Spoilers ahead…
Read the full review on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/abrahaminte-santhathikal-review-mammootty-baradwaj-rangan
What’s it with movie psychopaths and black raincoats? Is it a uniform? If someone rebelled and wore bottle green or pink, would he instantly be shunned by his axe-wielding brethren? And why is it always pouring when he sets out with his weapon of choice? Shaji Padoor’s Abrahaminte Santhathikal (Abraham’s Descendants), starring Mammootty as ASP Derick, tells us that the noise covers the victims’ screams, plus the downpour washes away the killer’s tracks. But isn’t there a killer who remembers what his mommy in the basement used to say, that stepping out in the rain means he’ll catch his death? And why does it always have to be at night? For a change, couldn’t we have a killer who is a morning person, who likes to get in early, fresh from a few cups of coffee, and finish off his work before rush hour? After all, he is in the business of making worm food. Being an early bird must help.
You don’t crack jokes when this genre is handled well, like in the last episode of Mindhunter — you are too busy holding your breath. But in Indian cinema, you rarely find that kind of screenplay, that quality of direction. Abrahaminte Santhathikal is written by Haneef Adeni, who directed the similarly themed The Great Father, also starring Mammootty. He hasn’t met a cliché he doesn’t like. The gruesome killings are followed by clues written in blood. The killer’s motives are Biblical, as in Se7en. Only, you’d call this Ten. That’s the number of incidents the killer has promised. He uses a hammer — but he could just as easily have used Gopi Sundar’s blunt instrument of a background score, which seems determined to bludgeon us into submission. The music is so busy screaming, the cries of victims seem beside the point.
Continued at the link above.
Copyright ©2018 Film Companion.
Baradwaj Rangan 
MANK
June 25, 2018
Hilarious review, dunno how Mammootty fans are going to react to this. Mammookka has had a hit after a long long time
but the one time I truly felt for Derick was when he asks a subordinate if they can bury the evidence against Philip. This upright cop’s willingness to slide into corruption in order to save his brother gives him a refreshingly human dimension
This was the main subject of padmarajan’s superior kariyilakattupole where mohanlal played the investigator , Rehman the culprit brother and (surprise) Mammootty the murdered victim
This film seems to be a cynical ploy to replicate the success of The great Father,the success of that film itself was confusing, but looks like the ploy worked, going by the initial success of this film
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sanjana
June 25, 2018
Appropriate time for rainy nights and black raincoats. Now it is pouring.
The sentences about distracted puppies and lethal background scores made me smile.
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Anu Warrier
June 25, 2018
BR, laughed my way through the review. I needed it, thanks.
@MANK, wasn’t there a thriller set in a girls’ hostel some time back that used biblical references as the killer systematically set out to eliminate a group of girls who had humiliated him? Prithviraj as the inspector, I’m thinking? Memories, I think?
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MANK
June 25, 2018
Anu, yes. it is memories. there was another thriller called seventh day again with prithviraj with christian symbolism. there was Mohanlal starrer Grandmaster also with a similar premise
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Aman
June 25, 2018
Grandmaster was more ABC Murders than biblical. Jeethu Joseph films generally has this idea that women are sinners ( not just in memories), he must be a product of Sunday school.
Malayalam cinema is mostly lost these days when trying to make genre films. While slice of life/”realistic” films come easily to many of these makers ( good ones as well as imitations), there seems to be a problem when it comes to everything else. Most of these films look either like a misfire or a mess or both. Hard to understand the context in these so called “thrillers”, what’s the BGM signifies, why are they dressed like these, what’s with slow mos. Why not take all these and make a film around it using it judiciously. Abusing slow mos, bird’s eye view etc has taken the charm out of those shots. It still works when used sparingly and inventively.
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kaizokukeshav
June 26, 2018
“If someone rebelled and wore bottle green or pink, would he instantly be shunned by his axe-. wielding brethren ?” ..
last time a guy with a hair color that is a mix of Red and Yellow was ousted, he ended up at the .. oops I didn’t say that.
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abu6246
June 26, 2018
@MANK….even Mohanlal’s Villain had such a type of serial killer till the interval point. And if we go back in time, there were some Shaji Kailas movies where they showed serial killers in the same manner.
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Gautham Jayan
June 26, 2018
Hilarious review. I had a similar kind of thought while watching and reviewing.
Do find my take of the movie.
Also I gave a bullet point of the similarities in Crime Thriller movies.
Love to see feedback from you BR !
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Srinivas R
June 27, 2018
I hardly follow Malayalam movies, but the news around actor Dileep, the formatoon of WCC and his return to AMMA, has been hard to miss. Sharing a POV from a woman malayalee fan.
https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/breaking-malayalam-film-industry-when-stars-you-love-turn-dust-83710
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Di
June 27, 2018
film is getting good reports here and already a big hit…. it has pleased the targeted audience
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Anu Warrier
June 27, 2018
Srinivas, it’s disheartening. And a slap to the face of everyone who stood up for what was right, then. My respect for the stars involved has diminished considerably. My cynical side remarks that both the Ms have enough skeletons in their closets, and that Dileep knows of them.
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tonks
June 28, 2018
Following all the outcry (social media, Women’s commission, even the CM), Dileep chooses to step down. It doesn’t remove the taint from the organisation that comes across as blatantly patriarchal. What century are these people living in, to be so callous about women? That skit making fun of the Women’s collective put up by the organisation was puke worthy :
Like I heard on fb, they should change the name of their organisation from ‘amma’ to ‘appan’.
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MANK
June 28, 2018
.they should change the name of their organisation from ‘amma’ to ‘appan’.
Why? Who says that fathers don’t love their daughters
Both Amma and appan are equally insulting to our beloved fathers and mothers. Just change it to MAMA, need to rearrange just 2 letters. That’s the perfect title for the job they are doing .
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MANK
June 28, 2018
I can’t believe that there wasn’t a single intelligent soul in that 500 plus organization who didn’t foresee the ramifications of this decision. What a bunch of stupid idiots. Here’s Malayalam film industry which makes the most intelligent , most noteworthy mainstream films in the country today and they are populated by such utterly foolish , frogs in the well actors. What a paradox
But I am still proud of our industry in the way in which , finally we have a mobilisation of dissident female voices and to tell the truth, this can happen only in Malayalam, where we have a healthy number of indigenous female actors and they identified they have a problem and are standing up for it. I don’t even need to speak about the status of heroines in other languages
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Anu Warrier
June 28, 2018
That skit was horrendous – what were Mammootty and Mohanlal thinking of? Not to mention the actresses who took part in it? Rima Kallingal’s response to this was perfect.
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Anu Warrier
June 28, 2018
MANK, ‘appan’ because patriarchy rules the roost. Because they don’t even care about a female actor who is one of their own. Because the male supersedes her. Even when he’s accused of the most egregious crime.
Seriously, what were M& M thinking of?!
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Sifter
June 29, 2018
Hilarious review! That the movie would be a big HIT goes without saying
@ Srinivas- That article also highlights the point of separating the art from the artiste. There are people who really believe that it can be, it should be. There are people who say it really can’t be separated. There are people who say it shouldn’t be.Think that the ‘brilliant’ skit was the brain-child of a creative-group consisting only of men or one mostly consisting of men. Their idea of a women is completely mythological and mostly nowhere near real. What I do not understand is that the skit wasn’t even remotely funny from the little Malayalam that I can understand. How did these women agree and act it out on stage without even a little cringe? How do women, any woman, find things like this funny at all. Looks like even a low-brow wit will surely pass un-noticed with such people in the audience.
All they want is to worship their screen heroes. But I guess that’s the same everywhere in the world. Sigh!
Bravo to the women in Malayalam cinema who have banded together and chose to fight and continue to fight.
@ Anu- Seriously, what were M & M thinking of?
This reminded me of the M&M’s- Each candy that has ‘m’ printed on them. And especially the Pea and the Nut variety
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MANK
June 29, 2018
The skit was written and performed by women. Actress kuku parameshwaran wrote and directed it. An actress who performed in the skit has said that they don’t consider it misogynistic. It was all in fun and they had shown the script to Parvati and she didn’t have any objections
You see things are not as simple as you think. The person who moved the motion to take dilip back is Urmila unni , a woman. All the women members in AMMA present were in agreement to that.from what I hear, both mammootty and mohanlal were against revoking Dilips ban and wanted to wait till the final judgement, but they were overruled as Dilip has the support of 90 Percent of the members. They had to accept the majority decision. Allegedly, Dilip raises the maximum capital for the association and it’s members
This is less to do with male superceding female. Even if it was a male actor in the place of female actor standing against Dilip, they would plumb for Dilip. It’s capitalism at it’s worst made even worse by patriarchal misogyny.That’s the only reason why WCC had to be formed, because these more sensible actresses had no breathing space there
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Anu Warrier
June 29, 2018
MANK, I am not absolving the women of the blame. Far from it. As Sifter said, the skit wasn’t remotely funny. And I have no idea what Urmila Unni was smoking – if I meet her this time, I will surely ask.
Again, patriarchy is not just about men – it is also about women who accept those norms as, well, the norm. It is deeply embedded in our psyche – centuries of conditioning has made it so. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have women saying. ‘Pennaayaal adangi othungi irikkanam.. Misogyny is misogyny whether the perpetrator is male or female.
Mammootty and Mohanlal have been very, very quiet regarding this issue – even expelling Dilieep from AMMA in the first place was the result of young blood like Prithviraj, Rima Kallingal and others who were very vocal in their support of their young female colleague. (It is interesting that among the young guard, Prithviraj and Asaf Ali (I think?) were the only two male actors who vocally supported her.) What stopped the seniors? Credible sources tell me that Dilip has clout – so much so that the Ms are afraid of the skeletons in their own closet.
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Aman
June 30, 2018
https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/actors-parvathy-revathy-and-padmapriya-question-ammas-stand-survivor-83817
https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/i-am-them-prithviraj-aashiq-abu-come-out-support-wcc-members-83842
https://indianexpress.com/article/india/actor-revathy-on-amma-decision-to-take-back-dileep-malayalam-film-industry-wcc-5239419/
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/let-dileep-prove-his-innocence-fefka/article24292839.ece
https://www.news18.com/news/movies/protests-reach-mohanlals-house-for-taking-back-dileep-in-film-body-1795769.html
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sanjana
June 30, 2018
https://indianexpress.com/article/india/actor-revathy-on-amma-decision-to-take-back-dileep-malayalam-film-industry-wcc-5239419/
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tonks
June 30, 2018
I cannot believe that Parvathy was shown that skit and found it inoffensive. It made my skin creep. And Mohanlal and Mammootty’s roles in that skit : God, it makes me want to puke. Non withstanding what they thought about bringing Dileep back (I heard the decision was unanimous), it certainly doesn’t look like they are very progressive about women if they thought that this was funny. I had thought (at least Mammootty) was a gentleman in real life. I’ve lost all respect for both of them.
I am still optimistic though. There will come a time in the future when these oldies are replaced by the younger lot (Prithviraj, Fahad, Dulquer). And I’m hoping things will change. What needs to be done is to form an alternate organisation, the rot is too deep in this one.
Btw it was Ashiq Abu, Rima’s feminist director husband who voiced his opinion along with Prithviraj. And is Parvathy silent because she doesn’t want her two upcoming movies to be affected by controversy?
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tonks
June 30, 2018
The skit was written and performed by women. Actress kuku parameshwaran wrote and directed it. An actress who performed in the skit has said that they don’t consider it misogynistic
One shouldn’t be surprised by that, i suppose, considering the number of women who blissfully forward patriarchal, offensive – to – women WhatsApp jokes.
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Aman
June 30, 2018
Lots of misinformation and misreporting happen in Malayalam media, their head lines and the way report things are outrageous. Parvathy saw the skit at the AMMA show is what the actress said, she wasn’t shown the script before hand or something. In fact the show was seen as truce between Mammootty and Parvathy as he was the one who presented the award to her. Surabhi who was part of the skit had some issues with WCC when she accused of them not getting her a special invite pass for IFFK 2017 despite her status as the national award winning actress that year. AMMA show by the way was directed by Siddique, who directed Dileep in films like Bodyguard and is close with the actor, both of them came from mimicry and stage show background like many others.
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Aman
June 30, 2018
Sorry Mammootty awarded her at ASIANET Award show, my bad. Misinformation and misreporting.
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MANK
June 30, 2018
This was what I was talking about
https://english.manoramaonline.com/entertainment/entertainment-news/2018/06/28/thezni-khan-on-parvathy-amma-mazhavillu-skit.amp.html
And Ganesh Kumar’s leaked voice mail shows that there is no hope
https://english.manoramaonline.com/entertainment/entertainment-news/2018/06/30/ganesh-kumar-on-amma-row.html
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brangan
June 30, 2018
“Malayali men hate to be ordered by a woman.” – Revathy
MANK, you’ve been busted 😀
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MANK
June 30, 2018
Brangan, didn’t you know, malayalis import everything for their survival from TN , including tips to survive women. So it’s you who are busted big brother 😀
Revathi chechi has been away from Kerala for too long to remember our true nature. Just for the record, we malayali men crawl when we are ordered to bend by women 😁. Ask Anu if you don’t believe me
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sanjana
June 30, 2018
You may hate to be ordered by a woman but you cant help being enamoured by a pretty woman. From there the story starts.
And how about being manipulated? That is the weapon women use to get things done.
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Anu Warrier
June 30, 2018
we malayali men crawl when we are ordered to bend by women 😁. Ask Anu if you don’t believe me
I know you meant it as a joke, but I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy. I don’t know which Malayali men you are talking about. The secure ones? They treat their women as their equal and are happy being treated as such.
The others? The majority, really? Are the sort of men who are embodied by Siddique in that skit; by Mohanlal, Dilieep, Jairam, and even to some extent by Mammootty in their films. They are the victims; women, no matter what the men’s transgressions are, have to apologise to them at the end.
I agree wholeheartedly with Revathi – in fact, that Malayalam films didn’t offer any substantial roles for strong women is what drove Revathi out of the industry. She refused to be arm candy, or damsel in distress.
I’m glad the Parvathi-story has been debunked. I couldn’t believe that she saw the script and was okay with it.
@Tonks – thanks for the correction; yes, it was Aashiq Abu. And Rima Kallingal, Parvathi, et al have guts.
t made my skin creep. and One shouldn’t be surprised by that, i suppose, considering the number of women who blissfully forward patriarchal, offensive – to – women WhatsApp jokes.
Sing it, sister!
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Aman
June 30, 2018
https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/elected-reps-amma-should-step-down-100-malayalam-film-industry-members-demand-83982
Press release by Collective Phase One ( Rajeev Ravi’s production house) signed by 100 who’s who of new age malayalam cinema
Signed by:
1. Vinayakan – Actor & Music Director
2. Vidhu Vincent – Director
3. Revathi – Actor & Director
4. Padmapriya – Actor
5. Parvathy – Actor
6. P. Balachandran – Actor & Writer
7. Sajitha Madathil – Actor
8. Aashiq Abu – Director & Producer
9. Rajeev Ravi – Cinematographer & Director
10. Anwar Rasheed – Director & Producer
11. Amal Neerad – Director & Producer
12. Ajithkumar B – Director & Film Editor
13. Madhu Neelakandan – Cinematographer
14. Anvar Ali – Poet & Lyricist
15. Dileesh Pothan – Actor & Director
16. Krishnanunni – Sound Engineer
17. Sameer Thahir – Director & Producer
18. Shyju Khalid – Cinematographer & Director
19. Kamal K.M – Director
20. Ajayan Adatt – Sound Recordist
21. Ajayan Chalissery – Art Director
22. Venu – Cinematographer & Director
23. Bina Paul Venugopal – Film Editor
24. Asha Joseph – Director & Teacher
25. Manoj Kuroor – Poet & Lyricist
26. Pramod Thomas – Sound Engineer
27. Jayadevan C – Sound Engineer
28. Manoj Kannoth – Film Editor
29. Fauzia Fathima – Cinematographer
30. T.K Rajeev Kumar – Director
31. Zakariya Muhammed – Director
32. Muhsin Parari – Director
33. K.P Sasi – Director, Activist & Cartoonist
34. Binu Mathew – Journalist & Activist
35. Unni Vijayan
36. Leenus K.L – Teacher
37. Pradeep Nair
38. Shanet
39. Shini K.
40. Prakash Bare – Actor & Producer
41. Gokul Das
42. Unnimaya – Actor & Technician
43. M.J Radhakrishnan – Cinematographer
44. Dr. Biju – Director
45. Smijithkumar – Sound Engineer
46. Sudevan – Director
47. Sunny Joseph – Cinematographer
48. Sajan Kalathil – Cinematographer
49. Sribala – Director
50. Deedi Damodaran – Writer & Activist
51. Prakash Moorthy
52. Jayesh – Cinematographer
53. Pappu – Cinematographer
54. Suresh Rajan
55. Vinod Veerakumar – Cinematographer
56. John P. Varkey – Music Director
57. Joshi Mathew
58. Deepesh
59. Jubith Namradath – Director
60. Sanal Kumar Sasidharan – Director
61. Mazhar Hamsa – Costume Designer
62. Miriam Joseph
63. Archana Padmini – Actor
64. Shehnad Jalal – Cinematographer
65. Ranjith Sankaran – Film Editor
66. Benny Benedict – Teacher & Film Activist
67. Rajasekhar V. Das – Social Worker & Film Activist
68. Srinda – Actor
69. Sunil Babu
70. Prakash Kutty – Cinematographer
71. Sanal George – Sound Recordist & Designer
72. Appu Prabhakar – Cinematographer
73. Sudha K.F – Director
74. Arun Varma – Cinematographer
75. Kukku Saritha – Actor
76. Anumol – Actor
77. Shanavas Bavakutty – Director
78. Praveen M.K -Film Editor
79. Jain Joseph – Cinematographer & Teacher
80. Mohandas V.P – Sound Recordist & Designer
81. Anvar S. Kaithadi – Cinematographer
82. P.F Mathews – Writer
83. Praveen Prabhakaran – Cinematographer
84. Davis Manuel – Film Editor
85. Kani – Actor
86. Pavi Shanker – Publicity Designer
87. Sudeep Joshy – Director
88. C.S Venkiteswaran – Film Critic
89. Indu V.S
90. Soumya Sadanandan
91. Sayanora – Singer
92. Alencier ley Lopaz – Actor
93. Ashraf Hamza – Writer
94. Vivek Satchidanandan – Sound Recordist & Designer
95. Ranjith Kuzhoor- Film Editor & Director
96. Sanju Unnithan – Producer
97. Hari Nair – Cinematographer
98. N.K Mohammed Koya – Director
99. Priyanandanan – Director
100. P.S Rafeeq – Writer
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Anu Warrier
June 30, 2018
https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/women-who-quit-amma-are-trouble-makers-actor-mla-ganesh-kumar-leaked-audio-83969
Ha ha ha ha ha! People like Rima Kallingal, Parvathi, Revathi, and Geetu Mohandas need to talk about Ganesh, Mukesh and Innocent to remain in the limelight! Talk about dismissing the women.
Partiarchy zindabad!
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MANK
June 30, 2018
https://www.inuth.com/entertainment/bollywood-has-much-to-learn-from-mollywood-especially-those-who-simper-around-salman-khan/?utm_source=FBIN_DileepAMMA&utm_medium=Social
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sanjana
July 1, 2018
https://scroll.in/latest/884772/malayalam-film-associations-president-mohanlal-defends-decision-to-reinstate-rape-accused-dileep
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Anu Warrier
July 1, 2018
@Sanjana, thanks for that link. That’s such a cop-out. 😦 I would dearly like to know what Dileep has on the Ms. The word is that he has plenty – in any case, his clout stretches from the highest reaches of politics to the murkiest of the underworld.
@MANK – so, so glad to see that our women have guts to take Dileep and AMMA on. Good for them! That article is right – they are putting their careers on the line.
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Aman
July 1, 2018
The men (in the industry), young and old, are just men. They lack the courage or smartness that our women show. Men are heroes just on the screen. In real life, they are timid buffoons whose outlook on matters such as women is appalling – Rajeev Ravi
https://silverscreen.in/malayalam/news/protest-against-amma-leadership-gains-momentum-statement-signed-by-over-100-artistes/
Full interview in malayalam is here
http://www.doolnews.com/interview-with-rajeev-ravi258.html
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Aman
July 1, 2018
https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/opinion-entertainment/three-questions-to-amma-padmapriya-parvathy-5239988/
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Tor Goat
July 2, 2018
Hello BR I’m an ardent follower of your works and I recently read your review about the film Abrahaminte Santhathikal . Sharing a few thoughts of mine on what you have written and what I have perceived.
“What’s it with movie psychopaths and black raincoats? Is it a uniform?” – When you are narrating a story, conveying things in an accustomed manner kind of works (for me at least) rather than trying something out of the box and failing.
“And why does it always have to be at night? For a change, couldn’t we have a killer who is a morning person, who likes to get in early, fresh from a few cups of coffee, and finish off his work before rush hour?” – The answer for this has been said on the movie itself why the killer chooses to murder in the night.
Specific areas where I found not so charming where the loud BGM of Gopi Sunder, it works in certain places but becomes too loud through the film, could have kept it a little subtle and classy. The editing pattern of Mahesh Narayanan kind of created confusion to the audience, my girlfriend who watched the film along with me immediately looked at me during the film and started asking me what did just happen? ( she doesn’t speak Malayalam). I felt most of the dialogues in the movie are biblical and it fits the context and tone of the film that the director is trying to set-up.
I have a question for you – Does not knowing the actual meaning/intensity of a dialogue that a character is delivering affects the overall movie watching experience? I’m sure dialogues do add a lot of value, but I’d like to hear your perspective on this. I liked the dialouges in the film.For me, Abrahaminte Santhathikal was one of those rare films in the recent times which used Mammootty as a star and an actor. I loved his costumes and the close-up shots (especially the way Mammooty held the enigmatic look in his eyes throughout the film.) Looking forward to hearing from you – R
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tonks
July 3, 2018
A prime example of why being female doesn’t automatically make you gender sensitised
https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/video-actor-urmila-unnis-insensitive-comments-reinstating-dileep-are-new-low-84057
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Anu Warrier
July 4, 2018
@tonks, I’m gobsmacked! But I should not be surprised, I guess.
MANK, example no.1 of how patriarchy reflects in women. 🙂
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tonks
July 8, 2018
“My story” has been released. A huge battalion of Mammootty fans are boycotting the movie because of the Kasaba controversy. You just need to browse the comments underneath the movie’s posts on Facebook (in Prithviraj’s official page) or the YouTube songs from the movie to see the outpouring of misogynistic venom.
The background is given here :
I plan to watch it in the theatres, however busy I maybe. I heard that Parvathy has performed well, and that the first half is really good.
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sanjana
July 8, 2018
https://indianexpress.com/article/express-sunday-eye/amma-wcc-dileep-malayalam-film-industry-5249641/
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MANK
July 8, 2018
Anu, seeing her ‘performance’, it seems more than the affect of patriarchy , something seriously wrong with her 😀
Tonks, it would have been better if Koode was released first and then this one.that would have been more appropriate to gauge the audience reaction. i would bet on an Anjali menon film any day. this film is a long delayed project and the reports that i have been getting have not been good. i dont think the more rabid fans of Mammootty(or mohanlal) are going to make much of a difference here.they are not the audience who made films like take off or maheshinte prathikaram successful
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