By Naveen
You shall be turned out of my house and I will never have your name pronounced in my presence again. It is disgusting-degrading-disgraceful.
– Adolphus Longestaffe to his daughter Georgina in Anthony Trollope’s fine satire The Way we Live Now over her plans to marry a Jew
It never ceases to surprise me how Tamil Cinema “Stars” retain a faithful fan following despite unleashing hideous junk after junk.
A mystery that perhaps more intelligent species in the future may unravel.
Garbage Lovers, Ahoy
Ajith Kumar’s 50th movie Mankatha released today, a day ahead of a normal release.
The garbage loving Tamil audience thronged Big Cinemas near Chicago in surprisingly large numbers.
Ajith’s fan following is impressive.
The 7 pm and 7:30 pm shows were sold out. The number of shows was increased from 2 to 4 today and when my show ended I saw a long line for the next show. Hey, the adjacent Ebony Lounge even threw a dinner buffet after seeing the crowd.
Well, never underestimate the diehard garbage-loving Tamil movie fan’s penchant to embrace trash with gusto.
Cast: “Thala” Ajith Kumar, “Action King” Arjun, Trisha, Premji Amaran, Lakshmi Rai, Vaibhav, Anjali, Andrea, matrum palar (and Others)
Music: Yuvan Shankar Raja
Direction: Venkat Prabhu
Producers: Dayanidhi Alagiri (Cloud Nine Movies)
Story Sinopsis
Vinayak Mahadevan (Ajith) is a dirty cop and under suspension for bumping off a fellow cop and abetting the escape of a smuggler. The smuggler, Faizal works for Arumuga Chettiyar, a bigger smuggler.
Chettiar’s daughter Sanjana (Trisha) is in love with Vinayak which he pretends to reciprocate.
Prithviraj (Arjun) is another cop who leads a special branch to investigate and eradicate betting against the backdrop of the IPL Cricket tournament.
A lot of money under Chettiar’s supervision is about to exchange hands. Vinayak plans to loot that money.
Chettiar’s henchman Sumant (Vaibhav) and his friends (a local Sub Inspector, a bar owner and the bar owner’s friend, Prem – Premji Amaran) also plan to loot that money. Vinayak discovers their plan and drops into the gang as the leader.
They loot Rs 500 Crores stashed in a godown secured by a Navtal pootu (an old fashioned lock popular in India) that is digitally secured by Prem the hacker.
What follows is a sloppy cat and mouse game between Vinayak, the gang, Chettiar’s henchmen led by Faizal, and Prithviraj with several predictable twists and monotonous turns that end in a dramatically stale climax.
Shoddy Screenplay
The movie is touted as an action thriller but director Venkat Prabhu is clueless in handling that genre.
He messes it up one scene at a time until he successfully botches it completely.
Given his penchant for stealing, Prabhu generously borrows ideas from several Hollywood movies but proves utterly incapable of even getting inspired properly.
The Mankatha story flow is jerky and the movie unevenly paced.
First half is filled with amateurish comedy evoking no more than a mild chuckle once in a while and plethora of irritating songs that pop up for no reason.
The movie picks up some pace in the second half although it’s hampered periodically due to Venkat Prabhu’s inability to move the plot to the next scene.
None of the songs are worthy of a second hearing and most were intolerably cruel on the ears even on first hearing.
Yuvan Shankar Raja is surely walking his talented father to an early grave with such mind-numbing and uncreative music.
Miserable Performances
The self-styled Ultimate Star Ajith Kumar has ‘acted’ in 49 movies before this!
It’s a miracle how the audience has endured and survived that many movies from this buffoon.
One would think that with age and experience would come some improvement but, alas, not for our TharuThala.
Bad as ever, Ajith’s acting is devoid of expressions and ability of any kind.
Arjun has been relegated to a second fiddle and that’s hardly a surprise considering how poorly his movies have fared over the past decade.
He brings nothing exceptional to the role other than his physical fitness which is by far the only convincing feature for his role.
Trisha – Awful
Trisha is bad as ever.
It seems she was paid by the song as she goes missing halfway through the movie.
Good riddance!
Lakshmi Rai is sleazy and sexy and carries off the role of a vamp quite adequately. She shows just enough skin to hold our attention 😉
Premji Amaran is an irritating comedian who gets roles only in elder brother Venkat Prabhu’s films. He hardly evokes a chuckle and puts up a repetitive performance which seems like an extension of his roles in previous films.
Andrea and Anjali are in a blink and miss roles.
Nonsense Ad Nauseum
1. The movie is set against the backdrop of Mumbai but everyone in Mumbai speaks Tamil. Hindi is spoken with a Tamil accent.
2. Sabari Taxi, which I believe runs only in Chennai, is seen plying on Mumbai Roads in a couple of scenes
3. Although the movie is about betting on IPL games, nothing remotely related to betting or IPL is shown
4. Venkat Prabhu’s idea of planning to loot is sitting, standing and walking with different clothes and expressions.
5. All you need to hack into any system is the IP address
6. The idea of hacking and controlling traffic signals is stolen from “The Italian Job”
7. Ajith’s repeated shout of 500 crores gets pretty irritating after a while
8. It was probably part of Arjun’s contract for the second fiddle role to be addressed as “Action King” by Ajith throughout the movie. Arjun returns the favor by addressing Ajith as Thala at one point.
9. A ridiculously long scene with Ajith walking the audience through his chain of thought on how to eliminate others and keep all the 500 Crores for himself, is so bad that you want to choke yourself to death.
The list of atrocities on the hapless Tamil movie fan committed by the Mankatha folks is endless.
Disgusting, Degrading, Disgraceful
Mankatha is meant strictly for Ajith Kumar’s fans, such as they are.
Thoroughly predictable fare, a screenplay full of loopholes, bad music, poor acting and absolutely no regard for logic or reason makes Mankatha unwatchable for the discerning audience.
The second half has a lot of typical Tamil cinema action. The last 20 minutes was ok if one can ignore all the loopholes and lack of logic.
Echoing Adolphus Longestaffe in Trollope’s fine satire, I’d say Mankatha is a disgusting, degrading, disgraceful piece of trash.
Stay away and you’ll live another day!
Mankatha Review – Ajith’s 50th Atrocity added by SearchIndia.com on
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Dear Sir,
I’m a long time follower of ur site and i love many of your articles.
But i want to tell you one thing is that while reviewing regional films esp Tamil films please consider the level of standard the industry is currently with ya.
I accept there may be as many as n number of flaws with Mr.Ajith Kumar & the movie but as per your words, the buffoonish actor with that flawed acting skills couldn’t have survived this much.
i am a die hard fan of Mr Ajith and i like him more than as an actor and as a racer and a nice human.
There are millions of fans for him around the world and pls state ur negatives for movie but dont criticize like the way you
do ,, its a kind request ……. Thanks
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Thank you for your comment, sir.
The Indian soil is fertile for the growth and flourishing of buffoons and thieves in every walk of life.
Just look around, and you see them aplenty.
Talent is only one element, and certainly not the most important, that goes into the amalgam of creating what we refer to as success in movies or any other walk of life.
The only brand (in world history) that survives after two dozen consecutive flops is Ajith. Universities should conduct research on how his fans (however low the iq may be) continue to b(l)ow him trash after trash.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Ajith is a pustulating pimple on the ugly face of Indian cinema.
“Given his penchant for stealing, Prabhu generously borrows ideas from several Hollywood movies but proves utterly incapable of even getting inspired properly.”
Correction. The main idea is stolen from not many Hollywood movies, but one major Hollywood movie, the George Clooney, Bradd Pitt, and Matt Demon starrer “Ocean’s Eleven”.
As you have already mentioned, the main theme of the story is stealing money involved in betting. In Ocean’s eleven, Ocean’s men try to rob a Casino, which has betting money involved in a World Championship Boxing match (Incidentally it involved real life boxing Champions, the now-retired Lennox Lewis and the reigning heavyweight champion, Wladimir Klitschko).
In the tamil version, the boxing match is replaced by the boring IPL.
Anyways, nice review indeed. I wonder how long would it take for the Indian audience to realize that they are being conned at will.
By the way, instead of wasting time on writing reviews for useless tamil and hindi movies, why don’t ya watch documentaries like this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqxENMKaeCU&feature=watch-now-button&wide=1
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Will watch the above documentary. Looks interesting going by the short excerpt we saw.
@Aswin_kini: I have seen Oceans 11 only in bits and peices so I cannot comment. Most of Mankatha is about what happens after the theft and not the theft itself, which was executed in a rather juvenile and shoddy fashion. The Oceans team will stop making another movie if they realize that this is how their story was butchered.
The entire second half is post theft. It felt more like a extremely dumbed down crude version of “The Italian Job” + “Reservoir Dogs”. I think one stunt was coped from Angelina Jolie’s Wanted and the whole traffic light thing was from Italian Job.
Venkat Prabhu had previously told in an interview that ajith’s character is based on Joker (Dark Knight)..So ajith was doing many monologue scenes… the ringing music (why so serious) for joker was copied…even the theme music was copied from 50 cent ready for war,, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sia0IA9NvZM
SearchIndia.com Responds:
You write: Venkat Prabhu had previously told in an interview that ajith’s character is based on Joker (Dark Knight)
Ha ha ha ha.
We haven’t stopped laughing at the nonsense.
Given how shoddily Mankatha has turned out and given Ajith’s non-existent acting skills, Ajith’s character can only be based on a real-life joker. 😉
We think Venkat Prabhu actually meant Vadivelu when he said Ajith’s character was based on Joker.
If you recollect, Vadivelu also tends to frequently engage in monologues.
Based on Joker? 🙁
There was another gang who kept saying the same thing after The Dark Knight came out… fans of Kamal Haasan who tried to convince the world that The Joker was based on Kamal’s Nandu character in Aalavandhan. According to them Heath Ledger was ok but he could not match Kamal’s menacing potrayal. There is no shortage of jokers. 🙁
By the way how does doing monologues make Ajith similar to Joker Character?? The last time I saw The Dark Knight there was not one scene where the Joker could be seen talking to himself.
Had I seen/read that Venkat Prabhu interview I would have ROFL in the theater. :))
Vadivelu in Ajith’s role would have atleast increased the comedy quotient.
Unfortunately I saw this movie before you guys posted the review.
I left the theater with a headache.
My friend in India said the movie was awesome and I believed him. It seems this is Ajith’s best performance till date. He needs a serious kick in his ass.
Wow, if this is his best performance, I wonder what his worst performance till date would be.
This was supposed to be a “different” movie and yes that moron Venkat Prabhu said that Ajith wanted to do a role like the Joker in Batman, but he literally ended up being a Joker in the movie.
Can Thala (Tharuthala) fans explain why Ajith has Nambiar kind of expressions when he smokes? Is that how people smoke with lips crossed to a side and tightening your cheeks as if you are constipated?
Ajith can’t act- period (or if you want to mimic the irritating Premji style, Ajith can’t act dot)
I watched Paper Moon on Netflix on my Smartphone since the morons here wouldn’t start the movie on time. Guess, I should have just watched the movie instead of wasting 12 bucks on this trash.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
You write: Can Thala (Tharuthala) fans explain why Ajith has Nambiar kind of expressions when he smokes? Is that how people smoke with lips crossed to a side and tightening your cheeks as if you are constipated?
Rumor has it that Thala or Vaal, or whatever appellation this bozo is known by, expels smoke through a different orifice. That could explain the constipated expression you saw on his face. 😉
By the way, I really hope your review gets the first ranking in Google for the search ‘Mankatha review’ because seriously this junk should not be hyped as a movie that cannot be missed.
Behindwoods and Indiaglitz as usual gave a glowing review to this junk. Sify was the only one (atleast from the ones I read) that rated this strictly for Ajith fans (though I never understood what it means- does it mean strictly for the brainless?)
SearchIndia.com Responds:
1. Indian movie sites are for the most part in bed with the film industry.
2. Yes, strictly for Ajith’s fans means only for the brain-dead zombies aka Ajith’s fans.
BTW, one of two requirements of being an Ajith fans is an IQ less than 70. 😉
I guess it’s time for Anna Hazare to start a revolution against Indian cinema.
Fast unto death till the Indian film stars can act and directors can come up with original ideas.
But sadly, that’s not gonna happen.
What we instead have is a choice of watching bad, worse and worst movies and the bad is often enough to be branded as classics here.
And how many times haven’t we heard the excuse that we don’t have the budget to make movies to compete in an international level?
For some reason, I can’t figure what budget has to do with originality.
Our movies are so pathetically bad that we can’t even compete with some of the Hollywood movies made in 1950’s leave alone 2000’s.
Eg: Leave aside Ocean’s Eleven, Italian Job, Confidence, Heist etc, how about Mankatha competing with “The Killing” directed by Stanley Kubrick.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
You write: And how many times haven’t we heard the excuse that we don’t have the budget to make movies to compete in an international level?
Budget has nothing to do with quality.
One of our favorite movies Winter’s Bone was made on a budget of $2 million (less than Mankatha and much less than Bodyguard). The film won Four Oscar nominations last year.
Ajith or Salman Khan are not fit to lick the bottom of Winter’s Bone heroine Jennifer Lawrence’s feet when it comes to acting. She is 20 and this was her 5th film not 50th.
Indians, for the most part, can’t make movies. They can make Idli, Vada, Garlic Naan, Tandoori Chicken, and maybe even code a bit but they can’t make movies.
Ajith, Salman Khan, Venkat Prabhu etc are a plague on cinema. 🙁
That’s my point precisely.
Quality and budget have little to do with each other and that’s why I referenced “The Killing” because it fits the genre.
Hitchcock did his ‘Dial M for Murder‘ in a single room and the movie is among top 10 thrillers of all time.
How about that for a movie made in a shoe string budget?
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Here’s a brief post on Dial M for Murder on SearchIndia.com.
I watched Dial M for Murder everyday for a month and no I don’t have any plans to kill my wife :).
I just loved that movie, everything was so perfect.
I have been watching a lot of classics lately because of late, Hollywood too has been churning a lot of forgettable movies though they are for the most part tolerable and watchable than the junk Indians come up with.
By the way, I saw “The Woman in the Window” recently and it was awesomeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
The Debt (Helen Mirren, Sam Worthington, Ciarán Hinds and Tom Wilkinson.) is considered to be a good film.
We’ll watch The Woman in the Window soon. Should be available at Netflix.
Thanks for the recommendation. In fact, I was just checking out the movies that are currently in the theaters. The Debt was the only one in the Suspense genre and it has pretty good ratings 🙂
I will send you a list of film noir movies that you may be interested in soon.
@SI: “Budget has nothing to do with quality.”
Yeah, looking at the budget of movies nowadays and their flimsy storylines, I guess I can come up with a better story, which is not plagiarized, inspired, or ripped off from another movie in any way.
Seriously, I don;t care a shit about what Kollywood Directors think about this, but they really suck at making movies.
The best excuse they give is that “Audience will not accept the movies if we make it artistic or realistic, movies that deviate from formulas may get awards, but fail miserably etc”. Incidentally, the best movies that clicked at the box office were either offbeat movies or aimed at some portraying some sense of realism.
Angaadi Theru, Kullanari Kootam etc were made on shoe-string budgets, but still managed to reap profits.
It’s a pity that our moronic directors can’t think of any other concept other than Love, Action, Comedy etc.
What about Science fiction? These fuckers have no idea that the genre exists. Till date, the only tamil films that dealt with some sort of science fiction were
1) Pudhiya Manithan 2) Nalaya Manithan 3) Asuran (Very pathetic remake of the 1987 movie “Predator”). and 4) Endhiran
Hell, gimme a budget of 5-10 crores and one month to write a quality script, I’ll bet my life that I’ll do better than these cheapo directors. And I ain’t kidding. Tamil cinema is pathetic. Bollywood is no good either.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
You write: Bollywood is no good either.
Anurag Kashyap (in Bollywood) is one of the better directors making movies with non-stars on a low budget. We’ve seen his Gulaal, Dev D and Black Friday.
Much looking forward to Anurag’s new movie That Girl in Yellow Boots releasing soon. They had a premiere at the Asia Society in NYC last week but we missed it in the Irene frenzy.
@ Aswin Nalaiya Manithan was cheap copy of Hollywood movie “Silent Rage”. Even in Endhiran, love subject was main theme than sci fi subject, of course, Endhiran too, cheap imitate of various Hollywood movies.
Well, I wouldn’t call this Ajith’s 5oth atrocity.
Mankatha was many times better than the usual garbage of Tamil movies that hit the screens recently. After watching the 2:40 hrs long movie, what i felt was that the movie could have well been one of the best tamil movies of all time, if that idiot Venkat Prabhu and the moron of an editor had put in some effort to remove some of the unwanted elements that were present in the film.
Negatives:
1)The sheer number of songs made me dizzy. What was Venkat’s point? The songs were pathetic (except for the title song and Machi open the bottle, which was ok to an extent). The other songs completely spoiled the flow of the movie. There were like 8-10 songs i guess. WTF?
2) Silly comedy track, except for one scene. Mankatha is a kind of movie where you don’t need comedy to make the movie entertaining. In fact, the comedy was irritating and a repeat of some of his other films. Hell, Prabhu felt the need to add some stupid comedy even during some key scenes, which completely spoiled them.
3) The scene before the interval, where Ajith sits alone and plans how to eliminate the four guys and have all the 500 crores for himself could have been so much better, but there again Venkat Prabhu royally messed up.
4) Some loop holes in the narration but that was only a minor distraction for me.
Positives:
1) Although most may disagree with me, I felt that Ajith came up with an OK performance. At least, the guy tried to act and didn’t just walk around the place like he did in Billa. He plays a full fledged negative role.
2) Most of the action scenes were well done. The climax scenes were pretty good. It isn’t Ajith who entirely holds our attention. The other four guys too have done a decent job in the action scenes. I particularly liked the guy who portrayed Ganesh, a Sub Inspector. He delivered a decent performance and he was very good in the action scenes. Btw, he looked very similar to actor Prithiviraj Sukumaran.
3) Mankatha’s story and screenplay definitely had the potential. I really liked certain elements in the screenplay. If only that swine of a director took his time to polish it, Mankatha would have been so much better.
4) The cinematography. It was done well. Of course, I’m not taking the shoddy songs into account.
Btw, although no scenes of betting were shown, Arjun’s character, in a scene, explains how the betting syndicate works and how the money gets transferred. The main story isn’t about illegal betting on IPL games. The story is about the looting of the 500 cr betting money and the betting is just the backdrop. Even if they showed how the betting was done, it wouldn’t have had any effect on the story as the story is more about the stealing of the betting money and the game of deceit and betrayal that follows.
Overall I’d say it’s an above average movie that truly had the potential to be a fine thriller.
The movie needs some serious editing work.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Thanks.
Naveen will likely respond tonight or tomorrow to your comment.
I agree with 1012900 for most part – comedy, songs and editing sucked big time. And whats the point of slow-motion dropping specs and loading gun etc? Way too silly!
But I liked the pre-interval scene. To me that scene was the best.
I was down with fever for the past few days… looks like Mankatha literally made me sick 😉
@1012900
“what i felt was that the movie could have well been one of the best tamil movies of all time” – I wonder what makes you say that. Original Story? Great Actors? Excellent Special Effects? I don’t think they had any intention to even attempt for greatness.
Your Negative #4: Only some loop holes?? Only a minor distraction?? I am glad you look at it that way it atleast helps you enjoy the movie more.
Your Positive Point #1: For most part Tamil cinema stars are not required to act. They come on the screen and their fans cum. Like most Tamil stars, Ajith has very limited acting ability. He has absolutely minimal expressions, a very narrow range of voice modulation. He could give Salman Khan a run for his money when it comes to acting skills. Acting with a variety of directors or donning different costumes in the pretext of different roles or being a good person in real life is no substitute for acting skills. If you read interviews of Tamil actor, all of them claim that they are doing a very different and challenging role in their next movie which they have never attempted before.
Your Positive Point #3: “Mankatha’s story and screenplay definitely had the potential” I assume you meant only the story. Any story has good potential if it is treated well. Mankatha’s screenplay was incoherent and filled with loop holes. The second half was a big headache. It seems most Indian movie Directors lack the skill, interest and passion to be excellent. They engage in theft shamelessly, take the absolutely minimal effort to make a strictly mediocre movie devoid of any creativity with the sole intention of making quick money. This reflects in all departments of most Tamil films.
All said and done, if you enjoyed the movie then good for you! 🙂
By the way, I had to watch the movie again with my family, relatives and friends. Their sole intention was to watch a tamil movie no matter what. The opinions ranged from “paravaillai” (not bad) to “semma kadi” (utter torture). I overheard “Thala Super” as well as “Mokkai Padam” comments. All shows were housefull again. Ajith has a big hit on his hands!
SearchIndia.com Responds:
You write above: I was down with fever for the past few days… looks like Mankatha literally made me sick 😉
Don’t you worry, sweetie.
Nothing that a bad Masala Dosa, watery Palak Paneer or stone-hard Idli in the neighborhood Indian restaurant can’t cure. 😉
We’ll send you a note later tonight or tomorrow based on the areas you specified in one of your e-mails.
SI – Just read your reply. Sure, send me an email when you are ready.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Will do.
Hahahaha….. at last, an honest review about star dominating tamil movie called “Mankatha”.
Its quite interesting that since the period of MGR, Tamil film industry always depended upon star power than powerful script.
Its quite obvious that this recent flick “Mankatha” is all about to satisfy Ajith’s fans. Oh yeah! i saw people pouring milk on Ajith’s posters.
I really don’t know when will these kind of atrocities would come to an end. I think these kind of atrocities won’t happen in other countries, especially pouring milks on Star posters.
I don’t think did ever American poured milk on Arnold or Sylvester Stallone. I think these things only happens in India.
Can’t say if all of his first 49 were atrocities.. At 2:40, this movie has got to be an atrocity, even if Ajith has performed well.. Got to be Venkat Prabhu’s fault like the alphabet-less guy/gal said.. Even Venkat Prabhu’s Chennai 28 was overrated.
I have liked quite a few of Ajith’s movies(can’t say if I will still like them.. like SI, my taste and interest in movies has evolved too).. but can’t say that was because of Ajith’s performance. I haven’t watched any Tamil movies in over 6 months now.
Aasai(mainly for Prakashraj, Ajith only comes third after Suvalakshmi), Vaali(l liked Ajith’s villain act in this one.. and I was a Simran fan), Amarkalam(I love Shalini), Mugavaree(Raghuvaran was pretty good in this one, Ajith did a good job too), Kandukondaen^2 (Tabu was great, Ash looked stunning, Ajith looked overwhelmed), Dheena(I thought Laila was adorable)..
p.s.: Naveen, thanks for taking one for team SI.. (What all some people do to make a buck! j/k!)
@ muniandy – you are right.. Vaali is the best movie where Ajith has acted!!
In that totally negative role, he dazzled!!
kandukondain kandukondain caught my attention because of mammooty’s performance 🙂 before, at least many of his movies were watchable & not total disasters because many of his movies in the past has had great music 😉
But his recent ones like billa, aalwar, aegan,etc. were hideously terrible & bereft of any entertainment
@Muniandy..
Why are you calling Chennai 28 as overrated? That’s definitely Venkat Prabhu’s best movie. It had a nice theme revolving around galli cricket that’s so common in Chennai. It had good music and genuinely funny comedy. I wouldn’t say the same about the acting though. But then, Chennai 28’s success wasn’t because of the acting, it was because the movie was so simple in it’s story-telling and execution. It connected well to the lower middle class audience, particularly the youth who spend so much time playing cricket whenever and wherever they can. I agree that the cricket tournament scenes were amateurish but what else would you expect from a movie made from a shoe-string budget of 1.5 crores. You can’t expect it to have great special effects like Terminator 2 or even decent effects like Saroja.
Btw, even I liked some of the Ajith movies you mentioned in your comment.
@Hari
I had the same feeling after watching Aegan and a little bit of Alwar(the movie was so horrible that i quit after about 45 minutes). But one thing I like in Ajith is his willingness to work with any director(S.J.Suryah was nothing more than a pauper at the time of directing Vaali) and trying to don different types of roles(As i said earlier, the guy does try to act) unlike Vijay who does the same type of roles in movie after movie even after all of them gets washed out of the theaters.
@ 10121900 – hmmm yeah i agree with what you say about Ajith.
He works with many directors.
He himself wasn’t that bad an actor in his early years. He was decent though not extraordinary!!
He has done well in Aasai, Vaali, etc.
But later he has started to sign for all the crappy movies & trashy remakes of earlier films which were themselves horrendously bad like Main Hoon Na.
Even Vijay was a decent actor in early 2000’s with his good movies like Thullatha Manamum Thullum, Kannukul Nilavu, Kathalukku Mariyathaim, etc.
But after the stupendous success of Ghilli & to some extent Pokkiri, its safe to say his career has been going downhill.
@ SI – Off topic:
have u seen that hindi flick Mr.& Mrs.Iyer featuring Rahul Bose & Konkona Sen??
Can u please review it?? 🙂
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Yes.
We like both Rahul Bose & Konkona Sen.
Added to Netflix queue.
hmmm me too..
both are very good actors
& that movie contains a good topic as well..
thanks a lot SI.
Eagerly waiting for your review!! 🙂
Wo, wo, SI and Naveen, I just came back after watching the movie at the newly opened AGS cinema theatre at Navalur in Chennai. I want to make a few points strictly from my POV.
1) This is not a bad movie or a complete shit movie as mentioned in the review. It is a popcorn movie, bad, but still watchable if viewed once.
2) Unlike other tamil movies, this movie includes a variety of characters, which ensures that the film does not have many dull moments, apart from the unnecessary songs.
3) Besides Ajith and Arjun, the other minor characters also have enough screen space to prove their mettle. Infact, I felt the actors Vaibhav, Aswin, Aravind Akash, Subbu, Anjali, Laxmi Rai, and Jayaprakash have done enough justice to their roles. Also, they had enough screenspace and adequate dialogues.) Thanks to these minor characters, the film does not turn out to be that a bad film at all.
4) The film does have some good scenes inbetween. The ones, where Ajith, Vaibhav, and the Inspector character find that the loot is missing and the scene where Laxmi Rai shoots Mahat instead of Prem.
The biggest minus points of the movie were this
1) Ajith should have done his role better. Although he started well, his dialogue delivery was not upto the mark. Especially in the scene, where he finds out that the loot has been stolen by Premji and the other guy. He starts blabbering like a madman. A better director like Dharani would have ensured that he acted better.
2) Screenplay: Venkat Prabhu is no Dharani. His handling of the plot was kinda very amateurish. For example: a) He starts the story beautifully and the plot moves fine till the scene where Ajith starts explaining his scheme to take the 500 crores for himself. The problem is that the scene is shot in the form of a monologue, whereas a good director would have shot it in a more contemplative way. For example, the director could have shown Ajith concocting his scheme and the details appear in the form of still screens, each depicting what Ajith is about to do.
b) Premji should understand that while his scenes may evoke laughter, they must be flow with the story. I was very disappointed when they show him acting funnily even while he is being threatened by his fellow mates. Even in the scene, where he is shot, he tries hard to show humorous reaction when he is supposed to be serious.
c) The storyline could have been constructed to make the film flow smoothly. There was no need for the “Idhu Namma Ballelaka song” especially when the protagonist and his side-kick are supposed to chase Premji and the other fella.
d) Ajith should have avoided hamming his dialogues. Especially the ones like “I am a Bad man”. I think he either tried too hard to be perfect or miserably failed to sound stylish.
Overall, the movie was watchable and way better when compared to Ajith’s earlier movies or Vijay’s shit like Kaavalan, Kuruvi, Vettaikaran, Thirupachi, verupachi and other shit.
Verdict: Watchable once if viewed with low expectations.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Well, in that case, it’ll ‘run’ for 100-days in Tamil Nadu.
Irrespective of the reviews, I have no doubt that Mankatha will be a big hit. After Dasavatharam and Endhiran this is the first movie where I have seen/heard so many houseful shows for a Tamil movie.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Well, no one ever underestimated the abiding Indian/Tamil fondness for trash.
We watched the Danish/English movie In a Better World (Best Foreign Film at the Feb 2011 Oscars) the other day and the two kids did far better than most Indian ‘actors’ can ever hope to.
I meant in Chicago.
I felt the movie and the action scenes were amateurish but overall it was not boring. Watchable once for a few good scenes and cinematography.
There are too many characters in the movie, some of them were good in the limited screen space esp. Lakshmi Rai, Anjali, chettiar and ‘Ganesh’ cop character. Vaibhav and Premji were irritating, Andrea and Trisha had nothing to do.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
You write: Trisha had nothing to do
Praise the Lord. 😉
Lakshmi Rai’s role was more meaningful and attractive than Trisha’s.
Trisha riddance was probably the movie’s biggest positive 😉
SearchIndia.com Responds:
God, we pray this Trisha thing finds someone to wed, bed and breed soon.
(The last time we prayed hard, our previous bete noire Jyothika did all of the above.) 😉
If trisha was so glamarous as lakshmi rai, you would have liked it i guess 😛
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Liked it?
Obviously, you nodded off during your grammar lessons.
Please refer to Ms.Trisha Krishnan with respect.
What are the 10 biggest cliché in Tamil films?
(1) Pointless comedy segments – unless they have anything to do with the story they need to be removed!! One minute the heroes perky young sister is being brutally raped and then the scene cuts to Vadiveil cracking jokes outside a tea shop!
(2) The “santhosham” scene – hero is forcefully taken by his parents to the house of the girl who they want to him to marry (not heroine). Cue retarded scene where camera cuts between each parent grinning like morons.
any thing else…..
SearchIndia.com Responds:
You write: What are the 10 biggest cliché in Tamil films? (1) Pointless comedy segments….The “santhosham” scene
One would think Tamil film producers know what they’re doing and that they’re making movies that most Tamils want to watch.
If Tamil film producers are producing garbage using buffoons like Ajith, Simbhu, Vombhu, Kombhu, Trisha, Namitha etc it’s because they hope to ride to financial success on the back of a lot of Tamils that enjoy such buffoonery.
Our hypothesis is that only a small section of the Tamil film going population think these are clueless idiots.
Even among our readers (going by comments over past four or five (days), we have readers proclaiming/defending Mankatha in terms of can be watched once. What a sophomoric defense.
Tamil producers just play it safe and the films are tailored to suit people who are based in South India.
The market in Europe and US/Canada, where people now expect a better standard, is not big enough and therefore they dont make films to suit our tastes. I remember I saw a Tamil movie program where the host interviewed people as they came out of a Surya film (cannot remember which) and 99% of the feedback was either “Suuuuper film!!” or “Suuuuper fight!!”. Tamil cinema has no chance of improving!
SearchIndia.com Responds:
You write: The market in Europe and US/Canada, where people now expect a better standard, is not big enough and therefore they dont make films to suit our tastes.
By any standards (European, North American or Indian), most Tamil films are trash.
But most Indians just love trash. They scoop it up and shovel it down their throats, wallow in it and, worse of all, sing paeans in its praise. Not just with Tamil films, but applies to Bollywood (Hindi) films as well.
And if it’s stolen shit, Indians love it even more (Deiva Thiru Magan, Ghajini etc).
Can you recommend a forum where I can discuss Tamil films with like minded people without fear of being harassed by the “Suuuper Fight” brigade?
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Get back to us in 2050. There might be one by that time. 😉
@Tamil Guru – I dont think such a forum exists but you may try the “Super Star Rajini Kanth” and “Universal Hero Kamal Haasan” for ultimate comedy.
If you want to spit what you are drinking in a fit of laughter then those two groups should definitely do it for you.
I don’t intend to paint SI in s#it but posting a few example to make the point: –
did scorsese copy aandavar?? 🙂
there have been so many accusations by kamal haters that aandavar, to a gr8 extent gets “inspired” by hollywood movie. but in reality there has been a handful of instances where we can actually tell like hollywood movie drectors were “inspired” by kamal movies. examples are in plenty like sippikkul muthu – forrest gump, nayakan – godfather III, aalavandaan (novel)- silence of the lambs and so on.
but when i saw the movie “The Aviator”, by Martin scorsese, in 2005, couldnt help but admire aandavar’s brilliance. wonder how??
there was this scene in Aviator: the protagonist, howard hughes (leonardo dicaprio) is a very passionate movie producer in hollywood, also equally passionate about his girlfriend and his aircrafts. to show the intensity of his passion, there is a scene in the movie. Hughes (di caprio) is in bed with his wife (?), who had partly undressed, revealing her bare back. as a very passionate lover, di caprio runs his fingers over her bare back. the camera starts focussing on his fingers as he runs his fiingers passionately over the skin of his lover and slowly zooms in on the fingers, and when the camera zooms out, the scene has changed, and now di caprio is actually running his fingers over the body of his aircraft ( a single seater fighter jet), in the same passionate manner.
this made me remember a scene from hey ram. saket ram (aandavar), is intoxicated with “bhang” on the dussehra night and he yields to temptation and takes his wife(vasundhara) to bed. he runs his fingers passionately over her partly undressed body, camera zooms on his fingers, and when the camers zooms out, vasundhara morphs into the gun (fire arm) with which he is supposed to carry out his mission (killing gandhi), and he continues to caress the gun, hugs the gun the gun wildly and even takes an aim !. truely remarkable way of showing how passionate he was about his weapon and his mission !!!
“The Aviator” was released in 2005.
“Hey Ram” was released in 2000 Feb.
Virumandi – Against death sentence
Our thalivar took Virumandi in 2004 ,saying there should be no death sentance in this country .
Now this country is echoing same sentiment to band death sentence.
Thalivar has once more proved he takes social issues before any one can think about it.
unbeileve foreseening ………………………
IN Manmadan Ambu, Kamal Sir is wearing A Transitions Photochromic Lenses which quickly adjust and adapt in changing light to help protect from the sun’s ray.
If u closely noticed the indoor shots,his lens would appear normal and during those outdoor shots,it would have a different shade.
Another innovative attempt
Aalavandhan in Inception
In another example of showcasing kamal sir’s brilliance is a scene in Inception where Cobb and the architect travel in a lift to different places of cobb’s dreams (made of his memories) much akin to the scene in Aalvandhan when Nandhu goes to diff places in a lift after being drugged (the scene that follows Manisha’s murder). Its Amazing that kamal sir has thought of the same concept 10 years back… Hats off Sir..
A Crazy Feeling About ENTHIRAN The Robot
Whenever i use to see any train passing by, i imagine that CHITTI(SSRK) running over the train…….
It makes me feel aroused…….
I can’t believe that The movie made such an impact upon me…..
I am proud to say that I Am a SSRK Fan…..
9.55 ah, aio 10.45 nu nenachene, ok am rushing to Airport now …Thalaivaaaa here I come!!!!
There is even a thread abusing SI in the Rajini community! 🙂
SearchIndia.com Responds:
As we’ve said ad nauseam, any other place but India these Venkat Prabhus, Vijays, Ajiths and Rajinis would have been laughed out the theater.
The good fortune of Venkat Prabhu, Vijay, Ajith, Salman Khan, Rajini etc is that they happened to be born in Mera Bharat Mahaan.
Dear Naveen,
From where did you get these things????? simply amazing. ROFL.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Right now, Naveen is watching the new Hollywood release Contagion & will likely respond later.
@Filmlover – I got these little gems from the same Orkut communities I mentioned. There are numerous such gems there.
Interesting Link… Your star talks about being honest 🙂
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3huqG_YnGQ
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Hear, hear, Thirutu Payan is talking about honesty.
Well, strange things do happen in the Kaliyug.
BTW, the Ulaga Madayan is certainly not an eloquent speaker. In the beginning of your video the Thirutu Payan is struggling, struggling for words. Maybe, he was rushed for time and couldn’t find something to steal. 🙁
[Deleted as it’s currently not relevant to others]
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Will add.
BTW, did you take any pictures?
Unfortunately no photos. I wasn’t planning on reviewing.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
OK.
We’ll still add it.
How idiotic can a Chief Minister be?
http://www.rediff.com/news/slide-show/slide-show-1-assange-wants-maya-to-apologise-awaiting-her-jet/20110906.htm
Mayawati called Assange to be mad believing ‘he’ makes up Wikileaks reports.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Maya is no idiot.
The idiots are her subjects.
Maya, Jaya, Sonia, Raja, Didi, Lallu, Rahul, Amar Singh, Salman Khan etc form the soul of India.
Did you read Assange’s reply to her in the above link?
SearchIndia.com Responds:
We read the piece in TOI, which is much the same thing as in your link.
I just saw “Mankatha”, so, the movie should have been named “Mokkaiatha”, Strictly No Brains, A Venkat Prabhu’s Shit. Many people in TN says Ajith Rocks and they just don’t care about the script. So, it proves once again the star power always dominates Tamil Cinema.
It seems that I have broken my oath that not to watch any Tamil movies in theater, for this, I have been severely punished in Devi Theater and I was tortured by this movie for nearly three hours. So, God do exist…….
Plot of the Movie: Actually, I was looking for plot thru out the movie but I couldn’t get it. Was it all about just stealing the money or IPL match fixing? Terribly confused. Some of the characters has no life and seems to be deliberately placed in the movie, especially Trisha and Anjali had no scope.
Bring Premji in this movie was quite usual Tamil cinema formula where to add some idiotic comedy tracks, unfortunately didn’t work properly instead it was really annoying and nonsense.
Another disappointment was Ajith’s character as Vinayak has no value as anti-protagonist of this movie. His character wasn’t told properly by the director instead the director was so focused to please Ajith’s fans. Director said that he was inspired from The Dark Knight movie character “Joker” but I didn’t see any 0.05% of that inspiration or maybe, Ajith just didn’t fit in to this kind of role. Ajith’s laughter and repeatedly saying “Money, money, money money” were all irritating. There were too many ‘F’ words.
MUSIC: Oh yeah! This is where I was even irritated with this movie. Is Yuvan son of maestro Ilaiyaraja or is just adopted son? He is totally disgrace to his Father. Except theme music other songs and score was horrible.
I have noticed that Yuvan has looted some musical notes from Hollywood movies and western classical music. First, there was a scene where Ajith and other two fellows decide to share the money and goes to the shed, but where money was already looted by premji and other guy. Immediately follows the fight scene, where you will notice Johann Sebastian Bach‘s Violin concerto. That was quite unnecessary. Another thing, he looted from Hans Zimmer’s one-note theme for Joker in The Dark Knight and also looted from Vangelis’ “Mythodea”. Of course, this is not the first time; even he has done lotin previous in his films. Oh yeah! Plagiarism is in the Indian bloods.
Overall, Purposeless script, lifeless characters and tuneless music makes this Mankatha movie as worst movie.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
If it’s as big a shit as you say, then surely it’s gonna be a big hit in Tamil Nadu.
Mankatha is nothing but the S*it like ajith shouts in this movie.
And this Venkat Prabhu once again proved that he is the copycat.
Some Plot was stolen from English movie Confidence(2003) especially the climax.
Most of the tamil directors dont know what Creativity is.
Still this movie got the collection because of the fanatic fans. So no wonder most of the Indian directors will keep on dishing out Crappy movies.
BTW,have u already saw Yudham Sei?
If not watch No Mercy (2010)(Korean) First. Very nice movie.(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1662557/)
It seems the basic plot of Yutham sei was inspired from this korean flick.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
No, we’ve seen neither the Korean film No Mercy nor the Tamil Yudham Sei.
But we’ve seen a bunch of other Korean films. Enjoyed most of them.
Unfortunately, No Mercy (Korean) is not available at Netflix, our primary source for foreign movies.
Yudham sei was a nice movie.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
We’ll watch it soon & maybe, just maybe even review it on SI.
No need for a review too. But watch it without missing and pass an one-liner reply!
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Parkalam, not in the literal sense but in the Kamaraj sense. 😉
That is ‘Paarkalam’ (Let’s see) not ‘Parakalam’ (let’s fly) 😉
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Fixed. Thanks.
I never knew the word “Parkalam” was coined / popularized by Kamaraj. A google on that topic led by to this small article. Interesting read…
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/mag/2005/08/14/stories/2005081400150300.htm
I didn’t knew that a Tamil Nadu politician had so much clout in the decision making for Central Government… i.e. before Kezhabaadu Karunanidhi
SearchIndia.com Responds:
In retrospect, the biggest mistake of Kamaraj’s political life was to prop up that worthless woman Indira Gandhi as Prime Minister (after Shastri’s death). It turned out to be a Himalayan disaster for India and on a lesser scale for Kamaraj himself.
Kamaraj was the last ‘honest’ politician Tamilnadu ever had. He was fondly called as Kingmaker, because he was able to bring up two (Shastri & Indra) into Prime ministerial posts. He was the president of Indian National Congress that time.
In the book, “The Scoop”, Kuldip Nayyar explains how Kamaraj made use of the circumstances to bring up his choices to those posts. Some say that, he had an opportunity to become a PM himself, but he refused to do so – since he did not know Hindi / English.
He was man of political honesty. He always advised his ministers – ‘Face the problem, Don’t hide. Provide a solution, however small. People will be happy if you do something’. He resigned from Chief Minister position, and called for all senior leaders to do so to revive the congress party. [Today we see, even a ward councilor wont resign his post for a good cause]. He had only 63 rupees as his saving when he died. He did not allow his mother to stay with him during his tenure as Chief Minister, since that would allow relatives and friends coming in for recommendations.
Wiki has it that – When he was in jail, he was elected for Chairman of Municipal Council. After his release, he went to Municipality and resigned saying – “One should not accept any post to which one could not do full justice”!!
He brought in IIT madras, BHEL, NLC, several dams, factories, mid-day meal scheme, reopened 6000 schools that were closed down by Rajaji (who brought “KulaKalvi”) and added 12000 more schools – saying – a school should be available within three miles of any place – a reasonable distance for the kids to reach, those days,
He was in a house that Government offered him. But DMK that time had campaigned it to be his own house and misled people with the slogan – “Yezhai Pangaalanin Veetai Paareer!” [Look at the house of the poor’s friend!]
If not for him, Tamilnadu won’t be what it is today (at least). He had laid a strong foundation for the state. We’d certainly not have a leader like him in Tamilnadu, even in the generations to come.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
1. But Kamaraj was also an overconfident idiot.
In the 1967 elections, he famously declared after an accident Naan paduthukonde jaeippen (that he would win while lying down).
He lost to a young student leader Seenivasan.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madras_State_legislative_assembly_election,_1967#Notable_losses
Kamaraj’s defeat was often cited to us as an illustration of what happens in life if you become overconfident or take things for granted.
2. You write: He brought in IIT madras, BHEL, NLC,
All three had their genesis under different circumstances.
Kamaraj might have merely given a fillip to them. With or without Kamaraj, IIT Madras, BHEL Trichy and NLC would have most likely come into being. An IIT in South was inevitable, Lignite was discovered in South Arcot District as early as 1930s and a BHEL in Tiruchi or one of the other Tamil Nadu cities was also inevitable given Jawaharlal Nehru’s famous addiction to Public Sector Enterprises or ‘Temples of Modern India’ (Nehru’s words) across the country.
On the over-confidence part, Yes, he had a feel that people must have been remembering government’s accomplishments. And decided not to ‘market’ him well. He had a trust that he’d be elected again. But he lost!
The result: We see Dravidian Parties marketing even what the other government had accomplished as their own. Karuna does not leave a chance to this trick.
For ex: The CMBT (Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus) In Koyambedu, was finished during Jaya’s period. So there was a board near entrance – “Opened by Hon’ble CM Ms.Jayalalithaa on So-and-So date”. Then came Karuna’s Period. He had placed another board in the first entrance – reading “Foundation Stone laid by – the-then Hon’ble CM Karunanidhi”
🙂
Saw Mankatha a week back and I find it passable…and like some of the viewers I feel Ajith has done a honest job, that’s the best he can do considering his limited skills.
The movie had its share of flaws but still I felt pretty satisfactory when considering the low standard Ajith and Venkat Prabhu set for themselves in their earlier works and the current shitty state of Tamil movie industry.
When the plot of movie is about betting, you expect atleast certain scenes of how bettings are organized and conducted but there are hardly any scenes showing nuances in betting. There are just a few words mentioning how the betting racket runs around in India, that’s all.
The story had a lot of potential, If handled by a seasoned taskmaster it might have been brilliant. Venkat prabhu spoils it by having incoherent scenes at the first half, unwanted songs hindering the proceedings. Certain Scenes like Naveen pointed out were badly executed, Ajith’s Hypnotic chain of thoughts scene was way too lengthy and irksome after a point, Ajith repeating “500 Kodi da ” often gets viewers tired.
Perfomance wise Ajith and Arjun were okay, Trisha- as bad always, PremG Amaran-( I would rip apart this cornhole fucker if I ever see him) as IIT passout is too much to take. However I felt Vaibhav gave a neat perfomance as Sumanth, the others guys playing Ganesh and Mahat were just adequate.
Yuvan shankar raja must seriously take a break. His music is going down from bad to worse.
However, BGM was pretty decent and it created quite an impact during heist scene and the climax as well. I heard that the BGM for the movie was done byYuvan’s siblings Karthik Raja and Bhavatharini…not sure though…
I had the misfortune of watching Vijay’s 50th nightmare Sura in theatre due to a compulsion of a friend. I could say Ajith’s 50 torture inflicted much less pain than Vijay’s acme of nonsense Sura…
@ Dr.Logu, i respect your opinion but i disagree with original score by Yuvan. As i said in my comment, except original theme, other musical notes are either trash or copied. I never cared about songs in Tamil cinema but i look into other aspects. As far as Mankatha, i found both Arjun and Ajith has less scope in acting department than showing off their mannerism. Ajith did a great job as anti-hero in “Vali” but in Mankatha, i can’t anything. Yes, of course, i appreciate Ajith’s bold decision to chose villian role in his 50th Film but that doesn’t mean he has done great job as villian in Mankatha. Director Venkat prabhu didn’t focus on characterization and screenplay. That’s where the huge problem.
Honestly, i wasn’t satisfied a single bit. I felt that this movie had teased my brain and insulted my sixth sense. My sixth sense asked “What the fuck you are watching?”. If you like it, ok, but i really hated this movie. I have decided not to watch any tamil movie in theater.
As I said in my previous comment, Ajith is a actor with very very limited skills.
On the performance front, he goes even below his North Indian peers like Junior AB, Salman Khan, Akshay kumar and even below Ilayathalavali… If people throng the theatres expecting he could create some magic, fault lies entirely with them. Most of earlier 49 films were unwatchable garbages. However, I find this better than some of the previous junks which he had been doing of late (Aegan, Billa, Asal). I didn’t mean he gave a great performance (which he could never ever give) and I mentioned this is the best he could do. I just found that passable. Just imagine for a person who lastly watched Sura, this could definitely come across a breather considering the pitiful state of Tamil movie industry.
The culprit however is bloody thief Venkat Prabu. Not able to weave even a linear story properly, this clown shouldn’t be in this business anymore. I wonder if he ever takes this profession seriously, by watching some of his previous movies.
Regarding Yuvan, i already posted several links of his copycat work previously here in the review of Badrinath, just check them out. If you could provide the source of where he copied the other songs of this movie from, that would be great.
SI, Did you see the movie???
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Noooooo, not after Naveen’s review.
Don’t believe Naveen’s review.
He just copied all bad words from your previous reviews to make this one.
See it for yourself. At least our grammar will improve.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Naveen is alright.
If he sees your comment, he’ll have an apoplectic fit.
We’re taking Naveen’s review at his word and have no intention of subjecting ourselves to Ajith’s 50th Atrocity.
“Apoplectic” … another new word learnt! Sam is correct about SI’s grammar (vocabulary?). I paid tributes to SI’s vocabulary in my comments a few weeks ago.
SI – You see so many crappy movies every day. One more would not hurt. But, watch out for a bout of Diahreaa when that nincompoop goes “ma-ne ma-ne ma-ne ma-ne” (Money Money Money Money). “Aiyaaa saamy pichchai podunga” would have sounded better.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Yes, we’ve watched that scene on YouTube.
Do not intend to see that half-wit’s asinine antics for longer than four seconds.
Au contraire, we’ll bring some lesser known but worthy films to the notice of our readers.
Naveen is alright.
Mankatha is NO Ocean’s 11. Never. And Ajith is no George Clooney. Alas, he is not even anywhere near being a George “Clowney” Let’s not disgrace Ocean’s 11.
Although Mankatha (that seems to be copied from multiple sources) has its basic plot lifted from Ocean’s 11 with few clever (really?) changes to suit Tamil cinema standards. It never matches that class, gripping movie – Ocean’s 11.
There Casino Clubs – Here a theater where gambling happens.
There 150 Million USD – Here 500 Crore Rupees.
There Boxing event- Here IPL Final match
There a team of 11 will plan – here a team of 5 will plan to rob.
They seem to have copied the idea of ‘Hacking the traffic signals’ from Die Hard, where the antagonist hacks & takes over the country’s central control system and governs Traffic signals to stock markets.
They seem to have copied even the car stunt scenes – Arjun’s intro – Getting out from a revolving car, and shooting guys – From RED (Bruce willis), and another scene from ‘Wanted’ by Angelina Julie.
At the end, Ajith and Arjun are friends and it is a whole conspiracy by them. This is copied from Venkat Prabhu’s previous movie Saroja (a theft of Judgment Night). WTF. Now do you believe it?
Except the copied scenes, the scenes of their original thought-process were just mediocre, horrible, and sometimes intolerable.
The long cat and mouse game is really boring.
Ajith’s (new) mannerisms are un-watchable. He could not dance. He could not fight. Thanks to his belly and surgeries on his spine. An engineer from IIT madras hacking into the site of a Bank, or hacking the traffic signals is just unbelievable. And Premji being that IIT madras pass-out is just more than insane.
They plan and rob well. But two of them take the money and run away – without even the idea of being traced. Foolish. First half, it had introductions for Vaibhav’s wife and Arjun’s wife which did not have any connection with the flow. But that was the director’s touch!! They’re getting introduced there, because at later point, they’d be kidnapped and used for threatening the husbands. Elementary, My dear Watson!
Matt 7:16 – “Ye shall know them by their ‘fruits’ ” 😉 Trisha, Andrea, Anjali and Lakshmi Rai – are the perfect examples of that statement. Their acting skills are just proportional to their fruits 🙂
Music did not make much sense. One so-called innovative attempt was to use a symphony as a background score for an action sequence.
If you did not watch it yet, you are not at loss of anything.
It’s just for the fan-boys. Not for the serious movie lovers who think movies are a form of powerful visual media.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Sweetie, thanks for the elaborate dissection of Ajith’s 50th Atrocity. 😉
@boopalanj – nice summary. I will watch Oceans 11 one of these days. I’ve seen it in bits and peices. I didn’t think much of Ocean 12 and 13. By the way, the usage of symphony during an action scene was also there in “Saroja” in the scene where their Van topples.
And today one of the mails I saw was about – Premji’s intelligent hacking..
While Premji tries to do some hacking stuff, the IP showed in screen ends up in “533”, for ex – “XXX.YY.AA.533” while as per the standards of IP, it can only have “255” max. The max possible is – 255.255.255.255 (and that too is reserved.)
SearchIndia.com Responds:
No matter whether the IP is 533, 833 or 133, the producers, distributors, actors and others involved with this SoriKatha are laughing all the way to the bank!
Something you and other commenters would love …
http://www.sify.com/movies/wedding-bells-for-trisha-news-tamil-lidjTwefgbg.html
SearchIndia.com Responds:
OMG, OMG!
SI is delirious, completely overcome with joy.
A small step for Trisha but a giant leap for Kollywood (Thank you, Armstrong).
Pause (while SI recovers from the excitement).
Is there any way, we can give you another doctorate and call you Dr. Dr. Logu? 😉
This is real big news. Bigger than your Osama bin Laden meeting his 64-virgins comment. Biggest in the history of the SI blog.
Your article (above Sify link) says:
Hell, we’ve been restless since we heard of this Trisha thing four years back. We too wanted the sweetie-pie to settle down below a nice boy or even a girl.
Our desperate hope now is for Trisha to get married soon and get knocked up in short order lest she develops cold feet.
Please tell Trisha’s mother that choultries and Poojaris are in great demand and to book one at an early date.
SI will, of course, celebrate Trisha’s wedding day in great style as Freedom Day. 😉
Health Alert: Our heartbeat rate has increased alarmingly. We need to lie down a bit to recover from this excitement. This old Braveheart can only take so much.
Fare well, dear friend. 😉
BTW, if the news turns out to be false don’t be surprised if your SI login fails to work. 🙁
SI – You prayed hard for this and you mention this in your reply on Sep 5th. Tell us the truth… did you read a rumour? are you related to Trisha? do you have inside information? Saying that you prayed and it happened gives credence to existence of God and that scares me! 🙂
If this is true then Trisha will be on as maatuponnu in a Jaya tv / Sun tv mega serial in 4-5 years 😀
SearchIndia.com Responds:
You write: are you related to Trisha? do you have inside information?
Rumors of Trisha’s connections to SI are strongly, irrefutably denied.
Good God, we’d rather be related to Osama bin Laden, Abhishek Bachchan or even that nut-job Michelle Bachman.
We’ll confess we prayed long and hard regarding Trish’a matrimony – To Satan. 😉
Sorry, we have no information, pertaining to Trisha’s inside or outside. We’re far too busy drooling over our favorite MILF schmuck Sarah Palin.
Hi SI,
Watched a new Tamil film Engeyum Eppodhum today(second day of release).
Here is my honest opinion about the film.
[Review deleted here and published as a blog post – Engeyum Eppodhum Review – A Different Kinda Film]
Is the film releasing on your shores?
SearchIndia.com Responds:
We don’t think Engeyum Eppodhum has made it to the U.S.
Hello naveen dont misuse ur rights to comment.
yesterday i was so harsh with my words. first rule b4 a comment ‘dont ever hurt anybody even unknowingly”. keeping this in mind try to post some gud reviews and this is the right manner.
Admin plz warn any person who comment over cruelly.a single word cannot describe a film.instead try to put stars or else it can be marked very good, good, average, boring, flop and tell those naveen and somebody dubukku to stop writing comments
SearchIndia.com Responds:
You write: yesterday i was so harsh with my words.
Your two comments yesterday were not published because:
1. They were abusive of Naveen
2. They were completely in Tamil.
You are welcome to criticize anyone including Naveen, Podadubuku, this site admin, i.e. SI and even other commenters too for their reviews/comments/links.
You can ridicule or condemn anyone as harshly as you wish but your criticism must not involve use of filthy expressions and threats.
And all comments must be in English. You are welcome to use the occasional Tamil word/expression with translation in parenthesis but the entire comment must not be in Tamil.
@Subah – I have no idea what you are talking about perhaps due to your comments being deleted.
“Hello naveen dont misuse ur rights to comment.” – What comment are you referring to?? You are saying this and then you say “yesterday i was so harsh with my words” and then you say “dont ever hurt anybody even unknowingly” are you trying to prove that you are a bundle of contradictions? are you out of your mind?
Are you pissed at me because your Thala cannot act and his latest movie was utter crap?
It is fine if you don’t like my review. That does not change my opinion about Mankatha.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
We’ve just forwarded (via e-mail) the nonsense it scribbled yesterday.
After reading them, you’ll understand why they were deleted.
Off topic :
Have you seen the tamil movie ‘Roja’ i think of 93 (year not sure) featuring Arvind Swamy & Madhubala (i think)??
That movie is good & A R Rahman has done a very good job if not the best!!
What were your thoughts about the movie?? 🙂
And you going to review Mr.& Mrs.Iyer dude?? 😉
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Yes, to Roja. Can’t remember too many details but liked Arvind Swamy and the music, of course.
Yes, to Mr and Mrs. Iyer review.
We’ve been a little bijee with a different project. Hence the delay in reviewing the story of Meenakshi & Raja.
What a Himalayan tragedy that actors like Arvind Swamy despite having a good personality & acting brilliantly can’t shine well as compared to other actors like Rajinikanth & present actors like Ajith, Vijay, Vikram, etc.!!
Don’t you think that life is unfair sometimes? 🙁
SearchIndia.com Responds:
1. You write: What a Himalayan tragedy that actors like Arvind Swamy despite having a good personality & acting brilliantly can’t shine well
Maybe Arvind Swamy should drive his SUV over some sleeping pavement dwellers a la Salman Khan or kill some endangered deer a la again Salman bhai.
They say in India such beast-like behavior boosts popularity of actors with the masses.
Do you think it’s true?
2. You write: Don’t you think that life is unfair sometimes?
Just sometimes?
What world do you live in.
Hahahaha very funny, SI about SUVs!! 😉
what i said about life is unfair sometimes was a gross understatement as it’s unfair most of the times!!
Euphemism the order of the day in that line 😉
And you are right because if we say anything which is against Salman bhai to our friends, they get numb with horror (just as we get when he delivers trashy bollywood movies like God tussi great ho) & start saying that if we speak further anything bad, they would kill us!!
Such is the agony inflicted on us!!
Can you believe to what new lows they have stooped down to due to these so-called actors??
As per my knowledge, despite his star status, Arvindsamy who was widely regarded for acting skills, went on to pursue his “business interests”.
Last year, he was busy formalizing his divorce with his wife. The actor must pay 75 Lakhs as one-time settlement, and Rs.1 Lakh per month for ‘maintenance’. (1 Lakh for maintenance? 🙁 )
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-12-02/chennai/28241894_1_actor-arvind-swamy-wife-rs-75l-divorce-rs-75l-divorce-settlement
Seems this movie was good – Saasanam – by Mahendran, with Arvindsamy in the lead role. Rediff had given 3.5 stars!
http://www.rediff.com/movies/2006/jul/28saas.htm
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Saasanam looks interesting.
Plus, there’s the added attraction of Ranjitha! 😉
Fine SI..
Continue with your bijee project and hope it goes well!!
😉
[Off-topic]
I request SI to have an equivalent of Golden Raspberry Awards for Indian movies (Hindi/Tamil). It’ll be fun. Nominations and winners. And your take on why it was so bad.
Think about it..
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Far Too Many Contenders for the Booby Prize.
Off-topic: One of the great contender scenes in motion picture history from one of our favorite movies On the Waterfront and featuring the nonpareil acting genius
AjithMarlon Brando.Off-topic but has some connections to the above comment.
Have you seen this pic before?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sivaji_Ganesan_with_Marlon_Brando.jpg
I just got to see this few days ago. Does anyone accept the claim that he was Marlon Brando of India? If so, can someone say the film(s) where he did a “perfect” job as an actor?
SearchIndia.com Responds:
1. We think Sivaji Ganesan photoshopped the picture just so he could boast to K.R.Vijaya, Ambika, Radha and that kathrikai Prabhu, that he stood near God (Marlon Brando) for a few seconds and breathed the same air. 😉
2. You write: Does anyone accept the claim that he was Marlon Brando of India?
Well, Sivaji can be considered the Pilot Premnath, Justice Gopinath & Hitler Umanath of India but Marlon Brando of India, NO, NO, NO, NO.
There was only one Marlon Brando, Sivaji Ganesan was the Mannangatti Mando of the Tamils. An overacting buffoon!
My maternal grandfather was in the marketing and advertising field in those days when Sivaji was at his peak. As part of his job he had the opportunity to meet Tamil film actresses at the shooting locations.
He said that after every emotional scene involving Sivaji, the people around him had to wash their hands and face because anyone in Sivaji’s proximity would receive a saliva shower when the scene involved intense emotion or crying. The most affected would be the wife/sister/amma character who got hugged or held by Sivaji 😀
I swear I am not making this up!
SearchIndia.com Responds:
We must remember to ask K.R.Vijaya or Saroja Devi the next time we see them! 😉
Padmini would have been more accessible.. Had seen her in the Flushing temple once. Did SI learn Bharatanatyam?
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Nah, our repertoire is limited to Pettai-rap. 😉
Been to Flushing Temple many times but never fortunate enough to lay…our eyes on Padmini.
Flushing Temple is a good place for Bird-Watching, particularly on weekends and Ganesh Chaturthi.
You guys rock!
The review was very funny.
But Sadly, Ajith’s 50th attempt to wipe out the Tamil race has been declared a hit.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
You write: But Sadly, Ajith’s 50th attempt to wipe out the Tamil race has been declared a hit.
Alas, junk always meets with a warm welcome in Mera Bharat Mahaan!
you what your review about the movie, seriously sucks.
i can accept all the fact which you spoke about loopholes all the other things.
but to talk about the music. its seriously unaceptable.
I came across a comment stating that theme music was copy from 50 cent.
seriously man that was not even close…
and i saw you saying like “‘The Indian soil is fertile for the growth and flourishing of buffoons and thieves in every walk of life”.’
A person like you sitting in chicago and complaining about India even though being an Indian. They are crimes happening in the place where you stay as well.
And you know what sitting in some other end of the world and saying bullshit and nonsense. Please come back to india and try to change something or SHUT UP, instead of talking nonsense.
and anyways for all the people who are wasting time by reading all this nonsense which this guy is posting… switch on to someother site or blog becasue the admin of the site is disgusting-degrading-disgraceful to India.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
1. Somebody forgot their medicines today. And it’s not us. 😉
2. There’s nothing wrong in what we wrote about ‘The Indian soil …..’
We’ve lost track of the number of Indian films that have been lifted from Hollywood or other sources.
Here are just three examples:
Deiva Thirumagal – I Am Sam
Saroja – Judgment Night
Ghajini – Memento
Enna thambi? enna aachu? (What happened brother?)
Reviews like this will suck for fans because fans suck their fav. actor’s @#$%
“They are crimes happening in the place where you stay as well.” -> what has crime got to do with Ajith’s poor movie?
hey check out this article: http://www.thamarai.com/news-details.php?id=473
Top 5 Outrageous Actions scenes in South Indian movies
SearchIndia.com Responds:
We just watched Chiranjeevi in Return of Chiranjeevi, horse drifter (#2 in your link))
Are Telugus human? 😉
Not only that.. He’s jumping off with the ‘tractor’, just by a little ‘lifting’ effort while driving fast.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Weirdest scene is the horse+rider sliding under the huge truck.
Im the writer of the article, Gajen.
I share more or less the same views as you guys in regards to Tamil films.
Can you please share the article on your Facebook and websites. We should work together to write some funny articles.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
SI is our primary site and your link is already there.
As for FB, our presence there is rather in an emaciated form because we’ve always desired all interaction to occur on SI rather than on an external site.
Help a brother out?! lol 🙂
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Would you be interested in doing an occasional Tamil/Hindi movie review for us?
Not all Indian movies make it to the U.S.
yeah I can do that. thanks. I will send you my reviews this week
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Will send you an e-mail in a little while.
SI signs a large outsourcing deal 😉