RACE

RACE

Theatre : TVM Kairali

Showtime & Date : 11.30am, 12-02-2011

Status :Balcony 50%, FC 20%

After ORAAL & VEERALIPPATTU, director Kukku Surendran is back in tinseltown with his new movie RACE. The movie which was marketed as a family thriller is not at all an edge-to-seat thriller.

Story

Dr. Eby John(Kunchacko Boban) is a famous cardiologist who leads a happy life with his wife Niya(Mamtha Mohandas) and daughter Anu(Baby Anikha). Things change when Eby leaves to Banglore for conference, a stranger who introduces himself as Niranjan(Indrajith) enters Aby's home & tells Niya that Anu got kidnapped & now she's with his friend Eldo(Jagathy Sreekumar). In the meantime, Eby got kidnapped by Gauri Munjal and tells him that Anu is in their custody. What's the reason behind the kidnap? How Aby & Niya rescues Anu? Watch the movie for the answers.

Performances

The movie does not offer anything new for the actors except a few scenes for Kunchacko Boban & Indrajith. Kunchacko Boban as Dr.Eby had some nice moments in second half, especially hospital scene in second half, after the award function & a few more,otherwise nothing special for the actor to shine. Indrajith had the very same hospital scenes in second half to score & some small moments in first half, otherwise nothing special & looks robotic at times. As the suspense of the movie was predictable, Indrajith's performance in the climax could not make any impact. Mamtha was a miscast, her dubbing was weak. Gauri Munjal was sidelined with not so well developed role. Sreejith Ravi was surprisingly good with good dialogue delivery. Chembil Asokan, Geetha Vijayan & some new faces did their part. Baby Anikha as Anu was convincing especially in the "asthma" scene.

The real showstealer is JAGATHY SREEKUMAR as Eldo who appears with soda glass spects & who repeats his dialogue everytime. SIMPLY AWESOME. After a long time, a well made character for Jagathy sreekumar

Songs

There were so songs in the movie. BGM by Gopi Sundar was tad above average only, but sticks well with the mood of the movie.

Technical
Cinematography was good, Editing was average. The movie demanded fast cuts. Art Direction was good. Title Animation was good.

Script & Direction

Story by Kukku Surendran is a straight lift of hollywood flick TRAPPED. Screenplay by Kukku Surendran & Robin Thirumala is a mix of TRAPPED, RANSOM & NICK OF TIME, but didn't do justice to even one of them. Dialogues by Robin Thirumala was not that good. The movie proceeds in a very prdictable path from the beginning itself. The scenarists didn't provide any surprise for the audience. Even the sequence in second half reminds us of opening sequence in KANYAKUMARI EXPRESS. Direction was average only. The movie could have been a lot better if handled the script & direction in much more convincing way. It is just the performance of Kunchacko Boban & Indrajith which makes the movie watchable atleast once, otherwise nothing new or special.

On the whole, the thrill created by the posters designed by GABRIEL GEORGE was not at all there in the movie.

Verdict : Disappointed

BO Verdict : Flop, may end as breakeven as the movie covered its production cost through satellite & other rights

Kukku Surendran has to be careful next time, if he is planning to direct a movie.

This RACE won't happen in theatres as TRAFFIC is still there.

MAKEUP MAN

MAKEUPMAN

Theatre : TVM Ajantha
Showtime & Date : 2.05pm, 10-02-2011
Status : Upper Circle Full, FC 90%+

Shafi's MAKEUP MAN which started its shooting long before Marykkundoru Kunjaadu(Shafi's 2010 Christmas release which is a HIT) finally released. Hypes were there as this movie is
Shafi-Jayaram team after Shafi's debut film One Man Show & Shafi-Sachi-Sethu team after hit movie Chocolate. The movie is a clean entertainer & is sure to win at the box office.

Story
Balachandran aka Balu(Jayaram) becomes a loser in business as his event management business ends up in a big loss making him a person with lots of debt to be paid. Surya(Sheela Kaul) is in love with Balu for years. Her parents fixed their marriage once & stopped when Balu loses business. When her marriage got fixed wih other perso n,he elopes with Balu on the day before her marriage. Balu & Surya seeks Kichu's(Suraj Venjarammood) help, who is working as a production controller in film industry.With his help, they gets married. Kichu was then doing director Siddharth's(Siddhique) movie Cinderella starring Kunchacko Boban(as himself) & produced by Paul Kallingal(Janardhanan). Accidently Surya got introduced as the new heroine for the movie. Siddharth got impressed by Surya's performance & renames her as Anamika. To keep Balu always with Surya, Kichu makes Balu as her makeupman & to learn the work, Balu was asked to assist Lawrence(Salimkumar).Things change when she too got impressed by the filmworld & at a stage she was forced to tell that Balu is just her makeupman & not husband. What happens next is the rest of the story.

Performances
Jayaram as Balu was nothing new & not as impressive it has to be, except in few scenes. Janardhanan & Babu Namboothiriwas apt. Jagadeesh did the role of a lawyer with the slang he did in movie Kakkakuyil. T.P.Madhavan, Appa Haja, Shammi Thilakan.... were impressive in limited scenes. Saiju Kurup aka Aniruddh repeats what he did in movie Chocolate.

Sheela Kaul got a role with substance though it reminds Meena's role in movie Udayanaanu Thaaram. He did her part well.

Kunchacko Boban & Prithviraj as themselves were just for songs & very few scenes, mainly to add commercial value for the movie. Kunchacko Boban simply rocked in the first song with fast dance steps. Kamna was surprisingly good in her lip sync.

Jagathy, though he was there in parts, he simply rocked with his style of dialogues.
SalimKumar & Kalpana were wasted.

The real show stealers are Siddhique & Suraj Venjarammood, both got more number of scenes in the movie. Siddhique was fantastic with his style & Suraj tried all the ways he know to make us laugh & majority succeeded.

Songs
Two songs were there in the movie. Aaru Tharum featuring Kunchacko Boban with fast dance steps was SUPERB, while the other one featuring Prithviraj was not that impressive. Vidyasagar's melody worked well in Aaru Tharum song & sure to be in top charts. Alex Paul's BGM was apt.

Technical
Azhagappan's cinematography had only few good shots, we can't blame him as most of the scenes were interior ones. Editing was fine, but needs trimming in both halves at times-mainly because of the screenplay. Art direction was superb.

Script & Direction
Script by Sachi-Sethu is a predictable one with comic moments in proceedings. Script lags at times especially in second half mainly because we know the climax already & they seems to be in a confusion about what can be added in between before that. It is the racy direction by Shafi which makes the movie an entertainer. He was successful in making even the lagging moments to be an engaging one with fast proceedings. First half was a lengthy one & second half drags a bit in the Hyderabad episode. On the whole a clean ENTERTAINER.

Verdict : Fast Comedy Entertainer
BO Verdict : HIT

In the audio CD, there was one more song "Karimukile" a fast number. If that one was there, it would have given the movie a much more reach.

Kooval Festival was there for every frame showing Prithviraj & whenever some other character says like "Prithviraj"

Saiju Kurup/Aniruddh's dialogues were welcomed well with koovals but not as much for Prithviraj.

TRAFFIC

TRAFFIC

Watched the movie for the fourth time

IS THERE ANYTHING LEFT TO SAY ABOUT TRAFFIC????

READ ALL THE THREE REVIEWS ABOUT TRAFFIC I POSTED.

Theatre : TVM Dhanya

Showtime & Date : 6.20pm, 26-01-2011

Status : HOUSEFULL

AND FOR YOU READERS, I'M CONDUCTING A SMALL QUIZ ABOUT TRAFFIC.

ONLY THOSE WHO HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE ONLY CAN ANSWER.

WHATS THE NAME OF CHARACTERS PLAYED BY SAIKUMAR & LENA IN THE MOVIE TRAFFIC? 

PLEASE POST YOUR ANSWERS AS COMMENTS

TRAFFIC

TRAFFIC

What shall I do?

Saw the movie third time in a week after the release.

What a BRILLIANT execution of an EXCELLENT script in a new way.

Theatre  : TVM Dhanya

Showtime & Date : 6.15pm, 12-01-2011

Status : Balcony Full, FC 55-60%

Story

Already said, I won't tell u, go and watch the movie.

Performances

Read this http://vpn-reviews.blogspot.com/2011/01/traffic_10.html

Songs & BGM

Songs by Mejjo Joseph & Samson Kottoor matches the mood of the movie. Samson Kottoor's song, the one used in the climax was SUPERB which matches very well with the thrill in the scenes.

Mejjo Joseph scores very well in BGM department with a very nice theme music.

Mejjo, why u copied KRRISH music in first half, a few minutes before interval? 

Technical

Debutant cinematographer Shyju Khalid was impressive with nice shots especially traffic signal shots and some fast racy shots both inside & outside of the van, avoiding cliche scenes.

Mahesh Narayanan, the editor of this movie is another DIRECTOR of the movie. Awesome Cuts. A movie like this was managed brilliantly with impressive editing of all the episodes. Finally, like Antony in Tamil Cinema, we have a Mahesh Narayanan.

Art Direction by SabuRam was Superb, especially the traffic signal & buildings there.

Another person who needs a special mention is costume designer S.B.Satheeshan. Costumes were very natural for the actors playing different characters and good colour combination which looks very natural.

Script & Direction

No other scripts in recent times was this strong, giving an identity to each and every character. An original script inspired from a true incident. Bobby & Sanjay had done a great work. Dialogues were classy.

Director Rajesh Pillai took the script to the next level giving audience a new feeling on screen. BRILLIANT work. U avoided every sort of cliche scenes and shots which would have been there if approached the script in a very usual manner. U gave a new experience to malayalam cinema audience. THANKS

VERDICT : WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? RUSH TO THE NEAREST THEATRE PLAYING TRAFFIC MOVIE

BO VERDICT : WE AUDIENCE ARE THERE FOR THIS MOVIE

IF THIS MOVIE BECOMES A FLOP, MALAYALAM CINEMA INDUSTRY SHOULD STOP MAKING MOVIES AS OUR AUDIENCE DON'T KNOW WHAT IS A GOOD CINEMA, A PERFECT ONE.

TRAFFIC

TRAFFIC

Went for TRAFFIC, second time

Theatre : TVM Dhanya
Showtime & Date : 6.15pm, 08-01-2011
Status : Balcony Full, FC 60%

A movie which is forcing me to watch in theatres again and again .
Factors are many - Brilliant Script, exceptional narrative style & excellent direction, Brilliant Natural performances, Classy Technical part....

Story
If u want to enjoy the movie, don't read anything regarding story in any of the reviews u come across.

Performances
Felt a few more things while watching second time

Sreenivasan as traffic police constable Sudevan
Sreenivasan is the routine actor for directors who think something different or something new. As usual, he did his part well.

Kunchacko Boban as Dr.Abel Tharyan
Natural performance of a flawed character in a brilliant way. Very few dialogues were there. More importance for his looks & expressions which conveyed everything to the audience. Be it his smile to Asif Ali inside the van or how he message from his mobile after looking at others or his entry to hospital just before the mission, nothing but Excellent. VILLAINISM was done very well in a natural way. Also in the climax Bilal Colony sequence, he was good with some nice thrilling moments. Also the fight in second half was a natural one without cinematic gimmicks.

Anoop Menon as commissioner Ajmal Nassar
While walking we can see Mammootty in him
While acting we can see Mohanlal in him
If the role is something like an angry character, we can see SureshGopi's expressions in him
Atlast he did it, though traces of all above said comes in parts, he did his part well with high energy and good screen presence.He was natural when mission starts, especially, when wireless lost connection, his dialogue "u chk it, chk it."
Finally Anoop Menon behaved as a character, AJMAL NASSAR, keep doing these.

Asif Ali as Rajeev
Asif did the role of a true friend well especially in the Bilal colony sequence showing like he'll do anything for his friend Rayhan. His voice modulation needs to be improved. He spoiled a good scene with Sandhya with bad performance.

Vineeth Sreenivasan as Rayhan
Vineeth Sreenivasan was there in very few scenes only but made his mark and his presence was there throughout the movie. He did his part well.

Rahman as superstar Siddharth
This is the character which Rahman as an actor shines well in his third innings. As superstar Siddharth with head-weight, he simply scored in an interview scene in first half. At times, audience may feel like whether he's imitating Mammootty by wearing sunglasses, makeup in between, arrogant nature & driving car by himself.

Saikumar as Rayhan's father
Natural performance at its best, be it the hospital sequence talking to collector or calling his friends to watch his son's TV programme or asking his wife " Shall we go for a drive". Crying while driving the car, SMART PERFORMANCE!!!

Rony as journalist
Rony as journalist in Asianet was natural, nice work!!!

Vijayakumar as Mathew
Vijayakumar's role of Superstar Siddharth's right-hand Mathew may reminds us Antony Perumbavur or Anto Joseph, JUST JOKING!!!

Baiju Ezhupunna as Thanseer
With two dialogues and climax song sequence, he rocked especially the scene in which he blocks school children and clearing roads.

Krishna as Jicku
Krishna was there in a few scenes but did his character well.

Lena 

As the mother of a ill-daughter, she simply scored especially in second half, Good Performance!!!

Sandhya as Adhithi
Sandhya got a nice role, she did it well in the beginning. After a few scenes, emotions were not that deeply presented.

Roma as Miriyam
Roma comes only in second half. She had a very few scenes & was very natural in performance. This role is an escape from her routine roles, what movies like Notebook & Chocolate gave her.

Remya Nambeeshan as Shwetha
Nothing much to do. Did her part well, especially the accident scene in second half without dupe, good work.

Namitha Prasad
Namitha, a debutant, as Siddharth's daughter had nothing much to perform. In the interview sequence and in opening scene she had some good moments.

Reena Basheer
As a middle class govt employee and wife of Sudevan's character , she nicely potrayed her role.

Jose Prakash in cameo as Dr.Simon D'souza
What to say, with brilliant dialogues and screen presence, he starts the game. Impressive effective cameo.

U won't find any unnecessary character in the movie.

VERDICT : We can watch the movie atleast once for these performances alone

TRAFFIC

TRAFFIC

Theatre : TVM Dhanya
Showtime & Date : 11.15am, 07-01-2011
Status : Balcony Almost full, FC 50-60%

After a not so impressive debut with Kunchacko Boban starrer HRUDAYATHIL SOOKSHIKKAN, director Rajesh.R.Pillai is back in tinsel town with his new movie TRAFFIC scripted by Bobby-Sanjay team, a perfect pathbreaking, original, first of its kind in malayalam cinema.

Story
The story revolves around 4 main characters - constable Sudevan(Sreenivasan), Dr.Abel Tharyan(Kunchacko Boban),  journalist Rayhan(Vineeth Sreenivasan), superstar Siddharth(Rahman) and their families & friends. It's an emotional thriller. Watch the movie to enjoy to its core.

Performances
All were equally important characters. That was the beauty of the script.

Kunchacko Boban steals the show. He got the most emotional character. He did it very well. In second half he simply rocked. Sreenivasan was perfect. Vineeth Sreenivasan had nothing much to do. Asif Ali scored in the second half song scenes, but voice modulation needs to be improved which spoiled a good sequence with Sandhya where he was too dramatic. Anoop Menon was good. Rahman as superstar Siddharth was original and did it well, especially interview scene with Rony. Ramya Nambeeshan, Krishna, Roma, Sandhya, Sai Kumar, Rony, Lena all did well. Nivin Polly with single dialogue could not make any impact.

Baiju Ezhupunna as a fans association member simply rocked in the climax Bilal Colony sequence.

Jose Prakash in his cameo in two scenes scored with his dialogues.

Songs
Two songs by Mejo Joseph were apt and nicely picturised. BGM was superb. In the first half unnecessarily BGM of Hrithik Roshan starrer KRRISH was used. That could have been avoided.

Technical
Everything was perfect. No negatives.

Script & Direction
Script by Bobby-Sanjay team was excellent. HATS OFF!!!! The script was simply original and every character had individuality and a fast paced one. Nothing more to say EXCELLENT!!!

Direction by Rajesh.R.Pillai was SUPERB. Hardwork done by him was seen in each and every frame avoiding cliche scenes, even camera angles seems new.The climax episode, a Bilal colony sequence was very well taken.

Where were you these many years director & script writers????

Producer Listin Stephen should be congratulated for his brave attempt to produce this movie.

Altogether a very good first half, a double superb second half

Verdict : A must watch, Go for it. 

Excellent pathbreaking first of its kind in malayalam cinema
Don't miss it. Watch it in theatres.

BO Verdict : Sure HIT

The whole crew promised an emotional thriller. They gave that with double effect.

It was not only the characters on screen, but the people watching the movie were also part of the mission in the movie. The applause from beginning to end for those shows that.

When final title card appears like "A Rajesh Pillai film" whole theatre applauded.

There was a scene in which Sreenivasan's daughter watching a song from movie Anwar on TV, KOOVAL FESTIVAL NADANNU Prithvirajne kaanichappol

MARYKKUNDORU KUNJADU

MARYKKUNDORU KUNJADU

Theatre : TVM Anjali
Showtime & Date : 6.15pm, 30-12-2010
Status : HOUSEFULL with 90% family audience
After Chattambinaadu, Shafi-Benny.P.Nayarambalam team is back with Marykkundoru Kunjaadu, a Dileep starrer after a long gap from Kalyanaraman.The movie is a routine one time enjoyable entertainer with some good lighter moments but nowhere near the humour situations compared to Chattambinaadu.

Story
Story happens in a village where christians are most. Solomon aka Kunjadu(Dileep) is a good for nothing coward person, son of Kapyar(Vijayaraghavan) and Mary(VinayaPrasad). He is in love with Mary(Bhavana), daughter of Ittichan(Innocent). Ittichan don't want his daughter to marry Solomon as Ittichan was the one who was supposed to marry Solomon's mother Mary. His daughter was named Mary because he still have that love towards her. Solomon always gets beaten by Mary's brothers played by Anand, Appa Haja & a newface. Then comes Jose(Biju Menon) to that village. Solomon makes Jose as his brother who left home 12 years before. Who is Jose? What exactly is his motive? Will Solomon marry Mary? The rest of the story answers these questions.

Performances
Dileep as Solomon aka Kunjaadu is nothing special for him. Though in the beginning, Dileep could make it somewhat different with some good lighter moments & expressions, once Biju Menon's character enters, Dileep's character changed to what he had done in his previous movies. Even traces of Chanthupottu & Chakkaramuthu were there. And the situations in the movie spoiled his show in second half.

The real show-stealer is Biju Menon as the mysterious character Jose. With limited dialogues, powerful screen presence & expressions, he simply stole the show.
Though the title of the movie had Mary in it, Bhavana was the one who is seen least in the movie. Another routine masala movie heroine role just for songs & 4 scenes.
Salimkumar, who used to be a show-stealer in Shafi movies(Remember Pulivaal Kalyanam, Chocolate, Mayavi, Chattambinaadu) fails here. He couldn't evoke much laughter. He did his emotional scene well.

VinayaPrasad looks too young to act as Dileep's mother. She performed well.
Innocent was good, Vijayaraghavan was perfect. Ponnamma Babu, Kochu Preman, Kalabhavan Shajon, Chalipala, Anand, Appa Haja.. were apt in their role.

Sad to see a great actor seems unutilised in such a role-I'm talking about JAGATHY SREEKUMAR. He did his part well as usual with finesse. If Jagathy-Ponnamma Babu episode was not there in second half, Shafi & Benny should have been blamed for bringing that actor to that role. Jagathy's expression while seeing Ponnamma Babu at church shows his acting range once again.

Songs
Music by Berny-Ignatious was below average. BGM by Bijipal was loud at times.

Technical
Stunts were good(thanks to BijuMenon's ease in doing action sequences). Cinematography by Shamdath was good at parts. Editing by Manoj was good. Art Direction was superb.

Script & Direction
Script by Benny.P.Nayarambalam was an engaging one with lighter moments at times. In the second half and towards the climax, script had traces of movies Pappy Appacha & MeeshaMadhavan. Also the emotional scene for Salimkumar seems unwanted for a movie like this. Script could have been better. Direction by Shafi was racy. he showed his finesse in taking action sequences & comic sequences this time too.

On the whole, a watchable entertainer with some light humour at parts. Don't expect a rollicking comedy entertainer like Happy Husbands.

Verdict : Above average
BO Verdict : Hit

Surprised to see 90% family audience in Anjali theatre. BEST ACTOR would have changed the mentality may be.