GRANDMASTER

GRANDMASTER

Theatre : TVM Ajantha

Showtime & Date : 6.00pm, 05-05-2012

Status : Housefull

B Unnikrishnan, the scenarist of some engaging movies as well as some craps is back with Mohanlal again after the successful movie Madambi. The movie also marks the entry of  UTV MOTION PICTURES into malayalam cinema. The movie had created some hype with the niitial photoshoot stills itself portraying Mohanlal as an aged cop. Whether movie satisy us?? Lets take a look

Story

Chandrashekhar(Mohanlal) is the chief of Metro Crime Stopper Cell in Kochi. He was a former national level chess player & a divorced person after an issue with Deepthi(Priyamani) 10 years ago. The movie though begins with a mission, the show really starts when he gets an anonymous letter from a killer who wants the smart Chandrasekhar, like him 10 years before back in action to make his psychic killing spree a thrilling one. Though initially Chandrasekhar resists to take up the job, later he decides to play the game with the killer.

Performances

Mohanlal as Chandrasekhar looked great. Acting wise this one is a cakewalk role for him, nothing special other than his aged looks & character of a father of 16 year old. In action sequences & in dialogue delivery, as always he shines. Once again a fact got proved - Even though the character is a simple man, a simple usual dialogue becomes a punchline, only if it is delivered by the actor Mohanlal. Narien was wasted in a simple role, Jagathy too. Siddhique scores as usual eventhough he's there in movie in just 2 scenes. Babu Antony's initial scenes were superb with the mannerisms of a psychic, but somehere in between it lost. In climax episode, he was good. Manikuttan, Devan, Roma, Mithra Kurien,Riyaz Khan, Anoop Menon, Priyamani were usual characters only. Mithra Kurien didn't look the mirror during makeup session I think, HORRIBLE!!!

Songs & BGM

Songs were fine. Aaranu Nee song was a speed breaker picturised in a comparititvely low profile sets. Akaleyo was well picturised. BGM lacks the punch.

Technical

Cinematography was just ordinary. Editing lacks the thrill needed to be maintained for these kind of flicks. Art Direction was good. Dileep Subbarayan's fights were realistic.

Script & Direction

Script by B Unnikrishnan had a strong base oneline to be converted to a smart thriller. But the screenplay fails & falls into cliche pits of predictability at many times. The villain of the film was very much predictable in first half itself. Towards the second half, the reason for that too becomes predictable. Still the movie manages to engage the audience with its simplicity in proceedings. The movie seems to have required a wide canvas to execute this one. Then why it didn't happen when UTV was there?? I don't know. Mohanlal saves the show at many parts. The climax was a big failure as it becomes everything predictable because of last two years' biggest hits' shades were there. Dialogues were simple & fine. Also the style he mixes those lines for fans is a commendable one which would have been a out of the box stuff if not good.

Direction by B Unnikrishnan was engaging altogether. Climax execution was a failure. It ended as a cliche item. Shades of Shaji Kailas style as usual was there throughout the movie. Also we may feel that the script writer had a lot to tell the audience & director too wants to execute another set along with the other. Direction could have been a lot lot better. 

Overall an engaging onetime watch

Verdict : Tads above average

BO Verdict : Hit

CASSANOVA

CASSANOVA

Theatre : TVM New
Showtime & Date : 6.00pm, 26-1-2012(Republic Day)
Status : Housefull

Many discussions were done by many people regarding the current situation of malayalam cinema, production costs, going after the trend set by some big hit movie etc etc. Do you know whats the new trend in malayalam cinema now? The answer is make some good watchable abv avg whatever entertaining movies, some 1-3. Then announce a big one which will attain huge media attention. Please note that the stills of the movie will be hype increasing catalysts for the final product. When the product reaches the audience, everyone will be having only one question to ask - Is this the same person or team whom or which did the previous ones. LalJose, just last week with Spanish Masala joined the league. Rosshan Andrrews tops the list with quality of the product with the "SUPER" screenplay(nothing like that was there for this) written by Bobby-Sanjay team(remember their previous one was TRAFFIC).

Rosshan Andrrews with Mohanlal after Udayananu Thaaram & Ividam Swargamaanu & with Bobby-Sanjay after NoteBook with the above said hype catalysts - Cassanova, the worst of the director & the script writer duo.

Story
The movie begins with a robbery by a team of 4. They plans another theft in a marriage function in Dubai. Cassanova(Mohanlal), an international flower merchant and a cassanova in nature comes to Dubai to attend the marriage. There he hosts a TV show in Sahya channel run by Shankar. Why is he hosting the show? There is no suspense in the movie. Its just that old wine revenge story of  hero after the vilains who killed his lover.

Performances
Mohanlal looked quite uncomfortable in the whole movie except in Shreya flashback episode. His makeup was also bad. Performance wise, this one is just a simple one for him, an ordinary one not even heavy or stylish as Sagar alias Jacky or OMR in Red Chillies. Riyaz Khan was good with good accent & neat performance. Jagathy was wasted, Shankar too. Lalu Alex in his limited role scores with his good dialogues(perhaps the best dialogues in the movie). All the four newcomers were not at all impressive. Heroines were mainly for skin show. Roma's character had a good start with nice comic situations but ended the flow of that character somewhere in between. Lakshmi Rai once again proved that she's just a showcase material, so as the case of Sanjana. Shreya was just fine only.

Songs
Songs were not at all impressive as it acts as speed-breakers. BGM for Riyaz Khan was superb, rest all seems to be rehash of some English flicks.

Technical
Cinematography was nothing special to mention about other then the usual visuals when malayalam movies are shot overseas. Editing by Mahesh Narayan was good but without script what he could do. Art direction was good.

Coming to action sequence, this one has the worstly choreographed & copied stunt sequences in recent malayalam cinema. Interval sequence & climax fight ended as comedy show for audience. Copied from Jackie Chan's Police Story, Mankatha, Aalavandhan, Matrix...Horrible

Script & Direction
The worst script from Bobby-Sanjay duo ever, not even a single comedy sequence or awesome dialogues to relook. Or is this any new Bobby-Sanjay team??(May be I made a mistake thinking that they were same Traffic duo). Direction by Rosshan Andrrews had a promising start which ended in few minutes of the movie itself. Though his Udayanaanu Tharam was inspired from hollywood flick Bowfinger, the execution & final product had enough elements to keep the audience engaged. But this one started itself like Jackie Chan's Police Story with a cliched police officer with style after them. Then enters the hero who does Kunchacko Boban's Dr.Love internationally. Sad thing is there were not enough moments to make the audience feel like the pairs fall in love. Then the robbery teams were chatting like why didn't you come for live robbery practice?(Is this a CCL or something?) By the time, when love blossoms there happens the robbery by the 4 team in Mankatha style which was failed by Mohanlal's Hrithik Roshan DHOOM 2 play which is ending like Dileep's Crazy Gopalan sequence after court scene which takes a good turn to Mission Impossible 2 Tom Cruise in a matter of seconds. Then happend the best part. INTERVAL. Once flashback in second half started, the movie though engaging I felt like I was watching S J Suryah-Nayanthara movie Kalvanin Kadhali again starring Mohanlal-Shreya team. In that sequence itself Jeyam Ravi-Hansika Motwani sequence directed by PrabhuDeva in Engeyum Kadhal is well blended. Finally an action sequence with a big twist for audience. Do you want to know what's the twist. There is not twist, that was a big twist for audience those expected a twist. If Rosshan & Bobby-Sanjay duo had tried a bit, you people would have made Riyaz Khan, the main villain so that we could watch Billa too with this. They disappointed there. Anyways second half was better compared to first half. Both halves were having different storylines. Few Dialogues were good at parts, rest were wastes in a bad screenplay. Director was taking frames in a rich manner even for unwanted ones.
Love was the basic theme of the movie. But that was not convincingly presented eithe in script side or direction wise & absolutely no chemistry between lead pairs.

Anything more I have to say about this?

Verdict : Avoid
BO Verdict : Flop following a good initial collection

People talks were like Kunjaliyan, Padmasree Bharath Dr.SarojKumar were nice ones compared to this as it had somewhat nice comedy moments eventhough not so good ones.

Watch Arabeem Ottakom P Madhavan Nairum in Oru Marubhoomikkadha, which was 100 times better than this  or NANBAN the best bet available now.

Making frames in a rich manner should be just like an icing in the cake, you were icing on an ice cube Mr.Director.

TEJA BHAI & FAMILY

TEJA BHAI & FAMILY

ദിലീപിന്‍റെ നാട്ടില്‍ നിന്നൊരു പൃഥിരാജ് ചിത്രത്തിന്റെ റിവ്യൂ
Theatre : Aluva Matha
Showtime & Date : 11.20am, 30-08-2011
Status : Balcony around 50%, FC 55%

After the runaway hit CRAZY GOPALAN(a good revenge story with a good second half), Dipu Karunakaran is back in tinsel town with his new movie TEJA BHAI & FAMILY which was promoted like the image makeover of Prithviraj as a comic hero sadly fails in almost all departments to entertain.

Story
Teja Bhai(Prithviraj) is a highly paid underworld don in Malaysia who falls in love with a social worker Vedia(Akhila) without revealing his real identity & meets her as Roshan Varma. Things change when her father Damodarji(Thalaivasal Vijay) decides her marriage as per priest(a comic baffoon character) Vashyavachas said(Suraj Venjarammood) whom in which Damodarji strongly believe.With the help of Vashyavachas, Teja introduces himself as Roshan Varma who is from a reputed family. Damodarji asks Vashyavachas to be with Roshan & get his family details. Roshan aka Teja, by the time with the help of Vashyavachas himself tries to find his lost parents at the age of three ending up with a group of fake relatives to be with him to make the marriage happen. The rest is whether Vedika & Damodarji comes to know about Teja & whether they unite.

Performances
Prithviraj, though marketed as his comic role didn't delivered a single scene which will make us laugh. As a don in malaysia episode too, he looks bad(His look in Thanthonni was perfect for this role). When Suraj enters the movie, Prithviraj was seen in few scenes only. His intro scene was horrible. Suraj as Vashyavachas tried his best to save the movie. Sadly he too fails. Except a very few oneliners, nothing worked. The best scenes in movie belongs to him - the final shot & the scene in which he imitates Mohanlal in Chithram. Salimkumar had a Mahabharatham storytelling episode & one dialogue to make us laugh. Bheeman Raghu in his cameo imitating Mammootty of Rajamanikyam didn't work. But the scene in which Suraj imitating Bheeman Raghu in his presence was good. Akhila was just a showcase item in the movie. Thalaivasal Vijay was ok. Suman as baddie was just another routine role for him. Asokan was just ok in his role. Nedumudi Venu, as usual, eventhough a cameo role scores. Shobha Mohan had no dialogues & just 2 shots in the movie. Shakeela couldn't make in any impact in his cameo. Rest of the cast - Jagathy Sreekumar, Kochu Preman, Premkumar, Nandulal, Indrans, Kollam Thulasi, Bindu Panicker, Manju Pillai, Manka Mahesh & a set of kids were there to fill the screen only.

Songs & BGM
Deepak Dev disappoints this time. Except Shishiranilavil, nothing worked. Remix of Oru Madhurakkinavin didn't work as expected. In BGM, you can find lots of Hollywood, Bollywood, Tamil & Telugu movie BGMs.

Technical
Cinematography by Shamdath was OK. Art direction was fine. Action sequences lacked freshness & picturised in an ordinary manner only. The real villain of the movie is the editor Manoj. I think he was sleeping for the first 15-20 minutes. Editing was bad as a whole.

Script & Direction
Both departments are handled by Dipu Karunakaran. Basic story had all the elements to be a mass entertainer. But the screenplay lacks the punch to make it entertaining. Everything was predictable & many scenes looks similar to rehash of old Priyadarsan movies like Boeying Boeying. Though the movie was marketed as comedy movie, comedy was too old fashioned & artists tried their best to make us laugh, but without proper script & bad dialogues, what they could do. Director seems to be unclear of how he could present the movie before the audience. Teja Bhai as don was presented very badly on screen as a not at all serious one. Many scenes looks like a TV serial at times. Climax was just rehash of Pokkiriraja climax. Direction lacks experience & many frames & shots look repeated & a copy of some other language movies. Dipu Karunakaran did an OK job only.

Verdict : Strictly a one time watch if u have nothing else to do or no other movies left on theatres
BO Verdict : No competition for 9 days & wide release might help this one to enter safe side, but whether budget of 6.5c will be covered is yet to be watched.

The hardwork in script & execution seen in CRAZY GOPALAN was absolutely missing in this one. This one eneded as just a movie to project Prithviraj among family audience, some dialogues in the movie too tells that.

If u watch this movie on DVD, you can finish it in just 1 hour