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Sunday, December 26, 2010

Marykkundoru Kunjaadu - smartly packaged comedy

Director: Shafi

Music: Berny Ignatius

Cast: Dileep, Biju Menon, Bhavana

Solomon (Dileep) is a lazy and timid young man, living in a sleepy village and his dream is to become a film director. He has been nicknamed 'Kunjaadu' (lamb) by the villagers and is in love with Mary (Bhavana), the daughter of a wealthy landlord named Ittyachan (Innocent).

It's a daily routine for Solomon to get beaten up by virtually everyone around, especially from his ladylove's brothers. But life takes a different turn for Solomon with the arrival of a well built stranger (Biju Menon), who is introduced to the villagers as his long lost elder brother. All these go hunky dory for a while but soon Solomon realizes that things are going out of his hand!

Bottom Line
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Marykkundoru Kunjaadu - smartly packaged comedy

Marykkundoru Kunjaadu is a smartly packaged comedy, which may not be great but is indeed enjoyable. It gives little time to think about the merits of the storyline or its flaws for that matter, which is perhaps a sensible way to make a film of this genre. And it could easily turn out to be the best bet that is available at the cinemas now. Go for this one!

Tournament - Too simple to be a taut thriller

Director:Lal

Music:Deepak Dev

Cast: Praveen, Fahadh, John, Manu, Roopa Manjari

Three youngsters are getting ready to go to Bangalore to participate in the selection trials for a cricket team, from Kochi. Two more have also been selected from the group and each of the teammates has plans to eliminate others so that their place is secure in the team. Several things happen one after the other, which includes a bike accident, cancellation of their flight and so on. Meanwhile, a pretty girl also becomes part of the journey.

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Tournament - Too simple to be a taut thriller

Of course, Tournament has its moments and the ‘replay’ format gets the viewers involved in the storyline right from the beginning itself. But then, that turns out to be the problem with the film as well, as the plot seems to be too simple to become a taut thriller.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Kandahar - has some sincere and enduring moments

Cast: Mohanlal, Amitabh Bachchan, Ganesh Venkitaraman, Ragini Dwivedi, Anoop Chandran, N. L. Balakrishnan, Pradeep Chandran, Saaju Attingal, Kannan Pattambi, Major Kishore, Captain Anil, Haneef Kumaranellur, Jaffer Idukki

Producer: Sunil C. Nair & Mohanlal

Director: Major Ravi

Music Director: Shameer Tandon

The entire first half is about the build up to the hijack with an idealistic teacher named Lokanath Sharma (Amitabh Bachchan) supporting his son Soorya (Ganesh Venkitaraman), to become a brave Army commando. There is a parallel track happening where a Muslim woman (played by KPAC Lalitha) painfully realizes that her only son has fallen into the charm of some terrorist outfits.

Both the stories move on parallel lines as Soorya trains in the Indian Military Academy at Dehradoon, while the other guy gets trained to become a ‘Jihadi terrorist’ in Afghanistan!! The story takes some time before the hijack happens, almost all on a sudden. A few terrorists get into an Air India aircraft and forces the hapless pilots to fly the plane with full of passengers on board, to Kandahar in Afghanistan. They demand the release of three dreaded terrorists in order to free those in the plane. Major Mahadevan and his team are now designated to take on the terrorists.

Bottom Line
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Kandahar - has some sincere and enduring moments

A note of advice for all of you who haven't watched Kandahar, it is not a conventional action film. But the film has some sincere and enduring moments, which can shake you up in a positive way. Watch it for Mohanlal and Amitabh Bachchan, both of whom are known for their acting prowess and you won't be disappointed.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Best Actor - Martin Prakkat with a real good debut

Banner: Big Screen

Cast: Mammootty, Lal, Nedumudi Venu, Suraj Venjaramoodu, lim Kumar

Direction: Martin Prakkat

Production: Naushad

The movie has the megastar Mammootty as Mohan, a U P school teacher, whose ultimate dream is to get into films. His wife Savithry and their only son believes much in Mohan’s qualifications for making it big and don’t mind him spending much of his time meeting directors and pleading for roles.

Amidst his hardships, he faces a big humiliating experience in front of his whole village and is forced to go for some real life experience, by joining a goonda gang led by Lal. The movie goes on to tell how the aspiring actor and human in him clashes all through the events, that he faces to end up an inspiring morale.

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Best Actor - Martin Prakkat with a real good debut

Fashion photographer turned film director Martin Prakkat is off to a very good start with the new flick ‘Best Actor’. An intimate realistic experience about an ordinary man who is ready to go to any extent to realize his dreams, the movie really scores well with its fluid narratives and balancing of emotions.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Sahasram - Scary thriller

Cast: Suresh Gopi, Sandhya, Madhu, Bala, Jagathy, Suresh Krishna, Risabava, Lakshmi Gopalaswami

Producer: Surendran Pillai

Director: Dr. Janardhanan

Music Director: M Jayachandran

Janardhanan's Sahasram has Bala playing Vaishakhan, an art director who loses his actress lover Yamuna (Sarayu) in a mishap. Recovering from the tragedy he takes up another assignment for the film Yakshiyambalam, and at the shooting set that is an old mana, starts seeing a beautiful ghost doing the rounds. When an actor gets murdered during the shoot, Sahasranamam IPS (Suresh Gopi) is brought in to probe into it. The prime suspects - Vaishakhan and budding actress Supriya (Sandhya) - plead innocence.

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Sahasram - Scary thriller

Sahasram manages to give the feeling that things could have been better, if it was written in a more disciplined way. Perhaps that itself is some kind of an achievement, during these days when horrible films happen in Malayalam, one after the other.

Again Kasargod Kader Bhai - everything is missing

Cast: Innocent, Jagadish, Radha Varma, Ashokan, Salimkumar

Director: Thulasidas

The story is basically set in the same old fine arts school called Kaladarsana, where its head Fr. Francis Tharakkandam (Innocent) is still a strict disciplinarian. The members of the mimicry troupe decide to call some of the former artistes Unni (Jagadeesh), Jimmy (Asokan) and Manoj (Baiju), for the priest’s birthday celebrations. To cut things short, the incidents take a violent turn when the troupe members have to fight with Kasimbhai (Babu Antony), the son of the late don Kasargode Kadarbhai.

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Again Kasargod Kader Bhai - everything is missing

Again Kasargod Kaderbhai is a real test on the nerves. Almost everything is missing in it - be it action, comedy or simple entertainment.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Swantham Bharya Zindabad - Not so revolutionary

Banner: Ifar International

Cast: Pakru, Mukesh, Sruthilakshmi, Suraj Venjarammood, Salim Kumar, Harisree Ashokan, Sreejith Ravi, Kochupreman.

Direction: Biju Vattappara

Vettoor Sivankutty (Guinness Pakru) is around 2 feet tall, but he is the all powerful local secretary of the left outfit, in a sleepy village. His brother-in-law Uthaman (Harisree Asokan) wears khadi and belongs to the rival party. Remember Sandesham? Well, the inspiration from the cult comedy is the reason why the initial sequences look okay.

In an effort of find a suitable female candidate for the elections, the party decides to get Sivankutty married to a beautiful girl, Meenakshi (Sruthilakshmi). Though she had claimed to be devoted to the left ideology, she started behaving strangely right from the day of the marriage. She was also a hardcore fan of actor Pavankumar (Mukesh), who comes for shooting at the village.

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Swantham Bharya Zindabad - Not so revolutionary

‘Swantham Bharya Zindabad’ is a movie that fails due to the absence of a wise, consistent screenplay, though has a very interesting premise. After all, Interesting ideas don't necessarily translate into interesting films.