Raavanan- Movie Review

TGIF – Thank God It’s Friday..:).. I was waiting for those updates at office, which never came even after lunch. I had already planned to leave early to catch my train to hometown. Hmm.. a little thought .. How about trying to watch “Raavanan” ?? My TL confirmed those updates are yet to come J.. whoopee !!!!... I did a windows + L and switched off my monitor (Go green folks!!) and left for the theatre. I hired an auto and was just in time to the tambaram “Vidya” theatre’s matinee at 2:45 p.m.. Did i say the balcony ticket which i bought here was even more costlier than some posh multiplexes in the city ?? It’s a highly anticipated ManiRathnam movie andso i didn’t mind that J

Now to the review.. well wait !! before the review there’s something else to be discussed.. guess what ?? the lead actors and the story ...

The Story– Need no introduction to the Ramayan which has been an inspiration for many other stories. But what’s different is this one ?? well.. this allegorical Ramayana leaves you with questions like, “Is the righteous always right ? Does the wrong has the right to express their part of right ?? .. err.. sorry about that .. but I would say there’s nothing much as a story in this movie but it’s an experimentation which leaves the viewers with quite a few questions.

Aishwariya Rai – OMG !! such an elegance !! an expressive pair of eyes which does acquire a characteristic of it’s own to carry forward her character “Ragini" which is the epicentre and infact the most empathised one between two males of opposite poles. She was splendid !!

Vikram – hmm .. what am I to say about this actor who is beyond excellence.. He plays the protagonist “Veera” and does his job to perfection hands down.

Prithviraj – he plays the role of the cop “Dev”. Fortunately he’s the only one gets to wear some fancy costumes whilst the others are soaked in muddy waters or ‘mutani’ matti . Prithvi plays his role quite adequately and stands equal to the other stalwarts.

Hmm.. well.. well.. the review ?? Unfortunately, the above lists were the positives of the movie. The main negative or the sad part is that the movie rides on a very known and thin storyline. You wouldn’t even regret if you missed the first half of the movie as it has nothing to render. Infact, it’s the breath taking visuals and awesome cinematography which forms the first half. Not to forget Mrs. Aish Bachan who carries the first half. The actual story unfolds only in the second half.

The flashback brings “PriyaMani” and quite a story which had been long awaited by the audience. A host of other actors like Prabhu, Munna, Ranjitha and Vyapuri join the “Veera” gang, while Karthik plays the forester who helps Prithviraj. It was quite baffling to me as why Mani sir opted for desperate measures like (making karthik do a monkey act or the police officer asking priyamani if he cud cut her nose) to define the characters ?? I guess almost all of us know the Ramayan and could have identified the character mapping even without such deliberate additions.

Despite these shortcomings, it was the climax which impressed me and the numerous questions which it lead within me while i walked out of the theatre. Go for the movie for it’s iconographic cinematography of typical ‘Manirathnam’ movie. The breathtaking visuals and songs are definitely the positives which could make you forget that the movie lacked substance. The awesome camera the miss world mesmerise you .. err..t he ex- miss world J

Go with zero anticipations.. You wouldn’t regret.. Time to catch my train.. Have a nice weekend folks !!

It's not that wonderful .. though..

Though I couldn’t manage to get tickets for this movie in the all-time favorite ‘Satyam Cinemas’, I did manage in a newly cropped multiplex, high above the Ampha Skywalk Mall.. well it was the PVR in chennai.. With three rounds of screening… ( post a metal detector :( … ) , ticket checking, body frisking and a bag-checking (phew !!! ) … where in which the umbrella had to go in for a separate token (I was wondering when this redtape is gonna be over !!! ).. all I had to loose was the first 15 minutes of the movie “It’s A Wonderful Afterlife “(IAWA)…. Well that explains i had left with only 85 minutes of the remaining movie..

Did i really get to believe that it was witnessing only 85 minutes of it ?? Hmm.. let’s not conclude that here before further reading ;).. Gurinder Chadda again comes back with a Punjabi family …errr… not exactly a family this time, but a mother-daughter duo.. If in the “Bride & Prejudice” aka “Balle.. Balle… Amritsar to L.A” it was Mrs. Bakshi’s concern (more appropriately constant worrying) over the marriage of her 4 daughters, here in IAWA, it’s Mrs.Sethi who is determined to get her only daughter married away happily.. Mrs. Sethi’s (Shabana Azmi) determination goes overboard to the extent of even killing people (in her own way) who rejected her rather unattractive, plump daughter Roopi.

The ghosts of her victims continue to haunt Mrs. Sethi as they couldn’t be reincarnated unless their murderer dies. Mrs. Sethi has no regrets in killing herself but she has to find her daughter a suitable match before that. In addition to the four victims, an accidental victim, her neighbour Mrs.Goldie joins the wagan of ghosts to help Mrs.Sethi in this matrimony mission. ( oh.. don’t look for the logical reasons here !!! ). Comes in a tall, dark, handsome childhood friend, Raj (Sendhil Ramamoorthy) who by the way spies on Roopi reluctanlty playing an undercover cop. Well .. the rest of the story is very much predicatable but the much elongated climax quite mercilessly test the patience of the viewers.

The ghosts who reappear in the very same manner they were murdered, Roopi’s mate Githali @ Linda with her psychic powers and obsession for Indian sprituality keeps you in splits but quite scarcely.The thrown in gags and a few practical jokes are a fun but couldn’t help much to the weaker screenplay.

With an actor of such magnitude as Shabana Azmi, what was rendered was an average package of a movie with few fun elements which was a disappointment. As such, the churned up curry fails to appease your taste buds..May be the recipe by itself is little bland (just like the hotdogs sold at PVR.. I didn’t like them much )

Go for the movie for the mere comical interludes.. look for nothing more..!! you might enjoy it :)..

Angadi Theru - Movie Review

After the critical and commercial success of “Veyil”, Vasantha Balan strikes once again in this reality drama “Angadi Theru” - the market street. Definitely the movie sans the essentials of a commercial potboilers but what is rendered is a serious cinema which is quite raw and real. Mind that the truth is bitter. For all those who are in Chennai, needless to say about this busy street which is the epicentre of the movie. The story evolves around the salespersons, revolves around their lives and atlast convolves to the basic theme “Whatever happens, life must go on !!”






Hmm.. in a ways the movie is quite a parody on one of the famous shops in Ranganathan Street. It’s been chirstened as “Senthil Murugan Stores”.Hope you all guessed the real name ;). hmm.. now to the story..The sudden demise of his father makes Jyothilingam(Mahesh) as the next breadwinner of the family though being a school topper who aspires higher education. He comes to Chennai along with his friend to work in the shop. It’s in here Jyothilingam meets Kani(Anjali), a salesgirl with whom he often locks horns with. After a few instances love blossoms between the two.



The magnificient facade of the shop is a direct irony to the pathetic conditions of the salespersons within it. From restroom visits to falling in love, the salespersons are refused even the barest humanitarian treatment leading to a suicide of one of the salesgirls. This leaves the lead pair thinking about their future. Did the couples unite ? Did they start a life together ?? hmmm.. watch the movie to find the answers for yourselves. :)…



Alongside the main storyline, there are quite a few interludes involving street vendors in the busy street. These are carefully etched to tingle your thoughts about the lives of lesser-privileged people we could witness around us. Infact the plight of the salespersons were depicted in their true sense. Quite a few of them move your heart. Scenes involving Marimuthu(Pandi) render some slapstick humour and take-off a little in an otherwise gloomy screenplay.



Plaudits to the director for parodying one of the famous shops and the omnipotent owner ”Annachi” very boldly. The lead have done their parts well and Anjali is definetely an actress who could join the league of serious performers. The ‘director Venkatesh’ who comes as the ruthless supervisor ‘karungali’ is worth mentioning. The cameo by Sneha is again good and quite sticks to the base storyline. The music is adequate and “aval apadi ondrum…” is a breezy melody. But the ‘karangali’ song was an unsolicited add-on which could have been avoided.



The biggest strength of the movie happens to be it’s crude reality potrayed in it. The cinematagrapher has captured this reality in the very same rawness of the ever bustling market street.(i still wonder how the crew managed to shoot in that street :) ) The dialogues which are slang laden are another positive but are tepid at times when the lingo goes overboard. “Ela vanga la.. ela ponga la..” were lavishly used all along the movie.



On the flopside, the slower pace of the movie, certain deliberate inclusions and too much of rawness add to the demerits.

Go for it, only if you have a taste for reality cinema..

On a personal note i liked the movie :)

Two of a Kind..But different

The two paintings which i did at a different time came together ironically now .. Hmm.. perhaps they share something in common for this union.. Two of a kind.. But different.. Well, both the paintings share the common theme of 'Reflection'. One being the change of reflection and the other being a reflection of a persona.

Reflections change

Woman & Vanity

The first painting was named 'Reflections change'. I chose this title as, many a times in my life I had to laugh when I intend to cry. The reflection was a camouflage in this case. Of course, this 'false-face' helps a lot in many instances. Hope many of you would agree with me on this :). The second one which I titled 'Woman & Vanity' is much of flaunting of an image which is true to the reflection of the persona. The former being a neutral figure I chose a woman for the latter. Afterall, vanity is predominantly a woman's forte but camouflaged reflections are not bound to any gender. Of course a woman's vanity is not only confined to her 'flauting showiness' but also to her love, compassion and many more virtues.. Hope that justified the title for the post ;)

RITU - A change...

After watching ShyamaPrasad's 'Akale' i was with high anticipations.. hmmm .. more appropriately at the height of anticipations for this movie.. Though i wasn't disappointed much, the movie was tad below his past films. The previous of his films were filmi adaptations of novels, but this one was a straight original screenplay. Though the movie was released earlier i had a chance to see it only this christmas.. In addition, it was on a private television network which had innumerable commercial breaks adding to the burden of comprehension of the non-malayali viewer like me ;)

Review:

Ritu- comes with the tagline 'Seasons change. Do we ?'.. Well.. the movie is about a lot of changes in attitude, friendship, love.. each of which of the above changes as the story unfolds . The director has chosen the IT industry as the backdrop for his movie and the story primarily revolves around the childhood friends Sarath(Nishan), Varsha(Rima Kallingal) and Sunny (Asif Ali).

Sarath, Varsha and Sunny grew up to be bosom friends in the same neighbourhood and dream of a future life together. After graduation Sarat leaves for the US to live and work while the other two take up a job at Bangalore. It's been three years after, the trio meets again in their hometown to live their dreams. Sarath, who ardently anticipates this reunion slowly realises that things are not the same as before. The romantic spark he shared with Varsha seems to have eluded and so is his close frienship with Sunny. Both Varsha and Sunny betray Sarath at different points. What impact the changes had on their life forms the climax of the story.

Besides the main storyline, the movie also throws light on Materialism & Communism. The interludes pictured on the IT company boss Zerena Balakrishnan and her husband, the after-booze chat with Sarath's brother Hari, the house keeping guy at the IT SEZ are a few which warrant mentions. The cast of all the lead roles are fresh and the newcomers have done adequate to have them reckoning for their performance.

The music of the movie was good and the cinematography was novel. Another big plus were the dialogues which hit sharp on your wits. "Memories are dangerous beings.. ", "Betrayal is the code of life".. and a lot more hard hitting phrases. But the 'slower than slowest' pace of the movie played the perfect spoilsport. At times the delibrate procrastination makes you yawn.Though pragma being an excuse, the portrayal of IT people as flirts and boozers seems to be stereotyped.

In short, definitely a good movie exempting the sluggishness in the screenplay. Do watch it..!!Afterall 'coming-of-age' movies like these should be welcomed with warmth.

Purple Hibiscus - Book Review

It was after my favourite actor's current choice of author i narrowed down to "Purple Hibiscus" novel by the Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I was in one of those usual shopping trips on weekends. As i was browsing through the books, keen to buy "Master and the margarita". The help desk guy at Spencer Plaza's Landmark left me to search for the book all by my ownself as there was only one copy available.

As i was fervently searching, "Purple Hibiscus" caught my attention. Though there were more copies of the same author's "Half of a yellow sun"( the same one as told by my favourite actor in his interview) but only one copy of "Purple Hibiscus(PH)" was left. I took both books and glanced them. Well, i had already the plot of 'Half of a yellow sun' in wikipedia and so i wasn't interested in that very much. But when i read the description of "Purple hibiscus", somehow it quite reminded me of "God of Small Things(GOST)" by Arunthathi Roy. Fine.. i paid for the book and started to home. As i was travelling i was just flipping through the pages of the novel.. To my very astonishment, some of the comments had compared PH to GOST.

GOST always remains my most favourite novel and so i was anticipating something of that magnitude in PH too. Hmm.. Well.. i wasn't disappointed much... Like GOST, PH is a first person Narration of a girl named "Kambili". Kambili grows up in a wealthy household very strictly managed by her religiously fanatic father Eugene. She and her brother Jaja follow a meticulous schedule of life as planned by their father. They are introduced to a total new world in their Aunt Ifeoma's house, where both the children come to realize their lost part of life. Read the book to find an unexpected climax.

In terms of the characters, i liked Jaja the most. He's the epitome of sacrifice, a caring brother and a lovable son. Next would be the Aunt, Ifeoma. She is all the more pragmatic in her approach to life and religion. The novel contributes to throw light on the life of Nigerians during civil wars. The impact of insurgency on innocent people is well portrayed in the novel. Also a lot could be known about the igbo people and their practices.

Like GOST, where "malayalam" was used deliberately, you could find here a lot of 'igbo'.. Also just like the 'papachi' of GOST, I disliked the 'papa' of PH. Like the "paradise pickles and preserves" Papa of PH owns a food factory.

Afterall i didn't regret choosing to read this one, but quite expected an explanation for Eugene's fanatism and other loose ends in the plot.

If you like GOST, you would like PH too, but mind that comparisons are inevitable !!! Read that this book was long listed for the BOOKER prize in the then year..

Robinhood - Malayalam Movie review

Hmm.. enough was given in the way of dialogues to justify the title and to a certain extent the story of the movie, Robinhood the prince of thieves which was released in here for diwali in Chennai. Though being early to the theatre, after a string of events like exchanging the printout for ticket, a separate bag counter and snail paced guys at counter I was late as usual to the movie hall in the basement (Devi-kala) in the Devi complex.

The very first scene which I got to see was that of news report of the ATM robber in the imaginary bank of the movie. I missed the title cards and the response from the crowd for the new found super star status of Prithviraj.



k.. my belated review.. or more appropriately called write up…

Venkitesh Iyer(Prithviraj) is a tutor in an entrance coaching centre in the day and turns a looter at night targeting a particular Bank’s ATM. The executive director of the bank is unsatisfied with the police investigation and hires a private detective, the flirty Felix(Naren). The bank’s system head Bhavana aids him.(supposedly) ;). What later revealed is the usual flashback to justify the Hero’s act and certain twist in a tale

Though the story quite rides on the hero’s shoulders, Naren makes quite a mark but seems to have been sidelined towards the climax. May be the director felt the same just like the audience he decided to give more prominence to the hero in the second half. Prithviraj is handsome. Thanks to his cynical smile and histrionics he fits with this dual role of tutor and looter aptly. Bhavana, the pretty lass does a pretty job. Unfortunately Samvrutha Sunil and Jayasuriya have got nothing much but mere fillips.

Definitely the ‘posh’ factor of the movie warrants a mention. Be it the luxurious apartment where an ordinary tutor stays to fancy dresses, bikes and cars, it seems the bollywood influence is slowly creeping into Mollywood. Though the so-called scientific crime is tad possible, given the benefit of “something innovative” it could be welcomed. But the usage of graphics in the capture & decode episode was funnier and got some high decibel hooting from the geeky crowd.. and so did the songs which were much of a dampers in the second half which was dragging on its own inherence.



Hmm.. well I observed a lot of tamil too ;).. the junior artists, the morphed photograph in the album from KMY and vazhthukal.. and PR-Samvrutha speaking tamil.. Anyways PR’s pronunciation has improved a lot and seems distinct from the Malayalam accented tamil spoken by others…

To sum up.. you could enjoy this movie if you have some patience and accept those cinematical logic (actually it’s loss of logic) with a pinch of salt..:D..

P.S: The theatre was a complete nightmare.. I had been to Devi paradise before and was expecting something good as their ticket rates were in par with Sathyam cinemas.. but it was horrible.. the seats were bad.. and my corner seat was frequented with mosquitoes just like the one of the scenes in the movie ;).. with no cup holders I had spilled a good amount of pepsi on my lap already lamenting about the slowness of the movie post intermission.