61st Idea Filmfare Awards (South) - Complete Winners list

61st Idea Filmfare Awards (South) - Complete Winners list

Lifetime Achievement Awards: Late Balu Mahendra, Jayabharathy

Telugu



Best Choreographer Award - VJ Sekhar for Top lesi poddi (Iddarammayilatho)
Best Playback Singer (Female) (Telugu) Award - Chitra: Seethamma Vaakitlo Sirimalle Chettu
Best Playback Singer (Male) (Telugu) Award - Kailash Kher for Pandagala Digivachavu (Mirchi)
Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Female) (Telugu) Award - Lakshmi Manchu for Gundello Godari
 Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Male) (Telugu) Award - Sunil for Tadakha

Best Music Director (Telugu) Award -  Devi Sri Prasad for Attarintiki Daredi
Best Director (Telugu) Award - Trivikram Srinivas for Attarintiki Daredi
Best Film (Telugu) Award - Attarintiki Daredi
Best Actor (Female) (Telugu) Award - Nithya Menen for Gunde Jaari Gallanthayyinde
Best Actor Award (Male) (Telugu) goes to Mahesh Babu for SVSC

Tamil

Best Cinematographer Award - Rajeev Menon (Kadal)
Best Debut (Male) Award - Nivin Pauly (Neram) & Gautham Karthik (Kadal)
Best Debut (Female) Award - Nazariya (Neram)
Best Lyrics (Tamil) Award - Na. Muthukumar for Aananda Yazhai (Thanga Meengal)
Best Playback Singer (Female) (Tamil) Award - Shakthisree Gopalan for Nenjukulla (Kadal)
Best Playback Singer (Male) (Tamil) Award - Sriram Parthasarathy for Anandha Yazhai (Thangameengal)
Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Female) (Tamil) Award - Dhansika for Paradesi 

Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Male) (Tamil) Award goes to Satyaraj for Raja Rani 

Best Music Director (Tamil) Award - AR Rahman (Kadal)

Best Director (Tamil) Award - Bala (Paradesi)

Best Film (Tamil) Award - Thanga Meengal
Critic Award Best Actor (Male) - Dhanush (Maryaan)
Best Actor (Female) (Tamil) Award - Nayantara (Rajarani
Best Actor (Male) - Atharvaa Paradesi

Malayalam

Best Lyrics (Malayalam) Award - Madhu Vasudev for Ottakku Padunna (Nadan)
Best Playback Singer (Female) (Malayalam) Award - Vaikom Vijayalakshmi for Ottakkupadunna (Nadan)
Best Playback Singer (Male) (Malayalam) Award - Vijay Yesudas for Thirayum theeravum (Memories)
Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Female) (Malayalam) Award - Asha Sarath for Drishyam
Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Male) (Malayalam) Award - Murali Gopi for Left Right Left

Best Music Director (Malayalam) Award - M Jayachandran for Celluloid
Best Director (Malayalam) Award - Shyamaprasad for Artist
Best Film (Malayalam) Award - Drishyam
Best Actor (Female) (Malayalam) Award - Ann Augustin for Artis
Best Actor (Male) (Malayalam) Award - Fahad Fazil for North 24 Kadam 



Kannada



Best Lyrics (Kannada) Award - Siddu Kodipura for Banalli badalago (Simpallag Ond Love Story)
Best Playback Singer (Female) (Kannada) Award - Sowmya Raoh for Karagida bannalli (Simpallag Ond Love Story
Best Playback Singer (Male) (Kannada) Award - Poorna Chandra Tejasvi for Thinbedaalkammi (Lucia)
Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Female)  (Kannada) Award - Amulya for Shravani Saubramanya
Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Male) (Kannada) Award - Achyuth Kumar for Lucia

Best Music Director (Kannada) Award - Arjun Janya for Bhajarangi

Best Director (Kannada) Award - Pawan Kumar for Lucia

Best Film (Kannada) Award - Mynaa

Best Actor (Female) (Kannada) Award - Amulya for Shravani Saubramany
Best Actor (Male) (Kannada) - Prem for Charminar.

Image Credits: Filmfare.com

Kaththi First Look Posters HD - Vijay, Samantha, AR Murugadoss, Anirudh

 Click on images for Full Size View

Thala 55 - Shooting Spot Stills - Ajith, Anushka, Gautham Menon

Naan Sigappu Manithan - Tamil Movie Review from Kerala

Crew

 Written, Directed by     Thiru
Produced by     Vishal, Ronnie Screwvala, Siddharth Roy Kapoor
Music by     G. V. Prakash Kumar
Cinematography     Richard M. Nathan
Editing by     Anthony L. Ruben
Studio     UTV Motion Pictures, Vishal Film Factory
Distributed by     E4 Entertainment (Kerala)
Release dates     April 13, 2014 (Kerala)
Running time     149 minutes
Country     India
Language     Tamil

CastVishal as Indran
    Lakshmi Menon as Meera
    Iniya as Kavitha
    Saranya Ponvannan as Indran's Mother
    Jayaprakashas as Meera's Father
    Sunder Ramu
    Jagan as Sathish
    Pyramid Natarajan
    V. I. S. Jayapalan
    Madhan

'Indran' is suffering from a rare kind of sleeping disorder called 'Narcolepsy'. Any sudden outburst of emotion will put him to immediate sleep.But even during his sleep all the conversations happening around will be recorded in his brain which he can recollect while waking up. Due to such an incurable disease he faces lots of difficulties, in every step of his life. So he has made himself a bucket list, which he gets to complete on by one with the help of Meera. Their Acquaintance slowly develops into love. One night gang of 4 goons ambush the car they were traveling & rape Meera in front of Indran, who falls asleep in the sudden shock, and leave her to death. Meera is in coma and Indran sets out to revenge with the vague clues he gets and the sounds that got stored in his memory while he was asleep. What happens next forms the rest of the story. 

Thiru has worked with Vishal twice in the past, both the times failed to give us a satisfying film. Samar even though had a great plot, failed to develop into a great film. Looks like its 3rd time luck for the duo as NSM is a good revenge drama with suspense, twists, action, sentimence etc. Thiru managed to package the films nicely and present it in an entertaining manner. 

The film begins as a drama, explaining Indran's condition, the difficulties he face, shifts gear to the usual meet girl, fall in love track. Its slow, but nice and breezy till it shifts gears toward intermission. In the second half its more of a thriller which has been conceived intelligently ye entertainingly by Thiru. He managed to complete the story without hurting our sensibilites and using brain more instead of brawn. Plus the Narcolepsy feature also doesn't disappear unlike in most mass films, instead the way he comes out of it or beats it each time is shown is smart work, something rare in Mass movies.

The twists in the 2nd half have worked out well. But the 'reason' feels kinda far fetched. The songs are average and prove major hindrance to the proceedings. Also they could have used a better actor as the main antagonist.

Vishal performed exceedingly well as the Narcoleptic suffering Indran. Got almost all his expressions and emotions in check. There were rumors that Mohanlal was supposed to do the project first, and the script was tweaked later when Vishal entered the scene. Without naming the star Vishal himself said he is scared to do the role as acting legend was supposed to do. Any way he has made this completely his film now and can relax. Laksmi Menon did an okay job. Iniya was good in the cameo role.

Thiru's direction and writing have improved a lot. Cinematography was good. Editing was efficient. Songs were average, BG was okay. 

In all NSM is a good revenge, drama, thriller that you might wanna check out this summer.

Rating 3.25/5

Verdict: Good

Last Word: You  Won't be Narcoleptic while watching the movie, except may be during the songs, that's a guarantee !!!

Maan Karate is a Decent Entertainer - Tamil Movie Review

Few IT employees on their weekend getaway gets a newspaper of a future date from a saint as per their wish. From that they get to know that they are going to make 'Peter' from Rayapuram winner of a Boxing competition and walk away with the prize of 2 crore. At the same time, as per the news paper their IT company shutsdown. When few more events said in the paper becomes true, they decide to give it a shot. Peter is your regular Tamil mass film hero, jobless, roaming around with friends, dancing to intro song, 'sight' seeing girls. And as usual he meets Yazhini and fall head over heels. That's when the 5 meet him and Peter Okays to Box only if his conditions are met, one among them being tricks to woo Yazhini. Everything seems to go fine for peter till a Pro-Boxer named 'Peter' enters the scene. What happens next forms the rest of the story.

Story, which is being credited to AR Murugadoss, is nothing new, but its the scripting, especially in the first half that makes the film work. The film has also got plenty of humor, thanks to Siva & Satish. Satish infact has tons of one liners. The films has been shot beautifully, like a Bollywood rom-com. The costumes were trendy and cool and the art-set work were very good. The first half is totally entertaining with plenty of humor even though the proceedings are predictable.

The film has overall a silly feel to it. In the last 30 mins the film moves to a cliche mode and drags big time. The Boxing sequences remembers us of 'M Kumaran', in fact has the shades of 'Gilli' 'Ethirneecha' 'Badri' etc. The film should have been atleast shorter by 20 mins. Anirudh's songs and BG were kinda disappointing considering his past accomplishments.

Siva Karthikeyan once again rocked for most of the parts (except few scenes in the climax portions) with his humor timing. This time his dancing have improved by leaps and bounds. Was also looking smart in the new harido and smart costumes. Hansika has lost oodles of weight & was looking stunning, but her character was the usual filmi heroine, still she tried to do a better job and make an imapct. The 5 friends also did commendable job, especially Satish, who brought the house down every time he opened his mouth. Soori, Vamshi doesn't make much of an impact in cameo length roles.

Direction was okay, with a better script he will do wonders. Cinematography was good. Editing could have been crispier, especially boxing portions. Even though music was average, they were picturised and choreographed beautifully.

In all Maan Karate is a time pass entertainer

Rating 2.75/5

Verdict: above Average



Final word: Time Pass Summer Flick

Maan Karate - Kerala Release Paper AD with Theater List

Cuckoo - Tamil movie Review from Kerala

Directed by     Raju Murugan
Music by     Santhosh Narayanan
Cinematography     P. K. Varma
Editing by     Shanmugam Velusamy
Studio     Fox Star Studios, The Next Big Film Productions
Release dates    March 28, 2014

Distributor Fox Star Studios via E4 Entertainment
Country     India
Language     Tamil

Cast

Dinesh as Thamizh

Malavika Nair as Sudhanthirakodi

Aadukalam Murugadoss

Somasundaram

Elango

Nandhini

'Cuckoo' tells the heart warming story of two lovers, Thamizh & Sudhanthirakodi, who are visually challenged. How these two meet, their relationship flourish into friendship and later to love, their romance etc forms the crest of 'Cuckoo'. At an important juncture certain events happen in their lives and they gets separated. Will they reunite, what future has in store for them forms the rest of the story.


We have had films that deals with physically/mentally challenged characters in the past, but 'Cuckoo' is not another entry into those list, as it instead of focusing on the troubles, issues and complaints of blind people, making it a sympathy evoking social drama exercise, it shows the lives of a bunch of people who understand their shortcomings and still lives the life like everybody else, or may be even better. They don't complain or cringe, or blame others for what ever has happened or is happening to them.

'Cuckoo' is a film that evokes multiple emotions, it brims one with happiness, make one cry,  and  boost once self confidence. It tell us what they need is not sympathy but our love and care & If they can make it happen we definitely can and should.

The biggest plus is of 'Cuckoo' is the acting department. Dinesh has done a Very Good job as Tamizh, Malavika Nair too was good. Their chemistry sparkled and makes us care for the characters. But in fact its the 2 who acted as their close friends who spring a surprise with their knock out act. The fact that they didn't opt for a tragic climax, a usual practice in similar themed Tamil films, and decided to end on a positive note is a great sigh of relief.

Rajmurugan's Direction was also good, an impressive debut. The Songs are impressive, but its the background score that steals the thunder. Cinematography by P. K. Varma was top class while editing could have been much better.

But the film is not a perfect one either, in fact its far from it. The film is filled with lots of unnecessary scenes, especially in the first half. The scenes added for comic relief didn't work out, in fact stands out like sore thumb. The film should have been shorted by at least 20 mins, as 163 mins is a bit far stretch for such a film with already slow pace. The scripting is inconsistent as it hooks out interest some time while make you check the time at others. Dialogues could have been better, as the film doesn't provide much that remains even after leaving the cinema halls. The songs even though good (except one) could have used as bit songs or as part of proceedings as it drags the pace of the movie even more. The climax is bit far fetched and the acting goes a tad over the top.

In all 'Cuckoo' is a must watch film, for the honest intentions and the warmth, and positivity it spreads - plus it entertains too, even though a tad longer.

Rating: 3.5/5

Verdict: Good

'2 States' - Exclusive Stills, Posters & Trailer

'2  States' - Exclusive Stills, Posters, Trailer

 Trailer

Click to view images in Full Size

Goli Soda - Tamil Movie Review from Kerala

Crew 

 Directed by     Vijay Milton
Produced by     Bharath Seeni
Written by     Vijay Milton (Story), Pandiraj (Dialogues)
Music by     S. N. Arunagiri, A. Seelin (BGM)
Cinematography     Vijay Milton
Editing by     Anthony
Studio     Rough Note
Distributed by     Thirrupathi Brothers
Release dates     January 24, 2014
Country     India
Language     Tamil

Cast

    Santhosh Kishore as Pulli
    Sree Raam as Settu
    Pandi as Sithappa
    Murugesh as Kuttimani
    Seetha as Vanmathi (ATM)
    Chandhini as Yaamini
    Imman Annachi as Manthiravadhi
    Sujatha Sivakumar as Aachi
    R. K. Vijai Murugan as Mayilu
    Madhusudhan as Naidu
    A. Manoharan

'Goli Soda' tells the story of the life, friendship and adventures of 4 orphan boys. Pulli, Settu, Sithappa & Kuttimani works as lifters in Koyembedu Market (Chennai), which is one of Asia's largest goods market. Aachi, who owns a shop in the market is their only relationship in the world. With the help of Aachi, one day, they open a restaurant to earn propoer living and have some dignity in the society, on the godown given by a local politician/dada. Things soon goes out of control and the kids are pushed into a fight for their lives and livelihood. What happens next forms the rest of the story.

The dialogues are written by Pandiraj, who directed Pasanga (the 4 boys were there in Pasanga as well). So it can be called 'Pasanga 2' even though it deals with serious matters than the former.

GS is one of the refreshing attempts to come from Kollywood in a long time. It is entertaining, emotional and thrilling as well. The film also shows lights into the lives of of such kids that we see in our surroundings in our day to day life.

The first half is filled with humor for most of its parts. The camaraderie has been shown beautifully on screen. Towards interval the film takes a very serious turn. The dark mode continues in to the second half, which is also thrilling, making the audience also feel for the characters. The fight scene with kids was conceived and shot outstandingly, looked cent % real. Even though the climax was kinda unconvincing was suited for a movie like this. Also there are 1/2 'cinematic' sequences in the 2nd half.

The biggest plus about the movie is most definitely the kids who play the lead roles (including the 2 girls). Felt like they were living there roles. Rest of the cast also did a great job. To write dialogues for kids movies is a risky job and Pandiraj has once again come out with flying colors. Vijay Milton's dialogues were also good. Cinematography was great, capturing the raw, rustic market in the 1st half and the 'dark' scenes in the 2nd.

Music was okay, BG was good. Editing was good as well.

In all its a different kind of Kids movie, something which people from all class of life and age group can enjoy.

Rating: 3.5/5

Verdict: Good+

Last Word: Must Watch adult themed movie with Kids as main protagonists

The movie which got released on Jan 24th, 2014 in Tamil Nadu, released in Kerala Today (21/02/2014) only. The film is a super hit in TN, hope it gets the same reception here too.

Idhu Kathirvelan Kadhal - Tamil Movie Review

Idhu Kathirvelan Kadhal - Movie Review

Crew

Directed by     S. R. Prabhakaran
Produced by     Udhayanidhi Stalin
Screenplay by     S. R. Prabhakaran
Story by     S. R. Prabhakaran
Music by     Harris Jayaraj
Cinematography     Balasubramaniem
Studio     Red Giant Movies
Release dates     February 14, 2014

Running time     156 mins
Country     India
Language     Tamil

Cast

    Udhayanidhi Stalin as Kathirvelan
    Nayantara as Pavithra
    Santhanam as Mayilvaganam
    Chaya Singh
    Saranya Ponvannan
    Sunder Ramu as Gautham
    Vanitha Krishnachandran
    Aadukalam Naren
    Mayilsamy

 Kathirvelan is a big devotee of Lord Hanuman and want's to be an eternal bachelor, that's until he meets Pavithra. It was love at first sight and his mission in life changed to marrying Pavithra. But Pavithra has feelings for Gautham, who sees her as a use and throw. Even though Kathir reveals Gautham's true nature to Pavithra she doesn't think of his childhood friend in that way. So what will happen to the love story, how the families get tangled up in all these forms the rest of the story.

 IKK is the 2nd venture for both director S. R. Prabhakaran and Male lead Udhay Stalin. Its some what in the lines of 'Oru Kal Oru Kannadi', but different from Sundarapandian. Promoted as Romantic Comedy the film has a more drama in it than romance or comedy. Santhanam once again comes to the rescue and prevents the movie from falling to a disappointing affair. Infact Udhay had better chemistry with Santhanam than the heroines in the 2 films that he did so far.

The initial half is quite watchable with enough fun and frolics and small dosage of romance. But the plots and sub plots and unnecessary deviations make it tiresome in the later half, eventhough the supporting actors appearing in those sequences gave the film's notable performances.

Udhay has improved a lot compared to his mediocre debut in OKOK, but still has a long way to go if he takes acting career seriously. Nayanthara, as always was looking great, but the role was a cake walk for her. Santhanam playing for the umpteenth time as hero's side kick [who actually ends up making the movie watchable, entertaining & a box office success] was good as always.

Prabhakaran had an average outing this time with IKK. Music by Harris Jayaraj was average, could have done with lesser song count. Background score was good though. The film drags at places and feels lengthy, editing could have been better. Cinematography was good, especially in songs, thanks to the locales. 

So in all IKK is another time pass rom-com that is woth watching thanks to, one again, Santhanam.

Rating 2.5./5

Verdict: Average

Last Word: Watch it if you have nothing else to do this Valentines day weekend