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A Disappointing Continuation

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

S. Shankar has gained quite a reputation for making expensive crapfest. I have only seen his 'Indian' and 'Nayak, The Real Hero' and loathe both movies (though they have great soundtracks and female leads). Little did I know that he directed 'Boys'. After watching the movie I must give him some credit for making something that is at least watchable.'Boys' starts off as an entertaining teen flick following six teenagers but the story slowly progresses as the protagonists move into adulthood, a little too fast, and then the movie tackles various social issues. Themes like friendship, sex, censorship and injustice are well presented here. 'Boys' is considered a poignant film for the middle-class Indians.The humour works very well. One can easily relate to the various situations the teenagers experience. However, the more intense sequences are loud and overdone. They appear theatrical and melodramatic.A.R. Rahman's score is terrific. The visualization of the first two songs and the romantic songs is very poor. The special effects used in the songs are awful. The lyrics of the romantic songs are clichéd but the rest of the songs have great lyrics. I especially liked the last one, 'Secret of My Success'.S.Shankar has cast an ensemble of newcomers and the five actors who play the title role, Siddharth, Nakul, Bharath, Sai Srinivas, and Manigandan, all perform very well especially in the comedic sequences but they ham it up in the more intense scenes. Genelia D'Souza is competent. Vivek is likable as the supportive Mangalam Sir.'Boys' is almost three hours long and it could have used some editing. Yet, it's still an enjoyable watch despite the aforementioned as long as you have a working fast-forward button on your remote control. I'm surprised that the man behind abysmal tripe like 'Indian' and 'Nayak' came up with something more 'human'.

This movie is awesome and a ground breaker when it came to Tamil Cinema or even Indian Cinema as a whole. What I cant figure out is how the director/writer came up with all the stuff seen in this movie? He must have interviewed hundreds of college going guys throughout Chennai and studied their life very carefully. The ideas here are pure genius and typical of Shankar, even if too controversial. Sujatha also writes dialog for most other Tamil films but only when it comes to Shankar's movies does the dialog really stand out. Shankar has the ability to bring out the best in every performer, actor and writer, even extra. Even if Mani Ratnam makes more realistic movies, Shankar is the better director for being far more creative in his work. For example, the "Malgova Aunty" scene and dialog threw me off the chair. I was on the floor. If you don't like this movie, then you'rea) Completely retarded b) A conservative c) From a mofussil background d) All of the aboveIf only Shankar could be as creative as he was in this movie, in Anniyan which was absolute crap in comparison. I don't think that even Shivaji would be as good as Boys. I hope that after Shivaji, Shankar makes Boys-2.

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.

"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.