ROMANS

ROMANS

Theatre : Aluva Zeenath
Showtime & Date : 6.15pm, 17-01-2013
Status : Balcony FULL, FC 95%

The hit duo Kunchacko Boban - Biju Menon comes together in Janapriyan fame director Boban Samuel's ROMANS scripted by Y V Rajesh. Expectation was just a simple entertainer. But the movie turned out to be a well made kidu racy mass comedy entertainer which was never expected from the director. The duo actors made the show to the max entertaining level.

Story
Aakash(Kunchacko Boban) & Shibu(Biju Menon) escapes from way to prison and reaches Poomala village where people were expecting two priests from Rome. To find a hide out & to make money, they acts like priests from Rome & things change when they plans to conduct the church function which has got some mysterious past.

Performances
Kunchacko Boban & Biju Menon - their chemistry was magical. Throughout the film we can see them complimenting each other. The whole film was their show. Terrific combo & ORDINARY is just a history after this movie for sure

Shaju was funny with costumes & visiting card numbers. Nelson was too good. Ponnamma Babu rocks in her cameo. After a long time, Kakka Ravi aka Nizhalgal Ravi in a cameo.Lalu Alex rocks, T G Ravi & Vijayaraghavan too. Niveda was just for the sake of a heroine. The one who played Arun Ghosh's heroine is a heroine material. Awesome screen presence.
Rest of the actors did their part well.

Songs & BGM
Though songs by M Jeyachandran was passable, BGM by Bijipal rocked especially for Chackochan & BijuMenon scenes.
Technical
Cinematography was awesome, Editing was perfect for second half, but first half needs a bit more better work I felt. Art direction was awesome.

Script & Direction
Script by Y V Rajesh was superb. Though the basic thought was from hollywood flick We're No Angels, the thread was beautifully made into a fresh story & executed very well with nice elements in apt mixture. Fun was there thoughout along with sentiments & horror factor. Best screenplay by Y V Rajesh till date. Dialogues were too funny at many parts which makes us miss some proceeding dialogues. Smart work

Direction by Boban Samuel was impressive. We can't believe that the same director who created Janapriyan made this. Scenes were well crafted & told in a fresh manner at many points especially flashback & story telling modes. Frame composition were awesome for 90% of the scenes. Not a single dull moment. So racy & fun filled.

Overall the first good comedy mass entertainer, enjoy with your families

Verdict : Go for it
BO Verdict : Sure Hit, chances for Blockbuster too(if ORDINARY can, this one has  double chances)

KARMAYODHA

KARMAYODHA

Theatre : Aluva Zeenath
Showtime & Date : 3.00pm, 29-12-2012
Status : Balcony No idea, FC 50 people

Major Ravi after box office debacle Kandahar is back with his new movie KARMAYODHA with Mohanlal in lead which has no military backdrop.

Story
The whole story is inspired from hollywood flick TAKEN with Mad Maddy aka Madhavan DCP Mumbai(Mohanlal) in search of her kidnapped daughter.

Performances
Mohanlal as Maddy was cool and makes most scenes of the movie engaging. Rest of the actors - Mukesh, Janardhanan, Anil Murali, Bineesh Kodiyeri, Rajeev Pillai, Asha Sarath... all were good and bad at parts. Sukumari after a long time on screen with Mohanlal makes scene refreshing and energetic.

Songs & BGM
Though music by M G Sreekumar fails, BGM by Jonathan though copycat, was awesome

Technical
Pradeep Nair's cinematography was fine, but Editor Don Max needs some more concentration.

Script & Direction
Script by whoever in the court case, had a nice thought though copied which is a socially relevant theme in current Indian scenario. Screenplay could have been more crisper. This one lacks the thrill at many parts. Major Ravi handled the subject very lazily I should say. The theme had everything to set the screens on fire with a fire brand character on screen but failed in directing the movie to a level the script demanded. Shaji Kailas or Joshiy was the best option

On the whole a watchable socially relevant movie

Verdict : Watchable
BO Verdict : Above Average to 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

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.

ARABEEM OTTAKOM P.MADHAVAN NAIRUM in ORU MARUBHOOMIKKADHA

ARABEEM OTTAKOM P.MADHAVAN NAIRUM in ORU MARUBHOOMIKKADHA

After a log gap,  after Krishnanum Radhayum I watched a movie in theatre

Theatre : TVM Remya
Status : Housefull
Showtime & Date : 5.45pm, 18-12-2011
After Kakkakuyil, another Priyadarsan-Mohanlal-Mukesh combo movie released. From the same team, all will expect a typical full length comedy movie. If you ask me whether the movie reached the expectation level, my answer will be "TO AN EXTENT".

Story
The whole story happens in UAE. Puthanpurakkal Madhavan Nair aka P.Madhavan Nair(Mohanlal) is an accountant in Arabi's(Shakthi Kapoor) office. He meets Meenakshi(Lakshmi Rai) by accident and falls in love with her which proceeds in same way as in hollywood movie Serendipity which was inturn used in Tamil movie Jay Jay. Abdu Kupleri(Mukesh), a former room-mate who was sent out for robbering Madhavan's Rolex watch again appears before him for a job. Then a change takes place in Madhavan's life which changes the track of the movie to a road movie featuring Abdu & Ileana(Bhavana) along with him. Watch the movie to know the story well as there is subplot for each character which makes confusions generating Priyan style comedy scenes.

Performances
Mohanlal as Madhavan Nair was not that challenging one for the actor. His expressions and very few dialogues will make us laugh. Mukesh as Abdu Kupleri steals the show with his smart comic timing & witty dialogues. In sentiment scenes too, he shines. The best set of dialogues belongs to him. Suraj as Koya is another who will make us laugh at parts. But many of his dialogues were a failure in creating laughter. The rest of the cast - Bhavana, Nedumudi Venu, Innocent, Mamukoya, Manianpilla Raju, Lakshmi Gopalaswamy were fine. Lakshmi Rai with typical Bhagyalkshmi dubbing in Priyan films spoiled many scenes. She was just for skin show. Shakthi Kapoor in his cameo had nothing much to do.

Songs
Songs by M G Sreekumar were fine. Chembakavallikal is the best. Picturisation of all the songs lack the typical Priyan magic which was there even in Kilichundan Mambazham,though movie was not upto the mark. BGM was not there in many parts of the movie which makes the movie dull at parts, especially first half.

Technical
Cinematography by Azhagappan & Gym Ganesh were fine. Editing by T.S.Shekhar could have been a lot better.

Script & Direction
Story by debutant Abhilash Nair had enough elements to be a smart entertainer, but the screenplay by the same & half baked direction at parts spoiled the show. Till the entry of Mukesh's character, the movie was just an ordinary one with almost no funny moments. Once Mukesh enters the scene, the typical Lal-Mukesh combo started their play in the first scene itself with usual TVM slang, but didn't lasted after a few scenes. From then on, more than screenplay, its the oneliner dialogues by Priyadarsan neatly presented by Mukesh saved the show. Most of the dialogues look outdated & repetition of his own films especially towards the climax. Screenplay was a mix of previous Priyan movies like Hallo My Dear Wrong Number, Vettam, Kilukkam, Chandralekha, Kakkakuyil...The marriage episode featuring Mamukoya and the song was an unwanted one. Still the movie works because of the combo and witty oneliners. Direction by Priyadarsan lacked sincerety and seriousness at many parts I think. Frames seems repetitive & the gradual fall and increase of pace of the movie makes me think so.

On the whole, a watchable entertainer which could have been a lot better.

Verdict : Tad above average
BO Verdict : May end as a HIT

VAADAMALLI (വാടാമല്ലി)

VAADAMALLI (വാടാമല്ലി)

I will be writing the review of this movie a bit different from usual pattern of my reviews. It may contain lines which may disturb the ones behind this project. 

കൂട്ടിയ റ്റിക്കറ്റ് നിരക്കില്‍ കാശ് കൊടുത്തു തിയറ്ററില്‍ പോയി സിനിമ കാണുന്ന ഒരു സാധാരണക്കാരന്റെ ദീനരോദനം ആയി കണ്ടാല്‍ മതി

Theatre : TVM SreeVisakh

Showtime & Date : 11.30am, 10-06-2011

Status : FC around 40-50 people, Balcony No idea

Many have seen the scene in movie CHINTHAVISHTAYAAYA SHYAMALA in which Sreenivasan & Sudheesh as fraud ad film makers gets caught & when producer  worries, the camera man says to him like "സാര്‍ വിഷമിക്കാതെ, സംഭവം ഞാന്‍ ചെയ്തു തരാം". The same happened for this movie too I think. The whole movie looks like cinematographer directed one. 

Story

The movie begins with an accident sequence(made at half the speed of slow motion in Amal Neerad movies). It lasted for about 3 minutes. By the time all characters in the movie were shown. Then story takes a flashback(we came to know that was a storytelling episode to a police officer only after that is over). Vasu(debutant Hari), a poor guy from a colony, Vrinda(debutant Richa Panai of Bheema Jewellery ads), Saranya &  newfaces studies in a typical cinematic music college having no classes with a baffoon professor played by yesteryear actor Raveendran. Story unfolds like a multi perspective one. In the beginning Hari is shown as a bad guy & later a good one. First half is mainly missing of Vrinda & flashback telling the love development sequence of Vasu& Vrinda. Second half tells what happened to Vrinda.

Performances

Hari as Vasu was impressive at parts with Sarath's good dubbing. Rest of the newfaces were horrible. Raveendran, BijuKuttan, K R Vijaya were the known faces in the movie with pathetic performances. Lishoy has nothing to do.

RICHA PANAI was refreshing on screen & surprisingly her lip sync was superb & her expressions looked fresh. She is sure to stay in the film industry.A positive I can say about the film.

Songs

Music by Shyam was good. Neeyo Puzha & Thoomanjin are my picks. BGM too impresses at few parts. Another positive I can say.

Technical

Here comes the real hero & dirctor -  the cinematographer VAIDY S PILLAI. The whole movie was a visual treat(visually in the sense frames alone). Editor was sleeping I think. Art direction- is something like that there?

Script & Direction

Script was pathetic one by debutants Rajesh Varma & Lasar Shine(both are journalists). A small advice to them - A movie screenplay is not a newspaper coloumn. I think that explains everything. Dialogues were very few in the movie. Maximum 2 page dialogues were there in the whole movie.

ALBERRT ANTONI - this movie won't become success just because you changed the spelling of your name according to numerology. HARDWORK only pays. I don't believe that a person called director there on the sets of this movie.

Both script writers & director could not convey the matter through the characters. Emotions were not there in the script itself I believe.

In the movie a police officer character played by one who played lead role in Asianet's Kunjali Maraikkar serial is ivestigating about the missing of his own sister Richa. When a clue like a nude bath video of Richa is found(പച്ച മലയാളത്തില്‍ റിച്ചയുടെ കുളി സീന്‍ ), hero cries like Sir stop it stop it please stop playing the video & the BROTHER had no emotions & he was enjoying the video. PATHETIC SCRIPT & DIRECTION. Watch Mysskin directed Cheran acted movie YUDDHAM SEI to see how well such a character was portrayed.

Verdict : Pathetic movie

BO Verdict : SUPER DISASTER

വാടാമല്ലി ആദ്യ പകുതി കഴിയുന്നതിനു മുന്‍പെ തന്നെ വാടി
ബോക്സ് ഓഫീസില്‍ ഈ വാടാമല്ലി വാടിക്കഴിഞ്ഞു

Good claps were there for Richa's intro scene

About 5 college students came as a gang & in the first half middle itself, one among them was trying to escape from theatre & friends forced him to sit. he was trying to get out of the theatre by telling some reason. Finally he said I'm going. When friends asked why he said റിച്ചയുടെ മുഖത്തു കുരു

10 minutes after second half, the whole gang left the theatre

Theatre Response was like this

A : വാടാമല്ലി കണ്ടോ?

B : പോടാ **********

Movie started with thanks to Mohanlal, Mohanlal Fans Assc, Antony Perumbavoor & Jackie Chan. After watching this movie none will invest money for Mohanlal-Jacki Chan upcoming project NAIRSAN by same director