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.

Kadal - movie review

     Coming from the Mani Ratnam banner, I started watching this movie with lots of expectations - good story line, catchy music, hero/heroine being lookable/likeable etc etc.  

      Story is alright, the motto being 'truth alone triumphs' which is very noble.  After watching this movie I am starting to think Aravind Swamy and Arjun are the real hero and villain respectively.  Gautham Karthik is just a person of circumstance; drawn into the influence of the former first then the latter.  His convictions seem to be un-crystallized, which is probably because of his troubled or non-existent childhood.  The heroine Thulasi looks good and exhibits very promising talent; her costumes look a trifle incongruous and in most frames she wears white.  It struck me that she smiles and giggles a bit too much and found out towards the end that this was in fact intended.  The local dialect and way of life is well depicted.  Overall a good movie.

         

Movie review - Aravaan

Has been a while since I watched this movie; but remember it to be a good one.  A novel theme (this is a period film) about a people who steal from the rich to survive. 
There is a good mix of action and emotion, and this movie is an entertainer. 
Aathi as the hero is very convincing.

Kumki - Tamil Movie review

Overall a very nice movie!

Certainly a welcome change to watch an elephant in almost every scene.  

Manikkam the elephant is adorable.  My favorite scene is the one in which he follows his angry mahout Bomman (Vikram Prabhu) around town and finally finds him aboard a bus in the bus-stand.  Animals have an amazing way of endearing themselves even without dialogues and dramatics!.  

The story is based on a 'Kumki' or a trained elephant which is taken to Adhikaadu to stop the rogue elephant which is wreaking havoc every harvest season.  The Adhikaadu residents are very traditional and do not compromise on their ways in spite of changing times.  They chose to bring a 'Kumki' elephant to their village rather than take the help of the government to oust the nuisance.

As expected, the hero falls in love with the village leader's daughter (Lakshmi Menon) and whether they are able to come together and also keep the rogue elephant at bay forms the rest of the story.

The photography is awesome: the greenery of the Western Ghats is simply awe-inspiring.  Music score is pleasant but all songs seem similar.  Comedy is spontaneous and hilarious!  But I found the hero's love a little annoying - especially since he jeopardizes all his close circle.

 

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. 

Movie review - Main Gandhi ko nahi mara

I was left wondering how this Gandhiji related title was suitable for a film based on dementia/Alzheimer's. 

Anupam Kher dons the role of an absent minded professor, whose absentmindedness is actually the beginning of a more serious brain deterioration.  It could be age-related, because he is retired from active service for a couple of years, but still remembers some incidents with vivid detail.  Urmila Matondkar is the only daughter between two boys, older one away in the US and younger one still in college.  Not wanting to trouble her older brother she takes up the responsibility of caring for her father - taking him to doctors and worries over him.  The younger brother immaturely talks about admitting his dad in an 'asylum' which angers Urmila and rightly so.

Things shoot out of control when Urmila's four year boyfriend's parents visit to discuss the possible marriage when her dad bursts out in anger for having kept a teacup inadvertly on Gandhiji's picture.  Urmila is caught in between her father's deteriorating mental health and the insensitivity of her boyfriend.  Its when she finds him married that her world collapses, but she has to pull on for her father's sake - he has had more instances of running away from home and even setting his room on fire.  He repeatedly says that it he did not kill Gandhiji.

A good doctor comes into the picture and his approach turns around things.  The family unlocks their father's obsession with his guilty feeling.  An unexpected experiment turns out to be a success and things get back to normalcy.

Its only possible in Indian movies that the topic starts off as brain dysfunction and ends up in patriotism!