Goal

Medium : Hindi
Stars : John Abraham, Arshad Warsi, Bipasha Basu, Bomman Irani
Direction : Vivek Agnihotri

The super success of 'Chakde India' has motivated another director,Vivek Agnihotri and the big producers UTV Pictures to come with a film,'Goal' which has got a theme dealing with sports.
Apart from the former film which was based on the Indian hockey team, this film tells the story of football team based in Britain.


Here the coach role is handled by Bomman Irani.( I felt that Bomman Irani is the biggest discovery as far as bollywood is considered in the last 10years )
This film titled 'DhanDhanathan Goal' is entirely picturised in London.


The film opens with the demise of a coach of a South Hall team.The captain (Arshad Warsi) searches for a new coach and finally ends in the discovery of a veteran player/coach(Bomman Irani).He finally decides to make this team a champion,which has not won a big tournament in the past.At the same time,you got an Indian( who is born in Britain) in their main rivals Arston team(played by John Abraham).Due to the racism,he failed to get selection in the final list.So as per request from the coach,he joins the South Hall team.This is not liked by their captain and most team-mates.Any way finally after beating all hazards how this team wins the tournament is what this film deals with.


Hearing the story line,you will be feeling some comparisons with 'Chakde India'.Yes it is,but 'Goal' cannot be compared with 'Chakde India',which has got the best script & direction.You will get thrilled and have a spirit watching the sports scenes in 'Chakde India' and 'Lagaan'.But in that sense 'Goal' is a total failure.


This is for the first time, I felt something negative for Bomman Irani. He is a wrong choice for the coach role.The captain role played by Arshad Warsi is not pleasing.Bipasha Basu in the role of a physiotherapist has not got anything big to do.Quarelling between the team members is dramatic.

John Abraham's body language is good for such a role,especially some of the actions/signs he shows resembles the style of English league players.

The item song placed in the movie is unnecassary.The commentory scenes lacks originality.I dont know why an english-hindi combination is used there.

We dont feel any sympathy or we dont pray for the players in the South Hall team,like we did with players in 'Lagaan' or 'Chakde India'.The football matches are shown colorfully,but the matches & the championship winning scenes are not presented in a lovable and believable way.


The director Vivek Agnihotri who showed technical brilliance through his previous film 'Choclate' has failed to sustain his name here.Cinematography by Attar Singh Saini is excellent.


'Goal' is like a practise match only.The real spirit in watching a professional football match is not at all there.

Rating : 2.5 / 5

Vel

Medium : Tamil
Stars : Surya, Asin, Vadivelu, Kalabhavan Mani
Director : Hari

In 'Vel', Surya & Asin has paired together once again, after the super success of 'Gajini'.This film is directed by Hari, who gave superhit films like 'Sami' & 'Ayya'.After a short gap, Surya is coming in double role.(previous one being, 'Perazhakan', the remake of malayalam film 'Kunjikkoonan')


Like every double role - stories, this one also starts in the younger days of the heroes.While travelling with their parants,one of the twins get separated.Some of the villagers adopted him & he grew up there; while the other one is staying with his parents in the city.The former one is a man of the masses in the village, the latter one is working in a private detective agency.

The city guy fall in love with a VJ in a private channel.When she went to the village side to shoot a programme, accidentally she saw the village hero.At the same time, when the village guy came to the city, he saw his twin brother also.So inorder to make the things little bit more confused and make it a happy ending, both the characters are interchanging their respective places.Thus in the second half the film is taking its pace.In the end how the heroes took revenge on the villain is what 'Vel' tells us.


'Vel' is a mixture of many double role films & Director Hari's previous films like 'Thamarabharani' & 'Ayya'.The villain character played by Kalabhavan Mani and his attitude is told many times before.The director has given more importance to the village background.Only difference is that, for the village hero character, we dont have any heroines. Vadivelu is there to create the comic episodes.


Soorya has given a neat identification for both the characters. Asin is ok. On the villain side, Kalabhavan Mani should have concentrated on the stability in his performance.( since he has not used his own voice, its little bit difficult to judge him )


YuvanSankerRaja's music is blended well with the situations.Priyan has done a good job behind the lenses.Rockey Rajesh has got some big action sequences to workout.


If you want to watch a typical tamil movie which has got some story with romance, sentiments, songs, action, punch dialogues, humour etc; then 'Vel' is also a choice.

Rating : 3 / 5

Sawariya

Medium : Hindi
Stars : Ranbir Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor, Rani Mukherjee, Salman Khan
Director : SanjayLeelaBhansali

After the critically acclaimed superhit film 'Black',director SanjayLeelaBhansali is back with 'Sawariya'.Yougest member of Kapoor family,Ranbir Kapoor(son of RishiKapoor) and daughter of AnilKapoor, SonamKapoor is here in the debut role.

The reports after the preview/first show of 'Sawariya' was not healthy.It says that it is not at all a good film as expected.
Since I have to write a review on the film,I had watched it without keeping in mind such comments.

While watching, I felt that all those media reports were false.How can they consider 'Sawariya' as a Film.'Sawariya' will come only under the category of "Drama" or "Light & Sound Show" or "Baale" or something like that.If you are showing any of these things in a movie theatre, you cant call it as a film.

Why I am telling like this lies in the fact that the whole sequences of 'Sawariya' is happening in a stage at night where the backdrops are curtains, building sets, paintings and illuminations.You cant witness such a township in any films across the world;may be you can see such a place in the Arabian tales.Moreover 'Sawariya' has got a non sense story to tell.

SanjayLeelaBhansali has used sets as bg in his last film 'Black' also, but since the story line was strong, it was not at all a thing to be noticed.But here, only sets in the darkness are there without any storyline.

This drama is picturised in a movie camera by Ravi K Chandran.Art director Omung Kumar has some hard work to do creating the backdrops.I will tell my comments on the hero & heroine once they had completed a project which can be called as a "movie".

I feel pity that i wasted my free time watching 'Sawariya'.

It is the biggest disaster in the bollywood history.

A piece of shit, even if covered with a colorful decorative paper, some perfumes sprayed on
it and kept in a showcase, can be called as shit only...( sorry to use such light words )


Rating : 0 / 5

Hareendran Oru Nishkalangan ?

Director Vinayan's latest film 'Hareendran Oru Nishkalangan ?' has got artists like Indrajith,Jayasurya, Manikkuttan,Jagathi,Salimkumar,Bhama('Nivedhyam' fame) & Sherin ('Moonnamathoral' fame).
Among them,the first 3 young guys were introduced to the cine field by the same director once through films like 'Oomappenninu Uriyadappayyan' & 'Boyfriend').

Though title of the film gives us an innocence feeling,its not homely as expected.The pace and the treatment in the opening few scenes (till the flash back starts) carries you to the top of expectations,but as it goes on it leads you to a big downfall.


Hareendran,title role played by Indrajith is the owner of a big IT firm.His close companion from young days Gopalakrishnan,played by Jayasurya who wants to become the executive director of the firm. His only ambition is to earn more & more money,so that he is playing double game with his closefriend.It finally ends in his own murder, leads to an enquiry, finally without much twist & turns, the culprit is caught, hanged to death.The story is not ending there.Finally the public who still feels that Hareendran is the main convict takes the law in hands & he is beaten to death ?!


I cant go without specifying here,a bulk of scenes of this kind which can make the outcome of any film to a tragedy.

The scene in which Hareendran asking his friend GK whether he took a currency bunch of 50,000rs casually and an ordinary reply by the latter as if he took an amount of 50rs is unbelievable.We should realize that we are not living in the year 2070.The biggest contrast here is that,later GK is cheating this close friend with such an attitude, for money.

Moreover It is not good to the see the college scene in which Bhama & her friend talking about former's lover.Here both of them arguing with the same negatives about him at the same time.

Manikuttan's character is a left companion & always like to follow the words of great leader, Cheguvera.We dont understand whether he is serious in his principles.Also by repeatedly using Cheguvera's name and showing him through posters & tshirts,director had made this historic leader a comedy character.

The scenes in which both lovers Bhama & Manikkuttan, travelling in a bike to his native is boring. Only affordable thing happened there is a romantic song 'Kannippene...' (music by Berni Ignateous)

There are many untolerable scenes in the film like the one in which Bhama & Hareendran meets at a hotel,watched by Manikuttan & Salimkumar.Another one is a TV Talkshow where the culprit's father & others discussing and quarelling about the murder issues.There are many scenes in which the incidents are covered through TV news, all those channel backdrops & shots are too amature.

The scenes showing Hareendran's sadness is too lengthy.He is not reacting naturally when a wrong news with his foto came in a newspaper.The scene in which lovers are accepted and being taken to the hotel by her family even after her marriage got stopped is also not sensible.

The hotel song in which all are dancing is picturised in a childish way.We dont know why Bhama who is not there is also placed in few shots.Hearing the voice,its difficult to differentiate whether the singer Rimitomy is talking or singing.

We dont understand the genuinity of hotel dancer role done by Sherin;sometimes she is behaving as if she is innocent,in some other occassions she is going to an extreme end for cheating.


By giving such a climax for the film,we dont know whether the script writer-director is questioning the credibility of judiciary or medias or the public.

Indrajith is like a right man in the wrong party.

Jayasurya's characterisation is incomplete and unnatural; sometimes he is behaving like a comedian,sometimes he is serious,sometimes he is a good friend,sometimes he is a villain...like that it goes on.

Manikuttan is good & matured in his appearance.But when he opens his mouth,it reminds us the same 15year old boy in the serial 'Kayamkulam Kochunni'.He totally failed in the dialogue delivery.So the character given to him is too heavy to hold.

Bala,who is the police officer is not a correct choice for such a role.

Bhama,who got a good opening through 'Nivedhyam' is overacting all the time.


This film's story credit goes to Vishnu Vinayan(Junior Vinayan).

He dont need to be desperate, since his father also gave poor films like 'Ayiram Chirakulla Moham', 'Kanyakumariyil Oru Kavitha','Superstar' etc in the beginning of his career.


Since I am not writing a novel,stopping here.

It would have been better if the film was titled 'Satheesh Nair Oru Nishkalangan ?' rather than 'Hareendran Oru Nishkalangan ?'...
(SatheeshNair happened to be the producer of this film)

Rating : 1 / 5

Rock N Roll

Last time when I wrote the review on 'Paradesi',I started it with specifying the hero's previous venture 'Alibhai'.

Reading it,one of my friends told that it was not good to start like that,a past is a past.

So taking into account his words,I am not giving any comparisons for Mohanlal's latest project 'Rock
N Roll'.This movie is scripted & directed by Renjith.He is the trend-setter man who opened the way
for heroism subjects through 'Devasuram' followed by 'Aaram Thampuran','Narasimham','Valyettan', 'Usthad','Ravanaprabhu' etc.


Here Mohanlal is in the role of Chandramouli,who is a musician and a drum player.He has got many friends in Chennai,the homecity of south indian films.It includes music directors played by Siddique & Mukesh,Keyboard player Rehman,Violinist Lal,Tabalist Harisree Asokan etc.As per their request, Chandramouli reaches Chennai to play drums in a recording.In the first impression itself he likes the girl who came to sing the song.Lakshmi Rai,who has done some tamil-kannada films before is a new face here in this role.

Our hero,who always hate the ideas of becoming love or getting married is changing his character soon.He was in a busy schedule on the way to South Africa,but cancels his trip,plans to stays here.He himself took the role of a music director with the help of tabalist & a dummy producer,played by Jagathi.Thus in the second half what all things Chandramouli does, to get her love by creating a composition is what 'Rock N Roll' is.

Anyway 'Rock N Roll' has not received a good opening.(i have been regularly witnessing the first day crowd for any superstar films in the capital city for more than 15years).
Till first half Mohanlal's character is having a very long hair.So the posters showing such an appearance,some pre-release reports which came in film magazines and also the english title of the film must have deflected negatively on the audience.

'Rock N Roll' is a different attempt by Renjith which is picturised completely in Chennai.Here also the
director is trying to project the heroism,but it is not in an usual action style.The scenes in the beginning in which Siddique searching for Chandramouli, reminds us the scene in 'Aaram Thamburan'.
Words praising the hero like, Mouli has got only few friends in India like ARRehman & Zakkir Hussain, is just difficult to digest.

There are also dialogues in which his friends says that Chandramouli is unpredictable,he behaves in a different manner always,he is like that only... they are all different words to boost heroism.

The second half where the hero tries to shine infront of the heroine by composing songs,is treated in a comic way with the help of Jagathi & Suraj Venjarammood.It reminds us some of the old Priyadarsan films where there were no place for a depth in story telling.In the middle we have the
character of Manoj K Jayan,who is a goonda & an old friend of the hero.He is a character created to
guard the hero from some of the hazards he is facing.


There are some unwanted characters and situations in the film.

The main one being Swetha,who is in the role of a choreographer.Her friendship with Chandramouli shown in an european style must have been liked by north indians,but an average malayalee dont want to see such hi-fi sequences which is not at all necassary for the subject.

Then Rehman's character who goes behind every women & his strict wife's role played by Praveena is already told a 100 times before.

Mukesh's character is also not necassary for this subject.Also the song featuring Chandramouli & his friends singing and dancing infront of the heroine is appearing without any notice.

Suraj Venjarammood's character is there to grab his popularity.He is in the role of an untalented music director,who is a judge for reality shows.(I am totally disagreeing with the words Chandramouli
telling to this man.The script writer is targeting music director Sharath here.Sharath's talent/caliber should not be judged with the number of films he has worked.If you had heard songs from
'Kshanakathu','Pavithram','Sindoorarekha','OttayalPattalam' etc you will also agree with me...)

Only thing which is strong here is the relationship between Lal's character & his divorced wife's role done by Rohini. Also the director has taken effort to show some of the things which are not discussed so far in our films like music composing, live recording, final mixing etc.

In the climax song,'Ravereyaayi...' in which the hero expressing his love is a good composition by Vidyasagar.He has scored the high pitch number with an excellent orchestration.He is a notable name in the technical team as far as 'Rock N Roll' is considered.

ManojPillai's photography,in which the majority of scenes happening in indoor portions is colorful. Bijibal has done the re-recording.


'Rock N Roll' is not a big entertainer to promote / at the same time it is not too bad to be cornered.If this film was released at a time 10years before,with a different name,it would have been flown with the wind.

But at this time,I dont think it will create a news.

Rating : 2.5 / 5