It's been a rather hectic couple of months both personally & professionally due to which I haven't been able to put in as much time as I would have liked on my blog. However, that doesn't mean that I have missed out much on the movies that released during that time. Even though I have some pending stuff to pen, I thought to utilise this post to mention about what I felt about two of the Easter releases.
Prathichaya: "Visuals & BGM provides the illusion in an otherwise shallow storyline!!!"
After a couple of weeks of hectic campaigning where political parties were seen to cross all lines of decency & decorum, the elections in our state finally took place last week. Hoping to cash in on the election fever, B Unnikrishnan released his political drama that did see certain real events being taken as reference for his fictionalised creation.
Varghese (Balachandra Menon) was a seasoned grey shaded politician who had been the CM of the state for quite a while despite corruption allegations. His ability to emerge unscathed from all sticky situations was well known among the political circles while he was empathetic to the needy as well. However, things takes a turn when allegations of a sex scandal was made against him. It mentally broke him & that is when his son, John (Nivin Pauly), a technocrat steps in determined to clear the taint in his father's image.
Apart from calling the shots, Unnikrishnan has also penned the script & to be honest, it felt way too shallow. The manner in which it was build up seemed to imply that there was substance in what he wanted to convey. However, it seemed like he thought that a couple of fancy gimmicks & the antagonist strutting around in stylish clothes, would make the audience believe that something worthwhile was being shown. In effect, the core thought to the plot i.e. the influence of corporate and media on politics and how public perception could be twisted according to the specific needs of such organization had heft to it. But the execution left a lot to be desired with the second half being quite lame after a decent first half. On the technical side, Justin Varghese & Chandru Selvaraj did justice to their crafts as both the BGM and visuals does manage to elevate some scenes that would have struggled if not.
It's been a while since we have seen Balachandra Menon in a prominent role & he has done an impressive job as expected from a person of his calibre. Nivin Pauly was average at best with no zero chemistry with his pair, Neethu Krishna who by the way was fine along with Sabitha Anand. Sharafudeen was wasted in a one dimensional role that could be best classified as a cameo while the rest of the cast such as Harisree Ashokan (really struggled to portray the villiany), Saikumar, Nishant Sagar etc were ok.
Verdict: It was a case of all show and technical gimmicks with hardly any substantial content to justify the 2.5 h run time!!!
Rating: 2/5
Vaazha 2: "Works better than the prequel from an emotional angle!!!"
A plethora of sequels has released over the past few years & that includes this year as well. The latest to be added to that list is "Vaazha 2" which has been helmed by Savin SA in his directorial debut. As in the prequel, the script has been penned by Vipin Das where the focus is yet again on a group of friends, their bond and the struggles that they go through as they face the realities of life.
This time around the focus is on Hashir, Alan, Ajin & Vinayak, with a similar template being followed. From a humour perspective, I would say I enjoyed the prequel more as this one had a couple of portions that overdoes it, to the point that it became irritating like the theatre sequence. At the same time, the emotional segment, the issues youngsters face, their urge for greener pastures abroad and the manner in which relevant questions are raised against the ones who blame the youngsters for anything going amiss, were executed really well. The technical department has done a decent job with the music team deserving special mention as it blended well with the story.
Each of the youngsters have done a decent job with all of them shining through in some portion or the other. Biju Kuttan & Alphonse Puthren stood out with their performances while Aju Varghese, Vijay Babu etc. were also fine.
Verdict: Glad to see that it has attracted a huge number of footfalls. I wouldn't say that it wowed me, but it was certainly entertaining & worth a try!!!
Rating: 2.75/5
Regards...Ben
