Serials: Sun TV’s bread, butter and saviour

While everything seems to be going downhill for Dayanidhi Maran, Serials are apparently the only hold out.

The overall Tamil entertainment channel market share of the Sun TV channel dropped to 61% from 63% in November, according to TAM Media Research. Closest rival Star Vijay improved its market share to 10.9% from 9.6%, according to the agency. Read the rest of this entry »

Kadhalil Sodhapuvadhu Yeppadi

Kadhalil Sodhapuvadhu Yeppadi (KSY) arrives to Tamil (and Telugu) cinema, a (Very) welcome twist to the campus romcom. Welcome the movie powered by our “Like”. 10 years ago you wouldn’t have had a title like this. Neither would a YouTube sensation have made it to the silver screen and become a darling, beyond the social media crowd.

A flashback, before we go ahead: Roughly a year ago, Balaji Mohan had a winsome short film (namesake: ‘Kadhalil Sodhapuvadhu Yeppadi’) on YouTube, with a band of unknown (yet spontaneous) ‘actors’, which went viral and had a well-deserved circulation on Facebook. Shot in first-person Point-of-View, a hapless boyfriend peers into the camera and delivers that time-tested gripe: Women. Can’t live with them, can’t live without them. End of flashback.

So, you’ve coerced your friends to act in your short, it turns out to be a hit and suddenly you have a couple of young guns (actor Siddarth and cinematographer Nirav Shah) backing you to stretch a 10 minute “Women are from Venus” joke into a full-length feature. That right there is a threshold many amateur filmmakers wet their pants at (and stumble badly, mostly). Balaji doesn’t just survive that test; he takes it on like a veteran and pulls through with a rock-solid narrative. Only a gifted storyteller could exercise such control and focus over his script. It is the boldness of the format (of presentation) that keeps reminding you, this is a first-timer at work.

Boy (Arun) meets Girl (Parvathi). Boy chases Girl. Girl wishes the Boy proposes first. He does. They fall in love. Boy opens mouth, unleashes hell onto self. The scenarios the director creates around this uneasy “love” and the humour he weaves into the unlikeliest turns makes the film very light-hearted and easy on the senses. Not content with the romantic winner on hand, Balaji Mohan goes for the kill, with an unforced undercurrent in Parvathi’s family. It is this side story and some neatly planted incidents, heading towards the conclusion that saves the movie from a less-fulfilling first half.

More than an engaging movie, KSY’s has registered well with viewers across age, language and sex ’cause it does such a good job delving into the sweet trivialities of human relationships. Men hurting their Women, without meaning to; Women firing back in kind.  Can love survive a series of unintended sodhapals, is the caricatured take here. To the Director’s credit, the movie could have been sodhapufied with a different push. There are scenes that are loaded and primed for melodrama, but Balaji sidesteps them and goes instead for cinematic doosras.

Not a big fan of Siddarth. Surprisingly, he doesn’t try too hard to rub his cuteness on. Amala Paul continues her streak with playing roles where she pushes the right emotional buttons and (thankfully) manages not to consume the characters she plays.

There’s so much in here to make a checklist of how not to mess up with love, the movie should have been titled ‘காதலில் சொதப்பாமல் இருபது எப்படி’

Nanban

There’s two camps that leave the ‘Nanban’ show. One complaining/showing-off how Shankar’s “copied” ’3 Idiots’ frame-over-frame, dialogue-to-dialogue, action-by-action. The other one blissfully ignorant about “that Aamir Khan” movie, who’re in absolute awe at Shankar’s latest (a big climb down from a certain film called ‘Endhiran’).

Then there’s me. I’m from the first camp, but I thought there’s a craftmanship in transplanting this “message movie” into a Tamil milieu and Shankar has pulled it off, while having a ball and poking fun at self. There couldn’t have been a better homage to Rajkumar Hirani, coming from a director of Shankar’s stature.

Also important was retaining the essence the conversations, without diluting the humour, laced so subtly in them. That “கற்பிக்க” stretch was hilarious and shifts the movie’s tone from mildly funny to side-splitting laugh riot.

If Shankar had little work with the script, he’s spent his energy wisely on the cast. Sathyaraj and Jeeva risk their ‘image’, while Sathyan and Srikanth know they’re never getting anywhere close to a role this meaty and it shows in their performance. Ileana’s probably never going back to Telugu after this. Shankar even goes the distance with a tribute to her (‘இருக்கானா இல்ல இல்லையான’).

If only he’d not tried Aamir Khan’s brand of body language on Vijay and Boman Irani’s style of hamming on Sathyaraj, it could have been better.

Mouna Guru

There are these one-offs sleepers that come from no where and catch you off-guard. Trust (almost) all the hype around ‘Mouna Guru’. This is by no stretch earth-shattering fresh, so you know. Thanks to the massive word-of-mouth, the movie’s going to be a sure hit. It helps that Arulnithi’s family has the resource to run those 10 second teasers every 10 minutes.

Another David vs Goliath story? Yes. கொஞ்சம் different. The proceedings are not always about the Hero, which makes it an interesting variation though. Every character has her/his own journey, you lose track of the “Hero” every now and then and you don’t really care.

An example – the Hero has a brother, who happens to have a college Principal for a friend. That Principal’s son has a back story. That is how deep the roles go (however short and subtle they may be). The movie is crowded with such small people, but each one of them on a tight leash, which shows the kind of control the director (Santha Kumar) is capable of, while keeping the script taunt.

I haven’t revealed the show stealer: John Vijay (How does he go from a goof ball in ‘Va Quarter Cutting’ to this?) and Uma Riaz Khan (Frances McDormand inspired role from Fargo). They ease into roles that veteran Tamil actors routinely overdo.

Mahesh Muthuswamy’s framing and lighting reminds you of his outings with Mysskin.

Nanban Trailer

A Very underwhelming teaser from Shankar. I’m sure they have a better movie, but this looks very forced.

Mayakkam Enna

Selvaraghavan is back in his elements with ‘Mayakkam Enna’, after the dismal outing with ‘Aayirathil Oruvan’, doing what he does best; strapping us on to an emotional roller-coaster, where human relationships are tested at every twist and turn.

Mayyakka Enna has two parts. A struggling “genius” who has to constantly scream back at the world that he’d rather be a loser at what he loves (Photography) than sell his passion to be a “success” in life. Then, there is the travails of a Woman who is tested by the very Man she is trying to protect, when PTSD(after a near-fatal fall) makes a devil out of him.

They are not alone here. Four other friends make the journey with them. Friends you’d kill for. A friendship so sweet, it is almost a distraction to the main story, in a very nice way.

Somewhere between these two worlds Selva manages to weave human strengths and weaknesses at friendship, love, betrayal, sacrifice, persistence and redemption. Selva does all this with such ease and freshness, you just can’t help but gasp at the guy’s talent, both as a writer (shades of ‘A Beautiful Mind’ & ’7/G’, yes) and a director.

Dhanush is by now a veteran at playing roles that call for channeling inner turmoil without going over the top, in the name of “acting”. Telugu glam-doll Richa Gangopadhyay is revelation here. She pulls off a commendable performance with a character that starts out with heavy shades gray, but turns up being something else.

G V Prakash’s background score elevates the mood of the film. No song is mis-placed or unwelcome. Ramji’s cinematography is the backbone of the movie ’cause “photography” is the theme running all through Mayakkam Enna.

Many in the Theatre seemed upset about the later part of the movie, but I disagreed with them. Don’t go in expecting a buildup to the “climax”, you’d see ‘Mayakkam Enna’ for what it truly is.

Vaagai Sooda Va

So, I heard not so good feedback about ‘Vaagai Sooda Vaa’ and stayed away for long enough. I thought I’d give it a shot finally. Ever heard, don’t go by what you read in the media, just check it out yourself. This is that kind of a movie. Simple, yet painstakingly crafted little “message” movie.

I’m a sucker for anything vintage and fell in love with this movie even before I watched it. The movie happens in 1966 and every frame is artistically filled with artifacts from that age, but none too intrusive to stand out screaming for attention. Even simple village chores are carefully choreographed, you can’t help but wonder how a (relatively) young Director (A Sargunam) had managed to ingest such subtleties from that era.

The story takes its own sweet time to unfold. The love is unforced, the kids don’t exactly flock to the classroom, until (almost) towards the end and the “villain” does not menace around as you would typically expect in a Tamil movie. Watching the songs, I wish we could have stayed fixed in those uncomplicated times.

The hand-picked cast (Vimal, Iniya, K Bhagyaraj, Elango, Thambi Ramiah & a host of kids) adds to the charm of the movie. An unconventional love story and an undramatic climax may be underwhelming to many, but it still turned out a winner for me.

7aam Arivu

The big question? Should you watch 7aam Arivu in theatres? Yes, and depends. A definite ‘Yes’, for the visuals and the aesthetics of Murugadas and Ravi K Chandran. It HAS to be a big screen. Depends, for the story. If you love your movie to make you feel smarter (even with some fake science and mis-placed jingoism), you will be OK. The way these things have been presented is impressive. If that does not sound right, please wait for the DVD.

Murugadas weaves quiet an interesting tale around the legend of Bodhidharman and uses it to imagine a Chinese conspiracy to bring down India. How a Terminator-like body-hijacking baddie from China gets to ‘The One’ (a la Neo from The Matrix) who must realize who he is, in time, takes us to through the rest of the Movie. It is this part that could win you over or lose you completely.

While Surya (graceful & apt) and Sruthi (gorgeous & believable) are amazing, the complete lack of Chemistry between them is a big let down (a love song and a pathos song within 30 mins of screen time?). So too are Murgadoss’ preachy bits. Murugadoss goes ballistic about how we ill-treat Tamil (dream sequence in Thailand, OK?) and how we regard ‘ ancient Tamil Science’ (a 1600-old Tamil manual on Genetic re-engineering still needs German Technology?) as a mere superstition. Harris Jayaraj doesn’t help much either.

Review: Engayum Eppothum

I’m going to go against the terrific word of mouth that “Engayum Eppothum” is enjoying and say the movie could have been much better.

At the crux of it, EE is a simple, sweet love story that unfolds, with Madras as a strong character, between total strangers (Shravanand & Ananya). Call it ரயில் ச்நேஹம் on bus(es). A thoroughly enjoyable short film. It should have ended there and it would have won me over.

Tamil films being what they are, have no place for shorts; so M Saravanan has to add a whole lot of fluff. Another forced love story (Jai & Anjali) and a whole bunch of characters with a “touching” stories later, what we have is a busload, heading towards a climax that attempts to suck every emotional strain left in your heart.

Trailer: 7am Arivu