Above is the story synopsis of an upcoming Mohanlal movie, Mizhigal Sakshi. After reading it we were left wondering how it is different from another Mohanlal movie Vadakkumnathan. Priyadarshan  used to steal from other languages, here we seem to be ‘adopting’ from our own without giving credit.

Recently Bharadwaj Rangan wrote

I wouldn’t be surprised if, in the near future, multiplexes everywhere take to installing braincheck rooms outside the cinema halls. As we hold out our tickets to the usher, I can see us being asked to deposit our cranial matter for safekeeping through the duration of the movie, so that not a sliver of analytical process will be allowed to impede our enjoyment of the film in question. And it’s tempting to imagine the pandemonium after the screening, outstretched hands of screaming patrons intimidating the pretty girl (oh, as long as we’re dreaming, why the hell not!), pointing her this way and that: No, not that grayish lump. That one, there, next to the one with the smallish occipital lobe. Ah, yes. Be careful. Phew. Thank you very much. Have a nice day.

Johnny Antony movies have always qualified for such service. Then the target audience of his movies like C.I.D. Moosa, Kochi Rajavu, Thuruppugulan and Inspector Garuda are not folks who watch Iranian and French movies, but those who love to see Salim Kumar and Dileep fall into cow dung wearing Spiderman costumes. The industry word for this group is: family audience. Johny is very clear about his path and unapologetic about making such cartoonish movies. Since C.I.D. Moosa and Thuruppugulan were hits and the other two made decent money, all with mediocre scripts, he is the darling of producers.

James Albert made a dream debut as the script writer of Classmates. The murder mystery told in multiple disjoint flashbacks by multiple characters was a new style of story telling in Malayalam and with the superb direction of Lal Jose and support of an ensemble cast, it was the biggest hit of the year. James Albert is not an expert in slap stick like Sibi-Udayan who wrote all Johny Antony movies so far. Thus when James and Johny join hands in this movie which features, we hope that James will pull Johny out of the low I.Q. genre.

The story unfolds in a plush shopping complex and revolves around two youngsters, Roy (Vineeth Sreenivasan), an accountant in a private finance firm, and Sanju (Vinu Mohan), who works in a shop selling home appliances. They come from modest backgrounds but have big dreams. Annie (Bhama), who works in a travel agency, and Meenakshi (Sandhya), the daughter of a banker, are the heroines in the film,” [Balancing act]

Vineeth Srinivasan’s songs have always been chart busters and very popular among the masses, but we have not seen the actor in him. This movie is an opportunity for public to see if he has inherited any of his father’s genes. For the Nivedyam pair, Bhama and Vinu Mohan, this is another great opportunity. Usually Johny’s movies have some popular songs, but this time none of the songs written by Anil Pachooran and tuned by Mejo Joseph fascinated us. Since none of the main actors have crowd pulling capability, the success of the movie depends entirely on the script and direction and we have to see if J&J pull it off.

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

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.

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 

His latest movie, Chocolates is a campus based and tells the story of a male student joining a girls only college. Prithviraj, in Chocolates, has an opportunity to deliver his first solo hero hit.

Shyam is doing his post-graduate studies. He is the only male member in an all women’s college. As per University rules all women’s colleges can admit one male student for post-graduate studies in each subject. That’s how Shyam came to be in this college. Not that he did it of his on volition. His scholastic record during undergraduate days was nothing to write home about, consisting as it did of seven police cases and eight suspensions. It took quite a bit of arm twisting by his mother Vanaja, who taught Sociology in the college, and the active connivance of the principal to get him into the college.

Vanaja always thought that it was the company he kept that got her son into all the troubles, and getting him into an all women’s college was the surest way of getting rid of such company. But with Shyam’s arrival in the college everything on the campus goes for a toss. Anne, Nandana and Susan who had up till them lorded it over their colleagues decided to go one up on Shyam. The interesting things that happen subsequently form the story of Chocolate.[chocolates]

Debutants Sethu and Sachi are handling the screenplay department and the music is by the hit duo of Alex Paul and Vayalar Sharath Chandra Varma. . Prithviraj has not really demonstrated his comedy skills, apart from that wry smile, and we wonder if this role would be a good fit for him. Then Shafi is a director who knows the pulse of the audience and maybe he will extract something new from Prithviraj. Jayasurya, who was the co-star of Prithviraj in hit movies like Classmates and Swapnakoodu also stars in this movie. There are three heroines in this movie – Roma, Samvritha Sunil and Remya Nambisan — and this could be the first pentagonal love story in Malayalam

This movie is releasing along with superstar movies like Paradesi and Nasrani and so it faces good competition in the field. Currently this movie could be the dark horse of the Ramzan/Navrathri season.

Update: See Also: Chocolate Review 

Photo courtesy: rediff.com

The reigning stars of Malayalam cinema believe in matching each other step by step. For Onam we had a movie aimed at gallery from Mohanlal and an art house production from Mammootty. This Ramzan it’s Mohanlal’s turn to get one his art house productions released where as Mammooty is playing to the gallery with Nasrani. The director of Paradesi, P.T.Kunjumhammed had initially approached Murali and then Mammootty for the title role, but both of them turned down the offer for various reasons. P.T.Kunjumohammed was lucky third time when he approached Mohanlal, who accepted it as well as got his driver to produce it.

Paradesi is P.T.Kunju Mohammed’s 3rd venture after Magrib and Garshom, both critically acclaimed movies. In his latest movie, the director touches upon the subject of people who are alien in their own home country.

Valiyakathu Moosa is one of hundreds of Malayalees who left to work in Karachi during the days of the British Raj, who after independence returned to India in the 1960s and settled in Malappuram. They do not have a passport or even an address in the land they were born in, due to their plight in Pakistan during the time of separation and independence. Many look upon them as Pakistani spies, and many a times had to face law to prove their identity. Moosa has a wife and children here who are Indian citizens, but Moosa himself is not considered a citizen of the country, due to some technical objections from the bureaucracy.This third film written and directed by P.T. Kunju Mohammed, will have Mohanlal playing a totally different and very challenging role in many getups as Valiyakathu Moosa. Lakshmi Gopalswamy plays the role of wife of Moosa. Kavya Madhavan comes up in the role of a journalist investigating into life and livelihood of this sidelined section of society. The story unfolds through her attempts to find a way out of the problems that envisaged people like Moosa. The film also moves through many stages forth and back as flashbacks to present the story of Moosa. This is reflected in the costumes, settings and even in the songs of the film.[Paradesi]

This is a very bold subject and an issue which has not been tackled in Indian cinema before. Even though such people live in our midst, most Malayalees are not even aware of their problems and so P.T.Kunju Mohammed has to be congratulated for the subject and Mohanlal for taking up the challenge of portraying the three stages of Moosa’s life ( at 35, 60 and 80). After seeing him in movies like Ali Bhai, we are sure this movie will finally bring out the actor in Mohanlal for according to the movie stills he has transformed himself into the character of Valiyakathu Moosa.

The leading ladies of this movie are Lakshmi Gopalaswami and Shweta Menon. The music department is handled by Ramesh Narayanan and Shahbaz Aman. As to how this movie would fare in box-office, it’s a foregone conclusion. As to why Mohanlal chose to do this movie, is also a no brainer.

See Also: In search of a place called home
Photo courtesy: rediff.com