I don't remember the exact numbers, but I do have a vague idea about them numbers, I read from various articles.
In general conviction cases in India, more than 75% of people who suffer capital punishment are always Dalits or Muslims. And whenever the case have anything to do with terrorism, a staggering 93 or 94% those hanged are Dalits or Muslims. Some scholar clearly attributed the reason to the stunningly huge numbers of Brahmin judges. More than 70% of Indian judges are mostly Brahmins and the elite classes. One of the Chief Justice of Indian Supreme Court, not long ago, had infamously spoke about 60% of his (pan Indian) judges being corrupt. So add the routine class and caste issues to the corruption, and we can simply assume the honesty of Indian justice system. (Recently, last week I think, judges were spotted, queuing up to touch the feet (of) and to take selfies with the Indian Prime Minister!!!)
5 friends, decide to go to a forest bungalow, during an election day, to enjoy the holiday with booze. When the booze stock is done with, they decide to play a game.
In the first few minutes of Ozhivu Divasathe Kaly, I felt - oh dear, this movie looks quite pretentious. Slowly, it takes its own time to get the viewer engaged, it changed in a pleasant manner and it ended as an incredibly brilliant and bold film. It even offerred a lot of laughs. It ends like a thriller, may I say, the last 10 minutes or so kept me scared, guessing about the next moment and the climax would leave you awestruck. I would dare say that it is one of the most path breaking movie in the history of Malayalam cinema.
Casting, except for a female actress who is there only in the first half of the movie, each and every one looks like first timers, yet none of them looked like acting, they were living in front of the camera
The last 20 or 30 minutes, it was a single shot. And it was bloody brilliant.
This movie was made without a script and one needs to watch it to realise fully, how good it is. When I heard about it, I was thinking, wow, finally in Malayalam a director is inspired by Mike Leigh. But this is really different. ODK is a terribly dialogue driven cinema. And a lot of dialogues sounds like blabbering, deliberately though, with its sync sound. But the important dialogues are all quite clear. I can't help appreciating the boldness of this director in taking this decision - to not have a script and to do sync sound. Just a pity that, I felt the camera was a bit shy to get close to the characters.
In the first half, the movie clearly points to couple of issues with the Malayali pysche - looking down at dark skinned people, assuming every woman who do jobs like cleaning/cooking are 'available' etc.. But it ends up with a huge pointer to casteism and manuvaad issues of not just Kerala, but the whole country.
Main stream Keralites never agree that there are caste issues in Kerala. But, frankly, it does exist in a big way, may not be that visible as in rest of India. To some, the elites and upper castes, it doesn't exist at all. But to some it exist in a subtle way and to the ones on the receiving end it does exist in most aspects of their life!! My sincere most salutes and congratulations to the director and the
crew behind this simple, but monster movie with balls the size of cabbages!!
(am using a phrase used by Pep Guardiola). Their courage is priceless.
Showing posts with label Malayalam. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Malayalam. Show all posts
Monday, 20 June 2016
Friday, 3 June 2016
Kammatti Paadam, the Paruthiveeran or Subramaniyapuram of Malayalam cinema
In the last 2 decades, Malayalam cinema has not seen another director more consistent than Rajeev Ravi. All his 3 movies has been beautiful, realistic and truthful to the craft of cinema. Inspite of a common thread (of local goons) in all of them, I have been able to appreciate each of them as wonderful cinematic experiences.
In Kammatti paadam, Mr. Ravi is showing us the other face of 'development'. It is so relieving that amongst the Action hero Biju's and other regular fares, there is a movie which looks away from the norms of the main stream Malayali mentality. I thoroughly enjoyed Kammatti paadam and I would strongly recommend it as a must watch. Should this movie get promoted abroad, am sure, it will make Malayalam cinema proud. I also think it would be remembered more fondly after a decade, and might be even celebrated.
A lot has been already written about this movie, but there are few things that I think are very important.
- Any thinking Malayalee cinema fan would agree on one thing, our cinema are infested by characters from upper castes or those from the elite or aspiring to be elite class. The heroes are always Nairs or Menons or Brahmins or from an Orthodox Christian family. It is incredible that even the heroes associates too, are never from the lower castes. We should not forget that the upper castes are not the majority of the Keralan population and in spite of this, most stories are always around a Nair or other upper caste man or family. Hence, Kammattippadam is a very bold and brave attempt. Hero is still suggested to be a Nair, but all those around him, including the two brilliant characters played by Vinayakan (Ganga) and Manikandan Achari (Balan) are definitely from some lower echelons of the caste system. These 2 characters are as or even more important than the hero, and this was a terrific surprise for a Malayalam cinema.
There are two (or more) instances when the cinema indicates that Krishnan's family looks down upon Ganga and other friends of Krishnan. Ganga is not permitted inside Krishnan's house, nor is the character played by Shaun Romi, which means Krishnan is from an upper caste family.
I do not know why they still chose the hero from an upper caste family, when everybody around are not. May be the makers wanted to tell us that it was not only the lower castes who suffered, may be.
Please do not accuse me of a casteist for the above comment. On the contrary. I have always wondered, why our cinema never look at the other side of the mainstream, who unfortunately is the majority.
- When all other movies portrays modernity and mainstream middle/upper class aspirations and notions (Action Hero Biju is an excellent example), it is exceptional for a main stream movie to say boldly that a lot of bad has happened, or keeps happening, under this 'development', the modern buzz word.
- Casting of this movie has been brilliant. Manikandan Achari as Balettan was like an atom bomb. It was only Dulquer, who was a kind of star presence. And we should understand that without at least one actor like him, may be, nobody would have produced this movie. Kerala is not Tamil Nadu where people would still go and watch a movie, if its good, even if all the actors are dark skinned.
- The action scene in the jail could have been avoided, though.
- Once again, may I repeat that the performances by Manikandan, Vinayakan and Dulquer were really good, the former two especially.
Am so glad that Malayalam cinema has got Kammatti paadam. My sincere salutes to Rajeev Ravi and P Balachandran, and all others who are behind this exceptional cinema.
In many ways, for its rawness, honesty and cinematic brilliance Kammatti paadam is the Paruthiveeran or Subramaniyapuram of Malayalam.
Tuesday, 9 February 2016
Maheshinte Prathikaram
You know, am more than jealous about off beat Tamil cinema of modern days. One of the reasons for this jealousy is because of their beautiful casting. It is not just that these new Tamil cinema creators come up with indigenous stories and cinemas, they also pick up the right people for all those characters, even if those actors are absolutely unknown. They don't care at all about the looks or the lack of any kind of glamour quotient in those actors. In fact, it is only Tamil cinema, who do not have any issues at all with black actors. Every where else in Indian cinema, black skin is looked down at. And it is a big credit to Tamil movie fans that many of these off beat cinema has also done reasonable business in box office. I have always wondered, why Malayalam cinema (we dominated Indian cinema in the 80's with our quality) look spineless when it comes to casting. It is as if directors and producers are scared to test new faces, even if the role is of secondary importance.
Maheshinte Prathikaram has just reassured me, in a big way. Except for Fahad Fazil and Soubin, there are hardly any prominent actors in the whole cast. Still, there is not a single person who have done anything short of excellent. Each and every character, except Fahad, looks like locals, who were picked after a tedious audition process.
MP looks like a simple short story, which has been painstakingly made into a beautiful cinema. Absolutely, this is an excellent entertainer, and am so glad there is one in Malayalam, even if it has come after long time. Frankly, the director seems to have taken some leafs out of Rajeev Ravi's book of cinema making. The result is pure, genuine and indigenous cinema.
All the following make this movie a wonderful entertainer.
- It has a simple thread, reminiscent of a short story, which is told in an even simpler way with beautiful visuals.
- It looks absolutely indigenous:-
with its location - its the first Malayalam cinema after Annayum Rasoolum which let you feel the ambiance of the locality.
and its genuine characters - Sathyan Anthikkad movies always presented characters - as if they were picked from our village - with some exaggerations, where as in MP, they are just realistic. There is nothing unnatural about these people. I really liked that, same as in off beat Tamil cinema, none of the characters in this movie behave as if they have just walked out of a Holly/Bollywood script, or as if they are aspiring for a dreamy Indo-American life. (There is one character of course, but it goes so well with the story) Its normal Malayaalees, all around.
- Wonderful performances from every one, who have simply tried to just be there, no acting.
- When is the last time, we saw, ordinary Malayaalee girls/women talking and behaving like normal people in our cinema? This is applicable to men too. There is hardly any make-up!
- Arguably, the best natural fight scene Malayalam has seen, after Thazhvaram
- A stupendous climax scene too
- There could be a smile in our faces, for nearly the whole length of the cinema!
I do not want to nit pick, but feel it could have done with fewer songs, using some instrumentals instead.
I would also say, they could have found some body else for the role of Fahad Fazil, who would have looked like a typical villager, like all the other characters. Fahad has done a good job, though. But it looks like, the only glamourous guy in the whole of Idukki happens to be living in Prakash city.
I cant wait for the next movie from this debut director, Dileep Pothan. He has given me lots of hope.
Monday, 2 January 2012
Swapna Sanjaari
2011 by Kamal - Malayalam movie
I wonder when will the veteran directors of Malayalam cinema will get fed up or tired of making the same kind of movies.
Swapna Sanjaari, about a man who became very rich with Gulf money and tries his best to get a name in the village as a kind rich man face seviour failure, is not a bad movie at all. But the problem is there is hardly anything new in this movie. In one way or other almost everything in this movie has occupied scenes, briefly or detailed ways, in many other Malayalam movies since the end of 80's. In fact everybody should be able to guess correctly what exactly is going to happen with all the characters in this movie.
Definitely there is a message behind this movie, but the ingredients of the wine and the bottle and the package are all tested and tried a lot in the last two decades. It is just the credit of the director that he has managed to shoot the scenes allright that the movie will make a pass as a one time watchable average fare.
Just like I mentioned with the directors, it is also incredible that Jayaram is not fed up of playing the same kind of roles again and again and again.
I wonder when will the veteran directors of Malayalam cinema will get fed up or tired of making the same kind of movies.
Swapna Sanjaari, about a man who became very rich with Gulf money and tries his best to get a name in the village as a kind rich man face seviour failure, is not a bad movie at all. But the problem is there is hardly anything new in this movie. In one way or other almost everything in this movie has occupied scenes, briefly or detailed ways, in many other Malayalam movies since the end of 80's. In fact everybody should be able to guess correctly what exactly is going to happen with all the characters in this movie.
Definitely there is a message behind this movie, but the ingredients of the wine and the bottle and the package are all tested and tried a lot in the last two decades. It is just the credit of the director that he has managed to shoot the scenes allright that the movie will make a pass as a one time watchable average fare.
Just like I mentioned with the directors, it is also incredible that Jayaram is not fed up of playing the same kind of roles again and again and again.
Monday, 26 December 2011
Oru Marubhoomi Kadha
2011 by Priyadarshan - Malayalam movie
What do I say. It is difficult for me to think that Priyadarshan is unable to make a really new Malayalam cinema.
His latest Malayalam cinema is a result of thousands of requests being made by fans and cinema friends, asking for a good comedy movie in Malayalam. He had announced many times he would not make another Malayalam comedy. But he had to break that promise. I just wish, he had taken some time and effort to bring out a real new cinema.
Instead, Priyan has taken bits and bits from many of his previous movies and from even other South Indian movies. All together it looks like a hotch spotch of past movies. Sure, there are some laughs here and there, but at the end of it I only felt sorry for Priyan and his team.
Mohanlal would be doing a great favour to cinema, if he will stop acting in love scenes and song sequences depicting love. He will also do a great favour to himself and his family, if he can do something to lose his weight. With his present physique, he should only play father or grand father roles or judges or retired police officers or something like that.
It is not a secret that vast majority of our heroines have horrible body shapes. They will do a favour to themselves if they would not appear in front of the camera wearing western dresses which clearly announce how horrible of a body (devoid of any curves at the back) they have. The person in point here is Bhavana.
One good point is the re assertion of the fact that Mukesh and Mohanlal make a great pair. They still have it in them to bring brilliant comic scenes. Just that, they need to take care of their physique and the roles that are made for them.
What do I say. It is difficult for me to think that Priyadarshan is unable to make a really new Malayalam cinema.
His latest Malayalam cinema is a result of thousands of requests being made by fans and cinema friends, asking for a good comedy movie in Malayalam. He had announced many times he would not make another Malayalam comedy. But he had to break that promise. I just wish, he had taken some time and effort to bring out a real new cinema.
Instead, Priyan has taken bits and bits from many of his previous movies and from even other South Indian movies. All together it looks like a hotch spotch of past movies. Sure, there are some laughs here and there, but at the end of it I only felt sorry for Priyan and his team.
Mohanlal would be doing a great favour to cinema, if he will stop acting in love scenes and song sequences depicting love. He will also do a great favour to himself and his family, if he can do something to lose his weight. With his present physique, he should only play father or grand father roles or judges or retired police officers or something like that.
It is not a secret that vast majority of our heroines have horrible body shapes. They will do a favour to themselves if they would not appear in front of the camera wearing western dresses which clearly announce how horrible of a body (devoid of any curves at the back) they have. The person in point here is Bhavana.
One good point is the re assertion of the fact that Mukesh and Mohanlal make a great pair. They still have it in them to bring brilliant comic scenes. Just that, they need to take care of their physique and the roles that are made for them.
Vellarippraavinte Changaathi
2011 by Akku Akbar - Malayalam movie
I did not expect anything great from this movie because of the director. He showed promise with his Veruthe Oru Bharya (which I think was the first time a Malayalam movie took note of the wife's point albeit the end being routine anti women stuff) and then a terrible movie in Kanaa Kanmany. VC also began exactly how an average Malayalam movie would, but then it looked completely different.
The story itself was quite different from routine. In fact there are three stories in one. And it definitely gave a great opportunity for Akku Akbar to make a classic but.....
Sometimes, the last bit of effort or care or that last bit of money spend would make a big difference. Watching VC, that was what I missed. A little bit more care on the script to avoid certain avoidable glitches and a bit more money to enhance the production qualities would have made a big difference in this movie. For, its story is really good and had all ingredients to make a brilliant drama. In fact, it has been long since there has been a story with a classical touch in Malayalam. All what was required was that final attention to details and a good producer. That is what I felt.
The climax could have been more better, actually the climax could have been like in a Shakespearean tragedy or even a dramatical end offering that last bit of heart felt tears of happiness. Either ways, if the script and the director had put in a bit more thought and effort, it would have been really different and better. Add to it the lack of production values, which is evident through out this movie. What a pity!
I also felt, had the movie used new faces for the 70's movie (the movie within this movie), VC would have shone even better. That would have been a master stroke which, together with the above points, would have offered a real classic to Malayalam cinema, which would have made Kerala proud.
The movie as such, is still better than 98% of modern Malayalam cinema. I really wish, this movie will not be a failure at the box office. If at all it wins, it might inspire many other movie makers, hopefully.
I did not expect anything great from this movie because of the director. He showed promise with his Veruthe Oru Bharya (which I think was the first time a Malayalam movie took note of the wife's point albeit the end being routine anti women stuff) and then a terrible movie in Kanaa Kanmany. VC also began exactly how an average Malayalam movie would, but then it looked completely different.
The story itself was quite different from routine. In fact there are three stories in one. And it definitely gave a great opportunity for Akku Akbar to make a classic but.....
Sometimes, the last bit of effort or care or that last bit of money spend would make a big difference. Watching VC, that was what I missed. A little bit more care on the script to avoid certain avoidable glitches and a bit more money to enhance the production qualities would have made a big difference in this movie. For, its story is really good and had all ingredients to make a brilliant drama. In fact, it has been long since there has been a story with a classical touch in Malayalam. All what was required was that final attention to details and a good producer. That is what I felt.
The climax could have been more better, actually the climax could have been like in a Shakespearean tragedy or even a dramatical end offering that last bit of heart felt tears of happiness. Either ways, if the script and the director had put in a bit more thought and effort, it would have been really different and better. Add to it the lack of production values, which is evident through out this movie. What a pity!
I also felt, had the movie used new faces for the 70's movie (the movie within this movie), VC would have shone even better. That would have been a master stroke which, together with the above points, would have offered a real classic to Malayalam cinema, which would have made Kerala proud.
The movie as such, is still better than 98% of modern Malayalam cinema. I really wish, this movie will not be a failure at the box office. If at all it wins, it might inspire many other movie makers, hopefully.
Sunday, 25 December 2011
Venicile Vyaapari
2011 by Shafi
Two Tamil movies which recreated 80's very well were huge hits in Kerala. I was sure then that Malayalam would follow suite. Well here it is but what a shame.
I dont even understand why this movie had to be set in the 80's at all. Even if at was in the end of 90's there would not have been any difference. Anyways, it ends as a very ordinary fare.
To be frank, the story looked quite different from routine Malayalam entertainers, at least during some parts in the first half. But later, it follows the same pattern as many other movies and is really ordinary.
I am afraid, Mammootty needs to stop accepting roles where he plays a normal hero who is around 30 or 40's. His age is not clear in this movie, but from the settings he is definitely playing somebody around 30 - 40 and he is really too old to play this. Real pity actually.
Finally I cannot stop thinking whether this movie would have chosen the 80's period, if not for the success of certain Tamil movies.
Two Tamil movies which recreated 80's very well were huge hits in Kerala. I was sure then that Malayalam would follow suite. Well here it is but what a shame.
I dont even understand why this movie had to be set in the 80's at all. Even if at was in the end of 90's there would not have been any difference. Anyways, it ends as a very ordinary fare.
To be frank, the story looked quite different from routine Malayalam entertainers, at least during some parts in the first half. But later, it follows the same pattern as many other movies and is really ordinary.
I am afraid, Mammootty needs to stop accepting roles where he plays a normal hero who is around 30 or 40's. His age is not clear in this movie, but from the settings he is definitely playing somebody around 30 - 40 and he is really too old to play this. Real pity actually.
Finally I cannot stop thinking whether this movie would have chosen the 80's period, if not for the success of certain Tamil movies.
Monday, 5 December 2011
Beautiful
2011 by V K Prakash - Malayalam movie
Yes this is a norm in Malayalam cinema now, our movies should have English names to be successful. How sad. Waiting to get inside the theatre, I heard more than a few people saying that this too is remade from some English movie. And there was a heated debate going on within a group of youngsters whether this is ok or not. Couple of guys were saying that except for Traffic, all the noted Malayalam films of 2011 have been copies/inspirations or what not. And his friend was arguing that since most Malayalees havent seen this foreign films, it is ok. Anyways. I was a bit disappointed to hear that. Anoop Menon had made an excellent copy with his previous writing creation. So he can probably do it again. And VK Prakash too, inspite of making a very good movie in Mullavalliyum Thenmaavum, had tried to copy with his Gulumal. So there is a probability of this being a copy too. And since I knew that Jayasuriya is playing a paraplegic, like in Mar Adentro, the Spanish movie in which Javier Bardem played a similar character, I was thinking , ok, may be this is that one. But it is definitely not Mar Adentro, and nor did it look like any movie which I have seen. But the character has shades of few characters which we have seen in few other movies. I guess Anoop Menon created a very good character from many others. Whatever..
For V K Prakash, this is definitely a very good step. Though the plot, of relatives trying to get the assets of a weak man, has been told many times, the way it is told in this movie is very interesting. There is a touch of freshness in it for which all credit should be given to V K Prakash. He has made a very different entertainer, which looks absolutely nice, compared to the horrible stuff we are dumped with these days in Malayalam cinema.
Jayasuriya as the paraplegic has done a good job. Just wish the camera, which is also excellent compared to typical Malayalam standards, had chosen to concentrate on his straight face on few occasions when the character was supposed to give some really challenging emotions. But in all such moments, the camera instead opted for a profile frame, which was surprising. Jayasuriya might regret it I am afraid. Because with a camera on his straight face, those moments could have got him real recognition. He still has come out with a really nice and endearing performance. Anoop Menon, was all right just like his character. Here is yet another routine sympathy seeking Malayalam hero character and he did exactly what it was meant for. If only there was something different with this character, Mr. Menon too could have had a top notch performance. I really thought, the way he sang some of those songs were quite poor.
My favourite part of this movie involved three female characters. One is a doctor who makes a talk on extra martial affairs, with our hero. The other is the maid played by Tesni Khan. And the last is the leading lady, Anjali, played by Meghna Raj. The first one is a cameo role, but it is nice to see a Malayalam female character talk frankly. The second one again speaks out, without the typical Keralan hypocritic moral senses, and possibly is making a break with female characters in Malayalam mainstream cinema. The third one for its feminity. It has been really long that a female character looked so beautiful, feminine and unintentionally seductive. For me, these three characters require a brilliant rating. However, the climax does raise certain questions on the nature of Anjali and on the whole plot. Anyways, this is only meant to be an entertainer. So let it be. The movie is still very enjoyable. And Meghna Raj has bloody beautiful eyes.
People seem to love this movie and there was a real applause at the end of it, which happens very rarely. However, I still heard someone saying that this is an English movie, as the crowd was rushing out of the theatre. I would really like to know which one it is, if at all this indeed is inspired or copied from a single movie.
Yes this is a norm in Malayalam cinema now, our movies should have English names to be successful. How sad. Waiting to get inside the theatre, I heard more than a few people saying that this too is remade from some English movie. And there was a heated debate going on within a group of youngsters whether this is ok or not. Couple of guys were saying that except for Traffic, all the noted Malayalam films of 2011 have been copies/inspirations or what not. And his friend was arguing that since most Malayalees havent seen this foreign films, it is ok. Anyways. I was a bit disappointed to hear that. Anoop Menon had made an excellent copy with his previous writing creation. So he can probably do it again. And VK Prakash too, inspite of making a very good movie in Mullavalliyum Thenmaavum, had tried to copy with his Gulumal. So there is a probability of this being a copy too. And since I knew that Jayasuriya is playing a paraplegic, like in Mar Adentro, the Spanish movie in which Javier Bardem played a similar character, I was thinking , ok, may be this is that one. But it is definitely not Mar Adentro, and nor did it look like any movie which I have seen. But the character has shades of few characters which we have seen in few other movies. I guess Anoop Menon created a very good character from many others. Whatever..
For V K Prakash, this is definitely a very good step. Though the plot, of relatives trying to get the assets of a weak man, has been told many times, the way it is told in this movie is very interesting. There is a touch of freshness in it for which all credit should be given to V K Prakash. He has made a very different entertainer, which looks absolutely nice, compared to the horrible stuff we are dumped with these days in Malayalam cinema.
Jayasuriya as the paraplegic has done a good job. Just wish the camera, which is also excellent compared to typical Malayalam standards, had chosen to concentrate on his straight face on few occasions when the character was supposed to give some really challenging emotions. But in all such moments, the camera instead opted for a profile frame, which was surprising. Jayasuriya might regret it I am afraid. Because with a camera on his straight face, those moments could have got him real recognition. He still has come out with a really nice and endearing performance. Anoop Menon, was all right just like his character. Here is yet another routine sympathy seeking Malayalam hero character and he did exactly what it was meant for. If only there was something different with this character, Mr. Menon too could have had a top notch performance. I really thought, the way he sang some of those songs were quite poor.
My favourite part of this movie involved three female characters. One is a doctor who makes a talk on extra martial affairs, with our hero. The other is the maid played by Tesni Khan. And the last is the leading lady, Anjali, played by Meghna Raj. The first one is a cameo role, but it is nice to see a Malayalam female character talk frankly. The second one again speaks out, without the typical Keralan hypocritic moral senses, and possibly is making a break with female characters in Malayalam mainstream cinema. The third one for its feminity. It has been really long that a female character looked so beautiful, feminine and unintentionally seductive. For me, these three characters require a brilliant rating. However, the climax does raise certain questions on the nature of Anjali and on the whole plot. Anyways, this is only meant to be an entertainer. So let it be. The movie is still very enjoyable. And Meghna Raj has bloody beautiful eyes.
People seem to love this movie and there was a real applause at the end of it, which happens very rarely. However, I still heard someone saying that this is an English movie, as the crowd was rushing out of the theatre. I would really like to know which one it is, if at all this indeed is inspired or copied from a single movie.
Monday, 28 November 2011
Naayika
2011 by Jayaraj - Malayalam movie
A director who debuted with a very simple movie like Vidyarambham and later gave some excellent movies like Kaliyaattom and Makalkku, and one who has more than 2 decades of history behind him, when such a director decides to make a movie dedicated to the heroines of yester years, it is normal to have hope. But watching this movie, I doubt, what this movie was meant for.
More than a couple of South Indian heroines had committed suicide in the past and there are many stories related to these deaths. However there were a couple of movies in the 80's which dealt on these theme, most notably Lekhayude Maranam oru Flashback by K G George. So it is natural for me to think that if Jayaraj wanted to make a movie on the cause of deaths of yester year heroine's he should have planned one which would have bettered or at least matched Lekhayude... However, watching this movie the death of an actress does not look an issue for a good majority of the film. It rather looks at the relationship between an yester year heroine and a girl who is making a documentary on her. At the same time it is also like a great struggle to get into the past of a heroine.
Whatever it may be Naayika is a poor cinema. It rather looks a very amateurish movie, which is sad considering the fact that it was made by an established director. There is no intensity on the scene and it will be a surprise if any viewer would be able to find any kind of intense feelings anywhere in this movie. I wonder the whole unit were lackadaisical in their attitude during the making of this. From the basic story to the script to the director to the technical aspects and even in simple make up, the movie is so amateurish.
And I strongly deplore the fact that the story is designed by creating couple of characters using extracts from the lives of many heroines and heroes of yester years, which was quite pathetic. After mentioning about the legendary Prem Nazir many times here and there, to make a hero, with a different name, to mimic the style and persona of Prem Nazir was a childish act. I simply do not understand this.
Compare this movie with the subtle scenes of Mayakkam Enna and I am reassured, Malayalam cinema is really in a terrible state.
A director who debuted with a very simple movie like Vidyarambham and later gave some excellent movies like Kaliyaattom and Makalkku, and one who has more than 2 decades of history behind him, when such a director decides to make a movie dedicated to the heroines of yester years, it is normal to have hope. But watching this movie, I doubt, what this movie was meant for.
More than a couple of South Indian heroines had committed suicide in the past and there are many stories related to these deaths. However there were a couple of movies in the 80's which dealt on these theme, most notably Lekhayude Maranam oru Flashback by K G George. So it is natural for me to think that if Jayaraj wanted to make a movie on the cause of deaths of yester year heroine's he should have planned one which would have bettered or at least matched Lekhayude... However, watching this movie the death of an actress does not look an issue for a good majority of the film. It rather looks at the relationship between an yester year heroine and a girl who is making a documentary on her. At the same time it is also like a great struggle to get into the past of a heroine.
Whatever it may be Naayika is a poor cinema. It rather looks a very amateurish movie, which is sad considering the fact that it was made by an established director. There is no intensity on the scene and it will be a surprise if any viewer would be able to find any kind of intense feelings anywhere in this movie. I wonder the whole unit were lackadaisical in their attitude during the making of this. From the basic story to the script to the director to the technical aspects and even in simple make up, the movie is so amateurish.
And I strongly deplore the fact that the story is designed by creating couple of characters using extracts from the lives of many heroines and heroes of yester years, which was quite pathetic. After mentioning about the legendary Prem Nazir many times here and there, to make a hero, with a different name, to mimic the style and persona of Prem Nazir was a childish act. I simply do not understand this.
Compare this movie with the subtle scenes of Mayakkam Enna and I am reassured, Malayalam cinema is really in a terrible state.
Monday, 17 October 2011
Veeraputhran, The Legend
2011 by P T Kunju Muhammed - Malayalam movie
May be because of its location, Kerala has never really experienced the real travails of war or any disastrous calamities. Even during the freedom struggle, there was not any notably prominent episodes that occured in Kerala, except for a strike for temple entry for all, which really got the whole nation behind it, or which was really inspired by historians. Except for a minor exceptions (for national prominence) Kerala was always away from anything serious, war or freedom struggle or whatever it may be. It could be argued that this could be one reason why Malayalam movies have never managed a really good attempt which touched the plots of war or freedom struggle. The only one movie which, I think, portrayed anything seriously was Meenamaasathile Sooryan, by Lenin Rajendran, which was in the 80's. We have not managed even a good movie on the famed Punnapra Vayalaar strike. Only small fractions of population were affected by any such strikes or riots, must be the reason, why we never make films on such serious issues, or why any of our film makers have ever been inspired to make such movies. Mohammed Abdul Rahman was a prominent freedom fighter in Malabar, who inspired many Keralan poets, but it took so long for a movie to be made on him.
The movie goes through the events between 1921 and 1945, during which this legend rose into prominence in North Kerala.
I always have felt, Malayalam movies lack something to make good period or historic movies. In all our history, we have got only very few, really few number of good period movies. I consider only Vaishali, Perundachhan, Oru Vadakkan Veeragaadha and Parinayam as good period movies from Malayalam. Except for the recent Urumi, all those movies happened in 80's and had the same person, M T Vasudevan Nair as the script writer, is more than interesting. Actually, none of them had anything to do with freedom struggle, though Parinayam dealt with a very serious issue during those years. But even M T's attempt at creating a period script, based on freedom struggle, I would say was a failure with Pazhassiraja. Kaalapaani, by Priyadarshan, was an attempt too, but failed inspite of getting the looks of a period movie right. But that was the only movie, which got the technical side right. All the tehcnical aspects and the looks of that movie really had a period feel.
Veeraputhran, is yet another proof that we lack something, when it comes to making good period movies. The movie is based on a novel, but the script fails very badly, or during its conversion to the script, the writer failed in picking up or setting up scenes, which could offer importance or cinematic value. The first half of the movie hence is really horrible. Only the second half manages to evoke some interest, but I would sincerely say it does not do justice to the legend of Abdu Rahman Sahib.
Most parts of the movie has only the quality of amateur drama to be honest. The director wants to touch into the personal life and interests of Sahib is sure, but the scenes all look misfit, just like square pegs in a round hole. Add to it, his idea to put in few songs, it looks really terrible. I was really disappointed to see one song especially, picturised between Sahib and his wife, which was an absolute misfit for this kind of a movie.
But inspite of all its drawback, I would still give a big credit for the director for just one aspect. Narain performs the role of Sahib, and even if the script does not demand any extra ordinary performance, Narain seems to have put his heart into it. Yes, even without any need to put a varied lot of facial expressions, especially with his body language, Narain seems to have imbibed the persona of Sahib and personally I found he did justice to the character. I felt like looking at Sahib, rather than a popular actor. So kudos to the director and actor on this aspect.
Otherways, I am sorry to say that the movie was very disappointing.
May be because of its location, Kerala has never really experienced the real travails of war or any disastrous calamities. Even during the freedom struggle, there was not any notably prominent episodes that occured in Kerala, except for a strike for temple entry for all, which really got the whole nation behind it, or which was really inspired by historians. Except for a minor exceptions (for national prominence) Kerala was always away from anything serious, war or freedom struggle or whatever it may be. It could be argued that this could be one reason why Malayalam movies have never managed a really good attempt which touched the plots of war or freedom struggle. The only one movie which, I think, portrayed anything seriously was Meenamaasathile Sooryan, by Lenin Rajendran, which was in the 80's. We have not managed even a good movie on the famed Punnapra Vayalaar strike. Only small fractions of population were affected by any such strikes or riots, must be the reason, why we never make films on such serious issues, or why any of our film makers have ever been inspired to make such movies. Mohammed Abdul Rahman was a prominent freedom fighter in Malabar, who inspired many Keralan poets, but it took so long for a movie to be made on him.
The movie goes through the events between 1921 and 1945, during which this legend rose into prominence in North Kerala.
I always have felt, Malayalam movies lack something to make good period or historic movies. In all our history, we have got only very few, really few number of good period movies. I consider only Vaishali, Perundachhan, Oru Vadakkan Veeragaadha and Parinayam as good period movies from Malayalam. Except for the recent Urumi, all those movies happened in 80's and had the same person, M T Vasudevan Nair as the script writer, is more than interesting. Actually, none of them had anything to do with freedom struggle, though Parinayam dealt with a very serious issue during those years. But even M T's attempt at creating a period script, based on freedom struggle, I would say was a failure with Pazhassiraja. Kaalapaani, by Priyadarshan, was an attempt too, but failed inspite of getting the looks of a period movie right. But that was the only movie, which got the technical side right. All the tehcnical aspects and the looks of that movie really had a period feel.
Veeraputhran, is yet another proof that we lack something, when it comes to making good period movies. The movie is based on a novel, but the script fails very badly, or during its conversion to the script, the writer failed in picking up or setting up scenes, which could offer importance or cinematic value. The first half of the movie hence is really horrible. Only the second half manages to evoke some interest, but I would sincerely say it does not do justice to the legend of Abdu Rahman Sahib.
Most parts of the movie has only the quality of amateur drama to be honest. The director wants to touch into the personal life and interests of Sahib is sure, but the scenes all look misfit, just like square pegs in a round hole. Add to it, his idea to put in few songs, it looks really terrible. I was really disappointed to see one song especially, picturised between Sahib and his wife, which was an absolute misfit for this kind of a movie.
But inspite of all its drawback, I would still give a big credit for the director for just one aspect. Narain performs the role of Sahib, and even if the script does not demand any extra ordinary performance, Narain seems to have put his heart into it. Yes, even without any need to put a varied lot of facial expressions, especially with his body language, Narain seems to have imbibed the persona of Sahib and personally I found he did justice to the character. I felt like looking at Sahib, rather than a popular actor. So kudos to the director and actor on this aspect.
Otherways, I am sorry to say that the movie was very disappointing.
Monday, 10 October 2011
Indian Rupee
2011 by Ranjith - Malayalam movie
Ranjith definitely is considered a reliable director for Malayalam cinema. I will always sing praises of his Kaiyyoppu and Paleri Manickyam - oru paathira Kolapaathakathinte kadha. Then there are also movies like Praanchiyettan and the Saint, Nandanam and Thirakkadha. Unfortunately though, each and every Ranjith movie is built around certain aspects of Malayalam culture (except in Thirakkadha), which will turn the movie as difficult to comprehend for a foreigner or even an Indian out of Kerala. Ranjith looked very unhappy when Paleri Manickyam and Praanchiyettan, the latter especially, didnt get much accolades in the national awards. The reason is quite clear. His movies are built around genuine Malayaali life with all its subtleties, intricacies and extravaganzas, which are all expressed via dialogues, which only an average Malayaalee can understand. It is impossible to blame those outside Kerala for not giving due credit for Praanchiyettan or Paleri Manickyam. For anybody who does not know Keralan life very well, these movies would look very ordinary. Ranjith has again picked up a plot, which is quite contemporary and ordinary for a Malayaalee.
Two young men are dreaming to make it big in real estate business, as their only hope to climb the ladder to getting rich. Overnight they make some money and when they dream even bigger, they are forced to see the other side of getting rich.
I can only say that Indian Rupee is a very good average movie. Nothing big nor small. Considering that this is made by a director who gave us movies like Pranchiyettan and Paleri or even Kaiyoppu, Indian rupee is just an ordinary fare. But it is quite simple enough and never goes really overboard that we can give it a very good pass. Nothing more or less. I wish Ranjith looks higher up than Paleri or Praanchiyettan.
Ranjith does try to look into certain aspects of contemporary Keralan life, like the malaise of arranged marriages cherried by dowry and also the urge to find easy money by todays youth. The formal is touched upon by few dialogues only, but it does receive good attention. The latter seems to be the main point behind this movie. One could argue that may be he tried to bring out the infamous ways of real estate brokers and their mal practices to fore through this attempt, rather than pointing out fingers at the greed of our youth. From all what I read, I thought Ranjith aimed for the latter. Eitherways, we have two predecessors in the recent past.
Ividam Swargamaanu, dealt nicely with the mal practices of the real estate mafia to some extent. And Maaya Kannadi (by Cheran in Tamil) portrayed wonderfully the urge of the youth for easy money. Maaya Kannadi definitely is a much better film as it had a beautiful story based on two working class youth characters, well etched out, trying hard to get rich.
Lets forget about all this and just think about Indian Rupee. It is quite simple and is devoid of many routine spicy factors, with a plot which looks very different from the ordinary. Excellent performances by Prithviraj, Thilakan, Tini Tom and Jagathy. And a simple and supportive camera work from S. Kumar (for me Kumar sir is the specialist in Malayalam to give the available light feeling).
So basically it looks refreshing, but is still not devoid of run of the mill cliches. Like the arrival of a friend from the Gulf, when the hero is in need of urgent money and few other things. Some of the characters, like that of Achutha Menon (Thilakan) and the retired doctor in Merkara (Revathy), looks quite vague and strange. And I would also say it was absolutely unnecessary to add two songs in this movie, one of them was horribly picturised too. When will we have a hero who cannot sing or is afraid to take huge decisions like agreeing to make 1 crore rupees in a few days. This is especially strange because at one point the hero is described by his own mother as somebody who doesnt have even Rs.30 in his valet. But somebody is ready to offer him 50lakhs. Anyways..
I wonder how much would this movie help to rise the career graph of Ranjith. For an artiste of his calibre, I would say, either his graph is stagnant or even it has dipped slightly. For, Indian Rupee is no where near Paleri Manickyam, which inspite of its climax glitches looked brilliant. Indian Rupees is just a simple good average movie.
Ranjith definitely is considered a reliable director for Malayalam cinema. I will always sing praises of his Kaiyyoppu and Paleri Manickyam - oru paathira Kolapaathakathinte kadha. Then there are also movies like Praanchiyettan and the Saint, Nandanam and Thirakkadha. Unfortunately though, each and every Ranjith movie is built around certain aspects of Malayalam culture (except in Thirakkadha), which will turn the movie as difficult to comprehend for a foreigner or even an Indian out of Kerala. Ranjith looked very unhappy when Paleri Manickyam and Praanchiyettan, the latter especially, didnt get much accolades in the national awards. The reason is quite clear. His movies are built around genuine Malayaali life with all its subtleties, intricacies and extravaganzas, which are all expressed via dialogues, which only an average Malayaalee can understand. It is impossible to blame those outside Kerala for not giving due credit for Praanchiyettan or Paleri Manickyam. For anybody who does not know Keralan life very well, these movies would look very ordinary. Ranjith has again picked up a plot, which is quite contemporary and ordinary for a Malayaalee.
Two young men are dreaming to make it big in real estate business, as their only hope to climb the ladder to getting rich. Overnight they make some money and when they dream even bigger, they are forced to see the other side of getting rich.
I can only say that Indian Rupee is a very good average movie. Nothing big nor small. Considering that this is made by a director who gave us movies like Pranchiyettan and Paleri or even Kaiyoppu, Indian rupee is just an ordinary fare. But it is quite simple enough and never goes really overboard that we can give it a very good pass. Nothing more or less. I wish Ranjith looks higher up than Paleri or Praanchiyettan.
Ranjith does try to look into certain aspects of contemporary Keralan life, like the malaise of arranged marriages cherried by dowry and also the urge to find easy money by todays youth. The formal is touched upon by few dialogues only, but it does receive good attention. The latter seems to be the main point behind this movie. One could argue that may be he tried to bring out the infamous ways of real estate brokers and their mal practices to fore through this attempt, rather than pointing out fingers at the greed of our youth. From all what I read, I thought Ranjith aimed for the latter. Eitherways, we have two predecessors in the recent past.
Ividam Swargamaanu, dealt nicely with the mal practices of the real estate mafia to some extent. And Maaya Kannadi (by Cheran in Tamil) portrayed wonderfully the urge of the youth for easy money. Maaya Kannadi definitely is a much better film as it had a beautiful story based on two working class youth characters, well etched out, trying hard to get rich.
Lets forget about all this and just think about Indian Rupee. It is quite simple and is devoid of many routine spicy factors, with a plot which looks very different from the ordinary. Excellent performances by Prithviraj, Thilakan, Tini Tom and Jagathy. And a simple and supportive camera work from S. Kumar (for me Kumar sir is the specialist in Malayalam to give the available light feeling).
So basically it looks refreshing, but is still not devoid of run of the mill cliches. Like the arrival of a friend from the Gulf, when the hero is in need of urgent money and few other things. Some of the characters, like that of Achutha Menon (Thilakan) and the retired doctor in Merkara (Revathy), looks quite vague and strange. And I would also say it was absolutely unnecessary to add two songs in this movie, one of them was horribly picturised too. When will we have a hero who cannot sing or is afraid to take huge decisions like agreeing to make 1 crore rupees in a few days. This is especially strange because at one point the hero is described by his own mother as somebody who doesnt have even Rs.30 in his valet. But somebody is ready to offer him 50lakhs. Anyways..
I wonder how much would this movie help to rise the career graph of Ranjith. For an artiste of his calibre, I would say, either his graph is stagnant or even it has dipped slightly. For, Indian Rupee is no where near Paleri Manickyam, which inspite of its climax glitches looked brilliant. Indian Rupees is just a simple good average movie.
Monday, 26 September 2011
Doctor Love
2011 by Biju - Malayalam movie
Many North Indians mentioned to me that Kerala is really good because most women seem to be working. Well, they are only thinking about the women from the middle class. They ignore the fact that outside Kerala too, most women (from the poor who form the good majority of Indian population) work, but the menial kind of jobs, the ones the educated middle class would never do. So the fact that poor women across India, work in fields, forests, homes and sometimes even as manual scavengers is conveniently ignored by the affluent classes. So these people always consider Kerala women to be very lucky. In the north, inspite of getting good education, most women ends up in their slave job as a house wife or as trophy wives or what not. In Kerala they see so many working women, white collar jobs, and feel Keralan women are very lucky group of women who can be modern. I think, elsewhere women end up as slaves at home inspite of their education. But in Kerala, women end up as slaves, inspite of being educated and well employed. Films influence our life and society in a big way. The same is true in Kerala too. And the way Malayalam films treat women is really pathetic. And many Malayaalee male's perspective of a female is cultured by the way the female is portrayed in our films.
A writer of third rate romantic novels tries to help out people in search of love answers. He ends up doing a canteen job in a college, helping many Romeos seek their Juliette, and himself get entangled in some situations.
There is nothing new in this plot as it has been told many times in many different movies. And keeping in tact, our way of looking at campus girls, this movie too has painted our girls in a very poor way. Almost all cliches which has been practiced in our movies to describe or tame any kind of women, including the immortal male slap on the female cheek, is all here too. It is all done with the help of some humour that even the women laughing out loud in the theatres do not seem to care. The problem is that many young males watching these movies will turn into typical Malayaalee machos, just like the previous generations did, with some weird and wrong idea about love and women.
The movie is presented in a way that it never gets terribly bohring, but it is still a terrible watch.
I feel sorry, for our women who has to laugh out with their husbands, for these actresses who has to play in such movies and also for the Malayaalee males who will continue having this horrible wrong idea about women and also about love.
Many North Indians mentioned to me that Kerala is really good because most women seem to be working. Well, they are only thinking about the women from the middle class. They ignore the fact that outside Kerala too, most women (from the poor who form the good majority of Indian population) work, but the menial kind of jobs, the ones the educated middle class would never do. So the fact that poor women across India, work in fields, forests, homes and sometimes even as manual scavengers is conveniently ignored by the affluent classes. So these people always consider Kerala women to be very lucky. In the north, inspite of getting good education, most women ends up in their slave job as a house wife or as trophy wives or what not. In Kerala they see so many working women, white collar jobs, and feel Keralan women are very lucky group of women who can be modern. I think, elsewhere women end up as slaves at home inspite of their education. But in Kerala, women end up as slaves, inspite of being educated and well employed. Films influence our life and society in a big way. The same is true in Kerala too. And the way Malayalam films treat women is really pathetic. And many Malayaalee male's perspective of a female is cultured by the way the female is portrayed in our films.
A writer of third rate romantic novels tries to help out people in search of love answers. He ends up doing a canteen job in a college, helping many Romeos seek their Juliette, and himself get entangled in some situations.
There is nothing new in this plot as it has been told many times in many different movies. And keeping in tact, our way of looking at campus girls, this movie too has painted our girls in a very poor way. Almost all cliches which has been practiced in our movies to describe or tame any kind of women, including the immortal male slap on the female cheek, is all here too. It is all done with the help of some humour that even the women laughing out loud in the theatres do not seem to care. The problem is that many young males watching these movies will turn into typical Malayaalee machos, just like the previous generations did, with some weird and wrong idea about love and women.
The movie is presented in a way that it never gets terribly bohring, but it is still a terrible watch.
I feel sorry, for our women who has to laugh out with their husbands, for these actresses who has to play in such movies and also for the Malayaalee males who will continue having this horrible wrong idea about women and also about love.
Saturday, 10 September 2011
Sevenes
2011 by Joshi - Malayalam movie
There was a very successful Tamil movie, Vennizha Kabadi Kuzhu, couple of years back. It took the sport Kabadi and made a differently good movie around it. Some time after its success, there was a comment by Mammootty, the Malayalam movie legend, that it was sad nobody wanted similar movies in Malayalam. Considering, Mammootty's realtionship with Joshy, the veteran super director, I really thought this movie is a result of that comment. For all the publicity and even the title suggests a movie around Football. Like there is Five a match in Europe, in Kerala Seven a side Football is very popular, especially in villages. And Football looked like the main reason, at least for the first 15 minutes.
A group of 7 friends, who plays football, ends up seriously injuring an opposition player due to some mis information. Since the injured player is from a poor family, just like all of them, they decide to help his family to meet the hospital bills. They do not have any other options than to enter the 'quotation' job (the new millennium term in Kerala for running petty mafia gangs).
As I mentioned, I thought this was going to be a movie inspired by the above mentioned Tamil movie and for the first 15 minutes or so, it did look so. Just that, hardly any of the 7 players had anything close to a physique similar to a football player. When somebody is really into football, it is impossible for that person to have fat around the abdomen area. Well, here all of them looked like as if they are one to three months pregnant. Even the two tall guys, who looked like having some good upper torso had lots of fat around their abdomen. Anyways, this is Malayalam movie and we really dont care for casting. And the way the football scenes are shot are amateurish and even hilarious at times.
But only then are we told that the movie is not about Football, it is actually about a social issue which is actually getting very serious in Kerala, these days. Young men taking up petty mafia jobs, just to make some easy money. It is definitely a serious topic, but the intentions of the producers definitely were not to go after this issue seriously. They just wanted only an entertainer to be built around this, even if some comments based on the issue are thrown around here and there. And it ends up only as a pretty ordinary entertainer, where everybody knows what is going to happen and how it is going to happen. It is disappointing this movie was shot by Joshi. Well, he has not given a good one for long time, so...
So there is still some romance, lots of fights, murder, misunderstandings, mobile camera evidences, and of course songs. Ah, yes the presence of Police too. Nadia Moidu plays the city police commissioner and I sincerely felt, only Urvashi could have done a better over play of this role. Watching her perform, it was difficult for me to believe this movie was directed by Joshi.
In between, the role played by Raju, as a broker who sets up quotation jobs was the only silver lining of this movie. The character itself, the way he is shot always and the way the actor conducted himself, all was excellent.
Watch this movie, if you have lots of time free and if you dont mind watching just another typical ordinary movie.
The movie is titled as Sevenes, instead of Sevens. Either due to the advice of some stupid astrologer or numerologist, or they wanted to make the tile to have 7 letters, just like the team.
There was a very successful Tamil movie, Vennizha Kabadi Kuzhu, couple of years back. It took the sport Kabadi and made a differently good movie around it. Some time after its success, there was a comment by Mammootty, the Malayalam movie legend, that it was sad nobody wanted similar movies in Malayalam. Considering, Mammootty's realtionship with Joshy, the veteran super director, I really thought this movie is a result of that comment. For all the publicity and even the title suggests a movie around Football. Like there is Five a match in Europe, in Kerala Seven a side Football is very popular, especially in villages. And Football looked like the main reason, at least for the first 15 minutes.
A group of 7 friends, who plays football, ends up seriously injuring an opposition player due to some mis information. Since the injured player is from a poor family, just like all of them, they decide to help his family to meet the hospital bills. They do not have any other options than to enter the 'quotation' job (the new millennium term in Kerala for running petty mafia gangs).
As I mentioned, I thought this was going to be a movie inspired by the above mentioned Tamil movie and for the first 15 minutes or so, it did look so. Just that, hardly any of the 7 players had anything close to a physique similar to a football player. When somebody is really into football, it is impossible for that person to have fat around the abdomen area. Well, here all of them looked like as if they are one to three months pregnant. Even the two tall guys, who looked like having some good upper torso had lots of fat around their abdomen. Anyways, this is Malayalam movie and we really dont care for casting. And the way the football scenes are shot are amateurish and even hilarious at times.
But only then are we told that the movie is not about Football, it is actually about a social issue which is actually getting very serious in Kerala, these days. Young men taking up petty mafia jobs, just to make some easy money. It is definitely a serious topic, but the intentions of the producers definitely were not to go after this issue seriously. They just wanted only an entertainer to be built around this, even if some comments based on the issue are thrown around here and there. And it ends up only as a pretty ordinary entertainer, where everybody knows what is going to happen and how it is going to happen. It is disappointing this movie was shot by Joshi. Well, he has not given a good one for long time, so...
So there is still some romance, lots of fights, murder, misunderstandings, mobile camera evidences, and of course songs. Ah, yes the presence of Police too. Nadia Moidu plays the city police commissioner and I sincerely felt, only Urvashi could have done a better over play of this role. Watching her perform, it was difficult for me to believe this movie was directed by Joshi.
In between, the role played by Raju, as a broker who sets up quotation jobs was the only silver lining of this movie. The character itself, the way he is shot always and the way the actor conducted himself, all was excellent.
Watch this movie, if you have lots of time free and if you dont mind watching just another typical ordinary movie.
The movie is titled as Sevenes, instead of Sevens. Either due to the advice of some stupid astrologer or numerologist, or they wanted to make the tile to have 7 letters, just like the team.
Monday, 5 September 2011
Pranayam
2011 by Blessy - Malayalam movie
It is an important point that, many of the recent movies in Malayalam, all touted as different and special or what not, were all adapted from movies else where. Couple of decades back, this was un-thinkable in Malayalam as we had a great talent of writers who found ingenious topics for our movies. But right now, almost all movies are good enough for the waste box and the ones which look good, majority of them, are not original. Blessy came in with a lot of promises as a debutant director with Kaazcha, a brilliant movie. He gave some more glimpses of hope with Palunku and Thanmaatra, to some extents. However he did let us down largely. I am sure, many people will hail him and thank him for this movie, but it is just a shame that he has been inspired by Innocence, the 2000 movie from Paul Cox, without any mention at all.
Menon, 67 years, is living in his son's apartment in Kochi city. He meets Grace who has recently shifted to this building, with her husband, Mathews,and family. Menon and Grace had eloped and married in a short living marriage, 40 years ago.
The master stroke by Blessy is that he has made significant changes to the original and placed the theme to fit into Keralan sensibilities. I saw Innocence long back, sometime in 2003, so not able to recollect it very well. But one of the highlights of that movie was its intense portraiture of love, which can arise at old age which could find pleasure both for the mind and the body. However, catering to a highly hypocritic Keralan psyche, Blessy completely keeps away the physical aspects (and in ways even the mental aspects). And he even suggests that it could be a physical contact between two of the characters, which prompts the end of the movie. This is just my thought, I could be wrong. But this is highly possible and I am sure the Keralan hypocrisy will support him in that. But I cant help saying this, inspite of all his master strokes, the movie still holds elements of an alien culture, which an ordinary Keralite would find hard to understand.(Just like in the case of Bheja Fry, when it was adapted from Le Diner de Cons).
I would say, the movie is more about aging, than love. The original was definitely about love at old age. Here from the very beginning, till the end, it is all about the travails and fear of loneliness of three aged souls. Through them Blessy succeeds in making us feel for the state of our old. And friendship is what he instills between these three, instead of love in the original. Looking at it that way, I would say it is a beautiful movie about old age.
Blessy always seems to create a wrong aura around his movie for marketing. For Bhramaram, he promoted it as a road movie, when it was not one in any ways. Here, he markets it as one on love, but it looks more like a movie of 3 persons, finding friendship at old age. I feel, a single man or woman, nearing 60, watching this movie, would worry about the lack of a friend for their future.
I was very unhappy with how Blessy dealt with the flash back scenes, the old times of Menon and Grace, some time in the 70's. The settings, actors and almost everything about these scenes, looked quite mediocre (In one of those shots from Maharajas college ground, the LIC building can be clearly seen, which was added in 90's I think). So was his casting. Mohanlal is brilliant as Mathews. In fact I am very glad to see Mohanlal doing such a role, after a long time. Jayaprada plays Grace and Anupam Kher plays Menon. Jayaprada was not a great actor, even at her prime and even now she is only just ok. Wish if this role was given to Shobana or Revathy or Sumalatha. Any of them would have taken it to a different level. Anupam Kher too, looks good. But his inability to understand Malayalam language is quite evident. Blessy could have found somebody from the South for this role, I hope. So as always for Malayalam, casting is still a problem. Blessy looks like walking on the line of going over board in some important emotional scenes. A little bit of subtlety would have done quite a lot of service to this movie.
Cinematography was excellent. It has been some time since a Malayalam cinema had a camera work, which is quite silent. Just fine for the movie.
Well, it is still a very good movie, considering the present stature of Malayalam movie, like the first rain in March/April. Promoting it as a movie on old age would have been better though.
It is an important point that, many of the recent movies in Malayalam, all touted as different and special or what not, were all adapted from movies else where. Couple of decades back, this was un-thinkable in Malayalam as we had a great talent of writers who found ingenious topics for our movies. But right now, almost all movies are good enough for the waste box and the ones which look good, majority of them, are not original. Blessy came in with a lot of promises as a debutant director with Kaazcha, a brilliant movie. He gave some more glimpses of hope with Palunku and Thanmaatra, to some extents. However he did let us down largely. I am sure, many people will hail him and thank him for this movie, but it is just a shame that he has been inspired by Innocence, the 2000 movie from Paul Cox, without any mention at all.
Menon, 67 years, is living in his son's apartment in Kochi city. He meets Grace who has recently shifted to this building, with her husband, Mathews,and family. Menon and Grace had eloped and married in a short living marriage, 40 years ago.
The master stroke by Blessy is that he has made significant changes to the original and placed the theme to fit into Keralan sensibilities. I saw Innocence long back, sometime in 2003, so not able to recollect it very well. But one of the highlights of that movie was its intense portraiture of love, which can arise at old age which could find pleasure both for the mind and the body. However, catering to a highly hypocritic Keralan psyche, Blessy completely keeps away the physical aspects (and in ways even the mental aspects). And he even suggests that it could be a physical contact between two of the characters, which prompts the end of the movie. This is just my thought, I could be wrong. But this is highly possible and I am sure the Keralan hypocrisy will support him in that. But I cant help saying this, inspite of all his master strokes, the movie still holds elements of an alien culture, which an ordinary Keralite would find hard to understand.(Just like in the case of Bheja Fry, when it was adapted from Le Diner de Cons).
I would say, the movie is more about aging, than love. The original was definitely about love at old age. Here from the very beginning, till the end, it is all about the travails and fear of loneliness of three aged souls. Through them Blessy succeeds in making us feel for the state of our old. And friendship is what he instills between these three, instead of love in the original. Looking at it that way, I would say it is a beautiful movie about old age.
Blessy always seems to create a wrong aura around his movie for marketing. For Bhramaram, he promoted it as a road movie, when it was not one in any ways. Here, he markets it as one on love, but it looks more like a movie of 3 persons, finding friendship at old age. I feel, a single man or woman, nearing 60, watching this movie, would worry about the lack of a friend for their future.
I was very unhappy with how Blessy dealt with the flash back scenes, the old times of Menon and Grace, some time in the 70's. The settings, actors and almost everything about these scenes, looked quite mediocre (In one of those shots from Maharajas college ground, the LIC building can be clearly seen, which was added in 90's I think). So was his casting. Mohanlal is brilliant as Mathews. In fact I am very glad to see Mohanlal doing such a role, after a long time. Jayaprada plays Grace and Anupam Kher plays Menon. Jayaprada was not a great actor, even at her prime and even now she is only just ok. Wish if this role was given to Shobana or Revathy or Sumalatha. Any of them would have taken it to a different level. Anupam Kher too, looks good. But his inability to understand Malayalam language is quite evident. Blessy could have found somebody from the South for this role, I hope. So as always for Malayalam, casting is still a problem. Blessy looks like walking on the line of going over board in some important emotional scenes. A little bit of subtlety would have done quite a lot of service to this movie.
Cinematography was excellent. It has been some time since a Malayalam cinema had a camera work, which is quite silent. Just fine for the movie.
Well, it is still a very good movie, considering the present stature of Malayalam movie, like the first rain in March/April. Promoting it as a movie on old age would have been better though.
Theja Bhai and Family
2011 by Deepu Karunakaran - Malayalam movie
80's were the golden era for Malayalam movies. May it be art house, or parallel or entertainers, we got the best during that period. There were some incredible comedies too, which watching now, look like brilliant classics. I wonder, how this particular movie would have been, if it was conceived and shot in the 80's.
An underworld king falls in love with a girl, but her father will only get her married to a man from a big family. The guy has to create a family for him, to impress his would be father in law.
Of course, if this movie was shot in 80's I am very sure it would have been an excellent entertainer. But but..
It turns out to be a horrible entertainer that it was quite difficult to bear it for two hours and half.
There were two silver lines though. The cinematography, I found quite good, I mean the lighting had a soft touch. May be they spend good money on the DI. Anyways the frames looked quite nice.
A particular scene in which Salim Kumar narrates a story, adapting the epic, Mahabharata, into a real life family story - that was the real hilarious moment of this movie. Brilliant.
80's were the golden era for Malayalam movies. May it be art house, or parallel or entertainers, we got the best during that period. There were some incredible comedies too, which watching now, look like brilliant classics. I wonder, how this particular movie would have been, if it was conceived and shot in the 80's.
An underworld king falls in love with a girl, but her father will only get her married to a man from a big family. The guy has to create a family for him, to impress his would be father in law.
Of course, if this movie was shot in 80's I am very sure it would have been an excellent entertainer. But but..
It turns out to be a horrible entertainer that it was quite difficult to bear it for two hours and half.
There were two silver lines though. The cinematography, I found quite good, I mean the lighting had a soft touch. May be they spend good money on the DI. Anyways the frames looked quite nice.
A particular scene in which Salim Kumar narrates a story, adapting the epic, Mahabharata, into a real life family story - that was the real hilarious moment of this movie. Brilliant.
Wednesday, 27 July 2011
Collector
2011 by Anil C Menon - Malayalam
Sometime in 90's, Ranji Panicker with his fire sprouting scripts, set the trend in Malayalam for a kind of political movies in which a police officer or a district collector would play the angry man for the common man. In fact, for about a decade we had so many of these films, all the super stars playing this kind of a cop or bureaucrat in their own and many of these films meant guaranteed success at least in the first half of the decade, as they managed to mix contemporary politics with a dream hero. For the last couple of years, there were only a few of these kind of movies and now there is yet again one of this genre.
A district collector goes out of the way to fight the real estate mafia in Kochi city, who are backed by strong political personalities.
Somebody who is not from Kochi, if they see 10 contemporary Malayalam movies, might easily consider Kochi as a very dangerous city where every second person might be from some mafia. It is strange how our cinema picked up Kochi for this. True, 4/5 years back there were many incidents with the mafia world in the city, which made life look dangerous. But then there was a period of strong Police petrols and Kochi city looks quite safe for me. There is lot of Police presence even in the middle of night, at least in the heart of city as this is where I am around with my life, and I find it quite allright. Just wish, if Kochi was clean like it used to be in the 80's and beginning of 90's.
So, this movie makes Kochi look like another dreadful mafia city and as a movie it is quite difficult to complete. The acting of most supporting staff, especially the actress who played Revathy, Assistant Commissioner of Police, was horrible that it gave chances for the crowd to laugh out loud at times. And almost all characters are very similar to the ones from the past movies that we know exactly how all of them would be as the movie goes on.
Sure, it does have some messages here and there about protecting the city and its dependants from the land mafia and construction spree and all, but it is a terrible effort as a movie. At many parts it looked like the print was resting in its box, without any silica gel to fight humidity, for long time. I am not really sure if it is a new movie. At the same time it has scenes which tells the viewer that it was shot only in the recent past.
Forgettable in all ways.
Sometime in 90's, Ranji Panicker with his fire sprouting scripts, set the trend in Malayalam for a kind of political movies in which a police officer or a district collector would play the angry man for the common man. In fact, for about a decade we had so many of these films, all the super stars playing this kind of a cop or bureaucrat in their own and many of these films meant guaranteed success at least in the first half of the decade, as they managed to mix contemporary politics with a dream hero. For the last couple of years, there were only a few of these kind of movies and now there is yet again one of this genre.
A district collector goes out of the way to fight the real estate mafia in Kochi city, who are backed by strong political personalities.
Somebody who is not from Kochi, if they see 10 contemporary Malayalam movies, might easily consider Kochi as a very dangerous city where every second person might be from some mafia. It is strange how our cinema picked up Kochi for this. True, 4/5 years back there were many incidents with the mafia world in the city, which made life look dangerous. But then there was a period of strong Police petrols and Kochi city looks quite safe for me. There is lot of Police presence even in the middle of night, at least in the heart of city as this is where I am around with my life, and I find it quite allright. Just wish, if Kochi was clean like it used to be in the 80's and beginning of 90's.
So, this movie makes Kochi look like another dreadful mafia city and as a movie it is quite difficult to complete. The acting of most supporting staff, especially the actress who played Revathy, Assistant Commissioner of Police, was horrible that it gave chances for the crowd to laugh out loud at times. And almost all characters are very similar to the ones from the past movies that we know exactly how all of them would be as the movie goes on.
Sure, it does have some messages here and there about protecting the city and its dependants from the land mafia and construction spree and all, but it is a terrible effort as a movie. At many parts it looked like the print was resting in its box, without any silica gel to fight humidity, for long time. I am not really sure if it is a new movie. At the same time it has scenes which tells the viewer that it was shot only in the recent past.
Forgettable in all ways.
Monday, 18 July 2011
Chaappa Kurishu
2011 by Sameer Tahir
Some people seem to come to movies to talk with their friends. Something which is getting to an abyssmal state now that it is almost impossible to concentrate while watching a movie. People talking between themselves, answering mobile phones and people who make comments on what is on the screen, there are too much of distractions these days, while in a movie hall. Really difficult. Well, for this movie, it was interesting because the two guys behind me were talking about their film review website. For every 10 minutes of the movie, they were making a comment about the movie, as if they were typing it down on a notepad or memorizing it. Anyways, I got to listen to something, which I was afraid for long about many movie reviewers. Most Malayalam movie reviewers always keep saying the Cinematography was perfect for the movie and wonderful when there are lot of shakes or steady cam movements or even a lot of panoramic shots of Keralan green. The guys at my back kept on saying the photography was only ordinary and disappointing. So what I wondered is almost right. Because one department in which this movie excelled, for me, was its camera work. Of course, there are no shaky cameras or any gimmicks with the camera, nor are there any greenery or sunset shots, which will make anybody rave about the cameraman. But it is an excellent camera work which is supposed to give the script, director and the other crew just the required support. And if I am not wrong (read this somewhere), the movie was shot in a Canon EOS 7D dslr. It should be termed brilliant then.
Arjun represents a strata of Indian society who forms an ultra small percentage of our population, a real estate whiz man, and Ansari, working in a super market, the other majority spectrum of the Indian population. Arjun shoots some intimate moments of his with his Office assistant, who had mistaken his interest as love, using his iphone, but then lose the phone. Ansari gets this phone and for weird and unknown reasons play some pranks with Arjun. Like always, in between, this video clip is leaked and is posted on the net and Arjun seeks revenge.
Arjun is everything about the modern day Indian who represents the Indian super nation. He is to get married soon, but carries on his affair with his office assistant, not even mentioning to her about the probable marriage, and is always on the look out for flesh and money. But the way he treats the situation, when he lose the phone, and also his affair is quite pathetic and takes away a lot of sheen of his character. Likewise, Ansari is quite poor, but when he gets this new phone his character acts strange, by either not selling for money or use it for himself, but by playing pranks with Arjun, in the name of giving the phone back. There is no credible explanation of Ansari's behaviour here and all looks quite strange. He seem to like a colleague in the super market, but gets weird even with her after receiving the phone. He gives a stupid reason to her for not giving the phone back, but acts opposite through out. Sonia, Arjun's affair girl, looks quite modern until she comes to know about the marriage of Arjun. Had she slapped him on the face and boldly walked out it would have been better. Instead she falls into the cliche of how exactly our females are to behave when being deceived.
I thought, there was a good plot here (there are blames that this plot is from some Korean movie), and the treatment is also almost good. But the script falters in how it treats the characters and also in its length. Had this been told in an hour, this movie would have been very different. But there are some very good points too. The final action between Arjun and Ansari was quite good. Performances of almost all actors were good, even though I found Vineeth Srinivasan, as Ansari, quite a mis cast for the role. We are yet to learn from Tamil movie makers in this. Anyways, Fahad Fazil, as Arjun, has given his best performance to date. So did Ramya Nambeesan as Sonia. The girl who played Nafeeza, the friend of Ansari at the super market, also has some good charm. It is funny that all characters in our movies will always have a love interest. When will we see an ordinary character, like Ansari, without a girl friend. In real life, most ordinary boys and men are craving for some kind of a girl friend, but they cant.
Scene by scene, the director does shows promise. I couldnt help thinking that he might be influenced by the style of Kim Ki Duk, the way he used his characters, especially Ansari. And with a better script, he must be able to give a better show, I hope. I am just worried if Malayalam too is going the path of Bollywood, where we are looking at too many English dialogues and terms in a Malayalam movie. Of course, there is a strata of society in India, who are ultra rich and is more western looking than Indian, talking in English even with a new born baby, and will use all the terms from a Hollywood movie. But, to my experience, these people might be only like less than 0.01 % of Indian population. Some body from this spectrum, always prominently occupying our movie scripts, is quite weird.
Another thought too, because of the movie. There are so many bad news these days because of mobile phone videos. People are free to decide their sex partners or affairs or whatever, as long as there is a consent from both the man and the girl. Fine, but then why do they have to shoot their intimate moments on video? And sadly, why do our girls always permit their partner to shoot these moments? And why the hell do these male cameraman 'bastards' dont keep these videos for their private viewing only rather than sending it to their friends and friends friends? Why are these 'ultra bastard' friends, so intent on forwarding such videos over the internet and phone messages, what hell of a pleasure are they getting through this? Actually it is these friends, who keeps forwarding such mails and messages, who should be bought to law. Even if this might sound draconian, I think the penis of all such bastards, who shoot their own partner and then leak it and the friends who keep forwarding it, should be severed.
Some people seem to come to movies to talk with their friends. Something which is getting to an abyssmal state now that it is almost impossible to concentrate while watching a movie. People talking between themselves, answering mobile phones and people who make comments on what is on the screen, there are too much of distractions these days, while in a movie hall. Really difficult. Well, for this movie, it was interesting because the two guys behind me were talking about their film review website. For every 10 minutes of the movie, they were making a comment about the movie, as if they were typing it down on a notepad or memorizing it. Anyways, I got to listen to something, which I was afraid for long about many movie reviewers. Most Malayalam movie reviewers always keep saying the Cinematography was perfect for the movie and wonderful when there are lot of shakes or steady cam movements or even a lot of panoramic shots of Keralan green. The guys at my back kept on saying the photography was only ordinary and disappointing. So what I wondered is almost right. Because one department in which this movie excelled, for me, was its camera work. Of course, there are no shaky cameras or any gimmicks with the camera, nor are there any greenery or sunset shots, which will make anybody rave about the cameraman. But it is an excellent camera work which is supposed to give the script, director and the other crew just the required support. And if I am not wrong (read this somewhere), the movie was shot in a Canon EOS 7D dslr. It should be termed brilliant then.
Arjun represents a strata of Indian society who forms an ultra small percentage of our population, a real estate whiz man, and Ansari, working in a super market, the other majority spectrum of the Indian population. Arjun shoots some intimate moments of his with his Office assistant, who had mistaken his interest as love, using his iphone, but then lose the phone. Ansari gets this phone and for weird and unknown reasons play some pranks with Arjun. Like always, in between, this video clip is leaked and is posted on the net and Arjun seeks revenge.
Arjun is everything about the modern day Indian who represents the Indian super nation. He is to get married soon, but carries on his affair with his office assistant, not even mentioning to her about the probable marriage, and is always on the look out for flesh and money. But the way he treats the situation, when he lose the phone, and also his affair is quite pathetic and takes away a lot of sheen of his character. Likewise, Ansari is quite poor, but when he gets this new phone his character acts strange, by either not selling for money or use it for himself, but by playing pranks with Arjun, in the name of giving the phone back. There is no credible explanation of Ansari's behaviour here and all looks quite strange. He seem to like a colleague in the super market, but gets weird even with her after receiving the phone. He gives a stupid reason to her for not giving the phone back, but acts opposite through out. Sonia, Arjun's affair girl, looks quite modern until she comes to know about the marriage of Arjun. Had she slapped him on the face and boldly walked out it would have been better. Instead she falls into the cliche of how exactly our females are to behave when being deceived.
I thought, there was a good plot here (there are blames that this plot is from some Korean movie), and the treatment is also almost good. But the script falters in how it treats the characters and also in its length. Had this been told in an hour, this movie would have been very different. But there are some very good points too. The final action between Arjun and Ansari was quite good. Performances of almost all actors were good, even though I found Vineeth Srinivasan, as Ansari, quite a mis cast for the role. We are yet to learn from Tamil movie makers in this. Anyways, Fahad Fazil, as Arjun, has given his best performance to date. So did Ramya Nambeesan as Sonia. The girl who played Nafeeza, the friend of Ansari at the super market, also has some good charm. It is funny that all characters in our movies will always have a love interest. When will we see an ordinary character, like Ansari, without a girl friend. In real life, most ordinary boys and men are craving for some kind of a girl friend, but they cant.
Scene by scene, the director does shows promise. I couldnt help thinking that he might be influenced by the style of Kim Ki Duk, the way he used his characters, especially Ansari. And with a better script, he must be able to give a better show, I hope. I am just worried if Malayalam too is going the path of Bollywood, where we are looking at too many English dialogues and terms in a Malayalam movie. Of course, there is a strata of society in India, who are ultra rich and is more western looking than Indian, talking in English even with a new born baby, and will use all the terms from a Hollywood movie. But, to my experience, these people might be only like less than 0.01 % of Indian population. Some body from this spectrum, always prominently occupying our movie scripts, is quite weird.
Another thought too, because of the movie. There are so many bad news these days because of mobile phone videos. People are free to decide their sex partners or affairs or whatever, as long as there is a consent from both the man and the girl. Fine, but then why do they have to shoot their intimate moments on video? And sadly, why do our girls always permit their partner to shoot these moments? And why the hell do these male cameraman 'bastards' dont keep these videos for their private viewing only rather than sending it to their friends and friends friends? Why are these 'ultra bastard' friends, so intent on forwarding such videos over the internet and phone messages, what hell of a pleasure are they getting through this? Actually it is these friends, who keeps forwarding such mails and messages, who should be bought to law. Even if this might sound draconian, I think the penis of all such bastards, who shoot their own partner and then leak it and the friends who keep forwarding it, should be severed.
Monday, 11 July 2011
Salt and Pepper
2011 by Ashiq Abu
I cant think about watching any food based movies from India. But there are few excellent ones in the west, of which Chocolate, Julie and Julia and L'aile ou la Cuisse, the famous Louis de Funes comedy, are my favourites. Salt and Pepper is promoted as the first food movie in Malayalam and it definitely starts so. But by the second half, food is not anymore an important factor, only love is.
Kalidasan, a 40 something guy - an archaeologist, loves food. He has an adorable and servile cook too. His nephew Manu joins him, looking for a job in the city. Maya, nearing 40, works as a dubbing artist and is living in a paying guest accommodation. Meenakshi is her friend at the home. A wrong phone call, for food order, gets Kalidasan and Maya into telephone friends. They like to meet, but both are not confident to impress the other, so Kalidasan sends in Manu and Maya sends Meenakshi for the meeting.
And then of course, it is routine story, how things are sorted out. But the excellent work here is that an ordinary romance story is made to look special with its simplicity. Food plays an important part in the first half, detailing the characters but as love gets prominence food factor disappears, even without the viewer noticing this. Here it is nearly like that famous Hollywood movie No Reservations. But still, like No Reservations, Salt and Pepper ends up as a very good romantic comedy.
Plus's:
Its story is routine romance between two elderly (by Keralan standards) guys, but by the way of treatment it is made to look quite fresh and different.
Thus, the script and director deserves kudos, also to bring in food as a subject at least during the beginning. This is excellent considering the fact that the previous attempt by Ashiq Abu was a routine, bohring, commerical entertainer.
Simplicity is everywhere and even the humour that is present, for a good part of the movie is quite simple and genuinely nice.
Good performance by all these 5 characters, especially Baburaj as the servile cook of Kalidasan. What a break for this guy, who was just used to getting beaten by the heroes so far.
The title song, which explored some of the most famous restaurants and dishes in Kerala, was brilliant. I was immediately thinking that Kerala tourism department could use it as a promotion material. Sure it will be a success. I have to say that, in all my life as a movie goer, I have never seen Malayaalee crowd applauding a title song. This song, for me, will be the hall mark of this movie.
Minus's:
The pace of the movie could have been better, slightly inconsistent now.
Some of the characters and the issues around them, does it really serve any purpose. For eg. the issue with the tribal chief man, could it not have made the movie more sleek without this, concentrating more on the 5 characters. The presence of the chief does offer some funny moments, but at the same time I felt the movie was looking down upon a person, by the way he is placed and treated at times, who back in his community is an important person.
Inspite of all the freshness, some of the typical Malayalam movie cliches are yet there. And how the love between Manu and Meenakshi happens is too ordinary, bohringly, for this kind of a movie.
Two songs, the one between Manu and Meenakshi and the Pop song at the end, could have been avoided. Especially the song at the end, that was really unnecessary. It doesnt seem to serve any purpose and is completely against everything the movie built up so far. It was like a very poor anti climax to a movie with a good climax.
I am not nit picking, but there is a scene in the beginning when two archaeologists are discussing about their exacavation project. Understandably important objects, beyound any value, are placed in a stupid iron box and how one of the archaeologist drops one of these objects, back into the iron box, clearly shows the importance the director has given for those moments. I am sure some characters and scenes were inlcuded just to make the script more lengthy.
Anyways, I am still very glad about this movie. It is more like a romantic comedy in the genre of No Reservations, than a classic food movie like L'aile ou la cuisse or Julie and Julia. And it is a really good watch.
However, I feel really bad that like many other Malayalam moviemakers, here again Ashiq Abu and his team has gone for an English title. I simply dont understand this. In fact thinking about some possible titles, Thattil kutti dosha - തട്à´Ÿിà´²് à´•ുà´Ÿ്à´Ÿി à´¦ോà´¶ , Uppum mulakum ഉപ്à´ªും à´®ുളകും, Injiyum Pachamulakum ഇഞ്à´šിà´¯ും പച്à´šà´®ുളകും
There was a particular shot of Shweta Menon, in a black sari (I think the only one time she was in Sari), walking through a tree laden road. That was a wonderful frame and I was thinking, does she realise how beautiful she looks in that dress. My friend in Padma theatre had told me that some of the movie crew was watching the same show. So after the show, just waited a couple of minutes outside, on the bike, and there was Shweta Menon with her husband. Watching her, I was able to appreciate that particular frame from the movie even more. She is actually really beautiful in that frame. In the jeans and kurta she was looking quite ordinary.
I cant think about watching any food based movies from India. But there are few excellent ones in the west, of which Chocolate, Julie and Julia and L'aile ou la Cuisse, the famous Louis de Funes comedy, are my favourites. Salt and Pepper is promoted as the first food movie in Malayalam and it definitely starts so. But by the second half, food is not anymore an important factor, only love is.
Kalidasan, a 40 something guy - an archaeologist, loves food. He has an adorable and servile cook too. His nephew Manu joins him, looking for a job in the city. Maya, nearing 40, works as a dubbing artist and is living in a paying guest accommodation. Meenakshi is her friend at the home. A wrong phone call, for food order, gets Kalidasan and Maya into telephone friends. They like to meet, but both are not confident to impress the other, so Kalidasan sends in Manu and Maya sends Meenakshi for the meeting.
And then of course, it is routine story, how things are sorted out. But the excellent work here is that an ordinary romance story is made to look special with its simplicity. Food plays an important part in the first half, detailing the characters but as love gets prominence food factor disappears, even without the viewer noticing this. Here it is nearly like that famous Hollywood movie No Reservations. But still, like No Reservations, Salt and Pepper ends up as a very good romantic comedy.
Plus's:
Its story is routine romance between two elderly (by Keralan standards) guys, but by the way of treatment it is made to look quite fresh and different.
Thus, the script and director deserves kudos, also to bring in food as a subject at least during the beginning. This is excellent considering the fact that the previous attempt by Ashiq Abu was a routine, bohring, commerical entertainer.
Simplicity is everywhere and even the humour that is present, for a good part of the movie is quite simple and genuinely nice.
Good performance by all these 5 characters, especially Baburaj as the servile cook of Kalidasan. What a break for this guy, who was just used to getting beaten by the heroes so far.
The title song, which explored some of the most famous restaurants and dishes in Kerala, was brilliant. I was immediately thinking that Kerala tourism department could use it as a promotion material. Sure it will be a success. I have to say that, in all my life as a movie goer, I have never seen Malayaalee crowd applauding a title song. This song, for me, will be the hall mark of this movie.
Minus's:
The pace of the movie could have been better, slightly inconsistent now.
Some of the characters and the issues around them, does it really serve any purpose. For eg. the issue with the tribal chief man, could it not have made the movie more sleek without this, concentrating more on the 5 characters. The presence of the chief does offer some funny moments, but at the same time I felt the movie was looking down upon a person, by the way he is placed and treated at times, who back in his community is an important person.
Inspite of all the freshness, some of the typical Malayalam movie cliches are yet there. And how the love between Manu and Meenakshi happens is too ordinary, bohringly, for this kind of a movie.
Two songs, the one between Manu and Meenakshi and the Pop song at the end, could have been avoided. Especially the song at the end, that was really unnecessary. It doesnt seem to serve any purpose and is completely against everything the movie built up so far. It was like a very poor anti climax to a movie with a good climax.
I am not nit picking, but there is a scene in the beginning when two archaeologists are discussing about their exacavation project. Understandably important objects, beyound any value, are placed in a stupid iron box and how one of the archaeologist drops one of these objects, back into the iron box, clearly shows the importance the director has given for those moments. I am sure some characters and scenes were inlcuded just to make the script more lengthy.
Anyways, I am still very glad about this movie. It is more like a romantic comedy in the genre of No Reservations, than a classic food movie like L'aile ou la cuisse or Julie and Julia. And it is a really good watch.
However, I feel really bad that like many other Malayalam moviemakers, here again Ashiq Abu and his team has gone for an English title. I simply dont understand this. In fact thinking about some possible titles, Thattil kutti dosha - തട്à´Ÿിà´²് à´•ുà´Ÿ്à´Ÿി à´¦ോà´¶ , Uppum mulakum ഉപ്à´ªും à´®ുളകും, Injiyum Pachamulakum ഇഞ്à´šിà´¯ും പച്à´šà´®ുളകും
Ariyum Uzhunnum à´…à´°ിà´¯ും ഉഴുà´¨്à´¨ും and there are so many Malayalam titles possible, but they went for English, is quite strange for me. I can only see this as yet another West Looking attitude of our society.
Anyways...
Monday, 4 July 2011
Violin
2011 by Sibi Malayil
Till a decade before, the name Sibi Malayil used to give a minimum guarantee to Keralans that there should be something good. And two decades back, his name was enough to have an assurance that the movie would be excellent. Anybody who has watched his Thaniyaavarthanam, would not think twice to watch another movie of his. Like all other veteran directors of Malayalam cinema, he too is swimming in the lower tides of his career.
A girl and boy, with lots of problems behind them, meets and have problems and then fall in love. And there is a villain.
Its the same old wine, in the old bottle, just with a new label sticked on. But even the wine isnt tasty, as if it was made from grapes collected from various wine yards. Violin ends up by and large a very ordinary of the ordinary movie. The same things that we have seen so many times, but with different actors.
Looking back, Sibi Malayil did well only when he had a good script. That is quite evident now. A director should be able to bring out something even from a poor script, just like Bala did with his Avan Ivan. That movie didnt had a good plot or script, but scene by scene, it was good. In fact many scenes would remain etched in the memory even many days after the show. That clearly proves Bala, is a great director. Even with that poor script, Bala managed to get brilliant performances out from his actors. Compare this with Sibi Malayil and he has really failed. There are only few scenes, very few, where he does good as a director. To repeatedly make his actors perform poorly, scene after scene, speaks very lowly about Sibi Malayil.
I am really falling for Nithya Menon. She is looking more and more gorgeous in each movie. But really wish, she hadnt done this movie at all. She will want to forget this movie very soon. Further evidence that the performance of an actor is at the hands of the director. There may not be anybody associated with this movie, who would want to project this movie at any point of their character, except the guy who played as a friend of the hero. He was excellent.
Till a decade before, the name Sibi Malayil used to give a minimum guarantee to Keralans that there should be something good. And two decades back, his name was enough to have an assurance that the movie would be excellent. Anybody who has watched his Thaniyaavarthanam, would not think twice to watch another movie of his. Like all other veteran directors of Malayalam cinema, he too is swimming in the lower tides of his career.
A girl and boy, with lots of problems behind them, meets and have problems and then fall in love. And there is a villain.
Its the same old wine, in the old bottle, just with a new label sticked on. But even the wine isnt tasty, as if it was made from grapes collected from various wine yards. Violin ends up by and large a very ordinary of the ordinary movie. The same things that we have seen so many times, but with different actors.
Looking back, Sibi Malayil did well only when he had a good script. That is quite evident now. A director should be able to bring out something even from a poor script, just like Bala did with his Avan Ivan. That movie didnt had a good plot or script, but scene by scene, it was good. In fact many scenes would remain etched in the memory even many days after the show. That clearly proves Bala, is a great director. Even with that poor script, Bala managed to get brilliant performances out from his actors. Compare this with Sibi Malayil and he has really failed. There are only few scenes, very few, where he does good as a director. To repeatedly make his actors perform poorly, scene after scene, speaks very lowly about Sibi Malayil.
I am really falling for Nithya Menon. She is looking more and more gorgeous in each movie. But really wish, she hadnt done this movie at all. She will want to forget this movie very soon. Further evidence that the performance of an actor is at the hands of the director. There may not be anybody associated with this movie, who would want to project this movie at any point of their character, except the guy who played as a friend of the hero. He was excellent.
Saturday, 25 June 2011
Aadaminte Makan Abu
2011 by Salim Ahmad
I cannot remember when exactly I saw a real simple,but lovely, movie from India. In fact, there are hardly any movies in India in this genre. All our movies are full of some happenings or big turns, surprises, emotions, wonders and what not. In fact even simple plots would be manipulated to make it event ful, even by art house directors. When watching international movies, especially from Eastern and Northen Europe and some times from the middle east, I always wondered when Indians would be able to watch similar handling of this art from India. Finally, here it is, that too from a first time director.
An ageing couple's travails to fulfill their lifelong dream for a pilgrimage to Mecca.
Thats all this movie is about. A poor couple, who struggles to live by themselves, goes over board with their life long dream and tries their best to achieve it. But more than that without making it look quite evident it also takes our attention to couple of other matters: The struggle of poor old parents who have to live for themselves without any care from their beloveds, and the realisation that nature is the most important aspect of our life, understand nature, protect it and nurture it. Its also an ode to humanity that every body cares for the good, irrespective of their beliefs. The movie inspite of looking at the hardships of this poor couple, in fact is a kind of feel good film. It mostly have only good people as its characters. Every body in the village is kind and attentive to the old couple, most of their acquaintances are even ready to offer financial help, with the full understanding of the incapability of the couple to pay back, every body only wishes them good. I would strongly say its the best simple feel good movie in India in a really really long time.
The start of the movie, with a wonderful still image, was a bit slow, but soon it takes us into the life of Abu and his wife. Some of the scenes were brilliant and touching, like the police verification, Abu's meeting with his old neighbour, Sulaiman, the final realisation of the mistake they did to nature and so on. But never does it go over board in its emotions. Brilliant. And the climax is excellent and intelligent too. Cant think of any other climax with such a lovely message.
I am one to think that one of the most serious problems with Malayalam cinema is its casting. And that mould is broken, successfully, by a debutant director. One of the primary reasons behind the success of this movie is its cast and all kudos should go to the director, since we do not have the practise of a casting director. Salim Kumar and Zarina Wahab looks 200% perfect as the old couple. More than their facial expressions, its of course wonderful, what striked me was their body language. What an amazing and successful effort by both these actors. Salim Kumar grabbed this opportunity with both his hands, mind and soul and lived Abu on the screen.
AMA.. is beautifully shot by the veteran Madhu Ambat, who has kept his camera simple and conventional. He had lost some of his good name with his 90's Rajashilpi. I am not sure if AMA was shot on film, as there seems to be a lot of noise on the dark regions of some frames, digital possibly. At the same time some of the low light indoor shots and some shots of outdoors, around Abu's home also were wonderful. Excellent rendition of natural colours, unlike the lab saturated greens that we get to see in most films (especially Santhosh Sivan's). More than a few frames were reminiscent of beautiful still photographs.
Salim Ahmed deserves credit to make such a simple movie. Here is one movie from India, which could compete with similar movies from Europe and middle east. It is always the wrong movies, which we promote outside India. I really beleive, if Adaminte makan Abu and Aadukalam had managed some sorts of International release, it would have made all of us proud. Two different movies, but truly Indian and real pieces of artistic excellence.
However, the dialogues changed their dialect between North Keralan and cinematic at times, which could have been avoided. The full picturisation of one of the songs could also have been avoided. To be frank, I didnt understand the impact of the character Ustad, in the script. It connects to Abu at couple of scenes, but is almost running a parallel line. Even without Ustad, AMA, would have been the same, I think.
How much I wish, this movie is seen by the general public in the west and even some parts of India, where being Muslim is almost a sin.
I cannot remember when exactly I saw a real simple,but lovely, movie from India. In fact, there are hardly any movies in India in this genre. All our movies are full of some happenings or big turns, surprises, emotions, wonders and what not. In fact even simple plots would be manipulated to make it event ful, even by art house directors. When watching international movies, especially from Eastern and Northen Europe and some times from the middle east, I always wondered when Indians would be able to watch similar handling of this art from India. Finally, here it is, that too from a first time director.
An ageing couple's travails to fulfill their lifelong dream for a pilgrimage to Mecca.
Thats all this movie is about. A poor couple, who struggles to live by themselves, goes over board with their life long dream and tries their best to achieve it. But more than that without making it look quite evident it also takes our attention to couple of other matters: The struggle of poor old parents who have to live for themselves without any care from their beloveds, and the realisation that nature is the most important aspect of our life, understand nature, protect it and nurture it. Its also an ode to humanity that every body cares for the good, irrespective of their beliefs. The movie inspite of looking at the hardships of this poor couple, in fact is a kind of feel good film. It mostly have only good people as its characters. Every body in the village is kind and attentive to the old couple, most of their acquaintances are even ready to offer financial help, with the full understanding of the incapability of the couple to pay back, every body only wishes them good. I would strongly say its the best simple feel good movie in India in a really really long time.
The start of the movie, with a wonderful still image, was a bit slow, but soon it takes us into the life of Abu and his wife. Some of the scenes were brilliant and touching, like the police verification, Abu's meeting with his old neighbour, Sulaiman, the final realisation of the mistake they did to nature and so on. But never does it go over board in its emotions. Brilliant. And the climax is excellent and intelligent too. Cant think of any other climax with such a lovely message.
I am one to think that one of the most serious problems with Malayalam cinema is its casting. And that mould is broken, successfully, by a debutant director. One of the primary reasons behind the success of this movie is its cast and all kudos should go to the director, since we do not have the practise of a casting director. Salim Kumar and Zarina Wahab looks 200% perfect as the old couple. More than their facial expressions, its of course wonderful, what striked me was their body language. What an amazing and successful effort by both these actors. Salim Kumar grabbed this opportunity with both his hands, mind and soul and lived Abu on the screen.
AMA.. is beautifully shot by the veteran Madhu Ambat, who has kept his camera simple and conventional. He had lost some of his good name with his 90's Rajashilpi. I am not sure if AMA was shot on film, as there seems to be a lot of noise on the dark regions of some frames, digital possibly. At the same time some of the low light indoor shots and some shots of outdoors, around Abu's home also were wonderful. Excellent rendition of natural colours, unlike the lab saturated greens that we get to see in most films (especially Santhosh Sivan's). More than a few frames were reminiscent of beautiful still photographs.
Salim Ahmed deserves credit to make such a simple movie. Here is one movie from India, which could compete with similar movies from Europe and middle east. It is always the wrong movies, which we promote outside India. I really beleive, if Adaminte makan Abu and Aadukalam had managed some sorts of International release, it would have made all of us proud. Two different movies, but truly Indian and real pieces of artistic excellence.
However, the dialogues changed their dialect between North Keralan and cinematic at times, which could have been avoided. The full picturisation of one of the songs could also have been avoided. To be frank, I didnt understand the impact of the character Ustad, in the script. It connects to Abu at couple of scenes, but is almost running a parallel line. Even without Ustad, AMA, would have been the same, I think.
How much I wish, this movie is seen by the general public in the west and even some parts of India, where being Muslim is almost a sin.
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