Ilayathalapathy Vijay's Thalaivaa - Music Review

Thalaivaa Music Review

Directed by     A. L. Vijay
Produced by     Chandra Prakash Jain, C.P. Sunil, C.P. Dinesh
Written by     A. L. Vijay

Starring

    Vijay
    Sathyaraj
    Amala Paul
    Rajiv Pillai
    Abhimanyu Singh
    N. Santhanam

Music by     G. V. Prakash Kumar

TRACKLIST

First things first - I am not a music expert, just a regular Indian film music lover, just wanted to say what I felt about the songs after listening to them a couple of times. Just layman's point of view. With that being said lets dive in to my review



1. Vaanganna

Easily the biggest track & the main USP of the album. A rough version was leaked months abck and it was a rage among fans and netizens. It as absolute rocker of a track, mixed with 'dappam kuthu' elements. Vijay sound suits the song to a 'T' and he has done a great job just like all his previous 24 songs. Voice of Santhanam also featured in the song.

Verdict: Chartbuster 4/5


2. Thalaivaa

This is one song which could turn up the biggest hit of the album post release, but everything depends on the film. If placed at right situation this song has enough elements in it to create goosebumps. A pulsating, thumping, heartbeat racing anthem, especially for Vijay fans.

Verdict: Thumping 4/5


3. "The Ecstasy of Dance" (Instrumental)


Very good theme, nice use of instruments. Suitable for showing Dance Skills

Verdict: 3.5/5

4.Sol Sol

A Typical romantic duet number, nothing special, but not bad either. Its pretty much hummable. Visuals & the chemistry of lead pair could take the song to higher level [or may be not]. A typical GVP number that could be shot in mountains, valleys, hill sides etc...

Verdict 2.75/5


5. Tamil Pasanga

Feels like an intro song for Vijay's character set in Australia. Another above average/average song. Could expect a dance heavy video & choreography. Don't think the song has it in to go beyond that level even with the video.

Verdict: 2.5/5


6. Yaar Indha Saalai Oram

A nice melody. The best melody in the album. Soothing music & voice takes the song o another level.

Verdict: 3/5

Final Verdict: 3.25/5

A Good, different album - Much better than Thuppaki In My Opinion [I was not a fan of Thuppakki songs, except the first two lines of each song the songs were just average]. A non Massy album, so might take its time to catch up among non-fans, but still worth a buy, easily the best music album of the year

Download Thalaivaa MP3 officially here: Say No To Piracy 

http://music.ovi.com/in/en/pc/Product/G-V-Prakash-Kumar/Thalaivaa-Original-Motion-Picture-Soundtrack-/47755477

RAANJHANAA - Movie Review

RAANJHANAA  : Exclusive Movie Review

                                       

Direction by Anand L. Rai

Story & Screenplay by Himanshu Sharma

Produced by Krishika Lulla

Music by A R Rahman

Stars : Dhanush, Sonam Kapoor & Abhay Deol

Movie Review by Sree Prasad Nair

Theater – Al Wahda Cinemas, UAE

20/06/2013 – 8.30 pm

Occupancy – 40 %

Raanjhanaa is the second film of director Anand L. Rai. The director made a successful debut with 2011 Family Hit 'Tanu Weds Manu'. Raanjhanaa stars National Award Winning Actor Dhanush & Sonam Kapoor. Raanjhanaa is the debut film of Dhanush in Bollywood, who is also a Superstar in Tamil film industry.

Story

Raanjhanaa is the story of a Brahmin boy, Kundan (Dhanush) falls in love with a beautiful Muslim girl, Zoya (Sonam Kapoor) Ranjhana is the story of Kundan and his journey from a 13 year old boy in love who goes on to become a committed and spirited young man. All for 1 reason, to get Zoya. The film engages you strongly with several twists and turns, What's that?

Go and watch Raanjhanaa... But Why ??? Because...

Positives

Dhanush is Dhanush!!! Yes, You read it right! Dhanush as Kundan is simply outstanding. It's always difficult for a South Indian actor to act in Bollywood and speak faultless hindi. But this talent called Dhanush proved that there is no language barrier when it comes to real acting. He may not have the good looking face to score good in bollywood, but he got the 'real acting talent' which many bollywood good faces are struggling to find! Brilliant will be an underrated term to describe his acting! He makes u laugh,cry,fall in love & feel the pain all at one time, and above all faultless hindi! COME ON BOLLYWOOD, POWERHOUSE OF TALENT IS HERE!!!

Sonam Kapoor is very good as Zoya. Raanjhanaa is the 8th film of Sonam and without a doubt Zoya is her career best perfomance! Abhay Deol as usual impressive. And a special mention to Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub(No One Killed Jessica, Jannat 2) & Swara Bhaskar (Tanu Weds Manu & Aurangzeb) Both are rocking as Dhanush's friends and Ayyubs witty one-liners are first rate. All other co-actors are good.

Another pluspoint of the film is, no prize for guessing A R Rahman's music. Most of the songs are already chartbusters and are filmed at the correct situations. Difficult to pick one, still my personal favorite is Tum Tak. Cinematography by Natarajan Subramaniam is eyecatching , especially the beautiful Banaras!

Story & Screenplay by Himanshu Sharma is good in the first half & excellent in the second half and brilliant in the climax. You don't see such climax in Bollywood often. Last but not least, the director, Anand L Rai. Direction is brilliant & full marks to him for choosing Dhanush as Kundan. Thank You Mr.Anand for introducing Dhanush to bollywood.

Negatives

Not much negatives about Raanjhanaa. The second half dragged little bit. Also the romantic angle between two characters in the second half are not executed properly. Some foul words are used in this film. The climax will meet with mixed reaction. While some may like the inconclusive climax, there would be others who would have preferred a completely conclusive climax.... But for me, Climax is just Brilliant!!!

Overall Raanjhanaa is a winner all the way. Dhanush can't ask for a better debut. Excellent Story & Direction, Brilliant Acting, Fantastic Climax(Rare In Bollywood), That's Raanjhanaa for you. Come On Bollywood, Accept This Super Talent, Dhanush! The film is set to have an average opening at the box office. But I’m sure that Raanjhanaa will be loved for its content and works for its credits. An opening day of 4-6 crores with a weekend of 15cr-18cr is a safe bet for this film. Let's hope Dhanush can win the hearts of audience in this Khans-Kumar-Kapoors dominated Bollywood & break the South Indian Actors Jinx at the Bollywood Box office!

P.S-  If Raanjhanaa fails, it means bollywood can't appreciate "Real Talent" aka South Actors, they just need South films to remake & make 100cr business at the box office...

Verdict - WINJAANA Hai Yeh RAANJANAA

Rating - 4/5! Just Brilliant !!!

Box office Prediction - 50crore!!!

This Reviewer can be contacted on Twitter : @i_spn : https://twitter.com/i_spn

Its Official: Robert Downey Jr. to return as Iron Man !! Exclusive

Robert Downey Jr. Signs Deal to Appear as Iron Man in 'The Avengers 2' and 'The Avengers 3'


Breaking News: The question that was in everyone's mind after watching Iron Man 3, what happens to Ironman? Will RDJr return as Tony Stark/IM ?, has been finally answered. Robert Downey Jr. has signed a deal with Marvel Entertainment, but it's for The Avengers 2 (May 1, 2015) & The Avengers 3 (TBA). There is no news of Iron Man 4 as if now. May be Marvel is planning another sequel till Avengers 3 releases as they have plenty more new comic book based movies in the pipe line like Ant-Man.

Nothing was going right for RD Jr. till IronMan happened in 2008. Marvel where not at all impressed with his in the beginning too. And it was his co-star Terrance Howard [Cheadle replaced his in the sequels] who went with a bigger pay cheque for IM. But once it released everything changed. Today Tony Star & IronMan, who in the comic world were regarded as second fiddle to others like Hulk, CAP etc, is the most popular among the 'Avengers'. One of the major reasons behind the blockbuster success of Avengers and IM3.

So the ball was clearly in his court this time & he took his time to negotiate with marvel for a perfect deal as his contract came to an end with IM3. Nobody wanted to see any other actor playing those already iconic roles, which was evident from the discussions that were happening in almost all social media platforms.

So finally we got what we wanted, We will get to see one of the most loved character of modern era, played by one of the most loved & popular actors of modern era. Gear up folks.....“I am Iron Man”

Mohanlal becomes the 1st South Indian actor to get his Facebook page verified

Facebook has been 'verifying' genuine pages last year. It was recently that they started giving a 'blue tick' just like twitter has been doing from the beginning to such verified pages. [FB also recently introduced hash tags which was one of twitter's USPs]. Malayalam actor Mohanlal has become the first South Indian to get his official facebook page get verified like this.

It was exactly one year back that Mohanlal & his team started his official facebook page, to sommunicate with his fans, because a lot of fake accounts were started under his name. Soon the page immense response from the fans that Facebook India officials took notice and decided to take care of his account once it was prooved that the page was indeed official. They then merged all those fake accounts into the official one.

Mohanlal's account is one of the first Malayali (if not the first) FB page to be monitored & publicized by Facebook India. The officials also took his interview [or rather an intro to FB] and posted it in their official page. Pages of Big B, Salman Khan, Sachin Tendulkar etc are also being maintained by FB like this.

The page also crossed 8 lakh likes today, another milestone for the Facebook page.

Theeya Velai Seiyyanum Kumaru - Movie Review from Kerala

Theeya Velai Seiyyanum Kumaru - Movie Review  

 Directed by     Sundar C.
Produced by     Ronnie Screwvala, Siddharth Roy Kapur, Khushboo Sundar
Written by     Sundar C. (Screenplay)
Venkat (Dialogues)
Story by     Sundar C.
Music by     C. Sathya
Cinematography     Gopi Amarnath
Editing by     Praveen K. L.
N. B. Srikanth
Studio     UTV Motion Pictures, Avni Cinemax
Release date(s)    June 14, 2013
Country     India
Language     Tamil

CAST

    Siddharth as Kumar
    Hansika Motwani as Sanjana
    Ganesh Venkatraman as George
    Santhanam as Mokia
    Vidyullekha Raman
    RJ Balaji as Karna
    Devadarshini
    Bosskey
    Aishwarya Menon
    Vishal Krishna as himself (Cameo appearance)
    Samantha (Cameo appearance)

Theeya Velai Seiyyanum Kumaru  (You've to work hard, Kumar! is inspired from Partner which itself was a remake of 'Hitch'. Kumar is a looser when it comes to the matters of love. Kumar who is working in an IT firm has has fallen head over heels in love with his colleague Sanjana. But unable to express his love or for that matter even talk to her and growing competition from other boys, Kumar seeks the help of Love Guru Mokia who is an expert love consultant. What happens to their lives after Mokia enters the scene forms the rest of the story.

Those who were expecting a regular over the top typical Sundar.C mass masala will be heavily disappointed. TVSK is a normal romantic comedy with slight twists and turns and some amount of humor. But the film would have been just ended up as ordinary fare if not for Santhanam. The poor hero's [or director's or writer's] Superstar, once again comes to the rescue of an avg film, elevates it to at least above average level (IMHO) and make a super hit out of it. But here too he gets in full flow in the 2nd half. He is the pillar on which the film stands supported by others. But he should seriously conider a change of track before this side kick role starts boring & repetative.

Sidarth played his role well, but nothing exceptional. Hansika, eventhough a bit over weight [BTW her latest look during Singam 2 audio launch was super hot and super slim], was super cute as always. Improved her acting by leaps and bounds, but still need to work on the lip sync. Rest of the cast were also Okay. The cameo scene by Samantha was very good.

Direction was okay, made a decent watch out of an ordinary script, packaged everything well. Camera, editing was good. Music is a big disappointment, don't know why no UTV South movie have chart buster music.There is not even a single hummable or foot tapping track. 

TVSK is a good, clean watch for families, Kids and youth sans unnecessary mass masala, action, violence etc. 

A Time pass entertainer

Rating: 2.7/5 [thanks to Santhanam]

Verdict: Above Average

Box Office: Hit ??? May be

Left Right Left - Malayalam Movie Review

Left Right Left - Malayalam Movie Review

 Directed by     Arun Kumar Aravind
Produced by     M. Renjith
Written by     Murali Gopy
Music by     Gopi Sunder
Cinematography     Shehnad Jalaal
Editing by     Arun Kumar Aravind
Studio     Rejaputhra Visual Media
Release date   June 14, 2013
Country     India
Language     Malayalam

Starring

 Indrajith
Murali Gopy
Remya Nambeesan
Lena
Hareesh Peradi

 

Story


LRL is the story of few lives that got toiled up between the politics of the land, people and politicians.
The story begins the flash back of 3 people Indrajith,  Murali gopy and Haresh Peradi, incidents that changes or moulds the person that they become later in their life and the rest of the film teaches how those changes their lives, for ever.

Its after a long time that a socio-political film has released in Mollywood. It deals many issues that we are familiar with. But the main concentration is on communist parties, and their prominent leaders. The film also discusses the downfall of the communism in the state and various aspects like money greed etc which lead to change from once 'common peoples party' to a 'party for people with power or money' .

LRL is a must watch for those who (or used to) live & breath communism. The film is full of powerful dialogues and visuals, which even non-communists & common man can identify very well with. It also questions the 'existence of opportunist politics'.

The film gives many goosebumps which will be with you even after you leave the cinemas. Every single actor, even those coming in single scene, have done terrific job. But still Hareesh Peradi definitely deserves a special mention. He was simply outstanding as the leader of one faction in communist party. He overtook in all aspects Sivaji Kovoor who played similar character in 'Arabikadha' and won tons of accolades.

The BG work by Gopi Sundar is outstanding, suiting the pulse and feel of the movie. His songs are also god, especially the Cheguvera number.

Director-Editor Arun Kumar has done a very good job. Kept up his reputation. Camera work was also good.

Didn't find any negatives worth mentioning in the film, eventhough the length (2.45hr) could have been shorter. After EAK Indran-Arun-Murali team has delivered yet another gem.

The claps that these three got is an extremely positive hint of changing times.

All in LRL is a film to be watched, felt and carried in your hearts for a long time.

Verdict: Excellent

Rating: 4.5/5

Box Office: HIT+

ABCD: American Born Confused Desi - Malayalam Movie Review

ABCD: American-Born Confused Desi - Malayalam Movie Review

 Directed by     Martin Prakkat
Produced by     Shibu Thameens
Screenplay by     Martin Prakkat, Naveen Bhaskar, Sooraj-Neeraj
Story by     Sooraj-Neeraj
Music by     Gopi Sunder
Cinematography     Jomon T. John
Editing by     Donmax
Studio     Thameens Films
Distributed by     Thameens Films
Release date(s)     June 14, 2013
Country     India
Language     Malayalam

 

 Starring 

Dulquer Salmaan
Jacob Gregory
Aparna Gopinath

 

Story

ABCD is the story of  US born Malayalis whose life turns complete upside during their stay in Kerala during summer Vacation. John (Dulquer) & Kora (Gregory) was spending a carefree life of rich spoil brats in US. Thats when they get into trouble and Joh's father decides to send them to Kerala till everything settles down. But it was a ploy to teach them the value of life, work, money etc by him. The struggles of these two ABCds' forms the rest of the story.

Plot might sound similar to Veendum chila veetu karyangal & Wake up Sid,  but the super entertaining script that covers all those similarities and makes the film a rocking entertainer. Eventhough its 2hours40min plus long you will never get bored even for a bit. John-Kora duo is the major plus point of the film, they make a rocking pair and the chemistry is sparkling. Dulquers character is some what similar to what we saw in Ustad Hotel & he did a Good Job like in UH. Akkarakazchakal fame Gregory has made a grand debut to Mollywood. Debutant heroine Aparna too has done a very good job. Lalu Alex, Rincy (AK fame), Sreekumar (Marimayam fame) also did great job. 

Gopi Sundar has done a great job once again, both the music and BG are very good & like UH it suits the mood of the film perfectly and another plus for the movie. [Johny mone song is already a viral hit, the other songs/bits being above average]. Director Martin Prakkat has done a very good job in packaging the film as a perfect entertainer. The works of DOP & editor are also commendable.

Its a perfect entertainer, which also conveys a good message, but amidst all that fun and chaos it got a bit lost. Also the film is a perfect youth film with very little so called 'family elements'. Eventhough a throughout entertainer the length could have been reduced by 10-15mins. There are plenty of so called 'new-Gen' comedies too, which lots of people still don't like.

Overall its a pucca rocking youth entertainer that you can watch, especially with friends, and have a blas at the theater. 

Verdict: Very Good

Rating: 3.5/5

Box Office: Super Hit +