Kaatru Veliyidai

There's one scene in the movie Kaatru Veliyidai where Dr.Nidhi and Dr.Illyaas are in conversation and it translates to "VC is all about VC". That's pretty much the centrepiece of this movie.

VC is an airforce pilot who only cares about what he wants to do in his life. He occupies higher ground and he is always looking down at you, even when he is in love. Every time he smiles, you can see he exudes pride and arrogance. He feels superior, compares himself to God, perhaps even mightier and says that he will kill. You know the term "airs and graces" (the affectation of superiority). That's the "Kaatru" in this movie.

Of course, when there is a movie about someone at the border, there has to be drills and war. With war comes capture and then the whole drama of planning to escape and doing it. Mani Ratnam brings back a bit of Roja here, but leaves the patriotism out for a bit and takes the journey of love. This entire sequence of VC being in Pakistan and escaping to India through Afghanistan introduces us to his life at a slow and steady pace.

Leela has heard enough about VC for years. She grew up listening to stories about this individual who is perhaps compared to a superhuman (in the eyes of her brother). She is besotted. The job in Kashmir is only a reason. 

We all say "opposites attract". This is not the storyline here. This is the story of a girl who is fascinated about a guy, gets to meet him in person and is faced with some serious questions, perhaps a reality check.

Leela is already in love. And VC is just getting started but like I said in the beginning, "VC only likes VC". We get many visions of this during the movie - the registrar office, the single malt challenge, Leela's opinion, pregnancy.. there's plenty. So he finds it difficult to isolate himself from himself. He is caught for his actions. Actions that would have been encouraged and found very normal among a group of alpha males.  

The dysfunctional family is a distraction. Yes, there is a bit of affirmation about VC's character when we get a glimpse of his family but its not important. And merged into that family sequence is a song with a wedding and a lot of colour powder which looked good on screen but made no sense. I haven't been to any wedding where one of the events is like Holi.

When two headstrong individuals meet, there's bound to be a bit of an explosion. VC is controlling but Leela stands her ground. And that's where Mani Ratnam excels. He brings out shades of his women characters from his previous works. He gives them space. He lets them fall madly in love but not lose self respect. Leela may look vulnerable but her displeasure at numerous instances shows that she cannot be taken lightly. Her disapproval of VC, choosing to stand by her decisions, and still being honestly in love with VC is what breaks VC.

Kaatru Veliyidai is not a Breezy Expanse (as suggested by Wikipedia). Its the air of superiority slowly leaving VC after numerous rough patches in his life and how he finds his feet on the ground. Its one man's journey through solitude to find his true calling - a submission to love.

The Intern

Recently, I saw the movie THE INTERN. It was fantastic. The basic storyline is about how the young entrepreneurs of the digital economy need to appreciate the wisdom that comes from moving along with people from the manufacturing economy.

Anne Hathaway and Robert De Niro play these roles with ease and are a pleasure to watch.

The point of my post is looking at Jules' personal life in the movie. Jules works in a high pressure environment. She has no time for her daughter and husband. She is swamped with work 24x7, taking calls at odd times and replying to emails at 2am. The husband, who was also very successful at a point, decided to take a step back and be a house-husband. He cares for the daughter, drops her at school and runs all errands around the house.

There comes a point in the movie where Jules' management capabilities are questioned and she is asked by her investors to find a new CEO. She does give in at some point and decides to appoint a new CEO. Very soon, the husband is shown as cheating on her with another woman. Then, Jules decides that she should definitely step back on her job and focus more on the family before its too late.

I know that the director had no choice but to introduce a scene like that to bring the movie to a close but it was so wrong. On one side, we have all these people complaining that women don't get the opportunities to grow in a male dominated corporate world. On the other side, we are shown these rubbish movie examples where a man is cheating. Seriously What The F!

People! Men aren't the only human beings who cheat! Women do it too. I wonder if there are popular movies where women cheat and the men get to find out. But then, you'll have to show men as vulnerable characters. A popular relationship researcher once said in her speech "people choose to leave a relationship these days only because they could be happier in another relationship". And this applies equally to both sexes.

When I take a step back in my career, I don't do it because I am not ambitious. I do it because I like to be supportive to someone who is slightly more ambitious than I am. That doesn't mean that I like to spend my late afternoons cheating on my partner with another parent who I met at school.

We complain all the time about not getting the right opportunity or life being unfair. When provided with those opportunities, we don't realise that we are simultaneously being fed with negative thoughts and examples that never lets us realise our dreams.

Haram

How would it be if certain moments from your life were captured and shown to you in a movie? In a way, I feel a lot more connected with the screenplay and the characters. Alternatively, this also makes me think - are these moments so mainstream that people want to make films about?

In two words, Haram is a Malayalam movie about Irreconcilable Differences. Isha is slightly devastated, or maybe that's a strong word, let's say disturbed. From a previous relationship that didn't go well. She works with a BPO in Bangalore. There is Balu as well, in the same office - not the hot guy who every girl in the office wants to go home with, but a slightly traditional, chilled out, peace-loving, and no-frills guy. Isha comes across as a fun-loving and bubbly personality on the outside; but eventually a mysterious character who has many deep layers that cannot be dissected.

The story revolves around Isha and Balu and other characters that happen to be around them or connected to them in some way. They meet, Isha finds in Balu a good friend, date a bit and get married. They move from Bangalore to Kerala and then soon after, Isha decides to file for divorce. Balu is puzzled as her reasons are - irreconcilable differences.

Balu doesn't want to quit and he wants to reason, even live, but there seems to be no hope and no specific answer. Balu is me. Perhaps, Balu is just like many other men out there? I don't have too many questions in my life. I face life as it comes to me. I don't go out of my way to seek any answers. I like the way I am - simple, grounded, happy and sometimes lucky! And Isha is a person who at times does not know what she wants. She is opportunistic when she finds comfort in Balu. She is friendly and warm but she is also weird. I am not too bothered to make deeper reflections.

A number of deep thoughts keep running through the reels of this movie.

• Promises are like babies, easy to make but very painful to deliver
• If you are happy where you are, why would you try and bring another person into your life and complicate your life

Haram definitely didn't do well at the box office. The film doesn't come with an entertainment formula. It is a figment of my life. It is a celebration of life. Of a life that is real and not reel. Of a life that says to me - if you sense emotional baggage, then run away from it!

 

Raanjhanaa

Raanjhanaa is a movie that revolves around the life of a self-centred Zoya, played by Sonam Kapoor. The movie is not about a demented stalker, not about slitting wrists for love, not about politics and not about inter-caste weddings.

Dhanush's first Hindi movie has been doing well and doesn't require my approval. In a lot of places, he does remind us of his previous movies. There is a bit of 3, Kadhal Kondaen and perhaps a few more. Dialog delivery suffers but his acting and emotions make up for the flaws. When the producers released the trailer, they obviously showed the highlights of his hindi speaking skills and the tamil audience were slightly spellbound. That feeling slips away when we get into the mood of the movie.

Zoya is the centerpiece of this movie. Its her intentions (I am unsure if I can use the word selfish to describe her intentions), that drives the so-called protagonist Kundan to do whatever he does in the film. Love is just another emotion in the movie. In fact, Zoya's silence and vengeance are the deeper aspects of the movie that tend to stand out during the second half. 

So men, here are the rules simply put. Even in small towns, your silly pranks and smiles will not work. Get ahead and get smart. Women need more than blood. They want you to be educated and ambitious. What Kundan does in the second half of the movie is unbelievable and absolute nonsense. Its a directorial flaw. And Zoya does get a bit emotional towards the end for Kundan but it was too late.

Nevertheless, the colors in the movie are brilliant. Music heightens your spirits to a completely new level. Raanjhana is best understood when you see it from the eyes of Zoya.

Singam 2

The original Singam was a treat to watch. An emotional yet strong police officer story with all the commercial ingredients to make it a perfect Tamil entertainer. Singam 2 is not quite there. Too many characters, bad music and not so great villains make this movie longer and boring.

Singam 2 shows a quick recap of Singam before leading into its theme, just to let you know that they are following the original track that was laid (which also means that we have to provide screen space for all the characters from the old film - what a pity). Tamil cinema still hasn't reached a stage where they can do something like a James Bond franchise with unrelated movies and yet do fantastic at the box office. I am sure we have the capability but many directors still are hung up on song and dance.

So what's new! An item number with Angadi Theru Anjali, local and international baddies, Hansika, and Santhanam.

Singam 2 is all about Suriya. If at any point you removed all the surrounding characters (esp family, love, and comedy), the movie would still make sense. And if the director had made any attempt to remove a few of those characters, the movie would have been slightly better too.

Hansika as an infatuated school-girl adds just color to the Tuticorin backdrop. Santhanam's sequences are not very enjoyable but his mockery of scenes and dialogues from the first movie are definitely a treat. Three villains and one of them calling himself the King of the Indian Ocean (absolutely ridiculous), I definitely think that Prakash Raj did a much better job in the first movie. Rahman does a good job in playing his part as one of the bad guys.

The movie takes us to all sorts of places. Starting from Tuticorin to Chennai, Kerala and then South Africa as well. Scenes are quick and short but predictable and weak.

Don't even get me started about the music. In this one, DSP fails to make your feet tap. After the first song, you are convinced that the first movie's soundtrack was worth every minute of your ear.

I find it very difficult to continue this review because of the confusion the screenplay creates by having so many scenes. In the end, all I can remember is Suriya finding a way to ensure that every bad guy is out of business. Beyond that everything about Singam 2 is waste of time. Having said that, a theme to just oust baddies is quite horrible because that's been the premise of Tamil Cinema for generations. So director Hari doesn't churn out anything interesting.

Going at this rate, actors like Suriya, Vijay and Vikram will become a forgotten trio if they don't invest their time and talent in working on meaningful scripts.

Kumki

Kumki, the latest movie by Prabu Solomon is a ridiculously stupid movie. I am writing this at the beginning to save some time for readers who do not want to continue.

The name Kumki actually refers to a type of elephant that is used to drive away wild elephants from troubling villagers in mountainous districts. These elephants are specifically trained by the forest department or other factions to keep people safe from wild elephant attacks.

Anyway, the Kumki that released last Friday is a nonsensical love story under the pretext of an elephant. A mahout brings his unconditioned elephant to protect a village and ends up being there because he falls in love with a girl there. Total rubbish.

Before any further abuse, I would like to credit the director for having chosen an amazing shooting location. The mountains, fields, waterfalls and the forest was a treat for the eye. Photography and Cinematography take top honors.

Music was literally a pain in the ass. There is a song pretty much every five minutes and that kills the interest for anyone who wants to watch the movie. The background score is amazing and I think the music director should have stopped right there.

Vikram Prabhu - I am sorry. This movie will not do any charm for you. You have to write this movie off and hope for another director to give you a break. And also hope that the new director has not seen this movie. Or even better, fund your next movie. Other than showing off brawn here and there, Vikram has not done anything worth mentioning.

Lakshmi Menon - the female lead has no scope as well.

The only person who saves this movie right from the beginning till the end is Thambi Ramaiyya. His dialogues, expressions, and sense of humor made me sit through the movie. If not for him, this movie wouldn't have crossed the weekend.

The elephant came of use only during the last 10 minutes of the movie. Until then it seemed like a complete waste of time. And Vikram Prabhu's dialogue in the end where he says to the elephant "Everyone thought you were mad but actually I was the one who was mad" is the only dialogue that made the presence of the elephant in the whole movie worthwhile.

Overall: Kumki is a big headache and not worth even a pirated VCD

Thuppakki - Quiet and Racy

It takes so much time in Melbourne to get an opportunity to watch a Diwali release. Gosh two weeks!

Anyways, I guess the wait was definitely worth it. AR Murugadoss proves that he is not a director who can be taken for granted. And yes, there is hope in Tamil cinema for good movies.

Thuppakki is a very quiet yet racy film. For once, the commercial aspects of a mass hero film has been played down very efficiently and the presentation of the rest of the screenplay has moved up a few notches without heavy damage. The theme of the movie is based on eliminating terrorist sleeper cells operating within the country. Maybe the theme by itself was a reason for the director to keep the extravagance under wraps. Good decision indeed. Execution becomes a key element of such movies and I should give the director a big salute. Scenes did not seem stretched at all.

In a year when most other superstars of Kollywood have wasted their talent and screen space on delivering over senseless scripts, Vijay has stolen the opportunity to shed his mass hero appeal from the likes of Sivakasi, Thiruppachi etc etc and play it down, a bit mellowed is the right word. No punch dialogues in high intensity and measured usage of words makes his character more believable in a number of instances.

With everything going right with the script, someone got drunk and introduced two characters to waste time. Kajal Agarwal and Jayaram.

Kajal Agarwal was hopeless. For a movie of this kind, she was zero value add. I would have been happy if she was kidnapped by the villain, like the typical Tamil movie climax but that didn't happen too. Am sure someone gave her a voice over and that was pathetic.

Jayaram - an actor whose talent was made worthless by the script.

Sathyan, as Vijay's friend, plays a very good role in the movie. His reactions and sense of comedy was more than enough for screen. The director didn't have to experiment another side-track with Jayaram and Vijay which turned out be a fiasco.

Oh yes, music. Harris J. He should have stuck to background score. Every song in the movie was just another loo break opportunity.

Tamil cinema can never end without bloopers. The climax was the best here. A bomb had been set to blast in 15 mins. And there was exactly 15 mins left for the whole movie to end. And in that time, the hero fights the villain, jumps out of the ship, the ship blasts and later he also manages a tearful send off from his family. This was hilarious. When people say, cut the crap, they really mean it. So, in future, please cut the crap.

Overall: Thuppakki entertains

Thaandavam : Movie Review

 What's with movies hitting the screens on similar themes within a short span of time? Just now Salman Khan finished being a RAW Agent and then Vikram follows suit. And can we please end the India-UK relationship for sometime? Why should all conspiracies end up creating problems in the UK or around that area, when you can stage better things around Eastern Europe. Yes, in the latter case, there is no guarantee of just shooting the movie and getting away. Someone would use the script in reality. HA HA

Thaandavam is yet another RAW Agent story. Vikram plays the role and he comes across as a revenge agent more.

Comedy - doesn't make you laugh at all. I began to think why spend so much money; get our comedians to London and abuse Britishers? Is that some sort of a post independence rage?

Music -  GV Prakash is also becoming predictable like Harris J. There seems to be a lack of experimentation and thought in the compositions. The first song reminded me of a Michael Jackson number. The second one was like one of George Michael's. The third song in the village was similar to one from a Rajkiran movie and the fourth sounded like a Harris J. I lost it after that.

Direction - this movie isn't like any of Vijay's previous movies, which did very well at the awards arena. Directors are always stretched between intelligent action films and commercial aspects. This is not a thin line but a choice and scripts get twisted because the Chennai audience doesn't appreciate a tight story-line. Research well done on the echolocation science but the movie doesn't tell much. Vijay seems to be happy with his team of GV, Vikram, Anushka and Nirav Shah from his previous movie but I hope it doesn't become a comfort zone with less experimentation. The script weakens in a lot of places and then picks up pace. The scene just before the intermission and the use of Ledex as a courier service was REALLY LAME.

There is a landslide of characters in the movie. Big names every where and simply not required. Anushka looks good but age is catching up lady! You need to get back to some serious yoga and fitness. Amy Jackson was wasted. If I removed her from the script, it would still work with very minor tweaks and hold better. Characters from the village are again sort of reminding you of the scenes from Surya-Jothika's Sillunu Oru Kaadhal. Was there a need for Nasser to be a Sri Lankan police officer? Or was it the multi-cultural and diversity aspect? And Lakshmi Rai as well. Why does everyone have to be in this movie? Don't get me started about voice-overs.

Vikram's desperate measures for a success after the Rajapaattai fiasco seems to have helped. The script is around him and he delivers. Romance between Vikram and Anushka is very mature and subtle. Thankfully, for a such a movie, absolutely didn't go overboard.

Thaandavam would have been a better action movie sans the comedy, songs and procession of characters. And with this, I hope to return to blogging. Thanks for reading.

Mayakkam Enna

A group of friends are always fun to be with - drinking, gossip, dinners, lying around the house drunk, late nights at the beach. Your friends are your best judge and sometimes your worst enemy. Nevertheless, its only your friends who can forgive and forget because they have seen you every moment. They understand what you are going through; your toughest moments are easy when they are around. You can do what you want when you are with them and not bother about consequences.

Love happens. You don't know when it hits you. It could be your friend's girlfriend too but she doesn't care. 'She was never serious the first time' she says. You try to resist the feeling but this time, it hits you like a hurricane. And this is when life gets complicated. You are torn between the most cherished parts of your life - your true friends and your new love. The weirdness begins. You want to be lonely. Its not the loneliness but the fear that makes you run away from believing the truth. You don't want to accept. You tend to think that running away would solve all the problems, rather that creates the most uncomfortable situations.

Amidst all the chaos, life begins in a modest way. Being a part of the middle-class you have your own share of difficulties in life. There is pain, struggle, betrayal, frustration, alcohol, bruises, blood, tears and definitely lack of power. With so many negatives in your life, there is nothing much to look forward to except for that simple reason called hope which emanates from the love that you originally had, to begin that life. 

Selvaraghavan lets us walk into the life of an aspiring photographer Dhanush who neither has the education (atleast we don't know this part) or professional support to be successful. The meek and submissive character that he is, although he bosses around with his friends, he is mentally affected by failures. Success comes his way in a big way, but life has taken the toughest turns until then.

Mayakkam Enna is a true director's movie with the least "masala" elements available in the typical tamil movie package. The movie has Selvaraghavan written all over it without any doubt. The hilarious first half makes you wonder what's going to happen in the second and that's when he decides to give you a high voltage shock.

Overall: Fantastic movie. Would be a great script for a malayalam movie sans   the songs. Tamil cinema lovers may hate this.

Sadda Haq

The first time I walked into a movie hall in Bombay (mid September), I was totally floored by the trailer. Every movie I saw after that, I used to wish for the trailer to come back again.

Every musical note in this movie was magical and that is the only reason why no one other than AR Rahman could have done this. ROCKSTAR is all credit to ARR. If there is one thing that someone should talk about after seeing this movie is the power of Rahman's music. Music maketh the movie. Rahman got Orianthi Panagaris to play the lead guitar (she used to play for Michael Jackson). Orianthi breaks all barriers and strikes gold right from the first minute. Rockstar is character driven and guitar is the predominant portion of the whole movie. The smashing hit song "Sadda Haq is only proof to that. Not just this one, but every other song represents the mood the character moulds into; be it a fun song in Prague or the qawwali inside Hazra Nizamuddin.

Janardhan Jakhar aka Jordan, dreams of making it big in music while his family wants him to join their business. He idolises Jim Morrison and when we look at the posters and the graphics we get the same feeling as well. He is surprised that fans were so thrilled when JM walked into the crowd and showed a middle finger while he was being slapped by a police officer for making sensible music at the bus stop. His closest aide tells him that the power of music relies in feeling the pain of love, loneliness, betrayal and the journey begins there; but Jordan is simple, clueless and is always confused all the way.

 Ranbir Kapoor has proved himself all through the film. Right fron blending into the costumes, showing the serious attitude and making us feel that the voice lent by Mohit Chauhan (Dooba Dooba fame) is almost his; Ranbir pulls it off quite well. Of course, there are some problems with the guitar and serious guitarists would laugh at that, but we can forget it.

Nargis Fakhri as the Kashmiri lass Heer brings more beauty to the script. Frame after frame, she brings a ravishing touch to the screenplay. Although a lot of things that she does reminds us of Katrina Kaif in a good number of movies in the past, Nargis steals the show being happy-go-lucky. Performance needs a lot of boost and I hope she can do better in forthcoming films, if any. Bollywood is quite open to debuting women beyond 30, which is a really good sign.

Visuals are a treat - streets of Delhi, snow clad mountains and roads, lakes, locales of Prague, Rome, Hazrat Nizamuddin; the choices seem perfect. The film starts off with a concert in Rome - flashes back to Jordan's story and keeps coming back when required. Imtiaz Ali weaves the story aptly to make it interesting till the end.

Overall: Rockstar is a must watch. If not for the script, definitely for the music.

7-Aum Arivu

What was Murugadoss thinking when he decided to make this film? I still havent figured out that. Sometimes I think that he was partly inspired by Michael Moore.

7AA is a commercial documentary. The first 20 mins of the film is a technologically advanced version of the usual videos that films division used to show in cinema halls years back. Remember the video about Nehru; this was no different. This is where Bodhi Dharma is introduced. ARM goes on to tell us that whatever we saw in Crouching Tiger and other films - I mean flying swords, people and stuff that we saw in Shaolin soccer; is closely related to what Bodhi Dharma taught the Chinese.

The present day Chinese Military begin Operation Red whose only objective is to kill a girl in Chennai.

Suriya plays a circus performer in this film. I still can't figure out why he agreed to do that part because it didnt go well with the script of the film. I wonder if it was done to help the script where Shruti is looking to experiment with a monkey or ride an elephant (this scene is horrible), it still doesnt convince at all. We definitely know that a connection needs to be established between Bodhi Dharma and Suriya but not through a circus.

Coming to the main plot - The Chinese want to kill Shruti Hassan because they think she has done some research that would make India, some kind of a superpower. What I dont get from all this is the depth. Its never there at all. If it were such a research, then how come the Indian scientists are not bothered? And there are a bunch of people fighting about Tamil and English. Gimme a break director!!! There is a lot of cross-border tension between India and China, but China sending someone to India to kill Shruti is like watching a cartoon. The chinese villain using hynotic techniques to use people to his advantage is quite weird and at times very irritating as well.

Shruti Hassan has a very long way to go. I doubt if she will be very successful in the movies. She is awesome on the screen but dialogue delivery needs a lot of work. It feels like watching some US return tamilian on screen. We cannot put the heavy weight on her shoulder that she is Kamal's daughter. She is super talented but I am not sure if this film has done the magic for her.

I cant speak much about the new chinese villain who we have seen in many other hollywood movies. I dont remember doing anything other than staring.

The movie tells us that our traditions and superstitions have scientific reasons behind and we should understand the science and not blindly believe everything. And some of the examples are very effective. What I cant get to grips is when Shruti starts a scientific experiment on Suriya for 12 days; the villain manages to kill the experiment on the penultimate day and miraculously Suriya is still in great form. Suddenly, there is a superhero who has broken the scientific laws. Did I watch a Science Fiction?

What can I say about the songs. Same Harris style. He reminds you that every new song will remind you of his previous compositions. The SPB song in this movie reminded me of the 'Kanne Kalaimaane' sung by Yesudas but a few beats faster in the former. Most other songs are typical and sometimes the beat feels like a lift-off from ARR too.

The movie definitely lacks a good script and depth. Sometimes it looks as if the scenes were just put in place to make some logical sequence. I am supportive of the fact that ARM took up a different subject and exlpored a lot, but converting that into a bio-war is again like venturing into the lines of Dasavatharam. All of a sudden, the film starts wrapping up. The last 30 mins has all the prime content and I wonder why it was only for 30 mins. Romantic sequences were just time wasting tactics getting nowhere and only becoming script spoilers.

One piece of information I got from this movie is that the Chinese definitely have a great idea to eliminate the stray dogs in India but we never want them to help us do that.

Sountrack

Finally, I get to do some work and its sounds very interesting. Although, I cant discuss what I will be doing; its definitely close to what I have been doing before - except that playing ultimate and working from home is not part of the job description now.

I happened to see this awful film called SOUNDTRACK. Its about this music obsessed hero who wants to make it big in Bollywood and first starts off being a DJ in a club. I didnt know that DJ's in India had so much perks - this guy gets to drink litres of alcohol, smokes up all kinds of stuff and also gets to bed the hottest women in the club. AND he gets paid to do all of that!!! Whatever, the movie had no sense of script and direction. It was a mess. Post interval, our man becomes completely deaf and goes into alternative therapy.

The websites are flooding with research articles about pancreatic cancer. The newspapers in India have also started publishing front page articles with stats about the p.cancer scene in India.

The best news I read today was about SIRI - the talking iphone app for 4S. I was stunned when I saw the video demonstration. It can reply to ur SMS, fix appointments on your phone, lookup restaurants near you and can even give you suggestions on life!!! Everytime I keep thinking what Apple can add to an already feature friendly exotic phone is when they come out with something that you can never imagine.

I started reading a book by name BOUNCE, written by Matthew Syed. The book is fantastic. I think I will be writing a post about the book very soon.

Engaeyum Eppothum

Recently I took a bus to Bangalore. The bus left Adyar at 10.30pm, picked up a few more in T.Nagar around 11pm and then reached this place called Silk Board in Bangalore by 4.15am. I was happy and shocked when I got off the bus. Happy because I reached Bangalore much early for the function that I was going to attend and shocked as I looked back on the journey time taken by the bus. I thought the bus driver was literally standing on the accelerator pedal all through the journey!!! Although this is a common phenomenon for buses that run between Chennai and Bangalore, its still an alarming fact that the operators dont have any control on speeding.

Engaeyum Eppothum, in some ways exposes us to one harsh reality - your life could be in the hands of a careless bus driver on the highway. You can always argue that what has to happen will definitely happen and if the bus driver is your chauffeur to hell/heaven its just a means. But what the hell.

As the movie opens, you witness a horrible accident between a private bus operator and SETC. As the scene unfolds, we are taken into the lives of different people who are travelling on both the buses. The lead characters are part of this bus journey and we learn more about their life when we go back a few months.

A girl(Ananya) from Trichy comes to interview for a job in Chennai, solicits help from a handsome looking stranger to help her get to the venue and also doubts his character all along their journey. I would have been convinced if the director actually chose a more interior town than Trichy to portray the girl's humble and innocent character. Trichy is quite cosmopolitan these days. Air Asia flies to Trichy directly from SE Asia!!! Anyways, through the journey, we obviously expect her to fall in love with the guy. The story is being told from the girl's perspective - a little different because I am always used to Parthiban's narration in a flashback. This was a welcome change. Almost 6 months later and love untold plus a failed desperate search to find the guy, she boards the private bus to Trichy from Chennai. The stranger who is in Trichy, boards the SETC bus to Chennai.

Jai and Anjali are in Trichy. Very middle class life - long working hours and earnings just enough to manage a decent living. Jai plays a very quiet character while Anjali is the extrovert - very strong and demanding. The director thought a lot about her character in this movie. Until the accident, every scene she is part of is a surprise package - we don't know why she is doing what she is doing and at the same time its quite hilarious. They board the SETC bus from Trichy to their hometown near Villupuram.

In between, we are also introduced to a few characters in the bus - a bunch of girls who are celebrating their tournament victory; a young college boy who happens to meet a beautiful girl also in the bus; a dad returning from Saudi to see his 5 yr old daughter who he hadnt seen since birth; a doting husband who actually comes to drop his wife but cannot leave her alone in the bus, so ends up taking the journey with her, and many other people who would be just like the one sitting near you in an inter-city bus. Conversations between the people sitting next to each other reminds us about random chats that you would have during a bus/train journey. In fact, the director makes it very realistic by not revealing passenger names.

This movie will not do well at the box-office. People will not like it, but I believe that it would send the message to a lot of people about highway incidents. 

Jessie

The base guitar chords create a magical moment to start with. When the camera moves from the Punnamada Lake in Allepey to the beautiful church, you hear...

"Of all the girls in this world, why did I fall in love with Jessie?"
This dialogue is repeated a number of times in the movie.

When you hear this dialogue from Simbu, you can feel love.
When his camera-man friend says this, there is a bit of fear.
When his sister says this, it comes like a natural warning and disapproval.
When Jessie herself asks the question back to Simbu, you can understand the confusion in her mind.

Sexy, classy, well read. Thats Jessie for you.

Gautam Vasudev Menon, in his latest movie, Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya (VTV), has taken a very simple subject - Romance, given it the exact touch it needs for the year 2010 and has displayed brilliance in execution.

With romance in the air, you can be rest assured that AR Rahman is definitely going to treat you. In fact, romance is a subject where every music director shows his best. With ARR, you dont have to ask. Remember Bombay - those beats and background scores when they show Shaila Banu. Its the same with VTV. Rahman has given importance to melody along with modernity. In fact, the screenplay for VTV is best explained only through ARR's compositions.

Hosanna - a song picturised in the shores of Malta introduces us to love. This song is the beginning of a wonderful love story; a simple love-at-first-sight song yet powerful. What I like about VTV is the way the story is being told. The viewpoint is always from one angle - that is from Simbu. The story is what he sees and feels. There is not one scene where Simbu is not there, which probably supports my argument as well.

Omana Penne - the second song in the movie and another love song. Well, actually the love is still not there completely. Its still one sided. Before this song, Trisha asks Simbu why he liked her so much and this song gives all the answers. Every word in this song is reflective of what Simbu feels or atleast what the director wants Simbu to feel.

Kannukkul Kannai - Jessie is confused. She does not want love because she thinks its going to hurt her. But she does not stop her lover. She wants the relationship to be open and at the level of being friends. When its love, you cannot make such boundaries. Thats what this song comes to say passionately. The violin portions in the beginning show the intensity of the lover, his anger towards Jessie for being impossible. Even though he is angry, he loves her and he cannot leave her. The line "Kadhal endraal kaayam thaan" - meaning love always hurts brings so much meaning to the situation.

Mannippaaya - sung by Shreya Ghoshal and ARR. If you ask me, I would say that this song is where love actually begins in the movie. Jessie is madly in love. She accepts, realizes her mistake of not revealing her love for Karthik. "Mannippaaya" sounds like a sad song but its nothing like that. Its a true reflection of how Jessie understands the real feeling of being in love.

Gautam Menon has always kept some part of himself in all of his movies. He has given his voice for Jerry, Jessie's brother. We also notice the "GVM 8004" written on the ship in the song Kannukkul Kannai.

VTV's story maybe the same as what we saw in Alaigal Oivathillai. Hindu boy falls in love with Christian girl, family doesnt like, and then there is a rift. But the good part about watching a movie with the same theme in 2010 is how each of us can connect with it. In love, there are no enemies who will come in 10 Tata Sumo's to attack you. You dont have to jump across 20 men or hit all of them at one go. Its only about love and the two people involved. VTV is like just another love story that happens in your college or friends circle; the songs and locations are to add some flavor for the 2.5 hrs you spend in the cinema hall.

Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya - Thamarai's lyrics beautifully rendered by Karthik, the splendid guitar chords take us to the peak of love.

Aromale - a complete malayalam song written by Kaithappram (a well renowned musician and lyricist, brilliant carnatic singer as well); sung by Alphonse (a music director as well). Karthik is reflecting back on love. He takes us back to those wonderful moments in few minutes. This song reminds you of some accoustic compositions of Bryan Adams. There is a bit of soft rock in the beginning; the tempo builds later.

Anbil Avan - celebrating love happily. Jessie and Karthik say their vows and get married. Chinmayi and Devan mesmerize you completely with their voice. ARR blends carnatic instruments perfectly into this themed song where they show a church and temple wedding.

Gautam Menon should always be appreciated for his choice of actors for the movie. The way he conceptualizes a character and fits the actor there is mind-blowing. Trisha is so perfect for Jessie. Eevry dialog, expression is so hand-crafted. Just like how they make the Rolls Royce. But sometimes you dont like the trims. Like I didnt like the way she kept reminding us that she was a Malayali by talking three words in malayalam every 20 minutes. And grow up Simbu rather Gautam, you cant be so dumb in 2010. Kerala is not just about "puttu-kadalai". You get the same quality or even better even in Chennai. We know that you want the guy to act stupid in front of his girl; the typical girl-guy conversations when the guy has to make some stupid arguments or comments, but could have done better there.

Overall: Awesome movie if you like love stories

Paiya

Before the release of this movie, Actor Suriya told - What Kaakha Kaakha did to me, is what Paiya will do to Karthi.

After you see the movie, you will probably understand what he really meant. After Kaakha Kaakha, the Suriya and Jothika relationship went really strong. Maybe that's what Suriya meant about Karthi and Tamannah. HA HA HA

God knows what was in Lingusamy's mind when he decided to make a movie and name it Paiya. There is absolutely no story.

A jobless hero sees the beautiful heroine on a bus-stop, decides to fall in love with her, accidentally runs into her in a train station and drives her from Bangalore to Mumbai because she asks him to. That's all. So, we know that there is absolutely NO SCRIPT for this movie, which means that SCREENPLAY also takes a straight dive into the ocean. When there is no script and screenplay, what can you do with direction and cinematography. So, all technical aspects of the movie score negative.

Karthi maintains an informal urban look all through the movie. I think his acting skills were wasted ever since the days of Parutthiveeran. In this movie, he is just a driver. He fights like a warlord. Apart from that, he is just imagining and dreaming about Tamannah.

I dont understand when Tamil cinema will make meaningful fights. I mean fights that really need to be there and that make you believe. Paiya has fights that are unwanted - totally unwanted; just occupying screen time.

What makes you feel good when you see the movie is, I am sorry but its a guy thing - Tamannah. She is super dazzling throughout the movie. She is not the hot and sexy types. She also doesnt portray herself that way. Its like this. Remember how sexy and hot Sameera Reddy looked when she acted with Shiny Ahuja in some hindi movie, but Gautam Menon brought her to Tamil, gave her some super nice costumes and made her look stunning without all these revealing clothes. Just the same way with Tamannah. She is awesome in a decent way.

But otherwise, if you asked me what is there in the movie Paiya. Absolutely Nothing. I am sure that some of our Hindu Newspaper reviewers are going to praise this movie for this and that.

Even the music is very pedestrian. Yuvan has sung one song and every time I ask this question - why do you have to sing a song? I mean, its not happening for you. For ARR, the charm works. Don't you realise that its not working well with you. Please stick to composing. Again, all songs are pretty sub-standard. There is no wow-factor.

Lingusamy - please internalize, realize and react. Your movies like RUN and Sandakkozhi, which were also themed on fights, were brilliant. Both were a commercial success. From Bheema, you've been on the wrong side of the learning curve. I hope you can do something better.

Overall: Fails to impress.

Aayirathil Oruvan

Well, this was definitely the most awaited movie. But post the imtermission, you really start to wonder - Is this what I get after 2 years and 4 months of effort! That is Selvaraghavan's Aayirathil Oruvan (AO) for you - A period movie which sometimes makes you feel like a period porn movie. Never watch it with your kids.

12th century - The last remaining Chola king orders his people to escape an invasion.
21st century - a team led by Reema, with support from the army and an archaeologist (Andrea) start an expedition in search of Andrea's father who is reported missing from an island off Vietnam. Researchers believed that this island is where the Cholas landed centuries back and still lived there. The remaining part of the story is how the team gets there and what happens henceforth.

Andrea Jeremiah plays the role of an archaeologist. What makes me wonder is why she gets very little screen space in the whole movie. Hardly any dialogue. For an archaeologist who is going in search of her father who is also an archaeologist, what I would think is she should be playing an important part. Andrea is of least importance to anyone.

Karthi is part of a gang of workers, who are helping the team carry stuff during the expedition. Again, this is just a small graduation from the previous movie where he was an uneducated village rowdy. Karthi does his part really well in the first half of the movie. His random comments about the expedition, trying to show some style on both the women and his fears about what's happening keeps us laughing and interested in the whole movie. In the second half, we dont get much of him.

Director Selva has done brilliant work on the script and theme. Trying to create something in the lines of Indiana Jones, Jack Sparrow, and the likes of King Solomon's Mines for the Tamil audience is actually wonderful and breathtaking. Talking of the rivalry between Cholas and Pandiyas, going in search of a kingdom in an unknown island, crossing obstacles - fire, warriors, snakes, hunger, haunted village, quagmires etc is mind-blowing. I dont know what happened to Selva after having come up with such a nice theme. There is enough foul language. Soon, we have the women shaking their bottoms violently, showing the belly, hurling abusive words at each other. "Govinda" song is like a bondage and domination song.

Post intermission, we see interactions between the people of the lost kingdom and the team (Reema, Andrea and Karthi). This is where the story loses pace. Reema and Andrea are flashing their you know what (obviously we dont get to see them). Soon, Reema and Parthipan (playing the role of current Chola King) have a part that keeps dragging and dragging. Seemed like an awful waste of time and money. The Chola king is thinking only about sex and food. And this is where you begin to hate what you liked all the while. Then there is a war and the movie comes to an end at some point.

Hats off to the cameraman, art team (graphics and props). It definitely is an amazing display of talent. Be it the ancient village, warriors, scary snakes, fireballs, stonehenge type rock settings, a golden town, and then the kingdom inside the caves - every penny has been well spent.

Reema has an awesome role. Leave apart the places where she is wearing less clothes, showing her back, little bit of front as well - her character is full of fire. Reema is the only person who makes a definite impact in the second half of the story.

AO is a bold attempt in an era where directors only think of making money through hopeless commercial movies. I would have been happy if there was less emphasis on displaying the body. This kind, of shows, that in history, we were more bothered about sex and nothing else. That sucks. Also, we don't have to have songs in such movies. The movies can be made for 2hrs and can still do well.

Overall: Historical adult movie

Someone Like You

This time it was Springfield in Arkansas. The Tamil Assoc here decided to screen the film at Sunset Cinema, 15 miles from my place. Closer the better. I HAD to watch this movie. Every tamil from around this area was there. The hall was packed.

Unnai Pol Oruvan - as we all know, is a remake of the Hindi movie - A Wednesday. The Hindi movie, when it was out, created an amazing impact, was immensely successful and brought a new dimension to the until-then-trashy Hindi cinema. The Tamil re-make hence, had huge expectations.

And the tamil version does not let you down one bit. Considering the fact that the Tamil movie has come out in a time when you could have forgotten a good number of scenes from the Hindi movie, it manages to keep pace with the original in all aspects.

Strong characters - Kamal Haasan and Mohanlal play the lead roles.

Mohanlal, who is narrating the story for us, as the commissioner, has done a wonderful job. His patience in dialogue delivery and then moving into the comfort zone of malayalam when he gets tensed is very interesting. The conversations with the Chief Secretary and then the Chief Minister - I would rather call them intervention, show the need for protocols required when any action needs to be taken. The right use of police terminologies and words, brings intensity to the movie. Mohanlal also scores in handling dialogues with subordinates. The change of tones when giving orders and then making discussions with police officers is a great way to characterize a commissioner who controls the whole of Chennai.

The use of Karunanidhi's voice for conversations with the CM is quite funny, but makes the situation feel important.

Ganesh Venkatraman makes a comeback, after Abhiyum Naanum, as Arif, the hard-hearted police officer. I am sure that he is going to get noticed after this movie and will do well in films to come.

Aunja Iyer is the TV reporter. I wouldn't say that she scores better compared to the one who did the role in the Hindi movie. She is okay.

Being a re-make, there is not much to comment on the storyline or the screenplay. Its just the same. People, dialogues.. every bit. Art by Thota Tharani is worth a mention.

Shruti Haasan is a rockstar! Right from the titles, she has ensured that her Dad's movie gets the perfect score. Well, we know that the mood of the movie is extremely serious and Shruti's music brings that out, right from Minute One. Judicious use of Rock and not exactly Metal, shows that this Berkeley grad is out to achieve a lot more in the future. What I think could have been avoided is Kamal's voice for the songs. Those are not exactly songs, but bits and pieces in the background.

Padmasri Kamal Haasan. I dont need to tell you that he has done a wonderful job. He can never screw up. For serious roles, we dont have to judge him at all. It comes to him naturally. Kamal has portrayed Naseeruddin Shah's role in a flawless manner. His description of the "common man" is touching. His dialogues are powerful and have an iota of humor hidden here and there. In the first half, Kamal comes across as a powerful character. This is when he is in command mode only. In the second half, we get to see other dimensions of this multi-faceted personality. This is where it gets a bit emotional and conversational.

The other good things about this movie, like the original - No one has had to change costumes. No songs to waste your time. No unnecessary fights.

Something to mention. Sriman plays a role in the movie as a famous actor asking for police protection. His dialogues remind us totally of Illaya Thalapathi Vijay. Its a total dig at him and its hilarious.

Overall: Brilliant Movie.

Kandaswamy

Of all the movies I have seen this year, I will definitely remember Kandaswamy.

When I heard that Kandaswamy was going to release, I did my google research on where all in the US the movie was going to release. I found out that Kansas City, 220 miles from my place was the closest. I got excited. I knew that it would take the whole day but what the hell. Can't I do this much to see a blockbuster tamil movie!

And boy, the movie was worth every mile and every penny I paid for the trip. It was a GREAT ENTERTAINER


When Kandaswamy begins, you feel a little bit annoyed because of the attire and the funny actions that Vikram makes. But thats only the beginning. The story immediately takes a turn and gets only extremely interesting.

Kandaswamy is like a lot of other movies. Themes are heavily borrowed from Ramana, Sivaji and then Chiyaan's own Anniyan, Gentleman of course - basically a lot of movies that put a question on stopping corruption, black money and helping the poor.

Vikram plays the role of Kandaswamy, an IPS officer with the CBI. Kandaswamy is also the main deity of the temple in Thiruporur (Kanchipuram district). Kandaswamy helps the poor. Anyone who needs monetary help, writes a request and ties it on the tree and Kandaswamy helps.

Vikram plays his role with ease. As the CBI officer, he acts very polished and smart. I would appreciate the director for using the stunts as and when necessary. It really shows that the protagonist is much like a common man. Vikram singing all his songs is quite a big thing. I dont think anyone has tried anything like that. And I can only appreciate Vikram for this.

Shriya - what can i say about this piece of beauty! Right from the beginning till the end, you cant take your eyes off her. Pretty, vibrant, bold and magnetic - thats how she comes across throughout the movie. Her coiffure is so sexy. Lip syncs did not work well. Suchi did a perfect job in the dialog bit. Emotions came out extremely well. But Shriya didnt learn her dialogs. Costume selection are a 150% above the mark. Very Chic and suit Shriya's personality.

Prabhu plays an important role in the movie. I am sure that he will be appreciated a lot. Ashish Vidyarthi has Shriya's dad and YG Mahendra as his secretary - both of them play the bad guys. The two of them have done a wonderful job. Towards the end, we dont see Ashish. God knows what happened. There is one more bad guy. I dont get his name. He is the one who gets the song. This is one movie in which the bad guys dont fight with the hero directly. In fact, there are hardly any fights. I could count three I think. There is less emphasis on the Dishyum and Kaboom stuff. More work for the brain.

Comedy by Vadivelu is definitely a treat. Its a separate track. After a long time, comedy gets its place in the film. Usually heroes do a bit of comedy as well and sometimes it doesnt go too well. And then heroes join with the comedian too. But in this movie, I think it made a lot of sense to keep the hero in his serious mood and leave the job to Vadivelu. Tremendous effort to keep the audience laughing. Connecting to previous movies during the comedy track is fantastic. Mansoor Ali Khan is back in this movie and he does some light comedy as well.

Music by Devi Sri Prasad is actually amazing. "Excuse Me", "Meow Meow", and "Mambomamia" have been favorites for a very long time, topping all charts. I liked "Mambomamia" the best, for the choreography and setting. This song was taken completely in Mexico and its just beautiful. Background score just gives an amazing lift to the whole movie.

Its almost towards the end of the movie and somewhere the bad guy has to get caught. And like any other tamil movie, the bad guy gets an item song and then the hero enters. So, "En peru Meenakumari" doesnt really come as a suprise.

Susi Ganeshan needs to be congratulated for giving us a total entertainer. His story may look like the ones from before, but the entertainment value is very high. The storyline has been handled with meticulous effort. Everytime you see that the bad guys and the police get this close to catching Kandaswamy and then the story takes a small turn. Which is good because the director has understood the mood of the audience well and planned the twists in the story accordinly. This is not some movie where the hero keeps flying in the air. The director shows that its actually science and engineering that makes it happen. Well, its not 100% believable but its still a great attempt.

I think Kalaipuli Thanu will make a lot of money.

OVERALL: GREAT ENTERTAINER. MUST WATCH

Pasanga

9th grade - we were asked to help in moving the new notebooks to the library on the 3rd floor from the ground floor. we formed a chain and started passing notebooks from one hand to another. one bright idea during the whole execution and we pushed a few notebooks into our classroom. no one from the staff noticed and 30 notebooks were in our hands. but there was someone accounting for it somewhere. the next day we were all standing in the assembly hall in front of the whole school.

7th grade - i still remember standing in front of the principals room with my dad. my friend and i had done some mischief during science class and triggered a big commotion that someone decided to complain.

8th grade - my friend copied an expected exam essay question answer on his test notebook's last page and then forgot to tear that page off before handing over the notebook. the teacher accidentally found out and gave him a zero for that test.

7th grade - i was on a casual running race with my friend and when we were almost close to finish, i ran close to him and did a smart leg trip. he fell down and was badly hurt.

10th grade - my science teacher asked my friend who was sitting on the first bench to tuck in his shirt. obeying her, he immediately unzipped and started tucking in. she got furious and made him stand outside the class without his shirt on.

Pandirajan's directorial debut for the movie PASANGA, although set in a small town, brought back all those wonderful years in school.

PASANGA - as the name suggests, is all about kids, their lives in school, friendship, inter-gang rivalry, mischievous children playing spoil-sport and double gaming on each other, competition, their influence on parents lives and vice versa, ambitions, expectations when they see people around them, the list could go on.

Anyone who has been seen life through the eyes of a middle class family can definitely understand the vibrations this movie sends out. Of course, the director had to add an element of romance to keep the audience interested. Otherwise, I would have been bored with just the kids fighting with each other.

Anbukkarasu joins a corporation school in a new town. He is a super achiever and very down to earth. Jeeva, Pakkada and Kutti Mani are the trio who hate Anbu and there starts our story. Small skirmishes between Anbu and Jeeva's gang lead to even the parents shouting at each other. I am sure that we have seen a lot of this even when we went to school.

Meenakshi Sundaram (Anbu's uncle) and Sobikannu (Jeeva's sister. saw her last in the movie Saroja) bring a smile to the whole movie. Their love story has been dealt with simplicity and fun. The exchange of dialogs using cell phones is highy innovative and impressive.

The kids are the central theme of this movie. Playing small games, inducing jealousy between each other are part and parcel of the movie. The movie goes on to tell us that the emotions that the kids go through are quite the same as we do. Ours is a bit more magnified. Trying to put honey on the head of the guy you hate to make his hair go white or setting up an elder cousin to punch the guy on his way back from school or asking some random guy to chant some hymns to ensure that your rival fails in class - I am sure that all of us thought of some thing or the other, to oust our rivals in school.

The rivalry goes a little further. The parents start hating each other initially until an honest conversation between the two dad's brings the families a little closer. The kids still remain enemies. The love story unfolds. The parents decide on a wedding. The kids dont like it. Whether they remain friends is the remaining part of the movie.

James Vasanthan's music is definitely a treat. "Oru Vetkam Varudhe" - the romantic number is simply beautiful. The background score fits well into the scheme of things, especially when it comes to the fights between the kids.

Kudos to the director and cameraman for having given this movie a natural yet professional touch. Nothing looks very funky or unbelievable. Its just what you'd see in school or inside your house and its right there on the screen. No overacting from any of the kids. Powerful dialogs and the delivery from all the kids is amazing, as professional as any seasoned actor in the industry.

Overall: Great entertainer and a must for all parents and children.

Celebrity Tattoos

With Transformers up for release in India quite soon, I was looking up stuff about Megan Fox and I came across this somehow.

I saw this movie "How to Lose Friends and Alienate People". Its about this British journalist who lands up in New York and finds it very tough to be an honest journalist. The one reason for which I wanted to see this movie was Kirsten Dunst. And then, I noticed that Megan Fox played a not-so-significant role in the movie.



In the meantime, I was also thinking about why people still keep telling everyone around them about recession. I dont really think there is any recession.

Atlantic City on the east coast had full casinos. All the roulette tables were full. people were playing on piles of cash. these people are all retired from work and they dont know the meaning of the word SAVE. and if you are one of those unfortunate US taxpayers who has to just pay tax and not get any benefit, yes, you really get pained seeing all this.

here in home country, TATA has unveiled the Jaguar and Land Rover - serious gas guzzlers. and costing a bomb. yeah, people will buy, because there is a lot of money available. the recession is just a rumor.

im doing a lot of random talking. enjoy the tattoo for a moment. Its from a Shakespeare story.