Thursday 12 November 2015

Deepavali 2015 - Class Thoongavanam and Mass Vedalam

This Deepavali we saw two big releases one from Kamalhasan, a classy Thoongavanam and another one from Ajith, a mass (don't ask me the meaning) Vedalam. Both are vastly different genre from each other.



Thoongavanam - Kamal's third movie this year, the more he ages, the faster he works. Thoongavanam was completed in double quick time. It's based on a French thriller, Sleepless Night, directed by one of his assistant Rajesh and screenplay by Kamal himself. I resisted my temptation to watch the original to witness in Tamil first.

Thoongavanam is a no nonsense movie with a tight and gripping screenplay. No song, unnecessary comedy, heroism build up scenes, etc. It's mostly a hide-and-seek game between, Kamal, Kishore and Trisha, Prakash Raj and Sampath. Even though more than 90% of the movie happens inside a same location, movie never gets boring. Some of the comedy lines were blend in neatly.

Kamal as usual at his best as a cop and a father who's trying to save his son. All other actors like Sampath, Kishore and Prakash Raj have performed up-to their potential. But, the real surprise is Trisha and her character. Really loved her as a cop and a fight scene with Kamal. Asha Shareth character didn't offer anything to the movie.

Sanu Vargese's choreography was a delight and especially during the fight sequences inside the kitchen. Once again, Kamal's regular Ghibran delivers his yet another best work. He gets it right for every scene to sustain the suspense and tension.

So, Thoongavanam just delivers what it promises from it trailers, nothing more and nothing less. It definitely met my expectation, but I secretly hoped it will exceed it since it's a Kamal movie.

Thoongavanam - 3.5/5.0. For not exceeding my expectation solely because it's Kamal movie.



Vedalam - Yet another movie from Ajith with director Siva, I cannot believe how's this happening. I can understand Veeram, where Ajith tried to do a village role, but a second movie with the same director was really a surprise and now there's talk that they will be joining hands again, god no.

Vedalam offers nothing new in terms of story, it's age old sister-sentiment-revenge-story, where hero finds an international Mafia and beats the shit out of them single-handedly. And, we don't even have to think about logic.

Ajith as a taxi driver looks good, but didn't like his don look, he looked really bulky. The flashback slowed down the movie. We know what's going to happen and too many fight sequences as well. And, I don't even get it why he's nicknamed as Vedalam. Thambi Ramaiah's last conversation with Ajith before he dies was the only good sequence in that flashback.

The fight choreography was good even though it was as usual over the top. I couldn't comment on comedy and Shruthi's character since I missed a whole 40 mins in the beginning. So, I didn't get to see the good guy transforming into a bad guy since I missed the most part of a good guy. Lakshmi Menon does a good job who's really the female lead in this movie. Anirudh's BGM were really loud for most of the places and the songs were underwhelming, except Aaluma Doluma.

So Vedalam is yet another commercial movie solely aimed to play for the gallery and Thala fans in particular. The festival season and Thala veriyans in the theatre made it a worthy experience. Everyone celebrated each and every move of Thala. But I really wish Ajith to work with some other directors for at least three or four movies before he does another one with Siva.

Vedalam - 2.5/5.0. Nothing new, but the experience of watching this movie with Thala veriyans in the theatre was electrifying.

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