MARYKKUNDORU KUNJADU

MARYKKUNDORU KUNJADU

Theatre : TVM Anjali
Showtime & Date : 6.15pm, 30-12-2010
Status : HOUSEFULL with 90% family audience
After Chattambinaadu, Shafi-Benny.P.Nayarambalam team is back with Marykkundoru Kunjaadu, a Dileep starrer after a long gap from Kalyanaraman.The movie is a routine one time enjoyable entertainer with some good lighter moments but nowhere near the humour situations compared to Chattambinaadu.

Story
Story happens in a village where christians are most. Solomon aka Kunjadu(Dileep) is a good for nothing coward person, son of Kapyar(Vijayaraghavan) and Mary(VinayaPrasad). He is in love with Mary(Bhavana), daughter of Ittichan(Innocent). Ittichan don't want his daughter to marry Solomon as Ittichan was the one who was supposed to marry Solomon's mother Mary. His daughter was named Mary because he still have that love towards her. Solomon always gets beaten by Mary's brothers played by Anand, Appa Haja & a newface. Then comes Jose(Biju Menon) to that village. Solomon makes Jose as his brother who left home 12 years before. Who is Jose? What exactly is his motive? Will Solomon marry Mary? The rest of the story answers these questions.

Performances
Dileep as Solomon aka Kunjaadu is nothing special for him. Though in the beginning, Dileep could make it somewhat different with some good lighter moments & expressions, once Biju Menon's character enters, Dileep's character changed to what he had done in his previous movies. Even traces of Chanthupottu & Chakkaramuthu were there. And the situations in the movie spoiled his show in second half.

The real show-stealer is Biju Menon as the mysterious character Jose. With limited dialogues, powerful screen presence & expressions, he simply stole the show.
Though the title of the movie had Mary in it, Bhavana was the one who is seen least in the movie. Another routine masala movie heroine role just for songs & 4 scenes.
Salimkumar, who used to be a show-stealer in Shafi movies(Remember Pulivaal Kalyanam, Chocolate, Mayavi, Chattambinaadu) fails here. He couldn't evoke much laughter. He did his emotional scene well.

VinayaPrasad looks too young to act as Dileep's mother. She performed well.
Innocent was good, Vijayaraghavan was perfect. Ponnamma Babu, Kochu Preman, Kalabhavan Shajon, Chalipala, Anand, Appa Haja.. were apt in their role.

Sad to see a great actor seems unutilised in such a role-I'm talking about JAGATHY SREEKUMAR. He did his part well as usual with finesse. If Jagathy-Ponnamma Babu episode was not there in second half, Shafi & Benny should have been blamed for bringing that actor to that role. Jagathy's expression while seeing Ponnamma Babu at church shows his acting range once again.

Songs
Music by Berny-Ignatious was below average. BGM by Bijipal was loud at times.

Technical
Stunts were good(thanks to BijuMenon's ease in doing action sequences). Cinematography by Shamdath was good at parts. Editing by Manoj was good. Art Direction was superb.

Script & Direction
Script by Benny.P.Nayarambalam was an engaging one with lighter moments at times. In the second half and towards the climax, script had traces of movies Pappy Appacha & MeeshaMadhavan. Also the emotional scene for Salimkumar seems unwanted for a movie like this. Script could have been better. Direction by Shafi was racy. he showed his finesse in taking action sequences & comic sequences this time too.

On the whole, a watchable entertainer with some light humour at parts. Don't expect a rollicking comedy entertainer like Happy Husbands.

Verdict : Above average
BO Verdict : Hit

Surprised to see 90% family audience in Anjali theatre. BEST ACTOR would have changed the mentality may be.

TOURNAMENT

TOURNAMENT

Theatre : TVM SreePadmanabha
Showtime & Date : 11.13am, 25-12-2010
Status : Balcony Almost Full, FC 50%

Director Lal, as an independent director, after sequels of In Harihar Nagar, is back with new movie TOURNAMENT with comparitively newfaces & freshfaces in malayalam cinema in lead. The movie had a promising thread, but the paper ads & the intro about the movie by Lal before title cards spoils the whole show.

Story
Vishwanathan(Fahad Fazil aka Shanu), Balu(John Jacob, remember the dancer in the election song in Sakudumbam Shyamala) and Ummar(Praveen, a newface) got selected for APL cricket team selection from the club run by Siddhique. The selection was to be conducted at Banglore. Balu met with an accident. The other two with their friend Aswathi(Roopa Manjari of Thiru Thiru Thuru Thuru fame) starts a road trip as their flight got cancelled along with another competitor Boby(Manu). The rest of the story is the betrayal by everyone to win the selection.

Performances
Shanu was cool and perfect as Vishwanathan. John Jacob as Balu has nothing much to perform. Also the fat guy, Praveen irritates us at times though good at some parts.  Manu with Thrissur slang was the hero of the movie with nice expressions but not at all a hero material. Roopa Manjari offers nothing new. Newface Prajin was apt and Aryan was surprising.

Siddhique as usual made his mark eventhough he had just two scenes in the movie. Kochu Preman was superb while Bijukuttan was not upto the mark.

The real showstealer is SALIMKUMAR. Awesome performance with bad english, typical dialogues with his style and SILSILA song.

Indrans as a tribal person was horrible which evokes no laughter. Thesni Khan & Paravai Muniamma were wasted.

Songs
The real plus point of the movie were the songs by Deepak Dev. Good work!!! BGM by Alex Paul was not upto the mark.

Technical
Editing by V.Saajan was good. Cinematography by Venu was nice at parts. Art Director Prasanth Madhav did his part well.

Script & Direction
Lal handled both departments. Direction was above average. Storyline was good. But the screenplay lags in second half. Since the paperads & intro before the movie by Lal spoiled the whole show as the viewers were vigilant with each and every scene. That negligence by the viewers were the success point of his previous movies. Here he himself spoiled his work. Lal is rehashing the same formula he did in his last two movies, REPLAY everything to see exactly what happened. Here the problem is he starts his replay from the introduction of the lead actors itself. First half was an engaging one eventhough an unwanted action sequence was there. Salimkumar's character was a big plus point for the movie. Second half drags once the lead actors reaches a tribal area. Horrible sequences to make us laugh. Also traces of In Harihar Nagar godown sequences were there.

Overall, an engaging first half and a not so well made second half with expected twists.

Verdict : Strictly Average
BO Verdict : Does not deserve a HIT status, but LAL RELEASE will make it

Lal, you are beating around the bush. These kind of REPLAY sequences once again may not work at boxoffice.

Strong screenplay with innovative ideas only can make a change in Malayalam Cinema.
Rehashing of formulas always wont work.


FANS ASSOCIATION FLEX for John Jacob & Prajin were there in theatre premises. Many don't know who they are. John had a single song and 2 scenes. Prajin had 3 scenes, thats all.

Good Songs & Nice Marketing may help it to be in safe-side as the production cost is low

SAHASRAM

SAHASRAM

Theatre : TVM Dhanya
Showtime & Date : 2.25pm, 19-12-2010
Status : Balcony 60-70%, FC just 20 people

After an unimpressive directorial debut with Mahasamudram, Dr.S.Janardhanan is back with in tinseltown with his new movie SAHASRAM with SureshGopi in lead. The movie is a well-scripted one and to an extent well executed engaging suspense thriller with a dose of supernatural element.

Story
The whole story happens on the backdrop of a cinema shooting location. Story is not a great one. But how it unfolds through subplots and twists makes it interesting. So watch the movie.

Performances
VishnuSahasraNamam IPS was a cakewalk role for SureshGopi which he executed without the hangover of any other police roles played by him. Bala & Sandhya had performed well. Rest of the casts - Madhu, Jagathy Sreekumar, KochuPreman, Kottayam Nazeer, Sudheesh, Rizabava, Kollam Thulasi, Lakshmi Gopalaswamy, V.K.Sreeraman, Indrans, Krishna, Kiran Raj were good in their respective supporting roles. Niyas(Remember the hero in Kshanakkathu) as SureshGopi's assistant was not that convincing. His big mustache and bad dubbing spoiled some scenes.

Songs
Music by M.Jayachandran was average only. BGM was ok only, but expected a much more thrilling one in a movie like this. BGM seems to be rehash.

Technical
Art Direction was superb. Editing by Mahesh Narayanan was apt. Cinematography by U.K.SenthilKumar was good. Finally a fire effect was neatly done in a malayalam movie in the climax scene.

Script & Direction
Dr.S.Janardhanan handled both departments. Story is a simple one but it is the screenplay which makes the movie an engaging one with twists and subplots. Visual cheating, usually seen in these kind of movies were absolutely absent here, Nice work. Though traces of bollywood flick Om Shanthi Om was seen, the whole execution makes movie enjoyable. Director presented SureshGopi in a police officer role without guns & fiery dialogues, but the seriousness was there with sharp dialogues which were tightly related to script. On the whole a nice work. The first few minutes were not so impressive. Other than that, I don't find any negatives.

Verdict : Well made suspense thriller
BO Verdict : Don't know, the verdict it deserves is a HIT

Hardwork done by Dr.S.Janardhanan was seen in screenplay. We can expect more tight scripted movies, whatever the genre, from him.

KANYAKUMARI EXPRESS

KANYAKUMARI EXPRESS

Theatre : TVM New
Showtime & Date : 2.30pm, 19-11-2010
Status : Balcony 50%, FC 20-25%

After a long gap, director T.S.SureshBabu is back in tinseltown with his new movie KANYAKUMARI EXPRESS. This time he tries the new method of filmmaking which Prashanth Mambully introduced in malayalam with his debut film BHAGAWAN starring Mohanlal, shoot only limited scenes & make movie a lengthy one by showing it repeatedly.

Story
MohanShankar IPS(SureshGopi) is on leave after the failure of a mission. He leaves to Kanyakumari where his enemies got killed one by one. If someone who saw the movie, please post the story as comment. I didn't find anything like that.

Performances
SureshGopi as MohanShankar was usual. Babu Antony improved in voice modulation but his acting was wooden only. Jagathy was good. Bheeman Raghu was DGP was funny & good. Rest of the cast Shanavas, Baiju, Urmila Unni, Sarayu, KiranRaj, Krishna.......had nothing much to do. Heroine debutant Gowri was horrible.

Songs
Music by Sharath was horrible. SureshGopi sang the only song, so no comments. The song reminded me the end credits song of movie Bhagawan.

Technical
Everything was bad. Editing was very very bad. Donmax, we agree that u know a set of effects to edit the films. But make sure that  you are using the techniques at the right movie & at the right scenes.

Script & Direction
Dennis Joseph was a promising name in yesteryears. His recent scripts proves one thing. The twists in his screenplay can be effectively presented onscreen by him only, remember Thudarkkadha & Appu. Direction NO COMMENTS. If you are planning to direct any more movies, please understand the script first.

Verdict : ESCAPE
BO Verdict : Super Flop

Whenever SureshGopi appeared as COP onscreen, the movie had a minimum entertainment guaranteed, atleast in some scenes.

But ithorumaathiri COP-le padamaayipoyi

BheemanRaghu acts as a la henchman police officer to Babu Antony's character. Don't know how Bheeman Raghu fans will tolerate this & how Babu Antony fans will celebrate this. But Bheeman Raghu was superb with his gestures & style.

SureshGopi was given a usual intro scene & Babu Antony was given an intro in which he gets down from a computer generated helicopter. But the best intro scene in the movie was for Bheeman Raghu as DGP opening the door of his car. 

Movie started with title SUPERSTAR SURESHGOPI in&as ACTION KING BABU ANTONY & team in KANYAKUMARI EXPRESS

FOUR FRIENDS

FOUR FRIENDS

Theatre : TVM Dhanya
Showtime & Date : 2.30pm, 28-10-2010
Status : Balcony Full, FC 98%

Ater back to back hits, Ivar Vivahitharaayaal & Happy Husbands(one of the biggest hits of 2010), Saji Surendran-Krishna Poojappura-Anil Nair team is back with their new flick FO(U)R FRIENDS. I'll rate it as the disaster movie of 2010. Though movie had a promising team behind, nothing works on screen this time. CRAP MOVIE.

The positives I felt was
1. Kunchacko Boban's performance in the hospital scene in second half
2. Jayasuriya's oneliners in first half
3. Salimkumar's emotional scene
4. Suraj Venjarammood's dialogues, though repetitive

Story
So called story(which is missing here) revolves around 4 characters.
Roy(Jayaram), a multimillionaire and an orphan, Suriya(Kunchacko Boban), an MBA student, only son of Lalu Alex(Chackochan's onscreen father again after Niram & MummynMe) & Seema, Amir(Jayasuriya) an illiterate goon who will do anything for his sister & mother(Sukumari) & Gowri(Meera Jasmine), who too have an emotional flashback. All 4 are cancer patients & they meet at a cancer treatment centre run by GaneshKumar. All 4 become friends & they decides to enjoy life before they die. All 4 plans a trip to Malaysia to meet Vineetha(Sarayu), Suriya's lover.

Performances
Jayaram as Roy was a miscast and he looks too old for the role. Kunchacko Boban as Surya was apt. Though nothing special, the hospital scene in second half was a good one. Jayasuriya as Amir was also an apt casting. His oneliners were the only saving grace of the first half. Meera Jasmine as Gowri surprisingly didn't go over the board and she was ok in that role. Also she looked too young to be Jayaram's pair. Salimkumar had a senti scene which he did well, but none of the comedy scenes worked. Suraj Venjarammood was there with his trademark dialogues. Lalu Alex, Seema, Manikuttan, GaneshKumar, Sarayu were just OK.

Kamal Hassan in his cameo was unimpressive with lenghty unwanted documentary style of dialogues & his own experiences.

Songs
Music by M.Jayachandran was above average. BGM was too loud at many parts. Also using the remix of Sholay song "Yeh Dosthi" music for senti scenes were irritating.

Technical
Anil Nair's cinematography was good at parts. Editing, I won't say anything, because without a proper script what can be done by the editor with the scenes he got on his table. Art direction was good.

Script & Direction
After a hatrick, Krishna Poojappura fails in the script department. I doubt whether a script was there for this movie. The movie was a dull documentary style of one. Don't know why an unwanted action sequence was included in second half. Saji Surendran would have concentrated on script rather than locations, stills, costumes & song picturisation. A bad movie, that was never expected from this team. The sentiment scenes & comedies, nothing worked on screen. Tearjerker serials have much better script. Storyline was interesting. But without a proper screenplay & gripping dialogues, whats the use???

On the whole, a bad movie strictly recommended on TV, if you have no other movies on other channels.

Verdict : Escape
BO Verdict : Flop

Bodyguard, another disaster movie of this year was better compared to this.

People expected a fun-filled ride seeing stills & songs & starcast. People were laughing for senti scenes & crying for those crap scenes called comedy scenes.

ORIDATHORU POSTMAN

ORIDATHORU POSTMAN

Theatre : TVM Kairali
Showtime & Date : 2.30pm, 08-10-2010
Status : Balcony Full, FC 60-70%

Shaji Aseez, one of the directors of Shakespeare M A Malayalam is becoming an independent director with new movie Oridathoru Postman scripted by K.GireeshKumar. The movie works well with the audience at many parts because of its packaging avoiding cliches, subjects it deal & an impressive starcast.

Story
Gangadharan(Innocent) is a lazy postman in Cherumkuzhy Village. He never delivers letters & money orders on time. His son Raghunandanan(Kunchacko Boban) is a very hardworking person who works as a PSC tutorial lecturer, real estate agent, LIC agent....His ambition is to become a govt employee. Once Gangadharan fails to deliver a hall ticket for Raghunandanan & this creates a separation between them which makes Gangadharan a responsible person. But that didn't last long. He got hospitalized & then Raghu came to know that his father was a heart patient. Gangadharan's last wish was to find his old friend Yaasin Mubaraq(SarathKumar) who is a wildlife photographer by profession, but mistaken as a terrorist by media & people. Gangadharan asks Raghu to find & give Yaasin the letters sent by his daughter. The rest of the story is whether Raghu finds Yaasin & the problems he face in his mission to find him.

Performances
Kunchacko Boban as Raghunandanan was simply superb. He's the backbone of the movie. His character was well-etched and presented well. He delivered a smart performance when he comes to know that Innocent's character passed away saying I have nothing with me to Kalabhavan Prajod. SMART PERFORMANCE!!!

SarathKumar as Yaasin Mubaraq was effective & fresh for the role. Innocent was regular. Salimkumar as lottery maniac was a caricature to many in the state, also IbrahimKutty. Kalabhavan Mani as Inspector Shahul Hameed delivered a decent performance. Suraj Venjarammood as constable Abhilash though reminds us of his character in Kunchacko Boban starrer GULUMAAL THE ESCAPE, he was given ample screenspace by script to evoke laughter which works on screen too.. Meera Nandan has nothing much to do. Rest of the characters by GaneshKumar, Shanavas, AnilMurali, Chembil Ashokan, Seema G Nair did their part well. Kalbhavan Prajod was impressive as lottery agent.

Songs
All the three songs by Mohan Sithara were situational ones, which works well with the mood of the movie. BGM was loud at many places & reused ones.

Technical
Cinematography by Anand Balakrishnan was impressive at many parts of the movie with nice visuals. Editing was apt. Art direcction was good.

Script & Direction
I will rate this as the best screenplay of K.GireeshKumar as it had no dull moments(screenplay wise). Also it had lots of social issues like terrorism, after effects of lottery in society, plastic & environment....The best thing was, all these were beautifully blended in the script. Usually movies dealing these subjects used to have dialogues with lots of advices. But here no such dialogues were there. Also characterisation of all were superb. Overall a nice work by K.GireeshKumar. Direction by Shaji Aseez was not so impressive. It had dull moments on screen. But many scenes were taken by avoiding lot of cliches like bomb blasts, public support sequences, dialogues to boost patriotism, advices, court scenes. Everything was executed in simple and clear manner. We can expect more good movies from this director if he improves handling scenes in m uch more effective & faster manner.
Usually these type of movies used to have a comic first half & a serious second half. But here comedy was there in both halves without disturbing the mood of the movie. All comedies were situational ones only.

Verdict : WATCHABLE AVERAGE ONE
BO Verdict : Average - flop

Good marketing might help this movie to be a big success.

ENDHIRAN the ROBOT

ENDHIRAN the ROBOT

Theatre : TVM Ajantha
Showtime & Date : 1.20pm, 01-10-2010
Status : Balcony Full, FC 99%

Director Shankar's ENDHIRAN the ROBOT starring Rajnikanth, which were on news for a long time had finally hit the screens. But don't expect a usual Rajnikanth film here. The movie doesn't live upto the hype created by the makers.

Story
Vaseegaran(Rajnikanth) is a scientist who is working on robotics for 10 years to complete his dream of a ROBOT which can be used by the Indian Army in the warfield. Finally he succeeds in that. The Robot is named Chitty(Rajnikanth again). As in every superhero movie, here also a set of such events like helping the needy is there. But one such incident make Vaseegaran think to give Chitty human emotions so that he can behave according to situation. Sana(Aiswarya Rai) is in love with Vaseegaran. Once Chitty gets human emotions, it falls in love with Sana. Knowing this Vaseegaran destroys Chitty. Vaseegaran's professor is envious of Vaseegaran's work. He helps Chitty to get back into old form to get the technical knowhow of the robot so that he can use that for illegal matters. He programs Chitty with new code of destruction. Chitty abducts Sana to marry her. The rest of the story is how Vaseegaran wins over the robots.

Performances
Rajnikanth as Vaseegaran & Chitty had done justice to his role. Rajnikanth's Vaseegaran character has nothing much to do. But the character Chitty had many shades. In the beginning of the movie, he is clearly a robot. Then it changes to a normal human like one & in second half, the character clearly becomes a villain. At points he was boring, looks too. Aiswarya Rai as Sana has nothing much to do other than routine stuff, Songs, some romantic seq & some scenes. Make up was bad for her at many places. Rest of the characters were just cameo only. Santhanam, Karunas, Cochin Haneefa, Kalabhavan Mani, none of them could evoke a good laughter.

Songs
Music was the biggest plus point of Shankar movies till Sivaji. A.R.Rehman disappoints big this time. Music is a big letdown here, not even a single hummable song. Picturisation of all songs were not at all impressive, very routine tamil film song stuff, what extra is the robot costumes for dance troupe members. Not even good for a second time watch. Songs were misplaced ones. BGM too disappoints.

Technical
Cinematography was good. Editing by Anthony is OK only while considered from the film's flow viewpoint. Otherwise he had done a great job as many scenes were having a lot of CG(Computer Graphics). Second half needs trimming. Art direction was excellent.

Shankar's interest to introduce new technologies was clearly seen in this movie. As per reports, he had used Animatronics & other latest stuffs for CG work. In the first half, it works well. In the second half, it feels repeated & overdone. After spending lots of money for CG, still the scene where a building in fire has been done very badly.


Script & Direction
Shankar who did the script of the movie in late 90s itself(Shankar then planned the movie with Kamal Hassan & Preity Zinta & later Shahrukh Khan, both didn't happen) seems to be inspired from hollywood flicks Terminator Series, Bicentennial Man, Godzilla, i-Robot, The Mask at many parts & Shahrukh Khan's DARR in second half's basic plot. Though engaging, it is presented with routine masala stuff like hero helping the needy, saving heroine from goons, falling in love with another person's girlfriend & stuffs like that. Unnecessary songs were  another negative. Dialogues by Sujatha, Shankar & Karky were good at first half. First half was an engaging one though masala stuff. But second half was a technical show but sadly the poor screenplay & weak plot makes it boring. Also the technical stuff shown were a bit over the board at many parts. Even the robot Rajnikanth, walks & talks like a normal Rajnikanth in Padayappa or Baasha may be be liken by Rajni fans, but for normal viewers it's too illogical. As a fantasy movie it works to an extent. Shankar's routine stuff- a court scene was there in this one's climax too.

Overall an engaging first half, boring & lengthy second half.

Verdict : Srictly a one time watch
BO Verdict : Considering the budget of the movie, it won't end up as a profit maker.

Shankar would have concentrated on script than in technical stuffs. All the technical stuff will work only on a solid screenplay only. MAGADHEERA is a good example I can say. Good CG works which suits well with what the script demands.