CASSANOVA

CASSANOVA

Theatre : TVM New
Showtime & Date : 6.00pm, 26-1-2012(Republic Day)
Status : Housefull

Many discussions were done by many people regarding the current situation of malayalam cinema, production costs, going after the trend set by some big hit movie etc etc. Do you know whats the new trend in malayalam cinema now? The answer is make some good watchable abv avg whatever entertaining movies, some 1-3. Then announce a big one which will attain huge media attention. Please note that the stills of the movie will be hype increasing catalysts for the final product. When the product reaches the audience, everyone will be having only one question to ask - Is this the same person or team whom or which did the previous ones. LalJose, just last week with Spanish Masala joined the league. Rosshan Andrrews tops the list with quality of the product with the "SUPER" screenplay(nothing like that was there for this) written by Bobby-Sanjay team(remember their previous one was TRAFFIC).

Rosshan Andrrews with Mohanlal after Udayananu Thaaram & Ividam Swargamaanu & with Bobby-Sanjay after NoteBook with the above said hype catalysts - Cassanova, the worst of the director & the script writer duo.

Story
The movie begins with a robbery by a team of 4. They plans another theft in a marriage function in Dubai. Cassanova(Mohanlal), an international flower merchant and a cassanova in nature comes to Dubai to attend the marriage. There he hosts a TV show in Sahya channel run by Shankar. Why is he hosting the show? There is no suspense in the movie. Its just that old wine revenge story of  hero after the vilains who killed his lover.

Performances
Mohanlal looked quite uncomfortable in the whole movie except in Shreya flashback episode. His makeup was also bad. Performance wise, this one is just a simple one for him, an ordinary one not even heavy or stylish as Sagar alias Jacky or OMR in Red Chillies. Riyaz Khan was good with good accent & neat performance. Jagathy was wasted, Shankar too. Lalu Alex in his limited role scores with his good dialogues(perhaps the best dialogues in the movie). All the four newcomers were not at all impressive. Heroines were mainly for skin show. Roma's character had a good start with nice comic situations but ended the flow of that character somewhere in between. Lakshmi Rai once again proved that she's just a showcase material, so as the case of Sanjana. Shreya was just fine only.

Songs
Songs were not at all impressive as it acts as speed-breakers. BGM for Riyaz Khan was superb, rest all seems to be rehash of some English flicks.

Technical
Cinematography was nothing special to mention about other then the usual visuals when malayalam movies are shot overseas. Editing by Mahesh Narayan was good but without script what he could do. Art direction was good.

Coming to action sequence, this one has the worstly choreographed & copied stunt sequences in recent malayalam cinema. Interval sequence & climax fight ended as comedy show for audience. Copied from Jackie Chan's Police Story, Mankatha, Aalavandhan, Matrix...Horrible

Script & Direction
The worst script from Bobby-Sanjay duo ever, not even a single comedy sequence or awesome dialogues to relook. Or is this any new Bobby-Sanjay team??(May be I made a mistake thinking that they were same Traffic duo). Direction by Rosshan Andrrews had a promising start which ended in few minutes of the movie itself. Though his Udayanaanu Tharam was inspired from hollywood flick Bowfinger, the execution & final product had enough elements to keep the audience engaged. But this one started itself like Jackie Chan's Police Story with a cliched police officer with style after them. Then enters the hero who does Kunchacko Boban's Dr.Love internationally. Sad thing is there were not enough moments to make the audience feel like the pairs fall in love. Then the robbery teams were chatting like why didn't you come for live robbery practice?(Is this a CCL or something?) By the time, when love blossoms there happens the robbery by the 4 team in Mankatha style which was failed by Mohanlal's Hrithik Roshan DHOOM 2 play which is ending like Dileep's Crazy Gopalan sequence after court scene which takes a good turn to Mission Impossible 2 Tom Cruise in a matter of seconds. Then happend the best part. INTERVAL. Once flashback in second half started, the movie though engaging I felt like I was watching S J Suryah-Nayanthara movie Kalvanin Kadhali again starring Mohanlal-Shreya team. In that sequence itself Jeyam Ravi-Hansika Motwani sequence directed by PrabhuDeva in Engeyum Kadhal is well blended. Finally an action sequence with a big twist for audience. Do you want to know what's the twist. There is not twist, that was a big twist for audience those expected a twist. If Rosshan & Bobby-Sanjay duo had tried a bit, you people would have made Riyaz Khan, the main villain so that we could watch Billa too with this. They disappointed there. Anyways second half was better compared to first half. Both halves were having different storylines. Few Dialogues were good at parts, rest were wastes in a bad screenplay. Director was taking frames in a rich manner even for unwanted ones.
Love was the basic theme of the movie. But that was not convincingly presented eithe in script side or direction wise & absolutely no chemistry between lead pairs.

Anything more I have to say about this?

Verdict : Avoid
BO Verdict : Flop following a good initial collection

People talks were like Kunjaliyan, Padmasree Bharath Dr.SarojKumar were nice ones compared to this as it had somewhat nice comedy moments eventhough not so good ones.

Watch Arabeem Ottakom P Madhavan Nairum in Oru Marubhoomikkadha, which was 100 times better than this  or NANBAN the best bet available now.

Making frames in a rich manner should be just like an icing in the cake, you were icing on an ice cube Mr.Director.

SPANISH MASALA

SPANISH MASALA

Theatre : TVM Kripa
Showtime & Date : 11.15am, 22-01-2012
Status : Housefull

What we'll expect from a Lal Jose-Benny P Nayarambalam combo with Dileep, Kunchacko Boban & Biju Menon coming together with Spain as backdrop - good comedies, nice twists, extraordinary visuals in songs & scenes - altogether an entertainer. But the outing from the team SPANISH MASALA is a total disaster.

Story
Story begins with childhood days of Kamela(debutant Austrian model Daniela Zacherl) whose father is leaving back to his homeland Spain after his service as brand ambassdor in India. She learn Malayalam from her Aaya(Vinayaprasad). Then camera focuses to childhood days of Charlie(Dileep) who is not at all interested in learning especially English language. After 16 years, due to financial problems, Charlie now a mimicry artist decided to stay back in Spain after his stage programme for a job without a job visa. He gets the job of a chef in an Indian restaurant. Kamela impressed by his Dosa asks Menon(Biju Menon), the manager to buy that. Considering the health matters, he appoints Charlie as chef in her house. Kamela was in love with Rahul(Kunchacko Boban) whom she believes was killed by her father. After a series of incidents, impressed by his tatics her father decided Charlie as his son-in-law. Menon asks Charlie to bring his relatives there to take a decision regarding this. By the time, Kamela's father dies. Then comes back Rahul to the picture. I'm sure what's the rest of the story you have in mind. The very same thing without any changes or surprises can be viewed in this.

Performances
Dileep as Charlie, to an extent was a tailor-made role for him but missed the Dileep in his old movies in which he used to score a lot in similar scenes. Except some 2-3 comedy scenes and 2-3 scenes in second half, script wasted him in such a dull role. Kunchacko Boban as Rahul had a good entry in Interval sequence but the script had nothing much to offer him except two scenes with Dileep. His performance in climax sequence was Superb. LalJose & Benny P Nayarambalam should be blamed for not utilising BijuMenon in such an underdeveloped character with same style dialogue delivery throughout the movie. Nelson as Pappan had a nice debut chance but except his cliched drunken guy(in which he scores in TV shows) scene in second half, nothing evoked much laughter. Daniela Zacherl as Kamela was a cliched absent minded lover girl. Vinayaprasad was OK but Kalaranjini was bore. Spanish actors had nothing to do other than to drink wine all the time & smile for what lead actors are doing. Archana Kavi was awesome in her cameo(because she had no dialogues or any scenes to perform). Nivin Pauly had the looks, why LalJose didn't use him???

Songs
Vidyasagar always created magic with LalJose. But here that magic was missing. Arezhuthiyavo is the pick of the lot. Song picturisation tto lacked the LalJose touch. BGM was too loud at times & senti music used was heard from Doordarshan times itself.

Technical
Lokanathan, the cinematographer was sleeping giving camera to Spanish technicians I think. The trademark LalJose visuals were there in few scenes only - the sunrise scene during titles, Interval scene & Dileep-Chackochan scene in second half. Editor can't help this movie more than this is what I can say. Art direction was just okay.

Script & Direction
Benny P Nayarambalam known for presenting silly storylines with good comedies & screenplay flow miserably fails here after PothenVava & Lollypop. Plot eventhough silly had enough elements to make it a suspense thriller in second half was converted to a cliched malayalam movie which we have seen 100 times before, to be exact the early career movies of Shankar,Mammootty & Mohanlal. Predictable to the core was one problem & the characterisation of Dileep, Chackochan & BijuMenon were limited by the screenplay. Dialogues were good at parts especially Dileep's dialogue in second half, Chackochan's dialogue in climax & Biju Menon's dialogue regarding his old lover. Benny, please concentrate on script suiting today's audience or future audience but not for audience of 80s movie. Masala was there only on movie title only, but spoiled second half whcih would have been a great Masala Entertainer with twists & action. Childhood school days of Charlie's character makes us remember the Salt n Pepper first scene in school.

LalJose announced the movie & went for a tour to Spain I think. This is not what audience expected from the most promising(We were wrong) director in the new league. After Arabikkadha, your love towards movie seems to be in low level. Elsamma enna Aankutty though an average movie had nice moments with greeneries as background & nice performances. This one had nothing to take a look for second time except the following scenes
1. Dileep's 2-3 comedy scenes
2. Kunchacko Boban in Climax
3. Nelson as drunken guy
4. Interval

I don't think that today's Malayalee audience will watch this movie for the above said scenes alone just because it's a movie by LALJOSE. Please concentrate on script next time. All the very best for DIAMOND NECKLACE

Don't know why Spain was chosen as backdrop for this storyline which is as old as Himalayas for Malayalam/Indian Cinema.

Verdict : Average, at max because of those scenes
BO Verdict : Flop, considering the huge budget

Once Casanova gets released on 26th Jan & if it works well with audience, Spanish Masala will be a washout at BOX OFFICE.

Wait for a DVD release as this one had nothing worth for a theatre watch.

NANBAN

NANBAN

Theatre : TVM Remya

Showtime & Date : 6.00pm, 16-01-2012

Status : Balcony Full, FC 10%

Ilayathalapathy VIJAY with south india's showman director SHANKAR, remake of well acclaimed movie 3 IDIOTS, Jiiva & Shrikanth in supporting roles, Ileana's second innings in Tamil, calling cards were several including the well edited TRAILER. Yes, the movie is a 101% genuine remake of 3 IDIOTS where Vijay the actor plays the lead role with no punchlines,no action & no mass masala elements usually seen in his films.

Story

The story is told as a flashback by Venkat(Shrikanth) whom with his friend Saravanan(Jiiva) with silencer(Sathyan) in search of his friend Panchavan Parivendan(Ilayathalapathy VIJAY) who were college mates in Ideal Engineering College run by Virumandi Sandanam aka Virus(Sathyaraj). Watch the rest on screen friends even though you have seen the original.

Performances

Its an ILAYATHALAPATHY VIJAY show. Happy to see that VIJAY which we have seen in SACHEIN last time. He lived as the character - the body language, even a single smile makes an impact on screen. We can expect more good characters from this ACTOR.

Jiiva once again proved his versatility. In my opinion, he's the best in South Indian Cinema now to perform well as a drunken guy. Boss Engira Bhaskaran & Siva Manasula Shakthi are good examples. 

It's a comeback for Shrikanth & he performed well, I should say we will forget his previous movies.

Sathyaraj as VIRUS was a good choice which he performed well in his own style at parts. Ileana was okay only as her makeup was bad at many parts,  but surprisingly lip-sync was better. Anuya & S J Suryah in their cameo was impressive. Sathyan did the role of silencer well but lacks the perfection as he immediately speaks in normal Tamil soon after the Teachers Day sequence. 

Though in a small role, once again director Shankar included a malayalam actor in his movie - Indrans

Happy to see Ajay Rathnam again in a Shankar movie after a long gap- if I'm not wrong

Songs

Harris Jeyaraj's music had the charm especially En friende pole song's beat had that haunting effect. Aska Luska & Irukkana was good though picturisation of both lacks usual Shankar charm though made in rich sets.

BGM was superb especially En friende pole beats.

Technical

Manoj Paramahamsa amazes us with his awesome cinematography, superb visuals!!! Editing was fine with first half but second half could have been better. Art Direction was superb!!! Resul Pookkutty made his mark with clean & clear sound mixing.

Script & Direction

Story is inspired from the book 5.1 Screenplay by Rajkumar Hirani & Abijath Joshiy in hindi is the same used here. But the dialogues by Shankar & Karki made the script more powerful. The placement of Irukkana song looks misplaced and could have been avoided. Also second half seemed too lengthy & the proceeding could have been ore interesting. It's the first remake movie of director Shankar to which he did 101% justice without ruining the original but made a bit better than original if the total making perfection is considered. But song picturisation could have been better for Aska Luska & Irukkana which looks totally out of place for the whole movie. I felt that the theme was not conveyed to that extent as in original which made a good mark along with other sequences.Climax sequences could have been better.

Eventhough you have seen original, its worth a watch for Vijay as its the actor & not star here.

Verdict : Good

BO Verdict : Superhit

What Shankar said on audio launch time was right - people who don't like Vijay will start liking Vijay after watching this movie