I reviewed the DVD of "12B" in the "General" section of the forum. Now here's my review of the film.

12B - Tamil
Cinematography, Story, Screenplay, Direction- Jeeva
Music- Harris Jayaraj
Lyrics- Vairamuthu
Produced by Vikram Singh
Executive Producer- K. Zainudeen

Cast
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(role) (actor)
Shakti- Shaam
Jothika- Jyotika
Priya- Simran
Aravind- Sunil Shetty

Movie
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A remake of "Sliding Doors," "12B" shows both the "what if" and the real life paths of Shakti (newcomer Shaam). He misses the 12B bus to a job interview with a bank, and he is dejected. The film pauses here, and a narrator tells us that we will see Shakti's life after this point as well as what Shakti's life would be like if he caught the bus and attended the interview. I'm not going to reveal any plot points, since it is fun to watch them develop.

An innovative story is the hook for the film. Shaam is very likeable as the hero, Jyotika is also very likeable, but Simran's character (who is, for an unsaid reason, very melancholy) is not particularly likeable. Vivek and the other guys from the Aalavandhan Mechanic Shop form the comic relief, which is pretty funny. Sunil Shetty (yes, that Sunil Shetty) plays Jyotika's uncle(!), and he just looks confused while he's onscreen. His dialogue is dubbed by someone else. The producer, Vikram Singh, is from Mumbai, which may have something to do with Shetty's casting. It may get confusing which life is which if you just "casually" watch, but this film doesn't require an enormous amount of attention to follow.

Harris Jayaraj's music is excellent. This is my introduction to Jayaraj, and I'm impressed. The picturizations of the songs is very good, though I didn't really like the first song, "Seriya Thavara." It could have been cut from the film and isn't that good of a song anyways.

Jeeva, a cinematographer until now, directs and is the cinematographer for the film. The cinematography is good, though everything seems to have been shot with a telephoto lens. Although he was a cinematographer, he knows how to handle actors and a story, and I look forward to his next film.

Overall
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If you are tired of the same old film over and over, give "12B" a look. It has enough elements of mainstream cinema not to alienate the regular viewer, but not so many mainstream elements that you gag on them. A refreshing film.

DVD from Ayngaran, with English subtitles.

Bought and watched the film today. Must say 12B is a quality flick. I bought the DVD from Ramiy Records in Wembley this morning for £10.99, which I thought was outstanding value. This is my first Tamil movie too!

So if you live in near Wembley, get it and watch it. It's a fun film!

P.S This was my first flick of 2002 - What a way to start! :p