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

Silambattam - Little Star Rises

Little Star does it again. A complete entertainer. A bit of everything that you would expect in a excessively commercial movie.

I think the main highlight of this movie is Yuvan's music. I should talk about it before anything else. Yuvan has given the best again. The music is well aligned with the commercial aspect of the movie. Dont expect the song visuals to be aligned to the script. NO WAY. The songs are just to enjoy. 'Vechikkava' - a remix and mega hit from Simbu and Suchitra, after 'Dandanaka' in Kaalai. This song sets the mood for all the songs to follow. 'Vechikkava' also reminds you a bit of 'Maarugo maarugo' from Vetri Vizha. 'Nalamthaana' is also a cool one. Yuvan has made ilayaraja sing for one of his songs and its come out really well.

Story - well, its again related to revenge and gory fights between two families. They just keep killing each other and then you know what happens in the end. but still, there is a reasonable twist in the story and its quite nice as it generates enough masala content for the audience.

Simbhu does the role of a priest in the temple. What I dont like here is the way they have portrayed the priest community in the movie. They just make a lot of fun and its not good. I mean, I haven't seen a lot of movies that make fun of the christian nor the muslim community. In fact, I cant even think of one where they made excessive fun of these two communities. Even for that matter, a chettiar or a nadar or those deep down south ones. most movies take a dig at brahminism and this movie takes it to an unbearable level. So, Simbu's characterisation is quite nice. He has acted well, the typical styles follow. He has also worked well on the song sequences.

Sana Khan - major time pass girl in the movie. she is best used only for the songs. exposure - yes. that element is there too. lip sync is quite bad i thought. dont know whether she will go a long way. but definitely item number material.

Prabhu does a character role in the movie and it goes quite well for him. Sneha is also around for a while. She plays her part with elegance.

Action is an important element of this movie. Rather the main element. Kanal Kannan manages to pull it off again. Very skillful and neat.

Comedy by Santhanam and Manobala in the Brahmin setting really sucks. They just take a dig at multiple people and sometimes sound quite offensive. Karunas in the second half of the movie makes you laugh naturally.

Overall: Mass entertainer. Try once if you have time and money to waste.

There is no substitute

I was amazed by the title of this movie. It said "Kaalai - There is no substitute."

From the beginning, this movie was complete chaos. You can understand what I mean when I say this - "You cant get any hint of the story till the intermission". I dont know whether it was the intention of the screenplay writer or the director, but its such a tragedy that no effort was made to keep the storyline a bit synchronous. There is also too much, what the tamil movie industry calls "BUILD UP" for Simbu. WHY?



Three people with the name Jeeva get introduced at various points during the first quarter of the movie and we get no clue of what these people are upto. Each one hates another - well this is also not known or rather unclear for sometime. Then there are some random fights - dont bother who gets involved in the fight. Its one of the Jeevas.

Who are the Jeevas - One of the Jeevas gets shot at by cop Jeeva. So we dont have to know who he is. The hero kidnaps the daughter of the cop Jeeva and threatens him. The hero is the next Jeeva.

Simbu as the hero in this movie is totally insane. He has completely lost his acting talent. He was much better in his previous movies. Take Kovil for example. He was quite a good actor. In this movie, all he does is, talks like a filthy idiot and acts like a clown. He sings as well - one song which translates as "little devil", he calls his lady love like that. I wonder who'd call their partner a devil. And this song is no different than the Yammaadi Aatthaadi song in Vallavan. Same tune. If the music director is different, then you know who copied.

Vedhika as the lady in the lead just hangs around with skimpy clothing. I am 100 percent confident that other directors will think twice before signing her for the next movie. She can be the item number queen for 2008. With a hip size of less than 26, trying to look like Yana Gupta in certain angles/positions, and with no acting skills, she can best fit the one song category of girls.



The director is Tarun Gopi. And apparently, he is the director for the Vishal damager movie Thimiru. See similarities now? Hero comes to city from a village. A woman is the gang leader for the thugs.

Lal is the policeman, but totally doesnt look like one. He sports a stubble almost throughout the movie, looks are umkempt. Absolutely pathetic.

Sangeetha is definitely sexy. Although she kinda plays the god-mother role, her part pouty lips attract your attention.

The best part of the movie is the end, where Simbu is blocked by 10 people who dont want him to kill the villain. Simbu struggles fiercely and then comes the comparison with a raging bull during the traditional "jallikattu*". His feet prod into the ground and then we see the legs of the bull doing the same. Then we see an angry face trying to break free. Next is the bull furiously shaking its head.

Until this scene in the movie, I never understood why the movie was Kaalai. The director made his punch finally.

*jallikattu - similar to the bull-fighting in spain. happens in tamil nadu villages.