Ante...Sundaraniki - Movie Review

Vivek Athreya proved himself as an intelligent story teller with Mental Madhilo and Brochevarevarura. Nani after his sucessful venture Shyam Singha Roy has joined hands with Vivek Athreya under the production of Mythri Movie Makers. Nazriya debuts tollywood with this flick. 

Story :- Sundar wants to go to US desperately to fulfil his childhood dream for which he pursues with his boss. However, his orthodox brahmin family has too many restrictions for him which he wants to break and move. 

Meanwhile Leela Thomas heads to US to complete course in photography after convincing her parents. Have they both fulfilled their wishes? How the paths of these 2 cross forms the rest of story. 

Performances :-  Nani just bailed it as Sundar. His antics, diction, frustration, comic timing all are pitch perfect. In general, heroor any other character plays an orthodox brahmin role, knowingly or unknowingly they tend to get overboard. However, Nani was able to get the correct wavelength and maintained it decently. His monologues with Naresh and Harsha are superb. Nazriya as Leela was good. Her dialogue delivery, acting, expressions are fresh to Tollywood, but It's not such a great role for which Nazriya had to debut. Childhood characters of Sundar and Leela also have good scope and both children have done well. All the character artists have done exceptionally well in their respective roles, be it Naresh, Rohini, Nadiya, Azhagam Perumal, Anupama, Srikanth Iyengar, Rahul Ramakrishna. My favourite was Harsha Vardhan. His dialogues, timing, antics are too good. I enjoyed his character like anything, though it's small. Despite being a terrific actor he is not getting meatier roles, which he should. This is my favourite character of his, after Anukokunda Oka Roju. 

Technicians :-  Background score of Vivek Sagar is engaging and exciting. Majority of the songs except  are montage and we don't concentrate on the them due to the narration. Cinematography and costumes match with the different timelines in the story. Vivek Athreya proves his intelligence again with his screenplay and story. Layered screenplay with back and forth narration engages us in the plot. In general, 20-25 minutes of a movie gets covered through 5-6 songs. But narrating a 3 hr movie without any songs is a big challenge and Vivek has lived up to it. Barring few boring or slow episodes here and there, remaining part of the movie is entertaining. 

Positives :-

Story & Screenplay

All the performances

Negatives :-

Dragging episodes before interval and during climax

Summary :-  Ante Sundaraniki is an enjoyable watch with whole family. If you can bear through a couple of boring episodes, you will love the remaining part. 

Rating :-  3/5 (Engaging and Entertaining)

Vikram - Movie Review

Lokesh Kanagaraj has created a separate fanbase for himself with Sundeep Kishan's "Maanagaram" and Karthi's "Khaidi". Khadidi especially was a terrific action thriller based on one night. After that he made "Master" with Vijay which was a commercial success, though it didn't completely look like a Lokesh Kanagaraj movie. Now he has joined hands with Ulaganayagan Kamal Haasan and terrific performers Vijay Sethupathi and Fahad Faasil for #Vikram. 

Story :- A drug consignment of Santhanam (Vijay Sethupathi) worth crores goes missing from Port one night. He starts searching for it and goes on a killing spree whomever he thinks were behind it. The next day, an undercover cop gets killed by few masked men and the video of it will be sent to police department. After the death of this cop, his father Karnan (Kamal Haasan), gets addicted to alcohol, drugs, etc..instead of taking care of his daughter-in-law and grandson. Meanwhile, few more killings happen in the city by the masked men and in that process Karnan also gets killed. To investigate these murders, a special team headed by Amar (Fahad Faasil) is appointed. Through the investigations, Amar unfolds few mysteries about Karnan. Who is Karnan and why is he killed? Who are these masked men and did Santhanam find his consignment? Who is Vikram forms the rest of the story. 

Performances :- Fahad Faasil as a sincere and serious cop is apt. He has more screen space throughout the movie compared to Kamal and Vijay. Vijay Sethupathi as a menacing villain is terrific. His body language, nuances and performance is top notch. Kamal Haasan still has the old charisma and his eyes speak a lot. He's stylish, Uber cool and did well in the action episodes. After the death of SPB, Kamal has done how own Telugu dubbing and it looked original and authentic. Remaining actors did a good job within the space and as per the demand of story. The cameo of Suriya in the end is mind blowing. His get up, dialogue delivery and premise is superb.

Technicians :- Background score and songs are intense and engaging, credit to Anirudh. Costumes are completely in the lines of grey and dull, to suit the mood and interest of the director. Majority part of the movie is either in night or in dark place like basement, closed rooms etc., which is Lokesh Kanagaraj's favourite frame. Cinematography and lighting should be appreciated to still show us the faces within the limitations of night and darkness. Stunts were stylish, sleek and huge. Lokesh Kanagaraj has excelled in all the departments be it the story, screenplay, characterization, action episodes and extracting the performances from a stellar star cast. Had the run-time is a little less and editing had been more crispier, movie had been a masterpiece. 

Positives :-

Story & Action episodes

Stellar casting and splendid performances

Background score

Negatives :-

Slow narration and lengthy

Not edge of the seat thriller like Khaidi

Summary :-

Vintage Kamal Haasan is back with an action thriller in the combination of 2 finest actors Vijay and Fahad. If could bear the slow narration and length, you must give it a try. My favourite episode was "Agent Tina", Background score and the action episode following it is highlight. 

Rating - 3/5. Vikram is for action and Lokesh Kanagaraj movie lovers