It is almost two months since Sathyan Anthikad’s 50th movie released back home, so a review may not be timely, but this is one movie you shouldn’t miss. While Sathyan moves out of his comfort zone and regurgitation to try something new with an intelligent and subtle screenplay, it is Mamta Mohandas who carries the movie through the slog overs with commendable panache making “Kadha thudarunnu..” one of the best malayalam movies I’ve seen in the last five years. And trust me I’ve seen them all.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIGwRxkBWxY

“Kadha thudarunnu..” may not have the extreme intensity of Thalappavu, or the cunning intelligence and social commentary embedded in Paleri Manickam, or may be the breadth of emotions of a Kerala Cafe, but Kadha thudarunnu in the inimitable Sathyan style portrays the best within us and underlines the timeless creed that we, human beings, are essentially good. It appeals to the same heart’s side of the brain which classics like ‘list’, ‘life is beautiful’, and ‘redemption’ appeal to. The movie is a first from the Sathyan stable, inspite of ‘Achuvinte Amma’, which accepts ‘single mother’ as a respectable and inevitable social reality than as a sad transitional phase. Kadha Thudarunnu has around ten characters we will remember (not many movies can claim that), a clear strength of the Sathyan Anthikad style, while it stays clear of exaggerations seen in his movies like Sandesham, Achuvinte Amma, and Innathe Chinthavishayam. As my friend VN mentions in his NowRunning review “the film follows life rather than love”. It is a beautiful movie and every bit a must watch.

Story: The movie begins with a sneak peek into the happy life of Vidya, Shanavas, and their bubbly kid Laya. The couple antagonized their parents when they decided to live together, and are pretty much on their own, living on Shanavas’s meager income. Shanavas gets killed in a freak murder, a case of mistaken identity, which thrusts Vidya and her daughter into a harsh new world without a home, with no money left, and with no one to to turn to. Their world regains some balance when Vidya meets Preman (played by Jayaram), a superstitious auto-driver who once aspired to be a pilot. The movie follows Vidya and her daughter as they journey through one obstacle to another, and their endearing journey, and the story, continues in our minds(as the name puts it) even after the titles roll.

Good:

1. Screenplay: The suggestion has been made more than once, that Sathyan Anthikad and Blessy should rely on external screenplays rather than craft it themselves. Sathyan gives a fitting reply in his 50th movie. The screenplay including the song sequences are crafted with a lot of thought, weaving a woman’s anxiety and a mother’s helplessness into relevant social commentary and a thread of happy possibilities. It all fits in very well making the movie a repeat watch. It does not fall off the box-office cliff of tear-jerker into the the abyss of over-emoting. Sathyan says the story of good people, and as the saying goes, good people do not need many words between them. The screenplay does just that by answering ‘where does the money come from’ question in two frames in a song sequence, and even treating an amateur womanizer employer with a little difference.

2. Mamta Mohandas: and Baby Anikha lighten up the screen without the hyperbole one saw in Achuvinte Amma. Mamta refuses to cry, but still conveys deep angst, without the usual ‘podippum thongalum’ of our ‘kalathilakam’ heroines trained in ‘Kathakali’. Mamta once again proves her mettle with a strong performance without exaggerations and verbosity, and Anthikad makes a good call casting Baby Anikha who brings in a endearing freshness to several situations in the storyline which otherwise would have made the movie tad heavy. Jayaram understands where he fits in and plays his card with control and elan. KPAC Lalitha should be given JC Daniel award next year, it is already too late.

Bad:

Not bad, but the supporting cast except a few can be placed in many a Sathyan movie from over the years. But Sathyan has been creating our own malgudis in his past 50 films, so I wouldn’t complain.

മമത മോഹന്‍ദാസിനെ നോക്കി ഇരുന്നു ഞങ്ങള്‍ ഇത് കണ്ടില്ല , സത്യന്‍ കൊച്ചു കള്ളന്‍ (via Jocalling)

Verdict: If I am not the last person to watch this movie, you shouldn’t be too.

“…athu….Paanashery nambi

Maniyambra Purushothaman kolu vachu, contract avan pokkattilakki

Puroshathamun Arabiyum koode Ding Ding…pimp CHANDRADASAN”

This is a question thats been nagging the boys and yours truly for years. In a recent meetup in San Francisco, the standing (also sitting and sometimes lying down) committee on “Figuring out what the hell Mohanlal talks about in his movies” watched Mohanlal’s Raavanaprabhu (as per Ranjith, the 2nd installment of a story that burns like a petromax lantern in the Malayali psyche) about 3 times back to back to see if we can figure out the question first raised at the Chavadimukku internationale about 8 years back.

In the past 8 years, multiple efforts were made using the DVD and theatre version of the movie to understand these hidden gems and symbols in malayalam’s epic classic. I will not be able to cover all the hidden symbols in Raavanaprabhu in a post, because some of them are even more subtle than Monalisa showing the middle finger in Davinci’s classic painting. My primary attempt here is to figure out the Chandradasan question. It is quite significant in the sense that it occurs in the movie about 1 minute before the classic “Nateshaa….kollanda” dialoge which over the years has attained cult status, and has attained multiple unrelated meanings.

…Athu….Paanashery nambi

Maniyambra Purushothaman kolu vachu, contract avan pokkattilakki

Puroshathamun Arabiyum koode Ding Ding…pimp CHANDRADASAN

Everybody knows Maniyambra, pakshe Chandradasan? This our last attempt in finding out who Chandradasan really is.The boys suggested that we use the power of the internets and the new age social media to crowd source the answer to this 8 year long itch. You can closely watch the video here.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=axc5Jgwxb-U

In case you are able to figure this one out, we’ll need your help in understanding who Balan Pillai is. It is the scene when Mohanlal arrives at Napolean’s house during Siddique’s engagement, gets out of his car, tilts his head to the left and says “Balan Pillai!!”, straightens his head and then says “ha…ividem onda”. Balan Pillai is another raging mystery from Raavanaprabhu. Any help will be highly appreciated by the boys and your’s truly.

In other news, today is a Friday. Vaikittentha paripadi

And there was too much drama at the World Cup. In further news Manisha Koirala got married,and Amrita Arora turned 29. Congrats! and Happy Birthday to you!

Off to watch Ravan. TGIF!

P.S: This has been an inside joke for long. Now someone’s put it on facebook. Desirability and number of hits

My top picks from the last 233 searches that landed in Talkies. My favorite of course is “PRITHVIRAJ DESTROYED MOHANLAL”. Seriously? with Antony Perumbavoor around?

1. what was the reason for breakup of shashi taroor’s 1st marriage? – We all should start from this basic question.
2. what is exact word for counting people of india – word for counting people?
3. 100% perfect girl for me – yeah you try
4. attingal hot girls – what is this fetish for Neyyantinkara and Attingal?
5. mohanlal’s films character name starting with q - quanjanan
6. undemanding job - you have one I guess
7. PRITHVIRAJ DESTROYED MOHANLAL – why caps?
8. blue film with kottayam inhabitants – kottayam kunjachan
9. malayalam movies of younger actors are crap - babu is not searching, he is telling google
10. Shashi Tharoor,is waiting for the court order on his divorce and planning to get marry 3 rd time. – babu again

Raghu

Raghu says his name is Raghu.

Son of Thalamunda Variyath Unni and Thankam,
at school in Thalamunda,
they knew him as the kid from Variyath.

Later at the school in Kuttipuram,
they knew him as the Raghu who came from Edappal.

Later at the Engineering college in Trivandrum,
they knew him as a guy from Malappuram district.

Later at work in Bangalore,
they knew him as a colleague from Kerala.

Because he never went to North India, or outside India ,or outside the Earth,
Raghu was never known as a Madrasi, or Indian, or a man from planet Earth.

Raghu keeps searching what he really is.

Bhoomi Malayalam – is a movie made strictly for malayalis, and I doubt whether this film will speak intensely to any one else. (yeah there were 10 malayalis in Sree yesterday J , Sathyan selling “the family” with Bhagyadevatha had a full-house next door in Kairali). The movie, though without a pattern, and without the burden of solving every issue in 90 minutes (which many a movie do), turns our attention towards a diverse set of issues ranging from treasury shutdown in Trivandrum to the ubiquitous career-family questions to the endosulfan tragedy in Kasaragod. Though some of these issues are period (endosulfan and treasury shutdown is 2001, not 2009), this movie can serve as a reminder in later years.

The story deals with 7 women, and their private fears, tragedies and disappointments. Yes it is a movie centered on women, but not exclusively on women’s isssues but on a diverse set of issues where women find themselves at the receiving end. The movie starts in Trivandrum where a case of police atrocity leaves a woman without her brother, then the movie shifts to Kannur where Nirmala (Samvrutha in one of her significant roles) loses a younger brother to political violence, then to Kottayam where an affluent industrialist’s daughter gets influenced by communist literature from the late 40s and sees the tyrannical bourgeoisie in her own father, and then still within the latex belt we see a struggling athlete fighting both poverty (around the sounds of farmer suicides) and prejudice. We come to know about most of the above stories through the eyes of Fausiya (Padmapriya) who is a television reporter. Fausiya fights her own demons in conservative in-laws and an out of tune husband. The last two stories are from 1948 – about a revolutionary’s wife and her fears, and an often repeated story of a girl pushed into quick sand during an attempted rape.

The movie does end on a positive message for some of the protagonists (mind you there are 7 of them). They assert themselves, but surely around the sounds of families breaking and couples separating. Pretty much the same sad solutions of yester years (even Chandran’s Alicinte Anweshanam and K G George’s Aadhaminte Variyellu from the 80s had similar issues and solutions), but yeah, the fact that western Europe just crossed the threshold of more than 50% single mothers, we indeed have some sad ground to cover.

Bhoomi Malayalam is good, fast, at times a little too ‘painkili’ emotional(that would be there, frickin women! ), but highly watchable. It is not much of a thought provoking movie, but one those ‘reminding’ movies which reminds us of things. Then, atleast the ten people who watched “Bhoomi Malayalam” wouldn’t go home complaining about the sorry state of Malayalam cinema.

Amal Neerad’s second movie, Sagar alias Jacky is high on style and low on substance. Mohanlal enacts his part as Underworld kingpin Sagar alias Jacky stylishly and with elan. As far as Amal Neerad is concerned, he repeats himself and the movie neither has the novelty or the freshness of Big B. Essentially Sagar Alias Jacky is a short 130 min tale of revenge crafted with a weak storyline and a script that offers absolutely nothing new. Sagar Alias Jacky, has almost nothing to do with the erstwhile superhit ‘Irupatham Nootandu’.This will not be a Mohanlal movie, even a Mohanlal fan will name after say a year or two. Highly watchable, forgettable.

The movie will be a success for Mohanlal who dons his role with exceptional control and who has produced the movie. With 115 prints and about 500 shows daily , SAJ will be the largest release ever in the history of Malayalam cinema. The movie might just break-even by mid-week. The movie will be a failure for Amal Neerad, who was riding on sky high expectations after the spectacular and original portrayal in Big B. Amal Neerad proves that he is not any ‘Avant Garde’ material we might have mistook him for, but a normal artless director who is going the Shaji Kailas way by copying what worked once and beating it till death. The movie in the meanwhile also spits on our intelligence

SAJ is a highly watchable movie, very stylish and very fast(though Amal Neerad does scene by scene copy from English in a few scenes). Do not go expecting a storyline, there isn’t one, but the overall scope and presentation is very remarkable. W    hile the out of place focus on Mohanlal’s face makes you cringe, the overall scheme and craft is remarkably different. (though very similar to Big B)

Story: Mohanlal plays underworld Don Sagar(alias Jacky). The erstwhile Gold smuggler is now into real estate development, while running an occasional Con-Job. Sagar flies down from Dubai when one of his friends gets kidnapped. Of course he rescues his friend (what dya think?), and then its a short tale of deceit and revenge. There is no suspense, and nowehere during the movie does Mohanal’s character even sense the possibility of defeat. Its a clean sweep.
Good:
1. Mohanlal: Lal gives a pretty decent one this time. The character, though loud at times creates a fleeting impression. (Just a fleeting impression).
2. Cinematography and Pace: Kudos to Amal Neerad, the camera work, though it imitates Big B in certain scenes, is superb.  This along with the pace and style of the movie provides a feast for the Mohanlal fan’s eye. No wonder the theatre erupted every two minutes.
Bad:
1. The movie spits on your intelligence while setting the record for the most number of villains killed by a single hero. Mohanlal kills around 14,565 villains with two guns. The villains also have guns, but as the Southern Travancore swear word goes – they are born to blow jobs, so they don’t shoot with aim. The script is somewhat as believable as this shooting spree.

2. Mohanlal-Bhavana pairing: This was injustice to both Mohanlal and Bhavana. Mohanlal cannot even play her brother at this point, and casting him alongside Bhavana brings his age and figure under more scrutiny. Why can’t they have Meena or Shobana play his love interest. Then again, as Shobana said in a recent interview, Mohanal’s heroin must be below 20
3. Story, Script, Screenplay, Direction: are non-existent. Amal Neerad and SN Swami falls flat. But Amal Neerad needs to be appreciated more for falling flat in his second movie. Big B was a direct copy, but what SAJ lacks in comparison to Big B is the subtlety. In Big B, every dialogue was under-stated, silences were used properly and the songs made sense. SAJ does not have a silent minute, is a bit too focussed on Mohanlal’s face and  the item song embedded for nothing only proves that Jyothirmayee is fat with thundering thighs.

Verdict: Must be a simple hit. Watch it, if you have nothing better to do. I would wait out for the Harihar Nagar team to arrive if I were you.