Vettai - A Decent Hunt !

Lingusamy who is well known for his only 2 hits Aanandham and Run, has finally delivered another fast-paced Entertainer, but with lots of influence from Bhagyaraj's Avasara Police 100.

The story is very explicit from the trailer. Madhavan is the elder brother who happens to be timid and defensive, Arya's the younger brother who's the right opposite and loves his brother a lot. On compassionate grounds, Madhavan's offered a Sub Inspector position only to find out later that the city is an atrocious play - ground of 2 rowdy smuggling gangs.

The Villains find out the impersonation of Arya, attack Maddy and after this the story shifts gears and moves more faster and as usual ends with Maddy and Arya getting rid of the Rowdy Villains. The History, Geography, Chemistry and Physics of the brothers is what follows and ends the story. 

Lets talk about the overall picture.....

Lingusamy should be credited for introducing Tamil Cinema with Multiple Villain Syndrome ( MVS )starting from SandaKozhi. Terrible example of this disease is Paiyya!!!  Though there were 2 villains they have the same Line of Business which justifies the fight against smugglers and keeps MVS mild. 

The story could've seen lesser songs, especially in the first 45 minutes or so which has about 3 songs, yes but there are no songs after that for the next 1 hour to contain the momentum (Good job Director ). Maddy's comic sense was under utilized but was compensated by Arya's. Maddy's acting doesn't need any criticism and Arya's casual composure adds value to the screenplay. The heroines have been used as dolls, Sameera Reddy seems stupid in her role, Amala Paul's role could get some credit may be for not being portrayed as dumb. 

Lingusamy definitely needs to be applauded for openly accepting through a scene where Maddy says "Naama yen orey Maadhiri porandhu irukka koodaadhu? " that the movie was heavily inspired by Bagyaraj's Avasara Police 100 where there are 2 Baghyaraj's ,the elder son is very scared/soft and the younger one is active and does things for his brother. All other departments are "OK" level. 

The editing and cinematography alone stand out and the former provided some good transition for the fast paced screen play. Not too many shakes in the camera for the fight scenes!!!

So what doesn't sound right?

1. Everyone  in the story speak with a Therkatthi (Southern) dialect except the 4 lead actors.

2. No importance to the supporting characters other than the lead 4.

3. Nasser wasted !!!! Doesn't get the importance which even Thambi Ramaiah gets.

4. Useless USA maapillai character and scenes ( I plead to the Directors to use Bride-grooms from Australia or Dubai, எவ்வளோ நாள் தான் USA மாபிள்ளைகள் அடி வாங்கறது??? )

5. Too lengthy second half makes us to ask Maddy to kill the villain immediately

The above factors have affected what could've been a very good entertainer to a decent entertainer . Overall we can watch this a couple of times may be for the fight scenes and Arya/Madhavan's comedy.

My Watch-o-Meter Rating is 6

Mouna Guru - A Silent Kill !

Director Santhakumar has done "Justice" to the title of this movie, The Master of Silence.

Arulnidhi ( Karunakaran ) a short tempered youngster who gets into trouble most of the time and doesn't like how the society treats him. He has a conventionally worrying mother who curses him of his incapacity to sustain himself in one school/college for long. As a result of his bad temper, Arul is rusticated from his college and hence he and his mother go to Chennai where his brother gets him an admit into one of the Arts colleges he has connections with. Arul's brother's sister in law (Iniya ) stays in the same house and they like each other. Arul's Sister in Law doesn't like him for his behavior and wants him moved to a hostel. After some hardship he gets a room in the college hostel. 

The Hostel is another story by itself, lot of stuff gets stolen most of the time and people keep complaining the warden on things getting stolen. There are a couple of people who don't like Arul and give him a hard time, Arul due to certain circumstances gets popular in school and this kindles more hatred for the earlier mentioned folks. 

Then there's another story where a small group of cops led by an Assistant Commissioner (John Vijay - the assistant of Prithiviraj in Ravanan ) witness an accident on a highway and find that there's a big stash of cash in the car which they take it without anyone seeing it. This information gets leaked out of group by the commissioner's girl friend. 

What happens after this is a series of twists and turns and how this affects Karuna, the college, the police department, the government ( yes the government ) and how all stories get connected. 

Given that the genre of this movie is a Crime Thriller I cannot break any more ice here !!!

SCREENPLAY if made into a Hollywood movie will get extremely Rave Reviews. I am guessing it will soon be remade into a Bollywood movie. A very well crafted "Parallel Cinema" in a thriller Genre after a long time ( after Virumandi, Yuva and the recent Yudham Sei ). I can't believe the director was a Debutant. 

The screen play is so well knit that the director has only 3 songs in the movie one of which comes with the title of the movie and describes the lead character. There were certain places where the screenplay needed some more explanation like the relationship between Iniya and Arul which was a bit haphazard due to its importance to the remaining script, the climax of the movie which seemed quite lengthy had some additional twists which eclipses that lag. Each and every character, warden, principal, watchmen, even the one in the mental asylum had an importance which is what a very good writer would want. 

Music is the heart of any thriller and the heart had a very good rhythm in this screenplay unlike Thaman's earlier RR for Eeram wasn't very appealing. But with this release he can be proud about doing suspense and thriller genres in the future. 

The DOP needs to be appreciated for his work since the camera portrayed scenes through unconventional angles and was interesting, I guess they used natural lighting in most of the parts and the locations well suited the story.  

Arulnidhi has again proved he's a "Directors Actor", he has transformed himself as the character and has gelled into the story. He has very less to talk and listens to almost all of the insults which others make against him in a very silent manner. He has evolved into another versatile actor in Tamil Cinema who has proved that you don't have to scream or hit 10 people to show that you're versatile. 

Iniya is seen as a very timid girl and very charming. Not her best performance I'd say when you compare Vaagai Sooda Va, but doesn't make us feel the way we see actresses in Vijay's movies who come only to woo the hero's with their beauty and body language. 

John Vijay has now established himself in a way that he can play any character with ease. There were a few scenes where his body language kind of reminds me of Pasupathy's mannerisms (thats just me). 

A bonus surprise character here is that off Uma Riyaaz who also comes in as a pregnant cop with a cool head!! Last time we saw he on screen was with Kamal Hassan's "Anbe Sivam"

Overall the movie stands out in every department and I wish the director doesn't stop here and would like to see more crime/suspense thriller from him. There's some heavy competition for  Bharathiraja's place after he's gone !!!!!

My rating for this movie is 7