Totally Filmi

May Movie Madness: Teja Bhai and Family in Six Words

 

Lots of slapstick.  Emphasis on slap.

 

 

Teja Bhai and Family (Malayalam, dir. Deepu Karunakaran, 2011)

Starring: Prithviraj, Akhila, Thalaivasal Vijay, Suraj Venjaramoodu, Jagadish, Salim Kumar, Jagathy Sreekumar, Indrans, Nedumudi Venu, Kollam Thulasi, Rajeev Govinda Pillai, Kochu Preman, Vettukili, Manju Pillai, Kulapuli Leela

Worth Revisiting?   Um.  Well.  Um.  No.  Okay, I'm torn, because I think the Megastars have honestly reached the stage in their careers where they have to think about moving on from these kinds of masala action films that rely totally on the Megastar image.  So, it's probably about time that Young Superstar Prithviraj started making some moves to take up the torch, as it were, when it finally really does get passed on.  I'm just not sure Teja Bhai and Family was the best way to do it.

If you remotely have no patience at all for comedy uncles or aunties, you're going to find Teja Bhai a wee bit trying, since it features probably every comedy uncle and aunty currently working in Mollywood.  I found them funny at times, but they often wore thin, and I LOVE the comedy uncles and aunties. 

But Teja Bhai and Family delivered up one moment of gold that I hadn't known was there!  It features a remix of the song "Oru Madhurakinavin", performed by Vijay Yesudas, son of the illustrious K.J. Yesudas, who sang the original version.  Here, enjoy it in all its disco glory:

 

 

It's not easy to find the original version of the song online.  It came from the film Kanamarayathu, a film I have wanted to see for a very long time.  This is the Malayalam adaptation of Daddy Long Legs, that was later remade in Hindi as Anokha Rishta.  The original version of the song features an almost impossibly young Rahman, and it was a huge hit:

 

 

So Teja Bhai and Family gets brownie points for reminding me about the original song.  Still not sure I'd want to see it again, though.

 

 

May Movie Madness: Swapna Sanchari in Six Words

 

Ajaychandran learns that money isn't everything.

 

 

Swapna Sanchari ("Dream Traveller", Malayalam, dir. Kamal, 2011)

Starring: Jayaram,  Samvrutha Sunil, Innocent, Harisree Ashokan, Salim Kumar, Bhama, Meera Nandan, Balachandran Chullikkadu, Jagathy Sreekumar

Worth Revisiting?  Sadly, no.  Kamal is a terrific filmmaker, but I think I'd probably recommend films such as Perumazhakkalam  or Gaddama (also from 2011) over this one.  It's a solidly made family drama, it has a good message about the perils of valuing wealth and status over other things in life, but it's a message I've heard before, and the film brings nothing really new to the table. 

 

May Movie Madness: Hate Story in Six Words

 

Revenge. Revenge.  Revenge.  Revenge.  Revenge. Revenge.

 

 

Hate Story (Hindi, dir. Vivek Agnihotri, 2012)

Starring: Paoli Dam, Gulshan Devaiya, Nikhil Dwivedi, Joy Sengupta, Mohan Kapoor,  Bhairavi Goswami, Iravati Harshe, Gopal K. Singh, Saurabh Dubey

Worth Revisitng?  Nope.  Glad that it was on Mela so I could see it once and add to my list of 2012 films watched, but no need to rewatch it at all.  There is, I think, the grain of an interesting idea, but there are terrible dialogues and acting -- there were moments where the actors were stepping over each other's dialogues, it was incredible awkward.  Gulshan Devaiya was so much better in That Girl in Yellow Boots and Shaitan (to be fair, his character was a Royal Arse), Nikhil Dwivedi gave the film a few moments of grace, but in general, it was just incredibly tedious waiting for Paoli Dam's Kaavya to work  through her revenge plot.

 

 

May Movie Madness: Sankaranum Mohananum in Six Words

 

Mohankrishnan sees (and hears) dead people.

 

 

Sankaranum Mohananum ("Sankaran and Mohanan", Malayalam, dir. T.V. Chandran, 2011)

Starring:  Jayasurya, Meera Nandan, Rima Kallingal, Jagathy Sreekumar, Suraj Venjaramoodu, Sudheesh, Bijukuttan, Indrans, Kochupreman, Ambika, Rosilin, Sivaji Guruvayur

Worth Revisiting? Sadly, no.  I honestly did not like this film very much at all.  And that *is* sad, because it's from award-winning and acclaimed art-house director T.V. Chandran.  I would give my eye teeth to see some of Chandran's previous work, and I do search for the DVDs regularly.

But Sankaranum Mohananum  made me think of two French expressions.  The first, "rester bouche bée" which I'd probably translate as "gobsmacked".  But I realized part way through the film that I was honestly sitting there with my mouth agape at what was happening.

The other term it brought to mind is "quel gâchis" or what a waste.  A waste of talent, for sure -- two small performances by Suraj Venjaramoodu and Jagathy Sreekumar are lost, Rima Kallingal is practically not there at all.  The story made absolutely no sense to me.  Okay, I get the idea:  the dead take their worries with them into the great beyond, illustrated by the fact that Mohankrishnan's brother, Sankaran, who has died the day after his marriage, is obsessed with telling his wife that he still loves her.

However, I found the ghost of Sankaran incredibly annoying -- the only person who can see him is his brother, and he just keeps appearing in a series of strange avatars with no explanation why.  He is also incredibly selfish -- when a new husband is found for his widow (a situation which will mean her whole life won't be ruined by his unfortunate and untimely death), he insists that his brother go and beat the guy up and stop the wedding.  Later, he asks only that the wedding be postponed to a time when he will have lost his memories of his wife. 

And I couldn't figure out why Mohankrishnan just blindly went along with everything his brother told him to do, instead of taking a step back and thinking maybe doing what his dead brother is asking maybe isn't the best course of action.

If that weren't enough -- suddenly, and late in the film, Mohankrishnan starts seeing and hearing other ghosts -- this is to reinforce the idea that when someone dies, they are helpless to take care of things that need looking after.

So I think I shall pass on writing about this film any further, and keep my fingers crossed that I can find some of T.V. Chandran's previous films to enjoy.

 

May Movie Madness: Athbhutha Dweepu in Six Words

 

Six words are not nearly enough.

 

 

Athbhutha Dweepu ("Wonder Island", Malayalam, dir. Vinayan, 2005)

Starring:  Prithviraj, Mallika Kapoor, Radha, Guinness Pakru (as Unda Pakru), Jagathy Sreekumar, Jagadish, Bindu Panikkar, Kalpana, Indrans, Ponnamma Babu, Vettoor Purushan, Baburaj, Valsala Menon

Worth Revisiting?  Absolutely.  Athbhutha Dweepu has been described as Gulliver's Travels, without Gulliver or the travels.  And according to the film's Wikipedia page, the rights to the film have been bought by Ron Howard, who wanted to remake it starring Leonardo DiCaprio, with the 300 dwarfs in the film reprising their roles.   I am not making that up.  Frankly, I'm not convinced, but boy, is that a remake I would love to see.  The film is the story of an island where the men are dwarfs because of a curse, and the women are....um...."regular" size (in quotes because I recognize this is a bit of a minefield, and yes, I think it's worth pondering the whole thing about size and whatnot.  The film makes the point by the end that it's not the size of the package but the heart inside it.)  Four members of the Indian Navy end up on the island after their helicopter goes down, and the whole film revolves around how they have to escape from the ruling dwarf princes who want to kill them.  Seriously, there is no way to do this film justice in six words.  And it features a terrific performance from Guinness Pakru, so called because he's in the Guiness Book of World Records because of this film, being the smallest person to star in a feature length film.  All that said, I'm not sure I can stomache the rather gruesome final battle against the cannibal giants a second time.

Yes, I did just write "cannibal giants".  Truly, six words are not enough.

 

May Movie Madness: Sevenes in Six Words

 

Seven friends become a quotation team.

 

 

Sevenes, (Malayalam, dir. Joshiy, 2011)

Starring:  Kunchacko Boban, Asif Ali, Rejith Menon, Nivin Pauly, Aju Varghese, Vineeth Kumar, Rima Kallingal, Ameer,  Bhama, Ramya Raj, Nadia Moidu, Mamukkoya, Manian Pillai Raju, Shivaji, Sri Kala, Preethi Srinivasan

Worth Revisiting?  Perhaps.  I found the theme, about how these friends get roped into forming a quotation team out of desperate need for money to pay medical bills, rather compelling.  One job, they think, will be enough, but then there are more and more reasons to keep going, more bills to pay, until they find themselves in over their heads before they even realize it's happening.   But I didn't find myself emotionally engaged with the story -- the friends all seem likeable enough, but I didn't feel that I got to know any of them well enough to really care about what was happening to them.  Asif Ali's performance stands out for me (as it often does), and I dearly regret that there wasn't enough scope to give they very talented Rima Kallingal a bigger role.  That said, Nadia Moidu was terrific as the tough cop, and I do think there's some scope to revisit the film at some point.

 

May Movie Madness: Tere Bin Laden in Six Words

 

Pakistani Muslim chases the American Dream.

 

 

Tere Bin Laden (a pun:  "Without you, Laden", or "Your Bin Laden" , Hindi, dir. Abhishek Sharma, 2010)

Starring:  Ali Zafar,  Pradhuman Singh, Sugandha Garg, Nikhil Ratnaparkhi, Piyush Mishra, Rahul Singh, Seema Bhargav, Barry John, Chirag Vohra, Chinmay Mandlekar, Rajendra Sethi, Harry Josh, Masood Akhtar

Worth Revisiting?  Oh, my, yes!  In fact, Tere Bin Laden is precisely the kind of film that would suit Palate Cleanser Week, as it's a welcome breath of fresh air in my film watching this month.  The ensemble cast, the sharp writing, the music -- I loved it all.  And I'm sure Mr. Totally Filmi is going to enjoy watching this one, too.

 

May Movie Madness: The Filmstaar in Six Words

 

A village's suffering inspires a film.

 

The Filmstaar  (Malayalam, dir. Sanjeev Raj, 2011)

Starring:  Kalabhavan Mani, Dileep, Muktha, Rambha, Thalaivasal Vijay, Ganga, Vijayaraghavan, Salim Kumar, Ashokan, Valsala Menon, Devan, Suraj Venjarammoodu, Baburaj, Sadique

Worth Revisiting?   You know, there's much to love about The Filmstaar.  There's a good honest story at the core of it all, with some excellent twists.  But I had the impression at times that the film wasn't sure what it wanted to be.  A simple man's story about how his village is destroyed by industrialisation backed by corrupt politicians?  Or a masala action film?  As a result, I'm left with decidedly mixed feelings.  Perhaps I should write about the film in depth to work through them, but I'm not sure I could face the scene where we find out how Nandagopan (Dileep) loses his leg a second time.

 

May Movie Madness: Gali Gali Chor Hai in Six Words

 

There are thieves in every lane.

 

 

Gali Gali Chor Hai (Hindi, dir. Rumi Jaffrey, 2012)

Starring: Akshaye Khanna, Shriya Saran,  Mugdha Godse, Annu Kapoor, Satish Kaushik, Akhilendra Mishra, Vijay Raaz, Murli Sharma, Amit Mistry, Mustaq Khan, Arun Verma, Rajat Rawail, Anita Mudgal, Pankaj Sharma,  Mohit Baghel, Veena Malik

Worth Revisiting?  Sadly, no.  The idea -- a common man becomes trapped in a web of corruption at every turn -- is an interesting one.  There are some terrific actors in this film (including Totally Filmi Casa Faves Annu Kapoor, Satish Kaushik, Vijay Raaz and a sorely underutilized Amit Mistry).  There are some very funny moments, but the film just never finds the satirical edge that would make this work. 

 

May Movie Madness: Venicile Vyapari in Six Words

 

Megastar Mammootty solves muddled murder mystery.

 

 

Venicile Vyapari ("The Merchant of Venice", Malayalam, dir. Shafi, 2011)

Starring: Mammootty, Kavya Madhavan, Poonam Bajwa, Suraj Venjarammoodu, Jagathy Sreekumar, Janardhanan, Salim Kumar, Vijaya Raghavan, Guinness Pakru, Biju Menon

Worth Revisiting?  I would like to screencap the opening credits at some point, they are kind of wonderful and cracktastic.  But I'm having a hard time reconciling the fact that writer James Albert -- of Totally Filmi Casa Fave Classmates --- also wrote the script for this.  Venicile Vyapari  is a messy film that meanders all over the place before finally getting to the point, in stark contrast to the carefully crafted mystery of Classmates.  However, the film is set in Alappuzha (AKA Alleppey), described as "the Venice of the East" (hence the Venice of the film's title -- the merchant in this case being Mammootty), and the scenery is incredibly beautiful.  The megastar isn't given much to do except be the megastar, but there are some lovely performances in the film, most notably from Kavya Madhavan and Jagathy Sreekumar.

 

May Movie Madness: Bhindi Baazaar Inc. in Six Words

 

Better pick a pocket or two.

 

Bhindi Baazaar Inc. (Hindi, dir. Ankush Bhatt, 2011)

Starring:  Kay Kay Menon, Piyush Mishra, Deepti Naval,  Prashant Narayanan, Shilpa Shukla, Pawan Malhotra, Vedita Pratap Singh, Jackie Shroff

Worth Revisiting?  Maybe.  I should note that Kay Kay Menon's role is really kind of a glorified special appearance, and Jackie Shroff's is almost a blink and you'll miss him one (and, frankly, I could have done without him).  The story revolves around the theme of power and betrayal, so nothing I haven't seen before.  But I actually liked how it was handled here -- I found it more compelling than the similarly themed Once Upon a Time in Mumbai, mainly due to the performance of Prashant Narayanan, who is terrific.  I definitely want to see more of him, and as he's in the 2012 Malayalam release Unnam,  which has just come out on DVD, I shall get my wish.  On the whole, though, the film lays out a lot of plot and subplot, and although it does an admirable job of tying all the ends together, it still takes a lot of patience and attention to hang on to all the threads.

May Movie Madness: Bittoo Boss in Six Words

 

Once again, I think I'll let the film speak for itself:

 

 

Bittoo Boss (Hindi, dir. Supavitra Babul, 2012)

Starring: Pulkit Samrat, Amita Pathak, Rajendra Sethi, Mohan Kapoor

Worth Revisiting?  You know what?  Yes.  I was disappointed that I couldn't love the film -- it doesn't have the effortless charm of films like Vicky Donor or Band Baaja Baaraat, the story is kind of messy and episodic, the supporting characters don't make much of an impression, and there's some not-so-great acting happening at times.  But.  I really loved the music, and the film has such heart, as well as a hero who truly is a nice guy.  The premise -- a videowala who dreams of making films beyond the ones he takes of weddings and other ceremonies -- is solid, even if the execution is uneven.  There are some really lovely moments in this film, and it's just too bad they weren't strung together into a more cohesive whole that I could love.  That said, I think I'd watch it again, and I definitely want to see what both Pulkit Samrat and Supavitra Babul will do next.  Perhaps the second time will be the charm?

May Movie Madness: Snehaveedu in Six Words

 

Love trumps all, even blood ties.

 

 

Snehaveedu ("The House of Love", Malayalam, dir. Sathyan Anthikad, 2011)

Starring:  Mohanlal, Sheela, Padmapriya, Biju Menon, Innocent, K. P. A. C. Lalitha, Mamukkoya, Rahul Pillai, Reeja, Chembil Ashokan, Lena, Urmila Unni, Arundathi, Sasi Kalinga, Appukutty, Praveen Premkumar

Worth Revisiting?    Yes.  A solid, decently crafted film from director Sathyan Athikad.  Some reviews have suggested it's too much of a familiar Anthikad formula, but as I've not seen any of the director's previous films, I rather enjoyed it.  A lovely slice of life in rural Kerala, an interesting theme, and some terrific performances from everyone in the cast.

 

May Movie Madness: Perumazhakkalam in Six Words

 

So much rain.  So many tears.

 

 

Perumazhakkalam ("The Season of Heavy Rains", Mayalam, dir. Kamal, 2004)

Starring:  Meera Jasmine, Kavya Madhavan, Dileep, Biju Menon, Vineeth, Mamukkoya, Sadiq, Salim Kumar, Kalasala Babu, Yadu Krishnan, Mala Aravindan, Babu Nampoothiri, Sivaji, Valsala Menon, Ramya Nambeeshan, Ramu

Worth Revisiting?  Oh, yes.  In fact, I've seen Perumazhakkalam several times, and really wanted to write it up during Adam's Rib, but fell sick and couldn't muster the energy.  But it's a lovely film, and it will be interesting to compare/contrast it with its Hindi remake, Dor.  The film won a National Award in 2005 ("Best Film on Other Social Issues") and Kavya Madhavan, with her almost silent portrayal of anguish, won a Kerala State Award for Best Actress in 2004.  So, yes, I shall be writing further on this film!

 

May Movie Madness: The Interval (and a bit about Palate Cleanser Week)

 

You know, I love watching movies.  And I watch a LOT of movies.  And, on the whole, I've kind of been enjoying May Movie Madness and trying to write six words about each of the films I've seen.  I have to admit, though, that although there have been a few good films, and a few dreadful films, the majority of what I've seen this month have been sort of mediocre films, neither good nor bad, probably all right once in a while, but a whole slew of them in a row just ends up kind of discouraging.  I actually had a six word post lined up for this morning, but decided I really need a break -- a bit of an interval if you will.  So I've decided to share something Beth Loves Bollywood and I have cooked up.

A discussion with Beth about the Bengali film Bhooter Bhabishyat  (which, thankfully, has been a bright spot this month) prompted this exchange:

 

 

And, thus, Palate Cleanser Week was born.  Beth and I have decided to co-host a week devoted to anything film related that lifts your spirits, changes your mood, restores your faith in films, that just generally makes you feel better.  You could share your Comfort Films -- those films you return to time and time again, because, like a security blanket, they just make you feel all is right with the world.  You could share a film that you just loved, that stood out for you in all the things you've watched recently (I sure do have a few of those this month).  You could even share a video clip of a song that just makes you want to dance the blahs away, or maybe even outtakes that make you laugh -- anything film related is fair game.

So mark your calendars for the week starting June 25th!  Share the films or videos that make you feel better, that restore your faith in films when it has been tried and tested.  Links will be collected up so we can have a respository of Palate Cleansers we can draw on in those moments when we just need a pick-me-up.

Terrific, yes?

 

Definitely one of the films that restored my mood this month.

 

May Movie Madness: Makeup Man in Six Words

 

Wife becomes actress; husband, makeup man.

 

 

Makeup Man (Malayalam, dir. Shafi, 2011)

Starring:   Jayaram, Sheela, Siddique, Suraj Venjaramoodu, Janardhanan, Jagadish, Salim Kumar, Jagathy Sreekumar, Shammi Thilakan, Babu Namboothiri, Saiju Kuruppu, Appahaja, Devan, Krishna Kumar

Guest Appearances:  Kunchacko Boban, Kamna Jethmalani, Prithviraj

Worth Revisiting?  The guest appearances are fun.  There are some good moments.  Jayaram is good (although slightly age-inappropriate again) the film is all right, although it starts to unravel seriously in the second half.  Once again, Suraj Venjaramoodu is a bright spot in the film. If I do write about Makeup Man more fully, it will likely be to consider the whole "hidden marriage so wife can become actress" and betrayal theme that runs through the film.

 

May Movie Madness: Oru Marubhoomikadha in Six Words

 

This is a very silly film.

 

 

Oru Marubhoomikadha  (Malayalam, dir. Priyadarshan, 2011)

Starring:  Mohanlal, Mukesh, Shakti Kapoor, Innocent,  Mamukkoya, Nedumudi Venu, Lakshmi Rai, Bhavana, Suraj Venjaramood, Maniyanpilla Raju, Lakshmi Gopalaswamy, Sreenivasan

Worth Revisiting?  Yes. I should probably not admit it, but yes.  I laughed, loudly, and often.  Mohanlal is brilliant, Mukesh and Bhavana are terrific, and even though the story is a cobbling together of bits from other films (including Serendipity, the film that was remade in Hindi as Milenge Milenge) somehow, here Priyadarshan makes it all work.  It's not great cinema.  It's highly silly and full of slapstick.  But I'm not surprised it ended up a hit, and not surprised it's another film slated for a Hindi remake.   A rumour that it might star Salman Khan sort of fit eerily with the original six words I wrote for this film:  David Dhawan, here's your Partner sequel.  I know that particular ship has sailed, but oh, it would be so funny with Salman Khan and Govinda.

 

May Movie Madness: Orma Mathram in Six Words

 

So much of loss and sadness.

 

 

Orma Mathram  ("Memories Alone", Malayalam, dir. Madhu Kaithapram, 2011)

Starring: Dileep, Priyanka Nair, Master Sidharth, Jagathy Sreekumar, Nedumudi Venu,  Salim Kumar, Harishree Ashokan, Dhanya Mary Varghese

Worth Revisiting?  Yes.  If my heart can stand breaking twice for the same movie.  I do think the film tries to tackle too many serious issues and never really deals with any of them, and I am troubled by some of the moral issues the film sets out, particularly the guilt around the abortion Safiya (Priyanka Nair) has and the idea that somehow her son's disappearance is some kind of karmic retribution for it.  Still, perhaps that's worth further thought and exploration.

 

May Movie Madness: The Forest in Six Words

The forest is beautiful and dangerous.

 

 

The Forest (English, Hindi, dir. Ashvin Kumar, 2009)

Starring: Ankur Vikal, Javed Jaffrey,  Nandana Sen, Salim Ali Zaidi,Tarun Shukla

Worth revisiting?  Hmm.  Yes, but not for the reasons you might suppose.  In all honesty, I didn't find The Forest remotely thrilling or scary at all.  I did find the dialogues dreadful and, frankly, laughable, and I think I might share a few of the prime ones at some point.  That said, the film is visually incredibly beautiful, and the much underrated Javed Jaffrey is, once again, terrific.  We are fans of Javed Jaffrey here at Casa Totally Filmi -- he is a good actor, a good dancer, and, having had the privilege of meeting him once, consider him an incredibly good sport.  He also has an amazing voice.  Amazing.  So further discussion of The Forest and its environmental message (which, fortunately, doesn't hit one over the head), as well as of Javed Jaffrey, might well be in order.

 

May Movie Madness: Bhalo Theko in Six Words

 

Poetry, politics, philosophy, nature, love, persistence.

 

 

Bhalo Theko ("Take Care", Bengali, dir. Goutam Halder, 2003)

Starring: Vidya Balan,  Soumitra Chatterjee, Joy Sengupta, Debshankar Haldar, Parambrata Chatterjee, Rimjhim Gupta, Souvik Poyra, Anusua Majumdar, Bijay Lakshmi Barman, Chandan Sengupta

Worth Revisiting? Yes.  Sure, it's arty and slow-paced and requires a lot of patience.  But it's Vidya Balan's first feature film, and the film won three National Awards in 2003: Best Cinematography, Best Audiography, and a Special Jury Award "(f)or its quiet but masterful foray into the new cinematic idioms."  It's also interesting to see Vidya Balan and Parambrata Chatterjee together on screen prior to their work  in Kahaani.

 

May Movie Madness: Paan Singh Tomar in Six Words

 

Rebels are not born, they're made.

 

 

Paan Singh Tomar (Hindi, dir. Tigmanshu Dhulia, 2012)

Starring:  Irrfan,  Mahi Gill, Vipin Sharma, Imran Hasnee,  Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Zakir Hussain, Jahangir Khan as Bhanwar Singh, Sitaram Panchal, Rajendra Gupta as H.S. Randhawa, Swapnil Kothriwal,  Brijendra Kala, Rajeev Gupta, Ravi Sah

Worth Revisiting?  Yes.  Emphatically yes.  In face, I've already watched it several times, and although it's got its imperfections (most notably an incredibly invasive background score), it is, nevertheless, an incredibly moving and compelling film.  It will easily find itself on my list of Top Ten Films of 2012, and once I get all my notes and screencaps in order, I will write about the film in more depth.

May Movie Madness: Flop-E in Six Words

 

Need to fail?  Make a film.

 

 

Flop-E (Bengali, dir. Pritam Sarkar, 2012)

Starring:  Sabyasachi Chakraborty, Paoli Dam, Monika Chakraborty, Barun Chanda, Suvrojit, Saswati Guhathakurta, Spirit Mukherjee, Sanjib Mukherjee, Joy Ganguly

Worth Revisiting?  I'd have to give that a qualified "maybe".  Flop-E can't even be described as "one hot mess", because, in all honesty, the whole thing is kind of luke-warm.  Which is, frankly, too bad -- there's the germ of a really interesting story here.  Successful businessman Mr. Pranabesh Mitra (Barun Chanda) has never failed, and decides that perhaps he should have a taste of failure to know what it's like.  He asks his managers to come up with a good money-losing proposition, and one of them, Mrittika (Paoli Dam) comes up with the idea to make a flop film.

The problem with the film is that it never seems to know where to put its focus -- there's the story of making the flop film, there's the story of the four friends who want to make films, there's a potential love story -- but there's no pacing or rhythm at all.  Also, we never really come to care about any of the characters -- we have no idea what really motivates them, really, apart from Mr. Mitra. 

And although veteran actor Sabhyasachi Chakraborty is placed front and centre of all the film's promotions, his role in the film is miniscule, and comes very, very late in the film.  That's a small quibble.

All that said:  there are some truly funny and wry moments -- mostly as Mrittika and Mitra interview prospective directors to try to figure out a flop film formula -- so I think the film is worth more than six words, and I'll come back to it at some point.

 

(BTW, I was lucky to see the film because it's currently running (with English subtitles) on my Mela I-Pad app.  It may not be the greatest film I've seen lately, but I was really pleased to be able to see it.)

May Movie Madness: Doctor Love in Six Words

 

Failed writer turns campus romance consultant.

 

 

Doctor Love (Malayalam, Dir. K. Biju, 2011)

Starring: Kunchacko Boban, Bhavana, Ananya, Bhagat, Aju Varghese,Shraavan, Manikuttan, Prakasaan, Hemanth Menon, Rejath Menon, Shari, Nimisha Suresh, Gimi George, Vidya Unni, Innocent, Bindu Panicker, Nedumudi Venu, Salim Kumar, Vijayaraghavan

Special Appearances:  Lal, Asif Ali

Worth Revisiting?  Oh, Kunchacko Boban, you and I don't have a very good track record this month, do we?  Another example of a film that squanders a lot of terrific talent.  I like Kunchacko Boban, I really like Bhavana, but they're both wasted here.  There are blink-and-you-miss-them performances from Innocent, Salim Kumar, and Nedumudi Venu.  The two special appearances, from Totally Film Casa Favorites Lal and Asif Ali, are both tucked into the film's first five minutes, so that's likely all I'm going to want to see again.

Oh, wait.  Unless I decide to do a post on filmi love gurus.  There's a little scope for comparison, say, to David Dhawan's Partner.  Maybe one day....

 

May Movie Madness: Doubles in Six Words

 

Today, I'm going to let the movie speak for itself:

 

 

 

Doubles (Malayalam, dir. Sohan Seenulal, 2011)

Starring:  Mammootty, Nadia Moidu, Taapsee Pannu, Suresh, Saiju Kurup, Suraj Venjaramoodu, Salim Kumar, Anoop Chandran, Avinash, Y. G. Mahendra

Worth Revisiting?  No.  Most emphatically no.  The writing team of Sachi-Sethu were purported to have broken up over the failure of Doubles.  Not even the Megastar himself, Mammootty, could save this for me.  If there is the smallest of bright lights, it's in the performance of Salim Kumar, but I think that's just me trying to be generous.

 

 

May Movie Madness: Ulakam Chuttum Valiban in Six Words

 

Good guy turns thief, then cop.

 

 

Ulakam Chuttum Valiban  ("Globe Trotting Youngster", Malayalam, dir. Raj Babu, 2011)

Starring:  Jayaram, Vandana Menon, Biju Menon, Mithra Kurian, Suraj Venjaramoodu, Suresh Krishna, Salim Kumar

Worth Revisiting?  Sigh.  Oh, Jayaram.  Here we are, another decent, solid, family entertainer in which your character really should be played by someone much younger.  Not the worst film I've seen this month, but probably not worth a full write-up.  However?  The third film in a row that was made much better by Suraj Venjaramoodu's participation in it.