The Legend

“There is an army behind him… he is not alone…”
“You know who he is”
“Sir you are a true Legend!”

- With supporting actors’ “build-up” dialogues, protagonist Saravanan is constantly projected as a do-gooder, one who fights for women’s rights, works for the downtrodden, wants to serve the people of his nation etc.

 

An antibiotic scientist who refuses an offer to head All India Institute of Medical sciences, Saravanan is back in his village in Tamilnadu after a stint abroad.  He meets his classmate Tirupati whose entire family including his pregnant wife & two children are diabetic. He eventually dies due to unethical medication and Saravanan vows to invent a permanent solution to cure diabetes completely.

He works day and night in his research laboratory, and finally finds a cure for diabetes. But not before fighting arch rival VJ of OJO labs , not before finding a cute sweet lecturer in the village and getting married to her, not before testing our patience in this 2 hour 40 minute action drama.

 

For the uninitiated – Lead actor Saravanan Arul is an entrepreneur and owner of the mighty Saravana Stores. It's a shopping complex chain in Tamilnadu that sells clothing, jewellery etc. Internet mentions Saravanan Arul's net worth as Rs.100-150 Crores. He is literally the face of his big budgeted television ads. The acting bug has obviously bitten him and thus was born, his debut production #TheLegend featuring himself in the lead.

Look like Saravanan Arul's one word brief to directors JD-Jerry was “Make a film for me like ‘Sivaji-The Boss’”. The directors have gone about making an exact copy of ‘Sivaji-The Boss’ roping in the same villain and lead comedian from the film. Writer ‘Pattukottai’ Prabhakar, Composer Harris Jayaraj, DOP Velraj, Choreographers Raju Sundaram, Editor Ruben… The Legend has only and only A-Listers in its crew.

Sachu, Latha, Prabhu, Nasser, Poornima Jayaram, Late Viveik, Suman, Vijayakumar, Mansoor Ali Khan are only few of the supporting actors. The list is endless, infact. The performances are earnest what with Prabhu going overboard making up for Saravanan Arul’s lack of expression in key scenes. By which I mean all scenes. Comedian Viveik had passed away and couldn’t complete the filming and dubbing of the film. So the live sound used in his scenes sound a bit jarring. With Yogi Babu, Late Mayilsamy, Singampuli, ‘Lollu Sabha’ Manohar in the comedy mix, the least the writer and directors could’ve done is avoided the sleazy comedy in the film.

Saravanan has not one but two-two heroines - Geetika and Urvashi Rautela. Geethika is your "Agmark Tamizh ponnu" in half-sarees and sarees who suddenly decides to go "modern" in the 'Thaene Thaene' song.  Saravanan Arul’s decided to go “Pan-India” with the scene where he goes on a trip to the hills to unwind and get over his sadness – a la Rockstar. Pppah! There’s a key twist in this part of the story. Not spoiling it for you but you’re a true genius if you spot the “twist” that appears here and gets revealed towards the climax.

While Velraj’s cinematography looked flashy, tacky at times, Editor Ruben must be lauded ensuring Saravanan Arul’s dancing and action sequences didn’t look dreadful, thanks to his cuts. I genuinely would like to know whether it was VFX or whether it was a 'Saravanan mask' that made him dance, fight and walk like Rajini. Experts and Kollywood insiders, please comment and let me know.

Tamil cinema has had its share of parody films thanks to the ‘Tamizh Padam’ series. ‘The Legend’ could have been fabulous addition to the list of parody films. Unfortunately it isn’t one.

Kaala

In one crucial scene, the cops (I think) try to shoot Rajini. Four others come and say "Engala Sudunga Mudhalla..."

No, I'm not talking about Baasha or Nayagan here. This is a scene from Superstar Rajinikanth starrer 'Kaala' directed by Pa. Ranjith. My biggest problem with the film is that its oosipoana presentation of a story which was filmed with MGR a dozen times in the '60s and '70s.

Thanks to Rajini, Easwari Rao, Manikandan, Samuthirakani and other actors, the film gets saved from being a mega blade fest. It was still a blade fest at the end of 2 1/2 hours + Jana Gana Mana + Interval + Rahul Dravid putting advice twice on No Smoking

Since you've already watched a dozen reviews on YouTube and read a dozen "thoughts" on how the story is about whether Hari dada won against Kaala or that the movie is more of a Ranjith film than that of Rajini's (this, I've read a million times across), I will cut straight to my other "thoughts".

Kaala, Kaadhal, Katthirikkai

Mahendran filmed this scene with Rajini and Sridevi in the '80s. The situation in Kaala is slightly different though, but the director saab has tried to create similar emotions between the characters Karikaalan and Zarina. Rajini is Rajini but Huma is no Sridevi, nor is Ranjith, Mahendran. Whenever Karikaalan and Zarina meet, the pauses in the latter's dialogue delivery are so awkward than the situation itself. Huma looked confused all the time wondering how she was supposed to emote.  Paavam Avare Conphuse aayittaru level.

Kaala -vs- Whitea

Nana Patekar, as an actor undoubtedly is great and all that. With two good actors - Nana and Rajini, in several scenes together, shouldn't the dialogues/ situation light up the bleddy screen? BGM is the only merattifying factor in such scenes urging you to mirandify.  Black Shirt -vs- White Kurta, White cushion -vs- Black Pillow, White SUV -vs- Black Mahindra, Black Panther -vs- White Neta and all the other nuances are ok yaar, but scenes between the two fall so flat. Not sure if it's the dialogues or the situation itself, the spark was missing and it was such a busvaanam.

Kaala, Kaamedy, Geemedy

The police station scene is funny because it brings you back the kaamedy Rajini we remember from Annamalai, Padaiyappa and so on. It's time He acts in a full on kaamedy film instead of clinging on his Ezharai a.k.a Ranjith type directors. And atleast this time, it'd be great if directors with such scripts approach him than scoot off to Bombay for 4 months sitting in Dharavi, writing one khichdi.

Easwari Rao and Samutthirakani are really good with kaamedy dialaaks that are fun. Really wish they cast Easwari in good roles like these that are not just Amma based. Else she'll become another Saranya Ponvannan doing the same thing over and over again.

Kaala's Cast

Along with above actors, Manikandan who plays Rajini's son and Anjali Patil as his friend are fabulous with their asaalttu acting. The casting overall is top notch with this Vengat Prabhu jaalra actor (who played Shivaji Rao Gaekwad), reduced to a 5 second cameo, which is a good thing.

SaNa for Kaala

Most of the songs work with the film. Yes, some of them have a Kabali-ish hangover which I was ok with. #YogiBRoxxx & Arunraja Kamaraj in Kattravai Pattravai are superb. This track along with Semma Weightu & Kannamma work really well in the film. Pradeep in Kannamma 😊

The Dopeadelicz tracks were such forcefits. Villains kill one fellow and these rappers start singing randomly "Sollu Kaala Sollu Kaala" types. Dei.

More than the soundtrack, most of the BGMs as standalone pieces were epic. Wish the scenes were as impactful as their background scores.

Kudaikkul, Colourukkul Kaala

The best sequence in the film is the Kudai fight filmed on the Marine Drive flyover. For once, I wish the film had more fight sequences than verbose dialogues which became repetitive after a point. "Shadaap and give us more Sandais", one wanted to scream.

Even the colourful climax in the end, to me, fell flat because after 3 hours, one wanted to sleep, singing "Raaman Aandalum Raavanan Aandalum enakku oru kavalai ille..."

Kaala - The Konclusion

It's very evident that Superstar has signed the film after Pa.Ranjith pongi ezhundufied with feelings about "Nilam, Urimai, Poraattam, Iyakkam..." type emushuns without bothering to read or listen to the script. Neither did the film push Ranjith's ideology nor did it justify Superstar's persona. In times of Vikram Vedha, Rajini who so wants to be cast in roles like Assault Sethu or a Vedha, ended up doing a Vedalam. What a wasted opportunity, this was.

Kaala - In Karthik Subbaraj we trust. 2/5

Happy New Year

Every year, as part of the Deepavali inaam (Diwali baksheesh), is set aside a sum as 'Deepavali Dhandam' for a Saarugaan film that releases every year on the festival day. This year was no different. Happy New Year (HNY) starring Saarugaan + 6-7 odd edubidis is in the theatres. This review is to spare you from this mega bore so that you can save the money and spend it for dog biscuits, yet-another-iphone-cover, Saravana Bhavan idli and so on.

It's a 3 hour long film where the first 15 minutes are set aside for brand credits. From Anjaal aluppu marundhu to Amazon there were 20 odd names as 'Brand partners'. 15 minutes in the end were for end credits out of which 14 1/2 minutes for 'Team SRK' with a dozen people dancing around. Have to admit the end credits are the best part of Farah Khan's films where you get to see the faces behind camera.

Saaarugaan is some brilliant boxer... No no... Expert student... No no fitness freak... No no, he plays Revenge Ranganathan ( oh how i love using 1y3ng0rz names for such "characters") who has been wanting to taking revenge on Jackie Shroff for 8 years for imprisoning his father Anupam Kher. He puts together a team of losers who decide to rob some Diamonds in Dubai, apdiye dance around, goof around , crack some stupid jokes and... Shabba, by the time the film ends you have a good 'korattai based' nap. Ulagam Suttrum vaaliban had a better storyline da, dei Saarugaan.

Deepika Padukone looks very good and has spared us, Tamizh folks, from her 'Bokwaaas baat'. She plays a Marathi mulgi and dances in a bar, is hopelessly in love with Saarugaan.  I really miss our house-help lady (nicknamed GT) who used to work with us in Madras in the '80s and '90s. GT would have made a fantastic choreographer for Deepika's intro song. C'mon, for years, GT, every Friday evening would do her 'Saami vandha aattam' at the Kadumbaadi Amman temple. No different from what Deepika was made to do in the 'Lovely' song.

This year, composer 'Durvaasar Dudlani' has been busy wielding a broom, putting a cap asking makkal to vote for Aap and in that, has given Aappu to Saarugaan. He, along with Segar have this standard template of songs for all their albums.

Heroine intro a.k.a Saamiyaattam song sung by the "latest sensation" - tick

Lou song with Shreya Ghoshal / Arijit type or both - tick

One gumbaloda Govinda dandanakka 'Hum hain Hindustani' song - tick

Not a single song was good. Time for them to take a break... Oh wait. 

'Ayyo paavam' Bachchan is now the Santhanam of Bollywood. He should stick to such roles and not try and be main hero and all. His few gags were funny. Boman Irani and Naseeruddin Shah pullai play two more edubidis. Sonu Sood should come back to Telugu films where he, with his "Ekkadanchi choosthavaa Champisstanu raaaaa" will get more screen time than in this film.

Remember the MGR-Asogan-Nambiar "Jaani,..Peterrr...Jumbooo" films where the villains were in one unknown hideout and the hero goes in search of them, opens a cave like structure (with a gadagadagada sound)? Those had better sets than HNY. Such tacky cardboard stuff by the art director. Sagikkalai.

At one point, there is a "Apne Apne Nokia phones uthayiye,vote kijiye" dialaak. Such brand plugging and all, abachaaram. This is allowed only for Delhi clients :-) okay, may be it was Nokia - Delhi client, so blanket permission to use brand names in the stationality...er.. meant film. {Okay for those of you who got the sly, Yay to us :)}

These Farah Khan films are like Hindi FM radio stations who, for some 12+ years have been 

writing radio ads with Sholay "Basantiiii... Thakur" type Aracchamaavu dialaaks. And just like the Radio copywriters this Farah Khan and team put self applause at their own spoofs and it is supposedly funny. HNY is the 3678465th film with "Bade bade Shehron mein Chhote chhote mannangatti..." Dialaak. After a point, every dialaak seemed like a spoof to me.

Aappu New Year - 2.5/5

Kaththi

A.R.Murugadoss who is known for his socially relevant films picks yet another 'emosionally appealing, applause getting' subject for his Kaththi. This time, Dr.Joseph Vijay in a dual role as Jeeva and Kathiresan a.k.a Kaththi (reminded of "Surukkama Suppi saar" in Thillu mullu) who has velutthu vaangified in the film.

Full marks to Stunt master Anl Arasu! After a long time two interesting fight sequences in the film - the tv crew & the coin ones. 

'Bro' composer's songs , some of them decent, have been pathetically filmed that they don't ottify with you. Dr.Visai Saar is the only saving grace in the songs. Background score is good though.

Like in most Tamizh films, the heroine has absolutely no role apart from standing beside the hero like a prop. But our heroiney lady should have made some effort to improve her dancing skills, acting skills no? Oohoom. She should henceforth put her name 'Summa'ntha in the titles. Akka is sooo bad esp in the songs, she even looks at Dr.Joseph Visai Saar bayandukiney as he dances like a superman (does Superman dance? Never mind). The only emotion 'Summa'ntha puts is thanks to Raveena, her dubbing artiste.

No major role for Neil Nitin Mukesh but he looks like one suave villain, MNC, Englees speaking and thus 'Rin' veluppu. Goood dubbing by (RJ?) Gautham.

Murugadoss knows what works with namma makkal, when to make them cry, laugh and when to get the required applause. And he has not gone wrong in his judgement. Makkal oraey da laughter for Satish & Vijay Saar's kaamedy and giving super applause and emosion reacsion in other scenes. Vera enna venum? Paisa vasool.

Kaththi - Saarpu Saarpu ji - 4/5, also #IlayaThalapathyVijayRoxxxx

PS - Murugadoss ji, the only time I heard one RJ speak sense was in your film. Please write all his RJ links too, henceforth.

Thalaivaa

Every wannabe male actor enters Kollywood with big dreams of becoming a Rajni, Kamal or Sivaji. A decade into the industry and after having worked in the usual romance-action type films there comes this 'teeradha daagam' of doing a Nayagan , Devar Magan, Mudhal Mariyadhai type film.

'Ilayathalapathy' Dr.Joseph Vijay Chandrasekhar is no exception. 20 years in the industry and a variety of action kalanda sentiment kalanda romance mixed movies, our man also wanted to a 'different' film. Enter director A.L.Vijay with his intelligensia of the intellectual look. After having copied from films like Titanic, Lagaan (deeiiiii) and I'm Sam but still insisting they are original scripts our man decides to join hands with 'Ilayathalapathy' in this 'different' venture.

So these two meet, discuss storyline etc. Aal izzz well . But you know there is thing that they need to add to the script. It is the thing called 'Massssssss' at times called as 'Marana masssssss' . We've seen it on hoardings by fans, fb posts, tweets particularly during rockzzz vs Dr.Joseph fights. Nobody exactly knows what it is but all the directors and actors know is that , be it an 'Elipathayam' type film or an Avatar or even our own Veerapandiya Kattabomman type film, if Dr.Joseph Vijay or rockzzz decide to make a film of any kind, it should be 'Masssssss' or 'Marana Massssssss'.

So here we are. Making a GodfatherdevarmagaNayaganSarkarBaasha-ish Marana Masssss film titled Thalaivaa -film by Vijay with Vijay for Vijay-ians! 

Dharavi to Down under 

In the 90s, Sathyaraj becomes the Don of Dharavi in Mumbai after his friend and leader of Tamilians in Mumbai, Nasser gets dejected and decides to escape from Bombay with his son, after some random riots. Sathyaraj gives his son Vishwa (Vijay) to Nasser and tells him to take care of him. 

Cut to 2013- Both sons - 'Bro' Santhanam & 'Bro' Vijay are now in Australia running a mineral water bottle company. 'Bro' Vijay meets Amala Paul , love happens and they come to Bombay to seek the blessings/ approval of father Sathyaraj unaware of his Don-giri. Circumstances make him to take up Don-giri ... How he became a 'Don' from being a 'dude' is what is narrated in 3 hours 2 mins. With 'Nurai eeral panju pondra....' + Mukesh dying a dozen times on screen it ends up being a 3 1/2 hour film.

The Vettis of Ozzz

The first half set in Australia is quite a breeze . Santhanam's brand of mokkai kaamedy adds to the fun. Surprise surprise there's no 'Amala Paul, Aavin Paul' joke in the film. The Sam Anderson scene is easily the best one in the film. (Then you can imagine the rest) . Vijay and friends put one super dance for 'Tamizh Pasanga'. This anthem of sorts for Tamizh dudes definitely needed to be a better song.  What to do? Our nephew composer Pragaas thambi is so busy putting angry tweets with 'En Kadamai En Urimai'  that he has no time for unimportant things like making music. 

Vijay and Amala Paul's costumes (Deepali Noor) were semma cool and thankfully she was not wearing sleazy Deepika Phadukone type 1/4 sarees . 

Bro to Bhai 

The film start losing steam once the story shifts to Bombay. It's director A.L.Vijay's film and since he is known for his 'original' scripts, you already know the story from what we saw in the trailer. Vishwa 'bro' becomes Vishwa 'bhai' bashes up random people in Bombay, walks out wearing cool black goggles with 2-3 people behind him (minus the 'Baasha' background score . Miss you Deva! ) 

There's also this 'You are God, You are leader, You are our next CM' feel song. What ya Bro? Not all songs can be MGR's 'Neenga nalla irukkonum' and make you CM no? Poes Garden Poongodhai watching this time no? You didn't foresee all this?

At one point of the film both hero and villain were after some video tape. Apparently I was yawning so much I had missed that "key" video tape scene in which an amateur cameraman films something being plotted against some people or some such thing. No no not in Mudhalvan bro. This scene is in Thalaivaa only bro.

As long as he was a dude in down under all was ok. This Bro becoming Bhai became a big bore.

Side 'Bros'

Villain bro - You know our director Vijay Saar. He thinks original. He directs original. For villain bro also, he wanted one unique identity. We've seen 'deeei' villains, 'eeeei' villains, cool villains, kaamedy villains. This villain is very different. He meditates and chants enemies' names always. Very different no? Pppah!

India's Matt Preston a.k.a our own 'Panneer Pushpangal' Suresh 'bro' - He plays V.K.Ramaswamy, Saroja Devi's father in Pudhiya Paravai... sorry, meant Amala Paul's father in Thalaivaa. 

Y.Gee.Mahendra - You hear his voice in the trailers. His entire 'we-are-Superstar-Rajnikant's-relatives' family was present during the audio launch of Thalaivaa. So one obviously assumed 'ore da' important role. But bro, his screen time in the trailer was more than what he had to do in the main feature film.

Bros Manobala, Ponvannan as Janagaraj, Delhi Ganesh in Nayagan... cha cha, again again mistake... meant Thalaivaa. 

Company artistes bros - Our director A.L.Vijay's films are like anda kaalathu Gemini studios / AVM films. Just like the pazhaya kaalathu films,  he ensures the same faces are repeated over and over again in his films. It honestly gets tiring to see the same mix.

The one and only 'Nephew composer' Bro 

GVP with all the 'bandha' instead of spending time demanding Royalty can, I'm sure spend more time creating better songs than these 'Thalaivaa thalaivaa' or 'Sol Sol Sol' ones in the film. The only good song was 'Vaanganna Vanakkanganna' very well choreographed by Dinesh. (Also is it like an unwritten rule these days that the dance master must put a guest appearance in every song?)

Slick and Slack

You remember these old films with constable being called out as "4 nought 4" or police making entry in the climax with their "Hands up!" . The film is full of such clichés'. There is one "crucial" scene where two people say "We are from Crime branch". Instead of  getting ore da shocked you actually say "ivangaLa vecchu kaamedy geemedy panliye" . What's the point when you get the best of technicians and make the film look good but has such para kadi done-to-death scenes?

Vijay-iyawns

Vijay looks semma fit, neat and trim in the Jeans-Tshirt (bhai) costume. He dances really well and as always better than the dancers behind him. His last film Thuppakki, again a marana massss hit was fairly decent. Copy or not , I don't know but it kept the audience engaged and interested in the film especially the non-Vijayians (or is it un-Vijayians?)

This one's made for Vijay's fans but the director should keep in mind that you can make a marana massss masala , with no logic etc. You copy and all, no problem. We have enough English / Spanish / Korean (new fad) movies to be copied from. But if you are going to copy from Mudhalvan , Sarkar, Pudhiya paravai (which completed its 5000th broadcast on ktv last week), every MGR film (where he bashes up villains for 15 minutes after being beaten up for the first 5 minutes ) , I'm sorry bro, the film ends up being a...

Thalaivali - Time to sleep - 2.5/ 5

Chennai Express

This is what the movie's trailer promised.

A flim on Soueeth Indian log - Check

Saarugaan acting as ..Sa..er..rug..kkhan - Check

Tamizh characters who speak bad tamizh - Check

Tamizh characters who speak terrible tamizh - Double Check

Deepika in something called half saree which is less than 1/4 saree - Check * 100 times

Cars, cars and more cars toppling - Check

Bad music - Triple check

For everything unimportant like logic, authenticity, decent sets, dialogues, acting, accent that's questioned in Indhi films, the reply these days I get is "Kya yaar this is a Rohit shitty film.. what did you expect?" Ok then !

Spoilers ahead (idula oru build-up vera)

Ready Steady Ponga da dei!

Saarugaan is 40 year old Rahul (wow, what a name!) living with grandmother and his very-funny-you-see Dadaji with Harry Potter thaatha level beard . Thaatha dies when he's 99 years old when Sachin tendulkar gets out at 99.  Rahul is more interested in going to Goa than going to Rameshwaram to karachify the ashes of dadaji. He poi-pulugifyes to his paatti that's he off to Soueeth ke India and gets on to Chinnai express. He meets Meenamma (Padukone) who is chased by her 'gunda' cousins for escaping from their village because she doesn't want to marry 'Thangha Bhali' her morai-payan or some such thing. Rahul wants to help Meenamma and both arrive at her village. Whether Rahul successfully fell in love with Meenamma and if she managed to escape from getting married to Thangha Bhali is the story.

Dadar station-il oru DDLJ 

This DDLJ film. I have never bothered to see it nor do I intend to watch its 1000th premiere on tv and scream "awwwwwwww.... DDLLJJJJJJ... cho chweet!!!" especially when Lata Mangeshkar & Kumar Saanu sing "Tujheeennn dekhaaan to yeehh" . Saari ba! The scene where Deepika Padukone and thugs are saved by Saarugaan is a DDLJ spoof-aam. Makkal ore da laughing. We were laughing looking at the crowd laughing. Seri kaamedy.

Thamil language ko thenth day manaya

So we thought Mehmood killed Tamil. Dheephika Phadukhone ghoes a steph fhurther and does thenth day, thirteenth day khaariyam and all phlaying an authentic Thamilian speaking lhike this. Was Vicks one of the sponsors of the film? There was a hundred brands in the initial credits so I may have missed it. Dheephika Phadhukhone perpetually spoke like someone had inserted a tudappa kuchi in her nostrils. 

Ennamma Kannu Sowkyama to EKSI

Sathyaraj is the dreaded Don a.k.a 'Pheriyah Thalai' in this film. In the first scene as he appears you say "Wow, nammaaLu kalakka-p-poraaru" . He says "Ennamma kannu sowkyama?" You clap and whistle and all. But then when scene after scene he walks & says "Ennamma kannu sowkyama" you feel so sorry for him having been reduced to one dummy piece. In Thillu Mullu Thengai Srinivasan's words our manasatchi asks us "Idhula enna perumai?" every time you think of "our" Sathyaraj in a mainstream Indhi cinema. EKSI!

V&S for VRS

This was one of the most boring soundtracks in recent Indhi padams. Song after song sounded exactly what these guys have been producing for 15 years now. No wonder there was an additional song added for the much-needed buzz to the music of the film. Time for VRS , V&S.  

Toy Train 

Dheepikha Phadhukone's village 'Komban' (and like most of us wonder if it's an elephant or a village) makes Doordarshan Tuesday drama set backdrops with the same flower vase and azhukku curtain look like epics . There are some characters who come as cousins, friends, villagers of Komban who make you want to give an Oscar award to Sam Anderson's makeup and costumes. I actually wanted to check if the movie was called 'Chennai Express' or Toy Train. 

Bogut Bogut Funny hai

When there is no umpteenth DDLJ spoof or SRK's self-reference for the millionth time, there's super funny amazingly hilariously comedy of a dialogue "Don't underestimate the power of a common man" for which junta puts a super laugh. Kyun why yean endukku ? Someone tell me yaar!

Eid ka chand aur Idli ka chutney

Also this pyaar for SRK. I see these "Maine aaj SRK dekha. Kal Eid hai" "SRK ko dher saara pyaar" "SRK tu Eid ka chand ... main Idli ka chutney" type messages from ladies log on fb and twitter. So people actually love and like this fellow and his face-a? Mereko samajh nahin Aatha Amma!

End mein kya bolta

Ok it's an Indhi padam and a Saaruk kaan padam. Add Rohit shitty also. So leave brain, liver, logic, kidney & all home firstu. The movie is not an aruvai like 'Ra.Ayyayo One' or 'Jab tak hai Javvu' but that does not make this an epic film. 

The film is a cardboard version of all Tamizh and telugu masala films which include Ghilli, Chandramukhi, Muthu, a dozen MGR films etc. Ya there is some Sivaji Ganesan type acting also by Saarugaan in the end. 

Bockwass express - Tamizh cinema vaazhga ! 2.5/5

(Now if someone could please tell me why these Naarth Indians were laughing so much in the theatre. Total entertainment happened looking at them loffing lyk anything)

Singam II (not Singham II you Amits)

These days it is getting increasingly difficult to sit for 2 + hours in a movie hall. The '+' in this can be anything between 1/2 hour to 2 hours. A 9.30 am movie at PVR starts only at 10.10 am after we've mourned Mukesh's death a million times for ghutka-paan-sori-padai etc, saluted Indians in 'Being Dabanng' shirt to tracks to coat-suit standing for the National Anthem, watched the 'Mumps vanda Hippopotamus' Sanjay Dutt in Policegiri trailer a dozen times before the movie starts, during the interval etc. By the time you are out of the theatre after watching an average Tamizh / Indhi padam, it's almost 12.30 pm. 

So making one sit glued to his/her seat during the entire 160 minutes of the film is indeed a difficult task. In the last couple of years, I wanted to walk out of so so so many films like Ek Tha Tiger, 7-am arivu, Nondasamy, Goa, Damnchakkar, almost-every-other-Steel-Iron-Super-PittaLai-man Hollywood film and so on. Movies to me is all about entertainment. The hero-heroine-villain-comedian can dance, sing, cry, act do whatever but ultimately they should entertain me in some way or the other. 

That way Singam-2 is entertainment, entertainment, entertainment. In many serious scenes, when Dorai Singam (Suriya) is busy giving dialaak about Indian Police or the importance of National flag or about Indian Police or about ... er.. Indian Police I found myself laughing aloud thinking about the great director Hari Saar has put in his heart, soul and Mercedes and Scorpios conceiving this with all sincerity. This review or note or (in bloggers' jargon) thoughts/ ramblings on Singam II is my salute to the one and only director Hari Saar. Give him the Bharat ratna now!

If you are one of those torrent vaasis who watches movies on eeteeb and hard disk types, kindly skip reading this. You'll never be able to understand and appreciate the vision of Hari Saar watching this epic on Sinnathirai

Story ley!

The movie starts with a gist of what happened in Singam 1 as a preview to all unfortunate souls who missed it. Dorai Singam (Suriya) is on a mission to nab the baddies as an undercover cop. He is now an NCC teacher in a school and is moppam pidichifying the villains. He realizes the local industrialists are smuggling drugs , follows them in Tuticorin, Kerala, Chennai and finally comes face to face with the kingpin Danny at South Africa. In between all this, are duets with Anoushka, one side laauv with Hansika, kaamedy with Santhanam and Viveik, Amma-Appa sentiment, Blackberry, video calls, ipad password, false eyelashes and some hi-tech stuff contributing this world-class entertainer. Whether Dorai Singam nabbed Danny and told him who the king of Indian ocean was, did his romance with Anoushka work out, have we been made to realize the power of Indian police is what the suspense of the story is. 

Where there is no 'vay' ....

...use a "ley". Since the film has a Tuticorin backdrop we have a lot of veys and leys. All the leys and veys apart from travelling in boats saying eeey, veeey , leey also do an item dance with Anjali and her my-chitthi-is-forcing-me-to-dance velakkennai kudichcha look wearing left-overs from Khushbu-designed-dress in Kalakalappu. Kadavu'ley'!

Truly International vey!

Dorai Singam polandu kattufyes not just in Thoothukudi Tamizh but also in Indhi and English. When he utters the pullarikkira "D for Dil, D for Dushman, D for Dosti, D for Dorai Singam...." you want to clap non-stop and put a D for Dhanyavaad for Hari Saar for making Kollywood world-classer than what it is.

Director Hari Saar has made the villains speak Malayalam, Sinhalese and there is also Babylese which is villain Mukesh Rishi's va-va-va-va ba-ba-ba le-le-le and dupping coming to his rescue. Raguman looks confused and speaks one nember confused Tamizh. Chetta nee border cross cheydu Kerala migrate cheyyu, angane chaaya, Banana chips kazhichu. Kettiyo?

Music ley!

There is one dialogue in Singam 2 where Viveik makes one lengthy explanation of DSP standing for Devi Sri Prasad reminding us that the music director of the film is Sri Sri Sri Devi Sri Prasad. If there's one guy who should retire and resign immediately after this film, it is DSP! His songs sound like leftovers of Singam 1 and several other Golt movies. What's worse he ends up singing some of the tracks which obviously have been recorded in the bathroom . Constipated he sounds. "Sing and dance.. Singam dance" - Elay DSP! VRS vaangu ley!

Kaamedy vey!

What Peter, Muthu was to Nambiar in old films, Soosai is to Tamizh films these days. Every film has a kadarkarai background, fishermen sandhai, church backdrop, Parama pidha, Thiruchchabai reference scenes and there is a Soosai . I was infact looking for an Esakki as well. May be the character got chopped at the edit table. Santhanam plays Soosai in the film doing his own bit here and there adding to the madness. In between almost nail-biting serious scenes where Suriya is putting heroic dialaaks on what-else-but "INDIAN POLICE!!!!! " there is one sudden Santhanam kaamedy. That is the biggest Kaamedy of all ley!

Apparetion D ley!

Dorai Singam is on an ultimate mission to nab the baddies and comes up with Mission D where he is given the authority to shoot people and do whatever he wants to achieve his mission. This is one extra secretive mission which only Hari Saar's real life Mamanar & former Ettu-p-patti raasa Naattamai Vijaykumar and Dorai Singam are aware of. In one of the several climax scenes of the film, villain Raghuman tells Dorai "I'm aware of Mission D.. D for Doraisingam". Adukku Suriya says "D for Danny not Dorai singam" My gawwwddd! This this this this is one more fantastic-pullarikara moment of the film when you want to clap and put D for Dappanguthu for Hari Saar. 

Actors Gumbal ley!

I hope Hari Saar does NOT send this film for the National film awards. He should instead eye for the Aascars, Nobel Prize, Magsaysay and other International awards. To offset the presence of a bad Bhai, there is also a good (Kareem) bhai played by the one and only Mansoor (piles vyadiyo?) Ali Khan . To reiterate and remind the dumb audience that is us, that he is a "good" bhai, we have his wife in Burkha (note it you idiots!) at the hospital scene. I recommend Mansoor Ali Khan for Magsaysay award for putting up with piles vyaadhi and nadichu tuppufying. Long time no see Mansoor Bhai. Hope we see you more often from now on.

The Nobel Peace prize has to be given to Vijaykumar Saar. C'mon so much he has put up with right from Singam 1 to 2 for his daughter's (Director Hari Saar's wife) life! What's with actors like Radha Ravi and Kitty always looking constipated throughout the film .. I meant in  the 11 seconds they appear (5.5 seconds each) ? I strongly suspect there has been some food poisoning in the unit food during the shooting of Singam II. There is also Nasser, Manorama, Viveik, 'Shadows' Ravi, Sumithra, Yuvarani and one huge gumbal. 

There is also what-the-hell-am-I-doing-here Anoushka Shetty and here-I-am-looking-cute-and-bubbly-in-my-umpteenth-film Hansika Motwani as well. Looks like ivangalukkelam saappadu potte Producer would've spent half the budget of this film.

Indhi-vey

Dear Ajay Devgn, you can put dialaak, romance heroiney, dance, sing, jump, hit villains like Suriya but can any of your Indhi TV channels do a "Konjam Nadinga Boss" with any of your Singham 2 dialaaks should you decide to remake this too? The answer is NO! While watching the film, felt super thrilled at the very thought of namma makkal putting Singam 2 dialaaks in this world famous program on Adithya TV. Incase you are not aware of this awesomeness, here is a sample. 

Last wordsu ley

Meanwhile, while our dear #Thalarockzzz fans (still figuring out titles of 53, 55, 59.5 films) and #ThalapathyRockzzz fans (wondering how to remove their "Sura"tic tag) are trying to post pirated  links of Anoushka in Singam 2 with Kungumam on her Vagidu discussing whether she was married to Dorai Singam in the movie or not , and how Director Hari Saar has made this major continuity error of the blunder of the millennium and how Singam 2 is a blot to Kollywood's clean slate of epic movies like Billa 2 and Sura, guess who is loffing all the way to the bank making Kodis and breaking box-office records on Day 1?

"Sing and dance.. SINGAM dance!"  - bwahahahaha! 

Here's my rating of ... 4 stars... on Suriya's uniform . This man truly deserves a standing ovation, Padma Bhushan, Vibhushan, Param Vir chakra , Kalaimamani, Mylapore Academy, Adambakkam Fine arts and the other awards. 

Let's make him a 10 stars potta Chief Police Officer Dorai Singam - Ezhundu adicha ezhara tonne weighttu - Bring it on, Singam 3!

Ra.One

Usually before a film is made, the writer narrates one-line/ story to the director, then screenplay, dialogues are written, Producer found, cast and crew finalized, shooting begins, editing post-production done, marketing begins simultaneously and then gets released after the film has been bought.

In Ra.One, first McDonalds, Youtube, Godrej, Horlicks, Nokia, Playstation, Western Union, Cinthol, Coke, Gopal palpodi, Gopuram Poosu manjal thool, Arasan soap, Susi Emu farms and other famous brands were first assembled, asked to put money in SRK's undiyal and THEN Saaruk, Mushtaq (his jaalra), Anubhav Sinha (yet another jaalra, also director), Karan Jogar (all-time jaalra), Gauri 'Botox' Khan all sat down together and decided to make a film with the kaanikkais received from the above brands based on what the brands stood for.

Aaarrgh.One

Saaruk Kaan is Shekhar + 'Veshti, Angavashtaram, SuruL mudi hair style' Subramanium - gaming designer, husband of Kareena Kapoor (I think her on screen name is Anjali, Pooja or some such thing), doting Appa of a nice cute boy Prateik. Appa designs game with Ra.One, G.one, H.a.r.t and all. Ra.one the bad guy comes alive out of the game trying to kill Prateik. So as per the rule of the Bollywood-Kollywood-Hollywood books, G.one had to come out alive to save Kareena and Prateik. Not just that. G.one is revived by Prateik after putting 'Subam' card so that we have a sequel to Ra.One called Arrgh.One next Deepavali with a new set of sponsors namely Anil Noodles, Jos Alukkas, Poomex Ulladaigal & Kisscol TMT Kambigal.

Crow.One

Its time Kareena Kapoor takes visiting cards of Botox doctors from Gauri Khan. Looks like Ms.Kapoor's dietitian Rujuta 80000-Rupees-a-session Diwekar's 'nutritious' diet does not cover the eyes. Crow feet around the eyes. Kareena kaa kaa kaapoor!

This Arjun Rampal looks like a crow that hasn't been fed for years. I say Kothavaranga looks prettier! This Rampal fellow has no persnaalty, no looks for a villain.One aaatu-daadi. That's all.

Bra.One

Don't know if Shekhar Subramanium wore a poonal in the film but Kareena sure did. What's with the forever bra showing Poonal Saree and Bollywood heroines? It is thanks to these people, these Peddar road mummies and Worli mammas compete with their teenage kids and wear poonal sarees n bum jutting skirts that don't suit them.

Kar.one

The film's title card thanks Karan Johar amongst 25,000 people. I think it is for letting Saaruk use Karan Jogar patented Karwa Chauth, Karwada Chauth in one senti 'humari-husband-humara-fast' type bleddy Bollywood scene.

(RD)Burm.One

Music by Durvasa Munivar aka Vishal Dadlani (if you follow him on twitter you'll know why I call him that) & Shekhar (not Subramanium). Quite like Dildara by Shafqat Amanat Ali. Nandini Sriker's rendition is quite awesome in

Bhare Naina .

Oh yes, let me take this opportunity to plug a dear friend's voice in Chammak Challo. I am glad Hamsika has finally got a big break with this song.

Back to the music of the film by Vishal and Shekhar, ok, no harm idolizing a legend, in this case RD Burman but why do these guys (V&S) end up using RD's tunes as BGMs? They could've tried something totally new as G.one's theme instead of the usual RD type humming.

Bah.One

SRK eats noodles and curd.

SRK saying "Ayyayo", for 'Thank you' , 'Hello', 'Hi', 'Bye' and everything else

SRK acting like a cool dad.

SRK as G.one.

SRK.

Bleddy.One

This fellow called Satish Shah as Mr.Iyer, Saaruk's neighbour predictably goes around with his "Ayyayo, whatijeee" type nonsensical s%^! Wonder where all twitter makkal putting #wearetamils, #wearemaanasthans hashtag ordering people to retweet their tweets are now, as we witness the greatest insult of all time to Tamizh makkal. Would also like to know what A.R.Murugadoss who believes in whatever he wrote about Tamizh makkal being insulted and thrown out all around the world in 7aum Arivu, thinks about the potrayal of 'us' in Ra.One.

Gone

I hereby surrender my membership card as Superstar fan. Greatestestest insult of all time to His fans is Superstar's tundu beedi appearance as Chitti. Horrendous makeup, horrible wig, awful scene placement. I really wonder why He decided to do SRK a favour. It is sad Rajnikant had to stoop down to this level.

Ahaa.one

The kutty payyan Prateik is rombave cute. Watch the film before he makes his next hajjar appearances in the ads of Boom Boom Boomer, Horlicks, Pepsi, Whirlpool washing machine (as Kajol n Ajay Devgn's kid),Gold Winner oil, Chennai silks Children's day special and so on.

SFXes are very good. Sadly there is no story to do justice to the kicka$$ special effects.

HaHa.one

You know these films of the 80s where villains are such caricatures wearing ugly wigs saying "Khoon ke Khilaaf' and some such dialogues? In Ra.one, Dalip Tahil the so-called stylish NRI type actor (ya ya he was a tundu beedi in the 80s Bollywood films) is not exactly a villain, he is not a 'character' actor either. He is one eno-tano wearing the most atrocious wig of all time. And his gestures resemble the guy below...

he he he ! Me thinks Dalip Tahil & Country club fellow - #sameguy

Chee.One

The plot of super-heroes in a game coming out alive and fighting it out could've made a very good story had they paid some attention to it. Not sure how many parents would want their kids to watch a film with crappy jokes, references to that part of the body again and again. Forget kids, it is a pain for us adults to sit thru' the same Karwa Chauth, Mamta, Paribhasha, references to Bhagwat Geeta, Mahatma Gandhi, Pooja, Anjali, Punjabi, (Kareena's)pout, horse face, poonal saree.. Nahin Nahin Nahin!!!!!!

R'ayyayo'ne - 2 out of 5

PS - If you thought I was going to recommend 7-aum Arivu instead, Illai Illai Illai! adhu vera oru kodumainga!

Mankatha

This entity called Kollywood fanatic. I don't understand it sometimes. I understand a Rajni fan, Puratchi Thalaivar fan who are both mass. Ulaga Nayagan fan, Nadigar Thilagam fan are class. I also get {Shabaaa..} Vijay fans 'coz, lets give it to him- he can dance well, he has that opening-song appeal. BUT I DON'T UNDERSTAND THALA ROCKZZZZ FANS. I simply don't. He cannot dance. He cannot have expression except "adhu!". Why we have Thala Rockzzzz fans?

After witnessing all the Bros and the sisters of the families saying "Mankatha da", "We rule bro", for more than a year now, we went to watch "Mankatha da" ..sorry Mangatha - A Venkat Prabhu game, today.

Spade

For the first time on Kollywood screen, one mega hero Saar has shed the image of 'Ega Patthiniviradhan' 'No Kudi [except when Kaadhal tolvi]', 'Ooorukku uzhaippavan' 'Nallade Seivan' ''NATURALLY BEAUTIFUL HAIRSTYLE kaaran' etc. Calling Spade a Spade, in this movie the hero Vinayak Mahadevan (Ajith) does not make an attempt to act Nallavan, Vallavan. He is a moda kudiyan, sleeps around, has Grey hair, is a Baddd man and he is a (Taru)Thala! Adddhhu! Hero Saar is a suspended Inspector and plans to steal all IPL bet money in Arumugam Chettiar's (Jayapragash) custody along with Sumanth (Vaibhav Reddy) - Chettiar's henchman, Cop Ganesh (Ashwin), Super hacker Prem (gi Amaren) and Vetti guy Magath (Raghavendra). They are pretty successful in their attempt but two of them escape with the monies and whether Mr.Adhu manages to find them and take all the "Money Money Money" forms the rest of the story.

Joker

"Annan Udaiyan Padathukku Anjaan" - Thambi Premgi need not worry about getting roles in his films as long as Annan Director Venkat Prabhu keeps directing them. Thambi with his nerdy looks has full kaamedy lines, predictable IR background score as his entry scene and even gets to give romantic look (what's new) to Laxmi Rai. Since it is Premgi rockzzz you just ignore.

There are also other Veteran jokers like the Great one and only Shanmughasundaram Sir. He sizzles the screen with his ferfomance and people ore da laugh when He comes on screen for exactly a milli second of a second. Blogeswari does not want Sir to feel bad. As a long time fan, He will get more screen time on this blog than He ever got in his Kalaiturai Payanam.

Queenu

Tirisha +own dubbing, Andrea, Laxmi Rai+Suchi dubbing, Anjali, Sagalakala Vallavan Thulasi as Tirisha's mother - Too many ladies, very little for them to do. Tirisha's costumes (Vasuki Bhaskar) are very very nice. I can already see ads from Chennai silks, Naidu Hall, Pothy's advertising 'Mankatha Kurtis' this Deevali. This Laxmi Rai - Apart from this much publicized date with Dhoni what else has this done? Supposedly the b^&* in the Mankatha Game like the Angelina Jolie variety. She is konjam sad.

And Kungumam already has their next cover story ready - "Naan emaandu vittena?" - Mankatha-vil tundu beedi role kedaithadaal kumurugraar Anjali

Clubs

The Casinos of Ocean's 11 and 13 have become Clubs / Old Theater in Mankatha. The film is hugely inspired by all the DVDs the R.A.Puram boys must've borrowed from Tic Tac. The Dishoom Dishoom scenes, the beeped out cuss words and ofcourse Thala with his Salt-Pepper hair like Hollywood Thala Clooney- ore da Casino Royal in Kodambakkam only.

Ace

'Vilayadu Mangatha' is semma title track. Liked 'Vaada Bin Lada' as well. But what was the picturization of 'Vaada' like some Modfurn furniture type ad ? 'Machi open the bottle' though a carbon copy of 'Saroja Saman nikhalo' is seri kutthu material. Rest of the songs were strictly ok. The background score is one big saving grace for the film. Pinna? All three Isaignani varisus - Yuvan, Bhavatharini and Karthickraja have contributed to the sooper rerecording ..*Tatatatainnggg* - nice it is the theme score.

Kinggu

Wonder how Arjun has managed to stay semma youth. Deserved more screen time, for sure. Action King is ACP and an equally important role to Thala but looks like director suddenly thought of this character and puguthyfyed it in the film. Actually looks like director had thought of the story only suddenly.. after starting the shoot for Thala's 50th film with mega announcement and all *Tatatatainnggg*

Jack

Some Jack a$$e$ were seriously missed in the film since it was namma 'Bro' Venkat Prabhu Anna's film and we are all one family, one nation, one RA Puram, one cricket - so when Annan makes films we, as friends, sorry Bros put guest appearance. One name that comes first in the missing Jack list - SIMBU ! How namma Former Little superstar (Lolzzz) and present day Young Super star - STR was not given one second screen space in the film is one big puzzle. He is one Big Thala fan Saar!

uLLe..

What works for the film is.. er.. ya, Ajith's cool dude attitude, Action King Arjun, Action sequences (repetitive yes) the super beginning and a racy (and verrry predictable) end.

VeLiye

The things that don't work - Story from the Archives of Hyder Ali, Some hajjar we-are-also-there-people like Yakka Yakka Ambiga's ex husband Rajkant who is there in all Venkat Prabhu movies, Thala's acting n dancing (where? where?), boring two hours in the middle of the film. Also, there is no thrill or suspense element. The director must understand that makkal watch all Hollywood films' dubbed versions these days on TV. So no point doing a twist and turn and giving them a climax that they have predicted when you put Censor Board certificate in the beginning of the film after National Anthem. I waited and waited till something major happened on screen and that something ended up being *Tatatatainnggg* . Yawn!

Mankatha - A Venkat Prabhu over hype - 2.5 out of 5