Tamil Review: 'Naan Mahaan Alla' a realistic thriller

Drugs, sex and murder in succession form the premise of this film. This fast-paced thriller has all the elements in the right place and in the right proportion. The film that is based in Chennai deals with the exploitations of city life. The racy and fun first half holds enough scope for humor, sentiments and also readies the audience for the later half. The first half is light, as you come to know more about the protagonist, his life and the people connected to him. The second half sets out on a frightful edge-of-the-seat journey with twists and turns until the protagonist fixes the puzzle.

The sequences in the latter half where the protagonist played by Karthi woos his lady love Kajal Agrawal, or convincing a goonda sent by the girl’s father of his true love and the hero’s antics as a bank collection agent has the audience in splits. It also shows the vulnerability of the character played. Every character in the film is portrayed with realism.

'Thillalangadi' lacks a story

A central premise that could have been promising had it been handled well, but Thillalangadi fails due to unsuitable casting and lack of story.

The protagonist played by Jayam Ravi is a person who needs an adrenaline rush out of everything he does, such as leaving a high-paying job, stealing from a minister among other things. This is the central premise of the movie. Shaam plays a cop hot on Ravi's trail.

Shankar's 'Ananthapurathu Veedu' is a one-time watch

Who says a big budget, big star cast, and high production values are a must in a film? Who says a story cannot be engaging if there are no visual distractions in the form of songs filmed overseas?

Breaking the conventional wisdom and delivering a narrative seems natural for Shankar’s S Pictures. The filmmaker's new film Ananthapurathu Veedu tells the story of a couple who meets a sudden end because of a car accident.

'Madarasapattinam' is worth a watch

This film is set in the pre-independence era, a love story between an English aristocrat and an ordinary Indian dhobi. The film is a recollection by the leading lady.

An ailing 80-year-old Amy revisits Chennai after the demise of her husband to fulfill her life’s desire. A changed Chennai is nothing like the pre-independence Madarasapattinam.

REVIEW: Vikram, Prithviraj excel in 'Raavanan'

There have been innumerable adaptations and versions of the immortal epic Ramayan. This one will not make it even to the top 10 of the list.

The entire plot of the film can be summed up in one line – "You've hurt my sister, I'm taking your wife". Now this has been stretched to the length of a feature film.

Suriya's 'Singam' is worth your money

Film: Singam; Starring: Manoramma, Anushka, Suriya, Prakash Raj, Vivek; Radha Ravi, Naaser; Direction: Hari; Music: Devi Sri Prasad; Production: BIG Pictures.

Good versus evil and the final victory of the good has been played to us since ages through epics like Ramayan. We still participate in the triumph of good over evil every year during the festival of Dasara, in spite of knowing the story.

'Guru Sishyan' is a cynical comedy

Film: Guru Sishyan (Tamil); Cast: Sathyaraj, Sundar C, Hema Malini, Santhanam and Saranya; Direction: Shakthi Cidambaram; Music: Dheena

Guru Sishyan is yet another comedy flick by Sakthi Cidambaram with all the masala elements imbibed in it. With the comedy-cum-action combination of Sathyaraj and Sundar C, glamour contribution from Hema Malini, emotional contribution from Saranya and comedy from Santhanam, the film has it all to lure the 'C' category audience.

'Irumbu Kottai Murattu Singam', a family film

Film: Irumbu Kottai Murattu Singam; Director: Chimbu Devan; Producer: Kalpathi Agoram; Music: GV Prakash; Cast: Raghava Lawrence, Lakshmi Rai, Padma Priya and Sandhya M S Bhaskar, Ilavarasu, Ramesh Kanna, Vyapuri, Mouli, Delhi Ganesh, Manorama and V S Raghavan.

Irumbu Kottai Murattu Singam (IKMS) was initially supposed to be a Pongal release. However it did not grace the screens on Pongal, possibly because it was up against a lot of big star films or it had delays on the post-production table. IKMS has been hyped from the time Chimbu Devan the director toyed the idea in his mind.

REVIEW 2: 'Sura' is a hardcore Vijay film

Sura is a benchmark film for Vijay, as he celebrates his golden jubilee in the only soil he can shine in. The story has been told before (umpteen amount of times) - a tale of a fisherman, a do-gooder to his fisherman community, head decision maker of the community, who is crossed by a powerful politician to lose all and then regain more.

This dimwitted film is passé for even hardcore fans. On the onset of the shoot there was so much of media glare that set the expectation meter scaling way up and Sura was surely a sought after and anticipated film of the season. Sun Pictures(market leader) decided to back the project and distribute it, and this added to the hype further.

Vijay's 'Sura' is high-decibel propaganda

Film: Sura (Tamil); Cast: Vijay, Thamanna, Vadivel, Riyaz Khan; Director: SP Rajkumar; Music: Mani Sharma

Sura is a special film for Illaya Thalabathi Vijay, as it is his 50th film and it was released at a time when he is ambitious about building a foundation in politics. The film was specially scripted for him and his domination is established throughout the film.