Irandam Ulagam Movie Review

Starring : Arya, Anushka

Direction : Selvaraghavan

Music : Harris Jayaraj

BGM Score : Anirudh

Production : PVP
Irandam Ulagam (Tamil) / Varna (Telugu) is all about how the past can subsume the present, how weakness can coexist with resilience, how lyrical can run alongside the sinister, and how far can you travel to find your love. But what could have been a rare equilibrium in a mystical land ends up in rigmarole of ‘spot the difference’ or ‘understand the plot’ kind of story.

The premise says that without love the human race can’t flourish and somewhere down the lane it says ‘love is eternal’. Right from the word go, in a ‘graphic mode’, the movie charts the preaching terrain. The movie shifts between THIS (terrestrial) world and THAT (celestial) world and the first half moves slowly with decent intercuts between the two worlds. The movie is a two-world labyrinth and in the end there’s a third one added to that. Director Selva Raghavan (aka Sri Raghava) fails to give a proper justification for the space and time, and its path meanders out of the realm of trees, forests, mountains, castles, snow-capped mountains into varied panoramas.

Irandam Ulagam / Varna is the tale of a young doctor (played by Arya) and his colleague (played by Anushka), in this world, sharing a companionship and the dream-world of eternal togetherness. The chain of events is set in a sluggish motion that relentlessly leads him to a point (in both worlds) from where the story takes a volte-face. Both the characters in the two worlds get estranged in a similar situation. Hope you are darn confused to understand the story. Don’t worry, there are many people still racking their brains as what the story is?

The second half is all set in ‘that’ world. Though the locales breathe some life into that world, the narration makes it mundane. As the film progresses, every new scene saps its essence drop by drop. Arya’s character juggles between two worlds adding more confusion. It’s surprising to see no change in the behavioral traits of the people as per the eco-system of the respective worlds and this fails to bring a stark contrast. Even in that world people are stuck in the vortex of family ties, quarrels with spouses, brawl with neighbors amid not knowing about love. In a sheer artificial way, all the earthly emotions surface from Anushka’s character during the climax.

Selva Raghavan picks up the right idiosyncrasies for his characters, but fails miserably to give believable traits and a proper arc. You fix your eyes only on Arya and Anushka, as they are the only noticeable faces in the entire film. The other members of the cast cease to exist. The scenarios and song placements are so silly that you feel there are thorns on your seat.

The movie can be lauded for its visuals and its background score, which is melodious and lilting. But you can’t see some fine gems coming from the repertoire of Anirudh Ravichander biting the dust in insipid scenes. Harris Jayraj is unimpressive with his music. One or two good melodies (including the Hotel California inspired track) fall prey to poor timing and bad execution. Camerawork by Ramji is classy and welcoming, so as the art direction and graphics work. The snowfall sequence has been canned well with picture perfect framing.

It seems the director uses and reuses only one template and just changes the set-pieces here and there. He should learn that stupendous visual effects can’t hide silly writing. Irandam Ulagam / Varna is a classic example of his imagination and intent to tell an emotional story going haywire. In a scene, Anushka says she is a free bird and nobody can curtail her freedom. Then what’s the reason behind director Selva Raghavan killing an exotic bird, by peeling it feather by feather, in a two-world labyrinth!

Verdict – It’s like killing an exotic bird, by peeling it feather by feather, in a two-world labyrinth!! Stay away from it.

Anushka is one actress who is not at all selfish – Samantha

Contemporaries in tinsel town heaping praises on each other is a rare sight, Particularly when two leading heroines are involved in such a act..Headlines are bound to be the end result.
Actress Samantha who is one of the leading ladies of Tollywood was all praises for Anushka, She said Anushka is one actress who is not at all selfish. Samantha added Anushka would give enough importance to the character she is playing and there has not been one time where Anushka has insisted that her role be made prominent in the movie. Sam added it was this unique quality that Anushka is still a dominating force in Tollywood.

Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma in Love ?

Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma are the latest love birds in Town according to the recent reports. It all supposedly started on the sets of a shampoo commercial, Ever since that shoot, the duo have been spending time together. According to a source, Virat Kohli and Anushka were seen in latter’s black Range Rover around Aram Nagar at Seven Bungalows.
Anushka’s neighbours have also spotted the fiery cricketer quite a few times at her apartment. The couple were even spotted snuggling up to each other in the lift during morning hours.
Looks like Virat Kohli is working to forge yet another strong partnership.

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

Anushka and Rana for Rani Rudrama Devi

After Arundhati, Anushka Shetty is set to work with Director Gunasekhar who is making a historical drama on Rani Rudrama Devi, a stereoscopic 3D film. Tthe latest addition to that prestigious list will be Rana Daggubati who will don the role of Chalukya Veerabhadrudu in Gunashekar’s period flick.
Gunashekar opted for the flamboyant star after he was impressed by the actor’s performance in his latest offering Krishnam Vande Jagadhgurum alongside Nayanthara. The shoots of Rani Rudrama Devi are progressing swiftly and with Rana coming on board there is no doubt there would be more strength added to the film.
The concept of the film is even more intriguing as it is based on a heroic tale of one of the prominent rulers hailing from the Kakatiya dynasty. Rani Rudrama Devi is said to be a dream project for Gunasekhar and he has planned to use the prevailing hi-technology to make in a big one.
Maestro Illayaraja is expected to compose the music for this bilingual film, which will be simultaneously made in Telugu and Tamil.

Alexpandiyan Movie Review

Starring : Karthi, Anushka Shetty, Santhanam, Nikhita, Thukral Sanusha, Prathap Pothen

Direction : Suraaj

Music : Devi Sri Prasad

Production : K E Gnanavelraja

Karthi is one actor who didn’t had any failure till Saguni. But looks like the actor is fond of mass action entertainers and this time he is back with “Alex Pandian” which is directed by Suraaj. Does Alex Pandian lives up to the expectation?

The plot is nothing new, a bunch of villains chasing the heroine and our hero saves her single handedly. Karthi plays a rogue who kidnaps CM’s daughter Anushka. During the kidnapping episode, Anushka falls in love with Karthi and the rest of the so called story tells us how Karthi saves Anushka and most importantly the entire state from villains who are threatening the CM (Visu) to sign in a deal for supplying prohibited antibiotics to the people.

Karthi looks charming and the star has a lot of energy but all his energy goes with the lagging screenplay and the story which doesn’thave any logic. Anushka looks so matured and disinterested in many sequences. The only saving grace of the movie is Santhanam and his funny episodes in the first half is really engaging. But the double meaning dialogues and the high glamour quotient in the name of Santhanam’s sisters doesn’t entertain family audience.

Suraaj has adopted the same Padikathavan formula yet again. He had already proved that he is good in comic sequences but why is he continuously adopting stories which is not having any logic?. The stunt choreography in the movie is one of the worst in recent times and it seems they have totally forgot Newton’s gravitational law!!.

Devi Sri Prasad’s song and background score is too loud andSaravanan’s cinematography is stylish and editing is okay. On the whole, Alex Pandian might satisfy the audience who loves mindless action masalas.

Kollywood is safer – Anushka

That Anushka is the reigning queen of Telugu industry, is no news! But Anushka prefers Kollywood over Tollywood! While entering films, Anushka planned to do only Tamil films. As her debut film ‘Rendu’ failed to work, Kollywood did not look back at the actress. So, she made a move to Tollywood and rose up to fame with glamorous roles. When ARundhathi was dubbed into Tamil, the Tamil directors started taking note of her and from then on, Anushka has had a good run here. But Tollywood is not ready to give up o the actress and they have been calling her constantly for their movies. Apparently, Anushka prefers to stay in Kollywood as she belives it is a safer place to work. Sources say that she has told a few close friends that in Telugu, the heroes are intitially well behaved but later on, they prove to be dangerous. She is also said to have told her friends that in Tamil, one can trust the people and work in any isolated location.

Vikram's THAANDAVAM releases on September