[SmartCat]

This Kannada movie seems interesting - VIJAYANAND. The story is about founder of VRL Transport/Vijayavani Newspaper

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7dz6ktHN5g

Movie has been dubbed to Hindi/Tamil/Telugu too.

[naveen.raju]

Love Today - Tamil



This came in as a surprise. Had skipped this initially, but saw the high ratings so decided to give it a try. It was a decent watch. All acted well. The storyline is predictable. A straightforward romantic comedy. Not recommended for kids though.

Rating - 4/5 (Netflix)

Roy - Malayalam



It's got an interesting storyline and they build up the suspense pretty well and keeps you guessing. But they kind of spoiled the ending. The movie feels very slow with unnecessary plots/points dragged quite a lot.
As always, Suraj and Shine were brilliant in this.

One time watch but can be a drag.

Rating - 3/5 (Sonyliv)

[chinkara]

Originally Posted by dragracer567

Love today - 3.5/5

Actually liked this money, expected it to be a generic rom-com but it was much more intense than that at various points. It’s really easy to relate to this movie if you are in your 20s in young relationships where you don’t know much about your partner though you think you do. As with Tamil movies in general, there was a hint of misogyny in the movie which is mainly why I wouldn’t score it as high. If you are in your 20s or early 30s, definitely worth a watch.

Similar rating from me as well.
On your second point on misogyny, Incidentally I was having a discussion on an interesting graphic with my friends mainly from the southern states.
They pointed to the increasing misogyny in films as a major reason for the increasing partner violence trend. Kerala, it seems, is an outlier because most "prospective abusers" live away from the family in the Gulf, as a Mallu girl in our group put it. Of course lack of reporting in northern states is a factor, but still very counter intuitive.

[Asish_VK]

Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya He (malayalam) - Disney Hotstar - 4.5/5



Family comedy drama starring Basil Joseph and Darshana Rajendra in lead roles. Movie starts off as a family drama and shifts gear to out and out comedy at half point. Movie just made me laugh uncontrollablly till my stomach ached. Absolutely hilarious at parts. Movie addresses some relevent social issues related to the 'freedom' our society gives to girls and domestic violence after marriage.

Basil performed very good as a male chauvinist & ignorant husband. Darshana was very convincing as a young girl raised in a man dominated home.
Special mention to the uncle charector played by Sudhir Paravur and Brother charector played by Azeez Nedumangad.

Overal very good movie. What I loved more is there was no "All issues solved and everyone happily lived thereafter" kind of happy endin just for the sake of it.


The Teacher (malayalam) - Netflix - 3/5



Ravenge drama thriller starring Amala paul in lead role.
Movie depicts a socially relevent plot, bit fails to capitalise fully on it. It had all the ingredients to make it a great revenge movie, bit loses focus at parts. There are few loopholes in the story too.
Amala Paul was very good and her performance was really good. Manju pillai too was good.
Rest of the cast was done their part but nothing extraordinary.

[Rajeevraj]

Kaapa-Malayalam-Prithviraj-Asif Ali- Aparna Balamurali-Anna Ben-Theater release

A kind of gangster revenge drama from Shaji Kailas. A decent watch if you are fond of the Shaji Kailas way of film making.But got the feeling that it had the potential to be much better. Some back stories hurriedly told while time was wasted in too many build up shots and atleast one stunt sequence. Prithviraj has that swag and screen presence and does well. Asif Ali as expected does a good job.

As we know, Aparna Balamurali and Anna Ben are great actors and are normally selective about the movies they chose and usually have a major part to play. Here, although their roles are pivotal, the actual screen time is pretty less (unless there is a part 2 - the ending is definitely set up for that)

The last 20 min does pull up the film.

Rating: 3/5

[400notout]

Movie: Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya He

Where: Disney Hotstar

Rating: 4/5

Only Malayalam films can churn out such fine natural stories. I didnt know any actor from the film prior to watching it but still enjoyed each and every character, especially Rajesh's mother and cousin. Its a fantasy(?) take on relevant social issues regarding patriarchy delivered with fine comic peices. It's consistently hilarious but never trivialises it's core issues. The duplicity of the mother in law who scolds her son in private and defends him in public. A cousin who gives wedding advice despite having a failed marriage himself. Parents who smother the girls life yet consider her ungrateful. The lead actress goes through everything and her transformation seems natural.

After the Great Indian Kitchen, Jo and Jo, JJJJH is a great satire on society which is hilarious but never gets preachy.

[dailydriver]

Yashoda
- Amazon Prime

Had I watched the movie in a theatre I would have gone out on a limb and demanded my money back.

Doesn't make any sense to invest your time and intelligence in a movie that promises much but under-delivers by a huge margin. Samantha is underutilized and ends up looking confused throughout - a feeling the director too perhaps was a victim of, while making this film.

Please avoid.

[jkrishnakj]

Watched Jaya Jaya…He and Teacher over the last two days. Loved both. Would rate JJJJH higher than ‘teacher’.

The way the story picks up steam and naturally progresses, still making you laugh is something that only a Malayalam movie can do. That’s what JJJJH does.

Teacher had a lovely plot, but perhaps failed to capitalise on what could have been a great story telling. Nevertheless, it’s a good watch.

[dragonfire]

Watched Monster, Rorschach and Jaya(4) He.

Mohanlal should take a cue from Mammootty about choosing his films - that's enough said about the first two.

Jaya... felt like the classic Chinthavishtayaya Shyamala re-imagined.

New age Malayalam movie makers have gone full woke and is dishing out one feminist movie after another. Surprisingly this one is actually watchable, although the usual ingredients (useless male lead, altruistic female lead) is in place. And, as usual they cannot resist the urge to get preachy at the end.

[vibbs]

Jaya jaya jaya hein.- Malayalam (Hotstar)

Felt like another one of wannabe intellectual movies that malayalam film industry keeps churning out one after another. This one is actually a nonsensical masala movie masquerading as a feminist one.

The good thing though is that it's not unbearable and can be watched if you have some time to kill. Watch it forget it.

Rorscharch

Mammooty acts well, but his age shows. They wanted to make a gripping psychological thriller, but somehow I lost interest. Too slow for my liking. But I get the reason why it has been praised by many. Just not my type.

[fhdowntheline]

Watched "Har Har Mahadev " (Marathi) the other day out of sheer curiosity. I thought the film is decent in terms of getting the back-story of Shivaji Maharaj before he became the Chhatrapati. The struggle to get the various warring clans under the banner of Swarajya and a rather interesting "blow hot " - "blow cold" relationship with the other main character, Baji Prabhu Deshpande for most part forms the mainstay of the movie. I think the makers tried to dwell on showing the people behind the persona, and I would have actually appreciated if the film stayed the course till the very end. The action sequences have been shot with very poor VFX sadly, with unnecessary noise, blood and gore. They could have made this into a serious art house film and it would have worked fine, because it has the dialogues that go with it. Even some one like Siddi Jauhar is shown with some degree of detail in terms of character sketch. It is watchable until the final battle starts. However, I would switch over to the 1952 Marathi film Chattrapati Shivaji which showed that Pawankhind battle in all of 5 minutes, but the sheer intensity of that characters acting was unheard of for its times.

Go watch it on Youtube if you are interested . Even that movie has touched upon the man behind the persona in reasonable depth, and included certain aspects which would be perhaps controversial in these times. Its a classic as you feel history has come alive in those scenes. BTW you will enjoy a surprise guest appearance in that movie . Har Har Mahadev tries some what, but ends up falling short with respect to the battle itself (2/5).

1952 movie:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhVct0aiUBA

[Venkatesh]

Mani Ratnam Announces PS2 release date, to hit the big screens on 28th April 2023.

https://youtu.be/TpH1_HaMEBg

[naveen.raju]

Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey - Malayalam



Bar was kept too high since I have been hearing some unbelievable reviews/ratings everywhere. It's definitely good and absolutely loved the fight scene couple with the commentary. Everyone acted really well but Basil's mother nails it.

Rating - 4/5 (Hotstar) - Definitely recommended.

Teacher - Malayalam



Found this to be strictly below average. Have seen similar revenge plots before so nothing exciting.

Rating - 2/5 (Netfilx) - Can be avoided.

Ini Utharam - Malayalam



This came in as a surprise as I was expecting another "usual" thriller movie. But this was pretty nice. Started off well, then it was the same formula but ended it pretty well. Nothing to write about the acting except for Shajon. The SI dude looked uncomfortable. Maybe the shirt was too tight for his muscles .

Rating - 4/5 (Zee5) - Recommended.

Gold - Malayalam



I was warned multiple times, but decided to watch it. The reviews here and on Google says it all. This is one movie where you see all actors waste their talent - not even one stands out. Lalu Alex was just making a joke of himself, VW promotion and what not!

Rating - 0/5 (Prime) - The rating says it all!

Udanpaal - Tamil



It had all the ingredients for a fun comedy movie, but wasn't the case. It starts well, then drags a bit. The story is definitely predictable. Definitely not a laugh riot but watchable.

Rating - 2.5/5 (Aha) - Watchable.

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by naveen.raju

Ini Utharam - Malayalam

This came in as a surprise as I was expecting another "usual" thriller movie. But this was pretty nice. Started off well, then it was the same formula but ended it pretty well. Nothing to write about the acting except for Shajon. The SI dude looked uncomfortable. Maybe the shirt was too tight for his muscles .

Rating - 4/5 (Zee5) - Recommended.

This was unexpectedly good. Surprised that this did not get more visibility and success in the theatre

[ghodlur]

Hit 2: Second case (telugu)

Streaming: Amazon Prime.

I was eagerly waiting for the movie to hit the OTT and now its available on Amazon Prime. Lived up to my expectations after watching the first one. The twists in the plot was worth watching the movie, an engaging crime thriller. Adivi Shesh was good in his acting. I hope they dont remake it in Hindi and screw up like they did with the first installment. Worth watch a dekho.

Rating: 4/5