Anandha Poongatrae(1998)

Meena's beauty, Ajith's presence, and Malavika's playful striptease are pretty much the only reasons I've re-watched the first and last halves of this film. I always skip the flashback sequence with Karthik because...well, I'm not just interested in him. But one day I will watch it, because I've probably missed an important part of the plot, although I correctly guessed straightaway that in spite of her initial reservations, Meena would accept Ajith's love in the end.

Screencaps, 'cuz I'm addicted:


Meena SO PRETTY!

I always think of the scene in Varumaiyin Niram Sivappu where Sridevi prepares a feast for Kamal and his roommates whenever I look at these caps:






Meena in the "Semmeena Vinmeena" song, the movie's only memorable tune, IMO:





I think Malavika sorta resembles Rimi Sen and another actress whose name I can't think of at the moment:



Stripping her way through college(no, not really):










I like this shot of Ajith lighting up:



One last look at the pretty:

Naan Avan Illai(2007)

I watched most of this online a few days ago and liked what I saw enough to order the DVD. It's playing as I'm typing this, and the first thoughts that come to mind are:

1. Jeevan looks like a straight-up thug, yet I find him oddly appealing. I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him, but I would flirt with him a little.

2. He looks like a pimp in the "Kakha Kakha" song and when he first meets Malavika.

3. I just remembered that this is a remake of the 1974 film starring Gemini Ganesh, and IIRC, Kamal Hassan has a small role. I wonder how this compares to the original. I'm not sure I want to plunk down $20 for a custom VCD in order to find out. Maybe someone will upload it to YouTube one day.

4. All of the heroines are beautiful but Sneha looks the best :P The only reason I checked it out in the first place is because of her.

Uh-oh! I was afraid I had a defective disc on my hands, but it appears that just the song menu is wonky. When I tried to select the "Pacha Tanni" song from the menu, the disc froze and stuck. After getting it unstuck, I did a quick skip-through of all the chapters and everything seemed okay. I would hate to think that Ayngaran is now putting out shitty DVDs, because there was a point in both Kuruvi and Aaru when the disc would freeze for a couple of seconds, then play normally. Ugh! If I weren't so paranoid about viruses and spyware, I'd join the 21st century and download nearly all of my movies.

I may return to this after I've watched it a couple more times.

ETA: After I posted this, I remembered that this was remade in Kannada as Budhdhivantha, starring Upendra, Pooja Gandhi, Netanya Singh, Brinda Parekh, and another actress whose name I don't recall. I want to see it based on this video alone because it looks so delightfully cheesy and low budget.