The monsoon has lashed the length & breadth of the state in full fury bringing some much needed respite from the torrid summer. Anyway over the past couple of weeks, there has been a few releases; some of which I had happened to watch. Well except for one, the rest were largely average or mediocre. So the question is when will the next big release come to the theatres? Seems like the answer to that could be "Kalki 2898 AD" though many of the scenes in the trailer looked like a blatant rip off of many Hollywood flicks.
Grr: "Eww could have been a better choice of title!!!"
During it's promotions, Jay K stated that the thought for this 'survival comedy' came from an incident that unfolded in Trivandrum Zoo a few years back. This is Jay's second directorial venture after the reasonably appreciated "Ezra" & he has penned the script from the idea that was mentioned earlier.
Regimon (Chackochan) is an entrepreneur who was in an affair with Rachana (Anagha), the daughter of a prominent politician. As one would expect, her father was against their relation due to caste & financial reasons and hence the two decided to elope. But when she didn't turn up on the decided day, Regi ends up drunk & jumps into a lion's enclosure in the zoo. The rest of the movie is about the efforts of the authorities to rescue him.
Well to be frank, apart from a few sporadic laughs; there was hardly anything worthwhile that kept the audience engaged. It felt like the sticking together of various skits that we usually come across in TV channels. Neither the main plot nor the sub-plots provided anything that was unique and that proved to be it's downfall. None of the technical aspects deserved special mention including the VFX.
Even the performances didn't have much to write home about as it was average at best, though it had more to do with the lack of material for the artists to play with. Among the cast, the only ones worth mentioning were Suraaj who tickles the funny bone with his efforts to pacify Chackochan's character, while it was refreshing to see Shruti Ramachandran in a humorous role which she handled quite well.
Verdict: It is definitely a survival comedy where the audience will struggle to survive without looking at their watches as the comedy also falls flat in numerous instances!!!
Rating: 1.5/5
Golam: "Neatly crafted investigation thriller!!!"
Frankly speaking, this was a movie that I wasn't even planning to watch until I heard some positive comments about it. So I decided to check out Samjad's directorial debut where he had collaborated along with Praveen Viswanath on the script. It is essentially an investigation thriller where the MD of an IT company (Dileesh Pothan) is found dead in the washroom of the office in broad daylight. So was it a suicide or a murder & to solve the mystery, ASP Sandeep (Ranjith Sajeev) is entrusted with the case.
In terms of the plot, I would have to admit that it was well done & kept us engaged with the thought that has gone into it. Obviously, one glaring issue that I felt is that though the planning looked fine, the officer as such barely revealed anything; so essentially we don't get to see his investigation capabilities. The manner in which the crux is revealed gave the feel of a Michael Crichton type of novel but the possibility of a sequel might not be a great idea for such kind of a story as it requires high quality production value which is rarely executed properly in our industry & tended to come across as mediocre, when attempted otherwise. On the technical side, Vijay's visuals were fine & a special mention of appreciation for Mahesh Bhuvanend whose editing was impressive.
However, the same cannot be said about the performances which were average at best with the exception being Siddique, though we have seen him do such type of roles in the past. Ranjith had a chiselled torso, however his acting abilities were far from refined.
Verdict: It belongs to those category of flicks that didn't have the star power but word of mouth got it noticed & it certainly deserved that attention. In short, do check it out!!!
Rating: 2.75/5
Little Hearts: "More heart required in exploring the relationships!!!"
When the promos of this flick came out, the main USP was obviously the lead pair of Shane Nigam & Mahima Nambiar after their successful combination in "RDX". This was the second directorial effort of Anto Jose Pereira & Aby Treesa Paul & they would have hoped for a much better outing than their "Member Ramesan 9aam Ward".
Baby (Baburaj) & his son, Sibi (Shane) were the best of buddies who shared everything with each other. As Baby has been a widower for quite a while, he nursed feelings for his childhood love, Cicily (Ramya Suvi) whose husband had abandoned her & their teenage daughter, a few years back. However, with resentment about their relationship from various quarters, they weren't able to formalise it officially. It was around the same time that Sosha (Mahima) confessed her love to Sibi & before he could come to terms with it, her brother, Sharon (Shine Tom) requested his help to convince his parents of the life partner that he had met in UK.
First & foremost, I liked the animation that were shown in the credits section as it had the finesse unlike the tackiness that we usually come across. Rajesh Pinnadan's script focused on three different relationships & the impact that it had on the people around them. It did have the potential to make it engaging for the audience without having to adopt a melodramatic track, which is what I feel they would have been confused about. The track that involved Baby & Cicily was the best among the lot, as it did have its emotional moments & gave a smile as well. As for the other two, it was inconsistent with the one that involved Shine Tom being the most under developed. The technical aspects were neatly done but not to the the extent of deserving special mention.
I dont even remember the last time when I saw Shine Tom behave in a sensible manner in a movie as it always felt like an extension of his interviews. However, over here he was well within the requirement of the character & did a decent job. Shane was ok though I felt there were inconsistencies in the manner his character was written. Ramya Suvi, Baburaj & Shammi Thilakan did a fine job while Mahima was average.
Verdict: Seemed like they were too focused on making it into a rom-com, that they forgot to invest time in establishing the adequate heft to the various tracks.
Rating: 2/5
Once Upon a Time in Kochi: "About time Nadirshah gave serious thought about his films!!!"
The first time that I heard about this movie was when I came across Nadirshah's comments that "Kesu.." was sold to Hotstar for a barely believable 30C. I was stumped to say the least as to how such a mediocre flick bagged such a huge price. Anyway his latest release is the launchpad for Raffi's son, Mubin Raffi & with Arjun Ashokan in an equally important role; it was interesting to see how it panned out.
Rafi is known to have helmed & penned many hilarious flicks, & hence it certainly raised expectations as this comedy thriller was based on his script. The drug menace in Kochi has been in the news for quite a while now & that is the basis on which this story is mounted. SI Anand Das (Arjun) was on a personal mission to wipe out the drug cartel that was in operation in the city. On a parallel track, Janaki (Devika Sanjay) was one of the carriers in that cartel into which Habibi (Mubin) also gets entangled in. Incidentally, both of them had feelings for each other in the past but it didnt quite work out & into that mix, Anand's family approached Devika's folks with a marriage proposal. How all of this have an effect on their lives is what this movie is about.
So is it a comedy or a thriller? Well the truth is that it is neither & therein lies its problem, as it was not able to do justice to either of them. There were quite a few sub-plots as well, not to mention the songs that were squeezed in; none of which managed to make the movie interesting. None of the technical aspects stood out & when it came to performances, Arjun has done a decent job while Devika & Mubin were average at best. There were artists such as Riyaz Khan as a visually challenged sharp shooter (along the lines of Jagathi's character in "Vettam") & numerous others as well most of whom I dont even recollect now which is a fair indication as to how forgetful the movie was.
Verdict: It will be interesting to see how much it will get from the OTT platform. Anyway it would be fair to say that it's high time that Rafi & Nadirshah realise that the taste of audience has moved on from what it was the last time they came with movies!!!
Rating: 1/5
SSHP: "Experimentation goes overboard!!!"
When Ratheesh Balakrishnan Poduval announced that his latest release was a spin off from his critically & commercially appreciated "Nna Thaan Case Kodu", there was a quite bit of expectation. I do enjoy his quirky sense of humour & it seemed like with Suresh & Sumalatha's romance, he was going to push the envelope even further.
As the title indicated, it is about their romance & how Suresh (Rajesh Madhavan) tries to impress Sumalatha's father (Sudheesh) for her hand. Since her father was a huge fan of dramas, Suresh decides to direct one & the events that happen as a result of that is what this movie is about. Though it is not a political satire, I feel that is one area that it manages to throw the punches with effect while the romance did not quite have the impact what it had in "NTCK". The romantic track is depicted in three different timelines & that I felt made it confusing for me, as the conviction & logical reasoning did not come across as organic.
On the technical side, it was neatly done be it the art department, Sabin Uralikandy's cinematography & Sushin Shyam's music. Coming to performances, Sudheesh rocked while Rajesh & Chitra did their parts well, while the rest of the cast did their parts aptly.
Verdict: Maybe it might turn out to be a cult classic after a few years, but for now; it felt like Ratheesh went overboard with experimentation & lost track of the need for the audience to warm up to it!!!
Rating: 2/5
Marivillin Gopurangal: "A pale shadow of that iconic song!!!"
Is there any Malayali who haven't heard Vidayasagar's melodious songs from "Summer in Bethlehem" which included the iconic track 'Marivillin Gopurangal'? I doubt so. Hence when Kokers Media Entertainment decided to launch their latest production with that title along with Vidyasagar, it felt like they wanted to turn back the clock & replicate the success. With Arun Bose helming the project on a subject that he had penned with Pramod Mohan & a solid cast, it did seem like they had the recipe for success.
Shinto (Indrajith) & Sherin (Shruti Ramachandran) had been married for a while now but weren't ready to step into parenthood despite pressure from family & friends. Shinto was a budding film maker who was waiting for his first major break while Sherin ran a nursery & that took care of their financial struggles. It was around this time that Shinto's brother, Rony (Sarjano Khalid) came to their home with his pregnant girlfriend, Meenakshi (Vincy Aloshious), who was reluctant to get married. The rest of the movie is about the effect that all of this had on the life of both the couples.
Arun Bose has certainly touched upon a topic that has gained relevance over the past decade or so, be it the reluctance of couples to have a child, decision to become single parent etc. It was a decent watch on the whole though it doesn't make us feel invested with the characters. More than the actual story, what stood out was the chemistry between the artists especially between Indrajith & Shruti. Both of them did their parts well & they were supported by Sarjano & Vincy despite the latter being over the top at times which felt rather artificial. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the music which was quite average while Syamaprakash's cinematography was in sync with the mood.
Verdict: Despite the presence of a talented cast, the script fails to do justice to their talent!!!
Rating: 2/5
Regards...Ben
