Velaikkaran review: "Thought provoking but more velai required in the execution!!!"

Just like most people, I spent this Christmas weekend attending mass, feasting on the delicacies & watching movies. Well the first movie happened to be "Tiger Zinda Hai", the review of which I had posted a couple of days back. The other one that tempted me to watch was "Velaikkaran" as it marked the debut of Fahadh Faasil in the Tamil film industry. To add to the excitement, it was directed by Mohan Raja who had called the shots in the impressive "Thani Oruvan". So will it live upto expectations???

The film opens with Arivu (Sivakarthikeyan) seeking the permission of Kasi (Prakash Raj), the gangster in his locality to open a FM station. Since it was a slum, his main intention to start a community radio station was to educate the people in his neighbourhood about the evils that prevented their upliftment. As expected, Kasi shuts down the FM as it threatened his influence in the region. At around this time, Arivu gets employed as a marketing executive at "Saffron", the numero uno company in the consumer world.  His new boss was Adhi (Fahadh Faasil), an ambitious manager with whom he develops a close bond. Even as Arivu enjoyed his job he soon realizes that the corporate world isnt much different from the gangsters as the former was just greedy about profits with utter disregard for the consumers. This scenario inspires him to bring about a positive change, but was it even possible???

The amount of research that has gone into the script with regard to market dynamics deserves praise & kudos to Mohan Raja for it. The message that he wants to convey is loud & clear, but the problem is the protagonist keeps repeatedly harping about it that after a point of time it becomes tedious to the audience. It almost felt like the message has taken centre stage while the story is just flimsily built around it. On the technical side, Ramji's visuals & Anirudh's music deserves applause for their craft while the BGM & the editing by Reuben & Vivek Harshan were average . A word of praise for the art department as well, that has done a fine job in creating the slum environment.

It might sound surprising but this is the first movie that I had watched of Sivakarthikeyan though he has been in the industry for close to five years now. He has given an earnest performance & was an apt choice for the role. Fahadh's credentials as an actor is well documented & he has given a thumping performance yet again in the screen space provided to him. To be frank, he actually owned the scene whenever he came on screen. Sneha was impressive, Prakash Raj was under utilized while Nayanthara was wasted. 

Verdict: Mohan Raja has tackled an extremely important issue of food marketing & consumer response. It's a subject that each one of us needs to seriously think about in this fast moving world. The message was conveyed effectively but it slipped into a preachy tone after a while. It is sure to make a positive impact at the box-office though it could have been better if more thought was put into the screenplay. In short, do check it out!!!

Rating: 2.75/5

Regards...Ben 

Tiger Zinda Hai review: "Salman roars to yet another blockbuster!!!"

On the auspicious occasion of Xmas, I would like to wish each & everyone a peaceful & joyful festive season. Since there was hardly any movie that caught my eye in the past month, my blog was off the radar until this weekend. Being Xmas, a plethora of movies have released in all languages hoping to cash in on the extended weekend. The biggest release is undoubtedly from Khan, well it's not Aamir (who invariably releases during this time) but rather Salman with "Tiger Zinda Hai". It is the sequel to "Ek Tha Tiger" & Salman will be hoping that it will make amends for the abysmal "Tubelight". Hmm...will the box-office go gaga???

ISC was creating havoc in the Middle East under the leadership of Abu Usman (Sajjad Delfrooz) & all the nations were at a loss as to how to contain this terrorist organisation. ISC's latest act of terrorism was to take 25 nurses (mostly Indian & Pakistani) as hostages & convert the Iqrit hospital in Iraq into their terrorist base. With negotiation virtually impossible with Abu, the US army decides to launch a drone attack on the hospital which would effectively decimate every living being in the vicinity. However, they agreed to hold off the attack for a week as the Indian Government through their RAW Chief Shenoy (Girish Karnad) had requested time to rescue the nurses. Since a mission of this magnitude had to be handled by the best, Shenoy gets in touch with his former agent Tiger (Salman Khan) who had vanished from the scene eight years back. Though Shenoy convinces Tiger to come out of retirement, will the latter be as ruthless as before especially with a family now ???

Unlike the prequel, this is helmed by Ali Abbas Zafar who was last seen with "Sultan" which I personally consider as one of Salman's finest performance. It is inspired from the actual hostage situation that had unfolded in 2014, which had earlier led to the brilliant "Take Off". Being a Salman movie, you cant lament the fact that it belies logic after all "over the top" stuff is what he is known for. To be fair to Abbas, he has given what the audience expects with an all out action thriller. Though a shade too long, it remains true to being an action thriller with no unnecessary romantic scenes that impeded the pace in the prequel. The action sequences & Marcin's visuals were awesome while Vishal Shekhar's music was average. 

Tiger was a role that was tailor made for Salman with loads of action & ripping muscles. He has done utmost justice to the role & was given excellent support by Katrina who carried out her action sequences brilliantly as well. Sajjad was an apt choice as the antagonist which he performed impressively. There was a host of supporting artists as well such as Paresh Rawal, Kumud Mishra, Girish Karnad etc, all of whom have done their parts aptly.

Verdict: Without a shadow of doubt, the audience will lap it up with glee making it yet another humongous blockbuster for Salman. It is a sure shot 250C at the box-office with the question being, how much will it eventually make. It's an ideal choice for a bindaas time pass & if you know what to expect from a Salman movie, you can rest assured that you will be thoroughly entertained. So check it out for some high voltage action!!!

Rating: 2.75/5

Regards...Ben