CIDMoosa

Immigration to the Persian Gulf has spanned a good 4 decades among the people of Kerala starting from the 70's, when the flocking began in illegal boats to Iran (Then Persia). A great majority of the malayalee population have always been attracted by the wealth of black gold compared to an otherwise industrially backward hometown of theirs. Years later, the same community has made their mark in the Middle Eastern states with generations toiling away their life and compromising with their dreams for the sake of families back home. The present generation has seen a lot of delineations of life in the gulf kingdoms from Arabikkadha, Diamond Necklace and literary works such as Dubai puzha or the slightly more different Aadujeevitham. However even in the early 80's, the renowned writer and film maker genius M.T.Vasudevan Nair had made a celluloid adaptation of such a tale. Vilkkanund Swapnangal is indeed the story of dreams for sale, of people who took a plummet into an unknown magical land to realize their dreams. In their quest for more and more money, some people lost their sprint in life, while others compromised for the exterior appearance of lavishness.

As the story unfolds we have Sukumaran playing the protagonist, a typical M.T kind of hero, one could say. His character has all the archetypal individualities and background of a lead man from an M.T novel or short story. The man with a poor and tormented flashback leaves his home land in search of more money and returns back with seeds of vendetta. However things have changed back home and time has reduced his old nemeses to weak personas that started respecting him for his new found fortune. The stand-off with his past and his obligations back in the gulf lands him in a quandary which carries off the latter part of the movie. The first half traces the advance of the lead man right from his illegal mooring in UAE, the trials and tribulations he has to undergo before getting employed and his further rise in the career hierarchy. Those who have seen Dubai only within the last few years, including me would have been flabbergasted for sure after watching this MT piece directed by Azad. It was a totally arid desert land back then, as the movie illustrates, which was transformed in a whiff with a genie's wave apparently! People who have read M.Ts literary works can find an uncanny resemblance to the novels Kaalam, Naalukettu or Bandhanam, in the way the central character is evolved from his beginnings to present. The protagonist is always shown as an ultimate loser in life in spite of his pecuniary gains or social status, as is the case with many of M.T's lead men in bookish works. The script also touches regular areas of M.T like waning of the higher caste groups after land redistribution movement by the communist party, corresponding changes in social strata and nostalgic indulgences of village life.

A very curious trivia about this movie, maybe the only reason this flick is talked about during present times would be the fact that this was the first ever released movie of superstar Mammootty. Playing a miniscule role as the lesser antagonist to Sukumaran, he carries off the part of the drunkard who still basks in his old social glory quite well. It's well known that Sukumaran who was M.T's regular choice for his movies was gradually replaced by Mammootty, who leveraged them well and went on to grow into one of the biggest names in Motion picture production. Considering the time of release of the movie and the novelty of plot, Vilkkanund Swapnangal could be appreciated for such a theme. Nevertheless, it is definitely a less reminisced screenplay of M.T paralleled to his other classics.

While the need of the hour is widely promoted as urgent law reconstruction favouring women freedom in light of the delhi rapes, some might find it strange to believe that our country was once a place which gave the highest regard of its kind to the womenfolk and allowed them freedom in divorce and remarriage. The feudal kingdoms which are often touted for their totalitarian policies often took such liberal cultural stances which cared for freedom of the indvidual irrespective of their gender. The matrilinear system which used to prevail in kerala is a proper example of such a social setup. The advantage of the matrilineal system was that the property was enjoyed by successors of the women in the family. The women were educated and bold. They enjoyed freedom in all respects. The mother in the family was stronger than the father. But by the end of this system, in the 1940s, women lost all their powers and soon became 'slaves' in the hands of a feudal male-dominated society.Ozhimuri as a movie is an observation of the transition from this system to the current patrilinear system. The practices among nairs in southern travancore are shown in a very realistic manner , sometimes adding a bee wit of satire.Madhupal who has earlier proved his mettle with 'Thalappavu' impresses again, this time also touching on kerala history as he did in his earlier adaptation of emergency rajan case.

The primary factor of appeal in ozhimuri apart from its genuine thread would be the originality rendered in presenting the dialects and slangs of malayalam in southern travancore. The subtlelities in diction , some unique vocabularies and that unapprehendable mix with tamil has been so brilliantly reproduced , the obvious credit which should go to Jayamohan, the famous malayalam-tamil bilingual writer and critic. Jayamohan who is famous in the literary world for Vishnupuram, rubber etc has penned dialogues for tamil movies like naan kadavul, angadi theru and the yet to be released kadal. His foray into malayalam films could not be more perfect since it created a movie which finally showed some justice to the southern travancore malayalam, which was earlier reduced to a bafoonerish mockery by suraj venjarammodu and the mega start mammootty himself in Rajamanikyam ! Shot widely around Tiruvattar and other border areas of south kerala, the locales themselves are so orinally selected that they mingle seamlessly with the pplot and characters.

The screenplay basically evolves as insights into Thanupillai's (Lal) life and his character, through the recollections of his son sharath (Asif Ali) and his wife Meenakshi (Mallika). Asif Ali for once gives a mature performance which can help the viewer forget about his on-screen atrocitites earlier in asuravithu or ordinary. Lal gives an amazing performance in his father-son role, making him a sure prospective for some sort of recognition for his effort in this movie. These pieces of flashbacks are sewn together from Balamani's (Bhavana) perspective , who appears for Lal in the divorce case , or rather Ozhimuri case filed by his wife. Swetha Menon once again gets a negative role in the offering , but has little to do with it this time. The best thing about the plot is that it makes no effort to educate the viewers about any gender based assumptions or stances regarding a particular social practice. The viewer is rather left to ponder about the systems mentioned earlier and how it affected Thanupillai or Mallika as humans. The story which swings back and forth between Thanupillai and Sharath or Mallika ultimately ends in a sober note , not your typical happy ending as the latter part of the movie would tempt the viewer to believe in.

The non-appealability of ozhimuri to some masses or its rather dim box-office performace maybe attributed to the same cultural abberations between the north and southern parts of kerala. The local dialects and systems of southern travancore need not neccesarily be an item of fascination for people living in other parts of the state. While these are necessary evils or risks in adapting such a theme to screen, Ozhimuri is without doubt a decent watch to come out in a time when new-generation craps are ruling the industry.

"Wherever there is a filmmaker prepared to stand up against commercialism, exploitation, pornography and the tyranny of technique, there is to be found the living spirit of the New Cinema."

• Glauber Rocha in Politics of Hunger

The indian new wave or parallel cinema began as an alternative to the commercial routines, characterized by naturalism and realism, while keeping a keen eye on the social and political upheavals of their respective periods. Reaching its pinnacle during the 70's and 80's the movement began in bengali cinema and spread to other industries. G.Aravindhan and Adoor gopalakrishnan are thought to be the main exponents of this parallel movement in malayalam filmsream.

A docudrama based on some circus people and their impact in a village, Thampu remains critically acclaimed as one of the best works in indian parallel cinema and that of the film maker G.Aravindhan. Shot with some retired or discarded circus artists, the movie is done in a docu-fiction mode , maintaining a natural array of events in the screenplay.

Across a dirt road, the circus truck comes to a village. The tent goes up. Schoolboys run to the tent. Besides a long glittering river some men raise a pole. A tent balloons up. Where there was wide sand and the sound of water lapping, there is now a truck, chairs, hoops, stools, ropes, goats, a lioness, a pair of fat girls, some bicycles, and an old man with a philosopher's dignity, putting on white paste. Village women come and watch an acrobat roll a hoop across a tightrope. A frail leopard hops from one stool to another under the ringmasters instructions. A gap-toothed old woman gazes at a goat on a tight rope; her eyes are wide with curiosity. The drunkards, young men, curious village boys and surprised housewives sit open mouthed , watching the different items.

For three days the cicrus makes small ripples in the life of this village. The village president and areas rich men are treated with pomp and glory to run the circus smoothly. Municipal permits are required. At a toddy shop, a soldier befriends the circus strongman; a pump attendant sits on a rock each day watching a village girl bathe and dry her hair. The dwarf brings back to the circus a watermelon larger than his head. In the film's three days, we, the viewers, learn the geography of the village: the banyan treewith leaves like transparent film, the shining water, the light on the sand at sunset. A frustrated young man of a family settled from abroad struggles to cope up with the change in his surroundings and a conflict with his self. The village prostitute starts making some quick bucks with the trucks and buses coming. When the circus leaves the village, it leaves us.

The circus comes and leaves; life goes on.

A general warning : dont be surprised if u doze off in the middle, the movie is really slow with no major happenings or even a background score. watch only if you are bored with the normal movies and want to watch soemthing different :) :)

Experts from an interview with Aravindhan on thampu :

When you planned the film THAMBU, what was uppermost in your mind: was it the problems and insecurities of the circus artists or the response of the villagers to the circus tent? I planned THAMBU as a documentary feature. The film was shot in Thirunavaya on the banks of Bharathapuzha. I came to this village with ten to fifteen circus artistes who had already left their circus company. We did not have a script, and we shot the incidents as they happened. What we did on the first day was to call all the villagers and perform a circus act for them. There were a lot of people who had not seen a circus before. We shot their responses as they were watching. We did not ask them to do anything. After the initial hesitation, they forgot the lights and the shooting and completely got involved in the circus. It was all very original. At that time the village was also getting ready for the Ayappan Vilaku festival, which we used in the film. Finally the whole village got so involved in preparing for its festival, they lost their interest in the circus. The film ends there. In fact it is a location film.

Political and social satires have been presented successfully in malayalam cinema both critically and commercially. Panchavadippalam, Sandesam and Akkare are some of the names which comes into mind instantly. Lenin Rajendran, who was made only 10 odd films in his entire career has one of his best works in Premnazeerine Kanmaanilla (Prem Nazir is missing). The director combines some strong satire with the 'cinema inside cinema' concept too. Earlier such themes have come out in 'Lekhayude Maranam Oru Flashback' and recently 'Udayanaanu Thaaram' , film industry being the main theme lingering in the movie. Premnazirine Kanmanilla is a mirror towards the film makers, politicians and the contemporary kerala society of that time. As the title indicates , the main plot revolves around the kidnapping of Evergreen Hero Prem Nazeer, who plays himself in the movie !

The film starts inside a shooting location where prem nazir is kidnapped from , by a group of four youngsters (Vijayakrishnan, Maniyanpilla Raju, Srinivasan and a fourth unknown person). They hide him in a lone building inside the dense jungle with the help of their tribal friend played by achankunju. The rest of the movie or rather its majority deals with the incidents occuring after the kidnapping and how various people try to use and misuse the situation. There are hilarious instances where the home minister (Thilakan) accuses international powers for being involved in the crime and demands assistance from central. Then there is the opposition party which tries to topple the government with this issue. Differences of opinion between general public range between small time barber shop tiffs to major debates in liqour shops. The movie theatres are not far behind, screening every possible prem nazeer movie possible to exploit the situation. A memorable sequence relating to this is the one where a hoarding of Richard Attenboroughs 'Gandhi' is taken down to make way for an old prem nazeer matinee !

Movie progresses rather unusually, with plenty of nazeers old songs playing in between - which are instances where people remember their beloved star. The press and media meanwhile are ready with all sorts of stories relating to prem nazeer to be flashed in the unlikely event of any tragedy occuring. This sequence would remind viewers of the similiar hocus pocus that was goiing around in media before and after the death of actor thilakan recently. The screenplay cuts frequently from outside world to the life of nazeer and his 4 capturers. As there develops a 'stockholm syndrome' between them gradually, the lives of the 4 youth and their frustrating circumstances are revealed or kindof justified , which led to their decision to commit the crime. Climax is all too ordinary where finally police manage to capture the 4 youngsters and free nazeer. Apart from nazeer and his captors , a lot of supporting roles are people from film industry who play themselves- mammootty, madhavi,innocent,shankar and p.g.viswambharan the director. The movie , if not for its rather serious comedy type of dialogues is easily comapred to a style of 'veloor krishnankutty' whose novel was made into panchavadippalam. An interesting plot shot well with clean serious satire , one could summarize. Not for people who'd expect a crime thriller, as the title may force him to think ! :)

Merku Thodarchi Malai (Western Ghats) - If there's one movie I truly regret not watching in a theatre in recent times, it's this unconventional flick about the mighty Western Ghats and the people who live in it. MTM can be recommended for the single reason of sheer cinematographic genius, if not for the ultra-realistic narration and some very good performances from rookie actors. Developing as a fairly simple plot over the life of protagonist Rangasamy living on the borders of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, and his trials and tribulations over his ambition of owning and cultivating his own farmland, MTM's USP is the way scenes progress from dawn to dusk following the people as they brave the mighty Ghats up and down for their living. Their rhythmic lives are captured wonderfully by cameraperson Theni Eswar, natural lighting and BGM lending an apt hand to the originality. Ilayaraja's BGM is concise and effective at best, instrumentation limited to only certain portions - the singing of crickets, howling wind and other ambient forest sounds filling up the space most of the time. The authenticity is further enhanced by the use of debutant performers who resemble and live out the geographic region perfectly. The writer/director Lenin Bharati has come outright direct in supporting his namesake Lenin's ideology - communist movements , possibly during the 70's/80's (though the movie doesn't clearly outline a specific timeline) getting a fair share of exposure as the plot progresses. However the proceedings seems genuine this time as the director albeit very wisely hasn't emulated his malayali counterparts in glorifying communist pop culture with a slew of popcorn rebellion movies that came out recently in Kerala (Mexican Aparatha, Comrade in America et. al) ! The life of plantation workers at both the Idukki/Theni sides of Western Ghats is traced down with the labor union developments and somehow drives an apt sensible message home of the whole labor movement, which started out as a necessity to the downtrodden populace and lost its way along the times! The innocent and good-hearted people struggle as the times change around them with even the Ghats bowing down to the largely consumerist modern world and the windmills dominating the serene landscape. Themes and ideologies apart, MTM is one movie I'd definitely urge for a theatre watch alone (even if the chance seems far less likely now!) - for the landscape itself is the major character of the movie - and the realistic feel of watching the mighty Ghats and its people as if from the nooks and corners of the mountain itself is much more exhilarating and visually appealing than a 3D movie. MTM definitely is another feather in the cap for Tamil cinema - makkal selvan Vijay Sethupathy deserves a pat in the back for funding such an offbeat flick!

Being decidedly cynical of a gangster film trilogy (or duology?) in Tamil, this flick was given a watch with some warily considered skepticism, but Vetrimaaran impresses yet again with a quite perplexing and multifaceted start to a crime saga this time - Vadachennai might as well be on its way to become a cult classic in the coming years - maybe for its clever celluloid adaptation of North madras rather than a done & dusted storyline of double and triple crossing gangsters! Opening directly to 4 baddies discussing their murder at the crime scene (obvious Tarantino-ish inspiration) and what transpires between them over the course of years, the screenplay slowly picks up over a director's voice over (another Goodfellas insight) and centers itself on the protagonist Anbu (a completely in-zone Dhanush playing something he's quite good and comfortable at). As a reluctant young carom board player In the hood bounded by crooks and baddies making his way to the top of food chain , Dhanush is an extension of his Kokki Kumar in his previous gangster hit Pudhupettai - even more so Vadachennai part 1 gives him comparatively less screen time and is dominated by the other senior actors and their character development and back stories (which might have duly inspired or forced the makers for a trilogy) , something of such a complex nature narrated beautifully by Vetrimaaran. Director Ameer Sultan who played Rajan could as well be the real hero in part 1; (with ample screen space for Samuthirakani and Kishore), barring Dhanush's coming -of age portion and action scenes towards the end. All said and done, there's nothing much to awe about in the oft recurring narrative scheme wholly, but more than that has been compensated in the making to give all due credit. Vadachennai is a clever amalgamation of all classic Hollywood gangster flicks like Goodfellas, Godfather, Once upon a time in America et.al. , albeit done with some conviction from the director's part. While a clear Gangs of Wasseypur influence is therein the storytelling way spanning generations and their kin, incidents like Death of Rajiv Gandhi, MGR and Jayalalitha's political entry become milestones for the screenplay in several areas and blends closely in etching out the current time period, something which was started as a novel story telling way in Forrest Gump and became regular fare later. All in all, Vadachennai is a emblematic reference film for any aspiring film maker wanting to make a classic gangster flick 2018 had been a great year for Tamil cinema with some well made films as diverse as chalk and cheese in their genre (Kolamaavu Kokila, 96 , Pariyerum Perumal , Raatchasan) - Vadachennai is definitely a part of this good run - ending with Anbu waiting at his newly garnered turf for the baddies and us waiting for part 2 of the series ! Special ode to Santosh Narayan who deserves a name right along with Vetrimaaran for the wonderful BGM - truly original, classic and inspiring!

Director Karthik Subbaraj's message at the beginning of primary credits - 'inspired by, performed by and dedicated to Rajinikanth' is an apt summary of Petta for what is in store and what to anticipate. Petta is vintage Rajini homecoming - the swashbuckling, cigarette smoking, one-liner hurling anti-hero or the quintessential next door bad boy guise of his late 80's / early 90's blockbusters. It thrives on all popular pop-culture rudiments the mighty superstar has ever built up along his career, be it crooning some lines from Mullum Malarum, revisiting the one liner from Baasha or Annamalai or pulling out his villainous hero image which catapulted him into stardom decades earlier. Incidentally the rajinism factor or superstar effect that was lacking in his past series of releases have been more than made up for by the self-confessed fan boy director. For all that it's worth , people expecting to see some signature Karthik Subbaraj stuff are going to be disenchanted for Petta in its bare plot form is just your regular revenge drama prudently stylized to gratify his fans from earlier times and presented to suit the contemporary film-goer. The only director touch would be the characteristic twist of his which stunned us in Pizza. Apart from Rajinikanth who dictates the proceedings as usual with his full charm right from where the signature super star Rajini theme starts rolling (the one that started with Annamalai and was mislaid or rehashed in the last couple of releases with the overtly political Pa.Ranjith makings), the one performer who has made his existence felt is Vijay Sethupathi as Jithu the bad-ass northie! The director uses his protégés Bobby Simha and Vijay Sethupathi within the restricted screen space he can deliver and it's Vijay who has made his presence from underneath the towering Rajini. Superstar's choice of new gen directors is palpable in the screenplay which plays out contrarily to usual Rajini flicks, the ubiquitous Tamil culture exaltation scantly being present but there is ample right-wing bashing, pro-valentine day sequences, beef politics and the likes which no one would've foreseen in a Rajini film of all! Anirudh's BGM and songs support the story pace effectively which, with a little lengthier runtime of 3 hours will not effectively make us feel the stretch, thanks to the thalaivar swag - Petta is a must take nostalgia trip for us 80's/90's kids to see the original superstar again in full glory !

For an Indian audience pretty much exasperated by routine horror clichés of jump scares, spirits in white sari and various exorcisms and occultist fares , Tumbbad is a revelation - something which can easily be termed as the best horror movie as an Indian production in recent times. That said the horror element is not a forced one but highly intertwined with the overall plot, making it one of the best story oriented horror tales with the thriller element taking the front stage for the major portion. Brilliantly directed as a period-fantasy-thriller-adventure flick, Tumbbad has 100% desi soul, blended magnificently into the dark and cursed landscape of Tumbbad. Set in Tumbbad in the 1920s and spanning from there through 3 chapters till post independent India, the plot revolves around the three generations of a family facing the consequences when they build a temple for the first-born of a goddess, named Hastar--he who must not be worshiped. Hastar is a terrible entity who can curse a person yet also can grant gold coins. And the story put emphasis on human nature and the never ending greed all the while drawing parallels to the exploitation of poor souls by the ever greedy masters. Among a bevy of not-so-famous actors, the main hero of the movie might as well be the art direction - simply brilliant at multiple levels. Pre-Independence Era sets, spooky mansions of Tumbbad and even minute details like locks and doors are done with an eerie perfection and earthen feel that it blends right in to the dark and contrasting frames throughout the movie. While majority of bollywood is losing it over overtly bright and rich visuals and glitz of Bhansali movies, here the makers have created absolute magic with a perennial rain receiving glum Tumbbad landscape. Considering the apparently small budget of the film, VFX employed is top notch compared to disasters like Thugs of Hindostan. It might be downright fitting for the bollywood mainstream audience to push aside the khan clan now and give talented makers like this a chance worth every penny they spend for a cinema!

12 Angry Men, The Man from Earth, Exam, and Cube are some well-known Hollywood flicks coming to mind immediately when you hear about a chamber play (A movie shot entirely around a single set or maximum two, importance being given to the character development and their emotions rather than the location or the movements). It was about time someone does a well-executed Indian take on the same - Trust the ever brilliant Priyadarshan to pull it off to perfection in Sila Samayangalil (Sometimes)! Based entirely inside a diagnostic centre from morning to evening, the movie is all about 7 people who have done an HIV test in the morning and waiting for results which would be delivered the evening only. Added to this tense and broken brigade of characters is the receptionist going through a financial crunch and the lab technician whom she manipulates. The 7 waiting persons decide to bribe the receptionist so as to know the results early since the wait till evening 5 is killing them out of anxiety. After sometimes they come to know that 6 among them have been tested negative, while only one is being declared positive, the catch being that the technician couldn't specifically record who the unlucky one amongst the 7 was! From there the movie develops through their emotions, guilt, anxiety and stress. Apart from being an intense drama on this serious topic, Sila Samayangalil strives to create more awareness on this disease, dwindling more on the social stigma and ostracization associated with it rather than the more common medical implications. The sound recording is a minute but laudable aspect of this flick, silence replacing the BGM for the majority part. The day to day street sounds , the hawkers and vendors resonances and the white noise comes in as a blaring hindrance whenever the doors or windows of the diagnostic centre opens briefly, otherwise masked by the eerie periodic chime of the token number only. Amongst the cast, Prakash Raj does a cakewalk as the introvert middle aged man out to test his status, plagued by guilt over his brief encounter in the past. But it's Ashok Selva who gives a brilliant performance as the outspoken youngster coming in to test his status. His hyperactive mannerisms and the stark difference with the introverted Prakash raj and the amusing acquaintance they form over the course take the screenplay further. Chances are there this flick will bore you if you are not patient enough to let the proceedings unfold slowly but surely without any songs or BGM, each frame exploring the characters one by one. Time and again such rare gems have the same fate of not getting a theatrical release, in this case at least being released in Netflix. 34 years since he has marked his presence as a director, Priyadarshan is a man who has been mocked often for his inspired stories and screenplays from Hollywood and his uncanny knack of remaking films into Bollywood from the south. The new gen wannabe intellects have even gone to the extent of labelling him as a slapstick churner in favour of the recent Kochi based crop of self-declared new wave filmmakers, but Priyadarshan has proved again why he is one the most creative and technically brilliant filmmakers out there who knows what they does exactly. Sila Samayangalil would easily go in as one of his best creations - together with Kaalapani, Kancheevaram and all the hit 90's flicks with Lalettan!

Ee. Ma Yau. is Malayalam cinema at its best in recent times. Adapted from P.F.Mathews' 'Chavu Nilam', this out and out dark satire surrounding a death in a coastal village and the associated pandemonium it creates is an amazingly shot motion picture of true class! Making the film a technical benchmark on realistic making with some excellent natural light camerawork from Shyju Khalid, Lijo Jose Pellisery has done full justice to his role as director and quite so deserves the state awards bestowed to him for the same this year. Starting off as a light hearted satire based on a coastal Latin catholic family of Vavachan and his son Eesi, Ee. Ma. Yau gets much darker and haunting along the way, the entire proceedings reeking of the grim reaper's arrival. Barring the last 20 min, the howling wind, splashing waves and incessant downpour have been captured beautifully as the background amidst all the hullaballoo unleashed between vavachan's first and second wife, their families, the rude vicar and some crazy villagers. Dead bodies, cremation, cemetery, coffin and the last rites from the church take up majority of the proceedings, making this a unique and literally 'deadly' experience. Last 20 min of the movie belongs to Chemban Vinod Jose and Prasanth Pillai, the former for his amazing and effortless transition in to semi lunatic, self mumbling Eesi - the dutiful son of Vavachan who loses it towards the end - and the latter for his downright haunting BGM, something that echoes in to your mind even as the end credits roll by. Another performance worth lauding is from Pouly Valsan who played Eesi's mother, a seasoned and hilarious performance on so many levels. Ee. Ma. Yau is another surreal experience which I've missed watching in the big screen again - this one will go down as a true classic in Malayalam after quite some time!

Lekhayude Maranam Oru Flashback , Premnazirine Kaananilla, Udayanaanu Thaaram - some well remembered Malayalam flicks with the 'cinema-within-cinema' theme - Kammara Sambhavam maintains the premise and yet comes as a genre breaking revelation. Probably a first of its kind attempted ever, Kammara Sambhavam is a satirical gem of a film which brings with it a notion that has been loathed by many, but praised by few. Catching your attention with the most eccentric way of presentation, with the true story reeling out on the first half and the blockbuster version towards the second half, it's a good exemplar of deviating amusingly from the conventional way of storytelling. Kammara Sambhavam is all about a group of liquor barons set out to boost the long incumbent party ILP by rebranding their supposed to be founder Kammaran as an illustrious hero. To this end, they approach a film maker who in turn gets to Kammaran for the entire story. In spite of what instead comes from Kammaran as a confession-of-sorts retelling of the actual events that transpired, the movie made subsequently rewrites the history in a most audacious way. Murali Gopi the writer has come out all guns ablaze after the magnificent left right left this time - basing the chain of events on Napoleon Bonaparte's famous quote - "History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon". As is anticipated from a political satire like this, frequent jabs at the left and right coalition parties and a brilliant crossover of pop culture, black comedy and period cinema is amalgamated in this engaging spoof. All the actors who played actual roles in first half re-emerge as themselves aka actors who play the twisted up and concocted ballad of Kammaran in the second half , adding to the overall novelty of the proceedings. Apart from Ratish Ambat who has delivered a technically well made period flick with flawlessly captured historical settings with its INA-Subhash Chandra Bose-Japan premise, it is the terrific on screen presence of Janapriya Nayakan Dileep which works for the movie. Tailor made for the role as the cunning, two-timing Kammaran, Dileep performs majestically from the pre-independent era quack doctor to the present days scheming oldie transitioning with ease and manipulating everyone along the way. While being far more imaginative and with fresh content than any of the new gen ultra realistic type flick of late, it's rather unfair that this movie was frequently panned by the critics and seldom praised for its Genuineness - maybe the lead actors personal issues and recent cases affecting the public outlook pessimistically.

A police jeep speeding through palayam flyover at dawn - the chilling wind is blowing to jeevan's face as he looks out. He observes the street light lit roads of vellayambalam- kowdiar road and musuem-vellayambalam road. There is a loud thinking, rather a narration - which forms the entire backbone of the story later.

Season - The timeless padmarajan saga of revenge kicks open with mohanlal's rustic bearded face through the roads of capital city. When i first watched this movie in local cable at my uncle's place at EKM sometime in the nineties, this opening sequence itself was captivating enough to keep me watching till the end. Looking back today from a period of city of god, traffic, saroja , amorres perros, ayutha ezhuthu and the likes, season is clearly a movie way ahead of its times - a cult classic by all means, it remains quite a surprise to me that this was box office dud in 1989. But then again many of padmarajan masterpieces were not commercial wonders of their respective times.

Unlike his earlier associations with Johnson, padmarajan uses maestro ilayaraja for the songs and most importantly for the the vibrant BGM. "Swapnangal than theeram" by chithra and "poyi varoo" by yesudas are not exactly some of the memorable works of ilayaraja , but he makes up for that with the Background score - which itself evolves through the screenplay. What starts as a melancholic violin score when jeevan is marched through the poojappura central jail courtyard, gradually progresses to the dark guitar tweaks portraying kovalam and emerges in full swing with a thrilling jazz beats mix bearing a typical ilayaraja signature. The jail break scene with gaavan and the fight scene at the end remain memorable to this day with the amazing BGM's.

The film opens with jeevan's entry into the central prison and progresses with mohanlal's classic voiceover which constitutes a good part of the screenplay. The viewer is left to ponder about jeevan's past as he befriends the foreigner Fabiyen Remenez at the prison and plots to escape. It's at this point the film whizzes back to jeevans earlier sentence time and from there to the prime flashback at the beaches of kovalam. Maybe this is one of the reasons season remains a favourite - the natural trivandrum slang used throughout (not the horrible, most artificial verbal diarrhoea of made up trivandrum slang spoken by mammootty in rajamanikyam or the bafoonish mockery made popular by suraj venjarammoodu). Poojappura Radhakrishnan, Maniyanpilla Raju and Jagathi Sreekumar etch out some of the most memorable supporting roles as the beach locals - be it the lusty half blinded broker jagathi or the small time drug pusher kanthi (raju).

Apart from the screenplay and direction, the highlight of movie is obviously the super-cool jeevan who is an enigma to the other characters of the movie as much as he is to the viewers. Mohanlal gives one of his best performances after memorable outings with padmarajan in namukku parkkan munthirithoppukal and kariyilakkaattupole in the past years. A loner- Calm and composed, in a typical beach dress or the 80's denims and with a beard that he sports so rarely in his movies, lal never ever reminds you of any other of his characters that he has done before and is doubtful to repeat the act again as jeevan stands out very differently from all the sethumadhavans , neelakantans, sagar alias jackys or other characters that he's blown life into. The prisoner in poojappura flashes back as the hotel owner at kovalam and takes you through the rest of the story with interesting incidents. As is quite expected with an urban tale like this, padmarajans spins the entire events around greed, treachery, drugs and violence. Adding to the uniqueness of his work, padmarajan maintains a foreign character as the main villain of the movie, perhaps largely unheard of in that time. Jeevan does not have a heroine to himself throughout the movie, maintaining his loner, Clint Eastwood-like image quite convincingly. Opening promisingly and carrying on quite interestingly, the movie tends to lag a bit at those portions where jeevans friends are murdered and he's ultimately accused of the crime. But from there the film jumps into its most interesting part, the jail break and the subsequent showdown between jeevan and Fabien. The climax is largely unconventional, but at the same time heroic, with jeevan returning the murdered Fabien's body back to the prison after using the money he got from him to pay for the family of his murdered friends.

A small group of supporting characters makes the film more interesting to the viewer- azeez as the jailor, prempraksh and valsala menon as the couple who came to buy smuggled goods, oduvil unnikrishnan as the thirumeni prisoner, and krishnaprasad as the young housekeeper lad all play their brief parts well as characters who don't play a major part to the thread but entertaines the viewer well.

A highly recommended watch for all those who missed it, Season easily tops my all-time favourite list of movies.

The Man Who Knew Infinity - Although the scientist-as-superhero film genre is more than well-established by now through A Beautiful Mind, The Imitation Game and The Theory of Everything, This biopic of Srinivasa Ramanujan warrants a watch for the pure genius the leading man epitomized. A Fellow of the Royal Society and also Fellow of Trinity College - monumental attainments for an Indian with no formal training in mathematics - tips of the iceberg for the genius that Srinivasa Ramanujan was, the movie tries to capture his liaison with renowned mathematician G.H.Hardy and his life at the Cambridge university.

The movie scores in its accurate rendering of the intellectual mathematics involved and the realities of academic antagonism; the historical and cultural skirmishes between Indian and English conducts and the side track of jingoists vs. pacifists. A Tamil movie with the same topic - Ramanujan was released one year earlier which dispensed more with the personal life and enlargement of the virtuoso.

Having said that, Dev Patel was an out-and-out miscast for the role, given Ramanujan's short and stout physique and his Dravidian guises. Patel is sure a strange casting choice yet captures his appeal with integrity and passion and in some means, a heftier underdog akin to his breakout role in Slumdog Millionaire.

Biopics in our country have apportioned mostly with sportsmen (Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, M.S.Dhoni, Mary Kom, Dangal, Paan Singh Tomar, Azhar) while undermining the scientists and intellectuals - it's a pity that we are still relishing on screen versions of delinquents like Gujarati Bootlegger Abdul Latif (Read Raees !) while the west is adapting our finer lives to silver screen !

12 years back at Sreekumar theatre Trivandrum , I was going berserk over Chiyaan Vikram's multiple personality magnum opus Anniyan - and all of a sudden James McAvoy has outweighed that very specific standard of enactment with his once in a life time role in Split. Manoj Nelliate Shyamalan, that Indian prodigy who made sixth sense and sunk into oblivion with a chain of duds subsequently has made a magnificent riposte! Split sees the prolongation of Shyamalan's assignation with the supernatural but also a long anticipated rhetoric that this filmmaker was merely waiting for the right moment to rematerialize. The film deals majorly with a person sustaining 23 different personalities within himself of which a 24th one is about to surface. Resting heavily on the lead actor who has done a magnificent job, the screenplay sways between his distinctive dispositions, transitioning from an OCD patient to a psycho woman and to a 9 year old boy, amongst 18 other manifestations. 3 girls are abducted by one of these personas and made to wait for the appearance of the last one before they should try and escape him. Living up to his expectations, Shyamalan has created a proficiently hewed psychological thriller which is darkly amusing. Very much commended for an exhilarating watch..

The one and only appeal to Marvel Studios after watching this would be to retire the Wolverine charisma since no one could render it with this much exactness as Hugh Jackman. If you are going into "Logan" expecting every prospect to just be Wolverine tearing people to shreds you'll be thoroughly disenchanted. This is categorically not an action film. There are action sequences in the film, but they are not the main emphasis of the movie like the previous 2 Wolverine movies tried to make them be. "Logan" is a grounded film, a film that really takes its stint to tell its story and to develop its characters. It's a character-driven film, and it possibly has the most characterizations in an X-Men film to date.

We've never comprehended Wolverine this susceptible. He's old, he's wrecked down, and he's trodden. He can't heal like he used to. The only alteration between Logan and Nolan's Dark Knight is you can't get the epic touch with Logan.

Set in a grim near-future where very few mutants persist active, we meet an unthinkable incarnation of our favourite enclawed superhero: one who's decidedly past his prime. This is not the near-eternal Wolverine we reminisce, but Logan , a broken, far older man who feels the heft of every wound inflicted upon him. His once- formidable physique - tattooed with scars that aren't restorative as fast or as well as they used to - seems to be failing. It's only his fortitude to keep the ailing, ageing Professor Charles Xavier safe and buzzing, but fate has other plans for him.

Just when you thought Nolan has given you a trilogy of realistic superhero stuff, James Mangold directs his way into glory with this epic piece of pure awesomeness.

Highly recommended watch !

8 Thottakal (8 bullets) - One among the many reasons for admiring this accidently stumbled upon flick would be the integrity of director Sri Ganesh in including a whole list of "filmography" titles in the end credits as his inspirations in making the movie - Akira Kurasova's Stray Dog(1949), Breaking Bad series, Badlapur, Wild Tales, Couple of Mysskin movies etc. . As an average viewer who would be so engrossed in this well-paced thriller, you wouldn't be thinking this as a plagiarized piece, but would surely connect the dots once you see this revelation at the end and subsequently the premises of movie inspired from the same.

Sathya, a honest but timid cop with a dark past accidentally loses his service pistol which was loaded with eight bullets. Before he could retrieve the pistol, it makes its way into the black market and gets sold off to a man named Moorthy, who uses it for a bank robbery. While Sathya desperately searches for his pistol, a series of murders start to happen by the same pistol. Rest of the movie is all about the twists, turns and narrations which culminates into a bloody emotional climax, largely unconventional for the supposedly thriller mould of this movie.

The movie would be remembered for M.S.Bhaskar, essentially reminisced for his on and off comedy roles , who gives an enactment of his lifetime as the antagonist/protagonist , the biggest beauty of the film which doesn't try to fit the characters into preconceived shells of virtue or vice. A good Tamil movie to watch after Dhruvangal 16, 8 Tottakal deserves serious appreciation for combining thriller and emotional elements most convincingly, the only bleak points being the under emoting lead actor Vetri and a couple of love songs squeezed in between at the most bizarre junctures.

Angamaly Diaries - Doesn't impress as hyped up but doesn't let down as expected either!

Thumbs down foremost for the off-repeated gang war plot and south American movie styled elements appearing throughout - first person narration - evolution of a gang from boy next door type guys- multi-linear story line which comes back to beginning of timeline towards climax and similar repeated tricks from the book. (Cidade de Deus and other bunch of movies with the same narrative style!)

Deserves serious appreciation however for the enormously fresh casting of 86 faces, out-and-out natural screenplay (special mention to the evading of expletives so often used by film makers to make the movie look earthy), incredible camera work (pre-interval chase scene and climax fight), natural fight scenes without any over the top action gimmicks, a traditional folk-styled soundtrack which gels along well with the story and the candid pragmatic depiction of a region and its people. Amid the new faces, Appani Ravi's character was top-notch - raw, realistic and a next door villain!

Sticks to the tagline given overall - Katta Local !

If there is a competition for 'feel-good' movies then Rakshadhikaari Baiju is the strongest contender! Playing his usual common-man self with a blank expression and cracking one-liners at ease, Biju Menon plays up to his titular role to perfection as a 40-something family man who spends more time at his village playground than his workplace with his preteen to late 20's gang of friends. In the absence of a major event/turning point or a solid plot, clean and situational humor and the lead character's anecdotal incidents with the support cast carries the movie home somewhat. This Ranjan Pramod flick would be best enjoyed by 80's / 90's kids who can relate to the playground camaraderie and relatively simpler times compared to the millennials. Best part amongst the proceedings would be the subtleness brought into typical nostalgic affairs like romance sidetrack or family drama and the shrewdly avoided preachy tone in conveying what they want to tell. Technically perfect (spot recording being a feature well apt for the plot) and with its humdrum screenplay, Baiju is the perfect unwinding for supposed- to- be grownups who relish their childhood.

"The devil is in the details" - Madhavan's cop character Vikram utters this towards the climax - something that literally sums up the movie mood and screenplay neatly! Vikram Vedha is Neo-Noir Tamil cinema at its best, a marvelously layered film where none of the protagonists are black or white. Both of them are grey flanking amid right and wrong and each has their justification for being what they are. A team lead by Vikram (R Madhavan), a ruthless, no-nonsense encounter cop, is on the hunt to capture/kill a dreaded gangster Vedha (Vijay Sethupathi). In this battle of good versus evil the audience is left to pick a side but everything you see is not what you believe. Vedha tells Vikram, 3 stories that happened at various stages in his life. Each of those stories has relevance to the series of events that led Vedha to come all out. As Vikram finds the answer to each puzzle, the dots get connected and you cannot help but admire the hugely talented Vijay Sethupathi do enormous justice to an equally brilliant screenplay, built up-on the Vikramadhityan-Vedalam Folklore. The movie is excellently paced, keeping you hooked without time to anticipate a twist as the differences between Vikram and Vedha fades gradually and goes through a cycle of vengeance/redemption , supported all along by riddled flashback sequences of Vedha. The director duo of Pushkar-Gayathri have struck gold in their 3rd outing after Oram Po and Va Quarter Cutting, amalgamating the so called 'class' and 'mass' elements perfectly with the characterization of a lifetime. With their exposed greys and whites, Madhavan and VJS are picture perfect for the roles, the margin between the so called good and bad guys dissolving seamlessly as the movie progresses. Seemingly minor details like VJS throwing food to the dog and how the title characters addressing of each other's evolves throughout the movie are brilliantly done , the icing on the cake being a stand-off ending , a cliffhanger apt for the screenplay.

A poignant and underplayed critique on religious fundamentalism - Persepolis caught my eye first for its very original and exceptional 2D animated make, remaining faithful to its original graphic novel source and capturing the wrung life and anguish with splendid silhouettes and symbolic imageries. This French-Iranian adult animated biographical film however develops with much serious themes and narrations, going through a barrage of social and geopolitical commentary through the eyes of a young Iranian girl. The narrator, Marjane Satrapi, only daughter of an educated Tehran couple, traces the history of her home country starting from the Shah regime, its fall with the 1979 revolution, the rise of the subsequent current repressive regime - entangling quite closely with her personal life and setbacks. Starting from the rebellious 70's to the 90's through the Iraq-Iran war of the 80's, the dry humor and the raw criticism to the oppressive regimes with its meaningless nationalism and martyrdom are told in a quite poetic yet sarcastic manner. The protagonist buying Iron Maiden cassettes from a black market (since music, cards and other stuff are banned and sacrilegious in the oppressive regime), speaking out against a fallacy of an anatomy class on a veiled subject and her major life happenings instigated by the eyes of religious police are often clever takes on the fundamentalist regime by the film maker on her semi-autobiographical piece. For the sake of the cynics mostly, the makers have maintained a balanced political commentary, often mentioning about the hands of the "west" in manipulating the fall of shah or fueling the Iraq-Iran war from the sidelines. In a true ode to her origins, the maker's personal life is reflected as an epitome of her communist family, cleverly undermining the shallowness of much awed about western culture in between. Persepolis is a must watch. Absolute shame that this flick lost the Oscar race for best animated film to Disney's "Ratatouille"!

Amidst the gush of releases intended as entertainers week after week, movies like Oru Kidayin Karunai Manu ('Mercy petition of a scapegoat'?) manages to entertain with some wholly organic jocularity and drama. A profoundly simple tale that revolves around a death and a group of villagers who are unfortunately entailed in it, what strikes a chord with this flick is the humongous but well detailed casting and characterization of the village folk, whose camaraderie and verbal jousts liven things up right till the climax. Drawing much from day to day life, satire is a major facet as the movie unfolds through the eyes of the sacrificial lamb taken to the family deity of the protagonist. The newlywed lead chap with his wife and clan are started out on a truck to their family deity's temple for an oblation fare. On the remote thoroughfare they chance upon a mishap, and a local is dead. How the goat becomes the mute beholder in the dark comedy and tumult that ensues is what pretty much makes the rest of the proceedings. With a bunch of hardly known faces and drawing on their candidly facetious sub-plots, the director has done well to extract some acting ample for a commercial movie, the earthy Tamil dialect and hard to understand slang adding to the freshness of the proceedings.

Cheeky takes on demonetization , critiques on GST, UP hospital tragedy references and that direct dig at AIDMK for vote selling - in case u wonder it's a bulletin from an NDTV prime time , it's Vijay trimming 'ilaya' off from his long used ilayathalapathi epithet in his 2nd outing with Attlee. The plot and proceedings are heavily reminiscent of the directors guru shankar's 90's movies - social messages , mass masala and songs squeezed in between . What makes the movie watchable is a charismatic underplayed performance from Vijay this time , not going over the top with his usual histrionics . Ample space is reserved at subtle references on his political ambitions, be it speeches on what makes a leader or montages of Makkal thilakam MGR played behind the hero. As usual Dravidian jingoism is spread liberally amongst the proceedings . Nevertheless, to be brutally honest as a thala fan like me, who was told earlier this year that watching 'vivegam' would be 'avivegam' , mersal is a watchable Vijay movie one should admit ! It's always a pleasure to watch Vaigai Puyal Vadivelu back on the big screen even if he's more like a shadow of his past prime. Special mention to the 'Aalaporan Tamizhan' track - the lyrics and music standing out from the rest of the album . Something which can be emulated by malayalees from their Neighbors could be the relentless love and devotion shown and expressed to their mother tongue - something which is visibly lacking in the Keralite counterparts !!

Court - Expecting a genre flick like 12 Angry Men, A few good men or even Abibhashakante Case Diary or Jolly LLB would be too much to ask for if you're expecting any typical elements of the ritual court room drama genres like grand orations, surprise witnesses, edge of the seat arguments or the good-wins-over-evil fallacy from this brilliantly made movie, which I could summarize as an 'anti-courtroom' drama about our country's legal system. The movie shows us less than intelligent middle class everyday people as the important sessions judge, prosecutor or the inspector, subtle references being cast on their mundane lives or incapabilities for their position (sometimes even amateurish) , which largely works because of the brutally honest casting of newcomers and non-professional actors. A sewerage worker's dead body is found inside a manhole in Mumbai. An ageing folk singer is tried in court on charges of abetment of suicide. He is accused of performing an inflammatory song which might have incited the worker to commit the act. As the trial unfolds, a mundane, sluggish and redundant face of the land's judicial system is exposed; the endless trials, misplaced documents and incompetent individuals making the cases crawl on for decades! The entire movie was deliberately slow-paced it seems to bring out the helplessness of the involved people and sometimes making a mockery of the system in itself. The deafening silence throughout the movie with no dramatics or emotions whatsoever adds to this blunt satire element on the age-old customary/colonial laws existing in the state. That said, being the official entry from India under foreign language film for the Academy Award 2016, its no wonder that the majority of international reviews have conveniently praised the film for its UAPA references, politically motivated oppressions or the intolerant nature of country in hushing any activist/vocalists , regardless of the government at helm. Nevertheless, completely disregarding the film makers political stance or correctiveness , the movie is brutally honest and well made that it drives home the point of ineffective judiciary effectively and silently at multiple levels! A must watch for all movie lovers and yet another well made Marathi film I've stumbled up-on!

The USP of this flick is the subject it elects to elaborate upon - that of the world largest democracy, its effectiveness (or ineffectiveness?) combined with the way it chooses to deliver in the most austere way. It talks about the utopian democratic notions , its flaws in operation or the bureaucratic clutter that runs it, without being preachy eyed or bearing the stamp of a left liberal art house. Infused with some pretty dark humour all along, the makers have managed to tackle a downright serious topic with a subtle and non-dramatic chronicle. Newton is about a young, honest and self-righteous man Newton Kumar who's been commissioned to conduct electoral polling in a tension filled Naxalite region in Chhattisgarh as the presiding officer. The real challenge for him compared to the often warned about communist guerrillas would be the tribes who exist inconsequentially in some godforsaken land in Chhattisgarh with the feeblest idea of an elected representative for them or the system overall for that matter! The plight of tribes, their ignorance, the vainness of naxalism movement, the apathy of security forces or the publicity hungry officials are put in pretty glum acerbity and dark humour. The cleverness of the writer/director manifests in the way they've build the characters with a built in caste interpretation without actually divulging it openly , the dalit titular guy, the middle class high caste army man or the high class IPS officer each with their own views or indifferences in the framework. However the brilliance of the entire proceedings is in not letting either of these characters to be right or wrong, or no pretentious attempt in finding the solutions or making statements (as in the case of recent Mersal ). A mixed metaphor in ways more than one, what works most for newton is the casting - Rajkumar Rao nailing the title role to perfection as the idealistic eccentric presiding officer with his nuances, speeches or those nerdy eye blinks in between. He has become the sort of go to guy for indie/independent movie makers of late one should say. However it's Pankaj Tripathy as Aatma Singh, the cynical security official who steals the show from Newton with his own crooked views on the system while patrolling the dense Dandakaranya jungles hunting the Maoists or pushing around the villagers.

A career defining movie for Karthi (his last good feat in Madras which was more of a director's drama), one of the best cop movies in Tamil - Intense and well researched - Theeran Adhigaaram Ondru falls short of the anticipated cult classic prospective it has by underestimating the filmgoers and adding a painstakingly cliché ridden romantic track to the otherwise racy script it offers. Based on a real case led by the Inspector-General of Police (North Zone) S. R. Jangid and the then DIG Viluppuram Range Sanjay Arora in 2005, Tamil Nadu (about the Bawariya gang from central/west India who have looted and murdered many a household along Karnataka/Tamilnadu highways in the 90's), the screenplay and voice-overs makes the whole lot of effort and research behind this movie most perceptible - the modus operandi of the dacoit gangs and the real life criminal analysis techniques detailed to the finer nuances. Unlike the run-of-the-mill cop investigations where the protagonist phenomenally comes up with answers with his tremendous IQ (ala Vishal in Thupparivalan! ) , Theeran is no super human or Sherlock Holmes as he has to toil along with his team for years for that one pervasive bit of evidence / clue among the whole bureaucratic mess and geographical hindrances of our vast country. Perhaps this realism element and the truthfulness maintained to actual events and pragmatism of the world are what make Theeran a balanced act of police bravado. As the events disclose with Theeran and his team travelling across the heart of the country, chasing and collecting evidences, witnesses and leads, it's not without wincing at least once that the antagonist criminal gangs activities are splashed out , perhaps with a little much more of gore and violence (justifiable to reproduce the original happenings ). Another aspect that works well for Theeran is the meticulous stunt/chase/stakeout/encounter direction in the cat and mouse game between the gang and Tamilnadu police, perhaps taking a leaf out of 'Mad Max: Fury Road (the fights and chases in the arid landscapes). The originality of the making is reflected in the end sequences also as an ode to the real life cop team which didn't get any sort of appreciation or rewards for their boldness, devotion and hard work (Theeran's career twilight spent in an incumbent department complaining about his rickety chair!). Apart from the fact that Theeran Adhigaaram Ondru' takes a while to get its cop act going by beating around the bush with the romance/family sidetrack , this is one definite watch for people who like original themed movies. Special mention should go to the innovative flashbacks and presentations about the dacoit gangs of India (not as a boring voice over or onscreen explanation by a character)