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Chemmeen (1965)
Classic!
What can I say about the most profilic classic of Malayalam cinema. This is from the golden ages, and stands in many ways for what Malayalam cinema had always been about. A great movie, about a great classic. See it even if you don't know a word about Malayalam. The cinematography and the quality of actors in this movie is worth watching.
This movie is amazing in ways. It shows a very real portrayal of the lives of fishermen; their ways and livelihoods. The love story that forms the focus of the movie is also very elegantly captured. I do not wish to say more, and have a spoiler attached to this title. Do see it, for all that the movie stands. As a comment already mentions, this is a romeo and juliet, set in the landscape of a kerala sea shore.
Aap Kaa Surroor: The Moviee - The Real Luv Story (2007)
Too pathetically made that it becomes fun to watch
If you feel Reshammiya as the singer is too much of a pain to watch on TV, try watching him in the movie for 2 hours straight. His face is bland all throughout the movie, and it is very comical to see him act the demanding and intense scenes. This is way far from a real love story (Get the spelling right, Reshammiya - it is not luv or reeal), and is complete with him doing a Mithun da dance, auto rickshaw fight scenes, Himesh getting imprisoned, Himesh accused of murder, he fleeing from prison etc ... If you want a good laugh, there is nothing like this one, especially the scenes where he howls in Mehbooba. If you despise the nasal twangs, and want to know out of curiosity what two hours of Reshammiya can do to you, then don't miss this movie.
I couldn't stop laughing from the beginning till the very end. The only saving grace that this movie has are the cinematography, locations, and a couple of the songs. Even then, until you are a die hard Reshammiya fan, avoid this movie at all costs.
Vinodayathra (2007)
Pretty good film
The life should be enjoyed as a Picnic (Vinoda Yatra) while we have to carry the responsibilities of life. The small problems of our day to day life should be addressed with utmost care and responsibility so that life can be enjoyed in full. Think globally and act globally is a slogan America wish to pursue where CHANGE is the first attitude one has to adopt. In the movie "Vinoda Yatra"(Picnic), the famous director Sathyan Anthikkad asks us to be different. He calls us to think locally and act locally to have a peaceful and prosperous living. Everybody will be discussing about War in Iraq (including me), Who should be next Indian President etc. They don't know the price for a kg of rice or 100 ml of oil. 'It is a shame that we discuss in detail about the world situations which our talking can be of any effect and not doing our bit to improve our life and social life happier.'
An average teenager's life in a middle class family is always with full of struggles. The half security the family offers do not promote him to take up the responsibility or to look and plan for future. The beautiful flowers of love tempt them to take a diversion. The aggressive or questioning nature does not permit them to stick to a job or profession. They lack the inspiration and concentration. To guide an individual to become a responsible and successful person who can shoulder a family is not a small feet to achieve. Who is supposed to teach the youngsters to do so? Forget about youngsters, think ourselves. Who inspired us to be positive? Who first convinced us to take up the responsibilities of life where our normal self want to run away from it? When we were engaged in our emotions of love, hatred and laziness what inspired us to concentrate on our goal to move forward? It must be good books, good friends, parents, teachers or others. Experience makes you perfect, which teaches you to work hard while enjoying the life in between, observes the director through the character Vinod (Dileep) who learned his hard way to responsibilities from the situation who was in.
In one of his previous film "Veendum Chila Veetukaryangal", the director presented another set of situation with the same theme and left a perfect impression. "There is no fees need to pay to study the hard course of life's experience" words from the previous film stay in our mind. In the film "Vinoda Yatra" the director presents the same theme with different characters, actors and different set of situation. The message however is the same. (It must be a coincidence that both the film names start with V, which is the symbol for success). Samyukta Varma of VCV is replaced by Meera Jasmine (as Anupama) in Vinoda Yatra. Anupama comes from a lower middle class family of a Policeman (Murali) and she is the caretaker of the family. She carries a broken dream of a discontinued engineering course. She has no qualms about that though. Murali's character however show's the government's ignorance of its servants who suffers for their misdeeds and greed.
The worries of a perfect middle-class commuter is portrayed through the character of Shaji Raghavan (Mukesh) where he live peacefully with his wife Vimala (Seetha) and sister Rashmi (Parvathy) . Vimala's brother Vinod came home for few days to escape from a quarrel and its aftermaths in one hand and to learn good mannerism from Shaji on the other, Shaji is more worried about Vinod & Rashmi's interaction. This set for a perfect scenario to make us go through a similar joyride like 'Thenali'. Even the one trying to teach lessons learn from the other is simply hilarious.
The other part of the story is completely in line with Veendum Chila Veetukaryangal and Kanmadam . How Vinod Met Anupama, how they quarrel, then the hero understand the sorry state of the heroine, trying to help out and stand with her
stuff.
I will say the movie is a perfect entertainer for a weekend for family audience or for bachelors. However it failed to reach to the standard of Veendum Chila Veetukaryangal or to Thenali.
Sathyan Anthikad films always give some messages and we all remember those even after many years. I remember few lines from "Sanmanasullavarku Samadhanam" and "Gandhi Nagar Second Street", "Nadoodikkattu" even now. However for a change Sathyan had filled the movie with a lot of advises to youngsters and in between lost them all.
Keeping my reservations on one side for our thought, the film is a perfect entertainer in Satyan style. All the cast has been utilized to full. Dileep is his usual self, where Meera filled the screen with her enthusiastic performance. Presence of Mukesh makes a difference. Seetha delivers a fine performance, where Parvathy prove that she is an upcoming actress with a lot of potential.
Music by Ilayaraja is excellent and lyrics by Vayalar Sharachandra Varma is meaningful. "Kaietthadoorathu" is inspirational and stand different . Other songs too carry a good impact. Choreography is strictly okay and cinematography is adequate. The beauty of nature is pleasantly presented.
Overall, the movie gives a pleasant feeling and lot of thoughts. The film is a better one if compare to other Malayalam movies to recent time, but not up to the earlier Sathyan films. Worth a definite watch and go without much expectations but I am sure you will like it. We need to think Global to act locally. We are living in a small world.
Children of Men (2006)
Not so good
I was looking forward to watch an amazing movie after reading all these comments. What I saw was good, but definitely not a movie that deserves even the movie of the year award. Where it fails is in a lot of places, the story and the screen play.
It is just a sci-fi movie, with elaborate details - more like being inside a war field. The special effects were good, and I must say that the scenes were graphic and bloody. But if you are looking for chicken soup for the soul, move on. The performances by Clive Owen, Ashitey and even Kane were just above average. They pull their parts pretty well, but after you finish watching the movie, you get the feeling that something is amiss. That this definitely isn't the must movie of the year. I'd rate it above average, nothing more than that.
Achuvinte Amma (2005)
A pretty good film
Satyan Anthikad is a simple and straightforward chronicler of everyday life. Satyan usually dwells on family-oriented themes and has an uncanny knack for striking a responsive chord.
In his latest film Achuvinte Amma, the ace Malayalam director has come up with a wholesome entertainer that has gone down well with an appreciative audience.
If Achuvinte Amma has done well, a lion's share of the credit should go to actress Urvashi, who has staged a comeback of sorts through this film. In fact, the buzz goes that Satyan had only Urvashi in mind when he decided to direct this film. And the consummate actress has done a fabulous job, fully justifying the confidence the director had reposed in her.
The film devolves on the strong mother-daughter bonds. Satyan has delineated the characters of the mother daughter duo with great care and an eye for the detail. No wonder, the frames are suffused with the warmth of their love for each other.
Vanaja (Urvashi) has come up the hard way in life. Her only priced possession in life is her daughter Achu (Meera Jasmine), whom she has brought up, lavishing affection. The daughter is in fact the apple of her eye. The mother would do just anything to keep her daughter happy. Because she is blessed with a glib tongue, Vanaja works as a "Crorepati" LIC agent. Besides, she is also a good tailor.
Everything goes on smoothly in the mother-daughter wonderland until Achu confronts Vanaja with the one question the latter has always dreaded to hear: who is her father? She shies away every time Achu poses the question by telling one lie or the other. Soon, Achu, who has a diploma in engineering, lands a job in a construction company. As chance would have it, the mother and daughter meet Jijo (Sunil).
Jijo endears himself to the mother-daughter team with his Good Samaritan nature. He is quite an enterprising youngster too. In no time, Achu and Jijo become close friends. Their friendship blossoms into love in the course of time. But, Vanaja, who is highly possessive about her daughter, frowns on the idea of her daughter marrying an orphan, which Jijo is.
Then Achu springs an unpleasant surprise on her when she once again refuses to disclose the identity of the father. An angry Achu walks out on her mother. The remainder of the movie centers round how the mother and daughter cope with the spell of separation.
The film has its distractions as well. The climax is a bit contrived and dragging. A few characters who have nothing to do with the main theme detracts from the tempo of the film. One of them is KPAC Lalitha's character, who is too loud for comfort. Then there is a big Muslim family, the attendant songs and dances, which mar the tightness and cohesiveness of the film.
The first half that way is certainly better, with a lot of comedy scenes featuring the mother and the daughter. They bring down the house literally when Vanaja tries to learn English.
The film could have been better if only it had been trimmed a bit. Music is another letdown, with veteran Ilayaraja unable to impart any freshness to the narrative.
The saving grace of course is Urvashi, who is marvelous in the role of the mother. It is a once-in-a-lifetime role for Urvashi, whose sense of timing in comedy scenes is a treat to watch. She is equally convincing in the scenes where she is required to bring out the anguish and distress of a woman, who has to bear the pangs of separation of her only daughter. No word is good enough to describe Urvashi's quality of acting. It has to be seen to be believed.
Meera's daughter is second only to Urvashi. She is playful, full of pranks and a bundle of mischief as befits her character. The Jasmine looks lovely and slim. A surprise package of the film is Sunil's Jijo. Here is a promising actor in the making who will go far in his career.
All in all, despite some narrative flaws, Achuvinte Amma is an eminently watchable film if only for the standout performance of Urvashi.