Oram Po Movie Review

Cast:	Arya, Pooja, Lal, Jagan, Ashwini, Nellai Siva, John Vijay
Direction:	Pushkar Gayathri
Production:	V Palanivel, A C Anandan
Music:	G V Prakash

We rarely come across Tamil films approaching the various sections of people in a realistic manner. Belittling the marginalized segments by looking down or patronizingly portraying them is the normal practice of mainstream Tamil cinema. However, we get to see some realistic portrayals of such segments in recent days in films like Puduppettai, E, and Polladhavan. Oram Po is one such attempt.

The movie looks into the world of a section of Chennai auto rickshaw drivers as realistic as possible. The approach by debutant directors Pushkar and Gayatri is refreshingly new, as they do not look at them from outside. They make a sincere attempt to look at their lives from within.

Oram Po tells you the story of a set of auto rickshaw drivers based in Chennai in a simple and straight forward manner without any pretensions. The movie has nothing serious in its content. It provides you an engrossing experience with light hearted and enchanting sequences.

Director couple Pushkar and Gayatri makes their debutant with Oram Po, featuring Arya and Pooja in the lead roles. The couple has effectively recreated the lives and emotions of the auto rickshaw drivers. They have captured the various shades of their lives. They try to show you the lives as realistic as possible.

Chandru (Arya) and ‘Bigilu’ (Lal) are close friends. Chandru is an expert in auto race and Bigilu, a mechanic is an expert in customizing the autos to run at a dream speed of 130 km/hr.

Son of Gun (John Vijay) is the chief of rival group who wants to outsmart Chandru-Bigilu group. Chandru, the race champ tries to settle his dues for his auto through a race, which is almost a cakewalk for him. He and Bigilu challenge Son of Gun to a race. And the day for race is fixed.

Bigilu meanwhile introduces Chandru to his sister running a Biriyani shop. Chandru is attracted towards her daughter (Pooja), and woos her into his fold. The affair grows stronger and ends in sex. The care free auto driver however, is not interested in long term commitment and tells it on the face of the girl. Shocked Pooja curses him and moves away from him. The champion gets distracted on the D day because of the memories of his love affair and fails in the race. He looses his auto and later his dearest friend Bigilu, who comes to know about his affair.

The sub plot of the search for the missing diamonds by a smuggler adds flavour to the proceedings. The unpredictable and fun filled climax puts everything in order.

Arya looks credible as an auto driver but struggles to exude varied emotions demanded by various situations. His expressions are monotonous and hence tend to be boring. His expressions in the race and in wine shop sequences are impressive. He also scores in romantic sequences.

Pooja fits into the casual girl who serves Biriyani in her father’s mess. Her chemistry with Arya is good. She has enacted the romance, disappointment, and anger well.

Lal as an elderly friend to the hero gets a sumptuous role and does it convincingly. He handles the character with ease. John Vijay plays the villain cum comedian role perfectly. His presence lights up the proceedings and his handling of Nellai dialect is simply enjoyable.

Others including Vijay TV fame Jagan (Chandru’s friend), Ashwini (Chandru’s sister), and Nellai Siva are competent. The debutant director duo has avoided melodrama and sentiments. The narration is simple and smooth. The turning points are convincing. The script has avoided the routine sequences one could expect from this kind of stories. The separation and reunion of Lal and Arya are handled well.

The story has many threads like the financial problems of the protagonist, his casual love affair, the race, the tug of war between two groups, the diamond mystery, and the ups and downs of the friendship between Lal and Arya. All these threads have been deftly put together to make a neat script.

The couple has also worked hard to reproduce the lingo of the auto drivers with amazing reality. They have of course, gone overboard in using the filthy language in their pursuit for realistic portrayal. Some of the suggestive dialogues could have been easily done away with.

The music by G.V. Prakash Kumar goes with the tone of the movie. It is loud and entertaining. The background score add spice to the proceedings. ‘Nandavanathil’ song fits into the narration perfectly. The lyrics by Na. Muthukumar and the rendition by Manikka Vinayagam are impressive. The item song is enticing in terms of picturization and music as well. Alka Yagnik’s voice is mesmerizing.

Nirav Shaw’s cinematography is pleasant to the eyes. He has captured the race sequences well. The lighting in the shed, wine shop, and beach are quite natural and effective.

Overall, the movie has a sort of joyful spirit that makes it enjoyable.

Saroja: the invitation tells you all

The Chennai 600028 team is back to the field. They are ready for the next match and raring to go.

'Saroja', the forthcoming film by Amma Creations, directed by Venkat Prabhu, is launched tomorrow (Dec 5) morning at Hotel Green Park, in Chennai. The invitation itself reflects the creativity and confidence of the team.

The invitation is actually a table top calendar, featuring the visuals of the photo session of the movie on one side and the monthly calendar on the other side of the sheet.

If the stunning visuals trigger your anticipation of the movie, the monthly calendar shows the confidence of the team. In the 13 month calendar (from Dec 2007 – Dec 2008) some dates are marked with some remarks. You notice a colourful decoration surrounding 2007, Dec 5 with a note saying: “Saroja Inauguration Day”.

If you keep on turning the pages, you find a note in the date May 9, saying that, “In Theaters Today”. Yes. The movie will be a summer release.

Then you have the notes like “25th day”, “50th day”, “75th day”, and “100th day” on the relevant dates. It goes on in the same pattern till December 2008 with “225th day” and “237th day” marked on the dates 19 and 31 respectively.

Finally, there is a humbly note: “This is our desire. It would definitely come true with your blessings”.

The team is ready to rock. The visuals suggest you a wholesome youthful entertainer. It has glamour, humor, and action. A couple of visuals show Prakash Raj in a different get up. Sensational young music director Yuvan Shankar Raja is featured in a page, promising you a youthful musical.

The novel invitation is just a sample of what is in store. We wish the team a great success.

New edition of 'Puthiya Vaarppugal'

'Puthiya Vaarppugal' (1979), which became a powerful launch pad for K. Bhagyaraj, is being remade. The remake bug has bitten the filmmaker who is hailed for his perfect screenplay. He had written the dialogues and donned the lead role of the original film, which was critically acclaimed. The film went on to create a new trend of sorts.

Bhagyaraj, who has been contemplating his comeback into the films for sometime now, is ready to remake 'Puthiya Vaarppuga'l. He has also puts his son Shantanu on the lead role. He is going to give the film a new treatment to fit into today’s taste.

It is worth recalling that Shanthanu’s debutant film 'Sakkarakatti' is almost completed and will be released soon. The movie also marks the entry of director Prabhu, son of Kalaipuli Thanu. The movie is an A.R. Rahman musical.

Bhagyaraj is quite confident with the new edition of his 'Puthiya Vaarppugal'. He firmly believes that the film would mark his comeback and help his son to get established as an actor.

Heroes and masala films

Both Madhavan and Sathyaraj have, in two separate occasions, confirmed that they would continue acting in so called masala films. They have responded to the queries related to their approaches towards masala films after acting in meaningful roles.

Sathyaraj in a recent press meet said: “If you are an actor, you have to do various kinds of roles.” When a reporter drew his attention towards his earlier statement that he would not act in masala roles after enacting the life of the legendary Tamil leader 'Periyar', Sathyaraj simply said that it was an emotional statement.

Madhavan, on the other hand hasn’t said anything voluntarily on the subject. He addressed the issue when our (Indiaglitz) representative queried him about his stand on acting in films like 'Rendu' and 'Arya' after handling powerful and meaningful roles like the one he had in 'Evano Oruvan'. “I can do such roles only if I continue to do the so called masala roles. These kinds of films keep me alive in the memory of the people. No one can keep on doing same kind of roles”, was his response.

True to their words, Sathyaraj and Madhavan are now doing typical commercial films. Sathyaraj is acting in 'Thangam' while Madhavan is doing 'Yavarum Nalame'. Both roles have lot of masala in them.

Saroja: Grand gala launch

Amma Creations’ next movie, 'Saroja' by Chennai 600028 fame Venkat Prabu is launched today (Dec 5) in a function held at Hotel Green Park, in Chennai.

The function was marked by the presence of many leading personalities of Tamil film industry including K. Balachandar, Mani Rathnam, Shankar, AVM Saravanan, Ibrahim Rowther, S.P. Balasubramaniam, Gangai Amaran, Vishal, Ameer, Lingusamy, Thankar Bachan, Cheran, Madhavan, Seeman, Balaji Sakthivel, Karthi, Sham, and Sandhya.

Jayaram, Vega and rest of the actors who act in 'Saroja' were present.

Most of the speakers rendered a very brief speech to wish Venkat Prabhu success in his forthcoming venture. SPB, in his relatively long speech, recalled his friendship with Gangai Amaran during their young age. It was SPB who helped Amaran for his love marriage. The gifted singer thrilled everyone by singing a song in his majestic voice. He also sang ‘happy birthday’ song for Amaran, who celebrates his birthday December 8.

KB in his speech showered praise on director Ameer for creating a hero in is film. He was mentioning about Karthi. “Heroes are not born. They are made. Ameer has made Karthi a hero”, said KB. “I was very particular to attend this function since I could not attend the 100th day function of Chennai 600028”, he further added.

Mani Rathnam, who came to the mike, did not make any speech. He requested Venkat to come to the stage and conveyed him his best wishes.

'Saroja' too would be a Yuvan Shankar Raja musical. The young musician could not attend the function since he was very busy with the rerecording work for Billa, which is slated to be released soon.

The team has precisely planned their work. The movie is planned to be released on May 9, 2008.

Vijay, Suriya and audio releases

Vijay and Suriya will be involved in two different releases on the same day at the same complex. The releases, however, have nothing to do with their films.

Vijay releases 'Pirivom Santhipom' audio in Santham Cinemas, while Suriya releases 'Indiralohathil Naa Azhagappan' audio at Sathyam Cinemas.

Both functions take place in the same day (December 9) at almost the same time. Pirivom audio release will be at 9 AM while Indiralogathil release will be at 9.30 AM.

Indiralohathil, produced by Seventh Channel 'Manickam' Narayanan, is a comedy entertainer featuring Vadivelu in the lead role. Pyramid Music releases the audio. Suriya will present the first copy of the audio CD to Silambarasan. The first copy of Pirivom audio CD will be received by Prabhu Deva.

Music director Sabesh Murali is said to have given a touch of folk music in Indiralohathil music track. The sensational hot singer 'Mirchi' Suchi and Vadivel have crooned for the item number that features sensuous Shriya with Vadivel on screen. With sensational young stars like Vijay, Surya, Silambarasan and Prabhu Deva attending two different functions at the same time, the media persons, especially photo journalists, would find it tough to choose between the two functions.

Six new faces in Tamil cinema

'Kangalum Kavipaduthey', directed by K. Chandernath, introduces six new faces to Tamil cinema. The film has three heroes and three heroines and all of them are played by newcomers. Rajith, Akash, and Ratan, will be paired with Mridula, Likitha and Lakshana respectively.

Among them, Rajith has already acted in a Malayalam movie titled Golmaal, directed by famous Mollywood Director Kamal. Akash was selected as the Best Face in the Mr. Chennai-2007 contest while Ratan has done about 15 films in various languages as a child artiste.

The director has earlier directed Idhayavaasal, Aarathi Edungadi, and Veerapaandi Kottaiyilae in Tamil and Dharma in Kannada starring popular Kannada hero Darshan. Chandernath has also worked as Assistant Director with Director P. Vasu in more than 30 films. He handles story, screenplay and the dialogues for the movie.

The film seems to have some connection with the number three. The film is produced as a joint venture by three producers. K.G. Rangamani, R. Nandakumar and P. Ramesh, noted builders in Chennai, have floated a new production house called I.T.C. Productions.

The highlight of the movie is Maestro Ilayaraaja’s music. The veteran has said to have scored a great music for the film.

Five songs are penned by Muthulingam, Mu. Metha, Palanibharathi, Pa. Vijay, and Vishali Manoharan, daughter of the late Kaviyarasu Kannadasan. According to insiders, the songs are outstanding. Moreover, the songs are supported by appropriate situations in the movie, they inform.

Selvakumar’s cinematography is one of the major assets of the movie. He had earlier worked as an assistant to Azhagappan, a noted cinematographer.

What Kangalum Kavipaduthey is all about? According to director Chandernath, the storyline is like a cool breeze. Having a right mix of love and sentiment, the film, he claims, would be very different from the routine stuff. Though the movie has been created keeping the youth in mind, it would attract all age groups, says the director. “Since we deal with family oriented issues, women too are sure to welcome our effort”.

Chandernath claims that the climax will be damn new. “I have never seen such a climax in my life so far. Actually I hit upon the climax sequence first and then the story followed”, says the director with excitement.

Kallori: Capturing the reality

Cinematographer Chezhiyan, the protege of P.C. Sriram, makes his debut in 'Kallori', directed by Balaji Sakthivel. The movie produced by director Shankar’s 'S' Pictures, has introduced a lot of newcomers before and behind the camera.

Chezhiyan has earlier done cinematography for various documentary films and short films. He was the cameraman for the documentary on or former President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, directed by a young entrepreneur and filmmaker P. Danapal. The film has been received well for its portrayal of Dr. Kalam’s life and mission. Chezhiya’s camera work has elevated the documentary in to the level of a feature film.

'Kallori' is his first full length feature film. Balaji Sakthivel, who believes in bringing the reality on celluloid, has trusted his friend and roped him into the venture. The visuals stand as a fitting proof that his confidence is not misplaced.

Chezhiyan, who has a wide and deep knowledge of world cinema, has shot the film without any special lighting. He has opted for natural light to give the film a real look. He hasn’t tried to astonish you by his visuals. He has, instead, made the entire film look as natural as possible. He has captured the real appearance of the location with amazing credibility.

It is worth mentioning here that Chezhiyan is also a writer, who writes articles on cinema. He is now writing a serial in a leading Tamil weekly 'Ananda Vikatan' introducing meaningful cinema made across the globe. He has a simple style of narrative, which could provide deep meaning when read carefully. His camera work, according to the insiders of Kalloori, too is simple and meaningful.

'Pirivom Santhipom' audio from Dec 9

The audio of 'Pirivom Sandhipom' is released in the morning of December 9 at Santham Cinemas in Chennai. This Cheran – Sneha starrer, directed by Karu Pazhaniappan is almost completed and expected to be a Pongal release.

The audio – a Vidyasagar musical – will be released by Vijay and Prabhu Deva. K.S. Ravikumar R. Parthiban will render special speeches on the occasion.

Rama Narayanan, Head of the Producers’ Council will preside over the function. Kalaipuli G. Sekaran and Abirami Ramanathan will also grace the occasion.

The movie, produced by A. Subaskaran and Rajumahalingam under the banner of Gnanam Films P Ltd., deals with the family bonds and values in the backdrop of a joint family.

Ajith and Shankar come together

Finally, the twosome has come together. After a lot of on-off parleys with various stars, Shankar has finally decided to go with Ajith. The handsome hero will be the hero of his dream project' Robot', which is a science fiction flick.

First it was said that Kamal Haasan would do it. But it did not take off. Then, after Sivaji, the official announcement came that Shah Rukh Khan was willing to do the role and produce it as well. However, we heard the news that King Khan had finally refused to do the film. Now, it has been confirmed that Ajith has accepted to don the role.

Despite being the leading stars, Ajith and Vijay haven’t done any film with ace director Shankar, who has proved his mettle as a leading director with guaranteed success, handling big stars and big budget. Hence, acting in his film is a dream of many heroes.

Ajith, who is fresh and confident after the 'Billa' experiment, is raring to go. The actor, who hasn’t had good run at the box office for sometime now, is confident that 'Billa' would change everything.

It is believed that Ajith will come to Shankar’s film after finishing his next directed by dancer turned director Raju Sundaram.

The coming together of the Ajith, who has a good opening despite his failures, and Shankar, a proven victor, could prove to be a deadly combination.