The Malayalam film industry is in yet another crisis with the Producers Association slamming many of the actors & technicians for their exorbitant salaries and the lack of support from the State Government. Their views were based on the losses that most of the movies incurred at the box office. Anyway it is a topic for discussion for a later time, but many of them barely had a relevant storyline & most were barely marketed due to which the audience were not even aware that such flicks released. Over the past month or so, I did happen to watch a couple of them & this is what I felt about them.
Pravinkoodu Shappu: "Interesting blend of intrigue & black humour!!!"
Over the past year or so, Basil Joseph has steadily build on his reputation as a reliable actor & there has been quite a few back to back releases in recent times. His latest flick was helmed by the debutant, Sreeraj Sreenivasan & with Anwar Rasheed bankrolling the project, I was keen to check it out. With Sreeraj also opting for an investigative thriller, the question was how was his story going to be any different from the others.
The movie is set in Thrissur where a suicide was reported inside a toddy shop with the victim being its owner, Komban Babu (Shivajith). SI Santhosh (Basil) who had recently taken charge was entrusted with the investigation & his sleuthing skills convinced him that it was a murder. With Babu having an frictional relationship with many, it did seem like a valid argument but the probability of pulling it off seemed questionable as it happened while they were many in the shop. So who was the culprit & what was the motive behind it?
There is no doubt that the manner in which Sreeraj had constructed the plot, it does arouse our attention & kept us invested in it. The backstory of each of the characters are revealed with the intention that it would create diversions for the audience & to a certain extent it manages to do that. The drawback or rather what prevented it in becoming a wholesome experience for me was the inability to create that surprise element in the end as the plan as such felt a bit too far fetched. The technical aspects were neatly executed such as Shyju Khalid's cinematography & Vishnu Vijay's music.
On the performance front, Basil continued to impress with his choice of roles and over here as Santhosh, we do see him balance humour and seriousness with ease. Giving him adequate support was Soubin Shahir who effectively conveyed the vulnerabilities and inner turmoil of the character. It's been quite a while since Chandini had featured in a movie & as Merinda, the way she portrays the mood variation was praise worthy. Shivajith was an apt casting choice while Chemban didnt have much to do despite the screen space.
Verdict: It's belongs to those list of movies that falls short of what it could have achieved. However, the performances & black humour on offer, makes it a decent watch.
Rating: 2.5/5
Ennu Swantham Punyalan: "Even Punyalan would not have been impressed!!!"
With numerous movies getting released every other week, it is imperative that the makers come up with stories that manage to keep the audience interested. It does no imply that the story has been unique but rather they need to craft it such a manner that it has freshness in its execution. Unfortunately, Manesh Madhu failed to achieve that with Samji Antony's script in his directorial debut.
The movie is about Fr. Thomas (Balu Varghese) who was forced to take up priesthood by his family. He was recently moved to a new parish as a punishment transfer & that's where he was faced with the situation of having to protect a girl, Meera (Anaswara Rajan) who had sought refuge in his quarters. Soon enough, they were joined by a thief (Arjun Ashokan) who had also hid there to escape from the public. So how does Fr. Thomas manage to get himself out of this mess is what this movie is about.
Just like many other movies that dealt with priests & churches such as "Romans", it also had a familiar feel to it. The only aspect that felt unique was the history of the cross in the parish but that angle was touched upon quite superficially. None of the other elements managed to keep me engaged & it was quite predictable to be honest. From a performance stand point, Balu has done a decent job along with Arjun who seemed to be in that Charlie/Romancham mode in many sequences while Anaswara felt like a miscast.
Verdict: It neither tested my patience nor did it have any engaging content that we haven't seen in the past!!!
Rating: 1.5/5
Narayaneente Moonnaanmakkal: "Strong performances shoulder this family drama!!!"
When I first heard the title of this movie, it didnt come across as something that tempted me to check it out. But the presence of three fine artists as the protagonists apart from this being Sharan Venugopal's directorial debut who had already made a name for himself by having won the best film for family values at the 67th National Film Awards, was ample invitation to watch it.
The movie had already garnered quite a bit of critical acclaim with Sharan's story touching upon the relationship dynamics between the three brothers who were meeting each other after a long time. Apparently, the youngest Bhaskar (Suraj Venjaramood) had severed ties with his family after he went against their wishes and married a Muslim. However, with their mother supposedly on her death bed, the brothers bury the hatchet and come together.
Sharan's has penned the story in such a manner whereby the focus is on the myriad of emotions that each of the characters go through. It is a social commentary of the times that we live in and a mirror of the type of people that we are as a result of incidents that shaped us. The eldest brother, Vishwanathan (Alencier) comes across as an arrogant and regressive individual, while Sethu (Joju George) is put down occasionally by the others as being a failed & mentally deranged individual, though he seemed to be the most sane compared to the others. Similarly, the relationship between the cousins & Bhaskar with his wife all showcase the different aspects of relationships and mindsets. At the same time, to be honest it failed to keep me engaged as it stayed at the same pitch right throughout.
For a movie of this template, the artists have to do the bulk of the lifting and hence the choice of artists is important. All the protagonists have done their part well with Joju obviously being the most likeable among the three with Alencier & Suraj doing justice to their roles. However, I would rate Garggi Ananthan (as Athira) a tad higher as the movie as such is not dialogue driven but rather rely more on expressions and ability to convey their emotions which she did well. Thomas Mathew as Nikhil was fine along with Shelly Kishore though Sajitha Madathil oscillated from being average to mediocre.
Verdict: Though the artists did their parts well, the story as such failed to keep me engaged after a while!!!
Rating: 2/5
Oru Jaathi Jathakam: "Leaves us in splits in many sequences!!!"
It's been quite a while since we had a genuinely hilarious movie that doesn't have to seek the help of double meaning to leave us in splits. One such movie that I would slot into that category is M Mohanan's latest flick that focuses on a 38 year old guy who is trying to get hitched. With Rakesh Mantodi penning the script, I was certainly hopeful after all I had enjoyed his work in "Thira" & "Godha".
Mohanan choice for the protagonist, Jayesh was his nephew, Vineeth Sreenivasan which I felt was a good choice as he pulled off that character quite well. Jayesh was a type of person who had his own concept about his life partner which was quite superficial and regressive due to which his exhaustive search through matrimonial websites & brokers drew blanks. To add to his worries, as per astrology this was supposed to be just the beginning of more testing times.
On the whole, it's a humorous flick that touches upon conventional marriage and the need to take into consideration many other aspects that might not be as taboo as it is made to appear. From a technical perspective, it was done neatly while when it comes to performance, Vineeth shoulders the movie impressively. Giving him adequate support was Mridul Nair as Jitesh, his male chauvinistic friend, PP Kunhikrishnan as Jayesh's father, Indu Thampy & Chippy Devassy.
Verdict: With the number of movies that focus on humour quite limited nowadays, there was a welcome relief & it does manage to keep us in good spirits for most parts.In short, do give a try!!!
Rating: 2.5/5
Regards...Ben
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