Balance Sheet 2005

A total of fifty eight movies; five or six hits; 15 break evens; the rest flops-
This is the balance sheet of the Malayalam film industry for the year 2005.
Movie making is a business after all and for a business it is not at all an optimistic scenario.But the figures are still somewhat encouraging when they are compared with that of previous years.

And for now for a close look-
The Hits
_______
Rajamanikyam, Udayananu Tharam, Bharathchandran IPS, Chanthupottu, Thommanum Makkalum & Achuvinte Amma.
(Of these Rajamanikyam of course is number one. None in the list could collect anything near what 'Raja' made. A rough figure is Rs 70 millions).
Among the six, only Achuvinte Amma could make it without a superstar. Udayanaanu Thaaram (Mohanlal), Rajamanikyam & Thommanum Makkalum (Mammootty), Chanthupottu (Dileep), Bharathchandran IPS (SureshGopi)....
The message is loud and clear: No star (the super variety), no success.
A superstar oriented script has better chances of making it in box office. Rajamaanikyam itself is the typical example. Except for Mammooty, Mohan lal, Suresh Gopi and Dileep only Kalabhavan Mani could assert his clout as a hero. All others viz Jayaram, Pridhwi Raj , Kunchako Boban and Jayasoorya simply failed to reach the mark last year.
Kalabhavan Mani's Ben Johnson managed to become a hit of sorts (Just like Mohanlal's Naran).

Music
____
In 2005, only four films could conquer Malayali viewers armed with the music:
Udayananu tharam(Deepak Dev ) Chanthupottu (Vidyasagar ) Achuvinte Amma ( Ilayaraja ) and Anantha Bhadram ( M G Radha krishnan ).

Films 2005
_______
Complete list of flms released in 2005:
1 Immini Nalloral
2 Kalyana Kurimanam
3 Udayananu Tharam
4 Iruvattam Manavatti
5 Achuvinte Amma
6 Moksham
7 Finger Print
8 Annorikkal
9 Makalkku
10 Hridayathil Sookshikkan
11 Isra
12 Hai
13 Junior Senior
14 Ponmudipuzhayorathu
15 Kanne Madanukka
16 Thommanum Makkalum
17 Oridam
18 Ullam
19 Adbhuda Deweep
20 Kochi Rajaav
21 Chandrolsavam
22 Alice in Wonderland
23 Maid in USA
24 Krithyam
25 Benjohnson
26 Benglavil Ouwda
27 Daiva Namathil
28 Five Fingers
29 Thaskaraveeran
30 Chithariyavar
31 Powran
32 Ottananayam
33 Police
34 Rappakal
35 Vaccation
36 Pandippada
37 Udayon
38 Campus
39 By the People
40 Manikyan
41 Bharathchandran IPS
42 Chanthupottu
43 Manjupeyyom Munpe
44 Deepangal Saakshi
45 Aran
46 Nerariyan CBI
47 Lokanathan IAS
48 Oraal
49 Rajav Manikyam
50 Sarkar Dada
51 Anathabhadram
52 Boy Friend
53 Seelabhathi
54 December
55 Tiger
56 Thanmathra
57 Bus Conductor
58 Maniyara Kallan

Why Thanmathra Failed?

Thanmatra (means molecule) was the second film of Blessy, one of the talented young directors in Malayalam movie industry.
It was an eagerly awaited one too.
The phenomenal success of Kazhcha, the film with a difference made all expect something even better from this newcomer.
Mohanlal has done his best and heroine Meera Vasudev and the boy Arjun Lal have acted nicely.Then what went wrong?
The answer is Blessy.
His screenplay is not at all good and the direction is pathetic.
When the character Ramesan slips in to the realm of Alzheimer's disease , the film reach a dead end. It is very difficult for an average director to sustain the tempo of a hero-oriented-film after the hero become inactive or absent, that too for a long time.
It is true that Padmarajan had done it brilliantly in Moonnampakkam and Adoor Gopalakrishnan in Mukamukham. Like in Mukhamukam, Blessy's hero too become absent- mentally. But no major happenings occur after that stage, except the hero's death. The incidents portrayed in between miserably fail to catch the attention of the viewers.
Nothing is there that make the audience wait eagerly for the coming scenes. And there is no shortage for cliches too- The death scene of Ramesan and the torture by his cousin...A serious flaw that was not noted in kazhcha become all too evident here- Here too the style of narration is naive and plain. (It is heard, that was why kazhcha got no awards. To tell the story, Blessy adopts no different patterns. Craft has much importance as far as todays academic film scenario is concerned).
In short, Blessy's attempt to portray a decease that rarely featured in Indian Cinema ends up as a miserable failure.(The theme was not that fresh too, to set the records straight. In Kattathe Kilikkoodu, Bharathan has done it before and had succeeded).