Tag Archives: Lakshmi menon

Vedalam Review

Vedalam Review – Vedalam is a Tamil action drama released in 2015. Ganesh comes to Calcutta with his sister to give her admission into a prestigious art institute. He leads a simple life and is a pleasant company to many. But there is untold dark side to him, not known to others.

The hero is so good and straight forward person you suspect something is going to break. Something breaks and exposes a contrasting personality within him. Now you try to justify the contrasting badass personality by giving a purpose to it and then you want to see the hero win. This is a tried and tested formula for many commercial movies. Baasha being the one which started it all. Then we had seen many movies which were wannabe Baasha’s. Vedalam is one to be added to the list that is entirely banking upon Ajith’s stardom.

The movie has some interesting sequences in parts and it is enjoyable during those sequences. But then the movie falls into the trap of lack of direction, with some cliched emotional drama coming rescue making it an average affair. Ajith’s screen presence is a big strength for the movie. The initial sequences in Kolkatta are enjoyable. The most enjoyable portion of the movie is the character of Vedalam which appears in the flashback. Ajith has changed his body language and dialogue delivery which has worked out well. Lakshmi Menon has a significant role in the movie. Shruthi Hassan just adds in glamour quotient and  just becomes the reason for Ajith revealing the flashback.

High Points: Ajith’s screen presence, The characterization of Vedalam, Comedy sequences

Low Points: High voltage emotional drama which looks cliched. The entire climax sequence looks too easy for Ajith compared to the introduction the Villain had.

Overall Vedalam suffers from the common phenomenon of all the mass entertainers of falling into ordinary cliches. This movie is still watchable for Ajith’s performance. Unless you are a hardcore Ajith fan you might enjoy watching this when played on TV.

Wait for DVD/TV

Jigarthanda

Jigarthanda – is a Tamil Gangster Drama released in 2014. Karthik an aspiring film director follows a terrifying gangster in Madurai to read his life and create the script for his movie. 

The movie had a lot of promises right from the promos, posters and the trailer. The end product has turned out to be decent but the length of the movie is far too much than deserved by the script. Director Karthik Subburaj has yet again produced a script that has not been typical of any Tamil movies. Kudos to him for taking up such a plot, believing in it and making it into a full length feature film. If the length has been reduced by 45 minutes or so the movie would have been much more enjoyable. There is a drag in the movie for the first 45 minutes and the last 45 minutes. You would enjoy the parts around the intermission stage. The savior for the script is acting of Simha. Right from his introduction scene he has taken the movie on his shoulder. Siddharth has done his part well. Lakshmi menon has very minimal scope in the movie and her character does not gel well with the storyline. The background score has been done well. The shots are taken very well.

Overall the dessert (Jigarthanda) is cloying and you might enjoy it in parts would be a good one to watch in the theater.

Watchable

Naan Sigappu Manithan

Naan Sigappu Manithan – is a Tamil action thriller released in 2014. A person affected with Narcolepsy is out to take revenge.

Director Thiru once again proves he is good at the characterization of the lead character in the movie. As in Thimiru the lead character played by Vishal is interesting and is built very well. Vishal is affected by narcolepsy and the first half is all about him trying to lead a normal life. It is thoroughly enjoyable and in the middle he is faced with a situation where he would need to take revenge. Now the unfolding of this mystery is where the screenplay has weakened and it makes a lengthy second half that is interesting only in parts. Vishal’s performance is good and all the other characters by default assume that he is the hero in the movie and has given him the space which becomes very evident in the second half and makes it too predictable. Overall you can watch this when played on TV or DVD.

Wait for DVD/TV

Pandiya Naadu

Pandiya Naadu – is a Tamil Action film released in 2013. Sivakumar leads a simple middle class life, believes in not getting into any hassles and like any common man puts up with any wrong doers in the society. However things turn when the city’s dangerous mafia group is up against his brother and his friend. How does Siva come out of this situation is the plot of Pandiya Naadu.

How a common man transforms himself to stand up against the evil forces in the society has been seen in many movies. However the way director Suseenthiran has narrated the story makes it an interesting watch. We have seen Vishal in many hard core action movies so his transformation doesn’t come as a surprise. He had essayed the part of the common man staying out of trouble very well. The movie doesn’t bore you at any point in time which makes it watchable.

Watchable