VILLALI VEERAN

VILLALI VEERAN

Theatre : TVM NEW SCREEN 1
Showtime & Date : 2:30pm, 07-09-2014
Status : 50%

A Dileep movie on festival season,this time script & direction by newcomers and songs were pretty enjoyable. Did the movie entertains??? Lets see

Story
Siddharthan aka Siddhu(Dileep) is the only hope of three families who struggles for day today expenses. He meets Namratha(Namitha Pramod), an ad film maker, by accident in between a mock drill by Police. Later he enters to her life as Arun K Menon. Rest of the movie is Siddharthan's flashback which later ends as a comic and action flick.

Performances
Dileep carries the whole movie with his comedy timing and histronics. Kalabhavan Shajohn with his screen presence was good and evoked a few laughters. Dharmajan as BijuBrahmanan's intro scene was bad, but later he was fine. Siddhique, Lalu Alex, Suresh Krishna, Riyaz Khan, Seetha, Valsala Menon, Neena Kurup were routine. Namitha Pramod needs to be a bit more serious about acting and character selection and above all HER MAKEUP. Though Mythili got a better role, her impeccable disinterested dubbing and wooden expressions killed her chance.

Songs & BGM
Songs by S A Rajkumar were good and fits well with the movie. BGM was too loud at times.

Technical
Editing could have been better in econd half, Cinematography was good, especially in songs and action sequences.

Script & Direction
Script by Dinesh Pallath had all ingredients for a festival entertainer but the ingredients were a bit more or less and timing at times killed the taste. Still an enjoyable one. As a debutant, being a festival entertainer package, he did a nice job with the storyline. Though nothing much happens in first half, he could make the show engaging.

Direction by debutant Sudheesh Shankar could have been better. SScenes as such were fine at many parts and shot in rich frames. But certain slapstick ones like Ad Film shoot will test our patience with b grade slapstick humour. Second half showed better promise than first where script was more tight and stick to the subject. Though not a great debut, he's promising as he could handle the final portions of the movie without going overboard in a neat manner.

Overall an enjoyable flick if we can forget a few set of scenes in first half.

Verdict : Entertainer

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

MY BOSS

MY BOSS

Theatre : Aluva Zeenath
Showtime & Date : 3.00pm, 02-12-2012
Status : Housefull

Jeethu Joseph after Detective & Mummy n Me is back with his new movie MY BOSS with Dileep & Mamtha in lead roles. To know whether Jeethu scored a hatrick, read more.

Story
Manu Varma(Dileep), an engineering graduate with distinction in Computer Science joins Quadrek Softwares as assistant to the boss Priya(Mamtha), a strict person by profession hailing from Australia. Manu had to face a lot of work pressure from her. At a stage, when next CEO of the company has to be selected, competition arises between and Mathew(Anand). By the time, Priya's visa period reaches the deadline which will force her to be back to Australia. To be the CEO and to stay in India, she claims that she is in love with Manu & they are going to get married. Manu takes this oppurtunity as a visa card to live in overseas. Things change when Manu takes her to his family in his village. See the rest on screen.

Performances
Dileep was super cool as Manu Varma. He plays with such an ease which we really didn't see from him for last few years. Really enjoyable performance which will make us laugh well. Mamtha was good as the boss Priya. Her fluency in English was well utilised. Tailor-made role for her which she did with 100% perfection. Kalabhavan Shajon as Ali was refreshing. First half gave him ample scope to make us laugh which he did successfully. Saikumar makes us laugh in his role in second half with the witty oneliners. He shines in sentiment scenes too. Mukesh,Ganeshkumar, Rekha & Anand in their cameos did their part well. Seetha & Valsala Menon were usual. Rest of the casts did their part. Dharmajan Bolgatty in his cameo makes us laugh.

Songs & BGM
Songs were enjoyable. Sejo John, though not upto his music in Mummy n Me, impresses us with the BGM & Kuttanadan song & opening song, especially orchestration. Songs stick well to the movie except the album song Enthinennariyilla which was totally out of box.

Technical
Cinematography by Anil Nair was good with fine visuals of Mumbai & Kuttanad.  Editing was good. Art direction needs special mention for his work in first half

Script & Direction
Jeethu Joseph handled both departments. May be the initial spark of the movie would have been hollywood flick THE PROPOSAL, but this one is entirely different. Script was a tailor made one for Dileep & Mamtha. Oneliners were sharp & the proceeding sequences were enjoyable if you are not thinking much of logic. Dialogues wre raser sharp especially for Saikumar. Direction by Jeethu reached next level with this. If Bolgatty Palace was avoided as location & some other in Kuttanad was taken it would have given much more effect(strictly my opinion).

Overall an enjoyable comedy entertainer

Verdict : Good Entertainer
BO Verdict : Hit

Jeethu Joseph won the harick!!!

Without Suraj Venjarammood or Salimkumar and slapstick humour, a clean comedy entertainer is here.

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.