Quote Originally Posted by Stardust View Post
Booked 4.40 show at Staples corner. Arrived only at 5.45 due to the football crowd in Wembley. I was so upset, but the bloke at the counter was an angel and rebooked our tickets for the 8.30 show. Cheesy smile on face, we spent an hour at the nearby shopping center. On my friend's insistence we left our dinner at the Mexican restaurant early and walked into cineworld. Bless her, because the line at screen 1 was already a mile long at 8. By half 8, the line was so long I was sure there wasn't going to be enough seats to fit everyone in. I have honestly never seen such a crowd for a tamil movie before. The Chennai express crowd was giving us strange looks. (Tell me again why bollywood movies get more screens when it's obvious tamil movies are as much as in demand) My friend who had insisted we left early to be at the screen is actually an English girl. She is a bigger Vj fan girl than the rest of us. So half an hour later, listening to her telling us off for being idiots and how she was a saviour of sorts to get us good seats, they opened the doors. Believe me when I say it was full house within minutes. I hadn't expected that for a Sunday late night show. Luckily for us we found good seats right smack in the middle and excitedly waited for the movie to start. Another group of girls were sat by us.

Yelling 'finally' after another painful 30 mins of hindi ads and trailers, we were ready to see Vj on screen. No such luck for us. We have the background story and Satyaraj's introduction for the first ten minutes. I wanted to cheer for Satyaraj, but barely controlled myself because no one else did. I assumed I was watching the movie with classy audience. Boy was I wrong. Vj's introduction on screen. I honestly thought I was in a chennai theater. That's probably the loudest cheer I've ever witnessed for any actor. If I thought my group of friends were bad, the girls next to us were worse. They kept hooting and cheering well into the first song.

The first song- if anyone told me there is a better dancer than this lad I'd laugh at them. If this dance was stylish and full of energy, yaar indha is full of grace and elegance and ecstasy of dance is so graceful on screen you wouldn't be able to take your eyes off screen.

Oh well, now I'm completely far off from what I came to post here, the movie review. The first half is so light hearted that I did wonder if it was a chick flick for a moment. Santhanam's one liners were actually funny for a change.

Amala Paul was okay. She did look good with Vj on screen and emoted well in the romantic scenes. Yaar indha saalai oram works just for their chemistry. I still think nayan or anushka would have been a better choice, but hey I'm not the director, so whatever.

I had avoided all spoilers and I was glad I didn't because the pre interval was full of shock value and amazing. I took a bow to Sathyaraj. His eyes spoke so many things while leaving his son behind, shattered.

Even if you aren't a fan of Vj all you'd want is to cuddle him and care for him in the pre interval sequence. He played the helpess young guy role so well. The tears of the older women sat in front of us was proof enough how well that sequence worked.

Completely satisfied with first half, we quickly rushed to the loo, got some napkins for our mate who was still in tears and waited for the second half to begin. It began with the slow transition of Vj from a depressed and innocent young man into a leader. Brownies to ALV for not rushing into it. This is where the movie slows down almost to a snail pace with Thalapathy song and more info about whatshisname villain.

Thank god it picks up pace again with the cat and mouse game between the two men (not as intelligent as Thuppakki but good enough).

Amala paul has limited scope in second half and I wasn't complaining. I heard a lot of comments in theater about the second heroine looking much more gorgeous than the first, but ALV turned out to be the bigger villain for finishing off her character. If only they could trim 20 minutes the movie would be as racy as thuppakki. I wasn't complaining again, because more minutes means more Vj on screen.

Despite the slow pace I preferred the second half to first. It's hard to explain why, you would understand when you watch the movie. ALV did okay this time. It wasn't an average fare but it wasn't a pathbreaking story either.

What makes the film work or precisely who makes the film work is Vj. And Sathyaraj. Nobody would believe that this is the same guy who acted in Sivakasi. The absolute adorableness he oozes in the first half and the grace and manliness with which he sizzles on screen in second half, it was Vj's show all the way. I know I'm going to sound shallow saying this but harrypotter on a flying stick he looked so fit in that climax fight I was just hoping the vest would tear off his body. I was jolling left right and center. I wasn't the only one judging by the wolfwhistles thrown his way from the girls sat by us. He sure is earning more female fanbase these days. He just looked so tall, lanky and handsome and I was of the opinion that a mush wouldn't suit him. I'll stop here with my fangirling because I'm going off track again and writing Vj review instead of Thalaivaa review.

Cut to climax and the sequence after that, everyone stood up and actually clapped. I watched Nanban first day first show and even then I didn't witness something like this. Forget all those reviews floating online. Judging by the thundering applause I heard at the end of the movie from the mostly family audience , write it down as a 5th BB for Vj.