2 / 4 STARS
DIRECTOR: RAJIV MENON
ACTORS: MAMMOOTY, AJIT, ABBAS
ACTRESSES: AISHWARYA RAI, TABU
MUSIC DIRECTOR: A.R. RAHMAN
STORYLINE:
Rajiv Menon continues accidentally making films in Tamil that should by all rights be Hindi films (all glamor / little story).
That said, the two granddaughters of a rich man in a small town are played by Tabu and Aishwarya Rai, both sisters. Their mother is Srividya. Tabu has previously been engaged, but the man she was engaged to died, and therefore she has been labelled an "athishta katta" (luckless woman) and has had difficulty procuring another marriage. Tabu doesn't like love, Aishwarya Rai wants to love before she is married.
Mammooty plays a former army officer who lost his leg during the Sri Lankan conflict. He falls in love with Aishwarya Rai, but that is a one-sided love.
Enter Ajit Kumar (a young man wanting to enter the cinema business a la Mugavari) and Abbas (a young successful entrepreneur who speaks in billions and Bharathiyar). Ajit loves Tabu and Abbas loves Aishwarya Rai.
The rest of the story revolves on who gets married to whom.
COMMENTS:
Rajiv Menon has reached into producer's pockets, and asked for even more. He's pulled out all the stops money-wise, gathering a very sellable cast [except perhaps for Tabu], led at the forefront by Aishwarya Rai, had A.R. Rahman compose the music, went to Egypt and Scotland, had brightly-colored costumes for the dance sequences, hired the best dialogue writers and cinematographers and such that India has to offer. In the end, we are left with a minimally entertaining film -- but one that lacks any kind of a storyline. One wishes Rajiv Menon had spent less deciding what color their character's shirt should be and more on the story; he might have actually come out with a good movie.
The dialogue is average, but the cinematography and picturisation are very well-done.
But the major problem is that instead of a storyline, we are offered dialogues peppered with current fads such as "Y2K, Developer 2000, pizza, share market, stock market, and California."
This is a masala movie meant to generate interest only in its execution, and if you look at it that way, you might actually come out entertained. But if you go to it expecting a viable storyline, you'll be sorry.
NOTE ON THE MUSIC:
A.R. Rahman has created more hit songs, and the songs are choreographed and done very well. But personally, I didn't think the songs were as great as some others A.R.R. has done in the recent past. But if you think A.R. Rahman is always just hot stuff, you'll love the songs in this movie. The only song I really like is "Aena Solla Pogiraay?"
Though picturised adequately, the film uses the songs inappropriately, almost only for the sake of having songs. Example: "Now that you've finished the film, what will you do next, Ajit?" Ajit: "Smiyai-ai-ai. [Goes off singing.]"
RECOMMENDATION:
I'm tempted to say watch it on video, but on video, the effect of the colors and music will be lost almost completely, and you might have left over, a boring movie, which "KK" was not. But I'm definitely not going to advise you to spend 8 bucks to go see it in the theater either, because it's not worth that much. This is a call you're going to have to make -- do your care about glitz, color, and glamor?
VIJAY VANNIARAJAN