Banaras

Cast: Vineeth, Kavya Madhavan, Navya Nair, Nedumudi Venu, Harisree Ashokan, Jagathy Sreekumar, Suresh Krishna, Devan, Anoop Chandran, Kalaranjini, Urmila Unni

Direction: Nemom Pushparaj

Production: M.R. Nair

Music: M. Jayachandran

Navya, Vineeth excel in Banaras

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With a highly predictable story lines and with no engaging twists, the movie offers very little surprises to avoid a cold feet. The movie is all about Hari (Vineeth), a theatre activist who moves out of his village leaving his childhood sweet heart Devu (Navya), to secure his M. Phil degree on North Indian dances from the famous Banaras Hindu University. More than his fancy for continuing his studies with TBHU, Hari wants to unearth the details about his mother who died in the holy city when he was a child.

Hari by circumstances is forced to become a Saviour and protector of a beauty named Amritha (Kavya Madhavan), a gifted dancer who is also studying in the same University. The movie goes on to tell the impact of these short acquaintances of Hari with the half Malayalee girl, which takes a toll on the life of the young man.

Samastha Keralam PO

Cast:	Jayaram, Jagathy, Jagashdeesh, Janardhanan, Suraj Venjaaramoodu, Salimkumar, Kalabhavan
Direction:	Bibin Prabhakar
Music:	M Jayachandan

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"An average watch"

The movie has Jayaram as Prabhakaran (Jayaram), a hardcore Gandhian, who is also a former Panchayat member of a remote village called Thonoorkkara. He has devised his own ways of protesting against the corrupt practices followed by Avarachan and co, who is ruling the Panchayath. Though he lives in a house owned by his uncle and is finding it difficult to manage his state of financial affairs, he is a staunch advocate of principles in every little steps, he takes. The movie offers many plot divergences, that comes in the form of marriage of his adopted sister Radhika, arrival of his cousin Renjini and a short mistaken love affair, and then the routine muscleman crook from Mumbai for providing  a little fisticuffs and the crude plots of all other bad souls in the village to corner this virtuous conscientious protagonist. And as expected the movie calls the final shot when Prabhakaran emerges the winner after several tests of his patience, honesty and sincerity.

The movie does make an engaging opening with Prabhakaran presenting his village and its interesting stock characters including Chandy (Jagadheesh), President Avarachan's nephew who follow his uncle's footsteps. Subramanian (Salimkumar), who works in Prabhakaran's book stall Osharam Abdu (Suraj Venjaarmoodu), a miserly auto driver,  Reghu (Kalabhavan Prajod), who  works in a milk society and, Mao Mohanan, a Maoist who always dreams of the arrival of  revolution. The movie rushes past the interval, lags with usual sentiments track for a while, falling into the pits of conventional drama and progresses into a leisurely climax. The problem with the movie is the petty regular, but predictable storyline by K Gireesh Kumar, who has sprinkled some interesting dialogues all over, but fails to present any more surprises to the viewers.

2 Harihar Nagar

Cast: Mukesh, Jagadheesh, Lakshmi Rai, Ashokan and Siddhique

Direction: Lal

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"It’s a fun train"

‘To Harihar Nagar’ definitely offers rib tickling comedy and delightful watch from the word goes, with apt mixing up of inexhaustible laughter and few moods of seriousness at intervals. The film starts with the three lead players Mahadevan, Appukuttan, Govindan Kutty  now well settled in various business enterprises in Gulf and Bangalore,  coming together to celebrate the betrothal of the fourth in their group, Thomas Kutty. Govindan Kutty is now a successful builder while Mahadevan is a new age personality development guru, teaching people to regain confidence and success, though he is very unsuccessful with his own life. Appukuttan is a dentist now, but have little change in his regular idiotic senseless dialogues. They decide to ignite their youthful mischief and revert to their days of hectic activity, at least for the ten days they have got, away from their families. In the Govindan Kutty's villa where they had been hatching plans to woo girls ten years ago, they regroup and decide to pull pranks. As usual, they are enamored by the charms of a neighbouring beauty Maya, a bar singer. The four are immediately into everything to please her which lands them into further troubles.

Red Chillies

Cast : Mohanlal

Direction : Shaji Kailas

Production : Ranjith Rajaputra

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"Less 'Hot' But A Sure "Hit"

Essentially a murder mystery, the film has Mohanlal as OMR (a contraction of Oyyarath Madathil Ramanathan or is it that of catchphrase 'Onnum Marakkilla Rama''?), a tough and shrewd NRI business magnet who is well settled with his business firms and enemies, all across the Middle East and Singapore. He also runs an FM station 919.1 - OMR FM, which is based in Kochi. All the nine leading jockeys (RJ's) of the FM station are madly in love with this high flying businessman, whom they have never met in person. On New Year's Eve, OMR promises his jockeys that he would come over to meet them and reveal something to one of them. And the jockeys who are more than happy go around partying, dancing, disobeying traffic rules and creating panic but finds at the receiving end of all horrors, with one gigolo dead in their house. The very next morning also announces a hit and run case, presumably by the same Prado of the jockeys, killing ten workers who were on a round the clock agitation in front of a factory, including their leader Maani Varghese. The girls with a gang rape case and killing of almost a dozen people due to their displeasing manners, flee the spot .But as the police led by Commissioner Vyasan and Mani's IPS's son, Stalin track the car, the business baron OMR is forced to crash land in his home country with his own cheer girls, to save his other staff from a tricky plot that is aimed at him. He takes on the entire system single handedly, sometimes becoming an advocate, often a business tycoon and even the deity of a village.

Colours

Banner:	Sunitha Productions.
Cast:	Dileep, Roma, Cochin Haneefa, Sadhique, Venkat Bose, Innocent, Jayakrishnan, Maya Viswanath
Direction:	Raj Babu
Production:	M Mani
Music:	Suresh Peters

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"Not much color in this flick"

The movie set in a military camp at Coonoor revolves around military doctor Lt.Colonal Dr Rajalekshmy (Sharanya) and her two daughters-Pinky and Pooja. Rajalekshmy has a special consideration for Pooja who is obedient and docile, working as a school teacher. While her younger daughter Pinky (Roma)is a tomboyish ,bubbly girl who roams around playing pranks on the villagers and shooting her popular television programme 'Colours' modeled after the hits 'Bakra and Tharikida'. Though she is adventurous and bold, she shares a very special relation with Pooja (Bhama) and her grandpa Pushkaran Pillai (Innocent).

Pinky locally called as ''Pankan'' has a group of guys always in her disposal including cameraman Rahul who is in love with her. And when Navy officer Lt Commander Sanjaynath arrives to Coonoor, locking horns with Pinky from the very first day, every one finds him as a way to control the mindless maneuvers of Pinky, which gradually leads them into falling in love. But the movie has an array of subplots, the most prominent being the fraudulent act of smuggling costly medicines from hospital store by some of Rajalekshmi’s subordinates , which leads into further tensions in her family. Then there are the plans of elders to marry off Pooja to Sanjay, even when he is in love with Pinky. And the worst of the subplots is that involving the character played by Harishree Ashokan and his father in-law - a lunatic played by Cochin Haneefa, which falls well below buffoonery.

Chembada

Cast:	Kalabhavan Mani, Aravind, Anu Anand, Sonu, Abu Salim, John Jacob, Raju S Nair, Ronson
Direction:	Robin Thirumala
Music:	Robin Thirumala

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"'Red Army’ is armed with boredom"

Chembada’ meaning ‘Red Army' is the name of the music band in the movie who tour far off places in search of popularity. The troop becomes much popular soon after the arrival of Manu, a young singer who migrates from a lone village to the city with his own agendas. Apart from music, the troop members are also interested in cleaning off the menaces from the society, through their own ways.

Bullet

Cast: Suresh Gopi, Kalabhavan Mani,Vijayaraghavan, Jagathy Sreekumar, Innocent, Cochin Haneefa, Harishree Ashokan, Kottayam Nazeer, Bala, Anoop Chandran, Bijukuttan, Sona, Mariya, Shobha Mohan
Direction: Nizar
Production: Nazim Vellila

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"Evokes a big yawn"

The movie is all about the mysterious missing of Yamuna Prasad, one among the popular music director duo, who was busy working as the Judges of a reality show. The basic premise of the reality show and its participants sounded interesting initially but proved futile within minutes as we realize that the director is all set to throw in plastic caricatures of the participants, show producer and the the likes. And with the judges duo nudging the female participants for everything beyond the normal to stay in race, havoc break loose as Parasurama Pattery, someone working under cover arrives at the scenes to clear off the wrong doers.

Pattery is presented as a sanyasi settled at Rameshwaram, cruising around in his Innova, colorfully clad in single tone attires and always chanting Shanthi mantras.Days after we find the the chopped arms of the missing musician from a public bin and the police lead by C I Wahid Abdul rahman Haji(Kalabhavan Mani) arrests pattery for the deed. Later Pattery is shown leaving the station in grace, due to no clear evidences against him. Then both the C I and pattery works in their own ways to find clues to the lost person who is mysteriously labeled as already dead.