Living Together - This is bad film making, Fazil

Banner: Pilakkandi Filims

Cast: Hemanth, Sreelekha, Anoop Menon

Direction: Fazil

Production: Mohammed Basheer

Music: M. Jayachandran

This highly forgettable film from the legendary director is narrated as being told by its protagonist Hemachandran (Hemanth Menon), who has just returned from Germany, to his kids (apparently too small to have found interest in hearing such a story).The flashback has him in his start of his adulthood, working as a mechanical engineer, musing in making interesting discoveries.He falls in love with the neighbourhood girl Shyama (Sree Rekha), who had always made it a hobby to make youngsters around to fall in love with her. And within days she will throw them out of her life to make their life dismal. Surprisingly these tactics are all with the support of her family members including her grandfather (Nedumudi Venu) and others played by Innocent, Bindu Panikkar, Anoop Chandran and Lakshmi Priya and also a host of children from her neighbourhood.

But this time with Hemachandran, the story is a bit different. Shyama also feels for him and his qualities and when Heman's mother (Menaka) approaches Shyama's family for a relationship, the big secrets about her astrological problems and mysteries of mind are unveiled. Adding to this is a drug addict and manic Sathyamoorthy who had taken a bail from Bangalore jail, with the intention to rape and kill Shyama, for she had made him suffer behind bars for another rape attempt of her friend. Adding to this is a horror story planted in a haunted house where a spirit is running loose to attain salvation.

Bottom Line

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Living Together - This is bad film making, Fazil

On the whole, 'Living Together' just don't have a thing, except good songs and graceful costumes, that may impress anyone.

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.

Bottom Line

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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.

Bottom Line

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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.

Bottom Line

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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.

Bottom Line

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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.

Bottom Line

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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.

Bottom Line

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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.