Browsing All Posts filed under »Cinema: Malayalam«

Kalla Nottam at New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF): Rahul Riji Nair’s interesting, immersive drama sees only what a GoPro camera sees

July 30, 2020

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A regular film tells us a story that has been recorded on a camera, and then edited in a way that (usually) gives the audience knowledge that the characters themselves may not have. Here, we travel only with the camera. Spoilers ahead… This film can be viewed at: https://nyiff.moviesaints.com/bundle/nyiff2020 The owner of a small provisions […]

Run Kalyani at New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF): J Geetha’s Malayalam drama transforms the unremarkable life of a cook into everyday poetry

July 28, 2020

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The music is like a bolero, where a theme is endlessly repeated. The tiny variations in each repetition mirror the tiny variations in each day Kalyani wakes up to face. Spoilers ahead… This film can be viewed at: https://nyiff.moviesaints.com/bundle/nyiff2020 In the morning, before leaving for work, Kalyani (Garggi Ananthan) tends to her aged, bedridden aunt. […]

Sufiyum Sujathayum on Amazon Prime, with Aditi Rao Hydari and Dev Mohan: A classy romance that’s too restrained, and keeps us at an arm’s length

July 7, 2020

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The film keeps giving us “touches”. What it doesn’t give us is a sense of the “madness” in this love, which makes it very hard to feel for these lovers. Spoilers ahead… The romance begins on a bus. Sufi (Dev Mohan) makes way for Sujatha (Aditi Rao Hydari): as she enters, he rises and moves […]

Chat Masala #4: Fahadh Faasil interview

July 6, 2020

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On this episode of FC Chat Masala, Fahadh Faasil tells us about his acting process, how he approaches stardom and whether he’d do a Hindi film. He also shares anecdotes about marrying his BANGALORE DAYS co-actor Nazriya Nazim Fahadh, and what he learnt from his break from cinema. For more, subscribe to FILM COMPANION SOUTH: […]

Interview: Aditi Rao Hydari (Parts 1 and 2)

July 1, 2020

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For more, subscribe to FILM COMPANION SOUTH: http://bit.ly/2xoNult Copyright ©2020 Film Companion.

Kappela on Netflix, with Anna Ben, Roshan Mathew and Sreenath Bhasi: A SPOILER-filled rewind of this tale filled with twists

June 30, 2020

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With these actors, the film is certainly watchable. But looking back, I felt cheated at the end, by the very obvious attempts at misdirection. Spoilers ahead… Kappela begins with a misdial and proceeds on misdirection. The former is initiated by Jessy (Anna Ben), a simple girl-next-door in your standard village-next-door in the Wayanad area. Her […]

Chat Masala #3: Will the star system be replaced? (Taapsee / Parvathy)

June 29, 2020

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On this episode of FC Chat Masala, Anupama Chopra and Baradwaj Rangan are joined by Taapsee and Parvathy, who talk about how OTT will affect the star system and how it could enable more female-oriented content. For more, subscribe to FILM COMPANION SOUTH: http://bit.ly/2xoNult Copyright ©2020 Film Companion.

Interview: A chat with fellow blog-era critic, Jai Arjun Singh

June 25, 2020

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For more, subscribe to FILM COMPANION SOUTH: http://bit.ly/2xoNult Copyright ©2020 Film Companion.

Revisiting Sachy’s screenplay for Driving Licence, with Prithviraj and Suraj Venjaramoodu, now on Amazon Prime

June 22, 2020

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Sachy’s special talent shone through his writing in his last two films: they’re a masterclass in how to make the same “story” look and feel different. Spoilers ahead… Range is one way to tell how talented a screenwriter is: he can dish out a four-handkerchief melodrama, he can also dish out a serial-killer thriller. The […]

Ayyappanum Koshiyum, with Prithviraj and Biju Menon, is on Amazon Prime: This entertaining action-drama is more than just an empty action-drama

June 10, 2020

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When I heard the film is getting Hindi and Tamil remakes, my first thought was… why! Because if you reduce it to just “plot”, you get something you’ve seen a hundred times before. Spoilers ahead… The last time Prithviraj and Biju Menon got together with writer-director Sachy, we got the underwhelming Anarkali, a love story […]

250k subscribers

June 5, 2020

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250k subscribers for Film Companion South. A big deal for a small team. Thank you SO much. Copyright ©2020 Film Companion.

Santosh Sivan’s Masterclass, Journey Of Light: On Thuppakki, Iruvar, Dil Se, Roja

June 1, 2020

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Ten takeaways from Canon India Digital’s webinar, where the cinematographer and filmmaker took questions and explained his art, his philosophy. 1. As a child, you remember photographs. In my case, it was a very scary photograph — a black-and-white picture in my ancestral home in Kerala. These structures are generally dark, with a shaft of […]

Interview: Alphonse Puthren (5 years of Premam)

May 28, 2020

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For more, subscribe to FILM COMPANION SOUTH: http://bit.ly/2xoNult Copyright ©2020 Film Companion.

Survival Stories, directed by Rahul Riji Nair, is on YouTube: A sense of the lockdown in eight different ways, with eight shorts

May 16, 2020

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Every short features a character who is confined in a way. Some of them mention COVID. Others exist in a timeless space — their stories could have unfolded even before the lockdown. Spoilers ahead… What can you hope to see in a roughly 45-minute film that opens with the note that it was “fully conceived […]

Readers Write In #170: Meta-cinema – A case for “not-so-great” cinema

May 7, 2020

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(by Adhithya K R) I wanted to insert “Bad cinema” or even “Terrible cinema” in the title of this piece but that would be going against the very spirit of what I’m about to say. It’s what Gautham Menon mentioned in an interview many days back that got me thinking about what the cinematic experience […]

Readers Write In #163: ‘Varane Avashyamund’ has helped keep homesickness at bay

April 27, 2020

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(by Athreya Shankar) You always feel a special connection with a movie that is shot in your locality- the place you grew up in, the place you associate with happy memories of a bygone past, where you wish you could return at the snap of a finger, but for whatever reason, has now become a […]

Interview: Bejoy Nambiar (on Malayalam cinema, Mani sir, etc)

April 22, 2020

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For more, subscribe to FILM COMPANION SOUTH: http://bit.ly/2xoNult Copyright ©2020 Film Companion.

Varane Avashyamund, with Dulquer Salmaan, Shobana, Suresh Gopi, is on Netflix: A rewind of this charmer, from Anoop Sathyan

April 21, 2020

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It’s hardest to play heavy scenes in a light manner, and these actors do it marvellously. The director chooses to discard microscopic detail in favour of broad arcs and happy-making vignettes. Spoilers ahead… There’s a mother who wants her son to marry this girl. For reasons that aren’t explained in black and white, the wedding […]

Memories of the Movie Theatre: A boomer looks back on the bigness of the big screen

April 19, 2020

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This April, we are doing a series on… craving for something we can’t have right now: Going to the movies. We write about our most memorable cinema hall experiences. It was August 1986. Don’t quote me on this, but I think the exact spot I was standing on was outside the McRennett on Mount Road. […]

Anjaam Pathiraa vs. Forensic: The latter, with Tovino Thomas and Mamta Mohandas, is the better serial-killer thriller

March 30, 2020

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If ‘Anjaam Pathiraa’ chose to follow a single timeline in the present and save its big reveal for a Shankar-style flashback, ‘Forensic’ juggles expertly between two tracks in the present… Spoilers ahead… Whenever two very similar films land up very close to one another, we do something very unfair. We tend to compare one with […]

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