Moucho Prema; a final picspam.

Young Vikram! I know, it's weird for me, too.

Once again, three favourites unite in a single picture and still Prakash Raj manages to be the coolest, no competition.

Mammootty's pole dance is like nobody else's. Love it.

One more for Prakash Raj, as I couldn't resist (from Anniyan, as you might recognise). Did you know that despite being best known in Tamil and Telugu films, the man is actually a born-and-bred Kannadiga?

Now to Hindi oldies - if ever there was a moustache that screamed "this guy is up to no good"! Here's Pran from the oldie Aasha.

I may have posted this before; in fact, I'm almost certain I have. Who cares? It's Vinod Khanna in Mera Gaon Mera Desh.

Sanjeev Kumar as Thakur-saab from ..oh, have a guess. 

I can't handle this amount of cool.

Southie award ceremonies (I'm guessing) - when they seat all your favourites in one row, and Prakash Raaj still somehow manages to be the coolest one in the picture.

Or: my brain goes dhdfkjghkjdfg.

Everything I didn't know to ask for: Ko.

I'd heard the Tamil political thriller Ko (translates Leader according to Wikipedia) was good, but had no idea just how good until I sat down to watch it. Immediately the film was engrossing - the story unfolds quickly, contains a couple of interesting twists and is accompanied by fun songs. It's just a great watch, and simultaneously entertains and makes one think about the establishment of politics, the corruptive nature of power, and the cynicism in all of this.

A photographer (Jiiva) and a journalist (Karthika) begin to uncover the corruption and immoral behaviour of both the opposition and the government, and also discover a new political party rising from obscurity into inspiring masses of people, both young and old. As the story progresses, the two also fall in love - this romantic strand of the plot is probably the film's absolute weakest link, but lends itself to some really gorgeous songs, so I can't fault it too much.

The biggest find of the film was its lead Jiiva (or Jeeva, if you prefer). The young star is well-cast into the role of the brave but idealist photographer, and he's not a bad dancer, either. I've only seen him in this and in the 3 Idiots remake Nanban, but I anticipate watching more of him, as I hear he's also done some rather off-beat roles.

The second delightful thing was just the clever way the story unfolds. It starts off with a bang - an action scene where Jiiva chases down some bankrobbers to snap pictures of them for the cops, and then retreats to the main story. Journalists once again get to be heroes, which interests me. In some other contexts, it seems that journalists would be the villains - anybody who has followed the United Kingdom's phone hacking scandal and the Leveson inquiry into press ethics and behaviour that followed the scandal would know the way in which journalists will occasionally do anything to get the inside scoop.

In  here, the journalists go rather far sometimes, but it's all for a good cause, and they don't break the law or anything. However, the politicians themselves will stop at no length to get what they want - to cast their opponent in horrible light, or to gain more votes. The corruptness of the politicians is almost comical here.

Ajmal (or Ajmal Ameer) plays a young idealist graduate who begins his own party and movement called Wings to counter the two corrupt main parties in the upcoming election. Due to certain events, the Wings party gains followers who are inspired by the goodness and the change that this new movement entails.

The portrayal of the popular new movement is very interesting - it seems to harp back to other popular movements of recent history, like the Obama 2008 presidential campaign, which employed inspired volunteers and iconic campaign slogans (Yes We Can) very effectively. I won't discuss the Wings movement any further as to not spoil anything ... but it is highly interesting, and multi-faceted. Ajmal also does great in the role.

Karthika as the heroine could have been a fantastic role and performance. She's a capable young woman who is good and passionate about her job as a journalist. So how come she ends up being the thing I like the least about this film?

Well, first - look at those eye-brows. They're plucked and shaped to give her a permanently glowering look, which serves as no advantage when you're trying to play a character who shouldn't come off as a stroppy teenager. Even when she smiles, she looks slightly disdainful. As for acting, Karthika doesn't pour a lot of personality into the role. She's just there, pretty and a bit flirtatious at times, but mostly just there, a complete vacuum where a good performance should be.

The script doesn't help by giving the love story a slight love triangle flavour by having a friend and colleague (played by Piaa Bajpai) also have feelings for Jiiva's character. None of it really works as well as it should, and even though Jiiva tries to inject some acting and emotion into the whole thing, it's just something to serve as lead-in to some of the (admittedly really good) songs.

Such as this one.

Speaking of songs, they are really crisply shot and for the most part absolutely awesome - almost worth the DVD purchase alone. Whether filmed in gorgeous locations such as this one, or a club number with a bunch of Tamil star cameos (Surya, Karthi, Tamannah, even the composer Harris Jeyaraj himself!) they're worth rewatching. The only one I was irked by was the obligatory foreign locale song, with the equally obligatory awkward white dancers.

Oh, and Jiiva is thankfully a good dancer, joy of joys!

So if Tamil films are available to you at all, seek out Ko - it's a solid film where the pacing makes sure that three hours of film just fly by, and especially for anybody who is curious about political films in India. This is the best one that I've seen so far, and it's surprisingly thought-provoking for a mainstream film! 

Wanted - celebrating cross-regional talent exchange.

I wasn't overly impressed with Aamir's Ghajini but I suppose I have to thank it for allowing Hindi industry to see that the action entertainers the Tamil and Telugu industries churn out and have been for a very long time are worth taking a look at. The action direction, the cinematography and often the stories and acting can be all-around top-notch. Overlooking these films is a mistake, and remaking them can be a venture that benefits everybody; the viewers, the producers and the stars.

Wanted definitely belongs to the successful bunch of Southie-to-Bolly remakes, and isn't to be grouped with those haphazardly directed Priyadarshan remakes that barely anybody remembers or cares to remember they are even remakes in the first place. I suspect Wanted benefited a lot from transporting some of South's talent along with the script. Prabhudeva (or Prabhudheva as the name is spelled in the credits) lends his talent to the direction and the choreography (of course!). Prakash Raj plays a villain like only he could. The cinematographer Nirav Shah has worked in most industries but the fights are shot like this is a gritty Tamil action masala, not Dhoom 2.

I'm beyond happy with this exchange of talent. If you must remake, why look outside India for good stories? And while, admittedly, a lot of these remakes can turn out much lamer than the original, this is one example where I think they got it right. Of course, I've seen neither Pokiri or Pokkiri, the Telugu original or the Tamil remake, but the feel of the film is pitch-perfect and reminds me of all my Southie favourites of this genre.

I'm definitely with Shweta, theBollywoodFan, Ramsu and Nicki (no review yet, Nicki?) on this: Wanted is a gem.

Radhe (Salman Khan, in absolute top form ..if only he was this good all the time!) is an unapologetic goonda. If he gets paid, he kills and he sides with the gangster who pays him more, forming no lasting alliances. He is absolutely unstoppable. In Mumbai, you have two gangsters, each fighting to gain a bigger share of the power pie, a police commissioner desperate to stop them and from this jumble of a plot, we get two head villains; Prakash Raj playing Ganibhai, a gangster arranging things comfortably from abroad and Mahesh Manjrekar playing a grossly corrupt cop, sleazily courting the heroine Jhanvi (Ayesha Takia).

The story is surprisingly good - I say surprisingly because I was only expecting a mildly okay one to excuse all the gory kills Salman delivers in this movie. It keeps you hooked to the movie, and is paced very nicely. I have to mention the small but significant presence of Vinod Khanna in this film, one of the reasons I had to see it. The concentration of "People Veracious Really Likes" in this movie is pretty damn high. More of films like this, please! (Mani Ratnam is clearly listening, as he's making the Hindi Raavana - Abhishek and Vikram, yes!)

Another reason why the film stole my heart during the first thirty minutes or so is the mix of comedy and romance. While the "comedy track" (a staple on Southie films of this kind) in Wanted was kind of lacking, the interesting romance was infused with comedy at first and it's an absolute riot. Not to spoil anything, but Radhe's constant hallucinations and the cute elevator scene made me crack up constantly. As Jhanvi begins to realize just what kind of a man she's gotten involved with, we see her struggle with it, as one realistically would. I like the uncertainty in the romantic storyline, and Salman and Ayesha shared lovely chemistry.

Prakash Raj is, as expected, awesome. His Ganibhai is cool and clever, but not clever enough to never be completely outwitted, and not cool enough not to be rattled. He's a sleaze, but knows the game he's playing. There's a brilliant self-aware moment in the film where he tells Radhe, "You look like a romantic hero." and Radhe coolly replies, "You look like a villain in a b-grade Hindi film."

But let it be known to the Hindi-film-watching masses; Prakash Raj is a grade A villain, all around. This movie can serve as evidence.

Salman Khan doesn't really act as much as he is and does. The way he channels this role is great, though. Radhe has both the cool romantic hero that has a sense of humor about himself and the merciless killing machine inside of him. Most of the time I forget why I like Salman as an actor, and then films as good as this one, carried so nicely by his broad shoulders, remind me why.

If I had one complaint about the film, it would be that as lovely as the picturizations are, supremely choreographed and just plain fun to watch, the songs aren't all that. I don't find myself humming them, or wanting to listen to them again. They are memorable only because of the visuals; Jalwa with its ace guest appearances and some of the others thanks to dancing and how good the actors look.

I would definitely place Wanted among my favourites of the year, but not recommend it for those people who despise violence and plenty of inventive, gory deaths. For Southie fans such a disclaimer would not be necessary, but for Hindi film fans more used to lighter violence or no violence whatsoever, I feel like giving a warning is only fair.

Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana - the one Siddharth film to rule them all.

Today I had the fortune of sitting down with some friends of mine and making them watch Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana, the Telugu super-hit from 2005. My friends have seen tens of Indian films by now, but I don't think any of the films they'd seen so far could have prepared them for what was coming: a wonderfully romantic, funny, visual, glorious masala film. I can't believe I haven't discussed it on this blog yet, so allow me to correct that now.

It's one that even some mostly-exclusively-Hindi-film-watching people have made the effort to seek out and watch, and I'm very glad about that. This film is just such a gem and very accessible to people who like Bollywood. NVNN (or NVNV as it's sometimes abbreviated) takes its influences from Bollywood classics, such as DDLJ or Maine Pyaar Kiya, after all.

So the story is what you can imagine, based on the influences; rich NRI boy Santosh (Siddharth) returns to India for a wedding of a childhood friend, whose best friend is Siri, a girl of good heart but modest wealth (Trisha). He's wild and flirty and gets on her nerves, but of course, they end up falling in love anyway. As beautiful and strong as their love is, it still faces the challenge of convincing her brother (Srihari) that the NRI boy is good enough for his precious younger sister.

Of course, it goes without saying that the above plot description is extremely "bare bones". There is, in fact, a great amount of detail woven into the otherwise stereotypical masala script. The reason why the brother feels discontent towards rich people, for example, is demonstrated in the beginning of the film. That's not to say everything is incredibly original, but something about the script is so thought-through that it works splendidly.

Santosh at the beginning of the film is what some people would call annoying, what I call hilarious and what could be described as "kid on an extreme sugar high". He's hyperactive, playful, loud, and I suppose his shows of physical affection are meant to highlight the fact he's "westernized". Nevertheless, I loved him from the get go. The love story develops believably, there's mischief but also a lot of sweetness, as the two get to know each other.

The film's general tone might be over-the-top with the comedy on the first half, but I adore it, and I continue adoring it when it smooths over and we get the more somber but still entertaining second half. My friends scoffed a little at the idea that a love that blossomed in 15 days may be so strong as to endure the trials placed on it on the second half, but these are the kind of masala premises you have to buy into. If you do, you're rewarded with a great movie.

Ostrich pants - when I knew I would love this film like nothing else.

What helps make the story a great ride is the amazing way the film is shot. To everybody and anybody who is perhaps tired of seeing foreign (as in, non-Indian) locales in your Indian films, you need to watch Southie films! The loving way Venu Gopal (if I'm to believe the back of the DVD box) has shot the countryside of India is worth noting. The songs, the costumes, just pretty much all the visuals, are lovely.

Which brings us to...

The music. Seeing as how this film is directed by a man whose name is synonymous with dance, it's no wonder it feels like the whole movie is in a way choreographed, danced more than it is acted. What struck me about Siddharth as an actor in this movie, and why I became a fan, was the physicality of the role (and I know that sounds like a pretentious thing to say about a masala entertainer but hear me out). He's a great dancer, and that shows, when he plays the physical comedy scenes, the hyperactive energy Santosh has on the first half, but also the more serious determinence we see in the character on the first half. The choreographies in the film are so wonderful, as well, intricate and imaginative.

Rewatching NVNN really makes me want to see Wanted, Prabhu Deva's Hindi directional debut. This man is capable of good things, so much is clear, but I'm really psyched about seeing whether he infuses a more straight-forward action flick with a touch of choreography, as he did with NVNN and its masala format.

And once again let me remind you that Prakash Ra-- I mean, Prakash Dad is in this movie. And while I think his later Dad roles have been more exceptional, this one stands as a damned classic Prakash Dad performance. Everybody needs a dose of Prakash Dad every once in a while.

I know not everybody is going to love this movie but it's definitely a special one, for me personally, but as I understand it, also in the history of Telugu cinema. This film brought life to the industry, giving it new talent, new energy, new gloss. A breath of fresh air. I won't argue whether Tollywood needed that, I'll simply say that I'm happy this film exists. So very happy.

Quickfire thoughts to fuel procrastination.

1. Kareena, if only you'd gotten your hands on this hottie during the 90's...

2. It's been brought to my attention that Wanted has several things I like, such as Prabhudeva in the director's seat, Vinod Khanna as a guest appearance and Prakash Dad as Prakash Something-other-than-Dad. As a result? Kind of dying to see the film now. Can't wait!

3. I finished watching Tum Haseen Main Jawaan on my brand new TV tonight. So, that movie was a little too crazy. Am I getting old?

4. Just make a movie together, guys. You know we want you to, we know you want to, and it'll satisfy Aamir's Shahrukh-hugging quota. Poor fella.

5. Abhishek and Aishwarya on Oprah. Question: why does anybody watch Oprah? Most pointless talk show ever. Superficial questions, short interviews, barely anything to them. Still, Abhishek's sense of humor salvaged the wreckage for me.

6. That TV show Psych's Bollywood episode: cute! Sendhil from Heroes got to actually do something! Not perfect (an Indian character mispronounced "Raj", come on now) but definitely a good effort.

7. And in a lieau of Bollywood-related things, America's Best Dance Crew's Bollywood challenge? The less said, the better. I dig this show a lot but it didn't mix. It just didn't.

8. I don't even remember which movie this picture is from but as it's named "ILUPRAKASHRAJ.jpg" (ILU = I love you), I guess so much needs to be said.

Bheema; vigilante justice was never this boring!

Oh, Bheema. I waited for you so long, through all the delays and the set-backs. I knew I should keep my expectations low - you would not amount to anything more than an average Tamil action masala. "But," I kept thinking, "I like those, don't I? And this one has Vikram, and Prakash Raj, and Trisha looking lovely. Surely that's got to count for something, right?"

And so finally you arrived, without much notice, and I began watching. And stopped. And tried continuing. And stopped. And like this, little by little, I progressed until I finally tied myself down for the last hour or so.

Bheema, like so many Tamil films, is a tale of men. Women are a footnote, the kind you merely skim through. The most central relationship is between gangster Chinna (Prakash Raj) and his bodyguard/goon Sekar (Vikram), who first saw Chinna as a kid, and has since then aspired to be the kind of Man with a capital M that Chinna is. It's a kind of a manly love story - one of admiration, devotion as well as friendship. Law-abiding is not an option in their world; the police are corrupt and useless to the extreme.

Of course, Chinna's gang uses violence to punish those that go unpunished by the police - the true wrongdoers. And so very have truckloads of film violence, Sekar being a badass extraordinaire, the director trying to inject emphasis with annoying computer effects and way too many stylized shots and of course, the joke of a romantic storyline between Trisha's character and Sekar.

There's no reason why she falls in love with Sekar and then stalks him here and there. She fully understands he's one rude, dangerous feller (with admittedly rather nice looks & physique) who couldn't give two craps about her, and yet she bugs him until the magical moment when he against all reason suddenly likes her a lot, too. The song sequences are glorious visually, and if I focus hard to forget about the actual "love story", I enjoy them a lot. In general, though? Meh.

I remain a fan of Prakash Raj but when the storyline is as much a mixed bag as this film's was, there's not much even fine actors can do with it. There is always the occasional convincing moment but I just didn't care enough for the characters, or their cause. Even the most fantastically choreographed fight scenes made me shrug and check the time stamp - how much of this film did I have left to view..

But maybe I'm being harsh, maybe I just needed to get into the good ol' action masala mood, maybe there was a scene I missed because I was busy filing my nails or something. Or maybe my evaluation is completely correct, and this is just one of those tragic low points in Vikram's career; the kind where you agree to do films beneath you even though just about everybody knows you can do better.

And if nothing else, I quite enjoyed the "Siru paarvayalae" song, a historical picturization where for no reason whatsoever Vikram gets captured in various settings and Trisha dances and then releases him and yet nobody tries to recapture him. There's no logic, but who needs logic when you can have the pretty? Here's the song on YouTube.

Tamil Nadu politics, let me show you them. Iruvar.

How much do Indians love their films? Enough to promote their favourite stars into their political representatives. I know my favourite Bollywood actress Hema Malini busies herself in the Parliament nowadays (I don't pay much attention to her political beliefs; based on what I've heard about BJP, her party of choice, I doubt I'd agree with them) and she's not alone, far from it.

In the South-Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the relationship between films and politics is undeniable. Iruvar, one of director Maniratnam's best works, draws from this relationship - it depicts the lives of two men, who start out as friends working in the film industry (Prakash Raj plays the writer Selvam, Mohanlal the actor Ananda) and end up as political rivals. The story is loosely based on MG Ramachandran and R. Karunanidhi - two big names in Tamil Nadu's political history.

It's a little confusing, watching Iruvar without being aware of this connection. The film would end up as quite a vague whole without knowing the history of it, and the complications and controversies that rose from Maniratnam making the film.

Regardless, the film is definitely worth the watch even for those of us not too versed in the political history. It's a fantastic piece of cinematography, has a memorable A R Rahman soundtrack, as well as a star whose face the whole world would come to know; Aishwarya Rai makes her debut in the film. And while I'm far, far from being a fan, she is quite lovely in this. She's surprisingly sufficient in the role based on the actress-politician Jayalithaa (who marries MGR and carries on his political legacy, too). Her pairing with Mohanlal is far from believable (not to mention perhaps just plain gross), but Aishwarya does good for a debut performance.

Prakash Raj is an actor who belongs to my secondary top ten of actors, but this is without a doubt the best I've seen of him. He's nowadays seen mostly playing father roles or villain-y father roles in Tamil/Telugu flicks, and he's very good at that, too. But in here? He's intense in every single way; as a lover to Tabu's character, as a spirited politician, as a passionate poet. If I ever buy the DVD, he will be the reason.

It's difficult to analyze whether Iruvar's greatest shortcoming is really a flaw at all. It ties closely to reality, it probably makes a statement of some kind, and the implications of the last monologue by Prakash Raj's character are up in the air.. Is it great cinema only if you've done your homework? The texts of history basically shape the film into a cohesive one; without them, it's slightly difficult to grasp certain things about it.

Whatever your education level regarding Tamil Nadu history is, this is one film you shouldn't miss out on.

Don't be a stranger to Anniyan no more.

If somebody was to ask me for the most entertaining film I know, I would answer Anniyan (Tamil for 'stranger') before they had a chance to finish the question.

For Anniyan, Tamil director Shankar's big budget superhit from 2005, contains everything a movie ticket ought to buy you. It has the visuals, the comedy, the action, the romance and a bit of social significance, as well. It's just a big damn movie.

And it's awesome.

The picture here is just an example of the outrageously whacky visuals you get with Shankar films. And how can you not adore them? It's nuts! It's colourful! He also abuses special effects mercilessly, which amuses me greatly.

The plot of the film tells of Ambi (Vikram), a pedantic lawyer, who annoys just about everybody around him. The girl he loves (Sada) is equally unimpressed with the way he deals with problems in society; he will not let a wrong-doing go, and will lecture at people about even the smallest things. Meanwhile, somebody is murdering people in very unusual ways. Ambi's friend (Vivek) works together with the DCP (Prakash Raj) to solve these cases..

If that sounded boring to you, don't worry. Vikram plays three characters in the film, and Vivek provides some of the funniest comedy I've ever seen. And when the film has an occasional lapse in quality, the hillarity doesn't stop there.

Just youtube the song "Remo remo". I dare you not to laugh your head off.

Yep. Anniyan is a film not to be taken too seriously. You can take in the social message, ponder it, turn it upside down, I will even discuss and debate it with you, should you want it. But at core Anniyan sets out to entertain and oh boy, does it ever. I've seen the movie nearly 10 times and never does it fail to do just that.