As you all know, expectations were sky high, and I must say, they did notdisappoint. There are talks that this was a rip-off from Judgement Night,but frankly , I dont care.
The most awaited film of the year after Dasavatharam. A movie drastically different from Chennai 600028 in terms of the plot, but with a similar execution. Everything they have tried has worked. The storyline is simple.Girl gets kidnapped. Four guys who are lost end up in the vicious kidnapper's hood and end up actually saving the girl.
The entire movie's life span is 3 days. From the day before till the current day. The movie takes its time to kick off. It takes its own leisurely pace to unwind. There is the character introduction, a couple of songs, a lot of comic moments until Venkat Prabhu asks you to fasten yourseat belts. After that, it is one hell of a roller coaster ride with satiric humor in between.
Since you must have already read about the story, I will have you what to watch out for, the hits and misses about Saroja. No doubt this is going tobe a hit, so there's really no need for a detailed review about the story.
The movie is filled with its comic moments, especially from Premji. His one-liners are awesome. He doesn't spare anyone from Simbu to Rajni (watchout for "I was helpless...I was cornered). Even though his emotions dont go well with the situation in hand, you can eat it up because of the humor he provides. How could he keep his cool and crack these plain jokes when your lives are on the line. It seems artificial, but as I said, just eat it up.
The situation is down to earth, the way these guys plan their escape is completely believable and races through time.The camera work is amazing. You can easily point out to 3 of the songs that were inserted, CHeeky Cheeky, Dost Bada Dost, and Kodana Kodi. but who wouldn't want to have them inserted? All the songs rock. Yuvan raps his wayin Cheeky Cheeky, a decision he will soon regret. His behind the scenes stuff will suffice. His histrionics in front of the camera is uncalled for.Dost Bada Dost is a peppy number even though it has the strangest oflyrics. (like Ozone endru vaanil kooda oattai undu).OMG!!!Somebody has gotto tell the lyricist that the hole in the Ozone layer is what is called a Ozone hole, and it is in no way the name of the hole.Nikitha, plays the absolutely inevitable damsel among the gang of goons.She gets a song to shake her hips, and thats kodana kodi. She oozes oomph all through the song. Really HOT!.
Among the performances, SPB Charan stands out. The new girl Vega is also awesome. Premji and Shiva have similar roles as that of Chennai 600028.Shiva has his share of one-liners. The other guy Vaibhav, is a revelation.Prakash Raj just sleep walks through his role. And finally, Jeyaram ...he should stop accepting roles like these. It really doesn't suit him and makes the role all the more artificial. His dialogue delivery is gimmicky , if anything.
Saroja, has its really good share of flaws and cliches as well. The first 30 mins. The triangular love story, girl talking about her love on the exact same day and time as the other guy, guy keeping it to himself...ohhthat piece was so lame.The single dame in the middle of a bunch of thugs who needs to wear hersaree well below her navel and do an item number. One guy trying to be obscene with the kidnapped girl. Guys with guns all around, with no idea how to use 'em. A group of beggars/rag-pickers in the middle of a deserted factory. One of them actually claims that the only way to get out is to geton board a running Goods train?? What they be doing there? Smoking Pot?Drive from Chennai to Hyd for a one-day match? R u crazy?
If you look at the movie, all these flaws are few and far in between.Altogether, this is a thorough entertainer. I would go to the extent ofsaying, its better than Chennai 600028, simply because Chennai 600028 was A la Carte, Saroja, is an amazing buffet. Go get your tickets NOW!!!
Saroja - It doesn't get better than this quite often.
Rating - 7.5/10.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Jeyam Kondan _ The Review
First things first, did someone tell Vinay that you need to sport a mush tomake it big in Kollywood. I would like to know who that person is. Dude,you know better. Get rid of that thing....immediately.
Now to the review. Personally I thought this was going to be a triangularlove story after seeing the promos. But I was pleasantly surprised to findout it wasn't. The story goes like this, Vinay returns to India from UK,only to find out all the savings he had sent to his dad, has gone missing ,after his father's death. He learns that his dad has invested everything ona house in Madurai. When he makes preps to sell the house, he is shocked tofind out that he has a step sister who also has her eyes on the money. Restof the film shows how they try to resolve this situation.
Lekha makes an impressive debut as the stubborn girl whose ambition is todo her Masters in MIT, Boston. The film 'tries' to be authentic and naturalthroughout. But you really get sick of the 'MIT' talk after sometime.Seriously, if its her aim to study there, who cares. Why bother us with theMIT gyan. She wants to sell her Dad's house (technically, its her StepBrother's), so that she can do her MS. And this she does without Vinay'sknowledge. And she even tries to justify her act. She goes to the extent ofblaming Vinay for spoiling her ambition. Wow..How selfish is that? If thatshow her character wanted to be portrayed, sorry....I dont buy that.
Vinay, on the other half, is cool, calm and collected. He never losespatience, and tries to avoid trouble as much as possible. He is the usualsoft-spoken human you find on the road.
Moving on to the story, Vinay goes to Madurai, to find a buyer for thehouse, as luck would have it, he runs into trouble with a local goon(Actually I forgot his name. Its the same guy who was the North Madras Donin Polladhavan). The villain believes it was Vinay's fault that he findshis wife dead. From here on, the movie gets artificial.
Vinay, to avoid further trouble, escapes to Chennai and tries to mortgagethe house. Meanwhile, situations tempt him to stay at his Step sister'shouse. And I bet you can guess the rest of the story. The brother andsister understand each other and come to terms and finally its time for the climax. He beats the bad guy and brings the story to a logical end with amessage.
Before I forget, Bhavna gets to play Vinay's love interest. She is avillage belle, who comes to Chennai to play VolleyBall for 15 days. Butlost her memory , I guess. Coz she never attempts to play volleyball or tryto return after 15 days.
Vivek, in a movie after a long time. but nothing much to write about.Vivek, as usual. Santhanam also tries his hand at village humour, andsucceeds partially.
Actually, Jeyam Kondan, is not a bad movie. It has its heart in the rightplace. But the execution fails after the interval.It tries a whole lot of things, when it should be really concentrating onlyon the central theme.
Vinay delivers a neat performance. However, its a bumper offer for Lekha,and she doesn't disappoint either. Nothing much to say about others. I seemto have a soft corner for this movie, not sure why, maybe because I thinkLekha is cool. Whatever!
Jeyam Kondaan - Good.Only in Parts.
Rating - 4.5/10
Now to the review. Personally I thought this was going to be a triangularlove story after seeing the promos. But I was pleasantly surprised to findout it wasn't. The story goes like this, Vinay returns to India from UK,only to find out all the savings he had sent to his dad, has gone missing ,after his father's death. He learns that his dad has invested everything ona house in Madurai. When he makes preps to sell the house, he is shocked tofind out that he has a step sister who also has her eyes on the money. Restof the film shows how they try to resolve this situation.
Lekha makes an impressive debut as the stubborn girl whose ambition is todo her Masters in MIT, Boston. The film 'tries' to be authentic and naturalthroughout. But you really get sick of the 'MIT' talk after sometime.Seriously, if its her aim to study there, who cares. Why bother us with theMIT gyan. She wants to sell her Dad's house (technically, its her StepBrother's), so that she can do her MS. And this she does without Vinay'sknowledge. And she even tries to justify her act. She goes to the extent ofblaming Vinay for spoiling her ambition. Wow..How selfish is that? If thatshow her character wanted to be portrayed, sorry....I dont buy that.
Vinay, on the other half, is cool, calm and collected. He never losespatience, and tries to avoid trouble as much as possible. He is the usualsoft-spoken human you find on the road.
Moving on to the story, Vinay goes to Madurai, to find a buyer for thehouse, as luck would have it, he runs into trouble with a local goon(Actually I forgot his name. Its the same guy who was the North Madras Donin Polladhavan). The villain believes it was Vinay's fault that he findshis wife dead. From here on, the movie gets artificial.
Vinay, to avoid further trouble, escapes to Chennai and tries to mortgagethe house. Meanwhile, situations tempt him to stay at his Step sister'shouse. And I bet you can guess the rest of the story. The brother andsister understand each other and come to terms and finally its time for the climax. He beats the bad guy and brings the story to a logical end with amessage.
Before I forget, Bhavna gets to play Vinay's love interest. She is avillage belle, who comes to Chennai to play VolleyBall for 15 days. Butlost her memory , I guess. Coz she never attempts to play volleyball or tryto return after 15 days.
Vivek, in a movie after a long time. but nothing much to write about.Vivek, as usual. Santhanam also tries his hand at village humour, andsucceeds partially.
Actually, Jeyam Kondan, is not a bad movie. It has its heart in the rightplace. But the execution fails after the interval.It tries a whole lot of things, when it should be really concentrating onlyon the central theme.
Vinay delivers a neat performance. However, its a bumper offer for Lekha,and she doesn't disappoint either. Nothing much to say about others. I seemto have a soft corner for this movie, not sure why, maybe because I thinkLekha is cool. Whatever!
Jeyam Kondaan - Good.Only in Parts.
Rating - 4.5/10
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Dhaam Dhoom - The Review
I've always felt Jeeva was one of the very few educated film makers that Tamil cinema had. Its unfortunate that we lost him. Although none of his films were runaway hits, they were trendy and made sense much like his latest and last venture Dhaam Dhoom.
Here's the storyline. A genius young Doctor (Jeyam Ravi) visits Russia for a medical conference, gets trapped in a conspiracy where he is alleged of Murder. His struggle in Russia to get back to his homeland forms the main storyline. Ofcourse, there is the mandatory side track where he romances a village belle Kangana.
The movie starts of expected line with an intro song, which was picturised very badly btw. Its hard to digest Jeyam Ravi as the genius young doctor especially if he's going to run around Chennai streets singing rap songs with a kerchief tied to his knee. But thats how it goes. The movie doesn't have much to say till the plot moves to Russia. The drug and law and order situation in current Russia is something that not many of us would not connect to, but it has been told in a very subtle and amateurish fashion, especially the scene where the Russian girl smuggles the drugs with the help of Jeyam Ravi.
The girl Maria gets in touch with Jeyam ravi to get her stuff back, gets cozy with him and the next morning, is found murdered in Ravi's hotel room. The fact that she is the Police Commissioner's daughter makes matters worse for Jeyam Ravi. As Rajni would say, he is helpless and cornered. Enter Jeyaram, the officer from the Indian Embassy who tries to help Jeyam Ravi with the support of Lakshmi Rai, an advocate who appears on behalf of Ravi. How Lakshmi Rai and jeyam Ravi handle the situation and win over it forms the rest of the story. Explaining it any further would amount to giving away anything already left of the story.
During his most nightmarish experience, Jeyam Ravi thinks about those happy and peaceful days when he fell in love with Kangana (to who he is engaged to). Except for the idea, the romance really does not work. We have seen umpteen movies where the heroine is a village belle playing pranks on others with the help of a few over-reacting kids. So thats done and dusted.
Songs and background score are the major forces that drive this film. Though most of the songs are unnecessary and slow the pace of the movie, they are a treat to the ears nevertheless. The theme of a normal helpless person emerging winner against all odds is bound to appeal to mass audiences. Vikram rose to superstardom with this approach (specifically in Dhil and Dhool). One must wait and watch how it fares for Jeyam Ravi.
However, the movie has its own share of flaws. The climax is a big let down. One guy drives a Ford Endeavour with Dark glasses. We must accept that he is the biggest druglord in Russia. And he will be travelling alone , driving his own vehicle , to a place where his life is in danger. I guess, Jeeva had a different idea for the climax before his untimely demise. Because the climax cannot be connected to the rest of the movie. Its plain stupid.
Jeyam ravi's family listens to Sun News where they say , an indian was killed the previous night in an encounter in Russia. The family fairly assumes it is Jeyam Ravi. However we see him walking down the streets of Chennai the next morning after what is shown as a court hearing in which he is released. All in one night ?? Including the travel??? Is this some kind of joke, that I did not understand?
The plot becomes predictable after a first few scenes. Its simple to guess who the mole is, especially cause Jeeva lets out a lot of clues (Clearly for B & C). Jeyam Ravi has really done a nice job , underplaying his emotions and both make it all believable and brings in the sympathy factor. All said, this is indeed a one-time watch especially after all the trash that you has been fed in recent times.
Dhaam Dhoom - Wasted Firecracker.
Rating - 5/10.
Here's the storyline. A genius young Doctor (Jeyam Ravi) visits Russia for a medical conference, gets trapped in a conspiracy where he is alleged of Murder. His struggle in Russia to get back to his homeland forms the main storyline. Ofcourse, there is the mandatory side track where he romances a village belle Kangana.
The movie starts of expected line with an intro song, which was picturised very badly btw. Its hard to digest Jeyam Ravi as the genius young doctor especially if he's going to run around Chennai streets singing rap songs with a kerchief tied to his knee. But thats how it goes. The movie doesn't have much to say till the plot moves to Russia. The drug and law and order situation in current Russia is something that not many of us would not connect to, but it has been told in a very subtle and amateurish fashion, especially the scene where the Russian girl smuggles the drugs with the help of Jeyam Ravi.
The girl Maria gets in touch with Jeyam ravi to get her stuff back, gets cozy with him and the next morning, is found murdered in Ravi's hotel room. The fact that she is the Police Commissioner's daughter makes matters worse for Jeyam Ravi. As Rajni would say, he is helpless and cornered. Enter Jeyaram, the officer from the Indian Embassy who tries to help Jeyam Ravi with the support of Lakshmi Rai, an advocate who appears on behalf of Ravi. How Lakshmi Rai and jeyam Ravi handle the situation and win over it forms the rest of the story. Explaining it any further would amount to giving away anything already left of the story.
During his most nightmarish experience, Jeyam Ravi thinks about those happy and peaceful days when he fell in love with Kangana (to who he is engaged to). Except for the idea, the romance really does not work. We have seen umpteen movies where the heroine is a village belle playing pranks on others with the help of a few over-reacting kids. So thats done and dusted.
Songs and background score are the major forces that drive this film. Though most of the songs are unnecessary and slow the pace of the movie, they are a treat to the ears nevertheless. The theme of a normal helpless person emerging winner against all odds is bound to appeal to mass audiences. Vikram rose to superstardom with this approach (specifically in Dhil and Dhool). One must wait and watch how it fares for Jeyam Ravi.
However, the movie has its own share of flaws. The climax is a big let down. One guy drives a Ford Endeavour with Dark glasses. We must accept that he is the biggest druglord in Russia. And he will be travelling alone , driving his own vehicle , to a place where his life is in danger. I guess, Jeeva had a different idea for the climax before his untimely demise. Because the climax cannot be connected to the rest of the movie. Its plain stupid.
Jeyam ravi's family listens to Sun News where they say , an indian was killed the previous night in an encounter in Russia. The family fairly assumes it is Jeyam Ravi. However we see him walking down the streets of Chennai the next morning after what is shown as a court hearing in which he is released. All in one night ?? Including the travel??? Is this some kind of joke, that I did not understand?
The plot becomes predictable after a first few scenes. Its simple to guess who the mole is, especially cause Jeeva lets out a lot of clues (Clearly for B & C). Jeyam Ravi has really done a nice job , underplaying his emotions and both make it all believable and brings in the sympathy factor. All said, this is indeed a one-time watch especially after all the trash that you has been fed in recent times.
Dhaam Dhoom - Wasted Firecracker.
Rating - 5/10.
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