Endrendrum Punnagai - Tamil movie review

 

This movie has shining 'stars' in it but disappoints the audience sorely.

 

Gautham (Jiva), Baby (Santhanam) and Sri (Vinai) are three friends inseparable.  They run an ad agency.  The three are such close friends that they literally live in Gautham's place; they have decided never to get married.  Jiva's dad is Nasser, and Jiva and Nasser are not in talking terms. ( The reason for Jiva's animosity towards his dad and the friends deciding to never get married is connected - it is revealed later in the movie)

 

Trisha is Priya and she works with them in the ad agency and her boss is Karthik.  (what happened to Karthik, by the way; his style is unmentionable - but thankfully he has a few sensible dialogues).  Sonia (Andrea) is a model who is attracted to Jiva for his masculinity and more importantly because he ignores her.

 

Sonia's antics in Switzerland bring the pair together but Jiva firmly sticks to his resolve of never falling in love ever (though his friends have not kept up their promise and that has driven wedges between them).  This pains Priya and she confronts him in the beach.  Predictably there is a 'USA' based groom in the sidelines to grab Trisha for his wife.

 

The course of events in this movie is quite predictable to say the least.  Santhanam's comedy is spontaneous at times and at others quite lame like the stationary room being slanting!  Alcohol makes a million appearances in this movie, it is annoying.  Music for the most part is loud.

 

Yajaman Tamil movie review

A block buster of its times - with Rajinikanth, Meena and Aishwarya in lead roles.  This movie actually has a storyline and it is to do with Rajini as the great master or yajamaan.

The hero predictably is very caring and an affectionate master to his villagers and they look up to him but he too has some enemies.  He marries Meena after much wooing and how happy they are together is picture perfect.  The movie has some classic songs.

Aishwarya with some provocation from Napolean upsets the tranquility of the marriage by accusing Rajini falsely of some very lowly things; it does not change him in the eyes of his wife but the villagers are a little skeptical.

Then she herself clears the air by coming clean but by then some irreparable damage has been done to Meena by the same villain crowd.

The movie ends in a little bit of a twist and not the usual 'they lived happily ever after' note as Rajini wants to honor his wife's last wishes.

Seenu tamil movie review

Karthik (as Seenu) and Malavika play lead roles in this tamil movie.  Karthik's older brother Kesavan is a famous singer very popular among his rasikas, while Karthik passes time picking fights with people who speak ill of Kesavan.  His family is quite disgusted with his anger and rowdyism.  In one concert Karthik fills in for his brother and becomes so popular with all that slowly his brothers popularity starts to fade away.  Predictably Kesavan is extremely irked with Karthik and becomes jealous and drunk; while Karthik always looks up to his brother inspite of his changing ways.

Kesavan going away from home while his sister's (?) wedding is fixed forms the climactic end of the movie.

Malavika's role is minimal and music is passable.

 

Magalirkkaga tamil movie review

Average entertainer.  It has a host of 'star' actresses - Khushboo, Vindhya, Ambika, Kovai Sarala.  The story is set in a women-only police station.  Vindhya is a conscientious constable who also takes tuitions in her spare time.  Ambika and Kovai Sarala know the ropes of the station better and keep the atmosphere lively and going.  Khushboo is the head constable whose principles interfere with her neatly mapped personal life and predictably she chooses her principles over any other temptation.

The comedy of Kovai Sarala and Vadivelu enlivens the movie.  Apart from the comedy track everything else seems clichéd - plotting villains, righteous cops, songs etc.

 

Vaidehi Kathirundal Tamil movie review

Vijaykanth and Revathi play the lead roles in this 1984 movie.

    Revathi plays the role of young widow named Vaidehi and Vijaykanth is a recluse whose nightly songs soothe the entire village but no one knows his story.  He scratches her name in the temple walls which intrigue the villagers and they start to speculate if the two (hero and heroine) have any connection. 
    That's when Vijaykanth narrates his tragic story to her - his beloved's name is Vaidehi too.  'Do not jump to conclusions' is one moral viewers can probably learn from her avoidable death.  This Vaidehi too opens up her history to him too, of how she came to suffer this fate at such a young age. 
    Meanwhile love blossoms between two youngsters - a new arrival to the village and a rowdy's (Radharavi's) sister.  By some circumstance the new arrival (who ends up working at a ration shop) stays with Revathy and her dad; and quite inadvertly the new person gives the idea that he may be interested in marrying Revathy.  The dad is quite enthusiastic about the prospect of a new lease of life for his daughter.  I think that it is in poor taste that the new person calls Revathy to a secluded spot just to seek help for his love which Radharavi is dead against.
   The pathos of all the primary characters forms the rest of the story.
Goundamani as 'All in all Azhaguraja' makes quite an impression which has in fact been considered as iconic.
    The music of Ilaiyaraja deserves another laudable mention.  'Indraikku yen intha' in Abhogi ragam is mesmerizing and refreshing.
 

Chinna Thambi Periya Thambi Movie review

Two heroes - Satyaraj and Prabhu - are big brother and little brother respectively being brought up by their widowed mother, Gandhimathi.  They are a happy go lucky pair and the way in which they cheat a restaurant owner without paying up and in fact destroying his eatery is quite hilarious.  Nadiya is the heroine, she is their niece; inspite of the availability of 'murai maamans' she is betrothed to another wealthy person because her parents are well off and do not want their daughter to be married to either of the brothers because they are simple village folk and not rich.  At this point I was quite curious because here are the heroes and here is the heroine but she is not going to be married to either seemed to defeat the purpose of the movie.  Hmm... 

 

Naturally both Prabhu and Satyaraj are disappointed, more so is Gandhimathi; she is irked by their arrogance to overlook close relations.  After all who would come to rescue in times of dire need, but close kith and kin.  Her sentiments prove true when due to unexpected tragedy Nadia is orphaned and her grandmother takes her in when she has no where else to go, but now she does not hold any grudge against the girl and takes care of her affectionately.  She too for her part, in spite of her luxurious up bringing does chores around the home and makes herself useful.  She also tries to take up a job to supplement the family income but in that small town there are little or no opportunities suitable for an educated girl like her. 

 

Sudha Chandran a young widow who lives with her unmarried older brother is their neighbour.  Sudha well depicts the anguishes of a girl widowed at a very young age without ever having lived a happy bride.  She has to change from her wedding silks to the widows' white sari almost immediately because her wedded life has been extremely short lived. 

 

Will either of the brothers marry Nadia?  And is the movie going to depict either of the brothers giving a new lease of life to an innocent young widow?  are some of the questions answered if you watch this movie.

 

Some laughs in the first half of the movie, the second half is more serious. 

Chinna thambi - movie review

         Prabhu as Chinna Thambi and Khushboo are the heroes in this village based theme.  The scenery is lovely and the music is very good too.  A nice entertainer if you can tolerate the extreme thali sentiment.  I say entertainer because for the three hours of watching this movie you have to be prepared to buy into the unrealistic bringing up of the heroine which has propelled her to marry the first guy, who is not her brother, that she has access to.  The hero of course is the epitome of innocence since he does not even know what a marriage means but otherwise he is the perfect hero - he can sing well, he can fight well, has his heart in the right place etc.

 

         The villains in this movie are Khushboo's over protective brothers who obviously cannot tolerate this bumpkin to be her suitor.  So they wreak vengeance in a very unique way - by pouring colored water, then applying kumkum then adorning flowers on the long widowed mother of Chinna Thambi, Manorama.  He is about to tie the thali (again thali sentiment) when Chinna Thambi promptly rescues her from that predicament.  As Radharavi, the villain hovers with the thali, my mind works fast, is this movie going to end like Apurva Ragangal movie?  So if Radharavi, Khushboo's brother marries Prabhu's mom and becomes his father is he rendering the possibility of marriage impossible?  And what would happen to his wife Sulakshana?  Thankfully putting an end to all my surmises Prabhu jumps in and saves his mother from further insults! 

 

     And all ends well when the villains repent for their deeds and decide to get their sister (re)married with her lover.  (She had already married him in secrecy - in fact Prabhu himself did not know that he was making her his wife by tying the thali around her neck!!!)

 

 

 

Thillu Mullu (new movie) review

This movie is hilarious!!  Even though I had my doubts about waching a remake it was not my choice to watch this - it was playing on TV and I eventually stared watching it, laughing with it and eventually liking it.  Let me confess that I am not a great fan of remakes or remixes - only an original can intrigue me - or so I thought until I watched this.  The whole team - Shiva, Kovai Sarala, Prakashraj, and even those who play minor roles have turned this into a first class entertainer.

Firstly the story line is so well adapted to modern times - like taking a cell phone video, using contact lenses etc etc- which makes it so well- believable.

Secondly the story line seems original - the old and the new have blended so well that the outcome is a super entertainer.

And then there is that independent spy who spies with such class and evokes laughter by his silliness!

If you crave some laughter you should watch this!

Chennai Express movie review

Let me start by saying that I am no fan of SRK; just find him  incredibly adorable in some scenes; and again as in JTHJ there is a reference, be it minor, to his increasing 'seniority'; though, of course, he 'does not act his age'; the initial scenes in the movie where he prepares to go to Goa and the ones in the train where he encounters the goons are unbelievably juvenile and cinematic.

Most of the time we see happy families speaking with a heavy accent and a liberal mix of Punjabi vocabulary in their Hindi in Bollywood movies.  Chennai Express offers a refreshing change of scenario to beautiful Tamil homes and streets.  In fact the movie itself has loads of dialogues in Tamil.

But what mars this beautiful change is Deepika's Tamil accent!  Unbelievable!  Infuriating!!   Does this mean that all Tamilians speak Hindi with such an annoying accent??  Listen to Vidya Balan, Hemamalini - just two great actors I remembered from the top of my head!  They speak Hindi more beautifully than many other native speakers of the language!  Of course the Hindi that non- native speakers speak will have some remnants of influence of other languages but that is quite negligible.  I think in Chennai express the 'accent' thingy is supposed to be a comedy in itself, but according to me its in very poor taste!

Chennai Express has some vibrant colors in it; breathtaking scenery ( for all I know could be graphics) but overall a good entertainer!

Moondru per, moondru kaathal - Tamil movie review

Three people, three love (stories)....Hmm...Once again what made me want to watch this movie was Cheran.

The story moves slowly at times; certainly a unique perspective of love.  One of the heroes has completely sacrificed love; another has lost his loved one.  Both these instances have affected the third hero so much that he decides to do a little soul-searching and comes to the conclusion that what he felt as 'love' in fact was nothing deep.

This movie raises one question for me: does one have to sacrifice love in order to do social service?  Is not Love a sense of overflowing bliss that it would encompass all in its path.  Its certainly a very reasonable wish for a girl (or a guy, for that matter) to want to spend the rest of her(or his) life with the person she looks up to - as a friend, soul mate, inspiration all in one.

Chennaiyil oru naal - movie review

A wonderful movie! 

I started watching it because it has two of my favourite actors - Prasanna and Cheran but soon was drawn into its nail-biting suspense and thrilling story line.  This movie is in fact star-studded - Radhika, Sarathkumar, Vijayakumar, Prakashraj, Surya.  

The first part of the story moves slower than the latter part.  Post interval literally adrenaline rushes, with the viewer not knowing which way the see-saw would turn; but all ends well except for the young man with so many dreams to make it big in journalism, who is almost fatally knocked down in a road accident.  Its his heart which has to be taken to Vellore Hospital from Chennai.  

The cinematography is amazing.  This movie has all the usual elements like power politics, powerful message, kidnap/carjacking, unity of people, emotional manipulation etc, but all these weave into a unique perspective.

Makes one realise the value of the gifts that we have been endowed with and the greatness of organ donation.

Movie review - Vazhakku en 18/9

A wonderful enactment, full of pathos.  Two parallel tracks, one of an upper middle class family in an apartment and another a slum.  The two tracks and the people involved meet only after the poor servant maid, Urmila Mahanta, survives an acid attack.

The police conduct a thorough investigation and the culprit is caught, but he is not brought to justice, sadly.  The usual powerful politics pokes its ugly nose and the innocent poor Sri is framed.  His love for the servant maid is exploited and he consents to plead guilty.

The unexpected turn of events consists of Urmila taking matters in to her hands and the film ends in poetic justice for the corrupt policeman.  What is not justice, poetic or not, though is Urmila having had to suffer the disfigurement and the jail sentence too.  Sri makes a very convincing and endearing young one-sided lover.  His friend in the roadside restaurant is initially irritating but he turns out to be an honest fellow.

On the whole a very gripping narration.  All the atrocities that can be done with the mobile phone are well brought out.  This film made me understand the hatred I have for rich spoilt teenagers.  

The end leaves the viewer feeling sad for the innocent and gullible people in the film as well as all those out there whose stories never make it to the world outside.