Da Vinci Code (2006) - English Movie Review

Ranking: 4/5

Cast: Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Ian McKellen, Paul Bettany
Director: Ron Howard
Story: Based on the novel Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

The book is amazing. It is big, at first it might intimidate you but even the "I rarely read book" kinda people also will be caught up with this story. The book based on many conspiracy theories that have existed since the crucifixtion of Christ is another conspiracy theory in itself...

Now explaining the story would be trying to condense a 500 plus page book into one single page...Is that possible? Well I do not know but I guess the above paragraph gives a brief synopsis of what the book is about and I will stop with that...But I do want to write a few things about the movie itself.

It is always difficult to make a movie based on book so popular. It will surely raise the expectation of many viewers. This is not fair to the director as it results in many bad reviews. I strongly believe that the movie has justified the book the best it can. The story is complicated many small plots, many historical details but all of the 500+ pages have to be condensed into a two-and half-hour movie...It was well done. Too much expectation always results in disappointments as this movie cannot be embellished with graphics like LOTR or Harry Potter.

I also agree that reading the book before watching the movie might help a lot because it surely helps you understand many nuances that are left unexplained better...the small modifications done to the original story are okay and it just confuses the viewers less...

You should surely watch this movie before making a judgement. It is worth the money if you understand it or it will atleast motivate you to read the book...

Gangster (2006) - Hindi Movie Review

Ranking: 3.5/5

Cast: Emraan Hashmi, Shiney Ahuja, Kangna
Director: Anuraag Basu
Music: Pritam Chakravarthy

This movie is good...not great but good. The acting by all the main protagonists is very good. If I had been the director the one thing I would have changed about the movie is to dub the voice for Ms. Kangna as she has a very bad lisp. Now, do not think I am being mean...In a movie the voice is very essential to convey the emotions but if the voice has a lisp then it does not do a very good job. Many times when Kangna is talking portraying various emotions of anger, disappointment, etc...We laughed. It was really sad but we laughed because her words came out really funny...So just to be fair to her and the director he should have dubbed the voice for her...

The story is about the girlfriend (Simran played by Kangna)of a gangster (Daya played by Shiney) who is a drunkard trying to dissolve her sorrows through drinks. Aakash (Emraan) is a singer at a local bar who falls in love with Simran. Aakash and Kangna start having an affair that Daya discovers. He almost kills Aakash but Simran prevents him from doing so.

Simran is confused if she should stay with Daya or run away with Aakash who promises her a wonderful world if she could turn in Daya to the authorities and marry him. Kangna's confusions is well expressed in the movie. The rest of the movie is about Kangna's decision, betrayal, flash back and the end...

This is a very well directed movie. The acting as mentioned is good, the screenplay is perfect, and the editing is amazing. I enjoyed the movie very much in spite of its dark shades. Violence is present but in no form is glorified. I would strongly suggest watching this movie...

Thiruttu Payale (2006) - Tamil Movie Review

Ranking: 4/5

Cast: Jeevan, Malavika, Sonia Agarwal, Abbas, Manoj K. Jayan
Director: Susi Ganesan
Music: Baradwaj

Manickam's (Jeevan) parents are afraid of him because of his temper tantrums and unruly behavior. Afraid to handle him they send him from a small village in Madurai to his uncle's house in Chennai. Manickam's uncle, a police inspector dotes on him from his childhood and welcomes him with open arms.

Manickam, spends a lot of time on the terrace that overlooks a golf course and with the help of one of his neighbors gets hold of a pair of binoculars. He uses it to spy on people when his eye catches Roopini (Malavika) and Santosh (Abbas) having sex after dark. He observes them many times over few weeks and also learns that they are having an extra-marital affair. And with a little research learns that both Roopini and Santosh are rich. So he decides to video tape them having sex and bilk them to live rich the rest of his life.

Manickam invites his friends from the village over and they start partying and spending Roopini's money like water and also force her to send them on a vacation to Australia. Roopini at every stage of the bilking process tries to outsmart Manickam. The battle of wits is on...Until Manickam falls in love with Rosy (Sonia), a girl planted by Roopini to lure Manickam.

Manickam turns into a good leaf because of Rosy's intervention and everything between Roopini and Manickam are things of past. But Rosy's greedy mother poses a threat to their relationship and Manickam is forced to revert to his old habits once more.

In the meantime Roopini's husband Selvaraj (Manoj) hires a private detective to make sure that his wife is not in trouble...The detective's findings brings in an amazing ending to the movie. The way the director leaves many of the scenes without completion and goes back to complete them giving us a clearer picture is very interesting. Kudos to the director for maintaining the interest and pace of the movie from start to finish.

Jeevan is a good actor, he has done very few movies but a couple of memorable ones. He is very effective on communicating the negativeness in his role. Maybe he should only play negative roles...Sonia Agarwal should learn to emote. She has a deadpan face and she is not attractive either. Malavika is very good in her characterization of Roopini and Abbas still looks gay but was good for his role in the movie. Manoj K. Jayan as the husband of Malavika plays his role to perfection. In other words the casting of the movie (but for Sonia) and the direction is just splendid...

If you have time and are thinking about watching MI3 or Azhagai Irukirai...STOP...Go and see this entertaining thriller...It is GOOD...Worth the time and money.

Mission Impossible - 3 (2006) English Movie Review with Spoilers

Ranking: 2/5

Cast: Tom Cruise, Billy Crudup, Lawrence Fishburne, Philip Seymour Hoffman
Director: J.J. Abrams


It is the same old story...Spy stuck in a web cast by the villain and the spy's own boss. Very obvious, the story is simple and stupid...Like a friend of mine would say..."Stupid and irritating."

Ethan Hunt (TC) a spy who is now settled to teaching as he is getting married and wants to miss out on action is called on to work on one last job...To bring back another fellow spy from the hands of a terrorist (Philip) who has her captive in Germany. TC leaves his engagement party to pursue work...They get the captive spy but she dies on her way to America... TC is now upset but he is in the midst of something he cannot get out of...

Ethan and John M (Billy) are being questioned by John B (Lawrence) for negligence and Ethan wants to protect his boss and set things right. So he takes on a project without anyone's knowledge but just his team mates (3 of them) and goes over to Italy where the bad guy is supposed to be arriving at. They succefully capture the bad guy and bring him to America...On their way to meet John M and John B Ethan hears a clip sent by the dead spy that John B works hand in hand with the bad guy.

Just as he realizes that a big accident happens...No one know how or what exactly happened...But at the end of it there are few cars and a big truck and a hole on the bridge with Ethan running to get the bad guy...Who obviously escapes to take revenge on Ethan...

Ethan's wife is captured. Now Ethan is being asked to work on a project that is supposedly very daring for the return of his wife while his fellow spies capture him and take him back to the head quarters. His boss John M tells him to leave for China where he can complete the mission and come back with his wife...Ethan escapes and is in China where his team mates meet him to help him with the project...

During the course Ethan realizes that the actual villain is not John B but John M...How crappy if he had asked me this I would have told him at the very beginning...Like a Tamil movie only worse...Anyhoo, Ethan returns, John M is dead and John B recommends Ethan to work for CIA...E'S (End of Story)...

Now...Ethan goes to china to bring back something called the Rabbit's foot that is in a canister with the hazardous sign on it...Do we get to know what the hell is in that canister at the end of the movie?? NO...Seriously...After watching a crappy movie for two hours you do not get to know what Ethan was behind all this time after all...Maybe the director himself had no idea...

Few of the stunts are amazing, some of them stupid, and some funny...It is like the Azhagai Irukirai movie where Bharath's mom will jump from the terrace of a three story building holding helium balloons in her hands...Some of the stunts are confusing, in that you do not understand what really is happening...The movie is corny at times and cheesy at others...

If I were you and had extra time, I would still not watch this movie...Till this minute I am regretting spending my hard earned money on this imperfect piece of crap...So verdict...DO NOT WATCH.

Taxi 9211 (2006) - Hindi Movie Review

Ranking: 4/5

Cast: John Abraham, Nana Patekar, Sonali Kulkarni,
Director: Milan Lutharia
Music: Vishal & Shekar

Raghav Shashtri (Nana) a Mumbai taxi driver with love for no one but his wife and kid drives around the city picking petty fights with everyone he meets. To the world he is a cabbie but to his wife he is an insurance agent. He needs money to fix his family with everything they need...

Jai Mittal (John Abraham), son of a late industrialist who has been stripped off property in the last will written by his father before his death. He is contesting in the court and needs to be there on time to produce the documents that prove him to be the lawful inheritor of the property. Jai meets with a small accident the previous night in his car and is now forced to take a cab to the court...

Fate brings Raghav and Jai together. It is hate-at-first-sight. Nothing works in their favor. Their big ego's clash bringing in bouts of laughter and emotions into the film. The rest of the movie takes us through a series of events created by Jai and Raghav to satisfy their anger, ego, and hatred for each other. Do they realize who their real friends are? What they both are angry about? Do they make friends? Watch the movie! You will not regret it!

Nana, perfectly suited his role as Raghav Shashtri, the easy-to-anger cab driver and John was great as Jai Mittal. Raghav's emotions, anger, feelings, and annoyance at the world are very well portrayed by Nana. His love for his wife and kid is also humorously portrayed and Nana does a great job being Raghav.

John, handsome face, perfect physique, and together with all this he is a good actor too...Unlike many of his contemporaries who failed to create a ripple, John is here to stay with his class, style and charisma. He has the kind of a face that can either be handsome or like that of a twisted man... Great going John.

I should applaud the director for a great movie...In one week I saw three movies, Darna, Azhagai, Taxi, and MI3 and this is the only movie that is getting a complete positive review from me...The movie is clean but for a few dialogues and is perfect for family viewing if these dialogues could be censored.

The only negative part in the story is that one cannot believe that all the things shown in the movie can happen in twenty-four hours, that too in a city as big as Mumbai...Maybe the director did it to keep the pace of the movie...Which for its own good does not slow down till the end.

If you did not agree with the movie let me know why...

Azhaga Irukirai Bhayama Irukiradhu (2006) - Tamil Movie Review

Ranking: 2.5/5.0

Cast: Bharath, Arun, Mallika Kapoor, Deepu, M S Bhasker, Renuka, Supergood Lakshmanan
Director: Vijay Milton
Music: Yuva Shankar Raja

Manu (Bharath) comes to Chennai to win over his love and meets Jo during one of his attempts at separating Prem (Arun Kumar) and Nandini (Deepu). Manu explains to Jo that he has been in love with Nandini, a TV News Anchor for over three years since the time she lived in his village
and would love to get back with her. While Jo explains that she has been in love with Prem an aspiring cricket player waiting to make it to the Indian team for more than five years and would love to get married to him. So together they start Operation Tuskon and start plotting to separate the lovers.

Finally when the lovers are separated the truth behind Manu's motives are explained to us which is the Twist in the tale...This is a good part in the movie... After this the movie gets boring...and for the director to really walk around telling everyone that "his story is a different one," he really ended it differently...But is the end justified? Who knows...When the whole story is corny why shouldn't the ending be any different?

Mallika Kapoor, is very annoying, I do not know if it is because of the dubbing artist or if it is just her...Very annoying, acts like a three year old and has the biggest squint...Worse than both Bipasha and Ramba...

Bharath, we have come to accept you as an actor, you are decent, much better than many of our contemporaries but that does not mean that you should cry at every given opportunity...It gets annoying and kind of a drag.

Arun Kumar, you are just too old now for us to watch you as the guy bagging the girl. Sorry you did not get better opportunities five years ago...Shedding those extra pounds might help.

The music is okay and the direction could have been better. All these directors who make crappy movies should have a neutral sensible person who can give productive advises to make the film better. This might help reduce crappy movies and directions...

Darna Zaroori Hai (2006) - Hindi Movie Review

Ranking: 2.5/5

Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Ritesh Deshmukh, Anil Kapoor, Mallika Sherawat, Randeep Hooda, Zakir Hussain, Manoj Pahwa, Sunil Shetty, Sonali Kulkarni, Rajpal Yadav, Arjun Rampal, Bipasha Basu, Makrand Deshpande, Rasika Joshi, Isha Koppikar, Shweta Prasad
Directors: Jijy Philips, Prawaal Raman, RGV, J.D. Chakravarthy
Music: Taabhish Romani & Nitin Raikwar

Ok, Seven short supposedly scary stories, directed by four different directors make this movie...Do you really get scared? Sorry...You will be disappointed in the fact that there is nothing remotely scary about this movie...And this is coming from someone who gets scared real easy. But you will not be disappointed if you did not expect much from Indian horror flicks anyway...

I am not going to sit here and write a summary of all the not-so-interesting stories...Just going to tell you this:
1) Acting is okay.
2) Music does give you a jolt more than a few times.
3) Story extremely predictable...We could guess the story of the movie scene by scene as we watched the movie.
4) There are only four real ghost stories the rest are supposed to be thrilling stories...But the stories told to me by my friends when I was a kid seemed more scary than these.
5) Never trust Rediff.com reviews. They are all paid for...So they lie.
6) The scary scenes are hilarious.
7) No Gory scenes...Which is good for me...I hate to see blood or other things oozing...

This movie is okay if you have not seen master pieces like Omen, Evil Dead, Exorcist, etc...Otherwise you begin to wonder Why RGV does not give up his attempts at making Ghost Stories...Maybe he is trying hard so that out of the 15 movies he tortures us with at least one might become a hit...Nice try...Sorry but This is not the one...So keep trying...And when will I learn not to watch them??!!!

Modati Cinema (2006) - Telugu Movie Review

Ranking : 3/5

Cast: Navdeep, Poonam and all the comedians in the Telugu industry
Director: Kuchipudi Venkat
Music: Swaraj

You wish! You really wish that life was this simple and easy. All you had to do was walk around the city and wait for things to fall in place...How unfortunate for the few of us who do not lead a fantasy life...That life does not happen by chance... But it is always fun to see a fantasy movie!

Sriram (Navdeep), a rich kid, goes around helping people elope and get married...He is not interested to get married as he is not in love with anyone and that he is only twenty-two...Really who gets married at twenty-two these days?

Sindhu (Poonam) is from a middle class family with a step mother and a step sister and a spineless father. Sindhu is struggling to get a job and stand on her own so that she wouldn't be a slave in her own house under her evil step mom. She steps out of the house for her interview when the story starts...

Sriram sees Sindhu walking down the street and falls in love with her. He accosts her after rescuing her from a bank robbery and they become friends. He walks around the town with her and makes her almost miss her interview...She gets mad with him but is happy that she got dropped off at the office on time for her interview. After receiving the appointment letter Sriram asks her to go visit some special place with her for coffee. She does...and remember all this is happening in one day. Some misunderstandings occur and they part company...Until Sindhu realizes that she has made a mistake and turns back trying to search for Sriram.

Eventually the two of them fall in love with each other by the end of the day. In the meantime Sindhu's daddy fixes up a marriage alliance for her and the wedding is scheduled for the very same night at 9.30pm...All Sindhu knows about the guy is that he is an NRI and has something to do with Sriram Chits. When Sindhu visits her father at Sriram Chits and catches him talking to Sriram (which is incidentally owned by Sriram's family) She assumes that her father has fixed her marriage with Sriram. She is happy and without any questions accepts the proposal.

Just before their wedding her uncle realizes that the bridegroom is not Sriram but Srikanth another NRI and he is upset and confused. He decides to help Sindhu out and they figure out a solution to make it a happy ending...Now don't tell me that you would not have guessed that this movie had a happy ending if I had not told you so...

As much as I love feel good movies...I get thrown off by totally unbelievable stories. I agree that if you are marrying some guy you do not know anyway then why not marry a guy you have spent a day with...But still...Why give the guy who is waiting all dressed up and excited the moot? This is the latest trend in Tollywood movies, to have a second guy and give him the boot in the last scene just before the marriage...All his relatives and family are sitting in the crowd but he magnanimously walks out and no one asks any questions...I wish I could meet a guy who did that...ya right!

I am also ubale to digest the fact that Sriram's father who does not reside in the same city as him (I guess he lives somewhere abroad per the phone call) somehow lands in HYD within three hour or less notice...Amazing this technology. My dad would have thrown a fit had any of my brothers done either:
1) Stopped their marriage in the last minute
2) Or give my father half hour notice about their marriage...

Once again this is an attempt beyond idealism. Movies are always try to play with the fantasies of people's mind...But this one is just way beyond belief...You know, like most of the times you have wish it happened to you but with this one...There is no chance...and that's the reason this movie is not upto mark...

It gets full points for freshness, acting, characterization, music, and many other things but it looses its grip in the most important area...The story...After the first half you really hope something different might happen but alas it is just not how you expect...Modati Cinema...Average cinema...

Nuvante Nakishtam (2006) - Telugu Movie Review

Ranking: 2.5/5

Cast: Aryan Rajesh, Allari Naresh, Anu Mehta
Director: EVV Satyanarayana
Music:

Yuva (Aryan Rajesh) who god-knows-what-he-does is a rich kid from USA who lives with his grandmother in a unbelievingly big house in New York...I have to tell this here before proceeding...His father passed away when Yuva was a little boy...Unless his father had some underworld dealing or the CEO of Microsoft (which is not him for sure) there is no way on earth he could have made so much money...and in a lot of scenes Singapore is tried to pass off as America...Infect even the house they show must be located in Singapore and not New York, New York. Why lie or cheat your viewers?!

So proceeding to the story...He is under grandparental pressure to get married. He sees some photos, picks the girl he likes and flies to India and takes the train to Rajmundry to meet the girl, Radha (Anu Mehta). Radha does not seem interested but her parents are excited. Everything is finalized until Yuva learns about her love for another man Devudu (Allari Naresh) who is no more...

Devudu, an orphan grew up with Radha...Fell in love with her. When he approached Radha's father he was asked to move to the city to earn some money...But he got killed in an accident while trying to steal something and run. Yuva advises her to move on and heads back to Singapore...Err...America...

Once back home he decides that he should marry Radha because he knows her past and can accept her with it and treat her well unlike any other man who might marry her. He once again flies back...and during his transit at Singapore he bumps into a country bumpkin (Allari Naresh) at which time you know where the ending of this movie is heading to...Incidentally Yuva becomes friends with the country bumpkin (CB) without ever asking for his name...

Now after flashback we realize that the CB an orphan fell in love with a rich girl and he was asked to earn some money and come back to ask for the hand of the girl formally...CB went to Singapore made some money in a year and is now back to win the girls hand...He is excited...

How stupid can you be? A dude here is telling a story similar to what the father of your wife-to-be told you and you cannot put two and two together? You are way too stupid buddy!

Anyhoo any more of writing and you will have no need to watch this average telugu fare. There is nothing new in the movie...It is even boring at more than one instance...The comedy track is the only positive thing in the movie (which is also not so great)...My advice is watch it if you are as jobless as me! And note there is no mention about Music!!!

Reverse Analysis of Rang De Basanti

Read my Reverse Analysis of RDB.

Pattiyal (2006) - Tamil Movie Review

Ranking: 3.5/5

Cast: Arya, Bharath, Pooja, Padmapriya
Director: Vishnuvardhan
Music: Yuvan Shankar Raja

Pattiyal is the story of two orphans Kosy (Arya) and Selva (Bharath), whose life started in a slum in Chennai. They grew looking out for each other and in course of time they resort to becoming hired killers. Swamy (VMC Haneefa) brings them their contracts to kill people. Together they kill many men one after the other.

Kosy is the hot headed drunk who is almost always never in a good mood. He keeps running away or ignoring Saroja a neighborhood girl who pines for him. We do not know the exact reason Saroja loves a gangster...But Kosy does not permit himself with any distractions and keeps pushing her out of his life.

On the other hand Selva is mute and he has a photographic memory storing images of his victims in his head. He is smooth, he knows how to operate and is very smart and patient too. He loves Kosy a lot and would do anything for his friend. Selva also has a lady interest in Pooja who is a pharmacist who falls in love with him...Now she does not know that Selva's profession so she is excused for not having a reason to love a gangster.

The first half of the movie projects the life of Selva and Kosy. But the twist starts in the second part of the movie where Swamy delegates the murder of a very rich businessman in Coimbatore, Nachimuthu Gounder (Santhana Bharathy) to Selva and Kosy.

In the meantime Saroja's harassing boss rapes her in lust and Kosy comes to know about it. He abandons his Coimbatore trip temporarily to take care of his personal business. What is the outcome of his actions? What happens to Selva in Coimby needs to be seen on screen where the movies goes through twists and turns before finishing off in what I thought was a predictable ending.

I have to admit that Vishnuvardhan's Arindhum Ariyamalum is still my favorite movie. I have seen it like 4 times and I loved just love the movie. I guess Vishnuvardhan has a liking towards gangsters and likes to make movies based on them...Well he has done a pretty decent job so far!

As for the protagonists, Arya needs a HAIR CUT!!! GET ONE! I know you are a gangster but you look like a little T.Rajender in most scenes...It is Chimpu's duty to imitate his dad not yours! But hey you act naturally and yup! Your eyes are magnetic. I also liked few of his dialogue delivery when he gets mad with Selva for falling in love.

Bharath, slowly but steadily has been making place for himself in the cinefield. Who would have thought that Bharath from the long forgotten movie Boys would become an actor in demand?! Well Kadhal surely gave him the boost he needed and he has held steadily to it! Nice job as the mute and deaf gangster. His face, eyes, and bodily language expressed his feelings very aptly.

As for the heroines...Both Pooja and Padmapriya played a easily forgettable role...So I can only feel sorry for them. Music by YS Raja is as usual cool and the camera work by Nirav Shah is awesome!

You can watch it if you like gangster movies...Else just see Arindhum Ariyamalum or Mercury Pookal...This might just be a little too sad for you!

Inside Man (2006) - English Movie Review

I usually do not like reviews for English movies. Not that I do not understand them or enjoy them but I just find it outside my genre of interest to discuss them. This movie is special...and I will tell you why.

Inside man is a movie on Bank Robbery. This action flick has lots of gun, lots of screaming people, loads of cops, and of course the plot of the movie is Bank Robbery. The plot of the whole robbery-escape although is not the most nouveau ideas...I believe that someone in India had done it a long time ago...You know who? Let me see if I can explain this in simple flashback...

Ok now let us track back to somewhere between 1980-1990 (I know it is a long span) when K. Bagyaraj released a movie with him in the lead role. The movie starts with Bagyaraj dressed as a clown attempting Bank Robbery...He walks into the bank, points a gun and locks up the bank...He calmly proceeds to lock everyone up in a room and with the same calmness calls the police tells them that he will send all the hostages one by one (or something like that) and then dresses himself like an old man and walks himself outside the door and then escapes with the help of police who got conned. It surely was a novel concept...

If K.Bagyaraj had adopted it from an English novel and reproduced it in his movie then I am sorry...But still the idea behind the movie is stale. I wonder why I even spent the $8...But it was worth for just one thing...

The titles at the beginning and the rolling credits at the end. They played the song Chaiya Chaiya from the movie Dil Se by A.R. Rehman and sung by Sukhwinder Singh and Swapna Awasti. In fact I made all my friends wait till we saw A.R.'s name mentioned on the screen. We were four proud Indians standing there alone in the theater after everyone had cleared out. And I told everyone who had called me "Gavti Bunder" because I was from a small village called Chennai that "It was a Gavti Bunder who had also graced the screens of movie theaters all around the world!!!"

So now you see why this movie gets a special mention...Most of the times I always see an English movie remade in Indian but for the first time, at lease I felt that it was the other way around...and of course because of our ARR!

Being Cyrus (2006) - English Crossover Movie Review

Ranking: 4/5

Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Dimple Kapadia, Naseerudin Shah, Bomman Irani
Director: Homi Adjania
Music: Salim-Sulaiman

Do I like this movie? I don't know. Was I bored? Nope. Was it interesting? Yup. Was I curious? Totally. These are some of the feelings that passed through my mind as I sat watching this movie. Incredible screenplay and performances make this somewhat predictable story a very interesting movie.

The story is about the Sethna family, a rich but dysfunctional Parsi family settled between Mumbai and Panchgani. Dinshaw (Naseerudin), a famous potter of yesteryear lives in Panchgani with his wife Katie (Dimple). They are not happy couple, Dinshaw and Katie live in their own worlds.

Enter Cyrus Mistry (Saif), the narrator of the story. He is an orphan who had been living in various foster homes with his sister. He moves in with the Sethna's in pretense of being an apprentice to Dinshaw. He is welcomed with open arms and sometimes just a little more than that from Katie. Katie and Cyrus have a flirty relationship. In the course of a year Cyrus learns all about the Sethna's.

The sethna's family has a surviving dad, a brother Farooq (Boman), and the brother's wife Tina (Simone). The father the owner of a big apartment complex in Mumbai lives in a small shacked up room adjacent to his illtreating son's apartment. Farooq, a controller, oppresses both his wife and his father. While he is having an affair with someone over the phone.

Cyrus, on the request of Katie travels to Mumbai to deliver a package from Katie to Dinshaw's father who is senile. Cyrus taking pity on the state of life led by the old man starts visiting him often and starts befriending him. How does the Sethna family and Cyrus Mistry's life get entangled? For that you need to watch the movie because anything else I might say now might give away the whole plot...Just trying to keep the suspense in!

The ending of the movie though serious has a very comical narration and touch to it. In fact it was even funny and at times confusing. Though the story seemed predictable at times sharp twists makes it a very unpredictable movie.

How many actors have more than one chance to prove that they can act and make a movie work? Well Saif and Abhishek Bachan are a couple I can name off my head who have had more than 15 chances before they finally made an entrance. But that does not give me the right to take away credit from Saif for a job well done in this movie...His portrayal of Cyrus was just perfect.

Dimple, Naseerudin Shah, Boman Irani, and Simone Singh should be commended for a job well done. From the casting of the police inspector to the fat lady with a dog everybody in the movie were well picked for their role...On the whole the movie is a package well put together!

For some odd reason I did not come out of the theater with a happy feeling but rather a very disturbed mind...So If you are the kind that enjoys a light movie this might just be too heavy for you. Because it is Dark Comedy!

Thambi (2006) - Tamil Movie Review

Ranking: 3.5/5

Cast: Madhavan, Pooja, Vadivelu
Director: Seeman
Music: Vidyasagar

This like many other movies released over the last few months follow the correct-your-society footprint...Which I must say is redundant now with so many movies...Indian, Ramana, Anniyan, etc., So let me go directly to the review...

Thambi (Maddy) stops crime from happening and brings about a change in the person committing the crime by making the criminal face reality. This does not sit well with the local don who already has a problem with Thambi for having sent his brother to the jail.

Thambi surely falls in love with the heroine a dancer and a college student and a few duets crop up which are all forward-worthy. The villain hates Thambi because Thambi was the reason his younger brother is behind the bars...and the villain has vowed to murder Thambi before his brother is released.

The villain chases Thambi but Thambi gives power-dialogue and leaves...The fighting scenes, thank god are not elaborate and boring...Thambi with his thoppai practices some form of martial art that is very powerful...

Thambi as usual has a past where his family was savagely killed by the villain and in spite of this Thambi helps the villain save his mother and daughter in a strike situation created by the villain himself...But the brother of the villain in rage hacks Thambi first thing after his release...

Does Thambi survive? What happens to the villains? What happens to the heroine? Hmm...I totally lost track of that...

Maddy should learn from Ajith and loose some weight...Really dude...You have a FAT THOPPAIS...But he still looks cute...His eyes pop out and his voice gets deep everytime he gets angry which is most of the movie...

The heroine...Cannot dance for nuts...But why is a dancer? Mystery...She cannot even act and leave alone looking cute...

I like the approach used to stop crimes from happening...I liked the logic Madhavan states...I think may be it could work...But will it be implemented??!!! Anyways as much as it is a 'message movie,' it does try to work on a slightly different path...On the whole it is not a totally bad movie...It is okay!

Kalaba Kathala (2006) - Tamil Movie Review

Ranking: 4/5

Cast: Arya, Renuka Menon, Akshaya
Director: Igor
Music: Niru

This movie is the remake of Vali using a lady-villain or villainess...In Vali it was Ajith versus Ajith and here it is Arya versus Akshaya...Anyhoo the story...

Arya marries Renuka Menon from a small village and moves her to Chennai where he works as a software engineer. Arya is a very romantic person and both him and wife live very happily. Renuka has a sister, Akshaya, who comes to Chennai to get her degree in multimedia and stays with the cute couple...

Akshaya starts falling in love with Arya...She starts to fantasize him and decides that she is going to ask him to marry her...Very bold indeed. Hearing this Arya gets angry and advises her to leave for her village...But Akshaya threatens Arya with life. She tries her best to seduce him but Arya stays away from her. There are few dialogue exchanged with sugar coating between Arya and Akshaya in front of Renuka who is now pregnant.

Enter villain, Akshaya's cousin who is a rowdy but deeply in love with Akshaya...He chases Akshaya in Chennai and threatens to kidnap her...To know what happens from here on you need to watch the movie...Does Akshaya marry the villain, or does she marry Arya, or does Renuka get a whiff of what is happening in her house? Suspense!

I checked many websites and everyone had bad reviews for this movie...But I gave it a 4/5...Because I appreciated a couple of things...First...Arya's acting...I was prejudiced that Arya might be too young to carry the role of a married working man...But he did it with elan and it was very impressive indeed. Second, I liked the acting of Akshaya...Very impressive for a debut. Renuka Menon could have acted a little less childish but she was okay...Also the movie is very fresh...there is subtle comedy and no separate comedy track...suspense...I liked the screenplay and direction...very fast and not many slow moments.

The movie had enough romance and suspense factor towards the end and also the ending was very impressive...As much as I felt bad it was probably the best way to end the movie...

If you think that this movie sucked let me know why...

Kalvanin Kadhali (2006) - Tamil Movie Review

Ranking: 3/5

Cast: Suryah, Nayanthara, Vivek, etc.
Director: Tamilvannan
Music: Yuvan Shankar Raja

Vijay worked with Surya as a director for one of his earlier hits...Kushi...Thereby we can assume that Suryah was a major influence for Vijay...Which can be easily identified seeing Suryah's monkey tactics on screen repeatedly movie after movie...The way he moves his hand, his head, his body is so bloody similar to what Vijay does...Both annoying!

Anyhoo...The story...Sathya (Surya) runs a software/BPO company for Sarath Babu in Kerala. There he meets Haritha (Nayanthara) his ex-love from Chennai and then starts a flash back...Till this point in the movie...The first ten minutes you think that Suryah has matured as an actor...But then once the flash back starts...Everything is back...

Sathya in the past was a playboy, sleeping with girls, playing games to take them to bed and dumping them immediately...Rich as he was he was not interested in commitments...He sees Haritha in temple and realizes that she might be his next candidate and changes his personality with the help of his friends to woo her to bed...

But Haritha on the other hand falls deeply in love with Sathya even without knowing what he does, where he lives, etc., She calls Sathya home one day when no one is in the house and Sathya tries to misbehave with her...She tells Sathya it is okay and invites him home for lunch with her parents the next day.

Sathya ignores her calls and ignores her until she visits him at the place where he stays and takes him home to introduce her family to him. Everyone is very impressed but Sathya is ashamed that he is not truly in love with her...He decides that he will end the relationship and starts trying many ideas to cut her off his life...But Haritha is persistent and does not let go of him believing him to be the best man she had ever met...Until one day one of Haritha's friend attests that Suryah is a man of ill-repute and Suryah is not able to counter that...

The rest of the movie is about Suryah and Nayanthara getting back together...Obviously...

I do not think you need more of my opinion on Suryah's acting!!! But I should mention that he has become a little better than before...Nayanthara has portrayed Haritha really well and it makes you wonder if she is really dumb that she cannot see through Sathya's character...I am sorry! Vivek's comedy leads to the lighter moments in the movie...But it is in no comparison to Minnale and Sami...

It is the perfect movie to watch if you have nothing better to do and do not want to analyze the nuances of a film...Time pass...Catchy songs...Decent comedy...Simple story...Just chill and enjoy...

PS: My reference to comparing Suryah's histrionics with a monkey is not intended to insult either of them...

Kodambakkam (2006) - Tamil Movie Review

Ranking: 2.5/5

Cast: Nanda, Diya, Tejashree, Manivannan, Ramesh Khanna
Director: Jaganji
Music: Sirpi

Movies should have a reason to be made for...Just like everything in life...Some are made for money, some for art, some for pleasure, and then there is Kodambakkam...Wonder why waste time and money on a movie which has no reason, solves no purpose and nothing short of being a terrible disaster...

Now I wonder, why did I really watch the movie? What was my reason?? I do have one, it is to stop others from wasting their time...

This is a story about Suha alias Sugavannan(Nanda), a man who comes from the village (like most of our directors in T.Nadu) trying to make it in the cine field as a director. He struggles hard but producers do not appreciate his female oriented concept. One after the other he meets with many failures and goes back to his village on a false alarm call about his mother's death. He stays back in his village waiting for opportunity to knock on his door while spending time with his rich girl friend Dhanam (Diya). Dhanam urges Suha to go to Chennai and pursue his dreams...

Suha goes back and with the help of his friend and production manager Puli Kumar (Ramesh Kanna) convinces Rasappa Kounder (Manivannan) to produce a film with Suha as the director. Suha, Kounder, and Puli Kumar face many troubles during the shooting due to the Heroine, ego clashes, and towards the end finances. Everyone puts in their best and hope to make it big.

In the meantime Dhanam leaves her parents and moves to Chennai to stay with Suha as her parents are forcing her to get married to someone else. This causes some angry exchange of words between Suha's mom and Diya's parents. Suha's mom who had raised her son single handedly singing at death's vows that to Diya's parents that her son will become popular and rich as soon as his movie releases.

Finally the movie is ready to be sent out but then no distributor wants to pay for it, and Manivannan finally releases it with his own money...The movie reaches the theater a day late. Suha's mom dies of heart break as her whole village which had assembled at the theater to see the movie leave insulting her son and she is disappointed that her son had failed...

Suha's movie that had a late release runs well in the theaters and he is popular now with a house and car gifted to him by Manivannan...But he realizes that successes that does not come on time has no value in life...

The movie is slow, songs are totally boring, bad choreography, bad screenplay...The director has tried to portray how difficult it is to make a movie and hoped that his movie would be a success...Like the one in the movie...But alas he has succeeded in boring us totally.

One note before I sign off...To the actors credit they have all performed their roles very aptly. The english spoken by the character Ritu is intolerable...Mind you, I am not commenting on the accent...but the grammar...is horrible! The mother character, friend character, all are good...Sorry about the story...

Chukkalo Chandrudu (2006) - Telugu Movie Review

Ranking: 3.5/5


Cast: Siddarth, Saloni, Charmi, Sada, ANR, Sunil
Director: Shiva Kumar
Music: Chakri

Arjun (Siddarth) an NRI from Germany raised by his grandparents comes back to India in search of a match due to persistence from his grandfather (ANR). His grandfather moves to India from Germany to force his grandson to find a suitable bride. But Arjun does not believe in arranged marriage and decides to choose his wife from three of his childhood friends when he lived in India.

Girl #1: Shalini (Saloni), an ace tennis player (something like Sania Mirza). Pretty, smart, witty and fun. Her father (Pratap Pothan) is her coach and is very dedicated to see her make it to Wimbeldon.
Girl #2: Sandhya (Charmi), a PhD student with a revolutionist mind. She is brave and speaks her mind out.
Girl #3: Shravani (Sada), a medical student from a middle class background with a very soft nature. She is illtreated by her family and struggles to keep herself and her sick grandmother afloat.

The problem is Arjun is not sure whom he loves as he likes all three of them. He changes his name to Krishna, his attire to match the personalities of the three girls and also his profession. He does not want any of them to be prejudiced, or have any attachments. Arjun's discussions with his friend Puppy (Sunil) about choosing the three girls is very funny and brings in the comical moments in the film.

The rest of the film is pretty simple and even predictable...Whom does Arjun choose? What happens to the other two girls? The comedy, the songs, the sentiments, et al...

The movie has a very simple plot, good comedy and acting which makes it worth the $5 I spent for watching it.

Siddarth's telugu is a little different but I am happy that he speaks his dialogues...Saloni is the only source of any exposure with her tennis outfits...So the movie is clean...Charmi plays a very intense women always having her face all screwed up...and Sada a very docile girl with a sad look on her face all the time. Saloni and Charmi seem okay next to Siddarth but Sada looks a tad too old or mature for him. ANR does not need any special mention as he has been-there-done-it so many times and he has earned all accolades. He is just perfect for his role.

The music is okay but I was searching for the forward button in my remote on many occasions. Some dialogue seems excessive and could have been shortened and the same applies to the length of the movie.

Do watch the movie with friends and family as you need some sort of entertainment when it starts to drag ;)

Bluffmaster (2006) - Hindi Movie Review

Ranking: 2/5

Cast: Abhishek Bachan, Ritesh Desai, Priyanka Chopra, Bomman Irani, Nana Patekar
Director: Rohan Sippy
Music: Vishal & Shekar

It was bloody cold outside for once in Dallas...Just as spring started last week the cold decided it would visit us at least once and blasted us with icy wind and freezing rain...Since it was an indoor weekend we rented Bluffmaster...Total bad decision...Three hours of a wonderful day lost in watching this movie...

I have always had a sixth sense that makes me avoid crappy Hindi movies...Like Neal n Nikki, Salam Namaste, Zinda, Family, and so many more...But I think my sixth sense was on vacation yesterday and so here is the review...

Roy (Abhi) is a con man who gets rich cheating everyone. He is considered to be one of the best and smartest in his industry (ha!). He chooses to become a conman because he wants to do everything and not just one thing...Like be a doctor or an engineer or a mechanic...Based on his choice...A worthy reason indeed. So anyway the hero proceeds to get engaged to his girl friend Simmy (Priyanka), of six months who knows nothing about his profession...On his engagement he gets exposed and the engagement is cancelled.

Roy distraught starts following Simmy everywhere trying to change his life and become a nice guy...But keeps bumping into Dittu (Ritesh) who is a small time thief. Over the course of time Roy starts developing constant headaches and faints often and on one such occasion Dittu helps him out and takes him to Dr. Bhalerao (Bomman) who diagnoses Roy with some kind of cancer in the brain.

Roy freaks out and goes and tells his to Simmy who throws a deaf ear to his plight. Dittu adopts Roy as his guru and starts following Roy learning the tricks of the trade from the Best. Roy now knows that his days are numbered to a maximum of 90...and wanting to do a good deed agrees to help Dittu to avenge the man who put his father in a mental hospital...aka Chandru (Nana).

Now Nana as usual is a scary person doing scary things and saying corny/scary dialogues...Roy and Dittu plot to cheat him out of five crores...How do they accomplish it? Yup...Go and see the movie...

Ok as I said in my intro...The movie is boring but for the last song rapped by Abhi...Everything else about this movie is boring...Ritesh trying to do a Arshad Warsi...Bomman Irani...Nothing new...Priyanka...Same old pretty lass...Abhi...Ya fine...If my dad was the biggest star in India then eventually (after 10 flops) I would also start acting...But still cannot carry a movie solely on his shoulder...In all the movie is very below average...With Abhi, Ritesh, and Rohan still riding on the popularity of their parents...

For starters try thinking about a novel story...and please even if you want to remake old ones...Let the screenplay not bore the viewers...Pace is really important even you want to repeat old movies...No thanks for trying and better luck next time...

Arinthum Ariyamalum (2005) - Tamil Movie Review

Ranking: 4/5

Cast: Navdeep, Prakash Raj, Arya, Krishna
Director: Vishnuvardhan
Music: Yuvan Shankar Raja

Refreshing is one word to describe this movie. Navdeep, a brahmin boy raised in Tirunelveli area moves to Chennai to pursue engineering. Before he leaves for Chennai he gets smitten by a girl he sees on the streets of his village dressed in pavadai thavani.

Navdeep moves in with Krishna who is an aspiring actor and a village acquaintance. Through his friend he meets Samiksha, the girl he had seen in his village...As she is a part of Krishna's drama troupe. They start hanging out together and become sort of friends.

In the meantime Navdeep crosses lines with Arya who is the son of Prakash Raj, a don. Arya murders a man in front of Navdeep's. During another encounter he shoots Samiksha in her leg while she intercepts a bullet aimed for someone else. Navdeep enraged with Arya registers himself as a witness against Arya with the ACP who is dying to arrest Prakash Raj and his son.

Prakash Raj invites Navdeep home to request him to withdraw the complaint. He tells him that he would have killed anybody else but since Navdeep is young and has a bright future ahead of him he is letting him go with a warning. Undeterred Navdeep does not withdraw his complaint. Prakash Raj enraged asks his henchmen to kill Navdeep as the ACP arrests Arya and beats him up in jail.

Prakash Raj learns that Navdeep is his own blood, his son, while he is performing devasham for his wife. He regrets his decision and calls his men off Navdeep. Here there is a small flash back of young Prakash Raj and an explanation of who Arya really is. From then on Prakash Raj along with Arya set on the trail of Navdeep trying to convince him to accept them as family. Navdeep is very much against both Prakash Raj and Arya befriending him and disowns them everytime they chase him......Do they succeed or not? You have to see the movie for that.

I love the movie, the songs, the protagonists, the comedy...Everything. I strongly suggest you watch this...and is perfect for a Saturday afternoon after lunch lying down with chai in one hand...ah! Perfect...

Dishyum (2006) - Tamil Movie Review

Ranking: 4.5/5

Cast: Jeeva, Sandhya, Nasser
Director: Sasi
Music: Vijay Anthony

Be prepared. This might be a long review. I really enjoyed this movie and so might just talk a bit more than usual...

Bhaskar (Jeeva) a movie stuntman bumps into Cinthiya (Sandhya) because of his friends. Their meeting is very casual and he forgets her immediately. The next time Sandhya meets him she revives his memory and they become platonic friends.

Cinthiya sees all the trouble Bhaskar has to go through in his profession and sympathizes him. Once while she advises him to get smart or get married before everyone take advantage of him Bhaskar asks her to marry him. But Cynthia says that she has no feelings for him and he is just a friend. Bhaskar starts developing love for her in his heart and starts day dreaming (which means songs!).

Getting frustrated that he has love-feelings for her inside him while calling her a friend outside Bhaskar decides to get married to some girl. On his way to see the girl Cynthia stops him and asks Bhaskar to wait...If he can convince her then she will marry him...Bhaskar takes on the challenge and starts impressing her in the only way he knows...In spite of everything Bhaskar does Cynthia finds fault before she apologizes to him always...In short in more circumstances than one she finds him embarrassing.

Cynthia looses her father (Nasser) while he was fighting a fire leaving her and her mother to fend for themselves. Bhaskar realizes that Cynthia was lucky not to have fallen in love with him as he would have also put her life through torture with her worrying if he will come back safely everyday from shooting or not...They break off and stop seeing each other...

Cynthia gets engaged through her mother to get married shortly. Does Cynthia get back with Bhaskar, what happens next forms the rest of the story.

Simple story...Vijay, Ajith, why even our Rajnikanth has done such movies...Poor dude falling in love with a girl beyond their status...But trust me this movie has a different approach. Everything is natural...The hero does not become rich in the last scene...Neither does he posses superhuman strength killing villains...No opposition from parents (well not as in other movies at least)...The hero remains where he was before he fell in love with his heroine...That is the difference.

Neither does the heroine fall in love with there hero at first sight. She also analyzes her situation from a practical eye rather than romantic (filmy) vision. The hero is a plain and simple guy...In other words a tough guy to fall in love with...That is best part...The director actually proves to us why Cynthia fell in love with Bhaskar...There is actually a reason unlike other movies...Vijay gives a power dialogue and Asin falls in love with a mechanic in Sivakasi...How many rich girls have done that??!!! Annoying!

The dialogues are very effective...Some of them made me think...The story is very honest...The acting is also just perfect. Sandhya has an effective way of portraying herself without overdoing her role. Jeeva is a hero with power backing...But he unlike many others started doing well after his third movie...Did not take too many chances before he could finally be called an Actor. The comedy track in this movie is provided by the small man (Amitabh)...He was hilarious and the his justification in the end touched me...Nasser as father and the 'Anni' lady as mother performed their roles with elan.

In all...I enjoyed watching this movie...The feel good factor is there...The humor is there...Can we watch it with family?? Well but for a couple of scenes...Why not?!...The dialogues are clean...The movie is good...So sit back, relax, and enjoy!

Anand (2004) - Telugu Movie Review

Ranking: 4/5

Cast: Raja, Kamilini Mukherjee, Sathya, Anish Kuruvilla
Director: Sekhar Kammula
Music: K. M. Radhakrishnan

I like such feel good movies. You know the ending right from the beginning but you still watch it so that you can enjoy the sweet feeling in the end. Yes...It is one of those love stories that you have seen time and again presented to you with new protagonists in a new setting.

Roopa looses her family at a very young age in a car accident and struggles alone to make it in life. She takes the help of her grandmother living next door but stays alone in the same house where she lived with her parents.

She is engaged to marry Rahul her co-worker at office. Her decision for accepting the marriage was very practical. Rahul was rich, he liked her and she hoped that he would take care of her. She wanted security that she had never had in life after her parents passed away. Rahul on the other hand is ruled by his mothers whims and fancies. He is spineless and moments before the wedding he takes sides with his mother against Roopa. Roopa annoyed walks out of the hall.

Enter Anand, the son of the person who had killed Roopa's parents in the accident. Anand's father had lost his senses from the night of the accident and was at Hyderabad to witness Roopa's wedding and give her blessings. Anand overhears everything that happened between Roopa and her Fiance and decides that he is going to win her hand and help her.

Anand moves into the portion next to Roopa's and starts wooing her. Anand who is a multi-millionaire rich kid suffers through everything just to make Roopa fall in love with him. Small fights, big fights and then the climax...Do you have any doubt what is going to happen next? If you do...Then you have really not seen many Indian movies...

The music is pleasing, the acting is very convincing, the story is very comforting, relaxing, and entertaining. Hero Anand is very handsome and acts well too. He has a boyish charm at times and looks really mature at other times. Heroine Kamalini has also acted very well smiling through the movie, sometimes her eyes gave me scares though. Sathya as Roopa's best friend Anita steals the show in the movie with her smart ass comments bringing most of the lighter moments in the movie.

Like any romantic story this is really enjoyable to watch. The movie is for family viewing and thank God there is no violence in the movie.

Azhagiya Theeye (2005) - Tamil Movie Review

Ranking: 4.5/5

Cast: Prasanna, Navya Nair, Prakash Raj, Jaivarma, Bala, Kumaravel, M S Bhasker
Director: Radhamohan
Music: Ramesh Vinayagam

The story of how Chandran (Prasanna) and Nandini (Navya Nair) met and fell in love is narrated by Chandran's friends to Ramesh's fiancee.

Chandran, Balu, Ramesh, Chithapa, and one more person are friends who share a room in Kodambakkam while trying to make a name for themselves in the film industry. Nandini is the daughter of a big fish industrialist who wants to marry his daughter to Arvind (Prakash Raj) a software engineer from United States. But Nandini is against this marriage as she wants to be self dependent before she gets married. She approaches Ramesh for help in this issue who in turn leads her to Chandran the aspiring director.

Chandran meets Arvind sir and tells him that since he and Nandini are in love this marriage shouldn't take place. Arvind sir compassionate for the young lovers and understanding what Nandini's father will do he makes his own plans. Without consulting either Nandini or Chandran he arranges for their marriage at the Registrar's office. Nandini also accepts it without any resistance and so Chandran is also forced into it. Arvind sir also helps them by providing them with his house before he heads back to the United States.

Chandran and Nandini, opposites in character, start living together in the same house in different rooms. They blame each other for the situation they were in until a few hardships unite them as friends. After a brief struggle, Nandini gets a job in Bangalore and Chandran gets a chance at becoming a director. Will they be friends, married couple, or part ways??

There is a strong story line backed with superfast screenplay and amazing comedy. The actors have all done a very good job at portraying their characters. The four friends of Prasanna(Jaivarma, Bala, Kumaravel, M S Bhasker) are just too funny. Their comic timing along with Prasanna's has to be much appreciated. Navya Nair has done a decent job...But if you are the kind that appreciates beauty then sorry...She is like an old aunty with a big nose...Prakash Raj although in a cameo role leaves a lasting impression in the movie.

Compliments to the director and congrats to Prakash Raj's Duet Productions for making a second attempt at making movies in spite of Daya. The music is soft and enjoyable.

Do watch this movie...I have seen it three times and still love it!

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.