Very few batsmen score a century on their debut and similarly very few directors get to make classy and memorable first movies. One of Sibi Malayil’s earlier movies was Thaniyavarthanam with the script of a debutant writer Lohithadas. There is one particular scene in the movie where Mammotty is teaching a class and one of the students gets up and asks if he is crazy. The close up of Mammotty’s face shows him going through a bunch of emotions and just that scene is enough to show the brilliance of this director. Similarly, in Bharatham, there is a scene when Lakshmi asks Mohanlal not to hold all those emotions inside and let it all go and at that point tears roll down Mohanlal’s eyes.
When we talk about Sibi Malayil, the most mentioned film is Kireedom, but we just want to note that this man has brilliance in him and that is seen in most of his movies. He was also able to achieve this brilliance due to the association with Lohithadas. It is also scenes like those we mentioned which show again and again what talent the M&M’s posses. Now Sibi Malayil is coming back with a new movie after a long gap with a Mohanlal movie.
The movie stars Parvathi (of Notebook) as the heroine which would make her one of the youngest heroines of Mohanlal. We don’t know if it is a buy one get one free deal, for every Mohanlal movie seems to have Jagathi also in it and this movie is no different.
Sibi has excelled in movies which have an element of karunam resulting in shantam and so when he is attempting a suspense movie, we wonder if the script will have those scenes in which Sibi can make an impact. For the dream team which gave Malayalam cinema memorable movies like HH Abdulla, Bharatham, and Kireedom etc it is a testing time. Mohanlal is looking for that elusive hit after a series of back to back flops like Ali Bhai, Pardesi, Rock ‘n’Roll and Sibi Malayil is coming back after a hiatus of four years. Looking at the brighter side, Sibi would have gotten 4 years along with the scenarist S.Bhasurachandran to tighten the story and screenplay.
After achieving greatness with movies like Dasaratham, Kamaladalam, Mayamayooram and Sadayam Sibi did some forgettable movies like Devadoothan, Ustad and Amrutham and now this is the time for him to redeem himself. We have too many film makers doing “fun” movies and to balance it, we need directors serious about the craft like Sibi. More than Romeo and Kangaroo, this is one of the movies we are looking forward in among the December releases.
Photo courtesy: Nowrunning.com
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December 12, 2007 at 11:14 am
Lost interest in the article after the first few lines. Now, where would you put Mutharamkunnu P.O.?
December 12, 2007 at 6:04 pm
What Arun said. As far as I know, Mutharamkunnu PO was Sibi’s first film as a director.
December 12, 2007 at 10:27 pm
Sibi is coming back after a hiatus of four years? When was Alice in wonderland released?
December 12, 2007 at 10:45 pm
Arun, you are right. Mutharamkunnu was his first movie.
December 13, 2007 at 2:11 am
“One of Sibi Malayil’s earlier movies..” – I guess that justifies VC wrt what Arun and Madhav pointed out.
But then “..hiatus of 4 years” must be a wrong info not only because of AIW (as Maymon asks), but also Amrutham and Jalolsavam.
On second thoughts, there was one more movie by him in that period: Kalabhavan Mani and Biju Menon in the lead roles with Football theme as backdrop. I forgot its final name as the title was changed many times before the release and nobody bothered after its release. Was it ‘Kisaan’ or was it ‘Illakal Pacha Pookal Manja’.
December 13, 2007 at 2:12 am
Maymon – Alice in Wonderland was released in 2005. So the hiatus should be 2 and not years as stated.
His last hit movie was Ishtam way back in 2001
December 13, 2007 at 6:24 pm
Siby had the following recent movies
Ente veedu Appuvinteyum
jalolsavam
Ilakal Pacha Pookkal Manja
Aliced in Wonderland
Amrutham
Except for the first one, which was an average one, the rest all were flops
December 17, 2007 at 1:00 am
Its time for Mohanlal to stop being the superstar and be the actor he is.
He is becoming increasingly unbearable.
He should start acting his age.
December 18, 2007 at 3:02 am
May be he is unbearable to you. But he is acceptable to most of the malayalees.
December 18, 2007 at 9:13 am
JK – is that the reason so many of his movies have flopped this year ?? Heeee
December 18, 2007 at 9:38 am
RR, Actually Malayalees like Vijay and Shah Rukh Khan more than the senior citizens of Malayalam cinema.
December 18, 2007 at 7:16 pm
JK,
We are talking about Mohanlal and you are using a word like “acceptable”. Malayalees have loved him for close to 3 decades and still do. But there has been very few films in the last 5 years thats worth mentioning in his wonderful carrier. I am just hoping he would better his ratio.
2003 – NONE worth mentioning
Mr. Brahmachari
Kilichundan Mambazham
Balettan
Hariharan Pillai Happiyyanu
2004 – NONE worth mentioning
Vamanapuram Bus Route
Vismayathumbathu
Natturajavu
Mambazhakkalam
2005 – 2 worth mentioning
Udayananu Tharam – *
Chandrolsavam
Udayon
Naran
Thanmatra – *
2006 – 2 worth mentioning
Rasathanthram
Vadakkumnadhan – *
Kirtichakra – *
Mahasamudram
Photographer
Baba Kalyani
2007 – 1 worth mentioning
Chotta Mumbai
Hallo
Alibhai
Paradesi – *
Rock N’ Roll
December 18, 2007 at 7:24 pm
Nice, why did last few movies flopped – collective punishment by adoring public!!!!
December 19, 2007 at 2:38 am
RR, how many other hits you had seen this year? mohanlal had more flops in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004. One basic thing you must know is ,its not the actors whom viewers like, its the movie they like or not.
Jibs, If you like the worst acting of SRK and Vijay, better you only say abt yourself. Please don´t use Malayalees..
December 19, 2007 at 7:15 am
JK,
This might come as a shock to you, but please read the following articles
http://tinyurl.com/29b995
http://tinyurl.com/329fpn
Now, if Malayalees are not watching these movies who are? Please enlighten us.
December 20, 2007 at 1:53 am
Jibs. I am sorry , May be you are sitting infrot of your laptop at some other part of world (Except Kerala) and enjoying the articles and reviews from Sify and Rediff to put your comments.
Sandeep,
Please mention how many other movies where worth mentioning? Kannadachu iruttakkarathu.
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