Ten Tadennnn Taen aka Kaminey

Was in Mumbai last week, visiting an Arien aunt. Being particularly close to this aunt since childhood, I was sure that we would have lotsaa fun. Too late we realized tht it was rainy season, aunt had gone all spiritual and TV was going to be our companion as aunt had not taken off from work. Talk of piscean persistence coupled with Arien enthu - the Arien aunt had no escape. We picked her up from office in her car, after buying tickets to a movie in a nearby multiplex. If you have ever been to Mumbai, you will know that that is quite a daunting task but the Arien is pretty good at driving the car and I am pretty good at remembering routes and navigating and so we surprised my aunt by driving up to her workplace and informing her tht we had got tickets to the movie she wanted to watch - Kaminey.


Kaminey is a totally watchable movie inspite of the old wine in a new bottle storyline. I was actually glad tht they escaped frm the "Maaa.." aspect which has by now become a mandatory part of any indian movie - frm Amitabh's maa, Nirupa Roy, Salman's maa, Reema Lagoo, to Imran's maa, Rathna Pathak Shah. In this movie we have a Paa. The twins (both played by Shahid) do not have a maa and do not have fond memories of her which we are subjected to as a flashback. Shahid1 has a stutter while Shahid2 has a lisp and when they spoke, it took a while to understand wht they meant, after which it became hilarious.

Shahid finally escapes frm the "mister-goody-two-shoes" image of Jab We Met and Vivah. Priyanka is good. The slick editing is reminiscent of an english movie and the storyline is taut. It was a well directed movie and the script enabled Shahid to rise like a phoenix and show his detractors what he is capable of. Music was essentially hummable - Ten Tadan was pretty good tho' it loses sm of its life as the song progresses.


While my aunt was shocked at the violence, Arien and self were wondering if we had missed something. Aunt has spent too much time pursuing her spiritual goals was our joint verdict for her which she laughingly accepted. When I mentioned to a frend tht I saw Kaminey in Mumbai - I was told tht the Mumbai experience was not complete until I saw sm Kaminey (s)!!! Tht was simply too punelicious that I cud not resist adding it here.

Verdict: Not path-breaking or Earth-shattering but amazing nonetheless especially in the Bollywood space. A good movie after a loong time. Shahid excels in the role of a lifetime that seems to be crafted for him. Must watch at least once.

Deiva Thirumagal

A new movie starring Vikram, Deiva Thirumagal, released last week, with absolutely no hype. If that was not plain weird, I wonder what is. I had not even seen a single trailer. In fact, when I found the movie listed, I did not want to see it until I found out that it was Vikram's movie. And then my Arien aunt insisted that she wanted to watch a Tamizh movie and she said she did not want to watch Vengai starring Dhanush. So, we booked tickets online and went for this movie.

The story revolves around a man who has the mental capability of a five-year old and his daughter, Nila. The mother is no longer alive. And the relatives from the mother's side do not think the father is capable of taking care of the child and separate the two in a very shocking manner. In a funny twist of events, the father meets a lawyer who finally takes up this case. The father's role is played by Vikram. And he has done a fantastic job. Baby Sarah as the daughter has also done a great job. Amala Paul has a small role and she has done her job well. Anushka plays the role of the lawyer. Nasser is the lawyer from the other side.

The movie is quite slow, funny in bits, has absolutely no dishum-dishum, and jes 'bout ook. The Arien aunt fell in lowe with the movie. She is the same person who was very shocked after watching Kaminey, here. I did not like the movie much. I felt the premise was interesting but the movie failed to match it. Its quite possible that a movie about a mentally challenged person is kinda not my favorite type of movie. I did watch Sadma but tht was a looong time ago and while Vikram is almost as good as Kamal - this movie seemed too indulgent. I was quite bored at times. There was a totally unnecessary song between Anushka and Vikram which should have lead to some romance but it did not. Probably the idea was to develop that bit but it got cut or maybe Anushka feared that Amala Paul may end up walking away with the heroine tag and insisted on the song. Y G Mahendran was wasted in a role that did not require him to do much and he delivered. After over-indulging in some places, the story ended in an abrupt manner as though someone had yelled "CUT!". This movie should have been edited better.