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

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.

Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray dies at 86

Bal Thackeray, a maverick politician who roused emotions on Marathi pride and catapulted Shiv Sena to power in Maharashtra in the 1990s, died in Mumbai on Saturday after having been critically ill for the past few days. The 86-year-old cartoonist-turned-politician, known for his strong views and speaking his mind, sometimes bordering on the offensive, breathed his last at 3.30 PM at his residence 'Matoshree' in suburban Bandra.

The body of Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, who breathed his last in Mumbai on Saturday afternoon, will be kept at Shivaji Park to enable millions of party activists and Mumbaikars to pay their last respects to the leader from 7am on Sunday, party MP Sanjay Raut told reporters.

Raut also appealed to all Shiv Sainiks to "maintain calm and remain peaceful" in the wake of the tragedy which has befallen them.

Shivaji Park in south-central Mumbai is the same place where 46 years ago, Thackeray addressed his first Dussehra rally and continued the annual tradition virtually uninterrupted till his death Saturday.

In October, Thackeray 'addressed' the rally in a videographed message in which he had confessed of his failing health.

Masterful Novak Djokovic sinks Roger Federer to win Tour Finals

Novak Djokovic produced a masterful display to end Roger Federer's reign as ATP Tour Finals champion as the world number one swept to a 7-6 (8/6), 7-5 victory in the final on Monday. Djokovic underlined why he will finish as the world's top ranked player for the second successive year as
the Serb withstood an early barrage from Federer in both sets before overwhelming the six-time Tour Finals winner in an epic encounter lasting two hours and 14 minutes at London's O2 Arena.
The 25-year-old's brilliant display clinched his second triumph at the prestigious season-ending event and his first since 2008 when he won the title in Shanghai.

After winning the Australian Open in January and then falling short in the following three Grand Slams -- he lost in the finals of the French and US Opens -- this was the perfect way to end any debate about Djokovic's right to be regarded as the world's best.

For Federer, bidding for a hat-trick of Tour Finals titles, there was only frustration as he failed to take advantage of some dominant spells.

The 17-time Grand Slam champion is the most successful player in the history of the event, having won more titles and recorded more match wins than anyone else.

But even he couldn't subdue the rampant Djokovic, who handed Federer just his second defeat in eight appearances in the final of the Tour Finals and only his third ever loss at the O2 Arena.

For just the fourth time in the 43-year history of the Tour Finals, the top two in the world rankings were meeting in the final and they produced an enthralling clash that lived up to its billing.

Federer had swept into the final with a dominant display against Andy Murray and picked up where he left off with a blistering start.

He fizzed winners past Djokovic from all angles to take the first nine points of the match, breaking in the second game in the process.

After absorbing that frenzied assault, Djokovic got on the scoreboard when he held serve in the fourth game.

Federer must have known Djokovic wouldn't surrender and the Serb turned the match on its head when he converted a break point in the next game.

Now Djokovic was in the ascendancy and he broke for a 5-4 lead when he unloaded a searing forehand winner on the run.

But Federer staved off a set point in the next game and took advantage of that escape to break back for 5-5.

Djokovic needed treatment after cutting his elbow while diving in vain to reach a Federer shot, but he regained his composure well enough to force a tie-break.

The breaker included a candidate for the best point of the year as Djokovic, on set point, lunged to clip a diving Federer volley past his opponent, only for the Swiss to contort his body and fire a forehand winner past the Serb from an impossibly acute angle.

But not even that could subdue Djokovic, who broke on the next point thanks to a Federer mistake before blazing a forehand winner to seal a quite brilliant set on his third set point.

Federer needed an immediate response and he delivered in the opening game of the second set with a break at the fourth attempt.

There was no let-up from Djokovic though. He kept grinding away and eventually wore Federer down, saving two set points before breaking back to level at 5-5.

Djokovic celebrated by thumping his chest and letting out a defiant roar. The message was clear. He was coming for Federer and he delivered the knockout blow with a sublime backhand winner to seal the victory on his first match point.