A couple of weeks into 2024 & we already have had a couple of interesting movies from pretty much most of the industries. Despite some mind boggling numbers at the box office last year, it still saw a good number of producers burning their hands for investing on projects that barely had anything worthwhile. At the same time, there has been instances where a deluge of movies meant there were lack of adequate screens for certain movies that had the potential to break even. Anyway January should bring in smiles as there are movies that are poised to do well at the box office.
Aattam: "12 hypocritical men!!!"
At the 28th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK), one of the movies that had garnered effusive praise was Anand Ekarshi's "Aattam". It was his debut directorial venture & he had penned a script that looked into the judgemental & hypocritical attitude of men when they had confronted with a situation that expected them to be morally impartial.
The focus is on a drama troupe named 'Arangu' that had gathered headlines in recent times coz of the quality of their performance & the presence of Hari (Kalabhavan Shajon), a popular film star. Incidentally, the troupe had a solitary female artist, Anjali (Zarin Shihab) & twelve male artists which included Vinay, who was her lover & the main lead before his role was swapped with Hari. However, things take a ugly turn when Anjali confides to Vinay that she was molested in her sleep by a member of the troupe & believed it could possibly be Hari, though she wasn't sure. What subsequently happens is how the team try to address the issue?
Kudos to Anand for an exceptionally crafted screenplay which kept us engaged right through the entirety of its run time. After the main issue takes centre stage, he adopts a subtle thriller mode whereby a presumably morally ethical stand is taken but when queries are raised, doubt starts to emerge. Even their stand & queries were a reflection of the double standards, selfishness & the inherent patriarchal traits, where the blame is also put on the female for what had happened. Each & every individual irrespective of their profession is treated in the same manner & that was a clever decision as we tend to have preconceived notion about different professions. As a matter of fact, it reminded me of Sidney Lumet's "12 Angry Men", one of my all time favourite flicks.
On the technical side, all the aspects were neatly done be it Anurudh Aneesh's choice of shots, Mahesh Bhuvanend’s editing & the apt placement of silence which contributed to the viewing experience. Coming to performances, each & every artist have done complete justice to their roles and hence I am not going to name each one of them (incidentally except for Zarin, Vinay & Shajon, all the rest had used their original names).
Verdict: A well crafted flick which keeps us engaged till the very end & it was indeed, a smart decision by Anand to keep it open ended as it ensured that the questions raised remained relevant with the audience. In short, dont miss it!!!
Rating: 3.5/5
Abraham Ozler: "Reasonably well crafted though it doesn't quite rise beyond a generic template!!!"
It would be fair to say that Midhun Manuel's latest directorial venture was one of the most awaited movie of the year. Ever since the first look was revealed, it has been the talk of the town & with Mammookka's voice in the trailer, the hype grew exponentially. As we all know, more often than not such movies have struggled to meet expectations. So what was the fate in store for this one?
This time around Midhun had focused solely on direction as he chose a script written by Dr. Randheer Krishnan that belonged to the medical crime thriller genre. ACP Abraham Ozler (Jayaram) was a broken man who struggled to come to terms with the loss of his family three years back. It had affected him to such an extent that he suffered from insomnia & hallucinations. This was when he was put in charge of the investigation of a series of murders which had the same modus operandi indicating that a serial killer was on the prowl. How he went about this investigation was the crux of the story.
Since it was a medical thriller & penned by a doctor, I was naturally intrigued & expected something unique. Well apart from the incisions being made at anatomically critical points, I didn't feel it offered anything novel from other similar movies of this genre. This doesn't imply that it lacked the thrills as the intro of Mammookka was quite good, but beyond the stature of the legend; the character wasnt etched well & failed to utilise his potential. Even in the case of Ozler, though there is mention of his mental condition early on; it neither gets mentioned nor has relevance later. At the same time, I did feel the flashback segment was fine. With Theni Ishwar behind the camera, the visuals were bound to be good while Midhun Mukundan's BGM was fine especially the intro track for Mammookka was top notch.
Jayaram has done an admirable job be it the body language, dialogue delivery , gait & expressions which was completely in sync with what the protagonist was going through. Mammookka did justice to his part & elevates the mood; but the makers failed to maximise on his presence. Jagadish continued to rock despite the short screen space while Anaswara Rajan is steadily establishing herself as a commendable artist. Saiju Kurup was fine & the five youngsters in the flashback namely Sabic, Shiva Hariharan, Shivaraj, Shajeer & Joseph Mathews were pretty good. There were quite a few cameos as well & they were quite apt.
Verdict: Though it didn't quite rise to the level that was expected, but it still does have its moments and manage to keep us engaged. In short, do check it out!!!
Rating: 2.75/5
Regards...Ben
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