Mayakkam Enna review

A few of my friends had discouraged me from seeing “Mayakkam Enna” (ME) but I felt after watching the trailer and also the combination of the brothers (Selva & Dhanush) they could be wrong and yes I was proven right.

ME is the story about Karthik Swaminathan (Dhanush), how he pursues his passion, Photography, and how he overcomes the many hurdles and pitfalls that lay before him. He lives with an amazing group of friends, who support him and his sister. Trouble starts when Sundar, his close friend, introduces Yamini (Richa) as his girlfriend to all his friends. From day one both, Yamini and Karthik, hate each other, but know underneath that still there is something that attracts both of them. Karthik tries hard to land a good job on the strength of his photographs but meets with failure at every step. Eventhough many discourage him against pursuing this passion he sticks to it. On the other side, he also gets attracted to Yamini, but is caught between his loyalty to his friend and his love, which is brought beautifully on screen by Selva.

He finally gets a chance to prove himself when his idol sends him on a project but after he returns with the photographs, he is cheated by his very own idol and this leaves a very deep impact on him. He becomes kind of a recluse and the rest of the story is about how he regains his lost confidence and ultimately achieves his dream.

Yamini played by Richa is such a strong character who is one of the most significant part of Karthik’s life. Just could not believe that this is Richa’s first film, she has done a fantastic job. In the first half she is a headstrong, practical girl and in the second half she transforms herself into Karthik’s wife. The other notable character is Karthik’s friend, Sundar who also has done a very commendable job.

There are a lot of scenes in the film which are really good. One scene is where Karthik and Yamini hug each other and suddenly Sundar calls up Karthik and both feel very guilty. Selva should be congratulated for bringing this movie to us and Dhanush should be appreciated for portraying Karthik as a reflection of today’s youth.

Aadukalam review

Aadukalam, what can I say about the film? The least I can say is, that it is one of the best films made in recent times and will be mentioned among the best films of this decade. Coming to the story, the film is mainly about the life of men who rear Roosters for fights and the gang includes Pettaikaran (the Leader), Karuppu (Dhanush) and Durai (Kishore). Durai is the financier for Pettaikaran.

Pettaikaran has a great track record when it comes to Rooster fighting and especially against Rathinam. Pettaikaran challenges Rathinam for a Rooster fight challenge and says that the one who loses should not get involved in Rooster fight again and the Tournament progresses. Pettaikaran’s rooster’s wins all the challenges against Rathinam but an issue arises when Karuppu uses his rooster for the challenge against Rathinam’s rooster. Earlier, Pettaikaran had ordered Karuppu to kill the rooster as he felt it will not perform well, but Karuppu on the basis of his affection to the rooster did not agree to Pettaikaran and that sowed the seeds of bitterness in Pettaikaran’s heart for Karuppu. Also Karuppu’s rooster wins the challenge and he is crowned the next Pettaikaran and this further hurts the ego of Pettaikaran.

The performances of all the actors have been superb and the casting is perfect, especially of Pettaikaran (dubbing by Radharavi, who has done a great job). Dhanush has lived the role and this is one of the best performances of him that I have seen. The first half of the film runs at a steady pace but comparatively the second half lags a bit. Also from the climax the Director hints that there might be a sequel. The scenes between Tapasee and Dhanush evoke some comic situations otherwise there is not much scope for comedy. The interval block where the two rooster’s fight is simply superb and the visual effects in those scenes are too good.

The only two things I felt that was often repeated  was the background of Madurai, (it was essential for the film) but I feel that there had been already a lot of Madurai based films made and for a change Directors should opt for other places like Tirunelveli or Coimbatore, etc. The next thing I feel that Dhanush often repeats (almost all of his films) is in doing a role where he is not liked by the parents and often ridiculed. He should change this in his future films. The music by GV Prakash is superb, especially “Yathe Yathe” also he has excelled in the background score of the film which lifts the scenes. The “Ayyayo” song is vintage SPB. How does he sound so youthful even now?? Last but not the least we have to congratulate Vetrimaran for a superb movie and that too only in his second movie. He is surely one of the Directors to look out for.

My rating is 4/5. This movie can be watched at least twice.