Kappela: What You See Is Not Always What You Get

When the promotion of a film solely focuses on a single actor it shows that he or she has arrived. When that actor is just two films old, it says a lot. The entire promotion of Kappela focuses on Anna Ben, who made her mark with her debut in Kumbalangi Nights and proved her skills in Helen, which marketed the film keeping her centre-stage. With Kappela, Anna shows that she is here for the long run.

Jessy (Anna) stays in a village named Poovarmala in Wayanad, with her parents and a younger sister. She leads a simple life, helping her mother with tailoring work and spending time with her friend and next-door neighbour Lakshmi. Things change when she accidentally dials a wrong number. And a young man named Vishnu (Roshan Mathew), who is an autorickshaw driver in Malappuram, answers the call. It doesn’t end there. The man keeps calling her back and, initially Jessy is irritated by this. She soon falls for his charm. Since Jessy doesn’t have a smartphone, neither she nor Vishnu can see each other. However, they fall in love and dream of a life together. She wishes to see him just once but their plans to meet gets postponed due to circumstances.

Benny (Sudhi Koppa) is a local businessman and landowner who likes Jessy and wishes to marry her. Though his overbearing mother objects to the alliance, he goes ahead. A worried Jessy makes plans to meet Vishnu at Kozhikode and decide about their future. One day, when her parents and siblings are away, she catches a bus to Kozhikode.

Movie Review, Movies

By Toms Varghese

March 2, 2020

Forensic: cliches and evil stereotypes kill the thrill

Writing an investigative thriller is a tough job. Especially, the ending. After comedy, it is the most difficult genre to execute as minor infraction could ruin the whole film. In-depth knowledge of police procedurals, legal loopholes and science is essential to craft a decent thriller. Forensic is the third in the line of investigative thrillers this year, following Anjaam Pathira and Anveshanam. Touted as the first in Malayalam to focus on forensics, the film is riddled with genre tropes and cardboard characters notwithstanding glaring plot holes.

The film begins with the ordeals of a boy whose interest in reptiles and animal carcass enrages his father who punishes him harshly. The physical abuse takes its toll and the boy, now in his teens, strangles his father and buries him in the backyard of his house, with a manic grin on his face. Cut to the present, a five-year-old girl goes missing and in a couple of days, her body is found. She was stabbed to death. The investigating officer Rithika Xavier (Mamta Mohandas) suspects the hand of a serial killer. She sets up a special team and has to reluctantly agree to the inclusion of medico-legal advisor Samuel John Kattookkaran (Tovino Thomas), the brother of her ex-husband Xavier Kattookaran (Saiju Kurup). Rithika also includes Shikha (Reba Monica John) as Sam’s assistant and her ‘spy’. Meanwhile, more girls get abducted and are later found stabbed to death.

Despite Rithika’s reservations, Sam makes some inroads into the case quickly. His assumption that a child is involved in the murders is proven true. As the investigative team believes that they have cracked the case, Sam finds new evidence leading to bloodier discoveries.

Movie Review, Movies

By Toms Varghese

February 22, 2020

Trance: Takes a jab at the world of faith healing

Karl Marx called religion the opiate of the masses while Sigmund Freud described it as the expression of people’s underlying psychosis and neurosis or an attempt to control the external world. From simple-minded village folks to owners of billion-dollar corporate empires, faith-healers have always found that the faithful will do anything to connect to the ‘big guy’ up in the sky. Irrespective of religions, the lure of health, wealth, fame, fortune, and a promise of prime location in the exclusive ethereal estate of heaven to spend eternity, godmen and faith healers have been attracting humanity in droves. Human life, which is governed by sufferings, fears, dreams and aspirations, is the most lucrative resource in the world for those who know how to manipulate and monetise the gullible minds of millions. Trance takes a jab or two at the exploitative world of faith-healing through powerful performances and captivating visuals but falls short of delivering the knockout punch.

Life for Viju Prasad (Fahadh Faasil) is a losing battle. His career as a motivational speaker and trainer is yet to take off and he also has to take care of his younger brother Kunjan (Sreenath Bhasi) who is suffering from manic depression. Despite all the odds he still plasters a smile and breathes in a ‘can-do attitude’ every morning before he sets out for his daily job as a waiter while doubling up as the odd motivational speaker. Viju’s fragile world shatters and he soon moves to Mumbai and does small jobs to survive. Then life takes a turn.

Viju gets an interview call from Solomon (Gautham Vasudev Menon) who heads a business group with his partner Isaac (Chemban Vinod Jose). Excited at the opportunity of becoming a motivational trainer in a corporate company, he finds out that the men want him for a job that never occurs to him in his wildest dreams. Solomon and Isaac offer Viju, an opportunity that he cannot refuse. He is immediately sent for training under Avarachan (Dileesh Pothan). After six months of rigorous training, a new name and a new avatar as Joshua Carlton (JC), he takes the stage and gives a tremendous performance, turning into miracle-worker pastor.

Movie Review, Movies

By Toms Varghese

February 15, 2020

Love Aaj Kal: A V-day disaster

It’s that time of the year when couples go on record to flaunt their love for each other, either through posts on the social media or through gifts. Valentine’s Day is a day of celebration for the youth and with cinema being one of the prime modes of entertainment even now, youth-friendly movies released during the V-Day week do have a solid potential at the box office. Imtiaz Ali had all the luck he wanted for his latest release Love Aaj Kal, a reprisal of sorts to his 2009 film of the same name releasing on V-Day.

If you have watched the first Love Aaj Kal that starred Saif Ali Khan and Deepika Padukone in lead roles, and also watched the trailer of the latest one, you might have an idea of what the storyline looks like. The film shows two timelines, 1990 (Udaipur) and 2020 (Delhi), with the respective eras telling us a love story apiece. The modern-day romance is between Veer (Kartik Aaryan) and Zoe (Sara Ali Khan), two contrasting individuals who fall in love by chance. Unfortunately, complexities creep into their relationship, testing the waters of their mental strength and loyalty.

It doesn’t help Zoe that she has got infected by the scars of her single mother (Simone Singh) and it forces the former to be fearful of commitments. Meanwhile, Veer is the embodiment of patience in their romance. A vital to the love is a cafe that’s owned by Raj (Randeep Hooda) is a go-between for the new-generation lovers. He sees a lot of himself in Veer and so, Kartik Aaryan plays the younger Raj in the 1990 romance where he is Raghu and courting a poignant woman Leena (Arushi Sharma).

Movie Review, Movies

By Hariprasad Sadanandan

February 8, 2020

Malang: All hype does not a thriller make

There are very few genres that command boundless interest like crime thrillers do. Especially if it is a well-crafted whodunit. Mohit Suri’s Malang falls in this category, plus it’s touted as high on style quotient and wackiness. While the posters looked like a formulaic Bollywood film, it’s fair to say that the official trailer managed to raise curiosity. Of course, a Mohit Suri film is the biggest hype, given the director’s penchant to give us solid thrillers.

Set in Goa, Malang is set around the romance between Advait (Aditya Roy Kapoor) and Sara (Disha Patani). While the former is an introvert, his partner is the exact opposite. Their romance develops at a steady pace but just when their world is at an all-time high, tragedy strikes. The film then takes the investigative route with two cops of contrasting characters are involved in the case—the cynical Inspector Agashe (Anil Kapoor) and the honest Michael (Kunal Khemu). There is also a dose of old-school revenge in the mix.

Potentially, Malang had everything in it to be a vintage edge-of-the-seat thriller. It’s got reasonably well-written dialogues, and also a brisk screenplay which ensures that there isn’t a lag in the narration. But there are quite a few flaws too, and those behave as speed-breakers in the film. For starters, character establishment isn’t convincing and there are plenty of sequences that seem contrived or rushed into the storyline. The twist also ends up as a convenient idea than anything else.

Movie Review, Movies

By Hariprasad Sadanandan

February 2, 2020

Anveshanam: A gripping emotional thriller

Rarely do filmgoers get to watch something original nowadays. Viewers mostly get stuck with tried and tested formulas or experiments that mostly miss the mark. This year started well with Anjaam Pathira, a decent thriller devoid of clichés that stuck to the basics. It was followed by two mega duds from two megastars. But things look bright again after watching the month-end release–Anveshanam. It is an emotional family drama that breaks several patterns but keeps the audience hooked till the very end.

Aravind (Jayasurya), his wife Kavitha (Shruti Balakrishnan) lead a happy life with their two adorable kids—seven-year-old Ashvin and three-year-old Mishka—at an apartment in Kochi. One fateful day, Kavitha rushes to the hospital with her son who is unconscious after falling on the stairs of the apartment. The couple’s friend and neighbour Dr Goutham (Vijay Babu) takes them to the hospital that he works in. As the medical team frantically tries to save the kid, someone makes an anonymous call to the nearest police station claiming that there has been a case of child abuse. Before the police arrive, the child dies.

ACP Latha (Leona Lishoy) and SI Alphonse (Nandu) begin enquiries and they start to get suspicious after preliminary enquiries. As the night progresses, several unanswered questions begin to pop up with suspicion falling on both parents and their friend Goutham. ACP Latha and SI Alphonse tighten their methods as the mystery behind the accident and death slowly unravels.

Movie Review, Movies

By Toms Varghese

January 26, 2020

Street Dancer: All melodrama and no fun

The Indian film industry, unlike its foreign counterparts churn out much fewer dance films. The ABCD franchise did create some hysteria, largely due to the success of its first part that had Prabhu Deva as the antagonist. He was part of ABCD-2 too and in order to expand the franchise, the maker roped in star, Varun Dhawan. Needless to say, the star and the dancing legend feature in Street Dancer as well—the unofficial third part of the ABCD franchise.

The story is set in London, where we are introduced to two sets of dance gangs, one an Indian group led by Sahej (Varun Dhawan) and the other being a Pakistani outfit helmed by Inayat (Shraddha Kapoor). For reasons best known to them, the two gangs are often at loggerheads. One night, while watching an India-Pakistan match at a pub, a nasty brawl breaks out, forcing the pub owner Anna (Prabhu Deva) to intervene. He tries to mediate between the two groups but to no avail.

We are introduced to a sub-plot about illegal Asian immigrants who are spread across the UK. Anna’s major objective is to feed those who are homeless but quite obviously, he isn’t rich enough feed them all. This is when a dance competition is announced, where a price money of 10000 pounds is offered to the winning team. If this is the motivation for Anna, Sahej’s eye is on the prize for a different reason, his brother’s redemption.

Movie Review, Movies

By Hariprasad Sadanandan

January 24, 2020

Shylock: Even Mammootty’s wide grin cannot save this hotchpotch

Shylock is a classic character immortalised by William Shakespeare in The Merchant of Venice. The greedy, vengeful, deceitful moneylender literally asks for a pound of flesh from his arch-enemy Antonio if the latter fails to pay back the money borrowed from him. This is a character with fantastic possibilities and in the hands of a creative team, it could have been used to make a masterpiece film. Well, one can only wish.

The creative limits of the team behind Mammooty-starrer Shylock was pretty clear from its tagline ‘The Money Lender’. Slow clap for the genius that worked on this ‘innovative line’. Still, the wide grin and unhinged demeanour of the central character gave some hope that it just might turn out to be another ‘Rajamanickyam’. The drab opening scene laid those hopes to rest, for good.

In the opening scene, two brash young men Adithya Varma (John Kaippallil) and Joel Felix (Vinu Chemmalakuzhy) shove off a security personnel at an airport and drive away in their expensive car without consequences. We are ushered to the intro of villain no 1, Kochi police commissioner, Felix (Siddique) sporting a bald pate, stylishly making a cup of black tea as he intervenes in a land dispute between an old couple and a builder. He favours the hapless couple only to be revealed that it was just a ploy to arm-twist the builder.

Movie Review, Movies

By Toms Varghese

January 20, 2020

Uriyadi: a chaotic Onam wedding

This week’s choice was between a mega budget, megastar-led masala and a low-budget comedy. The choice was easier than expected. The trailer of Big Brother gave off a stale vibe. And it did turn out to be a run-off-the-mill Lalettan film. That made Uriyadi the obvious and the only choice, even though it came with a warning—from the director of Adi Kapyare Koottamani.

The story is set in Thiruvananthapuram and starts with a chase scene through the streets and narrow alleys of the capital city. It culminated with a horse-back policeman cornering the culprit. Be aware that this scene has no bearing to what happens later. The major events unfold at the police housing colony. Raveendran (Siddique), a police officer, is making preparations for his daughter’s wedding and has bought a lot of gold jewellery for it. Mathai (Baiju) is a policeman under suspension, who is always drunk. His wife, played by Arya, is also a constable in the force. Padmanabhan Pilla aka Pappettan (Sreenivasan), an ASI, will retire in a couple of months, is respected by everyone including senior officers in the force. Sreejith Ravi plays the gunman of state home minister (Prem Kumar), who takes pride in his service revolver and his ever-growing family. Panchavarnnaksharan Pilla (Indrans) is the secretary of the housing colony association who is busy organising the Onam celebrations at the apartment complex.

Ambili (Aju Varghese) and his assistant Rajanikanth (Bijukuttan) arrive at the colony to do light and sound works. They get on the wrong side of Mathai who turns Rajanikanth into his punching bag. As the day progresses, the colony falls into celebratory mode. Men are having drinks and the women are gathered at Raveendran’s home to inspect and admire the wedding jewellery. The celebrations and cultural events continue late into the night. But festivities turn sour when Raveendran’s house is robbed. The family is distraught and the entire residents gear up to find the culprit but fails. While they desperately try to keep the incident under wraps, the news leaks through the Facebook Live video aired by Panchavarnaksharan Pilla’s son. With the media on their backs and pressure from the minister, the policemen resort to some drastic moves that lead to further complications.

Movie Review, Movies, Uncategorized

By Toms Varghese

January 17, 2020

Pattas: An unabashed mass masala

The Pongal festival, you can say, is also a time that spawns commercial potboilers. The box office theory is that if you have a solidly packed entertainer that also appeals to families, a successful film is inevitable. Rajinikanth’s Darbar was the first of the releases, hitting the screens in the pre-festival week and it’s now time for son-in-law Dhanush to cater to the mass audience with his film Pattas. An unabashed mass masala in which he essays a dual role.

Sakthi alias Pattas (Dhanush) is a small-time thief whose modus operandi revolves around his partner-in-crime Puncture (Sathish) and his foster father (Munishkanth). Pattas and Puncture decide to rob the MMA Academy owned by reputed fighter Nilan (Naveen Chandra), in order to teach Sadhana (Mehreen Pirzada), who is their neighbour, a lesson. Coincidentally, at the time of the theft, Kanyakumari (Sneha) is on the premises, attempting to kill Nilan. She had been released from jail that day.

Kanyakumari is incredibly skilled in adimurai, the oldest form of martial arts that was founded during the times of the Cholas. Once Nilan realises her intentions, he sends men after her and during the course of the events, she gets reunited with Pattas who is her biological son. The film then goes into flashback mode, telling us about Thiraviyam Perumal (Dhanush)– a master in adimurai– his efforts to make the long forgotten art form gain recognition. What happens then and the obvious revenge saga plays out thereafter.

Movie Review, Movies

By Hariprasad Sadanandan

January 14, 2020

Sarileru Neekevaru: Mahesh Babu does it again

It’s Sankranti in Andhra and Telangana, and that means a time for superstar-driven commercial potboilers. This time, the industry is set to witness the biggest box office battle in years with Mahesh Babu’s Sarileru Neekevvaru taking on Allu Arjun’s Ala Vaikuntapurramlo. Initially slated for a same day clash on January 12, mediation from the producers’ council resulted in the Mahesh-starrer preponing its release by a day. It is for the first time in six years that the superstar is having a Sankranti release.

The film opens in Kashmir where we are introduced to Major Ajay Krishna (Mahesh Babu), an orthodox Army man with a good mix of brain and brawn. He loves to lead by example and during one rescue operation helmed by him, a fellow officer (also named Ajay) gets critically wounded at a time when he was scheduled to take long leave for his sister’s marriage in Kurnool. Due to the unexpected turn of events, Ajay Krishna decides to visit the other Ajay’s hometown to ensure that the marriage and other formalities are completed successfully.

Ajay’s family comprises of his mother, Bharati (Vijayshanti) a college professor and, two sisters. Once our protagonist reaches Kurnool, he realizes that all is not well with the State minister (Prakash Raj) being the major obstacle. Quite expectedly, Ajay Krishna intervenes in this skirmish and takes it upon himself to solve the issues of Bharati and her daughters. What starts out as a personal contest soon gets entangled in a scam. How Ajay Krishna restores parity to Kurnool is the crux of the film.

Movie Review, Movies

By Hariprasad Sadanandan

January 13, 2020

Art as prelude to the film Kottayam

The idea of holding an exhibition before the release of a film had been on Binu Bhaskar’s mind for a long time. He believes bringing the images of a film to an intimate space creates a sort of connect with the viewers. In other words, it serves as a window to the larger canvas. This desire has finally resulted in No Answers, an exhibition based on the upcoming Malayalam film Kottayam, happening at Draavidia Art Gallery, Fort Kochi.

Bhaskar, who is director of Kottayam, has been working on this investigative thriller that touches upon social issues for the past three years. A photographer-turned-director, he equates land with a woman in the film. The message is: consequences will be dreadful if one violates either. “In our country, atrocities against women surge day by day. Such news receive a lot of attention, however, only a few cases get solved. Everything fades off after a few days’ of sensationalism. I find that disturbing. I wanted to talk about that,” says Bhaskar, sitting in the gallery where paintings, digital collages and designer wear related to the cinema are on display.

Besides violence against women, the film discusses issues such as land encroachment and depopulation. The narrative has a pan-Indian approach. Although the film begins in Kottayam, it travels to the Northeastern part of the country. “Because the subjects we discuss are relevant across the nation,” Bhaskar explains.

Features, Movies

By Elizabeth Thomas