Payyan - Good Storyline but in an old narrative style

Director: Leo Thaddeus

Music: Alphonse

Cast: Jayasurya, Anjali, Lal, Rohini

Josy (Jayasurya) lives in a huge bungalow, with his mother Padma (Rohini). He is yet to complete his engineering and likes to go around in style, doing nothing worthwhile. His mother tries to make him disciplined, but she loves him a bit too much to impose any rules to make him realize all that.

There are no real clues about his dad, John Varghese (Lal), a marine engineer who never returned home after a trip to Sri Lanka. Josy becomes a radio-jockey pretty easily and falls in love with Seema (Anjali), a sound engineer at the radio station. Things take some dramatic turns, after some time.

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Payyan - Good Storyline but in an old narrative style

Payyans is all about the coming of age of a reckless youth. There is an inherent honesty about the storyline for sure, but even then it barely affects you with a shaky script and the narrative style is a tad too old. Now if you think all these fit your concept of entertainment, well, give this one a try.

Makeup Man - a story happening behind the camera

Director: Shafi

Music: Vidyasagar

Cast: Jayaram, Sheela,Suraj Venjarammoodu

Balu (Jayaram) is in dire straits after his event management company run into heavy losses. He has nowhere to go and just then Soorya (Sheela), who is madly in love with him, flees from home before her marriage. The lovebirds tie the knot with the help of a film production manager Kichu Manjaly (Suraj Venjarammoodu).

After some dramatic twists and turns, Soorya is chosen as the heroine in the film in which Kichu is working. The director changes her name to 'Anamika' and Balu remains with her, as her personal makeup man.

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Makeup Man - a story happening behind the camera

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Makeup Man has nothing great to offer for the viewers. If your idea of entertainment is limited to those lines, well, it could turn out to be a watchable fare at best.

Race - tries to be a thriller

Cast: Kunjackko Boban, Mamta Mohandas, Indrajith, Gowri Munjal, Jagathi Sreekumar, Sreejith Ravi, Geetha Vijayan, Baby Ankitha

Producer: Jose K George, Shaji Mecheri

Director: Kukku Surendran

Music Director: Vishwajith

In 'Race', it's Dr. Eby John (Kunchacko Boban) who is caught in a race against time with his wife Niya (Mamta Mohandas), when their daughter is kidnapped by a stranger by the name of Niranjan (Indrajith) and his accomplice Shwetha (Gouri Munjal). The couple desperately tries to amass the ransom in 24 hours to save their kid, only to find that Niranjan has raised it by another crore.

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Race - tries to be a thriller

'Race' is no 'Butterfly on the Wheel', and given its lame script, it cannot even aspire to be a 'Cocktail'. It's a wannabe cat and mouse thriller that tries to keep you on the edge of your seats. But with the thin thrills and clunky dialogues, that would indeed be a bit too much to expect from 'Race'.

Khaddama - old-fashioned pattern

Director: Kamal

Music: Bennet Veetraag

Cast: Kavya Madhavan, Sreenivasan, Biju Menon

Razak Kottekad (Sreenivasan), a social activist who finds more time for helping others than taking care of his own family, learns about a house-maid named Aswathy who is missing after robbing some jewelry from an Arab’s home. Razak’s investigation reveals some shocking truths about Aswathy’s sad plight in the Gulf.

In one of the early scenes in the film, as Aswathy (Kavya) waits for the sponsor at the airport, an old ‘Khaddama’ cautions her about the impending travails. Usman (Suraj Venjarammoodu), the Malayali driver at the Arab’s place and Fathima, an Indonesian girl who also works there makes her feel fine initially. But life soon becomes tough for Aswathy with the cruel treatment that she has to suffer from virtually everyone at the Arab’s home.

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Khaddama - old-fashioned pattern

It is a sensitive story for sure, but things could have looked more appealing if the makers had added some style to the presentation instead of following an old-fashioned pattern. The focus often goes away from the real issues and the result is that the agony of the lady often gets less effective. The film looks a bit too melodramatic at times and some of the scenes, terribly clichéd

Ithu Nammude Katha - a genuine story of Tamil film Nadodikal

Director: Rajesh Kannankara

Music: Mohan Sithara

Cast: Asif Ali, Nishaan, Ananya

Vinod (Asif Ali), Santosh (Nishaan) and Kochumon (Abhishek) are close friends, living in a sleepy village, dreaming to make it big someday. Santosh is in love with Vinod’s sister, played by Nimisha. Meanwhile Vinod is in love with his bubbly murappennu (Ananya sleepwalking through the role which she did brilliantly in the Tamil version), but he has to fetch a government job before marrying her! Kochumon’s dad loves him but doesn’t have the courage to show it in front of his step-mother.

Sometime later, Vinod’s friend Mahesh (Vineetkumar) comes to see them. The friends decide to help him in getting married to his girlfriend (played by Amala Paul, who has become a sensation in Tamil after Mynaa), as both their families are at loggerheads. They succeeding in uniting the love birds but are brutally attacked in the process and their lives changes forever.

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Ithu Nammude Katha - a genuine story of Tamil film Nadodikal

Ithu Nammude Katha tells how true friendships are important in our lives. There is a genuine story here that the viewer can relate to and the honesty of some young men shakes you up as well. But then, the question is, when the original is available why waste time on this ordinary looking copy?

Arjunan Saakshi - certainly in a different league

Director: Ranjith Sankar

Music: Biji Bal

Cast: Prithviraj, Ann Augustine

Roy Mathew (Prithviraj) is an architect, who has lived outside Kerala for most of his life, but has come back to his home-town to join a real estate firm. Meanwhile, a journalist Anjali Menon (Ann Augustine) gets into trouble when she publishes a letter from an unknown person called Arjunan, who has some crucial clues concerning the murder of the former district collector Firoze Mooppan (Mukesh). Soon after, Roy starts hogging the limelight as he is mistaken for ‘Arjunan’. The young man is totally shaken up by the sudden happenings as he has no real idea about the dramatic turnaround of events and he is soon targeted by some goons.

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Arjunan Saakshi - certainly in a different league

No two ways about it, Arjunan Saakshi is certainly in a different league, when compared to the usual crop of films that we see in Malayalam nowadays. Still, one gets the feeling that the film is more inclined to the social issues which are being focused rather than on a gripping, cinematic experience. It makes you think about the state of affairs around you, which may be an achievement in itself.

Achan - a stagy feel

Cast: Thilakan

Producer: Louisiama

Director: Ali Akbar

Music Director: Aleena Akbar

The veteran actor plays a retired Major in the film who leads a solitary life in a flat, and for whom the only contact with the outer world is a male nurse Rahithan. His sons have migrated to countries far away, and the most they can do at the moment is to appear on pre-scheduled online chat sessions.

The 'Achan' in the film is old, frail and neglected. He moves about the walls of his apartment and along with Rahithan contemplates suicide. The latter talks about getting a better job elsewhere, but maintains that he wouldn't dream of leaving the old man alone in his misery. What juts out of place in a scenario as this is the talk about senior actors boogying with young girls.

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Achan - a stagy feel

'Achan' tries hard to take a look at relationships that have turned corrosive in an ever changing world, but the airless and stagy feel that it carries through out doesn't let it leave a mark.