Alex Pandian - Exclusive Movie Review from Kerala

Direction & Screenplay: Suraj
Production: Studio Green
Cinematography: Saravanan
Starring : Karthi,Santanam,Anushka, Sanusha, Nikitha
Music : Devisree Prasad
Release by Studio Green (Tamil Nadu)

Beebah & Sayoojyam (Kerala)

Expectations

Had a mixed bag of emotions regarding this project. The Title and the first look poster gave immense hope till the fisrt teaser/trailer was released where everything came crashing down. But Studio Green was able to cover the lost ground/expectations with the Bad Boy video and other song videos and promos.

 Story

The story is of Alex Pandian (Karthi) & Anushka, who plays CM's daughter, and  a series of goons who are searching for them. Who is Alex, why are the goons searching for them, how did Alex end up at Santhanam's house etc etc forms the story.


Like any Tamil hero few films after Karthi too tried to get into the big league, and in Kollywood the shorcut is by doing mass masala entertainers. The main aim of Studio Green was to tap Karthhi's unseen mass image and make some moolah, but unfortunately it didn't work. The main culprit here is the Suraj the director, who also wrote the script.

Searching for a story in such film are considered huge crime, but in AP the most important part of any film, ie the script, is missing. The director has just followed the tried tested and already worn out formula of mass films of 90's. AP is just a of chain Humour-Action-Song sequences in a constant loop till the climax which makes the audience cringe in their seats.

Karthi as a mass hero tried his level best, but even for a fan like me it wasn't entertaining or encouraging. The half baked script and aimless direction could be blamed for this fiasco, coz even in Sakuni I liked Karthi. His Comic sense is as always terrific, action was just ok, but needs to improve dancing skills immediately (even Anushka looked super dancer in front of him.)
Anushka just repats what she has done in a dozen Telugu/Tamil movies, few scenes, 2 songs - just eye candy stuff.

The saving grace is Santhanam, but even the scenes involving him and Karthi and the '3 sisters' are over used and it feel like you are watching a comedy soap opera and not a feature film.

The first half is full of these so called gags, then comes the silly Interval twist and. In 2nd half it gets to the flash back mode and in the climax the hero beats up every single goon that remained after 1st half and flash back and lives  happily ever after.

Hope A.Raja & Venkat Prabh gives back us the Karthi that we all want to see

Verdict 2/5

Disappointing

Final Word - Alex Pandian is a Crap Masala Boretainer, a Full-On Yawn Fest !!!



PS: Still searching for a reason to watch it ? then go watch it for the humor and humor only ....

Annayum Rasoolum - Movie Review

Starring    Fahadh Fazil, Andrea, Aashique Abu, Ranjith

Directed By    Rajiv Ravi

Produced By    Seven Arts Mohan, Vinod Vijayan

Expectation

Expectations were humungous due to the Star cast, Music & more over the debut of DOP Rajeev Ravi as a director.

Story

As the name (trailer, posters etc) suggests, its the love storry of Anna (Andrea), a Christian girl, working as a salesgirl in a textile show room and Rasool (Fahad Fazil), a Muslim boy, who is a taxi driver.




The first thing we expect when a cinematographer becomes a director is beautiful visuals and Rajee Ravi didn't disappoint. The Visuals are stunning, rich and deep especially the boat jetty, hill range, Mattanchery, Fort Kochi and the journey in Jhankar, boats etc. But like all the recent debut DOP turned directors too much focus has been given on visuals rather than script. Looks like Rajeev was too obsessed with his visuals that he forget to say cut (or didn't allow to edit them out either). There are many closeup shots of the actors face, people walking, standing, gazing, staring etc. Hence the film is painfully 2 hours and 48 mnutes long. If the film was a complete entertainer like 'Thattathin Marayathu' or the lead pair had energetic chemistry like in 'Neethane en Ponvasantham' it would have been better, but since the story is more realistic it fails to grab viewers attention especially in the second half.

The first half is also long, but the terrific performances by Fahad & Andrea, well supported by the supporting cast makes it entertaining. In the second half the story takes serious turn and moves with out a direction at snail pace.

The film as a whole gives the feel of many recent romantic-village milleau films released in Tamil like Subramaniapuram, Kaathal, Angadi Theru etc.

Songs were good (some oldie-goldies has been reused). The Background and Camera was great. Editing I should say was bad, the film should have been less than 2:20hrs in length.

Fahad Fazil gave his career best performance as Rasool, even the minute expressions were treat to watch, which also got great response from the crowd.. Andrea played the character beautifully, even though dialogues were few. The supporting cast headed by Sunny Wayne also did their part well even though I don't understand the need of many of them like Ranjith's & Aashiq's as their characters doesn't have a proper graph in the movie.

The sync sound/ live recording was bad and was irritating in the initial half an hour, (the same was done brilliantly well in Shyamaprasad's 'Arike' ) but fell on the track later, still missed many of the lines, especially in long shots.

Overall the film promised too much and failed to deliver, the main culprit being the length.

I had the patience to sit through the film and i liked it, would have loved it only if the film was 30 mins shorter. But the public response is not encouraging at all, hope the makers will do preventive measures before it is too late .


My rating: A Generous 3/5

Verdict: Good (only if u have patience)

Box Office: After a terrific start, has started limping already

Nee Ko Njaa Cha ( Ninnem Kollum Njaanum Chaavum ) - Movie Review

Nee Ko Njaa Cha ( Ninnem Kollum Njaanum Chaavum )

 

 Starring    

 Sunny Wayne , Poojitha, Rohini Mariam Idicula, Parvathy Nair, Sija Rose, Merin, Shani, sanju, Praveen

Directed By    Gireesh

Written By    Gireesh

Produced By    Sandip Senan & Anish M Thomas

 

  Expectation

 Nothing, except the title & Sunny Wayne nothing much was exciting enough 

 

Story

 Story of 3 friends who make a trip to Goa as a relief to one among them who just had a break up after being in the relationship for 3 years. In Goa some unforeseen events takes place and how that changes the lives of the threesome forms the story.

 Nee Ko Njaa Cha belongs to the so called 'new generation' genre. There is no real story to talk about. The script feels lazily written, which is similar to many straigh to DVD rom-com flicks that releases in hollywood every year, with a Bluffmaster kinda twist. 

But the honest performances of all the lead actors makes the film worth a watch, at least for the youth. Sunny Wayne and the new comers have done a great job especially Sajin Rose, Praveen and Sanju.

The Background score by Gopi Sundar was good and rose quite a few laughs at places.

Camera was good & Editing was crisp.

Songs were average.

The film is not for Families, its just aimed at youth, it carries a message too 'Be SAFE and Be Truthful'. I wonder how could CBFC pass the movie with clean U certificate, especially with many foul words left un-muted. 

NKNC is not a boring watch, but not a great one either, if you have nothing else to do go and watch it, IFF you love the so called 'No Gen, no brainers' 

Rating 2.65/5

Just a notch above Average

Box Office - Low budget should ensure profits for all concerned

 

 

 

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My Top 10 Favourite Bollywood (Hindi) Movies of 2012

These are my favorite Hindi films of 2012 out of all that I have seen

1. Kahaani

2. English Vinglish

3. Vicky Donor

4. Paan Singh Tomar

5. Gangs of Wasseypur 1 & 2

6. Barfi & Ishaqzaade

7. Oh My God (OMG)

 

8. Shanghai & Chittagong

9.  Talaash

10. Agneepath & Cocktail (Seriously, I really loved the movie)

My Top 10 Favorite Malayalam Movies 2012

Here goes the list of My Top 10 Favorite Malayalam Movies released in 2012 [Among which i have seen] 

1. Diamond Necklace

 This Lal Jose film  without a doubt its the best movie of the year

2. Ayalum Njanum Thammil

    Again a Lal Jose film , noticed for power packed perfomances of Prithviraj and Prathap Pothen

3. Ozhimuri

    A gem which most of us missed in theaters, a must watch movie with outstanding perfomances from     Lal, Mallika & Shwetha Menon

4. Manjadikuru

     Anjali Menon's debut movie, another must watch one, especialy for all Malayalees

5. Spirit & Ee Adutha Kalathu

Spirit - A Message oriented film with no commercial elements not only won rave reviews but was also successful at the Box Office 

Ee Adutha Kalathu - a nice thriller told in non-linear narration pattern

6. 22 Female Kottayam & Nidra

    Powerful women oriented film with a shocking climax and superb performances by entire cast

Nidra - Remake of yesteryear classic, backed by very good performances and superb visuals

7. Ustad Hotel & Arike

    
Superbly entertaining, visually rich, also gave a nice message Scripted by Anjali Menon the movie also       rocked @ Box Office  

Arike - a short sweet love story

8. Run Babby Run & Molly Aunty Rocks

 

A Perfect Thriller movie laced with action and comedy. Joshiy-Mohanlal repeated teir magic once again. Amala Paul, the leading lady, also had a significant role which she performed very well.

Molly Aunty Rocks - a superb comeback by Revathy, a feel good family entertainer

9.Ithra Maathram 

      Another good film which failed at Box Office, won the FIPRESCI Award for Best Malayalam Film at      17th International Film Festival of Kerala

10. Thattathin Marayathu

a feel good rom-com in Molywood after a long time with superb songs

Films like Grandmaster, My Boss, Ordinary, Mallu singh, Friday etc closely follows these......