Apoorvaraagam - Pen pattanam-- Combo Review

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 -----

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 '----

'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

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'

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.....

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

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.