Rang De Basanti (2006) - Hindi Movie Review

Ranking: 4.85/5

Cast: Aamir Khan, Madhavan, Kunal Kapoor, Siddarth, Sharman Joshi, Soha Ali Khan, Alice Patten, Atul Kulkarni
Director: Rakeysh Mehra
Music: A.R. Rehman


If you want me to describe the movie in two words...Simply Superb or Watch it...

The story is about four kids who do not want to share any responsibilities of the countries fate realize what their fore fathers had gone through to get the freedom and embark in their own struggle...The only difference...They are not fighting against an invader but their own people (Their family and leaders).

Sue (Alice Patten) comes to Delhi with the help of Soniya, India to make a documentary on India. On her attempt to recruit actors she is met with disappointment meeting the students of Delhi University who obviously have no knowledge of the cautioners past. She befriends Soniya's friends, DJ (Aamir), Karan (Siddharth), Aslam (Kunal), Sukhi (Sharman), and Soniya (Soha) for her short story to portray the roles of India's freedom fighters. Later she also adds Laxman Pandey (Atul Kulkarni) to her cast. Laxman Pandey is a fierce patriot and a fanatic Hindu and therefore hates anything that is against India or Hinduism.

It is very difficult for all of them to relate to their characters as they do not know what really each of the freedom fighters had to go through. They show little or no interest and indulge in mockery. Laxman Pandey is the only one who has any idea about the freedom struggle and plays his role with conviction. But the problem is Laxman and the group of friends hate each other which drives Sue nuts and she is unable to progress with her production. Almost giving up she decides to leave after an altercation between DJ and Laxman. DJ convinces Sue to stay back and complete her project and that he and his friends will help her see it finished.

Meanwhile, Ajay (Madhavan) Soha's fiance, an Airforce Pilot and a very close friend of the gang dies in a MIG crash near Delhi. He gets blamed for rash piloting when in reality the mistake was with the flight itself and not its pilot. Enraged by the accusations Ajay's friends and mother take up to a peaceful protest and get under the lathi of policeman due to orders from political powers.

Angry and frustrated at the injustice meted to their friend and friends mother who is in coma in the hospital the youngsters take law into their hand and deal with the government and corrupt forces.

This is a real touching movie...The link between the present and past has been well portrayed. The evoking of patriotism by a foreigner is also very well done. The movie is a surefire tear jerker. Everyone has acted very well...The dialogues are also powerful and so is the action...It is not pedantic and neither does it make you feel guilty but just wakes you up.

you know what?? No review will do justice to this wonderful movie...So please go and watch it.

One line comments on the actors:

Atul Kulkarni: My favorite actor, piercing eyes and amazing screen presence and personality.

Aamir: Too old to play a college student even if he had graduated five years ago.

Siddarth: Too cute and amazing cool factor.

Madhavan: When are you going to loose the paunch (thoppais)?

Kunal: Handsome and a good actor too.

Sharman: Very naughty and cute too.

Soha: Finally she has started to act and you might be able to ignore her long nose.

Alice: Real cool...Angrezi Mem Desi Mein...

Aathi (2006) - Tamil Movie Review

Ranking : 3/5

Cast: Vijay, Trisha, Nazar, Manivannan, Seetha, Prakash Raj, and many others!
Director: Ramanaa
Music: Vidyasagar

Aha! Another Vijay movie...I am sure no one expected anything new from this one...Well mostly ya...Same old story and same old action from Vijay. Vijay needs to do something different at least now...For the past few years all his movie, Thirupachi, Thirumalai, Gilli, Sivakasi, etc. Have been pretty much same. Nothing new and his acting is now getting redundant...So redundant that you can feel and see in your minds eye what he is going to do next.

Anyhoo...Trisha wields the knife killing a corrupt police officer with the help of her uncle Nazar. Vijay and his close knit loving family (dad Manivannan, mom Seetha, and sister) move to Chennai to encourage Vijay's education. Vijay and Trisha meet often and many times at the city library and their friendship develops into love...

Trisha and her uncle plan to kill two henchmen of RDX a feared rowdy in the city before they get rid of RDX...But Vijay also has plans for them and gets rid of the henchmen before Trisha does. During one of the murders Vijay's family sees him chop the villains head off in the middle of the road...Now how he escapes from the law...That we should not question...Because it is a Vijay (Illayathalapathi) movie.

Vijay then explains how RDX had wiped out his entire family that lived in what is now the City library and he was now going to take revenge on all of them. Vijay takes revenge on RDX and then unites with Trisha finishing the movie with a happy ending...

Okay...Now it is a familiar plot...Fine! But what about the stunts? Unbelievable...Really...Vijay's shirt is burning strong in the back...Our man does not bother about it...He keeps on hitting the villain and then he moves his hand in a rapid motion and the fire stops...The shirt just barely burnt for the 45 second exposure to strong flame...Good use of graphics...Really convincing fire...But hello...We are not dumb!

The confrontational dialogue exchange between the villain and Vijay towards the end is real good. I felt it was powerful, effective and also funny. Trisha needs to show more emotions...Her face is pale and lacks expressional variations.

The movie once again is in no comparison to good movies like Kanda Naal Mudhal or Thavamai Thavamirundhu...But you can see it once...If only the violence was lesser...All actors wanting to shed their loverboy image to become action heroes can only lead to violent movies...

All The Fight Stunts!

We are still not in the eighties. We know that it is not real, everyone knows that it is not the hero but the Stunt man who is performing those unbelievable actions scenes or the rope that is making these hero's fly from one place to other! (Note: None of these movies are released as Sci-Fi or Fantasy movies...They are Really trying to depict real life...At least that's what the director claims!)



Every Hero wants to project himself more powerful than the other. When one hero does something atrocious the other tops him by doing something even more ridiculous. Let us not forget the power dialogues preceding all the fight scenes...WHY?? No wonder when you see a hero in real life you think..."Huh! This guy in reality is so small?"

Beyond a certain point is just gets boring...I wish I could forward all the fight scenes and move ahead cause I know the way this is going to end...No Surprise...Hero wins...All villains dead or groaning in pain! There is no such thing as a one man hero and depicting one is just taking advantage of the movie goers time and money.

Fine! You want to prove that the hero is almighty and strong like Hanuman and can kill 30 villains without getting hurt! Agreed...But what about the excessive use of violence, hand cutting, head flying??!!! Do we really need to see all this to get the essence of how bad the villain actually is?

Why can't we just make simple movies, movies that do not have to necessarily depict hero's as superhero's. Movies that we can enjoy and not have the heart and stomach feel sick. I want the movies that Mohan acted in to come back...The ones of Sivaji, Gemini, to come back...Even MGR's (his fight stunts were amazing but never gory!) but stop the prototypical movies being made by Vijay, Ajith, Simbu...

Mulatchi naal ela kooda vidala adhukulla ivanga ellam dialogue pesaranga! STOP THIS!

Paramasivam (2006) - Tamil Movie Review with Spoilers

Ranking: 2/5

Cast: Ajith Kumar, Laila, Prakash Raj (PR), Jayram,
Director: P.Vasu
Music: Vidyasagar

Ajith Kumar almost 35, started his career long time ago with the movie Amaravathi. He was young and cute and went unnoticed. Then he came back with Aasai - A good hit and he has not turned back since...Well at least until he became fat and started acting in crappy movies. Really...He is a Supreme Star with a Thoppai also running in several directions when he hits the villains...

Now he is back...Lean and Mean...Also old! He looks tired and haggard and he desperately needs a hair cut. His build really looks better now that he has lost all his stomach flab but the face???!!!

The movie starts with a bomb blast in Coimbatore showing all burnt and charred bodies for a very long time...Gross! A good cop, Rajesh who had predicted that this might happen a few days before the incident and gets killed by his colleagues. Prakash Raj (PR) is asked to handle the case of the bomb blast. He takes Ajith's help to uncover the terrorist ring under the advice of an ex-cop (Nazar). Ajith is in jail for killing five policemen to avenge his father's death. PR fakes Ajith's death and gives him a new identity.

Ajith is sent to live in PR's house in Ooty where Laila and her family are also living as tenants. Ajith unable to see Laila being tortured (because she is crazy) by her step mom offers to marry her paving way for a couple of duets!

Meanwhile Jayram (the mallu guy) is a CBI inspector who is in hot pursuit of Ajith's whereabouts. Don't know what purpose his role serves but he is also there and therefore I had to mention it here.

Now Ajith kills a villain leading to a swamiji villain who leads to real Pakistani villain (Musa Ali...hahaha). Now that Musa's identity has been revealed he gets worried and takes cover inside PR's boss's house before he sets the bomb off during an International IT meet in Chennai.

Climax scene...Total tension...Ha! You would think...But the whole scene is so stupid that it is funny! Ajith who takes a room and stays in a hotel next to PR's boss's house tells Laila where is going to stay (do assassins or people on a mission do this??) who in turn tells it to Jayram (really we don't know what he is doing in the movie). Now PR smartly alludes all the terrorists one by one and gets them killed by Ajith (Man are those terrorists dumb). In the meantime Jayram is knocking on Ajith's door...Ajith smartly escapes and starts chasing five terrorists who are human bombs...

Now you would think that terrorists dress discretely...But not our dudes...They all wear black in black bikes with black helmets and travel in a gang. Now Ajith our professional bike racer tries to show his talent in that department. Most boring fight scene ever...To save a hundred innocents Ajith kills a hundred innocents...So much for protecting India! Although he does save the IT meet and India's image to the world.

This is another thing that surprised me...How does one travel between Chennai and Ooty in a matter of hours? Anyhoo after finishing his duty of tracking the terrorists Ajith runs to Ooty to take Laila and run away from PR after learning that PR wants to kill Ajith. Ajith is running, PR is chasing...Finally they all meet...Climax...PR lets Ajith to live and also gives him a passport and visa to go and live abroad with Laila...More climax...Jayram comes and tells STOP! Only to give a big lecture and let Ajith go...I still do not understand what purpose Jayram served!! I do not even understand the purpose of the whole movie so I will let Jayram go!

Conclusion: Boring movie, boring story, total nonsense, total waste of time. In a normal Indian movie you try to forget an essential element called logic and enjoy the movie...But this one is just way too bizarre to give it any allowance. So sorry Ajith...You are in good form but your movie still sucks...So maybe it was not your physique that was affecting your career after all...It could have been your bad choice of story.

Badra (2005) /Saravana (2006) - Telugu/Tamil Movie Review

Ranking: 3/5

Cast: Ravi Teja, Meera Jasmine, Prakash Raj, Deepak
Director: Devi Sri Prasad
Music: Boyapati Srinivas

No Telugu person can convince me that Ravi Teja suits the role of a final year college student...Leave alone a college student. He nowhere resembles a college student to start with. Reality Check...He is old and should never again do a role of a college student.

Now the story...Same old, same old! Ravi Teja in the title role is a college student who falls in love with his best friend's sister on seeing her on a DVD. He decides to accompany his friend to his village after college to meet Meera Jasmine (Anu in the movie) who is coming back from London.

Ravi comes back to his house on the day of his sister's engagement with Meera on his tow shocking everyone in his family. His family takes good care of her until one of his uncle talks ill of her. His father keeps calm until one day he sees Ravi hurt and lost on the street after Meera Vanishes. On questioning Ravi tells the flashback...

In the village Ravi meets Prakash Raj his best friends brother and learns that he is a warlord in the village fighting a dispute that has been going on for ages between two families. Prakash Raj wants to put an end to it. A lot of fun filled moments for Ravi Teja and Meera Jasmine before Prakash Raj approaches Ravi Teja asking if he would marry his sister. But before this news could be passed on to Meera Jasmine her whole family but for her is wiped out by the enemies. Ravi kills one of the prominent members of the opposite gang thereby earning their wrath.

The villains chase him to the city of Hyderabad where Ravi Teja resides and try to harm him and Meera...How Ravi and Meera escape from them forms the rest of the movie.

What do you think? Seen it before? Trust me you have! It was called Okkadu in Telugu and Gilli in Tamil. Now this movie is also remade in Tamil by none other than our little super star Silambarasan and Jo. I can so see Simbu mouthing power dialogues like Ravi Teja. The only good thing is Simbu is younger and does not look bored like Ravi Teja did.

The comedy is pretty decent in the movie and the way love develops between Ravi and Meera has been shot well with good humor. I wish that the violence was less and I did not have to see a hand being cut or a head rolling (trust me they were not necessary to make things clear!). The music is neither hummable nor memorable.

Meera has acted her role very nicely. She is a nice actress...But is she pretty or cute?? Debatable! Ravi Teja...Need I repeat myself! I seem to be writing this one to many times for most of the movies being released...." If you have nothing better to do...Then watch this movie...Else save your time for better doing better things in life."

Udhaya Geetham (1985) - Tamil Movie Review

Ranking: 4.5/5

Cast: Mohan, Revathy, Lakshmi, Anand Babu, Sendhil, Goundamani
Director: I need to watch the movie again to note this
Music: Illayaraja

This movie was released sometime around 1985...So around twenty years ago...But even today it is more fun to watch than movies like Aaru and Majaa...Wonder why they cannot make movies like these any more. Not only is this movie a memorable but so is its music. I was watching this movie for a second time after twenty years and I still remembered most of it. Ask me the story of any recent ones...The stories today seem to contiguous.

Arun (Mohan), a prominent singer is in jail with a death sentence looming over his head. He meets Shanthi (Revathy) during one of his concerts and is followed by her on many occasions into the jail and outside too. He shows nothing but animosity towards her behavior and keeps pushing her out of sight. But Shanthi is persistent and does not give up either.

Leela Chowdry (Lakshmi) is the newly appointed Superintendent of Police for the Madras Central Jail and is merciless. However Shanthi with her smartness talks Leela into getting her married to Arun. Arun also agrees to it after a lot of thought and deliberation. Leela arranges for the wedding to take place in her home.

During their first night Shanthi drives a knife into Arun's stomach and explains that she is none other than the sister of Anand (Anand Babu) whom Arun was accused of killing. Arun and Anand sang and danced for a music troupe before Anand's murder. Arun explains his side of the story in pain and proves his innocence to her. Shanthi realizing her mistake now starts to set things right.

The story has an amazing comedy track. If you remember earlier Sendhil and Goundamani comedies (this is much before Chinna Gounder) you will surely remember jump lingam, thengai la bomb, naina, the rogue tree swami, and so on. Looking back it seems like even Goundamani did some sensible comedy (like what Vivek is doing now) back in the eighties before kicking Sendhil became his norm.

Mohan a hero who has delivered so many hits in his hey day is forgotten now...Only the music from his movies are remembered. I cannot say that he was as good as Rajni or Kamal but in his own way his movies were entertaining and had at least 80% assurance of making it in the theatres. Plus all his movies had some of the best music composed by Illayaraja. I think he might have been the only Tamil actor who could not speak Tamil but still made it big with dubbing. I also don't know how many of you remember Anand Babu, comedian Nagesh's son, as far as I remember he was one of our own Tamil Industry's first disco/break dancer. It was nice to see him do some of his moves in this movies. He was a decent actor lost in the annals of movies just like Mohan. Revathy and Lakshmi are good as Shanthi and Leela chowdry.

The movie is really good and worth watching if you can get hold of the DVD and like most movies from that era it is rated for family viewing. So enjoy watching our very own Mohan holding his trademark Mike on a stage...

Oka Oorilo (2005) - Telugu Movie Review

Ranking: 3/5

Cast: Tarun, Saloni, Raja
Director: Ramesh Varma
Music: Devi Sri Prasad

The movie is total time pass...From the beginning of the movie you know that there are only two this movie can end and it is how it does. So we can say that it can be a bit boring if you are the kind who expects thrills and chills in a movie.

Lalitha (Saloni) moves into the village where Ravi (Raja) and Seenu (Tarun) are living. Seenu and Lalitha become fast friends which makes Seenu jealous initially. Though over time the three kids become inseparable until Ravi's family moves to Hyderabad. Seenu and Lalitha grow together becoming real close friends. They are always together and even go to the same school and later college.

Seenu's Aunt (Nirosha) an NRI settled in America tries to get Seenu married to her daughter. She tries to poison Seenu's father and kick Lalitha out of the picture but Laliltha's and Seenu's commitment for each other holds strong.

Friendship paves way to love for both Seenu and Lalitha. One of the guys in the college jealous of their relationship tries to harm Lalitha and Seenu. This leads to Lalitha loosing her father who is her only family. Seenu's aunt takes advantage of the situation and plans to leave to America with Seenu the very next day. On hearing this Seenu elopes with Lalitha to Hyderabad.

As luck would have it Ravi rescues Seenu and Lalitha from the perils of big city and takes them home. Seenu a rich kid, pampered all his life has no aim in life and has no intention of working either. Lalitha convinces him to work but her attempts are futile. Out of guilt Seenu leaves for Vizag...What happens next?? Take a wild guess? Like I told you...Only two things could happen...

The village beauty on the banks of Godavari are postcard picture perfect but it seems like there are no other houses in the village but for a set of Lalitha's house and Seenu's. What are the directors thinking?? That someone can get a visa to go to America the very next day they please to? Come on...Get a life...At least tell that a visa application will be submitted the next day instead of saying "Seenu will leave for America the very next day."

Acting: Seenu's and Lalitha's character portraying one of lazy rich kid and a responsible girl are etched out very convincingly in the first half that lays a very solid foundation for the second half of the movie. Both Tarun and Saloni have a very good on-screen chemistry and have both acted out their parts very well. Raja, first time I am seeing him, has also done a good job and not only that he is also handsome!!!

The music is like any other telugu movie...A little beats and a little melody...Ok!

On the whole you can watch this movie with your family, very simple and a happy-go-lucky movie. I still like the way Telugu movies capture village beauty...Lush green fields and wide water bodies...hmm....So if you have nothing better to do then you can bank on this for decent entertainment.

Kastooriman (2005) - Tamil Movie Review

Ranking: 3.5/5.0

Cast: Prasnna, Meera Jasmine, Sarat Babu
Director: Lohitdas
Music: Illayaraja

Prasnna and Meera Jasmine go to the same college and are at loggerheads on more than one occasion. Prasanna is an introvert and Meera is not. The individual characteristics of both the characters are etched very nicely and are also portrayed aptly.

Prasanna who is assumed to the son of a very rich film producer in actuality is a pauper. His father, Sarath Babu, was a very rich producer at one time but gambled away all the family's savings. Prasanna's family is in debt beyond redemption and everyone is banking on Prasanna to get them out of the mess. Even their poverty and desperation is shown in a very light manner thus taking away any gloom...At least until this part.

On the other hand Meera's life is not so peachy either. Her sister is married to a police constable and have a daughter together. Meera's sisters family along with her sister's mother-in-law live with Meera and her mother. Her sister's husband is interested to take in Meera as his second wife. Meera who is against this goes through a lot of emotional torture and also sees her sister and mother go through physical and emotional torture from her brother-in-law. Meera is the sole bread winner of the family. She works as a nurse at a few houses and goes to college at the same time.

In spite of the misunderstandings and quarrels Meera helps Prasanna in a very tight situation thus bringing them both together. Meera helps Prasanna who tops the University to pursue his IAS education in Delhi.

In the meantime Meera's BIL still tortures her and now starts hounding on her for talking to Prasanna. The beating and verbal abuse is now a regular occurrence. Also, Prasanna comes back from Delhi to realize that his father has already engaged him verbally to one of his debtors daughter.

A slight twist in the tale and the movie ends...

A decent movie, may be watched with the whole family...A little scary at times, especially the role of the Police Constable's mother and her verbiage...But for that the movie is very nice. I would not watch it if I am in a happy mood cause it did bring out a tear or two on more than one occasion...

Prasanna has really molded himself into a decent actor over the past few years. Apart from comedy he can also do serious roles and he carries the character very well on his shoulders. Meera Jasmine, well she is a National Award winning actress...But still her overacting and childish acting gets on your nerves at times. If you look past that...Then it is okay. Sarat Babu a veteran in such roles is good as usual. The mallu actor (I am guessing) who was the police constable...Was Great...He really scared the crap out of you...It was because of him that I could empathize with Meera's character...

Anyhoo...The movie is very watchable...much better than many others that have released over the past few months.

Hanuman (2005) - Hindi Cartoon Movie

Hanuman a movie for children and adults to breeze through the Hindu mythology. It is super fast, does not delve into too many details but is explained well enough to understand who-is-who and what was happening.

In fact a lot of things bought the reaction of, "Really? Is that how it was in the story?? I never knew about it." The animations though not to Disney standards are worth watching. Infact they are cute and funny too. The little Hanuman is really 'cho chweet.' The faces of little Ram is very chubby and the grown Ram not so beautiful as he is supposed to be. Some parts of the movie reminded me of drawings taken right out of Amar Chitra Katha comics.

I had fun watching this movie and I am sure you will too. After all Hanuman is our version of a Superhero...

Bajrangabali ki Jai! Jai Hanuman!

Thavamai Thavamirundhu (2006) - Tamil Movie Review

I have not really written a perfect review for this wonderful movie. But have written something nevertheless...Please visit it at

http://anurussell.blogspot.com/2005/12/i-had-to-write-this-after-seeing.html

Thanks
Anu

ABCD - Tamil Movie Review

Ranking: 4.0/5.0

Cast: Shaam, Sneha, Nandana, Aparna
Director: Saravana Subbiah
Music: Immam

Bharathi (Nandana), Chandra (Sneha) , Daisy (Aparna) all have a revolutionary angle to them as women...something like a 'pudhumai pen' image that Balachander had created in the 70's. They all have a past or present that is introduced to the audience in a superb fashion.

Anand (Shaam) who is an orphan raised by his uncle is trying to get his foothold in Chennai stays as a tenant in Chandra's house. Chandra a widow (who was tortured and harrassed by her husband) takes to Shaam due to his understanding character. Chandra takes care of Anand with lot of love and affection.

Bharathi, a revolutionary lady who hates being sold away to men in the form of dowry meets Anand in a bus. They become friends due to circumstances and Bharathi falls in love with Anand who has a practical approach in life.

Daisy, a church raised girl works in an office where looks and attire have more importance than the quality of work she does. She hates the looks and glares she gets from men. Anand helps admit her in a hospital after she meets with an accident due to some eve teasers and does not make a big deal of it. Daisy too falls in love with Anand.

Anand as one would think should be in a fix about choosing one of the three...but he is clear about what he wants and make a very sensible decision and in doing so he also makes sure that he helps settle the lives of other women too. No wonder these women fell in love with him.

The director keeps us guessing till the last moment about whom Anand's obvious love interest would be. In all this is a very simple story with a good screenplay and direction which is certified for family viewing. The actors have all portrayed their roles very deftly and this movie also alludes simplicity. This could actually be the big break Shaam has been waiting for after 12B. Sneha who can carry an entire movie on her shoulder carries her role very strongly. The other two women also do a very good job in portraying their characters.

I have very little to tell about the music...but otherwise I would surely take time off to enjoy this family entertainer.

Kanda Naal Mudhal (2005) - Tamil Movie Review

Ranking: 4.8/5.0

Cast: Prasanna, Karthik Kumar, Laila, Revathy, Lakshmi
Director: V. Priya
Music: Yuvan Shankar Raja

The music in this movie too did not do it for me. I thought for the first time, it was loud and garrish but I have to listen to it a couple more times before I make up my mind about it.

The story??? Amazing. Simple and Superb...simply superb. I mean why can't people in Bollywood make such movies? They have totally stopped doing that...All I see in Bollywood is NRI-aping movies that are neither funny, real, or interesting. But movies like Kanda Naal Mudhal (KNM) are rare and to be preserved...No vulgarity, clean dialogues, no double entendre's, can really be seen with family, totally feel good, and so on...Really, I felt fresh after seeing the movie. It did not tire me as it did not involve my brain to think, it did not bore me, there was comedy in the movie and not a separate track, and the actors really acted...What more can you ask for? Anyways before I forget let me review the movie...

Krishna (Prasanna) and Ramya (Laila) renew their twenty year old feud when they meet at a culturals only to fight again. Krishna's friend Arvind (Karthik Kumar) who refuses to marry lands up for 'ponnu-parthufying' at Ramya's house at Krishna's insistence. Even though Krishna was the sole reason for Arvind to accept the 'ponnu-parthufying,' Krishna did not know that it was Ramya they were going to meet. On seeing Ramya Krishna tries and explains to Karthik that Ramya is not a soft girl, that she is arrogant, head strong, etc. But Karthik decides that he needs a girl with some spirit and accepts the proposal.

Ramya trying to outdo Krishna tries and acts as if she is a very soft and meek girl thereby disillusioning Karthik who breaks the engagement before he leaves to USA again. Ramya gets angry at Krishna wrongly assuming that he was the reason behind the engagement breaking. Krishna trying to convince her otherwise gets entagled in her family issues and later emotionally with Ramya.

Karthik is coming from USA and now Ramya and Krishna are not sure what to do...For rest of the action watch the movie.

Prasanna has proved with Azhagiya Theeye that he has comic timing and he just reinstated it in this movie. He has done a very good job with no overacting. Sometimes I feel that another 'Mohan' is evolving out of him.

Karthik who had managed to irritate me with is tamil accent actually did not do that in this movie. I liked his acting too...Simple and in fact he suited the role of an NRI perfectly. Laila was cute as a button and played her part to perfection. All supporting artists have done the same. No over acting, no styles, nothing...Just edhartham...Simplicity. Nice job Priya...Hope you make many more good movies like this...But not the same though...

Aaru (2005) - Tamil Movie Review

Ranking: 2/5

Cast: Surya, Trisha, Ashish Vidyarthi, Jay Prakash Reddy, Vadi Velu, Aishwarya
Director: Hari
Music: Devi Sri Prasad

I am missing the point here. What the story about again? Did director Hari think that he could make a film with blood and violence and it would automatically become a hit? Aaru is surely not a Thamizh or a Swamy which I really thought were great entertainers. Aaru is just another attempt at making an also-ran movie. If not for Surya I am sure most of the movie goers would not even waste their time. It is an average movie with average comedy and veyr little window for a story.

The story of aaru alias aaru mugam (Surya) is that of an orphan raised in a kuppam (slum) under the guidance of a dada Vishwanathan (Ashish V.) and his loving wife. Aaru trusts the don with his life while the don does not care too much for Aaru's life. Aaru goes around beating up people, organizing crowds for political gatherings, and so on. Mind you Aaru is a small time rowdy with a great heart (as are all movie small time rowdy's).

Aaru and Trisha bump into each other more than once and Trisha gets impressed by the good nature of the rowdy. In an effort to save Trisha from a kidnapper Aaru throws a gold chain over her neck and brings her home. Trisha obviously falls in love with him and tries to win over Aaru's love. This saving act of Surya wins him negative points from the kidnapping dada (Jay Prakash Reddy).

The climax of the story...Vishwanath (Aaru's mentor don) burns five of Aaru's men for a political demonstration by conning to Aaru. Concerned that Aaru might try to take revenge on him he sets up Aaru to be killed by the kidnapping don (Jay Prakash Reddy). Aaru uncovers the plot and follows up with more killings, blood, gore, and violence...The end is how the end comes to the villain and his brothers.

I am not going to say that I don't like violent movies. There are some that are fun to watch because there is a story behind all the violence. There is justification. But this movie has none. The music did not do it for me either. It was okay. Maybe I will listen to it a few more times and see if it has any impact.

Poor Surya, he can really do a better job choosing his movies. Aaru was surely a bad job. As far as I am concerned all actors did justice to their roles. There really was not much to be done. Violence was one thing but letting a lady use very uncouth abusive language was another. The movie was filled with ugly language and Aishwarya did not hessitate to use them in her male-like voice. I have seen many such don-movies and the same anger and hatred has been conveyed in a better way than with vulgar language.

Let me know if you thought otherwise about the movie.

Gajini (2005) - Tamil Movie Review

Ranking - 4.5/5

Cast: Surya, Asin, Nayanthara
Director: Murugadoss
Music: Harris Jeyaraj

First off, great movie, great camera work, great music, good acting, decent screenplay. In all entertaining and a must watch. Nayanthara, a medical student researches on Surya (as Sanjay Ramaswamy) who is afflicted with temporary memory loss and can remember only 15 minutes at a time. He carries with him a recorder-alarm and a polaroid camera to keep track of events and people he meets. He is a leading businessman of a cellular company that is taking over the globe one peice at a time. Nayanthara unearths his past through his diaries...

Although Surya has done a good j0b acting it is Asin who brings in the lighter moments of the movie. Asin (as Kalpana) an aspiring model has her goals set in life. She lands up being mistaken for Surya's girlfriend and she plays along with the story that goes into the hands of the media. Surya who comes to confront her falls in love with her almost immediately and hides his identity from her. Over time both of them fall in love with each other. Asin not knowing Surya's real identity and Surya waiting to tell her who he really is based on her answer to his question (I love you, do you love me?).

Enter villain, the guy who sells children to child prostitution and does all the bad things (A to Z). Asin helps the police department crack his ring and earns his wrath. Asin gets killed in the process and Surya gets hit in the head thereby leading to his temporary memory loss. The rest of the story is how Surya takes avenges the death of his girlfriend. There is a small twist in the story...but is it justified? I don't know you tell me...

Surya has performed in this movie with elan. He has matured as an actor since Poovellam Kettuppar and today he surely is one of the best heroes we have in Tamil industry. Asin, is pretty, cute and can surely act unlike many other new heroines. She will surely make the audience fall in love with her histrionics.

Nayanthara, as you can notice I have not mentioned her much in the review is very annoying to look at. She is fat over the limit (maybe she can lend some of those extra pounds to Dhanush) and can't act.

The songs, Oru Maalai and Sutrum Vizhi are hummable and very enjoyable. Surya and Asin can shake their legs as much as they can act and entertain. As far as adapting and reusing the story from Memento kudos to the director. He has added the correct amount of desi masala to make it commercial and entertaining for everybody.

Maja (2005) - Tamil Movie Review

Ranking - 3/5

Cast: Vikram, Asin, Pasupathi, Manivanan, Vadivelu, Vijaykumar
Director: Shafi
Music: Vidyasagar

Hoping that this movie will bring a lot of majaI invited a couple of friends over for Dinner and a Movie. Right from beginning to end the movie really did not make too much sense but that doesn't mean that it was boring. It was a very funny movie with funny dialogues that made you laugh while you wonder where all this is going...

Pasupathy, Vikram, and Manivannan are theives who live together as a family. Manivannan who had lost his family in an accident adopts Vikram and Pasupathy, two ten year olds escaped from an ill-treating orphanage thus forming a family bond. Three of them after fighting and discussing decide to quit their life of robbing and stealing and lead a normal life. They buy a lorry after selling their home and decide to move out of the village.

During their drive their lorry breaks down at a village where Vijayakumar and his family live. Vikram and Pasupathy help Vijayakumar to get back the documents of his house from the village headman Rayar (who is referred to as drawer or underawyer and is extremely feared in teh village) after a long and boring fight with Ramudu and Bheemudu (trained goons). Pasupathy almost instantly falls in love with Vijayakumar's daughter who has just two lines in the whole movie and spends the rest of the time either crying or smiling. And Vikram falls in love with Asin (Rayar's daughter) who has very little window to act but a lot of musical appearances.

The story slowly proceeds into the flashback and the introduction of the real Villain...The reason I am saying real villain is because for the first half of the movie you are made to believe that Rayar is a bad guy but later you realize that he is actually nice. A sweet guy...not the bad daddy of the pretty heroine...With no twist and turns the movie ends...predictably.

Vikram is not upto mark in this movie. With movies like Sethu, Kasi, Pithamagan, etc., under his belt I guess he wanted to try something light hearted and it just turned too light. His presence is hardly felt in the movie. Although he is there in every frame it is Pasupathy who steals the show with his comic timing and funny facial expressions. Pasupathy has really donned the comedian role with ease and it is a fun to watch him exchange words with Vikram and Manivannan.

Vadivelu does not amuse me on most days. The only movie I liked him in the most was Chandramukhi in recent times though he has had a few. Otherwise he just screams a lot and is annoying. In this movie he is actually tolerable and makes you laugh at times. I am not sure if the credit goes to him or to the person who wrote his lines. Manivannan who plays the village drunk, I am sure is pretty used to playing that part by now and does a pretty good job of it with great comic timing. Asin makes special appearances for songs and a few dialogues.

On the whole the movie could be an entertainer if you are in the mood for it. Or else please watch Swamy or Dhool again instead of wasting time for Maja. The movie has its funny parts but it fails to keep you focussed.

Sivakasi (2005) - Tamil Movie Review

Ranking - 3/5

Cast: Vijay, Asin, Prakash Raj, Geetha
Director: Perarasu Music: Srikanth Deva

I still don't get it. How can a rich educated girl fall in love with a welder/mechanic/jobless youth? I am not saying that it never happens, but how come it always happens in tamil movies?

Anyways, getting to the story...regular masala vijay movie...Vijay the poor orphaned welder who has four pals around him calling him the greatest and the best all the time. Vijay targetting the male fans, as usual gets over board mouthing anti-feminist dialogues (he gets sued for bashing lawyers...feminists what are you doing???). And I really don't understand how none of the heroines get offended by it but instead fall instantly in love with him.

Asin plays his lady love who cons Vijay which forms a small part of the comedy track. Vijay has a flashback...his family back in the village whom he has run away from. Asin convinces him to reunite with his family. Vijay goes back to find his home upside down because of his brother Prakash Raj. The rest of the story works its way about how Vijay, incognito restores his family back to shape.

Like I said before Masala movie...no thrills and twists. Vijay can attract one particular group and that will be his only faithful audience. Everybody else might just call it too much build-up. Really even if Vijay moves his hands while walking normally (not the heroic walk) the swoosh sounds follow him...it is just a little too much. The way he works with his hands remind us so much about Rajni...His acting skills as far as I am concerned are at a standstill...movies from Gilli, Thirupachi and the ones before that all have Vijay acting the same way...now it is redundant...enough of Vijay bashing...

Although, Asin has more window to perform in this movie than in Maja, it feels like Deja Vu from Gajini. I dont want to say again that she is cute and pretty...blah, blah, blah...

Prakash Raj...how many more times??? How many more times should I see his hamming acting? Well anyway he does his usual role pretty usually...

The music is okay, stunts are fine, screenplay literally runs a movie that has a very "I have seen this before" feeling. Eventually it is a very entertaining movie if you like Vijay...

Athu Oru Kana Kalam (2005) - Movie Review

Tamil Movie Review : Athu Oru Kana Kalam...

Ranking: 2/5

Cast: Dhanush, Priya Mani, Delhi Ganesh,
Director: Balu Mahendra
Music: Illayaraja

The movie starts with Dhanush escaping from prison and making it to Ooty with the help of a lorry driver to whom he narrates his flash back.

Dhanush, a wayward young bloke who falls in love with his servants daughter (Priya Mani) gets reprimanded by his father (Delhi Ganesh). Frustrated he meets up with friends to discuss about his problem. Intoxicated on beer, Dhanush and his friends meet with an accident on their way back home. Delhi Ganesh wanting to teach his son a lesson requests the police inspector to let his son stay in jail for the night. During the stay a fellow prisoner approaches Dhanush for sexual favor and gets killed in the fight that ensues. Danush is sentenced to prison for 10 years.

Trying to depict the harshness of jail term, we, as viewers are put through the torture of watching Dhanush without a shirt on more than one occasion. The lorry driver taking pity on Dhanush story drops him off closer to his girlfriends house who now lives with her grandparents in Kallati, near Ooty. The rest is predictable though unbelievable.

Priya Mani's face portrays the same emotion time and time again. I am sure she can act better if given the opportunity, she is young and very pretty. Dhanush, like I said before and will say it again and again needs to work on his body and running style. With the way he looks he should stop acting like a super hero. Honestly it is never convincing to see a super-lanky Dhanush bashing up villains or even just standing up to them. The rest of the cast portrayed their roles fairly convincingly. Balu Mahendra's direction has given the movie an eighties feel. There is no freshness to the story, characters, or to the actors. Everything looks faded and the story itself is only slightly over 2 hours but feels like eternity. The music by Raja is soothing to the ears albeit sounding extremely familiar.

The movie is worth watching only if you have nothing better to do. Else please do not waste time.