Singam - Perfect Masala Mix

Singam is a roaring hit in Tamilnadu and is a grosser in all the centres, including the multiplexes and the rural areas. It has Surya donning the role of a Cop after Kakka Kakka and the voluptuous Anushka Shetty as his pair. The director is Hari ; Son in law of Vijayakumar, and director of previous hits like saami, ayyaa etc. Hari teams up with Surya for the 2nd time and the movie is a complete block-buster with all the masala ingredients perfectly mixed to the taste of the tamil audience. Even when we appreciate the great movies we saw last year like Nadodigal, Naan kadavul etc., it is very important to understand & appreciate that tamil cinema runs on masala movies and everyone from Kamal, Vikram, Surya have to do such movies to live life to fight another day.

Surya is a principled man, living & working as SI in a remote village called Nallur in Tootukudi district. He is loved by everyone in the village and is a local star standing for his principles. Anushka is daughter of Nasser who hails from that village, but is a big businessman settled in Chennai. He visits the village with his family and Anushka falls in love with Surya. Prakashraj as Mayilvahanan is a powerful dada in chennai who is cunning and smart and runs his own parallel kingdom. As fate has to be, Prakashraj gets a conditional bail on a land-grabbing case and is asked to sign for 15 days in Nallur policestation. The righteous Surya refuses to accept Proxy and Prakash is forced to attend in person which creates an ego-clash. Prakashraj tries in vain to tackle Surya in his home-turf and fails, and hence gets his promoted & transferred to Chennai. Surya initially gets frustrated with what happens in Chennai, gets a dosage of energy injection from Anushka then gets charged-up and takes Prakashraj head-on. What follows is then an intelligent cat & mouse game with hero defeating the villian. Right.. the story isnt all that novel... then what really made this movie click ?.

Surya's character is a powerful macho role, but Hari cleverly mixes the character with humour, human weaknesses, humility, falling in love and all the emotions that you associate with a regular human being. This balance prevents the movie from going overboard, and retains audience's interest level. I think it is high-time Vijay learns from this !

The sequences of Anushka and Surya's brief flirt and love are done very well. They are interesting and cute. Again Hari cleverly mixes the human side of a intelligent cop, powerful singam, with his domesticated side wonderfully to make these sequences click.

Prakashraj has done such kinda roles numerous times in the past. But he brings in something fresh everytime he comes on the screen. Hari has to be credited for not dumbing out his character and gives enough intelligence credit to the character. If you look back at all the big masala hits, the villian will not be all brawn. He will be clever, cunning and at times should out-smart the hero. Hari has mixed this proportion rightly and again something for Vijay to learn !.

All the songs are super duper hits, thanks to Devi Sree Prasad's kalakkal music. Foot tapping tunes, choreographed well, and paced nicely. DSP rocks !. (Vijay movies also have great songs, but then for the rest of the movie, people go out for a popcorn or a fag!)

Another important aspect is they have left Anushka remain a normal city girl without too much of a skin-show that gets attached to heroines of masala movies. She has good scope for acting and does it well too. The family sequences she has with Nasser are really funny and makes audience sit up. Honestly people dont want their heroines to be a bimbo. Not sure where the other masala directors picked this wrong notion !

The cat & mouse game between PrakashRaj and Surya in the 2nd half is not all brawn. Infact they are intelligent and well-crafted with each trying to out-fox the other. Something of the sort we saw in Ayan as well. If you have a hero bashing up everyone at will, and doing super-heroic things without much use of his grey matter or without giving adequate credit to the intelligence level of the villain,... you dont end-up with a Rajinikanth movie, but you only end-up with a Vijayakanth at his worst !. Hightime the masala movie directors and actors take a note of this reality formula.

Over-all, everyone in TN loves the movie. They pay big bucks, go to the theatre, have fun and come back contended. You know what to expect in a masala movie, and only when that is served exactly in the right proportion, it clicks !. This movie is another big success for Surya, after previous hits like Ayan and Aadhavan. Guess in terms of collection, Surya is the no-1 grosser in TN now. Well deserved !.

PS** I got 2 free tickets to watch it in PVR cinemas, multiplex in Aminjikarai chennai. There was a funny incident in the theatre. One middle-aged man had come with his family to watch the movie. It appeared that he never follows Tamil movies closely and was there mainly for his family. He walked to the counter and asked " சிங்கம்னு ஒரு படம் வந்து இருக்காம்லே .. அதுக்கு 4 ticket குடுங்க.. ".. The counter-wala looks up and asked him " ஆண் சிங்கமா, பெண் சிங்கமா, முரட்டு சிங்கமா ? ".. It was very funny to see the "ங்கே" look in his eyes.. உடனே ஆளு பம்மி, இருங்க .. வீட்ல கேட்டுட்டு சொல்லறேன்.. என்று சொன்னான் பாருங்க .. எனக்கு ஒரே சிரிப்பு !. ஆமாம் தெரியாம தான் கேக்கறேன், தமிழ் நாட்டுல இப்போ என்ன திடீர் சிங்கம் வெறி ???.. அது சரி, புலி பாசம் தான் இல்லை, சிங்கம் பாசமாச்சும் இருந்துட்டு போகட்டும் விடுங்க பிரதர் . ;)

Raavanan is a mixed bag

Raavanan is the Tamil Version of Raavan directed by Mani Ratnam. It was released with huge expectations as a tri-lingual on 18th June. Pre-media hype attributed the movie to be loosely based on Ramayan with an explosive climax. It has a formidable cast with Vikram playing Ravan, Aishwarya Rai playing Sita, Prithviraj playing Ram, Karthik playing Hanuman. Prabhu and Ranjita are brother and SIL of Vikram. Priyamani plays their younger sister i.e. Surpanaka. Like every other Mani movie, there was huge expectations surrounding the movie, given the formidable cast he had assembled, and the top-notch technical support crew associated with the movie. For all the inputs that have gone in, the output isn't unfortunately upto the mark. :(

The movie is set in a fictitious Tribal area called Vikramsingapuram off the Western Ghats in Tirunelveli District. Prabhu and Vikram rule the roost in those lawless jungles and they are seen as goondas and terrorists by the urban citizens and governmental forces. They proclaim themselves to the protectors of the interests of the tribals. The movie starts with the kidnap of Aishwarya Rai by Vikram, Prabhu & company, and a massive police hunt launched to nab the abductors. John Vijay (plays Lakshman) who is the DSP along with Prithviraj, SP of Tirunelveli district enter the forest in search of the kidnappers with a commando force. Karthik a forest guard familiar with the forest helps them get to the top of the hills (called meghamalai) in their attempt to find Sita. Aishwarya Rai pretends to be fearless and Vikram falls in love with her. What then follows is a cat & mouse game between Vikram and Prithvi, while Aishwarya goes through a discovery process that all is not black & white as it seems to be.

Mani, the brilliant story-teller who tried a novelty in story-telling in Yuva @ Aayutha ezuththu by narrating 3 flashbacks that lead to the same point, this time adopts a different technique. The movie is told in 2 layers, one which is whom the characters are on the screen at face value, and the other is a hidden layer which is Mani's take on the original Ramayana. He wants to give us adequate clues to link up the 2 layers and hence makes the characters talk/do something to resemble the original. The climax is Mani's take on Ramayana if the same thing happened in today's world. It is also figuratively supposed to open our eyes to the plight of the tribals in all the anti-naxal media diatribe we get to hear. So much for the good concept and design, this is where the entire story-telling starts going terribly wrong.

The outer layer is too shallow, too slow and rather uneventful. The first half was just a set of picture postcards, with far too much emphasis for the audience to identify with the characters in the inner layer. An average movie going audience is never going to get this concept and appreciate the story-told in the inner layer. So what does Mani gain by over-emphasizing to the layman level on each of the characters like make Karthik jump up the trees to prove he is a hanuman, or John Vijay threatening to cut the nose of priyamani to prove she is Surpanaka etc. It makes a mockery of the whole thing. In Guru, he left it to the intelligent people to figure out, who Ambani was, and who Wadia was and who Goenka was. Why couldnt he leave it to the intelligence of the top-strata audience to identify with the 2nd level story, and instead justify and give adequate focus on the screenplay for the outer layer story so that the general audience go home happy ?. This is where the entire movie goes wrong.

Mani wants all the characters to be Grey. He wants to stay neutral and does not want to side with Rama or Ravana. Fair enough !. But what he ends up with is a half-cooked broth in the first half, with audience not appreciating or empathazing with any of the characters. Take for example, Peraanmai, SP Jananathan intelligently uses the first half to build a good case of awareness on the plight of the tribals and why they do what they do. Or take an example of Renigunta where Pannerselvam builds a beautiful knot on the criminal boys. At the end of first half, if an average moviegoer does not support the hero or the villain, there is going to be no question of having an emotional climax. You can have a Naanayam type thriller in the 2nd half, or a Panjathantram type comedy in the 2nd half. He closes doors for having an emotional climax, by not letting audience identify with one of the characters. Where is the Mani who made us fall deeply in love with Madhubala in Roja in first half, or who made us feel the pain of the baby in search of her biological mother in KM ?. You dont feel what you felt for Madhubala post the kidnap in Roja. There is no real build-up to justify this. The Aishwarya-Prithvi sequences of french gourmet cooking and half-hearted romance doesnt move you at all. So you dont pity Aishwarya really. Prithviraj doesnt seem to be too upset about the loss and hence you dont feel sorry for him as well. I am not saying he has to do a Vijayakanth in vaidehi kathirunthaal to make us feel the pain of the loss of his wife, he doesnt even feel as much as Virumandi does after losing the girl he loved. So how can an average person feel the pain of the kidnap ?. Similarly Why Vikram falls in love with Aishwarya is beyond me seriously. The reason he says that I couldnt see fear in her eyes, and when she jumped off the cliff, my heart longed to get her back etc. doesnt explain what he is going through. This is a major let down from such a senior director !.

Finally, there is simply no creativity or suspense in the way the flashback of Priyamani unfolds in the 2nd half. The timing is bad and you know by then what exactly has happened to her. I bet TP Gajendran would have handled it better. Was priyamani gang raped ?. Who were the police who did that ? Was John Vijay one of the rapists ?. Why she is all smiles when she sees Vikram post the ordeal ?. Is that suppose to be a sign of a brave tribal girl ?. If so, why then she suddenly commits suicide ?. First of all, i dont think the brave tribal women give so much importance to a rape incident. The natural reaction you expect from them is to be angry and rebellious and retaliate back on the police. They may get killed by the police. and I would have preferred Mani to have done this and we would have empathized better with that Surpanaka character. The brothers seem to love their younger sister, then why make her a half-sister and say she was brought up in the urban area ?. Is that the reason for her humiliating suicide decision ? The climax was guessable. I was wondering why Ravan hasnt got killed yet. There we go !.

Okay, enough of cribbing. Some good things to say about about the movie.
* Aishwarya looks much better and beautiful than Guru where she was very lean. So Aishwarya lovers can get to see her as உலக அழகி ;)
* Santosh Sivan's camera work is mind blowing. The Jungle feels so real and you can virtually smell the greenery. In every casual shot you can see a thumbi or a aranai or a bee (english-ல என்ன பா இதுக்கு ?) and it is fabulous. The broken Vishnu in the middle of the river is one of the best locations I have seen. Is that a real one or a set ? Any idea ?.
* Mani realized that ARRs music doesnt fit the movie and has made most of the songs montages or just fillers, barring couple of them. If songs had also been shot the traditional way, the agony would have been even more.
* The wooden bridge in the climax is a beauty. The action is spine-chilling. Dont know how they shot that whole sequence. Peter Hain, Santosh Sivan and everyone in the crew need a big round of applause for that.

Suhasini liked the concept very much (in her movie review on Jaya TV) in the Movie called Eeram which said, in Aadhiyugam everyone was good, in Thretheyugam the good & bad existed but were physically separated, in Dwaparayugam the good & bad existed together in the same family and in Kaliyugam there is nothing really good or bad. Everyone has both within themselves and it is just a perception thing. I wonder if this is the same concept that inspired Mani to do this movie in the way it is told ?. But what a poor delivery !.

Over-all I would still call the movie a mixed bag because there are some places where you get to see the good old Mani. Not very often though. Some may like this movie partially, and some may hate it totally. Dont think anyone would come out with a fulfilled mind. The best part of the movie was, every scene when Ranjita appeared casually in the frame, the theatre was rocked with whistles and wolf-calls. Oh Man !. it felt like she was the real heroine of the movie, more popular than anyone else on the screen !. அவங்களோட போன படத்தோட clippings கொஞ்சம் சேர்த்து விட்டா, படம் பிச்சுக்கும் ;) Mani sir, இப்படி செஞ்சா தான் படம் ஓடும் என்று நினைக்கிறேன் ;)

Raajneeti - The Board Game of Political Chess.

The much awaited release of Multi-starrer Raajneeti from Prakash Jha finally happened on June 4th. Despite all the Congress family clan, Sonia Gandhi resemblance, U/A certification controversies, it made it through. Man, I am glad it made it to the theatres !.

Prakash Jha can always be counted as one of the best film makers in India who can mix masala ingredients in the right proportion along with a strong storyline and powerful cast. Raajneeti is no different. The whole array of top stars from Indian cinema all have a powerful role to play. The story as mentioned in all the previews is inspired from Mahabharatha. A left-leaning principled Comrade Bharati daughter of the CM of a National Party person, has a fling with a communist leader Nasseruddin Shah and has an illegitimate Child. This child is wrapped in red cloth and sent over Ganges in Banares Ghats by brother Nana Patekar, who then promptly gets her married to a powerful clan of Bhanu Pratap Singh who run the Rashtravadhi Party. The elder brother is the CM and the public face and younger brother is the political driving force. Comrade Bharati is married to the younger brother. Bhanu pratap Singh has a power greedy son, Veerendra (played by Manoj Bajpai) and faces strong internal competition from Youth Wing Leader Pratap (played by Arjun Rampal) who is his cousin brother. Ranbir is Arjun's younger brother studying in America and in love with Sarah Peterson and prefers staying away from politics. Katrina is a daughter of a powerful local businessman who is head over heels in an one-way affair over Ranbir. Ajay Devgan (the karna) is being brought up in a Dalit family that have been serving the Singh family. Ajay is independent thinking, strategiest who hates top-command pushing decisions down and wants to acquire power. The sudden stroke attack on Bhanu Pratap singh triggers a series of events within the family. Veeru wants to take control of the party and Ajay Devgan joins him. Arjun Rampal & his dad opppose this, and things unfold one by one in a typical board game of political chess played between Gauravas and Pandavas, and Ranbir (Arjuna) is forced to enter the arena and gets to listen to some Political Gita from Nana (Krishna) in the climax.

The great things about the movie are :-

Powerful storyline, realistically told, wonderful screen play. First half is like a breeze and you don't realize it is already interval !.

Strong set of characters, a lot of them in every frame, and everyone does their part wonderfully well. No overacting, No traditional villainy. Everything is subtle and typically Prakash Jha.

No unnecessary songs to dampen the pace. There are a couple but they are bearable.

The not so great things about the movie :-

Very long, 2nd half is painfully long. 19 reels is way too much. I think he should have kept 2nd half to just 1 hour.

The side tracks of SP Sharma, the Mahila Activist, Sarah-Ranbir affair etc. are unnecessary given that the core story is already long enough.

I seriously did not feel any sense of support or sympathy for Pandavas (not that I have much when I read Mahabharatha) and I was infact hoping that Manoj and Ajay pull-off. This kind of misplaced loyalty gets created because the director has intentionally kept all the characters grey and left it to the audience to support either or neither. Not sure how the average film-goer is going to take this novel concept of whole set of dark characters. That is why when Ranbir has a philosophical discussion with Katrina in the end, you dont sympathize with him at all !.

The storyline defies logic in the 2nd half when they kill each other at will and police are not even in the picture. If you compare this against realistic narration in Apaharan, you will be ashamed with the higher dose of Masala, Prakash has dished out !.

Over-all, it is a good movie to watch for the powerful acting and racy story line. Gives you a good inside view of politics on what can go wrong within a family when the leader leaves the scene (anyone in TN taking notice?). It has got nothing to do with Congress or Sonia Gandhi, and more to do with Mahabharatha. Be prepared for an extra dose of masala in the 2nd half, compared to the usual Prakash Jha recipe.

Three Idiots

3 Idiots... Easily One of the best movies I have seen oflate... The story (allegedly loosely based on the Novel 5 point someone written by Chetan Bhagat) and the way it is told both are impressive... Raju Hirani once again proves why he is class act and Munnabhai wasnt a flash in the pan...

The movie is also a very Aamir Khan movie with all the Dil Chahta hai type comedy nicely added into the story.. Madhavan, Sharman Joshi and Aamir make you beleive their characters are your next door neighbours and are so real... Everyone watching the movie will identify with the 6 lead characters..

The movie sends a very strong message on the Indian Education System and the Mentality of our students both in the School Days and after they land into Prestigious Colleges. However the movie is anything but preachy and puts across the point subtly in a way that is truly Raju Hirani !. If Munnabhai was brilliant, this is even beyond.

Bomman Irani has landed a meaty roles as Professor Virus and carries himself with aplomb. He reminds me of several professors I have seen in my college. The death of the student like Michael is heart-breaking. There is a bit of melodrama in the climax in the rainy night when the 3 idiots get suspended. You can live with that, as the rest of the movie is par excellence. Kareena Kapoor doesnt have much to do. Vidya Balan would have been a better choice for that role and perhaps could have done a better job.

The college sequences are a real laugh riot. I laughed my heart out in most places. The emotional scenes were really moving and I really had tears in my eyes. It was moving. The music is alright. Zoobie Zoobie and All is well are foot tapping. Camera is nice and adds color to the movie. Especially the beauty of Shimla and Ladakh are captured beautifully. And I was very happy and proud to see my college shown so beautifully. All those places which look so ordinary when we walk on it, seem to appear with an added touch of richness in the movie. I guess Movie Camera really does wonders !.

The theme of the movie will linger around in the mind of students and Corporate Professionals for a long-time to come. That is where I see the success of the movie to be. Raju Hirani and Vidhu Vinod Chopra can be really proud of the product they have produced.

Renigunta

Pannerselvam has made a brilliant off-beat movie that moves you deep in your heart, and makes you cry for the lead characters in the corner of your heart. Renigunta is a movie of 4 teenagers who lose their way in this myriad of real world. Chinna Chinna thavarugal nammaLai eppadi engkEyO koNdu pOi vida koodum enbathai miga azhagaaga solli irukkiRaargaL.

Johny (Nik arts Chakravarthy's son) is the lead in the movie. His parents are killed mercilessly by a local goon for being truthful in reporting a crime to the police. Johny loses his way and ends up in the Minor Jail. His harrowing experience in the jail and the circumstances in which he befriends 4 convicts who have a track record of organized crime is done naturally. The small decision he takes at that point changes his entire life. The 4 escape from the jail, humiliating the Police Inspector and goto Renigunta. They serve the local dada there who gives them accommodation and support. They plan for the one last kill which all goes haywire and changes the entire life.

All the 4 youngsters are good. Palani is very good. Theeppatti Ganesan is very impressive and am sure will get a lot more movies to come. The heroine shown as a speechless person is very new concept to Tamil Cinema. The sequences involving the heroine, her friend and the 2 boys are a laugh riot. The sister of the heroine has acted brilliantly. Her character is really moving.

Camera is a huge plus point and BGM is also brilliant. The Song 'mazai' is melodious and has become a huge hit with FM channels. The climax is really moving and makes you feel sorry for all the characters involved. Pannerselvam's direction is a big plus and the movie loses momentum only for about 15 or 20 minutes in the 2nd half. A bit more editing of those portions would have been nice.
Brilliantly made and worth watching once.

Rocket Singh

Rocket Singh is a Hindi Movie Starring Ranbir Kapoor and the gorgeous looking Shazahn Padamsee. It is an offbeat movie that depicts life of a Salesman and Enterpreneur. For any MBA student with a Marketing interest, this movie is a must watch.

I normally hate Yashraj movies because they go overboard. But this was different. The movie presents some very good points about Ethics in business and importance of Customer Relationship Management, without going overboard. The Values of the Founders and what they stand for, reflects in the ethics/practises of the business. That is shown brilliantly. Secondly, they highlight the core marketing concept that, the core product is nothing, but it is all the services and programs that are augmented around it which makes the total value proposition. This is explained beautifully and a delight to watch.

Loved the movie for the way some heavy-weight concepts have been presented in a non-preachy and subtle way and makes you think hard !. Ranbir Kapoor's acting is very good and he really has come off age in this movie. The characters like Nitin (Sales Manager), and Poori (Boss) and Receptionist are depicted to the T. I was able to identify with most of these characters from my past. Shazahn looks beautiful. She doesnt have much to do in the movie, hopefully she will get more meaty roles going forward.

Must watch for anyone with Sales./Marketing interest.

Unnaipol Oruvan is really good

Unnaipol oruvan the remake of Hindi film Wednesday is really good. With towering personalities like Kamal and Mohan lal acting, the movie has been released under high expectations. That too this month marking the 50th year of Kamal's acting career and the launch of Shruti as debutant music director, the expectations were really high. The movie is fulfilling and meets the expectation.

They have done that by not experimenting too much (like some other hindi/telugu remakes have done) and sticking faithfully to the original screeplay which was a master piece. I am also glad that they have stuck to the original - including the side kathais like the wife of Cop-1 travelling by train & the sister misbehaviour episode of Muslim Cop-2 etc. Mohan lal has more screen time than Anupam Kher did and its nice of Kamal to do that. Infact Mohan Lal gets more screen time than Kamal in this movie. The 2 towering personalities make their screen presence felt in every inch of the frame.

The things that have been done better than the original are, the beuaracractic wrangles between IAS, IPS, CM (in Kalaignar's voice) etc. They are really beleivable after what we saw between the executives after the law college incident on who should take the stick. Lakshmi's role as Malathi is nicely conceived - esp the way she 'pammufies' with kalaignar makes you feel she is really a TN cadre IAS. ;)

The things that have not been done well are, mainly the backdrop of why Kamal is doing all this.. That is not as impactful or forceful as what Shah explains in the original about the unknown names but familiar faces in his daily morning train & what happened to them on the day he missed his train. We were able to empathize with the protoganist better out there. Again, Because of Kamal's diehard nature to make his characters echo his personal point of views, like nathigam, leftism, Post-godhra hatred etc. the impact of the what the terrorists have done to the common Indian man is getting diluted.. I like the points which Kamal says, but they dont fit into the current context of the movie... Infact you some times we get a feel there is a sentimental balance on the terrorist's motive side as well - which the original didnt have... This should have been avoided by staying closer to the original.

Similarly the climax sequence of shoot-out was more forceful in Hindi on why Muslim cop refuses to let one of the terrorists go & how they decide to shoot him finally. Here Kamal goes on a long lecture and then Mohanlal says thalai, and soon he has it. In Hindi, when Shah asks for the indentification of the terrorists they blurt out a track record which makes you grow red in anger and are able to empathize better with Shah. Here everyone says one line and you dont quite feel the same amount of hatred.

I dont know what they gained by making Anuja a smoker - that felt artificial especially for tamil audience mentality. May be Kamal is doing some culture adjustment testing for his next movie ;)

Similarly, there are 2 places which I didnt like the way they have adapted.. Anupam Kher works out that there are no more bombs and changes over to plain clothes and leaves to meet the common man.. so when Shah calls to say, there are no bombs, he says 'mujhe maloom hai', whereas mohan lal only says 'I guessed so' that reduces mohanlal's intelligence levels a bit compared to Kher. Similarly, in Hindi when the computer geek is about to say where the location is, it is kher who presses his shoulders gently and sees the monitor for the actual location and makes him say "search unsucessful". Here they have made it almost like the geek gets a bout of moral conscience and refuses to reveal the result of location search. Same is true with R.S.Sivaji. This again reduces Mohanlal's command on the show.

Yeah small things aside, the movie is good and I am glad that Kamal did not add some real songs in the middle of the movie to fulfil Shruti's aspirations of debut. Athu paNNi irunthaa movie-oda pace romba spoil irukkum. Thank you Kamal !.

Over-all, true to the original. Really good watch !