Tag Archives: Mahima Nambiar

Little Hearts

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Vampire Owl: Do you remember those days when we were eating Little Hearts without limits? Those were the most approved biscuits.

Vampire Bat: Those were the days of fine nostalgia. We were not even limited to Little Hearts as we continued lives focused on the little moments of joy.

Vampire Owl: So, they have named a movie after a packet of biscuits. It is a good idea to keep the focus on the food.

Vampire Bat: On the greatest packet of biscuits that we will ever know. Not just us, the greatest that humans will ever know.

Vampire Owl: So, you mean to say that the greatest of them all is not Bourbon or Hide and Seek with those classic looks?

Vampire Bat: There is nothing that matches Little Hearts, and there are not many that matches the old model of Milk Bikis.

Vampire Owl: I am assuming that you are going through a biscuit induced nostalgia, not focused on tea for a change.

Vampire Bat: Well, we have been among the people who have eaten so much of biscuits that we are close to breaking records.

Vampire Owl: We have also waited for this movie to release for a little too long.

Vampire Bat: Well, the first proposed date of release was much earlier.

Vampire Owl: The release should have happened during the vacation.

Vampire Bat: Well, the holidays had seen some strange films creating records with collections.

Vampire Owl: I will never know how these new generation and mindless movies make so much of collection.

Vampire Bat: Well, human taste has always been strange.

Vampire Owl: Trusting their taste is the strangest thing a vampire can do.

Vampire Bat: At least the trailer of this movie did a pretty good job in making an impression.

Vampire Owl: You know that making a trailer is often too easy a job if there is not that much of a content to show in the full film

[Gets a box with tomato popcorn and three cups of cardamom tea and moves into theatre].

Vampire Owl: This is an interesting movie, even though there is no attempt at variety. It goes on well, as if it was just determined to move on.

Vampire Bat: After RDX: Robert Dony Xavier and Vela, Shane Nigam seems to have quite a different role here and has nailed this one too.

Vampire Owl: Shane Nigam and Mahima Nambiar team has returned as a pair quite well, even though latter should have been there for more.

Vampire Bat: Well, the romantic side of Shane and Mahima has the least focus among the romances shown in this movie.

Vampire Owl: The three romances here face problems due to different reasons, and none of them seems to be ready to be accepted by the society.

Vampire Bat: Well society, economic well-being and sexuality will always have roles to play in the society forever.

Vampire Owl: Well, I would say that these are rather eternal, like Uncle Dracula.

Vampire Bat: The tale of Baburaj and his relationship with the son played by Shane Nigam makes the biggest impact though.

Vampire Owl: Yes, with both the humour as well as the emotional side has been managed so well, reminding one of those early days of moving into humour from villainy.

Vampire Bat: Yet, it could not further develop on the same, and manages to travel just on the usual and predictable path.

Vampire Owl: The feel-good path is the one road too much travelled, and without trying too much to make things better.

Vampire Bat: There are still those moments with Little Hearts packets, and there is the certainty of tea being shown again and again.

Vampire Owl: The one who played the migrant worker from the North really did a great job, and brings humour being second only to Baburaj. Yet, rest of the humour goes through a struggle at times.

Vampire Bat: Shane’s avatar in a different style works well, even though he should have more of romantic side with Mahima. The deviation was not that much needed, at least with this much of an effect.

Vampire Owl: Well, even in their previous movie together, they had parted way too soon. At least with the feel-good mode one, that would not happen.

Vampire Bat: For the same, it seems that the end was forced to reach that destination of feel-good for the common soul.

Vampire Owl: In a world of viewers where they are strangely addicted to drugs and alcohol like never before, can we ever have enough feel-good?

Vampire Bat: Can you blame them with so many superstars trying to put them into a world of nonsense far away from a righteous reality?

Vampire Owl: Well, I would trust this simple feel-good film with nice green visuals and some interesting songs which are there to stay for long. There is no real danger in the happenings of this one, and the light-hearted side keeps the darkness away.

[Disappears into the darkness of the day because the clouds have done the trick to hide the sun and bring the much needed darkness].

This is the YouTube video with the second film review there. The video reviews have had the focus since the last one, and tries to make interesting comments about the selected movies. The writing will also go on through its path, but the visual side also has its say more than ever, as the YouTube channel “Scholar Nomads” intends to explore more areas of interest. For both blog and vlog, there will be films reviews and even more to be seen.

Release date: 7th June 2024 (Theatre)
Running time: 134 minutes
Directed by: Anto Jose Pereira and Aby Treesa Paul
Starring: Shane Nigam, Shine Tom Chacko, Baburaj, Mahima Nambiar, Renji Panicker, Shammi Thilakan, Jaffer Idukki, Aima Rosmy Sebastian, Ramya Suvi, Maala Parvathy, Parvathy Babu, John Kaippallil

<<< Click here to go to the previous film review.

<<< Click here to go to the previous romantic film review.

<<< Click here to go to the review of our first favourite film of the year.

<<< Click here to go to the review of the most underrated film of the year.

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

RDX

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Vampire Owl: Are humans talking about explosives again?

Vampire Bat: Humans have always been interested in destruction using explosives.

Vampire Owl: So, can we expect some complete devastation?

Vampire Bat: This is more about fighting rather than using explosion.

Vampire Owl: You mean to say that there is an explosion of fighting.

Vampire Bat: You can say that. We are no strangers to that.

Vampire Owl: Vampires do not fight within.

Vampire Bat: Not when there is are cold vampires involved.

Vampire Owl: The cold vampires are just a myth.

Vampire Bat: The cold vampires are gods among the elders and a matter of faith. Let us not play with matters of faith, belief and hope.

[Gets a paneer masala dosa and three cups of Darjeeling tea].

What is the movie about? :: Robert Philip (Shane Nigam), his brother Dony Philip (Antony Varghese) and their best friend Xavier Antony (Neeraj Madhav) have been training in martial arts and picking up fights in the city and the outskirts. Antony Aashaan (Babu Antony) who is their karate and boxing master still reminds them that martial arts is not for fighting with others, but only for self-defense. Despite the promises which they make to the master, there is always one fight or the other which they are part of, much to the dismay of their father Philip (Lal) and mother Kunjumol (Maala Parvathi). Circle Inspector of Police, Roy (Baiju Santhosh), Philip’s brother-in-law is the only one who seems to be able to take care of solving their problems from the side of the law. Robert finds a girlfriend in the form of Mini (Mahima Nambiar) who is from a different social, economic and religious side after helping her to deal with a repetitious problem. But their relationship is being noted by people from her colony. At the same time, Dony is in love with Simi (Aima Rosmy Sebastian), a school teacher in the nearby school, which seems to be a more acceptable relationship.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: To make sure that their wedding happens very soon, Robert makes Simi reveal her relationship with Dony, and gets the marriage alliance fixed with no delay. He feels that now he can go forward with a marriage alliance to Mini as he has a nice plan in getting respectable a job in the city. But soon, they find themselves in the centre of Cochin Carnival where Mini has a dance performance. But it turns out that the whole carnival is full of people from Mini’s colony, and most of them are not happy with Robert having a relationship with her. There is another score to settle for Anas (Harisankar Rajendran), who had a fight with Robert, Dony and Xavier during an earlier cricket match was never completed. This would lead to a fight with not only Anas, but also with the leader figure of the colony, Jaison (Sujith Shanker), his younger brother Paulson (Vishnu Agasthya), as well as their sidekicks Davis (Nishanth Sagar), Seban (Sandeep Raj) and Faisal (Midhun Venugopal) among others. This would lead to a long sequence of events which would leads to families and relationships breaking up without chances for mending, and soon there might be no way home.

The defence of RDX: Robert Dony Xavier :: This is one movie which rises above the rest of the action films so effectively with a cast that feels so perfectly suited for the roles. The action is of top quality, and it has also managed to keep a realistic side to the genre with ease. The characters here makes the feelings stronger, The emotional connection is also too good, and the fights with family bond that comes with it never gets old. Unlike Thallumaala which dealt with too much of action and remained not serious, this takes the much serious and dark tone right into it. The dialogues also work out really well, and the setting as well as the situations can be directly connected to the common audience. The one memorable song in the movie keeps us going forward with the musical elements too. We will keep remembering the song as the second best of the year after the 2018 song unless some other comes up. The fight at the carnival and final exchange at the ground are very much memorable. The movie has the ability to have everyone in a family immersed in its proceedings, and its beauty is more than what is felt in the beginning stages.

The claws of flaw :: The movie does not bring anything new, as we look at it. We can see that it follows the same policy as one would expect a film of this genre to follow. There could have been some fine additional elements which would make things better. This also happens to be another movie which has a superhit romantic song, but there is no romantic success to keep it in memory as part of romantic success. The flashback could have also been less predictable, as we just go through the usual thing with fights going on all the time with a terrible turn of events that makes the whole thing even worse. Where it lags behind Thallumaala is the lack of experimentation with the usual stuff. Despite the initial feeling and small burst in the end, the women in the film have much less to do, even with the romantic side going strong beyond the fight. The final fighting sequences just become the reason to finish things, and not more. Despite the grand success, the question will remain if this movie could have become this grand if its competition was better.

The performers of the soul :: Shane Nigam clearly leads the movie, and is in an avatar with which we do not usually associated him. He has nicely blended into the proceedings here, and proves well that action genre also suits him well. The romantic side of the youth has always been safe in his hands. Antony Varghese has already proven that action is his fortress, and this kind of action might still feel new to him, but he manages the same well too. Among the three, it is Neeraj Madhav who scores the most with action. His use of the traditional chainsticks will remain as a highlight here. Mahima Nambiar who plays the female lead after a number of smaller, notable roles, does a fine job – one still wishes that she could have been there for longer. The last scenes have one special moment for her. Babu Antony’s screen presence is magnificent here, even though he only has less action moments than wanted. Aima Rosmy Sebastian returning after five years adds well to proceedings. Lal is once again very good in a role that suits him. Vishnu Agasthya’s villain feels like a fine prospect for future. Sujith Shanker and Nishanth Sagar could have been there for longer, as they do create some fine impact with their moments.

How it finishes :: RDX maintains its similarities with Thallumaala as much as the differences. While former maintains the emotional side well with addition of the family side, latter was never an emotional adventure, with the absence of categorization into good and evil. The Tovino Thomas starrer was never about defeating the antagonist who becomes a challenge to a life with family, but about finishing something which was left unfinished. RDX has nicely eclipsed the releases of the same time such as Dulquer Salmaan’s King of Kotha and Nivin Pauly’s Ramachandra Boss and Co which were supposed to be the bigger releases of the festival. The movie has also overtaken Thallumaala to get to the hundred crore mark with ease. The non-linear narration of Thallumaala is done away with, and the movie here deals with more connectable kind of people, which led to the bigger success of RDX. To add to it, Thallumaala did not have that much of a story. Basically, both movies are for different kind of people, and in finding the type of people for which it would appeal, RDX has won the battle with ease, and that too without that big superstar set for action.

Release date: 24th September 2023 (Netflix); 25th August 2023 (Theatre)
Running time: 146 minutes
Directed by: Nahas Hidayath
Starring: Shane Nigam, Antony Varghese, Neeraj Madhav, Babu Antony, Aima Rosmy Sebasian, Lal, Mahima Nambiar, Baiju Santhosh, Maala Parvathi, Vishnu Agasthya, Siraj, Harisankar Rajendran, Midhun Venugopal, Dineesh Aleppey, Rigil Mundakkal, Aravind Thampan, Sandeep Raj, Nishanth Sagar, Sujith Shanker as Jaison, Arya Salim, Nahas Hidayath

<<< Click here to go to the previous review.

<<< Click here to go to the previous family movie review.

<<< Click here to go to the previous action-filled film review.

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Masterpiece

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What is the movie about? :: An arrogant Roshan Cherian (John Kaipallil) and an adamant Mahesh Raj (Maqbool Salmaan) leads two rival gangs at the Travancore Maharaja College in the centre of the city. These two gangs, Royal Warriors and Real Fighters fight for domination, with hockey sticks, cricket bats, cycle chains, table legs or whatever they can find, sometimes in the remote corners of the huge college campus, and at other right times, right in front of the students and faculty, much to the dismay of the Roshan’s father, Vice Principal Cherian Philip (Mukesha) and Principal Narayana Kaimal (Sunil Sukhada). There is no shortage of chaos already, but the love story of a Real Fighters member Unnikrishnan (Gokul Suresh) with a girl named Vedhika (Mahima Nambiar) from the nearby college makes things even worse. They soon find the dead body of Vedhika in the college premises, and first suspect for the crime is Unnikrishnan who is arrested.

So, what happens with the events to follow? :: Soon, Unnikrishnan is found hanging inside his cell in the police station, and things get worse. A.C.P. John Thekkan I.P.S. (Unni Mukundan) who was leading the investigation lands up in the hospital after college students attack the police, and S.I. Ramakrishnan (Kalabhavan Shajohn) is suspended after being held responsible for the death of the student. There are wide protests in the city by student organisations which take over the whole thing, and as Vedhika comes from a reputed and rich family, and is the daughter of an influential politician, pressure mounts on the officials, and a new team lead by A.C.P Bhavani Durga I.P.S. is brought to action. With John Thekkan expected to return and join the team soon, the group decides to take quick and firm action against the possible culprits before new orders come from the top again.

And what comes next with this murder mystery? :: After questioning the peon of the college, Sankarankutty (Santhosh Pandit), canteen in charge Maniyan (Saju Navodaya) and helper Reji (Bijukuttan), the police comes to know that Roshan had alcohol mixed in Unnikrishnan’s drink making sure that he wouldn’t get to meet Vedhika who was waiting for them at the beach, where she was last spotted. Roshan becomes the suspect, and the police tries to enter the campus to arrest him, only to be stopped by protesting students, with the exception of Real Fighters who welcome the move to arrest the leader of Royal Warriors. As police and students fight inside the campus, the new English professor arrives to take charge – Edward Livingstone (Mammootty) who has a record of police cases for himself. He decides to change the whole setup in the college, and re-unite its students, as police looks for the murderer.

The defence of Masterpiece :: It is after Mammootty arrives that this movie gets better, as the latter part of the movie is surely better. There will also be a lot for the fans, and that is for sure – as I skipped the early fan shows and watched the movie with normal hardworking people, there was no focus on those mass scenes in the theatre. The suspense is maintained till the end, and the revelation awaits at the final moments. Just like Aadu 2, this one is for more the fans, and the other categories of viewers will find only limited impact. The festival mood of this holiday season is also maintained in this movie. This leaves no surprise about how well the movie began at the theatres, as the first of the many flicks of Christmas including Mayaanadhi, Vimaanam, Aadu 2 and Aana Alaralodalaral. Well, it is always good to go back to the campus isn’t it? And nothing better than a murder mystery in a college campus to provide a grand entry for the hero who is all prepared to go invincible and immortal in a world of cheap mortal humans.

The claws of flaw :: You will find Masterpiece to be too similar to Mohanlal starrer Velipadinte Pusthakam, but the mass elements are rather too much in this one. A college professor with a complicated past coming into a college where students battle each other as part of two separate gangs with a murder behind – just the same idea that you had seen on the big screen earlier. The shots of hero throwing the goons to the Mahindra Scorpios parked there, destroying the vehicles too easily will have the makers of the vehicles wonder what would happen if a Scooty is to hit them in the middle – will the SUV be split into two then? Then there is a modified vehicle which goes through walls – are they promoting this vehicle against Mahindra? Is that a foreign-made SUV that is declared to be better than Mahindra SUVs? The hero also throws a heavily built villain around with one hand a little too many times, and the movie could have done without these scenes. In this too long a movie, the jokes are less effective and there is confusion about where it is going. Slow motion is used badly as expected.

The performers of the soul :: It takes just above an hour for Mammootty to come in, and it might be because of the presence of too many characters that it takes so long. It is after he arrives that things begin to get interesting, as he immediately makes the impact as the college professor. The two female characters who are there till the end, Poonam Bajwa and Varalaxmi Sarathkumar got not much to contribute, playing stereotypes. Mahima Nambiar gets better but the character goes dead. Unni Mukundan has to go a little too much towards the stylish side, but has our attention. Kalabhavan Shajohn is someone who never struggles in this one, as a cop suits him so well just like in Oppam and Drishyam. Gokul Suresh did believable work here. John Kaipallil and Maqbool Salmaan were good playing what Arun Kurian and Sarath Kumar played in Velipadinte Pusthakam. Saju Navodaya brings some comedy here and here with Bijukuttan, but not that much as we would expect. Captain Raju brings some laughs, even though we see more going over the head.

How it finishes :: The movie is something which seems to be exactly opposite what the title says. Masterpiece is exactly what this movie isn’t, but if we separate the word into two, and say “Master in pieces”, that would be more appropriate. But as Velipadinte Pusthakam itself was, this is not really a terrible movie. There is something here and there for the fans, and we know that the core idea had more potential. The hero worship in this movie is exactly what brings this movie down – it is always the superstar’s fans and their needs that brings a wonderful actor down, as it is proven on so many occasions. We need to forget a few moments defying gravitational force along with slow motion, and some unnecessary dialogues about respecting women without meaning the same when there is no need, and we have one twist awaiting us in the end, and a villain whom we least expected. As a thriller, the idea at the base is surely good, but we have to often wonder at the final product.

Release date: 21st December 2017
Running time: 160 minutes
Directed by: Ajai Vasudev
Starring: Mammootty, Unni Mukundan, Poonam Bajwa, Varalaxmi Sarathkumar, Kalabhavan Shajohn, Mahima Nambiar, Megha Mathew, Lena, John Kaipallil, Mukesh, Gokul Suresh, Maqbool Salmaan, David John, Santhosh Pandit, Kailash, Nandu, Divya Pillai, Sunil Sukhada, Arjun Nandhakumar, Saju Navodaya, Thesni Khan, Divyadarshan, Ameer Niyaz, Bijukuttan, Shivaji Guruvayoor, Udaykrishna, Renji Panicker, Manikkuttan, Anjali Nair, Captain Raju

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.