Tag Archives: Arya

Inji Iduppazhagi Review

Inji Iduppazhagi Review – Inji Iduppazhagi is a Telugu and Tamil romantic comedy released in 2015. Sweety is a happy go lucky girl. Her mother is worried about her over-weight. When Sweety meets a handsome and health conscious documentary filmmaker Abhi as her wedding alliance she rejects the proposal before he rejects it but internally she hopes that he would fall in love with her.

The movie’s plot has a potential to be a wholesome entertainer. It opens very well where we are introduced to the sweetness in sweety’s life. She reminds of Amélie Poulain from the french movie Amélie in the way she views her life and wishes to bring happiness in people’s life. But soon the plot looses its track and gives into the temptation of commercial formula thereby giving way for cliches being introduced. There is a point in the film where Sweety tells Abhi that she is tired of being just a friend. Post this the movie does a nose dive and Sweety’s character becomes lost in translation.

Anushka has performed well for the most part. But the story couldn’t capitalize on her acting skills. Apart from her, Urvashi has a very enjoyable role. The character of Sweety’s  father, grandfather, mother and brother have been sketched well. In the end, you think they could have made a very good movie with the premise and the characters.

High Points: Initial setting up of the plot, Production quality, Anushka’s acting, Characterization of Anushka’s family.

Low Points: Lack of focus on the screenplay, commercial cliches, predictable and beaten to death sequences.

Overall this is an effort that has gone bad due to its lack of focus and substandard treatment of the plot. With a better screenplay, this team has a great potential to deliver an entertainer. Wish them luck for their next venture.

Can Skip It

 

Vasuvum Saravananum Onna Padichavanga Review

Vasuvum Saravananum Onna Padichavanga Review – Vasuvum Saravananum Onna Padichavanga (VSOP) is a Tamil slapstick comedy drama released in 2015. Vasu and Saravanan are close friends but as women enter their life as their love interest and wife they should forgo their friendship to please them.

“Not again Director Rajesh”. That’s what I wanted to tell the director once I was 20 minutes into the movie. He has used this theme very consistently in many of his previous movies.

You can now try to narrate what would happen.

The friends would now start drinking more often and crack jokes about women….

Then?

They would try some foolish technique to fix the issues……

Then?

Not sure… think the drunken jokes and foolish attempts would make a good movie.

Rajesh has fallen into the trap here. He has an amazing sense of humor, which was well represented in Boss Engira Baskaran. But in all of his other movies this has started to nose-dive.

The cast for the movie is a big plus and would attract the audience but with a weak plot banking on only male chauvinistic jokes would appeal only to a certain segment of the audience. The script is so weak that at many dull situations Arya tells Santhanam “Ethavathu pannu machi…” They have also used the technique of characters in the movie mocking at a joke attempt to make the audience laugh which has worked in few instances. The other big disappointment is the songs. Not the tune per say but the choreography is of very low production quality and seems out of rhythm.

High Points: Very few high points, the casting of the movie is a strong point, few comedy scenes would make you laugh out loud, Costume design is good.

Low Points: Weak screenplay, poor choreography, repeated story plots and a weak conflict

Overall VSOP is a lackluster effort only banking on slapstick comedy that would work for a niche segment of audience.

Can Skip it

Meaghamann Review

Meaghamann Review – Meaghamann is a Tamil action thriller released in 2014. Arul and Karthik are undercover cops working for two major drug lords in the Mumbai and Goa area. They want to bring the ghost drug lord Jothi out and arrest him but it is not easy as Jothi leaves no trace even for his gang to find him

Director Magizh Thirumeni has given an action thriller in Meaghamann (Captain of the ship). The script is an out and out action movie that revolves around the gangsters and drug lords in the backdrop of Goa. There are moments in the movie which are very brilliantly constructed. In particular the scene in which Arya plays card game in the cold storage along with the gang without being aware of the lurking danger is brilliantly done. Asutosh Rana’s characterization is done well. However the director has not been able to successfully maintain the thrills throughout the movie. The movie has too many characters which might make it complicated for the common audience to follow it. The script is gripping overall, but takes a dip with the love interest angle for Arya which seems to be force fitted into the movie. Another point which is missing is the ability for the audience to connect with the purpose of the protagonist. The buildup phase although builds the audiences up for the thrills but fails in establishing the emotional connect. Hence the climax lacks the vigor it had to be established with.

High Points: Action sequences, Performance of Asutosh Rana

Low Points: Too many characters, Love interest for the protagonist, Lack of emotional connect

Overall Meaghamann is a decent gangster movie which could have been done much better. Still there are elements in it which will keep you interested in this captain.

Wait for TV/DVD

Jeeva Review

Jeeva Review – is a Tamil sports drama released in 2014. Jeeva is a talented cricket player and aspires to play for India. But community based politics prevent him from getting selected for the national team.

Director Suseenthiran comes up with a sports movie after his much acclaimed Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu. In between he had focused more on action and romance genre in between and his previous outing Pandianadu was a smashing hit. Jeeva is an emotional journey of an upcoming cricketer with amount of things he has to sacrifice in life and the difficulty to get a break due to highly political nature of the selection committee. In the era where people are watching a lot of cricket and many cricket tournaments run with empty stands due to too many matches to be played; it is very difficult to make a movie on cricket and keep the audience interested. Suseenthiran has tried to break this by bringing in the romance angle to the plot. This works well in the first half but makes the script slow during the second half. The length of the movie could have been trimmed to 90 minutes to make it more engaging. Overall Suseenthiran has come up with yet another neat film. It may not be as good as Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu but deals with one of the less spoken community based politics in Tamil Nadu cricket board. The movie deserves a watch for the plot. But due to the slowness of the script you might enjoy watching this at home.

Wait for DVD/TV

Amara Kaaviyam

Amara Kaaviyam – is a Tamil romance drama released in 2014. A high school student Sathya meets his classmate Karthiga and conveys that his friend Balaji is in love with her, but Karthiga tells him that she is in love with Sathya and not Balaji. They fall in love with each other but when their families come to know about this they try to keep them away from each other.

There was an era in the early 80’s in Tamil Cinema when there were movies based on teenage love story. Movies like Alaigal Oivathillai, Paneer Pushpangal, Kilinjalgal became block buster hit. Director Jeeva Shankar has tried to reproduce the magic of that era in Amara Kaaviyam. He had used the 80’s period to convey the movie as well. The first half of the movie seemed like modern version of Paneer Pushpangal for me. However the second half turns into an emotional melodrama ultimately leading to the climax which is much different from those movies. The first half of the movie is very engaging but the second half falters a bit with a sudden shift in the behavior of the lead character. I felt like his role having shades of the lead protagonist from the director’s previous outing Naan.

The new comer Sathya has acted well in parts of the movie. The credit goes to the director. Jeeva Shankar’s cinematography and Ghibran’s music are great plus for the movie. Each shot is like a painting on a canvas. The pace of the movie is a big drawback for the movie. As the movie is headed to its climax you would be able to predict what is going to happen next. A little bit of increased pace in the screenplay and maintaining the suspense a bit tighter would have made this one a very compelling watch.

If you had liked the teen love stories like the ones I had mentioned before then you might enjoy watching this or else you would be waiting for the movie to get over.

Watchable – for all those who love 80’s movies based on love at adolescence

Arrambam

Arrambam – is a Tamil Action Thriller released in 2013. The movie is an adaptation of the English movie Swordfish.  Ashok (Ajith) employs a skillful hacker Arjun (Arya) against his will to hack into highly secured networks. Arjun learns Ashok is behind the bomb blast in the city and also witnesses him killing multiple people. He tips off the police to get Ashok arrested… Was Arjun able to escape from Ashok? Why is Ashok killing people, planting bombs and hacking systems? – is the rest of the plot.

The entire script sails on the mass value of Ajith. The movie starts promisingly and definitely engages audience to a larger extent. However the flash back has been made into an emotional drama to justify the actions of the protagonist.  In an effort to make the movie a commercial pot boiler Director Vishnuvardhan misses to tie the loop holes in the screenplay. He seemed to have been desperate in connecting strongly with the audience and has employed the ploy which had been used successfully in many movies. The elaborate climax fight scene defies the logic of an average movie goer.

What you would like: Ajith’s screen presence, star cast, action sequences and the social message.

What you would hate: Drag in the screenplay, unwanted melodrama to justify the actions and overuse logic defying sequences.

Overall the movie has been made for the Diwali audience who are generally more forgiving than usual. This is a movie where you should not think too much and might make a decent watch when aired on TV.

Wait for TV/DVD – for the star cast

Raja Rani

Raja Rani – a Tamil Romance film released in 2013.  John and Regina enter a married life unwillingly for the sake of their family to only make their everyday life a hell. It is later revealed that the reason for their unwillingness and detachment is that they are not able to come out of their past love failure and loss from it. Do they realize that there is life after breakup which could be better is the rest of the plot.

Atlee coming from Shankar’s school has done a very neat job for a debut director. He has tried to recreate the magic Mouna Raagam after 27 years and has been fairly successful in his attempt. Though the story is a old school romantic drama template the screenplay makes it look still fresh. Atlee should be given credit for the using innovative sequences to move the story that has been told many a times. The movie is thoroughly enjoyable.. it will make you laugh and cry as the characters go through the roller coaster of situations in their life. GV Prakash has done a neat job with the background score. Couple of shortfalls –  One, at times they have taken creative liberty to move the story to a desired sequence and other the message of good life existing beyond break ups have been repeated by almost every character which could have been avoided. If you are willing to ignore such minor glitches you will enjoy Raja Rani.

Must Watch – for all those who love Romantic drama!