Mr. Fraud - Malayalam Movie Review - Mohanlal, Unnikrishnan B

 Mr. Fraud Malayalam Movie Review

Crew

Director: B.Unnikrishnaan
    Producer: A.V Anoop
    Executive Producer: B.Unnikrishnan

Banner : AVA Productions
    Script: B.Unnikrishnan
    Cinematographer: Satheesh Kurup
    Makeup: Pradeep Rangan, Liju Kumar S
    Music: Gopi Sundar
    Playback Singers: Shankar Mahadevan, Shakthisree Gopalan, Sithara & Gopi Sundar
    Editor: Manoj
    Lyrics: Hari Narayanan, Chittoor Gopi & Santhosh Varma
    Costume: S.B Satheesh, Murali
    Art Director: Joseph Nellikal
    Stills: Sinat Savier
    Production Controller: Aroma Mohan

Cast

      Mohanlal as 'Fraud'
    Dev Gill
    Pallavi Purohit
    Mia George as Saraswathi
    Manjari Phadnis
    Vijay Babu
    Vijayakumar
    Siddique
    Sai Kumar
    Suresh Krishna
    Rahul Madhav
    Ashvin Matthew
    Rajeev Parameshwar
    Arjun Nandhakumar
    Balaji
    Sathaar
    Devan
    Gopi Sundar (cameo appearance)
    Amritha Anilkumar

Mohanlal plays a 'Fraud' who has many names and many faces, a non sympathetic cunning hi-tech robber. He gets offered a job with enough money that he can very much retire after this. But its not easy as it seems and is 'one of the most difficult mission' he has come across as the character says. The treasure belongs to an Old Kovilakam and they are going to open the chest for the first time in 41 years with all the relatives, police and top level private security team guarding it. So will he able to do it forms the rest of the story.

Mr Fraud is a heist movie presented in a mass masala packaging, so there's no logic in asking for a unique or different storyline as all of them have universally one theme. The first half is racy and entertaining largely thanks to Mohanlal who was simply free flowing and outstanding making even minutest expressions and simple dialogues clap worthy. The Director being a Lal fan has added elements to please the fans. The packaging and the way everything is setup in the first half is really good. Its in the second half the movie suffers a bit. Totally its an above average 2nd half with an average, rushed up climax. The first half makes us prepared for a better 2nd half which the film couldn't provide, also the unnecessary sentimence ruins the pace. It would have been great if the film had a climax like 'Mankatha' or 'Don' (SRK's).

With the limited budget Malayalam can afford Director was able to show the heist scenes convincingly. May not be a patch on Hollywood counter parts, but still they serve the purpose. Unnikrishnan B is definitely improving every time as a director, and this one is his best Directorial outing. Even though his scripting faltered here and there in the 2nd half, for most of the run time it was engaging. The dialogues as always were good, made look even better by Mohanlal.

It can be called a one man show by Mohanlal, after a long time Malayalees gets to see his Mass entertainer side which he did with elan. He carries the movie in his entire 'slanting' shoulder. Siddique, Mia George, Sai Kumar, Ashwin were good. Vijay & Manjari was okay. rest of the cast did their role. Dev Gill's villain character was a disappointment, as it was an underwritten role, the film could have had a better villain character.

Gopi Sunder is back in full form after a long back as both his songs and BG are very good. Back Ground score infact is a great plus for the movie. Cinematography was good, editing was sharp. VFX team have done a great job. Art work was superb. Action choreography was average.

Over all Mr Fraud is a Mass-Heist movie - must watch for fans, one time watch for others

After 150 days of delivering 'Class' to the world, its time to give some MASS with Class, good old Lalettan way, which no one can replicate

Rating 3/5

Verdict: Good

.

Happy Journey - Malayalam Movie Review

Happy Journey - Malayalam Movie Review

Crew

Directed by     Boban Samuel
Produced by     Ashiq Usman
Written by     Arunlal
Music by     Gopi Sunder
Cinematography     Mahesh Raj
Editing by     Lijo Paul
Studio     Milestone Cinemas
Distributed by     Central Pictures
Release dates    February 21, 2014
Country     India
Language     Malayalam

Cast

    Jayasurya as Aaron
    Aparna Gopinath as Sia
    Lal as Gopikrishnan
    Lalu Alex
    Balu as Freddy
    Indian Pallassery as Pranchi
    Lena
    Edavela Babu
    Sunil Sugatha
    Seema G Nair
    Srinda Ashab

'Happy Journey' tells the story of  Aaron who was die hard cricket fanatic from small age & his aim in life was to play in the Indian colors. An accident, when he was a kid, costs him his eye sight, but with the help of his Mother, her tries to get into the Indian cricket team for blinds. But that too receive a set back when his Mother passes away, after which Aaron decides to lock up all his dreams and work in a tea stall. His dreams gets a new lease of life, thanks to a coach who is also yet to achieve in a big way. So will Aaron finally manage to make his dream to reality, forms the rest of the story.

Boban Samuel after blockbuster 'Romans', Jayasurya with 2 back 2 back super hits, beautiful trailer - expectations were quite high on 'Happy Journey'. The trailer indicated a light hearted film with good emotions and a nice message. But the film sadly fails to meet the expectations. 

The first half of the movie is comparatively light hearted and interesting. In the second half the script looses focus and goes to a bit preachy mode. Even though just above 2hours long, it lags considerably, especially in the later half. Those who came to watch  light hearted entertainer will feel dejected. 

The film do convey an important message. IT shows how unfriendly our people & infrastructure are for/towards people with disabilities. The film also explains why such people are called 'differently abled' and not 'handicapped' any more as with conviction, hard work and bit of help from society they can do anything a normal person can do. But like Arun Lal's last attempt 'Thank You' it ends up in half baked script. A good message doesn't ean a good film and after all people are there to get entertained and not schooled.

Jayasurya one again delivers an outstanding perfrormance, once again pushing his boundaries. Lena, Lal, Balu, Srindaa have also done good job. Music and BG were pleasing and apt for the movie. Camera work was okay, editing could have been crisp. Boban Samuel could have conceived the film in a better way, would have looked better on screen.

In all 'Happy Journey' evokes mixed emotions

Rating: 2.75/5

Verdict: Above Average

Last Word: Not that Happy a Journey,  but not bad either

Salala Mobiles - Exclusive Malayalam Movie Review

  

Salala Mobiles - Exclusive Malayalam Movie Review

Crew

 Directed by     Sharath A. Haridaasan
Produced by     Anto Joseph

Banner Anto Joseph Film Company

 Written by     Sharath A. Haridaasan
Music by     Gopi Sunder
Cinematography     Satheesh M Kurup
Distributed by  Aan Mega Media  
Release dates   23 January 2014
Country     India
Language     Malayalam

Cast

    Dulquer Salmaan as Afsal
    Nazriya Nazim as Shahana
    Santhanam as Alakarsami
    Jacob Gregory as Benoy
    Siddique
    Geetha
    Narayanankutty
    Janardanan
    Mamukkoya
    Jose
    Tini Tom
    Raveendran

Salala Mobiles tells the love story of Afsal & Sahaana coming from families who are at the extreme ends, economically. Afsal runs a mobile shop named 'Salala Mobiles' setup with the help of his uncle & Shahana visits the shop regularly to recharge her mobile. At the very first sight of Shahana, Afsal fell head over heels in Love . The story gets a small twist with the entry of Alakarsamy, a tech freak who develops a special kind of app which change the course of their lives.

Salala Mobiles is your usual rich girl poor boy Rom-Com + Family drama. But had it sticked to that genre the film would have atleast been passed as a breezy time pass entertainer. Instead the writer (who is also the director) added plots and sub plots which are not only confusing but irritating at many parts. Even though promoted as Rom-Com the film has very few of both, or at least the viewer feels that way thanks to the inconsistent writing and shoddy narration.

The first half is comparatively watchable, the second half completely goes down the barrel and the movie ends suddenly with an unconvincing climax.

Dulquer Salmaan was okay as Afsal but we have seen quite a few of similar roles from the actor and it is high time that he chose something different, these kind of roles have become sort of cake walk for him. Imagine the horror of heroine getting sidelined in a ROm-Com, thats the fate of Nazriya in Salala. Even in the few scenes got, she just had to look good. Being a Santhanam fan, really felt this houldn't have been his debut film/role in Mollywood, even though he was good. Gregory provided the comic relief, writer tried to cash in on the ABCD duo and it worked, one of the quite few reliefs the film offered. Rest of the 'too many' cast did what they just had to do, nothing significant.

Sharath's debut as a director could gave us only a half baked product, thanks to the script written by himself (His previous script was Jayaraj's 'Rain Rain Come Again', which ended up a disaster)

Except the title song other tracks didn't quite live upto the expectations, Gopi Sundar disappointed in that aspect but did okay job with background score. Cinematography was good, specially the songs. Editing was decent.

Salala Mobiles offers nothing much, except may be for the die hard fans. The combo of Dulquer-Nazriya will help the film to take a huge opening but after that matters looks tough for the film.

Rating: A very generous 2.5/5

Verdict: 'Average'

Last Word: This Number won't be reachable for long, so fans better rush to theaters before it goes out of coverage area.

Escape From Uganda - Exclusive Malayalam Movie Review

 Directed by     Rajesh Nair
Produced by     Girisch Nair, Usha Rajesh
Screenplay by     Sandeep Robinson, Deepak Prabhakaran, Nithin Bhadran
Story by     Rajesh Nair
Music by     Varun Unni
Cinematography     Vishnu Sarma
Editing by     Ratheesh Raj
Background Score Gopi Sunder
Studio     Vaya Films, River Nile Motion Pictures
Distributed by     Kalasanga, KAS & Right
Release dates 29 November 2013
Language     Malayalam

 Cast

    Rima Kallingal as Shikha Samuel
    R. Parthiepan as Antony

  Vijay Babu as Jaya Krishnan
    Jojo as Gautham
      Mukesh
    Tashu Kaushik
    Winston Witecker
    Micheal Wawuyo
    John Bagenda
    Wilberforce Mutete
    Anita Kyalimpa
    Carlos Ombonya
    Joju George

'Escape from Uganda' deals with events happening to a Malayali family comprising of 3, Shikha, husband Jaya Krishnan aka JK and their daughter,  peacefully settled in Uganda. Their life turns upside down as Shikha gets thrown into a high security prison, for a murder that she didn't commit. As each option for a fair trail & proving her innocence vanishes away JK decides to break Shikha out of the prison with the help of a local thug Anthony, who himself claims to be the only living thing to escape from that prison before. What happens to them forms the rest of the story.

'Escape From Uganda' will be perhaps the first Malayalam film to be shot extensively in Uganda ,Africa and the only one to be shot completely in a foreign land, which is the main highlight of EFU. The locations are real and adds a great deal to the narration. 

The film draws inspiration from French film 'Pour elle' (Anything for Her) which, for a change, has been credited to, in the beginning itself. EFU is adefinitely a brave attempt and something new for Mollywood. The story has been well told. The first half, which sets up the movie is Good, filled with family drama and emotions. The second half deals with the 'prison break' has been done neatly, compared to Mollywood standards. Eventhough it gets a bit tacky towards the end its still above average (2nd half).

In the acting departments 3 names deserves special mention - Rima, Parthiepan & the actor who played chief investigating officer. Kudos to Rima for once again doing a challenging role after 22FK, this time there is Physical effort too. Parthiepan walks away with all the applause with a character tailor made for him, stylish and full of quirky one liners aka 'nakkals' which he is famous for .

Rajesh Nair has directed the movie very well, quite an effort considering its only his 2nd film. The camera work is also brilliant, especially the escape sequence, sky cam shots of Uganda etc. Equally good was the editing, avoiding any unnecessary lags, presenting a crisp film under 2hours of run length. There is just one song in the movie (+1 promotional song) which were okay. Gopi Sunder's BG score was average. 

The director have taken few cinematic liberties which are passable. Apart from few issues with 2nd half its a decent watch

In all EFU is a well made family-darama cum adventure-thriller that suits all kinds of audience, Something new/different from Molywood. Kudos to the entire team for taking Malayalam cinemas to unseen territories, especially to a place like Uganda and breaking several myths about the place. Hope the film also turn out to be a good tourism promotional video for Uganda.

Rating 3.25/5

Good

Mega Multi Starrer Coming from 'Mollywood' helmed by Anjali Menon

Acclaimed Director/writer Anjali Menon's next could be the next big thing in Mollywood after 'T 20' due to its sheer star presence, and by that we just don't mean the actors. The untitled fun entertainer is all set to start rolling in the month of December

Banner - Anwar Rasheed Productions & Weekend Blockbusters

Writer / Director --> Anjali Menon

Producers - Anwar Rasheed & Sophia Paul

Cinematography - Samir Tahir

Music - Gopi Sundar

Cast --> Fahad Fazil, Nivin Pauly, Dulquer Salman, Nazriya Nazim, Nithiya Menon, Parvathy Menon & Isha Talwar.

Locations --> Ernakulam, Bangalore, Pondicherry, Chennai & Hyderabad

Distribution --> A & A [Anwar & Amal] Release via August Cinemas

Release Date -  May 2014

'Naku Penda Naku Taka' Poster - First Malayalam film to be set in South Africa

'Naku Penda Naku Taka' 

"Naku Penda Piya-Naku Taka Piya-Mpenziwe" is the first line of Michael Jackson's hit number  "Liberian Girl" - means "I love you too - I want you too - my love"

''Naku Penda Naku Taka' [meaning 'I Love You, I Want You' in Swahili] will be the first ever Malayalam film to be set & shot in South Africa. The film, a romantic thriller, will be directed by Vayalar Madhavan Kutty & written by Jaya Mohan. Camera will be handled by Krish Kymal & Music by Gopi Sundar.

Indrajith & Bhama plays the lead roles in the film.Bhama plays a girl who is obsessed with America and is ready to do anything to get there.Character played by Indrajith gets married to Bhama, faking his country of occupation as the United States, when actually he works in South Africa. The incidents that the couples face in South Africa forms the rest of the story.

NPNT will be produced by Gokulam Gopalan of Sree Gokulam Movies [Producer of Pazhassi Raja]. About 20 days shoot has been scheduled in SA. Film will release some time next year.

Left Right Left - Malayalam Movie Review

Left Right Left - Malayalam Movie Review

 Directed by     Arun Kumar Aravind
Produced by     M. Renjith
Written by     Murali Gopy
Music by     Gopi Sunder
Cinematography     Shehnad Jalaal
Editing by     Arun Kumar Aravind
Studio     Rejaputhra Visual Media
Release date   June 14, 2013
Country     India
Language     Malayalam

Starring

 Indrajith
Murali Gopy
Remya Nambeesan
Lena
Hareesh Peradi

 

Story


LRL is the story of few lives that got toiled up between the politics of the land, people and politicians.
The story begins the flash back of 3 people Indrajith,  Murali gopy and Haresh Peradi, incidents that changes or moulds the person that they become later in their life and the rest of the film teaches how those changes their lives, for ever.

Its after a long time that a socio-political film has released in Mollywood. It deals many issues that we are familiar with. But the main concentration is on communist parties, and their prominent leaders. The film also discusses the downfall of the communism in the state and various aspects like money greed etc which lead to change from once 'common peoples party' to a 'party for people with power or money' .

LRL is a must watch for those who (or used to) live & breath communism. The film is full of powerful dialogues and visuals, which even non-communists & common man can identify very well with. It also questions the 'existence of opportunist politics'.

The film gives many goosebumps which will be with you even after you leave the cinemas. Every single actor, even those coming in single scene, have done terrific job. But still Hareesh Peradi definitely deserves a special mention. He was simply outstanding as the leader of one faction in communist party. He overtook in all aspects Sivaji Kovoor who played similar character in 'Arabikadha' and won tons of accolades.

The BG work by Gopi Sundar is outstanding, suiting the pulse and feel of the movie. His songs are also god, especially the Cheguvera number.

Director-Editor Arun Kumar has done a very good job. Kept up his reputation. Camera work was also good.

Didn't find any negatives worth mentioning in the film, eventhough the length (2.45hr) could have been shorter. After EAK Indran-Arun-Murali team has delivered yet another gem.

The claps that these three got is an extremely positive hint of changing times.

All in LRL is a film to be watched, felt and carried in your hearts for a long time.

Verdict: Excellent

Rating: 4.5/5

Box Office: HIT+