Tag: 2019 Malayalam films

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2019 Arun Kumar Aravind Asif Ali Malayalam

Underworld (2019) 🤨😬

Underworld: can skip the theatre show to watch on Amazon Prime, their streaming partner.

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When a small town ambitious toughie Stalin John (Asif Ali) is sent to prison, his life takes an unprecedented turn by leaping into a different level of a thug life.

Arun Kumar Arvind’s Underworld centres on the rise & life of Stalin alongside the 3 other characters, Mujeeb (Farhaan Faasil), Solomon (Lal Jr) & Padmanabhan Nair (Mukesh) introduced in the teaser & trailer.

The quartet, and the rest of the cast who share complicated relationships with each other may not be heroes with pristine character certificates, nevertheless, within the scope of their shady lives, Stalin and Mujeeb uphold values of friendship, Solomon’s man friday (Nishant Sagar) is loyal towards his heartless master, and Muthumani is Perry Mason-esque in her attitude towards her client, Stalin. They are surrounded by devoted family members, and at least a friend, but the final battle seems to be set between Stalin and Solomon as it is their lives & families who have more screen time in comparison to those of Nair & Mujeeb.

The take away from the film could be an enriched vocabulary to describe a range of ruthlessness in people engaged in felony; synonyms of goon & gangster, as they aren’t the same, to describe & differentiate Stalin, Mujeeb and Solomon for the jobs they do, attitudes they carry, influences they have, & milieu they live in.

However, the film heavily & solely relies on its background score by Yakzan Gary Pereira & Neha Nair to keep the thriller and thug ambience alive in a weak script with cliched scenes, mass punch lines, & slow motion! It could defintiely have been shorter, the second half crisper, the story less predictable with more depth!

Lal Jr looked, behaved & sounded as menacingly vile as his father did in his debut in Kaliyattam (1997). Mukesh played the part of the corrupt septuagenarian politician with elan. Farhaan Faasil comes across as a cute goon, who may have to write his own makeover story like his brother did in the years to come 🤞. Samyuktha Menon, Amalda Liz & Ketki Narayan play there and not there roles, as this isn’t their story to tell. Nevertheless, Muthumani as the advocate, and Sreelakshmy as Stalin’s mother, make an impact with the little they have to do in this script. So does Srikanth Murali as Potty, Padmanaban’s secret keeper, and Meghanathan, Solomon’s confidante in the police force. The comic relief is brought about by the surprise cameo of the trio Arjun Ashokan, Balu Varghese and Ganapathy, in that order 😉 The books used as props need a mention.

As this tedious long film ends, the audience may not empathise with the director, the gangster story by Shibin Francis, the songs that came and went or the cast. They may remember a few moments of male bonding between Mujeeb & Stalin, and ponder over the evolution of Asif Ali as an actor in the ten years he has been in this industry since Shyamaprasad’s Ritu (2009).

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2019 Malayalam Mohanlal Prithviraj

Lucifer! Empuraan

Wanting to watch Lucifer again, a fourth and a fifth time when streamed on a TV channel, after I had watched it in the theater on day 2 of its release, and later on streaming platforms says, I like the film. Not in its entirety but in parts.

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That scene when Priya Ramdas (Manju Warrier) confronts her current husband Bobby (Vivek Oberoi) after her daughter Jhanvi (Sanya Eyyappan) confessed to her about the misdeeds of her step father, that he has been initiating her into drugs, and asking for sexual favours she hasn’t given into. Priya on her part is shocked. Initially she thinks Jhanvi is lying to cover up her addiction, but the daughter and mother find a middle ground, and the floodgates of woes opened. In the next scene, we see a Priya teeming with rage waiting in her chair rocking, to lash out at Bobby.

But, her anger fizzles out into stunned disbelief when Bobby accepts, then warns, and later threatens her. It is one of those chill down our spines kind of reply. It washed away all her years of trust in him.

In the beginning of the film, she is seen relieved that her teenage difficult daughter talked to him even when she wasn’t on talking terms with her. At the hospital, after Jhanvi opens up to her about her life inside the house, Priya still hopes that her daughter is making up stories about her stepfather, but the reply ends all of it. At the end of it, she sees Booby for the villain he is, the reasons why he had married her, and as the long time planner who murdered her first husband and father in the name of power. 

Lucifer as a narrative from the beginning is moving towards a final standoff between an arrogant Bobby who thinks the state is at his feet after the death of his Chief Minister father-in-law, and Stephan (Mohanlal) who he thinks is a mere politician from a constituency he can pacify, smear and put behind bars.

The rest of the film lines up the reasons for Stephan to kill Bobby without an inkling of guilt. As the credits roll, the narrative settles comfortably into the dynastic leadership, with the elder brother keeping a watch over his younger siblings, the sister turning advisor to her younger brother, the newly appointed chief minister.

We can’t blame Bobby for thinking it was his idea to bring his brother-in-law, Jatin Ramdas (Tovino Thomas) into this political milieu as a puppet to dance according to his tunes. He had to be a little more aware, listen to the gossips and conspiracies put forth on social platforms by the character played by Indrajith. He would have known. To the audience, there was always a bigger role for Lal in the film other than the politician he was playing throughout. The ending may not have come as a surprise to any especially if they had taken the prologue seriously.

The film on its parts throws up the question as to who is the bigger and lesser evil, it up to the audience to discern. 

Enough has been written about the film since it was conceived, made and released. You can except more moments like these if I happen to watch it again.

Categories
2019 Malayalam Mohanlal

Can give Ittimani a skip! (2019)

Mohanlal has been looking after older women in his films for a while now.

Ittimani (ooops spoilers ahead) is no different. If in Drama he helps to fulfill a dead woman’s last wish in the choice of her site of burial, here he goes a step further to marry an older woman, the widow who lives next door, his mother’s closest friend, his classmates’ mother to teach her children basic lessons in how to look after aging parents.

I can understand the intention of the film makers in choosing such a pertinent subject matter, and use their film to create an awareness about it to the public. However, the story does not pull the audience to emotionally be involved in it. By the time or rather if the audience has patience to sit through until that revealing climax) the script and direction has already played spoilsport in driving them away or lulling them into boredom with stupid jokes in the name of the slapstick.

Drama, last year, Baba Kalyani a few years ago, Snehaveedu, at a time of Sheela’s second coming, when she wanted to work with Lal are all stories about a younger (?) male protagonist in combination with an older mother figure whom he helps in a crisis, as a son, police officer, family friend or/and as part of his job. This series of being helping hand is becoming a little more than tiring especially when Mohanlal the superactor alone cannot pull audiences to watch his film anywhere.

Lucifer was mass film with thorough script and excellent direction. It is difficult to believe he ia the same actor who chose to be Lucifer, earlier this year, & the Ihikara Pakki cameo that overshadowed Nivin Pauly’s titular Kayalamkulam Kochunni.

About Ittimani, watch at your own risk, level.of patience, state of mind, levels of stress

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