Cross-posting the review I wrote in ForumKeralam.
Theatre: Innovative Multiplex
Show: 11/12/2010, 10 PM
Status: Housefull
I had high expectations when I went to watch the movie after reading the review and preview reports. Slightly disappointed at the outcome. When I thought about it later, the movie did not have any glaring negatives. Only thing that dampened my spirits was the expectation. You cannot really blame anybody for gushing about the movie. Best Actor is probably the most proper Malayalam commercial movie to come out in a long time. A good story, great performances, and enough elements for a wholesome entertainment regardless of whether you are a fan or not.
Not going on to the story since its been repeated more than 50 (or is it 60?) times in FK itself! Martin Prakatt deserves a pat on the back for doing a proper homework and execution with no glitches that first time Directors make. Direction was decent in the first half. Pace was pretty decent considering the fact that nothing much happened for most part of it. I thought the second half was brilliantly executed. It had all the recipes that could make or break the movie and Martin skilfully weathered the storm. Script was also decent, but a better script could have turned the movie into a classier affair.
Kudos to Mammootty for taking a chance with Martin. He looks younger by the day and I suspect that he has turned into a modern Dorian Grey! His performance was top class. The most notable scene is when Srinivasan spurns him in the school. He expresses the emotional turmoil perfectly. His avatar as a Bombay Dada was very good, well aided by his motley crew and the dialogues. Only gripe I felt was in a couple of Hindi dialogues. They seemed to land somewhere in the middle of punchy and comical instead of veering towards the right path.
The other cast members were really good and got decent screen time. Salim Kumar looked good after a long time and Nedumudi Venu was awesome as Aashan. Sreenivasan was adequate fitted the role of a no-nonsense Director perfectly. The heroine was not that great. Granted that she had very little to do, but there was space for a great performance given the limited screen time. It would have fleshed out the movie a bit more. This should have been taken care by the Director/script.
Ajayan Vincent's camera was outstanding. Editing felt choppy in the first half, but Don Max was in his elements in the latter half. Songs were ok and BGM was good.
Martin Prakatt is someone to look forward to in the future. Its great for Malayalam cinema that this year witnessed the emergence of quite a few talented Directors.
TL;DR: Best Actor is a wholesome entertainer for all kinds of audience, packed with great performances and good direction.
Rating: 7/10
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
Rakhta Charitra - 1 : A History written in blood
Posting the review I wrote in Forum Keralam.
Theatre: Innovative Multiplex, Bangalore, 24th October, 11:30 AM Show
Status: Balcony - No idea, must be around 80% First Class: 30-40% with 3-4 girls
To be frank, I expected a lot more violence looking at the various reviews. The movie sure has its fair share of it, but nothing revolting. I found it necessary and realistic enough for the topic tackled by the movie. Then again, it depends on the threshold of the viewer. The guy who sat next to often cringed and was hid his face when something gruesome was about to happen.
The film is based on the real life story of Paritala Ravi, a powerful politician in Rayalseema who lived and died by the sword.
Anantpur is place ruled by Narasimha Reddy, a powerful politician. Veer Bhadra is the trusted lieutenant of Reddy, who hails from the lower caste. Naga Reddy, the number two in the party is jealous of Veer Bhadra's relation with Narasimha. Naga Reddy manages to poison Narasimha's mind to turn him against Veer Bhadra which eventually culminates in Veer Bhadra's gruesome murder. This incident triggers of a spate of violence between the two factions led by Veer Bhadra's son Shankar played by Sushant Singh and Naga Reddy's son Bukka Reddy played by Abhimanyu Singh.
Shankar gets murdered and his brother Pratap Ravi played by Vivek Oberoi takes over the helm. The rest of the movie deals with how Pratap Ravi avenges the death of his father and brother, and how he transforms from a guerilla leader to a power politician.
The performances are top notch. You cannot name a single person who has underperformed or hammed in the movie. The best performer by far was Abhimanyu Singh. He plays the brutal Bukka Reddy to perfection. Bukka Reddy enjoys murdering people in the unconventional manner. Bukka kills people for pleasure and kills his own people when he is angry. A rampant womaniser who literally lifts women from the streets and rapes them. Abhimanyu is successful in creating the aura of unpredictability around the character and spite in the minds of the viewers. Vivek Oberoi has performed really well. Probably his best since Company. He is controlled when required and at his smouldering best in certain scenes. The surprise comes in the form of Shatrughan Sinha. Shotgun is left in the cupboard and he acts the smooth Shivaji Rao (probably inspired by NTR) to perfection.
There is a scene which shows how violence is a routine for the people. Bukka Reddy is smashing the pulp out a man's leg with a rifle butt in the front yard of his home. The lady in the house saunters out and asks Bukka whether he wants to come to the temple as if he is sipping tea. Bukka pauses, replies in the negative, and continues his work. The lady without a blink gets into a car and leaves.
The movie is filled with RGV signature shots. The close-up shots, wacky camera work. Fast frames. The director is near top form after a long time. For me, this is one of his better works and the best work in quite some time although the movie is nowhere near Satya or Company. Sound is very loud and felt a bit unnecessary. The BGM is over the top in most places. It felt grating in the beginning, but afterwards it synced with the tempo of the movie. Same holds true for the weird sound of the narrator.
The movie had a satisfactory ending making the viewer crave for more. A short synopsis of what is to be expected in the second part is shown in the end. Surya dominates the section and it sets the tone for the next part. Priyamani is also shown in the montage and probably Sudeep will have a bigger part to play. He was introduced as an intel officer after the first half with no part after that.
TL;DR: Rakhta Charithra is a must watch for the connoisseurs of political-thrillers, provided you can stand the amount of blood and gore.
Rating: 7.5/10
Theatre: Innovative Multiplex, Bangalore, 24th October, 11:30 AM Show
Status: Balcony - No idea, must be around 80% First Class: 30-40% with 3-4 girls
To be frank, I expected a lot more violence looking at the various reviews. The movie sure has its fair share of it, but nothing revolting. I found it necessary and realistic enough for the topic tackled by the movie. Then again, it depends on the threshold of the viewer. The guy who sat next to often cringed and was hid his face when something gruesome was about to happen.
The film is based on the real life story of Paritala Ravi, a powerful politician in Rayalseema who lived and died by the sword.
Anantpur is place ruled by Narasimha Reddy, a powerful politician. Veer Bhadra is the trusted lieutenant of Reddy, who hails from the lower caste. Naga Reddy, the number two in the party is jealous of Veer Bhadra's relation with Narasimha. Naga Reddy manages to poison Narasimha's mind to turn him against Veer Bhadra which eventually culminates in Veer Bhadra's gruesome murder. This incident triggers of a spate of violence between the two factions led by Veer Bhadra's son Shankar played by Sushant Singh and Naga Reddy's son Bukka Reddy played by Abhimanyu Singh.
Shankar gets murdered and his brother Pratap Ravi played by Vivek Oberoi takes over the helm. The rest of the movie deals with how Pratap Ravi avenges the death of his father and brother, and how he transforms from a guerilla leader to a power politician.
The performances are top notch. You cannot name a single person who has underperformed or hammed in the movie. The best performer by far was Abhimanyu Singh. He plays the brutal Bukka Reddy to perfection. Bukka Reddy enjoys murdering people in the unconventional manner. Bukka kills people for pleasure and kills his own people when he is angry. A rampant womaniser who literally lifts women from the streets and rapes them. Abhimanyu is successful in creating the aura of unpredictability around the character and spite in the minds of the viewers. Vivek Oberoi has performed really well. Probably his best since Company. He is controlled when required and at his smouldering best in certain scenes. The surprise comes in the form of Shatrughan Sinha. Shotgun is left in the cupboard and he acts the smooth Shivaji Rao (probably inspired by NTR) to perfection.
There is a scene which shows how violence is a routine for the people. Bukka Reddy is smashing the pulp out a man's leg with a rifle butt in the front yard of his home. The lady in the house saunters out and asks Bukka whether he wants to come to the temple as if he is sipping tea. Bukka pauses, replies in the negative, and continues his work. The lady without a blink gets into a car and leaves.
The movie is filled with RGV signature shots. The close-up shots, wacky camera work. Fast frames. The director is near top form after a long time. For me, this is one of his better works and the best work in quite some time although the movie is nowhere near Satya or Company. Sound is very loud and felt a bit unnecessary. The BGM is over the top in most places. It felt grating in the beginning, but afterwards it synced with the tempo of the movie. Same holds true for the weird sound of the narrator.
The movie had a satisfactory ending making the viewer crave for more. A short synopsis of what is to be expected in the second part is shown in the end. Surya dominates the section and it sets the tone for the next part. Priyamani is also shown in the montage and probably Sudeep will have a bigger part to play. He was introduced as an intel officer after the first half with no part after that.
TL;DR: Rakhta Charithra is a must watch for the connoisseurs of political-thrillers, provided you can stand the amount of blood and gore.
Rating: 7.5/10
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Anwar: Slooow Poison!
Cross-posting from the review I wrote in ForumKeralam.
Theatre: Athulya, Trivandrum, 6 PM show
Status: Full. I was sitting in the box above the balcony.
Amal Neerad has shown once again that he is a one trick pony. Stylish shots with no substance. The problem with Anwar is that the stylish shots does not manage to hold the viewer's attention. Most of the time the movie just meanders along the way in ultra slow motions with nothing much happening. Even if things happen, you just stare at the screen sans emotions. The only time I got excited was the starting of the last sequence were Anwar takes on the bad guys. All the other stunts does not provide much value. Its often left to the viewer's imagination. They should "know" and "feel" the power of Anwar, rather than "see" them on the screen.
Story is threadbare and its difficult to divulge anything without breaking the suspense. The story was something on the lines that I had expected and it was no big surprise at all. Ditto for the 3 who watched the movie with me, one of whom is barely 14 without the burden of having watched countless hollywood flicks. Story is sometimes overrated as Amal once said in an interview. But in those cases, you need a strong script to back you up and great dialogues. Script is absent in Anwar, but dialogues at places are good.
Prithviraj's performance is the only salvageable aspect from the movie apart from the songs. He has matured as an actor with a very controlled performance required from the character. His role did bring back the memory of Stop Violence, where is brooding look worked and not his sound. But in Anwar he has come a full circle where his looks and expressions were great along with perfect sound modulation. Comparison could be because of them the fact that I watched Stop Violence first day in the same place!
Mamtha had nothing much to do. Lal was good as usual. Prakash Raj was good, but didn't have the meaty role the man deserves.
Some people would call the movie technically brilliant. I would disagree and call it rubbish. Using the latest techniques won't make a movie any good. Ultra slo-mos should complement story telling, not take over the entire movie.
Crowd reaction. Cheers for Prithviraj. Majority booing for Mammootty. Lots of boos in some sequences and the loudest boos were reserved after the movie when the outro song ends. Even I booed!
Loudest cheers were for this dialogue.
: Ivinentha kuzhappam? Nalla payyanalle? Pinne kure ahankaram undu.
Prithvi should be careful at this juncture of his career. Couple of bombs could set him back a lot. I am afraid Anwar is one of those.
Rating: 4/10 (I am being very generous here, a brownie point exclusively for Prithvi for improving as an actor.)
Theatre: Athulya, Trivandrum, 6 PM show
Status: Full. I was sitting in the box above the balcony.
Amal Neerad has shown once again that he is a one trick pony. Stylish shots with no substance. The problem with Anwar is that the stylish shots does not manage to hold the viewer's attention. Most of the time the movie just meanders along the way in ultra slow motions with nothing much happening. Even if things happen, you just stare at the screen sans emotions. The only time I got excited was the starting of the last sequence were Anwar takes on the bad guys. All the other stunts does not provide much value. Its often left to the viewer's imagination. They should "know" and "feel" the power of Anwar, rather than "see" them on the screen.
Story is threadbare and its difficult to divulge anything without breaking the suspense. The story was something on the lines that I had expected and it was no big surprise at all. Ditto for the 3 who watched the movie with me, one of whom is barely 14 without the burden of having watched countless hollywood flicks. Story is sometimes overrated as Amal once said in an interview. But in those cases, you need a strong script to back you up and great dialogues. Script is absent in Anwar, but dialogues at places are good.
Prithviraj's performance is the only salvageable aspect from the movie apart from the songs. He has matured as an actor with a very controlled performance required from the character. His role did bring back the memory of Stop Violence, where is brooding look worked and not his sound. But in Anwar he has come a full circle where his looks and expressions were great along with perfect sound modulation. Comparison could be because of them the fact that I watched Stop Violence first day in the same place!
Mamtha had nothing much to do. Lal was good as usual. Prakash Raj was good, but didn't have the meaty role the man deserves.
Some people would call the movie technically brilliant. I would disagree and call it rubbish. Using the latest techniques won't make a movie any good. Ultra slo-mos should complement story telling, not take over the entire movie.
Crowd reaction. Cheers for Prithviraj. Majority booing for Mammootty. Lots of boos in some sequences and the loudest boos were reserved after the movie when the outro song ends. Even I booed!
Loudest cheers were for this dialogue.
: Ivinentha kuzhappam?
Prithvi should be careful at this juncture of his career. Couple of bombs could set him back a lot. I am afraid Anwar is one of those.
Rating: 4/10 (I am being very generous here, a brownie point exclusively for Prithvi for improving as an actor.)
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Total "Enthira"tainment!
Cross-posting the review I wrote in ForumKeralam.
Theatre: Fame Lido, Forum Value Mall, Bangalore
Show: 2nd October, 4:40 PM
Status: House Full
First things first. I am not a fan of Rajnikanth and seldom hides my disdain for the brand of "style" the man is known for over the years. For me, Rajni films are either tolerable or a pain to watch. I had my apprehensions with the movie and had a constant dread after spending Rs 400 for a ticket. By the end of 15 minutes, my fears started evaporating. Endhiran is the Rajni film I absolutely loved. Hats off to the man himself and Shankar.
The plot is wafer thin as is the case with all Shankar films. Quite welcome that Shankar has made no attempt to steal the story from somewhere. Rajnikanth, a robotics scientist, makes an android capable of superhuman feats and models the look after himself. Things go wrong after the doctor introduces emotion to make the robot better. The robot falls in love with his girlfriend and threatens the world with a little help from the doctor's jealous mentor.
I loved Aishwarya Rai in the movie. Basically, she does her job as an ornament (a delectable one at that!) and does not have anything to act ala Raavanan. After a long time it was refreshing to see a normal intro for a hero, that too from somebody who has a stamp on the intro scenes as Rajnikanth. Director has succeeded in making the scientist Rajnikanth as human as possible. A terrible workaholic, prone to mistakes, jealous...the feelings which are unknown to the "normal" Rajnikanth. Rajni does his part decently to his credit. The robot Rajnikanth was simply mindblowing. I always thought Rajnikanth would make a great villain and he proves it. The Robot in the first half is an emotion less being which reminded me of Arnold in Terminator. In the second half, he turns into an evil monster. Rajni steals the show as the scheming, snarling supervillain. Other actors did not have much to do. Danny Denozgpa is upto the mark as the mentor jealous of his protege's success.
Music from Rahman is pretty average. The only song I really liked was the Endhiran song towards the end. The songs are shot extremely well. Songs oscillate between shot in exotic locales and imaginary locales. Lavish and stylishly shot. Choreography left much to be intended in my opinion. At some places it was really good and in most places it was just average.
Now to the best part. Graphics. I have never seen such perfection and polish regarding graphics in India. In fact, Endhiran would easily match a mainstream Hollywood blockbuster in the graphics part. One aspect I would like to mention is that, you would never see some of these graphics in Hollywood movies specifically because they don't have a compulsion towards songs. Almost all the graphics work in the movie are brilliant or close enough to being brilliant to allude most of the prying eyes.
My reaction to the movie was Holy S**t! My friend, a Rajni fan's reaction was Meh! According to him, the movie does not have anything that a Rajni fan would expect. No punch dialogues, no introduction, nothing to make his pulse race. May be this could work in the favour of the movie since the movie could have an universal appeal beyond Rajni fans.
TL;DR: Endhiran is a landmark movie in Indian cinema. Watch it for the jaw dropping graphics. Entertainment guaranteed!
Rating: 7.5/10
Theatre: Fame Lido, Forum Value Mall, Bangalore
Show: 2nd October, 4:40 PM
Status: House Full
First things first. I am not a fan of Rajnikanth and seldom hides my disdain for the brand of "style" the man is known for over the years. For me, Rajni films are either tolerable or a pain to watch. I had my apprehensions with the movie and had a constant dread after spending Rs 400 for a ticket. By the end of 15 minutes, my fears started evaporating. Endhiran is the Rajni film I absolutely loved. Hats off to the man himself and Shankar.
The plot is wafer thin as is the case with all Shankar films. Quite welcome that Shankar has made no attempt to steal the story from somewhere. Rajnikanth, a robotics scientist, makes an android capable of superhuman feats and models the look after himself. Things go wrong after the doctor introduces emotion to make the robot better. The robot falls in love with his girlfriend and threatens the world with a little help from the doctor's jealous mentor.
I loved Aishwarya Rai in the movie. Basically, she does her job as an ornament (a delectable one at that!) and does not have anything to act ala Raavanan. After a long time it was refreshing to see a normal intro for a hero, that too from somebody who has a stamp on the intro scenes as Rajnikanth. Director has succeeded in making the scientist Rajnikanth as human as possible. A terrible workaholic, prone to mistakes, jealous...the feelings which are unknown to the "normal" Rajnikanth. Rajni does his part decently to his credit. The robot Rajnikanth was simply mindblowing. I always thought Rajnikanth would make a great villain and he proves it. The Robot in the first half is an emotion less being which reminded me of Arnold in Terminator. In the second half, he turns into an evil monster. Rajni steals the show as the scheming, snarling supervillain. Other actors did not have much to do. Danny Denozgpa is upto the mark as the mentor jealous of his protege's success.
Music from Rahman is pretty average. The only song I really liked was the Endhiran song towards the end. The songs are shot extremely well. Songs oscillate between shot in exotic locales and imaginary locales. Lavish and stylishly shot. Choreography left much to be intended in my opinion. At some places it was really good and in most places it was just average.
Now to the best part. Graphics. I have never seen such perfection and polish regarding graphics in India. In fact, Endhiran would easily match a mainstream Hollywood blockbuster in the graphics part. One aspect I would like to mention is that, you would never see some of these graphics in Hollywood movies specifically because they don't have a compulsion towards songs. Almost all the graphics work in the movie are brilliant or close enough to being brilliant to allude most of the prying eyes.
My reaction to the movie was Holy S**t! My friend, a Rajni fan's reaction was Meh! According to him, the movie does not have anything that a Rajni fan would expect. No punch dialogues, no introduction, nothing to make his pulse race. May be this could work in the favour of the movie since the movie could have an universal appeal beyond Rajni fans.
TL;DR: Endhiran is a landmark movie in Indian cinema. Watch it for the jaw dropping graphics. Entertainment guaranteed!
Rating: 7.5/10
Monday, September 27, 2010
Pranchiyettan and The Saint: Good but disappointing
Cross-posting the review I wrote in ForumKeralam.
Show: 25/9/10, 10 PM
Theatre: Innovative Multiplex, Bangalore
Status: Balcony: Full, First Class: Full (I think!)
Lots of expectation from the Ranjith-Mammootty combo, especially since Renjith has supposedly moved away from making typical movies. Sadly, the movie does not meet the hefty expectation.
The movie started off quite well and established the fun part with the graveyard scene itself. The sequences with the Saint were hilarious and consistent through out the movie. The actor that portrayed the saint was fabulous. I was expecting a little better dubbing from Renjith though, still nothing much to crib about. Mammootty was brilliant was Pranchi. Thrissur accent was almost perfect. Innocent was refreshing after a very long time. Siddique, Khushbu, Pranchi's sidekicks...almost everybody did a neat job. In the acting department, Priyamani had nothing much to do and the child actor was misdirected at certain points. The boy looks like a good actor barring a few awkward scenes where things look forced. I would blame the Director than the kid for such sequences.
Script and Direction was top-class in the first half. Pranchi's trysts with chasing fame were hilarious. Quality comedy makes a return after a long time. Co-incidence that Suraj was missing from arguably the best comedy film of the year? I think not! Unfortunately, the things go wrong in the second half. The movie runs out of steam and meanders towards the climax. Priyamani's entrance and character never syncs with the rest of the movie. Helping the kid pass the examination sequences could have been gold, but looks very hurried. Revelation part in the climax looks good on paper, but ended up being not so good. The three revelations are predictable, dud, and lame respectively. The only parts worth remembering are in the first half where Mammootty rules the roost and the saint.
My major gripe is against Renjith. In his interviews, he hyped the movie saying that its something you never saw before in Malayalam movies. I could find nothing like that. Saint reminded me of Guruvayoorappan in Nandanam. So, it has something even Renjith himself attempted before with a lot of success. Movie was supposed to be a satire. Move along, nothing satirical here. Renjith has gone down a couple of notches since Paleri Manikyam.
All that said, its the best among the ramzan movies, derailed by lacklustre writing and direction in the second half. Its a typical commercial movie and not an experimental movie by any stretch of imagination.
TL;DR: Pranchiyettan and The Saint is very good in some parts, competent if not predictable in the rest. A good watch for its humour, performance of Mammootty, and the saint.
My Rating: 6.5/10
Show: 25/9/10, 10 PM
Theatre: Innovative Multiplex, Bangalore
Status: Balcony: Full, First Class: Full (I think!)
Lots of expectation from the Ranjith-Mammootty combo, especially since Renjith has supposedly moved away from making typical movies. Sadly, the movie does not meet the hefty expectation.
The movie started off quite well and established the fun part with the graveyard scene itself. The sequences with the Saint were hilarious and consistent through out the movie. The actor that portrayed the saint was fabulous. I was expecting a little better dubbing from Renjith though, still nothing much to crib about. Mammootty was brilliant was Pranchi. Thrissur accent was almost perfect. Innocent was refreshing after a very long time. Siddique, Khushbu, Pranchi's sidekicks...almost everybody did a neat job. In the acting department, Priyamani had nothing much to do and the child actor was misdirected at certain points. The boy looks like a good actor barring a few awkward scenes where things look forced. I would blame the Director than the kid for such sequences.
Script and Direction was top-class in the first half. Pranchi's trysts with chasing fame were hilarious. Quality comedy makes a return after a long time. Co-incidence that Suraj was missing from arguably the best comedy film of the year? I think not! Unfortunately, the things go wrong in the second half. The movie runs out of steam and meanders towards the climax. Priyamani's entrance and character never syncs with the rest of the movie. Helping the kid pass the examination sequences could have been gold, but looks very hurried. Revelation part in the climax looks good on paper, but ended up being not so good. The three revelations are predictable, dud, and lame respectively. The only parts worth remembering are in the first half where Mammootty rules the roost and the saint.
My major gripe is against Renjith. In his interviews, he hyped the movie saying that its something you never saw before in Malayalam movies. I could find nothing like that. Saint reminded me of Guruvayoorappan in Nandanam. So, it has something even Renjith himself attempted before with a lot of success. Movie was supposed to be a satire. Move along, nothing satirical here. Renjith has gone down a couple of notches since Paleri Manikyam.
All that said, its the best among the ramzan movies, derailed by lacklustre writing and direction in the second half. Its a typical commercial movie and not an experimental movie by any stretch of imagination.
TL;DR: Pranchiyettan and The Saint is very good in some parts, competent if not predictable in the rest. A good watch for its humour, performance of Mammootty, and the saint.
My Rating: 6.5/10
Monday, September 13, 2010
Shikkar: The Hunt
Cross posting the review I wrote in Forum Keralam.
Theatre: Innovative Multiplex, Bangalore
Time: 10:00 PM
Status: Balcony Full. First Class must have been full, looking at the online reservation chart in the morning.
After watching Shikkar, I felt both happy and disappointed. Happy that Mohanlal is back to his elements with a good role that suits his age and image. Disappointed that the screenwriter and the director made a mess of what could have been a classic. It looks like Padmakumar wanted to make the first half as mass and second half as class. The movie does not become a train wreck thanks to the awesome last 45 minutes.
Suraj was awful and should have been nowhere near this movie. The writer could have handled Jagathy's character in a much better way to provide the laughs if that was something critical. In spite of this, there were many places where you felt that eerie feeling that something is going to happen which would be displaced the next moment thanks to the stupid antics by Suraj or Jagathy. For me the highlight of the first half was when Mohanlal touches the man who tells him about the death of other officers. You could see the slight shiver in his hands and feel his fear.
Second half meandered along at first with the low point being a Jagathy comedy. Things started kicking into top gear with the flashback sequence. Crafted very well by the Director. Very refreshing stuff. The Telugu song was brilliant, the only song which seemed to be in place. Top class performances from Samudrakani and Lakshmi Gopalaswami. Climax sequences were breathtaking though I had expected a lot more. Hats to Lalettan's dedication to do such stunts when he could easily veto without any issues.
The supporting cast for the movie did a good job. Ananya is good. Hope she gets more meaty roles. Kailesh was ok for this role. I really don't see him going far though.
TL,DR: Shikkar is worth a watch (or 2!) if you are a Malayalam movie fan and a must watch if you are a Mohanlal fan.
Rating: 6/10
Theatre: Innovative Multiplex, Bangalore
Time: 10:00 PM
Status: Balcony Full. First Class must have been full, looking at the online reservation chart in the morning.
After watching Shikkar, I felt both happy and disappointed. Happy that Mohanlal is back to his elements with a good role that suits his age and image. Disappointed that the screenwriter and the director made a mess of what could have been a classic. It looks like Padmakumar wanted to make the first half as mass and second half as class. The movie does not become a train wreck thanks to the awesome last 45 minutes.
Suraj was awful and should have been nowhere near this movie. The writer could have handled Jagathy's character in a much better way to provide the laughs if that was something critical. In spite of this, there were many places where you felt that eerie feeling that something is going to happen which would be displaced the next moment thanks to the stupid antics by Suraj or Jagathy. For me the highlight of the first half was when Mohanlal touches the man who tells him about the death of other officers. You could see the slight shiver in his hands and feel his fear.
Second half meandered along at first with the low point being a Jagathy comedy. Things started kicking into top gear with the flashback sequence. Crafted very well by the Director. Very refreshing stuff. The Telugu song was brilliant, the only song which seemed to be in place. Top class performances from Samudrakani and Lakshmi Gopalaswami. Climax sequences were breathtaking though I had expected a lot more. Hats to Lalettan's dedication to do such stunts when he could easily veto without any issues.
The supporting cast for the movie did a good job. Ananya is good. Hope she gets more meaty roles. Kailesh was ok for this role. I really don't see him going far though.
TL,DR: Shikkar is worth a watch (or 2!) if you are a Malayalam movie fan and a must watch if you are a Mohanlal fan.
Rating: 6/10
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Heartless: The Story of the Tin Man
This is terrific stuff. Wonderful backstory taken from Wizard of Oz.
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