᚛VสiรhŇสvi᚜

I was looking for something non violent and non scary to watch at night and chanced upon Om Shanthi Oshana on Hotstar with English subtitles. It's a sweet romantic movie. Initially I thought oh no, do I really want to watch a school girl crush story that is more suited for juveniles, but then the movie grows on you and it ended up being quite a nice watch. Even the music was rather nice. Nazriya Nazim is really cute, I've seen her in Bangalore Days too. Nivin Pauly was a tad melodramatic in certain scenes but overall, all the cast essayed their characters well. The sets, cinematography and all that is of course of the usual high standards that Malayalam films are known for. I am a big fan of good Malayalam cinema. Normally I would not have chosed a juvenile romance to watch but OSO was very watchable though it certainly is not the best of Malayalam cinema as so many other reviewers have been raving about. OSO is possibly targetted at a much younger age group than mine :-)))) However, if you're looking for something sweet to watch especially before going to bed then OSO is definitely better than any horror or thriller or violent fare.

The Priest is an investigative thriller and typically for a whodunnit, it is full of red herrings. Mammootty plays a priest-detective, and there's a reason for this combination. The film starts with the investigation into the multiple deaths in a family over a few years. Any resemblance to a sensational case that took place in Kerala last year can be quickly dismissed. Mammootty is approached by a young woman from the family to investigate the deaths. But there is more to the story, as the film slowly unfolds. Nikhila plays a schoolteacher playing helping a troubled child. Even as she resists the priest, Fr Carmen Benedict's help, she finds that only he understands the forces that are at play in her situation. With a script by Shyam Menon and Deepu Pradeep, debut director Jofin T Chacko delivers capably on the scares with never-ending loud noises and 'unpleasant' surprises, but the problem with upping the horror factor is that if the end doesn't deliver, it could seem anti-climatic, which is what happens with The Priest. At 140 minutes, the story seems to drag on and you can't take another loud crash, bang or scream. The sound department has done a good job, but has gone a little on the extreme side. Mammootty is flawless as the spiritual detective. Manju Warrier delivers her usual strong performance (spoiler alert in brackets, albeit in a small role) and Nikhila Vimal ably complements Mammootty as the fearful spectator to his unflappable demeanor. All the smaller actors have done a good job, particularly the little girl. If you are a fan of thrillers, you might be happy about some of the novel elements in this one.