Latha Rajasekar

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An ambitious fictional version of a revolutionary biopic, showcasing some intense acting. A worthy attempt, but for the tiresome monotone, that irks a disconnect. The story credits it's inspiration to the book, 'Simply fly' A Deccan Odyssey, by G.R.Gopinath. Its partly a dramatized version like any other biopic films. The core of the plot is about the revolution in the aviation industry- a villager's dream to make every Indian, fly, at a low cost. The movie opens to a rough landing of a passenger plane. As access had been denied for it's landing at Chennai airport, Nedumaran (Suriya) forcibly arranges for its landing in the army base and rushes to the landing site in his motorbike. Nedumaran meeting Sundari (Aparna Balamurali), through a marriage proposal springs up next. The contrast transition, from the adrenaline rushing opening scene to the crowded train, surprisingly doesn't charm the way it was intended. The fierce dance number when Sundari meets Nedumaran doesn't help either, except when he walks in with a haircut to hint his acceptance to the proposal. Suriya has his heart and soul in the project and it does translate onscreen. Every frame that captures him, has him in some kind of an emotional high. The rebellious and military backdrop, flashes back his 'Vaaranam Aayiram' days. The actor is back with a vengeance to overthrow his recent hiatus and seems geared up for another innings. Aparna brings to life the bold and budding entrepreneur, through her confident body language and expressions. The cute gestures of the couple are poetic and G.V. Prakash's music work compliments those sequences. The locking horn choreography, to represent the muscle match of the couple, is interesting, as Sundari refuses to marry him and rather pursue her dream. The story goes back and forth with chronological overlapping, that it dilutes the character's emotions in places. The editing should have gone haywire or the film had been mutilated badly. It's quite hard not to be reminded of the ace director Manirathnam. The distinct rounded characterizations with strong dialect is a classic copy of his films. Biopics often ride on a curiosity factor. To solve the real life puzzle, by fixing the less known missing pieces amidst the familiar facts. On the contrary, a less known biopic like the Telugu film 'Mallesham', on revolutionizing the weaving industry also leaves an impact. It was a tedious win for the lead character as well in Mallesham. But as it's core revolves around putting an end to the miseries of weaver's physical pain, it makes you root for the character. That's the prime reason for the mild disconnect in Soorarai Pottru. His idea is worth a revolution, no doubt. An ambition of an air force personnel to build a business model to make, travel affordable to all section of the masses. But the lack of nobility of doing away anyone's sufferings, keeps the character's efforts at bay. You end up not rooting ardently for Nedumaran's success, which you know he will eventually do anyways. The airport scene where he alms for cash to travel to visit his dying father, just reiterates Suriya as a talented actor rather than the audience sympathizing with the character 'Nedumaran'. A good watch.

An inspiration from the series of the likes - Ocean 11, Money heist and white collar, this tamil entertainer soars high with its grippy screenplay and catchy direction. A project that was in the pipeline for five long years, and it still stayed fresh when it's released, is indeed commendable. The core plot of the movie is what makes the movie a winner. To keep such an interesting knot under wraps in the season of story-theft, is a task in itself and that deserves a pat on the directorial team's back. The artists and the producers have patiently backed the project, all because of the uniqiness in the story telling. But does it translate to the screen? That's another humongous task for a debut director Desingh Periyasamy, but he nails it with ease.

A near perfect screenplay, makes this light hearted fantasy Romcom, which talks about 'Second Chances' in life, a delightful watch and it does brings it close to your heart with some quality acting by the lead and supporting actors. Debut director Ashwath Marimuthu, spins a beautiful story on 'second chances' in life, naming the fantasy element as "God's Plan". Ashok Selvan blossoms in to this seasoned actor, after his noteworthy outing in 2014, 'Thegidi'. Good for him he turned out to be the producer of the movie as well. It shows how much he believed the script and may be the producer quotient made him bring out the best in him, by steering the backdrop of the story to work in his favor. There is this subliminal message amidst the story line, accrediting Ashok's acting ability, by today's happening director GVM, which psychologically makes you believe he is good at it. No offense there, as he really is a talented actor, no doubt. His animated expressions on lighter scenes, transports us to this school going kid sans responsibility. On contrast, he nails capturing the emotions beautifully in the second half where he finds his true love. The synchronization between the lead pair, Ashok Selvan and Ritika Singh's characters, and the supporting characters of Vani Bojan and Sha Ra works just right. It stops, where it would become too clumsy, like the regular frowning romcoms. Ritika, shines just like any of her previous outings. She does remind you of her 'Irudhi Suttru' acting, in the first half and the 'Andavan Kattalai' character in the second half. She does complete justice to the 'childhood friend' character. Kudos to the director, for not taking it to the immature boy-girl relationships pattern, which we have watched decades back in the Indian movie history, right from Bollywood's Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, to our recent tamil flick Comali . The friendship of the trio, Ashok, Ritika and Sha ra, seems to be treated with respect. Even though one can see that the movie's inspiration comes from director Jeeva's 'Unnale Unnale' and 'Ullam Ketkumae', it's director Gautham Vasudev Menon who gets a credit role before the start of the movie in relevance to the church wedding, drive to Kerala to impress a girl of his 'Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa' flick. The director is clever enough to have chosen a run of the mill romcom and manipulate it in a style of his own. At some point he does makes you beleive, it's a fresh concoction. His fantasy spin of bringing in Actor Vijay Sethupathi, does work wonders both in cruising through the story as well as surging through box office. Ramesh Thilak bridges the fine line of the dubious 'God' portion, with his distinctive humour sense and makes it blend with the story rather than having a silly note to it. The one thing I truly love and appreciate about the movie is, every single dialogue of all possible characters, (however weird and mundane they sounded in the first half), had this meticulous repercussions in the 'second chance' portion of the movie. On the flip side, the story becomes predictable after a point but that doesn't affect the pace in anyway, as we start rooting for the lead pair to get together. I could hear someone sigh, 'If only there were second chances in real life' and I could relate to that myself. That's the true success of the movie I guess. All I could think of while walking out of the theater was, the dialogue, 'Coincidences in life, may be God's Plan'. A clean subtle entertainer. Good watch.

A revenge saga of a cop, packed with AR.Murugadoss style, intelligent racy anti-social clean up scenarios in the first half and tragic mis-fit of hasty screenplay in the second half, saved by Thalaivar's charm through the length of the movie. Can anyone pinch me to see if I am dreaming, is the man really 70years old? We are fond of many 70 year old league globally, who were admirable. Yes aging did enhance their appeal to the masses.. But, here we have a man playing 15 years less than his real age as a Commisioner in his 50s and he charms you with his 'Childish Innocence', yes, you read it right, his navie innocence for which we fell in love during his prime acting career. His charisma hasn't waned one bit, rather has gone up high. The anger in his voice, the stammering in his love proposal, the Ultimate Trademark Swag, which is the template for our Pan Indian actors, he just engulfs you. All his traits are real treat for thalaivar's ardent fans, its jealousy for the younger actors including their fans, point of mockery for those anti rajini fans. The moral here is- 'Thalaivar involuntarily seeps in to the viewer's subconcious'. AR Murugadoss has a pattern of story telling and when it pairs with a flawless screenplay, it has always worked wonders. But at times when the screenplay is not grippy enough, it only means, lethargy has set in after they accomplish couple of high achieving scenes in the first half. The best example for this would be the difference between Thuppakki and Kathi. In Thuppakki the screenplay was a high achiever where as Kathi had too many loose ends and poor handling. This is exactly that difference between the 1st half and the 2nd half. The first 10 mins of the movie kinda hints you, that this is going to end this way. Nayanthara has very minimal scope, as the director is unsure how to go about with the characters age difference being vast and Nayan or her fans wouldn't buy the concept of she being a step-mom for a woman in her mid twenties. This is again where Petta movie scores as Simran and Rajini were of the similar age. Nivedha Thomas does a neat job but again when she calls thalaivar 'appa', its nothing when compared to Sai dhanshika calling him 'appa'in Kabali.. That was a real goosebumps moment but here the scene lacks depth and seems like a copy paste shot of Sathyaraj and Nayan in Raja Rani. Yogi Babu simply brings the roof down. The teasing and pulling leg scenes, remind you of 'Chandramuki' vadivelu combo. Sunil Shetty is not an ounce of a villan material opposite the lion like ferocious hero on-screen. Even his attempt to stare like a villan, makes it look confusingly romantic, reminding the way he saw jothika in Dum dum dum. The crucial hospital sequence after the RTA, the concussion and brain hemorrhage, were shot unbelively stupid and it's sheer negligence on the part of the directorial team. A complete let down by ARM. The main drawback of the movie is, the villan whom Thalaivar is fighting against, doesn't have enough scope to make us believe that he is 'dark and full of terror' kind. Eventually we end up not rooting for the 'good winning over the evil' as the personal revenge saga of the 90's also kicks in. Thank god there weren't any flash back clips of horrifying killing of the loved ones. Anirudh is not noteworthy. His Petta scored and worked better. It's a Must watch for many and a Good watch for some. Long Live Thalaivar. My mind voice is screaming, cut loose the politics and do more movies till your last breath thalaiva. 'VA Thalaiva'...

All forms of love, narrated so beautifully, paired with some quality performances, flawless screenplay, meticulous direction- making this flick, undoubtedly the best movie of the year 2019, pushing aside all the rock stars. Kudos to Actor Surya's 2D entertainment for producing the movie and help unearth amazing talents. 4 stories, 4 dimensions of love, 4 different age group lead pair's, tied together to form a beautiful anthology that is so unique to our Tamil industry and with the amount of claps from the audience, you know it's been received well with open arms. You have a content feel of reading a good collection of short stories. The stories have no common link other than it signifies that 'love'exists in every other person's life around you, may it be a teen rag picker, a cancer patient, a widower or a middle aged father of 3 children. Each story is a complete movie in itself. The first story resembles the story of Kaka Muttai, but it talks the innocent purest form of love. The second story is an absolute treat where the love is defined from a matured girl's perception, and simply love the chemistry between the two actors. Manikandan does an amazing job and Nivedhitha steals your heart with her cute definitions of what love is. I bet, whenever I see a cornetto ice cream, I am going to think of what love actually is. The third story has this old aged widower falling for an unmarried old woman, over their turtle walk. The 'Inji tea with added Dignity' is sure going to stick to your mind forever. The real life 'Krav Maga' instructor and the most handsome Sree ram and the most dignified Leela Samson were an awesome duo to watch. The best was saved for the last- Samudhrakni and Sunaina, just steal your heart with their 12 years of marriage, 3 children and their ignorance on what real love is. This is the most touchy, hilarious and yet the most fulfilling segment of the short story collection. The new age 'Alexa' sequence has been replaced in the place of the 'Tape recorder' sequence from the legend director Balachander's, inspiring 'Rail sneham' TV series. (Remember the climax scene. How could we even forget that). Alexa had been given the counselor role and I could hear the lady in back seat proclaim or may be she is sadly complaining that, "Alexa doesn't do all this". The total credit goes to the director Halitha Shameem. Her sense of humor and perception on Love reflects through the entire movie. Kudos gal. 'Love and Hope' are the motto of movie, so it is for the rest of the world and the ones watching the movie. This 'Sillu Karupatti' is indeed an organic 'Dessert', that makes the curtain drawing on 2019, a memorable one for every movie goer. MUST watch.

A cop thriller, that opens up with great scope, goes flat with inadequate direction, failing to convey on screen and looses the essence it was intended to, in spite of some great talents. You now know that the story is a cop thriller. It starts off with the hero's self appraisal, where he certifies himself that he is a cop who pays his EMI regularly and there comes a call for a 'fall from height' case. You are happy that you are in a treat for a good investigation thriller. You stay in that hope till the movie travels very far as you tag along the cop and his senior IPS, played by Suresh Menon, who is deputed to intervene as there are frequent insides of the so called 'fall from height' scenarios. Now you even guess what could go wrong with such an awesome storyline and casting. But you are made tired of the investigation leads and the typical day scenario of the cop's life that you eventually loose interest in the progression of the story and solving of the mystery. There are some abrupt leads which are tied up in the end but that becomes ineffective as the leads doesn't coordinate with the revelation in the end. There are major flaws with the trajectory of the story as it doesn't seem to substantiate the core plot. Bharath's chances of scoring was snatched away with Suresh Menon. I would have come up with at least a dozens of different screen plays for the plot myself while walking out of the theater and wonder why the assistant directors didn't come up with any. The female lead played by Ann Sheetal, does a good job but again the revelation in the climax doesn't let you appreciate her role as we are lured the wrong way, a little too much. Felt sorry for bharath. Has he had been given a chance to truly lead the investigation and end up with the gripping revelation, he would have scored better like Vishnu Vishal did in Raatsasan or like Arun Vijay in Thadam and Kutram 23. Kind of miss him for his performance like that of a speech impaired in 'Pattiyal' and a submissive humiliated son in 'Em magan'.. Not a bad watch, but couldn't have been a terrific one if the director had visualised the on-screen portrayal better.

A never heard before, uncanny story-line, backed with foolproof screenplay and adequate thriller elements, making Kaidhi, a complete Diwali Dhamaka for movie lovers, irrespective of the Hero's fan base strength. Kudos to SR Prabhu for producing such an amazing off beat movie, after 'Aruvi', which makes heads turn towards Kollywood talents. Lokesh Kanagaraj is simply brilliant. His measured screenplay and his finesse in movie making are commendable. His story telling is amazingly cohesive and kindles subtle urges throughout, so as to what happens next. Can't say Karthi has struck gold choosing this script but he has succeeded in choosing this script knowing very well that the story is the primary hero. His contribution to the movie has taken the solid script to a level higher than the original plan of casting Manzoor Ali Khan. There is no song sequence or any female lead or any flash back. The story suffices and scores on its own. On the other hand, the movie would have been a different kind of blockbuster, if Manzoor Ali Khan would have performed like that of Muniskanth from the director's debut venture, Managaram. I am cautious of not giving much spoilers here. The story is a compilation of happenings in a single night and Karthi is sucked in to this one night roller coaster stint and the story evolves how he takes the lead role in saving lives of top officials. The opening shot with actor Naren was such a relief. It's always a pleasure to see this actor perform. He merges in to the character and easily fits in to it like a glove. Hoping the actor has some great roles in the years to come. The camera work is phenomenal and the night capture throughout the movie doesn't ache your eye one bit, as you are too much hooked up to the gripping story. Dheena is a great comic relief and he pounced on the meaty role to showcase his scope of performance as well. Wishing him the very best. George Maryan has a phenomenal role of a solo constable who is in charge of the commissioner's office which it's under attack. He just rocks. You are reminded of Nedunchaalai movie for the lorry chasing sequences, Kurudhi Punal and the recent Megaman for the secret vigilance officer amidst the drug trafficking gang. Surprisingly, actor Ramana who was one of the secret officer in Megaman movie, is one of the gang head in this movie. How can I not mention the climax of cracking firework of a different kind. George Maryan steals the show by re-checking the user manual of the machine gun. There are few hiccups like the gang whose 900 odd core worth cocaine is seized all they have is Madurai style sheaths or knives and not a single gun, the hero not bleeding after being punched with knives. But all are microscopic when the big picture soars. Baby Monica of Raatsasan fame, scores very well and is sure an asset. The anxiety she emotes are a true strength in defying Karthi's character. On the whole, the credit is shared between the Director and the Producer SR Prabhu and Karthi to give the launch the movie deserves. Must watch.