Definitely Not Your Golden Dream.

Television anchor Gopinath, once remarked that Gautham Vasudev Menon was one director who had the fanfare that paralleled a mass hero. A rather honest remark, considering his wonderful contribution to Tamil Cinema, with films like Kakkha Kakkha, Vettayaadu Vilayaadu, Vaaranam Aayiram, Vinnaithaandi Varuvaya, and even the infamous Nadunisi Naaygal, that put him at a position of high esteem. And thus, in his dream-come-true collaboration with the Isaignani Ilayaraaja, he brings to us Neethane En Ponvasantham, starring Jiiva, Samantha, Santhanam, and several others.

NEP, (as the movie's teasers, and the opening slide emphasize very well) are "moments" from the love story of Varun and Nithya. A cute, sensitive girl falls head-over-heels for a childhood friend, a handsome, mature-acting, Ilayaraaja-loving, English-speaking guy - Your typical Gautham hero. (But yeah, Surya from VA was a bit immature, running off to countries with his guitar, but we still found that good.) They get together, things go awry, they split. And after some years, they meet again, and rekindle their love. And again, things go even more awry, they split. And after some(read: 3) years, they meet again, but a clash of their egos ends in them not getting together - while a mental tug-of-war plays within both their heads. Do they finally join, and live happily ever after, or not, forms the rest of NEP.

Perhaps the only positive aspect of this film is Santhanam, who manages to keep us smiling whenever he's on screen, which is, unfortunately, for a short period of time. The legendary Ilayaraaja, has pulled out an album which, though decent, is not Maestro-class enough, but the exceptionally haphazard placement of songs during the movie's runtime, have made listening a rather irksome process.

NEP, goes on forever. Literally. The screenplay of the film, is snail-pace, only to quicken up during the climax. Everything goes to and fro, to and fro, for such a long time, that it really tests the patience of the audience. The cinematography is haywire, not exactly impressive. The actors, of course, perform their best. While Jiiva is neat with his subtle playing, the movie actually revolves around Samatha, who delivers a worthy performance. 

A weak script, a drag of a screenplay - it is shocking that Gautham Menon delivers this disappointment. Another downer, is the similarity of nature between every Menon romance film, and the ideological repetition has perhaps reached its tolerable limit. No train scene this time, but yeah, hero singing Ilayaraaja (voiced by Menon himself, as usual), night rides to forget his love life, retracing the past of love life by visiting romance hangouts, we've seen that quite a few times from him now.

And thus, this gooey loves story might win the hearts of diehard romantics, but other than that, it miserably fails to live up to its expectations.

Aditya Baskaran

Why Mysskin, Why?

What happens when Bruce Lee replaces Christain Bale in The Dark Knight, which ends up turning into a half-Chinese half-American bake-up, that falls into the hands of a Tamil director with a budget not even 10% of the original TDK movie?

You would probably expect it to be pretty awesome just cause Lee's in it, but no. The legendary Bruce Lee died almost 30 years back, and nothing can replace what the Master brought to the screen. And of course, Chris Nolan is perhaps the most bankable and cerebral director in showbiz today. Ergo, Mugamoodi, starring Jiiva, Narain, Nasser, Girish Karnad and debutante Pooja Hegde fails to impress us, as a superhero movie, and unfortunately, as a Mysskin film.

Mysskin, one of Tamil cinema's rare film-makers, who bring out films that go beyond the normal scope of mind, had built a huge hype over this movie, considering the fact that his previous films 'Yuddham Sei' and 'Anjathey' were runaway hits. But, alas, he delivers us a product that is shockingly, not 'Mysskin' enough. Having carved a niche for himself with his specific way of story-telling, it is sad to see that the screenplay drags, and runs amok suddenly through the movie, lacking clarity and the usual fast pace his films have.

Mugamoodi, is the story of how Anand aka Bruce Lee, an innocent martial-arts student, intersects into the web of crime created by Anguchamy and his kung-fu trained henchmen, who go around cities, looting and murdering rich, old men, and how his costume-clad joke turns into his city-saving secret identity.

Jiiva, as Anand, and Nasser as Gaurav have done complete justice to their roles, and Pooja, though not having much to do in the film, shows promise. Selvaah, as the kung-fu master Chandru, doesn't leave around much of an impression, and it is criminal to see a veteran like Girish Karnad be wasted over a menial, ridiculous role.

And yes, Narain, deserves a special paragraph. It was Mysskin who put Narain on the map with 'Anjathey', and now the very same intellect brings Narain to dismay. While his effort is highly appreciable, we can only wonder what on earth he was trying to pull off as the sadistic Anguchamy - to be a psychotic killer, with sinister plans, or to be a parody of Heath Ledger's immortal Joker?

Sathya's cinematography shines as usual, and K's (yes, his name is screened as K) music and background scores are commendable. While the 'Bar Anthem', a Mysskin usual, is getting a bit old, 'Vaayamoodi Summa' is a definite fresh ring to the ears. Madan Karky impresses with his lyrics, and so does art director Balasubramaniam. Tony Leung, the stunt coordinator deserves special mention for his work with the kung-fu sequences throughout the movie.

You could watch this once, perhaps, for Jiiva and for Mysskin, and for the mighty effort put by the team into the making of this film. But, don't let the Marvel-inspired title frame fool you. Mugamoodi, sadly does not live up to the hype of a superhero movie. While the director has tried his best to make a superhero fit to Tamil screens, he fails in several sections, which acts as a sharp blow to the idea that Chennai could be portrayed in the likes of Gotham City.


Aditya Baskaran