Oru Kal Oru Kannadi movie review

Director Rajesh must indeed be a lucky man. He has solely banked on current comedy king Santhanam to dish out a close to 3hrs long movie that is entertaining only when our comedy king is on screen. The story is the same old "hero pursuing heroine with the support of Santhanam", like it was in SMS and BEB.

While Jiiva was a super match to Santhanam in SMS and made it a cult, Arya tried his level best to make 'Nanbenda' a memorable affair too. Here Debutante Udhayanidhi's only plus point is his pretty decent voice. He is funny at dance and poor at emoting. Blessed with boyish looks and shitloads of money, a new hero has arrived. His dance moves need serious addressing. He is much better producing blockbusters, personally speaking.

But OKOK has become the biggest hit among Rajesh's 3 movies so far. Strange fact. The quality is dipping with every movie but the collections are almost doubling.

There are some needless cameos for a fat,jaded Sneha, the sexy Andrea and the charming Arya. The movie has really been extended thanks to these cameos. The sequence in the plane is one big drag. The editor has seriously slept off while working in his FCP or whatever.

Harris' songs are on the money. His luck and good time seem to be never ending. That said, the Venam Machan song looks good on screen.

Saranya turns in a typically delightful performance as the mother of our hero. Her attempts at passing her degree exams since 20 long years and her relationship with her stubborn husband are a nice sub-plot in the movie.

Hansika has been taken for a ride. In the 'Azhage Azhage' song, she runs around the screen all through the song exposing her ample cleavage in extremely tight, low neck gowns. The intentions of the director and choreographer are obvious in this song. Her fat body, her makeup sense, her dresses etc have been made a mockery too, through some dialogs in the movie. She looks perplexed all through the movie. It seems young heroines can do anything for a good pay package. A sad performance after a delightful one in Engeyum Kadhal.

Finally our man Santhanam. With colorful clothes, a Brahmin slang to his English, terrific one liners / one words, a funny profession, a hilarious car etc etc. this man is a riot and a superstar in his own right. This movie is another feather in his already decorated cap. It would not be off the mark to say that OKOK would have been a headless dead body if not for Santhanam.

VERDICT: Only Santhanam ... nothing else. The entire team must be indebted to this one-man army.

Bheema (2008)

Sekhar idolizes Chinna since childhood and suddenly joins his gang in Chennai. His gang is known for standing by the poor. Sekhar rises up the ranks and soon he carries the entire gang's load on his shoulders and he is Chinna's 'man-friday'. There is an opposing gang as well led by 'Periyavar'. There are frequent attempts by that gang to get rid of Chinna's.

The police finally decides to put a stop to this and Operation Bheema is born, one where all the gangsters will be shot at sight i.e. encounter. There is also a beautiful college girl who falls in love with Sekhar and his macho ways, an exclusive cinematic occurrence. She elopes from home and also gets married to him.

There is a tragic climax where all the gangsters are killed for one reason or the other. An abrupt climax that was shot when the director didn't have any other clue and just wanted a message to be shown out of these deaths after the climax.

Hits

• Harris Jeyaraj's songs and his BGM are the single biggest highlight of the movie
• Vikram's body hugging T shirts and cargo pants accentuate his solid physique. He looks very handsome in the movie. His pairing with the beautiful Trisha is cool. Their love scenes are decent though utterly cinematic. 
• Prakash Raj is majestic as always. But in the flashback, showing him as someone about 25 yrs elder to Vikram is a big joke. Prakash Raj looks so young. Thalaivasal Vijay and Raghuvaran have substantial roles and they pull it off with ease, Vijay in particular. 

Misses

• The tragic climax is out of the blue and looks hurried. Clueless Lingusamy. 

VERDICT

Just about average. Lingusamy just can't handle gangsters and stuff. He is better off doing light hearted films. 

Nanban movie review

Nanban is a faithful remake of '3 Idiots'. The essence of the original is totally preserved. The only feeling of redundancy is due to the fact that the original was such a widely accepted classic. Nanban has been beautifully enacted by the likes of Sathyaraj, Sathyan, Jiiva and last but not the least the ever youthful, handsome 'king of the masses' Ilayathalapathy Vijay.

The message of the movie is to see education as a holistic concept and not as just mere marks and ranks. Panchavan Parivendan is one such brilliant student for whom science and machines are a passion. He despises the system and enrages the college dean Virumandi aka 'Virus' with his brilliant antics. His 2 friends Senthil and Venkat struggle at engineering due to fear and misplaced passion, respectively.

Pari helps his friends at all times and shows them a direction in their life and career. There is a nerdy idiot 'Silencer' who is always on the lookout to pull Pari down. Then we have Ria, the dean's daughter who falls for Pari and Ria's pregnant sister who delivers her baby with the help of Pari

There is a suspense behind Pari's identity which is a shock to everyone concerned, a pleasant one at that. As the movie ends, there is an overwhelmingly positive feeling and everyone is happy. "Aal iiz well" as they say ...

Hits

• Vijay's youthful screen presence. He looks a million bucks and his 'spiked' makeover in the climax is a 'sixer'. He is capable of understated emotions and he shows that again. His comic timing is also perfect. Not much scope for dance and zero scope for fights. The king of the masses has bowled over the entire audience spectrum with Nanban. His costumes are casual and envious. 
• Sathyaraj and Sathyan are brilliant and they are supposed to irritate yet, make us smile. These talented actors have delivered spotlessly. Lot of awards up for grabs for Sathyaraj in particular. Jiiva comes into his own in the 2nd half while Srikanth is a limited actor not capable of anything special.  
• The casting is perfect. Actors who play the various parts have matched the original actors in every aspect. Vasanth Vijay scores very well in his brief cameo that makes the heart heavy. 
• Among the songs, 'En Frienda Pola', 'Heartiley Battery', 'Endhan Kan Munne' hit the bulls eye. 

Misses

• The majority of the movie happens between 1997-2001. No care has been taken in this aspect. People use the term Chennai freely when it was only Madras back then. The cars, the brands shown in the movie didn't even exist back then. We expect perfection from Shankar
• Harris Jeyaraj's BGM is a major letdown for most of the movie.

Comments

• The feeling of seeing a Shankar movie comes only during the cheekily shot Asku Laska song. The original movie is such. 
• Ileana and Anuya play their parts in a male dominated movie. Ileana is cute, anorexic and her much hyped waist isn't special. 
• The longest Thamizh movie in recent history. Though not boring. At least the long drawn out delivery scene in the climax could have been trimmed. 

VERDICT

A faithful remake and a blockbuster treat for the entire family after a long time. 

Engeyum Kadhal (2011)

Prabhudeva's attempt at making a candyfloss romantic movie on the lines of Yash Raj Films' numerous such movies.

Kamal is a prolific businessman who comes to Paris every year for a month just to unwind and have a nice romantic time with the ladies. He doesn't believe in commitment and love. Kayavizhi is a Tamil girl who lives in Paris with her detective father. She falls for the charming Kamal, at first sight. She slowly draws Kamal towards her. In the end, Kamal also reciprocates and feels the same about Kayal. The lovers join as expected

Hits

• The look and feel of the film is so classy and glossy thanks to Paris, the costumes and the attractive lead pair. Nirav Shah has had a nice time capturing all the beauty around
• Hansika Motwani redefines bubbly, cute, charming, innocent, plump and pretty. Her dubbing voice is also very apt. She is expressive too. 
• Jayam Ravi, the handsome dude is best suited for such lover boy roles. 
• Harris Jeyaraj is the heart and soul of the film. Super duper hit songs colorfully picturized by Prabhudeva
• Crisp and not dragging for the most part

Comments

• Some hard to laugh moments provided by Raju Sundaram. Could have been avoided

VERDICT

Above average romantic musical. Definitely watchable 

7aum Arivu movie review

The Plot

The film is as expected about Bodhidharma and his amazing contribution to the world of medicine and martial arts, and how a genetic engineering student Subha Srinivasan tries to bring those powers back through the genetic memory concept. The Chinese don’t want this to happen and they send a very powerful martial arts hypnotist named Dong Lee to stop this and start Operation Red in India.

Operation Red is actually a bio-war (virus) and China wants India to beg them for the cure to the virus. The cure to this virus is the very same that Bodhidharma developed 1600 yrs back when he saved a Chinese village from the same virus attack. The Chinese know that if Bodhidharma is brought back, their plans will go bust.

Subha finds out that circus artist Aravind has a DNA line that is 80% similar to that of Bodhidharma. She pursues him solely for this purpose but Aravind falls in love with her and is snubbed by her. He feels defeated when he comes to know that he was just used by her.

But, later he comes to know of the purpose of her research and Dong Lee also starts wreaking havoc in India in his mission to kill Subha and Aravind. They join hands along with some more students and bravely proceed with the process with Aravind to bring Bodhidharma back. They do it very secretively but the inevitable villain moves start to happen, leading to the climax face-off between Dong Lee and Aravind aka Bodhidharma.

The film gets preachy in the end with a message about how Tamil culture is being forgotten and how science is the basis of life.

Hits

• Shruti Haasan has a great debut and she has maximum weightage. She pulls it off very convincingly. She looks smoking hot in the songs. Super prospect.
• The villain is menacing and he is a great addition to Indian cinema
• Nice directorial touches by A.R.Murugadoss in many places. One such instance is when he shows the virus spreading
• The hypnotism concept has been worked out in a terrific manner.
• Suriya shows off his chiseled body, funky styles and youthful demeanor. He is convincing as Bodhidharma with his serene eyes but, in the rest of the movie he is just the second fiddle to Shruti.

Comments

• The scene where Dong Lee wreaks havoc with the vehicles on the road is nicely worked out but poorly executed by the VFX team.
• Song placements are very average though they have been picturized beautifully. Oh Ringa, Yelelama, Yamma Yamma lead the pack. All the songs sound great too, though familiar.
• Harris Jeyaraj’s BGM doesn’t have one single notable theme. Very average score that is loud at places.

Misses

• The anticipation leading to the climax face-off between the hero and villain is great. But, the actual fight is just over the top commercial stuff. How Aravind suddenly gets Bodhidharma’s powers despite the DNA process being interrupted towards the end, is a mystery.

VERDICT

Great effort that could have been flawless if the climax fight had been worked out with more punch. Worth a watch for sure. 80% of the hype has been fulfilled. 

Ko (2011)

Whats it about
The film details a lively and smart photo journalist Ashwin's exploits in the political world of TN. Ashwin assists his reporter Renu on all the political stories doing the rounds in Chennai. Ashwin exposes the wrongdoings of the opposition party leader as well as the ruling party's CM on 2 separate occasions. He also forwards the case of Vasanthan (his former college mate), the leader of 'Siragu', a fledgling party formed by educated youngsters.
         During one big election meeting of 'Siragu', a bomb blast takes place and many 'Siragugal' are badly injured. Public are killed too. Saro, Ashwin's colleague is also killed unfortunately. Majority are saved by Saro's timely sms to Ashwin. Due to a major public sympathy wave, Vasanthan's party wins the elections and he becomes the youngest state CM at age 28.
         Later Ashwin comes to know that Saro had actually been murdered by a Naxalite in the crowd and that he was the one who had earlier been involved in a bank robbery. After further investigations with the Naxalite, Ashwin finally comes to know of Vasanthan's true colors. It was Vasanthan who actually planned all the happenings with precision, including the bomb blast. Vasanthan is actually a Naxalite loyalist.
        Finally Ashwin bashes up Vasanthan, eliminates him and makes up a story that Vasanthan had sacrificed his life for the public to save the other 'Siragugal' who have noble intentions and true service mentalities.
        Ashwin and Renu carry on to their next assignments as usual and all is well in their life too. Their love track and Saro's lively pranks and sad demise are other notable scenes.

                                                                    

Hits

• Very entertaining screenplay though the basic story plot has some cliches. 
• Harris' songs are already major hits. The song 'Amuli Thamuli' has been very well picturized too.  
• Jiiva, the ever boyish star has given a very earnest performance and wins us over in the end. 
• Pia really makes a major mark in her role that ends very sadly. 
• The climax fight between the male leads is unique for the camera angles

Misses

• The placement of the songs leaves a lot to be desired. 'Gala Gala' is totally unnecessary and 'Venpaniye' comes at a very awkward point in the film. 
• Picturization of the songs don't match the quality of the audio
• In the climax shootout, the commandos are made to be mere dummies after a certain point. 
• It's very hard to accept Ajmal as the CM. His dubbing voice is also very stiff and clichéd. 
• Some scenes showing Ashwin's ease at approaching the CM are unbelievable. 

VERDICT

Definitely entertaining. The second half in particular is very engrossing. But, Ko is not up to Ayan's levels. But surely worth watching nevertheless.