Review on songs - Jan to Apr '09

Though the audio industry of malayalam cine field was not on the peak in the first 4 months of the year, we got more releases in tamil during the period and most of them have got some hit songs in it.

‘Villu’ by Vijay-Prabhudeva team had got Devi Sree Prasad’s music. In it, fast number ‘Daddy mummy…’ sung by actress Mamtha Mohandas and Naveen was a hit number. All the songs had got typical style by DSP. ‘Vaada mappilai…’, ‘Jalsa…’ and ‘Nee kopappettal…’ were also notable.

In ‘Silambattom’, done by Silambarasan, ‘Machaa machaa…’ song was different, since it was sung by Ilayaraja. The romantic duet with Balashende has got music by his his son Yuvan Shankar Raja. The film has also got remix version of ‘Vachikkava…’ song done by Raja in the past.

Dhanush’ film ‘Padikkathavan’ had got some good songs by Manisharma. Among them ‘Raanki rankamma…’ song lead by Udit Narayan has got the tune necessary to be a hit. 'Hey vetri vela...' and 'Hey rosu rosu...' were also hits.

‘13B’ acted by Madhavan has got Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy’s music; ‘Kaatrile vaasame…’ song by Shankar Mahadevan and Chitra was a different melody.

‘Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu’ acted by new stars had got a new music director Selvaganesh, all the songs were apt for the situations. Karthik and Chinmayee had sung a beautiful number ‘Lesa parakkuthu manassu…’

After the hangover of ‘Naakku mukku…’ song, music director Vijay Antony has done a similar number in the form of ‘Aathichoodi…’, sung by him, the song comes in the film ‘TN 07 AL 4777’.

Soorya’s latest film, ‘Ayan’ had got music by Harris Jayaraj. His flavor is yet again revealed through songs like ‘Nenje nenje…’, ‘Oyayiye…’, ‘Vizhi moodi…’ etc.

The back ground score for the film ‘Naan Kadavul’ done by Ilayaraja was prominent with the mood of the film.

Best Albums : Ayan, Villu

‘Makante Achan’ acted by Vineeth Sreenivasan has got ‘Othorumichoru…’ song done by M.Jayachandran. If the song is memorable, then it is only because of the negative style in singing.

‘Vennilave…’ is a hit melody in 'Sagar Alias Jacky’, sung by Shreya Ghoshal and MG Sreekumar, music is by Gopi Sundar.

Though released late by 5years, film ‘Nammal Thammil’ had got a romantic number sung by Yesudas and Sujatha for M.Jayachandran, ‘Junile nilamazhayil…’

Almost all the songs of ‘Banaras’ were excellent and had got an unique style. M.Jayachandran once again scored through songs like ‘Koovaram kili…’ (Vijay Yesudas, Swetha), ‘Chandhu thottille…’ (Shreya Ghoshal), ‘Madhuram Gayathi…’ (Shreye Ghoshal, Sudeep Kumar).

Jayaram’s film ‘Samastha Keralam PO’ had got ‘Sundaree En Sundaree...’ song by Vijaya Yesudas for M.Jayachandran.

Sathyan Anthikkad’s latest film with Jayaram, ‘Bhagyadevatha’ has got 3 songs by Ilayaraja in his 'new style'; ‘Allippoove mallippoove...’ song by Vijay Yesudas and Swetha has got the flavor of the Raja songs in the early periods, it will be notable for its excellent visuals. 'Aazhithira thannil...' can also become a hit.

Though the film ‘To Harihar Nagar’ is a hit, we can’t agree with Alex Paul who had remixed the memorable numbers like ‘Unnam maranna…’ and ‘Ekandha chandrike…’ to a disaster.

Best Album : Banaras

Being made in English and Hindi, ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ had got big recognition for the music for AR Rahman. It had got ‘Jay ho…’ song, since it seems to be the best song in the world, let us not further discuss about its quality.

‘Delhi 6‘, acted by Abhishek Bachan was Rahman’s latest hindi release after the Oscar fever. ‘Mazakali…’ sung by Mohit Chauhan and ‘Gendha phool…’ sung by Rekha Bharadwaj, Shradha Pandit and Sujatha Mazumdhar were notable since it has got a different style of presentation.

‘Marjaani...’ song by Sukhwinder Singh and Sunidhi Chauhan in ‘Billu’ was a typical song in Sharukh Khan’ style; music is by Pritam.

Songs in ‘Raaz 2’ done by Raju Singh were not memorable enough to be quoted here.

nb: The order of songs mentioned here is not on the basis of quality…

Bhagyadevatha

Recently, in a discussion regarding malayalam films, one among the group told that the most luckiest director in the filed is none other than Sathyan Anthikkad. I also agreed with that opinion since I watched almost all the films directed by him since ‘Kurkkante Kalyanam’, which released in the early 80’s. One after the other, he is giving family subjects only; even that unique attitude doesn’t affect his films, majority of them are hits. Few exceptions like ‘Pappan Priyappetta Pappan’, ‘Lal Americayil’, ‘No.1 Snehatheeram Bangalore North’ etc are there. But, the image of the ace director, who is nearing his 50th film, among the family audience is so high that it might be helpful for a long run even in the case of an average film.

Sathyan Anthikkad’s latest film, ‘Bhagyadevatha’ has got Jayaram in the main role. The hit team started their journey together in ‘Ponmuttyidunna Tharavu’. They had given many good films like ‘Sandhesam’, ‘Mazhavilkkavadi’, ‘Thoovalkkottaram’, ‘Veendum Chila Veettu Karyangal’, ‘Manassinakkare’ etc. Both of them are teaming again. But, that too only after Jayaram has recovered from the downfall through ‘Veruthe Oru Bharya’. This is the fact that substantiates the very first sentence quoted above.

The story of ‘Bhagyadevatha’ has got Kuttanad as the background. It happens in a Christian middle class family where he has got mother, two sisters and grandmother. He runs a private cable channel. While struggling within the financial limits, his marriage is being fixed. What happens to his life when a new girl reaches the family in such a situation is the theme discussed here. Here the director has tried to communicate the story through the dowry issue and it’s after effects. The unnecessary rules and regulations implied by the village administrators on the common man, the strike done by the political parties against the rural development etc. are also shown.

Jayaram, who has acted in many such films have done the role with ease. After casting Meera Jasmin in his last 3 successive projects (all of them were heroine dominated films), now the director has tried something different by casting Kaniha here. She is comparatively a new face here even though she acted in films like ‘Five Star’, ‘God Father’ (both tamil), ‘Ennittum’, ’Pazhassi Raja’ etc. Narein, Innocent, Nedumudi Venu, Venu Nagavally, Mamukkoya, P.Sreekumar, KPAC Lalitha etc are there as supporting actors. Roles done by Venu Nagavally (professor), Nedumudi Venu (guide) and P.Sreekumar (priest) are true reflections of the society. The family background of the hero is also neatly portraited. It is an unusual thing to be noted here that the director had given chance for many new faces to perform.

Director’s favorite musician Ilayaraja has given three melodious songs in his style. Among them, picturisation of dream song, ‘Allippoove Mallippoove’, shot in Munnar needs special mention. Senior cameraman Venu works with the director for the first time and his work is colorful without gimmicks. The script is handled by the director himself for Rajesh Jayaraman’s story. We can’t say the storyline is extra ordinary here; but the director’s style in presenting it, holds the key.

‘Bhagyadevatha’ is a pakka family entertainer in Sathyan Anthikkad’s style.

Rating : 4 / 5

8x10 Thasveer

We all know directors like Maniratnam, Ramgopal Varma, Priyadarshan etc who are prominent in hindi film field also. Another south Indian to join the group through some notable films is Nagesh Kukunoor. Though born and brought up in Hyderabad and Chennai, the only thing that distinguishes him from others is that he has not taken a single movie in any of the South Indian languages. But he has given films like ‘Hyderabad Blues’, ‘3 Deewarein’, ‘Iqbal’, ‘Dor’ etc.

Through his debut film ‘Hyderabad Blues’, in which he acted also, the film maker caught attention of the critics. He has also given a murder mystery like ‘3 Deewarein’, ‘Iqbal’ was a highly motivated subject based on cricket and its political plays, which can be rated as his best work so far, ‘Dor’ was based on the malayalam movie, ‘Perumazhakkalam’, Now he has given his latest movie ‘8x10 Thasveer’, acted by Akshay Kumar, Ayisha Takia, Javed Jafri, Sharmila Tagore, Girish Karnad, Anand Mahadevan etc.

‘8x10 Thasveer’ is based on a murder. The hero is in search of the cause of accident happened to his father while traveling in a boat. The people who accompanied his father were questioned. Along with the police, a private detective (Javed Jaffry) and the son (Akshay Kumar) himself conducts enquiry. Here the director had given something unusual for the main character. He is having the super natural power to use the black magic in a different form. In the sense, when he goes through a person’s image in a photograph (Thasveer), he will be able to see the incidents happening to the particular person related to the image in the past. He can do this dangerous experiment which can be lasted for a minute. In this way how he finds a solution for the murder is told here.

The story of the film produced by Percept Pictures happens in the abroad. The European area is covered in an excellent manner; the color of some visuals can even felt like watching an English movie. The suspense as usual needed for such a movie is maintained well by the director. Akshaykumar and Ayisha Takia have performed well. It is good to see Sharmila Tagore and Girish Karnad after a long gap. Javed Jaffri comes in the role of an officer which is stiff always. Salim-Sulaiman had given a good background score.

Since the investigation doesn’t goes as in the usual films, there is every possibility for having lag in some scenes. If you are ready to tolerate the super natural power theme (non physical) owned by the hero, then you can watch a different movie a good suspense. It is the style of the director that made the film slow; otherwise the output would have been another fast paced one.

‘8x10 Thasveer’ is a different experience. It is like a marathon game where the finishing point is more interesting when compared to the rest of the path.

Rating : 3.5 / 5

Mose and Cat

Weeks before, during a lunch break, I overheard two of my colleagues talking each other. One asked, “When will be the new film ‘Moses and Cat’ releasing?”, the other one replied “Moses…what a name that it is …what is that means, who is acting in it...?” I tried to interfere, but immediately the former one told, “ Dileep is the hero, moreover it is directed by Fazil”; with a laugh, the second one screamed, “then it won’t be a good film”.


From the above conversation, I analyzed some of the facts that provoked them to tell so. The first thing is regarding the minimum guarantee of the (ex) hit maker Fazil. After ‘Manichitrathazhu’ and ‘Harikrishnans’, his journey is continued through various obstacles and hazards in the form of ‘Life is Beautiful’, ‘Kayyethum Doorathu’, ‘Vismayathumbathu’, ‘Oru Naal Oru Kanavu’ (tamil) etc. All these films bombed in the box office. Also the name of his new film, ‘Mose and Cat’, is not attractive. If he was so particular with those animal names, then it should have been given ‘Mouse and Cat’. In such a situation, there is every chance to interpret it as ‘Moses’. Thus, I can’t act against my friends who predicted the nature of his new film.


Though Fazil has produced Dileep’s film ‘Sundarakilladi’ before, this is the first time Dileep is getting a chance to act as per his direction. A new heroine is being introduced, Aswathi Ashok, who was the anchor of “Thirai Thendral”, in Jeevan TV. Child artist Baby Niveditha has done an important character. She is there through out with the hero. Rahman, Jagathi, Manoj K Jayan etc have done supporting roles.


The hero, Mose D Samuel (Dileep) spends the life by doing small tricky business lives with his adopted daughter (Baby Niveditha). In the journey they met the heroine (Aswathi) who belongs to a rich family. She is having some problems with her brother (Rahman). He is too depressed due to some problems in his personal life; He has got rivalry with a rich man (Manoj K Jayan). The latter one takes advantage of the situation and uses the hands of Mose to take revenge on the brother. Anyway in the end the villain is being destroyed after working a psycho experiment in the climax.


Till interval, the film goes lightly with some numbers from Dileep and the kid. But later the mood becomes serious, after the introduction of the heroine, her story and the brother’s life is being expressed through her words only. Since there is no enough scenes shown as flashback, the method of story telling gives confusion and it will be difficult for an average listener to understand the circumstances.


But the main attraction of the ‘Mose and Cat’ is Baby Niveditha. Like Baby Shalini (‘Ente Mammattikkuttiammakku’), Baby Suchetha (‘Poovinu Puthiya Poonthennal’) and Master Badushah (‘Pappayude Swantham Appoose’), this time Fazil has teached the child well an she has performed to the maximum extend. The only thing is that one could feel whether in the realistic life, a child can behave that much smartly as it is shown here.

Dileep has got some humorous situations, which he managed well. With the help of a good dubbing artist, the new heroine has done the role without much negatives. Rahman has got a chance to show the drunkard attitude and some sentimental scenes, but his own voice prevents him from getting the cent percent output.


The scenes that lead to the intimacy between the heroine and the child and the way in which the hero and heroine loves each other, should have been treated more seriously. The reason for the cause of enmity between brother and rich man is complex. The melodrama with the help of a song towards the end should have been avoided. The way in which all others helps the brother to change his attitude in the climax resembles 'Maanathe Vellitheru', 'Vismayathumbathu', 'Life is Beautiful' etc. It seems that the director still believes in the psychological way of story telling.


Camera is handled by director’s favorite, the very experienced technician Anandakkuttan. Ouseppachan has given the music; I remember only the “Fivestar Rendu…” song by Yesudas. The film is produced and distributed by Johny Sagariga.


We can’t expect ‘Aniyathipraavu’ or ‘Manichithrathazhu’ or ‘Ente Swantham Sooryaputhrikku’ from Fazil here after. Only thing is that ‘Mose and Cat’ is not as pathetic as his previous flops, even then it is not a promotable one...

Rating : 2.5 / 5

Samastha Keralam P.O

Jayaram and scriptwriter Gireesh Kumar (squad behind the hit film ‘Veruthe Oru Bharya’) is teaming up again for another film ‘Samastha Keralam P.O’, told in a village background with has got the flavor of politics. This time the creator of ‘Kaakki’ and ‘One Way Ticket’, Bipin Prabhakar is the director here.

As every village stories starts, this film also follows the style with the description of the hero regarding the various characters and their activities in the village. Thus the first few scenes of the film are repetitive. The hero (Jayaram) is a gentle man who believes Gandhiji’s thoughts and wishes to follow Mahatma’s principles. In the family, majority doesn’t like this attitude. The opposition parties (lead by Jagathi) become his enemies; they tried their level best to destroy him. Thus he becomes a victim of their cheatings many times. In between, the heroine (new face, Sera) gets attracted to his approach. The misunderstandings on the hero’s character are solved in the end, the villain’s real face is revealed and there happens a happy ending.


The hero’s character suffers a lot, he always leads his life for other’s happiness, he shows a helping mentality all the time, he lived for the benefit of other family members, at times he tried to practice the truth etc, those are replica of other characters which came through many films before. Many situations in ‘Samastha Keralam P.O’ have got resemblance from films like ‘Valsalayam’, ‘Thoovalkottaram’, ‘Vesham’, ‘Balettan’, ‘Kottaram Veettil Appoottan’ etc.


The scene in which the hero using the ‘charka’ machine to weave the cloth is a cinematic thing these days. The lead in and lead out situations for the “Sundaree en sundaree…” song doesn’t looks sensible. The characterization of villain gives us a deliberate feeling. It is good to see that without much action sequences, the climax is simply created.


The new heroine Sera looks like an extra artist only; with such an appearance, her performance felt amateur. As usual, Jayaram has done the role with ease. Priyanka, who did the second heroine’s role, has also done well. Now a days, there is scarcity of artists to do the character roles and mother roles. The placement of such an artist (she is not so old) in hero’s mother’s role substantiates the fact; but the same lady did the hero’s mother’s role in ‘Rajamanikyam’, hence it is not an issue here.


For Gireesh Kumar, he can’t continue the surprise magic of ‘Veruthe Oru Bharya’ here. (I still stand with my opinion that it was not the best). But Bipin Prabhakar can project ‘Samastha Keralam P.O’ as his best work so far. What the scriptwriter did different here is that the political scenario is being discussed here locally within a village. Rajaratnam is the camera man.


‘Samastha Keralam P.O’ is a film with family oriented situations mixed with some political plays shown in the village atmosphere. There is nothing special here; It is neither best nor the worst.

Rating : 3 / 5

Banaras

The place in north India is familiar to us; but when this name is given for a malayalam film, then it is something unusual. ‘Banaras’ is directed by Nemom Pushparaj. The art director turned director has given a film like ‘Gowrisankaram’ before. His new film is in the news, since the songs of the films “Koovaram kili…”, “Chaandhu thottille…”, “Madhuram gayathi…” has already become popular among the mass.


‘Banaras’ creates more expectation. This is not only because the reason that the songs are hit. The name of the film has got such a feeling. It seems to be something different. Moreover it has got Vineeth, Kavya Madhavan and Navya Nair in the lead roles. Thus the way it can attracts family crowd also.


The film starts in Banaras (Kaasi), on the banks of river Ganges. There you can see the frustrated hero with a long beard taking the hookah breath. As expected cuts to a flashback, in the village he got a lover with whom his marriage is fixed. He leaves to Banaras to do the research, he was born there and he lost his mother there. While reaching there he met another girl. Circumstances made him to love her also. He met his father’s friend who is now living as a saint. In the mean while he asked his village lover to get married. Anyway what happens to both these girls, who will be the winner in the end, what happens to the villain who killed his mother etc. are the answers we get in the second half of ‘Banaras’.


There is nothing big in the storyline or presentation. The director, who is so confident in such things, has added Harisree Asokan and Suraj Venjarammood to create comedy situations. The villain’s characterization and his appearance in the reddish hair are dramatic. Suresh Krishna is not a right choice there. The situation in which the classmates getting closer to each other is a cliché which has been practicing from the days of black and white films. The climax of the film is not special; it is done as expected only. The picturisation of the songs is ok. Story is by the producer himself and it is scripted by Cherian Kalpakavadi. P.Sukumar handles the camera. Nemom Pushparaj has done art direction for many hit films, with such an experience he entered the direction area and he still feels that the current job is ‘as simple as that’.


There is nothing particular in this ‘Banaras’. So no need for a journey to this destination.

Rating : 2.5 / 5

Fast and Furious 4

It is after a short gap (after ‘Slumdog Millionaire’), that I am getting a chance to watch an English film. As most of the malayalees, I also love to watch an action subject from Hollywood rather than a slow classic. The difficulty in following word by word dialogues or the easiness in understanding the theme of thrillers may be the reason for such a partiality. No need to be mentioned here that ‘Fast and Furious 4’ belongs to which category, since it is evident from the title itself.

This is the forth film in the ‘Fast and Furious’ series, the first among the group being released in 2001. Justin Lin ahs directed the movie which is acted by Win Diesel and Paul Walker. It tells the story of robbery and revenge. The police are after the guys who are responsible for oil tanker robbery, meanwhile the person who is responsible, is after the villain who had destroyed his family. The police officer changes his identity, joins hand with the robber in taking the revenge on the real villains.

We might have seen such a story line before. But those who know about the potential of English films and its technicians won’t feel like that. Each film is having its own freshness there. They will never compromise in their output. One or two scenes involving the chasing incidents in the film is exclusive and it needs special mentioning also. The opening scenes involving the oil tanker robbery is an edge of the seat thrilling experience. Like wise the chasing of cars and the racing scenes through tunnels are also done well. Those contain a perfect blend of visual effects and real shots. There are many action scenes involving usage of 3d models, ropes, wires etc; but we can’t differentiate it from the actual shots.

Win Diesel, who comes in the role of robber and Paul Walker, who has done the investigation officer hold the important roles and both of them had done well. The technical level as a whole looks excellent.

Those who love Hollywood movies should not miss an action thriller like ‘Fast and Furious 4’.

Rating : 4 / 5

IG

B.Unnikrishnan has written films like ‘Sivam’, ‘Tiger’, ‘Cover Story’ etc. It was Suresh Gopi who gave the chance for this script writer to become a director also through the film ‘Smart City’. There was nothing good to project in that particular film which was told in the background of Cochin and its land mafia. Later ‘Madambi’ with Mohanlal came, though the theme was not extraordinary, its ordinary treatment without projecting much heroism had given some fame for the director. Now the director is teaming with Suresh Gopi in ‘IG’ (Inspector General), yet another police officer role for the hero.

Majority of the police stories which came in malayalam has got a common theme to project. There will be an incident or a killing will be shown in the beginning and after many enquiries the hero will spot out the culprit(s) or destroy him (them) in the climax revealing a great suspense. Here also the same kind of graph is followed and the treatment is up to the predictable level only.

In the first scene itself we are shown a Punjabi get involved in the bomb blasts happening in the state capital. At the same time the homes secretary is also killed. The enquiry is handed over to the IG (Sursh Gopi) who is the chief of anti terrorist squad. As usual, some of the police officers, political leaders and business magnets get involved in the crime. The family of the hero includes his mother (Lakshmi), his brother (Govind Padmasoorya, ‘Adayalangal’ fame) is also shown to dilute the tension atmosphere. Anyway in the end the hero reached his target as expected.

We don’t know the logic in which the hero’s brother and his friends who are IT professionals, sitting with the laptop in the refreshment centre most of the time. Though there is some suspense to tell, it feels that it is intentionally created. Suresh Gopi’s police roles are repetitive and he is not so flexible and glamorous as before. The way in which the officer speaks to the chief minister is also shown many times before. By experience, people will start thinking about the villain in the climax in the interval time itself, if again and again such kinds of films are releasing.

Rajamani has copied the same theme music in the background score he has arranged for the film ‘The Truth’. It is time for Rajamani to change his method in the re-recording area. His loudness style should give way to more silence for a better output. The director has also imitated few shots from the hindi super hit, ‘A Wednesday’. Shyamdath’s camera is good.

‘IG’ is as usual a police story by Suresh Gopi with a suspense created in the end.

Rating : 3 / 5

Ayan

K.V.Anand is one of the significant cinematographers in South India. Some of his outstanding works includes ‘Shivaji – the Boss’, ‘Muthalvan’, ‘Khakhi’ (hindi), ‘Thenmavin Kombathu’ etc. He has also directed a film. It was he who introduced Prithviraj in tamil as a villain through ‘Kana Kandein’. Now the director is back with another venture named ‘Ayan’ with Surya and the most demanding heroine these days, Thamanna. The producers and distributors of the film are also notable, AVM and Sun Pictures respectively doing such roles.

This is Surya’s next project after ‘Vaaranam Aayiram’. Though that project created great expectation, Gautham Menon’s bad luck continued and even after doing some post release editing works, the result ended almost in a failure. Now Surya has not tried any experimentation here. Hero (Soorya) is loyal to a person (Prabhu), who is doing smuggling and underworld business.

The film starts with the issue of pirated videos. The two gangs doing such a business fights for the pirated disc of the latest film. The next episode is for the diamond smuggling. The issue happens in Congo (Africa). There you have got some excellent chasing and fast fight sequences directed by foreign stunt master. The hero had got his mother (Renuka, ‘Abhimanyu’ fame) only who is living with him. In the middle he meets his friend’s sister (Thamanna). They got in love with each other. This time the enemy group tries their best to take advantage over hero’s gang. They started doing the drug business. When hero is trapped, he helped the police by giving information about their enemies and also helped them in seizing their goods. This caused to lift up the enmity. Anyway, the ultimate win is for the hero only. There is also an undercurrent relation of friendship told here.

The last film by K.V.Anand was treated in a lighter and simpler way, but it has got big suspense to project. Here you are having all the aspects required for a big budget production. He has given some twist and turns here also. This is a straight film dealing with the story of smuggling in different ways. The director has shown various techniques adopted by the hero to maintain the business.

Though the director has shown the different ways for the hero to win the police and his rival gangs, sometimes that can cause a nonrealistic approach from the viewers’ side and it can also create doubt whether such things are as simple as that. The way in which the hero sees the heroine and gets in love with each other is also cinematic. Soorya has done his part well. The new villain’s (Akashdeep Saigal) performance is satisfactory only.

Songs by Harrris Jayaraj has got his own style only. M.S.Prabhu has done an excellent cinematography. The visual for the songs is colorful. Editing by Antony is as usual the best. Kanal Kannan has given fast movements in fights. As a director K.V.Anand’s work is has not delivered the best, but the output doesn’t make you boring.

‘Ayan’ is a typical tamil film by Surya which has got enough songs and fights told in the background of enmity, friendship and love. Don't expect much here with such a theme.

Rating : 3 / 5

To Harihar Nagar

Now it is the time for another sequel in malayalam. The chance is for ‘In Harihar Nagar’ by Sidhiq- Lal, which released around 18years before. The new version named ‘To Harihar Nagar’ has got script and direction by Lal (alone). Along with Mukesh, Jagadeesh, Sidhiq & Asokan, the new heroine here is Lakshmi Rai.

Three of the group excluding Thomaskutty (Asokan) are married and settled in different places. They all had a get-together for his engagement, leaving their families. Thus for 10days, they had planned to enjoy their second stage of bachelor life. Accidently they got Maya (Lakshmi Rai) as the companion. Their friendship with her, caused many problems and after getting into many troubles, how they escaped from all such things is told in ‘To Harihar Nagar’.

The treatment of first half of the film is very humorous. Appukkuttan’s (Jagadeesh) blunders and fumbles in dialogues holds the key for this. After many situation comedies (most of them has got a Sidhiq-Lal touch), the film becomes serious in the post interval time. It is carried away by some kidnapping, fighting and sentimental scenes. Even then, there are many twists and turns till climax.

The role of Appukkuttan is questionable (he is a dental doctor here?). Casting of Salimkumar is unnecessary. Comedy sequence created with Atlas Ramachandran again and again feels restlessness. In place of sweet villain John Honai, a new face is introduced here as villain. His body language is sometimes childish and sometimes serious; the familiarity in sound is also a drawback (Anoop Chandran dubbed for him). In such a prestigious project villain should have been big and different. It would be better if any outsider has been placed there.

Director Lal has done a major crime by asking his brother (Alex Paul) to remix the original version of “Unnam Marannu…” and “Ekandha Chandrike…” created by S Balakrsihnan. The new songs are horrible and intolerable. The climax song is also not pleasing. It is good to see majority of artists in two films are appearing in it, but it is not appealing. Without any humorous situations, the second half lags here and there. But by creating some suspense elements in between the director has managed to get things done within the limit. The charecterisation of heroine has got the flavor and inspiration from ‘Mannar Mathai Speaking’. In this period, the age of those artists also matters, we can’t expect the same flexibility for their performance her also. Venu’s camera work and Saajan’s editing helped the director very well. Though a successive producer and distributor, Lal has also proved that he has the capability to hold the megaphones if situation demanded.

Those who are curious to know what all are happening in Harihar Nagar this time, can watch ‘To Harihar Nagar’. In the current scenario of malayalam film industry, as a sequel, it is presented in the best way it can.

Rating : 3.5 / 5