Gautham_Jayan

Mild Spoilers Ahead

As the film opens, its pouring heavily and we see Damodaran walking anxiously in the varanda of his home as his wife cries in labor pain. His brother-in-law comes in saying he was not able to find a single taxi to take her to hospital. Amid increasing cries of pain, she delivers but we hear no cry of baby, he's stillborn. And we witness a miracle (which comes later in the climax too), A Midas puff (touch) brings the baby back to life. These similar uncanny incidents light up the movie and differentiates from the rest.

One of the movies to be released after the Floods, the other being Ranam. The movie rides on Tovino's charisma as a performer, who's on a roll starting from Guppy, he never ceases to amaze with his performance and this being no exception. From the trailer and the songs, had got the feel that it's going to be a de-addiction movie, but it proves to be much more than that, it tells a gripping tale of Bineesh (Tovino) who absolves his habit in the backdrop of a political satire.

The Movie is set in the fictional village of Pullinad which boasts of having its own Number plate PL. Bineesh who like any other child of his age while playing goli, when spots a thrown away cigarette butt and with his friends encouraging he smokes it out of curiosity. It's just the beginning. And when later uncle asks him to buy cigar from the nearby shop and for the balance amount asks to have candy. Nobody would have thought a habit was going to set in. The routine continues as the amount given to buy increases from 10 to 50 and his choice of candy changes to Boomer and lastly to center-fresh which was excellently portrayed. And we get to know Bineesh has also grown up in age and taste. And to later becoming a chain-smoker aka Theevandi.

Actor Sudheesh gets a meaty role after a long time as the pesky uncle, he's one of the actors who I feel as underused in Malayalam film industry. Saiju Kurup as the gullible brother in law raised few laughs in beginning but his sudden transformation after the incident in the party room wasn't well conceived on the screen, but that was only flaw which I found in otherwise a heartwarming tale. Hats off to Debutant Fellani and Writer Vini Vishwa Lal.

It's Vini Vishwa Lal's third movie after 'Second Show' and 'Koothara', And Koothara was a major debacle as the makers had high hopes for the movie but ended cropper at BO. It was a coming of an age movie of Engineering students told in the raw way, sans any fast-peppy songs. I had loved the movie in parts, but some parts of second half was a major let down. Though having Mohanlal in Villain role aka extended cameo couldn't save the film. And now the screen writer had made a strong comeback with this movie.

And to the online trolls and the fuss around the lip lock scene, I just want to remind that in 1978, one of the boldest films of the industry was made which went on to become one of the top grossers of that year. So, as Avalude Ravukal celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, let's not bother about the online media who exaggerates everything nowadays, take away the luster out of this impressive movie.

Lijo Jose Pellissery has a thing with dressing up the actors as characters from Bible. In Amen, he dressed up Solomon, Shoshanna and Fr.Vincent Vattolii as Jesus, Mary and Roman soldier respectively and tried to elope Jesus and Mary. But unfortunately, a scene reminding Jesus ascend to Calvary unfolded later. In his latest movie, Angamaly Diaries he goes for a more contemporary set up, Jesus is sitting in a Bar and sharing a puff and the scene ends with Jesus fighting on the road with supporting background score of Kamal Hassan's 'Ini meyil idoo idoo'. Was Lijo hinting that in our age turning the other cheek doesn't work.

The movie opens with the title card displaying the arrival of 86 debutant actors which itself is a record. Here we don't get even a recognizable face in the movie which itself was a new experience. The story revolves around the lives of the few people of Angamaly told through the eyes of Vincent Pepe. We are introduced to many people and we get random shots of the city, its people and a whole lot of food. And food here is used as a metaphor every now and then.

Pepe while growing up idolizes Babuji, who is the main goon cum what nots of Angamaly. He wants to build a gang like Babuji have and wants to solve peoples problems, he religiously follows Babujis tactics while dealing with issues. We began to start liking Pepe as he like our earlier heroes goes to thrash the guys who's misbehaving with girls. But when it was going on the normal track of the movies we have seen earlier, it moves to show other characters and we start liking each trait of characters. Like the Bheeman who has a wayward mouth, the 10ml who acts as the mediator of the gang whenever they get into trouble and whole lot of others. Then on the opposite side have two crude goons Appani Ravi and U-clamp Rajan. There is this scene in the market when Ravi shouts and quickly throws a bomb into the shop the slow-mo visuals after the bomb blasts captures the shock in the faces of those around and puts terror in the minds of the audience. It's been a while such a villainous act has been done in our cinema. But towards the end film our Ravi gets naïve and goes practical with life, showing he too have a soft human side. The villain too has shades of good in it.

Pepe's gang too has shades of grey, which gets murkier as the movie proceeds. Though they get into trouble they haven't have a police case against them as Pepe proudly says before the opposite happens. This starts of one of the two best sequences of the movie. The first is the running sequence through the rubber trees, though we have seen a lot of running between heroes and villains but usually the number of people running would be less than 10. But here we have about 100 of them running for their lives and it was picturized well. We feel we are also on the run too. During the chase, when bomb is thrown it doesn't go off, giving us moments of laughter at intense situation. And the scene ends with a shock. The Next stretch is the amazing 11mins continuous single shot climax sequence which quite a bit reminded of the 2014 Oscar winner Birdman. The camera followed behind each person who had different emotion and intention on their mind. As Pepe and others moved in between the crowd as the church's procession was going on, we were gasping for breath hoping no unfortunate incident to happen. But what we witness is bittersweet and the scene ends with a bang (literally).

Prasant Pillai has been Lijo's bunny Composer. The song Ayalathe uses only natural sounds as its music in the first couple of minutes and it was soothing. And we have Angamaly Pranchi the local singer too crooning with the peppy title song Angamaly patnam. Then comes the Theyame, when the song began playing in the theatre the audience too was singing along with it. It has become such a lovely hit. But what was perplexing was that when Pepe realizes the Love of Litchi we get a Hindi number Do Naina. Prasant's background score though it was little loud in beginning, but was in sync with the flow of the story and Psycho type of background score gave jitters and increased the intensity.

Now coming to the actors, Antony Varghese as Vincent Pepe delivers a strong performance and he does an excellent job. So is Babuji- the rock-star who set the tone of the movie, Appani Ravi- who shocked everyone on the screen, Litchi- the cute and chubby woman who offered care and comfort, 10ml- who has a way to solve any problems, Kunjutty- providing us bits of laughter, and all 86 debutantes. I hope we do get to see them more on the silver screen. Also, we need to praise Vijay Babu the producer for trusting this whole bunch of newcomers and his production house is a unscathed promoter of Debutant talents. And the audience too has reposed that they won't let down a quality movie.

But the real star of this movie is Chemban Vinod Jose whose first script is the real backbone of the movie. Inspired from the real-life stories he has heard and seen, Chemban have beautifully woven together a hell of a story and told it in an entertaining way without any glitch. Kudos to him as he has done a commendable job.

This movie is sheer hardwork of Lijo Jose, Chemban and the whole team. And I can surely say it is another spoke in the wheel of the definite change we are witnessing in Malayalam cinema today.

Watching the latest Mohanlal movie "Munthirivallikal Thalirkunmpol" is like enjoying your favorite meal, the more handful you have, you keep loving the dish more but until you are about to reach a point your stomach can't take any more, you are given a quick desert and the meal gets over. The same happens for the movie too, it fills your mind with happiness from the word go and we enjoy it to the fullest. This movie makes us happy and our mind content.

Mohanlal effortlessly plays Ulahanan the Panchayat Secretary. He continues to amaze us, the quick transformation of his facial expressions is priceless, his fingers to his whole body emotes every expression even his tongue convey the state of his mind. He's the best in these kinds of roles which he had done in the 80s and mid 90s and we saw a little bit of it in the first half of Drishyam. Here it's for the whole length of the movie. Parallels can be drawn from Drishyam as Meena is his costar and his elder daughter is in 12th std. but the similarities end there. The best part of the movie is that it flows, nothing much is happening on screen and we can't predict where the movie is headed. That's what I liked of the movie. Mohanlal is the usual middle-aged guy whose life oscillates between home and office. He's dying of boredom, in office it's the petty fights of ruling and opposition parties while home it's the teary TV soaps that his wife follows. The only solace is the time when he shares the drinks with his neighbors. Mohanlal to get devoid of the boredom decides to have an extra-marital affair and here the story begins to blossoms and we get what we were waiting for- The Mohanlal, with no strings attached, it's just delight to watch him perform.

Meena looks like she has put more weight but keeping in mind the age she's playing on screen it's not much of worry. She has the charm to hold the romantic scenes. Also, middle-aged romance is a territory which is rarely exploited in Malayalam cinema. Here we have a couple finding love once again after many years of courtship. And the movie has convincingly portrayed the plight of the couple what they go through and how they end up in agony. Movie inspires to get rid of it and be like what you were years before. It conveys to fall in love once again. And Mohanlal and Meena had done a perfect job in convincing to be the lovable couples they were.

Complementing Mohanlal's energy is Anoop Menon, who is also at ease playing the playboy kind of role who maintains many extra marital affairs. Bindhu Panicker who plays their neighbor gets a good role after a long time.

The bond Mohanlal or Meena shares with the kids was undercooked, Mohanlal doesn't share a good conversation with Sanoop in the whole movie which was a downer. If there was also there it would have been perfect. Aima as Jini delivers what is asked of her. But sad to see the talent of Sanoop having nothing to do much than complete the family picture. And Joy Mathew too is wasted as Mohanlal's college mate. He is in the movie like for two blink and miss scenes. Suraj also disappoints as he hasn't got much to do.

Jibu Jacobs second outing after the surprise blockbuster Vellimoonga, shows his directing skills by holding the film together when the film was showing some signs of lag when the couple's romance was given too much screen time. The movie is adapted from the short Story Pranayopanishath of V J James. But, M Sidhuraj made it into a screenplay which can be enjoyed by people of all ages not only for the middle-aged couples alone. The crispy dialogues and the non-preachy way of storytelling was good. But the pun intended ones was not liked by a few sections of people and some complained they can't watch the movie with parents. For them I just want to remind them this movie doesn't have that much of adult rated jokes compared to MayaMohini.

Of the songs, Jayachandran's "Athimarakombilee… "was soothing and "Kuttanadan kayal…" –the happy fast number one, was a must have for a Mohanlal movie in the previous decade, but having all the family dancing in the ploughed field was a new experience.

Another delight is having M Jayachandran coming back as music composer, not that he was off for a while but he hadn't composed music in a major film for a long time and Pranayam (2011) was the last Mohanlal movie he had composed. And good composers who are in the peak of the game shouldn't be kept for long from doing their work.

The movie is pure fun and spreads happiness for the entire length and during the last few minutes keeps you in the edge. And everyone comes out unscathed. Also, it was good to see it's not preachy as the movies of these kind of movies tend to be. A good family movie which you can surely enjoy with your family's company.

The fastest thriller I have seen in Malayalam movies and with a middle aged lady calling the shots. WOW. The connecting leads were good, so was the meeting of that saved small girl in the end. Though a feel of 'Taken' can be felt, also of words holding secrets and key behind Gandhi's pictures reminds of those of 'da vinci code', but it can never lessen the sheen of the thriller. No moment is wasted, fast editing & good camera work with a fitting score (the inspirational tone was good). The story told by the child in beginning (the same happens in climax) was too good unimaginable (we are to understand it at end only). No bit of sentiments is felt, out as the issue is this, but here though we feel little sad but director doesn't want us to mourn but want us to be inspired to hope for a good end. The fast cut at climax with prayer, the man drinking, the church was a picture of contrast of different people praying for. When the 'real' bus gets delayed in procession of church the belief (God helps in needing times) was clearly a nice statement. The chase section didn't evoke much fire. and there was no need to show that her husband was never a Shobana on her return shows she is one of those who can easily pull of saving lot of lives of girls not just male heroes with masculine power. She also points out the fact fewer films are made with female having a say or get their due. Vineeth proves he's not just a Rom-com wonder, nor a feel good friendship story. He shows promise and tows to be one of the few young filmmakers to look out in future. Though Dyan is always on run, I'm convinced he's to establish a name for himself on the screen. Never on any scene he was down and played the son with regret, caring bro, reacting at police for inaction and person with a kind heart. An angry young man out to find his lost sister. It was one of the best debut roles to get. An awesome movie that gives you satisfaction at end and makes you eager for the sequel(It was the first Malayalam movie to say before releasing it was going to be a Trilogy).