Mise en scene

 'The teacher' is a revenge story of a school teacher who was sexually assaulted by her students. The film starts from few family sequences of Sujith and Devika(Amala paul). Sujith is a staff nurse in a hospital and Devika works as a teacher. As the couples didn't have a baby after four years of marriage, they were expecting it to happen very soon. The character of Devika is shown as disturbed, hiding something, from the starting itself and the film then reveals about an issue that happened few weeks ago when Devika was sexually assaulted by a group of boys in her school. After seeking help from her mother in law,Comrade Kalyani, Devika's revenge against those boys who offended her, is the gist of the film. Positives . The story is socially relevant and cinematically satisfying. Amala paul, Chemban vinod, Hakkim shah, Manju pillai and others have given brilliant performances, though the casts other than Amala paul and Hakkim shah have very less screen- time. End note wi

' Four years' is apparently a marriage between 'Super saranya' and 'Arjun Reddy' in a 'Hrudhayam' format. It tells the story of two youngsters and their conversations in the last days of their college life, who were broken up about six months before. The story is very simple and usual. An academically bright girl falls in love with a talented boy, is a commonest plot for campus romance. 'Four years' also falls in that genre. The film starts with a photoshoot of the outgoing batch in which Vishal refuse to come even after Gayathri, his love interest makes her call. Just before they leave the campus Gayathri and Vishal meet mainly twice, once at night and then in the next morning. The film outstretches its narrative with the recollections of their college memories and keep on romanticising everything in the campus. As vishal have 31 backpapers, he is frustrated with its burden and ill focussed on his carrier goals. Gayathri advices him against his

 Avatar, The way of water, is a visually rich family drama, power-packed with amazing action sequences, concepts, and bio-centrism. The story is simple, similar to the first part with the central theme of survival, and Nature worship. From Pandora, jake sully and Neytiri along with their children, including kiri (daughter of Grace Augustine ) travels to another place called as metkayina, to protect his family as the humans takes revenge on jake after he disrupts their supply chain. People of metkayina are swimmers and they evolved with adaptive aquatic features. Metkayina people have close relationship with a giant aquatic species called Tulkuns. Tulkuns are very intelligent and emotional, from their body, humans extract Amrita, that can be used as an elixir for longevity. Quaritch who got killed by Neytiri in the part 1,came back as a Nàvi thats developed from his DNA with memory implants. He takes revenge on jake and his family at Metkayina, by trying to destroy the coral ecosystem.

Pendency of cases in indian courts is very serious issue that's  less addressed in films. Sometimes, this issue showed on screen as a passing comedy, or just a part of some argument. Saudhi vellakka marks its difference by treating this hard reality very specifically. Aisha Rawuttar (Devi varma) gets arrested for attacking a minor and charged under non bailable sections of IPC, by the police. Her case keep on pending for the next 15 years due to so many reasons, even the witnesses and the victim hardly recollect what exactly happened. The case was intentionally ignited by a neighbour who has enmity with Aisha after a land dispute. The changes happening to people during this long period of 15 years, and Aisha watching all these, swimming with the flow, expecting a final destination of Justice at her old age, is the story all about. Meanwhile, her emotionally fragile son goes missing, daughter in law leaves home, and loneliness makes her irresponsive to the life. But this is not a le

  Kooman, is a mystery - thriller that have two different sequential trajectory that shooted as two halves of the film. First part mainly tries to establish the investigating skill of the Police officer Giri(Asif ali) and also details his vengefulness toward others if someone challenges his Ego. The second half exposes the crime and core of the film through a bottleneck effect of Giri's character that traps him down to the consequences of his ego. The story then connects the dots from the past and present, to frame the climax with some brainy moves, bravery, twists, mystery, with some effluents of  witchcraft and believe systems. Positives . Performances of almost all the leading and supporting characters were well and good, as they seems to be from the same village in real-life. It positively criticise the police department, politics, superstitions that are of contemporary relevance.  Background scores were gripping ,with clever night shots , it could create what a thriller must l

 Chup, the revenge of an artist is a thriller cum romantic drama. It tells about an agonised film maker who take his revenge on film critics, as he is of the opinion that,criticism now a days is killing the film industry. Plot . The story goes parallelly when a young lady named Nila,an aspiring film enthusiast meets a florist(Danny) in the city and on the other side, four film critics were brutally tortured and killed. The dead bodies are found to be rated with stars on their forehead and the police investigate this crime by looking on every piece of information they can collect. Analysing the targets and intention of the killer, Police then make a trap by forcing Nila to write a bad review about a well- acclaimed film. The serial killer chases her to kill her but  caught by the police meanwhile. As the film is basically a straight line narrative, the role of Danny makes it all the difference. He is confused, irritated, and psychotic on one side, with severe childhood trauma and shatte

  Wonder women , is a story of six pregnant women who come to an antenatal counseling centre named Sumana, run by Nandita(Nadiya moidu). As they become so close during the course of their session, the story delves into their lives more deeply. Their backgrounds, character, anxieties and inhibitions during their antenatal period is the story all about. Positives . 1) It's a women's world and their problems that's most likely to be seen in every family. It reflects the pregnancy period of ladies who are from diverse backgrounds, an urban girl, educated but restricted woman, a hippy vocalist, and an aged woman. It also register men's attitude towards their pregnant wives and tries to fix some social stereotype as well. 2) Though the story didn't crave for a perfect climax, its warm, positive and managed the issues addressed by, with a promising end. 3) It's informative in some medical and legal aspects. The fact that The position of delivery is adopted for the conv

Land, culture and belief systems are the identities of any tribal society. If any one of these attributes are broken, it create a great impact. The film kanthara tells these cultural underpinnings of a tribal society with an admirable degree of artistic freedom and conceptual understanding. The plot delivers chronologically from 1870's when a local Raja in search of  peace finds a tribal God's sculpture, following the authorative instruction of his advisor. As the tribesmen refuse to give him their deity, he offers them his land. As generation changes, once the a defied man imbibing the God's spirit was asked about the very reason of these belief, he runs to the forest and vanished. This event made the belief stronger among the people and installed a strong sense of belief. The film shifts its timeline to 1990's and narrates continuously as the land from the Raja is now under the tribal people because of the early offer. Younger generations of that royal family and the

Horror films are of many layers. From psychological thrillers to revenge stories to an all out supernatural stuffs, Horror genre is highly expandable in multiple ways. One of such variant is the film Vichithram. It tells about a story of a family a struggling mother with her irresponsible children in a humorous way. The film uses its first half predominantly to inculcate the economic mayhem with the film. As they shifts to a bungalow, their inherited property, the haunting starts. Second half is more insisting with different attempts to make them feel the presence of a spirit inside the bungalow, and gradually deciphers the strikes that connects past dot with that of the present. Though this film goes on a familiar Ghost house narrative, it discloses some grey areas of relationships, mystery, revenge and reason. Positives . Shine tom chacko excelled the role with his natural way of imbibing into the clamour of a jobless, confidence trickster. Kani kusruthy, with her gloomy, hopeless ex

Ponniyin selvan is a period drama that tells about the mighty chola empire, that ruled over major part of south india and neighbouring areas in both ancient, medieval phases of history. The film is a visual adaption of the novel written by a tamil writer named kalki, 70 years back. Plot . Sundara chola ( Prakash Raj) rules the vast chola empire with his feudatories and his two sons Aditha Karikala ( Vikram) and Arulmozhi/ Ponniyin selvan ( Jayam Ravi). He also have one daughter named Kundavai ( Trisha). The empire was getting constant threat from their rivals pandyas and faces espionage from their feudatories as well. Aditha karikala is desperado turned warrior after he lost his love interest named Nandini ( Aiswarya rai) who is passionately waiting to ascend the thrown of the queen. He send his messenger named Vanthiyadevan (Karthi) to know what's happening in their Thanjavore palace as Karikala was ruling little more southwest. Inorder to take decision on the succession of thrown

  Gargi is a legal melodrama of a girl who fights for her father to set him free from the court of law. Plot . Gargi, played by Sai pallavi, is a school teacher from a humble background. Her father Brahmanandan works as a security guard in an apartment and her mother finds her livelihood by selling fermented dosa batter. One day, her father gets arrested by the police alleging a gang rape on a 9 year old girl. Gargi and her family faces ostracism and social auditing as she tries to prove her fathers innocence with the support of her lawyer. Positives . The film have a mix of genres like family, courtroom, romance, womenhood, crime, investigation and so on. Each of these elements are precisely added to the core to make it fine in its finals. Sai pallavi leads the film by taking all its responsibility on her shoulder without sharing the burden on any other characters in the film. Her hopelessly confused reactions and dried up eyes were the best to reflect what Gargi is. It criticises the

  Holy wound is a classic women's drama that discuss about Sexuality in a patriarchal society. It starts by showing the life a women in a delta like topography where she finds her livelihood from poultry and conch catching. She used to get abused sexually by her husband as this is shown as a usual practice. One day, she elopes away from her home and take shelter in a convent where her childhood friend is living asba nun. They both had their sexual relationship as they loved deeply in the past. Few days afterwards, her husband visits the convent and take her back to their home. He abuse her again as she became a passive sex toy. The film takes its last turn when the nun came in search of her friend and they both makes love in a boat.. Positives . The concepts shown in the film is very intense and deep. It depicts the issues like marital rape, lesbianism, poverty, and helplessness of a women. Characters, especially the protagonist Janaki sudheer registered every gasp of the character

Avaasavyooham is a film discusses about Ecological concepts like natural Habitats, biodiversity, anthropocentric impacts and Human behaviour. Its presented in a docudrama style to interplot some curious facts that goes along with the storyline. Plot . Joy, a man of anonymity have some unknown power to communicate with other species. He works with a middle aged fisherman and helps him to have better catch by producing certain sounds to attract the fishes.After some local conflicts with a man called Murali,he was forced to escape to another shore. There he helps another man in fishing activities. Meanwhile, joy get caught by the police alleging his illegal entry into a protected area along with an old man. Joy faces serious troubles afterwards and narrowly escapes from a gun shot from Murali, his old enemy. He finds shelter in a small house but get caught by the locals and police. By the time,He develops webs on his hind limbs like that of a frog as the villagers start narrating their ow

  Mahaviryar is a politically satirical period drama that tells about a king named Ugrasena(Lal) who is afflicted with incurable hiccups. In one of his dreams, his Rajaguru conveys a remedy for the problem and following the same, he instruct his minister Veerabhadran (Asif ali) to search for a girl of poetic beauty. Veerabadran forcefully abducts a girl named Devayani from a border village named Chithrapuri. After this incident,the father of Devayani files a complaint against the king for this act in presidency court and faces the trail. On another countryside apparently shown in present day timeline, a monk ( Nivin pauly) was caught with a golden idol of lord Hanuman, thats allegedly stolen by him from a temple and recovered by the villagers from his posession. Trails for both of these offences happens in a same court room and Apoornananda (Nivin pauly) though he is monk, defend himself with modern day law points against the arguments of the prosecution. On King's trail, As the co

Virata parvam is a brave love story in such a revolutionary sociopolitical setting featuring Sai pallavi in the lead role without surrendering the character value in a male world of aggression, violence and revolution. Plot . The film tells about the story of a village girl named vennila(Sai pallavi) who got inspired from the poetry of a Naxal leader named Ravanna. She abandons her home to pursue her dream of joining with her love interest, that keeps the flow of the film.  The story takes its deeper lines of political philosophy when she joins with a naxal dalam in the forest and then progress to the events further. Even if the script plays with guns and guerilla warfare, the film has luminously  kept the emotional content intact till the end and there after.. Positives . Sai pallavi literally steal the full length of the film as she managed to take it on her shoulders with intricately delivered emotions. Rana Daggubhati in support of her, made no mistakes. He is as aggressive and con

 Jeethu joseph is well known for his investigative dramas, his latest release "12th man" starring Mohanlal is also such a crime thriller. Plot. The film starts when a group of college friends and their partners tour to a hill station for celebrating one's bachelor's party along with his would be. Having enough confidence on their mutual transparency, they start a game to expose their phone calls and chats for the next one hour. Each call reveals their secrets including their past relationships. The party then turned out to be a mysterious rat trap on themselves and they seek help from each other to keep safe. Meanwhile Shiny,  one of the leading character dies in a suspicious circumstance. Her body be found on a rocky notch down in that hill station. DYSP Chandrashekharan (Mohanlal) comes to the hotel to investigate Shiny's death and reveals the truth one by one by playing the same game that they were playing just before shiny's death. Positives . 1) Mohanlal

'The Kashmir files' is more like a docudrama that shows the exodus of Kashmiri pandits in the 1990s. The film is a blend of facts and fiction that's carefully sewed to suit the conscious portrayal. Plot. The file open through the quest of a college student named Krishna whose family were victims of a targeted massacre that happened in the valley during the darkest hours of Kashmiri history. Being the Presidential candidate of his college union election, krishna was shaped by the liberal revolutionary ideologies of his campus, and he was unaware of what happened to his own family. When he goes back to his home in Kashmir to pay final rituals of his grandfather, he met his grandfather's friends among them one was a high-level bureaucrat and the others are a doctor, a policeman, and a reporter. They reveal Krishna's family tragedy, along with the horrible incidents that happened in the valley against Kashmiri pundits years before.The film goes through the side of the v

KGF Chapter 2, being one of the most awaited film after the massive success of its first chapter that revamped the old-school Gangster stories in an overwhelmingly cinematic manner. PLOT . When Rocky established himself as a new social order in KGF, he realised that there exists 9 gold reserves in total as discovered by Suryavardhan in 1951,and the sector 3/9 is just one of it. He excavates the rest with his own people, a labour society, about which no data is traceable,even from satellite imagery. Rocky also keep his ambitious girl Reenu as hostage for his own safety, in a palace in KGF and literally rules not just KGF, but the whole political map of India. To hunt him down, Suryavardhan's brother Adheera who was thought to be dead on records, retake the story by challenging Rocky. Adheera shot down Rocky in a Gun fight and attacks KGF. Rocky loosing influence in KGF, fly to meet Inayat Ghalil who trade gold with Shetty and bargain to trade gold directly from Africa to Indian c

Beast, is a Nelson cum Vijay film in all its form. When Situational comedies in serious plots are tried to thread along the star power of vijay, we would expect a cocktail of perfect commercial entertainer, but beast couldn't give out what it offered. PLOT . Story structured as a hostage drama when terrorists hijacked an EAST COAST mall in chennai to bargain the release of their leader named Umar khalif from indian prison. Veera Raghavan (vijay) also trapped inside the mall, is actually a RAW agent who suffers from a psychological damage after an earlier incident in indo-pak border when he accidentally killed a child during a short range missile attack. He emerges as a savior of civilians from hostage meanwhile the terrorist leader got released from india by the government on negotiations. Veera raghavan manages to go to pakistan chasing the terrorist leader and bring him back to india after destroying the terrorists camp. POSITIVES . Action sequences are well choreographed and nea

" Salute " is a crime drama (not much a thriller), visualise the professional lives of Police officers, their compromised values, Ethics, and family life.  The film starts when a young police officer named Aravid tries to access a case file from the police station where he was serving as a Sub-inspector years before  Turning the pages of the file, he recollects the way in which his team framed false evidences against a local man named Murali, because of the political pressure to conclude the investigation warfoottedly. Aravind filled with regrets for this immoral execution of his duty that threw the life of an innocent man to a life-long imprisonment,and his lone sister to social auditing. With a deep sense of repentance, he tries to reinvestigate the case though it will make the entire department (including his brother) the culprit and finally conclude the case proving himself and themselves wrong. POSITIVES . The film is more realistic, not much dramatic. It shows the limit

The Tashkent files  is a political investigative drama written and directed by Vivek agnihotri. Its based on conspiracy theories in modern indian history that circumscribed around Lal bahadhur Sastri's death at Tashkent, a day after he signed the historic "Tashkent declaration". Here are some of my favourite quotes from the film... 1) " Lack of evidence can't be an evidence to itself. ." 2) " You know, Globalization is just another word for corporate slavery " 3) " A country that's caught up in its past can never progress. And, one needs courage to detach himself from the past" 4) " We have to think whats right and whats not right, for the 1.5 billion people of this country. We may have to sacrifice our provision for a larger public good. And courage, is not always about speaking truth, its also about keeping silence even if you know the truth" 5) "There are uncountable number of cases still remains a mystery. Truth is

  Bheeshmaparvam invites the crowd with two cards. One of Mammotty and Amal neerad, the other. It tells about a Powerful and Royal Christian family, its past and revenge gratification. First 10 minutes draws the branches of the Anjootty family-tree and its ramifications with a last photo-capturing scene on which it hints everyone's conduct with the stem and taperoot of the family, Michael(Mammootty). As Michael holds the authority to govern the family buisness,testified by his late father, he earns respect and discipline by default. When some ruthless members of the family starts questioning the Michael's autocracy with greed, they seek help from Michael's old rivals and challenges him. Michael retaliates with precision, cunning and power as he saves himself and the family's name sometimes diplomatically and often through violence. POSITIVES . Technically, film is very commendable for its editing, cinematography and style. Sushin syam's BGM pulled the film to an ove

Freedom fight is an anthology film that tells five different stories that are centred around the interpretations of freedom that are still lacking in different sections of society.  GEETHU, UNCHAINED. Probably, this one will be so relatable to the youth as it tells about the restrictions that are imposed on a youthful girl by society. It's not just blaming the older generation for such social conditioning but also exposing the patriarchal mindset that advocates the limitations imposed on girls even in contemporary society. Geethu, being the heartbroken girl who gently tries to escapes from the emotional leftovers of her past relationship, but makes her choice politely at the end even at the cost of a happy ending.  ASANGADITHAR This is a film that addressed a serious issue among the women who work in unorganised sectors for their livelihood, where the basic "Right to pee" is still remains unattainable. Even the governments couldn't solve this issue with stringent legi

 " Letting go is easy, but the hardest part is Moving on " - as Meridith Grey from Greys Anatomy acknowledges, this would be absolutely true in case of a manicured Generations urban lifestyle where Moving on is a common catchphrase. The film Gehraiyaan tries to reflect such intricate emotions and mental health of four characters named Aleesha, Karan, Tia, and Zain. The story starts when Aleesha and her boyfriend Karan meets her cousin Tia and her boyfriend. Though the audience can easily suspect the upcoming infidelity, the film treats the track of infatuation- Infidelity-Intimacy in a gentle romantic way. As Aleesha and Zain become more closer, sharing their abusive past and future dreams, the film starts winding down into deeper layers of complexities. Alesha and Zain realises that they are stuck within their loops and could not let go their relationship further more. Such a complicated Romantic story dives into a thrilling wave when Zain got financial tussle at the same ti

" BRO DADDY" is a Elite-Christian-family-Drama featuring Mohan Lal, Prithviraj, Kaniha, Meena, Lalu alex, Kalyani Priadarshan and so on.. The focus of the film is its witty interplay between a father and his son, confronting family, relationship, inhibitions and their issues. Eesho played by Prithviraj, works in an international Advertising company at Banglore, living together with Anna she who is the daughter of his fathers best friend.  Film enters its trajectory when Eesho and Anna realises that they are going to have a baby.  Back in Eeshos home, his parents are also expecting a baby after a long time as his Mother got pregnant. Eesho and his father manages to arrange his marriage with Anna to solve this issues as its the only solution available to them except an Abortion. As Anna resists abortion, they both have to convince their family to fix things straight. POSITIVES . Casting is precise with well experienced actors on board, made up the film a smooth journey even whe

Musically crafted Hrdhayam sings about college romance and post-campus lives of Arun and his friends at a gradual pace. The first half of the film appeals to college students and the second half is designed to gather family audience.  Starting from a railway station when Arun gets in, his new college life, his rivalry with seniors, his relationships with Darshana, their breakup, the demise of his friend, and his decent academic success make up the first half. Second half deals with his pursuit of passion, another relationship with a girl named Nithya who he met in  a wedding, their marriage, family life, few moments of backlash from his ex-girlfriend and a peaceful ending. Positives . The best engagement in the film is it's music that goes like a charming medley without any complicated twists and turns.  Leading actors like Pranav mohanlal, Darshana rajendran, Kallyani priyadarshan and all played their part with ease as it seems like they have reflected themselves. Matrilineal nami