Boys (2003)

Firstly, this is to all the directors in Bollywood, take a cue from Shankar!I'm not Tamil, but upon hearing the soundtrack, i just needed to watch the movie! And true to it, A R's music does hold the movie together, but it's also the great performances by the cast that actually did it for me! I saw the movie with subtitles so, I maybe a little off, but language shouldn't,t be a factor in judging movies. So here we go!The plot seems to be a very tried and tested formula-college boys indulging in what college guys actually do; then poor boy meets rich girl, help each other out fall in love, elope, and through hard work achieve success. But, with a movie maker like Shankar, there's always more! As the plot advances and the Boys go through the tests of life, there are moments when you wonder if there is actually any other bad left that could happen to them! The range of problems cover almost everything ranging from pushy parents, arrested by cops, the usual finances or the lack of it, and the list seems endless! But even so, Shankar very carefully manages the script and prevents it from going haywire, most of it succeeds, thankfully!Technically, the movie is as you'd expect a Shankar movie to be- brilliant! Some might disagree, but it is indeed the best in its kind! Shankar used the time-slicing method in the songs, not excellent, but worth a watch! The songs were well executed, "Secret of Success" had room for improvement. "Dating" was OK, "Maaro maaro" is too good! "Girlfriend" is vulgar in parts, but shot well!Performance-wise the film scores a lot! Siddharth is too good, I saw him after RdB, and I know where he got it from now! Genelia, too, does a fantastic job, carefully balancing her character throughout the movie! The rest of the Boys too put up an authentic act as teens and the parents seem as natural as the can be-nasty, brutal and almost Fascist! Vivek steals a lot of the show as 'Mangalam Sir' and is pretty inspiring in some parts especially when he tries to convince the parents. All in all, a great movie, with superb performances, great music and a cinematic delight!Here are the Boys!

This movie is very underrated. It may have failed at the box office but that has been proved to be due to the modern lifestyle concepts in this movie, totally failing to gel with the suburban and village sectors of Tamil Nadu. This movie was undeniably a hit in the urban sectors such as Chennai and literally everyone was talking about how great the film was. Most people I know saw it 5-6 times. This movie is certainly controversial, Shankar style, but only a fool would deny that the average college going teenager does not have sexual fantasies and adventures similar to those presented here. Thats the reason why this movie was so popular among college going crowds while not being a family movie in any sense. As expected from Shankar, this movie has a lot of shock value and twists. It reflects his pattern of thinking and that it does'nt necessarily tread one single pattern and only if he had stuck to himself would he have produced an amazing follow up instead of yet another money-churning yet somewhat stupid Indian/Mudhalvan-clone in the form of Anniyan. AR Rehman's score was amazing. Lets hope that Shivaji doesn't turn out to be yet another Indian/Gentleman/Mudhalvan clone and that Shankar stays true to himself.

Hey guyz, I did watch the movie Boys. I dont care what others says about the movie. But i just wanna sat that the movie is EXCELLENT and it's backbone is ARR's music. Every song was fantastic taken esp SECRET OF SUCCESS was just simply mind blowing. This movie is especiallly made for teens. Keep up the good work for the team of Boys, esp. A.R Rahman & Shankar!!!Why such a big fuss about Boys nowadays. Why do people watch movie? Why do people make movies? The latter question is to satisfy audience and the former for the audience to be entertained. Simple isn't it. Again Thamazhan population is the one that Q's to the theatre no matter whatever the story is just to see how their hero has given dialogues/ dance & fight. Again, directors can give variety of family entertainers & come with unique formulae blending story to satisfy people from 6 to 60 yrs of age. I have seen movies of many Indian languages of which I find Bengali films to be of artistic nature. Following that would be Tamil movies which has its own target audience of artistic creativity & masala formulae hits. Sure enough for many tamil movies to be adapted or dubbed into Hindi or other languages. The technicians are some of the most talented people India can be proud of. Cinematographers, Directors, Music Directors, Lyricists etc can have their share at the world stage.But now the generation gap is increasing & I don't think in family pot boilers to satisfy 6 to 60yrs will work out in a liberalised society. Different genres should be created and presented to audience. Directors should be welcomed to experiment with bold topics as what they are doing in Hindi nowadays. In that way we can be very proud of Shankar, AR Rahman, Mani Ratnam & Kamal Hassan to be contributing to the artistic nature of Indian cinema & having their signature mark on it.

"Boys" is the sixth movie from India's most successful commercial director today,Shankar,whose all 5 previous films(not including the hindi remake of Mudhalvan) have been runaway blockbusters not only in his home state but also in other languages in which they were dubbed.Remarkable thing about Shankar is his movies have also gained critical acclaim which is reflected in the fact that 2 of his movies(Indian & Jeans) were India's entry for Oscars in Foreign film category.Further,Shankar's movies have broken new grounds on the technical side.Jeans contained 22mins of CGI(Computer Generated Imagery) which was a new record for a live action movie anywhere.Apart from all this,songs from Shankar's movies(all composed by A.R.Rahman) have been immensely popular not only in India but also in various parts of the world where Indians live.Infact Rahman gives his best for Shankar.Shankar's last movie "Mudhalvan" was released in 1999 and was one of the biggest commercial hits in Tamil movie history.Shankar remade Mudhalvan in Hindi as Nayak which was moderately successful.Coming after nearly a gap of 4 yrs,Boys obviously is highly anticipated amongst the moviegoers in India.The songs of Boys have already topped the charts in Shankar's homestate of Tamil Nadu and also in neighbouring state of AP.So far,Shankar has maintained an alternative pattern of tackling serious social & political issues in one movie and light hearted romances in the next.He says he does so inorder to avoid getting too serious or bored with himself.Whether it is a serious or fun movie,audiences are hardly getting bored with the way Shankar presents them.In tune with his pattern,Shankar has again turned to romance with `Boys' after almost single-handedly giving a new dimension for the word Leader in `Mudhalvan'."Boys" tells the story of 5...well boys,their transition from fun loving & easy going youths to becoming a MTV music award winning pop group.Shankar litters enough obstacles for the boys to overcome on their way to success.But to start with,the director moves the initial scenes by showing the boys as adolescents who think of nothing else but girls,romance and....to put it simply.. sex.They chase females of all ages,get into fights for them,earns a hard fought date and do heroic deeds to impress them(even if it means running nude across the road in peak traffic).And if you leave town thinking they'll be doing a group study,they will bring home a hooker to do gang-bang.Though these scenes are really hilarious,its disturbing to see our youth portrayed this way not to mention some scenes,though meant to be funny,makes you cringe in your seats incase you are seated next to your family member.When the boys' parents meet and try to put an end to their antics,the boys erupt.They leave home,help the lead boy to elope with his love to get married and vows to become successful.Subsequently the homeless boys now start to endure all the trials & tribulations of life to no end.While trying to become successful musicians,they inadvertently mingle with a radical group and ends up in jail.After getting released,things start to brighten up for the boys as they succeed in getting a record contract with Sony after impressing the Sony's boss by playing a revolutionary number in a packed cricket stadium.But tragedy strikes when one of the boys dies in his effort to save the lead boy's marriege which gets into troubled waters when the girl comes to know about their night of orgy with the hooker. But the boys re-group their spirits and ultimately become the talk of the nation with their debut album aptly named `Boys' which garners glory at the MTV music awards. Boys is no doubt an entertaining movie which hardly has any dull moments.If not taken seriously,it has sufficient things to give a satisfactory viewing.Rahman's music is mind boggling,song sequences are pictured beautifully,some scenes are really funny,the digital imagery are well made and above all the movie literally drips in a youthful ambience with the boys bubbling with energy and the lead actress is absolutely charming and fits the role perfectly.But if you take the movie seriously in a social conscious manner,lets face it.The boys depicted in the movie have a fairy tale ending to their journey,though it was appalling to see the antics they did in the first half in the name of fun loving youths.Their parents are portrayed as caricatures or stick figures whose lives are devoid of any fun.What a shame!.Shankar's intentions may be right in trying to show the capability of today's youngsters.But unless you are really blessed,what is the chance of having such a fairy tale finish after going totally awry during your college or school days?.If a boy from Chennai takes a cue from `Boys' and goes on to do the unprecedented thing of winning accolades for India in Olympics or MTV awards,its more than welcome.But if the movie is going to change the perspective of group study in the minds of even a couple of students,then it's a disaster.But `Boys' is part of show business.You can't blame Shankar,who did exactly what he had in mind in `Boys' and could very well continue his impressive run.But lets hope his next venture will occupy a place in the line of Gentleman,Indian and Mudhalvan and not in the line of Boys.