Hats off to Mammootty, a true lover of good cinema. 

His 1993 Bombay, March 12 the directorial debut of noted screenwriter Babu Janardhanan was due for release on June 24.

The same day Salim Kumar’s National award winner Adaminte Makan Abu is releasing all over Kerala.

The critically acclaimed Adaminte Makan Abu, which has won four National and four Kerala State awards and directed by Salim Ahamed was to clash withBombay, March 12 distributed by Mammootty’s Play House.

Adaminte Makan Abu is releasing through National Award winning actor Salim Kumar’s own company Laughing Villa. Dileep is helping Salim Kumar through his Manjunatha to get the theatres in Kerala. If both
the films release on the same day it will cut into each other’s business.

So the large hearted Megastar went out of his way to help Salim Kumar and his  Adaminte Makan Abu, by postponing his Play House distributed 1993 Bombay, March 12 by a week to June 30.

Three cheers to Mammooka, who had booked his theatres well in advance but saw to it that a critically acclaimed film starring a man who got a National award gets a solo release.

Two years ago, young director Lijo Jose Pellissery made a exploding debut into filmdom with his maiden film ‘Nayakan’. Though the movie didn’t do well in the Box Office, it displayed a refreshingly good storyteller and a director who concentrates on substance as well as on styles.Now with the new movie ‘City of God’ Lijo makes a ample revisit, in fact a homage to Brazilian classic and the cinema of yore with the same name, repeating its patterns and styles of storytelling.For discerning audience this could be a reason enough to go out and grab tickets for one of the keenly anticipated films of our times
The movie which traverses a different path that dares to tackle difficult and different themes of violence on womenfolk is told in a bold, stark, funny and unpredictable way and that’s what works in its favour. The superior technical support and some really good performances are two more reasons that make the movie a unusual experience.
‘City of God’ is presented in a non-linear narrative style, telling different but interlinked incidents in the lives of Tamil workers in the state and wars between real estate mafia and business groups, based at Kochy. The movie opens with a crash scene where a speeding Sumo, which is followed by a mini bus of quotation gang, hits a couple travelling on a motorbike and then into an electric post .The movie then rewinds on to the incidents that led to the crash scene. And we are introduced to a small time Tamil labourer, Swarnavel(Indrajith), who is in love with Marathakam, a Tamil woman who flees her village to escape from her ever disturbing married life and husband.
A wily business man and builder in the city, Sony Vadayattil, had a love bitten heart where in the past he had to throw out a girl from his life, due to persuasion from his parents.Now that girl has grown up to become the famous filmstar,Sooryaprabha(Reema Kallingal). Sony, with the aid of his best friend Jyothilal (Prithviraj), is out there to get the lady back into his life though she had been married for four years. And amidst their nefarious activities to accumulate wealth, Jyothilal, who is more like a bodyguard to his friend Sony, kills Poonoose, a wealthy businessman, while operating in a land deal.This leaves his wife Viji Punnose(Shwetha Menon) who witnesses the murder of her husband, go to any extent to take revenge..
City of god’ with plenty of characters is not the usual masala film with candyfloss or meaningless ha-ha-thons. It’s not one of those films that depict heroes bashing up villains and ladies getting into routine dance and drama. It’s straight out of life and certain moments do make you get into an introspective mood. With no spoon feeding here, the movie unleashes very slowly and the narratives go forth and back every half an hour, clearing the missing joining links in the parallel tracks. One has to be attentive, very dutiful to grip the goings-on and also the twists in the tale.
The film has several poignant moments, which is distributed equally in the plot. The scenes including introduction of Swarnavel, to the various murder attempts and verbal fights between Sony and jyothilal to the final crash scenes, all deserves mention for their meticulous execution. The conclusion to the story also doesn’t let you down one bit, with no attempts on preaching. Babu Janardhan’s dialogues have rustic flavor and are soaked in acid at times, so critical for a film of this genre. He has used the dialogues to the limit and the viewers are spared of the talk-heavy portions, avoiding dramatics.
The Cinematography by Sujith Vasudev is first-rate. The film with its hand held and static shots captures the authentic look to precision. The editing in the former half is very complex, but towards the later half appear flawless. The design of the background score is another area that deserves the kudos.The songs by Prashanth Pillai matches the mood of the movie though ‘Kaalangal’ is the pick to share the chart tops.Every song has a reason to be in the movie, two presented as coming up in the FM radio’s and one as the marriage celebration and another two in the backdrops.Different Dany had made some well choreographed action scenes while the art direction is also superb.
The performances are topnotch, with Indrajith again stealing the show effortlessly being in the shirts of Tamil worker.Reema Kallingal has a best role to cherish and is in top form, essaying the complex role with complete understanding. Prithvi, as usual, emotes through eyes on several occasions, which is the hallmark of an accomplished actor.Parvathy is life like and will be in the run for the year’s best accolades.Shwetha Menon, Sudheer Karamana,Rohini and Sreehari looks supremely confident, while the rest of the cast are appropriate.
All in all, this ‘City of God’ is a movie with feelings and appeal for the proponents of differently made experimental cinema. Director Lijo, Anil Mathew and their crew needs to be applauded for the efforts in keeping away cliches and commercial thrusts on the narrative structure, though they may find it a little difficult to cruise in the box-office( which is already ruled by such ‘Christian brothers’ and ‘China towns’). May be, our viewers may take a little more time to befriend such varied attempts.

Rating-4/10

Debutante directors usually have new stories to tell. The Megastar of Mollywood, Mammootty has always depended on this aspect of freshers from whom unconventional ideas are in and predictability is passe And in some cases ideas translate into interesting, 2-hour films, and some ideas though translated on screen, make you feel that they were never suited for the big screen. Doubles coming from the debutante director Sohan Seenulal is such a case where an interesting idea got terribly awry due to poor transformation to screen.
The film hardly has any path-breaking story, but its central thread about the dependence and parting of non-identical twins could have worked out as a very better film that may create wonders in the B O.But here in ‘Doubles’ it is really difficult to fathom much of the story that is presented in a so banal, so obsolete, so lifeless way that you break into a big yawn with a half hour into the film.
The movie is all about twin siblings Giri (Mammootty) and Gouri (Nadiya Moithu), whose parents were killed in their childhood, in a road accident. They now runs an Accident Rescue Service at Pondicherry to make it sure that no one else dies on road due to lack of timely care and needed help.The siblings are told to be absolutely inseparable, and remains unmarried, though we don’t get the intensity of their relationship in any of the scenes portrayed on screen.Things takes a different path as a new girl, Saira bhanu rescued from an accident start to live in their house as she has got no where to go. Add to that is the subplot of Gouri’s liking for Michel(Suresh), their foster father Pieere’s son, as well as Giri’s rejection of such a relation due to reputation of Michel as a spoiled brat.
Though the things look to get normal in the first half, everything go downhill in the second hour. The plot looks ridiculous, monotonous and confusing for the viewer who by the reach of the finale, is already bored and has lost all interest in the enterprise.
The biggest problem with the movie is the awfully poor writing by Sachi-sethu whose screenplay is much listless than the concept. The debutant director faces a major roadblock in the form of the written material which lacks the power to keep you hooked. .At the same time, the direction is also absurd and confusing with very few enjoyable moments that come up as an oasis in a desert.
Frankly, nothing works in this fare, except, to an extent, Mammootty. Though he looks a perfect sibling to Nadhiya, this chemistry is not worked well with the scripts. The sequences look chemical and Nadhiya is too wasted in a role that hardly demands her finesse. The new girl Thapasse is a pretty face but wooden with no lines to perform and appears a terrible mismatch with Mammootty.
The technical sides of the movie are also poor. In the initial reels till the interval, pitiable knowledge about grading or a grave technical error seems to have made it a darkly lighted film.And a few gimmicks attempted by editor V Saajan, don’t work out well, as the preceding scenes itself don’t interests us.The much hyped music department by James Vasanthan, fails to give enjoyable songs.The rerecording is inconsistent throughout, and are often irritating and annoying, taking out the charms of the scenes, if any.
On the whole, ‘Doubles’ is a poor show all the way. The script and the direction disappoints to such a level that it may not even sound a good looking film for the hard core fans of the megastar.

Rating—5/10

Welcome to the crazy, funny and outlandish world of ‘China town’for this vacation season. The much hyped movie from Rafi-Mecartin and Aashirwaad films, with the best of the comic timers of Mollywood – Mohanlal, Jayaram and Dileep works out to their name in the former half, but the poor second half and a half baked script with poor making mar the prospects of the movie from becoming a big hit.
The movie opens with a flashback of 1986, planted in Goa where four friends- Xavier, David, Jayakrishnan, Gomez and their family are leading a happy life, running a casino. But a drug dealer turned politician, Gowda plays foul and kills three of the friends while their children lead by Gomez somehow manages to escape from the land. Twenty five Years later, Gomez (Captain Raju) is now back to Goa to teach Gowda a lesson and to gift the children of his friends with the ownership a new casino. For that he manages to bring together Xavier’s son Mathukutty,(Mohanlal) who is now a known goonda at Idukki, and Jayakrishanan’s son Binoy , a hyper romantic drunkard with David’s son Zakharaia who is ready to do anything for money. More over, Gomez also secretly informs the police about the drugs stock in the casinos owned by Gowda, leading to continuous raids in later’s warehouses and loss of around hundred crores of stuff. The movie takes a different route as Gowda who is contesting the elections accidentally identities the three youngsters as his former enemy’s sons.
To give the credit where it’s due, most of the jokes in the former half involving Mohanlal, Dileep and Jayaram brings a smile on your face, with the opening reels emerging swift and racy.And by the interval, you smell a big hit like the duo’s former ‘Hello’.But the problem with the movie is that the direction and treatment are inconsistent and uneven – energetic at times; lack luster at places and treats the viewer like a nitwit, with zero brains. The attitudes seems to be that, no-brainier comedies have worked and this one will work too. The characters are cardboardish and one dimensional with jokes and the goings-on that may appear silly. But as long as one feels positive and wears smiles even after the show, nothing else seems to matter. Remember, ‘China Town’ is never meant to be a thinking man’s film.The absence of a tight screenplay which largely refreshes itself from English mvoie ‘Hangover’, makes the film fall like a pack of cards.There are no more surprises in the later half which becomes pretty predictable, with a climax that is logicless and weak.
In the acting side, Mohanlal is once again in his comic best repeating the fares again. There’s no saturation point as far as the timing and acting ease of this actor is concerned. He just holds your attention in every sequence, irrespective of how strong or wreak the scene is. Even the small dialogues like ‘Ente don glass’ bring the house down with chuckles. Jayaram complements Lal in most of the scenes, with his best line in the movie being the varied tones of ‘Ninte mole’ in the phone sequences with the state minister. Dileep appears good in the former half, mimic the popular drunkard comedies of ‘Ayyapa baiju’ most of the times, but in the later half he fails to evoke any interest. Suraj, as usual, has some good scene stealers, and is much better than his recent outings. The meatier scenes are all reserved for man, with the ladies led by kavya having nothing more to do than appear pretty and walk around.
In the technical side, Azhakkappan’s camera work aptly supplements the festive mood of Goa and the narratives, and so is the editing by Don Max. The visual effects in the songs and sequences also needs special mention.But the amateur works of the art director in many sequences and poor selection of costumes for many artists fails to bring in the chic feel that Lal’s previous flicks like ‘Chottamumbai’ remarkably displayed. The songs by Jassie Gift are up to the moods of the films with the pick being ‘Arikil ninnalum ‘, but Rafi-Mecartin’s picturisation of ‘Aaraunu koottu’ was the best. The rerecording by Rajamani failed to make any impact.
On the whole, ‘Chinatown’ has a thoroughly entertaining first hour, but the weak writing in its post-interval portions asking you to leave-your-brains-at-home prevents the movie from becoming an altogether appreciable work.At the Box Office, the movie will have a very good first week, but the subsequent weeks will need heavy promotions to sail through. Anyhow, ‘China Town’ is prescribable for a one time watch, much to enjoy the comic timing of its lead cast.

Santosh Sivan’s ‘Urumi’ is a beautifully set revenge drama, weaved around the tales of attempted assassination of Portuguese sailor Vasco Da Gama.One of the highest budgeted movies of recent times in Mollywood, it is undoubtedly a modern day masterpiece with all round perfection in casting, performance and technical aspects.
Though this period drama extends to around three hours, ‘Urumi’ is crafted in such a way that it inspires and let you with it in the entire proceedings. The movie succeeds in avoiding regular cliches and uninteresting plot points.
The movie opens in the present century where a carefree youth named Krishna Das gets an irresistible offer to sell his ancestor land. While he embarks to kerala to sign the related records, he realizes the stories about his ancestors and about the fiery feats they had taken to keep their homeland free of invaders. And in the flashback we are introduced to the courageous fighter( Arya) who is killed for his plans to eliminate the viceroy, Vasco Da Gama, of Portuguese empire. His son Chirakkal Kelu Nayanar now gets ready for renege, making an ‘Urumi’ with the ornaments of innocents who was burnt alive when going to Mecca. The massacre was executed according to the order from Vasco da Gama. Kelu Naynar with his close Muslim friend from childhood Vavvali (Prabhu Deva) also get the support of princess Ayesha (Genelia) who is also plotting to fight the foreign invaders led by Vasco Da Gama.The film goes on tell whether they succeeding their mission to eliminate the threat from Indian soil.
The scripts of the movie by Shankar Ramakrishnan, telling the events in between the second and third visit of Vasco Da Gama to India, is straight to the task. In the many highlights of the movie is the controlled dialogues which never boast a lot about freedom struggles. You cannot find any manipulated talks to boost heroism and no gimmicks in editing.The movie succeeds in throwing some realistic inputs into the life of ancient heroes shot in original looking locales. The director in Santhosh Sivan has been able to etch out the best from his carefully selected cast.Prithviraj is mesmerising as Kelu Naynar and lives up to the difficult demands of the role. In fact, this remains the best of the performances from Prithviraj, till date.Prabhudeva in an equally important role makes a cakewalk through lighter scenes and makes his Mollywood debut a celebration. Same is the case of Genelia , who is cast in a role that she will treasure for long. She is exceptional in the entire sequences , especially in the Kalaripayattu scene. Her looks and controlled performances gives the air of the mature actor that she has transformed into. Nithya Menen, Jagathy , Amol Gupte, and Alex, looks very effective in their roles. The cameos by Arya, Vidhya Balan and Tabu are also impressive.
The music director of the movie Deepak Dev have succeeded in giving immense richness to the soundtracks with his songs and background scores, set in epic proportions. All of his songs comes up in the right places . The technical crew including editing by Sreekar Prasad and camera department headed by the director, has given the best of the outputs, which are hard to describe in words. So is the case of the art director, Makeup team lead by Renjith Ambadi and costume designer Eka Lakhani who seems to be in the running for the Nation’s best accolades in the coming National awards, for their contributions to this movie..
All in all ,’Urumi’ is a must watch for all those who love quality cinema. Redefining the traditional qualities of period dramas, ‘Urumi’ is sure to become a movie that will be respected and adored by Mollywood for its creative panache, tremendous performances and great technical wizardry.

Urumi Video Songs

Urumi Audio Songs

Urumi Mp3 Download

Shaji Kailas in his attempt to make a sequel (or can we call it a remake) to Sibi Malayil’s twenty year old hit ‘August 1′, has managed to keep the feel of the original in its entire length, but the poor writing and lack of needed thrills has made it a pale imitation of the original.
The movie has Mammootty again in the role of Perumal, a senior officer with the Crime branch. He is now entrusted with the mission of finding the culprits behind the poisoning of the State Chief Minister Vasudevan, (Nedumudi Venu) who is now in a critical condition in hospital. The C M is in logger heads with the party secretary (Saikumar as a Pinarayi look alike) and also with the lottery and sand mafia. As with the original, there arrives the professional killer (this time, it is Siddhique) and the rest is predictable.
Though Shaji Kailas has resorted not to repeat the heavy presentations as in ‘Baba kalyani ‘or ‘Red chillies’, S N Swamy’s scripts have all the mistakes that he had made in his recent investigative movies. The loopholes and illogical sequences in the scripts are numerous, much of which could have been made better with a little more care.The movie’s slow pacing acts as a deterrent and everything that the writer keeps as big secrets is revealed much earlier. The big twist in the end that has become a routine in S N Swamy movies, didn’t measure up to the expectations which is also unearthed much before by viewers.The dialogues are another big letdown, which don’t work as expected. In the camera department, Pradeep Nair goes the Shaji Kailas way with a lot of extreme close ups and cutaways, included liberally.
In the acting side, Mammootty as Perumal, the CBCID, looks good with sunglasses always on, and in the Royal Enfield shots.His slow motion walks accompanied with the loud BGM may appeal to the fans, but leaves nothing fresh for the actor to experiment on, though his war of words with his superior officers and scene in the party secretary’s house are well and good. Lalu Alex as his senior officer Peter Zachariah garners much of the applause for his comic timing .Siddhique is ok as the professional killer with a different look, but is nowhere near the feat achieved by Captain Raju in the original. Meghna Raj and Shwetha Menon as the lead female characters find more space in the posters of the movie that in the movie.
On the whole, ‘August 15′ may fare a little better than ‘ Drona 2010′ but may not help Shaji Kailas or S N Swamy to bounce back with a hit.Prescribed only for the big fans of the megastar who still likes him walking handsome in slow motions and routine investigative stuffs.

August 15 Video Song

August 15 Stills

Ace scriptwriters Uday K Thomas-Sibi K Thomas and senior director Joshy has faithfully repeated their trademark recipes that made the big hit ‘Twenty:20′ for their new multistarrer ‘Christian Brothers’. And evidently the movie has turned out into a power packed entertainer with plenty of thrills, songs and other masala fares.
The movie as expected presents its four heroes in their stylish avatars, voicing punchlines and engaging in well choreographed action sequences.
‘Christian Brothers’ has superstar Mohanlal as Christie alias ‘Sherson’, the elder brother of Jojy (Dileep), Jessy (Lakshmi Gopalaswamy) and Stella (Kaniha) who belongs to the wealthy and eminent Palamattam Tharavadu. Christie and Jojy but failed to be in the mould and interests of their famous father Capt. Varghese Mappilai (Sai Kumar), the former turning into a police informer based in Mumbai, and the later opting out of priest hood after falling in love with Meenakshi (Kavya Madhavan), the daughter of State home minister.
The movie doesn’t take time for a safe landing with issues addressed from the minute one, ranging from deals of land mafia, murder of upright village officer Kochuthoma (Jagathy Sreekumar), and the opponents led by Thampy (Vijayaraghavan) and his sons, including the I PS officer (Biju Menon), the kidnapping of Meenakshi and much more.
The only problem with the movie seems to be that it has nothing ground breakable about its plot and also its length which extends to a little more than three hours. But Siby K Thomas and Uday Krishna have deftly handled the complicated plot most of the time, with twists after twists coming up in every twenty minutes, of which some are predictable. Though some of the tracks remind you of Hindi and Tamil thrillers, the immense experience of director Joshy in doing justice to vintage formulas, manages to pull it off to a safe entertainer. The later half appear a little dragging at times, though the drama keeps you hooked and viewers won’t find the pace slackened in the most of the presentations.
The technical aspects are also fine with Anil Nair’ making some good visuals and Deepak Dev’ churning in some good songs, though the one that pops up in the later half seems misplaced and unwarranted…
In the acting side, the movie is embellished with fairly good performances, though it may appear customary for the regulars of masala flicks. Mohanlal has a perfect commercial opening in the New Year as Christie, with all traits of a superhero and admirable mannerisms. His dialogue delivery and action are as usual, fine. The movie has everything for the Lal fans to celebrate, except for an average introduction.
The other star who impresses much is Sureshgopi, in his regular avatar like his role of ‘Twenty:20′. Dileep repeats his trademark act while Tamil star Sarath Kumar, though in a short role is effective. The heroines looks pretty but don’t have much to do, though Kaniha appears to be the best among them. Sai Kumar, Vijayaraghavan, Suresh Krishna, Biju Menon, Devan and Jagathy Sreekumar are apt in their roles. Salim Kumar and Harisree Asokan try their best to create some fun but with limited success, while Suraj repeats his antics which fails to make the viewers merry.
‘Christian Brothers’ is a definite prescription for all lovers of heavy masala fares of Mollywood. At the box-office, ‘Christian Brothers’ will have a good opening and may end up as ‘more than a safer hit’ in days to come!

Christian Brothers Video Songs

Christian Brothers Audio Songs

Christian Brothers Mp3 Download

Christian Brothers Movie Stills

As every new comers come up with movies that promise to be different, a small fraction of Mollywood viewers still make a try at the theatres to check whether this one has lived up to expectations.Most of the time, the results will be dismal ‘no’ and this ‘Puthu Mughangal’ is also not of any hope, but another poor attempt on film making.
The movie opens with the every patterns of regular campus flicks, the introduction of three lead players, the arrival of freshers, the regular couple of songs and dances, fights with juniors and the lady gang, all but happening in an Agricultural university campus. Then there are some teachers in Renjitha, Lalu Alex and Geetha Vijayan who sometimes give a feel of more immature than their students. The fight between all boy and girl gangs ultimately ends up in the lead three, thrown out of the campus. To get back into the frame, the only thing they must do is by proving their innocence in a junior assault case, that the threesome swear to have done by some others. To find the junior guy, Ajith, who had posted the complaint against them and to know the reality behind the incidents, they proceed into his village named peringottukara, where a totally different fate awaits them.
The movie walks on a terribly poor script lines and sequences which are visualised badly. With the numerous stories and parallel tracks running concurrently, the writer seems to have taken the viewers for granted and divert and deflect your attention, driving away from the main plot. The direction by the debutant duo Don Alex-Biju Majeed is, to put it mildly, dismal and directionless. The cinematography is another poor link which rarely moves over the qualities of a television soap. The songs and a few girls are there as heroines which hardly adds any good to the proceedings.
In the acting front, much of the performances are average to the best. Ameer, as bablu, may find some supporters for his intensity and action scenes. Some in the rest of the cast make use of the opportunity while others including the lead girls and late actor Sainudeen’s son wastes the opportunity.
The film has precious little to offer in terms of substance, which will curtail its prospects to a major extent. ‘Puthu Mughangal’ just does not connect with the younger generation who are expected to be its viewers. On the whole, the movie has dim prospects.

Puthumughangal Video Songs

Puthumughangal Mp3 Download

Puthumughangal Audio Songs

Viji Thampi is known to be one of the best technicians of current day Mollywood. But his fancy for the heroes of the past and repetition of stale story lines and disastrous comedies may land him in turmoil, if he is not ready to go for refreshing his capabilities with quality scripts. ‘Natakame Ulakam’ is one such movie that stoops down with poor show all the way, all set to end up in another disaster due to its inane scripts and poor attempts on comedy.
The movie has Mukesh as Omanakuttan, a sincere cooperative bank manager, living a happy life with his wife and only daughter. Though an ardent dramatist and theatrical activist he gets very less opportunity to show off his talents. And when ever he catches one, he will take over the show as the director, scripter and even the lead artist. He has only one dream-of being in at least one cinema at some point of his life. He faces tough rebukes from his father in law-’Labham Lambodharan Pillai’ (Jagathy Sreekumar) for this care free attitude.
The arrival of Pavanan Parassala (Suraj Venjaramoodu), who presents himself as one of the assistants of Steven Spielberg ,presently planning to debut into Malayalam films becomes a turning point in the life of Omanakuttan. He is now selected as the hero, producer and scriptwriter of the movie. But within days he realises that Pavanan is a fraud incapable of shorting a single scene. Now Omanakuttan is faced with the task of somehow completing the movie that he has already started.
Into these chaos is the side track involving Murali (Vinoo Mohan), Omanakuttan’s younger brother who is in love with Nandhana (Saranya) the girl from the same village, now selected as the heroine of the movie produced by Omanakuttan. Murali’s attempts to somehow thwart the movie production, to bring back Nandhana to his life creates further problems to Omanakuttan who is already in great financial debt, following his fancies with film.
If you are surprised with the similarity of the plot with that of Mammootty’s recent ‘Best Actor’, there will be hundreds of new questions if you have watched the film. With a very shaky script which doesn’t ell out a believable scene, the movie also fails to present anything in narrative style or sequences that is fresh. The screenplay is devoid of drama and what you watch is a repetition and reflection of sequences that you watched in many movies of the past. And the predictable climax that is quite filmy, doesn’t move you one bit. Even the comedies are of low brow and attempts by Jagadheesh and co to add some interests into the proceedings fails terribly. Believe me, Suraj in the later half earnestly receives alt-least a twenty slaps on face from different characters, in his attempt to make you laugh at least a couple of times, while Salimkumar tries his very best with a grand gala parade of double entendres..
The performances side are usual and mediocre with none in the cast having a role that they can treasure. Mukesh sleepwalks in another regular role while others including Jagdheesh, Jagathy Sreekumar and Bindhu Panikkar are cast in their regular roles.
Johnson’s music is as not so exciting as the script while Anil Nair has tried his best to capture and grade quality visuals.
All in all, Viji Thampi, who had made at least a dozen of well created comedies will realize that comedy is quite a difficult emotion to create on celluloid, if it is backed by poor script lines. ‘Natakame Ulakam’ thus ends as a light entertainer with comedy attempts witnessed umpteen times in the past. At the box-office, lack of publicity and ordinary merits is sure to add to its woes.

After that not much successful ‘Pachamarathanalil’, young director Leo Thaddhevoos is back with a new offering ‘Payyans’. The movie promoted as a trendy flick actually has some nice moments, but they are few and far in-between.
The movie clearly inspired from the Russian flick ‘The Return’, packs in a lot in the former half to look as a desy stuff ( In fact leo’s ‘ Pachamarathanalil’ was also an intelligent ripoff of Maniratnam’s ‘Kannathil Muthamittal’) . Payyans has Jayasuriya in the title role as Josy, a lazy lad who doesn’t want to try too hard to make a living. Unable to complete his engineering due to consistent failures in a few papers, he takes life a little too easy and lives in a huge bungalow, with his mother Padma (Rohini). His dad John Varghese, a marine engineer is said to have died in an attack by the LTTE, when Josy was three years old.
Padma finds it too hard to make ends meet as she had taken a huge loan for Josy’s studies and for buying the bunglow, that was a dream home of Josy’s dad. After much insistence from his mother, Josy takes up as job as a radio jockey and there he falls in love with Seema (Anjali) , a sound engineer in the same FM. But certain incidents towards the midway forces Josy to move out of his home, leaving his mother alone and within a few days he finds her resting in the ICU unit of the hospital, yearning for life. The second half is totally different from the former in storylines where our irresponsible youth is forced to come of age and turn mature than ever. The pacing and looks in this half is more composed and appealing, though the climax looks a little hurried. But the problem with the movie is that the director who is also credited with the scripts, lacks the consistency in writing. Actually, the story appear disjointed at times in the attempts to fill in the sequences that force laughter. The former half reminds you of ‘ Ivar Vivaahithrayaal’ in Jayan’s character constructions. It’s this try for the formulaic component, to inject humour and to push in the preachy message, that robs the quality off this film. Had Leo struck to being more factual without that pointless dumb comedies, ‘Payyans’ would’ve been a far more convincing and persuasive effort than it is in its present form.
Jayasurya once again fits the role like a ‘T’ and manages to save some sequences with his timing. Anjali, who lands into Mollywood after her much approved performance in the Tamil hit Angaditheru, has got a role that is not worth remembering. She appears to have gained much weight but looks pretty for the insignificant role. Lal as a strict father enacts his role perfectly while Rohini also make an impressive performance in her role. Suraj Venjarammoodu repeats his trademark pranks but Janardhanan, Pakru and others are wasted in undemanding roles.
In the technical side, S G Raman’s visuals are fine while a couple of songs by Alphonse’ are foot tapping and good, visualised in an effective manner. Payyans is a movie that may not work extremely well at the Box Office. But if marketed well, the movie has the potential to bring back the money spent on it. Will be more effective if marketed as a family flick.