Lucifer review: "A perfect blend of mass performances & class making despite a lackluster latter half!!!"

OMG...it's finally here!!! the much awaited "Lucifer" has hit the screens & it's mayhem as people are scurrying to get hold of their tickets. Ever since the project was officially announced a couple of years back at a much publicized press meet, the audience has been waiting impatiently for the final product. Apart from the fact that it was Lalettan's movie, the directorial debut of Prithvi with Murali Gopi's script kinda elevated the expectations to insane levels. Those expectations were justified with an outstanding trailer courtesy of Don Maxx which meant we were in for an absolute treat.  I have always been sceptical about movies with a lot of hype with "Odiyan" being a perfect example. So did the Lalettan-Prithvi-Murali combo work its magic on me as much as it did for others???

PLOT
The CM & doyen of Kerala politics, P K Ramdas (Sachin Khedekar) had bid adieu to his mortal form. As expected, there is turmoil within the IUF party that boasts of a history of 150 years as to who would succeed the much respected & loved leader. Since neither his daughter Priyadarshini (Manju Warrier) or son, Jatin Ramdas (Tovino Thomas) seemed interested to make a plunge into politics, the proverbial succession question remained. But even before swords could be drawn out of their scabbards, Bimal Nair aka Bobby (Vivek Oberoi), the son in law of PK took over the party & announced his decision as to who should be the next CM. His aim was to ensure that his shady drug cartel deals went through smoothly. It was a decision that none of the senior members could resist  lest they fall out of his allegiance after all he pumped funds into the party & their bank accounts. However, it was easier said than done as PK's foster son Stephen Nedumpally (Lalettan) who was the darling of the masses could see through their devious plans.

DIRECTION
Prithviraj's credentials as an actor is well documented with almost close to two decades of experience. However, it would be fair to admit that whenever we watched his interviews he always came across as someone who seemed to have immense knowledge about the technical aspects of film making. This was finally put to the test when he decided to make his directorial debut with "Lucifer" armed with the script of Murali Gopi & I have to admit that he has passed it with flying colours. He has done a brilliant job as the making was top notch with the effort that has gone into each frame being very evident be it the visuals, choice of locales & the gargantuan number of junior artists. It's not so often that we get to see perfect casting & this is just that as everyone looked apt in their respective roles.

SCRIPT & TECHNICAL ASPECTS

From a script of view, the first half was bang on with an engaging story-line packed with mass scenes. However, I dont quite share the same opinion in the second half (which has been Murali's bane in recent times) as the political suspense got diluted way too much for my liking after Tovino's part (which I felt should have been explored more) & it reduces to a typical cliched revenge saga in the last 20 mins with an absolute nonsensical item song. However, the last scene in the movie was a treat to the eyes & makes you yearn for more. On the technical side, everything was brilliant hands down. Sujit Vaassudev's mesmerising visuals just adds to the feel of the movie who was equally supported by Deepak Dev's brilliant BGM. Kudos to Samjith Mohammed's razor shaping editing though I felt he could have done a better job in the climax.

PERFORMANCES
What do I say about Lalettan??? The legend just sweeps us off our feet with a mind blowing performance be it with his flexibility, subtle facial expressions & punch dialogues, showing us as to why he is still on top of his game even after four decades. Ever since I saw Tovino for the first time in "ABCD", I have always felt that this guy would go places if he improved on his articulation & in recent times, he has gone from strength to strength. As Jatin Ramdas, he was outstanding & my personal favourite in the movie after Lalettan. When Vivek Oberoi was chosen as the antagonist, I was a bit skeptical as to how well he would gel in coz of the language barrier, but he did an excellent job & the credit for that equally belongs to Vineeth who did an exceptional dubbing for him. Kudos to Indrajith, who continues to prove that he is under utilised by most makers while Baiju deserves applause for his natural act. Among the females, Manju Warrier impresses with a strong performance along with Saniya who was outstanding as well. All the others have done a fine job as well though I felt Prithvi's role was poorly etched & wasnt required.

Verdict: This is the ultimate tribute that a fanboy can do for his idol & Prithvi has done just that pretty much along the lines what Karthik Subbaraj did for Rajinikanth in "Petta". Apart from the brilliant performances & technical quality, he has shown how to make effective usage of Lalettan's acting skills & merge it with his stardom. Though I felt the latter part of the second half was a letdown, it's undoubtedly a paisa vasool entertainer. Whether it will break "Pulimurugan"'s record remains to be seen (though this is much better), but I certainly believe that it will cross 100 C. In short, dont miss it!!!

Rating: 3.25/5

Regards...Ben 

Kesari review: Our Desi Spartans who could have been presented much more effectively!!!

The last couple of weeks has been rather hectic with professional commitments that I had take care of due to change of personnel in my research team. However, since movies (apart from quiz & sports) has always been a stress buster for me, I had watched a few like “Captain Marvel”, “Badla” & “Kesari” in the previous weekends. Since I was in the mood to use my flexor digitorum superficialis & profundus, I decided to pen my thoughts about “Kesari” which is based on the Battle of Saragarhi of 1897. Despite my interest in history, I must admit that I wasn’t well versed about the event & was eager to know it. So, were the makers able to depict it in a realistic manner???

Saragarhi located on the Samana range in present day Pakistan happened to be the heliographic communication post for Fort Lockhart & Fort Gulistan as it was situated between them. Since the Colonial British relentlessly faced attacks from the Afghan tribals, they had the 36^th Sikhs hold the fort in the region. The movie unfolds with Havaldar Ishwar Singh disobeying the orders of his chief to rescue an Afghan lady from being executed by the fundamentalists. As expected, he gets punished for his actions by the British & is transferred to Saragarhi to take charge of the 36^th Sikh regiment which was battalion of 20 soldiers. Though they don’t quite warm up to his strict & secular methods early on, eventually they gel in & forms a formidable force when about 10,000 Afghan tribesmen declares war on them. How they manage to keep the enemies at bay for a substantial amount of time forms the crux of the movie.

The first time the news of this movie came to the fore was in 2017 when Salman & Karan Johar had announced that they will be co-producing a venture that would have Akshay in the lead. Though Salman had backed out subsequently, the project still went through & became “Kesari”. It was helmed by Anurag Singh who is quite a prominent director in the Punjabi film industry & this happened to be his second Hindi flick after the dud “Raqeeb”. Regarding the script, this was a battle that was truly awe inspiring, but unfortunately Anurag & Girish Kohli failed to do justice to the meaty thread. Apart from Ishwar Singh’s character, none of the others were developed & seemed like stereotypical caricatures. The first half was rather trite & the interactions that the protagonist had with his imaginary wife was a drag. But the second half was damn good & I absolutely love the choreography of the war scenes even though we knew what the end would be. As for other technical aspects, Anshul Chobey’s cinematography stood out while the rest doesn’t deserve a mention.

Akshay was excellent as the protagonist as he was convincing as the righteous, magnanimous, patriotic & brave Ishwar Singh. Action has always been a piece of cake for him & he nails it yet again with some brilliant stunts. As for the rest of the cast, only a few like Mir Sarwar (as Khan Masud), Sumeet Singh (as Gurmukh Singh) kinda caught my attention while Parineeti Chopra was wasted in an inconsequential role.

Verdict:  The film has galloped past the 100 C mark & is on its way to being branded as a superhit. Wish the makers were more judicious in penning the script as the collections would surely have been manifold. Anywaz even though, the first half is rather mediocre with hardly anything significant happening; the latter portion is bound to thrill most of the audience. In short, give it a try!!!

Rating: 2.5/5

Vijay Superum Pournamiyum review: "A feel good realistic & enjoyable romcom!!!"

Gone are the days when we used to see movies clocking fifty days at the box office & hence when I came home for the holidays, I was pleasantly surprised to see one movie going strong even after close to a month. That flick happened to be Jis Joy's "Vijay Superum Pournamiyum" & today it reached the magical figure. Naturally I was interested to watch it since Jis Joy had impressed with his previous ventures & with an interesting star cast here, it seemed like he struck gold yet again. So what actually made this movie work???

Pournami (Aishwarya Lekshmi) is a smart & confident MBA graduate who had excelled right through her academic life. However, she wasnt quite able to replicate that success in the business ventures that she had invested upon. Though she still aspired to become an entrepreneur, her parents were more keen in getting her married off. On the other hand, Vijay (Asif Ali) struggled with confidence from childhood & didnt have the courage to stand up to his parents to pursue the career that he wanted. It had more to do with the financial burden that his family had to bear & the solution for which they believed was to get Vijay married to an affluent bride. This is how Pournami & Vijay met as their parents were interested in the alliance. As both of them spoke to each other, they realized how different they were though they felt comfortable in the other's presence. Interestingly, at this juncture they come to realize that their planned alliance was supposed to be someone else.

This is the third collaboration between Jis Joy & Asif Ali after "Bicycle Thieves" & "Sunday Holiday".  In all these movies, Jis came up with a story which is both realistic in terms of the dialogue & situations with a liberal sprinkling of humour & offers a good time for the audience. Howevr, this time around it is the remake of the Telugu hit "Pelli Choopulu". Since I havent watched the original, I have watched this without any reference & thoroughly enjoyed it. All the technical aspects be it Renadive's visuals or Prince George's music were fine.

Aishwarya is the golden girl of Malayalam film industry with a cent percent success rate. As always, she has done a fine job & was perfectly apt for the role. We have seen Asif in such avatars in the past as well, but still we dont bored as he has done justice to a role that fitted his persona perfectly. Quite a few senior artists featured in the movie such as KPAC Lalitha, Siddique, Devan, Shanthi Krishna, Renji Panicker etc & they have done their parts aptly. Dharsana was good, Balu & Joseph Annamkutty were just about ok while I dont understand why Aju opted to do such an insignificant & irritating role. 

Verdict: It doesnt boast of a heavy duty story with numerous twists or edge of the seat action thriller, but you can rest assured that you will be entertained by the time it ends. This is exactly the reason why it had an extended run at the box office. In short, do check it out!!!

Rating: 3/5

Regards...Ben