Vaanam

I had no big expectation on this movie and I didn't know that this one is a remake, neither I have seen Vedham, nor I heard the song Evandi Unna Pethaan prior watching this movie and lastly, I never knew that this is the story of some 5 different people how they were forced to meet in the end.

It's actually a good experience to watch a movie without knowing or having any expectation so that you needn't blame it on the expectation factor. Well, having said about the pre movie facts, the screenplay revealed the story will run in 5 directions with 5 set of characters. It was evident with the motto/situation/requirement/ambition of the individuals in the movie. Situation demanded the old man and the mother to sell the kidney in order to save the boy. Dream led Bharath to do a live-in-concert. Requirement made Simbhu to snatch the jewel. A new life plan made a prostitute to come out. So these coinciding contributors reveals the gist of the movie.

This gives a relief that Simbhu is not major lead in the movie, so one can start having some expectation that there will not be too much dump on Simbhu which can go in either way, VTV was an exception though ;). But still he made a little contribution with the opening scene by having his traditional punch 'Evalo mela ponaalum vida maateengale' and unnecessary pulling of Ajith and Vijay. Well, that end straight there. Then comes a combo Simbhu-Santhanam who will keep the audience engaged.

The journey of the other characters run pretty parallel and the combo will turn into a trio pack with the inclusion of VTV Ganesh. That's when the pace shifts gear and moves swiftly. We had seen them as a combo in VTV but with inclusion of Santhanam, it will never let the audience down.

The main lead characters had contributed equally good. The old man was a perfect choice for the character. The movie should have a heroine!!! Yes, Vaanam too had one. But it's mere waste of money and could have invested on alternate plans. She was neither hot nor worthy candidate :P and I also felt Prakash Raj was a bit over acting to his role.

Yuvan never disappoints Simbhu. Two songs that will eventually become chart busters of the year 'Evan di unna pethan' and 'No Money Honey' has been placed well to match the pace of the screenplay. But, they could have made Bharath's introduction song as the title song which could have minimized irritation.

The director was quite good throughout the movie but in the climax after a tragedy, he made the audience laugh with some dumb scene of mathematical calculation which all of a sudden turned a villian!


A Worthy watch

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