Vetti Jaya

Before watching "Thotti Jaya", i was fairly certain i'd be getting a rehash of Dhool+Gilli. After watching it, there was more to it: Dhool+Gilli+Thirupaachi.
I'll put my neck on the line and predict 2-3 State awards for 2005

Worst Villain : (Dunno his name) "Seena Thaana" in the movie. Somebody woke him up just when this guy was having a nightmare and filmed his antics. What was he mouthing, by the way? Definitely not Thamizh

Worst Background Score: Did Harris Jayaraj outsource this one or is it a sign of things to come?

Voice(s) Of The Year: The sound of metal hitting human skull & the "Aaeey" shouts of every sidekick of the villain

The theatre was incredibly full and the "opening" Simbhu received was amazing. Star power, man! These days, things are changing...

OK, getting back to the movie, like i said if you've watched Dhool and/or Gilli, don't worry about the story of this film. The director (V.Z Dhorai) has introduced some differences here
a) Spends more time in the 'love' angle.
b) The villains are dumb and dumber
c) Simbhu is the saving grace in the film....[does not necessarily mean his acting was good. I'm speaking relatively, compared to the other aspects of this film]
d) The lead character at many points gives up his ego and offers the white kercheif to the villain
Simbhu is "Thotti Jaya" (real screen name Jayachandran), a child labourer who has a bad childhood and joins a gang of goons headed by the dreaded "Seena Thaana". Our man is as rough as they get, doesn't know any emotion, hits anybody for money etc. In a series of events meets and falls in love with Gopika, who happens to be Seena Thaana's daughter. The rest can be predicted without difficulty. Gopika cries throughout the film. The BGM is an uninvited intruder in many scenes and the songs make you search for those damned ear-plugs.
The villains in this movie must be made of steel. Even after being beaten to pulp with all kinds of metallic objects, they just bounce back and ready to take him on. Real baddies, huh? The 172 villains in the movie comes close to Thirupachi's record of 212.
And here's a trivia you wouldn't have read in any of the Thamizh magazines. The audio failed when the film was shown to the censor board and the members could only see the film without the audio track. As a result, this movie (dialogues) is not censored and you can hear the villains mouthing words like "dicky", "otha", "baadu", "pudunga mudiyadhu" etc. On being contacted, a spokesperson for the censor board said on conditions of anonymity that the audio track was indeed mucked up, but they didn't care because it was not a Kamal Haasan film and moreover, "otha" is any day better than "vakkali" and especially if its in a Kamal film for "obvious" reasons.

There are some scenes shot in Kanyakumari/Nagercoil, but for some strange reason, the people there speak with the "Thirunelveli" accent. There's nothing else to write about, except the fact that the fights are really long and happen very frequently. Violence? What violence? Of course, this movie's a family entertainer and kids will be delighted to see the violence on screen. Why not? If Simbhu beats the villain to smithereens and the villain still comes back to get hit yet again, which kid wouldn't love it? The rule of the Kollywood thumb is this: Sex-up the violence and they'll love it! Stylize and glamourize it with stacatto shots and some sleek avid editing and see what happens...

Dunno if the fantastic weekend opening or the amazing response in the theatre is anything to go by but if it is, we've got another hit here....