As usual Malayalam Cinema produced good music in 2005 and we have a brief review of what was worth listening. We also talk about each singer’s best work, the best films and the best music directors.

We believe that Yesudas and Chitra are God’s gift to mankind and so let’s start with them. Yesudas had a wonderful year with excellent songs in Chandrolsavam, Vadakkumnathan, Ananthabhadram, Naran and Udayananu Tharam.. The specific songs were Muttathethum Thennale (Chandrolsavam), Oru Kili Paatu (Vadakkum nathan), Thumbikinnaram (Naran), Thiranurayum (Ananthabhadram), Parayathey Ariyathey (Udayananu Tharam).

Chitra had only a few good songs last year and the ones we liked were Minnadi Minnadi (Naran), Oru Kili Paatu (Vadakkum Nathan), Kalabham Tharam (Vadakkum Nathan)

Our next favourite singer is Sujatha and she too like Chitra had only a few songs we liked, like Munthiripadam (Kochi Rajavu) and Panchayathilu (Pandipada). Among the upcoming singers we like Madhu Balakrishnan’s voice and liked only Kinavil Vannu Nee from Manju Peyyum Munpe

S. Janaki came back with one beautiful song Azhakkadalinte for the film Chanthupottu.. Parasurama once took a vow to cleanse the world of all Kshatriyas and similary Udit Narayan has taken a vow to butcher all South Indian languages. He did Malayalam with the song Munthiripadam (Kochi Rajavu)

All the nasal singers, MG Sreekumar, Afsal and Vineeth Srinivasan had some songs. MG’s good songs were Pinakkamano (Ananthabhadram), Vel Muruga (Naran), Mindathedi (Thanmatra) and Afsal had Panchayathilu (Pandipada). Vineeth Srinivasan made some background noise for the film Naran, but his noticeable song was Omanapuzha for Chanthupottu. Another nasal singer Pradeep made his debut with Pandimelam from the super hit film Rajamanikyam

Jayachandran had some excellent songs like Amma Manassu (Rapakal), Araarum (Chandrolsavum), Ithaloorna (Thanmatra). The one song wonders were Gayatri with Thumbikinnaram (Naran), Kalabhavan Mani with Malamallalooya (Ananthabhadram), Manjari with Pinakkamano (Ananthabhadram), Karthik and Meenu with Mele Vellithinkal (Thanmatra), and Sruthi with Mindathedi ((Thanmatra)

Our favourite music director Raveendran had only one film, Vadakkum Nathan and it had some good songs. Our other favourite music directors Vidyasagar had hits in Chanthupottu., Chandrolsavum and Kochi Rajavu. His music for the film Alice in Wonderland did not impress us at all. Our third favourite music director, Deepak Dev, had hits in Ben Johnson, but we did not like any of the songs including the most popular one Sona Sona.

Excellent music was provided by two music directors M G Radhakrishnan and Mohan Sithara. M G Radhakrishnan had a hit in Ananthabhadram and Mohan Sithara did good music for Thanmatra and Rapakal

Ousepachan, who is an excellent violinist had a disappointing year with Police, Udayon and Thaskaraveeran. Only the song Angethala (Udayon) was worth listening. It was the same with M. Jayachandran who provided music for Bus Conductor, Sankar Dada, Paranju Theeratha Viseshangal but impressed us with the one song Omane in Vinayan’s Boyy Friend.

Alex Paul had a good song in Rajamanikyam. The folks who disappointed us include Suresh Peters (Pandipada), Illayaraja (Achuvinte Amma), Benny Johnson (Five Fingers), Alphonse Joseph (Iruvattam Manavatti) and Thej (Manikkan)

Finally to summarize, the movies we liked most are Thanmatra, Naran, Chanthupottu., Ananthabhadram, Vadakkum Nathan and Rapakal

See Also: 2005 – Heroines, 2005 – Year of superstars

“Unlike my other Hindi films, this one isn”t a remake. With Salman in the film I don”t need to worry about an attentive market. He”ll ensure that. The untitled film is being produced by Sunil Manchanda the people who produced Salman”s ”Tere Naam”,” Priyan told IANS.[My dream project is finally happening: Priyadarshan]

He was talking about the movie Kyon Ki, which was released recently and this movie was a remake of the Malayalam movie, Thalavattom, starring Mohanlal and Karthika. And guess who directed Thalavattom?

Coming back to Malayalam, The CBI franchise is the most succesful in this game of exploiting past successes and managing huge expectations.That team might get into guiness book soon for repeating same director, hero and script writer(K.Madhu,Mammootty and S.N.Swamy) in most number of movies. The first movie of this series was released in 1988 and three more followed. And there is Dasan and Vijayan Series – all time favourite characters of malyalees. The first movie of that series – Nadodikkattu – was released in 1987, followed up by Pattana pravesham and Akkare Akkare Akkare. Another notable movie which had a sequel was Devasuram. It’s sequel was Ravanaprabhu.

There a few other sequels in various stages of production. Kilukilukkam is the sequel of Kilukkam with Jayasurya and Kavya Madhavan being lead pairs and Mohanlal doing a guest appearence. Bharathchandran IPS – just released and was a huge hit and brought back Suresh Gopi’s from near certain retirement. Kashmeeram – This 1994 movie will get a sequel, just in time to take advantage of Suresh Gopi’s newly revived career. Most interesting of the forth coming sequels is IV Sasi’s Taradas Vs. Inspector Balaram, in which Mammootty plays double role – playing two characters of two different movies. Taradas from Athirathram and Inspector Balaram ( from movies Avanazhi and Inspector Balaram). Now, will Mohanlal be far behind ? It’s worth looking forward for this movie – Narasimham and Aaram Thampuran doing Thandavam

No points for guessing Mohanlal’s next award.

After making classy movies, this is the new direction Malayalam movies are taking. The reason – mounting production costs.

Superstar Mammootty’s blockbuster “Nerariyan CBI”, released during the Onam season and running houseful at all theatres, has onscreen promotionals for a tea company, a jewellery shop and a biscuit company.

“The trend is certainly going to bring in money. We do not feel there is anything wrong at all in doing this,” leading producer Sureshkumar told IANS.

His next film, which features superstar Mohanlal, will have a few promos too.[Malayalam cinema begins hawking products on screen]

James Bond movies are known for hawking products, like the Aston Martin, BMW, whatever brand watch he wears etc. Then James Bond movies are cartoon films, meant to sell merchandise. But Malayalam cinema, which prides itself on making realistic movies going this route will definitely put off the viewer.