Weekend Movie watch

Dhuruvangal Pathinaru-

Would’ve given this movie a skip had not been for such glorious reviews. Everyone who had seen the movie had only good things to tell and the word of mouth publicity not only garnered it more screens in the city but its continuing success well into the second month of release. I hardly saw any promotions or shows dedicated for the movie or reality shows invaded by the cast and crew. This movie is a good case in study for small budget movie makers, that if you are confident in your product, it would sell by itself with minimal exposure.

The story is similar to “Vantage point” movie in its approach, where the same scene is narrated by so many people, with their version and backstory of what happened on that rainy night when someone gets killed and someone goes missing. The story grows in bits and pieces akin to identifying missing pieces of the jig saw and when it finally falls in place, only for the player to go down getting shot at. The person who kills him has a twist to add of his own and the person who got shot at, the narrator and the chief protagonist, turns the term twist on its head with his story altering climax. Was the movie a Malayalam remake or bilingual? Somehow got that feeling. Probably because of Rahman’s accent or was it deliberate? Either way, it gives an alien or “not-tamil” feel to the story, which doesn’t have any bearing on it at all. The movie is like a candid camera on how investigations happen and the story is told from the view point of the case officer. I couldn’t recollect any song or duet. So either it was that bad or the story was so engrossing that I didn’t even notice.

Gils verdict – This movie is worth watching for the sheer fact that we don’t often get such movies. Wish the story/screenplay comes in novel format as that would also be a sure shot bestseller.

Adhey Kangal –

Probably a 180 degree different approach to storytelling as compared to the movie mentioned above. The story begins from a point and rolls forward in one single straight line till the end, with a small blip of a flashback on the motive and mean for the villain. I fell for the movie just by its title. The older one with same title is one of my all-time favorite thriller movie, starring Ravichandran. This one is not even a paler replica of the old self and is not even on the same pin code of its league. My guess is the story must’ve sounded interesting in book form. A blind entrepreneur falls for a lady based on her benevolent nature only to find her missing on the day when he was supposed to help her financially to settle a huge debt. In a twist of fate, the accident results in him regaining his vision. Fearing worst for her as he was unable to reach her, he goes into depression only to get engaged to his longtime friend who has been chasing him like virat kohli in ODI’s whenever there is a cycle gap scenario. One fine day he receives a call about the former getting kidnapped and for ransom he steals all the jewelry from home. Needless to say, he gets beaten and robbed of the jewels and is also framed for murder. If one reads them on paper, it sounds an intriguing premise. But on screen, with probably the dullest BGM, it makes it look even duller. What was supposed to be edge of the seat scenario lulls one to sleep. Blame it on performance or editing. Finally the hero in the hero character wakes up and he somehow convinces one constable to help in his quest to  find out about the missing girl. The only twist in tale being that the victim is actually the villain/villi. Kadisila adi vangi udhai vaangi hero gets the villi arrested and saves other blind entrepreneurs from her trap.

Gils verdict – could’ve been a pulsating thriller. Somehow every character barring the villi, seems disinterested in acting in the movie. Sonna salary  tharalayo? Wait for the movie in zee or vijay as festival day special movie. That might happen even sooner and wouldn’t wait till tamil new year is my guess.