The Boring Goodness

‘Boring Goodness’ is how I would like to describe the music that has come out so far in Tamil films in 2008. There were many good songs with good melodies but very few of them have that extra something that would make the song stand the testimony of time. There weren’t many songs that blew my mind. I don’t know why I feel so. May be these days I don’t give a serious ear to Tamil film music. I don’t buy and listen to every other Tamil film soundtrack that comes out, which I used to do before. But here are my picks from whatever I listened to so far in 2008, which I may want to listen decades down the line

1. Yen Unnidam (Chakra Vyuham)
2. En Idhayathai Kaanom (Chakra vyuham)
3. Aagayam Kaanamal (Saadhu Miranda)
4. Vallamai Tharayo (Vallamai Tharayo)
5. Uyirilae (Vellithirai)
6. Venmegam (Yaaradi Nee Mohini)
7. Kanden Kanden (Pirivom Santhipom)
8. Manasukkul (Anjathey)
9. Aavaram Poovukkum (Arai En 305il Kadavul)
10. Aganthayil Aaduvathaa (Uliyin Oosai)

Reliance Mobile Vijay Awards 2008

While there are a bunch of award shows happening for Hindi Cinema throughout the year, there isn’t many for Tamil Cinema. Filmfare awards for South Indian Cinema and Tamilnadu state awards have lost their sheen and credibility long back. So, when ‘Vijay awards’ was commenced last year, I was more than happy. Last year it was kind of a tribute to 75 years of Tamil cinema, where they honored legends in all categories but from this year it is like any other award show recognizing the best of the talents for the movies released in the previous year.

There were 4 pre-cursor shows on Vijay Awards since one month before the actual awards were announced (on every Sunday afternoon 2 P.M), anchored by Gopinath, where popular film technicians, actors, jury members and selected audiences had a healthy discussion and debate about various aspects of Tamil cinema in 2007.

If you have seen this year’s telecast of Vijay Awards show (showing the making of the statue, red carpet interviews, nominations), the intention is pretty evident, which is to make ‘Vijay Awards’ as one of iconic recognition, a award which a film personality would want to proudly add in his profile. Two decades down the line, when an actor is introduced before an interview, they should add that he has won X number of ‘Vijay Awards’ for Best actor. ‘Vijay Awards’ wants to reach that status. And from the way this year’s award show was organized and conducted, I am sure that will happen.

Vijay TV has a very good rapport with Tamil film fraternity and that will definitely help them to go a long way from here. Vijay Awards is very well balanced with both popularity and talent being recognized and praised equally.

The show was well attended by the film fraternity. Yugi Sethu was a decent host for the show, though most of his word play and humor fell flat. Except for Krish’s, performances by dumb actresses and by Neha Basin were bad. The stage backdrop was good but the lighting was over done with too many colors.

Coming to Awards,

The jury includes Cartoonist Madan, Yugi Sethu, Lissy Priyadarshan and Director Baghyaraj. From the winners, it is very clear that Madan was dominant among the four, because if you have been watching Madan’s Thirai Paarvai regularly, you could easily guess the winners. From the nominations, it is clear that quite a lot of analysis and evaluation was done before finalizing on the nominees in each category. Paruthiveeran, Mozhi, Polladhavan, Katradhu Tamizh, Chennai – 600028 and Sivaji bagged most of the nominations both in technical and non technical categories. Kalloori was seriously overlooked except for a nomination for Hemalatha who played the role of Kayal in the movie. But they made sure that awards are evenly distributed among the best movies of 2007.

I was searching for a site where I could find the complete list of nominees and winners in Vijay TV and I couldn’t find any, not even in Balaji’s blog, so here it is

Best Dance Choreography

1. Ajay - Jalsa pannungada (Chennai – 600028)
2. Brinda - Unakkul naane (Pachaikili Muthucharam)
3. Dinesh - Vasantha mullai (Pokkiri)
4. Lawrence - Thee thee (Sivaji)
5. Raju Sundaram - June ponal (Unnalae Unnalae)

Winner - Dinesh for Vasantha mulai (Pokkiri)

Varied Nominations. I don’t know what the jury were really looking for, but nice picks.

Best Stunt Direction

1. Pepsi Vijayan - Pokiri
2. Kanal kannan - Deepavali
3. Peter hain - Sivaji
4. Rambo Rajkumar - Polladhavan
5. William wong - Billa

Winner - Rambo Rajkumar (Polladhavan)

Yet to see Polladhavan but have heard so many people raving about the climax fight sequence and so, I think award has gone to the right hands.

Best Art Direction

1. Jackson - Paruthiveeran
2. Kathir - Pokkiri
3. Milan - Billa
4. Saikumar - Polladhvan
5. Thotta tharani - Sivaji

Winner - Thotta tharani (Sivaji)

The Obvious.

Best Editing

1. Antony - Sivaji
2. Kasi Vishwanathan - Mozhi
3. B.Lenin - Chennai 28
4. Raja Mohammad - Paruthiveeran
5. Sreekar prasad - Katradhu Tamizh

Winner - Sreekar prasad (Katradhu Tamizh)

Katradhu Tamizh was technically brilliant. Sreekar Prasad deserves it. But congrats to Raja Mohammad for winning the coveted national award for Paruthiveeran.

Best Cinematography

1. K.V. Anand - Sivaji
2. Kathir - Katradhu tamizh
3. Nirav shah - Billa
4. Ramji - Paruthiveeran
5. Velraj - Polladhavan

Winner – Velraj (Polladhavan)

K.V.Anand and Nirav Shah are ruled out for obvious reasons. Though Ramji’s cinematography was great, it was overtly yellowish. Kathir did a great job in Katradhu Tamizh. And I think Velraj was chosen for shooting the movie is many real locations mostly under natural source of lighting.

Best Lyricist

1. Na.Muthukumar - Sivaji (Ballelakka)
2. Rohini - Unakkul naane (Pachaikili Muthucharam)
3. Snehan - Paruthiveeran (Ariyaatha vayasu)
4. Vaali – Chennai – 600028 (Yaaro)
5. Vairamuthu - Kaatrin mozhi (Mozhi)

Winner – Na.Muthukuar (Sivaji)

Though my choice would be Vairamuthu for Onbathu rooba nottu or Mozhi, I am okay with Na.Muthukumar winning the award, but I couldn’t digest the fact that he won it for ‘Ballelakka’ from Sivaji as Na.Muthukumar himself has written much more meaningful songs in Katradhu Tamizh. And what is so great about Rohini’s words in Unakkul Naane?

Best Playback Singer (Female)

1. Chinmaye (Sahana - Sivaji)
2. Sowmya rao (Unn siripinil – Pachaikili Muthucharam)
3. Neha basin (Paesugiraen – Satham Podathey)
4. Akkam pakkam (Sadhana - Kireedom)
5. Madhumitha (Nee nadhaswaram - Azhaghiya Tamizh Magan)

Winner – Neha basin (Paesugiraen – Satham Podathey)

Neha Basin is a strange choice. Mine would obviously go to Chinmaye. Surprised to see Madhumitha getting a nomination, a well deserved one though. And ‘Un Siripinil’ from Pachaikili Muthucharam was not sung by Sowmya Rao, it is by Gauthami Rao.

Best Playback singer (Male)

1. S.P.Balasubramaniam (Yaaro – Chennai 600028)
2. Balram (Kaatrin Mozhi - Mozhi)
3. Haricharan (Arabu naadae – Thottal Poo Malarum)
4. Krish(June ponaal – Unnalae Unnalae)
5. Udit Narayan (Sahana - Udit Narayanan)

Winner – Krish (June ponaal – Unnalae Unnalae)

Udit Narayan???!!! Lol…
Balram for Mozhi, Rahul for ‘Para Para Pattampoochi’, Srinivas for ‘Maghaliyil kulichu paaru’ are in my list. It is really a tough category to pick just one name.

Best Supporting actor (Female)

1. Hemalatha (Kalloori)
2. Khusbhoo (Periyar)
3. Sujatha (Paruthiveeran)
4. Swarnamalya (Mozhi)
5. Nadhiya (Thamirabharani)

Winner – Sujatha (Paruthiveeran)

Best supporting actor (Male)

1. M.S.Baskar (Mozhi)
2. Murali (Polladhavan)
3. Prakash Raj (Mozhi)
4. Raj kiran (Kireedom)
5. Saravanan (Paruthiveeran)

Winner – Prakash Raj (Mozhi)

As Prakash Raj himself told, M.S.Baskar is a better choice. If you have seen Madan’s Thirai Paarvai on Mozhi, you will now how much Madan got impressed by the choice of Prakash Raj for Viji character and his casual performance and hence the award.

Best Villain

1. Kalabhavan mani (Vel)
2. Kishore (Polladhavan)
3. Milind soman (Pachaikili)
4. Pokkiri (Prakash raj)
5. Suman (Sivaji)

Winner - Kishore (Polladhavan)

Do we really need this category?

Best Dialogue writer

1. Ameer - Paruthiveeran
2. R.Madhavan, Seeman - Evano oruvan
3. Ram - Katradhu tamizh
4. Venkat Prabhu – Chennai 600028
5. Viji - Mozhi

Winner - Viji (Mozhi)

Right choice.

Best Actor Debut (Female)

1. Andrea (Pachaikili Muthucharam)
2. Anjali (Katradhu Tamizh)
3. Banu (Thamirabharani)
4. Tanisha (Unnalae Unnalae
5. Vijayalakshmi (Chennai 600028)

Winner – Anjali (Katradhu Tamizh)

It looks like that jury members have really struggled to make up the list with 5 nominees for this category.

Best Actor Debut (Male)

1. Aathi (Mirugam)
2. Akhil (kalloori)
3. Karthi (Paruthiveeran)
4. Siva (Chennai 600028)
5. Vinay (Unnalae unnalae)

Winner – Karthi (Paruthiveeran)

Obvious.

Best Music Director

1. Harris (Unnalae Unnalae)
2. G.V.Prakash (Kireedom)
3. A.R.Rahman (Sivaji)
4. Vidhyasagar (Mozhi)
5. Yuvan Shankar raja (Paruthiveeran)

Winner – A.R.Rahman (Sivaji)

My choice would be Vidhyasagar for Mozhi and Yuvan Shankar Raja for Katradhu Tamizh. And why there isn’t a category for best background score? Madan is one critic who doesn’t forget to talk about background score of the movies which he reviews in Vijay TV’s Thirai Paarvai, yet I don’t know why he didn’t recommend including a category for background score.

Award for Contribution to Tamil Cinema

Film News Aanandhan was honored for his contribution to Tamil Cinema for his passion towards cinema. He was also awarded a cash prize of one lakh rupees. The AV shown for introducing Aanandhan was nicely done.

Find of the year

1. Cinematographer Kathir (Katradhu Tamizh)
2. Director Ram (Katradhu tamizh)
3. Lyricist Rohini (Pachaikili Muthucharam)
4. Director Venkat Prabhu (Chennai 600028)
5. Director Vetrimaran (Polladhavan)

Winner - Director Venkat Prabhu (Chennai 600028)

Though the execution of Chennai 600028 was brilliant, I am still skeptical about Venkat Prabhu’s ability. I will have to wait for ‘Saroja’ to really form an opinion on Venkat Prabhu as a director.

Best Film

1. Paruthiveeran
2. Mozhi
3. Chennai - 28
4. Pallikoodam
5. Polladhavan

Winner – Paruthiveeran

I don’t know what made the jury to choose ‘Pallikoodam’ over a ‘Kallori’ or a ‘Katradhu Tamizh’. But anyways, the winner was always going to be ‘Paruthiveeran’.

Best Director

1. Ameer - Paruthiveeran
2. Radha mohan - Mozhi
3. Ram - Katradhu Tamizh
4. Venkat Prabhu - Chennai 28
5. Vetri maran - Polladhavan

Winner – Vetri Maran (Polladhavan)

This definitely came as a surprise. Though I haven’t seen Polladhavan yet, I thought Ameer would win it. I always had this doubt about how a jury selects someone else as best director instead of the director of the movie which is being chosen as the best movie of the year.

Best Actress

1. Asin - Pokkiri
3. Bhavana - Deepavali
3. Jyothika - Mozhi
4. Padma priya - Mirugam
5. Priya mani - Paruthiveeran

Winner – Priya Mani (Paruthiveeran)

Another obvious choice and recently she bagged the national award too. But Yugi Sethu unnecessarily embarrassed Priya Mani on stage, by asking her on the reason for choosing to act in a glamorous role in ‘Malaikottai’ immediately after ‘Paruthiveeran’. Right question in a wrong place.

Best Actor

1. Danush - Polladhavan
2. Jeeva - Katradhu Tamizh
3. Madhavan - Evano Oruvan
4. Sathyaraj - Onbathu rooba nottu
5. Sathyaraj - Periyar

Winner – Satyaraj (Onbathu Rooba nottu)

While reviewing the movie ‘Onbathu rooba nottu’, Madan interviewed Satyaraj and asked him about which role was tough to play or which character he feels proud of - ‘Periyar’ or playing ‘Madhava padaiyachi’? Satyrajar gave a diplomatic answer. But Madan told that playing Madhava padaiyachi is Satyaraj’s biggest achievement as to act in the role of Periyar there are lot of reference material which can help for and as Satyaraj himself has a very good knowledge about Periyar’s life, it wouldn’t be tough for him to play the role of Periyar but the same cannot be said about the role of ‘Madhavar padaiyachi’ in Onbathu rooba nottu.

Chevalier Sivaji Ganesan award for Excellent in Indian Cinema went to Maniratnam. Again, the AV on Maniratnam was really done well especially the slide show of behind-the-scene pictures of all Maniratnam movies was great.

The award for Best Comedian went to Vadivelu for Marudhamalai. And the best crew award went to the crew of Chennai 600028. I still don’t know the criteria for choosing the winners in this category. I don’t know the nominees in these two categories as I missed to watch these parts of the show.

In the categories in which people selected the winners by voting, Rajini is the favourite hero for Sivaji, Nayantara is the favourite heroine for Billa, Prabhudeva is the favourite director for Pokkiri and favourite film is not Sivaji, it is ‘Pokkiri’. Vijay got Entertainer of the year award; Surya was selected as the Icon of the year by ad agencies.