Miruthan

With the onset of new genres in Tamizh cinema, we have Sakthi Soundar Rajan's first ever zombie movie - Miruthan. Jayam Ravi's varied choice of scripts, with his last five falling under five different genres makes him the unanimously celebrated hero in the recent times. How does Miruthan live up to the expectations from the theatre going crowd?

Miruthan is about a traffic cop escorting a group of medics after zombies take control of an entire city. Jayam Ravi (as Karthik) lives with his sister (Baby Anikha) in Ooty and the city turns into a zombie-land overnight. A group of medics, Lakshmi Menon and co., after attending a medical conference, find themselves in the mid of the catastrophe. Is there a respite in the offing?

Jayam Ravi opens his account for 2016 with a perfect performance. There are a few screen-presence moments and he enjoys the screams and whistles at regular intervals. He seems to be unstoppable after Thani Oruvan. Kaali Venkat's timing and the innocence he bears while delivering the comical scenes is entertaining and there is not even a single comedy that doesn't work. Sriman shares a lot of lighter moments right from his intro. 

With a genre that is not tried and tested with the Tamizh audience, one has to compromise. There is a sister sentiment, there is romance, there is friendship and there is heroism - all the ingredients for a commercial cinema, yet the film engages the audience throughout. Imaan's songs are appealing and the background score - one of his best. The "Horrifying Zombies" theme lingers in your ears even after you leave the cinema hall - a top-class BGM from Imaan after a long time. There are zombies creeping into the lens now and then, but there is not even a single frame that turns disgusting. The effort of the technicians behind the scenes is definitely laudable for delivering a zombie movie with authenticity in a short span. 

After Naanayam and Naaigal Jaakirathai, Shakthi Soundar Rajan has delivered his third genre in three movies. He has managed to create a zombie movie interwoven with the much needed commercial elements. There are few scenes which go overboard in action and sentiment, which could have been avoided. The director's idea of amalgamating "Mirugam" and "Manithan" for "Miruthan" deserves a special mention as he conveys the theme in just one word. With the film running lesser than two hours, we have the screenplay fast enough and Miruthan crosses the boundary line with comfortable ease. 

Bottomline - For those who rave about Hollywood zombie movies, we have Tamizh Cinema's first ever zombie movie finished in 54 days with a shoestring budget. Kudos to the entire team!

Rajini Murugan - Harmless Fun Guaranteed!

Of late, there are new rituals followed in Tamizh cinema for a movie's promotion - a title release - a first look release - a single release - a teaser release - an audio release - a trailer release - interviews and promos - film release. And there is equal share of hurdles that come up for the producers to bring their film to the big screens. "Rajini Murugan" has faced both. Right from its inception till its release, the film garnered huge expectations. A film running with packed houses even after a week of its release - where did all these expectations start? Of course, in its title - Rajini Murugan.

Siva Karthikeyan, after his commercial outing Kaaki Sattai comes back to what he is best at. VVS team is back with their VVS 2.0, with a huge star cast this time. Soori, after a forgettable 2015, makes a comeback with this movie. His combination with Siva works for the second time and they provide a lot of lighter moments. Keerthy Suresh plays a girl-next-door role. Though the scope of her role is limited here, she is here to stay. 

Siva karthikeyan's improvisation of dialogues are clearly evident and his timing elevates the scene to a delightful state. His choice of scripts are amazing, so does his confidence in delivering comical scenes. Raj Kiran and Samudhirakani carry the movie on their shoulders, with Siva and Soori pitching in perfectly. For the first time, Raj Kiran serves as an entertainer. There are few places where Raj Kiran's comical side pops in and it is a treat to watch. This film gives a brand-new Raj Kiran for us. Samudhirakani plays a comical villain, one more sample for his versatility. 

There is one more ingredient which makes this movie, a perfect entertainer. Aptly titled, there are Rajinikanth's dialogues placed throughout the movie which provide an ambience for the scenes to move forward, a definite value addition to the movie's strengths. A movie with zero double meaning dialogues and zero intimate scenes is possible - Director Ponram's efforts to bring out a simple yet entertaining film is praise-worthy. The dialogues are masterly penned and they easily cover up the lack of storyline. There are few moments which try to preach, but those come in with humor too - rightly but lightly delivered. Lastly, the climax twist - Ponram delivers a comical twist and makes the movie even simpler! 

Bottomline - Harmless fun guaranteed... Nambi poanga, Sandhoshama vaanga!

Paayum puli - A tiger that pounces late

Suseendhiran's pattern of alternating between commercial and realistic movies continues in Paayum puli too, after his successful outings in Pandiya naadu and Jeeva. His action movies hit the "believable" chord. Neither they have gravity defying stunts nor his heroes are larger than life. His protagonists are one among the masses, be it Vennila kabadi kuzhu or Naan mahan alla or Aadhalaal kadhal seiveer. Vishal - Suseendhiran combo is back in quick succession after pandiya naadu in just a span of 2 years. Does the combo recreate the magic?

The first half of the movie takes a lot of time building the plot, often disturbed by songs and romance portions. It begins testing your patience before it shifts gears just before intermission to prepare you for the second half. If not suseendhiran had compromised on the commercial elements, the first half could have been watchable. Vishal, with his physique easily fits in as the cop. Vishal is the only hero who makes you believe the action sequences except for a few gravity defying airborne stunts like aambala. Kajal agarwal is just a passerby in the movie, there are no strong scenes for her. "Love at first sight" is a clichéd addition to the screenplay, even the scenes turning out to be cliches. Soori's comical scenes evoke laughter at very few places, and he must move out of vadivelu's shoes. The first half is bearable only because of shades of susee style here and there. 

Imaan's bgm is below average and his songs prove a disturbance when the screenplay gets gripping - the songs are wrongly placed or placed for the sake of it. At the first sight of kajal, vishal falls for her seeing her fearing to cross the road. Imaan's "yaar intha muyalkutti" made me wonder why suseendhiran moved out from yuvan shankar raja's studio. Yuvan is definitely missed here. The compromise doesn't end there. The action sequences in the first half are definitely not "suseendhiran" style - must be "a miniature of director Hari in disguise". Cinematographer velraj makes an impact right from the first scene. From the looks of it, the title card was running through the clouds, but the camera was actually zooming in. The first scene with the top angle shot is a masterclass rendition from velraj. He does it in the climax too, a great way to end the movie. Suseendhiran's dialogues show their true color only after the pre-buildup for the interval block. 

The second half comes out with suseendhiran stamp, the scenes start moving at a faster pace. Again, Imaan's "silukku maramae" slams the brakes. By the time, suseendhiran just has 40min to rewrite the fate of the movie. Will he? Won't he? Does he? Yes, suseendhiran takes this route - the suspense. He manages to save the movie with his classy pre-climax and climax scenes. His "direct from the heart" dialogues, witty placement of suspenseful scenes, stamp of realism and intelligent usage of the built-up character sketch takes the movie past the boundary line. This epic transformation is just about enough to save an otherwise failure movie. Samudhirakani scores everytime and he doesn't miss this time too. The choice of his characters have always been perfect right from subramaniyapuram. The second half depicts the current day politics, the miserable life of businessmen in debts, "chameleon"  people (sandharpavaadha makkal). With Vishal and samudhrakani as brothers who stay on opposite sides of the law, is susee's emotional family drama, which gets a thumbs up from the viewers in the climax.

The intricacies in the climax sequence make it memorable. There is a realistic action sequence between vishal and samudhrakani, and during the fight, the two fall on both sides of the statue of a freedom fighter - their grandfather. Vishal falls to the left and samudhrakani to the right, vishal wears black and samudhrakani wears white - an irony to the fact that vishal depicts the truth and samudhrakani depicts the evil. ***Take a bow to the director***

Bottomline - A commercial masala movie saved by intriguing screenplay in the second half.