Thoughtless Thoughts....

It’s been months since I made a solid and original post here which is non-filmi. Thoughts are locked in a heavy box and still searching for the key. Shaking the box had a few them spilling out and here they are....

• Airtel barred my outgoing calls few days back. Calling customer care on 121 said my outgoing has been barred for non-payment. Surprised at this (my ECS payment was already taken for the month) I called up customer care from landline. Then I learnt the real reason. My team mate had lost her mobile and to call customer care she used my mobile in the morning. After asking her for all details that is as good as getting her whole bio data, the "extra intelligent" customer care representative had barred calls for my number instead of hers. Then what? After some nice talks, they had to activate my outgoing in an hour...

• The greatest entertainment channel Doordarshan Chennai aka Podhigai, after its innovative ideas like solo teacher teaching in an empty classroom, music band of bunch of school kids with kitchen wares as instruments, cooking competition where the cooked dish occupies screen background... uff... let me stop... Has come up with new idea of a Quiz show for housewives(or house paatis) called "Aasai Dosai". The team names are Onion Rava, Special Saadha and Masala :O The show is more like maamis arattai in veetu thinnai on an afternoon with no professionalism. No editing nothing. Paricipants talk haphazardly to the host and between themselves after answering the "questions"(!!!) Couldn't bear for even 5 minutes so channel shift :P

• This dance show called Maanada Mayilada in Kalignar TV is good. I watch a whole bunch of "reality" dance shows like Jodi No. 1, Aatam paatam, Chak De Bache, Yeh Hai Jalwa etc. just because I love watching people dance. But this show is something different, in the sense, the choreography and sets are really good and most participants are good dancers rather than popular TV stars. Also there is no tear jerking emotional scenes or fights between participants and judges followed by a suya puraanam singing by the judge. The show is purely for dance, dance and nothing else. 2 and half hours a week seems like too much with almost an hour gone in ads, but the show is worth a watch.

• Traveling in Chennai buses has become more of a comfortable experience than a painful torture as it was before. With lots of new buses (still the green color devils are roaming for shorter routes) and routes covering whole length and breadth of Chennai, traveling has become faster and easier. And paying more charge in deluxe buses has at least the benefit of a courteous conductor, even though you don't get a seat. :P Still waiting for a chance to try out the AC buses zooming across Mount Road.

Kuruvi - The Movie Review

Banner: Red Giant Movies

Produced by: Udhayanidhi Stalin

Directed by: Dharani

Music: Vidhyasagar

Cast: Vijay, Trisha, Vivek, Suman, Manivannan, Ashish Vidhyarthi

Kuruvi, one of the biggest releases of this summer, had lot of expectations with the comeback of Ghilli team and with Dharani promising something more than Ghilli. Truth is, the film just lives upto the name of an average commercial entertainer. Dharani who made the best ever remake in Ghilli and made us enjoy Dhil and Dhool has stopped with a half baked effort this time and has let Vijay carry the film for him.

Vetrivel(Vijay), living with his huge family in Chennai goes to Malaysia as “Kuruvi” along with his friend Ops(Vivek) to get a pending payment from Gocha(Suman) and clear off his family debts. There he finds himself betrayed and in the chase for Gocha, he ends up getting his sister Devi (Trisha) fall in love with him. Vetrivel and Ops return to India stealing a diamond from Gocha along with Devi who elopes in search of her Kuruvi. Gocha comes to India in search of the diamond, finds Vetrivel and reveals lots of hidden secrets about the whereabouts of Vetrivel’s father who is considered as missing by the family. The rest of the film is about how Vetrivel wins over Gocha and his aides to save his father and how Trisha unites with her Kuruvi.

The director moves the film in right direction till the end of first half. Thereafter, in his quest to project Vijay as a super (natural??!!) hero and satisfy the die hard fans of Vijay, Dharani has taken painful efforts to the let the screenplay move carelessly, drenched in blood and gore with lots of spicy masala thrown in.

Considering this is an action film, action sequences are surprisingly the main drawbacks of the film, barring a well composed club fight in the first half. Many stunts are unbelievably overdone with poor visual effects aimed at only projecting the super hero power, ultimately evoking from the viewer a totally different reaction than what it is supposed to do.

Songs have been shot well, choreography in Dandaana Darna and Mozha Mozhanu song is a treat for eyes. Vidhyasagar's background score too is impressive. Gopinath's camera work, VT Vijayan's editing and Maniraj's art direction does an awesome threesome magic for the film. Scenes shot in Malaysia and the rusty look of second half deserve special mention.

Vijay is at his usual best in dance, action, comedy and expressions. He has handled the whole second half by himself where director has taken a back seat adding less value to the film. The extremely over the top punches and one sided fight sequences may go down well with the die hard Vijay fans but for the normal audience, a feel of boredom creeps up after a point.

Trisha has performed her role well, acts vibrant, looks cute and shares an excellent chemistry with Vijay in scenes and songs. Vivek in first half is a major advantage for the film and does a great job as Vijay's friend. You miss him in the second half where expect a couple of songs and few lighter moments, all you get to see is violence. Suman and Aasish Vidhyarthi as villans are just fine while other villains deafen you most of the time. The supporting cast of the film has done a very good job, Saranya, Manivannan and the small kid in the quarry being noteworthy mentions.

The content and the edge-of-the-seat excitement of Ghilli is surely missing in Kuruvi, but even if you forget Ghilli and look at Kuruvi as a normal entertainer, there is a serious lack of director's work and only Vijay remains in the film. Lifted scenes/ideas from other films, unwise packaging of fun filled first half and fan desired second half and a loose story line are Dharani's major mistakes in Kuruvi. Better luck next time Dharani!

Overall Rating: 5/10

Verdict: Kuruvi - Flying with limits and limitations