Movie Reviews

SYNOPSIS: Lovers Ajay and Ranya get married with the help of their friends, but the next morning, Ajay finds the girl dead on the bed. Heartbroken, he approaches a psychic to get in touch with her but his entry into her world only spells doom. MOVIE REVIEW: Finally, it looks like horror films in Tamil are coming of age. Ra is essentially a haunted house thriller but the writers Ashraf and Prabu Yuvaraj (the hero and the director of the film respectively) introduce an element of fantasy that gives it a different colour. And, their treatment isn’t kitschy in the least bit and the director whips up a genuine sense of dread (Hollywood horror films Insidious, Stir Of Echoes and Dead Silence are listed in the titles under filmography). The plot revolves around Ajay, a young man, who finds his lover-wife Ranya, dead on the morning after their marriage. Disillusioned, he seeks the help of a psychic to help him get in touch with Ranya’s ghost. However, this misadventure lets loose evil i...

STORY: Sonu and Titu are childhood besties. Sonu, the cynical millennial comes to Titu’s rescue every time he faces heartbreak and convinces him to stay single, too. But Titu, a hopeless romantic, falls for the quintessential good girl, Sweety. Is there more to her than meets the eye? REVIEW: ‘Pyaar Dosti hai’ — Shah Rukh Khan may have said that way back in 1998 but Luv Ranjan proves it with a twist in 2018. Unpredictable throughout, the film’s real love story is the friendship (platonic) between its two male characters (Kartik Aaryan as Sonu and Sunny Singh as Titu), who are inseparable. Sweety’s (Nushrat Bharucha) arrival, messes their equation, leading Sonu to wonder if the girl is good enough for his brother from another mother. Who ends up as the third wheel in this unique and somewhat bizarre love triangle, forms the story. If you are familiar with Luv Ranjan’s brand of youthful romcoms, you must know that they often represent young lovelorn men, who find themselves dan...

Director : Raj Satya Producer : S. N. Reddy Music Director : Sunil Kashyap Cinematographer : B. V. Amaranath Reddy Editor : M. R. Varma Continuing the trend of low budget films, yet another film which has hit the screens today is Hyderabad Love Story. Let’s see how the film turns out to be. Story: Bhagya Lakshmi(Reshmi Menon) falls head over heels for Karthick(Rahul Ravindran). She tries hard and somehow wins over Karthick. When everything seems to be going fine between the couple, Karthick’s ex-lover, Vaishnavi(Jia) come into the scene and disrupts the love story. Why did Vaishnavi come back into Karthick’s life? What problems did she create for Karthick? and how does he come out of this mess? That forms the rest of the story. Plus Points : Yet again, Rahul Ravindran shines in his role of a class lover boy. The talented actor once again carries the film on his shoulders with his settled performance. Rahul’s performance is very good during all the emotional scene...

Director : Vijay Chandar Producer : Moving Frame Music Director : S. Thaman Cinematographer : M. Sukumar Editor : Ruben Chiyaan Vikram’s much-anticipated action thriller, Sketch has hit the big screens today. The movie has Vikram and Tamannah in the lead roles. Let’s see what this movie offers us. Story: Sketch(Vikram) makes a living by recovering vehicles of those who don’t pay their dues. He gets involved in a gang war with another group who develops hatred towards him. One fine day, he meets Ammu(Tamannah) in the process of recovering a bike and falls in love with her. Eventually, he gets into neck deep trouble for stealing the main antagonist’s car with whom he has problems. How he comes out of all these problems forms the rest of the story. Plus points: Vikram looks apt for the role and comes up with a natural performance. His shaggy look and ease of acting help in bringing depth to the character. Vikram does really well as a person with a carefree attitude...

STORY: Recovery agent Teji and fashion designer Jinal dream of making it big in showbiz. Both win a ticket to a popular awards show in New York where they get a chance to showcase their talent. However, they soon realise that they are mere pawns in the hands of event manager Sophie, who wants to teach her boss a lesson. REVIEW: Director Chakri Toleti in his Hindi directorial debut takes viewers behind the scenes of a popular awards show and tries to elicit laughter by laying bare the drama that is an intrinsic aspect of showbiz. Teji (Diljith Dosanjh) and Jinal (Sonakshi Sinha) set out to live their dreams when they get an opportunity to be part of a Bollywood awards night and showcase their talent. But, little do they know that the awards show manager, Sophie (Lara Dutta), has chosen them from among millions of contest entrants, despite being terrible at what they do, only to embarrass her boss, Gary (Boman Irani), and wreak revenge on him for not giving her the due. Enter,...

KALYANAM STORY: The film revolves around the life of Sarath (Sravan Mukesh), who is a love-struck youth and for whom, his childhood crush Shary (Varsha Bollamma) is the be all and end all of life. His pursuit of happiness depends on Shary’s presence in his life, be it as a neighbour, a classmate or a life partner in different phases of life. KALYANAM REVIEW: As soon as the curtains are up, the film takes the audience through Sarath’s childhood and how being the only child of Prabhakaran (Sreenivasan) and wife, he is always pampered, making him a loafer. At a young age, when a child starts experiencing the many joys of life and explores his likes and dislikes, he chances upon his classmate Shary, who coincidentally becomes his neighbour. From that moment, he falls for her. Driven by love, he seizes every chance to be beside her or talk to her. Shary mesmerises him by her charm, often leaving him lost for words. Her father Sahadevan Nair (Mukesh) and Prabhakaran make the best ...

STORY: The life of Jayan and his friends in their village Chulliyarpadam enter into a roller coaster of events when love and politics take birth in their lives REVIEW: The movie can be called a one-time watch for those who like campus stories The movie Kala Viplavam Pranayam tells a relatable tale about college students in our state. Jayan (Anson Paul) is a village hunk, dearly called Jaya by his friends, played by Vineeth Vishwam, Saiju Kurup, Biju Kuttan while his childhood sweetheart turned lady love Greeshma is played by Gayathri Suresh. The youngsters including the protagonists are members of the communist party. The film revolves around Jayan and Greeshma. For Jayan, his ambitions in life were just marrying Greeshma and owning a ‘bullet’. But certain unusual incidents happen in his life, and the youngster attempts to revolt against the conventional norms of society. As a good friend and party man, Anson Paul shines in his role as Jayan. Actor Saiju Kurup and Biju Kut...

PADMAN STORY: Concerned about his wife Gayatri’s (Radhika Apte) menstrual hygiene, Lakshmikant Chauhan (Akshay Kumar) urges her to ditch the cloth and opt for sanitary napkins. Gayatri is reluctant to go for disposable pads as they are expensive. Lakshmi obsessing over a ‘ladies problem’ makes her cringe but he insists on bringing upon a change by addressing the taboo topic. Subjected to hostility for ruffling the religious and age-old beliefs of people around, can the man brave the resistance and get his point across? PADMAN REVIEW: The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do. Through Padman, R Balki tells the real life inspiring story of Arunachalam Muruganantham (played by Akshay Kumar), a social entrepreneur from Coimbatore, who invented low cost sanitary napkins in India, despite the massive opposition and humiliation he was subjected to. The director changes the film’s setting to Maheshwar, Madhya Pradesh, while retaining the core ...

AIYAARY STORY: An Indian Army officer is compelled to chase down his protege when the latter turns rogue and threatens to disrupt the country’s government and army. AIYAARY REVIEW: ‘Aiyaary’ has all the makings of a Neeraj Pandey thriller. The honest and dutiful officer Colonel Abhay Singh (Manoj Bajpayee) leads covert operations with a select group of officers. Things go awry for him and his team when Sidharth Malhotra’s Jai Bakshi – the brightest of the lot – goes rogue. Abhay Singh has to track him down while defending everything he believes in. Neeraj Pandey’s movies are known for strong character actors, and this one’s no different. To no one’s surprise, the always reliable Manoj Bajpayee gives another compelling turn as a steadfast officer bound by duty. He is the backbone of the film and is believable as a man capable of going to great lengths to complete the task at hand. Although his intent to take down his own protege is clear, his conundrum while chasing Jai Baksh...

GAYATRI STORY: Dasari Sivaji (Dr Mohan Babu) is a stage artiste on the lookout for his long-lost daughter Gayatri (Nikhila Vimal). What happened that broke his family apart? Will he ever reunite with his daughter, is what ‘Gayatri’ is all about. GAYATRI REVIEW: Gayatri is the story of Sivaji (Mohan Babu), a stage-artiste who is a master of disguise. He runs an orphanage named after his late wife and funds it with money he makes by putting his talent to use - he serves prison time on behalf of influential criminals by going in disguise. Sivaji, who has a heart of gold, but also hides a meaner side, has just one mission - to find his lost daughter Gayatri (Nikhila Vimal). Then there is Gayatri Patel, a dreaded gangster, also played by Mohan Babu. He is hell bent on framing Sivaji and also killing his daughter. Do Sivaji and his daughter manage to outwit these circumstances? ‘Gayatri’ has a lot going on for it story-wise. There’s an adorable flashback that ends in tragedy, featu...

Sai Dharam Tej is going through a tough time in his career and badly needs a hit under his belt. He has pinned a lot of hopes on his new film Intteligent which has hit the screens today. Let’s see whether this film gives Tej his much-needed hit. Story: Dharam Tej(Tej) is a software engineer who is very loyal to his company and its MD(Nasser). As time passes by, a criminal gang lands in Hyderabad and tries to overtake the company. In this process, Nasser gets killed and to make things better, Dharma Bhai enters the scene. Who is this Dharma Bhai? What does he have to do with Nasser and his company? and how does he solve all the problems? That forms the rest of the story. Plus Points : Sai Dharam does well in his role as a software engineer. The way he transforms himself in the second half and carries the film on his shoulders looks okay. He has danced well and acting wise, Tej is pretty sincere in whatever he does. Lavanya Tripathi is just about okay in her role and does n...

MOVIE SYNOPSIS: Two friends, who aspire to take control of things in their locality, face a series of issues when they take up an assignment involving kidnapping a politician’s daughter. MOVIE REVIEW: Veeramuthu (Krishna) and Pachaimuthu (Karunakaran) are close friends who do not mind sacrificing their lives for each other. They are very ambitious, and dream of becoming the leaders of a local ‘mandram’ in their locality, which is currently headed by Sura Murugan (Kanna Ravi), with the help of influential politicians. Murugan, who is aware of Veera’s and Pachai’s plans, ensures that he leaves no stone unturned to maintain his domination in their area. Based on the instruction of a respected man (Thambi Ramaiah) in their neighbourhood, the two friends get trained under Sketch Sekhar (Radha Ravi), a gangster-turned-godman. However, situation turns out in such a way that the duo assassinates their trainer. This ‘qualification’ of them lands them a deal. Kumar (Charandeep), a jail ...

Kalakalappu 2 - Laughathon Director Sundar C's touch is evident in handling an ensemble and justifying every actor's presence but has fallen short in measuring up to his own cult classic,. Jai a frustrated young man comes to know from his sanyasi father that their ancestral property worth rupees 10 Crores exists in Kasi and he sets out to retrieve it. There he stays in a dilapidated mansion owned by Jiiva who is desperate for money to marry off his sister. Jiiva is in love with his brother in law to be Sathish's sister Catherine Tresa and Jai too takes a liking for the local Tahsildar Nikki Galrani. Elsewhere an ex-minister Madhusoodhanan is desperate to retrieve his laptop that contains all his secrets from his auditor Muniskanth who has gone rogue and lands up in Kasi. Mirchi Siva returns as the con-man from the original and all these characters collide in a free for all tussle. Add to this mix Yogi Babu as a godman, VTV Ganesh as Nikki's dad, Radha Ravi as ...