MADRASAPPATTINAM
A great movie which has a grand "Titanic" type opening. Old lady's reminiscences form the backbone of the storyline. Credit should go to Director Vijay for moving the current happenings and flashback scenes simultaneously without creating any confusion. Heroine recalling the dialogues uttered several years back at the same location for e.g. Airport Arrival shown visually adds to the beauty of the film. Art Director has done wonderful job bringing out the Old Madras as set. It looks very real.
If Titanic is the inspiration for the way of telling the story, Director must have been inspired by the movie Lagaan as he tries to settle down the issue between the Britishers and the villagers by way of a Wrestling Competition between Arya and the Britisher.
Arya should be very lucky to get a powerful role after his phenomenal performance in "Naan Kadavul". He has done full justice to the role by precise acting. Hanifa, Nasser, M.Bhaskar and TV Compere Balaji played their roles to perfection. British actress Amy Jackson has also performed extremely well.
G.V.Prakash Kumar has scored the music in a very apt manner to suit the sentiment of the film. Picturisation of the song "Vaammaa Duraiyammaa" is excellent, bringing out the features of rich Indian culture and the beauty of Madrasappattinam. "Pookkal Pootha Tharunam" is another excellent song. "Suriyan Udhikkumbothu" resembles "Veyilodu Vilayaadi" from the film Veyil.
Climax scenes shot at Chennai Central Station is very interesting. Emotions at time of attaining Independence have been well picturised.
On the whole, a great movie... Citizens of Chennai can feel proud after watching this movie... I will try to watch this movie as many times as possible and would recommend you to watch at least once.
ANANDAPURATHU VEEDU
Story of "haunted house", "evil spirit", etc. are not new to Tamil film industry. But this movie is quite different from others as the souls of the ancestors
are portrayed as very kind and helpful ones.
Nandha and Chaya Singh have acted very well. After an impressive negative role in the film "Eeram", Nandha gets much scope to show his skill in this movie too. Child artiste "Aryan" has played the role of special child in the movie. He has also performed extremely well. Majority of the film sequences happen in the village house and it is an uphill task to make a movie interesting when the location is limited. Director of the movie has succeeded in this task. Special mention about the new bulky villain with his typical accent "Bala Sir" becomes absolutely necessary. There is a great twist in the story towards the end, which makes the movie thrilling. Movie ends with a fitting finale.
One must see this movie to understand the necessity to respect our elders, especially departed souls.
MILAGAA
A movie comprising of majority of the characters involved in a great movie "Maayaandi Kudumbathaar".
Unlike the other contemporary movies, this is a thorough entertainer. Hero Natraj is quite energetic and his sequences with the heroine Poongodi makes the movie very interesting. Director Singampuli has taken care of the comedy part in his typical style of sarcastic comments. He is a simple and uncomplicated actor and his comedy is quite fluent, as we have already experienced in "Maayaandi Kudumbathaar" and "Goripaalayam". "Naan Kadavul" fame Rajendran has played the main villain's role to perfection.
The film may not impress you much in terms of story or screenplay. But if you want a good entertainer, you can watch this movie without any hesitation.
KALAVAANI
A light hearted movie...
The movie depicts the romance which blossoms between an irresponsible youth and a school student (Oh God... in how many movies we are going to witness such an unbelievable love. Love is blind. Silverscreen love is blind beyond imagination).
Pasanga fame "Ingittu Meenakshi" Vimal is the hero of the movie. He has done reasonably well. New face Oviya as heroine played her part too. But the Director has missed the plot by trying to present a serious story in a light manner. There is enough scope for violence in the movie. Luckily violence is used to the barest minimum which is the positive aspect of the movie. Ganja Karuppu is good in creating "Paruthi Veeran" type of humour. S S Kumaran has scored the music. "Dama Dam" song is of "ok" category. Rest of the songs vanish from our memory even before we reach the parking lot.
In a nutshell, a movie which created lot of expectation but could only be a satisfactory movie.
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RAAVANAN
A movie which created much hype even before its release.
Technically a great movie. Excellent cinematography... An award winning effort indeed.
Music is not to the expected level. Rahman's fans must be a little bit upset with the songs especially after the big musical hit "Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaayaa".
Director Maniratnam has struggled a lot in bringing out a "modernised" Ramayan story. He even went to the extent of making veteran actor Karthik climb a tree to equate him with Lord Hanuman. Instead he could have gone ahead with the story not concentrating too much on the epic as he did in "Dalapathi" which is based on another epic "Mahabharata". However Maniratnam has handled the characters of Aishwarya (Modern Seetha) and Vikram (Modern Raavan) very carefully in the climax which otherwise would have become highly controversial.
Credit should go to Aishwarya Rai and Vikram who have performed extremely well.
The movie received mixed response.. excellent feedback immediately after release and criticism after a few days...
You can see the movie for its technical excellence.
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SINGAM
A typical Police story in the lines of Walter Vetrivel, Kaakka Kaakka, etc. Surya gets enough scope to perform after a series of ordinary movies. Dialogue plays a major role in the movie.
Prakash Raj plays the perfect villain's role to maintain the tempo of the movie.
Vivek's comedy may not be great thanks to his double meaning dialogues, but his comedy helps in sustaining the interest.
Devi Sri Prasad alias DSP (DSP for a police story... what a coincidence?) has scored music. His numbers make the youngsters dance, but if you listen carefully there is always some similarity with some old song. For instance, the song "Naane Indiran... Naane Chandiran" resembles the song "Raaman Aandaalum... Raavanan Aandaalum" of "Mullum Malarum" scored by the Maestro Ilayaraja. It is pathetic to see Maestro's songs being re-rendered either indirectly or directly as a remix.
On the whole a descent film and a perfect family entertainer.
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KOLA KOLAIYAA MUNDHIRIKKAA &
KATRADHU KALAVU
Don't be surprised with the way I collectively discuss about two movies.
There is not much to differentiate between the two stories as the plot is almost same. Hero and Heroine of both the movies perform all possible tricks to cheat and earn money.
Kola Kolayaa Mundhirikkaa pushes the movie with a bit of comedy. Crazy Mohan's Comedy is not of the standard we have seen in Michael Madhana Kamarajan, Pammal K Sambandam, Pancha Thandhiram, etc.
You will be disappointed if you see the movie with such expectations.
Katrathu Kalavu has chosen the "thrill" route to run the movie. Police-criminal chasing, interrogation and other such scenes are available in plenty. But the most important thing is missing... which is the "story". Krishna, Vijayalakshmi (Chennai-28 fame) play the lead roles along with Sampath as Police Officer.
Not an impressive movie.
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ANGAADI THERU
A realistic movie which vividly portrays the day-to-day problems faced by salesboys and salesgirls. Young boys and girls who hail from villages come to Chennai with great ambitions and dreams about city life. But the true picture takes them by surprise. Family circumstances and poverty forces them to adjust with all the difficulties, insults, exploitations, etc.
A movie one must definitely see....
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GORIPALAYAM
One more violent movie in the lines of movies like Subramanyapuram, Renigunta, etc. Usual story of group of youngsters who hail from a locality in Madurai, spending their valuable time without worrying about their future. Routine family problems, ignorance by the parents, etc. etc. makes one to doubt whether they are seeing the old movie again by mistake. Bloodshed, murder and related activities are available in plenty in the movie. "Nadodigal" type of story treatment would have made the movie more interesting and would have attracted the entire family to the theatres.
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IRUMBUKOTTAI MURATTU SINGAM
A different story. Possibly the first full length cowboy film in Tamil movie history (though some of Jaishankar's movies come closer to it).
Though the comedy is not of high standards it makes us laugh at that moment.
Excellent sets, wonderful cinematography, action sequences, treasure hunt sequences makes the movie interesting.
One must see this movie just for its variety and unique style ...
