Section: Movies
Murungakkai Chips Trailer Starring Shanthnu Bhagyaraj, Athulya Ravi
Movie – Murungakkai Chips
Music Director : Dharan Kumar
Cast: Shanthnu Bhagyaraj, Athulya Ravi
Director: Srijar
Producer: Libra Ravindhar Chandrasekaran
Andhra Pradesh Government Announces Relief Measures to State Film Industry
The Andhra Pradesh government issued an order providing relief measures to the state’s film industry and movie theatres to support them recover the losses incurred during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The state’s information and public relations department issued a press release on Tuesday to make the announcement.
In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, theatres across the world were shut down since the worldwide lockdown in March 2020.
The order mentioned that the representatives of the Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce (TFCC) had called Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy in June 2020 and submitted a memorandum explaining the “difficult situations through which they are passing and requesting to extend reliefs to the film industry to keep them going on without further loss”.
Keeping that in view, the state government waived fixed electricity charges of the theatres and provided financial support to the stakeholders through an interest subvention scheme to restart their operations that will help the film industry and benefit the individuals belonging to the industry whose livelihoods were affected the most from it.
According to the statement, the government has waived off fixed electricity charges for the months of April, May and June 2020 and has also deferred payment of fixed electricity charges for the period of six months from July to December 2020 for all theatres including multiplexes as a part of the relief measures.
The state government acknowledged that the film industry contributes to the state exchequer in the form of GST, besides providing livelihood to scores of people.
Further, the government said it would provide a 50% interest subvention subject to a maximum limit of 4.5% per annum for loans availed by cinema theatre owners from banks.
“The maximum loan amount upto which interest subvention will be given is Rs 10 lakh for A and B centres and Rs 5 lakh for C centres. The interest subvention will be applicable for a period of one year after the moratorium period of six months. This package is not applicable to multiplexes,” the statement said.
Actor Jayam Ravi’s 29th Film to be Directed by ‘Annaatthe’ Co-Writer Antony Bhagyaraj
Jayam Ravi, the actor who was last seen in the Tamil action drama Bhoomi, will be collaborating with film writer Antony Bhagyaraj for an upcoming project, sources close to the film unit confirmed to Silverscreen India on Wednesday.
No announcement about the film has been made yet.
According to sources, the film will be backed by Home Movie Makers, the production banner owned by the actor’s mother-in-law Sujataa Vijay Kumar. She has previously produced Ravi’s Bhoomi and 2018 action thriller Adanga Maru.
The film, which will be Ravi’s 29th film and is yet to be titled, will be Antony’s directorial debut. He will also write the story, and dialogues. Antony has previously worked as one of the co-writers in action thriller Irumbu Thirai (2018) and Ajith-starrer Viswasam (2019).
On condition of anonymity, the source told Silverscreen India: “Though there are news reports saying the shooting will start in July or August, but it has not yet been decided. Due to the ongoing Covid issue, a few film shootings that were ongoing have also come to a halt. In such a scenario, the tentative date as to when the shooting for this film will start is not yet confirmed. Jayam Ravi also has other projects, including Mani Ratnam’s Ponniyin Selvanm that have to be completed. This has to be taken into account. If all goes well, the shooting will start shortly.”
While the script and dialogues of Ravi’s upcoming film have been nearly completed, the lead female actor and other cast members has not yet been decided, the source said.
Asked when the film would be announced officially, the source said that it has not yet been decided due to the ongoing pandemic situation and that team has been waiting for the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly elections to get over.
Meanwhile, Antony is awaiting the releases of Annaatthe featuring Rajinikanth and Nayanthara, and GV Prakash Kumar’s Bachelor, where he has worked as co-writer and additional dialogue writer respectively.
Ravi, on the other hand, is part of Mani Ratnam’s magnum opus multi-starrer historical drama Ponniyin Selvan. The actor will also collaborate with director Kalyanakrishnan for his 28th film, produced by Screen Scene.
Joji Review: Dileesh Pothan Ventures into the Wild in this Fascinating Film
Houses, like people, must have a key, the turn of which would solve its myths and puzzles and lead the seeker to its essence. In Dileesh Pothan’s third directorial Joji, a pond recurs as the venue of nightmares and mishaps. A spot from where the film’s central location, the house of the Panachel family, looks like a target from a hunter’s viewfinder. The key to the tragedy that falls on the family.
The house is frequently looked at from a distance, in long and aerial shots in the middle of a thick green plantation, away from human settlement. The swooping shots of the landscape and the music in the opening sequence might remind one of the descent into hell at the beginning of Stanley Kubrick’s Shining. Pothan locates the house as a theatre of horror but with a twist. Here, evil dresses up in mundaneness.
Courage appears in different guises in the Panachel family. Kuttappan (Sunny PN), the patriarch, wears it on his chest like a medallion. Jomon (Babu Raj), the elder son, treasures it like a gift inherited from his forefathers, Jaison (Joji Mundakkayam) laments the lack of it. Joji (Fahadh Faasil), the youngest offspring with the weakest physical attributes, trades courage for his innate talent for deception.
Pothan uses offhanded black humour to narrate the tale of this bourgeois family, a loose adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Kuttappan is a dragon sitting on an enormous treasure, guarding it closely from his family members whom he doesn’t trust. After he falls sick, he moves to a room on the top floor with a view from where he supervises the compound.
The household is clean but bland, not just in terms of the emotions that are allowed to be expressed within it, but also the physical elements that make it up- the unevenness of its interior design, the ordinariness of the furniture. The residents are prisoners of the dragon whose voice echoes in the house’s chambers even after his death.
The filmmaking is starkly different from that of Jayaraj who has, in the past, brought several Shakesperean tales to Malayalam cinema. If Jayaraj used ethnic elements (Kalari, Theyyam) as a device to express the insides of the tragedy, Pothan approaches the story matter-of-factly, capturing scenes from the household in a detached fashion with definite shades of an operetta. This approach is visible even in instances like the one where Bincy (Unnimaya), the only woman in the Panachel family, weeps quietly, exasperated over the cowardice of the man she is married to. The viewer gets only a half-hearted profile view.
Bincy is the story’s Lady Macbeth who, in the Shakespearean drama, participates in the film’s core crime that stems from greed. Here, she is a passive onlooker who, in the end cannot differentiate between the sin of wishing for a person’s death and the act of committing a murder.
This austerity, or call it a stiff impersonality, makes the film leap to a zone Pothan isn’t known for. In his Maheshinte Prathikaram and Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum, the narrative ached for the underdog. Here, he seeks to inspect the mind of a psychopath. The camera fetishistically follows Joji as he hits out at everything around him with a strange vengeance. The viewer walks with the horror, watches Joji scheme and manipulate.
Jomon (Babu Raj), the only character the spectator is allowed to empathise with, leads one through the tragedy closing in on the Panachel family. There is something so pure about him; his infinite confidence in his masculinity and the uncorrupted, almost infant-like love he has for his father. The only instance of violence in the film unfolds in a deadpan fashion, almost like a cruel joke that the viewer would feel guilty for laughing. The film storms past the moment as though it is in a hurry to see the end of everything.
While it looks like he is consumed by an absurd sense of confidence and greed, it doesn’t seem like he is a brilliant schemer. Like a noxious weed that usurps a field, spreading its roots wherever nature pulls it towards, Joji goes about wrecking the institution Kuttappan had built with so much care. The collapse of the family seems like an act of destiny.
Justin Varghese’s music and Shyju Khalid’s cinematography are remarkable, signalling the emotional and spatial shifts in a thoroughly controlled yet evocative fashion. They pair the darkness settled inside the household with the clear skies and the lush greenery outside, creating an interesting sense of disjointedness.
Fahadh has become a showman who forcefully takes over a character than internalise him. Joji seems severely out of place in many scenes and yet not very detrimental to the film’s tone. He coolly ignores the line that separates a tragedy from a spoof (“If it is violence he wants, so be it”) and invades the film’s centre stage as the emotionally elusive clown. In stark contrast with this narcissistic performance is Babu Raj and Unnimaya subtly conveying their inner conflicts as though no one is watching them. There are several delicious moments in Babu Raj’s performance, like the scenes post the funeral where he starts lurking around Joji, taking note of every sign.
Calling Joji a less gratifying work as compared to Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum doesn’t diminish its worth. Even the rough edges of Joji have an alluring tenderness. Most of all, it is heartening to know that Pothan is not a filmmaker who aims for greatness but an adventure. Pursuit of the hitherto unknown or an adrenaline rush that forms the basis of every act of artmaking.
****
The Joji review is a Silverscreen original article. It was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the film. Silverscreenindia.com and its writers do not have any commercial relationship with movies that are reviewed on the site.
Western Cine Employees Association Appeals to Actors to Reduce Staff on Shoots as Covid-19 Cases Surge in Maharashtra
The Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) has appealed to reduce staff members on the sets of film and series shooting. In an interview with The Times of India, BN Tiwari, president of FWICE, said that they are redrafting the SOPs for the artists and will be mentioning the minimum number of staff that can be on set.
Tiwari said, “Actors thought that Corona had gone and started getting 10 members including bodyguards, managers, make-up people and hairstylists with them, each had more than one assistant.”
Tiwari said that in 2020, the government’s guidelines for safety during Covid-19 had mentioned that artists are encouraged to complete their make-up at home and report on sets with minimal staff. It was also advised that trials and fittings should be done at the actor’s residence and video calls should be used for other important pre-production requirements.
Tiwari’s interview comes in the wake of several Hindi film actors testing positive for Covid-19. With relaxed guidelines, shoots for several films including Bell Bottom, Ram Setu, Bhool Bhulaiya 2, and others had either resumed or started. In the past month, actors like Ranbir Kapoor, Aamir Khan, Fatima Sana Shaikh, R Madhavan, Kartik Aaryan have tested positive for the virus.
While Katrina Kaif announced on Instagram on Tuesday that she tested positive for Covid-19, on Sunday Akshay Kumar, who was shooting for Ram Setu, announced on Twitter that he had tested positive for Covid-19 and was hospitalised. Actor Vicky Kaushal also took to Instagram on Monday to announce that he was Covid positive.
On April 1, Alia Bhatt announced that she was infected and was under home quarantine.
Maharashtra, on Monday, recorded 47,288 new cases of Covid-19. The state government, considering the growing number of cases, announced a weekend lockdown and night curfew during the weekdays from Monday to 30 April. Although theatres and drama complexes have to be shut, film and television shoots are permitted as long as they follow safety protocols.
Operation JuJuPi Teaser Starring Chaams
Starring Chaams, Written & Directed by #Arunkanth – A Political Fantasy, releasing in Cinemas on 7th May 2021 – A Bi-Lingial Feature Film (English & Tamil)
Synopsis : A Wild Dream of a Common Man to transform the nation into a place of happy living with a magical master plan, ‘ OperationJuJuPi ‘.
Cast :
Chaams
Vinodhini Vaidynathan
Jagan
Badava Gopi
Manobala
Raaghav Ranganathan
Santhana Bharathi
Venkat Subha
Vaiyapuri
Mounicka
Vinoth Sridhar
Riyaz Ahamed
Sriram
Barani
Mahesh
Ezhil
Crew :
Arunkanth : Writer, Director, Music Composer, Sound Designer & Colorist
Sukumaran Sundar : Cinematographer
Vinoth Sridhar : Editor
Maven & Jayaraj : Asst. Dirs
Shankar Raja & Sakthi : Asst. Cinematographers
Produced by : Arunkanth, Info Pluto Media Works
Vishal Furia to Direct Hindi Remake of Vikrant Massey-Starrer ‘Forensic’
The Hindi remake of the Malayalam film Forensic will be directed by Vishal Furia and written by Vishal Kapoor, Mini Films announced on Sunday on their social media account.
Mansi Baga, the founder of Mini Films had acquired the Hindi remake rights of Forensic in December 2020.
Furia told Silverscreen India that the film was in the pre-production stage and the casting was in progress. He said that an announcement regarding some of the cast members will be made soon.
It was earlier announced that actor Vikrant Massey will be seen in the Hindi remake.
“Vikrant is currently busy with another project and unfortunately also tested positive for Covid-19. Once he is fine and finished his current commitment, we will start with the film’s workshops, and hopefully very soon go on floors,” Furia said.
Furia has earlier directed Massey in Hotstar’s Criminal Justice.
The director also told Silverscreen India that while the earlier plan was to start the shoot in a couple of months, it might change due to the Covid-19 situation.
Forensic is a crime and mystery thriller starring Tovino Thomas as the protagonist. It released in theatres in February 2020 and is available for streaming on Netflix. The story revolves around a forensic officer who uses his skills to catch a psychotic serial killer whose victims are little girls. The film also featured Mamta Mohandas, Reba Monica John, Renji Panicker, Dhanesh Anand, and Saiju Kurup in prominent roles.
While the original film was “lovely”, Furia said that it can be better.
“The story can be told for a pan-India audience in a better way with stronger characters and different drama. There is a lot of scope to make the film better which is why I agreed to do it. This remake has quite a few changes and it will almost look like a new film. There will be a new elements that will be brought in,” he said.
Talking about Massey’s casting, Furia said that the actor was cast first which was followed by the producers approaching Furia to direct the film.
Massey will be stepping into Tovino’s shoes in the Hindi remake. Massey is also part of Santosh Sivan’s Mumbaikar, the Hindi remake of Lokesh Kanagaraj’s Tamil film Maanagaram. The actor, who tested positive for Covid-19 on March 28, had been shooting Love Hostel directed by Shanker Raman.
Massey is waiting for the release of Vinil Mathew’s Haseen Dillruba, which co-stars Taapsee Pannu in the lead role. The film, produced by Aanand L Rai and Himanshu Sharma under the banner Colour Yellow Productions will release on Netflix later this year.
Share Prices of INOX, PVR Dip 8% After Maharashtra Shuts Theatre Doors on Weekends
Share prices of multiplex chains INOX Leisure and PVR dipped 8% each after the Maharashtra government on Sunday declared a total weekend lockdown in the state till April 30 amid an alarming rise in Covid-19 cases in the state.
As per the Bombay Stock Exchange, while share prices of PVR declined by 8.5%, INOX Leisure saw a dip of 8%.
The prices dropped after the announcement that shopping malls, theatres, video clubs, gaming centres, cinema halls, and other entertainment zones will remain shut for the rest of the month after the sudden spike of Covid cases in the state. This will be the second time that the cinema halls will take a hit due to the pandemic. They were shut from March 2020 to mid-October 2020 owing to the nationwide lockdown.
According to the state’s health department, Sunday saw the highest number of daily cases in 2020, standing at 57,074. Out of the 10 cities that account for 50% of the total Covid-19 cases in the country, eight are from Maharashtra- Pune, Mumbai, Nagpur, Thane, Nashik, Aurangabad, Ahmednagar and Nanded.
The lockdown on weekends will be implemented from 8 pm on Fridays till 7 am on Mondays.
Prohibitory orders will be in force during daytime on weekdays, the chief minister’s office said in a statement. Except for essential services shops, medical shops and grocery shops, all other shops, markets and shopping malls will be closed till April 30. The state government imposed night curfew and Section 144, under which no more than five people will be allowed to gather in public places. During the weekdays, no one is allowed to move in public places without a valid reason.
While medical stores, hospitals, essentials stores, and transportation will keep functioning, all entertainment activities have been brought to a halt. Filming or shooting of films is allowed across the country under certain regulations.
Big-banner films like Akshay Kumar’s Sooryavanshi, Rana Daggubati’s Haathi Mere Saathi and Ranveer Singh’s 83, have postponed their release dates.
The state government’s decision comes amid the Multiplex Association of India and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry requesting Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray not to impose another lockdown in the state.
Sooryavanshi: Makers of the Akshay Kumar, Katrina Kaif Starrer Film Postpone Release Yet Again
The release of Sooryavanshi, the upcoming Hindi film starring Akshay Kumar, has been postponed again due to the rising number of Covid-19 cases in India and especially in Maharastra. The Rohit Shetty directorial was set to release on April 30.
According to PTI, the makers of the film attended a meeting with Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday and decided to push the release date considering the situation in the state.
The film was initially set to release on March 24, 2020, but due to the ongoing pandemic and the closure of theatres, the makers had to postpone the release.
The decision to push back the release date comes at a time when Maharashtra is facing the highest daily new Covid-19 cases in the country. On Sunday, the Maharastra government announced a weekend lockdown and night curfew during the weekdays from Monday to April 30. Although theatres have to be shut, film and television shoots are permitted while adhering to safety protocols. Maharashtra recorded 47,288 new cases on Monday, according to the state department’s health bulletin.
Besides Sooryavanshi, the release of Amitabh Bachchan-starrer Chehre, and Rana Daggubati‘s Haathi Mere Saathi were also postponed due to the alarming rise in Covid-19 cases in Maharashtra. While Chehre was set for an April 9 release, Haathi Mere Saathi had a March 26 release date.
However, Kangana Ranaut-starrer Thalaivi is still expected to release on April 23. Salman Khan and John Abraham will also release their films Radhe and Satyameva Jayate 2, respectively on May 13, on the occasion of Eid.
Sooryavanshi stars Katrina Kaif in the lead role, alongside Kumar. It is the fourth instalment of Shetty’s ‘cop universe’ films.
Reliance Entertainment and Rohit Shetty Picturez, in association with Dharma Productions and Cape of Good Films, are producing the film. While Gulshan Grover, Jackie Shroff, Abhimanyu Singh, and several others have landed prominent roles, Ajay Devgn and Ranveer Singh have made special appearances in the movie.
Helen: National Award Winning Malayalam Film’s Makers Look Back on Shared Vision and 5 Years of Hard Work
“If there’s one thing that made Helen, possible, it was a simple principle that we believed, work a little every day for the dream. Those baby steps shall open the doors of possibility,” says National Award-winning debut director Mathukutty Xavier.
The Malayalam survival thriller film won two awards- Best Debut Director (Mathukutty) and Best Makeup (Ranjith Ambady)– at the 67th National Film Awards.
The self-taught director says that winning the prestigious award was the result of five years of hard work and perseverance of the “team”. He shares the credit with his co-writers Alfred Kurian Joseph and Noble Babu Thomas who resonated his belief in the idea of “I am because we are”.
The film starring Anna Ben, Lal, Noble Babu Thomas, and Aju Varghese in a pivotal role is produced by Vineeth Sreenivasan and Noble under the banners Habit of Life and Big Bang Entertainments. In the film, the protagonist gets trapped in the meat-freezer at the restaurant. What follows in the latter half is the efforts of her father and boyfriend trying to find her while she tries to stay alive inside the freezer.
😇😇🙏🏻🙏🏻 pic.twitter.com/Yl5caIu14B
— Mathukutty Xavier (@mathukutty_here) March 23, 2021
In conversation with Silverscreen India, Mathukutty, Noble, and Kurian share the journey of three dreamers, one vision, and five years of hard work in making Helen a reality.
It all starts with a dream
Mathukutty’s love of watching movies started at a young age when he visited theatres to assist his father in supplying AD slides for the cinema screens.
“During school days, I along with my friends made a short film with a digital camera. While seniors made fun of us, primary children enjoyed it. That experience propelled my interest in filmmaking. From then on I did everything possible– watching YouTube tutorials, and sneaking into multimedia classes in college– to learn the skills. After completing my Bachelor’s in Animation and Graphic design, I worked as a graphic designer and a video producer for a few years. But things became difficult when I couldn’t juggle between my job and passion. There are times when our dream feels far away and that’s when we have a desperate urge to achieve it. This feeling made me quit my job in 2015 to follow my pursuit of filmmaking,” Mathukutty said.
“Later one day, I met my nursery friend Kurien with whom I discussed my idea and we instantly clicked. After working together for one year, our two-member team grew a size larger with Noble.”
Making Helen a reality
The trio wrote several scripts over five years but nothing kicked off due to various reasons, including the unavailability of dates of the artists. But with an undying zest, the team came up with a sure-shot plan: to make a film on a small budget with a story that revolves around one main character.
According to the team, films based on true events are “exciting and inspirational”. And one of the co-writers Kurien, who has a habit of collecting news clippings, landed on an article about a kitchen worker trapped in a walk-in freezer at a hotel in Atlanta. This paved way for Helen.
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“With this reference, we wrote the climax first. Though the story is about a girl getting trapped in a freezer, our main aim was to connect with the audience at an emotional level. It is a human instinct to feel for our loved ones when they are in a trouble. So, in the first half, we purposefully established father-daughter sentiments and a relatable world around Helen. This made a strong impact in the latter half as the audience felt for Helen when she was trapped,” Mathukutty said.
Speaking about the research that went into this project, Kurien said that the team visited various food outlet freezer stations in and around Kochi. “During the field visit, we realised that it was very difficult to endure such low temperature for a few minutes. We also consulted doctors to understand the medical conditions of persons being trapped in freezers and tried to find if there have been similar instances in other places. This laid a strong foundation for the script,” Kurien said.
One of the most appreciated aspects of the film was Helen’s make-up for the scenes shot inside the freezer. The film’s makeup artist Ranjith Ambady said that the references provided by the writers and the director were useful for him to create the exact look and the assistant directors helped to maintain the consistency.
Kurien said, “We had noted down the changes in the face and body at every stage during the scripting process. The specifications were noted across the scenes. Following which a photo shoot was done for various looks. Those were also attached to the respective scenes which were helpful while shooting.”
Teamwork makes dream work
After the major work of scripting was completed, the team contacted renowned Malayalam director, producer and actor Vineeth Sreenivasan for creative feedback. Noble recalled that the three narrated the story to Vineeth. “After the narrating the story till the interval block, we paused to know his opinion. However, his reply was unexpected; he asked us if he could produce the movie and we were blown away,” Noble said.
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The team said that Vineeth’s support to produce the film was a ray of hope. The project, which was completed in five months, released in November 2019 and garnered a positive response from the audience.
Asked about their bond and merits of working as a team, Mathukutty said that working together helps maintain discipline.
“We stop giving excuses as we respect the teammates time and effort. That apart, working with a team enhances the writing as there is a scope for multiple perspectives. I believe that a strong script is a foundation for a good film. For Helen, Kurien and Noble worked hard and the achievement is because of our collective efforts,” Mathukutty said.
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Noble, who co-produced the movie under the banner Big Bang Entertainment, essayed the role of Azhar in Helen. Speaking about his association with the film, he said that it was his debut as an actor and a screenwriter. “Being part of the writing team helped me understand the character better. I used to perform while writing the scenes.”
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Upcoming projects
The trio are working together on another project, which will be directed by Kurien. He said that his movie is yet another small budget family-oriented film that will be different from Helen.
After completing Kurien’s directorial, Mathukutty will helm a film written by Karthik and produced by Suvin Varkey and Prasobh Krishna.
Asked about his film releasing on OTT platforms, Mathukutty said, “In the wake of Covid-19 induced lockdown, cinema viewership among audience has increased as many of them have subscribed to OTT platforms. So I feel this is a great opportunity for content creators. Our job is to entertain the audience irrespective of the medium. I think both OTT and big screens will co-exist and it is our responsibility to adapt to the change. “
Amitabh Bachchan Replaces Late Actor Rishi Kapoor in Hindi Adaptation of ‘The Intern’, Starring Deepika Padukone
Amitabh Bachchan, the veteran Hindi actor, has joined the cast of the Hindi adaptation of The Intern, the 2005 American comedy drama, the film’s co-actor Deepika Padukone announced on social media on Monday.
Padukone also released the film’s poster.
Bachchan has been roped in a replacement for late veteran actor Rishi Kapoor. In January 2020, the makers had announced that the adaptation would star Kapoor and Padukone. While the production was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Kapoor died of cancer in April 2020.
Bachchan, who was last seen in filmmaker Shoojit Sircar’s Gulabo Sitabo in 2020, will mark his third collaboration with Padukone. They have previously worked together in Prakash Jha’s Aarakshan (2011) and Sircar’s Piku (2015).
The Intern stars Robert De Niro, and Anne Hathaway. Directed, written, and produced by Nancy Meyers, the film follows the unlikely friendship between a fashion company’s workaholic CEO (played by Hathaway) and a retired man (played by De Niro) who joins as an intern in the former’s company. In the Hindi version, while Padukone will essay Hathaway’s role, Bachchan will enact the role of De Niro.
The adaptation is set to directed by Amit Sharma, who has earlier helmed Badhaai Ho (2018), who is also serving as one of the co-producers of the film. The screenplay and dialogues will be written by Akshat Ghildial and Mitesh Shah. While Padukone will produce the film along with Sunir Kheterpal, the film will be co-produced by Aleya Sen, Hemant Bhandari, Gaurav Bose, and Sharma. The rest of the cast and crew members are yet to be announced.
The film is expected to release in the summer of 2022.
Meanwhile, both Bachchan and Padukone are awaiting the releases of their films. While the release of Bachchan’s mystery thriller Chehre was postponed from its April 9 date due to an increase in Covid-19 cases, Padukone will appear alongside her husband and actor Ranveer Singh in 83, a biopic on cricketer Kapil Dev, and in Pathan also featuring Shah Rukh Khan.
Mandela Review: Lessons In Democracy For Children
The village of Soorangudi is a microcosm of the big ugly world in Madonne Ashwin’s satire Mandela. Torn amid two warring wives from rival caste communities, two good-for-nothing sons and the mob that follow them around, the village’s supreme leader, a Periyarist, suffers a stroke. With an election around the corner and a humongous kickback awaiting the winner, the community leaders begin an aggressive campaign. The electorate living on either side of the caste line that divides the village is predictable. When the village’s only outlier (Yogi Babu), a Dalit barber living under a banyan tree, gets a new name and a voter ID, he becomes the village’s crucial swing voter.
For a mainstream comedy, Mandela begins terrifically, in a comic piece set around a newly-built toilet. The deadpan humour and the ethnographic punches hit the right notes. The men, brimming with machismo, wait for the Dalit man to clean the facility so that they can fight over its ownership. The supreme leader might be idealistic and idolised, but he has to seek the wives’ help to remove a light stain on his clothes.
But the social codes are painstakingly demonstrated for the viewer, spelling out every nuance of routine life in the village. The protagonist, who goes by the name Smile, gets into a car only to be slapped and thrown out by its upper-caste owner. Callous act, of course. But should this caste hostility come as a surprise for Smile who has lived on the village’s margins? Scenes as this one are, clearly, a performance, an explanatory staging of the film’s political commentary.
Mandela tries to put across a well-known message to the viewers, that electoral rights can change society. There are no surprises there. The state is taken for granted as a fair institution. The only places where Smile is treated as an adult with constitutional rights, a public bus and a post office, are parts of the state. The bus conductor asks Smile, who is sitting on the bus’s floor, to take a vacant seat. Thenmozhi, a newly appointed post-woman, reprimands him for treating himself inferior to everyone else in the village.
Smile is an impressionable man, whose self-consciousness is made of what the villagers make of him. He takes everything that comes his way. A new name suggested by a stranger. The freebies showered on him by the upper-caste leaders who would discard him once the election season is over. All the humiliation meted out to him because he knows no better. By treating the only adult representative of the lowest strata of the village as a nincompoop, Ashwin does a great disservice to the film’s essential message.
The film goes in ideological circles. Democracy is great, but politicians are bad. Voters are victims who will, upon the command of a hero, break the barriers they are confined within, and save the nation. The lower-caste underdog who loads himself on the freebies needs basic lessons in politics and social life.
Yogi Babu is one of the most interesting actors in Tamil cinema at the moment, with a great face and a sensitivity that isn’t common in mainstream space. His performance as Smile, the man who can’t remember the name his parents gave him, is evocative.
But Mandela, despite the humour notes and its witty basic idea, isn’t capable of stirring up a conversation on politics and society. It resorts to the usual drab, the Mudhalvan-shaped sloganeering, that might work with primary school children. For a society of adults that have lived through seven decades of democracy, this isn’t enough.
****
The Mandela review is a Silverscreen original article. It was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the film. Silverscreenindia.com and its writers do not have any commercial relationship with movies that are reviewed on the site.
Thaaram: Actor Nivin Pauly’s Next Film to be a Romantic Comedy
Malayalam actor Nivin Pauly’s next film has been titled Thaaram, the actor announced on social media on Sunday.
The makers released the first look motion poster of the film.
“We have been working on the poster alone for six months,” said Vivek Ranjit, who will be debuting as the solo screenwriter in Thaaram. He has also written the film’s story.
The film will be directed by Vinay Govind, who has previously directed Malayalam films, including Kili Poyi (2013) and Kohinoor (2015). Thaaram marks his first collaboration with Nivin.
Speaking to Silverscreen India, Vivek, who has worked on subtitles for 160 Malayalam films, including Lucifer, Drishyam 2, and Ayyappanum Koshiyum, said: “I had written a film earlier, Kili Poyi, but it was along with my friends, Joseph [Kurian] and Vinay who is the director of this film. It was the first stoner comedy in India. All of us had studied Visual Communication together at Loyola College in Chennai. We were all working under director VK Prakash sir at different stages. Joseph later went into the advertising industry. Vinay and I were working on this film. The script underwent a lot of developments and evolved into what it is now. We had narrated it to Nivin in 2014 and since then we were in discussions.”
Vivek said that the film will be a romantic comedy which is a “commercial entertainer with romance and comedy, songs, and dance”.
“It is very contemporary and we will have to see how we work around the Covid situation. We don’t want to show people in masks, so something like 2019 or post-Covid scenario,” he said.
“This is kind of a film that is full of comedy, fun, and happiness in theatres, that is what we are hoping for. It is a family drama. We don’t want to mention scary or sad things, so Corona would not be mentioned. We are seeing a happy, post-Corona space,” Vinay told Silverscreen India.
While the film will be shot in Kochi in Kerala and Darjeeling in West Bengal, the film is set against the backdrop of an urban space in Kochi.
“The movie industry functions in Kochi in Malayalam. The film is not about the movie industry but about a person who works in the movie industry. He is an actor. It can be called as a family entertainer,” Vivek said.
Vinay said that the film will go on floors later this year. “Keeping in mind Covid-19, also since most of the scenes need artists to shoot together, we are figuring about that as well,” he said.
Talking about the film’s dialogues, Vivek said: “After the casting, we will be working on the final [dialogue] draft before the shooting begins.”
Vivek said that he started to write for Thaaram and since it “took a long time to happen”, he continued to work on subtitles in Malayalam films.
“In 2015, I took my writing skills to use and it was the right time when Malayalam cinema was opening up and people were interested in our films. At the same time, I was also making more drafts to make the film better,” he said.
He said that the film will require a “big star cast” and announcements will follow soon and added that the pre-production will soon start. He said that the film will go on floors after Nivin wraps up his other work commitments.
Talking about Nivin’s casting, Vinay said, “This is kind of a genre Nivin is expected to do more. It was a long process. When he began to shoot for Premam, we pitched the idea of the film to him. He later rose to a different level of stardom and so we also looked into the script to see how it suits his stardom and fanbase,” Vinay said.
Extremely excited to present my first film as a solo screenwriter, #Thaaram, with the dearest of my friends- the director, my best friend @vinay_govind our hero, the fantastic actor & entertainer @NivinOfficial cinematographer #PradeeshVarma and music composer @rahulrajt. pic.twitter.com/st78T4iziL
— Vivek Ranjit (@vivekranjit) April 4, 2021
The filmmakers said that the lockdown proved to be fruitful for them to work on the script.
“During lockdown, we had a lot of time to sit and discuss in details and fix the shortcomings. We finally arrived at a good script and corona was a blessing for us. Vinay and I have been working together on this film. He is sharing additional screenplay credits as well,” Vivek said.
“We worked with ease since we know each other for a long and outside the cinema also. We meet every day and we don’t have creative differences and we like same genre of films,” Vinay said.
The director said that there will be known faces from the Malayalam industry, probably from Tamil also. “We are in process of the casting and not finalised it. By end of April, we will announce the female actor for the lead role,” he said.
The film’s technical crew consists of Pradeesh M Varma as the cinematographer, Rahul Raj as the music composer, and Arju Benn on the edit. The lyrics will be written by Manu Manjith and Harinarayanan BK.
Veteran Actor Shashikala Dies at 88
Shashikala Om Prakash Saigal, the Padma Shri awardee film and television actor who was best known by her first name, died on Sunday at her Mumbai residence.
She was 88.
With a career spanning over 30 years, Saigal worked in more than 100 films primarily from the 1950s to 1980s in a wide range of roles, including supporting roles and negative roles. Best known for her roles in Aarti (1962) and Gumrah (1963), she was decorated with the Padma Shri (the fourth highest civilian award in India) in 2007 for her contribution to Indian cinema.
Saigal starred in Hindi films such as Waqt, Rahgir, Junglee, Anupama, Gumrah, Phool Aur Patthar, Shart, Daku, Jugnu, Khubsoorat, Pardesi Babu, Badshah, Mother, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, Jhankaar Beats, Mujhse Shaadi Karogi, and many others. She has also appeared in television daily soaps including Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai for Sony, Son Pari for Star Plus and a few others.
Born in Maharashtra’s Solapur, Saigal won two Filmfare awards for the Best Supporting Actor, several awards in the same category from Bengal Film Journalists’ Association Awards, and the Lifetime Achievement Award at the V Shantaram Awards in 2009.
Several actors, scriptwriters, singers from the film fraternity, politicians such as Maharashtra Cabinet minister Nawab Malik, former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and several other celebrities took to social media to pay tribute to Saigal’s demise and offer their condolences.
Paying his tribute through Facebook, Praful Patel, politician and president of the All India Football Federation wrote: “Deeply saddened by the demise of veteran actress Shashikala ji. She made a noteworthy contribution to Indian cinema by portraying several pivotal roles. My heartfelt condolences to her family members. May her soul rest in peace.”
Noted singer Lata Mangeshkar took to Facebook to pay her tribute to the actor while praising the actor’s versatility and the variety of roles she had played over the years.
Gurchet Chitarkar, the Punjabi actor, comedian and painter, wrote about late Saigal’s birth, family and how she started and rose in her career in the film industry.
Jitendra Singh, a Bharatiya Janata Party national executive member, quoted a Hindi song from Saigal’s film and wrote: “#Shashikala no more. She was among the last from that Golden Age genre of Bollywood. RIP. “Kyon Mujhe Itni Khushi De Di Ke Ghabrata Hai Dil…”
Actor Priyanka Chopra Jonas tweeted about how “honoured” she feels to have worked with the late actor while actor Dharmendra Deol quoted a dialogue from Saigal’s film in his tweet.
Gumnaami ki kokh se paida hoti hai … Shoharat… ye…Gumnaami ki god mein so jaati hai …I am extremely sad to know that our Shashikala is no more…. A versatile artist, most loving person. May God bless her soul be in peace 🙏 pic.twitter.com/5WHTtpeMqf
— Dharmendra Deol (@aapkadharam) April 4, 2021
An actor par excellence, one of the greats of the golden era… she leaves behind an indelible mark on cinema. Honoured to have had the opportunity to work with her. Om Shanti #Shashikala ji pic.twitter.com/T1eQXptCyF
— PRIYANKA (@priyankachopra) April 4, 2021
Actors Farhan Akhtar, Dipannita Sharma, director Anil Sharma, choreographer and director Naved Jafri, singer Adnan Sami, journalist Rajdeep Sardesai, chef Kunal Kapur, the National Film Archive of India, All India Mahila Congress, Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh also took to their social media handles to remember the actor.
Saigal is survived by her younger daughter Shailaja.
P Balachandran, Malayalam Actor and Filmmaker, Dies at 69
P Balachandran, the Malayalam director, screenwriter, and actor who was last seen in the Mammootty-starrer political thriller One, died on Monday morning at his residence in Vaikom, Kerala.
He was 69.
The filmmaker, who was bedridden for several months, was undergoing treatment for meningitis at a hospital in Kerala.
Born on February 2, 1952, in Kerala’s Kollam district, Balachandran attended the Devaswom Board College in Kollam and School of Drama and Fine Arts in Thrissur.
Balachandran won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award and Kerala Professional Nataka Award for his play Paavam Usman in 1989. The late filmmaker had written the scripts of Malayalam films including Punaradhivasam (2000), Kammatipaadam (2016), and Edakkad Battalion 06 (2019).
While he made his directorial debut with the Malayalam film Ivan Megharoopan (2012), which was a biopic of Malayalam poet P Kunhiraman Nair, Balachandran had acted in over 40 films, including Trivandrum Lodge (2012), and Charlie (2015).
Balachandran’s last film as an actor will be the Malayalam independent film Orangu Marangalude Veedu (House of Orange Trees) directed by Bijukumar Damodaran, also known as Dr Biju.
“The shooting of the film was completed just before the lockdown in March 2020. After two months, he fell sick. We were friends since 2010 since our theatre days. However, we collaborated after years of friendship for the first time for this film,” Biju told Silverscreen India,
Next film ” House of Orange Trees ” Dr Biju
Posted by P Balachandran on Sunday, 6 October 2019
The film, which also features Nedumudi Venu in the lead role, is a story of three old men, and Balachandran plays one of them, Biju said.
“Since Nedumudi Venu and Balachandran among several others are from a theatre background, he enjoyed the company of the cast and crew,” Biju said.
Biju said that he and Balachandran were planning to collaborate for more films. “I was regularly in touch with his son Srikanth about his health. He was taking treatment from home for his illness,” Biju said.
Calling Balachandran, a “very simple man” who “mingled with everyone” irrespective of their position in the film sets, Biju said that Balachandran had a “humanistic approach” towards everyone.
“He was a man full of resources and stories about the drama industry. He used to share his experiences at the film sets. He was a very good actor too and had the potential to do more films,” he said.
Biju said that House of Orange Trees will release within three months in theatres and also is expected to have an OTT release. He regretted the fact that Balachandran could not see the film’s final cut.
“Since it is a sync-sound movie, there was no need of dubbing. The sound was captured at the time of shooting itself. Otherwise, he would have seen some portions,” he said.
ആദരാഞ്ജലികൾ 💔#RIP #PBalachandran pic.twitter.com/125PKPb1PD
— Anto Joseph (@IamAntoJoseph) April 5, 2021
Malayalam theatre and film actor Prakash Bare, who has acted in Balachandran’s only directorial venture Ivan Megharoopan and in House of Orange Trees told Silverscreen India, “Everyone in the film industry would say that his talent and potential were a lot more than we could extract from him in the limited time we had. He was not a person who would function by power equations which exists in the industry. He was strong with his art and kept his spine straight and head strong.”
Bare said that he was “lucky” to be part of Balachandran’s only directorial film and added that the latter was capable of creating “more gems”.
“A lot of them call him Balettan (brother in Malayalam) fondly. He had the magical ability to convert insults into jokes and laugh it off, making others laugh too. That was his success in dealing with equations in the industry. Balettan was respected in the theatre circle in Malayalam as practitioner, writer, director, and teacher,” Bare said.
Recalling a scene from House of Orange Trees, Bare said, “There is a long shot, about 10 minutes, featuring Nedumudi Venu and Balettan, where both are cooking and talking. They have demonstrated their real talent. While competing with each other, at the same time contributing to each other’s performance. It was a great finale to his work,” he said.
Bare said that Balachandran was a “fighter”.
Balachandran is survived by his wife Sreelatha, son Sreekanth and daughter Parvathy. His final rites will take place at his residence on Monday.
Salute Teaser Starring Dulquer Salmaan
Movie: Salute
Starring : Dulquer Salmaan, Manoj K Jayan, Diana Penty, Lakshmi Gopalaswami, Sania Iyyappan, Alansier, Binu Pappu,Vijayakumar, Saikumar etc
Produced by: Wayfarer Films
Directed by : Rosshan Andrrews
Written By : Bobby & Sanjay
Music : Santhosh Narayanan
DOP: Aslam K Purayil
Editor: Sreekar Prasad
Production Designer: Cyril Kuruvilla
Costumes : Sujith Sudhakaran
Makeup: Saji Koratty
Sound Design: PM Satheesh & Manoj Goswami
Colorist : Ken Metzker
DI : Red Chilles Mumbai
Production Controller : Siddhu Panakkal
Action : Dileep Subbarayan
Stills: Rohit K Suresh
Posters : Thought Station
PRO: Manju Gopinath
Appathava Aattaya Pottutanga Trailer Starring Chandrahasan
Movie Title – Appathava Aattaya Pottutanga
Casts : Chandrahasan, Ilavarasu, Delhi Ganesh, Sheela
Written & Directed by : N. Stephen Rangaraj
Music Director : S.Selvakumaar
Produced by : Dr.J.Jasmine
Production Company : GB Studio Films
Actor Zendaya to Lend Her Voice to Lola Bunny in ‘Space Jam: A New Legacy’
Zendaya, the Emmy Award-winning actor who has starred in the Spiderman: Homecoming series, will lend her voice to cartoon character Lola Bunny in the film Space Jam: A New Legacy, the Entertainment Weekly reported.
Space Jam: A New Legacy features American basketball player Le Bron James. It will release theatrically and on steaming service HBO Max on July 16.
The animated sports comedy film is a sequel to the 1996 film Space Jam, that featured renowned basketball player Michael Jordan.
Welcome to the Jam, @Zendaya 🏀 https://t.co/BAp4UZuwkf pic.twitter.com/Z9wYts9IFp
— Space Jam: A New Legacy (@spacejammovie) April 3, 2021
The film’s director Malcolm D Lee told Entertainment Weekly that Lola’s character in the 1996 prequel film was “not politically correct”.
“This is a kids’ movie, why is she in a crop top? It just felt unnecessary, but at the same time there’s a long history of that in cartoons,” he said.
“We reworked a lot of things, not only her look, like making sure she had an appropriate length on her shorts and was feminine without being objectified, but gave her a real voice. For us, it was, let’s ground her athletic prowess, her leadership skills, and make her as full a character as the others,” Lee said.
According to the synopsis, the first installment is a manic mashup of two worlds that reveals how far some parents will go to connect with their kids. When LeBron and his young son Dom are trapped in a digital space by a rogue Artificial Intelligence, LeBron must get them home safe by leading Bugs, Lola Bunny and the whole gang of notoriously undisciplined Looney Tunes to victory over the AI’s digitised champions on the court. It’s ‘Tunes versus Goons’ in the highest-stakes challenge of his life. This will redefine LeBron’s bond with his son and shine a light on the power of being oneself.
The trailer of Space Jam: A New Legacy released on Saturday.
The film will also feature actors Don Cheadle, Khris Davis, Sonequa Martin-Green, Jeff Bergman, Eric Bauza, and newcomer Cedric Joe.
Looney Tunes is an American cartoon series that features characters like Bugs Bunny, Lola Bunny, Tez, Tweety, Sylvester, Daffy Duck, and others. A spin-off of the series, Baby Looney Tunes, was aired from 2002 to 2005, from which Granny’s character will be revived in the Space Jam sequel.
Space Jam: A New Legacy is produced by Black Panther director Ryan Coogler under the banner The SpringHill Company Production and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.
Karnataka Theatres to Operate at 50% Seating Capacity as Covid-19 Cases Surge in the State
The Karnataka government issued a notice on April 2 implementing 50% seating occupancy in cinema halls as part of its revised guidelines in the wake of a spike in Covid-19 cases in the state.
The guidelines have mandated 50% seating capacity in restaurants, bars, pubs and clubs along with the prohibition of public gatherings, rallies, dharnas and closure of gym, swimming pools, party halls, club houses, among others.
In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, theatres were shut down across the country from March the same year following a nationwide lockdown. In October 2020, when the Centre permitted theatres to reopen with 50% seating occupancy across the country, the Karnataka Film Exhibitors’ Federation announced their decision not to reopen theatres in Karnataka until January 2021.
Despite the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting issuing guidelines raising the seating capacity at cinema halls across the country to 100%, Karnataka announced that all cinema halls in the state would continue to operate at 50% seating capacity till February 28.
In the February 2021 circular issued by the Karnataka, while the state government permitted full occupancy in hotels and restaurants, it maintained the 50% seating capacity in theatres citing the “possible second wave of Covid-19”. This was followed by members of the Kannada film industry demanding full seating capacity, including KGF director Prashanth Neel, Raajakumara actor Puneeth Rajkumar, actor-producer Shiva Rajkumar, actor and filmmaker Rakshit Shetty, executive producer of Hombale Films Karthik Gowda, and actor Raam.
The next day the Karnataka government permitted full seating capacity in cinema halls for the next four weeks from February 4. The decision was taken after a meeting was held between state health and family welfare minister K Sudhakar, state information and public relations minister CC Patil, members of the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce, members of the film fraternity, and members of the state technical advisory committee.
On April 2, the state government issued fresh regulations after the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) observed that the state was “under the threat” of the second wave of Covid-19 with the persistent rise in the number of cases in March. The notice stated that “a large number of social, religious and public gatherings like marriages, political rallies are being witnessed which Covid appropriate behaviour is not being followed which may cause a setback in the appreciable gains made in the suppression of chain of transmission of Covid-19 cases in Karnataka”.
The notice directed the chief commissioner of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), deputy commissioners, and authorities to follow 50% seating capacity in the districts of Bengaluru urban and rural including BBMP, Mysuru, Kalburgi, Dakshin Kannada, Udupi, Bidar and Dharwad; ensuring strict Covid appropriate behaviour, like wearing of masks, physical distancing, and enforcing the provision of hand sanitiser/hand wash.
According to the state health and family welfare department, 4,991 new cases were reported taking the number of active cases to 34,219 till April 1, a day before the government issued the fresh guidelines.
Karthik Gowda, creative executive producer of Hombale Films, shared actor and director Kichcha Sudeep’s tweet on the issue.
Thanks for the support sir🤗 https://t.co/sAxQKAVdYA
— Karthik Gowda (@Karthik1423) April 3, 2021
No other state in the country has issued a notice regarding the same, not even Maharashtra with its alarming second wave of Covid-19 and new restrictions.
Sulthan Review: Karthi Saves The Village, The Audience Have To Fend For Themselves
Watching Sulthan in a movie hall is like entering familiar terrain. The characters, the emotional punches and the climactic scenes evoke a sense of déjà vu. The hero looks petite and prim, but he can send a hundred hefty rivals flying. The heroine might have the salon-perfect physical features of Rashmika Mandanna, but she is a farmer who ploughs the field in the hot sun, rears cattle, sells chicken in the village market and tutors NEET aspirants at a private institute.
Sulthan, directed by Bakkiyaraj Kannan, narrates an oft-repeated story about a little prince who has to take up the reins of his kingdom and lead the pack after the death of his father, the Lord (Napolean). Sulthan, the hero (Karthi Sivakumar), grew up in a giant mansion in Chennai that, despite the occasional bloody gang wars that result in the death of a few of its inhabitants, lives in love and order. One time, the hero, now a robotics engineer in Mumbai drawing a salary of three hundred thousand a month, returns home to be hit by the realisation that running a violent gang isn’t what he wants his father to do. He makes a heartfelt appeal, “You say these men are like your children. But why didn’t you give them the education that you gave me?”
One has to give it to these generic mass entertainers for holding together the regional film industries in India. They borrow plotlines and narrative devices from each other to cater to an audience they trained over the years to appreciate the homegrown aesthetics of the mass movies.
Sulthan is less a movie than a collage of different successful films. Sulthan’s (Karthi Sivakumar) return to his native village is a trip several heroes have taken before, in South Indian movies of various genres. In Maharshi (2019), Mahesh Babu’s high-flying software engineer transforms when he visits his native village. In Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana (2005), Siddharth, an NRI young man, weeps upon sighting the first sprouts on the farmland he ploughed and sowed. In films like Kathhi and Sarkar, Vijay returned from city to village and Los Angeles to Chennai, to save namma ooru makkal (My people).
Sulthan, an urban guy with modern ambitions, is indifferent towards the suffering of the villagers at first. Soon, with the help of a young woman (Rashmika Mandanna) he had fallen head-over-heels in love with the very first day of arriving in the village, he decides to liberate the villagers from the hands of a mighty villain (Ramachandra Raju) and a mining mafia run by a man who speaks Tamil like he is chewing gum. Unless you have been living under a rock all your life, you know how this movie ends.
Like these other movies, Sulthan caters to the lowest common denominator by preaching the virtue of village life and agriculture. It uses an ever-popular trope in mainstream cinema ﹣a hero who takes on powerful corporations with the help of the general public, the underdogs.
But unlike films like Kaththi that made an effort to do something novel within this framework, Sulthan is exhaustingly complacent. Sulthan preaches about pacifism, but since he is the quintessential mass hero, he cannot say no to performing an absurd action sequence in front of an audience. A pivotal scene in the film has Sulthan fighting off a group of armed men at night while maintaining complete silence. The villainy of the bad guy is tuned to the highest decibel using shots of him beating up frail old men and children so that the audience would root for the hero when he takes him on in the final sequence. The villagers are objects of poverty. They exhibit their suffering by beating their chest and wailing as the villains go about raiding the village. But the heroine isn’t treated as one of the villagers. She is beautiful, composed and idealistic. She represents the idyll and heralds the hero’s transformation. In a song where the hero follows her everywhere, swooning over her beauty, she is seen working on the farm while maintaining a perfect hairdo and make-up.
Karthi delivers a mature performance as Sulthan. Rashmika has regressed a long way down the road from her Dear Comrade days. In Sulthan, she could have sent in her lifesize cut-out to play the role. Hareesh Peradi plays a police commissioner whose callous and illegal encounter killings gets a pat on the back from the hero. Peradi’s performance is stagey and dull.
For an audience who wants to look beyond the small and off-beat films made during the pandemic lockdown, Sulthan might come across as a relieving return to the familiar. There is little else to be said about this worn-out mass entertainer.
The Sulthan review is a Silverscreen original article. It was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the film. Silverscreenindia.com and its writers do not have any commercial relationship with movies that are reviewed on the site.
Kodiyil Oruvan Trailer Starring Vijay Antony, Aathmika
Movie : Kodiyil Oruvan
Starring: Vijay Antony, Aathmika, Ramachandra Raju, Prabhakar & Others
Writer & Director: Ananda Krishnan
Producer: T.D. Rajha & D.R. Sanjay Kumar (Chendur Film International)
Co Producer: Kamal Bohra, Lalitha Dhananjayan, B. Pradeep, Pankaj Bohra, S. Vikram Kumar
Music: Nivas K Prasanna
Cinematographer: N.S. Uthaya Kumar
Editor: Vijay Antony
Art director: Pappanadu C. Uthayakumar
BGM Composer: Harish Arjun
Lyricists: Mohanrajan, Arun Bharathi A, Subbu
Stunt master: Mahesh Mathew
Choreographer: Hari Kiran
Costume Designers: Sowbarnika
Production Executive: P. Pandiyan
DI: Igene
DIT: Janarthanan
Sound Engineer: S Chandrasekhar
Sound Mix: A.M. Rahmathulla
Sound Design: Vijay Rathinam MPSE
Production Manager: Mariappan Ganapathy
Makeup: P. Mariappan
Stills: R.S. Raja
Costumer: R. Kumar
Infiniti: D. Naveenkumar
PRO: Riaz K Ahmed
Designer: Sivakumar S (Sivadigitalart)
Label:: Saregama India Ltd.
Ajeeb Dastaans: Netflix’s 4-Part Anthology Film to Release on April 16
The trailer of Ajeeb Daastaans, the Hindi anthology film by Netflix, was released on Friday. The film will release on April 16.
The anthology film comprises four parts- Majnu, Geeli Pucchi, Ankahi, and Khilauna- are directed by Shashank Khaitan, Neeraj Ghaywan, Kayoze Irani, and Raj Mehta, respectively.
According to Netflix, the anthology’s four segments include a twisted tale of lovers, struggle for daily life, calculated friendship, and a journey to find solace. The film it explores jealousy, entitlement, prejudices, and toxicity, the streaming giant said.
Talking about Majnu, starring Fatima Sana Shaikh, Jaideep Ahlawat, and Armaan Ralhal, Khaitan said in a statement, “My film explores the dynamics of three characters, their interpersonal relationships and how they keep evolving with each scene. Jaideep, Fatima and Armaan’s characters all want love on their own terms and the space to express themselves but are trapped within the norms of society, much like a lot of people around us.”
Ghaywan, who won a National Award for his film Masaan, said that he had been toying with the idea of Geeli Pucchi while making Masaan. The title is the “connecting factor” in the story, he said. Featuring Konkana Sen Sharma and Aditi Rao Hydari, Geeli Pucchi is a lesbian love story, Ghaywan said.
“Geeli Pucchi explores the intersectional realities of two women from disparate worlds. They are both longing for an emotional connection which they end up finding in one another,” he said in a virtual press conference.
Talking about his directorial debut Ankahi, Irani said: “Ankahi is all about emotions, those that can be expressed and those that are left unsaid. What attracted me to the film was that communication doesn’t need to be verbal and a lot can be said without words.”
Irani, the son of actor Boman Irani made his acting debut with the 2012 film Student of the Year. Featuring Shefali Shah, Manav Kaul, and Tota Roy Chowdhury, Ankahi required Shah and Kaul to learn sign language.
Mehta’s Khilauna, featuring Nushrratt Bharuccha, Abhishek Banerjee, and Inayat Verma, is about “imperfect characters”.
“It was made with the intention of bringing an unexpected storytelling experience to the audience. The story and the title itself, might have different interpretations for each viewer and that is what makes it exciting,” Mehta said.
Bharuccha, who plays a domestic maid in the segment, said that Mehta made her sweep her house to prepare for her character.
While Khilauna is written by Sumit Saxena, Geeli Pucchi and Ankahi will see Saxena collaborate with Ghaywan and Uzma Khan, respectively.
Ajeeb Daastaans is produced by Karan Johar, Apoorva Mehta, Somen Mishra under the banner Dharmatic Entertainment, the digital extension of Johar’s Dharma Productions.
Multiplex Association, FICCI Request Maharashtra Not to Impose Second Lockdown
The Multiplex Association of India (MAI) and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) on Thursday wrote a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray requesting him not to impose a another lockdown in the state, in view of the rising Covid-19 cases.
The MAI stated that if a lockdown is imposed in the state, it would impact cinemas, retail and shopping industries.
“Such measures that curtail smooth operations will not only deter genuine movie-goers and shoppers, who have slowly returned to cinemas and shopping centres, from visiting cinemas and malls but also put into motion a downward spiralling effect on cinema industry and modern retail that could derail recovery of these segments,” MAI wrote in a statement.
The letter stated that with zero revenue from March 13, 2020 till November 9 , 2020, and thereafter a meagre revenue in the past five months November 10, 2020 till March 31, 2021, the cinema exhibition industry is on the brink of a “possible bankruptcy”. Recently, with news reports of a possible second lockdown in the state, major films like Amitabh Bacchan-starrer Chehre to Rana Daggubati‘s Haathi Mere Saathi delayed their releases, citing rising Covid-19 cases.
Maharashtra, the seat of the Hindi film industry and the crucial markets for Hindi cinema, continues to be one of the worst affected states in terms of Covid-19, contributing to the highest percentage of India’s daily number of cases, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
The MAI requested the state government to allow cinemas, malls, and shopping centres to continue operating as per regular operational hours. They stated that cinemas halls are equipped with similar or better ability to ensure crowd control with a hygienic environment while maintaining social distancing norms as compared to retail shops in high street areas, local trains, metro services, airlines, railways services, etc.
The letter stated that another lockdown would be “extremely detrimental and would lead to severe and irreversible consequences for the cinema exhibition sector”.
Irul Review: A Familiar Premise, a Familiar Disappointment
Director: Naseef Yusuf Izuddin
Cast: Soubin Shahir, Darshana Rajendran, Fahadh Faasil
Naseef Yusuf Izuddin’s Irul possesses a strange pace. It begins like a sleepy haze. In fact, Alex Parayil (Soubin Shahir) wakes up from a nightmare, one that ended with a gunshot. He’s missed a few calls from Archana (Darshana Rajendran), his lady friend, and tries reaching her all morning. His mind spins as fast as his bicycle wheels as he tries to get hold of her even during workout. A recently published writer of a serial killer novel, Alex is so tired of how busy Archana is in her work (she is a lawyer) that he makes a weekend getaway plan with her, somewhere far from civilisation and without a mobile phone and the internet. It’s the stupidest plan but if you want to be further invested in the film, you have to go along with it.
The dynamic between Archana and Alex and their relationship isn’t clear at this point but the prologue sows some questionable seeds. From here, the predictable outcomes unfold – day becomes night, rains start lashing, the car bends around mountainous terrain and eventually breaks down. They seek help and shelter in a nondescript house nearby, seemingly unoccupied.
And then Irul – written by Sunil Yadav with additional screenplay from Abhiram Radhakrishnan, Anaz Bin Ibrahim, Obeth S Thomas and Naseef – picks up. Naseef also has a few flourishes up his sleeve. Every character, at different points, gets their own scene standing in front of a mirror. We see Archana in front of three mirrors, the three characters still unknown entities to us. We meet the man of the house – Fahadh Faasil, unnamed till a point – and the couple seek his help.
All the usual cliches crop up – he doesn’t own a mobile phone because he isn’t accustomed to it and the landline is dead. It’s a little too casual how Archana changes into a dress she finds in the house. Aren’t their bags in the car? Why can’t she and Alex go get them? Maybe Naseef wants us to see Archana as the lady in red, what with all the other imagery in the lavish house. Surprising to no one in particular, the man they meet has read Alex’s book and a single take has them discussing the nuances, the murders, the serial killer’s mind and psychology behind the act.
The lines are all ordinary but Naseef blocks the actors around the dining room and has them and the camera moving constantly. The character’s eyes sometimes don’t reveal that the one they are talking to is moving around the space, we find out only when the camera pans across. It is neat. It preludes the three-way confusion, the lack of trust in these constantly mutating characters and how they think. The final interesting touch in Irul before it falls apart.
The central thesis of that scene’s debate is curiosity. The curiosity of the serial killer, not his perversions. While the technique is worth appreciating, it lacks the emotional impact. So, this curiosity that Naseef and his co-writers want us to drown in doesn’t cross the bridge towards us, the audience. The film built up curiosity till about 20 minutes in. From there on, it is simply a straight ride to see where it all ends.
For a film that runs just 90 minutes, it is hardly a good look. The film comes undone thereabouts and leaves us cold. We get jump scares and there is a gun that changes hands. Motivations are questioned and, out of nowhere, Alex begins to behave differently. For the three talented actors, the film is a walk in the park. Unfortunately for us, it is an arduous crawl.
*****
The Irul review is a Silverscreen original article. It was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the film. Silverscreenindia.com and its writers do not have any commercial relationship with movies that are reviewed on the site.