Elsamma Enna Aankutty

Medium : Malayalam
Starring : Ann Agustine, Kunjakko Boban, Indrajith, Nedumudi Venu, Jagathi, Vijayaraghavan
Director : Lal Jose
Music : Rajamani

The promising director of the decade, Lal Jose has come up with his new project, with an unusual title 'Elsamma Enna Aankutty'. Ann Agustine, daughter of actor Agustine, did the title role. Kunjakko Boban, who is enjoying a good period in his second season through movies like 'Mummy & Me', 'Sakudumbam Shyamala' etc has teamed up with Lal Jose for the first time. Sindhuraj, who has written script for Lal Jose movie 'Mulla', 'Pattanathil Sundaran', 'Jalolsavam' and 'Puthiya Mukham' is the writer. Rajaputhra Ranjith ('Red Chillies', 'Chinthamani Kolacase' fame) has produced the movie. The usual name of action movies and the busy man in the background music side, Rajamani gave music for the songs in 'Elsamma Enna Aankutty', after a long gap.

This is the story of Elsamma (Ann Agustine), who works hard by doing different jobs and earns for her family that includes mother (KPAC Lalitha) and her three sisters. She is also working as the local news agent for a reputed news paper and due to her boldness, people call her as a boy (aankutty) sometimes. Unnikrishnan (Kunjakko Boban) is the local milk supplier. He likes Elsamma, but he is not able to reveal his love. Elsamma's neighbor Paappi's (Nedumudi Venu) grand son Ebi (Indrajith) who is in abroad, reached the village with his sister. Ebi tried to attract Elsamma by doing many tricks. The toddy shop owner (Vijayaraghavan) along with the panchayat member (Jagathi) decided to act against the honest attitude of Elsamma. At one stage, Ebi's friends (Manikkuttan and gang), reached there. Ebi decided to marry Elsamma an she also agrees it, thus goes the story of 'Elsamma Enna Aankutty'.

Being a fresh face, Ann Agustine did well. In some areas, voice of Vimmy Mariam dominates her performance. Her role has got shades of Manju Warrier's character in 'Kanmadam'. Kunjakko Boban and Indrajith are good. The latter's performance has got the hang over of his role in 'Classmates'. Suraaj Venjarammood creates some laughing sequences in the broker's role. Manikkuttan also creates attention. The character of Jagathi is a cliche, since it is done by the veteran, no big complaints will come. Since the state has witnessed a liquor tragedy recently, the activities of Vijayaraghavan's character became ideal at this point of time. The family scenes of Elsamma are done neatly. Vijay Ulaganathan is the cinematographer. Ranjan Abraham is the editor. Though not on the high standards, music director Rajamani gave some variety songs, his bg score is good.

Some of the situations that created a negative response from the crowd should have been avoided. The scene in which Elsamma followed by his sisters and the lover marching towards the house to meet a child in the end, the hospital combination scene featuring rich girl and Elsamma, the crying scene of the old man's son towards the end, the song featuring Ebi, his friends along with Elsamma and her sisters etc. May be some among them are realistic sequences, but Lal Jose, with an experience of around 20years in the industry, should have taken extra care while working on such areas. The crowd responded rightly at the time it required, theater was filled with loud howling voice for such scenes.

'Elsamma Enna Aankutty' is a family movie told in the village background; It is not a boring one, hence you can watch it, ignoring the very small loop holes happened here and there in its presentation side.


Rating : 7 / 10

Neelathaamara

Medium : Malayalam
Starring : Kailash, Archana Kavi, Rima Kallingal, Sredevi Unni, Samvritha Sunil, Suresh
Sript : MT Vasudevan Nair
Director : Lal Jose
Music : Vidyasagar


Director Lal Jose is a prominent name in the malayalam cine field. He has given notable films like 'Oru Maravathoor Kanavu', 'Meesamadhavan', 'Chandranudikkunna Dikkil', 'Chandupottu' etc His last few films like 'Achanurangaatha Veedu' and 'Mulla' were not hits. Now he has got a golden chance to direct the legendary writer MT Vasudevan Nair's work. In the last 20years, MT had written script for directors like Hariharan (films like 'OVV', 'ESJ', 'Parinayam' and 'KVP'), IV Sasi ('Midhya'), Bharathan ('Thaazhvaaram'), K.S.Sethumadhavan ('Venalkkinavukal'), Sibi Malayil ('Sadhayam'), Harikumar ('Sukrutham'), Ajayan ('Perumthachan'), Venu ('Dhaya'), Kannan ('Theerthadanam') and also a couple of them for his own direction ('Kadavu' and 'Oru Cheru Punjiri'). The new film for Lal Jose, 'Neelathaamara' is not a fresh subject. It is the remake of an old film with the same name that got released 30years before. It was directed by Yusafali Kecheri; Ravikumar, Sathaar, Ambike etc did the main roles.


This 'Neelathaamara' is produced by Suresh Kumar under the banner Revathy Kalamandhir. New faces like Kailash, Archana, Suresh, Sreedevi Unni, the three film older Rima Kallingal, Samvritha etc are in the main cast. Unlike the old version, here the director had included three songs; Vidyasagar had given some good numbers here.


The film opens in the current period when the youngest member in the family reaches her native village as a part of a video production. The grandmother's (Sreedevi Unni) niece cum daughter-in-law (Jaya) and a lady (Parvathi) also visits the house hearing about her disease. The flashback portions are shown through the memory of those characters. Almost three decades before, you can see the poor young girl (Archana, doing the younger age role of Parvathi) reaching the big house as a servant, where the mother and her son (Kailas) alone stays. He has completed his studies and is waiting for the result. He gets into an affair with the servant girl. She gets a friend (Rima) who is also a servant in the neighbor house, to share her feelings. Later, the hero's marriage is fixed with a rich girl (Samvritha, doing younger age role of Jaya). What happens to the cheated girl, the bride and the other characters are shown later.


The film mainly highlights on the relationship between the hero and the servant girl. There is nothing unpredictable here. In the first few scenes itself, the story is understood. Hence the script and the dialogues by MT becomes the main attraction. The concept of the flower "neelathaamara", the conversation between the neighbors, the lunch menu given by the grandmother, the quotes regarding the steps in the house, the mention of the disease of the singer character etc are some of the areas which we can't witness in the films now a days. The director had presented the film as the script demands. The performance of the new heroine Archana and the new hero Kailash were good. They are promising talents, where the industry can utilize. Casting a new face like Sreedevi Unni (later actress Monisha's mother) in the grandmother's role also felt different. Rima Kallingal had also made her role notable. Using the old non popular hindi song by Yesudas, "zid na karo..." in the background (as if from the radio) for the romantic scene, the telegram shot, remarks about the bridge, close up of the calendar etc are all sequences done to establish the period.


The performance of the old lady who accompanies the heroine girl looks amateur and the dubbing given to her character by Anandavalli is also not matching. The quarreling between the couple felt dramatic in few shots. The divide in the relationship between the lovers happens all of a sudden. Here and there, you are having the after effect of the film 'Nandanam'. The selection of heroine's old age character done by Parvathi is good, but old age character of Samvritha is not a real prototype. Director's boldness to include songs is good, which can in turn becomes a promotion factor for an ordinary film (theme wise) like this. Since I have not seen the old version, no scope for a comparison here.


Vidyasagar's background score is good. Cinematographer Vijay Ulaganathan ('Madambi' fame) gave colorful frames without any gimmicks.


'Neelathaamara', acted by many new faces is told in the village background. It is not extraordinary and it won't surprise you also; but it is a fact that this film highlights certain situations which we can't see usually in commercial films these days...


Rating : 8 / 10

Kerala Cafe

Medium : Malayalam

Starring : Mammootty, Sureshgopi, Dileep, Prithviraj, Jayasurya, Jagathi, Salim Kumar, Suraj Venjarammood, Sudheesh, Reema Kallingal, Navya Nair, Jyothirmayi, Nithya, Santhadevi etc.

Directors : Shaji Kailas, Laljose, Shyamaprasad, Revathi, Padmakumar, B. Unnikrishnan, Anwar Rashid, Uday Anandan, Anjali Menon, Shankar Ramakrishnan

Music : Bijibal, Ouseppachan, M.Jayachandran, Bombay Jayasree, Rex Vijayan, Rahul Raj, Thej Mervin, Manu Ramesan


Different from the usual style, the new malayalam film named 'Kerala Cafe' has got 10 directors. It has also got 10 different stories. We have seen almost the same concept in films like 'Dus Kahaniya' (done by different directors) and 'Darna Mana Hai' (different stories by same director) in hindi. Adoor Gopalakrishnan has shown different stories for his recent films like 'Nalu Pennungal' and 'Rendaanum Oru Pennum' also.


Notable writer/director Ranjith is the project co-ordinator and producer of 'Kerala Cafe'. In the director's list, you have got Shaji Kailas, who is the senior most in the group and also Shankar Ramakrishnan, who is a new name in the field, along with two women directors lik Revathi ('Mitr-My Friend' fame) and Anjali Menon ('Manjadikkuru' fame). The stories are given different names also, you have got 10 cinematographers here including Madhu Ambat and S.Kumar.


An average viewer may not be much interested in such things; rather they will raise certain doubtful questions "what does it mean by 10 stories?", "is it an art film?", "is it a multi star project like 'Twenty 20'?" like that it goes. Anyway director Sathyan Anthikkad comes in the beginning of the film to give an idea regarding the movie.

'Kerala Cafe' is the name of a restaurant attached to the railway station where some of the characters linked with each stories are shown, but there won't be any connection between any of the stories. In other words, 10 short films with a duration each of 10-15 minutes in a single show is what 'Kerala Cafe' means.


'Bridge', directed by Anwar Rashid featuring Salim Kumar, Santhadevi, Kalpana etc stands on top due to the excellent presentation of such a simple theme accompanied by an excellent performance of the artists. The choosing of location is also different.

'Happy Journey', featuring Jagathi and Nithya shows the chemistry between two characters while traveling in a bus. The senior actor in the industry holds the key here. The dialogues used here, made it funny and at the time serious also. Anjali Menon, the women director should get the claps for it.

'Island Express' has got a touching climax. The unusual presentation, is not easy to get an idea regarding the theme till the half portion. The difference in the characterization makes the atmosphere more complex. But, later on you also falls in the track. Rahman, Raju, Prithviraj, Jayasurya, Sukumari etc has been handled in a different way by the new director Shanakar Ramakrishnan.

'Puram Kazhchakal' done by Lal Jose is based on a short story by C.V.Sreeraman. It has got Mammootty and Sreenivasan. The bus journey and the unusual mood of the main character is highlighted here, the twist lies in the climax.

'Makal' presented by Revathi is focussed on a certain group of people in the society and the exploitation of their poverty. It has got Sreenath, Agustine, Sona Nair etc.

'Aviramam' featuring Sidhiq and Swetha Menon is done by B.Unnikrishnan. The bondage of relationship within a family is neatly done in a single location without much star cast.

'Nostalgia' has got Dileep, Navya Nair, Babu Namboothiri etc is directed by Padmakumar. The story of an NRI and the stability in the relationship is mainly discussed here.

'Lalitham Hiranmayam' has got the combination of Shaji Kailas-Sureshgopi; telling the story of two ladies (Jyothirmayi, Dhanya) that are coming in the life of the hero. The director has presented it in his style.

'Mtithyunjayam' is a horror story directed by Uday Anandan ('Pranayakalam' fame). It is an investigation of the death incidents happened in an old traditional house. Thilakan, Reeman Kallingalm Anoop Menon, Meera Nandan and Fahad Fazil ('Kaiyyethum Doorathu' fame) are the main artists here. The creators failed to give an end for the story.

'Off Season' tells the incident happened in the life of a tourist guide during the off season period at Kovalam. The story is not impressive, hence no need to discuss the associated things. Suraj Venjarammood and Vindhyan (producer of 'Orey Kadal') comes in the main roles along with some english people. It is scripted by Joshua Newton ('Rithu' fame) and directed by Shyama Prasad.


On the direction side Anwar Rasheed, Anjali Menon, Shankar Ramakrishnan and B.Unnikrishnan did their best. The performances of Santhadevi, Molly (servant character in 'Bridge'), Kalpana, Nithya, Salim Kumar, Jagathi, Mammootty, Sidhiq and Fahad Fazil are notable. 'Bridge', 'Happy Journey', 'Puram Kazhchakal' and 'Island Express' were good stories.

It is not a good practice to highlight the comedy image of Suraj Venjarammood in such a film. Hence with such a story, 'Off Season' stands "odd one out" from the group. In the case of 'Mrithyunjayam', the problem happened is due to the absence of solution for the crime discussed there. The flash back portion shown in 'Puram Kazhchakal' was not impressive, it was not needed for such a story. The inclusion of complicated and non understandable dialogues used in a beautiful story like 'Island Express' should have been avoided. (common men like me struggled hard to follow those scenes).


We should promote different experiments like 'Kerala Cafe'. I am sure that, at least a couple of stories in it will haunt you for days.


Rating : 8.5 / 10