Oopam (Malyalam)

Oopam (Together) is a Malayalam crime thriller. The plot revolves around Jayaraman (Mohanlal), a blind lift operator and caretaker in an apartment building framed for a murder.

You see a simple blind lift operator with a good music sense. You hardly notice Mohan Lal. Time and time again he transforms as the part he his playing and drags you along his journey.  He, in my opinion, is a very good actor of present day Indian films. I am a fan of his acting and like his breezy style and realistic portrayals characteristic of many Malayalam heroes. He is special though.

The movie is intriguing with many sub plots and revolves around the abilities of Jayaraman to resolve the case. Some of the Kerala outdoor scenes will impres you.

Interesting movie and lives up to regular movie watcher’s expectations.

Watch it.

Rating: MA

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Maheshinte Prathikaaram (Malayalam)

 

The movie is about revenge. Revenge of a every day garden variety photographer in a small town. Don’t imagine violence, guns, blood shed and gory killings. Instead the revenge creates lots of humour and  an enjoyable comedy movie. The hero vows that he will not wear his slippers again until he has avenged the humiliation. That is it!

Fahadh Faasil, the hero, believe it or not is clad in a lungi most of the times and occasionally in simple pant and a shirt and as usual lives the part. Simple clean and a typical good Malayalam movie. Good Friday night watching.

Rating: PG

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30 Good Malayalam Movies

 

Here is my list of 30  good Malayalam movies to watch:

1.    1983
2.    22 Female Kottaym
3.    Bangalore Days
4.    Charlie
5.    Diamond Necklace
6.    Drishyam
7.    Ennu Ninte Moideen
8.    Iyobinte Pusthakam
9.    Jacob Inte Swarga Rajyam
10.    Jacobinte Swargarajyam
11.    Jomonte Suvisheshangal
12.    Kali
13.    Katha Parayompol
14.    Mahesh Inte Prathikaram
15.    Manjadikuru
16.    Munthirivallikal Thalirkkumbol
17.    Neelakasham Pachakadal Chuvanna Bhoomi

18.    North 24 kataham
19.    Om Shanthi Oshaana
20.    Oppam
21.    Ore Vadakan Selfi
22.    Oru Indian Pranayakadha
23.    Pathemari
24.    Pattam Pole
25.    Premam
26.    Punyalan Agarbathi
27.    Ramante Edanthottam
28.    Samsaaram Aarogyathinu Haanikaram
29.    Su su sudhi vathmeekam
30.    Thattathin Marayathu

Bharat Ane Nenu (Telugu) I,Bharath

This is a refreshing political thriller.  A born in India, but raised in London youngster is made as the CM for Andhra Pradesh simply to act as a dummy. The idea of the kingmakers was to exploit is political naivety. The youngster thinks otherwise and starts a real nightmare. The drama unfolds and keeps the audience riveted. There is a lot to root for and many times you wish such a person exists and becomes the CM in real life. The movie raises the bar for Telugu movies. Well done.

Mahesh Babu has put in a tremendous effort and delivers a smooth, high tech political role. Perhaps one of his best movies to date. It has all the trappings of a Indian political thriller but somehow B.A.N. manages to keep you interested. The dialogues are crisp and attractive.  I would have liked the movie without few dance numbers but then commerce is still the driver.

Good watch.

Rating: PG

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Aparajitha Tumi (Bengali)–You, Undefeated

 

On a cold winter night we stumbled across this movie and started watching. It was an intriguing movie which kept as riveted to the screen.  Rarely do we get to watch Indian movies for matured adults. This truly is one.
The story is set in San Francisco and involves two couples. Nothing new about the story, the incidents and the end. But the treatment and the acting makes it a wonderful movie to watch. Padmapriya Janakiraman and Kamalini Mukerjee (Godavari fame) turn in a wonderful performance. The movie is underplayed with no usual ‘masala’ addition. Some may find this movie dark and bleak but it is a good watch. Watch it with your partner.

Rated: M (Adult themes)
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Toilet Ek Prem Katha (H)

Marriages break up for any number of reasons. In the case of Keshav (Akshay Kumar) the villain is a ‘Toilet’ or the lack of it. Lighthearted comedy holding a torch light on meaningless superstitious practices and   the bane of the Indian society ‘ ‘the habit of defecating in public’. The movie stretches as far and does not cross the line of being a poor slap stick. Akshay Kumar turns in a decent performance supported by a number of characters, including a buffalo, his first wife in the movie. The movie supports Shri Modiji’s dream of clean India.
Good movie to watch with family.

Rating: G

Manjadikuru (Malayalam: English: Lucky Red Seeds)

This movie has won lots of awards. National and International. Deserves everyone of them. Yet another riveting movie from Kerala.

The movie is in four layers.The elder (father) of a family (disjointed)  in a Kerala village dies and the family (4 sisters and two brothers) comes down for the last rites. The siblings are not necessarily happy and friendly to each other.  A few of them are also vying for the property. They form a layer.

The children of the siblings (two boys, Vicki, Kannan and a girl) form the layer two.

Roja, a domestic help trafficked from Tamil Nadu to work in this family  and treated badly by the people of the house hold (played by Vyjayanthi whose real life is no different to the character she plays ) is the layer three.

The fourth layer is the narration (voice and a small appearance by Prithviraj), in the background, by the older Vicki of his recollection of the happenings of the 16 days that follows someones death.

Anjali Menon (writer and director and awardee ‘Best Debut Direction by a Woman at New Jersey ISACF, New York, US’) like a ‘spinning plates’ trickster, spins a wonderful and intriguing story of each of the layers by themselves at times and together at other times. The movie handles expertly the complexity of  the grownups and contrasts it with pure happiness of childhood. The backcloth for all the drama is a beautiful Kerala village. Prithviraj acts with his voice! The rest of the cast is maneuvered skillfully by the director into good performances without overdose. With so many people in a  small space, the characters do not crowd you and create a chaos. You simple get a window seat to watch the family functioning in this case dis-functioning. Trade mark Malayalam movie.

The movie has a strong message about child labor and trafficking of girls into Kerala as domestic help and their abuse.In my opinion it teaches a lesson to the audience in  a way cinema is meant to.

Powerful movie and good watch for the whole family. Get young children to watch and teach them the right ways of life.

Rated G. Few scenes with a dead body and you may want to be with your young children.