Aadukalam Film Review

Aadukalam - Loser

A loser doesn't know what he'll do if he loses, but talks about what he'll do if he wins, and a winner doesn't talk about what he'll do if he wins, but knows what he'll do if he loses. Aadukalam shows the two sides of a character - happy-go-lucky winner and dare-to-do-anything loser. Vetri gives a pathos end to the lead characters life.

Rathnavelu wants to win the cockfight at least once with his long-time nemesis, Pettaikaaran. Reason - the desire of his mother before she dies. Sadly, he never wins.

Pettaikaaran, a veteran in cock-training who kicks Rathnavelu's butt every time in the challenge, succumbs to his envy and ego, to end as a loser.

Karuppu, who was trained by Pettaikaaran, now the reason for Pettaikaaran's guile is forced to abondon his inhabitant.

Dorai, another understudy of Pettaikaaran loses his loved cocks.

Karuppu's mother wanted to clear the debts on their house passes away before it could happen.

Pettaikaaran's wife, Meena, despit being 25 years younger and madly-in-love with him, abandons because of his mistrust.

So in a way, every character ends with losing their dreams. Vetri gives us an open ending, that can be assumed, they end as losers with only positive being Karupu getting his Anglo-Indian girlfriend, Irene.

Aadukalam - Envy

You can't be envious and happy at the same time. Like Macbeth, to attain credit and victory, characters go to any extreme, thus becoming restless and losing their peace of mind (can be put it as piece of mind too) Rathnavelu kills people, lures members from Pettaikaaran team with lucrative offerings, only to no avail. Karuppu, envy of his success, who when poked 'Afraid of losing eh?' is ready to do anything to show he is a winner personified. Pettaikaaran, jealous of all the fame going to his understudy, couldn’t stand to it and hatches plan to spoil Karuppu's moment so as to get back to his respected days. If you desire glory, you may envy Napoleon, but Napoleon envied Caesar, Caesar envied Alexander, and Alexander, I daresay, envied Hercules, who never existed. If Rathnavelu depicts an outright villain in the first half, Pettaikaaran steals the second half with his cunningness and subtle cruelty. To put it in a word - 'Silent Assassin'. We can draw parallels between Rathnavelu and Pettaikaaran, as how covetousness forces people expose their dark side. The Satan shifts from Rathnavelu to Karuppu's godly figure Pettaikaaran and kudos to Vetrimaaran for enfolding these sequences brilliantly.

Aadukalam - Pluses

Dhanush lived and breathed as Karuppu is an understatement. Aadukalam brings Dhanush back to his old acting prowess and he delivers a knock-out performance. Be it love-bug smitten dude, subservient student, blindly trusting his mentor, Dhanush brings out variety of emotions. The stand out scenes are when Dhanush tells Tapsee about his mother when she is no more and on knowing Pettaikaaran deceived him throughout, Dhanush’s body language was amazing. To my surprise, he mouthed Madurai slang quite brilliantly. The good aspect in Dhanush's acting he never cries out loud where it can be a downside giving humour moments for audiences. The tears, coating his eyes, injects you the agony and sorrow, Karuppu going through. Though the initial expections ‘like Kokki Kumar’ were making waves, Dhanush didn’t show any shadow of Kokki Kumar in this movie. Everything is perfect and worked well for Dhanush (including his physique which was a downside in Pudupettai)

Pettaikaaran is one of the best etched out villains in recent times. It is a complete contrast to the complex Brutus characterisation, because he neither killed Caesar for greed, envy nor to preserve his social position. But here, Pettaikaaran is driven by aforementioned forces, painting grey shades to his character.

No separate comedy track and squeezed songs. Both the comedy and songs gels with the movie's flow, not giving any indications of unnecessary scenes.

Editing - Like Polladavan, the movie unfurls into flashback mode after opening sequences and the initial 10 minutes non-linear sequences, that answers what’s and how’s of cockfight is remarkable. Not forget to mention the cock fight before the interval, that holds your interest and actually from where the movie kick-starts, editing is brilliant

Songs were already a rage among audiences and Vetri didn’t spoil the visual expectations.

Cinematography - The shots are pleasant with natural lightings and no extra gimmicks.

Dialogs, Characterisation - Vetri's template is wonderful. He had a story on board and like chess pieces, placed the characters perfectly. Every character has its own motive and moved uniquely. Right from abuses (there are different abuse words, GVM should take a not who always uses 'Otha'), the dialogs are ideal Madurai dialects.

Aadukalam - Minuses

Dorai (Kishore) - It falls between a weakly written and not much scope characterisation. The initial allures with Rathnavelu, makes you sit up expecting a turn around, but it is let loose. Dorai's characterisation lacked penetration

Irene (Tapsee) - God, this girl is bloody beautiful (sundi vitta ratham varum - bloody :P ) but her lip sync is pathetic and stone faced in many sequences. Though she didn’t have much scenes to show her acting ability, she didn’t even attempt to act in the provided scenes. Just like her character, her performance is nothing worth to write off. Though Divya had less scope in Polladavan she was beautiful plus expressive, but Tapsee is beauty and beauty. Dot!

BGM - GV Prakash might be in Polladavan hangover. At many places, you hear Polladavan BGM's and Thalapathy's Chinna Thaai aval pops in few sequences. This guy was promising in Madraspattinam considering his BGM. Aadukalam is a different ball game, accepted, but he didn’t even deliver 50% of Veyil, another rustic village movie that glorified loser.

Pettaikaaran - His moustache at few places acted as a drawback. I couldnt relate to the dialogs and his lip movements, and also his expressions couldnt be captured. The actor didn’t give completeness to the powerful Pettaikaaran, but I am not saying he is worse :) Good for what should be a great one :)

Open Ending- Vetri ended every character losing something for their love, trust and envy. There is no completeness in finely etched characters. Rathnavelu never appears in second half and you keep guessing what happens to Dorai and Meena once the end credits starts rolling.

Bottom-line - It's not life or death it's a game and at the end of the game there is going to be a winner and a loser. Aadukalam lionizes both and Vetri did prove he is not a one film wonder and stamped his long stay in Kollywood's Aadukalam through his Aadukalam.

Raavanan Film Review

First things first. 'Raavanan' is not what everyone thought so. It isn't a contemporary adaptation of Ramayana. Instead, it's the Valmiki's epic meeting Shakespeare's Othello. The master filmmaker Mani Ratnam has apparently taken inspiration from these greatest works to narrate a gripping story in his own inimitable style.

'Raavanan', right from the day it went to floors, has been rising a huge hype and hoopla. And expectations soared a never before high before its release. Does the end product lived up to all? To this question, the answer is- With a huge star cast chipping in with their best, mesmerising shots, crisp editing and riveting music, 'Raavanan' ends up satisfying the appetite of the masses.

All credits to Mani for rendering a movie that is engrossing and entertaining from the very word go. With Vikram around, his job seems to have simplified. The duo end up giving sheen and shine to every scene, which unfolds at good pace. With the best of best in the business like A R Rahman (music) and Santosh Sivan (cinematography) joining hands with Mani, the battle seems to have been won even before it began.

If Mani can be considered the captain of the team, it's Vikram who helps make all his dream a reality. As Veera, he comes out with one of his finest performances. He is not just ruthless, but at times emotional, sentimental and humourous. Veera is an epitome of emotions, which Vikram has brought out well.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is not far behind. She catches up with Vikram frame-to-fame. As a bewildered Ragini, who is kidnapped by a mighty man, she brings out the right emotions. Worked hard for her role, running in jungles, sliding from cliff. Prithviraj as Superintendent of Police looks stylish and apt for role.



The storyline is nothing new to Tamil cinema. It is basically a revenge drama. But what is entertaining is the way Mani has made the script and screenplay. Man of many accomplishments, he has ensured that it has class and mass elements in them.


Angered at their act, Ragini pours angry words. When she questions as to why he has kidnapped her and is abusing a cop, an agitated Veera narrates the reason for all his acts. In a flashback, it is revealed that the death of his sister Vennila (Priyamani) had provoked him to do so.

Vennila along with her brothers lead a happy life until her marriage is fixed. On the day of her wedding, Dev and his men enter the wedding hall and attempts to bump off Veera, who along with his brothers flee from the place hoping that Vennila would be protected by her husband. However fearing life, the bridegroom runs away leaving her. Her modesty is outraged and she is forced to end her life. Brothers then vow to avenge Dev.

Now cut to present, Ragini starts to sympathise Veera. The hot chase by cops for Veera continues until Gnanaprakasam prefers to come all alone and broker peace with Veera. In return, Sakkarai goes to meet Dev and agrees to end everything. But he is killed.

Now it is all up to an angered Veera to go hammer and tongs and teach a lesson to cops. At one point of time, Veera allows Ragini to go with her husband. But Dev makes sure Ragini meets Veera once again. What is his motive and what happened to Veera is the climax.

It has been a gripping narration from the very first frame. After 'Sethu' and 'Pithamagan', another side of Vikram's acting credentials is exposed. As Veera, he is at free touching almost every aspect of acting.

Aishwarya is pretty and comes out with her best. Prithviraj and Priyamani have taken the challenge of being part of a Mani Ratnam's film and delivered their best. John Vijay walks away doing a negative role.

Karthik as forest guard fits the role to T. His expression and body language are something interesting. Equally attracting is Prabhu. Munna as Vikram's younger sibling gets a meaty role to play, which he utilises well.



Running for little more than two hours, 'Raavanan' will go down in the history of Tamil cinema as one of the finest and best. Cheers Madras Talkies and Mani Ratnam for rendering a class movie that is racy and entertaining too.



Raavanan - Big, bright & beautiful

Angadi Theru Film Review

Angadi Theru audience can never have a negative mindset as Vasantha Balan gave a stunner called 'Veyyil', a few years back under Shankar's banner. Now with international recognition with various awards that Veyyil fetched him, he doesn't need the banner anymore. With expectation comes responsibility and the responsibility was held perfect by Vasantha Balan who has portrayed the Angadi Theru. Often, when you give a decent movie, you tend to see shades of the same movie in your upcoming movies as well. But Vasantha Balan stands as an exception in the street of Angadies. I am sure there is tremendous homework behind this attempt. It's not an easy task to portray the inner life of the sales guys working in famous all-in-one shops that too located in the busy bee of Chennai.

The movie is about the life of people working in a Angadi Street (Street that has got only shops). It doesn't focus only on the lead pair but also describes how people live a life managing a business in this street. There are many brilliant scenes to describe both shades of people. The platform shopkeepers, the individual sellers, the cruel supervisors, the physically challenged people and also the policemen who safeguards the public from cheaters and thieves.

The movie would have been a zombie if importance is not give to the casting. Vasantha Balan scores high here. We saw his casting brilliance in Veyyil, especially the flashback episode of choosing the child artists. I am not at all surprised to see the same brilliance in Angadi Theru. If I had to pick someone who was mega brilliant, it would go to the director A. Venkatesh. I was shocked to his stunning performance. The character that he played, the ruggedness that he had and of course the look made it to say that the casting of his character can never be replicated by anybody else. I in fact felt, instead of directing horrible commercial movies, he can do such meaningful character roles. The other significant factor about other cast involved in the movie is that they resembled as if the real sales guys were asked to act. Only odd feel about the cast that I felt was the character Kani played by Anjali. Her glamy look doesn't make her an apt character to play a salesgirl role. But still, she did role to perfection. Also, the typical 'Annatchi kadai' slag was maintained fantastically throughout the movie. One can notice the slang on how it differs when rendered at different emotion.

Paandi, the KKK fame needs some special mention for his humor in the movie. In general, we often see the screen presence occupied by the lead pair of a movie. But here, we could see that more than two cast shares the screen presence throughout the movie. Paandi, in this movie is not meant for filling the comedian role alone. He shares some significant screen space in many scenes. Along with Paandi, there are other casts like Shophie Mary, other supervisor, the Great Annatchi and many others who have done a neat job.

Vasantha Balan has also taken a dig at many real life incidents or rather accidents and cleverly connected to his child, the screenplay. None can forget the accident that caused the life of the platform livers when a lorry overrun on the platform resulting in many lives. Also, another accident in the improper level crossing. He has used these real accidents into the screenplay apt and certainly not to create tragedy like how we had seen in several movies in the past. He has also taken a dig at Saravana Stores describing how cruel they are with poor illiterate people from village and how rude they are to these people. He has also concentrated on describing how people come to a different city to earn for their family, which is entirely dependant on the person for bread and butter. There are quite a few scenes where Vasantha Balan has literally made the audience to move with the screenplay and fantastic dialogues by Jayamohan. When a dwarf worries that his kid was born resembling him with crippled legs and hands, his wife was very much happy with the way the kid was born resembling him. Asked why, she replied, none can question her on her chastity as they live in the streets and moreover her husband is a dwarf. This specific scene took the audience off their seat and got accolades.

Who can take an open challenge to go and shoot with your mobile camera in the Ranganathan Street? I bet, you will immediately delete the video from your mobile on seeing the quality of capture. Imagine the shoot, which took place in the same street with no sets. Normally, when you shoot in public, it will attract the crowd, but you are in a street where you can see 4 people per square meter. These are more than enough challenges for the debutant Richard. Be it the busy Ranganathan Street or the clean drought village, the debutant scores significantly high and claim due credits for his phenomenal work behind the camera.

Music and the background score for the movie did not let the momentum of the movie to go down. In this aspect, both Vijay Antony, who has also handled the background score and G V Prakash has done a decent job with neat songs and rhythmic clear BGM.

Vasantha Balan scripts each and every frame brilliantly. The continuity has been maintained very well with Sreekar Prasad doing a crisp work with his scissors. Vasantha Balan gave valid justification and also did not over bore the audience with too much emotion or too much humor. He is just 3 movies old director and he has got the ability to maintain the pace and calculate the pulse of the audience. You get to see a lot of beggars who can bring soft corner as soon as you see them. But Vasantha Balan did not bring the emotion in just showing them but also used them along with the screenplay to bring in emotion. Overall, the product is a very neat and genuine attempt and a welcome movie for the Tamil Cinema Audience.

Mundhinam partheney film review

“Mundhinam Partheney ” has no big names either in the acting front or behind the scenes but it is one of the better takes on “Love” in the recent times which is as real as it can possibly get. Magizh Thirumeni debuts with this one & he shows a lot of potential in presenting a tale pleasantly & interestingly without any uncalled-for histrionics or melodrama making it a worthwhile movie watching experience. He should surely make his “Guru” Goutham Vasudev Menon proud & also show him thing or two how love can be portrayed on screen without any undue over the top moments.

Movie does start off rather amateurishly & sluggishly without anything worthwhile happening onscreen but once Sanjay & Ektha meet & get into a relationship the movie takes of nicely with a very interesting climax to boost. The fact that reality bites & not every love has a happy ending is told in a poetic manner. Also the director has not taken undue efforts to justify the actions of the lead pair with is what makes the movie intriguing.

On the downside , the pace may have been taken care of while songs spring up here & there without any validation for their appearance which does gets under one’s nerves after a point of time. One gets a feeling that there are 1 or 2 songs too many , though the songs are pleasant to hear.

Arvind as the protagonist is adept with boy next door features .Among the heroines Ektha is competent while the other two Lizna & Pooja pass muster.

Sai Prasanth & that talkative girl of the gang manages to generate heartfelt laughter without any double-entendres or vulgar jokes which is refreshing indeed.

In Thaman’s music all songs are melodious & good to hear while he is OK with his Background score.

Jayanan Vincent’s Cinematography is proficient while editing may have been sharper.

On the whole , when one entered the cinema hall without any expectation , “Munthinam Partheney ” comes across as a whiff of fresh air. Go for it & enjoy the pleasantness of realism .

Bottomline: Pleasant .

3.5/5

My Name is Khan film review

Very early at the start of the movie our hero Rizwan khan is taught by his mother that there are only two kinds of people in the world the good kind and the other bad. I was just wondering how simple it could be if our movie watching experience could be as simple as that and classify simply as good or bad. I for one invariably find it difficult to classify movies as plainly as that. There would be some fantastic movies which will have parts that don’t work for me, and some terrible movies where some parts works wonders. So the overall experience is always could not always be put in a simple word or two. MNIK is one such movie

It’s a story of Rizwan khan who is autistic (Asperger syndrome) and his journey to win back his love of his life. The movie starts of with setting up Rizwan Khans character and goes in flashback mode detailing his childhood. These portions give an engaging start to the movie and it really picks of once Rizwan Khan reaches US. The next one hour is purely entertaining and it’s definitely the high point of the movie. When you have a pair like SRK – Kajol their chemistry can make wonders to even the most dullest and uninspiring sequences. KJo does really well and creates some really dearly lovable moments. Be it the proposal scene or the scene on the bed, or even a simple conversation about California looks magical with these two are around. The pre interval block where a tragedy strikes and rips the two apart is all heavy melodrama that you associate KJo with. He shines in these portions and leaves a lump in the throat aided by some brilliant acting.

The movie starts to falter in the second half as Rizwan Khan travels across regions to fulfill his promise. So we have a sub plot involving a small town in Georgia where our man does a miraculous turn over to the hurricane hit area which is too clichéd and cinematic. There is another sequence where he ends up preaching the truth about Islam and uncovers a terrorist plot which looks very amateurish and laughable. As much as these subplots are essential in Rizwan fulfilling his dream and to carry the movie forward, you are left with a feeling of emptiness and wish these sequences could have been much better. And the climatic sequence though plays out as expected to have a happy go ending looks a tad silly.
Inspite of these glitches and unevenness you carry away a pleasant feeling when the movie ends and it’s primarily because of the fact you heart goes out for the very likeable nature of Rizwan Khan. SRK is no natural actor and is often criticized for being hammy or over doing his role. But he gets it absolutely right. The Only autism I am aware is through Rainman and Forrest Gump so can’t really comment how authenticate his portrayal is, but for sure its believable and consistent throughout. This might well be his best role yet. Be it his body language or his quirky mannerisms, we see he has put in an earnest effort and is payed off really well. It’s a heart touching endearing performance. Lookout for the sequence where Kajol proposes to him or the scene where he comforts his brother breaking down, we see an actor who has developed leaps and bounds. After Swades and Chak de this role might turn out to be another one where his detractors become his fans. Way to go King Khan.

He is equally complimented by a Fantastic Kajol, who always looks like she has never taken a break from films. She looks fantastic and performs equally well. Look out for the scene where she hugs her kid’s dead body and slowly breaks down, she is one of the very few actress who could have pulled of that scene so well. It’s a pity to have several known actors in small cameos, where none of them are properly utilized. Hence none of them sticks to your heart when the movie ends.

As with any KJo this movie too boasts of great production values. Ravi K chandran is fantastic behind the camera. He covers such varies landscapes with such finesse. Shankar Ehsaan Loys music is equally good. Songs are used in the BGM as a narrative and is used sparsely unlike other Kjo movies which is a relief. Yet as in the case of his previous movie, though the content here is very sensitive you get the feeling that treatment is all shallow and glossy. For sure he has toned it down, but yet you dont get the gritty realistic treatment that one would associate with such an issue. On the whole the movie ends up as yet another entertaining movie with some terrific performances when essentially it could have ended up way better.

P.S: It is truly disappointing to see what is happening to SRK and MNIK. People can either like a movie or not like a movie, but they should be definitely given a chance to watch the movie. It is shocking that some atrocious cheap politics playing spoil sport and deciding whether or not that people should be allowed to watch the movie. Its one individual right to speak his mind and SRK just did that. He speaks and believes in an ideology and am really happy that he stood by it even after facing such immense pressure from all quarters. For that alone this movie has to watched and supported. I and I alone decide what movie should I watch and what I should not, and not any other ##@$#@#$#@.

Veer Film Review

Veer-One of the most Expected movies of 2010 Is Dissapointing . The movie takes us back to the period where british ruled india using the divide and rule policy. The story is all about betrayal , love , and war . The story revolves around mithun chakraborty 's son Veer Who takes revenge on jackie shiroff for betraying the Pindari's by joining with the british . Pindaris are a group of people who lived in madhavgarh . They had to move out because of the occupation of that place by british and jackie shiroff. How they get back madhavgarh from the Britishers Wat happens to The king of Madhavgarh i.e Jackie Shirrof etc etc is the story The first half of the movie is good . Salman and his brother Sohail are sent to london to study in a university . salman falls in love with zerene (Katrina Look alike) . Problems then arises as people there come to know that salman belonged to the pindaris and they to finish him off in London . Salman escapes and comes back to India . then he comes to know that [SPOILER]ZERENE is the daughter of Jackie shiroff. will he sacrifise his love for his people or will he choose the path of love and leave his people behind is told in the second half . The second half of the movie literally tests one's patience. Few of the scenes inspired from troy , gladiator etc . The Stunts are not realistic at places and Salman has not learnt his mistake from his last attempt LOndon Dreams . The same mistake is made here songs coming once for every 20 minutes or so .. Which eventully slows the pace of the movie .

One has to appreciate the director anil sharma for bringing out accurately some of the details . Sadly he hasnt concentrated much on the storyline

THE CLAPS First half , Art director ,
Salman who carries the entire script , Mithun Chakraborty (Salman's Dad)

THE BOOS Second half , Screenplay , Poor Finishing , Songs , Stunts

This movie may be average - below average n single screens /

It wouldnt do great business n the case of multiplexes//

Namo Venkatesa is good though its repetative

**movie is average

story is a rehashed version of many films,..direction becomes easier for srinu vaitla as he did this kind of movies many times earlier,its good,..screenplay is ok,...climax twist is not handled well..n also sreenu vaitla is concentrating more on comedy section n leaving the rest....he sholud follow trivikram who does the balanced act...

cumin to performances venky did well,he is expert at doin these kind of roles,..trisha is good,..brahmi is also good,..others(vaitla's comedy batch) are okay...

cinematography is good,..europe is well showcased..

music is below average..only title song is good..even good picturisation didn't help the songs

fights r bad...(pre climax fight at airport has good lead scene,...but its handled very badly...its neither serious nor comical)

dialogues r good(mostly humour oriented)

on the whole...NV is a clean entertainer without violence r disturbing content,..its definitely worth a watch,...first half is avg...2nd half is good to max extent....climax is boring...but few comedy episodes r excellent in this movie(jathakam scene,venky-brahmi escape scene in 2nd half,....)**

Up In The Air Review

Guys This is one the best movies I have seen in recent times. Well made movie,all the characters fall in place and Clooney's role is awesome and he has give it his best like always...

The movie is a mix of comedy and reality during the recession times US faced.. Last 15 min of the movie is aint that good as you would want it to be after watching the first 1:30 min of the movie...

DNT MISS THIS MOVIE.

CLOONEY IS AMAZING..SIMPLE AND WELL DONE