ABCD Malayalam Movie Review

 ABCD Malayalam Movie Review

Structured Data, Review
Title: ABCD Malayalam Movie Review
Reviewed by Hafis on Jun 15
Rating: 3/5
Summary: Entertaining story of two ABCDs.
Description: As the name points, ABCD (American Born Confused Desi) is the story of two American Malayalees, Johns (Dulquer Salmaan) and Korah (Jacob Gregory) who are visiting Kerala for the first time in their life.


As the name points, ABCD (American Born Confused Desi) is the story of two American Malayalees, Johns (Dulquer Salmaan) and Korah (Jacob Gregory) who are visiting Kerala for the first time in their life. Its directed by Martin Prakkat, written by Sooraj-Neeraj and produced by Shibu Thameens.
ABCD movie is a total entertainment and fun. Johns is the son of a rich Indian business man who is settled in USA, Lalu Alex acted as Dulquer’s father. Korah is John’s friend, they both were living a luxurious life in New York.
Due to some problems which was created by Johns, his father forces Johns and Korah to visit India and stay there for some time.
When Johns reached Kerala, his father closes his bank account and makes arrangements for both of them to study in a college, hence it make Johns and Korah to live in a very difficult situation. John’s dad sends 2500 rupees per month to each.

And the story moves on like how they handles the situation and will they succeed to make money needed to go back to America.

Dulquer once again proved his class, his looks and attitude was similar to Faizy’s character in Ustad Hotel. Jacob Gregory(Korah) attracted people with his fun essences. Aparna Gopinath(Mathumitha) did a great job with her role, she had a bold role and it looked like it was just perfect for her, welcome to the world of movies, Aparna

Honey Bee is a mass entertainer Review: 3.5/5

Review: Honey Bee is a mass entertainer 3.5/5

The infusion of new blood is an exciting thing, and we are getting that in torrents in the Malayalam film industry these days. But, unfortunately, they don’t bring much innovation or ingenuity to the film scene.

This week we saw the début of Lal Jr, son of producer-director-actor Lal. He has written and directed Honey Bee, which is pretty much in the style of predecessors Siddique-Lal with plenty of gags but bereft of any depth or thought.

Honey Bee has a wafer-thinplot. Sebastian or Seban (Asif Ali) and Angel (Bhavana), the director and the lead performer respectively of a dance troupe come to realise that they are in love the night before Angel is getting married to a police officer.

They elope with the support of their friends Abu (Sreenadh Bhasi), Fernando (Baburaj), Ambro (Balu) and Sara (Archana Kavi). The problem is that Angel's brothers are well known thugs who will not take anything lying down and resort to violence at the drop of a hat.

Three-fourths of the film is devoted to this group running from Angel's brother led by Michael (Lal).

The weight of carrying the flimsy plot is on the shoulders of Baburaj and Bhasi who are made to mouth one-liners that are supposed to bring the house down.

Lal Jr takes inspiration from many sources including the older films of his father. The dialogues are peppered with expletives (as is the trend in the so-called ‘new gen’ films) and the one-liners poke fun at his contemporaries and even the classics.

We would have been happier if he had reduced the use of alcohol in the film but he gives the impression that every male character in this venture is an alcoholic.

As for the performances, Asif Ali and Bhavana do not get the privilege of being the lead pair as they become part of a huge ensemble, but they give decent performances.

Baburaj, who is in the limelight these days, virtually steals the show here too. Bhasi as Abu gives Baburaj a run for his money and gives us the hope that he will mature into a good actor in future.

Lal Jr has tried to make a mass entertainer with Honey Bee and succeeds in doing that.

Bavuttiyude Namathil

Director G S Vijayan's Bavuttiyude Namathil may have Mammootty in the title role, but the film is actually about a genuinely likeable housewife Vanaja, played brilliantly by Kavya Madhavan. This, in fact is the problem with the film as well, with the story focusing on several things, which turns out to be not the real focus most of the time.

Bavutty (Mammootty), an orphan is a chauffeur at the bungalow of an immensely rich couple Sethu (Sankar Ramakrishnan) and Vanaja (Kavya). The family considers him as a member of the family and he is sincere to the core. During his spare time, he is actively involved in the shooting of a 'home cinema' made by some amateur artistes.

Meanwhile, Sethu has nothing much to think about in life other than making loads of money. Vanaja is barely interested in all these wealth and is a simple woman, who deals with everyone, including the maid and chauffer, in a really sweet way. All these happen for a while but then a surprising twist just before the interval, takes the story ahead for the rest of the time.

Ranjith, who has scripted the film, underlines why he is regarded as one of the best ever scenarists in Malayalam in some of the scenes and also with some hard-hitting dialogues. Things look clichéd and even melodramatic at times, but still, there is a rather interesting storyline here.

In one of the most riveting performances during recent times, Kavya Madhavan gives an altogether different meaning to her character. Her 'Neeleswaram accent' is a treat and she steals your heart with a subtle but matured portrayal of her role. Sankar Ramakrishnan, Vineeth and Harisree Asokan have also come up with impressive performances.

Mammootty has done his part with tremendous sincerity and the superstar should be appreciated for letting some of his co-artistes to take the centre stage. But the 'home cinema' episodes barely evoke laughter and his 'romance' with Rima Kallingal, looks a seriously odd. Also the excessive use of some of the songs and dialogues from 'Thattathin Marayathu' becomes boring after a while.

Bavuttiyude Namathil may evoke a sense of deja vu, and its share of flaws but there are some genuine moments that could be mostly engaging for a film buff. Watch this film for Kavya Madhavan and chances are that you won't complain much.

Review: Da Thadiya is emotional yet entertaining

Paresh C Palicha says Da Thadiya is  full of emotion and entertainment.

This is an age where being overweight is considered a lifestyle disease and fat people in general are looked upon as oddities and made to feel insecure because of their appearance. 

Director Aashiq Abu tries to change this perception in his new film Da Thadiya which suggests that it's okay to be fat as long as you have a good heart. 

Luka (Shekhar Menon), is a young man in his mid twenties weighing 120 kg and happy with himself until he falls in love. He is the scion of a small time political family, whose only claim to fame is the fact that Luka's grandfather was once elected the mayor of Kochi. 

His sons, played by Maniyanpillai Raju and Edavela Babu, carry on the legacy without any electoral success to speak of. 

The happy go lucky Luka has dropped out of law school. He is, not surprisingly, a foodie to the core for which he gets unequivocal support from his grandmother played by Arundhati Nag. 

His partner in crime is his cousin Sunny aka Shaddi (Sreenath Bhasi), a VJ cum musician for whom Luka is a saviour of sorts as he is the only person Sunny can depend on when he is in trouble.

The conflict quotient apart from food comes in the form of Ann Marie (Ann Augustine), who just para-drops into the story as Luka's childhood sweetheart and who coerces him to join an Ayurvedic and Yogic slimming programme run by Rahul Vaidyar (Navin Pauly).

This suave 'new age' guru turns out to be an old world villain, who utters typical 'I am a bad man' kind of dialogues. We do not find any problem accepting this because this film is in the realm of fairy tales.

And, like in fairy tales, it shows that you don't have to be slim and trim to be a superhero; you just have to be a genuine person with a cherubic smile and the capability to give a cloud-like (a funny take on the film Ivan Megharoopan) hug even to your rival. If your goal is the common good of the people then you can achieve unprecedented success.

The script has a few more insider jokes on films and politics. The Hing-Manglish lines uttered by Sreenath have the potential of bringing the house down. 

The message that slimming clinics are mostly run by quacks who wish to cash in on the vulnerability of fat people does not get diluted in the fun and frolics. 

Shekhar Menon, who is a professional DJ, was born to do this role. Sreenath Bhasi who is physically in contrast with Shekhar becomes his able partner uttering some of the best lines in the film as the narrator of the story.

Like its lead actor, Da Thadiya is fat on emotion and entertainment.