De dana dan

My Rating : 0/5

I don't understand why directors like priyadarsan have to make movies like this. Its true that he is good at making Slap stick comedies, but there is a limit for everything. This is the most boring movie of priyadarsan that i have watched in recent times.
After watching kancheevaram, no body can question the capability of priyan, but movies like this can do much harm to his credibility.
Its a mixture (Avial) of comic scenes from various malayalam films (from vettom to mannar mathai speaking). I felt like watching some comedy programme in TV channels where they continue to show comedy scenes from various malayalam films.
The only thing that is positive about this movie is the climax scene. Though it is a boring climax, the technique behind creating flood inside a hotel is impressive (though it reminds us of scenes from titanic)
Its high time that priyadarsan stop making films like this. I spoiled my christmas watching this bull shit.

Palery Manikyam

My Rating : 4/5

"Whom do you think is the most intelligent director in Malayalam Film Industry till date?"Today Vaisakh asked me this question

I didn't have any doubt in answering this question and the answer is "Renjith". Especially since watching Paleri Manikyam Yesterday.
It doesn't mean that I don't appreciate directors like bharathan, padmarajan, priyadarsan etc. Bharathan has an uncanny skill of making great movies but he fails in writing skills and its the vice versa with padmarajan. There is no doub that padmarajan's movies are great, but when you look back, its the stories of those movies that are dominating than the movie.
But when it comes to renjith, he is as good as making movies as is in writing movies. And paleri mankiyam is no exception. But I sincerely wish that he don't atempt movies like prajapathi anymore.
This story first came as a novel in Madhrubhumi Weekly. I read the first two parts, after that my laziness stopped me from reading any further. After watching this movie I feel that I missed a good novel. Or is it the making of the film that make us feel that the story is good.
Really intelligent film making. It is not just an investigation story, it depicts the life of the people of kerala in the late 40's. The narration style was also remarkable.
It tells the story of a private detective, who returns to his birthplace to solve a murder mystery that occurred on the same night he was born.
Dectective Haridas (Mammootty) takes up a case just to satisfy his curiosity, not to find or punish the culprit, as all the suspects in the case are dead. His purpose, which seems vague in the beginning, achieves clarity only halfway through the story.
Mammootty gives some neat performances in his different roles. Mammotty's Ahamad Haji is one of the most perfect role that he has done in years.
Ranjith has delivered a fine film with a minor hiccup in the climax (not that it was bad, just that it didnt come up to the standard set by the whole movie).

Kerala Cafe

My Rating : 4/5

Being a great fan of Renjith, this movie was something tat i didn't want to miss. And renjith doesn't disappoint us...Its a collection of 10 movies directed by 10 different directors synchronised by Renjith. All the movies have a common thread..the shop named "Kerala Cafe"..some one or something in each of the movies have something to do with kerala cafe. The idea is fresh & it was delivered well.

M Padmakumar's Nostalgia
Dileep, Pseudo nostalgic who cherishes about homeland kerala only when he has a peg of whisky. Not quiet impressive as I had high expectations about Padmakumar

B Unnikrishnan's Aviramam
Based on recession, how it affects an IT businessman. Siddique has portryaed the role well. Nothing much special but it was taken well.

Shyamaprasad's Off Season.
He tries to be experimental by casting suraj venjarumood in his lead role, which is quiet unlikely in a shyamaprasad film. Though recession & Job loss r the central theme of the movie, it lacks direction. shyamaprasad was in a dilemma as to how to go about this theme.

Shankar Ramakrishnan's Island Express,
The movie which has been hijacked by the lead actor. I think I am becoming a fan of Prithviraj. Manianpillai Raju is quiet impressive

Shaji Kailas' Lalthiamhiranmayam
Quiet a shaji kailas film...Close up shots..over acting sureshgopi..everything is the same

Lal Jose's Puram Kazchakal
The climax was a shock..not only for the characters in the movie but also for the audience. Mamooty scores.


Anjali Menon's Happy Journey
A heartening, simple tale has been well told by the director. The film is set inside a bus with an insurance surveyor

(Jagathy Sreekumar) with a roving eye, trying to make advances on a pretty girl (Nithya Menon) sitting next to him. But she turns out to be really smart for the man to handle.


Director Anwar Rasheed's Bridge talks about two parallel tracks, the first one involving a young boy and his pet kitten.
The other story has a son (Salim Kumar), who lives in poor surroundings, deciding to leave his ailing mother (Shanthadevi) in the street. With amazing technical brilliance, the director takes things to an altogether different level and stamps his presence quite effectively.

Mrityunjayam, Uday Ananthan's horror story which supposedly deals with the recklessness of youth, cannot find any link with the other stories. It seems to be there only because it is in the horror genre, so as to show that Kerala Cafe covers every theme.
Uday Ananthan shot into fame with his debut movie, Pranayakalam, which starred Ajmal Ameer and Vimala Raman in the lead.

My favourites are...Bridge, Happy Journey, Puram Kazchakal & Island express

Road Trip

My Rating : 3/5

After watching 'Hangover', I got impressed by Todd Philips and started downloading all his films. This was the third film of Todd Philips that I watched within a month.
After watching Old School, I didn't have much expectations about this one but this was gud. I liked watching this and I think that there is a scope of remaking this in Malayalam

The BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS

My Rating : 3/5

When people say that Twitter is a revolution, I always wondered how it can be a revolution. But after watching this movie, I realise that.
I got to know about this movie from a tweet from Rajeev Masand. He had given a good review about this movie.

The movie was superb, though it is in the lines of Life is Beautiful.

Young Bruno lives a wealthy lifestyle in prewar Germany along with his mother, elder sister, and SS Commandant father. The family relocates to the countryside where his father is assigned to take command a prison camp. A few days later, Bruno befriends another youth, strangely dressed in striped pajamas, named Shmuel who lives behind an electrified fence. Bruno will soon find out that he is not permitted to befriend his new friend as he is a Jew, and that the neighboring yard is actually a prison camp for Jews awaiting extermination.

It is a deeply moving and--it must be said--disturbing movie. But it is a remarkable story, told with masterly intelligence and grace.

Old School

My Rating : 2/5

Came to know about this movie while browsing google for more info about the director of Hangover, Todd Philips. Read in the reviews that it is not as good as Hangover but I thought of giving it a try.

Reviews where right :)
Plot summary in IMDB:

Mitch, Frank and Beanie are disillusioned with their personal lives begining when Mitch's nymphomanic girlfriend, Heidi, cheats on him, then former party animal Frank gets married, but unwilling to get go of his wild life, and Beanie is a family man seeking to reclaim his wild and crazy youth. Beanie suggests that they form their own fraternity in Mitch's new house on a college campus to re-live their glory days by bringing together a variety of misfit college students, losers, middle-aged and elderly retirees as their new friends and later try to avoid being evicted by the new Dean of Students, Pritchard, whom still holds a personal grudge against all three of them.

The scene in which Frank (Will Ferrell) is streaking down the street and his wife drives by him and tells him to get in the car was hilarious

The Hangover

My Rating : 4/5

This movie was suggested by Manu during one of our boozing sessions. I was so moved by the concept of the movie, that i wanted to watch the movie that day itself. But due to obvious reasons (by the end of the boozing session) i forgot about this movie....HANGOVER

A few days later, I got this movie from Sivan. The whole idea of this movie was marvellous. Its all about four friends celebrating bachelors party at Lasvegas.
The plot summary in IMDB reads thus
"Angelenos Doug Billings and Tracy Garner are about to get married. Two days before the wedding, the four men in the wedding party - Doug, Doug's two best buddies Phil Wenneck and Stu Price, and Tracy's brother Alan Garner - hop into Tracy's father's beloved Mercedes convertible for a 24-hour stag party to Las Vegas. Phil, a married high school teacher, has the same maturity level as his students when he's with his pals. Stu, a dentist, is worried about everything, especially what his controlling girlfriend Melissa thinks. Because she disapproves of traditional male bonding rituals, Stu has to lie to her about the stag, he telling her that they are going on a wine tasting tour in the Napa Valley. Regardless, he intends on eventually marrying her, against the advice and wishes of his friends. And Alan seems to be unaware of what are considered the social graces of the western world. The morning after their arrival in Las Vegas, they awaken in their hotel suite each with the worst hangover. None remembers what happened in the past twelve or so hours. The suite is in shambles. And certain things are in the suite that shouldn't be, and certain things that should be in the suite are missing. Probably the most important in the latter category is Doug. As Phil, Stu and Alan try to find Doug using only what little pieces of information they have at hand, they go on a journey of discovery of how certain things got into the suite and what happened to the missing items. However they are on a race for time as if they can't find Doug in the next few hours, they are going to have to explain to Tracy why they are not yet back in Los Angeles. And even worse, they may not find Doug at all before the wedding."

No wonder it was one of the biggest box office grossers of hollywood...The most interesting part of the movie is to watch its Titles at the end of the movie. The whole movie and what happened on the D Day is well narrated using photos. The scene when the Doc removes his teeth to prove that actually he is a Doc is hilarious..

Wake Up Sid

One reason why i decided to watch this movie is Konkona Sen Sharma...I like her very much as an actress right from Mr & Mrs Iyer.
Although I don't like Karan Johar and his production house, the only relief was that he was not directing the movie. It was Ayan Mukerji who directed the film.
The film was a good movie but it had shades of Farhan Akhtar's Lakshya.
Sid (Ranbir Kapoor), a spoiled son of a wealthy Mumbai family, takes his privileges for granted. He sleeps through studying for his final exams and winds up failing them. His father gives him a job in his firm, but he quits after a week.

This causes conflict between him and family, he is forced to go off on his own, without his parents' money.

He meets Aisha Bannerjee (Konkona Sen Sharma) at a graduation day party. She has just arrived from Kolkata and desires to become a professional writer. Despite their lack of common interests, Aisha allows him to stay at her flat; they agree to be "just friends". However, although free all day while Aisha is out working, he makes a mess and cannot cook. He learns to cook, and later also cleans up after himself.

Aisha gets an editorial assistant job at a Mumbai magazine and, through her contacts there, gets Sid a position as a photography intern. Sid slowly comes to realize what responsibility is and gradually matures and finds his own identity. As he does so, he reconciles with his parents and moves back to their house.

Aisha is upset, because she was beginning to fall in love with him. However, Sid reads Aisha's thoughts on their relationship in a printed article in the magazine that they work for and realizes that he too loves her. They have a happy reunion on Marine Drive in an early monsoon shower.

Pazhassi Raja

This was the movie that malayalam film industry was eagerly waiting for so many years. The team which created 'Vadakkan Veera Gadha'. The release of this movie was delayed many times because of various reasons.
And atlast yesterday it was released and we(chayakada group) managed to get tickets at Kairali Theatre. The movie was released in four theatres - Sree visakh, Kairali, Dhanya & New theatre.
The movie was brilliant, except for the stunt scenes. The visuals, sets, background score, sound effects all were excellent.
Sharat kumar was the surprise in this movie. With his looks and acting skills, he shadowed even mammooty. His looks reminds us of Kurosowa's samurais'. Heard that this roll was initially offered to Suresh Gopi but he rejected the offer since he thought that this role was less important than tat of mamooty's. Any way that was good for us. We didn't have to watch his OVER acting.
The movie was produced by Gokulam Gopalan. He has spend 27 crores on this movie, a budget of average ten Malayalam movies. This fim is really a magnum opus
Pazhassi who has been termed as revolutionary by the British uses techniques of guerrilla warfare against them. For this he avails the expertise of tribals lead by Thalakkal Chanthu (Manoj K Jayan). There are other people also who unflinchingly support him like Edachena Kunkan (Sarath Kumar), who is his commander-in-chief.
This film is technically several notches above the standard fare offered in Malayalam cinema. he camera work by Venu and Ramanath Shetty give the film a sleek look.

Vilapangalkappuram

This malayalam movie directed by T. V. Chandran in 2008 is based on the aftermath of the Gujarat riots of 2002. The story revolves around Sahira, a Muslim woman who flees Gujarat soon after the riots and arrives in Kozhikode. There, two doctors, Mary Varghese and Gopinath, bring her back to normalcy even while she is haunted by the problems related to the aftermath of the riots.
Not a great movie but can be watched once. The problems that sahira faces haunts our conscience.

In this movie, actress Priyanka got best actress award by Kerala government.

Quick Gun Murugan

This bollywood Comedy-Drama film is directed by Shashanka Ghosh and written by Rajesh Devraj.
The movie is based on a character created for television promos at the time of the launch of the music network Channel [V] in 1994. The character had a cult following, and made catchprases like 'Mind it' and 'We are like this only' popular. In recent years, the character has inspired a sequence from Om Shanti Om where Shah Rukh Khan does a take-off, incorporating elements of Tamil legend Rajinikanth's performances.
Quick Gun Murugun is an Unlikely Superhero (played by Telugu star Rajendra Prasad) a South Indian Tamil cowboy whose duty is to protect the world against arch villain restaurant owner, Rice Plate Reddy, who wants to create the ultimate non-veg dosa! The movie revolves around adventures of Quick Gun Murugun along with his love to-be Mango Dolly (played by Rambha) and Locket Lover (played by Anu Menon).
Murugan is a typical vegetarian cowboy who made himself into Quick Gun Murugan. The cowboy has to do something good for the world so he believes that vegetarianism is the need of the hour.
Quick Gun Murugun enters into an battle that spans time and space, from a small south Indian village to Heaven and then finally to cosmopolitan Mumbai across 25 years.. He is torn between Mango Dolly who loves him secretly and his first love Locket girl and his loyalty is put to the test.
But even with all its wit and antics, the movie is a big Box Office dud! Except spoofing typical Bollywood clichés, the movie has nothing to offer as it fails to deliver with all its overcooked storyline and overblown cinematography.

Unnai Poloruvan

I was so moved by the film "The wednesday" that I couldn't resist myself from watching its remake. It was out of curiosity as to how the two great actors can transform the movie in their way.

But the end result was disappointing. It is proved once again that classics cant be recreated.
In wednesday, there are various trivial things that moves you, but those emotions are not carried in "Unnai poloruvan"
Unnai poloruvan disappoints...especially since it is remake of "The Wednesday"
http://listofcinema.blogspot.com/2008/11/wednesday.html

Requiem for a Dream

My Rating : 2.5/5

It was rated as one of the Top 100 movies by IMDB. It was a depressing movie.

The film charts three seasons in the lives of Sara Goldfarb (Ellen Burstyn), her son Harry (Jared Leto), Harry’s girlfriend Marion Silver (Jennifer Connelly), and Harry’s friend Tyrone C. Love (Marlon Wayans). Each character is ultimately destroyed by addiction and self-delusion.

The story begins in summer. Sara Goldfarb, an elderly widow living alone in her Brighton Beach apartment, spends her time watching infomercials on television. After a phone call announces that she will be invited to be a participant on a game show, she becomes obsessed with matching her appearance to a photograph from Harry's graduation, her proudest moment. In order to fit into her old red dress, the favorite of her deceased husband, she begins taking a regimen of prescription weight-loss amphetamine pills throughout the day and a sedative at night. The pills alter her behavior, but she passionately insists that the chance to be on television has given her a reason to live. Over the fall, however, her invitation does not arrive, and she begins to up her dosage, causing nightmarish hallucinations, where she is the principal subject of the game show.

Her son Harry is a heroin addict. Together with his friend, Tyrone, and his girlfriend, Marion — who are also addicts — he enters the drug trade in an attempt to realize their dreams. With the money they make over the summer, Harry and Marion hope to open a fashion store for Marion's designs, while Tyrone dreams of escaping the street and making his mother proud. However, at the beginning of fall, Tyrone is caught in the middle of a drug gang assassination, and Harry uses the majority of the money they've earned to bail him out of prison. Meanwhile, because of the arrests and shootings of dealers, it becomes very hard to obtain any drugs, throwing Harry, Tyrone, and Marion into a state of deprivation. Growing more desperate, Harry convinces Marion to have sex with her psychiatrist in exchange for money, causing a rift in the relationship. The group continues to deteriorate as Marion begins prostituting herself and Harry's arm becomes severely infected from improper injection technique.

With winter comes the final arc in the characters' downward spirals. Sara's sanity unravels after she visits the TV studio and she is put in a mental institution, where she undergoes painful electroconvulsive therapy. Harry and Tyrone travel to Florida, where they believe they can start over, but Harry's deteriorating condition forces them to visit a hospital in South Carolina, where they are arrested. However, Harry is taken to a prison hospital because of his arm, which is amputated. Tyrone must deal with racist prison guards, hard labor, and drug withdrawal all alone. Harry has a recurring dream of Marion waiting for him at the pier at Coney Island, but awakens and realizes that he is alone, an arm amputated and in jail. Marion meets with a pimp, who makes her have sex with him for drugs and later at an orgy where she puts on a perverted show for heroin and cash.

Lost in misery, each character curls into a fetal position. In Sara's dream, however, she wins the grand prize that the game show offers and meets Harry there. In her fantasy, Harry is a successful businessman, engaged to Marion. Mother and son hug and say how much they love one another through the cheers of the crowd and the glowing stage lights.

Lucky Number Slevin

This movie was suggested to me by Shivan. This was like usual suspects but not as good as that one.
In an airport waiting room, a man in a wheelchair tells a stranger a story about a fixed horse race in 1979 that resulted in a family's deaths. In Manhattan, two bookies and the son of a Mob boss die. A young man just out of the shower answers the door to a neighbor woman and explains that he's visiting, has had a bad week, including being mugged, and doesn't know where his pal, who lives there, is. The neighbor is chatty; she's a coroner. Two thugs arrive and, believing the visitor to be the guy who lives there, take him to see the boss with the dead son, who tells him to kill the son of his Mob rival.

New York

New York brings to screen an event that reverberated universally.
It touches the lives of three friends – Maya (Katrina Kaif), Sameer (John Abraham) and Omar (Neil Nitin Mukesh) – leading a carefree life in New York.
The catastrophic terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on 9/11 is the ugly twist in the tale which turns their lives topsy turvy.
Irrfan Khan steps in as a crime investigator.
Their identities, based on their ethnicity, comes under scrutiny and they have to face an unfair yet harsh reality in an atmosphere charged with suspicion and paranoia.
A star-spangled film that starts off well, builds the plot nicely, but goes completely hay wire in the second half. New York is long, tiresome, but well intentioned. Director Kabir Khan tries to delineate the insidious process of the making of a terrorist. It all boils down to a climax so shoddily imagined and executed, that you cease to relate to any of the characters. Saddled with a plot-holed script and poor performances from half of its star cast, New York falls short of expectations.

Nadodiagl

This movie is quiet an impressive one. The team which made 'Subramaniapuram' has done it again, but there exactly is the problem also. We feel shades of 'Subramaniapuram' through out this movie. The violence, the rustic mood, revenge, betrayal everything is repeated. But still this one is a good movie. It disturbs you to the core.

The film is about group of friends; Karuna (Sasi Kumar), Chandran (Vijay Vasanth) and Pandian (Bharani) who are leading happy lives in their hometown. Happy family and good friendliness amongst them is almost like a feel of paradise coming down on earth. Perhaps, a fateful encounter comes through Karuna’s closer friend Saravanan who attempts for suicide due to love failure. The girl he loves is the daughter of a bigshot in Namakkal and Saravanan is the son of a powerful Ex-MP. With all their earnest efforts, they travel to Namakkal and get the young lad and missy united. The friends are completely deteriorated like almost dead with their futuristic plans gone shattered.

Anyhow, they’re so elated that their friends are leading a happy life. But sooner, they’re blown out of waters on getting to know that the couple is gonna get divorced.

Love Aaj Kal

After the success of 'Jab We Met', there was high expectation about this movie of Imtiaz Ali. Its about love in the new generation vs old generation.
This was a very boring movie for me. Many friends of mine told me that this movie was a good movie, but while watching this movie I felt like kicking all those who told that this movie was good. Bull Shittt...
Jai and Meera is a modern-day couple in London. They are very happy together but do not believe in tying each other down. So when life pulls them in different directions, they decide to go with the flow. “These Heer-Ranjha, Romeo-Juliet type janam janam ka saath type couples exist only in story books”, Jai says. In the real life, we have to be practical. Love Kal Delhi, Calcutta - 1965. Veer Singh is struck by the thunderbolt when he sees Harleen for the first time. Soon after, he stands under a tree and swears that “is janam mein aur har janam mein… yehi meri votti banegi – Harleen Kaur.” He travels a thousand kilometers by train to stand under her balcony only to have a glimpse of her face. And yet not speak a word with her. Love Aaj Kal Veer does not understand how Jai can treat matters of the heart without passion, like a financial transaction. Jai does not understand how Veer Singh could have been so naïve and silly about Harleen in the days of his youth. But as both stories unfold, we realize that the process of relationship might be different in different eras, but the experience of being in love remains the same. So there is the frolic and despair of modern living. The liberation and confusion. And there is the past – the times of innocence and compulsion. And there is distance, and the fondness that increases with distance. Gaps widen between two people, but bridges keep growing too.

Pattanathil Bhootham

If there is any single reason for the crisis in malayalam film industry, then this is it. Horrible movie....dont watch this..I dont understand what makes mammooty select movies like this.
And jhonny antony proves once again that he is the undoubted 'King of Koora Movies" and he is giving tough competition to the likes of Vinayan and V M Vinu. Now even god cannot save malayalam film industry.
Mammooty is trying to do what Innocent has done in "Saakshal Sreeman Chathunni", but innocent was better

Kambakht Ishq

On of the worst movies I have watched in recent times. Luckily I didn't go to any theater to watch this movie.

Heard that it is a remake of the Tamil movie Pammal K Sambandham.

Viraj (Akshay Kumar), a stuntman in Hollywood, is a player and Simrita (Kareena Kapoor), a model cum surgeon, is a feminist and they both meet at Lucky's (Viraj's brother played by Aftab) and Kamini's (Simrita's best friend played by Amrita) wedding and can't stand each other. Simrita forgets a watch in Viraj's intestines while performing an operation and tries to seduce him so that she can retreive the watch. The rest of the movie is about the battle between the sexes and how they fall in love.

The movie was directed by Sabir Khan.

Many hollywood actors including silvester stallone has made special appearance in this movie

Pakal Nakshatranagal

I wanted to watch this movie for quiet some time. But before i decided to watch this movie, it was out of the theatres. I was waiting for the Moser Baer DVD release. I heard tat this movie revolves around a group of intellectuals who meet at a joint called Daffodills where they discussed creative things. I related this to our not so intellectual group which used to meet at "Chayakkada".

While watching Pakal Nakshatrangal, you feel that the team behind it is interested in just showing off their intelligence without bothering to make an "intelligent" film. They dabble in esoteric themes like mysticism, sexual freedom, death, the after-life and such things, as an act of show off. It is written by Anup Menon and Rajeev Nath is credited with the concept (whatever that means) and direction.

The story begins with a news item of the demolition of the Daffodils, an erstwhile cultural hub where creative people met and discussed their work. The most prominent among them was filmmaker Siddharthan (Mohanlal), fondly called Sidhan, which can loosely be explained as a genius. He used to develop his scripts there and would meet his Thadi-Jubba-Sanji kind of friends here for drinks and other pleasures. Sidhan had mysteriously died by falling from the terrace of the building. It was not proved whether it was an accident, suicide or a murder.

So, his foster son Adi (Anup Kumar), himself a renowned writer, whose previous book Labyrinths of Sanity (for pun's sake, it should have been Labyrinths of Insanity!) was short listed for Man Booker Prize, embarks on a mission to write a biographical novel. In fact it is about Siddharathan's relationship with various women as Siddharathan is a womaniser. Womanising is presented as a "mystical quality in a creative genius about his father in addition to solving the mystery behind his death.

He completes the book in two weeks flat and requests his wife (played by Lakshami Gopalaswamy) to appraise it as a reader and a critic. The narrative unfolds in anecdotal flashbacks as the writer and his wife discuss the book. The string of people he meets, his father's friends, his colleagues, the suspects and even the police officer who had investigated the case.

The interaction between the writer and his wife becomes interesting sometimes. Like when she asks him about the character who could speak with dead souls (played by Suresh Gopi [Images]) who had acquainted his father, and why he was dropped midway after giving him a good build-up. In a way this device helps the writer to give excuses for the loopholes in the story).

For Mohanlal, the role of Siddharathan is a cakewalk; we have seen him in such roles many a time. But, still his spontaneity and sparkle leaves us charmed.

Suresh Gopi oscillates between being funny and being serious as the necromancer. What becomes unintentionally funny is the fact that he is depicted as a person having speech impairment, who has to put a gadget on his larynx to get the words out. The gadget suspiciously looks like an electronic razor!

Anup Menon tries hard to be convincing as an intense writer who wishes to dig into his father's relationship with various women. But, somehow he comes across as pretentious.

Pakal Nakshatrangal no doubt tries to recreate the intellectual vigour Malayalam cinema had in the eighties but falls terribly short.

Ivar Vivahitharayal

I was not very keen about watching this movie when it was released. The name of the movie, the star cast, the director....nothing was quiet impressive.
But later on many people told me that it was not a bad movie. So I decided to give it a try. This was the first movie that I watched with my whole family.... My parents, wife, sister and her hubby..
It was not a bad movie for the family audience....I was not much impressive though...I felt it like a serial (may be because it was directed by a serial director)...Sooraj Venjaarumoodu was impressive in many scenes..

Vivek (Jayasurya) does his MBA degree from Pondicherry University. Even while as a student, the main ambition of Vivek to get married as soon as he is back home after his studies. Vivek has a circle of very close friends of four, with whom he discusses everything. Navya Nair appears in a cameo role in the film as his dream wife. Prominent among these friends is Teresa (Samvrutha Sunil). Teresa and other friends advises Vivek not to get married so early and to wait till he finds a job, but Vivek had already made up his mind.

Vivek's parents, Adv. Ananthan Menon (Siddique) and Adv. Nandini Rekha lives separated at adjacent flats in the same apartment. Vivek returns home after studies. Vivek stays on each of his parents private apartments on alternate days. Vivek loves his parents so much and wishes to rejoin them some how. The spoiled brat child, Vivek is called as Anathutten by his father Ananthan and Nanthutten by his mother Nandini.

Suraaj Venjarammoodu plays the role of Adv. Mannanthala Susheel Kumar , an assistent advocate to Adv. Ananthan Menon.

A phone-in programme encounter with Kavya aka Tinku (Bhama) and Vivek, a radio jockey, results in loss of Kavya's job. Some strange circumstances lead to the marriage of Vivek and Kavya, without knowing each other that they are the same people who clashed on the FM radio channel. Vivek expects Kavya to be an orthodox and simple wife of his dreams and Kavya turns out to be otherwise. Vivek discovers on the first night after marriage, that he is the same person that caused Kavya lose her job at the FM station. Vivek decides to reveal the truth to Kavya one day but he couldn't do it. Kavya gets rejected at other FM channels due her notorious happening at her previous FM station.

Vivek finds that he did not clear his MBA degree exam and subsequent quarrel with his father, leads to his way out from his father's house. Vivek is now out of his own house without a job or money to survive. Teresa helps Vivek and Kavya to get a rented house next to Teresa's house. Vivek finds difficult to do his responsibilities as an husband but he hates to accept that.

Kavya doubts Teresa's over friendly attachment towards Vivek which results in quarrels among them. She is also worried of Vivek's lack of responsibilites and sufficent care for her and her feelings. Kavya also discovers from Teresa that it was the because of Vivek, she had lost her earlier job. Kavya decides to leave for her own home, but promises to stay with him and Vivek's parents who are reunited now.

After a month, Vivek and Kavya files a joint petition at the court for their divorce. Vivek plans to leave for Dubai, but Vivek and Kavya discovers their emotions towards each other at the end of the film and all is well now.

Passenger

I watched this film at Krishna Theatre. It was renovated recently. In my school days this was a infamous theatre as most of the films screened there was 'A' rated. It has changed a lot...now its A/C, it has DTS...the first gud theatre in kazhakuttom....


The films is about social activist Sathyanathan (Srinivasan), who decides to help Anuradha (Mamta), a television reporter, in a bid to expose a shady politician (Jagathy Sreekumar), who is milking the state through mining scams. Sathyanathan had met Anuradha’s husband, a lawyer Nandan Menon (Dilip), during a train journey.

It all happens on a day when destiny throws in a bunch of people going on with their uneventful lives, together on a mission. Sathyanathan (Sreenivasan) is one of the millions of daily commuters by train, who having fallen asleep one late night misses his home town station. Waking up, he gets acquainted with Nandan Menon (Dileep), an advocate by profession who is heading to a hotel room where he would be alone for the night, since his wife Anuradha (Mamta Mohandas) is away on an assignment, covering up a news story that has been rocking the state. The men strike up a pleasant conversation before parting ways as the train grinds to a halt. Little do they realize that the TV journo has on her cards, a set of different plans - those that will change their lives forever.

Veterans Srinivasan and Jagathy carry the film on their able shoulders with terrific support from Dilip, who has surprisingly agreed to play second fiddle to the main protagonist in spite of being a bigger box-office draw.

The thought-provoking narration is simple and yet gripping aided by tech props like laptops and mobile phones.

In a nutshell, “Passenger” is a must-watch.

IT professional and director Renjith Shankar has done a good work in this movie

Bhramaram

The first review that i got was not a good one. Moreover quality of Blessy's movies were degrading with each movie and so it was expected to be a bad one.
Later I heard from some sources that the movie is a different genre. So I went to watch the movie at Sree Kumar Theatre. It was quiet an impressive movie. The visuals were superb (It was a real pleasure watching the visuals and wondering how it might have been shot). The performances of allmost all the characters were good. After many years, mohanlal has choosen a movie in which he could act well,

The film begins with an uncouth person (Mohanlal) who lands up at the doorstep of stock broker Unni's (Suresh Menon) doorstep in Coimbatore and claims to be his classmate Jose of the seventh standard. Unni cannot recollect any classmate named Jose. But, Jose knows every event of that period, so, Unni trusts him.
The purpose of Jose's visit (who claims to be a jeep driver in the high range area in Kerala [ Images ]) is shrouded in mystery. He refuses any financial help or employment offer; he just wishes to talk about something important in isolation. Jose's eerie behaviour disturbs the composure of Unni's family as well as professional life. And, the revelation of Jose's real identity and purpose of his sudden appearance creates further tremors.

Bhagya Devatha

I am not very enthusiastic about watching Jayaram's movies. Especially not in a theatre. But now that I am married, things has to change. So this was the second movie after " Veruthe Oru Bharya" that I have watched in a theatre.
The promos of the movie was good. One or two songs were good and the visualisation was also good.
But the movie disappoints. The movie revolves around regular Cliches. Nothing so different. Dowry, separation, reconsilation & a happy ending.
There is nothing much to write about this movie. But the sad thing is that this movie is going to be a hit. The only thing that i liked in this movie was that the locations of the movie. "Kuttanad" was always one of my favourite locations. There are certain trivial things in this films that we dont see in regular films..like a shot which shows how they r making "achappams"...but we dont go to theatre to watch making "achappams"
Sathyan anthikad proves that he is no exception to the deterioration of old directors like I V Shashi, Sibi Malayil etc

Calcutta News

When blessy came to malayalam film industry through his movie "Kazcha", he made a statement "Here comes a guy from the padmarajan school who is going to make a difference in malayalam cinema". He kind of reinstated the statement in his film "Thanmatra". But after watching "Palunku", we feel that he knows only to make movies in one mould only - nuclear family, kids et al
Now when 'calcutta news' was announced, that was a totally different template , not a regular blessy movie. But today after watching this movie, i almost realise that blessy is finished. He dont have range, nor calibre of padmarajan.
What a damn waste movie. It was really a horror watching this movie. The only thing good about this movie is the songs. They are excellent.

2 Harihar Nagar

2 Harihar Nagar, begins with the establishment of friendship between the four leads in their school days [a stamp of Siddique-Lal school of filmmaking from Kabuliwalla onwards]. Next, a voiceover tells us about the progress our beloved rascals have made in life since we last met them.

So, Govindankutty with an abbreviated Goku (Siddique) as his name has become a successful builder, married but still childless. His justification; there is still romance in his life. So, children can wait.

Mahadevan (Mukesh) has become a successful new age guru, giving pep talk to school kids in the Gulf. His love life on the other hand is another matter as he is separated from his wife. Appukuttan (Jagadeesh) is a dentist with twin boys. The last one in the group, Thomaskutty (Asokan) is kissing bachelorhood goodbye as he is going to marry shortly.

It is Thomaskutty's betrothal and wedding for which the four reunite in Harihar Nagar and try to reignite the youthful mischief for a few days, which they had missed after being separated from each other.

The story is not much different from the original. In the original, four bachelors tried to woo a beauty who had come into their neighbourhood, which led to commotion, action and suspense in the second half of the film. Here in the new version, Lal keeps the story and the mould the same. The only difference is that the protagonists have grown older [but not necessarily wiser]. Still, it works mainly because it is rooted to the original, and the makers have taken care to make us nostalgic by showing us the snippets of the first part when the credits roll in.

The first half is full of wacky dialogues, situations and, in the second half, the terrific twist in the climax makes it a crackling show. 2 Harihar Nagar is just what intelligent filmmaking is all about and, no wonder, this delightful comedy is a winner from the word go.

Sagar alias Jacky

I was waiting eagerly for this movie. The trailer of this movie was quiet impressive.
Amal neerad's Big B was a delight to watch with its visuals and techniques. His camera work in Black was also very good.
But this movie was a big bore. I hated watching this movie. It killed our favourite character sagar from "irupathaam nootandu"
The visuals, tones, background score etc were almost the same as that of Big B. I doubt whether Amal neerad have any stuff.
This movie was all about mohan lal walking. Jyotirmayees Item number and Bhavana's romance with lal (the pair appeared to be father and daughter)
Sagar alias Jacky in Irupathaam Nootandu was an intelligent, smart guy. In SAJ except for the designer dress, cooling glasses and Hummers and Ferrari's there was nothing much impressive.
And Mr S N Swamy...where is the script????

Gulal

Kay Kay menon, Anurag Kashyap, Politics..the expectations about the movie was quiet high.
The initial few minutes of the movie was quiet impressive. But as the movie progressed I realised that its not my stuff of movie. Based on some Rajputana Movement, about which I have no Knowhow. The movie turned out to be a quiet boring one for me.
Set in Rajasthan, Gulaal's central premise involves the efforts of the erstwhile royal community to claim back their Rajputana province from the democratic government.

The film follows meek law student Dileep Singh (played by newcomer Raja Singh Chaudhary) who arrives on campus to pursue graduation and falls into the company of an older student and royal sprog Rananjay Singh (played by Abhimanyu Singh) which changes the course of his life completely. When the local kingpin Dukey Bana (played by Kay Kay Menon) convinces Rananjay to contest college elections on behalf of his Rajputana party, little does our protagonist Dileep realize he too will get sucked into a world of corrupt politics and crime.

Without going into too many details, let's just say Dileep ends up standing for and winning the college elections in place of his friend and roommate Rananjay, and discovers subsequently he's just a pawn in Dukey Bana's larger plans.

There is also the matter of a girl; in this case the ambitious, illegitimate daughter of a royal who loses the campus election to Dileep, but finds another more deceitful way to realize her ambitions. Much of the charm of Gulaal lies in its setting; Rajasthan's varied landscape - a clash between tradition and modernity, becomes as intriguing a character as any, and Kashyap shoots this terrain realistically, rough around the edges even, sucking us into his dark, brooding drama from the word go.

Dev D

A bold recreation of Devdas. The idea of the movie was quiet impressive. The movie portrayed many dark shades in life.
The director Anurag Kashyap is an impressive guy. His previous movie Black Friday was a very good one.
Abhay deol is also impressive.

Dev (Abhay Deol) is the son of a rich Punjabi Businessman. He and Paro (Mahi Gill) are childhood sweethearts. But Dev, being an insecure arrogant guy, instead of acknowledging her affection and care, nudges Paro over frivolous things.

The movie is based in the contemporary Punjab and Delhi, where familial ties are negotiated by the traditions of patriarchy and marriages are reduced to a game of power and “honour“.

Dev is sent to London for higher studies when his father senses how spoilt his son is. But while separated by distance, Paro and Dev's youthful love only blossoms. Dev arrives to Chandigarh to meet Paro. Their endeavor to make love makes for some dark comic moments. The seeds of suspicion are sown here, that the couple will never be able to weed out for a lifetime. When Dev hears rumours about Paro, he immediately believes them and ditches Paro. What makes them fall apart is mutual suspicion and an essentially male vision of how a woman should conduct herself sexually. Paro turns her back on him when she hears him insult her, and agrees to marry whoever her parents choose. On her wedding day, he realizes that the rumors were false. But his ego doesn't let him accept his mistake, and he lets her marry someone else.

Enter Chanda. This part has references to the notorious Delhi school sex MMS scandal. Her father commits suicide as he feels humiliated by his daughter's reputation. She is disowned by her family. The movie portrays how she transforms herself from an innocent traumatized schoolgirl into the oldest professions a woman is known for going into. While Chanda isn’t a career prostitute, she is no different as well. Instead of performing Mujras, she enacts scenes from popular American pornographic series. The only thing, that makes her different is the fact that she hasn’t given up on her studies for the profession and has also kept the exit gate open.

Dev, tormented by Paro’s wedding, seeks alcohol and drugs. His escape to Delhi from Chandigarh, is as much a pursuit of his lost love, as much it is an attempt to run away from his father. Months later, Dev calls Paro's husband in the middle of the night, after which Paro visits him. While Paro has grown to accept her fate, her heart still beats for her childhood lover. Her love always transforms into immense care. On the other hand, Dev demands much more than love - exclusivity over her body - and that’s where he runs out of luck. More than separation it’s the thought of Paro making love to somebody else that’s the cause of agony for him.

Ironically, his life always orbits around women. He is forced to cause self-destruction by one and rescued by another. In the end he realises that he was wrong and that maybe he never really loved Paro. He goes back to Chanda and lives with her thereafter

Billu Barber

This was a remake of the malayalam movie "Katha Parayumbol". The movie was a good one. In fact it was better than its original one. I didn't like the original because of the poor direction and the unnatural acting of Srinivasan.
Billu (Irfan Khan) is a poor barber who lives with his his wife Bindiya (Lara Dutta) and their two children, Gunja (Mitali Mayakar) and Ronak (Pratik Dalvi) in the village of Budbuda. He also spends time with his close friends, Budbudiya (Rajpal Yadav)and Naubat Chacha (Asrani). Though struggling, Billu lives an uneventful life until Bollywood superstar Sahir Khan (Shahrukh Khan) comes to the village for a film shoot.

Billu has mentioned to his family that he knows Sahir from the past but has never elaborated how he knows the star. Thus his children spread rumors about their father's friendship with the famous star which spread throughout the village. Virtually overnight, Billu who had previously been scorned by most due to his impoverished state, becomes the center of attention. People who had spurned him only the week before now call him a close friend so that he will introduce them to Sahir. Billu refuses and downplays the friendship, saying that it is impossible for him to introduce people in the village to Sahir. The powerful businessman, Sahukaar Daamchand (Om Puri) demands to see Sahir and offers Billu expensive gifts in order to gain such a meeting. When Billu consistently fails to introduce the people of the village to Sahir, his situation changes once again. He is accused of lying about his friendship and everyone - including his wife and children, begin to doubt his character and integrity. Rather than defend himself, Billu remains quiet about the nature of their friendship.

On his last day in the village, Sahir speaks at a local school. He tells the children about his own impoverished childhood when he had nothing but a very special friendship with a young boy named Billu. It was Billu who took care of Sahir and who eventually helped him travel to Mumbai where he became a famous star. Billu, who is standing at the back of the event, leaves during the talk without revealing to Sahir that he is there. The townspeople, realizing their error however, take Sahir to Billu's house where the two childhood friends are finally reunited.

Stoneman Murders

The Stoneman Murders is an engaging thriller based on the unsolved serial killings of pavement dwellers in Mumbai in 1983. Taking its premise from those incidents and referring to media coverage of the case, writer-director Manish Gupta constructs a screenplay that is derived from hard facts where available, and imagination to fill in the gaps.

When night after night pavement dwellers are found clobbered to death, a suspended police officer (played by Kay Kay Menon) takes it upon himself to trace the killer so he can impress his superiors into re-admitting him into the force. Combing the streets in the wee hours of the night, he gets closer to uncovering the identity of the killer, until he clashes with the investigating officer on the case (played by Arbaaz Khan).

Filmed on location instead of sets, and doused in the eeriness that comes from knowing that these gruesome killings did indeed take place, the film keeps you hooked during its best bits. Like those nail-biting scenes involving Kay Kay's pursuit of the shrouded killer, and a handful of terrific moments in which you see the killer lurking about in dark alleys.

But it's when the film compromises its intentions by resorting to a tacky item song and unnecessary titillation that it veers off course. There is also the problem of a hurried, ill-conceived ending, and pointless portions in the early half that slacken its pace. Lapses like these hurt what could have been a truly taut thriller.

Delhi 6

It was a much awaited movie. The previous movie from this director (Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra) was an impressive one (Rang De Basanthi). I liked that movie very much.
The songs of Delhi 6 was also good. But except that there is nothing in this movie. I regret having watched this movie.
The film opens with the ailing grandmother Annapurna at the office of a cardiac surgeon in New York. The surgeon indicates that Annapurna suffers from heart blockage and may not have long to live. Annapurna insists on returning to Delhi, her hometown, where she intends to die in peace. Though her son and daughter-in-law object vehemently, her American-born grandson Roshan (who has a special bond with his grandmother) agrees to bring her back.

Annapurna is received with pomp and ceremony when she returns to her home in Old Delhi. Roshan is initially stunned by the mad rush of various neighbors. Roshan eventually warms to the place and wholeheartedly embraces the sense of community in it. He accompanies his grandmother to the Ramleelas, hangs out at Mamdu's sweet stall, plays with the children, and gradually becomes steeped in the culture of the place.

In the meantime, the news media is all abuzz with tales of a fearsome terror known only as the "Kala Bandar (Black Monkey)". This miscreant (never shown clearly in the film) attacks people, steals various articles and has also caused the death of a few innocent people. Nonetheless, the local news picks up on every move by the kala bandar and loudly blares about all his exploits. Jaigopal, the self-proclaimed electronics genius, theorizes that the kala bandar likely has an electrical circuit (to zap his victims) and may be electrocuted by water; this rumor is quickly propagated through the locality.

The film takes several turns. After some initial friction, Roshan and Bittu warm to each other. Roshan intervenes when Bittu is about to receive a prospective suitor arranged by Madangopal. He echoes Bittu's desire to pursue other dreams; this drives the suitor away and brings Madangopal's wrath upon him. He gradually begins to fall in love with Bittu, but is confused when Bittu expresses her affections for Suresh (she believes he will support her dreams). Around this time, the kala bandar attacks Old Delhi. The simple-minded locals bring in a tantrik Shani baba to exorcize the demonic influence of the kala bandar. After an extended havan ceremony, the tantrik baba indicates that the local mosque, built over the ruins of a temple that was demolished for the purpose, is the provocation for the evil soul of the kala bandar. This promptly stokes animosity in the otherwise harmonious Hindu-Muslim community. After the initial peaceful demonstrations (by rallies and angry meetings), various mobs go on rampage and tear up some of the local streets. Roshan attempts to make peace, but is rebuffed because of his mixed religious parentage. The locals ultimately settle on the fact that the kala bandar is hiding out in the sooni galli (a dark lane known to harbor evil presences) and must be destroyed. They command the simpleton Gobar to fetch a lock of hair from the evil enemy so that the tantrik can burn it and complete the exorcism.

Roshan becomes aware of Bittu's plan to elope with Suresh, and that Suresh is a low-life two timer. He dons a monkey mask and monkey outfit and stealthily follows Bittu by leaping across the rooftops. In the meantime Gobar ventures into the sooni galli where Jalebi gives him a lock of her hair so he may return in triumph and bring peace to the community. At that moment, Roshan (in his monkey outfit) intercedes in Bittu and Suresh's rendezvous and causes the cowardly Suresh to flee. Bittu raises a loud alarm before Roshan unmasks himself, whereupon the angry locals storm the place. Believing Roshan to be the kala bandar, they beat him to within an inch of his life and Mamdu shoots him. Then, Gobar comes up with a startling deduction about the reality of the kala bandar.

The revelation stops the violence. Roshan is nearly dead. He recovers and decides to remain in Old Delhi and affirm his love for Bittu. The film ends on a happy note with peace and joy restored to the community of Old Delhi.

The Constant Gardener

The film is about a love story set against a conspiracy of power and dirty deeds. In London, Quayle (Ralph Fiennes) meets and falls in love with outspoken lefty Tessa (Rachel Weisz) a beautiful young activist who persuades him to take her back with him to Africa.

Justin Quayle, a shy, low-rung British diplomat and horticultural hobbyist in Kenya, is one to avoid making a fuss until he learns that his wife was found dead on the veld. Tessa has been murdered at a crossroads, along with her African driver. Her colleague, a doctor named Arnold Bluhm (Hubert Kounde), is initially suspected of her murder, but is later revealed to also have been murdered on the same day as Tessa. Various rumour bound that the two were having an affair, however it is later revealed that Bluhm is, in fact, homosexual.

As the mystery surrounding his wife's death unfolds, the quiet and self-effacing Quayle is radicalised in his determination to get to the bottom of his wife's murder. He is soon running up against a drug corporation exercising its power to both ignore the easily treated diseases of the third world and use Africa's "disposable" population for unofficial research and development.

Kanchivaram

My Rating : 5/5

This was one movie that I wanted to watch for quiet some time but couldn't make it. In trivandrum, it was premiered first during soorya film festival. I went to the festival but because of the huge rush I couldn't watch that time. Then it came during IFFK 13 but that time I opted to watch some foreign movie instead.
This time it was shown during Signs Film festival for John Abraham Award.
I liked this movie very much. The shots, the texture, the story line, the sets, everything was superb. This is priyadarsan's revenge to all those who criticized him - may be for plagarism, or slapstick, watever it is.

The film begins with an aging man named Vengadam (Prakash Raj) being released from jail in 1948. He is only being escorted for two days (the reason not revealed) back to his hometown of Kanchipuram, known at that time as Canjeevaram after British rule. He is being transported under the custody of two policemen on a bus from Coimbatore to Kanchipuram. As the journey takes place, Vengadam recalls his past symbolically as several events that occur in the bus (such as sounds) remind him of his past.
It is a period movie set in the pre independence era in a small town of Kanchivaram in Tamil nadu, the protagonist Prakash Raj works as a Vengadam, the best silk weaver in the town. He pledges that he would provide a silk saree for his daughter when she is getting married, which becomes the talk of the town as a weaver simply can't afford such a humongous price. He does save up some money but his brother-in-law ruins his plans, so to attain the inevitable he starts stealing a single strand of silk from the workplace, every single day and secretly weaves a saree for his daughter for 19 long years. He is involved in communism and heads a strike against his owner who gives paltry amount to the weavers, which comes as a deterrent to his daughter's marriage, which is drawing near. As the day comes close, he has to finish the silk saree on time. He suddenly goes against his own words and asks all weavers to rejoin work immediately, and is branded a traitor. At work, he secretly smuggles strings of silks out of the temple in which he works to help him finish the saree in time. But after a while, he gets caught suring smuggling, which causes him to get beaten up and sent to jail.
The story returns to present day, where it is revealed that his daughter has slipped and fell into a well, leaving her paralyzed, with nobody to take care of her (Vengadam's wife passed away sue to a mysterious illness, presumably cancer, when his daughter was still young). He asks his sister to take her in, but his brother-in-law says it will hurt his dignity to have a thief's daughter stay in his house. Not knowing what to do, Vengadam poisons his own daughter and she dies shortly thereafter, ending her suffering.

As her dead body lay in front of the house, Vengadam opens up his old properties and finds the half-vowen silk saree he had before. He takes the cloth and uses that silk to cover his dead daughter's body, in a resemblace to what Vengadam said at the beginning of the film (at his father's death, Vengadam complained that despite his father being a silk weaver his whole life, he do not have a single silk cloth to cover his body, apart from a small piece tied at his leg fingers as per tradition). The films ends with a freeze frame shot of Vengadam smiling towards the camera after covering her daughter's body with silk, before credits reveal how communism has become a forefront movement in contemporary India. marriageable age.

Luck by Chance

The main attraction of Luck by Chance was Farhan Akhtar. I like this guy very much. He has proved his mettle in various fields..direction, acting, singing etc....
The second attraction was its director Zoha Akhtar...she being Farhan's sister and Javed Akhtar's daughter, the expectation was high.
The third attraction was the presence of almost all bollywood stars in this film....
But inspite of the high expectations that i had, or is it because of the high expectations I had, the movie was not that impressive...
I felt like the director had a confusion about the protoganist (between Farhan Akthar and Konkona sen sharma)...I dont know whose luck by chance was referred in the title...

Young actor Vikram Jaisingh (Farhan Akhtar) arrives in Mumbai to make it as a Bollywood film star with the help of Abhimanyu (Arjun Mathur), an actor friend from his hometown, and their mutual friend Sameer, who works in a studio props department. Vikram befriends Abhi's neighbor, young actress Sonam Mishra (Konkona Sen Sharma), with whom he eventually becomes romantically involved. Sonam, the mistress of small-time producer Satish Chowdhury (Alyy Khan), who for three years has promised her a leading role in his dream project, meanwhile works in regional films and bit parts. When star Zaffar Khan (Hrithik Roshan) walks out on a movie being made by old-school producer Romy Rolly (Rishi Kapoor) as a star vehicle for Nikki Walia (Isha Sharvani), the newcomer daughter of famous older actress Neena Walia (Dimple Kapadia), a search for an unknown to replace Zaffar lands Vikram the role. As Vikram becomes increasingly crafty and manipulative, his on-set affair with Nikki becomes leaked to the tabloid press, ending his and Sonam's already all-but-over relationship.

Memento

I thought of watching this film as I heard that "Ghajini" is a remake of this movie. (After watching the movie, I realised that except for the short term memory loss, Polaroid camera and Tattoo,they have nothing in common)
This was the most confusing movie I have seen so far. After every scene I was having the feel that I am facing the same problem as the protagonist in the movie 'Short Term Memory Loss'. The first thing that I did after watching this movie was to browse through the net to get more informations about this movie. I was happy to know that the most of the people faced the same problem while watching this movie. I would definitely like to watch this movie once more.

It stars Guy Pearce as Leonard Shelby, a former insurance fraud investigator searching for the man he believes raped and killed his wife during a burglary.Leonard suffers from anterograde amnesia, which he contracted from severe head trauma during the attack on his wife. This renders his brain unable to store new memories. To cope with his condition, he maintains a system of notes, photographs, and tattoos to record information about himself and others, including his wife's killer.
The film's events unfold in two separate, alternating narratives—one in color, and the other in black and white. The black and white sections are told in chronological order, showing Leonard conversing with an anonymous phone caller in a motel room. Leonard's investigation is depicted in five-minute color sequences that are in reverse chronological order. As each scene begins, Leonard has just lost his recent memories, leaving him unaware of where he is or what he was doing. The scene ends just after its events fade from his memory. By reversing the order, the spectator is unaware of the preceding events, just like Leonard. By the film's end, the two narratives converge into a single color sequence.

Maharathi

I thought of giving this movie a try just because of the starcast....paresh rawal, nasaruddin shah, boman irani, om puri....it is a dream cast...
Later i came to know that it was an adaption of paresh rawal's acclaimed drama...
The movie was not so impressive when compared to the expectation I had b'coz of the starcast.....It is quiet boring at various instances....The plot is good...but its almost predictable...
Subhash (Paresh Rawal) is a struggling actor cum small time crook who makes money by cheating unsuspecting ATM visitors. One late night he saves a man’s life, to do so he puts his own at risk. He ends up accompanying the injured man back home. Subhash is awe struck at the grandeur and affluence of Mr. Adenwalla. (Naseeruddin Shah) Subhash realizes this may lead to a generous tip. Adenwalla impressed by Subhash hires him as his driver much to the resentment of his beautiful much younger wife, Mallika (Neha Dhupia). Subhash realizes nothings well between Adenwalla and his wife. Once a big time filmmaker, Adenwalla is now forever drowned in alcohol and is now frustrated with his greedy wife. He decides to teach her lesson by throwing upon her a ‘deadly’ challenge. What this challenge is all about and how Subhash gets embroiled into it and what it unexpected situations it further leads to forms the rest of the film.

Slumdog Millionaire

Excellent movie....I liked it very much....Two days after it got a lot of awards at Golden Globe....I couldn't wait till the Indian Release....I downloaded the movie...Today I didn't go to Office as I was back only yesterday after the Andaman Tour.
Lot of reasons to be proud of as an Indian....Rahman's Music...Indian Actors....Indian locations (hmm...though the slums)...

The story of Jamal Malik, an 18 year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai, who is about to experience the biggest day of his life. With the whole nation watching, he is just one question away from winning a staggering 20 million rupees on India's "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" But when the show breaks for the night, police arrest him on suspicion of cheating; how could a street kid know so much? Desperate to prove his innocence, Jamal tells the story of his life in the slum where he and his brother grew up, of their adventures together on the road, of vicious encounters with local gangs, and of Latika, the girl he loved and lost. Each chapter of his story reveals the key to the answer to one of the game show's questions. Each chapter of Jamal's increasingly layered story reveals where he learned the answers to the show's seemingly impossible quizzes. But one question remains a mystery: what is this young man with no apparent desire for riches really doing on the game show? When the new day dawns and Jamal returns to answer the final question, the Inspector and sixty million viewers are about to find out. At the heart of its storytelling lies the question of how anyone comes to know the things they know about life and love.

Ghajini

This was the most anticipated movie of 2008. The hair cut of Aamir Khan became a style statement. The expectations was high as Aamir Khan has always delivered good films.
The review of the movie was also good. Even Rajeev Masand gave it good rating inspite it being a pure commercial movie.
I had seen the Tamil version of the movie long time back. I dont remember the details of the movie now but I was very much moved by the first half of the movie (I loved watching Asin and the love story between Asin and Surya).
Since Asin was doing the same role in the Hindi version I wanted to watch the movie (atleast for the first half)

I liked watching the movie. Asin, Aamir, Ghajini (I dont know this guys name) all were good. There is not much change in the script from the tamil version (except that the villain is not doing a double role).
The movie is an action-thriller, with strong romantic elements, that explores the life of a rich businessman who suffers from anterograde amnesia following a violent encounter in which his love interest, model Kalpana was killed. He tries to avenge the killing with the aid of Polaroid Instant camera photographs and permanent tattoos on his torso.