Vallakkottai

Medium : Tamil
Starring : Arjun, Ashish Vidyarthi, Suresh, Livingston, Ganja Karuppu, Haripriya
Director : A.Venkitesh
Music : Dhina

In the last decade, actor Arjun has not got any big hits, other than an average one like 'Giri' to maintain his name 'Action King'. The last release from him was just a month before, where he joined hands with Mammootty for the movie 'Vandemaatharam'; but the result was not positive for him. A.Venkitesh, the director of action entertainers like 'Aye', 'Kuthu', 'Dum', 'Bhagavathi', 'Malai Malai', 'Maanja Velu' etc had decided to take the megaphone for Arjun. The two had teamed up before for movies like 'Durai' and 'Vathiyar', which were not popular as expected.

The promotional stills of the hero in different appearances, reminds the director Shankar's debut hit, 'Gentleman'. When going through the titles, I was surprised to see the name of malayalees for the story credit. They are none other than Rafi-Mecartin; the doubt is clarified during the first scene inside the jail, the conclusion is that 'Vallakkottai' is the remake of Mammootty's hit movie, 'Mayavi'. The interest gradually came down, only thing to be noted here is that how far the new version been successful in keeping us alive.

Muthuvel (Arjun) is lucky to be freed from the jail on the independence day. He reached Vallakkottai to make money so that can help his friend's brother who has to undergo a major surgery. When reached there, he got involved in the grudge happening between two families (lead by Ashish Vidyarthi and Suresh). He is taking revenge without revealing his identity, in the name of Vaayu Puthiran.

The jail scenes involving Vennirai Aadai Moorthy in the beginning are not attractive. The villain in the jail is not flexible, he is seen many times in the second half also, which is not a good sight. The different get ups given for Arjun, reminds us of the black and white movies, where heroes like NTR, MGR, Prem Nazir etc hides their identity using a single dark mole in their face. In the current age, it is pity to repeat some attempts almost similar to it. The carpets on the floor are clearly revealed in the action scenes, which shows that it is done by some inexperienced people.

Arjun's old look is revealed in his appearance, his flexibility is not at the best. It is time for him to concentrate on the script (like 'Karna') and direction sides more. Don't forget that he has directed movies like 'Sevagan', 'Prathap', 'Jai Hind', 'Vedham', Ezhumalai' etc. Mammootty was good for the title role, but Arjun is not fully fit for the role that demands some comedy elements also. Kannada girl Haripriya ('Kanakavel Kaakka' fame) is not having the great looks necessary for a heroine. Sathyan, who comes as hero' companion has also not done well. Songs by Dhina are not good, hence it has affected the dance choreography also. Anjaneyalu is the cinematographer and Kay Kay is the editor.

The relevance in which the songs at abroad are shot in the coastal areas and back water sides are not understanding, as the story of the movie is happening in a place which is surrounded by water. The director had decided to shot the movie at the same place where the original version happened, thus the scenes in the boat, swimming in water, harbor area etc have been repeated here also, which is not a good custom. Even the friend's character of the hero is a similar figure that of Manoj K.Jayan.

Even after getting a promotable story, the scripting and the presentation sides can make a movie weaker; 'Vallakkottai' is the best example for such a phenomenon.


Rating : 3.5 / 10

Vandemaatharam

Medium : Malayalam
Starring : Mammootty, Arjun, Jagadeesh, Sneha
Director : T.Aravind
Music. D.Iman

The shooting of 'Vandemaatharam', the bilingual movie starring Mammooty and Arjun for the first time, has been happening for the last two-three years. It was proposed to release last week, but due to financial problems it didn't happened. The producer of the movie Henry ('Yavanika', Marumalarchi' fame) has written the story and script. Dialogues are by A.K.Santhosh. The director is relatively a new name, T.Aravind. Arjun, who has not got a big success in the recent past is seen with another superstar. Though it is not a comparison, the theme and its environment reminded me of the ever lasting hit 'Kuruthippunal', that came from Kamalhassan - Arjun combination (before watching it). Sneha comes as the heroine for Mammootty after 'Thuruppugulaan'.

Gopi Krishnan (Mammootty), the intelligence officer is staying with his wife (Sneha), who is an air hostess. He is given the charge to investigate the bomb blast threat in Kerala. He took the support of the police officer Anwar (Arjun) in his gang. They found out that a murder happened in the city recently has got some links with the case. After investigations, they reached the person who is taken in charge of the attack. But they can't avoid the blast from happening, that killed many people. The villain is taken into custody, his cross border connections were also traced. The culprit was not answering their questions even after many physical torturing. Now Gopi Krishnan made a new plan and how his team succeeded in his mission is told in the climax of ''Vandemaatharam'.

The scripting and the execution side are too weak. Hence it felt like watching a third rate dubbed movie from Kannada, in many areas. The dialogues in most areas and the song situations are placed in such a way only. Though the camera men (Panneerselvam & Rajesh Yadav) and editors (Ramarao & Udayashankar) did their job well by giving some fast visuals, it is not enough to satisfy the viewers. The visual effects sequences used in the investigation office and its associated incidents are good, though the integrity of most of them can be questioned. In some portions, you are shown Chennai with 'pallavan' buses and tamil police officers and the creators are saying the place as Cochin. The story of farmers felt like a documentary. The climax is done in a childish way. Like this you can find many number of unwanted situations there.

Mammootty had done the job, just to count one more movie in his credits. The highly emotional scene towards the end, substantiated the fact. Arjun, with the voice of Shobi Thilakan has got some actions to do. The presence of ropes and the platform beds are evident in most of the action sequences done by Anal Aras and team. Sneha comes in a song and also in another couple of scenes. D.Iman gave a fast bg score for the mood. His songs are in 'pakka' tamil style and the lyrics in a couple of them are intolerable.

In a scene where the hero looking at his laptop, I asked about its genuineness to my friend who is sitting beside me, his immediate reply was "is that the only problem you find here...?!"

"Mammootty's 'Vandemaatharam' has been renamed as 'One Day Maathram'", to be honest these are the wordings of the mobile message I got while watching the night show of the movie.

'Vandemaatharam' is a movie which can pollute the good environment in the industry happened due to the recent Ramzan releases.


Rating : 2.5 / 10