SaRoJa

Started off refreshing and progressed with a fast pace. Before I realized I was hooked completely - especially till the part where the 4 guys find themselves completely lost in the middle of nowhere on their way to Hyderabad and struggle to save their lives from the villain and team. But very soon, I found myself lost - trying to understand what is happening and who is who - coz all the time the screen was dark and it was too hard for me to understand what is going on.

One could guess right from the beginning that the kidnapped girl is in the same place where the 4 guys land - and the two threads of the story would come together very soon. When it did happen, the rest of the movie failed to me keep the momentum. The darkness bothered me throughout - in a effort to make it realistic, it somehow hinders the viewers and obstructs them from consuming the story/movie. The climax was artificial - a fabricated twist of an unexpected villain. The fights in the end were crazy.

The actors who played the role of 4 friends were good - very natural in their job. But the screenplay failed to sustain the momentum and interest which was established in the first half of the movie. The comedy guy (Premji) was funny - but his character goes overboard with the 'craziness' of his character. I thought the mixing of his comedy in a serious situation was good once or twice, but should not have been repeated over and over.

Utter waste of Jayaram. At least Prakash Raj got some emotional scenes - but Jayaram's talents have not been utilized.

Disappointed!

SlumDog Millionaire

The one Friday B and I took off, I said I have been hearing so much about this movie, I should check it out. So we went for this movie.

It was like watching any other Hindi movie to me. I had not idea about the story line - only about the awards and nominations. So I had loads of expectations about it. I appreciated the realism in portrayal of the life in an Indian slum. One can feel the pains of the two boys and live the journey of life with them. Excellent job by the director in choosing the actors to play different ages of these characters. Jamal and Salim - especially did great.

What I loved most about the movie is how each question in the show has a relevance to Jamal's life and how that is explained using flash back. It was thrilling to watch that connection, including the last question - when I loved the look of his face when he realizes he does not know the name of the Third musketeer.Ironical, but believable! Same thing with the fact that his lover cannot help him with his lifeline question. Possible, indeed!

Police capturing Jamal and torturing him did not really sound convincing me. It just feels like a means to unfold the story - Jamal has to tell it someone, so director picked this inspector.

At the end of the movie, what B and I were left thinking is - what is so great about this movie? It is just a well made movie, but could not see it being exceptional. May be the fact that the director is not from India makes it special. But even ARR's music - we have seen/heard so many of his albums better than this. The BGM was catchy and suited the moods of the scenes. I really disliked the song Jai Ho popping up - even though I liked the song, I felt it really made the movie's value go down with the girl and guy dancing. Why should the Indian movie always have a song like this? It is like reiterating to international audience that Indian movies should have this kind of a song. The movie would have fine without it.

I enjoyed the movie, but felt like we became victims to the hyped up publicity around awards. Was not super thrilled!

Vallamai Thaarayo

I always liked Parthiban - his style, his ideas and his looks - there is a unique style about him. So I fell for his face in the DVD cover. Lesson learnt!

Mouna Ragam story has been re-filmed with added melodrama. Parthiban is re-doing Mohan's character this time. Nanditha(played by Chaya Singh) is the female character who is forcibly married off to Anand (Parthiban) by her father. Right from her childhood, her family always spoke about Sekhar (actor srikanth doing a guest appearance ) and her as a couple and then her dad changes his mind due some politics.

Anyway, the movie keeps dragging on and on.
Why do Indian movies have to stick to the 3 hour time frame and so many unncecessay songs?
Why can't they come to the point?
1.5 hrs was just enough to adequately put the point across, I feel.

The story is absurd, not realistic and hard to believe. I don't think any girl in this era would do what Chaya Singh's character did in this movie. Time and again, she can see that the new husband is being really nice and reasonable to her. Yet, she is adamant that she wants a divorce.
If she is so determined to live with her old lover, we don't see her making any attempt to contact him. The reason given for not contacting him is not really believable. If she goes all the way to divorce just for the sake of her old love, I don't see why she should not contact him to find out where he is and what if, he is waiting for her.

After divorce, also, Parthiban is behind her continuously letting her know that she is still the love of his life. He sends a housemaid (I guessed it right away, even though they break this suspense later in the movie) - the only valuable character in the movie - this lady takes utmost care of Chaya and supports her in her emotionally weak times. When Chaya finds out that this lady is sent by Parthiban, she is taken by double surprise to know that servant maid has not shared any of Chaya's secrets with the person who hired her. Servant maid says - "I have ethics"!

On and on the movie goes, and Chaya sees this interview in TV. Her ex is being interviewed on the road, and he reveals that he has moved on. She is shocked. And slowly she lets Parthiban into her life. Then in the end, they unite!

I wondered what a lucky girl this character is. She must have been born with a silver ladle (karandi, instead of a spoon!!) in her mouth. She was born in the richest family of her town. She always gets a good job, is always well to-do. She could not prevent her wedding from happening (her father will kill her!), but within an year, she is able to divorce him and father knows about it only when it was all done. HA HA! And she gets the world's best maid who would cook, massage and do all the work around the house. Is life so easy? And her husband is ready to win her back even after she insults/hurts him so many times. How lucky can one be?

Not worth watching.