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2009-07-01T03:22:00.002+05:30

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(Chat with Ur favorite Stars.......)
Kavya Madavan
Mamtha
Samvratha Sunil
Remya Nambessan

Sajar Alias jacky Reloaded

2008-10-31T13:22:00.004+05:30

Last Month in the malayalam film industry the main talk is about Sagar Alias Jacky.Sagar Alias Jacky,the hero of "Irupatham Nootandu" is coming back.The movie "Sagar Alias Jacky Reloaded" which will follow the title character of "Irupathaam Nootandu", will have Mohanlal donning a stylish, hi-tech super hero, essentially an underworld don.
In the film Mohanlal is appearing in James Bond look
After the much critically acclaimed debut in ‘Big B’, Young cinematographer turned director Amal Neerad '' will start working for his new film ‘Saagar’ Alias Jacky-reloaded'' by the first of December. The movie which will be shot at many locations including Dubai, Leh, Goa, and Thiruvananthapuram will have plenty of mainstream artists in important roles.
The director Amal, script writer S N swamy and the crew, is in the final phase of polishing the script for the movie which will be one of the most stylish movies ever filmed on Lal.According to the latest news it will be the first malayalam movie which should be taken just like a James Bond movie.The appearance of Mohanlal is very stunnish in the movie.No more details is not available now.

All the Mohanlal fans and the malayalam movie world is looking forward for the movie "Sagar Alias Jacky Reloaded".Let us see what more features added in the film.I think it will be the next megahit among the coming malayalam movies.
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Sajar Alias Jacky-Reloaded

2008-10-31T13:10:00.002+05:30

Kavya Madavan

2008-07-01T01:33:00.000+05:30

Chat with your Favourite Stars.............

She has a strong and dominating screen persona and when you meet Kavya; her vivacious and sweet mannerisms immediately strike you. She sizzled her way into the hearts of many through her innocent characters. Kavya, who is known for her typical Neeleswaram dialect, has become a part of the filmdom now. She entered in to the tinsel town as a child artist in Pookkalam Varavayi in 1984. Kavya bagged the hearts of filmgoers with her debut heroine role in Chandranudikkunna Dikkil. The down to earth girl has marked her footprints in Kollywood also.

* How does Kavya Madhavan enter into the tinsel town?
My father sent a photograph of mine in response to the advertisement given by the director of Pookkalam Varavayi. But people started noticing me only after the film Azhakiya Ravanan. But the real break came through Chandranudikkunna Dikkil.

* So tell us little more about Kavya Madhavan?
My father Madhavan is a businessman and my mother, a house wife. I have a brother. He is a fashion designing student. Madhu has done the costume designing in some of films like Katha and Nammal Thammil. He is in Australia now.

*About the glorious school days?
I did my entire schooling in Neeleswaram. I first stepped into the world of letters as an LKG student in JCS Nursery. Then it is the GLP School that got an opportunity to tolerate me up to 4th standard. And I joined Rajas High School for my high school education. Rajas School was the first to felicitate me when I got the State Award.

* What are the upcoming projects?
Inspector Garud with Dileep. After that Arunam, in which I am doing a daughter-like character of Manojettan (Manoj K. Jayan).

* Dream role?
I would like to do the role of a dancer.

* Best friends in the industry?
Everyone in the filmdom field is my friend. I have lot of friends from my school. Still we maintain the bond of friendship. Then, from the industry, Bhavana comes to my home now and then.

* What about the fans?
They are not fans. They are my good friends, who are ready to do anything for me. They have been seeing me since I entered the field as a child artist.

* If you were given an opportunity to be born again with specific qualities or features from various people, how would you like to be?
I want to reborn as Kavya Madhavan, in the same family, with same friends and with same looks too. But one thing must be changed. My character needs some alterations. I am a short tempered person.

* Are the wedding bells ready to ring?
This is not the time. It will happen only when it is supposed to.

* Favorites:
• Color: White
• Food: Chicken Curry and Sweets
• Dress: Any thing which is comfortable especially Churidar and Salwar
• Location: As I am able to go home immediately after shooting now I opt for Ernakulam. Otherwise it is Ottappalam.
• Movie: Can’t pinpoint a particular film. But I like Chandrnudikkunna Dikkil. I was only a 9th standard student when assigned to do the role of a married woman in the film.

Mamtha

2008-07-01T01:32:00.000+05:30

Chat with your Favourite Stars..........

* About your schooling and family?
I started off my schooling in Kannur. After 3rd grade we moved to gulf and then onwards completed my schooling there. I graduated in B.Sc from Bangalore and was very much into extra curricular activities from the very beginning itself. I started taking singing lessons from the age of 6 and am trained in Hindustani as well as Karnatic music..

* You have proved your versatility within a short span of time. What do you feel about this?
I feel extremely lucky to have played different roles being a new comer.

* You created a very different image in the movie ‘Lanka’ which led to a lot of controversies. How did you respond to this?
I hope ‘Lanka’ would be the last of its kind in my acting career.

* Dream role?
Nothing in particular.

*Are you a God fearing person?
Yes ,Of course.

* How was your entry into the cine field?
Director Hariharan was looking for a new face and he happened to speak to my father regarding the same.

* Fans?
I’m very excited when I’m surrounded by fans as it encourages me to perform better in my upcoming movies.

* Your ambition and future plans?
Would like to pursue my career in this field for many more years before I ultimately settle in the Middle East..

* Marriage?
It will happen when the right time and right person steps into my life.

Samvratha Sunil

2008-07-01T01:16:00.007+05:30

Chat with your Favourite Stars........

* Could you please tell us something about your family and schooling?
Father: Sunil into hotel business and my mother Sadhana, house wife. I have a sister Sangutha, +2 student and grandmother.

* How come you entered into this fascinating world of cinema? Your first break?
During my college days at St.Teresas, Lal uncle and Rajeev uncle called me for a screening test at Rasikan’s shooting location, where I got selected and my career started of from there..

* About your character in PothenBava?
It is a film based on music .In this I am a Namboodiri girl named Gayaytri. Mammootty and Gopika are my co-actors in the movie.

* As a new comer what is your opinion about the latest trend in cinema?
Like Tamil and Hindi film industry, Malayalam cinema should also promote new comers.

* Your intimate friend in cine field?
Kavya, Bhavana, Gopika and ……(the list goes on …seems all the girls in this field are friends  )

* Secret of your beautiful silky hair?
Nothing in particular …will keep the hair neat and tidy.

* Which is the favorite role you have played so far?
I really love the role in Achanuranagatha Veedu.

* Do you do your homework before getting into a character?
Eg ; the character in Achanurangatha veedu.
Nothing much…but in Achanurangatha veedu I just practiced the customs and prayers.

* Any dream role?
Uh…roles that done by Manju chechy…

‘Nottam’ was a huge break for you. Could you please share the experience you had at the sets of ‘Nottam’.
I really enjoyed when people identified me as a “pachapanamthatha”

* How do you react to gossips?
Gossips ….I don’t care…

* If you would have not ended up as an actress ,what would have been your choice?
During my studies I didn’t aim for an engineer or doctor…but by God’s grace, now I am here …Its all because of the people who encourage me…I request the same support from all of you.

* About marriage?
Hey man..I am too young to get hooked to someone…(laughs)

* How did you evaluate yourself on the varied roles from a simple village girl in Rasikan to modern girl in Moonamathoral.
I got several offers which are very different from each other…Yes I am lucky to get that….

* According to you what is love?
About Love….. (gave an innocent smile…)

* Your favourite colour,dish , dress..
Color: White, Blue, Black
Food: Ice Cream
Dress: Saree

* Your favourite location.
Location: Peerumedu (Achanurangatha Veedu)

* If you had a rebirth, then who would you like to be?
I love to be Samvrutha itself…

* How will you celebrate onam this year?
This ONAM will celebrated along with 'PothanBava' crew in its location

* Any message to the upcoming stars…
Every field has its own pros & cons, So don't just go back romours. It is a fasinating field where one can get an identity of their own.

Remya Nambessan

2008-07-01T00:58:00.002+05:30

Chat with your Favourite Stars.............

* When you started your carrier as an actor?
I started my acting career in 2001, while studying in 9th standard.

*Which was your first film and how you rate yourself?
'Sayahnam' Directed by R. Sharath was the first film. I was fortunate and blessed to have the presence of O Madhavan Sir - the legendary actor in ‘Sayahnam’. Infact Madhavan sir was also apperaring in a movie for the 1st time. It was a film based on socio-political issues and I played a full length character as the grand child of Madhavan sir’s character.

I didn’t know much about cinema or acting then. Cinema was never a passion during that age and I didn’t have any plans of making acting my profession. And so there weren’t any sort of analysis or review from my part. During that time I had regular training in dance and music and that alone was my background. Infact I got the opportunity to act in the film through my dance teacher.

I just did whatever the director instructed me. In the very first shot in my career, I had a combination scene with Madhavan Sir. I was really tensed, but first shot first take was ok.

*As a heroine you had been through great times for the past few years, making big names all through the South Indian film industry? What was your experience in other language?

I have done films now in Tamil & Telugu. Cinema is the same every where, but way of film making seems to be different. In other languages, film making is a lengthy process. Minimum 4 to 5 months have to be allocated for a single film. Here in Malayalam films are made in 25 days. Other language films prefer to adapt new technology, spend time, energy and money to make film visually appealing and rich. In a sense approach has an innovative feel.

Malayalam films would always have more of a realistc feel while Telugu is fantasized. Tamil has all sorts of films – realistic, fantasised, technological etc. Each industry has its own identity and market and so is good in its perspective. As far as an actor is concerned, working in these variant atmospheres help to refine ones acting abilities. Malayalam film got its own identity in Indian cinema. Am proud to be a part of Malayalam cinema.

*How do you assess your performance in each film? What improvement you bring to your acting when you took up new project?
Till date I have not been able to perform in such a role which demanded a big home work. I fell sad at times about that, but I think its too early for that. I love to do such a challenging role and is keeping myself prepared for that. Coming to assessment, I have an understanding that I have improved from one to the other. I always try to understand the exact thing expected by the director from me in each shot. I also make a good assessment about the character, so that I can maintain my mannerisms and expressions to suit the mood of the film.

Doing 'Shalabham' was a good learning process. As of now I have full satisfaction in my performance in Shalabham. I had the scope to make a lot of contribution. The film is set against a rural background and I played the character of Meera – a village girl, facing the agonies of life, but seen always with a pleasing character and soothing smile. The film was directed by Suresh Palanchery, scripted by Madambu Kunjikuttan and cinematography by M J Radhakrishnan.

Generally I concentrate much on my mannerisms, expressions, continuity and dialogue delivery. In Malayalam I have started to dub for my characters and now that too is one area where I am trying to keep on improving. I think improving acting would be a never ending process for an actor. An actor should always fall short of his satisfaction limit while making a self analysis.

*Could you tell us your role in ‘Chocolate ’?
Chococlate is a typical campus film. All the flavuors of a mainstream commercial cinema are belnded brilliantly in that film by Shafi Sir. I play a modern girl for the first time in that film. The character ‘Susan’ was widely accepted and I could hear crowd yelling ‘sussammo’ at times of my public appearance. Whenever I see the songs or sequences or stills of Choclate, I get filled with happiness and satisfaction on being part of such a big hit.

Susan was a bubbly and naughty girl, one among a three member gang of a women’s college. It was a bold character and modern in attire, thoughts and language. Chocolate gave an unusal feel. It was as if we were in our college. Shafi sir, Prithviraj, Azhgappan sir, Roma, Samvrutha all teamed up as in a campus

*How was your experience working with Jayaram and Pritviraj?
Even now i get excited when i think about ‘aanachandam’. Jayaram ettan is one person on screen whom i had adored right from my child hood. So acting with him, remain in the back of my mind as a divine dream. He helped me to study the basic aspects of acting like expressions, dialogue delivery etc. He was supportive through out the film, took pain to make me understand things and correct me and that always boosts ones morale.

By the time I joined Choclate, i had fairly good experience in cinema. And being in the company of Roma and Samvrutha, the entire session had a holiday feel. We all developed the same frequency – a thick relation which still remains. Earlier it was heard that Raju was one with a tough in nature, but he is really cool and supportive. Teaming up with him was also a learning process to me. I value him as one of the most genuine guy that I have met. He is a man who is traveling ahead of time.

*Which are the new projects at your hand?
I have completed the Tamil film 'Raman Thediya Seethai’ opposite Cheran and Produced by Moser Bear. Film is directed by Jagan nath. The film got completed in 4 schedules and took almost a year. It is now ready for july release. I lost the opportunity to do few Malayalam films due to this commitment. But i have the satisfaction of being able to do a film with Cheran Sir.

Discussion for the next tamil film are nearing conclusion and most probably it may begin by July mid. I am getting offers from Tamil, Telugu & Kannada, but i prefer to choose only those films suiting the parameters which I have fixed for my characters.

*If not an actress, what would you have become?
No doubt, I would have become a teacher. It was an ambition which i was nurturing since my childhood. I always wanted to be a biology teacher. I chose science form for my plus two studies with an intention to reach my ambition. But some how, i got into acting. Now cinema is my world, it is my passion, it is my profession and it is all to me. Hope i can remain and full fill my present aspirations

*Your Favorate food, color, dress?
Masala Dosa is my favorite and mostly prefers vegetarian food. At times I fall for chinese foods and dishes, but only occasionally. Usually I take homely foods. I love to cook my foods and try new combinations during leisure.

Sky blue, pink & black are my favorites and dressing depend upon the occasion. Usually I am inclined to casual wear. Sari, Salwar, jeans and top are favourites. I always make sure that I am comfortable in my dressing.

Mizhikal Sakshi

2008-06-21T00:45:00.001+05:30

Film Review:

Cast: Mohanlal, Sukumari, Jagathy Sreekumar, Manoj K Jayan, Nedumudi Venu, Saikumar, Kochupreman
Direction: Ashok R. Nath
Production: V.R. Das, V. Mohanlal
Music : Dakshinamoorthy

In an era when cinema is all about slapsticks, violence and vulgarity, 'Mizhikal Sakshi' by Ashok R Nath is a good reminder that cinema can be much more. This feel-good movie while raising several pertinent issues lets you walk out the theatre, with something to think about.

The movie tells a tale of a mute mother, who finds it hard to come into terms with the fact that her only son is convicted as a terrorist and is sent to gallows. She, after a long journey in search of her son, finally lands up in a temple premises where food is offered free, everyday. She becomes popular in the area as Kuniyamma, doing necessary cleaning and allied works in the temple environment. But all havoc break loose when someone finds that she is not a Hindu and is the mother of a revolutionary, who is supposed to have planted a bomb on a moving train, killing hundreds. The story does get interesting till the post-interval portions. But the sequence of events then follows the beaten path, till the climax which has its share of appeal.

The narration is simple, yet captivating. The director has used flashbacks to tell the story, using the discussions of an officer on investigation, Aditya Varma, as the tool to move the story ahead. The highlight of the movie is that it's extremely realistic for most of the times and looks straight out of life. And that being the USP of this grim tale, it's also a downer considering that the viewer of today is just not interested in watching a drama that's too realistic.

But as a movie that appeals more too serious audiences, director Ashok has deftly handled the script. He had maintained throughout, a monotonous pace, despite the somewhat predictable plot. Anil Mukhathala, in the scripts have maintained a distinct style and crisp dialogues with reasonable food for serious thought.

'Mizhikal Sakshi', presents Sukumari in the role of a life time. The most experienced actress of our times who had never been exposed to such meaty roles gives in a power house performance through her subtle act, all through the sequences. She emotes through eyes on several occasions- a hallmark of an accomplished actor. It is a difficult to think of any other actress who would've essayed this complex role with such sincerity. Mohanlal aptly supports Sukumari with an effective cameo, for which he can be proud of. Hats off to the star for agreeing to be a part of the movie, or else the film may not have seen the light. Another actor who made it his best is Kochupreman who had been first rate as Chollu Swamy.

Ashok has also been able to bring out the best from his technical crew, be it in much picturesque and emotive cinematography by Ramachandra Babu or in editing by Beena paul. Another highlight of the movie is the musical scores by veteran Dakshinamoorthy in the lyrics of O N V Kurup. Of all the four good songs set by Swamy for the movie, 'Chethiyum' and ‘Thazhampoo' are real gems, which arose nostalgia of our good old film music. Kaithapram Viswanath also ably supports the director with his skillfully done background scores.

All in all, ‘Mizhikal Sakshi’ is a memorable fare, which doesn't disguise itself as a high class entertainer. Have a watch, to witness some of the finest performances from one of our best known actress. The movie may well be remembered, more for Sukumari’s bravura performance than for the experience in totality!

One Way Ticket

2008-06-21T00:40:00.001+05:30

Film Review:

Cast: Prithviraj, Bhama, Mammootty, Thilakan, Jagathy Sreekumar, Salim Kumar, Kalabhavan Mani, Prachot, Jagadish, Suraj Venjaramood, Govindan Kutty, Balachandran Chullikad
Direction: Bipin Prabhakar

Fans associations had been always crucial in ensuring an awesome opening for those movies, which star their favorite on screen demigods. Especially in Mollywood, stars and their fans share an unique and interesting relationship .What director Bibin Prabhakar was trying to explore through his movie ‘One Way Ticket' was this interesting relationship between a superstar and his fan, which ultimately results in the star making some important amendments in the life of his fan. But mishmash in plot points, the culmination to the story and the note on which the film ends mars the impact of the film completely, making it an average fare.

The movie has Prithviraj as Jehangir, the district president of Mammootty fans association. Popularly called by the name Kunjapoo, he is the third rank holder in Plus two examinations. He was forced to become a taxi jeep driver, due to the dismal financial conditions of his family consisting of three sisters and widowed mother, for whom he was the only savior. Kunjappoo had made it a point to harass his uncle Bava Haji, by projecting stories about his love with Bava Haji's daughter Sajira and spreading false stories about his plans to marry her. But Haji is hell bend on bringing up some proposal to keep Kunjappo away from his daughter. His trusted aides broker Sakath Beeran (Salim Kumar) and Kanakkapillai Salahudeen (Jagadheesh) is always up to something in this direction.

Kunjapoo accidentally falls for a girl, who comes for an 'Oppana' dance at one of his friend's marriage. Mislead about her as ‘Rasiya’, he tries to track her whereabouts. This news comes as a big relief to Bava Haji, who immediately reaches Rasiya’s house and officially announce her relation with Kunjapoo and plans for the marriage. But later Kunjappo realizes that it was another girl named Sunanda (Bhama) whom he mistook as Rasiya, while agreeing for the marriage. Kunjappoo turns away from the deal and Bava Haji is now forced to marry off his only son with Rasiya.

Sunanda on the other hand, has her share of problems. His venomous uncle Karunakaran Ezhuttachan (Thilakan) is hatching plans to get her agree to marry his widower son (Nishanth Sagar), and thus seize her huge family fortune. Even though Kunjappoo and Sunanda part ways initially, they cross each other's path at regular intervals, try to find solace in others' arms.

And ultimately Kunjapoo is destined to become the savior of the girl, whose father has already been murdered and her mother, at the verge of another fatal disease. How Kunjaapoo works out plans to save her with the help of the real superstar, whom he admires, forms the plot the film. The film has a freeflow till the half way with rollicking comedy from Jagathy, Salimkumar and Jaffer Idukki. But thereafter the story comes to a screeching halt and starts focusing on the romantic side than the story of fanships and ends up without fireworks as an ordinary fare.

The second hour drags and the climax would've been better, realistic to be precise. The final reels has been extremely pathetic with wayward screenplay coupled with plastic performances .The poor treatment of the script in the final reels, written without any attention to details ruins the chances of an other wise safer movie. A fine-tuned performance from Prithviraj saves the film from becoming a much bigger dud. He plays his part, particularly the lighter comic sequences with amazing timing and ease.

In fact, the actor has graduated to a natural actor to the core, handling the most complex scenes with flourish. The other silver lining in the film is the presence of Mammootty who does an eventful cameo, which couldn't raise the expected applause. Bhama, as the love interest, has some significance in the beginning, but she is totally lost by the end of the film. Thilakan as Bhama's uncle fails to evoke the necessary villainy, with the director trying to dismantle the flashback sequences and present the story only through dialogues. Jagathy Sreekumar essays Radhika's father, Bava Hajyar to perfection. Salim Kumar, Jagadheesh and Jaffer Idukki handle the comic department proficiently

But the technical side remains average with even cinematographer Vipin Mohan’s work, so tailor-made with old fashioned wide shots. The background score by Raja Mani is jarring. Except for a couple of songs including the oppana song, the music by Raahul Raj is not up to mark. Ranjan Abraham also fails to sustain the interest, with the needed sharp cuts in the later half.

‘One Way Ticket’ is too ordinary a ticket for a fare that doesn’t leave any impression whatsoever. On the whole, it meets the expectations partly. At the box-office too, the film will end up as an average earner .See it once, if you have the time and inclination.

Another fruitful year for Malayalam Cinema

2008-06-15T02:36:00.000+05:30

FILM NEWS

Another Fruitful year for Malayalam Cinema.

Malayalam cinema has done itself proud by winning not only an enviable number, but also a few of the cream of the 54th National Film Awards which were announced in New Delhi on Tuesday.

Priyanandanan’s ‘Pulijanmam’ is selected as the best feature film.

Priyamani was adjudged as the best female actor for her role in the Tamil film ‘Paruthiveeran,’ it is as much a recognition for Kerala as Malayalam cinema too played a major role in putting her through her paces.

Tilakan was adjusted for Spl.Jury Award.

Nedumudi Venu has been enriching not only the film world, but also the theatre. It is the manner in which he renders dialogues, the pregnant pauses which he makes, the timbre of his voice and the overall mellifluousness of his style which came to the filmgoers mind when his narration (commentary) in the short film ‘Minukku’ was adjudged as the best.

The selection of Major Ravi’s ‘Keerthi Chakra.’ , film as one of the best two on national integration comes as the icing on the cake.

Malayalam cinema, a proud winner in the 54th National Film Awards Event.

2008-06-15T02:35:00.000+05:30

FILM NEWS

Malayalam cinema has done itself proud by winning not only an enviable number, but also a few of the cream of the 54th National Film Awards which were announced in New Delhi on Tuesday.

The selection of Priyanandanan’s ‘Pulijanmam’ as the best feature film is probably the highest honour to come the Malayalam tinsel world’s way this time. Should the director of the best film be adjudged as the best director as well or should another person be selected for that honour has been and still is the subject of a heated debate. Whatever is the outcome of that debate, Malayali film lovers are certain to consider Priyanandanan also as the best director, in addition to Madhur Bhandarkar.

Film fans missed a heart beat when veteran actor Tilakan missed the national best actor award by a whisker. They heaved a sigh of relief only when the jury decided to make a special mention for his acting in ‘Ekantham.’ Madhu Kaithapram, the director of the film, also shared the award for the best debut film maker. M.P. Sukumaran Nair brought in more laurels when his film ‘Drishtantham’ was declared the best Malayalam film.

It was only after Kamal wove a touching story around a Tamil family that the people started taking a closer look at the “Karutha Pakshikal” who can be seen ironing clothes here, collecting discarded items there or doing some other odd job somewhere else. Mammootty had done an excellent piece of acting in the film and there were many who thought that he would get away with the State if not the national award. Many were disappointed when he did not, but the selection of the film as the best one with social content came as a big relief. Mohanlal, the other uncrowned king of Malayalam cinema had given one of his best performances in Major Ravi’s ‘Keerthi Chakra.’ The selection of that film as one of the best two on national integration comes as the icing on the cake.

Nedumudi Venu has been enriching not only the film world, but also the theatre. It is the manner in which he renders dialogues, the pregnant pauses which he makes, the timbre of his voice and the overall mellifluousness of his style which came to the filmgoers mind when his narration (commentary) in the short film ‘Minukku’ was adjudged as the best. Though Priyamani was adjudged as the best female actor for her role in the Tamil film ‘Paruthiveeran,’ it is as much a recognition for Kerala as Malayalam cinema too played a major role in putting her through her paces.

‘Matter of pride’

Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan described the national awards won by Malayalam cinema as a matter of pride for all Malayalis. In an official press note, he said that it was a certificate of the quality of Malayalam films. He wanted those concerned to make use of the opportunity to avoid controversies and disputes and come together for promoting good cinema. He congratulated Priyanandanan over phone.

AMMA vs MACTA

2008-06-15T02:34:00.000+05:30

FILM NEWS

This Thursday was marked with frenzied drama in Mollywood circles. The story all started with a popular channel flashing news about the new ban on popular star Dileep, initiated by MACTA, The Malayalam Cine Technicians Association. Within some hours, some other channels also followed suit and mobile phones of the association members began to start ringing without breaks, as all media were after them to enquire about the reasons.

It was then finalized by all trade members that the issue, if real, will initiate the skirmishes between the stars and director's associations and soon will restart the fight between AMMA and MACTA, particularly due to the fact that Dileep is one of the most active member of AMMA and is even in charge of their maiden movie production, ‘Twenty Twenty'.

Within some hours in the late evening, Vinayan, the veteran director and the chairman of MACTA has made it clear that MACTA has only taken up a complaint against superstar Dileep, and has not banned his films. The association has forwarded a complaint from director Thulasidas, to the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA) which alleges that Dileep has backed out from a film even after taking payment of Rs.4 million, four years back.

AMMA president Innocent confirmed said that the MACTA has written to it about this issue. "We will look into the matter and will reply in another two days' time'' said Innocent. Dileep remained silent on the issue and prefers to wait, till a reply from AMMA is out.

The MACTA, registered under the trade unions comprises 18 different sections of Malayalam film industry workers.

Twenty Twenty hopes to bowl over the audience with its fast pace, multi-star cast and captivating storyline.

2008-06-15T02:32:00.000+05:30

FILM NEWS

“It’s like being part of a celebration like Thrissur Pooram,” says actor-producer Dileep on the making of the film ‘Twenty Twenty,’ which will have almost every actor in Mollywood acting in the film. The shoot of the film, directed by Joshiy, is nearing completion and is scheduled for a June-end release.
Fund raiser

Innocent, president of Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA), explains that the initiative was launched to raise funds for the organisation. “Although arranging stage shows would have been an easier option, the majority was in favour of a film. We decided to give the responsibility of producing the film to some one who would give the association a fixed amount. Dileep came forward and the project was on,” he says.

However, Innocent points out that creating a story that would give the same importance to all the main heroes was never on the agenda.

“A good story was developed and the members are wholeheartedly supporting the film,” he adds. Echoing Innocent’s sentiments, Dileep says that the decision to make a film involving as many members of AMMA as possible was taken three years back and the shoot started last December.

“It’s a big budget movie and regardless of the fate of the movie at the box office, AMMA will be paid Rs. One crore. I don’t think there has been such an attempt ever in the history of cinema anywhere,” he says.

Director Joshiy agrees that the film is being made on a big canvas. “But for me, it’s the characters that matter more than the star status of those who are performing in the film, as I have worked with most of the actors. It was quite a task to choose a suitable subject. Once that was decided, things started happening more easily and quickly. Since the project involves a lot of actors, it is often difficult to arrange the schedules,” he says.

While Joshiy is a veteran director of many multi-star casts, scenarists Siby K. Thomas and Udayakrishnan find it hard to believe they are part of a team that is going to be a milestone in the history of Malayalam cinema.
“We believe that it’s the closest to winning the Oscar,” gush the scenarists.

“It is history in the making and perhaps the only attempt of its kind. We became conscious of the challenge we had accepted only when we actually started thinking about a possible subject involving all the big names in the Malayalam film industry. We are aware that everything will be put under the scanner – the characters, their place in the storyline and the punch lines in the dialogues.

“So, we decided to opt for a story that would do justice to the actors. At the same time, it is has a gripping and entertaining plot,” say the duo who refuse to divulge anything further.
“The suspense is reserved for the screen,” they chorus.
Mood of celebration

Although the film has no connection with cricket, the title ‘Twenty Twenty,’ like the shorter and exciting version of the game, signifies the pace with which things happen in life. “There is a mood of celebration,” say the scenarists.

‘Twenty Twenty’ has had its own share of surprises and upsets as well, with actors like Nayantara making a comeback of sorts, after a brief hiatus, to Malayalam cinema while reigning actor Meera Jasmine found it difficult to find the required dates for the project.

“Meera was originally paired opposite Dileep and had to shoot for just under a week, but she could not give the dates for the shoot,” says Siby and Udayakrishnan. Innocent, however, refused to comment on the issue.

Quiz the director about the genre of the film and Joshiy smiles: “All I can say now is that ‘Twenty Twenty’ is being packaged to attract every section of the audience. Let them decide on its pluses and minuses once it reaches the screen.”

Twenty:20 to be released in 118 centres!

2008-06-15T02:30:00.000+05:30

AMMA Production-Twenty:20, the multi-star cinema is reportedly being planned for a mega-release, in 118 centres, breaking all previous records in Mollywood.

Produced for AMMA (the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists) under the able captaincy of actor Dileep, the film has in its cast almost all prominent stars of Malayalam, and has been in the news for quite some time, for obvious reasons. Shooting for the film is scheduled to be over by mid-May, and it is heard that the makers plan to release it by the first week of June.

Meanwhile, a discussion between the exhibitor's association and the Kerala government has resulted in the decision of getting the film released in 118 centres. Twenty-Twenty, which could very well be called the 'mother of all multi-starrers' is being directed by Joshi and features script by Sibi K. Thomas and Udayakrishna. Dileep is in charge of the production activities. It should be remembered that Rajnikanth's Shivaji was released in 75 centres in Kerala. For a Malayalam film, 118 theatres is really a BIG thing. Stay put for more news about Twenty-Twenty and also for more news.

Dasavatharam

2008-06-12T01:42:00.000+05:30

FIlm Review:

Banner: Aascar Films
Cast: Kamal Haasan, Asin, Mallika Sherawath, Jayapradha, Rekha, K R Vijaya, Nagesh, Nepolean, Santhana Bharathi, M S Bhaskar, P Vasu, R Sundarrajan, Ramesh Khanna, Erode Sounder, Pandu
Direction: K S Ravikumar
Production: V Ravichandran
Music: Himesh Reshammiya & Devi Sri Prasad

One striking feature that hits you in the face once you have watched ‘Dasavatharam’ is Kamal Haasan's passion for filmmaking. All the ten roles he has essayed have been meticulously planned right from the body language to dialogue delivery. Be it the American president George Bush, the Vaishnavite priest of the 12th century or Fletcher, the American baddie.

The eyes are considered the most effective tools in creating the right kind of attitude for any actor and Kamal Haasan is a master at that. There are many a time in the film when the audience would have to force themselves to believe that it is the same actor who is the good guy as well as the bad guy.

The expressive and determined eyes of the priest, the mushy and yet funny countenance of Balaram Naidu, the hilarious CBI officer and the peaceful martial artist eyes of the Japanese character have all shaped up to fit into any acting text book. Hats off to Kamal Haasan on the acting front!!

Based loosely on Chaos theory, the narration of the film promises a lot of excitement and as the story unfolds, somewhere down the line there are a few missing links that have been forcefully stitched together. Govind, the bio-scientist in the United States of America has been wronged by his boss who has intentions of selling his invention to wrong hands. The determined scientist doesn't give up. He sneaks it away and after a few accidents the invention lands in India. The hunt and race against time especially with Fletcher, the ex-CIA baddie sniffing at his neck with murderous intent culminates into Govind meeting an irrationally sentimental and at times sweet Andal (Asin). The baddie with sizzling Mallika Sherawat for company proceeds along the vulnerable Indian security system and shows up at the right places at the right time.

The narration then makes sure most of the characters played by Kamal get into close proximity in terms of geography. The stunt sequences are quite professional with its share of thrilling moments, but then there are too many coincidences consistently. The protagonist and his slowly, but surely falling-in-love lady companion seem to be jumping off just about everything. Soft landing seems to be a predictable option at most times.

When it comes to action and stunt scenes, ‘Dasavatharam’ is head and shoulders above most Indian films. The music element in the film is passable with some breathtaking re-recording bits in patches.

Cinematography has been simply awesome. The heavy compositing and trick shots have not dampened Ravi Varman's innate talent at creating the right kind of mood the film depicts.

‘Dasavatharam's’ review can never be complete without talking about the makeup part. Apart from the desired result one can guess the kind of effort and hard work Kamal Haasan would have had to go through just to get them on and that too on a daily basis. Makeup has been good overall except for a few shots that show off a kind of plastic look.

Computer Generated Imagery plays a huge role in the film. When the same actor plays seven feet plus youth and an old woman who is barely five feet, one can imagine the kind of intensive scaling and image manipulation by the CG team. Recreation of the 2004 Tsunami is impressive and the action part weaves the intensity of the story.

The direction has been apt sticking to the script in the true sense of the term. K. S. Ravikumar known for his simple style of narration has not been himself with ‘Dasavatharam’, but has shown sparks of ingenuity.

Kamal Haasan has stuck to his favorite subject of the 'no God' debate in this film too and has glorified himself probably for the first time on screen with a dialogue directed at him as being the 'Ulaga Nayagan'.

With Kamal Haasan playing ten roles, all other actors have been completely overshadowed.

This is a movie that has highlighted a highly talented and passionate actor in his entire splendor. At the end of the film one tends to ask….has Kamal Haasan been so spectacular that he has overshadowed the script and story this time?

Magic Lamp

2008-06-05T12:38:00.000+05:30

Film Review:

Cast: Jayaram, Meena, Divya Unni, Rasika,
Direction: Haridas
Music: Ouseppachan

Jayaram seems to be in a deep turmoil where he just can't hope for a magical movie to give a fresh life to his career. His latest, to add to the list of non starters will be ‘Magic Lamp', the movie which was waiting in the cans for the last seven years. And as expected, this identical individuals' tale definitely give that depressing, silly air of the nineties. This logic-defying, light-hearted comedy (intended) movie seems to be caught in a time warp, which never ever will manage to entertain the viewers of the new millennium.

‘Magic Lamp’ also reminds us that nonsensical film like this, used to be made with unerring frequency in the early nineties, when audiences know exactly what to expect from them. The movie opens with Anupama (Meena), a rich and spoilt girl living in Bangalore, landing up on a photo of a young man, when she happens to drive by. On seeing the photo her two friends identifies the man as two different persons. Anupama who aspires to become an airhostess has just finished her interview and is waiting for her appointment letter. But her rich aristocratic family in Kerala is very much against the decision, as they consider the job below their status.

Having lost her parents at a very early stage, Anupama is take care by an aged grand father (Oduvil Unnikrishanan). Her two uncles always have an eye on her wealth, and they want their respective sons to marry her. The sons Mohana Krishnan (Baiju) a Veterinary doctor and Omana Kuttan (Kottayam Nazeer) an Ayurvedic doctor are also competing with each other for her attention. To escape from marriage she weaves stories, one after another, about her fictitious lover whom she had seen in the photo. Later with the help of Adv Lalan, another lover who is also after her, Anupama keeps unwanted marriage alliances at bay, by another cooked up story about herself as a victim who was molested by the same man at Goa! A search for 'the man' by different persons of the family leads to Sunny Kuruvila (Jayaram), a coach in a women’s College about to be betrothed to Alphonsa (Rasika), to Dr. Nandakumar (Jayaram), married to Viji (Divya Unni) and to Chandrasenan, a macho guy with the twirled up moustache from Peruvannapuram. With this alleged relation with Anupama, each of their families faces unexpected problems.Now Chandrasensn who is toughest one among the three decides to unearth the real problem maker and the reality behind the stories which brings him face to face with Anupama.

Ranjith who is credited with the story has a done to death premise of brothers at war for wealth. The screenplay and dialogues also never rise above the ordinary. And as you watch the drama unfold on the screen, there is this feeling of deja vu in almost every scene, making you remember the likes of Rajasenan’s movies of the nineties.

The first half an hour is really a torture where the director has apparently forgot what quality comedy is all about and made a crass concoction abundantly supplied with plenty of uncomplimentary hints, double entendres and songs. Jayaram tries hard to give a different look and pattern of accents to each of the characters, while Jagathy runs all through the movie, enters every scene with his characteristic demeanor, as he used to be in the films of the nineties.Meena as Anupama is in his usual self, while Rasika and Divya Unni make eye candy appearances in a few scenes.

In delivering a below-par product, director Haridas appears confused throughout, dealing with the different characterizations of mismatched identities, all played of Jayaram. He also has also failed to extract the best out of his technicians. Music by Ouseppachan is average while more atrocious is its BG scores by S SP Venkatesh. The camera work by Vipin Mohan never rises above the pedestrian and the costumes and sets are tasteless and outdated.

Aandavan

2008-05-23T00:27:00.001+05:30

Film Review:

Director : Akbar Jose
Producer : Cinema Company
Cast : Kalabhavan Mani, Sindhu Menon,Jagathy, Anand, Boban Alummoodan, Salim Kumar,
Machan Varghese, Narayanankutty, Subair, Irshad, Jose, Bijukuttan, Ponnamma
Babu, Kulapulli Leela, Seema G. Nair
Lyrics : Kaithapram, Bappu Veliparambu
Cinematography : Vipin Mohan
Music: Alex Paul

‘Aandavan' is a regular Kalabhavan Mani affair -yet another take which glorify one-man vigilant justice. And as usual with his films, this too remains unsurprising and predictable to the core. In an obvious attempt at making a formulaic masala movie, the creators come up with another that turns out far from satisfactory.

The movie has Mani as Murugan, who is more popular as 'Aandavan', a demi god in his slum, a savior robin hood who steals money from the rich to help the poor. The peculiarity with him is that he is a specialist who repeatedly steals from only one man-Parameshwara Panikkar, his sworn enemy, the local tycoon and moneylender who is there into every unlawful business, from illicit liquor to massage centers.

Panikkar had destroyed Murugan's family, years ago, getting him and his father arrested and assaulted on false claims.

Panikkar's own son Sadasivan, who is now the Circle Inspector of Police couldn't resist the brainy protagonist thief from continuing with his follies in his father's house. Murugan, who is also a childhood enemy of Sadasivan, execute the most daring and ingenuous of heists, looting the big share of money that Panikkar earns through his unlawful means. Murugan is even more particular to leave any money left after his charity activities, into the local police station, without revealing himself.

The new female Sub-Inspector, Sreelekha (Sindhu Menon) who is put into the charge of the related investigations takes up residence on the ground floor of house in which Murugan hides on nights. On recognizing Sreerekha’s paralized father, Murugan realizes Sreerekha as one of his childhood playmates.

Unaware of this friend in the attic, Sreerekha hatches plans to grab Murugan.

Meanwhile Sreerekha has to confront with Sadasivan who helps his father in his shady activities, which ultimately results in Sreerekha getting suspended from service. But, by now she has fallen for her childhood friend, realising the facts that made him a thief. Murugan has now got a lot of things to accomplish. To take on his final revenge against Panikkar and his sons and to reinstate Sreerekha into the service. How he accomplish this forms the rest of the plot.

The biggest drawback of the film is that it is highly predictable. It ends up in a much contrived climax. The last reels of the film looks like a product made in a hurry, with little attention to details, logic or story continuity.

K Gireeshkumar in the scripts has reworked a story that seems to be as old as the Stone Age, failing to give anything unique to the story lines, that the audience can take back.

Kalabhavan Mani as Murugan has nothing more to do than be in his usual self. Sindhu Menon is passable as Sreerekha, while Jagathy Sreekumar as Parameswara Panicker and Anand as Sadasivan are in their regular outings. Bijukuttan as the small-time ganja dealer Bhaskaran and Salim Kumar as the iron-man Mayankutty bring in some chuckles. Seema G. Nair is remarkable as the local streetwalker Sarasu.

In the technical side, everything is in tune with the theme. M Bawa in art direction has done an exceptional job in creating the slums, look natural. Vipin Mohan has opted for not much experimentation while Renjan Abraham in editing also is ordinary, employing innumerable white flashes..The action sequences are well-orchestrated and act as a catalyst to hold on the narratives.

The songs by Alex Paul are hummable of which, "Poonnila punchiri thookum..." rendered by Vineeth Sreenivasan has the potential to enter the charts. There is also the mandatory Mani song, which is also crisply visualized with good choreography, thankfully without an item girl.

Shakesphere M A Malayalam

2008-05-17T12:23:00.001+05:30

Film Review:

Banner: Kamalam Films
Cast: Jayasurya, Kalabhavan Mani, Bhama, Jagathy, Salimkumar, Suraj Venjaaramoodu, Rajan
P Dev, Siddhique, Anoop Chandran
Direction: Shaiju - Shaji

We usually go to the movies to laugh, cry and get entertained. Reinforcing this faith in movies, without any pretensions is the new film 'Shakesphere M A Malayalam', from the debutante duo Shaiju-Shaji. Count among the high points of the movie - the whole team of comedians from Malayalam coming together in tandem, a refreshingly engaging plot lines that induce continuous laughs, good technical support, background scores and winsome dialogues. Yes, this is a film with no larger than life heroes, no loud villains or no punchlines...what you can see here is only a feel good comic escapade, presented with the needed spirits.

"The entire world is a stage and all the men and women merely players" -The plotlines of the movie follows Pavithran who follows this Shakespearean quote in its fullest. He is the award winning play wright of Jayabharathi theatres, who writes on people around him and about those he knows personally. This habit of representing real-life characters on stage earned him the nickname 'Shakespeare Pavithran.'

As Pavithran is combating a creative block, with little time to spare for setting up their drama for the new season, Kottayan Gopalan, the lead actor ,director and owner of Jayabharathi theatres convinces Pavithran go to a remote village of Kakkathuruthu. He is accompanied by a group of actors like Sugunan (Salim Kumar), and Sarasan (Anoopchandran), who are dying to take the stage by a storm and to support Pavithran to battle over his temporary slump in writing. While Pavithran waits for days without any promising themes, he comes across Alli, a young country girl, loaded with her share of grave problems. Pavithran impressed by Alli, as a gullible character who can be interestingly transformed to stage, began to scribble on her the new drama - 'Prakasham Parathunna Penkutty'. He starts to ponder over her woes and difficult situations and guides her as if he write the growing sequences of his characters on stage. But what Pavithran is heading to, is the most unexpected piece of drama that his life has never ever witnessed.

The movie has a refreshingly different plot by Rajesh K Raman, scripted by the director duo Shaiju -Shaji with support from Jiju Ashok. The movie does have clichéd characters and the typical masalas associated with Mollywood packaging. But the intrinsic humour in the writing and the immensely likeable characters wins over us, especially in the first half. The later half is a little drag, but don't takes off the liveliness of the movie, even though the intended surprise in the climax is not so promising.

With a revolting, sugary sense of comedy, the movie appears disjointed at times, also due to intense pace in the proceedings. Like the rags - turn - riches sequences in the later half, which happens in a matter of few days. But as a comedy film it is above par, with a mixed bag of hilarity, leaving us hooked up almost through the entire proceedings.

Jayasuriya is once again at the familiar territory easing through the light hearted narratives. Roma also dons a different role as Alli with spontaneity. It is also heartening to see Kalabahavan Mani, back to a humorous role after a couple of years. But 'Shakesphere M A Malayalam' really banks on the host of real stars of the movie - the comedy artists with their impeccable timing, be it in the incredible Jagathy Sreekumar as Thoothukudy Thulaseedas to the obligatory Suraj venjaramoodu as junior ONV and Salim Kumar in a hilarious role of an actor longing for animated embraces from his female leads. Anoop Chandran as Sarasan, a School of Drama product excited by the riddles of every encounters in life, is one of the best roles that he has ever essayed.

Positive

2008-05-15T00:17:00.001+05:30

Film Review:

Banner: Fabulance Entertainments
Cast: Jayasuriya, Sooraj, Saikumar, Manikuttan, Jagathy, T G Ravi, Augustine, Maala, Bindu-
Panikkar
Direction: V K Prakash
Music: Vayalar Sharth- Alex Paul

Now it's a trend in the industry to make films on plots of friendship .Even a lot of other language films like 'Happy Days' raked in big profits from Kerala while dealing with such plots. Following this propensity for youthfulness in style and narratives, filmmaker V K Prakash has accomplished another movie made on the tender alliance of friendship and love.

As a director who has been constantly dumped down by weaker scripts, this new movie ‘Positive' also is not a big exception. But this time due credit should be given to V K P (as he is popularly called in ad circles), for coming up with a clean film sans any coarseness. Only if the screenplay were a bit well knitted, the film would have been even better.

The highlights of 'Positive' is not only the high spirit of camaraderie but also the absorbing planting of a investigative thriller module amidst the life of a group of teens, who continues with their musical band even after their studies. The action mainly gyrates around Raju (Suraj) a software engineer and his three bosom pals essayed onscreen by Vani, Manikuttan and Remesh Pisharody. Raju who plays the key board and is into vocals is supported in his every endevours by progressive boisterous Winnie (Vani Kishore), Udayan-the drummer of the band with long tresses and a 'designer beard' (Manikuttan) and Cherry (Ramesh Pisharody). Winnie's mother tries to marry her off to a Police Officer named Aniyan, but his off hand remarks on their friendship group spoils the event.

On a way back from Bangalore, Raju accidentally encounters Jyothi (Ayilya G Nair) in a bus, which leads to a transitory romance. On the day when Raju plans to introduce Jyothy to his friends of the troupe and his family, she disappears from the hostel without leaving a trace about her whereabouts. Raju is totally heartbroken following the incident.

The film which starts off blissfully cheeky with lively proceedings in the first half, songs and humor, gets more and more serious as it goes along, and suddenly changes over to an investigative thriller. This constant, changes of direction to the story, at every given opportunity spoils much of this slickly made sequences and its stylish visuals. The story has all the vital ingredients of a commercial potboiler like romance, family sentiments, suspense and action. But the scripts by S N Swamy fails to split the proverbial beans with élan, leaving us desperate to figure how the filmmaker will reach that loopy ending, after the completely unrelated first few reels. Despite its strong technical content and brilliant performances, V K Prakash finds its hard to carry the juggling act successfully with this many layered story.

All the key artists in the movie have come up with brilliant performances. But Jayasuriya as a police officer seems to be a miscast in the film, with his shallow physical appearances. It is not easy being an emerging star in Malayalam cinema because most characters you play has a benchmark set by a veteran actor. So when Jayasuriya plays a warm, non indulgent police officer, we are immediately reminded of the veteran superstar's powerful police roles. Suraj, Manikuttan and Remesh Pishadory seem perfect and natural in their roles. Saikumar is in his usual self while Jagathy who often appears from nowhere is wasted in the movie.

The female leads, Ayilya and Vani with good screen presence, do their parts surprisingly convincingly, though their characters could have been etched out more sharply.

Technically, the film offers some of the best visuals seen in Malayalam cinema in recent times. Cinematographer R Ganesh captures the spirit of the youth in every frame. Mahesh Narayanan also deserves applause for the zest full cuts that announces the landing of another talented technician to Mollywood.

Pachamarathanalil

2008-05-08T12:11:00.001+05:30

Film Review:

Banner: Revathy Kalamandhir
Cast: Sreenivasan, Padmapriya, Lalu Alex, Lal, Nassar, Suraj Venjaramoodu, Bijukuttan,
Sukumari, Sona Nair
Direction: Leo Thaddhevoos
Production: G Sureshkumar
Music: Alphonse Joseph

At times, you go to movies with the great expectations. Particularly when a new director shows up with a film, in his own title below story, screenplay and dialogues, and that too directing the veterans like Sreenivasan and immensely talented Padmapriya, you have all the reasons to expect a winner. After watching such an attempt by the debutante director and script writer Leo Thaddhevoos, an erstwhile associate to ace director Bhadran, in the new flick ‘Pachamarathanalil' you are not all together knocked out by its narratives, but will feel an urge to appreciate it as a well made movie.

The film tells the story of Sachi alias Sachidanandan (Sreenivasan), a renowned cartoonist who is much popular as the creator of 'Poompatta Princess', a very popular cartoon character in a children's magazine. Sachi leads a peaceful life with his beautiful wife Anu (Padmapriya) a government employee who is much obsessed with their 5 year old daughter's studies. Their daughter Sneha, who is the cynosure of all eyes and attracts attention wherever she goes, is also the inspiration behind the creation of the cartoon character 'Poompatta'

Following a dance performance in her school, Teny, an Advertisement film maker happens to notice Sneha and invites her to play the lead in his new advertisement film which is to be shot in Chennai. Sneha accepts the offer grace fully and seems enjoying and easy going like a professional actress in the entire sets, sometimes fooling around her father who is also accompanying the child. After a couple of days, the shoot crew makes a shift to Pollachi. But on the way to the new location, the entire shooting crew finds the child virtually vanished into thin air, that too on the highways from a speeding bus! Sachidandandan, shocked at missing his daughter, tries ways to find her, but with little clues to the happening.

The drama at the highways takes a curious turn when C I Venkitachal Aiyer (Nazar) reaches the scene to investigate the case. Within a short time, he claims that Sneha is not the daughter of Sachidandandan. The film goes on to tell what is the actually behind her missing and how they unearth ways to find her.

The basic premise of the story seems to be more interesting in paper than on screen, as usual with the recent Mollywood movies. The film holds a curious resemblance to Maniratnam's classic 'Kannathil Mutthamittal' in its plot lines, even though the director Leo has tried ways to present it different. The first half of the movie is rather pacy but the second half is a tad slow with some lengthy flashbacks.

The impact of the story has been crippled by a casual narrative approach at some points. An attempt is made to make it an edge-of-the-seat thriller with the missing- child mystery and its associated suspense, maintained through out with the aid from spooky sound effects. As the story progresses the suspense element decreases, the film starts to drag a bit till the climax, where it is again back to predictable lines, offering least genuine tensions. The characters are all well etched, but the narration lacks feeling and maturity, particularly in the later sequences.

Coming to performances, Sreenivasan as Sachi is at home, presenting another character with ease and commendable restrain. He is particularly good, even though not at his best, in the timing of his witty one-liners and sounds natural all through. Padmapriya as Anu is cut out for the role, giving justice to every sequence. It is amazing the way she handles the role with needed intensity, and manages to connect with the audience. Suraj Venjaramoodu and Biju Kuttan provide the needed comic relief, playing the production controller Urakathu Jose and his manager Shivadasan.

Swarnam

2008-05-04T00:04:00.001+05:30

Film Review:

Banner: Jyotirgamaya
Cast: Kalabahavan Mani, Praveena, Murali, Valsala Menon, Jagathy Sreekumar,
Kozhikode Narayanan Nair, Indrans, U C K Thangal, Chertala Lalitha, Vijayan Peringod,
Soniya
Direction: Venugopan
Production: Soman Pallat
Music: Mohan Sitar

Finally Kalabhavan Mani is back to a role, which has him in his elements, affably displaying his acting potential in 'Swarnam'. The fourth movie by Venugopan is of course, the best from the director. Based on a solid script from S.Sureshbabu, 'Swarnam' weaves a story around men enmeshed in hatred, greed and prurience. The movie reminds you of some of the oldies of the Bharthan-Padmarajan era, particularly in the plot lines and in the deft touches and tonal intricacies.Of course, this is a movie that you can definitely be with for its fine craft, directorial control over the proceedings, and stupendous performance from a talented cast.

The movie tells the story of inhabitants of Chumrampathy- a small village along the banks of the Shiruvani River, who believes in the legend of a golden treasure that lies somewhere buried under water. From the time of Aachiyamma (Valsala Menon), the oldest of the clan, many have enterprises risking their lives into the Chavukayam in search of the gold, but in vain.

Divakaran (Kalabhavan Mani) grandson of Aachiyamma, a harsh man, never believed in the mythful fable, but tried other ways to make money. Being insensitive to other's woes and needs, he was not even ready to look after his orphaned niece and wife Radha, but garnered money, penny by penny, to fulfill his objectives like buying a lorry for himself.

One day, Divakaran finds himself bare handed with all his money robbed off. This leads him to trying his luck once in the Chavukayam for gold. Even after trying for eighteen days, he couldn't fetch a mentionable amount of fortune. In this juncture arrives a black magician who demands a five year old child as a 'bali' in exchange for loads of gold that is soon to be discovered on the river banks. Divakaran's dislike to his niece, suddenly goes on a change, following this divination .Now his obsessions to wealth is set to lead him along a path, which will make him identify the locus of the original gold.

The highlight of the movie is definitely, the unassuming package of script lines, which avoids the normal pit holes, in its entire ride. In this straight forward narration of events, Sureshbabu has gracefully avoided the formula stuff, except in the finale. The director Venugopan stays clear off the regular gimmicks but showcases his skills in steering the viewer's emotions as desired.

The film has its flaws. It sometimes tries too hard to be philosophical and piousful in its dialogues and some tear jerking sequences especially with the child (Baby Nayantara) ends up sounding bogus. The logic also goes for a toss in some sequences in the later half. The film’s pace slackens at intervals, mainly due to a lesser degree of lighter moments, as the focus is more on emotional content. And the continuous onslaught of sorrow and hopelessness may sometimes exasperate you.

The film's substantial emotional impact depends largely on the performances. The smallest of cast member seems to know the job on hand. Kalabhavan Mani excels playing the hero and villain of the movie ‘Swarnam’ has created enough sequences that give a platform for his performance.

Praveena in her comeback incredibly depicts the various shades of the character with amazing ease. Her calm face with plethora of emotions, sans make-up looks up at you with frankness and honesty -- the perfect foil to the hero unidimensional hero.

Saloo George once again proved to be one of the best behind the camera, maintaining a singular dark tone throughout, suiting the mood of the movie. Mohan Sithara also proves effective particularly in the background scoring that sets the mood of the movie. No unnecessary fast-paced songs mar the tempo. Out of the five songs, there are a couple of hummable tunes.

Mammootty with Microsoft to launch e-literacy program.

2008-04-25T18:16:00.000+05:30

Software giant Microsoft and veteran Malayalam superstar Mammootty are planning to launch an e-literacy programme in Kerala.

Mammootty told that he is in discussions with Microsoft for the launch of the statewide education project.

He is also the brand ambassador of the state-sponsored Akshaya IT programme.

Mammootty said he wants to launch the project to help make all sections of the society IT literate.

Mohanlal writing story for a movie

2008-04-25T18:15:00.000+05:30

Mohanlal is for the first time writing a story for a movie, starring himself in the lead.

The film titled 'Swapnamaalika' to be directed by K B Devaraj will feature the story written by the superstar, in which he will appear as Dr.Appu Nair who is working on a research project in an American University.

Elina, a english women will appear as the heroine playing Radha Karmel in the movie.

The movie was earlier planned with Prithviraj, donning an important role with Lal.

But now the movie has rescheduled its narratives, based on a fresh story by Lal which will not feature Prithviraj in the casts.

'Swapnamaalika' will also present ace singer M G Sreekumar as the music director.

The film will feature four songs written by Aparna Karimbil, set to music by Sreekumar.

The movie will be shot in locales at Varanasi, Allahabad, Delhi and Ottappalam.

Mohanlal's Onam film is Kargil.

2008-04-25T18:14:00.000+05:30

The movie titled 'Kargil' which had been announced a few months before, will also be an army story based on the first hand experiences of the director, who had been a real life 'Major in the Indian Army'.

'Kargil', a big budgeted flick based on the kagil wars will be produced by Santhosh Damodaran under the banner of Damor Films.

Mohanlal will start the work on this film after completing his projects like 'Maadambi', 'Swapnamalika' and 'Twenty Twenty' which are in the list releases till Onam.

'Kargil' will be Major Ravi's third film, after 'Keerthi Chakra' and 'Mission 90 Days'.

Major is also planning to bring together Kamal Haasan and Mohanlal together for another film 'Kandahaar' which will be one of his much challenging projects after 'Kargil'.

Mohanlal is Che Guevara

2008-04-25T18:11:00.000+05:30

What is your opinion about Mohanlal being selected to play 'Che Guevara', the charismatic revolutionary Latin American leader and Fidel Castro's right hand.

No space for a debate here as Lal is selected to play a Che Guevara, but not the one about whom we have studied in the revolutionary texts.

He will be enacting on screen a Che Guevara, a Keralite with the name, who is having the same spirits of unwavering dedication to his revolutionary doctrines and aims to serve the poverty ridden public and eradicating the socio economic inequalities of the people.

Ace scriptwriter A K Sajan , after his recent super hits like 'Nadhiya Kollapeta Rathri' and 'Chinthamani Kola Case' is shaping up this character of Che Guevara for Mohanlal, for the new movie 'Karnan' to be directed by Joshy.

The movie will start it shoot, once Mohanlal completes his climax part in 'Twenty Twenty' and 'Madambi'.

Mammootty again with Renji

2008-04-25T18:09:00.000+05:30

Renji Panikkar has been reasonably successful in placing Mammootty back in Police uniform for the

movie 'Raudram'. The film's tremendous opening was primarily due to the strength of the police

character that the superstar performed to perfection.

Now after the success of 'Raudram’ Renji Panikkar will once again call the shots for Mammootty for

a new film. Planned for the December of 2008, the film is tentatively titled as 'Kaduvakkunnil

Kuruvachan'. The other details about are cast and crew are awaited.

Nayantara - Highest paid actress in south india.

2008-04-25T18:05:00.000+05:30

With the new film that she is doing in Tamil, Nayantara will become the highest paid actress in South India.

According the filmi reports, Nayantara will be paid a solid one crore for appearing in the female lead opposite Vijay in the new film directed by Prabhu Deva.

This untitled movie will be second film directed by Prabhu Deva in Tamil after the super hit of last year 'Pokkiri'.

Nayantara will thus become the highest paid Malayalee actress, ever to have recorded in Indian film history.

Meanwhile her latest release in Tamil ‘Yaradi Nee Mohini' has always climbed the charts of audience approval and is the chart topper in Kollywood box office.

Even though she can have a crore for a film, Nayantara was humble enough to appear free of cost for the new Malayalam film 'Twenty Twenty' produced by AMMA.

The actress is said to have appeared without taking a penny for the songs sequences in the film which also features all the other younger stars of Mollywood like Prithviraj, Kunchacko Boban, Indrajith and Manikkuttan.

The Chennai Super Kings has Dropped Nayantara

2008-04-25T17:19:00.000+05:30

The Chennai Super Kings has announced that Nayantara is no longer their brand ambassador.

But why? Because her tight schedule in cinema makes her unable to meet her commitments of regular match appearances.

A terse press release from the Chennai Super Kings team states that the team has decided to go with a single star ambassador, Ilayathalapathy Vijay, who received much applause from the audience during the inaugural match in Chennai.

He will continue to participate in all ground promotions and match appearances.

At present, Nayantara has an extremely tight shooting schedule, since she is simultaneously doing four movies in Kollywood, Mollywood and Tollywood – Vishal's Sathyam by Rajesekhar, superstar Rajinikanth 's Kuselan by P. Vasu, Ajith's Aegan by Raju Sundaram and Twenty:20 by AMMA.

Two more movies – Vijay's Singam by Prabhu Deva and Vikram's Raja by Boopathy Pandian – will also have ravishing Nayan as the leading lady.

Nayantara was supposed to be the star attraction at the IPL match on Wednesday, but she fainted while shooting in Hyderabad for the Rajinikanth starrer Kuselan, was hospitalized, and was hence unable to come to the cricket match.

Earlier also, Nayantara did not attend the Chennai Super Kings' formal inaugural function in which star Vijay and K. Srikanth (former Indian skipper) were present.

Biju Menon in another villain role

2008-04-25T17:17:00.000+05:30

Biju Menon, stepped to Kollywood a few years ago, when the opportunities in Malayalam became lean.

The handsome actor who was popular in Mollywood playing heroes in hit films like 'Mazha', 'Madhuranombarakaatu', ‘Meghamalhar’, ‘Sivam' and 'Achanayaananikku Ishtam' was in Tamil, offered more roles which had negatives shades.

Biju Menon didn't complained but did the best to make his over pitched roles in films like ‘Agaram’, ‘Thampi’, ‘Majaa’ and ’June R’, look natural.

The actor, who had just completed another villainous role in ‘Arasangam’, is now offered a big role in the new film directed by Prabhadeva after the super hit ‘Pokkiri’.

Biju Menon will take on Illayathalapathy Vijay in this new film tiled 'Singam'. The movie produced by Ayngaran international will start its shoot by June.

Biju Menon who appeared in a family friendly role in the recent Malayalam release ’Mulla' is now getting busier in Mollywood.

He has a number of films lined up as the lead hero including ‘Pathikar’, ‘Parayaan Marannathu’ and ‘Vilaapangalkkappuram’.

He will also be on a pivotal role in AMMA's 'Twenty Twenty'.

Karthika back on Kollywood

2008-04-25T17:14:00.000+05:30

Karthika has got some good offers in Kollywood.

One of her recent projects includes the remake of Sreenivasan's 'Vadakkunokki Yanthram'.

Comedy actor Karunaas will appear in the lead role as Dindigal. Sarathy, the same role that Sreenivasan has done in the name ‘Thalathil Dineshan'.

Karthika will appear as the wife of the lead character in this untitled movie.

Karthika is presently acting in M A Nishad's 'Aayudham', which is being canned in and around the capital city.

She has also completed her shoot for the character in AMMA's ‘Twenty Twenty’, again as the heroine to Suresh Gopi.

Dhanush in Lal jose film

2008-04-25T17:12:00.000+05:30

The young action hero Dhanush is currently busy with the discussions of Padikadhavan, which will start its shooting soon.

And he has already earmarked dates for another unnamed movie to be directed by Vettri Maran.

Thus, Dhanush, who recently revealed in an interview that he would prefer to take one movie at a time, may find a clash between dates if he accepts yet another movie.

At the same time, Dhanush may take this offer if the script is irresistible.
The movie to be made with a script by James Albert will be the story of a village which has acute scarcity of water.

Lal Jose is planning to shoot the movie at Kovilpatti, near Thoothukudi.

Other details about the cast and crew are awaited.
But Lal Jose has other options too. He had earlier stated that his forthcoming new Tamil movie would feature a bunch of newcomers.

Other conflicting reports say that Lal would like to take some of the biggest names from South Indian cinema for his debut in Kollywood.

If Dhanush finds it difficult to give the required dates, Lal Jose may then proceed with some other hero.
After completing his Tamil venture, Lal Jose will team up with Mohanlal for the first time for his next movie in Malayalam. Scripted by Iqbal Kuttipuram, the movie is titled Cousins.

Vimala Raman on a come back

2008-04-25T17:00:00.000+05:30

Vimala Raman was the only actress in Mollywood who had been signed for five projects even before the release of her first film.

She was even lucky enough to appear with every superstar in Malayalam in a span of ten months.

Starting with Suresh Gopi in ‘Time', she was seen with Mammootty in ‘Nasrani’, and with Jayaram in ‘Sooriyan’. She was the heroine of Mohanlal in ‘College Kumaran’.

Vimala definitely did her best to liven up the characters and was quite natural in almost all the roles that she did.

But the fate of her films definitely had a say in her Mollywood career and in no time she was left with very little offers.
But now Vimala seems to be planning a comeback with the new film 'Apoorva'.

Apart from her, the movie will feature Jagathy, Innocent and Tamil star Senthil in Key roles.

To be directed by debutant Nidhin Parthasarathy, the movie will kick of its shoot by the end of this month, at Palakkad.

Mohanlal wilts under pressure, withdraws from stunt act

2008-04-24T17:44:00.000+05:30

Thiruvananthapuram, April 23 Malayalam film superstar Mohanlal finally gave in to pressure from several quarters and Wednesday decided to call off his proposed stunt scheduled Sunday here.

Mohanlal was to perform the act called 'Burning Illusion' ahead of a four-day international magicians meet, beginning in the state capital Thiruvananthapuram May 1.

The superstar, who is shooting for his latest film in Palakkad, is reported to have got several calls urging him to withdraw because of the risks involved. He was also taken aback when some of his overenthusiastic fans threatened to commit suicide if he decided to go ahead with the stunt.

Speaking to IANS, M.B. Sanil Kumar, a close aide of the superstar, said the final decision has been taken. "Since the programme also involved the state tourism department, an official announcement will be made soon," said Kumar.

Mohanlal has been training for the stunt under the guidance of Gopinath Muthukad, the head of the Magic Academy here, for the last 18 months and says he is doing it to motivate the Kerala youth.

Muthukad called the decision unfortunate as months of hard work has gone waste.

"This happened due to the enormous pressure from various quarters. A scare was raised but it was nothing but a mere entertainment programme. Mohanlal, doing rehearsals, had done it (the stunt) well and there was no risk involved as it was being propagated," said Muthukad.

Earlier, president of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA) and veteran film actor Innocent told reporters that Mohanlal's well wishers, his family, friends and fellow artistes are worried about his safety.

"I spoke to him and he said if he withdraws now it would be considered as an act of cowardice. There is certainly an element of risk in this (act). As the president (of the association) and in my personal opinion, ,he should withdraw. If not, we will take action against him," said Innocent.

Meanwhile, Mohanlal Fans Association representatives also urged the actor not to perform the stunt as it could be risky.

The actor's decision to perform the stunt has also split the magician community here. A well- known magician, Samrat, was arrested Tuesday when he began a hunger strike to dissuade Mohanlal from performing.

Nayanthara hospitalised, won't perform at IPL match

2008-04-24T17:43:00.001+05:30

Chennai, April 23 (IANS) South Indian actress Nayanthara, who was to be a star attraction at the Indian Premier League match between Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians here, has been hospitalised and will not perform at the event Wednesday.

The actress fainted while shooting in Hyderabad for Rajnikanth starrer "Kuselan" due to exhaustion and fever Tuesday, film industry sources said.

Doctors suspect she might have caught a viral infection while doing a dance number in artificial rain during a five-day shooting schedule for Telugu film "Sathyam", sources close to Nayanthara said via telephone from Hyderabad.

Tamil superstar Vijay, ace drummer Sivamani and singer Hariharan are set to entertain the crowd during the two matches to be played at the M. A. Chidambaram stadium here Wednesday and Saturday.

Sources at the stadium told IANS that with over 35,000 tickets sold so far, they expect the stadium to be full during both the ties.

Police Commissioner Naanjil Kumaran told reporters that 700 policemen would be deployed at the match venue

Mammootty to perform Bike stunts.

2008-04-24T17:40:00.000+05:30

Mammootty is planning to engage him with some bike stunts.

This time, Mammootty will perform some daredevil act playing a bike racer who also specialises in bike circus, for the new film by Johny Antony titled ‘Pattanathil Bhootham'.

This will be a humorous fantasy thriller in the scripts of Sibi K Thomas- Udhay Krissna.

‘Pattanathil Bhootham' will tell the story of a bike circus specialist who zooms past men on the track and perform stunts for circus, but also gets special Extra Sensory Perceptions which make him to perform extra human acts.

The movie planned as a complete entertainer will start by the month of June.

Meanwhile, Johny Antony's new release on theatres 'Cycle' is marching towards big glory as the film is rightly acknowledged as the first super hit of the year.

Mammootty models for Microsoft.

2008-04-24T17:28:00.000+05:30

Software giant Microsoft is in the process of signing up megastar Mammootty as a brand ambassador for a computer literacy programme.

Mammootty is in discussions with Microsoft for the launch of the statewide education project.

He wants to launch the project to help make all sections of the society IT-literate.

He is also the brand ambassador of the state-sponsored Akshaya IT programme, South Indian Bank and Kalyan Silks.

Earlier, Coca Cola, one of the biggest global brands, wanted to associate with the star and had offered him Rs 2 crores, but Mammootty rejected the offer because of the protest from many political and social organizations in Kerala, which are against the Cola giants.

Meera Jasmine banned from malayalam movies.

2008-04-23T17:41:00.000+05:30

Malayalam actress Meera Jasmine has been banned by Malayalam Film Association (AMMA) from acting in any Malayalam movies in the state.

The reason for the ban is said to be that she has rejected to be a part of the movie, Twenty:20, produced by AMMA, in which all Malayalam celebrities are going appear free of cost.

When Meera was approached for a role, she did not allocate any dates since she had a clash with the dates of her Telugu movies.

Since she did not allot any dates, she was banned. The ban will be on effect until AMMA lifts the ban.

Annan Thampi

2008-04-19T17:48:00.000+05:30

Film Review:

Banner: Marikkar Films
Cast: Mammootty, Lakshmi Rai, Gopika, Ragasiya, Harishree Ashokan, Suraj Venjaaramoodu,
Kunjan, Manianpillai Raju, Siddhique, Mohan Jose, Anil Murali, Urmila Unni, Shivani
Direction: Anwar Rasheed
Production: Marikkar
Music: Rahul Raj

The only world of caution for those who are planning to watch ‘Annan Thampi' is that this is not a production for the purist, pointed reviews ,or logic viewing. It is more a racy formulaic stuff, laugh-out-loud funny at times that is just meant for entertaining you for two hours. The results are a lot of smiles and snickers, and these larger moments come just enough to make this a movie that is much more consistent in tone than many of other recent endeavors.

Creating comical plots around a handicap appears to be the latest mantra in our films. 'Annan Thampi', too is yet another formula friendly adoption of such a story of twins, born within a difference of 90 seconds, who are at loggerheads with each other since childhood. The problem with them is that one is dumb and the other is verbose. To avoid more casualties due to sibling rivalry, one is sent to Pollachi with his uncle and other stays back with his parents. Appu the eldest of the twins is a vitriolic troublemaker, and erstwhile associate and present enemy of Dharmarajan (Rajan P Dev), who's niece Thenmozhi (Laxmi Rai) is madly after Appu.

On the other hand, a dumb Achu is the softer one who is unlucky enough to take the brunt of others in his shoulders. He and his wife Lekshmy is assisting his father Ravunni (Janardanan )in recreating the Puranas for their ballet troupe and is even ready to portray the roles of puranic characters in folklore, along with fellow artists played by Suraj, Salim Kumar and Harishree Ashokan.

Even after years, the brothers continue their fight when ever they see face to face. But soon major misunderstanding created by enemies pop up and the brothers starts calling for each others blood. And as usual, just before the finale, they understand the real reasons behind their enmity, which makes them, reconcile and fight as one against the baddies.

'Annan Thampi', even though on a ''done to death plot frame'' primarily works for two big reasons -- the ingenuity of the production crew led by Anwar Rasheed and scenarist Benny P Nayarambalam and the acting talents of the artists in crucial characters and naturally, its lead star Mammootty ,with his cleverly done dumb act. Anwar Rasheed cleverly brings out every possible joke that can be told featuring twins and they rarely need to resort to too much crass envelope pushing in order to achieve humor. He even makes Mammootty mimic himself in one of the scenes which drives the audience positively wonder about his understated comic timing. Retaining his idiosyncratic detours, this is a slick package concocted to showcase his star qualities, – for a Mammootty fan anyway.

The comic situations of the movie rise above the mere case of mistaken identities. Amidst the visual gags and crazy situations, the fun quota is consistently maintained even in circumstances that are not really humorous. This is thanks in large part to the versatility of Suraj Venjaramoodu and Salimkumar, two actors who have shown the ability to do outrageous comedy and drama equally well. Among the lady leads, Gopika as usual performs well in a tailor made role while Lakshmi Rai is around with the right dosage of glamour quotient.

The biggest letdown of the movie, of course is the climax fight, its build up and the associated graphic works which looks more animated and inconsistent. The entire fight choreography of the movie is sparse and ineffective. Fortunately, director operates in his usual style -- pleasantly funny, but not especially inventive, keeps it from getting out of hand, allowing the movie to stay reasonably consistent with its interestingly done tail piece. Lokanathan behind camera and Don Max in editing supports evenly for making a technically well done movie. Rahul Raj's songs that are choreographed brilliantly suit the mood of the movie but leave little to sing along. Alex Paul also has done commendable job in rerecording.

'Anann Thampi' is strictly for those who don’t look for too much logic in the film, but wanting to sit back and enjoy consistent laughs. The comedy here is in the funny bone of the beholder, as every stratum of so called high end jokes and low end crass are here, and many viewers are probably just as likely to find it unfunny as funny, so this is reservedly recommended. And in comparison to other comedies out there, that's better than most.

Cool Pics

2008-04-16T09:06:00.000+05:30

Malayalam Film Songs

2008-04-11T18:39:00.000+05:30

Hit Songs
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Malayalam Album songs

2008-04-11T18:29:00.000+05:30

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Comedy Clips

2008-04-11T18:11:00.000+05:30

Evergreen Malayalam Comedy Clips
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U,Me Aur Hum

2008-04-05T17:38:00.000+05:30

Film review: Amazing cinematography and a versatile Kajol.....

Banner: Devgan Entertainment Software Ltd.
Cast: Ajay Devgan, Kajol, Karan Khanna, Isha Sharwani, Sumeet
Raghavan, Rituparn,Sengupta, Sarika,Divya Dutta
Direction: Ajay Devgan
Production: Ajay Devgan
Music: Vishal Bharadwaj

U Me Aur Hum marks the directorial debut of Ajay Devgan who comes in this year with a bad start at the box office with movies such as ‘Halla Bol’ and ‘Sunday ‘not faring too well. Much seems to be riding on this film too as one sees the Kajol-Ajay, husband-wife pair after a very long time. Ajay Devgan who is more known for his action packed films be it a ‘Gangajal ‘or ‘Apharan’ explores the romance genre with his debut film. So what’s in store with U Me Aur Hum? Does the film truly live up to being a truly romantic film on soul mates?

The film takes off with Ajay (Ajay Devgan )a renowned psychiatrist on a cruise with a bunch of friends on a cruise with his friends -- Nikhil [Sumeet Raghavan] and Reena [Divya Dutta], who are unhappily married and are looking forward to a divorce, Vicky [Karan Khanna] and Natasha [Isha Sharwani], who are seeing each other and plan to get married once they can dance the salsa together. Ajay comes across Pia( Kajol) a bartender and takes a couple of drinks to admit his feelings.

Ajay works day and night to win over Pia by understanding her likes, learning Salsa etc. The two eventually get married and with every marriage, its share of problems too creep in the form of Alzheimer’s.

To start off with, U Me Aur Hum has its moment s of brilliance mostly in terms of cinematography and performances. U Me Aur Hum lacks majorly in its storytelling, though the basic concept of the film is a very good one, the loose screenplay and the slow build up of events really affects the film. The first half of the film fails to create that much hyped romantic impact and is all the more dragging with the silly jokes mostly from Karan Khanna and major portions of the film are wasted in cliché thoughts of impressing a girl by learning salsa etc.

Though a lot has been said about U, Me Aur Hum being inspired from Hollywood films such as ‘Notebook’ and ‘Iris’ , Ajay Devgan has done a great job of adapting it to Indian standards. But there is a little glitch here, Ajay fails to make the romance germinate within you.

The film indeed picks up during the 2nd half and is much better and relevant in comparison to the earlier portions. The screenplay team of Robin Bhatt, Sutanu Gupta and Akarsh Khurana fail to keep the viewer glued. The time duration of the film also hampers it quite a bit.

The true winner of the film is Aseem Bajaj’s cinematography. He excels in almost every scene and credit only goes to Ajay for his visual sense. The silhouettes, the close ups, the 2 shot compositions are just brilliant. Aseem Bajaj just tends to draw so much attention for his work and takes you on a complete scenic ride.

On the performance front without any doubt the film truly belongs to Kajol who proves it once again that she is one of India’s finest talents. More than the usual chirpy smile sequences and Naach-Gaana she expresses well in states of complete stillness and perplexities such as the observation of the lizard on the wall. Even the pregnant Kajol skipping to lose weight in a state of Alzeheimer’s really hits you. Ajay Devgan too does well but it’s very obvious that Ajay excels more in direction. The best from Ajay comes towards the climax of the film where he explodes in an attempt to remind an Alzheimer struck Kajol about his identity.

Divya Dutta and Sumeet Raghavan are impressive. Karan Khanna and Isha Sharwani are totally wasted. Karan Khanna annoys with his constant PJ’s. Sachin Khedekar is ok. Aditya Rajput and Hazel are hardly there.

The music of the film is not the finest around and tracks like ‘Saiyaan’ just interrupt with the flow of events. ‘Jee Lee’ and the title track leave an impact. On the whole, U Me Aur Hum gets a little dragging primarily in the first half and is a little loose on its screenplay. In any case the film is worth watching for its splendid Cinematography and Kajol’s first rate performance. Also looks like Ajay Devgan the director has arrived.

Innathe Chintha Vishayam

2008-04-02T17:11:00.000+05:30

Film Review:

Banner: Aashirwad Cinemas
Cast: Mohanlal, Meera Jasmine, Suganya, Asokhan,
Vijayaraghavan, Mohini, Muthumani, Kripa, Mamukoya,
Baby Nivedhitha
Direction: Sathyan Anthikkad
Production: Antony Perumbavoor
Music: Ilayaraja - Gireesh Puthencherry

‘Innathe Chintha Vishayam’ is a film with a serious subject and worth a watch. Especially if you are interested in the likes of tearjerker soaps dealing with marital discords. ‘Old wine in a new bottle' may not be the apt adage to describe the film. The plot is not daringly unconventional but it’s packaged refreshingly with multiple dozes of strained relations.

Nine out of ten television soaps have marital discord as its plot. Nine out of ten television soaps have women as their privileged viewers. And this film, meeting the both elements, belongs to that genre. Sathyan is using the tried and tested formula to create movie- soap made for the fair sex, who gives the best support to all his endeavors in the box office. This is one of the films that were made keeping in mind of its strict target audience and marketing strategies. And so it may never fail to bring in applause, at least from some corners.

In fact, the movie superficially sums up many a jilted plight of individuals when they are desperately trying to pick up the pieces after an unequal relationship, where partners are separated on silly issues but is still in need. Trying to dwell on the present scenario and comment on the societal mores of today, the movie finds it hard to effectively convey a precise message about 'understanding' in the place of 'adjustments'.

The movie opens with the voice over of the director who presents three different couples in the verge of disseverance. Dr .Murali Krishanan (Mukesh), the most successful dentist in the city is more interested in having female associations, more than often. He hides them from his wife Teresa (Sukanya), even by assigning male names for them in his mobile. One fine day he is in a tight corner with his wife raiding his mobile contacts, and for evading the conflicts associated, he walks out of her life even leaving his daughter Lakshmi.

The second family, Pithambaran (Vijayaraghavan) and his wife Premila (Mohini) with their lovely children Malavika and Madhavan are leading a good life. But due to increased possessiveness for his wife, Pithambaran returns home from gulf throwing away his good job, and starts escorting his wife all along. He even develops inferiority complex which further complicates things for Premila, ultimately resulting in continuous fights and separation.

And in the third family, Rehna (Muthumani) is not able to continue with her lawyer profession due to the orthodox attitude of her husband and his family. She too walks out of his life, and starts working independently

Into the lives of these three ladies who starts living separately arrives, G K alias Gopakumar, a garment exporter. He has bought the house where Teresa is staying away from her husband Muralikrishnan. Now left in a difficult situation which does not allow G K, to throw out Teresa and her daughter, to establish his office, Gopakumar is trying newer ways to get the couple together. And in the process he meets the other similar ladies who happen to be friends of Teresa. The film follows how G K with his fashion designer Kamala and land Broker Immanuel, succeeds in getting the feuding couples back to lives of reunion.

Mohanlal as G K don't have anything exceptional and is repeating the Good Samaritan act for the umpteenth time, but still it is a pleasure watching him in a role that seldom goes larger than life. There may seem to be some exaggeration in the portrayal of the idealist Gopakumar, but Lal is effortless in presenting the character convincing, with least obvious loopholes. The director who is also credited with writing the script integrates many topical issues in the story, but this time he is consciously making them the centre of our attention in every now and then sequences. The idealistic lines goes up to the level of preaching in the later half, which partially destroys the charm of narratives.

And then there is Meera Jasmine as Kamala with a precious little to do. She says her lines, flutters those eyelashes and looks ravishing. Her repeat act of ‘Rasathanthram’ and ‘Vinodhayathra’ as a girl with a sad past are not inspiring as the original. In terms of chemistry, none of the couples from Mukesh, - Sukanya, Vijayaraghavan - Mohini and Ashokam - Muthmani share any vibes. But all have taken care to do a competent job to display them with no visible warmth.

At times, you do feel the film, almost two and a half hours long, is bit stretched and that it loses pace in the second half after a rollicking first part. In fact is one of those films, that aren’t as much about the happy finale, as it is about the insightful journey about relationships, which is at times, hilarious. And definitely the director falters in getting it around for a more logical climax, which seems forced and infantile with every weak male counterparts mercifully turning up to realize what they have been in their life -chauvinists, freaks and psychos.

Azhakappan has once again excelled behind the camera, with his limited resources capturing the mood of the movie. Ilayaraja gives a couple of hummable tunes that seems to be the recycled versions of his earlier hits in Malayalam. Sai Babu in the costumes and Santhosh Raman in art department had definitely added colors to the proceedings.

Despite its many minuses, ‘Innathe Chintha Vishayam’ is still endurable on account of the subtle smiles that it generates and the running time of just 145 minutes. It is not a bad film to watch at least once, especially because it tries to discuss one of the grave issues that our society faces, and reiterates some of the eroded values and ideals that is presented without too much glorification.

Race

2008-03-17T17:29:00.000+05:30

Film Review:

Banner: Tips Films Limited
Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Anil Kapoor, Akshaye Khanna, Bipasha Basu, Katrina Kaif ,Sameera Reddy.
Direction: Abbas Mustan
Production: Kumar S. Taurani & Ramesh S. Taurani
Music: Pritam

After a dry spell at the box office primarily due to school and college exams, comes the release of one of the most awaited films of the year. Tips Industries, the producers of the film have put in so much dedication and moolah to assure the masses that they see a flick that looks international.

The director duo, Abbas-Mastan returns with yet another thriller, but this time around a flick that is sleek and high on style. After over 6 years of waiting, the duo finally does a film with Saif and is it worth all that much?

Well to take off, the film revolves around two brothers; Ranvir [Saif Ali Khan] and Rajeev [Akshaye Khanna] who own a huge stud farm in Durban, South Africa. They breed horses on their huge ranch house and are also the biggest bookies in the horse racing circuit. Ranvir, the elder of the two, is known to be a very shrewd man. He is very aggressive and is always on the move. Rajiv, on the other hand, is very laidback and is also a chronic alcoholic.

Sophia [Katrina Kaif] is Ranvir’s personal secretary. She adores her boss and loves him. Ranvir is totally unaware of her feeling and regards her adoration as her efficiency. Sonia [Bipasha Basu] is an upcoming Indian ramp model in Durban.

Sonia loves Ranvir, but through a twist of fate gets married to Rajiv. When she discovers that Rajiv is a chronic alcoholic, things begin to get worse.

Eventually, Ranvir and Sonia come very close to each other and an affair starts between the younger brother’s wife and the elder brother. When the younger brother starts suspecting his wife, all hell breaks loose.

A murder is committed, a contract killing is issued, double crossings become the order of the day… A sharp-tongued investigative officer R.D. [Anil Kapoor] starts an investigation with his brainless assistant Mini [Sameera Reddy].

Abbas- Mastan have proved it over the years that no one can beat them when it comes to the thriller genre. With films like Khiladi , Baazigar , Humraaz ; Race might just add to their list of hits. The film has several twists and turns that keep you saying ‘oh’ and reanalyzing everything so that bits and pieces of the story fill in to form the collage called Race.

But one little factor that has to be noted is that as the duo directors attempt to make things complicated and shock the audience , they just kind of lose out on the whole plot and this con man film at the end makes the viewer wonder when did certain characters team up to plot against the others.

The screenplay of the film by Shiraz Ahmed is good but at times is loose. The 1st half of the film is quite a drag and the songs look really forced upon. Next time around, Abbas-Mastan should consider chopping some tracks. Maybe this time they couldn’t do so considering their producers are Music giants.

On the acting front, the film truly belongs to Saif. Saif looks stylish, smart and carries the adrenaline in the character perfectly. His dialogue delivery is just amazing and the action sequences considering he did them all by himself is just commendable. Watch out for Saif’s jump from a great height. It’s terrifically done courtesy Allan Amin.

With due credit to all the actors in the film, Race wouldn’t be all that racy if it wasn’t for Saif. Watch out the dialogue where he addresses his younger brother on the funda of winning-losing and on the outcome of betrayal where he blows up his jockey’s car.

Akshaye Khanna does really well too. Abbas –Mastan always emerge in bringing out the negative traits in Akshaye with ease. The wickedness in Akshaye is expressed well with his smile. But the only problem here is that Akshaye has done such roles before for Abbas-Mastan thus there lacks a certain amount of shock value.

Bipasha Basu isn’t all that great. Her acting skills haven’t really been explored. It’s more of her sex appeal that has been tapped in film. Bipasha’s styling somehow fails to leave an impact; her outfits do nothing more than provide the viewer some eye candy. But credit goes to Bipasha for doing some great action sequences in the film.

On the other hand, Katrina Kaif emerges victorious. Her acting isn’t the finest around but much better than her previous flicks. She carries the secretarial role with complete elegance and ease. In fact, her styling has been sleek and apt. She carries that executive look as well as the sexy attire with ease.

Anil Kapoor and Sameera Reddy make an entry at the interval stage. Anil is ok as the cop, but trust me his jokes are really poor. Even the characterization with different fruits at various points in the film fails to create any impact. Sameera Reddy has nothing much to do in the film besides try and ask some stupid questions. Sameera too has just been used to create the so called ‘Sexy Look’ of the film.

Johny Lever comes in for one scene and really impresses and is spontaneous with his jokes. He surely deserves more comic roles.

The true winner of the film is none other than action director-Allan Amin. He is just terrific and it’s his action and stunts that really justify the title of the film. Amin impresses with the well choreographed explosions, Saif’s fall, edgy car stunts etc. Amin is the true star of race.

Cinematography by Ravi Yadav is top class as the film captures well the horse races, car stunts, beautiful locales of Durban and Dubai etc. Editing by Hussain Burmawala’s is ok. Maybe a few songs could have been chopped.

Dialogues [Anuraag Prapanna, Jitendra Parmar] are good. Styling [Anaita Shroff Adajania] works for Saif, Katirina , Anil and Akshaye.

Music by Pritam is Ok, but often comes in as a hindrance to the plot. Most of the numbers fail to leave that impact on screen especially Kim Hyung Sup’s-Sarang Haeyo track rendered in Hindi by Atif Aslam. The picturisation is so kiddish ; with just a single interaction you see Akshaye Khanna whose voice firstly doesn’t suit Atif already kind of romancing Bips. ‘Zara Zara touch me’ and the title track impress. Background score [Salim-Sulaiman] is really intense and adds to the action. Choreography [Bosco-Caesar and Ganesh Acharya] is good.

On the whole, Race isn’t the best thriller around but the action is sure to keep you hooked on. Saif fan’s will surely not miss this one. The chances of race not faring well at the box office is unlikely as it’s been a while since the cinegoers had any releases and this flick is sure to appeal to the masses. If not for the action and music, the pretty ladies in the film will assure a hit.

De, Ingottu Nokkiye

2008-03-15T17:03:00.000+05:30

Film Review:

Banner: A V A Productions
Cast: Sara, Jagathy, Jayasuriya, Thilakan, Edavela Babu, Mala,
Aravindhan, Nedumudi Venu,Salim Kumar, Indrans,
Kochu Preman, Rajan P Dev, Kollam Thulasi, M R
Gopakumar, Lena, Sukumary, Kaviyoor Ponnamma
Direction: Balachandra Menon
Production: A.V. Anoop
Music: M Jayachandran

In Mollywood, Vishu films normally have their share of highlights, mostly being the time of well made flicks.

After watching one of this year’s entries 'De, Ingottu Nokkiye', I wonder what this dreary and misguided film is doing in the little crowded filmi market, when every one was waiting eagerly for the comeback movie of Balachandra Menon as the director.

Menon had failed miserably, this time attempting to create a romantic farce, a black comedy or a morality tale. The attempt for a funny satirical film just turned out into a night mare reminding its surprising catch line about 'an idiotic film’, made with the least intelligence. From a versatile performer of several parts, a national award-winning actor, a director, a scenarist, a lyricist, a music-composer and even a singer who proved many times before, this is an unpardonable act. You can very well stay away from this poor excuse for a film, without much regret.

As said, it's little away from being horrible. You can watch the film without being submissive, and tolerantly try to figure out where it is going wrong and ascertain how the real joke might have sounded if worked well. The plot is all about an youth, Vettikkadu Sivan, who is all set to teach his uncle and Chief Minister of the state, Vettikkadu Sadasivan, a lesson by importing his occasionally moronic twin brother who is a banana vendor at Gujarat and placing the look alike as the puppet C M of the state. To accomplish this, Sivan kidnaps the original C M with the help of his friends and presents the second man in power, closely guarding and assisting the puppet CM, who is here only to find his long missed sweet heart, Ammu.

This plot though seemingly linear and promising, is dealt in the wildest stage bound way without clarity and doesn't make plausible points in its exaggeratedly loud cynical outbursts. The ludicrous screenplay hallmarked with inconsistencies and irregularities could be the worst from the director who had been an icon in the eighties. And as a director too, Menon with his disjointed treatment fails to stand up to the need of the hour, drawing bizarre pictures of tad superficial thoughts. He seems to have a got a lot of points of social criticisms to make in every alternative scenes, but fail to draw in skillful sequences to air them. Not surprisingly the plenty of one-liners have an off-the cut, improvised feel. Interesting observations can be found as the film skims its roster of issues: the numbing effects of voting, the problems with political anarchism and increased alcoholism in the state.

As far as performances are concerned, Jagathy Sreekumar in dual roles desperately tries to deliver something different with limited success while Jaysuriya is in his usual self. The new girl Sarah seems pretty and promising. Salimkumar, Nedumudi Venu and Co is wasted in roles that demand nothing of their caliber. The cinematography by Jibu Jacob is average, while Bhoominthan in editing couldn't do any thing to lessen the distortions and the total mess up. M Jayachandran's songs and Sanjeev Lal's background scores adds cacophony to this failed project.

The result can be summed up as a satire without sting, which is the same as no satire at all. If you have more choices, don’t waste your time on this one.

Mulla

2008-03-15T17:00:00.000+05:30

Film Review:

Banner: Sagar Balaji Creations
Cast: Dileep, Meera Nandan, Reena Bashir, Sruthi Menon, Biju
Menon, Innocent, Mala Aravindan, Salimkumar, Sukumari,
Anoop Chandran, Bineesh Kodiyery, Rizabava, Ashok,Suja
Direction: Lal Jose
Production: Sagar Sherif
Music: Vidhyasagar'

The eleventh film from ace director Lal Jose - 'Mulla ' cannot perhaps be called a bad film. But neither can it be called a brilliant movie. After such critically appreciated movies like 'Arabikkatha' and 'Classmates', one did expect a lot more from the director who gave us path breaking hits, even with lesser stars. An average film that may not make much of an impact at the box office, that's what 'Mulla', is. Though a colorful film that is entertaining at times, 'Mulla' falters on many counts, being too far from an engrossing stuff and is perhaps indicative that Lal Jose and Sindhu Raj failed miserably this time, trying to give a long elusive hit to Dileep.

'Mulla' takes us to the Karakadu colony, a settlement of thieves, sex workers and goondas. Here we have got every representative from a microcosmic colony ranging from the reigning goonda gang headed by Thampi Annan to Thotty Sasi, the pimp and manager to the sex workers. Lal Jose tries hard to layer the story with issues ranging from human trafficking to parent less rearing of children who ultimately become criminals. But the juggling act of creating an action based romantic comedy is too unsuccessful with 'Mulla'.

Our protagonist 'Mulla', named after his mother who was a silent sex worker known by her smile and bunch of jasmine in her hair, grows up as an orphan following the suicide of his mother. Thereafter he becomes a dumb left arm to Thampi Annan. By a quirk of fate, he spots an abandoned child on the train while on an encounter with a money lender.

He immediately hands over the child to Lalchi, a girl who is a regular traveler in the train. Lalchi, working in bakery, on the other hand, has her share of problems, and after a day returns the child to Mulla in the colony. With nothing else to do Mulla and his men plans to rear the child. Lalchi, who is a bold, smart and outgoing girl, becomes a regular visitor to the dreaded colony to take care of the child which gradually paves way for a romance with Mulla. He tries ways to readapt himself to the new life but destiny had different designs, already set for them.

The scriptwriter seems to have followed the Balu Mahendra’s classic ‘Yathra’ or its Hindi version ‘Milan’ in the narrative style and the film even showcases some shades of 'Dhalapathy'. The problem with the movie is that after establishing the premises, whose majority is shot on the moving train, the later half falls too predicable, even though not clichéd. The film would have come in for less criticism, had it been from a less accomplished director. Lal also seems to have failed to utilize the desired elements of the plot points to race into a riveting climax, which stands inadequate for the work that he has done in the build ups to the story.

The highlight of the film is the excellent camera work by Vipin Mohan, who has beautifully covered the entire proceedings, a work that will match the best of his career. And that is the case with the art director Gokuldas who has taken pains to display the best from his team, creating the sets of the colony. . What saves this film is the cast that has given noteworthy performances. Dileep is good as Mulla, though not extraordinary. But the decision to keep him with very limited dialogues definitely did backfired, as the actor without much easy talking had always been less effective. Meera Nandhan as Lalchi proves herself in her first outing and is the surprise packages who carry the film in her tender shoulders. Biju Menon, with his towering personality and evocative eyes, looks every part the enigmatic ring leader. Anoop Chandran, Reena Basheer, Suraj Venjaramoodu and Salim Kumar, excel in the supporting roles with well timed comedies while Saiju Kurup takes a mature look as C.I. Bharathan. Bhavana too makes an appearance in a wasted and overly done cameo.

After seeing the film, one gets the feeling that the script should have been a lot slicker. The screenplay credited to Sindhu Raj, does not however make us emotionally involved with the plot, but rather opt for a detached way of narrating the story. The overall pace of the film dispels the average audience especially since the film dawdles to establish it. Ranjan Abraham in editing could have gone for some harsh cuts to initiate a momentum.

In the past, it was the music that was one of the highlights of the Lal Jose flick. But that cannot be said about 'Mulla', even though some songs from Vidhyasagar like ‘Kanavukal’ and 'Arumukhane' are not unimpressive.

To sum up, 'Mulla' is a passable fare, but not up to the mark expected from Lal Jose. A film that make you watch glazed, get amused and entertained at times, but one that make you leave the theatre exactly the way you entered........ With not much new thoughts or feelings to linger..... . And that is the rarest disappointment that you can have from a Lal Jose movie.

Salabham

2008-03-15T16:51:00.000+05:30

Film Review:

Banner: Best Group Productions
Cast: Sudeesh, Ramya Nambeeshan, Kaithapram, Madambu Kunjikuttan, Aravindhan,
Mamukoyya, Rajan Padoor, K P A C Lalitha, Bindu Vaarapuzha, Nilamboor Ayisha
Direction: Suresh Palanshery
Production: Aseez Kadalundi, Alavi Ramanattukara, Rasheed Perumanna
Music: Kaithapram

Salabham doesn't belong to any genre. Not even to the genre which challenges the established genres. Perhaps it can be called, rather force-fit into, a "menofilm", which never shaped up into one category at any circuit.

At the most it only has the steam that can be pressed into a thirty-minute short film. Without much to say, this old fashioned film doesn't offer anything engrossing in all the ninety minutes. In fact, the film has labored to reach the ninety-minute mark with a couple of songs, which are totally unwanted.

The movie has a plot which is thinner than the wings of Salabham, a butterfly. It's about the journey of a young girl into a delayed womanhood or puberty. The myths about late menstruation passed down by mothers, aunts, storytellers and community leaders from generations to generation, form the backdrop of the story.

In the movie, Meera, living with her single mother, suffers from developmental disorders. She finds it difficult to cope up with the delay in attaining womanhood. The friends of her age, incoming proposals for marriage and the neighbors… all aggravate her agony. She desires to be like others, desires to fly like a butterfly. But she can't. She keeps all the menacing sorrows to herself, creating emotional turmoil.

The narrative makes it a point to keep the actual problem subdued; dragging the proceedings further and it takes some time to move forward in the first half. There is an attempt to keep this suspense alive, but this too falls flat. With nothing more to offer in the storyline in the later half, the viewers are left to wait until the girl attains puberty, for the film to sign off.

Maadambu in the screenplay couldn't reach out to what was expected from such a film, with a rarest plot while director Suresh Palancherry shows his sparkles of directorial abilities in a few sequences. The other highlight of the film is the acting departments, majority consisting of relatively fresh faces who lived up to the demands of the characterizations. Remya Nambeeshan also fares better in the title role as Meera. Infact it is her best on screen performance , till date. Another special applause must go to Deepankuran for the careful background scoring and to cinematographer M J Radhakrishnan who is sure to excel in any given conditions. It is really pathetic that such a talented cinematographer, who has proved himself in more than fifty films, is never offered one big film in which he can work with out any budgeting compromises.

In regular intervals, a song written and set to music by Kaithapram pops up, to fill the screen time. Altogether there are four songs in this ninety minute fare. With too many unnecessary songs and no single clear cut comments on the topic, the very purpose why this movie was made stands void. It cannot be a shame for the audience, not to be in the cinema halls to witness such outdated plot lines.

Kerala Police

2008-03-15T16:47:00.000+05:30

Film Review:
Cast: Kalabhavan Mani, Siddique, Nedumudi Venu, Innocent, Suraaj Venjaramoodu,
ShammiThilakan, Bijukuttan, Vijayaraghavan, Saadique, Augustine, Sreehari, Irshad,
Iswarya, Sreelatha Namboothiri, Ambika Mohan, Poornima
Direction: Chandrashekharan
Music: Kailas Menon

Bits and pieces of investigative drama, that we have seen umpteenth times with the other super star movies, too sleepy paced narratives, Kalabhavan Mani in usual maneuvers, and an outdated presentation style- These could be the taglines of 'Kerala Police' which doesn't offer anything refreshing in terms of visuals, presentations or narratives..

The skeletal of the story is the same as in any Mani film of the past decade and half. Only the garb of the characters has changed to the police uniforms. Despite half a dozen movies to his credit, it appears that director Chandrasekharan ,after a long gap to filmdom ,still needs to work on updating his film making techniques .He doesn't try to experiment much, simply tweaking formulaic stuff a little to claim originality of plot.

The film is as usual about an honest cop Circle Inspector of Police Satyanath, bogged down by the system in his fight for righteousness. Just because of his backward class, many like Mukunda Varma (Baiju) and Venugopal in his same grade sidelines and ridicules him and takes credits of everything that Sathyanath does. He being an upright officer faces a lot of troubles from official circles, but with the help of his god father and Superintendent of Police, Philip Tharakan (Innocent), he survives in service.

As he smells some mysterious links in the death of a Goan based freelance photographer Bimal Roy, whose body was found in a tile factory, Sathyanath follows in close steps with the incidents that led to the murder and spots popular actress and a national award winner Sanjana ( Lekshmy Sharma) , behind the murder. On the further investigations Sanjana admits her part in the murder .But Sathyanath is not convinced that she alone can commit such a dreaded act and refuses to arrest her.

This leads to the case being wrapped up and taken away from state police to be handed over to the CBI group headed by Nandini Verma (Swarnamalya). She is highly critical about the way the police department is run in the state and from the day one, the stage is set for confrontation between Sathyanath and Nandhini. Sathyan now take leave and start a personal level investigation on the case with the able aid from constable Balram. The movie follows how the Kerala Police and the CBI race it to the finish to grab the enshrouded killer.

In this obvious attempt at making a formulaic masala movie, the resulting experience is far from satisfactory. The narrative loses steam post interval with the arrival of C B I , as it becomes a typical murder mystery without much momentum, which leaves the movie to be just an average one .More over, the liberal use of the caste cards even in punch lines and the related generalizations is not a case to be encouraged, even though they appeal to a very few .The only highlight of the movie is that the creators has managed to keep the suspense till the finale, even though the ultimate find is not a matter of bigger surprise.

As usual with the Mani movies the script by Vinu Narayanan based on a story by Anwar Abdulla doesn't offer much for him to improvise. The proceedings are not so gory that people in the movie theater along with this reviewer often have to search for the clocks. As far as histrionics go, the less said the better. Kalabhavan Mani has his way through, with nothing worth mentioning. Swarnamalya catches our attention once in a while as Nandhini but Lekshmy Sharma as Sanjana doesn't fit too much to the bill. The other saving grace of the movie is Biju Kuttan who provides a little comic relief. The technical crew also doesn’t give any mentionable outputs.

All in all, the movie doesn't offer anything extraordinary in terms of content and performance. You can be a part of it, if you still have an appetite for investigative movies that appear at least in dozens, every year in Mollywood.

Malabar Wedding

2008-03-15T16:28:00.000+05:30

Film Review:

Banner: Minerva Creations
Cast: Indrajith, Gopika, Janardanan, Mamukkoya, Suraj Venjaramoodu, Kiran Raj, Manianpillai
Raju, Anoop Chandran, T P Madhavan, Santhosh Jogi, Manka Mahesh, Mini Arun,
Lekshmipriya, Sree Nandhana.
Direction: Rajesh , Faizal
Production: T Santhoshkumar, K B Devaraj
Music: Rahulraj

A fresh team of directors, a new scriptwriter, producers and an young technician crew-every time when we hear about a movie from such a crew, we always expects much from them. Many of the recent outings from such crews proved banal and stale. But that is not the case with Rajesh Faizal's debut film 'Malabar Wedding'. It is a light hearted movie that truly delivers what is expected from it. A romantic comedy about a couple who had to endure a humiliating obstacle course to marriage, much due to a popular custom sorakalyanam, is a comedy of manners, Kerala - style.

The director duo Rajesh - Faisal proves very much through their debut film that a long term association with their mentor, Priyadarshan, have definitely groomed them to realize how to make quality comedies. This comic caper never really runs out of steam, moving unpredictably all along till the climax, with no forced sequences, making us remember some of the best from the nineties. With no nonsensical musings and slapsticks, and the deft handling of a funniest cast, who stands rooted without any overacting, Rajesh and faizal certainly deserve the credits for creating some of the pleasing laughs in a couple of years.

The cast is exclusively keralite and the setting is Malabar, where the very middle-class Maanu kuttan an his friends rule the village, playing Sorakalyanam, the custom of beleaguering and teasing the prospective grooms up to their marriage and sometimes even after that. These pranks and jokes are taken with the rightest spirit in their Ilanjikkara village where each wedding are made uproarious, loud and cheerful by maanukuttan and his gang composing of sugunan, pookkatta satheeshan, avookar, savior and sadhu.

Into this village unexpectedly arrives Smitha and her parents from calcutta, leaving back their unpleasant parts of life. Within a few days, Maanu gets engaged with Smitha, little knowing about her history. But he very well knows and fears that being the lead instigator in the group of teasers, this could be his payback time from his former victims, including satheeshan and gang. He tries many ways to avoid the confrontations, but ultimately has to fall to the consequences that wreak havoc on his personal life, which the entire gang seldom foresee.

We've probably seen many marriage related stories before but not any way related to this plot. That's one reason Malabar Wedding seems fresh. The other highlight is the excellent casting, and the tactfulness which avoids overplaying and thus makes the comedy a great deal more amusing than it might have been in coarser hands. With such a refreshing story and taut scripts by Ramesh madhavaan, wheels are set in motion for an non obstacle-ridden course of a refreshing movie. Any fan of the comedy tradition from Sathyan to Priyadarshan, can very well feel the deft touches of farce gently applied, except in a very few stretches where the antics are haphazardly staged. Compared, however, to several recent ultra-bore formulaic movie wagons that have ripped the majority of Malayalam films recently, Malabar wedding is a model of subdued charm. The resulting entertainment is just a little facile at times but the with many interconnecting tracks and caricatured characters, ending with a wedding, are encompassed with considerable skill.

And in the acting front, 'Malabar Wedding', is another movie in which the protagonists have little to do than the group that is surrounding them. But even in this course of narratives, Indrajith shines makes his striking presence felt all over. He is equally in control in witty and touching sequences, showcasing his apt comic timing once again. Gopika even though in a small role with least dialogues proves her fine facility yet again, with an impeccable performance in a role that is quite vital though not in any way truly demanding of her acting prowess.

With a bunch of talented comic actors like Suraj Venjarammood, Mamukkoya, Bijukuttan, Maniyan Pillai Raju, Anoop Chnadran, Janardhanan, K T S padnnyil, and santhosh jogi coming up with remarkable timing, none of the sequences proves ineffective Velraj in his first outing to Malayalam rightly captures the shots that suit the mood of the film and so is Arunkumar in editing who created interesting mis en scenes to create comedies. Gokuldas in art department and Rahul raj's rerecording also built up certain variations from the ordinary stuff. The movie also have a couple of songs of which''Kolusu'' is the pick.

All in all Malabar Wedding is an engrossing fare that doesn't talk too much about what we don't know. With all the right elements mixed up with elaan, this is a movie that deserves to be applauded for rightly recognising what all will work within our little budgets and with our audiences of intellect. A movie that rightly merits to win, this can be a definite recommendation for a quality viewing pleasure.

One Two Three

2008-03-14T17:56:00.000+05:30

Film Review:

Banner: Eros Entertainment,Big Screen Entertainer
Cast: Sunil Shetty,Tusshar Kapoor,Paresh Rawal, Upen Patel,Esha Deol,Neetu Chandra
Sameera Reddy, Tanisha Mukherjee
Direction: Ashwani Dheer
Production: Kumar Mangat, Sunil Lulla
Music: Raghav Sachar

123 comes your way as one of the so called multi-starrers of this year (at least that’s how it was promoted). The film attempts to bring in immense comedy on the basis of mistaken identities.

The film brings in the ace at television comedy –Ashwin Dhir who has been the maverick behind the success of the tele-serial ‘Office Office’. But we wonder whether television and cinema have the same pattern when it comes to humour?

To begin with, the diamonds belonging to a Don [Manoj Pahwa] accidentally fall in the hands of Chandu [Upen Patel] and Chandni [Tanishaa], who hide them in a car. Papa [Mukesh Tiwari] and his henchmen [Vrajesh Hirjee and Sanjay Mishra] are desperately hunting for the diamonds, while police officer Mayavati Chautala [Neetu Chandra] is on the lookout for any offenders.

Enter the first Laxmi Narayan [Tusshar Kapoor] who is from a mafia family and his mother prays and awaits his first successful murder. He comes to Hotel Blue Diamond to knock off Papa which is his last chance to prove himself as Bhai.

Enter the second Laxmi Narayan [Suniel Shetty] who is also sent to Hotel Blue Diamond to collect a new car for his boss from Laila [Sameera Reddy]. The third Laxmi Narayan [Paresh Rawal] is a hawker who has made so much money selling under-garments on the footpath that he has set up a lingerie factory now. His son sends him to Hotel Blue Diamond to collect lingerie samples from upcoming designer Jiya [Esha Deol].

The three Laxmi Narayans are at the same place, at the same time. They get letters and photographs meant for the other. The first Laxmi Narayan gets lingerie designer Jiya's photo,the second Laxmi Narayan gets Papa's photo and the third Laxmi Narayan gets Laila's photo . A series of events follow which get different personalities intertwined as mistaken identities take over.

Director Ashwani Dhir fails miserably at holding the viewers attention and making one laugh. Some jokes are good but majority of it is just plain boring and more annoying. The script is loose and some characters are just so irrelevant to the script. Take for example Tanishaa and Upen Patel.

Also the manner in which Esha falls in love with Tusshar on realizing that he is a don is just so stupid. Just observe the expressions on Esha’s face when she explains her concept of an exciting love story with a bhai.

Most dialogues in the film are plain one liners, most of them not worth remembering. Some scenes evoke a gross feeling rather than being funny. The scene where Paresh Rawal argues with two women over their bra size and the remark that her husband always asks him her size before buying one is gross.

On the acting front, Suniel shetty initially impresses but eventually annoys with the ‘aapka left ya mera left sir?’ dialogue. He tries his Bhola act once again and this time it fails majorly because of a weak script.

Paresh Rawal offers nothing new; he just seems to be repeating his character over and over again. He barely makes you laugh and the so called funny erotic number between Paresh and Sameera could have been avoided.

Tusshar Kapoor fails to impress either with his jokes or few elements of bhaigiri . Upen Patel is absolutely wasted. Manoj Pahwa and Mukesh Tiwari followed by Sanjay Mishra are the best lot in the film. They bring life to their character and also in case of Mukesh , he comes as a revelation in comedy.

The ladies in the film are purely added for the glamour quotient. None of them impress with their acting except for Neetu Chandra who comes in as a surprise package as a cop with not much scope in the film.

Even the pretty Sameera, Esha and Tanishaa can’t complement the music of the film by Raghav Sachar. Some tracks are good but the placement of the tracks kills it all. The title track and the ‘Lakshmi Narayan’ dialogue filled track adds flavor.

On the whole, 123 fails to impress. The jokes get monotonous and the script is loose. Ashwani Dhir maybe be an ace at television but forgets that the comedy in cinema has to be much tighter and crisp, after all you just have 2 ½ hours to make the audience laugh. At the box office it surely means much higher revenues for Abbas Mastan’s RACE.

Black and White

2008-03-14T17:50:00.000+05:30

Film review:

Banner: Mukta Searchlight Films
Cast: Anil Kapoor,Anurag Sinha,Shefali Chhaya,Aditi Sharma,Habib Tanvir,Akash Khurana
Direction: Subhash Ghai
Production: Subhash Ghai

restigious Mukta Arts banner, Subash Ghai returns to direction with Black and White. Subash Ghai, popularly called ‘Showman’ of bollywood for his larger than life images and films of immense magnitude be it a Taal , Kisna or Yaadein; returns this time around with a much smaller film. Smaller in terms of its magnitude, budget and primarily because the film marks the debut of Anurag Sinha who plays the protagonist.

Subash Ghai goes ahead by exploring something new under his belt and steps into the world of terrorism and its harmful effects. Ghai releases this film under the Mukta Searchlight Films.

The film revolves around Numair Qazi [Anurag Sinha], who introduces himself as a victim of communal riots in Gujarat to the people around him. But the truth is that he is a suicide bomber commissioned by a Muslim fundamentalist group to detonate a bomb near Red Fort on 15th August.

In comes Rajan Mathur [Anil Kapoor] a Professor in Urdu literature. He resides in Chandni Chowk with his activist wife Roma [Shifaali Shah].

Numair somehow manages to take shelter in the Professor’s house and wins the trust and fondness of the couple. While helping Numair to get an entry pass for 15th August celebrations at Red Fort, Professor Mathur introduces him to the warm and loving people of Chandni Chowk.

Amidst all the tension, he is caught in an emotional dilemma whether to go ahead with his mission. Despite his deep-rooted fundamentalist beliefs, he sees this as one of the most colorful and loving areas. So what happens next? Will he go ahead with his mission or has there been a change in Numair’s views?

Black and White makes an attempt to look into the psyche of a Muslim fanatic and tries to justify why the so called terrorists think the way they do. But at some point or the other the film fails to leave that impact.

Subash Ghai attempts a genre or theme that has never before been explored by him and thus the film tends to loosen up and give way. Ghai’s direction is not top notch unlike several other flicks that have made Ghai the ‘Showman’ he is. The screenplay of the film is loose and so are the characterizations.

Certain characters in the film seem so wasted, for example the girl falling in love with Numair very much the love at first sight style that too across the terrace of two buildings. In fact the love angle shown is just a waste adding to the film’s length. These characters could have definitely been avoided considering the fact that these characters including the bunch of Sahelis( girl friends) lack the believability factor.

Even the characterization of Numair sometimes seems so dry. We do understand that Mr.Ghai wanted to give him a cold blooded , stoned hearted look but throughout the film , he carries the same expressions with the same tone of voice. Even in scenes where we expect the emotions to outpour, Numair stands firm and robust. The scene where Roma is shot dead by Numair’s collegues , here too Numair just stands there looking at the dead body from the door side and doesn’t emote a bit or even take few steps towards the body lying in the center of the room. Considering the fact that Roma calls Numair her brother and was very dear to him; his emotionless depiction is not justified. We can argue that towards the end Numair shoots the culprits behind the murder but even at that point the cold bloodedness look doesn’t explain whether it was revenge for his Hindu sister or the laws of Islam that forbids the murder of the innocent that provoked him to do so.

Black and White does have its share of good moments and spellbinding scenes. The sequence where Shefali Shah enters into an argument with a local Muslim youth leader and the series of events that turn it into a communal argument with the dialogues followed by Anil Kapoor are impressive.

On the acting front, it is truly Anil Kapoor who is fantastic as the patriotic and just Professor. Anil carries the character with ease and is so impressive with his dialogues moving from a high pitch mentioned in the above sequence to a low pitch at the climax while observing the kids at the parade.

Shefali Shah is very good too and compliments Anil by portraying a realistic wife. Debutant Anurag Sinha does well for a debut but the film actually doesn’t offer much scope to see his versatility as an actor. Guess we will have to wait till his next to see whether or not Anurag shifts from the angry young man to a true bollywood ‘Hero’.

The character portraying the poet is impressive and natural. New find Aditi fails to impress. Milind Gunaji impresses.

Cinematography by Somak Mukherjee is good. Music by Sukwinder Singh doesn’t have much scope in the film yet ‘jogi ayaa’ and ‘main chala’ are good compositions.

On the whole Ghai indeed tries something different but looses out with the screenplay that at times just drags the film along. Nevertheless, Anil Kapoor is worth watching and so is Anurag Sinha. Also with over two weeks since the release of Jodhaa-Akbar comes a film that hits the theatres in a dry week of college exams. So until Race on March21, Black and White fills the theatres.

2008-02-22T16:54:00.000+05:30

Cine Bazar .........

Cycle

2008-02-15T23:00:00.000+05:30

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.

The Sound Of Boot

2008-02-15T13:55:00.000+05:30

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.

Bhavana

2008-02-12T23:42:00.002+05:30

Jyothirmayi

2008-02-12T19:05:00.001+05:30

Roma Asrani

2008-02-12T18:21:00.000+05:30

Nayantara

2008-02-12T00:23:00.003+05:30

Meera Jasmin

2008-02-11T23:35:00.002+05:30

Kavya Madavan

2008-02-11T23:30:00.000+05:30

Bipasha Basu

2008-02-11T19:57:00.000+05:30

Priyamani

2008-02-11T19:47:00.000+05:30

Preity Zinta

2008-02-11T19:04:00.000+05:30

Gopika

2008-02-11T19:03:00.000+05:30

Trisha

2008-02-11T18:56:00.000+05:30

Namitha

2008-02-11T18:51:00.000+05:30

Aishwarya Rai

2008-02-11T18:45:00.000+05:30

Asin

2008-02-11T18:38:00.000+05:30

Sreya

2008-02-11T18:28:00.000+05:30

Sneha

2008-02-11T18:21:00.000+05:30

Roudarm

2008-02-05T14:11:00.000+05:30

Film Review:
Banner: Marikar Films
Cast: Mammootty, Manju, Sai Kumar, Vijayaraghavan, Subair, Lalu Alex, Rajan P Dev, Shammi Thilakan, Sphadikom George, Urmila Unni
Direction: Ranji Panikkar
Production: Shahul Hameed Marikar and Anto Joseph

As predicted by trade experts, Mammootty's new release 'Roudram' made a stupendous opening all across Kerala.
The film was greeted with thoughtful vigor by the fans of the star who has been awaiting his role in a police uniform for a long time.
The film opened in many centers as early as seven in the morning. The film is registering full houses in almost all centers and is certainly in the lead among the new releases.
The film which have half a dozen charged scenes have Mammootty with a powerful screen presence and in another mesmerizing character as 'Nari, who again proves that he is the best cop in Malayalam films.

College Kumaran

2008-01-19T22:57:00.000+05:30

Movie Review:

Banner: Fairy Queen Productions, Emil And Eric
Cast: Mohanlal, Vimala Raman, Balachandramenon, Saikumar, Nedumudi Venu, Innocent, Salimkumar, Suraj, Vijayaraghavan, Kochupreman, Indrans
Direction: Thulasidas
Music: Shibu Chakrabarthy, Ouseppachan

A enchanting mix of college life, campus politics and of course, Mohanlal promised to charge and welcome us in the new year. And standing by their words is 'College Kumaran', the new release of the star which is not a classy affair, but surely an entertaining one. The film offers us excitement all through as we settle into our seats for the movie and the director has made it a point to keep the tempo sustained with little bit of twists coming up in every twenty minutes. The film which stretch a little more than two and a half hours, is definitely a passable fare, when compared with the recent outings of the star.

The film is a rollicking ride through the life of Kumaran alias Captin Sreekumar, an ex military officer, who is presently running the campus canteen of Mahatma College.

Spending his days entirely for and with the students Kumaran popularly called as Kumarettan, is the life and soul of the campus. Kumaran is the only person who can influence the students of this college to any extent. He is like a gang leader who is always in front to support and raise the needs of students, be it the agitation demanding the recognition of courses before the Secretariat or the strike against Prof Vikraman (Rizabava) who runs special tuition in the time of college classes. Even the principal Narendranath (Janaardhanan) and manager Shivaraman Nair(Nedumudi Venu) turns to him, whenever the students starts fights on petty issues and politically targeted strikes.

Kumaran's father Karunakaran Nair and his sister died in a fire that happened in the canteen ten years back , and there after Kumaran left the army to be with the students and the college, which he maintains like his own home. But there were many who hated Kumaran and his freehand in the college administration. The spearhead among them was Sethunathan, the educational minister, and the chieftain of all illegal business activities related to education. A former chairman of the college, he raved to buy the college from the manager Shivaraman by hook or crook. And for this he hatched many plans which get spoiled always by the timely intrusion of Kumaran. Madhavi (Vimala Raman), the college's English professor, was another person who felt that Kumaran is the major reason behind the students getting pampered and spoiled. But very soon the tables are expected to turn against Kumaran as he get enmeshed in a bigger trap, Will Kumaran be able to survive the commotion? Can he save the college from Sethunath? See the film for the answers.

The film rooted in the campus itself has a pretty thin story line. But Thulaseedas has finally managed to convert the flick into a passable fare. The director is spot on the little subject, he had and races to the final with the help of fine cuts by P C Mohanan. The screenplay and dialogues by Suresh Pothuwal flesh out the characters of this thin concept, with not many deviations. The later half is more impressive, but with too many cliches, that makes the flick a predictable stuff. Mohanlal looks tired but ease through the role which he had been in, many times before. Vimala Raman as Madhavi is ok but has precious little to do. The shortcoming of the script is that it doesn’t have many hilarious moments, funny sequences, punch lines or witty one liner. Suraaj and Harishree Ashokan as Kumaran's aides in canteen try to bring in chuckles but fails more than often. Siddhique as Sethunathan is in his usual self while a bunch of young artists completes the castline as campus groups.

Venugopalan support Thulassedas behind the camera. The film has three songs of which ''Kanakuyilin'' is the best, sung by Sujatha and Venugopal. The background score by Ouseppachan also give the needed impetus on many scenes, lifting it to the needed moods. Altogether the film may not be a must-watch but it's also not a total let down either. Something you could fish out, still endurable on account of its running time of just 145 minutes, and of course Mohanlal. When you have two hours to do nothing important, just have a look at 'College Kumaran'.

Calcutta News

2008-01-19T22:29:00.000+05:30

Movie Review:

Cast: Dileep, Meera Jasmine, Indrajit, Vimala Raman, Innocent, Bindu Panikkar
Direction: Blessy
Production: Thampy Antony

Blessy is a master story teller. His previous endeavours had proven it beyond doubt. Now, 'Calcutta News ', produced by Kaayal Films, also stands testimony to that. Set in the backdrop of urban Kolkata, this gripping story deals with the disturbing social menace of sex rackets. More than a love story, the plot explores the lives of innocent women who feel shunted out by a world that doesn't understand them due to their circumstances.

The news is not just from Calcutta alone. This absorbing story can happen anywhere in the country or at any part of this world. So universal is the theme. And the narration is bonny to watch - even if it is somewhat cinematic and overly simplistic, in the context of the bolder theme.

The film is a variation on the village-family themes that the director had been with for long, but instead, our female protagonist brood about in the caliginous emotional aftermath of her husband's death. On the surface, the film is very much in the detailing the plight of innocent country girl who winds up in the big city and becomes the punching bag victim of a fake marriage, undergoes the death of his so called husband and rejection by unfeeling society, and who becomes so besieged by tragedy that she is blind to the genuine love offered to her by a gutsy journalist.

The film opens with Ajith Thomas (Dileep), an acclaimed investigative television producer and anchor of a leading channel 'Calcutta News', being felicitated for his work 'Shadows of Calcutta' -entirely shot via mobile phone cameras, receiving a national award for its sincerity and boldness of theme. The plot lines open with Ajith narrating the incidents that made him to produce this work of art. Ajith, the son of a former footballer of Mohammedans grew up in Kolkata with his two sisters and his mother, in an apartment that his mother considered important as they resided there from their early days. An active member of kairalee malayalee samajan headed by a comical president (Innocent ), Ajith has at his disposal a strong media team including producers Smita (Vimala Raman), and news anchors Aruna (Manasa) and Sheela (Brinda) and bunch of cameraman and editors.

One day on a hectic shoot of kali pooja, he bumps into a newly married Malayalee couple who were seen irritable before camera. And in the next day Ajith meets them again on a tram and the guy turns hostile realizing Ajith is a malayali. Within few days Ajith once again finds him while editing the news, this time found as an unidentified body found near Kalighat. Ajith immediately go through the rushes and make arrangements to beam the previous shots of the couple that he shot, so that some one may come forward to claim the body.

Within a couple of days Ajith get news about the girl, 'Krishnapriya' who was brutally beaten and locked up in a petty lodge in the city. Ajith with the help of kairali samagam offers help to her who identifies the body of her husband Hari (Indrajith), with whom she was married five days back. She being a an orphan from Pattambi with no one back in her village, they leave the claim on the body. But the shattered girl with the agony, anger and grief combined with the uncertainty of life tries for a suicide. But Ajith comes up in the role of her protector and arranges her stay with his workmates in the channel. Soon he gets attracted to Krishnapriya primarily due to her love for singing and music.

But within days, Ajit finds that Hari was one of the henchman in a sex racket that traps innocent girls and sells them for lakhs to the Sonagachi sex mafia led by one-arm bearded guy (Kathal fame Krishnamoorthy) . But as days goes by, Krishnapriya develops a kind of obsessive compulsive disorder thinking about herself being the cause of Hari's death.

Ajith tries to help her out, with the support of a psychiatrist. Going after the causes of Hari's murder then lands them into further problems, ultimately resulting in the mafia kidnapping Krishnapriya to their den at the red lit area. Ajith with the help of his fellow media men try to rescue her, following them to the red street and shooting all in his mobile, which lead to a riveting climax.

Blessy is once again at the top of his game, telling a tale in a clean and crisp illustrative terms, never meandering too much (except in the scenes of development of infatuation among protagonists and their mutual interest in music, which is indeed a letdown in this inspiring tale) and propelling the tale forward with relentless and masterful editing by Vijay Shanker. And it’s sure, the tacked-on and forced cheesy ending is okay to appease the masses, but for a film which stresses such a bold theme and in context of what the film tries to say, could have been more impressive, if it had taken a different route.

The storyline sounds simple and, perhaps, clichéd to some extent. But what makes it really different is the treatment. Blessy deals with human emotions very well and provides equal space for all characters to develop but the screenplay ought to have been tightened a little more. The film begins on a sombre pace (and slips back off and forth) it gains momentum post the first half an hour. But it also let us know very well , the unsurely of the scriptor director, whether to keep the film in a track of drippy romance, a psychological thriller, or a realistic paradox, or even a appropriate mixture of all. The film gets predictable as it progresses, failing the attempts to maintain an air of mystery allover by the inclusion of extrasensory perception and the psychiatrist act. But all these shortcomings can be excused for the broader cause of the bolder theme, with which the films stands tall.

The superlative performances of the lead are the other highlights in the film . Meera Jasmine is amazing in the role of a lifetime, playing a lady pushed to the extremes of dilemma and dichotomy of choices. She is believable in every shades offered in the plot. Dileep as Ajith Thomas, with a new look with straightened hair and glasses also has done a superb job playing a gutsy , determined and modest journo. All others in the cast including Vimala Raman as Smitha , Innocent as the Samajam president and Indarajith as Hari does their roles impressively.

The film leaves a lot of physical space for mind-blowing camerawork by Cinematographer S Kumar, who has brought in a marvel with well shot sequences and frames which speaks more than what the film offers verbally. The stunning look of the movie is mostly due to his creative and brilliant cinematography, making it an adorable piece of art. Renjith Amabadi's makeup and Manu Jagand's art work is definitely commendable and can be listed among their bests.

For music, it’s Deojyoth Misra whose work fits the situations to a T, particularly excelling in the folk based songs, which is tasteful while also conforming to musical standards. Most pleasing to the ear, perhaps, are the 'Kannadi koottile', 'Ariloru chilla' and ‘Engu ninno vanna' with its simple tones, all sung in the rich voice of K S Chithra. Ouseppachan also gel best with his background scores, which control the tempo and lift the mood of the film in many a scenes. Considering the present standards of commercial ventures in Mollywood, ‘Calcutta News’ is definitely a immensely watchable film, very hard to leave behind. It is a commendable movie, one that needs to be talked about, discussed, and recommended.

Jodhaa Akbar

2008-01-19T18:22:00.000+05:30

Film Review:

Banner: UTV Motion Pictures
Cast: Hrithik Roshan,Aishwarya Rai,Sonu Sood,Kulbhushan
Kharbanda,Suhasini Mulay,RazaMurad,Punam Sinha,
Rajesh Vivek,Pramod Moutho,Ila Arun,Surendra Pal,
VisshwaBadola,Prathmesh Mehta
Direction: Ashutosh Gowarikar
Production: Ashutosh Gowarikar, Ronnie Screwvala
Music: A R Rahman

After several reshuffling of dates and over 2 years in the making , UTV and Ashutosh Gowarikar bring to you Jodhaa-Akbar a complete epic in itself. Any comparisons with Mughal-E-Azam or Ashutosh’s previous piece of work should be strictly avoided.

Besides a good star cast and soulful music, Jodhaa-Akbar has much more to offer. Set in the sixteenth century, JODHAA AKBAR is a love story about a marriage of alliance that gave birth to true love between a great Mughal emperor, Akbar, and a Rajput princess, Jodhaa. Little did Akbar [Hrithik Roshan] know that when he married Jodhaa [Aishwarya Rai Bachchan], he would be embarking upon a new journey -- the journey of true love.

The daughter of King Bharmal of Amer [Kulbhushan Kharbanda], Jodhaa resented being reduced to a mere political pawn in this marriage of alliance, and Akbar's biggest challenge now did not merely lie in winning battles, but in winning the love of this defiant princess.

Firstly Jodhaa –Akbar isn’t too complex a film to understand, the script and screenplay is simple and above all the language is simple with a mix of Hindi and Urdu.

The characters in the film are so real and leave a heavy impact on you. Only a visionary such as Ashutosh Gowarikar can dare to do such a film. When Ashutosh kept justifying the shuffling of the release date, one thought it was all humbug. But on viewing the film, you are more than convinced that a film of such magnitude indeed requires a lot of courage and patience to firstly shoot it and then edit and compile the various scenes.

It is so obvious on screen the amount of effort put in and the care taken to craft a film such as this. Just observe the casting of the film, besides the prime faces we know of, Ashu brings to you such tremendous talent that fits the bill even with their slightest of roles in the film. For example, take a look at the Villain in the film-Niketan Dheer, he is much taller and built than Hrithik which makes it so believable in the fight sequences that Hrithik is bound to fall when he collides against him. Also take a look at the various kings, the common men depicted in the film, the warriors etc. It’s just apt.

On the performance graph, no one could have possibly played Akbar with such elegance as Hrithik. Hrithik is simply fabulous. It’s not just his body and looks that impress but it is the way Hrithik carries himself throughout the film. He impresses in almost every sequence. Watch out for Hrithik’s duel with the elephant, his sword fight with Aishwariya , his dialogue delivery and expressiveness when he is betrayed by his step-brother. Also the climax fight sequence has some great dialogue delivery from Hrithik.

Aishwariya stands perfect as Jodhaa. Many would state that after Hum Dil Chuke Sanam , Ash is simply at her best in Jodhaa-Akbar. The sequence where she sets her demands before Akbar are impressive. She emotes well in sequences where she is humiliated by Akbar’s step mother played by Ila Arun. She also does well in bringing out that romance and is smooth with the sword sequences.

Sonu Sood is yet another character to watch out for as he portrays Sujamal, Jodhaa’s step-brother with ease. He impresses with both his dialogue delivery and sword handling. Poonam Sinha returns with a terrific guest appearance. Ila Arun freaks you out and watch out for her dialogue delivery with Ash as she expresses how possessive she is of her son Akbar. Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Raza Murad and Rajesh Vivek are all so apt and add to this epic.

Defintely the credit for this magnum opus goes to Ashutosh whose dares to dream big. But, without a skillfull team of technicians this would still be just a dream. Firstly, A.R.Rehman’s music is simply soulful and the right mix for a film such as this. The songs just grow on you and the background score is simply terrific. On leaving the theatre you are sure to hum either the ‘Jashne Bahar’ or ‘Azeem-o-Shaan Shehanshah’ track. The choregraphy and picturisation of ‘Azeem-o-Shaan Shehanshah’ is splendid.The song that was shot in 12 days is rich in colour , choreography, camera movments- you name it, it carries all. It’s been a while since the Indian Audiences have ever seen something like this.

Kiiran Deohans brings in topnotch cinematography. You are simply floored by the way the camera tracks out from low below the horse’s legs and various other sequences show you simply how brilliant the D.O.P is. Take a look at even simple sequences where Ash’s brings in a curtain to separate Hrithik from her and the conversation between the two is shot with great style.

Haider Ali teams up with Ashu to bring a screenplay that is highly researched, interesting and very impressive. The length of the film is indeed 3hrs 20 mins but , Haider and Ashu can’t be fully blamed for it.Haider does a cameo in the film , he is seen in the ‘Khwaja Mere Khwaja’ track. K.P.Saxena’s dialogues are terrific. They are simple and carry the aura that an epic such as this requires. Take a look at the dialogue when Akbar takes on Jodhaa in a swordfight .The costumes by Neeta Lulla are so rich , apt and terrific. The costumes just make the characters stand out.

To sum it up Ashutosh has taken great care and pain in bringing us an epic. Even the animals in the film have been dealt with great care and surprisingly you don’t have a single scene where horses are made to fall , elephants rolling etc unlike those done in epics before. Ashu simply proves that he is a master of crowd sequences right from Lagaan to Jodhaa-Akbar, just take a look at the number of people that fill the screen.

The only drawback of the film is it’s heavy length which can’t really be dealt with as Ashu attempts to compress years of history and bring it to the masses in just 3hrs 20 Mins. Kudos Ashu!

Of The People

2008-01-16T06:55:00.000+05:30

Movie Review:

Cast: Arun, Padma Kumar,Arjun, Anjali, Devipriya, Harshan, Govind Sudheer, Sabitha Jayaraj
Direction: Jayaraj
Production: Jayaraj
Music: Vinu Thomas

After the super hit ‘Four The People’, expectations were naturally high about the new avatar of the four vigilante college students, who were always there to help the ordinary man by punishing unjust people. But in this poor sequel to the big hit, the viewers are left in the dire streets with the same old wine in a new bottle story line and powerless iconoclasm of the protagonists with negative thinking of eliminating the wrong doers.

In the new version, the heroes have turned out into territorial gangs with determinant distinctive symbols, even uses Che Guevara in all their proceedings, including style and color of dress, and hand signs. As we are used to watching heroes in these movies, which has also ultimately resulted in our disability to perceive the actual courage of real people. Above all that, the moral and political viewpoint is the most confusing point that the director needs to explain to the people, in person.

This film which opens brilliantly with heavily toned visuals, good title roles and acute camera angles begins with three of the four protagonists of Four The People-Sebastian, Shafeeq and Iyer getting out of jail after serving three years for the crimes committed in the first part of the trilogy. The
fourth one played by Bharath is supposedly killed by the police in their earlier encounter. This time, every close members associated with them urge the trio, to play safe evading the violent roads as they used to be. They continue with their studies but for long can’t keep mum to the necessary evils they find everyday, around their society. Finally they reinvent themselves killing the state minister who sold much of the state to international mafia.

Now termed ‘Of The People', they venture into the jungle ala their hero Che Guevara, sets up an interactive website, and operates on their laptop taking complaints from common folks and exterminating the wrongdoing big guns wearing the Guevara type dress code. The chief minister of the state, under big political pressures, appoints an officer Harishankar, to grab the trio but in a short time he realizes that the common man are always on the side of 'the gang’ and he being a righteous guy, change sides operating as a person from the force for ‘Of The People', who let them know about the possible evil doers inside the government machinery and the initiatives of the government to capture them..

The film showcases everything that happened in the political arena in the last few months -- whether it is the demolition drive in Munnar, the pathetic roads of the state and the Pathibel incident, ever venomous speaking devaswam minister and his remarks, real estate mafia and land bank concepts, the recent faris interview episode of a leftist Tv channel or the infighting in the ruling coalition suppressing the good intentions of Chief Minister.

The director in the race for creating a safer hit have never looked on to the chances of complex social problems that may appear due to the persistence and proliferation of such youth gangs who get excited with these type of affairs on screen. Jayaraj, with the film has once again brought to fore his lack of stands in any of the societal issues by boomeranging between all type of ideas and beliefs in his past few films.

Even though the film tells a lot about political atrociousness, the narratives don’t inject any kind of vigor asking you to clap for the protagonists, but made lame by the amateurish dialogues by Shreekumar Shreyas (particularly that of 'Of The People') and incompetent and sometimes indifferent performances from the majority of the cast, including Harshan as Harishankar and the actor who plays the D G P Rajasekhar. The protagonists too appear plastic with singular emotions maintained all through without discontinuity. Govind as Mani Sharma, Nancy as TV reporter and Nedumbram Gopi as the C M are saving graces in the acting departments.

Thanu Balak makes good use of this opportunity behind the camera, but the editing with multitude of cuts and effects seems overdone. Debutante musician Vinu Thomas creates a couple of better tunes, but don't give any big help to the narrative flow of the movie (as Jazzie's music has done with the first of the trilogy). Moreover the same backdrops of Boats (vallam) and lorry used in the musical video type visualizations are not refreshing enough to capture our interests.

The film may find it hard to operate itself for more than a few weeks .But I suspect the producer -director himself will be more than happy if the movie does such a rounds for a similar time. It is high time, Jayaraj need to look out for any better scripts and regain his magical touch with innovative ideas.

Kangaroo

2008-01-16T06:53:00.000+05:30

Movie Review:

Cast: Prithviraj, Kavya Madhavan, Jayasurya, Jagathy Sreekumar, Harishree Ashokan, Bindu Panikkar, K P A C Lalitha, Lalu Alex, Salimkumar
Direction: Raj Babu
Music: Saji Ram, Alex Paul

Prithviraj has been lucky enough with the films which had English titles. Be it with 'Classmates', 'Chocolate' or 'Khakhi', all did well to increase the fan followings of the star. The new movie from him for this Christmas, with another English title ‘Kangaru' was tipped as one that may reveal the potential of the actual crowd puller from the younger lot. Coming particularly after the bumper hit 'Chocolate', the film is definitely a time-pass flick that won't ruin the prospects of the star material in Prithviraj. The movie directed by Raj Babu could have done better if it has been crisper and the narration, a little racy.

The film is set in the backdrop of Christian milieu, particularly as all the associated characters are from knanaya sabha, which has got a plenty of ceremonies attached with their marriages. The film tells about the life and endeavors of Josootty, a Masters Degree holder in Commerce hailing from the famous Palakunnil tharavaadu. But as the present economic situation of this tharavaadu was quite pathetic, he is forced to become an auto rickshaw driver to look after his family which consists of an ageing mother, an insane elder brother Mathukutty, and two sisters, one who was married off to an electricity board worker, but staying back in her house due to financial problems. Josootty now keeps on attending all other interviews, but couldn’t make good of them and is now waiting for a lottery to end his incessant problems.

It is in this juncture, Pappykutty, the panchayat member and a part time marriage broker, who is also a friend of Josootty, brings in an offer, attached with heavy dowry to marry an unwed mother Nancy (Kavery), hailing from Manikyaleth tharavadu, the richest family of the area. She is the sister of Stephen, who is ready to offer anything for a suitable man who is ready to marry Nancy .But already Josootty has a silent love for Jancy (Kavya Madhavan), sister of Nancy who met him in his auto. Papi Kunju arranges for a meeting with Nancy, but due to a mix-up he meets Jancy, her sister, confuses her as Nancy and readily agrees to marry. To escape another incommopdious situation in his house, Papi force Josootty to claim he is the father of the child of Nancy. Meanwhile Stephen's family henchman Monachan (Jayasuriya) who dislikes Josootty complicates every matter related to him. And on the day of the engagement Josootty finds that he has mistaken Jancy for Nancy, but before he could do anything to escape the situation, Nancy is found dead hanging on her room. All that was left for Josootty was to take care of the baby, as he openly proclaimed the parenthood earlier as the father of the child .He stitches a 'Kangaru' pouch and starts taking the baby in style all around in his auto. But by this time, Nancy comes to know about the truth behind the claims and the story progresses to reveal how all the irrepressible happened to both the families and how Josootty with the aid of his fellow drivers find ways to get out of them, in an impressive climax.

Prithviraj as Josootty does a decent job, emotes with passion and casualness in some of the difficult scenes and holds the film together. Kavya Madhavan with her new looks, makes a stunning presence as Jancy. Prithviraj and Kavya's good onscreen chemistry helps the film to move in their realms for long. And as usual Jayasuriya excels in another role that fit to him like anything. Lalu Alex as Stephen and Kavery as Nancy are also appealing enough

'Kangaru' is all together a better done family entertainer, but the problem with the film is that it unfolds in a leisurely pace in two hours and thirty minutes, which drags at a few points. The knanaya functions add a not yet seen dimensions to the proceedings initially, but adds to the drag else where. Jagathy and Suraj bring in some laughs, but attempts for chuckles by Harishree Ashokan and Salimkumar appear over done with half baked results. The story also has some loose ends, which leave the movie goers leave a yawn at times. A little bit of re editing, even in scripts of J Pallassery, could have made this another solid fare for the box office.

The technical side is strictly ok with Saloo George behind the camera and V Sajan in the editing departments. Alex Paul once again has created a hit in "Mazha mani mukile" the only song that he has done for the film. His background scoring also invites interests. Saji Raam the other music director has given music to another couple of songs of which "Aariraaro", by Yesudas is good.

Though the film fails to maintain its racy pace, it succeeds in marginally retaining the audiences’ interest till the end. Unlike most recent small banner films, 'Kangaru' may prove to be a hit product, if marketed well.

Kadha Parayumbhol

2008-01-16T06:48:00.000+05:30

Movie Review:

Banner: Lumiere Cinema
Cast: Mammootty, Sreenivasan, Meena, Innocent, Mukesh, Jagadeesh, Salim Kumar, Jagathy, K.P.A.C Lalitha, Suraj Venjaramoodu, Sadiq, Mamukkoyya
Direction: M Mohanan
Production: Mukesh
Music: M.Jayachandran

'Kadha Parayumbhol' is an impressive return to the good old days of Malayalam cinema- a time when great scripts ruled over the techniques of cinema and when directors paid heed to get the best scripts before the actual production of movies. Here, it is the writer and lead actor of the film Sreenivasan, who has emerged the ultimate winner ,as a scriptwriter who reminds us about our good old cinema and as an actor who reminds us about our next door problems and third world snobbery's.

Debutante director M Mohanan pay his respect to his guru and popular director Sathyan Anthikkad by following a narrative line, very similar to the thespian director and by maintaining a tempo and pace that suits today's audiences. The plot of the movie, set in the backdrop of Melukavu, a picturesque, silent village is told as simple and sweet as reading a short story.

The basic premise of the story is all about friendship - that too a rare one, between a village barber and the reigning super star of Malayalam cinema. The film opens with Balan, struggling with his profession due the opening of a new beauty saloon in the junction, is trying for a loan to buy a revolving chair, and to upgrade his equipments. As Balan is a man of ideals with an truculent tongue and is against all kind of bribes, he finds it hard to get a loan through proper ways. He being a father to three school going children, who lives together in a small hut with no facilities, he often is the subject of ridicule to his wealthy neighbors and every one in his village.
Everything in the life of the village barber changes within days of the arrival of a film unit into the village to shoot the film 'Pakshykal parakkatte', which has super star Ashokraaj donning the main role. Every villager's keep away their daily chores and starts revolving around the shooting locations to get a glance of the superstar. From Balan's children, the villagers came to know about the acquaintance that the Superstar had with Balan, twenty five years ago. Within no time he becomes the most noted and talked about man in the village, mostly due to the snobs about this rare friendship. Even the local poet Das Kaatumantha pens a few lines about the friendship between Ashokraaj and Balan.

People began to do every favor including monetary support for him and his family and local financier Eepachan even gifted him with revolving chair and his new equipments. Every one in the village has secret intentions for helping Balan, as most wanted to have a close look of the superstar while some like Das wanted to pen a few lines for any of his upcoming films, making use of this alleged relationship of the film super star and Balan.

But the fact remained that Balan has never disclosed this closeness with the star, to any one in the village. Moreover Balan was reluctant to go ahead and refresh his friendship with Ashok Raj in the fear that the superstar may not identify him from the big group that he is accustomed to meet every day. This creates more problems to him as people gradually start to stamp him as a cheat who is there to make good for him, spreading false stories about his acquaintance. The film goes on to tell how these stories about companionship can turn into a menace for quite living village man.

The film, skillfully repeats the representative characters, from every layer of the rural villages, (reminiscent of Sathyan films) with which the writer makes a lot of careful observations and clarifications about the phenomenon of super stardom and lives of people living in the lower strata of the society. Mostly represented by local professional actors in these roles, the film also gives an authentic feel with all sorts of storyline surprises and political criticisms in spite of its simple exterior. In the scripts, Sreeni seems to repeat some of his earlier sarcastic attributes like dark skin and heightlessness, but more commendable is that he has easily stretched a wafer thin plot to two hours and ten minutes with out much space for idleness.

Once again it is Sreenivasan who gives a life like performance as Balan. He is a towering presence all along as a helpless victim of an idealistic era, who is left to torment between the rich and snobbishness of his surroundings. Mammootty essentially lives as himself in the coat of superstar Ashok Raj, which gives him ample space to echo his ideas about being a celebrity actor. Meena as Balan's wife Sreedevi, also gives the needed ambiance to the character. Innocent as financier Eepachan, Jagadish as Sarasan,the owner of a modern saloon, Mukesh as Venu,the parallel college teacher, and Suraj Venjaramoodu as Papan, a member of the film unit,suveeran as the film director, mamukoya as the teashop owner and a bunch of new artists present themselves in the best of emoting departments.

The film has two songs by Anil Panachooran - M Jayachandran combo, of which “'Vyathyasthanaaya barbar…” is already in the charts due to its different vocals and lyrics. M Jayachandran also has done his best in the rerecording department, which is another highlight of the film.

Novel

2008-01-15T23:19:00.000+05:30

Film Review:

Cast: Jayaram, Sada, Jagathy, Nedumudi Venu, Sarika
Direction: East Coast Vijayan
Music: M.Jayachandran , Bala Bhaskar

A ‘Novel’, as you know, is a term for an extended fictional prose narrative of considerable length, with some complexity that deals imaginatively with human experience.

Even its other signifier is about something strikingly new or different. But the new film with the same title is typically something that differs in everything from these definitions.

The film offers you nothing different or novel, and has a plot which can be told crisply as a short film, thoroughly extended to create hours of drag. It offers no imaginative settings or not yet heard experiences, but as an intended romantic flick, which sadly, doesn’t show off its heart.

The movie, which is the debut directorial venture by Vijayan East Coast, can be strictly prescribed for those with a romantic temperament. The film develops through the life of Sethunath - a successful businessman and a poet who is presently on the limelight following his new book ‘Swantham’ earning the commonwealth awards. As every media tries to get an exclusive from him, he keeps on evading all the possible attempts of getting into limelight. He passes off the award with less interest as he never knew who has translated the book and presented it as a nominee for the commonwealth awards.

Aneesa, the leading reporter of malayala nadu and an ardent fan of Sethunath is hell bound on getting an exclusive interview from him and for that she bribes Subrahmaniam Swamy, the personal assistant of Sethu and somehow gets into touch with him. Impressed by Aneesa who is also a product of an orphanage where Sethu was also a resident, he begins to narrate the events in his life that led to the creation of the coveted novel.

Thereafter the film takes us on a romantic trip into the lives of Sethunath and Priyanandini, the later, a singer who hit it big with the lottery commercial that was made by Sethu. Priya who is the daughter of Dr. Bhanumathy gets offers in films, with the support of Sethu, and within days the two are drawn closer to each other. Priya becomes a source of inspiration for Sethu , who is a victim of a disheartened marriage. He regains his power of creativity as Priya urges him to refresh his writing skills. All is well, until things get complicated following the arrival of Manju, Sethu's wife from U S, not to let him marry Priya.

As a script, the film's premises don't offer much promises. Moreover, with such a wafer thin plot, an experienced director could have made some sequences work. The scenarists Ashok Sasi, fails to bring out anything much impressive, even though from a weaker plot. The film suffers from slow narration from the very first scene, and the only thing modern and trendy in the film is the costumes that the characters use, all along.

The high light of the film is definitely Sada, who proves well with her first outing in Malayalam. She has a heavy role under her disposal which is done incredibly well. Jayaram is in his very usual self as Sethunath. None of the others in the cast, including Shaari as Manju, Nedumudi Venu as Kunjan Nair, Bindu Panicker as Sethunath's sister and Devan as his brother-in-law have much to do. Jagathy Sreekumar as Subramaniam Swamy, is wasted in a role that stretch all across the film. The actor seriously is having a bad time with the screen, now a days. Though he is appearing in every second film that is coming out, none of them is giving him ample space to leave his personal mark.

The other highlight of the movie is definitely its songs that are, penned by the director himself. Every song in the film is exceptional, even though it cannot be said about their visualizations. Songs like ‘Onninumallathe..’ and ‘Urangaan' are already in the helm of popularity. Azhagappan behind the camera gives the film a pretty serious and good look, withstanding its amateurish plotlines.

Taare Zameen Par

2008-01-12T18:09:00.000+05:30

Film Review:

Banner: Aamir Khan Productions, PVR Cinema
Cast: Aamir Khan,Tanay Chheda,Darsheel Safary,Tisca Chopra
Direction: Aamir Khan
Production: Aamir Khan
Music: Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsaan Noorani, Loy Mendonca

Welcome (pun intended) to the world of Walt Disney in India! Yes, that’s exactly how Aamir Khan, debuting as director, and his creative team package the film, making a classic entertainer that does not bore a second at 18 reels on a subject as socially-vital as dyslexia. So all you Revathis, Farhan Akhtars and Ashutosh Gowarikers et al out there who think that social issues need dry and drab treatments get ready for Mr Ram Shankar Nikumbh (Aamir Khan), a colourful arts teacher who – rightly and vitally – believes that every child is special, whether dyslexic or physically- and mentally-challenged.

And in this lies hidden the great myth about dyslexia, a disorder that spans a diversity of symptoms but is found only in children with above-average intelligence, imagination and emotional quotient. Taare… could have emerged as a cloying or crawling docu-drama without the colours in which Nikumbh and his favourite student Ishaan so boldly love to dabble. Instead, Khan uses his superstardom and his family tradition of full-on entertainers (his uncle and role model Nasir Husain) and his acting icon Shammi Kapoor’s mantra of universal connect to make a film that is vibrant and funny but stunningly moving and impact-laden too.

The top billing over the superstar to Harsheel Daftary who plays the clumsy, carefree, conventionally “duffer” and internally-suffering Ishaan is completely justified. The boy delivers a performance that can only be called stupendous, and no doubt a few more words can be added from the Thesaurus. Taare delights, touches, elevates, instructs and motivates both such children and adults who have to deal with such offsprings, students and kids in general, and full marks and more to the creative teams – writer and creative director Amole Gupte and his wife Deepa Bhatia who is responsible for the concept, the painstaking and authentic research and the compassionate editing that does not cut off scenes for dramatic brevity when detailing is vital.

While the climax of Lagaan was set in a cricket match, here it is in an art competition, but the effect is as rivetting and cheering. Ishaan, the underdog, the boy who is a ‘disgrace’ to his parents, school and orthodox teachers with his blunders, low marks and aggressive behaviour blooms into the hero of the day, all because of the farsighted and motivated Nikumbh ‘Sir’ who waters this human plant with compassion, sympathy and affection instead of pouring reprimands, beatings, criticisms and ridicule on him!

The film takes care to paint the parents, hassled from their own perspective, as real, believable people who are ignorant of the enormity of the problem and where it can lead the loveless Ishaan. Ishaan’s animation diary is the masterstroke in the film (which has to be seen on screen rather than described) and the sledgehammer impact of Ishaan’s father’s second interaction with Nikumbh is another dramatic highpoint. Through subtly effective rather than in-your-face methods, the film spotlights vital points, like laws about handling dyslexics, the gifts of handicapped children, the lack of individual attention in schools, physical punishments, academic pressures of performance on small children and other rampant evils in the socio-educational fabric of Indian society.

Incredibly, the script even brings out dry facts in an interesting fashion through visuals and dialogues, and if cinematic license is taken in Nikumbh’s idealistic character, it is only to highlight how much better Indian children would be today if teachers and the system thought out-of-the-box even with normal children!

A word about the animation by Tata Elxsi – it is nothing short of fantabulous, and the same goes for the dialogues (Amole) and the outstanding lyrics (Prasoon Joshi) especially in “Maa”. Amole contributes here too, with “Mera jahaan”. The music (except for “Maa” and the title-track) could have been much better, ditto the background score. But Setu’s camerawork and Shruti Gupte’s production design are extraordinary and thankfully again, very ‘Indian film’ and bright. No noir or ‘mood’ rubbish here – the film is too progressive and bright for that!

The rest of the performances are no less, even if some of the teachers are intentionally caricature-like. Aamir Khan is effortless, his artless performance in the more dramatic and intense scenes packing a zor ka dhakka dheere se lage wallop. The kids are simply wonderful, especially Sachet Engineer as Ishaan’s bright brother who unwittingly makes things worse by his all-round genius and Tanay Chheda as the crippled Rajan, Ishaan’s best friend in class.

Here’s a film of which its makers and we as Indians can be truly proud. A film for every human being who realizes that the future of mankind lies in how he nurtures today’s children. If this film does not win any Best Film award this year, it will be the awards’ loss. For rarely have entertainment and message so exquisitely combined in Hindi cinema.

Bhima (Tamil)

2008-01-12T14:06:00.000+05:30

Review:
A lot has been told about the delay over Bheema. Some doomsayers even predicted that the movie would not see the light at all. But the team of Bheemaa was unperturbed. Vikram once said, "Bheema is a sure winner irrespective of when it comes. It is worth waiting for such a film".

Now the movie has seen the light and it has vindicated Vikram’s words.

The whole team deserves applaud for providing us a neat entertainer. Lingusamy, Vikram, Prakash Raj, Ashish Vidyarthi, Raghuvaran, Kanal Kannan, Harris Jayaraj, R.D. Rajasekar and S. Ramakrishnan have done their best to make it a smart and stylish action film. And you have the charming Trisha as a gentle breeze amidst a powerful storm.

The story is all about a tug of war between two underworld gangs trying to outsmart each other. Periyavar’s (Raghuvaran) group is bigger and more powerful, while Chinna’s (Prakash Raj) group is struggling to gain strength.

Enters Shekar (Vikram). The powerful man adds new life to Chinna’s gang. He challenges Periyavar’s powerful troupe and puts China on top. He is the man who grew up seeing Chinna as his ideal. He is a man of steel - physically and mentally. He, as Chinna tells once, bears everyone on his powerful shoulders like the Bheema of Mahabharatha.

The gangs are targeted by the new police commissioner (Ashish Vidyarthi) and the three pronged hunting begins.

Lingusamy has worked out a strong script and executed it with aplomb. He has excellently handled his cast to make it an entertainer. He has to be commended for not restoring to any gimmicks in the pretext of providing entertainment. He is also bold enough to avoid a comedy track, which would have been an irritant in the script.

The characterization is near perfect. Like the legendary Bheema, Shekar is always ready to attack, unmindful of who stands against him. If he puts a step forward, there is no looking back. Powerful, straight forward, and fearlessness. Lingusamy, with the able support of dialogue writer Ramakrishnan, has shaped the character remarkably well. The relationship between Shekar and China is well portrayed.

Likewise, his handling of the track of gang war, entwined with police action, is quite smart. The climax is something unexpected. The picturisation of the songs is spectacular.

Vikram has lived up to the expectations with a dominant and flawless performance. If his hard work to become physically strong is praise worthy, his efforts to transform himself as the character are stunning. He reflects the essence of the character both physically and mentally. His body language - particularly his eyes - is awesome. He breaths fire in the stunt scenes. The fights in the rain and in the construction site (intermission point) are astonishing. He also scores in romantic sequences, which are very less in this action packed movie. He brings out the transformation in his character because of love in a lovely manner. Hats off to Vikram.

Trisha gets her share in the action movie and succeeds in adding colour to the film by spreading her charm. She looks ravishingly beautiful in songs. Her eyes and minute facial expressions are pleasing.

Prakash Raj comes through out the movie. His character is so powerful that he looks like a second hero. The versatile actor has brought a new dimension to the character of a gangster.

Ashish Vidyarthi in a small yet significant role is competent. His portrayal of a smart police officer, who means business, is flawless. Raghuvaran as Periyavar impresses but his histrionics have become predictable. Sherin in ‘Rangu Rangamma’ is impressive.

Kanal Kanan (action) and Rajashekhar (camera) have added immense value of the film. Kanal’s setting up of the fighting sequences is certainly a treat for action movie lovers. Rajasekhar’s camera work is brilliant. The shooting of intermission fight in the darkness stands out. Harris Jayaraj’s music, which is already on top, fits well in to the movie. Almost all the songs have come out very well.

Overall, Bheema has lived up to the expectations up to a large extent. Lingusamy and his powerful team have succeeded in presenting an action oriented entertainer. True to its name, Bheema is a power packed action entertainer.

Trailer:

Snaps:

Billa (Tamil)

2008-01-12T12:47:00.001+05:30

Featured Billa Review

To remake a 27-year old Rajinikanth film with another actor at a time when he is still the superstar, is a major challenge for any director. But Vishnu Vardhan is a daring young man who took up the challenge along with Ajit and they have come out with a fresh new Billa, an escapist comic book like fantasy film, which has been faithful to the original in spirit and soul. Spiffily shot and stylishly packaged, the remake is slick and will certainly appeal to today’s youth audiences.

Trailer:

Vishnu’s Billa is the first designer-look Kollywood film with classy action cuts. It's a technically chic, racy, engrossing entertainer with a Hollywood look. The director wears his Hollywood DVD influence on his sleeve, the way a shot is framed, and with black and white colours dominating as the camera angles convey style! Ajit looks sensational and clearly he is at home, playing dual roles of Billa and Velu. He is suave, dashing, and debonair and has terrific screen presence which makes the film work big time. You just cannot think of any other actor in Tamil donning the role made memorable by Rajinikanth

The film is set in Malaysia to give it a rich look. Billa (Ajit) is a modern day suited and booted underworld don who moves around in the company of two glamour girls Sasha (Nayanthara) and CJ (Namitha) who are part of his gang. Billa deals in all nefarious activities like gun running and drugs and has connections with international mafia gangs. The police force in 11 countries is in hot pursuit of Billa who they feel will lead them to Jagdish, the kingpin behind all the illegal operations. After successfully dodging the cops across the world, Billa is eventually pinned down by a sincere DCP of the Malaysian police Jaiprakash (Prabhu) after a spectacular car chase in which he is fatally injured.

Now Jai (Prabhu) sees Billa’s death as an opportunity to uncover the entire mob ring by replacing him with a look-alike Velu (Ajit) a petty small time crook and a simpleton to infiltrate into the mafia. Velu alias Billa is able to do the impossible by getting all the information that Jai wanted except about Jagdish the master brain of the underworld. But it's when Jai gets killed, that the real problem arises because he was the only man who knew that the real Billa is dead, and that Velu is actually a police mole. The other police officers investigating the case Gokulnath (Rahman) from the Interpol and the local police chief Anil (Aditya) refuses to believe Velu’s statement that he is not Billa when he is caught and interrogated. Velu escapes from police custody and with the help of Sasha uncover the shocking truth about the identity of Jagdish, which leads to a stunning climax.

The director and his team change the norms of commercial Tamil cinema and breaks new ground by having a script comprising of no more than six- seven dialogue tracks, there is no lengthy dialogues, mush or melodrama, all essential ingredients for mass masala films. The EQ (emotional quotient) which is there in large doses in Tamil films is absent here as Vishnu and Ajit are targeting only the multiplex audiences and they are quite honest about it. Yuvan’s title track and theme music is one of the highlights of the film, though the songs fall flat! The re-mix title song My name is Billa… is no patch on the original and lacks its fervor, while the other re-mix number Vethalaiya Pottendi… has a good beat that makes you dance and is well shot The only mass number is Seval Kodi.., with Vijay Yesudas’s striking voice and colourful picturisation .

For Vishnu Vardhan, a one-time assistant of the guru of cinematography Santosh Sivan, everything is visual and is dictated by the camera. Billa is a film where characters are playing mind games. So Vishnu’s cameraman Nirav Shah has used the super 35 mm and his camera is brilliant displaying an array of flourishes- freeze frames, optical dissolves, colour saturated images, giving a static energy to the frames, aided by Sreekar Prasad’s razor sharp editing. The action scenes have been superbly choreographed by William Ong and are a major highlight.

Billa is an out and out Ajit film. Don’t forget to carry a whistle with you when you watch Ajit meld into two characters- Billa with his Armani suit, Rayban glasses, has a Bond look about him and is cucumber cool while Velu is a riot as he brings the house down with typical one-liners (Athu aaru thalai, Naan oru thalai). Ajit brings to Tamil cinema a desification of Steven Segal, Van Damme style of pure high octane action and humour. He seems to be telling the audiences to just sit back and enjoy the fireworks. In short Ajith as Billa is a rocker!

Nayanthara has given her famous six-yard saris a miss and has decided to go full throttle to look her sexiest best in sizzling hot micro-mini shorts, leather jacket, tall boots! The gorgeous Nayan as Sasha is a show stopper and no Tamil heroine has looked so glamorous on screen in recent times, thanks to her right attitude and stylist Anu Vardhan. Her tan make-up and her costumes are designed with the intention to make your jaw drop. She has a beautiful body which she flaunts daringly and has no qualms about appearing in a two-piece string bikini and is also able to bring out the cold aloofness and bitterness of her character.

Namitha as CJ oozes sex appeal, is surprisingly restrained and her silences give meaning to the deep loyalty and devotion that her character has for Billa. Prabhu as the police officer is a delight while Rahman and Aditya are adequate. New girl Rose Dawn is a disappointment in the item number and is no match to Helen or Kareena’s sensuous jig.

Billa delivers the goods with its great star cast, a designer look, technical glitz, perfect chemistry making it an entertainment extravaganza. Fasten your seat belts and enjoy the ride. Don’t miss it.

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