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Guruvayoor Ambalanadayil Rating: 3 - 4 / 5. Could have been 5/5 had it not been a tad too slow in parts, and too many songs (catchy songs though). Watched this on Disney+Hotstar (Orig. Malayalam w/Eng. subs.) This is a pleasing watch, a nice change from the usual violent fare these days. The plot though slow to pick up, is boldly different, replete with ample moments of subtle and in your face humour. Acting by all is excellent, especially Basil Joseph as the hapless bridegroom Vinu. Prithviraj is of course Prithviraj, can always expect good acting from him. Good to see Yogi Babu and others adding extra spices to the cooking pot. Too many dances and songs though they are rather catchy tunes and Im sure they will be or are already hits. The film is long, I used Fast Fwd a few times. Overall this is a watchable, entertaining film all round. Ticking all the right boxes, Im sure it is also a commercial success :-)))

I recently finished the entire 52 Episodes of My Golden Life on Netflix (Korean w/Eng. subs) over a 2 week period. Genre: #Melodrama #SoapOpera #Romance #ChaebolDrama but the plot does manage to hold the interest. The series is far too lengthy at 52 episodes, each around an hour. There are far too many dragging and repetitive frames in most of the episodes, depicting the particular character's emotions in most of the episodes. But these can be easily fast forwarded as I did which make it easier to get through the narrative. Some scenes are way too melodramatic and typically soap opera, again easy to fast forward your way through. JiAn (Shin Hyae Sun) is the main female character, the elder daughter of the impoverished Seo family. She is educated, well versed in a variety of vocations and excessively conscientious in whatever she does. Jian is a contract worker at Haesung, a leading enterprise. She is in the running to be made a permanent employee but at the last moment, her position is usurped by her good friend who has influence. To cut a long story short, JiAn becomes involved with Doekyung Choi (Park Si Hoo) the chocolate boy handsome, and enterprising scion of the Haesung empire. Jian has a twin sister the lively and happy natured Jisu (Seo Eun Soo). It transpires that the Haesung Choi family lost their young daughter Eunsook Choi when she was kidnapped from her mothers car as a baby. Now suddenly Doekyung's mother who is the older daughter and heir of Haesungs President, gets an anonymous tip off that the lost Eunseon has been located. Surprise Surprise, Eunsook is apparently Seo Jian. In short, Jian goes to live with the Choi family in their mansion as Eunsook their newly found daughter. Later it is discovered that Ji Su is the real Eunsook and matters take a turn for the worse. Jian is ousted from the Choi household as well as from Haesung, and runs away to commit suicide. The main plot revolves around the ill fated romance of Jian and Doekyung. Side plots concern the problems with Jisu and her new family, her romance with Hyeok; separate plots deal with the turmoil at Haesung, Doekyung stepping out to set up his own business, and several other side plots. Its all quite convoluted though fairly interesting though I did fast forward through a lot of the typically soap opera and melodramatic scenes. Family relationships in normal society and with the very upper classes are well depicted. For non Korean viewers, especially Asians, and south Asians in particular, this series would certainly be very engrossing. Im not a soap opera fan and certainly not of typical south Asian melodramas but have to admit that the Korean version is much slicker and better produced. I also learnt about a lot of similarities with south Korean society and south Asian. Not bad to watch and will be engrossing for those who love soap operas .

Summary: Disappointing and stretched I watched Drishyam 2 on Prime Video in orig. Malayalam w/Eng. subs. The first Drishyam was a really good suspense thriller, quite ahead of its times in this genre for Indian movies. Drishyam 2 is a disappointment. The acting (except for an melodramatic Asha Sharath), cinematography, sets, locations etc are all good but the build up dragged on uninterestingly for a good one hour. Thereafter it was interesting and suspenseful enough but somehow it all seemed too fantasy and farfetched by this time, even given that one is not watching this movie as a documentary and yes it is pure fiction, but in Malayalam films one has come to expect a lot better ... so perhaps that's why D-2 did not really gel with me. So not really more than a Time Pass watch, sorry !

I watched Kaanekkaane (SonyLiv Malayalam w/Eng. Subs) as an entirely random pick. Glad I did! Tehsildar Paul ( a brilliant Suraj Venjaramoodu) is a widower whose vivacious daughter Sherin died in a hit and run accident. A lonely and morose Paul comes to visit his grandson Kuttu. (Master Alok) who lives with his father Allen (Tovino) and stepmother Sneha (Aishwarya Lekshmi) who Allen married after Sherin's death. Allen is also troubled and the couple are not on the best of terms. Sneha is pregnant. Paul visits Sherin's best friend who she was with before her death and after discussing the accident, he becomes suspicious about his son in law. No Spoilers, do watch this film with a brilliant performance by Suraj Venjaramoodu that carries the narration to a different level altogether. Everything about this film is superb, Its easy to be judgmental and pick faults in others but think hard and realise that no body is without flaws. I didnt even need to fast forward as I usually do!

Padmini (Netflix orig. Malayalam w/Eng. subs.) is a cleverly made comedy with plenty of hilarious moments and (un)intentional digs at various social issues :-) Rameshan (Kunchacko Boban) is a well liked teacher at the local school. He marries the crafty Smriti (Vincy Aloshius) who on their wedding night, promptly elopes with her lover in his Padmini car. Ramesh now becomes a laughing stock with his friends and colleagues who tease him as "Padmini" !!! Eventually Ramesh goes to a marriage broker for a second chance. He is sent to meet a prospective bride, Advocate Sreedevi (Aparna Balamurali)but the two do not gel. Sreedevi reluctantly gets engaged to a successful local businessman Jayan. A new and pretty teacher Padmini joins the school. Ramesh and Padmini bond well and decide to wed. However when the families meet, they discover that Ramesh has forgotten to divorce his first wife. Padmini's uncle is firm that unless Ramesh is legally divorced, the alliance can not proceed. No further Spoilers, laugh and smile your way through the subtle and in your face humour of this film as the narration plays out! Padmini (the film) is yet another well crafted Malayalam comedy. The acting is great, the sets, cinematography etc. all very good. I thoroughly enjoyed this film. Highly recommended.

Just finished watching S2 over three days on PrimeVideo (orig.Hindi/Eng. w/Eng. subs). I liked S1 a lot but that was over 3 years ago and I dont recollect the episodes in detail. S2 is very good. The narrative revolveds around the people at a Delhi wedding planner outfit Made In Heaven, headed by Tara (Sobhita Dhulipala) Karan (Arjun Mathur) Jauhari(Vijay Raaz) Bulbul Jauhari (Mona Singh) Kabir (Shashank Arora) Jazz (Shivani Raghuvanshi) Meher (Trinetra Gummaraju), Tara's about to be divorced husband Adil (Jim Sarbh) Adil's soon to be new wife Faiza (Kalki Koechlin) and many others. Most of their clients are well heeled families, some are celebrities and expectedly there is a lot of show, glamour and glitzy sets but this series is much more than just that. Most of the lead characters are fun people but with their own eccentricities, quirks and often dark pasts. The episodes touch relevant social issues like abusive relationships, extramarital affairs, bigamy, problems with kids whose parents are divorced, schoolkids indulging in sexual activity with dire consequences, LGBT relationships and so forth. The stories are interesting with several intriguing side plots. No need for Spoilers, watch and enjoy! Good acting and cinematography. This is a very watchable series leaving scope for a Season 3, just hope there is no long gap in between. Negatives: Too many intimate scenes. Undoubtedly these draw a bigger audience but sometimes just a hint of intimacy would more than suffice. Tara is mostly shown walking as though she's permanently strutting down a catwalk, wonder why !!! Also couldnt fathom why she was so determined to claim the Khanna home in her settlement.

Superb film 10/10 rating !!! Hats off to Mammootty for taking on such a role which he pulled off par excellence. I doubt that any Bollywood 'superstar hero' would accept such a role to the extent of marrying a transgender. Peranbu is an unusual (for commercial cinema) story that deserves to be told. It opens ones eyes and ones mind to the most minute details of the world of spastics, the problems when they attain puberty and the travails of their despairing parents. The acting, the locales, the cinematography, dialogues, everything was just superb and very real. Mammootty's expressions were just perfect. Sadhana was a superb spastic Paapa, an extremely difficult role which she portrayed superbly. Anjali Ameer as Meere the transgender who befriends Mammootty and eventually becomes his wife, was also excellent. In fact, all the cast essayed their roles in a very realistic manner. The lower budget care home was also realistically depicted. The scene at the church where the boy inmate's hapless father tells Mohanlal there is no difference if his boy is beaten in the confines of the care home or randomly on the street, is pragmatism to the core. The only fault was that the initial 30-40mn of the film (Kodaikanal location) dragged with too many lingering scenes. Had these been tightly edited, Peranbu would have been brilliant cinema instead of just a very good film. I was in two minds whether to watch Peranbu, I am so glad I did. Peranbu is available on Amazon Prime Video with English subtitles.

I watched the web series Scam 1992 - The Harshad Mehta Story on SonyLiv in orig. Hindi/Eng. w/Eng. subtitles. Director Hansal Mehta has come up trumps with an engrossing narration from beginning to end. I was never into the stock market but I do remember the news reports of those days when Harshad Mehta was exposed and raided, also when he died in custody of a heart attack. The series is based on the book Scam 1992 by Debashis Basu and Sucheta Dalal. Sucheta who was then a business journalist "exposed" the Harshad Mehta scam and rose to become TOI's Financial Editor. Pratik Gandhi who I hadn't heard of before, is brilliant as Harshad Mehta. Pratik deserves an award for his excellent portrayal of a likeable Harshad who rose from simplicity to extraordinary heights, making one grudgingly admire the crafty brilliance of the Big Bull. On the other hand Shreya Dhanwanthary makes her character Sucheta look like a person presenting a holier than thou image, an opportunist who leaves no stone unturned to selectively "expose the corrupt" ... and with a distinctly vindictive streak. Sucheta's character is perhaps intended to be viewed thus .. Eventually Sucheta was rewarded with a Padma award for her efforts. BTW, never figured out who Sucheta's main source was in real life. Whereas other big names including former PM Narasimha Rao were bandied about freely in the series. No Spoilers ... do watch this extremely well made and very watchable series. Suffice it to say that you may wonder why some got away while Harshad was destroyed, and more significantly how nothing has really changed, if anything it is worse in current times .....