Kerala Vishu/April Box Office - Exclusive Report

Kerala Vishu/April Box Office - Exclusive Report

7 Days has passed in Mollywood's biggest season, Summer Vacations and its time to have a look into how the movies have been performing at the Box Office.


1. 7th Day

We have a surprise entry at No.1. The film opened to a superb response, especially in main cities, beyond all expectations. 7th Day leads the Vishu releases (as of now) despite the film not belonging to mass entertainer genre, which audience used to prefer on Holidays. The last 2 thrillers Prithvi did worked on long run and WOM and didn't have an opening to boas off. 7th Day took the best opening for a Prithvi starrer.

Gross: 5.15 crores in 8 days
Superb Opening, Marching towards Super Hit

2. Ring Master

Dileep's Mass sumer vacation entertainer aimed at Ladies and Kids didn't take a grand opening, but the status has remained even through out without major drop either.

Gross: 4.58 crores in 8 days
Good Opening, Marching towards a Hit

3. Gangster

After a terrific opening the film fell badly like a pack of cards at Box Office. The film was removed from most of its stations within 6/7 days.

Gross: 3.95 crores in 9 days
Great first day, fell after wards - Disaster

4. Pauly Technique

The film took an average opening, and with average WOM future doesn't look much good for Pauly and his Techniques.

Gross: 2.65 crores in 8 days
Above Average

5. Ohm Shanthi Oshaana & Drishyam 

Still Continuing their blistering run in selected main centers and in many B & C class centers.

Mega Hit & All Time Blockbuster

6. Maan Karate

The film got an almost free week as Summer releases were pushed to 1th due to elections. The film was bought for a meagre prize and collected many times that amount. Film performed beyond expectations and many theaters chose the film to continue for a 2nd and 3rd week.

Gross: about 85 lakhs in 15 days

Hit


1 By Two *ing Fahadh Faasil was released this pat Friday (April 19th) to an average opening and below average WOM. So looks like that won't make any difference to the tally. Last Friday of April will 3 releases
Dulquer-Nazriya's Samsaram Arogyahtinu Hanikaram, Indrajith's Masala republic and Allu Arjun's Lucky The Racer [Race Gurram]



PS: The figures are approximate values and may not necessarily be actuals

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 ???? ......

Pauly Technique - Malayalam Movie Review - Kunchako Boban, Bhavana

Pauly Technique - Malayalam Movie Review - Kunchako Boban, Bhavana

Crew

Director:  M.Padmakumar

Script:  Nishad Koya

Producers:  Kala Nair and Liyakath Tirur

Banner:  Mrinalini Gandhi Cinemas

Distributor:  Percy Pictures

Music:  Gopi Sundar

Editor:  Ranjan Abraham

Cinematographer:  Pramod K Pillai

 Lyrics:  Rajeev Nair

Cast

Kunchacko Boban - Pauly

 Bhavana - Aswathy

Vijayaragavan - Sukumaran Nair 

Aju Varghese - Becker

 Ambika 

Devi Chandana 

Shiju 

Kochupreman 

Thesni Khan 

Idavela Babu

Pauly is a jobless youth, who along with his childhood friends are members of the communist party youth wing. He is involved in all the social activities of his villages and often gets in the way of Panchayath President Sukumaran Nair, who is at logger heads with Pauly from his school days. In a terrorist attack happened in Mumbai Pauly's father, a Commando, gets killed  With the compensation money he got from the Govt., Pauly decides to buy the closed 'Dakshyani' Biscuits factory and reopen it as agro Processing and storing facility. Sukumaran Nair understanding this puts up road blocks, one after the other, to disrupt Pauly at any cost. The feud intensifies when Asawthy, daughter of Sukumaran Nair, Pauly's sweet heart from child hod refuses to marry anybody other than Pauly. The techniques that Pauly adopts to fight the corrupt politicians and officials, win over his love and make the factory run forms the rest of the story.

PAuly Technique resembles many Malayalam movies of the past, like Mithunam, Punyalan agarbathis etc, but still is able to stand on its own thanks to the interesting script by Nishad Koya, who also wrote 'Ordinary'. There wasn't much hype surrounding the film leading to its release, and even the release wasn't sure till the last moment, but finally the makers can relax as they have managed to deliver a good entertainer.

The film is predictable and we can predict every single twist and turn. Plus there aren't much 'techniques' that we don't predict coming. It gets melodramatic here and there and drags at places. The songs prove to be hindrances than anything else.

The light humor sprinkled through out the film is what makes PT works.Plus its a clean family entertainer without any double meaning dialogues or cuss words. Kunchako Boban shines as Pauly and is from the start to finish. Aju Varghese is a treat and gets almost equal footage as Boban. The rest of the cast also did a good job. Bhavana was looking great, but didn't had much to do.


This is the first time Padmakmar will be handling a Comedy subject and did an okay job is presenting a neat film. Its the second film of writer Nishad Koya, and already he is proving to be some one producers can bank upon. The predictable story has been narrated interestingly by him. Cinematography and editing also adds flavor to the film. Music and BG were average.

In all Pauly Technique is a clean family comedy entertainer that should appeal to all. The definitely have some techniques up in its sleeve.

Verdict: Good

Rating 3/5

Last Word: Entertaining Techniques.....

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 !!!

Vishu & Easter Movie Premiers on Malayalam Channels

Vishu & Easter Movie Premiers on Malayalam Channels

Surya TV

 Kairali TV 

Arrambam (Malayalam dub) *Unconfirmed*

 

Mazhavil Manorama

 

Amrita TV

Asianet

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'