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 - Kerala Release paper ad with theater list

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

Daivathinte Swantham Cleetus - Malayalam Movie Review

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Daivathinte Swantham Cleetus - Malayalam Movie Review

Directed by     Marthandan
Produced by     Faisal Alleppy
Screenplay by     Benny P Nayarambalam
Studio     Achappu Movie Magic
Release date(s)   September 16, 2013
Country     India
Language     Malayalam

Cast

    Mammootty as Cleetus
    Honey Rose
    Aju Varghese
    Rejith Menon
    Sanam Shetty
    Siddique
    Suraj Venjaramoodu
    Thesni Khan
    Smitha Samuel
    Mini Arun

Story

Daivathinte Swantham Cleetus tells the story of  a 'Cleetus' goonda, who accidently gets selected to play the role of 'Jesus Christ' in a light and sound show to be played during festivities. What happens to 'Cleetus' and those surrounding him when the events in the life os 'Jesus' starts repeating in life of 'Cleetus' too.

DSC is directed by Debutant G.Marthandan who has 17 years of experience working as AD for various directors. The movie is produced by Faizal Lathif, a member of  All Kerala Mammootty Fans Association.

The film which was promoted as Comedy-Mass entertainer fails to justify both genres. The first half is intersting thanks to the unique characterization of Mammootty, something similar to the role in 'Kanalkattu'. But once the initial excitement is offer the film offers nothing much, even for the fans.absolutely nothing much happens in the second half. Whatever little suspense the writer created in the first half fizzles in the later half. The climax also is a big let down.

 The film is named after the hero, but the character gets lost among the supporting cast often. Mammooty has scored in what ever opportunity that was presented to him by Benny. The job of the supporting cast is to provide comic relief, which they succeed to a small extent. All of them have done a good job. New comer Sanam Shetty has made a confident debut with almost perfect lip sync.

Direction was average at its best. Most of the 'attempted' comedy scenes fell flat thanks to the director (like first scene, Siddique's intro etc). Script fails considering the genre or rather publicized genre of the movie. Many of the Dialogues were mediocre too. The locales were very beautiful making the job of the Cinematographer simple, nothing exceptional unless to talk about. Songs are just average at its best. Editing is crisp and thanks to the editor for keeping the length under (or about) 2hr15mins. Background score was loud and bad.

The film is by no means boring. Considering the lack of any expectations, is not disappointing either. You can watch if there's nothing else to do. Fans can watch it for the different 'attempt' by Mammootty.

Overall its average at its best.

Verdict: Average

Rating : A generous 2.5/5

Box Office: Average