Ashiq Aboo does surprise you. At every turn of the story, there is a surprise lurking in the corner, so much so that you can't even write a proper review for fear of spoiling it all for people who want to see the movie, but have not yet gone.
That's not to say that it has no flaws, but like a pucca Malayali, I will not say, 'tharakkedilla'. I loved it, not because every scene is credible but because it was excellent, sane entertainment.
An award is waiting somewhere for Rima Kallinkal. Fahad Fazil is a proven actor now, but he has to move from the urban yuppie type character to something else if he doesn't want to be typecast. In Fahad, you have an actor who isn't afraid of image, so he will do that and more. The way in which he made his comeback should be a clear indication that HE is the man who will be the real actor in the future, who isn't afraid of anything, ready to do a job as it deems fit.
For Pratap Pothen, it's a dream come back role. His character has been etched out wonderfully. So well has he played it out that merely his presence is chilling. There are a few other actors who have done very very well. I don't even want to mention the characters, because then the surprises will not be there.
Kottayam folks may not be pleased if they take it to heart, but it's movie, after all. I have a quarrel with the script in that I believe Kottayamites know their 'bha' from their 'pha'. This lapse is found in people somewhere further to the south. Also in some situations, perhaps only once, humour does fall flat as it is totally out of place.
Altogether, 22 Female Kottayam is as fresh as a daisy, full of surprises, entertaining and has really good acting. Go see it! If you are a woman, NOT to be missed at all!
Prema Manmadhan
Showing posts with label film review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label film review. Show all posts
Friday, April 13, 2012
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Urumi Review
Musings of a cineaste after the first day, first show of ‘Urumi', (Published in The Hindu Metro Plus, Kochi, on April 4)
Prithviraj has a vision, which he professes at every opportunity, that he will one day be the ambassador of Malayalam cinema and through him Malayalam cinema will get its due. ‘Urumi' could well be his first effort in that direction to fulfil his dream. Mani Ratnam's ‘Raavanan' paved the road for him to do it and here he is, with August Cinema's ‘Urumi'.
August Cinema's CEO is Mallika Sukumaran, say the credits. Homage is paid to Sukumaran before the movie begins as also to another producer's father, Nadesan. Sukumaran would certainly have been proud of his younger son. Santhosh Sivan, who dons a producer's, cinematographer's and director's robes, wears one for far too long.
Guess which robe? The cinematographer's of course. If you compare ‘Ananthabhadram', ‘Raavanan' and ‘Urumi', you can see the same pair of eyes looking through the camera.
As to who won the toss, the director or cameraman in ‘Urumi', again, the cameraman triumphs! For ‘Urumi' is eye candy…eye candy..eye candy supreme. Watching the movie in a multiplex gets you all the comments, honest and unafraid ones. The visuals floor you; all comments are united on that score.
There is the sea from several offbeat angles, the cave also lighted by torches with the light and shade playing, mountains and village locales, tribal men and women, animals and birds, namely the Manila duck, a parrot, horses, cows and buffaloes.
The colours are so much in harmony, earthy and natural green, and the costumes, few and classy (close ups are few). In fact, Prithviraj's costumes, very few, are natural and suit him.
There are just a handful of scenes in which Prithviraj Sukumaran does not appear. Muscles ripple and fight scenes abound, a la Crouching Tiger style. Prabhu Deva's is a comic character, the second longest after Prithviraj's. No, there are no dance scenes. Genelia D'Souza, who has the longest female role, tries her hand at kalaripayattu and makes bold attempts to look extremely serious about her persona. But in one of the roles she plays, (yes, several actors play double roles, one group in the past and the same group in the present) she is very much at home, that of a mentally deranged girl. Vidya Balan's much hyped item number is tastefully captured, except for one or two crude shots.
And Tabu? Your heart bleeds for the actor, who can hardly be recognised in that guest appearance. Nithya Menon is charming, sexy and cute, in turns. Jagathy, Arya and a host of small screen actors, who come in and go off in a few minutes at the beginning, do well. Deepak Dev's music is different. Only snatches of songs are picturised in some scenes, which go down well with the audience,
Sexual innuendos abound in Shankar Ramakrishnan's dialogues. More overt than covert. All in chaste language.
How many issues can one film hold? ‘Urumi' has environment, history (?), land mafia, love et al. If you don't take the history part too seriously, you will enjoy the movie, thoroughly, like a lovely fairy tale. But does anything stay in your heart, post ‘Urumi'? Prithviraj's flowing costumes did, in mine.
Prithviraj has a vision, which he professes at every opportunity, that he will one day be the ambassador of Malayalam cinema and through him Malayalam cinema will get its due. ‘Urumi' could well be his first effort in that direction to fulfil his dream. Mani Ratnam's ‘Raavanan' paved the road for him to do it and here he is, with August Cinema's ‘Urumi'.
August Cinema's CEO is Mallika Sukumaran, say the credits. Homage is paid to Sukumaran before the movie begins as also to another producer's father, Nadesan. Sukumaran would certainly have been proud of his younger son. Santhosh Sivan, who dons a producer's, cinematographer's and director's robes, wears one for far too long.
Guess which robe? The cinematographer's of course. If you compare ‘Ananthabhadram', ‘Raavanan' and ‘Urumi', you can see the same pair of eyes looking through the camera.
As to who won the toss, the director or cameraman in ‘Urumi', again, the cameraman triumphs! For ‘Urumi' is eye candy…eye candy..eye candy supreme. Watching the movie in a multiplex gets you all the comments, honest and unafraid ones. The visuals floor you; all comments are united on that score.
There is the sea from several offbeat angles, the cave also lighted by torches with the light and shade playing, mountains and village locales, tribal men and women, animals and birds, namely the Manila duck, a parrot, horses, cows and buffaloes.
The colours are so much in harmony, earthy and natural green, and the costumes, few and classy (close ups are few). In fact, Prithviraj's costumes, very few, are natural and suit him.
There are just a handful of scenes in which Prithviraj Sukumaran does not appear. Muscles ripple and fight scenes abound, a la Crouching Tiger style. Prabhu Deva's is a comic character, the second longest after Prithviraj's. No, there are no dance scenes. Genelia D'Souza, who has the longest female role, tries her hand at kalaripayattu and makes bold attempts to look extremely serious about her persona. But in one of the roles she plays, (yes, several actors play double roles, one group in the past and the same group in the present) she is very much at home, that of a mentally deranged girl. Vidya Balan's much hyped item number is tastefully captured, except for one or two crude shots.
And Tabu? Your heart bleeds for the actor, who can hardly be recognised in that guest appearance. Nithya Menon is charming, sexy and cute, in turns. Jagathy, Arya and a host of small screen actors, who come in and go off in a few minutes at the beginning, do well. Deepak Dev's music is different. Only snatches of songs are picturised in some scenes, which go down well with the audience,
Sexual innuendos abound in Shankar Ramakrishnan's dialogues. More overt than covert. All in chaste language.
How many issues can one film hold? ‘Urumi' has environment, history (?), land mafia, love et al. If you don't take the history part too seriously, you will enjoy the movie, thoroughly, like a lovely fairy tale. But does anything stay in your heart, post ‘Urumi'? Prithviraj's flowing costumes did, in mine.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Kerala Café, film review
The Kerala Café experience (published in The Hindu Metroplus Weekend on October 31)on
CINEMA Kerala Café, a portmanteau film by ten directors, is truly touching, says Prema Manmadhan
The first day, first show of Kerala Café is an experience I will never forget. Prejudiced that 10 short films will not please me, I sit, waiting just to find out what’s new. At the end of two and a half hours, I left the cinema, wondering which of the ten was the best and trying to remember which director directed which. A few scenes refuse to move out of my heart. I am glad I went for Kerala Café.
Eight men and two women (to borrow heavily from Adoor) star in this venture, ‘Kerala Café’ made by Ranjit’s production house, Capitol Theatre. These stars are the 10 directors of as many films woven together by a single thread called Kerala Café, a railway canteen somewhere in Kerala, the one link that brings these diverse subjects under one umbrella, under another label called journey. The ‘sutradhar’ of it all is Ranjit, who is not content to sit back and write scripts or direct movies alone.
Such an experiment, to give the audience a cinematic version of a short story book, has succeeded and failed, though it’s a very new concept. "It has failed where the director has not been able to touch the hearts of the viewers," Ranjit says, confidently, when confronted with this question.
And touch the heart Kerala Cafe did, for all 10 connect with the plight of people. , some the majority and others, the minority. ‘Bridge’, the one directed by Anwar Rasheed, left such a big stone in my heart that not even a two-hour slapstick comedy can lift it off. The fate of the unwanted in society, love notwithstanding, where the practical overrides the emotional as it does in the 21st century, is communicated in great cinematic style. The script, the camera and the actors all merge to make it noteworthy.
Revathy’s ‘Makal’ is another of the social issues that mock society, that is clothed so much in realism that the last scene stings. ‘Mrityunjayam’, Uday Ananthan’s film, belongs to the ‘horror’ genre and is set in today’s milieu. It stars Rima Kallingal, Thilakan and Fahadh Faasil, (remember the guy in ‘Kaiyethum Doorathu’, Fazil’s son?) who plays a journalist. He has since matured into a good actor and a handsome young man. The camera and the ambience take you back into the past but the dilapidated old ‘illam’ and the goings on remain a mystery.
Padmakumar’s ‘Nostalgia’, has the very busy protagonist longs for Kerala at the soirees in his flat, over a drink, in a Gulf country, but actually dreams of pulling down his aristocratic home to build flats: A practical man for whom emotions don’t count, a very contemporary theme, indeed. The other topical subject that is not so serious to many but very worrisome, has been handled by Anjali Menon in ‘Happy Journey’. In long distance buses girls really don’t know who may sit beside them on the plush seats. And that’s the subject. Period. Jagathy and Nithya Menon make this one tenth of Kerala Café memorable.
Shankar Ramakrishnan, an assistant of Ranjit’s gets into independent mode with ‘Island Express’. Prithviraj, with his new hairstyle is dashing with a capital ‘D’. The Perumon tragedy relived by a few whose closest relatives perished then, forms the theme. B Unnikrishnan’s ‘Aviramam’ tackles life during recession, and the hopelessness of it getting to be unbearable. Recession is also the topic that Shyamaprasad deals with in ‘Off Season’, how it has hit westerners too, handled in a lighter vein. Shaji Kailas’ ‘Lalithamhiranmayam’ is again very contemporary, in fact too broad minded for domestic consumption, where the other woman and the official woman don’t tear each other’s hair. Lal Jose’s ‘Puram Kazchakal’ does not make Mammooty into a Pazhassi Raja, but a strong hearted man who keeps his sorrows to himself. Based on C. V. Sreeraman’s story, Lal Jose has handled it with care.
Actors in this big venture are Sreenivasan, Suresh Gopi, Sona Nair, Shantha Devi, Jyothirmayee, Siddique, Salim Kumar, Sudheesh, Dhanya, Jayasurya, Rahman, Sukumari and a few others.
The camera plays a big role in Kerala Café. Credit goes to all these technicians.
Kerala Café was shown at the Middle East International Film Festival earlier this month. "It was a dream I had last May," says the man who dared to gamble with this experiment. The work was stupendous, Ranjit admits when compared to one feature film with one person at the helm. The budget of course is as low as it can get for most of the directors and artistes worked for free, he says. Why isn’t Mohanlal in this venture? "There was no slot for him in any of the scripts as any one can see, that’s why," explains Ranjit.
CINEMA Kerala Café, a portmanteau film by ten directors, is truly touching, says Prema Manmadhan
The first day, first show of Kerala Café is an experience I will never forget. Prejudiced that 10 short films will not please me, I sit, waiting just to find out what’s new. At the end of two and a half hours, I left the cinema, wondering which of the ten was the best and trying to remember which director directed which. A few scenes refuse to move out of my heart. I am glad I went for Kerala Café.
Eight men and two women (to borrow heavily from Adoor) star in this venture, ‘Kerala Café’ made by Ranjit’s production house, Capitol Theatre. These stars are the 10 directors of as many films woven together by a single thread called Kerala Café, a railway canteen somewhere in Kerala, the one link that brings these diverse subjects under one umbrella, under another label called journey. The ‘sutradhar’ of it all is Ranjit, who is not content to sit back and write scripts or direct movies alone.
Such an experiment, to give the audience a cinematic version of a short story book, has succeeded and failed, though it’s a very new concept. "It has failed where the director has not been able to touch the hearts of the viewers," Ranjit says, confidently, when confronted with this question.
And touch the heart Kerala Cafe did, for all 10 connect with the plight of people. , some the majority and others, the minority. ‘Bridge’, the one directed by Anwar Rasheed, left such a big stone in my heart that not even a two-hour slapstick comedy can lift it off. The fate of the unwanted in society, love notwithstanding, where the practical overrides the emotional as it does in the 21st century, is communicated in great cinematic style. The script, the camera and the actors all merge to make it noteworthy.
Revathy’s ‘Makal’ is another of the social issues that mock society, that is clothed so much in realism that the last scene stings. ‘Mrityunjayam’, Uday Ananthan’s film, belongs to the ‘horror’ genre and is set in today’s milieu. It stars Rima Kallingal, Thilakan and Fahadh Faasil, (remember the guy in ‘Kaiyethum Doorathu’, Fazil’s son?) who plays a journalist. He has since matured into a good actor and a handsome young man. The camera and the ambience take you back into the past but the dilapidated old ‘illam’ and the goings on remain a mystery.
Padmakumar’s ‘Nostalgia’, has the very busy protagonist longs for Kerala at the soirees in his flat, over a drink, in a Gulf country, but actually dreams of pulling down his aristocratic home to build flats: A practical man for whom emotions don’t count, a very contemporary theme, indeed. The other topical subject that is not so serious to many but very worrisome, has been handled by Anjali Menon in ‘Happy Journey’. In long distance buses girls really don’t know who may sit beside them on the plush seats. And that’s the subject. Period. Jagathy and Nithya Menon make this one tenth of Kerala Café memorable.
Shankar Ramakrishnan, an assistant of Ranjit’s gets into independent mode with ‘Island Express’. Prithviraj, with his new hairstyle is dashing with a capital ‘D’. The Perumon tragedy relived by a few whose closest relatives perished then, forms the theme. B Unnikrishnan’s ‘Aviramam’ tackles life during recession, and the hopelessness of it getting to be unbearable. Recession is also the topic that Shyamaprasad deals with in ‘Off Season’, how it has hit westerners too, handled in a lighter vein. Shaji Kailas’ ‘Lalithamhiranmayam’ is again very contemporary, in fact too broad minded for domestic consumption, where the other woman and the official woman don’t tear each other’s hair. Lal Jose’s ‘Puram Kazchakal’ does not make Mammooty into a Pazhassi Raja, but a strong hearted man who keeps his sorrows to himself. Based on C. V. Sreeraman’s story, Lal Jose has handled it with care.
Actors in this big venture are Sreenivasan, Suresh Gopi, Sona Nair, Shantha Devi, Jyothirmayee, Siddique, Salim Kumar, Sudheesh, Dhanya, Jayasurya, Rahman, Sukumari and a few others.
The camera plays a big role in Kerala Café. Credit goes to all these technicians.
Kerala Café was shown at the Middle East International Film Festival earlier this month. "It was a dream I had last May," says the man who dared to gamble with this experiment. The work was stupendous, Ranjit admits when compared to one feature film with one person at the helm. The budget of course is as low as it can get for most of the directors and artistes worked for free, he says. Why isn’t Mohanlal in this venture? "There was no slot for him in any of the scripts as any one can see, that’s why," explains Ranjit.
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