Exam - A Fantatstic Movie

Hi Friends,

I came to know about a movie called "Exam" while reading a blog 2 days back and felt interesting. Immediately I downloaded the movie yesterday and watched it. It was really an interesting movie..

The whole movie has been taken in only one room (low budget movie). Its really an astonshing thing to hear that an British(Not an hollywood!!) movie has been shot in only one room. But friends dont think that its an documentry film since it has been shot in a single room. Its a thriller movie which makes you not to move from system till its end...

Total duration of the movie is around 100 minutes only ... But till the end, lot of questions and thinkings about the movie will disturb u a lot.

Story of the movie is : Eight talented candidates have reached the final stage of selection to join the ranks of a mysterious and powerful corporation company. Entering a windowless room, a man gives them eighty minutes to answer one simple question. He outlines three rules they must obey or be disqualified: don't talk to him or the armed guard by the door, don't spoil their papers and don't leave the room. He starts the clock and leaves. The candidates turn over their question papers, only to find they're completely blank. After the initial confusion has subsided, one frustrated candidate writes 'I believe I deserve...,' and is promptly ejected for spoiling. The remaining candidates soon figure out they're permitted to talk to each other, and they agree to cooperate in order to figure out the question: then they can compete to answer it.

After lot of confusion and discussions, how last one candidate has found the answer is the story.

This movie has been directed and produced by Stuart Hazeldine who deserves appreciation for his work. If you are not watching the movie properly it will be difficult to understand the climax of the movie. But when you understand the climax then you will say "Thats it????" For this only these ppl were struggling from start... Such a simple climax.

Movie got released by Jan 2010 itself but donno why it didnt get much popularity. Might be becoz it doesnt have any trademark scenes of hollywood movie like kiss scenes, actions, graphics ..etc.. But this movie is worth watchable in your leisure time... 4 out of 5 Stars !!! :-)

Please let me know your comments and suggestions if you watch (watched) this movie !!!

Have a Great Day !!!

Cheers,

Harish Kumar P R

Raavanan In my view!!!!

“Raavanan” is a modern-day replication of the mythological epic Ramayana. Director Mani Ratnam has beautified the character of Raavana from Ramayana and illustrated his personality from a different angle. Though Beera (Vikram) is depicted as Raavan who is expected to be the villain of the story but, effort has been made to show a different image of the Raavan. While hubby Vikram plays the Raavan, Aishwarya Rai plays the beautiful Sita with Prithviraj as the good soul Sri Ram.

Veera (Vikram) is a criminal who hides in thick forests of a South Village (thats what they are telling.. But locations are entirely different)from where he executes his criminal activities. He is a menace to the police and he has thorough knowledge of the jungle with hunting skills and he kills policemen and seizes all their weapons. Everybody is scared of him except SP Dev (Prithvi) who is the husband of Ragini (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan).

Veera kidnapped his pretty wife Ragini to revenge Dev’s dare and to settle his enmity with him. During Dev’s fight to get back his wife, he meets a forest guard (Kathick) who helps him in his search for Beera. Karthik is depicted as a modern-day, Hanumaan though he is not able to do justice to his role. Ragini is a brave girl who is not scared of Veera but, tries her best to escape.

Dev who couldn’t trust Raavan after Sita’s abduction and so demands an Agni-pariksha of Ragini in the form of a polygraph test. There comes a twist in the plot, Ragini is a modern woman and he could accept her husband’s distrust on her and falls for the goodness in Raavan whom she previously hates and loathes. She realizes the good side of the bad man and vice-versa.

The first one hour of the movie is quite slow which would in one way test the patience of the audience. However, Ash was just too good in her facial expressions which reflected her fortitude and determination in the various attempts she makes to run away. Mani Ratnam has tactfully humanized Raavan and showed the demon in otherwise good guy, Ram. Veera, although plays a negative role but he is not heartless like Dev. Veera never misbehaves with captive Ragini.

The movie has a simple plot but what makes the movie beautiful is the acting of the crew and their expressions. Excellent photography by Santosh Sivan gives the movie a special touch and feel. He has captured the beauty of the forests, springs and the mountains. The songs of the movie are by AR Rahman and it’s very rhythmic as expected. Though, it is nothing exceptional.

The acting of all the main characters is worth mentioning, Vikram has effectively brought live to his character and from a villain becomes the hero of the movie. Ash is looking very beautiful with minimum or no makeup. Prithviraj is also quite good with more actions and less dialogues (Negative shades). Another important character is Priyamani (as sister of Veera) had done her part well!!! (she comes only less than 15 mins :-(( .. ) .Other characters like Prabhu, Munna..etc have doesnt have much to do but they have done their parts fairly.

Particularly i didnt like the climax. Mani could have shown only vikram with negative shades but he also shown Prithvi as a negative role which makes the main story less effective one. Screenplay is also not upto the mark and hence movie slows down in between. But the song at the end (very short song) by Rahman is really good and made me feel something sad for the hero(veera) !!! thats shows he talent/success of the singer (Rahman himself)!

Overall the movie is not so much bad !! One time watchable movie that too particularly for Santhosh Sivan's Photography and also Vikram's superb acting( Pity on him bcoz he is acting one movie for 2 yrs with much efforts but movie becomes flop due to other reasons ... 3rd in a row .. Bheema ( 2yrs), Kandhaswamy (nearly 2 yrs) and now again)...

2.75 out of 5 Stars ......

Note : I saw the movie last week itself but not able to write the review due to busy work scedule. Also I tried to watch the movie in Hindi 2 days back in my laptop but not able to the find the same feel as in Tamil. Thatz mainly bcoz some movies are good only when we watch it in theatre (or theatre effect :-) ). This movie is watchable only in theatres... You wont like the movie If you watch it in online or in system after downloading ....

Hindi Movies We are looking for in Early 2010

1) Kites
We are waiting for this movie for a long period and finally the release date have been finalized as 15th Jan 2010 . After the release of Dhoom 2 & Jodha Akbar its more than 2 yrs break for Hrithik . A Much awaited film with Hrithik and Barbara as lead roles.

2) Veer

A classic combination of Salman and Anil (Director of Ghaddar) created much expectation about this film. Also story by Salman and katrina look like heroine are other attractive features of this film.

Release Date : Jan 22th 2010

3) My Name is Khan

King Khan is back !! that too Back with a bang !!! with his favourite Director- Karan and Favourite Jodi -Kajol.. /lots of expectations are on this movie. Let us see how it goes after its release.

Tempative Release date : 12th Feb 2010

4) Prince
After few struggles Vivek is back with this adventurous movie. The movie trailor has created much hype about this movie. Vivek is looking really smart in the ads.

Release Date: End of Jan 2010

5) Chance Pe Dance

Music of the film is already hitting the chartbursters(Particulary Pe Pe Pe song).We can expect a fresh combo of sahid and genelia. Also Sahid in a role as a dancer creates much interest about this movie. It is the first big release of the year.

Release Date : 8th Jan 2010