Packed Christmas @ Kerala Box Office

 It will be a well packed Christmas this year at Kerala Box Office, Movies from 3 languages will be sharing the 'screens space' next weekend. There will be shortage of screens and audience will be divided and since collection drop drastically once holidays are over its a crucial 10 days for all films & Industry. Mammooty's Silence which was expected to give company released last week & already bit the dust @ Box Office

Dec 19th - First to hit the screens will be Mohanlal's Drishyam. Its also Jeethu Joseph's next after the super hit 'Memories'. Film is said to be a family based thriller. Also *ing Meena, Aasha Sharath, Kalabhavan Shajon etc

 Dec 20th - 7th film of Dileep - Lal Jose jodi. Apart from the beautiful title, in 'Malayalam' the posters, unique casting, promo videos, songs etc have caught on with every body. Scripted by James Albert.

 Dec 20 - Venkat Prabhu's much waited stylish mass masala thriller is finally hitting screens. The film was having some issues with local distributors, hopefully it will release simultaneously here as well. Starring Karthi, Pramgi, Hansika etc

 Dec 20 - Undoubtedly the most awaited film of 2013. 3rd part to the mega successful Dhoom franchise. the presence of Aamir Khan & Katrina Kaif elevates the hype & expectations even more. Hope the film also gets reasonable amount of screens in this mad rush time.

Dec 21 [Expected] - Sathyan Anthikad first time working with Fahadh Faasil & Amala Paul, after a long time working with some body else's script etc are the unique features of OIPK. Should be a slow started and could turn out to be the dark horse. Film is said to be a Rom-Com with politics forming back drop.

Dec 19th - Drishyam

Dec 20th - Ezhu Sundara Rathirkal, Biriyani, Dhoom 3

Dec 21st - Oru Indian Pranaya Kadha

The much delayed Joshiy film Salam Kashmir is also said to be releasing this holidays, even though not yet confirmed.

Malayalam Dub of 'Yevadu' was also set to release, but since the original version has pushed its release date, it will not be coming next week

Besides these, fans will have a treat as Audios of two of the most expected film of 2014 will be getting released the same weekend, Veeram - Dec 20th & Jilla Dec 21st.

Nadan - Malayalam Movie Review

 Directed by     Kamal
Produced by     Anilkumar Ambalakkara
Written by     S. Suresh Babu
Music by     Ouseppachan
Cinematography     Madhu Neelakandan
Editing by     K.Rajagopal
Studio     Ambalakkara Global Films
Country     India
Language     Malayalam

Cast

    Jayaram as Devadas Sargavedi
    Remya Nambeesan as Jyothi
    Sajitha Madathil
    Joy Mathew
    K. P. A. C. Lalitha
    P. Balachandran
    Hareesh Peradi
    M.Mukundan
    Jayaraj Warrier
    Shankar Ramakrishnan
    Balaji Sarma

Kamal is one such among the bunch of legendary directors on 90-2000's who has still got his strong grip in the changing tides of Malayalm cinema. After the much appreciated, National/state award winning 'Celluloid' he is back with his next. Kamal usually balances commercial and non-commercial movies with each of his release, but by doing Nadan & Celluloid back to back, he has broken that pattern.

If 'Celluloid' told us the story about the birth of Malayalam cinema and the struggles its first director had to go through, this time Kamal deals with 'Drama' & Theater Artists. The film through the title character Devadas Sargavedi portrays the current fate of the once immensely popular art form, in Kerala. 

Devadas Sargavedi belongs to the 3rd generation of theater artists in his family, who also owns the troupe 'Sargavedi' which his father found after a split in Communist party & KPAC [

Kerala People's Arts Club]. The struggles that Devadas had to face to keep the troupe going and make two ends meet forms the crux of the story.

The major plus point of the movie is the incredible performances that every artist associated with the movie had to offer. Leading the pack is Jayaram, who undoubtedly gave his career best performance as Devadas, especially in the later half. Equally good was KPAC Lalitha, she was living as the character with many of the dialogues that we can very much connect with her real life too. The movie features many of the state's best drama artists, which was a great tribute in itself to them. 

The story, because is a fiction [even though based on reality] may find a normal one, but its the skill full direction, dialogues and performances that makes the movie an engaging watch. The movie do get bit of over melodramatic towards climax and gets to drag a bit. where the focus shifts to love, infidelity etc. There is nothing much for mass audience in the movie and is a must watch for all others and especially those who have enjoyed, at least once, the experience of watching a dram in an open stage surrounded by charged up crowd.

Kamal the director once again showed how one can make a class movie, without art house narration., that is equally entertaining and enlightening with out depending upon commercial elements. Kamal once again prooved that when it comes to real life stories, he is master class. Equally supported by  his efficient crew, with pleasing cinematography by Madhu Neelakandan, smooth editing by Rajagopal, Soothing music & apt back ground score by Ouseppachan [think he did both]. The art, costumes and make-up department also deserves a pat on their back for their work, especially in the drama portions.

'Drama' was one of the most celebrated art forms of Kerala and many of them had such huge impact that Govt. were forced to ban them [as explained in the movie]. With the onslaught of new-age entertainment art forms like Mimicry, Serials, Ganamela etc Drama lost its significance and going through a pretty low phase now. But still there are many who consider this as their life and ready to even die on the stage for the art form they love. 'Nadan' is a dedication to such people and a homage to the golden period of Drama & theater artists.

'Nadan' may not be a perfect film, but is definitely one of the best of 2013. 

Rating 3.5/5

Last Word: For the noble intentions and excellent acting, just give it a try

Arm twisting by Kerala Film Exhibitors Federation continue - Bans a theater

This is what Crown Cinema, Calicut posted in their Facebook page

Sorry to announce that we have to stop the screening of RAJA RANI due to trouble from industry sources... So The Conjuring and Lunch Box get more screen time..

Well.. Last year the Kerala Film Exhibitors Federation, of which we WERE a member, called for indefinite closure of Cinemas protesting Govt.Policies. Being a member of the body, we had decided to stick to the closure cos the demand of KFEF with the Govt was genuine. But they kept changing the date of the closure to favour the interests of certain parties. And then one fine day they announced the closure from 2nd Nov 2012. That we had committed to Sony Pictures to screen SKYFALL from Nov 1st 2012, the last Bond movie, we, along with other Cinemas in Kochi,requested the body to change the date again. They dint agree. So we were forced to stick to our commitment and stay away from the strike. We resigned the membership from the body too. But ever since, the KFEF has placed an UNWRITTEN embargo on us - that if we screen any Malayalam or Tamil movie, none of the theatres in malabar will screen it. We managed to screen some movies like Neram & Nee Ko Na Cha. But most distributors were forced to keep away from us. Now the distributors of Raja Rani showed the guts to supply the movie to us. But the Honchos of the KFEF arm twisted them and threatened them with dire consequences. So, to ensure that the distributor does not suffer losses cos of our screening the film, we decided to stop screening. Its a Mad Mad Mad World!!!