Billa 2 - Is it worth the watch ??

Yes, despite many mixed or negative reviews, it is definitely worth the watch. If you ask whether the movie is enthralling enough to keep you dumbstruck and weighs beyond the expectation - no it fails in the end, particularly the last half an hour, but it is not just the last half an hour which decides how good the movie is. It definitely lies somewhere between an average and above average movie.

What makes the movie special ? Prequel movies are new to tamil cinema, first prequel movie ever made and it will stand out among other movies for that. We might not see another prequel movie, especially in tamil cinema. Movies without songs, romance, duet, comedy and flamboyant stunts are hard to come and this is one among them. There are few more things to ponder about why it gets beyond average.

Plot:
We have all seen Billa and there is nothing new to say about the plot. Its all about the dark past behind the Don - David Billa. A refugee from srilanka comes to tamil nadu and takes over a drug cartel and becomes the don. The overall plot is the adaptation of Alpacino’s 1983 classic Scarface - a slow paced drama.

Characters:
Ajith - ruthless, silent, stylish performance, handling the guns and girls with ease. Without him, the movie would be a complete toss. Vidyut Jamwal, having earned a filmfare award for best male debut last year, had done a good job as Dimitri. Yog Jappee (Ranjith) - played his part well. Bruna Abdulla and Parvathi Omanakuttan - Both the roles lacked clarity and importance.

Screenplay:
The entire first half has been neatly adapted - from character portrayal to sequence of events - in ajith’s style. The second half also goes on well till unakullae mirugam song. Only after that the screenplay gets all ittery jittery. Ajith goes on a killing spree, more violence gets involved, very loosely connected scenes till the end without any suspense or twists and turns, the scenes seem to be mercilessly chopped and attached. The scene where Parvathy omanakuttan gets killed becomes yet another killing in the movie - it has no impact. At the end the audience lose their patience and Chakri Toleti proves himself to be a rookie.

Cinematography plays an important role in the movie. Brown tint - dark past of the Don - Unakulle mirugam’s graphic style picturisation - pure innovativeness - R D Rajasekhar has done a brilliant job. Yuvan’s BGM and songs were good, but could have been done better by the director. Stephen Ritcher’s simple hand combat stunt sequences are new and nice to watch. Ee Raa Murugan’s dialogues are philosophical and impactful one liners.

Verdict: 7/10

Nanban - All is well !!

Lot of movies have been remade in tamil cinema for decades. From MGR to Rajinikanth everybody has acted in a remake films, but what’s different in those movies was the actors exhibited their own style of acting in the remake movies. Rajini movies in the 80’s and Billa 2007 are typical examples of actors delivering their own style in remake movies. Sometimes these remake movies have surpassed their originals. Nanban is a remake of ‘3 idiots’, one of the record breaking block busters of indian cinema. There was much expectation for ‘Nanban’ for two reasons, it was going to be directed by Shankar, one of the best film makers in Tamil Cinema, and Vijay was to be cast in the lead role. Many believed the duo would deliver something better than 3 idiots. Manoj Paramhamsa handled the camera and music by Harris Jayaraj.

Plot:

Nanban is about two friends embarking on a journey in search of their friend, who changed their lives during college days. Panchavan Parivendan sees everything in a different manner and believes  in two things - learn to gain knowledge and application rather than for marks, excel in what you would like to do and success will be yours. Pari joins engineering for his sheer passion with machines. He befriends two people Venkat Ramakrishnan, an aspiring wildlife photographer who ends up in engineering to fulfill his father’s dreams, and Sevalkodi Senthil, who studies to get a job and holds the responsibility of reliving his family from poverty. Virumadi Santhanam aka VIRUS , the dean of the college, is a firm believer in the present educational system and believes success is achieved through marks and getting placed. Pari encounters consistent tiffs with virus as their study approaches clashes and the story revolves around how he inspires his friends to achieve their dreams and changes virus’ mind.

Characters:
Vijay - Panchavan Parivendan - apes Aamir khan from beginning to end with few faltered attempts to deliver in his style. Jeeva - Sevalkodi Senthil - is fantastic and Shrikanth - Venkat Ramakrishnan - couldn’t match upto to Madhavan’s performance in the original. Sathyan couldn’t deliver what Omi vaidya gave us while the individuality of Sathyaraj - Virumadi Santhanam aka VIRUS - is lost in imitating the Virus role, all we could see is Boman Irani in screen. Ileana is too puny to get etched in our minds once the movie gets over. Though Ileana had performed well, her appearance made her role unnoticeable.

The problem with Nanban is that it is an exact replica of 3 idiots from screen play to character portrayal and everybody has tried their best to ape their roles. Manoj’s camera is simple and Harris Jayaraj could have better copied the songs as well with Aska Laska, an exception. Background score is pathetic and no match to the original.

Movie is altogether good with the story and everyone who haven’t watched ‘3 idiots’ will enjoy it to the core, there is no question about it, but what baffles me is Shankar’s imagination. After delivering a good sci fi movie to tamil audience, he has delivered us a photocopy of bollywood movie. With two good actors, Vijay and Sathyaraj, Shankar could have altered the storyline or at least he could have come up with a different portrayal of the two roles and delivered us the content in a different manner which would have been more enjoyable. Ultimately he got the message delivered without altering the storyline. Wonder what stopped him from thinking, but the same output would have come if Director A.Raja had took the movie and it is quite disappointing to see one of top directors delivering us such a movie.

Verdict: 6/10

Top Movies 2011

Best movies of the year

• Aadukalam - Bagged 6 awards in the national scene and deserves a place here.
• Mayakkam enna - True to its tag line, the story revolves around Karthik Swaminathan (Dhanush) who aspires to be a wildlife photographer and how he achieves his dream despite all the shortcomings in his life. Richa gangopadhyey deserves a special mention for her performance in the movie as lead actress.   
• Mankatha - Despite few logical loop holes, this became the biggest blockbuster of the year. Good performance by Ajith. 
• Vaagai Suda Vaa - For taking us back to the 60’s.  
• Engeyum eppodhum - Excellent message and screenplay by Saravanan. Despite this being his debut film, he has handled his part well intertwining the 4 characters with a gripping story running back and forth. 

Movies that achieved the cult status:

• Aaranya kandam - Neo noir type of movies are new to tamil cinema. Definitely first and best of its kind in 2011. A daring attempt by thiagarajan. 
• Azhagar samiyin kudhirai - A courageous attempt by suseendhiran to make a movie with an unconventional hero and a horse. 
• Mouna guru - Riveting crime-thriller with excellent plots-twists and characters. The best part about the movie is Shantakumar’s screenplay which never falters and delivers a complete film with no logical leftovers. 
• Payanam  - One of the impressive movies of 2011. Taut thrillers are a rarity in tamil cinema and Radha Mohan had delivered one of the finest with a neat plot and awesome gripping screenplay, making audience move to edge of their seats at right moments. 
• Yudham Sei - Director Mysskin’s delivery for 2011. These genre of films are untouched in tamil cinema. Despite blatant errors, clever twists and convincing characters makes it one of the best.