Kurup : Says nothing new

 Kurup tells us nothing that we did not know about the mysterious disappearance of the criminal. In fact it goes on about the Indian Air Force Days of Kurup and it hardly excites us . Wonder why the director took such pains to recreate the old Mumbai with sepia tones etc. If that portion goes missing too, it does not affect the plot. So the search which is yet another  boring  affair goes on and then finally ends of a note of  justice delivered . 

Keralites of the 80's generation used to wove tales of this untraceable Sukumara Kurup and retired police officers talked about their role in tracking down the fugitive. He was Kerala's Mr Natwarlal and Bunti Chor. After this film, Kurup will be seen as a mentally deranged guy and probably some mental asylum might have records of him.

Salman does have the ampere to carry off this role but  he is let down by a weak writing. There is hardly anything other the Kurup role in the film and all other have not much to offer. Here and there the BGM makes us remember that we are seeing a thriller. Yet another shocker- Media reports that a sequel is to follow.

Kerala filmdom to see Trivandrum - Kochi lobby revival ?

 Kerala filmdom is in coming days going to see the revival of the Thiruvanthapuram- Kochi lobbies. These lobby war had ceased  and the kingpins of the lobby had merged and joined hands in many collaboration. Now the Marakkar OTT release has given  life to the lobby that backs Antony Perumbavoor the producer and by that the supporters of Mohanlal. The first indication came when Mohanlal's closest buddy Priyadarshan ( also director of Marakkar) fired a salvo at Dulquar Salman producer of Kurup in  a TV interview.

Already there was talk going

around that the current exhibitors lobby headed by Vijayakumar was working in tandem with Mammootty and painting Antony and Mohanlal as people who went back on their words and looked only to their bank balance. This time however there is a shift in balance as Dilip who considered the kingpin of film trade, might shift his loyalty to the Lal lobby. Prihviraj who geographically comes from Trivandrum had  been with Kochi lobby but of late, he is back with Lalettan.

The reason for exhibitors to get belligerent with Antony and not accept the terms for Marakkar release was due to the freehold release of Kurup which has Dulquar in title role. The  director of the film had stated that they had Rs 40 crores offer for Kurup but Dulquar was adamant that he would release in theaters first. Priyadarshan without taking names said that a film rejected by Netflix and many other OTT due to high price is now coming to theaters and is projected as doing a service to exhibitors.

When Drishyam 2 went to OTT, Mammooty released The Priest and ONE in theaters. Exhibitors went in a group and hailed their Messiah. Kurup budget is close to Rs 35 crore and this is too high for a Dulquar film .  Collecting it from theaters in Kerala alone is tough and was planned to release the dubbed versions in Tamil and Telugu as he had hits in that regions. ( Kaanum Kannum Koliyaadithal and Mahanati in Tamil - Telugu) and a known face through Hindi films like Zoya Factor and  Karwaan. Covid put an end to this business. In a situation almost similar to Antony, Dulquar found that OTT does not give that kind of money to his films , even if it was a direct release. So best way out to go to try his luck with Kerala theaters and hope to make up for  the deficit.

40 % of the theater lobby and many big banners are out to shift out of Kerala Film Chamber and Film Exhibitors United Organisation of Kerala (FEUOK). Will it go back to the days of Lal v/s Mammooty lobby ? If so where will the new breed of actors who were not witness to this lobby war stand ?