Monster: "Justice denied to Lalettan's caliber & no mercy for our patience!!!"

Apart from Liju Krishna's "Padavettu", a major release that hit the screens last Friday was Vysakh's "Monster" which had Lalettan in the lead. The expectations were high after all the last time the duo had collaborated was for the blockbuster "Pulimurugan". To add to it, there were statements from the makers that it was on a subject that had not been spoken much & possessed an intriguing and thrilling storyline. Well the 'subject' that they referred to was unintentionally revealed as there were news that the movie has been banned from release in GCC due to that. Anyway, it was far from impressive & I'm not quite sure as to what Vysakh meant by 'thrilling' as it turned out to be more of a test of our patience.

Bhamini (Honey Rose) was the sole bread earner in her family which consisted of her daughter, Kunjatta (Jess Sweejan) & her husband, Anil Chandra (Sudev Nair) who had recently lost his job. She worked as a driver for a taxi service & on the eve of their wedding anniversary, she was entrusted with the task of ferrying an important client of the company, Lucky Singh (Lalettan). He happened to be a jovial & flirtatious bachelor, however it was evident that he had a ulterior motive. So what were his intentions & was Bhamini merely a pawn in his plans???

According to Vysakh, this is Udaykrishna's best screenplay & hence I was a bit hopeful after all his previous work "Aarattu" was pedestrian. Hmm...it wasnt to be, as the first half was just a rehash of double entendres that we saw in his previous work which was expected to double up as humour. Hardly anything worthwhile happens & that in a way turned out to be a positive as inevitably the second half was better coz the plot which is shown as a 'so called' progressive twist is revealed. Apart from the 20-25 mins in the climax where everything is explained, none of the previous sequences came across as engaging. I'm not going to question their treatment of the subject (which came across as regressive & in effect, causes the same negative impact that stereotypes does), coz they might not have felt morally inclined to showcase it a positive light. However, the screenplay was so damn weak as it barely had any content (at least they could have packaged it as investigative thriller) & except for the stunt choreography, the rest of the stuff was just routine. Satheesh Kurup's visuals & Deepak Dev's 'Ghoom Ghoom' track were fine though the BGM was just noise.

Yet again Lalettan is wasted in a role that he literally sleep walks as it hardly challenges him. Though it is marketed as Lalettan's movie, Honey Rose has bulk of the screen time & she has done a fine job along with Sudev Nair. Lakshmi Manchu as Durga was average but impressed in the action sequences while the others like Siddique, Lena, Ganesh etc didn't have much to do while Jagapathi Babu was wasted. 

Verdict:  I sincerely wish that Lalettan will become more judicious in his selection of scripts which does justice to his caliber & body of work. I presume his decision to work with LJP might just be the beginning of more exciting projects. As for this, forget it!!!

Rating: 1.5/5

Regards...Ben

Padavettu: "Excruciating slow pace tests the patience & drastically hinders the impact of the relevant theme!!!"

Diwali is just round the corner & the theatres are flooded with movies across various languages. The two major Malayalam releases this week are Liju Krishna's "Padavettu" & Vysakh's "Monster". Since I was keen to check out both, it was down to the one whose show timings were in sync with my convenience & hence I got the tickets for the Nivin Pauly starrer. He has quite a few projects lined up for release & to his credit, almost all of them looks distinct. Well I had loved the trailer of his latest release but as opposed to that, the movie as such was damn slow & genuinely struggles to keep us invested in it for large parts. 

This is Liju's directorial debut & he chose to trust his own writing skills for his maiden project. The primary theme was the exploitation of the poor & needy by the political parties for their financial gains. However, more often than not it is not easy to understand the manner in which such corporate parties operate since they project themselves as being mindful of the best interests of the public. The movie unfolds in a village in Northern Kerala where Ravi (Nivin) & his aunt, Pushpa (Remya Suresh) are chosen as the beneficiaries of Kuyyali's (Shammi Thilakan) (leader of a regional party) housing scheme. This was just the beginning of Kuyyali's plans & it remained to be seen to whether the people would be able to see through his ulterior motives before it was too late. 

The main reason why it didn't work for me was the pace at which Liju has went about his task of revealing the story. It is excruciatingly slow & by the time, the first half ends we are left wondering as to whether anything worthwhile happened at all. I believe it kind of affected others as well since I did see quite a few fiddling with their mobiles during the show. However, things does move at a livelier pace in the latter half culminating in a predictable yet decent climax. 

Though there are quite a few characters, none of them were well written & that includes Nivin also as the reason for his melancholy and the shift in his attitude felt way too vague and hasty. Both Deepak Mohan & Govind Vasantha deserves appreciation for their efforts in cinematography & BGM, while Shafique's editing could have been far more effective. Coming to performances, almost all of them have done their parts well be it Nivin, Shammi, Remya etc while Aditi, Indrans, Jaffer Idukki didn't have much to do. 

Verdict:  There is no doubt that the theme was relevant but the way it was shown on screen could have been far more better. In short, the choice is yours!!!

Rating: 2/5

Regards...Ben

Bollywood needs to introspect long & hard or their wait for a blockbuster will continue indefinitely!!!

Over the past month, there were quite a few movies that I had watched on the OTT platform & was left pondering as to whether Bollywood was deprived of sense and sensibility. This year has already seen many movies from the South plant their winning flag at the box office. Well the movies mentioned below featured some of the biggest names in the industry be it in terms of cast, crew or production house. I certainly don't believe that all these movies were bad but yeah, they definitely need to pull up their socks. 

Shamshera

This movie was helmed by Karan Malhotra who had impressed many with his take on "Agneepath". In his latest project, he opted for the services of Neelesh Misra who set the story in the 18th century with the focus being on the oppressed community, Khameran which was led by Shamshera (Ranbir Kapoor). His efforts to gain freedom for his people resulted in his death & this movement was taken forward by his son, Balli. The story as such sounded interesting but when it appeared on screen it was damn mediocre. The CGI & the makeup was pedestrian and the whole movie as such felt way too artificial. Apart from Sanjay Dutt, Ranbir's performance as Balli & Saurabh Shukla, there was nothing much worth mentioning. 

Rating: 1/5

Jayeshbhai Jordaar 

The first time I saw the trailer of this flick which was the directorial debut of Divyang Thakkar, I would have to admit that I was certainly motivated to check it out as it seemed like a hilarious social satire. This is a genre that Ayushmann Khurana has made a niche for himself & hence it was interesting to see Ranveer Singh in such a  role. To be fair, he has done a fine job be it with regard to body language and expressions. Divyang's focus was on a host of various issues such as female infanticide, gender equality etc. & to a certain extent, it did work for me. Most of the technical aspects were fine such as art & Siddharth Diwan's cinematography. The rest of the cast such as Boman Irani, Ratna Pathak, Jia Vaidya (as Jayesh's daughter) have done their parts well while Shalini Pandey was ok, though I felt her part ought to have been more meatier & given to someone else. This was a movie that was ideal for the OTT platform as it didn't quite have the substance to work in the theatres as the audience would have naturally expected something more flashier or intense coz of Ranveer's presence. 

Rating: 2.5/5

Cutputtli

One of the banes of Bollywood is its obsession for remakes & do they know to do it properly? The truth is more often than not, they don't as they fail to capture the essence of the original. Rajiv Tewari's "Cuttputtli" is the remake of the much appreciated "Ratsasan" & since it is a thriller that many would have watched, I dont think there is any need to give a gist of it. The primary reason why Ram's movie was engaging was the manner in which the mystery & the fear factor was kept intact until the very end which culminated in a rather chilling reveal of the villain. This aspect was completely diluted in the remake & though Akshay has done a decent job, he didn't fit the bill of a 41 year old. However, on the whole it was still ok & was indeed a right decision to release it on Disney Hotstar.

Rating: 2.25/5 

Babli Bouncer

About a fortnight back, as I was flipping through Disney Hotstar; I came across this flick & decided to give it a try. It is about a female named Babli (Tamanaah) who aspired to go to Delhi & decides to do so by becoming a bouncer. Her main reason for moving to the Capital was due to her crush & how she deals with the challenges that comes up forms the crux. Interestingly, I came to realize that it was Madhur Bhandarkar only when the end credits were rolling & to be frank, it as quite unlike his previous impressive movies like "Fashion". It felt more like a TV serial with nothing interesting that would make us to sit up and take notice. There is no doubt that Tamannah had done a decent job and she was ably supported by Saurabh Shukla, Sahil Vaid etc., but she was definitely not the right choice. 

Rating: 2/5

In effect, the fault lies with the makers rather than the audience as they need to wake up and come up with original content or atleast present it in a refreshing manner. From the above mentioned movies, it is evident that gone are the days when a superstar or a blockbuster production house guaranteed a bumper opening. Anyway everything is still not lost but without a proper introspection with regard to the content & the budget they are splurging, tough times are likely to persist for much longer!!!

Regards..Ben

Cobra: "Routine run of the mill latter half belittles Vikram's efforts!!!"

Prior to the release of PS-1, Vikram had a major release in the form of "Cobra" that was helmed by Ajay Gnanamuthu. I happened to see it only by the time it was released on SonyLIV which happened within a month of its release. Well that was ample proof that it had failed to bring in footfalls in the theatres that was required to recover the 100 C that the makers had invested. To be fair, I felt the first half was pretty entertaining but what panned out later was pretty damn ordinary.

The script has been the creation of Ajay along with a host of other individuals like Neelan Sekhar, Kanna Sreevasthan etc. Based on how the movie eventually got made, it would be fair to say that too many cooks spoiled the broth. The movie is about the assassin, Cobra / Madhi (Vikram) who had carried out assignments with immaculate perfection that the Interpol had no clue regarding the whereabouts of this mastermind. The contracts predominantly came from the MNC Rishi Corporation which was headed by Rajeev Rishi (Roshan Mathew) & when the Interpol closed in, the former decided to finish off the protagonist before the trail led to him. However, Madhi had more cards up his sleeve.

The first half focuses on the thrill factor & the multiple characters that Vikram dons which despite giving a vague sense of Anniyan was still very much enjoyable. However, the interval block which was supposed to be a wow moment failed to provide that impact & the movie never quite rose after that. The emotional drama that was staged was well performed by Vikram but the story as such turned out to be rather stagnant & boring with the flashback turning out to be predictable & quite bland. On the technical side, Harish Kannan's visuals were impressive & AR Rahman's music though not quite off the top drawer was still fine. But the VFX was pretty mediocre at times & the editing could have been far more sensible. 

Coming to the rest, Srinidhi Shetty did have a meatier role than "KGF" & along with K S Ravikumar and Meenakshi Govindarajan (as Judy) has done a decent job. Irfan Pathan was good in parts while Roshan Mathew was wasted in a poorly written role. Though it was good to see a couple of other Malayali artists as well like Mammukoya & Miya George (as Madhi' mother), they didn't have anything substantial to do.

Verdict: Well it isn't surprising to see as to why the movie tanked as the latter half was devoid of all the thrills that made it engaging early on. In short, if interested give it a try for the first half!!!

Rating: 2/5

Regards...Ben

Eesho: "Predictability denies the effect of any thrills!!!"

A couple of months back, there was a hue & cry headlined by PC George regarding the title of Nadirshah's latest directorial venture. That movie happened to be "Eesho" & I presume most of us would have heard about that flick courtesy of the news hour discussions that beamed on various channels. Anyway the movie released on SonyLIV close to a fortnight back & spoke about a socially relevant topic that the director had tackled in his debut venture as well. So will it garner similar response from the audience???

The story is predominantly told over the course of a night with the focus being the interaction between Ramachandran Pillai (Jaffer Idukki) & a rather strange person who introduced himself as Eesho (Jayasurya). The former was an ATM security guard & the prime witness in a child abuse case against a prominent businessman Sevichan (Suresh Krishna). Both of them get along well but the more they interacted, the more mysterious Eesho turned out to be. 

Apart from the controversy regarding its title, it also faced a lot of flak due to allegations of plagiarism  that was mounted against Suneesh Varanad. Anyway whether there is any truth to it is something that I have no idea about, but the story as such barely had any sense of novelty to it. It was way too predictable to the extent that there wasn't a single sequence that could classify it as a thriller. The whole movie was rather minimalistic & apart from Roby Varghese's cinematography which sets the mood aptly, none of the other technical aspects deserves special mention. 

Both Jaffer Idukki & Jayasurya have done their parts well with the former churning out yet another solid performance. As for the rest of the cast, such as Namitha Pramod, Johny Antony, Indrans etc. none of them had much screen space & had limited opportunity to perform.

Verdict: Certainly a wise decision to release it on OTT coz I doubt whether it would have survived more than a couple of days at the theatres. With a run time of only about 107 minutes, you can give it a try though dont expect to be invested in it!!!

Rating: 2.25/5

Regards...Ben

Godfather: "Lacks the intrigue & swag of the original!!!"

Last night, Asianet movies beamed "Lucifer" for the nth time & as always I watched it for some time. Incidentally, this was the first Malayalam movie that I had watched in the theatre in US & I certainly enjoyed it. However, I didn't have the same feeling when I had watched Mohan Raja's "Godfather", it's official remake. It isn't a frame to frame recreation as Mohan had made some changes to his screenplay with regard to the characters. Well after the debacle of "Acharya" at the box office, Chiranjeevi would surely want this to click. So does it manage to keep the investors happy???

The basic plot as such remains the same though one prominent difference is the absence of Tovino's role. In doing so, Nayanthara's role is much meatier than Manju's,  as the former essentially does his segment as well though in a different manner. The primary USP of "Lucifer" was the mystery that surrounded Stephen / Abram & menacing feel that Lalettan & Vivek Oberoi were able to impart to their characters. This aspect is completely missed here & some of the artists failed to create the impact that Indrajith, Baiju, John Vijay & Kalabhavan Shajon had done with their respective roles. 

In its present form, it does have the content to be made into a sound political thriller but it falls well short of that. On the technical side, the VFX was pretty pathetic while Nirav Shah's cinematography was ok. Coming to performances, Chiranjeevi scored in portions where subtlety was required while he was rather wooden in the mass scenes, Nayanthara did a fine job while Murali Sharma's act was interesting (role essayed by Saikumar). However, I was reasonably impressed with Satya Dev as the antagonist as he looked more at ease than Vivek. & didn't seem over awed by Chiranjeevi's presence. As for the extended cameo by Salman, he did it in a bindaas manner but the way the makers had conceived it made it unintentionally funny and stupid. 

Verdict: During one of the press interactions, Chiranjeevi mentioned about not being fully satisfied with "Lucifer" & hence they have crafted the remake in a much more engaging manner. Well he is certainly far from the truth as it was pretty mediocre in comparison to be frank. In short, wait for Asianet to play "Lucifer" yet again!!!

Rating: 1.5/5

Regards...Ben

Mei Hoom Moosa: "A horrible mismatch between the central theme & the genre chosen!!!"

It's been a hectic couple of weeks due to which I haven't been able to find time to pen my views regarding quite a few of the movies that I had watched. One such movie happened to be Jibu Jacob's "Mei Hoom Moosa" that had released about a fortnight back. Since I haven't watched the trailer, I didn't have any expectations as such. However, despite that it turned out to be a pretty mediocre flick where the primary flaw was the inability of the makers to choose the apt narration pattern.

To be frank, the script penned by Rubesh Jain certainly had a good theme whereby Lance Naik Mohammad Moosa (Suresh Gopi) who was believed to be dead in the Kargil War returned home after 19 years. As expected, life had moved on for the rest of the people including his family & it was upto Moosa to prove his identity and come to terms with the life that was in front of him. Hmm...sounds like a decent theme isn't it??? Well the good part ends here, since when Jibu tried to recreate it on celluloid he opted to make it humorous & it felt as odd as puttu with mayonnaise. 

Most of the jokes failed to land or felt completely misplaced & some of the emphasis on certain section of people was in bad taste. It was also evident that not much thought had gone into the character arc of the family members. None of the technical aspects deserves special mention & when it comes to performances as well it was average at best. After a good outing in "Paappan", it was disappointing to see Suresh Gopi feature in such a sloppy flick where even his performance didn't have much to write home about be it with his diction or attempt at humour. Saiju Kurup & Harish Kanaran were ok though the manner in which the former's role was presented was confusing. As for the rest, Poonam Bajwa barely had much to do while Srinda & Mithun were trite. 

Verdict: Seems like Jibu's search for success will continue for some more time & if he continues to churn out stuff like this, it could very well be an extremely long wait. There is no doubt that it had a decent theme but with such a flimsy screenplay neither do we empathize with the protagonist nor do we manage to have a good laugh. In short, don't bother!!!

Rating: 1/5

Regards...Ben

Rorschach: "Slow paced intriguing psycho thriller with fantastic performances that could test the patience of some!!!"

One of the most oft heard lamentation among fans of Mammookka & Lalettan is the reason why we dont get to see these veterans in movies like that of the 90s which did justice to their talent. Well it is heartening to see Mammookka feature in projects this year that were both commercially & critically appreciated. His latest release, "Rorschach" helmed by Nissam Basheer is another such movie that is going to be the talk of the town over the next week or so. Ever since the first look poster was released, it had created curiosity which got amplified further courtesy of the interesting trailer. Anywaz it released today & the decision to check it out FDFS was certainly worth it.

On a night when the rain pelted down, an accident happened on the hilly terrain where a car that carried a NRI couple skidded out of control. When the husband, Luka Antony (Mammookka) regained consciousness, he found that his wife had gone missing & filed a complaint with the local police station. Despite the efforts of the police search party along with the help of the public, they couldn't trace out any evidence of her existence. But Luke was determined to locate his wife & decided to set base in that place. So does he manage to unearth the mystery behind her disappearance???

With his debut venture itself "Kettiyolaanu Ente Malakha", Nissam had showcased his directorial credentials & to help him with his sophomore project, he has called upon the services of Sameer Abdul. It was expected that the subject as such will be a bit out of the ordinary after all that's what Sameer did in "Iblis" & "Adventures of Omanakuttan". The basic theme here is revenge but rather than opt for the regular run of the mill, he decided to present it through the angle of a psycho thriller. In doing so, much thought had gone into the screenplay with almost the characters having a meaty role and most of them being painted with broad strokes of grey. However, the pace at which the sequences unfold is pretty sluggish at times & could test the patience of quite a few. I personally really enjoyed the first half, though the latter segment could have been much more impactful as the sinister factor was kind of overused & hence the thrill in Luke's character kind of waned for me.

On the technical side, it was just fantastic & almost all of them deserves praise. First & foremost, it has to be Midhun Mukundan who has given us one of the best Malayalam BGM tracks which elevated the eerie effect of many of the sequences. Even the English soundtracks gelled well with the mood of the movie. Kudos to Nimish Ravi's delightful frames & the colour tone used, the production quality & Kiran Das's editing. 

Mammookka continued to impress with his portrayal of Luke as the cold & calculative protagonist who remained unfazed as to how he wanted to implement his plans. Each & every artist have done their parts brilliantly, be it Grace Antony, Jagadeesh, Kottayam Naseer, Sharafudeen etc. But the person who is really going to be the main topic of discussion is Bindu Panicker who reveled in the fantastic role given to her that provided her with the opportunity to showcase various emotional states of that character.

Verdict: It is a type of movie that requires a theatrical experience coz of the whole impact that Nissam had managed to create. But at the same time, it requires the audience to watch it with patience as it is not a type of movie that will make you whistle but keeps us engaged if vested in it. In short, do check it out.

Rating: 3/5

Regards...Ben

Vikram Vedha: "Despite the familiarity, the performances plays it well for the gallery!!!"

Hmm...yet another remake from a South Indian movie & this time around it is Pushkar-Gayathri's "Vikram Vedha". Rather than entrust the task to someone else, the director duo decided to recreate their blockbuster project in Bollywood & called upon the star performers Hrithik Roshan and Saif Ali Khan to reprise the roles which were executed brilliantly by Vijay Sethupathi & Madhavan respectively. The trailer was impressive & did create a hype among the audience. But the interesting point is that with the advent of OTT, the Hindi dubbed version of the original is available on ZEE5. So was it indeed a smart move to make a remake especially since the fate of quite a few of them like "Laal Singh Chhadha", "Jersey", "Hit" etc. hasn't been great in recent times.

As almost everyone is aware, this is basically a contemporary adaptation of Vikramadithya & Betaal where Vikram (Saif), a no- nonsense cop who wouldn't hesitate to go to any extend to ensure that the greater good prevails. The mission that was entrusted to him & his team was to take down the dreaded gangster, Vedha (Hrithik). But it was a battle that was about the brain as well as the brawn and who prevails at the end forms the basis of this story. 

The director couple has literally remained faithful to the original, though I felt that since they had taken the trouble for the remake then they could have as well added more content to the screenplay to add freshness to the movie. Anyway there is still no denying the fact that it keeps us engaged & the technical team has done a fine job in contributing to the overall impact. These include P S Vinod's excellent frames that has a rustic feel to it which captures the feel of Lucknow, Richard Kevin's editing, the slick yet desi action choreography & Sam's BGM which was impactful. However, Vishal Shekhar's music was average at best. 

The main USP is undoubtedly the two protagonists that has been brought together since it is no mean task when a significant benchmark has been set by the original cast. If Sethupathi brought in subtlety, then Hrithik brought in his charisma and agility and gave a power packed performance. Saif was solid like Madhavan and the former's chemistry with Hrithik was good. As for the rest of the cast, Radhika Apte, Sharib Hashmi (as Babloo), Rohit Saraf (as Shatak) etc have done their parts aptly.

Verdict: Well the popular question would be as to whether it is worth watching this movie after all it doesn't offer anything new. But if you ask me, I certainly felt it is surely worth a watch coz of the fine performance of the protagonists.

Rating: 3/5

Regards...Ben

Ponniyin Selvan Part 1: "Engrossing story telling with fantastic performances!!!"

Finally the day has come & the much awaited Tamil movie of the year or rather one that has been waited for past few decades is beamed on screens across the globe. It is none other than Mani Ratnam's magnum opus "Ponniyin Selvan Part 1", a project that many illustrious individuals like MGR & Kamal Haasan wanted to immortalize on celluloid but couldn't materialize. The trailer & promotions were well organized and the makers made sure that the release happened just as when the hype was peaking. It's been ages since I had watched a movie FDFS in my hometown & I couldn't have chosen a better one as the epic period drama was completely worth it with its stellar performances and premier technical quality. 

Based on Kalki Krishnamurthy' 1955 novel "Ponniyin Selvan", the movie talks about the power struggle in the Chola Empire when the time for succession draws near. Sundara Chola's (Prakash Raj) health was on the decline while both his sons, the crown prince Aditha Karikalan (Vikram) & Arulmozhi Varman (Jayam Ravi) were on different conquest campaigns. Within the palace, a conspiracy spearheaded by the finance minister Periya Pazhuvettaraiyar (Sarath Kumar) was set in motion to usurp the throne. However, Aditha had a sense of this danger & entrusted his trusted lieutenant, Vanthiyathevan (Karthi) to alert his father and sister, Kundavai (Trisha) to be on their guard. The journey of Vanthiyathevan through this labyrinth of greed, valour, honesty & treachery forms the basis of the plot where the balance of power keeps shifting at various junctures.  

Well before I speak about anyone else, I believe it is imperative that Subaskaran of Lyca Productions is appreciated first since if it wasn't for his collaboration with Madras Talkies, this project would have still remained a dream. What do I say about Mani Ratnam??? He was just brilliant since it is no mean task to emerge with flying colours especially when the expectations from the project was just insane. Along with Elango Kumaravel, he has come up with a compelling screenplay that keeps the audience engrossed. The technical aspects were just wow like Thotta Tharani's exquisite production designs, costume department, Ravi Varman's excellent frames & AR Rahman's fantastic music which elevates the impact of many sequences. This is definitely his best work in the past decade and the choreography was apt in most tracks except for 'Chola Chola' which felt way too filmy.  

The events unfolds at a fast pace which is understandable after all he has to include the contents of five novels into two movies.  But that turns out to be a downer for those who haven't read the novels like me. This is because at times we fail to understand the importance of certain characters to the main plot like Poongzhali (Aishwarya Lekshmi) as she appeared abruptly (though I was told later on that she is an important character in the novel), Vaanathi (Sobitha Dhulipala) etc. Another difficulty that many would face is the Tamil dialect used here which is quite different to what we are accustomed to. So if there are no English subtitles or if it is not the Malayalam version, then we will have some difficulty in comprehension (a similar experience that I recollect was when I watched "Iruvar"). However, to be frank it didn't significantly affect my viewing experience. 

How does one even talk about performances, coz each one of them have given excellent performances in the screen space allotted to them. First & foremost, hats off to Mani for the choice of artists for each role since almost all of them were spot on except Sara Arjun as young Nandini. Karthi was brilliant as the sweet talking street smart flirtatious Vanthiythevan while Aishwarya Rai as Nandini was excellent as the scheming ethereal beauty who spoke volumes with her eyes and I would certainly rate it as her career best. Vikram had a limited screen time but his portrayal of Karikalan who is at unrest coz of the inner turmoil and anguish showcased his skills. Trisha's screen presence & expressions exuded confidence & royalty while Jayam Ravi (felt he was given an extremely cold intro) slowly came into his own towards the end. As for the rest, Aishwarya Lekshmi, Jayaram, Parthiban etc. have all done justice to their roles. 

Verdict: Well it is a must watch & that too, in theatres coz the laptop screen is surely not going to give you the visual splendour. However, as I mentioned earlier prior to watching it make sure you atleast have a basic idea about the novel & watch it in theatres with English subtitles or where the Malayalam version is shown. In short, don't miss it!!!

Rating: 3.5/5

Regards...Ben