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Dev - Film Review

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Dev is a film about Meghna. Actually. There’s more “Meghna” in the film than Dev himself. Meghna is a young successful lady raised by a single mother. She doesn’t trust men due to her unsavoury childhood memories when her father deserted her. A classic case of rags to riches story, Meghna’s life is full of grit, determination and hard work for which she’s rewarded across the world while she runs a successful firm in the USA. That’s when she gets noticed by Dev, whose friends send her a Facebook request which she eventually doesn’t accept. After all, she has over 4,000 friend requests pending on her profile which she informs Dev when they meet for the first time. Dev impresses her over the course of time and they agree to live together all their life. For a frivolous reason, they get separated only to get back together on top of Mt. Everest, of all places. The film starts with Dev, a young man who’s fond of adventures trying to scale up the tallest peak on earth even as his is

Raja, Rajadhi Rajan inda Raja!

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Chinathai, aval petra Rajave, Mullil thondriya chinna rosaave! While there are so many songs composed by Maestro Illayaraja who celebrates his 76th Birthday today, my most loved one eulogising the legend is this song from Thalapathy sung by KS Chitra.  My abundant love for film music to which I've been addicted for over 4 decades is only because of Illayaraja's songs which I have grown listening to, all my life. So much so, that during my growing up years I had to have some music in the background for me to even study! Nothing much has changed even today - there's always background music even when I am working on something very important, while travelling driving and even when going to sleep. Over the years, I have collected hundreds of cassettes and later CDs and had downloaded thousands of songs during the last 20 years. In the past few years though, I have stopped downloading and have been listening to Music on the Go through apps such as Raaga, Gaana, Saav

Mr. Local - Film Review

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The much expected Sivakarthikeyan’s latest outing Mr. Local released on Friday, 17 th May 2019 amidst much hype and fanfare with 3 songs already being chartbusters over the past month or so. After a slam dunk that was his previous “Seemaraja”, fans and critics alike expected a super hit from the “Small Screen to Satyam” Hero who has had many credits over the past few years including his much acclaimed cross gender role in Mr. Remo. The Vijay Tv Mimicry artist rose to fame with Dhanush’s “3” Movie in 2011 and has seen a steady increase in his popularity, salary and of course Box Office RoI. He was acclaimed for his roles in films like Maan Karaate and Ethir Neechal as well as in comedies like Varuthapadada Vaalibar Sangam. But like with most heroes who hit a peak with 10 films, it’s been the same with SK being no exception who hasn’t been able to choose his roles carefully as he should. Perhaps. It was being rumored that the film crew led by SK wasn’t super impressed with the

Saamy 2 - Film Review

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Being a big fan of Saamy which released in 2004 starring Vikram and Trisha and having watched the film so many times and having become a big fan of the racy screenplay writer Hari, I was quite eager to watch Saamy 2. Various reasons and I skipped watching on the big screen and it finally landed up on OTT. During a travel, caught up some time and watched the movie in 2 instalments, thankfully.  From the word go, the movie was a disaster. Trisha is replaced by Aishwarya Rajesh briefly and plays the same character of Molagapodi which is down right disgusting to watch. I mean, why would the Director or how could he even fantasise this stupidity? There was no reason, really for that flashback. Perhaps he could have taken some scenes from the previous version and edited even badly which the audience would have accepted.  The film moves very slowly between Delhi, Dehradun, Tirunelveli, Sri Lanka and Airports. All key characters including Vikram, Keerthy Suresh, Prabhu and Bobby Simha

Charlie Chaplin 2 - Movie Review

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Charlie Chaplin 2 released in theatres in February 2019 and on SunNxt OTT App in March 2019. Loosely termed after the prequel starring the same combo of Prabhudeva and Prabhu, CC2 is supposed to be a comedy film with a message. While the second part is somewhat achieved, the former is a joke, really. Most of the scenes are neither comical nor funny; PD perhaps thought he can bring back his humour of the 90s and fails miserably at that. His makeup is shoddy and doesn’t suit his character’s age one bit. Prabhu tries hard to be funny but ends up being funny.   Nikhi Galrani is the glamour doll of the film although carries the film well and sincerely. Adah Sharma appears briefly but has performed her scenes well. Music is a disaster overall, save for the Chinna Machan song sung by Senthil Ganesh and his wife, which were showcased on Tv and YouTube long before the film’s release and went on to become a chartbuster on Radio and Music Apps. I am not going to reveal the story of th

Sarvam Thaala Mayam - Movie Review

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There have been many films about Music. But STM is a very special one for me, being a trained Mridangam player since the age of 7. That I discontinued my learning of the art over Class 10 exams is partly fate, mostly stupidity as I not sure how much the Geography, Chemistry Lab tests and Integers that I prepared for the exams have helped me today or in life. But that’s for another post. Ace Director Rajiv Menon is back after two decades with STM, a dedication to the art and the artists in a very earnest way. Interestingly, through one of my Consulting Assignments, I happened to meet Rajiv two years back when I heard the script from him and was awed not just by what he had conceived but by the sheer storytelling as well. When I watched the movie on Netflix on my iPad aboard Shatabdi to Chennai a few days back, I was able to recollect every scene and with the same vigour and detailing with which I heard the story before. Hats off to this Director who’s style of Storytelling is top notc

Petta - Fanboy moments

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Most of you who’ve seen Petta can resonate with many of Superstar’s movies over the past 40 years. Some are quite obvious, some are hidden gems. Am listing my few favourites here. The film starts with Thalaivar uttering the first dialogue - “Naan Veezhven endru ninaithayo!”. I could immediately connect with the opening scene of Muthu where he wishes the best for everyone, breaks the coconut and just when the horses scream - “Oruvan Oruvan Mudalali” song begins. Am sure Karthik Subburaj had this inspiration as well. All the more for Petta, since Kabali and Kaala were not up to the expectations of his hardcore fans, so KS had to ensure not only he delivers a blockbuster but also make Thalaivar say this dialogue, which is also something he openly mentioned in the 150th day celebrations of Chandramukhi where he mentioned he is not an Elephant, rather a horse and would get up just like that. Whattay fanboy moment when the film begins! The sarcasm that Kaali, the hostel warde