UNNAI POL ORUVAN-MY REVIEW

Have you seen a Tamil movie devoid of songs, heroine, punch dialogues, fights, heroism, comedy, villain, a love scene, a car chase?Here comes Unnai Pol Oruvan!!This movie,remake of Niraj Pandey's A Wednesday has nothing of the above mentioned gimmicks but still it makes the viewers glued to their seats for nearly two hours.

This movie is all about three entities,Kamal Hassan,Mohan Lal and a mobile phone.Hats off to the director for making a thriller out of nothing(Dont take the actors in to the count).The story is as thin as a wafer."Terrorists should be given the taste of their own medicine".But the treatment of the story is commendable.The crew should be given a pat in their back for not tinkering with the story and the screenplay which is pretty much the same as the original.

It is a dream come true for any movie buff to see the two legends of Indian Cinema coming together in a movie and they carry the whole movie on their shoulders with the ease of a veteran.Its disappointing though that we get to see both of them together only for a scene.All the other artists have done well,but they are simply overpowered by Kamal and Lal.This movie is a two men show,or maybe three if you take in to account Ganesh Venkatram.He sizzles as the police officer, Arif Khan.He is some one to watch out for!

Technically this movie is far better than the original.Be it Chakri Toleti's flawless direction or Manoj Soni's cinematography or Rameshwar Bhagat's editing,its just about perfect.But the surprise packet is Shruthi Hassan's music.Her background score is amazing to say the least,for a newcomer.The clarity of sound,her ability to convey the scene's mood through her score underlines the fact that she had worked(or made to work) really hard for this movie.

Not many times will you find a remake better than the original.But this movie is one of those few.I am in no way degrading the original movie A wednesday. Watch it and you will know the difference.

MARKS: 9/10

VERDICT: A MUST WATCH

TOP 10; 7. THAVAMAAI THAVAMIRUNTHU

Whenever we talk about a relation between a parent and a child, its always the mothers who hog the limelight.The fathers are always pushed in to the backyard.It might be due to the fact that they dont get enough time to spend with their children or they dont express their love as profusely as the moms do.Tamil Cinema has seen a lot of movies like Mannan,Thalapathy,M.Kumaran,Anjali,En bommukutty ammaavuku, to name a few where the relationship between a mom and her child are realistically potrayed.Thavamaai Thavamirunthu is perhaps the first tamil movie which tells us what it means to be a DAD.

The movie opens with Cheran travelling in a car to visit his ailing father(Rajkiran),admitted in a hospital.On his way Cheran's past is conveyed to the viewers in flashback mode. Rajkiran and Saranya are the proud parents of two sons Cheran and "Mirchi" Senthil.Rajkiran owns a printing press,where Ilavarasu is his assistant.His sole aim,as like that of any other dad is to see his sons grow up big in life.Whether the two sons fulfill his wish or not forms the rest of the story.Does it sound similar?Yup..it'll be, for every father has the same wish and that is to see his son better him.This is the strength of the story,with every father being able to connect with the character potrayed by Rajkiran

It was a role of a life-time for Rajkiran as Muthiah and he was simply superb,to say the least.Right from the first scene,when he sings for his children on their way to school in his cycle to the climax when he asks Cheran whether he has taken good care of him,it is vintage Rajkiran.Rarely has Tamil Cinema seen such a natural potrayal of a typical village father and it is pretty sad that he didn't recieve the National award for this movie.Saranya, as Rajkiran's wife was the perfect foil for him.Hers again was a natural potrayal,and if she was not noticed as much as Rajkiran,then credit must go to him as he simply overshadows everybody in the movie.

Though Cheran just about passes as an actor he just stands head and shoulders above all others as a director.One wonders how he could choose such a subject to make a movie when commercial cinema was ruling the roost.It must be noted that it was his his movie AUTOGRAPH which came as a whiff of fresh air amidst several craps, giving Tamil Cinema a new lease of life.It was Cheran who gave confidence to several young directors that after all realistic movies could still work wonders at the box-office.Tamil Cinema needs more movies of this kind from Cheran.

Music by Sabesh-Murali fits the bill and it helps in taking the emotions of the characters to the viewers.Cinematgraphy by M.S.Prabhu and Lenin's editing have only helped in making the movie look better.The movie could stand tall even without these elements for it had an realistic story coupled with a neatly woven screenplay and some fantastic acting by Rajkiran

I would recommend this movie very strongly for all those movie buffs out there.Please watch it if you haven't watched it yet,and even if you have watched it there is no harm in watching it again.It has a powerful message and it is a victory for the director even if one or two decides to take good care of their parents.

8.HEYRAAM

9. PUDHUPETTAI

10.ROJA

CONGRATULATIONS PRAKASHRAJ-A NATIONAL AWARD WINNER FOR THE BEST ACTOR

Who is an actor? A person who can do any kinda roles and do justice to the character that he is potraying. There are very few Indian actors who fits the bill like Naseerudin Shah,Irfan Khan,Girish Karnad,Nasser..etc. (Please note I am not including KamalHassan, Mohan Lal, Mammooty and Big B because I feel they are being given their due).And Prakash Raj is clearly one among them. For an actor of his calibre,he should have got the National award in the Best Actor Category long ago for his stunning potrayal in Anthapuram. But sadly it took so long for the Indian Government to recognise this precocious talent,but its always better late than never.

Now it is two in a row for the Tamil Industry,with Priyamani getting the honours,the previous year.Now the ball is in the creator's court to provide the audiences with some meaningful cinema,for we have wonderful actors capable of enacting any kind of roles and the audiences too are ready to lap up some good movies.The trend is changing,and it is only for the good.

NINAITHAALE INIKUM-MY REVIEW

Ninaithaale Inikum,a venture of Sun Productions is a remake of the Malayalam Super-hit Classmates.Starring Prithviraj,Sakthi,Karthik,Priyamani,Bhakyaraaj and directed by Gnanavel,this movie comes out after the dud Kandhasamy.Being billed as a college story,one gets in to the theatre expecting a whiff of fresh air.

The movie opens with Prithviraj returning from Mumbai to meet his college friends.Flashing back to 8 years.Prithviraj and Sakthi are close friends in National Arts College.Karthik and Jeeva(of Lollu Sabha fame) forms a separate gang and they always crosses swords with Prithviraj,with Sakthi being a common friend to both the gangs.Karthik holds a grudge against Prithvi that he goes to the extent of challenging Prithvi that he would kill him.Meanwhile Prithvi falls for Priyamani at her first sight(Yup..Love at first sight) but doesnt tell her for two years!! But Priyamani finds it out accidentaly! Then love blossoms between each other and all is well until the College elections as both Prithvi and Priyamani fights for the honours.

Karthik, to ruin Prithvi's love drops an intimate photo of Prithvi and priyamani into the ballot box and subsequently both are expelled from the College and Prithvi heads to Mumbai to continue his studies there.Meanwhile Sakthi,an Asthma patient dies due to suffocation.

8 years later,Sakthi's dad Bhagyaraaj tries to install a music library which is Sakthi's ambition and he invites Sakthi's classmates for the function.There, Prithvi is found unconscious in his room as someone has tried to murder him. Who is the culprit and the reason for the murder attempt forms the rest of the story.

Firstly,about the actors.Both Prithvi and Priyamani look too mature for a College student.But Prithvi manages with his screen presence whereas Priyamani fails miserably.Sakthi is apt as a college student and he does his role with elan.Jeeva is OK.But the real show stoppers are Karthik and Bhaakyaraj.Karthik just rocks in the limited opportunities that he gets and Bhaakyaraj proves that he is a veteran.I wonder why Karthik is not doing much movies, for he has the capacity to go big in Tamil Cinema.

Balasubramaniam's Camera work is just about perfect and the way the songs are captured goes to show his talent.Vijay Antony has once again proved that he is a force to reckon. All the songs are excellent but three songs stand out(Pia Pia,Nanbanai Partha naal and Azhagaai Pookudhe).The Background score too gells with the movie. Next comes the Captain of the movie,Gnanavel-the Director.

Remaking a hit movie is never easy because it will always be compared with the original and when it is your first movie it just doesn't get tougher.But Gnanavel has done that with ease.He certainly has got talent, and we'll have to wait for his next movie to analyse his creativity.He hasn't tinkered much with the essence of the story though there are some major changes in the screenplay.He is a guy to watch out for.

Overall, the movie looks a bit lengthy and there are a lot of illogical scenes.The first half,especially is too lengthy,that at interval,you feel as if you have watched the whole movie.The editor could have been much stricter.Even though the movie passes the bill,one gets the feeling that it could have been a lot better

VERDICT: PASSABLE

MARKS: 7/10

DEVARMAGAN HERO-SIVAJI Or KAMAL

Recently, I watched the movie,Devar magan.I have watched the movie umpteen times before,but this time it had a big impact on my mind.Perhaps, I have matured with age.What a stupendous movie it is??? But I still feel it didn't receive the kind of accolades that it should have received.For that matter many of Kamal's movie had suffered similar fates,notable examples being "Anbe Sivam" and "Hey Ram". The major fact that the movie had a bigger impact on me this time is the performance of the legendary thespian Sivaji Ganesan who plays the role of Kamal's father.It was a treat watching the actor perform.I staunchly believe that this movie is his best work till date.Many would disagree.Of course he has given us some superb movies like "Vietnam Veedu","Veerapaandiya Kattabomman","Rajapaart Rangathurai",to name a few.But Devar Magan ranks atop for the sheer fact that none of his other performances have been as natural as this one.For a change, Kamal Haasan was completely over shadowed in all the scenes that he appears along with Sivaji.In my opinion apart from Kamal and Bharathiraja(in "Mudhal Mariyathai") no one has utilised Sivaji better in his later years as an actor. When you have Amitabh Bachan doing variety of roles in his later years I sincerely pity for Sivaji Sir that we haven't been able feed his thirst for good roles. While waching the movie two scenes caught my attention.The first one is when Sivaji asks kamal to do something good for his people.His expressions and dialogue delivery are absolutely chanceless.The second one is the scene when Kamal asks the "Kanakku Pillai" to cancel his ticket. One thing is for certain.Tamil Cinema certainly misses this great actor who could have given much more than what he has delivered.

KANDHASAMY-MY REVIEW

In recent times how often have you come out of a movie theatre with a sense of satisfaction? The past two years have not been good for Tamil Cinema altogether with only as many as 10 movies being profitable ventures.The rest have all been crap, to say the least.Kandhasamy belongs to the latter category.Its shocking that a wonderful actor like Vikram has acted in a movie with such a wafer thin story line and a dreadful screenplay which has consumed more than 40 crores.

When Tamil Cinema is moving towards neo-realism with movies like Nadodigal,Pasanga..etc Susi-Ganesan comes up with a SUPER-HERO story involving Vikram,Shreya Saran,Ashish Vidhyarthi,Vadivelu and others.Kandhasamy IPS(Vikram), does exactly what Rajni had done in Sivaji, but as a CBI officer.He does a RobinHood, takes money from the rich and distributes the money among the poor.The only difference is in the fact that he does them in the disguise of God.Yup..You got it right..God.There is nothing interesting in the screenplay apart from this fact.

Shreya has shown everything that she could. From here-on she could only go nude.She just comes,fights with Vikram,dances and goes.Adding to the viewers misery is her voice.It is so shrill that you get frightened at the first instance.Except the climax, the director has failed in justifying his expenditure.

Now let me take a look at some of the positives,though there are very few.Vikram,as usual looks handsome and does what is expected of him and does them with a penchance.Though the veterans Prabhu and Y.G Mahendra tries to lift the movie with their natural potrayal,the screenplay is so poor that the movie falls flat.The rest of the actors just fall apart.The music is just about okay.The movie could have been crisper but still the editor had done a fair job.The camera-work by N.K. Ekambaram is one of the high points of the movie.

Iam still shocked by the fact that I have watched this movie buying the ticket for 150 rs and the overall expenses have crossed 300 bucks.My sincere advice to all those wanting to watch this movie is "BETTER SPEND THEM ON CHARITY".Atleast you'd make someone happy rather than sitting in a theatre with a grim face wondering what the director is trying to conveyy.Let two weeks pass by and you can download them for free.If you are still interested in watching this movie,may your soul REST IN PEACE

VERDICT: AVOID IT

MARKS: 5/10

TOP 10; 9.PUDHUPETTAI

Pudhupettai(2006) is a Dhanush starrer, directed by his brother Selvaraghavan.It is till date,the best work of both Dhanush and Selva.The story revolves around Kokki Kumar(Dhanush),who escapes from his home after seeing his father kill his mother.After facing several ordeals and using his cunningness,he becomes the goon who literally rules Pudhupettai,a part of the city of Chennai.

The success gives him over-confidence and he makes enemies,big time which forces him to go in to hiding.What happens next forms the rest of the story.

The movie was criticized heavily for its display of violence and gore.Some felt that the movie had too much of graphic detail about the life of the goons of Chennai.The movie was not a big Box Office grosser,but still I can assure that there have not been a Tamil movie which was as realistic as this movie.The tag-line of the movie is "SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST" and this tag aptly sums up the movie.

The film was technically superior with outstanding camera-work by Arvind Krishna and editing by Kola Bhaskar.But the lime-light was hogged by three persons,Dhanush,Director Selvaraghavan and the Music Director Yuvan Shankar Raja.For Dhanush, it was a role of a life-time and he gave a performance of a life-time.The film out and out Selva's and while watching the movie you could feel the amount of work Selva has put in to the movie.The screen-play,potrayal of the characters,subtle expressions,powerful dialogues and the movie's closeness to reality all stand testimony to Selva's class.

But in my opinion Yuvan has clearly over-shadowed everyone in this movie.Leave aside the songs,everyone following Tamil Cinema know what he is capable of but it was with the background score with which he was absolutely amazing.The interludes were of the first class.

Sadly,but expectedly this movie did not recieve the accolades it should have recieved.But in my book this movie certainly ranks among the Top 10.

P.S: 10.Roja

TOP 10; 10.ROJA

At the 10th place is Roja,directed by Manirathnam.For a change,it had a different story and a gripping screen play.It is one of those Tamil movies which reverberated throughout India,thanks to its universal theme.This movie had everything going its way,Santhosh Sivan's tilting camera,Manirathnam's direction,the lead pair's soulful acting,and above all it was A.R.Rahman's first movie and he absolutely rocked.It was the first of Manirathnam's political trilogy(Bombay and Dil Se followed).

Roja(Madhu Bala) is a young lady born and brought up in Southern India. She marries Rishi(Aravindsamy) and they leave the village to settle in the city, where both fall in love. Rishi, who works for the Indian Government, is instructed to go to the troubled state of Kashmir on a classified mission, Roja goes along. Then Roja's world is shattered when Rishi is abducted and held for ransom by a group of militants who want an independent Kashmir, and the release of a terrorist held with the Indian military forces. Roja persists in her efforts to get her husband back.

It was perhaps the first movie which talked extensively about the Kashmiri militants.As usual Mani was perfect with his screen play and the high point of the movie is the scene where the militants try to burn the Tricolour.Arvindsamy's acting and A.R.Rahman's background score pushed up this particular scene by several notches.This movie also had some brilliant performances from Nasser,Janakaraj and Pankaj Kapur revelled in his role as the militant head,Liaqat.It is one of those very few Indian movies which told the viewpoint of the militants in its true light.In he climax,though the lead pair re-unite, you could feel a sense of sympathy towards the antagonist and this is the movie's USP. I recommend this movie to all thos patriots out there and I assure you ,you will not be disappointed

.

Malai Malai-My review

I really wonder for how long are we going to see a movie in which the hero,an angry young man from a village comes to the city and bashes up the villain,a city ruffian.Malai Malai is one such movie.The story is pretty simple,a tried and tested one.Arun Vijay and Prabhu, are brothers.Prabhu is unmarried and Arun Vijay is always on the lookout for a suitable bride for his brother.Meanwhile Arun Vijay falls for Vedhika,relative of his neighbour Pandu. and she too reciprocates.In one village function Prabhu sees Kasturi and seems to develop a liking for her but doesn't shows his feelings.Vedhika, a RJ returns to her homeplace Chennai and Arun Vijay,since being a typical Tamil Cinema hero also goes to chennai in search of her.There he meets Prakash Raj and circumstances! makes them foes.How Arun Vijay tackles Prakash Raj forms the rest of the story.Sounds pretty similar huh???
A.Venkatesh,the director has given us a cocktail of several hit movies like Dhool,Thiruppachi..etc.The biggest saving grace of the movie is Santhanam and he simply rocks in the limited opportunities that is give to him.Kanju Karuppu,simply irritates in the name of comedy.Now,we come to the hero.Arun Vijay after all his failures has decided that action is his route.He does what is expected of him.Way to go man...Vedhika,the heroine looks ravishing and stunning.But the story simply lets all these talented actors down.I wonder,how does Prakash Raj does the same role repeatedy in different movies?Wont he get bored?Prabhu too does his part well.
Mani Sharma, the composer does a decent job and his background score iseems similar to his earlier movies.The Director has been sure of his target audiences,the B and C centres and the movie should satisfy them.After all the years of toil and disappointment Arun Vijay seems to have got his first breakthrough.

Verdict:Watch it if you have no work

Marks: 6/10

NADODI MANNAN, A M.G.R CLASSIC

This is my experiment with 18 lakhs. This was said by MGR in 1958 after stupendous success of the Movie Nadodi Mannan. How humble he is. The movie was a revolutionary in tamil cinema. It had showed the movie world a new way of story telling a new way of film making, a new way of editing, a new way of techniques in double action scenes so on and so forth.

I have taken some of the instances said by MGR in "Yaruku Vetri" way back in 1958, most of writing in video format. MGR's education level is so poor but his writing skills is awesome when I read the Special edition by MGR Pictures. How well he knew and how clear his ideas are for instances the technical side, story side, dialogue side, music side, cinematography side, costume side, editing side and how he knew which actors to do which part etc. MGR is multi faceted that was proved if you watch Nadodi Mannan. We cannot put MGR into a position of mere actor alone.

When he talks about the story part he says that I am not blind sided that Nadodi Mannan does not have any minus points and I am not that stupid, but I can say that it does not have more minus points. See how humbly he uses the words. MGR further goes into how the story was developed in the year 1937-38 he was in the shooting of Maya Machindra, in Calcutta (Kolkatta) one day he went with his friends to watch a Hollywood movie "If I were King" acted by Ronald Colman, one of the scene the Hero says If I become a King ... but MGR did not follow what the dialogues his mind was revolving around the words If I become a King. That is the day when Nadodi Mannan was seeded in his mind, it developed slowly when the time was ripe, MGR went on to produce the movie. Why did he produce then? Because he said it is an experiment so I did not want other producers to loose money if the film fails.