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.