He had partially written a novel, which according to the famous novelist CP (Nedumudi Venu in a cameo), could change the Malayalam literary landscape. On hearing this Shivadasan (Mukesh), a small publisher tags along Balachandran, to convince him to finish the novel. He lives in a lodge, surrounded by his books, in a kind of cocoon.

His interactions with the external world are limited. When asked once why he does not own a cell phone, he retorts, “I have no one to call and no one to call me.” He never talks to others in the lodge, except for the boy-cum-caretaker Babu. He sends money to a Muslim girl about whom he had read in the newspaper. He also has a person who takes care of his land.

This small world changes when he gets a phone call from an  college mate Padma (Khushboo) and  some old memories are triggered. This plus Shivadasan’s prodding results in Balachandran taking up his pen. As the novel progresses, he gets more out of his shell, expresses human emotions explicitly and makes progress on his relationship.

As the movie moves to the climax, with Balachandran selling his land and carrying Rs. 3 lakhs, and going to Calicut with the money and his finished novel, terrorists strike. At this point we were shocked because there was such an impedance mismatch between the story so far and the climax.

This brings up the dilemma. The writer’s block, overcoming the writer’s block, the life of a writer – all those have been done perfectly. Though not novelists, but as people who read a lot and try to write something, these are dilemmas we identify with. So Balachandran’s predicament resonated with us.

The terrorism angle –  we have friends who survived Mumbai blasts and train bombs  – too resonated with us. The problem was with the connection between the two. In fact Ranjith, tries to make the connection – somewhere Shivadasan tells his wife that Balachandran’s novel is a great work of black humor on communalism. But in fact there is nothing in the movie which shows why Balachandran is affected by it – he never mentions any communal incident, he is never seen reading about it or discussing anything communal with anyone. When the policemen make fun of a Balachandran helping a Muslim girl, he seems clueless, unable to understand the situation. When such a person claims to be writing a novel about communal problems, it seems hollow.

Alfonso Cuarón‘s Y tu mamá también , is an example of one movie with multiple layers of narration  - there is a road trip, and there is a commentary on the economic situation in Mexico. To Cuarón‘s credit, he blends them well, right from the beginning. This makes the movie memorable, though some might argue that it is the sex scenes that make the movie memorable. The point we are tying to make is that in such movies you don’t spring up a surprise, like in the climax of a CBI movie. In fact in Kathavaseshan , T K Chandran did a better job in justifying Dileep’s behavior, to the point of making it contrived.

Ratheesh seems to be the only one who has  has seen through this:

Renjith has made the script as a series of patchworks with all good intentions to emphasize his “message” again and again, like some programs in school youth festivals. So, a kind-hearted Hindu helps a poor Muslim, an honest Muslim takes care of the property of a Hindu, and so on. The effort to add a “feel-good” factor related to “Love”, “Bridging between Religions” etc. pops up every now and then in the film. Mammootty tries hard to look truly like a sensitive and introvert writer, and adds a touch of uniqueness in the character, at least externally, by attaching certain mannerisms to Balachandran.

That said, we have to note that Ranjith has not fallen for the 80s standard of art movie making, where if there is a shot of one man walking 1km, the camera is turned on for the entire duration. He has dispensed with that level of pretentiousness and made the movie reasonably well paced.

Still when we see movies like Kaiyoppu, it just fails to connect in a memorable way like the Hindi movie A Wednesday which tackled the issue of terrorism in a brilliant, honest, non-boring way.

(Image via IndiaGlitz)

We are familiar with the trend of Actors migrating to the lucrative world of cinema from stage. Recently. Mohanlal from his comfortable perch in commercial cinema made forays into theatre by acting in a Sanskrit play named Karnabharam, written and directed by Kavalam Narayana Panikker.

Mohanlal has taken time off his busy shooting schedule in Hyderabad for a fortnight-long rehearsal at Kavalam’s Sopanam Art of Performing Arts, Trivandrum. The actor is busy learning the basic steps under the tutelage of Kavalam and his experts. Mohanlal has already mastered the Sanskrit dialogues made available to him in cassette form.

Though Mohanlal thought Sanskrit would be beyond his grip, learning it did not pose any problem for him. “The language was very kind to me. I have been able to grasp the finer points of the rich language,” he said.

Both director and the actor are excited about the project. Kavalam said he was hopeful of exploiting the full potential in the actor, who has always shown the humility to learn more and work hard in his quest for excellence. He said that the work that Mohanlal put in to learn Kathakali and Kalaripayattu for his previous films would come in good stead for Karnabharam.[Mohanlal's new Obsession]

Mohanlal followed it up with another stage drama – Chayamukhi.

The Malayalam play, ‘Chayamukhi,’ which features actors Mohanlal and Mukesh, will be staged by Kalyan Silks at the Lulu International Convention Centre here on March 12.

Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, Mr. Mohanlal described the play as a ‘labour of love.’

“The stage has always attracted me. I wanted to associate with a stage production after I did Kavalam Narayana Panicker’s ‘Karnabharam.’ I found ‘Chayamukhi,’ written by Prasanth Narayanan, interesting and decided to act in it.,” he said.[Chayamukhi to boost theatre]

Mammootty was not far behind. Recently he acted in the stage adaptation of Randamoozham.

The show titled ”Bhemman” was organized by Malayala Manorama, where the actor displayed his ease in stage acting too, in the roles of Bheema, Arjuna, Karna and Yudhishtira. Directed by T K Rajeev Kumar and Pramod Payyanoor, the show also had multimedia projections and backdrops with eight screens via four projectors working in tandem. The deep voice and intense performance of Mammooty supported by 13 other actors in lesser roles definitely moved its creator M T vasudevan Nair deeply. The veteran who discovered the star in Mammooty in the seventies, congratulated the actor for his mesmerizing performance and blessed all his future endeavors.

Mamootty who saluted MT for infusing meaning to every pregnant silence of Mahabharatha through the master work ”Randaamoozham”, was more than happy for his mentor’s whole hearted blessings. Mammootty later said that the offering was a gurudhakshina  for M T , who made him read  serious literature in his childhood. He also stated that MT was a writer who wrote very strong characters for his screen performances.[Mammootty plays Bheeman, charms audience]

If there is a piece of literature we fervently wanted to see on silver screen, it was MT’s Randamoozham. Over the years, we had heard rumors about that novel being made into a movie, but they remained rumours. Probably the logistical challenges and huge budget involved deterred producers from financing it. It could also be that producers were worried about that MT’s exploitation of silences in Mahabharatha may not find success unlike the case of Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha where MT exploited the pregnant pauses. Randamoozham would have been an ideal choice for AMMA, to be made as a movie, to leave an indelible mark in cinematic history, instead of circus vaudeville act known as Twenty-20. But there is limit to what to expect from Dileep-Uday-Sibi team.

We need a revival of theater. These two gentlemen, maybe inadvertently helping that cause. Theater can adopt classics without the expense of cinema as exemplified in the cases above . Also it would give good competition to the current crap being dished out in Malayalam cinema.  With these worthies involved, theater can withstand competition from TV. Isn’t these the stuff Utopian dreams are made of?

Photo courtesy sify.com

“Scripts must not be considered as the backseat element to star value”, says the star of 2007, Sreenivasan.

“A good script is a fundamental element contributing to the success of a film. Instead of giving importance to get better scripts, obsession with star value has reduced the significance of the script in a film”, says the actor who has turned producer with his latest film ‘Katha Parayumpol’.[The scripts must take the front seat- Sreenivasan]

Srinivasan once again proved what an excellent script can do with Katha Parayumbol, one of the best Malayalam movies of 2007. He played the lead role and Mammotty did a guest appearance which made a good impact. All the reviewers agree that even though the story is wafer thin, Srinivasan has done a great job in pulling it of.

With the news that this movie will be remade in Tamil with Pasupathy playing Srinivasan’s role and Rajnikanth playing Mammotty’s role, there are lot of searches for this movie on this site. We have to see if this movie will be murdered like Chandramukhi or will it be able to retain the same spirit.

Unni Nair writes

Sreenivasan, who has done the script and debutante director M. Mohanan deserve to be appreciated for having come up with a film that touches certain chords in our hearts. A simple story narrated in a simple style. Though there is a lag in the first half, the climax saves it all. The film could have been made a bit crisper, but this flaw could be overlooked considering the director is a debutante.
The film is definitely worth a watch, especially for ordinary, ‘non-intellectual’ kind of people who would like to go and see films without intellectual presumptions and towering expectations. A good, touching film, told in a simple manner.

Movie Buzz says

The writer Sreenivasan and his director Mohanan has skillfully caricatured the characters you meet in a remote village- the moneylender and local ‘blade’ Eapacchan Muthalali (Innocent), Das Kattumantha(Salim Kumar), the boring village bard, guy(Mukesh) who runs the local tutorial college, rival hair stylist(Jagadish) tea shop owner(Mamookoya), self centered local politician who always talks about his connections(Augustine). Sreenivasan has also explored the craze among ordinary people for getting close or seen with a superstar. There is also a message that stars become superstars only because of their script writers who have given them memorable roles. The comedy laced satirical song ‘Vyathyasthanaaya…. tuned by M.Jayachandran is a rocker. P.Sukumaran camera has beautifully etched out the Thodupuzha countryside.

The film with a wafer thin story line works big time due to its climax, which has been worked out very well by Sreenivasan and a riveting performance by Mammootty.

Parashuram writes

The ultimate clincher for this film is its script. Authored by Sreenivasan, it is so layered that every frame has a comment to make about the world and every line of the dialogue on the mores of the society. The craze for celebrities and the problems of leading a principled life are discussed without being preachy or in-your-face.

Mammootty has the dignified presence of a real star and his aura and the mythical persona that surrounds him give a lifelike feel to the character of Ashok Raj.

India Glitz says

The film, skillfully repeats the representative characters, from every layer of the rural villages, (reminiscent of Sathyan films) with which the writer makes a lot of careful observations and clarifications about the phenomenon of super stardom and lives of people living in the lower strata of the society. Mostly represented by local professional actors in these roles, the film also gives an authentic feel with all sorts of storyline surprises and political criticisms in spite of its simple exterior. In the scripts, Sreeni seems to repeat some of his earlier sarcastic attributes like dark skin and heightlessness, but more commendable is that he has easily stretched a wafer thin plot to two hours and ten minutes with out much space for idleness.

Sudama was a childhood friend of Krishna, but they lost touch with each other. Sudama remained a poor brahmin and when he went through bad times in his life his wife reminded him of Krishna. Reluctantly Sudama went to meet Krishna and you know what happened. Srinivasan’s version of the story consists of the friendship of a barber and a film actor.

Balan has always been a straightforward kind of guy, who never likes to depend on anyone else to meet his needs. Even when he is in dire straits financially, he doesn’t seek the help of anyone and tries his best to make both ends meet. People always talk good about him and even hold him in high esteem.

In the meantime, there spreads news in the village that Balan is actually a close friend of the popular actor and superstar Ashokraj, who is acting in a film that is going to be shot in the village.

No one knows as to where from this news had originated and who had spread it. But with the news getting spread in the village, Balan becomes sort of a VIP there. Things begin to take a sea change for Balan and his wife. Balan’s wife Sreedevi too boasts much about her husband’s friendship with Ashokraj and all. What all happens then forms the plot of ‘Katha Parayumbol’, in which Sreenivasan becomes Balan and Mammootty becomes Ashokraj.[Katha Parayumbol': Interesting story]

Srinivasan’s staple plot device is a person with inferiority complex and with that element itself many scenes come automatically. There will be references to his skin color and lack of education and there will be many scenes in which he embarrasses others. We are not sure when this inferiority complex syndrome Nagavalli got into Srinivasan, but he has successfully cashed it from the Nadodikaatu trilogy all way till Yes, Your Honor.
While the people behind the movie are veterans, the unknown factor is the talent of the director, Mohanan who is making his debut. Then, he is Srinivasan’s brother-in-law and we hope he would have got proper guidance from the man who directed Thalathil Dineshan of Vadakkunokkiyantram and Vijayan Mashu of Chinthavishtayaya Shyamala.

In this movie, co-produced by Mukesh and Srinivasan, Mammotty plays the character without the inferiority complex. Srinivasan, one of the talented writers of Malayalam comedy, has written entertaining movies like Azhakiya Ravanan and Maravathoor Kanavu with Mammotty in the lead role, but then no one was impressed with Bhargavacharitham Moonnam Khandam. So, when it comes to this movie, it is like trying to predict the outcome of a Jayaraj movie; it could be either very good or watchable, but one thing for sure is that the comedy will have some minimum standards.

(image via indiaglitz.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.

It is hard to analyze Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s movies because it requires some perspective of the world and some familiarity with literature (stuff from Ma magazines and mediocre blog posts don’t qualify as literature). As we do a review roundup of Adoor’s Naalu Pennungal we see that there are just a few good reviewers around and lot of mediocre ones.

The first one is our copy cat friend at IndiaGlitz who has one again copied the Movie Mazaa review featured here at varnachitram. Let us first look at some lines from the Movie Mazaa review.

Adoor’s women remain engraved in conformist stones, never ever even marginally moving away from the firm frontiers that have been intricately drawn around them.

Back home, she starts life afresh, the marriage having passed off as an unpleasant interlude that never really took off.

Here is the review from IndiaGlitz and pay attention to the words in bold.

Even as the stories are set 60 years ago, Adoor’s women remain fixed with establishmentarian attitude, never trying marginally to move away from the firm boundaries that have been complicatedly drawn around them by the society.

Once left back to her home, Kumari starts life afresh, passing off her marriage as an unpleasant interlude that never did happened.

Paresh Palicha writes the story in detail in Rediff, but offers no perspective.

Unni Nair writes

The helplessness and vulnerability of the fairer sex, the inherent strength they have, and the vicissitudes of Fate to which women often fall prey in a male dominated society are some of the issues that get discussed in Naalu Pennungal. A very important aspect of the film is that even seemingly minor characters are portrayed with due importance given to them, for example the character played by Sona Nair in the first story and the character played by Ramya Nambeeshan in the fourth one.

Surprisingly, the film, which speaks volumes about women in general, doesn’t seem to have cut much ice with the womenfolk in Kerala (who obviously are trapped in the mesmerism of tear-jerkers on the small screen), whereas reports say that women constituted the majority of the viewers when the film was screened at the Toronto Festival. Can the makers not do something to get the film across to such an audience which ought to have been the prime target of the film?

Who is more desperate for a hit? Mohanlal or Renjith? That is a matter of debate. With the help of movies like Chandrolsavam, Prajapathi,Nasrani, Alibhai and Paradesi, this duo have made crores of rupees disappear. After involving in three movies with Mammootty (Prajapathy, Kaiyoppu, Nasrani), Renjith tries his luck with Mohanlal in this movie.

Ranjit’s musical entertainer Rock & Roll is ready for release on November 15. The film features Mohanlal as a drummer in a musical troupe consisting of Mukesh, Manoj.K.Jayan, Jagathy, Harisri Asokhan, Suraj Venjaranmoodu, Siddique and Lal. Lakshmi Rai is the heroine and Shwetha Menon makes a cameo appearance.

According to writer and director Ranjit : “Rock & Roll is an out and out musical entertainer set in Chennai milieu with the background of a recording studio and the world of music directors. It’s a fun movie with Mohanlal leading the pack of merry men.”[Ready to Roll]

We’re wary of the phrase -”Mohanlal leading the pack of merry men”, just like Chotta Mumbai. Like environmentalists, Renjith’s been recycling stories for a while now. Of course, Kaiyoppu was an exception. But then, if the movie lives up to Ranjit’s words, then Ranjit and Mohanlal can heave a sigh of relief, else Mohanlal and Renjith will have to spend the next few months watching Azhagiya Thamiz Magan and Chocolate running to packed houses.

Photo courtesy: Sunday Kaumudi