Thursday, December 20, 2012

IPL 6 Deccan Chargers renamed Sun Risers with Kris Srikkanth and VVS Laxman as mentors


Indian Premier League (IPL) team, owned by the Sun Network, will be formally inaugurated in Hyderabad this Thursday. The Chennai-based media conglomerate, which acquired the team for Rs 425 crore, will unveil its logo and team name at a grand gala function. The team will be called Sun Risers.

The team has roped in Kris Srikkanth and VVS Laxman as mentors. Their exact roles in the team have not been defined by the team management, but some team officials say the two former India cricketers will have roles similar to that of Anil Kumble’s in Royal Challengers Bangalore.

VVS Laxman, who retired from international cricket recently, is unlikely to play for the Sun Risers although he has played play a couple of matches for Hyderabad in the Ranji Trophy this season. Laxman has previously represented Deccan Chargers and Kochi Tuskers Kerala. Interestingly both teams are nonexistent now. Meanwhile, a Sun official disclosed that Tom Moody will coach of the team. The former Australian all-rounder had also coached the Chandigarh-based Kings XI Punjab. Moody will be present at Thursday’s function.

The Sun Network took over the Hyderabad franchise Deccan Chargers after BCCI, the Board of Control for Cricket in India terminated its contract. The Sun Risers has retained all the Deccan players, including overseas players like Kumar Sangakkara, Dale Steyn JP Duminy and Cameroon White.

Friday, December 14, 2012

Neethane En Ponvasantham Movie Review


If you pick up Gautham Vasudev Menon's best three movies, his romantic flicks like Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa, Minnale and Vaaranam Aayiram would be fill the spots, as the movies are well connected with youths. More precisely, emotions dealt betweens lovers are best captured in his movies. His latest movie 'Neethane En Ponvasantham', too had similar kind of expectations from the audience.Well, has he recreated the magic again?
Neethane En Ponvasantham is a soft-romantic tale starring Jeeva and Samantha. The film has a modern-day story, which we come across very often. The story of the film is all about the young couple played by Jeeva (Varun) and Samantha (Nithya). Varun and Nithya like each other since their childhood days. Interestingly, they fall for each other and part ways several times. They get separated for silly reasons but they cannot stay away, as both love madly at the bottom of their hearts. Their fights, ego clashes and emotions form the crux of the story. Like other romantic films, audience cannot expect twists and turns in this film but the film keeps you engaged throughout. Like Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa and Vaaranam Aayiram, the film runs in a slow pace and at parts it is boring.
Gautham Menon's perfection for technical aspects could be seen in every frame. Eye-pleasing picturisation, ear-pleasing songs and beautiful locations make it a colourful film. The director reminds us of his earlier film Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa. However, the subject of Neethane En Ponvasantham is completely different from the Simbu and Trisha's film. The only similarity between the two film is that both the films are urban-centric targeting youths. Even in characterisation, Gautham has tried to keep the lead stars natural, and Jeeva and Samantha look apt in the lead roles.

Verdit - Neethane En Ponvasantham - Wasted Opportunity - 3.0/5.0

Kumki Movie Review



You can call him the biggest hero on the silver screen today, urging every hand to give an exploding applause for his long trunks and mischievous throughout the film. Though his presence with the audience seem to last only for a few hours, surely he has become someone very close to the heart, thereby bringing smiles on your face like an old friend you have always known in your dreams. Long gone are those days, where the participation of an animal seems to amount as much as the protagonist himself, and 'Kumki' indeed rekindles the old memories, swiftly leaving a special one, and of course a film that will be spoken about for years.
A very remote and dangerous village called Aadhi Kaadu is threatened and disturbed every now and then by the wildest of Forest Elephant called Komban. Every year the villagers seem to suffer, either by destruction of houses or by crops and they seem to become even more helpless when the forest officers refuse to help them bring down Komban. To survive and kill the merciless wild elephant, the villagers decide to bring a Kumki, an elephant that is exclusively trained to silence the wild elephants and keep them less harmful and this is where Bomman (Vikram Prabhu) and his innocent, harmless and soft Mannikam (a temple elephant that has never been exposed to wildness) comes into the picture.

Owing to situations and to favour his business friend, Bomman brings Mannikam to Aadhi Kaadu saying it as Kumki to substitute the original Kumki and plans to leave the village in two days once the original Kumki arrives. In the mean time, Bomman falls in love with Alli (Lakshmi Menon), daughter of the village head. To succeed in his love, Bomman decides to stay in the village longer than he has planned and continues to pretend that Mannikam is a Kumki and that he is a Kumki trainer. Now, does Mannikam (who is believed to be a Kumki by the entire village) defeats Komban and saves the village and will Bomman and Alli unites in their love is what forming the rest of the climax.

For a newcomer, Vikram Prabhu has given an excellent and flawless performance right from conveying emotions to humor, while Lakshmi Menon perfectly depicts the role of Alli, a silent and homely village girl, who can get funny in every way. Supporting characters played by Thami Ramaiah of 'Kazhugu' fame and Ashwin Raja of 'Boss Engira Baaskaran' fame indeed scored tremendous applause for their humour quotient as well as their part throughout the film.

The entire film which was set in a very natural backdrop, brings the essence of nature and makes the film much pleasant to watch. Indeed, Prabhu Solomon and D. Imman once again recreated their wonderful magic after their yesteryear superhit 'Myna'. Some of the best tracks 'Kumki' offers are 'Ayayyoo', 'Sollitale' and 'Onnum Puriyala', which not only elicits romance but the visuals are leaving spell bound. Special pat to Cinematographer Sukumar for framing every shot carefully, to make the film talk rather than project. And LVK Doss deserves an applause for his precise editing.

In every way 'Kumki' is one of the rarest and master piece, nevertheless, the climax could have been more precise to make it much more complete. Kumki evidently makes Prabhu Solomon one of the finest directors, making him a gem picked from pins.

Verdict: 'Kumki' – an original Prabhu Solomon film - 4.0/5.0

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Hrithik Roshan crowned Sexiest Asian Man in the World


Bollywood star Hrithik Roshan has defended his title, "Sexiest Asian Man in the World" for 2012 in an online survey conducted by a London-based weekly.

The 38-year-old actor pipped the likes of "King Khan" SRK, Dabangg Khan, khiladi Kumar, John Abraham and Ranbir Kapoor to clinch the top spot.

The 'Agneepath' hero had a tough competition from around the world last year. But this year he won by bigger margin as he received votes from all over the world including Asia, Europe, Africa and South America.

Even though he was the hot favourite and led right from the beginning, the win came as a major surprise to Indian cinema's hottest pin up.

"I am extremely humbled at the decision of the public, also a little embarrassed as I just can't imagine myself as sexy! I'm actually someone who's just trying to get by with his battered, bruised and broken tools. So a big thank you to all for this dose of encouragement! Thank you Eastern Eye readers for this very sweet recognition," said Hrithik.

He beat Pakistani singer-turned-actor Ali Zafar was the surprise runner up. 'Dabangg' hero Salman Khan finished third and while last year's runner up Shahid Kapoor came fourth.

Bollywood newcomer Sidharth Malhotra was the highest new entry at fifth place and narrowly beat off popular TV star Kushal Tandon who was sixth.

Shah Rukh joined the list at seventh place and was followed by John Abraham at eight and Ranbir at nine.

Others who made it to the top 20 includes One Direction star Zayn Malik (12), newcomer Varun Dhawan (13), singer Jay Sean (14), actors Akshay Kumar (15), Emraan Hashmi (16) and Imran Khan (17), Abhishek Bachchan (18), Saif Ali Khan (19) and Pakistani singer Atif Aslam the last.

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails