Nammal Thammil

Amongst all these great movies I also managed to see Nammal Thammil, primarily for Prithviraj. But I must confess, after about fifteen minutes into the movie, I absolutely couldn't take it any more. Barely managed to watch the movie in fast forward.

For the basic plot, please visit -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nammal_Thammil

Rather, I will suggest don't bother. Much better stuff to do if you have time at hand, even doing nothing will be worth more.

As you can guess,

Do skip.

Molly Aunty Rocks

I had seen this movie some years ago, but for some reason never wrote the review. Probably one of those days of slumber and inanity in Mumbai.

Anyways, I vaguely remembered enjoying the movie and decided to see it again. Prithviraj after all does add to the temptation.

Molly Aunty rocks! As is evident from the name is the story of Molly Aunty played by Revathi. She lives with her husband and two daughters in US but for past two years is in Kerala, working in the bank. All indications show that she has some financial trouble and is trying to raise money by breaking her FDs and selling ancestral property. The feisty, fearless and witty character of Molly is what lends colour to this movie. From insisting on doing everything herself, bargaining even for the smallest things and doing what she wants, Revathi gives a very entertaining performance.

One fine day, Molly gets a notice from the IT department for tax dues worth 30K. When she goes to the IT department to clarify, a corrupt officer asks her for a “gift” of 15K to make the matter go away. She rebukes the officer and later files a police complaint against him.

Within a few days, to her surprise, Molly gets another IT notice this time with due amount almost 10 Lacs. Enraged, she goes to meet the assistant commissioner Pranav Roy (Prithviraj). He comes across as an egotistical, powerful, abrasive officer and completely justifies the tax amount.

Over the course of time, Pranav and Molly have several altercations, involving even family and church to mediate. Finally, Molly’s husband comes back from US and hires a lawyer.

Amidst all this, while Molly and her husband keep on insisting that they do not have any money. The lawyer sets about to find what happened to the money that Molly got from sale of ancestral land, FDs etc.

The matter is finally resolved between Molly and Pranav in a surprising revelation.

There are few actors in today’s generation as versatile as Prithviraj and he does full justice to the part of a young officer slightly heady with power.

The movie is feel good, entertaining and fast paced. Having said that, this is not something that will remain with you after you finish watching. 

Direction and editing are crisp with enough comic relief and no melodrama.

Can Watch.

Classmates

Finally on a wild guess I played the DVD which said “No Subtitles” to discover that the movie actually has subtitles. And it was a movie I have wanted to watch for a long time, highly recommended by some.
The movie starts with the principal of a college announcing that to commemorate the death anniversary of a student, Murali (Narain) who had died 14 years ago, his batch mates were coming for a reunion of sorts. The dead boy’s parents also teach at the same school. It all begins with the old classmates coming back together. The first to arrive is Suku (Prithviraj) who is a diamond merchant in Mumbai and then the rest of the gang – Pious (Indrajith) who was Suku’s close friend, Tara Kurup (Kavya Madhavan) who is a famous dancer and the daughter of a MLA, Satheesan (Jayasurya) and Vasu (Vijeesh) amongst others.

From the first scene you can see that there is some tension between Suku, Satheesan and Tara. Suku is also upset because he is recently divorced. During the evening function Tara learns that Pious’s daughter has a severe throat infection and gets an appointment for them with a famous pediatrician for the same night. Pious suspects Tara’s motives for this. Another person to arrive is Raziya (Radhika) on the condition that no one will ask about her past.

After the function Suku is in his room drinking when Murali’s father, Professor Iyer (Balachandra Menon) comes to enquire about him. Late in the night after returning from doctor’s appointment, Pious goes to Suku’s room to check on him and finds him strangled. Police is called and Suku is admitted in the hospital where he is struggling for life and death. Police discovers Suku’s journal where he has written about ending his life. Police is not entirely convinced that it was an attempted suicide. Prof. Iyer is also not convinced since Suku seemed very happy when he talked to Suku just before this incident.

Prof. Iyer starts talking to Pious and they decide that the actual reason for this murder would be in the past and not the present. In the flashback we see that Suku was a communist leader during his college days and would get into tiffs with Tara for the strikes in the college. Satheesan was the DSU leader who had won the college election last and wanted to be a politician. He coveted Tara primarily because her father was a MLA. Tara and Suku are always at loggerheads and continuously playing tricks at each other. In a strike in college the situation gets out of hand and police beats up the students and shuts down the college. Suku saves Tara and both of them get locked in a room. There they acknowledge that they love each other. Suku goes to submit his and Tara’s certificates for some camp and forgets Tara’s certificates at his home enroute.

It’s time for college elections and Satheesan pressurizes his party to have Tara represent DSU. Seeing that this has no effect on Tara’s and Suku’s relationship he tries to create misunderstanding. He gets hold of a letter written by Tara for Suku and puts it in the ballot box. Pious sees him doing this. He and Suku try to get hold of the ballot box but are unsuccessful. The same night Murali, who is an asthma patient gets trapped in the generator room and dies. Tara leaves college and so does Suku as they are unable to reconcile their differences.

Coming back to the present Prof. Iyer quizzes Tara and she admits that she met Suku behind the generator room before his attempted suicide. She had realized that Satheesan was behind all the misunderstanding and she and Suku decide to get back together again.

Esthappanachan (Jagathy Sreekumar) who can’t see properly admits that he had heard a third person in the generator room besides Tara and Suku and identifies her as Raziya. Prof. Iyer confronts Raziya and she admits that Murali and she were in love during college days but her father learnt about it and got her transferred. She informed Murali and they were supposed to meet behind the generator room. He never turned up while Raziya waited for him. She only later realized that he had died inside. Due to the shock, she lost her mental balance, her father died as a worried man and she now lived alone as none of the relatives would take her. When Tara and Suku were talking she was there. She heard Suku reveal the truth of Murali’s death. Suku thinking that Murali was Satheesan’s goon in the dark had thrown chloroform on him due to which he lost consciousness. It was only in the morning he realized it was Murali.

However Suku regains consciousness and accepts the incident as a suicide attempt. Prof. Iyer and Raziya forgive him and all ends well.

Though the movie was successful at the box office, I found the movie quite boring and performances quite stale. It doesn’t have the chutzpah of “Chocolate” or the camaraderie of friends as in “Thirakatha or Mozhi”. Prithviraj, Jayasurya and Radhika have delivered average performances and music is seriously flawed so much so that I forwarded the tracks.

On the positive side, the movie is very realistic and I liked the way it moved between present and past. Also the story moves forward as the three characters – Pious, Tara and Raziya narrate their version of the events and we see the story emerge in bits. The story itself is quite weak and is not engaging.

(Can Skip)

Thalappavu (The Headgear)

Every film maker has a specific reason to make a movie, just like a writer has a specific reason for telling a story.

This movie is a story in retrospect. An old man, a retired policeman, Ravindran Pillai (Lal) is finally confessing to a conspiracy in which he was forced to kill a naxalite leader, Joseph (Prithviraj) in police custody and file it as an encounter. This incident completely ruined his life as he takes to drinking unable to live with the guilt. His wife leaves him with his two kids and he lives at the mercy of his friendly neighbors.

The story alternates between past and present seamlessly much like “Thirakkatha”. The direction is crisp and creates impact. Lal has played the role of the repentant policeman perfectly and the expressions of Prithviraj stay with you even after the movie is over. There are two ways to look at the story - one is to stay that it is the story of a man repenting for killing someone and another way to look at it as a view of the bourgeois oppressing and suppressing the naxals. The director is not very clear on what view he wants to stress on and as a result its not as clear as "Thirakkatha" but much more ambiguous.

Now you need to ask, who were the intended audience for the movie? If it was the artsy types then the movie needed much more pathos and grotesqueness which brings forth the “undiluted in your face” incidents to make it critically acclaimed. If the intended viewer were the masses then the movie is way too serious and uninteresting. Compare to something like Thirakkatha which is also a serious movie albeit the theme of the movie is not so seriously socially relevant but in that case the movie is highly engaging with an element of mystery which keeps the viewer glued. Where as in Thalappavu you know the store from the first scene, there are minor surprises here and there (for me the moment when Ravindran’s daughter accepts that she was forced into prostitution at a very young age was hard hitting) but they fail to create an impact.

So while the direction, story and performances are all commendable, the movie failed for the want of a proper audience.

Watch it for the direction and performances.

(Can skip)

Nandanam

It’s a simple story. Balamani (Navya Nair) is a hired help in the rich household of Unni Amma who lives with three other old women who supposedly take care of her in the temple town of Guruvayur. Balamani ends up doing all the work but she is very effervescent and good natured and Unni Amma treats her like her own daughter. Balamani believes in Lord Guruvayur strongly and lights a lamp everyday though for some reason she doesn’t get to go to the temple. One night she dreams of her wedding and sees an unknown man as her groom. Next day Manu (Prithviraj), Unni amma’s grandson comes to stay with her for two weeks before leaving for US. Balamani is surprised to see that Manu is the man who came in her dreams.

Balamani and Manu come closer and Manu wants to marry her. Meanwhile Manu’s mother Thangam (Revathi) fixes his marriage with some other girl whose family resides in US. By the time Manu is able to tell his mother the truth it is too late and he is unable to say no to her.

Meanwhile Balamani is heartbroken but she can’t even leave the house as she owes Unni amma some money. One day she is contemplating jumping into a well when a young man stops her. She thinks he is Unni, the son of her neighbor who is visiting her. The two become friends and Unni who is always cheerful gives hope to Balamani. He believes that she will finally end up marrying Manu in spite of all obstacles.

Unni’s words bear fruit. On the eve of the marriage, the bride elopes with someone else. Though the family tries very hard to get Manu married to his cousin, that too doesn’t succeed. Finally in spite of brooding family members Unni Amma gets the two married. Balamani goes to her neighbor’s house to give the good news to Unni but discovers that he is not the guy she met in the woods. Balamani and Manu go to the temple to get the God’s blessings but are unable to enter as it is cordoned off for some VIP’s visit. Outside the temple Balamani catches the glimpse of her friend unni and realizes that Lord Guruvayur himself came to help her.

A simple and old tale with devotional background coupled with a pace which reflects the old times, could have made the movie uninteresting. But it doesn’t - the reason being Navya Nair, she has played this innocent, sweet, full of life, simple girl who steals your heart from the first scene. Prithviraj also plays his role of a young city boy who has fallen in love with a village belle to perfection.

The movie is slow paced but stills keeps you interested and the story moves forward fairly quickly. Renjith has done a brilliant job in capturing the life as it exists in the small towns. Though the scenes with Kumbidi (Jagathy Sreekumar) intended to bring some humor are dead and unnecessary.

Superb acting especially by Navya Nair, Commendable direction.

(Do watch)

Lollipop

I had picked up this movie for the actors especially Prithviraj and Roma who had amazing chemistry Chocolate.

The movie begins with Panji (Jayasurya) telling his story to another man while waiting for the ferry. Panji was a small time pick pocket committing petty crimes. One day he tried to steal Franco’s (Prithviraj) bag and gets beaten by him. Unfortunately both of them are caught by the police and later released on the insistence of a local priest who is also Franco’s godfather. Panji follows the priest and Franco and is ultimately given work in Franco’s garage so that he can mend his ways. Franco lives with his sister Jenifer (Roma) who is a tomboy. Their parents are no more. He is over protective of his sister and picks up fights with anyone who upsets her. One such person is Rose (Bhavana) who studies with Jeni who for some reason hates Rose. Though at the face of it Franco scolds Rose for picking a fight with Jeni, actually they are in love. They cannot acknowledge their love openly as Franco and Jeni have a pact that each will marry the person of other’s choice so that they can always live peacefully under one roof.

Meanwhile Panji falls in love with Jeni who is oblivious to his affections. Jeni ends up meeting a doctor, Dr. Aby (Kunchacko Boban) and the two like each other instantly. When Franco sees Dr. Aby, he instantly rejects him for some reason. As a result Jeni also breaks her association with him. Dr. Aby and Rose are coincidentally neighbors who parents are constantly fighting with each other.

One day Franco ends up beating a SP who was rude to Jeni, unaware of his actual identity. Hearing this Rose comes to tell him of the consequences when Jeni sees them. Brother and sister are about to have an altercation when the SP comes and arrests them. The local priest again comes to their rescue. Jeni is extremely upset with Franco who realizes his mistake and breaks up Rose. A little later Jeni realizes her mistake and talks to Rose and tells her to call Franco. Meanwhile we see Franco at a mental hospital meeting his mother who is in a very bad shape. He meets Dr. Aby there and acknowledges that he was the one who told Jeni to break up with Aby. He admits that the lady is only Jeni’s mom and in reality Jeni is not related to Franco. Franco found her on the road one day when she was a child and took care of her like a sister as her mom was not in well. Jeni knows nothing about it and he thought if she got together with Aby she will learn the truth which might upset her. Aby acknowledges Franco and promises never to reveal the truth. Meanwhile Rose calls up Franco to tell him about Jeni’s acceptance of their relation. Thus Franco and Rose; and Jeni and Aby get together and their parents throw a big party on their engagement.

Meanwhile Panji is heartbroken and is determined to marry Jeni. He creates a misunderstanding between Franco, Jeni and Rose and Aby where Franco and Jeni suspect them of having an affair and break off the engagement. After a while Franco unaware of Panji’s true nature gets Jeni and Panji engaged. Police catches an associate of Panji who confesses to everything, just in time before the wedding. In a fight Panji is killed and everyone gets back together and lives happily ever after.

Movie starts on a comical note and seems to have potential. But after an hour of running time, gets absolutely entangled and looses the plot completely. I actually couldn’t sit through the movie and fast forwarded the songs and fight sequences.

Shafi is extremely disappointing and the movie is a complete waste of time. Prithviraj is disappointing, Roma is her usual bubbly self and the rest of the actors are wasted.

(Do skip)

Kerala Cafe

There are two parts to the story of Kerala Café. One the individual stories and secondly the thread or the background that ties the stories together so that in spite of being ten different stories they look like a montage.

Let me first talk about the stories individually. (To give a perspective on stories relative to each other, I have tried scoring them on a scale of 5)

First story “Nostalgia” starring Dileep. The concept reminded me of a book “Ignorance” by Milan Kundera where he explores the whole idea of nostalgia. He says – “The Greek word for "return" is nostos. Algos means "suffering." So nostalgia is the suffering caused by an unappeased yearning to return…nostalgia seems something like the pain of ignorance, of not knowing.” The problem is that when you return to a place after a long time your memories no longer match. It’s just your attempt to recapture your experience of the past. The movie tried to explore the same concept through a Keralite living in Dubai. While in Dubai he fondly remembers his village, the cool breeze and the green fields and sings the songs he heard as a child. But when he returns the same things irritate him and he misses his structured and comfortable life in Dubai. Interesting rendition with excellent acting by Dileep. I only wish the director had only explored this feeling and not confused it with the usual story of a petty rich guy exploiting a poor friend. (4/5)

The second story starring Prithviraj is called “Island Express” and is in itself a montage on lives of people who died in a train accident. From narration and story perspective I found it very weak. The director tried exploring too many facets in a very limited time frame and thus was not able to do any justice to any of it. The story follows a writer (Prithviraj) who survived the train wreck as a boy and goes on to write a book about the survivors and those who died. The interesting bit was how the driver who survived, lived on with his guilt and acceptance. (2/5)

“Lalitham Hiranmayam” stars Suresh Gopi has a conventional story but what makes it interesting is the ending. A man can’t decide between mistress and wife, loves both and wants to do justice to both. (Why I scoff at the story is a different discussion all together). Well directed. (3/5)

Next is the story of a haunted house “Mrityunjayam”. There is no reason why this story should have been included. A team of reporters who investigate the paranormal want to spend a night in the haunted house in a small village. One of them stays there and what happens to him is the story. Bad acting, bad direction and very uninteresting story. Horror is yet to come of age in India. (0/5)

“Happy Journey” directed by Anjali Menon is one of the jewels in the collection. A middle aged man sits next to a young girl in a bus. He tries to strike conversation and gets uncomfortably close to the girl. Initially the girl is very cornered and seems helpless. But at one point the conversation takes a turn and the girl confesses that she has kept bomb in the bus and can activate it with the press of a key on her cell phone. The rest of the journey the man experiences abject fear. The story has both serious and humorous undertones. The performances by both the girl and the man are excellent. An ideal short film with an interesting story with a twist and crisp direction. Reminds me of Roald Dahl’s short stories. (5/5)

“Aviraman” starring Shwetha Menon and Siddique is the story of an IT entrepreneur who is seeing some bad times during the recession. A subject which will resonate with a lot of people these days. This short film is warm and the subject has been treated very well without melodrama. Simple story but makes for a wonderful watch due to wonderful chemistry between the couple and thought out direction. (3/5)

Next story is a very humorous take on recession and the global nature of recession at that. Suraj does odd jobs at beaches of Goa and acts as guide for tourists. Due to off season there are not many travelers. By sheer luck he ends up meeting a Portuguese couple. Hoping to make some money from them, he takes them to a lodge for stay where the story takes a brilliant twist. It actually had me in splits. (4/5)

"Bridge" is easily the best story of the series. T. R. Unni (writer) has managed to stitch two separate lives in a wonderful mosaic so that you can’t take your eyes of it. The story follows two separate lives, one of a cat adopted by a little boy and later thrown out by his father and that of an old woman who has become a burden on her family. Anwar Rasheed has done full justice to the concept through his superb direction. Nice background score, this one had me riveted. (5/5)

Revathy directs “Makal”, a typical story of exploitation of mine workers where the parents give up a girl for adoption but she ends up in prostitution. You just expect the ending from the first scene. The children are endearing though. Stale is the word that describes the movie. (1/5)

“Puramkazchakal” is directed by Lal Jose and stars Mammotty. The story narrated by Sreenivasan is of a man who gets into a state bus and is constantly asking the driver to hurry constantly annoying the passengers on board. All of them curse and abuse him till he finally gets down at his stop. The ending tears your heart and will bring tears to your eyes. The movie makes you realize that you can never know the reasons behind a person’s actions. No matter what you guess, it’s not enough. A beautiful story, well directed with brilliant performance by Mammotty. (5/5)

Now coming to the direction of Renjith of “Kerala Café”, which he explains in a prologue to the movie. I can understand Renjith wanting to make sure that people sit through the movie and understand the motivation, but seriously it was a wee bit annoying. Also I think it is Renjith who fails in this movie. The individual stories had a lot of potential but they needed to be painted together on a canvas. The concept of a café is good where all these people spend some part of their lives but it’s not enough. It needed a little more depth and interaction. He just scrapes though it. (2/5)

Overall a movie worth watching with some brilliant moments.

(Do watch)

Raavanan

As I keep on watching movies, I try to understand what makes these movies a success or a failure and I am not talking about commercial success. What makes a movie riveting and thought provoking?


Not all the movies I have liked have been directed well, or have had great cinematography or great music for that matter. What they have had is - thought out characters, well researched and connected storyline (the story may not be unique; it is the treatment that matters). I think somewhere in the successful movies the director was clear in his thoughts about the subject, characters and story. He was clear why he was making the movie. And he stayed true to the story and the characters. Be it Manichitratalzhu, Mozhi or Chocolate – movies from different genres and appealing to different generations. The potential of actors and their ability to understand the characters and act of course is primary requirement.

Unfortunately, looks like Mani Ratnam (who has directed good movies earlier) had no idea why he was making this movie. It was definitely not for the story for Ramayana is the most popular story in India; it was definitely not his interpretation either for only last five minutes make any impact on the audience; it was not for the music for A.R. Rahman has produced way better music then the score of Raavanan; it was not to show off the acting prowess of the actors for Aishwarya Rai in the end has all but two expressions on her face. Why then did he make the movie?

The story is simple, Veera (Vikram) believes that Dev (Prithviraj), a SP is responsible for the custodial rape and death of his sister Vennila (Priyamani). Veera decides to take revenge and kidnaps Dev’s beautiful wife Ragini (Aishwarya). Unexpectedly Ragini is a fierce woman and not afraid of Veera. This results in Veera being attracted towards her. This attraction should have brought out the shades in his character and should have been more subtle but throughout the movie you feel that the attraction is the reason for abducting Ragini and not really the revenge. Ragini on the other hand hates Veera but slowly learns of his reasons and sees different shades of his character (not apparent to the audience) and starts admiring him. The movie is a cat and mouse chase of Dev trying to find Veera, eliciting the help of the forest officer Gnanaprakasam (Karthik) who plays the proverbial Hanuman. Again the director missed an opportunity to bring the character of a messenger who believes the good in both the sides but instead reduces it to the mokeyish histrionics. The movie barely touches the shades of grey which should have been explored and dissected to give the movie the much required depth.

Mani Ratnam, who is a genius in exploring relationships, somehow missed some key relationships in the movie. For once he had such a powerful subject. The persona of Raavana itself is so multi faceted and full of contradictions. He could have explored that in greater detail. The character of Ragini symbolizing Sita again had a lot of potential. On one hand she has an honest, morally upright, larger than life husband who loves her and on the other hand this earthy abstraction of a seemingly demonic man who has a curious sense of justice. The confusion and temptation alone would have been mesmerizing.


No doubt, Santosh Sivan has done wonders with his camerawork and Vikram and Prithviraj stand out as Veera and Dev. There are a couple of dialogues and scenes - like when the villagers are describing Veera to Dev and each comes up with his own different version of the man, or when Ragini jumps off a cliff claiming that her life is her own; but these are too few and far too in between.

A subject that had a lot of potential and a cast that could have delivered – that’s what sums up Raavanan for me.

(Can Skip)

Pakal

Heart wrenching tale of how circumstances drive helpless farmers and their families to end their lives. Nandakumar (Prithviraj) is a reporter for a Kerala news channel assisted by cameraman Abu (Sudheesh). He covers a recent suicide by a farmer in Kerala. His editor decides to do a feature for which Nanda and Abu go to that village for a couple of months. There they meet a veteran Kunjappan (Thilakan) who has been fighting for justice against bank debt and money lenders for past 14 years. They also learn about Joseph (T.G.Ravi) and his family. Joseph is a poor farmer who has lost all his land to money lenders and bank and now all he is left is with a small piece of land and his house. His wife is no more and he lives with his four daughters. The eldest daughter, Merlin works in the city. Celine (Jyothirmayi), the second daughter is studying to be a doctor. The bank sends him a notice to seize his house. Meanwhile there is an evil moneylender who eyes the daughter in lieu of the loaned amount.

Learning of the bank notice and unable to arrange for the money, Merlin is forced towards prostitution but in a tragic twist she meets with an accident and is killed. Joseph unable to bear the grief also dies. Nanda meanwhile is trying his best to find a solution and also meets the collector of the region.

Celine after being advised by the father of the local church meets the bishop for help but to no avail. Finally she realizes that the solution lies not in begging for help but standing up and making things work. The villagers get together and get rid of the evil money lender and start small scale enterprise.

The movie is almost a documentary but that’s not the reason it sank without trace. It could have found critical acclaim but is too superficial and obvious while exploring the pathos in the lives of people. Its definitely not commercial.

Prithviraj, Jyothirmayi and T.G.Ravi have acted well for their parts and but I think the screenplay needed more research and a harder look at this social problem.

(Can Skip)

Thirakkatha… (Screenplay)

Another one of those movies which rekindles my love for cinema. It’s actually my love for stories. Over time I have learnt to appreciate other aspects of a movie but quintessentially for me it is the script closely linked to performances.

Thirakkatha which literally means “screenplay” has an interesting script and an engaging narration. The movie follows a young director Akbar aka Akki (Prithviraj) who highly appreciated for his first movie is looking for a script. He finally decides to make a movie on the life of a celebrated actress of yester years, Malavika (Priyamani) who has completely disappeared from public life. What follows is essentially the journey of Akki discovering the life of Malavika for his script.


Malavika was at some point married to a now famous star Ajay Chandran (Anoop Menon) who was just a struggling actor back in the old days. In his quest Akki meets the son of an old friend of Malavika and Ajay, the late director Abby (Renjith). Abby’s son gives him the diary of his father and some letters in which he had chronicled the story of Malavika and Ajay.

From this point the narration moves from present to the past seamlessly as Akki reads through the diary.

Malavika and Ajay Chandran met at a time when she was a successful actress and he a struggling artist. They fall in love in spite of the opposition by Malavika’s truant mother and eventually get married for which Malavika had to leave her entire fortune. Ajay is struggling to revive his career after a series of flops when Abby decides to direct a film casting Malavika and Ajay as the lead pair. Just then Malavika realizes that she is pregnant but Ajay forces her to abort the child. Soon after that she has to undergo another operation for minor growth in ovaries. Her close friend later confesses that her fallopian tubes were cut during that operation and she will never get pregnant again. Distraught and feeling betrayed Malavika thinks that Ajay did this purposefully and leaves him. She falls on tough times and ends up doing cameo roles before completely disapeering.

As Akki is trying to put this story together, he gets a call telling him the whereabouts of Malavika who was untraceable till now. He rushes there and realizes that she is terminally ill with cancer and looks really frail and wasted. He and his friends take her with them to take care of her.

Towards the end her dying wish is to meet Ajay and Akki persuades him to come. When the two meet we learn the mystery and the secrecy behind their separation. Malavika asks Ajay to take her to Cloud’s End, a bungalow in the hills where they first met. Ajay agrees.


Beautifully written with excellent direction and editing. Priyamani has done wonders and her transition through various stages of Malavika’s life is very touching. Anoop Menon is just another prop and fails to make any impact. Prithviraj, though not outstanding has carried off the role of the young director well. Overall, Priyamani shines out.

Beautifully told story. It won the national film award for best feature film in Malyalam in 2008.

(Do Watch)

Chocolate

A total masala entertainer which is a romantic comedy has emotions and drama and rebellion against tyrant dads.

The movie begins in a girl’s college in Kerala which is completing its 50 years and contemplating converting to a co-ed. Trio Anne Mathews (Roma), Nandana (Samvrutha) and Susan (Remya Nabeeshan) along with their friends plan on protesting against that move and sneak out in the middle of the night to put posters all over the college. Due to vociferous protests by the parents, finally management has to give in and maintain status quo. But there is one seat in post graduate course reserved for a boy. The dean decides to admit the son of one of the teachers. Shyam Balagopal (Prithviraj) is a troublesome good for nothing rogue who has been kicked out of nine colleges in three years for his rowdiness. After a lot of cajoling by his mother and friends who are excited by the thought of his attending a girl’s college, Shyam agrees to attend.

What follows is nothing short of war of the worlds between Anne and Shyam where they try to outsmart each other at every instance to some hilarious consequences like an incident with pads, Shyam using ladies restroom and Anne ragging him by making him wear a petticoat. Shyam is then approached by a young fashion designer, Renjith (Jayasurya) who wants Nandana to model for him but is rebuked by both Nandana and Anne. Shyam agrees to help him get closer to Nandana. Things between Anne and Shyam become better when Shyam helps Anne to defeat her arch rival Preetha in the college elections and becomes the first chairman of the student’s council. Soon they become close friends and start preparing for the youth festival.


Meanwhile Anne’s father is looking for a suitable groom and asks her to meet a guy. Anne brings Shyam along and they individually realize that they are in love but are unable to say to each other. During the rehearsals someone take pictures of Shyam and Nandana and sends to Nandana’s father who is a tyrant and disapproves of her talking to any guy. He then tries to beat up Shyam to disastrous end. Meanwhile everyone thinks that it’s Anne who sent the photographs to Nandana’s father. What follows is a fast paced roller coaster where all misunderstandings are cleared up and Nandana and Renjith get together. Finally in a dramatic ending during the play, Shyam professes his love for Anne and carries her off.


Fast paced, youthful, chirpy songs, crisp direction (directed by Shafi), good acting, total masala entertainment.

(Do watch)

Vellitherai (Silver Screen)

The first thing you feel on watching the movie is that of subtlety and subdued emotions. Nothing over the top. Even the satire on Indian Cinema is more realistic than the actual cinema.

Prithviraj and Prakash Raj again come together with superb movie about the movies. Prithviraj is an assistant director doing the rounds with his script to get a break as director while Prakash Raj is an aspiring actor. And the similarity ends in their struggle. While Prithviraj is a serious student of cinema and has studied the renowned actors and directors across the world, Prakash raj is nothing more than a street rogue all out for over the top performance and melodrama who is conniving and manipulative. He tricks Prithviraj and registers his script as his own and goes on to become a megastar. While Prithviraj dejected never really makes it after that.

Finally he also gets a script but every producer insists that Prakash Raj must star in it. What follows is a brilliant satire on cinema, what goes for talent and how stars become larger than life. Inspired by the legendary Eddie Murphy movie Bowfinger though.

I really like Prithviraj for restrained performance. Prakash Raj though has outdone himself yet again. Superb performance. And while he transforms from almost a street urchin to a superstar, you can see the subtleties in his character remain throughout.
Gopika who plays an actress and love interest of Prithviraj fills in for the character but doesn’t really deserve a special mention. Music leaves much to be desired.

Good direction, interesting script, superb performances.

(Do watch)

Abhiyum Naanum (Abhi and Me)

The reason I picked up the movie was because of Prakash Raj and Prithviraj. And of course Radha Mohan who directed Mozhi has also directed Abhiyum Naanum.

Loosely based on “Father of the Bride”, the plot follows Prakash Raj who narrates his experiences of raising a (now married) daughter to Prithviraj who has a young daughter. It takes you through the journey of a father watching his little girl grow up and move on in life to the point where he is no longer the only man in her life. It’s definitely a feel good movie with a delightful freshness and keeps you engaged. Though after a while I wanted the movie to rush to its predictable ending.



The script would have worked a bit better if it was little crisp in the second half. The groom and his family are a little over the top and unrealistic. I mean seriously at an instance the Prime Minister calls the groom to enquire about work.

Prithviraj is in a cameo. Prakash Raj has acted the part and I think he can carry off any role in any script without the associated melodrama. So he is fun to watch.
I particularly liked Aishwarya playing the mum. Trisha Krishnan fails to make an impact as the daughter though the girl who plays the kid “Abhi” is very lovable.

Overall a movie with better performances than script and direction which has its moments. Mediocre music.

(Can Watch)

Mozhi (Language)…

Every person who has lived has a tale to tell. From shocking to amusing to melancholic to macabre. Many times in movies we blank out on all characters and their stories except the protagonist and the antagonist. Not in Mozhi though. The director has tastefully and beautifully woven the tales of people living in an apartment complex and while the story is about a girl learning to let go of the past and accepting life, others characters add life to the drama and take the story forward.

It’s a simple love story of a guy (Prithviraj as Karthik) who admires a girl (Jyothika as Archana) and falls in love with her. He then moves heaven and earth (no pun intended) to woo her and win her affection. The girl though happy to be friends is unable to look past her disappointments and fears and rejects him at every instance. Kitsch, I know. But what makes this story extraordinary is the treatment of the movie and the characters woven into the movie. Be it Viji (Prakash Raj) whose wit is unmatched playing the best friend of Karthik or the heart wrenching portrayal of Professor (MS Bhaskar) who is stuck in 1984.

The best bit is that the movie is made on a light hearted note and kudos to Prakash Raj for that. Jyothika portrays her character with finesse and no melodrama. In a particularly moving sequence you see her struggle, her anger and realize no words in any language can complete that emotion.

Cheers to the director (Radha Mohan) and the editor (M.Kasivishwanathan).

A little too many songs but I liked Kannal Pesum Penne, Katrin Mozhiye and Sevvanam Selaikatti.

Effervescent, delightful and memorable.

(Do watch)