[mithun]

Rorschach:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CODXSMdAKF8&t=245s

Its a theater watch surely with Dolby Atmos.

The movie is slow with a Hollywood level style making and may not be everyone's cup of coffee!

My rating: 4.5/5

[PreludeSH]

Finally watched Kantara. Was a little spoiled with the expectation. Still it was great experience. Went to Urvashi to watch and didnt find the theatre great. The last movie I had seen here was Titanic The screen was a little dim but sound was good.

Everyone has been saying the last 20 minutes are great. It was not that long. Expected a great deal of dance instead got lot of fights in those 20 minutes. Great music.

Movies like these will spoil the other nepotism loaded total unrelatable movies

[Asish_VK]

Yaanai (2022- Tamil) - 3/5 (Zee5)



Yaanai is a Tamil family action drama which follows a very successful & typical Tamil masala formula of 2000's.

I really enjoyed the movie, there are plot holes, cringe moments, age old family drama stories etc. but that's exactly i was expecting from this movie. It's a fun popcorn watch. Full of action, long punch dialogues of the hero, gravity defying stunts, pleasing colortone and so on.

Arun Vijay was very good as the hero, good screen precense and was very good at action sequences.

If you like the 2000's Tamil family action movies of Ajith, Surya , Vikram and Vijay, this also will be a good watch.

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by HTC

Kantaara - 3.75/5

Happended to catch Kantara movie with firends at Urvasi theater in Bangalore. For those who are not aware of Urvasi theater, this is one of the best single screen theater in Bangalore.

Urvashi used to be one of the best...but I personally don't think it's the best now. Once I made a wrong decision of going to a movie called Khatta Meetha (Akshay kumar in the lead) at Urvashi. I couldn't tolerate the movie after 20mins but was forced to sit through it completely because my car was stuck in the parking lot. That's the last I visited Urvashi. I don't want to see myself in a situation where there's an emergency and my car can't be taken out!

Anyway, 3.75/5... I'm really eager to understand how you arrived at this double decimal rating. If you've come to this figure I'm wondering if there is some kind of rating sheet that results in this.

[satnan]

Kantara (Malayalam) - 4/5 (May have liked it more if i went without sky high expectations).

Team did a pretty good job with dubbing i would say. The decision to leave some of the sentences in original language (say what is spoken by the deity during bhoota kola) with malayalam sub titles i believe ensured that the feel was not lost.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

Anyway, 3.75/5... I'm really eager to understand how you arrived at this double decimal rating. If you've come to this figure I'm wondering if there is some kind of rating sheet that results in this.

Easy, he must have a 20 points rating sheet. Each point is .25 worth.

[narayans80]

Finally caught Kanthara and Ponniyin Selvan over the Diwali long weekend before they are off theaters.

One common thread I see is, both movies need a bit of reading/knowledge before watching the movie.

Rather than review, these are my perspectives on watching these 2 movies.

Kanthara

• I wanted to watch this movie in Kannada with subtitles. The shows did not workout, hence watched the Tamil dubbed version.
• Since the dubbing was done by the production house, it was done in a authentic way. While the nuances of the original language were missed. It is not like watching House of Cards in Italian. The Kannada monologues in the Kola scenes were left in the original language.
• The plot is quite simple. The movie isn't about the plot, but how it gets told around bhutha kola.
• The kambala race and bhutha kola scenes were wonderful to watch.
• Would watch again in Kannada when its out in Prime.

One of my colleague who went by word of mouth, but did not know about the customs it was centered around, missed the references.

Ponniyin Selvan

• The movie is based on Kalki's historical fiction book series from the 1950s. It is one of the landmark books, that has been well read. Since the events and places are 1000 years old, the literature on the history, characters and places are important before watching the movie.
• The movie is 5.5 hour compacted 2-parter from a 5-part book series. So there is quite a bit of content to cover.
• Since this is from history, persons and places are referred by more than one name/titles. Unless you read some background is easy to miss/confuse. For example: Trisha's character Kundavai is referred Ilaya Pirattiar or Pazhayarai Ilavarasi in different conversations.
• The best person to direct (AP Nagarajan) and compose (KV Mahadevan) such a historical fiction do justice to it are long dead before budget existed. So we have to make do with what is available.
• The movie addresses the main thread well. It is however shown in a rushed fashion with a lot happening over a 2 minute span.
• The male characters are better handled. Vikram and Jayaram as Aditha Karikalan and Azhwarkadiyan are the best. Karthik and Jayam Ravi as Vandhiyathevan and Arulmozhi Varman are handled pretty well. Sarath Kumar as Periya Pazhuvettaraiyar is painful to watch, he was uncomfortable the few moments of screen time he had. Sundara Cholan is supposed to be the epitome of male beauty, Prakashraj is a miscast for the role. On the contrary, the Pandya rebel casting was better.
• The female leads seem to have been chosen from Manirathnam's working relationship than their fit for the role. While Trisha as Kundavai redeems herself in a few scenes. Aishwarya Rai as Nandini looks lost. If a 48 year old Aishwarya could be cast, why not 52 year old Ramya Krishnan? After all, the entire cast mismatches by age factor.
• The 2 vs 30 fight and princess dancing is amusing to watch.
• Manirathnam usually gets accused of making movies in the dark and trimming songs. This is THE movie he should have done both, but he doesn't.
• The movie should have been left Tamil only, not tried to make it for larger audience. There are enough Tamil audience who have not read the books that are lost.
• The marketing and social media comparison with Bahubali is nonsense. Bahubali was written for big screen. Ponniyin Selvan is not.
• As a content heavy series, it made more sense as a TV/web series than a movie series. Lot of characters don't get any screen time. Some are not even named. I had to understand Mohan Raman was Aniruddha Brahmarayar from Wikipedia

Contrary to movie based on books. This is a movie that you need to see after reading the books (atleast the first 2 to place the characters). It is the book readers who will get satisfaction out of the movie, than someone blindly walking into the movie. Many of my colleagues who have read the book/heard the story through podcasts are the ones who felt positive or mixed. A family friend went in without any idea came out disappointed.

[balenoed_]

Originally Posted by narayans80

Aishwarya Rai as Nandini looks lost. If a 48 year old Aishwarya could be cast, why not 52 year old Ramya Krishnan?

Aptly said. While doing a dream project, not sure how some of these castings went wrong.

Another one IMHO is the Ponniyin Selvan character himself. It should have been done by Surya. The movie would have been in an all together different level if so. Simply cannot digest Jeyam Ravi in that title character. Even in the movie posters, it is Vikram who is taking the center stage and not PS because of the appeal Vikram has over Ravi. If it was Suriya, it wouldn't have been the case.

[condor]

From what I have gathered about Kantara, the movie is filled with action from start to finish. My mother watched it and liked it. No, I did not accompany her since I dont watch movies.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by balenoed_

Another one IMHO is the Ponniyin Selvan character himself. It should have been done by Surya. The movie would have been in an all together different level

The story isn't about who Aditha Karikalan and Ponniyin Selvan are or what the latter becomes. Their star value doesn't matter here.

The power struggle happens around them. It is the king makers Vandhiyathevan, Azhwarkadiyan Nambi, Nandini and Kundavai that need to be played by strong characters.

[Rajeevraj]

Anyone here has watched Kanthara from one of the PVR's where BookMyShow says it is showing with sub-titles? Have booked in PVR Phoenix going by the indication that it is a show with sub titles. Generally prefer to watch in the original language with sub titles. Going by the reviews and the language used, don't think the level of Kannada I understand will be good enough to appreciate the movie without sub titles.

[SmartCat]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

Anyone here has watched Kanthara from one of the PVR's where BookMyShow says it is showing with sub-titles? Have booked in PVR Phoenix going by the indication that it is a show with sub titles.

We watched Kantara (Kannada) at Mantri Mall (Inox) Malleshwaram and that had English sub-titles.

[deetee]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYK6JU7Nx38

'Varaha Roopam' music sounds strikingly similar (but better) without the excessive treble though. May be the underlying 'ragas' are same, I am no music expert. But to my listening, I found Varaha Roopam to be better composed, even if copied.

Source: Thaikuddam Bridge team claims plagiarism: https://www.instagram.com/p/CkGXZpzy...8-54c4d9af864e

[KPR]

Originally Posted by narayans80

I had to understand Mohan Raman was Aniruddha Brahmarayar from Wikipedia

Aniruddha Brahmarayar never was in Tanjore when Vanthiyadevan visited bedridden Sundara Chola king. In fact he was in Kodiyakarai/Rameswaram. This is what I remember from my book reading memories. Yes there are many flaws. But if someone wants to make this as TV series this will be super duper flop. Somehow I'm personally elated to see Maniratnam directing the movie, Mani-ARR combination for the music, Aishwarya Rai fitting to Nandini to the T and overall movie made some profit.
Mockery was Nasser's role as Pandiya king .

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by KPR

Aniruddha Brahmarayar never was in Tanjore

Exactly. He was in Rameswaram and sends Azhwarkadiyan to Srilanka to help Vandhiyathevan. Mohan Ram and Prabhu's character names did not get mentioned. Hence it was amusing to find out from Wiki.

We never know the reception unless its made. But not by Soundarya Rajinikanth.

I am not saying Manirathnam shouldn't have done it. After all, the budget was only possible on his face value. He's covered the story well and has largely made the book readers happy. And these are the viewers who are generating positive response and motivating additional first time viewers. Its my colleague's word of mouth, that I saw it in theater, otherwise I'd have waited to the Amazon Prime release.

However the movie is not generating any interest for repeat viewership.

The long term reception of this interpretation will depend on 2nd installment turns out.

Mockery was Nasser's role as Pandiya king

He gets 20 second screen time and has very little to contribute. The more important Periya Pazhuvettaraiyar played by Sarath Kumar stares vacant faced for his entire screen presence.