Malayankunju movie : Strictly for Fahad Fazil and A R Rahman fans

 

If you are a fan of Fahad Fazil and A R Rahman ( not necessarily in that order) then Malayankunju is just the film for you. If you are just an average movie goer out for entertainment, it offers nothing new . However, it does not make you feel Claustrophobic as the makers said it will do and not a big bore that you feel it was a  big mistake falling for the all hype talk of Fahad and team.

Fahad character of Anl Kumar, the electronic gadget repair guy in a distant village of Kerala’s hilly areas has so many characteristics that you have seen in some of the notable films of the actor. Keeping this apart, you enjoy the Anikuju and his life, the characters that he interacts, his tragic past that torments him. So far good and  as the makers said his house sinks in a landslide. From here, Mahesh Narayanan who also is the cinematographer begins to falter as a screenplay writer.

What should have been a survival drama is now a  play of the illusions of a trapped man. This part as far I am concerned did not connect much and I could not travel along with Anikuju. Just like the muddy waters that swarmed the main protagonist, every thing later till climax seem to be very muddy in vision and thought. You get an answer to Dalit politics raised in first half and the man who hated cry of the baby next door is now a liberated man who embraces the baby that was trapped in the pit with him.

I would not give a big rating for Fahad as he has done this before. But for Rahman, a standing ovation SIR. Right from the start, there is a sound of a thunderstorm in low volume and it plays out at certain moments. As the film moves towards a second half, Rahman gives an International level score . I think, a separate album of the BGM of the film should be released. It will be a music lover’s memorable collection. Along with it, I have to  say that ARR should keep these sound engineers for his upcoming films.

Among the actors, Jaffar Idukki got a small but meaty role and he made good use of it. Many are talking about the film as  Fahad- Mahesh combo but the reality is that it is Sajimon Prabhakaran directorial.

Jai Bhim controversies : Baradwaj bad review gets mauled and Pro Hindi guys slam Prakashraj

How can a guy get slapped for speaking in Hindi and not Tamil ? asks a twitterati. Film companion South YouTube channel film critic Baradwaj Rangan says Jai Bhim is badly made film .  Has 1.59, 850 views and 12 K have disliked while others have liked it.

Let’s us take scene where IG interrogates a pawn broker who accepted the stolen jewels. Pawn broker says in Hindi that since the guys were from the same area and before he completes it, Prakashraj who plays IG slaps him. Pawn broker asks why did you slap me and he gets the reply- Speak in Tamil.

So what is wrong in it  asks twiterrati. Is it not an Indian language ? Another goes a step forward and points out that Prakashraj being a Kannadiga should be slapped for speaking in various languages on screen.

Now those disliking Rangan’s review of Jai Bhim  attributes  caste prejudice, not knowing reality and pointing out reviews where he praised actors who were stone faced  and being not able to digest somebody being better than Mani Rathinam ( Rangan  wrote a book on Mani).

Rangan has this disclaimer at the start - having a good story and good intentions automatically do not make a good movie and if you are a fan of Samudrakanni the director then you are going to like the film. The review is for those who do not belong to this category says Rangan.

Wonder why Rangan brought Samudrakanni in to it ?.At times, Suriya does sound like Kanni. It was only recently that Kanni informed that he was going to say no to the preachy kind of roles. Probably those who hated Samudrakanni decided to hear out Rangan.

 

Now the comments are that Baradwaj  praised Malayalam film Brahmam and rated Mamata Mohandas performance to be so good that one forgot Tabu’s in the original.  Rangan terms Suriya not being involved and  being in a hurry. He says a similar subject of three people going missing ( Naayattu) was handled well by a neighboring State ( Kerala)  with finesse and is it too much to expect such from Tamil audience and go on to magnify everything. I gathered from the whole review is that he did not like the police brutality overuse, magnifying of scenes and characters and lack of giving a personal dimension to the Lawyer character. In short, he says this not  an iconic movie.

Most of his  reviews or rather 99% of it never calls a spade a spade directly and describes it many ways. I have found him to go great lengths to find some `positives’ in a bad film. The majority of his core viewers seem to have liked what  he spoke about the film and so he knows his audience well. As for Nayattu- it did not happen in a environment like in Jai Bhim. I gathered from the scenes in he film  that Lawyer Chandru is a painter and he reads Economic and Political Weekly.  Mercifully, Chandru is not a tribal song writer cum singer and the teacher ( Rajisha ) a chorus singer.

Will Karnan get released as Dhanush is no Vijay at Box office? Lock Down woes hit Kollywood

Will Karnan starring Dhanush be released on April 9th with a 50% capacity limit for theatres ? The question arises as the MASS opening and push at Box office of Thalapathy Vijay whose Master released to 50% occupancy is not there with Dhanush. Second factor is that the film Karnan has been sold to distributors at prices that are higher than that a Dhanush film at present market rating should be sold. Thirdly as there is no political party in the saddle and with Election Commission still in power, IAS-IPS ( read bureaucrats)  would impose the occupancy rate in theatres. This leaves no scope for violations as it happened in case of Master.

Trade circles say that Dhanush film today can be expected to give a profit share of Rs 12-15 cr to distributors. This figure is arrived from the collections of his past two films. Last release was Ennai Nokki Payyum Thotta directed by Gautham Menon. It was sold to Iswari Ganesh for Rs 18 cr as the film before it was Pattas that gave a profit share of Rs 15 cr to distributors. The Menon film gave Iswari Ganesh only Rs 7 cr !!!.

At this rate, Karnan should have gone not more than Rs 12 cr. Producer Thanu however chose to keep the areas to himself on the ground that his production Asuran with Dhanush had given Rs 10 cr profit from Chennai and Chengalpet. He gave Karnan distribution by taking token amounts. In Chennai, multiplex chain PVR took it and Chengalpet it was divided with Arulpathy ( distributor body chief) taking single screen and PVR the multiplexes. Kovai went to Rajamannar Films. Rockfort took Trichy and Tirunelveli- Kanyakumari went to Zion. Total advances stood at Rs 18.50 cr.

This advances were taken for 100% occupancy. Now with 50% less seats, high upfront money to producer, the distributors are put at great risk. With 100 % occupancy and no competition, Karthi's Sulthan just about put up a good show and did nothing like Master. Dhanush too falls in this bracket.

Yet another important factor that prompted exhibitors to pay more money was that from April 9th inwards till April 19th there is holidays with Tamil New Years day and weekends coming. The new spike in Covid cases would be a damper for holiday crowds since amusement parks- beaches - zoo and tourist places have got restricted entry.

Trade circles feel that Thanu should postpone and wait for the lockdown to ease . The restrictions for night activities is till 11 PM but if things get worse, it might get cut down. This means night shows will be cancelled. After Master, no theatre in the State till Sulthan ,has seen more than 20 % occupancy. Now with Covid scare once again, whether the crowds will come to movie halls is doubtful, says trade.

Rajinikanth and crew flew to Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad much before the official mini lockdown restrictions were announced. Though a GO said to be from Tamil Nadu Govt was circulating on social media, State officials denied that night curfew and stringent lockdown would not be imposed. All shops, eateries, malls, hotels and theatres can function with 50% occupancy. Most of the existing activities have only been curtailed and not shut down. Film shootings too are to continue like now.