Thiruvannamalai

When I requested my friend to accompany me for a film named ‘Thiruvannamalai’, he asked, who is the actor? I told, Arjun, his immediate response was a screaming sound telling ‘6 songs + 6 fights will be the pattern, he showed his disinterest. Though I didn’t argued, I put it in my mind and thought about Arjun's new releases; I found that the actor is not having a big hit in the recent past to project like ‘Muthalvan’.

But I showed my interest to this project due to a couple of reasons. The first name is the production banner Kavithalaya, owned by the director K.Balachander. He has given many serious films, many of them were hits. Before going to the next name, I will mention some names like ‘Thiruppachi’, ‘Sivagasi’, ‘Thiruppathi’, ‘Dharmapuri’, ‘Pazhani’ etc…What do you feel, don’t you smell some resemblance in these names. They are all names of different places in Tamilnadu. At the same time, they are all names of some tamil films released in the last 5-6years. The director behind those films is Perarasu, who happened to be the creator of ‘Thiruvannamalai’ also.

From the first scene itself, I was aware of the story. The hero is introduced through a quarrelling by exchanging words with the villain MLA (Saikumar, kannada actor). Thereafter followed by a song and fight. I thought the assumption of my friend was right. Due to the arrogant behavior of the hero, his mother takes him to a saint in Thiruvannamalai. The biggest surprise is that the swamiji is also Arjun (double role) in the same appearance, a red dhoti in place of jeans. When the saint tries to give advice, the other one asks him to take his place by asking questions. Here also the usual cliché happens, both the heroes interchange their positions and in the end the villain is being destroyed by them together.

Pooja Gandhi, who acted in ‘Kokki’ is the heroine here. Sreekanth Deva’s songs are repetitive and they are easily forgettable. Action King Arjun’s action scenes directed by Anal Arasu is not the best. The humor created by the hero and his companions like Karunas, Vayyapuri etc is below standard. There is no logic and depth in the storyline. The faith put by the producers were not fulfilled evidently by the writer-director Perarasu.

Can B or C class audiences withstand a film like ‘Thiruvannamalai’…? It is a doubtful question.

Rating : 1.5 / 5

Crazy Gopalan

A project can be prestigious for an actor for if he desperately needed a hit after few flops. But here, in the case of Dileep, the reason is something else since ‘Crazy Gopalan’ comes after ‘Twenty Twenty’ (though he can’t claim the victory alone as an actor, but as a producer he will be the happiest man). Hope we remember the issue between Dileep and Thulasidas(director) regarding the project which has to be produced by Ullattil Sasi and scripted by Udaykrishna-Sibi.K.Thomas in which the former has to do a thief’s role. Thulasidas has given projects like ‘College Kumaran’, ‘Rakshakan’, ‘Avan Chandiyude Makan’ which all bombed in the box office lastyear. For Dileep also the result was same through projects like ‘July 4’, ‘Romeo’, ‘Calcutta News’ and ‘Mulla’. Though the actor has agreed to do the project, he wants the director to come back with a hit. On the other side, the director wants the actor to repay the advance to the producer; he also complained the misbehavior of the actor towards him. Anyway due to the cold war between the actor and the director, the latter was thrown out of the project.

Now the same producer has utilized Dileep’s date to make a new film, ‘Crazy Gopalan’ in which the hero is a thief. The film is scripted and directed by new comer Deepu Karunakaran. He has done a film named ‘Winter’ by Jayaram couple of years back. It is not released sofar. He came from the Adv field and has assisted directors like Priyadarshan before. The cameraman Kannan and editor Manoj for this film are also relatively new names here.

The project ‘Meesamadhavan’ was a big break for the actor years before, it might have inspired him to do the role of thief again. In the beginning itself, the hero ran from the village to the city area. There he got the company of another thief (Salimkumar), they have decided to pay their debts by doing a big robbery. The heroine who is a mysterious character came to their life at that time. Another person (Harisree Asokan) is being caught by the police mistakenly for every robbery done by the hero. In the second half, another thief (Jagathi) joins the party. Thus the cat and rat game by the hero and the villain, who is a rich businessman (Manoj.K.Jayan), is the main plot happening here.

The first few scenes in ‘Crazy Gopalan’ followed by description regarding the villagers by Ranjith (writer-director) are intolerable. We have witnessed such sequences many times before. Also some of the comedy scenes shown there are not up to the mark. There after the theme song “Gopala Gopala…” sung by Shankar Mahadevan for Rahulraj’s music is shown in ultimate speedy motion, filled with witty moments. Once the story happens in the city background, it takes its pace.

The new heroine Radha Varma is introduced in such an area, her performance is below average only. Hero is coming in many getups, there is also a song in which he is shown taking preparations for the revenge, those areas can get claps if we are not aware of the body language of Dileep before. Background score by Rajamani as expected keeps the tempo. With such a story line we can’t expect much here. ‘Crazy Gopalan’reminds us of many comedy films done by the same hero before. As a director, Deepu (younger brother of actress Suchitra) has done his job well.

If there is lot of free time to spend, then you can try ‘Crazy Gopalan’. Don’t forget, it is an usual Dileep film only.

Rating : 2.5 / 5

Ghajini

(This is my 100th posting in this blog..... Sorry for jumping to a hindi flick avoiding the reviews on some of the current malayalam releases; I thought it to be something special. Please take it as my personal partiality..... Since I started this blog, I had spend time for reviews with all my honesty and frankness, excluding those 4 months in the beginning of this year which I took rest for some unexplainable reasons... Thanks for giving me support, expecting more in future.....walking to the review on 'Ghajini'.)

Though this is a tamil remake, ‘Ghajini’ done by Amir Khan in hindi is special since the technical team behind this film is very big. It is directed by A.R.Murugadass (he has directed the original tamil version ‘Gajini’, ‘Dheena’, ‘Ramana’ and telugu movie by Chiranjeevi, ‘Stalin’), Camera is handled by none other than Ravi.K.Chandran, Music is done by A.R.Rahman, Anthony is the editor, Action scenes are composed by Peter Hein ('Run', ‘Annyan’, ‘Sivaji’ fame).

This film is in the news, months before its release. This is mainly due to the bald appearance and the eight pack body of the hero Amir Khan. He has developed it through extreme hard work throughout last year. The media has given maximum coverage for this; hence the film is also the talk of the town these days.

No need to discuss the story line here. The hero is having the short term memory loss; he is in search of the villain, who has destroyed his future and heroine’s life. His revenge is the main motive here. In that way it is a carbon copy of the tamil version, except for the climax.

The main “stars” to be retained here from the original version are A.R.Murugadass (director), Anthony (editor), Pradeep Ravath (villain) and Asin (heroine). Don’t you remember the first time you have seen Asin on screen; it is in a malayalam movie named ‘Narendran Makan Jayakanthan Vaka’ by Sathyan Anthikkad starring Kunjakko Boban. She was the second heroine there, but there after we didn’t utilize her talent here, she went on to act in tamil, telugu etc. and now reached hindi through ‘Ghajini’.

People who have watched the tamil film might compare Surya with Amir Khan. Surya has not done big roles and was simple and ordinary at the time when tamil ‘Gajini’ released, so to watch him in an unusual getup was a surprise. But here we can’t expect that, since Amir has already done big films like ‘Lagaan’, Ragan De Basanthi’ etc. The expression of Surya was good, straight and effortless, but Amir Khan is over expressive and struggling to show emotions in the beginning portions. The re-recording by A.R.Rahman has dominated Harris Jayaraj in most scenes, on the songs side, the vice versa happened. The anticlimax fight sequence by Stun Siva is extra ordinary here. The climax is good and touching. Ravi.K.Chandran’s camera cannot be differentiated with R.D.Rajasekhar’s work. Editor Anthony has done the cuts in his usual style. Though Nayantara doesn’t have much to done in tamil ‘Gajini’, compared to Jiya Khan (‘Nisabdh’ fame), she was far better. Asin, being a new face in hindi, has performed the same thing in her usual manner. Since the body show mainly targets the hero Amir Khan, she doesn’t have to do compromise by exposing her glamour.

Anyway, the star of the show is the director A.R.Murugadass who has done the hindi version with all its ingredients in an enchanting style. He will be a notable name among the best directors in the bollywood hereafter. (The film will attract you more, if you won't compare it with it's tamil version or the original English inspiration 'Momento')

‘Ghajini’ is an unusual hindi film in which a revenge subject is told in an unusual way. You can watch it once.

Rating : 4 / 5

Bommalattom

Director Bharathiraja is prominent for giving super hit films in the past in which he delivered the real flavor of the tamil culture. It was he who brought the tamil films to the village outdoors from the studio sets in Madras. It all happened in the latter half of 1970s through films like ‘Pathinaru Vayathinile’ and ‘Kizhakke Pokum Rail’. The ace director has given around 40 films, which include some notable ones like ‘Nizhalkal’, ‘Manvasanai’, ‘Alaigal Oyivathillai’, ‘Sigappu Rojakkal’, ‘Oru Kaithiyin Dairy’, ‘Kadalora Kavithaikal’, Nadodi Thenral’, ‘Kizhakku Seemayile’ etc. He has got the record for introducing maximum number of heroines in tamil; the list includes Sreedevi, Radhika, Revathi, Rohini, Radha, Rekha, Ranjitha, Rudra, Sukanya, Priyamani etc. (look at the similarity, he has given onscreen names starting with ‘R’ for most of them). Bharathiraja’s childhood friend Music Maestro Ilayaraja has given some memorable songs through his projects. Though the director’s last few films have not caught much attention, his name is still on the top.

Now the director is back with his new project ‘Bommalattom’. The name holds a nativity, unexpectedly this is an investigation subject told in the city backdrop. The team claims this as a bilingual film in hindi and tamil, I don’t think so. Probably it might have been made in hindi and dubbed into tamil, since the lip movement doesn’t match the dialogue.

The story revolves around Nana Patekar who is a famous film director. The heroine of the film and a local person is murdered while the shooting was going on for his latest film. He is the main accused and is being interrogated by the Arjun, who is a CBI officer. In the end there is some twists and turns and the truth comes out in the climax.

The story line is good with an unusual climax, but the way in which the experienced “old” director conceived it is the main drawback here. The film lacks freshness. It is lagging and also not presented in an attractive way. The relation between Arjun’s heroine, Kajal Agarwal and the director’s character is not registered; also don’t understand the logic in which the CBI officer appears the spot immediately after the accident. The problem with the performance of the new artists and the dubbing in some portions felt amateur. The suspense is not showed in a believable manner. It is not good to forcibly incultivate Vivek in such a small role in 2-3 scenes since it wont creates any laughing at all. More or less ‘Bommalattom’ has the taste of an ordinary film in the earlier 90’s.

The highlight of this film is the performance by Nana Patekar in his bold and serious appearance. Bahrathiraja’s usual companion B.Kannan is the cinematographer. The fast cuts by the editor won’t be good enough to get rid of the boring presentation. Himesh Reshammiya has given the music, but in that area also the director’s choice is a failure.

‘Bommalattom’ is not the real traditional dance show as you expect. The theme is good, since it is performed without much guidance, the result is total disappointment.

Rating : 2 / 5

Rab ne Bana di Jodi

He has not done variety heroic roles like Amitabh Bachan, he has not done notable romantic roles like Rajesh Khanna, He is not a dancing star like Midhun Chakravarthy, He has not done action films like Dharmendra, His performance is nowhere near the veteran Nasrudheen Shah, He is also not a show man like the late Raj Kapoor, he has not done anything big like Aamir Khan did in ‘Lagaan’ or anything simple like the same did in ‘Taare Zameen Par’, but he has got a big name among the audience in our country, I still wonder how such an actor can have the maximum fans here, especially ladies. His name is none other than Shahrukh Khan.


He became popular after acting in some teleserials and doing small unnoticable movies. The negative roles in ‘Baazigar’, ‘Darr’ and ‘Anjaam’ caught attention and gradually it created a platform for his career. His combination with director Aditya Chopra gave hit films like ‘Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayege’ and ‘Mohabattein’. Now both of them coming with a new project ‘Rab ne Bana di Jodi’, produced by Yash Chopra.


The opening shot of the film itself will make you surprised. (If you have not seen trailers/songs of this film in TV channels). Here the hero is in his actual getup, nearing 50’s reaches Amritsar with his newly married wife. From the body language of the lady I was able to imagine the full story (through my filmi-experience so far) and what all can happen in the later stage. My calculation didn’t go wrong. It all happened, as it has to be. The heroine being forcibly marrying the hero, the hero tries to win the heart of the lady by doing some special makeup and change his appearance like a youth.


The biggest surprise here is that she is not able to identify her own husband. But I wont complaint. We have accepted many films in the past in which the heroes doing the CID’s role and changing their appearance by putting just a dark mole on their left cheek. In that way there is no scope for a discussion here, here it is more natural…but.


‘Rab ne Bana di Jodi’ has got a new heroine. The tall lady Anushka Sharma has given a good performance as a housewife who is an energetic dancer also. Shahrukh Khan in the matured role creates laughter. Salim-Sulaiman has given a good backgound score and some excellent songs, among which ‘Haule Haule…’ should be remembered for a long time. ‘Phir Milenge…’ song will also be a noticed since it features many actresses like Kajol, Rani, Bipasha and Preethy Zinta. The cinematographer Ravi K Chandran’s work is colorful without many gimmicks. The art direction should also be appreciated since majority of the scenes are indoor shots and most of them happening inside a small street, big house and an office.


In ‘Avvai Shanmughi’, Kamalhasan changed his appearance to a lady for winning his wife’s heart, here Shahrukh Khan’s job is not that much tough, he has used some hair jell and shaved his moustache wearing tight jeans and Tshirts. Anyway in the climax only the intelligent and athletic wife is able to identify him and his real love. Such cinematic things are acceptable.


The title ‘Rab ne Bana di Jodi’ is apt for such a project. It’s a family movie with usual hindi film ingredients.

Rating : 3 / 5