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.