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Thalaivaa Review - Vishwa Magan

Knowing the theatrical problems back in Tamil Nadu, India, I'll get to the points. 

The film has NOTHING offensive AT ALL. Like Vishwaroop earlier in the year, our Indian govt has proven to the world that India is STILL a 'developing' nation. For small things like threatening theatres with bombs over a certain MLA assocation with this film, it's really sad knowing how many times, Vijay has overcome problems (remember Kaavalan's issue back in 2010 against DMK rulers.)

Anywho, coming to the points...

Pros

Vijay. After a stupendous 'Thuppakki', Vijay (again) proves his class. Watch him dance his way in the first song! 

After a long time, I'm seeing Sathyaraj in a rocking role (though very shot, it's pivotal towards the end of the first half.) 

Amala Paul has a decent role compared to her previous films, but her character isn't as well etched, when the film heads to the end. 

Once again, Dir. AL Vijay has proven his mettle with class scenes. He made Vijay act within his emotions and not over-the-top live we've seen him before. Proof? I could hear Deepika Padukone's annoying Tamil accent from an adjacent screening of "Chennai Express." Plus loud scenes from the latter, it just reminds me of "Bol Bachchan."

Santhanam isn't overused like his previous appearances. Good in portions. 

Vaanga Vannkangana is a rocking number. Midway, the composer himself (GV Prakash Kumar) appears dancing (briefly) with Vijay

Now come the minusses.

The story isn't new. In fact, it's very average to below average. If you've seen Sarkaar, Nayagan, Thevar Magan, Abhimanyu, this film isn't any different.

The runtime (2hrs 50min) shows it's colors as the film heads to the final reels. The last fight is toooo long. AL Vijay hasn't learnt the ways of editing (and this is precisely why his previous venture, 'Thaandavan' failed.)

That "unwanted" Sam Anderson appearance. 

Overall, I'd  rate it a 2.5/5. Nothing to beat Thuppakki, but one wishes AL Vijay made the project more appealing. 

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Udhayam NH4 - Out of sync thriller

After bagging a National Award, director Vetrimaaran dusts up his very first script and decides to bring it to the big screen. This time, he gets Dhayanidhi Alagiri & Telugu-based Siddharth to fund/star in this so-called thriller.  Is the thriller worth your time?

Pros:

- First half movies rapidly

- Subtle comedy

Cons

- The heroine

- The dubbing (very BIG minus)

- Story reminds everyone of Ghilli. I dub this one a high-class version of that.

- Siddharth comes off as a character without any background behind his motives.

Despite names like Kay Kay Menon & Siddharth, the movie comes off as an average venture behind poor production values.

Rating: 2.5/5

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Vishwaroop(am) - Class thriller

This was Kamal Haasan's apology letter for Manmadhan Ambu. As a kamal admirer, I was mighty disappointed with MMA and when I learnt he was directing again, words could not express my happiness and excitement. And unlike Dashavtar, this movie is more accessible to the general audience [Dasa was more regionally rooted in Tamil and should've stayed that way instead of being dubbed in various languages.]

Coming to Vishwaroop, the film showcases brilliance in the the war with Afghanistan & the encounter with sleeper cells/terrorists. The film entertains for the most part but also parts with some knowledge of cesium, dirty bombs & it's after effects. You may have seen a broad (read: dumbed down) version in Vijay's Thuppakki, but VR explains the meaning of jihadis and their motives against Americans.  Part 1 begins with Nirupama retelling the events of her life (settling down with Vishwanath, kathak dancer until her boss reveals his involvement with the dirty bombs through muslim terrorists.) Inbetween, Kamal shows his relation with Omar through the Jihadi training in Afghanistan and the film ends with Kamal disarming the dirty bomb while Omar and Salim head to India to plan their next attack.

Kamal showcases his excellence as a Kathak exponent (do check out his transformation scene when the muslims begin interrogating him), but his alter-ego in the flashback portions are more interesting (afghan getup.) Rahul Bose as Omar, the jihadi is excellent and one of his best roles in recent times. Ditto goes to Jaideep. It's quite hard to believe that most of the Afghan scenes were shot in Ambattur, Chennai! Fantastic work from the Art & VFX department!

Since the movie is being made in two parts, I suspect Part 2 will reveal the fight between Wissam/Omar (prior to their escape to America), Ashmita's involvement with RAW, Wissam's encounter in India with Omar & the final fights. Lots to be explained in VR, but I'm very happy that Kamal made an awesome movie on part with Hollywood excellence.

Rating: 4/5

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Chennaieil Oru Naal - Pulsating thriller with flaws

Having seen the Malayalam original, Traffic, I expected the tamil remake to retain almost cent by cent & shot by shot. Essentially the movie did do that & I was pleased for the most part. However...

Why Jayprakash asked their son's girlfriend to come over never made so much sense here as it did in the Malayalam original (perhaps I missed a subtle development in the midst of the heart-drama.) Still, this was one of the weaker aspects from the original.

The introduction scenes are flipped-flopped around as such. In the Malayalam original, we're introduced to the driver being harassed by a couple of guys right until the traffic signal scenes are shown. Then comes the introduction of the other characters minus the traffic cop. In this remake, Mejo Joesph composed a separate introduction/duet kind of song to show the "lou" between the hero (soon to be dead) & heroine.

I have to hand it to the producers for getting the casting right this time. One the rare remakes in Tamil where nothing got screwed-up in matching up character role vs actor's caliber.

Another big flaw, Suriya's presence. Yes,I know the makers were trying to re-create the penultimate chase prior to reaching the end of the journey, but in this remake, I had a real bone to pick with Suriya. It's bad enough we're subjected to his overacting/hamming and his rambling on his agaram foundation, but his speech at the end of the movie was unnecessary. That was pushing beyond his cameo limits.

Rating: 3/5

Do see the original Malayalam (Traffic)  when you have the chance.

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Kedi Billa Killadi Ranga - Humor with dash of Pop-talk

Siva karthikeyan is slowly climbing up the TV-to-big screen success after Santhanam's successful stint in Vijay TV's "Lollu Sabha" [show that spoofs tamil films, behind-the-scenes & even tamil serials.] Based on SK's choice of films, it's very clear he's aiming for the middle class senti-type folk because KBKR treads the usual "been there, done that" route many times. In fact, the whole backdrop brings back memories of Bhagyaraj's films. Even that "parotta" Suri is funnier than the lead two and he gets to mouth off some great lines!

But what makes KBKR watchable fare is mainly due to the interactions between the heroes and heroines. Nothing over the top and corny [thank god for that!] While SK's love story was good, I had problems with Vimal's side in general. Vimal himself was introduced in Pasanga (first film by Pandiraj, hence his prod. name) and I hoped he improved in performance afterwards (5 years ago to be exact.) Because he's got the acting skills, but less delivery impact. And even though it's marked as a comedy film, I didn't find myself chucking like crazy for the most part. Couple of guffaws here and there as best, but the film aims more for sentiment (and when you see the second-half of the film, you'll understand why.)

In terms of music, it's Yuvan's best after a long gap.

Overall, KBKR is watchable if you don't have anything else to do.

Rating: 3/5

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Enthiran: the [Robot] - Deux Ex Rajni

Yeah I know this comes late. But having seen the Hindi version (It’s dubbed but I’ll get that later) I need to touch upon things on why Robot (Enthiran in tamil) sucks.

The positives? A big hats off to producer Kalanithi Maran and Hansraj Saxena for backing up the project. For me, the plus points of the film are the graphics and the animatronics. The Chitti model used in the film is spectacular and all credit goes to Stan Winston. Also a big thanks to Mr. Alex Martin [stunt double of chitti], the real hero of Enthiran the Robot.

Robot [the film] spent  2 years rejected by the likes of Dr. Kamal Haasan, Aamir Khan & Hrithik Roshan. Despite being a dream project of Shankar & writer Sujatha Rangarajan, the film never saw conception till now.

You know Shankar (Sivaji the boss)  would’ve made lots of compromises to “fit Rajni’s so-called image.” That’s where Chitti the robot comes in.

You have  3 Rajnis. It takes Dr. Vasigaran a decade to finally conjure up Chitti the Robot with the help of his clumsy assistants (Santhanam & Karunas.) Because of his dedication for his robot, his lady love Sana (Aishwarya) feels left out and creates a Sophie’s choice situation leading the Dr and herself to go in gaana mode (Pagal Anukan) while leaving Chitti to figure out the meaning of life. Dr. Bohra (Danny Denzongappa)  loathes Vasi, his former student for surpassing him in robotics and urges to get his hands on Chitti.  

Swanand Kirkire does a great job dubbing the movie for the hindi version, but barring O Naye Insaan, the rest of the songs sound funny to me. The story starts out okay right up till the lightning strikes Chitti the robot. From then on, Shankar succumbs himself to Rajni fans  and turns it into another Sivaji.

The second half is even worse with random shit being sandwiched post Chitti’s dismantlement.Why Kalabhavan Mani? Kilimanjaro? Arima Arima? Oh wait, it’s a Rajni film. Logic is bad! We must embrace the film because of the de facto rule shoehorned by rajni fans. By their logic, Ajith and Vijay films must be equally good no?

Sujatha, the original writer for the film, passed away during initial stages of the screenplay. He isn’t alive to see this (nor save this) from being disaster. A.R Rahman’s score is mundane and too reliant on Ross Geller's textbook 80s robo sfx.

Acting wise, Rajni is Rajni. He’s more or less the kid who gets away with everything by hamming down his lines. Also from the tamil version, the hindi dubber (Mayur Vyas) actually gave a damn to dub Rajni properly. Especially when Dr. Vasi introduces “Chitti the robot” vs “Chiiiti the robaaaaaat! [in Tamil]” Savitha Reddy for Aish is pitful to hear (Aish dubbed her lines for Hindi version) when compared to Rohini’s dubbing in Raavanan.

Learning from Dasavathaaram’s (nearly 60% of Robot’s budget) effects and craftsman ship in 2-3 years span, Haasan’s efforts in Robot would’ve been a budget saver (no wigs, less stuntmen) in addition to having a concise screenplay/story.

Robot is a one time watch. Watch the first half and ignore the rest [though toddlers may enjoy the film.]

Rating - 2.5/5

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Rakht Charithra - Vivek proposes, Suriya disposes

Part I review

Certain Ram Gopal Varma films can be stomached while others are just ridiculous beyond belief. Thankfully, this falls into the maverick’s speciality: Political bloodshed.

Based off the politics between Partiala Ravi (assasinated in 2005) and Maddeluvchervu Suri, Part I focusses on the rise of Ravi while Part II, depicts his fall. Obviously I’m not going to talk about Suriya’s role in this review, that will be later. Instead, I’ll focus on the pros and cons of RC-1. What worked and what didn’t.

The Narration. Commenters from several sites slammed the narrator for sounding too haunted and sounding like a haunted story teller. To me, those comments were downright silly. This isn’t a Karan Johar film where SRK narrates some shit or banters with the fourth wall about Love and the playfulness of the story’s setting. This is a docu-fiction. Yes, I’m using the word docu-fiction for the lack of a better term. Agreed, certain scenes that were meant to speak for itself were rather spoken for. It’s a minor blemish more or less.

The violence. Really? Bashing the violence? Where the hell were they when Ghajini released? Varma knows what’s bearable and what’s within limits. Either man up and watch it or don’t. Go watch shit movies like Break Ke Baad, I Hate Luv Stories or Dabanng (now that had alot of “stylized” violence!) I’ve seen worse in Hollywood movies.

The acting. It’s a Vivek Oberoi show from frame 1. Clearly the man is back in form after giving back-to-back duds.He gets the gist of Pratap Ravi sufficiently and shows tremendous growth from aam aadmi to politician. Kota Srinivasa Rao as Nagmani Reddy is effective. Shatrurangan Sinha is very good as minister, Shivaji Rao (NTR’s character) though he gets limited scope. But the man of the match is Abhimanyu Singh (Bukka Reddy.) He’s really good as Nagmani’s terrorizing son! There's a preview for part 2 in which Suriya's character is briefly shown during Ravi's tenture in poltics.

The cons. Post interval portions are kinda slacking due to excessive slow motion in some scenes.

Final say?  Rakht Charitra I deserves a watch for it’s blood thirsty tale! RGV is back!

Part I Rating: 3.5/5

Part II review

RGV has made Part 2 a huge STEP ABOVE part 1 as it gives a grand background of Surya Reddy’s past (his perspective of the family massacred in Part 1 via Pratap Ravi & his path to destroying Ravi due to a misunderstanding. How Suriya completes his masterplan is the crux of the film. The climax is again open-ended with Varma hinting a third chapter. [As of this post, Suri in real life died months after Part 2 was released.]

Yes it could be termed as a slow paced masala but unlike Tamil films, there’s a reason behind Surya’s meticulous planning to assassinate Pratap Ravi. In fact his Hindi diction (debut film of Suriya) is very good for a film based on the blood battles in Andhra Pradesh. Unlike other films say Anjaana Anjaani or Robot, you actually get a story & top notch acting from the likes of Vivek Oberoi, Suriya, Kota Srinivas, Priyamani, etc. Even the ACP (Sudeep) had a greater part in this installment than part 1.

Rakht Charitra 2 gets 3.8 out of 5 stars. Loose editing (the dragging recap [first 30 min] of part 1) & the camera work could’ve been easily avoided. But easily RGV's best.

Part 2 Rating: 3.8/5

Overall Rating for the Rakht Charitra saga:  3.7/5

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Kaavalan - Unguarded

After giving 6 forgettable movies in a row, Vijay welcomes the Pongal season with Kaavalan. “Friends” Siddique remakes his Malayalam film “Bodyguard” and has made changes to suit the Tamil audiences. How did he do?

First half. Very very slow. In malayalam, Dileep’s intro was merely to show his fearlessness with an intention of becoming a Bodyguard. In this remake, they’ve shown Bhoominathan [Vijay] christened by Raj Kiran and remains obedient to him ever since. Also, Hairshree Ashokan (Vadivelu’s counterpart) didn’t have a seperate comedy track prior to the Bus scene. And Asin looked mega bored in the film. Even Diana Kurian (Asin’s friend) looked better as a side heroine character.Though the malayalam version was Vikramanish in screenplay, the original stand tall than it's tamil remake.

I strongly felt Vijay wasn’t apt for this kind of comedy (his body language showed in a few places.) However his trademark intro song, additonal fights and stunt sequences seemed more like a walk in the park. Scenes where Bhoominathan was lecturing on Shakesphere to Asin and Diana depicts his broken english despite being a doctorate holder. Perhaps someone like Madhavan would’ve excelled better? Asin hasn’t changed since DASAVATHAARAM, though she performed better in the former than here. As usual her Mallu accent gets in the way with her dialogue delivery. I expected more class from Vadivelu (remember his cult antics in Friends?) but alas, it worked in parts rather than a whole. Given the material written for Hairshree Ashokan, Siddique should’ve retained those scenes for Vadivelu. Instead we’re regaled to his usual standards. Vidyasagar’s music is good on hearing but visually not up to mark. Barring “Yaarathu”, the rest act as mega speed breakers. Dialogues are standard though bring back horrible memories of Director Vikraman’s ramblings. Final word? Vijay should be proud of not pulling a Kuruvi.  It’s a step up from Vijay’s previous ventures though. Rating: 3/5

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Ekk Deewana Tha - Pacier Remake

Damn them Hindi crtics. They know how to turn off the viewer completely. Never mind how Taran Adarsh, Rajeev Masand and these so called “critics” lamblasting yet another movie. Having seen VTV like 3-5 times prior to the remake, I expected a word by word translation based on how Gautham sir. From watching the remake, I was completely taken aback and you should follow my bullet points to see why.

ADR in some places faltered from Prateik’s side (Prateik goofs up in the beginning saying Duniya prior to saying the much celebrated phrase, “Of all the girls in the world, why Jessie”.)

The Hindi remake did a fabulous job of compressing the scenes into the song sequences. By the way, the run time is at 2hrs and 16 min. The Tamil original was 2hrs and 46min. I was relieved when scenes post the “Kadhal Desam” BGM were chopped of completely. Completely unneeded in the original and instead, Gautham jumps to the pre-Phoolon Jaisi stuff. Major props.

 Difference between Hindi cinema and Southern cinema is the narrative. In Hindi, we assume the audiences are sophisticated with their hipster angrez (English), western attire and their love for muscular smucks while in Tamil, it’s all about being straightforward. 

The non-linearity sprinkled throughout the second half worked. Especially the emotional parts, because in Tamil, I was ready to throw my chair at Silambarasan & Trisha for dragging the reels into  “You don’t like f****g films, what kind of logic is that scene.” In Hindi, it was a matter of emotional substance and struggle for compliance.

 Lots and lots of improvisation. Manu Rishi is first-rate here. His dialogues don’t go overboard (yes some are taken from the original, again Menon’s inputs), but offers some fresh points too. The Mallu scene at Kallipurakal is completely new. George uncle does his usual scthick but talks Hindi with an accent and asks Manu Rishi for the correct grammar. On Manu Rishi, he and Ganesh are two seperate entities. Both were superb in their respective roles.

Not sure why the film wasn’t liked by the Mumbaites. In fact, the film was tailored and adjusted to their tastes. Would you rather watch a shoddy smug Imran Khan (for the nth time) play the loser hero opposite to stick statue, Kareena? Or perhaps say Salman Khan murder another Southern remake with his “Rajniism and 3rd grade acting? Look at the reviews for Bodyguard, Ready and Singham and see the films. No big acting scope or script sense but because of star power, they get the results desired. Classic bias over Stars. Prateik is completely underrated here. In fact, I liked that his character isn’t aggressive like Simbu’s version. I guess chicks didn’t like Amy as much as they praised Trisha. To be fair, we should give credit to singer Chinmayi for her dubbing work. She’s the real heroine of the film. Not Trish, not Sam nor Amy.

Rahman as usual good work on improvising the BGM from the tamil original.

Rating -  3/5

I felt more relieved to see this in Hindi than I did in Tamil, it’s short and to the point. Yes, the story isn’t ohoho great, but the performances make up for it.

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Kadhalil Sodhapuvathu Eppadi = Quirky Luv Story

After sitting through the horrible Muppozhudum Oru Karpanaigal (another Amala Paul movie that released the same time as KSY), I was anticipating this one based on the favorable reviews.

Even though Siddarth’s 180 bombed in Tamil and Telugu, he still one the few young heroes who puts efforts behind story/script department. [never mind his choice of recent Telugu films.]  Bullet pointed for your convenience.

Kudos to Balaji Mohan for introducing the mockumentary format as seen in “The Office.” A love failure subject like this could’ve easily gone the cliche way (introduce Point A: The hero, Point B: Hero falls for Heroine, cue song and dance to Point C: Hero declares love, etc. Here, Mohan opts for a resolution approach and then trace back to it’s roots.

Siddarth never fails to age, but what’s with his broken tamil (in places?) His biography suggests that he was born and brought up in TN. Has Telugu taken over his mother tongue?

I know Amala Paul speaks pretty good tamil, but why is Deepa Venkat suddenly the next Savitha Reddy? Did the pay package fall through during shooting?

The fatso and his sulky friend are the highlight. Nothing over the top. The former had me cracking when he does that expression of his. Santhanam should take comedy tuition from them.

Arun’s parents commenting on facebook and Arun’s “Friend” was nailed to the point. Every indian parents trying to beg friend requests from their sons/daughters is asking for free snooping.

Thaman’s score is great. My picks are Azhaipaaya and Thavarugal. Especially Thavarugal.

My only gripe about the film was the sluggish pacing near the resolution, but it’s a minor thing since the film lasts for 2 hrs.  

The “watefalls-tank opening” analogy for girls was spot on!

Rating - 3.8/5 

Triumphant comeback for Siddarth despite a wafer-thin storyline

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Agent Vinod - Swag and a Miss!

Saifeena, the 2nd most dreaded pair after Abhiwarya, return to torture the audience after a not-so-great KURBAAN.  Unfortunately for me, the film looked so tepid, it makes Don 2 look brilliant.

Coming from Sriram Raghavan who made the everlasting “JOHNNY GADHAAR”, This Vinod is too hard to follow. Songs come at random (personally, I didn’t mind “I’ll do the talking tonight” since we weren’t force to stare of Mallika Haydon’s abs the whole time and played throughout ) but the melodious Raabta was placed in a rather funny but unnecessary situation.

The film shuttles between a Bond and Bourne. Generally, Saif carries the film on his shoulders and he does it with ease. Out of the 3 heroines, 2 of them are ho-hum and Kareena is strictly average. Not sure why she puts up the same KURBAAN’ish caricature AGAIN. The irony here (for those that have seen KURBAAN) is that the opposite happens. The climax felt lazy, but left wide open for Vinod to chase his next target. With Raghavan and Akthar be on board for a crossover? I’d pay big bucks to see that happen. In fact, why not tie it up with Don 3? But I did love the old-school treatment (note the RD Burman BGM placements throughout the film.)

Big Swag and Miss, this Vinod.

Verdict: 2/5

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3 [Moonu] - The Selvaraghavan Redux

Dhanush has been on a roll these last couple of years. It’s amazing how much of a turnaround he’s shown post Kadhal Kondein. After a string of flops, he bounced back with Pollathavan and hasn’t looked back since. Fast forward to 2012 and he’s ready with his latest, 3. Directed by Aishwarya R. Dhanush (his wife), the film was in the news for the viral hit, “Kolaveri.” That and Shruti Haasan stars after the much hyped 7aum Arivu. Below are some stray observations. 

Nice intro of showing the funeral of the hero at first off. The last time we got a major character kill off at the start of the film was Jayaprada in Ninaithale Inikum, but we didn’t know who died until the reveal at the very end.

The school days love arc was sweet and well executed. Dhanush and Siva Karthikeyan are rocking, but at times, Karthi’s jokes border irritating.

Shruti Haasan’s tamil is still a major problem. Of course, the new gen girls cannot speak fluent tamil as the have all caught “Gautham Menon-eese” syndrome. Just ask Trisha.

Anirudh’s songs are great. The best part of the songs is that they don’t bore you out nor do they add length (Runtime is 2hrs 25min), but most songs don’t exceed beyond 4min. Kudos to the background score, though at times, feels very Yuvan Shankar Raja-ish.

For a first half, Aishwariya does a decent job. Not one scene felt amateurish and for very little experience (I understand she worked behind the scenes in some films), it’s commendable. But I still had problems with the second half.

The second half feels like a Mayakkam Enna redux. As if Selvaraghavan co-authored the script with his usual mood lighting, psycho characterization, plot device death, etc. All because of that dog. It also doesn’t help to CAST Sunder Ramu in the SAME KIND of role.

It doesn’t help either when Dhanush sports the EXACT same getup as he did in Mayakkam Enna’s penultimate scenes. 

Shruti Haasan’s crying scenes…..can we please get Savitha Reddy to clean up this dubbing mess? Also, majority of her dialogue is in English. Did Gautham Menon hijack the second half too?

Prabhu and Dhanush’s scenes are a delight. After donning lame character roles, here’s a role that will stay within your memories for life.

Dhanush has acted well, but I felt it was a repeat of Mayakkam Enna. Shruti Haasan has shown improvement in acting from the hackeyned 7aum Arivu, but her dialogue delivery is still a problem. Comes off too much like Trisha with her broken tamil.

On the whole, you maybe asking yourself, "why this picture is kolaveri Aishwarya ji?"

Rating: 2.5/5

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Oru Kal Oru Kannadi - mOKkai mOKkai

**Mokkai is chennai-thamizh (tamil) slang for crap, trash, etc.**

 Director Rajesh is back after delivering hits like Siva Manasula Sakthi &  Boss Engira Baskaran. This time, Udhay Stalin joins as the debutant, Hansika remains as Namitha 2.0 and Santhanam is still the USP of every unwatchable tamil movie till date. But unlike BEB or SMS, OKOK falls short of expectations and it only tests your patience in the latter half of the film. Sometime post the release of KS Ravikumar’s Aadhavan, the producer (Udhay Stalin) decides to join Ravikumar’s “Hitchcock” gag in the final frames of the former. Udhay insists that with his black money (keep in mind DMK was in power when it released) & acting abilities, Udhay believed. He believed he can take the TN makkal [public] with his nakkals like all the Suriyas, Aaryas and Thala-Thalapathis. Udhay (while carring a sack full of crores [black or white?] ) concludes that the makkal can lap up comedies as long as he and Santhanam are the sole leads and begins bribing Rajesh through his "investments". Stalin claims he can make the film that trounces records of Rajni and Kamal’s films and demands that his acting talent be telecasted on the silver screens.

Alas, comes the sacrifices! Rajesh drops his pal Yuvan for Harris. Reason: Udhay wooed [Harris] over with the Hasilli’s, the fisiili’s (and tons of RaasaMONIES.) The list of heroine names (Trisha (who was in the news for the scandal with Stalin post MMA release)) went on till Namitha 2.0 was finalized (Hansika). Going with the trend, it was no doubt Santhanam was going to be in the film as he's a staple safe bet for Tamil cinema. You could say that SMS was a turning point in Santhanam’s career due to the popular one-liners circulating social video sites. Boss Engira was another feather to the cap. So then Udhay settled. He’s got everything right. A popular comedian, a comedy director & a lukewarm heroine resembling yesteryear’s shakeela. What could go wrong?  Everything went wrong. Not even Santhanam or Aarya, Andrea or Sneha could save a distorted film. Rajesh continues to take the Priyadarshan approach through his present come flashback sequences. According to Rajesh, all heroes are lovesick losers who go after heroines dressed fully in Delhi-ish attire. The lovesick hero must make the time to banter with the popular comedian for 3/4th of the film and then blabber something stupid in the climax regarding heroine, her family and his chivalry stance.

The rest of the film swings between the “Rajesh-isms” and the “Santhanam Special” comedies. I agree certain scenes with Santhanam were rotfl worthy, but this time Rajesh misses the bus completely. The film starts out okay but ends up wandering aimlessly till the climax portions. When we we have decent heroines like Anjali, Ananya, Oviya & Amala Paul, why are directors continuing to hire  heroines contrasting the complexions of our tamil heroes. Neither can they act, nor can they give expressions properly. Dubbing artists can only salvage half the damage.  The subplot regarding the 20 years of silence is unneeded and only adds reels. After 7aum Arivu, it’s the second time, Harris has disappointed me with his score. I feel his concentration is focused more on his concert and in order to meet the deadline of the audio releases, he simply “phoned” his work. Till now, I will say that his work with Gautham menon (Vaaranam Aayiram) and Prabhu Deva’s Engeyum Kaadhal (Never mind the film) are his best score works till date. Udhay Stalin needs to work on his emotions. Giving a single expression throughout the film is monotonous and lame. So what if he’s some CM’s grandson, the guy needs to seriously think about his acting career. I know this guy is a jackass on twitter through his smart comments. So with that, we’re expecting an “80 Days” record breaking poster for OKOK as he commented months back during 7aum Arivu’s release. Give this mOKkai a big miss! Pathetic Rating: 1/5  

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Rajapattai - King sized disaster!

You would think the combination of Suseendran and "Chiyaan" Vikram would promise viewers a slick entertaining film. After the awesome Naan Mahaa Alaa (with Karthi), I was hoping the formula for success would repeat since RP had everything in it's favor (Vikram, K Vishwanath & 4 songs by Yuvan.) Let's go to the bullet points!

The story is weak. Shallow characters pretend to co-exist while the lady villian (yes you read it right) screams shades of "Jayalalitha". Prior to release time, there was a land scam case going on that involved our current CM. Sub-par acting from everyone that have "tried" to inject life to their characters. The overall feel of the film is too Telugu-ish.

What happened to Vikram? His looks are right out of the Incredible Hulk movie? Gym instructors do not look this monstrous. But his comedy scenes with K Vishwanath and his roommate are funny, I'll admit.

I know the film was a flop, but sources tell me that the script for this film was written by a Boopathy Pandian associate. Years after Kandasamy released, Vikram was co-signed to do a film with Pandian, but for some reasons did not work out. When Suseendran was signed up to do a commercial film with Vikram, the original producers (before backing out and handing the reins to PVP Cinemas) had paid advance to the writer and thus, the film was born. In contrast, Naan Mahaa Alla was written and directed by Suseendran.

Remember when I said the film being very Telugu-ish? Just look at Deeksha Seth's role. Nuff said. 

Yuvan's score lacks the punch and hooks heard in Paiyaa. The songs instead wear his illustrious father's hooks instead. Paniye Paniye was censored since it mentioned "Tamil eelam".

The saving grace is that the film runs for 2hrs 7 min. The bad? We have to put up with Shriya Saran and an obese Reemma Sen dancing towards the end credits.

VERDICT:  1/5 stars

After a Deiva Thirumagal redemption, Vikram returns to square one.

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Muppozhudum Oru Karpanaigal - Big Budget, Shallow story.

Elred Kumar, the producer behind VTV and KO debuts as the director of his latest venture. Co-staring Atharva and Amala Paul, the film boasts of a suspenseful thriller. But in the end, it only tests your patience. Bullet pointed for your convenience.

Take a page out of "Anniyan", slice and dice the theme around "Karthik Calling Karthik". Mix and toss "Varalaaru (Evil! Ajith's backstory with slight modification) aaaaand presto! Story ready! Oh and for best results, try adding Santhanam.

 Atharva's acting has slightly evolved since his forgetable debut, Baana Kathadi. At places, you wished he tried to establish a sense of fear into the audience, but really he comes off as a creepy young psycho looking to be loved. Amala Paul doesn't help either with her Padukone-ish expressions or Chopra-ish acting. In fact, you wonder what all the hype around her is about. Her introduction sequences as a CEO stick out like a sore thumb and only brings in confusion to the viewer.

Normally if the A-plot (main movie mostly) doesn't color me interested, I look to the comedies department. Santhanam's humor seems to be weak throughout the second half and his episodes only add length to the reels. Not impressive as his previous ventures. 

GV Prakash seems be real lazy lately with his background score. Seems reminiscent of Mayakkam Enna. The songs is a mixed bag though but the latter half could've been easily chopped off.

After Vijaykumar and MS Baskar, Jayaprakash is emerging as the next-gen's character actor.

Rating: 1/5

Avoid at all costs. Elred Kumar, please stick to producing.