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At a time when there is a mad rush for commercial capers in Tamil, there are few filmmakers who make movies according to their vision and never compromise and let their identity slip. Selvaraghavan belongs to this elite class.
A filmmaker with great conviction, he has proved in the past that his films are mirror to the happenings in the society and especially interpersonal relationships between individuals.
Selvaraghavan joins hands with his sibling Dhanush for the fourth time and expectations obviously soar high for the fact that all their earlier outings were unique and different from each other.
The inevitable question that pops in our mind is whether ‘Mayakkam Enna’ lives up to all hype. Yes indeed is the reply, at least to most parts. The film is more about romance, the aspirations of youngsters and et al.
After a fantasy fare in ‘Aayirathil Oruvan’, Selvaraghavan is back with a movie that speaks loud on emotions. The film chronicles the life of a freelance photographer Karthik, played by Dhanush. The career ambitions and his romance make up the film.
Karthik (Dhanush) is a lensman for whom life lies in his camera. His ambition has no bounds. He wants to excel in his chosen profession and dreams of becoming a wildlife photographer.
A secluded individual (the routine for all lead stars in Selvaraghavan’s films), Karthik’s only company is Sundar (Sundar) and co. Sundar introduces him to Yamini (Richa Gangopadhyaya), his girl friend.
As it happens, the two with contrasting characters end up quarrelling all time. Sparks fly high only to settle down and romance suddenly blossoms between the two. What happens next is narrated in Selvaraghavan’s style.
Three cheers to Dhanush. The actor justifies why he won the National Award. His performance is key to the story. He excels in every frame and with right emotions and expressions, he is right there stamping his authority in the story.
Richa Gangopadhyay is apt choice for the character. She is soft, strong and sweet as Yamini. She doesn’t have a blink-and-a-miss role, rather has a meaty role to do. In many a scene, her eyes speak more than anything (Watch out for the emotional encounter between Richa and Dhanush after her miscarriage). No debutante actress in the recent times has left a mark like Richa in ‘Mayakkam Enna’.
Sundar, the young lad promises aplenty and is sure to go places. The rest of the cast too ably support Selvaraghavan.
If Selva’s dialogues are razor-sharp and go down well with youngsters (so do his lyrics), it’ Ramji’s cinematography and GV Prakash’s musical score that add strength to the script. The lens captures the emotions in fresh hues while Prakash’s background score adds pep to the proceedings.
After Ilayaraja, it seems to be Prakash who gives utmost importance to re-recording. Even his silence speaks a lot. The background score of this young talent ably supports Selvaraghavan and Dhanush to convey things on screen in a more efficient and effective way. The interval scene, where myriad emotions between the lead pair are shown at a single stretch, is a fine example to what Prakash has in store.
There are some cliches and minor flaws as the story proceeds to second half. But the fact is ‘Mayakkam Enna’ does mesmerize you and you will definitely consider watching this film more than once…
Movie
7 aum Arivu
Director
AR Murugadoss
Producer
Udhayanidhi Stalin
Music
Harris Jayaraj
Cast
Suriya, Shruti Haasan, Johnny Tri Nguyen
The expectations about 7 aum Arivu were sky-high since it comes from Suriya- AR Murugadoss- Harris stable, who gave us that memorable Ghajini. But sadly they have failed to recreate the old magic, due to a weak plot and a rickety screenplay.
If you are looking for a racy, straight forward action entertainer from the trio, 7 aum Arivu is a let-down as you have to suspend disbelief, logic and common sense. Terms such as DNA transplant, hypnotism, bio-war are bandied about making it confusing.
The film opens in 6th century with a documentary on the great Tamil Pallava prince Bodhidharman who goes to China and becomes a sort of saint and messiah for his teachings and his vast knowledge of martial arts, hypnotism and medicine. But he dies and is cremated there.
Now 1600 years later, Aravind (Suriya) a happy-go-lucky circus artist falls hook-line-sinker for Shuba Srinivasan (Shruti Haasan) a genetic engineering student and scientist who is doing research on Bodhidharman. But soon Aravind realises that he was just a guinea-pig of Shuba who wants to bring back Bodhidharman by inducing his DNA into Aravind.
Now on a parallel line there is Dong Lee ( Johnny Tri Nguyen) who is sent by Chinese government to India to implement ‘Operation Red’ a mission to bring about a bio-war. His target is to spread a virus in India and eliminate Shuba whose mission is to bring back Bhodhidharman. Will Shuba achieve her goal and how?
A film like this should keep you completely hooked till the end but sadly it does not provide you a single sequence which will make you sit up and take notice. Take scenes like the one in which Shuba submits her thesis to a team of renowned scientists and starts talking about Tamil language when she herself is talking in broken Tamil. The hypnotism angle of Dong Lee becomes tedious after a point. The romantic track between Aravind and Shuba looks so forced, and songs jumps at you out of nowhere.
The first half of the movie except for the Bodhidharman episode moves at snail pace. Too many songs without any storyboard or relevance are thrust in to the narration at regular intervals in the 160 minutes long film. There is no twist in the tale, towards the climax it becomes too preachy and the plot line is as predictable as rains during Diwali in Chennai.
The star of this film – no questions asked – is the abundantly gifted Suriya who invests such sincerity in both the contrast characters of Bodhidharman and Aravind, that you can’t take your eyes off him. But a weak script lets him down and why are film-makers exploiting his six-pack in all films?
Shruthi Haasan looks a million bucks and is very impressive in her first appearance in Tamil cinema. We appreciate that she was bold enough to dub in her own voice but why did she sound as if she was struggling to speak Tamil? Johnny Tri Nguyen as the deadly villain is fantastic and sends a chill down your spine. The climax fight between Suriya and Johnny is terrific and is superbly choreographed by Peter Hayne.
The music of Harris Jayaraj is bit of a dampener, other than the slightly hummable Mun Andhi.., the rest of songs are pedestrian and you get the feel, you have heard it somewhere. After all, the effort of Murugadoss to make a special kind of film is laudable but seems to lack the imagination required to pull off what he set out to achieve.
Verdict- Biggest Disappointment
Movie
Velayudham
Director
M Raja
Producer
V Ravichandran
Music
Vijay Antony
Cast
Vijay, Hansika, Genelia, Santhanam
Vijay is back in action with Velayudham an out and out mass entertainer with all Navarasas of commercial cinema mixed in the right proposition. Director M Raja has packaged it as a Thali meal catering to the taste of all sections of the audiences.
It is Vijay’s Diwali treat to his fans. The film makes no bones, no pretences. It is an old-fashioned masala entertainer that plays to the galleries- a rocking introductory song, two glam girls, adrenal pumping action scenes, comedian Santhanam the current flavour of the season in some hilarious situations, sister sentiments and a message. But that’s all part of the design.
The film opens in Chennai with a crusader television journalist Bharati (Genelia) trying to unravel corruption in high places. The state Home minister is hand in gloves with terrorists who are planning to create tension and planting bombs in Chennai. One day while escaping after a sting operation on city’s nefarious activities she gets badly beaten and her two friends killed.
At the same time in an accident, the thugs who had brutally bashed her meets with an accident and gets killed. Bharati creates an imaginary character called Velayudham and writes a note that he wants to clean up the city of the bad guys!
Meanwhile there is a guy called Velayudham an ordinary milkman living in a small village who dotes on his little ‘Thangachi’ (Sarnya Mohan) and his life revolves around her, though his cousin Vaidehi (Hansika) is crazy about him. One day Velu comes to Chennai to withdraw the money he had deposited in a chit fund for his sister’s wedding. In the city, he meets Bharati and due to circumstances is forced to become the fictional character Velayudham who takes on the scum’s of the earth.
Then what is the surprise and what makes Velayudham special? Vijay flaunts his pumped-up physique for the first time as he takes off his shirt in the climax. Director M Raja has packaged the film smartly and Vijay appears to be having a rollicking good time with his scorching screen-presence and his infectious enthusiasm for dancing. He throws himself completely into the film’s visceral action scenes, puts his casual, laidback style of dialogue delivery to good use in the film’s romantic and comic scenes.
Hansika looks cute, appears confident, and is well cast as the spirited Vaidehi. Her comedy scenes with Vijay are a scream especially the scene when she comes in western clothes to impress her lover. Genelia does justice to her role and Santhanam’s jokes are funny. Saranya Mohan is perfect in the sister role.
One major plus for the movie is Vijay Antony’s songs which are melodious and mass. The Vijay introductory song Sonna Puriyadhu.., Chillaxxx.. andMolachu Moonu… are the pick of the lot. Raja has taken the basic thread of the film from Nagarjuna’s Telugu film Azad directed by his friend the late Tirupathi Samy. The original itself was etched out of Amitabh Bachchan’sMain Azaad Hoon which was inspired by Hollywood 1941 classic Meet John Doe.
On the downside, the film is far too long, especially the second half. Shorter in length, one song sacrificed, its action scenes trimmed, Velayudham would have been crisp. But still it is a perfect outing with family, if you are looking for time pass entertainment.
Verdict: Vijay Hold back Victory
Expectations are on a feverish pitch as Jiiva’s ‘Vandhaan Vendraan’ hit the screens this week-end. For, it comes after a huge hit in ‘Ko’ and a serious outing in ‘Rowthiram’ for Jiiva.
As expected he has opted for a different genre - a romantic entertainer laced with action. Director Kannan, who proved his mettle in ‘Jayamkondan’ and ‘Kanden Kadhalai’, has managed to utilize the new-found image of Jiiva to the optimum.
The movie has romance, action and humour, but it proceeds at a leisurely pace. Looks like the mixing of these ingredients in a commercial format has marred the show.
Arjun (Jiiva) is a boxer, who has a mission to accomplish. He comes to Mumbai to fulfill that. He meets a dreaded but suave don Ramana (Nandha). He slowly gets acquainted with him. As events unfold, he opens about his romance with Anjali (Taapsee) to him.
Anjali’s father, a rich businessman, is killed in a shoot-out and Ramana is the reason for it. Anjali informs Arjun that she is ready to marry him provided he ensures Ramana surrenders to the police for his crime. What follows is a twist in the tale which paves way for a drama.
It’s Jiiva all the way. As a lover boy, as a bratty youth and a serious youngster - he combines everything with elegance in the role. His screen presence is the movie’s backbone.
Taapsee has come a long way from ‘Aadukalam’. She is chirpy and bubbly. Santhanam provides big relief. His one-liners are catchy. Nandha steals the scene with his subtle performance. However, the love scenes between Jiiva and Taapsee are ordinary and lack conviction.
Thaman’s music is nice to listen to. A couple of songs are foot-tapping. PG Muthiah captures Mumbai fresh through his lens.
‘Vandhaan Vendraan’ has everything to entertain, but the way it has been presented fails to strike the chord somehow. Kannan however deserves applause for trying to unconventionally do a conventional theme.
Bouquet to debutant filmmaker Saravanan for etching out a film that speaks about feelings of people and the value of every single life. With handful of characters, the director has come out with a flick that is filled with fun, joy, tears and other human emotions.
What begins as a journey in a bus takes twists and turns, and when we think all is well that ends well, a shocking incident happens. But hold on! There is no preachy stuff as Saravanan manages to lace the message with lighter moments in the film.
For many of us road mishaps mean just numbers - the number of people perished in such accidents. Rarely we get to see the colourful life the victims enjoyed without knowing that death is coming close to them.
‘Engeyum Eppodhum’ attempts to take a closer look at such people. In a nutshell, it is the story of two couples who end up romancing in contrasting manner. They happen to meet at one point where a tragedy strikes in their lives.
Coming to the story, two buses coming on opposite direction crash at each other on the National Highway in Villupuram. Tragic scenes follow. Meanwhile, a flashback unfolds and the life of a lover couple is narrated.
Amudha (Ananya), an engineering passout comes to Chennai from a village in Tiruchy for an interview. Situation leads her to take the help of a stranger Goutham (Sarva) to locate the company. Initially she is reluctant, but slowly gets acquanited and starts admiring him.
Meanwhile, there is another romance in the form of Kadhiresan (Jai) and Manimegalai (Anjali). A soft-spoken good-hearted Kadhiresan falls for a young nurse Manimegalai, who is out-spoken and lives life her own way.
After completing the interview, Amudha returns to Tiruchy but her thoughts revolve around Goutham. Goutham too wants to see her and express his love. Amudha comes to Chennai in search of her lover. At the same time, Goutham decides to go to Tiruchy to hold the hands of Amudha.
Meanwhile, Kadhiresan and Manimekalai get along well and after a series of interesting events in their romance, they decide to go to a village near Tiruchy to meet Kadhiresan’s parents. Gautam, Kadhiresan and Manimekalai boards a bus to Tiruchy, while Amudha takes a bus from Tiruchy to Chennai. Near Villupuram, the buses collide. What happens then forms the climax.
Sarva as a suave city youth fits the bill well. His cool and casual expressions are adequate for the role. Ananya as an innocent bubbly rustic girl who comes to city is impressive. Anjali as a out-spoken and straightforward girl in love with Jai is tailor-made for the character.
Watch out for Jai. He as an innocent youth is the scene-stealer. He does his best in the role. The actor manages to leave an impression with his performance.
All the characters are well-written and neatly conceived by the director. They resemble close to real-life. The narration keeps one engaged all through. The contrasting love, loss, gain and sorrow are beautifully portrayed.
R Velraj’s cinematography and catchy background score of debutant Sathya add solidity to the proceedings. All said, ‘Engeyum Eppodhum’ is a whiff of fresh air in Tamil cinema. Saravanan has certainly made his mentor A R Murugadoss, who has produced this film along with Fox Star Studios, proud.