REVIEW-GEETHAANJALI

Expectations are just like double edged sword.Some films come with a lot of expectations but failed to live up to hype.But some films without any expectations perform well in boxoffice.Unfortunately,Geethaanjali belongs to the first saga. Although director confirmed that the film is not a sequel to 1993 blockbuster  Manichitrathazhu,the very return of the character Dr.Sunny Joseph makes the film exciting. Debutant Keerthy Suresh plays identical twins that are jealous of each other. Geetha and Anjali fall in love with the same guy, Anup (Nishan). The bad one, Geetha, supposedly commits suicide after losing the battle of love. But her spirit continues to trouble Anjali and others around the house. .

Anup calls in Dr Sunny Joseph to do something about this situation, as recommended by Nakul (Suresh Gopi in a guest appearance). The rest of the movie is about how sunny unravels the mystery.

Priyadarsan had been some sort of brand for mollywood audience.But Geethaanjali had surely destroyed his reputation as an entertainer.Everything goes wrong in this movie from casting to screenplay and direction.Only positive thing about the film is Mohanlal.His screen presence and combination scenes with innocent may evoke some laughters.Vidyasagars’ music&ONVs’ lyrics are good,though not on par with Manichitrathazhu.

Keerthi Suresh surely got a plum role in her debut.She did look impressive in the first half.But in the latter half of the film,her performance was disastrous.

Nishan had his debut in “Apoorvaragam”.When we see Geethaanjali,actor had not even progressed a bit in terms of maturity.His acting was disastrous..I don’t know any better words.The sad part is he had more screen presence than Mohanlal in this flick.

Usually Climax of the film is its strength(off course for good ones only!).Here we have a predictable climax.20 Minutes into film,any common viewer could predict how its gonna end.

Finally it is plagiarism.I hate it.The film is copied(not inspired) from “ Charulatha”( a bilingual film starring Priyamani) which in turn is a remake of thai film “Alone”.If you didn’t happened to see these,you might have watched “Nadiya Kollapetta rathriyil”.That would do fine.Save 80 rs.you could do something other useful with that.

To sum up,Geethaanjali is a lackluster effort. Dr.Sunny Joseph shouldnot have come all the way from Macchu Picchuu to solve this nursery puzzle.He should have saved his air ticket.

AJ RATING:5/10

VERDICT:two and half hours of hell! SHOULD BE AVOIDED!

Memories-Review

Everyone has memories.Some may be bad.Some may be good.Jeethu Joseph's Prithviiraj starrer is undoubtedly one of the finest thrillers ever produced in mollywood.Here we encounter a protogonist and antogonist both living in their eventful memories.when one of them takes solace in alcohol,other one finds his solace in revenge.Memories changes colors like a chameleon.At one moment its a romantic tragedy,while in the next moment its a nail biting thriller.Thats the most fascinating thing about this flick.
Sam Alex was once a happy man with a lovable wife and a beautiful little girl.However in a terrorist attack,they were brutally killed right infront of his eyes.This sends him to depression and Sam takes his solace in alcohol.But no one can escape from their destiny.A new serialkiller is on the town and IG puts Sam to run a parallel enquiry in an unofficial manner.Although he was reluctant at first.He eventually agree on the insistence of his mother.The rest of the story is about how Sam manages to trace out the killer.
Once again, treatment given to subject made all the difference.Although script is a good one,direction and acting made all the difference.Jeethu Joseph done a brilliant job here.In a subject of this much serious overtones,director used the situations to evoke laughter.The director is back with a bang after two unimpressive attempts-'my boss' and 'mummy&me'.Sejo Johns' music is another good thing about the film.'Thirayum theeravum..'is one of the best melodies in recent years.When it comes to acting,Prithviraj overshadows all others.It's an outright prithviraj show.He carries the film on his shoulders right from the beginning till the end.He is fastly emerging as mollywoods' New superstar.Nedumudi Venus' priest,madhupals' doctor are other good factors.Meghna raj and Mia George who played the female leads did their part well.
But I feel the actor who played antogonist was not good for the job.He tried to bring his best ,and 'scare' people,but I found myself laughing my wits out watching his performance.Apart from this and a slightly draggy narration in the first half,memories is one of the best films ever made in mollywood.An engaging script,best performances and a brilliant direction makes memories a must watch.
RATING:9/10
VERDICT:A must watch..go for it..memories won't disappoint you.

NEELAKASHAM PACHAKADAL CHUVANNABHOOMI- REVIEW

Sameer Thahirs' Neelaksham Pachakadal Chuvannabhoomi  is beautiful like a Paulo Coelhos' novel.In an interview given to "The Hindu" after ' Chappa kurishu',Sameer Thahir said that his new movie will be based on a " soul-searching journey".Touted to be the first road movie in mollywood,NPCB takes along a journey of love,friendship and life.

It is the story of Kasi aka Kasim(Dulquer) who setsout on a roadtrip from Calicut to Nagaland.He is joined by his long time friend Suni(Sunny Wayne).Along the way,Kasi acquaints new people,new places and new culture. At one point of the story, one girl named Ishitha proposes to him,but he declines..It is revealed that the whole journey to Nagaland was about Kasis’ lost love Assi and meeting her.Reasons behind Kasi and Assis’ seperation,Thahirs' leftist ideology and his views on various social issues like naxalite attacks,tribal problems,technological alienation etc..also form the plot.In the end,Kasi realises that each one has a story for him,more aptly each lesson for him.

Dulquer had once again delivered,big time.NPCB may be his best performance to the date.Sunny Wayne once again steals the show with his Kannur dialect and body language.Manipur actress Surji Bala Hisham also did a good job.Other actors also delivered strong supporting performances.

 DOP is brilliant.Many scenes reminded me of "Due Date", especially the scene in which Dulquer and Sunny wayne waits to get  their  bike repaired in an Orissa ruralhood.Sreekar Prasad had to be appreciated for his crisp editing which reduced the running time to approximately 2 hr 10 mts.Rex Vijayan had once again impressed with his music and BGM,both seems to be perfect to the general tone and mood of the film.'Doore Doore' and 'Neelakasham' are my favourites.Hashir Mohammed had proved himself to be a 'Lohithadas' of our times.

But the film is bit dragging in the second half.Like his previous movie,Sameer failed to avoid his draggy narration.Also certain sequences like Shyams' death and the long chase between Suni and a trucker (kinda reminded me of spielsburgs' duel!) are incomplete and not well developed.Apart from these minor flaws,NPCB is an enjoyable ride overall.The film maynot be of a festival mood,but all those who love good films should go for it.

RATING:8/10

VERDICT:WORTH A RIDE

What went wrong for barca this season and how they can correct it?

"Final score 7-0 on aggregate ...stupidity...what else I have to say?".The words of ten action commentator still echoes in my ears.Yes...they had been defeated in the past like aganist inter milan in 2010 and aganist chelsea in 2011..In this year too,they had been beaten..aganist celtic on a 2-1,aganist milan 2-0 at San Siro..The season witnessed also a legendary comeback.To put it in Piques' words it was indeed a "magical camp nou night".Milan was demolished at Nou Camp by a 4-0 which took barca to quarters.
But barca were thrashed at the hands of Bayern.Barca did their passing game but was unable to create chances or to utilize the created chances.With such a shaky defence and a blunt edge attack without lionel messi,questions had been raised about the so-called" messidependencia".
But what went wrong for them?How they can correct it?Is barca still the best team in the world?These are some of the questions that had to be answered by the end of this article.
 Firstly a positive news for all the cules..I dont know how many cules had noticed it..The clubs' philosophy is still alive!Despite the humiliation,Bayern had not been able to destroy their passing game.What bayern did was simple.They relied on a counter attacking philosophy.But that wont work if barca had a strong defence.Let us take a look into three areas and identify the key improvements required.

DEFENCE
Like I said early,the  defence of barca is one of the worst in the world.This surely call for improvements.
Puyol is no longer the best.Dani alves contributes to attack than the defence.Jordi alba does his best.But he also is attack minded like the brazilian.Bartra and Montoya are good,but they lack experience.So it is better to loan out both.So we are left with Pique.Gerrard received a lot of criticism last season.But the fact is he is wearing out.He rarely gets rest and lack of support from his team mates which further aggrevate his situation.
WHAT TO DO
A lot of signings are required.I recommend 3 centre backs at a minima.The apt options are Hummels &Subotic the dortmund duo who helped borrusia to reach this years' UCL final.Especially hummels had been particularly suitable for clubs' philosophy.He made a lot of key interceptions aganist malaga,bayern etc..Hummels had already revealed his interest in barca.He even posted a pic in his twitter featuring featuring a blaugrana shirt in the background.Subotic can be described as the next john terry.His save aganist an arjen robben shot reminded me of Terrys' save aganist barca last season.

Other options available are David Luiz,Vincent kompany,Thomas vermaelean and thiago silva.David Luiz had already been speculated a move away from Stamford bridge.Thiago silva,although28, is a very strong defender as seen from Barca-PSG UCL.The brazilian is urgubly the best defender on the planet,but like his fellow country man david luiz,his fee is very high and can be upto 40 million euros as per the reports.Vincent Kompany,the out-of-favour manchester city captain who costs around 20 million euros is another option.Romas' Marquinhos and Inigo Martinez are other options but I havent seen the actions of both of them much.So stick to hummels,subotic,Luiz/silva(if funds are available) on priority order.

Another important thing is sign a good goal keeper.We all know Victor Valdes is not the best goal keeper in the world.His silly mistakes cost barca in past times,most recently aganist real madrid in spanish supercup.However he is not a bad one either.Bless him or curse him,the guy is making his way out of nou camp!If valdes is leavingthis summer,they need to find a replacement.My suggestion is borrusia monchengladbachs' marc andre ter-stagen.He is a stunning shotstopper.
MIDFIELD
Barca midfield is still the best.There is hardly any need of improvements.
Thiago alcantara,half italian half brazilian,who is labelled as the next Xavi must step up or he should be given more chances.Midfielders' obivious frustration is justified when he is performing at his best with around 92% pass accuracy,next only to Xavi himself.
Retain cesc and song.Yes i could practically hear all those bad words aganist me.But they should be given a chance,atleast a season,before deciding whether we decide to sell them.But speaking economics,it would be difficult.Neymar is a done deal.Barcas' defensive frailities are on a alarm bell.So money need to be pumped.Manchester united had already hinted a move to land fabregas for an approximate fee of 30 million euroes.Next thing barca must do is to sell Jonathan Dos Santos,Bojan kirkic and loan out Sergi Roberto.The former too are not even worth a chance,while latter is surely the next"iniesta".But roberto needs more chances so it is better to loan out him.
ATTACK/OFFENSE
7-0 Scoreline shows too things.A weak defence.Next a weak offence.Admit it cules,we had been a bit over reliant on lionel messi.FC Barcelona needs a strong attack to succeed in big stage like in UCL competition.
WHAT TO DO
SELL PEDRO,SANCHEZ,VILLA,IBRAHIM AFFELAY.
Yes david villa was not a disaster in fc barcelona.He did scored goals.El Guaje,the predator,had performed well in his first season.He formed a decent company with messi and was a constant threat for opposing goalkeepers.But a fatal injury to knee has weared out villas' form and he is no where near his old self.Also villa is no longer a starting eleven  favourite in titos' team.So in the best interest of both team and player who clearly looks out for the next years'Brazilian world cup,David Villa  must leave.
Pedro Rodriguez is not even worth a penny.Despite all the chances Pep Guardiola,Tito Vilanova and Jordi Roura given him,all he did was passing to his team mates like his chilean teammate Alexis Sanchez.Both these guys are forgetting about their attacking  responsibilites and do the passing.Infact it is because of these irresponsible wingers that the question had been raised.Paris Saint Germain had  already hinted a 40 million euro deal to land pedro.If it is true,Sell him.Alexis Sanchez is already on his way out,with Juventus,Intermilan and Manchester City the interested parties.Ibrahim Affelay the dutch winger must be sold out,who is currently on a loan to Schalke04.
My suggestion was to forget about neymar and buy gareth bale.But reports from Brazil and Spain suggests that Neymar penned a five year contract with Barca for around 60 million euroes.But barca needs a more'physical and strong' player who can cut through the defence easily and score goals through set pieces(which opposing teams often does aganist barca!).Gareth Bale can easily do that.Moreover he is not as expensive as Neymar.
But barca need another winger too.This option depend also on the clubs'financial status.They need to sign a winger other than neymar/bale,most preferably Sergio Aguero of city,Robert Lewandowski of BVB.Agueros' late minute goals are famous.He is a constant headache to defenders.Moreover he can form a good partnership with his fellow argentine Lionel Messi.He also played in spain before

.
The polish striker Robert Lewandowskis' ability to score from penalty areas is famous.In most of the matches barca lost recently,they had been able to reach ball into the penalty area but unable to score.The problem with Robert is that there are rumours suggesting that he had already signed for Bayern.Radamel Falcao,Javier Hernandez,and an ageing Wayne Rooney are other options.

So we cant say that barca era is all ended.Like Iniesta himself said "to talk about an end of era is rubbish".But FC BARCELONA SURELY NEED SOME CHANGES.If tito vilanova contunue to make some,it will do.But if he didnt and continue his old strategy of rubbing his chin and acting as blind(it took 80 minutes to make his first substitution aganist bayern,that too only after 4 goals scored!),he should be sacked.If they can correct it like I said, they will continue to be on the top of the world. Visca Barca!

TRUELY EXTREME..

Directorial debut of Roopesh peethambaran is truely ,an extreme experience as the name of the film suggests.Theevram is the third film,featuring Dulquer Salman in the lead role.This dark thriller about a young man who seeks revenge aganist people who brutally raped and killed his wife.The film is reportedly based on a true incident occurred in Bangalore.

Harshavardhan(Dulquer) leads a lonely life in an isolated house.He teaches music to a single child and detach himself from the rest of the society.Harsha also has an another face..that of a sadistic murderer.He kidnaps Raghavan ,an autodriver and womaniser and torture him to death.The motive behind this is revealed only in the second half of the film where we come across a young and happy Harshan who aspires to become a musician.

He lives along with his wife Maya who is a call centre employee.In a serious turn of events ,Maya is brutally killed and now Harshavardhan is after the men responsible for his wifes’ killing.

Although theme of the film is somewhat an old one,still theevram can be praised for the offbeat treatment given by the director to the subject.I think Roopesh intially casted Fahad fasil to play the lead.But Dulquer is more apt,i think.He had done his best,although there had been fallouts in some moments.But he truely had shown an improvement and maturity in his acting when compared to his previous films and thereby proved as heir to his fathers’throne in Mollywood.Shika nair portrays the role of  Maya,the lovable wife of Harshan.But she didnot have much to do in the film.

Sreenivasans’ lighthearted cop is far from his best.Vinay Fort had done justice to his role and we can expect more from this talent.

Background music is one of the best in the recent films.But songs are pacebreakers and film is quite dragging in the second half.Although film is presented in non-linear format,Editing is excellent and we no longer feels landed in No mans’land as in “Viswaroopam”

Overall,Theevram is a  very good thriller and worth a watch.

RATING:8/10

VERDICT:WORTH A WATCH

isis- review

                              How far would you go to bring back someone from dead?

I came across this marvellous book on a beautiful sunday afternoon.As I had nothing else to do,I googled the names of some horror writers and found the name of "Isis" in hits.I had read one of the Cleggs' works before-"The Attraction"-and was not impressed by it.Yet I bought it.To my surprise,this one was good.Damn good.
Recalling the dead had always been a favourite topic for writers.Clegg himself,had done this in his"Attraction".But what makes Isis different is that here author succeeded in creating the right tone and moreover a fairytale atmosphere adds to the overall mood of the story.
This 111-page novella is about a girl named Iris Catherine Villiers.Her world is her brothers-Harvey and Spence.Iris father is a soldier who works somewhere in India.Her mother is suffering from some sort of illness.The story proceeds with Iris' relationship with her brothers.Her relationship with Spence is strained while she maintains an intimate relationship with Harvey which is slightly incestous one.The kids decide to stage the story of Isis and Osiris.From this point the story changes its pace.Fairy tale moves into a macabre .Iris  also began to hate Spence,as Isis hate Zen in the mythology.It is actually the mythological background that keeps the story entertaining.
Iris became Isis.
On discovering the relationship between Spence and their servant Edyth,Iris tries to inform this to their parents.But in a tragic turn of events,Harvey is killed accidently leaving Iris in a state of shock.Iris ignoring advics tries ti bringback  her dead brother and what happens to her forms the rest of the story.
From 'Attraction' to 'Isis',we can see the maturity of Clegg as a writer.With Scalpel clarity,Clegg explores the  frailities of human mind and broughtout his best book to the date.characters like Old Marsh,the legend of Maid-Sorrow and pictorial illustrations gave the story somewhat a Gothic feel.
Main drawback is it is too short.It should have been 200 pages.But yet Isis is worth a read,especially for a spooky halloween night.

VERDICT:8/10

THE CHANGELING-REVIEW

what i have to tell about this movie...it z just awesome..actually itz not a movie ..itz an experience.Directed by peter medak changeling was born in the golden age of horror films..precisely in the midsummer of 1980.upon its release the film received poor attention and was only an average grosser in boxoffice,however over the years the film achieved a cult status and now widely regarded as a favourite among horror moviefanatics.This movie is reportedly based on the real life experiences of the playwright  russell hunter during his stay in henry treat rogers mansion in denver colorado.

A scene from changeling 

George C.Scott who played the lead role

Now to the plot.The film begins with a car accident in which the musician john russell(played by george scott)loses his wife and children.The film now shifts to the present day  in which we find this struggling musician still not able to forget the incident moves into a mansion.Later during his stay in the mansion , he began hearing weird sounds ,doors shutting automatically and so on..yes!the mansion is haunted!!
So now our investigator-turned writer tries to uncover the dark history of the mansion..he realises that 80 years back a crippled child was brutually murdered in the mansion and our lead finds itz linkage to a powerful local family of a us senator.
Now why i m blogging this! its just because this movie is one of the best i have ever seen...genuine horror i would say!the changeling is widely regarded as one of the scariest movies ever made ....mainly due to the treatment of the subject,camera angles,background score,acting etc...Another interesting fact is its similarity with 2000 indian-language Malayalam  film devadoothan(meaning:heavenly messenger)..apart from the thematic similarities,the climax scene has great similarity with devadoothan.

Henry treat rogers mansion as depicted in the film,the real house is shown in the black and white photograph

A scene from devadoothan

you cant catch scary moments like as in exorcist, Halloween and changeling is not that much gory as saw,hostel,wrongturn.....but it has moments of its own...altogether movie is worth a watch!!!
AJ RATING:9/10
STATUS:STRONGLY RECOMMENDED

Climax scene from changeling