Moondru Mudichu

Moondru Mudichu (The Three Knots) is a Tamil film that was directed by K. Balachander. The movie stars Kamal Hassan, Rajinikanth and Sridevi. It is hailed as the movie that made Rajnikanth a big "villain" star. The movie revolves around 3 people - a college going girl(Sridevi) and 2 men who fall in love with her (Kamal Hassan and Rajnikanth). Sridevi was 13 at the time when she performed her character which was 10 years older than her.

Kamal Hassan and Rajnikanth are room-mates in a city. Kamal Hassan falls in love with Sridevi who lives in the same apartment complex. Rajnikanth, who has his eyes on Sridevi, pretends to back Kamal Hassan's love while secretly hoping to create a divide between them. Sridevi realizes Rajni's evil intentions when she finds out that he has seduced an innocent girl living in the same apartment complex. However, she is unable to convince Kamal Hassan, who hero-worships Rajni.

Things come to a head when Kamal and Sridevi go for a picnic by the lake and Kamal decides to invite Rajni along. As the three of them head to the middle of the lake on a boat, Kamal topples over by mistake. Rajni refuses to jump in and save Kamal, on the pretext that he does not know swimming. A devastated Sridevi returns home to another shock - her sister, who plays small time roles in the movies, has suffered from a fire accident which has left her face permanently charred. Overnight, Sridevi's life undergoes a drastic change.

In an attempt to salvage her life, Sridevi decides to marry an old widower who needs someone to look after his children. One of his children happens to be Rajnikanth. Sridevi goes ahead with the marriage despite this. After her marriage, she decides to use her 'mother' status to exact revenge on Rajnikanth.

The movie ends with the following lines in Tamil

விதைக்கின்ற வேளையிலே விளங்காத மனசாட்சி...

விளைவுக்குப் பின்னாலே விரைந்து வரும் மனசாட்சி...
தனக்காக தன்னுடனே போராடும் மனசாட்சி...
தவறுபவன் கண்களுக்குப் பைத்தியந்தான் மனசாட்சி!

Cast & Crew
Directed by K. Balachander
Produced by R.Venkataraman
Written by K. Balachander, Kannadasan(Lyrics)
Starring Kamal Hassan
Sridevi
Rajnikanth
Calcutta viswanathan
Rajamani
Anupama
Baby indhira
Kalavathi
Y.Vijaya[1]
Music by MS Viswanathan
Cinematography B.S.loganathan
Editing by N.R.kittu
Release date(s) 22 Oct 1976
Language Tamil

Anthuleni Katha - Telugu

Anthuleni Katha (meaning story without ending) is a Telugu film is directed by K. Balachander. This is Jayaprada's first starring role and is considered to be one of her best films. Rajnikanth and Kamal Hassan play key roles. This film was shot in black-and-white.

Saritha (Jayaprada) is a working woman in a middle class family. She works hard to support her widowed sister, unmarried sister, her blind younger brother, her mother, her drunkard brother Murthy Rajnikanth and his family. Her father abandons the family and becomes a saint. Her brother not only does not take responsibilities, but also creates additional problems for her.

She has a longtime boyfriend, who wants to marry her, but she doesn't because of her commitment to her family. His eyes now wander to Saritha's widowed younger sister (Sripriya) who reciprocates his feelings. Saritha, after reading her boyfriend's love letter to her sister, arranges for them to get married, thus giving up her chance of having a life with him. She eventually accepts a marriage proposal of her boss (Kamal Hassan), when she realizes that her brother has become responsible enough to take care of her family. She also helps her distressed friend, played by Phataphat Jayalaksmi to settle in life. She decides to resign from hard work, but could not as the result of turning point in a typical Balachandar style climax.

Original and Remakes

The film is a remake of Tamil super hit film Aval Oru Thodarkathai (1974), also directed by K. Balachander. Sujata played the role of Jayaprada, Jai Ganesh did the role of Rajnikant, Kamal Haasan played the role of Narayanarao. Same tunes were used in both the languages. Sripriya, Phataphat Jayalaxmi and rest of the cast are same in both the versions. The Tamil film was later was dubbed into Malayalam as Aval Oru Thudarkatha (1975).

Balachander remade the film in Hindi [titled Aaina] (1977) with Mumtaz doing the role of Jayaprada with Sanjeev Kumar and Rajesh Khanna doing important roles. One noteworthy cast member is Jayasudha, who made her Hindi debut with this film. Kamal Haasan also appears briefly as a choreographer for Dharmendra and Neetu Singh in the film. His name appears in credits as choreographer along with Gopikrishna. Naushad had provided the music for the Hindi remake.

Also, in 1977, Mala Sinha starred in the Bengali remake titled Kabita playing the Jayaprada role. Kamal Haasan made his Bengali film debut with this film by acting in the same role that he played in the Tamil original film. Bharat Shamsher directed the black-and-white film.

The film was again remade in Hindi as Jeevan Dhaara (1982) by director Tatineni Ramarao. Rekha did the role of Jayaprada. Rakesh Roshan did the role of Kamal Haasan, Amol Palekar did the role of Narayana Rao. Kanwaljit did the conductor role, Simple Kapadia (sister of Dimple Kapadia) did Phataphat Jayalaxmi role. The film was a decent hit.

In 1983, Balachander produced the Kannada remake titled Benkiyalli Aralidha Hoovu directed by Chandulal Jain and starring Suhasini, whose real-life uncle Kamal Haasan played the guest role of a bus conductor in this remake.

Cast & Crew

Jayaprada ... Saritha
Rajnikanth... Murthy
Phataphat Jayalaxmi ... Chandra
Sripriya... Bharathi

Camera Assistant: R. Raghunatha Reddy
Asssitant Directors: Ananthu, S.A. John
Art: A. Ramaswamy
Associate Director: Eranki Sarma
Story: M.S. Perumallu
Music: M.S. Vishwanathan
Assistant Music Director: Joseph Krishnamurthy
Dialogues and Lyrics: Acharya Atreya
Camera: Lokanathan
Producer: Rama Aranangal
Story, Screenplay, Direction: K. Balachander

Katha Sangama - Kannada

Year: 1975

Director: S.R. Puttana Kanagal

Producer: C.S.Rajah

Lyrics: Vijaya Narasimha

Runtime: 144 min

Language: Kannada

Color: Black and White

Cast: G.K. Govinda Rao, B. Saroja Devi, Arathi, Loknath, Manjula Rao, Kalyana Kumar, Leelavathi, Gangadhar, Rajnikant

Movie Review: Portmanteau film based on three short stories. Hangu is about a poor university professor presented with a bribe just when his son is ill and requires expensive medical treatment. The second episode, Athithi, tells of an old spinster who once refused to marry the man who loved her and now sees him marrying her student. The third, Munithayi, has a wealthy man marrying a blind girl (Arathi) out of pity, but in his absence she is raped by an adolescent youth and later blackmailed. The husband eventually ‘forgives’ her for having been raped.

Muthu

Muthu (Tamil: முத்து) (1995) is a Tamil film directed by K.S. Ravikumar. The film's score and soundtrack is composed by A. R. Rahman. The film stars Rajinikanth, Meena, Raghuvaran, Sharath Babu, Radharavi, Senthil and Vadivelu. It is based on the plot of a previous Malayalam movie Thenmavin Kombathu.

The film was later released in Telugu and in Japanese in Japan as Muthu Odoru Maharaja (ムトゥ 踊るマハラジャ, lit. Muthu - The Dancing Maharaja ?). A Chennai film industry blockbuster, the film was acclaimed and became a major hit in Japan when released in the country in 1998 and grossed $3 million USD in Japan, the most by any Indian film in Japan. A five-minute fight sequence from Muthu was also featured in the 2006 French film Prête-Moi Ta Main (Lend Me Your Hand) directed by Eric Lartigau.

Plot

A lavish Maharaja (Rajinikanth) lived with his sister-in-law and stepbrother Rajasekhar (Raghuvaran), helping people incessantly. His sister-in-law has a son, to whom the Maharaja bequeaths a major portion of his property. At this juncture, a new baby is born to the Maharaja. His wife dies soon after. Brother Rajasekhar cheats the Maharaja as he fears that his son's property might be taken back and given to the Maharaja's own son. When the cheating comes to light, the Maharaja hands over all his property and his baby to his sister-in-law and brother and goes to the Himalayas, making his sister-in-law promise him that the baby should be brought up as a servant, not as a Maharaja. This baby is named Muthu (also Rajinikanth).

According to the promise tendered to the Maharaja, the son of the Maharaja's sister-in-law becomes a Prince (Sarath Babu) and Muthu works as his servant. A huge fan of Drama, the prince regularly takes Muthu along with him wherever he goes. One day the Prince falls in love with an actress Ranganayaki (Meena). But Ranganayaki's heart lies with Muthu. Amidst all this, the Prince's Uncle (Radha Ravi), tries to capture all the property by killing everyone. But Muthu saves all and it is finally revealed that Muthu is the real Maharaja.

Aftermath
>>Indian Prime Minister made a special note about the reach of this film among the Japanese in his speech at 'Diet' on 14-12-2006.

>>Meena's charisma earned many fans in Japan and also became popular in the country.

>>The music for the film was composed by A. R. Rahman, who also wrote music for the first Rajnikanth film. Rahman would himself later go on to win two Academy Awards for his Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack in 2009.

>>The movie is characterised by beautiful location shots in Kerala and was shot in numerous palaces.

>>The Zamindar's palace in which the movie was shot, is the Lalitha Mahal Palace in Mysore.

Soundtrack
The soundtrack features 6 songs composed by A. R. Rahman, with lyrics by Vairamuthu.
Kuluvalilae - Udit Narayan, K. S. Chithra
Thilana Thilana - Mano, Sujatha Mohan
Oruvan Oruvan - S. P. Balasubrahmanyam
Kokku Saiva Kokku - S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Theni Kunjaramma
Vidu Kathaiya - Hariharan
Theme Music - Instrumental

Endhiran New Pics

Anbulla Rajinikanth

Anbulla Rajinikanth (English: Dear Rajinikanth) is a 1984 Tamil film directed by K.Natraj. The film stars Rajinikanth, Meena, and Ambika with Jaishankar, Raadhika and Bhagyaraj in guest roles.

Story
Rosy (Meena), is a wheelchair bound cancer patient, who lives in an orphanage along with other orphans. She is very rude and uncaring towards anyone. She even illtreats her caretaker (Ambika).

When Rajinikanth, who acts as himself in the movie, visits the orphanage, Rosy also illtreats him, not knowing that he is Rajinikanth. But after watching a few movies of his, she becomes a big fan of Rajinikanth and the latter also develops a special bond with her, taking her out for his shooting and to many other places. Rosy's attitude also undergoes a change due to this relationship as she becomes a kind and considerate girl.

In fact, when Rosy dies on Christmas Eve due to cancer, she stills holds Rajinikanth's hand, and Rajinikanth starts crying, such was their affection for each other.

Trivia

1.Meena was a child actress in the movie.

2.This was Rajinikanth's 92nd film.

3.Rajinikanth is seen shooting with Jaishankar, Raadhika and Bhagyaraj.

Mullum Malarum

A great movie. This movie more than anything defined Rajni ,as he is known today. Nearly thirty years have passed since it was released but even today it is very watchable. The movie is about the ego clash between a city bred Engineer Sarathbabu and an uncouth villager Rajni. The movie takes interesting turns and has some sterling performances given by the late actress Shobha as Rajni's wife, Rajni and Sarathbabu. Rajni sizzles, and he is packaged in this movie with his trade mark style, punchlines and everything else that is Superstar Rajni. The songs are just superb and Ilayaraja was in his peak form those days. The camera-work and the direction is flawless considering the times. Director Mahendran achieved great fame with this movie. Above all, this movie is of great nostalgic value.

Mr. Bharath

Rajnikanth enjoyed a fruitful association with S.P.Muthuraman, the two of them giving huge commercial hits like Murattu Kaalai and Nallavanukku Nallavan under the AVM banner. Mr.Bhaarath, once again for AVM productions, was one of their less successful ventures. On paper, the movie has all the ingredients for a surefire hit. Apart from the proven Rajnikanth-S.P.Muthuraman combination, it also has Satyaraj, who was proving to be a very popular villain, Ilaiyaraja's music and was based on an Amitabh starrer Trishul, a huge hit in Hindi. Though the first half of the movie is good, a boring second half, capped by a weak climax, affects its overall entertainment value.

Bhaarath(Rajnikanth) learns that his mother was cheated and left in the lurch by Gopinath(Satyaraj), who has since then gone on to earn great wealth in the contruction business in Madras. Swearing to make his father publicly admit that Bhaarath was his son, Bhaarath travels to Madras and enters the construction business. Mostly employing dishonest ways, he one-ups Gopinath in the procurement of several contracts and pretty soon, Gopinath comes to recognise him as a worthy adversary. With the help of a teashop owner(Koundamani) and his sister(Viji), Bhaarath also enters Gopinath's personal life, setting up the marriages of both his son(S.V.Sekhar - Wonder what Shashi Kapoor, who played the role in the Hindi version, thought of this choice!) and his daughter.

The bulk of the movie is occupied by the business rivalry between Bhaarath and Gopinath and the ways in which Bhaarath wins most of the contracts right from under Gopinath's nose. These segments are handled entertainingly. The way Bhaarath first earns his money and the ploy he uses to bribe a supposedly uncorruptable officer are pretty clever. There is also an element of surprise since Bhaarath also loses one contract(though this sets the stage for his romance later on). The conversations between Rajnikanth and Satyaraj during these segments are well-written. While Gopinath's portion of the dialogs are purely to a business enemy, Bhaarath's portions also include some double entendres about the relationship between Gopinath and him. Both have fun during the Ennammaa Kannu... song, one of the highlights of the movie. It is sung heartily by SPB(for Rajnikanth) and Malaysia Vasudevan(for Satyaraj).

Rajnikanth's involvement in Satyaraj's personal life leads to both the best and worst parts of the film. The scene where he plays Kadhiresa Kounder, when Satyaraj comes to fix up the wedding of his daughter, is very well handled. This gives him an oppurtunity to echo the same dialogs that Satyaraj spoke years ago to his mother. There is more fun ahead when Satyaraj returns with his wife, only to find the original Kounder(Visu). Vadivukkarasi's reaction, when she thinks he might be seeing visions, is hilarious. On the other hand, his fixing up the marriage of S.V.Sekhar and Viji leads to the least interesting portions of the movie. For this segment, Rajnikanth plays Mannaaru, a rickshaw driver and alongwith Koundamani and Viji, sets up tent in Satyaraj's house. This segment seems cheap and Viji's dance for Pacha Molagaa... is vulgar and targeted at the front benchers. The sequence also ends rather abruptly and in the end, seems to have achieved nothing at all.

Rajnikanth has perfected the angry, young man role and breezes through the movie. But there is little scope for comedy or romance and he goes through most of the movie with a scowl on his face. Satyaraj's dialog delivery is his strength as a villain and he puts it to good use here, both in the scene where he brushes off Sarada after cheating her and later, when he competes with Rajnikanth. With these two big players, others in the cast scarcely have any screen time. Ambika is the biggest loser, completely disappearing in the second half before reappearing for the climax. Koundamani and S.V.Sekhar have a few funny lines.

Moondru Mugam

MOVIE PLOT

Arun(Rajini) comes back from America after 10 years as a saint. His father(thengai srinivasan)does not want his son to be like that so he gets press reporter(radika) to change him back to a normal person like everyone else. Firstly she takes him out to the temple but pretends the car has broken down so she tells him to walk there. While he is walking she send a child crying.Arun picks it up not knowing it is a setup. He gives the child a chocolate, then another boy comes and shouts its the person who steals children then all the other children round Arun up. Then Arun manages to escape. Radika does this so she can cut off his beard which he grows when he is in America. After some time he changes to normal.

After Arun goes to work and finds out that his father is sending money to someone for more than twenty years.

Later a man asks a lady that someone has prosposed to her nephew(rajni as john) He asks her that the brides parents want to know who johns parents are. She tells him that her that john was none other than Alex Pandian(rajni).

Then there is a flashback.

Alex Pandian was a police officer. He does not like corrupt people. One day he arrest the bad people who are selling illegal drinks. Then the boss of the bad people come and tells them to get them out. But Alex Pandian refuses and puts hime jail. Then he comes back out and takes revenge on Alex Pandian and kills him. Alex Pandian say he will be born again to kill him.

When Alex Pandian dies so does his wife after she gave birth. At that time The first child Arun is born than the second child John is born. Meanwhile thengai srinivasan's wife gives birth but the child dies. This is the third time which has happened to her. So the sister of Alex Pandian gives the child Arun to Thengai Srinivasan because she can not afford to look after two children.

Arun on his 25th birthday says he the reincarnation of Alex Pandian. Which shocks everyone. Meanwhile when he goes to a house because smitha called him. Then he fights a person and kills him. Arun goes to jail. Later he comes to court and see who killed him and tries to kill him but goes back to jail. The he comes back to tell the truth when Alex Pandian comes and says he is not dead and that he was in Sri Lanka. But really he is Aruns brother John but John does not know that. He is working with the person who killed his father.

Then Arun says he lied that he was an incarnation because he wanted to know who the enemies are because they will want to kill him. So he can get them back.

Later in the story John finds who ALex Pandian is and who Arun is and goes to save his brother. Then they fight but the bad person stabs John but johns kills the man and put him in the sea like what he did to his father and he also dies. The Arun and Radika get together and then the film ends.

Mappillai

Padaiyappa was not the first time Rajnikanth clashed with a strong opponent from the opposite sex. In Maappillai, he faces off against his rich mother-in-law who rules her sons and daughter with an iron hand and is not used to anyone standing up to her. The tone is a lot less serious here with Srividya intentionally exaggerating her role. So the proceedings are more interesting.

Aarumugam(Rajnikanth) makes a blazing entrance, gatecrashing a marriage to abduct the bride. Geetha (Amala), the bride's friend, gets him arrested but then learns that he had rescued the girl from a forced marriage. Further revelations about him (he is a gold medallist, has a good heart, etc.) make her fall in love with him. After some convincing, Aarumugam reciprocates too. Meanwhile, Aarumugam's sister is in love with the son(Raja) of a rich woman Rajarajeswari(Srividya). When Rajarajeswari learns of this, she foists a false case on her and puts her in jail. It is then that Aarumugam has his first encounter with Rajarajeswari. He then learns that she is none other than Geetha's mother. He marries Geetha against her mother's wishes. Rajarajeswari vows to separate Geetha from him while he vows to prevent that and make Rajarajeswari understand that love and affection are more important than money.

The one-on-one confrontations between Rajnikanth and Srividya are the highpoints of the movie and each of these has been handled superlatively. Rajnikanth bristles with energy during their meetings and Srividya is suitably haughty and hits all the right notes. Their first encounter in her house, their private conversation immediately after the wedding and their talk in the garden before the climax in the house all reveal excellent execution by the director. The final moralistic talk Rajnikanth has with Srividya before she is deserted by her near and dear also contains some nice points about love and affection without going overboard.

The attempts by Srividya and gang to undermine Rajnikanth are also fairly interesting. Ofcourse we know the outcomes but the plans are not so childish as to make the entire process obvious right away. The exact way Rajnikanth is going to foil a couple of the plans does offer some suspense. But Amala exhibits an alarming tendency to switch her allegiances in these portions. All it takes is one hint of misconduct for her to suspect Rajnikanth before calming down and hugging him after his name is cleared! Her character could definitely have been drawn up better.

The comedy of Vinu Chakravarthy and S.S.Chandran seems like a miscalculation. Suspension of disbelief becomes extremely tough when Pakkirisami (Vinu Chakravarthy), who comes out of jail, is said to be Srividya's brother and Srividya swallows his story about his being a millionaire, to allow him and S.S.Chandran, his buddy, to stay with her. Their past history enables S.S.Chandran to makes some wisecracks about jail but one wishes they had been brought into the story in a different way.

Just as things start to get monotonous with Srividya's plans and Rajni's counteractions, Jaishanker's introduction as Srividya's ex-husband spices things up. But surprisingly, the reason why Srividya split up with him is never mentioned. There are some patches of conversation which say he left her because of her obsession with money but a little more background on their past life would have made the proceedings more interesting.

The movie is a remake of Chiranjeevi's Athaikku Yammudu Ammaikku Mogudu, a huge hit in telugu. Chiranjeevi is the producer of this tamil version and also appears in a well-staged fight sequence. Infact, all the fights in the movie are exciting with Rajnikanth involved in some impressive leaps and flips without a stunt double. The usual "kambu" fight also introduces something novel by blindfolding Rajnikanth and his opponent, thus forcing them to fight based on noise alone. The other important parts of a Rajni masala movie, the song sequences, are also imaginative. Unai thaan... is fast, bright and colorful and was Rajni's first fast dance sequence. Maanin Iru... and Enna dhaan Sugamo... are melodious while Ennoda Raasi... is the typical song with the lyrics praising Rajni.

Rajni is Rajni throughout and mouths enough dialogs to make his fans delirious. This movie was released before his dalliance with politics (that began with Annamalai). Otherwise, many of his dialogs with Srividya (like when she says she is like the queen of Tamil Nadu and he stops short of saying he is the king) would have taken on a whole different meaning. Srividya delivers perfectly in her role. Sure its over the top but that is exactly what is required for the movie. Her dialog delivery and gestures bring out the rudeness very well. Amala looks gorgeous throughout and has the right chemistry with Rajnikanth.

All things considered, Maappillai is an enjoyable motion picture. Rajni fans will be extremely pleased while those looking for nothing more than two and a half hours of entertainment, will not be bored. And one can't ask for more from a movie.

Illamai Oonjaladukirathu

ILAMAI OONJAL ADUGIRADHU" supported by SREE PRIYA, JAYA CHITRA. Music by Mastro Illayaraja. Enjoy my Lollu Classic collections on a Classic Movie "ILAMAI OONJAL ADUGIRADHU"

STORY:

This two legends of Tamil Cinema Rajini & Kamal Combination is a magic combination. RAJINI is a big business magnet. KAMAL works as the GM of that firm and who grows in RAJINI's place. KAMAL & SREE PRIYA who are in Love roams in Eliots beach, Mahabalipuram, drinking "SUGAR CANE JUICE" and watching movies in Devi theatre eating pop corn and cone ice cream in interval etc. One must see the Love scenes of Kamal and Sree Priya with Kamal wearing his BELL Bottom Pant that too in dark brown color and dancing with Sree Priya. Simply superb. Especially that
" Ore Nall Unnai Naan ..
Nilavail Parthadu ..
Ulavum Unn illami naan ...
Oonjal Adudu .. Song.

The story runs for half hour showing Kamal and Sree Priyas Love in 1980's Style. Those who want to know how our hero's and heroine's make Love in 1980's ... The hero will be riding a 1980 HARDLEY DAVIDSON BYKE and it will make sound like a "KARI ENGINE" that runs from Chengalput to Vizupuram and the heroine who will be wearing a Saree Preferable White Color and a White Jacket and All her inner Cloths will be visible who will be sitting with the hero in that HARDLEY byke and the hero will be riding that byke in Mount road. The hero will be wearing a GLASS which has a BLACK FRAME and it will cover half of his face and SPB will be singing a song.

JAYA CHITRA gets introduced as a Steno for KAMAL and who is a widow and who stays with Sree Priya in the same house. Jaya who sees the 'LOVE GAME' between KAMAL and SREE PRIYA and who cant those love game suffers and she is desperately looking for some one to satisfy her Love Needs. Rajini who happens to give a lift to JAYA CHITRA happen to interact closely with her but JAYA thinks that its wrong and gets out of the car. The story runs for another half hour showing the Love Feelings of the Young hero's and the Love feelings of the widow.

SREE PRIYA and JAYA CHITRA happens to go to their village to spend their vacation. KAMAL who wants to give a surprise to SREE PRIYA happen to come to her village but could'nt find her. JAYA asks KAMAL to stay that night in her place. JAYA who is suffering from 'LOVE ..' asks KAMAL to satisfy her Love Desire. "PANJUM NERUPUM PATIKICHI" and Jaya becomes Pregnant. SREE PRIYA who cannot take what happened ignores KAMAL from that point. RAJINI takes over the ball game and Saves SREE PRIYA from an accident and moves closely with her. Her father decides to get her married to RAJINI who is a close friend of KAMAL and her previous lover. The story ends in a classic climax and both RAJINI and SREE PRIYA comes to know what happened in the past and the movie ends as KAMAL and SREE PRIYA joins their hands.

1980's RAJINI & KAMAL:

I think both these guys are very talented guys. Especially the first scene in which RAJINI Projects him as a Owner of the company and calling Kamal and changing his Pen from Left hand to right hand and KAMALS response with his HIPPY STYLE Hair cut. Simply superb. I think they started to act together in 16 VAYADINELE, Avargal with Sujatha, Ninaithale Inikum with Sree Priya and this movie. All these movies were super duper hit and one specialty is Illayaraja's Music ! Rajini had his golden touch in this movie too with his weird Printed Coat and tie and a Big Glass. The scene in which he goes and Asks Sree Priya for a Lift and she rejecting it And casually starting his Car with a Cigarette in his mouth. I think Rajini is the only actor of last century to give a casual acting like that.

KAMAL as usual comes as a Lover Boy and "ORDERS HOT DOG" in a Restaurant. Guys just imagine ordering HOT DOG in 1980's. I think if a female is with a guy they will order "HOT DOG" "HOT PIG" etc etc. I don't know who invented that Bell bottom pant that too a irritating Brown color with a big think belt. It was really ugly. But good Job by both of them.

SREE PRIYA & JAYA CHITRA:

Both were really good in this movie although they were fat like a small Water Elephant (NEER YANNAI). Especially Sree Priya was too good. I think the movies that came after 1980 were really having good story line and the heroines did a good job doing those characters. Example SreeDevi in Jonny, Sree Priya in this movie. Etc. But JAYA CHITRA's acting was little too much for 1980. She literally invites Kamal to have that with her.

COMMENTS:
One has to really praise SRIDHAR who did a good job in his movies with a Strong Story line. In this movie he projects a Feeling of a Young widow who hardly had Love in her whole life and who is ill-treated by Public. He also projected that any female will have the same feeling regardless of what she is doing and who she is. Also he has Projected that "ALL MALE GENERATION" in this world are the same and who are "READY TO UTILIZE THE SUITUATION WHEN THE FEAMLE IS IN THAT MOOD". That is all males in the world will do LOVE if they get a chance.

In this movie although KAMAL and SREE PRIYA are in deep LOVE when JAYA is ready to give her KAMAL did it and got a bad name to all Male's in this world. I would say that female in this movie invited KAMAL to have Sex with her and Kamal who was in a Dream world satisfies her and feels bad for what he did. So mistake is from both sides and no single person has to be blamed for that.

An Excellent movie which projects the feelings of an young female who is in Love and a female who longs for Love. My only advice is Don't make love in front of your friends or else you will end up like Sree Priya in this movie. HA HA HA HA !!! An excellent movie with RAJINI staying top in his acting. SRIDHAR an excellent director who gave lots and lots of hits and one more to his list. I grade this movie to be 85/100 for its excellent story line and wonderful.

Ejamaan

Rajnikanth and AVM productions had a mutually beneficial relationship in the eighties. The string of Rajnikanth movies for AVM helped reintroduce the term 'masala movie' into tamil cinema terminology. Movies like Murattu Kaalai, Nallavanukku Nallavan and Manidhan (not coicidentally, all three were directed by S.P.Muthuraman) steadfastly stuck to the 'masala' formula and raked in the money at the box-office while at the same time, helping Rajnikanth climb to the top rung of tamil stardom. But Ejamaan, released much later, is predominantly a sentimental movie that does not offer much for the typical Rajni fan. Predictably, it did not enjoy as much success at the box-office as its peers.

Ejamaan also brought back to the fore, the controversy about old heros being paired with young heroines. Ejamaan highlighted the issue since Rajni's heroine was Meena, who had acted as a child performer with him in movies like Anbulla Rajnikanth and Engeyo Kaetta Kural. But the controversy died a natural death and Meena went on to act with Rajnikanth in Veera and Muthu, both of which were hugely successful.

Vaanavaraayan(Rajnikanth) is the village leader, adored and respected by the people. Based in his advice, they abstain from voting in the elections and instead, pool the money given by the candidates to get themselves some basic amenities. Vallavaraayan(Napoleon) is his arch enemy. Their enmity is further sharpened when Vaanavaraayan wins the hand of Vaitheeswari (Meena), whom Vallavaraayan had also wished to wed. So Vallavaraayan convinces the priest at the temple to mix a potion in the holy water that Vaitheeswari drinks. This destroys her ability to become a mother. When Vaanavaraayan learns of this, he hides this news from Vaitheeswari so that she is not hurt. But surprisingly, Vaitheeswari soon becomes pregnant.

The movie incorporates more sentiments than usual Rajnikanth movies. Both Rajni and Meena compete in showering love and affection on each other. These sections are designed to touch the hearts of the womenfolk. Every woman in the audience will wish for a husband like Vaanavaraayan, especially when he says that "a husband who allows tears in his wife's eyes is no man". The sequence where he lists out the things he would get for Meena(before dashing off to catch her a butterfly) is another such sequence. But the overemphasis on a woman becoming a mother and the continuous talk about begetting a child tends to get on one's nerves.

Rajnikanth's characters are always a mix of both action and comedy. But that does not fit into the character here and results in poor characterization. One hand he commands the respect of the villagers and on the other he steals food from the lunchboxes of the villagers. But his encounters with Napoleon offer solace to the Rajni fan with enough bravura challenges and double entendre dialogs which hint at his personal appeal and political stance. The bullock cart race sequence (particularly the list of comparisons between Rajni and Napoleon before the actual race) is the pick of the lot. The scene where the government officials come and ask him for accounts of his land is also funny.

The comedy, usually one of the strongpoints of a Rajnikanth movie, oversteps the boundaries of decency to descend into vulgarity. Nambiar's actions, where he hides the Kamasutra inside the Bhagvad Geetha and reads it, are an insult both to his age and the holy book. Aishwarya's accusation about Rajnikanth and her song when she tries to seduce Rajnikanth also make the movie more adult than other Rajni movies.

Rajnikanth plays the role softly and in a very mellow manner. His style in this movie is flipping the towel on his shoulder. Meena looks pretty and the pairing proves to be a good one. She melts our heart when she thanks Rajnikanth for getting her what she wants. Napoleon looks royal and dignified in portraying a ruthless but classy villain. Aishwarya(with some extra make-up to fit into the village milieu) is adequate. Koundamani and Senthil have a fun time spoofing the Prabhu-Karthik encounters in Agni Natchathiram. Ilaiyaraja comes up with a very melodious soundtrack. Aalappol Velappol..., Oru Naalum Unai Maravaadha... and Nilave Mugam Kaattu... are all very easy on the ears. Adi Raakku Muthu... has very impressive beats and is very well choreographed.

Chandramukhi

You cannot but help sympathize with Rajnikanth. He is at a stage where his popularity is at such a high that arguably no other actor before has enjoyed. With such a huge constituency of backers, it is always a difficult task deciding on whom to make his films for --- his hardcore fans or the general public.

The temptation is to take the middle ground --- try and satisfy both --- by including ingredients palatable to all the sections of the idea. In principle, the whole idea is fine. And that is what happens in Chandramukhi. And the makers can be appreciated for pulling it off in style.

Coming after the spectacular fiasco called Baba, the film had generated huge expectations. The film is certainly better than Rajni's previous film and will become one of his better run films.

Chandramukhi has many things going for it and chief among them is ---Rajni's undoubted charisma and magical screen presence. Though visibly older now, the actor still has an aura and attraction that is unmatched on Tamil screens. Even if his style and comedy capers have been seen before, they still strike a chord.

Saravanan (Rajnikanth) a top psychiatrist from America is on a SOS mission to help rescue his best friend Senthil's (Prabhu) wife Ganga (Jyothika) who suffers from a split personality syndrome. The husband and wife duo lives in a huge mansion that was once said to be occupied by a Maharaja. Ganga thinks that she is Chandramukhi, a dancer in the Raja's court (Chandramukhi is eventually killed by the Raja). Saravanan with his practical treatment (a cathartic exorcism) cures Ganga.

In this essentially heroine-dominated movie, it is Rajni who has the primacy. There are also his typical comedy scenes with Vadivelu.

The duo brings the house down with their fun and frolic. Rajni brings to his performance a large-hearted spirit and a sense of joi de vivre.

Prabhu has a small role and he performs with his usual flair. Jyothika as Ganga has performed well. She comes into her own especially towards the end and is full of energy. Nayantra as Rajni's pair turns up for songs and acts with ease and charm. No surprises there.

A gaggle of actors including Nasser, Vijayakumar, Sheela, Avinash, Swarna are there to add pep to the proceedings.

The songs are eminently hum-worthy and Vidyasagar's music all through is fresh and fits the bill.

Thalapathy Dinesh's fights are fine and Rajni's fans won't complain. Shekhar V Joseph's camera work is easy on the eyes.

Chandramukhi, on the whole, will surely the join the long list of Rajni's super hits.

Dharmadurai

Rajnikanth goes through a lot in Dharmadurai. Ofcourse Rajnikanth traditionally goes through a lot in all his movies but there is usually a good payoff at the end where he turns the tables on the villains. For instance, Padaiyappa had him losing his father and being burdened with worthless land before finding granite on the same land and growing rich. But his ordeals in Dharmadurai are infinitely tougher. Apart from being cheated by his brothers, he loses his father, is insulted at a party, goes to jail and loses his only son in an accident. And there is no payback at the end either. He just turns into a recluse, opting to spend his life in the jungle.

Baasha was such a huge success because it satisfied both Rajni fans and the average non-fan viewer. It contained enough elements to satisfy the hardcore fans while making things interesting enough for the regular moviegoer. As Manidhan showed, a movie that caters unabashedly to the fans can also taste success in a big way. My guess is that Dharmadurai failed to be a big hit because it failed to satisfy either group. While the average viewer looked upon it as a Rajnikanth movie, the Rajni fan had to be content with seeing his idol as a normal human being who suffers through all the pains that life has to offer instead of blowing them away like superman!

We first see Dharmadurai(Rajnikanth) as a loner, rescuing a young couple Balu and Ishwarya from the clutches of the goondas following them. Ishwarya is the daughter of Ramadurai(Saranraj) and has eloped with the blessings of her mother (Vaishnavi). It is her father's goondas who are after her now. Her father and her uncle Rajadurai('Nizhalgal' Ravi) show up, only to beat a hasty retreat when they realise who Ishwarya is with. Dharmadurai's wife(Gouthami) then tells them his story. Rajadurai and Ramadurai are none other than his brothers. He had showered love and affection on them and given them money against the wishes of his father(Madhu). But they had gotten involved in illegal activities and become rich by doublecrossing their own boss. Dharmadurai took the blame when they killed one of the villains and when he was in jail, his son was killed. He has been living in the jungle since coming out. When the villains capture Rajadurai and Ramadurai, their wives request Dharmadurai to rescue them.

The portions where Rajnikanth helps his brothers play like Padikkaadhavan in a village setting with Rajni helping them out with money and dreaming of them reaching great heights. Rajni's antics with Gouthami and a couple of funny incidents help pass these portions entertainingly. Most Rajni movies have one long comedy sequence (the sequence where Senthil and Rajni go to fix up an alliance for Senthil, in Padaiyappa or the butterfly-catching sequence in Yejamaan) which is usually targeted at the kids. Here there is a lengthy chase involving him and 'Bayilvaan' Ranganathan along with a crab, a dog and a camouflaged trap on the ground. The 'kabadi' scene also raises some chuckles. Gouthami was a lucky charm for Rajnikanth with all their movies being hits. They exhibit good chemistry and it is quite evident here too, like in the scene where she dresses up like an old lady.

Such sequences are interlaced with instances of his brothers taking advantage of his naievity while his father warns him against trusting them. His troubles increase in intensity and losing his son turns out to be last straw. The scene where he thrashes his brothers after returning from jail is emotional and his resolve never to speak again is more effective than a longwinded, moralistic dialog would have been. The climax is quite lengthy, beginning in the villain's den and ending with Rajni saving his brothers when they are dangling from the the window of a high-rise hospital. Rajni's superhuman abilities are also on show with his using a bottle, a lighter and some acid to remove a bullet lodged in his arm!

As in most Rajni movies, a tired and familiar story is made watchable only because of Rajni himself. He melts our hearts when pledging the house to get his brothers money and later when he visits their palatial mansion and wants to be reassured repeatedly that the money was earned legitimately. The serious and funny scenes are mixed well like when Rajnikanth visits Vaishnavi's house after Saranraj has raped her. He evokes laughs by dressing up as a wealthy man before turning serious when appealing to Vaishnavi to withdraw the case. Senthil is wasted as Gouthami's father in a role that requires no comic talent. Madhu plays the role of the wordlywise father well.

Ilaiyaraja has an average soundtrack though understandably, the songs were pretty popular solely on account of appearing in a Rajnikanth movie. Sandhaikku Vandha... and Onnu Rendu... are the duets while Annan Enna... and Aanenna Pennennaa... are the usual philosophical songs. Maasi Maasam... is the top number and is both catchy and melodious though picturised quite steamily considering that Rajni movies typically are targeted at family viewing.

Though containing many elements that would fit into regular tamil movies, Dharmadurai is still a Rajnikanth movie at heart. It will please his fans though non-fans might have a more difficult time liking it.

Baasha

"SUPER STAR" RAJINI KANTH in and as "BADSHAA". NAGMA, RAHUVARAN, VIJAYA KUMAR, YUVARANI, JANAKARAJ stars in a All time hit movie of Last Century "BADSHAA". Music by 'Then Isai Thendral' Deva and the movie Directed by Suresh Krishna. Dear friends its for you and Enjoy my review on Super Star Rajinikanth's all time hit movie "Badshaa".

OVERVIEW:

Entertainment is what we look for when we go to movies. No one likes to cry or feel sad after watching a movie. One can guarantee that "IF you watch Rajini's Picture" you will get the full satisfaction of watching a movie. Super Star "Rajinikanth" so called as "Thalivar" by his die hard fans is one of the most Prominent Actor in the history of Indian Cinema. His movies are fun to watch, Entertaining, Enjoyable, Humorous and what not. "BADSHAA" was one of his all time best movie which broke all the records created by his movies. I still remember the day I went to "BADSHAA" in ALBERT theatre in Madras on the release day how people reacted to see "THALIVAR" in action throwing "MALAI and lighting Candles and Breaking "SURA THENGAI " for our Thalivar. Its one man show, He is the leader and he is the Star that's 'SUPER STAR" RAJINI. Enjoy SUPER STAR's SUPER HIT Movie Review on "BADSHAA".

STORY:

The story starts with a marriage scene in which a marriage gets stopped because of 'Dowry'. There comes Janakaraj with money and says 'MANIKAM' gave this money. An operation gets stopped because of the money they need to pay to the doctor. There comes Janagaraj with money and says 'MANIKAM' gave this money. Everyone will be wondering who is that Manikamm and there comes our "SUPER STAR" RAJINIKANTH with his All time hit song "Auto Karan Auto Karan Nalum therinja Route Karan". RAJINI runs his life working as an auto driver who is the head of his family. He runs a peaceful life and he takes care of two Non blood sisters and a brother. The initial scene in this movie was well taken with the regular 'RAJINI's acting and comedy.

NAGMA gets introduced as a Rich girl who gets ride from RAJINI and slowly falls in LOVE after seeing RAJINI's smile and innocent acting and good nature. The love scene between RAJINI and NAGMA were so nice and one can laugh like mad. Especially when RAJINI talks his English with Nagma. like" WHAT YA", "WHEN YA", "YES YA", "NO YA", " YA YA", "TOO GOOD YA", "TOO BAD YA" Yamma I can take any more laugh. Rajini's brother gets employed as DGP, One sister gets married and another one gets a Medical college seat.

Rajini's True color comes to picture as Rajini hits Anand Raj badly and his brother who is a police inspector asks him "Who are you and what were you doing in Bombay". Then the other side of RAJINIKANTH that is "BADSHAA" comes to picture. The story takes a serious track after that as our RAJINI behaves like DON who actually became a DADA because of RAHUVARAN. The way Rajini walks will be really funny. He will be in a Suit with a Dadi and with a Cooling glass which doesn't have a frame and will be walking with Adiyals who are dressed in Coat with a Back ground music "BADSHAA BADSHAA BADSHAA BADSHAA" with a big tall DOBERMAN DOG in the side and Color Light Flashing on him and our Thalivar will be delivering Hot dialogs like

"INDA BADSHAA ORU DADAVA SONNA NOORU DADAVAI SONNA MADIRI" with a Sound coming from his fingers.
The movie ends as RAHUVARAN escapes from Jail to kill Rajini and at last our RAJINI wins the war with a happy song ends the movie.

SUPERSTAR "RAJINIKANTH" :

Rajini came out with his all time best performance in this movie. Right from the first scene till the last scene he was NO.1 in this movie. His dual role in this movie was praised by each and every Tamil movie lover in this world. He was absolutely Superb in his Auto Driver character as well as his Don Character. Especially that "MEDICAL COLLEGE SEAT Scene" for his sister was simply the best scene I have ever seen in any Movie so far. Rajini was so cool the way he expressed his Previous DADA life to that college principal who demeans YUVARANI to come to his guest house to get a medical college seat. One must see the applause for that scene in theatres. To me RAJINI is the best entertainer we have seen so far. His mixture of Characters in 'Azagu Azagu' song and his Stylish dance in that 'Style Style' Song are simply a feast for any human in this world.

NAGAMA, RAHUVARAN, JANAKARAJ:

Nagama came out big in this movie and was a Fashion girl at that time. Tamil fans want to see a female that has everything 'ALL IN ONE FIGURE' and she was the right choice at that time as the previous ALL IN ONE FIGURE Kushboo was out of shape when this movie was made. She was fortunate to act in this master piece and she did a good job. "RAHUVARAN" as usual was good and was class in his acting and so was JANAKARAJ.

LOLLU COMMENTS:
The only person who can be over projected and still will have that same soft corner from the public is SUPERSTAR "RAJINIKANTH". I bet no other actor in the field of Indian Cinema can be over projected. You can name a few people who are in the hearts of public. AMITAB, MGR, RAJINI KANTH and only a few will come under the list. These days there are few actors like SARATH who wants to become like RAJINI and who cannot.

Rajini has his own style. Either it may be "PARATTAI" Character in 16 Vayadinele or his innocent character in "BHUVANA ORU KELVI KURI" till today's ANNAMALAI, BADSHAA and PADAYAPPA his movies stand apart and is praised by thousands of people around the world. I still remember the day when we went to "ARUNACHALAM" in CHICAGO where his fans all over USA came to watch his movie. I was talking to few of them in the theatre and they said that the drove for 300, 400 miles. I bet its worth it man. You can drive even 3000 Miles to watch a Rajini movie on the first day.

The way he puts himself saying that "I am not a big Guy" and at the same time projecting him as a big guy. That's what people like about him. He never says that he his a big guy that too with his childish laugh and crazy actions. RAJINI is NO.1 and he is the star. Its really unfortunate that we are not able to see his movies quite often and we don't know what is his plans for this "WONDERFUL TAMIL MOVIE INDUSTRY" !!! WE WANT RAJINI TO COME FORWARD AND GIVE THE TRUE ENTERTAINMENT !!! WE WANT RAJINI BACK IN ACTION!!!! WE DONT WANT OUR THALIVAR TO GET INTO ANY SORTS OF THING WHICH IN NOT RELATED TO ENTERTAINMENT!!

Before Concluding Guys Say !! Thaliva Vazga !! Anbu Thalivar Vazga !!!

My Only request to RAJINI is Entertainment is one good thing everyone love to have. You are the best ENTERTAINER in this world and I don't find any reason why you are silent. We are longing to see your movie. Time to Grade BADSHAA !! No questions it gets 100/100 for its excellent entertainment !!!

Baba

Rajini is fascinated by the Himalayas. He also knows a Babaji who has been alive for 2000 years! He has mixed all this up in a perfect movie-masala and has stuffed it down our throats. All we can do is grin and bear for our beloved Rajini.

Even at his birth, Rajini is declared to be someone almost divine and extraordinary.
He grows up as a Non-believer. At a stage, a holy-man in the guise of a beggar (Sayaji Shindae) takes him to the Himalayas. At the mountains, the saints teach him 7 mantras. These mantras have the power to make any wish come true. Initially, Rajini is skeptic about the power of the mantras and playfully wastes some of them away. He then begins to give up his lack of faith in God and begins to transform into a Believer. His lifestyle begins to change. He uses his final mantra to create an honest, non-corrupt Chief Minister of the state.When the other corrupt politicians kill the honest CM, Rajini reluctantly gives up his path of Saatvik lifestyle by choosing Karma yoga. He does this by entering active politics himself. The film ends with an ' it continues' note.


Rajinikanth

Rajini carries the film squarely on his shoulders. What captivates the audience the most is his undiminishing youthfulness and energy.

Rajni had a light beard in this film to give a carefree image to the Characterization. Rajni's name is associated with the style and he performed each and every moment of Baba character with great élan. Rajni's introduction is shown with the song 'Tippu Tippu, in a railway station set. He also did different dances for the songs 'Baba Kichu Kichu and 'Maya Maya in the dance direction of Prabhudeva and Lawrance respectively. His mannerism in the film is saying 'Gatham Gatham' (past is past) by showing his trademark Baba symbol (see the image of Baba). Another interesting mannerism is giving shake-hand to his pal for every dialogue he or his friends crack.

Rajini's dance is the best thing that had happened to the song sequences. His dance, his rapid dialogue deliveries and his fast paced gait are received by applauses of joy and jubilation by the audience.


Since he clashes directly with the 'CM' and 'Deputy CM' in the film, the dialogues are laced liberally with political overtones. These too are greeted with whistles and applauses. Towards the end of the film, Koundamani plainly tells him, "Why don't you become the CM yourself, Baba?" Even before the dialogue ends, the fans go crazy with their shouts of joy and affirmation.

Other Artists

Manisha's character was put together in a big rush or that's what it looks like. One doesn't get the feeling that she is the heroine of the film. She doesn't have the appeal or glam of the heroine. Pretty dry she looks.
Aashish Vidhyarthi's character adds strength to Rajini's role.
Koundamani is very hilarious in the first half of the film. Sujatha's character portrays motherhood sentiments to perfection.

Others

The song 'rajjiyamaa' with AR Rehman's score gels beautifully with the story and spins magic. When seen along with the film, Rehman's music score works. The music has supported the film very well indeed! Cinematographer Chota K Naidu and editor Vijayan deserve special mention. They have put in tremendous effort in further strengthening the scenes that portray Rajini's might and strength.

It's an interesting twist when the Babaji gives the boons to a Non-Believer like Rajini. The film picks up speed when Rajini has only one more manthra to use. The story has some good instances of screenplay, like when everybody starts compelling Rajini to take up the CM position himself with the Opposition too trying to capture the coveted position, and when Rajini attempts to use his last boon to create an honest politician.

Rajini has done the story and screenplay of this film. So, director Suresh Krishna couldn't do anything much there. But, he has done his best in bringing out the opulence in the framing of scenes and song sequences.

Rajini is very much into Spirituality. Rajini's fans are very much interested in seeing him enter into Politics.'Baba' is a coming together of both these desires.

Rajnikanth's intention of mixing the Indian philosophy with mass elements is commendable. At the end of the film Rajni asks the Baba to tell him what everybody should do to have a harmony in society. Baba replies Rajni 3 principles 1. You should keep your body and heart very clean 2. one must keep his/her family very happy 3. One must help the society. Even if you don't help society, you should never harm it.

The film moves almost along the lines of a 'God and goddess' film. The film doesn't offer a wide option in entertainment elements. So, the only entertainment factor of the film is Rajini and his styles

Avargal

One of Balachadarís under-rated master pieces. Anu acts in one of her best roles after ìAval oru thodar kadaiî (her first movie). The movie was way-ahead of its times by the simple fact that there was one heroine and three men (Rajinikanth, Kamalhasan and Bharani) yearning for her.


The story starts with a young single mother, Anu, moving to Madras from Bombay and being stranded without a house and company. Janardhanan, who is a colleague offers to help her and find her a house. With difficulty, she finds a house with his help and tries to settle in. The puzzle of her current position is solved by a flashback. She was in love with Bharani who had to leave her and go to his struggling family. Forced by her ailing father, she marries his boss, Rajinikanth. She soon realizes that he is a sadist and cannot stand his poisoned words and actions. She leaves him and lands at her current job with her child.

Janardhanan, a widower and a ventriloquist, starts developing feelings for Anu and is struggling expressing himself. But, fate plays its hand in their lives and it turns out that Anuís ex-lover, Bharani, is living in the house right opposite hers looking after his sick sister. When the lost lovers meet, sparks start and Anu, after a long time starts being happy again. Ramnathís mother, Leelavathi who hears about his sonís misdoings, wants to take care of her daughter-in-law and grandson and enters Anuís house as a maid.

When all things seem to be going well, Rajinikanth returns to his estranged wife seeking forgiveness, and she is in a total soup. The climax is very different and shows the resolve of the heroine.

The movie was way ahead of its time in many ways:

Single mother, divorcee phenomenon was not particular in the ë70s, leave alone now.
To show that a woman can stand by herself and also can lean on others for support, if required, both do not demean her character.

Kamalhasan is said to have learned ventriloquism to help with the character. The song ìKatrukenna Veliî by S.Janaki is very catchy, yet melodious.

Arunachalam

It has been a recent trend for Rajnikanth's movies to have the name of the hero as the movie title. "Arunachalam" is not an exception.

"Arunachalam" is a story about a village hero (Rajnikanth) who has 2 brothers and a sister and a happy family. Ravichandran and K.R.Vatsala are his parents. "Vedavalli" (Soundharya) is the daughter of Jaisankar and 'Venniraadai' Nirmala. Nirmala is Ravichandran's sister and they all come to Ravichandran's home for Rajni's sister's wedding. That gives the opportunity for Soundharya and Rajnikanth to fight first, then to kiss and fall in love with each other.

Rajnikanth finds himself to be an orphan by interval. He goes out of the village. He goes to Madras where he meets Janakaraj, who gives him a job. By some magical situation Rajni discovers himself to be a son of a (dead) millionaire - through Visu. Visu is the guardian of Rajni's father's trust. If Rajni wants his inheritance, he has to follow certain rules. He can get an inheritance of 3000 Crore Rupees if he can spend 30 crores in 30 days. The conditions are: no contributions to charities, not to own any assets at the end of 30 days and above all, no one else should know about this! Receipts should be provide for all the expenses. If Rajni fails to spend the money according to the rules, all the money will go to his father's trust which is managed by V.K.Ramasamy, "Nizalgal" Ravi, Kitty and Raguvaran. These four form a team of "villains". They want to spoil Rajni's efforts and get all the money for the trust and kill Visu. Ramba is Visu's daughter and she is appointed as the accountant for Rajni for 30 days.

What happens next is the main part of the story. Rajni tries hard to spend his money and many times, the money comes back! He spends on Horse races, lottery tickets, makes a movie with Senthil as the hero and he even starts his own political party with Janakaraj being the candidate. All these events are good opportunities for situation comedies.

Does Rajni win this competition? Does he get all the 3000 Crore rupees for himself and live happily ever after? (see it in silver screen!) is the rest of the story.

The first half of the movie is an original Tamil story. The second half of the story has been lifted from the English movie "Brewster's Millions" (with Richard Pryor in the lead role). I saw "Brewster's Millions" just before watching Arunachalam. See the bottom of this review for my "Review of Brewster's Millions" . Eventhough the story has been borrowed, it has been modified well to suit the Tamil culture and audience.

Super Star Rajnikanth satisfies all the requirements of Rajni fans - style, acting, good dance movements, fights and comedy. What more can one ask for? As usual Rajni's comedy acting is enjoyable. Particularly his comedy with Senthil is Superb. His love scenes with Soundarya is very interesting.

Soundarya is not only beautiful, but she also acts well. Her love scenes with Rajni is worth mentioning again.

Senthil deserves a special mention for his decent comedy. On several scenes, he is really funny. Janakaraj has been given a good role after a long time. He has done it well too.

Vadivukarasi has done a totally different role in a superb way.

Other actors/actresses who have done good acting includes: Jaishankar, Ravichandran, V.K.Ramasamy, Raghuvaran, Manorama, Visu and Crazy Mohan.

Eventhough the dialogues by Crazy Mohan are not upto the level of "Avvai Shanmugi", they are good and they bring laughes throughout the movie.

The fight scenes are not that great. There are not different from any other masala tamil movie.

If making a typical entertaining Rajini movie is all that Director Sundar C. wanted, he has succeeded in that. The movie flows smoothly. The editing is also good, particularly the several slow motion scenes in this movie have been done well.

Also, it has been a recent trend to show the shooting scenes at the end of the movie (thanks to "Jackie Chan" movies for inspiration!). At the end of this movie also, there are some shooting scenes which are interesting to watch.

Music is by Deva. The two songs which are good are: "Athanda Ithanda.." (reminds us of "Naan Autokaren" from Batcha) and "Nagumo ai Sugamo..". Deva could have done a better job. The director has compensated for the music by filming the songs rich.

With the one exception of songs, "Arunachalam" is an entertaining movie.

Double Visil (for Rajni).

16 Vayathinile

Tamil Cinema was revolving around Four Walls for along time and all the movie were Family oriented and hard subject stories. Then came a Change i would say a revolution.I hope BARATHIRAJA was the first person who changed the FOUR WALL subject and took the cameras to VILLAGES and started to make movies on FEELINGS and DREAMS of an ordinary human. I really appreciate his Service to the movie field.The story starts with a Young Good Looking Village girl MAYIL (MY ALL TIME DREAM GIRL SREE DEVI) dreaming to become a Teacher. Her mom GANDHIMATHI who is a widow and is a Village Roudi. All that she does is fight with females in that Village which really affects our Dream girl Sree Devi.

One must see SREE DEVI's acting when she Jumps with happiness when she is done with her 10th Standard.CHAPPANI (KAMAL) gets introduced as a innocent and Half Crack guy who works for SREE's mom doing the needful for the family and for the village people. His primary job is to give an OIL Massage to PATTARAI (RAJINI) who gets all information about SREE DEVI and about Village people. One must see how all these three legends (RAJINI, KAMAL, SREE DEVI) has acted in this movie. Really Fantastic and great.

Especially in a village festival when RAJINI sees SREE DEVI in a PAVADAI and when his friends say "LOOK At MAYIL how beautiful she is in her PAVADAI" RAJINI in turn will reply "AVALU KENNA AV ATHALUKU PAVADA POTTA KUDA NALA IRRUKUM"The story runs without a single deviation and without any overacting which really made me cry seeing the Talents at their best on my Screens. KAMAL dreams marrying SREE DEVI as KURUVAMMA (GANDHI MATHI) calls KAMAL as "MARUMAGANE" !! But our SREE who has much better dreams falls in LOVE with a Veterinary Doctor who visits the Village who looks like a "SAIDAPET SONGI" with a SODA BODDI GLASS and BELL BOTTOM PANT. Sree gets attracted to his modern Life and she starts her dream !! She even ignores her TEACHER JOB which was her long time ambition in life for her IMAGINARY DREAM with the doctor.The Dream World of the sad Village girl comes to an end when that Stupid Ugly Looking Irritating Doctor says that "HE DIDNT LOVE HER AND SHE JUST LOVED HER AGE" !! I really felt like slapping that guy. Then KAMAL Takes care of the family and asking MAYIL not to worry ! Then comes the Directors talent who made us to FLY IN DREAMS for 1 1/2 HOURS make us to CRY FOR another ONE HOUR as KURUVAMMA (Sree Devi's Mom) dies.

VILLAN RAJINI whose aim is to SLEEP with SREE DEVI once gets into the house when she was Sleeping and At last KAMAL kills RAJINI by throwing a big stone and the DREAM AND EMOTIONS die and the Story ends.

Punch Dialogue : Idhu Eppadi Irukku............ How is it?

Annamalai

As a fan(my friends tend to say fanatic!) of Rajnikanth, I rate his movies on a different set of standards that I do other movies. There are certain qualities that I have come to expect in his recent movies. Apart from being a clean entertainer, it must have great comedy, well-staged fight sequences, pleasing and nicely-choreographed song sequences and a certain amount of politically tinged dialogs. Annamalai, Rajnikanth's first of three hugely successful associations with Suresh Krissna, has it all. It is my favorite Rajnikanth movie(Baasha comes a close second but loses out on comedy and political dialogs) and one I never get tired of watching.


Annamalai(Rajnikanth) and Ashok(Sarathbabu) have been friends since childhood. Annamalai is a milkman while Ashok is the only son of a rich businessman(Radharavi). When Ashok falls in love with Geetha(Rekha), a poor girl, his father is naturally against the wedding. But Annamalai holds the wedding and earns his ire. Plotting to drive a wedge between his son and Annamalai, the businessman hints that he would like to build a hotel on Annamalai's land. Annamalai gives the land to Ashok without even accepting money for it but when Ashok later talks about bringing down his house, he slaps Ashok's father in anger. Ashok orders Annamalai's house to be bulldozed to the ground which drives Annamalai to challenge that he would become a bigger and more successful hotelier than Ashok.

Annamalai is a Rajni fan's dream come true. Suresh Krissna picturises the important scenes in a rousing manner. The standout scene is the one where Rajni is elected the new head of the Hotelier's Association. Right from the moment the doors open with Rajnikanth waiting with pipe in mouth to the point where he grandly takes his seat after blowing smoke directly into Sarathbabu's face, this scene is an example of good picturisation embellishing a scene. The scenes where Rajni strides out of Sarathbabu's house after throwing the challenge at him and later, makes him buy a house at an auction thereby pushing him even further into debt, are other exhilarating scenes.

There is a light vein of comedy running throughout the first half with clever scenes like Kushboo mistaking Rajnikanth to be a prince, a milkman and a robber due to circumstances. Laughs peak in the scene where Rajnikanth deals with a snake in Kushboo's hostel. Both his incoherent babbling when the snake crawls on him and his dazed walk while chanting "Kadavule Kadavule" until Kushboo pulls him over evoke lots of laughs. The movie doesn't go overboard with political double entendre and serves up just the right amount. There were just hints of trouble brewing between Rajnikanth and JJ when this movie was released and the palmist's warning about trouble coming in the guise of a woman hints at this. The proclamations to the minister to leave him alone are also well-timed.

One department where other Rajni films have lacked is the realistic portrayal of relationships. Usually they tend to be cliched and dramatic like the mother-son relationship in Padaiyappa. But the relation between Rajni and his daughter here is very nicely portrayed. The advice he gives her regarding not taking all-important decisions at her age rings true. Even the importance he places on his mother is brought out well in a short scene where he falls at her feet on his wedding day instead of going to the temple.

Fight sequences are impressively staged with the encounter in the Minister's house taking the cake. The slow-motion shots in this sequence highlight the fact that Rajnikanth has performed many of his own stunts. The climax also includes some clever turns like the breaking of glass in the office room(a lift from Die Hard) and the huge number of similar cars(with one of them containing a bound and gagged Sarathbabu), instead of a long and continuous fight sequence. Song sequences are imaginative, especially the Annamalai Annamalai... which features Rajnikanth in the three roles imagines by Kushboo. Kondaiyil... is fast and incorporates scenes from early Rajni and Kushboo films while Vetri Nichayam... is the usual song during which Rajni climbs the rungs of success.

Rajnikanth lights up the screen in both the comic and serious portions. Kushboo serves as a nice foil for him. She shares a good chemistry with him and shows nice flair for comedy. Sarathbabu, who has shared the screen in several of Rajnikanth's hit films, and Rekha are adequate. Radharavi, with a mannerism of scratching the back of his neck, is impressive when he asks for forgiveness from Manorama. 'Nizhalgal' Ravi is an effective wolf in sheep's clothing.

Aboorva Raagangal

K. BALACHANDER Presents "ABOORVA RAGANGAL". KAMAM, RAJINI, SREE VIDHYA, "MAJOR" SUNDER RAJAN, JAYA SUDHA, NAGESH in a Family based "K.B" Movie. The specialty of this movie is "This movie is SUPER STAR RAJINIKANTH's First Movie in TAMIL". Songs by Kanadhasan. Enjoy my review on "Tamil Classic Movie Collection" Aboorva Ragangal.

STORY:

Any K.Balachander movie revolves around Character's inside a room with not much of Helicopter fight or Gun Shooting or villain chase etc etc. In this movie its "SREE VIDHYA" so called as Bhairavi who is a singer and "MAJOR" Sunder Rajan. Sree Vidhya who is searching for some peace and happiness in her life and so is Major Sunderajan who is very much worried about his Son "KAMAL" who gets involved in unnecessary things and gets into trouble. Half hour of the movie runs like this showing family problems in 1970 style, quarrel between Kamal and his Dad etc. Kamal who cant take any more Rupture from his dad fights with him and leaves home and starts his own life !

Sree Vidhya happen to meet Kamal one day in streets as he was slapped by a group of unknown people. She helps Kamal in getting recovered from the accident he had and Slowly Kamal gets attracted towards Sree Vidya seeing the affection and Love and decides to stay in her house as a Paying guest. The relationship between both of them can only be understood by people like K.B, Visu or Cho and its above average people Standards. Similarly "MAJOR" Sunder Rajan meets JAYA SUDHA who gives moral support to Major asking about his Private life and giving him words of Love. MAJOR who thinks JAYA SUDHA as her daughter requests her to stay in his house as his Son Kamal leaves him. JAYA agrees to stay in MAJOR's house seeing the LOVE and AFFECTION he showed on various occasion thinking that he is a Gentle Man.

The movie runs for a while showing the day to day interaction between the two FRIENDLY COUPLES (Kamal and Sree Vidhya) and (Major Sunder Rajan and Jaya Sudha). Their interaction turns into love as all the four are basically searching for Some kind of LOVE from someone. One fine day Kamal Proposes Sree Vidhya who is like his mom and says that he loves her and Jayasudha proposes Major Sunder Rajan who is like her dad. Its some thing like the recent Oscar movie "The American Beauty" where Kevin Spacey proposes his daughters Friend. Both Kamal and Jaya Sudha gets slaps from Sree Vidhya and Major. Kamal decides to get out of Sree Vidhya's house. Sree Vidhya says the truth that she has a "DAUGHTER AT HIS AGE"!!! Meanwhile "SUPER STAR" gets introduced as "X-LOVER" of SREE VIDHYA. Thalivar will come with a JIBBA with is DADI and opens a Old Gate.

"Rajini Not only just opens the door in his first best movie appearance but also opened the opportunities and hearts of Tamil people & enters innnnnnnn........ with 1000 Madras Wistle" in his first movie.

Then comes KB's climax. Sree Vidhya's Daughter is JAYA SUDHA who is Dating KAMAL's Father. Man its a confusion. Where in the world this can happen. Daughter being Mother In Law for Mom and Son being Father In Law for Father. Where in the world this can happen. At last every one feels for the mistake they have did in the past. KB Says Relations are made and are not given. A Touch of class acting by all of them and the movie gets over as JayaSudha and Sree Joins and Kamal and Major Joins together.

K. BALACHANDER:

The real hero of the movie is K.BALACHANDER. I think he is the director of last century. He is the person who started to take family movies which attracted thousands of tamil cinema fans. His movies will be within four walls and will have real cream content. Each and every character in his movies speaks. The combination of Rajini, Kamal and K.B worked out fine in many movies. One good example is K.B's "BUVANA ORU KELVI KURI" with Rajini. Another Movie which I really liked in K.B's collection was "UNNAL MUDIYUM THAMBI" with Kamal. It was an excellent movie which didnt get proper recognition from the public. Of course "SINDHU BHAIRAVI". K.B went to peak with his SINDHU BHAIRAVI which fetched him lots and lots of awards. One must see SUHASINI, SHIVA KUMAR and K.B Combination in that movie. I need to write about that movie ASAP. His other hits includes "AVARGAL" with Kamal, "Moonru Muduchi" with Kamal, "Varumai Niram Sivapu" with Kamal and Sree Devi, "Punagai Mannan" with Kamal. Later K.B started to concentrate on T.V serials. K.BALACHANDER is a legend of Tamil cinema. There is no doubt in it.

KAMAL, RAJINI and SREE VIDHYA:

KAMAL was excellent in his acting. But his hair style was irritating. His Hair Style looked like a "SAPI POTA PANAG KOTTAI". Another specialty of this movie is this movie was SUPER STAR's first TAMIL MOVIE. He opens a Iron gate in his first introduction scene. RAJINI I am a great fan of you and i must say "You Opened our Heart and No one is there to Shut it down Other than you". Thanks K.B for giving us SUPER STAR of Tamil Nadu to us !!! Great Introduction. How about the Female artist SREE VIDHYA and JAYASUDHA, Both of them looks like "MALGOVA MAMBAZAM". Excellent figures We wish this combination (RAJINI, KAMAL, K.B) will give us many more hits in the future.

COMMENTS:

Tamil film industry has never been out of talents. Right from N.S. KRISHNAN, SHIVAJI GANESAN, Till today's KAMAL, Yesterdays SRIDHAR, K. BALACHANDER till today's MANI RATHNAM, Yesterdays M.S. Viswanathan, ILAYARAJA till today's A.R. REHMAN ... we can say thousands of names. I would say K.BALACHANDER had his own style in making movies and even today he is successful in what ever he does. He is like god father of Tamil movie lovers. Not only in directing movies but also in "DRAMA Field". He is the "GURU" of our SUPER STAR "RAJINI GANTH". I think he has done everything in the field of Movies!

A person who is able to analyze a Problem and who is able to solve it or give a right solution always wins, Its not only true in Movie industry its the same fact even in writing software's for customers. I always believe in the above Sentence. That might be one of the reason for me being a successful Programmer in USA for years. K.B follows the same strategy Rather I follow K.B's strategy. "ABOORVA RAGANGAL" is one such movie which revolves around Problems in our life although the problem seems to be really complicated like "INTEGRATION" in Maths. A movie about People who long for Love. When some one is able to give it people are ready to accept it without thinking about anything and they are put into an Odd Situation. Result is a big Zero. K.BALACHANDER Climax is always the best and he clearly shows that its not going to work when things are too complicated. "ABOORVA RAGANGAL" is a CLASSIC MOVIE and we grades the movie to be 90/100 for its extraordinary story line and direction and acting by the stars.

Aarulirunthu Arupathuvarai - Tamil Film

After starting off as a villain and then turning hero, Rajnikanth had an equal mix of movies portraying him as the rough and tough action hero and those that gave him an oppurtunity for histrionics. Movies like Priya and Dharmayudham belonged to the former category while those like Mullum Malarum and Ilamai Oonjalaadugiradhu gave him more mellow roles. But Aarulirundhu Arubathu Varai was probably the first movie to give him a no-frills, completely non-heroic, everyday role. Here he depicts the life of a man who struggles to raise his loved ones but is spurned by them once they grow up and his performance leads us to think that much of his potential as an actor may have been left untapped once he became trapped in his image.

The story itself is not much different from numerous other movies Rajnikanth himself starred in, much later in his career. Movies like Padikkaadhavan and Dharmadurai too had Rajnikanth being cheated by his brothers after he had devoted his entire life towards their success. But its the treatment of the subject that differs here. There are no grandiose, overdone scenes to show his affection for them nor is there any artificiality in his reactions to their behavior. There is no comedy, there is just a single fight sequence and even that is quietly done and there is only one dream sequence(and not with the heroine).

Rajnikanth is Santhanam, who lost his father when he was a boy, and has been supporting his family ever since. He joined a printing press at that time and has grown step-by-step, while accumulating enough debts to put his two brothers and a sister through college. His poverty leads to him being jilted by the woman he loves and he then gets married to Lakshmi('Fatafat' Jayalakshmi), solely on the belief that this would get him the money needed to conduct his sister's marriage. But after sacrificing his whole life for his siblings, Santhanam watches on as they leave him once they find greener pastures, leaving him to fend for himself.

The movie is definitely heavy with no attempt to lighten the atmosphere whatsoever. Not until the very end do we see any kind of happiness in the movie. But inspite of the pessimistic tone and chance for sentiments, most scenes are handled in a mature and realistic way. For instance, though Rajnikanth incurs huge debts to keep the family afloat, we don't see him treat his brothers with softness always. He barks at them at the right time(like his reaction to his brother's criticism to the shirt he buys for him) and points out his own inabilities. Similarly, his silent reactions to the brothers leaving him, speak volumes. His reaction, when the second brother asks him for permission to leave, with his bag already packed, is one such very effective scene.

The effect of many of these scenes is embellished by the sharp script. The feelings are brought out very well in Rajnikanth's lectures to his brothers. His reaction to his brother ill-treating Cho and the way he restores peace and calm after quarrels between 'Fatafat' Jayalakshmi and his sister sound natural, mainly due to what he tells them. Even the lecture of a Jeya's father to her when she expresses her wish to marry Rajnikanth is logical with no unnecessary shouting. There is also a very telling comment on why poor people have more kids that rings true while being funny.

Not that the movie is completely devoid of exaggerations though. The behavior of Rajni's sister, especially when he takes a present for her child, appears cinematic and unnatural. Normally, its the reversal of fortunes in such movies that makes us cheer and lifts our spirits. But here, these portions seem rushed. They give the feeling that S.P.Muthuraman did not have the courage to maintain the sad tone of the movie until the end and slapped together a happy shift in the story. The background voice that narrates the story only gives credence to his line of thought.

Rajnikanth here will be a revelation to those who have been exposed to only his recent movies. He makes a very believable, sympathetic protagonist during all stages of life. His outbursts towards his brothers and sister are as effective as his crying over his wife's death. 'Fatafat' provides good support. Cho plays the kind of friend any of us would be lucky to have. His friendship with Rajnikanth is one of the strongpoints of the movie. Surulirajan is cast against type and portrays a man easy to hate. Ilaiyaraja has a classic in Kanmaniye Kaadhal..., though the picturisation leaves much to be desired.

Aandavan (Dubbed Film)

We have seen this done before by those who are out to make a quick buck - dig up old movies starring a newly popular star and dub them, with the star(who in all probability had a borderline role in the movie) now the center of attraction. Several of Kushboo's movies from other languages were dubbed in this way once she became a big star. Now its Rajnikanth's turn as one of his older and worse, eminently forgettable Hindi flicks makes its way to screens as Aandavan.

With the only target audience being the fans of the star, overall quality of the end product is not high on the list of the people behind these movies. So the movies generally tend to be disappointing for all but the most hardcore fans of the star. But inspite of the less-than-stellar company, Aandavan is a disaster. A remake of Aatank Hi Aatank, which focussed on Aamir Khan's growth into a reluctant don, the movie becomes a vehicle for Rajnikanth, who plays Aamir's elder brother. But it is doubtful if even Rajni fans, who haven't seen their hero for over a year since Padaiyappa, will sit through this mess.

The movie begins along the lines of Naayagan with the hero, a young boy who sees his parents being killed, murders the killer and runs off to Bombay(the scenes upto here have been reshot in tamil). There he is taken in by Sivasubramani, a man who has recently moved to Bombay from Madras. Sivasubramani grows to be a big don and the boy Mustafa(Rajnikanth) is his right hand man. There are several other dons in Bombay and their only agenda is to kill Sivasubramani. They manage to shoot Sivasubramani in broad daylight and this pushes his son Rakesh(Aamir Khan) into the same violent life led by his father and brother.

The movie is nothing more than a collection of clips that Rajnikanth makes an appearance in, from the Hindi original. So we are completely lost as far as the other characters are concerned. Most of them come and go and we have no idea who they are since scenes which probably explained their background have been snipped away. Aamir Khan is reduced to a bystander for most of the movie and appears only for a duet with Juhi Chawla in the first half(his name appears after Vadivukkarasi's name in the credits, which should give you an idea of his importance in the scheme of things!). It is only after he becomes the focus of the movie that the moviemakers have reluctantly included scenes with him.

With this state of things, it makes no sense analysing the story or loopholes in the movie. And from the collection of clippings, it can be gathered that the original hindi version was no classic! Direction is ham-handed and the actors appear wooden. Dialogs are stilted and artificial and sequences are boring when they are not laughable. To compound our misery, the tamil version ends abruptly in the middle of a fight sequence with a proclamation that "Aandavan's reign will continue!" Ofcourse I was glad that the ordeal had ended but some kind of closure would have been nice!

If I didn't know the origins of this movie, I would have thought that I was seeing Rajnikanth parody his own image and style in tamil movies. His styles and actions seem exaggerated(the scene where he smashes the camera of a photographer at his sister's wedding seemed almost comical) and his discomfort with emotional scenes is evident in the scene where he cries to his father. Aamir Khan tries gamely to carry off the gangster role but looks extremely funny with the moustache and gelled hair. Deva has tuned some new songs and the lyrics are pepperred with enough personal references to Rajni to get his fans cheering.

This has been a particularly bad period as far as the quality of tamil movies goes. The last 10 movies in my 'Small Screen' section include only one 2-star movie and even that is a dubbed flick. Aandavan is easily the worst of the lot.But the silver lining is that after this, things can only get better.

Kuselan

Genre: Sentiment

Director: P. Vasu

Cast: Rajinikanth, Pasupathy, Meena, Nayantara

Storyline: A story of two friends, one rich and famous, the other poor and upright.

Bottomline: A glimpse of Rajini, an ace performer and Pasupathy, a proficient actor

The superstar is a super actor too — an aspect which both he and his directors seem to have forgotten in the past few years. P. Vasu breaks the norm with gusto, as Rajini, the actor, takes over and finishes with a flourish in the last 20 minute s of ‘Kuselan’ (U). Joining the league of meaningful films that warrant a watch with the family, ‘Kuselan’ is a colourful treat from Kavithalaya and Seven Arts. And despite the imposing image of Rajini to contend with, Pasupathy makes his presence felt, with a natural portrayal — a little more could have made it melodramatic, a little less, listless. He manages the balancing act beautifully!

If Rajini is brilliant in the moving climactic portion at the school anniversary, Pasupathy scores in the finale when he comes to face to face with the superstar.

Fifth time together

This is their fifth film together and once again Vasu’s screenplay has been moulded with a clear understanding of the psyche of the fans of the phenomenon — he did it in ‘Chandramukhi’ and he’s done it in ‘Kuselan.’ So what if they are remakes of films from God’s own country? The screenplay makes them all Vasu’s. Cleverly he’s seen to it that the Rajini factor looms large throughout. And the explanation for the title is not what you surmise — it’s a surprise!

The tether of the story is strong and the narrative, taut. Into the simple line of childhood friendship between hairdresser Balakrishnan (Pasupathy) who as a grown-up is struggling to make ends meet, and hero Ashok Kumar (Rajinikanth) whose status makes him unapproachable, is woven several strands of interesting subtexts.

She played the role in the Malayalam original. The choice of Meena as a mother of three may sound strange, but the lady slips into the role with the ease of a veteran. After watching tearjerkers where poverty spells sadness and unbearable melodrama, seeing this happy housewife unfazed by odds is a real relief! As the heroine of ‘Kuselan,’ Meena sparkles. (Though her starched saris and matching blouses belie her penury.) Nayantara fills the glam bill, sings and dances in heavy costume, or sizzles in the rain. In fact, the latter sequence is a tad too contrived. That goes for the ‘Chandramukhi Part II’ concept and the ‘Mannan’ - like number.

The goal of Vadivelu and Pasupathy is the same, but Vadivelu meets the superhero after some hilarious escapades, while Pasupathy’s meek, complex-filled attempts lead him nowhere. The comedian has been effectively used in ‘Kuselan.’ The next light character that stays in your mind is Livingston. A perfect choice! Otherwise the battalion of comedians tickles little. Santhana Bharati’s half-head-covering wig is awful. So is M.S. Basker’s. In fact wig makers have worked overtime for ‘Kuselan.’

Many popular faces come and go. But the purpose is perplexing. Was it Mamta Mohandas playing the director’s associate? Did you actually see Kamalini Mukherjee in a song sequence? Was Sneha there or were your eyes playing truant?

Composer G.V. Prakash Kumar’s ‘Paerinba Paechukaran …’ reminds you too much of his earlier hit, ‘Veyyilodu Vilayaadi …’ The melodic tune, however, has caught on, and how! The lyric of the piece glorifies the hero to an unbelievable extent. Eulogy unplugged! Editor Saravana’s skill comes to the fore in the ‘Cinema Cinema …’ number. Outdoor (‘Sollu … Sollu’ song) or indoor (the barber shop and Balakrishnan’s home) Arvind Krishna’s camera works wonders. And the grandeur of the backdrops is typically Thotta Tharani. Rajini’s entry on a Pegasus marks the deft use of graphics (Ocher Studios) that continues throughout the film.

After quite a while Rajini proves that without gimmickry, stunts and his brand of humour, he can still win hearts. Here he achieves it with a dash of sentiment.

Cast your votes for this Vasu-Rajini alliance once again! The team is worth it!