Kandahar Movie Review: A Wasted Opportunity

Warning- Spoiler Alert

Writer-Director Major Ravi shot into prominence with his very first feature filmKeertichakra which came out in 2006. With an Army background and having worked with people likePriyadarshan, Kamal Haasan, Rajkumar Santoshi and Maniratnam, Major Ravi made his intentions clear that he preferred to make films with an Army background, a milieu that he was very familiar with. Keertichakra was a bilingual (the Tamil version Aran was partly dubbed and partly re-shot) and the Malayalam version did fairly well and was noticed. Major Ravi then went on to make a docu-drama styled film- Mission 90 Days based on the Rajiv Gandhi murder investigation. After the setback of his 2nd film Major Ravi revived the character of Major Mahadevan (Mohanalal) from Keertichakra and made his 3rd film – Kurukshetra.

Ever since Kurukshetra came out Major Ravi has been in the news with various stories doing the rounds about his next film- Kandahar, based on the 1999 plane hijacking. Starting with talks of Major Ravi bringing out the magical jodi of Kamal Haasan and Mohanlal, something that Kamal Haasan then subsequently denied ( they eventually acted together in Unnaipol Oruvan ). Later on the film again came into the news when Amitabh Bachchan was mentioned as having signed the film, a fact which then got confirmed. After this there was a mention of Surya having also been brought on board but this then didn’t work out. Finally then the film took off with the major cast comprising of Mohanlal, Amitabh Bachchan and Ganesh Venkatraman.

Produced by Suresh C. Nair (under Zoe Estebe Moviez) and Mohanlal himself (under Pranavam Arts International), there seemed to be a deliberate attempt to showcase grandness about the film. With the trailer of the film getting unveiled, I started having an uneasy feeling about the film. The trailer even bought back the memories of RGV Ki Aag, a movie where AB Sr and Lal ettan had worked together previously, with a disastrous result of course. Nevertheless since I genuinely admire and respect both the actors I still decided to look up to the film. Thanks to the star cast (especially Amitabh Bachchan- Mohanlal combination) the film managed to get a wide distribution. With the release date (16th Dec, 2010) being timed ideally at the start of the Christmas holidays, the film managed an impressive release both inside Kerala and outside the state.

Ok I realize that I am yet to talk about the plot of the film and the reason is that there is hardly much to say in terms of the film’s plot. But still going ahead I’d say that Kandahar is all about Suryanath Sharma (Ganesh Venkatraman), a firebrand youth who lives in Ooty with his father, Lokanath Sharma ( Amitabh Bachchan ) a retired teacher. Surya’s mother (Sumalatha) is no more. Surya is a typical careless youngster and his father is worried about Surya’s future. Major Mahadevan ( Mohanlal )comes across Surya in an unlikely situation and decides to help him join the army. A parallel track shows a Muslim youth (a friend of Surya) who is misled and made to join a terrorist outfit in Afghanistan. Both the tracks converge when the terrorist outfit decides to hijack a plane from India and bring it to Kandahar to demand the release of their leader, who is in prison in India. No prizes for guessing that Major Mahadevan and his team including Surya decide to go on a rescue mission on board the flight.

If I were to analyze the film and look at what worked and what didn’t work then it becomes an extremely difficult task for me. For, I seriously don’t know what actually works in favor of the film. First of all I’d like to mention that Major Ravi has taken the audience (and probably some of the cast and crew also) for a long ride. For a film titled Kandahar and supposed to be based on the 1999 hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight IC 814, you realize that its hardly the last 20 odd minutes or so of the film that is actually dealing with the actual hijacking. And even the way the rescue mission has been narrated will make you either cry with pain or laugh unnecessarily (depending on how you perceive it). The way Major Mahadevan & his team of NSG commandos easily enter the flight and tackle the situation has to be seen to be believed. It makes me wonder how Major Ravi, an army veteran can be so casual about the whole thing.

As for the writing, it’s clearly evident that there was no proper script written in the first place (making me wonder how Amitabh Bachchan and Mohanlal agreed to do this film). Situations take place with a lot of convenience, but nothing comes out of it. For example when you see the parallel tale of Surya going to the Army and his friend joining a terrorist outfit, you think of films like Anjathey by Mysskin where there is a lot of conflict between the friends when their paths cross each other. Here nothing like it happens. In fact Surya’s friend gets killed in an encounter with the NSG Commando’s and all that Surya tells Major Mahadevan is that “I know him, he was my friend”. Surya is shown to be a brash, careless youth and is made to join the Army. This reminds you of Lakshya, but then while the audience could connect to Hrithik Roshan’s character, Surya’s character portrayed by Ganesh Venkatraman comes across as dull and uninspiring.

A lot of characters are present in the film but you seriously wonder why some of them are in the film in the first place. The only character who really comes across as natural and effective is that of the Muslim youth’s widowed mother portrayed effectively by KPAC Lalitha. Regarding Amitabh Bachchan’s presence in the film and the hype about his Malayalam debut, well most of his dialogues are in Hindi and English. The length of his role wasn’t a problem for me since it was known that he has a cameo in the film. But his role is nothing special enough that calls for his requirement. Mohanlal also looks visibly uncomfortable in a lot of scenes and it’s a surprise considering he’s portraying the character of Major Mahadevan for the 3rd time. The much touted scenes between Mohanlal and Amitabh also lack the intensity that could have easily been there if there was an earnest attempt made, again a failure on part of Major Ravi.

Ganesh Venkatraman who actually is the so called hero of the film looks a complete misfit in the role. When his character is that of a cool youth who is supposed to be well versed in Hindi,Malayalam, English and Tamil, why would you dub his voice with someone who speaks Hindi and English with such a bad accent? It comes across as very glaring especially when Ganesh is talking to AB Sr who of course speaks impeccable Hindi and English. The film has 3-4 songs (music by Shamir Tandon), all of them in Hindi but was there a need to have an item number in a discotheque? Which then makes me ask a question to Mohanalal- sir why would you want to produce this film and revive your home banner- Pranavam Arts International with this dud of a film? Pranavam Arts has been noted in the past for making many acclaimed films like His Highness Abdullah, Bharatham, Kamaladalam, Kaalapani, Vanaprastham etc and to come back with a film like this is baffling to say the least.

All in all with stars like Amitabh Bachchan and Mohanlal and a subject like Kandahar hijacking Major Ravi could have gone ahead and delivered a far better movie than what has actually been made. So it’s a terrible loss of opportunity indeed, something that Major Ravi can never undo. For those wanting to see a film on the Kandahar hijacking, films like Zameen by Rohit Shetty ( Ajay Devgn and Abhishek Bachchan ) or even Yeh Dil Aashiqana by Kuku Kohli are far better to watch than this pain of a film. As for Mohanlal and his Pranavam Arts International, its better to re-watch some of their old films than watching this one. A few hours after watching Kandahar I watched His Highness Abdullah once again by co-incidence and slightly felt better

Originally published in PFC- http://passionforcinema.com/kandahar-movie-review-a-wasted-opportunity/

Christian Brothers Movie Review: Harmless old wine in new bottle

Director Joshiy has been a veteran in the Malayalam film industry who has worked with most of the leading actors in his period. So when AMMA (Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes) and Dileep joined hands to make Twenty: 20,the fund raising film for AMMA, it was Joshiy whom they turned up to for helming the project. Joshiy along with his writersSiby K.Thomas and Udayakrishna came up with the mother of all multistarrers in Malayalam Cinema by incorporating nearly the who’s who of the industry in the film. What was interesting was that the film managed to give enough mileage to almost the entire star cast while retaining the focus on the top billed stars of course.

Twenty: 20 wasn’t a film that brought about any revolution in terms of its story telling or probably even in the technical front. But it delivered what it promised- entertainment catering to the masses who were happy to watch all their stars in one single film. So in 2009 when Christian Brothers was first announced with the same team of Joshiy,Udayakrishna and Sibi.K.Thomas we knew what to expect. There was no doubt that it was not going to be anywhere close to some of the landmark films in Malayalam Cinema. It wasn’t going to be having any outstanding subject or an out of the box treatment or even technical wizardry. So for those who would complain saying that the movie is nowhere in the league of Joshiy’s earlier films ( Nirakootu, New Delhi, No.20 Madras Mail, Naduvaazhikal and many more ) or the landmark films of Mohanlal, Suresh Gopi or Dileep, well then I’d say you went to watch the wrong movie. The star cast comprising of names like Mohanlal, Suresh Gopi, Dileep, Sharath Kumar etc certainly looked impressive enough and did create a lot of excitement among the prospective audience. The film was also in the news when the producers association came out with a norm that no Malayalam movie should have a budget of more than 3.5 crores ( keeping the viability in mind ). Sensing that this project was going to be way beyond the 3.5 crs mark the association did not give the clearance initially before finally relaxing the norm for the same.

Ok so am I saying that Christian Brothers is a cracker of a movie? Hang on friends. Let me start by looking at the plot of the movie to begin with. Palamattathu Varghese Mappila (Sai Kumar) is a retired Army Captain and a disciplinarian. He has given up on his two sons, Christy (Mohanlal) and Joji (Dileep). He gets upset with Christy when he hears that Christy has probably joined the underworld in Mumbai while Joji earns his father’s displeasure by opting out of the seminary in Italy and falling in love with Meenakshi ( Kavya Madhavan ), the daughter of the home minister (Devan). When Meenakshi’s father gets to hear of his daughter’s affair he gets her back home but before reaching home itself, she is kidnapped. Considering the high risk involved in getting his daughter back the minister falls back upon Christy to handle the task. What happens from thereon is what the rest of the film is all about.

It is certainly an effort to make a simple story like this work to an extent and for that Joshiy, Sibi K.Thomas and Udayakrishna deserve some credit. In fact at the interval point you are even strangely relaxed watching the film unfold and build up character by character. But strangely what starts on a relatively good note fizzles out in the 2nd half. The film has a parallel plot of land mafia, which is linked; to the main plot and this is an attempt to remain deep-rooted to reality. Sai Kumar is earnest as the father who is strict and is unable to recognize the goodness in his son. Biju Menonand Vijayaraghavan get a lot of screen time but play the standard negative roles. Suresh Gopi as the cop Joseph Vadakkan does his usual job while Dileep in his limited portion is effective. In fact in the 2nd half its only the light moments created in the scenes featuring Sursh Gopi and Dileep that carry some impact. None of the female leads – Kavya Madhavan,Lakshmi Rai, Kaniha or Lakshmi Gopalswamy have anything much to do in the film. Jagathy Sreekumar is good in the cameo enacted by him. Sharath Kumar is just there to provide star power and his presence is just that of an extended cameo.

But pray what was Suraj Venjaramoodu doing in the film?I think its the director’s duty to ensure that he reigns in someone like Suraj otherwise there is ever the chance of him going berserk in the film and only proving a nuisance.Ultimately the movie is a Mohanlal vehicle and the star pulls it off in style. But his introductory shot (breaking the glass and entering the frame) and his characterization as “ Sher-Son” (couldn’t they get anything better than this) were just to please the frontbenchers. While this made me grimace a bit and wonder what other crowd-pleasing tactics were in store, I was relieved to find no unnecessary over the top punch dialogues or item numbers. All of these have been seen in plenty in recent “mass films” in Malayalam and hence the lack of such elements at least gives you the feeling of watching a Malayalam movie and not a Tamil or Telugu styled one. Deepak Dev’s music is of the popular variety but not something that you might remember after a few months though.

All said and done it looks like the producers of the film, A.V.Anoop and Maha Subair who have produced many films together in the past including Paleri Manikyam, were clear with their objective this time- of making an entertainer that would fetch them their moolah. Initial indications suggest that they could be right though. With a release in 300 odd centres Worldwide (a record for Malayalam Cinema) and with word of mouth not being negative, the star power seems to have done the trick once again. But its sad that today’s state of affairs in Malayalam cinema has reached the level where one feels happy when even something better than the majority (of the trash) comes out. So if looked at as an opportunity to come up with something non-traditional or out of the box then the movie of course is a failure but if seen as just an attempt to keep you occupied for nearly 3 hours of its running time, then I’d say it’s a fair attempt. Go watch it for lack of better options and also to look at what could have been a really good entertainer, if the 2nd half also had delivered equally.

Originally published in PFC- http://passionforcinema.com/christian-brothers-movie-review-harmless-old-wine-in-new-bottle/

Ividam Swargamanu- A Movie for the Festive Season

Traditionally the end of December is festive season in Kerala with Christmas and the New Year celebrations happening with gusto across the state. So this is also considered as a good time to release movies and this time one of the movies that has reached out to the audience is Ividam Swargamanu ( It’s heaven here – IS from hereon ), directed by Rosshan Andrrews and written by James Albert. Mohanlal ends the year 2009 with a fairly engaging film in IS. What is it that first strikes the mind when we think of Kerala? It won’t be wrong to say that for the majority of us the thoughts could be something related to Kerala’s lovely natural beauty, for after all isn’t Kerala referred to as God’s own country? So it’s not surprising that the tourism industry flourishes so well in Kerala.
Speaking about Kerala’s natural beauty and the tourism industry it’s also important to note that the threat of land mafia is looming large in Kerala where people who are forever trying to make a fast buck in the name of tourism are trying to capture land (mainly agricultural) from people by various means. For those who are wondering why I’m mentioning all this, the connect would be very evident soon as I write more in detail about the movie now. IS talks about Mathews (Mohanlal) who is a new age farmer having a large farm and dairy named after his father, Jeremias . It was always the ambition of Mathews to have such a farm and he loves the land as much as his parents ( Thilakan and Kaviyoor Ponnamma). As a new age farmer Mathews adopts organic farming and even uses windmills to generate electricity.
The farm is the cynosure of all eyes and soon invites the attention of a lot of people. Their peaceful existence comes under threat when a real estate developer Aluva Chandy (Lalu Alex) expresses his desire to buy the farm from Mathews. Mathews refuses to part with the farm as that’s their heaven while Aluva Chandy decides to use all the tricks of the trade to fulfill his desire. From then begins an interesting game of wits between Mathews and Aluva Chandy. What is interesting about the movie is the way the story unfolds. Right from the very beginning one can see a lot of realism in the proceedings. Though there are a lot of characters there is no special attention bestowed to character buildup. Rather the characters tend to flow with the narrative.

The leading ladies- Lakshmi Gopalswamy,Priyanka Nair and Lakshmi Rai with Lal ettan
In the beginning the easy going pace of the narrative can even be a bit distracting but this is something to be overlooked. The best part of the movie is the climax which is quite funny without venturing into slapstick territory. Mohanlal is at his restrained best throughout the movie and those who are expecting to see some larger than life stuff from him will end up disappointed. It’s nice to see Thilakan finally acting with Mammootty and Mohanlal once again these days after a gap of a few years. Kaviyoor Ponnamma and Sukumari perform their elderly roles without much fuss. What’s interesting is the line up of other actors in the supporting roles. I would be committing a major sin if I fail to acknowledge Lalu Alex’s contribution to the movie. As Aluva Chandy,Lalu Alex is extremely convincing as the bad guy but with a comic streak. Also seen in a reasonably good role is Shankar the yesteryear star as Sudheer, friend of Mathews. I was reminded of films like Manjil Virinja Pookal, Sukhamo Devi, Poochakkoru Mookuthi and many more where Mohanlal and Shanker acted as a combination.
There are 3 leading ladies here and all of them have reasonable screen time. Lakshmi Gopalswamy plays Maria, a Manager in a Govt.bank, Lakshmi Rai plays Advocate Sunita and Priyanka Nair plays a T.V reporter, Betsy. The pick of the lot is certainly Priyanka Nair who plays adequate foil to Mohanlal whenever they are on screen together. Priyanka who first shot to fame with Vasantha Balan’s acclaimed Tamil film,Veyyil ( paired with Pasupathi ) is fast becoming popular with some unconventional roles in films like Bhoomi Malayalam and Vilapangalkappuram. What’s also commendable is the fact that the movie is devoid of the usual set of comedians (read Suraj Venjaramoodu, Salim Kumar, Harisree Asokan etc) and the comedy element doesn’t appear forced here. Jagathy Sreekumar leaves his mark playing a fairly interesting character called Bhuvanachandran (saying anything about his character will spoil the fun). Manian Pillai Raju in a cameo is very good and will win the heart of the audience in the climax.

Mohanlal- Sreenivasan, the evergreen comboAfter Udhanayanu Tharam Rosshan Andrrews once again brings back the magical combination of Mohanlal and Sreenivan in IS. While this time Sreenivasan has only a cameo, nevertheless as Prabalan he brings in the surprise element in the film wonderfully.There is no scope for any song in the movie and Rosshan Andrrews has not tried any sort of gimmicks over here. Overall this is nowhere close to a path breaking movie but then the movie was never intended to be one. It was targeted as a family entertainer for the festive season and in this respect it certainly works reasonably.

Originally posted in PFC-check it out here- http://tinyurl.com/y4jro5f

Sankat City- drives away the blues caused by Bhramaram

We keep using the phrase ‘as different as chalk & cheese’ in our daily life so often that sometimes it takes one by surprise when you actually experience it in a very interesting way. The weekend that went by was another filmy weekend for me, but one that was rather very special. Just like enjoying a biriyani and a pizza equally or freaking out on ghazals and rock music with the same zeal, I happened to watch 2 movies this weekend which were completely unlike each other. The movies concerned were Bhramaram and Sankat City ( SC from hereon ) and there was hardly anything in common between them. For starters Bhramaram is a Malayalam movie made by Blessy (his 5th film) and stars Superstar- Mohanlal. SC on the other hand is a Hindi movie made by Pankaj Advani ( his 1st official release ) and has no superstar in it but a very talented cast comprising of Kay Kay, Anupam Kher,Rimi Sen,Chunky Pandey, Rahul Dev,Yashpal Sharma,Dilip Prabhavalkar etc.

While Bhramaram is more of a road movie with the undertone of a thriller, SC is a mad caper and is a fun ride all the way. Bhramaram is more or less a one man show (Mohanlal) while SC belongs to a whole host of characters and it is difficult to just single out just one or two characters. Well I can go on & on but then I guess the message is loud and clear by now. But what is important to know is that I had a good time watching both these movies. In their own ways both Bhramaram and SC have the capacity to engage the viewer and there in lies the one common thread between the two.

Saturday evening saw me taking off early from office to be in time to watch Bhramaram. The initial scenes are quite ordinary and it takes a while to slowly get hooked to the narrative. Suresh Menon (whom we’ve seen for ages on T.V & in Bollywood films) is Unni, a stock broker who lives with his wife (Lakshmi Gopalswamy) and daughter in Coimbatore. One fine day a very shabby looking Jose (Mohanlal) lands up at Unni’s place and introduces himself as his old classmate from school. Unni is unable to recollect Jose but since Jose is able to describe a lot of events from the school days, he is forced to believe him. Jose who claims to be a jeep driver in the high ranges of Kerala does not initially reveal the reason for his visit.

Once the reason is revealed the movie really gets going and you see traces of vintage Mohanlal slowly unraveling. After Unni and Jose embark on their journey it then goes on to become a taut game of emotions. Blessy manages to keep the narrative interesting enough by interspersing humor in certain places which helps in maintaining a balance. The cinematography of Ajayan Vincent certainly impresses especially in the night shots captured in the hills. Music by Mohan Sithara is decent. Suresh Menon certainly impresses and hopefully this performance should help him fetch more such roles. Muralikrishnan as Alex, friend of Unni is also quite effective. Lakshmi Gopalswamy and Bhoomika (Mohanlal’s wife) have nothing much to do. On the whole the movie is certainly a far cry from the recent Mohanlal movies like Red Chillies, Sagar Alias Jackie (Reloaded), Bhagawan etc and gives you glimpses of the brilliant actor that he is. Blessy again redeems himself to some extent with Bhramaram (after Calcutta News) and hopefully should do even better the next time around. Definitely not great cinema, but certainly one of the better films in recent times.

While I kept thinking of what could have made Bhramaram even better, I couldn’t escape the fact that the movie had disturbed me. Later that night Lalettan’s Shivankutty/ Jose continued to haunt me and I realized that the character was not just lingering in my mind, it was also making me feel low (those who’ve watched the movie would understand). So on Sunday morning when I woke up slightly earlier than usual, I was unsure of how to get back into groove and that’s when I realized I didn’t even have to try hard- I was lucky to end up watching a 10.30 A.M show of SC.

By now most of us know the plot and characters of SC so I wouldn’t really get into that. But yes to give a quick insight I can say that it’s all about money and how a host of characters get interwoven into a tale that has money as the fulcrum. Right from the first frame till the end I kept smiling and at times couldn’t really control myself from laughing hard- I guess it was true for everyone else among the audience too. For the sake of people who are yet to watch the movie I wish to point out a few things about the movie-
What SC definitely has-
1.Characters who are loud and even over the top and thankfully do not pretend that they are anything else2.A sparkling cast of some superbly talented actors and some of them would even surprise you with their portrayals.3.Uniform pace of the movie- there’s hardly any dull moment and you do not have to keep looking at your watch.4.Enough and more entertaining moments to keep you glued to the screen till the end, the very end.5.Some wonderful locations in & around Mumbai that have been captured brilliantly ( like for example the garbage dump )6.The budget seems to have been completely well utilized or rather most efficiently utilized ( check out the scene in the bus when the bags get switched )

What SC definitely doesn’t have-
1.Superstars and A – list heroines2.A routine structured story ( it’s a mad caper after all )3.Emotion, tragedy, drama ( well yes it does have it, but certainly not like what you think )4.Item numbers by Rakhi Sawant etc ( well there’s a small bit where Anupam Kher and dynamite are dancing though )5.Songs shot abroad6.Gyan-baazi ( oh! There’s nothing preachy here )7.While actors like Kay Kay , Anupam Kher etc have done some serious, meaningful cinema- this is certainly not a serious off beat movie.

All I can say is that SC is one movie that not only entertains it also makes you think- as to why we don’t have more of such movies coming out of Bollywood these days. While watching the movie I also realized that Pankaj Advani & his team must have certainly had a blast while shooting the movie, it clearly shows on screen as everybody seems to be enjoying what they are portraying on screen. That to me is a very big achievement indeed and I heartily salute Pankaj and the entire cast and crew for giving us SC- a film that we can certainly enjoy time and again.
It’s my fond hope that somebody concerned would do something to enable a much better presence in theatres for the movie by increasing the shows and also by enabling prime time shows wherever possible. A sincere movie like this which has also been getting good reviews needs a much better reach than what it has presently. Till then it’s a sincere request to all those who are passionate about cinema to go on & watch SC- you won’t be disappointed for sure.

P.S- Originally published in PFC- check it out here- http://passionforcinema.com/sankat-city-drives-away-the-blues-caused-by-bhramaram/

Priyadarshan- The Run Machine of Indian Cinema

So far this year we have seen the frenzy generated by SDM and the success of movies like Dev D and Raaz- the Mystery Continues. And of late we have been hearing a lot about the ongoing strike in Bollywood. But there has been a landmark that was also noticed in the 1st Qr of 2009, something which did not really get so much of attention. This landmark was achieved on 13th February ’09 when Billu got released. No this write-up is not something about either Billu or SRK. For those who are not aware I wish to inform that Billu is the 75th movie directed by Priyadarshan in his career spanning around 25 years in Indian Cinema. This is indeed a commendable achievement because there aren’t too many directors with such a big tally of completed projects and more so when it’s from someone like him who has successfully made a transition from South Indian cinema to Bollywood.

Oh! Yes we all know that a lot of his recent movies have started getting repetitive. There are valid complaints like he’s been using the same locations time & again, he’s been working with a stock set of actors, he continues to remake his own movies or those directed by others (mainly Malayalam) etc. But all said and done we just cannot ignore the fact Priyan has given us countless memorable movies in Malayalam like Chithram, Thalavattom, Kalapani etc and even some of his early Hindi movies have been quite refreshing like Gardish & Virasat. This year also has finally seen the release of his critically acclaimed Tamil movie- Kanchivaram. This year also is seeing him work on serious movies like Bum Bum Bole (with Darsheel Safary and supposedly inspired from Children of Heaven) and an untitled movie on AIDS awareness with Akshay Kumar and Mohanlal.

Hence considering all this I think this is the right time to look back in time and re-visit some of the best works of Priyan. Given below are 5 films that I feel would be top on my list and they are described below in chronological order. Considering his repertoire it has not been easy for me to choose the movies. But nevertheless here I go-

Poochakke Oru Mookuthi- This Malayalam movie released in 1984 was Priyan’s debut movie which he went on to remake later in Hindi as Hungama. The movie was a brilliant comedy of errors and had superlative performances not just from the lead cast of Shankar,Menaka and Mohanlal but also from the supporting cast like Nedumudi Venu,Sukumari, Shankaradi, Jagathy Sreekumar etc. The ‘chaotic’ style of climax which is a Priyan trademark actually originated from this movie. One of the best scenes from this movie is when Shankar an aspiring singer comes to teach music to Sukumari and Nedumudi Venu interferes. The scene does not feature in Hungama. Given below is the video link- have a look & enjoy J



Thalavattom- Released in 1986, this Malayalam movie was unsuccessfully remade by Priyan later in Hindi as Kyunki. With more than subtle shades of One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, what made the movie special was Mohanal playing the character of Vinod who is mentally ill. Mohanalal’s portrayal was extremely convincing and was ably supported by others like Karthika, Nedumudi Venu, Soman,Jagathy Sreekumar etc. Inspite of the slightly serious subject Priyan retained his comic touch in the movie with some memorable comedy scenes like the one in the link below-



Music by Reghu Kumar also deserves a special mention here.

Chithram- Released in 1988, this Malayalam movie is one of the biggest hits in the history of Malayalam cinema. The movie was so successful that it went on to be remade in a lot of other languages including Tamil and Hindi but none of them were directed by Priyan, The movie was written by the prolific actor-writer Sreenivasan and once again had Mohanlal in the lead. Chithram is the story of Vishnu ( Mohanlal ) a photographer who goes to jail for accidentally killing his wife and then escapes from jail to make money for his child’s surgery. That’s when he comes in contact with Kalyani ( Renjini ) and her uncle ( Nedumudi Venu) who want him to act as Kalyani’s husband to make her father ( Poornam Vishwanathan ) happy as he is ill & on vacation. What ensues is a comic series of adventures with an extremely emotional climax. Music by Kannur Rajn was also one of the main reasons for the movie’s success. Given below is the link to the video of my favorite song from the movie – Doore kizhakkudikkum sung by M.G.Sreekumar and Sujatha.



Kilukkam- This Malayalam movie released in 1991 was also remade by him in Hindi as Muskurahat. It is certainly one of the best comedy films in Malayalam cinema – but definitely not just a routine comedy. While Mohanal as Joji the tourist guide in Ooty and Revathy as the orphan in search of her father were certainly commendable, IMO the actual star of the movie is Jagathy Sreekumar who plays the role of Mohanalal’s friend Nishchal.This movie is one of the best examples to showcase the powerhouse of talent that Jagathy Sreekumar is. Watch the scene in the video below – one of my favorites from the movie. This was one of the earlier works of Sharat Saxena in South Indian cinema.Music by S.P.Venkatesh was also in line with the mood of the film.




Kalapani- Not all movies directed by Priyan were comedies and Kalapani ( Siraichalai-Tamil, Saza-E-Kalapani-Hindi) is a fitting example to underline the statement. The movie told the poignant story of a doctor (Mohanlal) who is wrongly accused of being a naxalite and sent to the Cellular Jail in Port Blair (Andaman & Nicobar Islands). The movie brilliantly described the cruelty that the Indian freedom fighters suffered in the Cellular Jail during the British regime. Performances by the supporting cast of Amrish Puri,Prabhu,Tabu,Annu Kapoor etc were all praiseworthy. Music by Ilayaraja and cinematography by Santosh Sivan further enhanced the appeal of the story.Earlier this year when I finally got to visit the Cellular Jail, I couldn’t but help recollecting a lot of scenes from the movie.

Apart from these 5 movies certain other movies also deserve a special mention like Thenmavin Kombathu (Saat Rang Ke Sapne by Priyan inHindi), Akkare Akkare Akkare
the 3rd part in the classic Dasan-Vijayan police series , Vandanam, Mukundetta Sumithra Vilikunnu. Do let me know what you all feel about these movies and about the other movies made by Priyan. Here’s hoping that Priyan – the run machine of Indian cinema continues to entertain us with his movies and makes even better movies hereafter.

Note- I have not mentioned any Tamil or Hindi movie in my list because all his movies in Hindi and Tamil have been direct remakes of other South Indian movies (mainly Malayalam) directed by Priyan himself or others.

Originally published in PFC- check it out here- http://passionforcinema.com/priyadarshan-the-run-machine-of-indian-cinema/

What ails Malayalam Cinema today?

It’s a known fact that by & large Malayalam and Bengali films have gone on to stand out for the quality of movies getting made over the years. While Bengali cinema has seen masters like Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Ritwik Ghatak etc during the yesteryears and is now being represented by the likes of Gautam Ghosh, Rituparno Ghosh etc, Malayalam cinema too has had its maestro’s like Adoor Gopalakrishnan,Aravindan, Bharathan,Padmarajan,T.V.Chandran etc who have brought movies of a different perspective to the intelligent audience. The difference between the Malayalam & Bengali film industry lay in the fact that while mainstream cinema in Bengali in the last 2 decades especially had degenerated into typical potboilers which were not for the intelligent audiences, in case of Malayalam cinema by & large the mainstream cinema was also of high standard. Movies made by stalwarts like Sathyan Anthikkad,Sibi Malayil,Fazil, Priyadarshan etc went on to revolutionize the 80’s and the 90’s.

This brings us to Malayalam cinema of the present. Why do we constantly hear complaints of the quality of movies going down? Why do people long for the kind of movies of the 80’s and 90’s even today? Is the situation out of control? Let’s take a lot at the situation and some of the factors going against Malayalam Cinema presently.

Genuine shortage of good films

Last year’s biggest hit was Twenty: 20, a commercial khichdi which went on to break all records of the Malayalam film industry. While that can be considered as an exception, even if one looks at the other movies made, the scenario appears bleak. Veruthe Oru Bharya was the 2nd biggest hit and while it brought back a new life for Jayaram, the movie would hardly have been considered brilliant in front of some of Jayaram’s earlier movies under directors like Sathyan Anthikkad or a Rajasenan. The story continues with most of the recent releases.

Lack of audience for middle of the road cinema

It’s a shame that in Kerala today a genuinely good film like Jayaraj’s Gulmohar, which saw writer-director Ranjith making an excellent debut as an actor or M.G.Sasi’s Adayalangal struggles to get a theatrical release. And even for some good movies done by Mohanlal like Akashagopuram or a Pakalnakshtrangal, the audience preferred to stay away, preferring to instead watch him in a Twenty: 20 or a Kurukshetra.

Influence of Hindi,Tamil & Telugu Cinema

While one always knew that Malayalam cinema stood for realistic portrayals and also appreciated it, both the film makers and the audience were satisfied that they were able to reach out to the expectations of each other. The audience in Kerala has always been intelligent and preferred to see realism in Malayalam movies and left the larger than life and the glossy stuff to Hindi & Tamil cinema. So much so that in recent times SRK and Vijay have become very big stars in Kerala also on account of their popularity among the youth. This was still all right but seeing the ever increasing popularity of Hindi & Tamil movies in the state, some of the film makers decided to go in for more gloss in their own movies. Thus bringing in typical mass dance numbers and other symbols, more representative of a Hindi or a Tamil movie. In the bargain the element of realism so much an essential part of Malayalam cinema started getting lost.

Another problem has been that of Hindi,Tamil & the Malayalam dubbed versions of Telugu movies flooding the theatres in Kerala. While Hindi & Tamil movies have always found patronage in Kerala, they are finding more acceptances nowadays due to the fall in standards in Malayalam cinema. Aamir Khan’s Ghajini has become the highest grossing Hindi movie in Kerala also. But it is the wide release of the Telugu dubbed movies which is proving to be a big nuisance. For the producers and the distributors, this is a cheap option- the cost of dubbing is not high & the movies get widely released for a 1-2 week run. This sometimes even acts as a stumbling block for the release of a small Malayalam movie.

Shortage of Theatres

The multiplex culture is yet to invade Kerala (Mohanalal in partnership with someone else is now coming up with a chain of multiplexes targeting mainly the smaller towns) and so it’s still the traditional single screens and the cineplexes which rule the roost. Over the last few years a lot of theatres have given away to shopping complexes and other constructions due to either business or other reasons. A huge city like Cochin- Ernakulam does not today have more than 10 -12 direct release theatres ( Ernakulam+Fort Cochin+Tripunithira area) and that makes the availability of screens also a major problem especially if it’s a small movie getting released.

Stars holding Sway

Nearly 3 decades old in the industry and the 2 M’s Mammootty and Mohanlal still rule the roost. They continue to do 5-6 movies a year and try to balance the middle of the road cinema with the commercial movies. Dileep and Jayaram (after T: 20 and Veruthe Oru Bharya) are hanging in there, while the others including Suresh Gopi hardly seem to hit the bulls eye these days. Among the younger stars it’s only Prithviraj who seems to have some kind of connect with the audiences. When it comes to the heroines the problem is even different. Most of the Malayalam heroines like Nayanthara, Bhavana,Navya Nair, Mamta Mohan Das are more prominent in the other South Indian languages. Kavya Madhavan and Gopika have now retired after their wedding. So a new bunch of heroines are required to bring in the freshness.

Silver Lining in the cloud?

So is the situation completely out of control? Are all the factors mentioned above to much to handle? No, I would feel that the situation can still be brought under control.
Given below are some ways to overcome the same and bring back the earlier days of the Malayalam Film Industry-
Prominent film makers like Sathyan Anthikkad, Sibi Malayil, Joshy, Fazil etc to make movies more frequently with the same kind of realism that they have been working on.
More emphasis on script to be given. People like Ranjith, Blessy,Lohitadas, Sreenivasan,T.A.Razzak etc to lead the way. Bring out more works of literary giants like M.T.Vasudevan Nair.
Encourage work of talented directors like Blessy, Shaji.N.Karun etc who can bridge the divide between mainstream & middle of the road cinema.
Make use of digital cinema- Qube & UFO to help in releasing the smaller movies
Curtail the release of dubbed releases by fixing a maximum number of movies allowed per year.
Catch them young- the Kerala Government can through their own Film Society
(Kairali) organize mini festivals in college campuses and enable the students
to get exposed to critically acclaimed Malayalam movies.
The bodies like MACTA ( Malayalam Cine Techinicians Association Federation),
AMMA (Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes) and the Producers Council should come forward to genuinely encourage and make good cinema. Why cannot there be budgets set aside for making some small intelligent movies patronized by these bodies itself?

All said and done all is not over and I am sure that important stake holders should be working on some of these points listed above and maybe some other points not listed here. As far as 2009 is concerned I am looking forward to movies like Pazhassi Raja (directed by veteran Hariharan, screenplay by M.T.Vasudevan Nair,Mammootty in the lead), Kutti Shranku ( directed by Shaji.N.Karun, written by Shaji.N.Karun & P.F.Mathews and with Mammootty in the lead), Brahmaram ( directed and written by Blessy and with Mohanalal in the lead), Sagar Alias Jackie ( directed by Amal Neerad,written by veteran S.M.Swamy and with Mohanalal in the lead). All these movies are of different genres and look quite exciting. I also hope that these and more such movies do their bit in a small way at least to restore some of the past glory of Malayalam Cinema.

Originally published in PFC- check it out here- http://passionforcinema.com/what-ails-malayalam-cinema-today/