Director Sasi Kumar, who brought a whiff of fresh air to Tamil cinema with Subramaniapuram last year, has taken Kollywod a step above with his next production venture Pasanga. Striking a smooth balance between real and fantasy elements, Pasanga is rare in the sense it is for the children and by the children, which is convincing and clear from the word go.

After Mani Ratnam, who charmed the audience with Anjali, a healthy clean entertainer featuring children all the way almost two decade ago, debutant Pandiraj has managed to gather guts to do a movie that dwells on the physical and psychological emotions of children.

He has used the bigger canvas to capture the joy and emotions among the innocent children. But the filmmaker has not deviated from regular cinema, for the storyline is typical to run-of-the-mill stuffs. Two pitted against each other and keen to take revenge on one another. They cross and crisscross building up to a climax where the hero prevails over the baddie. But what is strikingly different in Pandiraj’s approach is that the whole story is set around a group of children. They make you laugh, cry and sulk in emotions.

The story unfolds in a dry barren village. Anbu (Kishore), the protagonist in the film comes across his bitter foe Jeeva (Sriram) on the first day of his school. Interestingly, Jeeva happens to be son of the headmaster Nithyanandam (remember the Kalloori professor).

The good-hearted Anbu tries to mend ways and befriend Jeeva. However, Jeeva is hell-bent on taking Anbu for task. Enters Manonmani (Dharini), who develops affinity towards Anbu raising between him and Jeeva. Anbu not only excels in his academics but also in various extra curricular activities, which only widens the rift.

The fight between Anbu and Jeeva results in a rift between their respective families.
However, in a twist to the tale, Meenakshi Sundaram (Vimal), Anbu’s uncle falls in romance with Sobikannu (Vega), the sister of Jeeva. Interestingly, the families get united as they agree for Meenakshi
Sundaram’s wedding with Sobikannu, much against the wishes of both Jeeva and Anbu. Did they unite or not forms the climax, which has been etched out by Pandiraj in a gripping manner.

What is praiseworthy is the director’s faith in casting all newcomers and extracting the best from them. The children, needless to say, have performed on screen like seasoned professionals. Whether it is Kishore or Sriram or Dharini, they are right there delivering right expressions.

Vega, who sizzled the screen in Saroja plays a rural belle. She looks apt for the role and proves that she can handle her role with ease. Watch out for the young Pandian, who as Pakkada, can give challenge to any of the contemporary Tamil film comedians.

James Vasanthan continues from where he left in Subramaniapuram. More than his songs, his background score sets up the momentum. Veteran singer Balamuralikrishna stamps his class in Anbaley Azhagagum Veedu. Premkumar, the cinematographer, has captured the lifestyle and culture of rustic, barren land of south Tamilnadu well.

All credits should go to Sasikumar, who has made a real bold attempt by producing such a film. It is simple, straightforward and scintillating. Hats off Sasikumar and Pandiraj.

Cast:    Jeeva, Anbu, Manonmani,
Kuttymani, Mangalam, Pakkada
Direction:    Pandiraj
Production:    M. Sasikumar
Music:    James Vasanth

For Vikraman time has frozen. The feel good joint family that tries to activate the lachrymal glands still works for him? The screenplay is a mess, caring a whit for sense, logic and even continuity. Moreover we are showered under by clichés like the ‘Mr Clean’ family head, a son who obeys him, a total stranger trying to rectify the mistakes committed by her friend, etc.

Annamalai (Vijaykanth) is a do-gooder rich farmer with a loving family of wife Alamelu (Ambika), son Raja (Vijaykanth) and daughter Sumathi (Ammu). They are the ‘role model’ family for the villagers as Annamalai is a loving father who listens and allows his children to have the final say in whatever they do.

Soon Raja gets into trouble when he is conned by Radha (Meena) of 150 acres of prime land as she is hand in glove with the bad guys local MLA and his son (Sampath). Enter Chandra (Meera Jasmine), who sets things right after a few dream songs, in Thailand and they lived happily ever after!

The Rip Van Winkle of Kollywood, Vikraman is in his own dream world and just refuses to accept the fact that the audiences have changed. It was embarrassing to watch the film at a Chennai screen, where people were hooting and laughing at the so called “dramatic moments” in the film.

Vikraman has also asked his new age music director Vijay Antony to help himself to S.A Rajkumar tunes from his earlier films. The much hyped MGR song from Idhyakani falls flat – all the songs, locations, dance movement and even costumes looked the same.

Vijaykanth sleep walks in a tailor made role, Meera Jasmine looks bloated and is irritating, Meena is adequate and Sampath is wasted. The comedy of Ramesh Kanna is stale and fails to evoke laughter. He has water, hot Sambar, soap water, spit, coconut and cow dung thrown at his face at regular intervals!

The best line in the film – one of the characters pointing out to Vijaykanth says- “One day in every house in Tamilnadu, his photo will be there”. An indication that Captain, will soon become the Chief Minister of the state. We dare not say anything more about this film!

Banner:    Amma Creations
Cast:    Vijayakanth, Ambika, Meena, Meera Jasmine, Ramesh Kanna
Direction:    Vikraman
Production:    T Siva
Music:    Vijay Antony

It’s remake of 1997, Aziz Mirza’s Shah Rukh Khan film Yes Boss, but nowhere near the original which was technically superior with super hit songs and locales. The situation is humorous; there are plenty of funny and farcical moments to keep us entertained, but the climax is too long.

Guru (Madhavan) is a small time guy and personal assistant to his boss Krishna (Abbas) who runs his wealthy wife Sheela’s family owned advertising agency. Guru is a typical middle class guy who dreams of owning his own agency someday. For that he is willing to do anything for his womanising boss, who throws crumbs at him. Guru feels that his big ticket to wealth lies in playing ‘Yes Boss’ to Krishna as he tries to maneuver a romance between his boss and the beautiful new super model Seema (Mamta Mohandas)

But before his dreams can be fulfilled, Guru must listen to the call of his heart, as he falls like a ton of bricks for Seema. Now he has to cook up plans to save her from his boss, as things get more complicated when his love is reciprocated. Then it is no more ‘Yes Boss’ for Guru as he decides to take on his scheming and cunning boss on his own.

The ironical part is that in Azhagappan (Vivek) a fake yoga teacher, Guru has a sidekick or yes man of his own and he takes delight in ordering him around for all his misadventures with his boss! All said and seen humour especially Vivek dressing up as an aunty brings the house down. He is a scream as he imitates Shriya Saran to Saroja Devi style of acting and parodies old Tamil films and is wooed by M.S Bhaskar!

Madhavan is an absolute delight and his scenes with Vivek are whacky, Mamta is just adequate, though she lacks the screen presence of Juhi in the original. Abbas is ok for the role. On the downside, Sreekanth Deva’s music is disappointing and the production values are tacky. Outrageous comedy of Vivek is the films biggest calling card, otherwise it is just a routine film.

Banner:    KRG Movies International
Cast:    Madhavan, Mamta Mohandas, Abbas,
Brinda Parekh, Vivek,
M S Bhaskar, Manobala, Mayilusamy,
Sona, Renuka, Aarthi, Poovilangu Mohan
Direction:    Selva
Production:    KRG
Music:    Srikanth Deva

The striking feature of the movie is Suriya’s amazing screen-presence. He is right there delivering his best. Be it romance, action or comedy, Suriya is at his crackling form serving the very basic purpose of purpose of entertaining the masses.

Cinematographer – director K V Anand had touched a sensitive theme in his maiden directorial venture ‘Kana Kandein’. ‘Ayan’ too serves a purpose. It brings to light the pitiable condition of uneducated and poor youth, who are being used as bait by smugglers. Often referred to in Tamil as ‘Kuruvi’, these men live a life loaded with risk. However the movie is not preachy as Anand laces right commercial elements all through.

A macho-man story, ‘Ayan’ is a perfect summer entertainer. Though the storyline is familiar and oft-seen in the past, the pacy narration and captivating visuals provide the necessary pep to the film.

Anand’s packaging of this commercial entertainer is sophisticated but would appeal to all sections. Reminding one of movies like ‘Dhalapathy’, ‘Nayagan’ and the much recent ‘Gemini’, ‘Ayan’ is a riveting and racy right from the word go. Produced by AVM and presented by Sun Pictures, the movie has magical moments enthralling audience.

Deva (Suriya) is a typical Chennai youth. His mother (Renuka) aspires that her son would join government service. Pursuing his post graduate course, Deva instead works for Das (Prabhu), who runs a smuggling racket.

A shrewd Deva is a carrier of smuggled articles bringing from abroad everything including pirated CDs of newly-released movies to diamonds without getting caught by customs officials.

However Kamalesh (Akashdeep Saigal), who runs a similar racket in the locality, starts to give nightmare for both Das and Deva. Keen to topple them, Kamalesh goes to any extremes. Das entrusts Deva with a job to smuggle diamonds from Congo. Intervenes Kamalesh. He sends his man to make Deva’s mission unsuccessful. But eventually he fails. Meanwhile, Deva falls in love with Yamuna (Tamannah), sister of Chitti’s (Jagan), who also works for Das.

Their rivalry hots up and a turn of events leads to Kamalesh bumping off Das. Deva goes on revenge mode. They sort out their enmity in the barren lands of Congo and a surprise awaits Suriya in the form of Narcotics Bureau chief Parthiban (Ponvannan) after he returns to the country.

Suriya’s rendition of ‘Chennai Thamizh’, his youthful looks and body language are the major strengths of the movie. His onscreen chemistry with Tamannah is good. Amazing to see Suriya performing acrobatic stunt sequences, who has been hitherto considered as a ‘performing’ actor. His dedication and involvement could be seen in every frame.

Equally appealing is Tamannah. Though she has no major role to play besides a couple of songs including one in alien land, she is convincing. Prabhu as Das is apt fit for the role. He handles the role with much-needed maturity. He renders grace and charm to his role. Jagan and Karunaas play the supporting roles well. Specially Jagan with his one-liners is impressive. Akashdeep Saigal, the baddie from Mumbai, lends solidity to the role. His dubbing by ‘Kolangal’ fame Ajay is appropriate.

The spine-chilling chase in the streets of Congo, choreographed by stunt master Franz Spilhaus deserves a special mention. M S Prabhu capturing the mood of film in various shades and tones is a pillar of strength to Anand. Harris Jayaraj’s songs are peppy. Watch out for the opening song “Pala Palakura”, which is racy. However the real scene-stealer is editor Anthony. His slick work manages to sustain interest all throughout.

No doubt, ‘Ayan’ is one more in the kitty of successful movies being belted out by Sun Pictures.

Cast:    Surya, Prabhu, Tamanna
Direction:    K.V. Anand
Production:    M. Saravanan, M.S. Guhan, Aruna Guhan, Aparna Guhan
Music:    Harris Jeyaraj

The film has Daisy (Nadiya) in the central role as correspondent of the Holy Bell School, and is also a psychologist and a caring lady who runs a home for the mentally challenged. It is a school that you often see only in movies, where students are constantly having fun or is up to some mischief.

A gang of students Sakkarai( Arun), Karthi (Irfan) Guru, Nattu, Jagan, Jilakki, Mani and Sophie( Kripa) are always at each others throat. They are split into two gangs who can’t stand the sight of each other and are up to some mischief in their one-man upmanship game.

Daisy believes in talking to them; make them understand the importance of discipline and kindness to make them better human beings. She even sacks a teacher who uses corporal punishment to discipline the unruly elements in the class. Meanwhile a triangular romance is brewing between Sakkarai, Karthi and Sophie, which leads to the final tragic twist in the tale.

The trouble with the film is that the story is wafer thin. The presentation and narration is very similar to the way the director has done his television serial ‘Kana Kanum Kalangal’, which too revolved around a bunch of kids in a school. The film loses its steam midway and ending is predictable which reminds you of few earlier films.

On the downside, the director could have extracted better performances from the bunch of newcomers especially the new girl Kripa, who at times is irritating. The comedy scenes like the guys going to steal money in disguise and the pranks they play on each other fails to evoke laughter.

Nadia in designer sari’s, looks stylish like any other modern day teacher is the pivot around which the film revolves. She is top class, and is the redeeming feature in the film. Jassie Gift’s music is ok, while Krishnaswamy’s camera is promising. Watch the film for Nadia. Among the boys it is Arun who is promising.

The producer Lingusamy and his brother Subash Chandrabose should be appreciated along with Rohan for making a film sans vulgarity, double meaning, blood and gore.

Movie:Pattalam
Director:Rohan Krishna
Producer:Tirupathy Brothers
Music:Jassie Gift
Cast:Nadia Moidu, Arun, Kiruba, Sathya, Balaji, Vikas