Ishqiya-Movie Review

Ishqiya is a compelling watch!

"Ishqiya" starring Naseeruddin Shah, Arshad Warsi and Vidya Balan, a gripping tale of love, lust, greed and deceit, is written and directed by debutante Abhishek Chaubey. Vishal Bharadwaj the man who gave us Kaminey, Omkara, Maqbool, Makdee, The Blue Umbrella, et al has co-written and produced this flick, apart from composing the songs.

The movie revolves around the three principal characters Khalujaan, Babban and Krishna (played by the aforementioned respectively), Khalu and Babban (Uncle & nephew) being petty theives and on the run after double-crossing their boss. They end up in Gorakhpur at a friends place only to find his widow Krishna. If Khalujaan's flirting with Krishna is old fashioned, Babban's advances and wooing is more bindaas.

The script, the screenplay and dialogues are crisp and to the point, which means it doesn't test your patience at any point during its just about two hour running time.

Casting is bang-on and each and every character is well etched, to the extent that even the girl in the bus who appears only in a couple of shots in a song sequence ends up making an impression. The old lady outside Krishna's home and Nandu (who has a couple of brilliant one-liners) are enough instances for the same.

It is an understatement to say Naseeruddin Shah is brilliant. He is simply adorable, more so in the brilliantly composed and rendered (by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan) song "Dil to bachcha hai ji".

Its no easy task to match up to the master. But Arshad Warsi stands up and delivers a powerful performance. His comic timing needs no introduction and it comes to the fore yet again in some brilliant one-liners. Infact, the chemistry between these two is something one should look out for.

If you thought she looked good and performed well as Auro's mom in Paa, Vidya Balan has taken it to the next level here, delivering a brilliant performance complete with many shades from lust to deception, apart from looking quite delicious too ;).

Mohana Krishna's cinematography and Vishal's songs are major assets to this movie.

Director Abhishek Chaubey acquaints himself quite well with this thoroughly enjoyable and engaging fare. I will be waiting for your next one Abhishek!

Go for Ishqiya. It is a well made and very interesting movie, unlike anything you have seen in recent times!!

Goa-Movie Review

'Goa' starring Venkat Prabhu regulars Premgi Amaren, Jai and Vaibhav Reddy in the lead roles and with a musical score by Yuvan Shankar Raja is a tale of the 3 friends who from their native village Pannaipuram elope to Goa with a mission.

Now, the mission is no treasure hunt or an adventure a la Aayirathil Oruvan. The sole intention is to marry a foreigner and get settled abroad. What happens in the end is anyone's guess!

A mish-mash of spoofs that we have seen in Venkat's earlier films, takes from other films recent and old, a wafer-thin plot and some pretty ordinary writing (with a gay relationship to boot) mar this film. Especially the second half is a drag primarily coz of the songs. The Jai-Pia and Vaibhav-Sneha love stories get a little boring and need trimming.

Yes, there are some genuinely funny scenes, but they are few and far between and short lived. James Vasanthan has to be credited in the Background score column as atleast half hour of the movie has his song in the background.

The picturization of the songs Adida Nayyandiya and Ezhezhu Thalamuraikkum were quite pedestrian, primarily after all the hype of the latter having been sung by the cousins. SPB and ILaiyaraaja croon 'Vaaliba Vaa Vaa' which I thought was quite tasteless in its picturization on the suspected gay relationship. (watch out for Kavignar Vaali's lines "Vandhadhe Sattam, Ini Kottam Adikkalaam". Shows why he is the one for all seasons).

The girls in the film have done their parts well (Pia and Melanie look very pretty and Sneha is ok) with Sampath and Arvind Aakash providing adequate support.
The scenes in the Casino are ridiculous and ill-conceived.

Personally, a very disappointing outing from Venkat Prabhu and team especially after the trendsetting 'Chennai-28' and 'Saroja'. Watch it if you have nothing better to do.

Aayirathil Oruvan-Movie Review

Aayirathil Oruvan (One in a Thousand) starring Karthi Sivakumar, Reemma (Reema Sen), Parthipan, Andreah Jeremiah and a whole lot of junior/supporting artistes is the latest on offer from hot shot director Selvaraghavan.

Kudos to Selva for having ventured into a whole new territory, more so, coz his earlier ventures dealing with adolescent and teenage escapades had invariably hit the bull's eye.

First things first, this movie fully deserves its 'A' certificate and is strictly not for children and family audience. There is lot of blood, gore and typical Selva style adultery. (I could hear children crying and wanting to leave the movie hall. So Parents please leave them at home, if you want to sit thru this one). There are a few sequences that make you wonder how the Censor board works!

Karthi plays to perfection a charming, glib-tongued leader of a group of workers and ensures that he has kept his star status acquired post Paruthi Veeran, intact. Though his performance and body language in some sequences remind you of Paruthi Veeran, he proves again that he his here to stay and give stiff competition to his brother and many others in the days to come.

Reemma gets a meaty role and performs to the best of her abilities and tries hard to look sultry and hot. Aishwarya Dhanush's (Rajnikanth) dubbing helps her role incredibly. But how I wish Selva had cast a Thamizh speaking girl to play this role! (infact for the amount of time this movie took and the number of years she has been acting in Thamizh films she could have actually learnt the language herself). The lip-sync is a major drawback in many sequences.

Parthipan as the Chozha king is adequate, so are Andreah and Azhagam Perumal. Prathap Pothen has nothing much to do in the 'blink-and-you-miss' role.

The movie is a tad too long, especially in the second half, but to Selva's credit he manages to keep the audience hooked till the very end.

The song sequences appeared to be included forcefully in the narration and didn't personally make a big impact. (the remix of Adho Andha Paravai pola sounded awful to me and the picturization reminded me of a sequence in Titanic where Kate Winslet parties with a gang of so called low class passengers). There is a song that goes 'Oh Eesa' which suddenly turns to 'Govinda Govinda'. Didn't make sense to me, as there is no relation to Vishnu or Govinda anywhere else in the narrative. (Please note that this is the first time I am listening to these songs). The background score is way better, but considering the track record of Selva, Yuvan is sorely missed.

The biggest bane for this movie is that it is released close on the heels of the technical spectacle of this decade (maybe century?!) viz., James Cameron's 'Avatar (3D)', which shows the CG works in poor light in certain sequences. The camera work is brilliant otherwise.

There is also a sequence that you will relate immensely with 'The Gladiator' and some portions towards the climax look ridiculous. But personally I liked the way the movie ended.

These are minor flaws in an otherwise thoroughly engaging and enjoyable fare. Selva's imagination deserves a pat, especially the Nataraja shadow sequence and the way the narrative is linked back to the prophetic paintings/sketches in the second half.

The hardwork and time spent is evident in every frame and for this alone this film is worth a watch.

Hopefully, such attempts will usher in a whole new era of fresh scripts and narratives beyond the usual quagmire of run-of-the-mill love stories and Masala fare (read Vijay movies :p) that are taking the audiences for granted.

Paarthadhil Piditthadhu..

Paarthadhil Piditthadhu