Bhagyadevatha

I went to watch this Sathyan Anthikkad movie expecting it to be a sequel to Manassinakkare and was not disappointed. Bhagyadevatha can well be described as a sequel as it tells the story from a village similar to Kinasseri, the village in the Manassinakkare. After reading till here if you are thinking whether to watch it or not, here is my recommendation - Go and watch it.

Sathyan has come up with the same set of actors in a village milieu to tell the story that is definitely a watchable film, compared to the standards of the films rolled out in Malayalam today! Jayaram is a local cable operator in a Kuttanad village, KPAC Lalitha is his mother, Innocent is his late dad's brother, Nedumudi is a tourist guide, Mamukkoya is a neighbour with a vallom, and heroine is daughter of government employed parents. While watching the first half, I thought the script was not written by Sathyan as it was racy but concise and clear and did not have the usual comic situations which make you laugh. I realised I was wrong when I watched the second half, it was the usual Sathyan screen play with Jayaram displaying mannerisms similar to those in second half of Yathrakkarude Sradhakku. Narain's character creates some anticipation of a twist but has no significance except contributing to an unnecessary song. The events when Jayaram tries to befriend his wife are typical Sathyan situations seen in earlier movies, and they actually stretch the second half without contributing anything to the main story. I think the second half could have been concluded in half an hour! But nevertheless, there are the usual insights from our daily lives that make Sathyan movies original. The ambitious hero who wants make a lot of money; Mamukkoya asks him 'Why do you need so much money when you can actually live comfortable life with what you already have?'. The comrades who think they are privy to decide what should a farmer do or grow in his agricultural land. The usual Malayali who worries about 'world news' when he has more than enough in his daily life to worry about (characters in the govt. office seen in the second half who talks about Sathyam fiasco). And a reference to the problems in the agricultural sector today, how it has become impossible to make it profitable with the attitude and cost of employed labourers.

Since Sathyan repeats almost all the artists including the music director, we always get the feeling that we have seen them before in one of his earlier movies. Even Illayaraja's compositions give this feeling, that we have heard them in one of the earlier movie of him with Sathyan. But the success of these movies lie in the concise script and definite story that form the back born, and the wonderful actors who make us feel like we are not watching a film. After all what is life more than a sequence of events repeated elsewhere at a different time, so how can we expect movies which depict life so beautifully to be different?!

PS: Trivandrum has lot of movie theatres in the centre of the city. But I have not had a single pleasant experience in watching films till yesterday. They are poorly managed with inadequate maintenance, impolite and abusive staff, and the entire event is thoroughly mismanaged which includes selling tickets in black market and switching off air condition when the show is going on! But yesterday, I was surprised to be in KSFDC's theatre Kairali. This is an exception to the mismanagement which is characteristic of government run businesses, the reservation counter is open all the time. So there is no rush to reserve the computer printed tickets with proper seat numbers unlike in other theatres where they sell the reservation tickets only before 15 minutes of starting the show!

Akkara Kazhchakal

If you ask, what is one advantage that I had being at US of A for sometime, its that I understood the sitcom Akkara Kazhchakal from Kairali TV better.



This one is from a team of Malayalees from New Jersey, and I have not enjoyed watching anything in the recent past. It has zero pretense of being a great show, the comedy is original since they do not copy from the slap stick authentic Malayalee versions, and quite obviously the episodes have the same standard and discipline of any good English sitcom.

I have liked all the characters and especially George for the ease with which he is doing the comedy. And most importantly, these people have changed my mindset created after seeing those programs made by Asianet USA that NRKs are people with no talents but interested in being shown on TV. Well, I cannot be blamed for the generalisation particularly after seeing that one full episode where the Mallu achayans and ammachis reviewed Idea star singer telling how they enjoyed it!

Subscribe to Akkara Kazhchakal here.

Mulla

Okay, so you have watched Meesamadhavan, Chanthupottu, Classmates and Arabikatha and have liked them very much. You have also liked the courage the director took in doing Achanurangatha Veedu. Then you cant be blamed if your expectations are high for this director, for the same reasons neither can I be. And what happens when the expectations are high, so high will be the disappointments. That is what Mulla to me is, a big disappointment!

I cant remember watching a movie in the first week of release in the recent past, and I was in theater watching Mulla on the third day after its release. One of the reasons being no Malayalam movie releases on the same day in Chennai as it does in Kerala. Me and my friend traveled all the way from Saidapet to Sangam theater in the evening traffic to get the tickets for fear of not getting them before the show. And then we travelled again for the second show, quite leisurely this time, to reach there ten minutes after the movie started!

The opening sequence which I saw was the one where Dileep and gang does a fight sequence in a train compartment followed by a narration to the heroine and the audience about the life and whereabouts of Mulla. The film then goes on till the next fight sequence again in train, at the end of which Dileep takes a baby abandoned in the compartment and gives it to the heroin. Till this time; first half of the first half, there is no clue as to where the story is leading. Most of the scenes involve either introduction to characters or a comedy sequence or a song just for the sake of a song. The baby could be the lead to the main story, so did I think!

The scenes there after tries to connect the hero and heroine through the baby and some songs, but there are rarely any situation when you actually feel any connection!. And so when you were awaiting for the story to take off, Bhavana alights from a train. Keeping your expectations high, the film goes on to interval. The most helpful scenes of the movie arrive post interval, they give you clear clues to limit your expectations. There is absolutely nothing new as the film concludes and you almost guess the climax beforehand.

I was actually frustrated because I could not understand what Lal Jose saw new in the whole plot? Attempting a new idea and the end product becoming dud is unavoidable. But just the thought of giving his ailing good actor friend Dileep another hit should not have been the sole motive to direct a movie. And how can he make the Meesamadhavan team repeat the same success without a new story, scenes or a script. I admire Lal Jose for his ability to spot talent and the courage to give opportunity to them, Bijibal and Anil Panachooran were his discovery through Arabikatha. So how could he go wrong with Sindhuraj when there were already examples of his work like Megasandesam and Jalolsavam before him? Again, did Lal Jose keep his logic aside for his friend?

Mulla will not be a flop, but neither will it be a big hit either. I hope Lal Jose to do better justice to himself when he decides to do films in future. There is no argument about his dedication to the job, if only the caucus allowed him to do his best. Let's expect more!

Roudram

When Varnachitram outlined the ingredients of a Ranji Panicker movie and Ranjit Nair gave a more elaborative plot analysis, I could not agree anymore. But still I took the risk, watched Roudram yesterday in Sangam theatre.

Apart from those punch dialogues that Ranji thinks will make a movie, there is nothing he has to offer new. The story (if at all there is anything), the characters, the plot, the style and even the scenes are similar to his old movies, and the dialogues (packed with uncommon English words) are different because he could not afford to copy them. Its Mammotty this time, doing the role of a cope who is the do-gooder investigating a murder mystery which is actually a mystery only to him. The audience are told who is the killer in the opening scenes, and they are made to watch how Mammotty the-only-individual-who don’t know-the killer fools around to find out!

The drummer in the background score department would have had a merry time doing whatever he could afford, the deafening sound of drums starting from the opening scenes till the end gave me a headache. And the camera man was not at all interested in what he was doing, I found many of the scenes were out of focus and had a tough time watching them.

After thinking for sometime on why Ranji made this movie, I came to the conclusion that he just wanted to portray the state chief minister V S in a bad light. Because that is the sole 'idea' that is new in the film. Which is other was a Bharatchandran IPS with Mammotty in the lead with other actors doing similar things. The worst part is that the movie has become a hit which means you can expect a new one with the same team and may be Mohanlal in the lead!

Take on(e) Tare Zameen Par

While trying to sleep yesterday after watching TZP, I was wondering if I had Dyslexia. The symptoms I had were similar to Ishan, I tend to interchange while writing words that sounded similar like there and their, whether and weather etc. That I also write the number eight in the exact opposite way (mirror image) of how my classmates did was another contentious argument in my mind.

The movie has been in theaters for a while now and my friends including Chennaites who saw it had only good opinions. Being an Aamir Khan starrer-director, I concluded it to be another typical Bollywood flick. But it turned out to be a miscalculation! The story of TZP is about a dyslexic child Ishaan Awasthi who finally overcomes this with the help of a teacher Ram Shankar Nikumbh.

The subject it handles is one which is usually taken up by the art film directors (and not definitely of a usual mainstream Bollywood cinema). As every one already knows, Aamir chose to direct the movie when he was not happy with the scenes shot by the debutant script writer of the movie. The movie may not have had this genuineness in treatment and wouldn’t have had helped to create the awareness it has done if not for Aamir. In fact I felt the second part after interval was no less than a documentary on Dyslexia, had it not been for the comic strips with the teachers in the school. It was these comic caricatures in the movie that kept the spirits high for the film which otherwise has a subtle feel about it, even the songs are tuned to this mood.


Apart from those momentous silly insinuations that I had about me being dyslexic (which was probably an attempt by my subconscious mind to place me beside the stalwarts mentioned in the movie with learning disabilities: ), Tare Zameen Par confirmed my belief that Aamir Khan is the one of the best actors in the present Bollywood. He chose to direct a movie when it would have been easier for him to act in another flick with a song picturising all the Bollywood actors and actresses alive. And to my amazement, TZP collections are nothing short compared to the well marketed multi-starrer.

Ennum Nanmakal!

I adore Sathyan Anthikkad, the Film Director.

I adore Sreenivasan, the Script and Dialogue Writer.

But, I adore the combination of the duo more!

I thought I had seen almost all the movies from the duo! But Surya TV telecasted another one yesterday night; Ennum Nanmakal which I had not seen yet and is one of their best.

There must be lots of Mallus who like Sathyan-Sreeni movies, for a various reasons. I tried to find out why I do, and the reasons listed here should be similar with most of those Mallus out there.

I have always been ambitious in life, everybody is. At various stages of my life I had planned my future and all this plans to be affluent had one single aim; to live a in a small beautiful village in Kerala where people do not care much about internet or politics. This dream village had wonderful and innocent people to live with and endless stretches of paddy fields, a small river, lots of coconut and mango trees etc.

The milieu of Sathyan-Sreeni films have been a similar village. I have heard Sathyan speaking passionately about how he would like to spend his leisure time in Anthikkad, his native village and how the place has encouraged him to make films about village life. And more than capturing the natural beauty of the villages, he has been successful in portraying the innocent people of these villages and their lives with at most reality. I think I like these films because while watching them I get the pleasure of living my dream life, at least for three hours.

It is not mandatory that the Sathyan-Sreeni film should have a villain. Even if there are villains, these characters are never mafia dons or suicidal maniacs. They are all normal people, innocent people from villages, who do some bad things in certain situations of life. The story plays all these conventional character mannerisms of heroism and villainous, and the characters just blend into it; and this gives the proximity of the film to real life drama. I specifically liked the characters for I wish and believe that all people are basically good at heart. At the end of the film you love them all, be it villain or hero and wish if you could be there with them in the on-screen village. And there lies the beauty of duo’s films.

My mom's house is in a village near to the borders of Trichur district where it meets Ernakulam district. From there, Ernakulam town is one hour travel where as Trichur is almost three hours. My own house is in Ernakulam, and due to the proximity to the city of Cochin these places are more developed. But the Trichur area being far away from Trichur town has been neglected by the district officials and is less developed. The border line between the districts is a river which you will have to cross by boat. So whenever we crossed the river to travel to my Mom’s house, we used to tease Mom telling this. Because you need to wait by the river side for a minimum of one hour to get a bus, we used to get a lot of time for this teasing. (We would get buses in every five minutes at the Ernakulam side)

In spite of this, I have always liked my Mom’s village better than my own. I have stayed there for two years with my Grand Parents when I was less than five years old. The people there were very friendly and innocent. I specifically remember one old friend of my Grand Father, Kasukka whom I was very scared of and times when I went to festivals like Kodungallur Pooram and Vaakkadappuram with my Grand Father; these experiences have left permanent marks in my mind. The characters in Sathyan-Sreeni films always had the mannerisms of some of the innocent people whom I have seen in there, and the scenes make me nostalgic.

Apart from these, the humor sense of Sreenivasan has greatly contributed to the popularity of all the films. He has never bothered about acting as a dumb character in his own creations. As a script writer, he always handled the subject with maturity and the scenes always had the real life touch to them. From Ennum Nanmakal, I specifically liked the scene in which Sreenivasan proposes to Santhikrishna. That was very original and classy and involved no drama that is usually seen on films in similar situations.

I would just list some of the films here, because each one of them can inspire me to write so much as to create a new blog entry altogether. There best of these films are T.P. Baalagopalan M.A, Sanmanasullavarkku Samaadhaanam, Sreedharante Onaam Thirumurivu, Ponmuttayidunna Thaaraavu, Varavelppu, Mazhavilkkaavady, Thalayanamanthram, Ennum nanmakal, Sandhesham, Golaanthara Vaartha, Veendum chila veettu kaaryangal, Narendran Makan Jayakaanthan Vaka and Manassinakkare. Some of these films are not from the duo, but still they are the best.

B L A C K

Brilliant! That is the word I would like to use to describe the film Black directed by Sanjay Leela Bansali. I hadn’t seen the film yet until its TV premier in Star Gold yesterday. I do regret now that I did not see the film in theatre. Black is definitely a bold attempt from the director, it challenges all the conventions of a contemporary Indian film be it art or commercial. I have seen only one Bollywood film that made watching a film a treat to all my senses, and that is Sholay, but these two films are of extremely different categories. I do not think this as a reason that makes Black special?

The uniqueness of the film lies in the fact that it is difficult to classify the film as commercial or art, based on the conventions we usually use for the purpose. I have always liked the art films by internationally acclaimed directors like Adoor Gopalakrishnan. But these films are always made within low budgets, and usually are made for film festival audiences. At times you have to wait for these films to be shown on TV, the producers know that this film will not be appealing to masses and they refrain from spending money in releasing these films in theatres. The net result is that these films are devoid of the modern filming techniques which combined with the mood of the film, makes it dull for watching. But in Black, Bansali has made the settings look like those of a big budget commercial Bollywood film (or even better than that), and created an aura that you would feel watching a classic academy award winning English movie. Also the characters use English as lavishly as Hindi.

The director has made the best out of his actors, all of whom have performed well. The story is about a girl Michelle McNally who is blind, deaf and dumb, and her teacher Debraj Sahai who tries to give her a normal life. The roles are played by Rani Mukherjee and Amitabh Bachan respectively. The little girl Ayesha Kapoor who enacted the childhood of Michelle McNally did a great job. I liked many scenes in the film, the one in which the little Michelle says her first word "water", the one in which the teacher looses his memory due to Alzheimer’s disease while he was at an ice cream shop and the last scene in which he realises that his student has graduated, are some of them.

J. P Sippy has quit film making, so I cannot expect another Sholay. But I am eager to watch next film by Bansali, and am sure it will be on a theatre screen!