she gets in and immediately started to sweep leaving a wink in Kamal face!!! As she sweeps, she takes the newspaper and a photograph of Kamal with degree and keeps it on top of the newspaper and throw the sandals on top of it. Once again Kamal winks. Another symbolism to indicate that his education is of no value now a days. As she moves on to clean the other things on the table, Kamal tries to squeeze the toothpaste so hardly and manage to get the paste. Poverty at its peak. As he squeezes the toothpaste, the servant maid sees a debanoir magazine lying in the table, she sees Kamal and peeps into the magazine to see the pictures and gives an odd look. This leaves an impression on her character and what kinda woman she is. She ultimately has some feelings towards Kamal.

First In First Out - Toilet
The next scene is one of the best scene in the movie. Kamal wanted to go to the toilet and it's a common toilet used by all the people living in the apartment. There will be three toilets and three people standing in the queue. As and when people comes out, Kamal tries to get into the toilet but the other person standing next to him leaves him behind and enters. The same thing keep happening for multiple occasion. At last, it will end with him and a person standing outside. Kamal calculates based on FIFO system and covers the toilet door. But FIFO system fails and the other person enters the different toilet. Kamal again disappoints and when there was no competition to rush inside the toilet, he will be left with two choices (doors). Kamal peeps into each of them and sees which is better (clean) and enters. If you notice Kamal while he was standing outside, you can notice the urgency in his face expression and reaction and especially the way he stands. Again in this scene, there is no necessasity for verbal communication since it's not place where one would wish to argue.

Crow's idea
The very next scene where he discovers that his shirt stinks because of the sweat and the way he tries to invent a new deodrant using the soap foam tells us the poverty. He doesn't have a spare shirt. Of course he has one, but that will be even worser than this. And next comes the tea boy who brings the tea in a can and gives tea. People living in the apartment pays him the money and he gives the tea. Kamal initially keeps a rupee and later decides to keep 50p and the boy reacts to it and gives him half a glass with proper measurement. His neighbour in the next floor shows him a full glass of tea and kamal waves him back with a reaction but sees a crow cawing. Brilliant piece of narration.

Challenge the beggar
Kamal on his way for the job hunt stands on a bridge and sees a begger and teases him by spinning the 50p that he has and smiling at the beggar in a sarcastic way. What Kamal got in response to that is something strange, the beggar gives another sarcastic smile and takes money from all the places of his body and shows him a lot of money, which makes Kamal to feel bad for he did.

Handloom Episode
It's in this scene in an handloom shop, where Kamal meets Amala. The initial conversation of the movie actually begins here where Amala tries to select a earing for her and kamal, who is a complete stranger advises her as a well wisher in selecting the earing with the help of signals indicating dislikes and likes. But Amala will not respond for his likes and walk way. In the car park when Kamal tries to escape from the shop keeper, he sees Amala wearing the earing which he liked. They both share a sarcastic smile and kamal whistles and pass by.

No Vacancy
This scene where Kamal stands in the queue and when someone spits the pan, Kamal tries to occupy that place and eventually will be pushed to the end of the queue and gets frustrated and leans on a car. Again, 'da da da da da', that's the music used whenever Kamal meets Amala, especially when Amala is in the car. It also makes one to assume it as the car horn. Kamal again appreciate her earing which he indirectly selected. Amala in return, appreciates the car in which Kamal was leaning assuming that it's his car. Here it gives an impression on Kamal from Amala's POV. Even here, director has again justified that they can communicate without verbal exchange. This episode also introduces the rich man who stays in the Hotel Pushpak. This scene also gives us on how Pushpak came!

The Catch!
Now comes the catch of the story. Kamal finds the rich man lying in the street and plans an idea and bring him to his house and tie him and he goes to the hotel in place of him. These scenes will be just mind blowing to see. You must notice Kamal being very cautious when he brings him to his house. It's not an easy task to lift the fat guy to the terrace where he stays. You should also notice the pre cautionary method Kamal uses in the room. The director also maintains the reality with the movie sound being played in the talkies which will scare Kamal at the first instant. Having made the necessary arrangement, Kamal will enter the Hotel Pushpak with some discomfortness which is quite evident by the way he walks into the Hotel and when he meets the security, you can notice that he is kinda scared. Also the elevator scene where Kamal initially uses the staircase. Though these are just small instances, it's still great. The moment he enters the room, he makes sure that he locks the door and sees the food kept at the table and relishes with joy because he wouldn't have seen such a meal. The mirror scene is one awesome directorial touch. He is alone, he is cheating, he is precautious and all of a sudden he sees his face in the mirror. Shocked to death. Brilliant!!! And once again he sees the mirror in the bedroom of the hotel. This time, he faces it. And another casual common man thought between a suitcase and an ordinary cover. Kamal neglects the cover and open the suitcase and later when he finds liqour in the suitcase, he whinks and pulls the cover back and finds a wholesome amount.

Another mono act
Another brilliant piece of communication between Kamal and Amala being exchanged from their balcony. Since they cannot shout and speak, they mono act and communicate and in order to catch their action, they use binocular and a camera. The way Kamal uses actions to convey will be brilliant and easily understandable.

The Changeover
Now Kamal changes completely with the outfit and goes back to his room. On his way to his room, the other people living in the Bavan will look at him with a surprise because of his costume. It doesn't leave the servant maid as well. Kamal never wanted to kidnap the rich man and hence he treats him with all the basic things. The way he cuts the Easy Chair for him to pee is something real funny. Funniest thing is that after he cuts, he will check the size by keeping it on his bum. Once he is done, Kamal will take a cloth to clean his ass. The BGM says all in that scene. Initially he shows the cloth to him and later he himself will accept to clean.

Shitty Parcel
This is probably the USP of the movie, which would make the audiece to ROFL. The preparation to this scene is the main highlight of the movie. One would never know why Kamal comes to Anand Bhavan with a parcel, gift wrapped to his room. He utilizes it to wrap the shit and dump it. Once he cleans the rich man, he walks out of the room with the gift wrapped parcel in his hand. You must observe how he carries the gift parcel. He will maintain a distance and you can very well understand the face reaction of Kamal while carrying the gift parcel. The ultimate USP of the movie is here when Kamal tries to dump the parcel near a bus stop. The parcel will be packed in a grand way that it's not a dumping material and anyone for the matter of fact, who sees the parcel unattended, will obviously try to open it. Yes, we have a man who watches Kamal trying to dump the parcel and Kamal knows he cannot dump it treating it as a shit because of the attraction material. And the funniest thing is that, whenever he tries to dump the box, the man watching Kamal catches him and Kamal reaction to it will make the audience to burst of laughter. This instance doesn't end in just one scene but it has got the aftermath as well. A few other scenes when Kamal tries to dump the shit, the next day, he again sees the witness who will be eating something and started to puke after seeing Kamal with the parcel again. NOW!! It still doesn't end here, there will be another instance where Kamal sees him coming out from an Hospital because of the consequence of that incident.

Once Again the Beggar
Kamal once again meets the same beggar who teased him initially. Without any wait, kamal takes a bundle of currency and waves it infront of the beggar. But the beggar wasn't surprised but rather gave a sarcastic smile.

Peaceful Sleep
Though he has money, luxury, etc., still he won't be able to find some good sleep. Hence, decides to record the music of the talkies sound and play it in the room. As soon as the tape recorder stops, Kamal wakes up!!!

Enemity
Remember the scene where an introduction was given to the Richman, who kisses his wife and then makes a call and a scene at the other end shows that she will be enjoying with his lovable friend. Now this scene, shows some serious plans of a guy preparing himself for a murder. The idea being adopted is interesting. Killing with a ice knife, leaving no marks of finger prints. Immediately the next scene indicates the same. The kalla kadhalan Prathap Pothean orders the henchman to kill the rich man. Giving him just the room number!!! Isn't it a great way to move the screenplay??

Magic Show
One can easily predict the scene with the help of the BGM. Whenever the magician, Amala's father comes, he holds a separate BGM track for him. The henchmen tries to kill Kamal here. Often he misses the chances. You can notice the people clapping & laughing is coincided with the series of the attempts. And apparantly, Kamal himself will take the ice knife and give it to him. This is probably the scene where they missed the flow of the movie and there would be a verbal conversation between them.

Slap
Slap and clap, Kamal and Amala, mistaken identity, unable to convey the message due to circumstances. Brilliant narration. The series of scenes and the background for each of the incident matches and conveys a lot to the viewers. Disappointed by the show, Kamal leaves the place. Followed by the scene is where the continuity in the form of curtain goes in hand between Kamal and Amala. That's a nice piece of affection.

Pushpak Margaya
The man, who sits in the wheel chair and roams around the hotel, expires. Even in his ceremony, the director would have utilized humour. With just a smile, Amala conveys to Kamal what happened the other day was a mistake. They keep coming around the dead again and again. You can see some funny reactions from different people.

Telephone Conversation
Here Kamal tries to speak to Amala over the phone but again circumstances will not favour because of her dad and mom interfering. Kamal's reaction and the voice from the other line will be portrayed well.

Waiter
Kamal dresses like a waiter and comes to Amala's room in order to give the chain. The verbal conversation is reduced using distubances material. Here, Amala's mom will be coughing throughout the scene in order to surpress the verbal conversation.

Hangout
Amala signals kamal that they can meet since her parents have gone out. Here probably the first time you will hear dialogues. But that's from the movie in a theatre where they watch. Probably one of the interesting scene where Kamal wanted to do some mischievious thing. He shows her what others normally do in theatre and he himself tries to do it. Even in their hangout, they tend to have some verbal communication and wantedly surpressed. But the entire hangout is actually in the form of a sync out song and since, you cannot have the song in this movie, it was done in this way. This is the scene where Kamal realizes love and luxury with a flower and currency note.

Chasing the henchmen
Now Kamal knows the person who was trying to kill him and in an incident, he follows the henchmen who travels to a different state(shown by the train) and meets Prathap Pothan. The henchmen explains everything what happened and his failure attempt. The entire scene is shown in Kamal's POV who is seeing these incidents outside the house and he can't hear anything. The entire episode reveals a lot to us.

End of the Beggar
While returning back to the hotel, he sees the beggar who is dead and a brilliant incident where people scavanging for money leaving the dead body elsewhere. Kamal realizes and goes back to the hotel and finds his clothes which he pushed underneath the cot and comes back as the old Kamal. Pictures in the room on how the Hotel owner has developed this hotel gives more meaning to Kamal's life. He still has one more duty, his love, he need to tell his love is genuine to Amala. He does that in the form of a letter. And a mark of respect, he brings the rich man back to his place where he was lying down. Rich man returns back to his room and gets angry but then sees the letter and realizes about Kamal.

End of the show
Everything ends. Magician magic show, the rich man departs, his wive's arrival, Kamal's rich life. All of them have some connection to one another. Kamal sees Amala and the way they communicate reminds what they have done before. She writes her location in a letter but poor kamal misses it too. At the end of the day, he was left with the rose. And Kamal is back standing in the Q of employment exchange but with a flower in his hand.

Kanthaswamy - Review

A movie that took 24 months for the making yielded us a 200 mins end product with huge expectations with a tag of Super Hero, carrying a heavy budget starting from the movie launch to the audio launch. What impression did it leave to the audience??? Here is the review.

Plot : Kanthaswamy just adds its name to the so called high budget movies plot sharing a space. Yes, take from the rich and give it to poor and needy is all about Kanthaswamy. Additionally, it also makes the audience remember what happened during the movie launch where the movie team adopted a village. Well, that message was conveyed or rather tried to convey during the climax of the movie. Eventually that message did not have any support from the screenplay of the movie.

Never a movie has given a sigh at the initial scene, but Kanthaswamy just broke that record. In all the movies that shared this plot, they would need some myth or an element to service the needy, Kanthaswamy uses the myth that happens in a temple and uses that as a medium of communication. Didn't it remind you the Anniyan website concept? Well the latter had a stylish introduction, but the way the so called Super Hero tagged Kanthaswamy's introduction scene is all enough to judge the quality of making and the strong basement for the plot. This could probably be the ugliest way to portray a Super Hero Introduction scene.

One way Kanthaswamy being a *different* from the other movies is that the director's justification for the Super Hero. He uses a team work behind the Super Hero theme to make the Super Hero's action *a possible* thing in reality. I was surprised to see the director's creative idea of using Tape Recorder to play Kanthaswamy BGM during the action sequences. But I never expected him to be so honest that literally he even used *clapping hands* as a re recording. He should have left that to the audience to decide, isn't it? One couldn't concentrate on the stunts rather everyone were focussing on the *making of the stunts* with ropes, pulleys, tape recorders, remote control, wireless, microphones, etc., But the director has given a fantastic justification to the role that he has given for each individual in the team in their flashback scene. He connects what they been doing in the past to the corresponding role alloted to them in the team. Bravo!!!

Coming to the interesting casting department. Except for Prabhu and Krishna to an extent, rest of the cast, including the Super Hero himself was so ridiculous. One should at least what the strength of the artist and use him appropriately for the movie. The reason why I am stressing hard on this is because Vikram is known for this acting skill and I really wonder why is he being used a doll in this movie where he had absolutely *no scope of acting*. Alas! he didn't even look good in this movie, he look very old in the movie. He lost his manliness in the movie. To put it simple, for such a character, he could have chosen anyone else other than Vikram, who had a lot of potential and has a good acting talent.
Shriya, a glam doll, the only saving soul in the movie for a group of audience who paid a lump amount for their ticket. Well, even then she irritates with her lip sync both when rendering dialogues as well as for the songs. But wonder why the producer who could lavishly spent for the making of the movie, couldn't be lenient for her wardrobe? Another stunning director's touch is bringing in each and every person into the cast and finally he himself emerged as CBI officer helping the Super Hero. We are set with different suprises by the director breaking the suspense often leaving us in Cloud nine.
Can anyone think of Alex the magician, in a DON getup? That's the extreme that director can go. It was a rib tickling comedy to see him donning a DON, that too an Internation Don with a funny character name *Mexican Pichumani*.
Prabhu has done a decent job and Krishna, the telugu actor comes as the Head of the CBI department was different for his voice and I thought he did a fair job too. Other casts that formed the team were literally doing the job of the crew members behind the scenes and nothing much scope for them showcase.

Coming to the technical department, where one would at least expect the movie to be rich and get a satisfaction in this area. The man behind the camera work, Ekaambaram, he was literally a night mare in the movie. Too much color correction literraly screwed our eyes. Even the natural things which should look natural were added colors to make it look very artificial. The mexican episode was literally a Disovery Travel & Living episode. One should wipe off the shade that shooting a movie in the helicopter doesn't make him a big shot and doesn't differentiate from others. Whereever he shoots, enormous amount of color correction was used which eventually made it look like one Eastman color movie in some parts.

Then comes the editor who shares another space in the movie adding salt to the wound. Abdrupt editing with shaky scenes left nothing but irritation. Fade In - Fade Out technique was over used in this movie to the core that too for the location title card. Gosh, this is the first time I am seeing a FI-FO technology being used in this area. Overall the editing wasn't smooth in all areas and it was really disturbing especially in the stunts sequence and in the initial scenes.

DSP, the music director, with sheer expectation of the movie, the songs were overrated and in the end became a hit. But the visualization of the songs were poorly picturized and as usual in Tamil Cinema, the songs were placed just for the sake of it with no proper reasons. Again the item number satisfied a set of audience because of Mumaith Khan. But Shirya's dance in Allega song was good though. Other songs weren't that great because of poor picturisation. BGM was decent enough for the movie but the arti numbers for Super Hero theme was like a rhyme though.

Now comes the Captain of the movie, Susi Ganesan. While playing the title card, I was amused with the way he used his name for Story, Screenplay, Dialogue and Direction. I wondered why it he scattered the credits, but the clever director wants the audience to realize that the story, screenplay, dialogue and direction play a vital role and we need to analyse them separately is what a clear picture left by the director. His creativity is very evident from the way he portrayed the Super Hero by stoping the critics often cribbing that the movie has no logic. Susi Ganesan comes with a strong FULL STOP for all the cribbing and has shown bravely the making of the action sequences. He draws a line between commercialism and realism and heroism and what else? Another area in which the audience patience was tested to the core is a dialogue conversation between Vikram and Shriya at his office. There would be a Q & A session between them that has seriously tested the audience to the core. What comes next to the scene is something extra ordinary. Fine, the director knew that the running length of the movie is big but still adamant because of his path breaking suspense spoilers at regular intervals. But the director really forgot that the normal interval for a movie should come in 90 mins. Adding to that, the master himself has casted in the movie in one of the important role when the movie was showing dull. He comes for a short span of time but makes us speak for hours.

To be honest, with a producer like Dhanu who is ready to spend money with no hesitation, I think Susi Ganesan failed to capitalize and misused his role in the movie.

Verdict : Spend the money for the needy instead of buying for this movie (Message of the movie)

Cheran's Pokkisham

It's been really a very long time since I wrote a review for Tamil movies. Recently I got a chance to watch the movie 'Pokkisham'. I actually saw the movie the second day of the release and I have already witnessed 90% negative reviews about the movie. Amidst all these, I wanted to watch the movie badly and I finally managed to.

'Pokkisham' (Treasure) is about a love story set in the 70s and the lovers exchanged love letters and that is ultimately considered as the Pokkisham in the end. Having said about the plot, I would need to stress on the significance of these letters and the way it was portrayed on screen by the director-actor Cheran. As I said, since it was about the love story in 70s, writing letters to your relatives or friend was habitual those days and it was practised as a routine activity. If you recollect the past, we would know how we or our parents would have reacted to those letters. Well, if it's an ordinary routine letter from your relative, it's different, if it's a love letter, shouldn't that be something special? Yes, that's how the writer moves the play thoughout the first half. The lead pair, Cheran and Padmapriya belonging to different caste, meet each other as strangers helping each other's family on an incident becomes close to each other and love blossoms.

I feel, the exchange of love letters and the way it's portrayed is the best part in the movie. Though it's repetitive, you must understand the feeling of it to enjoy it. Cheran, eagerness, anticipation, enquiries for a letter that he expects to come projects him as a better actor from what he was doing in his earlier movies. These scenes were neatly shot and it has come in much more realistic way. In modern days, it's like sending a SMS to your lover and eagerly waiting for a reply SMS from the receiver within which you would have went to the Sent Messages to check if the message has been successfully delivered to the correct receipient and in turn sending the message again to re confirm. Those feelings have been portrayed in a much more realistic way with the type of facilities available during that period. This includes telegram, trunck dialling, letters, following up with the post man and post office, etc.,

Another stunning thing about the first half, in fact throughout the movie is the Art Direction. I actually missed the start and end credits of the movie as I went late to the show and I was keen to know the man behind the Art Direction. Vairabalan, call him for any period movies, he can rewind the classics. If it's just 70's in Chennai, yes it's possible, if it's just 70's in Tamil Nadu, yes, it's still possible. Here we have Tamil Nadu and Calcutta, Vairabalan must have said it's quite easy to rewind there. I was stunned how he must have brought back those trams, even it's still being used in Kolkatta, the design during that time was something extra ordinary reflection. I noticed quite a few and I was surprised that it was very keenly observed and carefully deployed. The tamil script during that age is different from what's being used now. If you notice the hoarding and name board in the hospital scenes, you can catch the script used there. Even in buses. The moped used by Cheran, the vehicles parked outside the hospital, the police men costume, the calendar being used, the tamil magazines used. This man deserves some special attention in this movie and he should be given good credits for his hardwork.

Rajesh Yadav, the man behind the camera has done a neat job to make the design gets projected without any disturbances. It's quite difficult to shoot a period film and that too when the art department has done a perfect job. One must carefully shoot and understand what to shoot and what not to. Well, the cinematographer has done his job to the perfection. Nagoor has been beautifully shot with the sea shores and a few low angle shots in the second half when Cheran desperately searches for Padma Priya has been shot good. Also he has used stand still photography during the hospital scenes which I felt quite good and different.

Performances pack has shown considerable amount of improvement from almost all the cast. Though Cheran sometimes makes us feel bored with a few emotional dialogues, I guess the realistic portrayal has been done neatly by him. I would definitely say he has improved a lot as an actor and more to come and way to go. Padmapriya has done just enough for her role, but it gives me a feel that just for the caste that she belongs to in the movie, she was casted the role. She resembles a typical Nagoor Muslim girl. She has carefully concentrated on the behaviour of a Muslim and she has done that well. Of course her make up during the climax was something one must not think about it. Vijayakumar, as Cheran's father, has also done justice for the casting and he was able to replicate a father that too during 70s. Ilavarasu comes as Cheran's neighbout at Kolkatta and has done a remarkable job.

Coming to the negative part of the movie, the music and the BGM. The background score is such a vital element in such an experimental movie, but this area is a major let down from the Deva Brothers Sabesh-Murali. Irrelavant bgms and disturbing bgms was annoying thoughout the movie. In some scenes, the BGM was so annoying that the main dialogues weren't clear and I had to ask the person sitting next to me. Songs were another major let down because it increases the running length of the movie and it's was pleasant either except a few. Only song that I can remember is 'Nila Nee Vaanam' and that was good for the lyrics.

Cheran as a writer-director, excels in this movie. One should need courage to take such an experimental movie and period based movie portraying love. More importantly, after a knock out attempt, he has taken such a movie which is a brave attempt. Well, the writer failed to keep the pace of the play in the second half thought he has cut the major portion of the story which if included would have taken another 5 feet reel. First half was poetic and colourful with the exchange of letters and second half was quite dragging with songs and some unnecassary scenes.

Cheran has inspired the ONE LINER from the Korean Romantic movie 'Classic' but he could/should have followed at least the important cast framework of 'Classic'. If it has been utilized in 'Pokkisham' it would have been even more interesting and who knows, he could have even managed to create suspence that would have made the audience to sit a little longer till the climax.

Verdict : Watch it