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

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