Movie Review: Vazhakku En 18/9 – Judgement Reserved
Spoiler alert: Sorry, I could not write without some spoilers and that’s why I posted this little late.
This was one of the most awaited movies for me this year just because of a honest director by the name Balaji Sakthivel. For some of my readers who can’t identify him, his movie “Kaadhal” was one of the most venerated Tamil movie by people like Anurag Kashyap. A torch bearer for realistic cinema , Balaji Sakthivel evoked a lot of interest through the trailer of this movie.
Vazhakku En 18/9 is a social commentary sugar coated with a simple love story. A girl gets attacked in a posh apartment complex and the police investigate the crime. A boy who works in a street food shop is wrongly suspected due to his earlier tiffs with the girl. The story travels through the path of finding the real attacker and shows how the case gets twisted at the end.
Movie Review: Oru Kal Oru Kannadi (OKOK) – Just not Ok
I want my readers to do a simple exercise when you watch OKOK . If you can’t do the exercise for the first time, try it when you watch it for the second time on some channel (probably in Kalaignar TV) in a few months from now. The exercise is as follows: shut your eyes and ears in the scenes in which Santhanam is not present and watch only those scenes in which he is in. You will enjoy the movie lot better than what you did with the lead actors in it. The only reason I watched this movie was because of Santhanam – Rajesh combination. To be fair to them, they don’t disappoint you in this regard. Punchy one-liners, timely jokes and naturally funny sequences tickle your funny bone a lot more than you expect from a Tamil movie. The flight sequence, the climax story telling scene (you figure out what they are mocking) or every sequence that Santhanam is in, theater bursts in to laughter.
Movie Review: 3- Almost a Zero
The sweetest moment of “3″ comes when Janani (Shruthi Hassan) tries to kiss her husband, Ram (Dhanush) good night and he shows the garland that he is on a fast for Sabarimala. Both express their feelings silently with tears breaking down from their eyes. That’s one of the rare moments of brilliance in the movie. “3″ is a love story of Ram and Janani, who fall for each other during high school and get married against all odds. Ram dies in suspicious circumstances and Janani tries to find answers for his death. She finds that Ram suffered from a rare Bipolar disorder.
“3″ tries to be everything – a sweet love story, a story of wife coming to terms with her husband’s demise, a thriller and what not. This lack of clarity has hampered the narration at different levels. After a very long time, you see a honest portrayal of high school romance in Tamil. Dhanush, Shruthi and Siva Karthikeyan enthrall you with their fantastic depiction of school life. It would be a nostalgic trip for people who did their schooling in the 90s.
Movie Review: Aravaan – Something’s Missing
As I always been saying, unlike Hollywood and international movies, it’s rarity for a Tamil movie to be based on a literary work. The making, production and acting becomes difficult when it’s a period movie. Did Vasanta Balan pull it off is a question that’s reeling in my mind for the past one week? I have to get convinced about a movie before writing a review. And it took me almost a week, before I sat down to keyboard this review.
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Movie Review: Ambuli – Once in a (Partial) Blue Moon
I always have respect for people who experiment in Tamil movies.Some of the experiments have gone horribly wrong but some have become the forerunner for movies of the future. I wanted to see the first venture of the directing duo Hari Shankar and Hareesh Narayan – Orr Eravu (2010), the first protagonist point of view film in India (remember The Blair Witch Project). But I couldn’t and didn’t want to miss their latest venture in thriller/horror genre of Tamil Cinema.
50 Tamil Movies to watch before you Die 20 – Udhiripookal
I am back with the 20th movie of the list and I hope to finish it by this year at least :) As I quipped in the last post, the movie I am going to talk about is the classic of Tamil Cinema. I can confidently say there hasn’t been a movie that can beat the quality of this movie. Mahendran is a master story teller who tried to weave stories that are realistic and he somehow brought the right expressions from his actors.
Udhiripookal (1979)
Udhiripookal is the masterpiece of Mahendran based on the short story titled “Chitrannai” (Stepmom) written by Pudhumaipithan. The movie had Vijayan, Ashwini, Madhumalini, Sundar, Chaaruhassan, Sarath Babu and Bhoopathy with Ashok Kumar handling the camera and Ilaiyaraaja composing the musical score. The movie was produced by Radha Balakrishnan of Dimple Creations.
Movie Review: Kadhalil Sodhappavadhu Yeppadi – 100% Perfect 0%Sodhappal
Balaji Mohan is my favourite director. Ok, I can sense that inquisitive look from some of my readers on how’s it possible when the director debuts on the silver screen. It’s possible when the director was a celebrated runner up of hugely popular talent show “Naalaya Iyakkunar” . I am following Balaji Mohan right from his Kalaignar TV stint and loved his short film version of this movie, Mittai Veedu and most of his creations.
Honestly, I was skeptic on how he is going to elevate the short film in to a feature film. Sustenance of interest is definitely possible in a short version but you should have strong writing skills to transform the magic to the big screen. I should say Balaji Mohan has graduated with distinction.
Movie Review: Dhoni – Out of Form
Movies based on children have always worked in Tamil Cinema. Yaar Payyan, Kuzhandhaium Deivamum, Shanthi Nilayam (inspired by Sound of Music), Anbulla Rajinikanth, My Dear Kuttichattan, Anjali and Pasanga recently have been massive crowd pullers. Some have used children movies to talk about sensitive issues like Achamundu Achamundu (Child Abuse), Mazhalai Pattalam, Kannathil Muthamittal, En Bommukutti Ammavuku,Kannadi Pookal (sibling rivalry, unnoticed brilliance), Nandalala (inspired by Kikujiro), Malli, Nila Kaalam, Kutty (Not the Dhanush movie!!! – that even won a Jury award in Cairo Film festival). Movies on Children are always popular, heart warming and extremely feel good. But when you are taking a sensitive issue to discuss in the movie, you will be running on the thin rope that may twist you in to the web of preachy documentary. Taare Zameen Par of Aamir Khan is the best example of a balancing act. Prakash Raj’s Dhoni is way out of balance.
Movie Review: Marina – The breeze is not enough
There are only few movies in Tamil that take a place as the main lead of the movie. I am counting out the innumerous spiritual movies about temples. Pandiraj showed immense promise with his Pasanga and winning a National Award on debut is not a mean achievemnt. A special thanks to him for choosing Marina as his story back drop but did he win over the hearts is debatable.
Marina is a story about the bunch of boys in the beach who live their life by selling sundal to the visitors of the beach. Ambigapathi (Pakada Pandian of Pasanga fame) drops in to Chennai in a mortuary van and slowly joins the gang of boys after initial tiffs. Aargh, I could not write any more about the story because it doesn’t have a central plot and that’s the biggest let down. The movie is filled with innumerable sub plots like the love angle between Siva Karthikeyan and Oviya, the old man who was thrown out from the house, a boy who hit a SP’s son on the head, a dancing girl and her father and a mentally deranged man who claims that he owns Marina.
What happened to my National Anthem?
Every year, since 2009 I have been part of the IQL team to host India Unplugged, a quiz on India. As we usually do it on the Republic Day, we play the National Anthem before the start of the quiz. As the presentation slides are my responsibility, I am the one who finds or decides which “version” of the national anthem to be played.
Version? I think we are only country in the world that has so many versions of our National Anthem. There is that extended Aalap version of AR Rahman with music stalwarts, the wonderfully shot “Silent Anthem”, the extremely patriotic slow instrumental version with Siachen Glacier soldiers (my most favourite) and even an intolerable rock version.