Tag Archives: AR Rahman

Drama, Genre, Must Watch, Rating, Reviews, Romance, Tamil Movies

Kaatru Veliyidai Review

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Kaatru Veliyidai Review – Kaatru Veliyidai is a Tamil romantic drama released in 2017. VC an Indian Air Force fighter pilot is captured by Pakistani army as a war prisoner during the Kargil war, his hope to meet Leela once more keeps him alive.

Director Maniratnam creates a yet another gem out of his “Akshaya Patra” (inexhaustible vessel) of love. He still has some much more stories to tell. In Kaatru Veliyidai, he deals with yet another tale of romance the core conflict being male chauvinism. The canvas for the tale he has chosen is quite interesting. It is a love between an Air Force fighter pilot and a doctor. The swag of a pilot naturally makes the male chauvinist behavior very believable. I will not dwell more on the story and spoil any fun for you.

Ravi Varman’s cinematography is a great plus. The entire movie is a visual treat. The breathtaking view of the Himalayan mountain range makes it even richer. I couldn’t take the eyes from the screen. Extreme close up shots, communicating with eyes, a lesser number of dialogues, a slow movement of the scene to build up the drama all makes it very appealing. I love drama in the movies, off late watching the treatment of directors like Hari, KV Anand and many other directors I have led to believe that slow moving shots, communication through silence all have become old fashioned. But this vintage magic of Mani sir is still magical. Those short and sweet dialogues still evoke the emotions in you. Those silent visuals still teleport you.

The most striking performance is from Aditi Rao Hydari. She is not only eye candy but her eyes speak a lot. The scene in which she looks into the mirror and questions herself, she has performed so well. Karthi’s performance is also good. At times you feel he goes overboard with his performance but all this works well to establish his male chauvinist attitude. RJ Balaji for a change has acted in a mellowed down manner. He could make you laugh even with serious dialogues without trying too hard with mixing Tamil and English.

The music and background score of AR Rahman is very apt for the visuals. Mani sir has re-used some of the iconic romance scenes from his earlier movies shamelessly. And we too would enjoy these shamelessly as they still stay fresh after so many years.

High Points: The treatment of the core conflict of love, Breathtaking visuals, slow drama and communication through silence, Aditi’s performance are all high points.

Low Points: If you don’t like silence in movies or slow drama you might feel a bit restless.

Overall I would say Vintage Mani Sir is back. He still has a lot of love (stories) left in him. If you love movies like Mouna Raagam, Alaipayuthey, Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaaya, you would love this one too.

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Action, Genre, Historic, Rating, Reviews, Tamil Movies, Worth a Watch

Kochadaiiyaan – The Legend (3D)

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Kochadaiiyaan – is a historic film made in many Indian languages employing performance capture technology. Rana runs away from his city at a very small age. He is adopted by the citizens of Kalingapuri , grows into a very talented soldier and eventually becomes the Commander in Chief for the kingdom. However Rana’s past forces him to act against the interests of Kalingapuri. What was it about his past and how Rana handles it is the story of Kochadaiiyaan.

It has been a much awaited movie from Superstar Rajnikanth. It is also the first ever full length Indian movie made using performance capture technology. The real hero of the movie is KS Ravikumar. He has created a very compelling story line tailor made for Rajnikanth. The story keeps you engaged throughout the movie.  Rajnikanth proves he is much beyond technology. His voice is a big plus for the movie. AR Rahman has created very soulful music that suits the story line. The major let down is the visuals. Of course all of us understand that it is hard to make a movie of this sort given the quick timeline with a shoe string budget. If you take that out the product finish is not something you would remember. They could have still done better in many places. First and foremost is the lack of data for pupil and eye lash movement of the characters is an issue. The color palette they have used to render the scenes is very inconsistent. You would see some bright visuals for songs but rest of the scenes are dull. The third important factor they haven’t given much thought is for the materials (like the terrain, walls, objects) used for the environment. These make it look like a 3D cartoon animation movie you had watched 15 years ago. However you would see moments of brilliance in certain scenes, in particular the stunt scenes have been done very well. They have really done a good job with the character that resurrects Nagesh on to the screen. Despite the short comings the screenplay of the movie, Rajni’s voice and AR Rahman’s music would entertain you and keep you glued to the seat. Kochadaiiyaan is a good attempt to start a trend towards performance capture technology. If it is used in a proper manner it could create wonders for Indian Cinema and enable us to make movies which are very difficult to make otherwise. Spending a good amount of time in the pre-production stage is very vital to make a good movie. If our Indian film makers concentrate on this department they would be able to make movies that could compete with many western movies in production quality.

Overall Kochadaiiyaan is worth a watch if you are not going with a mindset of experiencing a visual treat. If you are able to look beyond the shortcoming of the visuals – the story, actors and music would be a treat for you.

Watchable – for the first time effort, brilliant story line, music and of course for Superstar.