Tamanna well acted in Thillalangadi movie

Jeyam Ravi’s previous films with his elder brother Raja have been commendable remakes and Thillalangadi isn’t an exception. Director Raja has copied each and every shot from the original version Kick. Of course, the film has been delivered in an entertaining manner with the attempts of savoring the universal audiences. Kudos to Surendar Reddy: the maker of original version for crafting a commendable tale and gripping screenplay.

To be precise, Jeyam Raja can be doubtlessly ennobled as the ‘Best Remake Director’ for exactly replicating others’ ideas. Of course, Kick itself was inspired from Hollywood’s famous thriller Catch me if you can, but it was only with the plot. Thillalangadi isn’t different from Kick. The only difference is couple of additional songs.

Krishna (Jeyam Ravi) is a happy-go-lucky youngster, who often commits himself into risks as he feels the right Kick over it. Well for Nisha (Tamanna), what starts as a hatred turns into love with Krishna. But sooner as she finds her beau so irresponsible swapping jobs often, she breaks up with him. Sooner the story shifts to Malaysia, where Nisha’s parents arrange her marriage with Krishna Kumar (Shaam), a tough and honest cop. Krishna uncovers that he has traveled all the way to Malaysia to trap a smart thief, who has been looting crores of money from leading tycoons and politicians. The intriguing part of the film is about the fact that the thief is none other than Nisha’s ex-boyfriend Krishna.

Rest of the film is all about how Krishna wins back the heart of Nisha and the reason behind his robberies having a substantial reason.

The biggest problem with Thillalangadi is about each and every actor aping the characters of Kick. Be it the lead actors Ravi and Thamannah or Santhanam imitating Telugu actor Ali, it’s really absurd and Raja should have focused letting them act their own way. Tamanna looks cute, but again her imitation of Ileana could have been avoided. Just watch out for her gestures while performing aerobics as it’s too clumsy. Ravi looks cute and chirpy and his performance during last 45 mins is perfect. Vadivelu is good with his comedy tracks while Santhanam doesn’t get enough footage. Shaam is extraordinary with his mind-boggling acting. He looks fit and perfectly suits the role of a tough cop. It’s better if Shaam continues to choose such roles in future. Prabhu excels with his minimal role and Suhasini sleepwalks through her role. Radha Ravi evokes laughter with his dialogues. But the silliest part is about Raja copying even the lines ‘Jil Jil Jiga’ from Telugu as it is often uttered by Manobala (The reason ‘Jil Jil Jiga’ appears in Kick is that because the famous song in ‘Happy Days’ starts with these fancy words).

Just as mentioned before, Raja hasn’t strained him even to the least extent. The screenplay from the beginning till the end is the same as in Kick. At least Raja could’ve avoided the minuses of the original version as second hour is too long and sluggish except the flashback sequences and climax.

Musical score by Yuvan Shankar is okay while Rajasekhar’s cinematography is mediocre. Editing looks sleek and stylish.

On the whole, Thillalangadi is a family entertainer as it carries the right mix of fun, romance, sentiments, and action. Next time Raja makes a film, we request him to come up with his own ideas rather than remaking

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Tamanna in Paiya

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Movie Review: Tamannaah Bhatia's Paiyaa

Film: “Paiyaa”; Cast: Karthi, Tamannaah Bhatia, Milind Soman, Sonia Deepti; Music Director: Yuvan Shankar Raja; Director: N. Linguswamy; Cinematographer: Madhi; Editor: Antony; Rating: **

As is the norm with so-called youthful movies, “Paiyaa” hero Shiva, played by Karthi who is seen for the first time on screen with a costume that is not dirty, is jobless but couldn’t care less. He is full of fun and enjoys life. Shiva meets a beautiful girl Charulatha (Tamannaah) and instantly falls for her. Shiva’s successive coincidental meetings with the girl increases his passion for her.

Shiva finds out that Charulatha’s life is in danger. He pledges to save her from the clutches of the goons hired by her stepmother.

The twist in the tale is that Shiva too is in danger. A Mumbai gang guns for him on account of previous enmity. Shiva, thanks to some tiring stunt sequences, finally manages to save the girl and himself.

For most part for the film, the script travels in cars and this is the only difference between “Paiyaa” and other such movies. Otherwise it is predictable and hardly exciting. The hero saving a girl from the clutches of a villain gang with his muscle power is nothing new to Tamil cinema. In fact, we are witnessing such stories almost every week.

It is quite sad that a director like Linguswamy with proven record of making interesting commercial movies like “Run” and “Sandakozhi” has made such a damp squib.

The interesting aspect in the whole film is that Siva does not express his love to his girl believing that true love would express itself. Ironically, the girl doesn’t understand his feeling throughout the movie.

Since the entire problem is solved with the power of muscles, there is no work left for the script writer indeed. Tamaanaah’s generous skin show, especially in the rain song, and the joyful attitude of Shiva are there for the director to drag the film for 150 minutes.

In addition to this there is Yuvan’s music and Madhi’s excellent camera work that help the proceedings.

In his modern avatar Karthi looks smart and charming, but he does not get any scope to act and hence there is not much to write about his acting.

Tamannaah is given little scope to display her acting credentials. Linguswamy has wasted Milind Soman.

The highlights of the film are music, cinematography, and Antony’s editing.

“Paiyaa” is a disappointing show, as Linguswamy has restored to cliched script rather than providing something new. The movie looks sleek, thanks to the high technical values but fares poor in substance with insipid story and script.

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