Weekend movies - Chennai Kaadhal and Varalaaru

Chennai Kaadhal - Don't ask me why I watched this pathetic movie. I have been waiting for 2 movies at my local Indian store - Vattaram and Thiruvilaiyadal Aarambam. But since they both haven't gotten here yet and since I had seen all the other recent movies (save for untouched gems like Idhu Kaadhal Varum Paruvam & Nenjirukkum Varai), I decided to go with this one. One reason for selecting this one was Bharath, bcos of the kind of movies he has been selecting to do. Another reason was Vikraman. Mistake me not, I am probably the biggest hater of Vikraman and his movies you could find around. When I went to Vaanathai Pola during my final year in college, I couldn't even sit through the first 5 mins. But the reason why I still ventured into renting this DVD was bcos of his statements that he has given a youthful movie, quite different from his earlier offerings. Wrong. Lesson learnt – don’t trust the words of directors trying to make comebacks. This was easily the worst movie I have seen in a long time (Vallavan comes a close second). It had no story whatsoever and had the most stereotypical screenplay you could think of. It was so bad that even a child who has only watched 1 Tamil movie can easily predict every scene in the movie. If we were to compile a list of the top 100 clichéd scenes that ever came out of Tamil cinema, every scene in this movie would have found a place in that list. There would be couple of so-called serious scenes, followed by a comedy scene, which would in turn be followed by something that vaguely resembles a romance and then there would be the dream song on some exotic locales. Within all this commotion of a screenplay, the director finds the time & audacity to squeeze in a fight sequence every few scenes. Genelia and Bharath just sleepwalk through their roles. But you can't really blame them since there should be something in the movie to inspire them. BTW Bharath, what were all those collar lifting scenes with high sounding background music? You too, Bharath? Joshua Sridhar tries his best to rehash some of the earlier hits of both Mottai & ARR in the name of songs and ultimately fails. I can't think of one thing to appreciate in the movie. My only hope is that directors like Vikraman are never given another to chance to direct a film.

Varalaaru - Was not really looking forward to watching this movie. But since everyone had spoken highly of Ajith's performances in his effeminate role, I thought I should check it out. The movie was as typical a KSRavikumar movie can get. It is really amazing that how this guy can reel off movies, which you can neither classify as good nor as bad, at such a consistent rate. I mean, he simplifies the whole plot & story to such an extent that even a slightly complex story as this one was made to look so ordinary. You can give him the most complex story with an equally complex screenplay to direct and he will still be successful in coming up with a simple movie with completely predictable scenes. I think it requires a special talent to do that but that would also be the reason why he would never even be thought when the list of best directors in Tamil cinema is compiled by most of us. I have to say something about Ajith. It is so apparent that the guy puts in so much effort but for all his efforts, it doesn’t make watching him act a very enjoyable experience. Folks like Dhanush and Jeeva are way better than him when it comes to acting and I wouldn’t even go into discussing his name along with the likes of Surya and Vikram. His dancing is average, at best and it is amazing how he hasn't improved a bit all these years. Asin is there. Nothing much to say about her 'role'. The 'misunderstanding' which leads to the blossoming of love between Ajith & Asin is downright disgusting. The songs were strictly OK. Background music was a joke, as always. I am sure ARR would have assigned the BGM work to one of his assistants. I don't know when we started the concept of having this friend's group come along with the hero throughout the movie but it is starting to look ridiculous now-a-days. In this movie, Ajith's gang includes Ramesh Krishna, dance master Johnny, the guys who comes in 7GRC. It was pathetic to see them trout around in every scene. KS Ravikumar's streak of reeling off hits with beaten-to-death stories seems to continue in this largely uninteresting movie. It is when I see movies like these, I feel bad for Ajith whose career could have taken a turn for the better with Naan Kadavul.