Being an ardent fan of horror and thriller movies, I just can’t stop from watching this movie especially in a good theater with best sound effects. After a long time among tamil movies, here comes a movie labelled as horror. So that’s a welcome change for all spooky lovers. This movie is directed by vikram kumar who has done a damp squib called "alai" in tamil movies before. Editing is by sreekar prased, cinematography by P.C. sreeram and music by shankar ehsaan loy. This movie was made as bilingual (tamil and hindi) and has released on same day in both the languages. Named as "13B" in hindi and has received rave reviews national wide.
Now coming to the story, it’s about a joint family who recently buy a flat with door no 13b and in 13th floor and how haunted the flat is overall. The TV serial addict family members are so attached in watching the TV not missing a day. Here comes the TV that is possessed and shows only the 13th channel and telecast’s a family serial exactly by 1pm named "yavarum nalam". In the meantime, eerie incidents happen in madhavan’s day to day life. A non working lift, confused self images in his mobile, neighbor’s dog strange behavior and his own inability to nail in and hung up god pictures on pooja room. The troubled madhavan happens to notice one day that the story that comes in the TV serial "yavarum nalam" is an exact replica of what happens in real time in his own life. He keeps things with himself not to share and disturb the peace of his family member’s life. Share’s the events to his pal, a police inspector friend and they both discover the real secret behind all the spooky things that happens in the flat, 13b.
The movie takes sometime to pickup in the first half and the director tries to build up the tempo and thrill with a series of spine chilling events. Scary indeed and it fully occupies your mind. The second half goes at breakneck speed with a flashback thrown in about a family who lived in the haunted place before and their execution in seeking revenge. A very different attempt and all the technicians and lead actors have done their part well. The song’s have been clipped length considering the genre. It’s not a run of a mill thriller and madhavan’s acting is very special.
So overall a decent package with lots of unexpected twists and suspense factor and this is where the director scores. Though the basic plot a bit cliched, the presentation is what matters. And forgot to mention there are no gore or violence expressed in any scene. Hence go for it with your family including the kids if they love thrillers and enjoy the movie.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Vennila Kabadi Kulu - Less thump n spirit.
I always have a liking towards kabadi, one of the ancient game which has roots in tamilnadu. So amidst curiosity wanted to watch this as this movie had a decent talk online. The story is about a group of young ruffians who have nothing much other than playing kabaddi. There is a sad story behind the lead actor done by vishnu who loses his father in his childhood and goes for work in early age instead of schooling. His passion for kabaddi game makes him to befriend with other guys. This vennila kabaddi team is not so great in their gameskill and hence win once in bluemoon. so they get criticized by their families and they vow to prove atleast once that they are best in the game. In comes village festival and it paves way for the romance blossoming between vishnu and saranya mohan who has given subtle performance compared to earlier chubby roles. The movie is slow paced in the first half as it is more inclined towards the romantic angle rather than the game. After second half and then the entry of Kishore who acts as the kabaddi coach the movie gains the much needed tempo. Kishore has done a great job as coach and he has underplayed his role. A promising potential along with vishnu and saranya mohan. The rest of the story is whether the vennila team creates a mark in the kabaddi tournament and does vishnu’s romance succeed or not.
Well the plus points are the music by selvaganesh, son of ghatam maestro vikku vinayagram(lesa parakudhu, pada pada are melting melodies) and direction in patches. There is no separate comedy track and there are couple of well brought out comedy sequences by one of the lean tall guy and the obese fellows. Here comes the drawback that a movie on sport genre should pick well built persons and definitely a game like kabaddi require strong built guys, but here there are some characters who look obese and funny. Seems like they are just picked for comedy quotient and couple of them don’t have much scenes at all. The captain character has no depth or feel in this movie and his sudden change of mind during the climax is not appealing. So casting is not that right in this movie. Apart from this the big blunder I would say is the climax. So the director has thought that a tragic end will impact the audience!..what a wrong decision it is. A movie based on sports should not only teach positive energy but should actually end up positively. Maybe the director could have thrown some reality in showing the meager chances of their romance getting united or not. But not by killing the character, it actually killed the movie. It would have been a perfect finale, if the hero had brought laurel to their village by returning to their home place with the trophy.
Well the plus points are the music by selvaganesh, son of ghatam maestro vikku vinayagram(lesa parakudhu, pada pada are melting melodies) and direction in patches. There is no separate comedy track and there are couple of well brought out comedy sequences by one of the lean tall guy and the obese fellows. Here comes the drawback that a movie on sport genre should pick well built persons and definitely a game like kabaddi require strong built guys, but here there are some characters who look obese and funny. Seems like they are just picked for comedy quotient and couple of them don’t have much scenes at all. The captain character has no depth or feel in this movie and his sudden change of mind during the climax is not appealing. So casting is not that right in this movie. Apart from this the big blunder I would say is the climax. So the director has thought that a tragic end will impact the audience!..what a wrong decision it is. A movie based on sports should not only teach positive energy but should actually end up positively. Maybe the director could have thrown some reality in showing the meager chances of their romance getting united or not. But not by killing the character, it actually killed the movie. It would have been a perfect finale, if the hero had brought laurel to their village by returning to their home place with the trophy.
Vaaranam Ayiram - Disappointment
Vaaranam ayiram meaning "thousands of elephants" is a movie about father-son relationship. An emotional drama which pays tribute to all lovable fathers is the crux of the movie. But does it really touches your heart and stirs you, sadly not. Its a movie coming from Gautham menon and surya combo after their massive hit movie, kaaka kaaka. So the expectations are understandably high. I watched this movie without any preconceived hype and expectation but still it isn’t emotional overall except some of the scenes.
So where does the movie falters. The movie starts with an aged father krishnan (played well by surya) experiencing the effects of throat cancer and been bed rested with able support from simran played as wife of father krishnan. The shocking news of his father being deceased is passed on to major suriya ( played by surya - dual role) who is on a rescue mission along with fellow army men. A mentally shattered suriya recollects his past and his relationship with his beloved dad. The movie unfolds the flashback that is recollected by suriya.
Interesting romantic interludes between father surya and simran followed by "mundhinam parthane" song were all nostalgic. simran looks cute in the 60’s-70’s costume and good chemistry shown along with surya. Young surya showing up matured act and getting inspired from his father’s words, shows the director’s well developed characterization. Surya as an aged father shows tremendous body language. But young surya’s six pack ab is not vitally utilized and doesn’t makes a mark.
Sameera reddy is refreshing and has done a flawless acting other than looking vivid on songs. Divya spandana looks natural and all the leading actors have played their parts well. The cinematography of Ratnavelu is on par with hollywood. Movie goes from chennai to US, Kashmir, Delhi and some of the beautiful locales were captured effectively by the cinematographer. But the movie tempo goes so slow in second half. Antony’s Editing could have been better.
Songs are already chart busters and one of the best music by Harris jeyaraj. A special mention needs to be given for choreography and beautiful picturisation of songs, "mundhinam, adiya kolludhe,nenjukul peididhum and yethi yethi". Though there are too many songs, you feel the burden only in the second half as it hampers the already slow tempo of the movie.
The movie hits hard on chain smoking and its ill effects and it should be applauded. The narration covers surya’s romance, his deep love to sameera and his steps to woo her in whatever way he can, followed by a tragedy. These all goes interesting in the first half. BUt the plot fails to gear up in the second half and falls flat. There is no feel in the scenes that follow in the second half. suddenly you see surya roaming in streets of Delhi in search of a kidnapped child. These scenes and the action that follows does not gel with the movie. Audience were not able to connect to the sequence. Similar feeling happens in the rescue operation that happens at the climax and they somehow miss the feel and essence to make viewers thrilled. These scenes just look like included for the sake of bringing some action to this movie.
Anyways the director should be applauded for giving a offbeat narration without cacophonous villain, comedy track, item number, punch dialogues. It certainly a different bold attempt by the director compared to his earlier movies. It doesn’t resemble any of his earlier movies but if the director paid attention in screenplay especially in second half it could have been a classic. If the screenplay could have been tighter with strong emotional scenes and duels, then it would have really rised tall. The movie misses the soul and a clear disappointment.
P.S: Mr Gautham, if you happen to check this review then my kind request to you. You may keep the best pure tamil title’s for your movies, but you must also give the same importance in your film dialogues. This movie is loaded with too much of english conversations, too much for a middle class family. Not a walkthrough for rural people. Please correct.
So where does the movie falters. The movie starts with an aged father krishnan (played well by surya) experiencing the effects of throat cancer and been bed rested with able support from simran played as wife of father krishnan. The shocking news of his father being deceased is passed on to major suriya ( played by surya - dual role) who is on a rescue mission along with fellow army men. A mentally shattered suriya recollects his past and his relationship with his beloved dad. The movie unfolds the flashback that is recollected by suriya.
Interesting romantic interludes between father surya and simran followed by "mundhinam parthane" song were all nostalgic. simran looks cute in the 60’s-70’s costume and good chemistry shown along with surya. Young surya showing up matured act and getting inspired from his father’s words, shows the director’s well developed characterization. Surya as an aged father shows tremendous body language. But young surya’s six pack ab is not vitally utilized and doesn’t makes a mark.
Sameera reddy is refreshing and has done a flawless acting other than looking vivid on songs. Divya spandana looks natural and all the leading actors have played their parts well. The cinematography of Ratnavelu is on par with hollywood. Movie goes from chennai to US, Kashmir, Delhi and some of the beautiful locales were captured effectively by the cinematographer. But the movie tempo goes so slow in second half. Antony’s Editing could have been better.
Songs are already chart busters and one of the best music by Harris jeyaraj. A special mention needs to be given for choreography and beautiful picturisation of songs, "mundhinam, adiya kolludhe,nenjukul peididhum and yethi yethi". Though there are too many songs, you feel the burden only in the second half as it hampers the already slow tempo of the movie.
The movie hits hard on chain smoking and its ill effects and it should be applauded. The narration covers surya’s romance, his deep love to sameera and his steps to woo her in whatever way he can, followed by a tragedy. These all goes interesting in the first half. BUt the plot fails to gear up in the second half and falls flat. There is no feel in the scenes that follow in the second half. suddenly you see surya roaming in streets of Delhi in search of a kidnapped child. These scenes and the action that follows does not gel with the movie. Audience were not able to connect to the sequence. Similar feeling happens in the rescue operation that happens at the climax and they somehow miss the feel and essence to make viewers thrilled. These scenes just look like included for the sake of bringing some action to this movie.
Anyways the director should be applauded for giving a offbeat narration without cacophonous villain, comedy track, item number, punch dialogues. It certainly a different bold attempt by the director compared to his earlier movies. It doesn’t resemble any of his earlier movies but if the director paid attention in screenplay especially in second half it could have been a classic. If the screenplay could have been tighter with strong emotional scenes and duels, then it would have really rised tall. The movie misses the soul and a clear disappointment.
P.S: Mr Gautham, if you happen to check this review then my kind request to you. You may keep the best pure tamil title’s for your movies, but you must also give the same importance in your film dialogues. This movie is loaded with too much of english conversations, too much for a middle class family. Not a walkthrough for rural people. Please correct.
SAROJA- Fun n Thrill : Go watch it
Saroja is a jolly movie loaded with wittism and thrill. It’s a one full thrill ride with lighter moments. The plot is about how some four "mokkai" friends mirchi shiva, spb charan, vaibhav, premji work together and rescue a kidnapped girl named, Saroja. saroja character is played by vega , a new find and has done her part well that is being glamourous. But the main vamp, glam doll is nikita who comes as the girlfriend of the bad guy, sampath. The casting in this movie is good and all have performed well. Prakashraj who comes as the billionaire and father of saroja has underplayed and a very good surprising role for Jayaram who comes as ACP.
Saroja a school student is not too happy with her personal life with her parents and enjoys being a singer. One fine day she gets kidnapped and the shocked parents are helped by jayaram who is the acp and good friend of prakashraj. In the meantime the four friends plan to watch a cricket match live at hyderabad and they go through a caravan. During their trip they face a traffic jam coz of heavy load container getting slided and blocking the highway. So they take a turn and try a shortcut only to end into an unknown territory, an old factory where the bad guys stay with the gal, saroja. From here the movie goes at breakneck speed and how they plan and escape with saroja is what the remaining movie is.
There are quite lot of fuss online about this movie being a complete rehash of hollywood movie, "Judgement Night" a 1993 thriller. But still i like this movie as it is different on its own, especially the comic capers and comments between lead actors being very different from the hollywood movie. It gives the movie a different look and adds the fun quotient which is enjoyable. Not to forget the tense moments it provides when the four friends along with saroja try to escape from the bad guys. This is were director venkat scores and also the movie has been changed to suite our indian audiences. There is a bit of twist in the end which may not be expected and its been handled well.
Another highlight is the music of the movie. Yuvan has done another good experimental work in this movie. Fantastic hiphop and rock style songs are used. Cheeky cheeky and kodana kodi are chartbusters. Dosth bada dosth song goes well along with nice picturisation. Kudos to camera work by sakthi saravanan who earlier worked for chennai 28. You can see a distinct dark blue n red shades all over the movie and the lighting in this movie is something splendid.
Overall the movie is not sluggish or dull at any point, thanks to premji and Mirchi shiva who both have done extremely well. You have to pay close attention to the dialogues and the sarcastic comments by these guys which are indeed natural that you see among people in real life.
Enjoyable stuff..
Saroja a school student is not too happy with her personal life with her parents and enjoys being a singer. One fine day she gets kidnapped and the shocked parents are helped by jayaram who is the acp and good friend of prakashraj. In the meantime the four friends plan to watch a cricket match live at hyderabad and they go through a caravan. During their trip they face a traffic jam coz of heavy load container getting slided and blocking the highway. So they take a turn and try a shortcut only to end into an unknown territory, an old factory where the bad guys stay with the gal, saroja. From here the movie goes at breakneck speed and how they plan and escape with saroja is what the remaining movie is.
There are quite lot of fuss online about this movie being a complete rehash of hollywood movie, "Judgement Night" a 1993 thriller. But still i like this movie as it is different on its own, especially the comic capers and comments between lead actors being very different from the hollywood movie. It gives the movie a different look and adds the fun quotient which is enjoyable. Not to forget the tense moments it provides when the four friends along with saroja try to escape from the bad guys. This is were director venkat scores and also the movie has been changed to suite our indian audiences. There is a bit of twist in the end which may not be expected and its been handled well.
Another highlight is the music of the movie. Yuvan has done another good experimental work in this movie. Fantastic hiphop and rock style songs are used. Cheeky cheeky and kodana kodi are chartbusters. Dosth bada dosth song goes well along with nice picturisation. Kudos to camera work by sakthi saravanan who earlier worked for chennai 28. You can see a distinct dark blue n red shades all over the movie and the lighting in this movie is something splendid.
Overall the movie is not sluggish or dull at any point, thanks to premji and Mirchi shiva who both have done extremely well. You have to pay close attention to the dialogues and the sarcastic comments by these guys which are indeed natural that you see among people in real life.
Enjoyable stuff..
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