Kumki

Following the success of Mynaa veteran Director Prabu Solomon comes back with a beautiful story set on the backdrop of the forests of Karnataka, Kerala and proves us once again as a unique nature loving director. The story is not just about the relationship between a mahout and his pet elephant. It unwinds to a very beautiful slow paced, emotional love story with a serious background. This movie takes us through the lives of the farmers in a village named Aadhi kaadu where their threat is a wild elephant named "Komban" which is causing havoc for so many years. So they decide to bring up another elephant to tame the wild one and send that back to the forests. These kinds of elephants are known as "kumki". Bomman (Vikram Prabu) enters with his crew (Kothali and Undiyal) and his beloved showcase elephant Manikam as a replacement take charge of this situation for two days. But he becomes a love stuck mahout when he saw Alli (Lakshmi Menon). So he decides to dare his life and fight against Komban for his love. So did he succeed in this dangerous mission? Is what the rest of the story progressing in a slow pace yet visually enchanting because of the hilly environment and the apt music. Coming to the performances this movie marks the debut for both Vikram Prabhu and Lakshmi Menon (though her first on screen release was Sundarapandiyan). Vikram Prabhu could not have imagined a perfect launch pad than this movie and he has played it well especially his expressions and looks in his eyes when he becomes love stuck with Alli. Lakshmi Menon after her praise for her acting in Sundarapandiyan gives us a brilliant performance as an innocent village girl (it's been buzzed that she is just 15 and doing her class ten!) and delivers us such a matured acting with her cute expressions specially when she accepts Vikram's love. National award winner Thambi Ramaiah as (Kothali) is the one who talks more in the movie than the lead roles and with Undiyal (Ashwin) he creates good humour on screen. The songs and BGM were so apt for the serene and situations of the movie and was brilliantly composed by D.Imman and definitely "Ayyayo anandhame", "Onnum Puriyala" and "sollitaley " are strong contenders for this year's top five songs. Hats off to the cinematographer Sukumar for making us glued to our seats by presenting something so dreamy in front on screen. On the down side I have to say about the VFX of the elephant action scenes where not up to the mark when compared to Life of Pi, Naan E. Could have been definitely better . Get inside for a Parbhu Solomon flavour movie like Mynaa this will also be 'a journey of love on an elephant'. Verdict: To get the full essence of enjoyment watch it only in theatres.

-Reviewed by Sivakumar Balachandran (bsiva84@gmail.com)

Do not expect much of attention to detail in this film. For instance, the lead actress is portrayed as a tribe, But her language includes some English words too.

Music is excellent. vikram Prabu needs to improvise on his acting skills especially performing emotional scenes. The location chosen is also very good, But again the details are missing, We expect a tattoo or a different style of speaking Tamil form tribes.

I think the movie was over hyped with the presence of Rajni, Kamal and others for the audio release and we expected a lot from the movie which hasn't been met. I would blame the director for dragging the story-line and making every next scene predictable.

Overall, the movie is not worth watching with a high priced ticket. I would say, WAIT UNTIL IT COMES ON IT AND I AM SURE THAT THIS WILL HAPPEN SOONER.

Kumki has fast become one of the many memorable movies of contemporary Tamil cinema.

Vikram Prabhu has done justice to the role. His 'Bomman' is portrayed with an integrity that remains concrete through the movie. Lakshmi Menon as 'Alli' does not have a huge role to play and is not as impressive as veteran actresses but is acceptable all the same. The comedy track with Thambi Ramaiah does get predictable and grates towards the end of the movie. Manickam does not disappoint!

That said and done the script is handled with surprising brilliance, apart from the comedy actually. The direction, music and special effects are beautiful. The location the film is shot in is very well incorporated into the film and brings to the movie a sense of realism that very few movies can capture.

A definite must watch for connoisseurs of good and worthwhile Cinema. Definitely a feather in our cap!

Watched Kumki which has a Simple sweet story. I have Lived with elephant and greenery for 2.5 hours.

The excellent part is the Visuals and Sound effects.

Terrible CGI and Good BGM and Usually songs boring pace of the story goes fast last 20 Mina with CGI overdose.

The story has a similarity of Ten Samurais and Myna Background.

Imman has done a good job but his movies has lot of songs plagiarized from his previous ones with the Raja tunes.

But songs sometimes drag the movie too much.

Casting was good and the live elephant shots and Non CGI shots were good.

Thambhi Ramiah overacting and most of the scenes are shot in Bluescreen.

Low budget technical movie to debut a hero in this scenario...

Anyways watchable once..

Kumki makes you go speechless with its amazing cinematography. It was a spectacular visual treat, the movie is a colorful poem. Directior Prabhu Solomon knows the pulse of the audience and Kumki is yet another feather to his cap. The movie has Thambi Ramaiah making you laugh almost in every scene he is seen.

The lead pair Vikram prabhu and Lakshmi menon have portrayed pleasantly. Its been a longtime since a movie on Elephant and Human friendship was seen in tamil cinema. There are beautiful plots in the movie expressing soft emotions.

The elephant Manickam steals everyone's heart he is majestic and cute. The music by Imman is brilliant, the whole movie hall went crazy for each and every song. A must watch in Cinema Hall for the breathtaking locations.