Movie Review – Cobra

Blasphemy!

If there was an award for choosing disastrous script, then Vikram would win it every single year. If there was an award for honesty in acting even in that disastrous script, Vikram would win even that. This film was again an example of such ridiculousness. Guess directors who want to take rest, earn big bucks and travel onsite for the film would have to do just one thing, imagine few getups and narrate the script to Vikram, rest all he’d take care. Even the directors who had fool proof record would do something like that to him. Every movie other than ‘Rajapattai’ was a hit by Suseenthiran. Same for Shankar and same here for Ajay Gnanamuthu. If a biopic would be made of an actor, of how great he could’ve been but couldn’t be, Vikram would fit right in. Something he himself can act.

The first half of ‘Cobra’ was utter rubbish. It’s a disgrace to even discuss it. Of his entire career, this was the only part of film where he doesn’t get to “act”. Even in a highly ridiculous ‘Kanthaswamy’ he’d have acted well in those horrible scenes. But here it was impossible to even sit through the movie. It was the first movie which totally didn’t work. Even ‘Rajapattai’ had few comic scenes, few which looked like comedy and certain massy scenes which would have got great applause if it had appeared in a Vijay or Ajith movie. Fights, needless to say were impressive. But in the first half of ‘Cobra’ even that was not good.

The director looked like he was badly inspired by Nolan, otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to make a movie this bad. Sci-fi or to be specific, a Nolan genre is not an easy nut to crack. Yes, the geeks love Nolan for the intricacies but as laymen, it’d work even without knowing anything. That’s how good he’s at his craft. That shows his sincerity. Not like here where a man is showed a genius just through few muted dialogues. Judith Samson (Meenakshi Govindarajan) was Ariadne (Ellet Page) whose role was to admire the killer for his math skill. But if you would point to the audience, why even to the director to tell about one complex math he did to do the killing, they couldn’t, and that’s how shallow the script was. The titular explanation of ‘Cobra’ by her was the second worst in Vikram’s career, the first being ‘Bheemaa’. Of the three actress, Meenakshi Govindarajan was the one who looked pretty and looked like someone who had the potential to actually nail a character like Ariadne but with such a horrible story, even Manorama during her peak days couldn’t have evoked any interest in the character.

After a numbing experience, around the interval there was a twist that at least evoked some curiosity. The second half had a solid story about twins. We don’t really know why their mother was in jail, but that’s okay, the meet up of the characters was well made and the action sequence in rain was shot well. The umbrella scene where Vikram stands on top and before the fight where he ties his hair were the scenes which worked but the audience were too tired before those scenes because the entire first half was buffoonery.

The story was about twin brothers, rivalry and chivalry between them. When the movie ended it was still not clear as to who was who, which was actually nice, audience were mumbling with each other. If it had happened for an English movie, it would have been appreciated but it’s not the mistake of audience. You got to have a solid plot to make such a movie, not just fool around with makeup.

The investigation scene should have worked like the ‘Anniyan’ scene but again it didn’t due to shoddy screenplay of first half. Climax was really good, the thinking of killing all Vikram’s imaginary characters along with him in such a serious way had to be appreciated. If someone like Vignesh Shivan had done that scene it’d have come out terrific. But here, audience were already exhausted to appreciate anything.

The flashback sequence, fight between brothers were all lame and as my friend pointed out, thankfully he didn’t reduce weight to act as a college student. But how well had he dubbed! Srinidhi Shetty actually looked hot than her previous outings, especially in “Thumbi Thullal” song. Only place in the entire movie where Vikram looked happy. Mirnalini Ravi was such a waste. Rahman’s music too was wasted here. Few of the BGMs were terrific which could’ve done a world of good to other normal masala flicks. Overall, yet another disaster.

Movie Review – Kappela

Conservatism with a charming context

‘Kappela’ is one film which got huge accolades in this lockdown season. Guess I’m pretty late in watching it. Anna Ben has become the face of Malayalam cinema whose any movie looks fool proof. ‘Kappela’ too has that instant charm but may be because I watched it this late, I was too hyped upon the movie, because of which I was waiting for events to happen back to back and excite me. But it takes its own sweet time to establish and then, bam, comes the twist, one of the most unexpected, which I guess just minutes before it happens.

The film opens with a scared young girl, Jessy (Anna Ben) going on bus on a rainy day. The very opening shot is interesting with camera coming in from the sky, to her. The scene cuts once she closes the window and we see an ever-effervescent Anna Ben from the start. Coming from a conservative family who don’t approve even a school going girl kid to come with a stranger, Jessy does something which none would even think of. From a missed dial to constant dial, she falls in love with a person whom she hasn’t met.

Thanks to the hoarding outside a shop, he knows her but she doesn’t know him. He seems to be an auto driver based in Kozhikode, namely Vishnu (Roshan Mathew). Even though new, he has a lot of customers and appears friendly with everyone. On the other hand, a rich man who opens a textile shop wants to marry her. But his mother disapproves it, citing “status” as a reason. But somehow their engagement gets fixed, it’s unclear whether his mother had approved of it or not. But Jessy panics because of that and decides to meet Vishnu first who unfortunately sees an accident case so gets stuck in that. Instead Jessy goes to Kozhikode. It’s a dramatic scene which we wonder why, initially as a viewer we feel that its cheaply made opening scene just to garner attention but we get to know why that’s made like that.

No, it’s not accident which happens but being an innocent naïve girl, she is afraid of everyone she sees including the conductor, porter etc. Unfortunately, Vishnu who comes to meet her loses his phone. That marks the entry of Roy (Sreenath Bhasi) who comes across as a rude rowdy guy without any job. He even creates ruckus in a tea shop and takes gold jewels from his cousin Annie (Tanvi Ram) for money. We see a little backstory of him and then see him getting Vishnu’s phone from a petty thief. He poses as Vishnu and talks to Jessy, we feel due to the frustration of the interview, he’d do something to her. Because till that point nothing fascinating has happened, it’s unclear as to why it’s hailed so much.

Only post that is the biggest twist, which makes viewers look in awe. I’d not like to discuss it for the benefit of viewers but it’s not only the screenplay which keeps us intrigued but also the charm of the land. Anna Ben as usual is prolific, the way she holds the shirt of Vishnu and her slight hesitance when they take selfie and when he hugs from behind were beautiful. And the climax where she wants to see the sea, would have put a smile on anyone’s face which would have been filled with tears till then. But what goes unnoticed is the acting of Roshan Mathew, though I’m not a fan of him and didn’t like his role both in ‘C U Soon’ and ‘Kappela’, I could understand that it’s what he’s meant to do. Sreenath Bhasi is amazing, who effortlessly oozes mass. Even his walk is prolific. I’m waiting to see him in out and out massy film. He was great in ‘Kumbalangi Nights’ as well here. It’s the combined acting of the two which makes us appreciate the film.

Even though it’s a great twist and the feel goodness of the film provides necessary charm, it makes us wonder what’s there once we know the twist. In that way I was not as impressed as it thought I should have. May be even the hype spoilt it. Otherwise it’s a fine breezy thriller to watch with your family. It so lovely captures the opposite emotion of ‘Ishq’ with same finesse. Time and again proving that it’s not story which is important but storytelling.

Movie Review – C U Soon

A neat film for its style

‘C U Soon’ is a film, which looks to have been born because of the style. Given the restrictions outside, they wanted to make an inside film and adopted this style called ‘computer screen film’, to be more specific. In the line of ‘found footage film’, to be more generic. The only film, which I remember in the latter category, is ‘The Blair Witch Project’. No other film registers in mind because if you decode the style, there is not anything interesting to watch. The rabbit out of the hat moment is gone. Moreover, with such a technique it is tough to hold audience interest. ‘C U Soon’ was able to bypass that initial curiosity and make us get involved in the story. That by itself is a success.

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The making reminded me of an episode in ‘Modern Family’ where everything happens in FaceTime. It was a superb episode. Even though it is not a series known for its making, I found that to be unique. ‘C U Soon’ employs the technique, with a little bit excuse but does it fairly well given the limitations. Like how it is important to forget the technique and get into the film, like appreciating a film by not mentioning about its style, for example, instead of being called a great anime, it should be called a great film. While watching an anime or any film for that matter, the technology must be forgotten and the film has to be remembered. Similarly, here ‘C U Soon’ makes us forget all the intricacies and gets us involved in it, in some time.

Jimmy (Roshan Mathew) and Anumol (Darshana Rajendran) are excellent as on screen virtual couples. They are in love and are ready to get married. Throughout the movie, I felt that Shane Nigam would have been a great choice for Jimmy’s role. Nevertheless, Darshana was perfect as Anumol, with a no makeup look and honest acting. She was prolific. But it’s Kevin (Fahadh Faasil) who steals the show. The role was tailor made for Fahadh Faasil, and given the nature of the role, he does it with ease. It feels like he has the super power in the entire film and everything acts in accordance with him. Other characters too were well etched.

What looks like a feel good film to start with, develops in a deep film about relationships and then goes on to become a thriller, effectively so. The film takes an issue and walks us through it. The whole thriller part is make believe, there could be flaws but I do not really mind them as long as it works and I do not really get them too. With a close up throughout Fahadh Faasil enjoys the limelight and acts his ass out, especially in the crying scenes, something which Kamal loves to perform.

There were a couple of scenes, which I loved for the impact. One being scene where Anumol was given a sluttier make up on compulsion due to the act she was about to perform. She breaks down in that scene. Generally in a scene like that, a lady wouldn’t be made to look beautiful but here we see her look good but her emotions are opposite, and even bends down with a little bit of cleavage visible which acts as a distraction. Question arises as to whether a girl will make a call to her mother in such situation. Point is that she had totally forgotten what state she is in. That is how desperate she is. A similar scene in ‘Queen’ where Lisa Haydon gets involved in a video call with Rani’s parents is funny but it’s easier to make for the same reason. Here it is tougher and riskier. Another scene is the one where Jimmy has a virtual drink with his younger cousin. It opens up nice where his cousin asks if she drinks. It was cute but ends when she is on high and stares at his crotch for an extra second. The crush/lust was shown rather quickly and was done well.

Overall, for the genre, it feels like a neat film, which holds our attention for a good one and a half hour and would be remembered for its making and the time of the release. Not sure whether it would have been more widely watched, if not for the COVID restriction. With it on, it does a fair job.

Movie Review – Choked

A demonetization whine

It’s a sin to even miss the worst of Anurag Kashyap’s movie. Probably, that was the only solace of watching ‘Choked’ which was a super boring whine on demonetization. So boring that I was trying to shift in my seats, try different position of seating and finally even started doing stretch exercises. That’s how much tedious the movie was. Trying to be unsettling, it only ended up being uneventful and boring. There were lot of movies which I haven’t liked in this season which could be due a variety of factors but don’t remember when I mentioned about the ‘boring’ part these many times.

The film opens with an animation like spy sequence where cash is stashed in a drainage and cut, we go to an unhappy couple, probably a Tamil man and a Marathi woman. Anurag Kashyap’s affinity towards Tamil is evident because Sushanth (Roshan Mathew) being a Tamilian doesn’t really have any significance in the story. I’m not saying there ought to be significance for every little thing but this only felt gimmicky. Moreover, his Tamil was bad.

The ladies actually were powerhouse performers in the film. Ever since I watched ‘Killa’ I’ve become fan of Amruta Subhash who’s great as character artist in every movie I watched her in. She never overdoes, it doesn’t even feel like she’s acting. Of all she was the most memorable character in the film. Saiyami is the one on whose shoulder the whole film weighs but how much can she really do in a pointless film. As much as we hate her character, it’s terrific to project her in that way. Throughout the film she was able to keep her character arc stable with similar expressions. She was perfect in that irritated women role. Our hatred towards her is mark of her acting powers.

Sushanth and Sarita (Saiyami Kher) are not at all a happy couple. In fact, we feel so irritated to see them, together. A typical Anurag Kashyap set up. But that’s that, if you’re expecting a storyline on the lines of ‘Ugly’, no, nothing of that sort happens here. Except that she discovers money around 3 AM in the morning in kitchen. At that time, it tries to hold our curiosity but the mundane activity through which that gets dealt with gets on us too. We feel she’s going to be the same with or without the money.

And when the demonetization thing happens, we feel ‘exasperated’. I was like, “oh! Not again”. Except for anger I don’t see any other emotion in those sequence. And the anger wasn’t validated too. It felt like the he just made use of the people in the movie as a tool to vent out his frustration. This demonetization thing has become like the social media twist which gets employed in all the mass hero films. Annoying to the core. But that song, “Nerungi” was nice though. Probably the only highlight of the film. Otherwise music too was bland. Generally, Anurag Kashyap’s songs won’t be evident on the surface but works in a weird way, here even that was boring.

The film tried to take the psychological route of Aronosky’s through the sewage but only ended up throwing a kitchen sink at it. In whatever little time he got Upendra Limaye was terrific as Reddy. Otherwise the whole psychological part was implausible. With a beaten to death concept, this Anurag Kashyap’s film only ends up as whining and angst gotten out of it without any art.