In these three years since the release of Veyil ,I met Vasantha Balan thrice and I tried to ask him about the Movie Angadi Theru.But he always sounded low and he always projected what he was not.Last time when I met him in  “Paa “ screening,  I told him about the “Kathailagai pesum “ song from AngadiTheru and I could really see his face getting brighter.He should have been very energetic about this creation.I don’t know why this movie was delayed but this movie had come in the right time for Tamil Cinema.After repeatedly hearing the movie’s songs for nearly eight months I couldn’t wait to watch the movie though I was expecting a emotional ride for two hours.I bow to Vasanthabalan’s original and brave attempt Angadi theru for its realism and sensation.

It’s a heavy walk in Angadi theru,its about two sales people who fell in love amidst the inhuman work culture and treatment at a TNagar Super store .The film is inspired from a popular TNagar store which was in news for its brutal treatment of its employees and customers.The love blossoms in a place where even speaking with Opposite sex is treated so ruthlessly. Sexual harassment,Poverty,Exploitation and the crowd of TNagar ,Movie moves forward true to the core and it just makes you feel heavy.Ends so poetically with out a compromise ,Angadi Theru is one fine movie for its splendid scripting and Razor sharp writing.

Vasanthabalan’s sincerity is totally admirable.He just puts forward a brave attempt in portraying the mores and episodes of the poor sales people of how they live and how they move around the city .In a place where survival is a mandatory with out a compromise ,emotions gets shared with true intentions also but it gets  seen as a crime  .Intensity runs high from the very beginning and at the beginning I feltVasanthabalan is trying to push the emotions towards us,but in the ride I was able to see the research and home work he had done to script this.There isn’t a much of a intelligent story but the screenplay of the movie is crafted so brilliantly that it can match any of the great screenplays told before.We know which store Director is mentioning about but he has taken lots of pain and exertion to draw inspiration to bring it in celluloid.

Told in flashback Angadi theru is a much refined movie than Veyil ,it carries enormous amount of pain than Veyil.It has much darker side to portray than Veyil,Its need not be compared with Veyil but It’s a movie with some gripping moments and touching incidents.Anjali( Katrathu Tamil ) who plays Kanihas had a revelation of performance ,she is totally soaked up in the character and for sure she is a actress to watch out for ,Her performance will win glory for the movie.Mahesh portrays typical sales guy ,a lover boy how he fights against his fate.Fantastic performance for a debutant.Brilliantly performed, every character has a very unique performance.

Jayamohan has penned his best work atlast in movies, societal concerned, self sympathized, verbiage which just moves your mind and heart when you are inside the hall.The scene before the interval is a classic example of the intelligent writing and direction.Music is a strength to the movie,I know many wouldn’t have heard all the songs,I recommend all the songs of the movies.One of the best in recent past.So beautifully shot and poetically performed.Camera of Richard M Nathan gives your mind a feel that you are in Renganathan street.One of the best works by all means.

Angadi theru is a movie which has lots of pain and I was prepared for the heavy ride but I didn’t expect that I would be totally moved by this creator’s work. This would go as one of the best movies in the recent past and Vasanthabalan arrives here truly than in Veyil .Go for this to watch the real life of the sales people who smiles at you when you buy a TShirt or saree. VasanthaBalan should make a light hearted movie next time.This is a wish from a fan.I know you would be reading this.

Rating : ****

Love stories in cinema are immortal and Tamil movies had its golden moments with some time-less love stories.Gautham Menon usually gives love stories as passing plots which always have added magic in his movies .When this guy wanted to direct a full length light heart Love story there has to be a difference.And surprisingly there is difference in the way of outlook how we see the movie.VTV is not about the love alone its about two different characters of whom we get to see their moments after falling in love for each other.Vinnaithandi Varuvaya is a poetic name and the movie goes by its name.It can not be called as a Master Piece of Gautham but definitely I was much satisfied than Varanam Ayiram.

Gautham Menon’s love with Mechanical Engineering ,church marriages ,one liners continues.But definitely this time much intimate and closer to his heart.Karthik a Mechanical Engineering graduate an aspiring director falls in love with Jessy ,an IT professional.Jessy likes Karthik but she hesitates to accept because of her parents.At one point she expresses her interest and they wait for things to happen in their family.Jessy moves away from Karthik for no reason when she find nothing improving in her family.Jessy moves out of India and Karthik learns that she is married.Karthik meets his Jessy back after years and its nostalgic and definitive for the story.

Gautham  makes a candid approach some thing which can be closer to Mouna Ragam,Before sunrise .He plays his game with two characters.He lets them  cry ,laugh,long,speak and go on their ways.Their dreams are bigger ,but their love stands tall in between them.Gautham puts across a very realistic dialogues here.I would really accept, this gives the movie the realistic look.Its not all a movie touch to romance here,There is no gundas,they decide on their fate and Gautham uses Emotions as characters here to move his plot.Its more of conversation perceptibly intimate on their love,dreams and their life ahead.Any one would have their own moments because its easily relatable.This movie just makes Gautham’s writing skill to get noted than his direction.

Simbu plays his best character of his life time and he is smart .Every frame is apparent that he wants to break from his usual roles.He takes up this character so seriously and he has displayed enormous amount of maturity as an actor in his performance,Modulation,Body language.Trisha is a finest exhibition of intelligence,enigma and beauty.The character itself is a mystery and Trisha has perfected it so beautifully and had read the lines from Gautham’s mind so well.There aren’t much of support characters but Ganesh as friend of Simbu provides the humor through his outlook on Simbu’s behavior.

AR.Rahman with Gautham and Thamarai is definitely not a ordinary affair.Three of them wants the best and they provide their magic in their own ways.Aromale defines the mood of the movie and it plays as a haunting ballad throughout.Manoj camera is another character in the movie.It just brings the whole mood and tone to the emotions of Karthik and Jessy.The camera more than being fresh it tries to be  very earnest to the script and it adds up beauty to the movie.

The end may not be conventional and any relation which had lots of questions has to end mysteriously or unconventionally.Gautham has been brave to tell this script because if you think back there isnt much of twist or a big tale to tell.He had the faith on his writing and he has done it with style.This wouldn’t go as one of the greatest but definitely a fresh way of looking in to romance in our space.The movie in the second half breaks away badly in to patches with Karthik’s dream and a romance but it had to be told other wise it would have been just a conversational affair.Gautham didn’t make this movie with scenes rather he has trusted so much on his simple dialogues and performances which I liked.For sure VTV doesn’t have great dialogues but it goes as the day to day conversation of two people who are madly in love.

VTV is sleek,realistic,expressive and it would be loved by many for its simplicity.A definite watch !

Rating : ***1/2

My friend is pissed off with my pronunciation on the word Ishqiya ,some how the movie was postponed on a other friends request for watching together.All set when we tried the tickets we had to run theatre to theatre for seats.I regret of not watching it on the first day.Ishqiya will be the best movie of the year (though very early to comment ) for its superlative screenplay and the culture.Great directors bring culture to their presentation and make the movie a history,Quentin Tarantino does that often.Vishal Bharadwaj should be very proud of his assistant Abishek chaubey on his maiden venture and first it was Vishal’s Kaminey and now his script Ishqiya turning out as the finest in the recent times.

Ishqiya is a complex matrix of love and betrayal,Mafia .Set in Eastern uttarpradesh the movie moves around two individuals Khalujan (Nasurudeen shah ) and Bebbon (Arshad Warsi ) who run from their boses carrying his money and reach Krishna (Vidhyabalan) whose husband ,the duo’s old friend who gets killed in a fire accident.Krishna gets in to the hearts of both and it’s a war between love and lust for them.Krishna has a plan for both of them about escaping from their bosses through kidnapping local millionaire.Its gets complex and every body points gun on each other till the hide and seek is out.

Abishek Chaubey has to be applauded for bringing frivolous approach to filmmaking,he has a fresh way of telling things with a dark humour and intensity.He brings the cult culture and the flavour of UP in a unmatching style.This style of story telling is completely new to Indian cinema ,we have seen with Quentin Tarantino or Butch Cassidy and sundrance kid,There are traces of them also but we cant call it off completely as there is a clear inspiration of telling a fresh movie !Ishqiya needs real skill for scripting and Vishal has become the most wanted in Indian cinema nowadays.This movie just proves why he has regarded as the finest movie maker in India.Screenplay builds the pace and it never fades away.Every aspect of Uttarpradesh gets in very aptly and it’s a real mastery the team has made a fantastic presentation on that.

If there is script and direction which gave the style and intensity ,the performances makes this movie one of the finest movie of recent times.Vidhya Balan is having a dream run,she is cunning ,seductive, expressive and brilliant.She makes the life of the duo in trouble and then puts them on the track .She runs the show for Ishqiya,I doubt any one would have done as brilliant as Vidhya.Its a amazing three performances ,Naserudeenshah goes underplayed intentionally for his age and character,Arshad throws away his lust on Vidhya in a very funny way .The three gives the humor for the movie too .

The fact this movie is dark but it remains as a clear and well crafted movie.There are amazing supporting charactes which give stability to the movie and the importance of the supporting characters and their dialogues are given greater evidence like in Kaminey.Ishqiya remain stylish and it puts the rural background for its culture and captures the urban practices.There are handpicked old Hindi songs which gets involved in the movie and travels along the characters.Music is out of the world.Dil to Bacha hai ji is getting in to my nerve and I am getting hooked.

If Gulzar,Vishal,Abishek team gives one movie a year ,It would definitely cheer the fans.We have great director in making with Abishek Chaubey .Raja san writes” If VB is the equivalent of Quentin Tarantino in Hindi cinema, safe to say with Chaubey, we have a Robert Rodriguez in the making.”and that’s 100% true

I always wanted to have a carrer in sales.When I first joined sales I never thought I would get in to a new life style of Sales jargoans.When you are new to the field ,the first day would be the most exciting and horrifying day in a sales career.No sales person is the same ,they are unique and every sales person teach you a different ways to sell yourself and your product.In typical direct sales most of the time your product doesn’t sell but you who gets sold.Thats when customers become loyal.Jaideep Sahni and Shimit Amin takes the clue from this one line to make a movie with the extremely talented Ranbir Kapoor.They succeed too with their not so fancy ,simple story.

Harpreet singh is the Rocket singh sales man of the year.A average mark guy who gets in to computer sales ,not with standing the illegal ,unofficial trades of SALES PITCH ,gets kicked by his boss and fellow collegues.Harpreet never wanted to go in the wrong way works on a decision to sell computer on his own taking the lead from some of his collegues who are good to him.Singh makes his collegues as partners and the new company Rocket sales corpn becomes a sensation ,They fight out with the competitions sitting inside the workspace of the competitor.

One day Ranbir would get a movie which would tell why he is so much hyped about.Rocket singh is just one another step to reach that point.He has matured well with in a year and he is continuously in visibility but still able to show variants.This movie gives him not the funny guy but a serious ,ambitious guy who believes in values and loves his grandfather.He has let out an extremely outstanding performance. We have some interesting characters in the movie ,Giri(D Santhosh) the Porn loving service engineer,Nitesh the Manager who drives the sales men crazy and the Koena( Gauhar Khan) the perfect receptionist .The movie some times looks very much restricted because it happens only at a small office.

It’s a very straight simple story which just tells the war of values between a Boss and employee .But it gets straight and interesting only because of screenplay and performance.Movie might not thrill you or engage you like Shimit Amin’s other movies but sure you will love this movie for its simplicity though there are logical flaws.Ranbir builds the movie and the rest of the characters over take Ranbir in the midway and finally it becomes a director’s climax.

Some times after you have achieved a lot in your career ,you give options for others to experiment in you! Its like grandfather lending his time and patience for his grandchildren.Amitabh has nothing to prove for himself .But if he has to take one movie in which you wouldn’t see BIG-B as Amitabh is Paa.Because Paa is a director’s movie and Paa goes as the finest experimentation done by Balki with Amitabh which succeeds as a gentle breeze.This movie brings the 60+ actor in a completely surprising performance !

Paa ( Which should have been named Maa) tells the story of 12 year old kid Auro who is affected by Progeria who was born due to a love tale between Vidhya and Amol Arte .Vidhya goes away from Amol for his selfish stance about having child.Thirteen years later Amol a MP , meets his son in a school function .

Its not difficult to enter in to the world of 12 yr old Auro who is affected by Progeria .He is sharp,witty,emotional,funny,naughty and serious too.He has question and comments like the normal kids of his age.Every body are good with Auro and every body takes care of him ,they are conscious of what they are doing when Auro is near them.It makes comfortably ride with Auro ,not introspecting much in to his inner feelings.Not even a second, You can even find the shades of Amitabh in the whole movie.The whole episode brings a simple ,moving presentation of a human being. You will some of the best humorous scenes in the recent past in this movie when Auro discusses with his friend and when his friend compares himself with his dad. Absolute price less fun and you would not seen such a sharp dialogues in the recent past.

Movie is engaging for its sharp,humorous dialogues and performances.The acting matches the writing.Abishek’s role has some dramatic scenes involved but can be excused considering the whole presentation’s quality. The movie fantastically depicts the relationship between a mother and kid .It just takes the peek inside the difficulties of a single mother in raising a kid who is affected by serious disease. There is one scene where Vidhya’s Mom tells Abishek on why she is very adamant” Raising a kid single handedly makes a woman strong”.VidhyaBalan could not get a better role than this and she has lived to the character which Balki dreamt of.Its not at easy to look and emote like a Mother of a 13 year old but Vidhya has swept it away with such a brilliance.

Paresh Rawal is such a natural actor that he can impress you even with a single minute of his appearance. He plays the caring father, Veteran politician, Mentor in the movie one of the very well written roles of the movie.I expected the full version of the Ghum sum song in the movie but sadly it became a bit song.BGM of the movie is grand and it makes us understand why Balki wanted only Ilayaraja to compose for him.

Looking at the camera you can see who is the Godfather of modern day camera of Indian cinema.Camera is so fresh and it just picks the mood at the right moments.Balki has given a fantastic emotional and rightly paced movie which makes a wonderful watch.Go for it !

Rating :***1/2