Even before we have warmed up to the New Year, the first month has just flown by. Over the course of this month, there has been quite a few news that did gladden the heart with the main being Mammookka finally honoured with the 'Padma Bhushan'. A deserving honour indeed for one of the doyens of Indian Cinema. Coming to releases, I happened to catch a couple of flicks in other languages such as "Border 2" & "Mardani 3" both of which were ok, "Parasakthi" failed to rise to expectations (except for the meme created by a DMK politician) & "The Raja Saab" made sure that it set a high benchmark for the most pathetic flick of the year. So how did our Malayalam flicks fare???
Pennu Case: "Lack of a credible screenplay reduces it to an average con flick!!!"
This was among the first few releases of the year & the trailer as such did seem promising with Febin Sidharth making his directorial debut. The basis thread for his story was about a female who indulged in marriage fraud. He was also assisted in the writing by Jyothish M while the screenplay was worked upon by Ganesh Malayath, Reshmi Radhakrishnan & V Sunu. It certainly sounded like an interesting thought but unfortunately the same cant be said about its execution.
The film commences with Bindhu (Nikhila Vimal) being taken into custody on the eve of her marriage with Subhash (Aju Varghese). The reason for the arrest were the complaints made by few men who claimed that she had duped them into marriage and slipped away with their valuables. The case was entrusted to CI Jacob (Hakim Shahjahan) who along with him team soon finds out that there was truth in their claims & that her actual name was 'Rohini'. So it seemed like an 'open & shut' case or was it???
Even as the audience is told that the protagonist has committed the alleged fraud across the length & breadth of Karnataka & Kerala, there is no actual depiction of what she had actually done except for one incident. The promos seemed to imply that it was a fun flick but barring a couple of laughs, it failed to create genuine humour. From a subject point of view, it was more or less similar to the Hotstar web series, 'Nagendran's Honeymoons' which was directed by Nithin Renji Panicker. However it failed to explore the various situations like Nithin's series & that is where I felt this was quite underwhelming. To be honest, half way into the movie I had a feeling that the climax might be inspired from a classic Hollywood flick & it turned out to be just that.
Prior to watching, I actually thought that Nikhila had a meaty opportunity as she would be playing variations of different characters. But in the movie, apart from showing her in different attires, we actually dont get to see her con people. At the same time, she has done a fine job in the emotional portions. Hakkim was fine along with Shivajith while the rest of the artists including Aju didn't create any impact.
Verdict: It had potential in its thread, but the lack of a credible screenplay significantly reduced its effect!!!
Rating: 2/5
Baby Girl: "Bobby-Sanjay struggles to discover their form!!!"
This was one movie that many would have eagerly looked forward to for a couple of obvious reasons. The main being the presence of Bobby-Sanjay who had penned the script & with Listin Stephen bankrolling the project, it gave us memories of "Traffic". With Nivin Pauly finally having struck gold at the box office, the question was whether that would rub off on the others involved in the project???
It is the second directorial venture of Arun Varma after "Garudan", he hooks the audience into the plot from the first scene itself. The movie unfolds in the Good Shepherd Hospital in Trivandrum where a new born had gone missing. Even as the police are called in, they didn't have any leads until Sanal (Nivin), an attendant voices his suspicions about a possible abductor. The rest of the movie is about the search for the infant & the effect that it had on the people impacted by the incident.
As mentioned earlier, Bobby-Sanjay gets us invested in the story from the beginning itself & it had a template similar to "Traffic" where there are a couple of parallel tracks. However, they fail to sustain the tempo and that is evident in the latter half where except for some of the emotional sequences that involved Lijomol, the rest of it was quite average. The thrills that Arun tried to create only worked occasionally & even the technical team failed to add anything onto it.
On the performance front, for some reason Nivin came across as quite average & at times, even disinterested. The standout performer was undoubtedly Lijomol who was impressive, with Sangeeth Prathap providing adequate support. Abhimanyu had the figure & attitude needed for his role, but his dialogue delivery still needed work. Another artist that deserves a mention is the girl who essayed the role of the infant's mother. The rest of the artists such as Jaffer Idukki, Azees Nedumangad, Nisha Sarangh did their parts aptly.
Verdict: Just like Sanju Samson has struggled to find form, Bobby-Sanjay is going through the same phase & will be hoping that they rediscover their magic in the next flick. As audience, even we are also eagerly waiting for that!!!
Rating: 2.25/5
Chatha Pacha: "Captured the wrestling vibe but the rest falters!!!"
How many of you are/were fans of WWE? Well I am one of them & I would guess most of us who spent their school days in the 90s would belong to the same category. I still vividly remember the WWE trump cards that I used to play with & how eagerly I used to wait for RAW and Smackdown every week. So much so, Undertaker, Hitman, Stone Cold etc., were superstars that we used to regularly discuss. Hence when Advaith Nayar announced his debut directorial venture on this subject, many of us were keen to check it out.
Apart from calling the shots, Advaith had also penned the script with Sanoop Thykoodam working on the screenplay. The story is about three friends, Loco (Arjun Ashokan), Vetri (Roshan Mathew) & Little (Ishan Shoukath) who grew up together under the guardianship of the wrestler, Walter. However, certain events led to their separation with Little moving to the North. In the present day, Little came back to Fort Kochi to reunite with his buddies and also set up a WWE type of event in their locality which was the dream of Walter.
So did the story had me invested in it? To be honest, the answer is 'no'. At the same time, the technical crew did their tasks well. This includes Shankar-Ehsan-Loy's music with the main highlight being the action choreography which was well executed. Anend Chandran also deserves applause for the visuals and the tight cuts by Praveen Prabhakar. However, all of this comes together only when the fights takes place & that's exactly where the issue lies. Apart from the fights, there is hardly anything in it with the so called story being rather weak & the characters poorly etched. The prime example for that is Mammookka's character which was narrated as being 'larger than life' but was presented in a pathetic manner & failed to produce any punch.
Coming to performances, Arjun has given an earnest performance, with Roshan & Vishak providing adequate support while Ishan was average. A special word of mention for Vedhika Sreekumar as Rosamma who was impressive. The rest of the artists such as Carma (as Kuruvi) & the other members of the wrestling gang also did their parts aptly. Coming to senior artists, Mammookka was wasted in a senseless role along with Sai Kumar.
Verdict: Except for the well choreographed wrestling sequences, hardly anything else works!!!
Rating: 2/5
Regards...Ben
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