Chennai Kadhal – What an Ugly Piece of Shit!

To describe Chennai Kadhal (2007) as a pathetic piece of shit would be a grave error – because this movie is infinitely worse.

Featuring two youngsters Bharat and Genelia D’Souza, Chennai Kadhal is a sophomoric love story, the horrible likes of which have never disgraced a movie screen anywhere before.

With a hopelessly asinine and implausible story, poor acting by the lead actors, horrible music and ridiculous fight scenes, it boggles the mind as to what rationale can possibly exist for a movie like Chennai Kadhal to be made.

And the grand architect of this shaniyan (ugly nightmare) is a bozo called Vikraman. This clown is responsible for the story, screenplay, dialogs and direction. After seeing this pathetic movie, we doubt if this dolt Vikraman can chew gum and walk at the same time.

We see this total nonsense of one ill-equipped jackass taking upon himself the impossible task of five or six persons more in Tamil movies. Some jackasses like Simbhu add acting to this ugly mix.

Coming back to Chennai Kadhal, one of the great mysteries of Kollywood is how producers and distributors finance lobotomized idiots like Vikraman.

Are they so completely bereft of talent in Kollywood that even a Vikraman can make movies.

True, watching most Tamil movies require a big suspension of disbelief but with Chennai Kadhal the disbelief and doubts that invade our minds concern whether humans were involved in the making of this ugly horror-show.

The story is a simplistic piece of trash centering round a no-good-lousy-bum and ruffian Gowtham (Bharat) with itching fists that are ever rearing for a fight.

Debarred from college after cheating, without a job and no intention of seeking one, a bunch of friends who inexplicably help him out constantly and seemingly affected with a borderline personality disorder, this youngster finds love after encountering the beautiful Narmada (Genelia).

Just when things are going swimmingly well for the love-birds, trouble comes initially in the guise of Gowtham’s father and later in the form of Narmadha’s gangster father Sakthivel (Radha Ravi), both of whom seek to thwart their relationship.

Given that dances are a sine qua non of Tamil movies, it’s a downright shame that Genelia’s such an awful dancer. Bharat is a little better.

Both Bharat and Genelia bring limited acting skills to the screen, even after so many movies. That’s a mighty big shame.

The fight/action scenes in Chennai Kadhal are crude beyond belief with the puny Bharat taking on five or 10 bigger goons and emerging victorious.

Every single song/dance scene in Chennai Kadhal whether Angel Angel, Rendanjaamam, Enjoy Irubathe or Thimirae turned out to be an eyesore and a merciless assault on the eardrums.

If there are any redeeming elements at all in Chennai Kadhal, it’s the absence of Vadivelu or Vivek and their so-called silly comical antics that’s usually badly integrated with the rest of the movie.

23 Responses to "Chennai Kadhal – What an Ugly Piece of Shit!"

  1. shuaib68   September 11, 2008 at 2:34 am

    Yes, there’s something terribly wrong with these guys.

    Either they’re thinking that the audience are fools (and that’s what keep them them going in the same track) or the audience (Iniya Thamil Makkal – the majority of them) are indeed dumb fools allowing these guys to dump more garbage on our heads and also embracing whatever sewege dished out as Thamil Cinema.

    Nobody is taking any action. That’s the worse thing is happening right now. If there’s some form of opposition in some way, the dump could be controlled.

    How do we respond to these guys directly? If they could just visit SearchIndia, we have the satisfaction of our opinions and grievences have reached the intended parties. But, that’s only a dream as these guys have no stomach to gulp all the acids kept in preperation for them as the only anti-biotic that could treat the epidemic disease.

    The other major factor is the compromising the main element in a movie – the acting. The absence of acting and acting becoming a secondary issue has provided many trepassers to walk through the film making with a perennial bowel motion ever present with these actors and doing the ‘kakka’ everywhere thus camouflaging the entire cinema field with their “Kiriyason” (Creation).

    I see, the non absence of acting or the less demand in expecting a good acting performance by the audience as the main cause and contributory factor in producing the garbage movies for the tamil audience.

    On the other hand, how we, the audience know, if the acting is really the acting (that is expected to the highest standards) unless we do know about the standards in the acting ourselves??

    Hollywood and the Oscar (not Ass-Scar) is the standard. So, how do we untangle this confusion within our Tamil audience that “Fan”-dome is actually a blind spot and it will cause blurring of vision when they happen to view a movie.

    Have I spoken any sense??? Oh! I’m too getting confused myself. Rather, I watch a Hollywood movie and forget about all this mess…..!

    Yawn!!! zzzzz..zzzz…zzzz!!!

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    You might enjoy the Hungarian movie Kontroll (has English sub-titles). Here are some movies we’ve enjoyed over the years.

  2. shuaib68   September 11, 2008 at 7:50 am

    From your favourite list, the following are the ones I have seen and enjoyed:

    Anniyan (Tamil)
    Aradhana (Hindi)
    Bobby (Hindi)
    Bourne Ultimatum
    Casablanca – Oh, how we loved Ingrid & Bogie here
    Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
    Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (Hindi)
    Godfather
    Kaakha Kaakha (Tamil)
    Kannathil Muthamittal (Tamil)
    Sathum Podaathay (Tamil)
    Sholay (Hindi)
    Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

    Of them, these three movies I watched ( last time) about 30 years ago. When I was a kid of maybe 10 years old: “Aradhana”, “Bobby” & “Casablanca”

    I used to watch lot of Hollywood movies at that time. Because my dad was working at that time in a very prominent movie theatre in Colombo, Sri Lanka, namely “The New Olympia Theatre”.

    It’s a very elegant cinema patronised by the elite crowds in Colombo. Even the then Presidents, ministers and wealthy people come to watch good movies.

    By sheer chance, our college was located on the other side of the cinema. So, after school we go there to see our dad and he let us watch movies free. They only screen English movies and also once in a while quality movies that are crowd pullers.

    Shankara Baranam, Daag are few exceptions. The interior of the building is much similar to a cinema of 60’s in the US. Nostalgic when I think about the past.

    The lobby walls are adorned with all the great personalities in the hollywood. Elvis Presley, Marlon Brando, Anthony Quinn, Charleton Heston, Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, Jerry Lewis… the list is long.

    So, my inclination from the beginning towards english movies was influenced by it.

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    Your above account reminds us of the Italian movie Nuovo Cinema Paradiso. Great movie…has English sub-titles. Like you, the young kid in the movie is greatly interested in movies. Goes to the cinema every day and finally becomes a great director. Very nice. It should be easily available in your part of the world. Won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 1990.

    2. The songs in Daag are great. Our favorite – We like Ai mere dil kahin aur chal

  3. gandhiji   September 11, 2008 at 11:23 am

    wanted to warn you about this movie.. but didn’t want to intrude on your masochistic adventure.

    i would only rate Genitalia as highly/lowly as Trisha.. I like Sandhya much better than these two.

    Have you watched “Kaadhal” yet? I liked that one very much. all newbies..

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    You write: i would only rate Genitalia as highly/lowly as Trisha

    You mean Genelia, right. Must have been a typo.

    Genelia is not as bad as Trisha but not outstanding either. As we wrote in our review of Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, For someone with over 20 films behind her, Genelia’s performance in Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na doesn’t give us much hope that she will turn into an A-grade must-watch actress.

    Nothing (even dust on the film sets) can be lower than Trisha in the acting universe.

    Sandhya is good but she needs to manage (or is it maneuver/manipulate) her career better. Her role in Vallavan was embarrassing.

  4. vqtor   September 11, 2008 at 5:47 pm

    you may like “training day”
    nice one, if you have been bullied around,

    like you do to Kamal fans and the vice versa.

    “king kong ain’t got sh*t on me” one nice dialogue

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    We’ve seen Training Day but didn’t think it was Oscar material.

  5. gandhiji   September 11, 2008 at 6:39 pm

    err.. must have been a Freudian slip. 🙂

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    Above comment is in wrong thread.

    To see the above poster’s previous related comment, please click here.

  6. gandhiji   September 11, 2008 at 9:14 pm

    no, Freudian slip belongs in this thread.. [Trash Talk] instead of Genelia..

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    Now you are pushing the envelope.

  7. Philip2008   September 12, 2008 at 1:08 am

    Hi
    I love all your movie reviews.

    Yesterday i watched a Movie ‘The Bicycle Thief’ (Italian Movie with subtitles) Directed by Vittorio De Sica in 1948. It is all time classic movie. I liked it very much. Please review that movie. check the youtube links for the full movie.

    1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLQuSJGzR3Y

    2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCgHr5PslWQ&feature=related

    3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yaGMbrxTBs&feature=related

    4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVV3xmIYjUI&feature=related

    5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkhfMC-1fOo&feature=related

    6 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OkDtuTfIBM&feature=related

    7 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nCPZtJNE-c&feature=related

    8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeyekXbcbPw&feature=related

    9 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aFFJlBx1tc&feature=related

    Thanks.

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    We’ve heard of The Bicycle Thief but haven’t seen it.

    We’ve just added The Bicycle Thief to our Netflix queue. Hope to watch & review it in a week or so.

    A classic like The Biycle Thief deserves to be seen on TV.

    We recommend Mafioso (Italian) starring Alberto Sordi.

  8. gandhiji   September 12, 2008 at 8:15 am

    The Dhanush movie Pollathavan is supposed to be loosely based on “The Bicycle Thief”.. I have seen Pollathavan (but not the Thief).. We still have Dhanush beating up 100 guys, but it was better than the usual tamil movies.

    I like this song
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWQwsO5BdpQ rap remix from the 70s Rajini-Kamal classic Ninaithalae Innikkum.

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    Let’s see…we’ll get The Bicycle Thief shortly.

  9. shuaib68   September 13, 2008 at 1:43 am

    As per your (SearchIndia) recommendation I watched “Pan’s Labirynth” and “The Last King of Scotland” – Nice movies.

    I liked “Pan’s Labirynth” ver much. It’s picturisation is excellent and even the performance of each character wonderful. The little girl does a good job. The brutality of the captain reminds me of seeing “Schindler’s List”.

    It’s very soft movie with a powerful story backed by excellent acting. The little girl’s innocense and her expressions are very natural.

    With the family I enjoyed it. Some scenes are still appearing in my eyes (with replay).

    I checked for “Kontrol” and it’s not available in the lending shop. Certain movies are difficult find in the U.A.E. for some reason.

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    Pan’s Labyrinth is a work of art. A timeless classic.

  10. shuaib68   September 13, 2008 at 3:30 am

    What is your comment on “Hotel Rwanda”?
    I liked this very very much. It’s a very moving story. And your opinion about “Mystic River”. These movies I enjoyed with real emotions pouring out of me in the end of the show.

    I sometimes, place myself in the (Inetersted character) and feel the pain and joy with real sensation of the feelings the characters create.

    It gives me such pleasure that I cannot describe with words.

    The Film medium is powerful and it is being used to it’s fullest use by Hollywood and western film industries.

    Me – Crack? Never mind.

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    Hotel Rwanda is on our list of to-watch movies.

    We’ve been putting it off for years, perhaps out of sub-conscious fear of watching the cruel genocide come to life before our eyes.

  11. shuaib68   September 13, 2008 at 6:37 am

    Exactly, it is gruesome. I watched that only once. I can’t watch it again. The actors on their part did their best I think. It disturbed me for several days when I come to think of the genocide.

    Better it is off the list.

  12. shuaib68   September 13, 2008 at 7:45 am

    Although, I see a lot of Hollywood movies, I rarely watch certain type of movies that depict to much violence, action, horror ones.

    Van Damme Movies, Kill Bill types, and “SAW” types of movies are off limits.

    Infact, I go marketing with my wife all the time so I used be around the butchery as well. Because of this I don;t need to watch cutting-chopping-bleedings scenes unneccesarily.

    It’s boring. Like the love stories comes in different garbage bags in the Tamil movies, no need-had enough for several decades.

    See, how many of us are hitting these buggers. Still, they don’t change the lungi (the bottom attire worn by men in south india).

  13. vqtor   September 13, 2008 at 12:39 pm

    “Hotel Rwanda” is the best of whatever I have watched.

    After reading this thread, I watched some initial parts of ‘Bycycle Thiefs’. Awesome. The boy is too good. Whenever you see the boy, the intensity just manifolds.
    Wonderful.
    the ‘lost’ look of the lead character is moving anyone’s heart, its still in my eye.
    it was like reading a novel.

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    We hope to watch The Bicycle Thief within the next one week.

  14. sganeshkumar1989   September 15, 2008 at 12:27 am

    //Shankara Baranam,Daag are few exceptions.//
    It’s Sankarabharanam.Well,that’s my all-time favourite film! 🙂

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    We have heard the songs…but have yet to see the movie.

  15. shuaib68   September 15, 2008 at 1:57 am

    Yes, even at that young age we used to love that movie. Although, we were not matured to understand the real story at that time, we liked the songs very much.

    SPB’s voice is simply awesome. It gave life to the songs and that was one of the scores that made this movie to pass 100 days. I can’t remember exactly how many days it remained in the theatre.

    All the extended families of Jewellery shop people thronged to fill the house at that time. Fridays,saturdays & sundays were house full.

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    We vaguely remember a song called Ragam Thanam Pallavi …

  16. shuaib68   September 15, 2008 at 3:06 am

    Yes, that was a wonderful song. There were other hits too. “Om kaara nadanu santhana mowdaname…shankarabharaname..”, “Shankaraa…naadha shareera para…wedha vihara para…nee ishawara…”

    I don’t know the language but it was sounded like that to me. Still, the songs are playing in my ears.

    I think the lead actor Somayu Julu did a great job there.

  17. shuaib68   September 15, 2008 at 7:59 am

    Gold,Textile,food stuff businesses are mostly run by Tamil traders and businessmen in Colombo, Sri Lanka. There’s one bazaar area designated for Gold business and 90% of the jewellery shops are run by the Tamils and Chetty’s.

    These people used to fill the cinema on holidays coming along with their “Pattalam” big families. Shankarabharanam was a very popular movie at that time.

  18. gandhiji   September 15, 2008 at 10:58 am

    Yes, even at that young age we used to love that movie. Although, we were not matured to understand the real story at that time, we liked the songs very much.

    same here.. I was probably 7 at that time, but i remember enjoying the movie, even though i didn’t have clue.. My parents usually didn’t take me to R-rated movies.. and that too a telugu movie.. they probably wanted me to witness a great movie..

    only today i wikipedia’d the movie and found out the actual story.

  19. sganeshkumar1989   September 15, 2008 at 12:35 pm

    //I don’t know the language but it was sounded like that to me. Still, the songs are playing in my ears.
    I think the lead actor Somayu Julu did a great job there.//
    It’s a Telugu film,and its Tamil/Malayalam dubbed versions too had retained the Telugu songs as it is.Well, the lead actor’s name is Somayajulu (Just acted in a dozen films or so,including Idu Namma Aalu)
    Actually, I used to watch this film right from the age of 5 and I still love watching it. The director is K.Viswanath who also gave couple of great movies with Kamal like Salangai Oli(Sagara Sangamam) and Sippikul Muthu(Swathimuthyam), he’s one of the few Indian directors who indeed respected the ,essence of Indian culture, the art of film-making and audiences’ sensibilities, the one who never aimed to get away with escapist stuff and give an assault on the audience’s senses! 🙂

  20. sganeshkumar1989   September 15, 2008 at 2:52 pm

    By the way,who recommended this film and for what reason? 🙁 Easily one of the most cliched films in recent times! 😛

    SearchIndia.com Recommends:

    Can’t remember if it was recommended or we erred.

    Atrociously bad.

  21. shuaib68   September 16, 2008 at 1:22 am

    Glad, that we have some guys over there enjoyed the movie (SHankarabharanam) like me (Ganesh & Ghandhiji).

    SearchIndia:
    I have a doubt. Have you’ll seen “INDENTITY” lead role done by John Cusack? After watching this movie on TV about a few months ago, it struck me that “ANNIYAN” has many similarities in the subject of “Multiple Personality Disorder” acting done by Vikram.

    The stare he gives with fast movement of the eyeball by ANNIYAN Character…could probably be a stolen artifact.

    If anybody could clarify on that or rather confirm my doubt it would be a big blow to us (Tamil Movie watching “shaniyans” or the unfortunates)

    I could not bring this matter up before was that forgot the Title of this movie. Because, when I started watching it on TV the 10% of the movie is gone already. So, I ,missed to note the title.

    But yesterday, when I was at the DVD lending library I spotted this movie in their album.

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    Guess you meant Identity (2003). No, we haven’t seen it. We’ve added it to our growing list of to-watch movies.

  22. shuaib68   September 16, 2008 at 1:59 am

    Please see this movie and review it for us, please!.
    Yes, it’s none other than “Identity” (2003).

    It’s very powerful movie. Very nice acting by the person who does the disorder acting as well as John Cusack too. I’m not well versed to identify good acting as I became myopic after watching (Staring at) too many garbage items in the name of cinema.

    Most of us know very well that Kollywood guys don’t have any brilliant mind to bring us some sort of Original into their makes other than but the same old love stories repeated many times over. Suddenly, they come up with a brilliant idea, is making me think twice. I think, I have broken the secret code of ANNIYAN.

    Vikram has done a good job, no doubt. But, if it’s a plagiarised concept, where will it leave us in the judgement of giving a credit to the cast???

    Maappu… wechchitaangayyaa aappu!!!!

    SearchIndia: Your verdict please!!!!!

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    Will do.

  23. jp2u   September 30, 2008 at 10:29 am

    [Trash Talk]

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    Schmuck, see our response here.

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