[vibbs]

Salute- Sony Liv

Not entirely satisfied with the movie. I did not feel that the movie is gripping enough. Some very lucky breaks for investigating team. The ending was extremely weird as well.

Good thing was that DQ did not overact. No offense to his fans (I like him as well) but I do not think acting is his strong point and therefore he tends to get into overacting mode very soon. In this movie though there was no scope.

My verdict: Not recommended.

[naveen.raju]

Salute



It was a decent thriller but the climax was sort of weird. Maybe a second installment is under consideration.

Rating - 4/5


Lalitham Sundaram



It started off well but then it was a downhill. Too much of depression when I thought it would a good family entertainer. Manju felt artificial in her looks and also with her english.

Rating - 2/5

Aarattu



Exactly what BHPian Fundagenie pointed out. What a terrible movie. So many good actors wasted - Siddique, Nedumudi Venu etc. And the choice of female leads were poor as well.

Well, the script writer didn't have much work here. Reminds me of an old classic Jagathy movie where he copies dialogues/scenes from other movies. Here they have copied dialogues from other superhit movies of Mohan Lal. Definitely a fan movie. Also the storyline is similar to one his blockbuster.

Rating - 0/5 (Definitely avoid it)

[Rajeevraj]

I cannot understand why Mohanlal did a movie like 'Aarattu' in this day and age. There has been a lot of discussion(even in this thread) on most Malayalam movies falling into the realistic, thriller, dark category and the lack of 'entertainers'. Not sure if this was the sole inspiration for attempting to churn out what the makers themselves call an 'unrealistic entertainer'.

All the makers behind this are experienced hands and should have know that even a mass entertainer needs some substance and cannot be some random stuff thrown together to make a movie. Sometimes the movie felt like a spoof with all the references to older movies and sometimes it felt like a wannabe action entertainer. As we say in Malayalam-what a 'thattikoottu' (randomly put together stuff) movie.

As fundagenie said- Definitely one among the worst movies in his illustrious career. I still rate "Casanova" his worst though

[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by naveen.raju

Aarattu

What a terrible movie. So many good actors wasted - Siddique, Nedumudi Venu etc. And the choice of female leads were poor as well.

Rating - 0/5 (Definitely avoid it)

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

I cannot understand why Mohanlal did a movie like 'Aarattu' in this day and age.
...
...
I still rate "Casanova" his worst though

It was a close competition to Casanova though – a total disgrace indeed! Almost felt like a mashup spoof of his old movies.

[vigsom]

While casually opening the PVR website at approx 0800hrs this morning to look for weekend releases, I saw RRR up there in today's releases with shows in Telugu and Hindi. Since I was free in the morning, decided to give the 0900hrs Telugu show a shot and it worked; got a ticket at the multiplex without fuss.



Overall Movie Rating 4.0/5

The four stars are for

1. impactful performances by the cast
2. powerful screenplay
3. action sequences and
4. for the movie being engaging overall

The movie featured English sub titles, which in my view wasn't needed as most of the movie is in English. At 182 minutes, I'd say the movie could have been shorter by approx 20 mins. Highlights in my view were the Naatu naatu number and the action sequences. What I didn't like though was the above average blood.

Really commendable effort by the cast and crew!

[benbsb29]

Lalitham Sundaram (Malayalam) - Hotstar



This one had all the ingredients to be a good family entertainer. Does it deliver? Nopes.
If there had to be a list of movies where the trailer was better than the movie itself, this is a strong contender.

The movie tries to establish itself as a modern family setup, but pretty much fails to evoke any sort of emotional connect. The person playing the role of the father in the movie is so devoid of expression, that you wonder if he sleepwalked his way through the movie.

Manju Warrier's fake smiles shone through, while Biju Menon and Saiju just went about the motions. The only saving grace from an acting perspective is Sudeesh, who did his role as the family aide with perfection. The medley of old songs at the end was also a good touch.

Melodrama aside, not much stood out from this movie.

Rating : 2/5

[naveen.raju]

Archana 31 not out



Not worth the time. Only liked the performances of the bunch of old dudes, especially at the end.
Available on Manorama Max.

Rating - 1/5

Don't even bother to watch "Sumesh and Ramesh". Stopped it after 20 mins. Salim Kumar was trying to copy his role from "Kattappanayile Rithwik Roshan". I sometimes wonder why I waste watching these crap . Hope the movies releasing this week (Bheeshma parvam, Pada) will make up for these.

[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by naveen.raju

Hope the movies releasing this week (Bheeshma parvam, Pada) will make up for these.

I believe Bheeshma is coming on Hotstar. Pada is on which platform?

[naveen.raju]

Originally Posted by vb-san

I believe Bheeshma is coming on Hotstar. Pada is on which platform?

Pada - March 30 (Amazon)

Veyil - April 1 ( Amazon )

Member rameshan - April 1 (Zee5).

Radhesyam - April 1 ( Amazon and Simply south)

Bheeshma parvam - April 1 ( hotstar )

Thirimali - April 1 ( Manorama max )

Naradhan - April 8 (Amazon)

Puzhu ( Sonyliv ) coming soon

12th man ( Hotstar ) coming soon

ET - Netflix and SunNxt ( April 14/ April 15 )

[dragonfire]

Originally Posted by benbsb29

Lalitham Sundaram (Malayalam) - Hotstar

Attachment 2289624

Did they just try to plagiarize the Parasite poster?

[binand]

Originally Posted by dragonfire

Did they just try to plagiarize the Parasite poster?

I suppose it is something of an industry norm that every family reunion movie must have such a group photo poster.

[Rajeevraj]

Archana 31- ManoramaMax-Malayalam

Would have worked well as a 30 min short film. The first 15 min was good and then last 15 min was good, everything in between could have fit in 5 min.

Valimai-Tamil-Zee5

Considering the hype, was disappointed with this one. 2-3 of the bike stunt set pieces were nice, but the rest of it was a typical story.

[balenoed_]

RRR - 4/5

Now the thing with SSR movie is that you will be confused whether to laugh or get wonderstuck while seeing some scenes. He simply knows how to get the audience to hold the breath and get them on to the edge of the seats. Same with RRR too. The action scenes just before it calls for the interval (just like Bahubali) will make you hold the breath and then a big sigh of relief the moment it shows inteRRRval. And then you definitely need a popcorn and coke to bring yourself into senses.

Don’t look for any logic in the script, just appreciate the creativity and mass scenes and extra ordinary canvas. Only SSR can pull off and create such entertainments IMHO.

Plain and pure entertainment.

[IndieGooner]

Pada (Malayalam) on Amazon Prime

The movie is based on a real life incident were four activists made the district collector of Palakkad a hostage. Their main demand was for the government to repeal a recent legislation involving tribal land.

Coming to the movie I found it to be very exciting, edge of the seat thriller. There are no cool sequences or mass dialogues. The quartet are actually shown to be quite unassuming and amateur - they don't have much in terms of resources or planning, one of their cohorts had bailed on them on the morning of the plot and they were laughably unprepared in their first attempt. In fact it's shown that the plot could eventually be successful only because the collector's armed guard simply forgot to bring his gun along!

While the movie is definitely political, it is presented as a matter of fact and refreshingly avoids pandering to any ideaology or putting protagonists up in a pedestal. Also, the government officials and police are not shown in particularly bad light.

[Rajeevraj]

RRR-4/5

If you actually think back and analyze, the story line is a very thin one and there is nothing unique about it-for both the heroes. Also like a typical mass movie from the big stars, everything is centered around the 2 heroes, rest of the cast is just there to support. This is unlike Bahubali where there was more of a complex story line and also a number of characters with strong backstories.

Having said that, no one can match SSR in the scale at which imagines the cinematic canvas and more importantly-execute perfectly to it. It is an absolute smashing treat he lays out for us. With the base of the two real life characters, he adds in mix of patriotism, the concepts of fire and water, mythological references, wild animals and makes it into a visual spectacle which makes you forget any loopholes or logic. Both Ram Charan and Junior NTR do extremely well and have put in a lot of effort for this. Rest of the cast also does well. Alia Bhatt could have had a more substantial role to play considering her caliber.

I personally believe that no one makes mass entertainers better than Telugu Cinema and SSR takes it to a whole new level.