Nadodigal

Nowadays, most movies depend heavily on high-end graphics, exotic locations, expensive costumes and loads of visual drama. At such a time comes the movie Naadodigal that does not conform to any of this and yet, comes out as one of the best movies of 2009.The main characters in the film are three friends Karunakaran (Sasikumar), Chandru (Vijay) and Pandi (Bharani). Each one is as different as chalk, cheese and chillies!! But they are bonded by friendship. Of course there is the quintessential Athai ponnu (Ananya as Nallamma), the loving sister (Abhinaya as Pavithra) and the friend you always land into trouble (Kanja Karuppu). Added to this are a few not so friendly characters like a high-profile business man and a lady politician (Jayaprabha).Samuthirakani has come up with a simple story of friendship, but with an interesting twist and treatment.Karunakaran, Chandru and Pandi are thick pals. They are willing to kill and get killed for friendship. The true test of their friendship comes when Karuna's friend Saravanan seeks his help to marry Prabha (Shanthitheva), the girl he loves. He even tries to end his life in frustration. Moved by his emotions, Karuna, along with Chandru and Pandi, decides to unite the lovers. Battling the high-profile parents of the couple, they succeed in their venture, but end up paying a very high price for it.Unaffected by the losses in their personal lives, the three musketeers are happy to have done a good deed. But soon, they realize that all their efforts have been in vain and they decide to recoup their personal losses.What did the friends lose? Why did their efforts go in vain? You have to watch the movie to find the answers.It is very hard, rather impossible, to pick the best of the lot. Every single actor has given his/ her all, not only to play the character, but actually BE the character.Sasikumar is brilliant. His effortless portrayal of Karuna, his love for his girl, the pain and anger he feels when he loses all, is all very real.Vijay as Chandru is a character we have seen in our everyday lives. His love for his best friend's sister, the anticipation as he waits for his love to be reciprocated, his dedication to his work, his passion for his friends, you can feel all of it.Bharani is a revelation. He may have debuted in Kalloori, but it is as Pandi that he comes out of his shell. His comedy, pathos, anger and innocent aspiration to fall in love - all evoke laughter and tears.Debutants Ananya and Abhinaya have done great jobs. Ananya is vivacious and full of life as a bubbly young girl, demure and silent as the sacrificing daughter. Abhinaya gets full marks for her portrayal of the strong-willed young woman who accepts her lover, no matter what happens. Her real life disability (she is deaf and mute) is totally unseen on the screen.Kanja Karuppu as the friend is too good. His comic timing and straight-faced comments are a treat.S.R. Kathiir lets the characters be the main attraction of his frame. The surroundings don't matter; all his focus is on the characters and their emotions. His camera work is crisp and taut. He does not resort to any gimmicks and shows us the story as it should be shown, in a simple and straightforward manner. Rajasekar Even though there are several action scenes in the film, not one scene is visually violent. The chases and fights are very real. Sundar C. Babu A big positive for the film is its music. At the right places and at the right time, the songs take the narrative forward. Most of the songs are used as montages, thus taking the music and movie to a different level. A.L. Ramesh The editing is another plus for this movie. Adding to all the existing positives. Ramesh proves that the movie is actually made at the editing table. He has presented Samuthirakani and his story in an amazing manner. Samuthirakani Hats off to Samuthirakani! He has written a simple story, scripted it well and executed it wonderfully. Every scene is engaging, every emotion captivating, every dialogue worth an encore. An excellent job! Does anything more need to be said? Go to the theater and see this movie, especially with you 'nanbargal' - your dearest friends. And next time you decide to take your friend for granted, think again! After watching Naadodigal, you will! Cheers to friendship!!
Direction : Samuthirakani
Staring :Sasikumar, Vijay, Bharani, Ananya, Kanja Karuppu
Music : Sundar C. Babu

Vedigundu Murugesan

There’s a certain deftness that you need to have, to handle both comedy and sentiment in the same vein. Moorthy, whose ‘Vedigundu Murugesan’ has just released, definitely displays that.The film is not a mindless comedy, though it is really funny for most part. Pasupathy playing the title part, he’s the kind of petty thief who can extend his vocal chords to endear people, very much like the character Suriya played in ‘Mayavi’. And pretty much like Suriya’s role, Murugesan is also kindhearted, and gives refuge to a mentally ill Ponni, who was also his classmate.So the film is a jolly peek into the travails in his life, which give way to a terribly funny first half. Pasupathy’s courtroom scenes are so rib tickling, and his arguments with the judge, are downright funny. Playing judge is Nirmala Periasamy, popular TV anchor, looking emaciated and out of place.And there’s also Vadivelu, in a role Alert Aarumugam, who is clearly back in form. Alert Aarumugam has all it takes to be immortalized like Vadivelu’s other popular roles like Kaipulla, Naai Sekar or Telex Pandian.Joining Pasupathy and Ponni is Jyothirmayi, playing a cop who is in love with Pasupathy. While their romance is passable, the cop’s reason to fall in love with a thief because he’s helping Ponni, is completely shallow. However, things turn completely topsy turvy, when Ponni is raped and Pasupathy fights for her justice, which forms the second half, which could have been filmed more interestingly.Pasupathy fits the bill as Vedigundu Murugesan, and does a decent job even at romancing his girl. But taking the cake is his sense of timing and highly authentic Virudhunagar diction. Jyothirmayi is just about watchable, despite her tacky dress sense.Folk music can be interesting. But Dheena’s score in the film is definitely not. The composer is generally loud, but there are places when his music is so loud that you prefer silence to any music. He almost makes up for it with two good melodies, sung by Padmashri Yesudas and Madhu Balakrishnan each.

Direction : Moorthy
Staring :Pasupathy, Jyothirmayi, Vadivalu
Music : Dhina

Indira Vizha

Here’s a film in which its three heroines, Namitha, Hemamalini and Ragasiya, compete to the maximum of their natural abilities on who can reveal a bigger cleavage.(Like how Ragasiya displays her barely clothed body and says ‘I’m completely natural’ to a stony-looking Srikanth). There’s hardly a chance you will notice anything else in a movie with such a poorly executed script like ‘Indira Vizha’ whose focal point of attraction seems to be the thunder thighs, wide waistlines and above.To be fair, the movie may not be perceived as a rip off of ‘Aitraaz’ or its more captivating English version, ‘Disclosure’. Isn’t the story of a vengeful lusting woman criminalizing the man who refused to bed her as old as Shakespeare’s works? The film is the story of Kamini (Namitha) getting back at her ex lover Sridhar (Srikanth) by reentering his life as the wife of his boss, played by Nasser. Srikanth plays the creative head of a television channel Teen TV (though it does indulge in political exposes), who is married to debutant Hemamalini.His life turns topsy-turvy when Nasser reinstates Namitha as the head of the TV channel, a promotion Srikanth anticipated for himself. Following this, it is the simple story with Namitha hurling sexual harassment accusations at him. The film has an age-old, yet watchable story line that lends itself to many twists and turns but it suffers from a screenplay technique that’s older than our hills. The three heroines, who gyrate in regular intervals in skimpy clothes, give the film a sleaze flick look, while its hero Srikanth managed to do a decent job as the suave youngster. Comedy is supposedly the department of Vivek, who hardly makes you smile, while Y Gee Mahendra, as the conniving lawyer, elicits more laughs. But the courtroom scenes are a joke in themselves, given the callousness with which they have been filmed. Vivek’s antics at the courtroom are anything but enjoyable.The show stealer of the film is clearly Namitha, who needs to shed more kilos before deciding to shed her clothes for more oomph. The actress is at her glamourous best, even if it is in the courtroom. Namitha does come across as stylish and fits the bill for her character, with a dubbing voice (Suchithra) that suits her well. Hemamalini needs a check on her weight, even as her performance for a new comer is decent, much like Ragasiya.Music for the film is by a new comer Yatish, and you still may not want to go kind on the youngster who has remixed ‘Oru Kinnathai” from ‘Vasantha Maaligai’, highly misplaced during the course of the court investigations.

Direction : K. Rajeshwar
Staring :Srikanth, Namitha, Hemamalini, Vivek
Music : Yadhish

Vamanan

There’s a chance you’ll enjoy Dream Valley Corporations’ ‘Vamanan’ a lot more, if you went in looking at it as some mindless comedy Or a film with decent action and a lot of glamour. The film is packaged to seem like an action entertainer. Sadly, most part of the film has turned out to be an entertainer of the unintended variety.Why does the film’s storyline give you a sense of deja vu? May be because you have seen a film lesser than a month before called ‘Muthirai’, with a premise similar to this one. The film is about how a video tape unintentionally records the death of a politician (Delhi Ganesh) by another Anbu (Sampath), and how people in possession with the tape are being killed.But the director Ahmad doesn’t stop at this, making it more complex by roping in many more characters. That turns out to be the film’s biggest strength and weakness. While these characters, from “Neeya Naana” Gopi, Thalaivaasal Vijay, Raguman to Lakshmi Rai are involved in the tape, there’s ample scope for making the screenplay more interesting. Instead, it ends up looking too complicated or too silly, with a climax that looks highly out of place.This is Jai’s first film after the blockbuster ‘Subramaniapuram’, and expectations are bound to be high. Jai plays the role of an aspiring actor, Anand. So one does wonder if all those scenes in the film in which different people discourage him saying he can’t act at all, are meant to be real life accusations. Be it in his voice modulation, or getting out of the grumpy look he wore for ‘Subramaniapuram’, Jai has a long way to go. But it’s not perhaps his fault that such a big success in the name of ‘Subramaniapuram’ came so early in his life that his experience isn’t able to do justice to it.Needing good acting is Lakshmi Rai too, who is definitely better off having someone else dub for her. She plays a model Pooja in the film and the director has clearly gone by the usual portrayal of all beauty no brains, in etching her character. Debutant Priya, enacting the role of Divya, Jai’s love, doesn’t have a lot to do.Santhanam- That’s someone you’ll look forward to in the film, as he keeps most of the film going but, his character holds no merit as the cameraman of a serious channel. Urvashi, much like her act in ‘Siva Manasula Shakthi’, hardly gives her vocal chords rest as Priya’s mother, but her facial expressions are a delight to watch.Sampath’s role as the politician Anbu, makes you wonder why he is relegating himself to stereotype villain roles. Thalaivasal Vijay, one of our more seasoned character artistes, is as convincing as ever. Raguman’s character is a give away from the start, and Jai’s trust in him is nothing short of silly.The camerawork is interesting in parts, but there’s definitely nothing exciting to suggest. Yuvan Shankar Raja doesn’t go beyond rehashing his earlier tunes. Lucky Star is a captivating number though.As the case with most films these days, the first half entertains. The second half stutters.

Direction : Ahmed
Staring : Jai, Priya Anand, Lakshmi Rai, Raguman, Santhanam
Music : Yuvan Shankar Raja

Achchamundu Achchamundu

The film stars Prasanna(Senthil Kumar), Sneha(Malini), Akshaya(Rithika) and John Shea(Robertson) in lead roles. Prasanna works as an IT professional and Sneha as his wonderful and nurturing wife and Rithika as their 6-year old daughter. They lead a happy life in USA who are from India. They love their child so much and they have their daughter name as their car registration. All seems to be going well until John Shea enters their house as a painter, to paint their basement. He suffers from an unusual and odd behavior of molesting, abusing and killing children after that. Now Akshaya falls on his cruel eyes and is gonna a prey to Robertson??? To know this, watch the movie.Everybody has done justice to their role. Music by Karthik Raja was average and background score was good. Kannil Dhaagam song was so good and gives a nice feeling.The movie has everything regarding the technical aspects, Red One camera was good and at times the dialogue never enters your ears. Next is screenplay-- This is where the film falls short of. The character of Robertson has not been etched properly. One cannot say in certainty that John Shea behaves badly with children, one can just say that he is a psycho and he kidnaps children. Only at the climax you can believe that he is an odd person, as they show something like a paper presentation about the senses on child abuse across the world. At times, the movie turns slow but never deviates. Irregular appearance of songs and the main thing that the film lacks is the "Thriller" quotient. We expect a lot as the film was much hyped in that genre. It was more like a documentary rather than a film.The film fails to leave an impact on heart though it turns to be successful in technical aspects and good story and theme. You can just watch it as it is dedicated to the victims of child abuse and it may win some awards for its theme but doubtful about its position in box office.

Direction : Arun Vaidyanathan
Staring : Prasanna,Sneha & Hollywood artist John Shea.
Music : Karthik Raja

Kadhal Kadhai

Within fifteen minutes on entering a movie hall to watch Velu Prabhakaranin ‘Kadhal Kadhai’, you encounter nudity from a small boy and girl to Adam and Eve, and hear of the word ‘kaamam’ in every sentence uttered. At best, ‘Kadhal Kadhai’ is between a boring documentary and titillating pornographic piece. And as a result, it is not watchable as either of these. How much can sex and lust salvage a badly made film? Velu Prabhakaran has wanted to make a film that can freely thrive on sex and so, comes up with a flick in which these form the basic storyline. And it is as if he anticipated all hurdles in making the film with a subject like this. And so, the making of the film is the story itself. Deceit and lust, which are often taken as side elements in movies, raise their head to see dizzying heights in the film. The director does well to speak of demystifying a woman’s body, and goes on a saintly speech about it, but the film solely thrives on cleavages.The movie is about the difficulties that Velu Prabhakaran suffers in making a movie about lust as a major force in all our lives, caused by the sexual suppression in our country. It is the story of three women, all victims of lust, losing out on ‘morality’ as they comply with the sexual urges of their lover/ boy friend or extra marital love.As if sex isn’t tricky enough a topic to handle, the caste difference factor is woven in, making things seem unbelievably boring. We’re not going to talk about the technicians in the movie because they don’t seem to have done any work at all. To its credit, the film does have a story to boast of, and at times, Velu Prabhakaran’s monologues do strike a chord. But acting is at such an all-time low in the movie, that you think even the actors were unhappy at doing the film. What convinced Illayaraja to be part of a film like this? But he makes his presence felt only in the title card. The film takes a highly moral stance against exploitation of a woman’s physique. But sadly, the movie is full of the exploitation of not one, but three women. It’s too boring to even qualify as a sex flick.

Direction : Velu Prabhakaranin
Staring : Sherlidas, Prithy, Rangayani
Music: Illayaraja

Modhi Vilaiyadu

Its DirectorSaran’s films Modhi Vilaiyadu comes with a niece script that lends to a dreamy first half with a twist that leads to great pace after the intervals. Every character has a soul in the film, something you observe from Kalabavan Mani’s Man Friday Alse to Cochin Haneefa. Such is the dilemma faced by the film’s protagonist Vinay, who plays Udhay Vasudev, son of a billionaire businessman Rajan Vasudev (played by Kalabavan Mani). Vinay is an apt choice for this role, and with his gait, sophistication and body language, you tend to overlook his almost-Tamil dubbing in the film. The actor’s dubbing for himself for the first time, and sure has a long way to go. Kajal Agarwal seems to be evolving into the next girl in the Shalini, Jyothika mould with bubbly characters, and she plays a young, college goer, who is forced to do chores for Vinay. The first half is replete with their antics, which go to unimaginable levels, but heck, this is a film and you know everyday life is exaggerated. Both Vinay and Kajal’s roles have equal meat, and their performance contributes positively to the film. Kalabavan Mani. As in most films, the villain’s character is a sore thumb here too. It’s high time someone tells the actor his antics aren’t funny to watch, but highly trying on your patience. The man believes in getting things done, hook or crook, and there seems to have been no thought in scripting his character, which is where the movie is at its weakest. Cochin Haneefa is such a delight to watch! The actor definitely has you in splits. Santhanam, who is clearly on a high in his career graph, is most likely to overtake Vivek and Vadivelu in the comedy race. And Mayilsamy is another interesting addition in the film.The movie is highly pleasing to the eye, thanks to the camera work by AD Karun. But it’s amply supported by the music by Colonial Cousins and background score by Stephen Devassy. Padhi Kadhal shows musical mastery, and the director has done a commendable job in picturising the song. And the placement, pciturisation and concept behind Modhi Vilaiyadu, the title track that appears at a crucial juncture in the film, deserves Saran a pat on his back. Deva, Hariharan and Leslie make cameos in this innovatively composed track.
Direction : Saran
Staring : Vinay, Kajal Agarwal, Kalabavan Mani, Cochin Haneefa
Music: Hariharan and Leslie
Camera : AD Karun