Thiruda Thiruda

Mani Ratnam's adroit transposition of the Butch and Sundance story into a quirky rural setting with a distinctively Indian sensibility is ceaselessly entertaining, if eventually a little too long. You can find in it the major elements of Indian commercial cinema -- set-piece action scenes and dance numbers--but the film distinguishes itself with stylish camera work, superb music and, above all, a deliciously maverick, fantastical tone embellished with sparkling humor, very reminiscent of Terry Gilliam (Monty Python, Time Bandits, Adventures of Baron Munchhausen) in his prime.

The film borrows liberally from "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", both in letter and spirit. The more-or-less irrelevant plot involves two small-time thieves who inadvertently end up in control of the vast loot resulting from a major heist. Hot on their heels are the original mastermind of the heist, and a frantic police force led by an overweight, deceptively slow detective (S.P. Balasubramanian in the role of his life). Predictable complications ensue, but the pleasure is in the perceptive, droll sense of humor and the Indiana Jones-esque sense of adventure with which the story is told.

Well,this movie was not a great commercial success to mani sir's team,but i think this movie is technically superb.P.C.Sreeram,has don't an awesome job as usual for mani sir,but he used exceptionally good lighting techniques for songs.For the song "koncham nilavu",the lighting techniques were amazing.The story is pretty simple one,it is all about how a bank robbery makes two thiefs,a spy and a rural girl come together.The story was narrated in a simple way,as there is not much seriousness in the topic.This movie would be definitely enjoyed by people who like adventures and stuff like that.The songs are mind blowing in my opinion.though i like A.R.Rahman's compositions but this one is totally unique in my opinion.The song "thee thee"was composed with a mixture of Indian and western genres....is the best song in this movie.In fact,most of the people don't know the fact that,the lighting technique used in this movie was indeed used again in Lagaan-once upon a time in India which was nominated for the Oscars.Finally this one is a typical pop corn movie,and it does not tell any moral values or things like that to you as most of mani sir's movies tell....but it is quite enjoyable.I'd recommend the DVD!!

I have to admit, though I am a huge Mani Ratnam fan, I was reluctant to watch this film, mainly because the impression I got was that it was a bad film. But i kept reading about the use of lighting and the cinematography, and i thought i'd give it a go.

This is probably the least Mani Ratnam-esquire film I have seen, the first 10 minutes i kept seeing homages to Sholay (the initial train sequence and the motorbike the police use) and i mainly put that down to RGV writing. The film gathers pace, characters get introduced, u have the fun chase sequences, some nice little exchanges, and before u realise it the film has finished. The result, a nice little commercial film, which I think is much better than most of the films of this genre made in 2005 in Bollywood. But then again this is Mani Ratnam we are talking about.

The really good things about this film; Brilliant songs, brilliant cinematography, you have to watch the song sequence of Chandralekha simply superb. Technically it is a good film. Well directed.

The bad things about this film; well i have to say, at times the film just looks really low-budget (especially when it comes to the special effects), the lead actors are a little disappointing i thought, apart from one of the actresses ( her character was called rasathi) the lead actors just lack charisma and anu agrawal at times looked a little overweight. the love-triangle was a little a pointless and the fact that it remained unresolved was disappointing.

i do recommend this film, but be aware that this is not a typical Mani Ratnam film so do not start watching the film with expectations of brilliant dialogues, a film grounded in realism, because you will feel a little disappointed.

If not for the movie, watch for songs. The attempt is worth it but the A class audience of Mani had watched many similar Hollywood movies like this made it a failure, I guess.

Shockingly enough, this film brings together Mani Rathnam, Ram Gopal Varma, and A.R.Rehman. The music is decent, but the technical work is shoddy, the script is terrible, and the performances fairly ordinary. Not suprisingly, Ratnam and Varma never worked together again.