Rajadhi Raja - Movie Review - Mammootty, Lakshmi Rai

 Directed by     Ajai Vasudev
Produced by     M. K. Nasser, Stanly Silvester Consera
Written by     Udayakrishna, Siby K. Thomas
Music by     Karthik Raja, Berny-Ignatius
Gopi Sunder (Background score)
Cinematography     Shaji
Edited by     Mahesh Narayanan
Distributed by     Play House Release, PJ Entertainments (Europe), Nanma cinemas (Australia)
Release date(s)    September 5, 2014
Country     India
Language     Malayalam

 Cast

    Mammootty as Shekharan Kutty.
    Raai Laxmi as Radha.
    Joju George as Ayyappan.
    Siddique
    Mukesh Khanna
    Lena
    Taniya Stanley
    Nawab Shah
    Rahul Dev
    Unni Mukundan (Guest appearance)
    Shamna Kasim (Guest appearance)


 Shekharan Kutty is the manager at a Petrol pump, who also runs his own restaurant adjacent to it. He is living happily with his wife Radha and daughter. His peaceful life goes for a toes as few goons from the north enters the scene, who go after Shekharan and his family thinking he is not the simple guy who he portrays to be, instead the dreadful goon Raja from Mumbai.Who is Shekharan, who is Raja, what's their story, how all issues are settled forms the rest of the story.

The story is lifted from Rajnikanth's iconic 'Baasha' [The very same writers wrote 'Kochi rajavu' (2005) a rehash of Baasha again !!! ] but lacks the punch of the original. The film begins as a family film and shifts gears to action mode from interval block. The much talked about before release 'transformation' scene just fells flat ans instead of wolf whistles evokes yawn or (unintentional) laughter as Mammooty clearly looked uninterested in the proceedings. No matter how over the top or ridiculous the action scenes may be, the attitude of actor can make a difference, sadly here it isn't the case here. Mammootty not being a great 'mover' also had its -ve impact as he was just standing there swinging his arms and legs and the villains just comes rushing in and goes flying back.

The second half which begins with flash back sequences also fails to create the impact, Mammootty's weird Don getup also doesn't serve any good. From there own its just going with the proceedings for the audience till the end credits roll.

Ajay Vasudev shows promise as director, in the league of Vysakh. The movie has pace and there's not much of a lag or drag. The script is just rehash of rehashes and there's not even a moment of uniqueness or surprise element in it. It just evokes a sense of Dejavu and yawn. Cinematography was good, editing was efficient except mass scenes which were ruined by ages old flash cuts. Music was disappointing, a song including video lifted from 'Dookudu' and another one from a kids album. Action blocks lifted from Telugu movies like 'Brindavaanam' etc, scenes/story elements from 'Runway' 'Kanmadam' etc where also there. Action choreography was bad, should have kept the lead actor and gone with his image style and within his comfort zone. The dialogues were also ordinary as there is nothing worth mentioning.

Mammooty should stop doing such crap movies, if he looks this disinterested imagine how the viewers would be feeling. Joju impresses even though his role serves the same purpose Baburaj's role had in 'Kammath'. Rest of the cast just did what they had to, nothing worth mentioning.

In all Rajadhi Raja is not worth waiting time or money this festive season unless you are a die hard fan of Mammootty the star. To those who last week suddenly discovered some undead brain cells & 'logics' in their head, if those are still active please stay away from this film.

Verdict - Skip/Avoid

Munnariyippu - Movie Review

Directed by Venu

Produced by Renjith for Gold Coin Motion Picture Company

Screenplay by Unni R

Story by Venu

Music by Bijibal

Cinematography Venu

Edited by Beena Paul

Cast

Mammootty as C.K. Raghavan

Aparna Gopinath as Anjali Arakkal

Joy Mathew as Chandraji

Nedumudi Venu

Prathap Pothan

Renji Panicker

Joshy Mathew

Sreeraman

Sudheesh

Saiju Kurup

Went to watch the movie after hearing lots of positive reviews, and (only) because of that I felt slightly disappointed once the movie ended. 'Munnariyippu', ('Warning', even though the tag line reads 'The Deadline') is the story of CK Raghavan a convict who has been in prison for the past 20 years, spenting more time than what he was sentenced for. Anjali who enters the scene to ghost write the Jail Superintend, instead becomes more interested in CK's case, cause as he always says she too believes that he is innocent.
CK finallyy gets released and Anjali take him under her his protection, only to get the materials she need to pen a book on him, for which she had signed a contract with a huge publishing company. CK's inability to write brings trouble for Anjali as pressures for all quarters begin to crumble her. Will CK help Anjali finish the book, will we get to know the 'truth' etc forms the rest of the story.

The film begins interestingly and manages to grab our attention from the word go. The build up to the story is very good and by interval time the story is setup nicely. In the second half the writing looses its grip as it keeps on beating around the bush. Even with 115min run time it drags considerably in the 2nd half. adding to the woe was the completely unnecessary cameo by Prithviraj. The film do end with a shocking climax, but felt asif they just wanted to fill the screen time with random scenes till it reach a decent run time before shocking the audience with the climax, even though it got opposite reaction from the crowd.

The film is meant for serious movie goers who like to think deep into movies. The might be able to find the 'reasons' for things depicted in the movie which sadly goes unexplained in the film. 'Munnariyippu' may not be a majority's cup of tea but surely I will recommend this if u want to try something new, than the run of the mill stuff generally offered. The critics have unanimously given +ve reviews, but going by the audience response looks like the people are on the opposite corner this time.

Aparna is the character that drives the movie forward and gets more screen time. She excelled as Anjali , hope gets much better roles in the future to 'perform'. Mammootty had to underplay his actions and emotions to portray CK which he as always did beautifully. This is indeed one of the best outing of him in recent times, making the film a must watch for the fans of the legend's 'acting'. Rest of the cast also did good job. Evven though Unni's script had flaws the dialogues were very good. Venu directed the film very well too, kudos for not resorting to art house movie type narration. The BG score is a huge turn off. Gives a feel that we are watch an art movie event though the narration is much faster.

Rating 2.75/5

Recommending for serious movie lovers, thinkers and fans of Mammootty's acting !!

Mammootty's Manglish - Movie Review

Manglish - Movie Review

Directed by     Salam Bappu
Produced by     Haneef Muhammed
Written by     Riyas
Music by     Gopi Sundar
Cinematography     Pradeesh M Varma
Edited by     Vijay Sanker
Distributed by     Red Rose Release & PJ Entertainments(Europe)
Release date(s) July 27, 2014
Country     India
Language     Malayalam

Cast

    Mammootty as Tharakan Malik
    Caroline Beck as Michelle
    Srinda Ashab as Mumtaz    

Aneesh G Menon as Simmon
    Alexx O'Nell as Kevin
    Tini Tom as Boss
    Vinay Forrt as Dixon
    Suresh Krishna as Lakshman
    P.Balachandran as Swami
    Sunil Sukhada as Anglo Charlie
    Joju George
    Sathaar as Paulose Punnookaaran
    Raveendran as Pothen
    Sasi Kalinga as Mathukutty
    Kalabhavan Haneefa as Chayakaran Mani
    Gopan as H.C Chandran
    Kalabavan Rahman as Driver Rahman
    Mukundan as Adv. James
    Pouly Valsan as Veronica
    Sreedhanya as Seenath
    Sheelu Abraham as Lalitha

Mammootty is Malik Bhai, the bhai of Mattanchery, bhai with heart of gold, a do gooder and one who doesn't toleate injustice. What happens when a foreigner, Michelle enters Bhai's life, who knows only English, a language which is alien for our Bhai. 

Hearing the title One may think that this is yer another Mammootty comic caper where he talks in bad/horrible English to make us laugh, like Pokkiri Raja, Rajamanickyam etc. But once the movie ends we wish had it been like that, thanks to the writer(s). The main intention was to create mass entertainer for the festive season, with Mammootty in stylish colorful costumes, doing action, mouthing punching lines, delivering humor etc, but unfortunately none of these work, for most of the part. 

The initial part is slow and boring and nothing much happens here. All the above mentioned 'tricks' to keep us entertained fails. Its in the second half that the proceedings gets somewhat interesting. Still the movie movies predictably and ends up with an Okay climax. The first half is below average, while the 3nd in comparison to the st is above average.

It was a cake walk role for Mammooty, but seriously doesn't understand why he keeps doing films like these. Even though looked handsome, it was awkward and weird to see him in the song picturised overseas. Caroline has done an okay job. Raveendran was irritating. Its Tini Tom who delivers all of the interesting one liners in the film, one of the few saving graces of the film. Srinda ashab was once again impressive.

Salam Bappuu's direction has improved compared to Red Wine could have delivered a better product had the script was better. Ulla Ulla song was good and the other one was completely unnecessary and hard to watch as I said before. Background score was okay, don't understand the need of 'Atmos' for this. Cinematography was good and editing was efficient.

Overall 'Manglish' is a half baked entertainer 

Rating: 2.5/5

Average

Mammootty's Manglish - Kerala Release paper ad with theater list

Gangster - Malayalam Movie Review - Mammootty, Aashiq Abu, Nyla Usha

Gangster - Malayalam Movie Review - Mammootty, Aashiq Abu, Nyla Usha

Crew

 Directed by     Aashiq Abu
Produced by     OPM Dream Mill Cinemas
Written by     Ahmed Sidhique, Abhilash Kumar
Music by     Deepak Dev
Cinematography     Alby
Editing by     Saiju Sreedharan
Art Direction: Ajayan Chalissery 
Action Direction: Anbariv  
Choreography: Anb Ariv  
Costume Design: Sameera Saneesh
Distributed by     Aan Mega Media
Release dates     April 11, 2014
Country     India
Language     Malayalam

Cast

    Mammootty as Akbar Ali 

    Nyla Usha as Sana Muhammed
    Sekhar Menon as Anto
    Aparna Gopinath as Lilly
    John Paul as Uncle Sam
    T. G. Ravi as Hajikka
    Kunchan as Mani Menon
    Hareesh Peradi as Michael
    Dileesh Pothan as Vidhura

 'Gangster' has been making news from the time the project was announced, way back in 2010. Due to date issues, script rewrites and many other reasons the film kept on getting postponed. Finally the film has hit the screens with the backing of one of the best pre release publicity campaign ever, with excellent buzz .

‘Gangster’ is a revenge action-drama set against the backdrop of Mangalore’s organized crime groups. Mangalapuram underworld is ruled by three factions, lead by Akbar Ali, Mani Menon and Uncle Sam. Everything was going peacefully till Anto, Uncle Sam's son enters the scene. Like all movie Gangsters, Akbar too has some principles, against  which Anto moves, which creates backlashes. The opposition becomes stronger and Akbar gets pushed to a corner. Will he rise against his enemies and gets his revenge?, forms the rest of the story.

Gangster is undoubtedly one of the stylized movies to come out of 'Mollywood'. But it doesn't matter if you are working with the world's best crew unless there is a proper script. Adding to the woes of 'ages old storyline' is lack of a proper script, hell the film doesn't even have proper dialogues. Sekhar, who plays the villain open his mouth (and irritates us ) more than Mammootty. There are no claps worthy moments in the films, except for die hard fans in which Mammuka appears in different stylish costumes and cooling glasses.

The films doesn't make any connect with the audience at any point of time. Even when Akbar is left to die., cos the characters have been poorely etched.The film is painfully slow, as if some art house director made a mass film, thanks to the plethora of slow motion (Somebody was saying 90 mins films stretched to 140min).Aashiq Abu might have obsessed with the looks that he forgot that there was no story to tell or engage viewers. Even 'Saga Alias Jacky' [another over hyped stylized gangster movie that failed to set Box Office on fire]  looks like a classic compared to this. If a class movie is what the makers intended to make, please watch Aaranya Kandam or Gangs of Wassyepur.

There are references to God Father, Sholay and even Breraking Bad.

Feels really sorry for Mammootty the actor. He is looking dashingly handsome, which we have seen many times in the recent past, but once again the script fails him. Compared to those, here he has nothing to do, rather than walking around changing costumes and accessories. Nyla & Aparna got nos scope to perform, but where looking their beautiful best. Sekhar I think over did the role, and fails to make any impact after the initial sequences. Rest of the cast were also just going with the motions

The animation portions in the beginning and during climax, (clearly inspired from QT's Kill Bill) was a brilliant Idea, rather than making the same old Kid, who do Mammukka's childhood in almost all his recent films, do those. The promotional material says 'Gangster Rises' and the film do resembles 'The Dark Knight Rises', even though it would be unfair to Nolan to compare both.

The Cinematography was Outstanding, one of the best that we have seen in Mollywood.Special credits should be be given to the stylists - be it the Makeup man, or the Costume designer, have done excellent job in making the film look slick and stylish. Aashiq Abu looked like had no control over proceeding and his graph is going down after a promising start to career. The sufi song was good, but the placement was wrong. BG score was okay. Script & Dialogues were BAD. Can't imagine this is what they come up with in 4 years and multiple rewrites.

So in all Gangster is an unholy mess of a movie that fails to even come anywhere in the vicinity of the hype that it created.

Verdict: Colossal Disappoinment

Rating: 1.75/5

Last Word: Stay Away !!!

Gangster - Kerala Release Paper aD with Theaters List - Mammootty, Aashiq Abu, Nyla Usha

Mad rush of releases @ Kerala Box Office Next Week

Vishu/Summer Releases at Kerala Box Office

Summer vacation has begun, but big releases are yet to hit the screens thanks to Parliament Elections, which falls in the state on April 10th. So all the biggies will be in a mad rush to grab theaters and eye balls from 11th.

 Gangster

Gangster is undoubtedly the biggest and most high profile release of this season. Four years in planning, the film finally hit the screens on April 11th. Nothing much about the film has been released to the public. The mystery around the film is creating a buzz amongst people. The trailer, posters have been trending in social media sites. Gangster is directed by Aashiq Abu, stars Mammootty, Nyla Usha, DJ Shekar, Aparna Gopinath, Kunjan etc.

Aprill 11th - Aan Mega Media Release - In 100+ screens

Trailer - 

Ring Master

 Dileep films no matter how bad they are tend to work in Summer Holidays, thanks to Dileep's hold amongst Ladies & Kids. Ringmaster is a Comedy-Thriller, where Dileep will play the role of a Dog trainer go gets into some troubles and is on rush to solve some mysteries. Film is directed by Raffi (of Raffi-Meccartin duo) & stars Honey Rose, Keerthy Suresh etc.

April 12th - Vaishaka Cinema - 80+ screens

7th Day

15th time Prithviraj will be playing a cop in his career. Another investigation thriller for him after Mumbai Police & Memories. 7th day deals with 'David Abraham' a middle aged cop unofficially investigating a case to youch a group of youngsters are tied up to. Film is directed by debutant Syamdhar

 & written by Akhil Paul.

April 11th - August Cinemas - 70 screens

Teasers

1 By Two

Arun Kumar Aravind is back after critically acclaimed 'Left Right Left'. Stars Fahadh Faasil, Murali Gopy, Honey Rose, Abhinaya & is written by noted writer Jeyamohan. Fahadh plays Circle Inspector Yousaf Marakkar& the story is about the cat and game mouse between Yousaf & characters played by Murali & Honey.

April 11th - Thameens Films - 50-60 screens

Trailer

 

Pauly Technic

'Pauly Technic' tells the story of Pauly & his techniques to get the better of Pushkaran, a local politician & his romance with Pushkaran's daughter, SI Aswathy. Is directed by M.Padmakumar and stars Kunchako Boban, Bhavana, Aju Varghese etc. Is written by 'Ordinary' writer Nishad Koya.

April 11th - 50-60 screens

Video Song

'Naan Sigappu Manithan' stars Vishal & Lakshmi Menon. Vishal will be playing Indran who is has a form of sleep disorder called Narcolepsy. Film is directed bu Thiru (Samar) & produced by UTV Motion Pictures & Vishal Film Factory. Will Release in TN on 11th, but Kerala release will be on 15th.

April 15th - E4 Entertainments - 50-50 screens 

Trailer

 

 

Allu Arjun's 'Lucky The Racer will not be releasing simultaneously with 'Race Gurram' (April 11th) due to unavailability of theaters. It might be pushed to April 25th where it will clash with Dulquer Salmaan & Nazriya's 'Samsaram arogyathinu Hanikaram'

Mollywood comes to a standstill in Satellite Rights Issue ?

There are about 10-15 General entertainment Channels (GEC) in Malayalam, with many waiting to get launched. There will be a fight, naturally, to grab the eyeballs. One of the major source of revenue for channels in Movies. Due to the growing demand for grabbing rights, the satellite rates have gone through the roof, especially in the past 2 years. For small films the rights makes up most of their production budget, and for superstar films they could even cover the budget. Since each channel is involved in a mud fight, who want the movies at any cost, weren't at first concerned about the inflating rights, even though every now and then news of stopping irrational buys come up.

The situation got worse in the past few months. A new generation film which was super hit at Box Office when premiered on TV got shockingly low TRP ratings. There were many other examples too, most of them belonged to the so called new generation films. A superstar film that released last year a figure as satellite right that was more than the film's budget, but was disaster at the Box Office. So with the number of hit films dwindling down and most of the hit film not catering to family audience channels have now decided to put a break on the mad rush to buy satellite rights at explosive rates.

This has put Mollywood in a spot of bother. Now a days many films are being made think only about Satellite Rights in mind, as the producers will get the full sum before film hits the theaters, they don't really have to worry about the fate of the film at Box Office and the channel heads end up with red face. But there are a lot of genuine film makers who got into trouble as instead of lending money from bankers or 'Shylock's', which was the usual practice till few years ago, they depend on satellite rights. Lots of movies are stuck up in cans due to this. Many announced films got cancelled or postponed indefinitely, many are stuck half way filming. Law Point which was about to release last week got postponed. Films of Mohanlal, Dileep, Mammooty won't be much affected by the regulations as even their flop movies have respectable ratings on TV. For all others it depends upo Director, songs, Box Office fate etc.  Even though there was an adalat organized by Kerala Film Producers Association for a common place for channel and movie people to interact and address the concerns and complaints of producers. But nothing much came of it either.

In a way its harsh on channels as i most of the cases they loose tons of money for no reason of their on. So strict regulations are needed. But it will not be fair to but films based on theatrical run as there are many good films, sans any stars, which don't get much of a theatrical run, for various reasons. So

1. Either show the film or selected clips from it to respected authorities of channels, like they show it to distributors
2. Give the full script to channel authorities to read
3. A Contract by which they can return a % of money if it the ratings aren't great during premiere and doesn't improve after 2/3 airings [Father's Day (2012) had better ratings durin 2nd and 3rd airings than premiere show]
4. The loss made in the film should be compensated in the future film of the studio or star or producer or director
5. Delay CD-DVD release till TV premiere

Mammootty's Gangster makes a grand debut smashing records !!

The film which has been awaited by one and all is slowly getting unveiled, piece by piece, thanks to the master publicist, Director Aashiq Abu. In order to capitalize on the craze and expectations surrounding the movie, Aashiq took special care not to divulge anything till he wanted people to know it. Every detail associated with the movie was released as an event, with much fan fare. And it is working wonders, People are talking about it, its creating waves in social media, fans are excited about more than Mammootty's new theatrical release 'Praise The Lord'.

The film's Facebook page got 35,00o likes within 24 hours of the page going public, the most for a Malayalam movie page. The tally now stand at 61,054 likes [with 65,555 talking about this NOW].
The posters even though got mixed response where equally liked and shared by everyone, spreading it all over the cyber space, making even other language buffs take notice. Then the trailer was launched yesterday (20/03/2014) @ 7pm and within 24 hours it has crossed 2.2 lakh, smashing the previous record by a huge margin. 'One By Two' trailer which released last week got about 1.05 lakh views in 24 hours & the 10 sec Mr. Fraud teaser got 90,000 views in a day.

Now with the film making all kinds of noise before release, hope it can beat the record for the biggest opening by a Malayalam movie, set by Casanovva 2 years ago.

Gangster will hit the screens on April 12th as a big Vishu/Summer release.

Praise the Lord - Malayalam Movie Review - Mammootty, Reenu Mathews

 Praise the Lord - Malayalam Movie Review - Mammootty, Reenu Mathews

Crew

 Direction: Shibu Gangadharan 

Produced by Milan Jaleel

Based on Paul Zacharia's 'Praise The Lord'

Screenplay, Dialogues T.P Devarajan

Banner Galaxy Films

Music Shaan Rahman

Background Score Bijibal

 Lyrics: Rafeeq Ahmed  
Cinematography: Pradeep Nair  
Editing: Sreekanth  
Art Direction: Sujith Raghav

Costume Design: Sameera Sanish

Cast

Mammootty - Joy

Reenu Mathews - Ancy

Akanksha Puri - Annie

Ahmed Sidhique - Samkutty

Mukesh

Kalabhavan Shajon

Suresh Krishna

Indrans

Joy Mathew
Kailash

'Praise the Lord' is the cinematic adaptation of Paul Zacharia's novel 'Praise The Lord'.

Mullathazhathe Joy, a farmer, has been leading a peaceful, happy life with his wife Annie and their 2 kids. In to their lives one day enter an eloped couple, Samkutty & Annie. Even though Joy welcomed them wholeheartedly to their house, the couple slowly begins to affect his peaceful life and relationship with Annie. What happens to the two couples, how everything gets sorted forms the rest of the story.

Praise The Lord is a decent family entertainer sans any double meaning jokes or dialogues. The writer have tried his maximum to do justice to the novel, but the novel was not a typical movie material, which translated into the big screen adaptation as well. The first half where the basic plot is set up is fairly entertaining, even though its a bit on the slower side. The scenes between Joy-Annie & Joy Ancy where light hearted and executed well. In the later half the mood turns serious and it drags. Adding to the woes is the rushed and weak climax.

Mammootty is the best when comes to 'achayan' oles, which he proved once again. He is the lifeline of PTL. Looked more engetic, involved and interested in the procedding unlike his many previous attempts. Reenu Mathews was good as Ancy. Akanksha Puri looked glamorous and did okay job. Ahmed was okay. Rest of the cast also did what they where supposed to do neatly.

Shibu Gangadharan has an average outing in his directorial debut, someone like Lal Jose could have done wonders here. The scripting was also uneven, but did deliver a decent entertainer from the non-film friendly source material. Dialogues were good. Shaan Rahman disappointed in the songs department, but Bijibal was good with the Background score. Cinematography was good. Editing could have been better, it drags even with a run time of 130 mins.

So in all 'Praise The Lord' is a decent family entertainer, nothing unique or special, but still watchable, largely thanks to Mammukka. Due to exam season, T20 World Cup, election fever summer releases will be hitting screens only from April 2nd week, so a safe run is guaranteed till then. Rest depends on Word of Mouth.

Rating 2.75/5

Verdict: Above Average

Gangster - First Look Posters - Mammootty, Aashiq Abu, Nyla Usha

Gangster - First Look Posters - Mammootty, Aashiq Abu, Nyla Usha

Click On Images to View in Full Size

 

A Biopic on Mega Star Mammootty coming soon !!

A Biopic on Mega Star Mammootty coming soon !!

Yes, that's true, A Biopic on the life of Mollywood Mega Star Mammooty coming soon. It was Jude Anthany Joseph, the director of recently released 'Ohm Shanthi Oshaana', who announced the news via Facebook. It will be Nivin Pauly who will be steeping into the shoes of the acting heavy weight, which as expected has created shock, surprise and despair among people, especially fan. It is a well known fact that Nivin is a die hard Mammooty fan.

Jude also shared the short film 'Mammookka's Biography' which he shot even before he joined Vineeth in Thattathi n Marayathu. The short film was was co produced by Nivin Pauly & Aju Varghese. The inspiration to the short film was a book on 'Mammootty'. Now the same team expect to bring the big screen version to the audience worldwide, pretty soon. Let's wait and see if the project can do justice to the powerhouse of talent called Mammukka. 

Watch the Short Film Here

Balyakalasakhi - Malayalam Movie Review

Balyakalasakhi - Malayalam Movie Review

Crew

Directed by     Pramod Payyannur
Produced by     MB Muhsin, Sajeeb Hashim
Screenplay by     Pramod Payyannur
Based on     Balyakalasakhi by Vaikom Muhammad Basheer
Music by     Bijibal
Cinematography     Hari Nair
Editing by     Manoj Kannoth
Studio     Red Cinema, Livinart Film Factory
Release dates   February 7, 2014 (Kerala)
Country     India
Language     Malayalam

Cast

    Mammootty - Majeed/Majeed's father
    Isha Talwar - Suhara
    Meena - Majeed’s mother
    Seema Biswas - Selvi
    Tanushree Ghosh
    Sunil Sukhada
    Sasi Kumar
    Mamukkoya
    Priyam Shaikh
    Kavita Nair
    Parambrata Chatterjee
    Shari
    KPAC Lalitha

 

 'Balyakalasakhi' is the big screen adaptation of  Vaikom Muhammad Basheer's classic novel of the same name. The story deals with the love and life of Majeed & Suhara, the main protagonists. Majeed & Suhara has been in love since they were kids. But economic and social disparities creates some issues in their lives which changes the course of their life entirely. How the characters lived their remaining lives in the beautiful memories of their past, despite a harsh present, forms the rest of the story.

Adapting a novel to big screen is never an easy task. Novelist can create any kind of situation, all they need is the reader's imagination. But movies have limitations, especially in a small industry like Malayalam. Plus there is the constraint of 'run length' too. So considering all those aspects one can say that BKS is a faithful adaptation of the book, in the best possible way that they could. 

Those who have read the novel might feel something missing as it has been made in the constraints mentioned above. Even though censor certificate shows 121min the theatrical version is just around 100mins [May be the festival version gives a better perspective of the novel]. 

BKS is not every body's cup of tea. It is aimed ad festivals and award circuits. The film doesn't have any commercial elements and nothing that excites the common/mass audience. IT lacks pace and is dragging here and there, but the run length is on shorter side, which is a plus. The Kolkata sequences came out really good. The period feel has been maintained very well through out.

Mammooty, who is playing Majeed and his father, has got one of his best role(s) since 'Paleri Manickyam' and he as always has come out with flying colors, but doubt if it can be called award worthy [But Never say never as far as awards are concerned !]. Except few weird wigs everything was good about Mammoty's portrayal of Majeed & his father. Isha Talwar was a bad choice for Suhara, even though she has improved from her previous films. Her chemistry with Mammootty was weird to say the least. Seema Biswas was too good. Rest of the cast were good too. 

Pramod Payyanur's debut directorial venture is something he can be proud of, even though there is a 'drama' hang over in many of the scenes.The idea to shoot in Kolkata was an artistic master stroke. Cinematography is outstanding. Songs are beautiful and BG is good. Kudos to art/costume department. Editing looks jarred, as many scenes ends abruptly, may be due to the cuts made for 'theatrical version'.

Last year's 'Celluloid' released in the month of State/National awards, but looks like that will be delayed this time, so the benefit that the former got @ Box Office won't be there for BKS.

Recommending For lovers of the novel, for those who can enjoy the film that require some patience and those who doesn't consider oodles of commercial elements only make a good film.

If you support attempts like this now film makers will be encouraged to think beyond Box Office &  we will get better products in the future 

Rating: 3.25/5

Verdict: Good+

Last Word: Good Cinematic version of all time classic