Janeman review: "Hilarious & engaging with an apt mix of various emotions!!!"

Less than 48 hours from now the much awaited Basil Joseph's "Minnal Murali" will be beamed on Netflix. Even though 2021 was a torrid time for many in the industry, Basil wouldn't have much to complain about especially since he has been busy as an actor as well with "Joji" & "Janeman" having garnered wide spread appreciation. Incidentally, Chidambaram's "Janeman" was released much later in Bangalore & hence I got to check it out only last week. Well just like majority of the audience, even I  enjoyed the celluloid experience that Chidambaram had offered.

Joymon (Basil) worked as a nurse in an isolated part of Canada with the only voices that kept him company being Alexa & that of the television. With the winter in full fury, the days became even more depressing & just when it felt like he couldn't bear the loneliness any more, he decided to fly back home to celebrate his 30th birthday. The task of making arrangements for the party was entrusted on his buddy, Dr. Faizal (Ganapathi) who in turn coaxed their mutual friend, Sambath (Arjun Ashokan) to have it arranged at his home. Incidentally, on the same day; Sambath's neighbour passed away & with Joymon reluctant to curb his celebrations, it ruffled quite a few feathers in both houses. 

This is Chidambaram's directorial debut & he has certainly done a fine job with an interesting script that he had penned along with his brother Ganapathi & Sapnesh Varachal. The main reason as to why I felt that it was interesting is the constant shift in mood of the sequences. If it is hilarious at one moment, then within a couple of seconds it becomes emotional such as when a boisterous Joymon (Basil) barge into a brooding Monichan (Balu Varghese) and opens up about his loneliness. Another aspect is the attention given to most characters who comes on screen & evokes laughs such as Sarath Sabha (as Kannan), Abhiram (as Akshay Kumar) etc. On the technical side, both Bijibal's music & Vishnu Thandassery's visuals were fine.

It would be fair to say pretty much all of them have done utmost justice to their roles  but the manner in which Basil handled humour & depression so expertly deserves special praise. As for the rest, both youngsters such as Balu Varghese, Ganapathi, Arjun, Siddharth Menon & veterans like Lal handled their parts well.

Verdict: Well it wasn't surprising to understand as to why many liked the movie as it had a proper blend of humour and emotions. It will have you in splits but also makes us realize the need to reach out to people to maintain our sanity in a world where we seem to have all the top end gadgets but still feel so distant with each other. In short, do check it out!!!

Rating: 3.25/5

Regards...Ben

Spider-Man: No Way Home review: "Satisfying experience that captures the thrills of the whole franchise!!!"

It's been a while since I watched a Hollywood flick on the big screen primarily coz of the fact that there were hardly any releases that tempted me to watch with the exception of "No Time to Die" & "Shang- Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings". But when Jon Watts's "Spider-Man: No Way Home" hit the screens last week, I didn't have to think twice as I belong to the clan of hard core MCU fans. This was the sequel to Jon's Spider-Man series & from the looks of the trailer it promised to be lip-smacking with the arrival of supervillains from alternate universes. 

Even though Spider-Man (Tom Holland) saved the day yet again from the drone attacks orchestrated by Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) in "Spider-Man: Far from Home", the latter had the last laugh, Prior to his death, Mysterio doctored a video which was broadcasted by Jonah Jameson's Daily Bugle; where the former put the blame of the attacks & his own death on Spider-Man. To make matters worse he even revealed Spider-Man's secret identity making Peter Parker & his dear ones earn the ire of the public. With the situation remaining grim, Peter sought the help of Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) to cast a spell that would make everyone forget his identity. But the spell misfires & brings in people from alternate universes who ever knew that Peter was Spider-Man. Incidentally, that brings in trouble in the form of Sinister Five. So how was he going to deal with this crisis???

Without a shadow of doubt, Jon Watt has hit the jackpot once again & the primary reason for that was the interesting yet simplistic screenplay of Chris McKenna & Erik Sommers. (Spoiler alert) With the timeline being fiddled, it opened a whole world of opportunities which presented in the form of supervillains. Soon enough, it brought in other Spider-Men (Tobey Maguire & Andrew Garfield) and it was interesting to see the attention given to the variation in their characters due to the challenges and tragedies that they faced in their dimension. Both Tobey & Andrew was brilliant in their brief appearances & the latter certainly had a charming presence here unlike in his movies (I would certainly would like to see his version have a solo movie or two). Subsequently, the manner in which the trio join forces and help each other was the highlight not to forget that this was the first time that Tom Holland's version of Spider-Man was given the opportunity to showcase his emotional turmoil (Alert ends). Technically, the movie was top notch be it Mauro Fiore's visuals, Michael Giacchino's music, VFX & CGI.

Personally I always felt that though Tom Holland fitted the bill of the neighbourhood Spider-Man, he certainly didn't have the acting chops of Tobey or Garfield. But he certainly performed really well in this flick & deserves praise for a job well done. He was ably supported by Zendaya (as MJ) & Jacob Batalon (as Ned), both of whom did their parts aptly along with Willem Dafoe (as Green Goblin) and  Marisa Tomei (as Aunt May). As for the rest of the cast, all of them did justice to their roles be it Benedict, Alfred Molina, Jamie Foxx etc.

Verdict: Surely the best in the present Spider-Man trilogy & one of the most entertaining MCU movies. Apart from the numerous characters from the previous Spider-Man movies & a couple of interesting cameos which certainly captured eyeballs, it still had an engaging screenplay & opens the doors to more interesting storylines. In short, dont miss it!!!

Rating: 3.5/5

Regards...Ben

Sumesh & Ramesh review: "Not even half as interesting as its name!!!"

What was the first thing that crossed your mind when you heard about Sanoop Thykoodam's "Sumesh & Ramesh"? Well for me, it was obviously the hilarious Cadburys 5 Star Ad which in turn gave me an impression as what kind of genre Sanoop might have slotted his venture into. Since I haven't watched the trailer earlier, I didnt have much expectations apart from the fact that it had an interesting title which certainly brought a smile on my face. But did I have this smile even after watching it???

Sumesh (Sreenath Bhasi) & Ramesh (Balu Varghese) are siblings born into a lower middle class family whose primary bread earner happened to be their mother Usha (Praveena). She bore the burden of the family even as the brothers & their father, Indukaladharan (Salim Kumar) seemed oblivious to her hardships. The film primarily focuses on both the brothers, their tiffs, flings & how they evolve with time. 

Apart from calling the shots, Sanoop has also penned the script along with Joseph Vijeesh with whom he has collaborated in the past for "Vikrithi" & "Chunkzz". There was hardly anything worthwhile in the movie that caught my attention. Of course we do make statements that a certain director was able to capture a slice of life on celluloid that is rooted to reality. But such creations would make sense only if it has anything significant to narrate & that's exactly is the problem with this flick. The first half focused on the younger brother & the rest on the elder one, and though there were certainly moments especially in the latter half that endears, it was as plain as vanilla on the whole. Actually I certainly felt that Sanoop missed a trick by not exploring the character of 'Usha' which was well performed by Praveena as that could have certainly added some flavour to the proceedings. On the technical side, there was nothing that deserved special mention as it was average at best.

Though the screen space was allotted primarily to Sreenath & Balu, the person who actually stood out with her performance was Praveena who did complete justice to her role. Both Sreenath & Balu did their roles aptly along with Devika Krishnan as Sreekutty. As for the rest of the cast, Salim Kumar was ok though at times his comedy fell flat. 

Verdict: If it wasn't for the performances, it would have been a flick that hardly anyone would have noticed. In short, if you plan to check it out do it without much expectations!!!

Rating: 2/5

Regards...Ben

Bheemante vazhi review: "Decent take on a relevant issue!!!"

The last couple of weeks have been pretty busy due to which I havent been able to pen my thoughts about quite a few of the flicks that I had watched. One of them happened to be Ashraf Hamza's "Bheemante vazhi", a movie that I was eagerly looking forward to as it was his second venture after an impressive directorial debut in "Thamaasha". Well from whatever I have heard and read, it had positive word of mouth going in its favour. So what did I think about it???

One of the oft discussed issue in our state is the lack of proper roads  as it either will be full of potholes whenever a monsoon season comes over or be way too narrow to facilitate proper transportation. Sanju aka Bheeman (Chackochan) lived in such a locality where there was barely space for a bike to pass through. However, none of them had an issue with it as they have been used to this lifestyle for years. But when Bheeman faced difficulty in taking his mother to the hospital after an injury, he decided to take the lead in a public campaign to obtain land for widening the lanes in his colony. It was never expected to be easy but it turned out to be much tougher than they had envisioned.

Apart from the fact that it was directed by Ashraf, the script was penned by Chemban Vinod who had earlier proved his prowess in it with "Angamaly Diaries". The subject that has been taken up for discussion is relevant & something that many of us would have come across. In that sense, it attracted attention but the major highlight for me was the various characters that were created be it Chackochan as a womanizer, Jinu Joseph as the sly & lecherous Kostheppu, Suraj as the manyan, the three female artists, Naseer as the pet lover, the kid in the superhero costume etc. which according to me was the primary reason why the movie endeared. On the technical side, both Vishnu Vijay's music & Girish Gangadharan's visuals were fine.

As I mentioned earlier, the characters that were created more or less interesting and almost all of them were performed reasonably well be it Chackochan, Vincy, Suraj, Chinnu Chadni, Megha Thomas, Naseer Sankranthi, Chemban etc. But the pick among the lot was undoubtedly Jinu Joseph who got to perform in a role that we are not used to seeing him & he has done utmost justice to it.

Verdict:  It is a decent time pass that touches upon a relevant issue that most of us are accustomed to. It could have been way more appealing as I personally felt that the makers should have invested more attention to the latter half of the story. However, the various characters that were placed in the movie made it an engaging watch. In short, check it out!!!

Rating: 2.5/5

Regards...Ben

Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui review: "A light hearted take on a relevant topic!!!"

Ayushmann Khurrana has been in the industry for close to a decade & more often than not, whenever his movie comes out; the audience can rest assured that it would be on distinct and unique topics / characters. His latest flick is Abhishek Kapoor's "Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui" & it belongs to the rom com genre. Well we did have a few movies (some of which were excellent) that dealt with a similar topic, though in a much more toned and serious manner. So it was interesting to see as to how Abhishek who has a decent track record had picturized his version.

Manu Munjal (Ayushmann) is a bodybuilder and a struggling gym owner who aspired to become the strongest man in the city. To add onto the pressure, his family especially his sisters were constantly on his case to have him settled down. However, his life took a turn for the better when Maanvi Brar (Vaani Kapoor), a zumba instructor decides to collaborate with his facility for conducting her classes, The revenue boosted the health of the gym & with time, both of them hits off. But just when it seemed like  Manu cant be in a better frame of mind, their relationship hit a trough when Mannvi revealed her past  which he wasn't quite able to digest. 

Apart from calling the shots, Abhishek was also involved in the scripting process along with Supratik Sen & Tushar Paranjpe. [Spoiler alert] The topic of trans gender has been explored in an impressive manner in movies like "Tamanna", "Njan Marykutty", "Shabnam Mausi", Super Deluxe" etc. Over here, Abhishek does not opt for a full fledged focus on Maanvi but rather provides a fleeting glimpse of the turmoil that she goes through and the strain that it puts on the relationship between the lead pair. At less than 2 h, it is a feel good movie with decent humour & some peppy tracks by Sachin Jigar thrown in that maintains the light mood right through out. 

Though not a challenging role, kudos to Vaani Kapoor for taking up the role & doing justice to it. As mentioned earlier, it does not go into the past of the character which invariably meant that she had to convince the audience about the difficulties she faced for embracing her identity & she was successful at it. Ayushman as usual was fine while the rest of the cast also did their parts aptly. 

Verdict: It delivers what it promised & that is a breezy rom com that does touch upon a relevant topic without belittling it. In short, it is a decent time pass flick with quite a few sequences that would bring a smile on our face!!!

Rating: 2.5/5

Regards...Ben 

Kaaval review: "Rehashed formula & a tired screenplay gives a laboured feel to the audience!!!"

About a week prior to the release of Priyan's "Marakkar", Nitin Renji Panicker released his "Kaaval" which was publicized as the return of the Superstar Suresh Gopi. Since I was kind of held up with professional commitments, I didn't quite find the time to pen my opinion about it at that point of time. However, y'day when I saw that the movie was still being beamed after three weeks of its release; I was wondering as to what would have been the reason why many would have warmed to it. Anyway glad to see a movie do well & hope other producers also get back their investments. 

Antony (Renji Panicker) & Thampan (Suresh Gopi) were business partners who also looked out for the people in the region whenever the latter were denied justice. This in turn meant that there were no dearth in enemies for the dynamic duo. However, times have changed & Antony was a pale shadow of his former self not to mention that certain incidents in the past forced the friends to part way. This gave the enemies & their subsequent generation, the confidence to pick on him and his children. As matters started to get worse, he decided to reach out to his friend to help him out from the crisis. 

When "Kaaval" was announced as the second directorial venture of Nithin, I would have to admit that it didn't quite excite me as I felt that his debut project "Kasaba" was mediocre. There is no doubt that he has improved as a director in his latest outing but the script was far from engaging. It was just a rehash of the typical movies of this genre with no effort taken to at least provide it with an air of freshness as it was a predictable sequence of events pretty much right through. Even the sequences which was supposed to evoke memories of yester year action movies of Suresh Gopi wasnt as impactful. On the technical side, Ranjin Raj's music was fine while the other aspects were ok.

Even after being away from the movies for quite a while, Suresh Gopi has still given a decent performance with the role that was offered to him. If more attention was paid to the screenplay, then he would have rocked for sure. Renji Panicker felt more impressive when he essayed the part of the present day while the younger version was average. As for the rest of the cast, Rachel David & Padmaraj Ratheesh did their parts aptly.

Verdict: Didnt quite have the impact as expected which is primarily coz of a lazy screenplay. If you ask me "Varane Avashyamunde" was indeed the comeback of Suresh Gopi rather than this one. In short, give it a try without much expectations!!!

Rating: 2.25/5

Regards...Ben

Marakkar Arabikadalinte Simham review: "Lazy screenplay muffles the roar!!!"

The much anticipated & eagerly awaited Priyadarshan's magnum opus "Marakkar Arabikadalinte Simham" opened to an unprecedented number of theatres across the globe on Thursday. However, the reviews that I have heard until now has been rather mixed. To be frank that didn't dampen my spirits, after all I rarely watched movies with preconceived expectations though I was curious to know the reason why there were a lot of brickbats despite being adjudged the best movie at the 67th National Film Awards. So as Ajaz Patel created history with the perfect ten, will "Marakkar" make waves at the box office???

Kunjali (Pranav)  belonged to the lineage of the Marakkar family who traditionally led the naval force of the Zamorin. However, in one of the successful campaigns against the Portuguese; Kunjali lost his father, Pokkar Ali and his grandfather, Kutti Ali (Fazil) decided to relinquish the commandership position and took up trade for a living in a different land. But when Kutti Ali decided to stand up for the traders against the injustice meted out to them by the Portuguese, the latter decided to wipe out the lineage. They almost managed to do it except that Kunjali & his uncle, Pattu (Siddique) were lucky enough to escape from their grasps. As destiny would have it, they landed up on the shores of the Zamorins & Kunjali (Lalettan) became a Robin Hood like figure for the poor and oppressed when he realized that even the regional rulers were no better than the Portuguese. Soon enough he became the most wanted fugitive in the Zamorin kingdom & Portuguese saw it as an opportunity to wriggle their way into the royal court on the pretext of support.

After much hungama that resembled a soap opera, "Marakkar" released in theatres much to the relief of most of us after all it was a project mounted on a lavish scale that deserved to be watched on the big screen. On the positive side, the first half was impressive be it Thiru's picturization of "Kannil Ente' track rendered by Shweta Menon & Vineeth Srinivasan, the CGI & VFX effects in the naval warfare, Sabu Cyril's art direction etc. and even the pacing of the story was fine. However, the negatives kept piling up in the second half and the primary reason for that is the weak screenplay penned by Priyan & Ani Sasi. The dialogues were mediocre with some of the slangs being hilarious including Lalettan's  whose role also didn't have the impact that was expected. As a matter of fact, despite the presence of some talented artists most of them didn't have well etched roles 

Marakkar was known for their wizardry in naval warfare, but we hardly got a feel of his tactical brilliance except for a solitary sequence of the floating coconuts. Another aspect that could have be avoided or atleast treated in a different manner was the undeniable similarities of certain sequences to "Troy", Homer's Illiad, "Braveheart", "Bahubali" "Deewar" etc. Coming to performances, Hareesh Peradi as Mangattachan, Arjun Sarja (damn good) & Keerthy Suresh, stood out for their screen presence. Lalettan was fine but it was hardly a challenging role for a person of his caliber and he certainly struggled in the war scenes coz of his lack of agility while Pranav impressed. Nedumudi Venu & Siddique were reliable as always, Suniel Shetty gave an earnest performance but didn't understand why he was required and the same also goes for Manju Warrier.  As for the rest of the cast, Prabhu, Ashok Selvan as Achuthan & Jay Jakkrit as Chinali were ok while the others were average.

Verdict: If only Priyadarshan had paid more attention to the script & screenplay rather than just focus on making the frames rich & exquisite. With a talented cast & crew at the director's disposal, he could have made this a truly fantastic movie in all aspects, unfortunately he didnt. Despite the shortcomings, it still had its moments especially in the first half and some good performances from Arjun etc which would result in some sizable numbers at the box office & maybe even challenge "Lucifer". In short, give it a try!!!

Rating: 2.5/5

Regards...Ben