Kartik Calling Karthik

Medium : Hindi
Starring : Farhan Akthar, Deepika Padukone
Director : Vijay Lalwani
Music : Shankar Ehsaan Loy, Midival Punditz and Karsh Kale (bg score)

It looks like, the director of big films like 'Dil Chahtha Hai', 'Lakshya' and 'Don', Farhan Akthar, has started enjoying his new job in the industry. After acted in films like 'Rock On' and 'Luck By Chance', his new film 'Kartik Calling Karthik', where he had done the lead role is released recently. Deepika Padukone, who has become a big name these days, is the heroine. Debutant Vijay Lalwani is the creator of the movie.

Kathik (Farhan Akthar) is an introvert and a shy type guy working in a construction company. His boss is always taking advantage of his non confident attitude by scolding him in public. Sonali (Deepika Padukone), who is a co-worker, doesn't even noticed that such a person is working in their firm for the last few years. Karthik has been watching Sonali and he likes her also, but fails to express his love. By this time, Karthik gets a call at his land line at home from a person claiming that he is also Karthik. Those calls, that comes daily in the morning, are like coaching class for Karthik and gradually it motivated him to change his attitude. Though he was suspended from the company before, now the boss is forced to give him re-entry with a promotion. He gets in touch with Sonali, who is being affected from a love failure and they started loving each other.

One day she says that there should not be any secrets between them as she is not fit to face a failure in her life again. Even after the caller warning him not to tell about the calls to any body, Karthik reveals this to his lover. She is not believing it, she even asked him to consult a psychiatrist. He is not willing and it caused a split in relationship between the two. The caller also becomes an enemy to Karthik and he tells that he will destroy him at any cause. Without informing, the hero decides to leave the city to a far away place so that he can escape from the caller and what happens to him in such a situation is shown in 'Kartik Calling Karthik' here after.

With such a subject, director Vijay Lalwani had tried his best to make a thrilling tempo and keep the suspense (though it was anticipated) till end. May be, we might get an idea about the caller in the beginning itself, but as the calls came in front of the doctor and the heroine, we are confused. The problem happened to the film is the area where the hero tried to escape from the city. It is a lack of confidence showed from the part of the director also. The pathos song in that portion is a booster dose for the lagging. The scene in which the hero purchasing the same type of phone with the same color in the second half should have been avoided. It will give a wrong message to the audience as they will blame the phone company in the end for the reason of these problems. Also the doctor finding the cause in the end and showing it to the heroine looks like an advertisement. The climax is not clearly presented by the director, it is doubtful whether all things are cleared or it still exists.

The film has got a good performance by Farhan Akthar and Deepika Padukone. Shankar Ehsaan Loy gave the songs in their style, none of them are catching. Background score by Midival Punditz and Karsh Kale goes with the mood. Cinematography by Sanu Varghese is rich, editor Aarti Bajaj also gave neat cuts. The variety style in the title credits of the film is related to the theme of the film, which is good.

'Kartik Calling Karthik' is a different film. It should have been a must watchable one, if the lack of stability in the second half portions are avoided.


Rating : 6 / 10

Goa

Medium : Tamil
Starring : Jai, Premji Amaran, Vaibhav, Aravind, Sampath Raj, Sneha, Piya Bajpai
Director : Venkat Prabhu
Music : Yuvan Shankar Raja

After the grand success of films like 'Chennai 600028' and 'Saroja', director Venkat Prabhu, music director Yuvan Shankar Raja, cinematographer Sakthi Sravanan, art director Vidhesh, costume designer Vasuki Bhaskar etc once again teamed up for their new project named 'Goa'. This time, their producer is also big and different, it is none other than Soundarya Rajnikanth, under the banner of Ocher Studios. The director had tried to repeat the majority of actors that worked with him in his previous films.

The film starts in Pannaipuram, a village near Madhurai where three friends Samikkannu (Premji Amaran), Vinayakam (Jai) and Ramarajan (Vaibhav), lived like 'good for nothing' peoples. Being caught for doing some fowl plays, the panchayat leader decided that those three should never meet again in the future for the welfare of the locals. Being annoyed at this, they decided to leave the place, reached Madhurai where they meet Vinayakam's friend, who is being married to a foreign lady. When heard about the love matters that happened in Goa, they decided to visit Goa and to settle their life after being married to any white ladies. When reached the destination, they met Jack (Aravind), who arranged a good food and shelter for them. Danny (Sampath Raj), a close companion of Jack is also helping them. Samikkannu came across Jessica, a foreign girl, whom he met in Madhurai. Vinayagam is being loved by Roshni (Piya Bajpai), while Ramarajan is mad of Suhasini (Sneha), a rich girl. In the middle, relationship between Danny and Samikkannu is being misunderstood by Jack, which is also treated in a comical way. What happens to the ambitions of these friends is shown in the climax of 'Goa'.

Starting the film with a folk song based on the birth place of Ilayaraja and Gangai Amamran, sung by their descendants Karthik, Yuvan, Venkat and Premji will not be a coincidence. Those visuals which covers the first few minutes of the film gives a village flavor. Later on, the film takes its pace when it reaches the colorful locations of Goa. Those who have seen the previous films by the director know his presentation style, 'Goa' is also not different. It is also told in a satirical way. The lights appearing on the face of Ramarajan when he sees a girl, the poor english language used by Vinayakam, 'kangal irandaal...' song given as background for Samikkannu when he stands with Vinayakam, usage of the dilaogues "enna kodumai sir..." and "evvalavo pannitto...", placement of Silambarasan in a guest role, flashback scenes of the village leader, the protrayal of homo sexual relationship scenes in a funny way which is never seen before in south indian films are all examples of the young writer-director's signature.

Premji Amaran, Jai and Vaibhav did well in the lead roles, especially Premji Amaran's comical body language creates more laughing. Sampath Raj, who has been doing negative roles these days, gave a different performance here. Including two village type songs and a theme mix, done by Yuvan Shankar Raja are good for the mood, especially the background score given with the help of Premji Amaran needs special mention. Sakthi Saravanan's camera work is colorful. The second half area including the climax needs more stability, it is also doubtful whether narrow minded people will appreciate gay relationship scenes, though it is told in a lighter way.

'Goa' is a musical entertainer with full of joy, fun and humor. If you have seen the previous two hits by the same director, then don't miss this one also.

Rating : 7.5 / 10

Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa

Medium : Tamil

Starring : Silambarasan, Trisha, Ganesh, Babu Antony, Kitty, K.S.Ravikumar
Director : Gautham Menon
Music : A.R.Rahman

Gautham Menon is one of the distinguished technicians in Indian film industry. His first directorial venture was 'Minnale', but it was 'Kaakka Kaakka', that made him popular among the masses in the south. Though his last few films, like 'Pachakkili Muthuchiram' (Sarath Kumar), 'Vettayadu Vilayadu' (Kamalhassan) and 'Vaaranam Aayiram'(Soorya) were also notable ones, none of them stands on top when we consider the commercial and business sides only. Now his new film is special, as he joined hands with A.R.Rahman, leaving his favorite music director Harris Jayaraj, who gave a good company for all his films so far. Silambarasan and Trisha plays the lead roles after the film 'Alai', which happened almost seven years ago. Udayanidhi Stalin, under the banner Red Giant movies, is the distributor of the film. Anthony is the editor and Manoj Paramahmasa, who gave an excellent output in 'Eeram' is the cinematographer here.

'Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa' is a love story of a hindu boy Karthik (Silambarasan), an ambitious assistant director in films and a malayalee christian girl Jessie (Trisha). They lives in the city as neighbors in the same compound. Her native is in Alleppey. It was Karthik that proposed her and though Jessie opposed it in the beginning and gradually it turned into a real affair. Being born in an orthodox family, her father (Babu Antony) doesn't like Karthik, who is still struggling for a good opening in the film field. By this time, her marriage is fixed. In the bride's costumes, she objected when the priest asks for her permission in the church. Later the lovers decided that they will get united only after getting green signal from her parents. In between their relationship gets tensed when they gave more importance to the family and career matters and they departs each other. When got a chance to direct a film, he took his own life story as the theme. What happens to his debut film and the future of their love episodes are shown later.

This lengthy romantic subject is presented in director's style. The ups and downs in the relationship of the lovers is shown in a natural way. Sometimes there is silence, on some other occasions there are tensions followed by regrets. The first half is lovable and it is moving smoothly, in the post interval period there is dragging here and there. The climax needs more clarity and it also causes a confusion among the audience.

Silambarasan and Trisha gave an excellent performance in the lead roles. Unlike from the action image, he has given a new body language in such a character. Trisha is charming and she has handled the matured role well. Ganesh, one of the producers, who comes as hero's companion is also good. Among the seven numbers by A.R.Rahman, 'Anbil Avan...' and 'Kannukkul Kannai...' stands on top, 'Aaromale...' can caught attention due to its negative singing style. His bg score matches the mood well, but the songs are not extremely good enough to dominate the hits that came from Gautham-Harris combination before. The visuals of the songs, majority done in the foreign locations accompanied by english dance groups, should have been done better. Camera man Manoj Paramhamasa had given rich and colorful visuals here. Director's usual editor Anthony gave some neat cuts.


Don't watch 'Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa' expecting it to be a fast entertainer, rather it is a realistic love subject told in Gautham Menon's style. Those people bearing good romantic feelings in their mind, will love it (how ever, avoiding the lagging in the second half followed by a neat and straight climax should have given a better result for the movie)...

Rating : 6.5 / 10

Thamizhppadam

Medium : Tamil
Starring : Shiva, Disha Pandey, M.S.Bhaskar, Vennira Aadai Moorthi, Manobala
Director : C.S.Amudhan
Music : Kannan

Films like 'Hot Shots', 'Naked Gun', 'Scary Movie' series etc in Hollywood which are called as spoofs (satirical imitation, a light parady). Those type of films will be made in the film format only and the presentation will also be realistic, but the idea is to make fun by imitating the realistic scenes from many hit films in the past like 'Rambo', 'Terminator', 'James Bond' series etc. Here also we have witnessed situations like this through the comedy serials, stage shows etc and in few films through the dialogues rendered by comedy artists in it.

This time in tamil, new writer-director C.S.Amudhan had come up with a complete spoof movie named 'Thamizhppadam', where there is imitation scenes of a wide number of hit films. After Udayanidhi Stalin (producer of 'Aadhavan'), another grand son of Kalainjar Karunanidhi, Dayanidhi Azhagiri enters the industry by producing this movie. Shiva, who acted in films like 'Chennai 600028' and 'Saroja' is coming in the lead role here. Disha Pandey, who acted in a hindi film before had made her debut in tamil through this film. Nirav Shah, cinematographer of big films like 'Sandaikkozhi', 'Pokkiri', 'Kireedom', 'Dhoom' series, 'Wanted' etc is there to support the new director.

The hero (Shiva) is born in a village where the male children were killed on their birth date itself, as per order from Nattaamai, the leader. When the same procedure was about to happen in the case of Shiva, the small baby asks his grand mother to let him go in a goods train to Chennai, so that he can become a hero later. (There starts the director's different making style and we will get an idea about the mood of the movie). When grown up, Shiva also gets a good introduction through a song, followed by a fight. He had got three friends (M.S.Bhaskar, Vennira Aadai Moorthi and Manobala), who think that they belong to the youth generation. Shiva meets the heroine and to win her love he studies Bharathanatyam within a day and that too by referring a book. The rich girl's father doesn't agree their love matters as the hero is a poor guy. Shiva leaves the place with the intention of becoming a rich man and he achieves it through a song, by doing different jobs. Thus father agrees, when the girl's relatives asked the hero about his father, he kept silent and the later areas showed the hero reaching his native village in search of his family. In between, the hero also kills some villains who causes harm to the society.

The new director C.S.Amudhan should be appreciated for such a different attempt. The film has got situations imitated from a bulk number of films like 'Dalapathi', 'Chandramukhi', 'Run', 'Mouna Raagam', 'Winner', 'Mozhi', 'Annamalai', 'Kathalukku Mariyadhai', 'Anniyan', 'Shivaji', 'Naayagan', 'Kaakka Kaakka', 'Vaidehi Kaathirundhaal', 'Apoorva Sahotharangal', 'Pokkiri', 'Kizhakke Pokum Rail', 'Ramana', 'Padaiyappa', 'Ghajini', 'Virumaandi' etc etc. The placement of senior actors as hero's friends, the speech of the new born baby, the way in which the hero grown up soon to beat the rowdies, the bharathanatyam dance performance of the hero, the sudden song in which the hero becoming rich, 'O Maha Zeeya...' song, the inclusion of english song for the family, the use of different village names and its relevance are some of the notable areas to indicate the creator's brilliance.

Shiva has done an excellent performance in the hero's role. Paravai Muniamma is good in the grand mother's character. M.S.Bhaskar, Vennira Aadai Moorthi and Manobala also gave a good company for the hero. Nirav Shah's camera work is good. Another notable technician is Kannan, who gave a good background score for the film.


'Thamizhppadam' is a hilarious comedy film that creates laughing in each and every scenes. If you got a good sense of humor and also you are aware of the tamil film culture in the last 25years, then you will like this different entertainer.


Rating : 8 / 10

Sufi Paranja Katha

Medium : Malayalam

Starring : Sharbani Mukherji, Prakash Baare, Thampi Antony, Jagathi, Indrans
Director : Priyanandanan
Music : Mohan Sitara

After receiving a good name through films like 'Neythukaaran' (best actor national award for Murali) and 'Pulijanmam' (national award for best malayalam film), director Priyanandanan has given his new film 'Sufi Paranja Katha'. The film is based on a novel written by K.P.Ramanunni with the same name. The literary work has got many awards and was also translated into many other languages. The film script is written by the author himself. Sharbani Mukherji has done the lead role here. She got her debut through the hindi film 'Border', 13years before, has done the film 'Raakkilippattu' (directed by Priyadarshan) also. Her cousins Kajol and Rani Mukherjee are also notable artists in bollywood. Prakash Baare, who is also the producer of the film, is the hero here. Thampi Antony also did an important character here.

The film started by showing the muslim saint, Sufi (Babu Antony) telling the story to a young journalist (Vineeth Kumar) regarding 'biwi', a muslim lady that lived in the ancient period . The story happens in the early 19th century in a traditional hindu family where Karthyani (Sharbani Mukherji) was born. Her uncle (Thampi Antony) predicted some dangers and sensed un usual things to happen in the family as as result of her birth. The girl was special in her character. She experienced loneliness in the family and was deeply attached to her uncle. She got in touch with a muslim trader, Maammutty (Prakash Baare) who came to the village to do business. Both of them loved each other and ran away to his native at Ponnanni. When reached there, she is being converted to Islam. With her knowledge in natural medicines, she treated the local people suffering from small diseases. She wished to follow and practice the culture and traditions of her original religion. Her husband allowed it and she started doing rituals in a small temple built in their premises. The muslim lady worshiping the hindu god, had created chaos in the community. Though Maammutty gave maximum support to her, at one stage he also acted against it. The issues happening in the society is shown in the later areas of 'Sufi Paranja Katha'.

Sharbani Mukherji, the girl with the light brown eyes, suits the character very well and had delivered her best. Prakash Baare, who happened to be the producer of the film also, had given an excellent performance. Thampi Antony, in the uncle's role had also given an unbelievable performance (Shoby Thilakan dubbed for him). Jagathi and Indrans also gave did well in their serious roles. Cinematographer KG Jayan did a good job without much gimmicks. Mohan Sitara's background score is slightly heavy, but it goes with the mood. Gokuldas (art) and Kumar Edappal (costumes) are those people who have got some serious works to do while working on periodical films.

A couple of years ago, I had seen Priyanandanan crying before the invitees in a function, seeking to give a theater for the release of his film 'Pulijanmam'. But this time the scenario is different., he had succeeded in attracting crowds and big banner Central Pictures came forward to distribute the film, which is also a good sign. The film is presented in the best way it can. The intimacy in relationship between the heroine and her uncle, the changes happening in Jagathi's character etc are some of the areas to be noted. How ever we can't agree the hero supporting the homo sexual relationship in the later portion of the film.


'Sufi Paranja Katha' is a film which is very relevant in the current period. The film gives a message also which is said through Jagathi's character "if we want to keep our faith, we have to sacrifice life and if we want to live, then we have to sacrifice faith..."


Rating : 7.5 / 10