Team-BHP (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/)

-   Shifting gears (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shifting-gears/)

-   -   The Regional movies thread! (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shifting-gears/56597-regional-movies-thread-228.html)

Manjummal Boys - Malayalam - 4/5



Malayalam cinema is firing in all cylinders this month.
4th blockbuster of the year.

It's a friendship - survival thriller based on a true story. Enjoyed every bit of it in theater. Story is very grounded with just enough cinematic add-ons.

Great acting by all the actors (especially Soubin and Srinath bhasi)
Superb direction and editing. No boring moments
Superb art work. The sets felt 100% real
Nice background score - just elevates the screenplay
Grounded story and characters

Highly recommended :thumbs up

Manjummal Boys - Malayalam - 4.5/5

I loved this movie. Even though this is based on a real story, its not an easy subject to recreate. But each and everyone involved in this movie has done exceptional work. The camera man has made sure that Kodiakanal and Guna Cave gets more footfall after this movie. He also shows how risky this location is. Hats' off to Kamal Haasan for taking the risk 30 years back itself to the extent that this cave has become a historical point and renamed with his movie name "Guna".

The background music is very good too and they have used the Guna song bits at the right places.clap:

The slowed slowed down a bit in-between but Overall, its a very nice thriller and it would be better to watch it in theater.:thumbs up

The entire cave is a set done inside a godown in Kerala! That's some next level art work.
Also the tree where they climb and take photo is made of fiber and metal.

Malayalam movies on a roll in 2024. Delivers hattrick superhits.



Link

Watched 2 Malayalam movies on Prime Video this week:

1) Christopher

Mammootty at his best, portraying as a trigger-happy encounter cop. The movie has delved into the emotional aspects of the character well. Good storyline too.

Rating: 4/5

2) Garudan

A face off between an upright cop (Suresh Gopi) and a Professor (Biju Menon). The way the makers have revealed the climax is superb. Wouldn't want to share any spoilers here, but trust me, the movie is a roller-coaster.

Rating: 4.5/5

Jan-e-man

In order to decide whether to head to the theaters to watch Manjummal Boys, I gave Chidambaram's previous outing - Jan-e-man - a watch. I had never heard about this movie until the reviewers started mentioning it in the Manjummal Boys reviews.

What blew my mind away was it's simple story with everyday people as characters, yet it turned out to be thoroughly engaging. No dull moments in this one. The writer weaves the story nicely hopping from one happening to the next and then comes the "big" reveal when we are not expecting one. And every character in the movie is well written and you get to "feel" them eventhough they do not get a back story to develop the character (except Basil). As usual Lal steals the show with Basil in tow. Even the relatively unknown actors acts very well.

Great little movie.

Dasham Avatar (Bengali) - Hoichoi

Starts off well but loses its way.

Pros: Nice plot premise, cinematography. All 3 male leads are excellent (Anirban, Prasenjit and Jishu)

Cons: Srijit trying to over-intellectualize again. Jaya Ehsan's dialogue delivery is really weird. You can kind of predict the ending 3/4 of the way.

3.5/5

Bhramayugam (Malayalam):

A decent effort not worth the hype it has been receiving.

I find it very much in the Valiban category. Both experimental films, both technically brilliant, both have good performances from the lead cast, both have a slow pace with nothing much happening in the first half, better second half but still not a great. I fail to see why one was panned by the critics (mainly the YouTube crowd) and the other hyped so much.

For me both are in the one-time watch category, but I might actually be tempted to see Valiban again on OTT just to see the beautiful visuals.

One area where Bhramayugam really scores is the performances of the lead cast. Given that there are only 3 characters essentially, it required to solid effort from all three to pull this off. Arjun Asokan surprised me in a role far removed from his usual movies. I am not sure if Siddharth Bharathan chooses not to work very often or he is offered only a few movies. He is also very good in this movie. Mammokka is good as expected, but it is not his best work - not suggesting that he could've been better, just that we have seen him in more challenging roles.

Manjummel Boys - Malayalam



Synopsis - A group of friends faces a string of unexpected misadventures on a vacation trip to Kodaikanal.

Guess everyone might have seen or heard the reviews by now So here's a short one from me.

Acting - All acted really well - be the boys, cops, Kodaikanal locals but Sreenath stands out but for me it was Shoubin who nailed it.
Direction/Screenplay - Brilliant
Camera - Totally brilliant
Music - Superb. This guy is the Anirudh of Malayalam cinema although I like Sushin's music more.
Art - Nailed it. hard to believe that the entire cave was a set. My wife didnt believe it and I had to show this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwHXkwB3lu0

The entire crew (especially the technical) deserves a mention here.

Rating - 4.5/5 (Recommend theater watch for that experience).

Queen Elizabeth - Malayalam



Dont have anything to say, but let me warn others:
Acting - Pathetic. Everyone overacted and Narain was trying to be a clown. Everyone else followed him and was chasing for the top spot.
Story - Have been seeing this storyline from the 80's.

Rating - 1/5 (Zee5). Recommended if you want to see how some great actors goes the other way. :Frustrati :D.

We had the misfortune of watching this and Oh Lord! I really don't know how we sat through this torture. Everything from the story to the overaction in the movie.. this one deserves the brickbats.

Totally agree with this. We are thinking of a second watch in the coming weekend :)

Manjummel Boys- Was worth the hype. Once again, the treatment and execution is what stands out. Could have easily become a failure as the story is well known. Kudos to the crew for pulling it off to perfection. The references to the movie Guna and the song was done very well. Right references at the right time that helps elevate the movie. Not surprised now that the movie is a rage in Tamilnadu. The art direction is something else-Hard to believe it is a set.

It is great to see the hard work and diligence being spent on mounting the film and the technical brilliance standing out while still working on limited budgets. Even Anweshippin Kandethum and Bramayugam stood out for these aspects.

Malayalam Cinema on a roll in 2024. Looking forward to the summer biggies. Aadujeevitham(Prithviraj's magnum opus), Guruvayur Ambalanadayil(From the director of Jaya Jaya he with a large cast), Aavesham(Fahad), Varshangalkku shesham(Vineet Sreenivasan and Pranav Mohanlal).

Watched Kaathal-The Core, starring Mammootty & Jyotika, on Prime Video.

The makers have handled the mature theme very sensitively. The movie is definitely a tad slow, but the range of emotions portrayed by the lead actors makes it a good watch.

Rating: 4/5

Bramayugam - 4/5



Valiban, to me, played out like one of those old Priyadarshan movies. It's gorgeous sets are best seen on the big screem, and widescreen choreography with a mostly-bright color palette (rich reds and yellows dominate the screen). But I didnt like how Mohanlal is made up to be this unstoppable superhero, and the ending teases yet another version of him as a demigod for the sequel. It almost felt as if he is both Avengers and Thanos! There are songs and theatrics galore, and of course there has to be all the unbelievable action sequences meant for hardcore fans. I felt Lal was never given enough space to express the actor in him (and this is from someone who loved the 80's & 90's Mohanlal movies). Frankly, I was just bored by the movie and was glad when it was over.

In Bramayugam, though, we see a loatheful and sinister performance from the other icon of Malayalam cinema. It is a film that is vastly smaller to Valiban, with almost everything converging around a haunted mana (ancestral mansion). Old folklore tales about evil spirits and their various powers is given an authentic Keralite touch, so that the demons are not presented as caricatures or lazy CGI effects. Mammootty owns this movie. Even the way he chews up the paan is hideous and seething with cruelty. With just three main characters, the movie brings us closer and closer to the confines of the claustrophobic mansion until the walls literally move and crush the inhabitants. The entire movie is in monochrome, and in my view, this only amplifies the sombre mood. There are flashes of the cruelty that Mammootty demonstrated in Vidheyan almost 30 years ago. That was again a sadistic criminal drowned in power and position. The way his character crushes the people underneath him by constant belittling, cruelty and lashing out is similar in both movies.

I feel that movies like Bramayugam truly demonstrate what Malayalam cinema is capable of. And for that, I rate it 4/5.

Anweshippin Kandethum ( Malayalam ) - 5/5



A brilliantly written Police investigation thriller and we never get bored.
2 crime scenes are solved and both are very engaging and I loved the second crime investigation and the surprise twist.
Malayalam Cinema always impresses with their excellent story line.