Neram Movie Review - Tamil(2013)

“I steal from every movie ever made.” This quote by Hollywood director Quentin Tarantino is like anticipatory bail for any filmmaker who fears being accused of copying, plagiarism or being inspired by another film. New director Alphonse Putharen has quoted it in his film Neram even before the credits start rolling.

The film stars Nivin Pauly and newcomer Nazriya Nazim in the lead.

Mathew (Nivin Pauly), who in spite of being tech savvy and highly qualified, finds himself virtually on the roads of Chennai one day as the US-based company he works for is in trouble. To top it off he has taken a loan from a dubious Vatti Raja (Simhaa) and has not paid the interest for the past couple of months.

The story happens on the day Vatti Raja gives the deadline for the settlement. On the same day his long time girlfriend and fiancé, Jeena (Nazriya Nazim) is forced to leave her house as her father Johnny Kutty (Lalu Alex) is adamant that she breaks up with the unemployed Mathew and marries a man of his choice.

The plot of the middle class hero always struggling to make ends meet or wallowing in penury which was common in films made some 20 years ago. Here it gets the 'new gen' treatment. So, instead of being helpless, the hero of our times finds innovative solutions for his problems and does not mind putting his friend in trouble to solve his own problems.

The narrative goes back and forth to make it more interesting and captivating for the viewer. The style of humour is of the kind prevalent nowadays and barely raises even a chuckle.

The ensemble cast consisting of Shammi Thilakan playing a policeman, Lalu Alex as Johnny Kutty, and Simhaa vye for our attention and succeed to a great extent. But, Manoj K Jayan steals their thunder by appearing in the last 15 minutes of this film.

As for the lead pair, we have seen Nivin Pauly playing a similar character in Chapters just a few months back, so one feels this is too much too soon. 

Nazriya Nazim has a striking screen presence and an in-your-face attitude that goes well with her beauty.

Neram is just ‘time-pass’; don’t expect anything more from it.

Naan Rajavaga Pogiren Movie Review - Tamil(2013)

Cast : Nakulan , Chandini

Director : Premkumar

Music : GV Prakash

Producers : K.Dhanasekar , V.Chandran

Story: It is the story which you have been seeing since you were born. Hero trying to protect the Heroine from the Villain gang. But, story is shown in the form of flashbacks (more than 10).

Nakul’s career in Tamil Cinema was pretty average. He has comeback again in a movie with very average script, which will not help his career. There is no change in his acting or dancing skills even after 4 years (Acting – Average, Dancing – Good).

Chandini’s first movie was Siddu +2 which got released 3 years back. It is also comeback movie for this tamil actress who can speak in T amil. She was born and brought up in Nungambakkam, Chennai. She looks very average with poor makeup in most of the scenes. She fails to show any reactions during emotional scenes.

Avani Modi is second heroine in the movie. She is completely fit to act as Hero or Heroine’s sister role in future.

G.V. Prakash’s music was very average in the movie. It is hard to believe that he was the music director of this movie.

Cinematographer Velraj who has done Vetrimaraan’s movies have captured beatiful locations in Himachal Pradesh. He doesn’t have much opporunity to show his skills in this movie

It is hard to believe that Kishor Te, National Award Winning Editor (Aadukalam) has done the editor role in this movie. Movie runs for 2 and half hours. You may feel like that you are locked in an empty room for almost 20 hours after watching this movie.

Most expected Vetrimaaran’s dialogue fails to make any impact in the movie. His dialouges were good in 3 – 4 scenes only

Director Premkumar makes his debut in Tamil Cinema with average story and poor screenplay. If we ask him the meaning of “Logic” – He may ask us the cost of it per kilogram? He had to be appreciated for keeping a scene supporting Srilankan Tamilians with guts.

He must have thought that his screenplay with twist in the climax, will save the movie which has average story. But, Screenplay is even worse and it really tests the patience of the audience throughout the movie.

Yaaruda Mahesh Movie Review - Tamil(2013)

Over a dark screen, we hear a man’s whisper, a plea to a woman to “show” him something. The leering sexual connotation is quickly dispelled when it’s revealed that the display being sought is that of an exam answer sheet. The man — if you can call him that; he’s really just an overgrown child — is Shiva (Sundeep), and he’s so lazy he cannot even remember to wake up on time for his exams. He cannot even remember what subject the exam is for, and instead of his hall ticket, he brings along a copy of his family’s ration card.

Somehow, the school brainiac Sindhiya (Dimple Chopade) falls for him. She invites him over when her parents aren’t home. On TV, Rajinikanth is panting alongside Gauthami to the strains of Maasi maasam aalaana ponnu, and elsewhere, Kamal Haasan is asking Ambika — in the Vanithamani number — if he can stick to her. Passions are aroused. The next day, we see Shiva in a T-shirt inscribed with the legend: “At last I did it.”

The plot, such as it is, kicks in at interval point, when Shiva is seen wearing a T-shirt patterned with a question mark — reflecting the title of R Madhan Kumar’s Yaaruda Mahesh. We’re meant to wonder, along with Shiva, who Mahesh is — but the film isn’t terribly invested in this revelation. It’s more interested in following the current trend in Tamil cinema, which is to clear aside character and plot development in favour of a wisecrack per minute. (Jagan plays the Santhanam equivalent, mistaking “dude” for “nude,” “bro” for “bra,” and a popular swear word for “duck.”)

Insomuch as it plays its hero for a chump — besides treating sex as a casual human activity without manufacturing melodrama from its occurrence — the scrappily put together Yaaruda Mahesh is mildly tolerable. But do the jokes have to be so sexist? Along with a supposed gag about a female body part (which the censors beep out to no effect), the ring tone that Sindhiya employs is Naan aalaana thamarai. She’s not seen wearing a suggestive T-shirt, but she could just as well be waving a banner saying: “At last I did it.”

Moondru Per Moondru Kaadhal Movie Review - Tamil(2013)

Come and fall in love’ invites the trailer of director Vasanth’sMoondru Per Moondru Kadhal. And watching it on the big screen, you do fall in love, but not with the story or the characters, you fall in love with the beautiful lyrics, the memorable songs and the breathtaking visuals.

Moondru Per Moondru Kadhal (MPMK) is written and directed by National Award winning director Vasanth, whose penchant for love stories is well known.

The film stars Arjun, Cheran, Vemal, and Muktha Bhanu along with newcomers Surveen Chawla and Lasini in the lead roles.  Director Vasanth's son Ritvik plays a cameo role, supported by Apppukutty, Sathyan, Thambi Ramaiah and John Vijay.  Bhojan K Dinesh handles the cinematography and editing is by S N Fazil.

Moondru Per Moondru Kadhal is a story about love featuring three couples, set in the backdrop of different landscapes, by the seaside, in the mountains and on the plains.  The film opens in the year 2016, with actor Vemal narrating incidents that occurred in the lives of these couples over the last few years.  Thus the entire film is in the form of a narration.

We are introduced to the first couple, Varun (Vemal) and Anjana (Lasini) in a beautiful hill station. Varun, who is a chartered accountant, meets and falls in love with Anjana, who is also a CA working in his father’s office.  Unfortunately, she is in love with someone else and is already engaged.

The story of the second couple Guna (Cheran) and Malliga (Muktha Bhanu) is set in a small town by the seaside.  Guna is a social activist who runs an organisation that helps ex-convicts to start a new life.  His dedication and sincerity for his work leaves him no time for love or marriage, thus shattering the dreams of poor Malliga who is in love with him.

The last couple, Harris (Arjun) and Divya (Surveen Chawla), lives in the plains.  Harris is a reputed swimming coach, who is training his star pupil, Divya to win an Olympic Gold Medal. They are madly in love with each other, so what is the twist in their story?  We learn this and more as the story progresses.

What is really surprising is that in spite of the large number of characters, the film is extremely slow paced. Some of the scenes really seem to drag and it gets tiresome.

Though none of the performances stand out, everybody seems to have done their bit. In fact, except for Vemal, who of late has become unimaginative and boring, everyone else has performed well, including newcomers Surveen Chawla and Lasini.

Music by Yuvan Shankar Raja is the only saving grace of an otherwise ordinary film. Every song has its own unique flavour and is incredible.

The beautiful lyrics make them even more romantic, especially Kaadhal Endhan Kaadhal and Unakkaagave Uyir Vaazhgiren.

Nandini Srikar’s amazing vocals in Aaha Kaadhal Konji Pesudhe definitely deserves a special mention. The song Mazhai Mazhai has been picturised beautifully on a dashing Arjun and a young Surveen Chawla.  MPMK definitely has songs you want to listen to over and over again.

Director Vasanth has always been a trendsetter with his heartwarming stories of love and romance. Be it Keladi Kanmani, Aasai, or Rhythm, he has never followed conventional standards.  He is known for exploring the different facets of love through his films. In Moondru Per Moondru Kadhal, he has attempted to highlight the fact that sacrifice is greater than love.  And love is all about giving.

But, unfortunately, what comes across does not seem very rational. He has not been able to bring out that depth of emotion required of such a sacrifice.

The passionate intensity that characterised his earlier films seems to be missing. Though Vasanth fails to recreate the old magic, Moondru Per Moondru Kadhal is undoubtedly a beautiful gift for music lovers.

Nagaraja Cholan MA, MLA Movie Review - Tamil(2013)

Synopsis: Nagaraja Cholan (Sathyaraj) rises from an MLA to the post of deputy chief minister and goes about increasing his wealth. Problems arise when he tries to help a Swedish company set up a factory in a tribal area.

Review: If you are familiar with Nagaraja Cholan as a ruthless politician, who rose from being Ammavasai in 'Amaidhipadai', this movie will definitely disappoint you. Though Cholan appears scheming, with a perennial smile on his face, his resurrection after almost 20 years ends up a failed attempt to build on the character. He comes out more like a comic here as compared to the earlier movie.

The movie is a pale shadow of the original, except for the few scenes involving Cholan and his trusted aide Manimaran (Manivannan). The duo share great on-screen chemistry, providing several witty one-liners and scenes.

The movie takes potshots at the contemporary political situation in Tamil Nadu. References to how new parties are formed by just swapping the order of colours on a flag do strike a cord. But in most cases, these scenes just stick out like a sore thumb as they don't add to the story. The movie also talks about the lack of awareness among the people on environment and how politicians work hand-in-hand with foreign firms to sell our land. It is at this point the crisis of the movie comes up with tribals protesting against their land being taken away, evoking images of the Chipko movement.

The movie leaves several questions unanswered, starting with how Cholan came back to life after he was shot down by his son in the previous flick. We are told that he has a son, Gangaikondaan (Raghu Manivannan), but in 'Amaidhipadai' he never had a legitimate one! Manivannan, who has written the movie, could have given it more thought rather than just borrowing the best scenes from 'Amaidhipadai'.

Seeman as a social activist comes out with a decent performance. Raghu's character is meant to be a chip of the old block, but comes out tame. The background score by James Vasanth is sometimes to overpowering, drowning out the dialogues, and the music is far from noteworthy.

The movie works in parts but with 'Amaidhipadai' playing in your head, 'Nagaraja Cholan MA MLA' comes nowhere close to it.

Soodhu Kavvum Movie Review - Tamil(2013)

Packed with several funny, outrageous twists, Soodhu Kavvum makes for a great one time watch. You can’t possibly enjoy the film a second time because most of the plot is closely attached to the twists

Treading the path few Tamil films have attempted, Soodhu Kavvum proves yet again that content is king. A brawl in a bar brings together four petty criminals hoping to make ends meet by pulling off small crimes. Three have no prior experience in any sort of criminal activities but Dass, the most senior amongst them, has been kidnapping for the last few years. Dass recruits the three wastrels and teaches them kidnapping techniques.

Before we know it, the team of misfit kidnappers are out on the streets, abducting random people for small amounts of money because they don’t want to get too greedy. However, things take an unexpected when they kidnap the son of a local minister. The supposedly easy task almost gets the four killed. What did they do to put their own lives in danger? This forms the rest of the story.

The film is similar to British comedy Four Lions, especially the plot revolving around the four lead characters. While the English flick was about how four misfit jihadis wish to blow something up to join a terrorist group, this is about four unemployed men who wish to pull off one last kidnapping to settle down in life. Of course, nowhere does Soodhu Kavvum appear to be a frame to frame copy of the English film so the possibility of a copy can be ruled out.

The humour in the film never evokes laughter, but entertains at regular intervals. It progresses at an unhurried pace, except for the extended second half that could have been easily chopped by few minutes.

The initial recruiting scene involving the three characters and their respective past stories result in some best humorous moments of the film. While most of the humour can be brushed off as passe, debutant director Nalan uses sarcasm at appropriate junctures to perfection.

Be it the misfortune of the only righteous character in the film of a politician or the highly educated group member-turned-kidnapper, Nalan highlights that society has no room for good people in his own way. All lead characters get equal amount of screen presence to prove their mettle.

Soodhu Kavvum is also one of the few films that doesn’t waste time on a romantic track. There is no such thing called a hero or a villain in the film as everything revolves around the lead characters. Nalan makes us root for a bunch of misfits and their acts of stupidity; this partly works in favour of the film.

Music does play an important role in the success of the film. Except for one song, you don’t find other songs disturbing the flow of the film.

Vijay Sethupathi along with a bunch of debutantes shine in their respective roles. The unlikely friendship between the four characters is a treat to watch.

Ethir Neechal Movie Review - Tamil(2013)

Actor-turned-singer, Dhanush turns producer with the much-anticipated, Ethir Neechal, a film produced under the banner of his new production house, Wunderbar Films. The film is directed by debutant director R S Durai Senthilkumar, a former associate of director Vetrimaaran.

Ethir Neechal is distributed by Vendhar Movies and has been cleared by the Censor Board with a ‘U’ certificate.  The music is by young sensation Anirudh Ravichander, cinematography by Velraj and the editing is handled by Kishore T E.

Sivakarthikeyan, Priya Anand and Nandita play the lead roles in the film supported by Sathish, Jayaprakash, Ravi Prakash, Vaali, and Suza Kumar. Dhanush, Nayanthara and music director Anirudh make a special appearance in the film.

Ethir Neechal is a city-based romantic comedy that is about a young man, Kunjithapatham (Sivakarthikeyan), who is embarrassed by his name. He is named after a family deity, Kunjithapatham Samy, after his mother developed some complications during his birth.  More than the actual name, he is shamed by its shortened version that makes him an object of ridicule among his schoolmates, friends and neighbours.

Fed up of being teased constantly, Kunjithapatham wants to change his name, but is afraid of incurring the wrath of God, who he believes will strike his mother.

Years fly by and his mother passes away.  Though much older now, he continues to be the butt of everyone’s jokes.  Since his mother is no more, he decides to go ahead and get his name changed to ‘Harish’, on the suggestion of a numerology specialist.

The very day he registers his new name, he meets Geetha (Priya Anand), a school teacher.  He takes this to be a positive sign and decides to make a clean break from everything connected to his old life.  He shifts to a new locality, gets a new job, pursues Geetha, falls in love and for the first time in his life he seems to be completely happy.

But does this happiness last?  What does fate have in store for him?  And most importantly, who is Valli (Nandita) and why does she come into his life?  All this is dealt with in the second half of the movie.

Simple and honest, Ethir Neechal is two hours of clean wholesome fun.  No goons chasing anybody, no unnecessary fight scenes, and no violence or bloodshed.

The only drawback in the film is the slow pace in the flashback scenes that tell us the story of Nandita.

And though the title Ethir Neechal (Swimming against the Tide) highlights the message of fighting against all odds to win, it is fun and laughter all the way.

Sivakarthikeyan, who has been giving good performances consistently, is fast emerging as one of the rising stars of Tamil cinema.

He received rave reviews for his performance in Kedi Billa Killadi Ranga. With Ethir Neechal he proves that he is full-fledged hero material.

Both the female characters, Priya Anand and Nandita have given good performances. Another important character in the film is Peter (Sathish), who shares the screen with Sivakarthikeyan in almost every scene. They complement each other’s comic timing, much like the Arya-Santhanam combo in Boss Engira Baskaran.

Much before the release of the film, the music of Ethir Neechal became the rage among youngsters, receiving innumerable hits on YouTube.

Music director Anirudh Ravichander of Kolaveri fame has certainly proved his mettle yet again with his exceptional music.

 With lyrics penned by Dhanush and vocals by Anirudh, Boomi Enna Suthudhe, seems to have become the most popular choice for ringtones and caller tunes. Not far behind is the inspiring, Ethir Neechal Adi and the melodious, Velicha Poove Va by Mohit Chauhan and Shreya Ghoshal.

What is undoubtedly the highlight of the film is the Dhanush-Nayanthara kuthu dance number that had the audience on their feet, whistling, clapping and screaming for an encore.

The man with the Midas touch, Dhanush, seems to have struck gold once again. Success seems to follow him in everything he does, be it acting, singing or producing.

He seems to have chosen the perfect vehicle to launch his maiden production venture.  There is beauty in the simplicity of R S Durai Senthilkumar’s script and along with his practical approach, the endearing characters and the sensational music, the film is sure to be a box-office winner. A must-watch.