Mummy & Me Review [2010]

Young director Jithu Joseph in his second movie 'Mummy And Me’ seems to have been interested in all kinds of social anxieties, loneliness and depressions that the new age teenagers from nuclear families are subjected to, in the current scheme of Kerala culture. He has constructed a script taking into account the credibility and fear factors associated with chat friends, to single child's who shows dichotomous characters, overtly reacting to much of the things at the same time surreptitiously fearing social exposure and falling into anxieties seeing their peers having fun, going out and partying. A noble intention off course, to create a movie with a message, but the director seldom displays the deftness to intelligently pack all associated chores for an engaging movie.

The movie has Urvashy as Clara, the ''mummy'' and Archana Kavi (‘Neelathamara’ fame) as Jewel the daughter, with two opposite characters mostly due to their generation gaps. While Clara is an imposing mother who wants her daughter to listen to and follow her in every ways, Jewel is more a new generation college girl roaming all round in her bicycle, with earphones plugged on. She likes the companions of internet than anyone in her home. Rahul (Kunchacko Boban) is Jewel's senior in college, the son of Thomas and Mary, the family friends of Joseph and Clara. Though Rahul is also a single child, he shows more maturity and doesn’t like to expose his love that he has for Jewel. Often he plays the role of her guardian in college and gets involved in all kind of fisticuffs with other college rowdies.

The scheme of daily fights at home between the mother and daughter concerning Jewels' dress codes to hair setting styles makes Joseph (Mukesh) to play the referee between the ever feuding home mates. To prevent Jewel from spending more time outside home mostly on internet, Joseph presents Jewel with a PC. She immediately finds a chat friend in an anonymous 'Ameer' who starts reforming Jewel like anything into such an extent that she eventually falls in love with him, even without seeing him. The film goes on to tell how the parents with the aid of a psychologist try ways to get over the newer crisis that their daughter has got into.

The USP of the movie is a simple, uncomplicated and identifiable story. But what could've been narrated in a concise format is stretched so much that it starts to test the patience of the viewer. What could have been an interesting cinematic experience, gets into a preachy tone with the arrival of a psychologist (Anoop Menon) who appears in every third sequences in the later half, to dig out his explorations into the case. The screenplay relies on the same old tricks and the same old situations, but the director manages to make you smile at times, without the aid of any comedians in sidetracks, but with the witty, well timed dialogues. Especially towards the second hour, the pacing of the film gets slower, and the big problem with the movie here is that you just don't feel the pains of those whose life has gone upside down. The lack of onscreen camaraderie between the characters played by the lead players is another major pitfall in the presentations.

Anyhow, the plus points of the movie include Mukesh and the new child artist playing Jewel’s younger brother in admirable roles with their intense timing of wits. Archana Kavi plays to the demands of the role but doesn't reach up to the promises she offered in her debut movie. Kunchakko Boban is very natural and shakes his legs well in the couple of songs. Urvashy looks jaded and her makeup is over the top, though she has some moments to relish. Shari, Lalu Alex and Janaardhanan are in their usual roles.

’Mummy And Me’ has some beautiful songs by debutant Sejo John, the pick being ''Aarume…'' which is also well picturised. The other four songs also give the feel that, the young musician is here to stay. Jeethu has found some good locales for the movie, but the cinematography by Vipin Mohan remains just ok. The grading is average and the great loss in transfer during digital projection also seems to have taken the hearts of the tones out, in the initial reels.

All in all, ‘Mummy And Me’ has some good messages which may appeal to the family audience. Though it has some sunny, pleasant moments, don’t preset your mind that you are going to watch something unusual.

T.D. Dasan Std VI B Review [2010]

For all those film festival buffs who had been the ardent fans of the Iranian films, that narrated simple emotional stories with children, this one is indeed a treat. Debutant director Mohan Raghavan has created an unusual Mollywood movie exactly in the same league of festival winners, with his debut film 'T D Dasan, Standard VI B'.

The movie has debutant Alexander as T D Dasan, who lives with his mother Chandrika (Shwetha Menon) in a sleepy village near Chittur in Palakkad. Chandrika who is deserted by her husband Diwakaran long back, works in a local matchstick factory and is struggling to get both ends meet. One day, while searching for something in his mother's trunk box, Dasan gets an address of his dad who walked out of their house when he was a year old. Dasan immediately writes one letter to this address explaining all his woes and pains for not being with his father. The letter reaches Keystone Villa to where it was addressed and where Dasan's father Diwakaran was working as a driver.

But as of now, the house is inhabited by an ad filmmaker named Nandan (Biju Menon), who lives there with his only daughter Ammu (Teena Rose), a little prodigy and a short story writer. She gets affected by the innocence of Dasan's lines and starts writing replies to Dasan, as if they were written by his dad. The reply to Dasan comes to him as every sort of blessing, an only chance of reconnecting to his father .But very soon the myths, surrounding the village and coincidences were to take his story to a different turn.

The soft social commentary that runs all along, addressing the anti-coal war to the social forestry promotions that never take a preachy tone, is the highlight of the movie. The marvellous direction coupled with sensitive writing makes Mohan Raghavan, the most impressive debut in recent times. The director gloriously continues his experiments with narratives allowing the ad maker Nandhan to think wild around the frame of the letter addressed to a long gone father.

His attempts on finding its possible later half, for a feature film is constructed inside the narratives in a charming way, never dissuading any interests from the original story. The movie upholds the belief on human values and at the same time gives the multi layered diverse viewpoints of village and town, reality, myths and fiction, and that of children and grownups.

The movie which is definitely a brilliant outcome, is supported by everyone from its lead cast of children, who are spontaneous in their acting .Others including Biju Menon, Vatsala Menon and Shwetha menon plays their parts to true extremes.

The only song by Sreevatsan J Menon is another great piece of work, after his songs for ‘Laptop’. Sreevatsan's BG scores are also a treat to hear. The camera work by Arun Varma and editing by Vinod Sukumaran also needs special mention. So is the art work by Sunil Kochanoor and costumes by Rasak Thirur.

At the same time, It is also of great regret to say that the reviewer was only able to watch the movie in his third attempt, the first two becoming unsuccessful due to the need of a minimum audience to run the show in the release centers .If this is the fate of sensible, brilliant Mollywood movies in Box Office, we are damn sure that no kind of producer agitations or financial regulatory measures are going to help the industry from a possible destruction.

The connoisseurs of good cinema, it is high time for you to stand up and parade inside theatres to help such honest sensitive ventures that are going to be the worthy mascots of our industry, everywhere.

Pokkiriraja Review [2010]

Debutant director Vysakh presents in ‘Pokkiri Raja’ nothing less that ‘double bonanza’ for lovers of mainstream Malayalam Cinema. Bringing together Mammootty and Prithviraj in equally important roles, he strives to successfully appease and satiate die-hard fans of both these actors in a film that’s colourful, entertaining and above all, loud.

‘Pokkiri Raja’ is the story of two brothers, Raja and Surya, the sons of Madhavan Nair, a teacher with a very good reputation. But family feud, especially between Madhavan Nair’s Kunnathu family and the rival Puthiyara family, leads to some unexpected developments and Raja gets arrested for murder, of course one that he did not commit.

This and subsequent developments lead to the straining of relationships between Madhavan Nair and Raja, who then leaves home (after serving his term at the juvenile home) and reaches Madurai, where he becomes a ‘goonda’. He grows up to become ‘Pokkiri’ Raja, a goonda with his own way. In the meantime Surya also grows up as a tough guy. Madhavan Nair fears that Surya too may follow Raja’s path and become a goonda. Hence he sends Surya to Ernakulam, to stay with Surya’s sister Rugmini and brother-in-law Sugunan, who is a sub-inspector. Surya lands in trouble after he falls in love with Ashwathi, who is the daughter of City Police Commissioner Rajendra Babu. It’s then that Pokkiri Raja turns up and things take a new turn.

The film belongs as much to Mammootty as it belongs to Prithviraj. Mammootty excels as Pokkiri Raja, eliciting loud applause from ardent fans. Prithviraj as Surya gives a power-packed performance. The duo together breathes energy into the film as a whole. Shriya Saran gives ample support as Ashwathi while Nedumudi Venu as Madhavan Nair, Siddique as Rajendra Babu, Suraj Venjaramoodu as Sugunan etc do justice to their roles.

Cinematography by Shaji and slick editing by Mahesh Narayanan happen to be among the highlights of ‘Pokkiri Raja’, a film that goes full pace from the first frame to the last. The songs are all colourfully picturised and well choreographed. Udayakrishna and Sibi.K.Thomas, the scenarist duo, though in a very predictive formulaic stuff, have put in all the ingredients that would go into the making of a full-fledged commercial movie.

Vysakh as a debutant director has made a decent entertainer and the young man is definitely destined to go places in mainstream Malayalam cinema, if he can select more sensible plots. All in all, Pokkiriraja is a full-length entertainer, which will give you your money’s worth, if you are not in the type of a thinking serious film buff. A Paisa vasool stuff indeed, for all the lovers of all colourful, mindless racy films!!

Alexander The Great Review [2010]

If Murali Nagavalli’s debut venture ‘Wanted’ had too many loose ends that did more harm than good to the film, his second film ‘Alexander The Great’ stands out as a well-directed, excellently scripted and good film that touches chords in your heart.Manoj Varma aka Manu, who is the son of Pratapa Varma, has his business in Dubai. But everything is going wrong for him and his business. He is in deep financial crisis. It’s then that his mother advises him to go seek the help of his father. Manu goes to meet his father Pratapa Varma, who has been living away from them, after having parted ways with Manu’s mother. Pratapa Varma lives with his siblings and other relatives. Manu meets him and returns. Soon afterwards Pratapa Varma passes away. His eager relatives await the reading out of his will, which however disappoints them. Pratapa Varma has given the major share of his property to Alexander Varma, who’s his son too, born to a woman in Mumbai. The clauses in the will are such that it’s almost important for everyone else to get rid of Alexander. Manu decides to go to Mumbai and seek out Alexander and then get him to sign on documents giving his share to Manu, of course by resorting to cheating and unfair means. He meets Alexander’s mother, gets her signature and then makes inquiries about Alex. He is told that Alex was first jailed for murder and is now in a mental asylum. Manu, his uncle Krishnan and his lover Bismitha go to meet Alex at the mental asylum. Alexander is very much an interesting character. With the doctor’s consent, Manu takes Alex with him and sets off, determined to get the papers signed by him. But the trip with Alex turns to be revelation for Manu.

The character of Alexander Varma is very much different from those many characters that Mohanlal has been doing of late. The film doesn’t present him as a star playing to satisfy his fans, but as an actor who does a character of substance. Mohanlal does justice to the role of Alexander Varma, though at places there seems to be something lacking in his performance. Bala as Manu is OK while Saikumar appeals in the very few scenes in which he appears, as Pratapa Varma. One wonders why scenarists and directors are so bent on casting Jagadeesh in dunce-like roles. Of course he has excelled doing such roles, but of late he has started overdoing it and the directors and scenarists too seem to have made it a habit to cast him in such roles.

Janakan Review [2010]

When reviewers observe that there are dearth of good story lines in Mollywood, little will anyone expect about two multi-starrer big budgeters made almost at the same time in similar story lines and with same actors.

Yes, the much discussed theme of sexual abuse and day to day stories that catch the lead in the headlines definitely offer different perspectives and backdrops for such a theme. But here debutant director N R Sanjeev and veteran scriptwriter S N Swamy have gone for lesser experiments, that finally result in another rehash of the thread of the recent movie ‘Vairam’, with less dissimilarity, the primary one being the presence of Superstar Mohanlal. Indeed it is a definite highlight, like the differences that may happen in a Bombay IPL team 'with' and 'without' Tendulkar.

The movie opens with Viswanathan (Suresh Gopi), and his friends Monayi (Biju Menon) and Palani (Harisree Asokan), who have committed three murders, laboring to flee from the cops, who are trying to grab them at several check points. They, with the help of the son of the home minister and daughter of city police commissioner are trying to reach ace lawyer Soorya Narayanan (Mohanlal), their only saving angel. And when they reach his home on an eventful night, a bunch of goons and the police try to dissuade the lawyer from hearing the tragic story about Viswanathan's teenage daughter who was gang raped and brutally murdered by a group consisting of an influential businessman, a dirty ACP and a young DJ. Dr.Rani who treated the girl at the hospital to get her out of the coma, also comes up with certain crucial revelations which makes Soorya Narayanan decide to stay firm in the side of righteousness.

The movie, though with a repeated story heavily inspired from movies like 'Time to kill' manages to stick to its happenings that unleashes in a time span of around 20 hours, with a few flashbacks. The movie told in a thriller format (rather than the emotional aspects that was the highlight of 'Vairam') has its focus dwindling between the brainy lawyer and the shattered, subdued father. Both the actors handle their roles with remarkable ease, with Suresh Gopi utilising another best of the chances, to portray the character's agony in a few intense scenes.

Though the later half is predictable with no real tension about what the outcome is going to be, enough interesting side-issues going on helps the debutant director with no fear of a viewer losing interest. On a comparison with 'Vairam', 'Janakan' losses big on the intensity levels (there the focus is fixed on the role of Pashupathy, the aggrieved father who is offered ample space to portray his breakdown and move on for an emotionally pitted revenge). By placing the lawyer as the only man who can change the lives of any big murderers, by even summoning the biggest power barons before him as if in a mock court, only the heroics of the character is boosted rather than the impact of the message that it intended to send through. The climax also leaves much more to be expected. The minister's son and the commissioner's daughter in paper-thin characterizations with no real manifestations of any big stubborn nature, is one of the pitfalls in scripting.

Apart from the superstar lead, Jyothirmayi, Biju Menon and Harishree Ashokan does their smaller parts convincingly, but it is Vijayaraghavan who steals the show in at least a few sequences. The family of Viswanathan played by Kaveri and a fresh face doesn’t have the camaraderie that the family in Vairam has displayed. The technical side of the movie is in tune with the merits of the narratives, though editor G Murali could have used his scissors a little more strictly. The only song in the movie rendered by Rajalekshmy offers good hearing.

Anyhow ' Janakan' is a movie that may not bore you as it sticks to its platform, most of the times and has its heart almost at the right place. The movie may be a novice to most as vary few would have come up to the cinema halls to lap up the other movie in discussion 'Vairam'. With a relevant message and above average narratives, 'Janakan' may find needed audiences, to end up as a safer movie at the Box Office.

In Ghost House Inn Review [2010]

The most lovable four characters and their heavy camaraderie had been the most saleable USP, when anyone thinks of another sequel to the famous ‘Harihar Nagar’.

Yes, the characters are very much there, but what is missing is that inspiring twists that could have avoided the predictability that follows everywhere in this third part of ‘Harihar Nagar'-'In Ghost House Inn’.

In the third part of the series, the three friends Mahadevan, Appukuttan and Govindankutty are invited to the ''Dorothy Bunglow'' by Thomaskutty, their most mischievous friend who has bought it with the heavy sum that the latter got at the end of the first sequel. Thomaskutty is planning to convert the bungalow into a Hotel resort, and for that it is inevitable to prove to the public that no spirits or mysteries are still attached to the bunglow where some murders are said to have happened decades ago.

It is for that he is inviting his friends to stay at the Bunglow with their family. Though a bit frightened, all the friends and their wives take it as a challenge to help Thomaskutty. What follows is a new combination of horror comedy.

The movie is packaged as a mindless entertainer and will get the applause of those who never attempt to search for any logic between proceedings. The ambiance that is set by the initial sequences gives the space for a presentation, quite different from the previous two movies.

The jokes are there, but not too funny and original, which gives the feeling that the after cuts attached at the end credits are more attractive.

The highlights of the movie is definitely the climax, camerawork by Venu and the likeability of the lead characters and their manoeuvrings with Appukuttan getting more idiotic than ever before, hardly suiting any dentist in the profession.

The lows include the wafer thin storyline that hardly packs things that surprises us. All the four in the lead Mukesh, Siddhique, Jagahdessh and Ashokan and their wives played by Rohini, Lena, Reenabasheer and Rakhi play their parts well. Nedumudi Venu and Radhika has some role of substance that they do with flair.

All in all ‘In Ghost House Inn’ may find it little harder than its prequels to satisfy the ever demanding fans of the fantastic four.

April Fool Review [2010]

A movie that spends seventy percent of its screen time on the interiors of a single apartment, mostly depending on the banter between two characters and occasional walk-ins of a couple of supporting artists.

Before tagging this to be an abstract, experimental movie, let us make it clear that the movie is not a novice, but a full revamp of the immensely hit Bollywood movie ‘Bhejafry’.

And for those who had been with the original, the story which is best suited for a theater play is pretty similar with the original, without any more additions-Rakesh Menon (Siddhique) is an entrepreneur and owner of the delight musical company and a member of the upper class club, which consists of a few egoistic people who take pleasure in ridiculing an invited ‘idiot’ to their party, making them playing their ‘gifted’ talents.

On a day when he is to present his prized catch, Krishanunni, an aspiring boastful singer and musician, Rakesh hurts his back and also has a tiff with his playback singer wife Seema (Nayana) over this idiot show. Seema ultimately decides to leave his selfish and inconsiderate husband, who doesn't care about the emotions of others.

Krishannanunni, a second grade income tax officer, who comes over to entertain the party amuses Rakesh with his tomfoolery acts. But within some hours, Rakesh understands that he is in the face of the utter chaos let loose by this 'idiot', who likes to mess up everything that comes his way. Starting from inviting his nymphomaniac girl friend Mohini to the turmoil and also engaging his most strict income tax chief to help Rakeshmenon, Krishnanunni, though with his satirical gags creates mini disasters one after another, ultimately making Rakesh's comfortable life into ruins.

The film which relies on humorous lines and one-liners, on an-one night affair that change the attitudes and behaviors of everyone attached, is enjoyable at most times. Here you have the rich Rakesh realizing his faults and patching up with his rivals and the strict income tax offer who realizes his wife's cheating, that all coinciding on a night.

The scripts of the movie as in the original provides healthy laughter in almost all frames but certain overly forced attempts, (like the recipe debate on phone) makes you refuse to flex your facial muscles. The script didn't consider the pitfalls of the original (like the couples' fighting over a singular issue and walking out on the second day, after which the husband gifts his wife with a costly car) and repeats the same in the remake.

Jagadheesh who has also done the scripts is the star of the show, who matches with the Vinay Pathak of the original in every count. With fantastic timing and the recent idiotic image that had been attached with the star (particularly after the ‘Hariharnagar’ sequels), he looks very natural.

Siddhique is once again fabulous as Rakesh Menon while Biju Menon and Jagathy Sreekumar act the short roles with elaan. But Kananda actress Nayana appears plastic in her emoting abilities and needs to work on her facial expressions.

She shows no camaraderie with Siddhique. The movie doesn't demand for any music tracks though the couple of songs are good. The technical sides of the movie are also in sync with the quality of the narratives.

A movie with enjoyable moments, this shoestring budget flick may pass off as a winner even with a two weeks run. Suggested for those who likes light hearted entertainers with no intense or serious moments.