Which Malayalam film did you watch recently ?

[jinju]

MS.

just read compli's latest article in Indian Express, on 'Dasaradham' well written sir, and has prompted me to revisit one of my most favorite lal movies. a script ahead of its times in malayalam cinema. to me, easily one of the top 3 scripts of Lohitadas...what a loss!

[jinju]

ok this is not about any film, but last night on TV, Asianet Awards for the last year, program very good. Shreyakutty singing "Kanninima Pole" from Anwar with Naresh tonight's concluding part, she's singing 'Yeh Ishq Haye' from JWM i think, they were showing clippings. hope she sings something from VTV...SG wearing my favorite color blue, enna oru costume wah re wah! n Chitraji, SG, and Hariharan rendering a medley of Big B's songs who was the chief guest of the evening. a big for MG Sreekumar who killed 'Mere Angane Mein Tumhaara Kya Kaam Hai' with his heavy malayalam accent! no wonder the legend wasn't amused. and in the end, lalettan singing the 4 lines of 'kabhi kabhi' when asked to...though his voice was shaky, he did good!

nice to see Vijay (didn't see the part where he was given award, or is it tonight am not sure?!), Karthi in there too. all in all, a fine show. it was obvious that Big B n the M n' M's (both in black, was it planned?!) enjoyed the evening! Big B getting emotional in his speech and at various other moments during the show (no wonder he gushed about the prog in his blog). Nedumudi Venu and KPAC Lalitha on stage together, another kodak moment, and they poked fun at each other too!

ellaam nallaa dhaan irundhadhu, but at the end of it i was left with a question...if asianet cud honor Big B with Lifetime Achievement and have the whole malayalam industry there, what was the issue with felicitating Kamalji on the completion of his 50 years in cinema?! why did it have to be boycotted by the stars and in the end become a stage that only had politicians?! :feeling very sad:

[ajaybaskar]

Dasaratham is still ahead of times IMO

[complicateur]

Jinju,
Thanks! For those who are yet to read the article, here it is. It is also up at the blog here.

[Murali Srinivas]

Jinju,

Same pinch! My most favourite movie of Lal is Dasaratham and when you asked me some days back regarding my favourite movies, I was about to tell Dasaratham. Will come back on this.

Asianet programme was good and Mam was fabulous to look at! Yes, Vijay's part was there today and he did a neat little speech!

Deepauk,

Nice write up!

Regards

[complicateur]

Murali,
Thank you very much.

Ajay - That is very true. Especially in light of the fact that legislation governing the rights of surrogate mothers etc.. was only passed in 2004 nearly 15 years after this film came out. And even now it is directly because of burgeoning medical tourism.

[Ilayathalapathy Fan]

Malayalam cinema back to golden era with a top notch film called "Traffic" (Starring Sreenivasan, Vineeth Sreenivasan, Kunchacko Bobban, Sandhya, Remya Nambisan, Roma, Asif Ali)

Indiaglitz review: 'If you are consistently going on saying 'no', then this day will just end like any other day, but if you are ready for a committed yes, then it will be a fervent support from many others to continue with saying 'yes' in ...similar enterprising situations'- reminds two different characters in two different points of time in this indisputably remarkable film 'Traffic'. After watching this movie, this dialogue line seems to be a reminder for the regulars of Mollywood cinema, who keeps on forgetting the quality stuff and go on to promote the formulaic ,cliched material.Yes, this is high time to say 'yes' to movies like 'Traffic'', that travels through rarer pastures, not often attempted in Mollywood cinema.

A fascinating movie that will remain with you much long, the movie is based on the actual 'Chennai traffic incident', which is exceptionally written to suit the screen by Bobby-Sanjay.The young director Rajesh R pillai, who debuted years ago with a forgettable 'Hridayathil Sookshikkan', make the best of the opportunity and display his amazing maturity and technical wizardry in realizing a demanding script, in fact one of the very best, ever written for a Malayalam film.He balances the emotional conflicts of characters and other panicking situations with panache and needed subtility, which is another highpoint of this bold, stark and unpredictable 'Traffic'.

The movie has almost all its main events in a single day, a 16th of September, where two friends Raihan and Rajeevan travelling in a bike is hit by a speeding car driven by a beautiful lady, who is trying to evade hooligans following her for long. Raihan, a TV reporter was getting ready to make it big with the interview scheduled on the same day, with a megastar Sidhharth Shankar, whose big film "Ishwar'was hitting the screens on the same day. The day was also the one when Dr Abel (Kunchakko Boban) was planning to make a celebration for his wedding anniversary by presenting his wife(Remya Nambeeshan) with a brand new car.It also happened to be the day when Sudevan, a traffic Constable, suspended from service for accepting bribe, was to rejoin his duty. The accident that happens at the Traffic signal intertwines with the lives of everyone in a very unforeseen manner.And now suddenly it becomes a matter of fight between emotions, time and distance to make the maximum gains of the situations, which makes this 'Traffic' viewing an unforgettable one.

The promising purview is supplemented with immersible twists all the way. The loopholes in the narratives are so less that the journey is never a shaky one. Following the patterns set by 'Amoress peros', 'Babel' and 'Crash', the multifarious presentations which never annoy you, makes the movie rise up to internationals standards.

Another person who seems to have worked his heart out seems to the editor Mahesh Narayanan, whose tight editing has never let your interest slip a minute, from the ever pacing proceedings on screen.This is the best work from the young technician till date. So is the killer background track by Mejo Joseph, whose lone song in the movie is also appreciable.

In the acting front, the movie has present a Mammoth cast in the most adorable and appropriate way with most being part of some unforgettable scenes on screen. Be it in Rehman who never had an opportunity in recent times to play such a mature and complicated role of the helpless superstar father, or that of kunchakko boban, who is struggling to come over his personal tragedy of betrayal, the movie offers moments to everyone. Sreenivasan make a cake walk as Sudevan while Lena, Asif Ali, Saikumar,Anoop Menon and Sandhya also comes up with sparkling performances.

Young star Remya Nambeeshan and veteran actor Jose Prakash is back to screen in impressive short roles. The cinematography by Shyju Khalid and works by other technical departments are also topnotch.

[prashanth12]

Agni Devan (1995)
Excellent character-oriented drama about two brothers who have ideological differences over the running of their family newspaper.
Interactions between Mohanlal/Revathy in particular are told with much grace. If only all relationships in films had such depth.
Only blemish is a few unnecessary fight sequences in an otherwise low-key film, and perhaps a slightly off-key ending.
Otherwise, a very engaging film from towards the end of the so-called Malayalam "golden age".

[jinju]

Malarvadi Arts Club: Just hope Vineeth Sreenivasan sticks to singing!

[directhit]

Cocktail - produced by actor Jayasurya n starring himself, samvrutha sunil, etc. bayangara thrillernu kelvipattu paathaa it's a scene by scene rehash of 'Butterfly on a Wheel/Shattered'! padupaavi, debuting as a producer with a totally different attempt that Malayalam cinema has not seen-nu ellaam channel channel-a interview kuduthu, englis padam remake pannirukkaa, at least can give credit to the original makers na *^ &*%&. for those who've not seen the original, recommended don't see this, see the original!

oh just saw this a couple of days back (main reason being samvrutha ) - found it good (ofcourse havent seen the original and had to bear the actor/writer on screen)