Film / Documentary - Recently watched & worthy of some discussion

Rajapalayam Shanti mini is showing Chennai express... enga oorla hindi padam releaseaa.... was stunned..!!!

movie is good.. predictable storyline and nothing sensational about the script... but trailer vida padam nalla thaan irukku :)

deepika is too good.. indha ponnu oru tamil padam senja nalla irukkum :) SRK - romba vayasu theridu, but he did well.. i think credit should go to director... Sathyaraj good a huge applause/whistles on entry ... ennamma kannu and all that :D

the movie had some rofl moments.. sentiment ellam not so great.. i dint find the songs so memorable - but cinematography and situational comedy nalla irundhadhu..good timepass... atlast a good entertainer for SRK !!!

still cant get over it... oorla hindi padam first day evening show pathrukkaen !!

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Originally Posted by srimal

Rajapalayam Shanti mini is showing Chennai express... enga oorla hindi padam releaseaa.... was stunned..!!!


deepika is too good.. indha ponnu oru tamil padam senja nalla irukkum :)

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She is acting in Kochadaiyann right...

Sonna Puriyadhu, another mokkai in the name of comedy. I am beginning to hate this Siva guy :x

The Mahabaratham ringtone was one of the saving aspect of Sonna Puriyadhu. I enjoyed the Hi-Tech Patti Character :

Venna oru ponna like panni, share pannein
Patti !
Facebook-la sonein-da

She is a fan of Lady Gaga ... LoL

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Originally Posted by Dinesh84

Sonna Puriyadhu, another mokkai in the name of comedy. I am beginning to hate this Siva guy :x

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Agila Ulaga Superstar

Annakkodi

:sigh2:

25 years back vandhurukkavendiya padam.. & BR's way of showing luv scenes.. another :sigh2:
directorey.. retire aagidunga..

What is the last big hit for Bharathiraja?

I do not know about hit, but his last venture was pretty decent - Bommalattam

Annakodi - Kozhi katha solla arambikum podhey ninachein ... and not an out of the box BR materiel, I will stick with HonestRaj's lines "25 years back vandhurukkavendiya padam"

Naan jacket podadha Karthika photo paakum podhey mild-a doubt aanen.

Btw his last hit was Kizhaku Seemayile?

& "Karuththamma" had 100 day run.. may be in very less no. of theaters

Both the movies Kizhaku Seemayile & Karuthamma were wonderful, esp. the characters, the depth, the subject on hand
And in KS, Rradhika was formidable (it was like she still remebered the "BR-slap" ... LoL)
Karuthamma with the "Disco-style-song" took away the spirit, and it took a while to get back in, but the end-product is worth mentioning

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Originally Posted by 19thmay

Naan jacket podadha Karthika photo paakum podhey mild-a doubt aanen.

Btw his last hit was Kizhaku Seemayile?

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must be the genuine hit.... Bharthirajalam mothalla pechai korakunum....he still thinks he makes good movies as he did in 70's and 80's.....After early 90s, he lost knack of story telling could be due to loss of writer R.selvaraj.

Well if you ask me, I would blame it on his urge to bring in his son Manoj (during late 90s). Even then, he managed to bring in "award-winning" materiales. Then after a break and silently complaining about the medicore movies coming out he did 2 thrillers where he still showed his grip.

And now, he wishes to bring back the artistic naration like showing moon and flowers. Well ... that explains quite a lot !

during mid-90's "pasumponn" was highly expected film.. i think it did only average business

watching last 1/2 hr of "sabapathy" in murasu channel...

earlier i thought it was filmed in early 50's or late 40's after independence.. but a dialogue in the movie made me to google for its release date..

the dialogue goes like this..

heroine asks the time period of world war & the hero answers.. it started on 1938 (something around this year) & it is still going on.. heroine clarifies that she asked about first world war & not the 2nd ..

film released in 1941... directed by AVM chettiar..

planning to download this film from youtube..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgoinPyfgDs

http://www.hindu.com/cp/2008/05/23/s...2350351600.htm

Sabapathy 1941

T. R. Ramachandran, Kali N. Ratnam, K. Sarangapani, R. Padma, C. T. Rajakantham, P. R., Mangalam, Hiranaiah

http://www.hindu.com/cp/2008/05/23/i...2350351601.jpg
hilarious SabapathyHandy Andy is one of the popular comical characters of English literature created by Samuel Lover . He had the knack of doing everything wrong! Tamil theatreperson, Pammal Sambandam Mudaliar, wrote several `farces', built around a `Handy Andy-ish' servant Sabapathy, the `Man Friday' of a notso- bright young man by the same name. Such farces were enacted by Sambandam Mudliar with his troupe, Suguna Vilas Sabha, and proved popular. A. T. Krishnaswamy, the neglected but talented writerdirector- producer (Arivali, Vidyapathi, Manam Oru Kurangu) suggested to AV. Meiyappan, with whom he was working in Pragathi Pictures, to make a comedy built around Sabapathy.Those were days of the Second World War. Life was grim and so, people loved a good laugh. AVM agreed, and A. T. Krishnaswamy wrote the film, based on Mudaliar's farces. T.R. Ramachandran, who was with Pragathi on a princely salary of Rs. 35 per month, was cast as hero, while comedian and character artiste Kali N. Ratnam played Handy Andy. `Lux Soap' beauty R. Padma played the hero's educated wife, who teaches her husband English. The slim and saucy Rajakantham played the Man Friday's heartthrob. Another noted comedian of the day, K. Sarangapani, played a Tamil ragged by his students. During that period, Tamil teachers were the butt of jokes because they were considered inferior to those who taught English! For the first time, AVM's name appeared as director in the credits, along with A. T. Krishnaswamy, though the film was written and directed by the latter. Padma was active in Tamil cinema during the 1940's, but never made it to the top; she is barely remembered today.But Rajakantham made it as comedienne with Kali N. Ratnam and the pair was only next in fame to the legendary N. S. Krishnan and T. A. Mathuram. Contrived humour, jokes built around wrong usage of English, and those making fun of Tamil teachers - this was Sabapathy. However, moviegoers lapped it up, making it a big success. T. R. Ramachandran achieved star status with this film and was mentioned in the same breath as N. S. Krishnan. For a while, even MGR called himself `M. G. Ramachandar' to be different!Sabapathy placed AVM firmly on the ladder of success, and he was well on his way to becoming a movie mogul. It also brought A. T. Krishnaswamy into prominence as a talented director and comedy writer.Produced at around Rs. 40,000, Sabapathy was a boxoffice success. It is often screened on Tamil TV channels and quite familiar to folks even today, 60-plus years after it was made.Remembered for : The comedy sequences of T. R. Ramachandran, Kali N. Ratnam and Sarangapani.

Aadhalal Kadhal Seiveer - Brilliant. Suseentharan is back after the Rajapaatai debacle. Definitely a must watch.

happenned to see a few scenes from annakkodi in a friends place... a scripted disaster it looked like where u cant find even a single 5min interesting clip... 25 years munna idhu vandhirundhaa BR career appove mannoda poyirukkum... along with the poor music... BR epic fail.

saw first 15 to 20 mins of "policegiri" (colors channel)
pathetic remake of "SAAMY" by KS Ravikumar

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Originally Posted by HonestRaj

saw first 15 to 20 mins of "policegiri" (colors channel)
pathetic remake of "SAAMY" by KS Ravikumar

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KS Ravikuamar made a Cameo..

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Originally Posted by SoftSword

happenned to see a few scenes from annakkodi in a friends place... a scripted disaster it looked like where u cant find even a single 5min interesting clip... 25 years munna idhu vandhirundhaa BR career appove mannoda poyirukkum... along with the poor music... BR epic fail.

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Very true...

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Originally Posted by Cinemarasigan

Looks like this film created record at the Chennai Box office as well for Hindi films..

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Chennai Express sets new records, crosses Rs 150 crore mark - Indian Express

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Originally Posted by Stardust

Pooveli - had the pleasure to watch it in the weekend after a friend recommended it. It didn't take long to realize what movie it was based on. I've dissed Reeves in the orginial. But Karthick. What an actor. He had me hooked right from the beginning. The boundaries he consciously draws in the beginning when they are just friends, the mixed emotions that graces his face when the boundaries begin to blur, the subtle gestures and body language he shows when it becomes clear he is slowly falling for her.. It was karthicks show all the way. Seriously what an under appreciated actor. Even though the movie goes quite melodramatic at places, his character remains consistently calm and collected. There aren't many tamil movies that's tried to realistically explore the fragile human emotions. Just for the attempt, I applaud the director. Kausalya was a pleasant surprise. Never appreciated her as an actress much before this performance. Well, that is going to change. Pooveli- better than the walk in the hell I was expecting it was going to be. Unlike the original this was a walk in the park.

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Never knew Pooveli was a remake, its one of the Karthik movies I liked when he is normally trying to overact. He did underplay quite a bit for this movie. One other Karthik movie worth seeing is Kann Simittum Neram.

Rhythm falls somewhat on the same genre did a much better job due to the fact that it concentrated much more on the central characters than Pooveli did and more so it had a much more complex relationship to deal with.
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Originally Posted by 19thmay

Singam - II - Second half semma pEthal.

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first half'e pethal dhaan. The only reason Singam even worked is largely due to Prakashraj and he had a lot better role there.

Surya is wasting his career acting in Hari's movies.
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Originally Posted by HonestRaj

Barathi, Kamaraj madhiri padangal parkkumpodhu andha kaalakattathukke kodu poyiduvanga..
Iruvar appadi theriyalai... MGR's life eduthu adhula kalaignar portion'i mix panni.. highlighted events mattum oru melottama kanbichurukkaru.. change in screenplay.. i didn't like moving away from the actual happening..

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The movie was way ahead of its time and featuring most of the people who are alive and who have the influince to change the final product you see. From what I heard at that time, the movie was heavily censored and half the movie didn't make it to the silver screen. If not anything, it would the only movie to show MGR in not so great light.

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Originally Posted by 19thmay

Btw his last hit was Kizhaku Seemayile?

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Pasumpon?

Narayanan :shock: After a loooong time!! Eppadi irukkeenga :)

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Originally Posted by Movie Buff;1065383[B

]Aadhalal Kadhal Seiveer[/B] - Brilliant. Suseentharan is back after the Rajapaatai debacle. Definitely a must watch.

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Movie have some flavor movie Rattinam.... Hatsoff Suseentharan...Tears @ end of movie...

Singam 2 - had to keep adjusting the volume through out the movie.. too noisy and too messy. Surya was a waste. In some non action scenes he was trying to do an Aamir Khan. Waste movie !

Balajee,

Why not open a separate thread for AKS and post the reviews there? :)

agreed Ajay... will do the honors....

Aashiqui 2 & Aurangzeb back to back on Sony- August 15th

At 38 years of age,thought I will not be able to relate to a love story but Aashiqui 2 proved me wrong.Was hooked to the relationship between RJ & Aarohi.There is something about the directors coming from the Mahesh Bhatt school,they explore the darker side of human emotions very well.

A thought came that if RJ really wanted to change why did he not get admitted and then realized that the conflict was essentially that-addiction to the bottle and the affection for Aarohi and the climax comes as he is unable to choose one.

Better performers in the lead roles would have had a higher impact.Aditya Roy Kapoor was awkward in some scenes but had his moments too but Shraddha Kapoor has some serious work to do.Playing characters like this require much more than a pretty face.

The music was smashing,after a long time liked an album as a whole.

Aurangzeb : Was looking forward to this when I came to know it was directed by Atul Sabharwal whose drug drama on Star +,Powder,I was a fan of.

A very character driven movie,no frills,very engaging,logical,interesting twists&turns,an ensemble cast and all playing their roles well though Arjun Kapoor could have done better.

Special mention about Prithviraj & his Hindi.

I think I will skip Aashiqui 2 (This kind of tales make me feel like I am chained before the screen)

I was considering watching Aurnagzeb, but after watching Arjun Kapoor in Ishaqzaade, I backed off. Maybe I will try to get a moment to watch it for Prithviraj.

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Originally Posted by hattori_hanzo

Peeping Tom (1960)

A movie which I wanted to watch for a long time but couldn't till now. Critics tore apart the film upon release, resulting in financial loss which, sadly destroyed the career of its director and lead actor but went on to become a cult classic in later years. The story is a bit similar to Hitchcock's Psycho (which was released just few months after this one but was both a critical and commercial success!)
Peeping Tom was ahead of its times. I somehow found it more complete than Hitchcock's film. In the sense, you get to see and feel his fear and know the reason behind his weird acts. Whereas in Psycho, the viewers have to imagine what might have happened to the killer when he was a child. Neat thriller!

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Thanks for bringing in Peeping Tom. Its a kind of movie that wishes to stay in your mind without your permission after viewing it. Making audience to be judgemental was quite naturally executed in the movie.

In comparison with Psycho :

Similarities : Slasher killings, First person POV, violence, voyeurism, parental connection to the mindset of the killer, follow the killer (I mean there is crime but no mystry and the suspense is the same except - see point 5)

Opposites :
1/ Peeping Tom was processed in color, whereas Psycho went for grey alone; This made Peeping tom a hand higher than Psycho merely due to the natural blood color

2/ Psycho is an american exagarated version of violence, while Peeping Tom is dramatical horror from England

3/ POV - Peeping tom gives the idea of the killer ; while Psycho shows the agony of the one getting killed. This made Psycho a inch better than Peeping tom merely for the experience of horror on screen

4/ Violence in psycho makes you unconfortable (thats the motive anyway, close your eyes but keep your ears open ... LoL), but Peeping Tom shows a killer at work making it more relative.

5/ Where Psycho completely smashes Peeping Tom, we can say a knock-out, is the twist towards the end. Peeping tom stayed true to the story by slowly introducing the psychic nature of the killer, eventhough Psycho follows the same pattern, the twist really twisted the audience.

6/ Last but not least, the sympathy quotient : Peeping Tom beats Psycho by a mile. The argument is not on "what sympathy you can have on a killer". Its the way its projected, where by the end the killer tends to take a place in our judgement, which you cannot escape to make in either of the films.

There are certainly many more points to talk about notably camera works, scripting, characters, performence, on screen design, music, direction, stunts etc., but they will become too technical for any general audience.

Peeping Tom Vs Psycho : As hattori_hanzo pointed out, Peeping Tom clearly takes the horror artistic chair, while Psycho even though closer, settles down with BO sucess.

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Originally Posted by HonestRaj

watching last 1/2 hr of "sabapathy" in murasu channel...

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Thanks for the brief tit-bits on the movie. That helped a lot while watching the movie.
Thought that I cannot make it through the whole movie, but once I played it (the youtube video/sound quality is amazing for a 1941 film) in just 5 mins into the film i was already relaxing and enjoying the unintentional comedies and their delivery (timing).
Sarangapani is a gem. All the harrasements he undergoes is quite funny, espicially while reading the answer paper ... LoL

By the end, eventhough it becomes quite preachy and other stuffs (incomprehensible for our generation), the movie at no point shift from the humour.
Had a quite good feel of having watched an excellent film.

Sabapathy : Comedy-pathy

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Originally Posted by mappi

Thanks for the brief tit-bits on the movie. That helped a lot while watching the movie.
Thought that I cannot make it through the whole movie, but once I played it (the youtube video/sound quality is amazing for a 1941 film) in just 5 mins into the film i was already relaxing and enjoying the unintentional comedies and their delivery (timing).
Sarangapani is a gem. All the harrasements he undergoes is quite funny, espicially while reading the answer paper ... LoL

By the end, eventhough it becomes quite preachy and other stuffs (incomprehensible for our generation), the movie at no point shift from the humour.
Had a quite good feel of having watched an excellent film.

Sabapathy : Comedy-pathy

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Had you smelled "navarasa nayagan karthik" in "T. R. Ramachandran" acting?

Well, as you have said it now, I can recollect the body jerks being a bit similar. I also think the lip movements while not uttering the words had an impact on Karthik (and your comment has a big influence on me to say these line).

But most adorable one by T.R Ramachandran was the way he rolls his eyes.

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Originally Posted by mappi

Thanks for the brief tit-bits on the movie. That helped a lot while watching the movie.
Thought that I cannot make it through the whole movie, but once I played it (the youtube video/sound quality is amazing for a 1941 film) in just 5 mins into the film i was already relaxing and enjoying the unintentional comedies and their delivery (timing).
Sarangapani is a gem. All the harrasements he undergoes is quite funny, espicially while reading the answer paper ... LoL

By the end, eventhough it becomes quite preachy and other stuffs (incomprehensible for our generation), the movie at no point shift from the humour.
Had a quite good feel of having watched an excellent film.

Sabapathy : Comedy-pathy

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Thanks for the review, planning to watch some time this week..

Chennai Express (Hindi : 2013 : 2h20m)

Directed by Rohit Shetty

Banners : Red Chillies Entertainment & UTV Motion Pictures

Starring : Shahrukh Khan & Deepika Padukone ; Cameos by Satyaraj, Priyamani (for 1 song), Delhi Ganesh & a bunch of TFI stunt and Tamil TV Serial artists

Here is Rahul, happily complaining about his life at the age of 40. One point he makes quite clear is that he is still on a lookout for a "girl" to share his life (to chorus with him the complains, I believe). Upon his grandpa's death and on the insistence by his grandma to take the 'holy" ashes and wash it out in Rameswaram, Rahul pick up his "back-bag" and sets of to finish the mission. On the way his helping attempt to save a "girl" Meenalochni back fires. She is actually a runaway (marriage-dislike-case), but our innocent Rahul got her on Chennai Express heading back to her village. It so happens that he is now chained with her as Meenalochni using the fact that Rahul does not speak Tamil, plays a pun on him by announcing to everyone that she is in love with him. Unknowingly Rahul becomes the victim not only with her father but with her arranged-fiancé too. Now it’s up to Rahul to handle everyone with his limited language knowledge and break off from the chains of Meenalochni. Can he do that or will he save Meenalochni from her father's arranged-fiancé. Oh! and don't forget the main episode - Holy ashes.

This movie received more than the attention needed. While watching the movie, I did not get a depression or sadness even though the initial views shared by few of us were pointing towards this direction. Of course there were few prickly moments, but they were not quite mischievous. At least for me. Chennai Express is basically a fun movie, and it sincerely sticks to that. Now, to the "Lungi Song" dislikes - I cannot understand why this much outrage for this song (a cheap song which not even our Johnson & Johnson ear buds would pay attention to). It’s just an individual film maker’s observation towards a dress code worn in another part of his own country. I won't call it a healthy example, but I would rest not talking about the song atall.

Coming back to the movie, the lousy jokes in the beginning make you move and start thinking whether Chennai Express was a good choice for a Saturday Evening Movies. That’s until SRK forgets his phone on the train, from here the ride is fun with all the characters. But it stops abruptly towards the end somewhere, where you start to sweat out. The preachy dialogues towards the climax should not be subjected to SRK or Rohit Shetty alone, but to Satyaraj also. He stood there as our symbol being dumb. I think instead of holding Deepika's hand, if he was holding a mike, then he could have uttered something. The film seems to be over the top colorful but just pleasant to watch it. Most of the locations have come out quite well. There is nothing to remember about "music" in the movie, even though you tend to hear some funny noises here and there.

SRK was full of energy. He almost occupies each frame. He never gets tired and hits us with his crooked smiles whenever he can. But still be brays!
Deepika, for any (normal) man, Deepika is the screen stealer. She does not allow you to look away and entirely dominated SRK whenever they are together. At least I did not take my eyes off her.
Rohit Shetty : He had spent enormous time and energy to get into the roots of the entertainers churned out of TFI. His visual sense of humour is improving quite rapidly. Even though the writers have given some funny liners, the way he had shot the scenes along with SRK's comical-performance tickles you all day long.

Chennai Express has not taken scenes and ideas from south movies. What they have done is made an idly batter just by filling the drum with the hand soaked from various south Indian films. There are so many mismatches which just add the humor quotient. That includes the makeup too. But that’s just the back drop. The main is basically on many Hindi movies, notably SRK's own. I think I can come up with some reasons to it:

1/ His earlier 3 movies were not received will by the critics. That did not go well with him. So he made rehash of his own movies making them as irreal as possible. Now the critics don't have a say, but are cornered as those were the scenes they were laureling about till date.

2/ SRK was always obsessed with TFI. His immediate rival in the international market are Tamil Films. He has a marge now, as his marketing is not only quite good but strategical too. Sorry to say that, our distributers like Ayngaran don't even send poster to the theatres. That’s our strategy! But we are seeing improvement and once skills are learnt, we are sure to take over Bollywood in international market too.

3/ SRK also have an attitude that the movies made down south are not in par with Bollywood. And he cannot actually take in the tremendous success our scripts are bringing in Bollywood. So from his end he shows what he thinks about our films. That would stay there and cannot go beyond, as our scripts and actors are much superior to them.

To give a hint : the grandpa and the chair are quite similar to Amitab and his chair in AKS. Likewise there are some many funny symbols all around the film, if you note it, you will have a good time. Chennai Express, apart from bringing out its silliness from time to time, can be enjoyed thoroughly if you have an appetite for humor.

Chennai Express : Siripu Rail

Wathched the Blu-Ray version of Thuppakki yesterday..

Enjoyed it..Did not feel that I am watching it second time.. ARM's script suits Vijay very well.. The villain Vidyut is a nice selection.

Cameo of Jayaram is a plus and comedy scenes are rightly mixed..

ARM - Vijay can think of doing a movie again..

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Originally Posted by balaajee

Chennai Express sets new records, crosses Rs 150 crore mark - Indian Express

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Originally Posted by balaajee

'Chennai Express' smashes all records, earns Rs 100 crore in its opening weekend - IBNLive

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Chennai Express grosses over Rs 314 crore worldwide in just 10 days- India Today

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Originally Posted by balaajee

Chennai Express grosses over Rs 314 crore worldwide in just 10 days- India Today

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:shock: indha average padam-laam ivvalavu collect pannudhaa.. kodumai...

555 - It was ok till the villain introduction adhukappuram "kolangal... kolangal" thaan! :fatigue:
Bharath why 8 packs for this story? But :bow: for the hardwork. He was good, not sure whether he can pick it up from here. Makku heroine was good too.

yes 555 was good in parts..
tripped in love with Miruthika... i reserve the right to open a thread and becoming thalaivar/seyalalar/thozhar/owner... all 10 steps back..