Irandam Ulagam Review from Rediff!

amil film Irandam Ulagam is a visually stunning fantasy story set in an imaginary world that describes a love that transcends human understanding of time and space writes S Saraswathi.

Be it Kadhal Kondein, 7G Rainbow Colony or Mayakkam Enna, romance has always played an integral role in director Selvaraghavan’s films and he has always approached it with his own distinctive style, ignoring the time-tested formula.

With a tagline that reads ‘How far will you travel for love’, his latest film Irandam Ulagam, starring Arya and Anushka Shetty, has been generating a lot of buzz.

And just as the tagline suggests, the film is all about a love that transcends time and space, exploring the possibility of a parallel world.

The music too has been creating quite a sensation. Harris Jayaraj handled the initial soundtrack, while later Anirudh Ravichandar was signed to compose the film's background score. Vairamuthu has penned the lyrics.

Irandam Ulagam, which is dubbed in Telugu as Varna is produced by Param V Potluri for PVP Cinema and is also being released in other languages such as Hindi, Georgian, Russian and Turkish.

Irandam Ulagam revolves around two love stories simultaneously occurring in two parallel worlds. One is the real world we know and understand and the other is a fantastical world filled with mythical creatures, enchanting forest, mysterious hills, and majestic views of the horizon.

In the real world, Anushka plays Ramya, a doctor, who is in love with Madhu Balakrishnan (Arya), a college professor. While in the fantasy world, she plays Varna, a high spirited, warrior-like character who deeply values her freedom. She is desperately pursued by Maruva (Arya again), who is madly in love with her.

Alternating between both worlds, the story progresses smoothly, like your average love story, until just before the interval, when the director introduces a dramatic twist.

The visual experience created by cinematographer Ramji is truly spectacular. He deserves full credit for bringing to life a beautiful new world, a magical place shrouded in mystery and filled with brilliant colours.

The music heightens the atmosphere and Anirudh has done exceptionally well. The songs, the lyrics, the picturisation as well as the vocals, everything fits beautifully.

Both Selvaraghavan and Arya are known to experiment with their films and characters and have been quite successful. In fact, 2013 has proved to be a great year for Arya, who had two back-to-back box office hits, Raja Rani and Arambam.

Anushka not only shares equal screen space with Arya, but also plays quite a significant role. In fact, the story revolves around her and she has performed admirably.

Though a lot of effort and hard work has been put in by the entire team, the result is not quite what you expect.

The film has an unreal fairytale-like quality that prevents us from feeling the intensity, passion and pain of the characters. It seems more like a child’s bed-time story.

Everything from the unique costumes, make-up and body language gives the film a storybook and dream-like quality.

Irandam Ulagam is an ambitious project by a director who always strives to give a different and unique experience to his audience.

Rediff Rating: ***

http://www.rediff.com/movies/review/review-irandam-ulagam-is-a-mystical-love-story/20131122.htm

Aarambham Review from Now Running!

Rating:**

Remember how the "Die Hard" series in the fourth and fifth instalment was all about Bruce Willis performing age-defying stunts and entertaining fans of the franchise; likewise Tamil film "Arrambam" is all about Ajith Kumar. 

Glorifying actors, already being worshipped as gods, Tamil cinema continues to make films that are aspirational but empty from the inside. 

Ajith's "Arrambam" is undoubtedly highly stylish, but otherwise it's just another cliched revenge drama.

Mumbai police receives a tip off about three bombs planted in different parts of the city, ready to explode in about 15 minutes. The anonymous caller happens to be AK aka Ashok Kumar (Ajith), who is on a mission to avenge the death of his close friend. 

Aarambam Pictures   50 Pictures

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AK's hit list comprises of some of the most influential names in society, including the homeminister played by Mahesh Manjrekar. With the help of his comrades, AK begins eliminating them one by one but everything doesn't pan out the way he had originally planned.

"Arrambam" is not bad but the problem with it is that it lacks creative touch. What I fail to understand or find irritating in most revenge-based dramas is why these films always need to have an emotionally manipulative back story. Why can't they for once try something different?

This is the third time in a row Ajith has played the anti-hero with elan. He is unarguably one of the more stylish actors in the industry and he has proved it time and again. 

In "Arrambam", Ajith takes the style quotient a notch further with his new salt and pepper look and leaves his fans in a celebratory mood throughout. But what he doesn't deliver as an actor is variation in his performance. 

If you pay close attention, you'll realise that his role is an extension of the one from "Billa", which was also helmed by Vishnuvardhan.

Let's also not forget that the film bears a lot of resemblance to Hollywood flick "Swordfish". If we replace the bank robbery episode in the latter with the mission to eliminate some baddies with the help of a techie to earn some technological leverage, we have "Arrambam".

Director Vishnuvardhan makes it a very stylish outing but he produces a very mediocre movie that reeks of heroism. He also makes the same mistake of compromising on content to do justice to the image of Ajith. He does everything to satisfy hardcore fans of the actor but fails to deliver a film everyone can root for.

Arya and Nayanthara play their respective parts well while Tapsee becomes irksome after a few minutes. Rana plays a decent cameo but talented actors such as Manoj and Atul are completely wasted. 

In some scenes we see Manoj mouthing dialogues in Hindi with Tamil translation but we also see him speaking in Tamil in a few instances. Are we supposed to infer that he can speak Tamil whenever he desires? The same is applicable to a few other characters as well.

Yuvan's music is a big letdown as not even a single track is hummable while the background score occasionally reminds one of "Billa". 

The cinematography by Om Prakash stands out but editor Sreekar Prasad could have cut it at least fifteen minutes short.

"Arrambam", which works solely on Ajith's charisma, can be watched for some well orchestrated action sequences.

Actual Review Link:
http://www.nowrunning.com/movie/13549/tamil/aarambam/4452/review.htm

Pandia Naadu Review from Now Running!

Rating:***

 
A grieving father conceals his happiness with an awkward smile when he comes to learn that the man responsible for his son's death is dead too. He silently walks into his room, breathes a sigh of relief and picks up his crying grandson and takes a stroll.

This is one of the most powerful scenes of "Pandiya Naadu", which unarguably is a better film compared to other two Diwali releases. It's a quintessential revenge drama supported by taut narration and wonderful performances.

Director Suseenthiran is known for his action flicks, and "Pandiya Naadu" is an actioner too, but it also has this genuine touching family angle included with a purpose. He cashes in on a strong family bond to narrate an engaging revenge story sans any commercial cliches.

Pandianadu Pictures   18 Pictures

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When the local don of Madurai kicks the bucket, war ensues between his two brothers for the position he has left behind. It's just a matter of time when one of the remaining brothers, Sharath Lohitashwa, emerges victorious in the battle to take over the empire.

Sharath runs several illegalbusinesses in the city and when an accident in his granite mining factory is leaked to media by a local government officer, he kills him. To avenge the death of the officer, his younger brother (Vishal) and father (Bharathiraja) set out to kill Sharath.

"Pandiya Naadu" has a very ordinary first half with a lot of focus on family drama and romance, but it takes a detour post-interval to give audiences an engaging climax. 

It steers away stereotypes and entertains with a very strong screenplay, while strong performances by the lead cast make the film one of the best in this genre.

The film is a winner because of Suseenthiran, who knows exactly how to use his craft and never let goes off an opportunity to pleasantly surprise the audience. 

He did it recently with "Aadhalal Kadhal Seiveer" and now repeated it with "Pandiya Naadu", which gives us a much needed face life to the genre. I loved the fact that he used the family tie to never strip the film off its emotional quotient, but use it poignantly to build an edge-of-the-seat narrative. Brilliant!

For the first time in his career Vishal has shed his action hero avatar, and it worked in his favour. To see a commercial actor sans heroism is a rarity in Tamil cinema nowadays, but Vishal stood by the change, which was the need of the hour. It was a welcome relief and helped audiences to instantly connect with his character in particular.

Casting is also the film's biggest strength. 

Veteran filmmaker Bharathiraja as the father is brilliant and his subtle relationship with Vishal stands out. He gives a knockout performance that makes you root for the actor in him. 

Vikranth makes a comeback with an impressive cameo, but wish we got to see more of him.

The amateurish style action is appropriate, much better than most exaggerated action sequences in several Tamil films. 

Madhie's cinematography is top class especially during the chase sequences, while Imman's tunes and background score was satisfying.

This festival weekend "Pandiya Naadu" is your best bet at the cinemas. It's a dark horse that gallops with pride.

http://www.nowrunning.com/movie/12771/tamil/pandianadu/4456/review.htm

"Velayudham" Highlights.

"Velayudham" Highlights:
1)Top Hollywood stunt master Tom Delmar choreographed an interesting fight with Vijay over a Train, helicopter trashes and train explosion.
2)The satellite rights were sold to JAYA TV for a price of 4crore.
3)Kerala Distribution Rights including Print & Publicity - 2.40Cr
4)100+ theatres simultaneous release in Kerala by Thameens Release. "VELAYUDHAM Gallery Click Here"