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.

HONEY BEE

HONEY BEE

Theatre : Aluva Zeenath Screen 1
Showtime & Date : 6.15pm, 08-06-2013
Status : Balcony No idea, FC about 70%

HONEY BEE is the debut film of Jean Lal aka Lal Jr, son of actor/producer/director LAL. Lets see whether the movie entertains or not

Story
Angel(Bhavana) is the sister of goonda brothers Mighayel(Lal),Suresh Krishna & 2 others. Angel's friends are Sebastian aka Seban(Asif Ali), Fernado(Baburaj), Abu(Sreenath Bhasi) & Ambro. Police Officer(Vijay Babu), tells Angel that Seban might have fallen in love with her. On marriage day, she elopes with Seban once Seban realises his love for her. From there on, its their run from her brothers.

Performances
Asif Ali as Seban has got limited role & dialogues. As usual, his dialogue delivery failed at many points. Bhavana has to look bubbly as Angel, nothing else, Archana Kavi had a better role. Baburaj with bad english vocabulary tried to make us laugh throughout, sadly only few succeeded. Sreenath Bhasi & Ambro was fine at parts. Lal repeats his tough play once again, Suresh Krishna too. It is Vijay Babu, who was superb in his looks. An actor to look forward.

Songs
Two songs in the movie were fine. BGM was okay, nothing great. Deepak Dev disappoints this time.

Technical
Cinematography was good from cameraman's view point but too much Amal Neerad style shots were boring especially fight with song in second half. Chase scene in auto was well taken. Editing could have been a lot better especially second half & climax portions. Art direction was good.

Script & Direction
Story was one hundred times told one only. Writer tried to make it different in making it happen in Fort Kochi. Lal Jr had a good start but once the movie unfolds the main plot, the writing was disappointing. Too much of drugs & drinks to make the story engaging makes us bored at many points. Second half towards climax portions were a rehash of old Siddhique Lal movies, especially In Harihar Nagar godown scenes. A success formula plot spoiled by the over use of drugs. Thats what I felt.

Direction was fine. Lal Jr tried his best to make frames fresh. Promising direction style for a good script. All the best for the next movie. Hope that will entertain all type of audience like Lal's movies rather than focusing target audience.

On the whole just an okay movie. On DVD, 1.5 hours itself will be too long

Verdict : Just OK
BO Verdict : Average

The movie was supposed to be a throughout FUN movie, but sadly what lacked was FUN