Movies Around You

Cast: Jothika, G V Prakash Kumar, Ivana Music: Illayaraja Direction: Bala Fifteen minutes into the film you don’t feel like watching a Bala’s film. His films always have a strong content with a hard hitting narration. Naachiyar has a strong story but his narration is light hearted. The humour throughout the film is naturally staged and enjoyable. I loved the one liner when Naachiyar’s husband tells “moraikatha.. nee summa paathale moraikara mari than irukum” to Naachiyar (Jothika). The light hearted humour does not take away the impact that the director intends to create. The climax scene is something which one can experience only in a Bala’s film. There was some criticism like ‘How could Jothika use swear words?’ after teaser released. While watching the movie, one would think ‘Why did they mute it?’.   I loved the scene where Ivana boards a bus to Villupuram and constantly asks the bus conductor about the travel duration. The scene is funny and you also empat...

Cast: Jeeva, Jai, Mirchi Shiva, Nikki Galrani, Catherine Thressa Music: Hip hop Thamizha Direction: Sundar C The one line plot of Kalakalapu 2 or any Tamil comedy films is simple and the story always involves searching of as expensive item in the wrong person’s hands. Kalakalapu (the first one) had some emotions in the story (changing the hotel) along with comedy. But Kalakalapu 2 is just about comedy. This full length comedy story involves an ex-minister in search of his auditor, Jai in search of his ancestral house and Jeeva in search of someone. This film has a lot of characters and everyone is in search of someone/something. Sundar C has efficiently managed all the characters in a way that each character makes you laugh in at least one scene. Even with many characters the screenplay is not gripping. It’s like a wave with one great comedy followed by a mediocre comedy. I really loved the scenes of Radha Ravi with his assistant and a chase in second half. Aft...

Cast: Suriya, Keerthy Suresh, Ramya Krishnan, Karthik Music: Anirudh Direction: Vignesh Shivn The wall posters of ‘Thillu mullu’, ‘Varumayin Neram Sivapu’ and other artefacts set the mood of the film to 1980s except Suriya’s costumes. The film opens with RJ Balaji in an interview getting rejected for job as he does not have money to bribe the selection officers. Simultaneously we see Tambi Ramaiya (who works as peon in CBI) requesting his higher officers to go easy on his son in his interview. HIs son is not RJ Balaji, its Suriya. Both end up getting rejected, but I could empathize with Rj Balaji’s character more than Suriya’s. Kalaiyarasan plays as Suriya’s friend who wants to be Police, but falls prey to corrupt section process. But I really loved his character and his story, which I enjoyed than whole film’s story. The reason why I could not empathize with Suriya is because he takes power into his hands and becomes Robin Hood. The film becomes heist genre but sti...

It’s the end of a year. This year was filled with a lot surprises. Each film that I went with a huge expectation led to disappointment. The big heroes continue to graze the barren land and new directors/ actors presented us wonderful films. Good content films released at frequent interval quenched our thirst for good film. Another happy thing about this year films is that they started telling stories with strong women characters. The female characters/performances that I loved are Sshivada (Adhe Kangal), Aditi Rao Haidari (Kaatru Veliyidai), Anushka and Ramya Krishnan (Baahubali 2), Shraddha Srinath (Vikram Vedha), Andrea (Tharamani), Nayanthara ( Aramm), Anisha Victor(Aval) and Aditi Balan (Aruvi). The best male performance was surprisingly dominated by character artists rather than heroes. My favourite are MS Baskar (8 Thottakal), Raj Kiran (Pa pandi), Anand Sami (Lens), Madhavan & Vijay Sethupathi (Vikram Vedha), Vasanth Ravi (Tharamani), Barathi Raja (Kurangu Bommai),...

Cast: Sivakarthikeyan, Nayanthara, Fahad Fazil, Rohini Music: Anirudh Direction: Mohan Raja Mohan Raja decides to narrate the core problem from the first scene. The narration dialogue in the opening relating genetic disorder and social hierarchy tells the director has brought us another social issue. The problem which Arivu (Sivakarthikeyan) face gets dedicated attention. The story and screenplay is written around the problem which get rids of unnecessary contents. Yet we get a duet song post interval which seems misfit. Arivu’s character is brilliantly written and its Sivakarthikeyan’s best in his career. He opens a radio station for his slum and he wants to awake his slum people from certain misguided things. This trait becomes huge as film progress and now he cares for whole nation. The stories inside the slum and the main problem get linked in a marvellous way. The scene that relates two different professions is amazing. The film has many characters and not ...

Cast: Aditi Balan, Lakshmi Gopalswami Music: Bindhu Malini, Vedanth Bharadwaj Direction: Arun Prabhu Purushothoman Before the film I glimpsed at the trailer, which I generally do for every film. This normally gives me an insight of the film or what to expect? While most of the films don’t deliver what trailer promises. Aruvi  is also on similar lines, but it's other way round, exceeds your expectations. The film opens up with an investigation about Aruvi ( Aditi Balan), which reveals her past ( The details are revealed from different persons like in the movie ‘Ctizen Kane’). As the past of Aruvi is revealed an ambiguity sets in and we seem lost at a certain point of time. But that’s what keeps us glued to the film and when everything is put together, we are into a surprise. The lengthy dialogue before the interval is brilliant and it can be called as female version of 'dialogue out of frustration' as male version is done by Sivaji in Parasakthi. ( coinci...

Cast: Fahadh Fazil, Suraj Venjaramoodu, Nimisha Sajayan Music: Bijibal           Direction: Dileesh Pothan The story building in Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum is what makes the film interesting to watch.  Prasad (played by Suraj Venjaramoodu, who became my favourite after this film) walks off from a drama saying that he will catch cold siting in the cold night. The next scene, in the morning, he goes to a medical shop to buy medicines where he see Sreeja (played by Nimisha) buying a pregnancy test kit. This makes Prasad gossip about her, which in turn makes Sreeja to talk with Prasad. This story building is supported by the cinematographer. Most scenes first introduce an atmosphere and then the actual scene relating to the story. Look at the scene where Sreeja’s chain is swallowed by Prasad (played by Fahadh Fazil) in a bus and the passengers decide to take him to police station. The next scene involves a person w...