Film Review - Kahaani

What a movie! I'd read rave reviews of the movie and had gone with very high expectations, that too with two friends who'd already seen the movie, threatening to reveal thhe suspense everytime the movie took a turn. Yet I found the movie very thrilling, with very powerful and convincing performances.

Vidya Balan has been fantastic, playing the role of a pregnant woman with keen attention to detail like style of walking, getting tired easily, mannerisms, etc. Other supporting roles- especially that of police officer Rana and intelligence officer Khan - have also been excellent.

In spite of having two friends cracking jokes now and then, the spookiness factor was not lost. Then, like mentioned in two contexts towards the end, a pregnant woman, whom no one sees as harmful, can get to information normal people cannot.

Yet another bonus of the movie is the way Kolkata is captured in a very natural way.

Initially it is difficult to keep connecting the seemingly disconnected incidents, but the dots gets connected at the end.

A very good thriller, in short a must watch. Hats off to Vidya for carrying the entire movie on her shoulder, and hats off to the director for the right casting, including for people with minor roles like the LIC agent cum serial killer.

Salt and Pepper

The thing I like most about the Malayalam movie 'Salt & Pepper' is the beautiful way in which my home city of Thiruvananthapuram is shown. Most Malayalam films, if they are city based, focus on Kochi.

Apart from that, there are many reasons to watch the film- it is a light comedy, with the comedy aspects well woven into the storyline without having a separate comedy track. The movie is an out and out foodie movie (as the title suggests) and one would end up feeling really hungry by interval time.

That someone could make a movie so refreshingly different in Malayalam industry which has already tried various genres is really commendable. Also noteworthy is the lack of any big names in the cast.

Highly recommended, especially if you live to eat (and not the other way round)

Review: Vinai Thaandi Varuvaaya

I would never have thought that I would see a 'Simbu movie' in theatre. I did, finally, with Gautam Menon's latest offering, Vinai Thaandi Varuvaaya. Within 5 minutes of start, the movie plunged in to romance and a song, which I thought was too fast. Simbu fitted the role pretty much, and did proper acting, except for his 'open arms dance step' he kept doing throughout the movie.

Trisha also has done well, with apt looks for the role. She has a well sketched role (not the typical heroine roles you find in Tamil Cinema). The story keeps shifting between realistic and unrealistic. As with all movies, love in this movie is all about love at first sight made to feel as love by perseverance (which could very well have been an infatuation) and based on mere looks and no knowledge of personality. The script has been very realistic from a man's point of view - when he decides to fight back her brother (later tells her not to expect him to get beaten just because the guy at the other end is her brother) and also when he tells her that they can't merely be "just friends" when he dreams of making love to her.

The dialogues have been written well, including the ones that are left unsaid (Eg - when Simbu drops Trisha on his bike and asks why she keeps a physical distance with him on the bike, when he has kissed her in the train - as if if he touches her then.... [leaves the remaining unsaid]). The role played by the cameraman, Ganesan adds light comic relief in sync with the movie (unlike having a separate comedy track like Vadivelu).

The locales are good, especially Alappuzha. The cinematographer has made the places look more beautiful than they really are.

Songs and background music by A R Rahman is excellent, only that there are far too many songs and the choreography repetitive. You could replace any song with any of the other songs and never feel a difference in the flow - all songs having similar dance steps and foreign locales.

Overall, the movie has a different feel compared to regular Tamil movies. Hats off to Gautam Menon in making Simbu act properly. I did feel that Simbu was imitating Kamal Hassan when he was acting emotional scenes - the tone of his voice and body language was very similar to Kamal's.

The twist at the climax has also been handled well, which makes this movie stand out from the rest.