Drishyam part one or the the original movie is now a cult classic in malayalam film history . It's a well rounded story tying up all the loose ends at the now legendary climax . Yet the craving to make a sequel is always a temptation for the filmmaker .Hence Drishyam 2 , the resumption giving us a glimpse into the aftermath of the events of the previous movie . It tells us that the hunt is still not over and George Kutty is using every trick in his razor sharp mind to be one step ahead of his persecutors . The film is surprisingly subdued compared to the first because one was expecting a grander scale of things in the sequel . The first half has been called lagging by many but I felt it was necessary to create the atmosphere . It showed the audience that the family is far from happy after escaping prosecution . They live under a cloud of suspicion and are still the talk of the village . The children have nightmares and fits . Rani feels neglected by Georgekutty and out of depth when dealing with her progressive and independent daughter .She is also having no one to share the feelings Insider her . It's a terrible situation for a woman - to hide secrets ! The first half thus created the picture in our mind of a family trying to keep sanity under intense stress. The second half really picks up pace of the story and the climax is very well written and picturised . Yet one at the end had that nagging question in mind .. was this really necessary . Couldn't we just leave Georgekutty and his family alone to live in peace ? Now we hear their is a third part coming - seemsGeorgekutty can never Rest in Peace...
Reviews
9 Reviews
Operation Java
(2021)
Just a Mish Mash of Netflix/Amazon shows
22 February 2021
Warning: Spoilers
The movie brings nothing new to the table . There are far better shows available on Netflix and Amazon. Even Indian Movies like Kannum Kannum Kollayadithaal , Irumbuthirai has already dealt with cyber crime and cyber theft brilliantly . Average at best.
Mannar Mathai Speaking 2
(2014)
Worse than the Worst
2 May 2019
Some movie make us wonder why they were even made...Kilukkam kilukilukkam was one..Now another to join that forgettable bandwagon is MMS2. Iam astounded by the nerve of this director to make such a terrible sequel to two of the most endearing comedy classics of recent times..It does not bring any closure to the characters as any trilogy would and pits them in the same circumstances as they were 25 years ago..To be honest after all the troubles and the rich friends they made we would expect bala and gopala to be well off,happily married and with kids..But here they still try feebly to fit into their old personas with disastrous results..At least the makers could have taken cue from in harihar nagar sequels which were atleast passable ..
Avoid at all Costs. I can never forgive the director for this blasphemy.
Chemistry
(II) (2009)
Avoid at all costs
9 March 2019
Laughable attempt at making a horror film.
Weak direction, disastrous casting(vineeth as villain was already a failure in manathe vellitheru) and hilarious expressions( Manoj k jayan as manthravadi).
This is a message film warning us of the dangers of cell phone and it's intrusion to privacy. If they had avoided the horror angle the film would have worked better.
See if you want to spent a lazy afternoon and have a good laugh .but scary this film is not.
My Dear Kuttichaathan
(1984)
Nostalgic Movie
28 August 2018
Iam surprised that one of the most beloved malayalam movies of all time has so few reviews in imdb..The movie as a tremendous achievement by its creator jijo who went ahead with the project after reading an article about 3d technology in american cinematographer magazine.
It was really a bold decision because he had no experience with this technology . He went to america to study the film making process and bought equipments from there.When released it was the first 3d movie in India.
The movie was and is still is one of the biggest box office hits in the history of indian cinema. It also won the national award for best children's film. Many film makers since then tried to make 3d movies in its wake but none succeeded likewise..
What was the reason? Maybe it captured the imagination of the kids of that time..It was a time before cable television , computer games and mobile phones invaded our homes and children use to spent their leisure times playing and exploring their sorroundings..
Every such exploration were an adventure for them. I being myself a kid of the 80s could relate well to the kids in the movie..A film in the same vein was manu uncle .Which also won the national award for best children's movie
The movie is about 3 kids who release and then befriend a demon/chaathan..A deity who is worshipped throughout kerala..There is a kanadi madom in thrissur who have been worshipping kutti chathan for centuries and they have a temple where devotees visit regularly..Chathan is somewhat similar to the genie of arabian nights who can be enslaved by the black magician and can be made to satisfy his every wish.
The kids are frightened by the initial shapes in which the chathan manifest himself..Finally they ask him come in the image of a drawing done by the artist father of one of the kid ..The scene where he appears is one of the most memorable scenes in the movie..
The black magician from whom the chathan escapes is played brilliantly by kottarakkara sreedharan nair (father of saikumar) who is really scary in his portrayal.
Despite being a children's movie it does not hesitate from showing the reality of life..The drunkard father who neglects his child, the repressed sexuality of the malayali male who secretly vists a striptease club where the children go in at the insistence of chathan.. the hilarious scene where the spectators become the one who are stripped is great.
It is also whom that despite his friendly child apperance the chathan is still the deMon who enjoys liquor ..The scenes where the child artist drink liquor at the bar would not have passed muster with the censor board of today...
The song alippazham perukkan is a commendable effort even today in the way it was picturised.one wonders how they achieved the sequences where the children walk on the roof upside down without any special effects or computer wizardry..
The movie was re released number of times since the 90s with some newly added scenes bit i feel they have not worked well..They said have either done a remake or a sequel instead of tinkering with the original .
I watched the 1st rerelease in the 90s where the movie had the soundtrack in DTS. It was good but they changed the original songs to new ones which put off many of is who were kids and had watched the original...
The movie may not appear even remotely fascinating to the kids of today who are saturated by 3d hollywood movies but for the men and women who in their late 30s and early 40s, it's a bit of nostalgia of those wonderful time bygone..
It was really a bold decision because he had no experience with this technology . He went to america to study the film making process and bought equipments from there.When released it was the first 3d movie in India.
The movie was and is still is one of the biggest box office hits in the history of indian cinema. It also won the national award for best children's film. Many film makers since then tried to make 3d movies in its wake but none succeeded likewise..
What was the reason? Maybe it captured the imagination of the kids of that time..It was a time before cable television , computer games and mobile phones invaded our homes and children use to spent their leisure times playing and exploring their sorroundings..
Every such exploration were an adventure for them. I being myself a kid of the 80s could relate well to the kids in the movie..A film in the same vein was manu uncle .Which also won the national award for best children's movie
The movie is about 3 kids who release and then befriend a demon/chaathan..A deity who is worshipped throughout kerala..There is a kanadi madom in thrissur who have been worshipping kutti chathan for centuries and they have a temple where devotees visit regularly..Chathan is somewhat similar to the genie of arabian nights who can be enslaved by the black magician and can be made to satisfy his every wish.
The kids are frightened by the initial shapes in which the chathan manifest himself..Finally they ask him come in the image of a drawing done by the artist father of one of the kid ..The scene where he appears is one of the most memorable scenes in the movie..
The black magician from whom the chathan escapes is played brilliantly by kottarakkara sreedharan nair (father of saikumar) who is really scary in his portrayal.
Despite being a children's movie it does not hesitate from showing the reality of life..The drunkard father who neglects his child, the repressed sexuality of the malayali male who secretly vists a striptease club where the children go in at the insistence of chathan.. the hilarious scene where the spectators become the one who are stripped is great.
It is also whom that despite his friendly child apperance the chathan is still the deMon who enjoys liquor ..The scenes where the child artist drink liquor at the bar would not have passed muster with the censor board of today...
The song alippazham perukkan is a commendable effort even today in the way it was picturised.one wonders how they achieved the sequences where the children walk on the roof upside down without any special effects or computer wizardry..
The movie was re released number of times since the 90s with some newly added scenes bit i feel they have not worked well..They said have either done a remake or a sequel instead of tinkering with the original .
I watched the 1st rerelease in the 90s where the movie had the soundtrack in DTS. It was good but they changed the original songs to new ones which put off many of is who were kids and had watched the original...
The movie may not appear even remotely fascinating to the kids of today who are saturated by 3d hollywood movies but for the men and women who in their late 30s and early 40s, it's a bit of nostalgia of those wonderful time bygone..
Good in Parts
15 June 2018
The movie is just a rehash of all the best scenes of the first 2 Jurassic movies directed by Steven Spielberg . The only thing different is the updated special effects . There is new genetically modified dinosaur .If the first one rampaged at the park , The new one has a castle as its playing ground. The basic plot is same as that of JP2 Lost world, and we see a repetition of those famous scenes( dinosaurs running in the open ground, dinos being captured by hunters, treating injured dino, helpful T Rex etc etc..) ..
90s kids have nothing to see here but for their kids it will be a good movie to watch
90s kids have nothing to see here but for their kids it will be a good movie to watch
Cosmic Sex
(2015)
Exercise in Softcore
14 June 2018
Primarily aimed at the international film festival circuit , cosmic sex is a pretentious movie which tries to sell sex coated with weak depictions of indian spirituality . The film is a surrealistic style with elements of incest thrown in .
Better avoided
Aravindante Athidhikal
(2018)
One time watch
14 June 2018
Aravindante athithikal (Aravindan's Guests) is a movie with a simple premise . . The story starts in 1996. Abandoned in Mookambika by his mother at a very young age, Aravindan(Vineeth Sreenivasan) is rescued by Madhavan (Sreenivasan) who runs a small lodge near mookambika temple .
Fast forward 20 years later Aravindan grows up to be do gooder, liked by all those around him and helps madhavan in running the lodge . He has taken a sort of pledge that he will not enter the temple until he meets his mother. There are some comedic scenes thrown in take the story forward (and to get us acquainted with the set of characters ) till the arrival of the heroine.
In comes Girija(Played with aplomb by Urvashi) along with her pretty daughter Varada (Nikhila Vimal) for performing Varada's dance arangettam at Mookambika temple . Our hero is so likeable that within minutes of knowing him Girija decides to cancel her hotel booking and decides to stay at his hotel.(are women so gullible ?).
She is also accompanied by her brother Venu (Prem Kumar after a long hiatus) who vehemently objects this sudden change of mind ( as any practical man would do) but is then persuaded by the offer of a "kuppi' (a poke at mallu obsession with liquor).
Some comic scenes follow ending in Varada getting hospitalized due to a sprained ankle .Doctor advises bed rest of two weeks and so she again ends up in the Aravindans lodge. Now the director has the task of making his heroine fall in love with the hero within this time frame. The clichéd scenes that follow leads finally (the director tries to convince us) for the Varada to fall head over heels in love with aravindan.
After knowing about Aravindans history Varada takes it upon herself to find out His mother . She gets help from the sketches made by him of his early memories(like in memento, congo ) and goes on an investigation .There are some red herrings thrown in to extend screen time like Janaki Subramanium (Sreejaya Nar) a danseuse, ala Shobhana.
Finally She tracks down the real mother of Aravindan and the movie is brought to an emotional but abrupt end.
The basic plot is nothing new . .Young child abandoned finally unites with mother. We had seen so many such movies in the 70s and 80s. The only thing new here is the location of Mookambika beautifully captured by the cinematographer . The movie also has some good songs by Vineeth.
Besides the plot lets discuss the other weak points of the movie(and there are so many). First is the screenplay. The dialogues of the movie are so weak. Even the crucial junctures in the movie including the climax are devoid of well written dialogues .Instead the director relies on soulful bgm (which gets annoying at times) to convey the emotions of the characters to the audience.
Next is the lead actor. Vineeth Sreenivasan is a multifaceted personality and I have nothing against him .He is even talented than his illustrious father. But let's face it , He is no hero material. He simply lacks the charisma to carry a movie on his own. Maybe that's why this movie is crowded with a bevy of character actors to cover for the hero's lack of screen presence.
Speaking of the cast, it's the only movie in recent years in which have seen such incredible waste of acting talent. The supporting cast is too impressive. We have sreenivasan ,kpac lalitha, urvashi,shanthi Krishna, vijayaraghavan, prem kumar, baiju, santosh keezhattoor and Devan. Sadly every one of them are underutilized as the director is too busy focusing on the love affair between the lead pair .. They are also forced to mouth the weak dialogues which hardly match their ability.
Only Urvashi and Aju Varghese makes the most of what was given to them and shines through bringing in much needed levity to an otherwise dull affair . The movie will do well for sure as it targeted at a female audience and will surely leave them teary eyed at the end.
Deserves a one time watch .
Fast forward 20 years later Aravindan grows up to be do gooder, liked by all those around him and helps madhavan in running the lodge . He has taken a sort of pledge that he will not enter the temple until he meets his mother. There are some comedic scenes thrown in take the story forward (and to get us acquainted with the set of characters ) till the arrival of the heroine.
In comes Girija(Played with aplomb by Urvashi) along with her pretty daughter Varada (Nikhila Vimal) for performing Varada's dance arangettam at Mookambika temple . Our hero is so likeable that within minutes of knowing him Girija decides to cancel her hotel booking and decides to stay at his hotel.(are women so gullible ?).
She is also accompanied by her brother Venu (Prem Kumar after a long hiatus) who vehemently objects this sudden change of mind ( as any practical man would do) but is then persuaded by the offer of a "kuppi' (a poke at mallu obsession with liquor).
Some comic scenes follow ending in Varada getting hospitalized due to a sprained ankle .Doctor advises bed rest of two weeks and so she again ends up in the Aravindans lodge. Now the director has the task of making his heroine fall in love with the hero within this time frame. The clichéd scenes that follow leads finally (the director tries to convince us) for the Varada to fall head over heels in love with aravindan.
After knowing about Aravindans history Varada takes it upon herself to find out His mother . She gets help from the sketches made by him of his early memories(like in memento, congo ) and goes on an investigation .There are some red herrings thrown in to extend screen time like Janaki Subramanium (Sreejaya Nar) a danseuse, ala Shobhana.
Finally She tracks down the real mother of Aravindan and the movie is brought to an emotional but abrupt end.
The basic plot is nothing new . .Young child abandoned finally unites with mother. We had seen so many such movies in the 70s and 80s. The only thing new here is the location of Mookambika beautifully captured by the cinematographer . The movie also has some good songs by Vineeth.
Besides the plot lets discuss the other weak points of the movie(and there are so many). First is the screenplay. The dialogues of the movie are so weak. Even the crucial junctures in the movie including the climax are devoid of well written dialogues .Instead the director relies on soulful bgm (which gets annoying at times) to convey the emotions of the characters to the audience.
Next is the lead actor. Vineeth Sreenivasan is a multifaceted personality and I have nothing against him .He is even talented than his illustrious father. But let's face it , He is no hero material. He simply lacks the charisma to carry a movie on his own. Maybe that's why this movie is crowded with a bevy of character actors to cover for the hero's lack of screen presence.
Speaking of the cast, it's the only movie in recent years in which have seen such incredible waste of acting talent. The supporting cast is too impressive. We have sreenivasan ,kpac lalitha, urvashi,shanthi Krishna, vijayaraghavan, prem kumar, baiju, santosh keezhattoor and Devan. Sadly every one of them are underutilized as the director is too busy focusing on the love affair between the lead pair .. They are also forced to mouth the weak dialogues which hardly match their ability.
Only Urvashi and Aju Varghese makes the most of what was given to them and shines through bringing in much needed levity to an otherwise dull affair . The movie will do well for sure as it targeted at a female audience and will surely leave them teary eyed at the end.
Deserves a one time watch .
Ezra
(2017)
Average Fair
8 June 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Prithiviraj , the hero of this movie is not a new entrant into the horror genre , In fact this is his second outing .The first one was ' Vellinakshtathram ' an overtly cheesy and tepid horror movie directed by Vinayan .
Ezra tries to be different . It tries to replicate the scenes from the western horror movies its clearly 'inspired' from . Some scenes are hilarious like the ghostly girl who jump scares priya . The actual Ghost/Demon in the movie; Ezra is male . This sticks out like a sore thumb..The scenes in the attic are similar to that in insidious and conjuring.
Today's younger audience have already seen all these jump scares before .There are a horde of movies now coming in this genre like Conjuring ,Annabelle, , Insidious etc ....
The story initially felt eerily similar to that of manichithrathazhu ,where nakulan returns to his hometown with wife ganga due to a company posting . They both live in huge dilapidated bungalows. Both priya and ganga are lonely and their husbands are too busy with their professional work to even care about their wife's needs and feelings . But in the 1993 classic the reason of haunting was ganga's psychosis whereas in ezra , it is really supernatural.
Prithviraj' plays a nuclear waste management expert( well thats new !) and lives with his wife Priya who is from a malayali family settled in mumbai. A promotion requires him to relocate to kerala cochin which unsettles his wife as she has to leave all her near and dear ones to live in an unfamiliar place . In order to keep herself busy she goes shopping for antiques to decorate their new house (which looks quite dirty and in ruins. How does an modern couple choose such a house beats me. In one scene where priya washes her face in the bathroom , you can clearly see a tonne of dust on the pipe.. this inspite of having a stay at home servant and no kids !
In one of her shopping jaunts she comes across and purchases an antique jewish box which unknown to her houses a demon-Dybbuk. She brings it home and opens it out of womanly curiosity and then like the pandora's story all hell breaks loose.... In manichithrathazhu it was the opening of the thekkini which unleashed the persona of nagavalli.
To introduce a jewish demon called Dybbuk may sound inventive considering the presence of a jewish community in kochi, but its nothing new .A 2012 movie 'possession ' had did it before . Also this shows the minuscule Jewish community in bad light as black magicians.
Talking of performances, its best described as average. Prithviraj tries hard to get in tune with the character but is only partly successful . Tovino turned in his a wooden appearance. . Maybe he wasn't given much material to work on. The heroine was good looking but nothing more .
The major failure was the exorcist/rabbi played by sujith sankar. Inspite of getting a meaty role he could not do justice to it .His dialogue delivery which introduces the climatic twist of the movie was too monotonous and bland. Someone like Santosh keezhattoor would have done a better job. The minor characters played by Alensier, Rajesh Sharma(1st victim of the demon) , VIjayaraghavan and Bharath Dhabholkar(As creator of the demon) played their parts well.
Prithviraj is on his quest to create crossover cinemas in malayalam targeting the large NRI communuty in America and other western countries. His recent outings like adam joan and the upcoming Ranam fall in this category. Hope he does a better job with Ranam and My Story.
Ezra tries to be different . It tries to replicate the scenes from the western horror movies its clearly 'inspired' from . Some scenes are hilarious like the ghostly girl who jump scares priya . The actual Ghost/Demon in the movie; Ezra is male . This sticks out like a sore thumb..The scenes in the attic are similar to that in insidious and conjuring.
Today's younger audience have already seen all these jump scares before .There are a horde of movies now coming in this genre like Conjuring ,Annabelle, , Insidious etc ....
The story initially felt eerily similar to that of manichithrathazhu ,where nakulan returns to his hometown with wife ganga due to a company posting . They both live in huge dilapidated bungalows. Both priya and ganga are lonely and their husbands are too busy with their professional work to even care about their wife's needs and feelings . But in the 1993 classic the reason of haunting was ganga's psychosis whereas in ezra , it is really supernatural.
Prithviraj' plays a nuclear waste management expert( well thats new !) and lives with his wife Priya who is from a malayali family settled in mumbai. A promotion requires him to relocate to kerala cochin which unsettles his wife as she has to leave all her near and dear ones to live in an unfamiliar place . In order to keep herself busy she goes shopping for antiques to decorate their new house (which looks quite dirty and in ruins. How does an modern couple choose such a house beats me. In one scene where priya washes her face in the bathroom , you can clearly see a tonne of dust on the pipe.. this inspite of having a stay at home servant and no kids !
In one of her shopping jaunts she comes across and purchases an antique jewish box which unknown to her houses a demon-Dybbuk. She brings it home and opens it out of womanly curiosity and then like the pandora's story all hell breaks loose.... In manichithrathazhu it was the opening of the thekkini which unleashed the persona of nagavalli.
To introduce a jewish demon called Dybbuk may sound inventive considering the presence of a jewish community in kochi, but its nothing new .A 2012 movie 'possession ' had did it before . Also this shows the minuscule Jewish community in bad light as black magicians.
Talking of performances, its best described as average. Prithviraj tries hard to get in tune with the character but is only partly successful . Tovino turned in his a wooden appearance. . Maybe he wasn't given much material to work on. The heroine was good looking but nothing more .
The major failure was the exorcist/rabbi played by sujith sankar. Inspite of getting a meaty role he could not do justice to it .His dialogue delivery which introduces the climatic twist of the movie was too monotonous and bland. Someone like Santosh keezhattoor would have done a better job. The minor characters played by Alensier, Rajesh Sharma(1st victim of the demon) , VIjayaraghavan and Bharath Dhabholkar(As creator of the demon) played their parts well.
Prithviraj is on his quest to create crossover cinemas in malayalam targeting the large NRI communuty in America and other western countries. His recent outings like adam joan and the upcoming Ranam fall in this category. Hope he does a better job with Ranam and My Story.
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