Three is one and half

Facebook these days plays a vital role in word of mouth for a movie. Usually, I have a habit of not to see any teaser or trailer of any hyped movies before I watch the movie. But I am sure there cannot be a person who has not watched or listened to the song 'Why this Kolaveri di' from the movie 'Three'. I am no exception either but there was a hard hitting factor in the movie called Aishwarya Dhanush, who kept reminding me that it's her movie and have the expectation set properly prior watching the movie. So, the reviews for the movie as I saw them in many wall posts, carried negative reviews but parallel to it there were a bunch of people, who did a voice over or rather forced reviews on behalf of others, saying 'The movie is not bad as others say, but definitely it will not be liked by others but it glued me', 'What a stunning performance by Dhanush', etc., I personally did not carry these reviews when I watched the movie where I have to force my friends to accompany me.


The strange, keep guessing title, THREE, didn't even alarm me what to guess about the tile even after watching the movie. Read some news or others view on the title depicting the three icons of Tamil Cinema industry, namely, Rajnikanth, Kamal Hassan and Kasthoori Raja. Oh yes, the last name is Kasthoori Raja. Forget about the title, it won't allow you to draw any comparison to the movie either. If someone says, it depicts three phases of one's life; I must ask the person to name the three phases. So, let's not worry about the title unless it's renamed as 3 Idiots, it doesn't make any sense to me.

Before I start, tearing the movie, I wanted to alert the readers, there will definitely be some spoiler alert in my review, so, if you desperately wanted to watch the movie, better go to the verdict and decide or continue reading. To keep the story in two liner, the movie is about a guy called Ram (Dhanush), who suffers from a weird disease called Bipolar disorder and the tale is been explained as a narrative flashback throughout the movie. And there are three important characters in the movie namely Ram, Janani (Shruthi) and Senthil, so another comparison for the title is on the list.

 

To start with, some or rather only positive aspects of the movie which I felt were good and nicely directed will definitely be the first half of the movie which depicts the school life of the lead pair. Dhanush, we don't have to mould him for a school boy character. All he needs to do is just clean shave and a good boy smile. Wear him with any school uniform on top of this shade, he will definitely make the unknowns think he is a real life school going boy. He can even go a step lesser classes if the script demands. Throughout these school-life is interestingly crafted to perfection. The school boy who wants to go in bike instead of car, showing heroism to help a figure who is struggling in the rain to repair the cycle chain, the typical +2 tuition class, a friend who is jealous on scoring higher marks even when you fail, students considering 'Kattipudi Kattipudi da' song as a big thing. These interesting scenes will definitely give you the past life experiences. To make it look more interesting and humor driven, Sivakarthiyen as Kumaran, comes as usual with his usual witty dialogues. A typical hero's friend role has been aptly casted. But on the other hand, Shruthi, though she could make the audience believe that she is a school going girl, her dialogue delivery is a sin for her. I shall discuss in detail in the later part of my review. So these are the only positive feel good aspects of the movie according to me.

 

The transition from a lover boy in the school days to college which is told to us in only one scene and then to a married man is where the movie completely failed and took a pathetic direction. When the movie starts to unfold to find a reason for the death of Dhanush, it becomes practically hard to digest. A person has got Bipolar disorder and how he has handled it and struggled in his life depicts the latter half of the movie. But the reason for the disease is so sick and it's forced just to showcase an actor's caliber. This is where, the character Senthil, starts to reveal the other side of Dhanush. And we were alarmed on how the transition will be with a pathetic picturisation of one of the biggest chartbuster song 'Why this Kolaveri di'. Dhanush, yes he has done justification for the character in the latter half of the movie, but if the reason for being like that becomes vague or ordinary, no matter whatever the performance you put, it will all go in vain.

Whatever that is done very well in the first half has been crafted exactly opposite in the second half. It has started becoming so hard to find patience to sit through the movie when the frame moves on. There are various contributors to the second half which can easily make one leave the theatre or close your VLC player.

 

1. Shruthi Hassan - OK, I have to repeat the same what I said in my review for 7aum arivu. Agreed that you are trying to be odd man out amongst the Tamil cinema heroines by dubbing yourselves, but think! Imagine what happened to a movie called 'Vigneshwar' when Kushbu attempted to dub for her. Imagine what happened to Devayani when she attempted to dub for her in 'Vinnukkum Mannukkum'. Please, for Kamal sake! It's not about the voice; it's about the clarity in speech and the fluency in Tamil. There are awesome dubbing artists in Tamil cinema industry and don't ruin them by ruining us.
2. Aishwarya Dhanush - Firstly, this is a debut movie! You can do wonders with having a nice first half and it could have been taken with some other subject being dealt instead of this weird portrayal. What are you trying here? Do you want to showcase your husband's talent in acting? Madam, he has already done a lot with such similar character. And the rib tickling part of the movie is the climax message stating suicide is not the solution for blah blah...come on!
3. Predictable, repeatitive, irritating dialogues - 'Machi hospital-a admit aagidalaam da', 'appa naan unga kitta pesanam, life matter pa'. The occurances of these two dialogues in the latter half of the movie can be even predicted by your child if they have managed to sit through the movie.

 

Anirudh's music is pretty good for a debutant and the BGM is sort of OK at places but becomes monotonous at times. His songs were very nicely wasted by the director but enough fame he had by releasing the single number prior releasing the movie. I don't want to touch other technical aspects of the movie because; they don't find any special attention here.

 

Verdict - Shruthi Hassan, Aishwarya Dhanush and Bipolar disorder, these THREE ruined 3.

 

Bodhidharma or Vela

Instead of writing two different reviews, I shall try to put both in one review and also, the thought of comparing these stories struck my mind while watching Velayudham. 7aum arivu, the movie which created buzz in the cine industry right from its poster release till the irritating publicity gimmicks by the production house was released a day before the diwali to create more buzz and it was not just the special show, instead almost all the theaters screened the movie continuous shows from matinee to early morning. With all the anxiety, I watched the matinee show of 7aum arivu and after coming back from the movie, '7 aum arivu is samma entertainer' was my status message on my wall. Hmmmm, slightly makes me think if I had over bored a bit with the movie.

Expectation matters certainly! Creating so much expectation on 7aum arivu had a slight disappointment from many whereas, the unusual dark horse Velayudham, with no big publicity and very less expectation, turning out to get positive scribbles. Adding more to the factor is the vengeance on Suriya by both the fans of AJ and VJ. I was surprised to see audience in a C class theater abusing Surya on hearing positive comments from the people who came out of the theater after watching the morning show of Velayudham. 

Ok, now coming to drawing the similarities on these two stories. In 7aum arivu, china wanted to start a bio war in India by means of a virus and connecting that to the 6th century and the concept of triggering the DNA of a person who lived in 6th century. In Velayudham, the usual ordinary formula of Pakistan - India war in the form of terrorist. 7aum arivu had to trigger DNA of Bodhidharma to kill Dong Lee, here; sentiment dialogue is all needed to bring back Velayudham.

First 16 mins gimmick. Before I went to 7aum arivu, all talks were about never miss the first 16 mins, every minute is 1 crore and it is the most important part of the movie. Agreed, it is the most important part of the movie, but 1 minute = 1 crore makes me to think the way to spend money in the most unknown way!! In Velayudham, if I am not wrong, for the first 16 mins will not have Vijay but it tested the patience of his fans longing to celebrate his first screen presence. It also conveyed what the movie is all about in just 16 minutes.

Forget the first 16 mins now and move on. 7aum arivu had sluggish start after that it had the introduction of Suriya with a costly song 'Oh ringa ringa' roping 1000s of artists and dancers, shot with several random cameras in the busiest places of chennai, heavy beats, unknown lyrics, etc., After which, the movie had a dull screenplay until the Villain's entry point. But, Velayudham just had 'sonna puriyathu' with no 1000 dancers, normal camera, awesome dance and a peppy number. The pace of the movie is so swift and smart. Surprisingly, this time, there was some logic in the play.

Pakkuru, Circus, Suriya all tried to bring out laughter but not even a bit had come. Santhanam PERIOD. Vijay PERIOD. I guess these would have answered. Santhanam particularly rocked throughout the movie with his timing sense and witty dialogues. He was given a good company by the hero himself and along with the other artists in the movie.

Munandhi Charal and Emma Emma overtakes Chillax and Maayam Seidhayo as a song but as a visual appeal, everyone should succumb to Hansika. I haven't seen Engeyum Kadhal, but I wanted to watch it immediately. Not just these songs where she scores, overall, in each and every frame, she kills us with her beauty. On a serious note, Shruthy, though I feel she is not a heroine material at all, ARM had given good scope for the heroine role in this movie, but she sounded so artificial in most of the places. I should appreciate that she had dubbed for herself, but sometimes, it makes us feel that they ruining the dubbing artist. On still a serious note, she is neither hot nor sexy.

Post interval, it was quite obvious to have Vijay's usual formula like HIS movies. Praising dialogues from the common people, extra ordinary over reaction from a couple of actors, Oruthan varuvaanda, Velayudham anna da, Avan ungala saagadippan da kinda dialogues disturbs a bit. Also, quite heavy action dosage was added in the second half which was quite bad. Same holds good for 7aum arivu as well. Jonny is the villain roped in from Thailand, the master of Martial arts. Also agreed is that he is capable enough to control others mind. But ARM, you cannot keep throwing away vehicles like this in the name of Nokku Varmam. Learn to use the right talent from right people.

Surya had six packs. The climax triggered the DNA of Bodhidharma and he was reborn as Suriya. It had martial arts. It had some magic. Of course it was good to watch it on screen as well. Vijay on the other hand had no packs, the usual Villain beating hero, but it was more powerful to watch on screen. Pre release of the movie, ARM kept chanting Tamil and it will trigger the DNA of the audience as well which will bring Tamil patriotism, but to be real honest, the play was not so powerful to bring that patriotism. Ramana gave Goosebumps, 7aum arivu failed to do that.

7aum arivu is an OKish entertainer as I initially said I may have to think rewriting what I wrote on my wall. It had brave concept, unsteady screenplay, some wasted talents.

Velayudham is a pakka family masala entertainer which has got all possible elements driving the standard commercial formula of action, comedy, romance and sentiments.

Verdict - 7aum arivu had Six pack suriya, Red Giant Udhayanidhi, Giant promotion, AR Murugadoss, Harris Jeyaraj, Jhonny, Ravi K Chandran. 

Velayudham had VIJAY.