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Kanakam Kaamini Kalaham (2021)
First of its kind comedy movie in Malayalam
Since most of the audience expected to see a comedy movie that was going to make them laugh continuously from beginning till end, it is not surprising that they were disappointed with this movie that had hardly four or five such laughter invoking moments. But this is not like those classic Sidhique Lal and Priyadarshan comedy movies of 80's and 90's whose main purpose was to generate maximum possible laughter. Instead, this movie is actually a mix of different genres of comedy movies, some of which have been successfully executed in Hollywood and some, which have been tried out in Malayalam itself. Nivin Pauly and all the other actors fully excelled in their roles and surprisingly ensured that not even once, their characters went beyond the limits set by the screenplay. This could very well go the way of the first "Aadu" movie which too had to face massive negative feedback and bashing at first before being showered with heaps of praise. Hopefully a direct OTT release should ensure that this movie doesn't share the fate of "Aadu" in terms of total revenue.
Thinkalazhcha Nishchayam (2021)
Totally took me to the many wedding functions that I had attended long back as a child
Usually, watching a hyped movie a few days after it's release only leads to the conclusion of the movie not living up to the expectations. But this was totally an exception in that, it gave back so much more than expected. Stellar performances from lesser known cast combined with great direction, screenplay and cinematography made sure that I too was one of the guests at the showcased engagement function, after just 15-20 minutes of watching. Characters such as "Santhosh" easily remind you of someone you know as either your relative or acquaintance.
It seems we are now in an age of realistic cinema where realistic or natural acting is celebrated above everything else. Unfortunately this has also led to a small group of new gen audience dismissing some of the Sathyan Anthikkad and Priyadarshan classics of 80's and 90's to be not as good as the current best films. As somebody who enjoys watching both these classics as well as the modern ones such as "Maheshinte Prathikaram", I kind of feel that it is much more difficult to create and show an alternative version of life in movies rather than showing a glimpse of real life as such. Not in any way putting down the efforts that went into creating this wonderful movie, but it seems the director too shares my sentiments and was sort of saying "You want a realistic movie? Then I can easily give you an ultra realistic movie that is totally sufficient with its mostly noob cast and never craves for the presence of someone like Fahad Fazil."
Yes, "The great Indian Kitchen" is indeed a good movie with a powerful message, but all things considered, it seems this movie deserved the "best picture" award more. Nevertheless, it feels good to know that this movie was honoured at the awards which is definitely the most deserving and satisfying of all the awards given by the movie and television wing of the govt this year.
Saajan Bakery Since 1962 (2021)
Another movie that was misunderstood and cast aside
Although this movie did have some touching moments, it is suffice to say that it was a feel good movie without any feel good moments. How ironic that while "Mohan kumar" was trolled and widely criticised for its abundance of feel good moments, this movie was at the receiving end of trolls and taunts mostly owing to the fact that it lacked dramatic positivity spreading scenes or inspiring dialogues. In other words, it was kept as close to life as possible and hence consequently ended up being boring and lacking objectivity to the first to respond self employed film critics. So now, it's pretty certain that expect for a movie like "Home" that might pop up every five years or so, this would be the end of the feel good genre, a trademark of 80's and 90's as it seems impossible for any writer and director to include the right amount of dramatic scenes and dialogues in a feel good movie. Ganesh Kumar amazed with his performance, generating honest laughter on multiple ocasions. He easily became that guy that we see in nearly all extended families.
Aanum Pennum (2021)
Overall good, Rachiyamma stands out
It seems my opinion is contrary to popular opinion. Nevertheless, I am going to state that Rachiyamma is at a pedestal, above the other two. It mainly has to do with its writing as it's a visual adaptation of the short story by legendary writer, 'Uroob'. Frankly I even felt like the other two movies, in spite of the fact that it was written by two very talented modern day writers, were sort of justifying why Uroob's stories were being adapted into movies even in 2021. The scripting for Rani by Unni R was good, but when we realise that at a particular point in the two movies when the two main characters are essentially discussing about the same thing with Rani deliberately due to it's context taking an explicit approach and Rachiyamma being implicit and hiding away the context in it's dialogues, it is still the latter that manages to stir within us a range of emotions and make us love and relate ourselves to the two on-screen characters, then we are left with no choice but to praise Uroob's writing skills. Then again, there is the performance by the leads. Comparisons were drawn between this Rachiyamma and the Doordarshan version starring Madhupal and Sona Nair with a reasonably good percentage preferring the latter. But this has to do with commercialization which is vital for movies or serials seeking to make a profit. In other words, while Madhupal and Sona Nair kept their performance perfect to 990 out of 1000, Parvathy and Asif, as expected from them performed so as to satisfy a minimum of 60,000 out of 1 lakh. It is just remarkable that the duo while romancing in Uyare, and even with the absence of dialogues, correctly conveys the tensions and distance whereas here many times without dialogues, they make us feel the love and intimacy the characters share. That's just acting at it's best which should be appreciated. Cinematographers turned directors guarantees stunning visuals and here too ace cinematographer Venu proved to be not an exception.
House M.D. (2004)
An inspirational Medical Thriller
It is as much a crime thriller as it is a medical thriller as House diagnoses a disease in almost the same way that a detective solves a crime. Possibly, the only medical thriller not having Surgeons as the main protagonists. Dr. House's wit and intelligence is capable of inspiring people even in non-medical fields, watching this to take risks and always do their job the right way.
Friends (1994)
Friendship conveyed in the best possible way
There will never be a single answer to the question of which was the movie or series in which romance was showcased in the best way or to the question of which was the movie or series that gave the most thrilling experience to the audience. But when it comes to friendship, there is just one unique answer to such a question and that is the sitcom Friends that continues to be watched and talked about, even 17 years after the end of its life. There might be more than a 100 reasons for why friends became what it is. But amongst them, the most important one is clearly "Jennifer Aniston". Not because she is the biggest star of the show, but rather the opposite since she happily continued to be part of a show that gave no extra importance to her character in the script even after she became the highest paid actress in the industry.
Joji (2021)
Brilliant Screenplay!!!!!
Screenplay is of course the backbone of any movie or series, but there are cases where the screen play just sticks out from a movie in the same way as popular songs of 80's sticking out of their movies. For me, Joji was like that. Yes, the performance from Fahad Fazil and Co as well as the direction from Pothettan were all outstanding, but when you adapt a Shakespearean play into a short malayalam movie done with limited budget, how do you ensure that certain events that has to happen, happens in the most natural way within the movie's runtime? Shyam Pushkaran gives the best possible answer to this question through his script. Writers are expected to be creative, but sometimes writers have to be brilliant to ensure that a movie or series does what it is supposed to do. Pushkaran's brilliance can be understood in the second half when you realise that it was a comical event that made all of us laugh, that in turn started a chain of events that ultimately resulted in the best possible climax for this movie. When writers become brilliant like that, at least a section of the audience are left with a message which was not originally intended in the script. The message I got was that at all times, the best possible way for us to lead our lives is by absolutely not caring about what others are thinking or saying about us.
Sunny (2021)
One of the best one-man-films
With only a single actor coming on screen for more than 95% of the time, Sunny is a one-man-film and it should be judged that way. When it comes to one-man-films, we always see the tendency to include horror, crime and even certain unrealistic elements to make the movie engaging. But Sunny avoids all these and instead relies only on COVID and the solitude experienced in quarantine throughout it's length. The best thing about Sunny is that even with such a dismal central theme, the movie keeps us wanting for more. One-man-films always demands the best performance from it's lead actor and Sunny is no exception. Reviewers praised the cinematographer who kept the movie exciting within a small limited space. While that is certainly the truth, it's still an understatement to the talents of the actor on whose face the camera was focused upon 90% of the time. There are times when we have to watch a movie for its interesting story and then there are times when we have to watch a movie to be amazed by an actor's performance. Sunny belongs to the latter. One character's reconciliation towards the end was the only major let down in the movie. All the other actors including legends like Innocent and Vijayaraghavan who acted through their voices and Shruti Ramachandran who dubbed for the only other character in the movie were just perfect.
The Practice (1997)
The best legal drama ever
This legal drama keeps it real without falling prey to the habit of making the hero some sort of a super human lawyer who finds ways to defend criminals by being on the right side always.
Mohan Kumar Fans (2021)
It's actually not a bad movie as it is made out to be
I just saw this movie and the first thing I remembered was its review by Unni on Unni Vlogs that I had seen earlier. Unni is a good film reviewer, but I cannot agree with him on this. If you go to Youtube and watch his reviews of big brother and this, you will realise that knowingly or unknowingly he reviewed this movie to be as bad as big brother which it is not. Most of the other reviewers over here are also following his footsteps. Make no mistake, I am not saying this is a good movie, but even when you say a movie is bad, you have to correctly say how bad it is. Just because a movie doesn't meet your expectations, you shouldn't classify it as being not worthy of anything. Now coming to the movie, because of such bad reviews, when I started watching this post midnight, I readily expected to be asleep within half an hour, but surprisingly I was awake and alert till the end. There are three things or scenes in the movie that really pulls it down. Had it not been there, the movie would been satisfying to a lot more audience. First is that scene at the courier office where x meets y again, then Pisharody's scene towards the end and also Asif Ali's guest appearance as an angel. The contents of the letter towards the end and the message that it conveyed was a genuine feel good moment. That message is going to stay with me for atleast a week and hence I am giving this movie a rating of 7 that it deserves.