Lal Jose' Diamond Necklace-Ninthfinger Thought

Posted by Vipi at 09:31 | 0 comments


Director : Lal Jose
Produced By :LJ films
Scripted By : Ikbal Kuttipuram
Cast : Fahad Fazil,Samvritha Sunil,Gauthami Nair,Anusree,Sreenivasan.

"It tells the story of a young high flying Oncologist working in Dubai. where we saw the low life of the working class in Dubai and here we see the razzle-dazzle of the rich that can starry-eyed youngsters."-says Wikipedia.


Dr. Arun (Fahadh Faasil) lives off plastic money (he is shown carrying around a wallet full of credit cards), drives swanky cars and enjoys life to the hilt without worrying about the future. The risk of such a lifestyle comes into focus when we see his car being towed by the creditors. Next we get to see that his upmarket lifestyle is like a house of cards, as he is banned from leaving the country by his creditors, even to see his sick mother."


Fahad and Gauthami in Diamond Necklace

This movie also proved that Malayalees did a good thing by rejecting the movie 'Kaiyethum doorath' a long back ago!.I espected a complete Lal Jose movie. But I couldn't find a Lal Jose anywhere in this movie. There may be two reasons.


1.I may be a 'fan' of Fahad Fazil now and I saw the movie as a 'Fahad Fazil movie'.


2.Lal Jose successfully changed his style of direction to compete with the 'new generation movie' makers.



The story is not something greaaat...the usual story of an young man 'who spends more than his income' and the ultimate fates he encounters.But what makes this movie wonderful is the inbetween moments.The setbacks from the leading female characters.


Ikbal Kuttipuram has done a good job by writing those scenes beatifully.He avoided the melodrama that one may expect here.


But it's Lal Jose, the director who really surprised me.Became more energetic?


A word about Fahad Fazil: He is the hero and the villain in the movie and he was a perfect fit.There are many established young actors in Malayalam who can handle such a role.But if we add the 'metro' flavour to that,it's him-Fahad Fazil only!!

Gauthami Nair done the role of Lakshmi, a Tamil girl working as a nurse.Except in some romantic 'scenes' that feature in a song,she has done a good job.The artist who lent her the sound deserves an appreciation.

Samvritha Sunil : Samvritha Sunil is an actress who was a part some experimental films.But I'm still finding some difficulty to imagine here as a fashionable fashion designer(I don't know why!).But in some scenes,like the hospital scene,she really surprised me.

Anusree,finally Anusree.Somebody said she was a little overacting in the movie.But I found here perfect fit for the role.She did what here character.

Sreenivasan had nothing to do here.May be the director-writter duo wanted to create a hangover of Arabikkatha.


Sreedevi Unni who played the mother of Dr.Arun shows again that there many more 'mothers' who can act well.The scene where she talks with her son in hospital through a cell phone was so natural,i think.

Plus points

Lal Jose' direction.
Fahad Fazil.
Ikbal Kuttipuram.
The humour they presented.
All supporting cast.


Got some minus points also

Opening shots could have been shot in a more natural way.

Could have avoided some songs.

Bad,very bad trailor..I know this is not a minus point of the movie..But the trailer was very very bad.may be because they had to work for 80 lacs.


Ninthfinger thought:Diamond necklace,though not align with the latest 'new generation movies', offers you a good pleasent experience through out the movie.

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Who was Navodaya Appachan?

Posted by Vipi at 21:55 | 0 comments

When comparing with other prominent Indian film industries,Malayalam cinema industry is much smaller and it used to depend on low budget movies.But in 1984, this fact couldn't stop Navodaya Appachan from producing India's first 3D movie-'My dear kuttichathan'.He was not a new face in Malayalam cinema.According to director Fazil,when Malayalam cinema alomost died, a much younger Appachan came forward and produced a Malayalam movie 'Umma' in the year 1960 and made it a success, thus giving Malayalam cinema, a breath.
Navodaya Appachan
Navodaya Appachan (courtesy Google images)

Navodaya Appachan was the man behind south India's first cinemascope 'Thacholi Ambu' starring Prem Nazir,Sivaji Ganeshan and Jayan. 'Padayottam' was the first 70MM movie produced in Malayalam. 'My dear kuttichathan' was not a movie produced just for the sake of 3D.The film also showed the glimpses of a talented director,Jijo. The movie was a huge success and it was released in many other Indian languages.In hindi,it was 'Chotta chathan'.The movie also re-released many times with some changes in the cast.

'Manjil virinja pookkal' was one of the movies which Malayalees never forget,because it was the movie which showed the face of an acting legend of Indian cinema for the first time-Mohanlal!.
My dear kuttichathan(Malayalam)-The first 3D film produced in India(courtesy:Google images)

 The famous Navodaya studio was founded by Appachan.This studio produced several films which can be counted as the milestones of Malayalam cinema.Appachan was the producer of 'Chanakyan' in which Malayalees saw Kamal Hasan as a Malayalee hero for the last time.

Navodaya Appachan was honored  with  J C Daniel award for his achievements in Cinema by Government of Kerala.


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22 Female Kottayam-My thought

Posted by Vipi at 23:07 | 0 comments

Movie : 22 Female Kottayam
Director: Ashique Abu
Written By : Abhilash Kumar,Shyam Pushkaran
Cast :Rima kallingal,Fahad Fazil,Prathap Pothan.


Tessa (Rima Kallingal) is a nursing student in Bangalore with aspiring plans of traveling to Canada for a career. She meets Cyril (Fahad Fazil) from a travel consultancy while working with the agency for setting up her Visa. They soon fall in love and starts living together. One day they go to a pub, from there the story takes a different route. The story is all about unexpected happenings a nurse from Kottayam has to face in her life. In the end, Tessa performs an 'operation' on Cyril!.
22 Female Kottayam-Malayalm movie poster
Ashique Abu's latest film was able to catch the attention even before release with it's promos in Youtube. The film also said to be making a good business in the box office.I was curious to see the movie and today I got a chance.For the first time i saw the leading actress' name appears in the starting credit as the first entry!

 The movie is all about a fighter girl(or female as in title). She is fighting with her enemies.Not using muscles,then how? The director has an answer for that. Woman has a dangerous weapon with her-which is her power and weakness at the same time.  It's evident that the influence of 'woman fighting movies' (as shown in the end credit) in 22 female Kottayam. How a girl paying her revenge to those villains(who raped her)? 

Looks like new generation movies should be shot in a metro or a slum.Here the metro Bangalore background helps to bring the feeling of 'abandoned' in an unknown world.I,however felt that the 'revenge plan' is the basic idea of the whole movie.That particular 'revenge' action needs our 'hero', Tessa as someone from medical profession. They conveniently chose the nursing field.Then they created the 'villains' for the revenge.But why should she pay revenge to some other people in this manner? They created the reason also.But overall i felt a lack of depth,though it deals with a serious issue(woman safety).

Rima Kallingal as Tessa was refreshing from our usual heroines.Usually female oriented movies would have at least on song sequence where the heroine sings and runs here and there in the green paddy field.Ashique Abu avoids all that.Of course,it's a 'new generation' Malayalam movie!

Fahad Fazil as Cyril was also good.He should be appreciated for choosing a character like this.He joins the club of new generation versatile actors including Indrajith,Jayasury,Anoop Menon etc.

Prathap Pothan had nothing much to do besides delivering dialogs in his style.

The director, Ashique Abu should have looked for more depth in the story.I felt that suddenly the emotional movie turned as a revenge saga.Cinematography by Shyju Khalid looked good.Editing by Vivek Harshan was ok, The crew also obeyed the 'beep' theory of  'new generation movies'(the media calls so)!.

Ultimate thought : i felt like lacking some depth in some parts.I would have been happy if they had tried to show the emotions of a fighting girl rather than compelling her to speak dialogs just for claps.Of course I enjoyed the movie.

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Mayamohini-my thought

Posted by Vipi at 21:57 | 0 comments

A few days ago,I've written a post about the Malayalam movie 'Mayamohini'. Hits on that particular told several others are interested in 'Mohini'!. When I first heard actor Dileep is going to do a female character in a film,I was less surprised. Because it is Dileep who is doing that. Dileep is an actor who always tried different roles in commercial movies. But being a movie enthusiastic, i had a doubt.Is it a full length female role? Or is it just a Malayalam version of Avvai Shanmukhi? I don't have a vast idea about the world film industry.So I don't know whether a male actor played a full length female role in any movie(I recently saw the poster of Jack and Jill), and I don't want a google search on this topic.

Kamal Hassan's 'Avvai Shanmukhi' was not  a full length female role.It was more like a fancy dress, and it was inspired from a Hollywood movie(remember I don't want a google search!). Many other Indian heroes in South,North,West and East India tried a female makeup in movies just for fun. I don't remember Mammootty or Mohanlal doing that even for fun!.But I do remember watching an old Malayalam movie in which Adoor Bhasi acting three roles, one of them was a lady.A full length female character!.Some may ask what is the need for that when we had a plenty of talented actors here.But the three characters were a mother and her twin children.So mother,brother and sister,all of them played by one man-Adoor Bhasi!

Movie : Mayamohini
Director: Jose Thomas
Cast: Dileep,Bijumenon and Baburaj
Script: Udaykrishna-Sibi K Thomas
Dileep as Mayamohini
Dileep in Mayamohini-Malayalam movie


So, when I saw the first promo of  'Mayamohini', I thought it is a full length female role.But poor me,it is not! It was clear from Dileep's channel interviews after releasing the movie,it was made as a family entertainer!. But ,whatever the genre ,comedy or action,'mayamohini' failed to keep the expectation(Film makers always say that don't come to the theater with expectations,but i won't obey that!).

The opening scenes with Biju Menon and Baburaj was interesting .But the story of that 'Chothy' thing has nothing to do with the story.It is very clear that the makers of the film only had one thing in mind."Dileep doing a female character".later they added 'head and tail' to that character. The result was a disappointing movie.

First half has a fast moving story.Second half was slow and moreover it was boring! Though some action scenes are there, it is not an action movie.Some fight sequences don't put a movie in action genre.

Dileep is an actor who can pull family audience to the theater.Most of his movies are intended for families. You may say that everybody belong to a family.But saying 'family', I just mean that a husband,wife and their children(can add grandfather,grandmother etc) who are coming to theater to watch a genuine entertainment.
Considering that ,the makers should have avoided dialogs with double meanings.Because, the parents would be having a tough time while explaining the 'comedies' to their children!!

But, Dileep  impressed with new avatar.He looked like a real girl(of course not a 'Mayamohini').Moreover, he was talking like a girl, his eye movements,hand movements, all of them are like a girl( which is contradictory to the story).You can never see a Dileep there,only Mohini,mayamohini!! Other actors like Biju Menon,Baburaj,Vijayaraghavan etc did well.Sphadikam George's comedy attempt didn't impress me..sorry..The real ladies like Lakshmi Rai and Mythili, don't have anything to do.

As i said, Mayamohini is not an action thriller.Not a suspense thriller( suspenses can be easily guessed!).If it is being touted as a comedy entertainer, for me it lacks comedy. Songs are not bad.If you have a curiosity to know how is Dileep's acting like a girl, or how did he dub for the film, go and see(like me).

Ultimate feeling : disappointed...sorry..But appreciating Dileep's effort.

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Mammootty,Johny Antony and Thappana!

Posted by Vipi at 21:47 | 0 comments

Yes,director Johny Antony is back with Megastar Mamootty after 'Thuruppu Gulan' and 'Ee pattanathil bhootham'. The movie which is now in making is titled as 'Thappana'. Both above mentioned movies, 'Thuruppu Gulan' and 'Ee pattanathil bhootham' were a horror experience for me as a viewer! The film directed by Johny Antony , 'CID Moosa' was a watchable film when considering what type of movie they had tried to make.This was followed by three below average movies(I'm not talking about box office performances.If any of these movies had became a success, then it's a mistake of our people!) Kochi Rajavu,Thuruppu Gulan and Inspector Garud. The third one at least had a story,but Johny Antony spoiled it. in 2008, he came again with a movie with a fresh story packed with some young actors like Vinu Mohan and Vineeth Sreenivasan. I don't know whether it was success or failure.But it was different from earlier 'Johny Antony movies'.


Johny Antony-Malayalam director
 Johny Antony joined again with Mammootty for 'Ee pattanathil bhootham'. I(like most of you!) still don't have a clue why on this earth did Mammootty accept that movie! His latest movie,'masters' which was released this April, is doing a good job.'Masters' has Prithviraj and Sasikumar in the lead roles.Actually it was low on my priority list,but now I want to watch it.


Thappana Malayalam movie poster
 Johny Antony says 'Thappana' is all about two strangers  released from prison on the same day. One from men's prison and the other from women's section.Is it a female centric story with Mammootty as the male lead?.Well I don't mind.But if Johny Antony is going to compel that poor Charmy(actress who is going to do the female lead) to say "I'm Thappana's girl....I'm Thappana's girl" in almost every scenes,let me warn you director,a 60+ Mammootty is not that much good in romance scenes. Moreover it irritates me!!

 Edited
Thappana trailer
After releasing 'Masters', Prithviraj who played the lead, said in an interview that,' Masters' is not the regular movie that one would expect from the director Johny Antony. Johny Antony, who was sitting next to him, had a smile on his face.Hope he won't try for a 'Thuruppu Gulan 2'..  

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Mayamohini,can we expect something?

Posted by Vipi at 22:53 | 0 comments

This April 7th,Dileep's latest movie 'titled' Mayamohini is going to hit the silver screens in Kerala. Dileep is the heroine of the film.Who is the hero then? well,I don't know.In Mayamohini,Dileep plays the title role,a girl/lady.For those who still didn't get amused, Dileep plays the role of Biju Menon's wife!

Poster of Dileep's new movie Mayamohini.


As a lead actor, Dileep didn't have a good time in recent times.Most of his movies were flops or averages.But 'Malaravadi Arts club',the one he produced is believed as a hit,another one 'The metro' is a flop.The first one had new faces directed by Vineeth Sreenivasan and second movie had Tamil star Sarath Kumar in a crucial role with some new comers. Apart from this, Dileep produced several movies including 'twenty-20'.In most of them,he was the hero.

For the last years, we could see Dileep desperately trying for a super duper hit in his account.He didn't do an don again.He went back to his comic route.But didn't help.His Fazil directed movie 'Mose n cat' was a flop. Even the hit director of Malayalam, Siddique with his Dileep starrer 'Bodyguard' failed in the boxoffice!. All those so called hits were multi-starrers.These flms had Mohan Lal and Jayaram besides him.His best buddy-directed 'Spanish Masala' was a disappointment.

In the end of 2011,we saw a 'something' different film, 'Vellaripravinte changathi',but it didn't become a big hit.But some movie critics rated the movie as one of the best in 2011 for its sincere approach.But 2012 starts with a hope for the fans of Dileep and comedy movies.The reason is 'mayamohini'.

It's not the first time Dileep experimenting with physical appearence in movies.He has Ezharakoottam,Kunjikoonan,Chakkaramuthu,Chanthupottu in his account.

Dileep in Kunjikoonan.
We have seen Kamal Hasan experimenting with his physique in Tamil movies.If I can say this, Dileep is a little kamal in Malayalam in that manner.None of his experimenting roles are super human.They were simple and natural.In Chanthupottu,he acted as Radha(krishnan), a transgender. His Vimal Kumar or Kunjan from Kunjikoonan is the one i liked most.

Dileep in Chanthupott


Now he is back as Mayamohini.It's not the first time a male actor playing a female role in Malayalam cinema.Adoor Bhasi, the yesteryear comedian/character artist of Malayalam did these kind of roles in those days.Kalabhavan Mani had done a female/transgender role in 'Nalacharitham nalam khandam' Indian cinema have seen many male actors playing female roles several times. But here the difference is ,Mayamohini is the lead character.According to the promos,Dileep acting as real girl!(have to see the movie to know the truth).But it's more than just a fancy dress.I hope so and wish Dileep all success for his latest film.




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22 Female Kottayam...!!

Posted by Vipi at 22:06 | 0 comments

When I saw this video for the first time on my friend's facebook wall, it was a real surprise.Even though he has written "Expect the unexpected", i didn't expect this at all...!!




Then a quick google search revealed that this is a new 'marketing technique' from the '22 female Kottayam' team! Then I saw two more promo videos. Since I knew it's a movie promo,both didn't effect me as the first one.I came to know that this promo video is now the seventh most viewed video in the country!.Big achievement.

The director Ashique Abu and his crew should be appreciated for this 'something different' promo work.After the 'Salt n pepper' posters,it seems like Malayalam 'new generation' film makers are trying to make their movies different as much as they can.


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Location: Kerala, India

Ordinary-My thought

Posted by Vipi at 23:01 | 0 comments

'Ordinary' entertains us well in the first half and makes us thinking about the same old style of movie making in the second half. It also follows the ancient theory of suspense thriller..Gavi ,KSRTC bus,Biju Menon and Kunchacko Boban and also the technical side shine well in the venture.Ordinary lost somewhere on the road to extra ordinary.


mavie title : Ordinary
Director :Sugeeth
Langaue :Malayalam
Cast : Kunchacko Boban ,Biju Menon,Asif Ali,Shritha,Ann Augustine.


"Iravikkuttan Pilla' is an aspiring political party worker who always had a dream of the day of his swear as a minister..But his dream became shattered when he got an 'unwanted' job as conductor in Kerala State Transport Corporation.His job as a conductor thus starts in a KSRTC bus from Pathanamthitta to Gavi,a village in Kerala border.Suku driver,the man with an interesting Palakkadan accent was his first colleague.After some initial problems of a first timer, he starts to enjoy the conductor job.The regular passengers,people residing in Gavi, become his friends.Gavi gifts Iravi(short for Iravikkuttan Pilla) a girl.Kalyani, a beautiful confident girl who works in the town.It was an almost 'love at first sight' for Iravi.But Kalyani starts loving him back only after his interferences in some issues to save her.




Unlike Suku driver,Iravi is a first timer in Gavi.He fell in love with Gavi and its people.Venu master,the 'retired school master turned panchayat president', his daughter, post woman of Gavi, Bhadran, the rough all-in-all of Gavi, Anna,and many others.The bus,driver and his conductor ride smoothly through the beauty and mist of Gavi.Things got change when Iravi and Suku accidentally killed a man during a late night return.When a bag,they got from the accident site told the identity of the man,it was a big shock for Iravi and Suku.The bus then take a deviation from comedy route and goes through a suspense drama.



Ordinary Malayalam movie review
'Ordinary' movie poster (Image courtesy :Google Images)




'Ordinary',the debut film of director Sugeeth , starts well as a promising movie with the backdrops of a KSRTC bus and Gavi,a beautiful place which is actually not yet explored by Kerala tourism department.With some good and fresh comedies, it keeps up the expectation in the first half.But the second half had nothing much to offer.We have seen similar situations in many  movies.When we come to the 'serious' part, like many other movies in the past,we lose some characters,who entertained us well in the first half.The songs are not up to the mark.The love song could have been used well.It actually turns as a tourism ad for Gavi.Though we saw a man killed by the heroes,we are pretty sure that they didn't kill him(experience man!!).Then who? We the,viewers get some suspects.Suspect any one you want,but never suspect the one who has more 'close-ups' on the screen (again it's a matter of experience.Haven't you watched those CBI movies?).Go for the movie and try if you get him/her right!




Kunchacko Boban performs well as a hero.He is not a six-pack conductor,yet he is not shy to talk against the goondas.With his pleasant screen presence and acting style,Kunchacko Boban fits well as Iravikkuttan Pilla.


Biju Menon as Suku driver is a real entertainer.It was nice to see that he sticks with the Palakkadan accent through out the movie.I never had to wonder "where did he lost his accent?" even in a single scene.


Asif Ali, got a character role again that was supposed to be shining after interval time.He plays the role of Bhadran,a rough guy from Gavi. Gavi residents need him for cleaning the temple place and repairing the short circuit in the church.Got the character? But I'm still in a confusion, was he a perfect fit for that role?


The new comer,Shritha,who plays the love interest of Iravi,looks good.


Ann Augustine,played the role of Gavi postwoman.She is a miscast in my opinion.I liked here in her first movie,but definitely not in this one.There are hardly any expressions on her face even in crucial scenes!


All others did a good job.Lalu Alex plays Venu master with his usual flair.Jishnu as Jose master makes it an entry to character roles.Baburaj as the drunkard, uses the hangover of his recent comedy roles well to entertain us. Salim Kumar,as the KSRTC mechanic appears in two scenes, but not disappointing.Dharmajan,as a close companion of Iravi, has something yet to learn.


The technical sides including the title graphics and cinematography score well.Director Sugeeth looks promising, if he can jump out of this old style movie making with some sad songs,temple songs etc.


Ultimate thought: Go without any extra ordinary expectations,you won't be disappointed.

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Malayalam Media- the first 15

Posted by Vipi at 22:30 | 0 comments

Me and the media


I've seen the line 'Kerala has the highest media exposure in the country' in many web sites.Though Kerala is
considered as one of the 'big' states in the country,it's not that much 'big'.So the fact that Kerala,inspite 
of being a 'small' state(as I read,it has only length,no breadth),has half a dozen of news channels is not 
ignorable.

Here is what I feel about those Kerala channels.Not in any order,just how they appear in my remote control.The


'top 15' list goes here


                                                   


Channel No:1 -Network Channel-Heard it before? Don't worry.It's our local channel.It's the channel which inform us the festival dates in the local temples.Most of the times, they show you some video songs with
advertisements scrolling at the bottom of the screen.Advertisements means that of textile shops,computer
institutions etc.I know there are so many network channels along Kerala.


No:2 - Asianet -Asianet is the 'senior most' private channel in Kerala.It is famous than any other Malayalam
channel in Kerala.Was owned by a Malayali, now with Rupert Murdoch. In eariler days it has some meaning ful programs.But gone are the days.In my openion, it's one of the most boring channels in Malayalam.After 6'O clock, get ready to watch the tear jerkers(they call it serials).Most of them are confusing like 'Who is really my father?' type stories.The rest deals with the gods.And there is a 'scripted' reality show,which is supposed to be hunting the best singer in Kerala. You will not be eliminated if your father,mother and sisters can dance with you in the stage.I don't like their 'bluish' color tone.


No :3- Kairali TV- referred as the 'party channel' in so many Malayalam movies.It is a well known fact that the Communist Party in Kerala owns the channel.So the news programs don't have that much demand in public(or at least to me) as most of them think it's biased.But apart from the political news, in my opinion Kairali TV has some noticable programms.They had tried their luck on serials,reality shows but failed.They have a pleasing colour tone.


No:4 - Surya TV- A Malayalam channel from the Sun TV group.Filled with serials,movies,star interviews.They don't have a news channel in Malayalam. So Surya TV also air a half-an-hour news program.Since Asianet,Kairali and Surya are the only Malayalam channels that a Malayali can get through their local cable services out side Kerala, their 'small news program' is said to be having a considerable fan following in those places.


No:5- NDTV - Out of topic.But it's my fifth channel.If Amithab Bachchan got the national award for best actor, it's a 'breaking news' and if it is grabbed by a Salim Kumar or Dhanush, it is just a news.They force Sri.Sovy Vidyadharan to run along Kerala. I watch this channel because I want to learn English.


No: 6 -Reporter TV - New born channel, being lead by Nikesh Kumar. The channel news debates falls somewhere between intelligent debates and melodrama.I love their 'cut-copy' program.Have the strength of Nikesh and Venu(a good singer).


No: 7 -Indiavision -Got fame with the 'ice cream' case.I always wondered why Malayalam channels don't have a sincere movie critic programs something like Rajeev Masand's 'Now showing' in IBN. Now indiavision recently 'updated' their movie based program 'box office' in which they tell us what is this week's 'good' movie/'bad' movie!


No :8- Asianet Plus - Entertainment channel from Asianet.Do they know Asianet is no nore considered as an entertainment channel? May be an extra one! They telecast those movies which were already telecasted in Asianet in an Onam week five years ago and they fill it with some so called 'comedy programs'.


No :9 -Manorama News - The channel from Manorama family Which in my openion, the most professional news channel in Malayalam. What i like in Manorama News is that, most of their program names are in Malayalam language unlike most of the other Malayalam news channels which always tend to some English title for their programs.Like most Keralite, I also believe Manorama is an anti-communist.


No:10- People TV- (or the Kairali-People)This 'channel for the people,channel by the people and channel of the people ' is brother of Kairali TV specialized in news programs.If the day was a 'communist day', switch to People TV in night and it's intersting how they make Congress spokepersons like 'bababababa'!


No:11 -Kiran TV-The live entertainment channel by Sun group.They telecast so many Malayalam songs,some Tamil songs and one Malayalam movie.Plays a role in making Tamil films popular in Kerala .Kiran TV telecast some Tamil films also in Tamil without dubbing.into Malayalam.Thanks!


No : 12 -Amrita TV - A mix of entertainment and news- Their 'top 5' news always include 'where was Amma today? in US or Canada?' news. Their graphics is something which should be appreciated.They have their junk of reality shows.Even attempted an 'actuality show'!! 

No : 13 - Jeevan TV- Like Amrita, it's also a mix of news and entertainment.They have two Malayalam movies in stock and they always repeat it.M S Banesh's (was in Kairali) 'Citizen journelist' is a different one.


No : 14 - Asianet News -News channel from Asianet.In this channel, almost every news readers can sing.Their entertainment news lady anchor needs a lot more improvement.I watch their news if Vinu is in full form.


No : 15- Kannur Vision - The 'district channel' of Kannur. Local and some Kerala news.




These are the first 15 in remote control.Though I can tune them to any position, i didn't do that.Expecting
some more news channels like that one from Mathrubhumi..Other channels that should be mentioned here.


No: 16 - We TV -Kairali's youth channel filled with some 'yo yo' programs.
No : 17 - Doordarshan Malayalam- The name is itself worth than thousand words!
No : 18 - CNN IBN- Being "India's most awarded news channel", they have done a great job for us Indians by giving a live telecast of that British prince's marriage.What a great job!!
No :19-Mazhavil Manorama-From the Manorama family,emerging as a tough competitor for Asianet!
No:20- Victers - Educational channel exclusively for students from Kerala government!.
No : 20- I know Jaihind TV is somewhere here.

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Outsiders and Malayalam films

Posted by Vipi at 22:00 | 0 comments

Have you seen a Malayalam movie?

"The  Malayalam cinema is a South Indian film industry in the Indian state of Kerala, which makes films in the Malayalam language. Malayalam cinema has pioneered various technical, thematic and production techniques among films in India. The industry is one of the largest producers of Parallel Cinema in India."-That's what wikipedia says about Malayalam cinema.

The industry WAS one of the producers of Parallel cinema in India.Malayalam films were deeply rooted in Kerala's culture.That could be a reason why most of the film lovers outside the state stepped back from them.Here is a classifications of some film lovers oust side Kerala or Non-Malayalees based on their 'attitude' towards Malayalam cinema.Purely based on my reading experiences on internet.

class 1- Malayalam? what kind of a stuff is that?

class 2-All they know is some b-rated Malayalam movies(they call mallu movies) and some b-rated actresses acted in them(both Malayalees and non-Malayalees).So they have a theory of their own-"Malayalam film industry is a porn film industry".

class 3-People in this class know that there is a film industry in Kerala and it produced some 'award winning' movies without no entertainment values.They are 'slooooow' and we may get bored easily if we are going to watch them.

class 4-The class 4 people came to know the existence of 'Malayalam films' only when they read most of the
Priyadarsan's super hit bollywood movies are remakes of Malayalam super hit films released in 80s.
Now this class 4 can be divided into two sub classes.

class 4.1-Since all of the Malayalam remakes were introduced to other languages with unwanted songs/fights making them a typical masala movie,some people think the 'so called Malayalam classics' are masala movies.

class 4.2-Those people who enjoyed this remakes made with masala doses, have an opinion that Malayalam movies are good!!Oh...I didn't knew that!!After watching the original version, some would say 'that villager here in dhoti could have danced in some foreign locales' and some say 'this is better than the remakes!!' 

Following is about some serious movie maniacs 

class 5- These people know Malayalam was(or is) a quality film industry with three great talents- MohanLal,Mammootty and Adoor Gopalakrishnan.The only Malayalam film they have seen would be 'Vanaprastham'.

class 6-These are fans of mainstream commercial and yet quality movies.They like to watch all good movies in all languages.In Malayalam they  first watched 'Bharatham',a Mohanlal movies,in which he got a national award for best actor.After seeing his stunning performance, they decided to watch some other Malayalam movies like 'Kireedom'(MohanLal got a special jury mention) and 'His highness Abdulla'.Then they thought I should watch recents movies of MohanLal and after watching one or two recently released movies of MohanLal(most of them are craps!),they decided Malayalam movies do not produce quality movies anymore.They stopped watching movies in Malayalam!!
                                                             Bharatham-poster

class 7-Some people go beyond MohanLal. They watch Mammootty films.They know who was Lohithadas,Shaji N Karun etc.They have seen both 'Bharatham' and 'Thaniyavarthanam'.They summarize Malayalam movies are 'realistic'.But they still don't know Gopi , Murali,Nedumudi Venu , Jagathy Sreekumar or Sreenivasan.
                                           Scene from Thaniyavarthanam-Mammootty,Saritha 

class 8- People of this class know some Sathyan anthikkad movies,some Priyadarsan Movies and of caurse some Siby malayil movies.
                                           Scene from Vadakkunokkiyanthram-Sreenivasan,Parvathy

Vaishali movie poster


Utharam-movie poster


They never heard of those  Jayaram-Mukesh movies or Murali-Venu-Gopi movies.They didn't get a chance to a movie scripted by M T Vasudevan nair.They didn't see Vaishali or Thazhvaram. I'm very disappointed that most of these people who likes good cinema from India/Kerala haven't heard the dialog "don't talk about Poland"...

Note:I don't know the classic movies in other Indian languages or those from Hollywood.
 All pics from the Internet.



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Ee adutha kalathu-My thought

Posted by Vipi at 21:39 | 0 comments

Ee adutha kalathu-Brilliant execution
Cast-Indrajith Sukumaran,Tanushri Ghosh,Murali Gopy,Anoop Menon,Lena,Mythili,Jagathi Sreekumar,Nishan.
Script - Murali Gopy
Direction-Arun Kumar Aravind


Looks like Malayalam new 'trend' is multiple story lines with connections each other.Ee adutha kalathu has multiple story lines connected each other in some manner(not as convincing as 'Traffic'. The makers(using Jagathi's voice) specifies that the story happens in 1500 years old Thiruvananthapuram. We have an young man Vishnu.Vishnu is many things rolled into one. He is a rag-picker, an errand runner, a contract pinch hitter for amateur cricket clubs, a doting father, and an obedient husband. But above all he is a family man at heart. Ramani, his fiery better half, considers him an incorrigible bum, and maybe rightly so. He has an ailing mother and two adorable daughters.As you can expect,they live in fear, in a world infested by loan sharks.

(Pic courtesy : kottaka.com)
Madhuri was a starlet in her late teens growing up in Mumbai, having dabbled briefly in a couple of Bollywood duds. She is now a home maker and a mother of an eleven-year-old boy, Ayur (a cricket crazy kid, a Rubik's cube addict). But yet, years have been easy on her and she remains a head turner.  Madhuri is married to Ajay Kurien, the street smart CEO of an up market hospital in the city. He is a self made man, who climbed the ladder years ago in corporate Mumbai, as he proudly likes to recall,without trying to learn a single word of Hindi. There is a serial killer out on the prowl in the city.

These three,Vishnu,Madhuri,Ajay Kurien are the main(?) characters.There are some other wandering characters like Rustam (a North Indian bloke on some short term contract in the city),Tom Cherian(the City Commissioner of Police),Roopa(an investigative journelist).

Though I felt there is nothing, the movie never bored me.So I should say, a good script.But same cannot be said about the direction.Sometimes I felt  a lack of genuineness or realism in some scenes.Or are the actors simply over acting?.But there are some genuine comedy.Cinematography and editing was good.For the song 'department', I really don't remember the lines and tune of the two songs they showed.

This is a movie which has rich 'tooooo' sound.Yes , I mean you can here so many 'toooo' beap sound in between many dialogs.Yep,there were trying to make it maximum realistic!. If you have watched the recent Malayalam films,you must be knowing that this is not a new idea!

Among the actors,Indrajith as Vishnu,has done a very good job.With his never exaggerated Thiruvananthapuram slang dialogs, in my openion he steals the show!. Tanushri Ghosh, as Madhuri was also impressive.Murali Gopy, as Ajay Kurien was natural in most of the time ,but there were scenes.where he showed what is this 'old fashioned' psychic type acting.

Anoop Menon,as  Tom Cherian  has nothing much for a performance.But it was a surprise ,something like I've seen in the movie 'Mars attack'. Lena ,as Rupa disappointed. Here acting as a 'investigative journalist' was not convincing, at least for me,especially in the 'live reporting' scenes.As most of the actors in the movie,she dubbed herself, and same for the dubbing also.Not fit.I just don't know why most of the Malayalam movies have their 'feminist','bold' female characters having a bob haircut.A  pity wig.No idea!

Nishan, tried something different.He dubbed for the film! His broken Malayalam saves him from further acting attempts as a bad guy.Convincing. 

Among other characters, Mythili, as Ramani was OK. Jagathi Sreekumar, as usual, impressive. Baiju as a gangster , has the credit for using too many 'tooooo' beeps in the dialogs.He is a gangster,remember!!.After all, all the supporting characters should perform well,remember it's a Malayalam film. 

Though it earned some minus points, the movie 'Ee adutha kalathu' is worth watching( with more plus points) as the makers really tried something which was not common in Malayalam.



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