can you vish?

 If you know me personally, you might also know that I am a regular at the International Film Festval of Kerala, held annually in December at Thiruvananthapuram (and if you don’t know me personally, just read the first sentence). A habit that started during my Thiruvananthapuram days in 2016, I look forward and try to attend the week long celebration of cinema - unless life or a killer virus gets in the way. Prologue Since the dates for the next fest are officially announced during the conclusion of the current fest, what follows is an year long wait. Nothing significant happens for the most part of the year, so let us skip ahead to November - when the registration opens for delegates. Yes, we know that there are over ten thousand delegate passes and registration window usually lasts days - still most of my friends (and I) hit the servers with a passion  until our registrations go through. Once that is done, the wait begins for the schedule to be released - where we would come...

I do have mixed opinions about this latest Rakshit Shetty outing, impressing at times and faltering at others, but I am not here to talk about that. Indian Cinema is going through an unprecedented time, where the cinema industries across regions are exploring multiple territories, and viewers are also receiving cross-cultural content with open arms. Many movies, especially from the regional industries of Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and Malayalam are getting released with the new tag of ‘Pan-Indian’ cinema, dubbing them in various languages in order to reach more people. The most common and practical approach adopted is to shoot the movie in the native language (KGF in Kannada, RRR in Telugu, Vikram in Tamil, or Jana Gana Mana in Malayalam) and then dub them into three or four other languages. However, while doing this, what happens in only the dialogues get dubbed while several other linguistic indicators, for example, the billboard in the local language, are often lost in translation. Her...

Title : Anarkali Language : Malayalam Year : 2015 Director : Sachy Genre : Drama, Romance IMDB Link Watch trailer on Youtube Lead Role : Prithviraj Sukumaran, Biju Menon, Miya George, Suresh Krishna Many of us might be familiar with the tale of Anarkali, the court dancer who was supposedly Jahangir’s secret lover. But when a debutant director announces the title for his directorial venture, one is not very sure what to expect. Is he gonna portray the Mughal times? Or is he planning to base the plot on the ageless tale of love? One fine day, the trailer releases and doubts are put to rest. Anarkali, as the team behind it described, is a romantic drama with feeble elements of thrill sprinkled here and there. The storyline is not very gripping or deep, and it is compensated by the beauty of the breathtaking visuals. Cinematography is the soul of the movie, and Sujith Vasudev deserves an applause. Prithviraj Sukumaran is apt for the role of Shantanu, our mysterious wan...

Title : Premam Language : Malayalam Year : 2015 Director : Alphonse Puthren Genre : Romance IMDB Link Lead Role : Nivin Pauly, Anupama Parameswaran, Sai Pallavi, Madonna Sebastian Premam is the malayalam word for love, and the movie simply justifies the title. Premam traces the life of George, and his love affairs of varying shades right from his school days to his wedding years after.  The young director has been creative with his work, and there were many refreshing elements on screen. There are a few gags for maintaining a light mood, and songs and dances in the background of exquisite visuals spice things up. And the result is a blockbuster opening for the movie. Actor Nivin Pauly is achieving kind of a cult status among the film buffs, particularly so in the case with the young audience. That is probably because most roles chosen by him belong to that category which could be identified by majority of the youth. Excessive sequences of drinking and smokin...

Title : Nee-Na Language : Malayalam Year : 2015 Director : Lal Jose Genre : Drama Watch trailer on Youtube Lead Role : Deepti Sati, Vijay Babu, Ann Augustine After watching this latest offering from veteran director Lal Jose, my friend described it as soulful. Having watched it today, I am unable to find a more fitting word. As the tagline says, Neena is the tale of two women - NEEna and NAlini. Corporate head Vinay Panikkar, his spouse Nalini Panikkar and Neena forms the crux of the story. Neena is not your usual girl next door. She is intelligent, talented and good looking, while a social misfit and emotionally drained woman at the same time. Her lifestyle and choice of friends are quite unorthodox, and her interactions with the Panikkar family is portrayed in the movie. Nee-na is an aesthetically rich movie, with most frames simply visually exquisite. Cinematographer Jomon T John did a good work, and the beautiful locations eased his task. The movie's slow pace and a...