RangiTaranga - ಭೂತರೋದನೆ on July 7th.

Story -

It revolves around a couple Gautam & Indu (Nirup Bhandari & Radhika Chetan) living in isolation in Ooty hiding from their past. As their past tries to consume them, Indu brings her family's past regarding the impending Bhootharadhane at her ancestral house in Kamarottu. As she convinces her husband to pay a visit to Kamarottu for this purpose they start encountering mysterious elements at the haunted house. In the meantime, a filmmaker posing as a journalist, Sandhya (Avantika Shetty) is in search for a novelist who too is living in isolation. What happens when all these 3 main characters cross path at the Kamarottu house? What is the reason behind Gautam & Indu living in isolation? What has actually happened in the past for them to be this scared? Will Sandhya find her mysterious novelist? What role does Kalinga Bhat (Sai Kumar) play here? All these form the rest of the story.

Positives -

1. The Casting is perfect. All the actors have come up with commendable performances.
2. The art direction & cinematography is top notch.
3. The background score is superb. Musically, One of the song Dennana stands out.
4. The movie does have effective twists.
5. The director has effectively handled the suspense factor.
6. The nail-biting episode towards the climax is noteworthy.
7. The movie's plot is novel.

Negatives -

1. The narration is very slow & it hinders the impact especially in the second half during crucial moments.
2. Unnecessary songs especially in the crucial second half. Yes, the songs are well shot but they do nothing but drag the film. It definitely tests your patience.
3. Too many flashbacks amidst the narration results in too much happening in quick succession. But thankfully, the final nail-biting episode makes up for it big time.
4. Editing should've been more crisp for a suspense thriller.
5. The climax should've been handled better matching the level of excitement created by the nail-biting scenes leading to the finale.

Performances -

Nirup Bhandari has a terrific voice. His performance is completely restrained throughout the movie. Radhika Chetan impresses big time. She has that soothing screen presence & her eyes do speak for her. Here's an actress to look out for. Avantika Shetty provides able support in the second half, she provides the lighter moment in this intense thriller & thus proving her mettle as an actress.

But it's Sai Kumar who comes out with flying colors. He shines like never before. And it is he who takes the film altogether to a different level in those last 15 minutes. Ananth Velu is good. Aravind Rao as the police inspector is first rate. It's only Shankar Ashwath whose role seems to be ill written compared to all other strong characters.

My Rating - 3/5 (for the attempt.)

Final Words - ಭೂತರೋದನೆ from July 7th - July 18th.

They've actually got beautiful looking starcast who are made for big screen. Kudos to the makers for perfect casting. When you had the main leads - Nirup Bhandari, Radhika Chetan & Avantika Shetty fully capable of carrying the story forward with their acting skills, wish the director had put more trust on them rather than relying heavily on songs to carry the story forward which in this case doesn't really happen that effectively.

Hope filmmakers while trying to narrate a suspense thriller, having succeeded in creating the suspense factor trust their story more than the songs. Songs don't really serve the purpose on a suspense thriller as much as a strongly executed scene does.

P.S. - It's indeed an example of how high expectations eventually kill. The film could've been a lot better. Nevertheless an effort worth giving a try.

And congratulations for the makers on their box office success, amidst the dominance of over-hyped Bahubali & a very well made Bajrangi Bhaijaan, this victory would definitely stand tall.

Bajrangi Bhaijaan - The most important film to deal with India-Pakistan relationship in recent times & is easily the better one.

Let me share this first, in the opening credits, the entire Salman Khan family's famous pic shot for Being Human campaign is used where Salman Khan sweetly thanks his whole family. This was later followed by crediting Salma Khan as one of the producer. Sweetest thing expected, as a loyal fan instant happiness looking at it.

Story -
A Pakistani mute girl (Harshaal Malhotra) gets lost in India, finds a true good heart Samaritan Pavan Kumar Chaturvedi (Salman Khan) who is a Bajrang Bali bhakt makes it his mission to return to her parents in Pakistan without any visa or passport. What all happens in this entire journey of Pavan & Munni, what all hurdles they face? If one Hindu guy can leave his everything to make sure the daughter of Pakistan gets back to her parents safely then what will Pakistan do to this honest Indian guy in getting back to his people / country forms rest of the story.


Plusses -
1. Harshaali Malhotra. It's worth watching the film for her smile itself let alone her superstar act which makes this a must watch.
2. The initial 15 minutes dedicated to establish Harshaali's story is the best.
3. The Hanuman Bhakt, Salman Khan's introduction & his immediate chemistry with Harshaali.
4. The crisp pace in the first half though interrupted with few songs but still gets it right giving out a sweet narrative.
5. The subtle comedy scenes are a delight. No forced humor, no comedy scenes for the sake of comedy, everything's part of the narrative.
6. The scenes where Munni's religion & nationality is revealed.
7. The pre-interval scene shot in the most powerful way. Get your hands on the tissues because Harshaali will succeed in making you cry.
8. Kareena Kapoor's character bringing all the needed maturity to the film without getting preachy. Salman's character is so innocent that it makes Kareena's role all the more vital in the narrative.
9. Nawazuddin Siddique. He shines throughout the second half because he & Harshaali taken on the narrative from here.
10. The strong camaraderie between the trio. Watch out for the scenes where Nawaz calls Salman his begum in burqa.
11. Strong India-Pakistan bonding captured in the film. No other film has done this before. This definitely is the true peace ambassador between India-Pakistan.
12. The entire final 15 minutes. Kabir Khan has vowed to make you cry, no subtlety & the performance by Salman Khan in these 15 minutes, bravo. If Harshaali makes you cry in the first half, towards the end of the film both Salman Khan & Harshaali team up successfully.

Minuses -
1. The narrative takes up too much liberties makes certain scenes way too convenient. The plus point is that the emotions created are so strong, the characters are positive & innocent that you instantly let these stuff go. But on the negative side, these liberties lack subtlety & are more onto your face.
2. The songs does decrease the pace. I loved Tu Jo Mila & Zindagi, even more I even didn't mind Chicken song but for most of the audience Chicken song definitely feels dragging the narrative as it just doesn't fit in for that long because the scene before the song achieves the right emotions including humor that the song doesn't really has anything to achieve.
3. The logic in the second half. What works? It's a film especially the one that creates the strong feeling "The world would be a better place if this actually happened in reality?" Give yourself up to the film then the logic stuff will never be the issue. Want to nitpick then this point 3 is rightfully added in the minuses.

Performances -
Harshaali Malhotra as Shahida aka Munni is the real superstar in the movie. She wins your heart from the first glimpse of her. She makes you laugh, she makes you cry, she definitely makes you fall in love with her. Bajrangi Bhaijaan is what it is because of her.
Salman Khan as Pavan Kumar Chaturvedi, salute to the Megastar who finally came out his comfort zone, thoroughly underplayed his character like a veteran. This is not Salman Khan playing Salman Khan like his previous character. This is Salman Khan actually living the character Pavan. Note this, he doesn't have much dialogues once Nawaz enters. So all you see Salman Khan is enacting through his expressions only. The last 20 minutes proves what a terrific actor Salman is. A real treat.
Nawazuddin Siddique as Chand Nawab is in superb form. He takes on the narrative in the second half. He's way too spontaneous, he's undoubtedly hilarious but when the emotional moments creep in, make way for one of the best actor in our country. Why the film is titled Bajrangi Bhaijaan, follow Nawaz's character to know the reason.
Kareena Kapoor Khan as Rasika brings in the much needed maturity to the film through her character. Once again a controlled decent performance from her. She supports Salman Khan's character & helps Pavan grow in his journey with Munni.
Om Puri in a special appearance is very much effective.
Sharat Saxena as Rasika's father is first rate. He gets loud as much as the character needs him to be.

Special mention to the actress who played Harshaali's mother. The biggest plus is the first initial 15 minutes, the mother-daughter bonding, mother's pain of losing her child, she contributes immensely in creating the right mood.

My Rating = 3.5/5
As a Fan = 4.5/5

Final Words - Bajrangi Bhaijaan is the most important film to deal with India-Pakistan relationship in recent times & is easily the better one.

P.S. - There's a shirtless scene of Bhai. Only thing is it's not shot in usual style. But man Sultan is going to be epic.

Baahubali Half Review: Half praises now, the rest of the praises will come in 2016.

Straight up warning: The film as it's title explains is only The Beginning of a wonderful story. The conclusion of the story will be told only in 2016 when the second part releases.

Story - 

Sivudu (Prabhas) is saved by Sivagami (Ramya Krishna) from the soldiers who've turned against Baahubali family. Before she drowns in the river, she makes sure the baby is in safe hands. But an infertile woman who can't have kids decide to raise Sivudu as her own kid without knowing who he really is. The instinct of Baahubali blood in Sivudu makes him reach for the impossible with the help of Avantika (Tamannaah) who is on her own mission to save her Queen Devasena (Anushka Shetty) from the hands of the baddie Bhallaladeva (Rana Daggubati). Without knowing Devasena is his real mother, Sivudu volunteers to save her. He's in the enemy land, saving his own mother without actually knowing her, fighting his own real enemies who've sworn to kill him & more than that he cannot understand a battalion of people who consider him as god. Who is he? What is his back story? Why people consider him as god? Who was his father? These questions are only half answered in the second half because everything else is reserved for 2016 by super clever SS Rajamouli.

Plusses -

1. The very first shot involving the huge waterfalls & Sivagami's way of saving the baby. You'll know you've a winner already. Masterstroke by SS Rajamouli.

2. The next few minutes involving Prabhas & ofcourse the huge waterfall followed by the giant "Lingaa" which you've seen in the posters. Yet another winning scene.

3. Tamannaah as Avantika looks like a real angel. She's a feast to our eyes & her beauty is meant to be watched on the big screen.

4. The introduction of Rana Daggubati. He was born to play this role.

5. Only Ramya Krishna could've done justice to this character of Sivagami. Very matured & powerful performance.

6. We only see Anushka Shetty playing the older Devasena but she has one scene with super powerful dialogue delivery. She is very convincing.

7. All the visuals right from giant waterfalls, giant avalanche, beautiful scenaries, giant statues, giant kingdom... It's money well spent. Every frame shows the hard work.

8. Action scenes are top notch. The war scenes is again something to be seen only on the big screen. Simply the best. Haters who cried foul of 300 copy etc... Slap yourself & come to the theaters so that you can once again slap yourself.

Minusses - 

1. Songs, especially the item song which was needless. Other songs have super hot Tamannaah so even if the songs are the negative point nobody can complain the visuals. Seriously I can go on & on praising. I only wish the songs to be more catchy even though the lyrics are very meaningful & part of the storyline.

2. Some scenes do give you a feeling of predictability.

3. Oh yeah this one thanks to CBFC... I got distracted at every scene involving an animal be it elephant, snake, horse or baison. The CBFC has forced the makers to display the disclaimer "C.G.I." which irritated me throughout.

The Best Part - It's how the first part ends. The way it ends makes up for any of the feeling of predictability created in our minds. That's again a masterstroke by SS Rajamouli which gets the audience super excited for the second part releasing next year. 

Why SS Rajamouli is a Genius? - He has captured the audience in his grip. If you've to watch the second part, you must watch the first part. And whoever has watched the first part cannot stop himself/herself from watching the second half. It's the power of his vision & narration. If you think the story is predictable, you would still want to experience the vision of SS Rajamouli.

My Rating - 3.5/5

Final Words - I would be proud to have this film representing Indian Cinema. Like I said all these are only half praises. The rest of the praises will be showered next year.

Watch the film.... OUR FILM.

John Wick - Just Don't Mess With His Dog Alright !!!

First things first, this movie is worthy of every penny as well as time you spend on it.

STORY - 

Keanu Reeves plays ex-assassin John Wick, who is a recent widower. While grieving over his wife's demise, he gets one last gift from her so that it can help him cope up, the gift is indeed a puppy. A normal face/off over the vintage 1969 Mustang at a gas station with a wannabe thug gets out of line too soon. The wannabe thug & his thug-friends intrude into John Wick's house, beats him up, stoles his car but in between kills the puppy. They had to kill Wick's puppy. Anyways, now Wick wants revenge & how he gets it in style forms the entire film.

MOVIE -

The moment the movie starts we are driven into the world of John Wick. It opens with the climax scene followed by the narration of 90 odd minutes taking us through all the events that led to the climax scene. John Wick has just lost his wife due to a terminal illness, he had quit his past to be with her while dreaming of a perfect life with his loved one. It doesn't go as he wished, her sudden demise shatters him. He had abandoned his past just for her & now he had nothing to live for in the present. Completely lost, he gets one last gift from his loving wife, a posthumous gift which happens to be a cute puppy. It comes with a letter for sure but his wife clarifies that the letter doesn't count as this is no P.S. I Love You. He starts getting closer to the puppy eventually named Daisy. He takes the puppy on a ride in his 1969 Mustang, while he's filling up the gas he comes across 3 thugs who asks him whether the Mustang is for sale. In their words, "Every Bitch has a price". Wick calmly replies "Not his bitch". Soon, these thugs intrude his house, kills the puppy & leaves him bleeding.

Wick buries his puppy, and digs up his buried past life. He's on vengeance. The so-called thugs soon realize whom they're messing with. Russian Mob boss Viggo, the father of one of the thug Iosef, who previously had Wick working for him know what he's capable of as he refers to him as The Boogeyman who takes the children who don't behave properly. At some point he also refers Wick to someone you send to kill the Boogeyman, but well that kinda writing glitches are pardonable. So in a desperate attempt to save his son he announces a open contract of $2 million which any paid assassin would be willing to take upon. Meanwhile, a few attack Wick at his home where he kills everyone of them. In between, a cop knocks on the door, only to witness the dead bodies, seeing Wick he just walks away. Then Wick calls upon an unique waste management service who actually does the cleaning up of dead bodies & any sort of blood mark on the floor. - who am I kidding, that was freaking awesome.

Now Iosef is on the hide, by hide it really means he's partying at the club basement with a lot of bikini clad girls. The whole club is protected. Wick enters it in style, with loads & loads of gunshots, bullet to the heads, broken necks, brutal fights.. well that's exactly what we paid to see isn't it? There's Willem Dafoe playing Marcus who is also a paid assassin, someone who is in good terms with John Wick. Viggo asks him to take care of Wick for him, $2 million is a big amount to take up such a target. Now that, Wick is an open target, with several assassins trying to kill him in order to win that price put on his head.. Wick moves on as focused he is in reaching his target.

PERFORMANCES - 

Keanu Reeves nails it. He plays the emotional sequences as per the requirement of the character but when it comes to action, he's on a roll. Not an exaggeration, it's his best after Speed, of course excluding The Matrix. Michael Nyqvist is very good in the role of Viggo. Willem Dafoe is first rate. John Leguizamo is there for only one scene. Adrienne Palicki plays her part efficiently. Alfie Allen acts dumb at the beginning & scared for the rest of the film as required by his character.

DIRECTION - 

Well the script isn't path breaking by any means. It's just a revenge tale which has been done to death. What makes the film stand apart is the direction by David Leitch & Chad Stahelski. They don't waste a single minute to get on with the story & once the action kicks in, it's one hell of a ride. There're no subplots to deviate the movie or act as disturbance.

My Rating - 3.5/5

Final Word for Keanu Reeves - Keanu Reeves is fucking Back & he's an extreme animal activist.

Final Word for the movie - It's Taken, only this time it's a puppy.

INTERSTELLAR - Murphy wins. LOVE wins. NOLAN WINS !!!

INTERSTELLAR

I will not lie, I never had to scratch my head this hard to write an answer in any of exams. It's not that Interstellar is complex to review, what's tough is to review it without giving away the crucial moments of the film & most importantly to review without capturing the essence of the script/screenplay. So, let me listen to whatever my heart says... And may be in the 3rd dimension or the 5th dimension, my views can be put in the right format.

Nolan's strength has always been the specifics, be it his Following or Memento or the Batman trilogy or Inception or Interstellar, he takes time to form a strong baseline. Having a strong screenplay isn't enough but presenting it effectively, laying out each of those elements in the first act matters the most. Actually it's exactly what makes Nolan's work standout. He follows the same here, we get to know that earth is dying (by dying, it's not playing a good host for humans anymore), we get introduced to a family of 4 - a grandfather, father & his 2 children. The key characters, showing enough bonding between them especially the father & his daughter. The first act firmly lays out Murphy's Law.

The 2nd act takes us through the Theory of Relativity. We're introduced to few more important characters who are basically explorers who in turn take us viewers on an expedition. An expedition to search for a new home. Nolan doesn't forget his basics here, remember he started out with Murphy's Law. As serious the issue is here, he explores the depth of a father-daughter relationship because that's the key ingredient to the entire script, a strong point that holds the entire screenplay together. The stronger the relationship the more prepared you are to face the third & the fourth act. So, begins the emotional ride through the wormhole. Also remember, time flies.

Post interval, Nolan prepares himself to bring the third act to life. It has few surprises thrown at your way & a terrific actor as a separate surprise package. I would not dwell much into here. You get thrown a bunch of Quantum Mechanics here too but yes by now you've reached a new dimension compared to the first 2 acts. Nolan the genius keeps giving you the clues. All you got to do is fetch them & trust his motives. Like I said I'm not going dwell much here, I've strong reasons which you'll know soon, atleast a part of it.

FOURTH ACT - PREPARE YOURSELF TO EXPERIENCE THE REAL NOLANESQUE STORY TELLING.
Whatever you watched till now takes not just a 360 degree spin but trust me you'll lose count, provided you dare to count. This is the moment you've been waiting for, this is exactly what you paid for. The movie may or may not be a MASTERPIECE but this fourth act itself is a certified MASTERPIECE. All you've to do hold yourself tight for the experience of your life. It all comes down to this, Murphy's Law vs Theory of Relativity. Love Vs Science. What way Nolan chooses? Will they "STAY" together or Will they "STAY" apart? Every single second of the fourth act, bowls you over. You live the moments.

Still I don't think I can write a review that does full justice to the film. It's Nolan afterall, he demands us to experience his storytelling. Wade through his vision. The third act is actually a bit underwhelming only because we have kept our expectations so high that we take a journey through galaxies & expect every bit of it to work like the FOURTH ACT. We are just greedy, Nolan is greedier. It's not just his actors but he wants his audience to live his vision too.


My Rating - 4.5/5 (Falls a tad bit shorter of a masterpiece, only because of my high expectations which I think the third act fell a tad bit short off.)

Final Words - Murphy wins. LOVE wins. NOLAN WINS.

Happy New Year - Iss Diwali Sirf Box Office Ki Hi Taale Todenge Yeh Indiawaale, Dil Nahi Jeetenge !!!

STORY - 

Charlie (original name Chandra Mohan Sharma, don't ask!!!) is planning to avenge his father's death by taking revenge on Charan Grover (Jackie Shroff). He gathers his own team of losers, as he keeps re-iterating throughout their introduction to execute his revenge by stealing precious diamonds. But in order to steal the diamonds, the team has to first participate in World Dance Championship, which would smoothen their master plan. As the team of losers are filled with bad dancers, they hire a dance teacher Mohini (Deepika Padukone) to help them get in the WDC. How these losers succeed in their mission of stealing the diamonds from world's safest locker forms the rest of the story.

PERFORMANCES - 

Shah Rukh Khan leads the pack effectively. He shows off his chiseled body - the ABS & showcases his lover boy image throughout the film with enough spreading of arms & dimples. There is nothing in the role offered to him & is no match for his caliber. But he definitely saves the film from sinking.

Deepika Padukone is good & provides an honest performance. Like in Chennai Express, here too she succeeds in modulating her accent. She has a couple of scenes & a song to shine. Sadly, Lovely is not the song I'm talking about despite it being her solo song.

Abhishek Bachchan as Nandu Bhide is funny. The characterization is very inconsistent but he gets to mouth some funny dialogues & provides a lot of comic relief especially during the heist scenes. Sadly, he also gets a few worst scenes too. And he has a double role too which again doesn't has much to speak about.

Boman Irani impresses as a Parsi. Nothing new from his role but his comic timing does the trick. Sonu Sood is good in first half but he's totally wasted in the second half. Vivaan Shah is noticeable in between this star cast. But he looks clueless throughout. Jackie Shroff is again wasted.

DIRECTION & SCREENPLAY -

What lets the movie down is the bad direction & terrible screenplay. The writers have come up with such a confused screenplay that it ends up trying way too hard. The heist scenes are not exciting at all, the entire WDC part comes out bland & it was never expected from Farah Khan. The story talks about a team of losers, just because they're losers doesn't mean they'll act like clowns & buffoonery is delivered in the name of comedy. The team of losers, acting as underdogs stealing the diamonds, avenging the death of Anupam Kher & eventually winning WDC with actual "DANCING" would've made sense. But what we get to see is a team of losers, acting like buffoons, stealing the diamonds so easily like stealing candy from a baby & with all the terrible dancing skills, they end up winning the World Dance Championship. To their support, not once the audience get to know how tough the championship. Even the no.1 team, Koreans are so average dancers that instead of dancing they're used for one action scene in the 2nd half. So with such competitors, it's not bad on the part of audience to think any Tom, Dick & Harry can win the WDC.

Farah Khan has failed in the direction part, but atleast I expected her to do justice to the DANCE parts, something which we know for sure that she can never go wrong. But she was hellbent on proving us wrong.

TECHNICAL DEPARTMENT -

The visuals... the cinematography gets full marks. It's a treat for eyes & the movie looks super grand on screen. The music by Vishal & Shekhar is disappointing. Except for Manwa Laage nothing else works. Even IndiaWaale disappoints due to ordinary choreography. Lovely doesn't set anything on fire either. Dance Like Chammiya is completely wasted. The climax World Dance Medley, impressed a bit but it's far from believing a performance like that would be worthy of winning the championship. Nonsense Ki Night & it's picturization is passable. Dialogues work only in parts, not all dialogues are funny. And editing, well the movie is 3 hours long, it's self-explainatory.

POSITIVES - 

1. Shah Rukh Khan
2. The performances by other star cast, they try really hard to elevate the scenes to a certain level.
3. The first half is very much watchable due to some funny lines. The Chak De India reference is funny & Deepika pulls it off well.
4. Manwa Laage is really good.
5. The grand look of HNY. It's money well spent.
6. The Cameos - watch out for AbRam Khan & Farah Khan's triplets. They're worth your money.

NEGATIVES -

1. Very poor story & screenplay.
2. Indiawaale in the end steals the diamonds as well as wins the WDC. If you look at it, they were thieves who stole (which can be forgiven as they were "Avenging") but they're the winners of WDC, something they won by cheating. They blackmailed the judges with an MMS, they rigged the voting... They danced terribly (minus Deepika's Mohini) & the only good thing they did was to save the Korean kid on stage. That got them a special entry to the finals & suddenly one long performance to save the "IZZAT" of India, that they ended up as champions. What were the writers thinking?
3. The writers again are so confused that, once they've the cast ready to avenge, the next moment they're acting like buffoons, they get emotional, they get serious & after stealing the diamonds, they suddenly get all patriotic. Why? Just because they're IndiaWaale.
4. Remember you've paid for the ticket & you get to see Junior B vomit over & over again. And if that's not enough, you get to see him taste his own vomit. How creative?!
5. The songs don't work except for Manwa Laage.
6. Only Srk can say "breast-taking & love your booty" to a girl & have her fall head over heels. But to what extent will you take him? Plus over use of Madar.... Chod Na Yaar. It's not funny, it's sick.
7. The movie is way too long. It's ridiculously long.

My Rating - 2/5 (1 for Srk, 0.5 for the rest of the cast & 0.5 for the cutie AbRam Khan, also Farah's triplets.)

Final Word - Iss Diwali Sirf Box Office Ki Hi Taale Todenge Yeh Indiawaale, Dil Nahi Jeetenge.

Shah Rukh Khan deserves better, way better. Even if a movie wastes his talent is not a bad thing, what's worse is when a movie mocks his talent. He has achieved a lot & he has proved a lot in his 2 decade career, so a movie like HNY is definitely not needed at all. Here's an actor with a box office potential of earning you never heard before figures, all you've to do is use him the right way. You've only one Shah Rukh Khan & it's time to realize it.

Kaththi - A Real Diwali Treat from A.R.Murugadoss.

Story -

The script revolves around the Vijay Duo - one a social activist fighting for a cause named Jeevanandham & the other an intelligent thief named Kathiresan aka Kaththi. Kaththi is on the run after escaping from jail, comes across an attempted murder where the victim is none other than Jeevanandham. Kaththi in order to escape from Police switches his identity, while Jeevanandham is imprisoned, Kaththi steps in Jeevanandham's shoes to escape. How Jeevanandham escapes from the prison, What changes Kaththi? Will Jeevanandham succeed in his fight against the MNC & it's owner, played by super talented Neil Nitin Mukesh forms the rest of the story.

Performances - 

Vijay has done a terrific job in handling both the characters. While he underplays the character of Jeevanandham, he shines in the role of Kaththi. The entire film rides on this character & Vijay with his mannerisms lives the character. Samantha Ruth Prabhu is there only for the songs. Neil Nitin Mukesh is superb as the villain. He's shown inferior to Vijay's Kaththi character but then that's because of the characterization. His expressions gets full marks. Sathish playing Vijay's friend is funny but it's not a character that's totally brainless as we usually see in big commercial films.

Direction, Screenplay & Dialogues -

A.R. Murugadoss is a magician. Making a commercial film out of a social cause is possible only by him now. He makes a cameo in the second half, hats off to him for the idea behind the entire second half. The only glitch is the initial loopholes but they're overcome by the strong script, performances & ARM's direction.

And now for the real deal, DIALOGUES. A.R.Murugadoss deserves an award for his dialogues. They're so powerful & yet meaningful is simply fantastic. Let me share few masterstrokes...

> When Vijay explains Communism as "After we eat our share of food, whatever is left belongs to the next person is called Communism".

> When Vijay bangs "Vijay Mallya" without even taking his name "A beer factory owner takes a loan of 5000 crores & says he'll not the pay it back. Neither the owner committed suicide nor the banks that loaned him commit suicide. A farmer takes 5000rs loan & he's forced to commit suicide"

> And then the next masterstroke "We even need our condoms in strawberry flavor and our poor children can only dream of ever eating a strawberry in their life".

Technical Department -

Technically Kaththi is brilliant, first I have to salute the cinematographer George C.Williams for his outstanding visuals throughout. The 360 degree shot in the pipe which was shown in the teaser is mindblowing. The music from Anirudh is chartbuster written all over it but what needs the special mention is the Background Music which is clearly the best of this year. Next, the action... wow every single one of them clap-worthy & whistle worthy. This is how it's done, the pre-interval fight & the climax fight, Anl Arasu take a bow man.

Positives - 

1. The strong story & especially the hard hitting scenes.

2. Vijay's performance throughout.

3. The coin fight scene. I am darn sure everyone will copy it in the future. The entire strategy of turning off the lights & just turning it on for a second when Vijay flips a coin, just enough to beat the hell out of the bad guys. Nobody can simply sit & watch the scene. People in my screen were jumping from their seats throughout.

4. The entire flashback, introducing Vijay's Jeevanandham character in the first half itself. Weak hearted will shed tears for sure. It's such heart wrenching looking at the fate of all those poor villagers.

5. The best scene of this year.. The entire taking over of the water supply to Chennai by Vijay & his team of old men. The idea itself needs the applause. The entire 15mins was met with non-stop cheers.

6. Effectively showing the true face of our media who are just hungry for news & nothing else.

7. The climax fight, completely filmy but nevertheless thoroughly entertaining. Especially Vijay & Neil Nitin Mukesh's facial expressions.

8. The background music by Anirudh & the strong dialoues backed by superb visuals.

Negatives -

1. The film takes the same liberties as every double role film. It hampers the film initially only.

2. Samantha's character is only there for the songs. Thankfully there are only 3 songs.

3. The initial 10-15 mins seems to put logic in the backseat. But thankfully after that Kaththi teams takes us all for a stormy ride.

My Rating - 3.5/5 (Would've been 4 if it was not for those cinematic liberties taken.)

Final Word - Kaththi is pure mass as well as class film, a real Diwali Treat. A.R.Murugadoss shows how it's done.