Romance and the Sea

I had thought that the first movie that I would watch this year was to be Mili of Nivin Pauly-Amala Paul pair, but that didn’t happen. Then I thought that it could still be the first Indian movie and then I hoped for it to be the first Malayalam movie. But no, that is not going to happen soon as it seems. So, I choose another movie to be the first Malayalam flick that I watch in the theatre – it should be Mariyam Mukku as far as things don’t change as of now.

Coming from LJ Films who rarely go wrong, Mariyam Mukku is something that raises the hopes for almost everyone. There are other superstar movies with the same release date, which raises a big challenge for January the twenty third. But this movie’s visuals and some of the songs have created a nice feeling which makes one highly inclined towards watching this flick. ***All images used in this blog post are from the Official Facebook Page of the movie: https://www.facebook.com/MariyamMukkuOfficial

With sincere hopes and prayers than this wouldn’t be the slowest movie of the year like Annayum Rasoolum managed to be in a terrible January. From what it seems, this movie has got the strength to do another one of such romantic stories, more beautiful and a lot faster, without all the uninteresting things that clouded Annayum Rasoolum. Mariyam Mukku could be the best love story featuring Fahadh Faasil. Romance should be at the core of the movie according to what is known, and there is always something about sea and romance.

Coming back to our main actor, I think that this a character which can fit for him so well, even as he has been doing so many characters to perfection, bringing variety like no other young star in Malayalam cinema. I would say that this is another role which opens up yet another opportunity for him to show his calibre. This should be his movie of the year, just like his last year’s movie of the year Iyobinte Pusthakam was also the best of the year.

Meanwhile, Sana Althaf seems to be a nice choice as she makes her heroine debut here. She was a very interesting anchor in Surya Music; I haven’t been much a follower of music, so what I remember about her is “sadness of not going to Ooty” related to that My Show programme which I have never completely watched. I think I mostly just saw those ads which came in between. I guess I am not that “cool”; and yet that is a lack of title that I shall always be proud about. But the fact remains that she looks very suitable for this character from the teaser and the trailer.

The music is pretty good from what I have heard and visuals of the sea are also captivating. The movies based on sea has a good chance of bringing the best of out actors and making an impression on the viewers, and I am keeping my expectations high with this one. This is also the season Kochi Biennale and therefore the coastal areas are the more attractive things around this time. The force is surely strong here, and the romance should be of a higher level; there is the feeling of high intensity in serenity – as beautiful and as powerful as the sea itself.

The choice of this weekend should therefore be this movie for me, and a possible release of Mili would make me confused between the two. I shall wish these two movies best luck, and I hope Mariyam Mukku is as good as I feel it to be, and turns out to be an interesting movie for the audience. May the love story of Felix and Salomi be remembered forever. I will leave you with a teaser of the movie, as the trailer might only give a mixed feeling:

TeNy

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Does it Really Feel Good?

There have been so many so called “feel-good” movies, and it makes one wonder if it is a title which is just used because there is nothing else could used to describe that movie. There has been too much use of that word to describe the recent movies, even the recently released Bangalore Days which actually has nothing to feel that good with even motherhood given no positive points. So many other movies have been asking for that title, or have adorned the movie like a colourless garland. Is it too easy to make some people feel good, or do they make themselves feel good by pressing a button after watching any movie?

So what does feel-good mean? Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary says it is “causing happy and positive feelings about life”, and this is where Bangalore Days completely misses out. But the fans of the movie have been wandering around forcing people to accept their opinions, as it includes fans of too many actors who are part of the multi-starrer. This has become a new device to make bad movies good – a “feel-good movie”. They said the same about Salalah Mobiles, Pattam Pole and Annayum Rasoolum, none of them having that element and are pretty much among the worst.

The poster of North 24 Kaatham (Cropped from movie’s official page)

To this world of fake feel-good movies, North 24 Kaatham comes and proves to the audience that a true feel-good movie is not about what the fans say, and it can only be understood by the people whose eyes are not tied by the black clothing of celebrity worship. Even as movies like Immanuel, Punyalan Agarbathis and London Bridge do have a certain amount of this feel-good effect, there is nothing like the one cent percent feel-good influence that North 24 Kaatham has on the audience. The winner of Best Feature Film in Malayalam in the 2013 National Film Awards and getting the Best Actor for Fahadh Faasil in the State Film Awards, the movie is making more marks.

The movie has the protagonist going on a journey, and ends up on the road with two strangers on a harthal day with no means of transportation. Our hero is a geek and an introvert with OCD who is not liked by his colleagues. But this wonderful journey will change him in such a way that he is able to go beyond his problems. The journey is woven very nicely with significant lessons at almost every point of the tale. The other two people are also interesting ones, an older honest politician and a social worker. The aim of the journey changes to another one which involves getting the old veteran home as his wife is seriously ill.

The movie has a hero who doesn’t speak much, and the more heroic deeds are rather performed by the female protagonist. She is the smarter and the more active participant of the journey. This is a road movie, and lets not deny its role in the genre, and unlike the movies like Neelakasham Pachakadal Chuvanna Bhoomi, this is not a selfish one, but a powerful message to help others rather than saying that much known dialogue about one deciding his own life and how others don’t really matter. This movie from Anil Radhakrishnan Menon is also a bildungsroman, a story in which the protagonist changes or even gets better over the tale progresses.

Innovative posters by Shilpa Alexander (Cropped from movie’s official FB page)

North 24 Kaatham is a movie that keeps the humanity’s hopes alive for a better tomorrow, and its message of compassion and kindness makes sure that it gives a lot for the audience to be happy about, and obviously feel good. It will play a significant role in restoring faith in humanity sooner or later as we are fed with dumb movies full of mindless violence and sex. The celebrity worshipers, the fans of the worst kind will take it over and praise those movies as greater than whatever movies are known to man, with a ten out of ten rating. There were good and sensible people among them, but where are they? Nowhere to be found in the open?

The main problem which this movie also faced was with the fan-boys and fan-girls, and this was a movie for them to dislike because of its goodness. The interesting thing is that most of them can only use abusive language or illogical excuses without watching the movie. There will be good movies and there is hope in all movie industries, but for that, the fan clubs have to learn to behave instead of abusing other movies and the makers just in the name of appreciating bad superstar movies. The procedure of expressing one’s opinion in a decent way seems to be unknown to some people. This movie could somehow rise above it, but should have had an even better response.

TeNy