Pachaikili Muthucharam - very different

All of us know Gautam Menon's film making capabilities and he has just added another feather to his cap with Pachaikili Muthucharam. Before watching the movie, I heard mixed reactions from friends - some saying that the movie is excellent and some saying its crap. I could sense that the movie's opening hasn't been great, but there is something different about the movie which has made people pass extremely opposite judgements. This made me so open about the movie and I watched it with clarity without any bias.

The movie wasn't anything great as hyped, but definitely very different and made me watch with awe. It wasn't slow as some suggested. It was not fast, but brilliantly paced for such a story. Its not a love story, not an action movie, isn't a thriller - but a good movie worth watching at the theatres. Nothing is overdone, but I wonder how a few unparliamentary words escaped the censor. Harris' songs are mellifluous as you would expect. Aravind Krishna's camera should be one of the top highlights of the movie. Inspite of giving us a lot of close-ups, he doesn't hurt us in the eye. People have been shown so real, adding a huge tinge to their performances.

Venkatesh leads a happy and contended life with his wife Kalyani and a school-going son, Nanda. He isn't too ambitious and works for a pharmaceutical company and is stuck to Chennai and even avoids promotions to stay back there. Suddenly, the couple face a huge setback when their son is diagonised with diabetes and he has to take insulin injections daily. Venkatesh, though worried inside, is brave enough to continue the life confidently while Kalyani is downhearted and the beauty of their lives is thrown out of the window. This is when, Venkatesh meets Geetha and their friendship grows, though he is a bit guilty about the friendship. Before the relationship could shape up into an affair, he faces another blow and he loses all the money he had saved all these years. Gautam has moved the play exceedingly well as the hero uncovers some mystery and gains back all that he lost.

All these years, Sarathkumar does well either with a gun in his hand or some grey hairs on his head. Gautam has brought out the best in him without the gun or the grey hair, though he wields the gun towards the end. His skills come to the fore in many scenes like travelling in the call taxi with Jothika, finding his son and giving him an injection (starting scene), pleading with Andrea and many more. Andrea as Kalyani is not a let down. She does well when she is unable to forgive her husband and also later when she forgives and probably forgets. Jothika, I read, was the best part of the movie - but I have to disagree. The director has to be appreciated, yet again, for moving Jothika out of her usual stereotyped roles. But, Jothika was nowhere near the best she can normally deliver. She wasn't looking very pretty too - may be a deliberate attempt to portray her character. Milind Soman doesn't have much to do and one thing Gautam should stop is dubbing for the villain. Its too predictable and not at all gratified. Larger-than-life heroism is absent in the movie which makes you feel like watching the happenings next door and another good aspect of the ending is that the boy's disorder doesn't disappear cinematically.

All in all, I wonder why some people don't like the movie as its definitely a very different and bold movie which has been rendered extremely well by Gautam Menon with the help of Sarathkumar and Aravind Krishna. Though not a great movie superficially, don't miss it as the handling makes it a distinguished one.

Sillunu oru shock!

To say the least, I was definitely shocked on seeing the below ad in The Hindu's Metro Plus yesterday.

How could that movie ever run for 100 days? Even if it does, for other reasons, how can a person watch it every day? That public who gave that opinian, is definitely something.

Sillunu Oru Kaadhal - a complete crap

I restrained myself from writing this review yesterday as Surya & Jothika got wedded yesterday and on such an important day of their life, I wasn't willing to give such a bad opinion about their latest movie.

After all the hype, even before the movie's release, I was skeptical about the movie and it exactly turned out the way I had doubted. Some months back, when the shooting of the movie started, there were posters all around with Surya, Jo, Bhoomika. One of the posters which caught my eye had AR Rahman in it - I think sitting with a guitar. I was wondering why so much publicity for a man of such fame and calibre. Only now I realize that they did it because they were sure that he was the hero of the movie as there was nothing more in it. If the songs are removed, the movie itself isn't there. Infact, not all songs are enticing. The movie absolutely has no aim in it - and its a let down with such cast.

Surya (Gautham) & Bhoomika (Ishwarya @ Ishu) love each other while in college and they even marry in the registrar's office, but the very next minute they are separated by her politician-father. Surya is beaten up badly and isn't out of bed for sometime. Meanwhile, we understand that she is moved to some far away place out of Surya's reach. And then, to fulfil his uncle's wish, Surya (a bit reluctantly) marries Jothika (Kundavi) from a village and settles down in Mumbai. The couple get into a very happy life with their daughter, Ishu (Kuch Kuch Hota Hai connection?). Jothika happens to read her husband's old diary and comes to know of the Bhoomika-Surya relation. Without revealing to Surya, for all the love he has on her, decides to give him a day with Bhoomika. Goes around and finds her and invites her home without Surya's knowledge and then leaves both of them together and goes out for a day. A torrid bore gets even worse at this point of time for about 20-25 minutes and then she comes back home to realize that they both spend just an hour together as Surya loves Jothika more these days and there is no place for anyone else in him.

I wonder why AC Durai's name was mentioned as there is absolutely no story whatsoever. And the screenplay and direction have wrecked further havoc. As you would expect, there are scenes and some lyrics relevant to Surya-Jo's real life wedding. Munba Vaa... comes out as a wonderful melody, while Kummi Adi... is a nice country-side mix. Rahman's voice in Newyork Nagaram... is so captivating with some nicish and innovative picturization. Cinematography deserves a good mention definitely for being bright and colorful all through the movie.

One thing that was nice to me was that Surya drives a car that I own, though a different colour.

Wishing an eonian life

Romba sokkaanathu intha jodinnu thaan, antha aathaa thaan serthuputtaa...
That's a lyric from the song Kummi Adi... from the movie Sillunu Oru Kaadhal. Whether it was deliberate or not, it suits the occasion very well today as Surya & Jothika get married for real. I happened to catch a few shots of the marriage on TV and they once again looked made-for-each-other. Generally, girls are made to look horrible with the bridal makeup, but Jothika was sparkling while Surya was smart as usual.
As most of Tamilnadu is doing, I also wish them a very happy & everlasting married life.

An alternate climax

With Vettaiyaadu Vilayaadu turning out to be a disappointment, lets rewind a bit as I managed to get this video which shows a different climax for Gautam Menon's Kaakha Kaakha. Though his justification for the original climax sounds good, I would have preferred to leave Maya alive.

Vettaiyaadu Vilayaadu - a definite disappointment

Caught up with Gautam Menon's Vettaiyaadu Vilayaadu (VV) on the second day after its release at Albert cinemas. Heavy rush as you would expect and it took a long time to get a parking space for my two-wheeler. The tickets were ready the previous day itself and so I was delighted to watch VV so early.

The start and the Karka karka... song along with the titles were very striking and I was happy again that I was inside the theatre watching them all. The movie seemed to move fast as a girl (d/o Prakashraj & Rajashree) is kidnapped and one of her fingers is sent to her house later. DCP Raghavan (Kamal) comes into the scene to investigate and figures out that she has been raped, murdered and buried. This happens in Keeranur in Tamilnadu. The DCP vows to catch the crook, though the motives are unknown. After 6 months, the girl's parents move to New York for want of peace of mind and soon they are murdered too in the foreign land, but not buried by the killer.

Now, the movie takes a different turn with Kamal going to New York. The most significant turn is that it gets slower and boring. Probably, Gautam Menon was so overwhelmed by Kamal, thought his presence would do wonders and didn't bother to handle the screenplay better. You even press that button in your watch to check the time and the interval is not there yet. There is a flashback which shows Kamal's bond with Prakashraj (who is also a police officer) and more importantly you also hear the excellent Paartha Mudhal... song. Kamalini Mukherjee appears just for the song and is killed by the villain immediately, who is later encountered to death by Kamal. As Kayalvizhi, Kamalini looks very cute, but too little time on screen to pass any judgement on her skills. As you would expect, there is no finding fault with Kamal's acting - romance, action, grief - his versatility is underlined every now and then. How could a man of his age look so jaunty and fit into any role? To me, he is the greatest ever actor and I don't even want to talk about any doubts. With such a genius at his disposal, Gautam has let everyone down with this product, especially after the Kaakha Kaakha success.

In New York, Kamal saves Aradhana (Jothika) who tries to commit suicide and gets to know that she has had a bitter broken marriage. Later, he accepts Jo and her 11-month old daughter as any hero does. He also investigates the murders along with a NYPD officer, played by Lev Gorn. Both of them find more buried dead bodies, all females - raped and murdered in similar styles to the one found in Keeranur. Now you think, "Oh ok, there's something here and it should be a nice suspense until the hero eventually grabs them by the collar". This is when the greatest disappointment shows. The culprits are shown to us and they kill two policemen as we get the much-awaited snacks break.

Soon after the break, Kamal & Lev zero in on them and enter their locked house. The culprits also come home later and during the confrontation, they accept all their misdoings, but aren't willing to give up. This completely results in tortoising the movie. Then, the villain's justifications, not-so-unusual hero-villain challenges, kidnapping the heroine, chases, some fighting and shooting and finally the villain is killed.

Harris Jeyaraj, somehow has the knack of giving very good tunes for Gautam and has not disappointed. The background scores are laudable and the songs are very good too. New York has been visualized beautifully. Other than that, not many positives to drive home about - atleast nothing that comes to my mind right now. Worthy of waiting for the DVD instead of rushing to the theatres.