Georgettan’s Pooram

Posted on April 2, 2017 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl: Why is it that all these people have characters that have something or the other to highlight as a title?

Vampire Bat: You mean, like that first Malayalam movie to release this year – Jomonte Suvisheshangal.

Vampire Owl: And surely Jacobinte Swargarajyam.

Vampire Bat: Along with Darwinte Parinamam.

Vampire Owl: As well as Maheshinte Prathikaram.

Vampire Bat: This is the fifth with this kind of a title, there is no real difference in possessiveness.

Vampire Owl: I think that these people, George, Jomon, Darwin, Jacob and Mahesh are related.

Vampire Bat: There is a great chance that Jacob and Jomon are – they even tell the same story, you know.

Vampire Owl: Maybe they are from different generations, and it is just history repeating itself in a distant family.

Vampire Bat: Georgettan’s Pooram might be more distant with the use of slang in it, though.

[Gets the tickets with some caramel popcorn and vegetable puffs].

What is the movie about? :: A team of four mischievous boys have grown up to be George Vadakkan (Dileep), and his best friends who are known only by their nicknames, Vava (Vinay Forrt), Pallan (Sharfudheen) and Chullan (Thiru Actlab). Living in and around the city of Trichur, the four friends spend most of their time doing nothing, having drinks or simply sleeping, in Mathai Parambu, a piece of land donated to the public by a former Kabbadi player who was part of great achievements from the Indian Kabbadi team – they also have for company and old kabbadi player, Joseph (T.G. Ravi). But George’s father, the parish priest of the local church of the Mar Thoma denomination, Mathew Vadakkan (Renji Panicker), wishes for something or anything better for his son – nobody believes in the same though, even his own friends and relatives.

So, what happens next? :: As the four goes through the path which leads nowhere, George comes across Merlin (Rajisha Vijayan) during a funeral, and immediately falls in love with her. Even though she tells him that he wishes to become a nun and despite the fact that she belongs to another denomination, he shamelessly decides to run after her for love. Without having to do anything else in life, such things have been very easy for him. There is also the entry of Peter Mathai (Chemban Vinod Jose), who claims to be the son of E.V. Mathai and claims the ownership of Mathai Parambu. He seems to be determined to take control of land by one way or the other. But the team of four are not willing to give up their place, and in an effort to save their land as well as to make Merlin fall in love with George, they go on doing some strange things, none of which works well enough.

What follows these events? :: The team of four are clueless as usual, as they are used to do nothing good, and seems to come up with nothing constructive. Even their inspiration, Joseph dies by falling from the top of a tower there. One day, Peter seems to be ready to give up the claim to the land, but for the same, George and his friends will have to play kabbadi, and also start winning. The people of the locality also backs them in this to keep the land in the hands of the public. But is it possible for them to win against top level players with some quick training? How far can the public support and prayers boost them? Is Peter really the son of E.V. Mathai, and does he mean what he says? Can George manage to win the love of Merlin and the appreciation of his parents and siblings? Not really the easier things to do for George, but he decides not to give up.

The defence of Georgettan’s Pooram :: Despite not using the state award winning actress, the star of Anuraga Karikkin Vellam, Rajisha Vijayan to her best of potential, the movie does manage to use Dileep well enough – we get to be confident that he will be back for more with another light-hearted movie, not just producing one like he did for Kattappanayile Rithwick Roshan. Vinay Forrt and Sharafudheen also remains interesting, and there is entertainment guaranteed from their side. The level of comedy is fluctuating throughout the movie, but there are some nice ones in this flick. The second half has things getting rather intense, and the plot gets an upgrade there. Chemban Vinod Jose once again impresses the audience with the way that he carries on as the man with a mission, and he remains our hope for future in a lot of different kinds of roles. Renji Panicker continues what he has been doing the best, as the father figure, and this time at more than one level.

The claws of flaw :: The movie is just too long, and it could have easily been made shorter without some bad jokes in the first half and those slow motion sequences of heroism in the second – Karinkunnam 6s had managed to bring volleyball to the centre of everything and managed to be an interesting flick; but this one gets kabbadi too late in the second half only, and things get serious slowly only. Sudheer Karamana gets to play kabbadi here as he had done for volleyball in last year’s Manju Warrier starrer. A certain amount of absence in logic is also there, and the movie also gets confused in working with the Christian denominations. If the priest shown as protagonist’s father is actually a priest of Mar Thoma denomination, as a protestant church, the church building or the house wouldn’t be having saints or statues of anyone. If the person was intended to be a Catholic priest, he wouldn’t have been married – it is a strange world right there. One also wonders why the protagonist has to go after the girl shamelessly after she says no – shouldn’t the “no” always mean a “no”? And still he is a hero?

How it finishes :: Georgettan’s Pooram could have done a lot better not only with its comedy, but also with its sporting side. But as it is now, it is surely a watchable flick, and the best entertainer with Dileep as the main character after Two Countries which had him at what he has been doing the best. The protagonist shouldn’t have turned a super kabbadi player all of a sudden though, battling against the big players. Maybe some restraint could have been brought with the heroism. Maybe, a better flow could have been maintained. But for some time-pass, nobody can deny that this movie has something here and there for most of the people. Surely bigger in fun compared to Dileep’s recent movies, and surely better than any movie in that long list of continuous movies from Kammath and Kammath to Ivan Maryadaraman, Georgettan’s Pooram can ask for some of your time as long as you enough to spare!

Release date: 1st April 2017
Running time: 155 minutes
Directed by: K. Biju
Starring: Dileep, Rajisha Vijayan, Chemban Vinod Jose, Vinay Forrt, Sharafudheen, Thiru Actlab, Renji Panicker, T. G. Ravi, Sudheer Karamana, Kalaranjini, Assim Jamal, Jayaraj Warrier, Sunil Sukhada, Sathi Premji, Kulappulli Leela

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Jo and the Boy

Posted on December 24, 2015 by Tennyson

What is the movie about? :: Joan Mary John (Manju Warrier) used to be a kid who loved Mickey Mouse a lot and later took it as her ambition to create a cartoon character like that. When asked at school about whom she wanted to be, she had the answer as Walt Disney. Later, she grows up to be an animator who hopes to make a big series or movie with a character created by her, and for the same, she makes different approaches, but with not much of a result. As she goes above the age of thirty with no job and no interest in marriage, her parents Johnny (Lalu Alex) and Mary (Kalaranjini) become more and more worried. But she continues in her own small world trying to make that big difference to it with one right moment. Then the life changing moment appears, and the story has another direction to proceed.

So what is this sudden change of direction in life about? :: Joan needed something special with her life. Things take a turn with the arrival of a boy called Chris (Sanoop Santhosh) who was adopted by Catherine (Rekha), one of Joan’s relatives. The visit happens at a time when Joan is struggling to make a mark as things continue to work against her. After the initial dislike due to the boy’s attitude, Joan becomes good friends with him, and they become good friends. Later, he becomes the inspiration for the cartoon character whom Joan is planning to create, and she ends up designing her creation just like him. Calling the character Criz, she keeps making the attempt to impress the firm, with the man at its head not interested in her ideas. With the help of her friends and the boy, Joan will try again, as it is her only dream in life.

The defence of Jo and the Boy :: There is a very nice beginning to this movie, with the child and Mickey Mouse; it keeps that level or somewhere around there until the cartoon character gets its own problems. There was the possiblity of this one becoming the right movie embedded in the spirit of Christmas in the beginning stages. The ending is also pretty good, even though the climax has a little bit too much melodrama. This is inspirational and feel-good, that is for sure – there is no shortage of such stuff here and there even though not in totality with the story. The Philips and the Monkey Pen feeling exists right through this one, even though that much strength is not there to be a worthy successor to that amazing movie – don’t keep the expectations that high about this one. There is also the strength of some amazing visuals in this flick. You are going to fall in love with locations used here, and there is no question about that. The performances will be another plus point.

Claws of flaw :: The movie will have problems in connecting to a good number of viewers who might not have expected this from the trailers. The humour here is rather too less. The songs are not that good either, and visuals are the ones which give the feel to the music. There are problems in the middle part and the first part of the second half does have some lagging portions along with cliches. A lot of scenes which were shown in the trailer in a nice way have almost no significance in the movie in its totality. The Philips and the Monkey Pen magic is not really recreated here, with some magical moments here and there, but that connectivity, clarity and emotional strength isn’t that much present here. It should be also why this movie try to be the great overreacher with its story, when it could have stayed on the ground with the common man; instead it does try to fly too high, and becomes the Icarus with burnt wings – unlike the son of Daedalus, this one survives though. A better or even simpler story would have made this a fairy-tale beauty.

Performers of the soul :: As you might have already expected, Manju Warrier is the big performer here, as she once again manages an inspiration role to take it to a fine level, after How Old Are You? and Rani Padmini. All those “different” characteristics of this role comes to life with her, even though common man question the action here – that is explained with the “difference” factor; “divergence” isn’t really a crime, right? Sanoop Santhosh also does an interesting job here as the boy who brings the diversion in life. Even though the character is not that likable as in Philips and the Monkey Pen, he does his character well. It is nice to see Lalu Alex doing the “cool father act” once again. Sudheer Karamana is too underused here as his character disappears after making a nice impact. Sunil Sukhada also has a short appearance in the beginning stages of the movie. Pearle Maaney provides some good support. A point to be noted is that there is no pair for the heroine here, and as you expected, the romance is null.

Soul exploration :: Jo and the Boy is another movie which talks about dreams. The whole story is about the lady protagonist who has a dream in her childhood and keeps going towards it even as she reaches the age of thirty – unmarried and without a job. It is the story of many good men and women who couldn’t achieve a particular thing just because they don’t have enough contacts or blood-relationships with people at good positions – we know how it works in this world, as people with reservations and powerful relatives will get things done easily and earlier while others have to work hard to achieve it. But our protagonist keeps trying, and despite the worries, her parents also supports her. In a world in which sons and daughters of actors/directors/producers become actors without any skill, and children of ministers become leaders and then ministers, Joan is a symbol of everyone who keeps trying without accepting defeat and changing the path.

How it finishes :: As you might know already, there is no shortage of inspirational movies in Malayalam Cinema; even this year, it is a process which started with Mili, and continued to go on through Rani Padmini, Su Su Sudhi Vathmeekam and My God. Among these five big inspirational movies including this one, three of them are heroine-oriented, one has a person who rises above his disability, and another movie has a kid at the centre of everything. Malayalam movie industry does know how to inspire its audience, that is for sure. With Jo and the Boy, I am glad that there has been a lot of inspiration gained from movies this year, and there are also those feel-good entertainers which have provided us with some more happiness, and some movies are both! I am extremely glad to have watched more Malayalam movies than the flicks in any other language this year, in the theatres.

Release date: 24th December 2015
Running time: 156 minutes
Directed by: Rojin Thomas
Starring: Manju Warrier, Sanoop Santhosh, Pearle Maaney, Kiran, Lalu Alex, Kalaranjini, Rekha, Sudheer Karamana, Sunil Sukhada

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Ennu Ninte Moideen

Posted on September 21, 2015 by Tennyson

What is it about? :: In the 1960s at Mukkam in the Malabar region of Kerala, Kanchanamala (Parvathy Kottuvata), one of the many children of a landlord, studies medicine. Meanwhile, Moideen (Prithviraj Sukumaran), a socialist political worker from a renowned family of the region spends his time with the common people. Their parents are good friends and the families know each other. They fall in love, but are restricted by the society as Kanchanamala is Hindu and Moideen is Muslim. Moideen is thrown out of the house by his father for declaring his love for the lady, and Kanchanamala is locked inside her room in the house. The options available here were to run away or to forget each other, but they decide to wait. A lot of things happen in the world around them, but they just wait for things to change, and this wait goes on as fate keeps intervening in their lives.

The defence of Ennu Ninte Moideen :: The best argument in favour of this movie is that it is unbelievably clean. The humour is good and love is strong. There is nothing other than pure love that takes the centre stage – there is almost no romance, and there is no talking nonsense; there is just the decision to get married and live together. It is something worth all the applause at a time when true love is dead and buried under the fake emotions. This movie becomes a lesson to the people who can’t wait or adjust, as the world are full of the “partially loving” ones who leave their lovers to follow their ambitions. The visuals are really good, and there some very nice dialogues which the audience can remember for long. The fact that this is a true love story also makes this movie better than what it actually is – there should be thousands of great love stories which go forgotten, and it is nice that this one didn’t. Also, the first half is superior to the second.

Claws of flaw :: One problem with the movie is its length. Even though it is not at all empty like Annayum Rasoolum, there are moments which drag, and this happens mostly in the second half after a well-made first half. There are certain moments of stretching in the latter part which could have been avoided. The signs about that powerful socialist-capitalist clash which the trailer gave goes completely missing as the same only appears here and there only to disappear without leaving any trace. It is unfortunate that there is nothing about righteous politics as expected. The songs don’t have much here. Cliches are also abundant. The overrating of this movie by the fans reflects as a flaw for the flick – you exceed expectations and give a movie some “greatness” title, and it becomes a flaw for those who watch the movie with expectations of unlimited greatness. Flaws will rise easily in a movie which you declare flawless, my dear fans; keep that in mind.

Performers of the soul :: Prithviraj brings Moideen to the screen with great sincerity and wonderful skills. If you ask me, I will prefer his performances in Ivide and Picket 43 more as they were a lot more intense; but this one is serene, staying within the limits of his character – the three are his best of the year. We await his much expected movie Amar Akbar Anthony as we watch this! Parvathy impresses most of the time, and is just fine on some other occasions, and she reminds me of Sangeetha of Chinthavishtayaya Shyamala fame. Bala also does a very strong job in this one. But the one who steals the show with two shots is Tovino Thomas who strikes an arrow into our heart and soul twice with one moment at the heroine’s house and another at the hero’s club. Sai Kumar and Lena Abhilash also leaves strong impact on our minds with their characters.

Soul exploration :: The origins of the love story of the lovers of this movie are not much explored, as they go straight towards the point. There is not much shown about what made them so much interested in each other, and the focus is on the fact is that they decides to wait rather than run away with each other or forget each other. They wait for the society to accept them, and take that risk with two reputed families belonging to two different religions. There is more than one dramatic interference from fate along with some additional melodrama as if this love was not supposed to happen, but the story remains true to love. The thing to be admired more than anything else is that they get older and older by waiting for approval, but the society remains the same and doesn’t accept their relationship. It is a strange world, isn’t it?

Further soul exploration :: The situation which is seen in the movie still exists in this world, even without talking about love and marriages. There is a certain amount of rise in the number of people who talk about religion and make decisions or judge people based on the same. It is a surprise that it happens in this modern age; the divisions were not this strong when I was a child – yes, the number of inter-religious marriages have increased, but it is not the case with the rest of the talks about religion as you can see less love for one’s religion and more hatred for other religions. We are getting divided further and further with more and more ridiculous reasons added. The non-believers only join in to make fun of everyone creating further trouble in between, instead of working to find a solution for any possible problem. Hating people is never a solution.

How it finishes :: There is a big problem with this movie, and it is with the fans. There is too much promotion going on related to this movie, and I have always found this overrating of movies rather irritating. I have seen the same with Premam, and now I am witnessing the same with this movie. It is time people stop overdoing the promotion and stick to talking about what they liked and didn’t like in a movie. When the word “best” is used without any limitations, it can make your favourite movie suffer, and fans should keep that in mind. I have had very high expectations about this movie due to some of those random comments, and this high number of comments have led to me liking this movie less. My advice to the fans is not to overrate a movie so much that it becomes irritating; Premam had early gains from it, but understand that luck changes and so do the games of fate.

Release date: 19th September 2015
Running time: 167 minutes
Directed by: R. S. Vimal
Starring: Prithviraj Sukumaran, Parvathy Kottuvata, Tovino Thomas, Bala, Saikumar, Shashi Kumar, Lena Abhilash, Sivaji Guruvayoor, Sudheer Karamana, Sija Rose, Sudheesh, Kalaranjini, Surabhi, Indrans, Devi Ajith, Emine Salman, George Tharakan