3 (Moonu)

3, one of the most eagerly awaited films of the year, had a lot of things going in its favour. Besides the viral Kolaveri song, it is special in ma... read more

3, one of the most eagerly awaited films of the year, had a lot of things going in its favour. Besides the viral Kolaveri song, it is special in many other ways - Rajnikanths daughter, Aishwaryas directorial debut featuring her husband Dhanush and Kamal Haasans daughter, Shruti Haasan, plus, a very efficient technical crew. Does this exciting ensemble deliver? Partly, yes!

If one expects a fun film going by the feel of kolaveri di, he/she is in for a surprise. It is much more than that. Aishwarya surely deserves a pat for bringing alive the emotions quite strongly in her very first venture. Dhanushs performance, Shrutis aura, Velrajs camera work and Anirudhs music lend solid backing to her effort.

The film begins with Rams (Dhanush) funeral and Janani (Shruti Haasan), his young wife, recalls the life theyve lived together. The film travels back and forth in time narrating the 3 stages in their life together starting with the school days, the subsequent growing up ending in marriage and finally, their life as husband and wife.

The story is largely about Ram and Janani. The pacing is leisurely and you take a while to get used to it, specially, during the first half which has many light moments. The second half travels on a totally different track which is totally unexpected. Too many sequences about Rams illness and the hide-and-seek he plays with Janani become quite tedious. The mood gets too serious and the film ends all of a sudden.

Now about the much famous kolaveri di song, it does not add anything to the story and is placed in a situation where it is not required. Thankfully, its lively and simple picturisation make it watchable. But the numerous brand placements in the song (obviously capitalising on its popularity) are jarring.

Dhanushs role is multi-dimensional and he has done all of them earlier. It is just a cake walk for him. Shruti looks ethereal and has a great screen presence. She fares better when shes silent than when shes is talking. But, in the latter portions, her acting alternates between wheezing and wailing, which get annoying after a point. Sivakarthikeyan and Sundar share the first and second halves respectively as the supportive friends. Prabhu as the understanding father of Dhanush is fine. Banupriya and Rohini do not make much impression.

Kola Bhaskar does not resort to too much style and edits the film as the per the directors vision. Kirans art direction complements the mood of the film pretty well.

That Aishwarya is no flash in the pan is evident. But why is the familys obsessed with mental illness?
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Much is already spoken and written about Dhanushs Kolaveri and therefore I wont be touching upon the same in my review. Personally, I find the song... read more

Much is already spoken and written about Dhanushs Kolaveri and therefore I wont be touching upon the same in my review. Personally, I find the song lame and senseless however loved the way it was promoted. Heres what I think about Dhanushs new film, aptly titled 3.

Aishwarya Dhanushs 3 is an intense melodramatic love story that falls conveniently between good and average. Touted to be a trendsetter in its genre, 3 is a novel experiment by debutant director Aishwarya that couldve been better with little tweaking.

The film smartly chronicles three stages of a couples relationship with fewer characters. Revolving around Ram and Janani, 3 switches back and forth between past and present and takes us on a journey that is universally called love.

3 reasons why you should watch 3:

1.Although the premise of the film is love, Aishwarya deserves sincere appreciation for bringing in novelty in its presentation. The idea of having few characters in a way gave Dhanush and Shruti the leeway to shift and maintain audiences focus on them throughout. Her impeccable writing also deserves to be applauded.

2.Dhanush has mastered the art of acting especially after films such as Pollathavan, Aadukalam and Mayakkam Enna. He proves his mettle yet again in a role that is extremely demanding and difficult to execute. His performance in climax sequence leaves you heart-wrenching. He breathes life into this film while keeping in mind not to exaggerate.

3.The chemistry between Dhanush and Shruti is the heart of the film. Together they save this film from going down the drain. Few may argue that Shruti, daughter of Kamal Hassan, is a born actress and thus pulled this off easily. Well, may be yes or no but all I know after watching her perform is, both of them have put in immense hard work in to this film and it paid off. As school students they put up a very plausible act, while later, the romance is sweet even at times when it gets little overboard.

3 Reasons why you should not watch 3:

1.Second half! Divided by a short interval, the first and second half are so opposing to each other the film fails to sustain interest. The reason being simple; the second half was over dramatic and incapacitated by tragedy. It was too much to digest. Had the second half too had its heart in the right place and a purpose to achieve, 3 definitely wouldve been satisfying.

2.The running time! With a depressing second half, the film ideally shouldve been shorter in order to save viewers from slipping in to oblivion. 10 to 15 minutes minus the original running time wouldve made a lot of difference.

3.Shrutis accent! Her accent is such a turn off and strips your attention off the film. Western accent influences her Tamil, considering she's shown as someone who's grown up in Chennai.

Music by Anirudh is passable, except the viral hit Kolaveri. His background score, at times, is loud and jarring and thus disconnects from the film. In essence, a good attempt by an aspiring musician. Velrajs cinematography brings freshness to the film and makes the whole experience appealing.
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All roads led to the theaters where this movie got screened today. Nothing deterred me from booking tickets for the first day first show on a worki... read more

All roads led to the theaters where this movie got screened today. Nothing deterred me from booking tickets for the first day first show on a working day. Such was the hype and hoopla which surrounded it, thanks to the Kola Veri phenomenon which kick started it, followed by the coming together of the legends daughters - Aishwarya and Shruti Haasan with Dhanush pitching in to give the much needed star power.

3 refers to the 3 stages in the life of Dhanush and Shruti Haasan as a couple, right from their school days when it starts as a puppy love, tracking them until their post marital life where fate intervenes and spells havoc in their life.

A warm welcome to Aishwarya Dhanush; as a debut director, she has chosen a not so conventional script for her first maiden venture and has managed to partly execute it with elan. The first half was engaging, where Dhanush along with Sivakarthikeyan provided some genuine laughs and the scenes were such that anyone can relate to their love life. There was also a suspense factor which managed to grip the viewers until the interval.

Though cliched in every sense, the scenes in the first half were shot afresh and the chemistry between the lead pair of Dhanush and Shruti was dashing enough to say the least (no doubt they had the kollywood rumour mills spinning for a while now!!). The second half, on the contrary, was absolutely melodramatic and took an about turn and wobbled indefinitely before crash landing into the abyss.

Dhanush might get nominated for yet another national award, as it was another feather in his cap as he has delivered a dashing performance. The penchant emotions for his lady love throughout the movie and also as an incapacitated husband who wages a war against fate in the latter half, he delivered as always.

Shruti Haasan has managed to improve by far from her debut venture. She was in almost every frame and managed to justify her matured role. Only thing which annoyed everyone were her somewhat similar expressions for almost all the scenes and she only managed to cry like her father.

Sivakarthikeyan was a major strength for the first half and Sundar, who was earlier seen in Mayakkam Enna was given a more beefy role in the latter half and did a decent job at it.
Prabhu and Bhanupriya as Dhanushs affable parents were there to justify the movies star power and Rohini did her bit as Shrutis mother, with an emotional overtone.

Music by Anirudh, needless to say, has become a phenomenon. But after watching the movie, I realized that it was not only Kola Veri, but there were other songs which were worthy enough, but got overshadowed because of the Kola Veri phenomenon. All the romantic numbers were picturised beautifully with a poetic touch, especially Kannazhaga. The much publicized Kola Veri number must have been intentionally placed post interval, and blended along with the story, but there was nothing exceptional about the number. Anirudh has also done an awesome job at BGM, where he has used minimalistic music, which gelled well with the proceedings.

Velarajs camera angles were breezy in the first half, while jerky enough to showcase the growing tension in the script in the latter.

Kola Bhaskars editing in the latter half was a big let down and almost spells doomsday for the movie as it hampered the pace big time.

Overall, the movie is an average fare, with a brilliant performance from Dhanush yet again; but it can be watched once by keeping your expectations at an all time low, though one cannot avoid the restlessness which creeps in during the latter half. view less

Its a not a mast movie.... but u can watch it, u wont get bore with this..

It all starts with Janani (Shruti Hassan) getting her cycle repaired on a rainy day in the streets and Ram (Danush) helps her and it doesn't take h... read more

It all starts with Janani (Shruti Hassan) getting her cycle repaired on a rainy day in the streets and Ram (Danush) helps her and it doesn't take him much time to fall in love with her. As in all other movies, in a few days Janani falls for him and a love blossoms between the both. The first half is very youthful with witty dialogues and Siva Karthikayan's (who acts acts as Kumar, Danush's best friend) one liners are fun to watch! The other characters Prabhu (as Ram's father) and Banupriya (as Ram's mother) have done justice to their roles. The second half is all about Ram, Janani and Senthil (played by Sunder Ram, Ram's friend). It is found that Ram has Bipolar Disorder disease and that he is in a critical stage. Senthil helps Ram to get out of it but this sequence becomes too lengthy to watch. Danush and Shruti have stole the screen with their wonderful performances! The chemistry between the is just lovely to watch. But a few sequences remind us of Dhanush's last film Mayakkam Enna and Pudupettai. We can feel a Selva Ragavan's touches in some parts of the film (after all aishwarya was his assistant director). As far the music is concerned, I don't need to say about it, all the songs are already a massive hit. Aishwarya Danush has made a very brave attempt in her very first film but she is just a step behind in making it a successful one. view less