Oct 9, 2005

Some recent movies

1. Ghajini:

Serious version:

No time to write a full review. I liked it for the most part, except when the director seemed to lose his grip on the movie in the last quarter. The highlight is the excellent chemistry between Asin and Surya. Asin was awesome and attractive as usual. The song picturization left a lot to be desired, especially my two favorite "oru maalai" and "suttum vizhi". The screenplay shuttles back and forth between present and past, and makes the viewer keep guessing the finer details.

Lighter version:
Surya kanji kudicha madhiri moda modannu nadakkurar, especially in the 'present' scenes. Andha villain-ai 'Viduthalai siruthaigal' kitte pidichu kudutha punniyama pogum.. Tamil-ai kadichu, mennu, kuthappi, thuppurar. Climax-le enn avaroda adiyaalgal ellam dhideernu es- ayidarangannu puriyale.. Surya niraiya iron tonic kudichiruppar pola.. kaiyale adichey rendu hefty villains-ai kolai panrar. 9thara Chandramukhi odo odonnu odunadhule nallaa santhoshama oru rendu moonu round peruthirukkanga. Namitha kooda pottiya? Avanga panra 'thathu pithu' velai ellam partha paavam, avangaloda patients ellam insure pannittudhaan parkka poganum (Ammani final year medical student-am.. Kizhinjudhu)

2) Nuvvustanante Nenodantanna:

Serious version:
Prabhu Deva, in his directorial debut, has come up with a family entertainer. Though the second part of the movie is quite inspired from hindi hits like "Maine pyar kiya" and "Pyar kiya to darna kiya", it has some refreshing moments and keeps one engaged throughout. The minutes before climax lead to a needless tragedy and it appears to be just for the sake of having a climax. Siddharth and Trisha make a lovely duo and their initial interactions are sweet and cute. Sid seems to be watching a few Shah Rukh movies of late. It would be better if he tries to keep it original as he did in Boys and Aitha Ezhuthu. Trisha is getting better with each movie. Prakash Raj, as usual, does a remarkable job in the few minutes of cameo he gets. Songs are melodious and the cinematography is neat. Saw a Telugu movie after 7 years or so, it was worth the wait.

Lighter version:
First the title. I had to copy and paste it after some googling. Vayile nuzhaiyadha title plus I dont know the meaning as well. Sid's hairstyle yaaroda idea-vo? (Trisha-ve 'kurangu madhiri irukku'nnu comment adikkira). Padathoda periya jokers-e adhoda villains.. adhuleyum karuppa varra villain sirichu siriche kolraar. Original comedian pendha pendha muzhichinde sokku adikkirar. Kashtam. Trisha-vai vida avaloda friend suuuper. Yarachum andha devathaiyai Tamil-ku kondu vaangappa plz plz..

3) Paheli:

Serious version:
Paheli is based on a Rajasthani folk story and is based sometime in the 18th or 19th century.
It is a cute ghost movie. I dont know how many die-hard Shahrukh fans would accept him in the role of a ghost but the heroine does. In India, there are hundreds of unbelievable folk stories. I think they are better left to read and enjoy. If someone tries to fit a larger-than-life actor like Shahrukh, it may not click, as is the case with Paheli. It is very colorful but songs by MM Kreem (our good old Maragathamani aka Keeravani) disappoint us. They are nowhere near his previous Sur or Jism. Shahrukh does for the umpteenth time the role of someone who steals the heart of his near and dear by acting chooo chweet..

Lighter version:
Husband roopathule oru pei vandha enna pennalavadhu ethukka mudiyuma? I doubt, especially since this movie is based long ago, when the men had a final say in whatever way the family has to be run. Pei kooda kudmbam nadathi kuzhanthai pethukkaradhu scientifically epadi sathiyam? Nalla kaadhule poo suthurangappa.. Mothathule idhu 'thalaiyum illatha kaalum illatha' oru kathai (namma vooru peikkku ellam kaal irukkathunnu kelvipattirukkenn). Shahrukh-ai meesaiyoda parkka comedy-ya irukku.. Pavam Amitabh.. Rajasthani dress-le baffoon madhiri vandhu 10 minutes kalaichittu porar. Kal anaalum kanavan, pei analum purushan-nu Tamil-le dub pannalam.

4) Chanakya:

Serious version:
When Sarat appears as 'Publicity Ganesan', an autodriver who seems to be interested in getting famous by gaining media coverage. The first quarter of the movie is pretty different and we get to think that the director has come up with totally new ideas as a surprise package. Unfortunately, the story takes the age-old track of "revenge for dear ones' death". The climax is heavily inspired from 'Phonebooth'. Vadivelu's comedy raises a few laughs and it seems Sarat has struck a great liking for his comedy. The first half thus has lots of Vadivelu moments, and, as expected, he slowly disappears in the second half. Namitha as usual is for just songs. Good to see Salim Ghous after a long time.
Lighter version:
Namitha-vai parthuttu Deepak-oda latest post padinga. Ammani is growing in all dimensions (acting-le ille, makkala..). Sarat adikkadi punch dialogue-ellam vidurar. Appuram perusa onnum ille.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

heh, enjoyed the lighter versions of the movies. i saw ghajini, wasn't impressed with the hype that they created for the movie, the confused the whole concept of the short term memory loss, definitely cannot be compared to memento, from where the the idea of shorterm memory loss was thirudified. haven't seen any of the other movies. I heard Paheli was pretty good, but its been recommended for oscars from India, which i heard some people disagreeing with. I wanted to see Nuvvustanante Nenodantanna, but dont know telugu, but wanted to see it for trisha, and sid pair, they were a good pair in AE, but sid aale kannum, heard he started acting in hindi. The tamil version of hte movie is called Something Something with JeyamRavi and Trisha, sid could have acted instead of Ravi. Hopefully some good movies comes out for Diwali, was hoping that Vettaiyadu Vellaiyadu release for Diwali, but with all the problems that it faced, and facing, it will probably come out for pongal or later next year.

tt_giant said...

LOL!. samma reviews raju!.

Ghajini paakanum. Can you bel. it.. i have not seen even one movie of Asin!.

Nuvv: is it a mushy love story?. seems like it, though. although its my mother tongue, its been a loong time since i saw telugu movies. will see if i can get it.

Paheli: Indhi theryaadhu saar..

ha ha.. and now for Chankaya: oru kaalathula manthra oda email id hammma@hammma.com nu irundhudhu.. ippo adhu namitha ku maaridthha?.. pretty sure you watched it for sarath-vadivelu comedy (yea, right!).

Anonymous said...

so many movies?? OMG

Raju said...

Nitin, mmm.. Just tried it for a change. Though Murugadoss has tried a lot to keep logic with STML, it defied sense in some parts. For such an important thing as finding his own apartment, he could have chosen 'map and address' method instead of making the auto driver, watchman and the whole world know that he has STML. I too dont know Telugu but the subtitles in NN helped. I think Jayam Ravi wouldnt suit for Sid's role in tamil. Sid, though trying to emulate Shahrukh,was charming and cute. Yeah, the wait for a 'great movie' after Anniyan is still ON.

Deepak, danks.. Man, you first rent M Kumaran S/o Mahalakshmi.. I am sure you would love 'Malabar' Asin.
Nuvv and Paheli are both mushy mushy love stories.. Lucky you that your mothertongue movies are watchable.. mine (kannada) are hopeless..

LOL'ed at Manthra's e-mail ID.. Namitha is not in 'that range' yet.. she is getting pleasantly plump. :-) I watched it just for the sake of it.. bore adichudhu..adhaan.


Vatsan, these were the Indian movies I watched in the last 20 days or so.. Dont panic.. :-)

Siddharth said...

i liked gajini 2..esp like u said surya-asin parts.nayantara and the 2 villians werent entirely convincing...nuvostavante,i saw that film abt a month back..ok film..trisha is super cute as usual..hey gr8 explanation 4d title marupadiyum..never knew y it is called that.there is a kb film called arangetram...abt a girl who supports her family by becoming a prostitute(by default).never knew y it is called arangetram.any clues?

Gnana Kirukan said...

raju - Note - I am the owner of goddessasin@yahoogroups.com - the first yahoogroup for asin :)..

http://naan-yaar.blogspot.com/2005/07/photo-that-shattered-my-heart-its-been.html

Raju said...

Sid, welcome here. Surya-Asin part was well thought and executed by Murugadoss. I loved the way she starts the story: "Avan haaaaai-nu sonnan.. naan hi-nu sonnenn.." soo cute.. Thanks for the 'title post'. I havent seen 'Arangetram', though it is my favorite Kamal's first film as hero. BTW, your mentioning the story gives me a clue. I still have to watch it before commenting on that.

Arjuna, cooool... Did you watch her interview in Indiaglitz? She was awesome in that.. great expressive face and mannerisms. Good to see her with almost all the young actors in under-production movies. Vijay said "Asin-kitte madangittenn, after seeing her dance 'Ayyo kanngal aiyayyo' in MKumaran..". Who wouldnt? :-)

Anonymous said...

yeah Asin is beautiful. I think she also speaks pretty good tamil, coming from Kerala. I think Ghajini was her own voice.

Raju said...

Well, Nitin. Though she has a good voice, I am sure she doesnt know fluent tamil. Click here to listen her recent video interview. I too think she dubbed for herself in 'Ghajini'.

The recent news, according to Indiaglitz is, she is the #1 actress in Tamil.. !! I dont know what happened to Trisha and Jo?

Anonymous said...

well Trisha is getting paid huge sum of money to act in telugu movies, and she also thinks she gets better roles there. Jyothika is also acting in various other languages. But Asin is the new hottie, she is acting with all the top heroes. For Diwali I think she is acting in all the major movies Vijay(Sivakasi), Vikram (Majaa), Ajit(Godfather), and some movie with Chimpu. I think Surya is acting with Asin, and Jo under Gautam direction soon.

Ram C said...

Nayantharavum Namithavum... weekend thollaiya?

Did you chk out mine here?

Raju said...

Nitin, yeah... After NN, she has got popular in Telugu and suddenly she decided to act only in 'meaty roles'. So, we might not see her as often as last year. Two of the movies that you mentioned would get released on Diwali: Sivakasi and Majaa. About the Goutam flick, I would keep my fingers crossed until Vettaiyadu... gets complted.

Ram, cha cha.. thollai ellam illai.. :-) Namakku slim figures-dhan pidikkum. Asin madhiri.
I read your review and Balaji's soon after writing this post. I know you are among the first to review Ghajini. Your review was very good and you had touched all the pluses and minuses.

Balaji said...

raju, seen only 'ghajini' among the 4. nice, capsule review that reflected what i thot about it.

sid, in that movie, 'arangetram' referred to the 1st time she did the deed.

Raju said...

Balaji, from your review, I expect 2.5 stars for Ghajini. Am I correct?

About 'Arangetram', thats what I thought too when I mentioned 'clue' in my reply to Sid. Thats one movie I am waiting to see, for a long time.