NORTH 24 KAATHAM

NORTH 24 KAATHAM

Theatre : TVM Dhanya
Showtime & Date : 6.15pm,16-09-2013
Status : Balcony Almost FULL, FC 21 persons
A small movie with Fahad Fazil in lead released this Onam season - NORTH 24 KAATHAM by debutant Anil Radhakrishnan Menon. Does the movie offers anything interesting?? Lets see.

Story
Hari(Fahad Fazil), an IT professional at Ernakulam is an introvert and a person who has a disciplined life and more concerned about cleanliness. He was forced to attend a meeting at Trivandrum on a Harthal Day. On the way, situations made him to be with Saghav(Nedumudi Venu) and Narayani aka Nani(Swathi) on their way to Kozhikode. How they reach Kozhikode from Paravur near Kollam on a harthal day, the persons they meet and how everything changes Hari's life forms the story.

Performances
Fahad Fazil as Hari delivered a brilliant performance with less dialogues and more expressions. Nedumudi Venu delivered another terrific performance especially towards climax. His dialogues about his wife while travelling in an auto was awesome. Swathi did a notable performance as social worker Nani. Premji Amaran in his cameo made his mark. His trademark dialogue recieved terrific applause. Sreenath Bhasi, Geetha, Thalaivasal Vijay did a neat job so as rest of the cast.


Songs & BGM
Govind Menon handled both sections. He did a great job. Especially the last song and climax episode BGM was top noth with nice lyrics.

Technical
Everything was perfect - be it Jayesh Nair's Cinematography or Dilip Dennies's Editing or Sameera Saneesh's costumes.

Script & Direction
Both departments are handled by Anil Radhakrishnan Menon. A simple story presented in a beautiful manner. Though climax was predictable, the packaging was too good and the lead actors' performances took the movie to another level. Dialogues were natural. The best one being Nedumudi's dialogues about his wife.

Nothing more to say, the best movie of this Onam season is undoubtedly this one
Verdict : Go for it
BO Verdict : Multiplexes and Balcony hit, Audience out there, please support this one.

SRINGAARAVELAN

SRINGAARAVELAN

Theatre : TVM SreePadmanabha
Showtime & Date : 2.30pm, 16-09-2013
Status : Housefull

Last year's biggest hit MAYAMOHINI team unites once again for a festival season release SRINGAARAVELAN. Whether the movie works?? Lets see

Story
Kannan(Dileep) is a lazy guy who is in search of a rich girl to marry and settle in life. In a scenario, he goes to go to a palace and he was forced to stay back. He fell in love with the heroine and rest is whether he wins or not

Performances
Dileep as Kannan was below his usual energy level we saw in MY BOSS or MAYAMOHINI. His looks were fine. Lal as Yesudas aka Yesu, a goon was over the top and he tried his best to laugh the audience with his histronics but sadly failed. Kalabhavan Shajohn too tried his best but the script was too weak for him to do anything. Nedumudi Venu repeats the role again. Vedhika as heroine is ok in a cliched role. Sreedevi Unni made the audience laugh in Mohiniyattam scene in song with heroine(or is it Bharathanatyam?). Joy Mathew was a miscast. His dialogue delivery was pathetic. Baburaj though his slang was fine, his underdeveloped character made him an unwanted character. Shammi Thilakan as Ukken Tintu(the character in film NERAM) but lacks the soul as in the original. Babu Namboothiri was usual, Rahul Roy too.

Songs & BGM
Berny Ignatious disappoints once again. Rajamani tried his best to uplift certain scenes with his BGM, but the script failed him too.

Technical
Nothing special to mention except art direction in certain scenes.

Script & Direction
Script by Udayakrishna-Sibi K Thomas was a rehash of rehashes which they had done in their recent flicks. Sad to say that this time no good comedies were there in the movie other than loud scream by the actors. If we closely look into their career graph, we can see that they can surely create a tight script with surprises. But this festival flick has no solid storyline or screenplay or nice dialogues. Climax part was weak and thattikkoottu to the core.

Direction by Jos Thomaas was fine. He tried his best to uplift certain scenes. Scenes as such was fine. But as a movie it lacks the pace and a nice packaging.

Overall a rehash of rehashes which provides no comedies though labelled as comedy entertainer. Wait for DVD and watch this 2hr 40 min movie in less than an hour or get the DVD of Mayamohini which was far better than this one.

Verdict : Below Average
BO Verdict : Vacation season and Dileep's family audience might make this one a hit

DAIVATHINTE SWANTHAM CLEETUS

DAIVATHINTE SWANTHAM CLEETUS

Theatre : Aluva Matha
Showtime & Date : 6.15pm, 12-09-2013
Status : Balcony NO IDEA, FC 40%

Benny P Nayarambalam once again joins with Mammootty after Chattambinadu which was a fun filled entertainer for DAIVATHINTE SWANTHAM CLEETUS directed by debutant Marthandan. Whether movie entertains as Chattambinaadu?? Lets see

Story
A drama troupe plans a Bible drama. They are in search of a person to play the role of Jesus. Cleetus(Mammootty) enters the scene as the actor, who is a goon, to play Jesus. What happens there. Nothing more

Performances
First of all, it may be the first script of Benny P Nayarambalam with least well written characters.
Mammootty as Cleetus had nothing much or new to do. Another dull performance from Mammootty. Even THAPPANA had an energetic performance than this. Honey Rose as Lakshmi was cliched and she did an ok job only. Vijayaraghavan though he performed well, his character was incomplete in all aspects. Siddhique as usual did a fine job. P Balachandran too. Rejath Menon had nothing much to do. Abu Salim, Vinayagan, Aju Varghese, Anoop Chandran, Kailash all makes the scene worse. Kottayam Nazeer had something different but whether to make the character comic or villaneous make the scene again worse. Moorkhan Jose as police officer was another wastely executed role by director & scrip writer.

Songs & BGM
Both by Bijibal. Songs were below average ones and badly picturised. BGM for Mammootty's intro scene was good. Rest of the BGM was a big failure.

Technical
Nothing much to rave about. A lazy work by Editor Shyam. Editing could have been crisp at many parts especially action scenes. Art direction was good.

Script & Direction
For me Benny P Nayarambalam's boring script was SPANISH MASALA. Even Puthiya Theerangal was ok to an extent. But this one crosses all the limits. Lack of a clear storyline and rehash of many film stories makes the final storyline a confusing one for scriptwriter itself I hope. Whether to make it full length comedy movie or one like Chattambinadu an action comedy entertainer. But lack of the former makes the script proceedings dull and boring which provides nothing new for the audience where as it tests patience at times too. Comedies were trademarks of Benny's script. May be this one will be his script with least comedy numbers.Also included ones didn't work as expected because of poor direction, bad choice of actors and cliched items. Moorkhan Jose scene seeing Mammootty as Jesus in Drama rehearsal camp was irritiating at peak level and audience were commenting and booing. A bad work from Benny

Debutant Marthandan disappoints big time. Offers nothing new in making or presenting well the script. Not at all promising debut by the director.

Overall a movie, which has a mixed storyline of many movies, and which has to be released in 1980s released in 2013 with the very same making style as in 1980s.

Verdict : Big Bore
BO Verdict : Flop

I think the part of storyline had enough elements to be a good entertainer without mass elements. Siddhique's or P Balachandran's, don't know which role was supposed to be for Rajan P Dev if the movie was released years back.