Goli Soda Movie Review

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Meli/Melz/Aahanaa

@Aahaana

Alumni

+ 6

Posted: 12 years ago

What is this movie about? Young kids and violence/gang?🤔

That main trailer was so BLAH..did they really waste 2 mins of definition of the word trailer🤪

Edited by Aahaana - 12 years ago

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__VJ__

@__VJ__

Rocker

Posted: 12 years ago

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/goli-soda-review-this-tamil-film-is-a-slap-in-the-face-of-heroism/447692-71-180.html

'Goli Soda' review: This Tamil film is a slap in the face of heroism

Rating: 4 out of 5

Featuring child actors in lead roles, S.D. Vijay Milton's 'Goli Soda' should not be confused with a children's film. It has the innocence of Mani Ratnam's 'Anjali', the bravery of Brazilian film 'City of God' and the mischievousness of 'Little Rascals', all laced together with the spirit of a Tamil film presented in a format audiences will cheer.

Take the four lead characters of this film; put them in a soda bottle and shake it until it explodes...that's 'Goli Soda' for you. An entertaining tale of friendship that fizzes with irreverent humour and romance that instantly strikes a chord with the viewers.

Set against the backdrop of Koyambedu market in Chennai, the film's story is about four teenagers' pursuit for identity. Orphaned since birth, the four lead characters, best friends, work as porters in the market and they lead a complacent life.

The only adult in their lives is Aachi (aunt), their employer who makes them feel loved and cared. Having realized that the porter job doesn't promise them a bright future, the four friends, with the help of Aachi meet Naidu who owns the market. They seek help in acquiring a loan to start their own business. Naidu leases them one of his own shops where they start a hotel and soon start delivering food to over 350 shops in the market.

Just when the hotel starts to give these kids an identity to be associated with, an incident sets in motion events that change their lives forever. What is that incident and how much of damage does it cause on their lives? This forms the crux of the film's second half.

Most of us would see these kids as a gang, but the film shows us that they form a team so strong that separating them means doing something unthinkable. The entire premise is built on this friendship that translates wonderfully on screen from the opening scene to the brilliant climax fight sequence.

Director Milton spins a realistic tale, backed by engaging screenplay, around this friendship and gives us plenty of reasons not to just enjoy his work but even come back and watch it.

First featured in 2009 Tamil comedy 'Pasanga', the four lead characters display maturity in their respective roles. You can see that they have grown by some extent and that's evident in their performance aptly supported by vigour and confidence. They make you root for the heroes in them but the irony is that they never display heroism throughout the film.

In a scene where they could run away from imminent threat, they refrain from doing so because one of them says, "we can't fight like adults, but neither can we run away because we're kids". It's scenes like these that make you root for the heroes in them.

'Goli Soda' is a slap in the face of heroism. It proves that the story is the real star of a film and it's precisely because of it that the entertainer emerges as a winner.

Milton as the writer, director and cinematographer gives us a slice-of-life story in the streets of one of the busiest markets in the country. He supports his story with well-captured shots, edited scenes and sharp dialogues that augment the film on the whole from an entertainment perspective. He extracts the best from his actors, especially from his lead cast, who make a great team. He makes us believe that the kids would eventually turn heroes in the end, but they only become stronger, braver and smarter.

If you want your thirst for entertainment to be quenched, 'Goli Soda' guarantees that.

http://www.moviecrow.com/News/3662/goli-soda-review---this-fizz-does-give-a-high

Goli Soda Review - This fizz does give a high

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Plot

Goli Soda is essentially a tale of the underdogs taking on the powerful. Four adolescents make a living by carrying loads in a market area. Life is fun for them despite the hardships. What irks and saddens them is their lack of identity.To set it right they set up a small business with the help of a local trade union leader. As they begin to reap the benefits of their hard-work they get into a tangle with gangsters and life isn't going to be the same anymore.

Cast and Crew:

The four boys who made an impression in Pasanga team up as the lead players in Goli Soda. Their performance brims with confidence and for their age they have an assured screen presence. The two girls too make an impression. Sujatha Sivakumar shines as their mentor. The lead villain has done a good job and the dubbing (Samuthirakani's voice ?) elevates the impact. Imman Annachi adds fun to the proceedings.

Music by S. N. Arunagiri (songs) and A. Seelin (BGM) is neat. The movie has a live feel to it thanks to Vijay Milton's cinematography. Certain frames are shaky and add to the candid camera feel. Vijay Milton had earlier successfully employed this in Vazhakku En 18/9. Director Pandiraj has written the dialogues for the film which ranges from being realistic to cinematic. Dialogues like We are not old enough to hit them back but we are also not too young to run away strike a chord. Antony's editing keeps the proceedings quite gripping and the running time of the film is just right at about 2 hours. The stunts are nicely done. They are actually over the top scenarios but the stunt choreography has nicely the masked the exaggeration.

What sets it apart?

Goli Soda is a surprise package as you would be least expecting an action film with the 'Pasanga boys' splashing on the film's posters. The film starts of much like Marina and you are actually expecting a docu-drama on the lives of the kids in Koyambedu. But things take quite a bloody turn before the intermission. Despite the seeming impossibility the director has the audience rooting for the kids to take on the baddies and this is where Goli Soda emerges triumphant. Much like many commercial potboilers the baddies here too are shown clueless and react in hurry throwing common sense out of the window. But having forgiven our mass heroes all this while we can definitely give some patronage to these kids from Goli Soda.

The lip sync at a few places has been taken for granted. The Powerstar-Sam Anderson song though done with restraint is definitely out of place in the film and adds no value to it. The violence is a little sadistic and we feel the stomach churn a little more as it involves kids. But thankfully it is not shown explicitly.

Bottomline:

Goli Soda certainly packs a fizz. The fizz is a little overdone in the second half but nevertheless gripping. Watch this gripping action drama which has a bunch of teens in the forefront!

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/goli-soda/movie-review/29318503.cms

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Synopsis: Four lads find themselves in a situation where they have to take on a powerful man (and his innumerable henchmen) to reclaim their identity.

Movie Review: Goli Soda is about four friends (orphans at that) who try to create an identity for themselves, their romance and their fight against a big shot who wants to squish them beneath his feet because their action inadvertently has resulted in a loss of face for him. If this reads like the plot of a typical masala movie, you are not wrong. Goli Soda IS a masala movie. But what sets it apart and even makes it one-of-a-kind is that its protagonists aren't grown-up 20-somethings but adolescents, early teens to be specific. There have been Hollywood films that have transposed the sensibilities of a regular genre movie to ones that have kids as the principal characters, like Brick,Bugsy Malone and Young Sherlock Holmes, but this is probably a first in Tamil cinema.

However, unlike those films, Goli Soda stops with fitting only its young protagonists with adult, mass hero attitudes; the other characters, including the antagonists, are all grown-ups. This does pose a challenge because young boys taking on rowdies can take away the seriousness but Vijay Milton manages to evade this hazard to a large extent by keeping the plot fleet-footed so that we don't dwell on the less believable scenes. That these teenagers are played by the cast of Pasanga is an added advantage. The four boys have grown into adolescents but their acting is as assured as in that film.

Pulli ( Kishore), Settu ( Sreeram), Sithappa (Pandi) and Murugesh (Murugesh) are orphans and thick friends, who make a living doing odd jobs at the Koyambedu market. The two adults who empathize with them are Manthiravadhi ( Imman Annachi, who has a riotously funny scene at the police station) and Aachi ( Sujatha), who is a wholesale dealer at the place. Pulli and Sithappa have romantic interests (Chandhini and Seetha who actually acquit themselves better than typical masala movie heroine), and Aachi spurs the friends to strive and create an identity for themselves. She manages to get them help from NKB ( Madhusudhan, for whom this performance could be a breakthrough), who controls the market, and soon, the youngsters have a fledgling eatery. But trouble comes in the form of Naidu's brother-in-law and right hand man Mayilu (Vijaimurugan), who starts using the place for his illicit activities. Unable to contain their anger at the defiling of their workplace, the four friends take him on, which earns them the wrath of NKB as well, and he badly wants to put them in their place to save his image.

Despite the familiar storyline, Vijay Milton's script is interesting and at times, unpredictable. The film does take some time to get going and the initial scenes, when the boys try to woo girls like your typical Tamil cinema heroes, are somewhat tedious. But the director shifts gears when the boys start getting responsible. That they do not face any challenge in establishing their hotel and do it in a song is pure filmy stuff but the film knows it all too well and acknowledges this with the remark:paatu mudinjum naama innum periyaalagalye. The dialogues (by director Pandiraj) are a plus, sharp and cheeky. And the manner in which the problems escalate for the protagonists is well realized " it is gradual in the beginning when Mayilu starts using the place for his activities and worsens exponentially when the lads take him on and NKB comes into the picture. The film also shows that our masala films could be much better without frills like romantic songs. It is only when the director makes his heroes take on over a dozen men that the film turns less believable and we wonder if he could have found a way to make his protagonists use their brains more instead of their brawn to bring down the villain. And, the dues ex machina that the director resorts to when the heroines are being chased by the villain's men towards the end of the film " they run into a school and one of the goons' daughter who is studying there comes to him causing a change of heart " is unintentionally hilarious.

Edited by __VJ__ - 12 years ago

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__VJ__

@__VJ__

Rocker

Posted: 12 years ago

Seems dat this film has won de appreciation of critics... Interesting...looking forward !

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Meli/Melz/Aahanaa

@Aahaana

Alumni

+ 6

Posted: 12 years ago

Yeah, me too read the reviews...trailor was blah but i think movie will be good based on the reviews. Looking forward to watch it soon.

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__VJ__

@__VJ__

Rocker

Posted: 12 years ago

Originally posted by: Aahaana
Yeah, me too read the reviews...trailor was blah but i think movie will be good based on the reviews. Looking forward to watch it soon.

Looking forward to ur review b4 i plunge...😊

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supercool3

@supercool3

Alumni

+ 5

Posted: 12 years ago

I honestly never heard of this movie until I saw your post 😲

But the reviews look very good. Hoping to watch it soon as well !

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Pallanguzhi

@Pallanguzhi

Dazzler

Posted: 12 years ago

Wow, so this movie is featuring the kids from Pasanga? 😊

It was one of my all-time favourite movies... ⭐️

So I hope I can catch this movie soon 😃 Looking forward!

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271043

Hibernated

Posted: 12 years ago

have to wait for the DVD... is the girl also from pasanga?

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__VJ__

@__VJ__

Rocker

Posted: 12 years ago

Originally posted by: ~*Thamizhan*~
have to wait for the DVD... is the girl also from pasanga?

Nope only de 4 boys r frm pasanga team...

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sneha

@sneha_v

Dazzler

Posted: 12 years ago

#10

This movie is just awesome and i have watched it for 4 times and i loved this personally the boys wow what a performance super and great the girls characters was really nice and the music wow really super just loved it and over all this movie is the best movie for now !! i liked this movie more than jilla and veeram movie ...

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Goli Soda Movie Review

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