Latchiyam - Review

Courtesy: Galatta
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Ganesh (Prabhudeva) is a fantastic dancer. At the finals of a dance competition, he defeats Anthony and is selected to go to the international level. Anthony, who is a goonda in addition to being a good dancer, gets Ganesh beaten up. Ganesh is depressed and wants to give up everything. He is consoled by his sister Priya, played by Kamalinee. The he decides to pass on his dancing talent to a suitable heir. This heir is identified as Raghava. Raghava (Lawrence) works at a dance school in Pudhucherry with four friends. All are outstanding dancers, but their talent remains unrecognized until they perform a folk dance in a hotel. Ganesh begins grooming Raghava as his prospective heir and makes him challenge Anthony in a thrilling finale.

Raja and Charmi provide romantic and glamorous content on a parallel track. Sanjay Raichuri, Sameer, and Lohit are the supporting actors who have performed well.

Prabhudeva, we all know, is a master of acting and dancing. His first dance number - Rock n Roll - is just marvelous, thrilling, and fantastic. When Lawrence repeats the same number again, he is also good. It will be hard to predict who will be the winner if these two masters, Prabhudeva and Lawrence, enter a competition.

The villain is perfect, a good dancer, strong, menacing and with good screen presence. Bhanuchander's role is incomplete and two dimensional. Kulasekhar's dialogues are quite correct and some punch-lines are really good, suiting the character of Prabhudeva. Kabir Lal's photography adds glamour and Ashok's dances are also very good. Marthand's editing is sleek and sharp; Manisharma's music is fantastic in songs, and in the background score. The music has morphed well with the songs, giving a harmonious and melodious whole to enjoy the movie in theatres.

The first half builds up the story and tempo with college life's pace, competitions, etc. The second half continues the build up on to a wonderful and thrilling climax. The special appearances and dance competitions add up to the climax.

Lagadapati Sridhar's Evadigola Vadidhey was a total comedy entertainer. His style is a total dance-based film, a treat to watch and a treat to hear the songs. Style has two of India's best choreographers - Prabhudeva and Lawrence, so naturally, it has more of dance than story, and the dances have been packed well into a thrilling plot with various guest stars (Chiranjeevi, Suman and Nagarjuna, among others) to keep the audience engrossed and happy. Each of these guest stars has a good cameo role, fantastic dialogues, and action to keep their respective fans happy.

Lawrence has handled direction, story, choreography, and screenplay, in addition to playing one of the lead roles. He has fulfilled each of these roles very efficiently, ably, and correctly. Only if you see the movie can you appreciate the efforts he has put into each of these departments, and the attention to minute details. This is the second movie to be directed by Raghava Lawrence.

Larsco Entertainments, in bringing out this film, have done a commendable job and brought out a true entertainer. We are waiting to see who will bid for the rights to remake this movie in other languages with the same star-cast!

Banner : Larsco Entertainments
Producer : Lagadapati Sridhar
Story, screenplay, Dialogue, Direction : Raghava Lawrence
Music Director : Mani Sharma
Editing : Marthand K Venkatesh
Camera : Kabir Lal
Cast : Prabhudeva, Lawrence , Raja, Kamalini Muherjee.