Smorgasbord Fantasia

Premam is probably now in its sixth week – blasting past all past records in the box office, romping away to be a cult movie now. I saw the movie late – yesterday. And I say this with no hesitation. Nivin Pauly is a star. A natural and consummate actor who makes you roll around in splits at his goofy earthiness, at his earnest attempts at writing a love-letter, then gets you pumped up and cheering wildly as he lights up the cigarette and walks out in the pouring rain to bash up the baddies and then gets you to cry and bawl your lungs at his brilliant portrayal of a broken-hearted man. He is the full package and he gets his due in Premam, a coming-of-age romantic comedy that sees him play George – who falls in love, breaks his heart, holds those stinging broken shards of sweet romance close and then finally learns to let go and find an anchor for his wayward life. Three girls, three love-stories. Each bitter-sweet and reminiscent of stages we’ve all gone through. This nost...

I’m diverting from my single minded focus on reading and reviewing SFF Books just this once. It’s after all a Shah Rukh Movie release – that people all over India have been waiting for close to a year now. It’s a ritual and we pay our respects to the King Khan of Bollywood once again bright and shining on the big screen. Bringing together the trio of Masterclass genius Rehman, Gulzar and Yash Chopra, Jab Tak Hain Jaan was touted to be the biggest release of this year; Diwali release, assured block buster, 100 Crore club ( it’s ridiculous, the ease with which so many movies these days make it to the 100-crore elite club, huh?)  I probably saw the first look trailer a few months back – Gulzar’s sublime poetry voice-overed by the intense voice of SRK as he himself, looking super bad-ass in military fatigues complete with dark goggles and unshaven mean and smoky looks riding a bullet set against the beautiful landscape of ladakh and complimented by the eclectically mesmeri...

Vineeth Sreenivasan tries his hand at wielding the megaphone once again and this time, he’s struck gold. With this simple, endearing love story that has managed to get the youngsters mooning and starting to believe back in blissful olden days style college romance sans Facebook-SMS-Skype hype. Vineeth has set the cash registers ringing with this romantic movie, Thattathin Marayathu.  It’s fresh, maybe it’s a little dated and yet this laid back old school feel is what makes this romance count. Not to mention a mind-blowing performance by Niven Pauly playing the love-struck nair boy who is hopelessly in love with his “ummachi kutty” (local slang for muslim girl) and some fantastic cinematography that has captured the serenic beauty of local areas in and around the Malabar region, including the thalassery beach. And how can I forget, a brilliant soundtrack by Shaan Rahman that is the toast of the singing population in Kerala these days. Mesmerizing, absolutely bewitching tun...