Kabali - A review

Rajini is a cult (I mean this in the best way possible) , a religion, a god.His movies have a way of polarizing opinions. I have, in the past, given honest review of Kuselan (too long, not enough importance for Rajini etc) and gotten called really dirty names by my 'friends'.

So, I am writing this, fully aware of the potential risk of being called names by Rajini Devotees.

The movie Prestige begins with a dialogue about magic, it talks about how every magic has 3 parts :

1. "The Pledge". - The magician shows you something ordinary: a deck of cards, a bird or a man. 
2. "The Turn" - The magician takes the ordinary something and makes it do something extraordinary.  But you wouldn't clap yet. 
3. "The Prestige" - The hardest part, where the magician brings back he just made disappear. 

Every movie is a big magic trick (sometimes consisting of many small magic tricks). There is first
"the intros" (the pledge) where the director introduces the characters and set the background. Then
there is the "the problem/incident/plan" (the turn) that the protagonist(s) attempts to solve, resolve or implement. Finally the 'Climax' (the prestige) , where the main tensions come out and the story intensifies before the big end.

Rajini has a larger than life presence, if you are a magician director , he is the best trick you can
ask for. But you have to get "The pledge", "The Turn" and most importantly "The Prestige" right.
A big trick (like Rajini) , needs an equally larger than life script.

K.S. Ravikumar with Lingaa, Soundarya with Kochadaiyaan, P.Vasu with Kuselan have something in common.
They took a big trick (Rajini) and presented it in a poor act. Kabali unfortunately does the same.

It has a long pledge with the Thanu productions's characteristic akka,amma,family sentiment. A super long
turn that sometimes turns too much and too far out from the main act and a prestige that will leave you wanting more .
Overall a very normal act. What saves the act is the trick(Rajini) itself , for the trick is so larger than life
that you would have watched it even without the act.

That said, the beauty of Malaysia (Thanks to G.Murali's cinematography), acting skills of Radhika Apte, Dhanshika and Rajini himself, try
their best to salvage the damage created by the editor sleeping at work and the script writers
desperate attempts to create a good 'prestige', a big reveal. The songs goes well with the context,
but except a couple of songs, others are jarring when listened to as music .

While I am inclined to blame Pa.Ranjith for showing my hero is poor light and possibly creating another flop (or an average movie at best) , I must say Thalaivar(Rajini) might be starting to exhaust his almost infinite power of being a strong trick. As a long time Rajini fan, after watching Kabali, My long wait to see Rajini again in a super act such as Baasha , Annamalai, Padaiyappa continues....

--Badri-- 

Engeyum Kadhal - Movie Review

Pluses : The location - Paris, Some bits of the music by - Harris Jeyaraj , The camera work by - Nirav Shah

Minuses : Hansika's acting skills - Non Existent, The dialogues - Horrible, The comedy scenes - mostly lame, The screenplay - Pathetic, The climax - a joke.

Overall its a really bad movie and at the end of the movie I was thanking Prabhu Deva for keeping it short and at only 2hrs 20min (Even that much is difficult to sit through)

Cheers,
--Badri--

Source Code - Movie Review

When Duncan Jones who created the really cool Sci-Fi movie "Moon" directs a new movie and it happens to be a Sci-Fi obviously your expectations from the movie are high. So clearly I had high expectations when I decided to watch 'Source Code'. Duncan I must say dint disappoint.

In 'Moon' Duncan showed us that he can come up with really cool, intriguing concepts and can tell us a story around the same in a very effective manner. In 'Source Code' he proves that 'Moon' wasn't a lucky fluke and that he is a good story teller (Credit is due to Ben Ripley for the Source Code story).

'Source Code' will keep you interested till the very end, its got a good story line(albeit it might be a bit difficult for some to comprehend) and is significantly enhanced in entertainment value by a solid performance from Gyllenhaal.

While 'Source Code' is more rivetting than 'Moon' it definitely isnt as effective in captivating audience as 'Inception' was. Nevertheless its a good entertainer and a must watch for those who love good sci-fi movies. In the world of star ratings for movies I would give it a 4 on 5. (Inception would be a 4.75, Source Code misses a few stars for having some obvious flaws in the story and the story telling)

Cheers,
--Badri--

Enthiran - The Spectacle and the Disappointment !!!

Disclaimer : I am a devotee of Rajni (thats one step above a fan but one step below a fanatic) I have watched all Rajni movies several times and will end up watching this one (Enthiran) several times. I am also a movie buff and this review is written from the perspective of the buff.

Its admirable that Shankar has attempted something much bigger than whats ever been attempted in Indian Cinema and the output of this attempt is definitely a movie worth watching.

But ....... A problem I see with many who attempt something big is that they get tired before crossing the final mile, in the case of Endhiran , Shankars failing to cross the final mile lets the movie fail on so many grounds.

Let me start with the casting - Aishwarya Rai is only in the movie for eye candy and to help increase sales in north India. Asin would have been a much better fit for two reasons - She looks much more pretty and she can act. Lets face it Aishwarya has always been an horrible actress and when it comes to looks she is getting old.

Then the music department, except for in a couple of movies in all other movies that I can think of ARRs BGM scores are never as good as the songs.In Endhiran the BGM is simply noise at some parts. The songs are way below mark too. The movie could have done without a couple of them e.g. Khilimanjaro

Its safe to say Santhanam's role in the movie has nothing to do with comedy, not many comedy scenes in the movie and none of them really standout.

The editor slept at work and it clearly shows the movie is a big drag at 3 hrs and many of the scenes are totally unnecessary (Spoiler : Why the hell does Rajni have to talk with the Mosquitoes)

Finally the graphics , this is one place where Shankar absolutely failed to run the last mile. Some of the scenes are absolutely amazing. As good as Matrix or Terminator. But some of them are very childish. Spoiler : The Scene ROBO Rajni plays with the kid, the scene with the helicopters etc look so unrealistic that one wonders why Shankar even tries.

Rajni is as always amazing, Chitti the ROBO is wonderful and just because of Thailavar Sun pictures will make all the money they have invested. The graphics and the different story line make the movie a spectacle but frankly I miss Rajnis punch lines, the grand hero introduction , even if its a different movie we are Rajni fans and we expect him to be deified(or may be thats just me).

I am going to watch the movie again tomorrow and the day after but frankly I am very disappointed. May be only because my expectations were very high or may be because Shankars obsession with experiment something big and different prevents him from telling a compelling story.

--Badri--

P.S: In the movies defense , I watched the movie in UP with two north Indian friends who dint realize that Rajni is God, so the electrifying atmosphere in Chennai theatres that make Rajni movies an exhilarating experience was missing, In fact the crowd was so boring, that only 2-3(including me) people in the entire hall whistled during the movie.

Dabangg - One Minute Review!!!

Dabangg !!! - The best Salman movie ever, inspired by Rajni's Style, Hilarious from first scene to last , fast enough to hold audience attention, Salman Khan finally has one good movie in his kitty. Its a total time pass movie and definitely worth watching.

Note: If you don't like Masala Movies, you wont like this one.

Cheers,
--Badri--

Chicago the movie and the Row

Chicago the Movie:

Watched Chicago the movie yesterday, have been trying to see it for 2-3 yrs now but never got past the first fifteen minutes. Yday though I sat through the whole movie. Very well made I must say and great acting by Rene. But the movie is a peep into the dark side of humanity and the ill effects of Jazz and Drinks.

After I finished watching the movie I wrote this poem, I guess a side effect of the fights I saw in the movie.

The Row :

Will it ease your pain if I show
How much I am hurt because of this row
My fast heart beats and my numb legs
Can stand testimony along with my mind which for peace begs

But what good is it to know that we are both hurt
What do we achieve by finding who to whom was curt
Alas it wasnt meant to be and this is how it ends
May be the roads of life are meant to educate us with these bends

If we manage to maneuver out of this
Perhaps then again we can search for bliss
Now that we know our roads are headed different directions
It is time I guess to do the course corrections

Its easier for me to be the bad one and to take all the blame
Especially if it saves you some of the shame
I am a poet and a poet needs his pain
So I guess from all this fight the pain is my gain

Only because our destinations were different
At this crossing we had to become indifferent
That doesn't mean I cant wish you only the best
For the rest of your journey and all your quest.

Cheers,

--Badri--

Vinnathandi Varuvaya : One minute review

Good Music, Feel good light first half, extra boring extra long confused second half, great chemistry between Simbhu and Trisha, for some strange reasons Trisha looks good, Overall its an ok movie , but sitting through it can bore you to death.

P.S: Simbhu MUST stop trying to speak in English , watch the movie and you will know why

--Badri--

Ayan - Tamil Movie - One minute review!!!

Story - Ok
Direction - Tolerable
Overall - 2/5 - Watchable once
The movie starts alright with good amount of comedy that keeps the audience entertained. But somewhere down the middle one starts to realize that the Editor forgot his task and slept on the job and hence the movie still contains some scenes which should have definitely been removed. Watching the movie becomes a drudgery, post the interval and one needs to 'invest'(more appropriately 'waste') a good amount of energy to sit through the second half of the movie.

Tamanna is good , pretty looking and can act well too. Surya has done his part pretty decently too, The music sucks, actually borders over noise. Choreography is miserable and costumes defeat choreography in being miserable. But in spite of all this the above average story line, some decent acting, well interspersed comedy tracks and a bit of action make the movie worth watching once.

--Badri--

Delhi 6 - A Movie Review - Yeh Silly hey merey yaar!!!

Ok first of all I must acknowledge having stolen the title of my review from that of Raja Sen's here.

But for A.R.Rahman's awesome music, a very good performance by Sonam Kapoor and some nostalgic memories of Delhi and Indian way of life(If you are a Delhiite or have been away from home for long) the movie sucks big time. Its a horrible waste of the producer's money and is truly very very silly.

In spite of the spiteful comments to Raja Sen's honest and good Delhi 6 Movie Review and the overly biased horrible and misguiding review of the movie by Arthur J Pais I stick to my point the movie is definitely not worth watching even once.

After seeing Times of India give the movie a 3star and Arthur J Pais a 4star I decided to watch the movie on the day of release i.e today. The movie started well with touchy feely family sentiments , Indian cultural elements and yada yada. But very soon the director lost direction(all puns intended) and tried to bring in Hindu, Muslim unity, scenes from after death, martyrdom in Abishek Bacchan and totally screwed what could have been a good time pass movie. As far as the acting goes, AB looked constipated in his affected american accent but Sonam Kapoor the other lead has done a pretty good job(she looks very pretty too.). She cant cry it and just yells but I am sure she will work on that skill. But for the bad crying acting Sonam has improved a lot and shown that she can act, dance and be sexy. Kudos !!!

The Kaala Bandar in the movie which pops out of nowhere and finally is portrayed as the badness in all of us is a miserable attempt at being emotional, preachy and winning awards. One is left wondering if the Kaala Bandar has been given so much screen time that it and not Abishek should have been the Hero, well wudnt have made much difference for the movie anyways.

Anyways watch Delhi 6 if and only if , at least one of the following apply to you :

i) u r sick,
ii) have nothing else to do,
iii)want to really piss yourself off,
iv) Are a Delhiite and want to enjoy the spirit of Delhi, have some fond memories of the place kindled

else DONT GO WATCH THE MOVIE

And finally "Arthur J Pais" in the rare event that you are reading this - Whats wrong with you - Delhi 6 and wow dude u need to meet a psychiatrist

--Badri--

Now Playing --- Mundhinam from Vaaranam Aayiram!!

Now Playing "Mundhinam partheney" - from the movie "Vaaranam Aayiram". Awesome Sax , Harris Jayaraj has done a wonderful job in this song, cant stop listening to it This number from the movie lingers in me.

Overall although the movie sucks(ok tolerable) , harris jayaraj has done a wonderful job. Too bad Gautham messed with him and they wont be working together anymore.I dont know why but i liked sameera reddy's character in the movie. But that said the movie is tolerable and can be watched only once.

Cheers,
--Badri--

Kuselan - Idhu Rajni Padam Alla - Movie Review!!!

Before even i start reviewing the movie , let me remind you "Idhu rajni padam alla"(this is not a rajni movie), its a pasupathy movie in which rajni has a role. In the game of cricket(Rajnis movie career) where the balls bowled are Rajni movies, this one clearly is a wide, a no ball , a ball that doesn't count.

Hence this wouldnt, shouldnt count as a dot ball(flop), in the lines of pandyan, nattuku oru nallavan and Baba.

Ok "AV" was kind enough to book tickets for a few members of the tamizh gang at ISB, and since most of us presumed it was a thalaivar(aka Rajni) movie we were more than happy to leave our chores at school at run to the cinema.

But then Vasu managed to make life (the 2hrs 40min we were in the theatre) miserable for us, while at the end of the movie some emotional(tele serial loving types) ended up crying due to the strong emotional touch in the movie, the rest of us ended up crying too for having decided to watch the movie. It was miserable.

Here is what made it miserable and what made it watchable.

i) Meena(the heroine) has always been a horrible actress, while paid re.1 to act she acts for rs.5 this movie she has acted for rs.10. Watching meena overact and her constipated dialogue delivery was a kodumai (torture)

ii) Pasupathy(the hero) is a good actor, in fact some of his performances are wonderful , but in this movie, he decided to match meena and has acted for re.5 when paid only re.1

iii) Vasu(the director) cant create anything good, so perhaps he should just stick to taking malayalam hits and remaking them in tamizh. His attempt at making the movie a rajni film(in spite of rajnis requesting him not to do so) is nothing short of pathetic. He loses track of what he is trying to convey to the audience several times, and stretches the movie far more than required to over glorify rajni. Dude vasu u dont have to do that , Thalaivar has already been deified by us.

iv) Editor Sarvana must go back to the basics of editing , apparently he doesnt seem to know when to cut or perhaps he sleeps on his job.

v) The music by G.V.Prakash Kumar although not catchy is tolerable.

vi) The art by Thotta Dharini especially in the egyptian themed song was good. Although the song by itself wasnt required(so were all the other songs in the movie)

vii) Nayantara since she dint have any acting to do, decided to show skin for re.5 while paid re.1(or perhaps now a days she exposes more for lesser pay). What was the director thinking while taking the camera aand focusing it on her thighs. And what was she thinking, she apparently is the numero uno among tamizh actresses and she seems to be trying hard to cash in on the position. But all that said she does look cute :-) And its becos of her that I could recover some of my cost on the ticket :-)

viii) Thalaivar does a cameo. Thalaivar rocks, thalaivar is the superstar(am i stating the obvious)

Vadivelu was good, Santhanam was good, Livingston was ok. Meena wearing starched new sarees while her husband dint earn enough to afford sugar or milk , while the house was in wretched poverty was as absurd as dolphins swimming in some river in tamilnadu(i am glad they stopped with dolphins and dint show the titanic). Pathetic usage of graphic, much elongated story line, horrible direction, over acting actors and too much misplaced emotion all that should summarize kuselan to about 90% , the only thing good about the movie is Thalaivar.

If you are extremely bored, got nothing better to do with your life, have free tickets, loads of time to kill , are a thalaivars fan and dont care what the story is as long as there is thalaivar in the movie , then and then alone watch kuselan else it aint worth it.

--Badri--

P.S: I am die hard Rajni fan, but then i am a movie buff to , so got to be fair in my rating of a movie and cant skew it just cos there is thalaivar in it, that said i might have made the movie sound a little more better than what it is since i am biased towards thalaivar movies. :-)

RACE -a review !!!

The movie doesn't even deserve a review. All those morons out there who gave the movie 2.5 on 5 pls quit movie reviewing.

Even though I mentioned above that the movie doesn't deserve a review for the sake of being a good samaritan let me, through this post, warn all those who haven't watched the movie yet.

RACE has no story, mid way thru the movie making , the director got confused and just wanted to complete the 2.5 hrs he had planned to shoot before. I am convinced the director doesn't know what he is trying to convey. There is loads of Flesh and Bips has been generous, not to mention Katrina who continues to store her clothes in matchboxes. Some impossible stunts that would make a tollywood Balayya movie look good. I dint like the music much , the music directors have come to think that a disco number with some english lines in between hindi songs is a sure success formula and hence are refraining from experiment new tunes.

And yes the lyrics need special mention, "touch me touch me touch me , kiss me kiss me kiss me" sounds more like prostitution than romance. All the actors are miserable but Anil Kapoor and Sameera reddy deserve special mention. Anil kapoor should stop trying this hard. Sameera reddy - What is she trying - given her pathetic looks I would have happily discarded her as just another sidekick insignificant, had she not tried to venture into comedy. I wouldn't be surprised if RACE won the oscar for the best comedy.

Finally - I am not sure why RACE is not racing out of the theatres its Horrible.

--Badri--

Aaja Nachle - one minute review!!!

The script is really bad , the movie starts with some promise and then turns into a fairy tale. I never liked Madhuri so no complaints, but then but for Ranvir Shorey and Akshaye Khanna none of the other actor's performance in the movie is worth mentioning, not even that of Konkana Sen.

Salim-Sulaiman's music is really good , if u have an ear for good music there is magic at places to watch out for , but that said for a musical the music aint good enough. Cinematography [Mohanan] is splendid. The movie is a bit of a drag but if you have time to kill well you can give the movie a shot.

--Badri--

Bhool Bhulaiyya!!! - Movie Review

What was Priyadarshan Thinking ? Thats the first question that comes to my mind when i retrospect on the horrible movie that it was.

Manichitrathaazhu was a super hit and so was the remake Chandramukhi so the story line is quite good, time pass when interspersed with some good comedy. But thats the part Priyadarshan dint understand "Good Comedy" wonder who ever gave him the king of comedy title.

Rajpal Yadav is wasted in the scattered 4 or 5 scenes that he got in the movie. Paresh Rawal is just in his usual sense, but the timings of his jokes are some what incorrect. Vidya balan is OK but nothing compared to Jyothika or Shobana. I strongly feel that Urmila wud have done a much better job. Shiney Ahuja does a good job and Akshay Kumars work doesnt draw complaints. At the end of the day the movie just is not worth watching unless u are extremely bored and got nothing more to do.

Cheers,
--Badri--

Bheja Fry - A Review!!!

The movie is about an idiot but its much more intelligent than most other hindi movies. It is one of those rare films which can truly be called - different, not the run of the mill. Its a story most masala, commercial movie folks will disregard as out of the box, abstract but GenX Film Makers have done a good job in bringing the movie to the multiplex.

The only sad part is that its only 12 reels and hence a tad too costly at INR 100 but that said , its refreshing , makes you laugh and too a good deal light hearted.

Vinay Pathak and Ranvir Shorey have done a very good job. Vinay especially deserves an applause. The rest of the gang too has done a decent job. The movie is a good 3 on 5 and definitely worth watching. It aint the traditional slap stick comedy but definitely makes u laugh.

From the net

"In a nutshell, BHEJA FRY is a time pass fare that doesn't tax your bheja. It has its limitations since it caters to a select audience, but the film dares to push the envelope further.

Ranjeet Thadani [Rajat Kapoor], a music company executive, hurts his back the night he has found a prize catch for a weekly bring-your-idiot talent dinner hosted by his friends and him. He ends up spending the evening with this idiot, Bharat Bhushan [Vinay Pathak], who tries to help him get his wife [Sarika] back, who left him earlier that day. The result is utter chaos let loose by the idiot, who cannot do a single thing without messing it up further.

The plot turns around to be a series of mini disasters that leave Ranjeet's comfortable life in ruins.

It's difficult to make people laugh and director Sagar Ballary walks a difficult path in his directorial debut. But what bails him out are a fairly interesting screenplay [Sagar Ballary, Arpita Chatterjee] and most importantly, an actor who gets it right in every scene -- Vinay Pathak. "


Cheers,
--Badri--

Just Married - Movie Review - Truly Terrible!!!

Water - Why the H did it get nominated !!!

India is a poor country, Its THIRD WORLD, people there are babarians they have weird ways - somehow these concepts seem to sell a lot in the west, but then I might be mistaken, there might be other reasons why movies on those lines get good viewership. But then whats more important than the viewership is the academy nomination.

I have always felt that the Academy was miserably wrong with its selection, take for example giving Departed what should have been given to Babel , but Water strongly proves me correct . How the hell did it get nominated.

Its boring, dragging and got not proper story. Ok what happened/happens to the widow,s is wrong but the same is not portrayed as effectively as it could have been. Whats been given more weightage is Lisa ray , her beauty and her being a pros. And the director i guess is grossly mistaken with her stats about the manu nithi, the reason behind widow non-remarriage in old india and the number of widows and all that.

But wateva be the case the movie is totally not worth watching and inspite of some good performance (Seema biswas in particular) is a total drag. And i cant understand why there is gandhi in the movie was he brought in so that academy notices the movie if yes then bad move. Anyways i will give it a 2 on 5 , dont watch.

Cheers,
--Badri--

Nishabd - A review!!!

Saw Nishabd 2 days back. Although this again is no new idea and just an indian version of "American Beauty" , Ram Gopal Verma doesnt disappoint. The movie is decently made and all actors especially Amitabh and Jiah Khan render an applause worthy performance.

Before going ahead with the review a few words about Jiah. She is hot , arresting eyes, beautiful lips and shows a lot of leg. I wouldnt be surprised if she is named the next indian sex goddess. Most importantly she has acted well too. Her voice is a bit of a turn off at times when she shrieks but what are dubbing artists for. If she plans her moves well I am sure she will do well for herself.

Now back to the movie, the movie is about a 60 year old man(Amitabh) who falls in love with a 18 year old gal(Jiah) when she visits his house with his daughter for her vacations. Does amitabh have a daughter when he is 42(Jiah and his daughter are of the same age in the movie) is a question thats left unanswered but it aint important. Although there is a lot of scope for direction and bringing out emotions RGV doesnt experiment much and keeps the going good until he reaches the climax.

The climax is a bit of a screw up, ends abruptly(absurdly) and tries to adhere to the indian culture or something. One is left unsure about whether the movie has ended or not till the "The End" label comes up.

The lip lock between Amitabh and Jiah was unnecessary why do people in bollywood believe that lip lock means love, i am no moral police but i dint like that part. But let me not digress the movie is a good 3 on 5 and definitely worth watching once.

Cheers,
--Badri--

Honeymoon travels pvt ltd - one minute review!!!

Although the movie makes you laugh now and then and does a pretty good job at that, the director loses direction and doesnt know what she wants to convey after the first one hour. The movie is riduculous at times and does a really pathetic job at conveying some points such as its "support for gay people". A smooch scene between boman irani and shabana azmi was uncalled for and makes me wonder if hindi movies are losing focus. Irani, raima sen, KK Menon and boman irani offer some saving grace but it just aint enuff. Final word 1 on 5 stars watch it only if you got nothing better to do and only if the ticket costs Rs.50 or less.

cheers,
--Badri--

Hotel Rwanda

Saw Hotel Rwanda last night in Star Movies, yup a bit late to catch up on such a hit movie but then not many theatres were screening it and missed it while it got released. Anyways very touching movie , loved it .

Left me wondering, yet again, why men hurt each other, why people spend lives gathering money for the I, why they hoard money for I's family, why they are worried only about the I. Sometimes I feel capitalism is bad, till everyone is assured of one square meal a day, peace and good education others mustnt be allowed to hoard wealth.

Wrote this poem after seeing the movie, did not come out well but dint try to complete it, this is what immediately flowed out after seeing the movie.

Cant you see heaven crying
For having created you without forewarning
Cant you see your grandsons blood drying
Shot by someone whom his grandfather's murder is avenging

Cant you see that you are prolonging this agony
Transferring it to your and their progeny
Cant you realize that this is felony
Stop laughing for this aint funny

Maybe conscience hurts only the first time you err
But then dont humans realize follies and become better
How could you hurt someone for in color he differs
How could you hurt someone for in looks he is not what you prefer

An eye for an eye will leave the whole world blind
So stop this stupidity and with humanity bind
If only we could respect people for being people
If only we could love people for being people
If only we could be people .....

I strongly hope and pray that I do something worthwhile for my fellow earthians before i hit my grave.

cheers,
--Badri--