Puzhikkadakan: Script lacks Imagination

There are 18 moves in kalaripayattu. And if all these fail, there is the 19^th–Puzhikkadakan. This is a deceptive move in which the fighter obscures the opponent’s vision and disarms or kills the enemy. The term puzhikkadakan or its more popular alternative ‘avasanathe adavu’, or last resort, is used to denote that one is at his/her wit’s end and will attempt the riskiest move in a do or die attempt.

Puzhikkadakan is the story of a soldier Havildar Samuel/Sam (Chemban Vinod), who faces a tragedy back home. And having tried everything to get justice, he is forced to engage in a gambit that could very well end his life.

Sam’s arrival at his village in Idukki on leave is quite dramatic. His neighbour and friend Koshy (Alencier) in a drunken haze mistakenly interprets a late-night phone call to be that of Sam’s death. A surprised Sam is welcomed by a host of bewildered villagers drinking hot black tea outside his home early morning. There is a reason for stretching out the opening scene. That’s how the 120-minute film feels like, a stretch.

Movie Review, Movies

By Toms Varghese

November 29, 2019

Enai Nokki Paayum Thota: The bullet misses its mark

It’s difficult to retain enthusiasm for a film when its release gets delayed for an extended period. Gautham Menon’s Enai Nokki Paayum Thota had started rolling in early 2016 and that point, there was a considerable buzz, given the unconventional director-actor pairing of Menon and Dhanush, both known for different kinds of cinema. It has taken more than three-and-a-half years to hit the screens, and not surprisingly, it has arrived with not much hype attached to it.

Raghu (Dhanush) is a final year college student who has a relationship with actress Lekha (Megha) who is shooting at his college. She has a troubled life largely due to her ‘guardian’ Kuberan (Senthil). Although Lekha has to separate from Raghu to ensure his safety at one point, destiny reunites them after a span of four years in different circumstances.

You could be forgiven for thinking that this film has something to do with Menon’s previous directorial Achcham Yenbadhu Madamaiyada which featured Simbu in the lead. A boy-meets-girl plot, a romance that bears the Gautham Menon stamp and then a sudden shift to the action-thriller genre. Except for the change in the lead pair, there is a huge sense of deja vu that you cannot avoid. Moreover, the voiceovers which Gautham loves to use in his films have now become an overdone prop, causing irritation.

Movie Review, Movies

By Hariprasad Sadanandan

November 28, 2019

Another bad hair day for Shane Nigam

What’s with Shane Nigam? Is the 23-year-old actor arrogant, an addict or just plain stupid? These are some of the questions that have been doing rounds in Mollywood for a while now. Some have already passed their judgment while others are still wondering what went wrong. But things are going awry for the talented youngster.

The son of late Kalabhavan Abi, one of the most beloved mimicry artists and comedians who never got his due in Malayalam cinema, Nigam has had his share of struggles. He started off with a dance reality show in his early teens, acted in a TV series and went on to do bit parts in films until he was noticed in Rajeev Ravi’s Annayum Rasoolum. He earned kudos for his debut as the hero in Kismath. Shane Nigam then went on to give impressive performances in C/o Saira Banu, Parava, Eeda, Kumbalangi Nights and Ishq. And just when Malayalam film lovers were getting used to the swift rise to stardom of the talented young actor, Nigam’s change of hairstyle brought matters to a head.

What led to the dramatic turn of events began when Nigam posted a video blaming Veyil producer Joby George of threatening him and his family last month. Joby claimed that Nigam had changed his hairstyle in violation of their contract. Though the issue was initially settled with the intervention of FEFKA and AMMA, matters seemingly didn’t get better. With Shane posting a completely new hairdo on social media with the tagline ‘Pradhishedham’ (protest), things spiraled out of hand.

Entertainment, Movies

By Toms Varghese

November 23, 2019

Varthakal Ithuvare: Falls flat midway

A host of talented actors, an interesting plot and a 90s setting: This had the potential to be a good entertainer only if it was written, directed and edited well.

Varthakal Ithuvare is set in the 90s precisely the year 1990 in a village in Kollam. The story surrounds a police station headed by SI Ittan (Nedumudy Venu), head constable Pilla (Alencier) along with constables Vinayan (Siju Wilson), Mathews (Vinay Forrt) and Habib (Saiju Kurup). Nothing much happens here except for petty thefts by local thief Kumaran (Mamukoya) or skirmishes caused by the loud-mouth Chakkappan (Nandu) and his nemesis Iththak (Sunil Sugadha).

Vinayan is talented but he is under-appreciated by Ittan who is partial to the opportunist Mathews. The police are instructed to keep a watch out for a notorious burglar named Charles, who writes ‘viplavam jayikatte’ (Viva la Revolution) on the walls of houses he plunders. When the same writing is found on the wall of Iththak’s house after his daughter’s gold chain was robbed, the life of everyone in that village turns upside down. Despite SI Ittan’s disdain towards him, Vinayan investigates the case leading to events that tarnishes his name and almost ends his relationship with his college sweetheart. Remainder of the film shows how Vinayan solves the case and wins back his love.

Movie Review, Movies

By Toms Varghese

November 23, 2019

Pagalpanti: Takes audience for granted

Aneez Bazmee has given us many enjoyable comic capers over the years like No Entry, Welcome and Singh is Kinng. Even his previous release Mubarakan was passable. The basic rule while watching mindless comedies is the clichéd, ‘keep your brains at home’. This genre works as an escapist fare, a comic relief from the everyday tensions that life is bound to give us. Bazmee’s latest venture in slapstick comedy is Pagalpanti, which as the name suggests, (an attempt at making) a madcap comedy.

Raj (John Abraham) is touted to be a person who brings bad luck on everyone and everything around him. To prove the case in point, the PNB bank where he finds work gets bankrupt on the very first day due to a scam by businessman Niraj Modi. Sounds familiar? Raj then goes to London to meet up with his friends Chandu (Arshad Warsi) and Chunky (Pulkit Samrat).

Out of cash and pretty much jobless, the three friends then get hired by a couple of wacky goons, Raja (Saurabh Shukla) and WiFi Bhai (Anil Kapoor) who are Jija-Saala (brother-in-laws) by relation. Things go from bad to worse with a series of loony sequences and then we get to see Niraj Modi in action. Amidst all this mess, the film also has its three lead heroines decking up as eye candy and then uttering some of the worst dialogues that you can think of in the modern era.

Entertainment, Movie Review, Movies

By Hariprasad Sadanandan

November 17, 2019

Sangathamizhan: A total misadventure

Kollywood seems to have caught a ‘Farmer fever’ in 2019. So many of the prominent films this year have dealt with the theme and it’s another matter altogether that they’ve made caricatures out of it. Vijay Sethupathy’s latest venture Sangathamizhan, directed by Vijay Chandar, uses agriculture as a major tool to take its story forward. The masala genre hasn’t been kind to Sethupathy (or maybe he just isn’t picking good commercial scripts) so far and hence, I was skeptical about this film.

Murugan (Sethupathy) is a wannabe actor who wants to excel in comedy roles. His sidekick Soori (Soori) is also an aspiring actor who wishes to be a lead hero. Murugan, who is poor falls in love with Kamalini (Raashi Khanna) who is, you guessed it, a rich girl. Her father (Ravi Kishan) is a wealthy industrialist and he gets the shock of his life when he meets Murugan. He is reminded of Tamizh (Sethupathy), a social activist of a village in Theni.

Kamalini’s father and Kuzhandaivel (Ashutosh Rana) had earlier plotted to murder Tamizh and his family. Now, on seeing a doppelganger, they decide to use Murugan in their ploy to set up a Copper factory in Theni. It was Tamizh’s leadership that had denied the corporates an entry into the village and with this newly devised plan (which is as old as the hills), the antagonist duo focus on completing their mission. Will Murugan fall prey to the trap? What are the issues that forced Tamizh to revolt?

Movie Review, Movies

By Hariprasad Sadanandan

November 16, 2019

Action: Outdated and Amateurish

Sundar C has made plenty of clichéd commercial entertainers in rural settings. But with Vishal’s Action, the veteran director tries his hand at the sleek-and-stylish action genre.

Subash (Vishal) is a Colonel in the Indian Army and hails from a reputed family. His father is currently serving as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and is in a mood to quit. He has groomed his elder son, Subash’s brother, as his heir. However, in a bizarre turn of events, Subash ends up losing his sibling as well as the love of his life (Aishwarya Lakshmi). Determined to unlock the mystery and exact revenge, Subash decides to take on the unknown enemy with his colleague Diya (Tamannah).

Let’s begin with the film’s title. Your creativity is at an all-time low when you title an action-centric film, Action. Maybe the makers wanted to keep things simple. The screenplay is jaded and highly predictable with no real twists and turns to speak of. Sundar C has managed to make the film stylish and shots visually appealing—it’s definitely a major shift from his routine films.

Movie Review, Movies

By Hariprasad Sadanandan

November 15, 2019

Helen: An edge-of-the-seat chilling thriller

The best survival film in Malayalam cinema is Malootty (1992). Now there is Helen and this one comes a close second to the Bharathan classic written by John Paul.

Helen (Anna Ben), a 25-year-old nursing graduate, lives with her father Paul (Lal) in Kochi. They share a strong bond and that’s why the father tries to dissuade her from going to Canada for work. Being the responsible one at home, Helen has her priorities set. She’s moving abroad to pay off debts. The father-daughter duo has no secrets between them except for Azhar (Noble Babu Thomas), her boyfriend.

Helen works at a fired chicken franchise in a mall after her IELTS coaching as it helps to improve her English language skills and also earn some money in the process. Though Azhar is not serious about his future and career, he attends an interview to impress Helen and lands a job in Chennai. Life takes an awkward turn when the couple is stopped on the way by the police and Azhar fails the breathalyser test. S I Raveendran (Aju Varghese) stretches matters and Paul gets to know about his daughter’s relationship in an unsavoury fashion. This cause tensions in their lives and Paul refuses to speak to her.

Movie Review, Movies

By Toms Varghese

November 11, 2019

Nalpathiyonnu/41: Fails to dive deep into the subject

To believe or not to…is the question that director Lal Jose appears to ask in Nalpathoyonnu /41. God is omnipresent in almost every Indian’s life, no matter the extent of their faith. Rationality and atheism have been prevalent in our discourse through centuries, but the multitudes still love to stake their bets on the supreme power rather than be sorry later. Questioning the existence of god is not a laughing matter in India, especially in the current political climate.

A few like director Bala and Kamal Hassan, who are avowed atheists, have shown the guts to question religious practices and faith in some of their movies. When Lal Jose, a man of faith, makes a film on this debate, he cannot be totally objective. And to be fair, he is free to choose and express his side.

Left parties are generally considered the flag-bearers of atheism. Karl Marx had said that “religion is the opium of people”. Kannur is the hot-bed of Communism and the roots of revolution go deep in that soil. Though the party line on faith has changed significantly over the years, members are still obliged to follow the ideals of rationalism and atheism.

Movie Review, Movies

By Toms Varghese

November 10, 2019

Moothon: Lives up to the Hype

Moothon deals with the vulnerable lives of little boys and men who are traded for flesh, drugs and money by other men without an inkling of guilt. This Malayalam-Hindi bilingual film isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, as it tries to engage its viewers with the grim realities of flesh trade. However, the writer and director Geetu Mohandas wants to tell these stories through teenager Mulla’s (Sanjana Dipu) eyes.

Mulla sets out from the pristine white sandy beaches of Lakshadweep in Moosa’s (Dileesh Pothan) fishing boat and ends up in Kamathipura in cosmopolitan Mumbai. He is in search of an elder sibling, the titular Moothon.

Time and again, we as a society have been told to keep our girls and women safe, as we are made to believe they need protection from grave societal harm. Moothon tells us that even boys and men are in danger of being exploited. The film takes us through the inside ‘gallis’ of Kamathipura into the dreaded gangster Akbar (Nivin Pauly)’s den to show us how he makes a living including trafficking little boys.

Movie Review, Movies

By Aswathi Maria

November 9, 2019

Android Kunjappan v5.2.5: The old man and an affable Robot

First things first: This is a must-watch movie that has its heart and brain in the right places. To be honest, when I saw the film’s cut-out and the title at a theatre a month ago, I felt like swiping left. It seemed like another cheap Hollywood rip-off. The plot of this film is inspired from the Frank Langella-starrer Robot & Frank in which a man uses a robot to take care of his grumpy old father. The similarities end here. Android Kunjappan v5.2.5 discusses issues of old age, family responsibilities, father-son bonding, loneliness, religion and of course love, with dollops of humour and the perfect amount of drama.

Subrahmanian (Soubin) is a Mechanical engineer living with his father Bhaskaran Poduval (Suraj) in a quaint little village in Payyannur. The young man is stifled by his controlling, insecure father who forbids him from taking up jobs far from home. Though he loves his father, Subrahmanian one day declares that he is going to take up an offer to work at a robotics company based in Russia. His cousin Prasannan (Saiju) finds a home nurse and the son leaves to pursue his dreams. His work is appreciated and he also falls in love with half-Malayali Hitomi (Kendy Ziro).

Bhaskaran’s grumpy and uncompromising nature causes all home nurses to quit and tired of his father’s antics and equally worried about his welfare, Subrahmanian returns home with a surprise—a personal assistant robot. Bhaskaran hates the machine from the get-go and refuses to take its help. But slowly, he warms up to the affable android and soon they forge a bond akin to a father and son. The robot and its master become the talk of the town. Though the old man seemed to be happier than he ever was, the euphoria doesn’t last long as new challenges arise.

Movie Review, Movies

By Toms Varghese

November 8, 2019

Bala trumps the Battle of the Bald

Over the past few weeks, Bollywood has been witnessing the Battle of the Bald with the makers of Ujda Chaman and Bala engaged in a tussle. Both films deal with the sensitive topic of premature balding and Ayushmann Khurrana’s presence always gave Bala a slight edge over Ujda Chaman. While the former released last week to not-so-favourable reviews, Bala has hit the screens.

Set in Kanpur, Bala tells the tale of Bal Mukund Shukla aka Bala (Ayushmann) who has lost much of his hair while still in his late 20s. The baldness saddens him, more so because he used to be known for his silky hair at school. The Shah Rukh Khan-like appearance and his mimicry skills made him a rockstar among his classmates back then. Cut to present, Bala works as a marketing employee for a company that produces gawdy fairness creams and also moonlights as a mimicry artist at social clubs.

Bala conducts ‘seminars’ in a bid to sell these creams to potential customers who suffer from an inferiority complex on account of their skin tone. His life takes a turn when he falls in love with the TikTok sensation-cum-model Pari (Yami) whose life in her own words is all about make-believe. Latika (Bhumi), a dark-skinned but self-confident woman who used to be Bala’s classmate at school and even had feelings for him at one point, shares a love-hate relation with Bala. The film follows the protagonist’s journey towards self-realization.

Movie Review, Movies

By Hariprasad Sadanandan