Queen - Movie of the year till date

A movie review after quite some time. Queen, Kangana Renaut's latest comedy-drama film directed by Vikas Bahl is definitely the movie of the year 2014 so far. It was getting some rave reviews already. It's totally Kangana's show.

Rani's marriage was cancelled by his lover two days before his wedding. She still decides to go on his dream honeymoon to Paris alone. And, what happens in Paris and Amsterdam which have changed her completely is the plot.

The first half was set in Paris and how she struggles coming out of home for the first time alone and also her past love story in parallel. She gets a half-Indian friend who helps her in Paris. She doesn't come along with her till the end. She gets to do all those things which were restricted for her in India, she drinks, dances, burps :). The songs are so good, all the songs were. None of them forced into the screenplay and we don't have any unwanted duet on a dream location.

The second half was even more fun. She goes to Amsterdam alone. She gets to share a room with three boys. She was terrified initially, but become their friends eventually. One guy from Russia, another guy from France and one more guy from Japan. She gets to know how different she can be when she is not with his fiance. He too comes to Amsterdam to get back with her. This will be the only movie where you don't want a lovers to get back together and predictably she didn't.

Movie was so refreshing, you get a feel that Russian guy is gonna propose to her, but he didn't. Then, you think her Paris friend will go to Amsterdam with her, but she didn't. Then, usually in other movies girl will eventually forgive his lover or tries to get richer and a better guy than him, but she didn't. She gets a crush on a restaurant owner, who think Indian puts chilli on every food and she kisses him, but she or he didn't propose to each other.

Sometimes you have to stay away from some one to realize who you really are and what you are capable of, that's what happens to Rani on her "Honeymoon". Very well done by the team, a good first half and an even better second half with some good songs and excellent casting makes Queen a must-watch. In my opinion, a good film is the one that makes you happy and leaves you with a smile and Queen does it.

Queen - 4.0/5.0

Kochadaiiyaan - Good, Bad, Ugly.

When the show ended at 12:30 pm, which was supposedly to be ended by 11:30 pm, there was silence in the theater, pin drop silence. Nobody moved, nobody clapped, nobody screamed, strange scene at the end of a Superstar's movie on a first day. And, when was the last time we saw Superstar die on screen? I could not imagine this scene if it wasn't just an animated movie. The response from the audience would have been different if it wasn't an animated movie.  It was quite evident that nobody accepted this as a Superstar's movie.

Kochadaiiyaan is a revenge historical drama. Rana, the son of Kochadaiiyaan avenges his father's murder. It has love, action, betrayal, etc. Kochadaiiyaan has a good script and screenplay by KSR with his usual touch, who never goes wrong when joining hands with Superstar. Excellent cast starting from our Superstar, Nasser, Sarathkumar, Deepika, Jakie Sharoff, Aadhi, Shobana, etc. Fantastic songs and BGM from ARR. Even though some of the songs should have been avoided. But how is the final output? Will it satisfy all the audience? A big no. I only wish they have made this as a normal movie.

Still Kochadaiiyaan has its moments, but it was very few. That goose-bump moment during Superstar's intro, his trademark steps and  that slo-mo walk in the intro song which makes everyone go crazy. His punch dialogues, even though its just an animated avatar of Superstar. But he best part for me is the recreation of Nagesh, and whoever has dubbed for Nagesh has done a tremendous job. Kudos to the team for bringing back this legend on screen.

ARR and Superstar tries hard to save the movie, its bad that we are able to hear only his voice modulations and we miss his facial expressions. Especially during his interaction with Nasser when he was in prison and during the climax when he mouths 'vesham poduvathu endru mudivana piragu pagal enna iravenna'. And, the romance scenes and duets are so bad.

Kochadaiiyaan's animation standard is sure to disappoint anybody. We can simply call it as low standard rather than calling it as Indian standard. But, still Superstar was recreated on screen as a young avatar and Jakie Sharoff and Nasser also upto some level. Others, especially all the ladies were real disappointment. It was fun identifying who's who before a character speaks. Expecting a sequel with high standard.

Kochadaiiyaan - Still watch it for Rajni (voice) and ARR.

Rating - 2.5/5.0.