Wednesday, May 2, 2007

Review: Unnale Unnale - Battle of the sexes


Film Name: Unnale Unnale
Director: Jeeva
Starring: Vinay, Sada , Tanisha Mukherji
Story: Karthik and Jhansi, two diametrically opposite people, fall in love but does their love succeed.
Bottom Line: Men are from mars, Women are from Venus.

"Men were the first to be born on this planet because god himself was a man", quips the male narrator to thunderous applause from the men in the cinema hall. "Men were born imperfect and that is why women who are perfect were created by god next" quips the female narrator to applause from the females. The battle lines are drawn in the movie and so are they drawn in the hall. Men clap and whistle to dialogues praising men and women shout and scream to dialogues that praise them. This somewhat sums up UU.

The Movie stands on three legs: Cinematography, dialogues and some very good acting from the cast.

The breathtaking locales in Melbourne have been used to the fullest in this movie. But the locations remind you a lot other movies shot there, like "Salaam Namaste" and "Nala Damayanthi".

The film opens with Karthik(Vinay) and Jhansi(Sada) quarrelling for something that Karthik had apparently done that finally ends in their break-up. Then Karthik gets a job at Melbourne where he meets Deepika (Tanisha), a bubbly young enthusiastic girl who wants to live life every moment. Where Jhansi is an introvert, Karthik is a skirt chaser who is very open and frank with everybody. Jhansi is prone to jealousy and that leads to the break-up. Deepika tries to re-join them once again, but in a twist of irony, she herself falls in love with Karthik. Who gets Karthik is what is told in an interesting manner and ended by an “out of the blue” climax.

What ensues is a "Battle of sexes" where men tell the minuses of the women psychology and women tell minuses of the other sex?

Thankfully you don’t have a separate comedy track with Vivek or Vadivelu pulling of gags in Melbourne. But rather humor beautifully blends into the movie through witty dialogues and some excellent comic timing from actors like Raju Sundaram. Sad, this guy rarely gets a chance.

Special mention to the costumes for the leading ladies. They are chic and stylish and are not too glamorous as well.

Vinay has to improve his dancing and his lip sync in the dubbing part. The sync doesnt match at many instances. Whereas Tanisha , a north Indian has perfect lip sync. The flashback in the movie is a big too long and could have been crisper.


Harris Jeyaraj's songs are already a hit but the picturisation of "June Pona" disappoints. Whereas the picturisation of "Vaigasi Nilave" heightens the melody of the song, all other songs are good and shot in perfect "Karan Johar" style. Special mention to Harris's re-recording.

The biggest strength of UU is that there are no tear jerking scenes and the film shines in every moment. So if some light hearted romantic movies are to your liking UU is next on your movie list!


Rating: (out of ten) 6.3/10 (watch it without any apprehension you will enjoy it!)

1 comment:

Suchi said...

Illada....i have not seen the movie yet...aana your review seems to okay it, pathuduvom! Nice re3view, btw:)