the vijay way

just returned from london eye firework display. well, did not have the chance to see the entire show as it was impossible to get a clear sight on to the thames and london eye with a crowd of 700,000. (better luck next time!)

wish you all a happy new year…

i don’t like watching movies on the release day, especially not when its vijay movies. the crowd is unbelievable. the last three vijay movies ended up watching on the opening day and returned home every time with some claustrophobic experiences. anyhow -again- i found myself at the cinema on the diwali day to watch azhagiya thamil magan (atm).

anyway, lets come to the movie: the story is simple. hero and villain (both vijay) get mixed up and the story is about the hero proving who is the right “vijay”.

the movie had maybe one of the laziest first half in the history of tamil cinema in terms of pace and wit. twenty minutes worth of content was blown up to 70-80 minutes and the result was horrendous. it was more than obvious the director has forced in several scenes as page fillers (reel fillers?) which were either useless if not unconvincing. most of the scenes did not have any connection and the entire sequence resulting in vijay and shriya falling in love was really lame.

the second half in contrast was a real roller coaster which was more or less to the standard of a big hero like vijay. the characterization and screenplay did the best out of the thin story line. however, the climax and the ending then again were of nursery standard spoiling the good second half.

the director had with vijay, shriya and ar rahman three of the biggest names in the tamil cinema at the moment. but instead of delivering a masterpiece, all he has managed give is an average film with a few highlights here and there.

for vijay, it is quite an interesting movie; very different from his formulaic movies over emphasizing heroism and action. he has made the best out of it and scored whereever he could. sixers and boundaries. his acting, body language, voice modulation, wit, dance… everything is 1st class. shriya on the other hand looks gorgeous (nothing else).

the other plus point is the music by ar rahman. the songs are great and they have been picturised great too. from the technical point of view the movie is first class. be it the camera, choreography, stunts, etc. everything was well done.

even though there are several positive aspects, 150 minutes for this story is too excessive.

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(from timesonline.co.uk)

first impression after a few listenings only:

ella pughazum (arr): obviously vijayS intro song, but sounds like a cheap imitation of ‘ah aah’ intro song. its kind of ok. nothing special to mention. not as peppy as vijay fans might have expected.

valaiyapatti (naresh iyer, madhumitha, ujjayinee): another song which seems to be a continuation of another arr song. this time its the ‘kummi adi’ from ‘jillunu oru kadhal’. however, this song sounds sweet. naresh is reliable. and first time madhumitha singing for arr.

kelamal kaiyilae (sriram parthasarathy, saindhavi): decent song. listenable. nothing new, but with sriram parthasarathy and saindhavi around, it can’t be too bad. (maybe with a few more listening this one might sound better)

nee marilyn monroe (benny, ujjayinee): quite a peppy modern song. benny is awesome, ujjayinee is irritating. her voice is too high and the lyrics are just stupid. don’t even go with the tune. but the song itself is nicely done.

ponmagal vandhaal (md aslam, ember): remix of the old sivaji song. to be honest, this is the best remix heard in years. arr seems to be the only md out there honestly trying to remix songs without spoiling the purity of the original songs. the beats are very good; go with the song fluently. the rap parts are ok. better than the rubbish done by harris and not too typical as yuvan’s. aslam does very good in this one.

madhuraikku pogathadi (benny, darshana, archit): my favourite from the album. after a very long time a rhythmic feast for the years. and thank god very different to vijay’s usual stereotypical ‘kuthu’ songs. benny is amazing. arr showing the way for other MDs how to do folk songs that are not recycled. initially it souns like “engitta mothathae” and the female chorus being a tangent to “marumagalae marumagalae vaa vaa”, but while listening to the song everythign seems to fit well.

overall a very decent album. arr doesn’t seem to have gone into any compromises which was sadly the case in sivaji.

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He’s a great man and great manager. He thought he was ‘The Special One’ and in his case it was probably true.

Martin Jol

A decision that Chelsea FC might regret more than Jose Mourinho ever could. Whatever the reasons for the split were, it is a huge loss for the premier league as JM was without any doubt one of the great managers around and a great character who will be missed.