Virus review: "Supremely crafted & magnificently performed!!!"

As all of you would be aware, the Medical community has been rattled by the constant attacks that relatives of patients inflict on them if the treatment doesnt pan out in the manner they expected. It's absolutely outrageous to say the least & it's high time that authorities adopt a rigid stand against it so that doctors can discharge their duties to the best of their abilities without having to fear for their well being. Surprisingly, many people tend to forget numerous occasions where the selfless service of the Medical community has averted major tragedies. One such incident was the Nipah virus attack that broke out in Kozhikode last year, but a concerted effort of a host of individuals both from medical & non-medical sectors ensured that the death toll were kept to a minimum. Aashiq Abu has tried to re-create this event in his latest movie "Virus" that features a galaxy of stars. Invariably real life events gets way too dramatized in celluloid that it loses its soul, so does "Virus" also become a victim of that???

Aashiq doesnt waste time to set the stage as the audience is thrust right into the middle of the sequence with the focus being on Dr. Abid's (Sreenath Bhasi) busy casualty schedule at the Kozhikode Medical College. One of the patients that he had attended to had presented with symptoms of fever, vomiting & headache which progressively worsened in quick time. At around the same time, Dr. Salim (Rahman) of Baby Memorial suspects one of his patients to be infected with Nipah which is confirmed by Dr. Suresh Rajan (Chackochan) of Manipal Institute of Virology. The number of patients with similar symptoms steadily increases & it becomes evident that it is the outbreak of an epidemic. The Health Minister C. K Prameela (Revathi), collector Paul Abraham (Tovino Thomas) & district health department swings into action in the hope that they can rein in the disease before it wrecks havoc. How exactly they manage to do it with the support of the doctors, community workers, nurses, drivers etc forms the crux of the movie.

A couple of years have passed since Aashiq has called the shots with the impressive "Mayanadi" being his previous venture. His latest is undoubtedly his best creation to date where he has cleverly cast a plethora of stars & yet made sure that each one had a meaty role that was integral to the story. Hats off to Muhsin Parari, Sharfu & Suhas for their exceptional writing skills that keeps us hooked to the tension & fear that is created as Nipah proves to be too strong an adversary.  There is absolutely nothing that I dont like about the movie as everything seems to gel so well & the manner in which they try to identify the index patient along with the source is extremely well depicted. The back story given for each patient & how he could have spread the disease is a painstaking exercise for the writers, but they have done it systematically & without exhausting the audience. Kudos to Sushin Shyam's minimalistic music which strikes the right chords & Rajeev Ravi's cinematography was excellent as always. In the performance department, each & every artist (Chackochan, Sreenath Bhasi, Tovino, Joju, Rima, Revathy, Parvathy, Indrajith, Poornima, Asif Ali, Rahman, Soubin etc) has done their part brilliantly and hence it's hard to pinpoint as to who was the best among them. The most befitting reward for this ensemble cast will be to award all of them for the best performance 

Verdict: It's undoubtedly one of the finest Malayalam movie that I have watched. Both the cast & crew have done praiseworthy work & deserves applause for their brilliance. I kind of felt that Soubin's part pretty much stretched the movie a bit too much, but still the manner in which it was linked to the main thread was interesting. This is a must watch movie & you can rest assured that it will be a worthwhile viewing experience!!!

Rating: 4.75/5

Regards...Ben

Unda review: "Hits the target with precision!!!"

It's been a while since I have written a review which was primarily due to a dearth of movies that enticed me to watch & also coz I had recently moved base to a different city. Since I have started to get acquainted with the new place, I noticed that "Unda" had released in a theatre near by & was more than eager to check it out as the posters as well as trailers had aroused my curiosity. Apart from the fact that it had Mammookka in the lead, it was Khalid Rahman's second directorial venture which raised my expectations. Since the title has the scope of being used as an expletive as well, which choice of word will I use to describe my opinion about it???

The 17th Lok Sabha elections concluded just a month back & if we think about the electoral process, we do realise that it is a mammoth task as we are home to about 900 million eligible voters in a nation which is the seventh largest in the world. As expected, law and order issues are likely to occur in many places but most of them gets nipped in the bud thanks to our efficient armed and police forces. This story is about one such police battalion from Kerala who are entrusted to protect a polling station located in the Maoist prone Bastar in Chhattisgarh. The leader of this nine member team was SI Manikandan (Mammookka), an approachable humane officer who treated his subordinates as his family. They receive a rather inferior welcome at the destination & are mocked for their inadequateness. It soon dawns upon them that they were entrusted with a dire task that they have neither faced before nor equipped to handle.

As I mentioned earlier, this is Khalid's second venture after the well received "Anuraagin Karikkin Vellam" that I absolutely loved. Inspired from real life events, he has penned the script in the company of Harshad & it hits the right notes from the beginning itself. Unlike other cop movies of Mammookka where he is always shown as a macho one man army, SI Mani is a vulnerable middle aged officer who is compassionate towards his fellow beings. There are various aspects that the writers has touched upon be it the hardships that SC/ST officers face even in an educated state like ours, the pathetic situation of the natives in Maoist infested areas where they are looked upon with suspicion both by the armed forces & Maoists, the nexus between politicians and businessmen who try to force the natives into leaving their land & unethical electoral practices with utter disregard for the rules of the administration. We also get a glimpse of the attitude of the present day females who believe that they dont have to compromise for the gross mistake that the husband does.

On the technical side, Sajith Purushan's visuals captures the rawness of Bastar brilliantly and is complemented by Prashant Pillai's music. Mammookka has been on a roll ever since 2019 began with movies like "Peranbu", "Yatra" & "Madhuraraja", all of which has either been critically or commercially acclaimed. This will also be added to that list as he was fantastic as the officer who has his own insecurities and fears. There are a host of other artists as well each of whom have done their parts well such as Arjun Ashokan, Shine Tom, Bhagwan Tiwari etc with Lukman being the pick among the lot. 

Verdict: A couple of minutes into the movie reminded me of Rajkummar Rao's "Newton" primarily coz of the choice of the location as well as Bhagwan Tiwari's character which was similar to Pankaj Tripathi's. But the similarity ends there as "Unda" has an identity of its own that makes us laugh & think in equal measure. We empathize with the hardships that the police goes through both from anti-social elements and bureaucracy. It is undoubtedly one of the finest flicks of the year & I hope you guys wont miss it!!!

Rating: 4/5

Regards...Ben

Avengers Endgame review: "Possibly the greatest blockbuster, it's inevitable!!!"

On May 2nd, 2008 when Marvel Cinematic Universe released "Iron Man" little did anyone expect it to become the beginning of an experience that would have the fans asking for more. It sowed the seeds for Phase 1 of MCU & after a decade which saw 21 enthralling movies across three phases all building up to the ultimate grand finale, the "Infinity" saga. The first part was mind boggling as it saw Thanos wipe out half of all life which included many of our super heroes as well. As "Avengers:Endgame" unfolds, the question in all of our minds is what it would take for the Avengers to reverse the tragedy. With gargantuan expectations to be satisfied, the Russo brothers have a tough task in their hand. So will both Avengers & Russos succeed in their mission???

About three weeks have passed since Thanos's (Josh Brolin) deadly snap & the remaining Avengers are on the lookout for options as to whether the situation could be salvaged in some way. It is at this juncture that Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) rescues Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) & Nebula (Karen Gillan) who were drifting in space & gets them back to the rest. They combine their forces to locate the whereabouts of Thanos & tracks him down in an uninhabited planet. With none of his men by his side, the mad Titan seemed like a sitting duck & the Avengers wasted no time to take him down. But will they able to get hold of the Infinity stones or did Thanos have another trick up his sleeve???

After the captivating "Infinity War", the Russo brothers (Anthony & Joe)  had their hands full with "Endgame" as they had to scale it beyond the dizzying heights that the prequel had acquired. Since both the movies were shot back to back, the technical personnel remained the same with Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely in charge of the screenplay. The challenge in front of them & the Russo brothers were to come with a plausible solution that could get things back to normalcy. That solution happened to be time travel something which was expected with the Quantum Realm angle explored in the "Antman" series. However, that exactly where the problem with this movie lies as it's way too complex despite the explanations provided by Prof Hulk & Ancient One which led to quite a few loose ends like Gamora, Nebula etc. Though the 182 minutes without a break didnt seem like a long time at all, there was still scope for cutting off some flab.

But despite all that, it doesn't hinder the viewing experience as it was ABSOLUTELY EXHILARATING!!! It had all the elements that we wanted be it the liberal sprinkling of humour that Marvel is known for, action sequences that evoked goose bumps & even emotional scenes that moistened many eyes (it definitely includes me).  It's impossible to single out people for praise coz it was brilliance across the board starting from the Russos, Markus, McFeely, Trent Opaloch (visuals), Alan Silvestri (music), VFX team, stunt coordinators etc. A standing ovation to the late Stan Lee & Jack Kirby without whom all of this wouldnt have been possible.

Whatever might be the vision of the makers, if the artists that they choose cant portray it effectively onto the screen, then this whole exercise serves no purpose at all. It all began with Robert Downey Jr donning the Iron Man's suit & there was no turning back ever since. I was his fan even before he appeared in this avatar but that star worship has now elevated several folds over with his captivating act. Just like him another person who is one of the pillars of this incredible franchise is Chris Evans who was absolutely brilliant as the Cap. The list is endless be it Scarlett Johannson, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Don Cheadle, Paul Rudd, Josh Brolin, Jeremy Renner, Tom Holland, Brie Larson, Josh Brolin, Chris Pratt,  etc etc., all of whom have done utmost justice to their roles.

Verdict: The box office is in a state of shock as the collections have just gone through the roof with an opening day collection of about $150M. To be frank, I dont find it surprising as pretty much the entire movie buffs across the globe wanted to watch it. With word of mouth also in favour, it's truly set to create records like never before. So will James Cameron's stranglehold on the top 2 spots ("Avatar" & "Titanic") finally weaken?? I certainly believe it's INEVITABLE. In short, a MUST WATCH extravaganza!!!

Rating: 4.25/5

Regards...Ben

Super Deluxe review: “Quirky & brilliant in equal measure!!!”

After the enthralling experience of “Lucifer”, I presumed that the last weekend would be a rather sedate affair spent stocking up my pantry apart from watching IPL & the Miami Masters (by the way, the GOAT won it…polichu mone!!!).  However, that’s when I realized that Thiagarajan Kumararaja’s “Super Deluxe” had hit the screens on Friday & I was more than eager to check it out as it had an enviable star cast, not to mention Thiagarajan took the industry by storm with his debut venture “Aaranya Kaandam” in 2011. I had seen the stills of the movie & it had attracted my attention, so I was pretty much sure that I was in for a roller coaster ride. But how impactful it would be was something that I never fathomed.

The camera opens with a woman having an illicit relationship with her ex-lover & due to her misfortune, he dies on the bed while they were indulged in coitus. That female happened to be Vaembu (Samantha Akkineni) & just as she was wondering as to what to do with the corpse, her husband Mugilan (Fahadh Faasil) returns home. Similarly, there are three other parallel tracks which doesn’t quite link directly with any of them but still has some sort of an effect. One of them involved a godman Arputham (Mysskin), who believed that he was destined to be the Lord’s special one as he had survived the tsunami. In another track, four sexually frustrated teenagers seek porn for gratification only to realize that the star in it, Leela (Ramya Krishnan) was the mother of one of them. The final track involved the wait of a six-year-old Rasukkutty (Ashwanth Ashokkumar) for his father Manikam (Vijay Sethupathy), who to the family’s dismay had become a transgender & assumed the name of Shilpa.

As I mentioned earlier, Thiagarajan made his mark with his debut venture which had both the critics & movie aficionados go gaga. His latest venture is no different as it has a multi-layered brilliant script with the screenplay written by him & a host of individuals such as Mysskin, Nalan Kumarasamy & Neelan K Sekar. Each of them has proved their credentials in the past with exceptional movies adorning their CVs. Over here as well, we get to see their brilliance as they present their takes on amorality with respect to life, masculinity, infidelity & spirituality. All the stories have been excellently presented with due thought given to the dialogues & screenplay (though I felt that by watching it just once we might not imbibe all of them). I absolutely loved the shrewd placement of certain items like the type of movie posters pasted in the CD shop & at another place (revealing more will be a spoiler). Similarly, the choice of dialogues & songs in the background when the characters spoke, or thought was outstanding.

Despite a running time of close to 3 h, I am pretty much sure that once you allow yourselves to be engrossed in it; then it doesn’t take a toll on you. But even then, I still felt Sathyaraj Natarajan could have made the latter half crisper coz personally I wasn’t quite interested with the sci-fi part. Just like the director & his screenplay army, there are a few other technicians who deserves special mention. This includes P.S Vinod & Nirav Shah who has done an outstanding job with the visuals & the saturated colours that they had used across the frames. When it comes to music & BGM, Yuvan Shankar Raja wows us with an exceptional job with the clever placement of his father & legend Illayaraja’s songs as well as his own subtle background scores and silence.

Frankly speaking, it’s hard to choose the best performer among the lot as each one of them were equally brilliant. Since we already know the capabilities of Sethupathi & Fahadh, I will prefer to first talk about someone who absolutely floored me & that was the small kid, Ashok. His naturality & innocent smile makes us love him and introspect as to how uncomplicated children are. I really expect him to bag a couple of awards for this performance (maybe even on a National level). Sethupathi continues to render us speechless with his breath-taking act & this was yet another one. Only very few main stream actors (reminds me of Jayasurya in “Njaan Marykutty”) would be ballsy & capable enough to take up such a role, so hats off to him. I haven’t followed Samantha’s career keenly but from the ones that I have watched this was undoubtedly her best performance ever. After the sly, crazy & authoritative husband in “Kubalangi Nights”, here we have a fantastic Fahadh don the role of a cheated husband with absolute conviction who has no option but to help his wife. The roles that were given to Ramya Krishnan & Bhagavathy Perumal (as SI Berlin) will stun everyone as we would have never thought of such kind of a casting & both have given standout performances. As for the rest of the cast, Gayathrie (as Jyothi) Mysskin (as Arputham) & the teenagers have all done their parts aptly.

Verdict: It’s undoubtedly one of the most unique movies that I have ever watched & I absolutely loved the thought that has gone into the story as well as the execution. It would be fair to admit that I might not have been able to assimilate whatever Thiagarajan wanted to project coz I feel it’s a movie which becomes more comprehensible with repeated viewing. It is both unapologetic & blunt of what it wants to convey but at the same time it keeps us entertained. In short, a must watch!!!

Rating: 4/5

Regards…Ben

Lucifer review: "A perfect blend of mass performances & class making despite a lackluster latter half!!!"

OMG...it's finally here!!! the much awaited "Lucifer" has hit the screens & it's mayhem as people are scurrying to get hold of their tickets. Ever since the project was officially announced a couple of years back at a much publicized press meet, the audience has been waiting impatiently for the final product. Apart from the fact that it was Lalettan's movie, the directorial debut of Prithvi with Murali Gopi's script kinda elevated the expectations to insane levels. Those expectations were justified with an outstanding trailer courtesy of Don Maxx which meant we were in for an absolute treat.  I have always been sceptical about movies with a lot of hype with "Odiyan" being a perfect example. So did the Lalettan-Prithvi-Murali combo work its magic on me as much as it did for others???

PLOT
The CM & doyen of Kerala politics, P K Ramdas (Sachin Khedekar) had bid adieu to his mortal form. As expected, there is turmoil within the IUF party that boasts of a history of 150 years as to who would succeed the much respected & loved leader. Since neither his daughter Priyadarshini (Manju Warrier) or son, Jatin Ramdas (Tovino Thomas) seemed interested to make a plunge into politics, the proverbial succession question remained. But even before swords could be drawn out of their scabbards, Bimal Nair aka Bobby (Vivek Oberoi), the son in law of PK took over the party & announced his decision as to who should be the next CM. His aim was to ensure that his shady drug cartel deals went through smoothly. It was a decision that none of the senior members could resist  lest they fall out of his allegiance after all he pumped funds into the party & their bank accounts. However, it was easier said than done as PK's foster son Stephen Nedumpally (Lalettan) who was the darling of the masses could see through their devious plans.

DIRECTION
Prithviraj's credentials as an actor is well documented with almost close to two decades of experience. However, it would be fair to admit that whenever we watched his interviews he always came across as someone who seemed to have immense knowledge about the technical aspects of film making. This was finally put to the test when he decided to make his directorial debut with "Lucifer" armed with the script of Murali Gopi & I have to admit that he has passed it with flying colours. He has done a brilliant job as the making was top notch with the effort that has gone into each frame being very evident be it the visuals, choice of locales & the gargantuan number of junior artists. It's not so often that we get to see perfect casting & this is just that as everyone looked apt in their respective roles.

SCRIPT & TECHNICAL ASPECTS

From a script of view, the first half was bang on with an engaging story-line packed with mass scenes. However, I dont quite share the same opinion in the second half (which has been Murali's bane in recent times) as the political suspense got diluted way too much for my liking after Tovino's part (which I felt should have been explored more) & it reduces to a typical cliched revenge saga in the last 20 mins with an absolute nonsensical item song. However, the last scene in the movie was a treat to the eyes & makes you yearn for more. On the technical side, everything was brilliant hands down. Sujit Vaassudev's mesmerising visuals just adds to the feel of the movie who was equally supported by Deepak Dev's brilliant BGM. Kudos to Samjith Mohammed's razor shaping editing though I felt he could have done a better job in the climax.

PERFORMANCES
What do I say about Lalettan??? The legend just sweeps us off our feet with a mind blowing performance be it with his flexibility, subtle facial expressions & punch dialogues, showing us as to why he is still on top of his game even after four decades. Ever since I saw Tovino for the first time in "ABCD", I have always felt that this guy would go places if he improved on his articulation & in recent times, he has gone from strength to strength. As Jatin Ramdas, he was outstanding & my personal favourite in the movie after Lalettan. When Vivek Oberoi was chosen as the antagonist, I was a bit skeptical as to how well he would gel in coz of the language barrier, but he did an excellent job & the credit for that equally belongs to Vineeth who did an exceptional dubbing for him. Kudos to Indrajith, who continues to prove that he is under utilised by most makers while Baiju deserves applause for his natural act. Among the females, Manju Warrier impresses with a strong performance along with Saniya who was outstanding as well. All the others have done a fine job as well though I felt Prithvi's role was poorly etched & wasnt required.

Verdict: This is the ultimate tribute that a fanboy can do for his idol & Prithvi has done just that pretty much along the lines what Karthik Subbaraj did for Rajinikanth in "Petta". Apart from the brilliant performances & technical quality, he has shown how to make effective usage of Lalettan's acting skills & merge it with his stardom. Though I felt the latter part of the second half was a letdown, it's undoubtedly a paisa vasool entertainer. Whether it will break "Pulimurugan"'s record remains to be seen (though this is much better), but I certainly believe that it will cross 100 C. In short, dont miss it!!!

Rating: 3.25/5

Regards...Ben 

Kesari review: Our Desi Spartans who could have been presented much more effectively!!!

The last couple of weeks has been rather hectic with professional commitments that I had take care of due to change of personnel in my research team. However, since movies (apart from quiz & sports) has always been a stress buster for me, I had watched a few like “Captain Marvel”, “Badla” & “Kesari” in the previous weekends. Since I was in the mood to use my flexor digitorum superficialis & profundus, I decided to pen my thoughts about “Kesari” which is based on the Battle of Saragarhi of 1897. Despite my interest in history, I must admit that I wasn’t well versed about the event & was eager to know it. So, were the makers able to depict it in a realistic manner???

Saragarhi located on the Samana range in present day Pakistan happened to be the heliographic communication post for Fort Lockhart & Fort Gulistan as it was situated between them. Since the Colonial British relentlessly faced attacks from the Afghan tribals, they had the 36^th Sikhs hold the fort in the region. The movie unfolds with Havaldar Ishwar Singh disobeying the orders of his chief to rescue an Afghan lady from being executed by the fundamentalists. As expected, he gets punished for his actions by the British & is transferred to Saragarhi to take charge of the 36^th Sikh regiment which was battalion of 20 soldiers. Though they don’t quite warm up to his strict & secular methods early on, eventually they gel in & forms a formidable force when about 10,000 Afghan tribesmen declares war on them. How they manage to keep the enemies at bay for a substantial amount of time forms the crux of the movie.

The first time the news of this movie came to the fore was in 2017 when Salman & Karan Johar had announced that they will be co-producing a venture that would have Akshay in the lead. Though Salman had backed out subsequently, the project still went through & became “Kesari”. It was helmed by Anurag Singh who is quite a prominent director in the Punjabi film industry & this happened to be his second Hindi flick after the dud “Raqeeb”. Regarding the script, this was a battle that was truly awe inspiring, but unfortunately Anurag & Girish Kohli failed to do justice to the meaty thread. Apart from Ishwar Singh’s character, none of the others were developed & seemed like stereotypical caricatures. The first half was rather trite & the interactions that the protagonist had with his imaginary wife was a drag. But the second half was damn good & I absolutely love the choreography of the war scenes even though we knew what the end would be. As for other technical aspects, Anshul Chobey’s cinematography stood out while the rest doesn’t deserve a mention.

Akshay was excellent as the protagonist as he was convincing as the righteous, magnanimous, patriotic & brave Ishwar Singh. Action has always been a piece of cake for him & he nails it yet again with some brilliant stunts. As for the rest of the cast, only a few like Mir Sarwar (as Khan Masud), Sumeet Singh (as Gurmukh Singh) kinda caught my attention while Parineeti Chopra was wasted in an inconsequential role.

Verdict:  The film has galloped past the 100 C mark & is on its way to being branded as a superhit. Wish the makers were more judicious in penning the script as the collections would surely have been manifold. Anywaz even though, the first half is rather mediocre with hardly anything significant happening; the latter portion is bound to thrill most of the audience. In short, give it a try!!!

Rating: 2.5/5

Vijay Superum Pournamiyum review: "A feel good realistic & enjoyable romcom!!!"

Gone are the days when we used to see movies clocking fifty days at the box office & hence when I came home for the holidays, I was pleasantly surprised to see one movie going strong even after close to a month. That flick happened to be Jis Joy's "Vijay Superum Pournamiyum" & today it reached the magical figure. Naturally I was interested to watch it since Jis Joy had impressed with his previous ventures & with an interesting star cast here, it seemed like he struck gold yet again. So what actually made this movie work???

Pournami (Aishwarya Lekshmi) is a smart & confident MBA graduate who had excelled right through her academic life. However, she wasnt quite able to replicate that success in the business ventures that she had invested upon. Though she still aspired to become an entrepreneur, her parents were more keen in getting her married off. On the other hand, Vijay (Asif Ali) struggled with confidence from childhood & didnt have the courage to stand up to his parents to pursue the career that he wanted. It had more to do with the financial burden that his family had to bear & the solution for which they believed was to get Vijay married to an affluent bride. This is how Pournami & Vijay met as their parents were interested in the alliance. As both of them spoke to each other, they realized how different they were though they felt comfortable in the other's presence. Interestingly, at this juncture they come to realize that their planned alliance was supposed to be someone else.

This is the third collaboration between Jis Joy & Asif Ali after "Bicycle Thieves" & "Sunday Holiday".  In all these movies, Jis came up with a story which is both realistic in terms of the dialogue & situations with a liberal sprinkling of humour & offers a good time for the audience. Howevr, this time around it is the remake of the Telugu hit "Pelli Choopulu". Since I havent watched the original, I have watched this without any reference & thoroughly enjoyed it. All the technical aspects be it Renadive's visuals or Prince George's music were fine.

Aishwarya is the golden girl of Malayalam film industry with a cent percent success rate. As always, she has done a fine job & was perfectly apt for the role. We have seen Asif in such avatars in the past as well, but still we dont bored as he has done justice to a role that fitted his persona perfectly. Quite a few senior artists featured in the movie such as KPAC Lalitha, Siddique, Devan, Shanthi Krishna, Renji Panicker etc & they have done their parts aptly. Dharsana was good, Balu & Joseph Annamkutty were just about ok while I dont understand why Aju opted to do such an insignificant & irritating role. 

Verdict: It doesnt boast of a heavy duty story with numerous twists or edge of the seat action thriller, but you can rest assured that you will be entertained by the time it ends. This is exactly the reason why it had an extended run at the box office. In short, do check it out!!!

Rating: 3/5

Regards...Ben