Jigarthanda

[MysteRy]

Jigarthanda Movie Review

Director: Karthik Subbaraj
Cast: Siddharth, Bobby Simha, Lakshmi,
Music: Santosh Narayanan

Karthik Subbaraj with Jigarthanda has delivered another interesting and intriguing film. It is bold and cannot be slotted into any genre. All ingredients associated with commercial cinema are mixed and served efficiently, though the dish itself becomes cold by the end.

Till interval, the film is super-fast and they are the best moments in the film. Karthik (Siddharth) is an assistant director who is thrown out of a reality new filmmakers show, as his short film was disappointing. Heartbroken, Karthik has the support of one of the judges (Aadukalam Naren) who believes he has the stuff to be a great director and is willing to back him if he does a script on a real life gangster!

Karthik travels to Madurai looking to make a film based on the life and times of the notorious rowdy Assault Sethu (Bobby Simha). He teams up with his old friend Oorni (Karunakaran) and the duo tries to dig up enough backgrounder for their film. They get help from Kannama (Lakshmi Menon), the daughter of the women who makes idli’s for Sethu! However mid-way through their script research, they experience an unexpected twist and realises they have caught a tiger by its tail!

The highlight of the film is the performance of its lead actors. Siddharth is earnest and convincing as the meek assistant director. He is simply terrific in the scenes where he plays a cat and mouse game with the gangster. Lakshmi Menon without any make-up nails the characters grey instinct in a telling manner. Karunakaran raises quite a few laughs with his comic antics. But truly the film belongs to Simhaa. He is electrifying especially in the first half, where he brings out the viciousness and violent streak of the character along with that eerie laughter.

Santosh Narayanan’s background score is the major plus of the movie, as he is able to capture the mood of the film. The songs are good, short and mostly in the background. The cinematography of Gavemick takes it to a different level, he has beautifully captured the outdoor and night-effect rain scenes giving the story the right tone. The first half of the film sails through effortlessly, but it is the change in genre and the ‘surprise twist’ that slows down the film in the second half.

The characterisation of the lead actors change, and it sort of becomes a satire laced with black comedy. Definitely the film needs trimming. 171 minutes is an over indulgence by the director, if he was a bit more concise it would have been nothing short of a classic.

Jigarthanda is still a good appetising drink, that you can sip on.

[MysteRy]

Jigarthanda Music Review

Cast:    Siddharth, Lakshmi Menon, Bobby Simha
Direction:    Karthik Subbaraj
Production:    Kathiresan
Music:    Santhosh Narayanan
 

The duos are back yet again, KarthikSubburaj the man behind thriller Pizza teams up with Santhosh Narayanan for Jigardhanda touted to be a dark film. With Siddharth and Lakshmi Menon in the lead cast, this looks like a typical blockbuster in the making. Lets hear the music for now!

1.Baby
Voices: Santhosh Narayanan

Santhosh takes up the microphone and renders a freaky composition that goes about moaning and groaning in style. The solo seem to dwell amidst some folkfare of Tamilian age keeping in mind the funky anthem as well. With limited usage of violins and bass, Santhosh has pulled of a solo to keep in memory.

2.Kannama
Voices : Rita, Antony Dasan

This comes as a surprise from Anthony Dasan with ease and crispiness. The song is charged with Rita’s funky vocals filled with a variety of percussions in it. The usual elements that constitute Santhosh ‘s theme are present and they give you a sense of SoodhuKaavum’s magnified effect. There is a lot in store for mixing and it sure does hook you.

3.Ding Dong
Voices : Arun Raja, Mose

Quite a jazzy number this is a blend of Tamil & English together. An offbeat Rap song that has the English part taken care by Mose and Arun does it with the Tamil. The dark humor is evident through this composition with Santhosh using bass significantly between the interludes, with the vocals something you will never expect.

4.Pandi NaatuKodi
Voices : Antony Dasan, Karuvayan

Just as the trailer figures in a looming dark fashion, Santhosh seems to have a zest for bass and its low lying areas. This reverberating number gives bass a new face with folk of Punjabi & native connect at its best. The horns and tunes makes you sway to its beat.

5.Desayum Ezhindaney
Voices: Meenakshi Iyer, Santhosh Narayanan

The aroma of sadness without the wails is in the air, and the composer has tried his hand with a melody after a rapid round of bass. Meenakshi’s dusky vocals steal the limelight with sorrow as the centerspread. A total changeover this song gets you going with its ensemble string effect.

6.Jigar
Voices : Pradeep Kumar

The composer fascinates with an array of innovation as the rhythm gives a heavy feel to it. Pradeep has given a touch of the film’s backdrop in lyrics and singing department with a faintly ringing pianistic orchestration. Hooks with you a difference!

7.Thanda

Again an instrumental delight that oozes with innovation, the composer has punched the extra mile by some menacing guitar work through the end. The seriousness of the composition comes with the bass effect that renders the theme.

8.Ottam
Voices : Santhosh Narayanan

Performed by Santy’s Jazz band, the number relishes thoroughly in the jazz segment. Contrary to the title of run, it is not ruthless but quite groovy. The song looks like there is a lot in scope for improvisation and the tunes just capitalize on each other.

[MysteRy]

10 Reasons why ‘Jigarthanda’ is a must watch.

1. Simha – The man who effortlessly emotes and made a mark for himself as a tremendous director’s actor.

2. Siddharth – He knew that his character would not stand a chance against powerful Sethu’s, still he took the offer and redefined the word, Underplay.

3. Santosh Narayan – What a find he is Tamil Cinema! His songs and BGM keeps you intact with the story and he got the knack of briefing a parallel content with his music while we are glued to the screens.

4. The humor quotient in both the halves dished out in proper proportion via dialogues, body language, and the natural twists in the screenplay.

5. One cannot ignore any character by saying they are not necessary to the story. The amount of detailing has gone into every person is a different lesson altogether.

6 . Screenplay – Karthik Subbaraj proves that, the content is the king and if the story is good, the screenplay will take of itself to surprise the viewers.

7. The Gavemic U Ary’s lens gives you a feel almost you’re watching something in real rather than a story which is already framed.

8. Vivek Harshan has done a fabulous job to create a proper pace for almost 3 hours and gave enough space for the twists to take place one by one.

9. Karthik Subbaraj’s sheer intelligence and stylish presentation.

10. We keep complaining that, Kollywood does not come up with a different storyline, but when it does we ignore them completely and after some years we put a tag to them as, Cult classic. ‘Jigarthanda’ is definitely one of the most intelligent movie to be ever made in our industry. Do watch it and support genuine attempts.

[MysteRy]

Siddharth elated about 'Jigarthanda' success

Actor Siddharth who is riding high on the success of  Jigarthanda met the press and media on August 7th.

Jigarthanda starring Siddharth, Simha, Lakshmi Menon & Karna Karan got released recently to fantastic box office collections and great critical acclaim all over.

Speaking at the event, Siddharth remarked that the team is thrilled to get such great feedbacks and acknowledged the roles of director Karthik Subbaraj and Simha in the movie's success.

Siddharth said that the team has been getting overwhelming positive responses within the fraternity itself. He mentioned that Karthi, AL. Vijay, Shankar, Lingusamy, Santhosh Sivan and many others had good words to say about the movie.

He also thanked Vijay Sethupathy for doing a cameo in Jigarthanda without any hesitation. Siddharth remarked that two of his films Kaaviya Thalaivan  and Lucia will be releasing in the forthcoming months and that he is pretty confident of those movies as well.

Siddharth also mentioned that his production house has zeroed-in two scripts and he would start producing them pretty soon.

The event ended with Siddharth thanking the media and the press for the encouraging reviews to the film and acknowledged the contribution of the press in the movie’s success.

[MysteRy]

‘Jigarthanda’ selected for an international film festival

‘Jigarthanda’ has unanimously gained highly positive reviews and made huge profits at the box office. Many notables, including, Shankar & Maniratnam had great words to share about the movie and Karthik Subbaraj had met Manirtanam for close to an hour and discussed about his sophomore movie. Now, Jigarthanda is officially selected for South Asian International Film Festival, which is to be held in New York. The above news has been confirmed by, Karthik Subbaraj on his official handle. #Jigarthanda is officially selected for competition in South Asian International film festival 2014 of New York!

‘Aaranya Kandam’ was the first ever Tamil movie to be screened in ‘SAIFF’ and we hope ‘Jigarthanda’ would bag some awards from this prestigious event.