Malayalam Cinema

Cast:    Srikanth, Parvathy
Direction:    Sasi
Music:    S S Kumaran

Quality entertainers are a rarity in Tamil cinema. Amidst run-of-the-mill clichés, rarely comes a movie with sensitive portrayals. There are very few directors in Tamil Cinema who have the capacity to dabble with both mainstream and commercial cinema to perfection. Director Sasi is one of the very few talents who has made a name for himself with movies that portray emotions while at the same time entertaining the masses.

Sasi joins hands with actor Srikanth after ‘Rojakootam’ for a movie titled ‘Poo’, which is set in a rustic milieu. Sasi is making this film with a couple of technicians on debut — Visual Communication student P G Muthiah, who has apprenticed under the likes of Ravi K Chandran and Ravivarman, wields the camera. Adyar Film Institute product, S S Kumaran is being introduced as the music composer. Popular Malayalam actress Parvathy Milton makes her debut in Tamil with ‘Poo’.

The film is based on S. Thamizh Selvan’s novel ‘Veyyilodu Poi’. According to director Sasi, ‘Poo’ is a family drama set in a village and that he has shot extensively in Thirunelveli and other parts of Tamilnadu.

Says Sasi, ‘the novel captures the heart and soul of rustic life in Rajapalayam and will most definitely give the feeling of having read the novel’. On his star cast, Sasi says, ‘I share a good rapport with Srikanth right from the ‘Rojakootam’ days. I still wonder what is preventing the actor from making it really big in cinema. Parvathi has a great passion for cinema and her dedication to excel in the role is amazing’.

Sasi’s previous release was ‘Dishoom’ and it has been quite some time before he started work with ‘Poo’.

‘By nature I start things rather slowly. But then once I conceive a storyline, I start work with utmost sincerity.’

Prominent corporate house Moser Baer has produced the movie and plans are on to release it on the 21st of November.

”Poo’ is a combination of strong emotions and powerful characterizations. All the characters speak for themselves’, said Sasi recently. ‘Every artiste has contributed their best in the movie. It is a team effort and is sure to bring us rich rewards’.

Heaping laurels on Srikanth and Parvathy, he said, ‘both are talented artistes in Tamil cinema. They have performed with ease and élan. It is indeed a great delight for me to be involved in such a project’.

Moser Baer has been right on target churning out quality movies that appeal to the artistic side of audiences. This indeed is a very refreshing change. Let’s hope their latest venture ‘Poo’ strengthens this wonderful trend.

Cast:    Narain, Pooja, Sudheesh, Geetha, Madhu, Janardanan, Rami Reddy
Direction:    M A Venu
Production:    J P
Music:    Alex Paul

At a time when popular Malayalam actor Narain has managed to establish a place for himself in Tamil cinema, comes the Tamil remake of his recent Malayalam hit ‘Pandhaya Kozhi’ to cash in on his fame. This movie is quite different from his earlier ‘Chithiram Pesuthadi’ and ‘Anjathe’. It packs all the essential commerciality to keep the audiences’ attention intact.

Pandhaya Kozhi is trusted entirely upon the hero and its Narain’s show all the way. The young actor has left no stones unturned - he evokes laughter, runs around trees romancing the heroine and flexes his muscles to take out the goons.

The movie is a typical commercial entertainer seemingly inspired by the Tamil movies of the early 2000. A one liner - a young man (Narain), tackles a whole lot of tussles that is imposed upon him by the baddies and his triumph over the odds forms the plot.

The storyline starts with Narain dwelling at the mercy of his greedy uncle along with his widowed mother (Geetha) and sister (Ramya Nambeesan). The family has no place to go and they are forced to bear the hardships evoked by the man.

His only comfort is among his group of friends (Sudhish, Sreejit Ravi and Anoop Chandran), who are dedicated buddies and willing to do anything for their friendship. On an uneventful day, his family Madhu who is on the way for a Haj pilgrimage informs him about his father Raghavan (Lal) who was a forest officer.

He also comes to know that his father owned a big bungalow in Kalimuthupalayam and sets of to settle in the place with his family. Yet, fate again plays its cards for he couldn’t exist in peace because of Nachiappan (Raami Reddy), an influential goon. In the meantime, Narain gets acquainted with a young girl (Pooja) and falls in love with her. The rest is about his efforts to eliminate the villain and gain his own property.

Narain comes up with a good performance, while Pooja is impressive as an innocent village girl. The character artists Geetha, Rami Reddy, Cochin Haneefa and Ramya Nambeesan gave a performance that is required for their roles.

On a final note, the plot, characters, narration are all good and have no notable flaws. No doubt Tamil cinema is greatly inspired by the Tamil films. Pandhaya Kozhi is a classy example to it. Director Venu has delivered with the right of commercial elements that strike the appropriate chord. The movie is thoroughly entertaining and is a good watch.

Cast:    Mammootty, Mohanlal, Suresh Gopi, Dileep, Jayaram, Prithviraj, Jayasurya, Indrajith, Boban Kunchakko, Nayantara
Direction:    Joshy

‘Twenty: 20’ and its makers were there all over the net, news channels, and other media for quite some time.   This mother of multistarrer ” being the most hyped movie of our times, there is only one big question to answer….   Does it live up to the expectations? The answer is a big ‘YES’.

As usual with every other movie industry, every top actor’s coming together for a single movie is an occasion of big business and celebration… Here too ,it definitely does that ….and that too  in a prodigious   manner…Though the movie on a  simple  well made palette of circuitous  script is a piece of mindless entertainment, it rightly is  the Mollywood  masala in its truest form, and of course in its best.

Apart from its primary purpose of entertaining to the helm ‘Twenty: 20’ doesn’t hold anything great for those who want to burrow deep into the layers. But definitely, that was the least expected from a movie of this magnitude and stars.

The story starts with the  retired supreme court Justice Viswanatha Menon (Madhu)  who lands at his ancestral home to have his vishu celebrations with his children (Siddhique, Vijayaraghavan, Sindhumenon)  and grandchildren.

The big joint family is all set to celebrate the weekend, assembling from many places, but the family’s weekend plans gets pale with Menon’s grandson ”Arun” (Indrajith), a medico in Bangalore, is arrested for murder by the tough upright city police commissioner Antony Punnakkadan (Suresh Gopi).  Menon hires one of his favorite student and fierce lawyer Ramesh Nambiar (Mammootty) to bail him out.  Arun is safely taken care off from the court by Ramesh, but is killed in a few days.

Antony now arrests Devan (Mohanlal), a poor trader who was on an outing to Kochi. Devan’s mother (Sukumari) and sister (Kavya Madhavan) pleads for help before Remesh. And here too the ace criminal lawyer finds points to get Devan out of the jail, unscathed. But here starts the tale of twists, which continues form reel to reel for the next two hours.

What works heavily for ‘Twenty: 20’ is that it lives up to its name-just like a 20:20 match, you can’t predict what will happen in the next reels. Just when you fix this as the last twist in the tale, will arrive the next that will keep you in tight seats.

Sibi-Udhayan’s story and screenplay is definitely the biggest merit of the movie, a fine piece of work keeping intact the thriller aspirant, giving equal footage for the lead stars. Though some of the scenes in the beginning make you sound awry, there is no looking back after the arrival of the super stars.

Both of them, Mammootty and Mohanlal, has done  cool and confident presentations throughout highlighting their best sides  while Suresh Gopi steals the show many a times from below their feet. Bhavana , Dileep, Manoj K Jayan, Madhu, Siddhique  and Jayaram also have some solid characterizations, which they have done extremely well .

Much of the other 55 stars of the movie are reduced to minuscule roles, though it may not offend the fans who are there to watch the biggies in action. The screenwriters also have taken care to prepare apt character mix for each of the big stars that suit their screen image and invite continuous applause from their fans.

Technically too, the movie is well done with excellent camerawork from P Sukumar , though some of the action sequences are outdated. But the veteran director Joshy has showcased his experience in camouflaging some loopholes in the plot with a racy, intense narratives and including loads of one liner in every scenes.

The lavish production values, interesting costumes ,  packaging  and off course slick editing from Renjan Abraham  has made the three hour movie ,devoid of  much dull moments .

The only letdown of the movie is the music and songs department, though the crew has visualized every song with brilliance, to make up for the loss.

If you are a fan of commercial cinema, ’Twenty: 20’ will definitely carry you with its exuberance. All in all, a masala movie ,that delivers what it promises .This is not definitely for those who are  looking for more meanings from every shots.

Cast:    Mammootty, Padmapriya
Direction:    Shaji N Karun
Music:    Isaac Thomas Kottukapally

For all  those who are in the view that Mammootty has been caring less for his illustrious career ,with being in  silly looking films for a while ‘,this is a good news. His first movie with world renowned director Shaji N Karun, is shaping up well. The second schedule of this movie ‘Kuttyshranku’ was completed at Kollam  and everyone including the megastar is thrilled with the experiences in the film.

Kutty Shranku’s plot uses the itineraries of magical realism, to tell the life of Kutty, (the character played by Mammootty) ,through the memories of three women.The story takes place in three decades in three different islands , where kuttyshranku , a boat driver  with no whereabouts ,enters into relationship with three  women.

The movie has three heroines used as surrealistic impressions of the spirituality of Buddhism, interest in the art forms and other human concerns .Bengali actress Kamalinee Mukherjee, Padmapriya and Meenakumari, a Srilankan actress don the three female leads as the sister of nataka asan Pemena, a mute Kali and revamma, who is a Buddhist. The story is told through the viewpoints of these three heroines, who after the death of Kutty, remember him. Padmapriya who appears a Buddhist monk in the film is going to appear with a bald head in the third schedule of shoot.

Mammootty is working for the first time with Shaji as a director, though Shaji had worked as a cameraman in Mammootty flicks like ‘Koodevide’ and ‘Arappatta kettiya Gramam’. Mammootty  who appears in three different get ups in the movie takes this character as a challenge and  is in all praise for the director .”We have found some form of chemistry which has worked well for the film”, says Mammootty . ”Shaji has a special knack in getting the best out of me and so I am working overtime, learning the steps of ‘chavittu natakam’ and even crooning a song in my own voice ”.

Mammootty also sang a ‘chavittu natakam’ based song ‘Karikkutty..ente kalel’ set to music by Issac Thomas Kottukappally, for the film. Shaji has already shot the visuals of this song, in the first schedule which was shot at Kumarakom.

Scripted by P F Mathews, the movie also has Sai Kumar, Siddique, Suresh Krishna, Amit, Kozhikode Sharadha, and Rajeev Kalamasserry in other important roles. The movie also is the debut venture of cinematographer Anjali Shukla, a former assistant to Santosh Sivan. Anjali’s camera is said to be one of the highlights of ‘Kutty Shranku’ which is being shot utilizing the different climatic ambiance of the state.

‘Kutty Shranku’ produced by reliance entertainments in the  banner of Big Pictures will be aiming for international accolades, rightly so from a crew that is well experienced in the making of master creations and one that had been always showered with awards in the past. With the teaming up of a great  director, lead actors and  the supporting cast , the movie is expected to end up as a great work, which will be always remembered as a classic.

Cast:    Kunchakko Boban, Prithviraj, Jayasurya, Roma, Bhavana
Direction:    Shafi
Production:    Anto Joseph

Hitmaker Shafi, fresh from his last years super hits ‘Mayavi’ and ‘Chocolate’ is back, with another movie with a big young cast. Apart from his hit leads of ‘Chocolate’ - Prithviraj   and Jayasuriya,  Shafi is also bringing back  the romantic hero ‘Kunchakko Boban ‘ back to tinsel town  with this movie tiled ‘Lolipop’.

The movie has Prithviraj as Franco, who runs an automobile workshop at Fort Kochi. He is a freaky youth who takes all strides to enjoy the life to its fullest. He shares a special bonding with his only sister  Jennifer, who are more like friends .Franco and Jennifer  have lost their parents at very younger stages of their life, and to avoid being left lonely at any further stage of their life, they have even decided to find their match in life, only after mutual approval  .

Kunchakko Boban plays Aby, a junior Doctor of the hospital near Franko’s workshop. Jayasuriya is Francis, a mechanic at Franco’s workshop. He was an expert in pick pocketing and fraudulent ways, till he met Franco. But now Francis, called as Panchy is a different man with all good maneuvers.

All the party gets spoiled when Franco falls in love with Rosebella (Bhavana). Franco fears that since he couldn’t keep his word with his sister, she may object to his relationship. But Franco doesn’t realize that Jennifer is already in similar dilemmas as she got attracted to Dr.Aby.

Rajan P Dev plays Rosebella`s dad, Chandikunju, who runs a finance company. Though he is having a worse relationship with Dr. Aby`s dad, who was his former partner, both Rosebella and Aby are thick friends, who never care about their parent’s fight. Knowing Franco’s new relationship with Rosebella, Jennifer’s starts hating Rosebella. This affects Franco a lot, who tries all the ways to get the approval from his sister, which leads to a lot of interesting sequences. ‘Lolipop’ is thus a celebration of brotherhood, friendship and love, told in the scripts of hit scriptwriter Benny P Nayarambalam.

Roma plays Jennifar while Bhavana is Rosebella. And the regulars in Shafi films like Salimkumar and Suraj have got brilliant roles in ‘Lolipop’, as well. Salimkumar is Fr. Kuriakose, who is not just a priest but also a lawyer popularly called as ‘Vakkilachan’.  Suraj plays Jabbar, a worker in Franco’s workshop who is still ailing in the loss of his lover, who got married to his elder brother.

‘Lolipop’ is produced by A B S combines, the new banner formed by the three big hit names of Mollywood-Producer Anto Joseph, scriptwriter Benny P Nayarambalam, and the director Shafi. And so we can rightly expect that they have saved the best for their debut venture as producers. The movie cinematographed by Azhagappan, will have the music by Alex Paul. The movie will be a big release for this Christmas.

Cast:    Bharath, poonam Bajwa, Simran, Vadivelu
Direction:    Hari
Production:    M A Jinnah
Music:    G V Prakash

Director Hari is known for narrating race tales with right commercial mix. Much was expected from Hari’s ‘Seval’, which was touted to be a crusade against the sufferings of widows in an Indian society. Unfortunately the movie has belied all expectations as it provides a feel of deja vu and it is clichéd and very predictable.

Hari’s treatment to the screenplay reminds us of several films made some four decades ago. A sense of watching a mega serial prevails at many places. Murugesan (Bharath), a village vagabond spends most of his time with his uncle Thapal Thangavel (Vadivel), the village postman. One day Murugesan meets Parijatham (Poonam Bajwa) a Brahmin girl and falls for her.

Parijatham’s sister Gayathri (Simran) dies after leaving her infant in her sibling’s hand. At a time when her family members compel Parijatham to marry her brother-in-law, there are two others in the village lusting for the young girl.

A series of events make Murugesan to take a tough decision and sends him to prison. What’s next is the climax of this tearjerker, which becomes a damp squib by the time the film comes to an end.

Bharath manages to deliver his best. Seems to be improving movie after movie, he gets his act right. He plays a happy-go-lucky-youngster in the first half and his transformation as an angry young man for a cause in the latter half deserves a special mention.

Poonam Bajwa does her job well, while Simran manages to leave an impact in her comeback. She oozes with right energy in the movie.

Vadivelu has a major screen space as he comes almost all through the film. He is a major relief in the movie evoking laughter at several places where the screenplay starts to lag.

G V Prakash’s songs don’t strike any magic on screen. Produced by M A Jinnah, ‘Seval’ can be enjoyed in parts.

Cast:    Ajay Devgan, Arshad Warsi, Shreyas Talpade, Tusshar Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor, Anjana Sukhani, Amrita Arora, Celina Jaitley,
Direction:    Rohit Shetty

Perhaps, first word that you uttered after watching ‘Golmaal’ would have been ‘Wow, Extraordinary’. So what could be your verdict for its sequel? ‘Golmaal Returns – Alas! Merely disappointing’. An idiosyncratic flick for an individual sans sixth sense or subnormal intelligence. Golmaal made high waves for its perfect comedy timings, reasonably good jokes and moreover an emotional plot grabbed everyone’s attention. And Rohit Shetty doesn’t touch on any of these panoramas in its sequel and plainly he brims up with an unimpressive show.  Not able to sense the rigid reason how producers agreed to churn out this flick? Maybe, the successful venture with Golmaal should have instigated them to do so without even listening to its storyline…

So what makes the film so cranky? Crazy jokes not meant for family audiences and nit-witted screenplay penned by Yunus Sajawal would be the simple aspects that ascribes the term ‘Cranky’. For sure, you wouldn’t feel like appreciating screenplay at any extent. It raises a doubt how Rohit Shetty elatedly turned the superfluous pages of Yunus into Pictures.

And isn’t there anything consoling for the audience? Yup! Few scenes involving Tusshar Kapoor and Shreyas Talpade are noteworthy. Doubtlessly, you would break down with laughter with their encounters on screen but not to a greater extent.

Who steals the show? How about the alluring missies? Must be quite restless on taking answers for these queries and take a glimpse on synopsis prior to it.

Gopal (Ajay Devgan), who lives with his wife Ekta (Kareena Kapoor), sister Esha (Amrita Arora) and a dumb brother-in-law Lucky (Tusshar Kapoor), grinds to a halt in a yacht after saving an attractive woman Meera (Celina Jaitley) from some goons.

Both end up spending the nighttime on the yacht and when he comes home the next day, his distressing leery wife who is also a hardcore fan of the saas-bahu serials, smell fish.

Gopal knows it’s going to be hard to quell her suspicion so he concocts a cock-and-bull story about having stayed the night with a fictitious friend called Anthony Gonsalves. Ekta refuses to buy his yarn and writes to Anthony (on a fictitious address given to her by Gopal) asking him to visit her.

Gopal convinces his junior at work, Laxman (Shreyas Talpade) to pretend to be Anthony. Everything goes according to plan till the address to which Ekta had written to Anthony turns out to be real!

If that isn’t complication enough for Gopal, a dead body is discovered at the location where he had saved Meera. The Investigating Officer, Madhav (Arshad Warsi), who is Esha’s boyfriend and also who cannot stand the sight of Gopal, learns that the latter had been missing from home that eventful night and begins checking on him.

Well, it’s quite puzzling on makers of this flick promoting this piece of work as Biggest Comedy title of 2008. In contrast, the film is worthy getting entitled as ‘mediocre’ in terms of presentation. Bits and pieces of surprises are spotted here and there, but gets diminished with flawed screenplay lacking substance.

Leave out the prequel ‘Golmaal’ and rope in ‘Sunday’ for the context. The film was over-the-top in terms of screenplay where comedy blended with mystery-thriller savored to everyone’s tastes. Over here, it’s contrastive: you move out of theatres and get back after 20mins, there is nothing much of the essence that you could have missed.

On the terms of performance, Ajay Devgan kindles up ‘Simpatico’ breathing life on the characterization he has played.  Arshad Warsi offers nothing other than disappointments with his goofy role. Kareena Kapoor does justice to her role and Celina Jaitley depicted as a Tamilian deserves the same pat though her role isn’t so lengthy. Amrita Arora and Anjana Sukhani are there on moderate performance.

It’s Tushaar Kapoor and Shreya Talpade who steal the show turning the entire spotlights on them. Extraordinary performance by Tushaar; right from the beginning till the last minute, he scores the best. Shreyas Talpade treads with same wavelength and don’t miss their astounding action when Celina utters ‘She was the one who spend the night Ajay Devgan’. ‘Marvelous’ would be your absolute appraisals for the actors. Ashwini Kalsekar as Saawariya’s Rani Mukherji and Arshad Warsi imitating Amitabh Bachchan in Black are pretty good inducing laughter. Looks like Sanjay Leela Bhansali is Rohit Shetty’s favorite director (Ashwini Kalsekar planning to design her interiors with blue color are again a big gag).

Nothing impressive with technical aspects; neither music nor cinematography are worthy getting appreciations. Except, Neeraj Sridhar’s ‘Tha Karke’ and ‘Meow’ by Suzy Q, none of the other songs really get you high-spirited.

Cast:    Ajith, Nayantara, Navadeep, Suhasini Manirathnam, Jayaram, Suman, Nasser, M.S.Baskar, Sriman
Direction:    Raju Sundaram
Production:    Karunamoorthy, Arunpandiayan
Music:    Yuvan Shankar Raja

It was the much-expected movie, much talked about and waited with anticipation by Ajith-fans. A remake of Hindi hit Main Hoon Na, Aegan eventually proved to be a movie which is packed with punch but lacked crunch.

Doing a remake is no easy task. Choreographer-director Raju Sundaram should have understood it by now. He has tried to retain the flavour of the original, but could sustain it only in parts.

The USP of ‘Main Hoon Na’ was Farah Khan’s intelligent characterisation of Shahrukh. He was humourous and was bubbling with enthusiasm all through the film – be it romance or the stunts.

In contrast, Ajith looks a bit stiff in Aegan and gives a look that he is kind of keeping things to himself. His reminds one of the ruthless don, that he played in his last ‘Billa’. But due credit should be given to the actor for he shoulders the entire movie and comes out unscathed at many sequences.

Ajith is in full flow taking on the baddies. The role of an undercover, which is loaded with action is new for Ajith and it should be enjoyable for his fans.

The first half is entertaining loaded with humour with Jayaram hogging the limelight. In the company of Sathyan, he comes up with one-liners that is sure to tickle the funny bone. However, a tall actor like Jayaram, seems to have no significant say in the story.

Sathyan and Haneefa fit the bill well. Their situational comedy evokes boundless laughter. Nayanthara, who spelt a magic on screen opposite in Billa, seems to have missed the magic wand this time.  She manages to entice the audience in skimpy costumes and sings romantic duets at Alps mountains of Switzerland. Her character reminds one that Jyothika had enacted with charm and dignity in Khaakha Khaakha.

Coming to the clichés, there can be none but the baddie played by Suman. He reminds one of typical villains in several cinemas right from MGR days. With a funny wig, he delivers what is expected of him.

Shiva (Ajith) is a gutsy policeman, who bumps off a don in Hong Kong. A dare-devil young angry cop, he comes to Indian with a mission. He has been entrusted with the job of puytting an end to a notorious gangster John Chinappa (Suman), searched by Interpol.

John Chinnappa is behind his ex-associate Ram Prasad (Devan), who becomes an approver with police.

Fearing Chinappa, Ram goes on hiding. Shiva comes to a school in Udhagamandalam (Ooty) where Ram’s daughter Priya (Piaa) studies. Shiva disguises his identity only join the college and protect Priya. The college has Jayaram as college principal and his aide Sathyan evoking laughter.  Narain (Navdeep) studies in the same college romances Priya. Eventually it is learnt that Narain is none but Shiva’s brother. Does Shiva accomplish his task or not forms the crux.

The onscreen chemistry shared by Ajith and Nayanthara is ok. But half-a-dozen songs , a majority around the lead pair, puts brake on the movie’s progress. Yuvanshankar’s music passes the muster. The song caught on Alps is eye-catchy. Cinematographer Arjun Jena captures the action moments in a neat way without straining the eyes.

Produced by Ayngaran, the maiden attempt by Raju Sundaram reminds one of master blaster Sachin Tendulkar dismissed when nearing his century, disappointing his fans.

Cast:    Saif Ali Khan…… voiceover of a dog Romeo, Kareena Kapoor…… voiceover of a dog Laila, Javed Jaffrey…… voiceover of a dog Charlie Anna
Direction:    Jugal Hansraj
Production:    Aditya Chopra
Music:    Salim Merchant,Sulaiman Merchant

Obviously, lots of multiplexes launched should have urged Yash Raj Films to stride successfully on new genre of Animation. Indeed, the biggest production house in India joining hands with the ever best studios of Hollywood Walt Disney Pictures is a cock-a-hoop for all. With animation flicks of several foreign countries bringing home the bacon across the World, India lags far behind. Many of our Indian professionals have presented their top-notched outputs in Hollywood animation films. When it comes to Indian Animation film, none of them shored with grandeur. If you had ever thought, budget was our only constraint? Might be, but not for a greater extent. Despites, the same talented animators and greatest producers involved, many of the films are just mediocre.

Of course, ‘Roadside Romeo’ falls on the same lines of being an average based film. Unlike previous week’s release ‘Cheenti Cheenti Bang Bang’, this one offers a fabulous piece of work in technical terms. Nevertheless, the film lets our hopes with middling screenplay.

Precisely, a perfect difference between animation flicks of India and Hollywood lies on this aspect. Leave out the top-charting films Lion King, Shrek, Ice Age; even the average ones like ‘Meet the Robinsons’ were extraordinary. You know why? A powerful narrative structure, skillfully drawn characterizations and emotional aspects got us adhered to the film.

Does ‘Roadside Romeo’ tread following the same formulas? Does it capture everyone’s interests’ or just kids? Why ask so many questions, just drive yourselves for this film and you’ll merely utter ‘the fantastical deliverance of animation is sure to attract kids, but nothing well to appreciate on narrative aspects’.

Glimpse through the storyline and get on with more analysis…

Romeo, a rich dog leads a life of complete style. He was a complete dude. He had the works - a mansion to live in, chicks to party with and the cars to be driven around in, until one day, the family he was the favourite pet of, decided to move and left him back, abandoned on the mean streets of Mumbai.

Romeo is now faced with situations he has never been in before. He encounters four stray dogs, which scare the living daylights out of him. Soon, he smooth talks his way into their hearts and becomes friends with them.

Then, Romeo finds love! He encounters the beautiful, ravishing Laila, the most beautiful female dog he has ever seen… and he loses his heart to her at first sight!

And finally, he encounters a villain! The dreaded Don of the area - Charlie Anna! The Don who everyone is scared of.

So hop on to this adventure as Romeo wins friendship, love and a new life - in spite of Charlie Anna and his gang!

Cute and beauteous story, isn’t? Yup! But looks like it has been vividly inspired from yesteryear commercial films of hero falling in love, fighting with baddies and exposing his heroisms… Screenplay drops down the pace right from beginning, but greatness of Director Jugal Hansraj is revealed in latter part as it has some entertaining elements.

Don’t miss the Pakka- DDLJ ending sequence of train; you’ll be elated to extremity… Innovativeness of great direction has been showcased and it would have been nice if he had carried on rest of the film with same wavelength.

In-depth, voices rendered are absolutely top-notched. Be it Saif (Romeo), Kareena (Laila) or any other characters’ voice, everyone have excelled remarkably.

On the technical areas, a perfect animation as mentioned earlier intensifies the film. But musical score by Salim-Sulaiman doesn’t stand out for good credits. Perhaps, the musicians could have just worked for ne plus ultra and it’s a mere disappointment from this duo.

Roadside Romeo is enjoyable at certain part for Kids, but they wouldn’t be relishing all throughout with it. Flaws are blatant on screenplay and dialogues uttered by characterizations (Charlie Anna speaking in South Indian language slang) and not many vistas do really attract adults.

On the whole, ‘Roadside Romeo’ can be watched for exquisite animation presentations, celebrated voices and nothing else. The screenplay doesn’t tread on same tempo and that stops our Romeo hitting bull’s eyes.

Cast:    Vijayakumar, Karthika, Sindoori, Babu Antony, Santhosh Pali, Riaz Khan, Rajan P Dev, Machan Varghese, Karthika, Geetha, Beena, Mini
Direction:    KB Madhu
Music:    Jassie Gift

Much of the serious viewers in Mollywood would still remember that more than a decade back, Vijaya Kumar stormed into filmdom with ‘Thalasthanam’- a Shaji Kailas movie which rightly mixed campus politics, family sentiments, investigation and action .There after the actor was zeroed in to lesser known character roles, which had the actor in more or less the same type and expressions. ”Sambhu” is an attempt from the young actor to deliver something different, once again attempting the same game of campus and politics. The movie which is racy enough to engage the viewer, fails to offer anything that is refreshingly new.

The movie has Vijayakumar as Shambu Mahadevan, the son of noted writer and educationalist Shankari Mahadevan. Sambhu and his friends are presently at jail, being convicted of the killing of 14 people by setting a bus ablaze. The film begins with Meera, a leading award winning journalist of a TV channel trying to work out a programme on campus politics. She contacts Sambhu’s friends, who admit their part in the killings, but Shambhu is found in a deep demented state, inside the jail.

Meera tracks down Sambhu’s past, visits his mother in an agraharam and tries to pitch in the missing links behind the entire plot of the massacre. Meanwhile, she also finds clues about political king maker Adhiseshan and young party leader Parthasarathy, who also had some hidden agendas behinds the happenings.

As with every other film on campus politics, the basic route of narration and plot points remains the same though the scriptwriter T P salim, doesn’t detail each scene to get us too bored.The movie is filmed without glaring errors, but don;t offer any intense sequences , steamy romance , punch lines or quality dialogues .And even some links to the central happenings also seems much illogical .

Vijayakumar ease through the title role as Shambhu, but doesn’t show any potential to hold the entire movie in his not so wide shoulders. And that is too evident from the deserted cinema halls, that seldom invite interests from the group of viewers who are now more interested in lesser films from other languages. Karthika as Meera is good while Babu Antony as Adhiseshan gives another plastic performance. Riyaz Khan’ as Partha sarthy is also interesting. The others in the cast including Sindhoory, Rajan P Dev, and Santhosh pale doesn’t have much to do in the proceedings, than to appear in their regular self.

G Murali in the editing department has paced up the proceedings but there is some serious error in the grading department that has resulted in highly reddish images throughout the movie. Art direction is also pathetic at times with the amateurish cardboard sets of TV studio that repeatedly appears in the movie. Jassie gift offers some good songs in ‘Ponnambiliye Kando’ and ‘Bomma’ that are not visualized with splendor.

Director K B Madhu has attempted the movie in a different make over, but the long time it has rested in the cans shows all over in its clichéd tracks, dialogues and treatment. And that is perhaps the biggest flaw in an otherwise average work.

Bottom-line – It has nothing new to offer and watch the movie only if you have abundant time.