First & foremost, 'Eid Mubarak' to all my friends & well wishers and may this auspicious day bring joy, prosperity & blessings to your life. For movie aficionados like me, a plethora of movies has graced the screens this past fortnight to cash in on the festive mood of Vishu & Eid. The lineup definitely inspires expectations but will it deliver the goods remains to be seen. Even as many of the movies has tanked at the box office, the number of releases has refused to cease & hence let's hope that at least some of them manages to entertain us for the benefit of the investors.
Neelavelicham: "Befitting tribute but too faithful for its own good!!!"
When Aashiq Abu announced the remake of Vincent's "Bhargavi Nilayam", there was an undeniable sense of expectation & apprehension after all the sensibilities of the audience has vastly changed since 1964. As most of you will be aware, the movie is based on the short story by the same name by the legend Vaikom Muhammad Basheer who had prepared the original screenplay. For the benefit of those who hasn't seen the original or read the story, a noted novelist (Tovino Thomas) moves into a haunted desolate mansion called 'Bhargavi Nilayam'. The experiences that the novelist goes through over the course of his stay which throws more light on Bhargavi's life (Rima Kallingal) is what this movie is about.
On the positive side, Aashiq has crafted a technically well made movie that does justice to the original in pretty much most of the aspects. His vision was executed impressively with the assistance of his able crew & quite a few of them deserves to be specially mentioned. This includes Girish Gangadharan whose cinematography was fantastic with some well created visual effects. The art team led by Jotish Shankar has done a fine job along with Anandakrishnan's sound unit. At the same time, the actual enactment of the scenes turned out to be rather disappointing. The primary reason for that is Aashiq's decision to stay true to the original which might sound perplexing but the fact is that the tastes & the way the people communicate has undergone a sea of change. Hence when we actually listen to the dialogues it feels so outdated and cheesy.
Coming to performances, Tovino has done a fine job especially since in most of the sequences he had to do all the heavy lifting as he is the only character on screen. His affection for Bhargavi was evident in the dialogues though his expression at times felt rather contradictory. Rima has done a decent job, Roshan was ok though I felt he was wasted & Shine Tom continues to remain in his eccentric persona which gelled with the on screen character only at times.
Verdict: Kudos to Aashiq & his team for a well crafted reboot of the first horror movie in Malayalam. For a fun trivia, I guess this movie gives us answer as to why apparitions are made to wear white. In short, it is worth giving a try though I would have to admit that many would feel it rather boring coz of the dialogues & out dated feel!!!
Rating: 2.5/5
Kadina Kadoramee Andakadaham: "Quite unlike what the title makes us assume!!!"
If I am not wrong, just like me the first impression that most would have got on hearing the title and the cast that was assembled would be that of a comedy entertainer. Well it was quite unlike that, as Muhashin's directorial venture was an emotional drama that many unfortunate people had to go through during the pandemic. I certainly had high hopes on the project & that was primarily because the script was penned by Harshad who had given us some exciting movies like "Unda" & "Puzhu".
The movie unfolds in the pandemic period in Kallai in Kozhikode where Bachu (Basil Joseph) was finding it hard to keep his catering business afloat. Despite his best efforts, most of his ventures were failures but his father's toils in the Gulf made sure that their family was able to address the financial challenges. It was at this juncture that Bachu stumbles upon the idea of surgical masks which seemed like a viable venture at first. Little did he realize that destiny had other plans for him.
As the movie changes track in the second half from that of a struggling entrepreneur, it takes us through an emotional journey. Being a health professional, I completely understand the difficulties that they had to go through to ensure that the citizens remained as safe as possible. However, the trauma that many people had to go through because of essential stringent protocols is bound to make many of us feel conflicted. Muhashin & Harshad has managed to do just that without resorting to any convenient shortcuts in the storyline. On the technical side, Govind Vasantha's music elevated the impact of many sequences while the rest of the stuff were fine.
This is undoubtedly one of Basil's best performance to date as he captured the emotional nuances of the character extremely well. This was quite different from what he usually does & it proves that he certainly has it in him to pull off demanding roles as well. It would be fair to say that everyone has done their parts really well be it Sreeja Ravi (as his mom), Swati Das Prabhu (as his friend), Indrans, Jaffer Idukki etc.
Verdict: At first, I couldn't quite understand as to why this movie had such a title after all the rare occasions that I came across it was in a humorous context. Interestingly, this could have been taken from the legend Basheer's books as he tended to imply that this is a bitter world. In that context, it is indeed a right choice. Anyway irrespective of what the title & poster conveyed to you, it is definitely worth a watch!!!
Rating: 3/5
Ayalvaashi: "A potential engaging plot messed up on execution!!!"
Another directorial debutant that featured in the lineup was Irshad Parari who decided to put faith in his own scripting skills. Anyway just like Muhashin, he also had an interesting title & it did have a connection to what he wanted to convey. Thaju (Soubin Shahir) & Benny (Binu Pappan) were neighbours but their friendship made it feel like that they were more like family. On the eve of Thaju's sis-in law's engagement, someone had used Benny's bike which was already sold & made scratches on it. The issue was in the fact that it was kept a secret until it was brought to light by the buyer who created a ruckus. The blame fell on Thaju & he vowed to prove his innocence.
The screenplay was rather weak as it tried to create many sequences which failed to provide the desired impact either from an emotional standpoint or humour element. The narration by Gokulan was rather irritating and the sequences that involved him & Soubin was a test of our patience as it was way too long and didn't provide any credible content. However, I did enjoy the climax and really felt that if Irshad had put in more effort on the screenplay, it would have been a whole different movie.
It's been a while since we have seen Soubin perform in a sensible manner & this was surely one of them. He has done a fine job as the person who carried emotional baggage while Binu Pappan was average at best. Lijomol was fine along with Nikhila Vimal while Naslen was relegated to the sidelines. As for the rest, Jagadish, Jaya Kurup etc did their parts ok.
Verdict: The lack of an engaging screenplay was evident especially since the basic plot sounded promising. In short, unlikely to have much takers!!!
Rating: 1.5/5
Sulaikha Manzil: "Nowhere in the league of Ashraf's previous ventures!!!"
This is Ashraf Hamza's third directorial venture after "Thamasha" & "Bheemante Vazhi", and that itself was motivation enough to check it out. In this, Ashraf explores the pre-marital pressures that the couple faces especially when they barely had a chance to get to know each other. The couple in question are Haala (Anarkali Marikar) & Ameen (Lukman) and the question as to whether they are indeed compatible or was it a step too soon forms the crux of the movie.
Frankly speaking, it was a movie that literally tested my patience as I just couldnt figure out what exactly was happening rather than a random sequence of events. The first 20 minutes must have been created as a spoof but it failed to provide that comical feel to it and came across as cringe. Apart from Vishnu Vijay's music to a certain extent, none of the other aspects deserves special mention. Coming to performances, Chemban Vinod did his part aptly while Lukman & Anarkali were ok. The rest of the cast have more or less did what they were expected to do though it hardly gave anyone much scope to perform.
Verdict: Well there is nothing much to sugarcoat here except that it was pretty damn mediocre!!!
Rating: 1/5
Regards...Ben
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