Irudhi Suttru - Boxing Its Way To Box Office Success!

We have been seeing sports drama movies in the recent times in Tamizh cinema - Vallinam, Jeeva, Bhoologam to name a few. We have Sudha Kongara's Irudhi Suttru concentrating on issues plaguing Indian Sports industry - Right from political interference to sexual harassment.

Madhavan as an angry, foul mouthed, short tempered boxing coach makes a memorable comeback to Tamizh cinema after 4 years. Prabhu (Madhavan), a boxing coach with allegations of sexual harassment against him goes in search of (is made to go in search of) new boxing trainees. He stumbles upon a "born boxer" (Rithika) in the slums of Chennai. The journey of this born boxer to world championship forms the storyline - a clichéd storyline that differs in the treatment it gets.

How often have we seen screen presence of a woman in Tamizh cinema? Rithvika Singh has delivered aplenty here, especially the "Kannula Gethu" moment. Rithika's portrayal of the bold, defiant and rebellious "Madhi" is definitely laudable. Her lip sync is perfect - the dubbing artist needs a special mention too. She even overshadows Maddy in many scenes.

There is not even a single frame that doesn't belong. A tight screenplay, an honest script, hard hitting dialogues by Arun Madhieswaran makes the movie a must - watch. The film's supporting cast is hand picked and there are no complaints. Kaali Venkat, as Rithika's father provides the humor relief. Nasser, as a boxing coach reiterates that he is one of the best supporting actors Tamizh Cinema has. Radharavi cakewalks his role and no doubt he is Nasser's counterpart in the most sought after supporting actors. The villain gives a performance that makes you hate him, a winner hands down.

Behind the scenes, we have a hero - Santhosh Narayanan. His songs are a huge plus. His background score and placement of lyrics from Muthamizh and Vivek are brilliant. There is a scene where Rithika counters Madhavan after he dictates her to do pushups as a punishment. Santhosh's placement of "Kannula Gethu... Ava kannula gethu... Vaaipilama vechuduvaa vaaiyila kuththu" gives Rithika the best screen presence moment. Be it a foot tapping "Vaa Machaney" or a soul stirring "Ey sandakaara" or an ambitious "Maya Visai", we have typical Santhosh in full form. There are whistles and screams at the start of each of his songs. His background score in the final moments makes your heart race faster - his brilliance in script oriented music revisited. The climax sequence makes you feel as if the moment is live, though we see shades of Chak de India.

Madhavan underplays his role, a much needed performance for the script. Being overshadowed by Rithika's performance in most of the scenes, he makes it even with just one emotional shot in the climax - a knockout performance.

Sudha Kongara delivers an honest script without much fuss and with no compromise. Her detailed research on boxing is clearly evident from the never ending list of boxers in the end credits - a trendsetting lady filmmaker.

Bottomline - Irudhi Suttru, tadoun tadoun tadoun tadoun taaandoun tatatadoun! (Santhosh Narayanan effect)

Thani Oruvan - A winner, hands down

From the jaws of evil, good always prevails. This has been a TM of tamizh cinema for decades. Thani Oruvan has been stamped with this genre but at the end evil has the upper hand here. Mohan Raja comes out of his comfort level to make an original script as against his previous remake hits. Like his previous films, this film also boasts a huge starcast - Jeyam ravi, arvind swami, nayanthara, ganesh venkataram, thambi ramaiah and many others.

The opening scene gives an unusual introduction of the antagonist. The director starts scoring right from the first scene. A baby is born in a car with placards wrapped around it saying "naalaya vidiveliyae". The film moves at a brisk pace as the sequence of scenes is flawless and seamless. A typical Ram - Ravana story delivered new and afresh. Jeyam Ravi and his group of aspiring police officers take on crimes happening in the society from the days of their training. In due course, Jayam Ravi finds his villain, tailor-made for him. From then on, there is tension between the two, one overtakes the another and finally it ends with dharmam marubadi vellum.

Jayam Ravi gives 100% to his role, a perfect rival for his enemy. But, jayam ravi as Mr.Perfect is again a cliche of 'be-good do-good' heroism in tamizh cinema. Nayantara has no strong scene in the first half, but she scores in the typical motivation-to-hero scene in the second half. She has got a performance-oriented role after raja rani and makes no mistakes. Thambi Ramaiah is a bundle of talent, he evokes laughter just with his mind voice. Whenever the film gets high on seriousness, thambi ramaiah brings it back on track with humour that doesn't disturb the movie. He makes an impact even when he is in a frame with arvind swamy.

Enough said about the "other" members of the starcast, there is one man who steals the show - Arvind swamy. He is pure evil. He plays a role  contrasting to his chocolate boy image and still manages it with ease. He conveys everything with just his eyes and his smile. There are places where he uses words like "incorrigible". A sophisticated villain. One might get reminded of kanaa kanden prithviraj, but arvind swamy is the trendsetter now thanks to the gripping screenplay. Yes, arvind swamy wins hands down over jeyam ravi - evil prevails over good, but only in the audience's heart.

The dialogue writer duo SuBa come up with their best after ayan and ko. "Nallatha mattumae seiya, kadavulaala kooda mudiyathu, nammellam enna?", "Nee kodutha vaazhkaiya naan aethukala, nee kaeta vaazhkaiya naan kuduthutaen", "Love at first sight, kill at first betrayal" are "just" samples, there are plenty. Everyone is in praise of arvind swamy and Raja after the release. Hiphop tamizha is a silent winner. His "theemai thaan vellum" for arvind swamy is haunting, though it is repetitive. The lyrics written by Hiphop Tamizha himself deserves a special mention. His songs are chartbusters already. "Kannaala" song rings in your ears though it comes at a place to disturb the pace of the movie.

Mohan Raja makes a debut after 5 films, as an original script writer. He hasn't compromised to take in commercial elements, every scene is much needed for the plot and the story. There are few scenes which thrill you in an unusual, unexpected way - jeyam ravi checking out the silencers of the parked bikes to trace the enemy, the bug tracker scene, the first scene at the chief minister's office, the first encounter of arvind swamy with jeyam ravi with the gun case. After all, there is the proposal scene with no words. Audience unanimously acknowledged with thunderous applause for each of these scenes. Hip hop tamizha's bg score elevated all these scenes to give a mass appeal.

Mohan Raja has bounced back and no stopping from here!

Bottomline - a perfect masala movie, a must watch.

Baahubali - A Visual Extravaganza!

In an era where the hype and expectation created among the theatre going audience drives a film's box office run, there are very few films that satisfy the masses, the rest of them just test their patience. What is the height of expectation in Tamilnadu? A thalaivar movie. In recent times, for the first time, a non-thalaivar movie has made into the elite-club with protagonists who are aliens to tamizh audience, with a director whose name is "engayo kaeta kural" to tamizh audience, with technicians entirely new to tamizh cinema : baagubali - the beginning (let this be a beginning to my review, am still not out of the baagubali mode).

Keeravani's soulful melody for the title track might be a surprise element for a much awaited, a mass-appealing period drama. But, the opening scene that follows, makes you realize that you have been prepared for that, throughout the title track. A ponniyin selvan inspiration is evident in the first sequence itself. Rajamouli's team has scripted each character in the drama. The amount of paper work gone into just penning the character's look, the CG work involved in creating a-close-to-reality fictional period drama, the art work involved right from designing a handy knife, a sword and weaponry for warfare to erecting high-raise sets of the empire, the thought process involved in visualizing the vyugaas for the war sequence, the attention to bg score is definitely a showcase of the talent powerhouse Indian cinema has. 

Baagubali - the one with strong arms - to justify this title, there is too much of spoon-feeding from rajamouli, as the lead character (prabhas) lifts a lingam singlehandedly and swims across the river, prevents a 100 ft tall falling statue from hitting the ground - more of a USP to attract telugu audience. The gravity defying stunts can be crazy but the camera angles and crisp editing makes it watchable. All except 2 songs blend with the screenplay and vaikom vijayalakshmi's voice for "siva sivaya poatri" is the best. The romantic song for prabhas and tamanaah is a distraction to the story line, but a sure connect for baagubali-the conclusion (watch it in theatres to get into the mode). Why does rajamouli want an item number for an otherwise spectacular movie? - proves to be a dampener. Rajamouli's cameo is not worth mentioning (mentioning it as he is the master brain behind this epic movie).

Anushka's fans would have been disappointed as they have to wait for the sequel to see her in full form. Tamannah as a brave young rebel plays her role perfect, the sword fight she performs is stylish, but her acting is overboard while showing anger and vengeance. Rana dagubatti's physique makes him a perfect villain and his eyes give the perfect backstabber look. And again, there is a bull-taming sequence for him, which is for telugu audience. There are two show-stealers - ramya krishnan and satyaraj. Ramya krishnan portrays a bold, brave queen and her voice and dialogue delivery suits her image. The scene where she quickly pulls out a short knife, utters "nari thandhiram illai, raaja thanthiram", cuts open the enemy's throat sends a shiver down your spine. Satyaraj has the most memorable dialogues in the movie. His role as a slave to the magizhmadhi arasu is perfect. Again, he shines as the most sought after supporting actor in recent times. "Thanthavargal irantha poathilum, thantha vaaku irakkavilaalyae" receives a thunderous applause when satyaraj delivers it. He shows anger, pity, loyalty, empathy, bravery, guilt in various frames - one hell of a role for him. Prabhas screen presence is brilliant, the bg score adds weight to it.

The art director sabu cyril makes you go jaw-dropping. The camera goes like a snake to picturize the beauty of cyril's sets making it a spectacle. A kingdom with highly erected fortress walls surrounded by a pool of crocodiles is more of an inspiration from tipu sultan empire. The picturization of this empire (most probably a set with some decorative cg work) is terrific. The first time the empire is shown - Camera swims on the pool of crocodiles, swings and zooms out to cover the full front elevation of magizhmadhi empire, zooms in and travels between the highest kalasaas in the entrance into the compound, picks up the brutal scenes of slaves being tortured, mamool vasool and flies into an open ground and goes on a brake-slamming mode only to stop at the foot of Rana. (Go watch it in theatres).

The climax war sequence keeps you engrossed with the strategies they employ, an inspiration from sivagamiyin sabatham. Though the stunts are unbelievable, it is gonna attract kids. Satyaraj's narration of the flashback is flawless and his voice in bg takes you to the kadhai kalam. The film ends with many unanswered questions, a perfect plot for a sequel.

To end, what is baagubali? A historic movie? A period drama? A commercial potboiler? It is definitely not a historic movie. It is a commercial fictional period drama taking inspirations from epics like mahabharata and other tamizh novels.

Awaiting baahubali - the conclusion!

Uthama Villain

"Neenga nallavara? Kettavara?","Kadavul paadhi mirugam paadhi kalanthu seitha kalavai naan", "I am a hero and a villain" - This one liner has followed Kamal haasan all through his film career. Again, Uthama-villain is a new addition. Uthama villain is a tribute to his guru - K.B. The film not only stays a tribute but states the inevitable truth - death. Mortal is the artist, immortal is the art. The film travels on a thin-line story with a huge star cast.

The film takes a slump at the beginning with the "Love-a love-a" song where Kamal tries some pathetic moves in dance (Probably, it is a satire on commercial cinema). Manoranjan (Kamal) is a top actor and he goes commercially big in all his movies. When he faces an unexpected "Art is long, life is short" situation, he decides to go back to his Margadarisi (K.B.) for a movie. The film travels between two different centuries, but both finally state the same fact - the fact of life - death. There is symbolism scattered all over the movie. The scene where Kamal haasan confesses to his daughter - he clears his makeup, the scene where Kamal's dark side is shown - Kamal stands in front of 'uthama villain' poster and villain points towards him, the scene where Kamal asks for break during his shooting - intermission and many other scenes. Each scene has been crafted to perfection and there is Kamal haasan's stamp all over. Kamal haasan's stint with dialogues / scenes featuring atheism continues in uthama villain when he shows that even god is mortal. The climax scene is portrayed with an ironic stamp. Yes, that is the master-stroke!

Kamal has shown a wide-range of emotions, but the scene where he cries when he first sees her daughter's photo stands out. This might be the 'Moondram pirai' version of Kamal haasan. But, there is overdose of crying with all the characters crying atleast once. Nasser comes up with a commendable performance and proves his versatility. He is in tough competition to Kamal haasan in the period-drama. Urvashi pulls off each scene with ease and she takes the lead of all lead-ladies portrayed. That is where the experience has its say. Parvathy menon, Pooja kumar and Andrea play their role to perfection. Manohar (as Kamal's son) doesnt' look like a newcomer and he is here to stay. Ghibran's music also travels between centuries and he is a real talent, Kamal's continuous collaborations with him in the upcoming movies prove that. 

A perfect tribute to K.B., a perfect example of Kamal's midas touch is Uthama villain! A dragging screenplay proves a villain to uthama villain. But, finally it is "Annatha aadurrar... othiko othiko! Thennaatu vengai thaan.. othukko othukko!". It is Kamal who makes the movie gripping! Every character scores in atleast one scene and there is one character who scores in every scene. Kamal has shown his expertise in every possible scene. He is unarguably the biggest superstar of Indian cinema! Kamal has often been a Nostradamus predicting unemployment (Varumaiyin niram sivappu), Tsunami (Anbe sivam), bio warfare (Dasavatharam) and now - his guru's death (Uthama villain). 

Uthama villain - A must-watch for movie-lovers. But, as usual, it is a 50-50 audience poll for Kamal haasan!