GAJAPOKKIRI ( JULAYI )

GAJAPPOKIRI(Malayalam version of Telugu movie JULAYI)

First of all, thanks to r Ganesh Kumar for his idea of theatre grading which makes the screen, seats & overall atmoshpere off Anjali theatre looks better. Happy to see a well made reservation counter too in SL Complex

Theatre : TVM Anjali
Showtime & Date : 6.15pm, 29-08-2012
Status : Balcony No idea, a pretty good status was there I think as the claps from balcony was superb, FC 50%

Allu Arjun, after the much hyped failure BADRINATH is back with his new movie JULAYI which made a release in malayalam as GAJAPOKKIRI after 1 week of Telugu release. Trivikram who made one of my all time favourite telugu flick ATHADU is the director of this movie. Lets take a look

Story
Ravi(Allu Arjun) is a youth dreaming of becoming rich in short time span. On the way to a bidding centre for IPL match, he accidentally meets a bank robbery gang of Bichu(Sonu Sood) planning a Rs.1500 crore robbery from a nearby gang. Ravi with his intelligence traps Bichu. From then on its a cat & mouse game - An intelligent hero and an intelligent villain.

Performances
Allu Arjun delivers a cool performance as usual in a role in which he is at his best - Happy golucky easy careless youth. Ileana was usual in a typical telugu film heroine. Her looks in initial few scenes looked superb. Rajendra Prasad as timid police officer was awesome. Brahmanandam as a thief was funny, M S Narayana too. Sonu Sood as intelligent villain Bichu is his recent best role.

Music & BGM
Music by DeviSri Prasad disappoints a bit this time. Julayi & Osey Osey were the best. O Madhu also works with the movie. Picturisation lacks freshness & most of them looked same except in location & costumes. Placement of songs kills the thrill. BGm was good

Technical
Cinematography was good. Editing was crispy though second half needs a bit trimming. Art direction was fine. Action scenes were typical.

Script & Direction
Both departments are handled by Trivikram. Plot was a supercool one which he succeeded in converting to a mass entertainer. The biggest plus point is the baddie is also an intelligent sometimes more intelligent than hero. A superb first half with all ingedients to make viewers happy is the main plus point. INTERVAL sequence was one of the best one in recent times. Compared to first half, second half is a bit down though enjaoyable. Climax episode was also a cool one except Sonu Sood's comic acting in climax similar to PrakashRaj in Pokkiri. Second half could have been a better as the plot & proceedings were superb. Intelligent is the word that can be given to the script as it proceeds with simple dialogues in first half for future proceedings. Thanks to the malayalam dialogues by Sathish Muthukulam, even comedy scenes worked well in theatres in dubbing edition. Producer Khadar Hassan had made lots of changes in banners & other items in movie to make it a malayalam cinema which is very much appreciable.

On the whole an enjoyable mass movie

Verdict : Intelligent Entertainer
BO Verdict : Hit

RUN BABY RUN

RUN BABBY RUN

Theatre : TVM Sreekumar

Showtime & Date : 2.30PM, 29-08-2012
Status : Balcony FULL, FC 60%
Joshiy is back with another ONAM release RUN BABBY RUN,after Kunchacko Boban starrer SEVENES last year, this time with Mohanlal after the hit movie CHRISTIAN BROTHERS - scripted by Sachi of Sachi-Sethu team. Whether movie entertains us, LETS SEE

Story
Venu(Mohanlal) - a stinger cameraman of Reuters returns to Kerala as part of a case in court. Accidently he met with Renuka(Amala Paul) who was his ex-lover who were seperated of the similar reason we saw in the case of Mohanlal & Priyamani in recent Mohanlal flick Grandmaster. Both were assigned to work on a single case which makes their life keep on running.

Performances
Mohanlal as Venu was safe in his hands. Though the flashback episode was bad, soon after the flashback episode, Mohanlal delivered a fine performance with cool oneliners. Amala Paul was okay in her role Renuka. At parts she was good. BIJUMENON as Rishi is the one who stole most of the smart scenes in the movie with well written dialogues. Superb dialogue delivery in many scenes. Vijayaraghavan, Saikumar, Siddhique, Shammi Thilakan, Anil Murali, Aparna did their part.

Ameer Niyaz makes his appearance in this movie too as Abu after SEVENES, good role though a small role.

Songs & BGM
Only the song Aattumanal sung by Mohanlal was there in the movie. Makers please dont air this song video in TV channels as it'll give only negative publicity. BGM was ok  only, lacks freshness.

Technical
R D Rajasekhar's camera lacks the magic which the theme demanded. Editing was fine at parts. Art direction was superb. Action by Anal Arasu & Pazhaniraj lacks freshness.

Script & Direction
Script by Sachi(Sachi-Sethu team) had a great plot to be a super racy entertainer. But the screenplay couldn't rise to the level of the plot. Compromise is the word which killed the party I think. Unwanted romance track, songs, a heroine, hero praising by other characters, a predictable flashback..... If these things were avoided, then it would have been a better one. The first 45 minutes were just oke with a predictable flasback & romance. After that the movie took a turn to a racy thriller with witty oneliners by Mohanlal & Bijumenon. 15 min after interval the plot became great, but screenplay became more & more predictable with a very much predictable climax episode. Villain teams were not at all convincing for the plot. Movie focuses on News TV channel wars than any other surrounding things which makes things look bore at parts. Sachi - please watch the movie KO

Direction by Joshiy was incnsistent. Direction lacked the usual Joshiy signature. The whole movie starts 20 min before interval only. To a large extent, it is this master craftman's talent which made the climax portions this engaging.

On the whole, a uninteresting 50 min & an engaging 20+ minutes firsthalf & a good set of moments alone in an average predictable climax

Verdict : Tad above Average
BO Verdict :  HIT, at max

After watching the movie, we may feel like the apt title for the movie was the previous one - CAMERAMAN VENUVINOPPAM RENUKA

THAAPPAANA

THAAPPAANA

Theatre : TVM New
Showtime & Date : 6:30 pm, 19-08-2012
Status : Balcony FULL, FC 95%

Expectations were very low as THAPPANA is the latest outing from Mammootty after 8 consecutive flops & Mammootty again with Johny Antony after Thuruppugulan & Ee Pattanathil Bhootham who himself was delivering flops, the latest being MASTERS released this year. When the song started airing, the movie gave some expectation as it was picturised well. Whether the movie succeeds as an entertainer??? Lets see

Story
Samson aka Samkutty(Mammootty) - a small time good hearted thief who has difficulty in pronouncing "Sa" while talking and Mallika(Charmi Kaur) got released from jail on same day. When Mallika mets with an accident, Samson saves her & takes her back to her village. On the way both shares their flashback & Samson stays back in Mallika's village for her. Watch rest on screen.

Performances
After a long time, a full fledged energetic performance from Mammootty. Superb expressions, dialogue delivery, action & smart comedy timing. Watch the movie for Mammootty.

Charmi as Mallika was fine though second half didn't provide ample screen space except two good scenes. Vijayaraghavan, Kalabhavan Shajohn, Muraly Gopi, Suresh Krishna, Mala Aravindan, Anil Murali, Irshad, Geetha Vijayan were fine in their roles. Happy to see the very same good hearted character role of Sadhique which we last saw in LalJose's Arabikkadha if I'm not wrong. Finally Sajitha Betty performed well in a movie. She was good in the climax performance.

The actor who simply rocked, though a brief role is none other than VIJEESH aka NOOLUNDA who played the quotation gan leader SABU aka CHETTATHY SABU(Watch the movie for the reason behind the name & his terrific HHHOUUU)

Songs & BGM
There was only one song in the movie - "Oorum Perum Ariyathe" which worked well with the audience. Superb Music. "Kallan" theme song was used in between a robbery episode. BGM was cool though one was rehash of Dingiripattalam song.

Technical
Cinematography by RajaRatnam was good. Editing was good in first half, needs trimming in second half. Art Direction was good. Title animation was cool.

Script & Direction
Script by Sindhuraj was super cool in first half with witty oneliners throughout & an engaging screenplay on the lines of a road movie though no storyline was developed much till few minute before interval. Post Interval screenplay was a repeated edition of sequences though oneliners were enjoyable. Second half could have been a lot lot better with the plot, but the screenplay killed the party. There were lots of characters which were half baked. Still it works on screen with dialogues & Mammootty. The pre written predictable climax was the problem, the same we have seen in Thattathin Marayathu second half too. Direction by Johny Antony was good in first half, but lacks the sincerety in second half. Action sequences could have been better though the one presented is good. Second half lacked the punch both in script & direction.

Overall a good enjoyable first half & an average second half with good set of dialogues in both halves.
Verdict : Above Average
BO Verdict : HIT

Finally MAMMOOTTY - the ACTOR & STAR is back!!!