Urumi (2011)

Movie: Ek Yodha Shoorveer (U)Rating : 4.5/5I love watching films from South India and never mind the language barrier. I feel true cinema requires no language to be watched, understood, and felt. I would happily say that this Prithviraj Sukumaran starrer film EK YODHA SHOORVEER, is truly that film. A dubbed version of the Malayalam superhit film URUMI, which released in 2011 to positive responses, is a true entertainer as well as important history lesson for everyone. Since the release of BAAHUBALI THE BEGINNING and it's huge success in Hindi language, various south Indian films like Puli and Rudhramadevi too were released in Hindi last year. But sadly these films couldn't make much impact at the Hindi Box Office. But I can confidently say that from the way it's made, EK YODHA SHOORVEER has all the ingredients to make it a blockbuster : superb action, high quality visuals, power packed screenplay and performances with emotion, and of course, a wonderful filmmaking.Prithviraj rocks in his role. This is his first as well as the first Malayalam movie I have seen. He is terrific in every single frame. Prabhu Dheva, who's his partner in the film, plays his part extremely well. Especially in the climax, his performance will make viewers break down with tears. Genelia does her part well. Same for Nithya Menen, she acts well and has a good role to essay. Every other actor does very well.The war episodes are tremendously excellent: this is not a fantasy film, though. It's a historical action drama that narrates a good tale of that time in India, 16th century, I think so far. The action scenes are also amazing. The bloodshed during the war is presented as a historic poetry and not as a sequence glorifying gore. The film stands very high in all the technical aspects. The editing too is very crisp. Songs were just fine, trimming a few wouldn't have hindered the fun. But, this isn't a big issue in such a great film. The story and screenplay of the film are both well written, well paced, and we'll executed. Prabhu Dheva also entertains in his comic timing and good chemistry with Nithya Menen. Besides, Prithviraj performs so well that one could hardly complain at all. The film has so good elements that one couldn't be disappointed. Overall, EK YODHA SHOORVEER is one of the finest Malayalam movie to come in Hindi. Although I can't say much about its box office prospects, but I am sure that the film is likely to win audience attention. Besides, we mustn't forget that BAAHUBALI too gained attention and box office success slowly and slowly. So, will this YODHA emerge victorious? Well, I think, yes.

Ek Yodha Shoorveer Review: Hi friends, In this exciting post, i am going to publish review of India's greatest adventure epic film Ek Yodha Shoorveer. Today, i have watched this film at Zee preview theater, Fun Republic. After press release, i entered in theater along with guest audiences and started to enjoy film. After watching this movie, i will have to say that Ek Yodha Shoorveer is one of the greatest film of Indian cinema. Plot of the film is from 16th century when the Portuguese sailors under Vasco d Gama (Robin Pratt) discovered India captured some lands of South India.We should appreciate director Santosh Sivan for making this historical film in great way. He is also cinematographer of this film. Acting of Prithviraj, Genelia Dsouza and Prabhudeva are superb. Every characters are looking real. Genelia looks too pretty and showcased extra ordinary act. Acting of Amole Gupte in the role of Chirakkal Thampuran will attract audience and make laugh for some moment. Vidya Balan is looking gorgeous and hot in the role of Teacher Bhumi and Makkom receptively.We should also appreciate the creative art direction team. They decorate every frame according to screenplay. Screenplay should be more better, but neglect it because No one can give 100%. You will love songs and item number of this film. At last i will say that don't miss Ek Yodha Shoorveer and go to your nearest theater.By Arun K Singh

I like the film very much, though it has many weaknesses. I do not like the contemporary framework story, because it feels very contrived. The Europeans felt not very convincing, especially the actor playing Vasco da Gama should have been better. Both Vasco and his son Estavio looked not very Portuguese, but at least the Estavio actor's performance was convincing for me. The Portuguese costumes of Vasco were sometimes jarringly colourful, looked like dyed in modern colours. All in all the film's message is far stronger than in Sivans "Before the Rains" but the film's quality is not as good. It feels like a rough diamond.The Indian actors' performances were satisfying for me. I liked Prithviraj as Kelu and Prabhu Deva as his sidekick. Genela D'Souza was acting-wise not as convincing a warrior princess as Kareena Kapoor in "Asoka (2001)", but she had more martial arts performances, which made her more important for the story.I call it an Indian martial arts film, because the fights use the Kalaripayattu martial arts of South India, which often has a dancelike appearance. The film is named after the whip-like sword urumi, an extremely dangerous weapon taught to only the most skillful Kalaripayattu students in the last stages of their education. The use of the urumi in this film thus denotes the expert warrior.Though the film itself is not as good as "Asoka", there are probably more fight scenes in this film. The fights were a bit less convincing than in "Asoka", but I think the productions costs were lower, at least the film looked quite a bit cheaper than "Asoka".Anyhow, the story (mix of historical events and fiction in Chirakkal Kelu Nayanar's story), especially the finale (Kelu's fight in Calicut), the soundtrack music, the well built-in dance-songs, all worked well for me.The most important assets of the film, however, were again (as usual in Santosh Sivan films) the cinematography, how space is used by the actors, and the poetry of the pictures. These features remind me much of Terrence Malick films. In contrast to Malick films I deem the stories of Sivan films better developed and more appealing.

I saw this movie and was not that thrilled as was anticipated. The story starts well but didn't carry the momentum. I felt that somewhere down the line the movie lost its way and there was no story telling feel to it. There was a sense of drag and towards the end I felt that the director wanted to just end the movie somehow. At least, the battle in the end should have been something to remember but fell short of even leaving an imprint. Overall the story lacked content and lacked a story telling feel to it.. Prabhu Deva and Jagathy gave a good performance and so did Genelia. The director was too busy glorifying Prithviraj that he forgot what the movie was about. I fail to understand what the hype was about!! Sorry to say that there was nothing great about this movie.