Thirumanam Ennum Nikkah - My view and not a review!

Thirumanam Ennum Nikkah – My view & not a review!

The sad part about T.E.N is the strong undercurrent running throughout the premise of this film - the religious belief of the director in this case, the righteous values of Islam and being a Muslim being thrust on the viewer quite forcefully. Yes! Every one of us in India has strong religious sentiments and we follow faiths of our own choice but when this is forced on another it more often than not ends in disastrous consequences.

PREMISE: - In this case a Brahmin Iyengar boy from an orthodox family falls for a girl under the notion that she is a Muslim and a follower of Islam and so does the girl though she too is a Brahmin. Initially to please her and get into her good books he decides to learn the fundamental traits and values of Islam. He lies that he is Muslim and befriends an orthodox Muslim ‘Unani’ doctor and accepts him as his teacher. The doctor’s girl falls for the same boy thinking that he is a Muslim. The Dr and his family come to know that he is not a Muslim and this breaks her heart and angers the family to seek revenge. In the course of his association with the Muslim Dr and his family the Brahmin boy is drawn powerfully to the beliefs of Islam and the director’s visuals that follow seem to indicate that the boy now wants to embrace Islam. I have really no problem with this but the reasons given by the director for the boy being attracted to Islam are rather shallow and frivolous. Secondly the Unani doctor’s family is equally conservative if not more than the Brahmin boy’s family. In fact except for the doctor and his ‘stupid’ daughter everyone else in the family resents the boy.

& the climax :- So in the end why should this boy refuse to marry the ‘first’ girl he fell in love with once he finds out that she is not a Muslim but a Brahmin? A boy and a girl normally fall in love with each other’s character and not with their cast or religion. The director among other things has also done great injustice to Islam by belittling the thread worn by the Brahmin boy and deliberately concentrating on the ‘Bindhi’ or the absence of it on the girl’s forehead. The director in my opinion has used this film to primarily showcase his religious beliefs and in my opinion hoodwinks us by trying to make us believe that his film is all about religious unity! Sorry! The producer and director both have erred badly in conceiving such a premise which should be shown only in religious congregations of a particular community. In my humble opinion the premise of this film definitely does not augur well for religious harmony in this country which as it is mired in confusion and disharmony. Even otherwise this film is a badly made film (technically) in all respects. Though I am not a casteist, I would rather not review films such as these which fail to inspire my intelligence in any manner whatsoever – A film that fails completely in all respects technically, content wise and performance. This film finally ends up inculcating wrong religious beliefs and notions without thinking of the consequences.

Until Next Time,

Director Haricharan

25/07/2014.

Sathuranga Vettai - Conned! (150+120)*

Sathuranga Vettai – Conned! (150+120)*

Cast:- Dharani, Ilavarasu, Natraj Subramaniam, Ishra Nayar, & Ponvannan among others

the Crew:- S/SP/Dir – H.Vinoth, D.O.P.- KG Venkatesh, Music – Sean Roldan, Edit – SP Raja Sethupathy

Produced by: - Mano Bala/Sanjay Rawal/Subash Chandra Bose

Distributed by: - Thirupathi Brothers

The Story, backdrop and setting (Screen play)

Why does everyone rave about this film – ‘Sathuranga Vettai’? The answer is quite simple. If the premise deviates from the main stream ‘kollywood’ formula or if the characterization of the protagonist matches with the mood of the viewer plus the visualization similes’ are somewhat different the critic’s rate it as an instant hit! This rating need not necessarily make such films good by way of content or performances. I don't think that critics praise such films because it’s a great film but to them it is like a whiff of fresh air which they can breathe in after watching dozens of mediocre formula films every Friday 24*7*365 days sitting inside a dark theatre devoid of feelings or numbed to submission by the forced monotony.

If you have watched the BBC TV serial ‘HUSTLE’ which began in the year 2004 and continued till about 2012 you will be in total agreement with me as to why a film like Sathuranga Vettai is a very poorly made film of the ‘con’ genre. Immediately don’t simply go into the usual ‘desi’ mode – ‘Look! Stop comparing our films with Hollywood ‘machaan’! Our films have its own unique identity and need to be enjoyed with that in mind balh, blah, blah etc, etc.”  I am only comparing the two on plot content and characterization. So remove your damn blinkers if you still have them on and not for god’s sake but your own watch ‘HUSTLER’!

S.V is all about a con man Gandhi Babu (Natraj) and his schemes to fool the gullible common man. It’s also supposedly based on real incidents. Agreed! It starts with an apt simile of a Cheetah hunting down an ostrich and moves on to the protagonist fooling a small time provision shop owner being taken for a ride by using a live snake (sand boa) professing it’s venom possesses magical qualities to increase one’s sexual prowess. Moral of this con - The merchant pays the price for his foolishness. Lack of content forces the director to prolong this issue beyond reasonable levels. I do admit that there are many funny moments in this incident that brings a smile. The second act opens with the infamous ‘MLM’ chain con game. Here again Natraj plays the role of Gandhi Babu the con man and fools the gullible public to buy worthless water in this case tap water and makes a fortune. Here the director brings in the female lead (Ishra Nayar) who initially joins the chain scheme as a promoter and G.B spotting her innate simplicity and innocence user it as an asset to further his quick rich scheme though his buddies resent it. Indira taken in by Gandhi Babu’s charisma and gift of the gab hopelessly falls for him but even though attracted to her simply he uses her to make money. When the scam is exposed he scoots with the booty leaving her hanging and lost. Before leaving her G.B explains to her about the ultimate value in life is money and money alone and the reason why he worships money as the only Supreme Being in this universe. An animated flash back in 2D about N’s childhood tragedy etc (very similar to Kamal’s Indian story) is shown but fails to move you. Here Animation is used to enhance the viewer’s visual experience an old technique used even in the 90’s like in films like ‘Run Lola Run’.  G.B is finally nabbed by the police when he attempts to replicate the snake con on a cop posing as a government employee. Then the cops beat G.B to a pulp in to make him disclose the location of the swindled money. G.B refuses to open his mouth in spite of repeated 3^rd degree torture methods used by the cops and portrayed frequently in Tamil cinema (the ice block/cold water routines). Here somehow G.B’s expressions and body language failed to evoke in me any kind of emotional reaction. I was going along with the mundane routine orchestrated by the director with a hope that the story will somehow move forward from the kind of repetitiveness that had already set in. Finally at the end of it all the infused seasoned old cop humour too fell flat. Then the usual corruption routine began. The same old story of  corrupt prosecutors, cops, politicians, government officials etc added up to about 146 ‘Vaidha’s’ in number (frequent requests of postponement of the case by the accused) with frequent intercuts of flashbacks of the various con scams and G.B’s involvement with them which failed to speed up the premise. Finally after quite a drag G.B is released and goes scot free. The stupid cop waiting outside the court house smiles in admiration* shakes hands with G.B and bids him good bye with a stupid word of advice that ‘money’ is not everything in life. The director thus sets the tone of the reformation of the con man G.B! Why admiration* – The cop is moved by G.B’s impressive punch dialogues like ‘I don't intentionally con anyone. I only con those who simply want to be conned! ‘Wow!

The 2^nd half: - Immediately after his release a former victim of G.B’s ‘EMU’ con (who by the way watches the entire court proceedings) hires a ‘SenThamizh’ speaking don and his 3 ‘adiyals’ in an attempt to recover his money from G.B. This happens to be the director’s one and only suspense element in the film. I really could not fathom the object of this SenThamizh speaking don. Was it a dig at someone? I hope someone enlightens me on that. Anyway’s immediately on his release G.B is kidnapped by the don and his hirelings and taken to a remote warehouse (Binny mills compound for the nth time) and once again bashed up. True to self G.B once again remains defiant and does not disclose the place where the loot is hidden. Now the don goes one step better than the cops in 3^rd degree torture methods. He clamps G.B’s head on to a vice and bellowing a sinister ‘Nambiyar’ like laugh threatens to squeeze his brains out and lo G.B spills the beans! After all how can a brainless G.B make money! I wonder why the cops did not think of the vice technique. Probably Binny mills compound was not made available to them. From here on the director decides to further hoodwink and con the viewer to such absurd levels of mediocrity and full marks to him he is absolutely right. The viewer repeatedly falls for it by watching films like these and praising it to kingdom come for want of doing anything better! To cut the story shot without much ado G.B arranges for the repayment of the EMU loot. Then the unexpected happens G.B’s buddies decide to decamp with the money by double ‘conning’ G.B. As they proclaim “after all we have been taught by an excellent teacher” (G.B). G.B the brain that he is then sells the don another con to save himself. Following this in a bizarre turn of events the ‘dumb’ don kills the EMU ‘con victim’ and joins hands with G.B in a quest to con more people to make a fortune. What follows is not at all surprising as G.B once again fools the ‘dimwit’ Don and his brainless ‘adiyals’ and has them all trapped by the police. Suddenly with the ‘cops’ word of advice still ringing in his ears G.B drifts aimlessly all over Tamilnadu in a quest to seek obsolesce from humanity for all his sins. He like the proverbial saint gets decides to get bashed to a pulp by all the victims who seem to instantly recognize his mug as he drifts aimlessly while travelling in a bus, walking, or inside the customary tasmac bar etc. The repeated bashing even made my hand to ache when finally bloody and limping the director allows our hero to collapse inside a readymade shop situated in some remote corner of Tamilnadu  where surprise! Surprise! Indira his long lost love is now working! Our directors simply think right out of the box to con us in believing anything and make it sound incredibly credible. Indira then takes care of poor G.B with the help of an NGO who resembles Mr. Nedumaran (By the way this NGO has received a contribution from G.B in the past at the instance of Indira) Wasn't I right about the directors acumen in connecting all the irrelevant issues to make relevant connections. Now things move at an erratic and bizarre manner the recovered G.B and Indira get married and retire to a remote mountain side and build their own cute little thatched hut. Then G.B takes to some real serious farming and even makes money out of selling the produce.  What’s missing in the couple’s lives? A baby! So the director decides that Indira must now become pregnant. All’s well until the don and his 'adiyals' finally mange to track down G.B. How?  Not by GPS this time but with the help of a casual bystander who also happens to know the don and also recognizes G.B the ace con man after nearly 1 year! Amazing but true! This bystander cum tracker simply happens to be there when G.B and Indira step out of a local gynecologist’s clinic! Oh! Oh! It’s ‘G.B’ bashing time again this time by the don and his 'adiyals'. G.B again sells another con scheme to the by now “don of the dumbest” in an attempt to save his pregnant wife. G.B leaves with the don to implement another of his hair brained scheme but this time the dumb don leaves behind 1 adiyal with the wife as a backup plan in case G.B tries anything funny.  At long last the director is infusing some intelligence into the don!

Finally G.B conjures the ‘rice pulling’ con on a rich granite exporter ‘Muvendhar’ (probably another simile to denote that even the gods can be conned). This time the director is definitely taking a dig at the ‘oil pulling’ advt blitz launched by a leading edible oil company sometime back. In fact in this film is better served with well thought out similes’ rather than the actual incidents. G.B finally pulls of this con and in the process battles it out with the don on one side and to save his pregnant wife about to deliver a child by preventing the ‘dumb’ don from making the one fatal call which will end the life of his wife and the unborn child. The film then moves on to a lame duck climax which believe me left me seething with anger and frustration.

& the climax: - G.B is left to chose between his wife and a pile of cash lying in front of him!

The things which irked me most: - The whole world recognizes G.B, even a bystander for that matter but the ‘idiot’ policeman fails to recognize him at all. The wife falls on her stomach from the cycle but nothing happens to the fetus. The prolonged police lock up & court scenes. The portrayal of women in this film was in very bad light 1. Dialogue: - “I agree I am a woman and dumb! You're a male and intelligent how could you be so stupid.” 2. The heroine a week and meek woman who simply tolerates all the misdeeds of her lover and husband. No wonder the female ratio is decreasing in the country.

Acting: - Natraj as G.B – He scored only on underplaying his character well but there again too much of underplay was also his major failing. Other than that he had one single expression throughout in the film whether portraying anger, happiness, sadness, frustration or for that matter any emotion including love! In my opinion his voice modulation and body language was well below par.

Ishra Nayar – As a meek, timid and soft-spoken degree girl she played her part quite well. The director maintaining her Malayalam accent while dubbing a plus.

Don - Nothing to complain about but the dialogue delivery in SenThamizh slipped to local Tamil in a number of places.

All the rest: - Most of them played their parts as required by the premise and the director. You can’t blame them for the lack of exciting content.

D.O.P.:- Camera angle and lighting was adequate and moved with the premise though the slowness and lack of interesting camera angles especially during the lock up and court scenes dragged the film.

Music: - Adequate at times the lack of intensity and excitement in the B.G score flattened the visuals.

Edit: - A cut of 30 mins would have helped.

Bottom Line: - To be or not to be ‘conned’, watch this film and judge for yourself!

Finally a quote: - “No victim of a con would like to relive his or her nightmare, and viewers like me wouldn't like to be conned in watching films that only makes us believe we are intelligent!”

*Wasted 150 mins of my time and 120 Rs on my ticket!

My rating: - Premise 2/5

Until Next Time,

Director Haricharan

23/07/2014

Velai Illa Pattathari – unlike Rajini, Dhanush fails both in style & guile!

Velai Illa Pattathari – unlike Rajini, Dhanush fails both in style & guile!

Cast:- Dhanush. Amla Paul, Samuthrakani, Vivek, Saranya, Surabhi, Sathish, Amitash, Hrishikesh, Cell Murugan & others.

& Crew:-  Direction/D.O.P.-Velraj, Music- Anirudh, and Edit- Rajesh Kumar

Produced by – Dhanush’s Wunderbar Films

Release – Escape Artists Motion Pictures

Run Time:- 2 hrs 13 Mins

Dhanush has clearly used this film to test his ability to take the baton from the super star Rajini (his father-in-law). He probably feels that the time is now ripe to unravel his hidden ambition of being hailed the junior super star of Tamil cinema! But unfortunately unlike Rajini, Dhanush is simply not capable of shouldering such a huge responsibility on his rather narrow shoulders at least as of now! This film simply highlights the fact that Rajini on his own can simply carry a film to dizzying heights and Dhanush simply cannot! Believe me Dhanush has tried very hard and has an abundance of raw talent but lacks the style and guile of the one and only Rajini Kanth. Now let’s move on to the premise of this film:-

First Half: - The director has done a neat job and with the use of effective dialogues and screenplay extracted the best emotional quotient one can with tested & traditional director Balachander kind of content. The very simplicity of the story telling keeps the viewer engrossed in this half. Dhanush is an unemployed young engineer. His father Samuthrakani is a self made middle class man and mother Saranya Ponvannan is the traditional housewife. He has a younger brother who is characterized as a gainfully employed geek. Dhanush is quite frustrated in not securing a job of his liking (ton design and construct buildings) though for the love of it I simply cannot understand as to how he can afford to be so choosy with his job preference given the financial condition of his family which is totally dependent on his younger brothers earnings. The father though very fond of both his sons is always in the habit of deliberately demeaning his son Dhanush as a good for nothing guy and constantly comparing him with his younger brother with a hope that this kind of chiding will spur his son to become gainfully employed. Unfortunately his constant jibe has the opposite effect and infuriates Dhanush making him a surly and rebellious young man. The emotions thus far are well essayed by all the players concerned. Samudhrakani as the dad plays his role exceedingly well and for a change Saranya is not constantly whining and looking for a suitor for her boy. The younger brother too lends a soft and meek touch to the scenario. The rundown bike or rather “cycle motor” used by Dhanush adds to the emotional banters and humour. A breezy enjoyable fare thus far. In walks the heroine Amla Paul who moves in as a neighbor by the way earning 2k/month. Dhanush the good for nothing drifter watching TV serials every day falls for her. Initially the director opts for the fight/hate syndromes and later romance blooms. Anirudh the newfound Tanglish music director pitches in with a couple of ‘Kolaveri’ sounding songs (mix of Tamil and broken English) which is the new found Dahnush/Anirudh formula. It may work for most but it no longer works for me. I have had enough of directors and music directors inducing the English/Tamil caste divide in the guise of making Tamil speaking gents appear equal if not superior. In fact even in this film the words ‘Amul Baby’ etc is used to highlight the Fair/dark complexion divide. There are other dialogues which emphasizes the filthy rich and overly poor divide. If these words of wisdom are beneficial to society I am all for it but if it is going to create an unhealthy chasm between the haves and have-nots it may end up doing more damage than good. But overall this is the basic difference between Rajini and Dhanush – Rajini will never use such crass or cheap dialogues to highlight differences in today’s society. Dhanush hits below the belt to achieve results and the cash register ringing. Anyways coming back to the story Dhanush and Amla after a few funny ‘lil’ accidents combine very well though Amla Paul plays second fiddle more like a Pseudo mom/lover combination. Dhanush goes along with a few more interviews and lands up with a job in a call center. Why? Just to save money to buy his lady love an I phone for her b’day! And finally ends up giving her a self made binocular (the director showing off Dhanush’s inventive brain). Dhanush finally ends up using the money saved to square off his ‘little’ brother’s loss. Not able to gift the Iphone our frustrated hero resigns his job making his dad doubly wild. This is followed by a war of words between the father and son ending up in the mother slapping her son (Dhanush). The reason given by her for doing so to her husband is not convincing at all. The aftermath of the slap Dhanush hits the bottle and breaks into a song at the end of which the heroine preaches to the hero the values of respecting one’s parents. The younger brother continues to be his spineless self. What follows is inevitable Samuthirakani and his younger son is removed from the scene by the director to go on an overnight trip to attend a wedding leaving the ‘irresponsible’ Dhanush in charge. What follows is a stupid sequence of Dhanush driving all over town with Amla Paul just to know what he blabbered to her while he was drunk the previous night. At the end of this wasted sojourn Dhanush fails to answer repeated and frantic calls from his mother. Finally on reaching home he sees (actually a look of ‘mildly surprised’) a group of sad and somber looking people outside his home. I am sure you by now you have put two and two together and even if you have not I shall refrain from revealing anything more. After all in my opinion the first half is the better half of this film and I wouldn't want to play a spoiler and dampen your viewing pleasure.
2^nd Half is a potpourri of sorts as the director probably on the insistence of the hero redirects the script from a solid team effort to a hero centric one! This simply puts paid to the viewers belief of watching a well made film after quite a while. Here Dhanush and family in mourning get a surprise visit from a rich father (M.J.Sriram) and his pretty daughter (Surabhi). They come to profusely thank the family for the organ donation (lung donation this time) which supposedly saves his pretty daughter (By the way is characterized as a past smoker) from certain death. I think the director is not aware of the fact that the names of organ donors are kept anonymous and never revealed precisely for this very reason. Anyways Dhanush being quite a smoker himself is moved to tears and advises the pretty lass (Surabhi) not to smoke and waste the donor’s lung! (I somehow was reminded of dir Vasanth using an inflated air pillow in one of his films though I really don’t know why) One thing leads to another and the pretty daughter and the decent dad insist on Dhanush accepting a job in their own construction company and as an engineer. How convenient! Enter Vivek the comedy quotient. For a change the normally ‘preachy’ Vivek has been used by the director judiciously to evoke a few laughs. Vivek a senior engineer is ignored and asked to assist the new kid in the block as Dhanush is handed over a plum job of overseeing a nonprofit slum clearance project by the big boss of course the pretty daughter does have a subtle say in this matter. Enter the villain – How a rival company with a ruthless and unscrupulous boss along with his heir apparent spoiled and ‘fair’ skinned kid on being robbed of the slum contract decide to reek revenge on the ‘dark’ skinned lower middle class poor and deprived kid Dhanush forms the rest of the story. Here the director tries to transform Dahnush into a junior Rajini and in my opinion not only fails but turns the story into a hero centric tamasha! The gathering of all the jobless engineering graduates to help complete the work is so clichéd. Having ‘Goonda’s’ bash up all and sundry is another old gimmick. Using face book etc to galvanize unemployed youth boy it’s getting to be a bore! The director in his effort to project Dhanush leaves behind the talented duo Samudrakani, Saranya and others who made the 1^st half worth a watch. Even the lead lady Amla Paul now takes a back seat with the unnecessary introduction of Surabhi as the second heroine. Finally the director decides to invoke Bruce lee into Dhanush and makes a hash of the premise bringing in gimmicks to enliven the premise but ends up with totally confused.
And the climax – If Dhanush the hero pardons a murderer, arsonist, a goonda or probably even a rapist the world has to take his word for it and follow suit - Simply no questions asked! This is where Rajini would have scored hands down he would never ever have let the villain go unpunished! A rather tame and meek ending to a flat and insipid 2nd half. All to please the hero ‘DHANUSH’! (Check who the producer is!)

A word about the director: - 1. He is in love with Dhanush 2. He is totally in awe of the super star & He is a fan of Bruce Lee and must have watched ‘Enter the dragon’ a million times!

Dhanush as 'Raghuvaran': - is an extremely talented actor. His expressions and body language in this film is above par. He excels in the art of romancing as portrayed in Tamil cinema. In fact if director Vijay has watched this film he would have probably blushed a tad bit as a husband but would have been proud of Danush's performance as an actor. In fact his lengthy delivery of dialogues was well applied to please the masses. If only Danush had allowed the director to play a more dominant role and shunned his heroism and not tried to ape Rajini this film would have really worked for him.

Amla Paul as Shalini: - Has done a fairly decent job. She enjoys a good chemistry going with Dhanush though she takes a back seat in the second half.

Surabhi:- My lips are sealed. The less said the better.

Samuthirakani: - Has performed his role very well. He fits the role to the tee. His attire, make up, subtle body language and sarcastic quips will please any director. I thought the ‘death’ scene was probably a bit over dramatic to my liking else his performance matches and even surpasses Dhanush in certain scenes.

Saranya Ponvannan: - Looks good in this film. In fact in the flashback bits you can see shades of ‘Nayagan’ in her. It’s a pity she had to be sacrificed half way through the film.

Vivek’s performance is refreshing and devoid of his usual preachy dialogues and does bring out quite a few laughs among the viewers.

The brother as the Geek has surprisingly done his bit and has brought out the meekness in his character quite well.

Amitesh the villain looks like a rich spoilt puppy dog. Probably cast for his looks and not for his acting prowess so as not to surpass Dhanush.

My friend M.J Sriram has done a neat job though I feel his delivery of dialogues needs a bit of slowing down.

D.O.P.:- doubling as the director too has helped him visualize the shots well. He has effectively used the camera to bring out the heroism in Dhanush.

Music by Anirudh: - I would like to term him the ‘Tanglish’ music director of Tamil cinema. His mixing of Tamil and English words in his songs is become rather repetitive and similar sounding. His BG score in this film is fairly decent and fits the overall premise.

Edit: - Couldn’t t have done any better though a 10 min cut in the second half would have served the film better.

Bottom line: ‘The director is a huge Super Star fan , totally in love with Dhanush, has watched Bruce Lee’s film Enter the dragon a million times and has probably taken a leaf out of Jackie Chan’s crime story too!

Finally a quote: - "There’s many a step to miss between the ‘Super Star’ and a ‘Mere Star’"

My Rating:- Acting 0.5+Dialogues 1+Screenplay 1^st Half 0.25+Cast 0.5 + Crew 0.5 Overall- 2.75/5

Until Next Time,

Director Haricharan

19/7/2014

Dawn of the Planet of Apes - too much of monkeying around!

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - Too much of monkeying around!

Main Cast - Andry Serkis - Caesar, Jason Clarke - Malcom, Gary Oldman - Dreyfus, Keri Russel as Ellie, Kody Smit -Mcphee - Alexander, Toby Kebbel - Koba

Directed By - Matt Reeves

Story, Backdrop & Premise:-

Caesar and his band of apes live in isolation. A pandemic (a kind of virus) kills most of the humans in the city of San Francisco those who survive are isolated from the rest of the country. They are living with basic amenities and fond memories of the past. The power source of the humans dries up. Jason Clarke, his wife Ellie, son Abraham and a couple of others go out into the forest on a scouting mission in search of a dam which houses a power plant. Accidentally they chance upon a couple of apes and one of them in a rage of panic shoots one of the apes! This enrages Caesar and co who descends on them putting their lives in danger. Much against his tribe's wishes especially his confidant Koba’s wishes he spares the lives of the humans and asks them never to return. The shocked humans return to tell their tale of their chance meeting with the talking ape Caesar and his band of apes. The humans in desperate need of need of power decide to eliminate the apes using their superior fire power (guns etc). To their shock Caesar and co make a visit to the human inhabitation with the shoe of raw power but Caesar declares that he does not want war but will not hesitate to fight and reiterate if the humans decide to wage a war. Humans (Dreyfus in particular) decide to send Jason Clarke back to the forest to persuade Caesar and co to allow them to repair the power plant and live in peace. Obviously all the good intentions are blown to smithereens owing to a series of goof ups by the gun crazy harry and the vengeful kobo (who by the way is tortured by the humans along with many other apes the earlier sequel of the film while conducting experiments on apes.) Caesar tries to thwart Koba's intentions of killing the humans and Jason Clarke desperately tries to stop his partner Dreyfus from killing the apes’ forms the rest of the story. A lot of emotions between Caesar and his son form a major part of this sequel. It also attempts to showcase the humans untrustworthy nature pitted against a more trusting species of supposedly lesser intelligence the apes! 

There are also brief sequences of photos and videos of loved ones who didn’t survive the outbreak etc. The problem with this sequel is the weak plot. A mere 30 mins premise has been stretched into a 180 mins film. Some scenes are unbearably long and slow. Apes riding horses etc are very difficult to digest. In fact in the first 30 mins or so when Caesar descends on the human population John Clarke could have easily requested for access to the power plant. Sending him once again to the forest to meet Caesar looks forced and contrived. Then there are intercuts of apes fighting apes, humans fighting humans which is totally unnecessary. The film also portrays that though humans are the true enemy, the apes are so untrustworthy that they will betray their own. Given how the struggle between humans and apes supposedly symbolizes a number of conflicts in our society. The director ironically seems to suggest that the formerly oppressed race would resort to betraying their own kind to achieve an end. Somehow I felt that the humans got off a little too easily in this film, which dilutes the message of the two species being so similar. The original film was all about the apes being used as an allegory for the evils of the human race. Here using Caesar the filmmakers seem to somehow want to dilute the original premise and let ‘poor’ humans off the hook. To cut the story shot this film has some great visuals and some breathtaking scenes but greatly disappointed with an overly simple plot and a lot of unnecessary monkeying around! A number action shots with the monkeys riding horseback with guns blazing! I hope the makers don’t come with any more sequels like ‘Coffee with Caesar’ or 'Dawn to Dusk with the apes' or an even better ‘breakfast, lunch and dinner with the apes' etc.  

Scenes which worked: - 1.The baby Apes antics (really cute) -2. Underestimating the apes intelligence by the two gun men and paying a fatal price for it - Well thought off - 3. The final action sequence though full of masala - fairly enjoyable 

Bottom Line: - Even if you really like this genre of sci-fi you will barely be able to sit through it! My advice simply wait, for the DVD to hit the stand and at best watch it on a large screen with surround sound! 

My Rating 2.25/5

Until next time,

Director Haricharan

Ramanujam - the numbers fail to add up!

Ramanujam – the numbers simply don't add up!

Cast:- Abhinay Vaddi as Srinivasa Ramanujan,Suhasini Maniratnam as Komalatammal,Kevin McGowan as G. H. Hardy,Abbas as Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis,Anmol as Young Srinivasa Ramanujan,Bhama as Janaki,Michael Lieber as John Edensor Littlewood,Richard Walsh as Francis Spring,Sharath Babu as Diwan Bahadur R. Ramachandra Rao I. C. S.,Radha Ravi as Prof. Singaravelu Mudaliar,Madhan Bob as Prof. Krishna Shastri,Y. G. Mahendran as S. Narayana Iyer,Manobala as Krishna Rao,Nizhalgal Ravi as Srinivasa Raghavan,Satish Kumar as Anandhu,Thalaivasal Vijay as Sathiyapriya Rayar,Manibharathi as Krishnan,Delhi Ganesh,Raja Krishnamoorthy as Seshu Iyer,T. P. Gajendran as T. Namberumal Chetty,Mohan V. Ram,Cloudia Swann as Ms. Bourne,Mike Parish as Doctor Charles,Harsh Naik as ChatterjeeLizzie Bourne as Ms. Gertrude Hardy,

& the Crew:- S/S/Direction – Gnana Rajasekaran – D.O.P.- Sunny Joseph, Music – Ramesh Vinayagam, Edit – B.Lenin, Art – P.Krisnamurthy

Producers:- Srvatsan Nadathur, Sushant Desai, Sharanyan Nadathur, Sindhu Rajashekaran

Premise – I would like to simply order the content of this film by numbering it to make the reader understand the premise more easily.

Ramanujam as a young boy/young man/adult:-

1.  Educating the teacher about the value of zero.

2.  Working out the timetable in a jiffy for his teacher and principal.

3.  Calculating the number of ‘Kozhakattai’ (dumplings) and ‘Sundal’ (Channa) confounding the priests in the temple.

4.  Learning trigonometry and teaching college students.

5.  Getting kicked out of class for dreaming about math.

6.  Dreaming that the family deity ‘Namadevi’ writes the answer on his tongue (Kalidas?).

7.  Theory of zero and infinity and the Upanishads.

8.  Failing in his exams though securing a centum in math.

9.  Running away from home in frustration.

10. Getting a job at the port trust Chennai.

11.’Durai’ (whiteman/boss) discovers the genius in

  Ramanujam.

12.Desperate to save paper to write his formulas.

13. Discovered by Hardy and invited to Cambridge.

14. Formulas without solutions only results.

15. Ramanujam the vegetarian.

16. Missing his wife.

17. Ramanujam thought to be mad.

18. Attempts to end his life in England.

19. Finally gets recognition in England.    

20. Falls sick, diagnosed with TB. Returns.

21. Finally some recognition back home.

22. TB worsens and Ramanujam passes away.

Emotional quotient:-

1.  Mother’s absolute control and possessive attitude towards

her son.

2.  Father’s a non entity and putty in the hands of his wife.

3.  Wife’ s total submission and love towards Ramanujam

4.  Mother in laws constant endeavors to keep the daughter in law away from her son Ramanujam.

5.  Strong caste prejudices of the vaishnavites.

6.  Whiteman’s constant ability to discover talent.

7.  Namadevi’s consent to go to Cambridge.

The problem with this docudrama/biopic on Ramanujam is though that the incidents have been well researched they are overly spaced out. The films duration of nearly 3 hours simply kills the interest on watching the film. Sadly the director has committed hara-kiri! The film drags on and on and makes one squirm and groan. This film would have been better served if it is telecast as a 6 episode TV serial. Believe me when I say this because I directed a biopic titled ‘Chandra’ based on an India/International table tennis player V.Chandrashekaran. Directing a docudrama is far more backbreaking and frustrating simply because you spend days in researching from records, books, manuscripts, newspaper articles etc and finally end up with so much material that you never really know what to use and what to throw while filming. Though in this film the material available and the duration of the film simply do not tally therefore watching the film is dreary and boring. The most important lesson I learnt from filming a biopic is that ‘shoot all you want but mercilessly edit all content which slows down the premise’. Do not allow personal or emotional attachments to come in the way of doing so! Believe me Ramanujam has really taught me to be even more careful and judicious in editing my present documentary on “Bodhidharma”!

Casting and Acting the biggest plus:-

Abhinay Vaddi as Young Ramanujam has done a great job especially so as a debutant. In fact he has essayed his character very well as Russell Crowe had done in the film A Beautiful Mind. I do have a rather strong inkling that both the actor and the director have keenly watched the film A Beautiful Mind. Coming back to Abhinav after a long time I see genuine talent in an actor and I hope the actor and the Tamil film industry don't frit it away. P.S . Grandson of the late Gemini Ganesan & Savithri.

Suhasini as Komalattamal the mother gives you the feeling that she has simply played her real self and nothing more and nothing less.

Bhama as Janaki  (Ramaujam’s wife) has done more than a decent job. In fact u should give a pat on the back for casting her in this role. She fits the role of a typical conservative Iyengar girl who looks a little too young to be a bride. Her innocence and emotional outbursts certainly fits the bill.

Nizhalgal Ravi/Y.G.Mahendran, show that experience does play a big part in such films.

White Men – Are so amateurish and pathetically bad. They have a lot to learn from their Indian counterparts.

The Rest: - have all played their parts though the young Ramanujam could have been better handled by the director.

Camera: - Goes well with the premise. Slow panning, tilt up and down kind of camera work used by the older and more seasoned Indian Camera men of yore. My only problem with this kind of work in today’s scenario is it makes watching a film a bit of a strain. Finally a word about the scenes shot in Cambridge- the frames are rather empty mostly of Ramanujam and a few others walking lazily sauntering across. It simply fails to the kind of activity in a British university like what was shown in the film A Beautiful Mind.

Music: - Goes with the premise. Vani Jayaram’s vocal rendering at her age is unbelievable. By the way she is now 71! If you are a fan of the classical type of music you will truly like some of the numbers else you can simply walk out and take a breather.

Art: - Krishnamurthy sir, has done a fantastic job. In my opinion he is about the best in the business especially for period films such as this. I know from experience as he worked in my film ‘Thoovaanam’ and my bio pic ‘Chandra’ and believe me he is a producer's dream come true as he executes the job perfectly and meticulously. He is also very cost conscious and never ever overspends a penny! P.s. The number plate being a computer printout was probably the only eye sore if it can be termed as that!

Edit: - Lenin is a very experienced editor but somehow I feel he has let the film drag too long. An hour’s cut would have somewhat helped salvage the film to a certain extent.

What irked me most: - 1. Length of the film. 2. The accent of the English actors and their delivery of dialogues in Tamil/English – simply ridiculous. 3. Showing caste prejudices by singling a particular community which has no bearing on the characterization of Ramanujam.

Bottom line: - “The Numbers were there but the formula was flawed!”

Left Right & Centre: - It felt like watching a film with a theatre full of senior citizens!

Finally a Quote:- "The length of this movie will bring us all together in paralyzing boredom".

My Rating: - Premise - .5 Acting -1 Technicians 1- Total - 2.5/5

Until next time,

Director Haricharan

12/07/2014

ARIMA NAMBI - Too many TWISTS; Fails to THRILL!

ARIMA NAMBI – Too many TWISTS; Fails to THRILL!

Cast :- Vikram Prabhu, Priya Anand
& Crew:- S/S/Direction: Anand Shankar, D.O.P.- R. D. Rajasekhar,  Music - Sivamani, Editing - Bhuvan Srinivasan, Art  - Muthuraj, Stunts - Dhilip Subbarayan, Choreo - Shobi
Producer: Kalaipuli Thanu

The story, backdrop and setting (Screen play),  I have split the premise of this film into episodes deliberately not to confuse the reader but to bring more clarity of how I felt after watching this so called thriller. If I have overdone it, it is deliberate and I do not feel any kind of remorse in doing so!

Episode 1 – Boy (Vikram Prabhu/V.P) meets girl (Priya Anand/P.A) at a bar – Instant love – “Kannum Kannum Nokia”! – V.P breaks into song, lead guitar in hand strumming hotel California style, Shivamani freaks out with a percussion based song etc. One thing leads to another, boy and girl exchange name, number etc – Girl calls boy the very next day. Boy and girl meet for dinner that very night. After a few minutes of “Mokkai” conversation both get high on red wine. At the girl’s insistence they both decide to go to her apartment (You guessed it. The girl is a rich but nice kid as she travels in an auto-rick) and both resume their drinking session with Vodka this time around. V.P & P.A in their drunken state decide to take their relationship to the next level (Don’t get ideas just smooching for starters) but boy at the wrong moment gets nervous and rushes to the wash room to fantasize. I leave the rest to your imagination. TWIST 1 - As V.P paces up and down all excited, outside poor P.A is screaming her head off as she is on the verge of being kidnapped by 2 “adiyals”! V.P becomes the hero from here on (by the way the guy is a supervisor in a BMW showroom) he tries to fight. After a few fighting minutes and smashing a few tables, breaking a few things, he decides to run. After the typical run – chase – run – chase routine V.P gives them the slip. Adiyals disappear with their captive P.A!

Episode 2 – V.P goes to the Besant Nagar cop station to lodge a complaint about the missing girl. The inspector initially mocks at V.P’s drunken state but finally decides to assign his assistant Inspector (good cop) to go with V.P to P.A’s apartment. TWIST 2 – Surprise! Surprise! All the evidence of the fight, breaking glass, falling flower pot etc has simply vanished without a trace and so has the CCTV footage. V.P is shocked, frustrated and disappointed. For a change the good cop is very understanding and all. He simply sympathizes with our poor boy and with a few kind words of wisdom drops him off at his house with a promise of great improvement the next day. Wow! What a cop! The hero that V.P is, he simply cannot be stopped. He decides to investigate and solve the P.A mystery on his own. Picks up his bike and without waking his roommate and buddy up, he drives to P.A’ s dad’s sprawling house. Her dad happens to be the head of a TV channel. As he is creeping in, a car comes in and V.P is shocked to see the “adiyals” and who else? - TWIST 3 - the inspector (remember Besant Nagar police station) and as V.P is speechless. Twist 4 - The inspector merely looks at his mobile and announces that V.P is right there somewhere in the compound!  How does he find out – G.P.R.S technology at its very best! Adiyals locate and after a mild skirmish (By the way V.P is a trained boxer too/watch for the close up shot of his 6 pack) captures V.P and is about to shoot him! TWIST 5 – Its not V.P but the “adiyal” who is shot dead! By whom? The good cop! who had cleverly suspected that something was amiss and followed them all! Wow! What a COP! TWIST 6 - V.P & good cop now enter the building and find out that P.A’s dad is being black mailed – SUB PLOT - daughter P.A in exchange for memory card! TWIST 7 Memory card has CCTV footage of central minister killing an actress in a fit of rage! Suddenly the inspector finds out that V.P is in the same room (GPRS again. Kudos to unbelievable technology) all hell breaks out bullets fly all over and TWIST 8 – P.A.s dad is shot and killed!

EPISODE 3 – Car chase – shooting – more car chase – more shooting and finally V.P’ car along with good cop as co passenger overturns! V.P somehow crawls out and gets into a boxing stance – shoots and boxes at the same time, brings down the inspector and the “adiyals”! Twist 9 - Poor good cop is shot and with a little melodrama and some last words of advice for V.P asking him not to run away but to stand and fight another day. This episode comes to an end. Don’t you think this episode really moved fast? Well! That’s what thriller’s are all about! Isn’t it! Especially the Kollywood’s version!

EPISODE 4 – V.P traces the beaten up “adiyals” by somehow getting into their car and hiding behind the back seat. Can I call this a twist? No it can best be termed as absolutely idiotic, illogical and absurd! Adiyals now decide to park the car and go into the bank to check if the payment due to them for kidnapping P.A has been credited to their ac (Easy NEFT transfer! No problem with income tax etc) and TWIST 10 while leaving the car and slamming the door the dashboard door somehow opens and reveals a gun! This gun is spotted through the glass by a cop as the car is about to be towed away for being parked in a no parking area! And V.P is still hidden behind the back seat unnoticed by anyone. Then Twist 11 To save the "adiyals" from being caught V.P quietly sneaks out of the car (cops and everyone around are dumb idiots of the first order) he gets into the bank and believe it or not stages a bank robbery of sorts, He then takes the two "adiyals" as hostages, escapes with ease and even manages to shoot the police car tyre to prevent them from following them. He then stops the car allows them to escape follows them in a stolen bike and tracks them down and finds P.A at a lodge cum brothel.WOW! WOW! WOW AND WOW! What a HERO!

Episode 5 - Twist 12 - Here the "adiyal" (a bit of erotica) who also runs a “STAR” brothel suddenly craves for rape! He decides that he should rape the unconscious P.A before handing her over to the boss man. He even removes his belt drops his pants but the damn mobile spoils all his fun as he is forced to take an imp call!  But V.P seizes the chance and simply in a jiffy wakes up P.A! P.A realizes that her heartthrob cum hero is standing right in front of her and she has to aid him to help her escape. V.P escapes with P.A and the MEMORY CARD! Twist 13 – Memory card! How?  Look I am not going to reveal all the twists and spoil all the fun! They then break into dad’s TV channel office which by the way is filled with police and TV reporters. V.P quite simply manages to open P.A’S dad’s safe and get the secret code for the memory card.  Finally V.P & P.A book themselves in a room in a star hotel (free wifi) with a brilliantly conceived plan to upload the content on the memory card to all social networking web sites. P.A even administers first aid to our scratched hero while Shivamani conjures up a song in an exotic location.  Hero calls his buddy for help asks him to bring his passport so that he and P.A can flee the country! (Obviously boxing and shooting is no match to the central minister and his new set of “adiyals” whose boss is from Delhi under whom some local henchmen work. TWIST 14 - V.P is shocked to find that his buddy has sold out of him for a mere 2 crores! Frankly who wouldn't especially for rich dumb kid who keeps nose crying half the time and for the rest of her trivial presence you simply cannot understand her dialogues. Enter New Delhi mini boss and henchmen – more shooting – TWIST 15 -Buddy shot dead and V.P and P.A escape once again so that they can play out the climax!

Episode 6 – V.P and P.A decide to get to a mall to upload video through an internet centre. But the central minister who is part Obama, part FBI, part CIA, Part PM, part CBI, as he wields such enormous power that he controls the television network, all the cell phones functioning in India, the entire worlds social networking sites and for all practical purposes he simply controls all communication throughout the country! WOOOOOOOW! He is still unable to stop V.P who uses the world’s greatest disguise A” BLUE CAP” Yes! As simple as that! What a DIRECTOR!  With which he thwarts all the efforts of the minister while P.A is whining away inside the mall!  and TWIST 16 – The memory card gets damaged! How! Watch the film you will love this!

And the Climax: - Straight out of 1999 HOLLYWOOD SOAPS! Please watch the film for one FINAL TWIST! This one will leave you totally twisted and out of your mind for quite some time if not forever!

Acting: -

MY TAKE ON AFTER IVM Vikram Prabhu has improved a lot and has played his part adequately except at the climax where he in my opinion faltered. His dancing prowess leaves one wondering as to where his father Prabhu’s dancing genes are hiding. His action scenes are quite intense except the melodrama portions where he tends to overdo it. Probably his eagerness to prove his mettle as an actor!

IN THIS FILM: - He does underplay his character as always. There is no place for any kind of melodrama in the film. His romantic overtures leave a lot to be desired. His dancing skills have not shown any kind of noticeable improvement. On the whole my acting meter will allow me to mark a 5% improvement owing to an improvement in his fighting skills! 

Priya Anand - Nothing much of note. Absent in most of the 1^st half. Nose crying, whining and a terrible accent in the 2^nd half.

M.S.Bhaskar:- as the good cop has essayed his part well.

The rest:- Not much to talk about!

Camera: - Great work! The visuals thrill you more than the story line!

Music: - Let’s give the guy a break! It’s his first film. Maybe he will do a better job next time! After all he is very talented drummer!

Art: - A pat for a job well done!

Choreo: - Eh! What?

Stunts: - Nothing new. Typical Kollywood stuff. It’s high time we stop aping Hollywood and develop our own brand of fighting skills!

Finally to sum it all up, a quote: My motto: 'No good movie is depressing. All bad movies are depressing.' - Roger Ebert

Left right & Centre: - 6 students on my left – “The director blew it after the first 20 mins of the film”. Another comment “Wasted 120 bucks”

Bottom Line: - “Desi” version of a Hollywood soap – More for the “Lion” hearted viewer!

My Ranking: - 2/5

Until next time,    

Director Haricharan

Chennai

 06/07/2014