Tamil Cinema Round Up

Have been the moderator of the Orkut Tamil Cinema Community for a while now and not a day passes over with out a Rajni-Kamal fight or Ajit-Vijay fight or worst of all, Simbu-Danush fights. Apart from these you have fights for and against Mani Ratnam, ARR, Ilayaraja, Gautam V. Menon, Surya, Vikram, Yuvan Shankar Raja and Harris Jayraj. Snippets of the sensible stuff that can be taken out from the innumerable senseless posts:

1. Rajni Kanth

Was a great actor. Now firmly entrenched in the hero mode, the script of a rajni movie is this: First half Rajni does comedy and more often than not, right about at interval, Rajni is cheated or suffers ill-luck that takes him to the brink of life. Second half has Rajni coming back hard at rivals and doing his swish swish finger snapping and the panj dialog... While this is mostly true, its sad that Rajni Kanth has forever turned his back on good cinema.

2. Kamal Haasan

Once upon a time Kamal Haasan was someone who believed that good acting and storyline/script can make a movie successful. Nowadays, more often than not, he has resorted to panj dialaaks (VV, Dasa) and has relied heavily on make-up for gimmickery - case in point - Anbe Sivam - where the storyline was good, but Kamal to please his fans did a long and over-strecthed flash-back where we see all hero traits - Kiran falling for the macho, umbrella brandishing Kamal etc. Will we get another Mahanadhi or Nayagan from him?

3. Ajit

From 2002-2007 not even one of his movies could be classified as even a one-time watch. From the handsome and smart young man looks of Amarkalam, Kandukondein (2), Mugavari, Ajit has aged too fast for his own good, in terms of looks. Billa was a throwback to a timeperiod when Ajit films were good and entertaining and hopefully, with a Gautam Menon movie on the anvil, things are seemingly looking up. But please, we don't want to see his Tamil Nadu police style thoppai, anymore!

4. Vijay

Post Ghilli, Vijay and his directors are on a competition - who can rehash Gilli-formula better than others. There are all kinds of sentiments - Father, Mother, Sister, 'lauv'-er, wife, kids, concubine, neighbor's dog and what not? And if the news articles are anything to go by, his next movie after Villu (forget that Villu's stills look exactly like Pokkiri, which itself was a frame-by-frame, socks to socks ctrl-c, ctrl-v of the telugu Pokkiri) is with Perarasu. God Save Him!

5. Danush

Danush is following his father-in-law in terms of predictability of scripts. First Half - Danush is irresponsible, drinks, father scolds, Danush once again drinks, smokes, sees 'anda' madri padam (if Kasthuri Raja is involved in any capacity in the movie, then we are also shown the 'anda' madri padam too) and then sees some good looking girl (Shriya, Nayanthara, Trisha etc) and then decides that she is the girl for him :O. Second half: Danush becomes oppicer/good student and becomes successful, albeit not in one song (he needs to become a bigger star to follow Rajni in that) and the most unbelievable thing happens - the female lead falls for Danush. I know love is blind and all that crap - but Danush? Shriya?? Kali Kaalam muththi pochu!

6. Simbu

Imagines himself to be the next Superstar while the only thing I can see his as is the Next-TR and no, that is not a compliment (seemingly, TR and his son think that the number of views that TR's videos have on youtube is a direct reflection of TR's fan base - Ninaippu daan Pozhaippai kedukiradhu!). With no iota of embarrasment our Little Superstar kicks a bus and it goes back by 10 feet. And then he targets a panj dialaak at Danush, Aishwarya, Kamal, Rajni and even on the audience! Hope he migrates to music videos or Lollu Sabha for good.

7. Mani Ratnam

My favorite director, currently stuck in a 'trisanku' sorgam. He feels Hindi Films are commercially more viable - but indi makkal are used to seeing Rakhi Sawant prancing with a costume which follows the logic, 'Seen is an Ocean, Unseen is a drop'. Hopefully his better sense should prevail in the near future.

8. ARR

A person who brooks no comparison, let alone with Ilayaraja. He is like Federer - he is in a different playing field/zone. This guy has been a chameleon and the variety of his music has not been matched by any other MD in India. While many senior citizens vouch for Ilayaraja's melodies, there is no particular strain of music in which Rahman specializes. He is the complete package. But currently, his success rate has come down with atrocious albums like Azhugiya.. sorry, Azhagiya Tamizh Magan and Varalaaru. Looking forward to his combo with Gautam Menon in Chennaiyil Oru Mazhai Kaalam.

9. Ilayaraja

Past 'sell-by' date.

10. Gautam Menon

Has his one foot planted firmly on the vacant spot left by Mani Ratnam in Tamizh Cinema. Specializes in "cute" 'lauv' scenes, clipped english dialogs, extracting good music from the MDs. Minnale and Kakka Kakka remain favorites. But wasted an opportunity to utilize Kamal Haasan and instead came out with a horribly bloated Kamal in a horrible movie called VV.

11. Surya

Latest kid on the block. Six pack et al has made him the fitness model in Tamizh Cinema. Occasionally gives puke-able films like Vel, Aaru, Pujyam etc. Expecting Vaaranam Aayiram.

12. Vikram

Terribly over-rated. Pithamagan being the only movie where he acted well. Anniyan was crappo-shito! Has the unique ability to either look like a complete beaku or all serious in romance scenes and duets. Kandasaamy, seemingly, is looking like those unintentional comedy movies which TR and Captain regularly come up with.


13. Yuvan Shankar Raja

Mukkal and munagal characterise his singing. Decent Music Director and has a good sense of BGMs amongst the current crop of MDs.

14. Harris Jayaraj

Anda copy aagasa copy - but somehow is the most saleable MD in market. Makes a good combo with Gautam Menon. Currently, post PKMC and Unnale Unnale, all his songs sound alike.


(to be continued with others)