The intentions of the director is quite evident,to make a breezy road movie ala ‘Saroja’ or a ‘Gamyam’.Lal almost gets it right in the first half.The four friends who are about to attend the selection trial for the upcoming ‘kochi’ Apl team are introduced quite convincingly.A song later,one of them gets injured in an accident making him unable to attend the trial to be held in Bangalore a week later.So the other three starts off to Bangalore along with their common friend,Aswathi(played by new comer Roopa Manjari).Several unexpected events happen during their journey (along with a couple of twists thrown at the audience every fifteen minutes or so),new characters pop up at regular intervals (cracking mostly toilet jokes).I am not going on further into the story line as there is too little of it here actually!

As I had mentioned earlier the first half is breezy and entertaining barring the supposedly funny track involving the truck driver and his cleaner(Kochu Preman and Bijukkuttan respectively).The three songs which belong to this half have been picturised well.The back stories of a couple of incidents also get revealed in the first half itself.Though the format is new to the Malayalam film industry i must say that it has backfired here terribly.

Post intermission,the script loses track and wanders aimlessly.The sequences involving Indrans,the tribal people and the jeep which has lost it’s driver in the second half are atrocious and totally unfunny.The twists in the second half become predictable as the audience have become smart after the unexpected turns they had witnessed in the former.The climax is a let down and it can only be termed as an ‘ending of convenience’.Lal was almost successful when he did it for the first time in ’2 HHN’,but not anymore.

The main problem with the movie lies in it’s writing and characterisation.It’s often said that one can’t paint everything on black and white.Agreed,everyone has shades of grey but does it necessarily mean that the world we are living is full of crooks?

On the technical side,’tournament’ is something which has high production values.The visuals are rich,the back ground score is decent(done by Alex Paul),the editing is also fine.Music by Deepak Dev deserves special mention and is far superior to that in Lal’s first two films.The songs have been picturised well and suits the mood of the film.

All the actors have done their part well and one rarely gets the feeling that this is their first film.Fahad Fazil,the experienced one among them was okay as he had nothing much to perform.The guy who played the role of the (real) John Subramaniam was also good though he almost went a bit over board at times.The actor who played the character of the fatty ‘Usman Ali’ managed to raise a few laughs .The protagonist ‘Bobby’ was fine.New comer Roopa(Aswathy) had a meaty role and she looked good.

Overall ‘Tournament: Play and Replay’ is a film which looks slick and cool with some decent performances from the lead cast,with no Suraaj Venjaramoodu in it,but ends up as a below average affair due to sloppy writing and too many silly and predictable twists.

Trivia

• MJ Radhakrishnan(Cinematography), M Jayachandran(Music Direction), T. Krishnanunni(Sound Recording), Vrinda(Choreography) won the Kerala state award in 2007 too in their respective fields.
• Jury Chairman Girish Kasaravalli commented that no short film, documentary or Children’s film made the mark.
• Jury Chairman also commented that there was no confusion this time on selection of awards and he also stated the obvious – that the quality of Malayalam movies have gone down.
• Lal has the unique distinction of being a succesful director, producer and now best actor.
• This year none of the super stars, minor stars , wannabe stars, meteors, comets or asteroids were anywhere near the awards.
  

Update(4th June, 2009):  Looks like it’s tough times at India Glitz, they have decided to ‘outsource’  HTML development.

They set up two worlds. The first one is inhabited by the British and chief among them Henry Moores, who wants to build a road in the plantation. Financed by a bank, Moores hopes that this road which will transport spices will make him rich, so that he does not have to depend on his father-in-law. He has one constraint – finish the road before the monsoons. The other world, symbolically located below the British bungalow, is occupied by the natives. Freedom struggle is in the air and various leaders are in the process of enlisting youth to participate in the movement.

The two worlds are connected by two characters. The first one is T.K (Rahul Bose), a native, who is Moore’s right hand man. He stays away from the freedom struggle and even questions the rationale behind it. The second one is Sajani (Nanditha Bose), the servant maid in the bunglow, who has an affair with Moores.

As the work on road progresses, the relationship between Sajani and Moores is discovered by her husband (Lal Paul) and the two worlds collide. When it becomes time for people to take sides, but TK, in an amazing display of servitude becomes a partner in Moores’ crime. He acts so cold that when Sajani goes missing and her brother Manas (Indrajith) collects the villagers to search for her, TK alone stays away.

Soon the pace accelerates and director Santosh Sivan’s camera focuses less on the landscape and more on the characters. The moving shots and closeups heighten the tension as police starts investigating.  The long roving shots which were present in the first half of the film, give way to short scenes in quick succession, accelerating the pace.

The script written by Cathy Rabin  and Dan Verete, based on the Israeli film Asphalt Zahov, focus primarily on TK. He starts off with unquestioning loyalty to the master and becomes a coconut – brown outside and white inside. As the events take over, he slowly transforms and it is this transformation that is the main thread. As he changes, the script writers do not spoon feed the audience with gimmicks or profound dialogue. Instead as the change happens, he joining groups he previously rejected, silently.

To the credit of the script writers they also do not feed us with the cliched caste, curry, cow image of India which is the staple of film makers like Deepa Mehta.  The movie is not melodramatic but  is not without imperfections. The loyalty of TK to Moores could have been explained a bit more as well as the motivation for Sajani to have an affair. There are no subtle hints as well and this makes the story stand on  thin stilts. Even with these imperfections, the movie really transports you to a Kerala 70 years back. The recreation is perfect and upholds the Merchant Ivory standards. The actors in fact become characters and Rahul Bose does a great job emoting with his eyes.

All Santosh Sivan movies have such perfect visuals that a reviewer has to see beyond that maya. We have never been impressed with Santosh Sivan as a director ever since he brutally butchered Asoka and Ananthabhadram, even though they both had absolutely stunning visuals. His Terrorist, we thought, had all the usual art house gimmicks but his picturization of pinakkamano in Ananthabhadram is one of our favorites.  In Before the Rains, he makes a movie which is normal, engrossing and realistic.

(image from wikipedia)

Karl Marx, when he wrote the Communist Manifesto in 1848 believed that, ” capitalism will be displaced by communism, a classless society after another transitional period in which the state would be nothing else but the revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat.” Nothing of that sort happened and communism turned out to be the worst economic system in the world. Practitioners of that movement sent the maximum number of people into poverty and even more to death. Communism also gave us psychopaths like Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot and Che Guevara and their death camps.

In India, off shoots like Naxalites specialized in murdering people in the name of class warfare. They did not believe in elections or democracy or following the law, because they were made to believe that everyone was their enemy. There are lot of people like grievances, but if everyone starts shooting others, nothing will get solved and the Naxalites never figured this one out. The State too reacted brutally against these murderers by using force to maintain law and order. When a policeman P. Ramachandran Pillai told how he had killed Naxal Varghese in 1970, it showed that the state too did not follow the laws they were supposed to uphold.

The story of Naxal Varghese and P. Ramachandran Pillai is now being told in a new movie titled Thalapavu and it stars Prithviraj as the Naxal and Lal as Mr. Pillai. The movie is directed by Madhupal, the actor and it is being filmed around the Aleppey area. Prithviraj at a young age has portrayed very complex political characters in Padmakumar movies like Vargam and Vasthavam and this one will take him one more step in the serious political movie genre. The movie is written by Babu Janardhanan who has written excellent movies like Vasthavam and Achanurangatha Veedu and is competent to handle this theme. The new person in this venture is Madhupal, who has not directed a movie before, but as we have seen most new directors in Malayalam seem to be doing very well.

We had lot of “fun” movies this year like Alibhai, Mayavi and Black Cat that we are looking forward to this serious political movie. Then even with political movies you have to take care for Ranjan Pramod tried to do something in Photographer and the film was white washed and even the star power of Mohanlal could not save it. If the movie is gripping and has a balanced presentation, it could have an audience.
(Image via: NowRunning.com)

Reviewers have come up with varied opinions, which is not a good sign for long sustainability of the movie in theatres. Looking at Ranjit’s recent track record, he will have to go back to drawing board or get his brain rewired.

IndiaGlitz, didn’t copy from Movie Mazaa‘s review this time.

But certainly the film can be passed off as yet another also-ran film. The light hearted plot has seemingly endless stream of gags and stressful jokes that pad the movie up and down and sometimes, slightly take away from the parts that work. Post interval, the film gets quite emotional and heavy. It’s here that the film tends to drag a bit. If you dig silly stuff, they’re here, but they’re an unworthy compliment to a flick that was meant to be carefully shot fun ride, which at least offers a difference in story lines.

The story is largely believable but goes ridiculous in many places like a world-famous percussion artist running after many, to get a song tuned and the introduction scene of Syedapet Giri, which we had seen umpteen times before. We can very well anticipate the ending, we know what’s going to happen even before it does. And even when it does, Renjith, with his huge experience in scripting, still could have made it better. But, most likely, you will pardon the director for these disregards because this is an entertaining film and is slickly constructed with a hip soundtrack by Vidyasagar and good art direction by Sunil.

tvmtalkies says:

Good:
1. Add Chandrolsavam to Hallo, add a few more jokes and a few tit-bits here and there, drain out any storyline that would have crept in – You Rock n’ Roll. And the movie entertains full two and a half hours.

2. Mohanlal plays Mohanlal, rather than playing a disaster like AliBhai. His liberal values and monologues, classic dialogues, jokes. Some of us can watch Mohanlal for hours, when he is at his easy going self, like in the first half of Chandrolsavam. Rock n Roll provides Mohanlal VSOP.

Sify.com’s review says:

The film affirms the fact that the superstar driven Malayalam movies of today have hardly any script. It is just rehashing the same old stories, the stars larger-than-life image and clich?d situations over and over again. All the talented lead players cannot prop up the dilapidated screen play and maintain a balance in the face of over-the-top direction.

Mohanlal looks tired and ridiculous in outfits and a get-up that do not suit him and hams to the hilt! Lakshmi Rai looks beautiful, but finds it difficult to emote. It’s sad to see an ensemble cast of some of the finest actors in Malayalam- Jagathy, Mukesh, Manoj.K.Jayan, Siddique, Rahman, Asokhan, Sooraj and Lal reduced to nothingness. There is no real catchy tune from Vidyasagar in a film based on music industry, except the number O Mama Chandra mama

Thatsmalayalam was brutal in it’s analysis.

And Rediff.com’s review had some analysis for a change.

The director seems to be at a loss to create a story around these characters. So, he weaves a lame love story around Chandramouli. But we are told in the beginning that this fellow does not believe in love. He argues that there is only the physical need in man and woman, and that is misinterpreted as love (doesn’t this remind us of Prof Nathan of Ore Kadal?).

So, it becomes a big deal when he feels infatuated by the new singer Daya Sreenivasan (Lekshmi Rai) whose song he has given beats to. He employs techniques of a college student to win her over, which looks utterly stupid (a lesser word won’t do) considering that he can philosophise on happy matrimony to his friend Isaac and his wife. And, above all he has had experiences with women all around the world.

Performance-wise Mohanlal tries very hard to rise above the script, which is in tatters, but beyond a point, he fails amuse us. Whether it is the philosophical hyperbole or downright buffoonery; there is sincerity in his effort.

While we lament about the lack of young heroes in Malayalam, it is refreshing to see some producers actually making movies with youngsters like Prithviraj, Indrajith and Naren. After the success of Classmates, now each one of them is trying their own thing. This movie stars Indrajith in a role different from the ones in Meesha Madhavan, Mizhi Randilum and Classmates.

India Glitz writes

Vinoo Anand, the debutant director, has done a good job with his first attempt in Malluwood. The movie, though not a typical entertainer, will definitely hold you in the seats till the end.
After acting out brilliantly the character of Payas in Classmates Indrajeet, once again shows why he is here to dominate the screen. He in the film is Shivan, who has committed some murder under pathetic circumstances and turns out to be a pshychopath ladykiller.
The film’s script by Reggie Nair is unconventional, even though the climax of the film fall off to cliches. The flashback even though narrated well, don’t make you feel much sufficient for the protagonist to become a psychopath.

Jiboo Jacob wielding the camera creates one of his best with the great exteriors Of Vadakkanchery. The film also has a few good songs by Vayalar Sarathchandravarma set to music by Ouseppachan.

The background scores and slick editing adds to the racy nature of the film. Even though brilliant works in all departments makes the film worth a watch, Oruvan does evoke a sigh, it does not moisten your eyes, or create sympathy for its characters. And therein lies its slight drawback.

Unni Nair writes

Indrajith as Sivan does his job excellently. Lal as Bharathan too does justice to his role. But Meera Vasudev doesn’t seem comfortable in her role as Jaya, Bharathan’s wife. Prithviraj as the young police officer Jeevan is his usual self, while all others in the cast are OK. Of the songs, “Kuyilukale…” and “Kannipenney…” jell with the subject and have been shot rather well. Jibu Jacob’s cinematography is good. Ranjan Abraham has rendered able support with his editing and so has Joseph Nellickal with his art-work. Reji Nair’s script too is good.

But there still is something lacking that makes the film an average one, though well-made. That something perhaps concerns the pace of the film or its setting and packaging. Be that as it may, director Vinu Anand and his team must be appreciated for having ventured to make a rather different kind of a movie with a very striking end, and that too in a fairly good manner for a maiden venture.