Cinema, You and I

Hallo

2007-10-07T14:41:00.000+05:30

Finally got to see "Hallo" yesterday, albeit on thiruttu dvd. It is still running to packed houses in Kochi, but we Chennaites are "children of a lesser god." Ever since they demolished Anand theatre life has never been the same, lots of memories, sigh! Those were the days man.

Back to the review.
The movie stars Mohanlal as a drunken lawyer Sivaraman, Parvathy Melton, looks pretty, and dances well, might find success in Malluwood after her disastrous outing in Kollywood. It also has the regular list like Siddique, Jagathy, Jagatheesh, Janardhanan, and others. The basic plot of the story is lifted from the Kim Basinger movie "Cellular."

Parvathy is the heiress to a huge fortune and is kidnapped by goons hired by some of her relatives. She makes a frantic call and reaches Mohanlal. He comes and rescues her and takes her to his house, where he drinks all the while in memory of his dead lover-Samvritha. Things happen, there are kidnappings, murders, and fights galore.

Then Mohanlal marries Parvathi Melton and settles at her house and tries to unravel the mystery. The directorial duo of Rafi-Mecartin know the pulse of the masses and have given a 100% entertainer. The songs could have been better and the climax is contrived and reminiscent of the C.B.I. movies.

Worth watching for Mohanlal's drunken act and Parvathi's eyes and dance.

My rating ***/5.

Chota Mumbai

2007-06-19T19:35:00.000+05:30

This was the movie that I wanted to see first among all the Vishu releases but invariably it was the movie that I saw finally. The movie is set in Kochi and is a fun-filled comic masala, with good songs and an ensemble cast. Anwar Rasheed has been able to replicate the success of Rajamanickyam.

Mohanlal is Vasco a petty crook with a heart of gold helping his gang of Siddique, Inderjeet, Manikuttan, Jagadhy and others. Bhavana is auto-driver Lata.

I am not going to reveal the plot watch the movie.

Good performances from Sai kumar and Kalabhavan mani.

My rating 3 out of 5.

Vinodayatra and Big B

2007-06-12T20:56:00.000+05:30

I found time to see two contrasting movies and enjoyed both of them. Vinodayatra is another feather in director Sathyan Anthikad's cap, although it is no where near to his earlier masterpieces. Dileep plays an irresponsible graduate who is plain lazy to work. How he is moulded by circumstances to become a responsible citizen is the crux of the story.

Big B is a faithful remake of Four Brothers. Slickly shot with good performances by everyone specially Mammooty and Tamil actor Pasupathi. It is a revenge saga.

Detailed reviews will follow, watch both movies.

Cheers folks, waiting for Chota Mumbai to release in Chennai...

Detective-Movie Review

2007-04-23T18:16:00.000+05:30

Movie-Detective.Cast-Suresh Gopi, Jagadheesh, V.M.C. Hanifa, Sindhu Menon, Devan, Madhu Warrier and oters.Genre-Investigative Thriller.Direction-Jittu Joseph(Debutante)When Mammootty's "Oru C.B.I. Diary Kurippu," released about fifteen years back, the Malyali audience woke up to a new genre, slow, thriller, without songs, where brain works more than brawn. If the audience remembers Suresh Gopi played the role of an officer assisting Mammootty in that movie.In the late nineties Suresh Gopi delivered a series of hits where he played the role of the tough cop. Now in Detective Suresh Gopi plays a double role of a detective and a politician(both are step-brothers). The politician is accused of killing his wife Sindhu Menon, who looks ravishing as usual.The detective is called to investigate the case. Was the crime commited by the politician, was it suicide, or another person killed the pretty lady?Watch the movie to get the answers.Vincimax's Ratings: ***/5

Vishu Release Update

2007-04-05T14:56:00.000+05:30

So the biggies for Vishu are here. Sathyan Anthikad's Dileep starrer "Vinodayata" is going to battle wonder kid Anwar Rasheed's Mohanlal starrer Chota Mumbai.

In my previous post I wrote that Gopika would be Mohanlal's heroine, sorry, it is Bhavana who will be Mohanlal's heroine.

Chota Mumbai has an ensemble starcast-Siddique, Manikuttan, Jagathy, Indrajith and others.
It is supposed to be a laugh riot and is about small time conmen who live a life of joy and fun in Kochi by fooloing tourists.

Vinodayatra, Dileep's hope for regaining his good boy image, is about the laziness of a man, who is a qualified professional, but is allergic to work.

I am waiting for the movie to release in Chennai.

May the best movie win the box-office race.

I have a feeling this will be a bumper Vishu and all movies will do good business.

Vishu Release 2007 Preview

2007-04-02T17:22:00.000+05:30

Another year has passed and the Malayali eagerly awaits Vishu 2007. This year has started on a bad note with lots of political unrest, bandhs and strikes, problems with Tamil Nadu over Mullai Periyar and Salem railway board formation. But the biggest threat is from Tamil movies that are eating into the business of movies from God's Own Country.

This Vishu has a number of releases-
Vinodayatra-Starring Dileep and Meera Jasmine-directed by Sathyan Anthikad.
Chota Mumbai-Starring Mohanlal and Gopika-directed by Anwar Rasheed.
Big B-Starring Mammootty.
Black Cat-Starring Suresh Gopi.

Some Kalabhavan Mani movie might also release.

So who will win the battle? My vote goes to Vinodayatra, because Sathyan knows how to lure the family audience and the remaining three are mass masala entertainers. I think Dilep's career will be revived by this movie.

Shivaji

2007-03-29T15:56:00.000+05:30

Shivaji post production is going on in full swing. Some of the songs are already available on the internet, don't ask me how, but it is there. The movie has generated a lot of hype and expectations. The combination od Shanker, Superstar, A.R.Rahman and AVM, is too good, I just hope the movie is worth the hype.

Some rumours are afloat that the movie has been postponed to May 16, no confirmation about it. Mamootty and Amitabh Bachchan are supposed to have a cameo in the movie.

The story seems to be a recycled extension of Gentleman-one man cleansing society of its evils, and the struggles he endures to do it.

Let us see what happens...

Cinema and Suicide

2007-03-29T15:20:00.002+05:30

Shoba, Fatafat Jayalakshmi, Silk Smitha, Pratyusha, Monal, Divya Bharathi, Nafisa Joseph, Vaishnavi(TV host).... the list goes on. All these are actresses who commited suicide. They were young beautiful and earning a decent salary. So what prompted them to take the extreme step.

In the case of Shoba, Balu Mahendra donned the hat of the villain and a sour relationship led to the death of the actress whom I consider to be the greatest that Tamil cinema has ever seen. The small number of films that she acted are cherished by all lovers of Tamil cinema.

SIlk Smitha's death under suspicious circumstances, is one case that was covered up. I find it hard to believe that a woman who had the entire industry eating out of her hand would take up her own life. She started with a semi-porn film called Layanam, which was directed by Thulaseedas, who later made some simple Malayalam comedies and made quite some money. A Telugu by birth Smitha, acted in all the Southern languages, was the real "Item Bomb" after Helen. She carried herself with grace and was a good dancer. Who killed her? No clue.

In recent years the Monal suicide created a lot of furore. Monal was the sister of former queen bee of Tamil cinema Simran. Monal had acted in Badri and a couple of other movies. She was emotionally linked to the brother of a leading dance choreographer. Family interference and fear prompted her to hang herself to death. She was beautiful in an Oriental sort of a way, I do not know why, but she reminded me of Japanese women.

Divya Bharathi's death is shrouded in mystery. If she would not have died, our "jhatke vali" Rambha(also titled "Queen of Thighs") by an overzealous generation of cinema goers would never have made a name for herself. Today Rambha is out of business and relegated to playing second fiddle to Kala Bhavan Mani and dancing in skimpy costumes. Remember Rambha has acted with all the stars in Tamil cinema. Mani is a great actor, but Mani having Rambha as his heroine, well perhaps better than Captain dancing with Malavika.

Nafisa Joseph, beauty queen, VJ, socialite... died because of a failed relationship. Her fiancee was already married and she took her own life in a fit of disappointment.

The last year saw many TV artistes commiting suicide. Notably Vaishnavi a cherubic girl, full of life and joy who hosted a variety of programmes on Sun TV. Her death came as a big shock and heralded the death of a couple of more artistes.

In many cases it is parental pressure to earn more and more. Then it is the need to "oblige" every Tom, Dick and Harry, from producer to director, to hero to villain, to local politician to remain in circulation, that takes its toll on these young actresses.

It is not confirmed but both Khushboo and Roja had attempted suicide. In Khushboo's case she found solace in Sundar C. who has given her a new lease of life and she is a happy woman now.

In Hollywood Marilyn Monroe, was the example of Plain Jane to Queen of Hearts. Her turbulent relationships and suspicious death are fodder for many movies. Till date no one can say for sure "who killed her?"

We have cases of young actresses fighting against their parents and trying to lead independent lives. Remember Bhanupriya, in recent years Meera Jasmine has faced a lot of problems for her parents, but she has taken all problems in her stride and is a successful actress appeasing both the arthouse critics and the commercial pundits alike.

The last couple of weeks had news of aspiring starlet Preethi Sharma going against her parents and staying in Bombay.

So what is the solution?
There is no direct answer to this question. The actresses need to plan their lives and keep personal life away from professional life. Parents should not pressurise their daughters to earn more and more.

Till then Suicide is a disturbing aspect that will keep raising its ugly head from time to time.

Pongal Report Card

2007-02-07T18:37:00.000+05:30

Aalwar or is it Aazhwar-Flop, thalai waiting for Kireedom.
Pokiri-Superhit-But it is total crap and Vadivelu should be kicked for doing such rubbish on screen(Do you remember his comments on the director of Uyir)
Thamirabharani-This is a decent movie with a good story, script and acting, but the Pokiri effect has hampered its collections. My favourite for this Pongal.

Awaiting Patchai Kili Muthucharam and Unnalae Unnalae.

By the way Pori is OK, nothing great but you can watch it once.

Cheers.

Classics Revisited

2007-01-30T14:56:00.000+05:30

Gems of Indian Cinema

Pyaasa (Thirsting)

Cinema is an excellent medium to transfer one's thoughts and ideals, quite often we see the filmmaker compromising his ideals to appease the producer and the audience to make his movie a commercial success. Very rarely do we get to see a director becoming the very movie, that he makes, so that the movie and the maker become a single entity.

Guru Dutt Shiv Shankar Padukone was born in Bangalore on July 9, 1925. As far as the Western world was concerned Indian cinema was just song-dance and sentiment, except for Satyajit Ray's works, which were systematically segregated and treated as a separate entity. In my opinion Guru Dutt is the most misunderstood and talented filmmaker in Indian cinema. Like Shakespeare's tragic heroes, he was a great man with a tragic flaw. He accepted defeat too quickly, found solace in alcohol, failed in love and commited suicide. He was found dead on October 10, 1964, he had taken an overdose of sleeping pills mixed with alcohol, nobody knows if it was deliberate or if it was an accident.

Guru Dutt made several films for Dev Anand's NavKetan Productions, like Baazi, Baaz and Jaal. He tasted commercial success with Mr. and Mrs. 55 a sweet comedy which pitted him with Madhubala. The commercial success of Mr & Mrs 55, helped him in producing his Pyaasa.

Pyaasa was the tale of a struggling poet-Vijay, who is rejected by all publishers, and considered as a failure by his family. In anger and frustration his brother sells Vijay's poems to a scrap merchant. Vijay is devastated as he fails to find his manuscripts, one day he hears one of his compositions. He is attracted by the melodious voice and finds that the singer is a courtesan / prostitute Gulabo(Waheeda Rahman).

Vijay's love interest Meena, ditches him and marries a successful publisher, Vijay also learns that his mother is dead. He is depressed and disgusted with his life, he finds solace in alcohol and his only friend is a oil-masseur Johnny Walker(Remember "Sar Jo Ters Chakraye.."). One night he gives his coat to a beggar, the beggar is shocked and follows Vijay to thank him, but he is run-over by a train. The next day when the badly disfigured body is discovered with Vijay's coat on it, people assume that Vijay is the one who died in the accident.

Gulabo publishes Vijay's poems in a book titled "Parchaaiyan" (Shadows), through Mr. Ghosh(played by Rehman). The book becomes a big success, and Vijay who was shunned by everyone becomes a celebrity. Vijay is praised and a ceremony is held to honour him posthumously. Vijay makes an entrance, shocking everybody. He realises that eveybody is corrupt to the core, and the world is full of greedy people who want to take advantage of simple people, he shuns fame and asks Gulabo to join him to lead a new life in some other town. The movie ends with Gulabo accepting Vijay's offer.

The movie describes the troubles faced by artists, be it a poet, a painter, an author a musician, they have to make compromises to lead a normal life. An artist faces a lot of troubles to gain recognition and many talented artists fade away like flowers that just blossom for a few hours and then fade away into ignominy. Sahir Ludhianvi, was the inspiration for Guru Dutt while making Pyaasa, infact Sahir wrote the lyrics for Pyaasa and "Yeh Mehlon, yeh Takhton.., yeh duniya agar mil bhi jaye to kya he..." is a timeless classic, which brings out the dilemma of the poet searching for fame and recognition, and his rejection of it, when he finds it. Sahir also published a book titled-"Parchaaiyan," as shown in the movie.

One wonders if the end had not been so quick, what would have been the gems that Dutt saab would have left for us to ponder, wonder and enjoy. As they say he left the world as "pyaasa" and left us thirsting for more. No one can fill the void left by him, Ray was in another world and his movies left an impact far different from Guru Dutt and Ray's work could not be understood by the common man.

Watch Pyaasa, if you have not seen it, you are missing something that cannot be defined in mere words.

My Rating 4.5/5.

Classics Revisited

2007-01-30T11:01:00.000+05:30

Gems of Indian Cinema.

Indian cinema, has its share of classics ranging from Ray's Pather Panchali to Adoor Gopalakrishnan's Nizhalkuthu. Starting from today I will be reviewing such movies which may have been failures at the box-office but represent the theme of sensible cinema.

I will start the series with my all time favourite movie-Chemmeen(Prawns). It is based on a novel written by Thakazhi Sivasankaran Pillai. The movie became the first South-Indian movie to win the President's Gold Medal for the best movie of 1965.

Cast-Sathyan, Madhu, Sheela, Kottarakara.
Direction-Ramu Kariat.
Screenplay-S.L. Puram Sadanandam.
Music-Salil Chowdhury.
Editing-Hrishikesh Mukherjee.
Cinematography-Marcus Bartley.

The movie's music was an unprecedented hit, and the song-"Maanasa Maine Varu..," is considered to be the most popular Malayalam movie song of all time. The stunning cinematography captured the various moods of the sea and the triangular love story of Madhu, Sheela and Sathyan.

The story has its roots in a legend that the fishing community believes in, a fisherman's safe return depends on the fidelity of his wife. The story shows how a breach of trust leads to misunderstanding and sorrow. Kottarakara promises to sell his catch of fish to Madhu on credit and Madhu helps him in buying a boat. Kottarakara nets in a big catch of fish, and lured by greed, he ditches his pact with Madhu and sells his catch for ready cash to other traders. Sheela, Kottarakara's daughter falls in love with Madhu, but her father forcibly marries her off to Sathyan a fisherman from another village.

What happens to Madhu and Sheela? Does Sathyan sacrifice his wife for her true love? Is Kottarakara punished for his sins? Watch the movie to get answers for all your questions.

My Rating-4/5.

Mad about dogs

2007-01-22T16:01:00.000+05:30

I was born in the year 1982, "Year of the Dog" as per the Chinese Calendar, and I love all animals and am mad about dogs, so when I saw a dvd having seven dog-movies in it, I bought it immediately. The dvd has the following movies-
Lassie.
Snow Dogs.
Twelve dogs of Christmas.
Eight Below.
Agent 11.

I have not seen the remaining two movies, so I do not recollect their names. I loved Snow Dogs, it is a Walt Disney production and has Cuba Gooding Junior in the lead. He is a successful dentist, who gets a letter summoning him to Alaska. He learns he is adopted and the letter concerns the reading of the will of his biological mother.

He inherits a pack of sled-dogs. He finds out that his father is a white sled-racer. The rest of the movie describes how the hero bonds with his Alaskan friends and rescues his father from a terrible storm.

All the movies are worth watching and have no vulgarity, so you can enjoy the movies with your family. Woof Woof!

The Blood Diamond

2007-01-17T16:03:00.000+05:30

Movie-The Blood Diamond.
Cast-Leonardo di Caprio, Djimon Honsou, Jeniffer Connelley and others.
Direction and Production-Edward Zwick.
In Africa, each time something of value is discovered, a conflict is bound to follow, be it oil, ivory, gold or diamonds. The day the white man decided to civilize the Dark Continent, the native African began to suffer.
The Blood Diamond is an excellent movie based on the Civil War in the tiny African country of Sierra Leone.

Leonardo di Caprio, is a soldier of fortune who smuggles diamonds for a living. Djimon Honsou, is a fisherman who is separated from his family by the rebels. They force him to work in the mines, while his son is trained to become a child-soldier. In the mines Djimon discovers a rare pink diamond, he tries to hide it when he is caught by Colonel Poison. Simultaneously, the government troops launch an attack on the rebels, and Djimon is captured and imprisoned with the Colonel. Leo who is arrested for smuggling diamonds is also imprisoned in the same cell and he overhears the Colonel accusing Djimon of hiding the diamond.

Leo plans Djimon's release and promises to reunite him with his family if Djimon led him to the diamond. We have a heroine Jeniffer Conelley who is an American journalist looking for a good story. Now the trio hunt for the diamond and search for Djimon's family members.

Does Djimon find his wife and son? Does Leo get the diamond? What happened to the child-soldier? To get answers for this watch the movie.

My Rating-3.5/5.

Pongal Releases a Curtain Raiser

2007-01-12T15:22:00.000+05:30

Pongal is considered as the most auspicious time for releasing new movies and this year will see a clash of biggies as almost seven movies are lined up for immediate release and three more films would release in a fortnight. The lineup of the Tamil releases is as follows:
Mani Ratnam's Ash-Abhi starrer-Guru, on Jan 12.(dubbed in Tamil and Telugu).
Aalwar, Pokiri and Paruthiveeran on Jan 14, Sunday.
Thamarabharani releases on Pongal day, Jan 15, Monday.

The other movies which are likely to get released are Lawrence's Muni, Captain Vijaykanth's Sabari, Vijay T. Rajendhar's (Dadi vecha Karadi) Veerasami.

Vishal's Thamarabharani is likely to emerge as the darkhorse winner and will push Vishal into the big league. Pokiri is a remake and it remains to be seen if Prabhudeva can rescue our Ilayadalapathy from his Aathi debacle. Ultimate Star Ajit is on cloud nine after the success of Varalaaru and it is quite likely that Aaazhwar will boost his lucky run at the office. Ameer who gave a critical and commercial hit with Raam, is back with ParuthiVeeran, which will launch Surya's brother Kaarthi in Kollywood.

So lets wait and watch. May the best movie win.

By the way I am going to watch Leo's The Blood Diamond and Mohanlal's Baba Kalyani if it gets released in Chennai this weekend.

Happy Pongal folks.

Vaasthavam

2007-01-08T15:00:00.000+05:30

Vaasthavam-Movie review

I saw Padmakumar's Vaasthavam last Friday at Padmam theatre in Chennai. I was pleasantly surprised to see a decent crowd for the matinee show on a working day. The movie is set in the Kerala state Secretariat and shows the dirty politics, corruption and red-tapism that takes place in the corridoors of power in a realistic manner.

Prithviraj plays the role of Balachandra Adigal a Nambboothiri who is the sole breadwinner of his family. Situations force him to marry a woman whom he does not love to create a secure future for his sisters.

Balan reaches Trivandrum, where he stays with Unnithan Jagathy Sreekumar in an excellent role that could fetch him one more award. He is a retired peon who is a living encyclopaedia of Kerala state politics, he initiates Balan into his job as a clerk in the Revenue department.

Balan is attracted to a beautiful divorced woman played by Sindhu Menon they have a relationship using which Balan becomes the secretary of a minister played by Murali. Slowly Balan becomes a powerful playmaker, as he degrades morally. Meanwhile his true love played by Kavya Madhavan is married to an alcoholic policeman who keeps abusing her.

Balan arranges for the policeman to be killed. He is involved in the forceful eviction of tribals for the construction a foreign investment based factory. At a juncture he makes Jagadheesh a replacement for Murali. He distances himself from Sindhu, who decides to teach him a lesson by sleeping with Jagadheesh and then threathening to disclose the news with evidence.

Balan tries to make a compromise by agreeeing to Sindhu's demand of marrying her, but she says she is no longer interested in him and can take all the evidence. Balan realises he is a loser as everyone the woman whom he loved, the woman who seduced him and his wife all desert him.

He visits his mentor Jagathy and says he will reform and become a good civil servant. He leaves in the pouring rain of the night, he is killed by rowdies hired by the foreign company whose project is stalled by Balan's actions.

The moral-"Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

Two good songs and a tight screenplay, a movie for people who love serious cinema and a nice continuation to "Vargam."

My rating-3.5/5.

Veyil-Heat-An Analysis

2006-12-14T13:22:00.000+05:30

Veyil-A ray of hope in the dark tunnels of modern Tamil Cinema.

Veyil.
Director-Vasantha Balan.
Music-G.V. Prakash.
Producer-Shankar.
Cast-Pasupati, Bharat, Bhavana, Shreya Reddy and others.

Yesterday I saw Veyil at Santham theatre in the Sathyam multiplex. The movie has left a deep impact on me. The movie starts on a dark night when the rain is pouring incessantly. A man is trying to comfort the pigs that he is rearing, when there is a barrage of knocks on the wooden door. The man hesitates and then opens the door. A group of rowdies enter and inform their boss that a man attacked them when they had tried to kill Kathir, but they had wounded Kathir and he was bound to die.

The rain continues pouring and there is another loud knock on the door. A tall well built bearded man, Murugesan(Pasupathi) stands on the doorstep with a grinding stone in his hand and breaks open the skull of a guy, the next five minutes is just blood, blood and more blood as Murugesan goes on a slaughtering spree killing all the rowdies and finally he comes to the boss whom he tortures ro find out where Bose(another villain) is hiding. He learns his hiding-place and kills the boss.

He comes to an old temple, he prays for his brother and falls to the ground exhausted and bleeding from his injuries. Now the story moves in flashback and Murugesan narrates his story.
He recalls his childhood in a village near Virudhanagar. His father is a butcher who works hard to bring up his four children two boys and two girls and has a happy family.
Murugesan dotes on his younger brother Kathir and his weakness, like any other adolescent is love for movies (especially MGR films) that are screened in a local theatre. But one day life changes for him when his father catches him red-handed from the theatre after he bunks school. The child is severely punished and he runs away from home after taking money and jewels.
His journey is quiet exciting with its share of happiness and sorrows. He is taken under the wings of a theatre projectionist in a nearby town and slowly the theatre becomes his home. He falls in love with Thankam (Malavika, a TV actress from Malayalam) a beautiful girl who lives opposite the theatre but their love story does not have a happy ending. Murukesan is dejected after Thankam’s death and the theatre is demolished.

He decides to return home after 20 years. The rest of the film is all about Murukesan’s mental turmoil’s as he is caught between the deep love showered by his younger brother Kathir (Bharath) who runs a successful advertising agency and his guilt of not being a responsible son or elder brother. There is parallel love story between Meenakshi (Bhavana), an innocent girl and Kathir. Then there is Pandi (Shreya Reddy) who is Murugesan childhood sweetheart.

Kathir's blooming adverising business causes Bose another advertiser to get jealous and he starts targeting Kathir's hoardings and burns them. He decides to kill Kathir and hires goons to do the job. Kathir is stabbed and is rescued in the nick of time by Murugesan, who admits him to the hospital and goes on a revenge spree.

In the end Murugesan dies. The movie in true Shakespeaeran style of tragedy and pathos shows how a boy who leaves home branded as a thief returns to redeem himself and save his family. The initial parts of the movie draw inspiration from the Italian classic "Cinema Paradiso," the second half is revenge and subtle romance. The scenes between Bhavana and Bharat and Pasupathy and Shreya are captured beautifully on screen.

The songs are good and Prakash, who is A.R. Rahman's nephew has a bright future ahead of him. Veyilodu Vilayadi and Uruguthey are excellent. Pasupathy is sure to win an award and he proves he is an excellent character actor.

Go grab tickets and watch this movie. It would be a crime to miss this movie which has been made with so much passion and is not the usual masala type.

My rating 4/5.

December Malayalam Releases

2006-12-12T12:14:00.000+05:30

This December will see almost a dozen Malayalam movies releasing. It is going to be tight as both the superstars have one release each. Mohanlal has his police-story "Baba Kalyani" and Mammooty is desperate for a hit and has reunited with Blessy for "Palunku."

The release schedule is as follows:

Dec 8- OruvanCast- Indrajeet, Meera Vasudev, Lal, Salim Kumar and Pritviraj (guest appearance)Director- Vinoo Anand

Aandavan Cast- Kalabhavan Mani, Sindhu Menon, JagathyDirector- Akbar Jose

Dec 15 - Baba KalyaniCast- Mohanlal, Mamta, Biju Menon, JagathyDirector- Shaji Kailas
Smart CityCast- Suresh Gopi, Murali, Manoj K.Jayan, Jayasurya, Siddique, GopikaDirector- B.Unnikrishnan

Dec21- PalunkuCast- Mammootty, KushbooDirector- Blessy

Note bookCast- New facesDirector- Roshan Andrews

Dec: 22-Kanaka SimhasanamDirector- RajasenanCast- Jayaram, Karthika, Kiran Raj

Dec: 23- AthisayamCast- Kavya, Narain, Jackie ShroffDirector- Vinayan

PakalCast- Pritviraj, Jyothirmayi, SudhishDirector- M.A.Naushad

RakshakanCast- Kalabhavan Mani, Manya, Riaz KhanDirector- Thulasidas

Dec 23-Speed TrackCast- Dileep, Ghazala, Riaz KhanDirector- Jayasurya.

Of all these movies I am personally awaiting Roshan Andrews's "Notebook," he started with a bang with "Udhayananau Tharam", with "Classmates" creating a new market for youth-centric cinema. Notebook is sure to be a hit, the music is already selling like hot cakes and time will tell who is going to have the last laugh.

Prithviraj is basking in the glory of Classmates and Vaasthavam and I am sure Pakal will cement his position. Dileep is also desperate for a hit and I am not sure if Speed Track will work. As for Kalabhavan Mani and Suresh Gopi, no comments at the moment.

May the best movie win.

Classmates

2006-10-26T13:56:00.000+05:30

Last Friday saw Classmates at Roopam theatre in Chennai. The movie released for Onam with such biggies like BhargavaCharitham and MahaSamudhram. While the other movies were washed away like paper boats in a storm, Classmates is still going on strong at the box-office and has become the highest grossing Malayalam movie of all time, breaking the record of Rajamanikyam.

The movie has all the stars of the youth brigade-Prithviraj, Jayasurya, Sunil, Indrajit and Kavya. An excellent screenplay complemented by beautiful songs and top class direction by Lal Jose, has proved that Malayalam cinema can break out from the circle of M&M.

The film opens with a retired college professor Iyer (Balachandra Menon) and his wife retired Chemistry professor Lakshmi (Shoba Mohan) trying to organize a get-together of the 1991 batch of CMS college, Kottayam. This meeting is also in memory of Murali (Narein) the college singer and their only son who died under mysterious circumstances during his final year.
The 1991 batch agrees to meet as each of them has their own personal agendas to be fulfilled. Murali’s parents want to keep his promise that the batch will meet after 10 years of graduation. The group leader is Sukumaran (Pritviraj), a fiery leader of left student party SFK, now a diamond merchant in Mumbai, Satheesan Kanjikuzhi (Jayasurya) led the rival student party DSU and is now an MLA, his right-hand man ‘Vaalu’ Vasu (Vijeesh) is his PA.

Then there is a rich planter’s son Pious George (Indrajeet) who was the college Romeo and a close friend of Sukumaran, now settled in Gulf. There is Thara Kurup (Kavya Madhavan) a well-known classical dancer whose father was a politician and a minister. Thara now runs a dance school and is a spinster still madly in love with Sukumaran. Razia (Radhika) the ‘Penquin’ as she is called for wearing a peculiar kind of burkha is also a part of the gang.

On the night of the reunion Sukumaran is strangled with a string from Murali's guitar, but he is taken to the hospital where he battles for his life. The mystery deepens and the climax shows who the killer was.

The songs Ente Khalbile.... and Kaathirunnu Pennalae..... are topping the charts.

Best wishes for the youth brigade to act in many more blockbusters.

Mahesh's rating-****/5.

Definitely worth watching.

P.S.- The Telugu remake rights have already been bought for a bomb of a price, so do not be surprised if you get to see a Tamil version of Classmates starring Vijay in a year's time.

Cinema, You and I

2006-04-19T14:53:00.000+05:30

Cinema, You and I
My Favourite Malayalam Comedy Movies

It is very difficult to make a person laugh, Malayalam cinema has produced some great comedians like Addor Bhasi, Bahadoor, Jagathy, Innocent and Jagadeesh. The following is a list of my favourite Malayalam comedy movies:
1-Chithram.
2-Vandanam.
3-Rajamanickyam.
4-Post Box #27.
5-In HariharNagar
6-Harikrishnans.
7-Nadodikattu.
8-Pattana Pravesham.
9-Akare, Akare, Akare.
10-Aram+Aram=Kinaram.
11-Mazhai Peyinnu, Mathalam Kottunnu.
12-Mukund Etta Sumithra Villikunnu.
13-Mithunam.
14-Kaka Kuyil.
15-Adhyate Kanmani.
16-Kilukkam.
17-C.I.D. Moosa.
18-Meesha Madhavan.
19-His Highness Abdullah.
20-Junior Mandrake.
21-Punjabi House.
22-Pulival Kalyanam.
23-Chadikatha Chandu.
24-Hariharan Pillai Happy Aana.
25-Udhayananau Tharam.
26-Kalyanaraman.
27-Kilukkamkilukilukkam(No where near the original)
28-Kavadiaatam.
29-Mazhavilkavadi. 30-Sadhanandante Samayam.
31-Thilakam. 32-Yodha-Mohanlal-Jagathi confrontation scenes.
33-Jagathy-Jagadheesh in Town-Remake of Bade Miyaan, Chotte Miyaan.
34-Kabuliwalah.
35-Adithyan.
36-Vadakkunoki yanthram.
37-Ayal Kathai eythugai Aana.
38-Thenkasi Pattinam.
39-Sharjah to Sharjah.
40-Kathapurushan.
Please contribute the names of your favourite comedies too.

The Fifty Top Malayalam Movies of all Time

2006-04-19T14:13:00.000+05:30

Hi guys, all of us have watched movies and some movies have left a lasting impact on our lives. Well I am starting a new topic for discussion:100 best Malayalam movies of all time. I am starting the list with a few of my personal favourites.
1-Neelakuyil.
2-Chemmeen-Who can forget the haunting melodies and the acting of Madhu, Sathyan and the others. 3-Newspaper-boy-Aclassic.
4-BhargaviNilayam-A classic horror movie based on Vaikom bashir's story.
5-Chithram-Mohanlal, Priyadarshan and Srinivasan combination that set the cash-registers ringing.
6-Bharatham-Awesome songs.
7-Vanaprastham.
8-The C.I.D.Sethurama Iyer series.
9-Rajamanickyam-The biggest grosser of all times.(no logic but a superhit like Lal's Narasimham).
10-Kathaavsheshan-An award winning movie that bombed at the box-office.
11-Vadakkunoki yanthram-Excellent performance by Srinivasan.
12-Ponthan Mada-Brilliant performance by Mammootty.
13-His Highness Abdullah-Good story, good songs and good acting by all.
14-The Truth-A thriller with Mammootty and Thilakan.
15-Lal Salaam-Politics with a message.
16-Chanakyan-Jayaram, Kamalahasan and Thilakan.
17-Sargam-Excellent story good songs.
18-Nahakshatangal.
19-Devasuram-Good movie.
20-Kamaladhalam.
21-Oru Vadakan Veera gatha.
22-Kazcha-Blessy's directorial debut.
23-Nirakootu.
24-Yathra.
25-Yavanika.
26-Thanmatra.
27-Ananthabhadram-Stunning cinematography. excellent graphics and good songs.
28-Comissioner and Bharatchandran I.P.S., .
29-Mukundetta Sumitrai Vilikkunu.
30-Manichitratazhvu-A psychological drama with Mohanlal, Shobana and Suresh Gopi.
31-C.I.D. Moosa and Meesha Madhavan(Senseless comedy but jolly good time-pass).
32-Koodevide.
33-Moonampakkam-Jayaram and Thilakan.
34-Manjil Virunna Pookal-Introduced Mohanlal as a villain.
35-Nizhalkuttu, Kathapurushan and Swayamvaram-Directed by Adoor Gopalakrishnan.
36-Shesham and Teerthadanam-Jayaram at his best.
37-Kireedam-Mohanlal and Thilakan.
38-Kaalapaani.
39-Akale-Based on Tennessee Williams' "The Glass Menagerie".
40-Vidaparayum Munpe-Nedumudi Venu at his best.
41-Kaliyattam and Shantham-Excellent direction by Jayaraj.
42-Padam Onnu:Oru Vilapam-Meera Jasmine in a role of a lifetime.
43-Perumtachan-Thilakan and a very young Prasanth.
44-Kanne Madangukka-Murali and Navya Nair.
45-Udhayananau Tharam-Mohanlal and Srinivasan at their best.
46-Vandhanam-Priyan and Mohanlal with an excellent performance by Nedumudi Venu.
47-Thuval Kottaram-Manju Warrier, Sukanya and Jayaram in a good movie sans violence.
48-Kasthuriman-Meera Jasmine and Kunjackoboban a good sentimental story.
49-Yodha-Mohanlal in Nepal, good songs and visuals, based on Eddie Murphy's The Golden Buddha.
50-In Harihar Nagar-A laugh riot.