Movie Reviews

Chennaiyil Oru Naal 2 retains the title of a famous Malayalam remake which did well in Kollywood box office. But, director JPR’s version of a completely different movie with the same title desperately tries to be an intense investigation thriller but fails miserably. Captivating the audience through convincing storytelling and technical aspects that doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb is essential for any movie to succeed. This film falls flat especially in the camera front due to lack of budget and a very bad decision to go with an all-night shot. Any viewer will get annoyed after a point because the lead actors Sarath Kumar and Ramdoss, who are possibly the only two characters on screen simply get lost in the dark in many occasions. Besides, the story borrowed from a Rajesh Kumar novel has been very poorly executed. Sarath Kumar is an honest cop who takes care of his sister’s kids after she and her husband pass away in an accident 15 years ago. When the city of Coimbatore ...

For his maiden film, Rathna Kumar has gone with an ubiquitous route, taking up a romantic - comedy subject that deals with a local boy who falls in love with a girl belonging to a well-groomed family. Aside from love, Meyaadha Maan also deals with brother-sister bonding and friendship. Meyaadha Maan is an extended version of Rathna Kumar’s short film ‘Madhu’, and Vaibhav has supported him immensely, to translate his vision onto the larger canvas by giving one of his best performances ever. Vaibhav owns the screen; the gamut of emotions - the pain, the happiness, the innocence, the lethargy- he traversed them all quite effortlessly. There aren’t too many high points, but a sort of consistent natural humour keeps you hooked throughout the film. The first half was more fun whereas the latter part of the second half gets a little soggy. The pre-climax argument scene and the final song looked a little force-fitted. Such cliches could have been avoided, especially given a first h...

2017 has not been a year for mass commercial films thus far; in fact, we have had very few releases that belong to pleasing the crowd genre, and most of them did not satisfy the expectations of the public. Yeah we had Baahubali 2 but nothing before that or since then. Will the fortune for commercial action film lovers change? Will Mersal sweep the audience off their feet or at least end up as a watchable entertainer for the festival? It sure looks to have all the potential but to know in which league it falls in, glance down to know: Thenandal Studio Limited has put up a fabulous team together that features names like Vijay, AR Rahman, Atlee and Vijayendra Prasad in the mix of some young, vibrant talents like GK Vishnu and Ruben. And the list has not even started; it has an extravagant cast list and technical troupe. Probably one of the finest squad that one could dream off. But having said that, all these names in the paper become immaterial when the p...

Solo is a Malayalam-Tamil bilingual anthology film, which features Dulquer Salmaan in the lead role. Mani Ratnam’s protege Bejoy Nambiar known for his works like David and Saithan wields the directorial hat for this experimental anthology. Apart from directing, Bejoy has co-produced the project with Abaam Films and Getaway Films. Solo consists of four different segments that do not have any connection to one another. Dulquer plays four characters Shekhar, Trilok, Siva, and Rudra. Not many could have pulled off 4 different styles with such ease like how Dulquer has done. He owns the film entirely. Though there is no story level connection between the 4 characters essayed by Dulquer, love, pain, and loss (either human or relationship loss) are some of the common factors that you notice in all the episodes. The director has used back and forth narrative pattern for all the 4 stories to make it look complicated. He did not try and spoon-feed the audience which could make or ...

കണ്ടാലും തീരില്ല കൊച്ചിയുടെ കാഴ്ചകൾ, പറഞ്ഞാലും തീരില്ല കൊച്ചിയുടെ കഥകൾ. സിനിമയിൽ ആ കഥക്കൂട്ടുകള്‍ ഒരുപാട് വന്നുപോയിട്ടുണ്ട്. സൗബിനുമെത്തുന്നത് അങ്ങനെയൊരു കഥയുമായിട്ടാണ്. മുൻപൊരിക്കലും കേട്ടിട്ടില്ലാത്ത കൊച്ചിക്കഥ പറയുന്ന ഈ ചിത്രം, തെളിഞ്ഞ ആകാശത്തേയ്ക്കു പറന്നുയരുന്നൊരു 'പറവ'യെ പോലെ സുന്ദരമാണ്. കേട്ടുപരിചയം പോലുമില്ലാത്ത, മട്ടാഞ്ചേരിക്കാരുടെ ഒരു വിനോദമാണ്‌ ചിത്രത്തിന്റെ കഥാപശ്ചാത്തലം. മട്ടാഞ്ചേരിയിലെ ഒരുസാധാരണ കുടുംബത്തിലെ കുട്ടികളാണ് ഇച്ചാപ്പിയും (ഇർഷാദ്) ഹസീബും രണ്ടുപേർക്കും ക്രിക്കറ്റിലോ ഫുട്ബോളിലോ ഒന്നുമല്ല പ്രാവ് വളർത്തലിലാണ് താൽപര്യം. അടുത്ത പ്രാവ് പറത്തൽ മത്സരത്തിൽ പങ്കെടുത്ത് സമ്മാനം നേടുകയാണ് ഇരുവരുടെയും ലക്ഷ്യം. എന്നാൽ ഇച്ചാപ്പിയുടെയും ഹസീബിന്റെയും മാത്രം കഥയല്ല പറവ. മട്ടാഞ്ചേരിയിലെ പച്ചയായ കുറേ മനുഷ്യരുടെ, ആ നാടിന്റെ ആകാശത്തിലേക്ക് പറന്നെത്തുന്ന പ്രാവിൻ കൂട്ടങ്ങളുടെ. കൂടെ പ്രണയവും സൗഹൃദവും പ്രതികാരവുമുണ്ട്. ആഢംബരവും അതിശയോക്തിയുമില്ലാതെ അവരുടെ ജീവിതം സിനിമയെന്ന മാധ്യമത്തിന്റെ മനോഹാരിതയോടെ സത്യസന്ധമായി സൗബിൻ അവതരിപ്പിച്ചിരിക്കുന്നു. സൗബിൻ തന്നെയാണ് സിനിമയുടെ കഥ...