Baby Girl

Posted on March 27, 2026 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl: I wonder who these babies in the movie are.

Vampire Bat: I have heard about a baby going missing in this story.

Vampire Owl: How can babies go missing? Who takes them? A succubus?

Vampire Bat: I am relieved that you did not say gargoyle.

Vampire Owl: The gargoyles are completely under the control of Uncle Dracula now.

Vampire Bat: I am glad that you did not assign them to Mr. Frankenstein.

Vampire Owl: Dr. Frankenstein has better scientific plans.

Vampire Bat: What will he invent now? A fake time machine?

Vampire Owl: I have heard that Dr. Frankenstein is going to create an elixir of invisibility.

Vampire Bat: You mean like the elixir of immortality which increased mortality by a thousand times in multiple realms.

[Gets a Paneer Fried Rice and three cups of Nuwara Eliya tea].

What is the movie about? :: Meenakshi (Mythili Nair), a young student doing engineering graduation at Bangalore had just given birth to a baby girl, only to find out that her baby had gone missing when she checked. She had married her senior at college, Akash (Akshay Prashanth) who had just turned twenty one, the minimum legal age for marriage as she had already turned eighteen and was pregnant with his child. Sanal (Nivin Pauly), the attender and Sukumaran (Jaffar Idukki), the security, becomes the worst affected due to this situation as their lack of care for their duty time becomes known to the police force led by Sub Inspector Rakesh (Abhimanyu Shammi Thilakan) and Assistant Sub Inspector Akbar (Azees Nedumangad) who try to get to the bottom of this, despite not getting enough support from Circle Inspector Sujith (Sreejith Ravi) and City Police Commissioner Shameer (Major Ravi) who are focusing more on a political protest which is going on in the city. The protests get through the blockades and with the Chief Minister at the location, there is least police support provided to the missing case.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: As the team send CPO Jeffin (Aswath Lal) to gather further information, Sanal tells them that he had seen someone in a purdah going out from the hospital with a bag, and he suspected that the baby was inside it. They keep searching for the same person in that clothing, and Sanal ends up getting a baby from a woman in the streets, but that turns out to be her own baby, making it an embarrassment for both the police and the hospital. As the hospital dismisses him with immediate effect for carelessness as much as recklessness, his wife Sini (Aditi Ravi), a nurse who had just returned from Saudi Arabia, asks him to return home and not to think more about what happened. But he is determined to find out what happened to the baby, but the situation is not like what he had been thinking, as Rishi (Sangeeth Prathap) and Rithu (Lijomol Jose) are the two people involved in this, but things had gone out of their control. Can there be some balance brought back to the situation, and will they be able to find the baby and return it to the mother before there are more complications?

The defence of Baby Girl :: The movie has the main incident coming into the picture right at the beginning itself, as not much time is wasted in a movie which had all the opportunity to waste a lot. It seems to be in a hurry in the beginning, as nothing else gets the care other than the baby girl gone missing, and the investigation is very quick to start and move on with hope. The movie needed an initial strength as it focuses more on the Passenger-model of common people going after a serious situation covered by the media, and that early boost helps the movie to keep moving forward even when pulled down. When the movie powers to an effective interval, that nicely gets to a point where emotions peak. The emotional side can also be seen as mostly working, and the deviations in the tale with more characters always seem to bring the emotions further. With realistic moments as much as performances, the movie never really moves away from our world. Cinematography and background score also adds to the overall quality of the movie. Then, the hype was always meant to keep the movie felt grand at the start itself.

The claws of flaw :: The movie’s attempt to bring the emotional side of losing a baby girl is lost in the process of getting emotionally attached to the other characters, who are not that much well-established. The movie seems to be keeping us close to different griefs and the abiding sadness here is more or less related to these people being sad for many other reasons which becomes more important than a lost child at times, and there are moments when we feel that the baby is just a missing package which has to be reminded as important by the police and the main characters through carefully crafted dialogues meant for some occasions only. The story keeps losing strength at times, as if there is some laziness which comes in here and there. The subplots often do not come up with that much of a strength, and a number of characters, fail to come up with the desired impact here. The ending is not that satisfactory, even though it is emotionally effective, for we did not wish to go the Game of Thrones finale way after a long wait. Well, this is a movie in which characters remain strange and act so, on too many occasions, as police characters also remains not effective in thinking.

The performers of the soul :: Nivin Pauly leads the way here not as the hero who would come out strong and prove that he is among the best, but as a flawed protagonist. He surely has a lot of screen time here, and is there from the beginning, and yet, I would consider the main character to be that one which is played by Lijimol Jose. One can safely say that it is her character that determines the real outcome of the movie, and scores like no other in the emotional scenes. It is also good to see Sangeeth Prathap getting roles like these, which have something far away from that usual humour. Even then, he does add a little bit of situational humour here too. Mythili Nair and Akshay Prashanth, the new faces also get some strong work to do, and they handle the same with some maturity which is to be appreciated. Abhimanyu Shammi Thilakan’s police role is solid, and Azees Nedumangad’s support is also to be appreciated, even though it comes as no surprise after watching movies like Kannur Squad. Aditi Ravi’s role is surprisingly limited to a few scenes at one house and so is that of Alphy Panjikaran at the hospital. Major Ravi, Aswath Lal and Sreejith Ravi plays their smaller police roles well as expected.

How it finishes :: As this one comes from the writers Bobby-Sanjay, the expectations were to be the much higher, and only some of the same is delivered here. There will not be the emotional power of Kaanekkaane or the investigative strength of Salute. After the success of Sarvam Maya, this next movie of the year with Nivin Pauly in the lead and with the addition of Lijomol Jose of Jai Bhim fame around was supposed to be a movie which helped expectations to skyrocket, but that journey to the clouds was surely short-lived, even though the movie does serve with entertainment and emotions as well as thrills and some twists also added here and there. The potential was so much, but movie confuses itself towards the ending which will satisfy only a small number of people. It had begun with such a compelling idea of a missing newborn case with a clear atmosphere of urgency and tension, which deviates, and feels like ready to lose its way, but then comes back, and feels like raising itself on occasions, only to end without that much of a real solution. But the journey remains memorable, and effective enough to have us go for it with the engaging moments.

Release date: 23rd January 2026
Running time: 124 minutes
Directed by: Arun Varma
Starring: Nivin Pauly, Sangeeth Prathap, Lijomol Jose, Abhimanyu Shammi Thilakan, Alphy Panjikaran, Aditi Ravi, Rudraksh, Azees Nedumangad, Major Ravi, Sreejith Ravi, Mythili Nair, Akshay Prashanth, Jaffar Idukki, Aswath Lal, Nandhu, Nisha Sarangh, Ranjini George, Prem Prakash, James Eliya, Kichu Tellus, Anoop Krishnan, Archana Prakash

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@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Street Lights

Posted on January 28, 2018 by Tennyson

What is the movie about? :: There is a burglary occuring in the city, and the two thieves are being chased by security guards, only to be saved by a third man who is part of the gang. The three men are revealed to be the confused Sachi (Hareesh Perummana), clueless Raju (Dharmajan Bolgatty) and the angry, violent Murugan (Stunt Silva) who is determined to get what he wants in any way possible. They have stolen a diamond necklace, which might be the key to making their life better, and maybe perfect enough to ensure an eternity of wonderful existence. Simon Mundackal (Joy Mathew) who is the owner of the diamond necklace, is afraid to go to the police as the necklace is made from unaccounted money, which makes him call his nephew who is a police officer, James (Mammootty) – a man known to have his special skills in solving difficult cases.

So, what happens with the events to follow? :: James has no problem in taking over this case, as he is known to have a history with Murugan, a criminal from Tamil Nadu’s Theni who has escaped to Kerala. He keeps only his most trusted people from the force with him, keeping the investigation personal and far away from the force’s knowledge. This search for the five crore worth of necklace begins with the one mobile phone which the thieves left at the house, but the journey forward is not that smooth for them, with James’ trusted officer Issac (Rony David) getting injured while fighting Murugan. The three thieves got their own safe houses in and around Cochin, and even when they are not to be found in the city, they have their presence. But they do make one mistake while hiding the diamond necklace, and Raju has the credit for the same.

And what follows next in the adventure? :: Their complicated adventure collides with the normal life of the people of Vypin and other places close to the city, and things begin to undergo changes for all of them. Remya (Lijomol Jose), her cousin and childhood friend (Soubin Shahir) who is in love with her, a child in her neighbourhood, his father who is connected to the thieves, and others are forced into the world of policemen and thieves, which has only one diamond necklace as the means to solve everything. There is also a flashback or many of them related to how everything begins. But the question remains if Murugan and his friends can be caught, and whether the diamond necklace can ever get back to Simon who is waiting for the same – well, you will never know, as there are some twists ready to happen.

The defence of Street Lights :: There is certain suspense about how things are going to come together, and things get nicely uncovered, and we have them joining well enough to make a point as we march towards the end. There is also a balance regarding importance given to the characters, as a number of roles seems to have the same significance in how things keep happening. The characters are more or less like the street lights, making their presence felt by lighting up moments – some are surely brighter than the rest, but all are working unlike in some parts of our world. Even those characters who come only in one scene have enough in them to be memorable. There is the mixture of comedy, thrills and twists that go on well, even though none of them gets to a level which makes the whole thing truly remarkable. The comic side brings the balance, you have almost all genres except horror looking right into this movie which is kept short for our interests.

The claws of flaw :: The final moments of the movie seem to be forced. One has to wonder why there had to be the need to bring the hero and the villain face to face, to get the protagonist to beat up his opponent with ease, when everything has been going in a rather realistic manner. The heroism with sunshades, slow motion and the stylish vehicles just seem to be added for the sake of having them there. A tale of the common man gets lost in this need to go unreal at times. A few predictable moments could have been avoided, and the focus should have been more with the child and the romantic tale, with the police-criminal moments being restricted. The final moments showing the greatness of the protagonist is rather dull, and a near perfect police officer is mis-fit for this kind of a realistic tale of the common people we see around.

The performers of the soul :: Mammootty plays the hero in this tale of other people, and he has no problem in playing this character which brings no challenge – it is just the usual stereotype of a police officer surrounded by characters full of life. Here, he brings the needed the charm, and surely strengthens the movie as the star. Lijomol Jose and Soubin Shahir have their own moments in this one, and there is fun around when they are around, with a certain amount of cuteness to go with the same. Hareesh Perumanna and Dharmajan Bolgatty are the two to provide the best of comedy though, as they bring something or the other all the time without hesitation. Stunt Silva does make a perfect villain in between, and we can see the evil side coming out of the veil, as we see the villainy which gets darker, revealing the strength of that darkness. Adhish Praveen is wonderful throughout the movie, and Gayathri Krishna’s shorter presence has our attention.

How it finishes :: Street Lights is not what many people might have expected, but its core tale of common people that we have been in need. If the so called action side was removed, it could have been a thriller with Maheshinte Prathikaaram or Thondimuthalum Drikshakshiyum model comic side. It never really matches them in totality, but Street Lights does manage to bring its own identity around here. Among the movies which go on doing the same thing again and again, this one does try to go a different path, particularly with one side of its story, and we can appreciate the same. It is with the same thing that Street Lights differs from Masterpiece – there is an idea here which is divergent in its core, and there is the attempt to experiment at certain points. Well, we can safely say that the street lights bring enough to get rid of the darkness here.

Release date: 26th January 2018
Running time: 129 minutes
Directed by: Shamdat Sainudeen
Starring: Mammootty, Gayathri Krishna, Lijomol Jose, Soubin Shahir, Joy Mathew, Hareesh Perumanna, Stunt Silva, Dharmajan Bolgatty, Rony David, Jude Anthany Joseph, Sudhi Koppa, Motta Rajendran, Neena Kurup, Adhish Praveen, Sohan Seenulal, Rajasekharan

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@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Kattappanayile Rithwik Roshan

Posted on November 20, 2016 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl :: Why isn’t the name spelled Hrithik Roshan?

Vampire Bat :: Because a change of spelling will make all things right.

Vampire Owl :: I am really annoyed with any bad spelling.

Vampire Bat :: Dude, this is intentional.

Vampire Owl :: Which is why I am intentionally protesting against it.

Vampire Bat :: I don’t understand your intentions.

Vampire Owl :: You only need to get me one cup of tea, vegetable puffs and cheese popcorn. It is a good understanding of intentions.

Vampire Bat :: You needn’t fight for that. You can have them with ease.

Vampire Owl :: A fight is cent percent needed. See, all things are lies. They say there is no money, and see the number of people who are here to watch this movie.

Vampire Bat :: Well, even we are here. It is a crowd-puller as you can see.

[Gets the tickets with tea and caramel popcorn].

What is it about? :: Geo (Siju Wilson) is ditched by his lover Neethu (Swasika) who is about to get married in a grand function. Disappointed and feeling hopeless in losing the girl whom he thought was his true love, Geo decides to commit suicide. But when standing at the suicide point, he finds a letter under a stone which was written by a stranger named Krishnan a.k.a. Kichu (Vishnu Unnikrishnan). He continues to read on, as he finds his whole life there. Kichu’s father Surendran (Siddique) was a fan of Jayan and wanted to become an actor like him, but becomes a failure. So, he decides to make his son a hero in the movies, but seems to fail in that too, as everyone think that Kichu is not fair enough, and there is also a mark on his forehead which gives him only smaller negative roles in movies. But Kichu doesn’t stop trying to reach his aim.

So what happens next? :: Kichu’s only good friend is Dasappan (Dharmajan Bolgatty) who has always been there to support him, right from the childhood. They can’t stop being jealous of Giridhar (Rahul Madhav), another person who seems to have everything including the looks and money. His neighbour Kani (Lijomol Jose) has been in love with him for a long time, he fails to notice it, as his dream is to marry a very beautiful girl. She still tries to catch his attention all the time. It is when he keeps getting the roles of thieves and criminals that the director James Antony (Kalabhavan Shajohn) provides him with role of a main character in the movie. At the same time, he falls for the rich, beautiful girl who comes to live in the town, Ann Maria (Prayaga Martin). But there are twists waiting to happen in his life, and it is a little bit too early for him to be happy. Will he survive the upcoming tests?

The defence of Kattappanayile Rithwik Roshan :: There is fun in store in this movie, that is for sure, and an attempt at message is made, just like it was done in Amar Akbar Anthony. But this one is a better movie than the directorial debut of the man at the helm, and an improvement in the overall quality. This one also pretends less than the other one, as Amar Akbar Anthony is supposed to have done something gargantuan, but it didn’t, except for pretending to be this and that all the time. Here we have some genuine scenes which invokes laughter, and they are the ones which save the day more than any other. Even though occasionally overdone, most of the characters in this movie are common people with whom we can relate. With them right in the camera, the humour works better than Amar Akbar Anthony which was a little bit of a low class pretender. Kattappana is also well captured. Yes, the message is there to be taken, if you want it.

The claws of flaw :: For some reason, Kattappanayile Rithwik Roshan suffers from a complete lack of brains, something which would surely save it from the zombies, but makes the intelligent viewer feel the pain, for even a movie in the comedy genre like this one can use it to make the funny side clever rather than foolish – but that is a rare thing between the cliches that stretches its arms towards climax and the finish. The movie is also hypocritical in its core, often working against whatever it seemed to convey, a terrible beauty of a quality which Amar Akbar Anthony also possessed. A lot of comedy scenes are repetitions, or something we have heard before – we knew that from the trailer itself with the use of the word “photogenic” which is a comedy that goes years back. The emotional side is also only partially working. The songs are just terrible, and the predictability factor is so strong.

Performers of the soul :: Vishnu Unnikrishnan does a fine job in this movie, and we are glad to see him performing as the protagonist. He has no trouble in going through the different stages of the hero’s career. Meanwhile, Salim Kumar makes a great comeback, and in the flashback scenes, he and Siddique are too good – the two manages to use their years of experience to the best, and makes us laugh. All humour is kept steady by Dharmajan Bolgatty though, and most of his jokes are right on target – the exceptions can be forgotten considering how well he has managed his character with nonstop fun, and even an emotional side that comes in the end. Among the actresses, Lijomol Jose is the pick, and once again after Maheshinte Prathikaram, in this second movie, she is amazingly good as the simple girl. Prayaga Martin doesn’t have much to do, and she is there looking good – no part of the movie is really about her character. Siju Wilson drops in to score too.

How it finishes :: The movie’s first half is cent percent superior to the second half, and we end up hoping for more in the second due to the same. The humour here is the reason why you can go for this movie, and for everything else, there are other movies. If you can go beyond the stereotypes and a certain amount of drag which comes along in the second half, this is surely going to be a fun experience without much to take home, of a better level than Amar Akbar Anthony. I would have liked to skip the final scene though, where Nadirshah makes an appearance – that was totally unnecessary, as it should not have been due to the trust on the audience that he would have casted our hero, but due to the need for bringing a skilled young man as the hero in a good movie – by placing the trust in the viewers, it has gone completely against the overall message of the movie, which is disappointing. But think not about it when you enjoy this entertainer.

Release date: 18th November 2016
Running time: 140 minutes
Directed by: Nadirshah
Starring: Vishnu Unnikrishnan, Prayaga Martin, Lijomol Jose, Dharmajan Bolgatty, Rahul Madhav, Siju Wilson, Salim Kumar, Swasika, Kalabhavan Shajohn, Thara Kalyan, Sethulakshmi, Neena Kurup, Devika Nambiar, Kottayam Nazeer, Nadirshah, Kottayam Pradeep, Jaffer Idukki