It was a shock to here the news of Cochin Haneefa’s death.

Recently it doesnt seem to be great time for Malayalam Film Industry.. News of the Premature death of stars coming in as a shock for us . Lohithadas, Murali, Rajan P. Dev and yesterday it was Cochin Haneefa.   When i started watching films he was a comedian and “Hydrose”  wan one character that i actually remembers of him as the earliest.  later i saw many films in which he was villain and really later i realized he was a director and writer too.

A bunch of unforgettable classic comic characters his role in film meeshmadhavan, manar mathaai speaking etc were simply great.  i had a chance to meet him once. It was in the set of movie “Pulival Kalyanam” in which he was doing a character of a taxi driver.  The Movie was shot near to my house and i was there to see the stars (especialy because kavya madhavan was also coming).  It wasnt a big talk or anything.  i just got a  chance to shook his hands. That is all.

His Characters have won a great unforgettable place in malayalee’s minds. He will be remembered for long time.

Rest in Peace Cochin Haneefa.

Berly has compiled few of his classic scenes in his blog . you can watch them here

Image Attribution: Anees Kodiyathur at ml.wikipedia

A lot of movies , a lot of hype. That was the situation of malayalam film industry in 2009. The new age technologies were used a lot in production and marketing of films.

The Icon of Malayalam Film Industry in 2009 turns out to be none other than Oscar Winner Rasool Pookutty. His Oscar winning made “sound mixing” a hot topic for every movie enthusiasts

As Usual “HYPE” was the main hero and “STORY” was the main villain in the Malayalam movie industry in the year 2009. Too much Hype and too less content was the situation of most of the films. with the tv channels competing each other there were room for even the lowest cost film to cast HYPE as the hero. I was disappointed with most of the malayalam films i saw in 2009. The email star wars between the real mad fanatics (you are free to read as fans) was another highlight of the year 2009.

here are some of the good and bad films for me in the year 2009. as Rajeev Masand puts it “the HITS and PITS of 2009 and is not dependent on the rating or box office collection but purely on a personal choice and not in any particular order”. yeah its my personal best and worst malayalam films of 2009. The List is purely based on the movies i personally saw in 2009. it does not include movies like pattanathil bootham, bagavan, angel john etc which were never worth a trailer watching.

My HITS of 2009

1 )  2 Harihar Nagar :   One great sequek to one of  the ever greatest hits in Malayalam.  Bringing back the laughter and comedy in to every single persons mind. an all together well blend movie for any crowd.    Cast : mukesh, jagadeesh, sidhique , ashokan

2) Passenger : A good movie with a very good message and good story. A good marketing would have made it a bigger hit.  cast : srinivasan, dileep

3)  Kerala Cafe : One of the biggest and greatest experiments in malayalam film industry. My Personal choice for best film of the year 2009.  Many argue they dont understand the need of 10 different stories for a film.  but for me it is like reading a collection of short stories.  full marks to Director Ranjith  for making the concept into reality

4) Paleri manikyam  oru paathiraa kolapaathakathinte kadha :    great story and great direction and well supported by good acting . one of the best malayalam film ever seen on screen.   cast : mammootty

5) Bagyadevatha : a good film and a good entertainer . i liked the movie a lot.  The new heroine was good and the entire mood of the moive was excellent  Cast : jayaram, kaniha

The Worst List.

1) Sagar alias jackey Reloaded : One of the most hyped and most disappointing movies of 2009.  It was all hype and no content. The Director should relearn his basics his next film

2) Love in Singapore :  .. Man is bound to do sins .  i did commit a sin by watching this film

3) Neelathamara : not a story to be made a film.  except the song Anuragavilochananaayi there is nothing much to say about this film.  First time it was made a film it wasnt a success and why the hell did they try the same story for second time

4) Rahasya Police :  the only reason i went for this film was becaue i ahd nothing else to do and i regret on my decision.

5) Robinhood : questioning the common sense is what joshy tried with this hilarious movie and its subject. i think the movie went on for few days in theater only because the common sense is not so common.

Tail note : i really wanted to put Pazhassi Raja in the worst List .  but somehow these 5 scored negatives  way ahead of  pazhassi raja. i didn’t like Pazhassi Raja much

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Paleri Manikyam : Oru Pathira Kolapathakathinte Kadha is all about what a strong story can do to a movie. An awesome Story right from the Beginning of Kerala State.  The Story is Based on the First Registered Rape Murder case in Kerala in 1957 and a late investigation on it 52 years later.

The Movie revolves round the rape and murder of a 20 year old girl in 1957.  Detective Haridas who happened to be born on the same night the girl was dead is back to Paleri after 52 years to find the truth behind the murder. He eventually links all the almost lost pieces of information and arrives at a conclusion.  The Twists and Links in the movie are well written and Director  Ranjith is successful in maintaining the surprises and suspenses till the very last.  The Common behaviour with the 3 roles played by Mammootty seems to be that all the 3 characters  enjoy relation with women outside their marriage

A strange coincidence which linked perfectly and blended with some excellent camera work.  The shifting of scenes from past to the present and to the past was excellent through out the movie.  The Art Director has done an excellent  job.  It is a movie that doesn’t kill you by silly songs. just one at the last which actually defines the mood of climax.

The Performance by actors were excellent. Mammootty’s 3 role appearance is done excellently . The Actor has shown yet another great performance in the film.  Another notable role was done by the Guy who played the Role of “Pongan”.  Shweta Menon is sexy and brilliant.

My Rating –  4 /5

16 days have passed since the movie Kerala Cafe was released. I feel guilty of not watching this film for first day first show.  It is very rare i get such a guilty feeling after seeing a film and the last time i had such a feeling was for the movie Classmates by Lal Jose.

A simple but daring concept that became a true art.   That is how i would describe this film Kerala Cafe.  The Feeling i had watching the movie was like reading a classic short story collection. i would compare usual film to novels but this movie Kerala Cafe was a great short story collection.  10 directors with 10 brilliant ideas on a single theme yatra (travel) and result is an awesome movie. Renjith Has done a great work with this movie

Most stories made me shed tears .  “BRIDGE” by Anwar Rasheed and “MAKAL” by Revathi touched me deeply. “PURAM KAAZHCHAKAL” by Lal Jose just said everything in life might have a totally different point of view. I was literally speechless by its climax.

MRITYUNJAYAM by uday ananthan was a fiction left unexplained. For those who got the storyline, it was the shortest and one of the best  horror flick.  many people where saying they didnt understand it at all.

OFF SEASON by shyamaprasad with the remix of the all time classic love song “maanasa maine” won a good applause . unlike normal shyamaprasad movies it had some humor . Shaji kailas showed his real class with LALITHAMHIRANMAYAM.  Unnikrishnan’s  AVIRAMAM was like an Icing in the cake.

NOSTALGIA by padmakumar showed the nostalgic “unbeauty”  which really exists in few people. It was about those people who lives only in nostalgia.  HAPPY JOURNEY by Anjali Menon had some good content in it and was one of the best.  The ISLAND EXPRESS looked back at the bad memories of victims of Peruman train tragedy which happened 21 years back.

On a Look back Anwar Rasheed’s BRIDGE will win my Best Picture award. It was simply the best.   Second place should go to PURAM KAAZHCHAKAL by Lal Jose. That film gave a message that i will never forget.  Third place is for Revathi’s MAKAL.

All the stories put together showed a real life picture of different classes in the society.   From an Ironing Man to IT business man. The picture of a Family that sells its child and that of a lady who waits eagerly to see her husbands lover’s kid.  All the stories told a story of what love is for different types of people. Brotherly Love , motherly love……. everything was there.

The Response from the Fanatic associations (Read as fans associations) seems to be harming the commercial success of the film.  But I belive Kerala Cafe will come over it.

I’m waiting for the Official DVD release of KERALA CAFE .. It will surely be part of my DVD collection

I’m planing to see this movie for a second time  with some of my friends next week..

My Rating 4/5

Last saturday i had to hurry to the cinema to ensure a ticket for the much awaited Angels and Demons. I just reached in time to get a ticket for the movie.  The movie started with a funeral scenes of Pope and then the Hadron collider and the creation of antimatter was on screen. I hadnt read the book so i was trying to make out the link betwen Pope and Hadron collider..

The Introduction of Proff. Langdon was in a different way than i expected.   I was eagerly waiting to see  how He uses the clues and unreveals the Mysteries and to be frank the movie has done it in great way.

The visuals of Vatican and the never churches of Vatican were great. A lot of scenes especially the Final explosion scene of antimatter was superbly done

The Twists in the Movie were great and i like them.  The Movie succeeded in setting up the Puzzles and the solutions efficiently.  A Little bit to laugh at in between at some scenes added to the flavor of  an already interesting film.  The Movie was worth all the money Spent

The movie was able make a myth into a reality feeling element

My Rating on the Movie 7/10

The  Oscars are out and as expected slumdog millionaire wins 8 of them ..

The awards for slumdog millionaire are

BEST FILM  –> SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

Adapted Screenplay
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE –> Screenplay by Simon Beaufoy

Congratulations All Winners..

RAHMAN and RASUL and Gulzar  made INDIA Proud .. congrats all