Cine Bazar .........

Film Review:

Cast: Vineet Sreenivasan, Bhama, Sandhya, Vinu Mohan
Direction: Johnny Antony
Music: Biji Bal, Mejo Joseph



After making four films with the lead stars of Malayalam in C I D Moosa, Kochi Raajavu, Thuruppu Ghulan and Inspector Garud, Johny Antony - one of the regular hit makers of Malayalam industry is finally joining the young brigade to can a new, but different film. The director who specializes in creating films that can be watched in a lighter vein is now with James Albert, the classy scriptwriter of super hit film Classmates, for this new film titled Cycle.

”Though I am in a new circuit, away from my regulars scriptwriters, this too will be my kind of film with songs, dances and hilarious moments. But through the film, I am trying to say a more serious storyline that will address the youth of today. The movie's plot lines demand new faces and that is why I preferred to go for fresher, than the established faces”, says Johny Antony who shot for the film in multitude of locations including Bombay and Germany.

Telling another narrative that will cater to the audiences of all ages, the plot of cycle is set in the backdrop of a shopping complex. Two aspiring youngsters, Roy (Vineeth Sreenivasan), an accountant in a private finance firm and Sanju (Vinoo Mohan) who is sales man in a shop which sells home appliances are the lead characters of this flick. Even though coming from modest backgrounds they have big dreams about their future and are trying ways to make a name for them. Sanju who plays cricket well has got his share of frustrations of not being selected into the state team.

Annie (Bhama) is another girl who works in the same complex in the reception of a travel agency. Meenakshy (Sandhya) is the other heroine of the film, who is the daughter of Kaustubhan (Jagathy Sreekumar), a banker and owner of the shopping complex. This foursome propels the film through ways that we have never seen before.

Cycle, thus has got plenty of highlights, one being the film which introduces popular singer Vineeth to films as an actor. “I had enjoyed the experience and had a lengthy discussion with my father before accepting the film. He loved the script very much and is waiting for the response of the audiences on my histrionic skills”, says Vineeth who has just completed shooting his part, in the film. Scenarist James Albert is sure that he will live up to the hype created after the super hit Classmates. “The theme of the film touches the life cycle of average middle class youth, who always runs after the material things and fortunes in life”. The movie also feature Jagathy Sreekumar, Murali, Cochin Naneef, Saikumar, Salimkumar, Saadi, T G Ravi, Kunchan, Shobha Mohan, Arun and Rekha Pillai.

Cycle produced in the banner of masters cinema by Sunny Kuruvila, T N Thilakan and Viswanathan is entering its last phase of post production. The film's music tracks handled by Mejo Joseph and Anil Panachooran are already in the hit charts. Shaji wields the camera for the first time in a Johny Antony film while Renjan Abraham does the editing. Cycle distributed by Lal creations, will grace the theaters on 15th of February.

Film review:

Banner: Pyramid Saimira Production
Cast: Suresh Gopi, Bala, Honey, Lakshana, Rhajan P Dev, Murali, Sona Nair, Rizabava, Bheeman Raghu, Maniyan Pillai Raju, Krishnakumar, Biju Pappan
Direction: Shaji Kailash

 
The Sound Of Boot Movie Review-Shaji Kailas tries for a difference

 ‘Sound Of Boot’, the new film by Shaji Kailas, is not a superlative inquiring cinema experience, even though soaked in tension, character and atmosphere. The movie, whose structure is basically a murder investigation, has an intriguing look, a bit closely following the footsteps of “Ee Thanutha Veluppan Kaalathu”.

The film follows the tracks of S P Siddharth Mahadevan , who is following the commotion surrounding the killing of two senior police officials, Rtd I G Raghavan Nambiar and SP Abdul Sathar, shortly after their farewell dinner from service, and also a missing case of Meera Nambiar, that occurs at a hilly landscapes. On the very first day itself, he bumps into Rahul Krishna, a college student who has a piece of story to tell about his relation with Meera .

Following the leads, he crashes into the resort holiday home and its caretaker Shankaranarayan, where Siddharth finds the corpse of Meera. Brought in under the clout of suspicion as to his actual role in the event, Shankaranaryanan presents his version of the incidents that happened there, leading to the killings. Each fragment takes the viewer up through the first moment of the previous scene. There are also story flashbacks that are shown in linear sequence, and they move against the main story .But with a few supportive traces, Siddharth builds his cloying version of all the deeply buried secrets, that is finally presented as the original story. As it turns out, there are not any eyeballs awaiting spectacles, but certainly an unexpected additional twist to the proceedings intended to add thrills to the show.
   

The plot, while slightly thin with lesser number of beautifully drawn out characters, is pictured in picturesque Moonnar and Peerumade, where people hide in shadows (intended to add speculations) and policemen making their own rules, running the high ranges, especially during the declared emergency of the seventies. The scriptwriter Rajesh Jayaraman has tried his best to present all proceedings, operating under a set of rules unique to detective cinema. The highlight is that in aiming for this memorable allegiance, however, he doesn't fall into the documentary trap. Moreover he succeeds in interweaving narrative of crimes conducted and enacted in the midst of an insurgency regime in the name of surveillance, also portraying the cruel acts of a forgotten decade which unsettled the lives of hundreds. The downside of the film is that the gloomy mystery is not airtight, as it is built around a lot of coincidences and events that finds hard to fit in place to develop a totally engaging plot.

And for the director Shaji Kailas , the saying goes, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it ''. Far from the demands of the scripts, nothing seems to be absent from Shaji's usual fare, even though he tries to be a bit classy. He has done fairly better in the opening half but in the later, the movie runs out of steam, making an acclivitous mechanical attempt to involve us. Shaji fails to maintain the atmosphere of suspense or tension all through ,particularly towards the end, reminding many of his loose- ended antecedents .One can't help but be disappointed with how "Sound Of Boot '' resolves( with impracticable executioners in bizarre uniforms) , even though it has a better tail piece.

But a few superb performances can never hurt. Suresh Gopi as Siddharth Mahadevan is a welcome relief from his usual agitated mannerisms. And certainly due to that, this may not probably win over the masses. The other actor who deserved mention is Murali , who has brought in a stupefying performance.

In the technical sides also the film is superior with crisp editing by Arunkumar (Sorry, for his credit is montage) and moody photography and extreme angles by Raja Rathnam in which no values are compromised, even though the film was shot in a record 25 days. The only song in the film ''Yamuna Theeram'' is an unwanted suffering, but Rajamani in rerecording definitely sets the pace with enthralling theme music.

If you can walk away with several weak plot points that may inquire your intellect, the movie may make you feel as a well made ‘‘endeavor’’. It may be unfair to expect a wondrous exclamation, from the viewer's side ' at the end of a picture but certainly ''Sound Of Boot'' is not the one to be avoided, at least for its atypical narratives. Perhaps that may be the point that the makers are also bearing in their minds.