REVIEW OF "I"

An upcoming innocent body-builder is tricked into a lethal injection,without his own knowledge, that turns him into a hunchback. What he does when he discovers is the subject matter of this 4-year-in-the-making movie.

Vikram has given his heart and soul throughout the movie and the result is clearly visible. Right from the mammoth of a body build to the trimmed version of that of a model's to the entirely trimmed version of that of a hunchback, his transformation baffles everyone. Vikram will win the Best Hunchback category and also Best Body Build Category alongside the Best Acting Category.When it comes to being in the wrong place at the wrong time, Lingesan (Vikram) is the "Bruce McClane" of Tamil Cinema. When it comes to loosing and gaining weight, Vikram is the "Christian Bale" of Indian Cinema.
In short our I-bro raises for Vikram.

Amy Jackson's lack of inhibition persona perfectly fits the mould of a model. Anyone else would have been just a namesake model. Santhanam, though devoid of a separate comedy track (which I guess is loss in editing) does his best in the last quarter of the movie. Upen Patel, along with the good looks, also has a natural villanous face that will come in handy if he decides to become a full time villain.

Last seen in Dheena, Suresh Gopi is a pleasant surprise (given his absence in trailer and teasers) but his mild persona did not sit along with his stature and before the twist was revealed, I was able to smell a rat.

Released at 189 mins, the editing department would have been put to task and one cant imagine the length of the uncut version.

The S factor in Shankar's movie is missing. The last time , when I felt this emptiness, was with Shivaji-the Boss. Being a Rajni movie absence of S factor was reasoned with Superstar's larger than life image. But this time around, I couldn't find a suitable excuse. Little more trimming would have given a crisper version.

All in all, I is a 3hr Vikram treat. But I cant guarantee that you would like it.

REVIEW OF "DARLING"

A group of like-minded-suiciders go to a beach house to full stop their life. When intervened by supernatural, things take a turn for worse and the rest is.....

Darling, the first film in the recent Tamil History to come with an English title, falls in the comedy-horror genre, a genre that attained popularity with Yamirukka Bayamey, Aranmanai. Surely this is not the last of this genre and some more can expected from Tamil Cinema.

The movie succeeds on many steps: The humour has been used to such effect that any outside listener would find it hard to believe that a horror movie is being screened inside.. (given the laughs and claps.)

But the traditional Horror stereotypes could have been avoided say the 12'O clock sharp-supernatural-appointment , the excessive kajal around the eyes of the supernatural, the cracked plaster make up, closing of doors.

It is pleasing to see Karunas back after a brief hibernaton as an avid suicide enthusiast. Noteworthy of his scenes is when he pranks a religious custom (still worried how it will be received).

GV Prakash's (yes, the now familiar musician) debut has very little scope for acting given the only expression that he throws at us (while being thrown across the room several times) is "shock". Not shocking at all.

Nikki Gilrani's debut would have been more acting friendly, if we could somehow peer through the plaster make up (which does a good job of hiding her expressions well).

Several movies have been referenced (I, Puthiya paravai, Thuppaki, even a spoof TV show). Most surprising is when a movie referenced (I) runs in the next screen.

The single most whistles in the movie goes to the cameo appearance of "Naan kadavul" Rajendran as Ghost Gopal Verma with an entry , credits to the graphic designers of Ghost Rider (yes, that Nic-Cage movie). With just two scenes he leaves the audiences in splits alongside a strong impression (his "I am waiting" was the first eye-turner for this low profile movie).

On the whole the movie has overwhelmingly satisified the viewers and is definitely worth a watch. A fair warning though, the comedy-horror genre slowly develops into comedy-horror-romantic genre towards the end.

The only flaw (which comes only in the post-movie-post-mortem) is that excess humour can dissatisfy few (not sure of how much) who go in expecting a full-blown horror movie.

Darling: Dear Devil.