Siruthai - Karthi makes it worth a watch!!

Movie - Siruthai (Tamil)
Director - Siva
Producer - KE Gnanavel Raja
Cast - Karthi, Santhanam, Thamanna, Baby Rakshana and a whole bunch of Telugu villains and supporting actors/junior artistes
Music - Vidyasagar
Cinematography - S Velraj
Editing - VT Vijayan
Stunts - Ganesh
Art - Rajeevan
Screenplay - Siva
Release Date - 14th January 2011

Siruthai is the Tamil remake of the Ravi Teja starrer Vikramarkudu which was a blockbuster directed by SS Rajamouli in Telugu. And it is done clearly with the objective of bringing out the star in Karthi. And what his elder brother Suriya got to do in two distinct films like Singam and Pithamagan, Karthi gets to do in the same film, in the form of a double role. And it is only because of him, that this movie is worth watching. 

Rocket Raja (Karthi) is a happy go lucky young man who makes a living out of conning people and picking pockets in Chennai along with his aide Kaattu Poochi (Santhanam). He meets a pretty young lady Shwetha (Tamannah) during one of his escapades and falls in love with her. In the meanwhile, there are a whole bunch of Telugu rowdies who are on the lookout for a cop Rathnavel Pandian (Karthi again) whom they thought was dead, but is still alive. Raja steals a container from a Rajasthani lady and finds that instead of gold, there was a girl child inside and she identifies him as her father. Raja is bewildered and later comes to know that she is the daughter of a person who looks exactly like him - Rathnavel Pandian. How Raja's life becomes intertwined with that of the honest cop's is the story of Siruthai.  

The movie starts with a disclaimer saying that the setting is a remote area in Andhra Pradesh, hence justifying the behaviour of the very loud and and exaggerated villains in the movie. Siruthai has a distinct Telugu feel to it, except in the portions that are shot in Chennai. The villains, supporting characters and junior artistes and even the locations are mostly from Andhra, that we sometimes forget that we're watching a Tamil movie. But leaving all that, and another major factor called logic aside, this movie is all about its leading man and his ability to convince the audience that all the silly stuff that is happening in the movie actually did happen. And that, Karthi does with elan. Every damn formula is in place, and this movie solely rests on the charm of its leading man to pull them off well. I had an issue with the portrayal of Malayalis in the movie. During a wedding, we see a Malayali man with a 'kondai' and a weird hairdo right out of the vadakkan pattu movies and in another scene we see two sluts dressed in traditional Malayali attire of blouse and pavada. Such kind of looking down upon Malayalis were not needed at all. We're not like that and its high time people from other states understood that. 

Karthi is absolutely fantastic. He makes you laugh hysterically with his rollicking as the pickpocket Rocket Raja and gives you an adrenalin rush each time he appears as Rathnavel Pandian IPS. He handles both these distinct characters effortlessly, but it is certainly Rocket Raja that wins your heart. His scenes with Santhanam and Tamanna are hilarious and it is his entry towards the climax is what makes the movie lively despite the whole Rathnavel Pandian episode in the second half. The problem with the cop role is that he is too much of a superhero and that seems slightly cliched having seen umpteen number of films with the same characterizations. But Karthi is sincere towards it and it comes out effectively too. Just that if the character could have been developed in an innovative way, it would have made a lot of difference. Santhanam is hilarious as Raja's sidekick Kaattu Poochi. After Boss Engira Bhaskaran with Arya, he has struck a great rapport with Karthi on screen and each scene with the both of them together is a riot. Tamanna looks great and plays the regular dumb heroine who comes at the right times for romance, songs and in the end, to get kidnapped by the villain so that the hero can rescue her in the climax fight. The cute little Baby Rakshana does well too. All the other actors are all right out of Telugu Cinema and everything about them is so Telugu flavoured that it is weird hearing them speak Tamil. Even the villains are no great shakes except that they're really scary looking. 

Vidyasagar has constantly been disappointing with his music off late. What happened to the great composer who used to give only gems till not so long ago. Only 'Rocket Raja' sounds good in the entire movie. Background score (by whoever it is) was effective. Cinematography went well with the requirement of the film. Art Director Rajeevan showed his creativity in Rocket Raja's hangout where he has kept stolen stuff ranging from a telephone booth to a police road block. Editor VT Vijayan has managed to keep up the pace of the movie throughout. It doesnt lag anywhere at all. Stunts by Ganesh were great to watch. The dialogues and the comic situations in the first half and towards the end of the second half were hilarious and due credit must go to the makers of the original for that. 

On the whole, Siruthai is a mindless masala entertainer which works mostly because of its leading man Karthi's charm. It may not match up to the masala-ness of its original (for people who've seen it), but it is certainly enjoyable for people who like this genre of movies. Watch it for the star in Karthi, Santhanam's comedy and of course, the guilty pleasure of watching an escapist masala entertainer. 

Rating - 3/5

Naan Mahaan Alla

Movie - Naan Mahaan Alla (Tamil)
Director - Suseenthiran
Producer - KE Gnanavelraja, Cloud Nine Movies
Cast - Karthi, Kajal Agarwal, Jayaprakash, Soori. 
Music - Yuvan Shankar Raja
Cinematography - Madhie
Art - Rajeevan
Editor - Kasi Viswanath
Story, Screenplay - Suseenthiran
Dialogues - Baskar Sakthi
Stunts - Anal Arasu
Release Date - 20th August 2010




Suseenthiran, who made a fantastic debut with Vennila Kabaddi Kuzhu last year returns with Naan Mahaan Alla in a much more bigger canvas. From the village milieu in VKK, he has shifted to namma Chennai in NMA. The story is no great shakes as we've seen the same story several times before. But it is Suseenthiran's screenplay, packaging and treatment of the age-old story that makes this movie effective. This film's genre is diametrically opposite to Suseenthiran's first film and he has proved that he is a versatile director by tackling both these genres with equal precision. 

Jeeva (Karthi) is a charming, unemployed, happy-go-lucky young guy and he is very happy with his own world consisting of his family and close friends. He meets the beautiful Priya (Kajal Agarwal) at his friend's Sudha's wedding and immediately falls for her. Priya also finds it hard not to fall for Jeeva's charm. And by the time some lovely scenes and Yuvan's trippy song 'Iragai Pole' get over, Jeeva and Priya fall in love with each other. In the meanwhile, at some other part of the city, there are a bunch of college students who are into criminal activities like rape and murder. The body parts of a young girl and boy are found at the city waste dump by the police soon after. Things take a drastic change when Jeeva's father (Jayaprakash) gets murdered by the same gang. The rest of the film is about Jeeva's quest to find his father's killers. 

The first half of the movie proceeds like a lovely romantic comedy and the second half develops into a full on revenge drama. The romantic portions between Karthi and Kajal are a treat to watch, especially due to their crackling on-screen chemistry. The camaraderie between Karthi and his loving dad Jayaprakash is also endearing. The scenes where Karthi goes to different houses as a loan collection agent are a riot. The villains are ruthless rapists and murderers and it is tough to believe that 18-19 year old college going students can turn into such cold-blooded murderers. But Suseenthiran makes us believe so through the scenes involving those guys. The climax seemed like it was a little hurried and leaves many loose ends. But no complaints, since it involved some eye-popping action sequences which were shot amazingly. The dialogues by Baskar Sakthi are witty and as real as dialogues can get. On the flipside, the violence is a little gruesome and may be turn-off for the family audience. 

Karthi is a sure-shot superstar. I've said this before in my Paiyya review. But in this movie, he goes a step further. If Paiyya showed him playing an urban hero for the first time, NMA follows it up brilliantly, with Karthi playing a charming, lovable Chennai guy yet again. In each scene, Karthi proves that he's a great actor who has got fantastic star-appeal as well. His screen presence is unbelievable. And in this movie, we get to see two different shades of him. The fun, comic and romantic hero in the first half turns into an intense action hero towards the climax. And he excels in all of them. If he goes on at this rate, he will become as big a star as his own brother in no time. (Where as his brother Suriya had to struggle more than 7-8 years to become the big star that he is today). 

Kajal is lovely in the film. Her cute looks and bubbly nature helped a lot in making the romantic scenes in the first half endearing. She performs effortlessly during the comic scenes as well, which is very rare among north-indian imports in Tamil cinema. Kajal finally makes a mark in Tamil through this movie. Jeyaprakash is slowly turning into an excellent character actor. The actor who impressed everyone through Pasanga last year, plays the loving dad to Karthi and his performance is so real that you feel they are actually father and son. Soori, the parotta guy from Vennila Kabaddi Kuzhu is fabulous as Karthi's friend. The goonda friend of Karthi also plays his part well. The gang of villains, led by the new guy Vinoth (who played the young Surya in Nandhaa) are quite successfull in sending a chill down your spine each time they come on screen. 

The cinematography by Madhie and art direction by Rajeevan go hand in hand and gives us the effect of actually being there in the midst of the events, especially in the claustrophobic space of Jeeva's house and the Tsunami affected houses in the climax. Yuvan as usual, does a kickass job with the music of the film. The movie has only 3 songs of which the brilliant 'Iragai Pole' whcih showcases the Jeeva and Priya's love story, stands out as the best. Yuvan also gives a killer background score which comes into own in the climax. Stunts by Anal Arasu are sure to get wolf whistles from action lovers and diverts the attention from a weakly written end to a good screenplay. 

NMA works because of Suseenthiran's effective story-telling and Karthi's amazing presence. The great music, stunts, art work, cinematography and dialogues add on to the impact making NMA one of the best entertainers in recent times. If the writer-director had given some more thought to the climax of the film, he would have had a flawless entertainer in his hands. But as i said earlier, the stunts more than make up for the slightly weaker climax (compared to the rest of the film). Go for Naan Mahaan Alla, it is guaranteed that you will be engaged and entertained throughout its length. And yea, there's the sleek teaser of Venkat Prabhu's 'Mangaatha' starring Ajith and Nagarjuna added to the print of NMA as an extra bonus. 


Rating - 3.5/5