AUGUST 15

AUGUST 15

Theatre : TVM Dhanya

Showtime & Date : 6.15 pm, 24-03-2011

Status :Balcony FULL, FC not more than 35 people

In 1988,  AUGUST 1..? by SIBIMALAYIL-S.N.Swamy team released with somewhat fresh theme at that time - an engaging thriller in which there was no suspense element to be revealed at the climax. The movie was a flop I think. The theme of the movie was a group of people plans to kill the Chief Minister(Sukumaran) of the state through a professional killer & an efficient police officer Perumaal(Mammootty) to safeguard him.

22 years later S.N.Swamy recreates the same situation with the current political scenario & this time too Perumal enters the scene to safeguard the Chief Minister. In my opinion, this movie is not a sequel, but a remake of the original with changes.

Story

Story is same as that of August 1..? as mentioned above with changes to suit with 2011 social & political developments.

Performances

Mammootty as Perumal had nothing much to do other than roaming in his bullet vehicle, a set of scenes with chief minister & senior officers. Siddhique as professional killer was nothing special. If compared to Captain Raju's character in the original, Siddhique's nowhere. Lalu Alex, Jagathy Sreekumar, Saikumar, Nedumudi Venu, Krishna, Renjith, Chalipala, Kiran, Johny, Balachandran Chullikkadu, Harisree Ashokan....many were there with nothing to do roles. Why Madhu was invited for such a small role? Shwetha Menon & Meghna(Yakshiyum Njanum fame) were there as unwanted female characters with nothing to do in the story's proceedings.

Songs & BGM

After watching the promo song by Shaan, I was disappointed. Is this the same Shaan who rocked with Shaji Kailas in THE TIGER & CHINTHAMANI KOLACASE???

BGM by Rajamani was loud and the remix version of classic theme music by SHYAM was used everywhere in the movie making the audience start hating that. The BGM used for Captain Raju in the original was missing here.

Technical
Prashanth Nair's cinematography was Ok only. Editing too.

Script & Direction

S.N.Swamy is disappointing us for last few years with movies like Sagar alias Jacky. The only better outing from him in recent times was JANAKAN. He just tried to modify his own original script to suit the current changes in technology. Ofcoure he updated himself this time by explaining the opening sequence with something happened in overeseas. But failed to present it effectively through screenplay. The problem with the script was in the original the process of how a genuine politician becoming chiefminister & how he became a problem for the villain group & how they planned to kill was there. Also Perumal character enters the scene & story unwraps through the journalist character played by Sreenath. Here everything starts from the post interval portion of the original. Also S.N.Swamy tried his own dummy game in CBI series here too. And how Perumal finds Siddhique's real face was funny. Check Swamy's brilliant way of that sequence in the very same team's movie THE TRUTH. Dialogues were very funny at times. To cite an example, Mammootty saying "കാക്കിവേഷത്തില് എനിക്കെന്നെത്തന്നെ കണ്ടൂട". Also Johny in villain team says a dialogue with modulation as if a boy talks to his lover like "കണ്ണടച്ചാല് policente മുഖമാ". Also there was a suspense in the climax which the audience knw who was the real villain from the first frame onwards was also there.

It's the direction by Shaji Kailas which makes the movie watchable. First half was en engaging one. But second half was totally out of track. With an unwanted badly made chasing & accident sequence with graphics spoils the show. Shaji Kailas avoided his usual team & takings but without a proper script he can't change or do anything. The fire brand show from Shaji Kails was missing

Overall an engaging first half & a bad second half with a highly predictable unwanted suspens revealing scene.

Verdict : If you have somefree time, nothing else to watch on theatres & Television, then take a look

BO Verdict : FLOP

I think Perumal was not affected by the petrol price hike. He was roaming in his bullet throughout the movie, don't know what for.

In August 1..? coling glass was used by Perumal in climax sequence only, here throughout the movie he's using that.

SHAJI KAILAS is the only director who attained a stardom among directors in my opinion. After NARASIMHAM in 2000, none of his movies had performed well meeting audience's expectations except CHINTHAMANI KOLACASE & THE TIGER.

SOUND OF BOOT, BABA KALYANI, NATTURAJAVU, THANDAVAM, DRONA, THE DON...Shaji Sir, please concentrate on script.Don't just direct a movie just because u got the dates of a star. Please understand script is the base of a movie.

So as shown in posters, HISTORY REPEATS. Both AUGUST 1..? & AUGUST 15 failed at BoxOffice

CHRISTIAN BROTHERS

CHRISTIAN BROTHERS

Theatre : TVM Sreekumar
Showtime & Date : 5.45pm, 20-03-2011
Status : Housefull

For the first time I have seen a movie with 2 censor board certificates as CHRISTIAN BROTHERS & CHRISTI AN BROTHERS for both halves of the movie. Hypes were sky-high as the movie was a multistarrer by Joshi-Udayakrishna-Sibi.K.Thomas team after the mega blockbuster mass masala entertainer Twenty-20. This time too, the team has come up with a somewhat same genre one, but not that impressive one.

Story
Kunnel family featuring Kumaran Thampy(Vijayaraghavan), his sons played by Parunthu Jayan, Hariharan Thampi(Bijumenon) who is Asst Commissioner of Police & son-in-law played by Subair- kills village Thahasildar played by Jagathy Sreekumar who is the brother of Varghese Mapla(Saikumar), an ex-service man, for not helping them for illegal land activities. Varghese has 4 children-Christy(Mohanlal), Joji(Dileep), Lakshmi Gopalaswamy & Kanika. Joji who went to Italy to become a priest falls in love with Kavya Madhavan, who is the daughter of Home Minister(Devan). Kavya gets kidnapped & Devan seeks Christy's help to retain her. Christy is now a highly paid police informer in Mumbai after he was asked to leave from home by his father. Christy saves her. Later police corners him as a murderer. Though he escapes in first attempt, later Joseph Vadakkan(Suresh Gopi) traps him. Then enters Andrews Bandra(Sarath Kumar) to kill Chrsity. Rest is a cat & mouse game laced with family sentiments in between.

Performances
Mohanlal as Christy was an action role for him after a long time. He performed well what he was given & in some scenes we can see Mohanlal in late 80's, especially in scene in which he says "Njan chaadum Sir". Other than this scene & some light moments in between, he is just for punchlines & action sequences. First half belongs to him. In second half, he got sidelined eventhough his character has got some punchlines, fights & emotional sequences. Those ended up as cliches. Dileep was wasted. He has got very few scenes in the movie. In first half, he was just okay & in second half, he had a few scenes. SarathKumar in cameo was also wasted in a not so well developed character with very scenes. He would have effectively used in action sequences especially in climax. Saikumar, Jagathy Sreekumar, Anoop Chandran, Devan, Santhosh Jogi, Kalabhavan Shajone, Suresh Krishna.....had nothing much to perform. Suraj & Salimkumar failed to evoke any laughter. Vijayaraghavan, Bijumenon, Parunthu Jayan, Subair plays routine vllains, nothing special. All of them were not a perfect match for the heroes.

We miss SPADIKAM GEORGE here who was a perfect villain for Mohanlal & SureshGopi.

All the heroines were just to add star value. Kavya Madhavan had a song in which she looks fat & few scenes like Shreya did in PokkiriRaja. Lakshmi Gopalasamy was usual. Lakshmi Rai was for skin show I think. With a single dialogue & 2 songs she offers nothing other than glamour show. We can see Lakshmi Rai as topic of VANVEEZHCHAKAL programme in Asianet News soon if she is planning to do similar role in another 5 movies. 

Kanika was the best among the female leads. She did her part well.

The real show stealer was SURESH GOPI as Superindentent of Police-Joseph Vadakkan. He got the role with various dimensions. Though the script makes him fail in first half, in second half he simply scored-especially scenes with Kanika, SORRY-THANK YOU sequence & all.

Songs
Songs were tad above average eventhough lyrics were bad. Picturisation of all three were below average. Sayyave song was an unwanted one in the movie. BGM was loud at parts & not that impressive.

Technical
Technical side offers nothing new other than what we have seen in similar flicks of same genre.

Script & Direction
Script by Udayakrishna-Sibi.K.Thomas had nothing new to offer. It's a rehash of what the duo had done before. But did a commendable job in making the story into a multistarrer. The script works till the PokkiriRaja climax sequence included here. After that script had no idea how to proceed I think. Climax was horrible - an action sequence where heroes kill villains who will be there in a single place in between things to get exploded & to be broken into pieces. The best scene & best dialogues in the movie was in SureshGopi-Kanika scenes though it reminded me SureshGopi-Samvrutha Sunil scenes in movie Vairam. The dialogues in which both scores saying like I expected Thanks & I expected Sorry was surprisingly refrehing one in the movie. At that point I just thought whether I was watching a movie by VASANTH or GAUTHAM MENON. The so called twists were not that impressive & movie proceeds in very much predictable way. Its the multistarrer label which makes the movie works. Direction by Joshiy was racy in first half, but second half drags a bit compared to first half. Climax was a big letdown. Joshiy is the only director in malayalam cinema who updates himself with current trend, but the making of this one lacks freshness to make audience feel something fresh. The movie proceeds as a 90s movie only other than camera & editing gimmicks.

Overall a not so well made mass masala entertainer

Verdict : Strictly a one time watch

BO Verdict : Considering the budget, I dont think it'll cover the production cost.

It'll be the primary choice now for movie goers as there are no big opponents & movie entertains to an extent.

Movie is treat for Mohanlal fans as the actor returns to a mass hero role delivering punch lines.

If a person watch the DVD of the movie I'm sure he'll finish watching this 2hr 55 min movie in less than an hour & 15 minutes.

TRAFFIC

TRAFFIC

Theatre : TVM Dhanya

Showtime & Date : 6.15pm, 06-03-2011

Status : Balcony Full, FC 50%+

Watched this movie 5th time in the same theatre.

Even after pirated prints became available on pirated cd markets & on internet, I was happy to see this much audience for this great movie on its 59th day too.

People who are out there, yet to watch this movie, please do watch it in theatres or wait for its original DVDs and CDs to release. This movie is a must watch in theatre, if you want to know why, WATCH THE MOVIE

My 4 reviews of TRAFFIC CLICK HERE