Movies Around You

It’s the end of a year. This year was filled with a lot surprises. Each film that I went with a huge expectation led to disappointment. The big heroes continue to graze the barren land and new directors/ actors presented us wonderful films. Good content films released at frequent interval quenched our thirst for good film. Another happy thing about this year films is that they started telling stories with strong women characters. The female characters/performances that I loved are Sshivada (Adhe Kangal), Aditi Rao Haidari (Kaatru Veliyidai), Anushka and Ramya Krishnan (Baahubali 2), Shraddha Srinath (Vikram Vedha), Andrea (Tharamani), Nayanthara ( Aramm), Anisha Victor(Aval) and Aditi Balan (Aruvi). The best male performance was surprisingly dominated by character artists rather than heroes. My favourite are MS Baskar (8 Thottakal), Raj Kiran (Pa pandi), Anand Sami (Lens), Madhavan & Vijay Sethupathi (Vikram Vedha), Vasanth Ravi (Tharamani), Barathi Raja (Kurangu Bommai),

Cast: Sivakarthikeyan, Nayanthara, Fahad Fazil, Rohini Music: Anirudh Direction: Mohan Raja Mohan Raja decides to narrate the core problem from the first scene. The narration dialogue in the opening relating genetic disorder and social hierarchy tells the director has brought us another social issue. The problem which Arivu (Sivakarthikeyan) face gets dedicated attention. The story and screenplay is written around the problem which get rids of unnecessary contents. Yet we get a duet song post interval which seems misfit. Arivu’s character is brilliantly written and its Sivakarthikeyan’s best in his career. He opens a radio station for his slum and he wants to awake his slum people from certain misguided things. This trait becomes huge as film progress and now he cares for whole nation. The stories inside the slum and the main problem get linked in a marvellous way. The scene that relates two different professions is amazing. The film has many characters and not

Cast: Aditi Balan, Lakshmi Gopalswami Music: Bindhu Malini, Vedanth Bharadwaj Direction: Arun Prabhu Purushothoman Before the film I glimpsed at the trailer, which I generally do for every film. This normally gives me an insight of the film or what to expect? While most of the films don’t deliver what trailer promises. Aruvi  is also on similar lines, but it's other way round, exceeds your expectations. The film opens up with an investigation about Aruvi ( Aditi Balan), which reveals her past ( The details are revealed from different persons like in the movie ‘Ctizen Kane’). As the past of Aruvi is revealed an ambiguity sets in and we seem lost at a certain point of time. But that’s what keeps us glued to the film and when everything is put together, we are into a surprise. The lengthy dialogue before the interval is brilliant and it can be called as female version of 'dialogue out of frustration' as male version is done by Sivaji in Parasakthi. ( coinci

Cast: Fahadh Fazil, Suraj Venjaramoodu, Nimisha Sajayan Music: Bijibal           Direction: Dileesh Pothan The story building in Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum is what makes the film interesting to watch.  Prasad (played by Suraj Venjaramoodu, who became my favourite after this film) walks off from a drama saying that he will catch cold siting in the cold night. The next scene, in the morning, he goes to a medical shop to buy medicines where he see Sreeja (played by Nimisha) buying a pregnancy test kit. This makes Prasad gossip about her, which in turn makes Sreeja to talk with Prasad. This story building is supported by the cinematographer. Most scenes first introduce an atmosphere and then the actual scene relating to the story. Look at the scene where Sreeja’s chain is swallowed by Prasad (played by Fahadh Fazil) in a bus and the passengers decide to take him to police station. The next scene involves a person who fetches water as a punishment and pleading to an of

Cast: Siddharth, Andrea Jeremiah , Anisha Victor Music: Girishh Direction: Miland Rau Indian horror films have created a separate genre called ‘Horror Comedy’. I am happy that Aval is not a film of that genre. It’s a pure horror film though it opens with a love song showing how Krish ( played by Siddharth) met Lakshmi (played by Andrea) and fell in love. The cinematography was so wonderful with different colours that I wished the film could have been a rom-com. As the movie progress, the cinematography is well balanced; showing beautiful landscapes of Himalayas and frightening horror movements inside the house. The sound design is another feature that intensifies the horror moments. Just the sound without visual would even bring in some fear in you. The first half has certain scary horror scenes. Anisha Victor’s acting is wonderful, especially the interval scene, making Aval a dream debut for her. The interval feels like a climax, once it’s over it creates a cu