OMG! (Oh My God) Movie Review

Oh My God (OMG), is a very brave movie and a good one at that. I say it is a brave movie because the courage the film makers have exhibited in making this movie given the current repressive atmosphere against freely expressing anything about religion. Even though we live in a world that is more civilized and less violent than the last century, religious intolerance and conflicts in the name of God have only increased manifold and the world is deeply divided than ever before. 

Kanjibhai (Paresh Rawal) is an atheist and owns a small business of selling idols of god. He is a shrewd businessman but has no respect for religion and is always sarcastic about religious practices around him. Kanjibhai's wife and people around him are religious and he has fun ridiculing them at every give opportunity. Everything is fine and business is exceptional and a scene where Kanjibhai sells a Lord Krishna idol to a businessman is hilarious.At this point though there is a twist in the tale when a 3.3 richter scale earthquake brings down only his shop and Kanjibhai loses all his merchandise and the shop. People around Kanjibhai are swift to blame that the incident occurred due to his irreverent attitude towards God. To add salt to his wounds, Kanjibhai learns from his insurance company that the insurance does not cover any 'act of god' scenario. Watch our for another priceless scene at the insurance company when Kanjibhai learns about his insurance claim rejection.
Hurt by his claim rejection and to salvage his business and save his family, Kanjihbhai takes on the insurance company and religious trusts (that claim to represent god) by dragging them to court. Kanjbhai's contention is that either the insurance company or the religious trusts has to compensate him as an 'act of god' demolished his shop so he is liable to get compensated from one of them. Kanjibhai files a case against GOD! and sends notices to the insurance company and a number of religious institutions. Watch out for Mithun in a fantastic portrayal of an self obsessed godman, I think his character brings out on what is clearly wrong with religious leaders and institutions in India.

Kanjibhai faces a lot of hardships after his case is accepted by the Mumbai high court and his own family does not stand by him, he faces a lot of social and media pressure and threats from political goons. What I loved is the brave portrayal of how the society reacts when someone questions the status quo with respect to religion and god, even in a democracy there seems to be no allowance for a fair religious debate and respect for an individual's freedom of expression.
Enter Akshay Kumar in very restrained performance of the Lord Krishna and the way he tries to help out Kanjibhai by showing him the path is very touching, subtle and not over the top. What unfolds later and how Kanjibhai goes on to fight the case forms the rest of the story.

Paresh Rawal's is the pillar of the movie and performance is really outstanding. A host of supporting characters including Swami Siddheshwar, Paresh Rawal's friend, Om Puri and others are commendable. Overall the movie never loses its comic touch to the proceedings and there is never a dull moment and all scenes are pretty logical and not over the top.
All in all a wholesome entertainer and with a very timely and a valid message. I especially loved some of the dialogues in the movie like 'Religion is for people and not the other way around' and hard hitting messages about our superstition and belief systems without understanding the real meaning of religion and its goodness. The movie also narrates a grim commentary on the role of godmen and religious institutions in the world which are only acting as franchise's of God and not imparting any true knowledge to people.

 I will go with 3.5 stars out of 5 for the movie. Kudos to the director, producers and the writer of the Gujarati play on which the movie is based.
God bless such endeavors which are entertaining and contain a social message. Did I say god bless!

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3 movie review (Tamil Film)

To start off 3 is not your run of the mill young romantic movie that you would expect. Go with an open mind and you will like the movie. 3 starts off on a grim note but then the breezy school day romance with Chennai and its tuition center culture and school background setting tugs your heart. Ram (Dhanush) is  infatuated with Janani (Shruti Hasan) and follows her everywhere with his friend Kumaran (Siva Karthikeyan). There are some comic moments that really set the tempo for a nice romantic comedy you would think. Little bit of frantic chasing of the girl, Ram gets the love of his life. This whole phase is heart warming and both Dhanush and Shruthi look the part as higher secondary students. Ram has a loving family and Janani's family is trying to move to the US. This is the first phase of the movie and is nicely set up.

Phase 2- Is about a phase 5 years after they fell in love and Janani's family is moving to the US, Ram is not happy but lets her go. Janani cannot bear the thought of getting seperated and burns her travel documents and asks Ram to marry her immediately. What follows is a bit of really good interplay of parental love and anger and how Ram works for all of this to come together. Prabhu is really good as Ram's dad, a father who dotes on his son but is never very expressive. This part of the comes together nicely and all the characters play the part neatly.

Part 3- This is the phase of the movie where there are lot of twist and turns and the movie embarks on a serious path. Kudos to the director for exploring the psychological condition of bipolar disorder. Ram has bipolar disorder and is seriously affected by it, this is the part where Dhanush excels and makes the movie his own. Senthil (Sunder Ramu) as his close friend plays a very good supporting part. This is the part where the romance between Ram and Janani is tested with Ram withdrawing away from his love because of his fear that he might hurt her. The way the movie develops from here to a climax would be letting out too much about the movie at this stage.

First time director Aishwarya Dhanush must deserve marks for touching a subject that is not tackled frequently in mainstream Indian movies and needs to be commended for telling that even romantic stories have a darker side. The narration could have been tighter and more attention to script in terms of how actually Ram gets the bipolar disorder would have made given an authentic feel. Dhanush excels and proves why he won the national award last year, Shruthi Hasan gives a commendable performance and looks radiant throughout the movie. Siva Karthikeyan and Sunder Ramu have neatly supported the script as friends with Sunder Ramu deserving a special mention, he has really portrayed his confusion as a friend who is torn by what is happening to Ram. Prabhu and the girl who has played Shruthi's sister in the movie are good support too. The music of the movie is fresh and the song Kolaveri is really a deserving blockbuster. The movie is a tribute to childhood romance and it is a very nice attempt at showing how life challenges changes romance forever. Both lead characters do feel like 2 youngsters who are crazily in love with each other. What one would have liked is a tighter narration and a stronger script, nevertheless 3 is a brave attempt.

Rating:*** (out of 5)

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Manmadhan Ambu Movie Review

Every time you go into a cinema hall for a Kamal movie and if the movie promises to be a comedy roller coaster then expectations are sky high for a rip roaring hilarious comic affair. Beware! Manmadham Ambu does not fit into that genre and hence any preconceived notion is detrimental to the excitement. Nevertheless, it is a good movie and is a breezy entertainer but if you have patience the last 30 minutes are rip roaring.

The movie starts off with a Trisha (Ambu aka Nisha) shooting a song with the real hero Suriya. The first scene sets the tone for the movie as it that scene that where the rift between Madhavan (Madanagopal) and Trisha eruptsdue to the suspecting ways of Madhavan on his lover Trisha.

Madhavan is a class act throughout the movie, his performance is easily the best as a vulnerable lover rich boy. The story takes some twists and turns and Trisha decides to go on a vacation (2 years after her so called rift with Madhavan?) with her friend Sangeetha (Deepa) and her 2 kids (really cute performance by them throughout the movie). Madhanagopal sets up Kamal (an army Major), a private detective who has taken up the assignment to arrange for money for the treatment of his friend Ramesh Arvind (Rajan), to spy on Trisha in Europe.

The meat of the movie follows the trail of Trisha traveling through Europe in a cruise ship and is followed by Kujan (Kurup) and his wife. Kunjan is a producer unsuccessfully trying to convince Trisha to act in his movie but she loathes him. Kamal in his detective avatar is convincing and finds that Trisha is a straightforward girl and lets Madhavan know about the same. The movie gains steam when Madhavan refuses to pay Kamal as Madhavan argues that Kamal did not discover anything wrong with Trisha which ought to have been his real assignment. Kamal needs the money for his friend's treatment and hence twists the tale by making a u-turn on his original assessment to milk money from Madhavan and that is the plot of the movie.

All the actors have performed well but special mention must go to Madhavan and Sangeetha who excel in their roles. The movie also sounds different because all sounds and voices were recorded during the live shooting and Trisha's voice is a refreshing change. Kamal as usual excels in his role effortlessly flipping between a dutiful detective's character to a man with sombre past. Watch out for couple of unexpected twists in the movie one in the middle part just before interval and the second in the climax.

Overall the movie is a definite watch and is techically brilliant. The music and the songs are refreshing and watch out for one exceptional song 'Neela Vanam', the picturisation and the music is really heart rendering. What makes the movie watchable and interesting is the unexpected twists in the story line and a generous sprinkling of practical comedy throughout the movie (not over the top). The supporting cast is the strength of the movie and are integrated well within the main storyline

Rating 3/5

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Dasavatharam Vs. Mongol

First of all I am a great fan of Tamil cinema and in the last 2 years I have probably seen the best of Tamil cinema. I loved movies like Veyil, Mozhi, Paruthiveeran, Oram Poo..and the list can go on. Recently I saw Dasavatharam on day 1 and I thought the movie was good but something was missing. I think there was no purpose for the story, though I know people will point to chaos theory but a movie goer cannot depend on chaos theory to understand a movie. Kamal's acting was superb as usual but this movie is no where close to any of his classics.

I saw a Mongolian language called 'Mongol' which I must say is an instant classic. It is the first movie in the trilogy by filmmaker Sergei Bordov and this part focuses on the early life of Ghengis Khan and his struggles. The movie was made on a budget of 20 million dollars (some claim $18m or $10m) and the movie easily beats the bigger historical Hollywood movies hallow (Troy, 300 to name a few). I was wondering what makes this movie a classic even though it was made on a shoe string budget (by historical movies standard) and the answer to that is the film had a soul and a purpose of a plot. Many movies miss that due to focus on issues that are not central to the plot for example Dasavatharam focusses too much on Kamal's make up and had at least 3-4 avatars that were not necessary and did not go with the flow of the movie. Tamil cinema can go global in the real sense if we start making movies for the global audiences. To achieve this the movie plots must be tighter and commercialism must be thrown out of the window because if a movie is good; I am sure movie loving audiences will watch the movie no matter what language it is made in.

Tamil movie makers must start making movies that are for a global audience with universal themes rather than make movies just to satisfy or prove one's star power. It is only through that route can we expand the the reach of Tamil movies and take it the global way. Paruthiveerran is a classic example in this case, even though it was a story based out of rural Tamil Nadu which no one even outside Tamil Nadu can relate to, it won such appreciation in global film festivals like the Berlin Film Festival and simultaneously was a commercial success too. I am sure that the forthcoming projects of Kamal like Marmayogi will be a step in that direction.

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My Favorite Movies : for 2007

After some reflection I was able to finalize the rankings my favourite 10 movies in 2007. I have listed them and provided reasons for why I liked them:





Chennai – 600028 (Tamil) : What can I say the combination was awesome, Chennai + Street Cricket + Amazing Script. Venkat Prabhu you win hands down as the director of the year. SPB Charan and J. K Saravanaa.. you made one the finest films tamil cinema has seen in recent times. The only movie that stood up to Sivaji and did not falter. I am waiting with bated breath for Saroja.

Johnny Gaddar (Hindi): What can I say one of the best Bollywood movies in a long time. Sriram Raghavan you rock. Neil Nitin Mukesh you are the next big thing in Bollywood after Hrithik. And music one of the best I have heard in a long time.

Paruthi Veeran(Tamil) : Realism, Realism and Realism. Should have been India's entry to the Oscars, Karthi and Priyamani's performances were superlative. Kudos to Ameer. The climax was disturbing but realistic.

300 (English): Brilliant new wave of making movies. Could have been # 1 but alas history was distorted to show Persians in a bad light.

Stardust (English): A fun movie was a good roller coaster ride.

Taare Zameen Par (Hindi): One word Darsheel Zafary. Kudos to Aamir on taking on such a commercially risky but realistic storyline, way to go Aamir.

Polladhavan (Tamil) : Raw and realistic portrayal. Brilliant performances especially and a superb song Engeyum Eppodum. And of course Divya Spandana!

Live Free or Die Hard (English): Brilliant, pure action movie from Hollywood in a long time.

Kalloori (Tamil) : Realistic, had me reflecting on my college days deeply. I liked the movie very much and this movie could have been at the top 5 in the list, but I hate tragic endings.

Oram Po (Tamil) : Brilliant depiction of the auto rickshaw culture in Chennai. The film was hilarious, and the movie shut out the concept of taking life seriously. Sun of Gun and Arya are brilliant.

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