1.5 / 4 STARS
DIRECTOR: S.A. CHANDRASEKHARAN
ACTOR: VIJAY
ACTRESS: ISHA GOPIKAR
MUSIC DIRECTOR: DEVA
STORYLINE:
Karna (Vijay) is a member of a poor village family who goes to the big city to earn money; he is swindled there and all his money is conned out of him. While he is broke, meanwhile, Nisha (Isha Gopikar) falls completely in love with him. Karna, needing some money to send back to his family, becomes a rowdy and starts beating people up.
Eventually, the rowdy group is assigned the task of killing Nisha's parents, so right in front of Nisha, the rowdy group, Karna among them, shoot her parents and take her to their hide-out. There, Karna does an about-face, becomes a good guy, gets Roja to dance for him, and escapes with Nisha while the rest of the rowdy group is busy dancing.
His family in the village meanwhile commit suicide when they learn that he is a rowdy and Karna cries over them.
The rowdy group chase Karna and Nisha and eventually corner them, and there they are defenseless, about to be shot, when Vijay resorts to the last weapon he has: his voice.
COMMENTS:
Vijay, on a high from five very successful movies ("Poove Unnakaga," "Nerukku Ner," "Priyamudan," "Kadhalukku Mariyathai," and "Thullatha Manamum Thullum"), must have begun having dreams about becoming Rajinikanth for the next generation. One thing he didn't count on was the fact that Rajinikanth took twenty years to get where he is, deserved or not, and five little movies aren't going to do the same for Vijay, no matter how well "Ilaya Dhalapathy" dances.
Vijay's acting is atrocious, especially when he cries over his dead parents. (I dunno, sometimes Vijay acts well in sentimental situations -- "Poove Unnakaga" and "Thullatha Manamum Thullum" being prime examples, and sometimes he overacts like a lunatic, such as in "Nenjinile" and the later "Kannukul Nilavu.")
Isha Gopikar looks out of place, and I don't know if she can regain superstardom after "Yen Swaasa Kaatrae" and "Nenjinile." (She also appears in a cameo in "Jodi," another flop.)
S.A. Chandrasekharan, Vijay's father, has done an excellent job with direction and effects; out of love for his son, he's screwed up the storyline part in a very major way.
Oh yes, the last twenty minutes of the movie are "byangara KADI," because it involves Vijay talking to the rowdy groups the whole time, going, "Shoot me! Shoot me! If that will end your anger, shoot me!"
At the end of it, I felt like shooting him.
NOTE ON THE MUSIC:
Deva has outdone himself with some great music, and "Manasey," "Anbe," and "Madaras Dhost," were all destined to be big hits. Vijay, to be fair, also dances excellently to every song. I just wish the lyrics to "Madaras Dhost" toned down the Vijay-is-the-greatest-young-person alive syndrome. Roja dances in "Thanganiram," a song sung by Vijay.
RECOMMENDATION:
Definitely skip it. Or just buy the CD for the music.
VIJAY VANNIARAJAN