Snehaveedu - That lovely feeling of familiarity.

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Movie - Snehaveedu (Malayalam)
Writer/Director - Sathyan Anthikkad
Producer - Antony Perumbavoor
Cast - Mohanlal, Sheela, Rahul Pillai, Padmapriya, Biju Menon, Innocent, Mamukkoya, KPAC Lalitha, Lena, Chembil Ashokan, Sasi Kalinga, Arundhathi, Appukkutty
Music - Ilaiyaraaja
Cinematography - Venu ISC
Editing - K Rajagopal
Art Director - Joseph Nellickal
Release Date - 29th September 2011

One feels a certain kind of familiarity while watching a Sathyan Anthikkad movie. A feeling that you know this village, you know these people, you know their relationships, you know their problems and you even know how they're going to resolve their problems. And that, for me is the best part about Sathyan Anthikkad movies, and something which he has kept intact even after he started writing his own scripts, which are no match to the ones which he had been directing until then, written by other writers. Even though there are constant complaints about him not experimenting and is sticking to his same old formula, same old characters and actors, he knows what he is doing and he does it well. Unlike other brilliant directors from his period who've tried to experiment with new themes & borrowed story ideas and failed miserably. He is the only one who still has a guarantee of success every year when he comes out with his own kind of cinema, which has become a brand of sorts. And when Mohanlal returns in a light-hearted role with Sathyan Anthikkad in such a film, there is nothing more you can ask for. 

The plot is nothing new, and is very simplistic. Ajayan (Mohanlal) has been living with his mother with his daily dose of nostalgia in his village after toiling for years in Madras, Bombay and the Gulf to make money. He doesnt want to get married because he wants to spend the rest of his life looking after his loving mother Ammukkutti Amma (Sheela). But Ajayan's life and repute in the village goes for a toss when Karthik (Rahul Pillai) lands up in his house claiming to be his son. Snehaveedu tracks Ajayan's journey to prove that Karthik is not his son, while Karthik forms a rather strong bond with Ammukkutti Amma. Now that reminds a lot of Priyadarshan's Minnaram, but his friend Sathyan Anthikkad doesnt go there at all, even though the plots are slightly similar. 

The plot unfolds at its own pace with a lot of montages accompanied by Raja Sir's familiar but soothing background score, and has an end which may look unconvincing to many, but is perhaps the only way this story could have ended. You've seen everything in this movie earlier in a Sathyan Anthikkad village - the gorgeous locations full of greenery, achappams, kuzhalappams and different kinds of food, the host of goody good villagers including Innocent, KPAC Lalitha, Mamukkoya and party, cottage industries, Raja Sir's familiar music, a sub plot revolving around a family belonging to a different religion other than the main family, a Tamil connection, the same names in the credits, and most importantly, something which we loved to see in his 80s & 90s movies - a wonderful Lalettan in an unbeatable form, making you love every second of his screen time. All these familiar things made me feel like I was going back home, to my family. Why shouldnt I love this film then? I didnt go in expecting new generation cinema or a high intensity drama. This was exactly what I expected from the movie and I got that completely. In fact, watching Mohanlal alone was the worth the price of my ticket. And of course, the new additions to the Sathyan Anthikkad village - the talented lot of Biju Menon, Lena, Padmapriya, Sasi Kalinga and of course, the young Rahul Pillai made a wonderful impression as well. The dialogues laced with humour are perhaps the best dialogues Sathyan Anthikkad has written since he began writing. And I particularly loved the way how he weaved in references to his own films (along with Mohanlal) into the dialogue. 

And the most important reason to love this film is this man called Mohanlal. In this movie, it is not the Mohanlal of today who had become slightly distant from his audience due to certain choice of movies, it is the Lalettan we all love and we all relate to, the Lalettan who goes 'Uyyo' whenever he's in trouble, the Lalettan with his innocent and embarrassed smiles and expressions. I can go on and on. He plays the chubby, lazy, gulf returnee who lives life with his daily dose of nostalgia and takes the audience on a nostalgic trip reminding us of the wonderful roles and moments he created along with Sathyan Anthikkad. There is this mind blowing scene where Mohanlal explains his escapades with women in Chennai to his group of friends. Me, sitting in an almost empty theatre in Mumbai couldnt resist myself from getting up from my seat and clapping loudly. (How I wish I saw that scene along with the audience in Kerala!). Thanks to Sathyan Anthikkad for bringing the innocence back to him, which is the most relishing thing for a fan after having to endure him doing a bad comic performance in a horrible movie like China Town. It is also the result of the amazing rapport he shares with his friend and director, that he can be at such ease while doing such a simple role and charm us completely. 

Sheela is radiant and lovely as Ammukkutti Amma. After a graceful and memorable performance in Manassinakkare, she is wonderful in this movie and her chemistry with both Mohanlal and the young Rahul Pillai is great. Newcomer Rahul Pillai looks and acts like a young Dhanush, as referred to in the film itself and is a very good find. Padmapriya who has toned down a lot, looked gorgeous and did well as usual in the short role that was given to her. Biju Menon, joining the Sathyan Anthikkad camp for the first time, was a complete natural and it looks like he will be a regular in Anthikkad films from now on. Lena is growing into a very dependable actress with her performances in Traffic and now Snehaveedu. And it goes without saying that Malayalam Cinema's golden couple, Innocent and KPAC Lalitha are brilliant. Chembil Ashokan, Sasi Kalinga and Tamil actor Appukkutty are good in their roles. The girl Arundhathi who played Innocent's daughter looks like a cute younger version of Nithya Menen. Even the dog is quite impressive. 

Venu's camera captures the beauty of Palakkad in every frame, which has now become a regular thing in Sathyan Anthikkad movies. Ilaiyaraaja's music, even while sounding familiar, is wonderful, especially the song 'Amrithamay, Abhayamay'. Contrary to his usual style, he has used a lot of silence in his background score this time around. One never gets to feel the presence of an editor in Sathyan Anthikkad movies as shots, scenes and sequences flow so smoothly and that is K Rajagopal's success.

Yes, the movie has a lot of flaws. But the wonderful humour, warm relationships and great acting cover up for almost 90% of the flaws. The ending might not be acceptable to many people in the audience, but Sathyan Anthikkad movies were never about how good his climax portions were. It is the journey till there which is always good. In this industry where watching 80% of the commercial movies makes you cringe, Sathyan Anthikkad makes sure that you have a good trip back to familiar people and places. He doesnt make any high claims about his movies and he sticks to whatever he knows to do best. Yes, we can still hope he joins hands with good writers to take his films to the next level, but this level aint bad either. I may not remember this movie for a long time, but whenever I watch it, I would have a great time.(As the dialogue goes, 'Then kudikkunnu, parakkunnu, paraaganam!') And three cheers to the director for making the general public go back to addressing Mohanlal as their Lalettan all over again. :) 

Bottomline - Watch it for Mohanlal in superb form, and that lovely feeling of the familiarity of it all. 

Top 10 Songs of 2010 - Malayalam

I just realized I had forgotten to make this list as part of my year end specials. So here are 10 of my most favourite songs from the year 2010 in Malayalam. Sorry for the delay. :)  The 10th position is shared between two songs and so is the 5th position. So in effect, there are 12 songs. 

10. Manikkinavin (Pokkiri Raja)

Music - Jassie Gift

Singers - KJ Yesudas & Sujatha

Lyrics - Kaithapram Damodaran Namboothiri

Featuring - Prithviraj, Shriya Saran, Mammootty

Director - Vyshakh

A beautiful duet by our gaanagandharvan KJ Yesudas and our very own Sujatha Chechi, this lovely song unfortunately was not a part of the feature film it was composed for, Pokkiri Raja. The rest of the songs in the movie were mundane, mass numbers which were quite difficult to like. But this lovely song became a major hit, especially because of the voice of Yesudas and Sujatha. Jassie Gift was the composer and Kaithapram wrote the lyrics. The song was used for promotional purposes using footage featuring Prithviraj and Shriya. 

10. Poonchillayil (Chekavar)

Music - Rahul Raj

Singers - Vijay Yesudas & KS Chitra

Lyrics - Anil Panachooran

Featuring - Indrajith, Samvritha Sunil, Sarayu

Director - Sajeevan

If the earlier song was in the legendary father's voice, this song has his talented son doing an amazing job behind the mic, along with the most loved singer of the state. Vijay Yesudas and KS Chitra sang this beautiful duet, composed by the very talented Rahul Raj to perfection. The video featured the family life of a police inspector played by Indrajith, along with Samvritha Sunil and Sarayu. Anil Panachooran's lyrics were also very soothing. All in all, a lovely song. 

9. Pinne Ennodonnum Parayaathe (Shikkar)

Music - M Jayachandran

Singers - KJ Yesudas

Lyrics - Gireesh Puttenchery

Featuring - Mohanlal, Ananya, Sneha

Director - M Padmakumar

Every year, M Jayachandran makes sure that he composes at least one great song which will have KJ Yesudas singing for him. Among his best works with the legend includes 'Innale Ente Nenjile' and 'Amma Mazhakkarinu', both for Mohanlal films. Even though this one isnt as great as the other two, it serves as a very good successor to those two songs. The late Gireesh Puttenchery's lyrics talk about a father's love for his daughter. The video had Mohanlal who had lost his wife Sneha, bringing up his little daughter who grows up to be Ananya. A nice video for a beautiful song. The song was not on lip-sync, just like the other two songs. The song which has a very good tune, works majorly because of Yesudas' voice and Mohanlal's acting on screen. 

8. Innoree Mazhayil (Malarvaadi Arts Club)

Music - Shaan Rahman

Singers - Rahul Nambiar & Vineeth Sreenivasan

Lyrics - Vineeth Sreenivasan

Featuring - Nivin Pauly, Aju Varghese, Bhagath Manuel, Harikrishnan, Shraavan, Nedumudi Venu

Director - Vineeth Sreenivasan

A soothing melody composed by the young and talented Shaan Rahman, this was the best song among the variety of songs Vineeth and Shaan created for Vineeth's directorial debut - Malarvaadi Arts Club. Vineeth himself penned the lyrics about friendship and also took to singing a major portion of the song along with popular singer Rahul Nambiar. Their vocals, along with the melodious flute interludes were refreshingly beautiful. The video had Shraavan remembering all the good times he had with his friends and how much they meant to him. A great song in all respects. :) 

7. Kizhakku Pookkum (Anwar)

Music - Gopi Sundar

Singers - Shreya Ghoshal, Shabari Brothers, Navin Iyer, Raqueeb Alam

Lyrics - Rafeeq Ahmed

Featuring - Mamta Mohandas, Nithya Menen, Prithviraj

Director - Amal Neerad

A qawwali number for the first time in Malayalam, this song became a huge hit, thanks to the great vocals of the lovely Shreya Ghoshal, the gorgeous Mamta Mohandas & Nithya Menen, the handsome Prithviraj and some neat making by its director Amal Neerad. Gopi Sundar's tune was no lesser either. It had its obvious AR Rahman inspirations (Kannalane, Sona Nahin), but he made use of them positively to create a unique qawwali number which will be remembered for a long time. Even Amal Neerad seems to have been heavily influenced by Mani Ratnam's visualization of Kannalane in Bombay as this song also has more or less the same visualization. Mamta and Nithya looked absolutely gorgeous and a super-handsome Prithviraj was the perfect foil. There were endless debates on the lyrics of the song, whether it was 'Khalbil Ethi' or 'Khalbile Thee'. Finally the lyricist had to come out with it that it was 'Khalbile Thee' indeed. (Or was it the other one?? I'm not completely sure). 

6. Thangameyyole

Music - Issac Thomas Kottukappilly

Singers - Rajalakshmi, Ramesh

Lyrics - Traditional (Chavittunaadakam)

Featuring  - Mammootty, Kamalinee Mukherjee, Suresh Krishna, Siddique

Director - Shaji N Karun

A completely different track from what we're used to hearing as part of film soundtracks, this song was an essential part of the 'chavittunaadakam' portions in Shaji N Karun's award winning Kutty Srank. It was just great to see Mammootty performing this song in the Chavittunaadakam format along with Bengali actress Kamalini Mukherjee. Singer Rajalakshmi missed  a National Award by a whisker for this beautiful song composed by Issac Thomas Kottukappilly. A completely different experience. 

5. Njaan Kanavil Kandoru Kanmaniyaal (Aagathan)

Music - Ouseppachan

Singers - Ranjith, Shwetha Mohan

Lyrics - Kaithapram Damodaran Namboothiri

Featuring - Dileep, Charmmee

Director - Kamal

Another beautiful melody, this time from composer Ouseppachan for his long time friend Kamal. The song appears in two versions - male and female, at different points in the film. Ranjith and Shwetha have given vocals to them respectively, and the young singers have done a brilliant job. Ouseppachan's tune is fresh, youthful and romantic. Kaithapram's lyrics are wonderful as well. Dileep has never looked so good in the recent past and Charmmee was a welcome break from all the usual Malayalam film heroines. She looked hot and gorgeous at the same time. And there were some great visuals by cinematographer Ajayan Vincent as well. 

5. Nila Nila (Tournament)

Music - Deepak Dev

Singers - Karthik, Megha

Lyrics - Vayalar Sarath Chandra Varma

Featuring - Manu, Rupa Manjari

Song Director - Amal Neerad

Director - Lal

The 5th position is also shared by this fantastic song by Deepak Dev for Lal's Tournament. The movie was a flop, but this song is still a huge hit and the major factor for that is Karthik's powerhouse singing. One of the best singers we have in the country today, Karthik's vocals for this song takes it to another level completely. Megha also supports him in the song. This song was directed by Amal Neerad for the film which was being directed by Lal. Newcomers Manu and Rupa Manjari featured in this slickly shot song at Amal's favourite location - the beach at Rameshwaram and yea, there's ample slow motion in this song also. :P

4. Lolalolamayi (Nayakan)

Music - Prashant Pillai

Singer - Preethi Pillai

Lyrics - Sachidanandan Puzhankara

Featuring - Indrajith, Kalasala Babu, Jagathy Sreekumar

Director - Lijo Jose Pellissery 

A wonderful track written by Sachidanandan Puzhankara, composed by AR Rahman's protege Prashant Pillai for newcomer Lijo Jose Pellissery's visually stunning Nayakan. This song featured in the flashback segement of the movie showcasing the growing up years of its hero Indrajith along with his Kathakali master father Kalasala Babu. Prashant introduced a fantastic new female singer called Preethi Pillai through this gem of a song. The visuals, with vibrant colors from the Kathakali pallette were captured effectively by cinematographer Manoj Paramahamsa under the eye of director Lijo. Sadly, this song didnt get the recognition or popularity it deserved since the movie wasnt a major success. Yet for the people who've seen the movie or listened to the song, it will be hard to forget it. 

3. Neeyam Thanalinu (Cocktail)

Music - Ratheesh Vega

Singers - Vijay Yesudas, Thulasi Yatheendran

Lyrics - Anil Panachooran

Featuring - Anoop Menon, Samvritha Sunil

Director - Arun Kumar

Yet another great duet, this time with Vijay Yesudas and newcomer Thulasi Yatheendran doing the vocals for the new composer Ratheesh Vega's tune. An instant hit, this song became hugely popular because of its fresh appeal, wonderful vocals, lovely lyrics and slick visuals. Anoop Menon and Samvritha Sunil looked very good together in this romantic track. And director Arun Kumar came up with some really slick and stylish visuals. Vijay Yesudas goes on ahead to prove that he is indeed his father's son when it comes to singing as he's growing better with each song he sings. 

2. Arikathaayaaro Paadunnundo (Bodyguard)

Music - Ouseppachan

Singer - Ranjith

Lyrics - Kaithapram Damodaran Namboothiri

Featuring - Dileep, Nayanthara, Mithra Kurian

Choreographer - Prabhu Deva

Director - Siddique

Another wonderful song from Ouseppachan. This song was one of the first hits of the year 2010 and remained popular throughout the year. Ranjith's vocals oozed with romance and the track also had another version which had Shwetha and Madhu Balarkishnan as the vocalists. The song choreographed by Prabhu Deva (on special request by Nayanthara?) had Dileep in search of his unknown lover when she (Nayanthara) was there right next to him. The video had the right mix of romance and humour and worked very well. Nayanthara looked great and Dileep's humour worked much more than his turn as a romantic hero. 

1. Aaro Paadunnu Doore (Kadha Thudarunnu)

Music - Ilaiyaraaja

Singers - Hariharan, KS Chitra

Lyrics - Vayalar Sarath Chandra Varma

Featuring - Asif Ali, Mamta Mohandas

Director - Sathyan Anthikkad

Undoubtedly the best song of the year belongs to Maestro Ilaiyaraaja. Veteran singers Hariharan and KS Chitra showed why they're still the best in this lovely romantic composition for Sathyan Anthikkad's Katha Thudarunnu. The video featured the young star Asif Ali and the beautiful Mamta Mohandas and the chemistry between the two was adorable. Shot in picturesque locations by cinematographer Venu, this was melody at its best. Even though Hariharan's slight accent problem is jerky initially, the beauty of the song manages to camouflage all that. And KS Chitra's voice is just out of this world. A favourite among the audience even now, this beautiful Raaja Sir composition is sure to live on for years to come. 

There were several other very good songs this year such as - Swapnam Oru Chakk (Best Actor - Bijibal), Pontharakame (Aathmakatha - Alphonse), Athira (Apoorvaragam - Bijibal), Malayali Penne (Karyasthan - Bernie Ignatious), Ithile Thozhi (Elsamma Enna Aankutty - Rajamani), Kinavile Janalakal (Pranchiyettan & The Saint - Ouseppachan), Maavin Chottile (Oru Naal Varum - MG Sreekumar) and some more. But unfortunately, they couldnt make it to the list, as the list was already jam packed with great songs. Its nice to see that finally, some good music is coming out of our industry which has faced severe crisis in the music department upon the demise of Raveendran Mash.