Review for THUNIVU: 

(REVIEW BY ARUNJYOTHI R) 

•Language: TAMIL  

•Duration: 02 Hours 26 Minutes. 

•Genre:Action Thriller. 

• POSITIVES: 

1: Performance of Ajith Kumar 

2: Story 

3: Decent direction 

4: Action sequences 

5: Thrilling first half 

6: Cinematography 

7: Editing 

NEGATIVES:

1: Second half could have been done better 

2: Lag felt in between the second half 

3: Illogical scenes.  

•ONE WORD: ‘Thunivu’ is an action treat for Ajith Kumar fans.

•STORY IDEA: 

A bank called Your Bank will store an illegal money of five hundred crores and some thieves with the help of a police officer will make a plan to rob the money. Everything will go under the plan and the heist will occur but during the robbery an unknown person will arrive and will take control of the heist from the robbers. What will happen next, who is he and why he takes the charge of the heist and what are his plans and intentions? 

•DETAIL REVIEW: 

The film Thunivu is directed and written by H. Vinoth and produced by Boney Kapoor. The film comes under Bayview Projects LLP and Zee Studios and Red Giant Movies do the distribution for Thunivu. It’s the third collaboration of Ajith Kumar and H. Vinoth with the producer Boney Kapoor. The film comes with a duration of 146 minutes and is currently running with a U/A censor certificate. 

Bank robbery, heist and hostage situations with a crazy fearless hero is what the movie Thunivu is all about. I enjoyed the film, it was thrilling and entertaining and had given me a decent satisfying theater experience. The daring and roaring performance of Ajith Kumar and his brilliant screen presence was all over plugged into the film. The one-man show of Ajith Kumar can be seen throughout, his energy and how he transforms into his character was amazing. The movie reminded me of last year’s much anticipated film Beast, it didn’t work out well but the premise and surroundings of Thunivu reminded me of Vijay’s Beast. But Thunivu is not like Beast, it’s different and the execution was better than Beast. When looking deeply in Thunivu the director H. Vinoth had engagingly made the film and it was thrilling at the same time, also the movie was insured with an interesting backstory. So the overall package of Thunivu had the components for a good one-time theatre experience. 

The plots of bank robberies and hijack situations are nowadays common but what I liked in Thunivu is the reason behind the bank hijack. It’s not just about looting of money, the plot of the film discusses an important scam. It is socially relevant and how it was portrayed in the film was impressive. From a bank robbery how the movie touches into that scam was thrilling. The making and action sequences had given a decent amount of curiosity, the reason behind the heist was making my watching experience intriguing. I was wondering what it would be and will it make an impact and luckily the script and making went with the right flow. The subplot in this film is brilliant, as the director of the film H. Vinoth had shown it authentically. Financial scams happening around us are unique and through banks how it is happening and what are the business gains and who all are being cheated with this scam was brilliantly executed by H. Vinoth. In the script, those areas were written nicely and how it connects to the hero character of Ajith was also pleasing.

The direction of H. Vinoth is having both positives and negatives. 

The first half was superb, it was thoroughly engaging and thrilling and the direction of H. Vinoth was on the right track. The beginning of the film started with a bang and it continued to hold the momentum till the first half. How the robbery is done, the plans, unexpected occurrences, and how Ajith Kumar’s character dominates everyone will make the viewers hooked. I didn’t feel a single lag in the first half but slowly from the second half the totality of the movie was changing. In the second half H. Vinoth started to reveal the subplot and the movie was maintaining an engaging mood. But after the revealing of the subplot, the direction of H. Vinoth started to show some lag. The movie began to get slow and the scenes were getting dragged. The interrogation scenes between Ajith and the villains were stretched unnecessarily. The mid-second half of Thunivu is average, many scenes should have been trimmed. But towards the climax, the movie tried to regain momentum. The action sequences were crammed in the ending and it was good but could have been better. The ultimate climax of the boat chase scene was supposed to create an impact but it ended in an okay manner. So the mid portions of the second half and climax action sequences were not that attractive, and the thrilling mood seen in the first half was missing in the second half. 

The performance of Ajith Kumar was magnificent, his character shade as both hero and villain was amazing. He just came and stole the show through his shining performance. His energy, his dialogue delivery, his powerful voice and his dazzling screen presence will make the money worth. When it comes to action and attitude Ajith Kumar does some kind of magic to grab our attention and in Thunivu the same magic hasn’t lost its gleam. The way he transforms into the character and the way he controls the heist in Thunivu is captivating. Like I said, the dialogue and his voice was extremely powerful and it will blow our mind, we will be thrilled and he will make you do whistles and applause. The action sequences of Ajith Kumar were vigorous and the white-coloured hair and the beard look was attractive. Manny Warrier did a great job, actually she shocked me with her performance. When the trailer was released it showed the glimpse of Manju Warrier doing action sequences and I was having doubts whether she would be able to do action sequences. But I was wrong, she did a stunning performance, and her looks and attitude with guns were eye-catching. The combination scene of Manju Warrier with Ajith Kumar as a partner in crime was great. Samuthirakani, Bagavathi Perumal and Ajay as the police officers did a good supporting role. Their performance was fine and their characters were having important screen space. John Kokken did a fine job as the main villain, his looks were stylish and the overall performance was satisfying. 

The music of Gibran deserves special mention, the song “Chilla Chilla” had a great impact inside the theater and I loved the beat of the song. The voice of Anirudh and the dance moves of Ajith Kumar made the song effective. The song “Gangstaa” showed the stylish mass look of Ajith Kumar and the vocals of Shabir were strong enough to set the mood.  The background scores in the film were also adequate, the tunes and set the required amount of thrills. The bank robbery scene, the climax boat chase scene and the emotional scene in the second half had the right set of tunes to lift the mood so the musical work of Gibran was perfect. Nirav Shah had done the cinematography and I would say it’s one of his finest works. The fight sequences inside the bank were blended with stunning shots. One of the fight sequences which had the three-sixty-degree rotating type of shot was brilliant. In that action sequence, the visuals made the fight of Ajith Kumar look thrilling. The boat chase scene and the inside bank visuals were also shot convincingly, and the blast scenes and also close-up shots of Ajith Kumar were captured flawlessly. The editing of Vijay Velukutty was ok, for avoiding some lag he should have trimmed some scenes in the second half for a smooth watch. The transition of the scene was perfect and mismatches were never felt. The man behind action sequences also deserves my heart, all the fight sequences looked thrilling and exciting. The action choreographer had given the right style of fight sequences for Ajith Kumar and it made his fight look mass and stylish. 

.•CONCLUSION:

So overall ‘Thunivu’ had given me a good experience, I loved the film. The direction and script of H. Vinoth had the elements for an engaging thrilling movie and the one-man show of Ajith Kumar was a treat to watch. The screen presence of Ajith Kumar was simply brilliant, from the very beginning till the end he doesn’t forget to entertain. The film is having an incredible first half and an above-average second half if the director H. Vinoth had given some more focus to the second half Thunivu would have been the sure shot Pongal winner. Therefore, I will recommend Thunivu for this Pongal festival and if you are a fan of Ajith Kumar then don’t miss Thunivu from the big screen. 

• RATING: 3/5

• A Review by ARUNJYOTHI. R

Review for VARISU: 

(REVIEW BY ARUNJYOTHI R) 

•Language: TAMIL  

•Duration: 02 Hours 50 Minutes. 

•Genre: Family Action Drama. 

• POSITIVES: 

1: Performance of Vijay 

2: Decent family storyline 

3: Music  

5: Background Scores. 

NEGATIVES:

1: Direction was average. 

2: Half-baked screenplay. 

3: Many over dramatic scenes.  

4: Powerless action sequences.  

5: Worst VFX.  

6: Editing. 

7: Couldn’t connect well with the emotional scenes. 

8: Predictability of scenes.  

•ONE WORD: A disappointing family action drama. 

•STORY IDEA: 

Rajendran (Sarath Kumar) is a big business tycoon and he has three sons. His younger son Vijay Rajendran (Vijay) is not on good terms with his father, so he stays aways from his parents and family. Vijay has two elder brothers and he loves his mother very much. Vijay lives by listening to his heart, he doesn’t follow his father’s path and he has no interest in his father’s business empire. So Vijay’s bold decision will lead to conflict between Vijay and his father. Soon due to some unexpected events, Vijay will be forced to take his father’s business ahead of his elder brothers and this will make differences between the brothers. So why did Vijay take his father’s business, how can Vijay solve the problems with his elder brothers and how Vijay stops his business enemies is what the story of the film is trying to convey. 

•DETAILED REVIEW: 

The film Varisu is directed by Vamshi Paidipally who also writes the story and screenplay. Along with him, writers like Hari, and Ahishor Solomon joined to make the screenplay and storyline. The movie is produced by Dil Raju and Sirish under Sri Venkateswara Creations and PVP pictures. Also, Seven Screen Studio and Red Giant Movies handle the distribution and with a running time of 167 minutes the film is currently running in theatres. 

Honestly speaking more than a Tamil film I felt Varisu was like a Telugu commercial movie. The director Vamshi Paidipally is a well-known filmmaker who has produced many hits in Telugu industry. So his direction was having the pattern of a typical commercial Telugu film and that exact style was given to Varisu. 

And it was the main drawback of Varisu so overall I found the movie uninteresting because the movie was like trying hard to adapt into a Tamil commercial movie style. The movie is having a lengthy duration of nearly three hours but due to the gigantic performance of Vijay the movie will keep us hooked till the end. While you’re watching the film we can inherit the fact that the situations and circumstances written by the writers in the script reminded me of the formulas of many Telugu action films. So the all-around final output of Varisu was like the blend of many Telugu movies which is enriched with the usual gimmicks of a Vijay film. 

Varisu is a family-oriented subject, it has sentimental scenes, family values, misunderstandings in families, jealousy between family members, trust issues, and love of father and son and the emotion of mother and son are crammed into the whole screenplay. So the intention of the director Vamshi Paidipally was to make a complete family-packed movie but the ultimate result in his writing and direction haven’t satisfied me enough. It is because the family emotional scenes exhibited in the film were not effectively written out and the scenes couldn’t connect properly. The emotional scenes were not having proper depth so the impact was less, most of the crucial family value scenes didn’t pass out a heart-warming feel. In between the comedies were also added and it made an odd dull look but in some of the comedy scenes, Vijay looked fine and hilarious. The most disappointing part was the mother-son scenes. I expected some better scenes from Vamshi Paidipally but the combination scene of Vijay and Jayasudha was too melodramatic. The bond and affection between mother and son was moderate and the majority of them looked too artificial. 

Also the dialogue should have been written more carefully, the words were not having the power to engage my theater experience. I am not saying that it was bad but the dialogues went simply and none of them couldn’t felt memorable. Also after and before the fight in Vijay movies, we can hear some good catchy heroic dialogue but in Varisu it was average. The heroic stuff dialogue and the moments to give applause for mass scenes didn’t arise that much. So a proper vibe of a Vijay film was sadly not felt inside the theater , On the other hand romantic scenes between Rashmika Mandana and Vijay were unwanted. Her character was written out badly and their combination scene was dragging the movie. How they are falling in love was disastrous and I think she was chosen as the heroine only to have some dance number with Vijay. 

Next, when seeing the filmmaking it was more like a high-budget television serial, the style and dialogue modulations which we can see in the family serial can be seen in the whole premises of Varisu. Hero trying to solve the problems inside the family, the parents realize the love of their heroic son, the conflicts with inside members of the hero’s family and how the hero solves it with ‘passam’ and fights is beautifully presented in an overdramatic serial format. When seeing the previous films of Vamshi Paidipally this teleserial level of filmmaking was never felt, but in Varisu the whole film was like seeing a high-budget mega-family serial. To give more rich appealing visual beauty, the kind of VFX which we can see in the film will blow your mind, it was that much unrealistic. I still can’t believe that a director like Vamshi Paidipally had added this kind of visual effects craps, the intro song and the in-between added visual effects were making the film look funny. 

When looking into the acting everyone did their characters well, performance was good. The one-man show of Vijay was the saving factor of this sinking ship. He managed to give an energetic performance throughout the film and his screen presence made me sit and watch till the end. The dialogue delivery of Vijay looked usual but it matched the occurrences in an ok way. I didn’t get any lag while watching the film and it’s because of his performance, the usual gimmicks and style of Vijay can be seen in Varisu and it was not boring. His comedies, action sequences and dialogue delivery fitted the satire of a commercial hero and he did his part well. The dance looked little but weak, the energy which we saw in his previous film was not seen in the dance steps of Varisu. So overall Varisu is a one-man show of Vijay’s cool and energetic performance and I’m sure his fans won’t be disappointed. Jayasudha as mother and Sarathkumar father of Vijay did a neat performance. Their role was enriched with many emotional scenes and they had done it authentically. The combination scene with Vijay had given a feel of mother-father sentiments and it matched the situations of the storyline. Prakash Raj did a nice job as the villain but the character looked like a typical Telugu villain. His character should have been written in a better way, a tough hero-villain fight was missing. Srikanth and Shaam as the elder brothers did their supporting roles well, the negative shade in their characters was acted out convincingly. The combination scene with Vijay had the bond of affection of a brotherhood relationship. Rashmika Mandanna as the heroine was having nothing to do, her character was weak. To dance with Vijay an actress is needed and for that Rashmika was chosen. She looked cute and her dance moves were impressive but to perform she had nothing. 

The music by Thaman S was superb, and the songs and the background score were having an impact. The song     “Ranjithame” sung by Vijay and M.M Manasi was amazing, the vocals and dance steps of Vijay and the chorus singing was nice to hear. Also, the fans were dancing and enjoying themselves in the theater so the song had such a big impact. When the song”Thee Thalapathy” sung by Silambarasan came the whole theatre went crazy, whistles and loud chants of Vijay were heard all over and STR had made a brilliant singing. Another song “Soul of Varisu” sung by K. S. Chithra is now on my favourite list, even hearing we can feel the love of our mother. The song     “Vaa Thalaivaa” managed to give a decent intro for Vijay and “Jimikki Ponnu” by Anirudh Ravichander and Jonita Gandhi was good with their vocals and dances of Vijay and Rashmika. The background score was also terrific, the emotional scene was backed with some powerful tunes and it was matching to hold the attention. The BGM during the action sequences was also matching and the heroic punch dialogues of Vijay was also lifted with some tunes like “Vaa Thalaivaa” which made the fans applaud and whistle. The cinematography of Karthik Palani was mediocre, the frames were nice but the camera movement and placement during the action sequence lacked to give a visual punch. The visuals of the action were not that much looking stylish but the closeup frames looked good. The emotional scenes of the actors were nicely captured and it made the ambience of the film into a family mood. The editing was poor, for a better engaging theatre watch the editor Praveen K.L found had trimmed some parts. Many unwanted scenes were there and the first was slow compared with the second half. The VFX in the film was like an animation, no originality and completely unrealistic. Some of the art set done in the beginning to showcase the all India travel of Vijay was an utter failure, by looking at itself we can notice that it’s all made up. 

.•CONCLUSION:

So overall ‘Varisu’ had given me a disappointing theater experience, I was not that much pleased with the direction and script of Vamshi Paidipally. He could have done the film better, Varisu looks like a typical Vijay film with his usual common styles. As a family-oriented film for me, the film looked like an overdramatic television serial crammed full of ‘passam’. The lengthy duration and predictability had also made Varisu weaker, still, if you are a die-hard fan of Vijay then undoubtedly you can take the tickets for Varisu. Therefore, to conclude it’s the festival season of Pongal so for a jolly time pass with your loved one you can grab the tickets for Varisu but watch it with less expectations. 

• RATING: 2/5

• A Review by ARUNJYOTHI. R