Ravindran C P

Hyped by most newspaper and website reviewers, the film turned out to be a disappointing experience for me. Full of deliberate plot devices and "tricks", the script, it seems, seeks to project as one with many layers and hidden meanings. And most of our professional reviewers seem to have fallen for the "tricks". The only good thing about the story is that there are no bad guys in it. And no ulterior motives come into play in the goings-on. Casual incidents and chances often end in tragedies in our lives with no one to blame upon directly for them. And that is the whole film about. The entire cast does a good job with Vijayaraghavan, Aparnna Balamurali, and Asif Ali leading them.

It has the potential to be a good thriller film. As it is, the script needs more tightening and the editing needs to be better. Without those, the film now seems a bit dragged and tedious. The lead actor's performance also doesn't suit the film's objectives well and affects the story's flow.

This is a bit hyped film. Many sites have been showering praise on it as a horror film with layers of meaning as if it is a critique of the unjust caste system prevalent in Kerala in old times and as a symbolic take-on the power politics in upper caste clans in the state. Maybe the credit for such over-reading goes to the reviewers’ abundant imagination. Hello reviewers, please don’t let your imagination run away with you! Stick to the film and its narration and don’t bring your political and social philosophy into its play and over-read the films' stories. Bramayugam is basically about a goblin taking over a house in the 17th century as the family head was into black magic and trying to gain extra powers. The goblin eliminates him, takes his form and is being served by a cook who has some ulterior motives. Into that house strays a man apparently fleeing from the Portuguese invaders seeking to capture people for selling them as slaves from Kerala!!! And the film starts... Performance wise, Mammutty, Arjuan Ashok, and Siddharth Bharathan do a good job. But the so-called horror movie is not scary at all and is often slow-going.

Makal, directed by Sathyan Anthikad, is a watchable film but don't have too much expectations. The story flow is fine and the plotline makes sense most of the time. With a bit more imaginative script and devoted direction, this could have been made a much better film than it is, though. The evolving relationship among a teenage girl and her father and mother form the core of the theme. The film reminds one of a few in the same genre in Malayalam, like Mummy and Me, but that is no problem as evolving relationships always make a good theme for films. Devika Sanjay and Meera Jasmine play their roles very well with Jairam struggling to catch up with them.

Slow-moving, with a plotline that is improbable, Merry Christmas seems to have been highly hyped and fails to maintain one's attention. Are Indian filmmakers so short of good stories that they have to go back to almost a sixty-years old movie (Paris Pick-Up) to find a theme for them? That film is itself based on on a novel Le Monte-charge (Bird in a Cage), written by Frédéric Dard. The narration of the Indian film fails to hold the viewers' interest with basically no suspense, the main element essential for a thriller. The performance by the cast, all talented, is also unimpressive.

With a plotline that makes no sense and logic, Mea Culpa is a movie that can be skipped easily. It is all so improbable. The script tries to make some amends but fails miserably. The entire cast also try to add some zest into the goings-on with sincere performances but could not salvage it.

Mercy, set in a hospital, is a hostage drama with all the usual twists and turns expected of an action film. The criminal family, which has taken over the hospital to rescue the son of the family head, is itself in turmoil with a succession battle raging in it. Even though the movie plot and presentation are formulaic to the core, I watched it to the end, enjoying the thrills and gun fights often!

A 'hit' film indeed! It has really hit me that either there is something wrong with my taste for films or with the those who apparently enjoyed this production. Maybe it is all my fault and my tastes are not that developed. I found this such a drag and bore. The plot seemed silly and the script was so lifeless. They were apparently aiming for a fantasy with epic proportions but you need a sensible story for that, to start with. The wooden performance of the entire cast is in tune with the nature of the film!