Thirupachi(2005)

I ordered this after watching a couple of YouTube clips. Having already viewed Thirumalai and Kuruvi, I had an idea of what to expect, so I wasn't disappointed. Yeah, it was heavy on the sentiment(not to mention violence), but Vijay and Mallika shared such a good chemistry, and were so believable as siblings, that I didn't really mind. I even found myself tearing up at a few places.

Speaking of chemistry, out of all of Vijay's heroines, I think he has the best rapport with Trisha. To me, they're like a modern day Sridevi and Kamal Hassan. They just "go together", like peanut butter and jelly(corny, I know, but it's the best description I can come up with right now). With the exception of Ghilli(I've tried, but for the life of me, I just can't get into that movie), I've enjoyed all (three?) of their films together.

Trisha doesn't have much to do except look good, which is what she does best ;) I don't think she's necessarily a bad actress, she just has a limited range. Cute and sweet, cute and bitchy, and cute and feisty roles are her forte.

I can see Vijay becoming the next Rajnikanth. His look, his acting and fighting style just scream "MASS HERO!" I just hope that as he gets older, he tries to break out of his mold a little bit. I would hate to see a fiftysomething Vijay doing the same shit he did in his thirties. To paraphrase a line from Udayananu Tharam, "There's only so much that makeup can do."

And to end on a shallow note, Vijay's gotten better-looking with age, IMO. When he was younger, he looked middle-aged(to me, anyway), but that might've been due to the combination of his round face and that unflattering hairstyle and thick moustache he used to sport back in the day.