Karthik's Blog

Starring Raima Sen, Konkona Sen Sharma, Arunodoy Singh, Rajpal Yadav, Shreyas Talpade, Sushant Singh, Shahana Goswami, Prem Chopra, Boman Irani.

Arunoday Singh plays the role of a struggling film maker Maanav. His girlfriend Ruchi (Shahana Goswami) introduces him to Nitin (Sushant Singh), a Film Producer to consider a script on a serious theme. Considering commercial viability, Maanav creatively comes up with four stories based on Panchatantra dealing with woman infidelity.

Raima Sen and Konkana Sen Sharma play the role of sexually liberated wives in two stories each. First half of the movie is shot in ancient cultural setting. Second half covers today’s modern life. While the first half has good amount of Mirch in both the stories, the second half is just mildly spiced. All the four stories revolve around a common theme. Husbands catch their wives red handed, and the wives easily manage the situation and come out of it scot-free.

Performances by Raima Sen and Konkana Sen Sharma is commendable. All others dont have much of role, and have done a decent job. Music supports the movie well. Kare Kare Badara sung by Shankar Mahadevan, captures the mood at various points in the movie. The movie is funny, witty, and makes you ponder with deeper meanings associated with Panchtantra tread. Its a one time watch on TV

Do not, I repeat, do not watch TRON: LEGACY until after you’ve seen the original 1982 movie first because if you think you’re just going to waltz in and watch this movie without any knowledge of the grid or recognizer or what the characters are about, then you’re taking a big risk, you’ll be in for the confusion of your lifetime. Because when it comes down to it, as much as director Joseph Kosinski and team try to make this as relevant as possible, the fact remains that TRON: LEGACY is a movie just for Tron fans. The story is a continuation, you’ll have a hard time following if you have no idea what happened previously. Ok, on to my review of what I’d like to call a techno-visual orgy.

Sam Flynn (Hedlund), a rebellious 27-year-old, is haunted by the mysterious disappearance of his father Kevin Flynn (Bridges), a man once known as the world’s leading video-game developer. When Sam investigates a strange signal sent from the old Flynn’s Arcade — a signal that could only come from his father– he finds himself pulled into a digital world where Kevin has been trapped for 20 years. With the help of the fearless warrior Quorra (Wilde), father and son embark on a life-or-death journey across a cyber universe — a universe created by Kevin himself that has become far more advanced with vehicles, weapons, landscapes and a ruthless villain who will stop at nothing to prevent their escape.

TRON: LEGACY is gorgeous. I feel more stimulated by this visual than I did with Avatar last year. TRON: LEGACY looks so stunning, it practically invites you to make love to it. The environment is faithful to the original film but it’s amplified to tenth degree. The terrain looks more real, the grid looks more fascinating. Don’t even get me started on the disc and lightcycle battles, quite possibly the highlight of the entire movie watching experience. They excite your senses,..If you can see or hear, boy has TRON: LEGACY got a show for you! By the way, you do not wanna miss out on the lightcycle race it’s more complex this time around, more than just making a maze and getting your opponent to hit the wall, this game is more advanced, it has more twists and turns. Absolutely thrilling.

Once again, it’s a movie for the fans, so it’s very nostalgic. The 80s music at Flynn’s Arcade, the jargons, they even keep Flynn’s office just the way it was in the first film but this time it’s got spiderweb all over it because it’s been abandoned for years. I think Kosinski made the right decision by involving Daft Punk to do the music, not only does their cameo attract younger audiences, but the mix of their electronic style with orchestral work also compliments the film. Their soundtrack is one of the best I’ve heard this year.

Let’s talk about the performances shall we. Jeff Bridges is terrific, but then again, he’s terrific in all that he does. He’s returned as Flynn and just like how he was 27 years ago, Bridges plays it cool and chill, the only difference is that his character is much older now and the story has him worrying at times for his son, for the mistakes of the past, he’s constantly haunted by it.. but don’t worry.. Bridges ‘The Dude’ attitude is still intact, Flynn would once in a while say something along the line of ‘you’re messing with my jazz man!’ I love Olivia Wilde in this film, not because she’s a great actress but because as Flynn’s apprentice Quorra, Wilde is just such a doll, her childlike personality is hard to resist. She’s naive, gullible, always eager to learn and incredibly faithful. Gotta give some credit to Michael Sheen. For those few moments, he’s downright amusing. Sheen is engaging, he’s energetic and he has this unbelievable range of showmanship. His character unfortunately is generic, Castor/Zuse is a successful businessman with a hidden selfish agenda. I think Garrett Hedlund could sharpen his acting skills a bit but for the most part he does his job. Sam Flynn is rebellious, angry, impatient and stubborn. Unfortunately Hedlund does sound like an actor who says his line as if he’s reading the script, there’s hardly any natural flow to it.

I wish I could give the perfect grade to TRON: LEGACY but the movie is nowhere near perfect,.. I’m gonna try my best not to give any Spoiler here either..

It’s one of those movies that start out strong and it goes steady but halfway through the end it loses steam. It has all this great visual extravaganza, 3D FX, and cinematic set pieces but the action sequences in the 2nd part of the film aren’t as elaborate and as creative as the first part, at one point it’s even reminiscent of a particular scene in Iron Man which ironically also starred Bridges.

I can’t stand CLU’s digital face. I’m aware that technology may not be advanced enough to give us a believable young Jeff Bridges, perhaps this is the best they could do.. but that Polar Express-ish creepy face just doesn’t work for me.

The story is basically a rescue mission meets father and son drama. The original Tron had more emphasis on programs, users, all the technical jargons,heriosm. This sequel however only has those elements to a certain point, because it’s more drama, once again I don’t necessarily think it hurts the movie bad but.. if it doesn’t resonate well with the fans, I can definitely understand why. Keep in mind that the title itself clearly says TRON:.. LEGACY, the word ‘legacy’ should give you an idea that the father and son aspect would have to get more spotlight. Even the hero of the first film, Tron, doesn’t get as much screen time and in this installment, he’s not quite the character you remember and would root for either.

Clearly the writers are geeks who love Star Wars and that’s ok because hey, I’m a Star Wars fan too but it just goes back to that whole lack of creativity I mentioned earlier about the last half of this movie. At one point, TRON: LEGACY even wants to somewhat appear like Attack Of The Clones. So overall, I do believe TRON: LEGACY is an entertaining movie, an eye candy, a sequel that speaks to its fans..but it has just as much greatness as it does its weakness. I think some of its elements will disappoint some fans and it doesn’t do enough to reach out to today’s audience.

With Black Swan, Aronofsky has hit the bull’s eye yet again. Very rarely will a movie have a author backed role for the lead actress banking on her histrionics to pull it off. Black Swan is one such film and Nalaie Portman has put her best foot forward.

The story is set in the ballet world of New York city, where a much acclaimed company is on the verge of rolling out their first production for the new season, Swan lake. Natalie portman plays Nina Sayers, a very hardworking and sincere ballerina in the troupe, who lives with her obsessive and control-freak former ballerina mother, Erica (Hershey).

The charismatic Vincent Cassel plays the role of Thomas Leroy, the director of the show, who decides to replace the prime ballerina, Beth played brilliantly by Winona Ryder, as the new swan queen for the forthcoming season amidst much competition between the contemporaries. The part goes to Natalie Portman and there kicks off a exhilarating journey with a rival in her way in the form of Lily played by Mila kunis.

The Swan queen has to play both the parts, of white and black swan with equal élan. Nina, who is very comfortable in pulling off the part of the white Swan because of her disciplined nature, struggles with black swan’s role much to the dismay of the director of the show, Thomas. The part requires the sensual side of Nina to take control and she begins to ask herself whether she would be able to pull it off and fulfill her dream. For a good observer, it wouldn’t be a difficult task to find out where the story is heading towards, but the way the story unfolds keeps you on the edge.

Natalie portman as Nina Sayer is fabulous. She is one actress who has always been different from contemporaries of her age in terms of her choice of roles. After playing a innocent girl in V for vendetta and a stripper in Closer, she gets a meaty role to showcase her full potential as a girl in conflict with herself. It would be a shame if she doesn’t get an Oscar for Black Swan. Vincent Cassel is in fine form too in the role of the director who wants the best out of his lead dancer at any cost. Look out for the scene in which he urges Nina to seduce him in order to perfect the part of Black Swan.

Hershey as Natalie’s over possessive mother has done her part well, Mila Kunis is at her sensual best, especially in the conversation that takes place between her and Natalie after she turns up late for practise. I would say that it is one of the most wittiest line in the movie. Winona Ryder has played her small role brilliantly with all the anger and insecurity of losing the role of Swan queen. She has delivered a very honest performance. The scene in which she swears at Natalie is noteworthy. However,I have to admit that it felt sad to see the once-most-stunningly-beautiful-woman looking much older in this movie.

Moving on to the technical aspects of the movie, Clint Manshell is once again in full form and delivers beautiful background score to leave you engrossed with the mood of the movie. Matthew Libatique’s cinematography is stunning and captures the world of ballet dancers and their lives. His camera angles in showing the moods of the character are outstanding. Screenplay by Mark Heyman,Andres Heinzand and John J. McLaughlin deserve a special mention as it held the story together in giving us a taut thriller. Even the make up in the movie is top notch.

Aronofsky is at his usual best and has given one of the best movies of 2010. Natalie Portman will be one of the Oscar candidates for this year along with Christian bale in best supporting actor for The fighter, unless the Oscar jury make a mess of it.

All in all Black Swan is a interesting character study and yet another master piece from the Darren Aronofsky. Not to be missed.

Its a bold subject yet again. This time its about dealing with emotions in different relationships (personal and professional) & director has handled it to near perfection. The movie is all about the tough challenges faced by Karthik, a wanna-be wildlife photographer & how his wife Yamini makes his dreams come true. The director needs to be appreciated for making the female lead role a real powerful one.

Dhanush as Karthik has moved to the next level in terms of his acting skills. The heroine’s (Richa as Yamini) expressions might often remind you of Sonia Agarwal in 7G (a blank, bland face without expressions), but her performance towards the climax clearly overshadows the reminder. Portrayal of Dhanush’s friends, “dream father” – everything is splendid.

Pretty slow & non-gripping screenplay, but credits to director for not budging to commercial elements (like comedy track etc). GVP’s background score is good, though it reminds of Yuvan & tunes from Hindi movie song. “Silence” has been provided at appropriate places! Cinematography could have been far better. Songs that are already topping the charts, are treat to watch.

A lot of “typical stuff” in the movie – Hero / Heroine portrayal, kind of controversial scenes, picturization of songs, hero’s dance steps – despite all these, Selvaraghavan has presented a neat movie.

In comparison with his previous movies (Aayirathil Oruvan being my favourite pick), this movie might slightly let you down – nevertheless I liked the movie.

I would not have been surprized if the title was “Yamini” as against “Mayakkam Enna”. I would rate this 3 on 5 considering that Selvaraghavan could have used his technicians far better.

Mayakkam Enna: Selvaraghavan fans-ku saravedi, mathavanga “Osthe”-ku get ready!

Coen brothers following generics of the Old-American Western brings out a much different True Grit , than the 1969 classic. It is not experimental , it doesn’t have energetic cinematic styles and it is not Coen. No, please don’t make films with No Country of Old Men type hype and hoopla to attract the Academy, you’re better than that. Definitely.

Ever since Tom Hanks has scaled down his work over the last few years, there has been a steady brigade of younger stars who have been clamoring for the audience’ attention. This list has some well known names like Depp, DiCaprio, Bale and a few others who have not only cranked out an enviable list of summer blockbusters, but also have kept themselves in the awards radar as well.

The Fighter is the story of one of the sons of the ‘Fighting Irish’, Mickey Ward, and traces his rise through the ranks of relative obscurity to become a World Welterweight Champion. As much as it is about Mickey Ward, the movie is also a window into the relationship between Mickey and his elder (half)brother Richard Eklund.

Since the story and the ending are quite well known/remembered (Ward retired as recently as 2003), the movie aptly chooses to concentrate on the relationship between Ward and Dicky, and in general, between Ward and his family. While the first 15-20 minutes of the movie is quite exasperating, the movie picks up momentum from the moment Amy Adams’ Charlene joins the complex puzzle that is the relationship between Mickey and Dicky.

While Mark Wahlberg is not new to the old ploy of a supporting character leaving the most lasting impression on the audience (he did exactly that in The Departed), this time around its Christian Bale. Apart from the (now usual) drastic physical transformation (nowhere close to the shocker in The Machinist), Bale has completely removed his Batman hangover from not only his voice, but also in his mannerisms and his nuanced expressions at many instances. The best piece of Bale’s prowess comes through when the HBO documentary is being screened in the prison. It is just amazing that this guy has so much talent but still gives turkeys such as the last Terminator movie. In my mind, I think this year’s Oscar for the Best Supporting Role will be a no brainer with Bale winning it with a mile to spare.

If you want to catch up on a well made film with some knockout performances from its frontline cast, The Fighter is for you. If you like your movies with a generous dab of rich production values, there is a good chance that you may come out a tad underwhelmed with this movie, where, my educated guess is that the biggest chunk of the movie’s budget was spent on paying Wahlberg and Bale.

Danny Boyle’s latest can be taken either as a simple survival answer in the heavy chaotic intermittence of life or as a complex rebirth of constant humanism that needs to be found within ourselves surrendering to nature. In both ways Danny succeeds. Aron Ralston found himself at the brink , the fork of choice between life and death. Is everyone capable to face it?

No qualms on formulaic flicks. If the variables are near to nil, the formula renders no use. Oops. Thats too much of math in the review, isn’t it?? Well, the art of film-making is a math too. Petty flaws near and far could not just flip the movie, but flop its prospects too. Sadly, ‘Siruthai’ is one such movie, that comes with a formulaic, yet gripping storyline, that falls prey to a half baked execution. Lets take a sneak peek of where this ‘Siruthai’ Roars and where it Squeaks.

Roars:

Santhanam: Much inspired from the eminent humorist Goundamani, Santhanam has nothing new to offer for a vintage Tamil spectator. Still, he manages to tickle your rib in most of his attempts during the movie. A helping hand to place the movie from a ‘worse’ track to a ‘bad’ track.

Karthi’s': The good done by Karthi to the movie stops with a casual, yet catchy performance as ‘Rocket’ Raja, an easy-go-lucky thief and the differentiations he managed to pull of through his looks and body language from this character of his to the other ‘wannabe’ powerful character of his.

Tamannah: Doesn’t fail to make you drool in spite of a loosely knit love track.

Squeaks:

Screenplay & Editing: The much to be concentrated areas of screenplay and editing were weighed less for more attention to the Karthis, that left him lift the entire burden of the movie. The very essence of a successful movie, particularly commercial ones is that its snags should be overshadowed by its advantages. ‘Siruthai’ fails in that aspect. The illogical instances were extensively highlighted.

Cop Karthi: At a few places, Karthi as an upright, rough cop was a terror to the villains. At other places, he was almost a terror to the audience. Blame the screenplay, not him! A character that required the aggression of Sivaji Ganesan’s SP Chowdhury, got stuck midway between Vadivel’s Telex Pandian and Rajnikanth’s Alex Pandian. Pity you, Rathnavel Pandian.

Siruthai is a total timepass if and only if you are one who likes Santhanam’s flavour of comedy and eager to see Karthi in a larger than life role.

Kollywood fans are prone to keep kidding successful stars when they slide down. Sadly, guess Karthi would be ‘that’ centric attraction hereon.

Sorry, Karthi.. Jintha tha jintha jintha jintha tha tha…

My Verdict: 4/10

In terms of sketching a character, Tamil Cinema doesnt look beyond the conventional ‘good’ guy and the cliche galore ‘bad’ guy. Very few films tend to transcend this barrier. Very few films move closer to reality. Very few films explore the darker sides of a person rather than stereotyping him as a Protagonist or Antagonist. It is this cinema created myth of the traditional ‘protagonist-antagonist’ roles that prevents film makers from exploring the ‘depth’ of a character. We have created non-existent boundaries beyond which we don’t look(as a viewer) and beyond which film makers find it difficult to suit the sensibilities of the mainstream audience. The Selling point of this Vetrimaran film is the unflinching nature which overwhelmingly breaks the caricatures associated with characterizations in cinema. And, If you had thought that it is some kind of parallel cinema, let me remaind you, this is as accessible as filmmaking can get. Vetrimaran strikes to me as a very interesting film maker. Not that the ‘content’ and ‘drama’ in his films makes you glued to the seats. He knows how to get the elements right without affecting the prospects of his film. How many directors would even think of sketching all their main characters grey? On the top of it, this is supposed to be his second film.

You’ve got an antagonist who disappears in the second half of the film. Vetrimaran exposes the brutal acts of the ‘good’ guy depicted so far, by making him perform acts of greater heinousness than the antagonist. Eventually, the ‘good’ guy replaces the antagonist and all that trivial conspiracies perpetrated by him in the first half is beaten hands down by the ‘good’ guy. It is this element which takes the film into a different level altogether. The ‘good’ guy or the antagonist dont really exist in the real world. The circumstances and the insecurity of the human mind dictates the course of action. This film set in the Southern milieu of Tamil Nadu, there is enough reason to believe the remarkable extents which people are capable of going, in order to save their dignity and livelihood. Where it differs from usual madurai cinema (“Subramaniapuram” type movies) in portraying the revenge/betrayal/dignity is by not establishing a character as a fairy angel or an ugly monster. A set of incidents happen in the film and each character goes into his own state of oblivion, after getting discovered again, they assume a new avatar which is diametrically opposite to what they were before.

On a personal level, I thought the “Polladhavan” template was meandering throughout “Aadukalam”. Even with the female lead you get a deja vu of his earlier film, where the hero and another guy fight it out to win her heart. Remember the bus scene in “Polladhavan”, where a guy would say “Naan 6 maasama follow pannitu irukken,Inniku naan love letter kuduthukren boss”. There is something similar recreated here, which is far more enjoyable and ends well with a clever and apt placement of a song. Towards the end all that ‘drama’ and misunderstanding was nothing but “Polladhavan” (where the character “Out” misconstrues Kishore’s death to be perpetrated by Dhanush). Talking about ‘drama’ and the building up of anticipation, Vetrimaran sure has the knack of thrusting in the right amount of tension and letting it go at the right moment. In both his films, the way he conceived certain scenes towards the end is laudable.

One or two glitches, like the rooster type fight between Dhanush and Kishore (dont konw what Vetrimaran was thinking there), doesnt hinder my judgement in calling it a very good film. It is indeed a very well made film. Vetrimaran has come out of the Shackles which plagued his earlier film “Polladhavan”. Impediments in the form of little compromises doesnt take away anything from “Aadukalam”. I am looking forward to the future films from this interesting film maker.

PS: A word on actors performances- Jayabalan-Brilliant, Dhanush-Good, Kishore-Apt.

It is high time that GV Prakash concentrates on his background score. It was ranging between mediocre and horrible.

Hello friends it gives me immense pleasure to introduce the best things to the best people. Recently i had come across one among the interesting blog which is all about the drug addiction.These people are very well aware of all the difficulties which everyone of them who are under the influence of the drug effect.Whenever you start thinking that you have gone out of the control of your own life, you may come to a proper conclusion that you must go to a drug addiction treatment centre . you may get a numerous amount of choices, but you must make a proper decision and choose for the best treatment centre.These people service offers and makes people to go for the best choice available without undergoing any sort of confusion.

These people have done almost most of the drug researches and have selected the best drugs which are available national wide.So no matter what we can easily refer you to a proper drug recovery centre.There are numerous types of drug treatment and drug treatment programs for the needy ones. Drug treatment centers are also available at many places for the affected ones. So what you people are waiting for?! Log on to the website and get the best out of it ! Cheers