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?

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!

MovieBuzz writes the review in the format: story, A is good, B is not good mode

Pritviraj wants to be the next superstar of Malayalam cinema, especially after the sweet success of Chocolate! So he goes with his lucky mascot, giving English title Kangaroo, which is a B-grade formula film with comedy, action, family sentiments, dream songs picturised like in Tamil/Telugu films.Pritviraj has the making of the next superstar, and does a good job in holding the film together. Pritvi and Kavya make a nice romantic pair and the dream song is well shot. Why did Kaveri chose this stupid role of Nancy for her comeback? Jayasurya must have realized that to stay afloat he has to do the villain role. Kangaroo is a time-pass flick that should have been crisper as it drags in the first half. But nevertheless, go, have your share of fun.

Here is Rediff’s review which seems to be written by someone in LKG

Prithviraj does a good job. There is a kind of casualness in his approach, which was missing previously. Kavya Madhavan looks stunning. Kavery, who has made a comeback with this film, gets noticed as the unwed elder sister. Jayasurya seems to be establishing himself as the villain in Malayalam films.On the whole, Kangaroo could have worked out as a family entertainer if it had been well-edited. Now, it simply tests the viewers’ patience.

After 28 movies, the trade circles think that Prithviraj can be a solo hero. When Classmates was a super hit, it was said that it was not a single hero movie. When his roles in Vargam and Vasthavam were said to be good, it was suggested that he cannot do comedy. Now that Chocolate is a big hit, new goal posts have to be found or the existing ones have to be shifted for higher excellence, like he cannot speak Arabic very well or he has not danced in the streets of New Zealand with Kavya Madhavan.

Such opportunities will be abound when Prithviraj’s new movie gets released in December.

Prithviraj plays Josekutty of Palakunnel family, who despite being a graduate, takes up the job of an auto driver, in order to support his family, which is suffering from a financial crisis. Kind-hearted Josekutty has a good friend circle too–Manmadhan, Chellappan and Prasanth. Once, when he happens to find a one-and-half-year-old child on the streets, he decides to adopt and bring up the child. Since that moment, he takes the child wherever he goes, providing him all needed care.[Prithviraj's Kangaroo set to release in Christmas ]

The movie is directed by Raj Babu who is known for the Dileep action-thriller Chess which turned out to be a boring  action-thriller. Since this Kangaroo is being marketed as a comedy movie, we are not sure, if it will turn out to be a boring comedy movie. That depends on the talents of J. Pallassery who is not known for comedies. Also one of the last movies Pallassery scripted, Panthayakozhi, turned out to be anything but a fighting rooster.

In December, this movie, which also stars Kavya Madhavan and Jayasurya is going face tough competition from both M&M’s and Dileep’s Romeo. Right now the question facing most vc readers is: Is Dileep 10% of Prithviraj or is Prithviraj 10% of Dileep. The answers to those questions can be found before the New Year.

I have just made an agonizing discovery of a masochistic streak that robustly runs somewhere deep within me that prompts me to good naturedly watch yet another Vinayan film. With Hareendran Oru Nishkalankan, the director plummets further depths, digs up spanking new atrocities and concocts atypical follies that I valiantly endured in the name of an appreciation for cinema and which would without doubt, gain me a spot in paradise; my soul having already born the worst conceivable travails in hell.

The plot, such as it is, can be done away with swiftly. Hareendran (Indrajith) is the naive chap in question; a software giant who competently runs a flourishing firm along with scheming accomplice GK (Jayasurya) who harbors vile intentions of a potential usurping. Hareendran gets plausibly framed for a gruesome murder and is later let off the charges as innocent, but meets with an unforeseen end, albeit of a quite different sort.

It’s not often that you come across a film that’s bad almost any which way you look at it – be it the slapdash acting, the shoddy script or the hit and miss screenplay or even the tactless technicalities and the parched music. It’s here that the gates to the netherworld unlock before you, and the grisly torments that await you are many. When it’s a film that states in unsullied terms that a woman is the most expensive commodity on earth, it isn’t really a surprise that the fairer sex is treated shoddier than soot. Demoted to an unutterably stumpy state, she gasps for a breath of fresh air when she isn’t being coldly raped or when the dubious camera isn’t hovering lazily over her curves. A revival of sexploitation that had made a hushed exit with the soft porn of the 90’s is palpable, and the impact nothing short of dire.

A film that’s terrible beyond belief, Hareendran Oru Nishkalankan, is a total disaster that exerts a vicious enthrallment. It’s garish, over-sexualized and tedious when it’s not being vigorously distasteful and deserves to be shredded apart for the heights of dumbness that it shamelessly flaunts. There’s utterly nothing in it that hasn’t already materialized in innumerable similar situations before, in much brainier ways and manners. A movie as unfathomable as it is repressive, it inches its way to a climax that is almost startling in its hollowness.

Inexorably infantile and sopping in stereotypes, Hareendran Oru Nishkalankan is dead and deader than an alley rat run over by a screeching tire. It is so exceptionally appalling and pot-headed that it makes you gape at the screen open mouthed. As dreadful as the film’s notion is, the implementation is indescribably poorer; a repulsive jumble of gluttony, lust, and squalid harassment that even the stone-hearted will in all likelihood be disgusted by.

This despicable, expansive and ultimately redundant farce makes the director’s earlier flicks emerge as true classics! There is nothing considerate or appealing about this cranky drama; there’s not even anything remotely sharp. It’s a yarn of a film that’s shockingly unfunny and built on the most wretched of circumstances and the most exasperating of performances. To cut a protracted story slick short, there’s real awful cinema, there’s the intolerable stuff and then, there’s Hareendran Oru Nishkalankan.

(Image via nowrunning.com) 

(Reader Nikhil sent us this review of Chocolate)

Shafi’s Chocolate tells the story of a boy, who comes to study in a women’s college. Prithviraj plays the lead Shyam Balagopal who carries nine suspensions and seven police cases during his graduation. Roma is the heroine Ann Mathews. The movie starts with the PTA meeting happening in the St.Mary’s women’s college (Sacret Heart College, Thevara) to make it a mixed one. Veteran actress Shari makes a come back through this movie, and she plays the role of the principal. Due to the parents’ protest, the college authority turns down the decision but allots one boy as per the rule for the PG course. The main gang of Ann, Nandana (Samvritha) and Susan (Ramya) are against the arrival of a boy where the opposite gang welcomes it.

After his arrival, there happens a lot of funny moments and even a ‘ragging’ against him. It results in the suspension of Ann and Shyam. But the initial war between Ann Mathews’ gang and Shyam gives way to friendship and the college election result becomes a turning point in the story. Prithviraj carries the film on his shoulders and Shafi handled Shyam with care. Roma’s performance is not up to that of Notebook but she handled the bold Ann Mathews very well.

After Classmates, Keralites get the chance to see some nice romance on the screen. Prithviraj and Roma carries good on-screen chemistry and it is handled well by Shafi. Samvritha gives a commendable performance and Ramya’s role is just an eye candy one. Jayasurya plays the role of a young fashion designer (Ranjith) who falls for Nandana. But his role is only a supporting one. Unlike Classmates, Chocolate does not carry a strong story line, but it overcomes Classmates in the entertainment value.

Among the crew, the debutant writers Sachi and Sethu deserves the first applause for the gripping script. But the second half could have been made even better . Some scenes are predictable and the unnecessary fight scene could have been avoided. The climax scene is innovative and it suits the film’s mood. Salim Kumar also contributes to the comedy part, but there is a comic scene from Salim Kumar on the drama stage where he tries to improvise Chandrika’s dialog, which misfires unexpectedly.

With Chocolate, Shafi proves that he can also make visually appealing movie if there is a good script with him. He has improved a lot from his previous venture Mayavi. He took care of the song picturization too. My favourite scene in the film is Shyam’s first day in the classroom. He couldn’t take his eyes from the surrounding girls and this scene provides enough laughter even without any dialogue. Prithviraj’s performance in this scene is enough to shut the mouth of his critics who says that he is weak in doing comedy. It seems he had done enough home work for Chocolate.

The art director Salu.K George deserves a special mention for making the film really colorful. The film has four songs, but Alex Paul’s music is a let down except the romantic melody “Ishtamalle…” which is really hummable and shot well. All the songs are apt to the situation. But I think the last one, “Thamarayum..” could have been avoided. The background score slightly resembles “Ente Khalbile” but it is used well in apt situations.

In short, Chocolate is a must watch with the family for its end to end entertainment value, with a unique theme. The film is sure to get many repeat viewers among the youth and is going to become this year’s mega hit.

(Image Courtsey: Rediff.com)

(Cross posted at Movie Mazaa)

Chocolate is as scrumptious as it possibly can get. It’s a film that has its target audience chalked out in precise and exact strokes, and as such does a great job catering to its taste. Pretty darn funny at times, and wickedly humorous at others, it definitely won’t set new standards in film making, but would remain a true wild entry in the genre.

St.Mary’s All Girls’College is set to welcome its first male student Shyam (Prithviraj) amidst loud protests from the PTA authorities as well as a group of tomboyish students headed by Anne (Roma), Nandana (Samvrutha) and Susan (Ramya). It’s a war that ends in love as always, with a certain degree of sweetness and charm about it.

The tenor is always buoyant and the characters are immensely adorable and hence it’s hard to take offence at the crudest of the jokes. It would seem quite funny that a college film would barely have a shot inside a classroom and that too for the sole purpose of a real raunchy rejoinder. The girls do what they do best – look pretty, all three of them; while Prithviraj finds himself quite at ease being the object of their affection. It’s one of those feel-good films where you let your good sense fly out of the exit door and rest assured that everything would turn out perfect in the end.

Despite its pretensions, Chocolate doesn’t melt in your mouth and belongs to another family altogether – it’s either a sour jelly or a sugary lollipop, I’m not sure which. It’s a bizarre film, in that the screenplay plummets deep into illogicalities and the gags are often lewd and downright offensive. The narrative stretches along a faint line of rationality that ultimately breaks and leaves you stranded in a delirium. . Shafi as the man at the helm has a real smart penchant for hit-craft as they call it and the film moves at a lightning pace towards a mirthful finish. Here he is a man with an excessively silly script and nothing much to say. And yet, and this is the most important point, he tremendously entertains.

I loved the peppy songs, regardless of the very outlandish lyrics. Sharath Vayalar and Alex Paul are not at their Classmates’ best, but they do help retain the upbeat mood right through. Azhakappan’s camera is sharp and swank as it swishes up and down the campus contours with style and some real snappy editing by Lokanathan ensures that it’s all crisp as a crunchy bite that’s really worth a nibble.

Chocolate is in no mood to lay itself down on a platter for a critical scrutiny, I agree. It doesn’t merit an elaborate analysis either. However, even a faint mark with an inquisitive scalpel would reveal chauvinism at its extreme in almost all the guffaws that it offers. Unintentional perhaps, but awful nevertheless. But then as someone said, there’s no moral here, just a lot of stuff happening.

Shafi’s Chocolate is a syrupy concoction all right; if you happen to be an aficionado of sugar, delve right into it.

Photo courtesy:rediff.com