Madrasapattinam

A wonderful movie; beautifully pictured and well scripted. Above all I loved the characters and the entire story. One might find striking similarities to the Bollywood movie Lagaan in the song sequences and costumes. There are some striking resemblances in the plot to the Hollywood movie Titanic as well. Even though there exists these comparable factors, the movie is unique in its style and flow.

The cast includes Arya, Amy Jackson, and Cochin Haneefa in the leading roles. Arya's looks portraying the hero from the early 19th century is convincing enough and so are all other character's makeup and mannerisms. The director, A.L. Vijay has done a wonderful job. The putting together of the old Madrasapattanam and today's Chennai is marvelous. The music is by G.V. Prakash Kumar. There are melodies and spirited songs in the movie. The theme music is beautiful and plays in the background throughout many sequences. The movie is the soft love story of a rural illiterate man and a British girl, during the British rule in India. It shows the steady progress of how they like each other, communicate, sacrifice, and live and die in love. The director has been successful in blending together history and an interesting love story in equal proportions. Had it been in different ratios, the aftereffect would not have been this wonderful.

Raavanan

Last week I watched the movie Ravanan (Tamil). Though I wanted to watch the Hindi version due to lack of ability to understand Tamil, I really thought that watching Vikram as Ravan was better than watching Abhishek in the same role.

The movie, as everybody knows is highly visually appealing. Based on The Ramayana, the story is set in the modern day where Dev is an encounter specialist and Ragini, his wife. He sets out to capture Vira, who is a tribal Robinhood, and in the process, series of events lead up to the death of Vira's sister. Enraged Vira kidnaps Ragini and then the actual Ramayana starts. The movie brilliantly portrays the silent feelings of Vira and Ragini for each other.

The story line is very thin but yes, you really watch it to see the beauty of the shots. Vikram does portray a strong character and so does Aishwarya. Prithviraj looks good has definitely done a lot of homework and hard work for the character.

A one time worth watch at the theater for its visual treat!

Saroja

I am not a person who watches a lot of Tamil movies. It is because I have a hard time understanding Tamil. If the movie has subtitles then I am eager to watch.

Yesterday I watched the movie 'Saroja'. In one sentence - a good entertainer. It can be termed as a comedy thriller movie and does live up to expectations. Directed by Venkat Prabhu, the movie is a story of four friends, a kidnap, and an escape. Four friends who set out to watch a cricket match get lost on the way and end up an factory area where a businessman's daughter is kidnapped and kept by some gangsters. The rest of the movie shows how the friends try to get out of the place unnoticed and save the girl as well. In the process, there are several comic incidents and dialogues very much in sync with the situation.

The events leading up to the main plot is shown in the first half hour. As the main plot is reached, the whole events take place during one night. It is pretty quick and thrilling. I didn't find anything too dramatic in the movie. Though it is said that the movie is based on a Hollywood movie, the change is perfect to the South Indian setting. Nothing seemed out of place.

Jayaram plays the role of a cop who investigates the case of the kidnap and Prakash Raj is the businessman whose daughter is kidnapped. Till the end of the movie I kept wondering how could Jayaram have such an unnoticed role in a movie. It is towards the end you know why it is so. There are more people to be mentioned like Sampath, Kajal, Nikita, and so on.

All in all, I like the movie. Worth watching once. Has all the required elements.