Paiyya - Review

Happened to catch up on Paiyya this saturday noon show at Satyam- courtesy of a un-expected stroke of Good fortune - a friend's friend's wife turning sick at the last minute getting me a last minute invite for the empty seat. To say I enjoyed the movie is an understatement. The friend I was with was a class act- absolutely hilarious- the commentary kept pouring out as the action unfolded on screen- so much so that I am wondering now how much fun I had missed previously watching movies alone. Take it from me - Tamil movies are made to be watched with your group of friends- a lesson learnt at last.

To get back to the movie -what struck me most was the absolutely stunning styling of the lead pair...considering that it is an on-road movie. Karthi's costumes really strike the contemporary grunge-chic look and Tamannah manages to pull off stunning outfits quite casually. The music is neither too haunting nor thankfully jarring but just keeps the story moving. The story as usual in tamil films is formula ridden- loving an unknown girl, bashing up the villians, chases, fights etc with the hero making the heroine fall in love with him only at the end of the movie inspite of wooing her throughout the film's journey of Bangalore to Mumbai.

Some of the baddies in the movie- like Milind Soman and his Side-kicks could give lessons to other Kollywood directors on how to dress up their heroes- all those recent ultra-low budget madurai oriented movies with guys in lungies parading around has sickened me of tamil films recently. This summer has finally shown the change in the air- first up VTV and now Paiyya. The whole moive is one stylish, racy flick.

Just two questions remain in the end...
1) will you suddenly make up your mind and fall in love if your lovers friends express his love for you? dont you have a mind/heart of your own?
2) Why the Title Paiyya?

Vinnay Thandi Varuvaya- Review.

I know, I know that its a bit (very?) late for a review considering that its been running in the theatres for a fortnight but I have two excuses- one, that I have this policy of watching films only in theatres as a paying customer (to discourage piracy and not to cause loss to the film industry I love) and my second and more valid reason for the late viewing is due to the perfidy of a friend (traitor?) of mine who promised to take me along for the movie but ditched me to go with another group of friends- forcing me to go alone to watch the movie today (Satyam- Matinee). So my apologies for the late review..

First Impressions? - It does something to your heart. I'm still slightly under the influence. Anyway for once in his life there is no Simbu in a Simbu movie. Its the characters who live on the screen. Hats off to Gautam Menon for pulling this off. And Trisha- the actress has done a brilliant job- we alternately sympathize and get exasperated with Jessy- so much so that we forget it is Trisha who is playing a role. Never thought that she had the talent to pull this off- a landmark film for her.

Finally, the story- every knows the tagline by now - you can be friends with your ex. But it still seems such a pity that there was no happy ending- after all that they went through it would have been fitting if the two had got together in the end. Realism is Ok - that's what we always get in everyday life- where parents and society force two people apart. Atleast in films the hero should get the heroine- the heroine, for a change, should blackmail emotionally her father and walk away with the hero. I was rooting and praying for a happy wedding in the end...but the climax scene at the preview theatre completely floored me - with its dignified ending - when they both walk out together with no hard feelings/no rancour inspite of a love which as Simbu repeats "I will give my life for her".

So verdict- A film which moved me to tears. And yes, two people who if they somehow connect together and have unbelievable chemistry should stay as friends even if fate robs them of their chance for a deeper relationship. Sometimes friendship is Enough.

ThE DARK KNIGHT Review

Yesterday - I popped into Satyam Theatre, Chennai - for a look at the new Batman movie - hoping that I might enjoy myself for a couple of hours on a good old tale of kick-ass and good triumphing over evil. What followed , was an anti-climax.

First of all, let me state on record that this is a fan's review- not a snot nosed, hard-ass critic's review. I have been a long term fan of the Batman franchise- paying out good (hard-arned) money at the movie halls for a dekko, everytime the studio's put out a new instalment. The one, I enjoyed most was the very first one - starring Micheal Keaton as The One. It was a very impressionistic movie on a youngster brought up on a diet of comic-readings. Micheal Keaton and Tim Burton, the director re-defined super-hero movies for me. Batman was as I had always imagined him to be - strong and silent and going about his work without too many angst-filled flash-back moments. There was a job to be done - and he went out and got it done- and can the motivation psycho-babbles. And Micheal Keaton had "the Presence" - that all important quality you require in a Super-hero.

So, to come back to "the Dark Knight" which I viewed with a lot of anticipation and not quite a little trepidation- first impressions are "OK" but great? Hold on a second. The movie's good in parts but somehow the whole doesn't gel together. For one thing - for a batman movie, you get to see the batman a lot less than the other characters on screen - which is quite a turn-off to an average fan. Believe me, I did like Heath Ledger's interpretation of a over-the top joker in the promos and stills - but in the actual movie it was more like it was Heath Ledgers interpretation of Osama Bin Laden. I mean for all his supposed villianous activities the joker is supposed to be a fun character. This joker was definitely not. And neither was the whole Harvey Dent duty/romance/revenge angle -which literally made me go sleepy (after all I was watching a noon-show on an empty stomach). After "Batman Begins" I felt Christian Bale doesnt have the charisma to be a batman and now he doesn't even have screen time. I mean, whats a Batman Movie without Batman in it?

To conclude, in the immortal words of the Riddler (Jim Carrey) when you compare the Dark Knight to the Original Batman - Your entrance was Good, But his was Better- the diffference- Showmanship. So next time - cut all the superflous crap and give us a good ole super hero movie.

My 2007 MEM's - A Round-up - for introspection and correction

Before we proceed to commit our share of gaffe's and screw-up's in the New year, I think we should try to take a little time to reflect on some of the pile-up's and near misses of the dear departed year gone by. I though long and heard over my THREE MOST EMBARASSING MOMENTS of 2007 and how I dealt with them and hope to avoid getting caught in such again.


1. Encouter at OK Corral aka. Satyam Theatre

This was an incident which involved me only margially. Yet, unaccountably I slinked out of the theatre where I had gone to watch a movie with P- like I had been surprised doing something I shouldn't have done - just because we had happened to run into (quite accidentally) my good acquitances SK and GP who had accompanied their Chief M**** Ma'm to watch Kamalhasan's movie- Vettaiyadu Vellaidu (Hunt&Play) which is what they seem to have done in the darkened theatre sitting on either side of M... Ma'm. I and P- who had gone to watch the movie stayed huddled in our seats throughout the interval hoping they wouldn't notice us - and sneaking out after lights off to relieve ourselves - which looks pretty stupid now - considering we two guys werent doing anything wrong .But why , oh, why did we feel so embarassed then? and Patted ourselves on not being observed By Them?. I hope those poor guys dont get into any trouble with the college authorities-if this news leaks upwards that they have been fraternizing socially, too socially, with the faculty. And besides it isn't worth the risk. I, personally, wouldn't be caught dead in a theatre with a 50 yr old female even if she happens to be the arbiter of my fate and my thesis guide (one and the same?)- M will most probably get away with it; but these two guys are dead meat if one of the other HOD's gets to know- which is bound to happen eventually - given the abundance of spies and sneaks in the college.

2. Thrice I say Nay and refuse the Crown- Caesar style

This was a totally ridiculous situation compounded by my own dilemna. In 2006 like everyone else, I had made a pass at the new hottie of the college and not getting far - dropped the idea and moved on. Consider my surprise, when in 2007 -at the fag end of my academic career- she gets back to me with a counter proposal. I just wasn't prepared for this. I had all but cleansed college and all its inmates from my mind and was looking forward to living it up on the outside -post college life. So, I politely turned her down -offering as a reason my up-coming exams and the necessity of not being diverted from my studies with unncessary complications. So consider my surprise when over the coming few weeks the girl continued to pester me with new offers- unable or unwilling to take a hint - forcing me into embarassing denials and refusals -when I knew that any other guy on campus would give an arm and a leg to have my sweet problem...But I had made up my mind to move on from college life and I didn't want any extra baggage to remind me of it. Hence I kept turning down the crown- a la Caesar.

3. Horses for Courses - A good trainer ought to know that before everything else

The final embarassing moment worthy of introspection is having been invited to a totally grooving party - I had made the mistake of taking along a friend of - shall we say restricted up-bringing and conservative mindset who had expressed an ardent desire to see how the the other half of the world lives and enjoys. This friend was like fish out of the water in the party neither enjoying nor allowing me to enjoy the atmosphere - so much so that we had to make an early exit as I just coud'nt get into the zone with such constant interruptions. Lesson learnt for the future - get rid of the holier than thou types when heading out to enjoy the evening...

These three qualify for the three most embarassing moments of a long drawn , successful and pleasurable year 2007. On my three most successful moments (or conquests) - more in my next blog...

Danny Ocean's Gang of 13 and the Pirates of Disneyland

Well, I happened to do a double whammy movie watching recently when I visited Satyam Theatre for consecutive shows at 12:30 and 3:30 to see what all the build-up was about - The movie Oceans 13 & Pirates of the C - at Worlds end -Part 3 which are both vaguely interconnected movies - The Ocean comes in both right?

I have long been a great fan of the Ocean's 11 series - I mean Gentleman Thieves do have a certain attraction to lazy bums don't they? In adddition, these cons don't hit the average guy, they just take out richer and more despicable crooks. The latest addition to the series has all the razzledazzle of the series - great one-liners, suave Clooney, ingenious plans, good time-pass for the money - BUT, and this is a big but, I don't know whether I'd watch it again and again, like I did the first one. I think not - for this one lacks a certain something there was in the first edition, it lacks emotional connect - heart (is it the absence of an heroine?) I mean, remember Rambo? Those tag lines which went "First time was personal, second for the country, third for a friend"? Now Oceans 11 is based on the same - First time it was Personal, and how personal, it was literally a fight for Julia Roberts stolen from George Clooney and it made us root for the little guy with his brains and his buddies up against the rich bully. The second was so, so - not quite believable, but not this slick. The third for all its fast moving screenplay simply fails to build up that pressure and anticipation in the audience - heck, these Guy's are Ocean's Men - they can sure pull it off, can't they? And Al Pacino does a great job -as the oh so real, fall guy, who literally forces the audience to sympathize with his bewildered life. All in all, a good way to pass an empty afternoon - but I wont be joining the fan club based on this.

My next movie - was about the other Ocean - the big blue one. Pirates of the Caribbean - At World's End has one astonishing scene where Captain Jack Sparrow played by Johnny Depp, forces the crew of the Black Pearl to try and rock their ship enough to capsize it - without alerting them to what he is aiming for. Other than that, the rest of the movie wasn't up to the hype - even when compared to a far better 2nd part - where every appearance of the Kraken on-screen led to a palpable tension in the audience watching the movie. This part doen't have that grip on the pulse of the audience - a weak villain compared to the Kraken (come on who's afraid of the Big Bad East India Company compared to an indesctructible monster?) - except maybe at the very end when Will Turner is stabbed by that despicable fish-face. Orlando Bloom in a fine understated performance - pulls the rug right out under Keira Knightley and Johnny Depp - both having heavy author backed roles. Johnny Depp did a far better role as the quavering Constable Ichabod Crane battling the Headless Horseman in Sleepy Hollow - a more believable persona than in this half crazy/ half gay role. Wonder why they don't revive that franchise?

Well, that was me, film fan and fanatic - trying to watch two movies on the same day without a break . And on the whole - a day not wasted i think...........