The new series of posts to kick off some activity in this blog. I am trying to get hold off some old malayalam movies that I haven't watched in a long time. In the process, reminisce the best our movie industry has to offer to the viewers. First up, Onnu muthal poojyam vare.
Just finished watching this little masterpiece of a movie by Raghunath Palery. The title translates as 'From One to Zero'. It literally points to our old analogue telephone where one came before zero and figuratively points to the story of the characters: From hope to hopelessness.
The movie portrays the story of Aleena, a widow and her 4 year old daughter Deepamol. Aleena lives with her daughter treasuring the memories of her late husband (a western musician, played by Prathap Pothan) in a big house. She repeatedly dismisses the notion of remarriage. She is a painter and works in the advertising industry. Deepamol is a bubbly little girl always playing around with the telephone making random calls. One such call turns their life forever when Deepamol gets in contact with her "Telephone Uncle".
Deepamol gets attached to Telephone Uncle very fast. Though Aleena was on the fence and skeptical of the man's intentions, she eventually falls in love. Telephone uncle resists the coercions from the mother and never reveals his name or whereabouts. Finally, he comes to their place on the night of Deepamol's birthday raising Aleena's hope for a better life, only to put an end to it within a very short time.
The movie explores the loneliness of Aleena and the need of a father figure for her daughter. Wonderfully crafted and scripted. The copy I had with me was quite poor in quality and skipped a lot. I would guess the abrupt cuts I found in the movie is inherent to my copy and not in the actual movie.
Aleena is played by Asha Jayaram (where did she disappear?) and accurately reflects the emotions of a young widow. She emotes well, but does tend to go overboard in certain occasions. She has the perpetual sad face perfect to the role. Geethu Mohandas steals the show as Deepamol. Very childlike unlike most child characters we see in our movies. Does not go overboard with her tantrums or in saccharine high sequences. Hats off to dubbing artist as well! Mohanlal is brilliant as Telephone Uncle. He appears only in the climax (apart from minor glimpses), but maintains a presence throughout the movie as the voice on the telephone. His performance is spellbinding even when he is not making an appearance. His voice modulation is spectacular and we can feel his emotions through the voice itself. Minor characters played by Shari, Nedumudi Venu, and Sukumari are well written and well acted, blending seamlessly in the whole narrative. Suresh Gopi and Mukesh drops in for guest appearances. Somebody else has dubbed for Mukesh and it clearly shows! Feels like an absolute eye(ear?)sore.
All in all, finely crafted movie. Get hold off the movie from Moserbaer and watch it!
Just finished watching this little masterpiece of a movie by Raghunath Palery. The title translates as 'From One to Zero'. It literally points to our old analogue telephone where one came before zero and figuratively points to the story of the characters: From hope to hopelessness.
The movie portrays the story of Aleena, a widow and her 4 year old daughter Deepamol. Aleena lives with her daughter treasuring the memories of her late husband (a western musician, played by Prathap Pothan) in a big house. She repeatedly dismisses the notion of remarriage. She is a painter and works in the advertising industry. Deepamol is a bubbly little girl always playing around with the telephone making random calls. One such call turns their life forever when Deepamol gets in contact with her "Telephone Uncle".
Deepamol gets attached to Telephone Uncle very fast. Though Aleena was on the fence and skeptical of the man's intentions, she eventually falls in love. Telephone uncle resists the coercions from the mother and never reveals his name or whereabouts. Finally, he comes to their place on the night of Deepamol's birthday raising Aleena's hope for a better life, only to put an end to it within a very short time.
The movie explores the loneliness of Aleena and the need of a father figure for her daughter. Wonderfully crafted and scripted. The copy I had with me was quite poor in quality and skipped a lot. I would guess the abrupt cuts I found in the movie is inherent to my copy and not in the actual movie.
Aleena is played by Asha Jayaram (where did she disappear?) and accurately reflects the emotions of a young widow. She emotes well, but does tend to go overboard in certain occasions. She has the perpetual sad face perfect to the role. Geethu Mohandas steals the show as Deepamol. Very childlike unlike most child characters we see in our movies. Does not go overboard with her tantrums or in saccharine high sequences. Hats off to dubbing artist as well! Mohanlal is brilliant as Telephone Uncle. He appears only in the climax (apart from minor glimpses), but maintains a presence throughout the movie as the voice on the telephone. His performance is spellbinding even when he is not making an appearance. His voice modulation is spectacular and we can feel his emotions through the voice itself. Minor characters played by Shari, Nedumudi Venu, and Sukumari are well written and well acted, blending seamlessly in the whole narrative. Suresh Gopi and Mukesh drops in for guest appearances. Somebody else has dubbed for Mukesh and it clearly shows! Feels like an absolute eye(ear?)sore.
All in all, finely crafted movie. Get hold off the movie from Moserbaer and watch it!
Kerala Cafe works! I had my apprehensions at first. 10 short films by 10 directors, woven into a single movie. But the pedigree of the people involved, led by Ranjith, made the project very intriguing. Portmanteau are always intriguing!
I liked the concept of Kerala Cafe, the cafe as the meeting point for all the stories. A cafe in a railway station. We mallus are perpetual travelers and nothing is dearer to a traveler than trains. Though the concept is good, the execution is slightly flawed. The stories are not intricately woven as we desire. This issue does not affect the viewer too much. Nevertheless, an issue it is.
The major plus for me in the project is that, the directors are not tied down to the traditional image bestowed upon them. For instance, Shaji Kailas, noted for his slick action movies, tackles a family/relationship issue and Shyamaprasad, known for offbeat cinema, attempts a comedy short. Same is the case with actors. They avoid typing necessitated by commercial demands. The best examples are Mammooty and Salim Kumar. These kind of roles from them is usually seen only by the selected audience of art cinema. The mainstream moviegoers get to experience how gifted they are with these offbeat roles.
The best movie of the lot according to me is Happy Journey by Anjali Menon. A smart and intelligent film which really works as a 10 minute short. Excellent use of the given time. Jagathy Sreekumar is outstanding and Nithya Menon is convincing as his tormentor. Anwar Rasheed's Bridge comes next. Anwar Rasheed is known for his blockbuster commercial movies like Rajamanickyam and Chota Mumbai. A lesser known fact is his passion for off-beat cinems. He has been able to do justice to his passion with Bridge. Visually, the short is outstanding. The best of the lot. Performance wise, Salim Kumar and Santha Devi steals the show. The kid in the short is also very convincing.
Puramkazhchakal by Lal Jose is another wonderful short. A great performance by Mammooty and Srinivasan. Ironically, the short really worked for me as I am totally pissed off at Mamootty in real life. Nothing personal, but the guy carries himself like a dick and a jerk. Anyway, the short really affected me. The climax is chilling to say the least.
Among the rest of the shorts, Makal by Revathy, Aviramam by B.Unnikrishnan, Island Express by Shankar Ramakrishnan are very good. M.Padmakumar's Nostalgia deals with the very interesting subject of a typical, selfish NRI. The execution could have been better. Shyamprasad's Off Season starts of delightfully. Suraj is pretty good in this. But the plot just loses its way after the first couple of minutes. Lalitham Hiranmayam by Lal Jose deals with a man's infidelity and the women in his life. Stylishly shot, but the short lacks substance. Mrityunjayam by Uday Ananthan is a horror short. The story seems to be an adaptation of the short story Indigo by Satyajit Ray. Sort of okayish. Such a short didn't really fit into the bigger picture.
This is a must see movie for all mallus. Especially the ones whining of the lack of good movies. More specifically the ones who whine and don't watch good movies when they are released. Cases in point: Thalappaavu , Thirakatha, and Gulmohar.
Watch the Kerala Cafe trailer. The title song is wonderful!
Take a bow MT and Hariharan! Contrary to popular perception, you made a magnum opus after all! The best malayalam movie to come out in a long time. I would go a little further to say one of the best movies to come out of India in a long time. I don't know if I am still affected by watching the movie, but I honestly cannot recall a better Indian movie I have watched in a long time.
I am not going to write about the story, go watch the movie! If you are a history illiterate then it would be a delightful lesson, and for the ones who know the history its a delight in itself to watch events unfold.
The movie is 3 hours 20 minute long, but you would never feel the length. It starts of slowly, gradually picks up the pace and second half goes like a big whoosh.
To be honest, the movie does not having gripping or memorable dialogues like Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha. But still, it is the individual performances make the movie a delight to watch. There are way too many characters and some very important characters who literally just walk-in and go in a single scene. Especially, Unni Moosa Moopan, the character played by Capt. Raju comes in a couple of scenes which does not do any justice to the part he played in history. The 4 minute song at his home could have been converted to something productive. Apart from this minor grouse, I guess characterisation and casting has been spot on.
Mammooty is graceful and exudes an aura. Its difficult imagine anyone else as Pazhassi Raja. Thankfully, his screen time is limited in comparison to the fare he has been dishing out recently. This builds up to the anticipation of his appearance. Only flaw I can see is that he underplayed the character a wee bit. A little too graceful and sort of one dimensional. May be he did justice to the real Pazhassi Raja!
Sharath Kumar as Edachena Kunkan Nair stole the limelight. He is the real star in the movie as far as I am concerned. I never considered him to be a good actor and boy how wrong I am! His screen presence is immense and its not every day that you see someone stealing the show from Mammooty!
Manoj K Jayan as the tribal leader Thalakkal Chanthu does full justice to his role and Suresh Krishna as Kaithery Ambu is also very good. Jagathy Sreekumar as the Eas India Company crony has executed his role very well. His attempts at humour early on doesn't do justice to the man's ability though. And where did Jagadeesh disappear after being introduced as the second crony?
When it comes to female characters, Kaniha was her graceful best. But the best one was Padmapriya as Neeli, Chanthu's fiancee. Her action sequences are mindblowing and it does help that she looks damn sexy! Her last stand against the EIC army will be etched in memory for a long time.
The actors portraying the British are so-so at best. A haunting question: Why is there always a white female sympathetic to the natives in every pre-independance movie?
Technically, this movie is the best from Malayalam cinema so far. It does match up to the recent Bollywood big budgets productions as well. Camera work is breathtaking at times. LOTR esque shots, battle scenes inside the forest in heavy rains...the movie is visual spectacular. Sound perfectly matches the visuals if not surpasses. Resul Pookutty has shown why he is the best in the business. Sounds of swordfights, water, battles are intricate and adds to the experience.
Do yourself a service and go watch the movie! Its best watched in a theatre to say the least!
Coming to economics. The movie costs 27 crores. Nearly 6 times that of a normal superstar movie in Malayalam. Its almost impossible to cover cost from Kerala alone. I guess the movie would do very well in Tamil Nadu thanks to the career best performance by Sharath Kumar and Mammooty. I have my reservations on the success for Telugu and Hindi versions. It was heartening to see a packed house in Innovative Bangalore for the late night show on a week day though!
Rating: 9/10 (The only glaring negative I would say is the misuse of ropes in a couple of fight scenes.)
Posting from Google Wave!
Hope the Posterous integration works!
Somehow, my sneaky suspicion remains. Will this movie be as good as hyped? Lets hope for the producer's sake it is!
P.S: The first still could have been left of us. Not really fond of staring the Mammooty's and Sarath Kumar's armpits! Since I watched, you have to!
This collection of pictures is doing rounds in almost every Malayalee’s inbox these days. Thought I would post this as an album! Check it out!
****    See and download the full gallery on posterous |
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