Thalaivaa

This review was written by my friend a 'neutral fan' from u.a.e DEAR TAMIL CINEMA FANS, well THALAIVAA is an entertaining and commercial film. First we have a look to the cast and crew. CAST Vijay: As usual stunning performance and mind blowing dance movements. His dialog delivery, hum-our sense, expressions and body language is-so classy and stunning. Even he has done his path in the film very well. He is now on the pathway to mega success and another STUNNING HIT from VJ which follows the success of KAAVALAN,VELAYUTHAM,NANBAN AND THUPAKKI. Amala Paul – well another leading heroin. She has done her path excellent in the film as the directors guidance. Well her character has a good scope but the role doesn't gave a chance to Amala Paul to give deep performance. The chemistry has worked well with VJ . Santhanam – Santhanam is a compulsory brand in most of the film. His jokes worked out well in the film. He didn't failed of giving on perfect timing jokes. His performance was a great support to bring the film into the entertaining structure. Vijay to Santhanam combo has worked out well. Sathyaraj - Puratchi Thamizhan Sathyaraj has slowly but surely carved a niche for himself as a character actor, after having donned numerous successful roles as a villain and a lead hero. Some of the prominent character roles that he has done in the recent past include the ones in Nanban and the Telugu movie Mirchi. He also had done a main role in Chennai express. Well his role in Thalaivaa is really classy and has unique style on it. Once again the wave length between Vijay and Sathyaraj has exposed and functioned well after the mega success Nanban. THE REST OF THE CHARACTERS IN THE FILM IS SO PROMISING AND DONE THEIR PART AS STRUCTURED BY THE DIRECTOR. CREW CAMERA – Nirav shah.. really a artistic cinematographer. You may know his excellent works in many films he did before such as MADRASAPATTINAM, VAANAM, ENGEYUM KADHAL, THAANDAVAM,DEIVA THIRUMAGAL, AND MORE. This film his camera magic has bring the audience a wonderful visuals and the tone of the suites the story and convey it through his visual to the audience. Editor – ANTHONY…Everyone know him for his excellence in editing and one of the leading and top editor in the Indian cinema industry. So no review on editing because he has done a great job. Music – GV.PRAKASH…HIS magic in music worked will with the audience. The music is so catchy and the background music for the film rocks. Gv you had done a good job and he didn't disappoint the audience in the music segment. Even the music helped the screenplay to move on to the next level. He also done a guest appearance in a song titled 'VANGANNA VANNAKAMANA'. DIRECTOR – Vijay is well known for his excellent films like Kireedam, Madrasapattinam, Deivathirumagaland Thaandavam. All the film is a great film and made a huge success in the box office and even touched the hearts of the audience. The same magic has done by AL.VIJAY in Thalaivaa by making the audience to immerse in the storyline and enjoy the film.He had done his role perfectly without any dragging in the screenplay or unwanted scenes and dialogs in the film. The film will be full and full entertainment and commercial based. Well it doesn't have any elements such describing the politicians, political orientated storyline or criticizing anyone. It actually conveying the awareness of humanity which humans need to bare in mind and the good and awesome relationship between various religion,caste and culture people India. It also shows how they being united as Indian and their understanding on each other.

Rating:4.5/5.

This venture is different from Vijay's previous films like ''Nanban'', ''Thuppaki'' and ''Velayudham'', but still, it keeps what it has promised. Like Indiaglitz.com stated, Thalaivaa is something between a classy gangster flick or a racy action drama.

People say Thalaivaa has brought Vijay back to the bottom again, but that's wrong. Some people really have a problem with looking at an actor's films (specially Vijay's) in different angles. Okay, as a fan I admit that Vijay slipped a time when films like ''Azhagiya Tamizh Magan'', ''Villu'' and ''Sura'' came out, but still he came out with four blockbusters in a raw, which are ''Kaavalan'', ''Velayudham'', ''Nanban'' and ''Thuppaki'' and what happened to these films? Aren't four blockbusters in a raw good enough for the actor to come back in track. The fact that people really can't accept this, kind of freaks me out at times. So, here's the fact: This is the truth: Thalaivaa is a different genre, and as everybody know Vijay does an excellent job in his usual genres which are action and comedy. Thalaivaa is a decent gangster drama which tells the story about the change of a common man's life. Simple as that. ''How?'' is the question. There's no doubt that the film was completed beautifully.

The first official combination between Vijay and G.V. Prakash Kumar was awesome. The soundtrack is energetic and the choreography was mind-blowing. The costumes that are used in this film were also pretty good, specially those that are used in Sathyaraj sir's character and those that are used in Vijay's character in the second half of the film. Santhanam's sense of humor hasn't sunk a percent at all and Amala Paul has shown another side of her acting skills. Abhimanyu Singh was also faithful to his role as Bhima. The film also has another benefit: Unexpected, but needed twists.

As a Vijay fan, I believe Thalaivaa will be a film all Vijay fans will remember. Perfect title for both the story and the actor and you see the character is born to win. It might not be as great as ''Nanban'' or ''Thuppakki'', but still it's satisfying!

''Once we pick up the knife, it will either protect or destroy. But one thing we know for sure is that it's impossible to drop it down.'' - Sathiyaraj

The delay of release had affected the collection of this movie..A well written script , but the screenplay was not much good ..The performance of vijay was better..The second half had felt a bit boring ..Overall , the film fails to engage the audience even though it had a well written script..

According to Irresistible force paradox "What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?" .This is best suited to flicks in which a successful director meets a successful actor. In this venture either one of them is bound to go out of their way to satisfy the other. In case of "Thalaiva", the director sacrifices and becomes a savior bigger than the one pictured throughout the film.

For how long will a savior be symbolized by a slow motioned- sun etched silhouette and a trademark dress that becomes the savior's uniform? This is one of the many questions that arose during the movie. There are many such obvious flaws which make the movie less interesting than it should have been.

For a start, the first half runs on two factors, the protagonist's romantic track and his dance competition. But, it doesn't take a genius to figure out how both the tracks are likely to end and this creates a vacuum between the viewers and the viewed. Santhanam tries to fill this vacuum but after a while, the "bro" factor loses its charm and becomes another speed breaker in the already slow screen play.

The second half is nothing but the old coffee brewed under a new outfit but the essence and odor remains the same. The unnecessary addition of characters (Australian gang that competes with Vijay) questions the credibility of the director, this is the first time that the director has used violence to this extent, the only reason being the hero himself.

Sathyaraj plays a calm mannered Don similar to Velu Naickar (Nayagan) but his presence is felt mostly through his chant "Anna" and his snapshots. Amala paul plays two shades of Grey in the two halves and ends up as the better half.

Actor Vijay should pay the same attention to the screenplay that he does to his character. After a rejuvenating success of "Thuppaki" that pulled in repeat audiences, this film is bound to disappoint. The flick lacks pace, never gives the audience a chance to guess, lacks a powerful villain and is scripted for the hero rather than being the other way around.

When Vijay and Santhanam are offered a hot drink, they identify it as Black Coffee but the chef calls it "RASAM" (Curry). The same goes for the movie.

Tamil Cinema desperately needs better scripts and powerful villains.

Until we get another Thuppaki, "I AM WAITING", thuppaki style.

Another movie taken from the books of Coppola's God Father.A story on how happy-go-lucky guy turns into a leader and so on... as simple as it can be.

Casting: Vijay: Very good acting, real treat for fans to watch him on screen.Throughout the movie Vijay has played a calm and clever sort of persona.First half pays a happy go guy with all good things surrounded by him and on the latter half you can see a wonderful performance from vijay (experience speaks).On the whole vijay has given his 100% for the movie and done his part full heartedly.

Santhanam: As always laughter guaranteed. Sathyaraj,Ponvannan,Manobala & Suresh: Done what was asked to do, clean and crisp. Amala paul: Need to understand that "Mynaa" was successful also because of the story and the director (tat's it). G.V.Prakash:'Vaanganna' enjoying, Good BG score.Job well done. Nirav: Well crafted visuals gels with the movie be it Australia or Mumbai.

A.L.Vijay: Movie is good , Very nice characterization for Vijay including the body language.Has taken efforts towards the making of the film.Still failed on making a story that can make people sit right till the end credits keeps rolling.Nowadays the moviegoers have started to study movies and its technical qualities. Though they do not expect new story every time,the story telling trend has to be new. Being only director to direct Ajith,Vikram and Vijay so far, expectations are higher.

Conclusion: Very fresh and clean performance from Vijay Familiar scenes with repetitive dialogues &Predictive climax. High time for AL Vijay to work on scripts with something new on it.

Reaction: If India loses a match even after Sachin's century. A definite one time watch for fans and family audience.