Shankaranum Mohanum - This is not for everyone

Cast: Jayasuriya, Reema Kallingal, Meera Nandan, Suraj Venjaramoodu, Sudheesh, Indrans, Lalu Alex, Bijukuttan, Shivaji Guruvayoor, Kochu Preman, Ambika, Roslin, Nandhu

Direction: T V Chandran


'Sankaranum Mohananum' has a very interesting premise about the undying love of a 'dead' soul towards his wife.  Jayasuriya is cast in a double role as brothers, Sankaran and Mohanakrishnan,who has more than  a ten years difference in age. Mohanakrishnan is  a fashion photographer currently living in Kochi. Though immensely successful in his profession, he had just relocated from Mumbai following his separation from his wife , Jyotsna Mathew (played by Rima Kallingal) and his only child, Ammu.

Sankaran, Mohanakrishnan's elder brother, a school teacher in Malabar in his 50's, suddenly decides to marry his colleague's young daughter Rajalekshmy , in order to help his colleague  who is hit by a stroke and is bedridden. As he sees Rajalakshmi, he immediately falls in love with her. But fate has its say as he is bitten by a snake on the very first day after his wedding. Though Sankaran dies, he  refuses to leave the world and appears before Mohanakrishnan in various pretences, pleading with him to talk to his wife and inform her that he is still around.

Mohanakrishnan is scared at first but slowly reallies the situation and tries to do all as per his brother's wishes.But as another person Sahadevan(Sudheesh) has now come up to marry the widowed Rajalekshmy, Sankaran's soul is asking Mohanankrishnan to somehow evade the marriage. The movie goes on to tell how  the 'undead' brother changes the life of  Mohanakrishnan, who is left in the tussle between the demands of the living and the dead..

Bottom Line
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ഈ സിനിമ എല്ലാവര്‍ക്കും  ഉള്ളതല്ല.

'Sankaranum Mohananum' remains a movie for TV Chandran completits-people who like to watch everyone from the master director.In the BO, the movie is sure, not to hold on for more than two weeks.

The Train - This train is not on rails

Cast: Mammootty, Jayasurya, AR. Rahman

Music: Srinivas

Based on the infamous chain bomb blasts that shook Mumbai and its railway stations killing hundreds a few years ago, the movie tells the life of few Malayalees who had the ill-fate to be in the receiving end of all agonies. In the five main tracks, told  without much competency, we have Jayasuriya as karthick, an aspiring singer who dreams of lending his voice to a track set to music by AR Rehman. On the very day of the blasts he gets an offer to attend an audition for a Rehman song and embarks on a train to Chennai. And there is one girl who is diverted to life by a unintended call from Karthick, who later loves to meet him on the same day. One child locked in the safety of a big metro flat is on the attempt to somehow bring his grandfather, now staying in an old age home, to attend his birthday. In the third track is Suhana (Sabitha jayaraj) who is trying to get the pension money from the authorities, to pay for the tickets and to send her grandfather to Holly Hajj. In the same Mumbai metro are a group of eight, all set to create humgama by planting pressure cooker bombs in seven moving trains. And there is this shrewd, upright ATS officer Kedarnatah( Played by Mammootty), who is always after suspicious faces in his lookout for those who create troubles in the city. The train thus goes on a flashback through the lives of these few on the very day of the blast, from morning six to the evening six, till the actual blasts happen.

Bottom Line
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ഈ ട്രെയിന്‍ പാളത്തില്‍ അല്ല.

'The train' may fall off from its rails within a couple of weeks run. Considering the wide array of experience the director has in  directing every genres in Mollywood, 'The train' could have been much, much better if it were visualized with more interesting, well developed characters and sequences.

Raghuvinte Swantham Rasiya - This Reghu and Raziya are big bore

Cast: Thilakan, Meghana Raj, Charu Hassan, Sphadikam George

Direction: Vinayan

Music: Sajan Madhav


The movie has Megna raj as Rasiya,  a wealthy Muslim girl and grandchild of freedom fighter Bapu Musaliar (Chaaruhaasan)who has fallen for the boy next door named  Reghu,  the grandchild of their  family friend Kuttappan Bhaagavathar(Thilakan). Reghu who is a 90 percent mark holder in plus two couldn't continue his studies due to economic problems and is now doing everything to keep his family at ease. And in the intervals, he is ready to pay the phone bills of Raziya, and also to do her college assignments.

When Rasiya's dad Aboobaker(Sphadikam George) gets to know about her girls sentiments, he plots a plan and ask Reghu to secure a good job , prove himself and comeback for Raziya. And for that he even helps him by giving a recommendation  letter to one of his  friends Jamaal, who recruits youths to terrorist camps in Pakistan. Shortly after we see Reghu in a new avatar, as a hardcore terrorist, who is grabbed to the jail after a bomb explosion killing a fifty people. And the rest of the unthinkable leads may unleash before you on screen, if you really decide to succumb yourself to a crime to your body and soul.that is to be in theatres screening this movie.

Bottom Line
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ഈ സിനിമ വളരെ ബോറാണ്.

It does not connect with the viewer, hasn't mustered a good opening at most places. And with too many releases in the week, its survival prospects at the box-office seems weak.

Janapriyan - Janapriyan is a watchable flick

Banner: Spotlight Vision

Cast: Jayasuriya, Bhama, Manoj K Jayan, Jagathy, Salim Kumar, Suraj Venjaramoodu

Direction: Boban Samuel

Music: Gautham



 The movie has Jayasuriya as Priyadarshan, a guy from a small village who lands at Kochi to join the temporary job in the Taluk Office, in the place of Vyshakhan (Manoj K. Jayan), who is forced to go for a long leave. Vyshakhan is quite unruly and doesn't care about completing pending works in the office, as he believes that his future is as a successful filmmaker. A graduate from Pune Film Institute, Vysakhan is now after a producer (jagathy Sreekumar) for his debut film.
On the other hand, Priyan is a honest, hardworking young man who had to shoulder the responsibility of his family since an young age, following his father's suicide. Being idealistic, Priyan also loves to marry a girl from a poor family as he believes that only such a girl can manage with the little income that he earns.While on the terrace of the little lodge where he is staying in the city, he also finds one girl in the next household named Meera, whom he believes to be the maid of the palatial bungalow.He starts weaving plans of starting a life with the poor Meera, who matches his ideals.


  Things are pretty happy till a day when Vyshakhan decides to cut short his leave and rejoin work. Priyadarshan pleads with Vyshakhan to extend his leave, so that he can continue in the present job.After many discussions Vyshakhan   agrees, but for a seemingly impossible demand of finding him a producer.Priyan now starts on his journey to find one, though he doesn't even know what is the role of  a producer in a film.

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Janapriyan - Janapriyan is a watchable flick

Janapriyan' is a simple small movie, with enjoyable moments, definitely worth for a onetime watch. Don't embark on theatres to see something extraordinary, but for another regular comedy flick that don't tax your brains too much.

Maharaja Talkeis - This talkies falters big time

Cast: Mukesh, Urvashi, Jagadheesh
Director:  Devidasan

The movie is all about the attempts of Vimala (played by Urvashy) to somehow run a dilapidated film theatre  which is passed over to her family by their mother as an ancestral property. Vimala had been a fatherly figure to her three sisters  Ganga, Yamuna and Unnimaya,since their father desolated them years ago, but she some how manages to run the theatres with the help of her sisters. The major obstacle to the theatre running comes from Moorkhanparambil Pappachan (Vijayraghavan), a rich local man who is all set to somehow close the running of the theatre. For that he employs every cheaper ways including hiring a cabaret dancer to the highhandedness of the local panchayath members. Pappachan, instead  has plans to go for a bigger well quipped theatre in the lone town. To fill in the screen time apart from the fights between Pappachan and vimala, there is the romance in the air for the fours sister where Mukesh to Ramesh Pisharday comes up as the suitors to the four.

Bottom Line

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Maharaja Talkeis - This talkies falters big time

The director Devidasan has a pale debut with 'Maharaja Talkies’ as nothing even in the technical side is worth mentioning. At the box-office, with the lack of promotion and a poor opening, coupled with a nondescript script, the fall of the movie is inevitable.

Seniors - Have a summer fest with this ‘Seniors’

Cast: Jayaram, Biju Menon, Manoj K Jayan, Kunchako Boban, Mamtha

Direction: Vysakh

Production: Vyshakha Rajan

The movie is all about four friends Pappu alias Padmanabhan, Idikkula, Rex and Munna (played by Jayaram,Biju menon,Kunchakko and Manoj k Jayan respectively) who decides to get back to their studies, after a gap of 12 years. The four had to discontinue their college life following a tragedy that happened amidst a college festival and Pappu was then sentenced to a jail term for twelve years.Now back from Jail,  Pappu wants to start everything from where they have missed it and the other three supports him but giving a break to their jobs and joining the college for M A philosophy.But little did they surmise that their new college life was an attempt to unravel something that laid mysteriously beneath, for long.

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Seniors - Have a summer fest with this ‘Seniors’

' Seniors ‘will definitely score big time for its skillful performances and the superb execution of the subject. This is an entertainer that has something for everyone. So be at the movies houses for a movie that has the potential to rock big time.

Manikya Kallu - uplifter film

Banner: Gowri Meenakshi Movies

Cast: Prithviraj, Innocent, Salim Kumar, Mukesh, Jagathy, Kottayam Nazeer, Jagadeesh, K P A C Lalitha

Direction: Anwar

Music: M Jayachandran

‘Manikyakallu’centres around Vannanmala Government H S,  a school with a lot of history where even the state educational minister studied for his matriculation. But the present state of the school is pathetic as it is almost dysfunctional with just 50 students on their rolls. The eight teachers of the school has plenty of side businesses to the extent that for last decade, no student from the school has ever passed the state wide tenth standard exam. Into this atmosphere comes in Vinayachandran( Prithviraj)  a newly appointed teacher who deliberately opts for the school due to some mysterious reasons. The young blood he is, Vinayachandran tries to change the scenario, inspiring the students to learn, but also his fellow teachers to teach. The reasons for Vinayan’s arrival offer the twist and drama to the story. Samvrutha is the heroine of the movie who comes in a Chandni, the Physical education teacher of the school.

Bottom Line
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Manikya Kallu -  uplifter film

'Manikyakallu' is an uplifter film, no doubt, and has its share of heartrending moments. But it breaks no fresh ground in the theme that it undertakes, and the middlebrow manner that it adopts halfway through makes it an uneven piece of work.