Old Is Gold.

Cinema legend K.Balachander remade Hrishikesh Mukherjee's Gol Maal into Thillu Mullu in 1981- a film, which is considered to be one of Tamil cinema's finest comedies, and was Superstar Rajinikanth's first full-length comedy, which took him to new heights.

And thus, it is natural to expect much out of its remake, starring Akila Ulaga Superstar (?) Shiva, Prakash Raj, Isha Talwar, and several others. It remains to be the same old story of a duffer who, in order to hang on to his job, makes his boss believe that he has a twin brother, how this one lie leads to a whole string of situations, while the film's screenplay has been altered to apparently suit modern times.

But unfortunately, Thillu Mullu ends up being highly disappointing, as the new treatment, with its new set of characters do not fail to entertain audiences in comparison to its original version. Shiva's usual style of comedy managed to tickle our funny bones earlier, but he seems to be getting stale over time. While hosting a variety of able performers (including the impressive debutante Isha Talwar), the only performance that manages to stand out, is that of veteran Prakash Raj, whose character Shivagurunathan is no match to Sri Ramachandramurthy, played by Thengai Srinivasan.

With a snail-like pace throughout its runtime, cameos manage to evoke a ripple of joy amidst the audiences, the most important being that of Comedy Superstar (!) Santhanam in the climax, but he too, seems to be overworked, with his performances turning more boring with every passing movie. Yuvan Shakar Raja - M.S.Vishwanathan's album is quite forgettable, and director Badri's attempt to revamp this classic has failed miserably (You cannot possibly handle a classic like this, sir, especially a thalaivar film).

Watch this film only, and only if you have nothing else to do. The patient ones can definitely catch this on Adithya TV in a few months. 

Aditya Baskaran

Welcome To The Planet.

What occurs when the most bankable director of today's cinema, who took caped-crusade superheroism to the next level, joins up with another reputed film-maker known for developing unusual comic series' into films, to bring back to screens one of the greatest superheroes ever created?

Colossal hype. And this is not your usual colossus, this is jumping-in-the-air, screaming-in-joy hype. And it was amidst this hype, that Man of Steel released, starring Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Russwel Crowe and several others, partly written by the Christopher Nolan, and directed by Zack Synder, the man who gave us 300, Watchmen, Sucker Punch and Dawn Of The Dead.

As Krypton nears destruction, General Zod, the commander of Krypton stages a coup to establish a new society based on archaic rules of discrimination, which is foiled by scientist Jor-El, who transports the planet's genetic codex through his newborn son, Kal-El to an undisclosed target planet. The film showcases Kal-El's journey as Clark Kent, a man confused between his alien and human identity, his transformation into Superman, and his stand to save Earth, when it faces danger from the General and his minions.

With the hype around it being mentioned, it is unfortunate that the film disappoints us. Moving at an extremely slow pace through its runtime, it is your usual superhero cliche, which offers nothing new. All of Synder's films have been visual spectacles, and this movie is no different. With superhero cinema reaching extremes, be it a vigilante facing human realities in The Dark Knight trilogy, or the fun, commercial superhero in the Iron Man trilogy, Man Of Steel fails to stand out and deliver beyond the ordinary, definitely not what you'd expect from the Nolan-Synder combo.

Nevertheless, Man Of Steel has your usual action-packed adrenaline pumping superhero thrills, and sets the stage for a probable sequel. Only for die-hard DC fanboys.

Aditya Baskaran

Growing Up, Yet Again.

Ayan Mukherji's debut film Wake Up Sid! was a refreshing coming-of-age film that found both critical and commercial success, and thrust Ranbir Kapoor into the limelight. Now, the combo returns with a larger package, loaded with glitz and glamour to give us Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, also starring Deepika Padukone, Kalki Koechlin, Aditya Roy Kapur and several others.

YJHD is yet another coming-of-age film which shows the rise to maturity of Bunny - a carefree youth, hell-bent on becoming a world-travelling camera technician, from the viewpoint of Naina Talwar, a nerdy young girl whose outlook towards life changes after a trip with Bunny and his friends. 

Lauding performances has turned into a cliche in my reviews, and this film is no exception. We've seen the cast of this film deliver enough worthy performances, (Aditya Roy Kapur is definitely more expressive here than his Aashiqui 2 promos) and thus this film rides gleefully on their shoulders. The show-stealer of the film is Deepika Padukone, who seems to be on a performance-high since Cocktail. Ranbir Kapoor, possibly the best amidst the young actors of today's Bollywood, delivers his role with ease, and it is this amazing chemistry between these two artistes that probably takes the film to a larger level. Farooq Sheikh and Tanvi Azmi as Bunny's father and step-mom, manage to touch hearts, even in their cameos.

The film showcases wonderful locations across the world, which have been brought on-screen very well, thanks to V.Manikandan's cinematography and Akiv Ali's editing. The film begins off on rocket pace, which starts to slow down towards the end of the first half, and remains so through the rest of the film. Pritam's album is a treat to both listen to and watch, and things go up a notch with Madhuri Dixit's special appearance in 'Ghagra'.

Ayan Mukherji seems to be fixed on a certain formula, as the film is in several ways, similar to his previous outing. While the movie offers us nothing new from what we've seen in the recent past, it does manage to keep us sitting through its two-and-a-half hour runtime, and puts a smile on our faces as we walk out. Definitely worth a watch.

Aditya Baskaran