MUMMY and ME

MUMMY and ME

Theatre : TVM Ajantha
Showtime & Date : 6.10pm, 21-05-2010
Status : Balcony 99% full with 95% family audience, FC 30%

After an impressive debut in DETECTIVE, Jeethu Joseph is back after 3 years, this time with a family subject dealing with current generation problems & relationship of youth with their parents.Youth will find will this movie a bit boring one at many parts as many scenes seems to be a pin point advice to them but families can identify themselves at many parts of the movie.

Story
In the movie, the whole story is narrated by the heroine to the audience. Jewel(ArchanaKavi) is the daughter of Joseph(Mukesh) & Clara(Urvashi). Jewel always fights with her mother because of the indifference in the opinions in whatever matters they deal. She just don't want her mother to interfere in her matters. Clara is worried about her. Joseph deals her daughter in his own way, a friendly manner. Because of that Jewel has got a healthy relationship with her father. Rahul(Kunchacko Boban) is the only son of Thomachan(Lalu Alex) & Shari. They are family friends of Joseph's family as Thomachan & Joseph were classmates. Rahul studies in the same college where Jewel studies and is her local gaurdian too. Rahul has love towards her, but he's not ready to reveal as he don't know how Jewel will react. Jewel's main hobby  is chatting in Internet. Inorder to avoid her late coming home, Joseph gifts her a computer with internet connection. Through chatting Jewel finds a friend Amir(Suresh Gopi), a fashion designer. The rest is how Amir changes her life & how Jewel & others are affected.

Performances
Urvashi as the title role MUMMY Clara had performed well with a set of new expressions & dialogue delivery styles. Her worry is shown in each & every scene she comes & Urvashi performed well too. Urvashi is still the best actress who can handle every situation, the script offers, watch the SUPER MOM song. Archana Kavi was not that good what the character Jewel has to be. Though she performed well to an extent her, repeated expressions will make us a little irritating. Mukesh as Joseph is the most powerful character in the movie. He very well expressed the feelings of a confused father in each and every scene, a tailor made role for Mukesh, the actor. His comic timing is excellent. Kunchacko Boban has got limited scenes in the movie. Though certain scenes are a rehash of his previous films, what makes this special is the way Chackochan handled this one. From Gulumaal, his comedy timing, expressions... has moved to the next level in this. His voice modulation was good. Lalu Alex as Thomachan was good in limited scenes. His dialogue delivery was superb expecially the dialogue to Chackochan " Mone, ee project workout aakumo??". Master Jeevan who acted as Mukesh's son was excellent with good comic timing. Anoop Menon was usual as psychiartist. Shari, Arun, Sudheesh, Janardhanan...perfectly fitted the role.

SureshGopi as Amir, an orphan & a fashion designer by profession made his presense from the first half of the movie itself with his voice. His presence in final scene was Superb.

Songs
Songs were above average, but the first half has got 3 songs in which 2 of them(Maalakha pole & Aarume Kaanathe) seems to be the speedbreaker & mismatch. Venmukilin & Super Mom were good. BGM was top class especially title music & when the end credits roll, the music still haunts me.

Technical
Vipin Mohan's cinematography was good. Editing needs o be a bit racy. Art Direction by Saburam was good. Makeup could have been better as the location Kuttikkanam was a cool area, the makeup mixes withe cold there which is clearly seen in many scenes for Urvashi & Mukesh.

Script & Direction
Both the departments are handled by Jeethu Joseph. He had taken a very serious issue happening in our society now as the core of the movie. Movie was engaging in the first half without a dull moment. The second half drags a little bit. Mukesh-Urvashi team's Joseph-Clara couple was excellent in many scenes where both don't want to make the other fail in front of her daughter in many situations, . Dialogues were excellent. Mukesh has got the best dialogues in the movie. The story starts & ends in the very same way & the last dialogue in which she introduces her to the audience as a narrator was superb. The scene in which Lalu Alex tells Kunchacko Boban to be flexible in life was very well taken with nice dialogues. The whole story is told like happenings in high class families. The club scenes could have been avoided. Jeethu Joseph's hardwork on screenplay is clearly visible in many scenes especially the mother daughter fight sequences. Once again Jeethu Joseph succeeded as a director and a script writer.

Family audience will thoroughly enjoy each & every scene as this had happened or is happening in their lives in one or another form.

Nothing more to say a good first half and an above average second half and a good simple sweet climax.

Verdict : Above Average
B O Verdict : SORRY DON'T KNOW, current trend make me say so

This one is clearly a multiplex movie. After a long time a feel good movie, which has got good light hearted comedies without any comedy stars.

Mohanlal was offered the cameo, which was done by Suresh Gopi here. Undoubtedly I will say Mohanlal missed the golden chance. After a point the character Amir was also there throughout the movie. The character was so effective, though it reminds me of the Mohanlal's character in Onnu Muthal Poojyam Vare. The climax scene was simple & good which would have been double effective if Mohanlal had done that.

POKKIRIRAJA

POKKIRIRAJA

Theatre : TVM Dhanya
Showtime & Date : 6.00pm, 14-05-2010
Status : Balcony Almost full, FC 35-40%

Many won't have seen Mammootty's first release in 2009, the box-office disaster, LOVE IN SINGAPORE. Those who haven't seen that movie, take a look at the scenes featuring JAYASURYA, who speaks English with its literal meaning in Malayalam ,next time when you get a chance.  Mammootty clearly lifts the same talking style here.
POKKIRIRAJA is a movie on the lines of Rajamanikyam, Thuruppugulan, Annan Thambi & Chattambinaadu, all the previous Mammootty flicks. This one is a mixture of many previous malayalam flicks, especially the above said ones in story line. Also with variety in talking style of Mammootty. The making of the movie is strictly inspired from many Tamil & Telugu mass masala flicks. If the question is whether the movie entertains ultimately, my answer is NO.

Story
The story begins with childhood of Raja(Mammootty) & Surya(Prithviraj), sons of a schoolmaster(Nedumudi Venu) who belongs to Kunnathur family & rivals of PuthiyaTharavadu family featuring Kalashala Babu, Johny & Santhosh. Vijayaraghavan plays brother of Nedumudi Venu, who is a handicap because of the rivalry between the families on the matter of which family to conduct festival in the temple. In mistake, Nedumudi Venu kills the grandson of Kalashala Babu. Inorder to save his father, Raja surrenders to police. After five years, Raja comes back to his village from juvenile home. There he faces problrems from rival family and forced to leave to to Madurai. There he saves the son of a goonleader, which helps him to be leader there.  The story proceeds 15 years after from there. Surya is now conducting the festival in temple & the rival family now tries to kill Surya. To avoid problems following that, Nedumudi Venu asks Surya to stay with his sister(Bindu Panicker) & co-brother Idivettu Sadasivan(Suraj Venjaarammood), a useless police officer. Inorder to handle a problem, Sadasivan asks Surya to wear his uniform & go there as a police officer. He meets Shreya in the college and acts as her bodyguard. Riyaz Khan, the son of Home Minister(Rizabava), is mad of Shreya. Siddhique plays police commissioner and stepfather of Shreya. Surya falls in love with Shreya. Siddhique traps him and plans to kill him. For that he gives quotaton through third party to MaduraiRaja. At the sametime NedumudiVenu comes to Madurai to request Raja to save his son. Raja comes to Kerala to save his brother and to solve problems.

Performances
As I said earlier, Mammootty imitates Jayasurya of LOVE IN SINGAPORE in dialogues &  Tamil Actor Suriya of upcoming film SINGAM in looks. Other than looks, nothing was there in the movie for him specially. Prithviraj as Surya has nothing special other than he did in Puthiya Mugham in action sequences and imitates some other actors in certain scenes. For the very same sequence he does different at different parts of the film though no particular reason.  Shreya was just to increase the star value of the movie & nothing else was offered in the csript for her. Nedumudi Venu was usual, Vijayaraghavan was wasted. Rest of the cast was just to make the scenes rich & nothing else. Thesny Khan & Bindu Panicker were just OK. Even the child artists were directly the same character as they do after 15 years from opening shot, especially Mammootty's child character did person with AAI. Siddhique's character is not new for him, but still scored in certain scens with his unique style.

The major plus points of same genre previous Mammootty flicks was comedy and Suraj & Salimkumar did a major part in that. In this one both were irritating & intolerable.


Songs
Music by Jassie Gift was average. BGM was too loud. Song picturisation was colourful bat lacks the thing for repeat watch. Dance steps were pathetic.

Technical
Cinematography by Shaji was good for a mass masala film. Editing by Mahesh Narayanan was good at parts, but action sequences were endlessly going especially the first action sequence featuing Prithviraj. Action choreography lacks novelty & on the air rope sequences were over the board after a while.

Script & Direction
Script by Udaykrishna-Sibi.K.Thomas team is just a rehash of many malayalam, tamil & telugu flicks.  Salimkumar-Suraj scenes makes us think of Vadivelu sidetrack in Tamil movies. Lot of scenes & dialogues seems unwanted. Certain dialogues makes us remember tamil flciks VETTAIKKAARAN & DHEENA. Direction by debutant Vaisakh offers nothing new & not that promising compared to the directors of above said previous flicks. Also the director failed in keeping the characters look as if 15 years had passed. Paravai Muniyamma was looking the same for 15 years. Many tamil artists and dialogues were there in the movie. I think producer has plans to dub to Tamil.

Overall a strictly one time watchable in parts masala film on the lines of 80s & 90s tamil cinema in DVD.

Verdict : Below Average
BO Verdict : As there are no big opponents in BO, viewers first choice remains as this because of the rich starcast. And vacation is helping the movie a lot as the movie got a lot of a family audience.
Movie should become a flop or maximum average for the goodness of Mammootty and future Malayalam Cinema.

Mammootty(both in childhood and as MaduraiRaja) says AAI a lot of times. Not even Sarathkumar had said "AAI" this much times in his well-made mass masala entertainer by A.Venkatesh, AAI.

ALEXANDER THE GREAT

ALEXANDER THE GREAT

Theatre : TVM Kripa
Showtime & Date : 6.15pm, 07-05-2010
Status : Balcony : 99% full, FC poor status

After an average flick WANTED, in which Mohanlal did an extended cameo, Murali Nagavally is back with a new movie which stars Mohanlal in lead role. This movie will tell you WHY MOHANLAL WAS, MOHANLAL IS AND MOHANLAL WILL BE the number one ACTOR in MALAYALAM CINEMA.

Story
Varma(Saikumar) is a business magnet in Dubai. After his death, his relatives come to know that everything will be for Alexander Varma(Mohanlal) who is his illegal son & three statements in the way that no one else could take those assets illegally. Bala, an IIM product & a failed business man, who is the son of Sakumar & Sudha Chandran, is in need of money. Bala goes to Mumbai along with his uncle(Jagadeesh) to find Alexander. There they come to know that Alexander is in a mental hospital in Pune as the court asked to put him there for treatment as part of the trials of a murder case. Bala, his girlfrend & Jagadeesh takes Alexander, the not so normal intelligent person, to get his signature to acquire the assets. The rest is how Alexander changes their lives.

Performances
Mohanlal as Alexander Varma is one of the best character he has got in recent times & he performed very well with his good comic timing, cute expressions & a very very stunning dialogue delivery. In one word, EXCELLENT, nothing more to say. Watch the movie, you'll understand. Bala has got a throughout role & he did it very well. Jagadeesh was good(except his starting few scenes) after a long time ithout much overacting & once again is chemistry with Mohanlal works. The rest of the cast Sudha Chandran, Saikumar, Siddhique, Ganesh Kumar etc were apt for the roles. The female characters in the movie except Sudha Chandran lacks originality. Kalabhavan Shajon was good in few scenes.

Songs
Music by M.G.Sreekumar was above average. The BGM for Mohanlal still haunts me, a good one.

Technical
Cinematography, Editing, Art Direction everything were usual only.


Script & Direction
Script by C.Balachandran was a refreshing one in Malayalam, though the basic storyline & Mohanlal's charcter seems to be inspired from Rajamanikyam & Dustin Hoffman-Tom Cruise starrer THE RAINMAN. Script Writer's hardwork in bringing fresh scenes & proceedings is clearly visible. Bu sadly, that susained till the some scenes in the second half only. Later it became predictable to a great extent. Direction by Murali Nagavalli was an average one only. It's the strength of the script & Mohanlal's performance made the movie, a nice one. Director handled certain scenes very carelessly, especially Climax, which would have made in a better way. PRIYADARSAN is the best person who would have directed this script, then this one would have become a GREAT ENTERTAINER. On the whole, a very good first half and an above average second half. This 2hr 40min movie has never a dull moment.

Verdict : Good
BO Verdict : Even first day evening show has got bad theatre status, hope in the coming days, Malayalee audience will realise good cinema.

IVIDAM SWARGAMAANU, LOUD SPEAKER.... all these good movies were not well recieved by Malayalee audience & they will be supporting so called mass entertainers in theatres & will tell like there are no good scripts or films in Malayalam now. After watching in DVD, they will tell, why this film didn't become a HIT then. Change Malayalee audience. Watch this in a cool calm atmosphere & not with fans of any stars.

Just like in Dasharadham(in which Mohanlal beautifully delivers a classic dialogue in the final shot), the climax shot of this movie will also generate a teardrop, here the difference is Mohanlal won't say a single word.

SURA

SURA

Theatre : TVM Anjali
Status : Housefull with 60% family audience
Showtime & Date : 5.40pm, 02-05-2010

Expectations were high as this movie is the 50th movie of Ilayathalapathy VIJAY and was rumoured as a full length mass entertainer. But sadly, there was no entertainment as it had to be. Everything was bad except ManiSharma's music & Vijay who makes the movie sit & watch atleast once.

Story
Sura(Vijay) is the do-gooder leader of fishermen. His ambition is to build houses for all the 1400 families there. Samudram(Dev Gill) is a rowdy minister who wants to build a water theme park there. He tries to evacuate the place through illegal methods, but fails. The rest is the fight between Sura & the minister & ofcourse as every mass movie, hero wins the game.

Performances
Vijay as Sura is nothing new or special for him. He does everything what he had done in his previous movies. Tammanah is just for songs & 2-3 unwanted scenes. Vadivelu was intolerable. All his scenes in the movie must be immediatly removed from the movie(atleast in Kerala). Dev Gill as the villain is loud as in every mass movie. His lipsync was poor. He was no match as a villain for Vijay. The rest of cast is RadhaRavi, Riyaz Khan......has nothing much to do.

Songs
ManiSharma's music was good, though the copy of his own music from Telugu movies. "Bommayi" & "Naan Nadanthl" were the best, both from telugu BILLA.  I think after Sivakasi, it's the first time Vijay was seen in a single costume in the opening song. Siragadikkum song was  picturised in beautiful locations, but the bad editing spoild everything. "Vaanga Kadal" song was misplaced. "Naan Nadanthal was not that stylish it has to be as per the music. "Bommayi" song was colourfully picturised but nowhere near telugu Billa Bommali which was too good in style & misplaced one int the movie. WATCH THE ORIGINAL. BILLA BOMMALI SONG

Technical
As usual for a mass movie. Kanal Kannan's action was recycled and lacks style & freshness. Camera by Ekambaram was good at parts. Editing by Donmax was poor. He once again proved that Tamil Cinema is not his cup of tea. Action sequences were endlessly going on. Only saving grace were the slow motion closeup shots of Vijay. Art direction was good.

Script & Direction
S.P.Raajakumar handled both the departments. The story had the mass element in it, but sadly the screenplay fails to impress everywhere in the proceedings. Dialogues were good at parts but directed those scenes very pathetically.  Direction was the another big problem here. Below average. Even a regular film viewer will think scenes in a much better way. The storyline had to be given to Dharani or Perarasu. They would have made this into a superb mass entertainer.

Verdict : Escape
BO Verdict : Flop, might end up as average because of the initials & no competition for one week.

It's high time for Vijay to change his style of movies to be part of.
Don't know why SUN PICTURES known for entertainers had chosen this.
VETTAIKAARAN is 100 times better than this. Oh Sorry, it's a crime to compare this with Vettaikaaran which was a well made entertainer.
Watch KURUVI or VILLU in DVD which were far better. Don't waste your money for this.