Thursday, August 26, 2010

In the Name of Entertainment

I was quite surprised to see positive reviews everywhere. Have I missed except for the first 10 mins of the movie? I cannot watch it one more time for this ONLY reason. Looks like, Suseendharan who carried Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu quite pleasantly until the climax has decided that its time to join the commercial bandwagon. It is certainly has nothing new to offer. A typical middle class family with an unemployed youth with a sister waiting to get married. A father, who struggles to make ends meet working as a call taxi driver. Desparate coincidence of a group of villain to get interfered in hero's family. Final countdown to climax where hero quenches victory. Very recently, we would have seen a similar tag in 'Polladhavan'. Wonder what made the director to choose the title 'Naan Mahan Alla'.

Karthi, the lead in the movie, has done quite well, although the role does not offer much scope. The run-of-the-mill boy next door character looked out of place and unpleasant. In the first half, he makes the audience laugh with his wit. In the later half, he transforms into a rampaging lion out for revenge. The action sequences in the climax had a liberal dose of exaggeration, but the short comings were compensated by the conceptualisation. In Tamil cinema, there is no need to talk about heroine except in very few cases. Well, I am certainly not talking about the exceptional cases here. Applause for Suseendran for getting the casting right. Especially, the Goondas. Especially the guy who plan's the murder was an outstanding piece of work, in terms of casting. And the big henchman in the city was top notch. After scoring high in the casting department, one wonders why their screen space was reduced.

Yuvan Shankar Raja should be walking away with most of the accolades the movie receives for the mood. His background score is quite brilliant and adds more flavour to the screenplay. Cinematography was pretty decent and nicely done in the busy streets of the city.

The director should probably take up refreshing concepts and handle it in a better way. Just like his earlier venture, Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu which was a welcome and refreshing movie for Tamil Cinema.

Verdict - Mindless in-the-name-of Entertainment