Mukundan Unni Associates : Where Karma Goes to Get Killed

In the absence of the specter of sin employed by monotheistic religions to keep their followers all sheep-ly and righteous, Indian religions and philosophy, use Karma to enforce lane discipline on the morality highway. Mukundan Unni Associates (MUA) is the first anti-karmic Malayalam or Indian movie I've ever watched. 

Abhinav Sundar Naik's directorial debut is an unapologetic feature film, out to prove Hindu and (subsequent) Buddhist philosophy's first law of universal causation and effect has no street cred in the twenty first century world. The movie opens with this text, "human beings are mostly grey, but in some cases they are just black." If you are into armchair psychoanalysis as I am and have read aplenty about serial killers sporting the harmless guy vibe or have watched American Psycho or Nightcrawler, this one line should give you some idea how the protagonist of this movie is going to turn out, with a flat, dark, un-empathetic psycho/sociopathic edge, prone to plenty of mental monologues. The monologue voice-overs of the main character written by the director kicks a$s. It does not come as a surprise that during a low period in his life Naik is said to have watched Dan Gilroy's Nightcrawler multiple times, MUA is brimming with this dark inspiration.

Mukundan Unni, the lead of the movie, is a lawyer who prefers to wear the impeccable white on white 'uniform' worn by lawyers in India, but has a mind which is the darkest shade of black, just like a lawyers' robe. Vineeth Sreenivasan, who has essayed the title role is growing into these sociopath roles (LOL.) Will Mukundan Unni stand the test of time and have the staying power of Sreenivasan Sr.'s Thalathil Dinesan? From Ravi Padmanabhan in Thannermathan Dinangal to Mukundan Unni, Vineeth has been delivering some killer performances essaying the unrecognizable-psychopath-next-door.  Other actors like Suraj Venjaramood, Jagadeesh, Sudhi Koppa, Tanvi Ram have meaty roles although their screen time is nowhere near that of the lead. 

The message of the movie is there is no message. But if you are one of those viewers who like message(s)-in-a-movie, try these - karma is still a b@#ch, but s/he is on vacation, there is only truth(reality) no consequences and feel free to engage in haymaking during daytime. 

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12 Angry Men

The Sixth Amendment to the U.S.Constitution guarantees the right to trial by a jury. In case of a criminal trial, the jury consists of 12 people, citizens drawn from all walks of life, who decide the verdict of the case. 12 Angry Men is Sidney Lumet's first directorial venture, shot entirely in a New York city jury room where 12 middle-class white men decide on the fate of young teen (maybe Puerto-Rican, maybe Italian, definitely someone from the wrong side of tracks) who is charged with murdering his father.

The movie while it garnered 3 Oscar nominations was not a commercial hit at the time.  Over the years it has gained quite a following and is often taught in high school business law classes, film schools and Youtube videos purporting to teach the art of persuasion.

I've always wondered how juries reach unanimous decisions, considering most of the jury members are ordinary people whose closest brush with law might have been when they walked in front of a TV set playing Law and Order. More importantly the State has to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the accused is either guilty or innocent and all the members of the jury have to have be on the same plate. Beyond a reasonable doubt” is the universal standard of proof for criminal prosecutions in state and federal courts in the United States. O. J. Simpson would definitely thank the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment which requires the State to prove that every element of a charged criminal offense is beyond reasonable doubt.

In 12 Angry Men, at the start of the jury deliberation there are 11 jury members believing the accused is guilty and one person and the 12th man, Juror #8 (Henry Fonda) is not convinced the accused is guilty. There goes the unanimous verdict and starts the 1.5 hr real-time deliberation which forms the 96 minutes of movie show time.

The tight script by Reginald Rose is supported by  phenomenal actors like Lee J. Cobb, Henry Fonda, E. G. Marshall and others.  It is a film that is totally reliant on dialog and performance and does a great job on both. As a film that is shown for the students at film schools, law schools, sociology and psychology departments,  there is something for everyone whether it is camera and writing techniques or a study in confirmation bias or methods of persuasion.

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Swapnadanam : A Malayalam movie review

Broody, black and white shots of Swapnadanam come up in my mind at least once whenever I go down the rabbit hole of dreams, psychoanalysis, Freud, Jung and the whole shebang. Not that I go down this route very often. The reason is the title of the movie - Swapnadanam in Malayalam means journey through a dream. 

I saw this movie for the first time when my age could be counted on the fingers in one hand. It felt dark, eerie and strange and it stuck to my mind. I watched this movie several times afterwards at various film society screenings. In the seventies, Thiruvananthapuram served as a hatchery for several film societies tied with ISRO and my Dad used to be a member in a couple of these. The most famous among them were Soorya, SPARC, Vikas and Vishwas. Soorya film society and its 'chief operating officer' N. Krishnamoorthy went on to become a sort of a cultural institution in Kerala. These film societies had a fondness towards award winning indies, art house and international movies.The movies will be rerun several times during the years that follow after initially procuring them. There would be at least one movie each day to watch for free at Tagore theater, if you were up to it. Remember this was before television became common place in our part of the world, pre-1985.

Swapnadanam won the National Award for the best movie in Malayalam in 1976 and managed to poise delicately on the fence between art-house and commercial movies. It was also the first film by renowned Malayalam director, K. G. George. A personal point of association for me was, the main shooting location was a house in our neighborhood, although I was not present on this earth when this movie was shot right next door. It is a sprawling, gorgeous house, fit to be in Selling Sunset in the Seventies, and belonged to a son-in-law of an ex-state minister (K. R. Elamkath.) 

I feel like that the house is as much a character in Swapnadanam as the actors in the movie. The rambling airiness of the mid-century modern built structure directly contrasting with the gloomy, brooding nature of the protagonist. 

Below is a shot of the house from the front yard, you can vaguely make out the actors (left to right) Rani Chandra, M. G. Soman and Dr. Mohandas who plays the lead character Dr. Gopi

The film explores the state of fugue where the Dr. Gopi, a young newly married physician flees his home, leaving his new bride and ends up in different city. He has forgotten his identity and ends up in a mental asylum where under hypnosis he narrates his life story to a team of psychiatrists. 

Along with direction and photography, the casting is absolutely perfect in this movie. I don't think Dr. Mohandas appeared in any other movies after this one. He was a great fit for the introverted physician, Dr. Gopi.  Rani Chandra, the lovely actress who was taken away from us in an Air India air crash couple of years later, won the best actress award (state) for her work in this movie. M. G. Soman, Mallika Sukumaran, P.K. Venukuttan Nair, Prema Menon and P. K. Abraham  play other important roles.

 

Mallika Sukumaran and Rani Chandra

K. G. George was just getting started with his series of psycho-social movies with Swapnadanam. I ended up watching (or re-watching) 3 early K. G. George movie back to back last weekend. These films are rather heavy, introspective and certainly not what you would enjoy with a side of popcorn. If you, dear Malayali, are in the mood for a serious film with a glass of whiskey, try out a K. G. George movie like Irakal or Adaminte Variyellu or Yavanika.

L to R  Mallika Sukumaran, Rani Chandra and Dr. Mohandas

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Ishq, Malayalam movie review 2019

Ishq is unsettling. The fine print of its subtitle – ‘not a love story’ warns the audience to get rid of their preconceptions about the title – Ishq (means love or passion), at the opening credits. Even with that ominous heads-up the movie starts off pretty tame with two young lovers – Sachi (Shane Nigam) and Vasudha (Ann Sheetal) sneaking texts and phone calls as they carry on their semi-long distance relationship.

The film makers have boldly attempted to address the issue of moral policing prevalent in every-town, India. In a society and culture still squirming and yearning to be free from under years of traditions, patriarchy and conventions, Ishq is a young couple’s encounter with this formidable wall and its aftershocks.

Shane Nigam has been getting a lot of tortured young hero roles – from Kismath and Eeda, to Kumbalangi Nights and Ishq. He is inching closer to being typecast with every new movie. Maybe it is his vulnerable, barely legal looks with a hint of rebellion, that leads to these type of roles land on his plate. This is wishing him he choose wisely as he goes forward.

Ann Sheetal, Shine Tom Chacko and Leona Lishoy have essayed their roles brilliantly. It was harrowing to watch the incident which became the crux of the movie without reaching for the remote. The torture the lead couple was undergoing was palpable. Good work director - Anuraj Manohar, script writer (Ratheesh Ravi) and editor (Kiran Das)! These central moments along with the ending left me a bit disturbed. The creeps-in-the-car scenes unsettled me with their sheer terror that was so subtly executed. The climax was upsetting because this was not the triumph of feminism I had wished to see. But then again had the hero turned into a feminist instead of the heroine, where is the shock factor, right?

BTW Anuraj Manohar, why the name Ishq? This is the third movie by the name of Ishq that I have seen in the last 25 years albeit they were all in different languages. Love/Ishq transcends languages, eh?

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Theevandi

Theevandi has an old-timey charm. It brings to mind the un-pretentious story lines about the common man that was symbolic of mid to late eighties Malayalam cinema. In an age of omnipresent cellphones, missed calls, Whatsapp groups and Facebook posts it is quite an achievement for the story and the script writer to create a realistic blend of digital and analog worlds we seamlessly inhabit.

Tovino Thomas is Bineesh Damodaran, a chain smoking, unemployed young man who dabbles in politics as a hobby in a North Kerala village, somewhere near Kozhikode, would be my guess. The movie tracks his progress from his induction to smoking as a high school-er to the event that leads him to quit it years later, with several comedy gold instances that keep the audience entertained.

Vini Viswalal’s story and script directed by T.P Fellini has in addition to Tovino, Suraj Venjaramoottil, Surabhi Lakshmi, Saiju Kurup, Samyukta Menon, Sudheesh and a bunch of other talented actors. The music by debutante music director Kailas Menon is a perfect fit for the simple yet meaningful lyrics penned by B.K.Harinarayan.

Mayanadhi, Maradona, Theevandi – 2018 has been a rewarding year for Tovino, his smart choice of scripts and directors is paying off pretty well.

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Ranam: Detroit Crossing , A Review

Close-ups framed by somber voice-overs in down and out desperado jargon paints a picture of a big specter in the offing - a fight for the dangerous under belly of Detroit. This is where Ranam (transl: the battle) happens - at Detroit Crossing. And guess who is trying to lay claim to the ruins of America's original motor city - some South Indians and a few Poles! I don't know what the Black Mafia or the Flatheads will have to say about that, but I am guessing the film maker will pull up his creative license card if questioned.

The director, Nirmal Sahadev, teases the audience with the prospect of an ever-present menace in the motor city, employs tightly framed shots so that none of its mundaneness leaks in. To up the danger quotient and maybe also as a nod to his inspiration (the 2014 movie, Drive), there are plenty of red lighted scenes, red pills, blood, guns, germs and steel. The last two were thrown in by me for the Jared Diamond effect, they do not feature in this movie to any significant degree.

The people who feature in Ranam are Malayalam's own answer to Hollywood - Prithviraj and Isha Talvar who is miscast as usual. Giju John as the lead detective is impressive in his debut while Rahman with his remarkable onscreen presence is a great pick for the mob boss, Damodar Ratnam. He reunites with his co-star from the Tamil noir movie Dhruvangal Pathinaru - Ashwin Kumar, who plays his side-kick Selvan. Jakes Bejoy has scored the music for the movie, which includes a decent mixed-rap title track.

Ranam comes off as a forced chronicle. Prithviraj's rigidity, even if his role calls for some of it, does not help the case. The dialog sounds lame, especially the cynical, street smart musings in English delivered in half-baked scenes. The most unconvincing part of the story is the entirety of the Tamil gang trying to control Detroit is comprised of all of two people - Damodar Ratnam and Selvan. One Prithviraj with a hammer, which he brings to all his gun fights, is more than enough for these two people - I cannot even begin to understand why he wasted two hours doing it.

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Take Off

Fiction is often created exploring the far-fetched what-ifs of life. But sometimes life outsmarts fiction, the improbable happens to the everyday human. You, me or our neighbor next door becomes the new story without any intention of being so. Most times these otherwise inconceivable events are not usually pleasant in nature. It stretches the limits of human spirit and makes heroes out of average Joe or Jane. Some of these form the material of 'based on a true event' movies. TakeOff is one such movie.

Based on a real-life rescue mission of Malayali nurses trapped in the war zone of Iraq and taken captive by ISIS in 2014, TakeOff takes it material from their harrowing few days in captivity and a coordinated diplomatic rescue mission that procured their release. The engagement of the audience with the subject is brought by focusing on the life of one of the nurses, called Sameera, inspired from the character of one of the real-life nurses involved and played in the movie by Parvathi Thiruvoth.

The treatment, development and execution of Sameera's character - an independent working woman from a Muslim family, who becomes a divorcee and later marries her coworker, has been done commendably. Shot in actual locations, this is a laudable effort by the movie makers to convey authenticity of the situation, hopefully this will be a trend others will follow.

Also worth noting is the moderation exercised in tugging the heart strings of the audience through a melodramatic script which the original story had immense 'potential' for. The script, direction and acting have worked together to create as faithful an interpretation as possible, except for one part at the end (involving Kunchako's character.) But who does not like a happy ending and you have to considerate to a producer who put in the money and effort to let the crew shoot in real locations. So in the light of ensuring the producer's return on the investment, I, the clueless but haughty reviewer, approve this slight of script.

Parvathy Thiruvoth is a force to reckon in the Malayalam movie industry today.  Kunchako Boban and Fahad Fazil are grounded and mature in their supportive roles and so is Asif Ali, who also gets to put in a few minutes. Great job, director Mahesh Narayan and team Take-Off.

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Honeybee Its Trippin'

Youth does not always acknowledge or realize how being young looks good on them and how invigorating it is for the world to watch them shimmer, shine and rise. Honeybee…it’s Trippin’ as the title says is indeed a tripping ride through the kingdom of youth. 

Jean Paul Lal’s directorial debut is aimed straight at the box-office bull's eye. There will be talk about quality and content but with a song like ‘Neeyo’ capturing exploitative grace in slow motion with lithe young bodies tumbling over lyrical gun shots, I am sold. On screen I see that time and space in life where indiscernible love, gut-load of guns, inquisitive suitors, possessive brothers, platonic boy-friends, weirdly funny Kochi slang and NDEs in ocean are all justified – in the cauldron of boiling youth.

A generation ago, Lal.Jr’s Dad who was known as plain ‘Lal’ back then, now he is Lal.Sr, made his first movie with his friend and directorial partner Siddique. It was a movie that became a trend setter, beating out a new path – Ramji Rao Speaking showed us in 1989 that you can be young and hopeless yet emerge victorious on the other side whistling one of its chart topper songs. 

Almost a quarter century later (whoa, has it been that long!) HoneyBee  tries to find the same vein in new generation under the guise of kindling a love story to life. I could have done without the love story, but then there goes the plot, right? In fact Bhavana and Asif Ali – the leads are the ones who have the least juicy roles in the movie. The film belongs to its second benchers – Sreenath Bhasi, Baburaj, Balu, Vijay Babu and the beautifully handsome junkies. Fight sequences and chases on foot with its effective melding of slow motion and background music tells me Junior does know some tricks of the trade. It will be interesting to watch where he goes from here.

 Song: Neeyo

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Shaitaan

Shaitan is like an Indian tribute to Tarantino. It is an A-list film in terms of technical quality with fast paced camera and editing keeping in track with it.  Running around trees when boys and girls meet of the traditional Indian past has been completely abandoned in favor of cruising around in a gas guzzling Hummer.  ‘Bade baap ke bigade hue aulaad’ (Hindi for rich spoilt brats) form one team of actors led by Kalki Koelchen and other talented new comers. 

On the other front we have the locals, everyday Indian and public servant policemen led by Rajeev Khandelval. It's a good long while after Aamir, Mr.Khandelwal. It was good to see Nikhil Chinnappa in a non-VJ/RJ/DJ role. Pawan Malhotra has an interesting role too. 

In the audio segment, Shaitaan has an awesome remix of Khoya Khoya Chand. IMHO this is the first time a modern remix is as good or better than the original classic(from Kala Bazaar sung by Mohammed Rafi.) Produced by Mikey McCleary and sung by Suman Shridhar it jives well with the spirit and pace of the movie.

From the production house of Anurag Kashyap, directed by debutante director Bejoy Menon who comes from the Mani Ratnam line of movies Shaitan is a slick movie to watch. If you are an adrenaline junkie even when you are couch-prone and watching a movie this might be a good choice.

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Udaan

Udaan must be Vikrmaditya Motwane’s brilliant debut as a director, Rajat Barmecha’s dream comes true as leading actor in a Hindi movie propelled by a strong script by Anurag Kashyap, but to me the revelation of the movie was Ronit Roy!

The last time I saw him was when I was a teenager and he was prancing around singing “First time dekha tumhe hum kho gaya second time mein love ho gaya, ye akkha india jaanta hai hum tum pe marta hai , dil kya cheez hai jaanam apni  jaan tere naam karta hai” –in Jaan Tere Naam. It was a peppy song, but very dated, the one that’ll definitely find a place in the ‘I am ashamed to admit I used to like this song’ list. Ronit Roy was a one movie wonder. In the almost two decades in between Jaan Tere Naam and Udaan Google has informed me that Mr.Roy had gone from being a jobless one hit wonder to small screen’s Amitabh Bachchan and an owner of an renowned private security firm. Lack of Indian TV signals in my part of the globe kept me blissfully unaware of all that, till Udaan.

Udaan is a neatly made coming of age movie from an industry that doesn’t make many coming of age movies. I wonder whether there are any autobiographical aspects to it. Gorakhpur, UP where Anurag Kashyap grew up and Jamshedpur, Jharkhand where Udaan is set, can claim geographic proximity in the greater order of things. Besides, like Rajat Barmecha’s character in the movie, Mr.Kashyap is also a product of boarding schools. Rajat Barmecha, got a role of a lifetime as a small town kid, Rohan, trying to find his own identity from under the shadow of his despotic father, Bhairav Singh(Ronit Roy.) 

There a few other small but significant characters played by Ram Kapoor, Anand Tiwari and Manjot Singh. A natural narrative, characters that audience can relate to and a great script contribute to the quality of the film. It does remind me of 80s art-house movies.

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Dances with the Wolves

It is like reading a book backwards. I saw the 1990 movie Dances with the Wolves two years after I had seen the 2009 movie Avatar. Both are based on a similar theme, a soldier going native amongst the natives, in wild country. In 2009 space is the final frontier, in 1990 they were doing a period piece set in the 1800s when the unconquered West was the edge of the known civil world.

It is an impressive directorial debut by Kevin Costener, though it is sad to note that none of his later outings as a director lived up to the promise this first one held. It is Hollywood, yet Costener has shown self-control, letting the Indians speak in their own native language instead of tribal-accented English. I do not, but it could very well be that this was the first mass market movie which portrayed Indians in a favorable light.

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My Wife's Murder

A movie that has been lying in the to-be-watched pile for years finally gets moksha. My Wife's Murder has been there for around half a decade, waiting to be viewed, somehow I never picked it up. I knew it'd be a decent film, the cast and the unusual name guarenteed that. It didn't disappoint.

I've always wondered why Anil Kapoor doesn't do so much posturing like Aamir Khan claiming how great an actor he is. Infact I found Anil Kapoor's acting exceptional in this movie, as a middle-class family man, video-editor trapped in a murder case, of his own wife. Everyone, from Suchitra Krishnamoorty who has the title role albeit a miniscule one to Nandana Sen, Boman Irani and the rest of the supporting cast, has done well. As a debut director Jijy Philip also does a good job, kudos to RGV Film Company supporting upcoming young directors.

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Thalappavu

Thalappavu is a thought-provoking take on an issue - dead and forgotten now, but thirty years ago had defined the political climate of Kerala (and certain parts of India) - the Naxal movement. This is Madhupal's debut venture as a feature film director and he definitely shows promise. It is a neatly made movie as well as an educational experience for a generation who are clueless about the history of their own land and its people. The story is adapted from the real-life relationship between a prominent Naxalite in Kerala, Varghese and a constable in Kerala Police at the time, P. Ramachandran Pillai. Prithviraj and Lal plays the roles of these two pivotal characters and have carried them off with the ease that comes naturally to good actors. Kudos to Madhupal, producer Mohan and writer Babu Janardhanan for bringing this buried snippet of history to today's audience.

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Gone Baby Gone

Gone Baby Gone is typical Lehane. It is funny that I didn't notice it till the very end, although I've not read this particular novel of his. Again not very funny if you consider my reading habits(reads more by accident than due to habit these days) and memory (once past thirty smog moves from LA into your memories, permanently.) It is the dark, blue collar side of Boston, Ben Affleck is attempting his first Clint Eastwood venture. Turns out almost as good as the master. Boston-Lehane-Eastwood team did it with Mystic River back in '03. Sean Penn picked up a statue on the Oscar night for it. Here Affleck in his directorial debut puts his kid brother Casey in Sean's place. The kid does good, a restrained performance from him and a mature attempt at direction by his older sibling.

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Heyy Baby

An out and out Bollywood entertainer. One cannot be expected to make critical reviews of such a movie, so I'll stick to the facts. Guess the year 2007 has been benevolent to the Khan siblings, no, not referring to any actor Khans who infest Indian filmdom, but Farah and Sajid Khan. Heyy Baby is Sajid's directorial debut fared well and his sister Farah's Om Shanti Om was the box office mega scorer of 2007. Heyy Baby's inspiration comes from the 1987 Hollywood flick, Three Men and a Baby directed by Leonard Nimoy(yeah Spock for the Trekkies), starring Tom Selleck and Ted Danson. If you have the germ of the story it is possible to adapt it for different audiences and cultures. That is what Heyy Baby did in 2007 and Malayalm flick Thooval Sparsam did in 1990. No harm in that, in a hopelessly interconnected world as ours, it is hard not to get 'inspired'. Heyy Baby has three bachelors, desi and rockin' in Sydney. Three Men and a Baby were holed up in a New York apartment and Thooval Sparsam was set in Cochin. As expected of bachelors, life is all girls and excitement when Heyy Baby starts. The opening song(also happens to be the title track) has some of Bollywood's hottest ladies(all in guest appearances.) Then another girl(this time an infant) arrives and they are taken for a roller-coaster ride of their lives. Akshay Kumar, Fardeen Khan and Ritiesh Desmukh play the three main roles with a supposedly modern version of Vidya Balan. It is hilarious in parts, entertaining, generally recommended for family consumption.

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Ek Chalis ki Last Local

This is one of the best movies to have come out of Bollywood recently. From the debutante director Sanjay Khanduri comes the most under-estimated flick which will endear you with its all pervading quirkiness, its original story line(that’s something that’s hard to come by in Bollywood movies) and believable characters. The movie reminds me of the dark humor in Tarantino’s films, quirky and unpredictable, but delightfully watchable.


Abhay Deol is a perfect fit for the protagonist who misses the last train to his home in Vikhroli. Mumbaiites know how important trains are in their lives and missing one changes the life of this young man forever. The story, the dialog, the camera, the perfect characterization and the general ambiance of the film in the hands of a director who knows what he is talking about delivers a winner. Khanduri tells that the story(he is the story writer and the script writer of the movie) is inspired by a night he was forced to spend in Mumbai’s under belly after having missed the local train himself. Well then, nobody could have made it better, right?

Another bit of trivia about 1:4O ki last local: 'Ek Chalis Ki Last Local' created a record by selling 1.18 lac DVDs in just first 14 days of its release. Its surprising for such a small film to do such a good business. Moser Bayer had launched its first commercial feature film DVD in Indian market by this film. It has sold more than any DVD VCD combined of any Indian film in first 2 weeks of its release.

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