Review: Madras Cafe (2013)

Most of the reviews of "Madras Cafe" would start off by saying how this movie is a game changer in bollywood. Yes it is one.

Shoojit Sircar's Madras Cafe is a top notch action thriller that every movie goer should watch. It is so well made that it fails your eyes to catch any flaws. There were some here and there but then I didn't care so much. The intense detail to which the movie conveys the story is one of Shoojit's many plus points. The way he has changed his cards from a movie like "Vicky Donor" to weave Madras Cafe is definitely noteworthy. Prior to Vicky Donor, he also directed "Yahaan" which was again an army based movie but both of them are completely different from each other.

"Madras Cafe" throws light on Rajiv Gandhi's assassination indirectly. One could well connect this to the original happenings. The movie ends logically and throughout the whole of the film there is absolutely no nonsense or any kind of heroism involved. 

Talking about characters, everyone plays an important role and everyone does with brilliance. Shoojit's cast is so relevant to the story that you end up believing that they are the original characters. Siddhartha Basu was a surprise. I mean, his acting was brilliant. His voice is so interesting to the ears (It always was ever since his Mastermind India, a BBC show, days). Nargis Phakri and Rashi Khanna play their parts well. Just wanted to mention their names here. What I also noticed was that most of the characters were taken from tamil movies. This shows how much detail Shoojit wanted on the screen. 

The background score was brilliant. Perhaps, this is one of those very few movies where background score will take special notice as there were no songs at all. Not one bit except till the end when the credits roll out.

Exceptional movie I must say. Please watch it in the theatres. This one is sure to grip you to your seats and captivate your thoughts. I watched it totally with my eye brows forming wrinkles.

Rating: 3.5/5

Madras Cafe: Absolutely Gripping!

Review: Thalaivaa (2013)

Riding high on the success of Nanban and Thuppaki, Vijay and Director Vijay would have expected their latest venture Thalaivaa to do well too but unfortunately, it is yet to see a release in TN and Puducherry with some miscreants playing spoilsport 2 days before the release. However, the movie released elsewhere (rest of India and worldwide) and that gave way to a pirated version circulated over the internet. So now we know that the pirated copies are made outside TN only. 

I obviously had access to the pirated version but I decided to drive to Gurgaon to watch it during my Holiday at Delhi. 

I must say that overall I was disappointed with the movie. There wasn't much to go "Wow" over. The movie started with some comedy sequences and then slowly turning serious and then going the revolutionary way. The plot was simple and the ending could be predicted as the second half started. There wasn't much for the director to take credit except for few brilliantly lit shots with the help of the cinematographer.

Coming to the acting department, Sathyaraj and a lot of his closely connected characters had to underplay from what we'd seen of them. They had done pretty well. Especially Manobala whose dialogues peak the equalizer. The villain and lot of Mumbaikars spoke in tamil with a north Indian touch (which seemed natural because of the plot setup). Santhanam's comedy was good. It brought some smiles often (though not always) and some were scripted totally to make fun of Vijay. It was good of Vijay to have accepted such a comedy track. Vijay was at his usual best. A total freak out character in the first half and a direct opposite type of a character in the second half. The transformation was good. Amala Paul dubbed herself and she did a pretty good job. She looks good too. The character sketch of a lot of artistes kept losing its path midway. 

Music by GV Prakash was great and his background score played well with the pixels too. The intro song choreography was good. Melody "Yaar indha saalai oram" was well thought of while capturing the video and did not require travel to any ice capped mountains or a green garden. The song and dance teams score full marks in this movie.

A lot of technical glitches coupled with a poor storyline and some weak character sketches make "Thalaivaa" an "Arrow missing the bull's eye by a mile". Watch it for Vijay, Santhanam and the songs but watch it in the theatre as the team has already lost a lot of money (It hasn't got released yet + the pirated version is out).

Rating: 2.5/5

Thalaivaa: A Swing and a Miss!