Bangalore days!!

The movie with many young actors, the movie which pairs up the engaged couple Fahadh and Nazriya for the first time, the movie scripted and directed by Anjali Menon, will obviously be much awaited. So, I, along with my eleven friends went to watch Bangalore Days on the first day not really sure about getting the tickets. But we did! Well, it was my first experience of watching a movie on the releasing day and I thoroughly enjoyed it. 

So basically BD is about three cousins whose life takes twists and turns in the city of Bangaloooru. Kuttan (Nivin Pauly) is the narrator with mind and soul in Kerala, working as a software engineer, Nazriya plays Divya, a commerce graduate who gets married to Das (Fahadh Fazil, who else?),  Arjun ( *drooling* Dulqar Salmaan) is a carefree youngster and the coolest of all. We also get to see Isha Talwar, Nithya Menon and Parvathy Menon in fresh avatars. All of them get to play equally important roles different from what they have done so far. The leads have also become successful in creating magic with their bonding. The supporting cast (Kalpana, Praveena, Maniyanpilla Raju, Prathab Pothen and many others) has also done a remarkable job.

Another big factor of this movie is the director herself. Anjali Menon’s films seem to carry the guarantee of full “paisa vasool”. BD is sure to follow the hit of Usthad Hotel. On a personal note, I think she is one of the few inspirational women that Kerala could be proud of. Inspite of being a mother to a toddler, she manages to do all of things, that too with much perfection. Anwar Rasheed produces the movie on the banner of ARE. Songs and bankground score is skillfully handled by Gopi Sunder (Still humming to the tunes of Mangalyam thandunanena… 😀 ).  and cinematography by Sameer Thahir.

Bangalore days is a family entertainer (which passed the censor with a clear U certificated) and it should be preferably watched with friends (or cousins!). All the anticipation for the movie has not gone wasted. It is indeed a fun watch and it has got a lot for us to think too. (Did I say I found it a family satire?)

 

Not AGAIN!

I’m tired of watching, aren’t they tired of making them?

I’m talking about the soap operas, the many in number with a single theme. All of them are about the saas- bahu (Ammayiamma- marumakal or the mother-in-law – daughter in law) relationship. For the Indian housewives, this is a way of relaxing. But actually, watching all these rolling down-of-tears, abusive words and foul plays only make them all the more exhausted. Still they watch.

Everywhere, it is the DIL who is the prey and MIL the predator. Why isn’t the DIL fighting back, which is actually the reality?

The one who does good is not trusted but the troublemaker is the apple of the eyes.

The serials which began with a social theme are the ones which promote abortions and dowry.

We need a CHANGE man!

Njanapana by Poonthanam Namboothiri

I don’t exactly remember when and how I got introduced to this wonderful book. As I look back, I remember a little Murmuring Mind trying to read it in the most rhythmic tune. Somehow, the lyrics made sense even in that age. As I mentioned in my earlier posts about my “quest” for spiritual insight, I recently felt a sudden urge to read through the whole book all over again. Failing to find the hard copy, I downloaded both the audio (famously sung by P.Leela) and the manuscript. Here’s why.

Unlike other religious texts, this one contains not “rules” of life, but “facts”. The author here tells (or rather, reminds) us of the behavioural, spiritual and physical aspects of living, that too in the simplest way possible.

Poonthanam is believed to be an ardent devotee of Lord Krishna who penned this book in an attempt to relieve from the loss of his only child.  And so he asks himself “the need to have children when the Lord himself is residing in mind”.

He also urges the readers (or listeners) to give importance to intellectual status instead of caste. This is not something we expect from a religious text which was written much before India became India and “secularism” and “equality” found a place in the Indian Constitution.

While most of the other religious books are written in Sanskrit, this is in my mother tongue. So that makes it easier to understand and comprehend. Again, this text doesn’t tell us how to live, but are the facts which we know, but often forget.

I don’t know if the text has been translated to any other languages. For all those who can understand Malayalam, THIS is my recommendation of the month.

Late Poonthanam Namboothiri, take a bow!

Amen: a movie review

Fahadh Fazil is a rockstar. His return to film industry after a disastrous debut was over whelming. He made all of them who criticized him of his horrible acting, his fans. Well… I am among them. He also proved that it is okay to take second chances and make things right. Wow!

“Amen” was one of his movies of 2013 which received tremendous response. All the people who watched it gave good reviews about the movie and I think it was commercially successful too. Most of my friends who watched it in the theatre even recommended me to go and watch it. All these were enough for me to intensely long to watch it. Unfortunately, it remained a forbidden movie to me till yesterday. Unable to hold on to my curiosity, I researched about the film extensively and even read the story, as I didn’t have any plans of downloading he movie till yesterday. So, I downloaded the torrent of ‘Amen’ from kickass.to and it took around four complete hours for them to download it. Better late than never, I sat down to watch it.

Here’s the charming priest- Indrajith

 

 

Amen, the 2013 Malayalam movie is directed by the debutant Lijo Jose Pallissery. The tag line ‘a divine comedy’ adds to our expectations. It is a simple story of simple people living in a very simple village which has the church of St. George. One of the three protagonists is Solomon (aptly played by Fahadh) who has very low regard infront of the villagers and his own sister. His moral supporter is his sweetheart Shoshanna (the fish- eyed Swati) who is really to go any extra mile for her love, including pouring curry on the head of own father. Another character is Fr. Vincent Vattolli, who is simply the most charming among the three. He is the soul of this movie and I have never seen Indrajith in a better role (except in Classmates). I hope there isn’t any real priest around here; it would hard for the girls to resist his charm! Lijo Lose won awards for his directorial debut but may be because I expected more, I am really not satisfied with the story and editing. It could have been a little more simplified, rather than focusing on minor things. Throughout the movie, I had doubts regarding relationships, who’s whom, how it is connected to this, why he is here etc. Most of the actors being experienced seemed to blend well but there seemed some confusion among them too. Ignoring all the mistakes owing to his first attempt, I think Lijo is someone to stay. He has the dialogues scripted well in almost all places and the music is terrific too. Fahadh and Swati share a cute chemistry. Prashant Pillai surely has given his best with his different style of music, exactly what was required for the picture. Kalabhavan Mani, Rajesh Hebbar, Rachana Narayanankutty, Nandu and others have shined in their roles.

As a whole, it’s a feel- good movie to watch without any expectations and light heart. Why, it is a divine comedy and it will have a charm of its own.

P.S. I thought “ee solomonum shoshannayum” was the catchiest song in the movie, but I liked the title song, “oshana” better.