Sagar Alias Jacky - Review

A 2nd part to a movie originally released a decade back.. Sounds interesting due to 2 good reasons - the original film was a super duper smash hit. And reason 2 - coz of reason1, the expectations are sky-high.

But then, they say it is "not the 2nd part of the 20th century" - quoted from the title song. The title song is one good thing about the movie. Nice rap and nicely done song.

The movie has nothing much to talk about. A very weak story-line, nothing gripping in the plot, a heavily outgrown hero romancing a girl half his age (whats new?). Obviously the movie is a disappointment in all these trades.

But then I liked the movie ! The cinematography is simply superb. And it is so stylish a Malayalam movie. Undoubtedly the most stylish movie so far. (Mammootty starrer BigB comes very close by). The man behind the camera is the director himself. Amal Neerad. I dont remember seeing this name anywhere else though..

Well done, Amal !

Pazhassi Raja - A Constructive Review

Let me get straight into the verdict.

With due respect to the crew and kudos to the idea and implementation, it was nothing but throughly mis-cast actors and lacklustre fight scenes that disappointingly bring down the expectations of the viewer. Barring Sarath Kumar, Padmapriya and Manoj K Jayan, rest of the character portrayals were disappointing. Not that I'm an A+ in History. But when you embrace the idea of filming a movie based on freedom struggle, you OUGHT to pay special attention to the acrobatics. The fights were nothing but mockery.

The movie is still fresh in my mind. I recollect only 2 occasions of applauses while inside the cinema. One was when the following lines were printed on the screen:

Special Thanks

Mohanlal

And the 2nd was a spirited act by Sarath Kumar when he went to the British Collector with a message from Pazhassi.

So where did the director get it all wrong ?

1. Casting, as I told, is one thing. Mammooty is a great actor. And when you cast him for a role that demands acrobatic maneouvres you should have your support crew ready - this involves camera-tricks and "realistic" graphics support. Both were missing.

2. Jagathy has seldom appeared in character roles. Rather, the crowd never can digest him in such roles. Coz they expect comedy and nothing else from him. Am attempt to get comedy out of him for a relatively serious role as in this movie was nothing but stupid.

3. The make-up works are worth not mentioning. Dont they get a lil more realistic looking moustache pieces ?

4. Fight scene - too much of attention at some places (why do they need to fly vertically up - the Matrix style?) and too less at some other (when Pazhassi locks sword with his most talented Army Chief, with the entire regiment looking on, there need to be some sparks)

5. The movie looked stretched too much. A song or two more?

So what are the take-aways ?

The story-telling part was good (this should be more of a negative f/b than a compliment)

I cant think of anything else.

The movie disappointed me.

Tail:

1. Geo seemed to have got it all wrong. He invited frowns from everyone around when he missed the syllables a little bit to say "Kerala Varma Parasuraman" :P

2. Thanks to a late start from home, and a heavily clogged highway, we (me and she) missed Geo's bday treat at McD :(

3. The movie started 10mins late, at 8.45. And it was 12.18 when we stepped out. Loooong !!

4. Of all the names, Sarath Kumar's character had the best one - Kunkan :)

5. All said and done, the film is reportedly raking in a lot of moolah all over Kerala..

You Have Changed A Lot

You dont have time for us...

How is life treating you these days ?

These are just a few of the 'write-able' lines I get to hear these days.

But why all of a sudden ?

B'caz I'm married !

Its not the first time that a sub-30 average looking fella got married. But then, perhaps an engineer-doctor combination would have amused a few. Yesterday a fella caught me on gtalk.

He: You got married ?

I : Yes, I did.. I had sent a group invitation..

He: What is she doing ?

I : She is a doctor at ABC hospital

He: Doctor ? Isnt it difficult to manage...blahblah..

Whats the big fuss ? IPC has no section that makes it difficult to live with a doc (for her, with an engr)

All said and done, here is another very popular question:

So how is life after marriage ? (this qn is not always as decent as is typed here :D)

After having evaded witfully from the first 17 instances of this question, I gave it a thought.

So, how really is life after marriage ? What has changed ? Let me try to bullet some things down

=> A constant (consistent) pillion rider

=> Familiar lines narrated by a new voice - "Lunch?" , "Dinner?", "Walk?", "How ws the day?"..

=> No through-ventilation in the night - the door ought to be locked, by all means

=> Not avid shoppers, both of us (good for me and my pocket :P)

=> Lesser time at work-from-home in front of the lapie

=> Suggestions, advices, gyaan ! (I make sure I'm seldom at the receiving end :D)

=> Better dressing sense (from NIL to some sense!)

=> The one-point-stop for all the household engineering needs

(read, tightening the cooker screw, re-filling mineral water can and all such similar "extreme" engineering activities)

=> A few envious bachelor faces (the frown on their face tells - ivanum pennu kitto ? athum oru doctor pennu! )

=> And not to forget, FREE treatments! (medical, i meant :D)

Tail:

1. After outlining a hi-fi mega super duper honeymoon trip abroad, we finally managed to pay a visit to Ooty. (Which abroad country hosts Ooty in it? :-S )

2. If you thought stretching a few hours, seated in a cozy cushion chair in AC room is the toughest thing to do, then there are somethings to learn from docs. No sitting, no proper food-timings and lot of hopeful eyes on you... A bug in code is better by miles.

So go code bugs ;-))