Bangalore Days - 2nd Biggest grosser of All time !!

Bangalore Days - 2nd Biggest grosser of All time !!

Bangalore Days finally over took Mayamohini & T20 to reach 2nd spot (from 4th) in the list of all time biggest Malayalam grossers, a table lead by Drishyam which is miles a head. According to latest reports the film has grossed about 25 crores with distributors share crossing 10 crores mark. In the rest of Kerala, Overseas markets also its the 2nd biggest grosser following Drishyam, but the gap here is not as huge as its the case in Kerala, thanks to the presence of subtitle and lack of competition from other language movies. Drishyam had to battle with Dhoom 3, Jilla, Veeram, Jai Ho etc during its Outside Kerala run. BD has crossed Drishyam in Hyderabad, where the film had extraordinary run, and is still playing there, which is unbeleivable. The film has also beaten Drishyam in selected markets outside Kerala like UK. Even though exact reports from other locations are not available according to a leading distributor BD will not be crossing Drishyam considering Rest Of India & Overseas final total. 

The collections for Bangalore Days hit rock bottom during the Ramzan fasting period, but most of the screens chose to continued with the film due to lack of options. But the film has picked up since EID, largely thanks to the not so encouraging reports for EID releases. The film might add couple of more crores to its kitty and wind up under 30 crores.

 With 2 record breakers inside 6 months its booming time for Malayalam films, especially in outside Kerala markets.

Top 5 Grossers

1. Drishyam

2. Bangalore Days*

3. Twenty 20*

4. Maya Mohini

5. Classmates*

* - Multistarers

'Vikramadithyan' Kerala Theaters List - Dulquer Salmaan,Namitha Pramod

'Vikramadithyan'  Kerala Theaters List - Dulquer Salmaan,Namitha Pramod

61st Idea Filmfare Awards (South) - Complete Winners list

61st Idea Filmfare Awards (South) - Complete Winners list

Lifetime Achievement Awards: Late Balu Mahendra, Jayabharathy

Telugu



Best Choreographer Award - VJ Sekhar for Top lesi poddi (Iddarammayilatho)
Best Playback Singer (Female) (Telugu) Award - Chitra: Seethamma Vaakitlo Sirimalle Chettu
Best Playback Singer (Male) (Telugu) Award - Kailash Kher for Pandagala Digivachavu (Mirchi)
Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Female) (Telugu) Award - Lakshmi Manchu for Gundello Godari
 Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Male) (Telugu) Award - Sunil for Tadakha

Best Music Director (Telugu) Award -  Devi Sri Prasad for Attarintiki Daredi
Best Director (Telugu) Award - Trivikram Srinivas for Attarintiki Daredi
Best Film (Telugu) Award - Attarintiki Daredi
Best Actor (Female) (Telugu) Award - Nithya Menen for Gunde Jaari Gallanthayyinde
Best Actor Award (Male) (Telugu) goes to Mahesh Babu for SVSC

Tamil

Best Cinematographer Award - Rajeev Menon (Kadal)
Best Debut (Male) Award - Nivin Pauly (Neram) & Gautham Karthik (Kadal)
Best Debut (Female) Award - Nazariya (Neram)
Best Lyrics (Tamil) Award - Na. Muthukumar for Aananda Yazhai (Thanga Meengal)
Best Playback Singer (Female) (Tamil) Award - Shakthisree Gopalan for Nenjukulla (Kadal)
Best Playback Singer (Male) (Tamil) Award - Sriram Parthasarathy for Anandha Yazhai (Thangameengal)
Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Female) (Tamil) Award - Dhansika for Paradesi 

Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Male) (Tamil) Award goes to Satyaraj for Raja Rani 

Best Music Director (Tamil) Award - AR Rahman (Kadal)

Best Director (Tamil) Award - Bala (Paradesi)

Best Film (Tamil) Award - Thanga Meengal
Critic Award Best Actor (Male) - Dhanush (Maryaan)
Best Actor (Female) (Tamil) Award - Nayantara (Rajarani
Best Actor (Male) - Atharvaa Paradesi

Malayalam

Best Lyrics (Malayalam) Award - Madhu Vasudev for Ottakku Padunna (Nadan)
Best Playback Singer (Female) (Malayalam) Award - Vaikom Vijayalakshmi for Ottakkupadunna (Nadan)
Best Playback Singer (Male) (Malayalam) Award - Vijay Yesudas for Thirayum theeravum (Memories)
Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Female) (Malayalam) Award - Asha Sarath for Drishyam
Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Male) (Malayalam) Award - Murali Gopi for Left Right Left

Best Music Director (Malayalam) Award - M Jayachandran for Celluloid
Best Director (Malayalam) Award - Shyamaprasad for Artist
Best Film (Malayalam) Award - Drishyam
Best Actor (Female) (Malayalam) Award - Ann Augustin for Artis
Best Actor (Male) (Malayalam) Award - Fahad Fazil for North 24 Kadam 



Kannada



Best Lyrics (Kannada) Award - Siddu Kodipura for Banalli badalago (Simpallag Ond Love Story)
Best Playback Singer (Female) (Kannada) Award - Sowmya Raoh for Karagida bannalli (Simpallag Ond Love Story
Best Playback Singer (Male) (Kannada) Award - Poorna Chandra Tejasvi for Thinbedaalkammi (Lucia)
Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Female)  (Kannada) Award - Amulya for Shravani Saubramanya
Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Male) (Kannada) Award - Achyuth Kumar for Lucia

Best Music Director (Kannada) Award - Arjun Janya for Bhajarangi

Best Director (Kannada) Award - Pawan Kumar for Lucia

Best Film (Kannada) Award - Mynaa

Best Actor (Female) (Kannada) Award - Amulya for Shravani Saubramany
Best Actor (Male) (Kannada) - Prem for Charminar.

Image Credits: Filmfare.com

How Old Are You - Malayalam Movie Review - Manju Warrier, Kunchako Boban

How Old Are You - Malayalam Movie Review

Crew

Directed by     Rosshan Andrrews
Produced by     Listin Stephen
Written by     Bobby Sanjay
Starring     Manju Warrier
Kunchako Boban
Music by     Gopi Sunder
Editing by     Mahesh Narayanan
Studio     Magic Frames
Distributed by     Central Pictures
Release dates   17 May 2014 (Kerala)
Country     India
Language     Malayalam

Cast

Manju Warrier as Nirupama Rajeev
Kunchako Boban as Rajeev
Kaniha
Siddhartha Basu
Lalu Alex
Vanitha Krishnachandran
Vinay Forrt
Sreerag Nambiar
Jayaraj Warrier
Muthumani
Sethulakshmi
Amritha Anil as Lekshmi Rajeev

The return of Malayalees favorite heroine of perhaps all time has been in the news since months. Finally the film has hit the screens over coming 'various' odds. Did it satisfy the hype or did PR team over did their job, lets see.

Nirupama Rajeev is a Govt. employee, a loving wife and a caring mother. She is the representative of millions of Indian house wives/working mothers who have kept their ambitions and dreams locked up for their family or their husbands. Thanks to her Male Chauvinistic husband and an 'incident' that happens in her life Nirupama is forced to take some stern decisions which turns her life around. Was its for good or bad - the remaining reels tells us.

The trailer and basic story line gives an impression that the movie is inspired from 'English Vinglish' with a hint of 'Ethir Neechal'. Yes, in a broad sense it can be called. But How Old Are You has multiple layers that makes it a stand out film at the same time stand along with the recent women oriented, much celebrated, films like English Vinglish & Queen. Its difficult for majority of women folks in our country to break the barriers they themselves or the society builds around them post marriage (even though the situation is slowly changing). The films remembers them to break the shackles, chase the dreams, after all Age is just a number.

The 1st half movies largely at leisurely pace with some nice humor (some crass too) thrown in the mix. It was breezy and entertaining. The 2nd half takes some what a serious tone and pace drops a bit. It do goes to preachy/philosophical mode at times. But as a whole the film is inspirational, emotional and entertaining.

HOAY is the perfect come back vehicle for Manju Warrier. She arrests our attention and owns the screen like she used to do in her prime. The gap of 14 years wasn't felt much apart from couple of scenes. The film truly rides on her. Kudos to Kunchako Boban for doing the role of an MCP where the female character has more screen time and opportunities to score. Sethulakshmiamma (who did the role of Indran's father in 'LRL') was excellent. Rest of the cast were okay. Kaniha and the kid who played the daughter were miscasts.

Roshan Andrrews after an average outing is back to his full form in 'HOAY'. He handles the theme neatly and naratesa good family entertainer to the viewers. Bobby-Sanjay's scripting was as always good (the only time the duo mis fired was in 'Casanovva') and their dialogues were impressive. Cinematography was good, Editing could have been better. There's one song during the movie which was good, while the BG score was tad average.

In all its a film every family should watch, every Women must watch.

Rating: 3.5/5

Verdict: Very Good

Last Word: SHE IS BACK !!!!

PS: If the 'Master of Ring' had some questions for you take back some polite answers from the 'Queen' :wink:

Mr. Fraud - Malayalam Movie Review - Mohanlal, Unnikrishnan B

 Mr. Fraud Malayalam Movie Review

Crew

Director: B.Unnikrishnaan
    Producer: A.V Anoop
    Executive Producer: B.Unnikrishnan

Banner : AVA Productions
    Script: B.Unnikrishnan
    Cinematographer: Satheesh Kurup
    Makeup: Pradeep Rangan, Liju Kumar S
    Music: Gopi Sundar
    Playback Singers: Shankar Mahadevan, Shakthisree Gopalan, Sithara & Gopi Sundar
    Editor: Manoj
    Lyrics: Hari Narayanan, Chittoor Gopi & Santhosh Varma
    Costume: S.B Satheesh, Murali
    Art Director: Joseph Nellikal
    Stills: Sinat Savier
    Production Controller: Aroma Mohan

Cast

      Mohanlal as 'Fraud'
    Dev Gill
    Pallavi Purohit
    Mia George as Saraswathi
    Manjari Phadnis
    Vijay Babu
    Vijayakumar
    Siddique
    Sai Kumar
    Suresh Krishna
    Rahul Madhav
    Ashvin Matthew
    Rajeev Parameshwar
    Arjun Nandhakumar
    Balaji
    Sathaar
    Devan
    Gopi Sundar (cameo appearance)
    Amritha Anilkumar

Mohanlal plays a 'Fraud' who has many names and many faces, a non sympathetic cunning hi-tech robber. He gets offered a job with enough money that he can very much retire after this. But its not easy as it seems and is 'one of the most difficult mission' he has come across as the character says. The treasure belongs to an Old Kovilakam and they are going to open the chest for the first time in 41 years with all the relatives, police and top level private security team guarding it. So will he able to do it forms the rest of the story.

Mr Fraud is a heist movie presented in a mass masala packaging, so there's no logic in asking for a unique or different storyline as all of them have universally one theme. The first half is racy and entertaining largely thanks to Mohanlal who was simply free flowing and outstanding making even minutest expressions and simple dialogues clap worthy. The Director being a Lal fan has added elements to please the fans. The packaging and the way everything is setup in the first half is really good. Its in the second half the movie suffers a bit. Totally its an above average 2nd half with an average, rushed up climax. The first half makes us prepared for a better 2nd half which the film couldn't provide, also the unnecessary sentimence ruins the pace. It would have been great if the film had a climax like 'Mankatha' or 'Don' (SRK's).

With the limited budget Malayalam can afford Director was able to show the heist scenes convincingly. May not be a patch on Hollywood counter parts, but still they serve the purpose. Unnikrishnan B is definitely improving every time as a director, and this one is his best Directorial outing. Even though his scripting faltered here and there in the 2nd half, for most of the run time it was engaging. The dialogues as always were good, made look even better by Mohanlal.

It can be called a one man show by Mohanlal, after a long time Malayalees gets to see his Mass entertainer side which he did with elan. He carries the movie in his entire 'slanting' shoulder. Siddique, Mia George, Sai Kumar, Ashwin were good. Vijay & Manjari was okay. rest of the cast did their role. Dev Gill's villain character was a disappointment, as it was an underwritten role, the film could have had a better villain character.

Gopi Sunder is back in full form after a long back as both his songs and BG are very good. Back Ground score infact is a great plus for the movie. Cinematography was good, editing was sharp. VFX team have done a great job. Art work was superb. Action choreography was average.

Over all Mr Fraud is a Mass-Heist movie - must watch for fans, one time watch for others

After 150 days of delivering 'Class' to the world, its time to give some MASS with Class, good old Lalettan way, which no one can replicate

Rating 3/5

Verdict: Good

.

Mosayile Kuthira Meenukal - Malayalam Movie Review

Crew

Directed by     Ajith Pillai
Produced by     Niyas Ismail
Screenplay by     Ajith Pillai, Vipin Radhakrishnan
Story by     Ajith Pillai

Music by     Prashant Pillai
Cinematography     Abinandhan Ramanujam
Editing by     Ratheesh Raj
Studio     Frames Inevitable
Distributed by     KNM Pictures
Release dates      May 1, 2014
Running time     131 minutes
Country     India
Language     Malayalam

Cast

    Asif Ali as Alex, son of a farmer.
    Sunny Wayne as Akbar Ali, a fisherman.
    Nedumudi Venu as Kuriachen, Alex's father.
    Janani Iyer as Deena
    Swati Reddy as Isa
    Nishanth Sagar as Hashim
    Jijoy as Sulaiman
    Jojo Mala as Mathew P Mathew
    Chemban Vinod

'Mosa' mean 'Waves' and 'Kuthira Meenukal' are 'Sword Fishes' who fights with themselves for food and survival. The films tells us that Humans rarely do good to others and if they do there will be an ulterior selfish motive behind it. Every character in the film has a selfish motive behind the things they do, which drives the movie plot forward. 

Alex is the son of a rich planter. In the process of multiplying the wealth, without going for a job, in shortcut,  He ends up jail where his relative is the chief. Unable to cop up with Jail he does a prison break days before he was to be released officially on special 'Independence Day' pardon. He breaks out of prison with another inmate Akbar Ali. Now its Alex's job to go back to prison with Akbar in order to get out legally with the help of his Chief. Akbar who is on a important time bound mission to 'Lakshwadeep' is in no mood to listen to Alex. What happens to the characters as their journey together begins, forms the rest of the film.

Like mentioned before the film deals with human nature, friendship & love. The first half is interesting and fast moving with light humor sprinkled through out. In the second half the pace reduces drastically, especially in the Sunny-Swati portions. The dialogues are well researched & well written. There is a nice story to tell, which has been presented with an above average script.

Its Asif Ali who binds the entire film. When ever the film goes down its his character that brings it up. One of the career best roles for him. Sunny Wayne too was good. Swati and Janani were okay. Jijoy was very good in a small role.

Cinematography is top notch, except few steady cam shots. The beauty of Lakshwadeep has been captured in all its glory, so as the sequences in Kochi, Viyoor Jail etc. Background was good in parts, average else where. Aikbareesa song is beautiful and has been used brilliantly in bits and pieces through out the 2nd half, as a back ground score, giving the feel of a cool breeze of a sea shore.Editing could have been better in the second half. Ajith Pillai has made a promising debut as Director too, attempting such a venture as first film, kudos to him.

In all its a different attempt and a nice watch if you have a bit of patience and mind set to be treated with something fresh and new.

Verdict: Between Above Average & Good

Rating: 2.75 - 3 / 5

Ulsaha Committee - Malayalam Movie Review - Jayaram, Isha Talwar

Cast

 Cast: Jayaram (Apoorvan), Sheela (Rossamma), Baburaj (Chopra) , Kalabhavan Shajon (Babumon), Suraj Venjaramoodu, Vinaya Prasad, Lakshmipriya, Shaju, Kochupreman, Sunil Sugatha, Joy Mathew, Kalinga Sasi, Nelson

Crew

Director: Akku Akbar
Producer: Arun Ghosh & Binoy Chandran
Production House: Chand VCreations
Music: Bijibal
Lyrics: Rafeeq Ahmed, Jophi Tharakan, Engadyoor Chandrashekaran
Cinematography: Anil Nair
Editing: Lijo Paul
Art Direction: Nandan Mannoor
Story/Writer: Shyju Anthikad
Costume Design: Kumar Edapal

 Apoorvan is the self proclaimed scientist of Mantharakadavu Village, who is pretty much interested in inventing various things. Babumon, his financial support and Chopra, his henchman, are his close buddies. Even though many of the inventions are useful for the villagers, the three when join together create mess that than anything. So one day the villagers are forced to kick them out of the village. The 3 thus end up in Rosamma's house, who is a millionaire. What happens next forms the rest of the story.

Akku Akbar with Jayaram has given 2 family hits in the past, the Producers gave the 2nd biggest hit of last year too. But when they united for a mad comic caper, the resultant product is an utter failure.

The film not only lacks a credible story line is a disaster in the scripting department too. There are only few good one liners  in the entire movie, every thing else falls flat. The acting too is over the top here. Jayaram has tried Palakkadan slang in the movie, which is not patch to Biju Menon in 'Ordinary'. Baburaj, Suraj often goes to 'Unsahikkable' levels. Isha Talwar had nothing much to do and her acting/lip sync hasn't improved much from her 'Thattam' days.

Director had no clue about the proceeding and did a below average job. Cinematography was Good. Music was disappointing while Background score was interesting at parts. Editing was okay. 

In all, Ulsaha Comitte, is a crassier crass comedy that you might wanna check out when its premiered on TV

Rating: 1.5/5

Verdict: Escape.....

Last Word: This committee will rip apart your 'Ulsaham' and burn it on the floor....

Law Point - Malayalam Movie Review - Kunchako Boban, Namitha Pramod

Crew

 Director: Lijin Jose Producer: David Kachappally Music: Mejo Joseph Lyrics: Rafeeq Ahmed Cinematography: Neil D.Cuhna Editing: Manoj Art Direction: Jothish Shankar Story/Writer: Devidasan 

Cast

Kunchacko Boban (Satya), Namitha Pramod (Maya), Nedumudi Venu, K. P. A. C. Lalitha, Devan, Suraj Venjaramoodu, Joy Mathew, P Balachandran, Riya Saira

 Satya is a tough nut and a cunning, conniving, shifty, sneaky, scheming and down right sly of a lawyer, who goes ato any lengths or do anything to win cases. One day Sathya gets to appear for the accused in a Suicide case. Since the case hasn't been registered, he tries to convince the girl 'Maya' for an out of court settlement. Will he manage to convince her, if yes how, is everything as we see, who is playing whom, forms the rest of the story.

The title and the tag line, 'Law Point - Law gets pointless' could mislead you as there is just one court scene in the movie, that to just to establish the character of Kunchako Boban. Its basically mind games between few individuals, but by the time you get to know it, its too late. The film takes too much time to get into the track. If not for 'Maya' and superb portrayal by Namitha Pramod the first half would  have been damp squib. The second half, about 40 mins long , rushes through proceedings. The film gets exciting only at the final reels where the 'twists' are revealed, and there are quite a few of them, thrown at you one after the other. These multiple twists keep the movie from being said 'predictable' but if the scenes leading to it aren't exciting, the mission is a failure. Also the audience is not given the actual picture itself to call those twists to be jaw dropping or surprising. Still could have worked to an extent, with good direction, recent example being 7th day.

Kunchako Boban looked uncomfortable and unconvincing as the tough nut lawyer and appeared forced in the initial scenes. Namitha Pramod was, as said before, very good, in the portrayal of smart young no-nonsense girl doesn't easily give into Sathya's charms. Krishna Shankar was good and rest of the cast were okay.

Direction could have been better, the script didn't help the case too. Cinematography was good, Editing wasn't bad either. 'Oru mozhi' song has been used very well. Back ground score was okay.

In all, Law Point is Half baked mystery/thriller.

Rating: 2.5/5

Verdict: Average

Mr. Fraud - Theatrical Trailer - Mohanlal, Manjari Fadnis, Mia George, Pallavi

Mr. Fraud - Theatrical Trailer 

Teaser 1

Teaser 2

Song Teaser

61st National Film Awards 2013-14 - Complete Winners List

61st National Film Awards 2013-14 - Complete Winners List 

Best Feature Film - Ship Of Theseus
Best Popular Film -Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (Hindi)
Best Director- Hansal Mehta, Shahid (Hindi)
Best Actor (Shared) - Raj Kumar, Shahid (Hindi) & Suraj Venjaramoodu, Perariyathavar (Malayalam)
Best Actress - Geetanjali Thapa, Liar’s Dice  (Hindi)
Best  Supporting  Actor - Saurabh  Shukla,  Jolly  LLB  (Hindi)
Best  Supporting Actress  (Shared) - Amruta  Subhash,  Astu  (Marathi)  & Aida   El-Kashef, Ship  Of  Theseus
Best Tamil Film - Thangameengal
Best Malayalam Film - North 24 Kaatham
Best Audiography & Sound Recording - Madras Cafe

Best Non-Feature Film, Rangbhoomi
Best Director ( Non-Feature) - Pranjal Dua, Chidiya Udh
Best Book - Cinema Ga Cinema (Telugu)
Best Film Critic - Alaka Sahani (English)

 

7th Day - Malayalam Movie Review - Prithviraj, Janani Iyer

 7th Day - Malayalam Movie Review

Crew

Director: Syam Dhar  
Producer: Shibu G Suseelan 
  Music: Deepak Dev  
Cinematography: Sujith Vasudev  
Art Direction: Vineesh Banglan  
Story/Writer: Akhil Paul  
Costume Design: Arun Manohar
Editing by John Kutty 

Distributed by     August Cinema
Release dates   April 11, 2014
Country     India
Language     Malayalam

Cast

    Prithviraj Sukumaran as David Abraham

    Janani Iyer as Jessy
    Vinay Forrt as Shan Shahar
    Anu Mohan as Vinu Ramachandran
    Tovino Thomas as Eby
    Praveen Prem as Cycle
    Joy Mathew as P.T.R. Bhattathiri

    Yog Japee as Charlie

 

Suspended IPS officer David Abraham on  Christmas night involves in an accident. The Jeep driven by him knocks off a bike and its passengers from the road. One of the passenger commits suicide that night and the other one seen beaten up pretty badly. So David takes the matters in to his own hands and starts unofficial investigation without the knowledge of the Department. Slowly things began to unravel before him. Who where those passengers, what happened with them, why did the guy commit suicide etc gets revealed in the following reels, and ends with a typical Hollywoodistic (post) climax shock twist and open ending for possible sequels, which I personally think will not be made.

'7th Day' will be the 3rd investigative/mystery movie Prithvi is being a part of in the past 12 months, and the 15th cop role in his career so far. The 1st look of the film has created quite a flutter in the internet.The look and feel of the movie made it look like a dark gritty slow paced thriller. The makers didn't even release a trailer to avoid unnecessary hype and people coming with strong preconceived notions.

But unfortunately the film ends up just a half baked, kinda predictable thriller with lots of loose ends. Malayalis have been offered quite a few brilliantly executed thrillers in the past, especially last 12 months, like Mumbai Police, Memories, Drishyam etc. 7th day is one such movie that desperately tries to squeeze in to that league, yet look a class apart, and end up neither here nor there. 

The intention was to make an eerie dark noir thriller, and the mood was perfectly set too, thanks to the brilliant work of Sujith, the DOP. But unfortunately both the direction and scripting falters. The dialogues have been rendered with unnecessary amount of stretching and pause (in quite a few scenes), which gives a drama feel. Prithvi's character cleary doesn't have an identity (or the writer wanted him to be mystery for us), coz he behaves like the guys from 'Island Express sometimes, sometimes Mumbai Police and some times London Bridge. Not only the character, the script is also confusing making us wonder what is happening at times. The movie does picks up pace towards interval portions and interval onward, but soon falls to the predictive track.

Felt there are many loose ends in the script. The film throws up more questions than answers. Most of the twists and turns were predictable, especially the finale one (but majority of the audience didn't felt so, looking at the reaction).

Like I said Prithvi's character is bit confusing and contradicting. But anyhow he has excelled in what was asked of him. Vinay Fort was good as Shaan. Anu, Tovino, Praveen did okay job while Janani doesn't get much screen space or scope to perform.

Direction was good in parts, could have given a better product with a better, closely knit script. Too many loop holes and unanswered questions (Or leaving too much to the viewers sensibility) predictable twists and turns made the scripting look weak. The dialogues were Good, even though have different opinion about the the rendering of the same. Cinematography & BG were excellent. Art work was good. Locations were beautiful and apt for the movie. Songs comes as part of narration, which aren't noteworthy.

So, what could have been a promising thriller end up just half baked.

Verdict: Average

Rating 2.5/5

Last Word: Many who watched the movie along with me like it pretty much, so give it a try if you are a fan of the genre or the new Prithviraj that we got to see in the past 1-2 years

PS: Moriarty ????? Reallly ???? ......

Ring Master - Malayalam Movie Review - Dileep, Honey Rose, Keerthy Suresh

Ring Master - Malayalam Movie Review - Dileep, Honey Rose, Keerthy Suresh

Crew 

Director: Raffi  
Producer: Vyshakha Rajan  
Music: Gopi Sunder  
Cinematography: Shaji  
Editing: Shyam Sasidharan  
Art Direction: Rajan Akkulam  
Story/Writer: Rafi  
Costume Design: S. B. Satheesan

Studio     Vaishaka Cynyma
Release dates     April 12, 2014
Country     India
Language     Malayalam

Cast

Dileep as Prince
Honey Rose as Diana
Keerthi Suresh as Karthika
Mohan Jose
Kalabhavan Shajon as Dr.Muthu
Aju Varghese
Suraj Venjaramoodu
Sai Kumar
Kalabhavan Haneef
Saju Kodiyan

Dileep's mass entertainers rarely miss their mark at the Box Office, thanks to reach the star has amongst Ladies and Kids. Ring Master is another Vishu release from Dileep, aiming at his target audience. The posters featuring Dogs have helped the curiosity factor to work out and gives a feel of the actor's cult comedy hit CID Moosa.

Prince has been fond of animals from child hood. His father was animal trainer in a circus company. Circumstances make Prince too a dog trainer, and the dog he trains, Diana, become a popular movie canine star. One day Diana gets a chance to act in a movie, in which Prince's lady love, Super Heroine Diana plays the female lead, who dumped him for movies. This creates confusion and chaos in the sets and the two are at loggerheads. Karthika is a blind who is living with her guide dog Toby, who is the father of Diana the Dog. How all the mess gets sorted out forms the rest of the story.

Ring Master is a typical mass comedy vehicle that one expects from Dileep. Even though the story line is down right silly, Dileep, the dogs and the supporting cast makes it a time pass watch. The movie takes a bit of time to get in the groove, but then is a laughathon for the entire 1st half. In the 2nd half the pace is uneven, especially toward the climax portions. With no story to tell the film relies heavily on the shoulders of its cast who did a great job.The Dogs are a treat to watch on screen to, special credits to the trainers and the VFX team.

RM is definitely on of the better theater outings for Dileep in a short while. Shajon once again impresses with his comic timing. Suraj also impresses in a extended cameo length role. The heroines too did their part well. The Script and dialogues written by Rafi are no patch to his earlier works (which he did in partnership with Meccartin). There are some dialogues aimed at a 'certain some one' which I felt was unnecessary. There are quintessential double meaning dialogues and cuss words, which I think the family audiences have accustomed to from Dileep movies.

The technical crew did an Okay job, nothing great or extraordinary to mention. Music and BG were average.

In all its a leave your brain at home and have fun at theaters kinda film which most people like to watch. Being a Dileep movie, a summer release, and the crowd reaction, looks like this will keep the cash registers ringing.




Rating: 2.75/5

Verdict: Above Average

Last Word: Mindless Fun.....

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 !!!

Maan Karate - Kerala Release Paper AD with Theater List