Sahasam

Posted on October 9, 2025 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl: I remember watching the song from this movie.

Vampire Bat: Well, that song was a big hit for this Onam.

Vampire Owl: It was more than just a hit indeed, that one earned an entry into hearts.

Vampire Bat: It served Onam like no other song did before.

Vampire Owl: The Onam song was surely like no other.

Vampire Bat: There is surely the feeling of fun with this one.

Vampire Owl: We could have watched this in the theatre instead of Amazon Prime Video.

Vampire Bat: Well, I only knew about the song, not the movie release.

Vampire Owl: Well, that might be the biggest Onam song impact in a long time.

Vampire Bat: With social media at the peak, this was surely going to be.

[Gets a chicken pizza and three cups of Kandy tea].

What is the movie about? :: Jeevan (Ramzan Muhammed) has been in love with Sera (Gouri G Kishan) for a long time, but her family has planned to get her married to Rony (Jeeva Joseph), a wealthy and powerful businessman. On the night of her engagement party, Jeevan comes to visit her with his best friends Pappan (Hari Sivaram) and Sam (Shabareesh Varma) disguised as members of the event management team, only to be discovered by the family members. They almost manage to run away with Sera, only to mess up things at the last moment, and the engagement happens smoothly. At the same time, police informer only known by the name Wolf (Babu Antony) manages to help the government in getting into the notorious Mumbai gangster Victor’s (Yog Japee) hideout and seize his drugs, only to find out that the computer expert Sanjeev (Krishna) has managed to convert Victor’s cash into cryptocurrency. But before he gives the password to Wolf who had planned all of these, he is blackmailed by an unknown figure and he has heart attack and dies, leaving nobody with the password.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: Now, Wolf will have to travel to Cochin to find the new head of the IT company where Sanjeev was working, and as the password is in his official laptop, the IT firm might find a way to open it. As Gayathri (Tessa Joseph) takes over as the new head of the firm, the stakes are now higher than ever. Meanwhile, Sera’s relatives send Babeesh (Baiju Santhosh) to deal with Jeevan and make sure that he does not come for his love again, and with him is Preman (Bhagath Manuel) who has seen the face of one of the people who came to the house for Sera. But they feel that Pappan might be Babeesh’s long-lost brother from childhood due to his similarities with an old photo they had, and change the plan to taking him home. Meanwhile, the police inspector Rajeev Nambiar (Narain) is forced to chase both Wolf and Victor to Kochi all the way from Mumbai. But his bigger priorities are taking credit for others’ achievements and always suspecting his wife Isha (Varsha Ramesh). Meanwhile Sam fights with Satheesh (Sajin Cherukayil) for the attention of Priya (Jayasree Sivadaas), and all these come together with unexpected links leading to chaos.

The defence of Sahasam :: Chaos comedy is not the kind of genre which is easy to create an impact, and neither is the use of silliness in the right manner. There might not have been any movie like Adi Kapyare Koottamani and Kunjiramayanam that could achieve the same in last few years, not considering those older classics. This one rather has the situation as more serious, with deaths, gangsters and underworld dealings involved, and the same has been done with the funny side being incredibly active. Just like the other movies of this category, it is the working humour that raises the level of the movie, and the energy adds to the same. The team that the movie has assembled with the veterans and newcomers is really good. The way in which the movie keeps its central romance going with an active emotional side going, and makes everything come together with some classic connections, is worth mentioning, and it seems to be some special skill taking over, as it leaves no loose ends, even for this kind of a movie which is usually allowed to do the same in its genre of confusions and comical complications.

Positives and negatives :: The movie might feel a little bit too long while dealing with this kind of a topic, but as it moves forward further, we just like that length more than anything else – the fun seems to get into us. Yet, some characters might not have been required here, and at times, it also comes up with scenes that feel extra. But it never losses our interest, and it is where this one becomes a classic complicated collection. The songs, especially the Onam mood song had set the mood for the film, and one wonders why it did not become a bigger success at the box-office. The movie’s use of nostalgia comes out of nowhere, like Babu Antony’s old-style moments, Narain talking about four the people and Krishna looking at that much celebrated song of the past with him in it as youth. Even though there are deaths and seriousness is present, we do not feel that kind of a dark tension, and the anxiety that we feel for the characters is rather different. We feel that the movie could even have sequels, and even spin-offs with some of these characters, who stay with us even when not the main characters.

The performers of the soul :: The movie has strong pillars on the two veteran actors Babu Antony and Narain, and this time, they are into humour, and the latter is almost completely into the same – they keep the world interesting with their presence, moments and even nostalgia. Ramzan-Gouri romantic side does work well too, and the music nicely supports the same. Baiju Santhosh, Shabareesh Varma, Hari Sivaram and Bhagath Manuel make a fine combination of humour here, and the silliness associated with their character is very much enjoyable. A surprisingly great addition is that of Varsha Ramesh, who adds to the humour and the overall proceedings really well, and her scenes with Shabareesh and Narain, both brings some classic fun. Return of Tessa Joseph adds another layer of nostalgia here, as she was one actress who was around only with a short career. Sajin Cherukayil also scores with humour while Jayasree Sivadaas adds on. Yog Japee makes a fine villain too. When all of these performers come together in the final moments, it is indeed a lot of fun.

How it finishes :: The movie has some of the best comic moments in the last few years, and there is a certain amount of skill in how this movie uses its moments, and even adds some nostalgia to it. The director’s previous venture Twenty One Grams was also a fine adventure, a serious one then – this time, the journey is on a different path, but it surely works well. This comedy of errors is surely a lot better than most of those so-called comedy works with even bigger stars, and this is the one movie that makes everyone feels good with its humour and those pieces coming together to make us satisfied by the end. The Onam mood itself is clearly felt in the movie, as it is indeed like a celebration to be done in the theatre. Even though not that much known during its release, with its coming to Amazon Prime Video, this will be a much talked about film for days to come. Some movies depend of superstars and hype, but this one clearly focuses on the entertainment quotient with the right cast, and performers who do not keep hailing as superstars – this absence of such overrated cast makes this an even better flick.

Release date: 8th August 2025
Running time: 144 minutes
Directed by: Bibin Krishna
Starring: Narain, Babu Antony, Gouri G Kishan, Varsha Ramesh, Ramzan Muhammed, Jayasree Sivadaas, Baiju Santhosh, Shabareesh Varma, Hari Sivaram, Bhagath Manuel, Yog Japee, Jeeva Joseph, Ann Jameela Salim, Abhimanyu Shammy Tilakan, Sajin Cherukayil, Tessa Joseph, Vineeth Thattil David, Lishoy, Krishna, Jayakrishnan, Major Ravi, Karthik

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@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Twenty One Grams

Posted on June 15, 2022 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl: I am sure that most of the coffins weigh more than that.

Vampire Bat: I doubt if this a movie about coffins.

Vampire Owl: I have only recently discovered that the coffins weight so less.

Vampire Bat: Why did you lift the coffins all by yourself?

Vampire Owl: There were no vampire apprentices available.

Vampire Bat: You should understand that the coffins feel like having less weight just for us.

Vampire Owl: Yet we have vampire apprentices carrying them for us.

Vampire Bat: They have to be trained in carrying the vampire elders.

Vampire Owl: But I have known that vampire elders can float.

Vampire Bat: They are too old to stay awake for more than five or six hours – coffins are important for transportation.

[Gets a marble cake and three cups of iced tea].

What is the movie about? :: DYSP Nandakishore (Anoop Menon) is assisted by CI Sunny (Anu Mohan) as they go after a series of murders which happened in the city within a small period of time. Anjali (Manasa Radhakrishnan) is the first one to be murdered, and it brought her brother Martin (Chandunath G Nair) back home after spending years abroad, as Father Joseph (Nandu) was the only person who was there to take care of her. But soon, Martin is also murdered, and his body was burnt really bad. CI Sreenivasan (Prasanth Alexander) who was in charge of the investigation had felt that Jimmy (Aji John) might be the one behind these murders as he was a former business partner of Martin, and wanted to settle terms after Martin came back to India. There was a problem between Jimmy and Martin related to a restaurant chains which they owned, and the police wonders if the former tried to bring latter back home and finish the problem forever. But Sreenivasan was not really that much interested in taking the risk against the rich and influential, and was only happy to hand over the case without being a target.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: SP Rachel (Lena) is confident that Nandakishore is the right person to solve this case which has no clues, especially as Srenivasan had kept himself too worried. A new recruit Abhirami (Mareena Michael Kurisingal) also joins the team. As the police check for the goons who were working for Jimmy, they reach a name – Tony (Bineesh Bastin) who seems to be connected. His wife confirms the fact that Tony and Jimmy had seen each other, and an amount of money was provided for some work of eerie nature. But even then, Anjali is understood to have been very much afraid of an unknown person, and there is no clue about who that one was. If the two murders are not related, they would be facing two different killers at the same time or even more. There is also an old contessa car which is seen on different occasions near the spots where the murders had occurred. Is there something more sinister at work? Are there other interesting games of murders happening around here? Can there be a psychotic serial killer at work?

The defence of Twenty One Grams :: We have another interesting crime thriller in store here, with its own fine twists. Providing twists over other twists is quite a difficult job, and this one does the same well, until things come together really well in the end. There seems to be a fine line of events being drawn here so that things could come to that end after drawing a good number of red herrings in between. There are so many characters whom we doubt as being the killer, and we also have so many motives – with the possibility of suspecting being endless, the guesses are to be mostly wrong; the movie seals some ideas in those dialogues which feels to be less relevant when spoken, but through flashbacks, we know that these things were basically clues. Predictability will not be an element here even though the film can trick you into believing that you know things better than the cops here. The movie is very well shot too, and the visuals, especially that of the city is impressive – it suits the movie’s mood really well too. The music used in the background here is really good and some effects nicely contribute to the totality.

Positives and negatives :: The pace at which the movie progress is very good, even though at times, it seems to talk more and do less – it still works as we look closer. Some background is predictable. You ability to guess the killer is so continuously tested that there are so many people you will note down as killers. A quality that this movie has, is to know how, when and where to hide, and how to reveal them all when least expected – it never uses the mass style to do that, and that makes this one a movie more for the OTT rather than for those theatres infested with mindless fans. This is certainly not a one killer or a killer with a helper movie like Forensic, John Luther, Anjaam Pathira or Antakshari. Here, we don’t have the star power of Drishyam, Cold Case or Memories, but the effectiveness makes sure that it won’t need that. The movie also has a conspiracy which needs to be brought to light, and we see that there is more than what meets the eye. This is one of those movie releases which I had actually missed – there were so many shots of this movie which could have made the film feel effective in the trailer; unlike those overhyped films, this one could have used more initial hype.

The performers of the soul :: Anoop Menon always feels like the right choice for a police officer like this – the intellectual non-CBI police officer works like a dream for him. He did play the role of superstar in Home, and there is a fine presence that he has at all times. One strong performance that we here is that of Leona Lishoy though, as the lady left in sadness due to multiple reasons. Anu Mohan provides some fine support as police inspector aiding in the case. Manasa Radhakrishnan, despite playing the character who is killed early, remains central to the plot, just like Chandunath G Nair who plays her brother here. Nandu has the role of a priest which comes well for him. Mareena Michael Kurisingal of Mumbai Taxi and Aby fame only gets a few moments to shine though. Shanker Ramakrishnan and Renji Panicker got some smaller roles, which won’t be remembered much. Bineesh Bastin has a little bit of work to do, but not for long. Aji John and Jeeva Joseph plays two characters who are part of the schemes well. Ranjith who appears only in the later half of the movie, also brings some moments of glory.

How it finishes :: Twenty One Grams might be a lesser known movie, but it manages to be a lot better than most of those higher budget films made with the bigger superstars and having those dumb mass elements for the fans. There are so many moments that keep us guessing, and after all those guesses, we feel that we had gone the wrong direction – there is a lot of skill being used here in bringing things together in the end. Maybe, one of those superstar movies can take some of those superior ideas out of this one. It seems that the movies that we less expect to be the big mystery is actually the smarter one – the best minds behind making thrillers are often hidden in the background, and to know them, we have to travel beyond the usual. There are so many movies which have gone rather unknown because they couldn’t marketed well, or the names of the actors were not part of any fan club – this one shouldn’t go lost in that manner. This is another thriller which needs to be celebrated for its smartness, and let it not fall into the deep abyss of avoidance – watch it and see how well it uses the puzzles.

Release date: 10th June 2022 (Hotstar); 18th March 2022 (Theatre)
Running time: 132 minutes
Directed by: Bibin Krishna
Starring: Anoop Menon, Leona Lishoy, Renji Panicker, Prasanth Alexander, Anu Mohan, Ranjith, Vivek Anirudh, Lena, Chandunath G Nair, Aji John, Jeeva Joseph, Bineesh Bastin, Manasa Radhakrishnan, Nandu, Mareena Michael Kurisingal, Shanker Ramakrishnan, Rajeesh Kartha