Review : Saroja (2008)

Slick comedy and a dark thriller!

Rating : 3.5/5

Genre : Comedy/Thriller

Cast : Shiva, Premji , SPB Charan , Vaibhav , Prakash Raj , Jayaram , Sampath

This critically as well as audience acclaimed film is written and directed by Venkat Prabhu , the man who gave us "Chennai 6000028" which was a real entertainer and made some of us zealous to watch the movie for a lot many times.Athough , this film is a remake of an english flick "Judgement Night" , it is really worth watching.

The Story revolves around 4 friends and their adventurous journey to a so-called cricket match and which ultimately ends up in a life threatening situation.Ajay Raj(Shiva) , a daily soap opera star ; Ganesh (Premji) , a comical character who falls in love with every woman he sees ; Jagapathi Babu (SPB Charan) , a married man with a six year old daughter and his younger brother Ram Babu (Vaibhav) , decide to go on a road trip to hyderabad to catch a cricket match between India and Pakistan in Ajay's so called "azhagaana" Caravan.Enroute , they get caught in a road block caused by the overturning of an acid tanker lorry.They are now forced to take a short route to hyderabad but they end up in a dark , abandoned area where the real problems start.Meanwhile , we are given glimpses of Viswanath's (Prakash Raj) home where his daughter Saroja is kidnapped.The four friends then get entangled with a rogue Sampath who is responsible for the kidnap.Ajay , Ganesh , Jagapathi and Ram are forced to plot a plan to rescue Saroja and they manage not to lose their sense of humor all the way.

For both younger and older audiences , apt casting, editing ,crispy dialogues and a great background music represented a welcome change from the standard masala Tamil cinema.It has set the cash registers ringing and has assured Venkat Prabhu a second consecutive super hit.The Director has understood the tamil audience well and has evolved into an intelligent and creative director.This will definitely create more hype for his forthcoming projects and people in the tinsel world are already having a close watch on his movements.

The Songs are well composed and fit in perfectly.

The Chase sequences are well planned and executed , hats off to the stunt master.

The Cinematography is brilliant , it makes you get so involved in the movie and keeps you in the edge of your seat.

Most of the cast in the movie Chennai 600028  as well as the whos who of Tamil TV world are given some screen space.

This is a definitely a must watch movie and i advice you people not to miss this one at any cost.

Overall , this movie is well crafted with good proportion of action , comedy ,songs and even after 2 1/2 hours of sheer entertainment , it won't let you leave the theatres.

Bottom Line : Assured 100% entertainment!

Review : A Wednesday (2008)

Not a usual terrorist movie!

Rating : 3.5/5

Genre : Thriller

This movie has a very small cast and its story revolves around these 4-5 characters.

Anupam Kher(Prakash Rathod,Commissioner of police) is about to retire and he narrates a case which affected him the most in his career.The story takes place on a wednesday between 2pm to 6pm when a man(Nasseruddin Shah) calls him and tells him that he has planted 5 bombs in the city which are set to blow off at 6.30pm.The only way for the police to know the position of the bomb is to do what the man says.

And that is all I'm going to tell about the story.

Faith is really very powerful.It draws everyone towards it.It is at the core in , A Wednesday.The police is forced to believe what the man says and does it only to find out that...........(sorry no spoilers!!!).

No words will be enough to praise the one man , Nasseruddin Shah who literally carries the movie in his shoulders.He has really churned out to be one of India's finest actors.Any role will fit him perfectly.

Frankly,this movie doesn't have a single song and the background score is just amazing , on par with hollywood action flicks without any sort of plagiarism from the west (This has to be noted).

So good plot , effective dialogues and great performances ensure an above average movie for the debutant writer-director Neeraj Pandey.It has been a trend these days for young directors making their debut to make a film on a terrorist subject (keeping mumbai meri jaan and aamir in mind) and all of them have made the critics awestruck as they keep complaining on the lack of proper directors and script writers.

All in all , this is a very good movie and i sincerely advice ardent movie watchers as well as people looking out for a reason to watch movies to get to the movie theatres and get entertained or as people say get the proper "value for money" because this is a clean , non-masala flick with absolutely no time filling comedy,punch dialogues,intro scenes and no sort of romance.

Bottom Line : A Common man answers the questions putforth to him.