Over the past year or so, Mamitha has gone from strength to strength with most of her movies finding success at the box office. Her latest release , "Bethlehem Kudumba Unit" has dethroned "Lokah:Chaper 1" as the highest grossing Malayalam movie. So how did her movies in different industries turn out for me???
Bethlehem Kudumba Unit: "Girish continues to crack the box office formula!!!"
As mentioned earlier, Girish AD has created history with his latest flick as Bhavana Studios along with their partners have laughed their way to the bank. Apart from calling the shots, he has yet again joined forces with Kiran Josey after "Premalu" and the duo have created a screenplay that resonated with the audience.
After having spend many years at Mundakkayam, Ashley (Mamitha Baiju) & her family had to relocate from there due to financial difficulties. Their new neighbour happened to be Justin (Nivin Pauly) & his family, with the former being a much sought after individual locality for his helpful nature and demeanour. Soon enough this aspect endears to Ashley & before long, she falls in love for him despite the significant age-gap between them. However, Justin wasn't sure whether he would be able to reciprocate it.
In terms of the core theme, it is obviously the romance between two individuals with a sizable age-gap. Whenever that kind of a scenario has appeared on the screen in the past, it came across as awkward & at times, cringy for the audience. However, Girish handled it perfectly & made it quite organic, and kudos to Kiran & him for the way, they weaved the sequences with an apt mix of humour and romance. There are no evident scenes or dialogues that are squeezed in with the sole intention to infuse laughs, but at the same time, he manages to keep a smile on our faces for most parts of the movie. At the same time, there were certain sections that I felt could have been handled better such as Joel's love angle which I felt over stayed, the handling of some of the supporting artists like Srinda & Suresh Krishna who made their presence felt coz of their abilities but barely had anything meaty & the climax which came across as convenient rather than natural flow of events.
On the technical side, pretty much all of them were impressive be it Vishnu Vijay, whose tracks were both soothing & in sync with the mood of the movie, with both Ajmal Sabu & Akash Joseph doing a fine job on the cinematography and editing. Coming to performances, it was a character that was tailor made for Nivin as it is a zone that he is extremely good at. At the same time, Mamitha deserves praise for a fine performance with almost all the supporting artists doing utmost justice to their roles be it Sangeeth Prathap, Suresh Krishna, Roshan Shanavas, Vinay Fort etc.
Verdict: This is undoubtedly one of the most endearing movies of the year. However, I would have to admit that becoming the highest grosser of the industry took me by surprise. Anyway, do check it out!!!
Rating: 3.25/5
Vishwanath & Sons: "Performances make up for an average story!!!"
Interestingly, just a couple of week prior to the release of "BKU", Venky Atluri came out with his latest flick that he had penned which also looked at age-gap romance with Suriya & Mamitha headlining the project. Apparently, it had also hit the bull's eye & continued the success streak for all the three of them.
The protagonist, Sanjay Vishwanath (Suriya) is an affluent industrialist & an Olympic Champion, who seemed to have everything in life going in his favour. However, his mother (Radhika Sarathkumar) was concerned that he didn't believe in the concept of marriage due to the marital discord that propped up in her life. She expressed concern that there would be no one to continue the lineage & that's when he decides to have a baby through surrogacy. This is where Maddy (Mamitha) comes into the picture & what subsequently happens in their lives is the crux.
After the overwhelming success of "Lucky Bhaskar", Venky opted for a family drama & it would be fair to see that the screenplay does work in many segments. The main reason is the effort that Venky had invested into the manner the lead pair react and respond to various situations. At the same time, the story as such is quite weak & average with the segment on Raveena Tandon being mediocre, and most evident of the flaws is that it came across as artificial with the art team not helping at all. On the technical side, Nimish Ravi's visuals & G V Prakash's music were fine.
The USP is undoubtedly the performances of Suriya, Mamitha & Radhika and each one of them have done utmost justice to their roles. Suriya was at ease with his restrained performance while Mamitha showcased vulnerability and charm in equal measure with Radhika providing excellent support. At the same time, Raveena was a miscast & her performance was far from desirable.
Verdict: Even though the story was quite average & the staging lacked the authentic feel, the performances of the lead artists makes it a worthwhile watch!!!
Rating: 2.5/5
Regard...Ben
No comments:
Post a Comment