Endrendrum Punnagai Movie Review

Staring : Jiiva,Trisha, Andrea, Vinay, Santhanam

Director : Ahmed

Music : Harris Jayaraj

Production : Red Giant Movies

“Endrendrum Punnagai” is not a film about the lives of three friends; it is about one despicable, self-centered and maddeningly unreasonable man who happens to have two friends. Gowtham, Sri and Baby are inseparable chaddi-buddies who run an advertising agency together. Due to his Mommy issues, Gowtham has a strong aversion towards womankind and, for some reason, expects his friends to remain bachelors for their life. Due to his Daddy issues, Gowtham is not on speaking terms anymore with his Father. Time decides to test their friendship.

Gowtham is a self-entitled prick who wouldn’t talk to his Father but continues to live in his bungalow and shamelessly drives around in a BMW which he could not have earned. I have seriously begun to wonder why Jiiva is so open to playing characters with a tendency to often be a complete asshole. I had same issues with how his character treated the girl he fancied in “Siva Manasula Sakthi”. Most people who watched theat film for just its comedy didn’t take offense because, to them, SMS stood for “Siva Manasula Santhanam”. The way his Gowtham casually disposes his lifelong friends for something so petty, “Endrendrum Punnagai” only keeps giving you more and more reasons to hate him. Blaming his Mommy issues for his unreasonable and pathetic attitude is such a convenient excuse. I sort of know what it feels like to lose a close friend, but the film offered me no reason to relate to it.

With Andrea’s Soniya and Trisha’s Priya, “Endrendrum Punnagai” glorifies the preexisting Virgin-Whore dichotomy in female characterizations in our films. While one is an absurdly promiscuous woman who hornily bites the ear of the man she met for the first time a few minutes ago, the other is a pushover in Salwar Kameez who cries for something that’s not her fault. Even within the context of its casual slut-shaming, the character of Soniya, besides being completely irrelevant to the plot, is made out to be a total bitch who halts a shooting of an ad-film in Europe for bafflingly random power trips.

In order to please the lowest common denominator, and because the male point of view is all that matters, the film continues to bash the wives for turning marriages into a living hell. One friend of Gowtham who was very much in love and hopeful before his wedding is now saying, “phone eh vai di, tortue pannatha!” to his wife of few months. Even Gowtham’s Mother is referred to as the Odi Pona Amma by everyone in the film, including his Father. Who even knows what happened there? Sri and Baby reveal to Gowtham that they got married because that was his father’s last wish. Then what about the lives of the women they are married to? They didn’t sign up for a lifetime with sexist alcoholics. Why is Director Ahmed so deeply misogynistic?

At the end, Gowtham doesn’t tell Priya that she makes him want to be a better person. Instead, he thanks her for changing him into a “nalla manushan”. It’s done and dusted, apparently. After all that he has done to the people around him, Gowtham is completely undeserving of happiness- not so soon, anyway. But because he is the “hero”, the film lets him off the hook way too easily. He makes up with his Father and even gets the girl he so doesn’t deserve. Besides awful product placements and useless America mapillais, it is the shoehorned character transformation that’s keeping this love story from rising above clichés.

Verdict – Endrendrum Punnagai is a predictable, under-achieving RomCom with a very unlikable lead character.

All in All Azhaguraja Movie Review

Starring : Karthi, Kajal, Santhanam, Prabhu, Saranya Ponvannan

Direction : Rajesh M

Music : Thaman SS

Production : Studio Green

Well, it was bound to happen someday. After three consecutive hits, Tamil cinema’s luckiest filmmaker has made a film that’s so awful, its success would result in me losing faith in our people. It’s not like M. Rajesh is new to making bad movies. I absolutely loathed “Siva Manasula Shakthi” and “Oru Kal Oru Kannadi”, but enjoyed “Boss (a) Baskaran” quite a bit. It’s just that none of his previous films have been a catastrophe of this magnitude.

Rajesh has made a conscious effort to make his fourth film different from his previous three. The difference is that it showed a hint of having a proper story in its early minutes. But that’s where the deceit lies. It’s still the same old trash – only less funny and more unbearable. There’s Santhanam playing a drag queen for whom an old man develops feelings. Boy, I wonder if this is the first time in our history that a film has tried to milk humor out of a man dressed as a woman. For the sake of tackling a period setting, Rajesh creates a laboriously painful backstory involving Prabhu which does nothing to make the film better.

Raja (Karthi) runs an obscure television channel and tells his parents that he wouldn’t marry until he makes his channel the best in the market. Kalyanam (Santhanam) is a friend/employee/lapdog who continues to stick around and do things for Raja for reasons unknown. Raja is a total loser who does nothing to achieve that goal of his.. a goal which we are made to believe is what driving the film. The moment he meets the girl, he throws everything aside and inadvertently does everything to sabotage her career. The film is over-written with too many subplots, none of which make any sense.

I had a minor panic attack when I noticed on the Censor board certificate that the film’s running time was close to 180 minutes. That’s about as long as Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Godfather”. With only five minutes worth of humor, you have to be on a suicide mission to make such a long film with so little to offer.

“Azhaguraja” is a deeply misogynistic film which treats its lead female character terribly; I felt very sorry for Kajal Aggarwal’s Devi Priya. She is the most adorable Grammar Nazi in the world. She shows her displeasure when Raja sends a note along with a bouquet that reads, “I Love U”, and asks him to spell ‘You’ correctly without exactly being a dick about it. There’s an excess of the typical OTT elements in her character, but there’s some novelty too. She isn’t swept off her feet that easily. She manages her father’s cinema and wedding hall, and wishes to make a mark in the entertainment industry in some way. But then something very awful happens. She meets Raja who irresponsibly kills her self-confidence and turns her into a consolatory “housewife”. He brings her down to his state and eventually makes her say, “I Love U”. He domesticates her, that bastard.

Performance-wise, Santhanam is decent with his peculiar idiosyncrasies. At least he makes an effort. I don’t know if it’s just me but every time I see Prabhu, I immediately think of his Kalyan Jewellers advertisements. MS Bhaskar is worth mentioning, but that’s about it. “Azhaguraja” is punishingly long, achingly unfunny and doesn’t deserve any audience at all.

Verdict : All in All Appalling

Raja Rani Movie Review

Starring : Arya , Jai , Nayanthara , Nazriya Nazim , Santhanam , Sathyaraj

Direction : Atlee Kumar

Music : GV Prakash

Producer : AR Mrugadoss and Fox Studios

Raja Rani is a beautiful romantic love flick. The movie revolves around the love stories of the couples, who decided to marry against their wishes. In Milana, the love between the couple grows with time but in the latest flick, it bursts out all of a sudden as the movie starts nearing its climax.

There are two love tracks in the movie. In fact it is three with John (Arya) and Regina (Nayantara) falling in love by the end of the movie. Raja Rani begins with the marriage of the lead stars. They wed against their will. Their chemistry doesn’t work in the beginning and the couple hate each other.

But the story takes a twist when Regina suffers a stroke and she reveals her past love story. In the second half, we are told about Arya’s love story. However, how the love blossoms between John and Regina? What are their past stories? What impact will Jai and Nazriya Nazim’s roles have on the story? Watch the movie to get answers for all these questions.

Coming to performances, and it is the girls who steal the show. Nayanthara does cast a spell with her emotional acts, while Nazriya is super bubbly and cute. Arya does look a bit statue at places, but he does keep in line with what was expected from him. Jai on the other hand, does shadow off a little bit into the overacting circle. Nevertheless, his performance is one which is most enjoyed by the audience. Santhanam does manage to crack you up from time to time but Sathyaraj is a surprise package. Kudos to Atlee for sketching out some really distinct characters and stitching them in beautifully.

Every shot in Raja Rani is a beauty. George C Williams has done a classy job with the camera, his color tones for the song sequences and the camera angles for the movie overall are a eye-catching spectacle. Editing and other aspects are well done too.

Music is another asset of Raja Rani,GV.Prakash’s songs do fit in well as they are aided by pretty good picturisations. His BGM, especially in the Jai-Nayan episode is a treat to the ears.

On the downside, Raja Rani does drag around a bit here and there. You might feel the inclusion of unwanted scenes from time to time, but that doesn’t bring the movie to a halt.

Atlee Kumar manages to come out with a decent show on his first shot. He succeeds in the emotional scenes more than anything else, while receiving good support from his artists.

Verdict : Raja Rani is a family Entertainer, Raja Rani will leave you with a good feeling, while showcasing the realistic truth about love.

Ya Ya Movie Review

Starring : Shiva, Santhanam, Sandhya and Dhansika

Direction : I. Rajasekaran

Music : Vijay Ebenezer

Production : MS Murugaraj

Actor Shiva can never get tired of doing comedy entertainers. Within two months of his last film’s release, his new film ‘Ya Ya’ has hit the screens today. Santhanam plays the second lead in the film and his name in the title card along with Shiva’s name proves that a lot of filmmakers rely on Santhanam to make their film click with the audience. The movie is directed by newcomer Rajasekaran, who was a former assistant of Director Rajesh. Dhansika and Sandhya play the leading ladies.

Dhoni aka Ramarajan (Shiva) does not have any aim in his life and he is contended with getting money from friends and relatives. Sehwag aka Rajkiran (Santhanam) is introduced to Dhoni under strange circumstances. Although they are at loggerheads with each other initially, they soon turn out to be good friends. Meanwhile, Dhoni falls in love with Seetha (Dhansika), but she does not reciprocate his feelings for her. Kanaka (Sandhya) is a police constable and she plays Dhoni’s cousin. With all these characters in the film, the movie tries to be a clean comedy entertainer.

The role is tailor-made for Shiva, however, you cannot help comparing his role with almost all of his previous films’ roles. It is good to star in comedy films and entertain people, but one has to make sure it does not get too repetitive for the audience. Santhanam sparkles in places and interestingly, he has also got a pair in the film. We do not want to reveal more on that, as it is the only surprise factor in the film.

Dhansika looks pretty, but her role has very limited scope. After doing a film like ‘Paradesi’, Dhansika should have got powerful roles in Kollywood. Sandhya appears in few sequences and she does not make a very powerful impact. Powerstar Srinivasan is back with imitating the Kollywood stars and he has not spared anyone at all this time – Rajini, Kamal, Vijay, Ajith, Suriya… Devadarshini as a councillor and her sidekicks are annoying in their roles.

Among Vijay Ebenezer’s songs, ‘Oru Kannaadiya’ is an interesting number and his background score is passable, considering the nature of the script. Vetri’s camera work is functional and thanks to editor Suresh, the movie’s running length is just 2 hours and 16 minutes.

There is no single scene in the film that stands out and appeals to the audience. The movie takes time to get started, as the first half an hour is lost in introducing the characters. The councillor’s character is very poorly sketched. How many more films will showcase old women falling for young men? The director has made sure there is a punchline from Santhanam every now and then. But, more often than not, the jokes are silly and do not evoke laughter.

It is not sure why makers are behind keeping the names of famous personalities’ for their characters in the film. (Remember, the names ‘Rajini and ‘Kamal’ were used in Saguni?) This film tries to bank on the popularity of Dhoni and Sehwag.

Ainthu Ainthu Ainthu Movie Review

Cast : Bharath , Erica Fernandas , Santhanam

Direction : Sasi

Music : Simon

Producer : Chennai Cinema India Private Ltd

Sasi’s Ainthu Ainthu Ainthu starts off as an awkward psychological thriller before becoming a full-blown balls to the walls action masala with preposterously awesome expositions. It features a protagonist who suffers serious brain damage in a car accident and is no longer able to live normally. A part of him is convinced that he lost the love of his life in the accident — a girl who his own brother swears never even existed. Along with this unreliable hero with questionable memories, we plunge into this seemingly normal world where things are about to real crazy.

The film tries to evoke the same feeling in us that A.R.Murugadoss’ Ghajini so deftly managed to. It slowly and very obviously leads the romance squarely into the unrequited territory before showering a good dose of fatality on the lovers. The love story is very unimaginative and I didn’t root for them the way I did for, say, Manohar and Kalpana in Ghajini. But there’s something earnest about its mediocrity that had me grinning throughout.

Inside Ainthu Ainthu Ainthu is a very good movie just jostling to break free. I know how songs are useless in most of our movies, but they are particularly unnecessary in this film. Except for that one song which looked like a compilation of a handful of Vine videos, the film should have avoided the rest. There are moments where the direction is really bad. Instead of making us understand a character’s thoughts, Sasi simply has them mouth what’s running through their head or makes us listen to their mind-voice. This is the kind of ineptitude which is unacceptable even for those mega-serials on Tamil channels.

A few minutes into the film, I smugly told myself how I expected it to end; my predictions couldn’t have been more wrong. That’s the one thing about Ainthu Ainthu Ainthu that I love: it always kept me puzzled about the happenings and continuously piled mounds of absurd as it moved forward. The kind of epic backstory and sentimentality it lends its antagonist is sheer rip-roaring awesomeness. The non-linear screenplay is a huge plus in making the film interesting. Also, the hero doesn’t simply sport a tiny band-aid to show for his major accident.. he has deep scars running the lengths of his face. How often do we see that?

After misguidedly wasting a good many years trying to score big by playing aruva-wielding characters in films like Pazhani, Seval and Thiruthani, Bharath appears to have finally reassessed his priorities as an actor. In Ainthu Ainthu Ainthu, he has evidently worked very hard and for the first time he looks convincing enough to beat dozens of people. Heck, he looks like a mountain of raw meat. Sure, he is lacking in scenes which could use more subtlety but he carries the movie on his dangerously broad, ripped shoulders.

One of the film’s strikingly prominent elements is how utterly naive the character of Liyana can be. She is stoopid (with the double o’s, yes) enough to believe Aravinth possesses some special power that lets him learn very personal things about her life. In reality, he is, of course, stalking her like a creep. I think we all agree that no other film industry writes ingenue female characters like Kollywood. On a scale of toddler to a fully formed intelligent adult, our women often unfortunately fall within the range of Anjali papa and Genelia D’Souza in Santosh Subramaniam. But with a mental age dwindling between 6 and 12, Liyana threatens to change these parameters forever. The director himself acknowledges this ridiculous characterization and has Santhanam make a quip about it — who says exactly what everyone in the auditorium was thinking. My question is.. why is it always the female character who gets portrayed as a complete idiot?

As the end credits started rolling, a sympathy-porn montage was shown featuring all the strenuous activities the film’s crew performed. For the last time, you just don’t do that. It is like performing a magic show and then revealing all the tricks at the end of the show. Also, it is plain pathetic.

Ainthu Ainthu Ainthu is a desi-version of Shutter Island dunked in judicious amount of garam masala. It is logically stunted and I cannot promise you a good time, but I sure did have a lot of fun.

Verdict : A Romantic Thriller Ride

Thalaivaa Movie Review

Cast : Vijay , Amalapaul , Sathyaraj , Santhanam

Direction : AL Vijay

Music : GV Prakash

Producer : Chandra Prakash Jain

Release by : Vendhar Movies

Vijay and Amala Paul starred Thalaivaa directed by AL Vijay released today.

GV Prakash Kumar has given fresh set of tunes for the film and the Thalaivaa music album has acquired rave Thalaivaa music review with positive word of mouth. Vijay fans are gazing up to the screens of Thalaivaa with high energies to watch their Ilayathalapathy on screens as a dancing doll and especially for the song sung by none other than Vijay himself.

Story:

The movie begins with 1988 background, where a south Indian community is attacked by Marathi community at Bandra/Darawi to quit Bombay/Mumbai. Sathyaraj turns ‘Thalaiva’ (savior) to save people and handovers his son to Nasser who moves to Australia

Vijay is a professional dancer in Australia, His entry as dance competitor under a dance group, Accidentally Amala Paul meets Vijay and joins his dance group and stages the competition to win the show, which leads to their love. He travels to Mumbai to meet his father (Sathyaraj) along with Amala Paul and his Father in law (Suresh) to fix his marriage.

Vijay understands that his father is in trouble and leaves a shock message to Suresh and Amala Paul. Sathyaraj tries to meet Suresh &Amala Paul to lighten his son’s love interest, which makes a twist to interval. The Twist is Suresh and Amala Paul are Crime branch Police officers who map Sathyaraj through Vijay in the name of love and marriage.

Sathyaraj gets arrested and on his way back to Police station, he is torched inside the Vehicle, which leads Vijay to take his father position in course of time. He finally ends the Villain with a Twist.

Performance:

Vijay’s character in the film goes through two phases, one as typical lover; other as leader. He is good as lover with his usual charm, dance & romance. But he is brilliant as leader. Unlike his previous films Thalaiva don’t have much action scenes. Less action and more acting. Amala Paul gives extra sheen. She gets a role to prove her talent and her more than lives up to the expectations. She is super confident and registered a strong impact. Her dancing skills and expressions are her added benefits. However her role is limited in the second half. Santhanam has once again proved that he is unbeatable in comedy zone. Satyaraj is truly outstanding in Thalaivaa character. RaginiNandwani is gorgeous in small role. Abhimanyu Singh is ok. Naasar is wasted.

Technical:

Music by GV Prakash in the film is a letdown and the placement of songs are wrong, Action part is also not impressive, Cinematography is average,Nirav Shah’s camera failed to capture the content. Screenplay is good,editing is good.

Analysis:

Thalaiva’s story may sound predictable resembles Kamal Hassan’s Nayagan, Most of the scenes are copied from Nayagan and Vijay tried to enact as Rajini in Baasha. But film is filled with many twists and turns, two great suspense, one just before the interval and one just at the right time, climax The run time of the film is almost 3 hours. First half is fast paced with romance, dance, funny scenes like Chemistry between Santhanam- Amalapaul is glorified better than Vijay-Amalapaul in the movie and second half is good with twits and revenge drama. Overall, Thalaiva can be watched one time.

Verdict : Thalaiva can be watched one time

Pattathu Yaanai Movie Review

Cast: Vishal, Aishwarya Arjun, Santhanam
Movie: Pattathu Yaanai
Direction: Boopathy Pandian
Producer: S. Michael Rayappan
Banner: Global Infotainment Pvt Ltd
Music: Thaman

After kicking off the year with Samar, Vishal is here for the second time in 2013 with Pattathu Yaanai. After the success of Malaikottai, director Boopathy Pandian and action star Vishal are joining hands on a “fun, action, romantic” movie, Pattathu Yaanai. Produced by Michael Rayyapan and directed by G.BoopathyPandian, Pattathu Yaanai has Aishwariya Arjun, Santhanam, Jegan, John Vijay etc alongside Vishal. Music is by Thaman Sai while the camera is handled by S.Vaithy.

There are two other box office drivers for the movie: Santhanam and Santhanam. Yes, for those who haven’t had enough of the comic takes of the most happening star in Tamil cinema now, Pattathu Yaanai has the actor playing a double role.

Also adding novelty value to the movie is the launch of Aishwarya, the daughter of ‘action king’ Arjun. Incidentally, Vishal had started his film career assisting Arjun in his heydays on his directorial ventures Vedham and Ezhumalai.

Story:

Pattathu Yaanai is the story of a common man who rises up to the challenge thrown against him.

The movie starts off with Santhanam being introduced as Gouravam, a caterer. Vishal and his friends arrive at the scene to aid Santhanam in his cookery chores. The premise moves to Trichy, where Vishal, Santhanam and his group plan to set up a hotel. Comic scenes entangled, we have the incidents with Aishwariya Arjun too stitched in. A series of events leads to Vishal locking horns with one of the dons in the city. A story is revealed at the interval block, from where the movie progresses on.

Into the second half, and we have more of the so-called story and less of comedy. Lots of new characters are introduced with John Vijay propelling himself as the comic villain. A cat and mouse game follows, and how Vishal pulls himself out of these troubles is what Pattathu Yaanai is all about.

Performance:

Vishal is fine in his acts, but one puts up the question as to when he will come back with a thumping film, just like his Thimiru. The lead actress Aishwariya Arjun is bland, just a walking doll. She needs to learn a lot, especially to dance and a ‘debut’ is all that can be said about her. The supporting artists are okay, but the villains are damp squibs, especially the guy who flexes his abs at the end.

If there is one man who might save this movie from a dump, it is Santhanam. Even though the much talked about dual role is nowhere to be seen, Santhanam keeps us smiling whenever he appears onscreen. Some of his jokes in the first half do crack pick you up.

Technical Analysis:

Nothing new in the musical department from Thaman, and the BGM which is done by Sabesh Murali is mediocre too. There are just three fight scenes in the movie, but they are well choreographed by Anal Arasu. Technically, Pattathu Yaanai is satisfying, but I would have loved to say something nice here.

We have seen tons of commercial entertainers in the past, and Pattathu Yaanai is yet another one in the list. Boopathy Pandian has a fine outing here, but it just isn’t enough with the current trend of movies passing on. Pattathu Yaanai fails to deliver something out of the bag, so watch it if you have nothing else to do over the weekend. An average film in all aspects.

Verdict : Average Flick in All Aspects

Anirudh doing music for Santhanam Next Flick

As we have been reporting for a quite a while, Santhanam is currently gearing up for the Maryada Ramanna remake which has been titled as Vallavannaukku Pullum Aayudham where he’ll playing the lead role. Now the latest addition to the project is the current musical sensation Anirudh Ravichandar.
This remake will be directed by Srinath and be produced by PVP Cinemas, However the lead lady of the movie is yet to finalized, reports suggest Bolllywood actress Geeta Basra might be the front-runner for the role.
Watch this space for more updates.

Singam2 Movie Review

Cast : Suriya, Anushka, Hansika, Vivek, Santhanam, Rahman and Hollywood star Danny Sapani
Music : Devi Sri Prasad
Cinematography : Priyan
Direction : Hari
Producer : Prince Pictures
Story
Singam 2 kicks off right from where Singam ended. After resigned from Police force Suriya is now in Tuticorin, an NCC coach in a school where Hansika studies. A series of events leads Suriya gathering info about a drug deal taking place in the area. Towards the interval, Hari keeps us pinned with his crisp narration, well thought dialogues coupled with witty one liner comedy from Santhanam and Vivek. The interval bang is spot on, that is one superb scene.
Into the second half, and the movie traverses on jet speed. Hari’s thinking works here, as he overlaps the main story with the comic and dramatic scenes. The movie, even though put down by a few speedbreakers (songs) and a not-so-great climax, moves on at a good pace and ends convincingly.
Performance wise, Suriya is at full swing, He looks ravishing with his new mustache perfect when it comes to dialogue delivery, facial expressions. Stunts have been well executed, and he has pulled off some cheeky movements in Singam Dance. This guy has lived the role.
Hansika has a fairly mightier role to play than the main heroine.
Anushka who has been carved as a glam doll just for the sake of the songs. I feel she lost in this movie.
Vivek is hilarious, while Santhanam does bore you down a bit at times. Scenes between santanam and Anushka are OK and Santanam imitating Kamal is hilarious.
Villain’s What Singam 2 lacks is a powerful villain. Danny and Rahman had justice to their roles but not strong as Prakash raj in Singam.
Plus Points
Suriya
Cinematography
Racy Direction
Negatives
Music
Many Illogical scenes
old comedy
lengthy first half
Analysis
If a movie runs for 3 hours, and can manage to keep you entertained, you got to give credit to the director. Even though a little more care could have been taken, Hari must be lauded for his work. Dialogue writing is his strength and he has lived up to it, few lines do prick you up.
Cinematography by Priyan is commendable. One must appreciate the use of chopper cameras at various instances to provide a different angle. Editing is slick barring the long runtime. Stunts deserve a special mention.
Music by DSP is horrible none of the songs entertain you and slow down the pace of the movie and BGM is not that great

Overall Singam2 is one time watch for strictly Suriya fans and it will bring mass audience to the theaters in B and C Centers for sure.. movie fate is depend on how well the audience receives

Verdict : Strictly for Surya Fans

Theeya Velai Seyyanum Kumaru Movie Review

Cast : Siddarth , Hansika , Santhanam

Direction : Sundar C

Music : Satya

TVSK – It is Sundar.C’s movie after his successful Kalakalappu last year. He completed Vishal’s MGR movie which was postponed from Pongal release due to Samar’s release. But, after that there are no talks about the movie and it remains as a secret. UTV had given three very average movies – Mugamoodi, Thandavam & Settai before this one. Their last successful movie was Kalakalappu, directed by Sundar.C. Siddharth is a Talented Actor who is struggling to give a block buster in his mother tongue (Tamil). Let us see whether Sundar C manages to give a HIT for UTV & Siddharth along with the help of COMEDY SUPERSTAR – Santhanam in this review.

Story: Santhanam, Love Guru / Consultant help Siddharth to succeed in his love by giving him ideas. Sundar C had tried to give a Feel Good Romantic Comedy movie for the first time in his career.

Santhanam – He is the real hero of the movie. His introduction scene comes only after 30 minutes in a stylish way. His costumes in the movie were even better than Siddharth and he looks handsome in the movie. He proves yet again that he deserves “COMEDY SUPER STAR” tag with his wonderful performance. His Punch Dialogues in the movie will be uttered by Youngsters in future. FB Page Admins will be able to create atleast 10 new FB Pages with Santhanam’s dialogues.

Siddharth – He had to be appreciated for choosing this role as Santhanam has more importance and opportunity to perform in this movie. Role of an innocent guy in the first 30 minutes of the movie doesn’t fit him much, but he has managed to do it well

Hansika Motwani – It is yet another movie for her in which she had been used as Glamorous Doll. Voice Synch was an issue in a scene or two. She looks cute and has tried to act in this movie too.

Ganesh Venkataraman (Trisha’s boy friend in Abhiyum Naanum) had played the role of a Smart Handsome gu,y who is liked by almost all the girls in the office. He looks smart and fits the role.

RJ Balaji – Movie begins with his narration and he has done it in his style.”Yaaruda Mahesh” trailer reached 3 Lakhs views within 3 days was due to his narration style. He takes care of the movie for the first 30 minutes (before Santhanam’s Intro) with his one – liners.

Samantha, Vishal & Khushboo makes special appearance in the movie.

Music Director Sathya had given wonderful songs in his previous movie “Engeyum Eppothum”. He also has given wonderful melody songs in the movie “Ponmaalai Pozhudhu” (yet to be released). But, in TVSK, except “Azhagendral” song, other songs sound very average. Even, BGM in the movie was not upto the mark.

Cinematographer Gopi Amarnath had captured wonderful foreign locations in duet songs. Editor Praveen & Srikanth have made sure that movie looks stylish and compact

Sundar C is a Minimum Guarantee Director as he completes and releases the movie within 6 months at a decent budget with good comedy. Though he is used to give Comedy movies, his direction style is quite different from his earlier movies. People may even think it as Director Rajesh’s movie (OKOK, SMS). Till date, only Rajesh had used the full potential of Santhanam. Now, Sundar C too joins the list. Story happens in IT Company backdrop and it was quite urban-centric in the first half. But, he had managed to include some commercial ingredients in the second half to engage all kind of audience. Hence, movie may look little dragging, especially towards the climax. Songs in the movie acts as SPEEDBREAKERS and gives 4 Intervals for the Guys to smoke.

Verdict : Overall, TVSK is ONE MAN SHOW by Santhanam yet again.. It is Sundar C’s OKOK

Settai Movie Review

Cast : Arya , Hansika , Anjali , Santhanam

Director : Kannan

Music : SS Thaman

Producer : U TV Motion Pictures

From the little I have seen and heard about Delhi Belly, I understand that the general reception had been divisive. Remaking such a film may not have been the brightest of idea, especially when you planning to omit the part that actually made it good in the first place. R. Kannan’s previous attempt at remaking a popular Hindi film hardly went well. Say what you will about Jab We Met, but you cannot deny the fact that Kanden Kadhalai was devoid of any charm the former film had. When you remake a film and don’t create a better product, you have failed as a director. But ending up with something that is, inarguably, very inferior to the original, you have failed miserably. So, yes. Settai is a very mediocre outcome from a clearly promising material. Am I surprised? No.

Excuse the pun, but Settai is not just a watered-down version of Delhi Belly, it is a version that never really understood why the original film worked. Besides the effortless and judicious use of cuss words, the original was very open when it came to discussing sex. Settai only offers us a few lazy winks and witless double entendres, coming across as cheap and gutless. If you want to make an adult joke, for chrissake, go ahead and do it. Cut the conservative crap; Tamil audience has had enough of all this babying nonsense. Are you really expecting us to laugh at words rhyming with Sottai, Maadu and Thanni while leaving the rest to our imagination? I mean, come on! We’re in 2013.

Under the pretext of “making it suitable for Tamil audience”, Settai lost all of Delhi Belly’s crackling humor and gained a whole lot of needless songs, which pop up at the wrongest of places. Settai lacks the thrill that makes Crime Caper films work. Thanks to the bevy of duets, the pace is badly hit. The central story keeps you mildly invested, as you sit there waiting, hoping the at least next one-liner from Santhanam would be funny. Excuse me for my poor choice of words, but when done tastefully, toilet humor can be very amusing. Here, after a point, the entire “upset stomach” subplot becomes repetitive. It does nothing to change or even tangentially affect the course of the actual story.

Firstly, setting the film in Mumbai makes not a speck of sense. There could be many reasons for making such a big creative decision; the main reason being the story appearing too alien for the milieu. A film like Thuppaki wouldn’t have worked had it been set in Chennai because of the scale it demanded. But in a pair of capable hands, Settai could have been wonderfully adapted to Tamil. The real reason why Settai takes place in Mumbai is because the a section of the creative team behind this film is so inept that they couldn’t even be bothered to re-imagine the film. Almost all the locations are exactly the same. The film certainly looks visually appealing but anyone could have directed it.

The narrative sequence towards the end is a total mess and the film comes to a jarring halt. It is clear to me that a good story is hidden inside Settai; it’s just that the treatment does no justice to it. The actors don’t do much to elevate the film. Santhanam’s performance is indifferentiable from his previous works. Premji was surprisingly restrained- thank God for that. The others look just pretty as required. Anjali was really convincing though. She’s the only person who looks and acts according to the demands of her roles.

Verdict – A very unimaginative remake which is passably funny

Geeta Basra to opposite Santhanam

After opting for a north Indian actress, Vishakha Singh, in his Kanna Laddu Thinna Aasaiya, Santhanam is likely to rope in a Bollywood actress again for his Maryada Ramanna remake. We hear that talks are on with UKborn actress Geeta Basra, who is said to be currently dating cricketer Harbhajan Singh, for the lead role.

“Yes, I have been offered the Son Of Sardaar (the Hindi version of Maryada Ramanna) remake. Talks are in the final stages but I’m most likely to do it,” says Geeta to us. This will be the first time the actress will be working in the south. “I have worked with Rajiv Menon for a jewellery ad but I haven’t done much in the south so far,” she says and adds that she has been getting some offers to do Telugu films as well. Though she isn’t familiar with Santhanam’s work, she says she has heard about him. “I have been told that he is a top star here and has a great sense of humour,” she says. While the film’s director, Srinath, informed us that he was not aware of the development, an industry insider revealed that Geeta’s casting will be finalized only after the comedian meets her. “Santhanam was supposed to meet Geeta when she was recently in Chennai but couldn’t meet her. Now, she has gone to London. So, everything will be decided once Santhanam meets her,” the source reveals.