ramesh menon

I had heard of various comments on Koode being "slow" & "lagging" but that did not influence me. I was always going to watch an Anjali Menon film. Firstly I was very impressed by the young man who played the kid Joshua. Great selection. Specially his eyes are almost exactly like Prithviraj who plays the adult character. This similarity is very rarely seen in films. The story is slow paced but it is handled well with the Sensitivity & Sensibility in place which Anjali has become a master of today. Her deft handling of Emotions & well knit family bonding was very well evident in Manjadikkuru, Ustad Hotel, Bangalore Days & Koode adds to this list. Only grouse against her would be that she glorifies the Grand parents & the Protogonists and the Parents are presented as insensitive souls. All the above films have this common element. Why? Coming back, Nazariya gives the performance of a lifetime as Jenny and so does Prithviraj & Parvathi. Jenny is so bubbly and full of life that you wish along with Joshua that she doesn't go away.. All songs except the last 'Aarorum' sung by Raghu Dixit are v good & the young gen will lap it up any day. Don't know why the above was included as the last 'song' by Anjali to play on screen? It is horrible to say the least. Terrible experience for a Malayalee viewer & almost spoilt the film for us. Otherwise all the compositions by M. Jaya Chandran & Dixit himself are memorable & likeable. Terrific camera work by Little Swayamp and the location beauty takes the film to the next level. Also the Dog & Van are 2 characters and great part of this film. Well done Anjali Menon....

One of the best Movies in Mal, Mohan Lal proves why he is widely regarded as the most perfect actor & a master of casual behavior in front of camera. Nedumudi Venu also comes up with a fine performance as Kariyachan. The duo's drinking scenes are just Brilliant with a capital 'B'! Lohithadas & Siby Malayil need to be Congratulated for a super class story, screenplay & Direction, much ahead of its time. .. Although there are many take away moments in this film, the scene where Annie gives birth to his child & Rajiv can't hide his joy of becoming a father, is unmatched till date(after nearly 30 years). Once again, doubt if Lalettan can ever better his act as Rajiv Menon as in this film.. Virtually impossible, he was that Brilliant.

Yesterday I happened to see 'Sudani from Nigeria'. It is an excellent example of how a wafer thin storyline can be made to a huge hit. There is hardly any plot as the central character, a Nigerian, is shown to be bed ridden mostly. Credit must be given to the Director for sticking to this simple story with the support of lot of characters & slang from Malappuram. All characters look alive & we wonder sometimes if they are actually acting! The loudest applause must go to 2 women characters who play Shoubin Sahir's mother and her neighbour Bavumma- theatre personalities Savithri & Sarasa- respectively. Haven't seen 2 women set very high standards of casual 'behaviour' in front of a camera for a long, long time. Kudos to them. Soubin Sahir is outstanding as young Majid. Hope the audience/jury in Kerala respects him & don't bracket him as a comedian & deny him what he richly deserves! Overall a different experience which was money's worth. 👍