Fazil Vs Appachan

Swargachithra Appachan, the well known Malayalam film producer now shifts to Tamil, where Mr. Fazil, his one-time friend and now a foe tries to get the turf smooth.

Not long years ago, Appachan was a mere planter at Kozhikode.Then on one fine day he went to Alapuzha to make fazil direct a film for him. But Fazil was not at all willing.But it was not easy to turn Appachan away that quickly. Fazil had to accept the offer at the end, though reluctantly.
He was almost sure that the film would be a flop. But Appachan was more than willing to take the risk and the film came out . And it was an instant hit.That marked the birth of a new producer in Malayalam. - Swargachithra Appachan.
And that was the beginning of a long term tie too .From then on, Fazil was the sole director of all Appachan films.The association flourished through box office success. But happy days were never lo last forever.
Setbacks began to occur. A handful of films failed at the box office. Hard earned money lost. Waking up to the gravity of the situation, typical of a businessman, Appachan began withdraw gradually from the projects.
The long-time associates and close friends began to rift apart.The relationship strained most when Fazil came to know that Appachan had sold the rights of Manichithrathaazhu to Tamil producers.
To add insult to injury, Fazil was not invited to the marriage of Appachans son.
During these period, Fazil was facing more and more misfortunes.So, after a series of box office failures in malayalam, Fazil has finally decided to switch over to tamil. But misfortune is following him to Tamil too, it seems.
The recent film Orunal Oru Kanavu didn't perform well.At this point that Appachan enters the Tamil arena to try his luck. like Fazil, he too doing this this switch over after suffering some continuous defeats in Malaylam. At Kollywood, S J Soorya is his director and Vijay is the hero.
Who will strike gold first at Thamizhakom?The film prince of Alappuzha or the businessman from Kozhikode?

Manasarovar Hit Headlines Again

US based Keralite Anoop Kurien's debut film Manasarovar is well appreciated in Fukuvoka film festival.The film already is released in UK and in India and screened at various film festivals allover the world.
Manasarovar never fails to catch the vivid attention of the audience by its unusual style of presentation of a usual story. If audience know little and characters know everything in ordinary films, in manasarvar things turned tipsy turvy. Though we, the audience know the relationship between the characters very well, they began to grow to the level of our knowledge. It is a love story that ends before it starts.
Manasarovar portrays the relationship between a young woman director of a firm and a consultant who is in search of his brother. The women and the consultants brother were actually known to each other.
And that man actually had made proposal to her.But because of naiveness she answered no.But now that the brother came in search of him, she know where he is - At Manasarovar.In the film, the Manasarovar is not a lake in Himalayas but it something deep and mysterious within ourselves, or between us. At that Manasarovar, we feel more comfortable and more virtuous.That is a realm where we are really sincere to ourselves.
The film succeeds to convey this abstract idea rather vividly and forcefully.

Seven Arts Returns- This Time With Kanal & Lal

SEVEN Arts was once synonymous with box office success in Kerala.The production company that presented Malayalam film industry with some unforgettable films is now all set to stage a comeback. The movie in the making is, or Kanal , theburning embers.
Hero is none other than Mohan Lal, the company's once lucky star. It was with Panjaangni that Lal's association with Seven Arts began. The film was a runaway success and trend setter. Viji Thampi is directing Kanal. After the unexpected failure of his last film, Krithyam, Thampi hopes this Lal-Seven Arts combine will prove lucky for him too.
The script of Kanal is Suresh babu's, the journalist turned script writer. For Babu too Kanal's success is so essential. Thandavam, his another film with Mohan Lal was a big flop.
Mohan lal too was so keen to make Kanal a big hit, that he personally had followed up with the making of the screen play and had pointed out many defects.
The story line itself is very interesting. Set in the backdrop of a remote and exotic forest, it potrays the lives of a bunch of men engaged in bamboo cutting.

Venturing in to the deep forests they cut the bamboo down and takes back to the villages. The bamboo cutting period is moderately long and they all stay in the forest till the collection is fairly large. Cut away from the civilisation and sorrunded by thick forest and constant dangers, the bamboo cutters stay inside the woods provide ample scope for an exotic and thrilling cinema experience.

While the story of the film is interesting enough, the story behind is equally intriguing. Lal Jose was the director designate of Kanal and he had even visited Thattekkad bird sanctury near Kothamangalam to check the suitability of the location. Script writer Suresh Babu too was also with him during these trekking. But that was all before the historical setback Lal Jose's Rasikan suffered.
However, when the all dust of the collapse of Rasikan, began to settle down, Lal Jose found himself outside the Kanal team.Was it the fear of another failure that made Mohan Lal take this decision? No prize for guessing.

Salim Kumar, The Hero

YES, it is true. Salim Kumar himself is the hero of Lal Jose's upcoming film. The pooja of Urangaatha Achchan (The Father who won't sleep) is over at Lal Studio, Kochi. It is the pathetic story of the father of a sexually assaulted girl.
Set aganist the backdrop of the alarming increse in the violence aganist women in the state, the film sure to resemble many incidents still vivid in Kerala's recent memories.Casting of the rest of the actors is not finalized, yet.
Lal Jose can afford to sit on it as long as he wishes. His new work, Chaanhu Pottu is fast climbing the hit chart. The songs of Chaanthu Pottu have outdone all the songs of all the other Onam movies. Theaters enjoyed the jokes too.

Which Is The Onam Hit ?

AMONG the films released during Onam days, which become number one? That is the million doller question in the industry now. Nerariyaan CBI, Naran, Chanthupottu, Lokanathan IAS are in the run.
The Mammootty-K Madhu film has failed to rise to the expectation level of the audience. Being the fourth in the CBI series, the expectations were high too. But the heaviness of the story and the pseudo advertisements that accompanied made many viewers disappointed. The only relief was Mammootty, whose charisma still at high levels.
After a series of flops, Naran turned out to be a pleasant relief for Mohan Lal. The the story was not at all unique, but the way it was made in to a movie has made all the difference for this Joshy film. Joshy is the master craft man in the present Malayalam film industry.
Chaanthupottu couldn't have afforded to become a non-hit. The success of the film was so essential for the survival of Lal Jose. And Dileep too was in need of a big success. Dileep's previous film Paandippada was just a break-even one. The fresh story, good visuals, pleasent songs and the mimicry jokes.. the combination saved the film in the box office.
Loknathan IAS turned out to be a favorite of front row seaters. The film tells the story of an IAS officer (Kalabhavan Mony) who joins politics after being forced to resign.
Sept 19, 2005

Lal's Foul Play

NO, not Mohan Lal- The Lal in Siddique-Lal combine.
To understand the story, have to go back some years in time. The drafts man turned mimicry artist (or was it the other way round?), had happened to assist Fazil with Siddiq in some films. Then the duo directed Ramji rao Speaking.
The film become a super hit and changed Lal's fate for ever. The films of Siddique-Lal began to redefine the commercial victory trend of Malayalam film industry. God Father had run 404 days a stretch- an all time record. But they parted ways not long after. The reasons are not clear, though. Lal began to concentrate on production, acting and distribution.
After some utter flops and some break-even ones, he produced Thenkaasippattanam. To raise enough money for the film, he had to pledge even his house and plot. To make things more difficult both Mohanlal's Devadoothan and Mammootty's Dada Saheb reached the theaters along with it.
But Thenkassippattanam starring Dileep, Sureshgopi and Lal himself become a tremendous success. Lal's transformation in to a business magnet of the industry had started there. a palacious house was built at Kakkanadu.
But he never really gave up the simplicity- have to give him credit for that. The charm of his friendly and intelligent approach had earned him many friends too. They all looked upon him as a straight forwarded and very humorous guy, just like a brother, a good one, at that!But some big-and-nasty surprises were in store for
them all. It was Lal creation's that distributed 'Bharat Chandran IPS', the Ranji Panikkar film that resurrected Sureshgopi. But then stories beagn to spread. It was kaavyachandrika Releases that actually won the distribution rights of the film.But Lal threatened theater owners and warned them of dire consequences if they advance money to Kaavyachandrika. Being a big
producer and distributer Lals threatening payed well.
Fearing Lal won't give them his future films, they all just ignored Kaavyachandrika. Kaavyachandrika had to give their right up. Ramji Rao's distributor Swargachitra appachan too was in the race. But Lal was the winner. He did manage to snatch Bharatchandran away.The winner take all, thus goes the cliche. This time
around it seems he took away the trust and belief too - of friends.

Costumers Beaten Up- By Jayasoorya and Salim

Seems it is beating season in Malayalam film industry.Or why should two young men on the race to secure
some slot in the industry manhandle the costumers?It was after a long gap that Jayasoorya got a film. The shooting of Kilukkam Kilukilukkam, part-II of Kilukkam was prgressing smoothly at Ootty. Then quarrel errupted between Jayasoorya and a costume boy and the actor hit him.It was in Kochi that Salim Kumar showed off his muscle power. Here again the victim was a costumer.
The location was that of a Jayasoorya film(not the actor- the famous director and son of late SL Puram Sadanandan). Frustration of not getting much chances could well be the outburst of Jayasoorya. But what was wrong with Salim Kumar, who has become an essential ingradient
of current Malayalam films? An inside man from the industry who happened to witness one of these incidents has an explanation. It is the box office success of Malayalam films that make people arrogant. If income from films was not this assured actors would have become more tolerant.