AVATAR - MOVIE REVIEW

Movie made at a staggering half a billion dollars and promised amazing, never seen before visuals – you actually not know what to expect from this flick. I was blank as well, as I walked in to the theater wearing dark glasses thinking whether it was going to be a film that was just going to show graphics and graphics only and flush the story and narration down the sewer? Anything could happen, I told myself you save the disappointment, but coming from James Cameroon, I convinced myself that it would have a decent enough story and amazing visuals. Just like Terminator and Titanic – Both of them which had a pretty interesting story but even more appealing visuals and effects. Avatar reminds us about another great film Matrix that hit the screens 10 years back, probably when James Cameroon went to the floors with this film. Two bodies – one mind. Human Genome mixed with those of the humanoids of Pandora and so…. Well you kind of understand it even though you are sweating at the mention of few biological utterances. Our hero has Equivalent pandorian which he can control with his mind. His mission is to gain the natives of Pandora’s trust and negotiate deals with them for re locating them so that human’s can extract the precious stone worth 20 million Dollars. The stone has a very complicated name, so let’s just call it the precious stone.

Our hero finally befriends them , becomes one of them and just as when he is trying to understand them more deeply, He makes a confession on a video cam that it is very difficult to re locate the natives as they wouldn’t want to relocate. All hell breaks loose as the human’s led by a head strong major launch an offensive against their village that is on top of a tree. The tree (Their Village) is brought down and is smashed. The natives try to take revenge. This makes the entire chunk of the climax!On the whole, Avatar pretty much delivers what I expected out of it… A decent interesting story line and visuals I have not seen anywhere. It delivers it. It’s just right THERE. Skip the movie, if you want to kindle the cinephile in you.

KANDEN KADHALAI - MOVIE REVIEW

Kanden Kadhalai is a film for the youth. Shakthi (Bharath) is down in the dumps! The big business establishment that his father has built is falling apart, the board of directors is going insane with arguments and to top it all there are allegations that his mother is having an affair with the company’s auditor. Not able to take any more of the misery he walks out of the board meeting. The day after he goes missing, everyone wonders where he is gone. In fact, even he has no idea of where he wants to go. He just wants to escape from everything, even from himself. Without a ticket in hand or a destination in mind he boards a train. Aboard he comes across Anjali (Tamanna) who is poles opposite to him in character. She just can’t stop talking, most of which is about herself. As we discover later, the person she loves most in the world is herself. In a weird twist of events, brought about by Shakthi’s pointless sauntering and Anjali’s insuppressible energy, they find themselves together, stranded in the middle of nowhere with no means of transport for the night. They get to know each other over the period that they are together. Travelling across Tamil Nadu to get to Anjali’s home, Shakthi starts feeling lighter and better. He starts learning a lot about taking it easy. Meanwhile Anjali has plans of her own, love is on her mind. But the man is not Shakthi. However she wants Shakthi’s help to reach her lover. She runs away from home and Shakthi goes back to resurrect his business. Everyone believes that they are together, somewhere. It takes some time for Shakthi to realize that everyone believes in something that is not exactly true. So, he sets out to prove that Anjali has actually found love and life with another person. Does he find her? What is she doing? This time the tables turn. Anjali is somber and Shakthi can’t stop talking. Does love happen?

At the outset, it is important to understand that this film is not only about love or romance. It also shows at places about how life and all its ups and downs have to be dealt with. The story defends love and lovers under all circumstance. Some people might find certain thoughts a bit difficult to agree with, but that doesn’t hinder the film much. The chemistry of the lead pair which is the moving force of the film has worked well. Both Tamanna and Bharath look fresh and different in their roles. Bharath is neat and sophisticated in his role. Tamanna looks good especially in the half saree. As for her performance, she is really good while bringing out different facets of the character. It is a commendable effort. She has proved her ability to pull off a wide range of roles. The high point of the movie is Santhanam’s whacky comic act. Appearing as the bridegroom chosen by Anjali, his dialogues infuse life into the movie. The audience loves him, except when he goes into double entendre mode. This could have been avoided as it spoils the clean family entertainer status that the movie could have had. The major drawback of Kanden Kadhalai is its lack of continuity at places. There are also places where the events seem a bit artificial. The music, which is an important part of any romantic flick, has not worked too well. Only ‘Suttudhu Suttudhu’ makes an impression. Other songs don’t stick to your mind; their placement too is not apt. Camerawork is colorful and well suited to the mood of the film.

LONDON DREAMS - MOVIE REVIEW

This first Indo-UK collaborated movie is about a musical genius named Arjun(Ajay Devgan) whose only aim is to play at the Wembley stadium. Being a goal-oriented person, he tries to avoid any distractions that could deter his way towards his dream and that also include an attractive girl in his band Priya (Asin). His band London Dreams slowly gets popular and touches the peak when Arjun brings his childhood friend Munnu (Salman) from a small village in Punjab who excels in singing. His freakish charm makes him an instant hit amongst the audience. Arjun realizes that his dream is being taken over unwittingly by Munnu and when Munnu also gets a nod from Asin, Arjun loses it and decides to take the grey route to success, fame and glory at the expense of his friendship. Will Arjun be successful in doing that forms the rest of the story.

Vipul, who showed his talents in his earlier movies, proves once again why he is considered to be a top director by making a visually stunning movie with almost flawless direction. Some scenes like Ajay Devgn talking to a drunken Salman about being sorry for what he is about to do is poetic brilliance. Salman Khan's misadventures in the flight are entertaining. Though Salman Khan's dialogues in the climax are melodramatic it works for the scene brilliantly. But the movie suffers due to few reasons, like some sloppy transitions, unwanted songs and most of all selecting Ajay Devgn to play a rock-star. He is a star alright and the emotional scenes proves how much he has improved as an actor but the character needed a person who is much more energetic on screen and especially on-stage, which he lacked completely. The introduction scenes of all the lead, except Ajay, have been done badly; especially Asin who comes into the picture from no-where and ends up in the band. The pre-climax in the Wembley stadium is laughable, with 90000 people in the audience waiting for Ajay to utter some Hindi dialogues and sending their empty water bottles up in the sky on a regular basis is not at all acceptable. The movie is high on the emotional quotient like Vipul's last two directorial ventures but will 'London Dreams' sustain at the box-office as they did will be interesting to see. But overall, a decent movie with some interesting performance and amazing camera work .

AJITH'S ASAL RELEASE ON PONGAL 2010

One of the highly anticipated Tamil movie releases for Pongal 2009 is "Asal" with Ultimate Star Ajith playing the lead role. He is said to appear in a dual role in this movie. Director Saran has given multiple hits with Ajith earlier with films like "Amarkalam" and "Attagasam". Bhavana and Sameera Reddy are playing the respective heroines for dual role Ajith. Yesteryear actor Suresh, who made his debut with Panneer Pushpangal in early 80s, makes his comeback as a baddie in Ajith Kumar’s upcoming film Asal. Earlier, the actor had tried his luck donning villain role in Srikanth-Bhavana starrer Kizhaku Kadarkarai Saalai that left him unnoticed. But, the actor is overwhelmed with Saran’s offer since his characterization is as powerful as the protagonist.Asal will be released for pongal 2010. Ajith Kumar ‘ASAL’ that was supposed to get released for ‘Diwali’ is getting delayed. With all the fans eagerly awaiting for his release, producers of the film have confirmed that it will release in late 2009 or for Pongal 2010.Recently, the crew returned from Malaysia shooting few talkie and song portions. The next shooting schedule is slated to take place by September first week in London.Musical score by Bharadwaj may hit the stores somewhere in end of October or November 1stweek.Ajith's forthcoming movie is in limelight even before it has been released. In the latest agreement signed between the Indo-Russian Chanber of Commerce and Industries and Russian Union of Cinematography, South Indian films will be dubbed in Russian and be screened in Russia. Asal will be the first film that will be released simultaneously in Russia.