Review for MIKE: 

•Language: Malayalam   

•Duration: 01 Hour 48 Minutes. 

•Genre: Drama. 

•REVIEW BY ARUNJYOTHI.R 

• POSITIVES:

1: BASIC THEME OF THE FILM 

2: MUSIC AND BACKGROUND SCORE

3: CINEMATOGRAPHY

4: EDITING

5: ACTION SEQUENCES 

• NEGATIVES: 

1: AVERAGE DIRECTION 

2: MEDIOCRE SCREENPLAY 

3: PLENTY OF CLICHES 

4: PERFORMANCE OF ACTORS 

5: POOR FIRST HALF

•ONE WORD: A good theme spoiled by weak script and direction. 

•STORY IDEA: 

The story of the film revolves around Sarah, who hates her gender and believes that men have more freedom and are not restricted. Sarah always chills with boys, she used to drink and some like they do. Sara lived with her mother and grandmother but Sara was not on good terms with her mom. Hating her gender, she decides to undergo gender affirmation surgery to become male. For that, she finds the best hospital and makes her way without telling anyone, and during the journey, she meets a young man named Anthony. The rest of the story revolves around their friendship and the changes in Sara’s life after meeting Anthony.

•ANALYSIS OF THE DIRECTION, STORY, SCREENPLAY AND DIALOGUES:

The film Mike is directed by Vishnu Sivaprasad and written by Ashiq Akbar Ali. The movie is produced by John Abraham under JA Entertainments and is released by Century release. The movie stars Anaswara Rajan and Ranjeeth Sanjeev in the lead roles. The cinematography is by Renadive and editing is by Vivek Harshan. With a running time of 01 Hours and 48 minutes, the film is currently running in theatres with a U/A censor certificate. 

The basic theme of this film is fantastic, it’s a relevant subject which needs to be discussed. Gender affirmation or Sex Reassignment surgery is the topic which the movie portrays, it was a great theme and without any fear, the makers had brought it fearlessly. But sadly due to the poor direction, cliche storyline, weak screenplay and badly written characters, the film turns out to be less interesting and engaging. The theme of the film was having the strength to create an impact but unfortunately, the makers had miserably killed a good theme by the weak execution. There were many flaws, the direction didn’t have good momentum, and some of the important scenes were getting flattened, as a viewer I was not able to relate to the premise and the storyline. The theme was great, but it was not utilised properly, the writing and the screenplay did not do any justice to the theme of this film. 

There are some moments in the second half like the realisation of who I am, do I really need to change my gender and what’s the purpose of changing my gender was shot well in the film, but the journey of the film to these moments was not that much exciting. The predictability in the story was causing many issues for my viewing experience. Every scene is predictable and what’s going to happen next can be understood easily. Therefore the ultimate climax didn’t create any impact, how the movie is going to end and what will happen to the central characters and their final decision didn’t surprise me. We can find many routine cliches, and the flashback of the central characters was utterly disappointing. The tragic incident happening in the life of the hero was overdramatic, it was a kind of flashback which we used to see in the 90s. Also, the family issues in the heroine’s life were written out badly and that flashback scene killed the total atmosphere of the film. I wish the writers should have focused more to bring out fresh ideas, the life of the hero and heroine in the film goes through the toughest times and incidents happening to their life in the past have fallen flat for creating an influence. So rather than the theme, nothing was interesting, also the romantic track in the film was dull. 

The screenplay was extremely poor so I didn’t feel the film was engaging. The first half of the film ended fastly but still, it was boring. The first ten minutes were ok, but when the heroine meets the hero things start to get off balance. Their friendship and the flashback of the hero were largely focused on in the first half. The flashback of the hero was tedious, slowly how the heroine and hero share a great bond among themselves was mediocre. Proper chemistry was missing in their combination, their acting and the situations haven’t matched well for the ongoing and upcoming situations. The hero’s look, attitude and personality were exactly like Vijay Deverakonda in Arjun Reddy, the same style and swag were seen in the acting of Ranjeeth Sanjeev so I felt it was making the character less interesting. The second half followed the journey of the heroine, her decision to change her gender, her living and friendship with the hero, her family flashback and her realisation was showcased in the second part. Compared with the first half the second half was better, at least there were some moments, the climax was predictable but the way they executed it was pretty decent. The flashback shown in the second half was poorly written, also the reason behind why the heroine decides to change her gender wasn’t justified or explained well. The villain character was poorly written, the affair scene felt regular, the husband and wife issue was also filled with typical cliche stuff and the Himalayan journey of the hero towards the end felt unrealistic. 

So overall the script was disastrous, the theme was the only good thing. The storyline and screenplay were carelessly written and the making also didn’t have proper depth. Continuity was missing, scene by scene everything was predictable and the emotional outline of the central characters didn’t impress me. If the writers have done good research the script would have turned out better. When a person is deciding to change his/her gender it should at least have some solid reason rather than some teenage thoughts. The sociological and psychological criteria behind the reason for changing the gender were shown terribly. The reason was not at all unacceptable, the formalities in the hospital and how the doctor addresses a person like this were inaccurately shown. The love track in the film was also average, it was just ok, rather than some good frames of the hero and heroine nothing greatly worked out. Therefore the script was utterly weak and it was followed by a mediocre direction, and importantly, the performance of actors also didn’t turn out as saviour.  

•PERFORMANCE OF ACTORS: 

Anshwara Rajan and Ranjeeth Sanjeev are the ones who appear in the lead roles. Looking at their performances I found their acting as ok, it was good but not great. The mannerism of Anshwara Rajan was the same as we can see in her previous films. Her personality and attitude made resemblance to her last few films, the way she speaks and the dialogue delivery was the same which we can see in the films like Super Sharanya and Thanneer Mathan Dinangal. Her expression according to the different situations went nicely but she was not that perfect to do the sole, I think someone more mature would have been better for the role of Sara. Ranjeeth Sanjeev’s performance was average, his whole acting was reminding me of the attitude of Vijay Deverakonda and the film Arjun Reddy. The combination scene with Anshwara Rajan was decent, but the performance didn’t give a proper feel. His dialogue delivery could have been better, but he scores well in the action sequences. His outlook and gymnastic body were impressive, but the expression and the attitude he expressed were ordinary.  Dayynna Hammed did a good job, her screen presence was less but she handled her role well. The supporting roles of Vettukili Prakash, Abhiram Radhakrishnan, Sini Abraham, Rohini and Jinu Jospeh were fine, everyone did justice to their roles. The actor who did the negative shade character did a good job, his actions and gym body suited well for the character. 

•MUSIC, BACKGROUND SCORE & TECHNCIAL ASPECTS: 

The musical work for the film is composed by Hesham Abdul Wahab, the songs he made and the background score he tuned were perfect. The song “Nee” was nice, and the vocals of Sid Sriram made it melodious. The song had given a pleasant feel and the lyrics of Kaithapuram made it more vibrant. The only additional vocals of Gayathry Rajiv, Luksimi Sivaveswaralingam, Devu Mathew and Vrusha Balu were attractive and created a good feel. The song ‘Ladki’ matched to set the situation and the vocals of Sithara Krishnakumar suited the song. Also, the lyrics with the Hindi words were fitting the style of the song. The song ‘Move Your Body’ was average, the beats in the song were striking but the tune was found ordinary. The vocals of Siddharth Menon and the dance steps in the song were fair.  The background score in the film was terrific, the scenes didn’t give the proper emotion but still, the background score helped to make some feel. The background score in the emotional scene was nice but the scenes lacked to give a good impact because of the poor script and execution. 

The cinematography by Renadive was beautiful, there were many good frames and the whole cinematography looked classy. The action sequences with the slow motion towards the climax were superb, also the camera movements in the Kalari martial art scene were outstanding. The cinematographer focused more on the close-up shots to showcase the acting skills of the actors and it was nicely done. The editing of Vivek Harshan was satisfying, mismatches were never felt and the transition of scenes from one to another went smoothly. The colour grading was reasonable and the action sequences in the film looked energetic, especially the rain fight scenes. 

•CONCLUSION:

So overall the film ‘Mike’ had give me a disappointing experience because of the shoddy screenplay and making. The theme of the film was amazing but when they executed it into a script that there was no proper depth, I didn’t feel any kind of emotional connection with the premise of the film. The direction was mediocre and the cliches crammed in the film were making my viewing experience dull. The performance of the lead actors was also average and sadly the film failed to create an impact. If the writer and director had done proper research on the theme the movie could have been turned better. So I won’t recommend this film and better to watch it at your own risk. 

•VERDICT: DISAPPOINTING 

•RATING: 2/5

Review for Thiruchitrambalam: 

•Language:Tamil.  

•Duration: 133 Minutes. 

•Genre: Romantic Family Drama. 

•REVIEW BY ARUNJYOTHI.R 

• POSITIVES:

1: DIRECTION 

2: STORY, SCREENPLAY AND DIALOGUES

3: PERFORMANCE OF ACTORS

4: MUSIC AND BACKGROUND SCORE 

5: CINEMATOGRAPHY

6: EDITING 

• NEGATIVES: 

1: PREDICTABILITY 

2: SMALL LAG IN BETWEEN 

•ONE WORD: A must-watch movie filled with many pleasing emotions. 

•STORY IDEA: 

The story of the film revolves around Thiruchitrambalam Jr also known as Pazham (Dhanush). He works as a food delivery boy and lives with his grandfather and father. Shobana (Nithya Menen) is their one and only friend of Pazham and they share a great friendship and consider themselves best friends. Thiru during his school time will face a shocking tragedy and it will make him different. From that day onwards he will start to hate his father and believes his father is the sole reason behind the tragedy. So Thiru will stop talking to his father but he will share a great bond of affection with his grandfather. Soon in different situations, Thiru will meet two girls called Anusha and Anjani and he will feel love for them but two of the girls won’t consider him a lover and will reject his love proposal. The friendship of Shobana is the only happiness which Thiru has and the memories of tragic incidents which happened in his life will make him go through hard situations. How will he face it, what are all the unexpected events coming into his life and in the end whether he will find his love is the rest of the story. 

•ANALYSIS OF THE DIRECTION, STORY, SCREENPLAY AND DIALOGUES:

The film Thiruchitrambalam is written and directed by Mithran Jawahar. The movie is produced by Kalanithi Maran under Sun Pictures and is distributed by Red Giant Movies. The movie stars Dhanush, Nithya Menen, Prakash Raj, Bharathiraja, Raashi Khaana and Priya Bhavani Shankar in lead roles. The music for the film is composed by Anirudh Ravichander, cinematography by Om Prakash and editing by Prasanna GK and with a running time of 133 minutes the film is currently in theatres. 

The biggest positive thing about this film is the way of storytelling and the way of narration. The entire movie was pleasing to watch because of the simple and neat way of execution. The making style of Mithran R Jawahar was so straightforward, he made the film honestly without making it complicated. The direction was having a balanced momentum, from the very beginning till the end how Mithran R Jawahar maintained the flow of the film deserves appreciation. The storyline is very simple and the upcoming circumstances in the events are also predictable but still, the characters, the premise of the story, various unexpected situations and the many kinds of emotions which the film portrays will make us engage. 

The story written by Mithran R Jawahar was crammed with many heart-whelming emotions and those moments make the viewing experience different. As a viewer, I was easily able to connect with the surroundings of the plot and with the characters, the strong script and the making of the director helped to relate with the life of the central characters. The occurrences in the movie will make us feel true-to-life, to make that happen here the director had worked out brilliantly in his direction. The everyday life of the central character, his way of living, his family, his interest, his sorrows and his happiness was written and executed authentically, while watching the movie I was getting a realistic feeling that it’s happening near to us. 

The first half of the film takes its desired time to showcase the life of the central character, many fun-filled moments and hilarious situations are dozed in the right balance. The friendship of Dhanush and Nithya Menen in the film half was awesome, their chemistry, their fun, the care they have towards them and their silly fights and sorrows was made amazingly by the director. The element of friendship in the screenplay was written out genuinely by Mithran R Jawahar. The biggest strength of this movie is their friendship and through their friendship, the movie finds the path to unfold various events. So the friendship between Dhanush and Nithya Menen will make an influence on our minds and I am sure everyone will feel it while watching. 

Also, the first part of the film is filled with some more interesting combination scenes, the love interest of Dhanush with Raashi Khaana was nicely made, it helped to exhibit the innocence of the central character. Bharathiraja-Dhanush combination scene was topnotch, their fun way of talking, the grandfather and grandson bond and the love they express were delightful to watch, affectionate parenthood was able to see in them and the director had won in exhibiting it. Also, the Prakshah Raj-Dhanush combination scene was creating an extra interest, their conflict and the reason behind their fight made me curious. I was eagerly waiting to know the flashbacks, therefore, the first part was perfect and it maintained a nice flow to give an engaging experience. 

The second deals with many emotional scenes, the flashback is introduced in the second half and it contains many follow-up scenes to contrive the viewers. Director had given more importance to the sentimental scenes in the second half, the father-son scene between Dhanush and Prakash Raj and the scenes between Dhanush and Nithya Menen were plugged with many crucial emotions. As I said the flashback had created a curiosity, I was eager to know what actually happened and the aftereffects of situations after the tragedy had held the movie to move forward. So the revealing flashback and the sentimental apologising and how the hate turns into love were beautifully directed and written by Mithran R Jawahar. So the impact which those created was tremendous, a son who hates his father finally loving him back was shot lustrously and I felt my tears. 

Every scene was having proper connection and nothing in the movie felt unwanted so till the climax both the script and making of Mithran R Jawahar had carried the right synchronization. The climax is wonderful, Nithya Menen and Dhanish through their vibrant acting made the ending unforgettable. The style of the film and screenplay, which we can see from the beginning, was familiar but when the movie reached the climax the total tone of the film was changing. The entire combination scene of Dhanush and Nithya Menen in the climax was touching, the surprising scene in the climax, the hidden truth and the true love was lifting the climax for a fully fledged satisfying ending. The middle portion in the second half of Dhanush and Priya Bhavani Shanker was the only scene which created a small drag, but the song “Thai’s Kelavi” helped to overcome the small lag, the movie was back to track. So no one will feel any lag or bored, the script is strong enough, the direction is cleverly held and the music with the performance of actors will make your valuable time and money worth, you will love the movie Thiruchitrambalam. 

•PERFORMANCE OF ACTORS: 

Dhanush, Nithya Menen, Prakash Raj, Bharathiraja, Raashi Khanna, Priya Bhavani Shankar, Munishkanth, Sriranjini and Stunt Silva. The movie Thiruchitrambalam has the best performance from every actor, each and everyone in the film had given their best performance. Dhanush as Thiruchitrambalam Jr (Pazham) was outstanding, I was stunned by his realistic way of acting, the entire performance of Dhanush was authentic. His way of handling the character and his facial expression according to the different situations was a treat to watch. The way he handled the sentimental scenes and the tears rolling from his eyes was beautiful to watch. His performance was having the prompting power to pass the emotions of each situation. The timing he maintained during the dialogues was also precise, in the emotional scene the timing was accurate and the detailing was intact. The combination scene which he shared with Prakash Raj was sentimental, the father-son chemistry worked out well in the performance of Dhanush. 

Nithya Menen was so natural, her intense facial expressions, cuteness, and fun comedies were delightful to watch. All her combination scenes with Dhanush were remarkable, their friendship and the affection that she shows toward him were overwhelming with many good moments. It doesn’t matter what the situation is, she acted accordingly to the different occurrences and the whole performance at the end was eye-catching. Her emotional acting will make anyone sentimental, she rocked at the climax portion with her incredible acting. The combination scene with Dhanush is fun-filled at the same time their scenes carry out various emotions. So these emotions were passed brilliantly because of their best acting, and the fun and humour situations were also easily handled by them. The surprising scenes in the ending were crammed with their best combination scene, those scenes are momentous. 

Prakash Raj as Inspector Neelakandan also did a good job, as a father and as a sincere police officer he did a satisfying performance. He played the father character of Dhanush and the performance was filled with many touching sentimental scenes. The love of a father was evidently seen in his whole performance, during the second half we can see many good gratifying scenes of a loveable father. The haunting of the past and conflicts and difficulties with his son was brilliantly undertaken by Prakash Raj. The scene in which Dhanush and Prakash Raj quarrel with each other was superb, that particular scene was enriched with authentic acting and perfect timing of dialogue delivery. All the scenes in which Dhanush and Prakash Raj express their love are fantastic to watch, the true bond between a father and son was able to be seen. 

Bharathiraja as Thiruchitrambalam Sr, Pazham’s grandfather also did a magnificent performance. There were many comedy situations surrounding him and he had easily undertaken them without making any kind of flaw. The combination scene with Dhanush and Nithya Menen was fun-oriented and also at the same time his emotional scene helped to boost the sentimental mood of the film. Everyone should have a grandfather like Thiruchitrambalam, I felt it and to give that feel Bharathiraja’s realistic acting stood at a higher level. 

Raashi Khanna as Anusha, (Anu) Pazham’s love interest and Priya Bhavani Shankar as Ranjani, as the village girl did a nice decent job, their character was having less to perform but still, their fair screen presence was crucial and the performance was ok. Munishkanth as Subbaraj, Pazham’s uncle and Sriranjani as Shobana’s mother also did justice to their respective supporting roles. 

•MUSIC AND BACKGROUND SCORE: 

The musical work for the film is tuned by Anirudh Ravichander which includes the background score and his musical work was acting as a soul for the film. I am so happy that the DNA is back, the deadly combination of Dhanush & Anirudh is back, and the magic through the songs is back again. The soundtrack consisted of four songs and I enjoyed every track. The background score in the film is also brilliant, the BGM amazingly lifts the mood of different situations and we can feel a different vibe. The song “Thaai Kelavi” sung by Dhanush and Anthony Daasan is my favourite on the song list. The energy in the song, the dance steps of Dhanush and Nithya Menon, the cool lyrics of Dhanush and the instrumental beats by Anirudh made it my favourite. The song called “Megham Karukkatha” sung and written by Dhanush was melodious, the song showcased the one side love of Dhanush with his good dance moves and the few dance steps of Nithya Menen added more beauty to the song. The vocals of Dhanush were so attractive, and the singing style which he gave for the song will make us listen again. The song “Thenmozhi” had given me the vibe of VIP, the vocals of Santosh Narayanan was suiting the song well and the lyrics of Dhanush made it more appealing. The final song “Life of Pazham” followed the musical style of Anirudh, but it was so touching to hear, the song made to go through many memories. The vocals of Anirudh Ravichander and the lyrics of Vivek were brilliant, now the song is on my favourite list. The background score tuned by Anirudh Ravichander was harmonised with the right mood to give a different feel. All the background scores in the film went well, everyone scene in the film was having the backup of appropriate right tunes to give an extra feel and mood. In the emotional scenes, the background score will make us sentimental, the emotional scenes were executed well and it was balanced by the correct sentimental tunes. So during all the important emotional scenes, we will feel the right impact also the BGM will make us connect more with the sentimental scenes. The comedy scenes, flashback scenes and the important climax scenes were also mixed with accurate background scores, the ending was gratifying and to make it more vibrant the background score stood higher. 

•TECHNICAL DIVISION: 

The technical division had done a good job, the movie is straightforward with a simple plot and it only demands a technical quality of that level. The efforts of everyone behind the camera made the movie more relatable, like happening near our surroundings. The cinematography by Om Prakash was excellent, he used simple frames, the atmosphere of the film, the premise of the plot, and the location will make us connect to the world of Thiruchitrambalam. The housing colony, the house of the central characters, their city, their village and the visuals in their daily routine life, their emotional life was so easily able to connect. To make this realistic approach Om Prakash had given a realistic approach to give his shots and frames. The closeup frames which we can see in the emotional scenes were beautiful, and the acting skills of Dhanush, Nithya Menen, Prakash Raj and Bharathiraja were captured brilliantly by the cinematographer Om Prakash. To give a more sentimental feel he focused more to capture the emotions of the actors, their natural acting was undertaken rightly according to the situation. All the frames in which the actors cried were heart whelming, and its visuals are still in my eyes. The lighting was perfect, many indoor shots are there in the film and it was made well with the right way of lighting techniques. The frames of the village were good and the frames of the song “Megham Karukkatha” was outstanding, the lighting and the camera movements were amazing. The editing Prasanna GK was flawless, the duration was accurate, doesn’t make the film stretched and the colour grading in the film also matched to set the mood of various occasions.

•CONCLUSION:

So the film ‘Thiruchitrambalam’ had give me a wonderful cinematic experience, still, I can’t get over the feel and I enjoyed every single bit of the film. The story and screenplay by Mithran R Jawahar were brilliant and it was crammed with many strong elements to engage us, everyone will be easily able to connect with the storyline of the film. The direction of Mithran R Jawahar had a simple approach, he doesn’t go to make the screenplay complicated and the whole making followed a style which can be relatable to every audience. The central characters are written out brilliantly in the script and the performance of Dhanush, Nithya Menen, Prakash Raj and Bharathiraja is a treat to watch. The melodious music of Anirudh Ravichander and the various emotions that the movie exhibits will give you feel different. So I will strongly recommend the film ‘Thiruchitrambalam’ for every type of audience and it’s a beautiful must-watch movie that should not be missed from the theatre. 

•VERDICT: A COMPLETE WORTH WATCH MOVIE. 

•RATING: 4/5