Chettayees, Face 2 Face, Poppins Released

Still from Poppins

Still from Chettayees

Still from Face 2 Face

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ARDHANAARI - Review

REVIEW: ARDHANAARI

Genre: Drama

Producer: M G Sreekumar

Dir: Dr.Santhosh Souparnika

Music: M G Sreekumar

Cinematographer: Hemachandran

Cast: Manoj K Jayan, Thilakan

DID YOU KNOW? Ardhanaari, produced by singer M G Sreekumar, is about the life of transgenders or ‘hijdas’, as they call themselves repeatedly in the film.

THE PLOT: Vinayan (Manoj K Jayan) is a man with the sensibilities of a woman within himself. His brother tries to kill him out of shame and his male lover ditches him. Vinayan goes to some Tamil Nadu village where people from his group live in a bungalow. He finds happiness and acceptance there for a while, but things tend to go from bad to worse soon after.

THE REVIEW: Though the film has a dramatic feel, especially with the dialogues, Manoj K Jayan’s terrific acting gives this film some merits. It has a documentary feel as well at times. But the brave attempt and the honesty of the makers to go ahead with a story on a group of people whom everyone likes to hate, needs to be appreciated.

Thilakan is good as usual but why did Maniyanpillai Raju played his role like a comic one?

RATING: 2/5

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SCENE ONNU NAMMUDE VEEDU - Review

REVIEW: SCENE ONNU NAMMUDE VEEDU

Genre: Drama/more drama/even more

Producer: K K Narayana Das

Dir: Shyju Anthikkad

Music: Ratheesh Vegha

Cinematographer: Krish Kymal

Cast: Lal, Navya Nair

DID YOU KNOW? Shyju has earlier directed two films, Shakespeare MA (Malayalam) with Shaji Aziz and Oru Black & White Kudumbam, which was an eminently forgettable movie. Legendary actor Thilakan faced the camera for the last time in Scene Onnu Nammude Veedu. Now, what about showing that ‘this was Thilakan’s last scene’, during the film evidently to get more mileage? Those behind this one goes to that extent!

THE PLOT: Ottappalam Unni (Lal) is an associate director in films, all set to direct his first independent venture. He is the epitome of all virtues, is talented than everyone else, has a gang of idiots for company and has a perfect wife, a school teacher named Manju (Navya Nair). Unni struggles to make the film and if you haven’t guessed by now, he succeeds in the end.

THE REVIEW: Too melodramatic and modeled on some tearjerkers on TV. Shyju thrives on melodrama just like his earlier film. Why mull too much over a film, which is boring to hell?

RATING: 0.5/5

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IDIOTS - Review

REVIEW: IDIOTS

Genre: Comedy/Romance/Drama

Banner: Sangeeth Sivan Productions

Dir: K S Bava

Music: Nandhu Kartha

Cinematographer: P K Varma

Cast: Asif Ali, Sanusha, Baburaj

DID YOU KNOW? This has been packaged in the style of some fast paced Hollywood thriller comedy. You have any clues where is the inspiration?

THE PLOT: A purdah-clad girl (Sanusha) approaches a stupid don. She would give some cool lakhs for killing the girl in the photo that she shows him. Now, we soon learn that the girl had actually given the quotation to kill herself! The don entrusts the duty with a juice stall owner (Baburaj), who can’t kill even a rat. In between, the hero (Asif Ali) appears out of the blue, as he tries to rob the girl’s apartment. The idiotic journey that happens in a night begins.

THE REVIEW: If you set your mind to watch a brainless comedy, well, this movie can be fine in parts. It has been presented in a fine way. But things look terribly idiotic most of the times.

Asif Ali continues with his bad acting and giving him a real competition is Sanusha, who could be the worst actor in the business right now, if her show in Idiots is considered. She wins the ‘who’s the worst actor’ competition here hands down. Baburaj repeats his Salt N’ Pepper act, but is good at times.

Why waste time on this film, unfortunately named Idiots?

RATING: 1/5

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101 WEDDINGS - Malayalam Movie Review

REVIEW: 101 WEDDINGS

Genre: Comedy/Romance/Drama

Banner: Film Folks

Dir: Shafi

Music: Deepak Dev

Cinematographer: Alagappan

Cast: Kunchacko Boban, Biju Menon, Jayasurya, Samvrutha Sunil, Bhama

DID YOU KNOW? Shafi and his brother Rafi (of the erstwhile Rafi-Mecartin duo) along with two other individuals have produced the film. The story is by Shafi and the screenplay and dialogues are by Kalavoor Ravi Kumar.

THE PLOT: Krishnankutty alias Krish (Kunchacko Boban) is the son of an idealistic Gandhian. But Krish is a fraud by nature and has a childhood enmity with Antappan (Biju Menon). Krish is forced by his dad to get married at a group wedding, where he is supposed to marry Abhirami (Samvrutha Sunil). He sends an effeminate dancer named Jyothish Kumar (Jayasurya) in his place. Antappan and Rukhiya (Bhama), a nice girl, too reaches the place to be part of the wedding.

THE REVIEW: Irritatingly predictable and plain boring, 101 Weddings never really strikes a chord with the viewer. The scenes are a rehash of the usual comedy sequences that we have come across in several films of the genre.

Kunchacko repeats his trademark style, Biju Menon sleepwalks through the role and Jayasurya hams it up like there is no tomorrow. Alagappan’s visuals are fine and Deepak Dev’s songs are just about fine.

Go for this only if you have nothing else to do.

RATING: 1/5

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IFFI 2012 disappoints

IFFI 2012

The International Film Festival of India at Goa, 2012 has turned out to be a major disappointment for movie buffs. There have been no breathtaking films until now and most of the high profile films have been receiving mixed responses from all.

The presence of renowned filmmakers like Korean director Kim Ki Duk made the media and the delegates thrilled, but his new film Pieta received a cold response from most viewers. There are already talks that the selection of films this year has been far from encouraging.

IFFI 2012 will go on until Nov 30.

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Ann in love with Jomon?

Ann Augustine

The rumours doing the rounds has it that cinematographer Jomon T John and actor Ann Augustine are soon to get married. The engagement will be held in early January and the wedding will happen later.

Ann got a spectacular debut in Elsamma Enna Aankutty and has been part of a few films like Arjunan Sakshi, Three Kings and Vadhyar. She is the heroine of Aashiq Abu’s Da Thadiya and the forthcoming film, Rebecca Uthup Kizhakkemala.

Jomon T John

 Jomon is the most sought after cinematographers in the business, who made his debut with Chappa Kurishu. His films like Beautiful, Thattathin Marayathu and Ayalum Njanum Thammil have been successful.

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CHAPTERS - Malayalam Movie Preview

PREVIEW: CHAPTERS

Banner: Qurban Films, Campus Oaks

Dir: Sunil Ibrahim

Camera: Krish Kaimal

Music: Mejo Joseph

Cast: Nivin Pauly, Sreenivasan, Gauthami Nair, Rejath Menon

DID YOU KNOW? Sunil Ibrahim has been active in the ad film circuit. One of the production banners, Campus Oaks, is a group of engineers who are working in various corners of the globe.

STORYLINE: The film’s director Sunil is hesitant to reveal the film’s basic plot or genre. It is said to be a story where the lives of a few characters get intertwined.

Release Date: Nov 7

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CHETTAYEES - Malayalam Movie Preview

PREVIEW: CHETTAYEES

Genre: Comedy/ Drama

Banner: Thakkali films

Dir: Shajoon Kariyal

Camera: Vinod Illampilly

Music: Deepak Dev

Cast: Lal, Biju Menon, P Sukumar, Suresh Krishna, Sunil Babu, Mia

DID YOU KNOW? Thakkali Films is a banner formed by actors Biju Menon and Suresh Krishna, director Shajoon Kariyal, cinematographer P Sukumar and scenarist Sachi.

BASIC PLOT: Five male friends come together to celebrate the New Year in an apartment. Things don’t happen they would have liked after a while and the story becomes interesting soon after.

Date of Release: Nov 30

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Kunchacko Boban opts out of Kammath & Kammath

Now, this news is official. Kunchacko Boban will not be part of Kammath & Kammath. In this Mammootty-Dileep film, which has a cameo by Dhanush, Kunchacko was originally penciled in to play an important role in the flashback. But he has opted out of the project citing date issues.

Kunchacko will be replaced by Narain. The shooting of the film, directed by Thomson who made Karyasthan ealier, is currently going on in Kochi. The film has been scripted by Siby K Thomas and Udayakrishna.

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Blame the director!

Gossip time again, folks. So no names here and your guess will be as good as ours.

A young director made a thriller with an upcoming superstar recently. As per reports, the moment the director had gone with the script to the young star, he asked him to start the project. The confident lad started the film in right earnest and though it was made in breakneck speed, the film has been receiving criticism from all after its release.

So what is the option for the young hero? His camp is putting all the blame on the debutant director. The hapless director could find the going tough in the coming months for sure. Let’s wait and watch for now.

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Enthaanu Bhai… Original or copied?

Director Aashiq Abu, regarded as one of the most promising filmmakers in Malayalam now, has launched the album Enthaanu Bhai… from his forthcoming film Da Thadiya.

Enthaanu Bhai… from Da Thadiya

Soon after the album was uploaded on his Facebook page, the various Internet sites started discussing the song’s inspiration. Many feel that both the song and the video has an uncanny resemblance to Sneha Khawalkar’s album, Yere for MTV Sound Trippin’.

Sneha Khawalkar’s Yere - MTV Sound Trippin’

In fact, Aashiq Abu’s earlier film 22 Female Kottayam was heavily inspired from Sriram Raghavan’s Bollywood movie, Ek Hasina Thi.

Interestingly, we had mentioned about Aashiq’s recent remarks that most ideas would have inspiration from somewhere in an earlier report. Now the question is, how will you distinguish between an inspiration and a copy?

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Kamal, Siby Malayil wins FEFKA directors’ Union election

Kamal has been elected as the President and Siby Malayil as the General Secretary of FEFKA directors’ Union, in an election held at Kochi on Nov 12, beating the panel led by Lenin Rajendran and K Madhu.

Here is the complete list of winners.

President: Kamal

Gen Secretary: Siby Malayil

Treasurer: Mecartin

Vice President: Jayaraj, G S Vijayan

Joint Secretaries: Marthandan, Shajoon Kariyal

Executive committee members: Aashiq Abu, Kareem, Jose Thomas, Jayakumar, Shanthivila Dinesh, Fazil Katungal, Madhu Kaithapram, Vinod Vijayan, Vyshakh, Shaji Kailas, Siddique, Sohan Seenulal, Suresh Unnithan and Salam Palappetty.

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Ranjan started the new wave?

Ranjan Pramod, the well-appreciated scenarist who wrote such films like Meesha Madhavan, Achuvinte Amma, Manassinakkare and Naran before making a dud as a director with Photographer, says that it was he who started the new wave in Malayalam.

“My film Photographer was far ahead of the times and I feel it started the so called new wave in Malayalam,” said the director in a recent interview.

He is currently shooting for his next venture as a director, Rose Guitarinaal.

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Prem Prakash unhappy?

Who suffered the most from the recent cinema strike, in which almost the entire theatres in Kerala were closed down for a week? Producer and actor Prem Prakash thinks he did. As the producer of the recently released Ayalum Njanum Thammil, he incurred heavy losses, when the theatres were inactive.

He recently said in a recent interview to a prominent news channel that in this industry, it is money that matters and not relationships.

The question now is, who is he targeting? Is it the film’s director Lal Jose or the hero, Prithviraj?

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Gossip Time: The Delhi Belly game

No names when we talk gossip, fine?

Two films have been launched in Malayalam, with similar themes now. The first one will be directed by a one film old director and the other, by a debutant one. The two boasts of a young star cast and the two parties are in a hurry. Why? Simple, the two films are handling almost the same theme. Now the interesting part here is that reliable sources suggests that both the films have been inspired from the Bollywood hit Delhi Belly!

Both the parties had some rounds of discussion recently and none is ready to back out from the project. The challenge now is to make the film as fast as they can. Weird are the ways of these filmmakers, agreed?

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Dhanush in Kammath & Kammath

Tamil star Dhanush will play a guest role in Karyasthan director Thomson’s Kammath & Kammath. The shooting of the film has started in Kochi and has Mammootty and Dileep playing two Kammath brothers, who runs a hotel chain. There is another important role of an income tax official in the film, which as per current plans, will be played by Kunchacko Boban. But it can change, as the actor’s dates are chockablock with several projects going on.

Kammath & Kammath has Rima Kallingal and Karthika Nair as the heroines. The film has been scripted by Siby K Thomas and Udayakrishna.

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Aparna Gopinath is the heroine in ABCD

Chennai based theatre artiste Aparna Gopinath will play the heroine in Martin Prakkat’s ABCD. The actor was found from her Facebook page by the director.

Dulquer Salmaan is playing the hero in the film, which talks about two young guys who have come to Kerala from the US. Dulquer Salmaan and Jacob Gregory, who is well known as the comic Giri Giri in the sitcom Akkarakkazhchakal, are playing the characters.

The shooting party is leaving for the US to continue with the shooting from this weekend onwards.

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Cinema strike affects Mollywood

The cinema strike, which has been announced by the theatre owners have virtually brought the Malayalam film industry into a standstill. Two major releases which were scheduled for Nov 2 has now been postponed and this in turn will affect the rest of the schedules as well.

The exhibitors are demanding a hike in the service charge from Rs. 2 to Rs. 7. The state minister for films and an actor himself, K B Ganesh Kumar has made it clear that the government is clear about the stand on the cinema strike and it is unwarranted.

There is resentment reportedly within the striking organization itself and two prominent theatres in Kochi have not gone on strike. More theatre owners are certain to follow suit as they have already committed to release Tamil superstar Vijay’s magnum opus, Thuppaakki, this weekend.

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101 Weddings - Malayalam Movie Stills

Movie: 101 Weddings
Director: Shafi
Cast: Kunchacko Boban, Jayasurya, Biju Menon, Samvrutha Sunil, Bhama

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Chapters - Malayalam Movie Stills

Movie: Chapters
Dir: Sunil Ibrahim
Cast: Nivin Pauly, Sreenivasan, Gauthami Nair, Rejath Menon

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Balachandra Menon criticizes the ‘bold’ new wave films

Is there something called ‘new generation’ cinema? Well, you can agree or disagree but a huge group of filmmakers and film aficionados are coming out with some whacky experiments in the guise of ‘New Gen’ films. Good if it is all in the right direction. But all these filmmakers are bothered about are in adding expletives and titillations under the guise of ‘bold’ experiments. There have been some recent films, which had highly offensive scenes and dialogues but went on to become successful.

It is in this context that veteran filmmaker Balachandra Menon decided to lash out at these pseudo attempts. According to him, it is ridiculous to show what you do inside the privacy of your toilet and bedrooms, on screen. He cited an example, which said it all.

“If a silly donkey decided to stand in front of a speeding train, how can it be called ‘boldness’?” he asked.

The donkeys should answer now.

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Vineeth Sreenivasan ties the knot

There have been speculations doing the rounds all along on who was Vineeth Sreenivasan’s romantic interest. Recently he announced the girl’s name, Divya, his junior at the college.

The two got married last week at a grand wedding function at Kannur on Oct 18. There was a reception arranged for friends and family at Kochi on Oct 20.

Vineeth is riding high after the amazing success of his second movie, Thattathin Marayathu. The singer turned actor turned scenarist and director, is now planning to launch his younger brother Dhyan as a hero, soon.

We wish Vineeth and Divya a long and happy married life.

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JAWAN OF VELLIMALA - Malayalam Movie Review

REVIEW: JAWAN OF VELLIMALA

Dir: Anoop Kannan

Camera: Satheesh Kurup

Music: Biji Bal

Cast: Mammootty, Sreenivasan, Asif Ali, Mamta Mohandas

FACTFILE: Anoop Kannan, who has been assisting Lal Jose, makes his debut with the Mammootty film. The hero, who has been going through a disastrous phase for sometime now, is producing the film.

THE PLOT: Gopi Krishnan (Mammootty) is the dam operator at Vellimala dam, located at some high range area. He is a former jawan and has a peculiar problem. He can see ghosts during the night!

Varghese (Sreenivasan) takes charge as the executive engineer there, Koshy Oommen (Asif Ali) comes there to settle some long pending bills, Anitha (Mamta Mohandas) is loved by the people as a welfare officer and chief engineer Chacko (Baburaj) comes there to have some drinks.

What’s the storyline then? Better ask scenarist James Albert or director Anoop Kannan. Even they won’t be sure about what they were trying to say.

THE REVIEW: Jawan of Vellimala could very well add to Mammootty’s continuing line of flops. With no script worth mentioning and amateurish direction, the film ends up as a colossal bore. Mammootty just sleepwalks through his role.

Satheesh Kurup’s visuals are good and Biji Bal’s music is good in parts.

RATING: 0.5/5

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AYAALUM NJANUM THAMMIL - Malayalam Movie Review

REVIEW: AYAALUM NJANUM THAMMIL

Dir: Lal Jose

Camera: Jomon T John

Music: Ouseppachan

Cast: Prithviraj, Prathap Pothen

FACTFILE: After the debacle of Cassanovva, scenarist duo Bobby and Sanjay of Traffic fame, are back, this time with director Lal Jose and teaming up with their dad Prem Prakash who is producing the movie.

THE PLOT: Dr.Ravi Tharakan (Prithviraj) faces a tough situation after an emergency operation done on a kid goes wrong. He flees the hospital but his car turns upside down. Now the flashbacks begin. Ravi was an irresponsible doctor even after passing out from the medical college. His friendship with Dr.Vivek (Narain), his romance with Sainu (Samvrutha) and the transformation in his life, thanks to the influence of Dr.Samuel (Prathap Pothen) is being told then.

THE REVIEW: Ayaalum Njanum Thammil is an okay film at best. You just can watch the visuals as it unfolds but even after the film ends; it is tough to understand what its makers were trying to say! A half-baked script, narrated in style without much imagination and in an unconvincing way by Lal Jose. That is the impression the viewer might have.

Prathap Pothen is top notch, Prithviraj is good but everyone else are just there are “set properties”. That includes Narain and the three girls. Samvrutha’s romance with Prithviraj is colder than a well-made cold coffee with ice cream. Can someone please explain what is the transformation in Prithviraj’s character that these guys are talking about?

The Kalabhavan Mani drama goes on to several episodes and turns out to be too clichéd and predictable.

Jomon T John’s visuals are fine and Ouseppachan’s music is not so fine.

RATING: 1.5/5

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916 - Malayalam Movie Posters

Movie: 916
Director: M. Mohanan
Cast: Anoop Menon, Asif Ali, Mukesh

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Dracula - Malayalam Movie Stills

Movie: Dracula
Director: Vinayan
Cast: Prabhu, Shraddha Das, Sudheer, Monal Gajjar, Thilakan, Nassar

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