Monday 9 May 2011

Elsamma Enna Aankutty Malayalam film Review


Due to the untimely death of her father,Elsamma, eldest of four daughters is forced to be the breadwinner of the family.She works as a local newspaper reporter and agent to support her family.She is a strong willed woman who stands up against any injustice committed against her fellow villagers.Her fiery nature makes her enemies like the local liquor baron and corrupt Panchayat member.Her best friend is Unni who makes a living by selling milk.Pappan, an old man is a neighbor of Elsamma's family and both their families love each other.The film looks at the change in this equation when Pappan's grandson Aby comes to the village along with his friends and also the relationship between Elsamma and Unni with the arrival of Aby.

Eventhough on the story aspect it is the same old wine in new bottle,Lal Jose has to be applauded for creating some plausible characters and just about enough friction to maintain the interest of the viewers in the proc eedings.As such there are instances where he tries to play to the gallery by trying to milk emotional aspect of the audience.An example of this is the incident regarding Elsamma's mother which was placed for this effect.Lal Jose has succeeded to some extend to portray the village life with its share of bondage and enmity among the villagers in a realistic fashion with right amount of masala with a hold on screenplay which forces the viewer to maintain his interest.

Ann Augustine as Elsamma,I feel has not been able to nail the character to perfection.Rather than a natural actress,she seems to be more of a director's actress.In some of the scenes that is visible,but overall she is quite adequate and has done justice to the role.Surprise package of this film is definitely Kunchacko Boban.He has definitely stole many hearts with his natural portrayal of the character of Unni.Venu and Jagathi are of course actors who can portray any roles with perfection and result here also is nothing different.Vijayaraghavan in the villain role with comic touch really shines.Indrajith as a happy go lucky youngster inspite of not looking that young somehow pulls of that character without causing much damage.Suraj is in his elements and enlivens the film with his act.

My Rating : AVERAGE

Saturday 7 May 2011

Achuvinte Amma Malayalam Film Review


A film which talks about the life of a single parent,about her daughter,the bondage and differences among them depicted in the typical,simple,realistic format in which Sathyan Anthikad excels.Achu, an young woman has only her mother Vanaja as her parent.They both love each other and since Achu realizes that any question about her father hurts her mother,she do not insist on it.Vanaja through her hardwork does well as an insurance agent and when Achu gets a job in a construction firm,their lives are filled with happiness.In course of her work Achu meets Immanuel,a handsome talkative man and they become friends in due course.The film now looks at how this relationship proceed further and how this causes a friction between mother and daughter.

Sathyan Anthikad usually has this habit of yielding to excessive melodrama and thereby hijacking the movie from its premise.Here most of the time he stays on course,but there are instances where one can see forceful insertion of melodrama to manipulate audience.One such is the hospitalization of Achu and reasons for this.Even though the back story of Immanuel had the potential for similar exploitation,Sathyan didn't go overboard and sort of maintained a balance.The ending part is also well done and it is great to see that a realistic resolution was found for mystery behind Achu's father.

Urvashi as the mother gives a great performance.Meera Jasmin as Achu do justice to the role.Narain's acting initially I find it little annoying but overall he is just about adequate in that role.Sukumari and Oduvil Unnikrishnan prove that when you have natural talent, any role that is little different from the mainstream can be played with ease.KPAC Lalitha is in fine form and my favourite scene is the one where she introduces a rich man with golden teeth as a potential alliance for Vanaja.Her insistence of golden teeth not only evokes humor but also is a dig at the usual appetite of Malayalees towards gold.The actor who played the police constable with the slang,I found initially difficult to digest,but gradually I warmed up to his acting and found it interesting.A film with its heart at its right place,some tender moments,some forgettable melodramatic scenes,but overall a film which do not disappoint.

My Rating : ABOVE AVERAGE

Sunday 1 May 2011

Yakshi Malayattoor Ramakrishnan Malayalam Novel


Srinivasan is a handsome college lecturer. He gets accolades for his dedication towards his job, has a beautiful girlfriend until his life turns upside down due to an accident at college lab.He is disfigured due to this.He starts losing everything dear in his life due to this.His girlfriend starts ignoring him,he is not able to concentrate on his teaching.Then he meets a beautiful woman who accepts him in spite of his handicap.But soon he becomes doubtful regarding the intention of this woman and he starts doubting whether this woman is in fact human as she proclaims to be or a vampire in human form.

An excellent novel which explores human mind which can take unexpected turns,which has the ability for conflicting emotions,which fails to recognise love and embraces hate.The novel explores the sane and insane world through the mind of Srinivasan who lives in a world where reality is very much distorted according to him.He cries for help and points out the injustice done to him,but the world see it in a different way.As alleged by Srinivasan is the whole world conspiring against him,is he being misjudged or being disfigured in the accident impaired his rational mind,the answers to these questions are explored in this novel in a language which not only keeps the reader in an element of suspense but also forces him to think where exactly the real,sane,rational world ends and unreal,insane,irrational world takes over.

Malayattoor's simple but elegant language keeps the novel to be read at a fair pace and the suspense element in the novel is the icing on the cake.Even though Novel's emphasis is on the character Srinivasan(the story is told through his viewpoint), the other characters stand on their own and play their part and by the end we get to know what transpired in the mind of Srinivasan.

My Rating : Excellent