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.
Friday, January 15, 2010
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.
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.
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.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
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 !
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 !
Eeram is a Master Piece
Eeram is an amazing movie... Director Shankar once again proves why he is so passionate about making his deputies do movies which he cant otherwise do under his name... This one is no different and justifies the S pictures tag.. The story is very different & brings a refreshingly new style to tamil cinema... Cinematography is simply out of the world, and man, the way water is shown as a villian, benign and insightful wizard is truly amazing... kavithai, kavithai endru kaththanum pola irunthucchu... amazing !.. Manoj Paramhamsa is a genius and I felt like starting an orkut community for him ;)
The entire cast fitted to T.. Pleasantly no overacting by anyone.. the best thing I liked abt the movie is the way the plot is unraveled... It starts with Ramya being a bad person and her death in the other thread... I was wondering if the movie was going to tell us, how such a good girl became a brat after moving to Chennai... then all the water clues started coming, and I thought it was just a symbolic thing... I didnt understand what it was leading upto.. even when that Playboy got killed, I didnt know what was happening & how the movie is going to progress... but 2nd half the story really picked up speed.. some melodrama here & there with Nanda near the climax.. but overall truly a Ram Gopal Verma style movie... Reminded me of 6th sense in the way the story is told...
Sindhu Menon is gorgeous. The trichy sequences of Aadhi and Sindhu are really shot well. It brought back some of personal old memories. Aadhi fits the role of a cop - so well. I wasnt very impressed with him when I saw him in Mirugam. Here, he has done an amazing job. Hopefully this is a lucky break for him. Sindhu Menon's first movie in tamil was not worth mentioning. She has proved that she has got both the looks & acting capability. She should stick to such traditional dresses than to all those crazy outfits she wore in her previous movies.
I liked the way they have downplayed everything which tamil cinema is known to do. eg. the brahminical angle to the female lead & the associated casteism which the heroine's dad shows. The neighbours and their mentality. Infact except Nanda, there is no one else who is really bad, everyone is as bad as we all are. And the director shows how some harmless things we supposedly do, when put together can impact some one's life. I think that is where the soul of the movie lies.
BG Music by Taman is amazing. He has done much better job than what he did in Sindhanai Sei. In SS (which I saw in Satyam) the BGM was full of noise and I was disappointed - although 3 songs were really good in SS. But here, Taman has proved his capability on BGM. The 2 melodies are also nice.
Coming to minus points, once you know who the culprit is and what caused the death, then you are itching to get to the climax. The director should have moved to the climax in max 5 minutes. The 2o minutes he wastes inbetween is a dampener. He didnt have a choice to make people beleive what the aavi says, so he had to make Saranya Mohan become the medium. But I think Tamil Audience have grown up and he should have let the hero have a wicked dream or something like that - without making any white uruvam come & talk. That climax fight, Nanda going behind Saranya mohan etc. are not well conceived. He should have had a tough talking sequence between Aadhi and Nanda and then taken things to the climax.
Arivalagan is a promising director. He is the next one I am really impressed with. (The last good debutant was Vetrimaaran in pollathavan). He must have carefully crafted this story for atleast 3 years to bring so much subtelty and naturality into the characters. I am sure he must be flooeded with offers now. I hope he takes his time and does something similar in his next movie. He shouldnt do what many others have done by doing a dampener as 2nd movie.
The entire cast fitted to T.. Pleasantly no overacting by anyone.. the best thing I liked abt the movie is the way the plot is unraveled... It starts with Ramya being a bad person and her death in the other thread... I was wondering if the movie was going to tell us, how such a good girl became a brat after moving to Chennai... then all the water clues started coming, and I thought it was just a symbolic thing... I didnt understand what it was leading upto.. even when that Playboy got killed, I didnt know what was happening & how the movie is going to progress... but 2nd half the story really picked up speed.. some melodrama here & there with Nanda near the climax.. but overall truly a Ram Gopal Verma style movie... Reminded me of 6th sense in the way the story is told...
Sindhu Menon is gorgeous. The trichy sequences of Aadhi and Sindhu are really shot well. It brought back some of personal old memories. Aadhi fits the role of a cop - so well. I wasnt very impressed with him when I saw him in Mirugam. Here, he has done an amazing job. Hopefully this is a lucky break for him. Sindhu Menon's first movie in tamil was not worth mentioning. She has proved that she has got both the looks & acting capability. She should stick to such traditional dresses than to all those crazy outfits she wore in her previous movies.
I liked the way they have downplayed everything which tamil cinema is known to do. eg. the brahminical angle to the female lead & the associated casteism which the heroine's dad shows. The neighbours and their mentality. Infact except Nanda, there is no one else who is really bad, everyone is as bad as we all are. And the director shows how some harmless things we supposedly do, when put together can impact some one's life. I think that is where the soul of the movie lies.
BG Music by Taman is amazing. He has done much better job than what he did in Sindhanai Sei. In SS (which I saw in Satyam) the BGM was full of noise and I was disappointed - although 3 songs were really good in SS. But here, Taman has proved his capability on BGM. The 2 melodies are also nice.
Coming to minus points, once you know who the culprit is and what caused the death, then you are itching to get to the climax. The director should have moved to the climax in max 5 minutes. The 2o minutes he wastes inbetween is a dampener. He didnt have a choice to make people beleive what the aavi says, so he had to make Saranya Mohan become the medium. But I think Tamil Audience have grown up and he should have let the hero have a wicked dream or something like that - without making any white uruvam come & talk. That climax fight, Nanda going behind Saranya mohan etc. are not well conceived. He should have had a tough talking sequence between Aadhi and Nanda and then taken things to the climax.
Arivalagan is a promising director. He is the next one I am really impressed with. (The last good debutant was Vetrimaaran in pollathavan). He must have carefully crafted this story for atleast 3 years to bring so much subtelty and naturality into the characters. I am sure he must be flooeded with offers now. I hope he takes his time and does something similar in his next movie. He shouldnt do what many others have done by doing a dampener as 2nd movie.
The 3 copies of Enemy of State
Watched all the 3 movies which are supposed to be copied from Enemy of the State... Havent seen the original hence am not going to make a comparison with the original with respect to the way story is told.. The 3 movies are Muttirai, Vamanan and Kaminey...
Muttirai sucked big time. Daniel Balaji's character has been reduced to a caricature. Nitin Satya irritates you to the core. Manjari Phadnis just does not fit in. She is unfit for tamil movies. The 2nd half was such a pain that audience were yelling, shouting, yawning, walking out at will and at one point, I was praying the movie ends soon to put an end to the torture we were going through. The kaattu vaasi sequences were an insult to our intelligence. The climax had no impact by the time we got there & the only feeling you had was - can I get out of the theatre now ?. Music by Yuvan was good. 'July mathathil' and 'Night in still young' are really good - but again picturization is not upto the mark. 'azhagaana neeyum' is a nice melody. Yuvan wasted good songs for this crap movie. Srinath should stick to what he does best. Acting !.
Vamanan was much better. The oorvasi, jai, santhanam sequences were really enjoyable. Priya has done a nice job. Rahman turning foe was a nice twist which did not exist in Muttirai. The climax was really beleivable with the shoot-out between Bihar Gang and the ketta Police. Jai has carried off well. There is no heroism in his character which makes believing palpable. Music is superb and one of the best audio releases oflate. 'Etho seigiraai' lingers for a while and picturization is also cute. 'Lucky Lucky' is really rhythmic. Roop Singh Rathod and Javed Ali are such good finds - their voices are soleful.
Kaminey had an interesting twist by making the good & bad both as Shahid in dual role. The first half was really good with good pace. The characters were all so beleivable and good. It takes a while before you can work out what is happening in the movie and that is true hollywood style.
The Priyanka's brother demanding money, and then the climax that follows is really bad. It reduces the movie to a cartoon. Shahid Kapoor looks good,acts well. Priyanka is good in the initial sequences when they discuss Pregnancy etc. Her Marathi is admirable for a northy girl. Over-all Vishal has justified once again that he is more than capable to be a director.
I would say Avoid Muttirai, Watch Vamanan and Watch Kaminey. None is a must watch !
Muttirai sucked big time. Daniel Balaji's character has been reduced to a caricature. Nitin Satya irritates you to the core. Manjari Phadnis just does not fit in. She is unfit for tamil movies. The 2nd half was such a pain that audience were yelling, shouting, yawning, walking out at will and at one point, I was praying the movie ends soon to put an end to the torture we were going through. The kaattu vaasi sequences were an insult to our intelligence. The climax had no impact by the time we got there & the only feeling you had was - can I get out of the theatre now ?. Music by Yuvan was good. 'July mathathil' and 'Night in still young' are really good - but again picturization is not upto the mark. 'azhagaana neeyum' is a nice melody. Yuvan wasted good songs for this crap movie. Srinath should stick to what he does best. Acting !.
Vamanan was much better. The oorvasi, jai, santhanam sequences were really enjoyable. Priya has done a nice job. Rahman turning foe was a nice twist which did not exist in Muttirai. The climax was really beleivable with the shoot-out between Bihar Gang and the ketta Police. Jai has carried off well. There is no heroism in his character which makes believing palpable. Music is superb and one of the best audio releases oflate. 'Etho seigiraai' lingers for a while and picturization is also cute. 'Lucky Lucky' is really rhythmic. Roop Singh Rathod and Javed Ali are such good finds - their voices are soleful.
Kaminey had an interesting twist by making the good & bad both as Shahid in dual role. The first half was really good with good pace. The characters were all so beleivable and good. It takes a while before you can work out what is happening in the movie and that is true hollywood style.
The Priyanka's brother demanding money, and then the climax that follows is really bad. It reduces the movie to a cartoon. Shahid Kapoor looks good,acts well. Priyanka is good in the initial sequences when they discuss Pregnancy etc. Her Marathi is admirable for a northy girl. Over-all Vishal has justified once again that he is more than capable to be a director.
I would say Avoid Muttirai, Watch Vamanan and Watch Kaminey. None is a must watch !
Friday, May 16, 2008
வணக்கம் பா !
அல்லா பசங்களுக்கு வணக்கம் !. .. தே.. கம்முனு கிட !. இங்க பெருசு பெசினு கீது ல்லை .. ஹீ ஹீ .. சாரி பா .. நான் இன்னா சொல்ல வரேன்னா.. எனக்கோ சினிமா பார்க்கறது தான் full time பொழப்புன்னு ஆயி போச்சு.. பொறவு இன்னா ? நான் பார்க்கற அல்லா படத்தை பத்தியும் இங்கெ எழுதுவேனாம்.. பொழப்பு கெட்ட நீங்களும் படிப்பீங்கலாம் .. உருப்படாத தேறாத தறுதலை படம் முதல், உட்டா லக்கடி கிரி கிரி படம் வரை அல்லாத்தையும் காசு குடுத்து பார்க்கற காரணத்தால .. யாம் பெற்ற இன்பம் பெருக இவ்வையைகம் !. அப்படின்னு நாங்களும் கிளம்பிட்டோம் ல..
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