Reviews

7am Arivu is one of the most-anticipated and most-awaited film during the Diwali season and certainly, it is worth waiting for such a wonderfully crafted film.

Surya has done a magnificent job. His portrayal of both Aravind, the circus artist and Bodhidharma is simply brilliant. Hats off to him for giving us such an excellent performance. Shruthi Haasan, making her debut in Tamil cinema plays her role as Subha Srinivasan perfectly. The role of a researcher is tailor-made for her. Apart from the lead stars, Johnny Nguyen executed his role as the suave and menacing Dong Li with sheer excellence.

The storyline which links history with science is a novel concept. Furthermore, it is about South Indian history which have been never explored to such a deep extent. A.R. Murugadoss proved yet again that he could deal with a complex subject without hassle.

Ravi K.Chandran's cinematography is the key element of the film. His picturization is brilliant, be it ancient China or present-day Chennai or the songs. Anthony's editing maintains the pace of the film. The action sequences by Peter Hein is another highlight of the film. The brief hand-to-hand combat sequence in the climax is of top quality.

Harris Jayaraj's BGM fits the mood of the scenes perfectly although it is repetitive in certain scenes. The songs are good but it does not bring back the Ghajini effect. Art direction by Rajeevan is top-class, especially the Chinese village and the lab. One word - top class.

The only minus point of the film is the CGI shots. It could have been better but that does not affect the entire film. Overall, 7am Arivu is another brilliantly executed subject by Murugadoss. The amount of hard- work by Surya and the rest is clearly evident. A.R. Murugadoss proved again that he is one man who is capable of delivering a world-class movie.

Director Lijo Jose Pelissery's City of God is one of the best movies to come out of the Malayalam film industry. The unique narration deviates this film from the regular fares of Malayalam cinema.

The film basically revolves around a henchman Jyotilal (Prithviraj) and his friend Sonny (Rajeev Pillai) who runs a construction business. In the meantime, there are Swarnavel(Indrajith), a labourer from Tamil Nadu who has a crush on a fellow labourer Marathakam (Parvathy) and Viji Punnoose (Shwetha Menon), an NRI businesswoman who is revenging for her husband's cold-blooded murder. Lastly, there is also Suryaprabha (Rima Kallingal), an upcoming actress who is pursued by Sonny. City of God portrays the lives of these characters in Cochin from different perspectives.

Dialogues by Babu Janardhanan is realistic and hard-hitting. The hand- held cam effects provide the viewers of a 'first-person' kind of feel. The film does not lag and the songs appear not to affect the pace of the film. Songs in this film are not note-worthy but the BGM by Prashant Pillai is excellent.

Overall, City of God is one Malayalam film which will be favoured by the non-mainstream audience. The performance of the cast, which is the major plus point is brilliantly complemented with the raw and realistic theme of the movie. The film might be termed as an experiment but it is a world-class piece of work. Undoubtedly.

Mankatha is Ajith Kumar's 50th movie. Hence, there are high expectations. By watching the theatrical trailer, one's interest for the film will surely have soared. To those who came with high expectations, Mankatha did not disappoint. A well-packaged thriller from start to finish.

Mankatha is about a suspended Maharashtra cop, Vinayak(Ajith) who teams up with Sumanth(Vaibhav), SI Ganesh(Ashwin Kakumanu), Prem(Premji) and Mahat(Mahat) to pull of a heist. Hot on their heels are Special Branch officer Prithviraj(Arjun) and the Arumuga Chettiyar's(Jayaprakash)men. A cat-and-mouse chase ensues with usual double-crosses which ends with a surprise twist.

Ajith has done a wonderful job in Mankatha after disappointing performances in Aegan and Asal. After David Billa, his Vinayak Mahadevan character oozes style and substance. A tailor-made role for him. Arjun as Prithviraj is nothing new for us as we have seen him in such roles in the past. Vaibhav,Ashwin and Mahat did a decent job. Premji, as usual managed to evoke laughters here and there with his dialogues and antics. Premji's character reminds us of the 'Napster' from The Italian Job. Jayaprakash fits into the character of Arumuga Chettiyar with ease. Arvind Akash fits the bill as Faisal, Arumuga Chettiyar's henchman. Of the female leads, only Trisha and Lakshmi Rai had importance and did justice to their roles while Anjali and Andrea are wasted.

The other highlight of the film is notably Yuvan Shankar Raja's music. Vilayadu Mankatha, Open the Bottle and Balle Lakka songs stand out and went with the flow of the movie. The two songs, Kannadi Nee and Vaada Bin Laada look mis-placed. The BGM is excellent and goes well with the mood of the film. Editing by Praveen-Srikanth is perfectly executed. Sakthi Saravanan's camera work captured the chase and gunfight scenes well but the colour tone seems to be dull in the first half. Silva's stunts are just the usual stuff and nothing is eye catching. The only drawback are the stunts itself where usage of visual effects can be clearly seen. Realistic stunts could have made the film better.

In a nutshell, Mankatha is Ajith's game from start to finish. Influences of Hollywood films(RED,Italian Job) are evident but Ajith remains the show-stealer. A perfect 50th film and a wonderful treat for Thala's fans.

People has been anticipating the release of this film since it was launched and here it is.In short, it is a mixture of human emotions. A remake of the 2010 Telugu hit, Vedam and directed by Radhakrishna Jagarlamudi who directed the original as well. The film was eagerly anticipated because two reasons which are, an ensemble starcast which is a rarity in Tamil cinema and Yuvan's music.

Vaanam is STR's first movie after the success of the romantic flick Vinnaithandi Varuvaaya. As Cable Raja, he played his role as a slum dweller to perfection. This proves he can really play varied roles. Bharath played the role of a budding rockstar well. His body language and dialogues suits him perfectly while Vega was adequate in her role as Bharath's companion.Anushka reprised her role from the original and she did a good job here as well. Like Anushka, Saranya also reprised her role from the original. As a poor weaver, she excels in her role. Her body language and dialogue delivery is brilliant.Prakashraj as usual, played his role with finesse. This time, he played the role of a discriminated Muslim with sheer excellence. Santhanam was good as STR's sidekick. He impresses with his usual comic antics alongside VTV Ganesh as well. Debutant Jasmin Bhasin performed relatively good and fills the requirements of her character. Hats off to her for dubbing in her own voice. An impressive attempt.

One of the highlights of the film is Yuvan Shankar Raja's music. YSR has done a wonderful job. The film's BGM suits the mood of the film well but it is kinda loud in certain parts of the film. Evandi Unna Pethan is definitely the one of the best songs along with No Money No Honey. Both songs were well-choreographed and STR's dance moves are mesmerising.

Nirav Shah's cinematography is excellent as usual. The colour tone suits the scenes perfectly although the angles were a bit dizzying in certain scenes. The songs were well picturized.

Stunts by Silva is commendable and apt for the action scenes. Anthony's editing is crisp and the film does not drag.

Vaanam is a potpourri of emotions and the performance of the cast is excellent plus it does come with a message for all. A different treat for movie buffs and I can easily say that it is one of the best movies to come out of the Tamil cinema industry.

Va Quarter Cutting is one of those full-fledged comedy flick which are a rarity in the Tamil cinema scene. Director duo Pushkar and Gayathri has delivered another unique comedy flick after their debut film, Oram Po.

The story is simple. A man who goes on a search for liquor before he leaves for Saudi Arabia. He comes across various characters in the quest for liquor and certain incidents ensues as a result of it. The most unique thing is, all these happen from 6pm to 6am on a certain day.

The highlight of the film is definitely the lead characters. Shiva as Sura, SPB Charan as Marthandan and Lekha Washington as Saro. Their performance is simply superb and Shiva as usual manages to make us laugh with his funny dialogues and reactions. Not to forget the double act performance by John Vijay as King and Prince. He presented both the role well.

Music by GV Prakash Kumar is good and adequate for the film. The BGM is well suited for the scenes. Nirav Shah's cinematography has captured Chennai's nightlife well. Anthony has done a good job in editing and ensured the film proceeds at a perfect pace.

Va Quarter Cutting might not strike a chord with the majority of the audience especially the family ones but it will have its own cult followers, just like Oram Po. For me, it is a excellent storytelling attempt and Pushkar-Gayathri has dished out a feel-good film.

After Ayan, everyone has been eagerly anticipating for Ko since the teaser was released. K.V. Anand has done a wonderful job in his third film as a director with a full-fledged political thriller with adequate doses of romance and humour without deviating from the original story. It is not exactly a good-versus-bad theme here unlike most of other movies with political themes. But unexpected twists will keep the audience glued to their seats.

Jiiva as Ashwin excels in his role as a photographer. Karthika Nair marked her debut with a decent performance while Piaa Bajpai fulfills the requirements of her role well. The show stealer is undoubtedly Ajmal. His performance as a youth revolutionary leader is outstanding. Stalwarts like Prakashraj and Kota Srinivasa Rao played their characters with their usual finesse.

The highlight of the film is the cinematography. Richard M.Nathan did a wonderful job with the camera. Be it the fights or the songs, he shot the scenes with sheer brilliance. The locales of Norway and China are spellbinding and eye-catching, thanks to the cinematographer's efforts.

Harris Jayaraj did a superb job in Ayan and he repeated the magic in Ko as well. The BGM is apt for the scenes although it was a bit loud in certain parts. Anthony's editing is as usual, crisp and maintains the pace of the film well. Peter Hein's stunts are a treat for the action buffs. The songs are choreographed perfectly according to the mood of the songs. The nothing-great Gala Gala song does not live up to its pre-release build-up despite a host of well-known faces making cameo appearances.

In short, Ko is a brilliantly shot political thriller laced with the usual commercial elements. If Ayan showed us about smuggling activities, Ko is all about political revolution. Hats off to K.V. Anand for presenting us three different films with three different themes.

I have just watched Khaleja after months of its original release. Director Trivikram Srinivas joined hands with Mahesh Babu again after the success of Athadu in 2005 and this time they came out with another commercial entertainer. Part of the storyline, i.e. people dying mysteriously in a village is similar to the Hollywood film, Sahara but it has been packaged in a way that it will be an entertaining commercial flick.

Mahesh Babu has done a apt job for his role as Raju. He looks perfect in every situation, be it a comical or a serious situation. His body language is excellent. Anushka performed well alongside Mahesh.Prakashraj as the villain has done a decent job and I feel Subbaraju been under utilized in this film.

Manisharama's music is good especially Makathika Maya and Boom Shakanaka. BGM is apt for the scenes. The songs are well choreographed especially Sada Shiva is well done.

Cinematography by Yash Bhatt and Sunil Patel is good. Action choreography by Peter Hein and Ram-Laxman deserves a mention although there are some physics defying stunts. Sreekar Prasad's editing is crisp although part of the second half could have been cut short.

In a nutshell, Khaleja is the usual commercial stuff packed with action, romance and comedy but for variety it's laced with environmental issues and a bit of religious beliefs.