Express News Service
Samuthirakani is an interesting actor, who cleverly balances his loud, political films with fun, masala entertainers. He has made such a name for himself with the former that any film carrying a ‘message’ these days is categorised as a ‘Samuthirakani padam’. Good intentions aside, most of these films end up being patience tests for the audience. Thankfully, despite the extremely underwhelming trailers, the longdelayed Sangathalaivan isn’t one of them. The film gets most things right.
It doesn’t bite off more than it can chew. For instance, Sangathalaivan doesn’t try to address national politics or pretend to be a racy thriller. Instead, it is a slow-burn drama that deals with a localised issue and takes its time to set things up. Both the narrative and the characterisation give us the pleasant feeling of reading a novel from the 90s. Sangathalaivan also gets its politics right most of the time. We are introduced first to the village of Ramavaram,
Express News Service
In a recent interview with us, Jiiva described Kalathil Santhippom as a proper ‘elai saapadu’, with something for everyone in the family. True to this description, the film ticks all boxes of a commercial entertainer, and what’s more, all the ‘masala’ blends together to form quite an enjoyable product.
Kalathil Santhippom also joins the small list of films whose trailers have undersold the efficiency of the actual film.
This feature is quite surprising for how engagingly it spins a tale, despite having the usual template elements.
The songs aren’t exactly foot-tapping, the one-liners aren’t worthy of being T-shirt captions, and the visuals are also not exactly spectacular. What sets this film apart, however, is its coherence.
Express News Service
Farming isn’t new territory for Jayam Ravi. He’s been dabbling in it since Unakkum Enakkum in 2006. Back then, of course, his character was smiling and listening to jazz while ploughing the field.
Fifteen years later, Tamil cinema now is inundated with farming films, and Ravi returns to his ‘roots’, but this time as an astronaut-turned- angry farmer… the sort of man who plucks the hair strand of his girlfriend, so he can analyse her feelings. Humans who can inhale carbondioxide, a deadly virus that can cause blindness, atom bombs on mars… anything is possible in this universe.