varnachitram

Kerala, as you know is God’s own country. Our model of development is the envy of various other states. We are literate than any other state in the union. So it is only natural that we do classy jobs in Kerala, like going to movie theaters and hooting.

Director Kamal called a press conference the other day and put the reason for failure of his movie Minnaminikootam on general public. In particular he blamed it on the superstar fan clubs.

Kamal pointed out that in the Ernakulam theater where his film is running, people in large numbers come and start hooting when the titles appear! This “hoot brigade” continues to hoot throughout the film as though they were paid money by certain people to run down the film! The needle of suspicion of those behind the “hoot brigade”, according to industry veterans is the superstar’s fan clubs. Kamal in his press conference hinted that these fans associations were targeting his films. He also said they were the bane of the industry and has damaged the edifice of Malayalam cinema.[Kamal lashes out at superstar fan clubs! ]

Thus, very proudly we can say that the common Malayalee has created a new profession which does not exist in any other state. Like mercenaries, we go theaters, hoot on behalf on rich superstars and get satisfaction out of it. Then we blog about the lack of alternatives. In the animal world, wolves, foxes and dogs do it, but just for fun.

That said, Minnaminikootam is not Classmates to attract a huge audience. Maybe people are hooting because the movie is terrible. Most of our reviewers agreed that the movie is boring, cliched and is disconnected. Maybe it is the pain of those people which found an outlet through hoots.

So we end with more questions than we started!

• When a non superstar movie releases, which superstar’s fan go and hoot? Mammootty’s or Mohanlal’s? Who among the two feels insecure.
  
• Or is it  Dileep who has not had a hit since Manmohan Singh Govt. took office.
  
• Like MACTA will AMMA too split - to AMMA and Randanamma?
  
• Have Superstars have outsourced this to a rent-a-crowd business?
  
• Pritviraj is not there in Minnaminikootam, still why are they hooting?
  
• Who are they afraid of?  Jayasurya ? Or is it Meera they are after?

Popularity: 3% [?]

Panathinu meethe Parinthu parukkumo illayo ennu enikku ariyathilla. Athellam Parinthinte sowkariyam pole. Pakshe ente ee thalaikku meethe oru Parinthum parakkila. Paranaal.. chiraku arinju kalayum njaan.-[Madambi attacks Parinthu! ]

That was a line from Madambi and so we were all eager to see which movie had a worse story. Considering that Madambi was a rehash of various other movies, it was indeed tough to produce something worse than that. But M Padmakumar, whose pet theme is evil men attaining redemption, has managed to make a lackluster movie.

NowRunning.com says

Parunthu is a film that refuses to move beyond its kick-off point. Adamantly stuck to where it set off, it makes little progression and even lesser transition. There are a few trials to your patience as well, and there is no handsome reward at the end either.
The most laudable feature of Parunthu is that it doesn’t succumb to pave the way for a star warfare, which was eagerly anticipated by all and sundry, especially after its predecessor Madambi took an open dig at the film. As the credits roll, Parunthu has Purushothaman piercingly proclaiming that he would rather compete with himself, thereby pulling down the curtains on an imminent celebrity combat.

In Padma Kumar’s Parunthu, the regal bird is uncharacteristically passive. There is simply no ferocity in its eyes nor does it whoosh about with a lethal clinch. All it does is soar senselessly all around with neither a prey nor a perch in sight.

Sify writes

The trouble with the film is that in commercial cinema you have to show the hero with negative shades turning over a new leaf for the better to justify his early villainy. Here Parinthu in the first half is completely black, with no redeeming features.

But in the second half, writer T.A Razzak and director Padmakumar makes the character have a change of heart, and in the last scene he becomes too sentimental. Purushothaman tells Azeez in the climax fight- Nammal randuperum villain mara. Villain jayakuna charithrame illa….

The makers’ justification for turning a rock hard guy with no emotions suddenly into a emotional wreck is the film’s major flaw. The climax is jerky and loses the razor sharpness required of an action entertainer.

Paresh Palicha, for a change, makes some observations

That said, we do see a couple of directorial flourishes in a couple of scenes like Parunthu devouring chicken legs in the beginning while watching a news story about a family suicide (his victims as a result of his threats of eviction if they fail to repay the loan) all the while justifying his actions.

In the second half the same dining area is enveloped in darkness (after a change of heart), the food is untouched as a way of expressing his of guilt that money is the be all and end all in life.

Post Script: We never thought we’d see Mammootty and Mohanlal communicating to each other a la  Rajni-Jayalalitha style. Now that Parunthu didn’t take the bait we are eagerly waiting to see how this will play out. Is it the beginning of a new phase of rivalry or  beginning of the end of the rivalry?

Popularity: 4% [?]

Kamal is one of those rare ‘veteran directors in Malayalam cinema who has survived the test of times.While most of his contemporaries faded into oblivion by the late nineties, Kamal was successful in delivering youthful entertainers.He gave us a Jane Tu…..almost a decade ago,(his ‘Niram’, which was released in 2000 had a story line which was much similar to the recent Imran-Genelia starrer ‘Jane tu…..) an equally entertaining Nammal, ,Ayushkalam,Peruvannapurathe visheshangal and a dozen other films in the past.But of- late, kamal seems to be disinterested in his work which is quite evident from his recent flicks,be it ‘Goal’ or the Latest ‘Minnaminnikootam’. Kamal has certainly lost his magic touch.

I don’t have absolutely anything against mindless entertainers.After all, cinema is an escapist fare and as long as they manage to entertain the audience it doesn’t matter how good or bad the story is..But what will you do if a movie (which is scripted and directed by one of the cinematic geniuses whom you admire the most) is at the same time mindless and fails to entertain you? That is exactly what Minnaminnikootam is.It is such a trash that makes you cringe to your seat and put you in deep slumber!

Minnaminnikootam starts the ‘classmates’ way,goes to the flash back mode and then comes to the present in the climax scene.Ya…right from the beginning it sounds clichéd no?This is the main flaw of Minnaminni.. it is clichéd,predictable and except for a few gags from Jayasurya and Roma is plain boring. Kamal’s intentions are clear,to make a movie about a group of friends who are I.T.professionals (who quite often behave like teenage boys and girls, and their main job is to sit and chat in the Office ‘Canteen during working hours!) and their woes in life.But what Kamal lacks is a strong story line which keeps the viewers hooked to the movie.

Coming to the performances…The movie has a dozen of stars from the youth brigade though the story revolves round the lead pair of Narein and Meera which infact is the biggest blow as far as the audience is concerned!While the supporting cast of Jayasurya,Roma,Indrajith,Samvrutha have done their roles effectively both Meera and Narein seems to be miscast in their respective roles.Narein lacks screen presence ,his acting is pretty bad (at times amateurish, esp in the ‘drunken’ scene!).Meera’s role is nothing but an extension of what she did in Vinodayathra,Calcutta News and a dozen of other recent films.She over emotes at times and becomes irritating often..Anoop Chandran and Radhika have nothing much to do except to look pretty in the posters designed for the movie!

The songs by Biji Bal and Anil Panachooran is a big let down.Technically also the movie is weak.Cinamatography by Manoj Pillai is just ordinary.

Bottom Line: This Minnaminni is not worth your time and Money!

Popularity: 11% [?]

Attack of the clones on Malayalam cinema viewers have started. As per the reviews Madambi is rehashed version of so many ‘Sacrificing elder Brother’ themed movies which have graced the screen in the past. It is as if every director has to do this theme at least once. Now we will wait for few more days to see if M.Padmakumar is daring to be different in the other clone, Parinthu. Mohanlal lost this round even before Parinthu is released by the virtue of being part of a movie which is repackaged garbage.

NowRunning.com comments:

Madambi is a celluloid saga that falls squarely into the replication category. Rehashing is the keyword in it, and as every moment, event and character is redone and fixed up in fresh slots, credibility takes the back seat to sentimentality.

There are just a few odd occasions when the story deviates from the conventional, and then you dearly wish it hadn’t. For, then it turns into an inconceivably dim-witted state of affairs that lacks sensitivity. Back in the time-honored mould, its smooth sailing once again, albeit a yawn inducing one. There are only delusions of grandeur in this otherwise cut-and-dried film that’s totally harmless. As much as it is inoffensive, it’s mediocre, typical and quite common place.

Almost everything in Madambi is reminiscent of something or someone you have seen before. What’s upsetting about it, more than its ordinariness is its staunch adherence to a cinematic tradition that’s fast losing out on its very rationale.

Sify.com reviews:

The film is built on simple bits of screen writing fluff and is made to appeal to the highly susceptible audiences. The basic story is as old as the hills, and etched from various movies of the past- Balettan, Vesham, Vatsalyam and a few Tamil village movies of Vijaykanth and Sathyaraj!The first half is rollicking fun, that will keep you hooked but in the second half it turns out to be an emotional tear jerker, with a contrived and easily predictable climax. The secondary cast of actors in the film like Jagathy, Innocent, Siddique, Biju Pappan (the ham-handed cop), Gopakumar, Narayan Nair, K.P.A.C Lalitha, Sriraman and others are all caricatures we have seen before in many films and they look like a bunch of ciphers.

Rediff.com’s review:

There is no novelty in the film’s plot or the narrative technique. Still, Mohanlal’s character has some substance in it.

Gopalakrishnan (Mohanlal) is a money-lender in a village. People misunderstand him to be money-minded, without having any emotional bond even towards his mother or younger brother Ramakrishnan (Ajmal). There are other story elements that are typical to Mohanlal films like the enemies in the form of a feudal family, as well as people, who know he is a do-gooder.

As the story moves along, we learn more about our hero. He is hard-hearted, as he was thrown out his father when he was a teenager for his wayward lifestyle. His mother hates him for doing that and his brother hates him because he does not let his brother pursue his dream of being an actor.

Popularity: 42% [?]

Recently in an interview published in PassionForCinema, Adoor had talked about Bollywood’s misplaced aspirations.

Q: Films like “:Lage Raho Munnabhai” or “Rang De Basanti” are touted in the media as cinematic revolutions. All the time very mediocre work is done in commercial cinema, and even slight variations are billed as revolutions. How do you see this trend?

A: I have not seen these films, but it is a good thing if media embraces something different. See, the Bombay industry never has had this ambition about going abroad or doing different things. They are very happy with their business, with the NRIs watching their films and giving them money from everywhere. Now they have the ambition, but they don’t have the equipment. They try to promote rubbish at international level. You take all the Bombay films to a place like Brussels and from there you have international awards for the Bombay films – that’s a very stupid notion. You congratulate yourself for producing rubbish, and you do it 20 times every year. It is self congratulatory and it is a very pathetic situation. People laugh at you and ridicule you because of that.

More than 2 years back we had written on this topic.

For a while now there has been consistent and concerted push towards projecting Hindi movies as Indian movies, be it in Cannes, or for Oscars or National awards. More and more Hindi movies are trying to identify themselves closer to Hollywood rather than to India while they are just starting to get rid of stories where twin brothers get lost in childhood and meet after 20 years. Even though there are talented actors, directors and technicians in South India, Hindi cinema has always muscled them out, probably due to inferiority complex.

If the IIFA awards are to come anywhere near the league of other International festivals like Cannes/Berlin, the organizers have to take off their bias towards Hindi films and give equal footage to regional language films as well. That might mean less Hindi movies might get selected and the Karan Johar genre might not be showcased, but that is the way to make this festival truly Indian. [Hindi Films = Indian Films?]

And here’s veteran Bengali actor Soumitra Chatterjee talking about Bollywood’s hegemonism in the National awards:

Awards don’t mean anything to me. They never did. Especially at this point in my life. I am completely disillusioned.I haven’t forgotten that once Jennifer Kapoor in Aparna (Sen)’s 36 Chowringhee Lane lost the National Award to Rekha  (Umrao Jaan ) despite having put in a much better performance than the Bollywood star.

A National Award calls for a lot of lobbyism; it is not an honest appreciation of someone’s skill. [A National award calls for lot of lobbyism]

Popularity: 36% [?]

Sharath has not composed many songs, but most people agree that the few he has composed are difficult to sing.

Welcome to the world of Sharath - the distinguished composer from Kerala, in whose compositions you find the afore-said musical innovations. Mind it, this is not a page providing a biographic or discographic account of Sharath or any other composer but one where I express my admiration for my 7 musical idols and the way I enjoy their music. The reader will also find some non-intrusive references on how I (an amateur composer) allow these masters to influence me in my own compositions as I climb a steep learning curve।

2. Sudha Mantram and the Floating Shadjam (Sa)

My first tryst with Sharath’s composition was way back in 1997 when I was still in CECRI in my undergrad days. I had been an active music troupe leader at CECRI and one of my friends Vivek MakaraBooshanam (Kumba!) who played mrudangam and tabla for the troupe informed me one day that he had an invite from one of the movie companies who had come with their crew to shoot a malayalam movie. The movie was Devadasy and Vivek was asked to pretend playing tabla for a song on screen. I had no idea about the song for which he was inducted for, but on return he told me that it was a very difficult hindustani number.[Sharath - The musical enigma]

Unlike many of his peers, Sharath is a good vocalist as well.

Music composer and vocalist Sharath presented a memorable concert in Kochi. His guru Balamuralikrishna’s varnam ‘Amma Anandadayini’ was sung in two speeds, displaying the vocalist’s vocal prowess in the upper and lower scales.

He enlivened the concert with this composition, which celebrates the grandeur of the Goddess, the essence of ‘Omkara.’ A detailed alapana of Hamsadhwani heralded the arrival of ‘Vathapi Ganapathim.’

The marked influence of his mentor was evident in his tonal variations, swara essays and raga elaborations. ‘Neesari neeve ranga’ in Hindolam was sung after a neat expressive portrayal of the raga. [Neat potrayal of Ragas]

Popularity: 38% [?]

In an interview with Nikhil, Sanjay of Bobby-Sanjay script writer duo describes his script writing process.

Q: Can you please describe your writing procedure of the script.

A: First of all the story discussion will take place after getting the main thread. This part is very important. My ideas and director’s ideas get exchanged and we develop the scene-order. In this discussion, the plot gets a full form and we fixes the scene order. That time I make some rough notes. But the rough notes are not necessary. Casanova is having 60 scenes. Without referring anything, I can memorize all these 60 scenes right now. So when the scene-order is complete and fixed, I starts writing scenes from the beginning. It include the dialogs also. I write a scene, by speaking the dialogs myself and self analyses the dialogs whether it suits the mood and situation. After writing the particular scene, I re-write it by omitting and adding some points. Then writes that scene once more. In total, I write a scene three times. The same procedure will be followed for all the scenes in the scene-order. If I feel a scene is boring while writing it, I stops/give up that scene right there and tries for another one, may be written only after discussing with the director. All writers are not having identical methods, there will be changes in the procedure.

Some time back we had talked to Sibi K Thomas and Uday Krishna script writing duo, Here’s what they had to say about their style:

varnachitram.com: Since there are two of you, how do you divide the work. Does one of you write the comedy scenes and the other writes the serious scenes?

SKT/UK: No, No. First when we get a thread we try to see how to expand it and in what all directions it can be taken, how humor can be added and form it into a story. Then we come up with the scene order and a one liner for each scene. We discuss with the director and incorporate his good suggestions. After that we write the dialogue. Sometimes one of does a set of scenes and the other person does the remaining scenes. We review each others dialogue and suggest improvements. Some scenes are written by both of us. The final result is our screenplay.[Interview: Sibi K Thomas , Uday Krishna]

Popularity: 45% [?]