Pandhayam

Review:

"Pandhayam" means 'bet' in English.

Not only the director, cast and crew have bet against themselves but also ensured that they end up losers. The movie looks like one that suffered a double Rip Van Winkle slumber since the 70s sans the vintage quality of that era.

In a nutshell, it is all about a youth, played by Nithin Sathya taking a trip to Chennai to see movie icon Vijay who is allowed to be himself.

One of his Sathya's friends gets bumped off by a don portrayed by a hamming Prakash Raj.

So the bumpkin manages to wangle the don's daughter enacted by Sindhu Tolani.

One wonders why Sathya who got attracted critical acclaim in "Chennai 600028" did this bomb.

Sindhu Tolani fails to impress. Vijay's presence in a guest role fails to revive the film. The less said about Vijay Anthony's music the better.

Pandhayam Torrent

Kuselan

Review:

Film: "Kuselan"; Cast: Rajnikant, Pasupati, Meena, Nayantara, R. Sundararajan, Vadivelu, Livingston and others; Director: P. Vasu; Music: G.V. Prakash; Rating: ***

"Kuselan" (Pauper) is all about an impoverished barber Balu (Pasupati) yearning to meet his childhood mate Ashok Kumar (Rajnikant) who has gone up in life and become a superstar.

The climactic union of the hero and his understudy actually proves to be an anticlimax of sorts as the movie abruptly ends after a few frames featuring Pasupati and Rajnikant.

The thespian matinee idol looks much younger under a nice wig, sunglasses and a large wardrobe of costumes that do him justice.

But for the name, Rajnikant is playing himself and offers plausible explanations for his earlier political statements and ambitions.

Director P. Vasu has improvised from the Malayalam original “Katha Parayumbol” to suit Rajnikant's mass appeal.

Pasupathi and Meena play their roles to perfection. In more ways than one Pasupati has broken his existing villain image with a scintillating performance.

The 'comedy' of Vadivelu and Livingston is pathetic and Nayantara doesn't impress either.

G.V. Prakash's tunes are forgettable.

Vasu has worked on the script and seems to have extracted adequate sweat from his stars. But the obvious plagiarism of the idea from "Remember The Time" -- the music video featuring Michael Jackson and Eddie Murphy -- was stretching things too far since Rajnikant virtually has zilch knowledge in dancing.

If it was an attempt to project the thespian and Nayantara, it failed miserably.

While family audiences will love the film for its offbeat theme, Rajnikant's fans have little to cheer in "Kuselan".

The hero of the movie is a barber who has mauled Rajnikant badly. We can only hope the family audiences will see it enough to make a "close shave".

Kuselan Torrent

SA-RO-JA ச-ரோ-ஜா

Venkat Prabhu's first directorial venture 'Chennai 600028'. With his second film 'Saroja' .

Fun, frolic and mayhem were in abundance in Venkat Prabhu's first directorial venture 'Chennai 600028'. With his second film 'Saroja' the director dutifully follows the same pattern despite having the backdrop of a thriller featuring a kidnap, gun totting desperados and characters with malicious intent. 'Saroja' tickles the funny bone with tremendous technical brilliance and proves to be a roller coaster fun ride. Venkat Prabhu….one gets the feeling has come on the scene as a director to stay. His understanding of entertainment has all the potential to work wonders with Tamil Cinema audiences.

SA-RO-JA Torrent