CHATTAMBINAADU

CHATTAMBINAADU

Theatre : TVM Anjali
Status : 100
Showtime & Date : 6.30pm, 24th Dec 2009

After the lukewarm response of Shafi-Benny P Nayarambalam team's LOLLIPOP, they are back with a Mammootty starrer one which has nothing new to offer but an entertaining one with never a dull moment.

Story
Veerendra Mallayya(Mammootty) comes to ChembattuNaadu aka ChattambiNaadu. He comes there to buy the properties of Manoj.K.Jayan's character who is the son of Vijayaraghavan's character. Nagendran(Siddhique) is the rival team. The rest of the story is the acton-reaction play of Mammootty and Siddhique & a flashback episode.

Performances
Mammootty as Veerendra Mallayya is good in his Kannada Malayalam slang. Siddhique reminds us his role in Maadambi & Prakash Raj's role in Ghillli in two scenes. Vinu Mohan repeats his Kunchacko Boban-Jayasurya play again. All the thrre female characters Lakshmi Rai, Maidhili & Meenakshi has nothing to do. Maidhili has only one dialogue. Janardhanan, Vijayaraghavan, Saikumar all are apt for the role.

As Benny's previous Mammootty flick AnnanThambi, here too Suraj Venjaarammood & Salimkumar are the big plus points of the movie. Salimkumar reminds us of his role in Mayavi. But his dialogues are good. Suraj was good in certain scenes but went overboard on certain scenes. His Bheeman Raghu act was entertaining.

Technical
Action by Anal Arasu was good. Rest all were usual only.

Songs
Below Average.

Script & Direction
Script by Benny P Nayarambalam is  mix of Rajamanikyam & Annan Thampi. An entertaining one till the preclimax episode, a misunderstanding, then truth reveals, film over. Direction  by Shafi is racy, but nothing new.

Verdict : Tad above Average Mass Entertainer
B.O Verdict : Above average

When I came out after watching the movie, I saw a flex ALL KERALA VINUMOHAN FANS ASSOCIATION, CHENGALCHOOLA UNIT. Not a single comedy scene in the movie will come anywhere near this COMEDY.

GULUMAAL THE ESCAPE

Gulumaal the Escape

Theatre : TVM Kripa

Status : 100%

Showtime : 6.15pm

After a series of flops, V.K.Prakash has finally come up with a movie which entertains the audience. This time VKP has come with a comedy genre one.

Story

Ravi Varma(Kunchacko Boban) needs some money to release his father(Nedumudi Venu) from jail. After trying all possible ways, he decides to do Tharikida to get money. He joins Jerry Mathews(Jayasuriya) who is a hardcore conman. They decides to sell a copy of a rare painting to an NRI Emir(Devan). In between Shambhu(Suraj Venjarammood) & assistant(Bijukkuttan) is in search of these two. Also Jerry's sister Saira(Mithra Kurian) works in the same hotel where Emir stays. The rest of the story is how they are selling the painting to NRI and some surprising twists.

Performances

Kunchacko Boban as Ravi Varma has come up with a good performance in his new look, especially in jail sequence with Nedumudi Venu. This one will be a good comeback for him. Jayasuriya as Jerry did his conman role with ease. His hospital sequence in second half was good.Though Suraj and Bijukkuttan track was totally out of the storyline, it was enjoyable, though nothing special. Mithra as Saira has nothing much to do. Devan, Manianpilla Raju, Nedumudi Venu had done their roles well in limited scenes, especially Devan in climax scene was good. APPY BIJU played by Kottayam Nazeer needs a special mention as he rocks in his single scene he got.

Songs

Manu Ramesh has come with songs which stays true to the genre of the movie. Kilukilukkum is my pick with 80's orchestration. Voice modulation by Sithara Balakrishnan was superb.

Technical

Camera Woman Fouziya Fathima has done a great job. Editing was good. As 2 cameras were used, assistants need special mention.

Script and Direction

Script by debutant Y.V.Rajesh is a straight lift from Argentenian movie Nueve Reinas. But he succeeded in making it an enjoyable one with changes for malayalee audience. It is the energy level of the lead stars which makes the movie enjoyable with beautiful sequences. Sequences in which Ravi and Jerry cheating each other was superb. Dialogues were not that powerful in certain scenes. Length of certain scenes should have been reduced. Also climax should have been made in a better way, atleast as in the original which was much more effective and superb. VKP, as usual was able to show something different on screen, this time audience too liked it. On the whole, it is a watchable mass entertainer.

Verdict : Above average

BO Verdict : Already a hit, may become a big hit because of low production cost

 As 98% of the audience were families, claps and koovals were not there much. Only for three scenes the whole theatre applauded.

1. Suraj's Chirappunji & Sadashivan Maaman dialogues.

2. Jayasuriya's dialogue "Hey man, come and THORA"

3. Kunchacko Boban's expression when Devan says 3 lakh, DOLLARS, 1.5 crore

VETTAIKAARAN

VETTAIKAARAN

Theatre : TVM Parthas

Showtime : 6.15pm

Date : 18th Dec 2009

Status : 100% with extra chairs

Debutant director BabuSivan suceeded in making a fast mass masala entertainer with Ilayathalapathy Vijay, who badly needs a hit after three consecutive not so successful films. Here there are not many overdose of heroism scenes.

Story

Devaraj IPS(Telugu actor Real Star Sreehari) is an encounter specialist in Chennai. In Tuticorn(Thoothukkudi), Ravi(Vijay), also known as Police Ravi is an ardent fan of Devaraj and is dreaming of becoming an officer like him though he didn't pass plus two four times. Finally he pass the exam and decided to go to the college where Devaraj studied and like him, he decided to do part-time job as an Auto-rikshaw driver. On the way to Chennai, Ravi meets Susheela(Anushka) and falls in love. In Chennai, he had a clash towards the interval with Chella(Ravishankar), a womaniser. Police arrests Ravi & officer Kattabbomman(Shayaji Shinde) plans to do an encounter. Though Susheela seeks help of Devaraj, he didn't. Then Vijay escapes from encounter and meets Devaraj, who is a blind man now because of Chella & his father Vedanayakam(Salim Ghose). From then onwards Ravi starts his hunting.

Performances

Vijay as Ravi is the main attraction and backbone of the movie. His immense screen presence makes his counter with baddies a visual extravaganza. He was superb in comic sequences with Sukumari & Anushka.  Anushka, after Rendu is back in Tamil, as Susheela, Ravi's love interest mainly for songs and romantic sequences. The only scene she had got to perform was his scene with Sreehari, where she asks his help to save Ravi. Sreehari has done his part well. Cochin Haneefa & Sukumari were good with limited scenes and superb dialogues. Sathyan has nothing much to do. Salim Ghose and Ravishankar were apt as villains. Shayaji Shinde was good as comic villain especially scenes with Manobala who plays press reporter.

Songs

Vijay Antony was able to make all the songs different genres where "Naan Adicha.." is the pick. BGM with Naan Adicha music was superb.

Technical

Gopinath's camera work was superb towards the interval especially chase sequences. Kanal Kannan's action has nothing special to do in second half, but rocked in first half. Art direction remains usual. Editing was good, but needs trimming in second half.

Script & Direction

Debutant BabuSivan was able to make the first half superb with correct mixture of comedy, action, songs as the viewer won't thinks of anything else at that time. But the second half becomes a predictable one which could have been made a bit tricky one.

Second half needs trimming. Though songs "Oru Chinnathaamarai" & "En Uchimandele" are good to hear, both are misplaced ones in the movie. Also the dialogues of Salim Ghose after a time becomes so lengthy which makes irritating. Also Sreehari's flashback episode makes us remember Sundar.C's Thee(Another Sun Pictures outing, remake of telugu movie Operation Duryodhana). Vijay's meeting with Salim Ghose at Vedanayakam Tea Stall sequence was excellent. BabuSivan proved that he's a good dialogue writer in Kuruvi itself. In this one too dialogues are good with non-repeating punch dialogues.

Altogether the movie has got a superb first half and a tad above average second half.

Verdict : Above Average Mass Entertainer

BO Verdict : Hit

100 times better than Kuruvi & Villu