Enkilum Chandrike, Christy & Dear Vaappi: "Directorial debutants make their mark with varying degrees of finesse!!!"

The Valentine's Day week saw a plethora of movies from the various genres hit the screens. Each of the these three flicks had its own USP which certainly attracted footfalls early on. However, the response has been far from encouraging as the week drew to a close & it would be fair to say that some of them failed to do justice to what they had promised in their promos. 

Enkilum Chandrike: "Provides a vague vibe of Kunjiramayanam"

Hmm...did my statement raise a few eyebrows? Well I'm pretty sure that it did after all Basil Joseph's "Kunjiramayanam" is one of the cleanest & most hilarious movie that our industry has seen in the past decade. Aditya Chadrasekhar in his directorial debut has knowingly or unknowingly crafted his creation  that gives us a feel of that in certain sequences. As the project is bankrolled by Friday House & given their track record there is always a certain degree of expectation regarding the quality of the movies that they churn out.

For the uninitiated, Aditya has made quite a name for himself through mini series like 'Average Ambili'. Apart from calling the shots, he had also penned the script in the company of Arjun Narayanan where the focus is on a group of friends who are members of the Sumalatha Arts Club. The senior among them was Pavithran (Suraj Venjaramoodu) whose efforts to end his bachelorhood extended endlessly until he met Sujina (Tanvi Ram). However, she was willing to consider his proposal if he helps her sister, Chandrika (Niranjana Anoop) to call off the wedding that was fixed without the latter's consent. Though Pavithran takes up the challenge, it was way difficult that he had envisioned. 

Well it's essentially a combination of fun elements put together which takes an extremely predictable route. It doesn't test our patience & keeps us engaged with humour that is sprinkled right throughout which I felt is the primary highlight. The technical aspects were fine be it Ifthi's music & Jithin Stanislaus's visuals. On the performance front, incidentally the protagonist essayed by Niranjana had limited screen space & was extremely average, while Tanvi was good. The pick of the lot for me was Bhanumathi (as Pavi's aunt) & Narayanan (as broker Chandran), both of whom were impressive and bang on with the portrayal of their characters. As for the rest of the cast, Suraj seemed rather rigid at times, Basil though good overacts in certain sequences, Maniyanpillai Raju was cringy in a role that resembled like the one from "Minnaram" while Saiju Kurup, Ashwin & Abhiram (as Bibeesh) were ok. 

Verdict: A predictable humorous flick that keeps us in good spirits. 

Rating: 2.75/5

Christy: "Fails to establish emotional connect with the audience!!!"

When the promos of Alvin Henry's "Christy" was released, it understandably generated a significant amount of interest for two reasons. The primary being that it was about the relationship between a teenager & his elder tuition teacher. Another reason was that the screenplay for the story by Alvin based on true events was drafted by Benyamin & G R Indugopan. Surprisingly, the story came across as rather dull & failed to evoke any sense of empathy. 

The story unfolds in Poovar where Roy (Mathew) is a carefree teenager who stayed with his aunt & viled away time in extra curricular activities. In order to improve upon his failing grades, he is asked to seek the help of their neighbour & teacher, Christy (Malavika Mohan). Apparently, she had recently divorced & the impact that she had on him in due course of time forms the basis of the story.

Though the title is named after the female lead, Alvin for reasons best known to him decided to focus the story from Roy's perspective & in that regard, he has done a decent job.. However, in the process, we are left to ponder as to what goes through Christy even as Roy starts developing feelings for her. It's true that the makers state that it is a true story (& that too twice), but I don't think that is a valid argument as to not raise questions about the screenplay. Some of the dialogues in the climax segment was rather mediocre & unwarranted whereby Roy is made to feel that he a true lover; though in reality it was just plain selfishness and a means to impose his feelings with scant regard for Christy's discomfort. At the same time, the eventual manner in which the climax panned out was fine & appreciate the makers for not deviating towards lust in terms of visuals etc. 

On the technical side, Govind Vasantha's BGM was the biggest positive as it effectively manages to elevate many of the sequences courtesy of being in sync with the mood. Even Anend Chandran deserves praise for the visuals. But the same cant be said about the performances as I felt both the lead weren't able to do justice to their roles. Malavika's diction & body language somehow didnt seem to gel with what we would expect from Christy while Mathew was average at best and didn't offer anything that we haven't seen in the past. 

Verdict: Even as the technical aspects stands out, both the screenplay & the performances fails to optimize the impact that a complex story like this could have generated!!!

Rating: 2/5

Dear Vaappi: "Moving movie about father-daughter relationship despite the cliche!!!"

The third among the list of the debutants is Shan Thulasi's "Dear Vaappi" which is about the heart warming story about the relationship between a father & his daughter. Shan in the company of his Shanu Samad talks about Basheer (Lal) who had worked as a tailor in Mumbai for many years. Eventually he decides to open his own textile business in his hometown & inspires his daughter, Amira (Anagha Narayanan) to believe in the dream. However, it was never going to be an easy dream & Amira realizes it soon enough.

In terms of the story as such, it is predictable & cliched; however it still manages to keeps us engaged coz of the emotional drama that unfolds. The chemistry shared between Lal & Anagha goes a long way in making it engaging for the audience with credible support from Sreerekha & Niranjan. The rest of the cast have done their parts aptly while the technical aspects were ok.

Verdict: Shan opted to tread a path that we have seen in the past as well but he still manages to keep the audience engaged with its motivational and emotional tone!!!

Rating: 2.5/5

Regards...Ben

Christopher: "Unnikrishnan's road to redemption is still a fair distance away!!!"

The biggest highlight of this weekend was the clash of the titans at the box office as it saw projects that headlined Mammookka & Lalettan take centre stage. Bhadran's "Spadikam" was re-released in the 4K format & as per reports, it was well worth the effort with the audience having received it with open hands. It was undoubtedly a welcome relief for Lalettan who hasn't had the best of times in recent times, though his upcoming movies with credible film makers certainly provides hope. Two of the movies for which he was roasted the most were Unnikrishnan's "Aarattu" & Vysakh's "Monster", both of which were incidentally penned by Udaykrishna. Hence when "Christopher" was announced which saw Unnikrishnan & Udaykrishna join forces yet again, it certainly didn't inspire expectations. However, Mammookka's presence gave the hope that the project might engage the audience. So did it manage to???

As the tagline says, it is the biography of a vigilante cop & the person in question here is ADGP Christopher (Mammookka) said to be the messiah of women who were subjected to brutal crimes. Over the course of his career, he had chosen the path of vigilantism numerous times & one such incident had put him up for departmental inquiry. The most pertinent question at this juncture is whether Udaykrishna has been able to cook up something worthwhile??

Well even as the tagline sounded interesting, the story as such is predictable & featured numerous repetitive sequences i.e. assaults followed by encounter with the only difference being the characters involved. In the process, despite a significant amount of time invested in Christopher's backstory (which was indeed thoughtful); we do not get emotionally invested in him. There was no effort to pen in sequences that would showcase the investigative capabilities of the protagonist & comes across solely as a trigger happy cop. They build the image of a rather ruthless villain but reduced him to an insignificant character with an underwhelming climax. The makers seem pretty adamant of the fact that extra judicial killings is the only option & cant blame them as well since the culprits shown on screen are broadly painted in black after all they intentioned it as a mass entertainer. In terms of the making, I felt Unnikrishnan has done a decent job with support from Faiz Siddik as the DoP while Justin Varghese's BGM was good.

There is an army of artists in the movie with most of them featuring in just a couple of scenes. Almost all of them have done justice to their roles with the pick among the lot being Mammookka & Amala Paul. It was a barely challenging role for the legend as he manages to effectively convey the empathy that he has for the victims & the toll that the past had on him through his expressions & body language. Amala has also given a fine performance along with Dileesh Pothan while Shine Tom has started to appear in movies like the way he usually behaves in front of media which in this case matched with his on screen character. However, I felt Vinay Rai was wasted.

Verdict: Undoubtedly, far better than "Aarattu" & does not necessarily test our patience, though the story as such is predictable. In short, you may give it a try!!!

Rating: 2.25/5

Regards...Ben

Ayisha & Momo in Dubai: "Directorial debutants make a promising start with their Gulf based projects!!!"

Before US & Europe came to the fore, the bond between Malayalis & the Gulf had been set in stone as many had travelled to the desert nation to carve their destiny. As expected this has been the subject of numerous movies & with an increase in production costs, many projects are even getting shot in those regions. Just a month into 2023 & we have already seen quite a few of them such as Aamir Pallikal's "Ayisha" & Ameen Aslam's "Momo in Dubai". Though both of them do not essentially belong to the same genre, they were both born from the pen of Ashif Kakkodi & he does leave quite a few teary eyed with the emotional drama that unfolded. 

Ayisha

This was a project that has been in the news for quite a while primarily because a significant number of the cast & crew were from the Gulf itself. For the uninitiated, it is a biopic & based on an eventful chapter of the iconic Nilambur Ayisha's life, who is referred as the first lady from their community to perform in  dramas & movies. In 1988, Ayisha (Manju Warrier) moved to Saudi to work as a gaddama for one of the royal families. The head of the family was an ailing matriarch known as Mama (Mona Essay) & the bond that developed between Ayisha & her, forms the basis of the plot. Both of them have done their parts well though I would rate Mona, a tad higher & the chemistry between the two were palpable. As for the rest of the cast, most of them have done their parts aptly (though some did come across as artificial). 

Apart from their relationship, the makers weren't quite able to add credible content to imply the steely resolve & character of Ayisha. As an audience who might not be aware of her legacy, it would feel rather odd & half baked to see the people flocking to the palace to get a glimpse of Ayisha and the reception she gets at the market. On the technical side, Vishnu Sharma's visuals were fine along with M Jayachandran's music. However, the 'kannilu kannilu' track despite being good seemed like an odd addition to this movie. 

Verdict: As a biopic, I certainly dont think it has been able to do justice though the chemistry between the protagonists makes it an endearing watch!!!

Rating: 2.25/5

Momo in Dubai

Apart from Ashif, Zakariya Mohammed had also been part of the scripting process & that was the main attraction for me to check this out. Over here, the story is placed in the UAE & treads a path similar to that of Sidharth Siva's "Kochuvva Paulo Ayyappa Coelho". Momo (Athrey) harboured hopes of seeing the Burj Khalifa & it seemed like he would be able to realize his dream when his father who worked in the Gulf flies in his family for their vacation. However, it didn't quite pan out as he had planned.

Despite a run time of just over 100 mins, it still felt like Ratheesh Raj could have done a better job on the editing board. The makers had maintained a positive vibe throughout the movie & captures the life of a NRI pretty organically with the family being quite understanding & not overwhelmed by the hardships that they face. The relationship between the parents was also well captured & kudos to both Aneesh Mohan and Anu Sithara for their fine performance. All the three kids have done their parts well along with Johny Antony. 

Verdict: More often than not, it is difficult to come across movies nowadays that could be deemed as healthy & watchable for the kids. In that sense, this is a clean family drama!!!

Rating: 2.5/5

Regards...Ben

Romancham: "Horror comedy that is genuinely hilarious!!!"

Ever since the theatres have opened after the pandemic, a common feature that has been observed on pretty much every Friday is the release of numerous flicks. This inevitably meant that if the flick fails to bring in the audience in the first few days, the chances of it being held over before the next weekend is significantly higher after all there is no dearth of movies. This week also saw the release of four movies among which Jithu Madhavan's "Romancham" already had a positive vibe about it thanks to the chart buster 'Ningalkke aadaranjali neratte'. Apparently, it turned out that the entire movie itself had the same vibe & had the audience in splits. 

After having worked as an assistant director in "Guppy", Jithu finally made his directorial debut in this venture. He had penned the script as well which interestingly is based on events that unfolded in his bachelor pad in Bangalore that was shared with six other buddies in 2007. As a plot, there isn't much to elaborate as it is about the incidents that happen in their lives after they call upon a spirit with an Ouija board. What makes this flick really click with the audience is the humour that is woven so seamlessly into the script (the sequence that involved Chemban Vinod in a cameo was an absolute hoot). Even as the situational comedy took centre stage, Jithu made sure that the screenplay slowly built on the tempo regarding the presence of the spirit (kind of like "Adi Kappyare Kootamani"). Sushin Shyam needs to be applauded for the catchy music while the art department & Sanu Thahir has done a fine job as well.

Kudos to Jithu for his fantastic casting as each & every artist have performed really well. Soubin Shahir might be the only prominent face among the seven house mates but the others are also relatively familiar faces courtesy of short films, Youtube channels etc like Sajin Gopu (as Niroop), Sijo Sunny (as Mukesh), Afzal (as Karikuttan), Abin Bino (as Shijappan), Jagadeesh Kumar (as Soman) & Anantharaman Ajay (as Rivin). Arjun Ashokan makes an appearance towards the latter half & has given an apt performance with his expressions while Chemban Vinod rocked in his cameo. 

Verdict: Undoubtedly, one of the most hilarious movies to have released in recent times & certainly a fine addition to the horror comedy genre that is not explored much in Malayalam. The manner in which it has concluded gives hopes of a sequel & with the word of mouth that is likely to go in its favour, it is certainly going to have voices that would wait eagerly for it. In short, do check it out!!!

Rating: 2.75/5

Regards...ben

Thankam: "Performances & screenplay for large parts makes it worthy of its title!!!"

Over the past decade or so, we have had quite a few production houses that had made a name for themselves with the quality of movies that they had come out with. One such company is Bhavana Studios that has quite a few prominent names such as Syam Pushkaran, Dileesh Pothan, Fahad Faasil etc. With movies like "Kumbalangi Nights", "Joji" etc to their credit, expectations were nigh high when they announced their latest venture, "Thankam" helmed by Saheed Arafath. Though it clashed with "Pathaan" & "Alone" at the box office, it still managed to hold its own which is testament of the fact that they have managed to impress the audience yet again. 

It would be fair to admit that Syam Pushkaran is undoubtedly one of the finest writers that we have in the industry presently. In his latest effort, he chose to focus on the life of Muthu (Biju Menon) & Kannan (Vineeth Sreenivasan) involved in the gold trade who take on a huge amount of responsibility & risk as part of their profession. Their business has been moving along reasonably well until Kannan had to make a business trip to Mumbai & gets picked up by the police in Tamil Nadu for his alleged involvement in gold smuggling. However, he was let off for lack of credible evidence but when he goes missing in Mumbai with a sizable quantity of gold; it raises questions as to whether there was more to the whole situation than just met the eye.

Well from the trailer itself it is evident that it is more of a police procedural drama yet at the same time it made sure that light moments were also sprinkled liberally. It comes across as Rajeev Ravi's "Kuttavum Shikshayum" from a bird's eye view , however up close it also looks keenly into the interpersonal dynamics of the main characters. Saheed does justice to the script as the plot is revealed in layers & we are kept invested in it until the very end. However from a personal point of view, the climax turned out to be rather underwhelming, pretty much like "Dear Friend", as I felt that the end Saheed had employed definitely required much more focus on Kannan's character & more clarity was required with regard to his actions. The makers need to be appreciated for their spot on casting choices (the best since "Nna Thaan Case Kodu") & the attention paid to the organic transition of languages between characters. On the technical side, Gautham Shankar's choice of mellow colours & dim lighting to convey the rather grim feel of the sequences & characters was interesting while Bijibal's music was fine. 

As I mentioned earlier, the artists that had lined up for this project were impressive & almost all of them have done a praise worthy job. The decision to bring in the talented Girish Kulkarni was smart & he has done a fantastic job along with Biju Menon, who once again proved that he is undoubtedly one of the most talented artists in the industry. Vineeth has steadily improved his performances over the years, to the extent that this will go down in his resume as one of his best to date. Another person that deserves mention in the same breath is Vineeth David Thattil who might not have as important a role as the above three, but shared an excellent chemistry with Biju which produced quite a few hilarious sequences. Among the female artists, Aparna Balamurali did a decent job in the limited screen space allotted to her along with Indira Prasad as Ambika Chechi. As for the rest of the cast, the instagram girl, her boyfriend Vicky etc. have all done their parts well. 

Verdict: Bhavana Studios has yet again proved their reliability in the production of quality ventures. Both Syam & Saheed deserve praise for coming out with a compelling script & capturing it well on the screen. In short, dont miss it!!!

Rating: 3.5/5

Regards...Ben