Tag: Ala Vaikuntapuram

Premam

May 15, 2024 / / 2 Comments

I wanted to watch Premam for a really long time, because of the reviews it had garnered. But I was busy with my own life, getting married, moving to USA, coming back to India and all.

Recently, I read an article about Sai Pallavi, since she is going to play Ma Sita in the Ranbir Kapoor starrer Ramayan. That brought back the list of movies I wanted to watch and I ended up watching Premam. So, here goes the review.

Interestingly, I watched the movie almost 7 years after its release.

Released on : May 29, 2015.

Reviewed on : May 16, 2024. (after almost 7 years!)

Directed by : Alphonse Puthren

Starring : Nivin Pauly, Anupama Parameswaran, Sai Pallavi and Madonna Sebastian.

 

The movie starts in Aluva, Kerala, with George David (Nivin Pauly), a 16 year old teenager, busy writing a love letter for his first love, Mary George (Anupama Parameswaran), who is a regular high schooler, girl next door, with bushy hair.  George’s bestie Koya even wonders what George sees in her! Infact, she has most of the local boys wooing her. Her father is always on his toes, shooing away all the boys who crave for Mary’s attention. Even I wondered why so many boys always waited near her gate (in-spite of her strict father), trying to catch a glimpse of Mary. Its not like she is the only girl in Aluva! George’s love comes to an end as Mary loves another boy.

Years pass by and the once innocent George David now sports a full beard and a mustache. He and his friends are a tight bunch and are always ready to fight. He is a college student.

Then comes Malar (Sai Pallavi), the guest lecturer in his college. George smokes, he drinks, he appears to be a tough guy but is soft at heart.  He falls in love with Malar at first sight.  It is interesting to see that, George, has no prejudices. Once again Koya asks why George likes a lecturer, who has pimples on her face, who is from another religion and community, who speaks another language, who is also few years older to him.  George is pretty open minded and he is confident his parents will accept his love. He manages to express his love and Malar loves him too.

The brief dance sequence by Malar is beautiful. (No movie of Sai Pallavi is complete without a dance number.)

Since I already saw the movie poster, I was sure there is another heroine who is yet to enter the picture and wondered how this love story is going to end. (Either the lover has to die or cheat him because of some unknown reason. Thankfully, the director didn’t go down this route.) Turns out Malar loses her memory during an accident and that’s the end of the love for George. (He is brave enough to visit her after the accident but not brave enough to wait for her to regain her memory.) At that instance George proves why age difference is important. He is immature.

He later attends Malar’s wedding and that closes the second chapter of love for George.

Years pass and George is now the owner of a cafe. He even bakes the cakes himself.  He now ditches the beard and only has a mustache. (Simple manipulation facial hair changes his face a lot. Guys are so lucky. Women can never change their appearance so drastically!) He meets Celine (Madonna Sebastian). She flirts with him with knowing smiles and glances and he seems interested in her.  Turns out, she is the beautiful younger sister of Mary George, his first love!

Instead of wasting time to woo her, George directly asks her if she is ok with marrying him. (Almost all his friends are married and he is a 30 year old.) He has his priorities right, his goal is marriage!

After a minute set back regarding an ex-fiance, George weds Celine at the end. Even Malar comes to his wedding and wishes the couple.

What I loved:

The natural acting and progress of the story (especially of the lead pair). I liked the chemistry of George and Malar at first and later of George and Celine. The expertise of the director is also apparent from the way the film was made. I already have a high opinion of Kerala and its streets, so, watching this movie filled me with positive vibes.  It was relatable. I liked how even the heroines are not portrayed as having no flaws, but as mere humans. They charm us with their nativity.

Although I am have no knowledge of Malayalam, I found a couple of songs good. This is the second Mallu movie that I liked a lot , after Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey! ( I also liked Drushyam 1 and 2, but I hardly know the lead pair of Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey and this is my first Nivin Pauly movie.) Drushyam has Mohanlal and he is not a newbie, so liking his movies is a no-brainer!

P.S:

  1. We all know some directors love to do cameos in their own movies, this is one of those. The director Alphonse Puthren appears at the end, as Roney Varghese,ex-fiance of Celine. It is a powerful cameo, because, I felt like he deserved the beatings he got from Nivin and others in Premam!
  2. The other famous cameos include Rajamouli in a scene before item song in Baahubali – The Beginning and Quentin Tarantino in Django Unchained! There are others too, but I am unable to recall at the moment.
  3. I also like watching movies of Mammootty and Suresh Gopi. After Ala Vaikuntapuram, Ponniyin Selvan and oldie Pancha thanthiram, I also admire Jayaram, not to forget ‘Ramam‘ Dulquer Salman!
  4. I wonder if Nitesh Tiwari the Ramayan movie director is going to use Sai Pallavi’s dance expertise in the movie. She could probably perform a beautiful number like the Pranavalaya song in Shyam Singha Roy and steel many hearts up North India! A graceful Ma Sita indeed!

Hanu-Man!

January 14, 2024 / / 1 Comment

Ever since I saw the trailer of Hanu Man, that too with Teja Sajja as the main lead, I wanted to watch the movie in theater, thanks to it being a super hero movie based on Hindu Mythology. Added to that Teja had been my favourite child artist after my other favourites and National award winners Tarun and Shamilee, both from the children’s movie directed by Mani Ratnam, Anjali (1990).

Anyway, watching same kind of movies is so boring. I also watched Guntur Karam. I will review it next. I think this is the month of movies as I also watched 12th Fail and The Archies in quick succession!

Let’s get back to the Hanu-Man.

Review:

Directed by : Prasanth Varma

Release Date : January 2024

Hanu-Man

The movie starts with a school going child Micheal and his love for super heroes. (which is generally normal in kids) But once his love turns into obsession, this child grows into a super villain  and as far as I know, that is the first instance in a movie, where the villain is introduced in the first scene itself! His mom tries to give him good advice and he also manages to retain it in his brain, the only thing is that he never understands the true meaning of it. So that is our clever, rich and psychotic villain.

Then comes the drone shot and the majestic Hanu-Man statue, guarding the village of Anjanadri, where we find the male lead Teja, playing Hanumanthu, a common thief. Thanks to the build up given during male lead introduction, we may imagine the hero to be good at fights etc, but he is not! He is a failure in many ways. (That clearly shows the contrast between Hanumanthu before and after gaining his super power.)

He is in love with his childhood crush, Meenakshi, a doctor, who visits the village for summer holidays and also enlightens the villagers, who are under the iron fist of a local pehlwan.

Long thing short, during a fight among the goons and the hero, who is in it to save Meenakshi, Hanumanthu falls into the ocean and finds himself a stone, with the power of Lord Hanuman. (The stone is said to contain a drop of Lord Hanuman’s blood. Nice!)

Suddenly the good for nothing thief, finds himself at the centre of supreme power and uses it to help the locals bring down the pehlwan. He also manages to get them to start electing a local head to rule them.

Meanwhile, Micheal happens to see a video of Hanumanthu showing off his super power and lands at Anjanadri, on the pretext of constructing a hospital for them!

The rest of the story is about how Hanumanthu saves the stone from the villain. The movie ends with Hanumanthu becoming a super hero, with a red cape, like Doctor Strange!

Teja as Hanumanthu is believable and is a natural. He is better than some other star kids, who suck at acting.

Amritha Aiyer as Meenakshi has little scope for acting, she is good in her scenes.

Vinay Rai, the hero of Vaana (2008 movie, meaning Rain) now plays a villain who is on the verge of being psychotic. Even if the duration of his role is small, he is impactful.

Sathya, Getup Srinu bring some laughs. I liked how a bird, probably a humming bird, hovered on Sathya’s head, always! Lol! This scene itself shows how well comedy has been blended in the scenes, without adding extra dialogues to impress us, the audience.

The best role however went to Varalaxmi Sharatkumar. Her role is relatable too.

Lastly, there is Samudrakhani, who plays an important character in the movie. I won’t reveal it! (I will forever remember him as the villain from Ala Vaikuntapuram. He even has a song in the movie. Which villain ever had a song in a movie? It is a rare feat!)

Vennela Kishore, for once played a character role and not anything related to comedy. He is one actor who has a natural flair for comedy after the world record holder, Brahmanandam. This is purely my personal opinion. (Sunil used to have similar flair for comedy. But he has transitioned effortlessly into character and villain roles. He is not suited for hero roles, thank God he found his positives.)

Hanu-Man has its highs and lows, but some scenes are memorable and will remain with us for sometime. Just like how Rajamouli makes a powerful statement with memorable scenes, Prashanth Varma has also executed it.

The one scene I love, is where Hanumanthu, after beating up the goons, sits on top of them, which is similar to how Lord Hanuman makes his own throne with his looooong tail, in Lanka, to sit a few feet taller than the Lankesh, Ravana.

Hanuman seated on tail throne in front of Ravana – @Tadipatri, A.P.

The other scene I love is when Hanuman is shown as the shadow of Lord Rama. Chef’s kiss on its way!

It is satisfying to watch Hanuman at the climactic scenes.  Thankfully, the CGI is beautiful, which will satisfy an average movie-goer and the scenes with gold coloured Hanuman statue are good too.

Overall the movie is a pleasant watch. There is no vulgarity or cringe worthy scenes, so that’s a plus.

Go ahead and watch it, I am eager to see what will follow this movie.

P.S:

  1. Prasanth Varma, the director is ambitious and the movie is made under Prasanth Varma Cinematic Universe! There will be sequels coming up and I hope they will surpass the first installment. Way to go. About time someone made a super hero franchise in India.
  2. Even though Hanu-Man showed a lot of potential, only limited number of theaters or multiplexes had shows for this movie. Injustice! It proved the rumour that big producers don’t allow small movies.
  3. I loved the song in which the hero Hanumanthu fights the bad guys while the village ladies were busy making the yummy mouth watering mango pickle!

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