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Movie Reviews on the go…

Here is a quick and short reviews of recent movies that I watched…

Thoranai My Rating: 1/5	Vishal following Vijay’s footsteps in Thoranai. Iyappan, the director of this movie I believe is forced to pen down such a script for portraying Vishal as a mass hero. Oh gosh!! same old crying Geetha (Vishal’s mom) and here she is crying for her son who ran away some 20 years ago…and her second son Vishal comes to chennai in search of his bro..(Sivakasi, Vijay’s movie also had the similar script but there he goes from Chennai to his village and again Geetha was his mother.. I guess Vishal wanted everything that Vijay’s film had!!!). And two versatile actors Kishore and Prakash Raj are wasted in this movie. Prakash raj would have done 101 movies so far in such a role.. Kishore was awesome in Polladavan but here he is used as a pickle..;) I sincerely ask Prakash Raj and Kishore not to commit such movies..The movie has ‘n’ number of chasings and fight sequences..in fact they are trying to chase us out of the theaters but we understand that very lately and by that time the movie ends..Damn it!! And I forgot to mention about Shriya who is Vishal’s lady love and one notable thing here is Shriya’s portion of the movie is very much generalized..you can use it in any movie..just ctrl+c and ctrl+v and you have a romance portion ready for your movie.. All the scenes involving Shriya just stand out of the story line…Only thing that makes us sit is Sandanam’s comedy and perhaps it gets too much as he annoys all the characters around… Overall Thoranai is a mere headache… தோரணை = ரோதனை + சோதனை + வேதனை
Nadodigal Rating: 3/5	Samuthirakani(who played an important role in Subramaniapuram) has directed this movie. Sasikumar (the director of Subramaniapuram) gets down in the field as a hero. Nadodigal is a friendship centric movie. It starts off with three friends(Sasikumar, Bharani and Vijay) in a small town, all of them in job hunt. Sasikumar is a gold medalist in History and he is in seriously in search of a Govt job so that he can marry his uncle’s daughter. Bharani trying for a job in abroad and Vijay waits for a bank load to start a computer center. Vijay also falls in love with Sasikumar’s Sister. So now the basic plot is set, here enters another close friend(Ranga as Saravanan) of Sasikumar. Sasikumar and other guys get to know that Ranga is in love with a girl(Shantini Devi as Praba) but their parents doesnt allow them to get married. Ranga’s mom is an ex-MP and Praba’s dad is a big shot in Namakkal. The three friends decide to help Ranga to get his girl. They try to abduct Praba. The kidnapping scene is a good thriller and after a painful run where all three friends get hurt badly, Ranga weds Praba and they flee to Goa. Later the couple depart due to their misunderstanding. But what hurts these three friends is they dont even realize or think of all the pains that these guys had to unite them.They again kidnap Ranga and Praba to teach them a lesson. The strength of the movie is its cast. All the characters just add on something that makes the screen play more lively and interesting. Bharani and Ganja Karupu make you laugh at many places. The two new girls in the movie Ananya and Niveditha are good finds. Niveditha who plays sasikumar’s sister is in real a girl with a speaking disability. Inspite of that she has given a great performance and her lip-sync in delivering dialogues is great. And we have Jeyaprakash (who acted as the teacher in Pasanga movie) as Praba’s dad, the big shot guy. Its good to see such talented actors being offered more opportunities. On the whole Nadodigal is worth a watch. Not so great but still a good show by all the artists and a thumbs up for Samuthirakani..
Manjal Veyil Rating: 0/5	First of all I dont want to write anything here as a review. I still dont understand what make people to do such films. Vaseegaran is the director of the movie. Love vs Friendship is the basic plot of the movie. Story goes as.. Prasanna and Sandhya are very close friends which makes other people as lovers. At one point of time they reveal that they are not lovers and infact Sandhya is in love with Bala. Prasanna helps in finding the missing guy Bala when Sandhya’s parents fix her marriage with another guy. What happens in the end is the story.Its high time that Prasanna stops doing such films. He lost all his reputation that he got from Kanda Naal Mudhal and Anjaathey. I wonder what attracted him in the movie that he committed it. Sandhya irritates us as usual. And what should i write abt the villain. His hairstyle and his dialogues.. Oh My God!!! Whenever he appears on the screen, it makes you think that you are watching Lollu sabha in Vijay TV…There is nothing more that I can write here… What I have written here is more than enough for this movie. Please dont even look out the poster of this movie. You can direct your enemy to watch out this movie. You can’t imagine a better punishment!!!

Forgotten playback singers of Kollywood

Tamil movies are known for their music and songs. We have hundreds of music directors and thousands of playback singers which shows how big is the arena for one to survive. These days the competition just grows higher and higher, that one has to be at his/her toe to sustain in this industry. Only very few compete and survive.
I remember few singers who were extremely talented yet lost out in the race due to various reasons. Their voice is really special that still lingers in my mind. Here I have a short list of those rare voices that we rarely hear in recent movies.

1. Arunmozhi	I read somewhere that he was a part of Ilayaraja’s troop. He is a wonderful flutist. Introduced by Ilayaraja as a playback singer, he has sung some super hit songs that are still popular. Mostly seen in Ilayaraja’s album, some of his hits were Soora Samharam- நான் என்பது நீ அல்லவோ தேவ தேவி for kamal hassan Rasayya – Masthana Masthana for Prabhu Deva Veera – ஆத்துல அன்னகிளி for Rajini Sethu – A bit song after vikram wins his college election – அண்ணன் சேதுவுக்கு ஓட்டு போட்ட
2. Minmini	Winning Tamilnadu State Award for best female playback singer for her debut song in Roja (சின்ன சின்ன ஆசை), clearly talks for her talent. She had everything in her voice to introduce a heroine in the movie. Gentleman – பார்க்காதே பார்க்காதே பஞ்சாங்கத்த பார்க்காதே Karuthamma – பச்சை கிளி பாடும் ஊரு Aranmanai Kili – அடி பூங்குயிலே பூங்குயிலே கேளு
3. Krishnaraj	If the hero is from a village then Krishnaraj is called immediately to the studio. I believe he was introduced by Deva. His rustic voice always captures the mood of a village song. He shot to fame from the song in Porkaalam (தஞ்சாஊரு மண்ணெடுத்து) and went to sing numerous village folk songs. Paruthiveeran -ஐயையோ with Shreya Ghosal was a super dooper hit song Kaadal Kottai – வெள்ளரிக்கா வெள்ளரிக்கா Imsai arasan 23m pulikesui – பஞ்சு மெத்தை கனியே
4. Jensy	Jensy is a talented singers in 80’s. I definitely believe that the number of people who knew her would be countable. Though she had ‘n’ number of super hit songs, she wasn’t recognised the level she deserved. Alaigal Oivathillai – காதல் ஓவியம் பாடும் காவியம் Johny – என் வானிலே ஒரே வெண்ணிலா and ஒரு இனிய மனது இசையை அழைத்து செல்லும் Ullasa paravaigal – தெய்வீக ராகம் Pudiya vaarpugal – நம்தன நம்தன நம்தன தாளம் வரும்
5. Carolene	I couldn’t get an image of this wonderful singer. Introduced by ARR, the only song i remember is தீ தீ தித்திக்கும் தீ தீண்ட தீண்ட சிவக்கும், an amazing song from the movie Thiruda Thiruda. Heard that she is a chinese singer. Listen to this song and I bet that you can’t get anyone to pronounce Tamil that fluently. It is just perfect. Hats off to Carolene who did put an humongous effort to get that fluentzy.
6. Yugendran	Malaysia Vasudevan’s son had singing in his blood. He also had a good appearance to get into the shoes of a hero. When he had the choice to choose his path, he chose the later which turned out to be disastrous. If he had proceeded towards playback singing he would have achieved great heights. Still he has time to get back on his track. Autograph – கிழக்கே பார்த்தேன் விடியலாய் வந்தாய் அன்பு தோழி Lesa Lesa – முதல் முதலாய் ஒரு மெல்லிய சந்தோஷம் வந்து Parthen Rasithen – பார்த்தேன் பார்த்தேன் சுட சுட ரசித்தேன் [My favourite of Yugi’s song] Pandavar Bhoomi – தோழா தோழா தோள் கொடு கொஞ்சம் சாஞ்சுக்கணும்
7. Shahul Hameed	Whatever he sings was a hit. ARR introduced this fabulous singer. I feel extremely sad that he is no more with us. His career was short lived as he succumbed to a tragic accident. Gentleman – உசிலம்பட்டி பெண்குட்டி முத்துபேச்சி May Maadham – மெட்ராச சுத்தி பாக்க போறேன் Thiruda Thiruda – ராசாத்தி என் உசிரு என்னுதில்லை Uzhavan – மாரி மழை பெய்யாதோ மக்க பஞ்சம் மாற Vandi cholai chinnaraasu – செந்தமிழ் நாட்டு தமிழச்சியே சேலை உடுத்த தயங்குரியே Seeing this list it is certain that Shahul is missed a lot by Tamil audience.

There are still lots and lots of songs that these players have rendered. I have just given a glimpse on them, as I wrote down this blog.

Pasanga – Movie Review

Language: Tamil Released: 2009
Produced By: Sasikumar Direction: Pandiraj Music: James Vasandhan
Cast:
Anbukarasu – Master. Kishore
Jeeva – Master. Sriram
Jeeva’s Parents – Jeyaprakash,Sujatha
Anbu’s Parents – Sivakumar, Senthikumari
Meenakshisundaram – Vimal
Sobikannu – Vega
and with other new child artists like Pakkada, Kutti Mani, Mangalam, Manonmani to name a few..

If we have to outline the story of Pasanga, it is nothing other than the mudane tamil movie formula. The same old “goodie vs baddie” concept where eventually baddie fails to overcome the good and the movie ends in a happy note. But what makes “Pasanga” stand out of this forumla is its characterization, screen play and hilarious dialogues. The backbone of the movie is its actors who play the roles very casually and win your applause in each frame. The movie has a strong foundation called “Reality” in it which make this a successful movie of the year.

The stroy revolves around two families who live opposite to each other in a small village called Virachilai near Pudukottai. The director narrates the whole story from the kids point of view. So the two kids from these two families can be tagged as the heroes.. where one is a good guy(Anbukarasu) and the other is a baddie(Jeeva)..hmm not baddie though – a bit less goodie than the other. Scenes move on with the counters within their gangs in the school and later their enemity becomes a feud amongst their families. There is a sweet love story running parallely between anbu’s uncle (Meenakshisundaram) and Jeeva’s elder sister (Sobikannu). Later in the second half, Anbu’s parents have a quarrel which affects their kids in school. Here comes Jeeva’s father who pours in some advise to Anbu’s father. Also the love story gets a nod from both the families. Having settled the other disputes, now the remaining thing is to unite these two kids who quarrel right from scene 1 of the movie. The last 20 mins of the movie is what disappoints the viewers more. We would have seen a zillion times, a climax like this.

Inspite of a boring climax, the movie is a good entertainer. The kids really perform it with such ease. Look out for the guy who plays Pakkada. His dialogues where he kindles Jeeva’s anger are enjoyable. Instances like, when Jeeva gets on a fight with Anbu, Pakkada says “உன்னால முடியும் ஜீவா” with a slight turn to his head is hilarious. Master Kishore who plays Anbu is really fitting the role to the tee. Master Sriram who plays Jeeva is a nice selection. He really portrays an adamant kid with his voice and dialogues. The scene where all the kids study for their exam at 4 o’ clock in the morning is too good.

Vimal, who plays Meenakshisundaram in the film has a good debut as a lead role. Having boy-next-door looks, he has done a neat job. Nothing more nor less. The surprise package of the movie is the female lead Vega, who plays Sobikannu. We have seen her in a cameo apperanace with mini skirts in Saroja as Saroja. Here she is a young townish village girl who is a teacher in the kindergarten school. She proves to be a perfect selection for the role. The love story between these two is very realistic, hilarious and sweet. It has been a long time having seen such lovely scenes. I liked it after the romantic story that was in Valee.

Jeyaprakash, who plays Jeeva’s father and a teacher as well, has done his job perfectly. The way he calls the last benchers “கிழவி புருஷனுங்க” is something new and hilarious. His character is neatly sketched as a lovable father and a disciplined teacher. The line between these two is drawn neatly and he travels on the line without any hurdles.

The actor who overtakes everybody and wins hands down is Sivakumar, who plays Anbu’s father. Its not our old Sivakumar. This guy makes a debut here. Heard that he is a technician under director Balaji Sakthivel who directed the movie Kaadhal. What a brilliant performance!! You will never realize that he is acting as a father to these kids. He has just lived through it. Whatever he does, it can be the quarrels with his wife to loving his kids, its just natural and real.He excels in his dialogue delivery. Look at the scene where he explains his father-in-law about the way he wants to live, he says “இதோ, எல்லாரும் புள்ளைங்கல இங்கிலீஷ் மீடயுத்துல சேக்குறாங்க, என் புள்ளைகளையும் சேருங்கனு சொல்லி சேர்த்து, புடுங்குறான் புடுங்குறான் பணத்த புடுங்கிட்டே இருக்கான் புடுங்கி”. The dialogue flows so naturally that just awes you. Another instance where he gets lots of wrong calls about his brother in the night. “ஹலோ யாரு. எங்க மலேசியா-வா..டேய் புரியலடா”. “திட்றான் என்ன சொல்லி திட்றானு புரியல.” Hats off to you Mr.Sivakumar. Hope you play such roles in future too.

The movie’s life is its music. Commendable work from James Vasandhan. The melody “Oru Vetkam Varudhe” is a master piece. Sherya Ghosal mesmerizes with her sweet voice. Dr.Balamuralikrishna has a song after 18 years. Very refreshing family song. The background score is terrific. The violin in the background is fantastic.

Padiraj the director has given us a quality entertainer for this summer. He deserves to be appreciated for selecting all new faces for the movie. Thank God he didnt opt Prakash raj for Jeeva’s father and Nasser for Anbu’s father. It would have been a mess. Instead Jeyaprakash and Sivakumar just shine in their roles. He also has passed on lots of good messages to the kids which is worth mentioning.

Its a very rare movie that doesnt have politics, rowdism, vulgarism that are a common element in today’s Kollywood movies. Just take your whole family and have fun. Thanks to Sasikumar to come forward producing this movie. This move has been rejected by many producers considering the risk of no popular actors in it. In fact it fares well with the performances of all the new comers.

Verdict: On the whole Pasanga is an awesome movie, barring the final 20 minutes.

Scintillating R-Fed

Sunday 07 Jun 2009, clouds in the sky waiting to drench the capitol city of France but Court Philippe Chatrier @ Roland Garros was packed to its maximum capacity. The whole crowd awaiting that precious moment with their heart beating above normalcy, so was Roger’s… His defeats to Rafa for the past four years passing in front of his eyes, and with Soderling at the other side of the net he serves for the championship point and the swede puts it to the net and the entire Philippe Chartier at its feet screaming one name.. Roger.. who is down on his knees in the red mud with tears in his eyes…

What an incredible sight it was!!!

Roger proved his mettle here at Paris, winning his 14th GS as well as his holy grail that was elusive till now from his trophy rack 🙂 That marked a career GS for Roger making him the complete and all time greatest player in Tennis history.

Yeah I know mentioning him as ‘all time greatest’ would be criticized saying that he didnt beat Rafa in the finals. But that was not Roger’s fault and it was Rafa’s for not making it to the finals.. Roger beat whoever was on the other side of the net and this time it was Soderling who infact crushed Rafa in the round of 16. Roger would have beaten anyone on sunday as he was at his supreme form. He beat Rafa just a week ago at Madrid quite convincingly announcing his comeback. He had all the tactics to counter Rafa’s game. Rafa struggled at Madrid but everyone came up saying that it was his semifinals against Nole costed the match. But it was Roger’s game that made Rafa to wrong foot all the times in that match. 

It was a good comment from Soderling at the podium.. “Congratz Roger.. You gave me a lesson on how to play tennis today!!” Its infact true. Roger’s exquisite drop shots, sharp backhand passes and stunning forehands really put Soderling out of position on most of the points. Roger’s shots were so fast that Soderling didnt get time to think of his shots. Before Soderling could actually find his rhythm the match was over. Albeit it was a fabulous performance by Soderling in Paris this year beating all clay court specialists Ferrer,Rafa, Davydenko, Gonzalez. A High-five for the swede and to his coach Magnus Norman, a brilliant clay courter of his times..

It was Andre Agassi who presented the trophy to the swiz master. What else could Roger ask for? It was his Sunday and he had all the blessings from the almighty. 

He ends the clay court season as the best clay courter and now having thrown all his pressure off his shoulder, Roger would focus on his favourite slam. In another couple of weeks its going to be a treat to watch the top 4 – Rafa, Roger, Andy and Nole fighting out for Wimby. 

Keeping fingers crossed for Roger to overtake Pete and touch the summit of glory.

ps: Images from http://www.rogerfederer.com