Which Malayalam film did you watch recently ?

[Murali Srinivas]

Paaleri Manickam:

At the outset it can be classified as "who did it?" category. But it is not your normal investigation thing. The film unfolds in different levels with the layers surrounding the incident making it more complex.

The investigator from Delhi has a strange coincidence with the murder that happened 52 years ago, he having born on the night the murder took place. The journey he embarks upon takes him back to a period, which is seperated by half a century from the present. He in trying to unearth the hidden pieces, unsure whether these pieces still exist but nevertheless continues.

He has only the police crime records of his native town Paaleri to fall back upon, which are again doctored. Accompanying him in this journey is his friend turned mistress. He tries to put all pieces together with the help of some people who were all witnesses to the happenings and who are still alive. How he finally arrives in front of the perpetrator [a nice twist here] is told in a measured pace.

Here you don't have the fast chases, multiple suspects, some action scenes with unknown goons all associated with murder mysteries and instead the narration is told through the eyes of the investigator.

Kudos to Ranjith for coming forward to film this story by T.A.Rajeevan written some decades back. Though slow paced, he never allows the sudiences' concentration to waver. While traversing through the incidents that surrounded the murder, he deftly uses the screen play to capture the various facets of the village mileu of the 50's Kerala, where the dominant landlord castes treated the less previliged in a brutal and humilating manner. He had taken the pains to bring alive the village of 1957 in all its earthiness. The film makers of Kerala have always had the courage and took the artistic liberty of pointing out the wrong doings of the politicians irespective of who is in power and here the story happens when the world's first democratically elected communist government under E.M.S. was about to assume charge. How the government asked its party cadres to spread out and how the cadres used influential men for furthering the party's hold and how the Congress [in opposition] tried to exploit situatons are told in fleeting moments but do leave an impression.

When I see such types of protagonists, always used to think why such roles are not to be seen in Tamil. Here the investigator himself declares that he was born of a illegal relationship more due to the fact his mother had no way but to obey the village chieftan's diktats. Again in the course of his conversation, he matter of factly says that he had told some excuses to his wife at Delhi for taking this trip and talks about how his friendship towards colleague has been taken to the next level. Such flesh and blood characters make our protagonists as mere caricatures.

If Mammootty as the investigative Haridas is cool and poise, he has given out one of his best performance as Ahamed Haji, the village chieftain personifying all the evils. In a never before seen role, where he is shown to treat all the lower castes as his bonded labourers and not to forget his lust for all women who come before him, he has delivered a splendid performance. Let me not delve more for the reason it would be a give away for someone wanting to watch the movie.

Srinivasan as the old age barber, Siddique as the present day man friday dish out a natural performances. Swetha Menon is good in her part. Gowri Munjal as the friend accompanying crime analyst passes muster. For all other roles, Ranjit has chosen stage artists and trained them and for their part, they have come out without blemish.

Will not say it is a film par excellence but a very good attempt made memorable by Mammootty's Hajiyaar.

Regards

[AravindMano]

Kerala Cafe. Equal mix of good and bad shorts. "Bridge" and "Happy Journey" stand out. Espescially "Bridge", for its stunning cinematography.

[shajith1994]

Bodyguard

[Murali Srinivas]

Pramani

A village story told in a simple manner. A Panchayath President who is bent upon amassing wealth through corrupt illegal means rules the roost in the village. Neither the arrival of new Panchayath Board Secretary [a Govt Employee] who is determined to clean up things, nor the admonishing teacher with whom he shares a special relationship could make him see reason. And when he goes to the extent of sacrificing the entire agriculture land in his village for a soft ware company in return for a huge kickback, things reach a flashpoint.

The protagonist one day suddenly reaslises that money is not everything and tries to turn a new leaf but that is resisted by his own kith and kin which comes as a shocker to him. It almost turns up the whole village against him. As if this is not enough a very serious crime allegation is hoisted on his head. How he wriggles out of the imbroligo he finds himself in forms thr rest of the story.

Not much to boast about, writer director B.Unnikrishnan had sort of a redone his earlier offering Maadambi which also had the same background mileu. For the viewer it is very apparent that the movie is taken forward more by dialogues than visual. The director had tried to highlight some socially relevant issues faced by rural Kerala today like that of agriculture lands being taken away in the name of progress but it is more of a cosmetic in nature.

The character doesn't demand anything extraordinary from Mammootty and he has a stroll in the park. Sneha as Panchayath Board Secretary looks slim and attractive in simple sarees. Lakshmi makes a comeback after a long time and her Rosy teacher is a significant one.

Prabhu - For me it was a disappointment as he turns up just in 4 scenes out of which 3 pass by as background. He has only one scene of dialogue and emoting and ofcourse he does it with elan. Probably the chance to share screen space with Mammootty must have lured him.

Time pass movie.

Regards

[jinju]

Watched the remake version of Neelathamara directed by Lal Jose in MT Vasudevan Nair's script. The original released in 1979 marked noted actress' Ambika's debut. The reasoning behind the remake as per producer Suresh Kumar that it was a film he watched around 16 times and felt that the story still had merit for today's age and need to be retold...so some trims n addons after, we have the new version!

The film narrates the story of a servant girl in a rich household. The mother, who is the master of the house is aging and all alone in the vast household as her son is away studying in the city of Ernakulam and comes home only on weekends. The girl develops an infatuation/love towards the son whose intentions are obvious! Another angle where the servant has a rough n tough "muraimaaman" who actually takes her to the household for work. //now we know where the 90s-00s superhits Nandanam, Sallapam, etc, owe their origin to .// After his intentions are taken care of in one fateful night, the son moves on, gets married with another girl of his same strata leaving the servant ponnu searching for answers! What follows next is told in a languid manner by Lal Jose.

A film enacted completely by newcomers, Neelathamara is no great shakes as cinema, but is worth watching for the 3 strong/emotionally weak women characters that the magician MTV weaves. Archana Kavi as the maid (in a strong debut), Rima Kallingal as her neighborhood friend, Samvrita Sunil as the bride are 3 strong female characters that typify the lack of such ilk in today's malayalam cinema n reassert the strength of malayalam cinema of those times! if not for anything else, this effort should be lauded for the above reasons, Vidyasagar's melodies, n Lal Jose's mastery of the craft! Kailash also makes a notable debut as the rich son who exploits the servant girl, so does Sridevi (late Monisha's mom) as his mom.

[jinju]

Pokkiriraja, one of the most expected malayalam movies of 2010, starring Mammootty, Prithviraj and marking the malayalam debut of Shriya Saran released yesterday amidst much fanfare. The movie is supposed to be a mass masala entertainer, something that malayalam cinema has fallen prey to in the recent times. It has been earning average to good reviews and may turn out to be a winner at the BO because of its saleable stars and malayali audiences' new found love for masala flicks. Bordering on the done-to-death theme of lost and found brothers, the film is a first time effort by director Vyshakh, formerly an assistant to the uncrowned king of malayalam commercial films, Joshi.

will watch it soon and post my review...posted below one of the reviews

http://f4s.in/entertainment/pokkiri-raja-review/

[Sudarsh]

Guys i just saw Bharya Onnu Makkal Moonuu recently and im telling you seriously this is the best movie I've seen this year and is one of the best movies I've ever seen in my life. Rajasenan direction is Superb! The movie goes so fast that you dont even realize the time fly by! The whole movie felt as if it just started 5 mins ago and ended in 5 mins so beautifully directed and picturized. I loved the message in the movie about family and love! Its been done so well I just love the movie! I'm still feeling for this movie so much even after watching it! I think its an great family experience! Rajasenan and the whole crew including Mukesh, Jagadeesh, Rahman and all have acted really well! Wishing Rajasenan the best of luck in the future!

VERDICT: THIS MOVIE WILL ALWAYS REMAIN IN MY HEART FOREVER AND I WILL REWATCH THIS AGAIN AND AGAIN BECAUSE ITS ONE OF THE BEST MOVIES IN THIS WORLD AND I LOVE RAJASENAN'S DIRECTION AND HIS MOVIES!

[Cinefan]

Do they do DVD's with English subtitles?????

Pazhassi Raja DVD is out and apart from this I have a long list of movies I want to watch.Problem is my very very limited knowledge of malayalam.

Despite the handicap have seen and got very impressed by movies like Thazhavaram,Devasuram,Class mates,Vaasthavam and quite of few on DD during the 80's whose names I forget.

Of course since I pick and choose,obviously don't get to see the crap ones which I am sure are made.

[Cinefan]

Also a movie which flew out of the theatres as soon as it came in has bagged a lot of critical acclaim,goes by something like TB Dasan Standard IV.Anybody seen that?

[jinju]

Do they do DVD's with English subtitles?????

Pazhassi Raja DVD is out and apart from this I have a long list of movies I want to watch.Problem is my very very limited knowledge of malayalam.

Despite the handicap have seen and got very impressed by movies like Thazhavaram,Devasuram,Class mates,Vaasthavam and quite of few on DD during the 80's whose names I forget.

Of course since I pick and choose,obviously don't get to see the crap ones which I am sure are made.

Cinefan, dvds now come with english subtitles...do check out Thirakkadha, Loud Speaker, Bhramaram, Kerala Cafe, etc among the new ones...yes, TD Dasan VI B is an amazing film i heard, cud not watch it coz am settled in cbe now and on one of my occasional visits to kerala, found out that after a poor 2-week run, the movie got dislodged by the usual crass commercial ones...that's the sad state of malayalam films today...tho this film has got some fantastic reviews...don't know whether one will be able to get to watch it on dvd, coz such films don't have takers there also! let's hope....

meanwhile check out one of the well written reviews for td dasan

T.D.Dasan Std.VIB : An Enchanting Experience

Theatre : Little Shenoys, Ernakulam
Show : Matinee
Attendance : 30 - 40 persons

I was absolutely stunned when I arrived at the theatre after my sudden decision to watch the film for a matinee show. The reason for my surprise: Well, the crowd that turned up for the show which was about 3 times my expected count, standing there on the scorching heat waiting for the ticket counter to open. With that happy note, I stated my cinematic experience of the day, at the end of which I decided to show my gratitude through this review towards my SS comarades ( I am not mentioning specifically ) for recommending this film.

Plot
****
Ammu and her father Nandan, an AD maker leads a very quiet and uneventful life in Banglore until a letter comes to their home addressed to some Divakaran. Both Ammu and Nandan (in seperate ways, ofcourse) being able to identify with the author, a boy called Dasan from a rural village, tries in their own ways to find a solution to this unexpected occurence in their life. While Ammu tries to do this by being an understanding father to the boy (which she lacks), Nandan tries to confront the issue by creatively channeling it to a film script. The rest of the film is about how both their ways plays out to meet the situation ending on a climax, which is the best I have seen in recent times.

Critique
********

The first thing I noticed from the film is the way the director has subtly narrated sequences which he presents as tip of icebergs. The best example for this is the prologue sequence of palm trees which works as an apt premonition to some of the films's latter half sequences. The aura of kavus, the mango tree (symbol of his father for Dasan), snakes etc. are truly ingenious when you think of things on a bigger scale.

Equally mentioning is the way in which director has created the enchanting mythical atmosphere for the proceedings through devices like Solomon's "Song Of Songs" or 1001 Nights. While it is questonable that a father presents a hightly erotically chared text like 1001 Nights to his 12 year old daughter as a birthday present, it is obvious that the director is aiming for that ambiguity. This thought of mine was amplified by the very next scene in which she asks her neighbour for Solomon's Love hymns. Just Notice each time from where Ammu takes those tragic letters each time for the reference. SUPERB indeed!!!

The emotional plunge that the film takes in my belief is the way in which Ammu shows her frustation towards her father by being one to someone like Dasan in whom she finds that same urge. It is clear in many sequences that Nandan doesn't meet her expectations as a father (one having him completely forget her in office). While this is the case, Nandan tries to be a better father figure in his dreams which becomes evident from the climax of his film idea. It is simply ironic that this dream has to finally face the reality as a mirror!!!!

Technical Department
********************
Even though made on a small scale, the technicians of the film have made sure that the audience wouldn't know the difference. The photography by Arun Varma hence captures the vistas of Palakkad with the appropriate cloudy chillness while gifts the busy Banglore life with sunny harsh days. Equally good is the editing by Vinod Sukumaran who has also done the cuts well that we flow the flow as right. But the real star on this account is the composer Sreevalsan.J.Menon who has provided that mood of film by his soothy BGMs and a nice song with the help of Refeeq Ahmed's lyrics.

Direction & Script
******************
Both direction and script by the debutant director Mohan Raghavan gets the loudest applaude reserved for the film. He gets his hands on things but the excellence is in the gripping with which he has hold on thhings. He delves into issues of social values without getting preachy which I believe some of our even veteran directors has to still learn. Equally spot on is the way in which he has casted the actors for their respective roles. BRAVO!!!

Cast
****
All including Biju Menon, Swetha menon, Suresh Krishna etc have done their parts well. But the honors I believe must go to Master Alexander (Dasan), Miss Teena Rose (Ammu) and Valsala Menon. Jagadeesh has hammed up a little in an other wise excellent casting.

Last Word
*********
SO...After seeing the film, I thought what is the place which we people we have reserved for this film in the Galleries. It is sure, it won't be a superhit as guarenteed by a typical mass masala entertainer or an award contendender for that matter. Well..Atleast we can appreciate these efforts by seeing it..Who Knows?> Tommorrow that 30 can be a 300!!!!

Verdict: 4/5

http://www.snehasallapam.com/malayal...xperience.html