44th Kerala State Film Awards 2013-14 - Complete Winners List

44th Kerala State Film Awards 2013-14 - Complete Winners List

    J.C. Daniel Award (for outstanding contributions to Malayalam cinema):
    Best Film: CR No 89
    Second Best Film: North 24 Kaatham
    Best Film with Popular Appeal and Aesthetic Value: Drishyam
    Best Children's Film:Philips & the monkeypen

    Best Director:Shyamaprasad (Artist)
    Best Debut Director: KR Manoj


    Best Actor: Fahadh Faasil (Artist, North 24 Kaatham) & Lal (Ayaal, Zakhariyayude Garbhinigal)
    Best Actress: Ann Augustine (Artist)
    Second Best Actor: Ashok Kumar (Cr No. 89)
    Second Best Actress: Lena (Left Right Left, Ayaal)
    Best Child Artist:  Sanoop Santosh (Philips & the monkeypen) Baby Anigha (Sethulakshmi in 5 sundarikal)
Best Comedy Actor : Suraj (Daivathinte Swantham Cleetus, Pullipuliyum Aatinkuttiyum)


    Best Story: Aneesh Anwar (Zakariyayude Garbinikal)
    Best Screenplay: Bobby-Sanjay (Mumbai Police)

    Best Lyrics:  Prabha Varma, Madhu Vasudev
    Best Music : Ouseppachan (Nadan - Ottaku padunna)
    Best Background Music Director: Bijibal (Balyakalasakhi)
    Best Male Playback Singer: Karthik (Orissa)
    Best Female Playback Singer: Vaikkom Vijayalakshmi (Nadan - Ottaku padunna)

    Best Cinematography: Sujith Vasudev (Memories& Ayal )
    Best Film Editor: Rajagopal (Oru Indian Pranayakadtha)
    Best Art Director: M Bava (Amen)
    Best Sound Recordist: Harikumar
    Best Colorist: Raghuraman, Riya Digital
    Best Makeup Artist: Pattanam Rasheed
    Best Costume Designer: Siji Thomas (Amen)
    Best Dubbing Artist: Sreeja Ravi
    Best Choreography: Kumar Shanthi

    Best Sound Editor: Harikumar Madhavan Nair, N Harikumar

 Jury's Special Mention 

Afzal Yousuf (God for Sale, Emmanuel)
Suresh Unnithan (Ayaal)
Mridula Warrier (Kalimannu - Laalee)
 Aneesh Anwar (Zakariyayude Garbinikal)
Kalabhavan Shajon (Drishyam)
Sanusha (Zakariyayude Garbinikal)
Rojin Thomas and Shanil Mohammed (Zakariyayude Garbinikal)
Vijay Babu, Sandra Thomas (Philips & Monkey Pen)

    Best Documentary:  
    Best Book on Cinema: 
    Best Article on Cinema:

Full Updates coming sooon

'Happy Journey' - Kerala Release Paper AD with theater list

Vishudhan - Malayalam Movie Review

Directed by     Vyshakh
Produced by     Anto Joseph
Written by     Vyshakh
Music by     Gopi Sundar
Cinematography     Shehnad Jalal
Editing by     Mahesh Narayanan
Release date(s)     NOV 22, 2013
Country     India
Language     Malayalam

Cast
    Kunchacko Boban

Lal
    Mia George
    Suraj Venjaramood
Nandu

Hareesh Peradi

Shalin

Krishnakumar

Vishudhan tells the story of a man who life goes through phases of being God, Human & Devil. Kunchako Boban who has donned the role of priest who gets appointed at a church in a remote village in Idukki & Mia plays a nun from the local monastery. How the lives of these two change when they uncover certain truths which involves church, believers/followers and a local aristocrat (played by Hareesh Peradi).

'Vishudhan' will be Director Vysakh's first attempt at making a non-commercial, serious movie dealing with real life events. In fact Vysakh wanted this to be his debut film, but he ended up doing 4 commercial pot-boilers before, all of which ended up as big hits. Vishudhan takes the exact opposite route compared to his previous films. It is not a commercial, mass masala, potboiler.

'Vishudhan' is a fictionalized version of some real life events that happened in Kerala some time back. Basically its a revenge story but told with some convictions and honest intentions. Any film based on church or priest hood have always created unnecessary controversies, but this tells a controversial story without getting into to much details, without hurting anybody's sentiments. It discusses a issue that due to the influence of some powerful people didn't reaching people and was brushed under the carpet.

But good intentions don't make good films. Films should be entertaining and shouldn't test the patience of the viewers, which unfortunately Vishudhan does. Many scenes are without any purpose far stretched. The slow narration in fact affects what ever noble intention the film had. A non art-house kinda direction would have did the movie a world of good.

But the movie is not bad watch either. Its just that it could have been made much much better.

Kunchako Boban has given his career best performance till date - 3 variant characteristics - Priest, human and devil - shown with elan. Rest of the cast have also did a decent job. Lal's cameo length role felt like an unwanted set piece.Hareesh Peradi's acting reminded pretty much of his own iconic character [especially the dialogue modulation and delivery] , Kaitheri Sahadevan  from 'Left Right Left', which if not intentional, will be a big disadvantage for his future career.

All of Vysakh's previous films owes him a great deal for their success [except may be Sound Thoma], but this time its Vysakh the writer that fails the movie coupled by his direction which felt immature to handle such a theme.

Writing could have been crispier, even though there are quite a few note worthy dialogues.

Cinematography is the another positive aspect of the film, can say that the beautiful locations did half the job. There are few shots which are in fact breath taking. Editing should have been sharper, with many shots moving endlessly. There are 2 songs in the film which are hummable. BG score was okay.

So, in all Vishudhan is good attempt which got 'lost in translation'

Rating 2.75/5

Verdict Above Average

Last Word: You can watch it, for Kunchako

Idukki Gold - Malayalam Movie Review

 

Idukki Gold Malayalam Movie Review

Directed by Aashiq Abu 

Banner - Rajaputra Visual Media
Produced By M. Ranjith

Story by Santosh Echikkanam
Written By Syam Pushkaran , Dileesh Nair
DOP Shyju Khalid
Music Bijibal
Editor V Saajan
Costumes Sameera Saneesh
Production Controller Benny Kattappana
Distributed by Rajaputhra & Kaleeshwary
 

Cast

Prathap Pothen as Michael
Raveendran as Ravi
Babu Antony as Antony
Maniyanpilla Raju as Madan
Vijayaraghavan as Raman
Lal
Joy Mathew
Sajitha Madathil

The script of Idukki Gold is based on a short story written by Santosh Echikkanam under the same name. 'Idukki Gold' is the local name of 'Marijuana'. The main story is also set in Idukki

'Idukki Gold' is the story of camaraderie, 5 Men who are in their Golden 50s decides to get together like they used to do in their teens. The Events that follows on their get away to 'Idukki' for a 'nostalgic reunion' is the main theme of 'Idukki Gold'. The story switches back & forth between certain events in the past & present.

The online of IG gives one great expectations, a trip down memory lanes for every one, especially middle agers. Plus the charm of veteran actors uniting, beautiful locales of Idukki, a hit director-writer(s) combo etc also increases the hope and hype surrounding the movie. But unfortunately the film fails to meet any of those standards (Except the beauty of 'Idukki').

The film instead of being a nostalgic trip, turns out a trip just to smoke weed, drink alcohol & get high.
The first half of the movie is actually pretty decent, even though bit slow, but in the 2nd half all hell break loose. The movie drags like anything and goes on for ever, the climax twist also fells flat, it was very much predictable, especially if you have taken notice the cast & posters of IG. In order to satisfy the so called 'New-Gen' fans many things have been forcefully added into the film.

The biggest plus in the movie is the kids that play the younger version of the gang in the flashback episodes - they are simply outstanding. All of them have given  knock-out performances. One can't blame for hoping if the film was just about these kids.

 The 'vetrans' are the other saving grace of the film, especially Raju & Raveendran. Scene in which Babu Antony leaves hospital bed, walking down the hallway to the BG [which is also featured in trailer]. Idukki has been captured by Shyju Khalid like never before, it looked breath taking. There is just one song in the film which has been composed, written and shot beautifully. The movie definitely needs some editing, especially in the second half. Background score was impressive.

Aashiq Abu has done a decent job directing the movie, with whatever material he had.

There might be few out there who could identify with the movie, for whom the film might be entertaining enough. I am certainly not one of them. The film is low in content even for the likings of the so called 'New Gen' movie goers, who has been the main target.

The controversy/intelligent marketing have helped the film to get a decent opening, once the holidays are over If the movie still survives in theaters it will be a miracle, but this short run will be more than enough for the producer to break even I guess.

Hereby recommending 'Idukki Gold' for my 'Ganga' brothers, & as for others, please stay away, or just watch the 1st half and leave the theater

Verdict - Disappointing

Rating - 2.25/5

Sringaravelan - Malayalam Movie Review

 Sringaravelan - Malayalam Movie Review

 

 Directed By : Jos Thomaas

Produced by Jaison Elamgulam

Script By : Udayakrishna- Sibi K Thomas

Music by: Berny Ignatious, Nadirsha

Lyrics by  Rafeeq Ahmed

Cinematographer Shaji

Banner: RJ Creations

Distributed by Manjunatha & RJ Release [Kerala]

 Cast

 Dileep - Kannan

Vedhika - Radha

Lal - Yesu

Shammi Thilakan - Ookkan Tintu

Babu Nambootiri  - Ayyappanasan

Shajon

Baburaj

Joy Mathew

Chembil Asokan

Sreedevi Unni

Story

Sringaravelan tells the story of Kannan, whose sole ambition in life is to make some quick bucks. His father, Ayyappanasan who is a weaver by profession wants his son to excel in the field of clothes & fashion. Rada is Kannan's love interest and Yesu, his partner in crime. What all troubles these various characters get into and how they solve all of them in the end forms the rest of the story.

Any Dileep movie is associated with lots of expectations, same was the case with Sringaravelan. Especially when coming from the team that gave you Malayalam cinemas 2nd biggest hit ever, Dileep - Jose Thomas - Sibi  Thomas - Baburaj.. But the film kind of failed to meet that expectations.

The biggest problem with the movie is its length. The film runs close to 3hours and is lower in humor content compared to previous Dileep hits. Dileep-Lal-Shajon trio raises laughter whenever they appear on screen, like the scene in which Lal enters as an Astrologer, which brings the house down. But that doesn't happen in the entire movie. SV turns into a romantic-drama track once the heroine is introduced. The romantic track didn't work out well like in Bodyguard or many other films. It should have been better had the writers sticked on more to the comedy genre. The tagline says 'Romantic fighter', but there is only one action block in the movie which only comes in the climax. Like most Dileep mass entertainers, this one too have lots of double meaning dialogues.

Despite these flaws the film is neither a disappointment or it makes you cringe on your seats. It is a very much watchable entertainer, especially in this festive mood. Dileep's target audience, Ladies & Kids, who have received even craps with open arms before will sure lap up this one too.

Dileep have once again given a good clean performance, but his contribution to humor is fewer this time. Lal has given a complete knock-out performance, wish his character was lengthier, it could have taken the movie to greater heights. Shajon who had a great chemistry with Dileep, bit of disappoints this time, Suraj would have been a better option. Vedhika has given avery good performance, getting the emotions and lip sync right. She has a significant role too, comparing the roles heroines gets in usual mass films. Only -ve was her nake up, felt was bit over the top, could have looked prettier even without make up, like she proved in Paradesi.

Directionm camera were good. Songs are complete disappointment, not even a single hummable track. BG was okay, felt bit loud at times. Editing could have been crispier, needs a trimming of 10-15mins. 

Sringaravelan is a typical festival entertainer aimed at masses. Don't go with huge expectations (like I did) and chances are that you might enjoy this ride, the crowd response shows that.

Verdict: Above average

Rating: 2.75/5

Box Office: Should be a HIT

Last word: TIME PASS 'Dileeptainer'

Sringaravelan - Exclusive HD Posters, Stills - Dileep, Vedhika, Lal

 CLICK ON IMAGES TO VIEW IN FULL SIZE