Raja's read only memories

You can read this review also at: http://expressbuzz.com/biography/avan-ivan/286219.html Raw depiction of human emotions have been the USP of Bala's movies. The Aghori sadhu in Naan Kadavul , the son of an undertaker in the national award-winning movie Pithamagan , or the jilted lover in Sethu stand out for their oddities, influencing movie and satire makers like no other. So, it is confounding that Avan Ivan , the latest movie from his stable, is surprisingly stereotypical. Kumbidaren Saamy (Arya) and Walter Vanangamudi (Vishal) are village louts who are half-brothers. Walter, an aspiring actor, has a squint, cross-dresses and even dances as a woman (he boasts that when dressed as a woman, even Cleopatra would emerge from her grave and kiss him); Saamy is an expert at picking locks. A local magistrate summons him to his house to open his ancient safe, the key for which he has misplaced. Although animosity runs high between the two, Saamy is afraid to confront Walter directly. The...

Oram Po- one for the 'movies are for entertainment' class Sophistication is the hallmark of the protagonist in any Tamil movie. He can put to shame a battery of Perry Masons with his loquaciousness, conduct explorations that can make an Indiana Jones look like a school-kid at a playground, and at the same time, find time to seduce all the PYTs, leaving behind the older species for the likes of James Bond or any character straight out of an Irving Wallace novel. So, when the hero is portrayed as someone sweating even for his ten minutes of fame, eyebrows are bound to be raised. More so, if the movie in question is the Arya-Pooja starrer Oram Po. With the CD cover of the movie showing Arya standing beside an auto in a khaki -coloured dress, the first impression one tends to gather is that it could be a rip-off of Superstar Rajnikanth’s Baasha or maybe the late MGR-starrer Rickshawkkaran. Thankfully, though, the movie wasn’t one of those maddening archetypes that offer a satia...