kozhikode – Movies of the Soul

Vampire Owl: I have heard about this movie’s twists over twists.

Vampire Bat: So, it became known in the vampire world too.

Vampire Owl: It has spread to the vampire social media too.

Vampire Bat: That feels absurd as both media are not connected at all.

Vampire Owl: Well, you know these humans who try to control all the media.

Vampire Bat: Nobody can control everything at all times.

Vampire Owl: Uncle Dracula could easily do that.

Vampire Bat: Sir Dracula is that much of a legend.

Vampire Owl: Even the Vampire Elders seem to respect him.

Vampire Bat: I do not that they ever had an options since his reign began.

[Gets a chilli porotta and three cups of Kandy tea].

What is the movie about? :: Abhirami (Aparna Balamurali), who is working as an accountant in a financial consultancy finds herself in depression when Kiran (Hakim Shahjahan) who was engaged to her mysteriously disappears, and is presumed to be killed in a train crash. She is approached by Aswin Kumar (Asif Ali), an online investigative reporter who wishes to reveal some truths about Kiran, whom he does not feel to that straightforward a person. Even though they were engaged, he had left a good number of secrets to himself. At the same time, Abhirami is also approached by SP Aarumugam IPS (Sampath Raj) who wishes to unveil the mystery related to a hard drive which has secrets related to the money laundering in their company, while the owner of the company, Rajkumar (Saravanan) is also looking for her, with Rajkumar’s henchman Riyas (Aruvi Madhan) always on the hunt, even ready to beat up or murder anyone who gets in his way as he also tries to get that hard drive which has too many secrets.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: This drive becomes a big problem as Abhirami even gets attacked at home, and the only person who seems to stand with her is her colleague working in the same department, Rithika (Hannah Reji Koshy). Anandu (Arjun Syam Gopan) is the only person who can decrypt the data in the hard drive, who is also missing, despite going on a field visit to Madurai for the same company. Rithika does not trust Ashwin who seems to be always looking for sensational news. Ashwin feels that Abhirami is still hiding something, and he only considers Kiran missing and not dead, even though his dead body was identified right after the train accident. Abhirami decides to travel to Kiran’s hometown with Ashwin, much to the dismay of Rithika who distrusts the whole situation. Riyas continues to haunt them, coming right out of nowhere, as if he knows their every move. It is revealed that Kiran is a man of many secrets, and it would be rather too difficult to list them out. Can Abhirami get out of these problems with the help of Ashwin and Rithika?

The defence of Mirage :: The way in which the movie starts in simplicity and becomes more and more complex with bigger conspiracies unveiled – this is something that keeps everyone at the edge of the seat, as we keep guessing what would come next. There are so many twists around here that keeps us interested, and we can only keep predicting, but the twists are even more. We would have the feeling that we are in a strange terrain, terrifying not because of the presence of an evil entity or due to corporate evil, but because there are so many twists to come and many people are going to get killed, with most of the twisted world going beyond the usual. The performances nicely complement the same, as villains might not be the main antagonists, as there is negative in the people who seem to be good and supportive. The movie is a twis-producing factory and this process of changing the world we know, continues till the end without fail. The visuals and the music are all nicely contributing with quality here. How the tale goes on to power itself by the interval would also be something we like to see around.

The claws of flaw :: As it could be seen in many memes on the social media, there is the curse of having unbelievable plot twists and too many of them around here – the last time when there were this many absurd and unnecessary twists were shown, was in a movie called Bicycle Thieves, also led by Asif Ali, where the twists and even the story could not be contained in the framework which was already built – this one could contain the story, but not the twists which were like zombies in a bakery selling brains with a small flavour of chocolate. A movie can have twists, but a movie should not be for twists, as we realize the same here. The final double twist was rather dumb, and it felt like the whole purpose of the movie was destroyed. The movie is also too long, and it does not have that material in a script written for twists, going to two and half hours. The intensity is also not felt around here, as in between, the main characters seem to be resigned to their fate and feels like they are doing all of these for namesake. The danger in the movie also feels hesitant, as if everyone is waiting for the twists.

The performers of the soul :: Asif Ali and Aparana Balamurali are known to work together really well, as it was seen in a much-appreciated movie also featuring Vijayaraghavan from last year, and they repeat the same here too. Aparna is very convincing as the girl who is in trouble, but also harbours so many secrets – her reality would be much different, and the same is nicely reflected in her approach here. Asif Ali’s evolution as an actor continues going on from Thalavan, Rekhachitram, Aabhyanthara Kuttavali and others, but here he gets too less in comparison to Aparna on whom the movie is centred – there are times when we feel that her character could have just required minimum help from any unnamed side characters and it was enough for her. Maheshinte Prathikaaram would still remain the greatest movie of Aparna. Still, the one who would catch our attention the most would be Hannah Reji Koshy who brought us that so much unexpected and classic twist of Kooman with ease, after that debut in Darvinte Parinamam and following it up with two entirely different roles in Rakshadhikari Baiju Oppu and Theerppu – she classically blends in here. The villains are all strong here, but struggles by the end, while Sampath Raj remains very strong.

How it finishes :: Mirage just depends on too much of the twists and so many twists, and that strange final unwanted divergence that keeps it down, despite moving so well towards the interval, as the first half really had us interested. There is surely that feeling that there is so much that is to come, but the story struggles in between and comes down by the end with that ordinary flashback and twisting around. This was surely going to be something huge, but does not become the same with that problematic coming down in quality in between. The pace also goes down, as we would hope for this movie to be much shorter and not having that quick end. The skills which are shown in the beginning stages are what carries us towards the end, along with those special twists in between – we are interested in this one for sure. Even though this is not his story, a little bit of Jeethu Joseph touch we had seen in Memories, Drishyam and Drishyam 2 can be seen here, even though that strength is not carried throughout the run even though there was such a great chance in here.

Release date: 19th September 2025
Running time: 150 minutes
Directed by: Jeethu Joseph
Starring: Asif Ali, Aparna Balamurali, Hannah Reji Koshy, Saravanan, Sampath Raj, Hakim Shahjahan, Deepak Parambol, Arjun Syam Gopan, Aruvi Madhan

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

What is the movie about? :: Somewhere around the city of Calicut, at some point during the 1980s, there is a village which uses its only radio, that is owned by Hussain Haji (Joy Mathew) who is also the Panchayath President, for entertainment. Everyone from the village , without any discrimination according to their social status, religion or caste, usually goes to his house to listen to the drama performance which is a usual thing in the radio during the later evening. They all sit on the verandah with the radio in the centre, listening to the performances. One day, Usman (Manikandan Achari), Hamid’s sister’s son who is in Dubai, sends them a black and white television. He is also supposed to marry Suhra (Sana Althaf), Hamid’s only daughter who is studying in the second year of BA English Language and Literature at the nearby college. The arrival for the television changes things at their home as well as the whole village which has its first television.

So, what happens with the events to follow? :: Now, everyone is at Hussain’s house again, but this time to watch television. But nobody knows how to make it work, and for the same, they call for Basheer (Farhaan Faasil) to connect and begin the show for the whole village. There are still people who oppose the same, as it makes everyone sit in front of it for such a long time – but there is a change in the situation of the village, something which nobody can deny. Hussain is proud of being only house in the village to have a radio and a television. Meanwhile, Basheer falls in love with Suhra, but it is clear that Hussain will only marry her off to Usman when he returns from Dubai. Basheer who is from a simple family, seems to have no scope in getting the girl. With only her grandmother (Sheela) in support of the relationship, Suhra will have trouble in making her relationship with Basheer go on. Who will support them and who will support the most influential man in the village? What effect will Basheer’s love letter to Suhra bring?

The defence of Basheerinte Premalekhanam :: There is something about the romantic movies set in the eighties and before – it has a lot of nostalgia with simple humour related to the life style of the people of the time; kids up to those till the nineties would relate the best to it. There would also be those emotional moments concerning people who are more of common men than anything else. It is on the emotions and the humour that this movie seems to rely on, and it keeps working nicely, here and there. There is the simple romance of those times getting the strength here, unlike movies like Ennu Ninte Moideen which made things complicated, Anarkali which made it the visual stunner and Annayum Rasoolum which made it a terrible drag that never ended. The simple people and everything simple about them, remains the strength of this movie. There are also some nice songs to go with it, and the romantic saga is established between the two youngsters – thus, the love letter is ready with some good visuals of the village, but has nothing new.

The claws of flaw :: The strength of the romance depicted in this movie is something which is disputed, because the scope for more is missed out. The secondary tale of romance is actually more striking, and that is a surprise because it is there only in the end for a few minutes only. For a romantic movie which tries to use the name of Vaikom Mohammed Basheer’s Premalekhanam not just in the title but also inside the movie could have done more during this age. It is the title itself which leads to the higher expectations, which would clearly work against this movie in more than one way – not enough for the older generation inside the movie, and not much for the younger audience even in the title itself, except for the Malayalam literature lovers who are a group which are decreasing in number. The theatre didn’t seem to have called that many people either. A better tale of romance, with more depth in the story would have helped this one for sure. Some characters are also less developed.

Performers of the soul :: Farhan Faasil and Sana Althaf are two people who haven’t really got enough with the Malayalam movie industry – they never really had enough of those movies to show their calibre. Rajeev Ravi’s Njan Steve Lopez, the debut movie and the only other movie of him had the former as a famous name, and this happens to be only his second film – here he is in a look that resembles Kunchako Boban; got confused myself when I saw him in the first song which was released long ago, he does okay here, and the role is still not that interesting as his earlier movie. Sana Althaf’s Mariyam Mukku was quite the disaster that nobody would want with the first leading role, and she was seen only in a small role in Rani Padmini after that. She is the cute presence here, and manages to do her role with the necessary elements for the character, not more or not less. She is someone capable of repeating the cute Nazriya act of Om Shanthi Oshana and Bangalore Days in her absence. They look good together, no doubt about that.

Further performers of the soul :: The one person who leaves the biggest effect on us, is Manikandan Achari, known for the power-packed performance in Kammattipaadam and the strong comic side displayed in Alamaara. Here, he once again shows how good he is, with the emotional sequences as well as the funny side – when the protagonists’ love story gets less from the emotional side, his tale of love gets all, and elevates this movie. Sheela also comes up with a performance which will remind us of her Kochu Tresia in Manasinakkare, but it is not that much when you look at both movies. Madhu’s presence good, but could have been in some other way as real part of the tale – same is the case of Indrans. Joy Mathew scores big time in the movie too as the father. Hareesh Perumanna and Noby Marcose gets some nice humoruous lines, along with the others including Shivaji Guruvayoor and Sreejith Ravi who make it a combined effort. The other two actresses, Renjini Jose and Asha Aravind also make their presence felt. Aju Varghese also makes a cameo which feels rather unnecessary.

How it finishes :: Basheerinte Premalekhanam is a movie which had a lot more possible with its content, but is a fair thing as it is. It is to be noted that the three other Malayalam movies, Tiyaan, Sunday Holiday and Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum haven’t really stopped the hunt, and are still in the game. There are also the other new releases, including Minnaminungu – The Firefly which won Surabhi Lakshmi the National Award for Best Actress, Team 5 starring Sreesanth who gets into another area other than cricket and music, Pulimurugan getting its much awaited 3D release, Theeram which already has its name among the superhit songs and a lesser known horror movie known as Mythily Veendum Varunnu. The point to be noted is that none of these movies got any superstar from the Malayalam movie industry – maybe with the recent incidents related to actors’ real life, they are all waiting. Until then, this one brings the feel-good factor.

Release date: 21st July 2017
Running time: 130 minutes
Directed by: Aneesh Anwar
Starring: Farhaan Faasil, Sana Althaf, Renjini Jose, Sheela, Madhu, Manikandan Achari, Noby Marcose, Joy Mathew, Sooraj Harris, Shanavas, Sunil Sugatha, Sasi Kalinga, Hareesh Perumanna, Sreejith Ravi, Sivaji Guruvayoor, Indrans, Asha Aravind, Ponnamma Babu, Aju Varghese (cameo)