"Ustaad Hotel" -- Movie review

To meet my expectations of this movie, it was always going to be a challenge. Thanks to all those hype created after the unanimous positive reviews from all quarters … But fairly enough, it managed to pass the test with a first class!

STORY:  About Anjali’s story and script, I rate it good but not great. It has a descent enough positive flow, but at times goes in some predictable lines and many parts inspired from Gowrikar’s ‘Swades’. What I liked about the story line is the way in which the Muslim background is used for the movie. We have seen many such ones in the past, but most of them are overdone. Here it’s used in a controlled manner and surely adds to the overall taste.

MUSIC: I am NOT a huge fan of ‘Appengal embaadum ..”, but I just love the way Music and Background score is used in this movie. May be it’s the best effort I saw in Malayalam where Music is used so effectively in sync with the scenes … Just keeps you hooked to the mood of the movie.

CAMERA: The Camera shots are eye pleasing, but surely it’s NOT a rarity in today’s new generation movie trend.

PERFORMANCE: Everyone agrees to one thing that Thilakan’s Karimka was the show stealer. But Dulqar did pretty well to do justice to the role. Siddique, Maamukoya as always kept the standard, Nitya is just improving with every movie.

DIRECTION: Anwar Rasheed surely scores the top marks. He controlled and crafted the movie pretty well and blessed it with some amazing sequences. The Sulaimaani Scene along with Karimka’s flashback will go down as a one of the all time classical sequences in Malayalam. I can see the movie twice again only for that sequence!

ALL IN ALL : Karimka tells to Faisee in the movie … “Any one can fill your stomach, but original ‘Kaypunyam’ is when your mind is also filled along with stomach”… This movie simply does that ! 

"Spirit" - Movie Review

Should movies be just for aesthetic satisfaction OR should it focus on social responsibility as well ?
The topic is always debatable. But after watching 'Spirit' I felt Renjith was trying too hard for the latter one giving not much consideration to the former. But unfortunately it turns out to be a rare anticlimax as the movie ends up lagging in both parts ...

Performances are pertty good, songs are fresh and different, camera work is ok. But movie sadly lacks in a tight story/screenplay coupled with a mediocre editing.. There are some good sequences and enjoyable moments in between but the number of loose ends in the story and lack of flow makes the movie loose its focus more often that it should.

Plus :
1) Lallettan - The best(or only) ingredient that makes Spirit stronger is the presence of this versatile old wine that seems to get better with age. Just like the 'Grand Master' he takes the movie on those broad shoulders with his familiar effortless acting. The role was tailor made for him and he made himself fit into it with an amazing ease.

2) Effort for a noble social awareness 

Minus:
Almost every thing else

Final verdict:
Watched the movie first day with a Himalayan expectation and finally when I was leaving the theatre my feeling was similar to what i felt after watching "Thalsamayam oru Penkutty" Like some one made me sit and hear a lot of documentary type advises and finally relieved when the class was over... 

I can assure you that this movie was surely better than that T K Rajeev kumar's disastrous effort ...But when you even consider comparing a Renjith's movie with a Rajeev Kumar's type of movie that itself says a lot ... isn't it ?

"22 Female Kottayam" - Movie review

Its not a great Entertainer... rather u feel it more like a Disturbing movie .. But the good thing is that all those disturbance is in the right direction and is for a right reason ....

A bold subject with an even bolder treatment ... A big salute to Aashiq Abu for taking such a risky move especially after a hugely successful Salt'n Pepper ... But surely he hit the nail on the head ...

Final word : A must watch ... 

Warning ; Don't go for it expecting our usual filmi gimmicks OR those soaping feel good affect !!!

"Second Show" - Movie review

In one word its NOT any old wine in new bottle, but rather some new fresh wine served on a normal good old bottle ... 

My verdict : Goes neck in neck with Beautiful and Salt n Pepper, and may an inch higher for avoiding all those boring typical Cliches as well....

And for those who still live in M&M nostalgia and complains that Malayalam movies are dead .. my advice is Go, Watch and Wake up ... There is still hope, a lot of them !!!

"Casanova" - MovieReview

Stunt/Style : **** ABOVE AVERAGE
Comparing to fellow Molly wood movies the stunts are good (may be a tad less stylish than 'slow motion specialist Neerad ji). I strongly feel majority of the Budget went for this part.

Songs/Dance : *** AVERAGE
Couple of good songs and a energetic dance from Lalettan 
But one song was released years back and thus don't have its charisma now !

Performance : *** AVERAGE
Rated three stars mainly for Lalettan, who again did manage to do justice to a Role which possiblly cannot be done more perfectly by anyone else in Molly wood. For all others I feel there was NOT enough space or chance to act itself.

Direction : ** BELOW AVERAGE
Did NOT expect such a futile effort from Raosh Andrews. With all the hype it gave, the direction is far below par.The control which Roshan had over the movie in his previous efforts was missing and its too direction less one.

Story/Screenplay : * POOR
Its so hard to believe that the people who wrote Notebook, Traffic is behind this crap story.There is Nothing new in the story with all the same old cliches.
The screenplay was a disaster and there were too many potholes, may be more than our state roads after monsoon !

Final verdict
After watching this movie on Release day, this was what I lost and gained
Loss : 50 Rs, 2.5 hrs
Gain : A very frustrating head ache

... and I am sure most of the other fellow Lalettan fans in that theatre will also be feeling the same way
Do I need to say more !