Alvin Vazha

Mohanlal-Priyadarshan, Sureshgopi-Shaji Kailas, Dileep-LalJose are few of the iconic duos that has enriched and redirected the malayalam film industry in the past 50 years. The Fahad Fazil-MaheshNarayanan duo has taken over the torch and is leading the industry to even enviable heights. The duo is no alien to experimenting, at first with 'C U Soon' and now 'MalayanKunju.' MalayanKunju is a survival thriller with Fahad Fazil (Anikuttan) as the central character. The movie revolves around the thematic of claustrophobia, where Anikuttan is mentally confined with casteism in the first half and physically confined under the landslide in the second half. The plot questions if he will overcome these challenges and step into a new world cleansed by nature. Although being his debut movie, Sajimon's direction is top notch. The first half of the movie establishes such a solid mind map for the viewers, that this mechanism helps the audience connect the symbolisms placed in the second half without any spoon feeding. Everything that appears in the movie, both animate and inanimate objects play a role in storytelling. It's amazing that a pet dog which appears only twice in the movie had such a significant role to play in the plot. The script writer (Mahesh Narayanan) has developed the story so intricately that we are neither overwhelmed by the detailing nor distracted by the social and political issue it handles and focuses on the journey of the character. While AR Rahman's music was soothing to the ears, it was surprisingly a misfit for the atmosphere the movie created in the second half. As the movie critic Bharadwaj Rangan puts it, the defeaning silence can convey a greater emotion than musical notes. This is utilised very well in survival movies such as 'Burried' or '127 hours' (another ARR musical too). The movie required the central character to transcend the plight he undergoes to the viewers, be it claustrophobia, the breathlessness or the fear of death. And Fahad has delivered 10/10 despite the injuries he faced during movie making. As he stated in an interview, this is a journey of the character, not of physical displacement but of mental growth in all its senses. The supporting cast, be it the rubber tapping labourers that come in just one scene, Anikuttan's mother or Indrans, has done a fantastic job in creating this magic. With direction, writing and acting hitting the right spots, the movie makes the viewers undergo a feeling of mental uneasiness throughout, something that was last experienced in Lijo Jose Pallissery's 'Churuli.' Malayankunju is a movie of a man's transformation. Anikuttan uses a torch as symbol of his anger towards lower castes. Electricity and artificial light plays a significant part in all unfortunate events that take place in Anikuttan's life. However as the movie progresses, you see him leaving behind the artificial light and steps into the sunlight, symbolising his transformation into acceptance and holistic tolerance of fellow beings. Malayalam movie once climed the western ghats of Kerala (Idukki) to find a new direction for story telling and produced 'Maheshinte Prathikaram.' It has once again climed and dug up 'MalayanKunju.'

Martin Scorsese, the creator of Ragin Bull re-established his place in the film making fraternity with strong movies in the second decade of the 21st century - Shutter Island, The Wolf of Wall Street and The Irishman. Not only these 3 movies were distinct from each other, it reiterated the importance of veteran filmmakers. The integration of modern techniques (VFX, action sequences) with traditional methods is something unique that only few directors can bring to the table. When you hear someone like Shaji Kailas coming back with an action ripped movie, it's normal to expect such an amalgamation. Unfortunately the director hasn't been upto the mark. Fascinated by 'roping' in action sequences, over the top action choreography and the ultra slo-mo, Kalias has given up his niche in creating action sequences. (Even though us residents in Kottayam have rubber plantations, it doesn't mean our roads are bouncy and people can trampoline over it!) As a viewer, I didn't feel the tension build up before a collision, the plight of the characters' suffering nor the depth of supporting characters. The whole plot of the movie revolves around a land of total anarchy which seems forced into the script and disconnected from logic. Kuruvachan himself is a flawed character and the reason for the quarrel with I.G. Joseph. The script has failed to provide atleast a rubber stamp justice to Joseph in the end, leaving the viewers dissatisfied. The supporting cast has been a joke with neither screen space nor depth. Seema's character (I.G. Joseph's mother) was a joke as the movie progressed. Samyukta's character as Kuruvachan's wife was well misplaced as she did not seem to be a mother of three teenagers. Prithviraj does a good job with action, although his dramatic dialogue delivery doesn't give flexibility to the character like Mohanlal has given to Jaganathan or Neelakandan. Vivek Oberoi has been the (only) positive takeaway from the movie but he has not been offered enough screen space. The movie released claiming to be a relief for the Mass-masala genre in Malayalam. Yet, not exactly akin to the genre, I would place Aiyappanum Koshiyum above Kaduva for its top notch action sequences and writing. Kaduva is a one time watch movie which doesn't provide much to urge the audience to revisit it. With Kaduva being not an impressive movie, the questions remains, who is capable to pull off a K.G.F. (part 1) or a Bahubali (part 2) in Malayalam? Who is an actor capable of convincing the audience? N.B.: As someone from Kanjirappally and knows Pala very much, I must say this is not how we speak and dress all the time!

Bollywood's revolution will not be through its mega budget movies or big name directors. It will be through small scale movies and probably with women centric stories, actors and directors at the helm. Darlings is the latest addition to this hypothesis and doesn't the movie prove it right! Darlings revolve around the lives of Badru (Alia Bhatt) and her husband Hamza (Vijay Varma), her mom Shamsu (Shefali Shah) and their friend Zulfi (Roshan Mathew). Darlings is a dark comedy with tint of being a thriller. The movie has one of the most solid scripting from Bollywood in recent times. The way Jasmeet created tension through the movie has been a work of art. The director makes sure domestic abuse hits hard on the viewers and has portrayed in all its ugliness and vehemence. And it's beyond belief that she has done it with just the characters and a closed room. It goes to show how talented a director she is. The production design and cinematography has been top notch, and has made good use of the limited space where the plot expands. The cast has given a stellar performance, at times beyond the script envisioned. Alia is proving time and again why she deserves a place among the best actors in the country and Shefali complements her par excellence in the supporting role. Both the Men, portraying two polars of masculinity has done an outstanding job. The supporting cast, although did not have much screen space nor dialogue were well defined, had depth in their character, and carried the plot when required. I had my issues with the movie "Thaapad". While it discusses a very relevant issue, it could not make an impact due to various plot holes it failed to cover. What makes Darlings stand aside is that even though it's a comedy, it doesn't take the viewers intelligence for granted. It has taken it's time to build up on it's story, create a strong second act and provide the atmost satisfaction for the viewers in it's thrid act. And finally, after failures in its Indian market, Netflix struck gold with Darlings. Darlings puts forward the issue it wants to convey very subtly, yet, the echoes will be rumbling for times to come. Afterall, what bigger success can art achieve, than conquering time itself!

CLOWNFEST! Im writing this review as I'm watching the 3rd act of the movie. I didn't wait to finish the movie to upload this review so that I could save at least one more viewer from the cringe fest. How un-visionary (if that's a word) can someone be? How can acting, direction, cinematography, dialogues and screenplay stoop so low? The overcooked plot of all politicians being corrupt, all youth finding no jobs is being used here in this deluded film. They could have atleast done the bare minimum of researching how a criminal investigation works. Aiswarya Lekshmi is (was) a pretty decent actress in Malayalam. It blows my mind how below average she was in the movie. As a movie lover, I restrain to the claim that not everyone has the right to critique a film. But there's a line, where even as a simple audience, it gets you past the line such that line becomes a point. This is one such movie. And aptly so, Netflix has presented the movie, the home of all flop Indian movies.

Test cricket is one of the purest form of sports. It's synonymous to perseverance and consistency. In many ways, the sport manifests life, with all its ups and downs, hurdles and slopes. Gautam Tannauri (director) takes this into heart as he weaves Jersey in from of us. The Hindi remake of the 2019 Telugu film is no less than the original with Shahid Kapoor (Arjun) showcasing another strong performance. It follows the life of Arjun, an ex-ranji cricketer, and his decision to give the sport he loved another shot at the ripe age of 36. The scrupulous story is narrated like a 5 day test cricket match - the first act - a very welcoming first day, a testing second day, an upset on the third. The pitch gets tougher to bat on, with bouncers beaming left and right in Arjun's life. However he chooses to fight for another day. Fourth day - the second act - is all about dealing one over at a time, and a shimmer of light from the end of the tunnel. The third act - an eventual rise on the fifth day, getting as close as clinching the dream, but can he do that? One of the drawbacks of sports dramas is the lack of effort from the actor's side to show the real game. Just like Nani in the original, Shahid nails this however and so does every shot in the movie which consists of cricket. The supporting cast in the remake did an excellent job too. Great efforts in script, editing and music makes both the original and the remake two of the best sports dramas (fiction) created in the country. As Virat (ex Indian captain) remarked, " In test cricket, we want to go for the win, even if we might lose on the way." Jersey underlines the statement.

Was this an official remake of Kapoor and Sons? Everything, the circumstances, plot and even the locations suggests so. Even with a blueprint in hand, the film crumble like a thin sheet of paper. Madhu warrior who has already proven to be a below average actor, has shown neither direction is his forte. Manju warrior, whose almost all outings in her second stint has been a disappointment, doesn't take an effort to make it right. When she produced the movie for her brother making it a family business, it's the audience that has to suffer. Atleast she did good to the audience by releasing it on OTT as we could skip the major portions directly to the climax and even then, we won't miss much. Feel free to skip and watch Salute, which has a much better making.

The first 10 minutes of Puzhu was so gripping with the tension between the father and the son, their daily routine in the evening and rewatching the same video over and over. It invited us to a world of uneasiness, commission and mystery. I thought we are going to get something similar to a 'Gone Girl' or 'American Psycho.' But that's where the movie sways away from its plot. The director's urge to touch almost all social issues existing today pushed the story away from a particular focus, leaving viewers in a No-man's Land. The decision to keep Kuttan' characters history and his Job a mystery just resulted in more confusion and derailing their attention from the plot. Had they focused on one issue in hand, ( I wouu have preferred the father-son relationship) it could have become another 'Munnariyippu.' Nevertheless to say, it's Mammotty's grandeur performance that carries this movie. It's scary, mysterious, representative. The supporting cast was again, wonderful. Puzhu is just all over the place. In an attempt to grab everything, the director forgot to let her camera focus on anything, leaving the viewers unsatisfied.

is beast a good movie? nope. did it have the potential to be one? yeap. and that's all you need to know about the movie. i could go as far as to say that this is the most stylish one could see vijay the actor in a movie since thuppakki. vijay fitting into nelson's typical introvert hero was indeed refreshing to watch, since all his recent outings had become tiresome of repeating the same formula of the extroverted fun saviour of the masses. maybe this might be the factor that attracted vijay to the movie. however apart from the first action sequence and a few in between this movie has completely lost its plot that some sequences becomes a torture to watch. the "lazy writing" phenomena is very evident in the whole script, maybe because of the success of both his previous film, nelson clearly underestimated his audience. Eerything seemed rushed beginning with pooja hegde fallii head over heels for vijay after a dance. i convinced myself that this would be because they wanted to explore more backstories of the hostages, alas, it was just to introduce poojas ex-fiance who doesn't add any value to the script but gets to a point where he is annoying. the lack of logic in the movie shows the disrespect the director/writer had for the rationale thinking of the viewers. a traumatised raw officer who was compromised by the system had a huge potential, but ruined it to convince the actor's stardom and the pressure to bring a pan-indian appeal. a terrorist attack in tamilnadu, that too holding hostages wasn't convincing and even became an utter joke due to its senselessness. the only factor that helped me watch till the end was the cinematography and Anirudh's music.

Breaking Bad might be the greatest TV show ever produced in terms of its script writing and character set-up. The detailing given to each instance in every scene and to maintain that until the end is something of excellence par perfection. Now, having said that I did not have much expectations on the spin off series of a character who wasn't even one of the leads. There was Jesse, Gus, Mike, or even the many Cartels which come and go who had the potential to be explored and stories that deserved to be told. But why a petty lawyer who advocates for the cons and petty thieves deserve a story? And that's where Vince Gilligan stands out. He had weaved a story, a history which cobs a beautiful web around the BrBa world, yet so intrinsically perfect that it all remians intact, charming its prey, the viewers into its world. Yet again, the cinematography is top notch. The way they have captured deserts in BCS just like BrBa is astounding. This show got only better through the season and I just can't wait to see how it unfolds and merges with the BrBa in the season finale.

"An Empty Gift Box" Marakkar came with a lot of expectations. The marvelous cuts by Alphonse Puthran accompanied with the haunting BGM for the trailers hyped the movie yet again, not to mention the controversies which surrounded its release. The movie did keep up to its promise of "never seen before" VFX in the malayalam industry, but unfortunately the good ends there. The script had potential, yet left unsatisfied by the directors and editors, failing to give the boost it required for the quintessential moments. Especially the transformation of the younger marakkar to mohanlal needed it's extra punch, but it seemed like Priyadarshan became another Shankar who forgot the movie while focusing on the VFX. The casting was a disaster, strting from Mohanlal himself to Baburaj, who couldn't come out of his modern Cochin Slang even in the 16th century King's court. However, Arjun requires a special mention. The laziness of the director is evident in the moviemaking, who has presumably followed the style of Braveheart, but couldn't recreate it's charisma. Marakkar: The Lion of the Arabian Sea, is yet another addition of an overhyped movie which failed to meet the expectations, and the second in Mohanlals movie list, after Odiyan.