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NeelathamaraAfter watching the Lal Jose's last few movies I had actually started looking forward for his movies - just like the way with Sathyan Anthikkad & Kamal's. So his "Neelathamara" was obviously present in my wishlist and the curiousity grew up when I learnt it was actually a remake of old MT Vasudevan Nair's script or the same name, released in 1974, launching the illustrious career of Ambika. But I got a chance to see it last weekend only and the expectations were half fulfilled, why it was so I'll discuss at the later part of this post. Lal Jose's movie was visually stunning, and the scenes moved almost with a lyrical quality but the question was whether the story that worked in 1974 would have been contemporary after 34 years.

Click the image to read furtherVoila.... I saw the Prithviraj's "Vargam" atlast. For some strange reasons unknown to me - I had formed a trilogy of Prithviraj as "Vargam, Vasthavam and Thalappavu". Prithviraj continues to amuse me with his sincerity towards the roles he play on screen. And... after seeing the another movie from my wish list "Paleri Manikyam: Oru Paadhira Kola Padhagathinde Kadha" - an investigative thriller, I have a feeling that Ranjith is becoming the "Messiah of Malayalam Cinema". Then I moved to my another favourite Sibi Malayil's old movie - Mayamayooram, which was a melodramatic tear jerker and finally rounded off the week with Basu Chattaerjee's comedy "Choti Si Baat". A nice way to round off the week was with a Basu Chatterjee / Hrishikesh Mukherjee's movies. Out of jest I searched for other Basu Chatterjee's movies and stumbled upon his "Khatta Meetha". Within few minuted I realised that this was the "original" for Mazhalaipattalam. That sort of put me off and I have to resume it later some day.

Click the image to read furtherFollwed by a similar attempt in Hindi as "Dus Kahaniyan", noted malayalam screenplay writer & director Ranjit assembles a team of 10 talented directors to create a similar fete in Malayalam. These are 10 different stories with a common thread being that all the charcters pass through the Kerala Cafe, a cafetaria in the Ernakulam Railway Station. Beloved director Sathyan Anthikkad gives an introduction to this movie clarifying the general doubts of the public about this movie, in which the stories range from tear jerkers to thrillers. The cast is by a lot of prominent mainstream actors like Mamooty, Dileep, Prithviraj, Srinivasn, Siddique, Navya Nair, Meera Nandhan, Shwetha Menon etc. Quite a mentionable attempt at the Malayalam celluloid screen.

Click the image to read furtherThis weekend got me catching up with some backlog movies which had been a while after downloading. Thankfully the movies were in diverse genres - a cult classic Love Sex Dhoka (Hindi), realistic Rithu (malayalam), fast paced Passenger (malayalam) and a supposedly romantic comedy Bodyguard (malayalam), so I didn't have a fatigue in watching them all together. Why no Tamil movies for me? I seriously want to watch "Angaadi Theru" but I fear that its stark reality might depress me. Anyway no point in escaping from the reality, so I have pushed it for sometimes next week. And.... I don't want to commit suicide by watching MD's Suraa because I have so much of aspirations to do in my life.

BhramharamI am keeping tab of Blessy's movies ever since he had debuted with 'Kaazhcha' as director. Quite marred by a blemish of his career named 'Calcutta News', I expected a lot from his last venture - "Bhramaram". Bhramaram opens well with Mohanlal landing in the doorsteps of Suresh Menon's residence at Coimbatore and the intention of his visit is shrouded with mystery, told superbly without giving out the suspense. When his real identity is revealed towards the intermission we expect the movie to be a road movie as promoted in pre-release phase. But Blessy lets down his fans completely with a script ladened with potholes as the movie meanders meaninglessly and even the climax, even though stunning, is cliched. What saves the movie is the visual sheen lended by the superb frames / composition by cinematographer Ajayan Vincent and to the best he is the only soul to be benefitted from this movie. Mohanlal as a destiny battered individual is endearing and makes sure that his role - Shivan Kutty is in safe hands. The 'Bhramaram' (buzz of the bee) is used as the metaphor for Shivan Kutty's inner turmoil / violent streak and is shown unsettled towards the closing credits, which is fairly a normal ending. Barring Mohanlal, the only actor from the cast who catches your attention is VG Muralikrishnan as Dr. Alex. Bhumika Chawla & the child artiste fails to make the required impact in the flashback scenes. Talented Lakshmi Gopalswamy has nothing to do. Sadly I could see the quality of the director following a downward curve since his maiden venture. - {oshits} readers for this review!!!

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Unaroo - (Awakening), mal. 1984, was the second movie of Maniratnam after his debut in Kannada with 'Pallavi Anu Pallavi'. May be Maniratnam was testing waters before trying in (relatively) high budget in Tamil. To be really frank if somebody misses the opening credits, it could have been passed off as a movie directed by any mainstream malayalam director. The story telling technique was so simplistic and sincere that was the typical style of malayalam story telling in the 80's. And the movie was so devoid of technical advancements which Maniratnam is famous for but the climax was typical Maniratnam's - superficial solution to serious issues. 'Unaroo' (Awakening) is about the corrupt communist leaders exploitting the working class and it was bold considering the time it was made and that too in the state where communists once ruled - Kerala.

KaiyyoppuIt is indeed a commendable effort on the part of renowned malayalam scriptwriter Ranjith's 'Capitol Cinemas' to come up with such a nice movie to salvage the falling reputation of malayalam cinema in the recent times. An intresting trivia about Kayyoppu (signature) is that many of those who are the part of this movie like Khushboo, Vidyasagar and others had worked without remuneration but just a token of their respect towards the malayalam cinema which once was so high in quality and literature content. In a way the circumstances 'Kayyoppu' was made surprisingly resembles the plot of the movie. 'Kayyoppu' is about an immensely talented upcoming writer Balachandran (Mamooty), who suffers from creative block so having his best work unfinished. To motivate him, his publisher friend Sivadasan (Mukesh) gets him in touch with his old flame Padma (Khushboo) and with Fathima (Nilamboor Ayisha), a fan who hadn't met him still again is suffering from ailment.

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It was during a casual post lunch walk I passed through that DVD shop I dropped in and picked up this title totally unplanned, while I did it was purely based on the recall somewhere spoken in the same breath of malayalam classics. Pavithram, with an ensemble cast of Mohanlal, Thilakan, Sri Vidya, Shobana, KPAC Lalitha and newcomer Vinduja Menon, is magical while it was on screen even though it doesn't mean it was flawless. Despite its shortcomings, Pavithram manages to make you smile, moist your eyes and still grate your nerves when you think what you saw. This TK Rajiv Kumar (who had made some finest movies like Guru, Chanakyan, Mahanagaram, Kshanakkatthu), directed movie works in many parts with an unconventional storyline, competent performances and brilliant technical finesse.

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{mosimage}It is one of those nice warming kids movie, that moves and sees the world in their perspective. The small happiness that makes a difference to them, their 'big' problems like feeding the milk, rude tuition teachers and how they try to escape from them, yet their innocence charming us... "Pookkalam Varavayi" is definitely a lovely movie to be watched and cherished to understand the simple, beautiful world of tiny tots. Director Kamal manages to take us to the world of children, who are longing for love, through the journey of Geethu (Baby Shamli). She is the kid of now estranged parents Jayaraj & Usha - played by (Late) Murali and Geeta, who spends her week divided between the parents. Geethu finds her love in her bus driver Nandhan (Jayaram) and situations force him to take her to his village on a vaction without informing her parents. Geethu was overwhelmed by the affection showered on her by Nandhan's sibling (Rekha), parents (Kaviyur Ponnamma, Sukumaran Nair) and neighbours (Sunitha, Pappu) and refuses to return to her parents when they come searching for her, leading to a tearful climax. Baby Shamili was so adoring, Jayaram was too subtle, Rekha and Geetha spoke a lot through their eyes and Innocent & Jagathi provided a comical relief. Seems Kavya Madhavan and Divya Unni were also a part of this movie as school girls but I couldn't identify them. This movie came in 1991 when the Golden period of Malayalam movies was at its peak, so the performances and the technicalities were subtle and warming. Cinematographer Jayanan Vincent had distinguished the worlds of Geethu by contrasting lighting. The city part was starking while the village parts were dreamy with soft lighting. Despite some logic defiances, Available in Moserbaer's DVD collection, 'Pookkalam Varavayi' is a beautiful message to all the parents and in one word - "Lovely". - {oshits} readers

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It was quite a disturbing feeling when I heard of malayalam scriptwiter / director Lohitadas's death from my colleague. For a discerning malayalam movie watcher like me, even the credit "scrit by Lohitadas" is more than compelling to watch that movie, despite the fact that his last few films - Chakkaramuthu, Nivedhyam were nowhere closer to his previous works. But if I look back, most of the movies that made me watch malayalam movies were Lohi's scripts. Whether it was "Veendum Chila Veettu Karyangal / Kanmadham / Kasthoorimaan", my tryst with malayalam films started through him. Oflate in Tamil media he was in wrong reasons for being Meera Jasmine's "mentor", but he had launched some talented actress like Manu Warrier, Samyukta Varma, Meera Jasmine and Bhama to name a few. Like Lohi's lead characters, his life too is very dramatic and intresting.

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One of the recent hits of Malayalam that still gives oxygen to the hope of discerning malayalam cinema viewers. "Veruthe Oru Bharya" (Just a wife) is a tribute to all the hardwork an ordinary housewife puts in towards the welfare of her family, yet slipping into the anonymity. A devoted wife Bindu (Gopika), who keeps aside all her dreams (she learnt dancing for 12 years but left it after the marriage) only to take care her egoistic and irritable husband Sugunan (Jayaram) and a grown up daughter Anjana (Nivedha), calls it quits one fine day when she is frustrated that her emotions are not valued. Sugunan tries to run the family as a single parent, but realises that nothing can replace the love and care of a wife. To be frank I was tempted to rate this movie as a potential classic till it reached the interval. A lot of the scenes will make the male society to introspect themselves at home and the way Bindu walks out of Sugunan's life in a huff is well etched. The movie is so simple and looks like a leaf out of our lives but unfortunately falls into the cliched melodrama in the second half before giving few free lessons to us. The movie reminds too much of Srinivasan's "Chinthavistayaya Shyamala"and AK Lohitadas's "Bhoothakkannadi". Still the movie strikes the right chords and would have been still more better had it avoided the melodrama in later half. "Veruthe..." was the swansong of Gopika as well as the comeback vehicle of Jayaram. All said and done, "Veruthe Oru Bharya" takes you in a nostalgic trip to the 80's where the simplicity and substance ruled the malayalam cinema. -- {oshits} reads online.

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All the media were raving about the malayalam blockbuster - "Cycle' as refreshing, a whif of breeze etc.. But I was least carried away by those eulogising epithets showered at the movie. This Friday we chose to see 'Cycle' as a weekend movie. We started bit late... around 11:00 p.m, I thought that I can stop the movie in the middle and resume it on the next morning. But I couldn't resist watching the movie at a single stretch, despite feeling drowzy at times. The movie really deserved those praises it garnered during its theatrical release. Surprisingly the theme of the movie was also in line with my previous post - money alone is not the key to happiness. What is this 'Cycle' all about?