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

JANAPRIYAN

JANAPRIYAN

When I entered the theatre, status was just 27 people. When the show started, it got increased to around 70. Thanks to SENIORS for its housefull shows & heavy returns.

Theatre : TVM Kripa
Showtime & Date : 6.15pm, 21-05-2011
Status : Balcony No idea, FC around 70 people

Another TV serial director Boban Samuel is making his debut in bigscreen with Krishna Poojappura's script who delivered 3 hits(Ivar Vivahitharaayaal, Happy Husbands, Sakudumbam Shyamala) & a disaster(Four Friends). 

Story
Priyadarsan aka Priyan(Jayasurya) is a villageman fron Thonnakkal, Thodupuzha who does almost all jobs to meet his family needs. He gets a temparory job in Thaluk Office on the post of Vysakhan(Manoj K Jayan) who was forced to take 5 years leave from service as he's an aspiring film director who is always film producers without doing office works. Priyan meets Bhama, who introduces herself as maid in the house nearby his lodge & falls in love. Problem starts when Vysakhan decides to cancel his leave & be back in service.

Performances
Jayasurya as Priyan could not make any impact on audience except a few oneliners on script. Though his looks & gestures were okay, his Thonnakkal slang seems to be a forced one as it seems unconvincing in many scenes. His innocence seems to be forced & inconsistent in the movie. Watch Mammootty's LOUDSPEAKER movie to see how well he handled that slang. Manoj K Jayan had a set of scenes in script to score but failed at many scenes though 1-2 situational ones makes us laugh. Bhama was usual only in songs & around 10 scenes. Sarayu was just OK. Jagathy had nothing much to do. Devan repeats his role in movie Priyam. Lalu Alex was usual only. Suresh as Manoj K Jayan's assistant tried to imitate Suraj in the beginning scenes, later it was OK. Anoop Chandran, Geetha Vijayan... were ok only.

Bheeman Raghu was wasted in not so well developed comic character. His gestures & mimicry in opening scene & other scenes failed to evoke laughter. Bheeman Raghu has got the best intro scene in the movie.

The real show stealer was SALIMKUMAR in his limited role. He simply steals the scenes in which he appear with smart dialogues & gestures. SUPERB!!!


Songs
Songs by debutant R.Gowtham were OK as audio only but works well with movie scenes. Remix of hindi version of Maadapraave from Madanolsavam was bad. BGM by BijiBal was usual only as for these kind of movies.

Technical
Cinematography by Pradeep Nair was good with some good frames in songs & Thonnakkal episode. Editing could have been much more better. Art direction was ok. Sound recording & mixing by R.Rajakrishnan(4 Frames) did a good job in the beginning, later it ended as a routine work.

Script & Direction
After the disaster Four Friends, Krishna Poojappura seems to be handling the script with safer department for him - the happenings in goverment offices. To an extent he tried to present the storyline in somewhat new package at parts of the movie. Character Priyan looks inconsistent as he was presented as too innocent at parts who has zero knowledge about cinema, who was given an intro song showing him he has got some info about everything. Script was just average only as it offers nothing new & less comedy compared to Krishna Poojappura's previous hits. Direction by Boban Samuel should be blamed for making this movie as what it is now. Direction was not at all racy. He handled many scenes carelessly. If some more experienced directors handled those scenes it would have been a jokebox. He was simply copying the script to screen with camera I think. The story telling episode clearly shows his lack of experience. But director handled song sequences very well. Most of the story happenings are in songs. After the hero meets heroine, immediatly comes a song in which hero & heroine hardly looks each other & after that a scene in which heroine says like I had fallen in love with the hero. Such a jetspeed love development was not seen even in Tamil Cinema. A movie which could have been a good entertainer with lots of laughs ended up as a strictly average movie with a very few laughs at parts.

Verdict : Striclty Average, recommended for a DVD watch
BO Verdict : May enter the safe side if production cost is low, otherwise flop as the word of mouth is not that encouraging.

Better invest your money for SENIORS or KO eventhough its a second time watch.

A fans association flex for Suresh was there in the theatre.

This one seems to be the first script of Krishna Poojappura which does not have SURAJ VENJARAMMOOD.

SENIORS

SENIORS

Theatre : TVM Ajanta
Showtime & Date : 11.00am, 07-05-2011
Status : HOUSEFULL

After last year's superhit movie POKKIRIRAJA(a below average one in my opinion), director Vysakh is back with his new movie SENIORS, a multistarrer movie produced by Vysakh Rajan under the banner of Vaisaka Cynyma after the blockbuster Marykkundoru Kunjaadu & scripted by Sachi-Sethu team.

Story
As shown in poster, BACK TO COLLEGE is the theme of the movie. Twelve years after college days, friends Pappan(Jayaram), Rex Emmanuel(Kunchacko Boban), Idikkula(Biju Menon) & Munna(Manoj.K.Jayan) decides to join for PG course in the very same college & there was a reason behind that decision. Watch the movie to know more.

Performances

Jayaram as Pappu couldn't make any impact as it was a routine role for him. Kunchacko Boban steals the show towards the climax & his expressions & dialogue delivery & three getups was superb. Also in action sequences, he shines. Biju Menon steals many scenes with good one-liners which he delivers with such an ease which we have seen in the movie Pattalom. Manoj.K.Jayan couldn't make much impact as the character demanded but some good one-lines in the script helped him in some scenes. Padmapriya had only three emotions to be portrayed throughout the movie. Ananya does her part well with ease. Meera Nandan was okay in her cameo role. Jyothirmayi & Radha Varma were wasted in limited roles. Suraj Venjarammoodu does the same as in previous movies, even the dialogues were same. Some dialogues will make us laugh. Siddhique was good as always with nice dialogue delivery. Jagathy, Vijayaraghavan, Shammi Thilakan, Lalu Alex were wasted.

Songs
For the first time in malayalam, multiple music directors are joning for a single movie - Jassie Gift, Alex Paul & Alphonse Joseph. Aaraamam Niranje song, though music is not upto the mark, it perfectly fits the celebration mood of the movie. The item song in second half was not at all impressive. Another music director Gopi Sundar handled background score. BGM was loud at many parts of the movie. A haunting violin music as part of drama sequence in the movie composed by Alphonse was good.

Technical
Cinematography by Shaji and Editing by Mahesh Narayanan was racy. Art direction by Joseph Nellikkal looks usual other than some sets in songs. S.B.Satheeshan did a commendable job in Costumes department. Choreography by Shoby was superb as he managed to make all the four leasds dance well.

Script & Direction
Script by Sachi-Sethu team was predictable. The movie starts with a 1981 episode & 1996 episode. Then itself a normal film goer will understand the the answer for the question WHY. Some scenes in first half clearly gives him the answer for WHO too. But the dialogues in the movie were superb & could evoke laughter. If the opening sequence was avoided & started with Jyothirmayi episode, it could have been a much more better-atleast the answer for WHY would have kept as a suspense. Still the movie manages to entertain with racy first half. In second half, the item song episode & Lalu Alex scenes look totally out of place. Direction by Vysakh was racy & entertaining. It is his direction which makes the climax look this better & Editor Mahesh Narayanan did a commendable job to make it racy though predictable. Vysakh handled many scenes very usually & end up as spoilers. Still the movie is an engaging one with racy first half & an above average second half.

Verdict : Above Average Mass Entertainer
BO Verdict : HIT

SANTHOSH PANDIT's KRISHNANUM RADHAYUM AUDIO REVIEW

KRISHNANUM RADHAYUM

AUDIO REVIEW

സന്തോഷ് പണ്ഡിറ്റ് രാത്രികള്‍  പകലുകലാക്കി പകലുകള്‍  ഗാത്രികളാക്കി
ഏകാന്തതയുടെ നിശബ്ദതയില്‍ നിന്നും പെറുക്കി എടുത്ത ഈ ഗാനങ്ങള്‍ക്ക് പണ്ടെങ്ങോ കേട്ട് മറന്ന ഏതെങ്കിലും ഗാനങ്ങളുമായി സാമ്യം തോന്നിയാല്‍  അത് തികച്ചും yaadrushchikam മാത്രം
   
After watching Oh Priye & Anganavadiyile Teachere songs, I was waiting for other six songs in the movie KRISHNANUM RADHAYUM featuring SANTHOSH PANDIT, the one man army.

After listening to the album, what I felt is Santhosh Pandit has some good music sense & he should concentrate on that area in future. I'm not going to comment about his acting as the movie is yet to be released.

A normal music listener may find these songs much better than any other malayalam songs in recent times.

LYRICS, MUSIC : SANTHOSH PANDIT

TRACK 1
OH PRIYE O PRIYE.....
SINGERS : SANTHOSH PANDIT & CHORUS

Don't listen to the lyrics. Just listen to music. Lyrics of this one is full of stuffs related to marriage - first night, marriage arrangement, ornaments, food(sadya)... Flute part used in this song is Excellent. This one is the best track in the CD & is already topping the charts with its video with "terrific" performance(including moonwalk) by SANTHOSH PANDIT & a small girl in lead. WHATEVER, the music is an entertaining one.


TRACK 2
ANGANAVADIYILE TEACHERE....
SINGERS : NO IDEA



The video of this one too released on youtube. This one too entertains with hummable music. Don't mind lyrics of this one too. Its full of nursery school stuff & food stuff. Another good number.


TRACK 3
MA MA MA MA MA MA MAAYAAVI.........(Video yet to be released)
SINGERS : SANTHOSH PANDIT & NIMMY(Asianet IDEA STAR SINGER fame)

This one is the fast number in the album & is sure to become a HIT song of the year. TERRIFIC LYRICS & fast music which you may feel like you have heard it somewhere before. The song may remind us of Vaaleduthaal Angakali song of MeeshaMadhavan. Don't just blame his song just because it's performed by Santhosh Pandit. If this kind of song appears in a Dileep movie saying like its for kids, the very same so called audience/critics would have accepted saying like the song is for kids & it does what it was supposed to. In my opinion a song which has all ingredeients to become a chartbuster.


TRACK 4
RADHE KRISHNA....
SINGER : VIDHU PRATHAP

The song had a promising start like a devotional album. But once the pallavi part starts, you'll realise that its just a rehash of Ouseppachan's music, Mounam Swaramayi in movie AAYUSHKAALAM which Ouseppachan himself rehshed in Kunchacko Boban starrer Mullavalliyum Thenmaavum in Chittukkuruvi song. Coming to anupallavi, many won't have listened to Sogasuchuda song of Mahesh Babu-Trisha starrer telugu flm SAINIKUDU. It's the rehash of the same song. If you can forget these stuffs, then the song is a good one with good lyrics.


TRACK 5
GOKULANATHANAYI.........
SINGERS : SANTHOSH PANDIT, BHAVYA, PRASEETHA CHORUS

The music is a blend of folk & modern music. The very same folk music has been used by great SILSILA HARISHANKAR in his Yanthrangalingane song titled as Yanthrappaattu. But the flute music used here is superb. Lyrics too is a better one. With video, iy may become a hummable one.


TRACK 6
SNEHAM SANGEETHAM.....
SINGER : M.G.SREEKUMAR

The song has slight resemblence to some christian devotional album songs & Paalappoovithalil song in movie THIRAKKADHA in pallavi. Lyrics of the song has good pallavi & not so good anupallavi & charanam. Anupallavi & Charanam music has resemblance to Ilayaraja's music in ManiRathnam movie ANJALI.


TRACK 7
DEHIYILLA....
SINGER : M.G.SREEKUMAR

This one is the sad song in the album. Bad lyrics in pallavi is the feature of this song. Pallavi of this song make you feel whether this one has beats sync problem with orchestra. But the lyrics of anupallavi & charanam was surprisingly better. You may feel like you are listening to some Yuvan Shankar Raja music.Much better sad love song lyrics of recent times(except Pallavi).


TRACK 8
GURUVAYOORAPPA....
SINGER : K.S CHITHRA

This song is another slow number in the album, a typical devotional album with good lyrics. Music in pallavi has slight resemblance with Ouseppachan's music in Chiriyoonjal song of Kunchacko Boban starrer CHANDAMAAMA. Overall a good one.


VERDICT : WORTH A LOOK

Don't approach this album as a SANTHOSH PANDIT movie album after watching Oh Priye & Anganavadiyile song. If someone who has not seen those videos may find these songs as much better songs in recent times & hummable ones though tunes are rehashed one at parts.

On repeat hearing you'll like these songs.

KO

KO

Theatre : TVM Dhanya
Showtime & Date : 11.15am, 23-04-2011
Status : Balcony Full, FC 99%

After Suriya starrer superhit AYAN, K.V.Anand is back with his new movie which also has an interesting title like AYAN(meaning THE ONE)- KO(which means KING) with Jiiva in lead(Karthi & Silambarasan were offered the same role). The movie is a political thriller.

Story
Ashwin(Jiiva) is a press photographer working for Dina Anjali newspaper. His co-workers include Renuka(debutant Karthika - daughter of yesteryear actress Radha) & Saro(Pia Bajpai). It's the election time & the main candidates are Yogeshwaran(PrakashRaj) who is the present chiefminster & Aalavandhan(Kota Sreenivasa Rao). In between comes Vasanthan Perumal(Ajmal Amir) who believes in clean politics. In an election campaign meeting by Vasanthan, a blast happens in which many of his friends & Saro gets killed. Ashwin & Vananthan's friends asks him to be in election.  In election he wins & becomes the youngest chief minister of Tamilnadu. After that Ashwin founds that Saro was not killed by blast, she was murdered. The rest is how Ashwin traps the killers of Saro.

Performances
Jiiva as Ashwin was safe in his hands. But when we watch the movie on screen, we may feel like a much more energetic & somewhat more mature in looks would have done the role. Suriya or Karthi were the perfect ones. Still Jiiva potrays the role in his own style & succeeds with his high voltage energy performance. Ajmal Amir lacks the fire that the character should have in many scenes. Nothing new is there for him other than a lengthy role. In some emotional scenes he was a bit bore too. Debutant Karthika is not that promising. Her expressions were bad at times. She was acting as if she's doing an 80's stage drama. Pia Bajpai was energetic as Saro but offers nothing new. PrakashRaj & Kota Sreenivasa Rao were wasted in not so well developed characters. But the scenes in which they appear belongs to them. PrakashRaj makes his mark on scenes he appear. Sona as Sumitha(spoofing Namitha) has nothing to do. Editor Anthony makes a cameo appearance. BOSE VENKAT steals the show towards the climax with smart dialogues.


Songs
Music by Harris Jeyaraj is not that impressive & most of the songs are rehash of his own music. Ennamo Aedho & Venpaniye is my pick of the lot though it reminds me of songs of same genre by Harris Jeyaraj in his previous films like Dhaam Dhoom, Unnaale Unnaale, Bheema...Picturisation of songs offers nothing new still enjoyable. Placement of Venpaniye song reminds us of Nenje Nenje song in Ayan. Gala Gala song was an unwanted one. Aga Naga had cameo appearances by Suriya, Karthi, Jeyam Ravi, Bharath, Jai, Shiva, Tamanna...Amali Thumali song had nice locations. Venpaniye song was badly picturised with graphics background. BGM was good.

Technical
Cinematography by Richard.M.Nathan was superb. Anthony once again proved that he's the best editor in Tamil Cinema. Art direction too was good. Peter Hein did a commendable job in action direction.

Script & Direction
Script was done by Subha & director K.V.Anand together. Basic storyline has slight similarity with hollywood flick STATE OF PLAY. The framework of the script is similar to same team's previous movie AYAN. Only the basic plot changes. The movie had an engaging script focussing the press people, media, politics, youngsters.... Everything was blended well in an interestng manner. There are no surprise twists for audiences as it is predictable for an average cinema goer. The final two scenes of the movie was superb & it showed the press people's commitment towards the society. The second half of the movie should have some more interesting with thrilling happenings. Gala Gala song would have been avoided in second half as it looks unwanted & acts as speedbreaker. It is the direction by K.V.Anand which makes the movie much more interesting. K.V.Anand the former photojournalist  presented the press related stuffs in convinving & realistic manner. Direction was racy & superb.

REELISM + REALISM = KO

Verdict : An interesting movie
BO Verdict : HIT

If compared with AYAN, KO is below only. Its the theme & presentation of the movie that makes the movie interesting.

Like for AYAN, you can carry your brain with you when going for this movie too, as it gives answers for many of your logic related questions.

One interesting scene I found is director question the logic of his previous film AYAN. Characters in this movie talks like a smuggler does his work well & in the end he gets job in Custom's department & the movie got 4 star rating.

CHINA TOWN

CHINA TOWN

Theatre : TVM Kairali
Showtime & Date : 6.25pm, 14-04-2011
Status : Balcony Full, FC 99%

After CHRISTIAN BROTHERS, another multistarrer, that too which comes on the LABEL of comedy on vacation season, CHINA TOWN entertains the audience in a very few scenes only.

Story
Story is a mix of 80's Hindi movies & hollywood flick THE HANGOVER.
Xavier(Mohanlal), Jayakrishnan(Shanavas), Shankar & Wilson Gomez(Captain Raju) runs a 4 star casino in GOA in 1986. All except Gomez & the kids of all other three gets killed by baddie played by Pradeep Rawat(Ghajini fame).  After 25 years, Gomez returns to GOA with his daughter Emily(Poonam Bawja). He brings together the sons of his friends to handover his casino. All three - Maathukkutty(Mohanlal again) was a goon and now he's in the path of peace because of Rosamma(Kavya Madhavan), Zackariah(Jayaram) who is in run for money to rescue his mother & Binoy(Dileep) who is a failed romeo in every six months. Wilson brings all three & asks them to takeover the management of Casino. Things change when villain realises them. Rest is the story of HANGOVER mixed in a bad way & movie ends in routine mass fight.

Performances
There are no show stealers in this movie, only scene stealers at times.
Mohanlal as Xavier was good in looks of 80s with no dialogues. Mohanlal as Maathukkutty failed to evoke any laughter as the character was not a well developed & script didn't provide him to perform anything other than routine action sequences & the very same drunk guy in RafiMecarti's movie HALLO. Except a very few expressions, nothing special. At times you may find artificiality in his acting like he's trying hard to make audience laugh. Also his makeup was bad at parts & looks so fat, especially in first action sequence. Action reminded me final scene of Mohanlal in ChottaMumbai. Introduction scene was bad and the dupe was not a matching one for Mohanlal. Jayaram as Zackariah was safe in his hands. He did well with ease & his mimicry background helped him a lot. He steals the scene in which he imitates actor UMMAR, TERRIFIC APPLAUSE was there for that scene. Also his SureshGopi act in jail scene too.  Dileep as Binoy had a good start & he maintained it upto interval though went overboard at may parts. But in second half, he couldn't evoke any laughter.

If someone ask you who is the best dancer in the movie, you can blindly say it's SURAJ VENJARAMMOOD. He impresses us with his dance steps in "Aaranu koottu" song in second half eventhough Mohanlal, Jayaram & Dileep were there. Also his single step with Kavya & Poonam in "Innu Penninu" song.
Suraj as CV(Chandran Valavil) a wannabe DON tries his best to make us laugh. About 60% of that works.

Captain Raju as Wilson looks wooden & Pradeep Rawat was wasted. A sumo guy of 257 kg wwight, D'souza Libore was also introduced, may be to include in posters to attract children. PLEASE... our next generation kids are not so innocent or too liitle kids as we think to laugh at these kind of baffoonery. Kavya Madhavan, Poonam Bawja & newcomer Dipasha were there for namesake-songs & 5-6 scenes. Shankar, Shanavas, AppaHaja were wasted.

Jagathy Sreekumar in his cameo was impressive. He never looked so young in any of his recent movies. His looks reminded me of his role in THOOVANATHUMBIKAL.

Songs
Music by Jassie Gift had done justice as the music mixes well with the festive mood(as claimned by the team). Arikil Ninnalum song was good, but picturised badly & was a speedbreaker. All other songs were unnecesary. BGM by Rajamani really disappoints.

Technical
Everything as usual for a mass masala movie. Art director BOBAN needs special mention. Action was usual only.

Script & Direction
As I said, script by RafiMecartin was a mix of 80's hindi movie-kids after 25 years returns to seek revenge for killing their parents & last year's hollywood comedy flick THE HANGOVER. Problem was both were mixed in a bad way. First half had a good start & once the lead characters reaches Goa, script takes a break & ends up as a skit & once villain finds them again movi comes back to track. In between a so-called lovetrackand confusion making us remember Thenkasippattanam was also included with a song. Interval punch was like in Dharani's Vikram starrer DHOOL like hero threatening villain. But second half was horrible with HALLO mixed with THE HANGOVER. Actors & scriptwriters were totally out of idea what to do & what had happened. Somehow in between movie  comes back to its track & slips to unwanted sentiments, misunderstandings & a mass fight where hero wins. Climax reminded me the climax of CHOTTA MUMBAI. Why Asianet's popular programme IDEA STAR SINGER participants & Ranjini was included in a scene to start a song, HORRIBLE. A scene from VINAYAN's Dileep-Jagathy starrer ANURAGAKOTTARAM was lifted as such and used here which fails to create any laughs. Directon was not upto the mark. SHAFI was the best person to direct this movie. Many scenes lacked punch though it had element to make thrilled. In second half, no elements of revenge were there though the hero threatens villain in Interval. The lead characters were like they are not at all interested in any kind of revenge games.It is the editor who saved the movie at many parts I think, especially climax fight was included with final title cards which were clear baffoonery. Next time concentrate on script & better give direction department to Shafi.

Verdict : Average, at max
BO Verdict : In a state where movies like POKKIRIRAJA becoming superhit, this one too will enter the safe side as there are no big opponents on BoxOffice & movie comes with the label of COMEDY in vacation season.

CHRISTIAN BROTHERS was a SUPERB ENTERTAINER compared to this eventhough predictable.

At times we may think is this the same Mohanlal who was back in form like in 90s about a month ago telling NJAN CHAADUM SIR in CHRISTIAN BROTHERS trying hard to make us laugh by simply screaming at other characters in the movie. The answer I got is JOSHIY sir, I think that explains EVERYTHING

AUGUST 15

AUGUST 15

Theatre : TVM Dhanya

Showtime & Date : 6.15 pm, 24-03-2011

Status :Balcony FULL, FC not more than 35 people

In 1988,  AUGUST 1..? by SIBIMALAYIL-S.N.Swamy team released with somewhat fresh theme at that time - an engaging thriller in which there was no suspense element to be revealed at the climax. The movie was a flop I think. The theme of the movie was a group of people plans to kill the Chief Minister(Sukumaran) of the state through a professional killer & an efficient police officer Perumaal(Mammootty) to safeguard him.

22 years later S.N.Swamy recreates the same situation with the current political scenario & this time too Perumal enters the scene to safeguard the Chief Minister. In my opinion, this movie is not a sequel, but a remake of the original with changes.

Story

Story is same as that of August 1..? as mentioned above with changes to suit with 2011 social & political developments.

Performances

Mammootty as Perumal had nothing much to do other than roaming in his bullet vehicle, a set of scenes with chief minister & senior officers. Siddhique as professional killer was nothing special. If compared to Captain Raju's character in the original, Siddhique's nowhere. Lalu Alex, Jagathy Sreekumar, Saikumar, Nedumudi Venu, Krishna, Renjith, Chalipala, Kiran, Johny, Balachandran Chullikkadu, Harisree Ashokan....many were there with nothing to do roles. Why Madhu was invited for such a small role? Shwetha Menon & Meghna(Yakshiyum Njanum fame) were there as unwanted female characters with nothing to do in the story's proceedings.

Songs & BGM

After watching the promo song by Shaan, I was disappointed. Is this the same Shaan who rocked with Shaji Kailas in THE TIGER & CHINTHAMANI KOLACASE???

BGM by Rajamani was loud and the remix version of classic theme music by SHYAM was used everywhere in the movie making the audience start hating that. The BGM used for Captain Raju in the original was missing here.

Technical
Prashanth Nair's cinematography was Ok only. Editing too.

Script & Direction

S.N.Swamy is disappointing us for last few years with movies like Sagar alias Jacky. The only better outing from him in recent times was JANAKAN. He just tried to modify his own original script to suit the current changes in technology. Ofcoure he updated himself this time by explaining the opening sequence with something happened in overeseas. But failed to present it effectively through screenplay. The problem with the script was in the original the process of how a genuine politician becoming chiefminister & how he became a problem for the villain group & how they planned to kill was there. Also Perumal character enters the scene & story unwraps through the journalist character played by Sreenath. Here everything starts from the post interval portion of the original. Also S.N.Swamy tried his own dummy game in CBI series here too. And how Perumal finds Siddhique's real face was funny. Check Swamy's brilliant way of that sequence in the very same team's movie THE TRUTH. Dialogues were very funny at times. To cite an example, Mammootty saying "കാക്കിവേഷത്തില് എനിക്കെന്നെത്തന്നെ കണ്ടൂട". Also Johny in villain team says a dialogue with modulation as if a boy talks to his lover like "കണ്ണടച്ചാല് policente മുഖമാ". Also there was a suspense in the climax which the audience knw who was the real villain from the first frame onwards was also there.

It's the direction by Shaji Kailas which makes the movie watchable. First half was en engaging one. But second half was totally out of track. With an unwanted badly made chasing & accident sequence with graphics spoils the show. Shaji Kailas avoided his usual team & takings but without a proper script he can't change or do anything. The fire brand show from Shaji Kails was missing

Overall an engaging first half & a bad second half with a highly predictable unwanted suspens revealing scene.

Verdict : If you have somefree time, nothing else to watch on theatres & Television, then take a look

BO Verdict : FLOP

I think Perumal was not affected by the petrol price hike. He was roaming in his bullet throughout the movie, don't know what for.

In August 1..? coling glass was used by Perumal in climax sequence only, here throughout the movie he's using that.

SHAJI KAILAS is the only director who attained a stardom among directors in my opinion. After NARASIMHAM in 2000, none of his movies had performed well meeting audience's expectations except CHINTHAMANI KOLACASE & THE TIGER.

SOUND OF BOOT, BABA KALYANI, NATTURAJAVU, THANDAVAM, DRONA, THE DON...Shaji Sir, please concentrate on script.Don't just direct a movie just because u got the dates of a star. Please understand script is the base of a movie.

So as shown in posters, HISTORY REPEATS. Both AUGUST 1..? & AUGUST 15 failed at BoxOffice