Talaash - Music Review

Amir continuous to team up with Ram Sampath after "Delhi Belly" and "Satyameva Jeyathe" TV Series. This young guy has lot of potential with a strong sense for classical melody and his 5 sound tracks in Talaash simply reinstates that again -

Muskaanein Jhooti Hai is a stealer of the album sung superbly by Suman Shekar. Song sets the tone for movie and the humming in the song dangerously reminds MSV's Partha Nyabagam Ilayo(Tamil). This slow Jazz sure to attract!

Jee Le Zara, sung by Composer Vishal Dadlani, easily could have been a rock song in another Youth romantic movie but has been underplayed with controlled orchestration and made to sound like a longing song expressing the pain.

Jiya Lage Re is one of the best songs of the album boasts a beautiful melody and sung beautifully by Ram's wife Sona Mohaptra and Ravindra Upadhyay. Fusion of Indian classical and western beats highlights the song and sounds similar to Bhare Naine from Ra One.

Hona Hai Kya sung by the composer Ram Sampath himself does a good job and probably underlines the genre(mystery/unknown) of the film with lot of techno instruments tries to take you to a trans state but reminds lot of RD Burman's Music. Nevertheless, well tried !

Lakh Duniya Kahe is another song sung by Ram Sampath and does a decent job. A soft and soothing lullaby orchestrated in standard Richard Marx Style.

All the five tracks suits the genre of the movie and nothing fancy was tried. Ram Sampath definitely delivered what is needed for the movie in a very artistic way!

Mattrraan - Movie Review

Surya has given many memorable performances in the past and even his last outing 7'am Arivu had some brilliant moments on his portrayal as Bodhi Dharman. This time he chooses another challenging role of playing conjoined twins in a KV Anand script who has so far delivered only blockbusters sure created lot of expectations. Expectation meter in a way defines the commercial success of the movie. The problem comes when the expectations are not met, a movie despite being not bad will be thrashed. Surya faced the problem with 7'Am Arivu and i guess he has to face this time around as well.  

Duo writers Suba(SUresh-BAlakrishnan) are probably the hot shot writers in Tamil Cinema currently working with Shankar and Vishnuvardhan did contribute their part in Mattrraan but i guess as a team with KV Anand fails to create the impact. The story line is innovative and fictitious but the big let down is the screenplay and the narration. Conjoined Twins, Genetic Engineering, Children Health Drink in India meets Russian Olympics connection, all are very innovative concepts but it was not laid out well as a perfect story and whatever they have laid is mostly narrated in 80's style of Indian Cinema with current technology. 

Surya is full of energy and clearly differentiates the 2 characters very well that we almost forget that they are enacted by the same actor. His comedy sense is commendable and is at home while performing. Kudos! Kajal Agarwal is adequate and does her only role well.  

There were many trash movies/scenes that were lifted by the master composers like Raja. Mattrraan has too many lagging scenes but the sad part is the background score instead of elevating it lets the down the scene even more. Poor Background Music! Even though the songs might sound decent, they are extremely monotonous if you follow Harris Jeyaraj closely. It is high time he gets innovative. KV Anand also plays a major role in music who i think he has a very poor taste in music and his movies don't have a flavor in music. Music is a big let down. 

The movie loses its steam completely in the second portion of Russian episode and it never recovers from there on and KV Anand takes audience for granted with illogical and dragging scenes. Unfortunately it is more than 30 mins after its loses its steam and having that corrected with a stronger emotional story between the conjoined twins along with good background score would have made this movie a very good one.

Verdict - 3/5 Mattraran promises a lot of brilliance, a movie that could have easily become the year's blockbuster turns out to be an average dud mainly due to the story/screenplay. KV Anand fails in scripting/screenplay for the first time after delivering three straight good movies despite having a good content and an actor who could pull it off. 

Aadhi Baghavan - Music Review

Yuvan joins with ace director Ameer Sultan for the fifth time. All their previous movies had some of Yuvan's best and this time is no different. Paruthiveeran should have probably been Yuvan's biggest challenge in satisfying Ameer of all of his movies and he did a decent job. Adhi Baghavan is Yuvan's forte - Action flick with stylish melodies and foot taping numbers.  Oru Thuli Vishamaai sung by Sharib and Shreya Goshal is an awesome track starts with a ghazal style aalaap backed up by strings setting up the song nicely transitioning to hip hop beats followed up with intense tabla beats. He used it all. Boasting very innovative orchestration and surely going to be a chart buster. Sharib, sounds like a bit of Haricharan and Javed Ali, did a great job along with magical Shreya. Kaatriley Nadanthene sung by Udit Narayan and Swetha Pandit for the lyrics penned by Arivumathi is one of the best of Yuvan in the recent past. Soothing strings elevates this melody to next level and some how Ameer gets his work done. I would have still preferred a singer who can pronounce Tamil better than Udit to do some justice to Arivumathi's lyrics. Eisalamey Eisalam is a typical Yuvan number which reminds of songs like Kodaana Kodi from Saroja. Manasi Scott does full justice to the song. Yaavum Poithaana is another lovely melody sung beautifully by Madhushree. Even though it reminds some Yuvan songs, innovative orchestration will make this song an enjoyable one. Madhushree has to definitely concentrate on her Tamil diction. Bhagavan Rap is a full fledge rap sung by The Prophecy is probably first time in Tamil is sure to rock the dance floors. Yuvan usually freaks out in this genre and sure to catch the attention of the audience even though I am personally not a big fan. The surprise package of the album is Agadam Bagadam a full Hindi song sung by Mohit Chauhan probably going to show the mafia operations.  An innovative album by Yuvan after Avan Ivan which is exactly what is expected out of him.

Chittagong - Music Review

SEL finally opens their account for the year 2012. The music is very native and raw focuses heavily on lilting melodies. Thanks to the genre of the movie. In every SEL album the first thing i look for is the song sung by Shankar Mahadevan and this time is no different. Shankar sizzles in the lovely Bolo Na tune heavily based on Indian classical and clearly the best song of the album. Beautiful sitar, lovely usage of Piano and soft beats impresses heavily. Bechayen Sapne sung mainly by Abhijeet Sawant and Mahalakshmi Iyer is a typical bengali folk song beautifully stamped with SEL brand and at times dangerously sounds Rahmanish. A soothing folk melody with Sax interludes makes the song unique and stands out. Jeeney Ki Wajah sung by group of singers probably portrays the mood and the genre of the film. An inspirational song similar to the lines of ARR's Azaadi from Bose. SEL always had huge inspiration from ARR and this song is no different. However terrific sitar/veena interludes elevates the mood of the song briliantly. Ishaan is another inspirational song sung by multiple singers in chorus. Orchestration stand out with awesome strings and beats and i always think the genre of this kind is a huge challenge for any composer and sure will be a composers delight. There are four instrumental tracks which are probably used as background score and they are very fresh and apt. Do not overlook them.  The highlight of the album is the focus on a theme and it has a superb color to the music which is very native and original other than the interludes and brilliant usage of some traditional instruments like Sitar. Clearly SEL's best music after a long time. 

Jab Tak Hain Jaan - Music Review

After seeing the teasers of JTHJ, i wondered how Rahman would have got inspired to come up with another album to satisfy everyone. I had very low expectations to this album mainly because of the protoganist and its genre. Challa was released as a promo song with video and it didnt disprove my belief. Rahman have this rare gift of not only identifying the talent but also using them in appropriate situation. Rabbi Shergill's singing probably didnt suit well for SRK initially but stands out well as a song. Heer is clearly the best song of album to me. Lovely melody backed up with beatiuful strings and soulful singing by Harshdeep Kaur. This song has it all. Saans starts perfectly with violins and typical Rahman flute was leading to an unconventional ARR song but finally he had to settle between his stamp and Yash Chopra. Nice duet by Shreya and Mohit Chauhan. One of the best songs of the album. The Charanam was used for sad version(Reprise). Jiya Re again starts brilliantly with a classical tune backed up guitars which is going to be more of a heroine fun/intro song? Watch out for interludes. Neeti Mohan's rendition is okay but could have been a lot better. It will grow on you for sure. Jab Tak Hain Jaan - How can the album be complete without a title song and that too in a SRK's romantic movie. Nothing special in this song except the drama and definitely ARR is not needed for this. Ishq Sava is a regular dance number and definitely not in ARR standards. Shilpa Rao's rendition is apt and catchy. Ishq Dance instrumental is very un-Rahman but theatrical. Instrumentation in the JTHJ -The Poem is very good which will probably be a Shahrukh Show with his romantic antics :)

Verdict - Over all JTHJ is not in usual ARR standards but fits well for SRK and Yash Chopra. My favourite picks - Heer, Saans, Challa and Jiya Re exactly in that order.

English Vinglish - A Tribute to Women

There are two aspects that i felt very striking in English Vinglish - Genre and its subtle social message. 

The genre of this movie is an uncomplicated story of a home maker. It is a simple story of a mother/wife with no nonsense writing and that i think was very encouraging mainly because it will eventually inspire many other film makers to create story lines that are traditionally not meant for movie making. Very few directors in India accomplish that kind of movies who think outside of love, comedy, action and crime stories. These kind of movies do not need highly paid stars and can be accomplished with relatively low budget and yet be convincing. I genuinely wish more and more such stories are made into movies especially the ones that deals with human emotions which alone can remain in the hearts of people and yet be global.

Even though the crux of the movie is about a home maker's English skills, language was taken only as a medium to convey that a woman in the family is no lesser to a man despite being a breadwinner. Even though it is conveyed not so strongly, I think it was implicit enough to the male society about the expectations of a wife/mother. For this reason alone, the movie is a must watch. It is also a tribute to motherhood. I also hope people realize that  English is just a language and not knowledge. 

Watching Sreedevi on screen after a long time was exciting. There is no surprise to see her performing well. However it is like serving a small cup of pop corn to an elephant. Such are her proven credentials. Commendable job by Gauri Shinde for her writing which alone makes this movie interesting as there are no extra gimmicks to support. 

Verdict - 3.5 English Vinglish is a feel good movie that entertains without any lag despite having an uncomplicated linear screenplay. A must watch especially for men !!!!

Barfi! - A Celluloid Poetry

Movies set in the backdrop of hill stations always entice me regardless of the plot, director, case, crew etc. Barfi! kicks off in Darjeeling with cool green visuals backed up by soothing music. I have always had a special liking to the movies that spoke more through visuals and Anurag Basu tried just that and at times I felt it was almost he forced the protagonist to play dumb and deaf to achieve that successfully. Movie starts off in a period where it has to convey the past in 2 stages. The first one portrays the romance between Ranbir Kapoor(WAAOH he is a scream!!!!) and Ileana beautifully and the second one portrays the relationship between Ranbir and Priyanka. Of course there is a future which leads to the climax. It is a very interesting narrating style and a good attempt by Anurag Basu even though he struggled at times to connect seamlessly. 

Ranbir Kapoor, clearly the best actor in Hindi cinema of his generation, shoulders the movie at ease and what a performance by this young actor. Ileana was apt and pretty.  Priyanka, i thought was going to be the weak link but, didn't disappoint !!!! 

Anurag Basu, other than Ranbir, relied heavily on Ravi Varman(Cinematography) and Pritam(Music). This is probably the best of Ravi Varman to beat his work in Cheran's Autograph and Gautham Vasudev Menon's Vettaiyaadu Vilayadu(both the movies had Kerala to play with) and likewise, this is easily the best work of Pritam till date despite of holding accusations of plagiarism. In Barfi!, he scores big time in the background score and elevates the movie tremendously especially in the first half comic scenes. However, the score for dramatic/emotional portions should have been more haunting. Songs are apt and good but i feel the album is short of an haunting melody. Nevertheless, I'd take this any day when compared to his usual junkie style.  

The movie was narrated beautifully in a lovely pace with no rush which is THE appropriate way to capture this kind of screenplay artistically and this to me is a terrific pace without fast cuttings, unneccesary bomb blastings, multiple images of the walking hero in slow motion(and hero face changing to lion for a sec), flying jeeps, punch dialogues ..you know it all!!!! Just for that, Great Job Anurag Basu!

While i liked the pace of the movie, i felt many scenes did not had that depth to justify the pace. A slow narration can either go straight into the hearts or to the irritating brains. That separates the classics apart. Also, the genre of the movie is such that the incidents and intentions should have been conveyed implicitly rather than dramatically. Anyone could understand Priyanka was an isolated kid and always laughed at by the society and still the director explains that in a scene (Kids mock her singing and her  "don't laugh at me" cry in a party). However a good example of an implicit scene and the one i liked the most was when director conveys Priyanka's joy (and her isolation perhaps!) when she was around the baul tradition folk dancers(Similar to kathakali?) before she completely got used to Ranbir. Priyanka's character was the golden egg and i thought the director did not fully capitalize it.

As the movie progressed, I don't know for some reason, i started drawing parallels between Moondram Pirai(Sadma) and Barfi ....may be because - both the movies are set in the hill station; The protagnist embraces and lives with a kiddish woman. But, it will be extremely unfair to say both are similar :). However, I somehow think Barfi! missed a good chunk of what the climax(Sreedevi not recognizing Kamalhassan, pain of Kamal etc.) did to Moondram Pirai .  i.e the agony and pain and the depth in the relationships (for e.g could have capitalized Ranbir's agony of losing Priyanka when she is gone missing, hmm...it was not good enough). The only problem in the movie is the lack of the depth in the relationships and may be it was intentional by the director and wanted to convey the story in a lighter vein. 

Kudos to Anurag Basu and Ranbir Kapoor!

Verdict - 3.75. Barfi! is a celluloid poetry. A refreshing Hindi movie after a very long time in this genre. May be after Black? A big welcome and congratulations to the entire Barfi! team for giving this movie ad mist of all the bull crap that Bollywood has been churning out. Barfi! has its moments, copied scenes, inspired characters but still a very valiant effort.