VELAYUDHAM

VELAYUDHAM

Theatre : TVM Dhanya
Status? An unwanted question, HOUSEFULL with family audience even at first front row of first class
Showtime & Date : 5:55pm, 26-10-2011(DEEPAVALI)

YESSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!
BOX OFFICE GHILLLI IS BACK

When Jeyam Raja joined with Vijay, everyone expected a remake or a usual mass masala film of Vijay like his previous films, even trailers too were not different, but the final product is not something we expected, it's something different which had all the elements to satisfy all.

Story
Movie begins with Tamilnadu minister in Pakisthan-Afganisthan border joining them to implant bombs in Chennai. Freelance journalist(Genelia) & her friends tried to find out the crimes happening in Chennai. They were caught by villain gang & kills them. Luckily Genelia escapes. When the villain gang gets killed in an accident, she creates a character VELAYUDHAM who is after criminals. Then story unfolds with introduction of Vel aka Velayudham(Vijay), his sister(saranya Mohan) & his friends going to Chennai & their story flashbacks. They came to Chennai to get the amount back from Chit Fund for Saranya's marriage. There Santhanam, a small time thief joins them as friend. Velayudham accidently rescues people from bomb blasts 2-3 times. When Genelia realises that everything happened without his knowledge, she asks Vel to be real Velayudham. Though he rejects, later he was forced to be Velayudham. The rest is Velayudham vs Villains.


Performances
First of all, thanks to M.Raja for utilising not only the mass hero only, but the good actor in Vijay which we have seen in Kannukkul Nilavu, Priyamudan, Sachein, Thullatha Manavum Thullum, Shahjahan.....Its a clear ILAYATHALAPATHY SHOW. This time the screenplay was fresh not giving him an over buildup or lots of punch dialogues or much over the board action sequences. VIJAY once again proved after Rajnikanth he's the one who can carry an whole film with his charisma. Watchout for his performance in second half towards especially towards the climax. Sentiment scenes were superb!!!

Genelia got a powerful role, but her lipsync was bad & expressions were almost same. Hansika Motwani was surprisingly good especially in comic scenes. Watch out her expressions in the train sequence. Hansika's role was limited one. Script could have provided much more comic scenes as she was capable for comic scenes execute well. Shayaji Shinde & Pandiarajan were good. Santhanam will make us laugh. The one who narrates Vijay-Saranya flashback in train was superb. Rest of the cast did their job well. Villain characters failed to create any impact.

Songs & BGM
Vijay Antony once again scores. Sonna Puriyathu is the best mass number in recent times. Picturisation was rich & colourfull, SUPERB!!! Chillax was a forced one, though enjoyable in richly made sets. Mayyam Seythayo seems unwanted, but picturisation was innovative. Molachu Moonnu is the best melody in recent times but picturisation & choreography was not upo the mark. Rathathin Rathamey was good.

BGM was SUPERB!!!

Technical
Cinematography was superb especially in action & song sequences. Editing was good. Milan's art work was good. Stunt director's did a good job.

Script & Direction
Here comes the man behind the show - M.Raja aka Jeyam Raja. Story is inspired from Nagarjuna's hit telugu movie Azad. But he took only the basic thread only. Screenplay was fresh & racy with all commercial ingredients. Subha's dialogues were good & superb at many part Direction was racy & tried maximum to avoid the buildup & over the board scenes though a set of scenes are there which were enjoyable with the flow of the movie.. Instead of executing a script with Vijay on mind, M.Raja seems to be executed the final script with Vijay. Yes, a director's movie in which Vijay scores with his charisma, thats VELAYUDHAM.

Verdict : Superb Mass Entertainer
BO Verdict : SuperHit/MegaHit

THE FINAL SHOT OF THE MOVIE WAS INNOVATIVE & EXECUTED WELL.

When M.Raja said that he was not worried eventhough 10 films like RA-ONE or 7AM ARIVU releases with VELAYUDHAM before release, I didn't believed. Now I can say HE WAS RIGHT, 100% RIGHT

SANDWICH

SANDWICH

Theatre : TVM Ajanta

Status : Balcony FULL, First class 99.99%

Showtime & Date : 5.55pm, 16-10-2011

Expectations were low after watching the trailer of the movie. Those expectations reached below zero level after reading reviews on net too.

Story

Sai(Kunchacko Boban), a software engineer met with an accident which eventually resulted in the murder of  goon Ajayan. Murugn(Vijayakumar) brother of Ajayan threatens that he’ll kill Sai. By the time, another gang by Andiptti Naikkar(Suraj Venjarammood) enters the scene & claims that Sai purposefully killed Ajayan for him. Thus Sai gets sandwiched between these two gangs. The rest of the movie is how Sai escapes from these two gangs.

Performances

Kunchacko Boban as Sai, a software engineer was not a challenging one for him. He performed well with good dialogue delivery. Suraj Venjarammood was usual only but surprisingly he didn’t go over the board except in one second half sequence.  Ananya in her cameo was fine. Richa was ok, but her lip sync was bad. Vijyakumar was surprisingly better with comic moments. GaneshKumar was good, Sreekumr & Lalu lex too. Indrans, Kottayam Nazeer…. were OK only.

Songs & BGM

Songs by debutant verge only. Chembullimaane was misplaced in the movie. Panineer Chembakangal was enjoyable. BGM by debutant Bose Santhosh was engaging & impressive at parts.

Technical

Cinematography was ok only. Art direction by Boban was fine. And the real hero is editor DONMAX who had done n impressive work which makes the movie a watchable one.

Script & Direction

Story by Ratheesh Sukumaran had enough elements to be a smart entertainer. But the screenplay failed the show. Movie which would have been a good action thriller was converted to a comedy flick with not so good dialogues or twists. First few sequences were promising. Later forceful inclusion of comedies in each & every scene spoiled the show. Climax sequence was a better one. Debutant director M S Manu offers nothing new. Also script was conceived very ordinarily. It is editor DONMAX who saved the show.

Verdict : Watchable

BO Verdict : Average(considering low budget) to Flop

If it was not DONMAX who would have done editing, verdict would have been something else.

Once again Kunchacko Boban-Lalu Alex combo worked well in the second half sequence.

Hope Producer Sudeep Kara't will compensate for this movie with VEEDU, new movie by Sohanlal starring Kunchacko Boban in lead scripted by M T Vasudevan Nair.

VAAGAI SOODA VAA

VAAGAI SOODA VAA

Theatre : Theni GopiKrishna
Status : 55%
Showtime & Date : 2.15pm, 09-10-2011

After Kalavani, Director Sargunam & actor Vimal joins together again for a movie, this time story happens in 1966 in a village backdrop.

Story
This 1966 story starts at Puthukkottai. Veluthambi(Vimal) is an educated youth who had completed teacher training and waiting for a government job. His father(Bhagyaraj) asks him to go to a village called Kandeduthan Kadu as Village Sevak to teach the illiterate children there so that he'll get a certificate with which he could get a priority in government job posts. Things were not that interesting for him there where children & parents were not at all interested in studies or make their children educated. They depended on brick making for livelihood. Though his attempts fails in the beginning, things changed as the story progresses. Watch it on screen.

Performances
Vimal was apt as Veluthambi-the innocent educated Vaathiyar and he performed well too. Bhagyaraj in his limited role was superb especially in second half. Debutant Iniya as Maari, who is after Veluthambi is promising. Thambi Ramaiah was good. Ponvannan had a routine villain character only. Rest of the cast were apt. The kids were superb.

Songs & BGM
Songs by debutant Gibran is enjoyable especially Sara Sara Saaral Kaathu. Though songs were more in second half, the picturisation makes it enjoyable. Except the romantic song in the second half, the rest perfectly fitted. BGM was superb.

Technical
Cinematography by Omprakash was awesome with wide angle shots of the village & some natural beauties. Art direction by Cheeni was wonderful. Action sequence though a small one, was realistic to the core.

Script & Direction
Sargunam handled both departments. Sargunam had come up with a social issue of Child Labour presented on the backdrop of 1966 with a set of wonderful character portrayals & an engaging screenplay. Though song placement of 2 songs may find unwanted, the picturisation & music makes you forget all those. The romance track of Veluthambi & Maari was refereshing though the length of climax shot between them was a bit lengthy. Though the story unfolds only on second half, first half had enough elemnts especially kids & witty dialogues to keep you engaged.  With realistic village characters & realistic portrayal on screen, director Sargunam makes an impressive movie again.

Verdict : Don't miss this!!!
BO Verdict : Hit

Social Issue is dealt in a very strong manner on the backdrop of 1966, Impressive though and excellent execution. Another Good Tamil Film.

MURAN

MURAN

Theatre : Theni Vasanth
Status : 50 people
Showtime & Date : 2.20pm, 02-10-2011

A thriller movie in Tamil created by Rajan Madhav & music by Sajan Madhav-sons of malayalam music director Raveendran - MURAN. As the name indicates, the movie too had unexpected events & uncertainity in proceedings in first half, but the later half was just ordinary for a normal film goer.

Story
The movie begins as a road movie in which Nandha(Cheran), a struggling music director asks for a lift to Chennai to Arjun(Prasanna), a spoiled brat of a millionaire. In the journey, they tell their stories each other & towards the end of the journey Arjun comes up with a plan to solve each other's problems.What happens next is the rest of the story.

Performances
Cheran as Nandha was good in parts. In second half, his character demanded much more emotions which Cheran failed to emote. Prasanna as Arjun was good except in flashback episode in looks. First half belongs to him as he had best set of dialogues and scenes. Also his looks & costumes added plus to his performance. In second half, his character got sidelined and ended as a usual character. Among heroines, it is debutant Haripriya who impresses us with terrific looks and ease acting. Nikitha had nothing much to do. Another debutant Suma Bhattacharya was fine. Jayaprakash as usual did his part well. Rest of the casts were fine.

Songs & BGM
Except the party song towards the climax, all were enjoyable and situation ones. BGM was good in first half, but failed in second half.

Technical
Cinematography was superb. Editing was superb in first half, but needs trimming in second half. Art direction too was good especially Cheran's flats. Sound mixing by 4 frames as usual impresses.

Script & Direction
Debutant Rajan Madhav handled both departments. Basic story idea seems to be inspired from Alfred Hitchcock's "Strangers on a Train". But Rajan had beautifully developed the idea to a thriller one. Dialogues were superb. Screenplay was an engaging one. The bonding between Cheran & Prasanna seems to be made in a fast manner to develop the story. First half was a well made one. But second half though engaging, it was having a repeated set of scenes in different locations with predictable twists. Climax was an easily predictable one and was a big letdown. Still the movie is worth a look.

On the whole, a good first half and half baked second half with usual climax

Verdict : Above Average Engaging Thriller
BO Verdict : Multiplex Hit

Haripriya may be seen in some malayalam movies soon. She was superb.

ENGEYUM EPPOTHUM

ENGAEYUM EPPOTHUM

Theatre : Theni Krishna
Status : 50%
Showtime & Date : 6.15pm, 22-09-2011
How road accident change the lives of many is the crux of ENGAEYUM EPPOTHUM produced by Fox Star Studiios & director A R Murugadoss.

Story
Story begins with an accident between two buses. And the story unfolds in a nonlinear manner through the four characters travelled in those two buses - Kathiresan(Jai), Manimeghalai(Anjali), Amutha(Ananya) & Goutham(debutant Sarva)

Performances
Its the female leads who shines more than male characters. Anjali as boyish dominating lover was excellent & Ananya with typical village girl characteristics was superb. Jai as a middleclass good boy was good & debutant Sarva was promising. Rest of the characters did their part well.

Songs & BGM

Songs were catchy ones and well picturised except the second song Aarumasam featuring Jai which was picturised in a typical masala song model which was not at all fitting to the movie's total making style. BGM was superb especially for Jai-Anjali sequences

Technical
Cinematography was good and did an awesome work in road sequences. Editing was apt except the opening bus readying sequence.

Script & Direction
M.Saravanan handled both departments. Script was a refreshing one in narration with superb witty dialogues & refreshing sequences especially in Jai-Anjali episodes. Dialogues are one of the big plus points of the movie. Director had handled the story in non linear manner in an entertaining manner. The scene which will make us cry the most will be the episode of NRI father longing to see her five year daughter for the first time. Director could have picturised the second song in an interesting manner rather than following a usual tamil cinema formula. Also some of the sequences in second half were left untold, especially in Jai-Anjali sequence & Sarva sequence & why Ananya there in Chennai then and all. Saravanan definitely needs a special mention for making such a movie.

Nothing more to say a good first half and above average second half.

Verdict : Good
B O Verdict : Hit
After watching this movie, you'll drive carefully on roads.

Like director Shankar, Murugadoss also started funding for good movies.

SEVENES

SEVENES

Theatre : TVM Kripa

Showtime & Date : 09-09-2011, 6.15pm

Status : Balcony Full, FC 85-90%

Expectation were high when Kunchacko Boban teams up with master director Joshiy & script by Iqbal Kuttippuram. But sadly the movie is not as good as expected because of bad script & bad editing.

Story
Shyam(Kunchacko Boban), Sooraj(Asif Ali), Shoukath(Nivin Pauly), Sarath(Rajith Menon), Arun(Aju Varghese), Satheesh(Vijeesh) & Linto(Ameer Niyaz of Puthumughangal fame) are the Seven member football team SEVENES. Shyam is in love with Gowri(Bhama), a shop girl sister of Asokan(Mithun Ramesh) whos is a goon working with Beppoor Surendran. As part of a football match, they attacks Aravindan(VineethKumar) by mistake. For his operation expenses, Sevenes team becomes a quotation team through Habeeb(Manianpilla Raju). Though they starts the quotation work for this, needs coming again & again & they were forced to be quotation gang again & again. Things change when they were accidentally part of murder of a criminal business tycoon Ramakrishnareddy(Mahadevan). The rest is how commissioner Amala Vishwanath(Nadia Moythu) solves the case & how Sevenes team proves their innocence.

Performances
Kunchacko Boban, though not a challenging one, he did the role with ease. Especially in dialogue delivery & modulation, he's at his best. His scenes before first quotation sequence, on court ground seeing his mother, at Bhama's house confrontation with Mithun Ramesh, he delivers a power packed performance. In action sequences too he shines. Asif Ali, though he had got a good set of scenes & dialogues, he spoiled many with bad voice modulation. Nivin Pauly with limited dialogues were good & shines in final action sequence. Ameer Niyaz was good in action sequence. Aju Varghese is the one who makes a big laughter on screen when he tries to help the fallen girl on track. Rajith Menon had the final shot to perform & Vijeesh was usual only. Vineeth Kumar had nothing much to do. Mithun Ramesh was surprisingly good in second half. Bhama & Rima Kallingal were showcase girls only. Nadia Moythu had a powerful character, but bad dialogues spoiled the show. ManianPilla Raju was impressive. Mamukoya, Mahadevan, Bindu Panicker, Zeenath... had nothing much to do.

Songs & BGM
Songs were stricly average & BGM was just fast version of song music & lacks punch & at times loud too.

Technical
Ajayan Vincent with ARRI ALEXA camera(for the first time in Malayalam) delivers new angles at times. Editing by Ranjan Abraham was bad & spolied the final sequences. It could have been a lot lot better. Art Direction was good. Costumes were realistic especially for Kunchacko Boban, Rajith Menon & Ameer Niyaz. Action sequences lack freshness.

Script & Direction
Iqbal Kuttippuram fails to make the proceedings in the movie interesting though the story had enough energy to make it so. Bad dialogues, especially Nadia's were another highlight. Bad & cliched execution of a better plot. It is direction by Joshiy which makes the movie this better & watchable. Still Joshiy is not at his best. He seems to have taken the movie in an easy manner. The climax portion makes me think so. Also bad editing spoiled the whole show.

On the whole, a watchable first half & strictly average predictable second half.

Verdict : Tad above average
BO Verdict : Average

If Mohanlal was there in Nadia Moythu's role, movie would have taken another dimension.

Dr.LOVE (Doctor Love)

Dr.Love

Theatre : TVM Ajantha
Showtime & Date : 09-09-2011, 2.10pm
Status : Balcony 75%+, FC about 50 people

After back to back hits, HALLO & MUMMYnME, producer Joy Thomas Shakthikulangara is back with his third movie Dr.LOVE starring Kunchacko Boban in title role, written & directed by debutant K.Biju.

Story
Movie starts with a song by Lal(in cameo) & Asif Ali(in cameo as himself) explaining about Vinayachandran(Kunchacko Boban) who is a romance consultant, a person having tips & tricks to solve lover's problems whatever the problem or situation. On seeing this, PT master(Innocent) of nearby college invites him to college as a canteen staff to solve his love problem with Aanandavalli teacher(Bindu Panicker). When Vinayan solves Bhagath Manuel's love problem with Manju(debutant Vidya Unni, sister of actress Divya Unni), he becomes ROMANCE CONSULTANT in college. When Roy(Hemanth of Living Together fame) comes to him to solve his romance issue with Abin(Bhavana), the "devil" of college. When Abin comes to know that Vinayan tries to help Roy, things change & it leads to a rocking entertainer.

Performances
It was a full length KUNCHACKO BOBAN SHOW. Chackochan plays the character in a SUPERB way. An energetic performance with humour & seriousness in perfect blend. Especially in second half, he scored with superb expressions. Once again I would like to say, it's a clear KUNCHACKO BOBAN SHOW.

Manikuttan was another actor who gets some viewers' attention with good oneliners. Hemanth, though good, had some dubbing problems in between. He had a nice role in Interval part. Bhagath was good. Aju Varghese, Rajith Menon, Shravan Eapen & newcomers did their part well.
Nedumudi Venu, Innocent& Vijayaraghavan were good. Salimkumar though good, his track looks totally out of place. Baiju Ezhupunna had limited scenes. Kalabhavan Shajon & his helper guy were good. Ananya was perfect in her role, both in looks & acting. Bhavana was cool though her makeup was a bit over at parts. Shari, Bindu Panicker, KPAC Lalitha did their part well. Vidya Unni was OK in her role, but was missing in second half. Nimisha & Others did their part well

Songs & BGM
Vinu Thomas impresses with his songs in audio CD. In movie, only Aakasham Doore & Nannaavoole was there in full. Rest of the songs, Ninnodenikku(One of the best in recent times), Ormakal, Avanalle were there in parts. Best thing is all were picturised well & perfectly fits. Superb work!!! THEME MUSIC needs special mention

Gopi Sundar's BGM too impresses, especially Dr.Love theme remix SUPERB!!!

Technical
Cinematography, Editing, Art Direction all were superb. The title cards animations were amazing.

Costumes by Sameera Saneesh needs special mention.

Script & Direction
What to say, superb script & superb execution. To point out as negative we can say, Salimkumar's episode seems to be a forced one. Otherwise there was nothing to point out. Also the execution was Top class. FRESHNESS was there in every frame & sequence in the movie. Smart screenplay & Superb dialogues. 

What to say more, waiting for his next movie

Verdict : Superb Feel Good Campus Entertainer, Don't miss this!!!
BO Verdict : Superhit
This one will be the ONAM WINNER of 2011.
Never expected such a superb product from a debutant who handled both script & direction.

DON"T MISS THE SCENES WHILE THE TITLE CARD ROLLS

Sad that movie is released in limited centres. In coming days, it'll pick up as word of mouth is Superb.

Mohanlal fans had enough dialogues in start & climax of the movie.

Kai Onnadichen song was not there which had enough beats

If this movie is watched with full house mass audience, it'll be going to be another great movie experience, such a Superb script