Tag Archives: Oppam

Mohanlal: From Narendran to Kunjali Marakkar IV, a Journey to be Admired

With all of us being confined to our homes for nearly 2 months or so, all thanks to the Covid-19 outbreak, we have seen our lives getting altered in ways that we had never anticipated and looked forward to. I have been someone who generally preferred the experience of watching movies in cinemas, not getting lured by the abundant content (films, web-series and much more) available on the numerous OTT/digital platforms that we have access to. Every few months I would ponder over trying to embrace the OTT platforms, but kept delaying the inevitable, only for this lockdown to finally bring in the transition in my case. So thus, I have been getting my daily fix of entertainment at home in the last couple of months, watching film after film, series after series. And in this process, I also watched Ranjith’s Drama (2018), a rare Mohanlal film in recent times that I had missed watching in a theatre.Continue reading “Mohanlal: From Narendran to Kunjali Marakkar IV, a Journey to be Admired”

The 47th Kerala State Film Awards: Complete List of Winners

Earlier today in Thiruvananthapuram the 47th Kerala State Film Awards (for the year 2016) were announced by minister A.K.Balan. Films like Rajeev Ravi’s Kammatipaadam, Johnpaul George’s Guppy, Vinod Mankara’s Kambhoji and Dr.Biju’s Kaadu Pookkunna Neram were the major winners at the Kerala State Film Awards bestowed by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy.Continue reading “The 47th Kerala State Film Awards: Complete List of Winners”

Munthirivallikal Thalirkkumbol Movie Review: It’s never too late to Fall in Love…Again

The men who share a camaraderie in the apartment complex have all gathered for their daily round of drinks on the rooftop (after all the days of the regular bars in Kerala is now history) and Ulahanan (Mohanlal) is pissed off because he realized that the chapter of the lady who was enticing him over the last few days is now a closed one. Irritated and angry at the same time, he forces his neighbour and friend Venukuttan (Anoop Menon) to make him speak with one of his numerous girlfriends over phone right then. Though initially unwilling, Venukuttan does go on to dial someone on his mobile phone eventually and gives the phone to Ulahanan without revealing the name of the lady. Ulahanan goes on to speak to the person over the phone, only to realize that he has been tricked by Venukuttan, as the person on the other end is none other than his wife, Annyamma (Meena). This is just one of various wonderful moments from Jibu Jacob’s Munthirivallikal Thalirkkumbol, which has finally hit the theatres after a delay due to the film industry strike in Kerala.Continue reading “Munthirivallikal Thalirkkumbol Movie Review: It’s never too late to Fall in Love…Again”

The Best of Malayalam Cinema in 2016: A Perspective

2016 has turned out to be a slightly low key year for Malayalam Cinema overall, with strangely a decrease in the output, both in terms of quantity and quality. Talking of the number of releases there has been a sharp decline in terms of both straight as well as dubbed releases. From 153 releases overall last year (140 straight and 13 dubbed), 2016 saw the release count drop to 122 overall (118 straight releases and 4 dubbed films). And sadly the culmination of the year has ended on a really sad note for the industry, a pity considering the kind of promising films which were lined up for release in the Christmas-New Year festive season.  What started off as a tussle between the producers and distributors/exhibitors over revenue sharing and was expected to get resolved well before the Christmas weekend has extended into a huge deadlock of sorts. As a result all the major festival releases continue to wait for a release and will now in all certainty turn out to be the first few releases of 2017.Continue reading “The Best of Malayalam Cinema in 2016: A Perspective”

Top 20 Malayalam Film Songs of 2016: A Compilation

As 2016 comes to a close, there are familiar rumblings in the Malayalam film world about new film releases with the distributors, producers and theatre owners slugging it out leading to no releases on a Christmas weekend! This is a familiar scenario for Malayalam cinema buffs but let’s hope this perennial bickering gives way to new releases waiting to hit the road, for an industry which has perked up a bit recently in the mainstream space. Meanwhile, I decided to spend time to look at the audio tracks this year and see how they stack up.Continue reading “Top 20 Malayalam Film Songs of 2016: A Compilation”

Sila Samayangalil: Trailer

sila-samayangalil-posterPriyadarshan who has just recently met with a huge commercial success in the form of his Malayalam film Oppam is now ready with his Tamil film, Sila Samayangalil (sometimes). Incidentally this marks his return to Tamil cinema after the well received Kanchivaram (2008) and also seems to be in the same space and unlike most of his films which are commercial entertainers. Produced by Prabhu Deva, Isari Ganesh and Alagappan, the film has music by Ilaiyaraaja while Sameer Thahir is the DOP and Beena Paul is the editor. Sila Samayangalil features Prakash Raj, Ashok Selvan, Shriya Reddy, M.S.Bhaskar, Nassar etc and is scheduled to play during the ongoing JIO MAMI 2016 film festival.Continue reading “Sila Samayangalil: Trailer”

Oppam Movie Review: Priyadarshan and Mohanalal reassure us…to an Extent

It is a little surprising and also comforting to see a new Malayalam film begin with a scene involving veteran actors like Innocent and Kaviyoor Ponnamma. The introduction to the film begins with a family gathering in the ancestral home and we get to realize that the protagonist who is visually impaired is seen to be the near perfect son of the family, ever sacrificing for his siblings. And if you are wondering if this is going to be the tone for the rest of the film, then let me assure you that there is more to the film than just this aspect. As the protagonist prepares to return back to the city, he goes on to talk to someone on the way and just for a brief moment there is a mention of Kalaripayattu. And wait, there’s more to follow, he goes on to follow that with a semi classical rendition while on the ferry ride back to the city.Continue reading “Oppam Movie Review: Priyadarshan and Mohanalal reassure us…to an Extent”