Deepavali movies - Back to the Past

Watching two supernaturally inspired movies in less than 24 hours is what Deepavali had to offer. Both the movies are a little too late.. one by 20 years and the other by 30 years.

1) Azhagiya Tamil Magan (ATM):
After watching this, I will have to think a thousand times "Do I HAVE to go to ATM to withdraw money?" It is like post-traumatic disorder, recalling the trauma upon hearing something connected to it. Probably I should have known what to expect of a Vijay movie when I sat to watch the film, but still Vijay and his directors have the uncanny ability of testing the patience of the 'patientest' people. When you have some of the scenes resembling 'Durga' and forcing you to recollect its mundane details, you know you are watching a wrong movie at a wrong time.

This movie makes other movies in which we questioned the logic, such as 'Sivaji', as blemishless classics. The first half was atleast palatable..The climax scene is as cliched as it can get.. (am not talking about Namitha appearing in a properly-worn-saree). As Vijay says, my consolation was "ethanaiyo kuppaigalai parthuttenn.. Idhai parthu porukka mudiyadha?" Vijay's dance, 'Pon magal vandhaal' remix, and two more songs helped somewhat to bear the torture (the insertion of the last song is among the most atrocious in recent times).

2) Om Shanti Om:

Shah Rukh and Farah Khan had earlier combined to give a 'lotsa-holes-but-still-light-hearted' "Main Hoon Na", where Farah had showed her liking for old Hindi songs by incorporating them in the scenes where Shah Rukh meets Sushmita Sen. One would wish that she is through with showing off her love for old movies. In OSO, she fills half the movie with the old wine. Next what - a period film, may be? Pray to god using the title mantra...

The story is thinner than the heroine's (Deepika Padukone) waist. And it is older than the careers of most of the actors who dance for the much-hyped '51 special appearances' title song. The chemistry between the lead pair is as strong as between water and oil. The predictability is as much as an India-Australia one-day match. The choreography, expected to be top-notch, is as good as what the early-eliminating contestants of a dance competition would come up with.

The only pluses of the movie are its peppy music, a younger-looking-and-hot Shah Rukh and the freshness of Deepika. Shah Rukh continues his speaking-telugu-thinking-to-be-tamil act of KBC here too, with mixed success. Some of the other lighter moments make use of liberal digging at the Bollywood, its functioning and its personalities.

Farah educates us with some hair-rising facts of the 'other world': the ghosts too apparently need visas, so they cant fly abroad to take revenge on the villain.. they patiently wait till he comes back to the same city, same building, same room. A kid born at the same time when someone dies closeby will have the same features as the dead man, though there is no blood relation. Reincarnation, you see.. There is even a dialog in the movie in which someone suspects if a movie based on reincarnation will be accepted by Indian audience. I wish she attempted the story with some other lead actor to put her test to practice.