Nadanna Sambhavam, Ullozhukku, Big Ben & Samadhana Pusthakam: "Apart from one, the others fail to impress!!!"

Even as the monsoon lashed the length & breadth of the state, there has been no dearth of movies as it continued to hit the screens every weekend without fail. Most of them failed to make a mark but there were a couple which did have a decent story to convey. So how did it cater to my taste?

Nadanna Sambhavam: "Not much of a sambhavam!!!"

This is Vishnu Narayan's second directorial venture after "Maradona" with the story being the effort of Rajesh Gopinadhan. The events of the plot unfolds in a posh residential colony where Unni (Biju Menon), a marine engineer & his wife, Roshy (Sruthy Ramachandran) with daughter had recently moved in. Unni was the type of character who was pretty warm, friendly & cordial making him a rather popular person among the ladies there. This irked many of their husbands which included Ajith, (Suraj Venjaramood) who had a chauvinistic attitude that led to marital discord with his wife, Dhanya (Lijomol). It was a matter of time before the situation escalated & that's exactly what happened as Unni was literally framed for an incident that he was innocent of. 

In terms of what Vishnu & Rajesh wanted to convey, it did have a credible thread as it was essentially about the subversive emotions of married women. They opted for a satirical tone to it making many of the scenes laced with light humour. But it fails to offer anything unique or novel that kept us invested in it. Luckily for them, I didnt feel it tested our patience though there is no denying that the sequences that followed the police station saga was rather average, not to mention that the climax was quite lame. 

Coming to performances, Biju Menon's character was a cake walk for him & he has done it quite well. Suraj was the one who actually had the scope to perform to which he has done justice as he showcased the traits of a chauvinistic person quite effectively. Lijomol did her part aptly while Shruti didnt have much to do. The rest of the cast have also done their parts reasonably ok. 

Verdict: Not much of a sambhavam except that it is a harmless time-pass flick!!!

Rating: 2/5

Ullozhukku: "Intense emotional drama backed by power-packed performances!!!"

This was a movie that I was eagerly looking forward to for the reason that it featured Urvashi, who I personally consider the most versatile Malayalam actress to date. In addition, it was directed by Christo Tomy who is already a two time National Award winning director at just 36 years of age & the presence of Parvathy, who is also a powerhouse performer in her own right. 

Based on the script penned by Christo himself, it is about the emotional struggles that a mother, Leelamma (Urvashi) & her daughter-in-law, Anju (Parvathy) go through following the death of her son. Due to the heavy rains that had lashed out in the region, the funeral had to be kept on hold as the graveyard was flooded. Over the course of those days, it became evident that Anju was in an unhappy marriage & was keen on starting her life afresh. On the other hand, despite the sorrow; Leelamma looked forward to the arrival of her grand-child. Though everything looked fine on the surface, both of them harboured secrets which threatened to break the very basis of their relationship. 

Christo looks into the emotional package that both the female protagonists from different generations carry. Both of them had unfavourable circumstances thrust upon them by fate & how they chose to deal with it is what is being portrayed. Obviously, as an audience we will end up taking sides as the story slowly unfolds the secrets. Even as all the proceedings were paced properly & realistically showcased, the climax was rather lame as it was rushed & too convenient to reach a pre-determined end. On the technical side, Shehnad Jalal's visuals were fine while Sushin Shyam ensured that silence was given adequate importance to convey the emotional heft. 

Does one even have to talk about Urvashi's performance? The legend has given a power packed performance which kept us completely invested in the story. Giving her apt company was Parvathy who was equally impressive. Prashant Murali as Thomaskutty didn't have much screen space but did his part well along with Arjun Radhakrishnan. The rest of the cast have also done justice to their roles.

Verdict: I dont think they could have chosen a better title for this movie. Kudos to Christo, Urvashi & Parvathy, as it was well made & performed. In short, do check it out!!!

Rating: 3.5/5

Big Ben: "Execution wasn't exactly thought through!!!"

The last week of June saw Bino Augustine making his directorial debut with a story that he had penned about child protection law that is prevalent in the western world. It did have shades of Ashima Chibber's "Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway", though that had marital discord as the main cause. Lovely (Aditi Ravi) worked with the NHS while her husband, Jean (Anu Mohan) was a stay home dad as he was a SI who was presently under suspension due to which he had moved to the UK. Life moves on calmly until an issue happens with Lovely at work to add onto a quarrel that Jean got into with her colleague, Wilson (Vinay Fort) & his friends during an Onam function. This brings in the investigation team into the picture & in Jean's fit of fury, it resulted in an event that injured their daughter. Soon enough, the child welfare agency takes away their child stating that she was not safe to be with her parents. What subsequently unfolds is the effort of the parents to get back their daughter. 

It was an interesting theme & a premise that is not explored much in our industry. The manner in which the story is build was fine & we get to feel the tense situation that the parents go through. There is no doubt that the second half makes for a more engaging watch, but it felt like Bino had pushed the envelope a bit too far as it lacked the believability. In addition, another aspect that could have been given more screen space was the emotional turmoil Lovely went through. The technical aspects were handled well.

On the performance front, Aditi has done a fine job while Anu was decent though he does struggle in the emotional scenes. The rest cast of the cast have which included Nisha Sarang, Biju Sopanam, Vijay Babu did their roles aptly while the presence of Mia George & Chandunath barely had any relevance.

Verdict: Despite the decent theme, the movie falters in its execution.

Rating: 2/5

Samadhana Pusthakam: "This pusthakam is unlikely to give box office samadhanam for the makers!!!"

After having collaborated with Arun Jose in the role of a script writer, the duo decided to reverse roles for this flick with Raveesh Nath making his directorial debut. Along with CP Sivan, they decided to pen a story on the need of sex education rather than sweep it under the carpet & treat it as taboo which in turn led to more harm that could have been easily avoided. 

The story is set a couple of decades back when soft porn magazines were still much in demand as internet was still in its infancy. Muthalib (Irfan) along with his buddies rented out a soft porn magazine from a shop & decided to make some bucks out of it by loaning it to their classmates. However, things takes a turn when Appu (Dhanush) flicks the book from them & the news of such a magazine being circulated among the students reaches the ears of the school authorities.

There are quite a few hilarious scenes as expected & it works reasonably well in the first half. But I felt the latter half could have been much better & though the emotional sequences in the climax had an impact, the subsequent preaching didn't have much effect at all. On the performance front, almost all the youngsters did their parts well while the others such as Veena Nair (especially the climax sequence), James Eli, Siju Wilson etc. provided the adequate support. 

Verdict: Certainly provided the laughs early on, but failed to provide an effective latter half and had a rather tame end!!!

Rating: 1.75/5

Regards...Ben