Kanden Kadhalai

When Shakthi is shown meeting his ex with a flashback of their relationship following it, we get a glimpse of the “suitability to the native” tool that Kannan is going to use for this remake. While Jab we met was – jab things happens it reveals itself – Kanden Kadhalai is all about seeing is believing – everything said then and there, leaving us dry at the end as we know from the time Gautam (Munna) hides inside the car, Anjali will end up marrying Shakthi. It is as if the director has made up his mind that tamil audience’s intelligence is not adept enough to handle the multiple layers of the script Imtiaz had in hand. Where Imtiaz employs sarcasm and subtle emotions or witty dialogues for that matter to handle a situation which made the usual story that JWM was into an intelligent film, Kannan (who did something of that sort with Jayam Kondan) assuming we won’t understand them, adds commercial gimmicks to some of them which even though good only makes the movie an one time watch; or else why should Shakthi fight, why should he let Anjali's brother hit him, Gautam be reduced to an all black character on which Shakthi lights a torch, Anjali have the "train missing" dream symbolising her missing the love of her life, Shakthi have feelings for her from the beginning itself, Anjali instead of answering: Mokkai Raju indeed is a fertile guy and i knows it well; which should have led into a suggestive murkier phase as the camera zooms out, keeps quiet, Shakthi proclaim time and again from the beginning itself for us to understand that she has changed him a lot and what ever his mind set is now (and then later) is all because of her which Aditya only does to make her realise – and yet we only get to see Bharath overacting as a "take it easy" guy (though he shines as an introvert). But Kannan’s descriptive mode does enhance the script, when he shows Shakthi search for her arduously aided by Vidyasagar’s melody while Aditya just finds her out or the way the whole cellphone, from the way the idea springs up in Shakthi’s mind, is handled. He also should be appreciated for invoking the local flavour without being clichéd or artificial; well apart from the leading lady and her cousin. Tamanna, though slips into the role easily and performs commendably, she doesn’t look like a Theni-kari.

Peraanmai

When Suseela dies, Dhruvan instead of shedding tears, runs across in all directions to check if any threat still exists while others break down, and then joins them only to remove her shoes; for people alive are more important in war. Welcome to the world of Dhruvan who is leading a silent war to bring the tribal up the ladder of status; a model person who keeps quiet when insulted beyond disgrace and takes up the punishment for the fallacious acquisitions bestowed on him by his caste centric officer, but in a flash kills intruders cold blooded, that too with stealth, methodically. With an extremely high IQ thanks to his exposure to books, he speaks on world politics through the eyes of Karl Marx and many ideologists, the power of working people, internal and international politics, caste preference, farming, life in forest and the behaviour of fauna, physiology and even on advanced weaponry as a matter of factly which can only be answered by his books, as he takes us through the dense forest with five ignorant girls from the parallel world (as chivalrous as possible) whose hormones seems to be working overtime for there interest to shoot men in langottis or speak about sex or walking nude at midnight just for the sake of revenge, evolve into mighty force through the lessons of Dhruvan after hating him for being a lower caste person and teams up with him to literally fight for the nation, for a cause which is threateningly weak.

It's very rare that such screenplay takes the visual form which deals about tribal even though it glorifies them many a times and yet the panache with which Jayam Ravi takes up this character makes us overcome all the flaws, for the script has so many gem of a sequence like when Ravi replies for “we never knew you could speak english well”, “my people don’t understand english and you people don’t like me to speak in english” or the master stroke in the concluding scenes in a very subtle manner establishes the role of authority as Ponvaanan receives all the glories for Ravi’s labour, the main theme of the script.

Blue

Director: Antony D' Souza

As the piano strikes the majestic sound of jazz backed by Shreya and Sonu which swiftly changes to western classic ala Arabian nights which was about the mysteries of the land of no water, A.R.Rahman introduces us to the depth of the blue ocean, the similarity being that, both explores treasure, by which one might mistake this to be a riveting experience and sure it promised to be at the initial few scenes when Akshay sleep-swimmingly fights a shark and then makes fun of Sanjay for his over-weight and lazy approach to this role (which even in anyone’s dream he never fits) while boxing, Zayed ACTING like a pro aided by wonderful camera work backed by stupendous bgm races his bike to victory, and Lara clad in a two-piece bikini in her most glamourous self scorches the screen. But things get boring after Lara gets intimate with her grand-pa boy friend suggesting the other meaning for the title to be indeed true, Akshay still sleep-swimming and rambling just lines without punches and Zayed keeps a somber face for the loss of the love of his life who he met for just 2 mins. Things get even boring with the repeated scary face of Sanjay when ever “lady in blue” is mentioned, Akshay still rambling silly lines about kismat & will and Zayed still crying. When Rahul Dev enters and tries to attack our Bhai with his daughter like gf at his house, in the name of breakthrough technique in camera, makes the two teams fire their guns at the sides when they are standing behind each other which makes Bhai to loose his gf and reveal the tragic story of his father who died because his son literally and figuratively hit the bucket. After consoling the weak heart they map their way with the help of a song, to the treasure trove surrounded by sharks which incidentally are typical Indian side-artists in a masala hindi film who are just there to on-look the happenings (well here they swim here and there) where they meet the enemy and after the climax like a post climax Akshay drops a secret in the name of plan B with the bgm of Fiqraana playing behind and makes us scream OMG!

For dicussion on the music of Blue click here.

Aadhavan

Director: K.S.Ravikumar

When asked what he knows, the over enthusiastic Murugan alias Aadhavan alias Madhavan like an adept who knows it all yet humble, starts rambling on for 10 reels about varies intricacies in cooking and then as one would expect, at various scenes throughout the film he demonstrates that he knows everything from enacting a monkey (the stunts; not Anand Babu), to yoga, to acting like Shivaji, to various forms of dancing and if you aren’t satisfied he does a Rajini ala muthu style and even shells out a sentimental scene for the sake of it akin to Varanam Aayiram; ultimately ending up proving yet again that none has the speed and grace of MGR to enact the “Naan aanaiyital” and when the cool dude sure-shot assassin walks out of his yacht with anger that he missed his target and being insulted for that, the wanna be cool act acclimates to great heights. If that is not enough we have the yesteryear overacting queen reprising her caricature, while the Thara without any spark, reduced to just repeating “it’s ok!” could borrow few tonnes of makeup from the former, for it’s not ok for us to be scared during close-ups so often which the younger Aadhavan does, whose face stuck using chewing gum (that Aadhavan uses throughout the movie) to the older one just for the sake of proving that if its Aadhavan’s role, his face should one be there regardless of the age or ridicule factor.

The over enthusiasm even spreads to the Commissioner and AC, the duty conscious strict officers that they are, who directs NSG commanders proving that NSG may rank above State police but FEFSI chairman will always have more authority than them. If this is not enough, the icing of the cake (the rotten one) is in the form of the director and the producer appearing in a cameo when all gasped: finally (!!) lets go, and repeats the 10 reels dialogue that Madhavan did with few lines shared by the producer acid testing his acting skills for his debut venture next. It’s a pity that the director who has given ample attention to the gizmos failed to demand songs that suit the movie which though good doesn’t get along with the flow if by luck it ever tries to be. If not for the comic timing of Suriya and Vadivelu in the first half, everyone would have been long gone.

For detailed discussion on the music of Aadhavan click here.

Kandasamy

Director: Susi Ganesan
Cast: Vikram, Shriya

Apart from good screenplay- a super hero movie needs a great build-up for the hero entry and then slowly with the power of deception, terrorize the enemy and bring a smile in our face which should widen as the hero displays his master stroke of appearance; a stylish movie demands great camera angles with rich colour tones, glamorous heroine dancing her way into our heart, exotic locations, a stud who is the epitome of trend; a Robin Hood movie should offer a clever and cunning hero with a completely contrast alias, a moving circumstance to be an outlaw, an intelligent officer to nail him down and finally a social message; a masala movie need a heroine exposing every time she appears on screen, an item number, few lines praising the hero, gravity defying fights, cantankerous comedy track and sentimental scenes.

I guess Susi started off with a Robinhood script, digressed into other subjects and concocted a dish with the weakest ingredients from them all in poor ratio, making this movie to not even become a collection of well executed set-pieces. Hence, what we see on screen is a drama troupe, whose members become big officers and stage a poorly executed incarnation drama to bring back Indian money locked abroad to use them for adopting villages, with their super cool (wannabe) (fe)male protagonist depicting himself as a multi-millionaire(but only a CBI officer) in day and a cock at night which sings while fighting crime, all because there is a far-fetched relation between his friend’s hand being cut and poverty; all in the name of God.

In the name of sleekness, Susi shuttles with different tones for filming, changes the hero’s dress from casuals to blazer before his execution, ultra-modernizes CBI and never let important scenes to linger in our minds in the name of fast paced editing.

One feels bad for Vikram, the only good the film offers. Every time he gives a menacing smile we feel his cry to save the film.

Verdict: 1/5 Stars

Kaminey

Director: Vishal Baradwaj

This dedication to yore with its engaging as well as tiring allusion to the yesteryear is a winner from the start.

The story is about two brothers who want to step out of their bourgeois life and accrete into the riches in their own contrasting way. Circumstances change their future one rainy night, which leads into a bloody battle of smuggling, gang-war and maharastrian language politics. Shahid plays the twins who are a mixture of callowness and callus in different ratios with their own speech problems, in his carrier best performance in this dark comedy-action drama. Having taken a typical bollywood masala plot, Vishal fills the screenplay with an overdose of cinematic depiction allover – be it the Charlie’s dream or him running like a horse race. He also employs witty conversations which takes a toil on so many topics which sometimes get overly multi layered that it becomes esoteric for the people who comes in for entertainment from this enormously packed 2 hour film.

Every character has been given a sub-plot all concatenated in this straight forward screenplay which itself is a great leap from the mainstream cinema. These characters also have different dialects and sometimes languages for them and priyanka excels here.

Vishal has extracted the best from his artist and technicians alike. Gulzar’s words enchant us and take us back to the 70s when it needs to with apt tunes by VIshal and effective background score which rings tan de tan in our ears, while the cinematography captures the vision of the director with artistic style with good aid from the editing department.

Even with its quibbles Kaminey stands out from the rest for its originality as well as inspired usage of screenplay techniques making it a class apart, opening up a next genre for classy masala films.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Director: David Yates

Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint



The shear spectacle of the annihilation of brockdale bridge, the arcanus work that Malfoy does to abet Voldemort, the way each antagonists flock the screen with their style rather than their terrorizing acts (excluding the abstruse Snapes with his acerbic nature), the glorified and magnified portrayal of magic as something chimerical for us – muggles contrast to the book, the beautified and uncurly Hermione - all intended to glamorize the movie and provide a visual spectacle doesn’t make the eyebrows rise. Instead the way Harry adulates Giny at the party, the amazing reactions that Hermoine gives whenever Ron romances Lavender, the bravade that Ron shows in Quidditch field assuming he had all the luck he needed, the gentle humour that Slughorn fuses into his conversation especially in the opening sequence – in short the lighter moments that plays around the fantasy makes the attenuated screen version of the 606 page novel work, covering up the lack of depth and the intricate details into a 2 ½ hour movie resulting in just a rich - gloomy film(more so for the dark hue). In few sequences like when Malfoy walks over to the room of requirement or the confrontation with Tom, the screen is packed with many a detail which will be appreciated even in second viewing; but these sequences are very few.


Harry potter movies are famous for the grandeur and HBP stays true to it – a testimony to that is the climactic endeavour. More mature acting is visible here but the young Tom Riddle is the show stopper with his aberrant pronunciation. HBP has the best cinematography yet in Potter series, but the background score is not elevating and many sequences have blunt ends thanks to editing.


But who cares if all the movies don’t have any connections and they on the whole don’t tell the story that JKR wanted to tell; as long as there is enough laughs and fantastic graphics to keep the muggles agape and the know it all recollecting the books and make us long for the Deathly Hallows. Hope it justifies JKR’s work like Narnia is doing after 50 years to C.S.Lewis’ work.