Navarasa – Anthology Review

Edhiri (Karuna – Compassion), Summer of ’92 (Haasya – Laughter), Project Agni (Adbhutha – Wonder), Payasam (Bibhatsa – Disgust), Peace (Shaantha – Peace), Roudhram (Raudra – Anger), Inmai (Bhayaanaka – Fear), Thunintha Pin (Veera – Valour), Guitar Kambi Mele Nindru (Shringaara – Romance), these are the navarasas preseted as an anthologly by Netflix directed by nine different directors. Around 40 top actors were also roped in for the much awaited series.

The Anthology starts with Edhiri directed by Bejoy Nambiar , though he was given the best cast of the whole series , I would say he has wasted it, the story was so slow that it made the 22 mins as 2hrs, and the background score of PB Sreenivas’s ‘Manithan Enbavan’ rolling continuously becomes irritating by the end. Summer of ’92 directed by Priyadarshan doesn’t make justice to its own Raasa. The third in the series which is one of one I liked is Project Agni by Karthick Naren, though seems like  flashes from Nolan films, this short one was definitely one of best in the series.  Next one one Payasam by Vasanth is also the better ones, led by the veteran actor Delhi Ganesh who single handedly anchors this episode. Peace by Karthick Suburaj too fails as he makes a mess with a script which happens in Eelam’s no man’s land.  Roudhram marks the directorial debut of Arvindswamy as he portrays a simple revenge plot with an unessesry twist in the end. Rathindran Prasad’s Inmai takes us through a bit of horror and keeps us engaged with some neat performances from Siddarth and Parvathy. The weakest of the bunch falls with  Thunintha Pin (Veera – Valour) which ends very abruptly starring Kishore and Atharvaa. The final episode Guitar Kambi Mele Nindru (Shringaara – Romance) of Goutham Vasudevan Menon , the longest of all the episode takes us on a romantic ride of all his films but still leaves us in anguish in the end, but with a good performance by Prayaga Rose Martin. In total two were good , two were acceptable and the rest were disappointing , Navarsa gets 5/10

 

Navarasa – Official Trailer

 

Chekka Chivantha Vaanam – Movie review

Chekka Chivantha Vaanam , more than it’s a Mani Ratnam’s film ,when the star cast of four leading artists were roped in for this movie, it created huge buzz in the industry and for the fans. The movie starts with an introduction of the main character Senathipathy (Prakash Raj) a kingpin who rules not only the state but the across the nation and also manages worldwide mafia, is attacked by a unknown group. He and his wife Lakshmi(Jayasudha) survive the attack but are seriously injured. Senathipathy’s sons Varadhan (Arvind swamy), Thyagu (Arun vijay) and Ethi (STR) who take care of business across the world are distraught and go on a killing spree to find who’s behind this attack. But the question rises as who will take command of business after their father, which creates a huge cloud over the siblings. As each one has their own grudges on their father and between themselves the stage is set for a huge drama. How this ends is the rest of the story.

The first half just breezes fast, as the Director balances each character and gives enough screen space for all of them. Vijay sethupathy who comes as the Rasool a corrupt cop and a close friend of Varadhan steals the show throughout. Jyothika too plays a major part and does it faithfully. Aditi Rao Hydari is the weakling in the whole film, her character doesn’t fit or create much impact.The second is where the story lags and loses its charm, Songs are left in the BGM and fades unfinished which sort of a let-down, usually they create a huge impact in Mani Rathnam’s films. Screenplay too wanders aimless for some portion of the second half, which makes the audience restless. Chekka Chivantha Vaanam is far better than the previous bunch, but leaves the fans unsatisfying. I give the film 5/10 (out of which 4 is for the first half).