ORU KAL ORU KANNADI (OKOK)

ORU KAL ORU KANNADI (OKOK)

Theatre : TVM Athulya
Showtime & Date : 6.10pm, 22-02-2012
Status : Housefull

Rajesh M, after the success of Siva Manasula Shakthi(SMS) & Boss Engira Bhaskaran(BEB) comes for a hatrick with Santhanam again in second lead & debutant Udayanithi Stalin in lead and Hansika Motwani as heroine. The genre of the movie is sane as that of director;s previous flicks - Mindless Comedy Flick

Story
Saravanan(Udayanithi Stalin), son of a yet to be a graduate mother(Saranya Ponvannan) and father who is a teacher. Saravanan falls in love with Meera(Hansika Motwani) at first sight itself. Though he proposes her, she refuse that. The rest is how he wins the love with terrific performance by his close friend Parthu(Santhanam)

Performances
Though a debutant, Udayanithi Stalin had a promising debut except in songs in first half, Akila song in second half solved that too in second half. Hansika Motwani was okay in looks, had some good moments in between, but the poor lipsync spoils the show at times. Saranya Ponvannan scores in her limited scenes.

Sneha in her cameo simply outshined Hansika in the flight episode. Arya & Andrea in their cameo couldn't make an impact as director's previous flick cameos by Jiiva in BEB.

Yes, its a Santhanam Show all the way. The witty oneliners, situational comedies, expressions, chemistry with Udayanithi everything made this movie a cool entertainer.
Songs
Music by Harris Jeyaraj was fine with Akila & Kadhal Butterfly being my picks. Picturisation of Akila was smart but the rest ones were boting & lengthy. Kadhal Butterfly song pictursation will remind us of SMS marriage song. BGM was fine at parts

Technical
Balasubramanian's camera was fine in Azhage song, rest were ok. Editing by Vivek Harshan needs to be a bit racy as the movie is about 3hr running time. Art direction had nothing much to mention

Script & Direction
Both departments were handled by Rajesh M itself. Rajesh this time too handled a wafer thin storyline to a comedy entertainer with lots to laugh. This time screenplay lags a bit in second half. Though nowhere near to SMS or BEB, the movie stills works because of packaging & Santhanam. At times, scenes looked similar to his previous movies. Direction was racy but could have been better when compared to his previous flicks.

On the whole a fast comedy entertainer.

Verdict : Timepass Fun Entertainer
BO Verdict : Hit

THE KING & THE COMMISSIONER

THE KING & THE COMMISSIONER

Dear friends, I will be reviewing this movie in a bit different way. Its because personally I was a Shaji Kailas fan watching his movies in 90s who introduced a new style in presenting each scene giving more prominence to visuals especially closeup shots. He is the only director who inspired all the others in the previous & future league with making style. You may find traces of dialogues of Shaji or Renji movies in this review. Please adjust readers.

Theatre : TVM Kripa

Status : Balcony Full, FC 99%

Showtime & Date : 2.15pm, 23-03-2012

Joseph Alex & Bharath Chandran  -  two powerful characters penned by Renji Panicker and framed by Shaji Kailas in the 90s with THE KING and THE COMMISSIONER, both were superhits. Almost 17 years later Renji Panicker is once again teaming up with Shaji Kailas, both striving for a box office hit. Shaji after a series of flops & Renji after not so impressive Roudram. When both characters together & the team unites, expectations were there to an extent keeping the past few years' record of the lead actors & the technician & the scenarist. What really happened??

ദാ, ഇനിയങ്ങോട്ട് വരുന്നതെല്ലാം കിട്ടിയ അവധി ദിവസം വീട്ടില്‍ അടങ്ങി ഇരിക്കാതെ മൂന്നേകാല്‍ മണിക്കൂര്‍ കൂട്ടിയ ടിക്കറ്റ്‌ നിരക്കില്‍ അതും  റിസേര്‍വ്  ചെയ്തു  ഈ ..........നു തല വെച്ച ഒരു സാധാരണക്കാരന്റെ വേദനയും രോദനവും അമര്ഷവുമായി കണ്ടാല്‍ മതി , കണ്ടേ  പറ്റൂ അങ്ങനെ , ഇനി അങ്ങനെ കാണാന്‍ ബുദ്ധിമുട്ടുള്ളവര്‍ ഇനിയങ്ങോട്ട് , കൃത്യമായി പറഞ്ഞാല്‍ താഴോട്ടു എഴുതിക്കൂട്ടയെതല്ലാം വായിച്ചു ബുദ്ധിമുട്ടണം എന്നില്ല .

Story 

The very same old wine as old as Mount Everest. Why they are not thinking of something else?

Something that may disturb the law and order of the country happens.

Hero enters the scene.

Hero may/may not have some relationship in past with the person who got murdered.

There will be a influential protector for him.

He will receive orders from the top to investigate the same on special interest of that person. 

Next Hero enters.

Heroes starts the great mission to find the villains who are introduced to us as cold blooded villains from scene one.

Fights Dialogues Fights Dialogues

INTERVAL

Again Fights Dialogues Fights Dialogues

Dialogues Dialogues Dialogues Dialogues....Dialogues * X

In between the person who asked to start investigation asks to withdraw that. Then Dialogues Dialogues

Till someone special for the person closer to the investigative team gets shot & killed the same said before post interval happens endlessly.

Once that happens, heroes gets ready for the final round of fireworks

In the end a bomb blast.

Do you have an extra spine to sit & watch this 3.15hr so called  political epic drama? Then this one's for you, Grab your tickets before the movie leaves the cinema halls.

Performances

Mammootty once again plays Joseph Alex, this time except the first few minutes in intro scene, Joseph Alex seems to be tired. Though delivers dialogues at every junction of the movie, the dialogues & the delivery by the actor, both lacks the fire & naturality as in the original. Suresh Gopi for the third time plays Bharath Chandran, this time he is IG though the title mention him as Commissioner. He is the saving grace of the movie at times. Though intro scene was a bad one & the rehash dialogues couldn't create any impact, the dialogues in second half especially the ones with Saikumar are the only positive I can mention about the second half. But we'll never feel like this is the same Bharath Chandran we have seen in previous two flicks. May be because we have seen SureshGopi  playing these 100 times.Still a dull performance with badly written dialogues. Nedumudi Venu as scientist getting murdered was bad with bad English language though he plays the chief of some intelligence department. Devan again as Shankar in THE KING was just ok. Saikumar imitiating NarendraPrasad in Ekalavyan(he is playing disciple of that character) in looks was a poorly written baddie character failed to create any impact. Rajiv Krishna as Pakisthan military officer was good in looks. Janardhanan should be given a Minster rank for playing the role of a minister this much times in movies. Samvrutha was an unwanted character in the movie, so as KPAC Lalitha. KPAC Sudheer, T P Madhavan lots and lots of artists in small roles were there in cameo roles. Jayan was good in looks as main baddie. Sanjana, Vyga lots of female in limted roles were there.

The person who needs a special mention in the movie is serial artist BIJU PAPPAN who played a good cop role in the movie assisting Suresh Gopi, awesome dialogues creating laughs & good action moments, watchout the scene in which he captures a culprit at railway station.

BGM

Rajamani though rehashed the original, it didn't worked to that level it worked in original. At times, BGM was too loud too. A bad work from Rajamani.

Technical

Cinematographer was framing Shaji Kailas's shots. All three didn't do any special work. Watch Chinthamani Kolacase to see how Shaji uses Rajaretnam in an effective way as a cinematographer. Editor was sleeping I think, especially in second half. Some one should have waken him up while editing with a cup of tea to slice the movie to shreds so that the viewers won't yawn or tirelessly wait for the debacle climax to be happened on screen so that they can run out from the halls soon. For this crime atleast I won't spare you. Makeup was bad and different at different parts of the movie

Script & Direction

Renji Panicker is still in 90s I think considerin g the framework of the movie. He should have adopted something new atleast in presenting the scene on script. The intro scene of Joseph Alex was a good one with minimal dialogues and smooth dealing by the character with others. Soon everything became the same old unwantedly boasting, verbal megalomaniac character shouting at the baddies. Remembet still the baddies wait for the heroes to complete. Who told you that using bad words in between the dialogues will work at this 2012 too. When SureshGopi tells that once or twice, people clapped, after that that too was a boring one. WORST SCRIPT BY RENJI. Eventhough Praja was a bad one, now I understood its none other than Mohanlal, his screen presence & master craftsman Joshiy Sir made it watchable, Dubai too had a good set of dialogues. Badly written script altogether. Hope you will come up with something fresh & new next time.

Shaji Kailas, if you dare to make another movie, I think people will hunt you down. ഈ പീപ്പിള്‍ എന്ന് പറയുന്നത് ദാ ഇവനും ഇവനും ഇവനും പിന്നെ ഇവനും ഇവനും തെണ്ടി ഇരന്നപ്പോള്‍ ടിക്കറ്റ്‌ എടുത്തു കൊടുത്ത അവനും അവനും പിന്നെ ദാ ബുക്ക്‌ ചെയ്തു കണ്ട എന്നെപോലുള്ള പാവങ്ങളും ഉണ്ടായാല്‍ You just don't have the right to to react എന്ന് പറഞ്ഞു പോയാല്‍ Please realise its just not because of anger towards you. Its because the love, the respect everything you acquired by making a good set of movies in the past. We still have hopes in you. I won't say that you should change the track. You should change the way  you are conceiving scene. Concentrate on script, leave whatever you had done in the past, don't go after remakes. Think of what new you can do other than keeping the frames of hero introduction scene first.

Verdict : August 15 is a classic, as it won't give give you headache after watching

BO Verdict : Flop after an initial

Many people were keep on asking, when will the movie end as the second half was endlessly going with nothing new in kitty to offer. Simnply scenes to deliver dialogues. Before we had names like Mohanthomas to rmember. As the names of baddies are all hindi names that too spoiled the show

Grab the DVDs of THE COMMISSIONER, THE KING & THALASTHANAM, still these 90s flick works.

B UNNIKRISHNAN could have done a decent job than Renji Panicker here. Atleast he would have made Samvrutha a negative character with some code word like EAGLE, BEEJUM, MUSAFIR, MEERASPA.... 

ORDINARY

ORDINARY

Theatre : TVM Kripa

Status : Balcony Full, FC 70%

Showtime & Date : 11.30am,17-03-2012

Ever since the first poster of this movie was seen on 24th Jan 2010, I was very much impressed by the way it was designed. 

Finally movie started shooting towards end of 2011 & movie released today. A very impressive starcast, good songs, smart picturisaton of songs & awesome cinematography in those, smart posters everything added much to the pre-release hype of the movie. Whether movie was able to meet the expectations?  Lets take a look.

Story

IravikuttanPillai aka "E Ravi"(Kunchacko Boban) dreams of a political life. But he was forced to join as a KSRTC conductor after his father. His first posting was in an ORDINARY service from Pathanamthitta to Gavi which has Sukumaran(Biju Menon) as driver. The rest of the story is life of Iravi & Suku in Gavi & people there.

Performances

The smart combo - Kunchacko Boban & BijuMenon steals the show. Kunchacko Boban as Iravi was safe in his hands as it had some freshness watching on screen and the energy level too was high. BijuMenon as Suku driver who is alcoholic was wonderful with witty dialogues. The Palakkadan slang was superb. Be it comedy or sentiments, action or romance both shines in their own style. Kunchacko Boban was given enough dialogues & situations in script to score as a mass hero where as BijuMenon was provided with witty oneliners & a sad background for sentiments which worked out well with both.The climax action sequence in which both of them blocks the main villain was awesome.The best taken action sequence frame I have seen in recent times.

Asif Ali as Bhadran seems to be a miscast. He had nothing to do in first half. In second half, he was just shouting & smiling. Repeating the same expressions every time created boos in theatre. He is still what we have seen in Apoorvaragam. Jishnu was fine as Jose mash. BabuRaj again rocked as Vakkachan the Gaviboy in first hal, in secon half he was absolutely missing. Ann Augustine is another person who should be given an application form to an acting school along with Asif Ali. In song sequnces & dance steps she was wooden. Debutant Shritha was just okay only. Dharmarajan will make us laugh. Lalu Alex, Raghavan, T P Madhavan, Vaiga did their parts

Songs

Lyrics were writtenby Rajeev Nair(who is also the producer of the movie). Lyrics were fine & simple, catchy too especially Sun Sun & Enthinee MizhiRandum. Vidyasagar once again is back in form. Sun Sun & Enthinee are already topping the charts. Superb music & awesome picturisation. Thechippoo song was situational one though it makes us remind of Vidyasagar's composition of Sundariye song in Oru Maravathoor Kanavu at times.  Opening song Chenthamara was beautiful with graphic titles. Suryashalabham by K J Yesudas was a good situational one picturised with awesome visuals.. BGM was good at parts.

Technical

Another hero of the movie - cinematographer Faizal Ali. The beauty of Gavi was well framed in the whole movie. Movie was a visual extravaganza. Editing by V Saajan was good in first half, needs some trimming in second half. Art Direction was good. Costumes were fine.

Script & Direction

Script by Nishad Koya & ManuPrasad had a nice thread & had a good start too. But the story was too cliched to be presented in second half which is about an hour is a bit too lengthy. First half had enough nice moments though predictable. Dialogues were Superb & witty ones. Second half of the movie falls into the cliched line which we have seen in similar lines & the flashback episode & twist could have been something else.

Direction by debutant Sugeeth needs special mention. Though a debutant, he handled first half as an experienced one as a racy one. But second half could have been better. The flashback episode & climax could have been a lot better. Also the casting of Asif Ali was a wrong choice. Action sequences were well taken. If second half was made with same energy of first half, this would have been a great entertainer.

Overall a super first half & tad above average second half

Verdict : ABOVE AVERAGE

BO Verdict : HIT if promoted well & will be in theatres in coming weeks along with biggies



The dialogue which rocked the theatres
Chackochan to Sritha : Kutty, aarodum parayillenkil njanoru sathyam parayaam, SOUTH INDIAYIL ENGLISH SAMSAARIKKUNNA ORE ORU CONDUCTOR NJAANAANU

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.

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.

NANBAN

NANBAN

Theatre : TVM Remya

Showtime & Date : 6.00pm, 16-01-2012

Status : Balcony Full, FC 10%

Ilayathalapathy VIJAY with south india's showman director SHANKAR, remake of well acclaimed movie 3 IDIOTS, Jiiva & Shrikanth in supporting roles, Ileana's second innings in Tamil, calling cards were several including the well edited TRAILER. Yes, the movie is a 101% genuine remake of 3 IDIOTS where Vijay the actor plays the lead role with no punchlines,no action & no mass masala elements usually seen in his films.

Story

The story is told as a flashback by Venkat(Shrikanth) whom with his friend Saravanan(Jiiva) with silencer(Sathyan) in search of his friend Panchavan Parivendan(Ilayathalapathy VIJAY) who were college mates in Ideal Engineering College run by Virumandi Sandanam aka Virus(Sathyaraj). Watch the rest on screen friends even though you have seen the original.

Performances

Its an ILAYATHALAPATHY VIJAY show. Happy to see that VIJAY which we have seen in SACHEIN last time. He lived as the character - the body language, even a single smile makes an impact on screen. We can expect more good characters from this ACTOR.

Jiiva once again proved his versatility. In my opinion, he's the best in South Indian Cinema now to perform well as a drunken guy. Boss Engira Bhaskaran & Siva Manasula Shakthi are good examples. 

It's a comeback for Shrikanth & he performed well, I should say we will forget his previous movies.

Sathyaraj as VIRUS was a good choice which he performed well in his own style at parts. Ileana was okay only as her makeup was bad at many parts,  but surprisingly lip-sync was better. Anuya & S J Suryah in their cameo was impressive. Sathyan did the role of silencer well but lacks the perfection as he immediately speaks in normal Tamil soon after the Teachers Day sequence. 

Though in a small role, once again director Shankar included a malayalam actor in his movie - Indrans

Happy to see Ajay Rathnam again in a Shankar movie after a long gap- if I'm not wrong

Songs

Harris Jeyaraj's music had the charm especially En friende pole song's beat had that haunting effect. Aska Luska & Irukkana was good though picturisation of both lacks usual Shankar charm though made in rich sets.

BGM was superb especially En friende pole beats.

Technical

Manoj Paramahamsa amazes us with his awesome cinematography, superb visuals!!! Editing was fine with first half but second half could have been better. Art Direction was superb!!! Resul Pookkutty made his mark with clean & clear sound mixing.

Script & Direction

Story is inspired from the book 5.1 Screenplay by Rajkumar Hirani & Abijath Joshiy in hindi is the same used here. But the dialogues by Shankar & Karki made the script more powerful. The placement of Irukkana song looks misplaced and could have been avoided. Also second half seemed too lengthy & the proceeding could have been ore interesting. It's the first remake movie of director Shankar to which he did 101% justice without ruining the original but made a bit better than original if the total making perfection is considered. But song picturisation could have been better for Aska Luska & Irukkana which looks totally out of place for the whole movie. I felt that the theme was not conveyed to that extent as in original which made a good mark along with other sequences.Climax sequences could have been better.

Eventhough you have seen original, its worth a watch for Vijay as its the actor & not star here.

Verdict : Good

BO Verdict : Superhit

What Shankar said on audio launch time was right - people who don't like Vijay will start liking Vijay after watching this movie

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