Coming Soon - Indiralogathil Na. Azhagappan
We're not even a month into 2008 and as far as Tamil cinema goes, we've already been let down by stars like Vikram, Simbhu and Bharath. So we now look towards a comedian to see if he can lift Tamil cinema from the doldrums. Vadivelu's second film as hero, Indiralogathil Na. Azhagappan, arrives in theaters tomorrow and has a few things going for it.
Like Vadivelu's previous film, the hilarious Imsai Arasan 23aam Pulikesi, the most attractive thing about INA is its genre. With masala films and romances making up the bulk of Tamil cinema, any film that tackles a different genre is welcome. INA appears to be a socio-fantasy set in the heavens and that automatically sets it apart from most other films.
Vadivelu still isn't my favorite comedian. I feel that his name on the credits automatically brings down the class of any film a few notches and that he has had way more misses than hits in his comedy routines so far. But after films like Giri, Winner, Chandramukhi and Thalainagaram, he has definitely grown on me. He makes me laugh when he first appears on screen and can get laughs out of of otherwise ordinary situations and lines. He has developed his own style that is easily identifiable and frequently imitated and that, more than anything else, is a sign that he has found his own spot in Tamil cinema. Given the right role, he can be extremely funny and with 3 roles(a stage actor, Lord Indira and Yama) in INA, we can hope that one or more of them sits well on him.
While Vadivelu is the biggest name in the film, it also has Shriya doing an item number(this apparently lost her the heroine role in Ajith's next movie but earned her a fat paycheck). The heroines are a new face Yamini Sharma and Suja and Nasser and Sumitra are also in the cast. The film is directed by Thambi. Ramaiah, who, according to Wiki, directed Manuneedhi a long time ago. Seems like a strange choice to direct a socio-fantasy and one can only hope that he treats the subject the right way. Art direction is by Thotta Tharani and so I'm guessing that the movie will atleast look richer than Imsai Arasan.
While Imsai Arasan atleast had Shankar's name behind it, INA is being sold solely on Vadivelu's name. Let's hope he delivers...
Balaji's Thots... [Permalink]
Your Thots (18)
18 Comments:
By the way,what are theanswers for the TAMIL CINEMA Quiz?
BB, I just saw it and I personally thought it was a snoozefest. It had a few good messages underneath but overall, I almost fell asleep once or twice in the movie. It absolutely lacked a coherent story or screenplay like Imsai Arasan and was here and there. I really loved the sets and art direction though, it was probably the only thing that kept me interested till the end. Might end up posting a review on my blog.
I also personally think Vadivelu is starting to recycle his acting expressions and body language a lot and this movie only reinstated that view on me.
Overall, I think it was quite a bad movie, dunno what you might think though.
Dont think this one's a WINNER. Pun intended.
Vadivelu definitely has grown in stature. He was a pain in the a** when his comedy routine consisted solely of stopping Sarala's feet with various parts of his body. I think, WINNER was the turning point for him - and it is such a genuine laugh-riot - not to forget the delightful cameos with Parthiban. Though Vivek was scoring over him in 'class' comedy for long, he is definitely a better actor than Vivek, who cannot go beyond the 'ada paavi' routine sing-song delivery in any situation. Vadivelu's body language and delivery in Imsai Arasan were near-impeccable. One can go so far as to say that no current actor would have been able to do that dual role. His formative years of watching sivaji and MGR movies have definitely helped him master tamil, though the madurai accent lingers.
But for all that, I think he is on a downswing. Azhagappan trailers are so unpromising. The makeup for instance, with the rose patches on his face. Jarring.I think it should give a clue about the commitment of the movie unit towards quality. Dont expect much from this one.
Dear Balaji!
Looks like INA is not all that good according to even the movie-friendly indiaglitz.com review!!
hmmm....... let's see!
I agree with the above comments - just watched the movie. For me it was totally boring and cannot compare this with Imsai Arasan.
Looks like sify's verdict is also BORE. In Bay Area they are screening Pirivom Santhipom too this week at Century, so looks like it will be a better option to watch a good movie in a better theater for me.
- Azhagappan
Acc. to Rediff, INA is frivolous.. The movie is a big letdown & we're still waiting for the first big hit of 2008.
Pushpa
Looks disturbing. Vadivelu should stop doing these films.
One to watch out for is Shankar's - Simbudevan's 'Arain Enn 305-il Kadavul', the trailer's done very well.
And Balaji, have you caught up on the Vaaranam Aayiram trailer? and the deleted scenes of Sivaji? YouTube them.
ganesh, i'm still getting responses to it. will probably post the answers on sunday :)
balaji, not sure if i'll catch it in the theater. let's see...
anon, true, 'winner' was probably one of his best. he's usually funny when at the receiving end after teaming up with the hero rather than in his own track :)
apala, i know :(
gopal, thats seems to be the consensus :)
azhagappan, yeah they're screening 'bheema' again too. so something for everyone :)
pushpa, hope the wait isn't too long :)
prin, atleast he says he'll do only 1 a yr.
haven't seen the trailer for 'aRai...'. i have a lot of hope on the shankar-simbhudevan combo. but i did see the VA trailer and the 'sivaji' deleted scenes :)
This is out of topic, i happen to check on Vivek on Wikipedia. I was suprised that our comedian is around 47 years old. He was born in 1961.
i dunt how he manage to stay so young to play collage student in films like "Aadhi","university". seem kinda strang. mybe wikipedia made a mistake in that. Then cany imagine how old Gaundamani or senthil must be now..
BB, another bit of insight for you about how Shriya came to do that item number. One of my friends is working as an Asst. Cinematographer in many movies and he caught wind of news that the director went to Vadivelu and said that there has to be an item number in this song and asked him to work out who the actress appearing will be in association with the producer.
Vadivelu, in turn, went to the producer and said that he wanted Shriya and no one else in the role. The director, in the hope that Shriya would reject, went and asked her but she surprisingly accepted the offer and the producer was down Rs. 50 lakhs in the process. I can imagine any other item girl would have cost a lot less but Vadivelu insisted it should be Shriya and no one else.
Another reason why I don't rate him as a top comedian. He has clearly let the fame go to his head and that is something that displeases me a lot.
heard they are already talking about sequel to INA (Indralogithal na azagapphan),they thougt this would be sure-fire success. it could be at the box office and then they will probably do INA 2
Pathetic movie. Neither aimed at kids not adults. Hardly any sequences worth laughing (probably 1 or at best 2).
Lack of a good story and nothing much to say abt screenplay.
Money has been thrown everywhere. Poor producer and audience.
Comedies as a genre is a tough demanding one. It needs to be funny, of course, supported by a strong narrative, screenplay and - something that is unheard of in Tamil movies - subtle. But if the target is clearly the front-benchers then it must be established from inception stage and include relevant ingredients like loud music, item numbers, fights and loads of sentiments. INA is undoubtedly & unshamedly for the front-benchers headed by a darling of theirs.
i walked out half way through the movie as it was so boring. i dunt think will caych the remaining movie anytime soon till it comes ont v. i think vadivelu is more entertaining as a sidekick than a hero. His "yama" role was way over the top made me groan with dispair at his pathtic attempt. if this movie is a hit, i would be suprised..
We left the cinema hall right before the interval. We couldn't tolerate the nonsensical script with with NO fun in the dialogues/music/songs etc.
I think gone are the days when dialogues in comedy movies used to be real "comedy" :-)
It was a waste of $10/person. I wouldn't recommend you to write a review for a crappy movie like this one. If you haven't seen the movie yet, please don't spend the money; instead give it out to some charity.
Imsai itself is not worth it. You can watch it just for the novel concept.Novel being the genre is coming after almost 15 years.
vadivel is an overhyped useless comedian.With few exceptions, he is unwatchable and doesn't bring out any laughs.
Gounder/Manivannan(in some movies) were lot better.
watching vadivel's movie for the sake of vadivel, in movie hall is daring- to say the least.
i wud rate it 3/10 mate .. no story and nothng in it :( my expectation
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