Jil Jung Juck

We have Vadivelu's omnipresence reiterated with one more movie titled with his famous dialogue from Kaadhalan - Jil... Jung... Juck... With the single track "Shoot the Kuruvi" and an interesting promo two days before its release, Jil Jung Juck enjoyed the much needed pre-release hype. Is Jil Jung Juck a Jil or a Jung or a Juck?

The opening scene of the movie takes us to an interesting plot, a period when the world is experiencing a severe fuel crisis. A drug smuggler, a petrol smuggler, a scientist, three people who are hired to transport cocaine - an interesting plot and characterisation. Siddharth as Jil, Avinash Raghudevan as Jung and Sananth Reddy as Juck are hired to deliver a pink vintage car to the Chinese which is believed to be packed with Cocaine. Deiva (Amarendran) hires them to deliver his last package of drugs after many of his recent failures in drug trafficking. Will Jil Jung Juck deliver the package at the right time? 

Of late, we see Siddharth trying diverse roles and he is back as Nanjil Sivaji. As a producer and as a protagonist, he is perfect. Sananth Reddy's performance as the innocent Juck is laudable. However, Avinash as Jung is the most entertaining of the three lead characters. With a blank expression on his face, he has the perfect looks for a comedian. Radha Ravi and Nasser are the usual supporting character materials and deliver a flawless performance. Bhagavathi Perumal has been under-utilized, sad that he did not get any meaty roles after "Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom".

Director Dheeraj Vaidhy and Mohan Ramakrishnan's dialogues are new and afresh. Art direction and VFX deserve a special mention for the spectacular treatment of few shots, escpecially the scene involving the petrol silo and the marbles. The screenplay is fast paced in the first half, with the movie shifting back and forth as there is a flashback scene for each of the primary characters. Though the plot and the line-up of characters is interesting, the screenplay lacks the much needed element of suspense until the last fifteen minutes. There are lengthy scenes which makes the second half a little dragging. A movie tagged with "Comedy" genre tries hard to evoke laughter in most parts. Despite the comedy ingredients ranging from adult comedy to slapstick comedy, a very few scenes evoke laughter. The film falls yards short of the boundary line, with a dragging second half attempting the comedy route. The final 15 minutes of the movie provides relief to the otherwise dull second half. 

Vishal Chandrasekhar deserves a special stanza in this review - the sole hero of the movie. Right from his "Shoot the Kuruvi" to background score he has delivered his best in an experimental album. The music adapts to the wacky nature of the movie and compliments the picturization. The carnatic dubstep that is played in the background during the burst of the petrol silo and the chase that unfolds - height of experimentation. With the next-gen musicians forming a line-up with Santhosh Narayanan, Anirudh, Sean Roldan to name a few, Vishal finds his place in the list with a thumbs-up from the audience. "Shoot the Kuruvi" with the end credits rolling, makes the audience sit through till the end card - a winning moment for Vishal!

Bottomline - Jil Jung Juck, definitely not a Jil or a Juck!

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)