Express News Service
Aju Varghese is the last person you would expect to remind you of some earlier roles of Mohanlal. You wouldn't believe it if I told you that I saw a glimpse of the Mohanlal from Pavithram and the one from TP Balagopalan MA at two different places in the film, albeit for a very brief period.
Aju Varghese plays both father and son, separated by time. When the two get to share the screen, one of them has turned into a photograph. In Saajan Bakery, named after the father, the son fails to live up to the latter's name. But he also hopes to avoid his mistakes.
'Shylock' writers working on multi-starrer next
Bibin, Aneesh, and Ajai were present at an event which saw the announcement of two upcoming projects, one helmed by Ajai and the other by Shyamaprasad.
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Though some casting rumours were circulating online, Bibin tells us that the actors are yet to be confirmed.
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After Shylock, writers Bibin Mohan and Aneesh Hameed will be teaming up with director Ajai Vasudev again for a project which is expected to be a multi-starrer.
Bibin, Aneesh, and Ajai were present at an event which saw the announcement of two upcoming projects, one helmed by Ajai and the other by Shyamaprasad.
Jayasurya & Samyuktha shine in an uplifting, familiar film
Vellam says that not all men with a bad habit are necessarily bad, and wants us to refrain from alienating someone who wants to change with the necessary push
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Vellam is a classic redemption tale, based on a particularly dark phase in the life of a real-life person who makes an appearance towards the end of the film.
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In his previous film, Captain, director Prajesh Sen showed a man battling his inner demons and how his family is impacted by it. His second film, Vellam, has a man battling different demons. He goes through the severest of humiliation and becomes an embarrassment to not just his parents, wife and kid, but also to himself. But this is a relatively more uplifting film.
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Last year, I saw Gamak Ghar, a Marathi film that told the story of a home and several generations that lived in it entirely through images, human behaviour, mundane day-to-day activities, and minimal dialogues. It got me thinking why nobody attempted something similar in Malayalam cinema recently. Jeo Baby’s The Great Indian Kitchen, streaming on NeeStream, is the answer to that. It’s the real deal. It’s a masterclass on how to present a stark portrait of reality without any gimmicks whatsoever. It goes back to the very basics of filmmaking — relying purely on image and sound to bombard us with one uncomfortable truth after another. Here’s a film that addresses the politics of gender, kitchen, and bedroom while managing to be incredibly subtle.
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Deepak Parambol is gearing up for the release of a crime thriller titled The Last Two Days. It also stars Dharmajan Bolgatty and Nandan Unni.
The film marks the directorial debut of actor Santosh Lakshman, who is known for portraying Bengali characters in Malayalam films such as Ann Mariya Kalippilaanu and Anjaam Pathira.
Santosh co-wrote the screenplay with Navaneeth Reghu. He has previously worked as an assistant of director G Prajith. Speaking to us about the film, Deepak says it’s an investigation thriller made on a small scale.
“It’s a small film that we already completed shooting. We shot during the lockdown with a small crew. Since it was possible to shoot a subject of this scale back then, we took advantage of the opportunity.” Deepak adds that the film was shot entirely in Fort Kochi.
Express News Service
Malayalam cinema was off to a great start in 2020. We got successive releases that proved to be worth the audience’s time and money until the pandemic played spoilsport. We also lost some beloved actors and filmmakers who left behind an irreparable void. 2020 was also notable for some bold risks taken by a few actors and filmmakers irrespective of the outcomes. In this piece, we look at those who boldly went where no one ever went before.
Vijay Babu
It’s not every day that you see a mainstream producer going against the grain and doing something that most in the industry wouldn’t dream of doing for fear of offending certain parties. When everyone else decided to sit it out, Vijay Babu released his production Sufiyum Sujatayam, directed by Naranipuzha Shanavas, on Amazon Prime Video. It was a first for mainstream Malayalam cinema, and most people welcomed the move. But, like any event that upsets the status quo, the move also drew sharp criticism. Nevertheless, the example set by Vijay Babu compelled other filmmakers not part of the ‘established order’ to consider following his example in the future.
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It’s not every day that you come across a film that instantly finds a special place in your heart after the first 40 minutes alone. Soul, Pixar’s latest, is one of those. It reminds us yet again why this is one of the best animation studios in the world. Soul is another Pixar film with a lot of heart and... soul. The film’s trailers had me believing the title is an allusion to the musical genre of the same name.
The protagonist, Joe Gardner (Jamie Foxx), is a jazz pianist. But music is just a backdrop here. Soul goes way beyond that — and I mean that literally. A middle school music teacher with lofty aspirations, Joe finally thinks he has made it when jazz legend Dorothea Williams (Angela Bassett) allows him to be a pianist in her band. Unfortunately, fate has other plans.
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Just a few weeks back, we got a black-and-white chronicle of a less discussed screenwriter behind a widely discussed film. In this week’s release, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, the central subject is also a less familiar figure, except this time, one doesn’t have to read up much on the Jazz Age. The film also marks the final appearance of Chadwick Boseman. I can report that this is not only a respectful tribute to a great Blues legend but also a fitting swan song for an actor who left us way too early.
One of the things that work in favour of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom — the title is a reference to a song by Blues singer Ma Rainey (Viola Davis) — is that unlike Mank, Ma Rainey is less of a biopic and more of a depiction of a situation — a volatile one at that. Be it in cinema or music, creative differences between the passionate and the less passionate have often led to unpleasant confrontations and scandals.
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Dulquer Salmaan has announced his fourth production which wrapped up filming recently. Directed by Prasobh Vijayan, the film features Shine Tom Chacko, Dhruvan, and Ahaana Krishna. Bitto Davis and Sreekanth Dasan, who have appeared in Angamaly Diaries, are also part of the cast. Ishq-fame Ratheesh Ravi penned the story and script during the lockdown. The team had filmed in complete secrecy at Aluva, Ernakulam. The title and first-look are to be revealed by the end of the month.
“Things got rolling so fast when Dulquer’s Wayfarer Films decided to come on board,” says Prasobh, adding that it was written initially as a small film but expanded in scale when Dulquer became involved.