ajaycfg Reviews

Guruvayoor Ambalanadayil (2024)

Cheap Meaningless Comedy

[5/10 · 5 June 2024]

I cannot understand:

How this movie became a hit? For there is absolutely nothing to hold your attention after the premise is set.

Why does Basil - a young man holding a good job in the middle east and belonging to a good family - refuse to get married just because he was jilted by a girl once?! Isn't that part of growing up? You meet a girl in school/college but in most cases the marriage doesnt happen because girls are married off quite early in our society - by which time the boy is usually not employed or settled to marry her?

Why doesn't he simply explain the real reason for his inability to marry the chosen girl, to his would-be brother-in-law, instead of making a big song and dance about it?

Why does Malayalam movies showcase on-screen drinking so much and so often. Practically every other scene involves drinking? Are they being sponsored by the liquor lobby?

There are too many things wrong with this movie. Too many characters. Too thin storyline. Too many sub-plots. Too much drinking.

Not exactly a sensible movie from the famed Malayalam movie industry.

Varshangalkku Shesham (2024)

Yet another rambling, overly long movie from Vineeth

[4/10 · 19 May 2024]

This movie has a run time of more than 2.5 hours - filled with too many unnecessary scenes and characters. I'll give a couple of examples: the movie starts with Dhyan returning from school after an exam, seeking help from a couple of his female class mates - one of whom appears to like him - and finally getting thrashed by his body builder father for fairly poorly in the exam. This whole scene lasts about 3-4 minutes which can be totally junked without any iota of impact on the movie! We dont see his father, or his classmate again in the whole movie, so why that introduction?

Then there is this big build up about a drama troupe needing a musician urgently - Dhyan is appointed to bring Pranav - who is supposedly a talented musician! All this build up just to show how they met.

Pranav Mohanlal is introduced with a long, boring song - for the director wishes to showcase his talent as a musician. Do we really need to insert meaningless boring songs just because this is an Indian movie? Pranav is shown drinking liquor straight from two bottles - like his father had done in some movie long back. Why not introduce Pranav with his own characteristic quirks and mannerisms instead of aping his famous father?

Like I said, its a long, boring story with convoluted logic with too many characters and scenes. Pranav and Dhyan are shown as two talented friends who dream of making it big in Madras moviedom. The whole movie is about their friendship and how they make it big, their losses and heart breaks along the way. Point is the two dont have any chemistry - maybe because they are not talented enough - especially Dhyan who is certainly not the most talented in his family.

On the other hand, we have the talented Kalyani - more talented than the two protogonists - but who is thrown aside after a short scene. And a long list of two dimensional card board characters, out of which just two manage to stand out - Navin Pauly and Basil Joseph.

Story lacks depth, poor acting by the main characters, unnecessary songs and scenes, too many characters to keep track of, and too long movie that tires you - thats Varshangalkku Shesham. I've always felt on watching a Vineeth movie that his movies need a good, talented editor who would boldly hack the extra fat that his movies are invariably made off - and then maybe they will become watchable. I first felt it when I watched Hridayam, and again today when I watched Varshangalkku Shesham.

Premalu (2024)

A Romantic Comedy without any Highlights

[5/10 · 13 April 2024]

A romantic comedy that has become a hit without any particular rhyme or reason.

Since this - strictly one way - love story takes place in Hyderabad, the movie makers decided to call it Premalu!

No, there is nothing relevant or unique about the story - it's actually something that we all have seen in one hundred and one other movies... An aimless youngster - lacking even a single positive character trait - falls in love with a smart, successful, popular, mature and practical girl. And naturally he is rejected - any girl with even an iota of sense would reject him - for he doesn't have anything - a good degree, job or money or as I said earlier, good character.

Then she takes a 180 degree turn and declares her love for him - no idea why - maybe because her friend is leaving the city?

And that's the story of the loser... and since this is a comedy, we have two pairs of parents - all conical characters... a few colleagues all presented as comical characters...

Pretty ordinary story... though youngsters will like it and must be the reason why the movie has become successful.

Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya (2024)

Good Premise Poorly Implemented

[4/10 · 26 March 2024]

The premise is good, thought provoking, but so poorly implemented and to such an extent that the original premise is lost - until the very last reel.

A smart (?) developer working in the Robotics domain - Shahid Kapoor looking older than his age, why doesn't his wife who is constantly in the news for her beauty-health-treatment tips advise him I wonder - falls in love with a beautiful humanoid and is unable to forget her nor leave her despite knowing its an un-tenable proposition. He is supposed to be a smart developer but you never see him working. He also knows his aunt is the head of a Robotics company but never even suspects that its an humanoid he is interacting with - and even bedding - despite the multiple clues it/she drops during their interactions.

Then there is his extended family consisting of a grand-father, parents, uncles, aunties and others too numerous to list here - who have nothing else to discuss or do other than getting him married! Single Point Agenda!

So he decides to marry this humanoid - yeah this is a Hindi movie so what else did you expect - without informing his family about the humanoid's reality! Then they have songs, and dances and sangeeths and mehendis - all the usual nonsense you have come to expect in any Hindi movie about extended families - until the last reel when the humanoid blows a fuse in its "mother board" - thanks to the erratic Delhi Electricity Board - and things go south. He - obviously he since he is the hero - finally takes control by hitting the humanoid and knocks it down - but not before it does enough damage around it.

So thats the premise - integration of humanoids into our life - meaningful since we already live in a world filled with drones, driverless cars, robots in factories and AI; the ingredients, the blueprints for the future are already there and has already been previewed/imagined in multiple Hollywood movies. This is the first time a Hindi movie was exploring this topic and could have shown some more sense and imagination - but Bollywood being Bollywood took the easy way out; the writers didn't have the interest or brains to develop it and instead decided to gloss over the shortcomings with songs and dances and beautiful settings and a beautiful Kriti Sanon as the humanoid - she doesn't have anything to do - no drama/action needed as the humanoid never gets angry or upset - but instead look good and smile sweetly.

So, if you enjoy the typical formulaic Hindi movies, this is your cup of tea.

Dunki (2023)

A Total Drag! Dunki vs Donkeys

[3/10 · 18 March 2024]

A long, boring, tedious, tiring movie - and thats putting it most politely.

Dunki refers to the 'human smuggling' route of entering foreign countries illegally - but here we viewers end up feeling we are the 'Donkeys' after watching this movie.

I like SRK and especially Taapsee - she is very clearly talented. SRK doesn't need my certificates - he has clearly proved he is the King Khan of Bollywood - though my favorites are DDLJ, and Chak de India - each showcasing entirely different personas of SRK.

But having said that, I say this - without any qualms or regrets - this is the worst movie I've seen of either SRK or Taapsee.

Dunki shows the life, story of 3 individuals from Punjab - each dreaming of going to UK - though they have absolutely nothing in terms of funds or qualifications or anything - other than their dreams of getting there. And they get the help of SRK - a patriotic ex-soldier - who agrees to smuggle them there coz he has fallen in love with Pannoos - though the chemistry is distinctly lacking on screen - and wished to help her achieve her dreams.

They finally make it to UK with his help - but don't actually 'make it' in UK - and then they wish to return after decades of miserable existence - but cannot because having sought political asylum earlier they are persona non grata in India now - and Bharat Mata refuses to accept them back with open arms.

Re-enter our hero SRK - with yet another hair-brained idea to smuggle them back home - and does so - obviously - because he is the hero, man! He became the hero only after having done all this - and more - impossible stuff in n number of impossible movies over so many decades, right?

So that's Rajkumar Hirani's stupidest movie I've ever seen - can't believe he was the guy who made 2 'Munna Bhais' and '3 Idiots'!? - totally lacking in story and logic and life.

Stay Away - is my advice. Rating: 3/10.

Anweshippin Kandethum (2024)

Weak Police Investigation Story

[5/10 · 16 March 2024]

Anweshippin Kandethum attempts to present the investigation of murder cases by a newly appointed Sub Inspector Anand, the challenges he faces both from the public and within his own department.

The movies shows two cases being investigated - one during the pre-interval stage and the second after the interval. So are the two cases linked - such as the case of a serial killer striking at different places and different times? Or, does the first case influence the second - or vice-versa - in some manner? Nope; then why does the movie showcase two totally unrelated investigations? Because each incident/investigation did not have material to fill a whole movie - which in Indian movies means two hours on an average. So you get two investigations for the price of one ticket.

It's a pretty average movie with weak and incomplete story line, and the director resorts to one twist after another to keep the story going; he uses the same technique in both parts of the movie.

In the first half, the SI is stopped from entering a convent as part of the investigation - first by the locals which looked pretty far-fetched and then by his own superiors - to meet their own private agenda. Later he manages to enter the convent to collect evidence and we assume the Priest would be the culprit, given that he used to live there alone, and the victim was last seen entering the convent. And then, without any indications or evidence to the contrary, the director introduces a new character - and informs us that this person is the killer! We never get to see the questioning of the priest nor what the priest disclosed or perhaps attempted to hide, nor how the investigator establishes the link to the killer.

The very same pattern is followed in the second episode... The investigation finally leads us to a character Thilakan - but we assume he will be arrested but then the director pulls yet another rabbit from his hat (another twist) before telling us that the actual killer is someone else!

I feel a murder investigation movie should present all the evidence in front of the viewer - as if they were part of the investigation team - and the viewer should get the opportunity to observe, analyse and identify the criminal - along with or maybe before the investigator. That's what makes a mystery movie or book satisfying. We don't need to be spoon-fed - dumbly watching as the smart investigator finds things and continues to pull rabbits out of his hat.

And thats the problem here; the writers and director have not done their homework - working to present a solid and logical story; and this sort of lazy writing kills the story.

My rating is 5/10 - despite Tovino's efforts.

Thundu (2024)

A meaningless jumble that is being sold off as Comedy

[3/10 · 15 March 2024]

Thundu is a very weak and pathetic attempt at comedy by first time director Riyas Shareef! It's highlights are poor direction and a weaker story line - I won't waste your time listing the various departments in movie making - practically each and every department has failed spectacularly; here the background music by Vishnu Vijay takes the cake - which is needlessly loud and untimely that grates continously on our nerves.

'Thundu' here refers to the pieces of paper with notes used for copying in exams - and the director showcases this by showing a 'smart' school boy's 'techniques' used in copying - before being caught by the invigilator.

Having established the title, he shows the boy's father - Biju Menon playing a police constable Baby - a bungling idiot without any other redeemable trait. He harasses a local, small-time politician for some supposed insult to the police force - maybe that was deserved but then goes overboard and insults one of his own colleagues (Shine Tom Chacko) too, when he tries to intervene in the issue. And that basically forms the one-line plot of the story - a story of one-upmanship between him and this colleague (Shine), who more often than not succeeds in humiliating him with help from the local politician.

In order to overcome these humiliations, Baby realises he needs to become a Head Constable which would enable him to pull rank over his colleague; and he attempts to achieve this by cheating in the requisite exams but is caught and transferred. Baby continues with his bungling life as before - and then decides to make yet another attempt at the exams. We expect both Baby and his son to work hard at their respective exams and win, but no. The idiot duo - director/writer - show both the father and son copying again. He even shows Baby taking 'tips on copying successfully without getting caught' from his 'expert' son! Why? Have you forgotten that they we're watching a comedy? And Baby fails again in the exams....

Now since Baby is the protagonist, the director cannot let him lose, right? Moreover, the movie has to end somewhere, and we all need to go home too? And so, Baby gets promoted on account of his seniority and that forms the end of this miserable story.

I don't know what the director/writer duo were smoking when they were discussing and finalising the plot line and the character arc? What kind of pathetic father takes tips from his schoolgoing son on copying in exams? How can this even be classified as a comedy? The ending would have been better had Baby worked and lost - without copying - which would have made his promotion sweeter too.

To summarise, this is a pathetic movie, totally avoidable - unless you have absolutely nothing else to do. My rating is 3/10.

@Biju, are you trying to become the next Mohan Lal by taking up meaningless roles in stupid c-grade flop movies - just when you have reached the zenith? Please be more choosy and try to avoid these type of disasters.

Queen Elizabeth (2023)

Totally Dead Movie

[3/10 · 14 February 2024]

It's a totally dead movie - filled with two-dimensional cardboard characters - where you don't feel any empathy or sympathy or hatred or love or any kind of feeling for any of them.

I would say this movie could take the cake for being the most boring Meera Jasmine movie I've ever seen. She plays a cold-hearted female who turns into a nice person - overnight - when she learns she has just a few weeks left to live. Why is she so cold in the first place - absolutely no idea - Meera doesn't know that - nor did the Director I guess. She learns she has cancer - and immediately starts writing cheques left and right - donating all her money to all and sundry. She is an architect but doesn't feel the necessity of getting a second opinion from a second specialist - especially when such a life-threatening diagnosis has been given!

There are other cardboard characters - as mentioned before - a woman who has no job other than walking about with her pet dog, an employee who is only interested in reels, and so on. Even the 'hero' is an idiot who has nothing to offer other than pining for her day in and day out!

Enough said already about such a silly movie. It's quite obviously a one-line story has been stretched into a movie!

Neru (2023)

An average movie with a heavily flawed plotline

[6/10 · 27 January 2024]

I've a confession to make: I've never been a fan of Jeethu Joseph; he attempts to be a perfectionist but his movies are usually run-of-the-mill stuff filled with lots of plot holes, numerous characters and scenes to distract you. I also think he was the main reason why Pranav failed to click in his debut movie.

A blind girl is raped by a person belonging to a very rich and powerful family; he is identified but the prosecution finds it difficult to prove it in the court - for obvious reasons.

Mohan Lal plays a failed lawyer, who lacks confidence in himself. But did he need to be made to look like a fool in the court? Cross questioning the defence witnesses is required, but did he need to bring in various people as defence witnesses - people who are employed or obviously loyal to the villain/family - for instance his driver, who very clearly would be faithful to his employer!? And finally this evidence is destroyed by some round-about-and-difficult-to-digest techniques involving dash-cam in some random car!?

Another stupid example is bringing in the culprit's friend - as the prosecution witness!?

The court orders the Prosecution to present the video evidence from the restaurant and yet the Prosecutor presents this evidence without even glancing through it, thus ending up as a laughing stock in the court!

The whole case rests on a single important point - that the blind victim has identified the culprit by sculpting his likeness. Quite naturally, the defence starts questioning the victim's sculpting skills - on multiple occasions too - but the prosecution never ever attempts to prove her abilities in the court, putting it off till the end of the movie before finally presenting it as if pulling a rabbit out the hat!

I could go on and on about the various plot-holes in this movie - they are far too many. Like I said this is standard Jeethu Joseph formula and fare - I really didn't go in expecting miracles. And I can't really believe the co-writer of this story is a practicing lawyer, who is expected to have more sense than Jeethu Joseph about crimes and court procedures.

What I liked: Seeing Mohan Lal playing a rather a good, solid role after a very long line of inane and stupid characters in insipid and meaningless 3rd grade movies - welcome back Laletta. Sidhique as the morally-deficient defence lawyer stood out in his performance. Anaswara Rajan who plays the victim also does a decent job. All the others play strictly two-dimensional card-board characters.

Recently came across the Hindi movie 'Sirf ek Bandha Kafi Hai' - starring Manoj Bajpayee and directed by Approv Singh Karki - which has a similar plot line as Neru. I had always felt that Malayalam movies are far far ahead of Hindi movies in quality and standards, but this movie changed my perspective. The Hindi movie was better than Neru in many respects and is certainly worthy of a second sitting. Jithu Joseph should watch this movie and may learn a thing or two about movie making.

The Archies (2023)

A Disappointing Tale from the 'Archie World'

[5/10 · 7 December 2023]

Coming from Director Zoya Aktar, we had great expectations about the movie 'The Archies'.

I'd grown up reading Archie comics and was curious to see how Zoya had interpreted it. But obviously she hadn't bothered with any interpretation or her own take on it. All she has done is take the characters from the Archie comics and placed them in her movie. Thats all. This movie could have been set anywhere and played anyone - but I guess she managed to create a curiosity of sorts for people who have read the comics series.

Set in the 60s in a fictional town 'Riverdale', the movie is based on the Archie characters - all played by star kids. Zoya has managed a coup of sorts by scooping in not one, but at least three star kids from big hollywood families. And that seems to be only USP of this overly long movie; she has roped in Agastya Nanda (Amitabh Bachchan's grandson), Khushi Kapoor (Sridevi's daughter) and Suhana Khan (King Khan's daughter) - among other youngsters.

But the disappointment was not with their performance - since there was not much they had to do; they were playing typical teenagers - all dressed in the 60s costumes - and of course they typically looked like they were taking part in a period drama! The kids went about singing and dancing and then some more dancing and singing, in a fictional world - after all this is a musical, ain't it!? I kept hoping for the movie to take off, but it never reached take off speed - but seemed happy just pottering about.

The problem lay with the luke warm story - even though Zoya herself was one of the authors. The story didn't have any real meat. The songs weren't really memorable either; none of the scenes really sticks to your memory too; you actually feel relieved to get up from your seat when the titles start rolling in.

And I still can't believe that this is from the same director who had made movies like 'Zindagi Na Milegi Dubara', 'Gully Boy' or 'Dil Dhadakane Do'!

In short 'The Archies' was a big let down. Anyway, that's my 2 bits about this movie - which I guess is more than enough. I rate it 5/10, an average movie.

Released today on Netflix.

Garudan (2023)

A Weak Mystery Story

[5/10 · 3 December 2023]

Garudan just about flies, failing to soar. The first half of the movie is quite good raising our hope but then the second half lets us down by poor writing. Weak storyline; they could have done a lot better if they had used more imagination, or put in more effort.

As far as acting is concerned, the main players are Sidhique and Biju who have done a good job while Suresh Gopi's was average.

The direction and screen play (with too many unnecessary scenes) are again average.

My main complaint is that the makers have tried to present a mystery but without following the ground rules of writing/making mystery stories/movies. A good mystery story teller has to follow the basic rule that you cannot hide anything from the reader/viewer! They don't have to elaborate or explain to the reader/viewer at each step of the way but they should take us along as they investigate and discover clues. The best movies/books are those where the viewer/reader gets all the information by the end of the movie along with the investigator thus giving us the chance to think, use our brains and make our own deductions. Finally when the investigator discloses the identity of the killer/criminal - we get the pleasure of having deduced correctly or at least the surprise, the thrill at how the investigator reached his conclusion; that's the thrill of reading/watching a mystery story.

And this is where this story fails. They dont tell us anything about the antagonist - his history or background or character. There is no indication as to what kind of a person he is; we dont even know if he had really commited the crime? And then suddenly in the last reel, the SP starts pulling out rabbits out of his hat, one after another - proving that he was right all along and that he had arrested the right person.

Nor do we feel any empathy or respect for the investigating SP; because again the writers have failed to build up his character. All we know is that he is Suresh Gopi - looking quite old. At the verge of retirement the court orders him to compensate the antagonist for wrongful investigation. He immediately becomes a drunkard and starts fighting with everyone around him - all in the name of investigation! But by then we are past caring for this character.

My rating is 5.

Corona Papers (2023)

Average Movie - Inspired by a famous Akira Kurosawa movie

[4/10 · 15 August 2023]

I will not review, just offer some bullet Points:

(1) The title 'Corona Papers' has absolutely no bearing or relevance with the movie.

(2) Priyadarshan - perhaps for the first time in his long career - has attributed the story idea to the original source movie ('Stray Dogs')!

(3) Priyadarshan has moved out of his comfort zone, viz., comedy - but its not necessarily an improvement.

(4) A very long movie lasting more than 2.5 hours - with too many characters, multiple sub-plots and convoluted logic. In fact, felt quite relieved when the movie finally ended. Some of the characters, scenes, sub-plots could/should have easily been edited out - and movie would have felt better and tighter.

(5) Siddique, the key character in the movie, shines as usual. His character has an arc, maybe the only one doing so.

(6) Was saddened to see the beloved and talented Judge PP Kunhikrishnan from 'Naa thaan case kodu' wasted in an insignificant and irrelevant role.

(7) Maniyanpillai Raju appears in a blink-and-you-miss-it role! Too bad!

Uunchai (2022)

An Average movie filled with Melodrama

[5/10 · 20 January 2023]

An average movie filled with 2 dimensional characters and lots of melodrama. Not a single character sticks to your mind or heart. Even though they desperately put up a great show of camaraderie, you don't really feel their closeness. Even the jokes fall flat. And one cannot blame the actors, for the ensemble cast consists of some of the best in Hindi industry. Obviously the missing magiical ingredient is a strong script and screenplay. The only great thing i could see was the scenery, which the cameraman has tried to capture to the best of his ability.

Three oldies decide to hike up to the Himalayan Base Camp - that's the story in long and short. To stretch this wafer thin story further, the writer has added some sub plots like broken families, selfish children and ex loves, and a few totally forgettable songs - well you name it, and it's there. I couldn't even begin to understand why the character played by Sarika is joining the hike?

Even though they have tried to make it an inspirational movie, show casing the strength of friendship and what not, I didn't really feel any kind of tug on my heart even though my favourite actors, AB, Bomman, Kher and Neena Gupta were leading the cast. That's Uunchai for you.

A Totally missable Movie!

Gold (V) (2022)

Stupid Movie filled with Stupider characters

[2/10 · 11 December 2022]

"Java is simple!" Who can forget the Java instructor and his class room - in Premam? When George fell in love with Malar it was not just George but a whole generation of youngsters who fell in love with her; and when she lost her memory, we all cried along with him. Each scene in Premam, each character - including the silent (and dialogue-less) lover rang a bell in our hearts and memories.... and from that Director comes something as inane and meaningless as Gold, where not a single character, scene or dialogue remains in our memory or touches our heart! I am simply stupified!

Ater watching the latest outing from Alphonse Puthrans, the only charitable explanation I can think of is that he has lost his marbles. Nothing else will justify the total nonsense he has trotted out in the form of a movie.... We all have seen many escapist fare but this takes the cake for being the most absurd movie ever.

To begin with, the whole thing hangs on a wafer thin story. Second it's filled with too many cartoonish - but not funny - characters, without a single one of them showing even a spark of intelligence. A hero who punches people without any rhyme or reason, contract goondas who run away at his sight, a cop investigating a strange unknown vehicle without even the sense to note down its registration number, a rich jewellery owner who does not give a second thought about 200kg of gold that his men misplaced, a girl who simply sits and watches TV all day, waiting to marry an idiot whose pauperised father wants to blow up the mall that his son is getting in dowry, and random people who perform group dance without any reason and a director who makes you watch boring things in endless repeatition expecting you to hold your breathe in anticipation........ in short that's Gold for you!

God alone knows what Prithvi, Nayantara - I presume her's was a guest appearance - are doing in this movie, let alone the other equally talented actors wasting their talents - and our time - in a mockery of a movie?

My rating: 2 stars.

Beast (I) (2022)

The title should have been 'Dumbos in Africa'

[4/10 · 23 October 2022]

A group of idiots go to Africa and get into all sorts of trouble. There, that's the story in one line.

A teenage daughter who talks big, and criticises her father about his life style - but manages to take the crown, repeatedly, for being the biggest idiot in the group. Also takes the cake for being the poorest actor in the cast.

The only smart move in the whole movie was by the younger daughter who stabs the lion using a tranquiliser.

They are being hunted by a rabid lion, their only safe haven is their jeep and yet none of the idiots think about closing the window!

They find refuge in an abandoned school - after a very scary night - right in the middle of lion territory - no, they still haven't learnt anything from experience - and the idiot father walks around opening one door after another! Finally he decides to outrun and fight a lion....! Need I say anything more?

I refuse to believe that Americans can be so stupid! The problem obviously lies with the writer who tries to convert a short story into a full length feature film and hence needed to fill the plot with holes and stupidity.

Average direction and CGI with a hairline thin story is what this movie is about.

Solomante Theneechakal (2022)

Disappointing Movie from Lal Jose

[3/10 · 3 October 2022]

Poorly scripted and directed, an extra long movie filled with eminently forgettable and unnecessary songs - this is certainly not the fare one expected from a Lal Jose movie.

Ente Jose, you dont need two and a half songs to show the friendship/love/relationship between two individuals - thats old stuff from a Prem Naseer movie. One look, a dialogue or maybe a small scene is all that is required. Or perhaps you were trying hard to stretch the short story into a full length movie, eh?

We watch a movie - an interesting movie that is - usually in one stretch; an extraordinary movie makes it impossible for us to get up from our chair even for a bathroom break. Your movie? Well I will say I managed to complete it - in three episodes over two days.

Saddening....

Kaduva (2022)

A Total Crap movie

[3/10 · 6 August 2022]

No idea why Prithvi decided to invest in this movie - financially and otherwise - for its totally a crappy, senseless, meaningless movie - that may not cater to even its hard-core action/Prithvi fans.

Prithvi is talented, and handsome - but I failed to - forget love, even like this character he plays. There is absolutely nothing about him that you would desire, a solid 2-dimensional character, and we fail to invest in him. And that's the biggest flaw of this movie - we don't really care what happens to him. And it's all downhill from there.

Shaji Kailas has failed to age/grow with the times. He still lives in the era of supermen heroes with their slo-mo walk, punch dialogues, needless songs, and more - all that which has now gone into the waste bin of cinematic history.

The director has left an opening for a part-2 of this movie - should this become successful - but my advice to Prithvi and Shaji is - don't bother, its not worth the effort. You may yet recoup your investment but think of the man-hours you will be saving - the viewers' time i mean.

I wasted 2.5 hours of my life on this movie. Whether you waste yours - the choice is clearly yours.

Meppadiyan (2022)

A realistic movie

[7/10 · 20 February 2022]

A good movie from Vishnu Mohan and Unni Mukundan.

Movie shows the trials and tribulations of an ordinary person trying to do the right thing - and how various characters such as your typical politician, the local registrar official and others take him for a ride. Very realistically made. Anyone should be able to empathize with the protagonist.

Confusing ending though takes away the charm of the fine work done earlier.

Aaraattu (2022)

Total Crap

[2/10 · 19 February 2022]

I really don't understand why a Bharat awardee, immensely talented, popular and rich actor like Mohan Lal continues to act in such crap movies - that offers him absolutely nothing! Newcomers often don't have any choice but to accept any 3rd grade role in any c-grade movie - for name, fame, money or awards - but seeing our Mohan Lal, an actor who has all this and more - in such movies makes me cry, literally!

Why cannot he learn from other senior actors - like Aamir Khan for instance - who become choosy as they mature, to such an extent that people actually look forward to their rare appearance on screen?

I can't be bothered to write about this movie, coz this cannot be called a movie and neither does it contain anything worth mentioning.

Ellam Sheriyakum (2021)

Meaningless drivel

[4/10 · 28 January 2022]

Dont bother to watch this movie. Total waste of your time. Meaningless drivel.

Represents the usual so-called political movie with nothing new to show. The usual run-of-the-mill below average movie.

Bro Daddy (2022)

Much Ado about Nothing!

[5/10 · 27 January 2022]

The whole crux of this over-hyped movie lies with an unmarried girl's pregnancy, and the immature route they take to resolve/hide this! It reminded me of Hrishikesh Mukherjee's movies - though Mukherjee and Prithviraj are oceans apart when it comes to their talent - but which in that time and age was funny and acceptable.

An educated, well-employed, upper class couple that had been living together in Bangalore for over four years are unable - in this age - to handle this minor issue - their pregnancy - with maturity!?

Then everyone starts hiding it from the girl's lovable father - I can understand it when the girl does this but even his own wife and his so called 'best friend' join the chorus in deluding him!

Lalu Alex - and maybe Kalyani - are watchable, while others play meaningless, lifeless characters. Talents like Shoubin and Jaffer Idukki are wasted in silly irrelevant roles, while the 'Producer' Antony gets an extended cameo mouthing stupid dialogues! (I accept many Directors - the famous Hitchcock for instance - or even producers like to appear in their movies.)

Comedy consists entirely of the toilet variety - in the form of a lead character's constipation!

Frankly, I'd not expected anything great from another Prithvi directorial, having watched his earlier venture which consisted entirely of Mohan Lal walking in slow-motion - and consequently doubling the movie's running-time!

Think Prithvi should stick to acting which does still have takers?

Hridayam (2022)

IMDB Ratings for Malayalam movies have been devalued

[5/10 · 24 January 2022]

I have always felt that Vineet's movies are rather shallow, with flaky characters and this one is also true to form. Lots of songs and drama, but nothing to write home about. Even though the movie shows the protagonist's life over a decade, you cannot call it a coming of age movie, as the characters never really grow up.

Vineeth has looked up the standard-moving-making-recipe and added all the listed ingredients - hero, comic sidekick (and lest you miss it, the sidekick is introduced as an 'alavalathy' to drive home the point!), beautiful heroines (not one but two), romance, songs (15 no less), colours, et al, but the ingredients fail to jell and the movie falls flat. I felt no emotion, as if the movie lacked a soul. He could easily have chopped off at least 30 minutes - would have made a definite improvement.

P. S: IMDB ratings for Indian movies have ceased to excite or impress as the fans associations run riot even before the movie is released, often handing out nothing less than 10 stars for even the most mediocre of movies! Why are some of the poorest Malayalam movies scoring better than the best Hollywood movies? Obviously, in our over-zealousness to boost the rating of our favourite star/movie, we are gradually devaluing the rating system! Perhaps it is a reflection of the high unemployment rate in India?

#Home (2021)

Average time-pass feel-good movie

[5/10 · 29 August 2021]

I didn't go in with any great expectations and I was not disappointed. Nothing great here. The usual run-of-the-mill feel good (?) family story.

The dysfunctional family in the #home consists of elderly parents and their adult sons. They seem to have various types of problems, but we don't get to know about that, nor are they shown being resolved properly. The kids, like all youngsters today, spend more time on their phones than with their parents.

The award-winner one-movie director son - played by the talented youngster Sreenath Bhasi, is unable to complete his second script. Why? We don't get to know, nor does he (or this movie's director). His girlfriend is always screaming, not sure why? (I feel they should either talk and make up or break up, the better course of action in my opinion.) He thinks highly about his prospective father-in-law while having a very poor opinion about his own father. Again not quite clear why - Is it because his father is less educated or uses a feature phone? I couldn't find any other serious faults with his father.

The younger son doesn't seem to be doing anything productive, but is the most interesting of the lot. The head of the family (Indrans) seems to be leading a retired life - lending a hand to his overworked and hassled wife. The grandfather, (not sure why this character has been added,) doesn't speak a word other than quoting dialogues - out of the blue - from old English fiction (apparently he had been a typist or something earlier which also tries to explain the christening of his son as Oliver Twist!

Oh, we also have a psychologist who advises tai-chi as the magical cure to all his patients.

Does the father become tech savvy? Does the young director complete his script? Will the young couple resolve their differences? (I don't really care).

Finally everything becomes hunky dory using a heroic incident from their father's childhood!

Malik (I) (2021)

Run-of-the-mill Religio-Political Masala

[5/10 · 15 July 2021]

We have seen all this before, and we see it yet again.

Robin Hood characters, manipulative politicians, true to type policemen, misunderstandings, broken friendships with a bit of religion thrown in for good measure - all the usual spices you come to expect in a masala fare. Absolutely nothing new here.

Fahad shines as always, but that's a given. 2:40 hours long - way too long I feel since there is no takeaway in any form - be it entertainment, morals, education or information.

Chathur Mukham (2021)

Poorly made Horror (?) movie with a twist?

[3/10 · 14 July 2021]

Went in blindly without reading any reviews. My mistake. I really don't know how I sat thru 2+ hours of sheer nonsense.

Total trash. Thin story line, poorly written characters and worst Direction (apparently its a shared responsibility?)

Couldn't understand what a talented actor like Wayne is even doing in a movie like this (frankly neither does he)?! Manju is the protagonist (while Wayne plays second fiddle) but this gifted lady is unable to salvage this movie due to its weak plot and 2D characters. All others - including the brilliant Alencier - walk in and out of scenes and our memory.

Enough said, not really worth writing more.

PS: Manju, act your age and not repeat Mohan Lal's mistake (of playing young at 55)! Can't blame you really, everyone did it - AB, Dilip Kumar, Rajesh Khanna et al, yeah we all do it, vainly trying to hold on to our lost youth.