Veer

Cliche galore. Check. Overt melodrama. Check. Chest-thumping heroism. Check. Colorful loud dialogues. Check. Lame script. Check. Yet, Veer is a fun watch. Its a Salman Khan film all the way, and the man shines so bright in the tailor-made role that nobody but Mithun Chakraborty is visible in most of the scenes. Sallu is the next Telugu hero at Bollywood after Sunny. Period. There are 2 factors which might have influenced my opinion on the film. First, I watched the film in Bhopal among (presumably) Sallu fans and the atmosphere was electric. Its indeed a pleasure to watch a kick-ass film in such a setup. Secondly, I had read some reviews before and they were not very favorable, to say the least. So, I went with very low expectation. The film basically is a dated love drama which is done to death in Bollywood, but in a grand scale. Technially, the film is topnotch, with only the sound department lagging behind. (Look what Pookutty has done to me! ) New gal Zarine Khan looks like Katrina. Good. And acts like her too. Bad. There is lot of effort went into this film, especially in direction, camera and art departments. Unfortunately, the script is out of the league. The film also lacked a solid, action filled climax which is a decent expectation considering some awesome action shots in the prologue. Overall, the film is a keep-your-brains-at-home fun film and a must-watch if u happen to be a Sallu fan. The film might not become a Wanted at the BO, but its gonna make some decent bucks from single screens.

Happy husbands
Against all obviousness, I hoped that won't be a remake. My hope was shattered in the first title slide itself, in which the makers briefly declared that the film is inspired from Charlie Chaplin, which is a 2002 tamil film. But except for some minor modifications the film seem to be a scene-by-scene rip off of No Entry, the 2005 Bollywood smash hit which itself is 'inspired' from the Tamil original. As I sat exasperated, the film started with pathetically choreographed title song followed with a done-to-death cliche scene of heroine talking to a idol. I had lost all hopes when things started improving. Most of crowd obviously have not seen No Entry, and they seem to love the film. Their cheers got me more engaged and I think the film is a pretty decent rip-off. Jayaram deserves much of the credit, I guess. His mannerisms and body language were superb and at par with Anil kapoor's rollicking act in No Entry. In a role that made even Fardeen Khan look good, Jayasurya does nothing extra-ordinary. Though expanded compared to Sallu's role, Indrajith has nothing much to do. Suraj repeats his usual stuff and amusingly makes them work. The girls were pretty ordinary, including hot favorite Rima. The girl has a nice stylist, but her make-up man seems to a little bit too busy for her. A below-avarage effort from music department. Very average camera and sound. Ordinary editing. On any day I will go for No Entry over Happy Husbands, but if u have not seen the former, chances are that you might like the film.

I have to add, the tendency to rip off from other languages esp Hindi is alarming. We did copy a lot from hollywood, but most of them were modified and modulated pretty well. Now for the global Malayali, why are they serving the same dishes in different plates? Copying like this will kill creativity and hard work. Its certainly the easy way out, and it seems to be paying off too. Gulumal and Happy husbands are such shameful copies and they did/are doing decent business. Even Ividam Swargamanu took cues from bollywood. This is bad. And it might get worse. I'm scared.

Ividam Swargamanu

Watched it from Aluva Matha. Film is an enjoyable fare with good messages. Other than a note of caution against land grabbing mafia, it also deals with themes of hope, resiliency and counter-aggression. The role, though different from his usual roles there days was a cakewalk for Lal. It was good to watch him belt out nostalgic stuff. Lalu Alex excelled in a unusual villain role. Jagathy's role was also interesting. The film's first half was technically poor, esp the editing. One would hope Roshan had spent more time with his team and material. The film seems to be heavily inspired from the fantastic Ghosla ka Ghosla, including the funny villain part. I found the fake documents part to be more interesting. It appears to be well-researched and is well executed too. Some might miss songs, i didn't. Over all, the film is worth a watch. Its a shame that the attendance was just about 50%.

Chattambinadu Review
When I entered Aluva Zeenath cinema pompound for the evening 1st show, I was in for a not-so-pleasant surprise. The attendance was shockingly low: less than 50%! Pity because the film is supposed to be a mass film. Chattambinadu is a 'remake' of Rajamanikyam with some kannadiga essence thrown in. Direction looks very amateurish. A very half-hearted attempt by Shafi. The titles as well as the song was pretty good. Other 2 songs were pathetic, to say the least. This perhaps is the worst screenplay by Nayarambalam, ever! Having said that, the film is NOT boring and has some fairly funny mements. Mammootty again successfully demonstrates his command on accents and other than that the role is a cakewalk for him. Suraj and Salim did raise some laughs, despite being repeatative. There are no other notable characters in the film. The film can serve as a medium for time-pass and might please die-hard fans. Overall, its a disappointing attempt.

The most awaited films of 2009
1. Pazhassiraja: A magnum opus biopic written by MT, directed by Hariharan and starring Mammootty and Sarath kumar. The film was in making for 2 years and the project was given the go-ahead after the much talked about Payyamvelli Chanthu was shelved. Its long since MT's pen has moved for cinema. The filming is completed and post production works are on. It is scheduled for Onam 09 release.
2. Casanova: A big budget film directed by Roshan Andrews, written by his discovery Bobby-Sanjay and starring Mohanlal and Arya. The genre of the film is hard to guess and the theme seems to be err.. say out of ordinary. Let’s hope the film has good substance along with splendid visuals from Vienna and technical brilliance. The film is also set for Onam 09 release, and the clash of two big(gest) budget films of the year at the BO may prove disastrous. I'm guessing Casanova will be pushed back a bit.
3. Bodyguard: A comedy written and directed by all-hits director Siddique and starring Dileep and Nayantara. Siddique returns to Malayalam after trying a hand in Tamil and not getting too much good response at the BO. Its also the full fledged homecoming of the 'queen of the south'. For Dileep it might be a routine business as he is accustomed to this genre and its variations, but the film is important for him, as he is supported by huge names and failure might mean disaster.
4. Harihar Nagar 2: A sequel to one of the best comedies in Malayalam written and directed by Lal and starring Mukesh, Siddique, Ashokan and Jagadish. Lal returns to direction after a long time, and Ashokan is also coming back after a long TV career. All eyes are on Jagadish, as his character of Appukkuttan being arguably the best recollected comedy role in Malayalam cinema. Siddique will be shunning his villain roles for this comedy role, and for Mukesh this might mean a renewed career.

2009 - Mixed start, hopeful also

A month has passed since the newyear of 2009. Everybody from jyothishis to economists were skeptic about the year, and unfortunately the recession blues have joined in hands with poor quality in Malayalam film industry. 4 major films were released in the year, and 2 of them might recover the cost: Makante Achchan and Hailesa. A recovery percentage of 50% is not too bad, but the quality factor is a concern. For Mammootty the year has started poorly, with the disastrous 'Love in Singapore'. The film is also the first commercial failure of the director duo Rafi-Mecartin. Dileep, who got a good run into 2009 with his December 2008 release 'Crazy Gopalan' had to meet with very bad response to 'Colours'. The film has been described as one of the worst films in his career. Actually the failure of LIS and 'Colours' is the main drawback; if either of them was okey-dokey kind, then the situation would have been much better off. Sreenivasan duo's 'Makante Achchan' is doing well, and might turn out to be a sleeper hit. Suresh Gopi's 'Hailesa' is getting below average collections, and might break even.

Come the Valentine weekend, and Mohanlal will debut in 2009 with the Shaji Kailas directed thriller 'Red Chillies'. The promo looks decent with trade mark angle shots of the ace director, but the film seems to be a costly production and has some preachy dialogoues by Lal. The film will face-off with Srinivasan's family drama 'Katha Samvidhanam Kunchakko'. It will be interesting to watch them at work in the BO, as Sreenivasan has grown into a bankable star. Lets hope they hit the bull's eye at the BO, and prove the jyothishis and economists wrong.

Twenty 20 First Box-Office Report

The "all stars in one screen" film is out, and as expected opening is fantastic. what which was not that expexted was the praise it is getting from all corners. Everybody seems to like the film. There are reports about a 3 day boycotting of the film by Mohanlal fans to protest against the alleged side-lining of the star in the film's promos. In the film Mohanlal gets his introduction just before interval, but he still seems to have good screen presence. This boycotting might mean stable collections even after 3 days. Anyways, hats off to Joshy and Uday-Sibi for pulling off the seemingly impossible. The reviews are yet to appear in websites, for unknown reasons.

This is for the first time in the history of cinema that all major actors in a film industry came together to make a film. This is another feather on the hat of Malayalam cinema.

Here's a short :

Positives - :

1. Introduction of Suresh gopi

2. Introduction of Mammooty

3. Pre- Interval scenes between Mohan lal & Mamooty

4. Fight scene between lal & mammooty

5 . Comedy scenes of dileep

6. Climax scene

Negetives - :

1. First few comedy scenes

2. Most of the songs

The Manorama News Opening day report (in Malayalam):

http://www.manoramanews.com/cgi-bin/MMOnline.dll/portal/ep/mmtvContentView.do?contentType=EDITORIAL&contentId=4720494&tabId=14&BV_ID=

Diwali 2008

Diwali is the biggest season for Tamil films. But this diwali had only 2 major releases: Ajith starrer Aegan and Bahrath starrer Seval. As usual the Ajith film made a bumber opening, but the reports are mixed. The film which is a rip-off from Farah Khan's Main hoon naa, also has Nayan and her chiffon saris to boast of. Seval got even poor response, and the film is a flop.
All this after the short but great run by Katalil Vizhunthen, which is Sun Pictures' 1st venture and the all-round performance by Venkat Prabhu's Saroja.

Now after the poor Diwali peformance, for which the heavy rains can also be attributed, a few films are getting ready for realease. The biggie among them is Gautham's Surya starrer Varanam Ayiram. The trailer looks promising, and the theme seems to be fresh. So, there's a lot of hope on it. And this time gautham decided to flash his 'malayalittam' all over posters by spreading his full name 'gautham vasudeva menon' on thme! Way to go, man! The second major release will be feel-good director radha mohan's Abhiyum naanum starring Thrisha and Prakash Raj as her father. Madhavan statter action film Guru en aalu may also make a mark in the pre-christmas season.

2008 - A good start!

2008 is up and how! Most of the films are doing good business and the year is alive and kicking!At the topspot in BO is Srini's Katha Parayumbol. The film took a good opening thanks to mammoos and the film later consolidated thanks to terrific narration of a heartwarming simple cute story! Mammu does look lik a star in it. But he tends to overact at the climax, a rare thing from mammoos!Kangaroo surprised me with its good show. The film is netting good collections in Kochi. Prithvi is in. He's the one!Romeoo still manages avg collection.In the downside there are flash and of the people. Flash is a colossal failure and I think it is high time for Lal to read the scripts b4 signing a film. Of the people got a good start, but the film has nothing new to offer and collections are likely to fall.

TZP started well in Kochi, but not too well for an Aamir film. Nevertheless, the film manages avg collection till this week.

Billa is going great guns in Kerala, Thala ajith raising a competition for Vijay. Kerala is considered to be a Vijay area than Ajith's despite the latter's Kerala links. Billa is Ajith's biggest hit in Kerala, and may also be his biggest ever hit! Not to forget Nayan's role is the film's good run. She looks goddamn hot!

Some of the films up for release soon are Rajkumar Santhoshi-Ajay Devgun-Vidya Balan film Halla Bol, Suresh Gopi- Shaji Kailas' Sound of Boots, East Coast Vijayan-Jayaram's Novel, Blessy-Dileep-Meera's Kolkata News, Renji Panicker-Mammu's Roudram and Mohanlal-Thulasidas-Vimala's College Kumaran. And yes Kollywood is getting ready for Pongal!

The X'mas - NewYear Season

The season is alive and kicking! After 3 months of dullness, in which the only saving grace was Prithvi's Chcolate (Yeah, Prithvi's! He deserve it this time!) the Malayalam film industry is warming up. Dileep's Romeoo have released much ahead of the seaon, might be as an attempt to evade clashes. The film has opened well and is having the same crass comedy factor which seems to be the falovour of the season. The film's fate howver depends heavily on the other relaeses of the season. Mammootty-Srini starrer Katha Parayumbol has touched the silverscreens on Friday, over concerns from the industry that the film might not be a Mammu movie after all. even the posters seem to give weightage to srini. However, if the film is made well, it can go all the way. Mohanlal's outing for the season is Sibi Malayil-directed Flash. This will be Sibi-Lal team's first work after 5 years and Mohanlsl's 5th film after 4 consecutive bombs at the BO. Can't say this will be critical for Lal because he has seen worse and came back woth a single hit. The film seems to be a psychological film and will be releasing on saturday, the 22nd of Dec. Prithvi's Kangaroo is also expected to release on the same day. The film directed by a debutant Raj Babu and has Prithvi satrring opposite Kavya after classmates. The film revolves around a baby to whom Prithvi is the guardian. Prithvi riding high on the sweetness of chocolate is expecting the film to do well. If at all the film manages to be the topper ofthe season, then Prithvi will get his seat reserved for superstardom. For chocolate, he had the company of popular people like Shafi and Roma, while here he has a debutant with Kavya, who is certainly not in her peak of popularity. Meanwhile, the star-at-risk Jayaram might show up in the season with East Coast Vijayan's directorial debut Novel. Interestingly, Jayaram's co-star Sada is also in the "danger zone". Music will be the key element in the film, with the songs being remashed versions of popular album songs released under East Coast set to score by M.Jayachandran. Suresh Gopi's Sound of Boots (err...that's the name of the film. interesting name, eh?) dirceted by show-off showman Shaji Kailas will be releasing later in the season, after the newyear. The film is an murder mystery and is produced by the money-spinners of the south Pyramid Saimira. The film is said to have shot at a very short time in meagre budget, but we know story is the king. Hope Shaji also realised that.

Kollywood and Bollywood

Tamil industry, which suffered due to the kerala film chamber's 2 week wait policy for Tamil films has superhit Billa to offer. Thala Ajith is reportedly rocking whole of TN, with collections even overcoming Sivaji in some provinces. Its also Nayan's comeback film to Tamil after a long gap. This is a remake of Rajni's Billa vis-a-vis SRK and BigB's "Don"s. Another release for the season is Shanker produced Kalloori, based on a true incident. The film however is not giving inspiring results, and reportedly the climax of the film is changed to attract audience.

Bollywood has 2 releases this friday, Aamir Khan's directorial debut Taare Zameen Par and Nadiawala films' Welcome. Welcome starring Akshay Kumar and Anil Kapoor is expected to a out-and-out commercial masala film, with Parseh Rawal also in the main cast. The quality of the film is however waited to be seen. The reviews of Aamir's TZP is out and critics are going ga-ga about it. It seems Aamir is a very good story teller himself. Reviewers acn't stop praising Aamir for the entertaining and enlightening movie. Clap clap, Aamir...