TD Dasan Std VI B is a tiny little gem that deserves to be seen.

Movie – TD Dasan Std VI B (Malayalam)

Director – Mohan Raghavan

Producers – Paul Vadakumchery, Paul Valikodath

Cast – Alexander, Tina Rose, Biju Menon, Shwetha Menon, Shruti Menon, Jagadish, Suresh Krishna, Valsala Menon, etc

Music & Background Score – Sreevalsan J Menon

Cinematography – Arun Varma

Editing – Vinod Sukumaran

Story, Screenplay, Dialogues – Mohan Raghavan

Now Available On – Moser Baer DVDs & VCDs.

Malayalis constantly complain that there is no quality cinema being made here and when quality films come up, they turn their backs towards them and go watch the mundane formula films instead, turning them into huge hits. One victim of this sheer hypocrisy of Malayalis is TD Dasan Std VI B. A small gem of a film, which didn’t get the success or attention it deserved. Such films need to be seen and promoted so that more and more such films are made, rather than spending money for the banal formula flicks. I was away from Kerala during the week when this movie released, and when I came back and wanted to watch it, I was surprised to see the hopeless Vijay movie Suraa playing at almost all theaters in Erankulam while this movie was long gone. And I had to wait for the DVD to watch it finally.

TD Dasan (Alexander), a 6^th standard student at a small village school in Palakkad, finds his estranged father’s address in his mother’s (Shwetha Menon) trunk. He secretly sends a letter to the address because he wants to silence his class bully who constantly calls him a bastard. The letter reaches Ammu (Tina Rose) who lives with her father Nandan (Biju Menon), an ad-film maker at the address where Dasan’s father Divakaran lived earlier. Ammu feels a certain affection for Dasan through his letters and responds to him as his father and in the meanwhile the ad filmmaker Nandan finds Dasan’s situation as a great material for a film script. What happens next forms the story of TD Dasan Std VI B.

The movie takes us back to the era of good Malayalam films which were simple, sweet, short, had a Malayali nativity and a wonderful story to tell. TD Dasan is just 1.5 hours long and yet it tells so many things in that short span of time which many long films cannot. Newcomer Mohan Raghavan has taken a concept which has almost become extinct in this age of social networking – pen pals. While Ammu considers Dasan something like her pen pal and understands his world through his letters, Dasan discovers about his father whom he has never seen through the letters that Ammu sends him. At the same time, Nandan considers Dasan’s story as a potential story for a film, unaware of what Ammu is doing. This leads him to several interesting discussions with his writer friends on what could have happened to Dasan’s father Divakaran.

Alexander, the young lad who plays the protagonist TD Dasan is very good and has brought out all the emotions that the character goes through very well. Tina Rose who plays Ammu also does her part effectively. Biju Menon gives an impressive performance after a long time in a role that suits him perfectly. Jagadish was a little over-the-top, but that is not even 1/100^th of the overacting he has been doing in his recent films. He was pretty decent in this one compared to those films. Suresh Krishna plays his part subtly and that works very well. Shwetha Menon is evolving into a fine actress and you can actually see the difference in each film. The award winning actress has done a great job in this film too. Shruti Menon is decent in her short role. Valsala Menon is excellent as usual. The kid who played the bully Thomas Kutty was very good as well.

The director takes on several topics – the boy’s loneliness and the insult that he goes through each time when he is called a bastard by his classmate; the mother’s struggle to run the family and the tag of a slut that she has to face; and Ammu, who is separated from her mother and not getting enough attention from her busy father (even though she is portrayed as a happy child), finds joy in building a relationship with Dasan; Nandan who feels Dasan’s story would be able to connect to a wide audience. And while all this happens, there is a struggle against a multi-national Cola company going on in the background as well. There are no unnecessary songs, except for a lovely song which syncs well with the film when Dasan is overjoyed getting a response from his father. There are no sub-plots which convolute the main plot and the ones which are present in the movie contribute towards it in some way or the other. It was very nice to see the creative process (popularly known as discussions) in formulating a screenplay, being depicted in a film, that too with visual detail. Those scenes are proof that the director Mohan Raghavan is a very talented writer-director.

Music and background score by the talented Sreevalsan J Menon is very effective. The one delightful song takes us through the sweet little world of Dasan. Cinematographer Arun Varma has done a neat job. Editor Vinod Sukumaran has made the film crisp and to the point without even a single sequence that can be termed boring.

On the whole, TD Dasan is one of the finest films to have come out in Malayalam in a long time. It deserved a better fate. There were even reports in newspapers saying that the theatre owners themselves dissuaded people from watching this movie saying its no good. The makers are also to be blamed partially since there was absolutely no publicity and marketing for this film and many people were not even aware that such a film had released. And by the time people realised that such a film was out, it was gone from theaters. And it looks like that the talented writer-director Mohan Raghavan will have a bright future ahead, provided his work gets more visibility. Get hold of this movie at least on DVDs and watch it soon.

Rating – 4/5

Hrithik Roshan makes Guzaarish a great watch.

Movie – Guzaarish (Hindi)

Director – Sanjay Leela Bhansali

Producers – Ronnie Screwvala, Sanjay Leela Bhansali

Cast – Hrithik Roshan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Aditya Roy Kapoor, Rajit Kapoor, Shernaz Patel, Nafisa Ali, Monikangana Dutta, Suhel Seth,

Music – Sanjay Leela Bhansali

Cinematography – Sudeep Chatterjee

Editor – Hemal Kothari

Screenplay, Dialogues – Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Bhavani Iyer, Vibhu Puri

Background Score – Tubby

Release Date – 19^th November 2010.

I was quite turned off by the promos and song visuals of Guzaarish that I saw on TV so far. I thought Mr. Sanjay Leela Bhansali was making the same mistake of being over-indulgent like he did in Saawariya. The movie looked like it was inspired from Christopher Nolan’s brilliant The Prestige from the visuals of the magic shows in the promos. The music also didn’t impress me much except for a couple of songs on the first hearing. Yet, I wanted to watch the movie for Hrithik Roshan and the stunning visuals that has become Bhansali’s trademark. And when I watched it today, I realized I was so wrong about the movie.

Guzaarish tells the story of Ethan Mascarenhas (Hrithik Roshan), a famed magician who turned into a quadriplegic after a fatal accident during one of his shows.  He has been going through the pain and suffering of living a completely paralyzed life for 14 long years. He is completely dependent on his caretaker/nurse for 12 years, Sofia (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan) who gave up everything in her life to look after Ethan. Ethan hosts a radio show through which he inspires the people of Goa to live their lives fully, but on the other hand, he wants to end his miserable life full of suffering. So he requests his advocate friend Devayani (Shrenaz Patel) to appeal for Euthanasia aka mercy killing to the court. In the meanwhile, an enthusiastic Omar Siddiqui (Aditya Roy Kapoor) also lands at Ethan's mansion to learn magic from him. Guzaarish tells the story of Ethan and his relationships with these few people in his life.

The storyline of Guzaarish is almost completely lifted from an Academy Award winning Spanish movie The Sea Inside [2004] (No, I havent seen it, I read up the synopsis on IMDB. :P) making it Bhansali's second film on disability lifted from a foreign feature film. And the various sub-plots are lifted from various other films. If Rani Mukherji could not see, hear or speak in Black, those are the only things that Hrithik Roshan can do in Guzaarish, as he is completely paralyzed below his neck. Even though the film is not original, Sanjay Leela Bhansali has managed to create a beautiful picture out of the source material with some great performances, touching moments and stunning cinematography. There are several moments in Guzaarish which make you smile utilizing Hindi Cinema’s best charm – the feel good factor, and there are many others which make your eyes moist. And yes, he has utilized his passion for narrating his stories opulently, Broadway style, just like he did in Saawariya, but he has used it better this time around for a much more engaging story. While Saawariya remained a showreel for Ravi K Chandran’s cinematography, Omung Kumar’s art direction and Monty’s music, Guzaarish is more than just that.

But the film is not devoid of faults. Bhansali’s films have always been detached from reality and Guzaarish is no different. The film is set is supposed to be set in present day Goa, but it is drastically different from the Goa we have seen on screen so far. His trademark melodrama also seeps in time and again and goes to great heights during a silly group hug in the closing shot, which one can tolerate only because of Hrithik’s great performance. The major issue with the writing is that the audience cannot identify with Ethan’s plea for Euthanasi in spite of all the characters and Ethan himself talking about his pain and suffering several times. Guzaarish begins like a feel good movie which you think would have a very positive ending which would leave you with a smile. But when it actually gets over, one is confused whether he/she should feel happy or sad about what happened in the end. Another aspect is that, the relationship between Ethan and his student Omar is never explored. It had such great potential to be a great influence on Ethan’s life. But it is not developed beyond a point. Bhansali doesn’t show how Ethan passes on his magic tricks to Omar, and conveniently tells us by the end that Omar has learned all of Ethan’s tricks and has become a great magician himself. This angle certainly needed to be developed in a better way, especially when there was a back story of why Omar came to Ethan. In spite of all this, the movie strikes a chord with the audience, and that is the director’s success. The dialogues by Vibhu Puri and Bhavani Iyer are very good.  

Hrithik Roshan gives a mesmerizing performance as Ethan Mascarenhas. Acting out such a part where there is absolutely no scope for body language, since the character is paralyzed, is extremely difficult. And Hrithik has come up trumps by using only his face and dialogue delivery and gives us his second best performance (his best still has to be Jodhaa Akbar). All the awards should come pouring in pretty soon. After the dismal show of his previous film Kites, the actor is back with a stunning performance which only an actor of his calibre can deliver. If there’s one reason which you should watch Guzaarish for, it is Hrithik Roshan.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is very good. This year, there has been an overdose of Aishwarya through Raavan/Raavanan, Enthiran, Action Replayy and now Guzaarish. She looked stunning in Enthiran and Action Replayy, but in Guzaarish, her looks are not that impressive, and she messes it up with some really unwanted (in this movie at least, :P) display of cleavage and the bright red lipstick that she sports in almost all the scenes. Come on, she’s a home nurse, for God’s sake!! If home nurses were to look like Aishwarya Rai, almost all the men in the country would willingly fall ill. Her wonderful chemistry with co-star Hrithik, evident in their earlier films like Dhoom:2 and Jodhaa Akbar is still intact. Watch out for the scene where Hrithik pretends to be aroused and Aishwarya responds to it with some naughty moans. Its an instant classic. Aishwarya’s acting is great, but is completely overshadowed by the absolutely brilliant performance of Shernaz Patel who plays Hrithik’s advocate. Shernaz is excellent as Ethan’s friend and lawyer who has to fight for his death plea in spite of being against it. Aditya Roy Kapoor is impressive in a loosely written role that had so much more potential. Rajit Kapoor, Nafisa Ali and Suhel Seth are good.

Each frame in the movie is a masterpiece. Sudeep Chatterjee, take a bow!! The frames are designed in such a way that they look stunning, no matter what the content of the scene is. The cinematographer and art director along with the costume designer have worked hard to give an amazing look to the film. And unlike Saawariya, the film is not saturated with any colour. Most of the colours are muted and dull, just like Ethan’s world and the only instances where the movie gets colourful are the ones where Ethan is taken out of his mansion. Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s music was not great when listened to as an independent soundtrack, but when the songs play out in the movie; they work very well for the film. He always had a great taste for music and that has been evident in all his films so far. ‘Tera Zikr’ is the pick of the lot and the beautiful ‘Sau Gram Zindagi’ reflects Ethan’s life. The brilliantly choreographed ‘Udi’ has Aishwarya showing off her dancing skills yet again. But the brilliance of a usual SLB movie soundtrack is sorely missed. The film is credited to four production designers and the effort is definitely shown. The background score is decent.

Bhansali has plagiarized a great plot and made it into a fairly good movie, with some serious faults in the writing department, which the which the master craftsman that he is, managed to camouflage to a certain extent. Picture perfect cinematography, opulent sets, good music, some beautiful moments and most importantly, Hrithik Roshan’s stunning performance make Guzaarish a worthy watch which you wouldn’t regret spending your time on. Definitely one of the better films of the year.

Rating – 3.5/5

Action Replayy - Theek hai.

Movie - Action Replayy (Hindi)
Director - Vipul Amrutlal Shah
Producer - Vipul Amrutlal Shah
Cast - Akshay Kumar, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Aditya Roy Kapoor, Rannvijay Singh, Neha Dhupia, Om Puri, Kirron Kher, Rajpal Yadav, Randhir Kapoor
Music - Pritam
Cinematography - Sejal Shah
Editing - Amitabh Shukla
Art - Aparna Raina
Screenplay, Dialogues - Suresh Nair, Aatish Kapadia
Release Date - 5th November 2010. 

• The film begins with a colourful retro-styled title sequence, complete with dhinchak music. Like.
• One of the earliest scenes has a joke about Mallika Sherawat. Like.
• Aditya Roy Kapoor is re-introduced (according to the titles) and he does a decent job. But the length and shape of his hair keeps changing throughout the movie. And yea, he wears a Master Yoda T shirt in one of the scenes which I so want to buy. Like. 
• The storyline is a straight rip-off from Back To The Future. But they credit it to some Gujarati play. Maybe the Gujarati play itself was lifted from Back To The Future. :P Dislike. 
• The totally dhinchak and awesome song 'Zor Ka Jhatka' is totally misplaced in the film, even before it goes into retro mode and introduces the characters in their true form. Dislike. 
• The retro effect does not come out anywhere near Om Shanti Om or Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai. They have tried, but have not succeeded completely. It remains just as an over the top attempt to go retro. Dislike.
• Rajpal Yadav. :) :) :) :) . Like. 
• Rannvijay Singh is much better than how he was in London Dreams. Like. 
• Om Puri is always great. Like.
• Kirron Kher is over the top in a good way. Like. 
• Akshay Kumar in a hideous wig and with a completely fake buck tooth in the first half. Dislike. 
• Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is totally hot in her intro song and continues to look hot and beautiful throughout the movie. Like. 
• Akshay Kumar continues his nerdy act and that irritating laugh from Jaanemann. Manages to be funny in majority of the scenes despite his bad make-up. Like. 
• Neha Dhupia appears randomly in scenes and songs. Has no dialogues except for a couple of lines in the second half. Looks very pretty and cute. Like. 
• Randhir Kapoor as the nutty professor who invents a silly looking time machine. And he's named Anthony Gonzalves. Dislike. 

• The'Oh Bekhabar' song which has Aishwarya Rai Bachchan who looks gorgeous even at 37 (or is it 39?). Like. 
• The pathetic quality of all the other songs while there was ample scope for a chartbuster soundtrack. Pritam - Fail. (Except for Zor Ka Jhatka & Oh Bekhabar). Dislike. 
• Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, apart from looking good, also manages to reflect her own self in a role that suits her perfectly. :P Like. 
• Akshay Kumar after the make-over, even though the wig is still terrible. In top form. Like.
• Aawaaz Neeche!! And the entire audience repeating it with Akshay each time he says it in the movie. Double Like. 
• The screenplay takes a shamelessly convenient and predictable route throughout the movie, just like the team's previous movie London Dreams. If things happened so easily like in this movie, life would be so much better. Dislike. 
• I didnt get the joke about Kundan Lal (Rannvijay) singing in two voices and being signed by some Mahesh Kumar, which everyone seems to like. Dunno whether to Like or Dislike. :|
• They had such a wonderful opportunity to recreate the madness of Padosan since they had a very similar situation where Aditya was singing and Akshay was lip-syncing. But they do that also very conveniently, with no connection or reference to the style followed in Padosan. Dislike. 
• A Hum Kisise Kum Nahin- like singing competition. Great opportunity, totally destroyed with some terrible songs. And again, no reference to that film, despite being influenced by it. Dislike. 
• One more joke about Mallika Sherawat. Like.
• The funny chase sequence towards the climax with almost the entire cast. Like. 
• The half-decent 'Tera Mera Pyar' song, shot well, and has Karthik's vocals. Like. 
• The broken Time Machine is repaired without any explanation whatsoever. Dislike. 
• The girl who played Tanya. Dislike. 
• Cinematography is quite good. The entire film is vibrant and colourful. 
• The over the top art direction and costumes. Retro look didnt work out. Dislike.
• Background Score is quite decent. With some straight lifts from Johnny Gaddaar. Its Pritam. Thats expected. Like. 
• The crowd at Sridar whom I watched the movie with. The atmosphere in there was great and thats a major reason why I could have fun while watching this movie. Like. 

So, as you can see, there are more things I liked about Action Replayy than the things I didnt like about it. I expected a terrible movie after reading the initial reviews. But the movie is much better than Akshay Kumar's recent movies. Its nowhere near Vipul Shah's earlier movies. But still, its a timepass watch, which bored and masala-loving souls like me can enjoy. The film worked for me because of Akshay, Aishwarya, Rajpal Yadav and some good jokes. It could have been a wonderful throwback to the 70s, but the retro effect doesnt work that well. The plot is obviously inspired from Back To The Future but its nowhere as good as the original. But still, the movie is fun as long as it lasts, if you know that you shouldnt be expecting logic and consistency in a movie like this. 

Rating - 3/5

The hilarious second half makes Uthamaputhiran very entertaining!!

Previously published on nowrunning.com 
(http://www.nowrunning.com/movie/7492/tamil/uthama-puthiran/2804/review.htm)

Movie - Uthamaputhiran (Tamil)
Director - Mithran R Jawahar
Producers - M Mohan Apparao, T Ramesh
Cast - Dhanush, Genelia, Vivek, Bhagyaraj, Ashish Vidyarthi, Ambika, Rekha, Karunas, Rajendran, Srinath, Jayaprakash Reddy
Music - Vijay Antony
Cinematography - Balasubramaniam
Screenplay - Gopi Mohan
Release Date - 5th November 2010.


Uthamaputhiran is a remake of last year's Telugu superhit Ready, starring Ram and Genelia. It is Dhanush's third association with director and friend Mithran R Jawahar in a Telugu remake. Their first outing Yaaradi Nee Mohini proved very successful for the duo, but their second film Kutty failed miserably. But this time around, they have a winner in their hands. Uthamaputhiran after a slow and uneventful first half, has a very entertaining and hilarious second half, which makes the movie immensely watchable. 

Shiva (Dhanush) is a happy go lucky young guy who is ready to do anything for his family and friends. (He is never seen going for any work, whereas every other member of his family leaves the house for work every morning wearing executive costumes). He kidnaps a girl from her marriage for his friend, who supposedly loves her. Only when he takes her to him does he realize that he brought the wrong girl. The girl happens to be Pooja (Genelia) who already wanted to run away from her wedding since she wasnt interested in it. Pooja's family starts chasing them and some scenes later, Shiva decides to take Pooja to his house. Pooja gels well with Shiva's family and falls in love with him in the meanwhile. But then, Pooja's uncle Periya Gounder (Ashish Vidyarthi) takes her away. Both her uncles including him and Chinna Gounder (Jayaprakash Reddy) want to get her married to their sons to get their hands on the 200 crores which she is entitled to. Shiva lands in Tuticorin and makes plans to marry Pooja with everyone's permission, making one Mr. Emotional Ekambaram (Vivek) a scapegoat. 

The film's first half does not have much to offer than the charm of both the leading actors. Both Dhanush and Genelia are at their charming best. The entire first half is about Dhanush's family and friends and the entire milieu is established quite well. But other than a few moments, there is nothing memorable about the first half. But the movie changes gears with the entry of Vivek as Emotional Ekambaram in the second half. He brings the house down with his act, and his chemistry with Dhanush plays a major role in that. The story actually has some movement only in the second half. Instead of going in the routine song-dance-fight-sentiments routine, the makers have handled the entire movie in a light-hearted manner stressing on family values, through humour. 

Dhanush is wonderful as usual. There is something genuinely likable about this actor. Even in a terrible movie like Padikkathavan, it is hard not to like him. He plays Shiva with consummate ease. Watch out for his chemistry with Vivek in the second half. Genelia reprises her role from the Telugu original. She looks adorable and her character is best suited for her bubbly self. But after seeing her in Bommarillu and Jaane Tu, it is difficult to accept something less bubbly and vibrant from her after those two. :) She is wonderful. But the star of the movie is Vivek. Returning back to form after a long long time, Vivek shines as Emotional Ekambaram and makes us forget about the boring first half instantly. He hasnt given such a good performance since Sivaji. Bhagyaraj is as always, dependable and does his part well. Ashish Vidyarthi finally learned to move his lips in Tamil and has done quite well too. Even Jayaprakash Reddy was decent. Karunas was good in his effeminate character. Srinath desperately tries to ape Santhanam with no effect. His jokes are terrible. Rajendran comes to get beaten up twice by Dhanush. Ambika and Rekha make their presence felt in the second half. Shriya Saran makes an appearance, looks gorgeous and then disappears. 

Vijay Antony is not at his best here with the music. There is a strong absence of chartbuster songs even though there was ample scope and space for such songs in this entertainer. Only 'Usumu Larasey' and the duet in the first half are impressive. Background Score is apt for the movie. Cinematography by Balasubramaniam is wonderful, especially in the first half. Though some of the shots look overly saturated (might be overdone DI), the cinematography is generally very good. Art Direction, Editing and Action are done according to the movie's requirement. 

All in all, Uthamaputhiran is a decent entertainer, which takes time to entertain you. :P Vivek is the star of the movie along with its lead pair Dhanush and Genelia. The movie is getting remade in Hindi also. Aneez Bazmee is making it in Hindi with Salman Khan and Asin in the lead. But they really have to work on the first half to make the Hindi remake work. Watch it if you want to have some good timepass. 

Rating - 3/5

First Look - Tees Maar Khan

Movie - Tees Maar Khan (Hindi)

Producers - Twinkle Khanna, Shirish Kunder, Ronnie Screwvala

Director - Farah Khan

Cast - Akshay Kumar, Katrina Kaif, Akshaye Khanna, Salman Khan (Special Appearance)

Music - Vishal & Shekhar

Cinematography - PS Vinod

Story, Screenplay, Dialogues - Shirish Kunder, Ashmith Kunder

Editing - Shirish Kunder

Art Direction - Sabu Cyril

Background Score - Shirish Kunder

Release Date - December 24

Tees Maar Khan was in the news since the day it was announced. Firstly, for Farah Khan casting someone other than her best buddy and hero/producer of her first 2 movies - Shah Rukh Khan. The media went all out to show that Farah and SRK werent good friends anymore. But SRK kept saying things are all right between Farah and him, while Farah didnt miss any chance to make digs at SRK. Tees Maar Khan was written by  Farah's husband Shirish Kunder for him to direct himself, but when the script was ready, he felt that Farah would do more justice to the script than him. Shirish who had already worked with Akshay in his debut directorial venture Jaan-E-Mann (a very underrated movie), cast him again in the title role of Tees Maar Khan. The movie is about a smartass con-man, referred to as 'aadha' Robin Hood (following the footsteps of Dabangg's Robin Hood Pandey), because he steals money from the rich, but never gives it to the poor. Katrina Kaif plays a wannabe item girl and Akshaye Khanna plays a movie star in the movie. There are guest appearances by many A-List stars from the industry including Anil Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt. etc. Sanjay Dutt has even given the voice-over for the trailer of the movie. Salman Khan appears in a qawwali dance number along with Akshay and Katrina, which is touted to be the highlight of the movie. Farah does not forget to take digs at her own previous movie Om Shanti Om, even in the trailer. She is one of the most successful and entertaining directors in the country and her films Main Hoon Na and Om Shanti Om have been absolute mad-cap entertainers. Vishal & Shekhar compose music for the movie while Shirish Kunder handles the Screenplay, Editing and Background Score. PS Vinod is in charge of Cinematography while multiple National Award winner Sabu Cyril, who enthralled us recently with his marvellous work in Endhiran, handles Art Direction. The film is jointly produced by Akshay Kumar, Shirish Kunder and UTV Motion Pictures. Tees Maar Khan promises to be loads of fun from the trailer and the stills.  

Catch Tees Maar Khan if you can on December 24th. 

First Look Poster - Billa 2

The first look poster of the sequel to the 2007 blockbuster Billa - Billa 2 was released by the team as a Deepavali gift to Ajith fans. Billa 2 is being helmed by Vishnuvardhan who also directed the suave and stylish first part of Billa. Billa was an updated remake of Rajnikanth's Billla (1980), which in turn was a remake of Amitabh Bachchan's Don (1977). Even Don was remade in 2006 starring Shah Rukh Khan by Farhan Akhtar and they have already begun shooting the sequel for Don in Berlin. But the storylines of the new versions of the story in Hindi and Tamil are entirely different. While Farhan Akhtar played around with the ending and created a twist of his own in the new Don, Vishnuvardhan remained faithful to the original story in his Billa. So the sequels are also bound to have different stories. There are rumours that Billa 2 may actually be a prequel to Billa since Billa dies in the first movie itself. Anyways, let us wait and watch what the team has to offer. Vishnuvardhan repeats the same team from all his movies - Yuvan Shankar Raja, Nirav Shah, Sreekar Prasad and Anu Vardhan. Ajith badly needs a hit now and 2011 is looking good for him with Venkat Prabhu's Mangatha and now Billa 2 lined up. The leading lady of the sequel is not confirmed yet. Nayanthara, who was the heroine in the first movie may or may not act in the movie, since there are rumours going around that she is going to get married in December. The poster looks cool and creates a certain curiosity level for the flick. And one good thing you can notice is that Ajith Kumar has done away with his 'Ultimate Star' tag. It started with Asal, and he continues that in this one also, which is a good thing. 

Malayalam Film Music Now - An Overview

When was the last time someone talked about the present day Malayalam film music? Is it because it’s going through a bad phase now? Even reality show singers pick Tamil and Hindi songs or rely on old Malayalam classics to prove their skills. No one seems to be bothered about the songs made in Malayalam in the past 3-4 years, with a few exceptions. Stage shows and dance programmes are almost completely relied on Tamil and Hindi music, since it is extremely difficult to find even one foot-tapping number from the vast array of songs being made in film after film here. The directors and producers seem to have no interest in music; even the biggest movies came with mediocre musical scores.

Death of great composers like Raveendran and M.G. Radhakrishnan have created an emptiness which can’t be ignored. Johnson is in semi-retirement mode and has a more comfortable job as a reality show judge. Ouseppachan and Mohan Sithara give good songs given a chance. Ilaiyaraaja makes better songs in Malayalam than what he makes in Tamil, but bears the criticism of recycling his own yesteryear Tamil hits. Vidyasagar is inconsistent when he gives the chartbuster Neelathamara first and the mediocre  Apoorvaragam next. Alex Paul, after the initial streak of good melodies, fell into lower standards soon. M Jayachandran is the only composer who is able to give good songs – both melodies and fast paced songs, consistently. Veteran lyric writer Gireesh Puttenchery’s demise in April 2010 has created a sudden emptiness for soulful lyrics.

BUT, all is not lost. A new breed of composers, lyricists and singers are gradually making their presence felt in Malayalam film music. None of them have taken the industry by storm, but they keep surprising us with some great songs now and then. Young composers like Bijibal, Rahul Raj, Shaan Rahman, Gopi Sunder, Prashant Pillai, Mejo Joseph, Ratheesh Vega, Siddharth Vipin, Manu Ramesan and many others have entered the music industry bringing a lot of freshness to our music. Their passion towards music is shown in their work, and their music is slowly and steadily gaining acceptance among the Malayali audience, who are a bit reserved about new trends.

While the veteran composers had great scripts with due importance to music to work on, the new comers are forced to do songs meant only as fillers in commercial cinema. In a limited scope, these youngsters have made a mark by bringing in a fresh feel to their songs, without imitating their seniors. With movies such as Loudspeaker, Malarvaadi Arts Club, Ritu, Big B, Sagar Alias Jacky, Nayakan, Notebook, Cycle, Cocktail, Anwar and Chekavar, these composers have shown what they are capable of through their compositions, vocal arrangements and orchestrations. Various new genres of music like rap (Big B, Sagar Alias Jacky), jazz (Kaathu Kaathu – Malarvadi Arts Club), hip-hop (Njaan – Anwar), qawwali (Kizhakku Pookkum – Anwar) are being tried out in Malayalam music, which the younger generation can connect to. 

And they've also proved their versatility within the albums they compose. Shaan can pull off a beautiful 'Maamarangale' in a movie like Ee Pattanathil Bhootham. Prashant Pillai is able to give an adrenalin rush through a song like 'Kaatte Vaayo' and also give the blissful 'Lolalolamaayi' in the same movie Nayakan. Bijibal showed what he is capable of, with his first outing (Arabikkatha) itself. Rahul Raj proved his range through different genres of songs in Chotta Mumbai, Chekavar and the award winning Ritu. Likewise, each one of these young composers can boast of a wide range in the music they create. 

While they are experimenting with all these genres, they also make songs rooted in our language and culture alternatively. Fresh voices like Shreya Ghoshal , Shankar Mahadevan, Ranjith, Karthik, Naresh Iyer, Benny Dayal, Achu, Rahul Nambiar, Suchithra, etc. are tried out with brilliant effect. Singers like Vijay Yesudas and Shwetha Mohan have been given the opportunity to prove their versatility through these fresh tunes, while the veterans like Jayachandran, M.G. Sreekumar, Chitra and Sujatha are also used according to the requirements of the songs. But one sorely misses the voice of K.J. Yesudas, who is seldom heard now, except in certain brilliant songs by M. Jayachandran (Amma Mazhakkarinu, Pinne Ennodonnum).

Composers like Deepak Dev and Alphonse Joseph (on a high after singing AR Rahman’s Aaromale) are also coming back with a vengeance. They are the ones who had initially created some hope and then faded out in between. But Deepak Dev gave the chartbuster Puthiya Mukham last year and was back in the top league. Alphonse has done some wonderful work in recent films like Athmakatha, Cocktail, etc and has plenty of projects lined up. 

Lyricists like Rafeeq Ahmed and Anil Panachooran also instill hope. Vineeth Sreenivasan impressed with his outing as a lyricist through the simplistic songs of Malarvaadi Arts Club. With more and more young filmmakers coming into the industry, there are many more opportunities for these composers, singers and lyricists to get challenging projects to work on and prove their worth.

With the audience becoming much more aware of the different technical aspects in cinema, the background scores are noticed more than before. Almost all the fresh faces are good in background scores too.

Bijibal is one of the most sought after people for background scores after movies like Palery Manikyam and Passenger. Rahul Raj impressed with his funky, over-the-top score for Chotta Mumbai and a wonderfully understated score in Ritu. Shaan Rahman’s background score for Malarvaadi Arts Club drew attention too. The theme tracks of the movie like the funny ‘Shashi’ became immensely popular even as mobile ringtones. Gopi Sunder’s background scores in Amal Neerad flicks are always appreciated and looked forward to. He impressed with a beautiful score in Ividam Swargamanu as well. Amal Neerad’s new movie Anwar even features an English rock song by the popular rock band Motherjane as a part of its soundtrack, thus tapping the potential the film of alternate non-film music also.

The young breed may not be able to deliver a His Highness Abdullah or a Bharatham or a Sargam or a Manichithrathaazhu. The reason is such films happen seldom these days. Situations for songs like ‘Ramakatha Ganalayam’ or a ‘Pramadavanam’ are a rarity to find in our movies today. After Vadakkumnathan, there hasn’t been a single movie with importance for music. Give these guys such movies and situations, they would come up with some great work!!

Music is treated just as a mandatory requirement in our movies and not as an art form or a tool to move the narrative forward.  Very few directors like Lal Jose make it a point to make the songs noticed in a movie. With the limited scope they get, these composers are doing a wonderful job, and if they are given the right opportunities and scripts, they are capable of doing much more than what they are already doing. Malayalam film music may not go back to the time of the Devarajans, Baburajs, Raveendrans or Johnsons, but hopefully shall progress to being known as the music of the Bijibals, Shaans, Rahuls or Gopis.