Those good old Malayalam movies...

Malayalam Movie Review- Yoddha : The Warrior(1992)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 04:43:00 +0000

‘Kalangiyilla’

“Ambattan’

‘Akasotto’

‘Kuttimama njan njetti mama!’

All of these will stir up laughter in all those who have watched the super-hit action fantasy movie Yoddha directed by Sangeeth Sivan. Written by Sasidharan Arattuvazhi, the story is based on the English movie ‘The Golden Child’(1986) starring Eddie Murphy. I once happened to watch this movie and immediately noticed the similarities. This movie, however, has a lot more supernatural elements than Yoddha. And of course there is no Mohanlal and Jagathy!

I remember that Yoddha came out at the same time as the Mammootty starrer ‘Pappayude Swantham Appoos’. A Mammooty and Mohanlal showdown during the Onam season! (Wikipedia tells me that the release dates were 3rd September and 4th September 1992, respectively). In school our class was divided into two groups: Mammootty and Mohanlal supporters. You can imagine which group I supported! Anyways both movies were superhits and will be remembered by Malayalis in their own rights.

The story starts as a comic squabble between Ashokan (Mohanlal) & Appukuttan (Jagathy) in a small village in Kerala and takes a serious turn with the clash between a Buddhist monastery and a cult of evil sorcerers led by Vishaka (Puneet Issar) in Nepal. Puneet Issar, playing the evil Vishaka, was by then a recognizable face in every household as he had played Duryodhana in the TV series ’Mahabharatha’(remember?). He was well-suited for the character with his commanding voice, evil growls, laughs and stares.

Vishaka abducts the young boy who was to be crowned Rimpoche (Siddharth Lama) of the monastery in order to sacrifice him and attaining invincibility. The monks await the arrival of the saviour who will come from across the mountains and rescue Rimpoche.

Meanwhile the person in question, Ashokan, is having a great time getting on the nerves of his cousin Appukuttan. He defeats Appukuttan in all the games conducted by the village sports club and proves himself to be superior and thereby showing- off in front of Appukuttan’s fiancée, Damayanthi (Urvashi). Or so Appukuttan thinks. This fires him up and plants in him a deep-rooted rivalry. And he even tries to beat Ashokan up by hiring some goons.

Anyway a palm reader predicts that Ashokan will fall into trouble if he stays in Kerala any longer and even commit murder. Scared, the family insists upon him going to Nepal where his Uncle Captain Kuttikrishna Menon and his family live. Thus starts the fulfilment of the prophecy by the monks...

I wouldn’t want to spoil the story for those who haven’t watched this movie yet. It is a total family entertainer and there isn’t a single boring moment. The background score and music by A.R. Rahman have played a great role in setting the mood of the film. The song ‘Padakaali’ which is a very hilarious musical banter between Ashokan and Appukuttan has been popular ever since its release. In all, Yoddha is a must-watch movie and not to be missed.

Watch this movie here:

Direction: Sangeeth Sivan
Screenplay : Sasidharan Arattuvazhi
Produced by Saga Films
Starring: Mohanlal, Jagathy Sreekumar, Siddharth Lama, Puneet Issar, Madhoo, Urvashi
Cinematography: Santosh Sivan
Editing: A. Sreekar Prasad
Music: A. R. Rahman

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Malayalam movie Review: Manichithrathaazhu (1993)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 29 Mar 2024 18:36:00 +0000

"Vidamaatte? Appo nee ividennu enne ingerundu enkeyum poka vida maatte? "

Malayalis who haven't been living under a rock all these years would surely be familiar with this dialogue from the blockbuster psychological thriller movie Manichithrathazhu. What a movie and how easily it developed a cult following!

Manichithrathazhu' is one of my all-time favourite Malayalam movies. Yesterday I made my son watch this movie for the first time. I say 'made' because he is not much interested in Malayalam movies. But after some time into the movie, he was truly engrossed. And yes, he watched till the end which is a miracle in itself! That is the magic of this movie!

So what is the story about?

The story revolves around the strange happenings in the mysterious mansion, Madampalli. When young couple Nakulan (Suresh Gopi) and Ganga (Shobhana) decide to stay at this mansion during their visit to Nakulan's native place, they are met with concerned advice and scary stories. The scary story went thus: Around 150 years ago, the then head of the house Sankaran Thampi brought a dancer named Nagavalli from Tanjore to Madampalli. He had fallen in love with her but alas she was already in love with another dancer, Ramanathan. Ramanathan stayed in a house near Madampalli and they used to meet up secretly. When Sankaran Thampi came to know of this he flew into such a rage that he killed them both in Nagavalli's room, the Thekkini (a room located in the South). But Nagavalli was not to be got rid of so easily.

She came back from the dead as a blood-thirsty ghost and tried to kill Sankaran Thampi. He recruited the best of sorcerers from the area, who somehow managed to trap her spirit in the Thekkini. However, Sankaran Thampi later committed suicide and his spirit too was contained in the Thekkini.

Nakulan and Ganga are too modern to believe in such silly stories and they decide to stay at the mansion anyway. Nothing happens at first until Ganga decides to open the infamous Thekkini hoping to find valuable antics in the room. Everyone is so convinced that something bad will befall them, that Nakulan's cousins Sreedevi (Vinaya Prasad) and Chandu move in with them to share whatever was in store.

What follows is a series of bewildering events which pushes everyone to the edge. Pots and windows break on its own, mysterious screams and singing are heard, a woman in a white saree with long untied hair is spotted and so on and so forth- enough for Nakulan's relatives to ask the couple to vacate the house immediately. However Nakulan has his suspicions on Sreedevi who had an unhappy marriage. With her big staring eyes and serious face she certainly fit the bill of a probable suspect and always seen around the places where strange occurrences happened.

And then upon Nakulan's request, his friend Dr. Sunny (Mohanlal) who is a renowned psychiatrist, arrives. What ensues is more mayhem and chaos as we ponder the question of 'Madampalliyile manorogi aara?'

Viewpoint

As one of the most popular and successful movies in Malayalam, Manichithrathazhu ran for more than 300 days in theatres! It has been remade into 4 other languages, which in my humble opinion did not come anywhere near the original.

As Science faces- off superstitions in the story, the viewers are posed with the question of whether either of them could completely explain the whole truth. Interestingly, in the end, both modern Science and sorcery work hand-in-hand to get the desired outcome.

The story touches on the topic of 'Dissociative identity disorder' which until then had been unknown to Keralites. New and interesting topics always pique curiosity and thanks to the story writer Madhu Muttam for giving such a great gift to Malayalam cinema. The story is said to be loosely based on the murder that took place in Alummoottil Meda, Madhu Muttam's ancestral home.

[Read More: Alummoottil meda haunted House that Inspired Movie 'Manichitrathazhu' (manoramaonline.com)]

The locations for the movie include Hill palace at Trippunitura and Padmanabhapuram palace. The painting of Nagavalli was done by Shri. R. Mahadevan. The voiceover of Nagavalli is fabulously creepy and done by Ms. Durga and not by Ms. Bhagyalakshmi, as I believed until recently reading about it.

[Read more: Durga, the crouching Nagavalli in 'Manichithrathazhu' (manoramaonline.com)]

The comedy scenes in the movie do make us laugh (even after all these years). Innocent, Pappu,

Ganeshan and Mohanlal have all done their best in delivering these scenes.

In all, it is a complete package of entertainment, suspense, horror and beautiful music.

Watch this movie here:

Directed by: Fazil
Written by: Madhu Muttam
Cinematography: Venu, Anandakuttan, Sunny Joseph
Starring: Mohanlal, Suresh Gopi, Shobana, Thilakan, Innocent, KPAC Lalitha, Pappu

Malayalam Movie Review : Varavelppu (1989)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 07 Mar 2024 06:52:00 +0000

Whenever I hear of Varavelppu I think of my Uncle who is an NRI. It is his all-time favourite and I believe he has seen this movie atleast a million times!

Varavelppu (= welcome) is a heart-rending Malayalam movie which saw the genius of three prominent people in Malayalam cinema- Sathyan Anthikadu who directed the movie excellently well, Srinivasan who penned this story and Mohanlal, who put forward one of his most memorable performances ever. Take a look at what this movie is all about.

After seven long years Muralidharan (played by Mohanlal) returns to Kerala, India, his homeland. He is happy since he had been missing home so much. His two brothers and their families are eager to receive him. His sister-in-laws are so adoring that they compete against each other by making special meals and seeing to his every need. Everybody is happy that their dear Murali is home. Or so it seemed.

Murali soon finds out their true colours the hard way. When he throws in the bomb that he would not be going back to Dubai, the family is deeply shocked and annoyed. The fact is, both the brothers have been leading a decent life without any debts only because of Murali. For them Murali is a source of income; all they want is that he continue working for them and supply them with money with everlasting generosity. Murali is quite oblivious to all these and had always thought everyone loved him from their hearts.

When the two brothers understands that Murali’s decision is final, they approach him separately with ideas of putting his savings to good use (for them, that is). However Murali does not fall for their traps and decide something on his own- to buy a bus.

The brothers are totally exasperated. But they could do nothing about it. Murali thus becomes the proud owner of a bus which he names ‘Gulf Motors’. However everything was not going to be a smooth run.

The rest of the movie is about the various problems Murali faces as a bus owner- the bad condition of the bus, the treacherous employees, the irritating vehicle inspector(played by Srinivasan) and ultimately the wrath of the trade union.

The story goes on to unravel the faces behind the masks of smiling and deeply-concerned friends and relatives. And in another case it also shows a kind and cunning person hiding behind a tough and bold exterior.

After seeing Varavelppu you would feel how unfair life could be. It makes you realize that the life of a seemingly well-settled 'muthalali' could turn out to be equally harrowing as an ordinary worker.

I believe that everybody who has seen this movie will always think of it as a classic.

Watch the movie here:

Director: Sathyan Anthikadu
Story: Srinivasan
Actors: Mohanlal, Revathi, Jagadish, Srinivasan, Murali, Janardanan, Oduvil Unnikrishnan, Mamukkoya, KPAC Lalitha
Music: Johnson

Malayalam Movie Review: Kireedam (1989)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 06 Mar 2024 14:55:00 +0000

'നിൻ്റെ അച്ഛനാടാ പറയുന്നത് കത്തി താഴെ ഇടാൻ!'

There won't be many Malayalis who haven't heard this dialogue. While it is used with a humorous touch in trolls and whatnots, this dialogue was part of the most touching scenes in the movie Kireedam. The actors, Mohanlal and Thilakan had clearly given their 100% in this climax scene.

Kireedam tells the story of a young man whose dreams are shattered because of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Sethumadhavan, affectionately called Sethu, is the eldest darling son of Achuthan Nair, played superbly by Thilakan, a police constable. Achuthan's greatest wish is to make Sethu a Sub Inspector of Police. Sethu, who loves his father very much, tries his best to live upto his expectations and bring his father's dreams to fruition. He is in love with his cousin, and everyone has given their consent for the marriage. So far so good.

But then everything turns around as Achuthan is transferred to an obscure village as a punishment for filing a case against a politician's son. The village is notorious for its large number of criminals and is a nightmare for policemen. Achuthan's colleagues assure him that there is nothing to worry about if he turns a blind eye to these criminal activities. But then he does get involved and so does his son.. And their whole lives turn upside down...

Achuthan believes that no one has the right to take justice into his own hands, even if it is his son. He puts his duty as a policeman even above his love for his son. Sethu understands this but would not have chosen the alternative of not getting involved. The rest of the movie narrates how an ordinary man is pushed into the world of criminals by societal pressure and how easily even a family's darling could turn into a curse.

Kireedam has some stellar performances by Thilakan and Mohanlal with comic relief rendered by Cochin Haneefa, Jagathi and others. There is some touching music too which kindles nostalgia in many. This movie is where we got to see one terrifying villain Keerikkadan (Oh boy! I was scared of this guy while watching this movie for the first time!). In short Kireedam is a timeless classic which I am sure even the new generation would love watching.

Watch the movie here:

Directed by: Sibi Malayil

Written by: A. K. Lohithadas

Starring: Mohanlal, Thilakan, Parvathy, Jagathy, Kaviyoor Ponnamma, Jagadeesh

Music by Johnson

Malayalam Movie Review- Vadakkunokki Yanthram (1989)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 17:43:00 +0000

“Njanoru sundaraneyalla doctor. Karuthittanu. Pokkavum kammi...Njanithuvare creamukal onnum upayogichittilla.....Athu thechal velukkumo??”

Dineshan (Sreenivasan) knows he is not handsome. And that he is not tall and that he could never be attractive to women. In short, his confidence level points to zero. It is at this point of extreme inferiority complex that he decides to marry.

Now the girl {Shobha (role handled by Parvathy)} that he is about to marry happens to be extremely beautiful and taller and fairer! Dineshan is obviously perplexed and finds it hard to accept that someone like her would love and accept him as her husband.

What follows is marriage and of course, lots and lots of trouble. Dineshan, in his desperation to win Shobha’s love and respect concocts infinite number of plans and schemes. His friend and adviser is Innocent, who in his enthusiasm to help him, pushes Dineshan into even more trouble.

What starts off as a small problem soon becomes serious and affects his relationship with his wife as well as his mother and siblings. His inferiority complex makes him do unnecessary and insensible things and takes him alarmingly towards a mental breakdown.

The first few minutes of the movie does not have any dialogue at all, but within that time we get an idea of the protagonist’s character. This is emphasised by the hilarious letter that Dineshan writes to a psychologist explaining his problems. As the movie develops we cannot help feeling an urge to stop Dineshan from doing anymore stupidity.

Well, Dineshan may not have done all that if his wife knew about his condition or if his mother and siblings gave him some mental support or if Dineshan was an untroubled man in the first place...Then there will not have been a movie!

Written and directed by Sreenivasan, Vadakkunokki Yanthram is another one of his outstanding work. The movie’s success has been, I believe, in taking the audience through a man’s emotional and psychological turmoil. And to top it all, Sreenivasan’s performance was magnificent!

In brief, a great movie and which deserves the status of being one of the best movies in the 80’s...

Written and Directed by Sreenivasan
Cast: Sreenivasan, Parvathy, Innocent, KPAC Lalitha, Usha etc.

Malayalam Movie Review: Nadodikkattu (1987)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 12 May 2009 18:16:00 +0000

‘Angane Pavanayi Shavamayi’

Nadodikkattu is the story of Dasan and Vijayan, two simpletons who unknowingly falls into one mess after another in their struggle to become something in their lives.

Dasan: (Mohanlal) His catchphrase is ‘I am B.Com. First Class!’ He is so proud of being a graduate that he repeats it whenever there is an opportunity. You might think that he has a great job, but he is a peon in a private company which pays just enough salary to meet daily expenses.

Vijayan: (Sreenivasan) He is a very funny guy and more idiotic than Dasan. Dasan takes advantage of him a lot- like making him cook, do household chores and constantly reminding him that he is not a graduate. Vijayan is a peon too.

And so everything goes reasonably well until one day they lose their jobs! (Ahem... they beat up the new Managing Director by mistake!!)

Cows to the rescue?!
No job, no money, no food! Their landlord feels pity for them and gets them a loan from the bank to buy cows. He convinces them that selling milk was a great business and that it was the secret of his success. He also sells them two cows which he claims would give them 25 litres of milk a day!!

Some Comedy scenes from Nadodikkattu

Dasan and Vijayan are so happy with the prospect that they start dreaming about their prosperous future. Surely they should buy a new car, a new house, TV, refrigerator, VCR, A.C......But the cows do not give them 25 litres of milk a day. Not even close. Each day the quantity of milk starts dwindling... Things start to appear dim once again and the only way they could think as a way out is to leave the country.

Dubai Dreams
Soon they meet a man named Gafoor (Mamukkoya) who promises to take them to Dubai for a certain sum of money. Dasan and Vijayan give him all the savings that they had ever made and in no time they find themselves in Dubai. So they think! It is not long before they understand that they are nowhere near Dubai but in Tamil Nadu, the neighbouring state of Kerala!!! Oops!!

The Villain
As the movie progresses we get to meet a very interesting character, the villain, none other than Thilakan. Even though he plays a negative role, he is actually kind of a comedy character. His occasional outbursts of ‘Escape, CID!!’ is enough to make anyone laugh. And who can forget Pavanayi (Captain Raju)?? The dangerous assassin who comes to kill Dasan and Vijayan, who turns out to be not so dangerous as expected:-))

Mohanlal and Srinivasan have paired up in many movies, but I believe that their performance is at its best in Nadodikkattu. The story is really good; in addition to being a light comedy movie it also touches on various issues that ordinary people face every day. Throughout the movie there are witty remarks about day-to-day affairs which make it all the more interesting. A small example: when somebody asks Dasan and Vijayan why they were late for work, the reply is ‘Ask the Government to supply rice which cooks faster!’

Some famous dialogues from Nadodikkattu
‘Ithiri thengapinnakkundayirunnathu njanangu thinnu...’ ‘Atha njan nokkiyappo kanathathu’!!
‘Eda Dasa..etha ee alavaladi?’ ‘Look man, I am not an alavaladi, I am Pavanayi’

Screenplay: Sreenivasan
Director: Sathyan Anthikadu
Cast: Mohanlal, Sreenivasan, Shobana, Thilakan, Innocent, Mamukkoya
Sequels: Pattanapravesham, Akkare Akkare Akkare

Malayalam Movie Review: Chithram (1988)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 17:48:00 +0000

‘Ithu anayalla, Ithu thengayalla, Ithu ulakkayumalla’

I saw Chithram today and the dialogue between Sreenivasan and Sukumari did not fail to make me laugh. This movie has everything- good story, screenplay, music, comedy and suspense. However the story ends in a tragedy. Even then, everybody considers Chithram as one of the best movies in Malayalam. (I think that Keralites do not mind if a movie has a tragic ending, provided the story is good. Realistic and family oriented movies-that is the formula for success here) Mohanlal’s acting is superb and that lent a special charm to this movie. No wonder it ran successfully in Kerala for MORE THAN A YEAR!!

The story unfolds thus:Kalyani (Ranjini) is in love and wants to marry the guy. But when her father who is abroad knows about this, he disagrees and threatens her that he won’t give her a penny if she marries the guy. Kalyani however decides to go ahead, but when her boyfriend realises that she has been disinherited, dumps her.

Even when the heartbroken Kalyani is pulling herself together, her father tells her that he had been wrong and that he should not have reacted so harshly. He gives her his blessings and informs her that he will be coming to India soon to visit the newly married couple.

Kalyani fears that he won’t be able to handle the truth because of his delicate health. So with the help of her uncle Kaimal (Nedumudi Venu) she hires a man named Vishnu (Mohanlal) to play the role of her husband during her father’s visit. Vishnu agrees to this drama only because he is desperately in need of Rs.15000/-, the story behind which is revealed later on in the movie.

But problems soon arise as Kalyani and Vishnu continuously bicker and find it difficult to get along. The rest of the story is about the growing relationship between Kalyani and Vishnu and the revelation of Vishnu’s past. Sreenivasan has a great role to play as the scheming relative who wants to get the family house and title through his sly methods. He is a totally funny character in the movie!

I have seen Chithram many a time. But amazingly I never got bored. That is the power of good cinema I guess.

Credits: Directed by Priyadarshan; Music by Kannur Rajan; Story by Sreenivasan

Malayalam Movie Review: In Harihar Nagar (1990)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 16:59:00 +0000

'Thomasukuttyyy!!! Vittodaaaa!!"

I am sure that those who have ever seen this Malayalam comedy movie will never forget this dialogue, especially since its sequel '2 Harihar Nagar' is running successfully in theatres throughout Kerala.

Mahadevan (Mukesh), Govindankutty (Siddique), Thomasukutty (Ashokan) and Appukuttan(Jagadish) became Kerala’s new comedy phenomenon when they made their appearance in ‘In Harihar Nagar’. The dialogues of the movie became famous; the characters were adored and grouped under some of the best comedy figures in the history of Malayalam movies.

The storyline goes thus:
Mahadevan, Govindankutty, Thomasukutty and Appukuttan live in a housing colony named Harihar Nagar and are great friends. They are usually found doing nothing much in particular except checking out girls in the neighbourhood and generally having lots of fun.

So when a beautiful girl, Maya (Geetha Vijayan), moves in to Harihar Nagar, they are in seventh heaven. Now all that they want is to grab her attention. Consequently, they are found to be doing all sorts of stuff like singing songs {‘Ekantha Chandrikeee...(lonely maiden..)’}, trying to get familiar with her grandfather and grandmother, having a go at playing heroes (in the hilarious library incident) and even following her all around the place. Alas, everything ends in one disaster after another.

Underlying all this fun and frolic, are some sinister and mystifying events. Maya had come to Harihar Nagar in order to know about the mysterious circumstances which led to the death of her brother, Sethumadhavan (Suresh Gopi). The story takes a turn when the four guys, desperate to befriend Maya, cooks up a story that they were close friends of Sethumadhavan. And what should follow, but more disasters...

Maybe it is the correct mix of the elements of comedy and a good storyline that makes this movie special. Or maybe it is the suspense or the interesting music. Or maybe it is the great acting by Mukesh, Siddique, Ashokan and Jagadish. Ok, perhaps it is because of all of the above.

I especially liked Jagadish’s acting in the movie. So hilarious! His dialogue “Kakka thoorinna thonunne (I think a crow pooped on me)”and “Echuse me (Excuse me)” has made such an impression that it has become his signature dialogue. He more or less became the king of comedy after this movie.

The entire movie is well put together with not one boring moment. The villain in the movie John Honai (Riza Bava) gave a great impression to the audience of Kerala and received much appreciation for his excellent acting.

So, excellent movie! Well done, the team of In Harihar Nagar! Waiting to see ‘2 Harihar Nagar’ as soon as I get hold of a ticket and I hope I won't be disappointed!

Directed by Siddique Lal; Produced by Khais-Kuriachan; Written by Siddique Lal; Music by S. Balakrishnan; Cinematography by Venu; Editing by Gaurishekar K. R.