'Naiyaandi'- Formula Comedy Film

Seriously, it is about time they did something about the voice-over thing. It was nice initially, but having to hear the same voice explain the same characters (a happy-go-lucky, irresponsible hero with no job or known source of money) and his friends (played by the same actors) in almost every other film is becoming a tad boring. People don’t get tired of comedy, but, the format needs to be looked into.

Dhanush says, "Talk to the hand" to Nazriya
(The pre-release poster of 'Naiyaandi')

‘Naiyaandi’

Director: Sarkunam

Cast: Dhanush, Nazriya Nazim, Sriram, Sathyan and others

Dhanush is Kutti Vandu, the youngest of three sons, all of whom are unmarried. The eldest is 40, the next is 38 and, we are told by the voice-over guy that Dhanush is 24. All of them are involved in the family business of making kuthu vilakku, the auspicious lamps. Danush falls in love with a dentist who is convinced that in order to be a cute heroine, one has to act like a mentally retarded person (no offense or insult intended to those genuinely suffering from the disorder). Fortunately, this time she didn’t repeat the ‘Raja Rani’ facial gymnastics.

Her father is a very strict and rich man who dotes on her. It is surprising how someone who cares so much for his daughter would pick a gangster for a son-in-law. So, on the eve of her engagement, which also happens to be her birthday, she elopes with the hero, gets secretly married to him, and enters his household as a shop accountant (There is a scene in which she canvases a foreigner woman to place an order for a church bell. The foreigner talks in simple English while the heroine overdoes a fake call-center American accent).

The hero’s unmarried brothers get smitten by her and vie with each other to impress her, not knowing that she is their sister-in-law. One actually feels sorry for them. Eventually when they find out that she is pregnant with the youngest brother’s child, the family comes to know the truth. Since the heroine’s would-have-been husband is a gangster, there has to be a chase-&-fight sequence at the end. Eventually, everything ends well.

The film made mild controversy when Nazriya filed a complaint with the police saying that the filmmakers were trying to force her to get glamorous. It then turns out that she was also objecting to the fact that they had used body double in some of the scenes.

Things that went wrong with the film:

Zero chemistry between the hero and heroine

Very forgettable songs

Comedy that makes one cringe

Overacting on the part of the hero’s mother

The background score

Things that didn’t go wrong:

Dhanush and Soori

After this film, it is highly unlikely that Nazriya Nazim will be seen in Tamil films. She is better suited for Malayalam and might as well continue there. There is lot of difference between the “bubbly” heroine characters played by her and, say, Genelia. Sometimes Genelia wanted to make you strangle yourself when she did the “bubbly” roles, but there was chemistry and warm vibes between her and the hero. That made her films watchable. Nazriya looks very fake.  Also, she looks good in some angles and less-than-average in plenty others.

'Madras Cafe'- Well made movie

It’s a tragedy that folks in Chennai didn’t get to see ‘Madras Café’ in theatres. It is easily one of the most well-made and watchable films that had come out of Bollywood in recent times.

The poster of director Shoojit Sircar's  'Madras Cafe' starring John Abraham, Nargis Fakhri and others.

Political and language-based controversies apart, in terms of narration, characterization, pace, and cinematography, the film, directed by Shoojit Sircar, is dazzlingly brilliant. There is no lag anywhere and you are engrossed by it even though you know how it is going to end.

John Abraham is a revelation.

All such movies will usually have at least one annoying, irritating, over-smart, self-righteous reporter who is supposed to be unbiased, but will reek so strongly of anti-establishment sentiments that you would seriously wonder how 'unbiased' his/her reports are likely to be. Usually, these characters are always played by some very annoying actresses who model themselves after some very irksome women seen on Indian private news channels. ‘Madras Café’ has one too, but without going overboard, this character too is very normal and likeable. In fact, this could easily be one of Nargis Fakhri’s best roles.

Brilliant movie…

Oh, and, John Abraham looks wow.

Mohanlal's son ready for debut in Malayalam

Mohanlal (Via Wikimedia Commons)

Mohanlal will soon launch his son, Pranav, in a likely bilingual film. Although it hasn’t been officially confirmed yet, but it looks as if Mani Rathnam is likely to direct it. Jayaram too is getting ready to launch his son, Kalidas Jayaram as a grown up star. Kalidas has already won the national award as a child artiste.

Even before he makes his debut, there is already lot of pressure on Pranav. Mammootty’s son, Dulquar Salman, has already made a successful debut and is now one of the most recognized newcomers in Malayalam. Pranav will be expected to take the legendary Mollywood rivalry to Generation 2.

Mohanlal’s choice of director for his son’s debut film is slightly worrisome.

Gautham Karthik (Via Wikimedia Commons)

Two of the actors that Mani had launched in his films – Madhavan and Arvindswamy – were very aesthetically presented on the screen and they went on to have very successful careers (Arindswamy quit the industry to concentrate on his business and Madhavan is super-selective). The problem is – it has been a while since the director has had a big hit at the box office.

Gautham Karthik was a miracle of sorts – his debut movie, 'Kadal' (ocean), directed by Mani Ratnam, crashed big time, but he survived (there were rumors that an intense blame-game started between the director and the film’s story writer and that both have sworn to not work with each other again).

It’s not clear if Mohanlal has other directors in mind.

Prithviraj's dangerous experiment, as homosexual cop

Someone had massively misled Prithviraj or maybe he was not quite aware of the probable consequences of signing up for a film like ‘Mumbai Police’. The film was released in May this year and since it has been nearly 5 months now, I wouldn’t be destroying the film’s box office potential by talking about its ‘WTF-was-that!’ climax.

The film is well-narrated. Rosshan Andrews is the director. 

ACP Antony Moses aka Rascal Moses (Prithviraj) gets into an accident and loses his memory just when he is about to conclude the investigations into the murder of his buddy, Assistant Commissioner Aaryan John Jacob (Jayasurya), who was shot dead by a sniper during a gallantry awards ceremony at police/parade grounds. Antony’s senior officer, Farhan Ashraf (Rahman), Commissioner of police, also happens to be his brother-in-law. It was while talking to him over the phone that Antony gets into the accident. Farhan tells him not to reveal his temporary memory loss to others and continue reinvestigating the case without raising suspicion.

Antony’s colleagues and subordinates notice a dramatic change in his attitude- gone are his arrogance and alcoholism.

The stunning revelation that he is gay comes when his male partner, an effeminate pilot (or was he a flight purser – not sure), tries to seduce him. It turns out that Aaryan John Jacob had stumbled upon this truth and threatens to divulge it to seniors and end their friendship. A panicked Antony makes an elaborate plan and gets Jacob killed with a pre-programed sniper rifle.   

Prithviraj is one actor, who, in spite of all the years that he had spent in Malayalam films, has equal number of friends and detractors. While friends might not be of much help in the film industries, detractors baying for blood would pounce at the slightest opportunity. Playing, pretty convincingly, the role of an arrogant, homosexual police officer will get him lot of fans in a particular segment, but it is not clear how this is going to help him with his mainstream career. The film borders upon 'heterophobia' - there are actresses in the movie, but no heroine as such. 

Mallu film industry and fans alike are very good at remembering such ‘creative endeavors'.

‘Varuthapaadaatha Valibar Sangam’ entertains

It’s been a while since I wrote anything on this blog. A lot of things have happened in the meantime. Microsoft bought Nokia at literally throwaway prices. And, I discovered that kind-hearted good Samaritans host all the latest Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi movies on Youtube.

Happened to see three recent released – ‘Varuthapadaatha Valibar Sangam’, starring Sivakarthikeyan, Soori and Sri Divya, ‘Ya Ya’, starring Siva, Santhanam, Sandhya and Dhanshika, and ‘Raja Rani’, starring Arya and Nayantara.

 

‘Varuthapaadaatha Valibar Sangam’ (VVS)

Director: Ponram

Dialogues: M. Rajesh (dialogues)

Cast: Sivakarthikeyan, Sathyaraj, Sri Divya, Soori and others

Music: D. Imman

The film kind of grows on you.

This one is a stylishly shot adorable village-based film. Sivakarthikeyan is Bosepandi, President of Silukuvarpatti’s Varuthapaadaatha Valibar Sangam. Sathyaraj is Sivanandi, the man the entire village is afraid of. Reputation and family honor is more important to him than anything else in the world. Worried that his daughter might fall in love with someone, he arranges for her wedding when she is in her Class XI.

Bosepandi has a mighty crush on a school teacher and passes the love letters through Lathapandi. When he sees posters of the under-aged Lathapandi’s impending marriage, he intervenes and prevents it. She continues going to school; the teacher gets married to someone else, a heartbroken Bosepandi falls in love with Lathapandi after she completes her Class XII.

Do they get married or are the rumors that Sivanandi shot them dead, true?

Sathyaraj is a revelation in his role as Sivanandi. It’s a delight to watch him.

The songs are nice, so is the background music that one hears whenever Lathapandi-Bosepandi interactions occur. I’m a particularly big fan of the ‘Sivanandeee…’ bit.

Humor is extremely enjoyable. There is nothing forced about it. The dialogues are very much enjoyable. This is the kind of film you’d want to watch over and over again. And, each time you will discover something new to enjoy.

Then, there is ‘Ya…Ya’. Just because you have managed to sign up Santhanam, doesn’t mean you can ignore other formalities like story, coherent screenplay or the little thing called logic.

And, why the blatant insult to Ramarajan? A long time ago, he was a box office hit. Agreed, his costumes were not exactly Italian designer kind, but his films usually had a good story, great music and they did well at the box office.  One can’t say the same about ‘Ya..Ya…’ Ramarajan should probably sue the filmmaker for the extreme slander.  

Third on the list is ‘Raja Rani’. There are stylish films and then there are films that try hard to be stylish. RR belongs to the second category. Nayantara is my favorite actress. Arya doesn’t seem to have anything much to do other than smirk and shrug.

The second heroine, Nazriya Nazim, goes overboard with her facial circus. After a while it looks very phony.

Jai’s role is entertaining, but why exactly does he leave Nayantara standing outside the registrar office and run away to America?

some very important things have not been explained - why does Nayantara hate Arya so much? Why does she bear no grudges against her lover who stood her up outside the registrar office? Why are Christians synonymous with beer and drinking in Indian films?

There's Sathyaraj in this film too, but this one doesn't endear him like 'VVS' does.

Entertaining, but not the kind of film that deserves a second viewing.