Yagavarayiunum naa kaaka - YAAVARUM NO PAKKA!

Yagavarayiunum naa kaaka - A Nothing Film!

Cast- Aadhi, Nikki Galrani, Mithun Chakraborty, Richa Pallod, Pasupathy,Nasser, Lakshmi Priya Chandramouli & many others

& Crew Story/SP/Dir- Sathya Prabas Pinsetty, D.O.P-ShanmugaSundaram,

Music-Praveen,Shyam, Prasan, Edit- V.J.Sabu Joseph

Once again another Tamil director goes awry! This time in the guise of attempting a thriller he ends up making a 'bloody' total mess of a film! In fact if you dare to watch this film please step into the theatre after interval at least you will at least end up watching a cricket, football and rugby match all rolled in one as the hero bashes up all the baddies that he can see and even those he cannot see! I feel that in future water polo and kayak fight scenes could also be featured to add a novelty to the funny, absurd and ridiculous fight sequences being shown in the present films. I sometime wonder why the fights are not carried on to moon and mars and even farther away. 

The premise: 4 friends or so close (like the fevicol ad) that they dodge their final year college exams without the knowledge of their parents ( police commissioner, MP, businessman & a middle class father) to spend 6 months enjoying life typical Tamil cinema style, singing, drinking, and driving! not necessarily in that order though! They are so close that even their own family takes a second position or for that matter no position at all! Aadhi the weeping cum fighting hero falls for Kayal ( a tamil girl who talks with a distinct north Indian accent. Something like a poorer female version of actor Ganesh Venkatraman's Tamil diction). This girl is so cool that she buys condoms to fill tasmac booze to reek revenge on roadside romeos. The director's sense of a hep and cool girl is straight out of a comic book. The entire romantic between this so called cool Kayal and Vishal has been so amateurishly shot that it will make a TV soap feel more real. Aadhi most often delivers dialogues like a person having a stammer/stutter problem or at other times like one having malaria or 'Kulur Joram'! Till the interval point its all about introduction of all the characters, disjointed bits and pieces of shouts and screams with traces and streaks of blood, voodoo dolls, laced with voice over/flashbacks and an occasional scream. The film culminates in a protracted and stretched out introduction of a hitherto unknown and new character in the form of a super villain  character called 'Mudaliar'. (remember Kamal as Mudaliar in Nayagan; well this is the poorest version one could possibly conceive based original Nayagan). The second half is all about revenge - Mudaliar's daughter being insulted in a star hotel by two of the dear friends in her boyfriends presence and then on the film moves from boring to a total disaster. The less said the better! I have a few points for this director's attention which will probably serve better to sum up this nothing film.

1. This is supposed to be based on a real incident but the screen play is totally unreal.

2. The hero seems to be suffering from a split personality one moment he is all macho and fighting for silly reasons like recovering a red 'duppatah' from some unknown assailants for the sake of his girl friend who could care less! and at other times quivers, shakes and weeps like a lost child in an adult avatar.

3. The commissioner/MP and the whole police force are scared stiff of Mudaliar and his goons to the point of ridiculousness. 

4. When the commissioner's intention is to offer security to Aadhi then why the hell does he ask him to come to the 'durgha' instead of the commissioners office? Just to bring an element of surprise by introducing a girl in a burkha who goes about stabbing all and sundry! Ridiculous and so cliched!

5. The heroine and all the rest of the characters in the first half are superficial and are totally absent or reduced to nothing in the 2nd half.

6. What is the bloody point of Pasupathi's character. For that matter in the whole film!

7. Why bring a lady Psycho character suddenly and out of nowhere; just to add an absurd twist to an already messed up screenplay???

8. So many flash back scenes, subplots, voice over narrations etc that by the time you figure out what is happening you realise that nothing is happening or ever going to happen.

& the climax filled with such melodrama;so damn frustrating and juvenile that you feel like running along with the goons and bashing up everyone you can set your eyes on!

Bottom line: The film starts with nothing and ends up with nothing with nothing in between!

Finally a quote: "Don't keep adding bits and pieces to your plot after you start shooting a film! You will end up with a nothing film!"

Cast: I feel for them; Aadhi should improve on all fronts and stop singing forthwith! 

Performance of note - Richa Pollad

D.O.P - Adequate - Nothing out of the ordinary - At times left on his own by the director.

Music - Nothing to write home about- At times the BG gives you a headache. Songs below par.

Edit - Cut the bloody first half ! and trim the 2nd half!

Until Next Time

Director Haricharan

27/6/2015

ELI - Hardly Squeaks!

ELI - Hardly Squeaks!

Cast: Eli- Vadiveu, Sada, Pradeep Rawat,Kitty, Adithya, Mahanadi Shankar, Santhana Bharathy, Muthu Kalai, & others

& Crew: Director - Yuvraj Dhayaalan, Music - Vidyasagar,

Producers: Sathish Kumar G  & Amarnath S

About the film:

Another disaster for Vadivelu! The actor whose comic timing was once upon a time a treat to watch to Tamil cinema viewers is now turning into a damp squibs film after film.  What a come down for this comedian! All blame falls on the director Yuvraj for a mismatched script he has chosen to showcase this talented comedian. Very few Tamil comedians like Thai Nagesh and to a certain extent Chandra Babu can move a complete film on their own. Vadivelu who did succeed in '23 aam Pulikesi' has failed miserably in all his later films including 'Thenaliraman' by the same director. Why didn't this actor learn from his not so recent mistakes; probably due to sheer desperation or want of takers to produce films with him in the lead. But this film is one big fiasco and disaster. From the very start of Vadivelu reading the lines in English 'cigarette smoking is injurious...... & Consumption of alcohol etc etc ......'  supposedly to stamp the premise as brand Vadivelu comedy; was so crass and cheaply done and clearly one could predict what was coming in the next 2 hour 45 mins. What followed was sheer nonsense and rubbish. The whole film is set as a period film in the 60's or 70's or whatever felt mostly like ranting and raving of a director gone berserk! The director characterises Vadivelu as a conman aspiring to be a police man but fails the physical test ; and finally is recruited by the police to act as a spy to bust a gang headed by the typical (north Indian looking) villain running  a cigarette smuggling racket with the help of a corrupt policeman owing to a ban on smoking! Other than the novelty of this thread the director had nothing to offer except for a few laughs generated by reminiscence of the Vadivelu of old. I for one simply cannot fathom why such films are even being made time and again wasting huge amounts of money, effort and time. For god sake's I hope that day is not far of when the viewers wake up and protest against the screening of disaster and stupid films like this one instead of protesting for right films for wrong and frivolous reasons!

And the climax:

I shall refrain from reviewing this film any further as I simply do not want to waste my time writing about films such as these which angers me beyond words!

Bottomline: Supposed to be comedy ends up as tragedy for the viewers!

Finally a quote: 'Films like these should be screened free!'

My Rating: 0.5/5

Until Next Time,

Director Haricharan

22/6/2015

KAAKA MUTTAI - The director can take a BOW!

Kaaka Muttai - The director, cast, crew & producers all in sync!

Cast - Vignesh, Ramesh, Iyshwarya Rajesh & Others ( It is sad that the producers have left out most names)
& Crew - Director - Manikandan, D.O.P - Manikandan, Music - G.V Prakash, Edit - Kishore Te
Producers - Dhanush and Vetrimaaran

It is indeed heart warming to watch a 'realistic' decent feel good Tamil film after a very long time! and full marks should go to director Manikandan, his chosen actors and crew for churning out a thoroughly enjoyable film! Peepli Live & this film are of a very similar genre.

One should not focus too much on the premise; as it's all about two kids from the slums wanting to taste a pizza! Probably it's really no big deal for most people; but the director's raw, no nonsense but endearing screenplay that makes the simplicity of the plot enjoyable. If you look at it from the point of view of the kids in question Chinna Kaaka Muttai & Periya Kaaka Muttai it really means a lot to them. It is that yearning (however idiotic or simple the object of desire be) for something that you cannot easily have that makes your desire to somehow have it at any cost that much more! From the first scene of the kid urinating and hiding his soiled drawers in a cooking utensil mindful of not waking up his mother; to the big brother climbing a tree to pick the crow's laid eggs; to the kids enacting cinema dialogues being actor Simbu's fans etc that makes you sit back and enjoy a film featuring two kids from the slums adult watch worthy! The humour, the songs, the good, the evil, the media hype, corruption all neatly packaged to provide a smooth scene to scene transition. The divide between the haves and have nots using simple (layman) understandable visuals adds to enhancing the narrative. like the rich kid befriending the two slum kids without any ulterior motive; very child like. To add variety and humour to the narrative the introduction of the two con men does help. The very casual treatment given to the dad (rotting in prison) and the two kids very understandable. The scene showing the dad talking from inside the cell to the kids sitting across the wall clearly depicts the distance in the father's relationship with the two boys! The mothers insecurity and the typical 'kallanalum kanavan pullanallum purusan.......' attitude towards her good for nothing husband is so true to the real ground situation with such low income group families living in slums. The old grandmothers relationship with her estranged daughter in law and her two grand sons a big plus; the handling of the grandmother's death without the melodrama, noise and wailing a rarity to Tamil cinema; using silence as music to depict grief another plus! The added character of the childlike 'Pazharasam' and his down to earth relationship with the two kids very refreshing; especially the one with the frog in his hand! The mother meeting the missing kids with the aid of the police so real.The film has decent and some above par visuals to aid the films smooth narrative; the d.o.p and the director being the same truly helps the films final output to a great extent. This film will be more enjoyable if one is able to watch it with the whole family!

And the climax a real beleivable ending to a soft and heart warming film with a raw and sensitive subject; the directors dare here to should be lauded!

Performance - Chinna Kaka Muttai outstanding! The boy's confident swagger combined with the way he delivers dialogues truly bowled me over! The rest have all given above par performances; if not for the actors this premise and film would have simply fallen flat.

D.O.P - Visuals fits the bill to the chosen premise to the tee!

Music - Songs - In sync and adequate . B.G - Good!

Edit - Nothing fancy; but in total sync with the director and his premise.

Bottom Line - A director's dream debut! A producers' dream come true!

My Rating - 3.5 plus add .25 Producers backing 3.75/5

Until Next Time
Director Haricharan
19/6/2015