The first film to hit the screens will be ‘ATM Thirudan’ that was earlier titled as ‘Ninaithathai Mudippavan’. The Malayalam version ‘Robinhood’ is a multi-starrer that features Prithviraj along with Narain, Bhavana, Samvruksha and Jeya Surya in lead roles. The film is about a computer scientist, who uses his unique style of looting money from banks and distributes them to the poor and needy.

His other film, ‘Puthiya Mugam’ that was a huge success in Malayalam is getting dubbed in Tamil with the same title. Starring Priyamani and Meera Nandan in female lead roles, the film has Bala in negative character.

The final three reels are the most enjoyable and the other portions of the film are good in bits and pieces.

“Hoo” cannot be described as a remake of Tamil film “Priyamanan Thozhi” directed by Vikraman as Ravichandran, though borrowing the story, recreated his own screenplay with many of his trademark commercial elements like titillating scenes and comedy.

Ravichandran has also really improved in the visual presentation of the film.

The dialogues of the film are also exceptionally well written and the final sequences make a good impact.

National Award-winning actress Meera Jasmine comes into her own in a tailor-made role and reveals everything with her smile and expressions.

But some scenes featuring the film’s heroine Namitha and Pavithra Lokesh may add to the discomfort of the viewers.

Key moments of the film which were really good in the original Tamil film and its Telugu remake “Vasantham” look too trivial in this film.

The sequences featuring Namitha and Pavithra may titillate a few front benchers, but they may limit the film’s universal appeal.

Still the film shows Ravichandran’s class as a director. The sequences featuring Meera Jasmine have been shot well.

The story revolves around two childhood friends Ravi and Jasmine who remain steadfast in their relationship despite others’ suspicions.

Ravi is ill-treated by his own family members but Jasmine finds him talented.

Meanwhile, Ravi marries Anju who also understands the friendship between her husband and Jasmine.

And then comes an element of sacrifice. Ravi and Jasmine show that their friendship is eternal and nothing can come between their bond of friendship.

Ravichandran shines more as a director than an actor though he brings in a few laughs in comedy sequences. His silence speaks more in the climax sequences.

Meera Jasmine is the real asset of the film. Namitha has focused more on titillating sequences than acting in the film.

Prakash Raj shines in his small but effective role.

Seetharam does a competent job behind the camera. But Harikrishna has provided a mixed fare in his music. Mohan’s dialogues are effective.

“Hoo” is a treat for Crazy Star Ravichandran’s fans, but for others it is just an above average fare.

Cast & Crew:

Cast: V Ravichandran, Namitha, Meera Jasmine, Bhavana, Pavitra Lokesh, Rangayan Raghu, Sadhu Kokila, Bullet Prakash

Producer: Dinesh Gandhi

Director: V Ravichandran

Music Director: V Harikrishna

Source: Nowrunning

Making her debut with ‘Chitthiram Pesudhadi’, the actress was determined about pairing only with main league actors and in films of experienced moviemakers. Precisely, these reasons turned to be the constraints from making it big in film industry.

Now, the actress has decided to break all those barricades set by her and thereby, comes up with new resolutions. She is now ready to pair with even newcomers and will exhibit the glamorous quotients invariably.

Out of her own interests, Bhavana has now shot a portfolio of glamorous gestures and mailed it across to every film producer and technician looking out for better chance.

The movie will also be a nostalgic trip for Vishnuvardhan fans, who will watch every move of his intently. The climax sequence is thrilling and the actor’s fans are sure to have tears in their eyes.

The audience will have the satisfaction of seeing a perfect sequel to “Aaptha Mithra”, which was a blockbuster hit of Vishnuvardhan in 2004.

P. Vasu’s strong screenplay and narration makes “Aptha Rakshaka” one of Vishnuvardhan’s best films. Vasu again proves that he can successfully make films with imaginative stories filled with fantasy.

“Aaptha Rakshaka” has a lot of entertainment value in the first half with Vishnuvardhan and Komal showing very good on-screen chemistry in comedy sequences. There are some thrilling moments in the first half as well.

The second half is certainly a pathbreaking effort, which gives space for logic, enlightenment and entertainment. The last 20 minutes are so absorbing that you are glued to the screen.

The film’s main strength is that comedy and suspense have been blended with equal measure and with a huge entertainment quotient. The movie creates a lot of curiosity throughout – the gripping tale has many twists.

In the film, an ancient painting of Nagavalli is the prized possession of a family in Mysore. Slowly the three daughters in the family – Saraswathi, Geetha and Gowri – are psychologically affected by the presence of this painting.

The family’s trusted spiritual guru, Ramachandra Acharya, does not help matters as there are many additional problems due to a snake. Acharya takes the help of psychiatrist Vijay (both these characters were also part of ‘Aaptha Mithra’), who solves the problem.

The story also narrates the tragic story of Nagavalli being killed by the cruel king Vijayaraja Bahaddur and the subsequent revenge.

Vishnuvardhan’s performance in three roles is outstanding. And his voice modulation in the role of Vijayaraja Bahaddur is excellent. His efforts at essaying the different roles through varying body language and voices are clearly noticeable.

Komal gives yet another likeable performance in the film, which is really entertaining. Though Vimala Raman, Lakshmi Gopalaswamy, Bhavana and Sandhya have done a good job, it is Sandhya who really shines. Sreenivasa Murthy, Ramesh Bhat and Vinaya Prasad have all done their best.

Guru Kiran’s music stands out. Apart from good songs like “Garane Gara Garane”, “Kaveri Thaayi Aane” and “Rakshaka Rakshaka”, Guru has really come out on top with the film’s background score. P.K.H. Doss has certainly created a new bench mark in cinematography, while Suresh Urs excels in his editing work.

“Aaptha Rakshaka” is one film that Kannada film-goers can’t afford to miss.

Cast & Crew:

Cast: Dr.Vishnuvardhan, Bhavana, Avinash,Vineeth, Vimala Raman, Sandya, Komal Kumar, Srinivasa Murthy, Ramesh Bhat

Producer: Krishna Prajwal

Director: P. Vasu

Music Director: Gurukiran

Source: nowrunning

Having centered on relationships, love and betrayal – ASAL runs shorts off emotional touch. It’s almost getting annoyed right during the first hour as there aren’t any interesting moments. With lots of characters interwoven into this script, Saran could’ve worked a better screenplay.

The story revolves around aged arms dealer Jeevanandham (Ajith Kumar) and their sons Sam (Sampath), Vicky (Rajiv Krishna) and Shiva (again played by Ajith). Being born to second wife, Shiva is often humiliated by his step-brothers, but remains as apple of Jeevanandham’s eye. Sam and Vicky are misguided by their evil-uncle (Pradeep Rawat) to sign a deal with an offensive group that supplies weapons to terrorists, Jeevanandham turns it down with accordance to Shiva’s concern.

Meanwhile, the sudden demise of Jeevanandham abruptly blows them out of waters. But on the spur of the moment, Vicky is abducted by the opponent group lead by Shetty (Kelly Dorjee) in Mumbai. Shiva seeks the help of his father’s friend (Prabhu) to trace whereabouts of Shetty and comes across Sulochana (Bhavana), who falls for him at the first sight. When Shiva rescues Vicky from the clutches of Shetty & Co, the story takes a different turn as the stepbrothers trigger their bullets on Shiva drowning him into the sea.

As predicted, rest of the story is about the Shiva’s act of seeking vengeance on the two brothers.

Asal belongs to Ajith Kumar as Saran has barely focused on impersonating him with lots of heroism. Patently, it gets completely tedious to heed every character keeps persistently boasting him as ‘Thala’. Though Ajith captivates with his stylish looks, he completely disappoints with his dance and romantic factors. It would be better if he focuses into these vistas in mere future. Having depicted in a challenging role as an official from French embassy, Sameera Reddy has nothing special to offer. She looks tomboyish and caters with her glamorous quotients for frontbenchers. Bhavana looks so young to Ajith and Saran could’ve opted for a better actor. Of course, she looks cute and does her part well. Sampath, Rajiv Krishna and Pradeep Rawat sleepwalk through their stereotypical roles while Suresh as an evil cop keeps us engrossed to certain extent. Yughi Sethu fails to evoke laughter as his comedy sequences are completely nettlesome. Kelly Dorjee is awesome and his encounters with Ajith during pre-interval sequences are stunning. Prabhu doesn’t get prominence and hardly appears in just 4 scenes…

Bharadwaj’s musical score turns to be the biggest disappointments as none of the songs savor to the tastes of audiences and so is the background score. Prashanth’s cinematography is captivating as he proves to be an excellent protégé of Nirav Shah. Anthony’s editing is sleek, though there are few discontinuities between the shots. Costumes by Vivek and Nalini require special mention and art direction is perfect.

It really makes us confused on how Ajith Kumar could accept such offers that lacks a proper storyline. To be precise, it’s a hackneyed story repeated often in Kollywood for decades. A very weak screenplay sans interesting moments fills us with complete disappointments. Well, with the stylish Ajith posing with cigars and posing as hotshot model may win applause and whistles amongst his fans. But ASAL is a film that fails to exceed our expectations.

Cast & Crew:

Banner: Sivaji Productions

Production: Prabhu

Direction: Saran

Star-casts: Ajith Kumar, Sameera Reddy, Bhavana, Prabhu, Yughi Sethu, Suresh, Sampath, Rajiv Krishna, Kelly Dorjee and others

Music: Bharadwaj

Verdict: Below average

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