Tag Archives: Vijayaraghavan

Bairavaa Movie Review: Much Ado about Nothing

Early on into Bharathan’s (or is it Bharhathan as he prefers to call himself now) Bairavaa we see the branch manager of ICIC Bank (Y.G.Mahendra) call upon his collection agent Bairavaa (Vijay) in desperation. The manager is in a soup because of a bad debt in the form of a loan given to a local thug Karuvadu Kumar (Mime Gopi). With the bank authorities breathing down his neck, the manager has just a day to hand over the money & with his daughter’s wedding scheduled for a month later he is extremely distressed. With Bairavaa assuring his boss that he would be back with the money by the evening one would typically expect fireworks in the form of a regulation fight sequence. But that’s where Bharathan and action choreographer Anal Arasu show some ingenuity. Yes there are fireworks on display indeed but not in the form of a typical fight which would follow some chest thumping dialogues. In fact the dialogues exchanged between Bairavaa and Karuvadu Kumar is kept to the minimum and the action happens in the guise of a game of cricket.Continue reading “Bairavaa Movie Review: Much Ado about Nothing”

Oru Muthassi Gadha: Trailer

Oru Muthassi Gadha Poster 2Oru Muthassi Gadha (A Granny’s Mace) is a forthcoming Malayalam film that’s written by and directed by Jude Anthany Joseph who made a smashing debut with Ohm Shanthi Oshaana (2014). Produced by E for Entertainment, it stars newcomers in the lead roles of two grandmothers, with supporting characters played by Suraj Venjaramoodu, Lena, Vijayaragahavan, Rajeev Pillai, and Renji Panicker among others.Continue reading “Oru Muthassi Gadha: Trailer”

Pinneyum Movie Review: Not Quite the Classic Expected From the Return of the Legend

There was a time when one watched Malayalam films partly with a view of getting that reassuring feeling of how life continues to be a lot less chaotic back home in Kerala. Of course this is generally with reference to a non-resident Keralite like me. Times have of course changed, Kerala isn’t really all that tranquil overall as it used to be. There are signs of development and change all over and not really restricted to a Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram or Kozhikode, but even in the interiors as well. Of course once in a while we do get to see films like Maheshinte Prathikaaram which still enable one to soak in the ambience and the feel of the days gone by. While I am all for development and personally enjoy a lot of the so called new generation films, I do admit that I also do yearn from time to time for tales that are simple and rooted and giving me a glimpse of the state that usually serves as a place where I get to recharge myself once in a while.Continue reading “Pinneyum Movie Review: Not Quite the Classic Expected From the Return of the Legend”

Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s “Pinneyum”: Trailer

Pinneyum Poster 2Pinneyum ( Once Again) is a forthcoming Malayalam film that sees veteran writer-director Adoor Gopalakrishnan back after a long gap of 8 years. He has written, directed and co-produced Pinneyum (with Baby Mathew Somatheeram being the other producer). The film features an interesting star cast, with popular pair Dileep and Kavya Madhavan in the lead and the supporting cast sees Marathi actor Subodh Bhave making his Malayalam debut. The rest of the star cast includes Nedumudi Venu, Indrans, Vijayaraghavan, Srinda Ashab, KPAC Lalitha etc. The music is by Bijibal while M.J.Radhakrishnan is the DOP and B.Ajith Kumar is the editor.Continue reading “Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s “Pinneyum”: Trailer”

James and Alice Movie Review: Can a Relationship Work with a Second Chance?

Isn’t it an amazing feeling to fall in love with someone? Those tender moments that you encounter which make you go weak in your knees every time you see your beloved. When hours pass by without hearing from your lover and as you get frantic, looking at your mobile phone again and again for any trace of a missed call, SMS or a WhatsApp message. You do things that you otherwise would never have done before, so what if some of them later on dawn upon you as “painkili” or mushy :). Whatever be the challenge in front of you, be it related to academics, job or anything else, everything pales in significance before your love and your beloved. It’s almost as if life has come to a standstill, and there’s only one active window in front of you. Come on, haven’t you all (or at least most of you) gone through all this? Some of you have even perhaps gone on to get married to the person whom you were in love with, so does the romance continue the same way after the wedding is over?Continue reading “James and Alice Movie Review: Can a Relationship Work with a Second Chance?”

Leela Movie Review: A Tale of an Unusual Individual

At times the human mind does play around with us quite a bit, or else how can we easily account for fantasies, fetishes and all sort of (weird?) desires that we come across or think of from time to time. There are some characters whom we encounter or hear about, who seem to revel in following a slightly convoluted path towards achieving satisfaction on various levels. Popular writer-director Ranjith‘s latest Malayalam film Leela talks about one such interesting character, Kuttiyappan. Ranjith has always been one of the few filmmakers who have managed to maintain a fine balance between art and commerce, as seen by a majority of his films. But it’s also true that he hasn’t really been in form of late, with his previous film Loham being especially disappointing. Leela also sees him play the producer, a role that he takes upon from time to time and not for all his films.Continue reading “Leela Movie Review: A Tale of an Unusual Individual”

Two Countries Movie Review: A Breezy Festive Entertainer Which Serves its Purpose

I need to begin this post with an apology; this was to be originally written and published a few weeks ago but got delayed for unavoidable reasons. Nevertheless Two Countries is continuing to play in theatres in Kerala and a few cities outside and I see no reason to delay the review any more. Incidentally the film is still going strong and has now completed 50 days of release in Kerala. Its Telugu remake rights have just been bagged by Bandla Ganesh; perhaps we might see a few more similar announcements over the next few weeks as well. Two Countries was one of the 4 Christmas releases of 2015 and has easily gone on to be the winner, turning to be a positive outing at the box office for everyone concerned with the film. For director Shafi whose previous two films, Venicile Vyapari (2011) and 101 Weddings (2012) turned out to be disappointing, Two Countries has brought him back into the limelight.Continue reading “Two Countries Movie Review: A Breezy Festive Entertainer Which Serves its Purpose”

Loham Movie Review: Yellow Metal without the Required Shine

Writer-director Ranjith and superstar Mohanlal have had a long working relationship. From writing some of the popular films of Mohanlal like Devasuram, Aaram Thampuran, Narasimham etc Ranjith went on make his directorial debut with Ravanaprabhu featuring Mohanlal. While not all the films from this combination may have worked, some of their films did manage to win the appreciation from both audiences and critics alike. Back in 2012 they came out together with Spirit, winner of the National Award for Best Film on Social Issues. Spirit may not have been the best of Ranjith but nevertheless had its moments and went on to find appreciation at the box office as well. Incidentally this was the last commercial success seen by Ranjith as writer-director, the films he made after that did not really bear his magic like before. Hence it was exciting to hear of the dynamic duo coming back together with Loham: The Yellow Metal.Continue reading “Loham Movie Review: Yellow Metal without the Required Shine”

Oru Vadakkan Selfie Movie Review: Youthful Entertainer, but a tad too ambitious

Velaiyilla Pattathari (VIP) was a film which took the youth by storm last year, not just in Tamil Nadu, but all over South India (even its Telugu dubbed version, Raghuvaran B.Tech was a hit). One of the main reasons for the film’s success being the fact that a lot of youngsters, especially engineers could relate to what Dhanush goes through the film. After all not every engineer gets a job; and if one talks of getting a job of his/her liking, it’s only even tougher. Our protagonist in G.Prajith’s debut Malayalam film ‘Oru Vadakkan Selfie’ (A Northern Selfie)-OVS from here on, Umesh (Nivin Pauly) is an engineering student with a backlog of 42 papers to clear.  Umesh represents the typical care free youngster who is least bothered about his studies or his future and thinks that it is his birth right to depend upon his parents. So it is but natural to remember VIP early into the film and at one point Umesh even hums the title song of the film, but all the comparisons end there :). Neither is OVS anything like VIP and neither does Umesh turn out to be Raghuvaran (Dhanush), which is good to be honest. Continue reading “Oru Vadakkan Selfie Movie Review: Youthful Entertainer, but a tad too ambitious”