Review Roundup: What the Critics are Saying about ‘Kuruthi’, ‘Shershaah’, ‘Netrikann’, & Other Films that Released last Week

With films resuming production post the Covid-19 second wave, several makers have started lining up their movies for release. A number of new films were announced as well, including the upcoming R Balki directorial that will feature actors Dulquer Salmaan, Sunny Deol, Pooja Bhatt, and Shreya Dhanwanthary in the lead roles, and Hansal Mehta’s next project that will star and be co-produced by Kareena Kapoor Khan.
While the makers of Akshay Kumar’s Bellbottom and Amitabh Bachchan’s Chehre announced their decision to release their movies in theatres, films like Netrikann, Shershaah and Kuruthi ditched cinemas last week and went the OTT way.

Kuruthi Review: Mamukkoya Delivers a Stunner in an Otherwise Rambling Thriller

When Ibrahim asks him, in the sombre tone that has come to be the film’s identity, to bury him by his daughter if he dies that night, Khader responds casually, “Once you’re dead, it doesn’t make a difference where you lie and rot! ” In a ship sinking into the depth of faux seriousness and wobbly urgency, Mamukkoya brings some self-styled mirth.

Aanum Pennum Review: Nothing Exceptional In This Star-Studded Anthology

Cinematographer-director Venu’s Raachiyamma is a flat adaptation of writer Uroob’s splendid short story of the same title.  Kutti Krishnan (Asif Ali), the new manager of a tea estate in Wayanad, falls in love with Raachiyamma (Parvathy), a sharp-tongued dairy farmer.She reciprocates his feelings, but the man, unable to find the courage to take the relationship forward, breaks her heart.  In Uroob’s work, the woman is a motif of nature that disintegrates and reconstructs itself in a perpetual cycle, responding to the time.

Cobra Teaser Starring Vikram, Srinidhi Shetty

7 Screen Studio presents The Official Teaser of Cobra (Language : Tamil) Starring : Chiyaan Vikram, Srinidhi Shetty, Irfan Pathan, K.S. Ravikumar, Roshan Mathew, Anandraj, Robo Shankar, Mia George, Mirnalini Ravi, Meenakshi Govindrajan and others Directed by R. Ajay Gnanamuthu Produced by S.S. Lalit Kumar Music – A. R. Rahman Edit – Bhuvan Srinivasan DOP […]

Love to Release in Gulf Countries First

Malayalam film Love, starring Rajisha Vijayan and Shine Tom Chacko,  has been slated to release in theatres in the Gulf on October 15 with Covid-19 related safety measures in place. It will become the first Indian film to release in cinemas post lockdown, producer Ashiq Usman posted on social media, on Wednesday.

Mahesh Narayanan On Finding The Creative Spark During A Global Pandemic

Shot entirely during the lockdown period, the film is Malayalam’s first screen life movie, a modern format of film making where stories are told from the point-of-view of computer/phone screens.When India went into lockdown on March 25, 2020, pushing Malik’s theatrical release to uncertainty, the duo decided to work on a smaller film. “We wanted to keep things going,” says Mahesh Narayanan. “The OTT release was the need of the hour.

C U Soon Movie Review: Mahesh Narayanan’s Taut Thriller Uses Digital Devices To Make A Point About Empathy

The pandemic-induced lockdown just accelerated its arrival.  Characters are always restricted to the space around their computer, within the purview of their phone network, or under the radar of a surveillance device in C U Soon, a Malayalam language film written, directed and virtually shot by editor-filmmaker Mahesh Narayanan.

Choked Review: Saiyami Kher Anchors This Subdued Anurag Kashyap Netflix Drama

The person who lives in the apartment above hers has been throwing money down the drain, which chokes the pipes, but it turns out to be a blessing for Saritha, who has often found herself Choked by her failures and broken dreams in life.As Saritha contemplates her relationship with Sushant, and her own job, both bereft of life or excitement, she chances upon an unlikely source of money right in the middle of demonetisation.

Kappela Review: Anna Ben Delivers A Fine Performance Again, But The Film Doesn’t Try Enough

Just about when the plot comes to the edge of being an inter-religious love story or the tragic tale of star-crossed lovers, with a touch of Lohithadas’Sallapam which was set in a similar milieu, Mustafa shifts gear, brings another character into the picture and turns the narrative into an impersonal cautionary tale that lacks the charm and honesty of the opening scenes.

Best Malayalam Films 2019: An AI Robot, A Twisted Family Drama, And A High School Comedy

This film, directed by debutante Manu Ashokan, is powered by three performances, of Parvathy as a young woman whose ambitions couldn’t be burned by an acid attack that permanently distorts her face, of Asif Ali who brilliantly portrays the complex psyche of a toxic partner in a relationship, and of Siddique who plays a father who stands rock-solid beside his daughter even as the world turns against her.

Moothon Review: A Whiff of Salaam Bombay Pervades Through This Film Even As Nivin Pauly, The Actor, Reinvents Himself

He, in fact, escapes his serene, beautiful world in Lakshadweep to arrive at the dark underbelly of Mumbai, looking for his ‘moothon’, the elder brother he lost when he wasn’t old enough to speak.Moothon too has a bunch of street-smart kids pretending to be gangsters, showing off their non-existent muscles while trying to recruit Mulla under their tutelage. *Spoilers ahead* This dichotomy is first presented as a loaded twist about one third into the film.

‘Thottappan’ Review: Some Good Portraits, Delicious Music And A Worn-Out Story Of Life Off The Mainstream

In the film’s source material, an acclaimed novella by writer Francis Norona, Sarah learns the nuances of the art of thieving from Ithaak and wrestles with the rights and wrongs of it.But the film doesn’t care to zoom into her; instead, it shows us the men Ithaak, Ismail, Paily (Sunil Sukhada) and Anthraper (Lal), and the ‘filmy’ stunts they indulge in.