Highway - Movie Review

After a long time, I felt it worth writing a blog for a movie (Highway), and that too Hindi Movie. With my little "Idhar Aaao" Hindi knowledge, I rarely go about watching Hindi movies, but this one, pushed me to go. Sometime back one of my colleague sent me the trailer link of this movie. The trailer clearly outlined the plot of the story - no surprises. A rich girl, whose marriage is about to happen shortly, goes out a night with her fiance on a small road trip. Sudden sequence of events, she gets herself caught as hostage in a robbery. After knowing the girls political identity, the kidnapper takes her along on a road trip far north. The girl, who so far felt herself trapped in a marble bungalow, feels the journey close to her heart, like she got her liberty, the way she wanted. She enjoys every moment of the journey, falls in love with it and the driver. What happens next is the climax.

Only few movies present a good trailer. The other, only the trailer will be good. After watching this Highway trailer, the movie entered in my hit list. Today, I got the chance to watch it on big screen.  (AGS, Villivakkam). Here is my review.. 

Though the trailer was impressive and triggering, one main fact that pushed me to watch the movie was Alia Bhat. With her younger, tender and better look she stole the show in trailer itself. In big screen.. --STOP HERE -- 

Once a man who met Buddha on his way suddenly spit on his face. Ananda, the prime disciple of Buddha got angry on the man's act and asked permission from Buddha to slap him back. Buddha calmly said "The man wants to say something, but he didn't get the right words, so he spit on me". Saying that Buddha moved on. The next day, the same man, came running to Buddha, fell at his feet and started crying. Buddha again said "Even today the man wanted to say something.. but he didn't get the right word yet". Generally, words are so weak to express emotions. I'm in that man's condition now. I don't find the right words to express this story and put together a blog for it. Whatever I write, will be a miniscule of what I felt in the theater. Such a mind blowing theme and making.

In Tamil action movies, there will be a standard dialogue spelled by doctors when the villain or his adi-podi gets admitted to hospital after getting beaten from hero "naadi narembellam ratha veri yeri irukkaravanalla dhaan indha maadhiri adikka mudiyum".. Sameway, I feel a story of this cadre can be directed only by a guy who has emotions flowing in each of his vein. Otherwise, the story will go blunt.

If you have already watched the old tamil movie "May maadham", this movie is very similar. Nothing different. Just that in May maadham, the bride ends up with a photographer and here Alia bhat with a lorry driver. But the treatment is excellent in this Highway. This movie will certainly not impress masala fans. This is for those who love slow moving, dramatic, romantic, playing with emotions kind of movies. 

On the positive side, the movie was spellbound in total. The first half was good, and the second half, excellent. Alia Bhat - without any single glamour or vulgar scene, steals the show by her classic acting. She expresses every emotion easily. I dont know what to say further. Just watch it for her. Hero - A drop of water in a big rock can break it sometimes. Such is the character of the hero. He carries a drop of water in his heart, and when it breaks him down, it's amazing. 

Though I liked the movie in full, the scenes that I enjoyed most

1. Alia Bhat runs to Chandigarh bus stand to be with the hero again. Hell a lot of emotional scene, but the hero hushes her to stop speaking and stand a bit away. Watch her and his reactions.. Classy..

2. Both dont know what to do next - they simply travel.. On the top of the bus - Nice scene to watch, especially that snowy visuals

3. When Alia Bhat starts cooking in the house before climax - Hero's emotions remembering his mother. Bit overacting. but okay.

4. Alia Bhat sitting on a rock in the fierce river - Her expressions - Pure Ecstasy..

Me, being a travel lover, that too adhoc travel lover, felt this movie very closely relating to my nature. Many times I realized, life is not within the 3x3 cubicle working 9 hours a day and getting an amount credited by the end of month. Life is very very very big, beautiful and magnificent outside. Those who have tasted a bit of it will know what I meant. When you are you, doing what you want, nothing else matters. That moment, you will love to live or die. Both are same. It's pure bliss. This story, captures a glimpse of it through Alia Bhat.

Oh, forget to mention one other name. ARR. Genius. Music director wins when his music doesn't stand out separately. Music should be buried within the soul of the script, like the lup-tup of the heart.  ARR did that this time. No separate songs, except one that Alia Bhat hums and sings. Remaining goes within the scenes. Meaningful silences, Ghazals, BGM.. ARR carries the audience into the story.. HatZ off.. 

Flipsides? Yes, there are, but can be neglected. Just to state a couple of things here.

1. Alia Bhat escapes into that desert by night. This scene is one turning point of the movie, but shot worst. I guess its mostly Green screen. It didn't pass the right emotion to the viewer. Similar scene will be there in the movie "Croods" where the "guy" takes others to the top of tree and puts off the fire. Suddenly the sky will be exposed. That scene would be breath-taking to watch in Croods. Here it did not feel that great.

2. Climax - The climax was very apt for the movie, but somehow I couldn't feel it. It's my personal opinion. Guess it could be because of one lengthy justification scene before the climax. Alia Bhat's acting was excellent in that scene, but a bit lengthy, and without sub-titles I couldn't get it in full. I think she was firing her uncle, for sexually abusing her at younger age giving foreign chocolates. Second half of the movie was travelling with a good depth, and this pre-climax dialogue scene was not going well with the climax. It made the climax feel a little blunt, though it's apt. It would have been good if the movie ended 20 minutes before the climax, and left to the audience to decide the ending. Bala movie climaxes generally carry the weight of the story till the end. (Pithamagan - We don't know what will happen to Sangeetha, Nanda - Don't know what will happen to Surya, Paradesi - Don't know what will happen to his family).

Overall - SPELL BOUND. Thoroughly enjoyed the movie. Go for it, if you want to see how to emotionally treat a simple story line, and more for Alia Bhat's wonderful acting.

Kumki - Review

Today started very boring for me. After breakfast, I really wondered what to do next. Far as I could think, i couldnt see any task lined-up for the day. It was like a vast emptiness (kadu-veli) before me. Generally, these are the times I think of going out somewhere else, but today, due to mild-cold, I couldn't step out. Despite that I went till bus stop, but came back :) Such a amount of laziness and boring. Finally, I decided to see Kumki today. Thought of going with friends, but with their level of commitment, its getting tough planning a outing with them. Tickets were almost full for 4pm show @ Rakki, and I could get seat only in third row near the screen. 

Now into the film.

Kumki - I eagerly waited for this film to release. Till now, I haven't seen Prabhu Solomon's "Mynaa", but I was damn eager about this film. From the day the first poster was released, I know its going to be a visual treat. When the songs were released, I close-to became a addict for these songs. Not sure how many times I have listened to this album. Even if i delete these songs from my mobile, I hope my phone can play these by itself :) It wont forget these songs even in its dreams..!

Pro's

1. Story line is all simple. Hero has a trained elephant that is fit only for doing soft-work, like acting in cinema, temple walk etc. On the other hand, a village in deep interior of a forest gets affected by a rogue wild elephant. After few causalities the villagers decide to hire a trained elephant (Kumki) to control the wild elephant and run it back to woods. Due to some incidents, the original kumki trained to handle wild elephants cannot be sent, and for few days our trained elephant goes in as kumki-substitute to the village. What happens next is nothing beyond guessing. Its all predictable story line. Stories involving elephants are not rare in kollywood. From MGR to Sivaji to Rajini to Kamal, everyone has done stories involving elephants. What makes this movie special is the treatment and the picturization. Our hero is not a millionaire growing an elephant as his hobby. Instead the elephant earns bread for him. So, the first hero of this film is the Elephant. No buildup's, intro songs, fight with 100 men etc. for hero.. He perfectly underplayed his role. Thats very positive for such a kind of film.

2. Camera/Picturization - WooooW is all I could say. Since the story completely happens inside jungle and small village inside it, you can feel the freshness inside theatre. Its all nature. Even if the film is shot in 1000 frames per second camera, you can grab each frame in the film, and hang it as a wall-poster in your house. Such clear visuals and mesmerizing shots. More than story, I guess the director has spent a lot of time in visuals. Every scene is worth a photo album. Let it be the intro scene of the hero, or the heroine or the elephant - the visual is amazing. A scene where the couple gets to the top of the waterfalls.. you can feel the depth of the waterfall right there in theatre. Its really scary and sent a chill down my spine :).. One of the wonderful waterfall coverage I remember was in Apocolypto film. (I dont mean the scene, just the water-fall and its depth).. But the way the falls was covered in this movie was far more amazing than Apocolypto.  Most of the scenes involving the elephant are majestic and worth a watch. Nothing to mention about scenery in songs. Its extraordinary.

3. Cast - Being the grandson of Sivaji and son of Prabhu, acting comes easy for this guy. A wonderful entry for him to kollywood. But, the elephant being the hero of this film, he has less scope to play. Lakshmi menon - simply wonderful as jinglee (jungle village lady :)). Most of her scenes in the first half of  the film are just visuals. Even before hero, she gets introduced in the film, being chased by the wild elephant. At a point she falls down a steep, and camera just close-ups on her eyes and lip.. Even that scary scene appeals very beautiful. Also if the same Mynaa cast (Vidharth and Amala Paul) have acted in this movie, it would fit good. Apart from that, nothing special. Thambi Ramaiah and one other fellow (comes in as villans son in "Boss enkira Baskaran") wears the comedian mask.

4. Songs - Generally songs are unofficial intermission's for audience to go out and put a dum. But, have you seen any film for which audience flew whistle's soon as the lead for song begins? It just happened today. Also songs of this film is the main reason, I wanted to see it. Songs by D.Imman are beauty for this film. Visuals added perfect value to that. Just for the songs alone, I can watch the film again. No kuthu songs, two piece mumbai import, advice, buildup songs etc. Its all slow romantic and situation songs that goes well with the film. When I first heard the album few months back, i was instantly mesmerized with the songs. I thought Iam the only one addicted, till I heard few korean phones playing these songs loudly in bus. But in theater today, I realized there were many addicts like me :) I couldnt comment on BGM's since visuals were eating up the scene. But the lead for songs were used in most places as BGMs.

Con's

1. Thambi Ramaiah - He dons the comedian role (like Mynah) and carries most of the story. Many scenes evoke laughter, but close-up shots for him all the time and mind-voice comedy sometimes sound boring. Could have been edited more.

2. Logic - Killing a wild elephant is not a real tedious task. They are big and are more prone to get hit than a wild pig, that villagers say about hunting in one scene. But government and  even forest officers fears for that wild elephant komban (which killed 19 officers?) and asks the villagers to relocate somewhere else  If an elephant poses that much harm, cant a single bullet solve the issue? Atleast, a group of 10-20 villagers (who chase down and try to kill a man in one of the scene for a silly mistake he did) can easily bring down an elephant with local weapons (vel kambu, aruva, naatu vedi, electric fencing etc etc). No strong reason provided on why not to kill an elephant that has taken many lives.

3. Graphics - Climax is all about the wild elephant and our coward elephant fighting each other. Its all CG work and the team has done their best, but still miles to go. With the "Avator" level of technology we have now, these scenes are not even worth the "Jurassic Park" technology we witnessed a decade back. Close to natural, but still, it reveals two graphics elephants fighting in the wild. 

4. Scope for hero - As already said, the acting scope for hero and heroine was only during the songs. Nothing to expect much. Comedy scenes could have been trimmed further to give them some more acting scope (or) atleast few more songs would have done :)

Overall - For those who like a visual treat, its worth a watch. Dont miss it. It gives a feel like being in a forest for two and half hours. And with Lakshmi menon type of homely heroine, the feel multiplies. Kumki - Just Majestic.

Rating - 4/5

Billa 2

What director and producer wanted is very clear.. "Money Money and Money". For this, first thing they trashed is the logic, second thing is story and lastly Ajith. Despite great hype for this movie, thatstamil posted a negative review for this movie. Generally they do such cornering, but atleast this time they got it real.

Watched the movie yesterday in Rakki (Houseful.!!), with good mix of Class-C and B audience. Except those hard-core Ajith fans, I could clearly sense a disappointment with other guys, and me - a lot more disappointed.

Story  - A prequel to Billa; a story tracing the root of David Billa. How he starts his life as a refugee and becomes an international Don. A catchy one liner - but what director has delivered is a clear mess. He might have thought that if Ajith simply does a ramp-walk, thats enough for the movie. His style and charisma could carry the movie. It does it to some extent, but overall - failed.

Ajith has a wonderful screen presence, but he along with the director has forgot that they are making a "prequel"  and not  a "sequel". He looks really old in this movie, with his big tummy and a chubby cheek. He should have really looked younger than what he was in Billa-1. If Ajith is not willing to tune his body, atleast the director/cameraman/costume-designer should have made the work-around. Long-shots with some loose-wear should have done. Tight close-up shots (almost fills his full face on the screen) - not really good to watch. Ajith - an admirer of Rajini, should learn from "the boss" on how to maintain his body; since its their investment. Next movie, either Ajith has to tweak his body (or) choose proper roles like that can suit his age. In Mangaatha, he was really looking good. Honestly, one Ajith fan sitting next to me was asking his friend during the beginning of the movie "Why is Ajith looking like pregnant lady.." They convinced themselves that when Ajith turns don after interval, his tummy will also reduce. (Like "Sivaji the Boss". where Rajini will look a bit chubby in the first half and turns classic post interval).. But till the last moment, Ajith didnt reduce a kilo.

Parvathy - Ayyoo paavam role. I dont know what is the need for her character at all. Less screen presence than the Goa massage girl who appears in two scenes. Parvathy just comes, eats ice-cream in a couple of scenes and dies. She loves Ajith, but goes for a party with that politicians son. Not even a glamour dream song for her with Ajith. Poor girl. Atleast the other girl friend is okay... Showcases herself for the money she signed-in and dies atlast.. (the same massage girl kills her, then that's three scenes for her). Only scene where Parvathy was looking good, was in the fields, where she was kidnapped and left with a plaster in her mouth.

Villain - Both the villains are looking good, but behaving really stupid. Just because he saved 1 crore of powder, he becomes the right-hand to don (Abbasi)? He even takes their weapons business decision, but the villain just bears all his stupidity (intelligence!) and keeps warning him. I really dont  know who is the boss there. Same case with the that Georgian Villain too. He fights excellently in the introduction scene at Georgia, like a martial arts guy, but just falls down in few blows by Ajith inside the chopper. Pongada dey... Iam not sure whether Ajith is a man or Super-man. Again, In the carnival scene, he was attacked by the villain group and falls on the steps with head bleeding like anything. Next moment, he wakes up, fixes-up all those guys (poor kids - they dont even know how to shoot with a gun; they are just pointing their guns at Ajith, waiting for him to snatch and shoot them back), runs out to the street and kills other people - and the carnival people are just walking around the fight scene like dead-again zombies.

Comedy - There are lot of comedy scenes in this movie.

1. Ajith rescuing Parvathy in the field using a hi-funda technique, with all those military man with guns watching Ajith's charisma. They could better shoot themselves (and even me if possible).

2. Taking out the container with all those coastal guards firing only at the container, while Ajith was sitting in the truck with side-window open close to them. The chief coastal guard said in the next scene "Okay, Ajith has taken the container, lets go home and sleep with our.." But due to censor problem, guess, it is removed..

3. Only Ajith, Ranjith (Billa's friend) and other body-guard completely destroying that Georgia guys factory. In the just next scene, (though he was shot) he somehow manages to get inside the same chopper that villain was travelling, with few rose patches on his shirt and cheeks. Blood'aam... Again, looks like this special chopper has special bunkers to hide Ajith inside.

4. Killing that CM - which CM comes to a party with just only one car for his security, and that too he knows Ajith is a gangster.? Just like that 4 guys come in a motor bike and shoot him, and Ajith gets a bail for this petty case.

5. In fact, every scene is worth smiling. Even the place where his gun falls down, when he meets his sister in church - eppadi da pinnala sorugi vecha gun munnadhi vizhum.. saniyaney...

Logicless

1. Iam really not sure if a Srilankan refugee can go out of the camp just like that. And never returns back after that? Not even in their wildest dreams that could happen. Police will trace and screw him out.

2. The inspector just like that shoots a guy inside the refugee camp, but waits for Ajith to come out of campus to kill. Enna logic?

3. What is the police during in all this story? Ajith just kills 4 guys in his first fight; but no investigation happens at all. Then he shoots everyone he sees.

4. After being accused of killing a CM - can a guy go out of India? or even the next city without permission, with all politicians and police against him? He is only granted a bail, not released. Also, since he is depicted to be from Srilanka, how can he be treated like a local gangster, he is a terrorist now. Will the govt bail a terrorist after being accused of killing a CM? Its like Kasab granted bail to freely roam in India, and if he wants he can go Pak as well. If Ajith can go to Russia, why Kasab cant? :)

Not only these, since the complete story is a hole, its kind of finding holes inside a hole. Better leave that logic part before watching the film.

Good thing - RDR and YSR are the real heros of this film, (Ajith and Charka Toleti are the villains). Georgia scenes are real good to watch with a very cool tone. YSR tried to keep this film racy at this best. Nothing more...

Overall - Director clearly knew that there are lot of fools around who will come to watch any sh**, if Ajith just walks in few scenes. Bulls eye - he is the real DON...

Vazhakku En 18/9

I wasn't really intending to watch this movie for few reasons.

1. Trailer itself wasn't very impressive (except the BGM). Played during OK-OK movie.

2. We ourselves face a lot of problem in day-to-day life. Given this, watching others problem on screen, that too spending 100Rs... no way..

3. Films that carry "message" is always allergic for me. I would rather happily watch Americans saving our Earth from Aliens for 100th time.(Watched Avenger recently..)

But, generally things don't work the way we plan. I did watch this movie "Vazhakku En 18/9" few hours back. Why? (enakku yen Jessie'a pudichirukku?)

1.  Himalayan hypes getting floated from all sides for this movie. Indiaglitz/Thatstamil/Galatta.. everyone sings the same song.. A must-watch movie..

2. Lingusamy stating  "he was ashamed to call himself a director" comparing to Balaji Sakthivel.

3. Film in making for close to two years. Is it really worth?

4. Completely shot with Canon EOS 7D still camera. I think they started with EOS 5D two years back, and switched to 7D later when Canon released this new version. How good will the quality be?

5. Rajesh going into tears and Mahesh Babu wrote a macro-blog for this movie - first time in world history, and that too in perfect Tamil.. Now, that really tempted me to watch his movie.

Disclaimer - Since industry is going gaga over this movie, I need to put the disclaimer before dissecting the movie. The below is completely my personal opinion as a guy who spent 100 bucks from my pocket. Any resemblance of this blog to any other blog/article is purely coincidental.

This is Balaji Sakthivel's fourth movie in his series of flops and hits - Samurai (Flop), Kaadhal (Hit), Kallori (Flop) and VE 18/9 (Hit?.. Lets wait and watch)..  Balaji, as I understand, takes his own time to conceive a  concept, crafts it to perfection without any commercial compromise (Bala to learn this), and presents it neatly on screen. In midst of many upma cinemas in recent times, his approach really deserves a pat on his back. When he can earn crores in short time, he waits for 2 years to present a decent movie on board. No compromise. But is his work all worth the wait? Lets look into the Pros/Cons..

Pros

1. Screenplay - Story line for this movie is simply nothing. Just a couple of incidents. But the way its presented is awesome. Making an audience (like me) sit in theater for 3 hours with such a story line is tough. We have seen all sorts of love stories, and this one is nothing different from the rest. But the screenplay, and the way incidents are knit together, Balaji does this with ease.

2. Cast - Sri (Kanaa Kaanum Kaalangal) is amazing. All the young lead character's have done a splendid job. But stealing the show is that little boy (Chinnasamy) who comes as Sri's friend. Think he is from real theru-koothu gang. The scene where he performs koothu to Sri on the road in the night - is excellently composed and awesome. I would apple-apple compare this scene with Vishal's (nava-rasam) performance in Avan-Ivan. One other classic performance is from the Inspector. Just calm, he does the job with ease.

3. Music - It really didn't hinder the visual. Music director just gave what is required for this creed of movie. Also skipping songs in this commercial world is a bold attempt. Hats off to Lingusamy for this.

4. Camera - Digital Still camera? Un-believable and Awesome. Not even Red-One digital, its just Canon  still photography camera that costs around 90,000 INR Quality is thousand times better compared to "Nadunisi Naaigal" film shot in digital camera and OK-OK shot in film camera. In OK-OK, the camera work was really bad and the many scenes were grainy. Balaji Sakthivel in an interview said, shooting in digital camera saved him/actors from getting tensed when film gets wasted. Also he can go for as many re-takes till he gets the desired performance.

5. First half - I need to say that I really enjoyed watching the first half, especially that "thamizharasi comedy" and the love scenes of Sri-Jothy.

6. Story-in-Story - There are many stories in this main story, each in a scene like a cock-tail. a) Villages turning to real-estates b) Child-labor in north side c) Prostitute's-story d) Sri-Jothy love e) Diminishing of koothu kalai f) Spoiled Students g) Correspondent-turned-Pro h) Corrupted Police i) GH doctor demanding money j) Jothy's mother character.. etc. Handling all these within the main-story requires hell a expertise and Balaji has done it. Beauty is, he conveys the message without making us feel it. He just strikes the right chord.

7. No commercial compromise - Thank god. No songs in Switzerland and Sri fighting with 40 stunt artists in a six-pack. Movie close to real life. Director Bala (Pithamagan) need to take such stories. He does damn good story lines, but need to come out of the commercial ring and act free like this guy. We can then compare Tamil cinema to Iran cinemas.

Cons

1. Storyline - A very flat story line. Balaji himself have to admit that there is no big storyline in this picture. Just two incidents roping together to the third - climax. Even the climax is based on a true story, and its revealed in this movie itself.

2. Whats new? - I need to admit that screen-play and making is new. Director is really skilled enough to take a small story and say it for 3 hrs without any drag. Studied in Annamalai university or what :) Anyhow, Is that all? Natural acting is really a plus. For example, the police character in this movie was good, but even Raguman's police character in "Ram" movie will also be very natural. I really couldnt find anything outstanding in this movie. May be techies can let me know.

3. Close-life acting? - (Edhartha nadippu?) - Nice but, its not a trend-setter. How about Mullum-Malarum, Udhiri-pookal, Mudhal Mariyadhai movies.. Recently, how about Tamizh MA? If you really want to see an Edhartha movie - watch Pather Panchali (Sathyajit Ray) - It will be like a candid-cam movie, and you need hell of patience to watch that.

4. Spoiled brats - How many plus-two students are spoiled like the one shown in this movie? Possibly very less. A girl going out with a boy for the first time, that too, after her father fires the guy for calling her to his b'day party - dips in beach, checks-in a room... poangappa... Same girl,  courageous enough to go till police station, hides the truth of the boy trying to "kill" her from her mother..

5. Draggy second-half - With a vellandhi love, right mix of comedy, the first-half was entertaining, but the second half; I felt draggy. Especially, the Aarthy-Dinesh story - could have been edited more crisply. In the first scene itself, the director reveals the intentions of the boy, but then he drags the story too much around this.. really not required..
6. Missing Logic - In the first half, when Jyothi enters the apartment she works, security will make a note of her entry. After the acid incident, will the police not even check the security register for whether Sri has entered inside the apartment by that time? Though police has framed the case and convinced Sri, will no one ask for this? Atleast the Rosy character (pro) or the Idly shop owner? 

I leave it here. Overall, the movie was nice, but not much impressive to exclaim "trend-setter for tamil cinema". Over-buildup going now can possibly kill this movie also. Just go without any expectations, we can watch it once. For me, it reminded me of the movie "Eesan" which kind of has a storyline somewhat similar to this, like how upper-class guys escape from the hands of law. But Eesan was a mess, and this one luckily escaped.

OK-OK movie running house-full. Few who didn't gets tickets for OK-OK, opted for this..
Billa-2 trailer during intermission got a theater-shaking whistle than the climax of this movie...