1001 Nunakal

As the name suggests, this movie, set around Dubai revolves around a group of friends starting to get into a task or game where they begin to share something they have hidden from their partners over the years. What happens when situation goes wrong?

The premise may seem similar to that of recent malayalam movie 12th man. But 12th man had more hurried approach. But here, there is a valid reason why these friends get together and starts to play the game. Initially, writer shows us the minor conflicts between two of the couples.

Later, writer organically gets into the the truth of a couple story that then led to the beginning of the game and helps the viewers to draw line between truth and lie within the couples.
The main positive of this movie is the different ways of approaching the game. There is a character who cooks up story for the game. Some revelations went away without any impact. But slowly as the game continues, conversation gets heated up. Making was good enough to capture the intensity of pain of the characters. Though some of the key plot points were predictable, Director deserve credits to keep the viewers engaged till the closure using the diverse kind of characters. Kudos to Salim Ahmed for backing the team.

Though minimally used, background score had the intensity in some of the crucial scenes. For instance: Scene showing the regret of Remya suresh’s character and the tension building in portions around a missing valuable property. There is a dialogue that Vakeel character says about Marriage and divorce (He views it like he is just helping passengers in a bus to get into another bus when one breaks down). Dialogues like that sums up the mindset of the characters. There is a character who shares the opinion that there is no need to accept blame unnecessarily for the family .

Cuts were pretty fine enough to limit the scope of every story without unnecessary exaggeration. Performance wise, Remya suresh got a short but well written character and her portrayal of pain of breaking the trust of other characters was worth mentioning. Sudheesh scaria was enjoyable as the Advocate who managed the discussion as referee. Others too fit into their respective roles.

Apart from the occasional predictability, restricted location setting becomes a key concern for the movie that takes away the x-factor. The whole story is set around a single house and its surrounding.
1001 nunakal is an emotional relationship drama that works mainly because of the relatable and effective portrayal of the scenarios within different couples where truth turns out to be lies and vice versa.

Watch link: https://www.sonyliv.com/movies/aayirathonnu-nunakal-malayalam-1000232331

Do Gubbare

Do Gubbare revolves around Rohan, an IT guy who shifts from Indore to Pune and how he creates a strong bond with his colleagues and Ajoba, the landlord of the house where he stays.

Writer pretty much knows that this story doesn’t contain much surprise or twist in it. So, he focused more on building relatable characters (Though the count is less) and making memorable scenes. For instance: Radha who is less of a maid and more of a family member, Coimbatore based colleague, Kid who loves fish, Friend character or the ever energetic old man character Ajoba. Even viewers could recollect the moments involving the tea shop owner.

Initially, we see Ajoba as a bit of a strict landlord. Director Varun takes us through how Ajoba helps Rohit in exploring the unknown place. Varun also manages to succeed in merging the subplots to the core plot. The way of portraying the final surprise through the reactions of every character really shows the quality of the director.
Dialogues were very important in the initial set up of the plot and thus further convey the intensity of situations. In a scene when Rohit asks regarding Ajoba’s friendship, Ajoba says ‘I don’t know the number of years of our friendship. It was strong enough to forget to count’. Background score gave the pleasant feel throughout the episodes. Score helps the narration in conveying the pain within Ajoba when he starts telling about his past.

Radha’s character had the fun element in her dialogues and the jovial performance of the actress made sure that her scenes were enjoyable and spread the charisma to the viewers also. Actor who did the role of Ajoba really carries the energy of the character. He gives a standout performance in the emotional breakdown scenes as well. It is delight to watch Rohit, especially in combinational scenes with Ajoba. Actor who played that role too deserve the credit.

The 5th episode had a very key conflict where Ajoba’s family members plan to stay with him permanently and how Rohit handles it. Writers seemed to miss the opportunity in building the conflict. That episode felt more like it stretched too far unlike the other episodes.
Apart from the dull moments in the fifth episode and the predictability, Do Gubbare is a simple heartwarming tale of bonding between 2 individuals in different generations.

Watch link: https://www.jiocinema.com/tv-shows/do-gubbare/3784534

Kerala crime files

Kerala crime files follow a team of cops trying to look for a Shiju, accused of a murder in a lodge. Can they find him, just with a fake address? Watch this compelling series to know that.
The most important merit of the series is that the only hope for the team is a fake address that they have. After a point of time, that address itself becomes somewhat like joke.

Director Ahmed Khabeer is not at all in hurry to reach the crime scene quickly. He initially takes us through Sharath, a receptionist in a lodge who eventually becomes the sole eye witness and then only shows the investigation part.

Writer knows the limitation of not having much surprise moments, but still manages to add the required subplots to engage the viewers. Though the investigation continues around 2011, writer smartly limits the possibility of CCTV and mostly takes the usual straightforward path. Director complements it with a narration style compelling enough to look forward for the next episodes. Unlike few other thriller movies, build up given by other characters for villain is also minimal.
Family emotions of the cops were portrayed really well. For instance: Wait for a baby for Navas’ character, Separation of Lal’s character and limited family time of Aju’s character. Humour also worked well for the most part.

Special mention to the dialogues for delivering the message regarding the difference that society shows towards a section of people and how pressure from top differs for them and a person with celebrity status. Cuts were pretty sharp enough to combine the important sub plots effectively and avoid unnecessary template conversation scenes, especially towards the end. Hesham’s background score plays an important role in highlighting the key moments and maintaining tension in the interrogation scenes. Special mention to gripping visuals as well.
Aju Varghese puts up a brilliant performance as Manoj, who was the most desperate to catch Shiju in the cat and mouse game. Compared to the actor’s caliber, Lal had nothing much to do other than giving order and yelling at the team. Navas did his job well in portraying the conflict of completing the case and taking leave for his wife’s pregnancy. Karikku fame, Zhinz shan too did notable performance as the most experienced member of the team.

The main Drawback was that subplot involving Devaki Rajendran’s character Lathika and a union member wasn’t that necessary to the narration. That should have been shortened. Writer forgot to explore more on the antagonist character. There is a scene where Aju’s character Manoj asks his Father-in-law regarding the problems faced by a cross-eyed person. I expected that kind of a story to explain the strange behavior of Antagonist. But those portions felt bit rushed towards the end.

Nevertheless, Kerala crime files is a good start to Malayalam web series on Hotstar. This series is a perfect example that impressive whodunit thriller can be made without frequent twists and turns. Waiting for next case in the next season.

Watch link: https://www.hotstar.com/in/tv/kerala-crime-files-shiju-parayil-veedu-neendakara/1260141610?utm_source=gwa

Daredevil Musthafa

This movie is about what happens if a Muslim boy Mustafa joins a school where majority students are Hindu.

Writer initially traverses us through the history of the village.Then we get to see the friendship of the key characters and then comes the entry of Musthafa. Director manages to show the shift in the intensity of the rivalry between Musthafa and the others, starting from banter to fight. Along with these characters, we get to know more about the plight of the school infrastructure and the reason behind it. Along with the main conflict, writer adds another small conflict that hurt the ego of English teacher character, which in turn gets resolved more convincingly than the main conflict.

Another major plus point is the writing of the main characters. Though Musthafa is shown as naive person, he too crosses the limit once in hurting the religious belief of another character and that adds genuinity to the character. One the friend character too changes his mind and that has been conveyed convincingly through dialogues.

Coming to the performance, the actor who did the role of Musthafa did justice to his role. Though the character had limited screen space, actor who did the role of Sports sir successfully portrayed the ability of the character to handle various situations. Iyengar character too had flawed nature of ego and competitiveness and credit for the actor.

Background score mostly scores towards the end trying to convey the emotions of thep characters. Cuts were nice enough to maintain the flow of the narrative when the conflict changes.
The main negative I felt was that director barely tries to create the friendly ambience of Mustafa along with the others and that makes the sudden shift of the central character seem bit hurried.
Daredevil Musthafa is a comedy cum sports drama (I don’t know if I can call it a period movie), that highlights the relevance of prioritizing unity and not hatred. Hurried finish may have affected the end but surely not the overall impact.

Watch link: https://www.primevideo.com/detail/0PZKXT61C9O536H6QAK40Q76NH/ref=atv_dp_share_mv

Me Vasanth rao

This movie is available on Jio cinema with subtitles. Hope jio cinema improves their support to the regional contents.

Me Vasant Rao is about the journey of Vasanth rao from normal clerk who loves music to a renowned singer whom people admire.

This movie starts with the birth of Vasanth rao and shows the conflict leading to the separation of Vasant’s mother from his father. We got to see the fight of the single parent in raising him and the way he is raised up. We then get to see multiple people that he meets and learns various lessons from them.

There are few other recent movies (Disciple, Qala) that narrates the lives of hindustani musicians. This movie is different in the way of portrayal of the protagonist. He is someone who keeps his identity in music without imitating others.He never believed in defining rules in music.He sings solely for happiness and takes his music to his heart. That’s why he was able to make a change in the mind of audience. Writer successfully create an emotional connect well enough to understand the character.

Supporting characters were written well enough to support the protagonist at crucial situations(Begum character, Friend, Mother character). Director uses optimal use of music to uplift the narration. Some of the terms related to hindustani music were new to me. (For instance: Gharana, Lavani). Happy that I got introduced to these terms.

Songs were so soothing to hear, especially Shreya ghoshal song. No wonder Rahul Despande earned national award for one of the song. Art team made the time period look authentic(Riot scene involving train). After point of time (Specifically after Vasanth met a woman and sang Lavani song), story moves slowly. Cuts could have been better to help the viewer keep engaged.

Coming to the performances, Rahul Despande did an excellent job in portraying the hardships of Vasanth rao. He portrayed the conflict of being a responsible family man and passionate singer, with atmost perfection. Special mention to the actor who portrayed the childhood of Vasanth and mother character (I have seen her in Vaalvi movie previously. Watch out for an interaction scene with Vasanth when he goes back to work). Amey did notable performance as Deenath Mangeshkar, one of the life changing person for Vasanth. There is a scene where he says, “When you want to sing and don’t get audience, that too is poverty”. That dialog shows his passion towards music.

Other than the tiring length, main drawback was that father character wasn’t having much screen space as expected.

Me Vasanth rao is a memorable ode biopic of an artist who shows his talent without trying to please people or looking for acclaim. Most recommended for someone who knows Marathi music culture .

Cliché statement to add: Not Everyone’s cup of tea.

Watch link: https://www.jiocinema.com/movies/me-vasantrao-marathi/3751217/watch

Burqa

A small bold movie that questions some of the customs in Islam. Though the total length is under 90 min, Director Sarjun manages to ask the right questions within the time period.
Najma, a nurse is stuck inside a house because her husband died recently. What happens when Surya, a goon runs into her house asking for water and later makes change in her life.
In the beginning, Najma denies to help him because of the custom. Later, we get to see conversation and arguments between these two. Dialogues were spot on.

Films involving controversial issues may have some kind of propaganda. Sarjun never tried to include any kind of propaganda in his writing. The most important thing is that Sarjun never blames religion or gender as a whole. We get to see her husband Anwar understanding her really well. We also get to see Najma’s father taking the initiative for her higher studies. Sarjun also brings in her problems in very subtle manner. I really loved the climax and the background score in that scene. Sarjun never leaves us with a solution to Najma’s problems. He raises major concerns regarding how Najma accepts her life to be, without asking questions.
Cuts were precise as every conversation scene had relevance in the movie. Arabic touch in background score gave a unique feel to the viewers. Frames were beautiful to keep the viewers engaged within limited location.

Just like Kalaiyarasan’s character says, Mirnaa had to show the pain and inner thoughts and feelings of loneliness of the character and she does that effectively. Though it’s not a challenging character, Kalaiyarasan gets a character with a painful past. He too manages to convey it really well as the movie progressed.

The only concern was that some of the viewers may feel that story is worth only for short film runtime. Lack of cinematic elements may be an issue for some .But surely not for me.
Burqa is an underrated daring movie that deserved to be watched atleast for the questions that Sarjun asks. Watch it on Aha Tamil.

Verdict: Worth the time

Viduthalai part 1

Viduthalai Part 1 is brutally brilliant story of cat and mouse game of police force and team of Vadyar perumal, who is also the mentor of ‘Makkal padai’. What is the intention of this group? Why are they creating problems?

Initially, we got to see a train bomb incident and its after effects.(More details will be revealed only in next part). People keep trying to save the lives of many. We got to see the conflict between cops and media. Then, we are introduced to a naive cop, Kumarasan. He is such a committed officer, such that he is ready to take Punishment from his senior officials for not listening to his words and trying to help local people.

Vetrimaran manages to intensely show the ego politics within various levels of police officers and show the struggle of lack of basic facilities in the location where they stay. Writer Jeyamohan adds his politics to the dialogues of lead character. There are few meaty characters to watch out for in the next part.

Soori puts up his career best performance as the committed cop. Special mention for his performance in final action sequences and the scenes where he expresses anger very minimally. Vijay sethupathi too shines in his mass avatar as the leader Perumal. Wait for exploring more of his character will be high for sure. Office in charge character will make viewer wanting to atleast slap him once. Background score played an important role in sublime romantic scenes and maintains the tension in chase sequences. Visuals (Especially forest) were gory enough to portray the brutality of the situation. Mystery of the place was conveyed well right from initial portions.

Songs were just passable. The main drawback was the addition of heroic elements towards the end which is very much unlike the lead character and the director Vetrimaran. At times, background score was bit too loud that some dialogues weren’t clear. Lip sync timing issue was initially notable but I somehow got used to it as the movie progressed.

Viduthalai is brutally brilliant and disturbing period police procedural crime drama that portray the hardships of common cop to try to make changes in the flawed police system. World building is done really well in the first part. Now it’s wait for the completion of the story in the next part. Catch this movie on big screen now. Try to watch with subtitles.

Purusha pretham

Purusha pretham is the story of Super sebastian, who narrates half truth to his colleagues regarding some of his case incidents. He got stuck with an unidentified body investigation and a lady claims it to be her husband. Is something fishy in it ? Watch the movie and find out.

Though predictable, Krishant has managed to make the viewer engaged with dark humour. I really loved Krishand’s idea of adding supporting documents and information related to some of the dialogues. Just like his previous movie, he keep giving social commentary as required in the narration. He deserve praise for highlighting the flawed system that causes trouble to the cops. We get to see the hierarchy of bossing of cops throughout the movie. We also get to see much more conveyed through dialogues. For instance: the scene where Jagadish’s character Dileep discusses about their backup plan during suspension. Writing of characters was good enough to back the unique style of making. Scenes involving lemonade and orange juice were really funny. Lighting gave a different feel to the movie.

Prasanth Alexander gets to play the best character of his career till date. He managed to portray the frustration and ego of the character. After Rorschach, Jagadish gets a really well-written role of an experienced cop and he made the character memorable. Darshana too performed her role with limited emotions. Other notable performers are James Elia, Mala parvathy.

Major issue was the length. Cuts could have been done better to avoid focusing on some of the unnecessary supporting characters. Though the tension was maintained in pivotal scenes, I’m not a big fan of the rap music used as background score.

Eventhough it may takes time to get into the tone of the movie, I’m sure that once viewer is into the movie, viewer will stay engaged throughout for the most part.

Watch link: https://www.sonyliv.com/movies/purusha-pretham-malayalam-1000214563?watch=true

Thalaikoothal

Thalaikoothal is about Pazhani (Brilliant Samuthirakani) looks after his bedridden father and how the people around him compels him to do the ritual.

what makes Thalaikoothal different from other films (KD- which is a satire and Baaram- which is a social drama) narrating about the same ritual, is that Director never tries to give a strong buildup around the ritual. We get to see the situation of each members in the family. Pazhani had to go for a security job to look after his father. His wife and other relatives looked clearly dissatisfied with the situation. In parallel, we see Pazhani’s father, Muthu living in his dream. Along with Pazhani’s family, we also see Pazhani’s friend getting involved in the situation.

Director succeeded in conveying the affection of Pazhani towards his father. In a scene, Pazhani’s friend says, “I don’t know about rebirth. If there is one, I wish to be your father in the next birth “. Pazhani replies , “Never, he will be my father in every life”. There are many such instances of Pazhani and his daughter showing the affection to Muthu. In parallel, Director Jayaprakash Radhakrishnan traverse through the romantic world of younger version of Muthu. Top notch visuals and heartfelt background score makes the flashback portions more compelling. Visuals shown from the perspective of Muthu’s eyes looked impressive.

Coming to the writing of the characters, Jayaprakash gives ample screen space to the major supporting cast also. Some of the punchlines of the character of Aadukalam murugadoss were spot on. Backdrop of his character also looked authentic.
Performance wise, Samudrakani puts up a compelling performance as Pazhani. He managed to convey the pain of the character. The actress who did the role of his wife also performed well enough. Special mention to Kathir to excel in the flashback scenes. Some of the actors in minor roles looked bit amateurish initially.

Coming to the drawbacks, though the magical realism worked well for some portions, it looked like used unnecessarily in some portions. Some scenes towards the end felt bit lagging and story moves bit slowly. Cuts needed better rework. Predictability backfires the engaging factor in the movie.
To sum it up, Thalaikoothal is a moving tale that opens more about the ritual and how people are forced to do it.

Watch link: https://www.netflix.com/title/81606171

Nanpakal nerathu mayakkam

First of all, so glad to enjoy this movie in front of a packed theatre.
Coming to the core plot, James, a self-centered guy returns back, with his family and friends ,after Velankanni trip. While others were having a nap, James asked the driver to stop the bus near a village but never returned quickly. Nanpakal nerathu mayakkam (NNM) is about what happened before he came back.

In the beginning, Director LJP introduces the character of James. He gets irritated often when something he doesn’t like occurs. For instance: the scene when he complains about the increase in sugar content in a tea. In another scene, he complains about the Tamil songs in the bus. Writer S Hareesh adds subtle humor by using interesting supporting characters. Old Tamil songs playing in the background and nostalgic ads (“Washing powder Nirma”) play a pivotal role in the world building of the village backdrop.

LJP made sure to maintain the slow pace of the narrative in many scenes. Though mostly static, visuals bring authenticity to the incidents in the village. Editor should have avoided some unnecessary random shots though it never feels like a “lag”.

Undoubtedly, this movie is a one man show of Mammootty. Watch out for the scene when he argues with the villagers and the transformation scenes. He really makes the shift of the character look more free flowing. Special mention to the actors who played as Poonkuzhali, Sally and Nurse Benny, though their roles are much limited compared to the protagonist.

The main negative was the absence of a proper explanation to the transformation of James. Writer’s decision to keep the mystery around James somewhere reduces the completeness of the movie.

“Death is sinking into slumbers deep; Birth again is waking out of sleep”. This Thirukkural quote sums up the crux of the movie. NNM may not be the best of LJP (Ee ma yau is my personal favorite of all LJP movies I watched) but it is worth a watch for the kind of magical journey this movie offers. Expect something different from Lijo’s previous ventures.