Kalavaani

Medium : Tamil
Starring : Vimal, Oviya, Ganja Karuppu, Ilavarasu, Saranya
Director : Sargunam
Music : S.S.Kumaran

In the last few years, tamil industry has witnessed the release of some successful village based movies. The acceptance of 'Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu', 'Poo', 'Pasanga' etc had given strength to many new producers and directors to come up with similar themes, irrespective of the star cast. Now the debutant director Sargunam had made a movie named 'Kalavaani' with Vimal ('Pasanga' fame) and new comer Oviya in the lead roles. Om Prakash is the cinematographer and S.S.Kumaran ('Poo' fame) is the music director.

As we have seen before, in this story also, there are two opponent villages where hero and the heroine lives. Arikki (Vimal) is an irresponsible guy, who unnecessarily spends the money send by his father (Ilavarasu) from abroad. His mother (Saranya) and sister, who are afraid of him, doesn't tried to control his activities. He meets Maheswari (Oviya), a school going girl from the neighboring village. He is teasing her in the beginning days and gradually it ended up in love. In the middle, Arikki and his friends got involved in a kidnapping incident happened in the next village. Maheswari's brother Ilango, an angry young man, who has got an upper hand in that village, heard about this. Ilango and his companions attacked Arikki during the festival celebrations. When Ilango came to know about the affair of his sister, he tried to arrange her marriage soon. How Arikki wins his love, in front of the angry relatives and villagers, is told in the climax.

The story line of 'Kalavaani' is good, but the problems happening in the execution side has caused the unstable environment. The movie lacks the speed that required. As the director had given more importance to romance matters, most of the situations have been covered up with the meeting between the lovers by the sides of paddy fields. Though the heroine in the cycle scenes felt original, it should have been done in a limited way. The situations like the fighting at the cricket tournament, the attack on the hero, climax where the heroine's family reached their opponent village etc should have been done more seriously. The friendship area also lacks the punch it required.

Vimal has done well in the unemployed role, but his dubbing lacks energy in many areas. Debutant malayalee girl Oviya is suited well for such an innocent character. New face, who comes in the role of Ilango is good, but his actions are repetitive in the chasing scenes. Comedy scenes featuring Ganja Karuppu are good. Ilavarasu and Saranya have done roles in their own style. The girl who did the sister role of hero and the non popular actors who comes a the parents of the heroine are equally good. The hero helping his lover, the version given for the wordings on wall 'LCIIO', the happenings at the heroine's family etc have been neatly shown here.

Songs by S.S.Kumaran are not the best, it comes as bg score also in few areas. Old Ilayaraja songs have also been used as bg sounds; In some areas a mismatching of the bg music is evident in the first half portions. Cameraman Om Prakash did an excellent job behind the lenses. Debutant director Sargunam needs claps for taking such an ordinary subject involving friendship, romance and revenges in the backdrop of a village with the majority of unestablished faces; If he has approached the project more seriously, the output would have gone to another level.


'Kalavaani' is a love story told in the backdrop of paddy fields using some unpopular faces; Had the problems happened in the presentation side been rectified, it would have become another sensational hit.


Rating : 6 / 10 (revised)

Avan

Medium : Malayalam
Starring : Bala, Vijay Yesudas, Riaz Khan, Vijayaraghavan, Jagadeesh, Muktha
Director : Nandakumar Kaavil
Music : Rajamani, Ramesh Narayan, Anil Gopal

The only attraction of the movie 'Avan' is that singer Vijay Yesudas has acted in an important role in it. Like his father, who had done some on-screen appearances ('Kayamkulam Kochunni', 'Kavya Mela', 'Achani', 'Nandanam', 'Boy Friend' etc), Vijay is also trying to extend his popularity. Young actor Bala ('Big B', 'Puthiya Mukham', 'Chembada' fame) comes in the lead role. Script writer Sumod Gopu, director Nandakumar Kaavil are all new comers. Nambiathiri ('Laal Salaam', 'Aayirappara', 'Kadha Nayakan' fame) is the cinematographer. This musical action subject has got Rajamani, Ramesh Narayan and Anil Gopal as the music directors.

The story starts when Krishnan (Bala), a criminal, participating in a tv reality show. In front of the anchor (Jagadeesh), he tell about his old days and how he reached in such a situation. Krishnan is having a broken and unstable childhood, but he was always fond of music. He studied the basic lessons, hearing the voice of music teacher (Devan) in the locality. Later, Krishan got involved in a murder incident and left the village, when grown up he became the main member of a quotation gang. He has involved in all sorts of illegal activities with his friend Dharman (Riaz Khan). They got advice from Balu (Vijayaraghavan), an old gang leader, in all such matters. Krishnan loves a girl (Muktha) in the colony. One day, Krishnan and Dharman got into a deal with business tycoon, to attack the up coming singer Ramanujam (Vijay Yesudas). They entered the latter's house, which later lead to a series of incidents.

The director has tried to tell the subject in the backdrop of a reality show.We have seen a similar situation in Jayaram movie, 'One Man Show' by Rafi-Mecartin. Most of the situations happening in the movie are not new, like the hero in his olden days studying music, the boy got involved in a murder and leaving the village, the attachment of the hero with his god father, the helpless hero being treated by the old singer and the young children, the relationship between Krishnan and Ramanujam, the post marriage life of Krishnan's lover, the end happening to the hero's god father, the climax portion of the movie etc have been witnessed in many movies in different languages before.

The portions towards the end, after Krishnan is being attacked by the rowdies, goes too fastly. Here the flasback of Ramanujam and his relationship with Krishnan has not been told convincingly. The reality show, projected as a 'live' programme doesn't felt realistic. Kottayam Nazeer, the spectator tells that he is there as he doesn't have any job to do and he is also over acting most of the time. Bala has tried to do his best, with the voice of dubbing artist Sharathdas. Vijay Yesudas, though doesn't have big job to do, is not looking confident in his scenes (he should concentrate more in the singing area, which is good for him). Vijayaraghavan is suited well in the serious role. Jagathi and Jagadeesh did the roles in their own way.

The songs are not the best, they comes as fillers in various intervals. Among them, Shankar Mahadevan's solo number felt different. To give the voice of M.G.Sreekumar for the highschool boy while singing, is not acceptable. A rare cine-phenomenon has also happened, one song has been rendered by Yesudas, which is performed by his son Vijay in the movie. The art work for the particular song should have been more serious. Mafia Sasi still continues his old techniques in action sequences, which is not good, it is time for him to watch more other language movies. Bg score by Rajamani goes with the mood. Nambiathiri's camera work is ok. Sreenivas is the editor. The attempt taken by Sumod Gopu and Nandakumar Kaavil for taking such a subject needs to be mentioned, they should do more home work and come back with a better project next time.


There is nothing new in a project like 'Avan'.


Rating : 3.5 / 10

Advocate Lakshmanan, Ladies Only

Medium : Malayalam
Starring : Mukesh, Ponnamma Babu, Mallika Kapoor, Jagadeesh, Suraj Venjarammood, Harisree Asokan
Director : Pappan Payattuvila
Music : Mohan Sitara, Rajamani (bg score)

A friend of mine, who is a follower of my blog, called up and enquired, "which is your new destination ?" I told him "Advocate Lakshmanan Ladies Only"; he asked me, to guess the marks that should be given to this movie in advance, though it was against ethics, to satisfy him, I replied "around 4 / 10".

Seeing only 3-4 bikes in the theater parking area, I asked the old man who is giving the coupon, "how is the movie", he replied, "As a staff, I am not supposed to tell the truth, please don't ask", the rating of the movie, in my mind is reduced further.

Even after seeing the funny reaction of the person at the ticket counter, I decided to fall in the pool. From the first couple of scenes itself, the real standard of the movie is revealed, I felt sorry for such a 'good ' pre-assumption given to my friend when he asked me to guess the result !

Lakshmanan (Mukesh) is an advocate who is specialized in divorce cases. He wins such cases for many women (Ponnamma Babu, Geetha Viajayan, Usha etc) and gave them job in the pickles factory owned by him. His brother-in-law is an advocate (Suraj Venjarammood), who always fails cases against him. Lakshmanan is being helped by some people (Jagadeesh, Harisree Asokan etc) to win the cases. Lakshmanan's marriage is being fixed with his lover (Mallika Kapoor) and that has changed his life...do you want more !

The comedy created using Kochu Preman and Harisree Asokan for the advocate to win case, the court scenes, the comedy scene in the hospital featuring many extra artists, the union meeting of 'men for liquor' presided by Suraj Venjarammood, the family scene of Suraj, the scene in which Harisree Asokan and his wife Usha acting as astrologer, humour words by advocate's assistant Jagadeesh, the fighting between Geetha Vijayan and Premkumar and last but not the least the 'kaavadi' dance song featuring Mukesh and Jagadeesh with Ponnamma Babu and her companions (almost having her same body language) on opposite sides etc etc are all examples of dirty and ugly situations that polluted the whole environment. As I don't want to die watching such a movie, I left the theater even before the show ends...

The childish, unprofessional and unintentional attitude of the script writer K.S.Padmakumar and director Pappan Payattuvila resulted in the poor performance of cinematographer K.V.Suresh and re-recordist Rajamani also.

When I returned to take the bike, I asked the same old man, "Which is the new release ?", he replied soon, "it will be a tamil or a hindi movie either, in the coming week"....I whispered, "long live such movies..."


'Advocate Lakshmanan, Ladies Only' doesn't have a single shot to attract the viewers, please don't suggest this even to your enemies...


Rating : 1 / 10

Once Upon a Time In Mumbai

Medium : Hindi
Starring : Ajay Devgan, Imran Hashmi, Randeep Hooda, Kangana Ranaut, Prachi Desai
Director : Milan Lutharia
Music : Pritam, Sandeep Shirodhkar (bg score)

Right from the olden days, we have seen many movies having gangster themes told in the backdrop of Mumbai. There are many examples right from Ramesh Sippy's 'Deewaar' to Ramgopal Varma's 'Company'. Milan Lutharia, the director of movies like 'Kache Dhage', 'Chori Chori', 'Taxi No 9211' etc had come up with his new project that tell the gangsters lived in olden Mumbai titled, 'Once Upon a Time In Mumbai'. Rajat Arora, who worked with the same director in a couple of his previous projects like 'Hattrick' and 'Taxi No 9211', has written the script of this movie. It is produced by Ekta Kapoor, under the banner of Balaji Films. Most of the actors who comes in lead roles have got experience before in doing these kinds of movies like Ajay Devgan (in 'Company'), Randeep Hooda (in 'D'), Imraan Hashmi and Kangana Ranaut (both in 'Gangster').

As the title tells, the story of the movie happens in Mumbai in the earlier 70's. It is being unfold by the police chief, Angel Wilson (Randeep Hooda). On the week of the Mumbai blasts of 93, he is giving his olden memories where the rise of a gangster named Sultan Mirza (Ajay Devgan) has been shown. Being brought up in the city, he has got a suffering child hood days. when grown up, he also became a popular factor among the people as far the metro is concerned. He calls on a meeting, where he divides the city to four others for carrying out their illegal activites. He used the sea traffic for smuggling activities. He is fond of Rehana (Kangana Ranaut), a bollywood actress, later both of them started loving each other. Shoaib Khan (Imran Hashmi), son of a police man, is being involved in small kinds of robberies right from his childhood days. When came to know about Sultan, he started imitating the former's style. Shoaib also wanted to become a don one day, that rules the city of Bombay. Soon he got a chance to meet Sultan and thus he joined the latter's gang. How Shoaib achieves his dream and whether Sultan allows him to do so are shown in the later portions.

The movie that tells the story of the Mumbai almost 35 years before, had been neatly handled by the director. The buildings, costly cars, roads, studios, hotels, police officers, hundred rupee note etc has been projected as it is happened in those days. Art director Nitin Chandrakant Desai had lot of work to do in that area. The costumes and the make up department (evident in the case of Imran Hashmi), did their job well. The lead characters had got the shades of real life characters Haji Mustan, Dawood Ibrahim, Mandakini (actress) etc that lived in the city in olden days. The theater showing the old blockbuster 'Bobby' and the rise of stardom of Amitabh Bachan through the heroine's words, substantiates the period well. The dialogues used in the movie needs special mentioning. Unlike other movies, here you have got an abrupt ending, which won't be easily digest for us. The character of Emran Hashmi hass got shades of Ram's role in telugu movie 'Jagadam', directed by Sukumar.

Ajay Devgan had done the lead role in a lovable way. The romantic boy Imran Hashmi has got a different job to do, he is good in the rough and tough appearance. As always, Kangana Ranaut performed well. Randeep Hooda is also notable in the police officer's suits. Pritam's songs goes with the story, Sandeep Shirodhkar gave an excellent bg score. Cinematography by Aseem Misra is excellent and editor Akiv Ali also did his job well.


'Once Upon a Time In Mumbai' is yet another gangster movie told in the backdrop of Mumbai. Those who love such subjects, should certainly watch it.


Rating : 7 / 10

Thillaalangadi

Medium : Tamil
Starring : 'Jayam' Ravi, Thamanna, Shyam, Vadivelu, Prabhu,Suhasini
Director : M.Raja
Music : Yuvan Shankar Raja, Thaman (bg score)

The successful director of remake subjects, M.Raja ('Jayam', 'M.Kumaran s/o Mahalakshmi', 'Something Something Unakkum Enakkum', 'Santhosh Subramanyam' fame), had once again joined hands with his brother 'Jayam' Ravi, for the new movie named 'Thillaalangadi'. It has got charming girl Thamanna as the heroine. This home production of the actor's family, has got the story borrowed from the telugu flick 'Kick', directed by Surendar Reddy starring Ravi Teja and Ileana. Shyam ('12B', 'Leysa Leysa' fame), who has done an important character in 'Kick', has been maintained here also. Yuvan Shankar Raja is the music director, Thaman, who composed songs for telugu version, has been given the chance to do re-recording here. Rajasekhar is the cinematographer.

Krishna ('Jayam' Ravi) is an easy going guy. He wants to see some difference in each and every activities he got involved, in short he wants 'kick' in all such things. Krishna's contrasting but notable character, was not all liked by Nisha (Thamanna). But later her angry towards him got converted to passion and love. Nisha wants his lover to be serious in his career, thus Krishna entered a job. After few days, he left the job, telling that he doesn't feel 'kick' in it. She is too angry and this made a split between two, later she reached Malaysia. As per wish of her parents, Nisha meets Krishna Kumar (Shyam) and as both of them like each other, they decided to get married. There is a purpose behind Krishna Kumar's visit to that country and whether Nisha is able to meet Krisha again is told in the second half of 'Thillaalangadi'.

The director had made the carbon copy of every shots of 'Kick'. With the experience got from working with his brother in the previous projects, 'Jayam' Ravi, did well in such a role. Thamanna had tried to imitate Ileana's performance in many areas. Shyam is good in the powerful role given to him, the unsuccessful actor with an experience of about 20 films, is expecting to get a good break by this role. Though it is a repetetion, the scenes involving Vadivelu creates laughing. Santhanam is appearing in a couple of scenes only, the director had not given a chance to deliver the actor's style here, rather it is also an adaptation of Ali's role from the original version. The 'jil jil...' words told by Manobala (as saint) is also the same as the original, it should have been given a different version. The attitude of the politicians needs more seriousness.

R.D.Rajasekhar's cinematography is rich and colorful. Yuvan had given some fast peppy numbers that goes with the mood. The choreography of the songs are attractive, especially the visual effects done in 'solppechu...' song for Shobi's choreography is notable. Thaman's bg score is also good.

It is not a good custom to cut short few scenes from the censored project. Though they are doing this to reduce the length, it will affect the continuity in few areas; I am not sure whether editor Sasikumar is aware of such a fact, the culprit may be the theater owner, the distributor or the director himself. It is not a matter that I found it since I watched the original version of this movie, an ordinary viewer may be able to find the problem happened in the link between certain scenes...


If necessary, you can watch 'Thillaalangadi' once, for a time pass.


Rating : 7 / 10