Thrill Movie Review

Thrill - A bad excuse for a film

How can “boring" be an adjective, that applies to a film titled ‘Thrill’?

A poor excuse for a film, that got wrapped out in just one hour and twenty five minutes, ‘Thrill' is a supposed to be a crime story, that just doesn't thrill. An intended suspense thriller, the movie seems to be the one made without making any kind of home works for a thriller.

‘Thrill' can be stated as ‘‘bad’’ on so many levels. Starting from the inept handling of the subject, to the tiresome direction, poor cast and dull acting, the entire first half of the movie was bad in a bad way. “I even remember to have counted a thirty seconds for the passing of a jeep, out of the screen. Though an occasional wide angle shot and heavy background scores tries to infuse a life into the proceedings, the second half also turned things around and offered a lot more laughs than thrills”.

Based on many of the movies of the heist genre, ‘Thrill' has Rahul (Satya Prakash), leading three of his female co-workers at the computer centre, to loot a truck which carries hot cash to be dispersed as salaries to the workers of a plantation. Rahul is in need to raise lakhs of rupees for the surgery of his only sister while the other three are also facing similar appalling situations in their life. Motivated by a shared desire for money and revenge, they join forces for a robbery and influence the driver of the truck, offering a big share of their seizure.

Rahul and his gang thus accomplish their first venture of grabbing money with success, leaving very little clues. But when super cop Aneesh Thampan lays vigilante on the highways with hawk eyes, the four men army are forced to drive on to a lonely cottage amidst the woods, with the ten crore money in their bags. The movie then moves on to the regular horror to the b grade chills, before finally ending up in a miserably done climax.

A thoroughly outmoded presentation, with all new names in the cast sounded more like a dreadfully done mini screen drama, than a movie.And the couple of songs that appear at intervals gives a shock of despair than anything that bring back the interest. The most uninteresting highlight of the film is that 'thrill' is the only Mollywood film that I had witnessed with a second half length of below half an hour. That itself will say much about the planning that could have went to shape up the movie. These kinds of movies are the ones that signal the viewer to avoid every kind of small scale movies in Mollywood. And I surmise, those who had been with the movie will however, keep away from these kinds for at least a year, trying their luck with Kollywood and Hindi movies for that time.

About all associated with the film, be it in the technical side or on screen, exudes a type of coarseness. In the acting front everyone except Anoop as the C I, looks ill placed while the protagonist Sathya Prakash seems so brittle to carry the film in his shoulders.

If you are wholly prepared for the amazing, unrelenting horridness of a movie, just have a watch. It will certainly better your patience levels, with the ample display of stupidity and lunacy .

Veruthe Oru Bharya Movie Review

Veruthe Oru Bharya - Offers interesting watch


‘Veruthe Oru Bharya’ is the unassuming title for a movie, narrated with intensity and integrity, from the very beginning to the end. It is one of the best films of recent times, dealing with domestic marriage discords resulting from mismatched characters of two people who stick to their incompatible agendas. It may hit too close to home for some; others might not key in on the psychology, but find it as a digestible fun-filled drama with light hearted moments.

The movie will definitely introspect at least some men who finds a glimpse of them on screen. Presenting Jayaram in a solid workable character, ‘Veruthe Oru Bharya’ accomplishes to bring out the emotional chaos created by broken marital relationships on the victims and their children, somehow sidestepping all the related cliches.

The film focuses on the lives of a very few characters - Sugunan (Jayaram), an overseer with the electricity board, his wife Bindu (Gopika) and their teenage daughter Anju (Nivedita), Sugunan's colleagues and Bindu's family, comprising of her parents and her brother Ramesh (Madhu Warrier). Sugunan is a typical egoistic and ever complaining husband, who has his core of stipulations to his ever submissive wife. Sugunan considers Bindhu just as a person who is obliged to meet all the pressures in managing homely affairs. Neither he acknowledges his wife's efforts in maintaining the peaceful atmosphere at home nor does he help her in any of the related matters. He is more a hypocrite who never allows his talkative wife to engage with her friends or relatives or attend public functions. Never do Sugunan takes his wife for leisure to have a break from her routine pressures.

Having lost the ardor of a love they once knew together, the growing discord between Sugunan and Bindu leads to a point for Bindu, to break the cycle. She decides to take a break from their strain of their disagreements and return to her father (Innocent) leaving her husband to take care of her daughter. Sugunan takes it as another chance for a fight and tries to manage things, but in vain.

The highlight of the movie is that, a man and woman who have lost intimacy and passion in their marriage and their mild-mannered approach to dealing with themselves may feel uncomfortably familiar to most of the viewers. Well, there are light and humorous moments but it's a serious subject handled seriously. The tightly paced writing from K. Gireesh Kumar, the convincing directorial from Akku Akbar and acting are uniformly excellent. The only down points are the later half which drags a little at times and the complete preachy dialogues in the climax which makes melodrama seem mellow.

Akku Akbar in his first independent venture in direction is a revelation. With a heavily loaded script that take its principal characters to extremes situations, ‘Veruthe Oru Bharya' about confrontations, revelations and self-discovery, does feel particularly truthful. The director has immensely succeeded in creating the pitch-perfect "emotional atmospherics’" for the story to happen.

Jayaram, after a long gap, scores heavily in a role that is tailor made for his capabilities. He invites claps as never before, when imitating the singing styles of all heroes from yester year, Prem Nazir to today's Mammootty. Gopika looks evidently younger that what the role demands, but make better by convincing act in her complex title role as Bindu. She makes a poignant cake walk through the role, delivers majority of the dialogues and at times appear strong and scared at alternate scenes. Nivedita also shines as their daughter. Rahman and Ganesh kumar appear in short cameos.

A word of mention must also be made of Suraj Venjaramoodu, who once again has repeated his magic of creating a laugh riot, when ever on screen. He maintains his flourish in the act without tarnishing with the integrity of the character, he is in.

Shaji’s evocative location cinematography is used to greater effect; the shadow -laden frames, actually becomes a character in the film-appearing somehow lovely and wistful at the same time. Art director Saloo K George excels with his sets while Ranjan Abraham in editing also does his bit to finely shape the movie .Popular album musician Shyam Dharman's songs are immensely popular, which very well suits the mood of the film. The only low point in the post production is the not so effective background scores.

All in all, ‘Veruthe Oru Bharya’ is one of the best thought provoking family movies, surfaced in recent times.

Well recommended for viewers who are ready to share a glimpse of the maturely narrated entertainers.

Kabadi Kabadi Movie Review

Kabadi Kabadi - A mindless comedy


After quite some time, we are again into a mindless comedy which is targeted for an audience who is prepared to laugh on every silly occasion. ‘Kabadi Kabadi’, a presentation from a debut director duo Sudheer Manu, doesn't shows much promise than being another close rehash version of a decade old movie 'Makkal Mahatmyam'.

‘Kabadi Kabadi' also includes many familiar sequences that we had been to in many older comedies. But the film may not sink in the Box office only because we are of late into much larger tragedies that this movie.

‘Kabadi Kabadi' tells the story of Vijayan and Madhavankutty, stepbrothers who are at loggerheads due to plenty of old scores. Sons of the late police officer Mampilly Rajashekharan, Madhavankutty is the only son of Rajashekharan's legally married wife, but Vijayan, the illegitimate son was given the right to light the funeral pyre during his father's death. From there, Madhavankutty who refuse to acknowledge Vijayan as his brother, singles out every opportunity to irk and denounce Vijayan and his mother who are now considered as his sworn enemies.

The Annual Kabadi Championship in memorial of their father is one such event where the brothers come up for cat fights. Vijayan has Biju and Komalan as his senseless croonies, while Madhavankutty roams around with Ramesan and Basheer in a jeep named 'Mambully-Original’. It could be a point of interest and engagement for you, to count exactly how many times these pair of idiotic aides gets beaten up by virtually everyone in the frame in their attempts to bring in some sort of laughs. Chitrangadan, the former Panchayath President and his wife Sarala the present Panchayath President, are the two who adds oil to the fire, igniting new skirmishes, campaigning for and against the brothers in arms. This do-or-die Kabadi game for both brothers suddenly turns irrelevant, with the arrival of Pooja and Sneha, twin daughters of Judge Viswanathan, to the village. Madhavankutty and Vijayan falls for each of them, but don't recognize them as twins. This results in them seeing the other as rivals in love also. How all of this chaos leads to further tortuousness and subjects of forced humor, forms the rest of the movie.

The basic plot has promises of a bigger comedy flick with adequate space for action, humor, songs, romance and sentiments. But the makers fails to milk any sensible use of the plot. They frames the age old lines of narratives with comic one liners from the crew of Suraj Venjaaramoodu, Jaffer Idukky, Harishree Ashokan and Indrans. While the former two does their part convincingly, Ashokan and Indrans have a lame walk over a chance comedy riot. With plenty of loose ends in the script by Shani Khader, the movie at times turns unconvincing and nonsensical with forced sequences for generating chuckles. And in some sequences we can even predict the next ludicrous action to follow. The cat and mouse race and fights in the end are pretty matuerish, seen in hundreds of Mollywood movies before.

Mukesh and Kalabahavan Mani repeat the roles that they are always into for the whole last decade, with bulky bodies and over the top reactions. Both look a little jaded being presented again and again in roles and expressions that are beaten to death. Rambha in a twin avatar seems ok but don’t seems logical as girls from Bangalore who instantly falls for the village guys who don't even calls for admiration from the viewers. Producer Mani C Kapan dons a lengthier role as the Judge convincingly. Bheeman Reghu as Chithrangadan is another pick from the lot who tries to deliver something different.

Nadirshah’s debut into music direction doesn’t show any immense promise but one song "Minnaminungey..." is quite good. And the technical side has not much for any special comment.

All in all, this old fashioned movie can be a time pass for those who love to laugh even for hollow wits. 'Kabadi Kabadi' can be your film of the week, if you have got nothing much of any importance to do.

Bachna Ae Haseeno Movie Review

Bachna Ae Haseeno - Bachna Ae ‘Audience’


Yet another Yash Raj film releases this week with Sidhart’Tara Rum Pum ‘ Anand spearheading the bandwagon.

Ranbir Kapoor returns after the disastrous ‘Saawariya’and what more with three beautiful women. Bipasha , Minisha Lamba and Depika Padukone are fused in to draw the masses either with their smile or sex appeal.

Synopsis….

Why do girls always fall for the wrong guy? Their mothers warn them about him. Their friends shake their heads disapprovingly.

Their minds tell them to escape while the going is good. But no! Oh no! Their hearts are another story altogether. You see, they are always sending all the wrong signals. His name alone is enough to scramble their brains and set their hearts racing. Meet Raj.

He is the stuff of dreams, with the looks of a 'butter wouldn't melt in my mouth' good boy. Who can blame him for falling in love as many times as love is fortunate enough to find him. It's not his fault that he's a heartbreaker, its in his DNA.

Come… discover his three love stories; Raj and Mahi, Raj and Radhika, Raj and Gayatri. Different ladyloves at different times in his life. And each one of them teach him a little bit about love and a little bit about life, in their own sweet, sexy or sassy way. Come fall in love... three times over!

To start off with one wonders whether films such as these ever have a scripting stage . Maybe someone walked up to the director and asked him to explore the Ranbir-Deepkia bonding that has been creating much hype in the media. Oh,well what about the sex appeal quotient? Simple, rope in Bipasha Basu and for those DDLJ lovers there is the cute Minisha Lamba.

No doubt there is the style quotient backed by the pretty locales of Sydney etc that is synonymous with every Yash Raj film but right from the opening 20 mins you are bored. The film is an overload of clichés. Right from the so called 18 year old Raj(Ranbir ) and his adventure joy ride and his pack of silly friends. The film to a certain extent crosses that thin line between humor and vulgarity with all those comments on Indian aunties and that over branding of condoms.

The music of the film is pretty ok and cinematography too is enticing but nothing saves a film that is headed nowhere. The proceedings of the film are quite lame especially when the heroic Raj cries for the very first time and is headed to apologize to his previous flings. And then comes one song after another and how silly things get when Ranbir is made Bips personal assistant.

Ranbir Kapoor hasn’t evolved as an actor and isn’t convincing at all. There’s a lot more to an actor than just being cute.

Bipasha Basu is wasted and does nothing beyond bringing in the oomph factor.She looks much older than Ranbir.

Minisha Lamba still needs to work on her Hindi. She’s Ok.

Deepika Padukone impresses with her simplicity and her body language. She is efficient and should take more characters of substance.

On the whole, this film lacks real substance be it humor or emotions and ends up being a silly fling swing flick.

Rating: *

God Tussi Great Ho Movie Review

God Tussi Great Ho - A complete Salman flick


The very first time one heard of this film the excitement levels rose. After the success of ‘Mushje Shaadi, Rumi Jaffrey , the writer of the film was now turning director. What more when you have the likes of Salman , Mr.Bachchan and Priyanka Chopra?

But over a span of 2 years (which can be observed in the film), the equation between the actors changed drastically. Be it the Salman-Priyanka or the Amitabh-Salman scenario. This surely has impacted the promotion of a ‘mighty’ film and until last week Salman didn’t come out to give interviews.

So, here it finally is… ‘God Tussi Great Ho’, an adaptation of ‘Bruce Almighty’.

Synopsis..

At the end of the worst day in his life, Arun Prajapati (Salman Khan) angrily rages against God for making his life miserable. To his astonishment, God (Amitabh Bachchan) appears before him in human form and endowing Arun with all of his divine powers, challenges Arun to take on the big job and see if he can do it any better.

Arun responds to his newfound powers with childlike zeal and sets off making one hysterical yet disastrous decision one after another. The love of his life Alia (Priyanka Chopra) is astonished at the 'new' decisive and confident Arun. He thinks he can make the world a happy place by granting everybody their wishes. But to his horror, this results in unprecedented mayhem. Ultimately, Arun realises that he is only human, and being God is tougher than he thought!

Well if you are wondering whether it is a complete rip off you’ve got it wrong. Writer and debutant director Rumi indeed does quite a bit to change the proceedings of the film to fit the Indian constraints. He fuses in the family angle, the drama, marriage scene, fight sequences etc to entertain.

Then what’s wrong with this flick?

The major drawback lies in the writing of the film an area which is Rumi’s forte.

The film lacks a certain vision and objective and goes zip-zap leading to no real resolution. The fusion of numerous tracks , the Salman-Sohail repetition of gimmicks (which have become exhaustive since their last flick), the so called lie detector etc..

There seems to be a lack of believability with the setting of characters in a competitive Tv channel etc. Take a look at the office environment and the attires used. It’s weird!

Nevertheless, the film truly belongs to Salman Khan who is sure to make you laugh in the midst of all this confusion, barring his Vikram Phadnis designed outfits, he does extremely well. Salman’s presence and characterization lifts the film. Salman steals the show right through without saying much and with just a bit of body language.

Priyanka Chopra falls flat with her performance and if you are expecting a repeat of her ‘Mujshe Shaadi Karoge’magic with Salman , you’’ll be disappointed.

Amitabh Bachchan does pretty well as the character of ‘God’. Though he has very few scenes with Salman , he expresses plainly with his tone.

Sohail Khan isn’t at his best but compliments Salman with every prank of his. Just that his act with Salman has started to get repetitive.

Anupam Kher and Rajpal Yadav are hilarious. Rukshar is wasted.

Music of the film by Sajid –Wajid is ok and the best track of the film ‘Aqsa Beach’ fades out within minutes of the film’s opening and at the end of the film you aren’t left back humming any track. A track of high recall value has not captured its potential.

Cinematography by Ashok Mehta is good .

On the whole, the film would have surely been a hit three years back but that doesn’t deny the possibility of another success story here. With Salman’s huge fan following and a little help from ‘God’ this one may just prove right at the box office. This film offers nothing really unique but at some point or the others does a good job at either connecting people or connecting them to their creator. A little bit promotion would have done wonders for this one.


Rating : **

Singh Is Kinng Movie Review

Singh Is Kinng - Khan is still King!


There has been a lot riding on this flick and why not when you have one of the hottest pairs Akshay and Katrina who return yet again after ‘Namastey London’. All the more hype when you have Anees Bazmee heading the ship. Bazmee’s track record at the box office says it all- Tremendous success with his previous ‘Welcome’ creating a box office record.

Now here we are with ‘Singh is Kinng’, with Vipul Amrutlal Shah who enjoyed much success with Akshay’s ‘Waqt’ taking his place as producer.

So does Akshay Kumar’s box office record especially overseas prove that he is the new King of Bollywood?

Synopsis…

Lakhan Singh aka Lucky [Sonu Sood] is the King of the Australian underworld, accompanied by his associates [played by Javed Jaffrey, Neha Dhupia, Manoj Pahwa, Yashpal Sharma, Kamal Chopra and Sudhanshu Pande]. Far away, in a small village in Punjab, where Lucky was born, there exists someone more notorious than him - Happy Singh [Akshay Kumar].

The village is fed up of Happy. Out of desperation, they decide to send him on a long trip to bring Lucky back to Punjab, as his despicable deeds were maligning their image in Australia.

The happy-go-lucky bumpkin, taking his mission a bit too seriously, embarks on his journey, accompanied by his friend, Rangeela [Om Puri], who hates Happy for dragging him into it.

The high point of his journey is his chance meeting with Sonia [Katrina Kaif], with whom he falls in love, but upon reaching his destination, things take a precarious turn as he runs into a series of comic misadventures, leaving him penniless. He is fortunate to find warmth and affection in an elderly lady [Kirron Kher].

In a strange turn of events, an attempt on Lucky's life is foiled by a well-intentioned Happy, who fights off the attackers by risking his own life. Following the altercation, Lucky lands up in hospital paralyzed and Happy, unexpectedly, finds the tables turned on him when he is expected to assume the role of the new King.

To begin with ‘Singh Is Kinng’ relies heavily on the star value of Akshay Kumar-Katrina Kaif and not much has gone into the plot. No doubt that an Anees Bazmee flick has nothing much for the intellectuals and is usually loaded with some whacky lines and interactions between characters. But this time out, Anees fails at something he is an ace-Comedy. There seriously aren’t many funny lines or scenes and the movie gets lost in the glamworld scenario of splendid locales etc.

There seems to be a lack of focus in the film which takes off well as an idea of a Punjabi lad ‘Happy’ going out to get King but things get haywire with the action followed by the stretched out love triangle between Akshay-Katrina-Ranveer. To make things worse Javed Jaffrey who starts out well irritates with his act and what was the double role for?

At some point one would wonder whether the film was really made with a solid script or just with an initial thought further enhanced by the so called star power at the box office that Akshay has been enjoying .

Maybe the flick was a shot at Shahrukh who has rightfully been called the King of Bollywood for ages. And with much being said about the rift between Akki and Srk , a lot can be observed with certain sequences in the film drawing references to King Khan.

The cinematography is splendid and a little editing of the tracks would help. The music is entertaining no doubt enhanced by loads of colour but it just pops in and out anywhere. The Snoop Dogg version appears at the end while the credits roll.

Akshay Kumar no doubt excels with his performance but since there isn’t much sensibility in the emotional sequences in the film you don’t connect with him much the way you would in a ‘Humko Deewana Kargaye’ or ‘Namastey London’. Katrina is cute and fits the bill. She is sure to draw in the masses.

Neha Dhupia does real well and impresses. Sonu Sood emerges with a brilliant performance and gets his share of bollywood finally. Manoj Pahwa , Yashpal Sharma and Sudhanshu Pandey are ok. Om Puri does well. Kirron Kher is ok but the logic behind her shedding tears etc is so lame. Ranvir Shorey is ok. Jaaved Jaffrey annoys.

To sum it up , Akshay does well but the film is much below expectations and why not when the title’s got the word ‘King’ attached to it. Akshay is no doubt a great performer but with this film lacks the true persona of the ‘King’ and there’s still a lot more to get to that ‘King’ status. So for now , Khan is still King.

Rating : **1/2

Good Luck Movie Review

Good Luck - Don’t push your luck too far!


Well , there is actually nothing much to mention about this film which has been swinging around with its release dates . The producers even went out to have the hoardings placed upside down hoping that luck would just shine upon their flick.

Well the film promises interesting names such as the likes of Aryamaan (whose launchpad ‘Family’ misfired due to Amitabh Bachchan’s ailment), Sayalee Bhagat, Ranvir Shorey, Archana Puram Singh and Aditya Datt the man behind ‘Aashiq Banaya Apne’ spearheading the flick.

Synopsis….

Vicky[Areyamaan] wants to make it big as a singer but is cursed by bad luck and on the other hand, Saba[Sayalee Bhagat] is enjoying her good luck spree. But with a series of events Saba kisses Vicky and the good luck too gets transferred around thanks to a tarot card reader [Archana Puran Singh].

Things get miserable for Saba and now she has to get her shot at that kiss to get her luck back once again. In between come characters such as Lucky Ali (who plays a music Baron) and Ranvir Shorey( who plays a gigolo ) drop in.

For a filmmaker like Aditya Datt who was quite a name with his first ‘Aashiq Banaya Apne’, he seems to be taking the graph downwards. What a disaster of a film!

Where’s the plot? A straight lift from ‘Just My Luck’ which was a dud itself. Lindsay Lohan was nominated for the worst actress award at the Razzies, wonder whether our guys in this flick would procure a few Razzies.

The movie just goes on and on with its share of poor jokes and people trying real hard to be funny. Sayalee Bhagat seriously should have chosen a better film, throughout she just annoys.

Areyamaan too fails immensely with his delivery and lacks conviction. Lucky Ali, what was he doing there? Ranvir was pushing his luck too far.

Music by Anu Malik was rather hilarious than soul stirring or romantic. The choreography by Shabina Khan especially in the last track is weird.

An Out and out waste of time and a real disappointment from Aditya Datt.

Rating : *

Satyam Movie Review

Satyam - Fails to impress


Donning the role of an honest cop is indeed a dream of most of the actors in Kollywood. Vishal has fulfilled it in 'Sathyam', a usual cat and rat story, however with interesting twists and turns from beginning to end.

Director Rajasekar, who has come out with a tight subject in the first film itself has weaved his day to day experiences during his tenure as a journalist as a racy script, which may be liked by the audience in Andhra Pradesh, than those in Tamilnadu.

Interestingly, this film marks the direct entry of Vishal in Tollywood, as 'Sathyam' is his first to be simultaneously made in Telugu, since all his previous flicks were just dubbed to speak the language of the neighbouring State.

Coming to the story, Sathyam (Vishal), an Assistant Commissioner of Police is asked to investigate the motive behind the murders of Ministers. In the process, he finds the culprit (Upendra), only to receive a rude shock to know his identity.

For, the murderer is none other than a former police officer, who inspired Sathyam to take the cop job. Revealing the reason behind his change of mind, the ex-cop says that he is on a killing spree as he failed to set right things in khakhi uniform.

Sathyam, who throws a challenge at his mentor that he would use the power of law to put the wrongdoers behind the bars, vows to throw light on the illegal activities of a Minister (Kota Srinivasa Rao), who aims at the Chief Minister post.

During his attempts to establish truth, Sathyam faces various troubles. However, he proves that truth alone will triumph always. In the meantime, the protagonist also has a romantic episode with Deivanayaki (Nayantara), a TV journalist.

Thanks to the training he got under the guidance of a senior police officer, Vishal fits well to the shoes of a cop. His physique cooperates well with the body language, thus giving him a rigid look.

Nayantara, as a chirpy and vivacious journalist, helps the film whenever it needs the dose of glamour and comedy. Though some of her hilarious sequences fail to evoke laughter, she presents a beautiful chemistry with Vishal in songs. Standing testimony to this is Chellamay Chellamay.

Harris Jayaraj's music is not up to the mark while R D Rajasekar's camera work sizzles. Coming to the performance part again, Upendra and Kota Srinivasa Rao make their flags fly high in this Tamil flick, which has traces of Telugu in many a scene. Had the director avoided this Andhra flavour, one can salute Sathyam for many reasons.

Ugly Aur Pagli Movie Review

Ugly Aur Pagli - Script falters, Ranvir scores


A film called My Sassy Girl released in Korea way back in 2001. It's about a loser who meets a drunken girl one evening on his way back home. He takes the girl, who falls unconscious, to a hotel for the night as he does not know where her house is. The story takes off from here as he gets a call from the girl the next day to know what happened the last night. They meet again and again and become good friends. But the relationship is strange as the girl is completely whacked out. And the guy keeps pleasing her anyway she wants him to as he sees some internal grief in her.

Cut to 2008 and we have Ugly aur Pagli being made by a new director Sachin Khot. And this film precisely has the same story. Kabeer (Ranvir Shorey) is an engineering student who has been failing for four years. And one night on way back to home he meets a drunk Kuhu (Mallika Sherawat). And the rest of the story follows as the Korean movie.

So obviously this one is what they called 'inspired'. Which in straight sentences mean 'Not an original story'. So much for all creativity!

That apart for people who has not seen the Korean film and people who do not mind copied stuff, Ugly aur Pagli is an interesting film. It's a love story and yet stands far apart from the regular love stories. To add to it is the interesting narration and screenplay. And the jokes involved are simple and straight. There is no attempt to be double meaning. The dialogues are youthful and fun.

Ugly aur Pagli however falls in the characterization. While Kabeer's character is pretty rounded, Kuhu's character fails to impress. The character builds up too late and there are no reasons provided to why she behaves the way she does. The second half gets better but by then it has lost on attention. Clearly a problem with the script!

The movie looks bright and nice due to the camerawork and colours used. And the movie could have been made crisper by editing out some scene here and there. The music is no great kicks either. It works for the film but nothing you take with you outside the theatre.

On the acting front Mallika shows that she can't do emotional scenes although she may slap and kiss well. There are a couple of scenes when she sheds tears and they almost make you laugh. Ranvir Shorey however continues with his terrific form. He is definitely one actor to look out for. But he should not be made to dance. His face gives away that he is uncomfortable doing that. Dances classes for suggested!

Ugly Aur Pagli may have drawn better marks if it was original. The youth will may like this movie for the 'hatke' storyline. But at the end of the day it really fails to entertain you the way it's supposed to. You won't regret giving this one a pass.

Rating : **

Kathanayakudu Movie Review

Kathanayakudu - Jagapatibabu excelled in a low-profile character


Jagapatibabu, though popular as family subjects' hero, had several hit films in other subjects too. He had a different image. He is a very good performer too and this was proved with films like 'Hanuman Junction, Gayam, Antahpuram and Samanyudu'. Once again, director P Vasu chose this hero for a deglamourous role which maintains a low profile all through the film, but has a lot of scope for performance. The film explains the value of friendship. The story runs between a rich man and a poor man and their childhood friendship. In order to show the richness, the director chose films which is the most common commodity among the people. People always think that the heroes would earn lakhs of rupees besides a huge image and going near them is a difficult task.

Balu (Jagapatibabu) has a small saloon in a village, which doesn't have the basic requirements like a revolving chair and a good mirror. He has a wife Sri Devi (Meena) and three children including two girls. Sri Devi was very accommodative and has an understanding. However, Balu is unable to make both ends meet with his daily earnings. He is not in a position to pay his child's school fee. He used to say that Super Star Ashokkumar (Rajanikanth) was his childhood friend.

Incidentally, Ashokkumar comes to their village for a 20-day outdoor shooting. Balu's children start pestering him to take them to Ashokkumar, but Balu is quite hesitative as he is not sure whether Ashokkumar could identify him. If Ashokkumar did not recognise him, Balu might be necked out and that would be not only an insult to his friendship, but also Balu would lose the prestige before his family. At this juncture, the school principal (Gita) comes to Balu and pleads with him to invite Ashokkumar as chief guest for the silver jubilee function of the school, which Balu could not.

Somehow, the college management gets the appointment of Ashokkumar and invite him to the school function. Ashokkumar accepts their invitation and reels out his experiences in childhood and talks great about his friend Balu. Did Balu meet Ashokkumar even after realising that he did not forget him? What Ashokkumar did when he learns about Balu? Is that lecture at the school function is like filmy dialogues or did he really remember his friend? Answers to all these questions form part of climax.

Performance:

Jagapatibabu gave a brilliant and excellent performance all through the film. Especially, doing such a character, especially the role of a barber, is great for a hero with some stature. Moreover, the character was completely deglamorous and had a very low profile. But Jagapatibabu really lived in the character. His histrionics and body language were perfect to the core and director was able to extract all the acting talents from Jagapatibabu.

Meena, who played opposite Jagapatibabu, also did complete justice to the role. She appeared on the screen after a long gap, but was good to watch as the mother of three children. She lost her weight considerable and appeared glamorous.

Rajanikanth played the real life role in the film. He maintained his usual style and appeared glamorous in the film. He has not much scope to perform in many of the scenes in the first half and most part of the second half as well.

However, it was he who mesmerised the audiences with his performance in the climax. Veteran playback singer SP Balasubrahmanyam lent his voice to Rajanikanth. His dialogue modulation perfectly suited the style of Rajanikanth, especially while delivering the lecture in a school function, where he narrates the value of friendship.

Nayanatara also played the real life role in the movie.

Comedy by Dharmavarapu Subrahmanyam, Sunil, Ali, MS Narayana and others are okay and was able to tickle the funny bone of the audiences, especially when the movement of the film is giving boredom.

Technical:

Padma Shri Thota Tarani, who was responsible for excellent sets for Rajanikant's latest film Sivaji, once again came up fantastic sets for this film too.

Camera work by Arun Krishna is okay. The most notable technician for the film after the director is the dialogue writer. Marudhuri Raja penned dialogues for the film, which are very good and casual. Dialogues in the climax were quite heart-touching.

Editing is perfect in the film, as the audiences can't find even a single scene which is irrelevant and boring. Above all, it is P Vasu who needs compliments for coming out with another good film. After a blockbuster like 'Chandramukhi', he came out with another notable film. As was rightly said by Rajanikant during the preview of the film, such movies would come very rarely. The director was able to maintain the friendship thread in a peculiar way. Though the story appears dragging till the climax, the audiences never feel boredom with occasional and timely comedy track.

Music by GV Prakash Kumar, the nephew of AR Rahman is melodious and the audio was a big hit even before the release of the film. Especially the song penned on the making of a film was worth listening, with good literary values.

Remark:

Though the hero of the film is Jagapatibabu in reality, the producer and director chose to highlight Rajanikanth, keeping in view the saleability of the film. Though Rajanikant appeared on the screen for less than 45 to 60 minutes, the film made a business of more than Rs 60 crore, just because of the image of Rajanikanth. The film proved a tear-jerker in the climax. The audiences who pay a price of Rs 50 for the ticket would feel satisfied with the last 20 minutes' of the movie.

Cast: Jagapatibabu, Rajanikanth, Nayanatara, Meena and Mamata Mohandas, Vijaykumar, Sunil, Dharmavarapu Subrahmanyam, MS Narayana, Narsing Yadav, Duvvasi Mohan, Kondavalasa Lakshmana Rao, Rallapalli, Gauthamraju, Gundu Hanumanta Rao, Tanikella Bharani, Geeta and others.

CREDITS: Dialogues – Marudhuri Raja, Music – GV Prakash Kumar, Lyrics – Veturi, Ramajogaiah Sastry and Ananta Sriram, Choreography – Lawrence, Brinda, Ashok Raj, Art – Thota Tarani, Presents – Seven Arts, Camera – Arun Krishna, Producers – C Aswinidutt and GP Vijaykumar, Screenplay, direction – P Vasu

Banner: Vyjayanti Movies

Mukhbiir Movie Review

Mukhbiir Movie Review

Mukhbiir - The desi ‘Bourne’ gets bore


It’s been a while now that ‘Mukhbiir’ has been mired with problems that have given the film a back seat. First with a series of events involving change of producers from Pritish Nandy Communications (PNC) to Color Chips and the legal money transactions to a postponement in the release date, the film has been badly hit.

Mani Shankar who established himself with ‘December 16’ and then went on to ‘Rakht’ and ‘Tango Charlie’ brings forth the story of an informer.

Synopsis…….

In the secret world of shadows where good and evil are deeply enmeshed,the dark world where fear stalks through streets, where the thin veil of sanity can get ripped off in an instant revealing the hidden face of stark terror-on that razors edge live the chosen ones, wearing masks that can never be taken off.

This is a film about a young man and the many masks he wears enacting a desperate drama where forgetting the lines means instant death. This is the story of the many lives he has to live the many deaths he has to die.

Director Mani Shankar would have wanted his film to take off very much the ‘Bourne Identity’ way. Though he tried to spin it a little bit here and there by asking the viewers to have pity on the informer or ‘Mukhbir’, he fails miserably.

The film bores and bores and bores. There is a complete lack of believability and connect with the storytelling. What’s with those close-ups of Samir Dattani time and again with those so called ‘Shayari’s ‘or one-liners? It’s just lame.

Samir seriously requires much more to look like that informer. His delivery is poor and his expressions are kiddish. From which angle does he act ( forget look ) like an informer?

The majority of characters have been simply scattered around without substance. Suneil Shetty just walks in and out and leaves no scope for understanding. Om puri does his bit well even though he often confuses.

Raima Sen was just a waste. Man, the way she falls in love with Mr.Mukhbir and breaks into the typical ‘Naach Gaana’ is ridiculous.

Sushant Singh does his bit of massaging the ladies and getting to do some Bhaigiri. Alok Nath too joins him on this bit.

On the whole the movie comes across as a very jaded one. With the delay and competition from former producers PNC’S ‘Ugly aur Pagli’, the film is bound to face rough waters at the box office.

Rating : *

Kuselan - Movie Review

Kuselan - An ode to friendship and of course Rajinikanth


How many times have you walked out of a theatre emotionally choked up after watching a Rajinikanth film? How many times have you seen Rajinikanth not uttering a punch dialogue in his films? How many times have you not seen Rajinikanth flexing his muscles and bashing the baddies in his movie?

Watch ‘Kuselan’, where one can find a completely different Rajinikanth – the real Rajinikanth, the human being. The movie is perhaps an answer to his critics who have been criticizing the actor for doing routine 'commercial masalas'. Thanks to P Vasu, Rajinikanth reinvents himself bringing out the actor within him through this film. One thing is very clear. He has not acted to commercial compulsions.

The movie throws light on the real Rajinikanth, who has been quite a puzzle with millions of his fans. And the star himself answers questions that have been plaguing the minds of millions of his fans. Want to know the answers to why Rajini has not entered politics? Why the superstar often goes to the Himalayas? Why the actor still prefers to work in run-of-the-mill stuff?

‘Kuselan’ has got all the answers. With Rajinikanth by his side, P Vasu has come out with a message that is quite though provoking. The usual adage is 'Matha Pitha Guru Deivam'. With ‘Kuselan’ the adage gets an addition - 'Matha Pitha Guru Nanban Deivam'.

He plays the 'Super Star' himself and does not at any time impose himself on screen. Watching Rajinikanth play the role with consummate ease is like watching Sachin Tendulkar on song at the middle of the crease. It's like listening to Beethoven's symphony sitting under the moonlight. Though the story doesn't revolve around Rajinikanth, he manages to leave his indelible presence on screen. Especially towards the climax, an emotional Rajinikanth identifies his friend recalling their good old innocent days. These are sequences that evoke tears to our eyes bring the human side of each of us to the forefront.

It is a tough task for an actor like Pasupathy to carry the entire burden on his shoulders acting alongside a scene stealer like Rajinikanth. As a poor barber, fighting for survival, he evokes all the sympathy. Seemingly an extension of his role in ‘Veyyil’, Pasupathy passes out with flying colors. Hats off to him!

Meena as his caring wife is more of a realistic portrayal. She understands the emotional struggles of her husband and gives him the much needed solace and comfort. She sure manages to get under the skin of her character and has done an extremely good job.

Nayanthara plays herself in the film and executes the job entrusted to her quite well. She plays a heroine in films, who shoots for a movie alongside Rajinikanth. She fulfills the glamour quotient and serves the purpose indeed well. Vadivelu's comedy compliments the script well. His trick to get an audition with Rajinikanth, who is shooting in the village brings down the roof with laughter.

The movie boasts of a huge star cast including Livingston, M S Baskar, Sona, Geetha, Fathima Babu, Brahmanandham, Chinni Jayanth. All have significant parts to play in the film.

Prabhu plays a cameo while a host of stars including Sneha, Soundarya Rajinikanth, Suriya among others appear for the ‘Cinema Cinema’ song.

Kuselan is about two childhood friends, with one becoming the Numero Uno in the film industry, while the other lands up as a barber in a hamlet.

Balakrishnan alias Bala (Pasupathy) is a poor barber in a village. He leads a happy life with his wife Sreedevi (Meena) and his children, until a film crew lands in their village to shoot for a movie. Coming to know that Super Star Ashok Kumar (Rajinikanth) has come for shooting in the village, and also with the understanding that he is Bala's childhood friend, villagers flock to Bala's house with favors. A man with tremendous self dignity, Bala fears to meet Ashok Kumar thinking that he may not identify him. But, when the two meet after a long gap, the emotional drama between the pals, sets up an emotional 20-minute climax.

Complimenting Vasu's hard work are Arvindh Krishna's excellent cinematography and the brilliant musical score by G V Prakash Kumar. The catchy numbers ‘Om zarerare’ and ‘Cinema Cinema’ have especially been captured in an attractive manner by Aravindh Krishna. The background score towards the climax sets up the momentum.

Hats off to director P Vasu! The film-maker, who knows the knack of remaking a Malayalam hit in Tamil, has rendered a movie that has the right packaging of emotions. He has intelligently packaged the movie with commercial elements that a hardcore Rajinikanth fan would love without spoiling the crux.

Produced by Pushpa Kandaswamy and Vijayakumar, ‘Kuselan’ is a movie that would go down well with Rajinikanth fans and this is a great opportunity to see the real side of this spectacular actor though on celluloid.