August 15 Movie Review : Death of a director and writer

There was a time when nearly every film of director Shaji Kailash was pronounced a blockbuster even before it released. He was among the most successful filmmakers in Malayalam Cinema especially in the 90’s. With a plethora of hits like Thalasthanam, Ekalavyan, Commissioner, The King, Aaram Thamburan, Narasimham, Shaji was indeed in demand among producers for a long time. S.N.Swamy is another well-known name in the history of Malayalam Cinema. Swamy has been the screenwriter for blockbuster movies like the CBI Diarykurippu Series, Irupatham Nootrandu, Moonam Mura, August 1, Naduvazhikal etc. So when Shaji Kailash and S.N.Swamy came up with a plan to work on the sequel to August 1, a popular action-thriller directed by Sibi Malayil, written by S.N.Swamy himself and starring Mammootty in the lead, it must have sounded so wonderful right?

Well the answer is a yes and a no. Yes because it would have been great to see all these big names unite and deliver an interesting sequel to a wonderful movie. But it’s also a no because of late both Shaji Kailash and S.N.Swamy seem to have kind of lost their magic touch. Shaji Kailash without his firebrand writers- Renji Panicker and Ranjithhas been feeling handicapped and his recent misadventures like Drona 2010, Red Chillies, Sound of Boot, Ali Bhaietc have only gone on to illustrate the same. Same is the case with S.N.Swamy when you compare his recent works like Janakan, Sagar Alias Jacky, Rahasya Police, Positive etc. Added to this is the fact that August 1 was a taut action-thriller based on the popular book, The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth ( which also generated a movie of the same name based on it ).

Anyways due to the love for August 1, the faith in Mammootty , the unstinted hope that Shaji and Swamy would pull it off and also for the fact that I had nothing else to watch over the weekend, I had no other go but to watch August 15. There’s nothing much in terms of the story/concept if case you have already seen August 1. The older movie dealt with a young CM thrust into power (Sukumaran) who through his work gets very popular with the people but also earns the wrath of his detractors who then decide to get him eliminated and take the help of a trained assassin (Capt.Raju) and its upto Dy.S.P Perumal ( Mammootty ) to solve all the knots and bring the story to an interesting climax. The film was an adrenaline rush and proved to be very commercially successful too.

August 15 begins with the C.M of Kerala, V.G.Sadasivan (Nedumudi Venu trying hard to carry off as V.S.Achuthanandan) suffering a cardiac arrest, throwing the official machinery into a state of chaos. It’s then discovered that the cardiac arrest wasn’t a natural occurrence and was probably induced by a poison administered somehow. This sends the top police brass into a tizzy and then the onus is on Perumal (Mammootty) once again to handle the case and look at solving the mystery in his own characteristic style. This in a nutshell friends is what the story is. To a casual observer who is not well versed with Malayalam Cinema or Kerala politics, the film is likely to just come across as a film, which though touted as an action- thriller, has hardly any thrills on offer.

But for someone who has been following Malayalam Cinema and/ or is well versed with Kerala Politics the pain is increased two-fold. Not only is the story a pale copy of the original, the treatment is amateurish and extremely archaic. The way events unfold so leisurely can even get on your nerves at times. The identity of the assassin and the people behind his entry is revealed very early into the film. With that being the case then enough care must have been taken to ensure that the audience is otherwise kept spellbound by what ensues after that. Sadly nothing like that happens. You can go out for a snack, a smoke ( if in a single screen ), to make that long call back to your girlfriend/boyfriend ( don’t even think of making this a date movie ) or whatever else you want to do and still come back and feel that you haven’t missed out on anything.

And what do you take out when you leave the auditorium after you finish the movie? Well most likely it would be the fact that the film actually tries to end up being a propaganda vehicle for the current LDF Government in Kerala. With constant references to the Communist Ideology, a top cop proud to be more of a “comrade” than a cop, references to the so called conflict between the present C.M and his party secretary and of course the constant back ground ‘lal salaam’ theme all go on to wear out your patience. When Sai Kumar is trying to talk about how it’s the party that’s more important than individuals and that he has only respect for the C.M, you can actually feel that the audience has had enough and the catcalls are justified. That in a nutshell summarizes what’s wrong with the movie.

What was Shaji Kailash thinking when he wanted to show the involvement of the Cyber-Cell in the film? Well the unit functions not like a smart, state of the art technical support wing of the police as it should be but rather as some cheap call-centre. The constant reference to Wikipedia while showing Mammootty researching about poison on the internet is also unknowingly funny.If there is anything worth talking about in the film then it is nothing other than the way Mammootty has been presented. He looks extremely fit and dashing and is very much the ideal cop as required for the role. But then does it mean that that you must continue to show him in slow motion shots throughout the film?

Siddique is decent but then he’s no match to Captain Raju in the older movie who really carried out the role of Gomes the assassin with a lot more panache. Among the supporting cast veterans like Madhu, Nedumudi Venu, Thalaivasal Vijay etc carry out their roles as usual. Lalu Alex is completely natural in the role of the ADGP who is jealous of his colleagues, but at some point of time even his antics begin to wear you out. There is no scope for romance in the movie (thankfully) and hence the two heroines – Shweta Menon and Meghana Raj have nothing much to do in the film. All said and done August 15 is another reminder that one if cannot match the heights of a landmark film ( forget exceeding it ) then its better not to tamper with it with a plan of making a sequel or a prequel. If their last few movies weren’t enough then this one is more than enough to strongly suggest that Shaji Kailash and S.N.Swamy should gracefully retire and refrain from inflicting such films on us. What’s in store for them in the future? Only time will tell of course, till then lets wait and watch.

Originally published in PFC- http://passionforcinema.com/august-15-movie-review-death-of-a-director-and-writer/

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/