Yennai Arindhaal [Movie Review]

I have been a fan of Gautam Menon’s female leads. Mostly. Be it Maya in Khakha Khakha, Aradhana in Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu or for that matter even Jessie in Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya, they all have a sense of contemporariness in them. Maya and Aradhana (both played by Jyothika) came alive in Yennai Arindhaal in the form of Hemanika. Wonderfully played by Trisha who looked stunning to say the least (and voiced ably by Krithika Nelson), this character had just enough screen time to make it a memorable appearance.

Arun Vijay, the son of ‘Nattamai’ Vijayakumar, has been an unlucky actor for quite while (I’d say close to 18-20 years). He seemed to have some decent movies on and off, but nothing that was a big break! Fortunately, Yennai Arindhaal has space for his performance and he doesn’t disappoint. Playing Victor, who again seems a mishmash of Khakha Khakha’s Pandian (played by Jeevan) and Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu’s Amudhan (played by Daniel Balaji), Arun makes the best out of this outing. While Jeevan and Daniel Balaji did not seem to have many big releases following their respective movies with Gautham Menon, I sincerely hope this is the break that Arun Vijay was waiting for. And Gautam (un)subtly tries to portray him in either white or black. And yes, he’s become one more inspiration for me to get fitter! :P

Billa (2007) was my last favourite movie of Ajith Kumar. Having become that mass hero, Ajith rarely has had a fun outing in the recent past (you may say Mankatha, but no that wasn’t one for me!). Embracing his salt and pepper look (which suits him very well), Ajith takes a role of a character who is in his late thirties, and he mostly succeeds in it. While he lacks the grace of Surya’s Anbuselvan character, there is definitely an influence of Kamal’s Raghavan character in many a way. His pairing with Trisha is spot on and it is difficult to believe that the pair has grown so gracefully in ten years since Ji!

With these three actors and their characters and some more, Gautam Menon tries to come out with yet another chapter in a policeman’s life. With his intentions all in the right form, Gautam Menon tries to interpolate his storytelling from the first two movies assuming that it will have the required effect. But what comes out in the end is mainly nostalgia, thanks to Khakha Khakha and Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu. It is not that Yennai Arindhaal does not have its moments, but every bit of it is either predictable or employed in another Gautam Menon movie. This includes the father sentiment with Nasser (in a wonderful performance) and wanderlust, both like in Vaaranam Aayiram. With yet another influenced soundtrack (with a couple of good songs) and uninspiring background score from a complacent Harris Jayaraj, Yennai Arindhaal could have been much more, especially considering that Gautam Menon had two able screenplay writers!

Dear Gautam Menon, I think you should take a break from these cop movies and love stories and make a movie with two or more female leads, like what Rajeev Menon did in Kandukonden Kandukonden (an adaptation of Sense and Sensibility).

Sincerely,
Your fan from Minnale days.

I (Tamil) [Movie Review]

Tamil Cinema has seen a lot of successful and impactful collaborations off-screen. One such memorable collaboration is that of director Shankar and writer Sujatha. Having collaborated on many a movie including the very successful and entertaining Anniyan, Mudhalvan and Sivaji, the combination was sorely missed in parts of Endhiran (due to the death of Sujatha). Shankar did a quick and dirty project Nanban which didn’t need much creativity in the story or dialogues considering it was a scene-by-scene remake of 3 Idiots. With all these factors, Shankar had a pretty important litmus test on whether he would have a successful outing in I, without Sujatha. In a way to compensate for this, Shankar had roped in the actor Vikram, I guess. And he almost gets lucky.

A revenge-drama entered around Lingesan (Vikram), a local guy who shoots up to prominence, I definitely has Vikram in a very satisfying outing since Raavanan. Giving a 100% physically and perhaps mentally, Vikram definitely needs to be lauded for his performance throughout the movie, including the few scenes which showcase his acting prowess completely.

I is a story that could have been condensed to a fast-paced thriller of 100-120 minutes. With a total of five antagonists/villains, and a back-story for each of them with Vikram, the story definitely appeared stretched. To add to this, Shankar along with the writer Subha decides to insult the audience’s intelligence by replaying a few sequences which were quite obvious to ensure that the viewer places a piece of the jigsaw puzzle with just five pieces which already has four pieces in place. This tedious nature of the narrative does not help with the length either and makes it a dragging 189 minutes long movie.

One can always trust Shankar to work with A.R.Rahman well. And he sure has this time too. From the ’damaal-dumeel’ U-turn that I made (of not relishing the songs on the first listen, putting away the songs in a cold freezer and then getting called by the songs after a good two months to love them entirely), I was sure that the songs would be picturized in a way that would to justice to it. It is almost a blind faith that Shankar gets what he wants from Rahman, like Mani Ratnam (and perhaps Imtiaz Ali now). Starting the wonderful Ladio and Aila Aila, which turn out to be product commercials, to Mersalaiyten that shows even the not-so-enticing parts of Chennai as a wondrous spectacle, the songs are placed in the movie well and picturized well. The staple romantic duet in any Shankar movie is the Pookale Sattru Oyvendungal, which is shot in China and has the grandeur of nature showcased very well. I particularly want to mention ‘The’ song of the album and its picturization here. Ennodu Nee Irundhal is that song that perhaps a lot of us hated on the first listen only for us to go back and listen to it in a loop. With a Beauty and the Beast theme, even the video takes its time to grow on you. And how!

Amy Jackson, introduced by Vijay in Madrasapattinam, does what she supposed to do very well. She looks good. She dances well. She emotes well. And in one scene where she is supposed to talk in a local dialect, she throws in the attitude casually without much discomfort. A lot of this is to be credited to the voice Raveena. Upen Patel is the major antagonist here and will perhaps find chances in Tamil cinema to play the good-looking Hindi-speaking villain (who essentially speaks one two three baa baa black sheep and gets saved by the dubbing artist). There’s Suresh Gopi, Ramkumar (late actor Sivaji Ganesan’s son) Ojas M Rajini, and another actor who are up against Vikram. Santhanam is not a major annoyance in this movie, especially after the disastrous Lingaa, has some good one-liners and helps the storyline move, like how Vivek did in Anniyan. (Ojas M Rajini's character in the movie will definitely make a few of the activists for sexual equality gang up against the movie and the movie could have done without this character. )

Shankar, thanks for enabling Vikram win this one! Better luck to you next time!

PS: This was my first movie review in over 4 years with the last one being that of Shankar's Endhiran with Rajini! Time to get back to writing more I guess!