Yesterday, I saw the FDFS of the Movie Vaaranam Aayiram, with my college buddies at Kamala Theatre. Its all about the journey of life and learning of one man. I had expected the story to be something like this even before watching the movie, so i cant say the Movie was not upto my expectations unlike many others who watched the Movie. Infatc, I liked the Movie.

The Trailer was very cool.
This is Not an Action Film…
It’s a Celebration of Life…
It’s Emotional…
It’s about a youngster..
…and the Moments in his Life…
…his Love…
…his Passion…!

The movie opens with an older version of Surya, suffering from throat cancer, succumbing to his disease. With the bare minimum background score and subdued acting, the scene helps to mound the expectations for a few minutes. The news then is conveyed to the son, played by Surya again, who is on a defense operation somewhere in Kashmir. The rest of the movie is the son’s reminiscences of his father – the son’s role overriding the father’s in the process, however. I feel that, ‘Varanam Aayiram’ giving more emphasis to incidents rather than connecting them well.

But, the Movie was, at least in bits and pieces, the stories of our lives, with characters all of us have met or lived with at some point in our lives.

Life’s tragedies that can wreak havoc as suddenly as a crack of lightning.
Immense pain that is a human being’s true test of strength – give in to the pain and perish or beget even more pain, only to emerge from it stronger?

Cycle of life that calls for the loss of the physical self but shows one how immortal the self, thoughts and memories are.

Gautam has derived inspiration for Vaaranam Ayiram from his own life and hence the movie is by and large close to real life with only very few scenes seeming out of place. Like the middle-class Surya, whose dad struggles to keep up with his family’s expenses, flies down to the USA in search of his love-at-first-sight Sameera - now that is far fetched. However, as clichéd as his love might seem, his sufferings sound more genuine – a feeling that the ‘Anjale’ song only upsurges.

The Movie is intended to be a biography of an ordinary man. I think there was too much of daddy-glorification, Daddy you are my Hero and emotional I-love-you-and-I-see-you-in-everything-dialogues. However, this memoirs-of-my-dad would have been a wonderful watch if it did not adopt a schmaltzy narrative.

I liked the Music and Songs very much. From the background score to the situational numbers and of course, golden oldies sung in Gautham and Suriya’s own voices, this music forms the structure of the entire movie and the attention to detail even while painting blending melodies is superb. The Songs are wonderful not only for the Harris Jeyraj music but also excellent Lyrics!

Surya – Sameera’s first meet in the train is well conceived and executed. The lip sync has been quite good for sameera reddy considering this is her first movie in Tamil.
When Sameera Reddy tells Surya she’s in love with him, the dialog and scene had as much emotional intensity and feeling as a routine pass the ketchup request at the dinner table. I’m in love, its a beautiful feeling. Blah Blah. lol. Also, the younger Surya’s descent into alcohol and drugs were crudely handled by Menon. And that the loving daddy is concerned only when the son is at a point of no return from drugs, is a bit too much and unnecessary!

The Dialogs were Nice in  most of the scenes…
Hey avan nenjula kaiya vechutaan avana thadukatha…

I’ll Come into your life Meghna and Sweep You Off your feet…!

Machan, avana oru adiyavathu adikanum da…

Gumthalakkadi Gumma va Mechanical na Summa va…

Heat and Mass Transfer innum iruku, adutha september thaan paarkanum… I barely passed that Subject!

Whatever happens, Life has to go on…

I need some… OXYGEN!

There are touching and heart-warming moments in the movie; however, they are few and far between. Like the scene in which the cancer patient dad expresses his helplessness in telling stories to his grandson since his vocal chords no longer support him…

Though the Movie is not as good as a classic… It is Nice… Has many wonderful scenes and Dialogs!

Life is a circle. You are what you make of yourself. Thus is the story of Surya, son of Krishnan, who grows up surrounded by the one emotion and bond that is – love. His father Krishnan is his hero, his icon, the example he has to live up to. His mother Malini is calm, grounded, strong; a pillar of all that a woman and mother should be. And Surya’s inspiration for everything starts with their absolute love for each other.

It’s a normal, happy family and the strength of the children comes from the inner strength of their parents. Surya and his sister enjoy growing up with parents whose only advice to them is: nothing is impossible, not if your heart is pure and your dedication complete. This advice goes beyond the usual schoolchild and teenager’s academic stress, beyond peer pressure and beyond the emotional confusion only growing up can bring. The movie carries you on the strength of its narration and Surya is a child, becomes a teenager, then a young man on the verge of all the wonderful things life can give him, then a tortured lover, then a man emerging strong and at peace with himself, then a partner for life, then a true patriot and through all of this, a good son to good parents. In this journey, he encounters many things, many people; good and bad.

Life’s tragedies that can wreak havoc as suddenly as a crack of lightning.
Immense pain that is a human being’s true test of strength – give in to the pain and perish or beget even more pain, only to emerge from it stronger!

New beginnings that are like warm sunrises after torrential rains.
Purpose and drive that keeps that spark in the soul alive and burning.

Cycle of life that calls for the loss of the physical self but shows one how immortal the self, thoughts and memories are. Beautifully told and intricately woven, Vaaranam Aayiram is a tale on the backbone of realism and beautiful music.

Speaking of music, here is an orchestra of melodies that will at once make you laugh, become wistful of those oh-so-beautiful years and get into the verve and mood of the moment. From the background score to the situational numbers and of course, golden oldies sung in Gautham and Suriya’s own voices, this music forms the structure of the entire movie and the attention to detail even while painting blending melodies is superb.

The actors are simply superb, in the sheer simplicity of their roles and thus, maximum impact. One just cannot pick a better actor than another because they are in their element in this movie.

Except Suriya, of course. He is nothing short of brilliant and it is no mere flattery to say that he has (while doing this most difficult job of being a father, teenager, young lover, deranged addict and a man with a purpose), simply risen to standards of histrionics far above the rest of the industry. The hurt rage in the underdog schoolboy’s eyes; the gleam of love and enthusiasm in the young lover’s gaze; the intolerable pain of separation and solace found in hallucinogens; the torturous path back to normalcy; the newfound sense of purpose and meaning; the rekindling of love and passions – this time, mature and lifelong; the closure of life’s cycle (which is also the beginning of the same cycle for another)… all these emotions and nuances have been brilliant portrayed with his eyes and body language; so much so that even if this movie doesn’t go on to become a box-office success, his work will be critically acclaimed for a long time to come.

Meghna, the love of his life, the woman who made things bigger, brighter and more beautiful, even as she left him for a career and a future for herself.

Simran is Malini is, simply, Simran. Fabulous with her iconic representation of a strong, silent and calm mother.

Divya Spandana is Priya, who is the fragrant, yet tough flower that has always bloomed around Surya, but went unnoticed until he went through his own heaven and hell and came out stronger, more mature.

Perhaps the only drawback of the movie is its length. At 3 hours, it’s a daunting task to think about watching a movie as deeply introverted as this. But once the tale begins, there is no putting down this story.

Yesterday, I saw the Movie ‘Poi Solla Porom’ with my Family. Thankfully all the Movies that I watched this week were Good! Poi Solla Porom has an unique theme and is pleasantly delivered. Here’s a Review of the Movie.

The film opens with Sathyanathan (Nedumudi Venu) dreaming about his irony death and his family members are not paying any attention to the situations. The irony is that nobody cares about his death; instead his children & neighbors are more interested in their materialistic needs. His elder son Uppilinathan aka Uppi/Uccha (Karthik) is a Software Engineer, who plans to go abroad for work. His younger son Viswanathan aka Viccha (Om) is a carefree youth, leading a happy life.

Sathyanathan invests all his earnings in a plot of land near Velachery. A real estate dealer (Haneefa) cons them with the backing of the land shark Baby (Nassar), who grabs the plot and claims that he has documents to prove it as his own.

All attempts by Sathyanathan to get back the land end in vain. The Police, Lawyers, Ministers and even the NGOs demand money to help them. And thats the Truth these Days. The younger son brings in Rowdies headed by Royapuram Terror to get back the land. As soon as i heard the name Royapuram Terror, i could not control my laughter. My Sutherland Friends who are reading this blog will understand! A Friend of Mine in Sutherland is a real Royapuram Terror and as soon as i heard that Rowdy telling the name Royapuram Terror only his face came in front of me! And that’s Karthigaram from Pachaiyapas! Well back to the story… All Attempts fail and then Uppilinathan steps in to get back the land.

With the help of his friend Amritha (Piya/Suchitra’s Voice) he enacts a drama featuring Mouli whom everyone calls Daddy. Uppili is aided by his visa agent Asif (Bosskey) - a former accomplice of Baby. And thereby they win back their lost properties, which forms the rest of the story.

It’s great fun fare, but the film moves slowly in the first half and warms up only towards the rip-roaring climax. The realism in the situation and humor of PSP easily strikes a chord.. Though the tit-for-tat solution is not realistic enough, you cant grudge it simply because you can’t get hardcore realistic in the cinematic format while trying to find a solution for land usurping cases.

Karthik, Om and also RJ Balaji score with their natural performances. The Scenes where RJ Balaji chases off the Guys from the Fisheries Department, was really very funny! Piya hasn’t got much to perform, but with her cute looks, she is sure to attract everyone. And I think i have seen her in some ads before. Was that a Mysore Sandal Soap Ad?! Mouli, Nasser and Nedumudi Venu - these versatile actors bring the entire spotlights under them. Songs aren’t so appealing for they go along with the story.

On the whole, Poi Solla Porom is a great and clean entertainer. Watch it without expectations and you will like it for sure.

The guys are enjoying the road trip but fate plays spoilsport; midway to Hyderabad, they are caught in a traffic hold up. It will be hours before the traffic will clear, and the boys decide they may as well get back to Chennai, so they’ll at least have a chance to catch the match on TV. But Ajay has a brilliant idea. He takes a detour – a small, rugged path that barely qualifies as a road, calling it a ‘shortcut to Hyderabad’. By nightfall, the guys are lost and find themselves in the midst of an abandoned industrial estate. Over there, they find something mysterious happening there and it more horrific for them when a police officer is murdered by group of unknown people murdered. However, they escape from the place without any troubles and while they are yet to catch a goods train that is running by the place, Jagathpathy Babu realizes that he has dropped his purse over there that carries his identity card and all his details. With no option left, all of them return to the same place and find that a girl has been tied there and it is none other than Saroja. Well, they get her freed and run together outside fighting against the baddies. But things aren’t so simple as they expected. Again starts a roller coaster ride of thriller with unexpected twists and turns.

The Movie was completely enjoyable with lots of funny scenes. I wonder why in Tamil Cinema, even actors who are a few films old, do not want to act in a multi-starrer film. Its so fun watching a bunch of guys, instead of one single ilayathalapathi or ultimate star. I was kinda bored watching these stars repeating their commercial formula. And after Chennai 600028 and SAROJA am expecting a string of Multi-Starrers in Kollywood!

The Song at RJ Shiva’s engagement Party reminded us of Om Shanti Om, but it would have been great if it were popular Kollywood Actors instead of the TV Serial Actors. And almost all the actors in Chennai 600028 appeared in guest roles. The Actor Jai who appeared in the Traffic hold up, speaking in English and then Local Tamil was very funny and best among the guest roles. The Fight scenes were realistic and believable. The TV Serial mockery in which RJ Shiva gets introduced was funny. Premji’s amusing face, the foolish air he sports and the timing and chicness of his dialogues made all the scenes in which he appears, funny and entertaining. I almost fell off my seat when he said I was cornered, I was helpless!

Certainly there were pace dropping moments, shots that lacked editing slickness. And i couldnt understand why the friends called each other sir/saar! That was Odd! But I guess I can’t complain after having sat on the edge of my seat and having fallen off (almost literally) every time these men next door delivered punch dialogues!!!

Yuvan Shankar Raja’s Music Score was Cool. Though the songs were unnecessary, they were good. The Lyrics of the song ‘Nimirnthu Nil’ was rejuvenating. ‘Cheeky Cheeky’ and ‘Dosth Bada Dosth’The Background Score was superb i would say. I loved the BGM when the baddies drive in with the black jeep.

SAROJA was like watching a Hollywood Movie with local Flavor. You would surely Enjoy the Movie! Especially, with all the laughs and thrills and the Timing Comedy! A thumbs Up for the Movie SAROJA… And Venkat Prabhu, am expecting ur next Movie!

Pixar is one of the best animation film studio in the business. This company simply doesn’t know how to make anything less than excellence. Toy Story, Toy Story 2, Bug’s Life, Monsters Inc, Ratatouille, The Incredibles, Finding Nemo, Cars… Man, all brilliant movies… So whenever a new Pixar film is in development, it instantly gets my attention, and Wall-E was no exception to that rule.

When i stepped into the cinema hall, my expectations were skyhigh and i’m happy to say that this movie lived up to its hype and my expectations.

The new short “Presto” that precedes the movie is fantastic. I about an arrogant magician and his hungry rabbit. The entire audience was roaring with laughter by the end.

Wall-E opens with a what seems like Earth as it is now, only with lots of trash floating around the stratosphere. The year is 2700, and planet Earth has long been uninhabitable. On closer observation, the skyscrapers that we see, are actually towers of compact trash cubes stacked together by WALL-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-class). This little robot was left behind along with plenty others of his kind but he seems to be the only one “alive” (along with his pet cockroach). All the people in the world (assuming) are up in a Noah’s Ark of sort, called the Axiom, roaming up in outer space awaiting the day that Earth is cleared of rubbish by WALL-Es.

The Hero of our Movie, the last Wall-E spends his lonely hours sifting through garbage to collect items of interest, compacting garbage, and storing it in cubes. He collects remnants of humanity to keep for his own amusement. Zippo lighters, Bubble Sheets, Rubik’s Cubes, Christmas lights: these are what Wall-E surrounds himself with. He watches Hello, Dolly! on an iPod that he somehow hooked up to a VCR, emulating the dancing and learning about love.  When you see Wall-E try to imitate the dancing using a hub cap he collected just for that purpose, you know that this is more than a piece of machinery. Proving Pixar’s raison d’etre, this little silent robot has more humanity in him than most movie characters played by actual humans. WALL-E is one of the cutest Pixar hero ever, despite the fact that he’s a trash compactor with eyes. A story centering on a wordless robot could be cold and uninviting, but not in Pixar’s capable hands. Never has a robot been this compassionate: WALL-E’s got heart. And that makes his so lovable!

Things change drastically for WALL-E the day EVE shows up. She is slick and futuristic and quite obviously a girl; WALL-E falls in love almost immediately. It turns out EVE has been sent from the Axiom to scan the earth for signs of habitable life. Their convincing courtship is done completely without dialogue, quite a feat for sound designer Ben Burtt who found a way to make ambient noise into recognizable words for WALL-E. Trying to impress the cooly modern EVE, WALL-E shows her the seedling he found, at which point EVE goes into a hibernation state and awaits the return of her spaceship. WALL-E, of course, cannot abide by his beloved EVE’s status and hitches a ride into space to save her. And, thus begins the story. At the end of which Wall-E saves the Earth and Humans!

A bit disturbingly, all the humans on the Axiom have regressed to babyhood (enormously fat, with little bone density) after 700 years of living up in space and drinking their meals through a straw. Though WALL-E’s only aim on the Axiom is to find his beloved EVE, he finds himself wrapped up in a race to save the seedling he collected on earth from the treacherous tentacles of Auto.

When your two main characters (Wall-E and EVE) have about 90% of the screen time, and each basically only ever say “Wall-E” or “Eva”, the burden for storytelling falls onto the shoulders of the character performances (animation) and the art of visual storytelling. Wall-E communicates worlds of information to the audience without ever saying a word just by how perfectly and beautifully he’s animated. His movements, his expression and his very nature are the tools by which this story is told without the use of words (there is dialog in the film from some other characters… but the majority of the movie is told by just watching and experiencing Wall-E himself).

While on the surface it’s a movie about robots and spaceships set centuries in the future, deep down it’s about humanity and its place on Earth and in the universe. It uses its out-of-this-world settings and characters as a lens to reflect our own world back at us, showing us both the beauty and the ugliness of our existence through the eyes of a guileless, trash-compacting robot. Wall-E is worth your every rupee. It is funny in ways that are actually bittersweet, reminding us of our sad fate in time to come if we stop doing anything about pollution, global warming and all that nonsense that will eventually turn Earth into an uninhabitable sphere of trash.

Andrew Stanton, who won an Oscar in 2004 for Finding Nemo, with WALL-E, he has taken not only the art of animation, but the art of storytelling to new, unimaginable heights.

In a movie season that’s overpopulated with superhero movies, remakes and sequels, it’s incredibly refreshing to see a movie that stands on its own as a completely new and unique creation. You wud’ve never seen anything like Wall-E, and you might not see anything like it again. Go. Go see it as soon as you can.