Looks like Annan Thampi have saved Super stars from collective shame, and might be able to make its viewers and producers smile. Anwar Rasheed has made an unpretentious movie which rides on Mammootty’s comic skills. Reviewers call the movie an ‘entertainer’!

NowRunning.com calls the movie laugh-a-minute comic escapade:

Annan Thambi is a laugh-a-minute comic escapade that would help boost your spirits and stretch those lips into a wide grin. A delightful blend of high and low humor pulled off splendidly with style, the film is a rib tickler that aims right at your funny bone.

Appu and Achu (Mammootty) are twin siblings who were born with swords drawn at each other and as years pass by, the no-holds-barred bullfight between the two goes on. A highly voluble Appu majestically rules over the Pollachi Market and is wooed by Thenmozhi (Laxmi Rai), niece to his erstwhile-associate-turned-foe Dharmarajan (Rajan P Dev). A dumb Achu meanwhile relives the Puranas in his dad’s drama troupe while lamenting a lack of issues even after five years of matrimony with Lekshmi (Gopika).

Anwar Rasheed’s Annan Thambi is a double dhamaka with nothing subtle or unique about it, and yet it’s a movie that’s fashioned to please. You do stand the risk of busting a gut on a couple of occasions despite the film unraveling a tale that’s as old as mankind itself. Oh yes, we can see it all coming on time and right in place and we might even rail against it at times; it’s nevertheless a charming film made bright by a few droll souls who spread loads of joy and cheer all around.

Rediff.com calls movie breezy and entertaining:

When the hero’s entry is greeted with a shower of marigolds, we can easily gauge the tone of the film. Especially if the location happens to be the buzzing Pollachi market, where a dozen goons beat up a poor soul and try to rob him. We know then that the film is in the Thenkashipattanam format, where superstars bond in an alien land and establish their supremacy over the locals.

But this week’s Malayalam release, Annan Thambi, is different. The writer-director team of Benny P Nayarambalam and Anwar Rasheed (their second outing after Chotta Mumbai) make it breezy and entertaining in spite of staying in the formulaic sphere.

It is the story of twins, played by Mammootty, who are at loggerheads with each other since the time they were born.

Photo Courtesy: Rediff.com

Madhavan was taken under the wings of Don Shekharan (Murali) when he was a kid. At this point, we thought that Sekharan would be killed by a rival gang and Madhavan would kill all of them by throwing English words. First time director B Unnikrishnan surprised us by not going down that cliched path. He also surprised us with some family drama and a great twist in the plot involving Sekharan’s family members.

A Don family cannot exist in isolation. There has to rivals and there has to be police officers. Smart City has all of them and the interplay between them takes the narration forward. The name of the movie comes from the Smart City project that we all have heard about and in the movie the rival faction tries to do a land deal against the declared motives. People from whom the land was taken get a raw deal and thus the Dons with the heart of gold, Sekharan and Madhavan take action. Then there are murders and counter-murders, but then a twist in the narrative happens which holds Madhavan back. Then the twist is unwound through some family melodrama and all ends well.

Suresh Gopi plays a subduded Don, where he does not verbally abuse people, but instead keeps things moving by beating the pulp out of them. If that does not attract you – he has a new hair style. He does not have a love interest in the movie and both Lakshmi Gopalaswamy and Gopika play his sisters.

Like any other Suresh Gopi movie, three fourths of Malayalam industry is in the movie. They include Rajan P Dev (cameo as Achyutanandan), Siddique, Jayasurya, Gopika, Lakshmi Gopalswamy, Rajmohan Unnithan, Shammi Thilakan, Kunjan, Manoj K Jayan and sundry other gooda looking characters who get terrible deaths. In Suresh Gopi movies, like Rajnikanth movies, it does not matter who else is there for they all have to push Suresh Gopi to get in front of the camera to get their 10 on screen minutes.

Ultimately there is only one question about a Suresh Gopi movie. It is not about the story or artistic content, but something simpler: Is it watchable or will you become a Don after seeing it? Smart City is definitely watchable and it helps if you have seen Pathaka before it. B Unnikrishnan has done a good job with the story, screen play, dialogue and direction and if he had cut out the songs, it would have been better.

Amidst sky high expectations, Alibhai arrived. Sky high expectation, record number of release stations, festival season – as we mentioned in the preview, this movie might work in box office. But if you go by the reviews,as a movie, it falls short. Reviews were identical in many aspects, commonly used terms being – talks about Rajni like acts (Shivaji Hangover!?), Meesa piriyal, talking directly to camera, lack of story line etc.

tvmtalkies writes 

Story : Mohanlal plays a Calicut based goonda, supposedly based on a real life character Ali Bappu. The story line is he defeats all the villains. End of story. Lal gets introduced around twenty times in the movie; every time Lal comes into a scene, it is in slow motion with a loud, rather amateur leitmotif in the background. There are around 2500 characters in the movie, almost everybody except say my dentist.

Shaji Kailas proves again that he has forgotten movie making long long ago. It is not necessary to release a movie every two months, if they are movies like “Chinthamani”, “Time” and “Ali Bhai”. “Ali Bhai” reeks of the basic Shaji Kailas qualities – sheer lack of subtlety (when Mohanlal says he smells, the camera focuses on his nose) and scriptlessness (there is no script).

Sify,com reviews:

Welcome, to Mohanlal’s mass masala action movie strictly meant for his legion of fans and the crass festival audiences.
Don’t look for reason, logic or story, as the film is all about Mohanlal’s ‘heroism’ and interaction with his mass viewers, and most of the time he talks directly to the camera! Today, audiences in Kerala just want to have a good time by watching Mohanlal, the one-man entertainment troupe, instead of seeing a film which has a storyline and human emotions.

Ali Bhai (Mohanlal) is the uncrowned king of Palayam market in Kozhikode. He is the savior of the poor and downtrodden (Cochin Haneefa, Jagadish, Shammi Thilakan, Ganesh, Sooraj Venjaranmoodu, Vijaya Kumar, Sudhish, K P A C Lalitha, Zeenat etc). Two girls in the market, the flower seller Chenthamarai (Navya Nair) and a tea shop assistant Ganga (Gopika) are crazy about Ali Bhai, but he has no time for love because he is obsessed with taking up and fighting people’s causes.

IndiaGlitz.com comments:

Shaji Kailas had earlier heard a lot of criticisms for the Mohanlal’s Meesa Piriyal films which have him twirling his moustache. But now in his best of the times, audiences in Kerala may digest having good time by watching Mohanlal’s mass masala action than him in a film which has a humane storyline and stronger emotions. Don’t look for reason, logic or story in harder terms, as the film is all about Mohanlal’s ‘heroism’ and interaction with his mass viewers, and most of the time he talks directly to the camera!

Alibhai is a thorough Lal fare which has him in another hard-hitting performance, most of which we had seen earlier. Apart from Lal, there are very few reasons why one can spend money on this movie.

(Photo Courtesy : sify.com)

Another exciting production from director Shaji Kailas, who was instrumental in making Mohanlal Next-door-Man to He-Man. There is no question on who this movie is aimed at, as throngs of Lal fans assembled on the launch of this movie, which was held on Mohanlal’s birthday. And the movie will be released in, hold your breath, 75 centers. That leaves behind just Attapadi and Silent Valley.

The story of Alibhai is based on a real life persona.

Mohanlal plays Akbar Ali, a trade union leader who controls the famous Palayam market. Ali is the darling of the masses and downtrodden and helps anybody who comes to him without expecting anything in return. He never backs out from a fight, even though he never dreamed of living as a goonda leader. Once he had to enter into a fisticuff with Bada Bhai, in which the later gets killed. And from that day onwards, he was the unquestioned leader of the six thousand laborers of the market. They called him with love Bhai.

Alibhai once had to flee his home when he is wrongly accused of a crime. The film is also about how he influences so many lives. T .A Shahid models the character on Ali Babu, a person from real life who lived like Ali Bhai in Kozhikkode, decades ago.[Alibhai: the one man army to conquer]

We hope that Mohanlal would entertain us with Kozhikode style lingo, a la Kilichundan Mambhazham. Mohanlal has two heroines in this movie, Gopika and Navya Nair. Script is T.A Shahid. Alex Paul does Music.

With Alibhai’s release scheduled in 75 centers, released during Onam, the verdict of Box office is a foregone conclusion. Other small matters, we’ll wait and see.

PS: The million dollar question is, does this movie have a Murugan song?

Photo courtesy: sify.com

The natives are not doing bad either. Remya Nambisan has two movies, Anthiponvettam and Shalabham while Padmapriya too has two movies, Suhruthu and Veeralipattu. The other heroines we will be seeing in the near future include Vimala Raman (Kolkotta News), Priyanka (Kichamani MBA), Mythili (Subhadram), Roma (Chocolate), Bhama (Nivedyam), Udayathara (Patham Udayam), Divya Vishvanath (Indrajith), Indraja( Indrajith), Urvasi (Suhruthu), Lakshmi Sharma (Ayur Rekha), and Samvritha (Kalchilambu).

Looks like Kavya’s plan of sticking only to Malayalam movies playing heroine to Dileep and Prithviraj did not work after all.

With the releases of Karutha Pakshigal, Palunku and Kayoppu the film publications were writing about the return of prodigal son,[tag]Mammootty[/tag]. With Mayavi, the talk about the prodigal son’s return seems to be premature. Reviewers verdict vary from dismal failure to racy entertainer.

Paresh Palicha of rediff.com

After doing a few offbeat roles in last four months, Mammootty is back with the Malayalam film, Mayavi. Directed by Shafi, this film has all the ingredients — comedy, action, and dance — to make a masala hit. But it fails dismally.

Rafi-Mecartin’s script creates a story around a character Mahi (Mammootty), who goes to jail for money by owning up to crimes he did not commit. Mahi is the sort of person who beats up people in the dark without revealing his identity, thus earning him the name of Mayavi.

After agreeing to take the flak for a yet-to-be committed murder, to pay for the surgery of a friend’s brother, the complicated movie goes on to test the endurance of the viewers.

India Glitz comments:

Given this script to make a film with a Superstar, very few would have attempted to make a try. But, Shafi the young director, has gone all out to deliver a good entertainer. The story which has series of staccato, punctuated episodes and incidents about folk living around a harbor, the film’s success lies in no over stretching, which make it run through with enough meat, in flashy and racy narratives.

The film which mark the return of Mammootty into mainstream cinema after doing offbeat ventures for the last few months, is not surprisingly, greeted with celebration by this fan followers. And Shafi who very well expected this to happen has packed this film with all the masala ingredients — comedy, action, and dance — to make a definite hit.

sify.com says:

Mammootty is back as a mass masala hero in Mayavi, where he plays wildly to the galleries. Director Shafi has evolved as our new comedy king, taking off where Priyadarsan left the last laugh. Remember, that Mammooka and [tag]Shafi[/tag] are a hit pair, as their last outing together was the immensely enjoyable Thommanum Makkalum.

Once again the duo is able to churn out a light hearted entertainer that suitably tickles the funny bone. Actually it is Mammooty’s best knockout comedy since Rajamanickam! It is a bit of Daredevil and Mask put together, but the madness works.

Mahendran or Mahi (Mammootty) is a do-gooder and the saviour of the needy. At the same time he does Irutadi to the anti-socials and scum of the earth in the darkness of the night, masquerading under the name of “Mayavi”! Nobody knows who this avenging angel is, but it creates a halo around our local Superman.

Nowrunning.com is pleased with Mayavi:

Mammootty has done an excellent job as Mahe alias Mayavi. Coming as it does after three serious films from the star, (Karuththapakshikal, Palunku and Kayyoppu), Mayavi is a welcome change for fans of the talented actor. He has proved once again that he can handle all kinds of roles with ease. The way he delivers his dialogues and the timing he shows as far as comedy is concerned helps him to morph into the character of Mayavi.

Gopika as Indu forms an excellent pair to Mammookka and does her part too perfectly well. Manoj K. Jayan as Balan is OK. Venjaramoodu Suraaj as Giri and Salim Kumar as Kannan Shrank play an important role in taking the film forward and provide good comedy. Vijayaraghavan as Thottappilly Surendran and Saikumar as Aranimuttam Sivasankaran are their usual selves. Manikuttan as Satheesh doesn’t have much to do. Others in the cast are passable.

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An actor can be called complete if he portrays all kind of roles. Dileep who has given us some good films with his next-door-boy image, has of late been wanting to be a complete actor rather than being unfairly termed as a mimicry artist. So he turned to – who else – but our own Shaji Kailas – undisputed KING of action – to redefine his image. And DON was born.

DON starts with a note “One July night 18 years back” [Perhaps July has a significance as its Dileep's favorite month and he tries to get a release every year on American Independence day]. A man comes into a house and bang-bangs the House owner and his wife. The kid , Unnikrishnan, [Kutti Don] escapes and seeks refuge in a Pettikada’ One day, his parents’ assassin comes to buy Soda in the Tea shop and our DON shoots him at point blank range. Then comes the next note on the screen – “Destination Unlimited” – Shaji alone knows what that meant.

After 18 years, the kid surfaces in a temple as Dileep, praying to “begavathee” [biriyani-de ba] “enne reshikkene“. He had spent his time in a juvenile home all these years. He meets Lalu Alex there – a police officer – who has a soft corner for him.

One day Unnikrishnan, while roaming aimlessly in the market, saves Kasim Baba [Lal] from some goons. Baba asks him to join his “force” – which includes a fully bald Bheeman Raghu, Augustine and Baburaj [as a good man for a change]. Baba re-christens Unnikrishnan as ‘Salaam’.

Baba is a kind of godly figure in the Cochin Harbour area. All people look to him to solve all their problems. He takes law into his hands if he feels that justice needs to be done. Baba has a very large family consisting of some kids – most notable being his youngest daughter Shaheeda [Gopika] and his nephew – Sulaiman [Shammy Thilakan] – the black sheep of the family.

Naturally, Baba has plenty of enemies who want to finish him off. These include Advocate Subramaniam Swami [Sai Kumar with a wig], Maniyan Pilla Raju and Subair. They try to make Salaam kill Baba, but he remains loyal. Finally they seek the help of Sulaiman who murders Baba and falsely accuses Salaam of doing so. Salaam is arrested and lands in jail. In jail, he meets his old pals in juvenile home – Harisree Ashokan and Ramu – who help him vindicate his mentor’s murder.

DON is a scene-by-scene copy of Ram Gopal Varma’s Sarkar. Kasim Baba, with rosary in hand, is modelled on Amithabh Bachchan as Subhash Nagre aka Sarkar who does the same. The background chanting of “Namasthasye Namonama” from Devimahatmyam is similar to “Govinda Govinda” of Sarkar. Even the plot where Sarkar’s son attempts to kill him and his second son [Abhishek Bachchan] takes revenge is the same.

Shaji Kailas tries his best to give Dileep a new image through DON – but fails. It reminds of you a malayalam proverb “Thumbiye kondu kalleduppikkuka”. As with Shaji’s movies, DON is also abundant in Sanskrit Slokas. The Kalady Sankara University should seriously consider granting a Honorary doctorate to Shaji for his services to the Sanskrit language. The plot – even though a copy of Sarkar – is innovative in some respects – in the latter half – the modus operandi of Salaam to take revenge on the villians.

Dileep tries his best to portray the cool-tough-action hero. But he comes a cropper in the fight sequences bashing up guys twice his size. His physique, unlike Suresh Gopi’s – is simply is not enough for an action hero. However he expresses a lot of restraint in his acting, which is good in the context of the movie. On the make-up front, he has more mascara than Gopika. Also he needs to improve his diction of malayalam – ex: Begavathy/Derma Samsthapnartha etc. And he says some Hindi as well!!!

Joiey Pallassery’s dialogues lack the familar punch of Shaji Kailas movie. But all the same its bearable.

Mohan Sitara has 1 song which is average. Shaan has done the Theme song which at some points bears resemblance to Balabhaskar’s violin compositions.

Sanjeev Sankar does a good job with the camera and captures the dark moods very well.

On the whole movie is not a TOTAL bore – watchable just once.