Laughter, slow and draggy.

An intriguing title and an interesting trailer, set expectations amidst the masses, for debutant Balaji Tharaneetharan's Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom, starring Vijay Sethupathy, and an array of fresh faces.

NKPK, is the story of Prem, Saras, Bajji and Bagks (crazy names, I know), four usual friends, with a normal life. Things go haywire, as Prem is diagnosed with temporary short-term memory loss, due to a cricket accident, two days before his marriage. How Prem gets married, and whether or not he recovers from his condition forms the rest of the story.

Vijay Sethupathy, riding high from his last succesful outing Pizza, delivers yet another neat performance. But the real stars of the movie, are the three friends, performed by Rajkumar, Vigneshwaran and Baghavathy Perumal, who pull off a very realistic, rib-tickling show. The movie's greatest plus, beside the comedy, is its very realistic nature, right from faces, to portrayals, to locations. Cinematography, editing and music - to the mark.

While the movie does keep us laughing a bit, it works on a relentless monotony that makes it move at a snail's pace. And perhaps, the movie is a bit too realistic, where the realism works to a point of near-boredom.

Nevertheless, the film is something fresh, something different for the Tamil screens, and Balaji Tharaneetharan seems to have delivered a fine first film. Worth a watch.

Aditya Baskaran

Psychedepic.

James Cameron, once, decided to get high on psychedelic drugs. And during this trip, Cameron ended up reading Yann Martel's 'Life of Pi', and also managed to jot down a script of sorts, which he unfortunately lost, during the course of the night.

And if that didn't happen, Academy Award Winner Ang Lee, whose impressed audiences and critics worldwide with his array of exceptional cinema, examples being Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Brokeback Mountain, has proven his worth yet again, with a mind-boggling, visual spectacle of a movie.

Life of Pi, is the story of Pi Patel, a man, put into mental doubt by the spiritual aspects of life, since childhood, weighing ideologies of his practical father, his religious mother, and those gained from his experience. Soon, Pi, on a journey to Canada, with his family and the animals, of the zoo owned by his family, aboard a Japanese freighter, meets disaster, or rather destiny at it's fateful worst, as a thunderstorm claims the freighter, along with his parents, and his animals, leaving him alone with a zebra, a hyena, an orangutan and most importantly, a Royal Bengal Tiger by the name of Richard Parker.

With time, Pi and Richard are soon, the only two survivors of the shipwreck, holding onto a lifeboat, for dear life. The rest of story, is the duo's adventure towards survival, which ends with an ambush twist, leaving a large, gaping hole about the very authenticity of Pi's story. This movie is not a simple, glorious castaway story of survival with a happy ending. It's a mind-rapist, that, at the end of the show, aims to question the very belief system of the audience.

Performances are on a high. Debutante Suraj Sharma, does a neat job, as the protagonist Pi, but the show-stealer is Irrfan Khan, as the older Pi, who captures hearts with his subtle performance. Tabu, as the mother, and Adil Hussian as the father, do complete justice to their roles. But the real USP of the film, are the visual effects. An extravaganza of sorts, this film is perhaps one of the very few movies in recent times where 3D has actually left any impact. While James managed to transport us to a new world with Avatar, Lee manages to transform our very own world into something unbelievable in this movie.

A minor flaw in this movie, is the treatment of the Tamil language. Lee, sees to that his characters speak English, with an apparent Tamil accent, to such a level that it sounds almost irritating at times. Good job there, but it is also pitiful that his artists, speak Tamil, in an accent completely foreign. Missed that out, Mr.Lee. The music, by Mycheal Danna, is something worth mention.

In a rather simple statement, Life Of Pi, is what a Chris Nolan film would've been if it had been produced by an association of Walt Disney Pictures and Thevar Films.

Aditya Baskaran

Fizzled Out.

"I'm waiting".

These words set a million people on fire, as Ilayathalapathi Vijay, after going on a controversial flop-streak, set out on his next major release, after Velayudham and Nanban looked up for him. And so released Thuppaki, starring Vijay, Kajal Aggarwal, Vidyut Jamal, and several others, directed by A.R.Murugadoss.

It is the story of Jagdish, an officer in the Indian Army, and a member of the DIA (which is apparently India's own CIA), who, on his vacation from military service, takes on a terrorist organisation that plans to blow up Mumbai into bits and pieces, with the help of sleeper cells. Sleeper cells are ordinary men who, driven by negative motives, decide to take up terrorism, where their setup as the common man helps them achieve their sinister goals better. While my definition may or may not be satisfactory, Murugadoss has made sure that the idea of sleeper cells enter into the minds of audiences, just like how he turned Bodhidharman into a household name, through his last project 7Aam Arivu.

So, what Thuppaki is, is yet another ordinary film where the hero battles against a huge organisation of crime single-handedly, and ends up with victory. And so does Jagadish, exactly in his one-month vacation and gets back to work in time. Ilayathalapathy Vijay, is honestly growing younger by the day, and kudos to the costume designers who've supported this handsome man with exceptional styling. Kajal Aggrwal doesn't have much to do in this movie, and into the line of Tamil cinema, where the heroine is nothing but eye candy, falls Thuppaki. Vidyut Jamal, last seen in Billa II, well, nothing extraordinary here for him, either. Sathyan and Jeyaram, have been roped in for the comedy quotient, and they don't do much except evoke a few weak laughs here and there.

The cast involves big names - Santhosh Sivan's mastery in the camera work shines all through the movie, and Sreekar Prasad does his usual, as well. The music and it's visual treatment, is rather forgettable, except for the hit track 'Google Google', and Vijay's usually-energy-pumping intro songs got into a decline since Sura, and they've been going down ever since, including Thuppaki.

Murugadoss believed he'd made a masterpiece with 7aam Arivu, while the audience begged to differ. While the hype for Thuppaki skyrocketed, it sadly does not live up to it. The story is something we've seen a million times (half a million of that contributed to Tamil Cinema only by Vijayakanth, though I believe Vijay delivers a more suave, and rather "low-key" portrayal than him), while it contains some neat twists in its runtime, some high peak points, and neat punch dialogues.This film is dedicated to the members of the INA and family, and takes it's good time emphasizing on their hardships and their courage (which is commendable), while it spends the rest ranting about sleeper cells. Nevertheless, it is your usual illogical mass Tamil movie that is perhaps worth a watch, and a must-watch for Vijay fans.

Aditya Baskaran

Is Bond Back?

James Bond, perhaps the most famous, and longest film series, in the history of world cinema, steps into it's 50th year. And thus, it's very natural that it's commemorative release, Skyfall comes under great hype.

Intro scene: Bond chases a guy, whose got a list of all 00 agents undercover, amidst terrorist agencies worldwide, and at the peak of the chase, his associate, aiming at Bond and his opponent locked in a brawl, is ordered to take a shot, even if not clear at the enemy, by a tense M. The shot is taken, and Agent falls, to an assumed demise.

As this dissolves into the psychedelic opening credits with Adele's mystifying voice ringing all over, hearts race, and the audience are stooped into the movie. Attention is further captured in the next scene, where M comes under the ax, being forced to take up voluntary retirement, and minutes later, the MI6 headquarters goes up in flames - masterfully destroyed by an exceptional hacker. The plot now seems to be all too interesting.

But as every interesting opening, every awesome trailer, has come to show us, Skyfall ends up a disappointment. It is the story of how Silva, an ex-MI6 agent, hell-bent on killing M, (who also decides to put MI6 out of order and into shame in the process), after being 'betrayed' by her during an high-risk operation, an act that leaves him physically and mentally damaged, and how Bond, and M go on to stop him.

It is my personal belief that ever since Daniel Craig came up to the franchise, that Bond films have kinda lost their sheen. No more glamour, not much glitz (except for an Aston Martin here and there, a couple of Sony cellphones, that's all. And the women haven't exactly been impressive, I suppose). Craig's 'appointment', as the 007 was, and is looked upon with an amount of criticism, and sure, Craig isn't all ruggedly handsome as Pierce Brosnan, nor is he all suave as Roger Moore, but ever since he stepped in, every Bond film has been out of the usual. Both Casino Royale, and Quantum of Solace brought to us, not the stylish, charismatic secret agent, but a rather sentimental, traumatized person, a more human Bond. And Skyfall, brings to us, a broken Bond, damaged by age, emotion, and a gunshot to the shoulder. And thus, it requires an actor of mettle, not a rugged gentleman, and Daniel Craig, has successfully fit the bill.

Judi Dench, finally gets a little macho action in this movie, and it, perhaps, holds her longest screen time in the series. The handsome Javier Bardem, totally not handsome in this movie, playing the grotesque Silva, is just wonderful in his performance - as a villain almost powerful enough to beat the system, to take over the world, but refuses to employ his genius elsewhere and only for his revenge towards M. Ralph Fiennes, is back on screens with a nose, after a long time, and it looks like he's taken a position in this franchise.

Skyfall, is painfully long, or atleast makes you feel like it. While there are enough fist-fights, gunpowder and quick comic punches to keep the film going, it lacks the all-important uber-cool Bond touch, a feeling that will disappoint die-hard Bond fans. James' isn't here to save the world, he's almost running a personal errand for M. That's sad.

But nevertheless, we have a new Q. We have a new Ms.Moneypenny. And we have a new M. We have the actors, at their best, we have an interesting plot. And at the end of day, as the last scene comes in, the adrenaline kicks in, and you simply know, Bond is Bond, and the finish, sets the expectations for better action-packed sequels to come. And even after having sat for a 2-hour drag, at the end, your walk out of the theater turns into a suave stride, and as you step into your vehicle, and kick in that ignition, you almost feel like you're driving a Martin.

Aditya Baskaran