Vandhaan Vendraan ????!!!!

Yethai vendraan??? More like Vandhaan Sendraan.. Or Vandhaan Thothaan.. :)
But seriously? I have a question.. You make a movie.. when you review it you find it sorely lacking soul.. So you say the whole movie was a dream.. something manufactured for a greater cause.. So yeah now.. you have atleast a cause for the 2.5 hour rigmarole.. Does THAT make the movie any better???
I think NOT!! Where do I start? Under any other circumstance this movie would'nt have bummed me like it did. But Jeeva had my expectations soaring... He did "KO" didnt he? I was looking for something palatable that's all..
I really thought Taapsee could act. I didnt have a clue that her performance in Aadukalam was 100% Vetrimaran's exacting work ethics in action. She looks okay although a little huge..... absolutely no grace in her moves.. But stranger things have happened.. Maybe she will eventually learn to emote..
Nandhaa's performance was good and so was Santhanam's comedy. Redeeming factors I would say.
So so movie. Bad editing.. no story... music was okie.. All in all not very entertaining. A tad on the irritating side. Especially when they portrayed the heroine as something very superficial.. Hmmmmmm

Mankatha - An old chestnut (Too little too late)

I fail to understand the psyche of people which classifies mediocrity as anything more than what it is! And what IT is - is A BIG cliche!

Mankatha understandably had a ballyhoo like none of the other Venkat Prabhu handiworks.It had a big hero, a director with three (or four?) consecutive blockbusters, TRISHA, a usually awesome music director and a BIG mammoth banner behind it all. And for a supposed magnum opus it has... well.... nothing even close to greatness!

It's actually funny that I saved Mankatha for a better theatre, better seats - because you know a nice movie should not be ruined by bad seats and bad popcorn! Well.. the best part of my evening was the crispy popcorn. (sigh)

What turns a supposed opus to an banality?

• A screenplay with not even a remote sense of coherence - a dance, a hangover, random heroine(?) introduction (coz it is customary to introduce the heroine in the first 10 minutes of the movie) and infringement on a heist plan - all in the span of 20 minutes! Was the movie shot this bad or did the editing go sour?
• Wasting an unique selling point like Trisha - Premji Amaren has more screen time than our leading lady. And for Trisha fans ( like me) it just sucks.. And bringing in a slapdash bombshell like Lakshmi Rai does not compensate. At all!
• A grown man talking like a 10 year old - to himself .. playing with chess pieces.. making horrible galloping noises.. laughing at his own brilliance(???) ... AND saying "money money money" like half a dozen times.. in quick succession... every 15 minutes.. in THAT tone... WTF?
• Comparing Ajith to George Clooney! Puh-leeez!! Coz of what? The salt and pepper hair? And before you know Vadivelu will be compared to Will Smith - coz you know they are both of similar skin tone!! Granted Ajith looks waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better than his usual fat slobby self, some comparisons just  cannot be made. EVER!  
• Having a star cast as big as Mayaandi Kudumbathar.. Oh wait.. I got a comparison too. What is as big as an elephant and weighs nothing - It's shadow! Which movie has a star cast like Mayaandi Kudumbathar and yet has no real purpose for any of them - Mankatha
• And the end? Did anyone even for a minute think anything otherwise? 

Well watch Mankatha in the theatre only if you have run out of options for the week end. Just make sure the popcorn's good :)

Venghai - A Dhanush-Hari detestation!!!

Well.. being a rampant fan of Hari's movies I went to the theatre with stars in my eyes to enjoy a full length masala movie with the appropriate number of "kuthu" songs and "kethu" dialogues. And what did I get?
Three squandered hours of an very average B grade tamil movie!!! What was Dhanush thinking??
The least derogatory substance of the movie was Tamannah and Rajkiran. I shudder to think of what it would have been like with screechy Asin!!! Ooooh!!! Gives me the creeps!!  Otherwise the movie was predictable, mushy and vulgar. It is easily one of the worst movies that I have seen - and that includes some real nasty pieces of work including "Sura".
Vengai beats Sura - hands down. It is effortlessly the worst in Hari's kitty. 


The most distasteful, repulsive comedian of recent times - no not Santhanam - even he manages to infuse fitting comic sense into his dialogues if not always then atleast some of the time- "ganja karuppu" was cast in this movie. The supposedly hilarious scenes of the movie were extremely vulgar, cheap, boring and could not even make you twitch your lips if your life depended on it. The background music during these horrible episodes were irritating and made me to want to rip the screen with my bare hands. Just looking at Ganja Karuppu made me feel sordid. His attitude, body language and intonation were that DISGUSTING. The usual racy screen play was missing. The scenes that make you revel in the heroism of the protagonist fell not just short but shoooooooooooooort!!! The usual cute love story angle was turned into some puppy-love crap. The music was so-so. Indistinct songs interspersed along the crass screenplay failed to catch anybody's attention. The habitual oh-so-closely-knit rural family bit seemed a big nonsensical farce. Nothing heart-felt there! The storyline which is where Hari is usually strong albeit predictable fell miserably short.


The only saving grace of the movie was...was...hmmm... ooops sorry.. THERE IS NO REDEEMING FEATURE  in this repugnant film. We do not expect anything from Hari other than mass action-masala entertainers. He has sorely disappointed his audience with this shabby run-of-the-mill, stale, tawdry movie. A massive let down!!!

Kaavalan

Time and again movie buffs turn up at “Illaiya Thalapathi” Vijay’s movies hoping against hope for a decent masala movie. WE are not expecting an “Inception” or even an “How to train your dragon”. However, our dude never fails to disappoint us these days.

I am a movie lover. To people like me, it does not matter if movies have a higher purpose or a message or just provide 3 hours of unadulterated opportunity to live in a fantasy world. We are at the movies because we enjoy them.

My love for Vijay starrers has braved against atrocities like “Sachin”, “Sura”, “Udaya”, “Badri”,” Youth”, “Shajahan”.. I think I can come up with more but then I was also appeased by some decent masalas like “Gilli” and even “Vettaikaran” was a feel good movie if nothing else.

But Kaavalan is for loss of better words, an assault on the intelligence of average movie buffs. I mean seriously, what were they thinking? Alright! Let’s pool in Asin- she has been out of the tamil industry for some time now and her screechy voice and horrible sense of dressing and over made, over expressive face may just work out.. MAY. After all it worked in “pokkiri” and “sivakasi”. Then the producers thought.. oh let’s rope in Vadivelu.... Now that’s a combo that could NOT go wrong… People I will tell you what went HORRIBLY wrong with this thought process. Atleast the TOP 5 reasons!!!

1)      Let’s face it Vijay cannot ACT. He can maybe create the illusion and pull it off once in a while, few tricks here and there but ACTING was NEVER our dude’s cup of tea. He emotes the protagonist of the original movie. Classic examples.. Pokkiri,Gilli… God knows how he managed to make this miserable a caricature of Dileep!!!

2)      Music is very passable in Kavalan! The ONLY saving grace of Vijay starrers had always been the catchy tunes which you hummed along until the next fast beat came around... I cannot even begin to describe the senseless, totally expendable music tracks in this movie.

3)      Vadivelu… !!!????!!! WHAT CAN I SAY?? We have seen this roaring comedian provide some hearty comic relief . Probably he saved his better tracks for a better movie maybe? That is the only reasonable explanation I can come up with.

4)      ASIN! – Stale, sickening overacting Asin is just her usual, obnoxious self. No surprises there. But the dressing sense had gone progressively downhill. Did the stint in Bollywood NOT teach her anything at all?

5)      Icing on the cake? The climax!!! Puh-leeeeeez!!!!!!!! People mistake me not, I laughed throughout the movie. Oh no.. not when the supposed comedy track was in progress but when Vijay delivered heart wrenching dialogues with not even a trace of emotion.. when Asin was taken aback when Vijay’s kid Siddharth asked her to be his mommy. Trust me, she was so taken aback that she went two feet backwards!!!! Oh lord!!!

High time Vijay dusted his boots and made a serious attempt in choosing scripts that have decent shots of success.