MASTHISHKA MARANAM

Synopsis: A grieving father had to depend on VR game to overcome the pain of his loss. soon, that lands him to more trouble. Can he get out of it?

The biggest positive of this movie is the smart and genuine world building. This movie is set around 2050 where AI rules the roost. We get to see protagonist talking to AI housekeeper. Police jeep and drones fly over the city. AI actors are more than human actors. We even hear of case of a robot getting mistreated. The list goes on after a second watch. This doesn’t stop with just creative ideas. Krishand takes us to a crazy trip to this dystopian era and makes sure to connect upcoming incidents cleverly to weave a unique and witty tale. That’s what Gaganachari failed to do. Apart from dark humour, Krishand takes satirical approach to criticize media sensationalism, how actress remain just as mere objects for consumption, and much more. Krishand used extreme close up shots to capture the intensity of the experience of the characters using VR device.

Technical fineness is what mad the movie turn out to a difference experience. Kudos to the complete team (Sound design, costume design, make up etc..) for making this movie a visual spectacle. Usage of Trivandrum slang was nice too. Songs were decent too, especially the ones created by housekeeper AI was really funny.

Rajisha Vijayan puts up one of her career best performance as the mysterious Frida soman. Her unpredictable behaviour, ability to decieve people around her and the final showdown were brilliant. Suresh krishna was really hillarious as Charlie. Divya prabha had to switch between genuine emotions and over-the-top expressions. She did it nicely. Jagadish was convincing as GDP officer, especially during interrogation scenes. Niranj was decent as Bimal.

Coming to the drawbacks, there are repeated sequences where pivotal characters experience the VR memory game. We know what they are gonna experience. So, that could have been trimmed. As Krishand packs the movie with humour throughout, movie lacks the emotional quotient. When Bimal talks about his loss, we don’t feel the pain of the character.

Masthishka maranam is one of its kind of experience if you are ready to accept the weirdness of the narration and jump into something unique. Watch it just for Krishand’s craft.

Watch link: https://www.netflix.com/in/title/82774428

Love

A puzzle built with hallucinations and few incidents. That’s how love can be summarized easily.
Love begins with a scene where Rajisha’s character coming to know that she is pregnant. Then we witness a fight between the characters of Rajisha and Shine .We feel like have seen such situations in many films earlier. Few characters enter and gives the story a strange U Turn.

The biggest positive is the writing of the characters. Before introducing the central characters, Khalid Rehman gets into the pivotal incident and builds the tension in the viewer. Then Gokulan’s character walks in (well-written one). The character is thinking about suicide due to family problems. Soon, Sudhi Koppa’s character enters. Through both these characters, we could get an idea about Shine’s character. Scene with Johny Antony talks about patriarchy hidden in the mind of Shine’s character.
But the final twist may keep questions unanswered for few. Rehman could have kept scenes clarifying the twist.

My pick of the performances is obviously Gokulan as he has got a meaty character. Second best will be Shine as he portrays the conflicts of the flawed ‘Anoop’. Rajisha did her part well in total but scores nicely towards the end when she gets more screen space.
Background score keeps building the tension in scenes throughout. Few shots were top class. Cuts were fine though few scenes may feel stretched.
Love transports us to that flat and gives a thrilling experience, added with a pinch of humour. Love isn’t a movie to throw out when you come out of the cinema hall. It need a complete retrospection or decoding after watching for better understanding.

Finals

Finals narrate the story of cyclist Alice(Rajisha) and her father Vargheese (Suraj).Alice sets her goal to win Olympic medal in 2020 Olympics and starts her practice day and night.But fate and sports authority changed everything.

Finals begins with title card paying tribute to Olympic medal winners and starts similar to the story of rise of a cyclist from a village in Kattapana to Olympic medal.But Director Arun wants to convey more than and he succeeds in it too.

First half establishes the issues of Vargheese Maash and the relation of Alice with his childhood friend Manuel. Script gives equal priority to the politics inside Sports department ,difficulties that the players face and the dreams of Alice and Vargheese. Barring few flaws in execution initially,The best part is that Director Arun is not trying to be loud and explain every aspect. Let the visuals speak for themselves.(That’s good).It’s also good that Director handles emotional scenes (especially climax) subtly. Rajisha performs quite well as a professional Cyclist and apts her body language too. Suraaj puts up a magnificent show(probably the best in the list) as a doting father and helpless coach.Other notable perfromers are Niranj,Maniyan Pilla Raju,Nisthar Sait ,Sona Nair and TiniTom.

Pradeep Elamon elevates the beauty of the movie with his landscape and aerial shots of Vagamon and Kattappana.(Cycling championship scenes) .Songs suits the mood and so does the background score. Finals stand apart from the Star-budded festival season potboiler entertainers .It is disheartening to say that i watched this film in a theatre with almost 80 % of the seats empty.

Give a chance to Finals.It won’t disappoint .

Rating:3.5/5