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. 

Mankatha movie review

The Plot
"THALA 50" finally released today. So much frenzy. So much hype. The movie lives up to the hype gloriously and provides the best Thala treat since 2007. The best 50th movie any fan can get from his favorite hero.

The plot is as expected about cricket betting. The 500 crores worth money is expected to come to Golden Theater in Dharavi that is under the control of Chettiyar a big shot who is into many businesses and has many contacts.

4 guys plan to loot this money and settle in life. Ganesh, Mahat, Prem and Sumanth are these 4. Vinayak Mahadevan, a suspended cop also joins in the game and takes over the planning and execution in style. The money is looted but problems start cropping up.

The cops are after the money, Chettiyar's men are after the money and of course the 5 men also have their eyes on the money. Mahat and Prem escape with the money leaving Vinayak and the other 2 fuming and desperate for their share. A mad elimination game begins. What happens next is the movie's thrilling ending that has so much entertainment, fun and one helluva twist in the climax.

                                                                       
Hits

• THALA THALA DAN. What style. What mass. Debonair to the core. His grey hair, the light stubble, the coolers, the smoking style and the casual dressing are a REAL TREAT for Thala veriyans. Just fell in love with him all over again. Couldn't take my eyes off him.


• Venkat Prabhu has outshone all his previous works and really sprung a surprise with his handling of this dark, deadly, action packed and thrilling movie for the men. 


• The interval block is an example of what Thala can do in negative roles. This scene gives a mad adrenaline rush to all fans in the theater. 


• The way the title card screams out THALA 50 with all the different faces of Ajith's film career after Thala's intro fight in police dress, is a goose bumps moment for all Thala veriyans. 


• His look in the climax in another surprise and Thala carries off this look brilliantly too. The climatic twist is another big highlight. 


• The end credits are funny and light hearted. 


• Arjun as the cop Prithviraj is smart, fit as always and very agile in stunts. An apt foil for Thala. 


• The editor Praveen deserves a royal salute. The look of the film is top notch and he has showed Thala like a real rock-star with his stylish cuts and techniques. Cinematographer Sakthi Saravanan must also be lauded for his contribution towards the look of the movie.


• Yuvan and co.'s BG score is terrific and lifts the mood for all the thrilling action scenes and chases.


• The scenes showing Thala planning how to get into gang and the way they pull off the heist is very interesting and pumping. 


• The action sequences have been shot grandly though they are quite long at times.


• Premji lightens the mood in many scenes and his pranks as the IIT genius are funny most of the times. 

Misses

• The song placements particularly 'Vada Bin Lada'


• Some blips in the VFX

Comments

• Too many scenes glorifying Ajith's smoking style and his drinking antics


• Lots of bad words and beeps heard in Ajith's dialogs particularly in the second half when he becomes mad about the missing money. 


• Too many fights that might put off a few in the family. 


• The girls in the movie don't have much work. Trisha is Ajith's pair, Anjali is Vaibhav's wife and Andrea is Arjun's wife. Lakshmi Rai is also part of the heist and she has the best part among all the girls. She is SMOKING HOTT. 


• The remaining boys in the movie are mostly standard in all Venkat movies and they do their part. Ashwin as the cop Ganesh is smart and impressive in particular. 

VERDICT

A royal treat for Ajith fans. THALA MANIA all over again after Billa in 2007. The best 50th movie Thala could have provided to his hard core fanatics. Venkat Prabhu rises to the occasion like a true talent and THALA shows his grey side in all its glory 

Aayitha Ezhuthu (2004)

What’s it about:

             Set in the world of Tamil Nadu politics, it shows the lives of 3 young men, a student leader Michael, a ruffian Inba and a typical city youngster Arjun.

             Michael wants to serve the people of TN and he shuns even the high profile scholarships that he gets. He inspires all his college mates and the villagers of Neykaaranpatti.  He has a lover and is supported by his concerned mom and 2 sisters.

             Minister Selvanayagam panics due to Michael’s proactive stand and he takes the help of gangsters like Inba to somehow curtail Michael’s growth.  Inba has a troubled relationship with his wife and is caught up between his wife and his own greedy money minded intentions.

             Arjun is hell-bent on going to the US and but he changes his mind after a shootout by Inba to Michael. Arjun saves Michael and he gets inspired by Michael’s ideals and he also joins politics along with Michael and his gang.  Arjun has a nice lover Meera and his father and brother to support him.

             In the end, the team of 4 youngsters lead by Michael wins in their respective constituencies and is shown entering the assembly.

                                                               

Hits

• The same incidents shown from the 3 protagonists’ points of view, is something very new to Tamil cinema. Very novel and classy handling of the screenplay by Mani Ratnam.
• A.R.Rahman comes up with one of his best ever scores, both the songs and the BGM. The title track in particular gives goose bumps all over.
• The 3 heroes are dashing and apt to the core. Suriya as Michael is a dynamo and is aggressive as the ambitious young leader. Madhavan as the local ruffian Inba looks macho and is a real natural as the gangster . Siddharth as the carefree youngster turned politician Arjun is competent too.
• The 3 heroines look beautiful and have their parts too. Meera Jasmine, a terrific actress is obviously the best of the 3. As the concerned and emotional wife Sasi, she is top class. Trisha is very cute and emotes well. Esha is also very cute and like-able.
• Some very good support characters. Bharathiraja as the politician is very natural and utterly believable. The lady who is a sisterly figure to Sasi is again very natural. Sreeman as Dilli, Inba's friend and well wisher is first class. Other characters like Michael's mother and his sisters are all life like too. All the other student politicians make an impact too. 
• The sound design is top class. The sound effects for the fight scenes in particular make a supreme impact
• Some of the stunts are awesome. Michael’s first stunt and his stunt with Inba on the broken bridge are superb

Misses

•           The graphics during Michael’s shootout are tacky
•           The climax fight on Napier Bridge is also very amateurish.
•           After the 3 protagonists’ perspective sequences, the movie somehow loses grip and fails to inspire. 

VERDICT

Deserved a better run. The making style is supreme. Kudos to the master Mani Ratnam for bringing together such a star cast and giving them equal footage. 

Mounam Pesiyadhe (2002)

What’s it about:

Gautam and Kannan are close friends since a long time. Gautam does not believe in love and he has a very bad opinion about the present state of love and lovers. Gautam is fiercely independent. Kannan is in love with Maha and he is an open flirt with all other girls too, except Sandhya, his ‘mora ponnu’. Kannan is a very obedient father-fearing son.

              Gautam isn’t convinced about Maha’s love with Kannan until the very end when an incident to Kannan shows Gautam the extent to which Maha loves Kannan.

              Gautam thinks that Sandhya is in love with him and he also starts falling in love. But, in a sad turn of events, Sandhya is in fact in love with another guy. Gautam had misunderstood Sandhya’s intentions. Gautam walks away totally shattered and even more skeptical about love.

              In the end, Kannan marries Maha and Gautam walks away all alone, mulling over his loneliness. Then all of a sudden, his longtime fan and a girl who has been loving him unconditionally since his college days, resurfaces and convinces Gautam that she is the girl for him. A fairytale climax that gives a very feel good feeling about love and life.

                                                                    

Hits

• Yuvan’s terrific songs and nice soothing BGM. An all-time favorite score from Yuvan
• Suriya looks macho, tough and at the same time very handsome as Gautam. He does adequately and dances like a dream in this film.
• Nanda as Kannan does very well for his debut. The 2 girls are beautiful and don’t have much to do except a few scenes. Trisha makes her debut and is very cute.
• The humor is all situational and the 3^rd friend Selvam provides some good laughs.
• The dialogues are all brilliant. Gautam’s take on love has been brought out with some very humorous dialogs.
• The realistic feel good nature of the entire film.
• The climax is very intelligently linked with the rest of the film, though it appears very cinematic

VERDICT

A great debut by Ameer and a stark contrast from the rest of his later films. One of the all-time feel good films.