Pattanathil Sundaran

Cast : Dileep, Navya Nair, Cochin Haneefa, Jagathi, Bindu Panicker, Salim Kumar, Augustine
Director : Vipin Mohan
Music : Mohan Sitara
Music : Sathyan Anthikkadu, Kaithapuram

Sundaresan (Dileep) is a ration shop owner who marries a girl Radhamani (Navya). She is an M.A. graduate while Sundaresan is a high school dropout. Their marriage took place just due to the 'Chowadosham' in their Horoscope.
Radhamani is an energetic, outgoing girl but Sundaresan is an old fashioned guy. Radhamani manages to get a government job at the state secretariat, but Sundaresan is very unhappy about it, because it is a blow to his ego. But he is forced to accompany her to Trivandrum.

The simpleton Sundaresan is totally lost in the city while Radhamani is working. This leads him to suspect her though she is a practical girl who takes care of him. With the help of Sekharan Pilla (Cochin Haneefa), Sundaresan tries different things to get his wife fired from the job. The rest of the movie deals with the hilarious situations created by Sundaresan.

Cinematographer Vipin Mohan makes his debut as a director with this movie and he has done a very good job. Dileep is excellent so is Navya. Rest of the cast also does a very good job.

Azhagiya Theeye - Tamil Movie

STARRING : PRASANNA, NAVYA NAIR, PRAKASH RAJ
Directed by: Radha Mohan
Produced by: Prakash Raj
Music: Ramesh Vinayagam

Change is inevitable. Yeah but this philosophy doesn't seem to work with Kollywood now. We can only pray that this commercial action masalas with loads of heroism gets over soon and something else takes over the minds of young directors. In the mean time Kollywood does indeed dish out some interesting light hearted movies like Azhagiya Theeye. Produced by Prakash Raj and directed by his friend Radha Mohan, this refreshing movie is being hailed by all kinds of magazines and people. Is it really that good to be appreciated by one and all ? Read on folks.

The storyline is pretty thin but the presentation is very fresh and strong. Four friends who have dreams to make it big in the cine field. Prasanna is one among them. The other three have done a fabulous job, and thanks to the director each one of them gets ample screen time. Thanks to a strike in Kollywood all these budding assistant directors become jobless and they look for some other jobs. One day Prasanna is approached by his friend to help out Navvya Nair who is being tortured by her father Pyramid Natarajan to marry someone from the U.S. of A. and that someone is none other than Prakashraj. Prasanna thinks of a good story and informs Prakash Raj that he and Navvya have been in love for a long time in order to stop him marrying her. But to Prasanna's surprise and ours too, Prakash Raj does the impossible! Instead of dishum dishum he gets Prasanna and Navvya register married and even gifts them his own flat and returns to U.S.of A.

At first Prasanna and Navvya are at locker heads with each other and the fight at the drop of a hat. Fortunately due to some interesting twists they start to live together and slowly Prasanna starts to love her for real. Meanwhile one of the four friends who aspires to become an actor one day dies of an accident and finally after some more interesting twists and the usual emotional scenes Navvya reciprocates Prasanna's love and the pair unites for real this time. The story when told is not that great but the screenplay and the dialogues make this movie an interesting experience. One more redeeming factor is the very good use of reality in almost all places except a few sequences.

The four friends have done their job and Prasanna shows a lot of scope to become a fine actor. The comedy is also very good and not crude. No item numbers but Rambha and Abbas do indeed dance for one number at the start. Navvya Nair is ok, she acts well but when it comes to songs or romance she fails a bit. Music is a big plus. Music director Ramesh Vinayagam does a fabulous job. Prasanna's solo song is the best. The excellent dialogues and the way the actors deliver them adds up to the list of the movie's plus points. Camera is good and the sets are also good. Prakash Raj and other supporting cast make sure we don't get bored at all.

On the whole the director Radha Mohan and the producer Prakash Raj have made sure that they dish out one clean entertainer with some logical twists and kudos to them for that. Very clean and good movie for quiet some time. So we agree with all those out there that this movie is indeed refreshing and entertaining. Good luck to this entire unit to produce one more good movie like this one. In this comedy season, Azhagiya Theeye does deliver better comedy and enjoys much better box office success than Kamal Hasan's Vasool Raja M.B.B.S.

Asianet film awards given away

KOCHI: The 7th Asianet Film Awards ceremony was held here on Sunday. The Ujala Asianet Film awards 2005 were given away at the function held at K.K. Premachandran stadium in Willingdon Island.

Mammootty received the best actor award for his role in the films `Kazhcha' and `Vesham', while Meera Jasmine was given the best actress award for her role in `Perumazhakkalam'. The award for the best film was received by Blessy and Noushad, director and producer of the film `Kazhcha', while Kamal received the award for the best director or his film `Perumazhakkalam'. Actors Dileep and Kavya Madhavan received special jury awards for their performances in `Kathavaseshan' and `Perumazhakkalm', respectively.

Innocent (best actor in a supporting role), Gopika (best actress in a supporting role), T.A. Razak (best script), Gireesh Puthenchery (best lyrics), M. Jayachandran (best music), P. Jayachandran and Sujatha (best playback singers), Padmapriya (best new face), Jassy Gift (popular singer), Master Yash (best child artiste), Prithviraj and Geethu Mohandas (special mention from the jury) were the others who received the awards.

Actor Jagathy Sreekumar was honoured at the function which was presided over by Reji Menon, chairman of Asianet. Dance programmes directed by Kala Master and performed by actresses Shobhana, Rambha, Rasika and others added colour to the event.

Zeher - A Love Story Music Review

"Only Sex and Shahrukh sells" and who better than the Bhatt's, can testify this statement (at least for the "sex" part of it). It actually began with Jism followed by Murder and other such sexually outfitted movies to make a quick buck at the box-office and the Bhatt faction still remains loyal to the subject of extra marital affairs and consequently, churns out yet another low star value - cost-effective quickie - Zeher a love story. The quintessential Bhatt prodigies Emraan Hashmi and Udita Goswami, play the two forbidden lovers while Shamita Shetty portrays the betrayed better half.

Directed by Mohit Suri, Zeher is a Mukesh Bhatt presentation with tunes set by the singer turned music director - "Roop Kumar Rathod", but most of the tracks have the music re-created by Anu Malik or others (now, whatever that is supposed to be!).

Shreya Ghoshal renders an absolutely average and humbly melodious number "Agar Tum Mil Jao" that is good as long as it lasts. A track that will ascend to a decent position in the music countdowns for a few weeks during the release of the movie and safely fade out after the release. Musically re-created by Anu Malik and strongly worded by Sayeed Quadri, the quality of the track is a barometer of the expectations one can afford to have for the other compositions.

Singer Atif displays his passionate singing potentials with "Woh Lamhe Woh Baatein". Again the music has been re-created here, but this time by Mithun and Naresh Sharma. An intense track that comes little close to the M.M. Kreem compositions but is not just as good. Singer Atif is a good piece of discovery to harmonize talents with the likes of K.K and Kunal Ganjawala. Check out his infinite stretch with an extremely high pitch that concludes the track.

The one authentic Roop Kumar Rathod composition that does not dish out credits for music re-creation is "Jaane Ja Jaane Ja". A fervent romantic duet by Udit Narayan and Shreya Ghoshal with an ascetic tune and superior orchestration is an appreciable sincere effort by the music team, including the lyricist Shakeel Azmi.

The Udit Narayan version of "Agar Tum Mil Jao" is the last one on Side A and Side B as well and somehow sounds better and a tad pleasant than the female version.

Still not getting enough of "Agar Tum Mil Jao", the makers slot in the instrumental to open up Side B of the tape. Opulent with Piano, Guitar and other aptly used musical instruments, the instrumental turns out to be even better than the voiced versions.

Appending the list of not so happening and solemn tracks "Aye Bekhabar" comes next. But surprisingly, the track has a tune better than most others, including the oh-so great "Agar Tum Mil Jao". The track not only sounds good but also has a spry crispy tune to convey an intense thought of a distressed lover and is lush with the vocals of K.K and Shakeel Azmi's lyrics and not to forget Roop Kumar's music direction.

The album concludes with Lamhe - DJ Mix that is remixed by the hot 'n' happening DJ Suketu. Following Musafir, it won't be surprising if every movie has such cliche DJ mixes that eventually would stop doing any value additions - or has it already started...?

Post Murder, the Bhatts have been striving desperately to recreate the musical and the visual hysteria, but it just does not seem to work out. It did not work out with Tumsa Nahi Dekha nor did it work with Rog and with the kind of music and look, odds of Zeher seem far less than many.

Padmapriya in Mohanlal film

Padmapriya after the success of Kazhcha is flooded with offers. She is currently acting in Vadakumnathan opposite Mohanlal. Now she has been signed in Mohanlal film directed by Dr S Janardhan, the serial director who is entering big screen for the first time.

She plays Mookuvanthi a role which is very challenging says the actress.

Kochi Rajavu

Dileep plays auto driver in Kochi Rajavu.. After a string of hit films together, Dileep and Kavya Madhavan are set to provide another entertainer with the shooting for Kochi Rajavu fast nearing completion. Johnny Antony, who had directed Dileep in CID Moosa, is directing the film. The film slated for release April 14, is being shot in locales around Kochi.

"This film has all the ingredients that an average filmgoer is looking for," said Antony.

"Even though this is just my second film I am certain that with this I will establish myself in the industry," he said.

Dileep plays the role of Suryanarayana Varma, an auto rickshaw driver who is supported by his cunning grandfather played by ace comedian and character artiste Jagathy Sreekumar. Kavya Madhavan plays the role of a medical student.

"I play a bold character and am certain that this is going to be a good film," said Kavya.

Among other actors in the film are Rambha, who plays a significant role, national award winning actor Murali, Vijayaraghavan and Harisree Asokhan.

Veteran cinematographer Salu George is manning the camera.

Kochi Rajavu is the eleventh film that Dileep and Kavya are paired together and have given many hits like Thenkasi Pattanam, Meesha Madhavan, Thilakkam and Runway.

This film produced by R Mohan under the banner of Amit Productions has Kavya Madhvan and Rambha as heroines. Kochi Rajavu is expected to release on March 27 and will be brought to the theatres by Kalyan Release.

Dileep plays the role of Suryanarayana Varma, an auto rickshaw driver who is supported by his cunning grandfather played by ace comedian and character artiste Jagathy Sreekumar. Kavya Madhavan plays the role of Pooja, a medical student. This film will be released in Ernakulam Saritha and Thiruvananthapuram Sreekumar Theatre.

Annorikkal

It is not very often that actresses appreciate their colleagues' performances. That way, 'Annorikkal' is a very special film. When Sheela saw the film recently, she gushed about Kavya Madhavan's role as 'Ponnu'.

Sharadchandran Wayanad makes his debut as a director with 'Annorikkal'. He had written scripts for films like 'Vaasanthiyum Lakshmiyum Pinnae Nyaan'.

The film takes place in a village. Kavya Madhavan is Ponnu who lives with her mother in the tiny village. She has the burden of repaying the debt that her father had borrowed when he was alive. She works hard to make enough money to redeem her properties.

Two men in the village are very much interested in her - Pandi (played by Kalabhavan Mani) and the son of the local rich man who had loaned the money to Ponnu's father. But Ponnu soon ends up falling in love with Benny (played by Sunil). Benny doesn't have a job and he is very much in love with Ponnu too.

Misery strikes when Benny accidentally kills Pandi's brother and ends up in prison. Pandi decides to seek revenge for his brother's death and goes after Benny.

What happens to the lovers? The film's climax has an interesting answer.

Anandakuttan has demonstrated excellent cinematography skills in the film. He had beautifully portrayed the village and its lush greenery on the screen.

The Good- Just about everything. Kavya Madhavan is excellent with her Wayanad accent and rural body language and mannerisms. Sunil has given a fine performance too as a man caught in an overwhelming situation.

The Bad- Kavya's makeup. In some scenes, you can actually see the black pigments flow.

Cast - Kavya Madhavan, Sunil, Kalabhavan Mani, Kalaranjini

Director -
The Producer - Sarath Chandran

Udayananu Tharam Review

It’s the time to rejoice. The moribund Malayalam cinema has come alive with Rosshan Andrrews Udayananu Tharam as it is one of the best films in recent times that have combined mainstream film aesthetics with international cinematic sensibilities.

Udayananu Tharam marks the directorial debut of Rosshan Andrrews, a long time struggling assistant director who has taken some incidents from his life and along with Sreenivasan has come out with a solid script and screenplay that makes it work with the masses.

It is a light-hearted comedy that takes a satirical look at the tinsel town.

'Udayananu Tharam, a major draw

The Malayalam film "Udayananu Tharam" has proved a major hit and continues its golden run at the box office with "Achuvinte Amma" following close behind.

1. "Udayananu Tharam": The combination of Sreenivasan's sarcastic pen and his superlative performance has had miraculous results. It is long since Malayalam cinema has got such a big hit.

2. "Achuvinte Amma": Director Sathyan Anthikad has succeeded in drawing the female audience back to the theatre. He has got the deadly combination of Urvasi and Meera Jasmine to back his efforts.

3. "Makalkku": Director Jayaraaj has got an unconventional story about a little girl brought up by the authorities of a mental asylum as she was born to a mentally ill woman played by Sobhana. This film also marks the comeback of Suresh Gopi after a prolonged hiatus.

4. "Annorikkal": Debutant director Sarathchandran Wayanad has got a typical subject with rural settings. The high point of this film is said to be the dusky makeup of Kavya Madhavan.

5. "Hridayathil Sookshikkan": Yet another love story, starring Kunchakko Boban and Bhavana. Kunchakko Boban has tried comedy in this film, said to be inspired by "Meet the Parents".

Navya: Back in her niche

The Cassandras and prophets of doom have ended up with egg on their faces. For, belying their dire predictions, Navya Nair has bounced back in style.



No doubt, the "Nandanam" girl did pass through a lean patch in the interim. But the spirited girl that she is, Navya has shaken off the career blues and is beavering away on the reel now!.

The talented heroine is just back from shooting for the much-hyped Tamil film "Amritham" in Mysore. The movie in which Ms Nair is playing a science student who falls in love with a lowcaste boy, is expected to do wonders for her career.

Well, she has no time to rest on her laurels. In a short while, shooting for her forthcoming flick with Dilip, "Paandippada" will commence in Tamil Nadu.

In the meantime, she is looking forward to the release of her next film "Sarkar Dada" co-starring Jayaram in the lead role.

So busy is Navya these days that she has declined a few offers from Telugu cinema, including one from Krishnavamshi.

Meanwhile, Navya is preparing for her exams in real life. She is a second-year BA (Literature) student. The girl is at her wit's end, for she does not know how to find time to study for the exams. The reason : she will be busy shooting from March third week till April end. And her exams begin on April 28.

All in all, the Balamani of "Nandanam" -- that is the film which catapulted Navya to the pinnacle of fame -- is a busy actress, snapping out of the mid-career slump that beset her.

There is no denying that Navya deserves to be back at the top. She has much more to contribute to the enrichment of Malayalam cinema, which does not boast of many talented actresses save Meera Jasmine and Kavya Madhavan

Dilip, Meera bag awards

Noted Malayalam director Kamal's Perumazhakkalam hogged the limelight at the sixth Mathrubhumi-Medimix Film Awards - 2004 announced here yesterday. The movie bagged 11 awards, including the best film honour.The award consists of Rs. 1 lakh, a memento and a citation.



Kamal was adjudged the best director for the movie Perumazhakkalam, while the top acting honours went to Dilip (Kathavasheshan) and Meera Jasmine (Perumazhakkalam). The award for the best script writer was bagged by T A Razack for Perumazhakkalam.

Geetu Mohandas (Akale) and Mammukoya (Perumazhakkalam) were given the best character artiste awards. Yash and Sanusha shared the best child artiste award for Kazcha. The award for best music director was bagged by M Jayachandran for Perumazhakkalam.

Special jury awards went to director Shyam Prasad and actors Prithvi Raj and Kavya Madhavan.

The awards would be presented at Kottayam on 10 April.

Kazcha best film, Mammootty, Meera Jasmine best actor, actress

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Mammootty and Meera Jasmine bagged the Asianet-Ujala best actor and actress awards for their respective roles in Kazcha, Vesham and Perumazhakalam.

Blessy's Kazcha was adjudged the best feature film and Kamal gets the best director award for Perumazhakalam. Master Yesh bagged the best child artiste award for his outstanding performance in Kazcha. P Jayachandran and Sujatha bagged the best male and female singer awards.

Innocent and Gopika bagged the best supporting actor and actress awards for their roles in Vesham. The best debutant actress award was bagged Padmapriya.

The awards were announced by the jury comprising of Asianet managing director K Madhavan, managing editor K P Mohanan and Shobana Parameswaran Nair. The awards would be presented at a function held on March 27 at K K Premachandran Nair Stadium at Wellington Island in Kochi.

Sania joins Mohanlal

Malayalam Superstar Mohanlal, who has been vouchesafing purity of Malabar Gold, will henceforth get a helping hand from Tennis sensation, Sania Mirza. The company officials said Sania has been appointed lady brand ambassador of the Malabar gold. A leading branded-gold jeweller, Malabar Gold, will begin its foray into the national scene with the opening of its Bangalore showroom on April 12, said its Managing Director M P Ahmed. It will also make its presence in seven more places in Kerala, he said.

'Annorikkal' disappoints despite dusky Kavya

Film: "Annorikkal"; Cast: Kavya Madhavan, Sunil Kumar, Kalabhavan Mani and Murali; Music: Kaithapram Vishwanathan; Story and Direction: Sarathchandran Wayanad; Producer: Kottarathil Thambi

Yet another director makes his debut in Malayalam cinema. Sarathchandran Wayanad (who has been an assistant to Lal Jose) has come out with "Annorikkal", which boasts of Kavya Madhavan in dusky makeup and leaves you with mixed feelings.

The director, surely, has a grip on cinematic techniques, but he is low on content as far as the story department is concerned.

The story is about Ponnu (Kavya Madhavan), a typical self-made village girl who has survived odds after her father's murder when she was just a kid. A vivacious girl with a mind of her own, she does everything under the sun -- from rearing goats, milking cows to gathering firewood and cow dung in order to repay her father's debts. An interesting character, but the director seems to be out of ideas to develop a credible plot around her.

So he fills the surroundings with stereotypes: villainous Tamil moneylender Pandi (Kalabhavan Mani), a deceptive father figure and film-crazy lover-boy Benny (Sunil Kumar).

Pandi has an eye on Ponnu. He employs the age-old tactic of moneylenders and a debt trap to get her. He is assisted in this by Vijayaraghavan (Ponnu's father's buddy). Benny comes to her rescue and kills Pandi's brother after a languorous fist fight just before the interval.

After that, everything goes haywire. The focus seems to shift to the jail, where lover-boy is undergoing rigorous imprisonment for six years on charges of murder. We are shown the atrocities suffered by him at the hands of jail warden and his cellmates who are hardcore criminals, and how he fights injustices in elaborate detail.

In the histrionics department, Kavya tries to do her best and succeeds in doing so to a great extent, but we wish her character were more rounded and rooted. The inspiration must have come from the couple of strong rural characters portrayed by Manju Warrier in the last decade. The much-hyped makeup is inconsistent and disappointing.

Sunil Kumar impresses with a sincere performance as Benny. It proves that his showing in the recently released "Achuvinte Amma" was not a flash in the pan. He is here to stay.

Of the supporting cast, National Award winner Murali is wasted as Benny's father. Others, including Kalabhavan Mani, Mala Arvindan and Vijayaraghavan, seem to perform without any involvement.

"Annorikkal" is worth watching once. But don't walk into the theatre with the hope that the film will deliver on the promise of its pre-release promotion.

Mammooty bags prestigious film award

Superstar Mammooty, who played stellar roles in the Malayalam films Kazhca and Vesham last year, has been named the Best Actor in the prestigious Ujala-Asianet 2004 Film Awards.

Of the 19 awards, Kazhca bagged five. The other awards won by the debut film of director Blessy were best film, best new actress (Padmapriya), best cinematographer (Azhakappan) and best child artiste (Master Yash).

"Close to 10,000 people took part in the opinion poll after which a three-member Asianet jury selected the final winners," N Madhavan, managing director of Asianet, told reporters here on Friday.

This is the seventh edition of the film awards jointly given by Ujala and the leading Malayalam TV channel Asianet.

Ace director Kamal bagged the best director award for his film Perumazhakkalam.

Perumazhakkalam also won the best actress award for Meera Jasmine, the special jury award for Kavya Madhavan, the best scriptwriter award for TA Razak, the best male playback singer for P Jayachandran and best editing award for Rajagopal.

Upcoming star Dileep won the special jury award for his role in Kathavaseshan while Prithviraj and Geetu Mohandas bagged the special mention award.

The best supporting male and female actor awards went to Innocent and Gopika respectively for their roles in Vesham.

Veteran comedy artiste Jagathy Sreekumar, who has acted in 1,100 films, was given the lifetime achievement award.

The awards would be formally presented at a ceremony at Kochi on March 27. The total prize money for the 19 awards is Rs 650,000.