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Pookkaalam (2023), a Comedy Drama for the whole family
In Pookkaalam, a Malayalam comedy, Director Ganesh Raj takes on the challenge of telling a humorous story about a centenarian and his nonagenarian wife who get into a marital dispute. The film succeeds in balancing humour with pathos, and the result is a heartwarming and thought-provoking film that will appeal to audiences of all ages. He has crafted a whimsical film that tackles sensitive topics with grace, never letting them dominate the narrative. Overall a good cinema and gets a Ripe from Mangoidiots. The film’s lead couple, Vijayaraghavan and K P A C Leela, are both excellent in their roles. Vijayaraghavan brings a sense of warmth and humour to the…
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Romancham (2023), a malayalam film featuring roommates
A group of seven roommates from Kerala are staying together in an independent house in Karnataka. The dynamics between them and their everyday life are narrated in an unusually relaxed way, seen only in Malayalam films. Director Jithu Madhavan and the actors Soubin Shahir, Sajin Gopu & others have made an ordinary film, a special one. Gets ripe on the mangoidiots scale. When you have seven characters, with no backstory for any of them, it is not easy to leave an impression about each of them on the audience, yet Romancham succeeds in that effortlessly. By just watching a few minutes of their walk or the few words they utter…
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Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam (2023), is an unbelievably simple film!
What can good casting, attention to the smallest detail, brilliant acting and natural background score do? It can produce a wonderful film like Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam (2023). The lead actors starting with Mammootty, Ramya Pandian and Ramya Suvi were outstanding. The film gets a ripe rating. In the first fifteen minutes, we are transported to the holy town of the Shrine Basilica of Our Lady of Health Vailankanni. The camera of the cinematographer Theni Eswar doesn’t miss anything in the market or the corridors of the lodge there or the eatery during a road trip. The story is about what happens when the leader of a group of devotees on…
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Mukundan Unni Associates (2023), a different type of hero
In Indian cinema, there is only one type of hero and heroine. They are good people & honest beyond fault, even when they are involved in illegal acts they do it for the common good which is revealed to all in the end. If the hero is a money-minded capitalist or a power-hungry leader, he turns a fresh leaf and becomes a saint in the climax. The heroine will be a fine example of an ideal citizen, and in general, they pick their partner based on his virtue. The Malayalam comedy film Mukundan Unni Associates (2023) directed by Abhinav Sunder Nayak, has broken away from this mould and that alone…
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Kurup (2021)
Kurup (2021), a Malayalam thriller starring Dulquer Salmaan, is a period film that deserves credit for a fine recreation of the 1980s Bombay, Madras & Persia and for good acting by the lead actors. Sadly, it has not been supported by a worthy screenplay, which was haphazard. I got a feeling I watched three films in the 155 minutes it ran. Kurup is available on Netflix, and it gets my Raw rating. Dulquer has effortlessly carried the role of Kurup, which had multiple identities – first as a trainee Airman, then as the town’s rich man, and lastly as an international arms dealer. He was supported well by Sobhita Dhulipala…
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Minnal Murali (2021)
Minnal Murali (2021) is a Malayalam superhero film directed by Basil Joseph and released on Netflix. I expected it to be an action-packed, daredevil style film, but it turned out to be an emotional drama of love and the loss experienced by two dissimilar people in a town who accidentally acquire superpowers. Tovino Thomas (Kilometers and Kilometers 2020) is the hero, Minnal Murali, but it is the protagonist Guru Somasundaram of Joker (2016) fame who dazzles the audience in every frame with his outstanding acting. I found the screenplay to be fluffy & muddled, yet as this film is a welcome attempt for Indian cinema it gets a Ripe rating…
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#Home (2021)
Oliver Twist is a retired businessman living with his wife, two adult sons and his elderly father. His first son is a film director who is struggling to follow up on his first hit. His second son is an Instagram influencer. The two sons are always on their smartphones and Oliver being a tech-illiterate is unable to connect with him. How he gets over the technology chasm, bonds with his elder son have been told in a humorous yet realistic manner that is available only from Mollywood. The first thing that catches your attention with #Home (2021) was the tastefully built house, Director Rojin Thomas has got it right as…
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Anveshanam (2020)
Anveshanam (2020) is a Malayalam thriller that I accidentally found being available on Amazon Prime Video. The movie is about a young boy brought in critical condition to a hospital by his mother and their neighbour, a doctor. What happened to him, who caused the accident was the mystery that has been told with an engaging screenplay. I liked the film, check it out. The entire story happens over the night in the hospital and it gets developed layer by layer, one piece being revealed at a time. By itself, the story is a very simple one, but the way the characters gets developed, the good casting, and the order…
