144

[MysteRy]

144-Audio review

Cast: Shiva, Ashok Selvan,Oviya,Sruthi Ramakrishnan
Music: Sean Roldan
Lyrics: Sean Roldan,Vivek Kabilan,Bharathi Ganesan
Direction: G.Manikandan

Album Analysis:

Poove Pooviname
Singers: Sean Roldan, Chinmayi
Wow! Where did that come from? Sean Roldan riding high after the fantastic rendition in ‘Kannana Kanne’ from NRD, follows suit and delivers another gem of a track. Chinmayi does full justice to this fresh tune & this should walk instantly to the playlists.

Vinai  Theerkum
Singer: Sean Roldan
Vinai Theerkum is on the celebration song domain and Sean Roldan delivers a peppy tune with not so loud arrangements which is commendable. There is a layer of guitar too (surprising!) for a track of this genre.

Kenathakaanum
Singers: Anthony Dasan,Malavika Sundar
This is a completely mad track with quirky arrangements & Anthony Dasan notches the song to a different level with her rendition which is full of improvisations. The sound quality is refreshingly new. Did I mention the wacky lyrics? A thorough blast!

Aagaa
Singer: Hariharasudhan
‘Aaga’ is on the same lines of the Kenathakaanum track in terms of arrangements and lyrics. The interludes are impressive whereas the nostalgic stigma to this track takes us to the composer’s Porape Nadape days.

Kaasu Kedacha
Singers: Anthony Dasan, Gowri Shankar, Susha
One too many! Another track in the Anthony Dasan mould proves too much for the soundtrack and makes it monotonous at this point. Skip to the next!

Velamarapattayum
Singer: Shenbagaraj
The song is bound to leave a smile mainly because of its lyrics although there is nothing musically of any good scope here. The message the song tries to convey (Yes, a message!) is a scream!

Although three songs of a similar genre find place in the album border lining on repetition, Sean Roldan shows enough traces of his fantastic potential with a standout song like Poove Pooviname.

[MysteRy]

144 Review

Director: Manikandan
Cast: Shiva, Ashok Selvan, Munishkanth

ErimalaiKundu and Poomalaikundu are two villages, which always fight over the fish-catching festival. Using their ego battle, the local powerful businessman Rayappan (Madhusudhan Rao) hides truckload of smuggled gold inside a Pillayar statue to escape from cops and income tax officials.The film is supposed to be inspired from writer Sujatha's Vasanthakala Kuttrangal.

Desu(Shiva) is a cursed thief, who is always caught by cops and he has Kalyani (Oviya), a call-girl for company. Together, both Desu and Kalyani loot the jewellery shop of Rayappan. Then there is Madan (Ashok Selvan), a local car racer and driver of Rayappan, who elopes with his master’s daughter (Sruthi ). We have a mute conman (Munishkanth), who knows the big secret of Rayappan's gold. He befriends Desu and Madan for the heist and this forms the premise for CV Kumar's 144.

Just like Guy Ritchie films, ‘144’  too has another interesting character called ‘Feelings’Ravi (Udayabhanu Maheshwaran), who gets high on torturing his enemies with innovative ideas and he is after Rayappan to recover the smuggled gold. As you read the plot, you will realize that ‘144’ has plenty of characters for which the screenplay has to be razor sharp without any confusions and luckily debutante director G.Manikandan has succeeded to a very large extent.

Shiva as a petty thief is in terrific form though he has been repeating his comedy lines and broken English in all recent films. Ashok Selvan is perfect foil to Shiva and he is apt for the role. Oviya seems to be the first choice of film makers when it comes to call-girl roles! Munishkanth  manages to evoke few laughs here and there.

RB Gurudev’s cinematography is quite good while art director Gopi Anand deserves a special mention for his brilliant work with the statues and the underground subway. John Leo Paul is the biggest strength of the movie and he saves the shaggy pace to a large extent while Sean Roldon’s background score is catchy.

The bottom-line is, ‘144’ starts off in a promising manner but what doesn’t work so well is the pacing in the second half, as the climax is stretched.