Malayalam Movies ’09 – A Comprehensive Review

Jess pinged me yesterday and told, “Till now I had just written something which was only read by me. Today I am going to write something about Malayalam Film Industry for the public - My First Public Blog”. But I cannot say the same, as this is something I am scribbling for the first time and yes, I am taking the risk of making it public!!! Also this is inspired by Jess’ topic. So here it goes:

Malayalam Movies ’09 – A Comprehensive Review

Disclaimer: This will make sense only to mallus who used to follow Malayalam movies. This is absolutely my personal opinion, not based on box office collections and stuffs like that…

Tribute to the legends Rajan P Dev, Murali, Lohitadas and Adoor Bhavani...

As everyone says, year 2009 was a fantastic year for Malayalam film industry with lots of experiments and excellent movies. But did anyone expect 2009 will turn out to be like this during the first half?

For me 2009 started with “Love in Singapore”, “Red Chillies” followed by “Sagar Alias Jacky Reloaded”. Without even writing a single word about these movies, hope everyone will understand the mindset of a movie buff who had some minimum level of expectation from the famous Director-Star combos in the above ones. One will seriously think twice before booking ticket for a mal movie after seeing three back to back disappointments; or rather disasters. Thanks to the after effect, I became somewhat choosy and avoided “Colors”, “IG”, “Moss & Cat” and the likes.

The first relief in 2009 was “Makante Achan”, which was simple and humorous spiced with good show by Sreenivasan and Vineeth Sreenivasan. Then it was much awaited “2 Harihar Nagar” and after a long time felt pain in stomach by laughing. Felt so good to hear the old songs again in this sequel. Mukesh, Siddique, Asokan and Jagadeesh did total justice to their roles. Missed “Banaras” and “Bhagyadevatha” in between for the reasons which I cannot recollect. The “experimental” movie (shot in 24 hours!) which I wanted to see, but the theatres didn’t allowed me to was “Bhagavan”; thanks to the real Bhagavan for this. “Passenger” from debutant Renjith Sanker was a nice watch. A fresh theme, supported by good performance from Sreenivasan. Finally after 3 flops Mohanlal showed his real flair in Blessi’s “Bhramaram”. Though it was a usual Blessi approach, Mohanlal steal the show with mind-blowing performance. Mammootty’s second film of the year “Ee Pattanathil Bootam” seems to be liked by the child audience; but needs to be confirmed from child audience itself as it was again a disappointment for me. As per the news articles Diphan’s “Putiya Mukham” gave a new superhero to the Malayalam industry, it seems!! It was a movie full of action and only action, nothing else. Waited eagerly for K. Madhu – S.N. Sami combo’s “Rahasya Police”, but again it was another disaster of the year. Shyama Prasad’s “Ritu” gave a fresh feel and did justice in portraying the life of today’s IT youth. Mammootty’s “Daddy Cool” was liked by the one’s who want to see the glamorous Mammootty. The film showcased Mammootty in the most fashionable outfits and was liked by hardcore fans. Anyway need to appreciate the hard work put by the star to take care of his “young look” or better to say “not so old look” even in his late 50’s. The next one from Mammootty was Jayaraj’s “Loudspeaker”. Mammootty’s character as Mike, who was a simple, down to earth, uneducated common man from a remote village got recognized. The remake of old hit “Alliyambal” gave nostalgic feelings in audience mind. Everyone did justice to their job and the film was so touching. Missed seeing “Vairam”, where Pasupathy played an awesome role it seems and Adoor’s “Oru Pennum Randu Aanum”. Till this stage it was like any normal year for Malayalam film industry with lots of hypes followed by almost equal number of flops and few remarkable ones like 2 Harihar Nagar, Bhramaram, Loudspeaker and Ritu.

Yes, it’s the last quarter that made 2009 the real star. The much awaited MT-Hariharan-Mammootty’s “Pazhassiraja” was released in October. Meeting, or rather exceeding everyone’s expectation it is becoming an all time hit for Malayalam industry. Measure it using any parameters; be it acting, be it direction, be it cinematography, be it sound recording, be it marketing, simply be it anything which is needed for a successful movie; this indeed is a real good movie in all the aspects. Special mention needed for Sarath Kumar, Manoj K Jayan and Padmapriya. Should appreciate Gokulam Gopalan’s mettle for taking this whopping 27 crore project in a small state like Kerala. Also it proves that if the film is really good, budget doesn’t matter.

One of the most successful Writer/ Director/ Producer/ Actor in the industry Ranjith came with two back to back critically acclaimed experimental projects – “Kerala Café” and “Paleri Maanikyam – Oru Paatira Kolapaathakathinte Kadha”. “Kerala Café” was a collection of ten different short films directed by ten directors based on the common theme “Journey” under the main architect Ranjith. Among these 10 journeys, “Bridge” from Anwar Rasheed was the most touching one. It was a pleasant surprise to see the director, who had done comedy hits “Rajamanikyam”, “Chotta Mumbai” and “Annan Thambi” did such a heart touching story and conveyed a strong message. Witnessed another serious role which will bring tears in your eyes from Salim Kumar after “Achanurangaatha Veedu”; yes he can do much more than comedy and people should exploit his talents. Lal Jose’s “Puramkaazhchakal” scored the second place due to the unexpected and heart-breaking climax and also due to the impact given by Mammootty and Sreenivasan. Anjali Menon shined with the theme and humorous presentation of “Happy Journey”, supported by Jagathy’s brilliant performance. Revathy’s “Makal” and debutant Shankar Ramakrishnan’s “Island Express” scored above the remaining. “Lalitham Hiranmayam” was a surprise from Shaji Kailas, who is known only for his action thrillers. Unnikrishnan’s “Aviramam” and Shyama Prasad’s “Off Season” was some what based on the common theme of recession; Unnikrishnan took a serious path, where as for a change Shyama Prasad took a lighter comedy path. Uday Ananthan’s “Mrityunjayam” was a horror flick and Padmakumar’s “Nostalgia” was a story of a selfish NRI.

“Paleri Maanikyam” was an adaptation of T.P. Rajeevan’s novel which talks about the first registered rape murder in Kerala. As per sify.com review, “It is such a film, which is exceptionally brilliant, intelligently executed and thrilling to the core”. I think this explains it all. Mammootty came in three different roles and I think this is the only film which utilized his acting skills to the core in recent past. Apart from Mammootty, Sreenivasan, Siddique and Swetha Menon, all other actors came from theatre background and acted after a ten day workshop conducted for this movie. Ranjith definitely gave some real good talents to the industry. The film will haunt you even after leaving the theatre. Due to bad marketing and untimely release it is not making much impact in the screens.

“Swantham Lekhakan” tried to do a good theme, but the second half is too slow and audience will loose patience. Yet to see Lal Jose’s “Neelathamara”, so cannot comment anything on that. Roshan’s “Ividam Swargamanu” is doing well in the theatre, but some how personally I didn’t felt it so exciting. Seems to be dragging, too filmy or something. May be because of the higher expectation from Roshan Andrews after “Udayananu Tharam” and “Notebook”. “Chattambi Naadu” from Shafi is also making waves in the box office. Personally it is just a movie which can be seen with out getting bored.

The interesting fact is 2009 was dominated by the Big M’s; not by any young bloods. “Bhramaram” gave Mohanlal a good stage to showcase his talents. Mammootty was blessed to get different kinds of roles that portrayed his different faces to the audience through Loud Speaker, Paleri Maanikyam, Pazhassiraja and Kerala Café. Overall, as I said earlier it’s the last quarter which really made 2009 the real star of Malayalam Film industry.

So here I am finishing my first blog; who knows might be last also. At least I hope some good movies will be released in 2010 also, so that I may write again next year.

Signing off…………