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Adaline is a character in a 2015 romantic fantasy who does not age. At the present time in the film, she is 107 years old or close to that number but is still at 38 years. She never grew older or younger than that age, she remains that age after a certain incident.

The film has its own explanations for this no aging phenomenon but what strikes a chord is the irony of it all. Look around and most people hold on to youth for possibly many different reasons, sometimes lying about their age, trying out various methods to slow down the process of growing old, at least visibly, looking young and youthful! The idea of age as a concept plays out in many conversations, it could be a senior-junior relationship at work, a younger-older familial, social relations, during a marriage alliance! Age becomes a factor when sickness hampers bodily routines! It is referred to when it comes to the colour of the hair, a government appointment for a job, or to make a point, take it thru..

And here is a woman who is granted that wish of being forever a 38 years old young, a wish for an infinite future at 38 as long as she lives.. a future of youthfulness.. yet she is unable to remain happy.. she feels she cannot hold on to a relationship of any kind for longer than a particular period of time… She also fears she’ll become a curiosity specimen for global scientific experiments.

If you ask me whether I loved the film, well I can’t answer that with any kind of certainty, but it has certainly carved out an imprint in my mind about the fantasy and irony of age.. living.. happiness.. and its worth! I was glued to it… Something and all has been triggered somewhere, the thoughts I have not been able to write out as succinctly as I would have liked to.

What it is to grow up together with a set of people, starting with parents, siblings, classmates, spouses, children, colleagues and friends.. and generally people around us.. may be something many of us do not give a thought to.. what it is to lose somebody we know on the way..what is it to feel secure and happy in our the age we are at!

By now I’d have watched Drishyam more than 20 times, that’s a small number when compared to the number of times it comes on television almost every couple of months in the last few years, its easy accessibility on ott platforms. Between then and now, the film has been remade in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi, gained appreciation and attracted its share of controversy over the Korean novel it is loosely based on. Out of which I’ve only watched the Hindi remake where I felt Tabu trumps Devgan in impact on screen unlike its original in Malayalam where it turned out to be a excellent start for Asha Sharath in the industry, but still couldn’t over shadow Lal.

What’s the secret in watching a thriller, a whodunit when we know, & have all the details by heart with years of watching & discussing it. Obviously, the first time edge of the seat mystery isnt there. Then .. what is?

Raid is a 2018 Hindi language film directed by Raj Kumar Gupta with Ajay Devgan and Saurab Shukla playing the leads.

Though he has doned different roles, to me Saurab Shukla will always remain Gopi from Tehkikaat. That funny assistant who looks up to his detective friend, Sam (Vijay Anand). In this film in the role of the villain, Thauji, the landlord who is raided, he has the maximum scope of emotions.

Turns out, I don’t remember the last film I stepped into a theatre to watch Ajay Devgan act. It could be as long as more than 10 years with Bhagat Singh or his home production, Raju Chacha. Was he a part of that political drama based on the Mahabharata starring Ranbhir Kapoor & Katrina Kaif with a mother who couldn’t act – Rajneeti. Even that film seems to be a long time ago. You get the point don’t you?

Here, he plays this ‘ultra’ honest ‘patriotic’ officer (you should here his lines about nationalism and mother India). He is also shown to be madly deeply in love with his (newly wedded) wife (Ileana D’Cruz). If their romance was the so called comic relief in this terse drama — it turns out to be more of an irritation, incumbrance & subversion to the plot!

Picture this, Devgan as Amay Patnaik, 10-15 of his department colleagues, with a blue bus full of police troops (think guns, helmets, troops running out to make a boundary line) is at the house of this (most) powerful man, Thauji (Shukla), searching his haveli (mansion like house) for the black money and the records he has kept hidden. Apparently, this is a secret operation so that nobody in high places can tip off this influential man, also a politician, also a member of the parliament to hide his illegal assets elsewhere! The ‘beautiful’ dainty wife walks in with a tiffin box at lunch time for her IRS officer husband saying, you’d be tired, or the wife knows everything!!!! Comic relief, absolutely. Initially I was horrified, the emotion turned to irritation and finally sarcasm! 😉 The film would have retained its seriousness without this couple angle! Nevertheless, the wives and the kids (when they are present) is the pawn to coerce the honest officers into succumbing to the corrupt villain!

The plot is based on true events about the longest recorded raid in the history of Indian Revenue Service (IRS) – roughly 2 days in 1981. The ending is inspired from a couple of incidents from real life, the aftermath of raids in these towns.

I agree that more films should be made on the stories of these honest officers who dared to enter the lion’s den to thwart corruption under unfavourable circumstances of liaison between the rich, the police, judiciary and the politicians. However, it can be done with a seriousness it requires to get the message across, not resort to unwanted drama like the romance and presence of Dcruz in this film.

verdict: If you have the patience & time ..

When Mathew Manjooran (Mohanlal) remarks, “there is a villain in every hero, and a hero in every villain” the water tight distinction between two known types in popular imagination does not begin to blur, but it does lead to a momentary break from the usual black & white categories. 

The good villain is always the social empath who cringes at the sight of injustice, their rise is a tale of their consequences & motivations, the pinnacle of their (mob) justice, eventually ending in the rise of a new hero to erase older villains, gradually leading to their transformation into the newer villain/hero as the case may be. It seems to be a cycle in which a hero, can be struck down by an unexpected calamity …

… Manjooran is a borderline case, his wife and daughter were unexpectedly snatched away from his happy life …

… he can turn into an antihero in due course of time. Does he or does he not (after Drishyam it is hard to speculate) don the role of a villain to avenge the death of his family to become their hero is one part of the film.

The film begins on the day ADGP Mathew Manjooran (#mohanlal) decides to end his career in the police force voluntarily. He has opted for an early retirement 7 months after a brutal “road accident” killed his wife killed his wife (Manju Warrier) and teenage daughter. 

A melancholic Mohanlal in a salt and pepper bearded bespectacled gentleman in a trench coat look. We are sure to empathize with the restless demons he faces inside him, the craft of this actor. He is on a journey to a mysterious somewhere, away from his familiar people and places who knows for what purpose … 

Meanwhile, a murder is planned and executed the previous night, discovered in the morning of his last day which stops him from starting on that trip. The task force concludes that it is the beginning of a series of public grievence redressals. Somebody has turned vigillante to rid the society of its “criminals” who have escaped the law with their power and money. “If that is the intention, how many people will they kill,” asks the Commissioner to Manjooran. This is the second part of the story.

The third part of the story is when Manjooran and the vigillante come face to face in a dialogue to review the current plight of the system of justice. The Fourth part is a suspense in this story… 😎 (No spoilers)

Stylish, slick & technical in its packaging, the office of the task force looks very similar to the one in The Blacklist and the Hollywood films of the genre. In spite of the excellent dialogue delivery of two very seasoned actors, Mohanlal & Siddique, with a supporting cast of  Ranji Pannicker, Chemban Jose & Rashi Khanna in uniform, the idealistic Samaritan intentions in Manju Warrier’s Dr. Neelima, Vishal and Hansika Motwani bringing in the rest of the cast, the satisfaction of public punishments played out in this police procedural was too slow paced and predictable for my taste, or that of an edge of the seat thriller genre from the Grandmaster team. 

Although categorised as a thriller, it seems to be more on the lines of B Unnikrishan’s take on the greyer shades of people psychology. The series of murders is the drama he pulls up to convey this. He uses Manjooran to filter down this to us.  The film like a murder as the top cop remarks is a simple equation of who killed who. The rest of the theatrics are ways of camoflauging the details. 

if only the pace was a notch faster, the script, the actors and the style would have fallen right in place making it a crowd puller.

Reaction: I had to get out of the theatre to buy a cup of extra strong coffee as I was fighting hard not to sleep inside. (The speculations of the men sitting behind me about the film kept me awake 😉) . Reviews have been calling this film an emotional tense thriller, a film re-defining the nature of a villain, a hero, and an anti hero. It does delve deep into the master killer’s life but there are 2-3 villains in this film, who can be put into boxes of good, not so good, monster, beast.

Villain is a 2017 Malayalam film starring Mohanlal, Vishal, Siddique, Manju Warrier, Chemban Vinod Jose, Ranji Pannicker directed by B Unnikrishan. 

Shylock (Mamootty) and Sachiettan (Mohanlal) have come to Amazon Prime this Friday. I wouldn’t have enjoyed them in a theatre, but on Prime with enough breaks & other home distractions, in the comfort of my couch they seem watchable in spite of the overwhelming violence, over the top stunts and fan frenzy in the scripts.

Nevertheless, the two leading actors in Malayalam stand out proving they can act any role given to them. The body langugae of these two men, Mammooty’s gesticulations during the song in a dance bar, and Lal as this very shy guy who shrinks away from crowds, done well. Come to think of it, the two films have a similarity apart from being a fan film. What fails in these films is the slapstick comedy, and of course the script.

Vineeth dubbing for Arbaaz Khan in Big Brother doesn’t have the effect he had being Vivek Oberoi’s Bobby in Lucifer.

Innale meaning yesterday, in Malayalam…

It is the story of a young woman (Shobana) who lost all her memories after a bus accident during a pilgrimage through the southern parts of India. The bus accident took place far away from where she called home, a bus accident in which she was the only survivor, a bus accident she remembers nothing about.

The doctors at this hill staion hospital tell her to be gateful that she is alive. They say that the memory loss is a small prize to pay for her life, a life to come, memories to make. Be happy they said, she had survived.

The film is set in a hilly town somewhere in the Kerala/Tamil Nadu border. Large parts of the town are owned by a single family, a mother & son whose ancestors owned this entire land, developed the area, constructed the hospital, school, the local club, cottages on he road side …

Their unevenful life is disturbed one night when a bus met with an accident and fell into the river. Most of the passengers died except 3 died during that fall. Among the three, a girl survived. She has minimal physical injury but every bit of her past until then was wiped clean. She could not recollect anything before he woke up at the hospital. As nobody came for her, the mother & son decide to rehabilitate her in their town in consultation with the police. She begins to make new memories, but she looks forward for anybody who comes forward as her relative. Her search to find her bearings continue. Meanwhile she falls in love with the doctor’s son, after much anguish the doctor agrees to this match, their wedding is fixed. The phone rings again .. somebody came in search for her, somebody who came specifically looking for her..

One of the few films where I love the subtlety in actor Suresh Gopi. Innale.. when yesterday is no more, there is only the present and the future to look forward to…

Vazhikuzhi is a trap to catch elephants. A hole is dug in the path they tread, covered loosely with leaves and sticks, so that the animal slips, falls & stays trapped until ..

Father Vincent Kombana (Amith Chakkalakkal) the hands on assisstant priest of a small parish of about 40 families in a panchayat on the banks of a lagoon in Kerala sets a trap to catch a killer, one of his own parishners, who has in turn smartly trapped him in the seal of confession after the priest had witnessed a murder (kolapathakam) on his daily vigil. The rest of the plot picks up speed as the Father sets out to find out the John/Jane Doe and proof to prove the killer guilty before the annual feast of his church.

A low budget film from Renjishh Midhila with a jovial but stern, much loved parish priest in the lead, an unofficial head of this community who takes care of their every problem in addition to their religious needs. He needs to resort to force, a habit he hasn’t forgotten from his police dreams, which makes him the biggest KD of the area.

The film has 3-4 sub plots which gives in sights into the daily lifestyle of its people, and their intra relations with each other setting the scene for before the murder investigation. Anything more I say would qualify as spoilers.

A Fun film, plus a few glitches, but overall Recommended! 😃 Streaming on Amazon Prime