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

Naangam Pirai Movie Review

Bram Stoker is credited for reeling out the character of Dracula from the depths of folklore and bringing it forth to the mainstream through his novel, simply titled ‘Bram Stoker’s Dracula’. His novel has influenced many writers and filmmakers and has spawned many off-shoots in the Vampire genre. Director Vinayan is one such filmmaker who’s taken the effort to bring the Prince of Darkness, Count Dracula to the Tamil audience. The director has dwelled on many fantasy films in the past in Malayalam, and later presenting it in Tamil, and he continues that trend with Nankam Pirai.

Naangam Pirai is about the resurrection of Count Dracula from his Transylvanian home and his bid to be reunited with his long lost love.

Despite adding elements pertaining to the local sentiments, such as the presence of Hindu mythology and replacing the Count’s pack of wolves with homegrown Alsatians, the director does make an honest effort to stay faithful to the novel. He’s rightly labeled the Count’s love interest as Meena, there is also the presence of Dracula’s dreaded ‘Sisters’ and he’s even considered featuring a local representation of the Count’s greatest loyalist and patron, Igor, who remains unnamed in this movie and is played by the late Thilakan.

While the intentions of carrying forward Dracula’s legacy is made clear through the story, the film lets itself down for the most part in the first half. Character establishment and some of their motives are callow. An unimportant comedy track featuring Mano Bala and Ganja Karuppu does little to help the film’s cause in being engaging. But what the film lacks in the first half is almost nearly salvaged after the interval as the screenplay gets racier and interesting with no songs to serve as roadblocks. The sequence of events that lead to the build-up of the climax manages to draw you into the movie.

Performance wise, the film has a mix of fresh faces and seasoned actors. Sudheer, who plays Dracula, is more of an anti-hero and does well with his towering presence and the fact that he’s built like an ox adds to his menacing demeanor. Nasser as the powerful priest is theatrical in his portrayal but it works well for the movie. Prabhu appears to be a tubby version of the beast-slaying Prof. Van Helsing, also providing comic relief. The other hero Aryan is well built enough to pass off as Dracula’s opponent. Monal Gajjar’s role is meaningful while it seems like Shradda Das was included to up the glamour quotient.

Technically, the film in the 3D format is a disappointment and at times even a strain on the eyes. The visual effects and graphics are left wanting considering the standards that the public have witnessed in the recent past. Music by Babith George is average but the background score is well done. Sathish G’s camerawork is compromised because of the jarring 3D effects. The film, originally in Malayalam, has a strong dubbing feeling throughout despite having a native comedy track.

Usually, fantasy films and those coupled with 3D would be inviting for children but sadly Nankam Pirai isn’t for the young audience. The U/A certification is rightly justified and should be reserved for young adults and adults only.

Verdict: Hardly any horror or 3D to feast upon.