reachrajdream Reviews

Dangal (2016)

Screenplay and based on true story tag made it Good from ordinary story

[8/10 · 9 January 2017]

What stands out in this movie is Screenplay and based on true story tag(maintains the awe of how real people went through this all through), never gives a feel of ordinary simple story. AK is a marketing genius on good content.The 2 standout event in the screenplay really made the story gripping driven by reason are below which is inspiring. 1. The daughters hitting the harassers and AK spotting their wrestling talent. 2. Accepting forced wrestling life as far better then dumb wedded life.

The richness and quality in production has made this ordinary story presentable. The Commonwealth games(US, China and Russia are not part of it) for India is always a cakewalk right from 1960's but still Women achieving in wrestling for the first time from village is commendable(Geetha's younger sister also won silver in the same event(2010 Common wealth games) portrayed in movie and she herself won bronze in world wrestling championship which is more greater then this as its world level competition). AK and Coach conflicting in their instructions to Geetha is interesting. The last scene which has AK locked in room is little dramatic but still reasonable and bearable.

AK acting is subtle as usual with the hype of stout and slim combo, his cameo as young AK is a relief in the epilogue.Just wondering and admiring how he got evoluted so better after his first 15 years movies(good that he survived with less hits until then) after Lagaan(2001). Pre Lagaan many of his movies are just copy/inspired from Hollywood movies(nevertheless he didn't write/direct them indeed) like The Godfather, It happened one night, On the Waterfront, win a Date with Tad Hamilton, Kramer Vs Kramer, An Affair to remember. He has come a long way and learned it the hard way, but now made it bigger with his sincerity. Also surprised by his feminist and out of box movies with less importance to heroism. I think he got better over the age and bangs every time on December release right from TZP. Just like TZP AK has underplayed himself which is great. Still wondering how AK strikes balance between box office and critics. Bangs on Bulls eye as usual for AK this time.

Mohenjo Daro (2016)

Average movie with great climax

[6/10 · 12 August 2016]

GANGA...the last word of this movie summarises some sense of the platform where all this story happened and relieved to hear that having myself suffer on first half where characters and story showcases mediocre cinema from a reputed film maker except for the promising intro action sequence of crocodile hunt. The climax was one of the awesome pieces of India cinema in line with Bahubali and other popular epics. The idea of boats tied up and saving the villagers with help of cow from floods was fulfilling part. The heroic fights and romance(not all-nevertheless white goat seen by HR the sign of fortune calling is dreamy and touchy)from HR is the downside. ARR music elevates the story. The heroine is beautiful and justifies her part. Kabir Bedi looks and voice gives some dimension to the character and relieves us from  repeated style of characters in Indian cinema. The last scene where the city lost in floods showing the monumentals is a classic and touching one. Something was missing to the give 2016 BC feel which is also minus for the film. Story is a big let down especially characters considering a promising premise. Only the climax reveals the directors glimpses of old form. HR casting is sort of miscast but still he does a decent job. On a whole the movie is average but special appreciation for the climax(AGs famous formula which are village based) and also the epic sets and visual effects.

Vishwaroopam (2013)

KH bangs on international platform and subject well except for 2nd half

[6/10 · 27 July 2016]

Fiction always excites and gives a valuable ,enjoyable break from reality and makes us alive and tried this movie for that break. This movie due to the soft to hard growth of characterization impressed me through its songs and promos. Hence I went for the movie on 1st show. Am not heartless or brainless to criticize a legend like Mr.Kamal Hassan. I will try to keep up the movie information highlighted for fans to at least keep them informed on what it is and what can be expected.

Humanitarian Indian soldier spies on Afghanistan location during 2002 period, he through another money motives sheikh brings a equipment to identify location through him. As a result a bunch of political extremists is getting killed including the family he lives with closely which indeed affects him emotionally. The spy now live is NY after climax of the war in Afghanistan as girlish dance master marrying a selfish woman who has affair. She spies husband to blame on him to quit marriage as she not likes the girlish character of wiz(Vishwanathan) and the spy gets killed accidentally by an political warrior(the scene of political warrior enjoying in swing before his sucide killing explores life, death and humanity to the core). Now political warrior group is on with Wizz and co,where wiz takes this movie from soft to super hero the best moment of the film. Now the wiz and co is upon saving NY from deadly killing agent through chemical tied upon dove and another political warrior who is upon killing using the chemical agents. Whizz and co saves it by the advice by his wife Nirupama as she is nuclear oncologist(using micro oven?).The spy and co will continue their journey now in India for sequel.

PLUS 1.Vishwaroopam characterization from soft to super hero.

2.Realistic portrayal of Afghanistan life a new experience.

3.Songs, background music.

4.Rahul Bose character and performance to a extent.

5.Reasonably dense story.

6. Dailagues(very nice witty,cute,emotional and comic dialogues men are nothing but tail in there front :)).

MINUS 1.New York detective track, especially second half(all kamal scripted movies has exciting plot and weak second half right from the movie Vikram in 1986).

2. No thick or fulfilling character(s) or themes in the movie.

3.Story telling is bit slow and complex.Not sure on this,but i feel for some reason there is no interest created to follow/learn more on story and characters.

PLUS AND MINUS Non chronological events of story in movie(Afgahnistan and NY track running parallel and quick edits in climax to reveal who the hero is).

I salute kamal sir for his looks in the movie especially as Tamil Muslim Kashmiri and stunt sequences for his age.I love this movie to succeed as am well wisher of Mr.Kamal Haasan but one suggestion is bring a team of various skilled people in script and direction department of your movie.

Pather Panchali (1955)

Indian (Un)Parallel movie at its best

[10/10 · 22 July 2016]

Off late i have stopped writing about films because my perspective has progressed that films are not an essential and valuable service, apart from non outdoor entertainment provided which is required to have healthy mind. Also, films are one sided and not two way as people on screen and behind keep exhibiting their talent and we the viewers have no participation (example in sports-Tennis or Chess is two sided). But recently got inspired to come back into my favorite arena-(parallel) movies(commonly/colloquially known as non song movies, award cinema, art film, documentary, slow movies, elite film festival audience movie) after getting inspired from a TV show accidentally i watched while changing channel, where Indian film director told that his favorite personality is Satyajit Ray(a veteran with Oscar and Bharat Ratna to his credit). While saying there was a special spark in his eyes. Then i came back to this movie called Pather Panchali - Song of the little road(1955) which was released 61 years ago(was in development hell for 3 years indeed), which is Mr.Ray's first movie with no experience in films except for watching, analyzing and discussing them. Unresisted to watch the movie despite the criticism on Rays movie as selling poverty abroad, lack of modernism,melodramatic and slow.

Needless to say, movie is sourced to a literature as like any parallel movie should be. The film is into 5 characters of lower middle class family set in rural India. Rays movie has deeper touch with realism, story being natural and so the characters(in simple-the style is into absorbing story and characters strongly, parallel movie trademark). His style is more focused on characters. Its a chilling experience and a break from blood and gore and over romantic, repeat artificial routine movies in recent and past trend. Characters moments of living life as a human being is captured in close shots which is overwhelming. The boys reaction to his sisters beating and making-up with a mustache as a man after watching a theater performance and enjoying the rain with his sister is close to heart. Not to miss the deepness of Apu's love to sister when the movie ends he throws away the beads(which his sister stole and got beaten) to protect her reputation.

The end of movie is heart breaking to be not in touch with the family we enjoyed overseeing while they are living. The chilling experience is deep because of the family living in a natural surrounding-lovely nature ambiance. People who have suffered lack of humanity in real life will enjoy this movie of 2 hours and 6 minutes for sure. Fiction seated in realism some or most of the times is purely enjoyable because we already built a stage(as we can closely match the realism in our life) to launch a fiction on top of it.

Hey Ram (2000)

A film with deep research on Mr. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

[10/10 · 22 July 2016]

The films major instance Direct Action Day (16 August 1946-announced by the Muslim League Council to show the strength of Muslim feelings both to British and Congress) event shown in movie is a good effort to depict the killing of around 4000 people on that day(the overall killing happened due to partition riots is estimated to be 2lakh approximately(could be even between 200 Thousands to 2 Million and stands next to holocaust which cost around 10 Million lives app)) is an shocking information to know for political outsiders like me to understand what India has gone through as a nation. The amount of research gone into this movie is evident(definitely that which is not included might even be more valuable).

Even though this movie is a historical fiction, doesn't mean its only for old timers and history buffs. In fact not training the mind to take this sort of movie was one of the reason the film might have failed to reach its deserved acclaim(but indeed was profitable reasonably recently been Tweeted by KH for its 16th anniversary). This movie (and indeed Confluence with Ocean) deserved an Oscar which didn't attain(of course Oscars are very American not international indeed). This story and direction (visuals + conversations(a fine punch "The poor child has not even decided about her god and the ones about vegetarian food and Khyber canal-drama at its best.")) was one of the flawless and prolific effort in Indian films. KH's influence of European and Malayalam movies is the curse and blessing of this movie(and of course his acute sens of drama and eccentric casting where SRK gives his best, a humble man indeed). The silence, pause, slowness indeed is part of the realism which acts as part of the realism and cant be written off. Historical fiction is the best genre because we need not take care of the theme and sense as the history intertwined in the story takes care of itself(this theme been before in Mani Ratnams Bombay and Salman Rushdie's midnight children).

Many characters were even based on true story like Mortimer Wheeler, Gandhi(Gandhi sleeping with lights ON told in the movie is interesting to know about his eccentricity indeed proves the depth of research done on Gandhi(and his writing volume is 65000+ papers is an surprise info i heard recently)) etc. The only downside is the language which has many essence and consistency lost in translation.

Uttama Villain (2015)

Thematically rich like European movies

[10/10 · 22 July 2016]

This review an attempt not to be one among the high class or not just a drop and come out with criticism.Just tried to be a common and sensitive type on this. Fans had to learn or evolve and just receive work, i.e., be content receiver and not jump on contenders,precisely not getting carried away by the examples(allusions analogy symbolism and metaphors in stories). Before shedding some time and money on a movie i know what not to expect and this movie is not been done to satisfy audience rather themselves(which in a way satisfies audience also sometimes and sometimes not) , i.e., this turn on movie making by the makers could be on for institutionalized awards. Again its just a story and focusing only on theme, as story is mere vehicle of theme(The story is sort of Shakespearean tragedy genre and thematically rich, an European film approach and theme driven/focused indeed, movie buffs might be aware of this on what to expected on the genre and approach but difficult for non movie buffs).

Usually this kind of theme people either choose in start(rarely like K.B, Aishwarya Dhanush) or end(Chaplin) and rarely in middle(could this be?Kamal and Raj Kapoor), the theme is death. This movie reminded me of Chaplin's Limelight and Raj Kapoor's My name is Joker both of these works coming during their end of their life/careers. All these artists finally showed their real face shedding their make-ups first and last time.This movie celebrates like Osho tells us to celebrate the Death. Interestingly this could be even beginning of someone's life as Alfred Nobeldid get to inspire to instill Awards in his name seeing people's reaction on his death news which published by mistake.

The scene which moved me like the most is the one by his son who himself never been serious before supporting his father before he bids adieu. It reminded me a scene in the Spanish movie the sea inside where the boy runs behind the Van which takes his uncle to hospital.Apart, there is something in this movie which reminded me of the movie Indran Chandran(a Telegu movie) as well. The irony which itself remains on 2 tracks qualifies this one to be a story to be told. The first 30 minutes actor showing the real face is a great risk like superstar does it for Baba which the actor is champion for. The literary contents and comedy are just okay as it looks like not very new as in Dasavatharam(2008). The realism in the movie shows Kamal Haasan's influence of Malayalam movies( a art/award/documentary/parallel movie stamp which sometimes a curse or blessing based on the depth of character,situation and story backdrop/background and the realism is the gap or silence for the viewers heart to be filled but realism mostly divorces from entertainment for some i guess ). His last minutes reveal that next birth also an artist which reveals the spirit of showmanship. The artists will always be there nobody dies for that matter. They never die, i mean nobody does they leave something-their marks and genes.

Source: My blog below: http://rajeshsgravity.blogspot.in

Enthiran (2010)

Deglamourised Rajni(scientist),Demotionalised

[3 October 2010]

Endhiran-As it is-->Deglamourised Rajni(scientist),Demotionalised Rajni(Robo),Villain Rajni(this one is good,but very less time like Mottai boss in the movie Sivaji.)Rajni is planning to transition from super star to super actor(like Amitabh Bachan?!)

Minus point 1.Rajni is lost in the big imagination of Shankar and production of SunTV. 2.Degalamourised Rajni(scientist),deemotionalised Rajni(Robo).(Now understood why Srk and Kamal refused this movie). 3.The starting is very simple,since the speed of movie doesn't increasing subsequently in a very high pace(like Mudalvan) this approach could have been avoided(pace build up is approach of Shankar). 4.Few logic flaws,Sana acting ignorant of Robo despite studying in a medical college,villain Rajni is not like Robo at all.(emotional Robo is like Moondru Mugam Rajni,a Shankar favorite) 5.Robo loving is the worst line in the movie,not interesting at all. 6.Rajni surrendering to Shankar and too much of underplay. 7.Simple Robo story been made with 162 crores and tto much publicity,hype(Robo stories in literature from 1896 and Hollywood flicks already seen bicentennial man,i Robot.Not sure on what different is,thats been hyped too much). 8.Instead of too much of research Shankar should have developed a good story line in second half(like the one in dasvatharam at least). 9.Could have had less CG shots and made in 50 crores with actor sharath,Rajni is not celebratable as its the emotion that is enjoyable,now its been minused when acted as Robo. 10.Not many interesting characters and events that are apart from Robo subject.Danny character not strong enough as villain.A interesting villain makeas a hero and a interesting story . 11.Frankenstein approach to Robo is the most repeated and boring thing in stories of literatures and cinema,now it comes in Tamil cinema,which isn't innovative at all.

Plus point 1.New Robo subject in Tamil films correctly at this media and internet age. 2.Villian Rajni 3.Climax story line of Robot making Robots and human Vasee gets mixed for thrill. 4.Climax action scenes-creative,quality. 5.Songs are OK. 6.Robot scenes excites at times and the comedy in it.Danny is also OK and casual. 7.Intellectually good on content at parts.(even though andro humanoid term is wrong!) 8.Good answer for Kamals Dasavatharam by Rajni,100 Rajnis appear in the movie: and Rajni as scientist and intellectual movie as like the Kamal's one.

Guru (2007)

A movie about dream.

[8/10 · 4 August 2009]

This is the third bilingual movie of film director Mani ratnam,after his flop of Dilse(1998) and Yuva(2004).The flops of bilingual movie effort is evident in showing that there is some shortcoming when its done for both Hindi and Tamil audience.Yet there is an understanding that people like Mani ratnam or Kamal Haasan make movie on the philosophy of how it should be,rather then whom they are targeting or satisfying for.This movie carries the pain,learnings and dreams Main ratnam has had right from his first Kanada movie Pallavi Anu pallavi(1983).The output of this movie is the second best after Kanathil Muthamital(2002).The story is inspired from the Business tycoon Mr.Dhirubhai Ambani(1932-2002),as everyone knows.Tha adaptation of his biography into a movie story is been done reasonably well.The content and execution are right on spot with quality.Especially the first scene where he talks in front of empty stadium and bringing that back on climax with all people,where he makes a statement of that his dream has become true is the masterpiece and inspiring piece of cinema.

Mr.Manoj Night Shyamalam,the Indian American film director has stated that 95% of director job is casting,even though its an exaggerating statement,it clearly highlights the importance of casting.Actress Aishwarya resembles Mrs.Ambani and Abhishek is sufficient for the Guru character.Mithun and Madhavan are OK on their supporting roles as well.The story shows the rags to riches moments of Mr.Ambani overcoming the oppositions which is mind blowing,inspiring and unbelievable.There were few innovations like taking a romantic song lead after there were dispute between Guru and Mrs.Guru.The song ore kana yen vazhvilae(the dream song)is the master piece in the movie.It summarises the beautiful,emotional,poetic state of thought in dreaming and attaining the goal in opposition.I guess Rehman has recorded his dream of getting Oscar in that song,which he did get in 2009.Artists are humanity and dream messengers,its an eternal favourite theme(dream)well handled in movie.The movie is about greatness of dream and the person who mastered the dream,Mr.Ambani.

Nayakan (1987)

Great screenplay,background score,Cinematography,acting

[8/10 · 18 October 2007]

I watched this movie recently on TV for 5th time,but i didn't feel boring or outdated.Especially what made the huge difference in this movie is the screenplay.It has provided a solid foundation for all the achievements this movie has done.Especially it creates great opportunity for the actors to show their skill,because it comes with a solid sensible reasonable situation.Actors cannot operate by themselves in a movie,it is based on the imaginary situation they can connect to the scene and portray their performance.So this movie comes out with some good acting performances,right from Kamal,Janagarag,Delhi Ganesh,Kartika.

The next thing comes to my mind after screenplay is background score.Composer Illayaraja enhances the beauty and power of each scene by his excellent background score.P.C.Sreeram and Maniratnam has done great team work in executing the scenes with visual treat for eyes.Balakumaran's dailogues is very apt and good.

The movie was made in 1987 ,but still it is of good quality.It is one of the movie selected by Time Magazine as "All-Time 100 Best Films. Great team work.Good movie!!

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Space travel with adventure for just a movie ticket

[10/10 · 11 October 2007]

This movie is a complex work of director Stanley Kubrick,but it is well acclaimed by critics and audience all over the world.I know that Stanley Kubrick has done just 11 mainstream feature films,each one of them has different story plots derived from literary works.The story is been written by renowned science fiction writer Arthur C.Clarke and i would say it is an exceptional material where we can explore themes of evolution.A.I,E.T,origin and end of universe.The story has mystery and adventure,in an innovative backdrop of space.It had some vision and forecast on technology,space life,space travel to be used on future,where some of them were successful.i am sure this movie taught the movie making fraternity the fun,fantasy,adventure,scope through a science fiction movie.

The first 4 minutes had mysterious back ground score with blank screen after which the movie started.The first chapter of the movie "The dawn of man" had 15 minutes sequence in a desert,which was supposed to be Africa 4 million years ago ,where we see various activity of historic apes .It had no conversation,just various visuals communicating evolutionary concepts,especially the usage of tool.We also see a black rectangular wall like thing(which is called as monolith in this story) which appears mysteriously on a overnight .We see fear,curiosity of apes on the mysterious monolith.The ape learns to use tool,the first turning point of mankind.I think the 15 minutes ape sequence is controversial especially for casual viewers of cinema.In fact it made me bored and also restless,irritating as we cannot understand what was happening in screen.By reading the story in internet websites,i came to know that visuals communicated evolutionary concepts,especially the usage of tooletc.But i was not very impressed of the ape sequence,because i feltthings explained in that 15minutes were not that important to story,as well as little boring.

But i was really stunned by the subsequent 2 hours. Now we see the ape learning to use first ever tool and is been thrown which cuts to space ship, which indicates the progression of tool in the evolutionary process.and this happens in the year 1999.The stunning visuals show about space life like zero gravity toilet,pen flying away due to lack of gravity,food styles in space life,how people walk in space.The visual showing the space crafts,costumes,visual effects,set decoration were amazing and it made me feel that i am in space travel,especially the classic composition background score made me connect with visual with lot of joy.The importance of background score is understood through this movie.Such a great impact it had.

The story now starts as an American scientist is on mission to moon, where through discussions with his friends and conference speech,we understand there is a mysterious monolith been planted on moon by E.T,millions of years ago.The substance it is made of remains mystery and the radiation it generates are extremely powerful.There is sense of mystery built on story about monolith through background score also.After that we see scientists go the place of monolith to research and as they try to take a photo,we hear a mysterious sound and scene cuts of to Jupiter mission chapter,which happen after 18 months.In this chapter,through visuals we see the space craft for Jupiter mission,which has 5 scientists.where three of them are in hibernation(in sleeping state with protection) to conserve energy for space mission.Through TV interview,we come to know that they are accompanied by HAL9000 computer(A.I),which controls the overall mission and it is an extremely efficient A.I,that thinks like human.There is a a question been raised about its emotion also.Suddenly the A.I questions about the picking of some scientists in last minute has some mystery of mission.Further it detects problem with AE35 unit in space ship,as a result one of the scientist decide to replace it.But from the space team of earth,who have the HAL9000 twin detects that information given by HALL9000 in space ship is wrong.HAL9000 gets confused after replacing the AE 35 unit and says the scientists to wait and let it fail to fix the problem,as they can afford to be out of communication from earth for sometime.Both scientist discuss on this crisis secretly getting away from HAL9000 and decide it to disconnect it.But HAL reads the lip movement and finds out that they are going to disconnect it.Now one of the scientist leaves the space ship through EVA pod and replace the original AE35 unit,but HAL kills the scientist who went to replace and also kills three of them who were in hibernation.Now the other scientist leaves space ship through EVA pod to survive the one who is flying in space.After surviving him he returns to space ship,but HAL refuses to open the door.And he uses emergency air lock and disconnects HAL,after which he gets message through TV that real mission is to find the mystery of monolith in moon,which causes radiations in Jupiter.

Now,we come to the final chapter,Jupiter mission and infinity,where we see earth,Jupiter and monolith aligns in the space and the scientist travel through time and space through monolith and finally reaches a 4d room,where he ages and dies.Finally he becomes a embryo in the death bed.Now we see the monolith in front of bed generating light,energy and he becomes star child.

This film is path breaking in all aspects,but there is one side of audience and critics blaming it to be dull,uninteresting, and slow.Only if you love to travel space with sense of adventure and having the passion explore the mystery of universe,you will be enjoying .Otherwise,it's going to be a nightmare.Stanley Kubrick has given new dimension to film making and it's scope.The movie is evident that he is put a great deal of thought and hard work,for which we must appreciate.

American Beauty (1999)

cinematic beauty

[10/10 · 31 August 2007]

American beauty is one of my favorite movie,which inspired the interest of movies into me because it was a great cinematic beauty.This movie is a character drama,with beautiful music composition,awesome acting performances,excellent execution by the director.The person who deserves a special mention is the writer Alan Ball who has written an excellent script with the touch of poetry,philosophy.

The major story line would be 42 year old Lester Burnham likes to have relationship with his daughter's friend and a gripping climax for it.Even though the story line is odd,highlight of this movie is about the 7 characters.All the 7 characters are empty,lonely,sympathetic,feeling inferior on their life and desperately seeking outlet for their uninspired life.

Lester Burnham ------------- 42 year old living in Suburban,Dissatisfied and angry with his average life and there is no fun in his life.

outlet: ------ He flirts with daughter's friend,quits job and tries to recover fun in life.

Carolyn ---------House wife who is terribly empty,craving for self esteem.Values money more then anything in life.

outlet: ------She tries to become successful real estate business women,by flirting with a successful real estate businessman.

Jane -----Daughter of Lester and Carolyn,who is unhappy due to her parents,who go their way,and doesn't bother her life.

outlet: ------She finds her next door guy Ricky lovable and matching her wavelength.

Frank Fits ----------- He is a Colonel,whose interest lies only in area of military,disciplined,monotonous,aggressive on ideologies.

Barbara --------House wife who has become robotic,empty and has no liveliness in life.Just does her family duties and lives like a robot.

Ricky -----Son of Frank fits and Barabara,who was mentally ill briefly is fighting life with his strict,arrogant father and empty life.

outlet: ------Drug addict and sells drug.Loves his next door girl Jane and has passion with camera to capture the beauty of life.

Angela Hayes -----------jane's friend who aspires to make career in show business.She feels there is nothing worse then being ordinary.Pretends to be smart.

outlet:------Reciprocates her friend's father flirting interest.

Basically story oriented drama wont be fun,gripping,but this movie is amazing due to realistic characters,reasonable content. I think it would take years to make a movie of this quality and perfection.Great work.

Iruvar (1997)

Could have been turning point in Indian film industry

[8/10 · 28 August 2007]

Indian film director Maniratnam was in great form after making 13 movies,especially after the success of the movie Bombay(1995).He made his ambitious movie "Iruvar" with lot of passion and perfection,which is quite evident in the movie.Maniratnam who is also well known for his innovative one liner,well structured screenplay,cute and good imagination has given his best work especially in the first half of the movie.Recording the history of a nation in a movie is not something possible in Indian film industry due to it's commercial pressure,but Maniratnam has daringly attempted for it with biography of two great persons Anandan and thamizhchelvan(based on real life filmstar,chiefminister M.G.R and writer,Chiefminister Karunanidhi).It is about their struggules,dreams,ambition,family,affairs,political and film career.And of course film tells about their friendship,competition and jealousy.

The first half of the movie is beautiful,inspiring.But i have to accept the fact that second half is dry,dragging because of the scope,accuracy concerned in the story as it based on real life.The movie team deserves apprecitation starting from writer,director Maniratnam,camera person Santhosh sivan,art director,music of A.R.Rehman ,actor Mohanlal and acting team,dialagues of Suhasini and the entire movie team.If some magic were done in second half of this movie,this might have become turning point in Indian film industry.

The movie Iruvar was not commercially successfully.But i cant understand why it is not been celebrated by the media for it's quality,professionalism of this movie team.Good,inspiring,hard and quality work form the Iruvar team.

21 Grams (2003)

Best character drama in history of cinema

[9/10 · 27 July 2007]

I am not a great admirer of non linear edited movie,because i have watched some movies like The Killing (1956),Pulp fiction (1994),Memento(2000)and some which didn't appeal to me so much.But 21grams movie team did the trick and made us enjoy the non linear story telling.Especially it was a treat when i watched it second time and fun to correlate the scenes in my mind.

The story is about three characters-a Mathametics Professor living unhappy with bad health and self centred wife,a housewife who is recovering from drug addiction,a deeply religious man who has come out of con activities.The acting team Sean Penn,Naomi watts,Benicio Del Terro have done awesome performance,especially i became fan of Sean Penn and there is perfection in his acting which reminded me of Alpacino.I felt that this movie communicated about loneliness,loss,struggule in the life.Especially the visuals and music make us to connect with the story deeply.The movie ends with the narration of senn penn about 21 grams where he repeats the words "How much is gained" would leave us stunned that we have watched good sensible philosophical movie.Good creative work by Alenjandro Gonzalez and his team.

Sivaji (2007)

safe game

[6/10 · 22 June 2007]

This movie is one of the costliest one made in India,but we cannot expect jurrasic park,titanic or terminator because tamil film industry is more into business pressure rather then creativity.That too superstar Rajini,director Shankar both this celebrities want to safeguard their position rather then trying something new.

I swear that this movie is not bad.The story is about the man Sivaji who wants to invest his money into social service,but politicians,rival enterpreneurs doesn't let him to do good(as per the rule of screenplay),he overcomes the troubles by making black money into white money in robinhood action style.The story is told reaaonably in good pace with good treat for eyes.Especially 5 songs were great,visually stunning.Next thing comes to our mind after songs in sivaji is Comedian vivek.He does good job.After this obviously some glimpses of rajini's style in the movie is also good.Action,romance scenes were average since it is not story oriented,its not gripping. Especially astrology related scenes,heroine letting down sivaji by trapping him into police were simply boring.The only question i have about this movie is why rajini is not fluent,comfortable,firing in all ways.I guess may be pressure riding 60crore business?Overall the movie is average,not a let down.

The only question i have to director Shankar is,"Is there no story available to be told in entertaining way?Don't you feel innovation is primary yardstick of movie making.

Roja (1992)

Inspired from Italian movie sunflower(1970)

[7/10 · 24 May 2007]

This movie is inspired from Italian movie Desica's Girasoli, I (1970),neverthless no complaints because i don't believe in originality.The movie is worth watching because of good story and flow of the story.A.R.Rehmans score and P.C.Sreeram's camera is beautiful.The movie has romance and patriotism.Good natural performance by the acting team also.Maniratnam was in great form during this period,he gave continuous hits of Mouna Ragam,Nayagan,Agni Natchathiram,Geethanjali,Anjali,Thalapathi.There were many cute scenes in the movie.It is also visually stunning.

Even Vittoria Desica might have been happy watching this movie because such a solid,positive enhancement of his work.

Vietnam Veedu (1970)

Excellent drama

[10/10 · 10 April 2007]

This movie was adapted from the play,an orthodox brahmin Sundaram retires from his profession,and his emotional reactions,mind set were accurately captured.He faces difficulty in adapting with his sons,daughter dishonesty,indiscipline,besides he is an very honest and strict man.

Sivaji Ganesan one of the best actor in history of cinema gives his best performance,accurately enacting brahmin slang,body language,expression.Nobody can act like him ,besides his setback of overacting,which he claims to be very nature of acting.

Nagesh,Padmini,Srikanth gives good supporting role performance.Special kudos to writer Sundaram,for his awesome lines.This movie breaks monotonous style of movie making and gives a neat drama due to its plot and characters from real life.A little bit of overdose when it comes to melodrama in this movie,still the movie touches deep.

I guess actor Sivaji Ganesan deserves life time achievement award Oscar,and maximum recognition for his contribution to cinema for around 250 movies,where he has displayed variety of roles more then any actors in world.This movie is an solid example of why i claim it.

Anbe Sivam (2003)

Eternal theme of Humanity on art at it's best

[10/10 · 25 December 2006]

This is one of the movies i missed during it's release like many,due to the feeling that this movie won't be interesting and entertainment factor will be less(lot of downside info like reportedly 60 Million loss for producers at 2003 and also director didn't take salary and in fact the latter director capped Sundar.C hinted that Kamal made this movie as an influence and to satisfy his intellectual associate. Indeed was in development hell briefly with Priyadarshan been replaced and also the heroine i guess). Finally i saw this movie and was shocked to know that an Indian feature film has good quality without any artificial entertainment.To my knowledge the theme of humanity i first saw was on the 1940 feature film "The great dictator",Schlinder's List and many great movies.But this movie was striking direct on it's theme with it's relevant plot. Actor Kamalhaasan is one of the few unique distinguished film personality in India who has been making career in Indian movies right from 1961 till date.With his well developed artistic talent he has been working hard on quality right from 1987 movie Nayagan(Listed on TIME magazine as one of the great movie of the century).I would say this movie is just not another feather on his cap,but something more then that. With his singing of theme song on this movie is deep and emotional high. The hidden theme from the Nallasivam character is that he recovers from death to life because of love, besides opposing the selfish,fraud, phony people in the world.Its always easy to be an god fearing person in our society for security and selfish reason.But to be an atheist,not easy.We need to fight,oppose this selfish ,dishonest society every day. There are lot of signs this movie is classic and timeless as the story is more into emotional side of humans plus life. The movie seemed to be on about love, but it ended up saying about not loved-Loneliness, which is a classic progression.

The story plot is simple,it's purely into character of Kamal and Madhavan.Madhavan and Kamal have done great job on their role.Madhavan is advertisement film maker and Kamal is communist theater actor,with artistic talent and simple human whose life is entirely an example of humanity. Example for his humanity is that he raises the dog which was the reason behind his disastrous accident and shattered his life.Beauty of forgiveness is well explained there.Especially the acting of dog(that too in climax) is up to the point which indeed shows the perfection of work and when lead actor says the dialogue "pozhachu ponga" it looks like he told the same for his haters who did politics against him and anti-Kamalians. And not to miss mentioning is actor Nasser performance, especially when he says "sethu PO" will be all time best hardcore villain dialogue(Can watch this piece when you are let down by life and life's people to get empowered to live well and confidently against the oppositions of life). I guess all the movie after Rare brothers(1989) by Mr. Kamal is been directed by himself(may be except director Shankar/Maniratnam i guess) and his directors are always Assistant/Associate director. This mention is not to take away credit of the director and let them down but it shows Mr. Kamal's command on creativity. In fact my interest in movie was in because of this movie and for many i guess, as Tamil film director Bala even stated his Naan Kaduval(2009) and the title indeed inspired from this movie. Especially this movie is medicine for people who are wounded by inhumanity and loneliness.

The only boring part of this movie is insertion of communism(propaganda tone is indeed inevitable), which might be the influence of Movie genius Chaplin and Tamil writer Jayakanthan. Journalist/Writer/Cartoonist Madhan has done a great job in dialogues, as he is one of the original, knowledgeable creative person in Tamil Nadu. I wish he collaborates again with Kamal.

On the downside the film is more of a character drama, missing wholesome entertainment/theme which strikes our heart easy and cool.. The tone of self pity and sentiment is over the top, but still everybody has to go through these in life, so no complaints. The Tsunami word used in the movie was picked up by Kamal after getting an invitation from Gollapudi Maruthi Rao(Telugu film producer/Director who acted in cameo on 2000 film Hey Ram) to institute an award in his sons name who lost his life in Tsunami while shooting for Telugu film Prema Pusthakam (1993 Telegu movie- actor Ajith's first movie). This usage turned out to be a sensation as Dec26-2004 seen real Tsunami in Tamilnadu (Film released on Jan-2003). Overall i would rate this film to be excellent due to its quality. Eternal theme of Humanity on art at it's best

The Godfather (1972)

Makers and characters of this movie lives forever in art of film making

[10/10 · 21 June 2006]

Finally i decided to give review on the most popular,role model movie in the world,even though mine would be lost in millions of reviews.Mario Puzo has created this story based on characters with underworld platform.Father,his three sons and one foster son.

Santinno-Angry Fredo-coward Michael-cool,smart

Vito(father)-mixture of these characters,and treats everyone equally with love and care.And of course Tom hagen,the foster son plays lawyer with cool head and has good,comfortable place in the story.The content is completely extracted from the novel,so all credits to Mario Puzo in forming the basement of this movie.

Francis Ford Copolla not much known director at that point of making this movie has done great in transforming all his passions,talent for this masterpiece.His passion on art of film making is evident in the quality and execution of this movie.Introduced many trend like darkness in back drop,natural on acting(tongue slip of words remain unedited)

The content of this movie is little complicated but has international appeal due to the characters,emotion,conversation and family values.The acting of Marlon Brando,Alpacino and the complete team deserve all appreciation.The character of Alpacino is fascinating and i guess most would become his fans after watching this movie.

The background music for the movie enhances beauty of this artistic movie.Ultimately we can say all forms of art acting,writing,music were at its best in this movie.The movie runs for 3hours,little long but the content justifies it.

Why do i praise this movie so much,WATCH it.This movie will make you an offer which you cant refuse!!!

Come September (1961)

why people forget this kind of classic

[10/10 · 19 April 2006]

I always feel Hollywood movies are not superior to world cinema,when it comes to comedy.But this movie was so enjoyable,because there has been no artificial efforts to make comedy,rather it comes with story and sensibly also.I would rate this movie as nourishing experience,which made me feel it is good movie with quality. Don't miss this movie,light hearted movie with well organized content.Movie is for everyones eyes without any violence.The same directors has made peck's Oscar winning movie,which is no surprise.Acting was good,story was in good pace,the end was satisfying.Italian people has influenced Hollywood movies a lot,which is reflected on movie.Music was also enjoyable and unforgettable.Why there is less vote and rating for this movie,of course no Oscars also??!!Movie lovers save this kind of cinema and value this old treasure.We can remake this movie with Robin in lead.I assure this movie would give happy and fulfilling feeling,which is purpose of viewing movie.

Phone Booth (2002)

Quality thriller of the century

[10/10 · 13 January 2006]

I saw this movie 2nd time and i felt the same experience as the first time,even though its a thriller.I forgot myself for 30minutes in between the movie.Colin Farell does awesome performance,excellent script moving beautifully in every second and of course director has executed in an enjoyable way.It's a great experience watching this movie,please don't miss it.It deserves more awards and recognition. Great work Phone Booth team.Altogether this is true masterpiece of Hollywood history beating Hitchcock and other great thrillers.Its 100% thrill guaranteed and it brings great involvement inside the story,Sutherlands voice enhances phone booth to great extent.

Forrest Gump (1994)

simple Great biography

[10/10 · 6 October 2005]

It you like poetry and philosophy,i assure you will like this movie.Forrest's being son,lover,friend,husband and father,it summarizes the whole essence of life.The movie is narrated like poem with touch of philosophy.Probably the only little boring part of movie is the reference of American history during Forrest's life.Tom Hanks has done good justice to his role dedicatedly.His narration is good in the movie.The most interesting and unique part of the movie is Forrest's innocence,which is the backbone and admiral part of this story.Its an different feeling you will get after watching the movie,evethough the movie is a bit emotional and sentimental,which is inevitable part of human life.