Thank U! My page views has crossed 1,00,000 & My review views the 10,000 mark!

Hi! Everyone, I am humbled! I thank all my readers for their support and feel gratified and encouraged to go on with my independent reviews of Tamil, Hindi & English films through my blog 'My Take On Cinema'. Readers of my reviews pan across the globe; apart from India, U.S.A, U.K , Ireland, France, U.A.E, the Middle East, Australia, Germany my reviews are read by cinema buffs from Russia, Ukraine, Poland, China, Tahiti, Turkey, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore & Pakistan and many other countries. I shall continue to follow the dictum that 'the viewer is always right'! Thank u once again!

Until Next Time,

Director Haricharan

31/3/2015

VALIYAVAN - ?#@*&%!

VALIYAVAN-Viewers torture & reviewer's nightmare!

Cast: Jai, Andrea Jeremiah, Bala Saravanan, Alagam Perumal, & Anupama Kumar

&Crew: S/SP/DIR - Saravanan D.O.P - Dinesh Krishnan, Music -D.Immam,Edit-Subarak, Lyrics - Naa Muthukumar, Viveka

Producer - K. Sampath

After watching the film this is how i felt - ?#@*&%! - these are symbols of profanity which i cannot express in my review.

Why the hell should I review this film! was my original thought soon after leaving the theatre; I was furious then but after the 'cool in' period I decided to write a few lines; only with the fond hope that i might dissuade those who read my review from watching this film even on DVD!

Look! Anyone can take a film these days but to waste crores on such crap is a crime and the biggest punishment that you can heap on the maker is boycott such films as this. Let me quickly get to the premise: 

This film starts at the Chennai International airport when an Indian boxer returns after winning a silver medal at the Olympics! And our hero Jai wants to beat him to a pulp! and the whole scene is shot on green matt to make it look classy! though it looks so ordinary. After this opening the film goes into a bizarre, jerky mode and the director does a harakiri to his own film; like a japanese kamikaze pilot, unfortunately he also manages to drag the hero, heroine and producer along with him! To force novelty into his film the director begins the film from the later half of the film in an attempt to surprise the viewer. And ends up making a royal mess of the plot and screenplay, Some of the characters like the madcap beggar trying to kiss the hero, the dog chasing the hero, the drunk hero puking from the top of the flyover on the afroamerican girl who is being proposed by her boyfriend are so so idiotic and illogical that you end up thinking whether the madcap beggar a character in this film had directed this film. Andreah looks like a girl trying various costumes for the annual queen's grand ball! Jai looks like a guy in a constant constipated mode; struggling to play his part and delivering his dialogues. Why the hell did Jai agree to do this role? Money or boredom must have been the sole criteria for accepting this role which he is most ill suited for! Look! a guy who is neither trained nor has the mental framework suddenly becomes a six pac sporting athlete and a boxer who makes mincemeat out of a boxer  who is olympic medal winner. What kind of crap is this!~ Then out of the blue we have Andreah professing her love to Jai in a subway; this is the only other novel idea this director has managed to think off. The film then goes into a hide and seek game which can only be compared to ice spy game which kids play. In fact probably the game will be more interesting than this ! Then we have Jai's father who is Andrea's mentor and Andrea becomes Jai's mentor. The funny and most idiotic part is that none of them are aware of this except Andrea who pretends and un pretends the whole time; Hope u get what I am saying! Even otherwise don't watch this film! Then of course we have the four locations the film has been mostly shot in, the subway, inside a bank, and the inside of a mall and lastly on top of the flyover. By the way i forgot to mention Jai works in a mall and Andrea in a bank. What difference does this make to the premise; absolutely nothing! And finally what a mockery of the disabled; the characterization of Andrea's deaf mute caretaker & cook is made to look like a spoof of the disabled; if this is meant to be humour it simply failed to impress me one bit!

P.S Most of the film is narrated by the hero; so if you get your hands on the soundtrack of this film and hear it once it will serve you better than watching this film!

& the climax: is so illogical and uninspiring it felt like watching a staged boxing match inside a television studio with Arnab Goswami, Barkha dutt and Rajdeep Sardesai watching and televising it ! 

Cast & Crew: All the actors and technicians in this film minus the director have very little say in the making of a film in Tamil cinema; except for the big guns of Kollywood! So I really dont want to be over critical of them in such badly made films. They cannot be truly blamed for such disaster films ! Even if they put up an outstanding performance this film could never have been saved!

Bottom line: 1, 5, 8, or 16 crores; directors should stop making films like this; and producers should learn to put their money to better use by prudent selection of scripts!

Finally a quote: "A flip book would make better viewing & interesting than watching such films"

My Rating: 1/5

Until next time,

Director Haricharan

29/3/2015

And Bobby Simha bags the award for the best supporting actor!

My review dated August 2nd 2014;

'JIGARTHANDA' - the good, the bad & the hero!
At the outset I would like to congratulate director Karthik Subbaraj for a unique and novel attempt in storytelling, screen play, and technical innovations in ‘Jigarthanda’. Having said that this film has definitely been inspired from the hit Korean film ‘A dirty Carnival’. This does not necessarily rob the director of the credit for having ingeniously ‘Indianizing’ a well crafted gangster ‘spoof’! So let’s get to the premise......
........What worked for me:- 1. Simha’s performance 2. Simha’s silent mother 3. Performances of all the supporting Characters especially that of .......
And this year's award for the best supporting actor goes to Simha! 
Feels good! 
Until next time,
Director Haricharan
23/3/2015

Queen – “Rani” Ranaut Rocks! once again....

My review on April the 11^th 2014 bore the heading;

Queen – “Rani” Ranaut Rocks!

“The story, backdrop and setting (Screen play): - Director Vikas Bahl and his team should firstly be complimented for making this film! This film is a romantic comedy minus the heroism, melodrama, item number, mush, fights, and car chases, scenic out of place song sequences normally associated with our so called commercial films. Above all it is “female centric” but at the same time succeeds in entertaining the discerning viewer who is starved of quality content these days. So I decided to change my review in an attempt to generate a sense of curiosity and anticipation in a bid to encourage the reader to watch this film on the big screen”………..

And this year for the national award for the best actress goes to Kangana Ranaut for the film ‘Queen’ & the best film award has also been bagged by the same film! Way to go!

I am sorry! I simply couldn’t help bragging!

Way to go!

Until Next Time,

Director Haricharan

23/03/2015

Rajathandhiram - Watchable!

Rajathandhiram - Value for money!

Cast – Regina Cassandra as Michelle D’Mello, Veera Bahu as Arjun Parthiban – Darbuka Shiva as Austin D’Costa , Pattiyal K.Shekar as Kanchi Azhagappan, Aadukalam Naren – Dharma Proprietor - Sukra Finance, Ilavarasu as Sethu Madhavan, Ajai Prasath as Devaraaj Sarathy and many more

& Crew – Direction – A.G.Amid, Music – G.V. Prakash Kumar, B.G Score – Sandeep Chowda, Edit – Praveen Antony 

Produced by – Sunland Cinemas, White Bucket Productions, Distributed by – Fox Star Studios

Premise:This film is a fairly engaging thriller based on a fairly simple and repeated story line; 

3 con men (Veera,Darbuka Shiva && Ajay Prasath) want to make it rich. They set themselves certain guidelines; not to undertake too risky a job and work under their own odd moralistic  principles. They don't mind conning and cheating people for small sums of money but are keen to make a fortune and settle down in life but want to do it on their own terms. The film starts on a FB * mode when Dharma a proprietor of a finance company 'Sukra' finance (Naren) is arrested for cheating people.The film then moves on to the three protagonists in the act of conning an innocent guy by selling a motorbike and stealing the bike back after the guy makes the payment. While on one of their con jobs the trio meets the heroine (Regina Cassandra)whom all three of them initially fall for. But finally Veera pursues and wins her love her by aiding & supporting her  in a chain marketing venture. Their love for each other blossoms. Though Veera develops a deep sympathy for her when he hears her sob story of her father who commits suicide after losing a large some of money etc etc. (FB LINK*) At this point in time the get wind of a con job which involves relieving some black money from a carrier for a large fee. At the same time they are summoned by their friend a forger  ; who wants them to help Naren (FB LINK*) to rob a leading jeweller (Pattiyal K Shekar). They find it too risky so refuse instead decide to take up the black money job; as Veera wants to help his lady love by earning some money inspite of the great risk involved. In spite of meticulous planning they botch up the job and also lose a bag filled with gold biscuits. They then realize that it is their friend the forger & Naren who actually tip the black money gang and almost put their lives in peril. Here is where the story goes on a moralistic ride which sort of slows down the excitement which was there till the interval. 

Post interval the trio in their effort to get back at Naren tip the jewellery shop owner which almost ends up killing Naren. On hearing the heart rendering story (Kamal's Mahanadhi) of Naren they all feel guilty of their act and decide to pull of a heist on the jeweller and frame the black money gang of the heist.

& the climax is all about the planning and execution of the heist(Oceans eleven/Mankatha etc) and whether the trio escape the Jeweller,the black money gang and the law or not!

What worked for me - 1. The screen play of the hotel and the car park skirmish scenes including the scanner and the mistaken bag scenario 2. The coordination of the stunt scenes and the camera work 3. The trio's decent portrayal of their assigned roles. My friend Darbuka Shiva's performance a nice addition to the premise. Why? friend! Because Darbuka Shiva played a cameo role in my TV serial Chandra 4. The heist was a poor version of a hollywood TV serial but passable. 5. The director's honest attempt to improve the narration and screen play. 6. The BG worked most of the time 7. Avoiding mush and masala. 

What did not work for me - 1. The background of the trio was not properly established 2. The weak characterization of the female lead irked me. 3. The planning of the heist was more exciting than it's execution 4. Except for the portrayal of the trio Portrayal of the Police, Jeweller, the Black money gang, it's leader, the heroine and every other character, which means every one of the 'aam aadmi' were made to look like looked like dumb idiots of the first order. 5. The unfinished story of the love/friendship between the hero and the heroine 6. The highly moralistic ending which simply failed the very premise of the story; Rob the rich of their ill gotten wealth! 7. Finally the dialogues were stale and repetitive; the comedy dialogues were too far and few.

What could have been done to better the film; think about it after u watch the film - 1. One among the waiting cops could have been sent inside disguised as an 'Aadiyal' and one from among the black money gang could have been sent inside disguised as a policeman. This would have created a bit of tension among the trio and  a lot of laughs for the viewers. 2. The trio should have gone scot free and probably donated the ill gotten money to a number of charitable organization. 3. The execution of the heist should have been more taut and gripping; not like having breakfast at Sangeetha!

Bottom line -  An old premise strengthened by clever screen play that makes this film watchable!

'Yawn' QuOtient! - Narrative in the beginning introducing the characters etc....

Finally a quote - There are more movies that suck; If one or two are watchable thank ur luck!

P.S . A question to the director - What is the significance of the big sounding names to all the characters with surname etc ;Michelle D’Mello, Arjun Parthiban, Austin D’Costa , Kanchi Azhagappan,

My Rating- 3/5

Until Next Time,

Director Haricharan

14/3/2015

Chennai

India's Daughter - (Part II) Indian Media's deception is BBC gain!

India's Daughter - Indian media circulation goes up; so does BBC' S coffers!

I quote below the excerpts of the article written by Yatish Yadav that was published in today's Indian express. The title of the article ran as - 'Deception, Lies Behind Making of India's Daughter' ; I am simply going to quote the boxed points which appeared in the daily; and u be the judge whether the Filmmaker & BBC jointly or along with the Media the 3 of them together are guilty of deception, lies and profit making under the guise of reveling the truth!

A tale of Tricks of the trade – Indian Express 9^th March 2015.

§ THE PRODUCERS DIDN'T TAKE REQUISITE APPROVAL BEFORE TELECAST – Ok

§ FILMMAKERS WERE ASKED NOT TO RELEASE/SCREEN THE DOCUMENTARY TILL IT IS APPROVED BY THE AUTHORITIES. BUT PREMIER DATE WAS FIXED WITHOUT GETTING THE NECESSARY PERMISSION. – Ok

§  DID LIESLEE APPLY FOR DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER VISA UNDER PASSPORT (ENTRY INTO INDIA) ACT 1920, AND THE REGISTRATION OF FOREIGNERS RULES, 1992? – This is where the media starts camouflaging the truth 1. The author/Indian express could not or deliberately fails/conceals the facts thereby sowing seeds of doubt among the readers about the character of the filmmaker!  

§  INVESTIGATORS CLAIM THE FILM WAS MADE FOR COMMERCIAL BENEFIT RATHER FOR SOCIAL STUDY AS ORIGINALLY CLAIMED BY THE FILMMAKER WHILE SEEKING PERMISSION FOR INTERVIEW – Investigators claim???So the whole point is based on supposition! Is this again not deception?

§  SHE USED MUKESH SINGH’S BYTE AND NOT OF OTHER CONVICTS – So what? Is not the choice of the film maker? Does any section of the law prohibit this?

Who is Leslee Udwin?

§  Little known in India before the India’s daughter controversy, 58 year old Leslee Udwin produced 2 feature films East is east and its sequel West is west. According to her LinkedIn profile, Leslee was awarded the London critics producer of the year award and also won “BAFTA” for best British film. She specializes in producing feature films and lecturing on film and film production. According to UK companies Directory, Leslee floated Assassin films in 1992. – Here the paper simply quotes of her LinkedIn published bio data which any normal filmmaker would possibly do. The paper does not bother to even verify the veracity of the facts published in her profile page and makes it look as if she is bluffing! – Is this not a piece of dubious and misguided reporting?

§  The home ministry had alleged that Lesilee did not clearly indicate the reason behind the Tihar interview and kept the authorities in the dark. However, Lesilee refuted the charges claiming she followed the rules – How clever! Taking the higher moral ground by appearing to be fair and at the same time investigative!

§  Currently Lesilee holds three active appointments – West is West Distribution Ltd, Assassin Films (the one & only) Limited and Assassin films. Earlier she held directorship in 5 companies that are no longer active – Does this make her a liar or a dishonest person?

HOW FOREIGN FILMMAKERS CIRCUMVENT LAW

Months before Home Ministry ordered probe against Leslee Udwin for violating rules, a look out circular was issued against 2 French filmmakers for shooting Jarwa tribe for a documentary film in Oct 2014 without permission. Andaman Police had filed FIR against French director Alexandre Dererims and producer Claire Beilvert after they came to know through a feature on Face book, promoting a documentary ‘Organic Jarawa’. – Does this make all foreign filmmakers devious and dishonest? What about the late Richard Attenborough (Gandhi) & Danny Boyle (Slum dog millionaire)

Bottom line – Media creates Hype; Govt in a tizzy, takes the media bait & Bans the film; BBC seizes the opportunity defies the gag order makes fame and fortune; Media seizes the opportunity it had created and further sensationalizes it; its circulation and TRP goes up; the Govt and the Home minister stand red faced before the world for their thoughtless act!

Judge for yourself,

Until Next Time,

Director Haricharan

9/3/2015

Chennai

India's Daughter - The BAN reveals the Indian male's mindset!

INDIA'S DAUGHTER

Watched the documentary. I simply fail to understand the Indian government's logic behind banning this film to be screened in India. This documentary is not one of the finest films ever made. If the government and the media had not made such a big hue and cry over this film; hardly anyone would have even watched it in the first place. Secondly it has no outrageously horrific graphic content or obscenity to invite such a ban. If this film qualifies for a ban then half the films made in India should necessarily be banned for life! If anything after watching this film one feels horrified at the Indian male's mind set! To cap it all Arnab Goswami the infamous bully of India's news media quoted sections of the law which states that the name of the victim should  never be revealed except to the head of the investigating team or commision etc etc. But the most important point which seemed to have slipped Arnab's mind or I believe he deliberately chose to ignore it was that in this case the victim Jyothi is dead! So how does it matter whether her name was revealed by the filmmaker or BBC! Come on Arnab grow up and stop this jingoism for the sake of TRP! If u do watch the film in spite of the ban all u can feel is a revulsion for the rapists, defence lawyers and for the average Indian male's lopsided mins set about women! Is that too bad! in my opinion absolutely not!

Until Next Time,

Director Haricharan

7/3/2015

Chennai

Ennakkul Oruvan - Pop a pill and watch it!

Enakkul Oruvan - The black & white of confusion!

The problem with most directors & producers these days  is that they involuntarily impose their intelligence on to the viewers in an effort to do something different and finally the end product turns to confuse the viewer much more and fails to entertain them. So in the end the film fails inspite of the novelty in the plot. 'Ennakkul Oruvan' is one such film but what surprised me most was that a remake of a very successful crowd funded Kannada film failed to enthuse me one bit. The premise is all about a 'magic' pill named Lucia which cures insomnia and the rather favourable side effect being that you get to dream of your choice. It's all about every man's hope to live his dream to the fullest. Well! so far so good! The plot is indeed new to 'Tamil' cinema though I could quote a couple of films like 'Julia and Julia' Starring Kathleen Turner & the singer Sting (1987) & 'The passion of the mind' (Demi Moore-2000) which probably served as an inspiration this film. Add the 'pill' factor from the film 'Limitless' and voila! 'Lucia' is born. The only major difference being that the 2 films I have mentioned are heroine centric films whereas EA revolves entirely around Siddharth the hero. Well so like our mindset! Only hero's can carry the film and make it big at the box office. Well! then let's not blame 'India's daughter". She is and will always be treated as a symbol of sex and nothing more as along as we continue in this vein. The problem with this film is multi fold. 1.The hero Siddharth is totally unacceptable in the two roles he plays especially as the 'dark' theatre usher. 2. Siddharth's acting simply failed to enthuse me one bit though his dancing prowess has improved a bit. 3. The pill factor - Why the hell was the pill not sent to the laboratory in the first place for testing? 4. The whole back and forth of Colour and black and white was so tiring, monotonous and laboured especially in the first half. 5. What was the heroine's role in the film; if it was to show the positive and negative side of a girl it simply fell flat. 6. The dialogues in this film are the biggest negative factor in this film 7. The so called villains looked like big time jokers running all over the place 8. The action scene in the parking lot so so amateurish. 9. The back and forth moving of visual's was so predictable. 10. The hospital scenes were so silly and idiotic especially the so called coma scenes! 11.Finally the repetition of the same faces in both halves adds to the monotony. I could go on and but neither do i have the patience or the desire to do so.

& the climax most ridiculous even for a fantasy film! It was supposedly mind boggling in the original Kannada version! What went wrong where; I wonder!

Siddharth as Vicky and Vignesh did not work with this backdrop. Siddharth is slowly but surely loosing his ground as a front line hero. Why? Because he chooses the wrong script which does not match with his demure and body language. Here the dark Vignesh reminds you so much of Kamal's Kalyanaraman minus the performance. Vicky looks like a common man replica of Thala Ajith! Need I say more. No!

Deepa Sannidhi the model and Pizza shop sales girl - the poor lass tries her best but gets very little support from Siddharth. In the sense; Siddharth appears more like a friend philosopher and guide than a passionate lover. Well! Deepa you will always get another chance.

Aadukalm Naren as Durai the actor's manager plays the dual role of the theatre owner. This actor plays his part well enough.

John Vijay the MD of a clandestine pharmaceutical company looks more like a loud mouthed broker. This actor is getting so stale and stereotyped. He should stop fooling around and start performing.

& the rest - What rest????

D.O.P - Adequate.

Music - Going with the present times;nonsensical lyrics and jarring music to go with it. Thank god Kannadasan is no longer around to hear these lyrics; he would have crawled into a hole.

Edit - As confused as the director.

Director - Must have been on ' AICUL' I am sorry! LUCIA!

Bottom line : Namellaam LOOSUYA!

Finally a Quote:'The so called new age filmmakers& producers go overboard to be different; but in the end the film they make goes over the viewer's head'.

My Rating - 2/5

Until Next Time,

Director Haricharan

7/3/2015

Chennai