Onaayum Aattukuttiyum - probably the best thriller ever, from India!

Onaayum Aattukuttiyum by Misskin - Tamil 2013

Within an hour or so, I was sure that I was watching arguably the best thriller from Indian cinema. By the end of it, I thought there was no other Indian movie, that could be compared with OA. If any one thinks there is one, let me know please. However, OA is not just a thrilling movie. There are multi layers to it, that elevates the movie to an even higher level than a brilliant thriller.

I didnt know at all that Mysskin was releasing a new movie. My last experience with him, after the brilliant Yudham Sei, was a terrible disappointment. I could not believe somebody like Mysskin would go for a commerical potboiler like Mughamoodi. But the posters of OA sparked my interest right away, the design and the name - Onaayum Aattukuttiyum (The Wolf and the Lamb) was so appealing that I decided to watch it even before I saw the name of Mysskin in small fonts, under the title. There were hardly 20 people in the cinema and with the very first shot - a dark top angle view of an over bridge and an injured man running into the middle- I think the director impressed me. I am sure he had impressed almost every body inside.

Chandru, a medical student, finds an injured man by the road side, late at night. He tries hard to get help for the man, but hey this is India. Hospitals, Police they all have their own ways. Finally he has to use his own surgical knife, with the help of his teacher (over phone). What follows for Chandru is a day and (majorly) a long night of life inspiring/changing incidents. 

There are only a few main characters, and many supporting ones. But even the supporting extra characters impress, each one of them, is not a small feat. The movie proceeds from one dark side of the city to the other to the final Cemetry, and the viewer is more than engaged, inspite of having no idea about the story behind 'Wolf'. The thrilling thread is brilliantly woven to keep the viewer engaged. But the identity of some indivduals joining in different moments, stretching the suspense, can make us wonder -  what the hell is happening!!! In that brilliant Cemetery scene, when a fable is told, finally we get the picture. I thought that was a master stroke by Mysskin. Have we ever witnessed anything like this in Indian cinema, when the great Indian technique of 'flash back' is ignored and a kind of short bed time story is narrated out to explain, the events. Among the many scenes, which will make you want to salute Misskin, this story telling moment is one of the best.

The thrilling scene in front of a temple involving the blind mother, the one after that which involves the two police men, the scene in which a police officer speaks out, the final basement ... there are so many superb scenes. In fact more than 90% of the scenes are superb by themselves. I am wondering, if  Mysskin wrote the script for OA , as if he was scripting Theatre. The scenes shift from one part of the city to the other and the events and the story slowly unfolds in these different venues. I don't think (not sure), if any of the venue comes back in the script. As the venues change, we can also feel that the movie is going up from one level to other, to a level superior in quality and feel to the previous one. Incredible it was. I am afraid, I am not explaining it well enough.

Brilliant performances by every one in the movie, may I say. That is quite abnormal for Indian cinema. Mysskin has managed to make Camera and Background music two characters by itself. Especially the BGM  by Ialaiyaraja will get a lot of reviews. I am not saying OA is a perfect movie. There are few glitches here and there and the one which stood out for me was the performance of Mysskin during the story narration. A bit more subtlety might have made it even brilliant At the same, this is not a polished character, so... But no compliants, Mysskin is definitely the man here. He has scripted, directed and acted in one of the most important roles too. What a make over as an actor, from Nandalala to OA. And an even higher leap to a high quality director.

Mysskin deserves a place among the best directors from India. Friends, we have a man who can make our own movies, in a level even better than what you expect from the ones like Tarantino (I dont like most Tarantino movies).  This movie, if marketed well, can make India proud internationally. Of course, one might think about some of those Korean revenge sagas, but thats it, OA is quite a different kind of Indian saga from Tamil.

Salutes to Tamil Cinema - 'Paradesi' & 'Haridas'

I am not a good or average or even a poor writer. I am terrible in writing. Knowing this, it is even more difficult for me to find time to comment on the movies I watch. I keep on watching lots of movies and there were more than a few movies like Les Apolonides - Souvenirs de la maison close, Amour, La Source de Femmes, Rundskop, Vazhakkau 18/9, Marina, Manjaadikkuru,  Annayum Rasoolum, Aarohanam, Aaranya Kaandam, Kaadhalil Sodhappuvadu Eppadi, Ammavin Kaipesi, Neerparavai, Where do we go now and many others, watching which, I felt, I should I write something about. I even wanted to write about some Barcelona matches, but I couldn't. The next movie came soon and I moved on. However, two Tamil movies in about 12 hours - Paradesi first, followed by Haridas, I cant help screaming out my appreciation for the Tamil cinema industry.

It is incredible that they (Tamil industry) release an excellent parallel movie every month, one after other, and many of them even manage to earn something out of the box office. So salutes not just to the makers of these movies, but also to the general Tamil cinema viewers, who are looked down as stupid viewers across India. Isn't it a paradox that these most looked down cinema viewers also manage to watch the best parallel movies of modern Indian cinema, in the cinema house. It is actually funny that 99% of these Tamil movies are not even attempted to release in Kerala, the state whose viewers pride themselves as the most literate and profound movie goers of India.

Paradesi is from Bala. I think it is time Indian media celebrates this director, instead of celebrating the Tarantinos and the Speilbergs and even our own Mani Ratnam.

The very next day of joining my first job, I was send to escort a tourist group and arrived in Munnar. For few years that followed, I was always connected to Munnar through work. I trekked every where, knew a lot of people - those working in Forests and in Tea Estates, and was proud to tell my Kochi friends how I knew the region like the palm of my hand. But never, never I had thought about the origin of these Tea Estates, even if my job involved explaining about Tea to my clients. Bala just slapped on my face with Paradesi. 

Bala take us back to the pre independence period. It is easy to say that British set up all these. But the whole labour came from the terribly poor Indians. They were bonded labours, in fact, brought from distant lands with promises of a bright future, but caged in like slaves in the Tea estates, with no way out. The end of the movie is like blocking down any ray of hope for escape.

The forefathers and mothers of all the Tamilians working in these Tea regions, may it be Ooty or Munnar or Meghamalai or Nuwara Eliya, they require some monuments in these present day tourist destinations. That is the least to ask. Thank you Bala for this movie, which is nothing less than a master piece. The shot of the rising palm, of a dying man, for the half time is arguably the most touching shot in Indian cinema.

Haridas is from GNR Kumaravelan, whose previous movies were , just that, some movies. But the man will make you stand up and applaud at the end of this one.  This is a movie with a strong message and it is so beautifully told. A policeman, single father, trying to understand and bring up his Autistic boy. 

He has mixed the official and personal life of the man in a brilliant way to give us thrill and emotion. I felt tears rolling down my cheek on more than a couple of occassions. But towards the end, it gives us as much of hope as the tears and that is wonderful. I think Haridas needs to be dubbed into every Indian language, for it has a great message, that a vast majority of our parents need to be aware about. And to propagate such a message, through such a wonderful 2 1/2 hour ride is simply brilliant. If Haridas was released in India as a Hollywood / Bollywood movie, I am sure it would have got lot of space in our media. But believe me, it is even better than many Hollywood feel goods. I can recall how Indian media was raving about Taare Zameen Par, couple of years back. Haridas is 10 times better than Taare Zameen Par.

So that's it, two completely different movies, and I found both of them unique.

If, any unfortunate soul reading this post, is planning to watch Paradesi and Haridas, let me warn you, Paradesi is dark. There is no entertainment at all, there are some songs though, one might even find it too slow, nor does it offer any picturesque views of the present day destinations. Just stark reality of suffering. Haridas, as well, does not offer any entertainment, the scene of the first day in Sneha's(teacher of Haridas) class is incredibly funny though. Probably you will feel some tension and emotion at many parts, but it does give you some hope. Both may not be cinematically perfect for the purist, and could have been better in some aspects (I found the back ground score of both movies not up there, along with some other aspects which I am happy to ignore) but one is definitely a master piece on an era and the other is the best father - son relationship we have seen in Indian cinema.

So that is it, two movies, one takes you to some hopeless people in a different era and the other is just about hope. My hearty and humble salutes to Tamil cinema.

Rajapattai

2011 by Suseenthiran - Tamil movie

A director give us movies like Naan Mahaan Allai and Vennila Kabadi kkuzhu and a master piece like Azhagar Saamiyin Kuthirai. When the same director is making a real entertainer, you would expect him to better or at least match Naan Mahaan Allai. But..

Rajapattai ends up as a typical Tamil entertainer which is just meant to give some fun, songs and action. An out and out masala movie for the masses.

Just because of the director, we wish, at least it could have been a different fare, but unfortunately it isn't. What a pity.

The only saving grace of this movie is the show by Vikram. Whatever role he may be doing, Vikram is cent percent sincere to it, that is quite obvious. He just performs for the masses here. I can understand that Vikram wanted a pure entertainer after Daivathirumakal, but at least he could have planned on bettering his best entertainer to date, Dhool. Unfortunately it is nowhere near Dhool or even Saami or Dhil. Just an ordinary No brainer. 

Poraali

2011 by Samuthirakani- Tamil movie

I heard couple of opinions, read few reviews before going for this movie and all were not that positive. Nobody said it was a bad movie, but they all seemed to say this is not what we expected from Samuthirakani who made a brilliant movie in Nadodigal. Only one reviewer mentioned that it is actually nice, but it looks a bit more like a typical entertainer, with a funny first half and an action packed second half, which is quite routine stuff for entertainers.

So may be I didnt expect that much as I walked into the movie hall. And it is true, the first half is quite typical of ordinary entertainers with super star heroes, inspite of its wonderful opening scene. A very good hero who is an ideal man and bla bla. And there is a bus station song too to cherry it up. But except for that song and some comic scenes, I thought there was still a lot of excellence in the first half, for the way it was shot. Not exactly routine entertainment stuff. And all the characters we are introduced in here, are really wonderful.

But what was shocking was the second half, which was a brilliant action packed thriller. Except for the very final scene, the anti climax, this was a true master class of a thriller (I would have liked a different climax too). Most of this second half is 'flash back' of the main characters which involves some really brilliant scenes. So nicely planned, executed, shot and edited with brilliant support from the acting crew. I was really on the edge of the seat for most of these scenes. Thrilling action it was. Brilliant performance by Sasikumar and his friends. And the show stealer was a female character, the village girl Maari who is brave like a warrior princess, brilliantly played by Vasundhara. What a great show by this young actress. Just only a couple of scenes, but she will stay in the minds of every body walking out of the theatre.

If only the movie was told in a very straight forward fashion, then it would have looked quite different (as against the complainers that the first half is fun and second half is for action). But then, this would have been very different. I liked it as it is, even if both the halves are so much different. If only the first half was more short, without that first song and some comic scenes, and the climax was a little bit more planned and different, this would have been a brilliant classic entertainer. That is true, for all its thrilling second half, the climax lacks some real punch.

Samuthirakani is really an excellent director. He manages without any hero-heroine duets or item numbers, but it is perplexing why he went for the initial bus stand song. And he deserves a salute to shoot all those action scenes so nicely and to get such a brilliant performance from almost all his actors. He also manage to get couple of messages across through this entertainer, which has a routine theme, but told in a very different way. 

Mayakkam Enna

2011 by Selvaraghavan - Tamil movie

Selvaraghavan, with his story for Thulluvatho Ilamai, can boast about being one of the fore runners in leading Tamil movies to its new wave films of today. It was in this movie that his brother Dhanush was introduced as a teenage hero. Later he directed Dhanush in the path breaking cult movie Kaadhal Kondein. After few years he is now teaming up with Dhanush again and I am sure their parents will be very proud of them. As a movie, this is not as great as Aadukalam. But Dhanush's performance in Mayakkam Enna, I believe, is even better than in Aadukalam. M E, is still a very different entertainer from a Tamil pop movie team, which has the subtleties that we would expect only from art films and can be rightly called a parallel movie.

A budding photographer, who owes his life to his rich friends and parents, has great aspirations for his future. He finds that there is some kind of a feeling between him and his friends girlfriend. 

With just the above plot line, ME would hold good as an ordinary romantic comedy. But it is not. Romance makes only half of the movie and there is more to it, I mean the life after marriage which is affected because of the heroes dreams, makes the other half of the movie. I will not call it a romantic comedy. It is about the life of a young man and more surprisingly about his wife too. Very seldom does this happen in India. The heroine in ME is anything than what we would expect from a typical Indian heroine. Especially in the second half, that is when the movie looks at the tough side of life, the heroine is even more important than the hero. The last time something like this occured, if my memory serves right, was in another Tamil movie, Mirugam, which had brilliant performances by Padmapriya.

The hero in ME, is anything but a hero. He is just an ordinary man with some talent in Photography. He behaves quite ordinarily throughout the movie. He does not have any fights to do, nor does he even slap any one. In fact it is the heroine who slaps the hero, more than once, with no reaction from the hero. How often we see something like that in an Indian movie. Even when there is an occassion for the hero to react macho, our hero just behaves like an ordinary guy who is unable to get angry or harm any one. But the heroine for all that matter is really strong. She even have only few scenes wherein we find her smiling. Especially in the second half, there are hardly any smiles from the heroine and she is just a powerful woman who takes care of her husband. I am surprised that Tamil cinema managed to give yet another strong heroine, immediately after the role of Anjaly in Engeyum Eppothum.

The movie is shot realistically. Almost 90% of the scenes have a subtle feel about it, which is commendable. Add to it the factor that the director treats the subject with a preconception that his audience is intelligent. This is not a movie meant for multiplex audiences. A Dhanush movie can never be one. The makers needs to be praised to do it this way hoping the audience will understand what they meant, even if it is subtle and intelligently told. It has come out good and it will only do good for the future of Tamil cinema. How this act saves the movie is by avoiding lot of unwanted explanations and dialogues. In fact they have understood and treated it as a clear visual medium and many important facts are just conveyed through visuals alone. Brilliant it was.

Few other brilliant factors, were the performance of Dhanush and the new heroine, Richa, brilliant cinematography, background scores and the settings. Some moments, like the one in which Dhanush begs to a great photographer to be an assistant, when he is struck by the beauty of nature and forgets to take his shot, when he realises that his best comes out when he works with available light with people and nature and not in studios and all were really brilliant.

However, the movie is not fault free. For all the brilliance, the climax of the story was not that great. I do not mean the final schot, wich was excellent, but the final turn of events. It was only at this point that movie went for routine. The director could have sticked with his subtle treatment through out, instead of losing it in some points. And no excuses at all for using the video and photographs of African Elephants, when the locations meant were Indian. And above all, the way the senior photographer treats the hero is quite stupid. Of course a senior photographer can use the photographs of a budding photographer and take the name, but in my experience I have never seen a senior still photographer behaving rudly with anyone approaching them. This is one good thing I found about Still Photography. Any photographer is normally glad to look at the efforts of budding photographers and to discuss with  them about the subject. Even if they are not glad, they never behave rude. I have met many senior photographers and even when they were terribly busy they were nice and attentive. And even if I never became a big photographer, I was also receptive to anybody who came to me to talk about photography, later when I was seriously into it. So this character of the senior photographer was a bit over done. Anyways, what do I know, may be there is somebody like that.

I was really glad to watch this movie and will be glad to watch it again, even if I did not like the way it ended. I could easily connect with the hero too as I had gone through few moments like his character in my own photographic days. I was not comfortable with flash and indoor systems and always opted for available light. I also felt hurt when my photographs were used by few, may be its many not few, without any knowledge of mine and without any acknowledgements. Anyways.

Finally about the crowd in the theatre. It was embarassing the way the Malayaalee youth behaved inside the theatre. Sure, they might have expected a typical Tamil entertainer, but it was not. That does not mean they should behave in a way, which make watching movies a tedious procedure for anybody in the theatre. What a pity? I felt like killing those people, who were abusing and shouting inside the theatre.

Nandalala

2010 by Misskin - Tamil movie

When my Tamil friends told me about this movie, I wanted to watch it right away. Misskin had already proved as a different director. And when they mentioned Mysskin proves that he is a director from another level, it was so tempting. But then, as always the best Tamil movies never make it to Kerala. Only the ultra popular ones or the ones starring the big super stars will release in Kerala. There are still lot of extra ordinary Tamil  movies which have never seen Kerala theatres. Thenmerkku Paruvakaatru, Aranya Kandam and recently Azhagar Saamiyin Kuthirai all had the same fate. So finally when I got the Nandalala dvd, I was really happy. But I was quite, positively, shocked by the movie.

The first two movies by Misskin, though different, were still made out on the entertainment format. Though I was warned this one was different, I never expected Nandalala to be a real cinematic experience.

Within a few minutes we are sure that Mysskin is inspired by Kikujiro, the lovely Japaneese movie. However, Mysskin has made a lot of additions giving it a real Tamil feel, he has kept some elements from the original script though.

So Nandalala has two souls travelling in search of their mother, one the child and the other an adult, but mentally destabilised. It is their journey, meeting many others, good and bad people enroute their destination.

I am sure those who look down at Tamil cinema would immediately scream, oh this is just an inspiration. But the elements added by Misskin are as powerful as the original characters. And that is why I would say this is an exceptional movie. We could still watch it like some of those Italian movies. There is a lot to laugh and cry with the two main characters here.

The cinematography of this movie is truly brilliant. May be the best I have seen in any Indian movies in a long time. Everybody interested in motion photography, I would say, must watch this. There are lots and lots of brilliant mid range shots, all seems to have shot using a normal lens. Mid range shots are almost extinct in Indian cinema, sure this is a bit exaggeration. But here we get to to see a classic work.

Tamil people must be very proud about this movie. Here in Kerala, inspite of knowing that Pranayam is inspired by Innocense, people still seem to praise it like anything. So why not give credit to Nandalala too. At least Mysskin has made a much better movie than Blessy.

Velayudham

2011 by Jayam Raja - Tamil movie

Rajnikanth, I believe, is the ultimate mass hero from India. Which other contemporary Indian hero can ensure full  houses in cinemas as far as Japan and Russia. Within India itself, I havent seen any kind of mass hysteria related to one single super star, that can surpass Rajni's. Though his recent movies tries in someways to be different from the previous release, in the 80's and 90's all Rajni movie had a typical format. All over India, many other actors seems to have tried to replicate it, but I dont think anybody was as consistent as Rajni. Vijay, I believe, would be the Rajni of the future. It is told that many new-wave Tamil directors have approached Vijay with their different scripts, but Vijay was not interested. He always want to stick to his entertainment formula of comedy+love+family sentiments+songs+action, based on no brainer scripts. He still gave some of the best entertainers (Thullaatha Manavum Thullum, Kushi, Gilli, Pokkiri) in the last decade, which were not run of the mill no brainer stuff. For a couple of years, Vijay did not manage any big hits and there were news that he will now try to do different kind of movies. Velayudham is the first movie since, but it is an absolute no brainer actually.

Here again, the movie has a made up role fit to produce a super hero on a no questions asked story. Love, family, comedy and action all can fit in. Considering the fate of his past movies, Villu and Kuruvi, Vijay is brave to come back with yet another one. But there is some difference here between those stupid movies.In spite of all the pot holes and disadvantages, Velayudham is a good entertainer, if one is not bothered about other things.

Velayudham, if we keep our brains outside, is sheer entertainment and the credit should go to the director for sure. In fact, many comedy scenes are not anywhere close to the typical hilarious scenes of Vijay hits. Nor are the songs or dance sequences. But the movie still manages to keep an interest and entertains. Sure, this movie is not for the educated and thinking Indians. It is definitely aimed for those majority poor who wants some fun at the end of a hard day and sure they are entertained.

And Vijay is simply nice. This is definitely not his best entertainer. But his charm is too good to be ignored and  together with an understanding director, he pulls off a successful entertainer in Velayudham.

An out and out Vijay movie for the mass. I am happy Velayudham seems to be the biggest hit in South India, among the Dipawali releases. But how I wish Vijay will do at least one different movie in a year. Here is a man with talent, who chose not to use it for the sake of the ordinary people. 

7 aam Arivu

2011 by A R Murugadoss - Tamil movie

Murugadoss made a dream debut in Tamil with his Ghajini. He carried this success to Bollywood too remaking the same movie, and even bettering it by improving the original climax. I thought that was a very good gesture from his side, recognising mistakes and improving. Ghajini, of course was inspired by Memento. It is sure that Murugadoss is a fan of Hollywood and he gains lots of inspirations from the west. It is normal for people to expect a lot when this talented director joins his favourite star actor, Surya, again. This time, it is not possible to say that Murugadoss is directly inspired by any single movie, to my knowledge. But he has sure understood the Hollywood mantra of fear and disaster.

If this movie came in without the first 20 or 25 minutes, when movie dates back to many centuries, it would have still passed out as an average Indian entertainer, which have tried out the above Hollywood mantras. Here Murugadoss have picked up a kind of virus induced fever, which had its origin before 1600 years, to create the fear factor. And just like in Hollywood, he has picked a villain from a different country. Obviously China is a good choice, as there are heated debates as to whether China could be a real friend or if we should treat them as an enemy. I really felt Murugadoss did a Hollywood here and he does just ok. The plot is not quite strong and sounds bit silly too.

But it is the first 20 or 25 minutes which makes and kills this movie. These first minutes, are truly brilliant. It is in this part we are taken back to 1600 years, when Bodhi Dharma travels from India to China. Each and every single frame in this part is truly brilliant. I felt proud watching those scenes to be frank.
And in the negative, these 20 minutes gives us a very big hope that this movie is going to be a truly brilliant one. Unfortunately not. Even if the movie was released only with the first 20 minutes, as a short film, it would have been excellent.

When the movie comes back to the contemporary period, as mentioned earlier, it tends to be just ordinary. Lots of songs, at least couple of them are completely unnecessary, typical scenes which are reminiscent of similar Hollywood and Indian attempts and what not.

But even in between, there are some exceptional factors:

The Chinese villain, who has this ability to control the mind of others is one of those. As somebody wrote, A Hero can be as great as the villain only. So here Murugadoss has created an exceptional villain. And the Chinese actor who did this role is brillaint too.

An action scene, when the villain makes many motorists to try and kill the hero and heroine, I would say is the second highlight of the movie. I dont even know how long this scene was, as it was so nicely executed. A scene which will guarantee adrenaline rush. Brilliant.

There are so many moments, scattered through out the movie, which let us have a peak at the talents of Murugadoss. With a very good script, this director can do wonders. I really liked the way in which how he showed the killings done by the Villain, without showing anything at all.

The performance of Surya. It is like a multiple role for Surya and what an actor he is. His charm is incredible and he really can act. Both as Bodhi Dharman and Arvind, he was brilliant.

A scene where the heroine argues for Tamil language. I think, this could have been scripted and shot better, but the message clearly comes out. It was still a very good attempt.

It is a pity that this movie turned out this way, as an ordinary entertainer. Blame the brilliance of the beginning scenes may be, or blame the script and director for not thinking and planning over time.

I hope Shahrukh Khan watch this movie. There is so much for him to learn from it, may it be acting or execution or characterisation or what not. I think, Amir Khan might definitely want to remake this movie.

Potta Potti

2011 by Yuvraj - Tamil movie

To my knowledge, Lagaan was the first Indian movie based on sports. I remember watching a movie in Doordarshan decades back, which had Deepti Naval as a teacher, with Football in it but if I remember well, Football was not the major theme in that. Following Lagaan, there was Chennai600028 and Chak De. Lagaan is my favourite of course, but of all these three movies Chennai - 8 was the real difference. That was quite a different effort which clicked impeccably. The climax simply was too brilliant and funny too. Sure, I would agree with those who would to like to believe that Chennai -8 or Chak De would have never happened if not for Lagaan. And now there is a new director using Cricket again. What more, he even uses a former Indian cricketer, Sadagopan Ramesh, as his hero. But Cricket is not the main character here, even if the movie ends with a match.

A typical Tamil village. Two cousins are vying to marry Ranjitha, who owns almost the whole village. When there is no way out, Ranjitha agrees to marry the cousin who will win a cricket match. There is nobody in the village who has any clue about cricket. One cousin kidnaps Ramesh, who was just driving through, to coach his team. The other is helped at first by a fake coach and later by a professional. 

Sincerely, there are no pretexts here. The whole aim of the movie is to provide some fun. But the film has done it in a simple and genuine way. Casting is simply brilliant. Kodaivannan, one of the cousins, who is always dressed in a bloody funny way and with his typical ordinary looks (I doubt if he will be offered such a role in any other Indian language movie) is a real master act in casting. The director picked his own assistant director, R Sivan, for the role when he could not find anybody for the role. And he was absolutely brilliant. And each and every actor, except the heroine may be, is a perfect cast who did their jobs to the best. And it is a really beautiful performance by S Ramesh. I really hope he will get more roles. He sure can act and he does have a flair for comedy too.

PP is full of hilarious moments, sometimes too simple and sometimes really too good. The movie lose its pace a little bit in the second half. And it is sure that the director didnt care much to shoot the cricket match in its glory. It is the build up to the match which was important through which he has created the fun. I just felt that if he had put in more effort and care, PP would have been a brilliant movie. Some changes here and there in the script and the movie could have been a master piece entertainer. Glad that it still was a success.

I would like to congratulate the Tamil moviegoers who make sure that such small movies get some respect in the box office. This is definitely what prompts more and more young directors to come up with different themes in Tamil. 

Veppam

2011 by Anjana - Tamil movie

Most prominent Malayalam movie directors can be seen down playing the success of Tamil movies. I can understand their worry, when even female directors from Tamil are able to make better movies, how can they not down play the success of their neighbours.

Two brothers are nearly orphaned at a very young age and is been taken care of by a foster father. The elder brother works hard for his younger and also the daughter of the foster father. The younger brother also has a very close friend, who desperately wants to save a girl from a brothel. For this he gets into a drug deal and just for the sake of the friend, the younger brother is with him. Nothing works as they planned. 

Mostly the story is quite routine, but is really nice how this old story is changed for the modern times. In fact the script has so many issues tangled in like a web. The fate of a brother who unknowingly kills his mother, who lives for his brother, the friendship between the two friends and the girl, a father who works as a pimp in the same neighbourhood but is kept away by the elder brother, a lady local thug running the drug deals, the friends relation with a brothel girl. I liked very much how the script was able to hold all these together.

And the director, Anjana, has done a very good job too. She has not tried to go over board actually, has kept a kind of overt subtlety to every thing around, and there is a kind of realism every where. And through that very first shot and the end one, I would say, she really had given a real female version for a puzzle in the script, which would have normally been a different matter with other directors. She could have still done without one or two of those songs though.

Climax was really nice, except that it looked like both the brothers had pre planned what to do with their father.

Performances from all actors were brilliant, and so was the cinematography. I was especially impressed by Karthik Kumar,  who is so used to play a brilliant rich/middle class boy. What a difference from the typical stuff.

I am ready to wait for the next movie from Anjana. 

Engeyum Eppothum

2011 by Saravanan - Tamil movie

A friend of mine, a movie buff as much as myselves, is a typical Keralite in the fact that he looks down upon Tamil. He called me after the very first show of Indian Rupee, hailing the revival of Malayalam cinema with yet another great movie with a message and what not. He is interesting because he is typical of the average Malayaalee attitude towards Tamil cinema. He has seen each and every Malayalam movie but he would not do that with Tamil, inspite of boasting as a movie buff. Like most other Malayaalees, he has a specific criteria to decide which Tamil movie to watch. Either it has to be associated with Kamal haassan or Mani ratnam or it should be a Rajnikanth movie (obviously only to laugh and look down upon) or some of the big movies starred by Vijay or Surya, again to just insult these  hard core entertainers as stupid. And recently he has also included Gautham Menon to the list of Kamal and Ratnam. He would not have seen Aadukalam or Mirugam or Angaaditheru and many others if not for my insistence. And he has clear pre conceived notions about the quality of Tamil movies that he is happy to not watch them and still criticize them. And even when he watch  a movie like Aadukalam or Kalloori he simply only wants to nit pick or will say that all these Tamil new age directors are inspired by the 80's Malayalam. He is yet to watch Engeyum Eppodhum and I doubt he will. I had love to know his comments on this one though. I am sure he will be jealous. It is unbelievable that Tamil cinema manages to bring in new directors, one after another, who are all coming out with an incredibly brilliant debut. Saravanan, doesnt have a single dialogue in this movie about his message, but by the end of the movie the message is quite clear with immediate impact. Ranjith can take a point or two from this director on how to get a message across without lengthy dialogues.

One bus going from Trichy to Chennai and a second going from Chennai to Trichy crash each other.

India can top the list of countries infamous for rave driving. And the message in this movie is just that. But just showing an accident cannot make an Indian movie. So Saravanan creates four adorable characters and shows their moments prior to the bus ride, nicely entwined with the bus ride. The result is a nice love story of two couples, ending up on a fatal bus ride.

There are four brilliant characters here, Amudha and Gautham form one pair who met in Chennai. Manimegalai and Kadhiresan form the second pair who meets in Trichy. I cant help rave  about these characters, especially the female characters. Amudha is a typical Indian girl, naive and scared about strangers just like any small town girl arriving into a metro city. Manimegalai is what makes this movie very special. How did Indian cinema had the guts to portray such a female character. A really brilliant female role. I simply wish we will have more writers making characters like Manimegalai, that it can even prompt more ordinary girls to be bold and get out of their silly and helpless image. I salute the man behind this character. Absolutely brilliant and necessary. Some of her acts, like the blood test, is what our women should follow when they are thinking about finding a life partner. I sincerely hope, may be I am being naive here, more and more girls watch this movie and take a cue from Manimegalai rather than Amudha. Amudha is typical of our ordinary girls and this should be our past. Manimegalai should be our future.

The kind of simple and effective humour which accompanies the relationship of these couples is so refreshing and brilliant. If not for the occassional splashing of the accident scenes, we would completely forget that this movie is about a road accident. Yes, there is no surprise about these accident and what is going to happen with the hapless passengers. Inspite of that, it keeps us engaged is not a small feat.

At least some might find the emotional scenes a bit over board, but I am afraid it isnt. Tamil culture is overtly expressional and I found all those scenes quite allright. The director just stuck to the normal ways of his people, rather than making something to please the film festival audiences.

I sincerely salute the makers of this movie. A brilliant movie with a needy message. All the more the character of Manimegalai is definitely the need of the hour, when more and more girls are easily cheated in the modern day gadget world. Manimegalai is what our girl should emulate, rather than being naive like Amudha.

Excellent performances by the 4 leading actors, Jai, Sarva, Anjali and Ananya. Ananya gives us lots and lots of laughter in the beginning and the others too. But I would give my award for Anjali. Her 'I love you' is the best in dialogue delivery in the recent times, for me.

I am really really happy about this movie and wish everybody will watch it, especially our girls and women. Often movies and characters have a direct effect on the ways of our youth. I sincerely hope Manimegalai will influence our young girls.

Well, I cannot help think about Kalloori now. There is a strange similarity in both these movies is a glitch though. 

Force

2011 by Nishikant Kamat - Hindi movie

Kaakka Kaakka, for me, together with Drohkaal, is the best Police movie from India. It was an absolutely brilliant movie from the entertainment sectors of Tamil movies, which was like a trend setter. Never before had a hero of few worlds felt so superb and macho like Surya as Anpuchelvan IPS. I saw that movie about 4 times in theatres itself and so many times on a dvd. I still remember the reaction of a girl from New York, who looked shocked by the unexpected sheer quality of machoist heroism from an Indian regional language movie. For her the stupidity of Bollywood was all what meant till then. When I knew that Force was inspired by KK, I was sure that would be pathetic. I would not have seen it, if not for a review here which mentioned it was allright with some plus's. Well....

Once the movie was over, I tried to think as if I had never seen KK and if I would like Force then. Well, I would have found it slightly ok movie, compared to routine Bollywood. Thats all. Because all those typical things which makes Bollywood bohring is still very much there in Force. This inspite of having a director who gave two nice movies in Dombivali Fast and Mumbai Meri Jaan. It is as if, Bollywood simply cannot look at things in a simple and ordinary way. Most things has to be told in an over board or exaggerated way. Quite frankly, an Autorickshaw in an Indian regional movie will change to a luxury car in Bollywood. like wise. ...anyways lets forget about such things but still. Anybody who is not clear about the meaning of Overboard, only just have to watch KK and Force and it would be perfectly clear, I guess.

It is nice to see that the title credits KK as the inspiration for the movie. But therein, lots of changes has been made into the scenes and structures. These changes only makes the script a typical Bollywood one, if not for the basic plot. I could not find a single aspect which was bettered from the original, except for the production values. At least when Ghajini was remade into Hindi, the ordinary climax in Tamil was changed to a better one, which turned out to be the only betterment from the original.

The hallmark of KK, was its machoism (with some very cute romantic interludes). A kind of hero whom we would love to be a fan of. Almost all the scenes of Surya in KK, had a very specific impact, which was brilliantly managed by the actor, director, camera man and editor, an impact which would make the viewer immediately worship and believe in the hero. That team work is missing here and add to it the lack of acting powers, it looks horrible. Of course, I never expected John Abraham to overtake Surya with his acting, but he just ends up as a good looking chocolate guy. The only two actors who looked good in their roles were Mohnish Behl and Vidyut Jamval. The latter especially would look perfect, for anyone who has not watched KK.

So many of those thrilling scenes from KK, has been recreated here without its real charm, may it be the attack by the villain at the ACP's residence or the ACP facing the acid test of the bad guys or even simply that scene towards the end when the ACP walks out of the hospital. In KK, this last scene, when the ACP pulls  his shirt and walks out of the hospital, it was so brilliant and heroic and one reason for the success of that scene was the team work between the actor, director, camera and editor. Here this looked absolutely horrible. Anyways, thats the case with many other scenes too, including the ones between ACP and his girl. Even the charm of Genelia cant help it out. Inspite of being an out and out action movie, KK also had brilliant music, which was so nicely picturised too. The same music director works here too, but the result is really poor.

I simply do not understand why movies had to be remade after all, in India. Will it not be better to show the same movie, dubbed or with subtitles. At least, that could help in little ways to bring our different states and its people together. May be..

Vedi

2011 by Prabhu Deva - Tamil movie

How can a director who made a movie like Pokkiri, a wonderfully entertaining entertainer, stoop so low. This level is so abysmal considering the fact that Prabhu Deva knows something about the movie world from his very childhood.

A run of the mill entertainment story with a hero, heroine, sister, police and villain.

This is just old wine in old bottle, just the label designed with new elements though. It looks stupid even than some of the 90's movies.

I simply do not understand what this movie will do for the career graph of Vishal or Prabhu Deva.
At least, just like it happened with Engeyum Kadhal, at least I expected some nicely shot song sequences. But Prabhu Deva disappoints us even in that segment. There is only one song - the 'right' number-  which is worth listening or watching too.

Absolute waste of time it was. 

Azhagarsaamiyin Kudhirai

2011 by Suseenthiran - Tamil movie

Almost always, Indian movies are not simple. They are too complicated mostly and even otherwise have too complex settings, lots of subplots around and the script will be packed with many elements which are like inevitable. This is true even for art house movies, not often though. Its only once in a while we get a simple movie like Adaminte Makan Abu. At the same time we can hear all our directors raving about the movies from Korea or Iran or Europe, which have this simple structure. But they will not try to make one, of course owing to various reasons. Simply, movie makers are scared about the financial feasibility for such projects. Our viewers prefer not to watch excellent movies in theatres. But almost for the past decade, we are witnessing a big change in mentality, in this aspect, with Tamil viewers. Many movies, which were experimental and not conforming to the 'safe' formula were produced in Tamil and the Tamil people welcomed them with both hands and heart. A good percentage of such ventures were a success in Tamil Nadu, I would say is one of the major reasons, why we are witnessing a big change with Tamil movie industry that many are calling as new age Tamil movies. On one hand they make their routine masala movies and on the other they experiment and it is heartening that in Tamil Nadu there is an audience, a percentage enough to ensure the movie is a success, for such parallel or experimental or nouveaux styled movies.

In a remote village near Theni, Azhagarsaami is the deity of the village. Every year during the temple festival, the idol of the deity is taken on a procession atop a wooden horse (Azhagarsaami's horse). Villagers are really affected by the lack of rain and they believe conducting a good festival would please their god who will shower rain on them. And then the wooden horse is found missing. They find a new Oracle (actually a priest), with special powers from Kerala and the man predicts they will get back the horse in 3 days. And they do find the horse, just that it is not the missing wooden horse, but a real one. A young man, from another village, arrives and claims ownership of the real horse. 

Let me be honest. I think, this movie can compete with many classics, from around the world, for its simplicity and genuineness. And it is an indigenous Indian movie too. A brilliant, simple, movie from India.

The movie is quite satirical actually and an element of fun runs throughout the movie, like an under ground river. Just that, the script and director has kept this element in a subtle way. Only if one really wants to nit pick for over board scenes, are there any. But with a little understand of Tamil culture, it is not over board any where.

Such a simple story, which has its brilliant moments. The name of the man coming in search for his horse also is Azhagarsaami, which is like a master stroke, wrapped in simplicity. So is his back ground and so is the reason behind the disappearance for the wooden horse. We can only watch this movie with a light smile through out, even with some really touching moments in between.  And there is a kind of goodness and innocense flowing through the whole story which is quite heartening.

There is a small action scene, which is absolutely brilliant and realistic.

A very interesting aspect is that there is not any main character here. Nobody is going to question about how characters develop or anything like that. Every body in the village is a character and we get to know them, just enough. The horse is everywhere, though. Once again, the movie proves that Tamil cinema has reached a different level in India, as far as casting is concerned. Brilliant. There are only two or three recognisable faces. I cant appreciate the director and the cameraman enough. Brilliant work.

Such a pity, no distributor in Kerala want to release this movie here as if they are sure about the outcome. Nor do I hear about any film festivals or cinema clubs screening this one. If it had arrived with an East European or Persian or East Asian tag, I am sure it would have gained much more appreciation, I am afraid. I wish really, the producers of this movie will promote it abroad. This is the kind of real Indian movie, which will prove to the outside world that India is not all about the Bollywood kind of movies. We too have our own genuine movies, which can interest any movie lover from anywhere in the world.

I know, since Lagaan, that lots of Indians are obsessed with the Oscar awards, as if it is the be all and end all of movie awards. If India really wish to get an award in the Oscars - for best foreign language movie - India should submit this kind of genuine efforts (Aadukalam is another good choice). Not those movies which type to ape other movie cultures. If we look at the awards, we always find that the award winning movie in this category looks always indegenous to that culture, politics apart. (The only movie which won an oscar was Mother India and the one which went close was Lagaan) Since Azhagarssamiyin Kuthirai does not have any politics behind, I believe it will be a good choice.

I do not care for the Oscars. I simply wish this movie is promoted, especially in the big film festivals, and the world realise that we too can make good beautiful movies.

Mankatha

2011 by Venkat Prabhu - Tamil movie

Mr. Prabhu made a dream debut in 2007 with Chennai 600028. I still consider that movie as having one of the very best climax in Indian cinema. I walk out of the theatre and couldnt stop laughing. Just turned back and found that it was not just me, everybody walking out of the hall was still laughing out. Chennai - 8 was a very different movie, one of the path breakers in Tamil new age movies with its brilliant casting. He followed it up with Saroja and Goa which were also different and successful, especially the former. On hearing that his new movie was going to be a big budget movie with a big super star, two actually, in the lead, I was disappointed, especially because one of the stars was Ajith. Ajith was one of my favourites with his performances in Aasai, Pavithra and Vaali. But there after I think he looked really poor with his movies. He impressed with his physical transformation in one movie (I think it was Godfather) but as an actor and star didnt have a good movie for long time. Inspite of that he remains one of the largest crowd pullers in Tamil cinema and with Mankatha, I am sure Ajith is making a brilliant come back.

There is lot of black money doing the rounds in India, connected with Cricket and illegal betting. Vinayak is a corrupted police officer, currently serving suspension, in Mumbai. Chettiyar is one of the mafia dons who is linked to the betting money. When Rs 500 crores is taken to Mumbai for the IPL Cricket finals, Chettiyar plans its routing. Vinayak makes his plans to steal this. Four young guys has plans too. There is also a special squad, appointed by the Govt. of India who is tracing the illegal bettors. 

To be frank, for me, this movie is may be the best heist movie from India. Whenever we have had movies on similar topics, they always had disappointed. Mankatha is not a classic, nor is it a 100% genuine movie. It has elements which has been inspired by many movies, like the hacking of the traffic lights from The Italian Job, to shades of the character of Heath Ledger from Dark Knight and some other inspirations. But all together it is still an excellent entertainment package. I am not saying it is all brilliant in that front. There are stupid elements and logical issues in the script. But Venkat Prabhu has done an excellent job that we would ignore such things and would enjoy our time in the theatre. Had it been a bit shorter, it would have been much better.

Mr. Prabhu, does not believe that there are any good elements in our police department. This, like in Saroja, is quite clear in this one as well. And including the final surprise, there are lots and lots of twists and surprises, but he manages to hold them well and keep us really involved. To be frank, we could guess some of them, but I would rather applaud the director for the way he has treated it and made it a nice entertainer. There are some moments, when his brilliance is quite evident and some, when we would think he could have been a bit more careful. But still, I enjoyed watching this and I might watch it again. Especially because of Ajith.

It has been long since I really liked Ajith in a movie. And what a performance this has been. From his very first scene to the end, Ajith has played it brilliantly. Acting wise, there is hardly any moment when he disappoints and there are some moments where he was surprisingly brilliant. And above all his charm was brilliant. With his grey hair and the way he conducted himself, I would like to compare him to George Clooney actually. This is definitely the best performance of Ajith and it is indeed note worthy that he made it through a character with dark shades and is almost like a villain for most parts. I much appreciate that he chose to do this role, inspite of having scenes in which he ditches his love without any haste. Normally when our heroes does dark characters, some elements are still kept intact, to endear the anti hero to the audience, especially the women. Here, Venkat Prabhu doesnt seem to care and it has given us one of the best super hero characters in recent times. I hope, Ajith will try to keep his physique in tact.

Venkat Prabhu has used some of his favourite actors here too and Premji Amaran really excells as Prem. Some of his moments are really hilarious too. Arjun doesnt have much to do anyways.

I would have liked it better, if at least two songs were not there. Had the production values been like in Hollywood, this movie could even compete with some of those famous western heist movies actually. Well, money is always a limitation.

This is a male oriented movie and there is not much left for any female roles. Still, Trisha has some prominence in the first half. The theatre was full of Tamil families and it was interesting that the women were laughing out loud for the typical scenes, where a heroine is always ridiculed in Indian movies. Is it that, our women dont realise that the movie is really poking at them, or is it that they really like to laugh at themselves or is it that they simply do not care. Whatever..

I had read, couple of reviews by Keralites that Mankatha was just another Tamil entertainer which could be avoided. After seeing the movie though, I can only reinstate my belief that Malayaalees try their best to downgrade anything from Tamil. If this movie was in English, with Hollywood actors and all, would they have made the same comments, I wonder. Or, if it was Mohanlal who played Ajith's role (or for that matter Kamal Hassan who is the only Tamil actor who most Malayaalees consider as worth to spend money on), would they have made the same comments.

Easan

2010 by Sasikumar - Tamil movie

Kerala always look down upon Tamil, may it be their people or movies or what not. I dont have any idea why this happened. 2 decades back, Tamil movies were really poor and we could understand why people used to talk about Tamil movies, only with a kind of contempt and sarcasm. But Tamil movies made a big leap from the beginning of this millennium, but the attitude of Keralites to Tamil movies remain the same even now. Most Malayaalees still watch only the big entertainer productions from Tamil Nadu, which are typical entertainers of course, and ignore the good ones from Tamil Nadu. The movie distributors in Kerala, who bring in Tamil movies, I think are very well aware of this trend that most good movies from Tamil Nadu are not shown in Kerala theatres. There are so many brilliant movies, to my knowledge, which are never shown in Kerala yet, forget that they never are released. The list of such movies include even the movies which inspite of being different and classy were even super hits in Tamil Nadu. Kalloori and Yudham Sei being the best examples. Easan was released in Tamil Nadu last year, and it got only an average response. However, it is surprising that the movie is playing in Kochi now.

Group of rich youngsters, lead by a minister's son, enjoy their life in the city, girls, drugs and rave parties and what not, but they dont have to worry at all by the law with the kind of political back up one of them has got. The ministers son is kidnapped and a police officer investigates. 

Sasikumar, the director's second effort after the much rated and successful Subramaniapuram, directs and produce this movie, should have been enough reason for this movie to find some response in Kerala. But still it takes about an year to get released in Kerala. But the movie is brilliant only in parts, especially for some sections of the second half, and it is very average for most and there are some moments, when it can hardly manage the standards of those C rate porn based movies of the 80's.

There was a very good plot but the script is a huge failure for most parts and the director seems to have ignored this, nor did he try to make it up. But still, there are moments when we will wish, why did not he try to better the script and the movie. This could have been a real thriller, a very different entertainer...

What was shocking is actually the terrible scenes of violence towards the end, raising questions that if Sasikumar is also going the Ram Gopal Varma way. Is violence going to be an integral part of his movies? Subramanyapuram did have violence, but the movie was a brilliant revenge story and it was supposed to be that way. After all it was a rustic revenge story. Only towards the second half do we know that Easan also is a revenge story, but the violence in the last minutes could have been avoided.

The movie ends up as a pretty ordinary one, unfortunately. It could have been much better. Whatever, Samudrakani, as the police officer, promises a lot. He is an excellent actor and I hope he gets nice roles and he gets noticed.

But the highlight of this movie is a song, brilliantly choreographed and shot. It is very Indian (Tamilian) and very much adhering to Tamil folk steps. But the master stroke is the use of the dress as a kind of prop, in its choreography, occassionally. I love this song and its choreography, that I cant help pasting a link here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dgm_YRvhfXg

Rowdiram

2011 by Gokul - Tamil movie

Angry young man is one of the most favourite theme for Indian movie industry. Even the public loves it. There is no Indian super star who has not done at least one angry young man role and some became synonymous for this role. Yet another Angry young man from Tamil movies, but the difference is, here there is a debutant director who has tried to do it differently.

Shiva learned martial arts from his grand father who asked him to live like a man, ie to die only once in your life. Shiva hence always attracts trouble and he has a family who is worried and a girl friend turned wife who is supportive. 

The story in fact is nearly the same as all such entertainers. But I must agree that the debutant director wanted to make it look different. Hence unlike in the regular entertainers, scenes are not always going overboard and the hero himselves looks quite restrained, except when he is angry. He promptly irritates a feared criminal and has to wage a war with him. And here is one of the highlights of this movie. The action scenes are simply brilliant, may be the best after Jnan Mahan Alla, but it is quite different from that too. Definitely, I can watch this movie once again only for those scenes. And especially in the first half, there are some really simple light hearted fun too.

However, in his attempt to try to be different, Gokul seems to have made a big mis judgement of the ordinary people who decides whether a movie is successful or not. Gokul built a crescendo towards the climax, between the hero and the villain, but then he seems to have dropped it there. For me, I would love to see different kind of thoughts to our entertainment movies. So I am allright with the ending of this movie, which is more in tune with the reality. But for the ordinary man, who wants to see a start and a finish in between the sprints, they will be terribly disappointed by the climax. And this I am afraid, has seriously prevented the chances of Rowdiram becoming a hit. I am not saying, if not for the climax it would have been a nice entertainer. The first half was really good, but the script loses its tauntness in the second half and the movie look like a bit too stretched there. But inspite of all this, if the director had built up on that final crescendo, ordinary men would have forgiven the faults in the second half and would have loved it. They just didnt get to see that final punch in the end and that will make this movie suffer at the box office.

Gokul definitely proves he has talent and with a better script he can make better movies. It is definitely heartening to see new movie makers coming out with such out of the box climax thoughts. I would definitely give credit to him for that. But may be not the producer..

Jeeva really steals the show as the angry young man. This is an entertainer where the director has demanded restraint from every artist, be it the actors or the technicians and Jeeva has been excellent. Such a pity that this one will not earn as much as his previous box office topper Ko. 

Deiva Thirumagal

2011 by A L Vijay - Tamil

Movie makers are always inspired by other movies and some times recreate these movies into their own region or language. How a director recreates an existing movie speaks a lot about the director. Across the world there have been such movies, inspired by other movies and many a time such inspired ones are not a success. But often, when the director manages to successfully replant the same plot from the original movie to a new cultural back drop, it tends to be a big success. Most lovers of Hollywood yet fail to recognise that The Departed, is an inspired remake of the Chinese movie Internal Affairs. Departed was well remade by a master director himself, but yet, when I saw Internal Affairs, I liked it much more than the Departed. There is one more point here, if you see a movie, and you do not know anything at all about the original, you might not find anything wrong with the new movie, as long as it fits the cultural scenario of your language or region. When I first saw, Thaalavattom, the famous Malayalam flick, I didnt know anything at all about One flew over the Cuckoos nest, and I loved it. Later when I saw this Jack Nickolson classic and I watched the Malayalam adaptation again, I still found Thalavattom as a very good entertainer. A western plot was rightly placed into an Indian context, more in the entertainment side of the scale though. Occassionally, there have been many such adaptations in Indian movies where our directors managed to successfully place a western subject in an Indian context. Deiva Thirumagal for sure is inspired by I am Sam but it looks quite Indian and the director has changed the plot in many ways to suit the Indian possibilities and sensibilities.

Krishna, a single father of a 5 year old girl - Nila, is mentally challenged and is matured enough only to be a 5 year old. He brings up the girl with the help of his friends and colleagues at his work place, a Chocolate factory in Avalanche. Nila's mothers family takes her away and Krishna seeks the assistance of some young lawyers to get her back. 

Some of the changes that has been bought into the original plot is quite good making the movie very much Indian. Instead of the Local authorities, it is the family who tries to take the child away from the father for obvious reasons which will easily appeal to Indian crowds. And the way Krishna influences the lawyer and the family is told in minimum scenes too.

The movie is really beautiful in its first half when it tells the story of Krishna and Nila, the wonderful love between a father and daughter who have the same levels of maturity. Many scenes are adorable and we would forget everything and I consider these scenes as the best highlights of the movie. In the second half, when it changes to the legal front, Nila does not have many scenes and we start missing her. Even Krishna here is more like an onlooker and it is the advocates from both sides who have more to do. It is nearly like, the movie has drifted away from the love between the father and the child, even if they are just there and everybody is working for them. Still the final moments in the court scenes were beautiful and I found even some men in the theatre wiping their tears. And there were also some light hearted moments, through out the movie, but more so in the second half.

I think it is the third movie that Vijay is recreating into Tamil and this should be the best for sure. Definitely, this will become his most successful movie. After Madrasipattinam, which was quite a good one but didnt get the acclaim it deserved, he has been successful in touching the hearts of the audience. There were so many moments of big applause, in the theatre, right from the start till the end. That was quite a good sign of how much successful this movie will be.

Vikram has done well and so did that child artist. I felt, Vikram could have been a bit more restrained in some of the scenes, but he really was simply too good in many of the scenes, making it up for the other scenes. Anushka as the lawyer trying to help Krishna, was really good. I think this is her best restrained performance. And the same with Santhanam too. In almost every movie, I felt Santhanam as terrible. But for the first time, for me, he has done it really well. Performance wise, everybody in this movie did really well, augurs well for the director. Yet, he went for a dream song sequence between Vikram and Anushka, was quite perplexing. That song was absolutely unnecessary. Well, it was so nicely shot. No questions about the quality of those shots, but it was quite misplaced. May be he could have shown it during the end credits, giving an impression that the lawyer might go for Krishna.

The cinematography was truly brilliant. Excellent use of soft lighting and the lighting in many scenes really lifted the mood of the scenes too. We do not get to see such support by a cinematographer very often in Indian movies. Hats off to Nirav Shah for his work. I am sure that the production also must have spend good money on the DI to give the beautiful soft feeling for the frames.

With a few more cuts and some more restraint in certain scenes and performances, and of course without that song in the second half, Deiva Thirumagal would have ended as a classic family entertainer. But it is still a wonderful watch and I am sure it will touch the heart of most Tamil movie goers and will be a great success. Tamil movie goers, who have not seen I am Sam, would rather compare it with Moondram Pirai and would claim it as the first great movie in this genre, after Moondram Pirai. Quite a lot of similarities in both these movies actually.

Most people as they left the theatre was humming that cute song - Nila Vandaachu. This movie is going to be a big hit, I think. I am ready to watch it again, just for those wonderful moments between Krishna and Nila.

And after long, I was glad to see some shots of Avalanche and to hear about it. As a child I have been to that place many times as it was very close to Emerald, the village where my father was working. He had good friends in Avalanche and we used to visit them. Avalanche, I was told, was the name of a place in Switzerland or somewhere, dont remember well, the British found this place exactly like the one in Europe, so called Avalanche.

Vengai

2011 by Hari

Typical Popular entertainment stuff from Tamil industry.

Boy and girl, their friends
Father of boy and mother of girl
Father's friend turning into villain
Songs, fights, parallel tracks of comedy

I dont think this director has made even a single movie which was a great entertainer. The one that came close was Saami which was a good entertainer then. Singham, which was a big hit recently, was good in parts only. Actually I am surprised that now Bollywood is remaking that movie.

Dhanush decides to go for the popular stuff again. Actually I understand why all actors, its only few months back Dhanush gave Aadukalam a master piece actually, goes for some stupid entertainers. The Shenoys theatre was full and it was mostly Tamil people who do hard labour in Kochi city. They were enjoying the movie to the hilt, I must say. Songs, fun, fights it had everything they wanted and it is important for a movie star to please these fans too.

However, I thought Dhanush was a mis-cast for this movie. Here  is a real super hero, with both the brains and the power and had it been done by Ajith, Vijay or Surya, this movie would have been more impressive, may be.

It is still an ok entertainer, with some thrilling moments. One of the songs were also good.

Ethan

2011 by L Suresh

A debutant director joins a producer, whose previous production was the brilliant and hilarious Kalavani, for a movie with Vimal as the hero, is quite attractive. In fact, Vimal is a different kind of hero in Indian movies. He does have a nice face, but his physique is actually only good enough to play the friend of a typical Indian hero or somebody like a servant in the home or office. But this young man can act and hence he finds place as hero in Tamil movies. He is lucky that he came into the industry at the right time when Tamil industry seems to be the only prominent movie industry (Marathi too I think) which is consistently churning out some off beat movies with the real flavour of Tamil mixed all over. But...

A young man tries all sorts of business in his small town, with borrowed money, and fails always. He has a special talent in talking and convinces people to still loan him. He meets a girl, who is into a forced marriage with a bad guy, plays all sorts of mischief's with her and finally ends up saving her from the bad guy. 

The producer, it seems, wanted to follow some points which were behind the success of Kalavni in this movie too, is quite evident. Still the movie as a whole is different from the run of the mill entertainers, yet ends up as an ordinary movie. A very simple movie, with lots of good fun, not much action scenes, and the love between the boy and girl doesn't happen till the climax, saving us some songs, are some good points. Unfortunately, the movie is inconsistent with its pace, especially in the second half and drags out really.

Vimal looks like a natural choice for this character but I am afraid he would end up as an actor who only plays these kind of talkative young man from the village or small town, not a super man, but one with intelligence. It was nice to see Sanusha playing the young girl.

I don't think anybody will think about this movie by the end of this year, inspite of lots of comic moments.