The Pet Detective & Pathirathri: "One of them should be able to light up the box office!!!"

It's that time of the year where we have a plethora of releases in different industries to cash in on the Diwali holidays. This year was no different as there were quite a few in Malayalam as well, not to mention the numerous OTT releases that hit the small screen. All in all, it provided much needed relief from the mediocre performance showcased by the Indian Women's Team in the Cricket World Cup until now. 

The Pet Detective: "Sharafudheen's debut venture as a producer should give him smiles!!!"

There is more than a good chance that most of the people would have been reminded of Jim Carrey's "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective" when they heard this title for the first time. After having plied his trade as an actor for more than a decade, Sharafudheen decided to take up the mantle of a producer. It also happened to be the directorial debut of Praneesh Vijayan who had also penned the script along with Jai Vishnu, the latter having earlier worked on "Madhura Manohara Moham". 

The duo has created a comic caper which has multiple parallel tracks & characters that overlap with each other at various junctures before converging in the climax. As the makers had mentioned in one of the promotional event, they had kept "CID Moosa" as a reference and wanted to craft this flick along those lines. The movie unfolds in Mexico where Jose Alula (Renji Panicker), a private detective had to flee the country to escape from the clutches of the dreaded underworld don, Peter Sambai. Though he had planned to open up a detective agency in Kerala, it didn't quite pan out & he decide to devote his time to write crime novels about Sambai. In due course of time, the agency was entrusted to his son, Tony (Sharafudheen) who struggled to derive any benefit from it until he located a missing dog. Around the same time, he gets involved in the missing of a child which in turn was linked to the smuggling of exotic fishes. How he manages to clear his name & in turn, solve the case is what the story is about. 

As mentioned earlier, there are numerous parallel tracks and the manner in which characters gets added to it is definitely interesting especially the one that links to Tony's school mates. It is a type of movie that is not supposed to be taken seriously but still has a reasonable tale narrated in a hilarious manner. For most parts, it does tick the boxes when it comes to humour & certainly made me laugh in a couple of sequences. The climax reminds one of the typical clash of all the characters as in Priyadarshan flicks, though I felt the chaos went overboard here and lacked that organic flow. 

On the technical side, it was neatly done though no particular aspect deserves special mention. Coming to performances, almost all the characters did justice to their part despite the varying length of their characters. Sharafudheen was impressive and pulled off his part mixing humour and the swagger of the lead well. Vijayaraghavan rocked as expected, Vinay Fort was fine (his part ought to have been more) along with Anupama Parameshwaran, Joemon Jyothir & Shyam Mohan. 

Verdict: It's a fun filled flick which delivers what it promised & manages to keep us in good spirits!!!

Rating: 2.5/5

Pathirathri: "Underwhelming, considering the quality of the cast & crew!!!"

Over the past few years, most of the choice of movies that Mammookka has been part of has made it an exciting experience for the audience. Though many of them has been spoken about, one movie that is quite underrated which I personally rate as one of the best in the lot (after "Bramayugam") is Ratheena's "Puzhu". Hence this was more than ample reason as to why I wanted to watch "Pathirathri", not to mention that the script was drafted by Shaji Marad who had worked on the screenplay of "Ela Veezha Poonchira". 

Based in Anakkara, SI Jancy (Navya Nair) was a sincere officer who tried to follow the rules as per the book even as she struggled with the cold relationship that she shared with her husband. In the same station, CPO Hareesh (Soubin Shahir) was also going through a marital discord which made him seek the legal system to spend time with his daughter. When it came to his professional responsibilities, he was quite unlike Jancy due to which they didn't get along well. It so turned out that both of them were entrusted to do the night patrol together which made them witness to an incident that threatened to put their lives into jeopardy.

There has been quite a few movies in recent times that more or less follows the same pattern, with "Ronth" being a prime example. It also has the reference to another popular movie (it will be a spoiler for one of the character arc), all of which categorises it in the crime drama genre. However, even as the others had an identity of its own in some way or the other, the issue over here is that it is way too generic. Even as we are shown the personal lives of Jancy & Hareesh, it fails to provide any kind of emotional connect which literally makes those segments insignificant to the story as such. One might state that both of them becomes a shoulder for other's sorrows, but the way it has been crafted felt way too abrupt & lacked the effect expected. None of the sequences managed to excite the audience as it was neither unique nor was it taken in an engaging manner. 

As I was going through the list of the crew involved here, I was surprised to know that the music belonged to Jakes Bejoy as it was rather mundane. The same also applies to the others as none of them quite stood out. However, when it came to performances, Soubin was definitely better while Navya didnt come across as natural in the role of the SI though the emotional turmoil that she faces was conveyed aptly. As for the rest of the cast, Harisree Ashokan was wasted in an inconsequential role, Indrans impressed in a brief appearance while Ann Augustine, Sunny Wayne & Athmiya Rajan were ok. 

Verdict: There are elements in the story that reminds us of other similar flicks. On the whole, it was underwhelming considering the talent that was on offer both in front & behind the camera!!!

Rating: 2/5

Regards...Ben

Mirage, Karam & Balti: "Not all managed to give the thrills!!!"

Almost into the last quarter of 2025 & it has been a year where we have been witness to some humongous hits in the form of "Lokah", "Empuraan" & "Thudarum". In the meantime, we also had Lalettan befittingly bestowed with the Dadasaheb Phalke award, which essentially meant that the Malayalam film industry has been going through some optimistic times. Over the part fortnight, there were a handful of releases & the track record of the cast and crew certainly raised hopes. So will the good times continue???

Mirage: "Illusion of a compelling screenplay!!!"

Jeethu Joseph is one name that doesn't need much introduction courtesy of his impressive directorial resume. Hence when his latest release was announced & that too in the 'thriller' genre, the expectations were quite understandable. To add to that, he had started shooting for "Drishyam 3" which meant the limelight was firmly on him. 

Based on the story by Aparna Tarakad, the screenplay was worked upon by Jeethu & Srinivasan Abrol, which was quite average to be honest. The movie unfolds with a train accident in which Kiran (Hakim Shahjahan), a financial consultancy employee had travelled. Unaware about the fate that had befallen on him, his fiance, Abhirami (Aparna Balamurali) files a missing complaint with the police. Soon enough, his death was confirmed & that's when she was pursued by his employer's henchman as they believed that Kiran had given her some incriminating evidence against them. In addition, she was also pursued by SP Arumugham (Sampath Raj) & Ashwin (Asif Ali), an online investigative journalist, who had their own share of intentions. 

The main issue that I felt was the lack of an engaging screenplay that could keep us hooked. Rather than relying on the story, it seemed like their ploy to arrest our attention was to throw occasional twists. Most of them failed to create an impact except for a couple of them (no comments on when it is as it will be a spoiler). The writing failed to enhance the drama or elevate the thrill at any instance which is a prerequisite for any suspense thriller. On the technical side, it was decent though Vishnu Shyam's music lacked the impact that the movie needed. 

Though Asif Ali was showcased as the hero, I dont think he had much to do as the character was not well etched. However, he did what was possible and gave adequate support to Aparna who did justice to her part. Hannah Reji Koshy was decent along with Sampath while both Hakim & Deepak Parambol, who are good artists came across as very average. 

Verdict: Would certainly rate it as one of Jeethu's weakest movie & look forward to his comeback in "Drishyam 3"!!!

Rating: 2/5

Karam: "Rehashed version of Thira minus the freshness & subdued thrills!!!"

If I had to go through Vineeth Sreenivasan's filmography, "Thira" would hands down be my absolute favourite. The theme, performance of Shobhana & the supporting cast and the manner in which that movie was executed was top notch. It is unfortunate that Vineeth hasnt made a sequel for it as it did have the content for it. His latest directorial venture looked like a departure from his usual style and hence it was interesting to see as to what he has come up with. 

The story has been penned by Nobel Thomas who also plays the protagonist, Dev. He was court marshalled from the Army due to his anger and commitment issues which seemed to have sprung from the unresolved issues with his father, Mahendran (Manoj K Jayan). His relationship with his girlfriend, Sana (Audrey Miriam) was also not approved by her family and as fate might have it, they were separated. However, things started to look bright when Tara (Reshma Sebastian) & their son came into his life. But a visit to Lenarco as part of a conference threatened to put his family's life at risk. 

In terms of the story, I fail to understand as to what exactly was unique in this except that it is based abroad in a fictional land. The core theme is almost identical to "Thira", to the point that even the theme song had a similar line. However, unlike the Shobhana starrer, this one lacked the freshness and even the thrills were significantly subdued due to the predictability factor. However, on the technical side, it was neatly done be it Jomon T John's visuals or the action choreography which was impressive. At the same time, Shaan Rahman's BGM was average and failed to elevate most of the scenes. 

There is no doubt that Nobel has done a fine job when it came to the action sequences though his performance was decent. When it came to performances, Audrey does deserve praise while Reshma has also done her part aptly along with Kalabhavan Shajon. Baburaj did evoke laughs while the much talked about antagonist role by former Kerala Blasters coach,  Ivan Vukomanovic was fine from an appearance point of view while it was rather one dimensional.

Verdict: Just like Jeethu earlier, I would rate this as one of Vineeth's weakest movie to date with hardly much uniqueness to it!!!.

Rating: 2/5

Balti: "Generic yet engaging gangster drama!!!"

When I initially came across the stills and poster of this movie, I actually thought that it was a Tamil flick due to the colour tone as well as raw and rustic look which is typical of Vetrimaaran's projects. Eventually, I happened to see an interview of Santhosh Kuruvilla who had bank rolled this flick & stated that it was a Malayalam flick that had an equal mix of Tamil as well as the story was staged in Velampalayam, located in the border of both the states. 

This marked the directorial debut of Unni Sivalingam who had also penned this action drama which had kabaddi as its backdrop from which the title was inspired. Velampalayam was under the control of the powerful loan shark Bhairavan (Selvaraghavan) who kept his adversaries, Soda Babu (Alphonse Puthren) & G-Maa (Poornima Indrajith) at bay. Even as he had control over most aspects, one arena that he failed to impose his authority on was in kabaddi, as his team which was handled by his brother struggled to win over the local team which was headlined by a gang of four friends, Udayan (Shane Nigam), Kumar (Shanthanu Bhagyaraj), Suresh (Shiva Hariharan) & Mani (Jeckson Johnson). It was just a matter of time before they crossed paths with Bhairavan & the impact that it had on their lives is what this movie is about. 

It would be fair to say that Unni has done a fine job in his debut venture in terms of how he had executed it. The pace at which the story moves along manages to paper through the fact that it is quite predictable formost parts. The template is quite similar to what we would expect from such gangster dramas where there will be friendships, unbridled energy to achieve anything that stood in their path, rapid rise through the ranks, fall from grace & betrayals. In the initial segment there is focus on kabaddi but that gets sidelined completely later on. However, the camaraderie between the friends & individual mindsets which puts their lives as well as those of their loved ones was captured well and keeps us engaged. On the technical side, action choreography was top notch & the way it was captured by Alex Pulickal in a raw and realistic manner deserves praise. Sai Abhyankkar's music was decent while Shivkumar Panicker's editing in the action sequences were good.

The camaraderie between the four performers was palpable and all of them deserves appreciation for their impressive display in the stunts and in kabaddi. Shane did justice to his part while Shanthanu was decent (way better than in the woeful "Angel John") as I dont think he was successful in extracting the potential of that character. Both Selvaraghvan & Poornima were good while Alphonse felt comical rather than impactful . As for the rest of the cast, both Shiva & Jeckson were ok along with Preethi Asrani. 

Verdict: Despite the generic template, the movie has been executed quite well with good performances overall from the artists!!!

Rating: 2.75/5

Regards...Ben