Irandam Ulagam (2013) User Reviews

Visuallly Stunning! But..

[shanmuchat · 5/10 · 23 November 2013]

Just finish watching the movie, and am bit confused how to put my review exactly.. I saw the movie by myself in Theater, just to gain the whole experience unbiased.

I felt it was a good movie.. at least till the intermission.. It has stunning visuals, good looking actors and a decent screenplay.. but after the intermission, I started waiting.. waiting.. and waiting for the movie to move.. Just imagine you are shown a eye-catchy wallpaper, and made it to watch for quite some time, till a point you get annoyed.. That's how I felt for most of the time in the second half of the movie. I felt like nothing was happening on the screen for many minutes in the movie. There was too many void gaps in the movie IMO. Removing those gaps would have made it a good movie.. But still, the Eye candy movie at the least will impress everyone by its visuals.

About the crew: I loved Anushka in this movie, more importantly I felt the warrior role suited her the best so far. Arya was great parts, but felt he wasn't at his best in few parts. Kudos to the Costume designers, Cinematographer and VFX team. Selva is a great movie maker and I have no rights to criticize his work, but I had sat through his movie. I wouldn't have complained if he hadn't made me to sit in theater and wonder what is going on in the movie and left me wondering for too long, till the movie continued itself.

Anyway just for the Visual style and decent first half, I would rate it 5/10. I wish I could rate it more, but I can't.

Selvaraghavan's Brilliant Idea Brought Down By Many Flaws

[darann92 · 5/10 · 5 January 2014]

Irandaam Ulagam (IU) bears a very unique yet simple idea of love. When you love someone sincerely, even if the person leaves you, you will always be able to live with them, be it here or in an alternate universe. To put it short, loving a person sincerely makes love itself becomes your destiny, regardless of the person you love. Although IU had so many flaws in the making, Selvaraghavan's brilliant and novel concept of love is inarguably astounding! For IU had perfect execution, audiences would have had the chance of experiencing one of the best love stories ever told in Kollywood's history. Oh well, I guess the concept itself is ahead-of-time making it hard to be understood and digested.

Not a Selvaraghavan movie but the fantasy fulfill that .

[apjprakash · 6/10 · 22 November 2013]

Thanks to

How far will you go for love asks Selvaraghavan through his latest film's tagline, but having seen the trailer of Irandam Ulagam the question on everyone's mind is how far has Selvaraghavan gone with his imagination and if he's taken Tamil cinema the distance with him? Irandam Ulagam is a tale of fantasy involving two worlds with several elements that are universal, including the pair of Arya and Anushka. In each world their relationship is provided with its own unique acts and dynamics.

The power of love and the warring between good and evil are not the only things that are universal, as it appears that superstitions of black tongued curses and bar songs too are common place around the galaxies. But the director uses those nuances to make the audience feel at home in his created landscape just as he points out the crimes of men ill-treating women – a thread which gives Anushka's character Varna her personality.

As the shy doctor Ramya and as the fierce warrior Varna, Anushka is simply at her best showcasing a wide range of emotions and stunts. It is her performance that stands as a pivot for the rest of the story to take shape. Arya as the warrior, with his massive physique reminds us that there is hardly anyone else in the industry who could have been so fitting for this role. The Georgian actors featured in this film definitely deserve a word of praise for their efforts to get their Tamil lip sync correct. But it does invariably add some kind of artificiality to the proceedings. The other peripheral characters like Venkatesh Hariharan and Padma Raman are good in their fleeting appearances.

The film's biggest strength is its visuals and credit to the creative director Merzin Tavaria and the team at Firefly Creative Studios for putting out one of the most VFX rich Tamil films without making it seem too jarring. It's easy for the cinematographer's work to be buried under such vast amounts of VFX but Ramji's precisional framing and lighting is what serves as the backbone for the VFX. The same can be said about Kola Bhaskar's editing as he painstakingly pieces together scenes that are heavily layered with CG work.

For a music director who's barely 3 films old scoring for this film could be a daunting task but Anirudh comes out triumphant with a great background score which doesn't let down the narration. Its a disappointment that a couple of Harris's songs don't have room in this 2 hour and 40 minute visual spectacle. 'Kanimozhiye' and 'Panangkalla' have come out well.

Irandam Ulagam, no doubt, is a movie made with lot of passion, courage and one which had demanded lot of effort from the filmmaking team. But Selvarghavan's idea of pure love may not necessarily find acceptance with everyone which results in the concept or the characters feeling emotionally detached from the audience. Also, the leisure paced screenplay and some character inconsistencies in the first half could add to the audience's restlessness.

Irandam Ulagam - Taking The Audience Into The Second Dimension of Cinema

[glitzz97 · 23 November 2013]

First of all, Irandam Ulagam isn't a film. It's imagination from an individual flawlessly splashed into cinema. I can't see Irandam Ulagam as a film, but as a canvas of unlimited imagination from the master Selvaraghavan. Let be it Hollywood, Bollywood, or any other cinema industry, a fearless splash of imaginative brilliance is nowhere to be found as every director maintains the systematic and mechanical structure of a film. Mr. Selvaraghavan has masterfully created a canvas of his romantic imagination in just 2 hours 40 minutes, and 9 seconds. Yes it may seem very lengthy, but this is imagination, and I never felt the time passing by. As for the "critics" which "reviewed" IU, ignore everything, because again, this isn't a film, it's a dream which will be enjoyed by predominantly children, who're careless of the mechanical world and filled with imagination. The proof of God's existence is clear throughout the film. The cast was perfect, and if you truly understand Mr. Selvaraghavan's vision, you'll find the cast perfect. And for the ratings or reviews, I have no comment, because this is my outcome: 10/10 and 100%.

Mudiyala Da Saamy!

[naangvfanda · 4/10 · 22 November 2013]

Movie Begins With Madhubalakrishnan(Arya) Who Is Dying.. He Starts Narrating The Thing Happened From The Turning Point Of His Life till "Another World".

Characters : Madhu Balakrishnan/Marava(Arya) & Ramya/Varna(Anushka)

I Don't Want Explain Further More.. Just Give It A Try(Watch At Your Risk) Plus Point Of Movie : Arya, Anushka, Harris Jayaraj, Costume Designers, Ramji(Cinematographer), First Half Minus Of The Movie : Bad Picturisation Of Songs Which Rocked In Top Charts, Mannavanae By Shakthi Sree Gopalan Is Chopped Half... Two Songs( Vinnaithaandi Anbe, Raakozhi) Were Missing Along With Theme Music, Aniruth's Irritating BGMs and Selva's Asusual Style which doesn't matched for this flick.

Selva Raghavan Said That "Irandam Ulagam/Varna Was His Dream Project".. I Think He Had Suffered Heavily From Worst Nightmares..

Can't get worst than this, really!

[varun-tn-india · 2/10 · 2 December 2013]

This film has made every possible mistake a story can make, every single mistake. It has nothing in it to call it a film. It is just director Selvaraghavan puking his stuff on you. People want to appreciate this movie because it has tried hard to make a CG film in Tamil, a rare bold move. I appreciate his boldness, but this movie sucks like hell. He could have given some importance to the story and read it to someone before making it into a movie, it is so obvious that the story is crap. Even most of the execution is sloppy. I'm not going to list all the mistakes, that will take an eternity and it's useless. So, I'll say the things that are good. Everything is bad except a few CGI sequences and camera angles; the location of the village is well chosen and is beautiful; they convey the climate of the location very well; and that's it! Yeh! Everything else is very bad and sloppy. I'm pretty sure that this movie is 'inspired' from 'Cloud Atlas', which is a complicated movie and is worth watching. This is a simple story trying miserably to become a complicated one and end up becoming the worst movie story I've ever seen. Everyone saying this movie is 'not bad' or 'good', are only saying so only because they appreciate the boldness or are feeling very sorry for Selvaragavan and don't want to make things worse for him.

Imagination gone wild and bad

[ragavendra-prabu · 3/10 · 30 November 2013]

Gosh! An Ace director fails terribly in screenplay..i can agree that director has tried something different in Tamil films..apart from that movie is a pathetic display..visual effects in the age of movies like avatar are worst. I had 15 people watching an evening show in a major city ..15 days post release telling you the real state of this movie. Guys who have given positive reviews please don't do a cover up..Acceptance is the first step towards betterment and for Tamil movies to catch up new heights..real criticism must come out...Wish imaginations would have been presented better on screen..my take on the film is a criminal waste of time, money and effort. For those of you who feel the story is new, please start reading tons of novels published that have talked about other simultaneously existing worlds.

Irandam Ulagam - truly transcends the viewers to the second world with spectacular visuals and a solid concept never attempted before

[darshan-mob94 · 9/10 · 23 November 2013]

This film sets a benchmark in Indian cinema. A fantasy film with creativity at its peak. General audiences often draw comparisons with Avatar, One thing to be made clear, IU is not a mainstream fantasy story like most Hollywood films of the similar genre. Selvaraghavan has related the Sufi and Zen concept in plot. His direction, screenplay and dialogs were flawless. Arya's performance was excellent in the first half but was just good as Maruvan. Anushka as both Ramya and Varna was excellent. The songs by Harris were melodious. However, Anirudh's BGM was not up to the mark as few parts of his score had reminiscence of '3'. Selvarghavan has to be lauded for his concept in this story development that has never been seen before. This is not a film, its a fairy tale. Indian audiences should be prepared to accept a change in film genres and watch it with an open mind with wisdom. All those negative reviews are by critics/viewers who lack wisdom and rational thinking. Its obvious that general viewers lack the ability to decipher simple metaphors in few scenes of this film. The only question, when Indian audiences like Hollywood films like Inception though its depth is significantly complex, why cant they accept much simple and straightforward quality Indian films like IU and the rest? Those mindsets have to change for Indian cinema to progress.

Wtf.someone gave 10 for this sh.t

[adhil-67126 · 3/10 · 26 January 2022]

Nothing much to say.. inspired from a lot of Hollywood films, but thats what i wanted..i couldn't put up with this coz flawed plot. Vfx was good at that time except that lion(sh.it what the f did i see)..

A film so ahead of its time with an old soul

[kawinstark · 8/10 · 30 May 2019]

This review is after 5 years of the film's release, I don't even know if someone would read it or not. (Tomorrow is Ngk's release)

Well, Love can't be described more purely in any film. This film had that soul, soul of the universe.

In first half, Arya and Anuska's love in Earth is pure Bliss. I can't take my eyes off Anuska, she was so charming and charismatic and carried forward the soul of the film. The movie non-linearly also tells about their love in parallel universe. Which was good, but we all know budget and time constraints so, Vfx was not that great, and it lacked the soul which can be felt in Earth scenes.

Songs and bgm were too awesome, I can keep on repeating this word soul for this film. Everything in this movie, actors, screenplay, songs, everything had contributed to the soul.

I loved it soooo much until first half.

But second half was .. t.e.r.r.i.b.l.e .. I expected much more. There's no problem in the story. But the way it was picturized. It was so cheesy. But this can also be due to budget and time constraint. But even though, all the foreign actors had perfect lip sync.

Climax was good.

Good attempt to be honest. But Parallel universe concept in Indian cinema is something so ahead of its time. Also, everyone can't feel the soul of love in this material world, you know, ..

Best attempt, no entertainment and overwhelm love story

[senthilkumar14 · 3/10 · 28 September 2020]

Cinematography - Best attempt in Tamil cinema. Other aspects are worst in the movie. Dragging, confusing and unnecessary complexity to convey a love story. Dialogues is not good, not apt for futuristic film.

Selvaragavan is good director, made great films, however this is worst movie - I don't know why few set of audience reviews says it is great movie despite flaws. Reviewing as Hollywood movie and only we can understand in future. Yes it is futurist story, taken in worst worst way. We should accept It. It is not director fault, it can happen when we attempt different story.

Visual Finesse

[raj040492 · 22 November 2013]

Love is in certain cases worse than action sequences, it has no logic, it can crop between two completely strangers who will later claim theirs to be love-at-first-sight, it can bring a patient back from death when the doctors themselves declare a hapless situation, it can breach boundaries. But to what extend are these boundaries breached? What happens when such a breach occurs? Selvaraghavan's "Irandam Ulagam" is a boundary breaching love with a visual finesse, credits to the director's imagination and the men behind the lens.

Irandam Ulagam is a parallel love story set in a fantasy world and in our times. The love stories are distinctly opposite, present day Arya tries to woo Anushka while fantasy Arya lives in a world where there is no such word as love. Anushka's feminine qualities fill the present day while the fantasy Anushka kicks Arya in the groins just to keep some distance between them. But a tragedy strikes and brings these worlds together, Aryas meet and what happens when present day Arya meets fantasy Anushka forms the rest of the story.

Selvaraghavan's distinct signature is written all over the movie, but as good as it might be, not everyone will be able to appreciate the artistic touch in the screenplay. The characters are well described and used only to the point; the lip sync of the Georgian actors deserves special credit. Cinematography is on par with screenplay and in certain cases exceeds the latter. Background score hymns but it is the anti- feminine-alcoholic song that got the best of the whistles.

Arya and Anushka have stamped their authority while Anushka creates a bigger impact as Varna (fantasy world) than Ramya (real world). Dashes between Aryas have spared the need for a separate humor track. When a Georgian actor, younger than Arya and Anushka is introduced as Arya's mother one finds it tough not to smile. Despite all these pros, there seems to be a drag in screenplay and action scenes lack logic, as usual. But in the midst of a romantic flow, it can be excused.

Long story short, A good romantic movie but not for all.

Good idea - extremely bad execution

[harineem-209-525488 · 5/10 · 27 February 2024]

Selvaraghavan is a very creative director but he tends to get carried away with crude dialogues or too many elements like in this movie. The idea of parallel worlds and a couple having different experiences in same is fantastic. But what a mess of costumes, cinematography and even screenplay around the abnormal worlds .Anushka is as usual brilliant in all the worlds and as a fan, I truly felt sorry that her talents got wasted in such a movie. Arya is an actor of limited range and also looks terrible in the abnormal world with the wierd makeup and hairstyle.

You cant create an alternative world and timeline and have white looking people and then suddenly brown people. Lesser said about the costumes the better, absolutely no consistency. CGI sucks big time. This movie needed a director like SSR or Shankar to do justice to the sets, cinematography, costumes and all the visual elements. There was a good story there but very poor execution at all levels.

Irandam Ulagam - Without doubt, 'Another World' in everything!

[koushikrishnan · 9/10 · 24 November 2013]

Irandam Ulagam - Frankly and firstly telling, I loved the movie. Yeah, the first half was super duper top-class fun and a treat to watch. Was followed by an enigmatic and slow second half which could have been made crispier. I don't know much about screen writing but based on movie watching experience, I wouldn't call it a worst screenplay but too stretched and complicated. Never remember seeing such a fantasy oriented theme for a familiar concept in Thamizh cinema. Felt goosebumps, familiarity,realization and wasn't able to predict the following at places. CG effects and camera were worth enough for a Thamizh movie with the given budget. Music was brilliant but at some places it as too misleading. Coming to acting, Arya's role as the innocent guy was fabulous. Anushka was lovely throughout. Overall another brave, astounding effort again by Mr.Selvaraghavan. Marvel!

Now, surprised to see so many people giving negative reviews on the movie. I think people expected a movie like Avatar (3D miracle) on seeing the trailer but when that expectation wasn't wholly satisfied, they totally felt it was crap. Then there is another gang of geeks I want to focus on. If the same movie was made in Hollywood with a much better CG (even with the same flaws), I don't think they will say the same about it. There are guys who said Life of Pi, Inception (known ones) were great but dint understand anything about it. Why not the similar feedback for a Thamizh movie? Also I think even if this movie flops now, they will talk of it as a masterpiece after 5-10 years just like the same way Hey Ram, Pudhupettai, Iruvar and Anbe Sivam are talked today. Also remember the fact that commercial movies without normal logic too succeed much better than this, even if there wasn't nothing noticeably different in the script.

All these musings are totally based on my own opinion. Please don't come explaining some aspects I don't want to know. Please!

IRANDAM ULAGAM (U) TAMIL ------------- my Rating : ★★★★ Hollywood MOVIE - TAMIL DUBBING

[yunusitboss · 8/10 · 26 November 2013]

IRANDAM ULAGAM (U) TAMIL New movie Reviews and lots more Hot news .... LIKE THIS PAGE : English Hindi TAMIL TELUGU Facebook : Movie Review by Yunus Irshad https://www.facebook.com/YunusIrshadsMovieReview

IRANDAM ULAGAM (U) TAMIL ------------- my Rating : ★★★★ Hollywood MOVIE - TAMIL DUBBING

STRENGTHS :- * Visual Effects : enjoy in Digital theatres (sathyam 70mm Chennai) instead of local theatres .... * Anirudh's BGM : was pleasant .... * Story : was different ....it is a love story ....but we cant imagine ....as too it is impossible ..... * Casting and Performances : arya was entertaining ...anushka adds glamour to it .... * Camera and Art direction : must appreciate ..... * Kanimozhi song was good .......

WEAKNESSES :- * Screenplay : seems lengthy .... * anirudh song : didn't came missed a lot .... * Certification by CBFC : it must have awarded with an U/A for violence and blood sheds .....

FINAL VERDICT :- * Overall... the movie is a good visual treat in tamil cinema ....have a great experience this weekend .....

A fantasy thriller that revolves around a couple in love, and their adventurous travels through time and to parallel realms fighting powerful worldly creatures.

Review

[nn9282 · 10/10 · 22 November 2013]

Its a good movie not every one like .if u want a different romantic movie then go for it Irandam Ulagam has two separate worlds and it is about the stories that unfold in a parallel universe.The story is about Ramya (Anushka Shetty) has a liking towards Madhu Balakrishnan (Arya), but he initially refuses her offer for marriage. But in the dream world, Arya tries to woo Anushka. The story keeps juggling between the love story of dream world and the tale set here, the place where we are living. After turning down Ramya's offer, Madhu falls in love with her and approaches her to marry her, but this time, she rejects his offer citing that she has found another man. How he tries to win her heart and change her stand form the crux of their story

A tale of blooming a first ever love in the land of magic

[Reno-Rangan · 8/10 · 23 November 2013]

Irandam Ulagam' is one of the most expected Tamil movie of the year. The same visual fx team who worked for 'Avatar' is rendered some magical touch for this movie. India has never seen such a colourful grand visual movie till now. From the man of creativity, Selvaraghavan's yet another variety of splendid movie followed by the success of 'Aayirathil Oruvan'. The actors, especially both the lead Arya and Anushka gave theirs best shots to deliver director's imagination come reality. Even supports from the foreign characters were very impressive especially theirs lip synchronizations. They had no accent, according to the story they are from the different world so it's a clean cover up.

It was quite like 'The Lovely Bones' where people from two different worlds were connected to each others in some way. In the land of human where love is thousands years old, a girl meets her perfect man. What about the boy, does he thinks same as she thought about him. Not like the 'love at first sight', for the time being it will become even. With all the hurdles the love grows stronger and they become inseparable. How careful the couples move their relationship from one to another level, no matter what there will always be a negative force in nature to pull them apart. A man in such position 'How far he would travel for his love?' is what the director asked in the movie tagline. People with same face each in a different world and theirs romance tales were narrated in the movie. With an alternate world, the alternate culture, lifestyle and yet to blossom the first ever love in the innocent young hearts in the history of their kind is what we are going witness.

I liked the movie because it was a refreshing concept, in a way it is totally new to the Indian audience. Like I said the performances were excellent. The locations were too beautiful, in fact most of them were computer generated images. The stories from two worlds were narrated frequently one after another till the intermission. Then there is no coming back to the actual world, from there everything is told in the world similar to the fairies. It will leave many people in confuse to see new in all the corners of the alternate world. Some will may lose concentration in transition. So it is clear that the movie is not for everyone especially the old generation will struggle to catch up with the movie.

Okay, now lets talk about the negative side of the movie. As an experimental movie product of this part of the earth, it got acclaim from fans and critics but the movie had few minus points too. The tale should have been a little shorter for a theme like this. The biggest drawback was the songs which won't fit into the story. Giving a new dimensional thematic movie is a great idea but the director should not bore the audience by stretching its length. Yes the songs are good to watch in the television set in music channels but not in the movie. Selva should have disobeyed the protocol of making an Indian cinema by scrapping those songs. Then it would have been around 20 minutes shorter and will be perfect. I know he got great visuals in his mind to put those into making cinemas like the Hollywood giants Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson. For that he has to think to make international standards by discarding usual Indian masalas. Because of those song tracks I felt the movie was little drag in the last quarter of the story. But the background score was very nice. The movie will test your patience in the near end portion by keeping it going for a little longer than you expect to roll up the end credits.

The movie had very fine special effects but 3d graphics were not quite convincible in parts. Especially those birds flying around far away in the sky and the lion hunting scenes were looked like some video game characters. Except those inaccuracies rest were indubitable. The way they showed the alternate world was really cool, very intelligent and a creative presentation. If you think you can handle the multiple layer movies like 'The Time Traveler's Wife' and 'Mr Nobody' then why can't this which had dual layer. In the end everything left to the audience, how far they understand about what they see and hear. Like the movies 'Endhiran' and 'Aayirathil Oruvan' you would not need to be highly smart to get the movie, a human with common sense will do.

7.5/10

Respond the creativity

[manik_it87 · 9/10 · 20 April 2014]

I was really forget everything when I watching the movie. It was totally different from regular Tamil movies. I used to appreciate this kind of movie. Movies like this releasing in Tamil cinema is rare. People in Tamil Nadu attached with sentiment movies. So that they are not able accept this kind of movies. They are always expecting good songs, comedy, Story like that. They don't want know about how much they have invested, how they made the film and their hard work. Myself fully satisfied with this movie and definitely this will be a role model for future Tamil films.I expecting this kind of movie from selvaragavan in future. He is really a talented person to make movies.I like all his movies , Ayirathil oruvan really chance less movies. Especially I am expecting those kind of movie from selvaragavan. Like story of our king and our history. It is really very interesting and he only have the capability to do those kind of movie.

A fantastic fantasy

[prakashsrivasan22 · 8/10 · 1 January 2014]

Hi

I watched Irandam ulagam today 01.01.14 first thing in the morning a very refreshing and pleasing movie. Mr.Selvaraghavan again shown his uniqueness. Please remember this while watching this movie don't see logic, it's a fantasy, it's not a real story, imagine it's real you'll love this movie. I followed it and really enjoyed a tamil movie after a very long time. If you know the meaning of fantasy and tamil film industry you will like this movie.

Knowing Mr.Selva is an excellent writer, I can imagine the compromises he has to make in his screen play because of the limited resources.

I read few reviews, please don't compare with other Hollywood movies, with the limited resources he made a fantastic fantasy. Universal studios Vs PVP is not a fair comparison. No disrespect to PVP, they saw Mr.Selva's vision, i genuinely appreciate them for producing a gem like this in tamil movie industry.

I'm very proud and satisfied. Thanks for reading.

Wonderful Movie

[sanjivanu · 10/10 · 29 October 2022]

The first multiverse movie in indian cinema. But no one understanding the subject of the movie And also all are focus on the only romantic and love elements. The selvaragavan is the future predicted director this movie can congrats in before 5 Or 10 years ago. My thought is the best multiverse movie but the worst Romantic movie. But still worth the story and love, it's like not everyone get what they wish for and also shown the true love phase and regrets.

And coming to the music part will be just... Man! I don't even think there is a bad song in it, each and every song is just wow, including the title song there will be about 7 songs and all was just 😍🔥🔥 for me, i don't know others opinion.

So, in case for me it's a rewatchable one because i love fantasy and i love the combo and i do love the way the story flow. Madhupalakrishnan and Remya the earth story couple, Kanimozhiye.... 😅i still remember their names nah!