a Review on films released in July '07

After Sureshgopi & Dileep has attained superstar status,may be this is the first time in the malayalam cine field,we got a month in which all the stars are having their releases.

it includes mohanlal's 'hallo', mammootty's 'mission 90 days', sureshgopi's 'nadhiya kollappetta rathri', dileep's 'july 4', jayaram's 'sooryan', sreenivasan's 'arabikadha' & prithviraj's 'veeralippattu'.


1) Hallo

The director & screenplay writers duo rafi-mecartin teaming with mohanlal for the first time is the main attraction of 'hallo'.the film is having good comic performance by mohanlal.the directors are succeeded in creating a fastly moving first half,but they lost their tempo in the second half.music director alexpaul has got a catchy solo number 'chellathamara...' with chitra. the imported heroine parvati milton's performance stands average only. though one would be expecting more from lal-jagathi combination,the film is lacking such scenes.anyway the audience is happy with the fact that there is no superman scenes by the hero,also you will be satisfied with a good timepass.

All in all, 'hallo' is a good entertainer to watch.
grade : 4 / 5

2) Arabikkadha

The director laljose is back after his superhit film 'classmates',dr.iqbal kuttippuram who once did script work for hit films like 'swapnakkoodu' & 'for the people' is teaming with him for the first time.sreenivasan is suited well in cuba mukundan's role.the film is mainly based on the current status of communist party in kerala.the director has succeeded in showing the gulf atmosphere never as before.though the script had a good and equal blend of globalisation & marxism,it is lacking something in the second half.the debutant music director bijibal is having good numbers like 'thirke njan...',he is also promising in the background score.no other quality films for the race is an advantage for 'arabikkadha' to be on the top.as 'classmates' & 'notebook', this film is also not having an initial pull or reports,but it is slowly picking its pace.

All families are having atleast one member in gulf countries,so one who knows about gulf & one who want to know about gulf can watch 'arabikkadha' once.
grade : 3.5 / 5

3) July 4

Dileep is coming after his previous hit 'vinodayathra' with heroine roma who was the main attraction of 'notebook' in 'july 4'.the senior technician in the field joshi is directing them.
as usual the hero's favourite script writers duo udayakrishna-sibi k thomas is here.
we cant project a single positive thing in 'july 4' even after they got the much experienced team.the script is lacking everything & we can see the absence of a director in many scenes.music director ouseppachan is here with poor songs.placement of romantic situations is not good.since uday-sibi is writing for dileep,one would expect some comedy which is totally lacking here.i dont know why the team has put the burden on the producer of the film by covering maximum locations here and there like kochi-pondicherry-athirappally-coimbatore- thodupuzha etc which is not at all required for such a scrpt.

No need to watch 'july 4' in theatres, but you can watch it on tv channels or as a timepass while travelling somewhere in a vehicle.
grade : 2 / 5

4) Mission 90 days

One would go & watch 'mission 90days' with much expectations since major ravi is back after his superhit military film 'keertichakra' & moreover mammootty in a there with a much suited military role.as watching on, you are losing your spirit & even you would be thinking of leaving the theatre even before finishing the show.director's over confidence after his first film has created a negative impact.handling a subject on rajiv gandhi's assassination resulted in a documentary effect since we all know a to z story.the climax is honestly created,but it is lengthy & dramatic. dim/gray color grading in the film to create a punch in the story is not at all attractive. innocent-cochinhanif-salimkumar all are casted to grab the market but they failed as their roles lacking depth.'keerthichakra' was succeeded with the inclusion of some honestly created military action sequences,but we cant find any such scenes here.horrible & amature performance by the heroine,miscasting of hero's mother character etc are other disadvantages.tiru has got good shots with his camera.after recent hits like 'notebook' & 'bigb',with this film gopisundar is emerging as a big name in the background score area.but the director has succeeded in the characterisation of ltte members like sivarasan-thanu-subha-murugan & nalini.mammootty shouldn't have worked on this project soon after his previous action film 'bigb'.

I want to forget the moments i spent to watch 'mission90days', so no need for you to be another victim.
grade : 1 / 5

5) Sooryan

This is director vm vinu's next film after 'yes your owner'.ilayaraja is back in malayalam after 'vinodayathra'.the team behind claimes that this is a film based on classical music theme after 'bharatham'.but the lack of experience of the debut script writers duo has caused many shakes & hurdles in the theme.may be they might have compromised by creating a villain & anti climax fight scene which is not at all neacassary for the film.one could never find any justifications for killing sequences in the end.but the main back bone is saikumar's excellent performance in a veteran musician role.one cant tolerate the useless role of harisree asokan in a character imitating dileep's role in 'chandupottu'.though ilayaraja's songs are not upto his best, his background music has helped much to lift the film.picturisation of 'ishtakkari...' song is attractive.

We cant consider 'sooryan' as a family film or an action film,to watch such a film can result in your wastage of time.
grade : 1.5 / 5

6) Nadhiya kollappetta rathri

Sureshgopi is again here with his usual role as investigation officer in a crime thriller.scriptwriter aksajan is working with him after 'chinthamoni kolacase'.kmadhu needs a hit after his previous flop film 'pathaka'.asusual, this investigative story is also a make-belief story & even amidst of some questions,the team behind has got some success in dealing it.i dont know why the script writer has created too many murders rather than concentrating on one,which can cause a confusion on the side of viewers.no fast camera works, gimmics & cuts is there when dealing with such a subject,the most experienced cinematographer in the field anandakkuttan & editor pc mohanan should have concentrated much more on this part.background music by rajamani not upto the mark.a 1mnt guest role created for prithviraj to increase the market value of the film has created a negative effect from the audience.full marks to gireesh menon as art director in creating the interior of a train set in which the majority of the portions is being shot.kavya madhavan's performance is good with the help of dubbing artist sreeja.sureshgopi has shown justice to his role.

One who really love to watch investigative films can watch 'nadhiya kollappetta rathri' also.
grade : 3 / 5

7) Veeralippattu

among this crowded situation 'veeralippattu' has also got a theatre to release, is the actual motivation behind me to watch it.dealing with village-traditonal-'velichappadu' subject created a dragging effect in the treatment.director kukku surendran who acted as hero in the film 'snehapoorvam anna',comes from sangeet-sanjeev-santhosh sivan's family, has got some craft somewhere, but dealing with such a theme has resulted in a total failure.may be the poor outcome of his previous parallel film 'oral' gave him the courage to create a commercial success with prithviraj,jagathi,murali,padmapriya & rekha,but the response for the film is very poor.viswajith, the music director will be noticed here after, since his previous project 'oral' has not reached the audience.he has got a good duet number with chitra & anwar,but we cant predict a good fate for that song since it is placed in such a film.mohan sitara's background music is giving life for most of the dull scenes.suraj venjaramood is a relief in some scenes.the script writers duo asok-sasi has failed miserably by creating such an irresistable, nonsense & waste comedy track for indrans.the village backdrop is shown rich by manojpillai's frames.

Nothing is there in 'veeralippattu' to watch.
grade : 1 / 5


among the lot here is the best...

best actor - mohanlal in 'hallo'
best actress - kavya madhavan in 'nadhiya kollappetta rathri'
best performance - saikumar in 'sooryan'
best director - laljose for 'arabikkadha'
best script - iqbal kuttippuram for 'arabikkadha'
best song - 'thirike njan...' from 'arabikkadha'
best music - bijibal for 'arabikkadha'
best lyric - anilpanachooran for 'arabikkadha'
best singer(m) - yesudas for 'thirike njan...' from 'arabikkadha'
best singer(f) - chitra for 'chellathamara...' from 'hallo'
best camera - manojpillai for 'arabikkadha' &'veeralippattu'
best editor - ranjan ebraham for 'arabikkadha'
best art director - gireesh menon for 'nadhiya kollappetta rathri'
best comedian - suraj vanjaramood in 'hallo','arabikkadha','nadhiya kollappetta rathri' etc.

'hallo' & 'arabikkadha' will be the gainers along with 'nadhiya kollappetta rathri' ...the rest....failures......its all in the cine field !!!

expecting your valuable comments...