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.
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.
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Good review ITV anna..
ReplyDeleteBrandolal