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I am yet to watch Dhananjoy - felt it would be too sentimental and slow. At that point of time the news speculation was that the teenage girl was the mastermind and he was the scapegoat. Is that the same angle in the film?

After Mrigaya etc. there should not be any doubt about Mithun C's acting prowess. It is a shame he masked it so well for decades in the Masala movies (both Hinda and Bengali).

The movie is not exactly slow but rather an interesting watch. Scapegoat part is there alright in the movie and that is why I said what I said. But the makers have sensationalised the movie to some extent but still its a decent watch.

Nishabdham (Silence) - Telugu/Tamil/Malayalam on Prime - Thriller/Mild horror.

Nice movie - 3.5/5

Madhavan is a timeless actor. Set in the US, around a few beautiful Villa's, this can be a good watch. What also amazed me is the excellent video quality.

Searching for Aamis online I came across this site. Has Aamis with English subtitles

https://www.moviesaints.com/movie/all_movie

The website also seems to be a nice effort to bring in some quality movies. As of now they have only limited titles. But hoping that this venture is successful and more offbeat movies become accessible

Nishabdam: Found it so bad that it was actually a hilarious watch. Had a promising plot and a great cast. Felt the screenplay was bad and had lot of loopholes. Seemed to be poorly directed also. Felt like a B grade Hollywood thriller.

Ka Pae Ranasingam- Tamil- Pay per view on ZeePlex. Vijay Sethupathi and Aishwarya Rajesh. A very good watch dealing with the struggles of a lady to bring back the body of her husband who had passed away in Dubai. Aishwarya Rajesh was fantastic. On the down side, way too long and stretched out.

Silence [Tamil, Amazon Prime]

This is the Tamil title of the movie Nishabdam (which is what I chose to watch). My final impression is that it is an absurd movie packaged in a fake veneer of American sophistication.

Starts off like one of those WhatsApp forwards that had come out a few months back - the "Malayali aano? Nattil evideya" one. Seemed to me Seattle is a suburb of Chennai. Could have been more believable if they had based the movie in Chennai. After all, what is the point of placing the story in USA if you are not willing to give even the slightest attention to American police procedures and methods?

Having said that, Anushka Shetty is lovely and some of the locales are very photogenic. That's about it. The less said about the plot holes, the better.

Well, the storyline would not have suited if it was based out locally - The extra martial affairs.

Hmm. You might want to look up a 1990-ish Malayalam movie called Mukham starring Mohanlal and Ranjini in lead roles.

Halal Love Story [Malayalam, Amazon Prime]

Lovely little movie about a couple who end up playing the lead roles in an amateur movie production. A roleplay they do as part of an acting workshop somewhat strains their relationship.

There are other angles that explore the lives of the people involved. And there is the complication that the movie is produced by an otherwise orthodox organisation and therefore it needs to stick to what is "halal" (acceptable).

I was blown away by the transformation that Grace Antony has undergone between Kumbalangi Nights and this one. Indrajith, as is his wont, comes up with a subdued performance that makes his co-star's that much more enjoyable.

The movie is particularly close to my heart because of the fact that the cast speaks the dialect of Malayalam spoken is popular in and around the places of my childhood. :-)

I have always found Malayalam a beautiful language to listen to - the mellifluousness sort of soothes me.

However, it took the Covid imposed stay at home to finally hook me on to Mollywood movies. Have become an avowed fan now.

Halal Love story on Prime

What a beautiful little movie :)

Halal Love Story (Malayalam)



A decent movie with good performance by the lead actors. Expected a lot since it had a pretty good lineup of actors. Turned out to be "more" of a family drama rather a comedy subject (even though it's got some good comedy).

Rating - 3/5

Putham Puthu Kaalai



Absolutely loved this. A brilliant one after "Sillu Karupati". Not all short stories were good, but it's definitely a good watch that shows almost all human emotions being portrayed in these movies.

Rating - 4.5/5

Lock Up [Tamil, Zee5]

A murder mystery that starts off as a police procedural but then becomes a thriller with many twists, double crosses and the "unreliable narrator" motif. Two deaths happen in the same night in the precinct of a police station - one, the Inspector in charge of the station himself who was clearly murdered and the other, a low-income wage earner woman who seemingly committed suicide by jumping off a bridge. How these two deaths are connected and what roles did the other cops in the station play is the mystery that unravels over the course of the movie. Quite a decent watch, if you ask me - though there are some problems here and there.

It has Shamna Kasim in common with...

Aaru Sundarimarude Katha [Malayalam, Sun NXT]

An utterly avoidable nonsense movie that has been my misfortune to watch. Just stay away, please. No wonder I had never heard of this movie though it claims to have had a theatrical release in 2013.

Sad to see lots of right minded people got fooled by this candy-wrapper covered reglious/political messaging that is relentlessly peddled within.
I generally dislike movies that peddle a religious bias and indule in political/religious propoganda. So i prefer not to comment on this one in detail.

Suffice to say, at the end i felt i could have spent the 2 hours on lots of better things, instead of having a regressive mindset completely at odds with the ethos of the native land getting pushed down my throat.

Thumbs down to this one.

To quote from an online review -
"If the story teller’s intent was to positively critic the flaws of that community (like Trance did about the Pentecost), then it was a total failure, if not then I have no idea what it is.
Cutting to the chase, it is an over hyped movie (by the social media celebrity club). Watch it with an open mind."

Of late, Kannada movie buffs are being treated to a multi cuisine buffet. The spread is varied and the dishes delicious. A fresh addition to the list is this food themed OTT release.

Starring relatively unknown faces in the lead, the movie moves back and forth in time revealing the past, justifying the present and giving hope for the future. Food acts as the pivot and serves as a sustained metaphor till the end. The minor issue of a contrived amnesia manages to bring forth situations that help the filmmakers explore the many sides of the human psyche.

There are of course several cliches - the Psychiatrist being one.

While the whole movie keeps the audience engaged till the end, it is towards the very end that it manages to put a beautiful twist in the tale.

A little bit of creative editing would have done wonders to the already entertaining script. Nevertheless, a worthy watch.