Mammootty - Prabhas- Vijay- Chiyaan Vikram in news

Reports say that Mammooty’s Kannur Squad collected Rs 70 crores in Kerala and it has beaten Jawan collections in UAE, UK and Netherland. The report says that totaling overseas collections, the film will touch Rs 700 crores. The film had opened to mixed reviews.

Prabhas has taken only Rs 15 crores as fees for Salaar and for rest of the money will come from Digital rights. By market estimate, he will get Rs 50-60 crores. SRK for Paathan opted for share in collections and ended up with Rs 210 crores. In Tamil, no actors report for work without getting 50% of the amount that he demands.

Dubbing Union has asked Leo makers about Chinmayi dubbing for Trisha as she is not a member. There is a running feud between her and the union. As Imax prints will not be ready USA premieres have been cancelled and money refunded. North Chennai fans have decided that no cutouts or milk abhishekam will not be done as Vijay was not for it. Last Makkal Iyakkam meeting and for the audio launch that got cancelled, Vijay had told fans to avoid cutouts on roads as it could fall on people and injure them. Naa Ready song poster has been altered and now Vijay has no cigarette and only a gun in his hand.

Gautam Menon has disclosed that Dhruv Natchathiram will have an open end and leave room for a sequel and it could a part of Dhruv Natchathiram universe. The film is releasing on November 24 and has Chiyaan Vikram in the lead. Music by Hariss Jayraj is a big hit. Menon revealed that Vinayakan who played the baddie in Jailor has a powerful role in the film. Menon said that all the renumeration he got as an actor was put into finishing the film which was started five years ago. Red Giant Movies has acquired the distribution rights of Aishwarya Rajinikanth directed film Lal Salaam and Karthi Subburaj directed film Jigarthanda 2. Lal Salaam has Vishn Vishal and Vikranth while Jigarthanda has Raghava Lawrence and S J Surya.

Thalaivar 170 on Koodankulam protest - Mammooty in Jeyam Ravi film

Rana Daggubatti of Bahubaali and Dushara Vijayan have joined Thalaivar 170 is latest buzz. Already Faahad fasil and Manju Warrier are in the cast. Gananavel the director has planned the shooting in Chennai from September 19th for ten days. According to sources, the subject is on the shooting incident in Tuticorin and the Kudankulam protest by fishermen in Kanyakumari. A few scenes will be shot in Kanyakumari and moved to Thiruvanthapuram .

Mammootty is tipped to play the antagonist in Thani Oruvan 2 starring Jeyam Ravi and directed by his brother Mohan Raja. The first part had Aravind Swamy play the baddie. Mammootty was to play Vinayakan role in Jailer but Rajinikanth had reservations about getting into fight scenes with Mammootty and told the actor about it. In fact Mammootty had agreed only because of Rajinikanth asking him.

Dhanush film shoot in Tiger Reserve - Kerala Story for release - Tovino film bombs

The filming of Captain Miller, featuring Dhanush, has resumed in the buffer zone of Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve forest region after it was temporarily halted by the District Collector. The pause was caused by complaints from locals about the use of explosives and night shooting with heavy laser lights by the production unit. However, the production house took action to ensure smooth filming and the Collector's order was withdrawn. Recently, Dhanush was seen at Tuticorin airport as he joined the final schedule of the film, which is expected to wrap up soon. The movie, set in the 1920s, also stars Shiva Rajkumar as Dhanush's brother, along with Priyanka Mohan, Sundeep Kishan, and Nivedhithaa Sathish among others. GV Prakash Kumar is composing the music, and the release of the first single or teaser is anticipated soon. ------

Kerala Box office - Nee;avalicham bombs - Romancham most profitable The much-anticipated movie Neelavelicham, directed by Ashiq Abu and starring Tovino, has failed to perform well at the box office, grossing only Rs 1.75 crores in its first five days. This is the second flop for the duo after their previous movie Naradan. PS2 advance bookings are slow, with the highest number of bookings so far being in Trivandrum Aries Plex, which has sold close to 6000 tickets. In contrast, Friday Matinee reported that #Romancham has become the 7th highest-grossing movie of all time and the 4th highest-grossing Malayalam movie in Kerala, with a total gross of 42.10 crores. It is also the 6th highest-grossing Malayalam movie worldwide, with a total gross of 69.60 crores. The movie has grossed more than 50 lakhs in approximately 15 screens and has crossed the 1 crore mark in Trivandrum Aries Plex, Ernakulam Pvr, and Kavitha. Cochin multiplexes have contributed around 3 crores to the total gross, while national multiplexes (Pvr + Inox+ Cinepolis) have grossed 5.50 crores across the state. The movie has been screened in approximately 31,000 shows in Kerala, with an overall cost of 6.50 crores. The OTT and satellite deals for the movie are moderate, considering its box office performance, but still good considering the cast involved. Overall, #Romancham is one of the all-time profitable Malayalam movies. ----- Kerala Story ready for release The upcoming film, The Kerala Story, produced by director Vipul Amrutlal Shah, portrays the heart-wrenching tale of missing girls from Kerala over the past few years. The film's trailer was shared on Instagram by Siddhi Idnani on Wednesday, and it is scheduled to be released worldwide on May 5. The trailer begins by showcasing Adha Sharma's character, a Hindu girl from Kerala, who, along with Siddhi Idnani's character, is coerced into converting to Islam. The character Fatima, played by Adah, recounts her harrowing experience of being abducted from her home, brainwashed by religious extremists, and turned into an ISIS terrorist. She eventually ends up in an Afghan prison. Sudipto Sen has written and directed The Kerala Story, which delves into the tragic events surrounding 32,000 women who have gone missing in Kerala. The film is also supported by Ashin A Shah of Sunshine Pictures. Recently, CPM MP John Brittas criticized the film's teaser, calling it a misrepresentation of facts, and urged Union Home Minister Amit Shah to take action. Despite the controversy, the trailer of the film delivers the same message.

Kaduva Malayalam box office reports ; Warning to formula directors - actors

 As Kaduva Malayalam film producer- hero Prithviraj- director Shsaji Kailas have on the fourth day itself released a success teaser , box office figures of Kerala theater collections show that it was nothing much to celebrate. On the fourth day the Kerala box office gross stood at Rs 11.45 crores ( film was released on July 6th).  On day one, the collection was Rs 2 crore . Same day producer and film team started the `success' yatra. The budget is Rs 20 crores and to collect the investment, film has to collect Rs 40 crores at theaters. As Kaduva is no Vikram, from Monday the box office will not take a dramatic rise outside Kerala.

Those who point out that Kaduva opening collections was equal to 8 days of Prithviraj's Jana Gana Mana should also tell that the film was not made at Rs 20 crore and the slow pickup for the content value and that it stayed away from a formulaic stereotyped Prithiviraj film had worked. 

Kerala Film Producers Association released a list of 6 films that it termed were hits- Bhisma Parvam - CBI 5 ( Mammooty) , Jana Gana Mana ( Prithviraj) - Hridyam ( Pranava Mohanlal), Jo and Jo and Super Sharanya ( no stars). Though makers of Arrattu and Lalettan fans claimed it was a box office hit and celebrated it, the truth was else where. Kaduva is yet another Arrattu with a real life story tag to it. Prithviraj for his BO standing needs to make Kaduva , a hit. He has taken the job of a Pan Indian film director from KGF producers and he cannot afford to be an average at BO in Kerala.

Two of Mammooty films that ran had the Megastar playing a little more than a middle aged man. Budgets were reasonable and that is why CBI 5 was a profit for the producer. Hridyam victory was the low budget- new music director and a no over hype . Malayalam films released on OTT directly was 35. Out of these, majority of the films were on local OTT platforms. Big guns like Amazon- Netflix - Hotstar backed big names and even funded them.

Now as Producers -  Theater owners are saying that no film without stars is getting an opening and whether this means that audience will come only if there is a STAR, they fail to see that most of the films had no content that made anybody want to come to the theater. It did not offer any entertainment and that is why relatively upcoming actors films like Jo JO and Super Sharanya worked.

 OTT players based out of Kerala in probability will have a field day as there is a spate of small budget films releasing and vanishing at a rapid pace and a bigger numbers that are ready but cannot find a distributor or have the money to take it themselves to movie halls. All these might land up at local OTT players door step. It might help the OTT players in the short run and no gain for producers. After a spate of content devoid films flood these OTT, the subscriber base will shrink. Most of the small players are using the pay per view model.

The coming six months are exciting and a real box office explosion is expected. After a long gap comes Nivin Pauly with Asif Ali in Mahaveerayar , fantasy film on July 21, next day comes Faahad Fazil, seen only on OTT platforms is back to big screen with Malayankunju and has A R Rahman music. On July 28th, Vikrant Rona the Kannada film of Sudeep is releasing. After KGF 2 success, Kannada films have got acceptability in Kerala. Apart from this the film is distributed by Dulquar Salman's company.

Though not officially confirmed, Paapan with Suresh Gopi and Joshy as director is likely to come on July 29th. In August 5th, Dulquar's Telegu film SitaRaman is to release. His previous Tamil outing Hey Sinamika in Kerala did not create any ripples but this time, actor is expected to promote Sita Raman in a big way. On Agust 11, Kerala exhbitors are gungho about Aamir Khan Lal Singh Chaddha as Malayali audience have always given Aamir the thumbs up. On same day, Vikram's Cobra is releasing and so is Tovino's Thallumala. Vikram who once had a very good market in Kerala after Kamal Haasan from Kollywod, it is now wasted as many of his films flopped and some were OTT releases. Tovino after Minnal Murali hit is now in the red as all later releases were washouts.

Puzhu (Malayalam) movie review : Parvathy wasted and too subtle

Puzhu ( Malayalam) movie would have gone over the heads of many of the viewers who saw it on SonyLiv. The film does draw lot of parallels within the story telling and also has so many messages that speaks volumes about the upper caste mentality in the bureaucracy  and in society towards the oppressed. The nuances can be understood only if one is able to know about the art forms and past tales of cate oppression in Kerala as there is so many symbols that convey more than what it seems.

Mammooty is na IPS officer- divorcee with a son staying alone in a flat. His sister Parvathy married a lower caste drama actor who is also an activist in social caste divide. He is subjected to a attack at many times using a carbon monoxide to kill him and killer is at large. He has shady deals on the side. .

To those who wondered what is significance of Puzhu( worm) to subject . As in the drama on stage of Prakishit and Takshan, where Snake god manifested as a worm in an apple to kill the King hiding or like Amir slowly like a worm systematically eating into Kuttan's life through attempts on his life like the former giving up use of lift after a failed attempt,Aamir is shown for first time as picking up the  apples from the road . Puzhu  could also mean the way Kuttan looks at lower caste people . When Kuttan goes away with the son, we hear the King being cursed that seven days from now the curse will take place and he will die. Like the King hid a isolated palace, Kuttan lives in a high rise flat and has the doors barricaded,

If you see the scene in which Kuttan kills his sister and her husband, he is hitting them with a trophy that the brother in law got. The trophy is  a figure of Nangeli the Ezhava Dalit woman who stood against the breast tax of Travancore Royalty and seeing this it infuriated Kuttan who used it to kill his sister and hubby. It explains why he who kept the gun back at home got provoked all of a sudden.

Director show that Kuttan talks to his son who stands before him answering queries on school life while his sister seats the boy in a chair and stands beside him during the staging of the play.

Mammooty just lives the role of a mentally traumatized man fighting demons within himself. The character sketch is well done. Though debut director Ratheena did not want to spoon feed the audience , I felt it was too subtle for a majority of audience. Yet another hamper to the narration was that the film had just a flat - a resort etc and nothing else to offer for a camera ( Theni Easwar) to shoot. BGM ( Jakes) was just perfect. The Islamphobia that has affected many directors in Kerala too has hit Ratheena. 

After seeing Puzhu, I am amused at the umpteen interviews given by Parvathy for a role that nobody would remember .

CBI 5 - The Brain : Watch it for Jagathy Sreekumar five minutes cameo

 CBI 5 The Brain taxes your brain by putting in too many distractions in the main plot and finally wen Sethurama Iyer comes with a torn newspaper and tells  top cop that you are the murderer, you sincerely wish that he confesses and relives you from the boredom. Making a sequel does not mean that the film making should be also stuck in that period and that includes the screenplay- camera movement and clichés that cinema has long since buried.

Except for the original score and Mammooty, film is total waste of time. With a minister - journalist- cop dead in a row, you expect some interesting motive. What you get is a mumbo jumbo of a hacker hacking a pace maker and a jealous DGP / IG behind the botched murders. Art department is stuck in the K Madu- Shaji Kailas period where every pillar has CBI written on it. Shoubin in yet another wasted role.

As if this torture was not enough , you are told of a sequel and that will be first online murder . I think the film has already been murdered online by the viewers.

Bheeshma Parvam : Mammooty rocks in repetitive family feud saga

 

Bheeshma Parvam 's saving grace is Mammooty who through his sheer screen presence makes full use of the space given to him in a story that is as old as Cinema. His measured dialogue delivery, the gaze and the swagger just makes you forget that the film is a bad cocktail mix of Godfather and Mahabharata.

Storyline is about a Micheal who heads a large family of his and his dead elder brother. Enemies in form of kith and kin who dislike his bossiness and how he tackles them. Here a different take is that he is aging and it is his intimidating figure that works more than his physical strength. Amal Neerad long list of actors have all a role to play. Among them is Shine Tom and Shoubin who have the meaty roles and they just score.

All the usual Amal film's technical standard elements are in play and this time it is cinematographer ( Anand C Chandran) who excels. The action scenes are a testimony to that.  BGM was a bit too loud .

Amal Neerad has pulled it off this time with his predictable story telling as he had a Mammooty to take the audience mind away from the repetitive way but it is time that he changed tracks and came up with something different. For Mammooty too this genre of film from him has not come in recent times and so looked a new fare.

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 ?

Joshiy's son Abhilash debut directorial with Mammooty's son Dulquer is King of Kotha

Director Joshiy's son Abhilash debut direction has Dulquer Salman as the protagonist and also the producer. The official announcement was made by Dulquer on his birthday. To Malayalam film goers who rooted for the Mammooty - Joshy combo, this news is something brings a lump in the throat. 

The Mammooty- Joshy combination has always been a talking point in the Kerala industry. The ups and downs that these duo went through together is something that never before has any Star- actor and director shared before.

An intergral part of the sucess of this combo was script writer Dennis Joseph. The interview of Dennis Joseph serialised in Safari TV will give those who are not aware of the great bonding that the actor- director had. As time flew by Joshy brand of films like New Delhi started losing out.  From Joshy to Joshiy did not help . Mammooty on the other hand kept him fine tuned with selection of subjects- directors and technology.  

The announcement of the next gen coming together is one  of the finest news that Mammooty- Dulquer- Joshiy fans has got in recent times. A few details -Abilash N Chandran of ‘Porinju Mariam Jose’ fame is scripting ‘King of Kotha. Dulquer’s own production house Wayfarer Films is producing the film.

.

Mammooty and Fahad to act together in Telugu film

Malayalam Stars Mammooty and Fahad Fazil are to act in upcoming Telugu film Agent starring Akhil Akkineni. The film had Mammooty signing the film earlier and was reportedly playing a character with shades of grey. He is to get Rs 3 cr for the film directed by Surender Reddy. Now reports say that Fahad Fazil has agreed to act in the film. Mamooty and Fahad had come together for Malayalam film Immanuel, The film was a Mammooty starrer with Fahad playng a selfish marketing manager. Fahad was then not a draw at the box office.

Fahad is playing a baddie in Pushpa with Allu Arjun and Rashmi Mandonna in the lead. Directed by Sukumar, the film is an out and out action thriller. Fahad also is one of the baddies in Kamal Haasan's Vikram.

Akhil is son of actress Amala. Amala and Mammooty acted in Tamil hit Mounam Sammadham directed by K Madhu. Similarly Fahad's father Fazil had directed Amala in Ente Suriyaputhirikku, a trendsetter. It was Karpoora Mullai with same Amala in Tamil. Fazil also directed Akhil's father Nagarjuna in Telegu film Killer.

Akhil released photos of his tough muscular physique for the film. The next  release of Akhil is  Telugu romantic comedy, Most Eligible Bachelor, which has been directed by Bhaskar. The film will see Akhil play an NRI while Pooja Hegde will be seen as a stand-up comedian. Akhil had starred in three films so far but none of them made a big impact at the box office. 

Mammooty – Madrasile Mon in Poojapura Central Jail