Movie Reviews

 The debut directorial of GS Pradeep (Aswamedham fame), Swarnamalsyangal is the story of five friends -- Swami, Rajeev, Abhimanyu (Abhi), Anjali and Asha -- impatient to be adults and brimming with curiousity. The movie starts with Rajeev (Vijay Babu), stumbling upon a porn CD on his 11-year-old son’s study table. He beats him up before sharing his concern with his wife (Anna Rajan). He also goes down the memory lane to his own childhood days when he had a healthy and innocent friendship with children of his age. Veteran cinematographer Alagappan captures village life beautifully, especially the scenic specialities of Palakkad. The first half makes us immerse in nostalgia, bringing to mind the good old games and the no-frills friendship. Much of the plot before the interval also revolves around the found children’s efforts to understand the word, pizhachaval. When they ask their parents and get scolded, they turn to Swami, a friend who had dropped out of school. Siddique exce...

Written and directed by B Unnkrishnan, Kodathi Samaksham Balan Vakeel is the first time that the writer-director pairs up with Dileep. The choice of the actor isn't surprising one bit, because this is Balakrishnan's tale of redemption from being an underdog riddled by guilt, into his own personal confident self. It is the redemptive tale of a fallen hero, whom the film demands for us to love. Balakrishnan's guilt from his past has made him a stutterer, and that has also affected his career. But soon, he finds himself a pawn in a conspiracy larger than anything he ever wanted to be a part of. Kodathi Samaksham Balan Vakeel is Balan's tale of redemption from guilt. Siddique is at his best as Somashekharan Pillai, Balakrishnan's father. Some of the crass chauvinistic dialogues aside, his comic timing and refreshing take on the father of a protagonist lifts the movie on its fulcrum. Aju Varghese playing the clueless thug sidekick to the protagonist i...

  To Let is a quietly powerful film that superbly captures the economic imbalances that the information technology boom has created in our society, and the way it has impacted the lives of the middle-class when it comes to one of the basic necessities of life - shelter. The plot kicks in when a family of three - Ilango (Santhosh Sreeram), an aspiring filmmaker, Amudha (Sheela Rajkumar), his wife, and Siddharth (Dharun), their son - is asked to vacate their house. The entire film involves their search for a house to rent, and is set some time after 2007, when the IT boom resulted in the creation of an upwardly mobile class that did not worry about spending money, and how this, in turn, lead to inflation of real estate prices and made it difficult for the truly middle-class to afford a decent house - even for rent. The film plays out like a fine companion piece to another significant film about a middle-class family's travails to afford a house - Balu Mahendra’s Veedu. In fact...

The first hour or so of Seenu Ramasamy’s Kanne Kalaimaane often feels like an understated attempt at propping up the image of its leading man, Udhayanidhi Stalin. The actor plays Kamalakannan, a farmer who is into organic farming. He is a dutiful son, who will not do anything against his father (Poo Ram, solid) or grandmother’s (Vadivukkarasi, dependable) wishes. He makes the right noises about issues, like farmer suicides and NEET. He is also a do-gooder, who often takes loans for the sake of the poor in his village. It is this quality of his that gets him into trouble with Bharathi (Tamannaah, who does her best, though her lines lack the natural flow and sound rehearsed), the new manager of the local cooperative bank. Bharathi, who mistakes Kamalakannan for a wilful defaulter initially, learns of his good side, and gradually, the two fall in love. But will Kamalakannan’s family, especially his grandmother, accept a girl who isn’t from their community? For almost two-thirds...

 LKG opens with Lalgudi Karupaiah Gandhi aka LKG (RJ Balaji), who is about to be sworn in as the chief minister, getting shot. The film then goes back in time to narrate how LKG, a councilor in the small town of Lalgudi, managed to get elected as the chief minister. LKG is mostly a satisfying political satire and inarguably the best among the recent crop of political films. Its success lies in how efficiently it manages to strike a balance between idealism and cynicism, and reflects the attitude of the common man towards politics. It manages to achieve this thanks to the characterisation of its protagonist, LKG. He is not in politics for the people, but for himself. In an early scene, he is seen worshipping Amaidhipadai Sathyaraj, Mudhalvan Raghuvaran and Vijay Mallaya. He is street-smart (his costume is a black shirt and a saffron veshti!) and ambitious. In the early scenes, we see how this under-30 guy has managed to become a councilor. He understands that people buy i...

It is their first day at school. She looks at him and blushes. His eyes light up and a big smile is plastered on his face. Love is clearly in the air. Both are already attracted to each other and they both know it.  Omar Lulu explores teenage romance, the first flush of love and the unforgettable feelings associated with it even as kids transform into adolescence. However, one is reminded of George Bernard Shaw’s quip on first love, that it is only a little foolishness and a lot of curiosity. Is there nothing else on a teenager’s mind other than being desperate to be with a girl? The protagonist, Roshan, is in love with Priya with all his teenage fantasies. The roles are played by Roshan Abdul Rahoof and the famous Priya Prakash Varrier whose names are the same in the movie too. Roshan’s single-minded mission is to win her hand and his partners in the mission are his friends, including his best buddy, Gadha John (Noorin Shereef). While boys including Roshan are desperately t...

Yatra is one film which is being awaited eagerly as it is the biopic of late Rajasekhar Reddy. Mammootty plays YSR in this film which has hit the screens all over today. Let’s see how it is. The story is all about YSR(Mammootty) and how he went on a Padayatra before the historical 2004 elections. The film showcases what problems YSR faced in his journey and how he won the elections victoriously by announcing several policies which won the hearts of many. There was a lot of hue and cry when the makers chose Mammootty to play YSR. But boy, he is the heart and soul of Yatra. The national award winning actor has given one of his best performances and portrays YSR’s role in an emotional manner. Be it his dubbing, body language or the manner in which he showcases the pain throughout the film is superb and is the mainstay of Yatra. No one other than Mammootty could have played this role better. What impresses you even more in Yatra is the emotional thread which is maintained t...

 Allu Ramendran is a wholesome family entertainer by debutant Bilahari. Kunchacko Boban, who plays the policeman Ramendran, is determined to find who gave him the nickname ‘Allu’, so that he can put a stop to people calling him that. Kunchacko stars in a never-before seen avatar as a rigid policeman. It feels a bit strange to see the actor in a role that does not have him in his regular charming, cheerful self. Ramendran, who is a police driver, fails in his duty as the jeep he drives routinely gets punctured. This incident makes him a laughing stock among his colleagues and the public. So Ramendran starts a quest to find the reason behind this routine puncturing and to find out who is putting the ‘allu’ (type of iron nails) in his path.  The female leads of the film are played by Chandini Sreedharan as Ramendran’s wife, Viji, and Aparna Balamurali as his sister, Swathi. Chandini’s role seems a mere courtesy. She enacts the usual meek, village wife for whom serving he...

Arguably the first science fiction in Malayalam, Nine is also psychological suspense thriller. With this film, Jenuse Mohamed stretches and tests the limits of either of these genres. And it is safe to say that he is largely successful. The story is of the nine days during which a red comet passes over Earth, resulting in the entire humanity losing electricity. But soon, supernatural powers are at play and threaten to destroy Adam. Nine is the story of Adam's father Albert Lewis' struggle to save him. Nine has a tough story to sell. One with a scientific overlay and yet a mystical weave and then a psychological spin in all of it . Whether Jenuse Mohammed sells his story is for each viewer to decide. But he definitely makes a compelling case, and a daring attempt at it. The film has a sound technical backing and it shows. Even everything from the well-crafted background score by Sekhar Menon, to the crisp cinematography by Abinandhan Ramanujam holds your attention into ...