Broken Lenses

CASANOVA -- COSTLY CRAP!!!

2012-01-30T00:27:00.001-08:00

There hasn't been something so big in recent past in Malayalam cinema.Be it with the hype,the production cost,the casting or the locations, CASANOVA was a name that was thoroughly promoted by the crew over the past year.Unfortunately the same cannot be told regarding its success.

Roshan andrews's latest flick has Mohanlal portraying the title character inspired from Casanova,the ancient womaniser legend.

The one liner for the movie is difficult to be explained as there is scarcely any to boast about.The plot revolves around the hot guy,rather a middle aged man for whom the chicks drool about!Mohanlal's Casanova always arrives well dressed,with goggles,in posh cars,bikes, helicopters and with lots of hot chicks always around him!One gets a notion of the torture he is to expect right away from the intro song.With all the chicks expecting their darling in an airport waiting area,he is introduced riding a sports bike!From thereon the movie tries to exhibit the charm and tricks of casanova with which ladies easily go crazy!Casanova,who is in dubai finds a reason to stayback and tries to bring out the truth behind the death of one of his dearest girls.

It is still a pity that movies like Casnova still happen.How many times has movies with style and minimal substance failed colossally and Casanova will be no different and in fact would be even bigger considering the huge budget that the promotions boasted about.Roshan andrews as a director fails as he has nothing expect a few awesome frames to boast about.The mediocre script was made even lagging with the style of narration opted.He has tried to recreate stunts like what we have seen in movies like dhoom ,but not sure how many would agree on the success.The script from Bobby sanjay was a shocker considering their previous works.Though Mohanlal looks cool in most of the frames one would feel he wasnt the hottest guy(he is reffered to as hottest guy in newyork by the white chicks) to justify Casanova.The role doesnt offer him any sort of entertainment oriented performance scope as well.Shriya saran,lakshmi rai,sanjana roma etc tries to enrich the glossiness of a womaniser based subject.Jagathy has repeated his role in sagar elias jackie.Music is another aspect which is a letdown!

The responses once again confirms that skin shows/cars or locales cannot save a movie like Casanova.The only advantage from the movie is just that it is another chapter to learn for cinema enthusiasts that money alone need not make a good watch!

Verdict : Crap!!

Also watched

Spanish Masala-Hash of several malayalam films.Some average comedies and fresh locations may make it watchable for some.Average!

Asuravithu -- Strictly Avoidable!

Beautiful- Indeed Beautiful.Definitely to be enjoyed in theaters.

Indian Rupee--Good movie.Watchable.

PRANAYAM --- FEEL LOVE.....!

2011-08-31T23:14:00.000-07:00

How often has a movie given you an experience so poetic,so adorable,so close to life or so inspiring, sort of feelings? Rare are such talents in this Era who can convince you that the life you led could be better just within the time frame of 2hrs and 20 mins.Blessy does more than that with his latest attempt on human relations, Pranayam.

Penning up a script based on a not so common love track and portraying it without going overboard isnt easy these days.Blessy succeeds big time narrating it in the most poetically convincing manner, that you cannot imagine any better execution for most parts in the movie.He lets the characters meander through from the stroke of the titles till the climax frames.All begins when Achuthamenon (Anupam Kher)meets his ex wife Grace(Jayaprada) who is now married to Mathews(Mohanlal).What you witness there after is some thing to be felt through.

The movie is shouldered along by the three characters Mathews,Grace and Achuthamenon and without their scintillating show ,the movie could not have quite managed to become what it does!Mohanlal,the extraordinary actor,though with limited movements(half paralysed) and on screen time once again mesmerises as Mathews.Anupam kher was a brilliant casting.With many brilliant actors in malayalam to do such character roles,Blessy justified himself why he chose Anupam kher.But for me the real surprise was Jayaprada who bagged the role of her life time.The character not only demanded the charm of a mid aged lady but the emotions she goes through isnt something which any actress can portray.Any flaw on her performance would have stooped the movie down!Anoop Menon once again exposes the acting talents in him.He is sure to make a mark in Indian cinema in the days to come.All others gels in well.

Music as usual with Blessy movies delights in Pranayam too.Songs and BGMs carry along the tempo of the movie without distracting you.Camera is excellent with love embedded on each and every frame!Blessy,undoubtedly among the best scriptwriter of this era has come up with very inspiring scenes and dialogues,one being ....SWAPNANGALEKKAL MANOHARMAANU JEEVITHAM ....JEEVIKKANARIYAAMENKIL....!

The movie just flows along without any hiccups for most of the time.One may feel the plasticity in the way Grace and Achu falls in love or may be even the role of Cardiac arrest in the movie ,but that takes away nothing from Pranayam,being close to his First and Best Kaazcha.

PRANAYAM --- FOR THE ONES WHO LOVE LIFE....OR WANT TO LOVE IT.!

Salt n Pepper --- Yummmy

2011-07-20T01:50:00.001-07:00

Have you tried something different recently,well Asiq Abu certainly did and he delivers his stuff big time with Salt n Pepper.If Daddy cool could show only glimpses of his his talents,salt n pepper exhibits the filmmaker in him.

The whole plot of the movie is a love story which isn't anything new but the theme of movie narration based on the delicious recipes makes it a stand out. Be it the main characters or the scenes ,food items form the link between them.A smoothly inserted story of the foreign war hero and his wife(who is waiting with a cake each day, for his return)simply shows the good work behind the screens.

Lal was good as usual.Mythili too wasnt a miscast, but the real picks for me were Baburaj,Shwetha menon and Asif Ali.Babu raj-What a transformation from the roles of the tried and tested villain/goonda to the soft hearted cook in salt n pepper.Never would have he won so many hearts with any of his previous characters.Kudos to Ashiq Abu in using him this way.Shwetha was excellent i portraying a the frustrations of a companionless middle aged.Asif Ali has really emerged from the dubious guy in rithu to one who could handle comedy numbers with ease.He surely can bring the house down on his own in the future days.The rest of the cast fits in well too.

Music from Bijibal is another mention-worthy aspect that helps the cause of the movie.Avial song impresses too with a perfect sign off.

Final word - None among the audience bothered to move even after the climax titles started rolling.They waited for the avial song to finish off to exit gratified.

Bombay March 12 -- Bold n Classy

2011-06-30T02:13:00.001-07:00

Movies based on terrorism have come and gone,some made minimal impact while some others created a strong wave of emotion within you.Fortunately Babu janardhanans debut directorial venture falls to the latter category.The Movie is wholly based on the innocent muslims who falls a victim to the terrorism atrocities.

Following a non linear narration babu janardhanan introduces sameer(Mammootty) and shahjahan(new comer) on a parallel track.The link between the tracks is establised in the second half.Pre interval the movie is nothing much to hype about with two excellent songs and romas ever best performance being the highlights to really boast off.But the 1st half does tell you that it is a buildup for something more good to come.The second half for the reviewer is the soul of the movie with shahjahans mysteries being revealed.

Performance wise

Though promoted as a movie which promised a hefty performance from Mammootty,he just had cake walk scenes.Being a fan of his ,expected a performance that would create goosbumps,but it didnt!
Roma the actress has finally evolved out.Best ever performance from her!
The newcomer as shahjahan performed without the hiccups of a newbie...definitely has an actor in him to watch out for in the future days of malluwood. Rest of the performances were apt and none of the characters looked plastic.

Songs Lyrics and Music to me is one among the best of the recent times.All the songs impressed at the first hearing itself.

Direction n scripting made this movie what it is.Though the first half could have been made more engaging he deserves a pat at the back for a movie like this. All Kudos to Babu Janardhanan for selecting a bold theme for his first venture,for the questions that he shot out at the democratic views that exists in our country,for not shying away and opting to do a commercial crap as his 1st venture.....and for making Bombay March12 a highlight in malluwood history!
Msut watch for all serious movie lovers....!

Watched cars2 -- Avg,Not anywhere near the prequel....3D effects minimal!
Kungfu panda --- Yet another g8 outing by the Dragon warrior and his friends...3D gives the icing on the cake.Enjoy!

The Train ---- Not on Track

2011-05-27T05:40:00.000-07:00

The train from Jayaraj can be summarized as the movie Kayyoppu remade in the Traffic format.Though both the mentioned movies were excellent in their own genres,the train doesn't come out so well!

Whats Hot?

Well.The lead acting department does a cool job with the screen presence of Mammootty (a cakewalk role) and Jayasurya exhibiting once again the methodical actor in him.
The plot was promising and had the potential to make it big.The crispy,colorful frames and camera work need to applauded too.But the real standout to me was the BGM by gopi sunder,perfect for the mood that the theme of the movie could have delivered.The songs were also good,but could have reduced the number of them to help the movies pace.Jayaraj should be appreciated for seeing the possibility in the plot.

Whats not?

What lets a promising plot down after the initial half an hour is the flaws in the script which tries the tested and tried sentiments with minimal impact on audience.Tne script and direction could have been better to avoid some of the cliched scenes and dialogues. This could also have made the love track of Jyasurya more convincing.Jayaraj has the habit of picking actors who are either not good in malayalam or those lacking some natural acting instincts (including sabitha Jayaraj).He repeats this mistake here too.Some of the plots if performed by a seasoned actor could have been better!
Lack of thrills and twists without which the purpose of the movie like this is half lost!
To add ,Unacceptable number of songs in a movie like this!

The Train - is definitely better than the last few Mammotty movies,but should have been well received,with a better script and narration!

Also watched Janapriyan Last week ---- A softly treated movie which is worth a watch for Jayasurya.The script was is good enough except that it could have been better in the climax......Songs were horrible!Bhama looked good in her role and wasnt irritating (to much of my surprise---)!

COMBO REVIEWS --- Doubles,China town,Melvilasam,KO!

2011-05-07T01:42:00.000-07:00

Hectic office schedules often makes me combine reviews....this time the reviews come late as well......with the fates of these movies already sealed!

Doubles ---- A rare example of a Mammootys experimentation with a debutant director back firing.Average script backed by below average direction helped doubles being a crap.Mammooty looked aged,Nadiya had nothing to be impressed for a comeback.The whole plot and setup looked plastic!

China town --- Another crappy multistarrer after Xian bros!Mohanlal had minimal comedy scenes while the most of the other comedies were irritating.2nd half makes matters even worse with Hangover influenced scenes going all over the place!CRAP!

Melvilasam---May be influenced by the foriegn film but this movie is well etched out!Suresh Gopi gets a good role ,Parthiban excels with his emotions in the 2nd half.Dialogs by Krisnmoorthy are sharp that the entire flash back can be visualized from them.As expected the audience turnout is poor!

KO! -- Brilliant entertainer.KV Anands frames and making style reminded of Gouwtham menon films.Excellent portrayal by Ajmal.Jeeva and rest of the cast are good too.The real hero being the script and the direction!

SENIORS --Colourful entertainer

2011-05-07T01:14:00.001-07:00

College stories have always drawn attention in malluwood and especially when the Cast and crew is as big in Seniors,one couldnt be blamed for expecting a rocking entertainer...Thankfully the 4 Seniors delivers almost the same.

Seniors by Vysakh( pokkiriraja) tells the story of four friends (Jayaram,Biju menon,Kunchakko and Manoj k jayan) who had to halt their studies due to incident in their college life and then after 12 years deciding to return back to the campus.The sole intention of this being to unravel the mystery behind the tragedy years back.The thread seems similar to classmates but is executed well enough that you wouldnt be always worried about the same.The fun filled first half ensures that.

The second half though initially resorted to some slapstick routine scenes with the hostel stuff,the movie regained momentum with the suspense taking the toll.Though the suspense is a predictable one,the climax was plotted out very well.Do not wish to go more into it as it would be better on screen.

The 4 Seniors were really effective as they won the hearts of the viewers tight from their intro.Biju menon handles most of the comedies and has come out excellently well enough.Manoj was cool in some of his comedies,while in others he almost went over the top.Jayaramas usual was at his very best with his comedies and emtional scenes.Kunchakko puts to display why he is one among the most improved actors of this period.Suraj was as usual.Siddiques role identical to balachandra menons in Classmates was a cake walk.Padmapriya,ananya,jyohika etc gels in well.

Music sounded good on first hear.Kudos to Vysakh in for his pacy narration and colourful shots.Script by sachi sethu is good enough though some characters and situations have already appeared the silver screen before.

One the whole one of the better entertainers of these days.

SENIORS --Colourful entertainer

2011-05-07T01:14:00.000-07:00

College stories have always drawn attention in malluwood especially when the Cast and crew is as big in Seniors,one couldnt be blamed for expecting a rocking entertainer...and thankfully the 4 Seniors delivers almost the same.

Seniors by Vysakh( pokkiriraja) tells the story of four friends (Jayaram,Biju menon,Kunchakko and Manoj k jayan) who had to halt their studies due to incident in their college life and then after 12 years deciding to return back to the campus.The sole intention of this being to unravel the mystery behind the tragedy years back.The thread seems similar to classmates but is executed well enough that you wouldnt be always worried about the same.The fun filled first half ensures that.

The second half though initially resorted to some slapstick routine scenes with the hostel stuff,the movie regained momentum with the suspense taking the toll.Though the suspense is a predictable one,the climax was plotted out very well.Do not wish to go more into it as it would be better on screen.

The 4 Seniors were really effective as they won the hearts of the viewers tight from their intro.Biju menon handles most of the comedies and has come out excellently well enough.Manoj was cool in some of his comedies,while in others he almost went over the top.Jayaramas usual was at his very best with his comedies and emtional scenes.Kunchakko puts to display why he is one among the most improved actors of this period.Suraj was as usual.Siddiques role identical to balachandra menons in Classmates was a cake walk.Padmapriya,ananya,jyohika etc gels in well.

Music sounded good on first hear.Kudos to Vysakh in for his pacy narration and colourful shots.Script by sachi sethu is good enough though some characters and situations have already appeared the silver screen before.

One the whole one of the better entertainers of these days.

URUMI ---- Glossy but fractional !

2011-03-31T12:29:00.000-07:00

Urumi-Prithvi's 19th step to super stardom is here.Directed by Santhosh shivan the movie lives upto the expectations in the sense that the frames are rich ,glossy that you wouldnt dare to blink an eyelid.Unfortunately Urumi reminds you that a great cameraman isnt always a great director.The enchanting visual beauty of the movie often was let loose by the director-script writer combo!

The plot is based on a rivalry between Kelu Nair and the Portuguese explorer Vasco da gama.Having lost his people and his father to the invasional spree of Gaama,kelu sets out ,waiting for his chance to tore apart gaama and his men.He is ably helped and supported by his friend Vavvali (prabhu devas character).In due course of his venegance Kelu happens to meet arakkal Aisha and Vavvali meets Bala (Nithya menon) and the love track runs in parallel with the swashbuckling sword clashes.The track seems all set for a gripping outing but some characters developed in the script were poor and even poorly executed.Often dual meaning dialogs spoiled the intensity the movie intended to create.

Coming to the performances,Prithviraj looks well built but has nothing new to present (save his new prince of Persia looks ).The dialog delivery and style all reminded of his previous characters.Still the character kelu demanded lot of manliness which he could easily portray with his well built looks. He looked wanting in the scenes where Vawali gets shot! Prabhu deva performed well a character that handles some humour as well.Genelia looked too cute and immature for Arakkal aayishas role though her fight scenes were awesome.Nithya menon did an OK job as Bala.The pick of the cast for me was Jagathi who was at his usual best as Chenichery kurup,the villain character with shades of feminine charcater in him.Amol gupte as Chirakkal Thampuran
cracked a few jokes here and there.Ankur Sharma as Bhanu was a real Miscast and looked pathetic.Wonder why the crew preferred so many non-malayalees when we already had finest actors here.The cameo roles by Arya,Tabu and Vidya balan has nothing much to go ga ga on.Arya however looked ravishing as Kothuval.The foreign actors (Vasco and his son) were typical.

Coming to the technical side Urumi is a treat to watch with the astonishing camera art taking its toll.Santhosh shivan has succeeded making the movie rich in its technical side with barely any flaws to note.The action scenes were well shot and is certainly among the best that has happened in malayalam cinema.Music from Deepak dev matched his class as well though the BGM at places seems to be a lift from the gladiator theme music.

With all these working for Urumi ,it could have gone places with a better director & screenplay.Urumi- technically brilliant,could have been better on most of the other aspects!

August 15 ----- Lacks the Punch

2011-03-24T00:24:00.000-07:00

Sequels have come and gone in malayalam,and most often we have seen them spoiling the aura of its prequel.Shaji and SN swami the war horses of malayalam political-action-suspense thrillers have tried it out with the suave police officer from Aug 1 Mr Peruamal.Shaji seems to have put a deliberate effort to see that he aviods his super heroics and camera gimmicks....but unfortunately seems to have been too much overcautious.

The plot and the scenes unfold in the same manner as the prequel with captain rajus role donned by siddique.Perumal arrives to save the CM's life yet again.That is all that can be revelead as the rest would feel better on screen.

Mammmmotty as perumal has minimal punch scenes or dialogues which was the result of the care to preserve the true nature of the character,but the sequences in aug 15 was less intense to work that out.Mammooty has recreated perumal in his walks and styles and the role was indeed a cakewalk for him. Nedumudi as the Cm and Saikumar as the part secretary (Mocking achuthanandan and Pinarayi) have done their roles neatly enough.Siddique as the villain is the major negative in the movie.Aug 1 was equally shouldered by Captains villain role as well.Siddue though has performed credibly,the role lacks the solidness and shrewdness that captains role had.Roles of Meghna,shwetha,Jagathi etc has nothing mention worthy.

Perumaals BGM was well recieved but Capatins BGM in Aug1 was really felt missing in this.
Shaji Kailas seems to have tried to sort out his mysteries going for minimal gimmicks but he lets the plot loosen with the same.SN swami had nothing to be put in as an effort as he had to reshape most of the characters from the prequel (Though i completely agree that this was piled up to settle the losses of the movie DRONA,the makers do have responsibility to the crowd too).Some of siddiques ways to kill the CM didnt look proffessional at all....!

On the Whole Swami and Shaji can be happy in one aspect that they havent ruined the name of the prequel in the likes of Saaagr elyas Jackie or Balaram Vs Tharadas.This time atleast, the movie is watchable.

Christian Brothers ----- Star show with less Impact

2011-03-18T05:14:00.000-07:00

Ever since the success of T20 the tricky script makers of malluwood has announced their next mega project christian brothers.No price for guessing that most of the character and scnearios are all similar to other sibi udayan movies....not even sparing T20.

A storyline better than many of sibi udays recent flick was surely let down by a screenplay that was cooked up trying to create a show space for the four lead characters.Not going into the story line as it wouldnt be that easy narrating it here.

The movie promised to be treat for the fans and the screenplay was desperate to execute the same but one would feel it couldnt create the expected cheers in most of the places.The first half almost lost its way but made up with the hero intros and fights.The second half of the movie bores you with the predictability and poorly written flashback scenes of mohanlal lakshmi rai love track.Finally the star show ends up with the usual stars Vs Villains fight.
Mohanlals intro was one among his recent worsts though he made up for it in the next scene.The script was over laced with heroism and punch dialogues for him but went well only in parts.The scene lal mocking Suresh gopi that he would break out from the custody was a cool one.Lal looked out of sorts in songs but one should admit that whatever was given to him was well executed.Suresh Gopi shared good screen space and was as usual in his cop outfits.Sarath kumar has nothing to do except for a couple of fights.Dileeps comedy track could have been used to add some entertainment quotient to the overall movie.Saikumar excelled as Varghese mapilai,the father of the bros.Vijayaraghavan,suresh krishna,biju menon etc does their typical villain act.Kaniha,Lakshmis,kavya etc has to just show up.Suraj and Salim kumar yet again proved of their lesser impact these days.Music and song lyrics are irritating to the core!

Joshiy almost managed the 1st half pretty well(saving some scenes)....but let loose the 2nd half,which can be an outcome of the prolonged schedules of the movie.

On the whole the heads of the four stars in the posters can create some intrest among the moviegoers but the movie would not make the expected impact.

Combo Reviews

2011-02-17T06:46:00.000-08:00

Watched a couple of movies which i dont wanna go gagaa on....But i feel they have to be recommended here..!

Dil To Bacha Hain Jee ---

A movie that could be watched with a smile throughout on your face....Too good performances from all the lead and supporting artists.Madhur Bhandarkar shows that he can very well handle light subjects too!

127 Hours ----

Danny Boyles outing this time is about a guy who gets his stuck in between the rocks of grand canyyon.Excellent camera/locations fuelled by some rocking bgms from the indian maestro,127 hours is truely inspiring to watch.Performance from the lead actor needs to be lauded too!

Aaadukalam -

Very entertaining movie.Good performance from dhanush.

Makeup Man --- Manages to Entertain

2011-02-17T06:10:00.000-08:00

Shafi's latest outing has struck the screens,when his own flick Marykkondoru kunjaadu is still continuing to be the favourite pick in the theatres.And one should say, to Shafis credit Makeup man isn't bad either.It provides the quotient of entertainment that is ever promised by a Shafi movie.

The movie is about someone who had to project himself has a makeupman to his wife,who again accidentally had to enter into the attire of a cine-actress.The confusion hide and seek dramas follow but ofcourse laced with typical humour from Suraj,Jayaram,Jagathi and Salimkumar.The movie might remind you of the love track in chocolate which again was penned by sachi sethu.The script goes places at times in the second half but shafi has managed to route the plot well enough to entertain and engage.

Jayaram as the title character was cool, wisely not opting for his strenuous expression-comedies that we saw in some of his latest flicks like happy husbands.Sheila looked beautiful as ever and was a bit of surprise to me as she performed above the benchmark that one would have pre set for her before entering the theatre.Siddique as the director was an impressive character which as usual was safe with him.Suraj-Salim kumar roams around with their usual stuff,which as usual works well enough.Jagathi,Janardhanan,Jagdish(though his stammering character with the magnifying glasses has been here before) etc too contributed to the fun.Cameos by Prithvi n Kunchacko boban fitted well into the plot.
The songs tuned by vidyasagr were impressive on the first hearing,did not get a chance to hear it a 2nd time!

Makeup man is definitely a time pass movie - But for Shafi the movie would have sank in the second half ,he indeed knows the viewer pulse!

Arjunan Saakshi - Ends Up Nowhere

2011-01-28T20:06:00.000-08:00

It is a common talk in cine field that the second film of the director is actually his first film ,in the sense that it would brief if he was a one film wonder/he is here to stay.After a decent debut with passenger,Renjith shankar this time had the company of prithviraj to display his thoughts in arjunan saaakshi.

The movie began well enough,where one would think there is a plot to play with.Prithvis introduction was cool enough and was well within the the movies wavelength.But thereafter the movie slowly lets you know that it is not gonna be anywhere near your expectations. The plot is all based on a letter to mathrubhumi from Arjunan,who claims to be the witness of Firoz Moopan,who was the Kochi dist. collector.The movie then revolves around the suspense element of Arjunan's identity.If passenger was a movie that deserved a low profile treatment,arjunan saakshi required a more energetic/aggressive/thrilling treatment. Unfortunately this is one place where the director has let the movie lose.

Prithvi as Roy Mathew does put up a decent performance though the dialogues penned for him were below par to register any great impact.Ann augustine does not have a great role to boast about but has handled it credibly enough.Mukesh,Jagathi,Nedumudi,vijayaraghavan,the villain group and the new muscleman avataar of noolunda fame vijeesh, all blends in well enough.

Music by Bijibaal suits to the mood that the theme demands,but the happenings in the screen often seemed to be too subtle for such heavy Bgms.

Ranjith shankars script and direction falls average,some of instances which would prove the same....
-scenes like the accident scenes looked incomplete and amateurish.
-One would wonder why Roy mathew takes the caravan to a ship to give a chance for the bad men to shoot him down...but guess what they don't get to do that!!!
-On a personal note i thought,arjunan should have shown his face in the climax...
somebody like sreenivasan smiling to the viewers after the climax court scene would made the movie end on a better note!

To draw to a close,Arjunan saakshi is for sure not a bad movie,at least for its thoughts, but has fallen apart to end up below passenger!

Pave The Way For Traffic ---- Traffic My review

2011-01-14T08:25:00.000-08:00

A movie that creates a deep sense of you being a part of it,a movie where you find yourself clapping off to situations that are devoid of super heroism/slapstick comedies,even more importantly a movie which wins your heart and lets you know the real value of your two hours and 50 bucks!......Traffic the movie has arrived!

Direction & Script
Brilliantly brought out by Rajesh pillai,traffic the movie takes you to the lives some independent mortals who are all coincidentally destined to meet for span of 12 hours.Not going to any details of the plot as i strictly recommend you to experience the plot unravel with all its surprise elements in tact.Traffic follows a narration that could have easily been confounding but Rajesh pillai has shown you the glimpse of the craft in him.All credits to Bobby Sanjay as well for not resorting to the tried,tested and tiring formulas.Kudos to the impeccable direction and script ,traffic happens to be the best thing that has happened to malayalam cinema for quite sometime!

Acting

In a script where situations are developed with so much intensity ,even look or a smile of a character seems to be an enthralling performance on screen.The actors in the movie are none new.Many of them might have welcomed booing in poorly worked out films as well,but Traffic shows how a strong and spotless plot can bring out the best in the actors.Kunchakko,Sreeni,Saikumar,Asif Ali,Lena,Rahman,Anoop Menon to the legendary villain of Malayalam cinema Jose Prakash who appears for a couple of scenes -- Congratz you were splendid on the celluloid!Certified by the overwhelming applauds of a content group of cine goers.

Music -

Music by Majo is full of life,keying up the viewer with the frantic developments in the screen!
Action!
Action sequences,especially the accidents were matchlessly simulated to go with the life of the movie!
Difference of opinion - Well,I did feel that Dr. Albes character should not resorted to talk to the phone call he receives towards the climax.That would have been a better ending to his episode!

Negatives - Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.............Mmmmmmmmmmmmm........Mmmmmmmmm!

2010 end had shown some signs of brilliance in malayalam cinema with movies like cocktail,Pranchi etc .Let crap Masalas and nonsense movies pave the way for Movies like traffic!

Top 5 - 2010

2010-12-30T01:06:00.000-08:00

Prosperous New Year Wishes to all my readers!!!

Time for my 2010 top 5 picks.

Top 5 Movies.

5) Best actor : A movie that held its standards while providing the promised entertainment.Debutant martin gave us a climax to remember.Mammooty once again rocked in the screens as Mohan and as Bombay.

4)Marykkondoru Kunjadu : Being the best among the few movies that lived up to the tag of entertainment in 2010,this shafi-benny project deserves a spot in the top 5 list.The movie was a bit of relief from the crass sibi uday comedies in pokkiriraja ,karyasthan and mamas's pappy appacha.Though sparingly innovative,the movie is well packaged to appeal to the pulse of the viewer.

3)Mummy and me and Kuttysrank:
Mummy and Me : The movie deserves a spot in the list being a movie that tried out a plot with some difference.It takes some stuff to go for such a subject and jithu joseph deserved the good performance the movie did at the BO.

Kuttysrank : The movie which made a mark at the national level did not disappoint my expectations.Well crafted,well told by Shaji n Karun.

2)Cocktail : A movie which surprised me by its execution and performance of the lead characters.Though mostly adapted from the Hollywood flick butterfly on wheels,the outcome is certainly commendable.Jayasurya was too good in his character,portraying the different faces with ease.Arun the director needs a pat at the back for remaking the movie well enough,despite this being his debut venture.

1) Undoubtedly at number 1 is the movie that won the applause of the critics and at the same time did amazingly well in the Box office - Pranchiyattan and the saint .A smart outcome of intelligent thoughts by Ranjith coupled with the brilliant portrayal by mammootty and co actors pranchiyettan still continues to amuse in three major centres.Amazing feat indeed.The poster tag line read "Nalla cinemayum oodoottaa".... a fact proved by the malayalees who were often blamed for promoting masala movies alone in the recent past.
An addition to the above top 5 is a movie that deserves a special mention,a movie which many might haven't even heard of---TD Dasan 6B.A sweet simple movie that unfortunately was deserted by the viewers.
Not forgetting the mass movies like pokkiriraja, happy husbands,pappy appacha which were among the big hits and movie like IGHI ,shikkar,Apoorvaragam,Malarvaadi etc which did fairly well at the BO. These movies however had very little notable to be at the top 5!

TOP 5 Actors
5)Mohanal
Dismal Year for the malluwood superstar with just his shikar managing to get a decent run.Disasters like Kandahar,alexander,oru naal varum etc ensured another poor year for him.With Multistarrer projects like china town,Xian Brothers and the big budget extravaganza casanova lined up ,all eyes are set for a rocking 2011 for him.

4)Prithviraj
Movies like pokkiriraja which was a big hit,anwar which made a big initial definitely proves his emergence as a superstar.Just a better selection of movies could have given him a better 2010.

3)Dileep
Managed to be back to where he belonged to in the latter half of the year.Commercial success like karyasathan,Mary and pappy appacha finds him a spot here.

2)Jayasurya
For his selection and portrayal of different roles,Cocktail,nallavan etc.Even his role in the flop flick four friends was notable.Unfortunately though other than happy husbands,none of his films managed a good run.

1)Mammoootty
Would not need an explanation for this spot.
2010 belonged to the Megastar Mammootty who continues to reinvent himselves to amaze the moviebuffs.Managing both BO success and crtical acclaim is indeed an achievement to cherish.
Doing out and out masala flicks like pokkiriraja,Classic subtle comedy in pranchyettan,combining both entertainment and class in best actor, Mammootty deserves to be the man of the year, as already selected by leading film magazines and websites.

Top 5 songs5)
5)Neeyam thanalinu - Cocktail
4)swapnam oru chakku - Best actor
3)Aaro paadunnu and kizhakkumala -katha thudarunnu
2)Enthedi enthedi -shikar
1)Kizhakku pookkum - Anwar

Marykkondoru Kunjaadu ---- Clean Entertainer

2010-12-26T01:42:00.001-08:00

After churning out craps called entertainers like karyasthan,pappy appacha etc,dileep is where he should actually belong to.Instead of trying to be a mass action hero,he has resorted himself to his safe zone -comedy in the latest shafi-benny flick Marykkondoru kunjadu.

Though,the plot might remind you of the character from chanthupottu,some twists from Meesamadhavan etc dileep has succeeded in portraying solomon differently enough to delight the Xmas viewers.Biju Menons character stands out as one of his recent best.Salim kumar was found wanting in some of his numbers.Bhavana handles mary well.Other casts including,innocent,jagathi,vijayaraghavn,vinaya prasad etc adds to the fun.

Music is average.The green locations of thodupuzha might well remind you of a lal jose movie.Well crafted script by benny is safe with shafi.The combo truly knows the pulse of the viewers.

Though nothing innovative ,the movie is well packed to entertain most sections of the audience.After the so called entertainer craps like pokkiris,karayasthans etc and a genuine clean entertainer.Notably,Suraj is absent from the cast!

KANDAHAAR ---- Mission Failed

2010-12-17T11:22:00.000-08:00

Ever since the superhit keerthichakra and the critically acclaimed Mission 90days,Major Ravi has been finding the going tough.With a below average kurukshethra the signs of him running out of stock was pretty evident.Kandahar proves you right.Though stuffed with some sequences picked from the Kandahar incident,the movie fails to fall in place.

The Kandahar episode is shown in the background of captain Suryas life,who is influenced by major Mahadevan to join the army.Son of a teacher (Amitabh bachan) Surya (Ganesh) was another frustrated youngster untill meeting major.Rest of the movie and the characters simply mirrors what you seen in majors previous movies.As major is limiting himself to military movies,he has limited scope of introducing new characters.The success for such plots depends too much on a taut screenplay,with flawless pacy direction and editing.Kandahar backed by apoor script falters even more with the execution.The much hyped hijack rescue operation was all shown with minimal perfection of a commando operation,the best example being the way commandos run into the hijacked plane without the hijackers notice and then planting in a hidden camera right in an area exposed to the terrorists.The Hijack part graphics was poorly done that the miniature model of the plane crashing looked silly.

BigB's first ever malayalam role unfortunately isn't a remarkable one.The role is well executed by him but an overdose of sentiments for the character doesnt seems to impress the viewers.Those who had thronged in to watch Majors heroics were obiviously disappointed by a cakewalk role for Mohanlal.Ganesh Venkittaraman couldnt hide his difficulties in expressing himself in a language unknown to him.Major ravis role looked amateurish and further helped in bringing the audience down. KPAC lalitha has used her experience well enough to effectively portray her role.Songs did not impress in the first hearing.

Major needs to pen out a good script rather than churning out movies just around any military episode.Maybe he can try out a non-military flick.Kandahar emphasises this.

2/5 as a courtesy to the Indian Army .

BEST ACTOR strikes gold yet again...!

2010-12-11T21:08:00.000-08:00

He is one among the best actors that the country has produced,what makes him even better is his knack to reinvent himself at each stages of his long glorious career.Mammootty after the mesmerizing portrayal of praanchiyettan is back to the screens as a simpleton school teacher who is desparate to become an actor.
Martin Prakkat is sure to find a spot in the in the glorious league of directors,introduced via mammootty --- (lal jose,blessy anwar,amal,mohanan etc are just a few to be named)

Posted in the vacancy of his late father, mohan(Mammootty) is more intrested in promoting theaterical skills in the student than taking hindi classes.Though he had his acting crazes taking toll on him ,mohanan was a responsible family man.Some bitter experiences in his efforts to get a role finally forces an Uturn in his life.Rest on screen.

Listing out the positives,Best actor scores just by the fact that the plot uses the actor in Mammootty along with the star in him (Quite contrary to the recent mammootty masala entertainers).

Brilliance is personified in the scene where MOhanan walks dejected,when rejected of a role in sreenis film.He was too good in the scene.The scene prior to the climax too stands out.His second get up as Bombay,along with his gang brings in the entertainment value to the film .
Laal -- a role that aptly fits him.Nedumudi venu rocks as Denver aashan.Salim kumaar is back to his old look and seems to have got his comic timing back with arivaal praanchi.Vinayakan is funny too.

KPAC,Sukumari,Sreeni,sruthi,bijukuttan etc. chips in with their roles well enough.

Bipin (script writer) has taken care to build up a proper family background to attract attention of the families and at the same time he has penned the other side of the character in a way that the fans/youngsters would just love.Racy entertaining second half.

BGM rocks the hall with the styles and transformations of the central character.Songs are Ok.The fast numbers go well with the mood of the movie.

Cinematography is another plus for Best Actor.

Climax.Impatient viewers,urging out of the theatre once some title comes on the screen, watch out.....there is more!!!!Well executed climax.

Listing out the negatives
Well there aren't many,but one would feel some repititive stuffs un the first half and the scene in the director's flat was a bit overdone.

On the whole - Entertainer with substance.Indeed a rare combo these days!

Watched sahasram too....Surprisingly,its watchable!!

KARYASTHAN ---- Formulastic Slapstick

2010-11-07T08:54:00.000-08:00

Udayapuram Sultaan from Uday Sibi starring Dileep told the tale of two rival families with dileep trying to unite the two.He falls in love with the girl of the family and finally helps uniting the two families through some hilarious confusion dramas. The same teams Kaaryasthan tells the same story with very minute mutations from the original.Infact some of the characters too could be related. Salim kumaar (karyasthan) - jagathi (Udayapuram Sultan)

Uday sibi redefines entertainment - Slapstick dialogs + poor script + tamil style intros, fights and bgms + getting rid of the baddie (somehow ,so that the hero isnt taken to jail) in a flash in the climax.....!!!!

Dileep has tried to play it safe opting for his safer domain of movies like karyasthan.He tries some action gimmicks too, which doesn't strike well though.He looked out of sorts in the songs and wasn't given enough space in his own comedy department.Infact suraaj dons the comedy plot of the movie.Though at times irritating, it is some of his oneliners that seems to win over the viewers.Salim kumaar looking tired these days, could not find his body language syncing to his comic timing.He was better in the second half though.Janaardhanans character came out well.Harisree asokan had nothing to do.The newbie Akhila looks good on screen and displays her dancing skills well.Siddique,Suresh krishna,shammi thilakan etc were typical .The rest of the cast has minimal to offer.Music was below par in most of the songs.The debutant director does a pretty neat job when it comes to picturisation, but to me he fails in karyasthan as he couldnt give anything new,not even a shot that was unseen, in his 1st venture.Even Farahkhans Mein Hoona end credits wasn't spared.

Uday Sibi should try their hands in tamil where they would be offered more for their kind of cinemas.This would also help preserve the enviable legacy of malayalm cinema.

Below average slapstick crap after pokkiriraaja. --- Now thats what we call entertaiment.No surprise if it would end up making profits. 2/5.

Four Friends --- Lost chance

2010-10-28T08:50:00.000-07:00

The latest flick from the successful duo saji surendran -krishna poojappura tells the story of four friends Roy(Jayaram),Surya (chackochan),Aamir(Jaysurya)and Meera's character.They all hail from different background,life styles etc but are destined to meet together in life due to a common factor- that they are all down ridden by cancer.Together they decide to enjoy the last few days of their life trying to fullfill their dreams with the help of the multi millionaire in them -Roy.Till here the plot seems to be fine.One could have expected to be a part of their fun filled moments from here on but on the contrary Saji-Krishna chooses the overdose of sentiments that unfortunately kills the whole purpose of the movie.

Having promoted the movie as a colourful -fun filled entertainer one would feel it to be disappointing with the overdoing of negative emotions.Coming to the performances Jayasurya steals the show yet again with a sparkling performance as ameer,The effort he puts behind the minute details of his characters is sure to give the added mileage to this guy.Deserves the kudos for having managed his career the way he has.Jayaram,Kunchakko and meera doesnt have something too different to do but did help in creating some moving moments.Salimkumar was irritating at times but won the cheers of the audience and suraaj soon followed with his typical stuffs.The crowd response for the comedies were more out of some relief from the senti stuff rather than it being too hilarious.Rest of the cast lalu alex,seema,ganesh,siddique etc did well enough.Kamals cameo at interval does help to create some waves among the viewers. Songs are well tuned and colourfully shot.Screenplay by krishna poojappura and the direction by Saji de tours to their tele-soap path often .It is definitely here that the movie falls flat.

Happy husbands(from the same team) with its slapstick illogical comedies became a super hit here because it delivered what it had promised.Four friends is definitely a lost chance for saji-krishna to make it their best movie to date.I would rate it to a 5/10 for the message,the theme and some touching moments. Thumbs down four friends ... :-( .

COCKTAIL --- An Attempt to be cheered.

2010-10-25T05:55:00.003-07:00

Malayalam cinema seems to be entering a new phase with new directors, actor turned producers,veterans like renjith etc., pertaining to themes different from the routine stuff. COCKTAIL from debutant Arun kumar is the latest among this revolution.

Cocktail inspired from the pierce brosnan starrer "butterfly on a wheel" (Infact seems to be a copy paste mostly) is a thriller all set to confuse and keep you guessing,provided you aren't familiar with the hollywood version.Ravi (Anoop menon) and Parvathy (Samyuktha) along with their daughter leads a very happy life untill the day when a stranger (jayasurya) intrudes their life.The detailed storyline of the movie demands to be hushed as it will spoil the suspenses ,twists and turns that awaits you in the movie.

Though cocktail resembles its original to about most of the show,the director and the crew deserves credit for putting up something different in the screen.Kudos to Jayasurya for a credible performance in the role of the mysterious character in the movie.Though he has already proved him selves in roles with a negative shade this role has given him an added dimension.Anoop Menon deserves credit for his portrayal of ravi and for some hard hitting dialogs that he himself had penned.Samvrutha,Shanu and the rest of the cast too has done their part well.One among the two songs is hummable and the BGM suits the spooky mood of the movie.Director Arun kumar does well with his treatment of the plot despite the help he had in the form of a reference-movie.Nevertheless a well crafted remake is always better than a poor original.

Definitely a flick, which is not to be missed.

After praanchiyettan, heres another malayalam movie where the end credits rolled on with the applause from a content group of viewers.

ANWAR -- More style but...

2010-10-16T02:33:00.000-07:00

Amal neerad the rgv of malayalm cinema is back with another product,as expected in the lines of his previous flicks BIG B and Saagar.Of this Big B was a trendsetter (no wonder he chose the voice of Padmashree Bharath Mammootty to give the intro notes and closing notes in Anwar)while saagar failed miserably.Well he tries his luck yet again with prithvi moulded into the jackets and shoes of his typical hero.

Set against a relevant plot of terrorism,amal doesnt introduce anything new but tries to portray a glossy stylish version of the many movies with similar content.
Despite some negative views i heard prior to the show,the movie was comfortable enough for me.

Prithvi as Anwar steals the show with his looks and style,Laal has done a neat job,thanks to smilar characters he has done in the past.Prakash raj too scores in the minimal scenes he is in.Mamta has her task cut out as a heroine with limited performance.Songs are well shot and are already chartbusters,there could have been more space between the songs though .Slow Mos,rain,Dust,Guns,more guns,bigger guns,bullets .....amal neerad has got them all here too....!!!Times up for him to try something new in his narration style.Being the scripter and director he should have tried to avoid the situations/scenes/shots that virtually relates to his previous stuffs.Should have come up with a more emotional drama/sentiments dealing with such themes.

Anwar is more style ans less substance. Watchable if you like movies of such genre.

Yenthiran --- Not Quite there.....!

2010-10-01T06:35:00.000-07:00

Watched the much awaited Yenthiran in an atmosphere that was quite mindblowing,the movie unfortunately does not live up to it though.

The plot revolves around the robotic invention of a scientist which goes haywire once it gets into corrupt hands.Chitti the robot initially devoid of any human of emotions runs people into trouble and forces the scientist to give human traits to his invention !!! Ironically the robo turns against him as it falls in love with the scientists girl friend(aiswarya).How chitti gets misled and misused forms the rest of the stuff.

Whats hot....

Ofcourse when rajini is there on the screeen what else can send the house down.Starting off with a 'too-soft' intro,the traits of a rajini movie shows up only in parts with the robo chitti coming to play.The action sequences are top class and can match any hollywood gimmicks(well in the end it is them,the gyuz from hollywood who are behind the heavy action and the graphics that forms the main attraction of Yenthiran).Aiswarya never looked so beautifum in the recent past and serves purpose of both beauty and glamour.Shankar the director deserves credit for his efforts and his thirst for perfection in the action sequences.Songs though speed breakers were exotically shot.Dany too perfromed his part well.The comedy filled first half was definitely encouraging but..,

Whats not.....

the 2nd half fails to impress despite the one of its kind climax action sequences in indian cinema.The movie might dissappoint some rajini fans as it does not have the ususal thrills and tricks of style mannan.This was well felt in the response as the fans ovations often got lost in the silence for the major part of the second half.With every aspect backing him Shankar should have come up with a better plot.One feels at times this guy tests too much of the viewers logics - the mosqioto sequence,some gimmicks of the robo.....The songs are just okay.Comedy track planned by santanam and the other guy fails and looked unwanted.

Summing up Yenthiran is definitely not up there where the previews promised but has a good first half and some quality action sequences.The theatric atmosphere was terriffic which justified my decision of not opting to view this in a multiplex.

Shikkar -- Revenge drama

2010-09-13T03:12:00.000-07:00

Shikkar -- Revenge drama --

Directed by Padmakumar Shikar tells the story of Balaraman(Mohanlal) - a (protective) father and his daughter (Ananya)both whose lives are under threat by the naxals.In an effort to flee from the attacks of a haunting past, Balaraman(now a lorry driver) finds shelter in a a terrain of bamboos. The past that haunts balaraaman soon takes upon him and he has to resort to herioc methods to save himselves and his daughter.The details on the past cannot be revealed as that suspense element would be the only surprise for the viewer in this padmakumar venture.

Scripted by Suresh babu,shikkar fails to maintain proper punch/thrills in most part of the movie(especially during 1st half).Except for the later half of the second half and for the climax suspense, most part of the movie is predictable and lacks good dialogs to trigger the expected thrill.Padmakumar occasionally tries to rise above these weak points in the script but still could not help pace up proceedings.Manoj Pillai needs to be applauded for his exemplary camera works of a location that hasn't been exposed much on the screens.Mohanlal's portrayal of Balaraman as the action hero with fear within, is a fitting role for the great actor which he executes with ease.Samdurakni as Dr Abdullah plays a brilliant cameo role that shouldn't have been cut short.Sneha,mythili etc has nothing much to do.Ananyas climax sequences deserves credit though.Suraaj - jagathy comedy track did not work out. Lekshmy gopaala swaamy,Laalu alex etc performs well enough. Songs are well picturized and present a good hear.

On the whole - Shikkar is better than Mohanlal's all recent flicks in the sense that the character is tailor made for him but one would feel it was let down by the screenplay.

Elsamma Enna Aankutty --- Aimed at the families

2010-09-13T01:05:00.000-07:00

Elsamma enna Aankutty

Laal Jose ,the most talented of the new era directors of malayalam cinema is here with the story of Elsamma a bold village girl from Balan pilla city.Elsamma plsayed from debutant Ann Augustine has the support of the whole village except for some the corrupted minds of her village.Elsamma is the sole bread winner for her family after her fathers demise.In the process she restrains herself from committing her love to paalunni (Kunchakko).Paalunni too loves Elsamma and seeks help of Paappan(nedumudi) to convey his wish to marry her.Paalunni's Plang's go haywire with the arrival of Paappan's grandson Aby (Indrajith).

Ann performs credibly as the central character without any fuzziness of a beginner.Kunchako's character is well executed and steals the love of the audience.Indrajith performs well as the flirty youngster.Nedumudi,KPAC,Vijayaraaghavan etc as usual ensured the integrity of their characters.Jagathy was able to bring some laughter among the viewrs.Suraaj wasnt over used.The duet songs looked forced into and could have been avoided.
Plotted against the beatiful backdrops of thodupuzha Elsamma too shows glimpses of the midas touch of Lal Jose (thanks to the cameraman too) in several scenes.

Though not as absorbing as his previous bench marked super hits,Elsamma is a simple movie with a neat narration from Lal Jose,which might be more preferred by the families this ramzan.

Pranchiyettan and the Saint -- Fresh thoughts......

2010-09-12T23:52:00.001-07:00

Pranchiyettan and the Saint

With Ranjth Mammootty combo coming together after the critically acclaimed paalerymaanikyam,cine freaks would have kept their fingers crossed on what praanchiyettan and the saint would be all about.Well,they don't disappoint you... yet again they deliver a silver screen experience far from the routine cine products which at the same time is both entertaining and thought provoking.Ranjith has come up with a satire that throws light into relevant social and religious concepts.

Parnchiyettan(Mammootty) is a rich rice dealer based in trichur who is quite desparate to make a name for himself and in the process escape from the nick name that he is often associated with -- "Aripraanchi".In an effort to help his friend, Vasu menon (innocent)misleds praanchi to commit blunders that often makes him end up as a laughing stock. With more characters entering into his life, praanchi is exposed to some bitter realities that demotivates him and decides to seek relief from St.Francis.

Coming to the performances,its a Mammootty show all the way,proving his critics wrong yet again,as he easliy handles the natural humour with subtle expressions and rocking trichur slang based dialogue delivery without resorting to any slapstick comics.He is the soul of the movie, which otherwise could have gone very dry handling an unconventional subject.Innocent too rocks (after a long time)as praanchis sincere friend.Praanchis servant,priyamani,siddique,kushboo,The Saint, etc. fits in perfectly to their roles.Ganapathy could have done better in some scenes or he was badly directed.
One song in the movie is hummable with its feel good music and lyrics.

Ranjith deserves credit for having come up with something that shows up to be fresh and different from the other movies.He has shown that there can be cinemas like praanchi too,rather than sticking to formula movies.His dubbing for the saint was flawless too.His dialogs (especially the one liners of praanchi) are excellent and steals most of the appreciation.

The screenplay however could have been better in the second half.The episodes that brings the realizations in praanchiyettan should have been more interesting.(Especially the pauli episode).Siddique and Kushboo could have been given more importance in the plot.Jagathy's character/plot had some shades of slapstick humour which almost went overboard.

In an industry which finds itself safe to resort to masala movies ,Praanchiyettan is another bold attempt from Ranjith and Mammooty that needs to be appreciated.Needs to be seen if it would cater to all type of audiences.I would anyday recommended Praanchiyettan to serious movie buffs as well as to those who love satiric comedies.

Apoorvaraagam - Pen pattanam-- Combo Review

2010-08-03T04:17:00.000-07:00

Apoorvaraagam -- Veteran director Sibi Malayil striving for a comeback tries it out with a bunch of fresh faces in his latest flick apoorvaraagam.
Asif Ali and Nishant the duo from Rithu was casted in an attempt to provide a relief from the routine faces that appears on the silver screen.

The movie tells the story of three guys who are in a spree to make big bucks and live life king size.The action begins from a college where nithyas character falls in love with Roopesh(Nishaan).Asif's character plays a perfect friend to the couple providing them all the support and protection for their relation.Just when you think the proceeding move ahead to a routine love drama,surprises unfold on the screen.Twists begins to take toll revealing the real faces and motives of each character in the plot.Not spoiling the suspense factor with rest of the story.

Sibys direction deserves credit in having put up a good effort to come up with a movie like apoorvaraagam but then there are aspects that finally leaves the viewer devoid of the expected impact.Casting relatively new faces to bring in freshness has done equal harm as their performances doesn't match up to the scenarios.Nishant puts in a poor show as roopesh unable to portray the changing mannerisms of the character.Asif ali and the 3rd friend(not sure of his name) has put in an o.k. sort of performance.Asifs character fails in areas where some dialogue modulation is required.Nithya excels in her role and looks promising.Music side too doesnt stimulate much of a response.The positive side of it has the veteran director and the script that is laced with twists and surprises which is enough to engage you for the time it demands.

Apoorvaraagam -- Watch it for a change...

Pen Pattanam ---

Story by Ranjith, PenPattanam tells the story of 4 women(KPAC,Revathi,Swetha Menon and Vishnu Priya) employed as Kudumbasree workers.Though burdened with their lives shortcomings,they are proud of maintaining social hygiene by collecting and disposing wastes and garbages.Once they happen to find a bag of hawala money in one of their collection bins that sends their life for a toss.

Razzaq has scripted this movie well enough compared to his recent duds like paruthu,maayabazar etc.His inability to create good humour, projects out yet again in Penpattanam.A light humour treatment (like the one in Yes Your Honour)could have worked out well for this sort of a story.This to an extend is compensated by VM Vinu who narrates in his typical safe style.
Revathi,KPAC,Nedumudi and Swetha performs well as usual.kailash is wasted and looks terribly wanting in the duet sequence.

PenPattanam is nothing to ga ga about but, VM Vinu has still churned out a watchable flick.

INCEPTION ---- DREAMS AWAKENED -----

2010-08-02T23:50:00.000-07:00

Dreams have alaways fantasized humans,be it inspirational/nonsense/demotivating.Many of us might have had the childhood fantasy of being able to peep into others dreams or portraying someone/situations into your dreamz or, being too wild you might have even thought if your life and the world around is a part of someone else's dream.Having grown up you would have dared to laugh at those silly thoughts.Well ...think again .Inception the movie might confuse you if your idea was actually silly!!!! Christopher Nolan depicts this entire plot almost proving that this is not far from reality.

Nolan introduces to you the complex world of dreams through Cob (Leonardo DiCaprio) ,who is basically a dream stealer.He sneaks into others dreams ,trying to read out ideas from their mind.Cobb,accused of having murdered his wife is forced to flee his country leaving behind his children.Cob and Mal(wife)together had spent long years in dreams that she lost her sense of reality that even after awakening ,she believed that they were still in hallucination.Cob's dreams are haunted by the image of his wife who tries to destroy each and every mission of his in an attempt to kill him and hence awaken him from the world of dreams.
A business man Satio promises to free him of charges and return to his children if Cob could help him inject an idea into Satio's business rivalry's(Robert Fischer) mind.Cob takes up this mission desparate to meet his children.Cob together with his team plans to incept Fischer during one of his flights.To their surprise they find that fischer was trianed for blocking inception using his projections. The rest of the movie simply mindblowing with Nolan depicting the complex idea of dreams and dreams within dreams.

Coming to the performances All of the cast have performed credibly enough that certainly plays a part in having the whole plot conveyed to the viewer.The technical side as usual is never compormised in hollywood movies.All credit to Christopher Nolan in poratraying/defining the complex subject- 'The art of Inception'.Having made it a habit to portray complex subject,it couldnt get any more messer than this.The idea of having an architect to create the world for a dream and someone else to create the projections(images),someone left behind in each stage to provide the kick for atimely a wakening from the dream would all have baffled the viewers had it not been narrated by this man.The background Music for the dream sequences too helped.

On the whole,Inception is all about giving life into the world of fantasies.

Inception Mesmerises.

ORU NAAL VARUM --- 'STRICLTY ORDINARY '----

2010-07-11T22:09:00.000-07:00

'Oru naal varum' despite the optimistic name struggled to make it to the screens on all its previous proposed release dates,and the sad part is that after all those struggles the movie fails to leave any thing impressive on the silver screen.The movie projects it selves as a degraded product from one of the finest professionals in the industry.Be it the acting department,the script,the technical side oru naal varum scarcely manages to provide any sort of respect for your patience and money.

The weakest link of Oru naal varum is the story-script which seems to be inspired from the recent movie 'ividam swargamaanu' which again starred mohanlal and sreeni.The difference here is that Ividam swargamaanu had such a well worked out tight script that would engage the viewers.Here sreeni desperately tries to workout the screenplay but only to acheive very minimal success.Be it the characters like a fair daughter and wife for a dull looking sreeni and then the dialogues based on the skin colour, most of the situations and characters resemble those from his previous works.The plot is based on a corrupt town planning officer and a vigilance officer who is trying to trap him down.Their cat n mouse game is interlaced with some fragile family sentiments which too doesn't find much of an acceptance.

Mohanlal through some of his expressions gave a glimpse of the fine comedy actor he once was while he couldn't help bring much of a response in other "so called comedy situations " .Lal in the first few scenes tries to lift the level of the movie but fails once the loop holes in the script starts taking its toll.Sreeni looked even worse in his acting area as his expressionless acting has reduced effects these days.Sameera reddy doesnt look convincing in her role and has been wasted.Devayaani,the child artists,nedumudi etc performs well enough.Suraj though was welcomed by a huge cheer by the audience had nothing to tickle the funny bone.

Music by M.G sreekumar sounded good.T.K rajeevkumar with his direction doesnt rise above the script and lets the movie lose its way.

Oru Naal Varum --- Not the one we look out for from a veteran script writer ,a veteran actor combo.

RAAVAN --- For its technical brilliance

2010-06-17T23:59:00.000-07:00

Raavan has arrived.With the enviable legacy of the one and only Mani ratnam,the tamil superstar Vikram ,the aging beauty aiswarya rai and the emerging star of malayalam cinema prithviraj,raavan promised to go beyond all expectations....well does it...??Could have said yes if cinema making was all about its technical side alone.Unfortunately its not and is much beyond.

Raavan as the name suggests is basically plotted out from ramayana,with the difference that the raavan has a justification for his deeds.With a Veeriah(Vikram)snarfs pushpa,the wife of the police Superintendent Dev(Prithvi).With the most frail of a storyline mani ratnam tries to pulp out a movie spanning 2 hours.Well you should say he almost achieves this thanks to the appealing locations,the art of exploitation of camera angles (has captured the most possible from the locations including athirapally)by the master santhosh shivan and to an extend the bgm and songs by the maestro AR Rahman.

Vikram as Veeriah,sizzles though some mannerisms might give shades of some of his previous characters including the dud kanthasaamy.Aiswarya rai looks a bit aged ,but that doesnt stop her from giving her best for a role that should have demanded lot of physical strain.Prithviraj looks stylish in one of the final shots and thats all he go to do.Prabhu,Karthik puts in credible performances.Priyamani has made her cameo role flawless.

Despite all these efforts it is the feeble story line that doesnt raise Raavan above your expectaions or may be even not upto it? Though emotions pour out in plenty from the lead characters, there is very minimal that could move you.The unsounding sequences are made less felt due to wet glitsening frames that distracts to keep you glued to your seats.Most of the dialogues too doesnt sound striking as some of Mani ratnams earlier ventures.Directionwise the movie is a great effort ,well filmed one and had he concentrated more on the substance side of the story raavan could have really been mesmerising indeed!

Watch it for its technical brilliance.

Katha Thudarunu ---- 'Almost a Sathyan movie'

2010-05-19T22:08:00.000-07:00

Sathyan Anthkkad has been gambling with family dramas ever since he has stopped attempting movies like Naadodikkattu/kalikkalam and to this day he has managed it quite well.Except for movie soaps like Innathe chinthavishayam most of his films were watchable to good for me.Katha thudarunnu is the latest in the league of the so called Sathyan formula film making.

More of a heroine-centric story, katha thudarunnu starts impressively.The first fifteen minutes may wonder you if satyan is trying something different.A hindu-Muslim love story is climaxed to a marriage by the court intervention after this becoming a social issue.Mamta's character decides to live rest of her life with asifs(rithu fame)character despite protest from both their families.The result is that they end up losing all relations except for their friends.As expected a tragedy follows when asif gets chopped by a quotation team.With Asif leaving behind nothing other than memories for his wife and daughter,the movie then becomes all about a mom and her kid who gets abandoned by her parents and inlaws,finding her chances of survival very minimal.From here on the movie gets predictible and proceeds in the same lines of sathyan movies; with most of the supporting characters though has a tragic background ,tries to live up their lives enjoying their rare happy moments.Jayarams character enters the screen lending a helping hand to the sinking mom and daughter.

Script wise the movie promises in the begining but loses track there after.The humour element except for mamukoyas scenes and the KPAC crying scene is minimal.Direction/story telling follows sathyans recent films like vinodayatra,bhagyadevatha etc...Though this can be repititive,each time this looks apt for the family subjects opted by sathyan.It is his own script that lets most of his movies down from where it actually should have been.The songs by ilayaraja doesnt dissappoint, though not great.The picturization of the first song is commendable ,though i doubt requirement of a song there.Asif -the tragic hero impresses in his sort stint and is the character that might move you a bit.A cakewalk role for Jayaram,innocent,KPAC etc.Mamta,the kid has performed admirably.

On the whole.....The movie is almost sathyanic in the sense that it has lesser humour quotient and the 1st 15 minutes misleading you for something new......Would anyday prefer these sort of movies than stuufs like pokkiriraaaaja!!!!!

POKKIRIRAAJA ---- For the Masses.....

2010-05-09T03:04:00.000-07:00

Mass masalas have become a routine outing in Malayalam cinema which was once known for its realistic approach in the silver screen.Gone are the days you went to the theater expecting to carry back some memorable stuffs........its the age of formula movies with multi heros who try to pump up the adrenaline in the viewers....and pokkiri raja does qualify to be in the same league.

Pokkiri raja from debutant director vaishakh is a mix of comedy,dance and action flavoured with some romance.The story,i would rather say the movie, is all about two bros raja and surya.Raja the elder one is another of those mamootty role who has run off from his native for some act that he is not actually responsible for.His brother surya(prithviraj) grows up in the same lines as of his brother.The first half is mostly about suryas fights and dance, romance with shreya's character and a comedy plot starring salim kumar and suraj.Though stuffless it doesnt bore you and slowly u start realizing that the title character is yet to make it to the screen.

Finally about 10 minutes before the interval, raaja is forced to come to the scene to save his brother out of one of the routine issues that filmy brothers often jump into---falling in love with the commisioners daughter.Mammootys intro though was similar to many of his previous films was worth the wait as the theater went haywire.
Post interval Raaja comes to kochi to single handedly thwart the plans of the bad guys.

Despite lacking any storyline pokkiriraaja manages to entertain.Thanks to the towering screen presence of Mammootty.It is another of his Raaja avataar after pazhassi and Bellary raaja to create waves in the B.O..But it did seem to me that Raaja should have been more of a serious character and should have been devoid of the silly English speaking infection injected by uday-sibi to his character.Prithviraj repeats his looks and action styles from puthiya mukham which is apt enough for a movie like this.Suraj-Salim kumar combo works out decently except for some scenarios where they struggle make you laugh.Fights by 'the ghajini fame- kanal kannan' and mafia sasi will thrill you mostly but should admit that it goes over board at times.Songs and dances are a real eye reckoner in pokkiri, as even Mammooty manages to get the viewer appreciation for some of his steps like the moon walk in the pub song.Music by jassie gift matches to the moods created in the plot.Director Vaishakh should be praised just for the fact that he managed to churn out pokkiriraaja out of a nothing script.Thanks to his tamil style movie making.Seems that when tamilians winning hearts with their realistic movies Malayalam industry is trying to play safe with masala ventures.
The weakest element in pokkiriraaja is the script by Sibi-Uday.The writers of many Masala pot boilers including Twenty twenty,thurappugulan,Runway tries to repeat the same formats with bits and peices from former ventures in malayalam cinema and some peices even from their own movies....The result is a script with very few surprises in the storyline.These guys have always tried to use the void in malayalam cinema and yet again tries to exploit the audience's starvation of quality cinema.

However with movies like TD Daasan 4 b being trashed by the mallu viewers and theaters ,one feels that this is all we want,rather this is all we deserve.Viashakh is lucky enough that even though his first venture is stuff less,it entertains the mass audience.

PAPPY APPACHA --- Call it Time Pass

2010-05-04T00:35:00.000-07:00

This is gonna be a short review....just a trigger to the broken lenses page.....

"Ingane oru Appanum Monum" --- How many times have heard this from the silver screen watching a malayalam movie?How many time have you heard it from the senior christian mamma enacted by KPAC lalitha?Whether it be Sphadikam/veendum chila veettu karyangal malayalees have been treated well with this one liner on the screen.Well Pappy appacha doesn't qualify to come anywhere near the above mentioned visual experiences,but one could say it might not bore you though/or would not bore your kids to say the least.Thanks to the Rafi mecartin style of story telling from their own associate MAMMAS....Right from the title slides to the climax he has tried present pappy appacha with a slapstick flair.He does succeed in most places but falters in other.Dileep tries to steady the ship all alone but looks wanting in many scenes like the drunk senti scenes and even in some of his safe zone comedy scenes.Kavya looks aged but puts up a neat performance though.Innocent performs well as expected of him....songs from vidyasagar doesn't impress.

On the whole Pappy appacha just manages to be in the list of the recent type "so called slapstick entertainers " in malluwood.

PRAMAANI ---- ' Very Typical '

2010-03-29T05:49:00.000-07:00

Two months in exile from broken lenses....days and nights with my eyes hooked up on to the LCD monitor.....hands stuck to the keyboard...after the 7 frustrating months with the deceptively shallow recession period,coorporate life began to take its toll yet again......and hence the abundant silence in broken lenses over the past two months.

So time to break the silence with Paramani and In ghost House Inn.

Pramani....

B Unnikrishnan tries out another Maadambi this time with Malayalams Megastar.Plotted against the Kuttanadan Backdrop , Paramani tells the story of a corrupt Panchayat President - Vishvanatha panikar(Mammooty).The president who wisely involves in all issues in his village only to negotiate the deals to his advantage.Together with a team of corrupt members and the typical 'filmy money crazy relatives' panikkar reigns abolishing the feeble oppositions that arise in his village.The opposition though weak is strenthened by the neighbouring village panchayath president(Janardhanan) ,Vishwanatha panikers panchayath secretary(Sneha) and the young blood of Shanu's character ,who happens to be the son of Panikkers late friend(Prabhus role).Prabhus character and Panikker were close friends since thier childhood and had similar political ideas.Both were equal in the eyes of Prabhu's character's Mother (Lekshmi)as well.
In an effort to pocket a large slump of money, panikker's panchayat comes to a deal with an IT company that agrees to convert the paddy lands in his village to an IT park.With an increasing number of his sincere relations going to the opposition side,panikkers mind tends to under go the cinematic change of the negative hero to the ideal one.As expected ,this makes his his previous well wishers go against him while the previous oppositions go ahead with him.How Panikker sorts out his enimies and the Land Mafia issues is what the rest of the movie is all about.

B Unnikrishnan deserves some credit for the fact that whatever presented is neat though there is nothing much to boast about.Most of the characters seems to be picked directly from his previous flick Maadambi.The veteran Mammootty has a cakewalk role in the shoes of Vishvanatha panikker with very little scenes to perform.Unnikrishnan should take the blame for not having shot the confrontation scenes with the required punch to elate the fans/crowd.With the story being old as malyalam cinema, Unnikrishnan should also have shown some sense to go for sequences/scenes that were out of the routinte stuff.Some of the dialogues and scenes tends to promise to deliver but falls short lacking the energy.This issue was really obivious in Maadambi too but there it was much well packed.Songs are worth litsening and well picturised.Comedy plot by Suraj is stupid and irritating.Lakshmi and Sneha puts in decent performances while KPAC lalitha had a great time lying in the bed with a single dialouge over the entire movie.Janardhanan role as the rebel president is well characterised.Siddique repeats his villainic act for the n+1th time.Other characters like baiju,'Slim' kumar,Shanu etc does not have much to do.

PRAMANI could have been better with a more energy filled treatment,it is still a decent family movie Nevertheless.

AAGATHAN --- Kamal's comeback Try...

2010-02-12T21:19:00.000-08:00

Kamal and Dileep, both having a string of flops under their belt in the recent past should have kept their fingers crossed hoping for their latest try 'aagathan' to click.Well sadly though, it doesnt seem to have enough to strike in the Box office.Aagathan is another revenge story told in the beautiful back drop of Kashmir and a vineyard farmhouse in ootty (if i remember right).

Gautham menon is a successful young man in his 30's despite the fact that he was left back by his family that was a victim of terrorist attack.Gautham happens to meet charmi's character in one of his routine travels and an incident springs up love in them.After some conventional filmy confusions gautham menon is being proposed for charmis character by her brother in law(Biju Menon).Dileep finally sets out to meet his 'would be father in law'(sathyaraj) - a strict retd. army man .Here ends the 1st half of the movie without troubling you much or without moving you either.
The latter part of the movie unravels the twists in the story and justifies Gautham's urge for his revenge.

The main hindrance to the movie making an huge impact is the predictability of the story /screenplay . Had the script been composed out with more care to make it more interesting or had the narration been given a a bit more commercial treatment,the outcome could have made a huge difference.Kamal as a director limits himself and tries to play safe without trying anything adventurous. Panoramic Frames from Ajay Vincent yet again reveals why he is one among the best in the business.Songs are hummable and have already been accepted from the TV itself....Coming to the performances dileep looked so composed and controlled in his portrayal of gautham menon ...one role in the recent times in which he looked very pleasing.Charmi as the heroine doesnt have to put in anything spectacular but performs well enough.Sathyaraj puts in an apt performance to give life to the tough retd army man.Others like Biju menon,Sareena wahab,innocent has nothing significant to do.

Aagathan is certainly a different breather from some of the recent malayalam movies but could have fared well if they would have commercialized it a bit more....

DRONA 2010 --- Not worth the Wait

2010-01-27T06:17:00.000-08:00

Eversince movies like king , truth,or even valyettan,mammootty fans must have been desparately waiting to see thier man in Shaaji's power packed hero mode.Well if that is what you expect in drona you won't be satisfied.Infact the real culprit is not the director but the script of the movie that promises here and there but fails to deliver most of the time.

Movie begins with the introduction of Kunjunni(younger mammootty)who is someone intrested in buying down old Manas to rebulid them as resorts.Once he is drawn to a haunted mana by his rivals(thilakan n family) so as to get rid of him.Kunjunni falls for the trap and gets killed.It is here where the 2nd character is given birth to....and he does come with a bang leaving you hoping for a power packed 2nd half.The 2nd half of the movie sees madhavan in a spree to free the mana from the ghost of Saavithri.

Mammootty as pattazhy maadhavan is the soul of this otherwise lifeless movie.Some punchlines and the heroic gimmicks by both the Mammootty characters really gives a sample of what you were really expecting for.Manoj K Jayan as always excels in a role that has some shades of digambaran of Ananthabhadram.Thilakan puts in another apt performance.Suraj in the second half does what he is expected to.
Kaniha looked as beautiful and innocent as ever...KPAC,Navya,and other casts did not have much to do.Art direction by Saloo geeorge is also worth a mention.
Music dept impacts very slightly with the only one kaniha song.The BGM by Rajamani however, is absolutely thrilling .Shaaji Kailaas seems to have controlled himselves from over using graphical and camera gimmicks that were real headaches in some of his previous ventures.However he fails to create any sort of haunting emotions among the viewers.This actually is aided by a docile script by AK Saajan,who fails to impress for the umpteenth time in the nearby past.

On the whole Drona is not a Bad film to say the least, but isn't anything special either.Average movie.

A short Bonus review... ;-) for Happy husbands

"Watched Happy husbands too but did not update in broken lenses.Happy husbands is a movie based on senseless fun and slapstick comedy.A movie based on tamil flick Charlie chaplin(No entry in HIndi) is a timepass fare for those who are on look out for some slapstick entertainment.Atleast the movie gives you what its promos promised......"

BODYGUARD ---- A LET DOWN

2010-01-23T00:38:00.000-08:00

You could sense it coming ...couldnt you? With an average product of chronic bachelor which fortunatley did fairly well at the BO ,atleast some eyebrows were raised on how long could the Hitmaker Siddique maintain his winning streak.Well having watched bodyguard i feel that this will be an irritating exception among his glorifying list of films.

Bodyguard is all about a story of Jayakrishnan,one who loved courageous heros wanting to be one among them.He grows up as a body guard of the town's well known goondas and finally comes to know about Asokettan-- a well known posh version of a goonda who is feared and respected by all.As a security to the threat faced by Asokans n his family, Jayakrishnan is asked to be a bodyguard for his daughter Ammu(Nayanthara).Jayakrishnan thus has to join Ammus college as a student so as to ensure her security.Thereafter the movie just tries to shift gears, with some campus based comedies and songs.But once the romance plot starts the movies falters yet again.

Dileep as jayakrishnan excels in his comedy numbers as usual but is found terribly wanting in the romance and senti scenes.Siddique has enthrusted the entire comedy plot to Dileep without being tempted to add Salimkumar or Suraj in the movie.Nayanthaara ,though looks good,really calls for your patience in most of her performance based scenes.Harisree Aokan,UndaPakru etc has their routine stuff.Thhyaagrajan though present only for a minimal time,puts in a neat solid presence.Some of the songs were unwanted and only stretched your sufferings further.One among the song "Arikathaayi aaro" was good to hear.

Siddique has always presented us with memorable movies in the past,but this time he went for a story influenced from the bollywood flick KUCH KUCH HOTA HAI which didnt get executed ideally....Many of the scenes and buildups looked really plastic ,quite unexpected of a Siddique movie.Songs looked unwantedly inserted into.

On the Whole the first half was ok....watchable with some comedy numbers.The second half doesnt impress at all and ends with a climax out of the crediblity limits.BodyGuard Dissappoints.

Ividam Swargamaanu --- Lal's Best Movie in 2009

2009-12-26T23:42:00.000-08:00

It has been a year that Mohanlal would not like to uphold in his film career.From stuffless duds like Red chillies, Saagar Alias Jackey,Bhagavan,angel john to the not so commercially successful Bhramaram(His role though was appreciable) he was losing his way.Though it is just another role for him ,Ividam Swargamaanu is without doubt his best movie in 2009.

The movie deals with the scenarios among the Land mafia kings,the way they manipulate situation and law loopholes to acquire the piece of earth they desire.Mathews (Lal) is another such victim falling to the atrocities of the land mafia headed by Aluva Chandi(Lalu Alex).Mathews however like the many other helpless victims decides not to give up and with the help of advocate sunitha(Laxmi Rai) decides to plan a plot against Chandi's money ,muscle and political power.Though the movie comes in the label of a family Movie James Albert as penned it in the mode of a tit fot tat sort of movie.

Laalu Alex as Aluva chaandi brings life to the plot as his mannerisms,dialogue deivery evoke good response in the theatre.James Albert yet again has come up with a stuff that does not let loosen the grip on the flow of the movie,other than some lagging here and there.Very rare are the scenes that evoke family sentiments that Thilakan,Kaviyoor ponnamma etc are wasted.Laxmi Rai has another of her typical heroine role which she has limited scope to perform.Mohanlal has limited scenes to impress on a role that is just another of the many he has already played.Other casts like Sreeni,Jagathi etc fits in well to the movies soul.Roshan andrews also has limited scope to exhibit his directorial skills in a movie with its soul in the scripts of James albert.

Commercial success of Ividam Swargamanu needs to be seen as the current viewer ship of the movie is pathetic even in the initial days ,that too in main centres other than that of trivandrum.If the condition picks up, this definitely deserves to be lals first commercial success in 2009.

ChattambiNaadu - Mass Entertainer

2009-12-25T02:49:00.000-08:00

The man has always been supreme in handling different dialects and getups and this time too he doesn't disappoint you.Mammootty as Virendra Mallaya in Chattambi Naadu puts in another performance to elevate the level of an otherwise average and tried plot.

Chattambi naadu is a small village which got named so from chembattu naadu ,courtesy the goondas dwelling there.Virendra Mallaya(Mammootty) gets himselves involved in the issues between the two major families in chttambinaadu and there starts the fun ride with the kannada - mallu languaged goonda Mallaya.The whole plot seems to have popped up from the character Mammotty played in Adoor's Vidheyan -Bhaskara Patelar.

Mammootty excels as usual with his looks style and dialogue delivery and steals the show whenever present on screen.Suraj-Salim kumar combo delivers exactly whats expected of them in such a entertainer movie.The heroine part by Laxmi rai does very little and even worse is the role of Maithili as her sister.If Palerimanikkyam did not give her much of a scope to perform,Chattambi doesnt provide her even a chance to utter a dialog.Other casts puts in decent efforts to live along the movie.Shafi deserves credit in having narrated a very average story in a racy manner with lots of fun ,heroism and other mass elements.Benny with his script dissappoints witha plot that has the shades of many previous mammootty movies.Songs are ok considering the mood of the movie.

Chattambinaadu is another fun ride in the likes of Annan thambi,Thommanum Makkalum and Mayavi.Out and out entertainment for 2 hours.Enjoy.

Avataar - Visual Extravaganza

2009-12-23T01:54:00.000-08:00

Since My dear Kuttichathan in my childhood days ,there has never been another 3d movie visual experience.Since then I have often wondered why the hollywood with plentiful capitalization for grandeour doesnt come up with a mesmerising 3d product.It was just a month ago that i came to know that such a project was in the making ,may be from ever since the time i saw kuttichaathan.To add to all these mouthwatering infos,it was the man behind the movie that keyed me up to a greater extend ....the man who gave us visual experience of 'The terminator 1 n 2','True lies'and 'The titanic'....James Cameroon. Inspite of all the Hype i had to wait till yesterday to watch the movie.Thanks to the crappy theatre site. Finally,with loads of luck,something which has been very rare since the last new year ,i was able to get a pass for the movie without any mishmash.

With Avataar Cameroon takes you to Pandora an inhabited earth sized moon of Polyphemus.War breaks out between the Humans and the The Navi,the indigenous inhabitants of Pandora.The Human scientists creates a program creating Human-Navi Hybrids.Jake Sally is one such human getting a chance instead of his expired brother.Jake paralysed below waist gets over excited and anxious with his new Navi avtaar format.He along with two other hybrids set out to pandora to know more about the species and hence aid in the mission to evacuate them.But in Pandora Jake falls for a female Navi named Neytri.Thereafter its them leading their species to fight and survive against the Mission through the spectacular fantasy adventures that follow.

The plot tough doesnt have any impact to emotionally bind to you once you are out from the magic of 3d world.Infact without 3d the movie is just an average fare when you compare to some other hollwood animation flicks.James cameroon as usual always comes up with movies and subjects that are near impossible.Hats off to this biggie for his dedication and hard work put behind the project.Heard that he himself was engaged in the research and development of the virtual camera and other technical aspects that enabled him to develop the photo-realistic computer-generated characters.The actors puts in apt performances.Nothing to boast about though.The BGM too syncs well to the created mood.

The main drawback that i felt was that it didnt properly use the entire potential of the 3d projection.I remember watching kuttichaathan ,the viewers used to react spontaneously to the jestures in the screen ,like to that of a fire ball being thrown at at you.Avatar mesmerises the 3d effect only mostly when they show the flower of Eyva ,the sacred tree of the Navis.The other negative is the lack of an emotional plot as mentioned.

Overall : Its an experience.Do Watch it.I am sure you will.

Gulumaal -- Slapstick Package

2009-12-08T04:36:00.000-08:00

Gulumaal Movie Review

V K Prakash has tried it all,be it romance (mullavallyum thenmaavum),action (Police),Horror (3aamathoraal)and investigation based suspense thriller (positive).Now its the turn to try out a movie with a lighter mood.Most of the VKP products had kept their minimum standards though i am not sure if any of the previous were profitable in the BO.Gulumaal will certainly ............. ensure that majority of viewers would come out of the theatres content enough just because it almost delivers what it promised .

Gulumal is a plot all based on the bluffers dwelling in the hearts of the Kochi City.Jerry(Jayasurya) and Ravi Varma(Kunchakko Boban) are two frauds in the field.While Jerry is a born crook ,Ravi is drawn to this purely due to his insecure backgrounds.Together they happen to fix a deal for a fake 'Ravi Varma painting' with a rich NRI.Though they execute the plot together ,both consciously try to eliminate the other to solely take advantage of the deal.Jerry's sister Sera (Mitra Kurien) is aware of her brother's foul plays and is herself a victim of Jerry's tricks. With lots of wits and tit for tats in the plot VKP manages to execute the rest of the stuff without boring you.

Jayasurya perfectly comply to the fraud in the form of Jerry while Kunchakko makes notable comeback not only with the ease at which he handles the various faces of Ravi Varma but also with his new charming look.Suraj and Bijukuttan mostly take care of the comic plot with Anti Terrorist Squad characters,though many a times they looks directly absorbed from a mimicry stage.Mitra Kurien looked well organised in her role of Sera .Devan,Nedumudi,Salim Kumar does nothing different from thier routine stuffs but dwells well within the movie.In an effort to come up with fast trendy numbers with loud beats and rap ,the Music has been letdown.Though unreal and inspired from movies like bluffmaster, VKP has managed to tell the story without giving the viewer any time to think of the feasibility side.Shot simultaneously with 2 HD cams ,each frame of Gulumal also has the typical VKP effect.

If you love brainless entertainers watching Gulumaal wont be a Waste for sure.Undoubtedly Gulumaal will do the best business among VKP films released so far.

Paleri Manikyam - Graceful

2009-12-05T01:25:00.000-08:00

Paleri Manikyam Oru Paathira Kolapaathakathinte Katha -- Movie Review

Ever Since Ranjith has taken a deviation from his larger than life story telling style ,the malayalee audience has been blessed with quality outings that has been quite memorable.Same has been the case with the Veteran actor Mammootty who after the bhoothams and scrap dealers has returned to what he is really best at, starting with the simpleton Mike in Loudspeaker , the royal heroic Pazhassi and now in scintillating multiple getups in Ranjiths Palery Manikkam.

The movie adopted from the Novel By T.P.RaajevKumar presents Haridas , a private detective, unraveling the mystery behind ............. the murder of Manikkyam,an incident that occured on the same night that Haridas was conceived by his Mother.Though unofficial, Haridas is back to Palery with his colleague Sarayoo ,52 Years after the Manikyam murder.Palery,a village where Ahmed Haji the Muslim feudal landlord always had the final say regardless on what the subject was.Cheeru (enacted by swetha menon) was just one among the many Women in Palery ,who had to give up to the desires and Lust in Ahmed Haji.Impressed on the adorableness of Manikyam, Haji sets the stage ready for her arrival to Manikkyam,as cheerus daughter in Law. Incidents that follow leads to Manikkyams Murder.

Be it the Takings or the beautifully etched out close to heart dialogues, Ranjith once again displays the genre of film makers that he really belongs to.Mammootty puts in a phenomenal performance as the cruel Landlord Haji.Once agian he proves his versatility in handling different slangs and get ups .Haridas's character is just another Cakewalk for him (the voice modulation is notable though)and so is the third character,the details of which has been kept a suspense ever since the movie has been announced.Shwetha Menon gets another performance oriented role in malayalam and she does it credibly well.Maithili (as manikyam)does not have a demanding role to perform.Other casts like Sreeni,siddique,etc fits in perfectly.A special mention needs to be done on the exemplary performance of the character Chokkan(I am not sure of the actors name).
Music by sarath really forms the soul of the scenes invloving Manikyams murder.The title song attracts on the first hearing itself.

One notable issue with the story telling was that it let the intensity to loosen out by interleaving the flashback and current scenarios quite frequently.Also personally felt that the character of Ahmed Haji wasnt developed to its Potential.As per infos from friends who have read the novel, the political backgrounds in the actual novel couldnt be portrayed with the same intensity in the movie.

Recommended to all those who have appetite for movies with content.Dont expect a Murder - thriller ivestigation entertiner like that of the CBI series.

Neelathaamra - Short and Simple but ........

2009-12-01T22:43:00.000-08:00

The last one month didnt see much of better outings in the silver screen and that was why broken lenses was a bit idle.2012 was a movie that i wanted to review on but after watching which I didnt feel it had anything new from the many disaster based english movies we saw before(except for the graphics work of course).

Neelathamra would have been the perfect movie to be............. reviewed after the gap but unfortunately it falls behind expectations.Well you cant be blaming someone for scaling up the benchmarks of his expectations when the Veteran MT Vasudevan Nair scripts for the ever promising director of the new age era of malayalam Lal Jose.
Neelathamra has already graced the screen around 35 years back and might be the first one to present such a plot,but thereafter many a movies of the same kind has been tested time and again with the same set of audience.

Neelathamara is all about a short visit to Kunjimaaloos love life.Kunji is another one of those many household attendant characters to assist a lonely mother (Malu Amma).Haridas ,the son of Malu Amma is back to his hometown after completing his studies.Haridas plays a false love plot to impress kunjimalu.An innocent Kunjimalu finally falls for him after a lot of confusions and mental struggles in her and as expected the hero finally succeeds in having her beside, in his bed.Any Guess on what the next scene is??,Haridas's uncle comes with a proposal for Haridas with his daughter.(I bet you guessed it!!) A shrewd Haridas finally manages to see Kunjumalu off and bissfully gives in for the marriage.Thereafter its all about Samvrutha realizing the pre marital relation of her husband forcing Kunjimalo to leave the house.Well Literally that's the end of the movie.Like the many others watching the name Lal Jose appear at the final shot i too was surprised on the purpose of the movie.

Neelathamara conveys all it has in the first 5 minutes itself...the rest 1 hour 35 mins is just an elaboration of the first five minutes.No surprises,nothing too dramatic or eventful awaits the viewer to match to his expectations.Might be that MT and Lal Jose wanted to keep it very mild and simple.On the postive side the movie still registers full house on account of its melodious songs from Vidyasagar - Vayalar team.The song Anuraga vilochana aayi was recieved with terriffic applause and cheers.Lal Jose shots were really aesthetic and succeded in working out the nostalgic factor in the viewer.New face archana kavi does a splendid performance considering it was her first outing .Others including the hero Haridas portrays credible enough performances through their characters.

On the Whole : A simple movie which doesnt differ a bit from the expected lines. Approach it the way you approach a Short story.Dont expect the MT - Lal Jose Magic on the screen.

Kerala Cafe --- Directors Special

2009-10-29T08:22:00.000-07:00

Was a bit confused on whether i should be wacthing Swa Le or go ahead with the plan of watching Ranjiths Kerala Cafe.The overall mood for the day was forcing me to go for a movie with a lighter subject but somehow i ended up watching Kerala Cafe.
2009 has already seen a landmark Movie in Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja well this is another landmark in the sense that it is the first attempt of the kind in malayalam cinema.Ten different stories each crafted by different directors,this makes Kerala Cafe a Directors special movie.Kerala cafe exhibits the expressions of the Man behind the ............. screen .Each of the movie enacted by actors ranging from the veteran Mammootty to shanu(fazils son) is about ten minutes of dialy life situations depicted at the directors freedom.

Will give a breif review on each of the 10 Movies....

1. Padmakumar's Nostalgia starring Dileep,Navya Nair - Somebody who talks about nostalgia,love,care etc but whose all moves are on monetary intrests.Not much of a gripping 1st ten minutes i should say.Still this movie is Ok.

2. Island Express - Here the director reminds us of the victims of the Perumon Tragedy.Prithvi looks different and cool in his role.Some of his dialogues does take root on you.For the way the movie is narrated and the subject this was good in its own way.

3.Shaji Kailas's Lalitham hiranmayam- A husband,a father (Suresh Gopi) who falls in for another lady.Shaji kailas has put in decent efforts to show his different side of direction but ends up with a crowd response that was very similar in his recent movies.It was one movie where i thought i should have preffered Swa Le.

4. Mruthyunjayam starring Shanu (Fazil's son), Rima, Thilakan,anoop menon, Meera Nandan- A horror based plot.Most of the viewers doesnt recognize the hero in this plot, Shanu....well that is because he looks to have grown up as an actor from his first attempt in Kai ethum Dhoorathu.The director was able to create and maintain the horror mood well enough.That was a pretty good recovery from Lalitham Hiranmayam.

5. Anjali Menon's Happy Journey starring Jagathy and Nitya- A competor for the top spot of the ten movies,this for me was the most entertaining of the Ten plots.Jagathi and Nithya really gave some real boost to the audience.Happy Journey is an excellent work!!!!

6. B.Unnikrishnan's Aviramam starring Siddique, Swetha Menon- Based on recession,something to which i could relate myselves to.May be thats why this did move me ....especially the last scene.Good one from Unnikrishnan.

7. ShyamaPrasad's Season starring Suraj- This brings to you kuttappayi ,someone who is trying make a living at the mercy of the foreign tourists at Kovalam.Though some typical Suraj slang comedy follows ,the plot has nothing worthy to boast about.Wont bore you.

8. Anwar rasheed's Bridge starring Salim Kumar, kalpana- This showcases you the other face of a director who has been brand labelled as a mass masala craftsmen. Anwar Rasheed....Brilliant camera frames and locations!!! The movie deals with the situation where mortals tend to dispose relations as forced by their lives.
Wowwww!!!!

9. Revathy's Makal - This deals with sex rackets and children beng drawn in to it.Pretty ok creation from Revathy.The lady as the girl's mother, did a good job.

10. Lal Jose's Puram Kazhchakal starring Mammootty, Sreenivasan- It was this plot which saw the theatre go the wildest as finally they get to see Mammootty in the screen.The plot revolves around the travellers in a bus including Mammootty and Sreenivaasan.Mammootys character remains on screen for about 4-5 mins only but leaves ,slightly stirring you up......

As will be evident from the above short reviews my rating goes like this
1.Bridge
2.Happy Journey
3.Puram Kaazchakal
4.Aviramam
5.Mruthyunjayam
6.Island Express
7.Makal
8.Season
9.Nostalgia
10.Lalitham hiranmayam

It was a true and first of the kind experience in malayalam cinema.Hats off to Renjith in having shown the courage to come up with such a project.He reminds us that a movie is actually a directors craftswork.

Final Verdict:Its an attempt that should be backed up.A movie like Thirakadha went down in th BO here.That attitude does concern in the case of Kerala Cafe too.

Watch it to feeel the differnce.

Angel John -- Very Usual Stuff.....

2009-10-26T09:36:00.000-07:00

Even despite some negative reviews from my friends who watched Angel John if i decided to watch it ,the credit goes to recession that has left me with lots of time and minimum of other activities.I was one among the fifty guyz in theater, all free from the tortures of howls ,boos,and the spirited atrocities of fans.

The movie began introducing to you Maradona,another speciment of the careless youth,with his life going nowhere.Failing to catch up to the expectations of his parents in his character and studies this guy becomes a real nuisance to his family.The tolerance degree is finally crossed when he takes a loan of ten lakhs against the security of his house and finally ends up losing the money.From the reactions that follow this guy takes up the decision to end up his life and climbs up the light house.There appears the Angel that takes him back to life.An angel who talks (rather chats)over the cell fone to ladies and loved impressing them!!!!!There after its all about how this guy is taught about the values of life.

Direction wise Jayasurya desrves some credit in having selected a theme that would convey a message to the viewers.But how much of it gets successfully conveyed remains a very valid question.The plots ,the characters ,the execution all looked so unreal or renewed from past fantasy movies.Take for eg the character of Jagathi who has returned from Gulf is shown attempting for guinness records inorder to impress his wife and hence get her back (she had left him)!!!!
The national award winners music is a big let down this time.BGM sounded good though.
Shantaanu has performed credibly enough.Others in the casts are Okay though personally I felt Mohanlaal shouldnt have done this role(Just like i reviewed that Mammooty should'nt have done the Bhootham role).Mohanlaal does nothing different or new as angel and portrayed it just like another usual role.Jayasurya has put in real effort to satisfy fans and further loses his way in the second half .

On the whole Angel John is average with very minimum to offer.Even for Someone having as much free time as myself it wont be a great miss.

AADHAVAN -- Unimposing...............

2009-10-17T23:02:00.000-07:00

Saw KS Ravikumaars Aadhavan.Though i have loved watching some of the energy filled tamil mass films ,i have not at all been amused by the latest of Tamil mass films from Vijay,Vikram and even Ayan from Surya .Once I preferred watching their big releases from theater but now since most of their recent releases were duds i decided not to throw in for all and be selective.Suryas movies had always given me a minimum guarentee or i could say atleast the probability of it being nonsense was pretty low.It was this that urged me to Theatre for Aadhavan.Well ,i should say my judgement went wrong.

Surya is a highly skilled professional killer and............. he gets a Quotation to kill a judge who is heading an enquiry commission.Unable to succeed in his first attempt he manges to get into his house as a housekeeper.The twists and turns that follow constitute the rest of the movie.

The first half is made pretty watchable by the as usual charming Surya,comedy numbers from Vadivelu(one of his better of recent times) and the colourful frames and songs.Nayantaara as usual has a typical brainless mass film heroine role (reminded me of her role in Villu).Surya was cool in the stunt scenes,with one of them being extremely similar to the 1st stunt scene in Ayan with a lot of running and chasing.I would still say that they could have reduced the gap between the buildings that Surya Jump to.The second half of the movie does really put a test on your patience as songs are embedded in quite frequently and unnecessarily.The twists that they present in the second would make a buffoon out of the viewer.Murali the late veteran actor has Just another role with very less to perform.Finally after all the the baangs booms when you feel that you are about to survive out of the hall here comes KS Ravikumaars cameo.(A guy was also with him-is that his son??)The words in the braces do not matter much as they both irritates you to the core.It is like you finally being given a hefty bill for a loathsome lunch.
one or two of the songs were impressive.

Over all i would call it average and there are definitely more far better ways to celebrate Diwali.......Avoidable....

Pazhassi Raaja--The Movie of a Lifetime

2009-10-16T01:59:00.000-07:00

Need more analysis on Pazhassi raaja...?Well the title says it all.It doesnt ever get bigger than this.The Supreme Trio combo delivers it yet again.Once they rocked malayali film audience with the treat of Oru vadakkan Veera gaatha....here i would say they go a step further.

Just a glimpse to the plot the movie deals with the Raajas adventurous protest against the British rule and their policies.Raaja gets Ousted from his home land bu ends up strenthening his own army with support from the tribals.

Hariharan is back with his best when appropriate, ably backed up by the rest of the crew.His takings are awesome,thanks to the brilliant camera works ,aesthetic locations and extra smart art direction.MT Vaasudevan sir has delivered yet another set of powerful meaningful charaters that bond to you ,however small the character may be.Gokulam Gopaalan can be proud of himself as his patience and temperament to go ahead with the project pays off big time .He has made a malayalam movie that can be kept as a reference for indian cinema and indian history.

Resool Pookkutty makes you really feel the difference from some other movie and the movies with his expertise.He has trapped up each and every minute deatils of the ambience making you really feel the environment.The stunt direction from Ravi Divan is exemplary and breath taking.The songs which i had already mentioned in the preview are a treat for both eyes and ears.Ilayaraaja is back to where he really belongs.

Now moving on to the characterisation part.Each and every character has its own space defined in Pazhassi raaja.Irespective of the lengths of thier screen presence they really make you feel that with out them the movie would fel incomplete.It should be prety long after whch we see the actor in Manoj K Jayan sizzle.Padampriya really scores in the action scenes,kudos to her for performing the stunts with the skills of a real warrior.Suresh Krishna got his best character till date.Kaniha proved her acting skills with her exressions that had meanings of love,concern and braveness at different stages of the plot.And now coming to Edachena Kunakan --A power packed performance from Sarath Kumaar.You get to see a New Sarathkumar,he would feel satisfied that a he got this role to show case the actor in him.Finally coming to the Raaja...How many times have you seen MT penning characters for Mammootty that has been classified as classics.Well here again its no different.Mammootty lives the role exhibiting differents dimensions of Pazhassi.Whether it be the Subtle dialogue deliveries to his uncle(thilakan),emotional/affectionate dialogues to his wife(vaal munakal maathram thaalolicha manassu vallapozhenkilum thurakkende??) or the power packed brave dialogs infront of the pointed pistols in the cliamx he simply rocks the screen.Some of his dialogues couldnt be heard completely because of the applause from the audience.
Other cast involving Laalu Alex Devan,Thilakan, capt Raju,Mamukkoya all peformed well in their own space.
Let me repeat It has never been this big a feeling after watching a patriotic movie....It has been never this big a treat with the performances.It has never been this big with the technical richness.

Verdict :The ultimate Movie experience in Indian cinema.

Pazhassi Raaja -- Exuberance of Grandeur -- A Preview.

2009-10-13T22:47:00.000-07:00

Finally it has been confirmed that Pazhassi Raaja will arrive on Oct 16th.Having written only the reviews so far ,the Hype with the movie Pazhassi urged me into writing this preview .It has never been this big in Malayalam cinema,whether it be the cost,the grandeur or the the cast and crew.Other than the mainfaces over 2000 of Junior artists , support crew,technicians has toiled for over 2 years for the completion of this huge project .Hariharan-MT-Mammootty Combo has once gifted indian cinema the classic of "Oru Vadakkan Veera Gaatha" and this time too the expectations doesnt fall anywhere short of that.

The main Characterisation and crew of the movie goes like this

Mammootty as Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja
Kaniha : Kaitheri Maakkam
Sarath Kumar :Eda chenaKunkan
Manoj K Jayan:Thalakkal Chanthu
Padamapriya:Neeli
Suman:Pazhayam Veedan Chanthu
Thilakan:Kurumbanaad Raaja Veera Varma
Devan:Kanavathu nambiar
Jagathi:Kanara Menon
Jagdeesh:Bhandaari
Mamukkoya :Athan Gurukkal
Nedumudi Venu :Mooppan
Captain Raju:Kunjunni Mootha
Suresh Krishna:Kaitheri Ambu

Music : Ilayaraja
Lyrics:ONV,Gireesh Puthenchery,
Sound Mixing:Rasool Pookutty
Fight(warfare):Ravi Divan (Jodha Akbar Fame)
Script - MT Vasudevan Nair
Direction -Hariharan
Produced and Distributed By Gokulam Films ,Gopalan

Having Litsened to the Songs ,these are one of the best from the recent compositions of Ilayaraja:

My picks are .......

Aadhiyusha Sandhya poothathivide : Superb Lyrics cushioned by excellent rendering from Yesudas n team.
Kunnathe Konnakkum:Chitras Magical voice is sure to mesmerize you.
Ambum Kombum:Its typically an Aadivaasi Song rendered by Ilayaraja himself.Might sound odd at the first hearing ,but you will like it on repeated hearing.
Other songs like Odathandil thaalam kottum kaattil ,The Ismlamic Kessu Paatu Aalamadankalamythava alle ,Mathangana etc will also impress on repeated hearing.

Having seen the trailers, the song visuals,the stills and the trio of the Giants in malayalam cinema Pazhasi Raja Promises a Lot.Just 2 More days remain to reveal on how much it would live upto the created Hype.

RobinHood--Doesnt impress much -- Review

2009-09-24T03:06:00.000-07:00

RoibinHood Review

Joshiys Robinhood is a movie with a thief as the central character and as the name suggests his thefts are justified by some incidents of his past life.Having called him a thief,i should admit that he is more than that.Having seen many theif based movies Roibn hood is different in the sense that its more more of a high tech robbery with some of the scenes trying to explain us the possibility of the robbery happening.Venkat (Prithviraj) is a tutor in an....... entrance coaching centre during the morning hours while the night sees him busy robbing the ATM bracnhes of a particular bank in Kochi.

The bank Director Mr Menon(Biju Menon) isnt quite amused by the below average computer educated police investigation(headed by Jayasuryaas character) appoints a private detective in the form of Narien.Prithvi Narein and bhavana (banks correspondant in the case)happen to stay on the same flat and ends up being good friends.Without mutually exposing their inner characters, its a cat and mouse game till interval. The first half also sees Sachi Sethu(Scripters)trying to explain the scientific side of how the 16 digit secret numer could possibly be sniffed.Though the possibility of such a device both on technical-infrastructure grounds might not impress the technocrats ,this might be enough to get the common cinegoers attention.Though the first half did not bore much there wasnt much intense gripping scenes ,or were there any proper comedy track to arouse some response among the audience.

The second half of the movie as can be guessed reveals the past of the robber(as seen many a times in cinemas he too is from a brahmin background).More twists follow at the climax and it ends wihtout arousing the viewers much ....

The main draw back was that despite being a multistarrer the movie rarely has scenes for the audiece to clap for(except for intros).None of the songs were impressive to the ears despite being glitzy.Joshiy has tried to make Roihood as racy as possile though it lacks some engrossig scenes.Main leads including Narein,Prithvi,Bhavana has has done their part well though their characters are more based on style than substance.Samvrutha plays a minor role just to create some confusion.Salimkumar is wasted.bGM by Raajmani is perfect enough for a movie like this.Sachi Sethu deserves credit in having tried to convince the audience on the scientific side of things too.(Despite these efforts one would feel why is it that the police dont try the cameras to track everyone that enters the ATM instead of turning on the camera only when a card is inserted?This would have allowed the thief to mask the camera only after entering the ATM) other than this they have failed to pack up the movie with thrills and wits that could have made it more acceptable.

My Verdict :Nothing Special.......

Loudspeaker: Welcome Back to the freshness of Malyalam Cinema.......

2009-09-20T01:38:00.000-07:00

Want to feel the freshness of a real malayalam movie after all recent masala stuffs in the name malayalam cinema,well walk into nearest theatre where loudspeaker runs.Enjoy the 2 hours of thoughtful cinema with Mike Peelippose,a character where you get to see the legend in Mammooty back after the recent ones that tried to use only his glamour quotient and other masala elements .
Just giving a glimpse in to the story,Mike peelippose....... is an innocent village based guy from thoppramkudi who is into the habit of talking tooo loudly which was ok in his village but becomes a nuisance when he moves to the city.Mike comes to the city as a Kidney Donor for the character enacted by Sashikumaar.In Sashikumaars flat Mike gets to look into arid life styles of the city life and interferes in each and every instance where he isnt supposed to.Though initially a nuisance Mike finally gives them a glimpse on what life is all about and hence solving off many their problems.Mike peelippose a chacter carefully shaped out will be carried home by each n every one who gets to spend the 2 hours with him.Whereever he goes he innocently mingles with the people,just for the instance he gets into road side tea seller and gets a group to chat with,sharing with the adventurous history of his father.Unaware of the consequences he goes by his heart.The storyline is simlar to Munnabhai series where Munna comes to the help of many common problems in the modern life style.Finally how does Mike influence the life of his kidney reciepient and does he survive the setbacks in his life is the second half.

Mammootty simply excels as he transforms each and every bit in him to the giult free Thopraamkudikkaaran.A role tailor made for him to steal the show.Sashikumar has also made his character flawless.The comedy team including Jagathi,Salimkumar Suraaj,harisree etc also bursts out laughter though personally felt that it could have done better with 1 or 2 of the crass comedy sequence like that of jagathi being beaten up by the kids ,avoided.Comedy works throughout with Mike in full swing right from his intro and it does suit to the overall flow and mood of the movie.Heroine Gracy singh has very little to do and does her part neatly enough.Other casts from Janaardhanan ,Augustine,Jayaraj's favourite aged artists etc too performs favourably.Music by Bijibal and lyrics by Anil Panachooran really deserves credit in bringing a lot of malayalism into the songs ,with none of them seeming to bore any.Finally to the Director ,Jayaraj once again proves that he is the real unpredictable man among the directors as he has given craps/duds as well as good/great movies.Here he is back with Louspeaker,a simple movie wihtout much twists or thrills,which thrusts heavily on the innocent comedies of Mike,which depicts Nostalgia though aesthetic locations in a short love story of Sasikumaars character and also discusses some personal issues of the flat residents that are pretty relevant now a days.The spot dubbing would at the initial scenes would create a concern but one would soon adapt to it.

My verdict-Not a Movie to be Missed on Any excuse.

Unnai Pol Oruvan--Its Kamal Show--Review

2009-09-18T02:04:00.000-07:00

Saw Unnaipol Oruvan First day first show ........

Having seen 'A Wednesday',Unnaipol oruvan was an oppurtunity for me to see Kamal and Laal share the screen space and let me tell you it is the only differing quotient.Thank god that being the tamil version they were not tempted to add crass comedy or other masala stuffs that almost maintains the mood created in the hindi version.
Just when here and there the movie......tends to lag off it comes back strongly some intense scenes or dialogues that keeps your intrest alive.With kamal as Unnaipol oruvan the common man ,the movie starts off ditto of the Hindi version,with kamal placing the bombs on nooks and corners of the city and then calling up the commisioner of police Mr maarar(Mohanlal).There after its the police - terrorist game till the interval The first half shows Mohanlal as the Negotiator and Kamal dictating terms and there after its all the Kamal show all the way.Maarar allows the prisoners to be released and is sent along with 2 of his trusted officers to the airport(as per Kamals demands).I dont wish to go further into the details of the story as it would spoil the intrests of the few those who havent watched A wednesday.

Performance wise Kamal really steals the show with his voice and screen presence and is up to the standards as set by Nasseruddin Shah.The only thing that might rate his performance below that of Nasseruddin Shah is that he looks a powerful man and the common man feel might not be conveyed at times.Still kamal has compensated that to an extend with his voice modulation and movements.Mohanlaal has very little to do and plays the second fiddle to kamals innings.Still laal has performed credibly enough to fit to the role of Maarar.The fluency that he had in his body language was missing in his dialogue delivery though ofcourse they try to justify it presenting him as a malayalee officer(this might remind you of company).But this is projected out especially in the final stages of the movie where Laal has to deliver louder powerful dialogues.Other casts get to share the screen space only for a lesser span though they provide thier own significance to the plot.The tough guy police (enacted by Jimmy Shergil in hindi) does impress here too(donno his name).Direction wise Chakri Toleti had little to do as it was mostly scene by scene from a work that had been done well.BGM music by Shruthi fits to the overall mood of the movie as well.

On the whole:The movie work out in terms of creating the mood and feeling and its acceptance remains to be seen as there were boos in the climax and people were amazed to see the interval title without much of a hapenings in the 1st half.There were applauses for the intros, Kamals counter dialogues to Laal and fans applauses to Laals english dialogues.

My verdict : Recommended to those who don't expect typical tamil masala stuffs and those who haven't watched A wednesday.

Kaancheevaram Review

2009-09-16T23:22:00.000-07:00

Has been wanting to watch this movie from the national awards declaration,finally managed to watch it last week.

Priyan takes you to the pre independence ages of Kaancheevaram a city renowned for crafting world famous silk materials.Vengadan(Prakshraj) the silk weaver is an ordinary man working under........ the landlord to weave silk sarees for him to sale.The weavers then were exploited to the core by not being allowed have a share of silk and being poorly paid.Vengadan weaved the best sarees in Kaancheevaram....@ 4-5 rs while the landlord sold it to the British for 700-1000rs.

Those days silk was affordable only to the rich and never ever would a weaver get to own a silk clothing.Vengadan had a failed dream of bringing his bride(shreya) home dressed in silk.But this doesnt halt Vengadan from promising(a custom of giving a promise in the ears of the newly born) his daughter a silk saree on her wedding.Fellow weavers and his wife accused him of having given a false promise to his child and feared that would bring ill fate to the child.But Vengadan was determined that he started collecting Silk threads right from his daughters childhood.But later came a stage when he couldnt afford buying silk anymore that he started stealing threads to his home from his work place.Weavers were checked for any sort of such malpractices but Vengadan was clever enough to stuff up his mouth with the silk thread balls and carry them home.Life went on ,his daughter had grown up and Vengadan wasn't yet caught of cheating.One fine day a communist comes to kaancheevaram(Communism was banned in India then) he spreads his ideologies to Vengadan and friends and they decide to go on strike against the landlords exloitations.Vengadan being highly infulenced by these though emerges to be thier leader but soon he realizes that his daughters wedding is getteing nearer and he is running out of Silk to weave up the rest of the Saaree.Hesitantly he tries to convince his fellow workers to give up the strike and go back to work ,so that he could get silk for the Sareee.....Does he succeed in geting the Saree by the wedding day or does he get caught is what the rest of the story is all about.

Told in a typical colour tone the movie is sure to move all sensible movie lovers.Prakash Raj has put in a very credible performance as Vengadan.The other casts have put up a realistic show as well.Priyadarshans craftsmanship ,the camera,the songs ,the BGM all plays its part in etching out a well made celluloid show.

Verdict :Recommended for all Sensible Movie lovers...................

Cheran's Pokkisham Review

2009-09-16T22:23:00.003-07:00

Pokkisham (meaning treasure),the lastest attempt from Cheran tells a failed love tale of Nadeera(padmapriya) and Lenin (Cheran) , a love story that blossomed during the 70's and struggled to make its way through with letters being the only mode of communication then.The story begins with Lenin's son getting a chance to go through the letters and diaries of his late father which depicts the flash back.Lenin the high morale ideal guy hero (typical of cheran movies) happens to meet Nadeera in a

hospital where his father and her mother are recovering in neighbouring beds.Their love of books brings them closer with Lenin trying to teach her the relevance of communism then.The movie then drags on to a rather uninteresting plot with most of the dialogues being the insipid recital of the duo's letter contents.This goes on and on monotonously with poetic dialogues and comparisons with nothing much to glueyou to your seats.

Though from different religious back grounds both the families agree to go with their wish as Nadeeras father agrees for the marriage after some gap.But soon Lenin finds himself crazy with Nadeera not writing to him anymore.He shows symptoms of mental break down and decides to go to her hometown to know what had happened to her.Lenin fails to find her due to lack of communication gadgets during that time and finally ends up in another marriage.Inspired with the tale Lenins Son finally set out to search Nadeera out and he succeeds within a short span thanks to the modern technical gadgets.

Though Cheran has tried to convey a simple scoop of yesteryear romances that could have failed just due to the lack of communication options ,his degree of success falls low mainly due to a stuffy colourless tale.Cheran,Padmapriya and all other main leads (there are only a few) have done their roles well enough though the predictability of the scenes and the over use of poetic dialogues might irk you.Direction ,story n screenplay falls behind, letting down the movie.Songs also did not impress at the first hearing.Positivewise one could say there werent any unwanted crass comedy scenes injected in between....

My Verdict : Boring.........

Kaanakanmani Review - Different concept But....

2009-09-04T05:40:00.000-07:00

After the success of Veruthe oru Bhaarya Akku Akbar-Gireeshkumar Jayaram Team is back with another product that promises much with its difference in concept but mostly falls apart in the later part.

Jayarams character, a Thrissur based Nasraani is leading.......... a happy family life with his Brahmin wife(padmapriya) and their only daughter Anakha.The first 30 minutes evokes laughter mainly with The Hindu - Christian Gods being interpreted on a funny note.Just when the comdey chemistry between the two families based on different religious backgrounds starts to work out the movie slowly takes a turn to the serious side of things.Anakha goes missing during a felicitation function and when found , she starts showing behavioural changes.Mystery accompanies her till interval where she finally reveals to their parents what has actually happened to her.

The first half left me impressed with a bit of entertainment to start with and some sequences which though typical , were scary. Might be due to Jayrams presence in the spooky misty atmosphere one could relate some frames to the movie Winter.The second half begins with a song and takes you to an awareness program type of scenarios.There after the movie is much focused on working out sentiments ,though Suraj appears in between with a comedy track tailor made for him.Finally the result is that plot proceeds and ends without creating much of an impact except for some lady audience shedding tears with the kid.

Performance wise initially its Vijayaraghavan who steals the show excelling in the role of a trichur slang speaking achaayan (as jayarams Characters father ).The latter part of the movie is carried forward by the kids performance.Others like Jayaram,Padmapriya,Sukumari,Biju Menon,Nedumudi,Suraaj etc. has got to do routine stuffs that they execute well enough.Directionwise ,the second half could have been told in a more convincing and interesting way.The loop holes in the script made it worser.Music is OK with one song being a good melody.

On the whole:Concept wise its different ,execution wise doesn't impress much .

Rithu-Review

2009-08-22T21:51:00.000-07:00

The movie is about three friends who were friends from child hood and pursue a career in IT.Sarath the hero,who is back from US after 3 years gap forces his friends to join a new IT firm that would help them realize some goals.Varsha though was committed to Sarath years back was mislead by the western lifestyle in bangalore and endsup in bed with most of her mates.Sarath soon feels that they were struglling to keep the same harmony that they three had before....Each were focussed on their own personal gains,though Varsha Still had a soft corner for Sarath.Sarath hailing from a communist family ,portrays many characterestics of an ideal hero.The rest of the story is how the the gap between them is exposed and move apart.

I would call this as a different attempt by Shyaamprasaad,using fast -trendy music,colorful frames especially the lake where they hangout looks very appealing.He even provides a proper ending to this movie without leaving the audience somewhat confused when the end credits come on.Music is very trendy and is absolutely apt for Rithu.The camerawork as mentioned also deserves credit.Performance wise most of the characters did well particularly the 3 leads.You can accept this as one being more related to IT field,as it atleast mentions many of the scenarios associated..(unlike kamals minnaminnikoottam IT).
One main negative i felt regarding the movie is the mallu accent that even the traditional mother in the movie uses.You can accept the new generation in IT using it but not their village based mothers.(Or is it that she was also just back from onsite???).The character is saraths mother ,her performance is ok but this accent makes it a bit wierd.Theres also a bit too much of exaggeration on IT lifestyles especially since its shown as happening in kerala....Just from the simple example of hugging opposite sex while saying good bye from a firm....how many firms in Techpark/Infopark u can see dis???

Crowd response was typical to an offbeat movie with laughters in senti scenes and comments filled the silence between the scenes.

On the whole 1st half is a bit dry,second half is better.Worth a watch.

Kanthasaami Review

2009-08-21T10:38:00.000-07:00

As seen for the umpteenth time in tamil movies the hero is destined to wash away social -economic evils through ways that would always fool your logical reasoning.However in the past....... they did manage to catch your attention through thrills,wits and glamour....well Kanthasaamy fails in almost all these departments except for the glamour part which is in plenty with Vikrams looks,Shreyas skinny flesh show,videshi locales n Mumaid Khaan.....

A CBI officer along with his friends choses the Anniyan way of erasing black money evils from the indian economy.He loots the black money and divides it to the needy as per their requests to him(kanthasaami).Though first half gave the imprssion that it was sort of tolerable with the excitement of seeing Vikram in various getups,i could still feel the relief from the noisy nonsense first half.To make matters worse there was a 2nd half for this movie !!!! ... The sequences where saami n his girlfriend leaves to Mexico bored like never before n if you thought the test was all over ,
the movie has a comedian in the form of Vadivelu..The crowd was too much agitated that some of his dialogues were masked with their booos....
Looks like they have spent their time only in the technical side of things that they present before you aesthetic locales in rich frames,but the joining of which has no or very little story to tell.Most of the time subsequent scenes had no relation with the previous one.Had they spend more effort for decent storyline kanthasaami could have fared much better....

Positives
Music -the songs which are already at the top of the charts
Vikram-Though its only fancy dress that he has to perform,he is the real relief.
Locales n camera work

Negatives
Almost all the other movie aspects other than those mentioned in +ves

On the whole Its mostly Dissappointing.Might go well with some front benchers or might also appeal to those obsessed with skin shows........