Kaalai - a bull wasted

Another mass movie with Simbu. Tharun Gopi has tried his best to cash in on the Simbu antics and the regular masala mix in giving an usual commercial movie. In the bargain, he has failed to latch on to a storyline which is where he has gone wrong awfully inspite of roping in people who can deliver like Sangeetha, Seema & Simbu. One thing is that the movie never seems to drag at anytime and the tempo is maintained. Since the movie would have been terribly short, the director has tried to place the name confusion wherein for sometime you think that everyone is called Jeeva in the movie, irrespective of sex, age or color. Tharun Gopi has used similar things like in his earlier movie Thimiru - a tough lady, the lady burnt by fire and you are kept guessing why everyone looks for Jeeva (Ganesh in the earlier movie). And also a Nila-song, like the Kiran-song in the earlier version. Too many shades of his earlier movie and I definitely feel that a talented person like Simbu is being wasted by many directors when he can surely take up meaty roles and do justice too. Vedika, the heroine, is pretty much similar to the audience as she doesn't even know what's happening and why. Overall, the movie didn't disappoint me as I didn't have any expectations and also I enjoyed the comedies like Simbu's introduction, the way even politicians and police revere him, the title song and the muted gross dialogues.

Definitely deserves a miss.

Vallavan - what's that?

It's official now that any movie will fail badly or atleast fall short of expectations, if I watch it on day one, with Vallavan being the latest addition to that list. After Manmadhan, I have always thought that Simbu is a talented actor and hence my expectations for this movie was more. I tried online ticket booking for the first time and I thought that I was lucky enough to get the tickets, which I later realized was a mistake.

Simbu, a (rich?) college student, is introduced with a song along with hundreds of kids. He has his own friends circle and they have their own fun. Sandhya is one of those close friends and hence goes out of the equation for Simbu's romances. Nayantara enters as a lecturer in the same college and Simbu does all sorts of things to make sure that Nayantara loves him and he succeeds as well. All this happens without her knowing that he is student of the same college. When she comes to know of it, she rejects him as he is three years younger to her.

Now comes the much needed/awaited interval where I sip my cup of pepsi and then back to the movie to find out if there is any storyline hidden somewhere. Simbu walks past his school and there comes the flashback where he, Sandhya & other friends, supposedly, studied. A useless song to start the flashback with too much noise and you hardly know if there was any lyric in that. Simbu bumps into (literally) Reema Sen in an inter-school culturals and believe me, she is also a school student wearing pinafore uniform. Both of them fall in love, but soon he realizes that she is a selfish girl. She inflicts a lot of pain to him which the hero bears easily as he is in love with her. But, it crosses the limits one day and he discards her which she is not able to bear at that point of time. Out of the flashback and Reema again meets Simbu. She is very happy this time as he has been deserted by his lover (Nayantara). Reema wants him back in her life while Nayantara is engaged to another bulb-person. Simbu manages to change Nayantara's heart and she now ditches the engagement and comes back to the hero. This is where I thought the movie could end, probably in another 10 minutes. But, the director (Simbu himself) decides against it and goes on to make us restless in the seats, for another 30-40 minutes. Reema kidnaps Sandhya and pushes her down from the mottai maadi and the doctors are helpless. But, God Simbu doesn't allow his friend to die by pleading, scolding, etc. And you thought they happily lived ever after? NO! Reema is treated in a mental aslyum and after three years she looks neat and the doctor says that she is alright and can get out from there. As she trudges out, she removes her hairband to leave the hair flowing (like Anniyan) and then says that she would never relent (like Neelambari). As you are so keen to see 'The End', this flashes on the screen - 'to be continued...'

Santhanam, as usual, has done good comedy on his part. S Ve Shekhar has been wasted, to say the least. Nayantara, who has reduced a lot of flab & Sandhya don't have much to do, especially the latter. Reema has done a commendable job in demanding scenes as an egoist. The vulgarity in the movie is also as much as you expect in a Simbu movie. Simbu has shown glimpses of his acting talent in some of the scenes, but there is not much of a scope. I still believe he can do far better than this as he has let himself down with such a storyless movie - I have confirmed with my friend as well that there was no trace of any story in the entire 3 hours and 15 minutes. I am not sure of what Simbu has got against some girls - he continues to convey that all women aren't worshippable. Like in Manmadhan, this movie also does not have a villain, but for Reema's sadism. The music is also a let down by Yuvan with just one or two songs good enough. There is too much of noise on the others and the background score is also not anywhere near his previous efforts.

The movie comes with the byline "He knows what to do". If you think that you know what to do, stay away from this cinema.

Update : I got this Tamil review of Vallavan in one of the forwards. Read this and then this.