SFR: Trisha Krishnan

At the Theenmaar audio release. I'm posting these pics only because I'm in love with her hair color and her smoky eye makeup.




+8 images behind the cut:

NFR: Trisha Krishnan

She annoys me these days, but I must admit, she looks awfully cute.



Ten more behind the cut:

TPP: Trisha Krishnan

Partying it up somewhere. I think these pictures are about a year old.

Kireedam(2007)

I went ahead and bought the DVD in spite of being less-than-impressed with what little I watched online. Jumping ahead to the 44 minute mark helped, because I actually got into the story and liked it, in spite of the annoying Vivek and the modified ending. I think the Sruthilayam version has the original sad climax, which makes me kinda wish I had ordered that one instead.

Ajith looks absolutely bew-TEE-full this movie. A tad aged, but still very pleasing to my eyes. Acting-wise, he was not-bad, but to be honest, I was more moved by his appearance than by his performance. **sheepish grin**

Strangely, I found Trisha rather unremarkable. Normally, I think she's the cutest and/or the best thing in/about whatever movie she's in, but here, she didn't really do anything for me. She looked nice, but at the same time, she was just kinda there. Like, they could've replaced her with a cardboard cutout and I probably wouldn't have noticed. **shrug**

I should watch the original Malayalam version with Mohanlal and see how it compares.

ETA 01/22/10: Although I've watched only the first half, I can say with utmost certainty that the original is far better than the remake.

Athadu(2005)

Yeah, I was "eh" on this at first, but after watching Athidhi for the ten millionth time I decided that I needed another Mahesh Babu fix. So I thought I'd give this another chance. I'm glad I did, because it's actually pretty good. It may very well be bumped up to "really good" after I watch it a few more times.

'Cause I like to keep it brief:

I prefer the longer hair Mahesh sported in Athidhi, but he still looked good.

I'm torn as to which pairing I like best: Trisha-Vijay or Trisha-Mahesh?

Hi, Prakash Raj, how ya doin'? (He actually didn't bug me in this movie. I must be getting used to seeing him all the time.)

Suniel is considerably less irritating when he's not constantly saying "angle". (Prior to this, Athidhi was my only exposure to him.)

Trisha was her usual cute, bubbly, and sexy self.

I liked the picturisations of the "Chandamama Chandamama" and "Avunu Nijam" songs.

The shoot-out inside the church with the flying pigeons and the slow and stop motion made me think of Mission: Impossible 2 and The Matrix.

I had a feeling that tenth marble would come in handy.

Aaru(2005)

I have the dubbed Telugu version that I watched about two years ago. Aside from the picturisation of the "Thottutae Thottutae" song, I remember very little.

For whatever reason(s), I've been thinking about this movie for the past couple of days. Based on my faulty memory, I have a feeling that it's kind of similar to Bheema. I intend to re-watch it tonight--if I can find it, that is. I can't remember if it's still on my bookshelf or if I put it in my closet.

ETA: It was in my closet. I watched about a half-hour before replacing it with Athidhi. The poor picture quality and obvious dubbing made me seriously considering spending $20+ on the Tamil version. Trisha looked like a dream in that white tennis dress. Surya looks best when he's playing a rowdy. Vadivelu's spoof of the "Kumari" song from Anniyan was funny. I will have it give it another look once I decide whether or not I really want to buy the Ayngaran DVD.

Sainikudu(2006)

Even though it started off slow and dragged in places, I knew that I would order this movie after I finished watching it. The chemistry between Mahesh Babu and Trisha Krishnan alone was enough to convince me to buy it. I liked this film better than Athadu, which I started watching first, but it failed to hold my interest, despite the cute scenes with Trisha and Mahesh. However, I figured I would be partial to Sainikudu after I read on Wikipedia that it didn't do as well as Athadu. I tend to like the so-called flops or average grossers of a particular actor or actress better than their hits.

As with Vijay, I had formed a somewhat negative opinion about Mahesh based on what I saw in still photographs. But after seeing him on film, I had a sudden change of heart. I now think he's rather cute and has a compelling screen presence. I'm glad I took a chance on him. I forsee a Pokiri DVD in my near future.

Trisha was lovely, as always. I think I am officially in love with her.

The running time could've trimmed by a half-hour.

ETA: WAAHHHHH!!!! My disc is defective! It froze during the "Aadapilla Aggipulla" song and I had to skip ahead two chapters before it would play normally again :( I have to order another one, I guess. **sigh**

BTW, I loved Trisha and Mahesh's scuffle in the woods prior to the start of "Aadapilla Aggipulla". I thought it was both hot and funny.

ETA 02/19/10: I finally bought a replacement DVD. It plays all the way through, yay! However, it's not as entertaining as I initially thought. I can see why it flopped. I enjoy watching Mahesh, still love the scene where Trisha imagines Mahesh trying to rape her in the woods. I liked seeing him, however briefly, as a lecherous rogue and wished I were in her place, only I wouldn't have resisted, 'cause I'm naughty like that.

P.S. Trisha was cute, but she kinda annoys me these days. I'm so fickle with my affections.

P.P.S. I don't know why it took so long for me to warm up to Mahesh. Maybe because I'm more into the heroines than the heroes. (It's that whole "identification" thing, I think.) Also, the running time could've been trimmed by about forty-five mintues. And while I found it rather boring this time around, I still kinda like it better than Athadu.

Bheema(2008)

So far, I've watched only the first half-hour or so, but for purely shallow reasons, I've already decided that I want to buy the DVD once it's available again from bhavanidvd. Trisha and Vikram look so damn good, especially in the songs. And, according to its Wiki entry, there's no forced happy ending which, for me, is another plus.

Aside: I'm tired of seeing Prakash Raj in every other movie I own or watch online.

ETA: I got it today, and had it playing in the background until about a minute ago. I wasn't really paying attention to it(multi-tasking), but I like it. I know I'll like it even more when I give it my undivided attention, probably later tonight.

Aadavari Matalaku Ardhalu Verule(2007)

Yaaradi Nee Mohini is the remake of this Telugu movie.

Normally, I prefer the original version of a remade film, but for purely shallow reasons, I'll declare Yaaradi Nee Mohini the winner, solely because there wasn't an obvious age gap between Dhanush and Nayantara. With Venky and Trisha, I just couldn't shake the feeling that A) he was too old for the part and B) he looked like her dad as opposed to a love interest. Generally speaking, I don't like it when 40+ heroes are paired with much younger heroines. I think it looks creepy.

That's not to say that Aadavari Matalaku Ardhalu Verule was a total waste, however. About fifty minutes in, I managed to put aside my ageism and focus on the movie, which I thought was quite good. But as with Yaaradi Nee Mohini, I could've done without the farting scenes and the "Oh Baby!" item number. Length-wise, it didn't feel as long as YNM, but that could be because it was broken up into three parts. (Aside: the audio was out-of-sync in the second part, which drove me batty. It's very distracting when the actors' lip movements don't match the spoken dialogue.)

I didn't watch the last half-hour(beddie-bye time), but I doubt it ended differently than Yaaradi Nee Mohini.

BTW, the scene that stood out the most to me was the one where Trisha gets drunk in a bar. She's allegedly a boozehound in real life, so I found it funny to watch her gulp down those glasses of what appeared to be regular orange juice as if they were actual alcoholic drinks.

Another BTW: Trisha and Meghna Naidu looked hot in the "Cheli Chamaku" song.

This movie has been remade again in Kannada as Anthu Inthu Preethi Banthu with Divya and Aditya Babu.

Alai(2003)

I first spotted this movie on indiaweekly.com while searching for Trisha Krishan titles. I never got around to ordering it because, at the time, I didn't know whether or not I'd like the hero. Fast forward a couple of years and I'm checking indiaweekly for this movie again, and this time, not just for Trisha Krishan, but for Simbu, who I took a liking to after watching Vallabha. It was out-of-stock. I thought, "Ya snooze, ya lose. Let me check anytamil." Less than a week later, it arrived in my mailbox.

I would describe it as "a cute movie, if you don't think too hard". It's utterly predictable, and the usual boy meets girl, they hate each other, pranks ensue, heroine has a change of heart, a song or two later, they're in love, tragedy strikes, and just when it looks like the lovers are about to be separated, everything works out in the end. (How's that for a run-on sentence?)

Quick thoughts:

Raghuvaran plays father roles really well. I also liked him as Dhanush's dad in Yaaradi Nee Mohini.

I recognized Simbu's little brother, Kuralarasan, from Panchathanthram.

Trisha was cute, as usual, but I thought her pancake makeup was too thick. I liked the streaked hair she was sporting, though.

I would've liked the movie A LOT better if Vivek's comedy track had been axed. While I thought the first bit where he pretended to be dying of cancer and scammed a woman into giving him money was chuckle-worthy, after that, I was like, "Okay, enough already!" Generally speaking, I'm not a fan of comedy tracks. I feel that they interrupt the flow of a film, and are usually more lame or vulgar than funny, IMO.

I enjoyed the movie, but I wouldn't recommend it unless you're a die-hard Simbu fan. I think it's the weakest of his films. As many viewings as it took for Manmathan to finally grow on me, I would recommend that, or Totti Jaya, or even Kuthu, instead of Alai.

Ghilli(2004)

I watched this movie again in hopes of somehow persuading myself to buy the DVD. Because the first and second parts failed to impress me, I decided to start with the last part. It wasn't bad. The highlights were Trisha's salwar kameez(blue is a good color on her) and the "Appadi Podu" song. And then the chase scene started, and I was suddenly reminded of why I didn't care for the first few minutes of the second part: all that constant running from one place to another gave me a headache, and I found it more tedious than thrilling. (And I wouldn't be suprised if the part where Vijay's car barely misses getting hit by an oncoming train was lifted from Madhyahnam Hatya(or maybe it was the other way around. I don't know which scene was "inspired by" the other).)

I'm watching the second half again as I type this, hoping to have a change of heart. I really like the Vijay-Trisha pairing, and want to add this film to my collection. (Note to self: add "cute and scared" to Trisha's acting repetoire.) But I can't picture having this movie in constant rotation in my DVD player, so I think I'll spend my sixteen bucks on the Billa DVD once bhanvanidvd gets the Ayngaran version in stock. (I'm not an Ajith fan(ETA 01/22/10: My, how times have changed! Actually, I've always kind of liked him, but never felt moved to watch any of his films until after I saw Billa.), but I like the washed-out look of the film, and it appears to be the kind of mindless, style-over-substance flick I usually enjoy.)

ETA 01/22/10: A couple of months ago, after watching the middle part online, I decided that maybe it really wasn't so bad. So I ordered it from bhavanidvd only to discover that it's not in stock. It's like a bad joke. When it was available, I didn't like it, but now that it sorta grew on me, it's no longer available. I guess if I really wanted it, I could try anytamil, but I'd rather not. Ya snooze, ya lose.

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.