[fhdowntheline]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

Baipan Bhari Deva (Marathi)

Streaming: Hotstar

A smash hit in the recent times, revolves around the Marathi tradition. The story is not something new but given a different touch by Director Kedar Shinde. Seasoned actors like Rohini Hattangady, Vandana Gupte and Sukanya Kulkarni Mone shine out through out the movie, Rest of the cast does the supporting part well too. One time watch for sure.

Rating: 4/5

Yes, I watched it too. I was frankly not at all invested in it for nearly 60 % of the time as it focused too much on character building of the sisters. But it got better towards the end. It resonates with the theme of most "large family" siblings who may have straddled the decades from traditional to modern with their children. A decent coming-of-age movie.

[abhinav.s]

Totally Agree!! Ughram was very linear but still managed to evoke those goose bump moments specially with Sri Murali speaking less but creating that impact with the dialogue delivery and his restrained mannerisms.

Salaar though borrows the base story line from Ughram, I feel, they have tried to weave a whole lot into the story with the Khansaar city and the different tribes etc where it loses the plot. I found it enjoyable though and the grandeur and scale comes through on a big screen TV at home with a sound bar. Felt nice and also kept the interest in the story going. But the sheer number of characters eyeing the throne and the relation or enemity they have with the king is not clearly hashed out. Maybe the writer/director should have cut out some of the fight scenes for a better world and character building in the first part !!

Still would rate it a solid 3.5/5 mainly for keeping the interest alive though its a 3 hour long movie and the huge machines they have showcased in the mining scenes.

Originally Posted by PrideRed

Watched Salaar, and in comparison to the Ugramm- Salaar part 1 was a big let down. Ugramm despite being made with such a low budget, was done amazingly well. Be it the background score, screenplay, the storyline everything was much better. The bigger budget however shows in Salaar. Sri Murali's swag in Ugramm to me was much better than Prabhas.

[Geo_Ipe]

Tholvi FC - Prime



Family feel good drama, with a few good individual performances and moments. Started off extremely slow, however turned out to be one of the few movies where the second half made up. A good one time watch.
Rating - 3/5

Chaver - Sony Liv



Supposed to be political drama with a lot of violence - just that film makers sort of forgot the drama. Just a lot of violence, especially in slow motion - which I think extended the movie by 20 minutes at least! Such a poor movie, that I cannot think of even one reason to ask anyone even to try watching it.
Rating - 1/5

[mobike008]

Someone recommended me to watch "Garudan" a malayali flick on Amazon Prime.

It's the story of a duel between a honest police officer and a serial killer.

How the story evolves keeps you on tenterhooks as the twist and turns are pretty nice even though seems quite unbelievable.

Apparently, this is the first venture of the director and he pulled it off pretty nicely.

I have to give it to Malayalam movies for their original content.

4/5

[ghodlur]

Neru (Malayalam)

Streaming: Hotstar

A typical courtroom drama movie sans the twists and turns which was expected in this genre. The story could have been a lot grippier. Mohanlal shines but was not in his usual self - none of his powerful dialogue deliveries, his swag walk etc. The supporting cast did pretty well esp the actor who played the blind girl.

Rating: 3/5

[naveen.raju]

Originally Posted by mobike008

I have to give it to Malayalam movies for their original content.

On similar lines -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aRykcfVpoU

Sorry for the OT.

[RR96]

Originally Posted by Geo_Ipe

Abraham Ozler - Theatres

Loved this investigative thriller from Midhun Manuel Thomas! Jayaram has made a bold comeback in a title role - I thought his performance was exemplary! The supporting cast has also done a stellar job ...The story line is also quite gripping, with no lag nor a dull moment. Loved the fact that there were no songs in the movie as well!

Mammootty's intro scene threw the theatre into a frenzy - a phenomenon which we've all forgotten after the advent of OTT. Overall a brilliant watch, worth every penny & minute spent.

Rating - 5/5

Totally agree with your review. I really enjoyed the movie along with my family. It was a good thriller and worth watching every moment. Though I don't know how it fares with the director's last hit as I hadn't watched Anjaam Paathira at Theatre.

It was well written, a gripping tale and everyone did their jobs well. Loved the past story and Mammootty's part. I would recommend everyone who loves thriller genre to watch it in Theatres. Also happy to see a hit from Jayaram.

[Rajeevraj]

Malaikottai Valiban-Malayalam-Mohanlal-Lijo Jose Pellisery(LJP)- Theaters

The hype was insane on this one. LJP and Mohanlal teaming up for the first time. I am probably in the minority that I don't really understand or have liked LJP Movies. Whether it was 'Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam', Churuli, Jallikettu, Ee Ma Yau, Double Barrel.

The way the movie was promoted was that it is a combination of the LJP style with the Mohanlal mass and I think this is it's undoing. The first day reviews were terrible. Although I had booked a cancellable ticket, thought to go ahead and watch it.

A very different kind of movie. Definitely not a mass mohanlal movie. It is almost like watching a drama on screen. Fairly slow paced. Should not have put so much hype on it. The film did not work for me and my family were laughing at the happenings by the 2nd half. The movie is kind of a series of episodes, not an organic story that starts somewhere and concludes in a proper manner. So it was hard to connect to the characters and the slow pace also almost made it boring. For a movie based on action, there was not enough of it. 2 fight sequences were nicely done.

On the plus side, the picturization was mind blowing and the sound was also great. Each and every frame was perfection and just for that it was worth it in the theaters. Mohanlal fits into the role and does a good job including the stunts. Unlike Odiyan and Marakkar where he looked out of place. Rest of the cast also mostly do well.

Overall, fairly disappointing considering the hype around it. But once again, the camera work is fantastic.

Rating:2/5

[Asish_VK]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

I am probably in the minority that I don't really understand or have liked LJP Movies. .

You are not alone.

/Rant
I am also one who feels he's a highly overrated director who thinks making a movie vague and clumsy, such that no one understands it makes him cool.

Though I like Angamali dairies, Ee.ma.you and Amen (to some extent), I feel his movies are not that great as they are portrayed by so called intellectual movie lovers.


Irony is that the guy who once said 'No plan to change, no plan to impress' calls for a press meet to whine about movie audience and blames audience who watched it early in the morning are spreading hatred against his movie.
Film makers should understand that you can't expect commercial success of any movie without impressing the common audience.

A director explaining what the audience are supposed to understand from his movie itself shows failure of him as a film maker.

/End of rant

[Latheesh]

Malaikottai Vaaliban (Malayalam)

I am not a fan of LJP movies and was not planning to watch it at all. Got curious after seeing all negative reviews on the first day. Not everyone's cup of tea. It is a slow paced fantasy Amar chitra like folk tales picturized chapter wise.

I really liked cinematography, music, and cast (Mohanlal, Danish Sait, Hareesh Perady, Manoj).

Rating: 3.5/5 (tighter screenplay, better action sequence in the first half, and 20 min shorter would have made it a much better movie experience).

Biggest drawback is it is promoted as a mass action movie but in reality it is an experimental fantasy drama. I watched it today with family, hall had just 40% attendance, and few people walked out in between.

My wife rated it 2/5 and my 10 year old son 4/5.

[dragonfire]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

Although I had booked a cancellable ticket, thought to go ahead and watch it.

I have a booking for a 6pm show and am fighting the urge to cancel and and save the money. God save me!

[naveen.raju]

Annapoorani - Tamil



Synopsis - A girl born in an orthodox family aspires to become India's best chef. She faces events and challenges on her way and goes beyond her conventional beliefs and prejudices to achieve her dream.

This wasn't that bad as Google reviews say. Of course, that's got many scam reviews based on the recent "religious" debate that happened. There's a lot of drama towards the end and the entire storyline is from a standard template. Ordinary acting and nothing special.

Rating - 2.5/5 (Before it was taken down by Netflix). Won't regret if you skip.

Neru - Malayalam



Synopsis - Sara, a blind sculptor, seeks justice after suffering trauma. She contends with the legal system and her own resilience to find resolution.

Not the usual Jeethu Joseph thriller but a typical courtroom drama. Of course, there are many loopholes/mistakes in this one which we had guessed during the course of the movie. Had they done that, the judgement would have passed the same day. As for the acting, Mohanlal did have any expressions, Priyamani was good, Anaswara was pretty good and Siddique is still struggling with his acting with there's too much English.

Rating - 3/5 (Hotstar). Decent watch.

Philip's - Malayalam



Synopsis - Unforeseen events arose in Philips joyful family disrupting their happiness. They must tackle these hiccups and regain their life in a better way

This was a decent one. Good acting by all (Especially Mukesh) and well paced movie. It's got a "jacobinte swargarajyam" feel but can't compare both. Had zero expectation, so it went good. Loved the end title credits (brings back some good memories).

Rating - 3.5/5 (Amazon Prime). Recommended.

[Latheesh]

Originally Posted by dragonfire

I have a booking for a 6pm show and am fighting the urge to cancel and and save the money. God save me!

It is neither class nor mass movie. Go for it if you 'want' to watch this experiment.

[dragonfire]

Originally Posted by Latheesh

It is neither class nor mass movie. Go for it if you 'want' to watch this experiment.

Just back after watching. It is a decent watch. The first hour was a little boring. I had to munch some french fries to keep me awake. Then it picked up pace and remained interesting throughout. The main problem is that it does not have a coherent storyline. It is difficult to understand where the movie is headed until it is too late, by which time most people would quit watching.

About performances, everybody does a decent job. Mohanlal is much better than in Neru. Mohanlal's dialogue delivery style (extreme drama) suits this movie better than Neru. The other actors also performed well, except that the main villain's diction was all over the place. They should have found somebody to dub for him.

To anybody who is still contemplating, do watch the movie. Though there is no compelling story, it is a brilliantly shot film.

BTW, there were just 4 people in the hall including me.

[StarrySky]

Malaikottai Vaaliban (Malayalam):

It's that kind of movie which you are not sure if you should recommend to your friends. It's certainly not everyone's cup of tea, and I can understand if someone feels that it's boring.

I think the movie's main issue is the pacing, especially in the first half. Of course, in a story like this, it is necessary to devote some time to world and character building. But I felt that it has come at the cost of pacing in this movie. Where could it have been trimmed? Difficult to say. It's almost as if the editor was so mesmerized with the beauty of the frames that he lets each shot linger a few seconds more than necessary.

The second half is much better paced, and the shots are even more colourful.

Even having taken its own sweet time to build the characters, I felt that we, as the audience, are not fully invested in the characters and especially their relationships. This becomes an issue as the events unfold in the second half. Saying anything more would be a spoiler.

I think the entire cast has done a good job. I don't think anyone other than Mohanlal could have done this role in Malayalam in terms of physique, screen presence and charisma. But this is not any kind of once-in-a-lifetime role for him. I expected something more on this front.

I am not a big fan of LJP movies, at least not all of them. I don't think any of his movies have ever satisfied everyone. The final pre-release trailer also gave me a "Double Barrel" vibe, and I did not like that movie when it came out. So my expectations were kept in check and I went with an open mind. I think that helped.

I am happy with my decision to watch it in a theatre. The visual experience of this movie is amazing, so is the sound. I am not going to call it a must-watch. Give it a miss if you have already been turned off by the reviews, or are not a fan of LJP in general. If you do intend to watch it, I can tell you that it will be a much better experience in a theater.