Punnagai Vanginal Kanneer Illavasam – A Short Film Review

Short films are plenty these days. But very few stand out due to the creativity and presentation of the director. Nithilan is one such creative director, who has immense ability to make it to Tamil cinema in the near future.

There are lots of websites to review the movies of Tamil cinema. But there are very few to review the Short films created by our future director’s. We at flick critique take this as an opportunity to review the award winning short film “Punnagai Vanginal Kanneer Illavasam”.

Lets start from the title of the movie. The title itself is very unique “Buy Happiness and get tears for free”, which got me excited to view the short film. But why this title?

I had an initial impression that this will be about a young teen age guy who falls in love with a girl and then the girl breaks up. But the movie totally dazzled me with a very different subject.

Ramalingam (Dr. Ram), insists everyone that a society’s happiness depends upon the happiness of a family which lives together along with parents and Kids. But in very unfortunate circumstances, Ramalingam’s recently widowed mother gets pregnant. There is enough pressure from his wife and daughter to send Ramalingam’s mother away, as having her with them would create a bad impression among the people and society. Does Ramalingam outcasts his mother? or does he still live by his principles? is the outcome of the emotional short film which runs for less than 12 minutes.

The overall presentation, right from the titles were simple and elegant. There were no glitzy music and presentation at the beginning which shows the maturity and professionalism of the director. The best thing about the film is the core subject which emphasises the importance of family and relationships.

The two background tracks and BGM matches with the frequency and tone of the film. Dialogues rightly brings out the emotions that are required for each and every scene.

Personally I liked the dialogue quoted by Ramalingam “Does god exists? The answer is yes. God exists in two forms, One in the form of our parents who gave birth to us and the second in the form of children's to whom we give birth”.

Punnagai Vanginaal Kaneer Illavasam short film

POSITIVES

Story, Direction and Dialogues

NEGATIVES

There aren’t any that I could notice. But the director could have told how the kid got the money from Ramalingam’s mother. (Although I believe that the kid was none other than Ramalingam’s sister.)

RATING

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David - Review

With two of the finest actor’s of Tamil Cinema Vikram and Jiiva acting in this movie expectations were quite high. From the teasers and posters doing the rounds, it was more than clear that there are 2 characters in the movie enacted by Jiiva and Vikram but with a single name “David”. How does the Bijoy Nambiar flick faired against its expectations?

CAST

The film boasts Vikram and Jiiva in the lead roles alongside Tabu, Lara Dutta and Isha Sharvaani. The cast also includes Nassar, Nishan, Rohini Hattangadi, Saurabh Shukla, Shwetha pundit and Sheetal menon.

             

PLOT

As the tag line of the movie suggests “Two lives… One name”, this is a “Two story… One movie”

1. May 2010 - Goa - David (Vikram) is an alcoholic who spends most of his time either drinking (or) venting about his miserable life to Frenny (Tabu) who runs a massage shop at Goa. David falls for Roma (Isha Sharvani) who has already been engaged to Peter (Nishan), who also happens to be one of the BFF of David. Will David sacrifice his frienship to win Roma? or will he sacrifice his dream girl to save his friendship?
2. Dec 1999 – Mumbai – David (Jiiva), an aspiring guitarist from a devotional and god-fearing Christian family has greater ambitions in his life. The charming and stylish guitarist has a  strained relationship with his dad “Father” Noel (Nassar) who donates more than what he earns. While on the verge of going to a multi-city USA tour to perform as lead guitarist, a political party accuses Father Noel of pulling people into Christianity and forcing them into religious conversions. David sets out to find an answer and reason over the false allegations against his father. Did he get an answer to all his questions?

Under what circumstances our 2 David’s cross each other’s path? Watch it and find out (at your own risk).

PERFORMANCE

Jiiva and Vikram, the name says it all. Two of the best performers in Tamil Cinema has once again lived to our expectations and it is their sole presence and charisma which keeps the movie going. Whatever character is thrown in front of him, Jiiva picks up and delivers with ease.

Vikram as tippler has very less to offer considering his role. I still wonder what forced an actor like Vikram to pick up this role. The conversations with his dead father are little complicated to understand though. While Vikram’s part of the movie is lifeless and hollow, Jiiva’s plot keeps us little engaging (that’s how the initial build up was).

Isha Sharvaani as Roma had the most significant role among the other female leads. She communicates with her eyes throughout the movie and sparkles with her expressions. Naaser, who usually appears as a rough and tough Villain or a cop, does make an impact as Father Noel.

Tabu as Vikram’s friend and advisor Frenny, runs a massage parlour at Goa. Her role is of very little significance and such a character was not even required. But why Tabu??? Another talent wasted.

Lara Dutta as Gayathri, a widow and a Guitar student (of David) has very little to offer and adds only to the long list of stars appearing in this flick. Has age really caught up with former Miss Universe or is it just the make-up and costumes?

POSITIVES

Cinematography

Stunt sequences

BGM

NEGATIVES

Story

Screenplay

Climax (abrupt end to the story)

Tabu

VERDICT

Only very few lucky David’s (people) out of millions has the strength to withstand this latest venture by Bijoy Nambiar which runs for less than 130 minutes.

 

Critique Rating

 

7.0/10

 

Image and Video Courtesy

Google Images | YouTube

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Kadal - Review

Raavan abducts Sita and Ram tries to rescues her from the clutches of Raavan. No!!!! I am not talking about the great Hindu epic “Ramayana” here. This was the story of Mani Ratnam’s last venture which was aptly called “Raavanan”.
A man born with silver spoon neglects all his wealth and desires to become a disciple of Jesus Christ and a Church Father, while the other who calls himself Shaitan (Demon) desires wealth and power. The clash between these two men’s forms the pivot of Kadal. Read further to find out whether Mani Ratnam’s latest venture is worth a watch.
CAST
The Star cast of Kadal includes
                  
Other notable characters include Ponnvannan and Lakshmi manchu.
PLOT
Sam (Father Sam), played by Aravindh Saamy, is from a wealthy family. He prefers to be the disciple a Jesus Christ and rejects the normal life of a wealthy billionaire. Meesaikarar/ Berchman, played by Arjun, was from a family who struggle to satisfy the basic needs of day-to-day life. Sam knew only about bible, but Berchman knew both the effects of Hunger and Bible. While the former believes in spreading joy, love and peace among people, the latter enjoys cruelty and terror. If Father Sam was the son of Jesus Christ who was sent to spread love and joy, Berchman called himself the son of Shaitaan who was sent to kill people.
There is another important character in the film Thomas (Gautam), born to a prostitute who dies when he was young. Father Sam after successfully going through his regime and rituals moves to a sea-side village near Thoothukudi in Tamil Nadu. Thomas, who resides in the same village, was an orphan and Father Sam rescues him from his misery and provides a lease of life to him. Biatrice (Bia) plays the role of a Nurse who captures the heart of Thomas with her childishness.
What happens when two powerful men with completely different ideology meet and who triumphs between the two forms the crux of Kadal.

STORY and SCREENPLAY
Like every Mani Ratnam’s movie, Kadal was like a Jigsaw puzzle and we need to have a lot of patience till the end of movie to understand the crux.
Unlike other Mani Ratnam’s movies, Kadal’s story lacks the depth and reasoning. Neither the cruelty behind Berchman’s character was portrayed clearly nor was the reason behind the psychological issues of Bia. Berchman (Arjun) who appears in the first 10 or 15 minutes of the movie then goes missing till the end of first half.
To be honest, I didn’t catch the name of the character which Arjun enacted (Berchman) even after the end of the movie and I had to search in WWW to find out his character name. The dialect used in the film was little hard to understand and there was a slight inconsistency in the usage of dialect by various characters.

PERFORMANCE
I am sure everyone (including me) was excited to see this movie for two good reasons. It was Mani Ratnam and A. R. Rahman. But after watching the movie we will still be applauding the two. But not the same two for whom we saw the movie, but for Arjun and Aravindhsaamy.
What a comeback!!! – This would be your reaction after watching the performance of Aravindhsaamy. Let it be the patience he portrays during the scenes were young Thomas scolds him or let it be the scene where he was accused of having an illicit affair. It was commendable and laudable performance.
We would have never imagined Arjun would have enacted such a role with ease. It was another great performance from the veteran actor.
Newcomers, Gautam (Son of actor Karthick) & Thulasi Nair (Daughter of actress Radha) fits the role they have been assigned and it was a satisfactory performance from both. But believe me, the scenes were Gautam cries and scenes in which Thulasi Nair smiles were little irritating. Both have to work on that.
A special mention to Rajiv Menon’s cinematography!! Let it be location of songs or the village scenes, every scene looked beautiful throughout the movie.

Kadal Trailer

POSITIVES
Songs and BGM
Cinematography
Art
Aravindh Saamy

NEGATIVES
  Screenplay
Choreography of “Adiye” song
Absence of comedy
Story

RATING


KADAL – The waves were high and fierce only to ripple out before reaching the shore.

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