Vallatha Pahayan - Movie Review

Vallatha Pahayan Movie Review

 Directed by Niyaz Becker and Razaq Muhammed

Banner: Galaxy Films [Milan Jaleel]



*ing Manikantan Pattambi, Rachana, Vinod Kovoor, Niyaz Becker, Sreekumar, Sneha Sreekumar, Janardhanan, Mamukkoya, KPAC Lalitha, Kochu Preman, Narayankkutty, and Indrans

Writer- Vijayan
Cinematography - Utpal V Nayanar
Music- Bijibal
Art- Sujith Raghav
Editing- Sreejith VT
Costumes- Velayudhan Kizhillam
Make-up- Pradeep Rangan
Associate Director- Shibu Gangadharan
Production Executive- Deepak Kizhumury
Executive Producer- Manoj Menon

Story

Balan (Manikantan Pattambi) is an innocent man who leads a simple life in a village. His wife is Sumithra (Rachana) and they have two kids. Balan's attempts to bulit a new house and the political,social & economical hurdles that he and his family faces, forms the story of Vallatha Pahayan

This is the debut of immensely popular 'Team Marimayam' in Mollywood, as a group [even though most of them have already acted, individually, in various other films]. Being a huge fan of the show & especially Rachana, VP was a not to be missed in my list.

As expected VP is a worth watching family entertainer that Mollywood used to produce in the 80's and 90's. The story is a simple one. The script couldn't rise above average, but its the perfomances of the actors and the subtle humor that makes the film worth watching. The writer has laced the film with enough comic  elements so that it will not be tiring or preachy. But still the film tends to get into over melodramatic mood in the second half.

Its the convincing and honest perfomances of the entire star cast that's the major positive of MP. Manikandan, Rachana & co has done a very good job. After a long time Janardhanan got a good role in VP. 2 songs in the film are passable. Background work is Okay. Direction is pretty average, often reminded soap operas, with some weird close-ups and camera angles. In the hands of a better director the film could have been much better. Editing is good, the film under 2hr 5mins never really lags.

Usually such films will have a character from Dubai, suddenly appearing from no where, near the climax, to solve all the problems of Hero, which is not the case in VP which I liked very much.

The location [Palakkad] is very good as well. So nice to see paddy fields and the good old villages which seems to be extinct in new--gen Malayalam films

Kudos for Galaxy films for investing crores in such a project and experimenting and bringing the hit TV group into the big screen

Overall Vallatha Pahayan is a decent watch for the entire family.


Rating: 2.75/5

Verdict:  Above Average

Lucky Star - Exclusive Malayalam Movie Review

Lucky Star Malayalam Movie Review

 Written & Directed By - Deepu Anthikkad
Produced By- Milan Jaleel
Co.Producer- Nadir Jaleel
Music- Ratheesh Vega
Cinematography- Vijay Ulaganath
Edited By- V.T Sreejith
Exe.Producer- Manoj Menon
Production Designer-Razak
Production Controller- Baburaj Manissery
Stills-Hassif Hakkim
Designs-Antony Stephens

 

Starring

Jayaram, Rachana, Mukesh ,Pooja,Mammokoya etc

Expectation

The first attraction towards the movie was that it marks the debut of Mini Screen actress Rachana, who became quite popular through 'Marimayam' a weekly comedy sitcom. The Posters, Songs, Trailer etc increased the hype to even greater heights.

Plot Outline

The theme of the movie is centered on the life of Ranjith (Jayaram) who aims to become a rich man. To become billionaire, Ranjith foresee two ways; take lottery tickets or to become a movie star.

Falling too short of his dreams, Ranjith meets junior artist Janaki (Rachana Narayanankutty) and their friendship later ends up in marriage. Ranjith and Janaki who were not ready to compromise other than becoming rich thought of another plan. The idea was to think about surrogacy- an arrangement in which a woman carries and delivers a kid for a different couple or individual. Moving forward with the idea, Ranjith and Janaki meet Dr Joseph Chittilappally, an infertility specialist and share their purpose of visit.

But what they expected didn't carry out as the couple land in trouble finding no way to get rid of it. 

 Evaluation

Lucky Star is a complete family film that delivers what it promised. The first half is full of humour, while in the second half the movie turn completely serious. The movie has a Sathyan Anthikkad flavour to it, who is a mentor and great inspiration for Director Deepu

The storyline is similar to the 1989 Mohanlal classic 'Dasharatham', which one of the characters also mentions in the movie. 

Jayaram has made a comeback through Luck star after a small gap. We also got glimpses of the old Mukesh, which sadly was limited just to the first half of the movie. Rachana has made a rocking debut in big screen, may be one of the most talked about/awaited heroine intro in Mollywood in years. Rest of the cast like Pooja Ramachandran [SS Music VJ, actress], Mamukkoya, Amu [Sun TV Anchor, VJ], Sreekumar [Marimayam fame] etc have also done good job.

Cinematographer has done a very good job, even though the DI [I think so] made it look dull in many scenes.  BG and Music was good. Editing was smooth and efficient.

The drastic change from comedy to serious can be a turn off for few people especially the mass, youth audience.  Serial like narration comes in places quite often. The 2nd half could have treated more lightly. The climax is similar to recent Sathyan Anthikadu movies - Haste and Unconvincing/Unsatisfying.

All in all Lucky Star will be a treat for Family audience, after a long gap, I think. 

Go to the theater have a nice time with Lucky and his family 

Rating: 6.25/10

Box Office: - Expecting a Family Hit