Tag Archives: Thambi Ramaiah

Kuttram 23 Movie Review: A Disturbing Medical Crime Thriller

Director Arivazhagan does not waste any time in letting the audience know what his latest film Kuttram 23 is all about. In the pre-credits portion itself we are witness to a murder and a person going missing, with the place of action being a church. The location goes on to be of vital importance to the proceedings in the film, something that we realize a little later. We are introduced to the main characters and the premise gets quickly established. Being a crime thriller, a medical crime thriller in fact, a film like Kuttram 23 gets some brownie points for the way the film starts, not allowing the audience to get distracted unnecessarily. After putting up an impressive show with Thadaiyara Thakka (2012), Arun Vijay had to wait for a while before getting noticed again with Yennai Arindhaal (2015). If he played the antagonist in Yennai Arindhaal, this time he switches over to the other side, playing a cop in Kuttram 23.Continue reading “Kuttram 23 Movie Review: A Disturbing Medical Crime Thriller”

Bairavaa Movie Review: Much Ado about Nothing

Early on into Bharathan’s (or is it Bharhathan as he prefers to call himself now) Bairavaa we see the branch manager of ICIC Bank (Y.G.Mahendra) call upon his collection agent Bairavaa (Vijay) in desperation. The manager is in a soup because of a bad debt in the form of a loan given to a local thug Karuvadu Kumar (Mime Gopi). With the bank authorities breathing down his neck, the manager has just a day to hand over the money & with his daughter’s wedding scheduled for a month later he is extremely distressed. With Bairavaa assuring his boss that he would be back with the money by the evening one would typically expect fireworks in the form of a regulation fight sequence. But that’s where Bharathan and action choreographer Anal Arasu show some ingenuity. Yes there are fireworks on display indeed but not in the form of a typical fight which would follow some chest thumping dialogues. In fact the dialogues exchanged between Bairavaa and Karuvadu Kumar is kept to the minimum and the action happens in the guise of a game of cricket.Continue reading “Bairavaa Movie Review: Much Ado about Nothing”

Thodari Movie Review: This Train Leads to Disaster

Note: This was a write-up which was originally meant to be written as a quickie but has ultimately turned up a few days late. That in a way sums up my state of mind, induced into a state of flux by Prabhu Solomon’s latest Tamil film, Thodari featuring Dhanush and Keerthy suresh.Continue reading “Thodari Movie Review: This Train Leads to Disaster”

Vedalam Movie Review: Tried and Tested Formula, Works Here in Parts

Playing a larger than life character is something that all Tamil heroes have always been fond of, nowadays even actors who are just a few films old feel the need to play such roles, perhaps with a view of fancying a shot at the superstar’s throne. And if it happens to be a mass entertainer featuring a popular actor then it’s almost a given that the main lead would perhaps portray a larger than life character, often with a righteous instinct as well. When Siruthai Siva decided to work again with Ajith after the reasonably successful Veeram, it kind of looked like a win-win prospect for both of them. After all Ajith had done a slightly classier film after Veeram in the form of Yennai Arindhaal and so a mass film would have been good to balance the act. Also for Siva it would have meant that that he could prove his consistency by turning out another success after Siruthai and Veeram.Continue reading “Vedalam Movie Review: Tried and Tested Formula, Works Here in Parts”

Puli Movie Review: Lofty in Ambition, Mediocre in Output

Chimbu Deven who started his career as a cartoonist with the popular Tamil magazine, Ananda Vikatan went on to turn filmmaker with Imsai Arasan 23am Pulikesi (2006). A period comedy, the film was widely accepted for its novelty and made comedian Vadivelu acceptable as a hero as well. Chimbu Deven then went on to make more films like the contemporary fantasy Arai En 305 il Kadavul (2008), the western comedy Irumbukottai Murattu Singam (2010) and a contemporary tale like Oru Kanniyum Moonu Kalavaanikalum (2014). When it was announced that his next film would be with Vijay it didn’t really surprise me as he did have a decent track record to talk about. But considering that the film in question, Puli was to be a period fantasy adventure, I was quite skeptical. Skeptical only because of the fact that a project like this is expected to be a little too ambitious and isn’t something that everyone can actually deliver.Continue reading “Puli Movie Review: Lofty in Ambition, Mediocre in Output”

Thani Oruvan Movie Review: Every Action has an Equal and Opposite Reaction

Newton’s famous third law of motion states that “for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction”, one of the more fascinating things that I learnt in school in Physics which I still remember and also appreciate. While the law perhaps might be referring more to a scientific viewpoint, I have always felt that there could be takeaway for the same in terms of life as well. Have you ever wondered what would our life be like if it wasn’t balanced? Would you appreciate a life full of downs and no ups & vice versa? Would you appreciate the very concept of happiness if you didn’t experience sadness in the first place? For every rich man there has to be one or more poor people as well. I can go and on, but the fact remains that to have a good life one has to have a balance between everything. Similarly when you come to a movie which clearly involves a specific protagonist and antagonist, then they better be well matched for each other, or else it would remain simply a one sided game. If I consider myself from an audience view point I’d feel terrible if the antagonist hardly measures up to the protagonist.Continue reading “Thani Oruvan Movie Review: Every Action has an Equal and Opposite Reaction”

Kaaviya Thalaivan Tamil Movie Review: Good Ol’ Drama!

The setting is the thirties – forties of the twentieth century in the culturally rich and famous ‘Athens of The East’. The golden era of Tamil theater, with vocals and chords reigning supreme, had just been ushered in. South of India, drama as an art form had previously existed as ‘Theru Koothu’, but Western practices heavily influenced the roadside drama form to follow a set format. Music lovers had moved on from the confines of the gramophone record and their doorsteps to relish the magical lively moments on stage and the new-found excitement was pretty conspicuous. People started thronging theatrical plays like frenzied gatherings for a temple festival, camping for several nights at random shelters around the theater houses and waiting for several days at a stretch to get tickets. A few plays even had special trains plying from Madras, an indication of the kind of influence these shows had on the audience. A firework into the skies used to be the indication that the play would begin in an hour, sending fans into a kind of hysteria.Continue reading “Kaaviya Thalaivan Tamil Movie Review: Good Ol’ Drama!”

Nerungi Vaa Muthamidathe Movie Review: Woman On Top

Without sounding sexist, let me tell you that I got this gut feel about this movie being offbeat and refreshing, when the name of the actor playing the female protagonist appeared first in the opening credits. That feeling only got stronger and stronger as the film progressed, and ended with overwhelming emotions of not having more female filmmakers ruling mainstream cinema. Well, no need to blame me there.Continue reading “Nerungi Vaa Muthamidathe Movie Review: Woman On Top”

Amara Kaaviyam Movie Review: Flawed And Dangerously Irresponsible

At an emotionally charged up point in the movie, the protagonist meets his dear lover after a gap of about a year. The mood is almost set up, and the lead pair are supposed to emote to a bewitching background score. But exactly at this moment, a eleven-twelvish kid siting besides me in the theater (who perhaps must have seen a couple of romantic movies) shouts out aloud.  ”Ippa ava azhuva paaren*!”  I smile as I nod in approval. The kid goes on like “Ippa avan enna unmaiya love panriyaanu kepaan paaren!”. I am almost in splits nodding animatedly in a supposedly heart-wrenching scene.  And when he predicts “Ippa ava friend ivana vandhu adipaan paaren!, I pray to God not to let that happen, but the friend dude as if he had heard the kid nice and clear, comes up to get a beating from our protagonist. I can’t help but laugh out aloud. What should have probably been the strongest sequence of the movie falls flat and becomes mundane, because of some serious lack of innovation and freshness in writing. Well, you get the picture right? Predictability plagues Amarakaviyam worse than how plague plagued Surat. To be frank, this is perhaps the lesser of my worries in Jeeva Shankar’s Amarakaviyam.Continue reading “Amara Kaaviyam Movie Review: Flawed And Dangerously Irresponsible”