Superstar Rajnikanth and director Shankar have both come up short in the new Tamil movie Sivaji The Boss.
A flawed movie in many respects, Sivaji fails to scale the lofty heights that one expects when the two top-guns in the Tamil film industry come together.
We loved Shankar's last film Anniyan and enjoyed Rajnikanth's 2005 movie Chandramukhi.
Both Anniyan and Chandramukhi had strong, unusual stories and passionate performances that captured the audience's interest.
So it was with heightened anticipation that we headed for the Premiere show ($25.00 per ticket) of Sivaji at CinePlaza in North Bergen, New Jersey on Thursday, June 14, 2007.
To our great disappointment, Sivaji is not half as good as Anniyan or Chandramukhi. Gosh, Sivaji is not even as entertaining as pokiri, a remake of a Telugu film featuring Vijay.
Where Sivaji falls short the most compared to Anniyan or Chandramukhi is in its banal story that focuses on the twin evils of corruption and black money. Both subjects are hardly unusual themes in Indian movies and have been so beaten to death thoroughly over the past 25 years in both Tamil and Hindi films that it's hard to see new angles emerging here.
Director Shankar's play-it-safe decision to hang the movie on the slender threads of corruption and black money means the Sivaji story can never go beyond the commonplace.
As if that were not bad enough, the Sivaji story is more than a wee bit disjointed. Altruism, revenge, homilies on eradicating the pernicious influence of Black Money and corruption, helping the poor and romancing the heroine follow each other in haphazard fashion.
The Sivaji story is pretty simplistic.
Sivaji (Rajnikanth) returns from the U.S., a rich man with plans to set up a university and hospital to help the less privileged sections of society. But his altruistic mission is thwarted by rival businessman Adiseshan (Suman), who has the corrupt bureaucracy and venal politicians on his side.
The rubber meets the road after the intermission when Sivaji is rendered penniless as a result of Adiseshan's machinations and decides to go after the scheming scoundrel. But director Shankar slips and slips badly in his amateurish treatment of Sivaji's revenge trip.
Although Rajnikanth's die-hard fans will protest here, the aging actor is no Marlon Brando, Naseeruddin Shah or Jack Nicholson. But to see him mostly fail to set the screen afire is frustrating to fans of Tamil movies. Of course, Rajni fans will disagree here because their overwheming adulation blinds them to their hero's limitations.
Watching Sivaji, we never experienced even once the adrenalin rush we felt while watching Chandramukhi, Anniyan, Pokiri, Kaakha Kaakha, Namesake or recent Hollywood movies like The Departed or Fracture.
The fighting/action scenes in Sivaji are beyond crude. They are bizarre. It's high time Tamil film directors stop this ridiculous nonsense of the hero beating to pulp a dozen or more villains simultaneously. Mercifully, Bollywood directors are putting a stop to this rubbish.
Shriya Saran, who plays the female lead and Rajnikanth's love interest in Sivaji, does a decent job.
The petite North Indian lass doesn't have that big a role but demonstrates some acting abilities, a rarity among Tamil heroines. If Shriya sticks around in Tamil movies, she could challenge the Trishas, Nayantaras and Asins (now busy with the Hindi remake of the successful Tamil movie Ghajini).
Suman acquits himself well as the villain Adiseshan seeking to thwart Sivaji at every step, a welcome change from the crude, maniacal villains commonplace in Tamil films.
As Sivaji's sidekick, comedian Vivek is there with the supposed goal of providing comic relief. However since Vivek's efforts are not supported either by thoughtful dialogs that have made small-budget movies like Mozhi so charming or by commonsense, the end result in Sivaji is unfunny comedy most of the time.
Sivaji's music does not soar to great heights but the crafty fox A.R.Rahman doesn't let you down completely either.
Much effort and cost seem to have gone into picturization of most of the Sivaji songs. We loved Vajee Vajee, Balleilakka and Sahana. The other songs were sheer cacophony to us.
Friday, December 26, 2008
Turn back
Everything has come into place for Madhavan following his splendid performance in ´Guru´ and ´Delhi Heights´. Because of this newfound success, film buffs are expecting the moon from his latest Tamil film ´Evano Oruvan´. Adding more spice to the curry, it is a remake of Marathi film ´Dombivili Fast´, which run 28 weeks in Pune besides baEverything has come into place for Madhavan following his splendid performance in ´Guru´ and ´Delhi Heights´. Because of this newfound success, film buffs are expecting the moon from his latest Tamil film ´Evano Oruvan´. Adding more spice to the curry, it is a remake of Marathi film ´Dombivili Fast´, which run 28 weeks in Pune besides bagging more than 30 National and international awards. Nishikant Kamat, the director of the original is directing the Tamil version too with Abbas-Mustan and K Sera Sera as the producers.
In the film, Maddy comes to his bank in a crowded train everyday, as he lives in the outskirt of Chennai city. On reaching home, he faces nagging from his wife played by Sangeeta. The film also deals with repercussions of these daily events. It is scheduled to hit the theatres on 30th of this month. People are expecting it to take Tamil film industry to a new level.
Meanwhile, this energetic actor has a couple of interesting projects on hand. He is currently busy with a bilingual film titled ´Leelai´ in Tamil and ´Adi Oka Idi Ley´ in Telugu. Sada plays his heroine and Shamita Shetty plays the other heroine. Ram Gopal Varma is the producer and Kona Venkat is the director. He also has another film titled ´Oru Naal Podhuma´. Newcomer Rukmani is going to play his heroine in this Prathap Pothen directed film, which has music by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. Its shooting is expected to start on April 15 in Canada.gging more than 30 National and international awards. Nishikant Kamat, the director of the original is directing the Tamil version too with Abbas-Mustan and K Sera Sera as the producers.
In the film, Maddy comes to his bank in a crowded train everyday, as he lives in the outskirt of Chennai city. On reaching home, he faces nagging from his wife played by Sangeeta. The film also deals with repercussions of these daily events. It is scheduled to hit the theatres on 30th of this month. People are expecting it to take Tamil film industry to a new level.
Meanwhile, this energetic actor has a couple of interesting projects on hand. He is currently busy with a bilingual film titled ´Leelai´ in Tamil and ´Adi Oka Idi Ley´ in Telugu. Sada plays his heroine and Shamita Shetty plays the other heroine. Ram Gopal Varma is the producer and Kona Venkat is the director. He also has another film titled ´Oru Naal Podhuma´. Newcomer Rukmani is going to play his heroine in this Prathap Pothen directed film, which has music by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. Its shooting is expected to start on April 15 in Canada. .........
In the film, Maddy comes to his bank in a crowded train everyday, as he lives in the outskirt of Chennai city. On reaching home, he faces nagging from his wife played by Sangeeta. The film also deals with repercussions of these daily events. It is scheduled to hit the theatres on 30th of this month. People are expecting it to take Tamil film industry to a new level.
Meanwhile, this energetic actor has a couple of interesting projects on hand. He is currently busy with a bilingual film titled ´Leelai´ in Tamil and ´Adi Oka Idi Ley´ in Telugu. Sada plays his heroine and Shamita Shetty plays the other heroine. Ram Gopal Varma is the producer and Kona Venkat is the director. He also has another film titled ´Oru Naal Podhuma´. Newcomer Rukmani is going to play his heroine in this Prathap Pothen directed film, which has music by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. Its shooting is expected to start on April 15 in Canada.gging more than 30 National and international awards. Nishikant Kamat, the director of the original is directing the Tamil version too with Abbas-Mustan and K Sera Sera as the producers.
In the film, Maddy comes to his bank in a crowded train everyday, as he lives in the outskirt of Chennai city. On reaching home, he faces nagging from his wife played by Sangeeta. The film also deals with repercussions of these daily events. It is scheduled to hit the theatres on 30th of this month. People are expecting it to take Tamil film industry to a new level.
Meanwhile, this energetic actor has a couple of interesting projects on hand. He is currently busy with a bilingual film titled ´Leelai´ in Tamil and ´Adi Oka Idi Ley´ in Telugu. Sada plays his heroine and Shamita Shetty plays the other heroine. Ram Gopal Varma is the producer and Kona Venkat is the director. He also has another film titled ´Oru Naal Podhuma´. Newcomer Rukmani is going to play his heroine in this Prathap Pothen directed film, which has music by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. Its shooting is expected to start on April 15 in Canada. .........
My favourite music director
The music wizard A.R. Rahman was at his magical best. His first ever live concert held in the capital city on last Saturday , was a grand success in terms of its mesmerizing effect on the audiences.Music maestro A.R. Rahman cast a magical spell over his audiences, as he sang some of his all-time popular compositions, including "Khalbali" and "Pathshala".
The grand stage had LCD screens flanking both wings, scores of steps leading up to a tiny balcony on one side, and was lit up by colourful lights.
Rahman captivated the audience with a rare musical fare that had songs ranging from Roja Jaaneman (from the film Roja) and Kehna hi kya (Bombay) to more recent hits like Khalbali(Rang de Basanti), and Barso re Megha (Guru). The hit numbers of the latest blockbuster ´Sivaji´ and a musical score from the yet-to-be-released ´Jodha Akbar´, too were sung to the delight of the audience.
The pony-tailed Hariharan, Chitra, Madhushree, Sadhna Sargam and Delhi´s own boy Kailash Kher, accompanying Rahman in the concert. Ace drummer Sivamani enthralled the audience with his incredible marathon-drumming spell.
The sets changing with each song, and the dancers performing alongside the crooning maestros provided some spectacular visual treat to the musical show.
Rahman, who was dressed in a white sherwani, changed into a dull purple kurta mid way through the concert and sat on the piano to perform his English number Pray for me brother. It is a melodious song that appeals people to fight poverty. "I hope you will support me in my fight against poverty," Rahman said.
He also launched a set of colouring books, the earnings of which will go to his foundation that works for humanitarian causes.
Though the open-air venue at Rajouri Garden in west Delhi was not packed due to the huge pricing of tickets (between Rs.500 and 5,000 per ticket), the concert was memorable for the ones who were present there.
The sight of the crowd giving standing ovation while Hariharan sang Bharat humko jaan se pyara hai was an emphatic sign to show that the fare was a hit.
"I hope you enjoy the concert," Rahman said to the audiences, who were spellbound and screaming for more.
The grand stage had LCD screens flanking both wings, scores of steps leading up to a tiny balcony on one side, and was lit up by colourful lights.
Rahman captivated the audience with a rare musical fare that had songs ranging from Roja Jaaneman (from the film Roja) and Kehna hi kya (Bombay) to more recent hits like Khalbali(Rang de Basanti), and Barso re Megha (Guru). The hit numbers of the latest blockbuster ´Sivaji´ and a musical score from the yet-to-be-released ´Jodha Akbar´, too were sung to the delight of the audience.
The pony-tailed Hariharan, Chitra, Madhushree, Sadhna Sargam and Delhi´s own boy Kailash Kher, accompanying Rahman in the concert. Ace drummer Sivamani enthralled the audience with his incredible marathon-drumming spell.
The sets changing with each song, and the dancers performing alongside the crooning maestros provided some spectacular visual treat to the musical show.
Rahman, who was dressed in a white sherwani, changed into a dull purple kurta mid way through the concert and sat on the piano to perform his English number Pray for me brother. It is a melodious song that appeals people to fight poverty. "I hope you will support me in my fight against poverty," Rahman said.
He also launched a set of colouring books, the earnings of which will go to his foundation that works for humanitarian causes.
Though the open-air venue at Rajouri Garden in west Delhi was not packed due to the huge pricing of tickets (between Rs.500 and 5,000 per ticket), the concert was memorable for the ones who were present there.
The sight of the crowd giving standing ovation while Hariharan sang Bharat humko jaan se pyara hai was an emphatic sign to show that the fare was a hit.
"I hope you enjoy the concert," Rahman said to the audiences, who were spellbound and screaming for more.
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