Red Chillies

At last Lal is back with his favorite director playing another regular character of a mystified don, a millionaire who is into everything ranging from music to fisticuffs. And this time with every needed bit meticulously pasted for the grand package and performance from the veteran actor, arrives the first sure hit of the year 'Red Chillies'.

Essentially a murder mystery, the film has Mohanlal as OMR (a contraction of Oyyarath Madathil Ramanathan or is it that of catchphrase 'Onnum Marakkilla Rama''?), a tough and shrewd NRI business magnet who is well settled with his business firms and enemies, all across the Middle East and Singapore. He also runs an FM station 919.1 - OMR FM, which is based in Kochi. All the nine leading jockeys (RJ's) of the FM station are madly in love with this high flying businessman, whom they have never met in person. On New Year's Eve, OMR promises his jockeys that he would come over to meet them and reveal something to one of them. And the jockeys who are more than happy go around partying, dancing, disobeying traffic rules and creating panic but finds at the receiving end of all horrors, with one gigolo dead in their house. The very next morning also announces a hit and run case, presumably by the same Prado of the jockeys, killing ten workers who were on a round the clock agitation in front of a factory, including their leader Maani Varghese. The girls with a gang rape case and killing of almost a dozen people due to their displeasing manners, flee the spot .But as the police led by Commissioner Vyasan and Mani's IPS's son, Stalin track the car, the business baron OMR is forced to crash land in his home country with his own cheer girls, to save his other staff from a tricky plot that is aimed at him. He takes on the entire system single handedly, sometimes becoming an advocate, often a business tycoon and even the deity of a village.

Though resembling the 1997, Morgan freeman movie 'Kiss the Girls', A K Sajan has effectively re-created and mixed the basic premise of his previous hit 'Chinthamani Kola Case ' to suit a Mohanlal fans' taste. To the credit of the director Shaji Kailash, the movie has everything from great visuals by cinematographer Shaji, hard hitting punch lines, generously graded and colour corrected shots and most of the visuals effects known to the editor. The movie keeps us engaged till the last forty minutes but later half drags due to big pit holes in the plot. The lack of a meticulous screenplay is clearly highlighted in the last half an hour of the movie which is a bit long at two hours and 40 minutes.

Mohanlal is certainly the highpoint of the flick with another effortless rendering of style and substance. He holds the movie altogether with his versatility and never a minute appear plastic or unbelievable, though the plot offers many loose ends. He in fact has three presentations in the movie, with stylishly done slow motion sequences and fresh hairdo and a bearded look that may satisfy his fan followings. Senior actors like Thilakan, Biju Meon and Siddhique are also a treat to watch in many sequences in the first half.

The movie makers also finds surprising business chances promoting a bunch of products through the film ranging from Club FM to Vodafone and Silkair, without affecting the story telling. But the unsavorily cut shots which continues with sound effects for every swish and insipid jumps, deters the interest in the proceedings.

Despite all this clichés, 'Red Chillies' is a definite recommendation for those who love the star in Lal and his mannerisms, Red chilies is sure to bring an end to the years continuous entries into the flop charts.

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2 Harihar Nagar

Cast: Mukesh, Siddique, Asokan, Jagdeesh

Director: Lal

Producer: PNV Associates , Lal Creations

Cinematography: Venu

''Thomas Kutty.....Vittoda'aa........'', few of the regular Mollywood viewers will forget this catch line from the movie which literally was filled with ''a laugh a minute '' sequences.

It was in the year 1990, when this movie ‘In Harihar Nagar'’ directed by the hit duo Siddique -Lal came out as a trendsetter. The movie featuring the second level actors in terms of popularity soared high in hit charts and started a trend of small, but successful films which lasted for yet another decade.

Years later, Siddhique and Lal got separated after six big hits and Lal turned out as a hit producer and a successful actor with many great screen characters to his credit.

Anyhow, exactly after 18 years from the original, Lal is now turning an independent director, by creating a sequel to his big hit of the nineties. Tilted ‘To Hariharnagar’ the movie is in the last phase of post production and will grace the theatres by the second of April as a Vishu release.

‘To Harihar Nagar’ is planned as an out and out comedy , like its original with the same lead of four intimate friends - Mahadevan(Mukesh), Govindan Kutty (Siddhique), Appukkuttan(Jagadheesh) and Thomaskutty(Ashokan), all in a new mature look and makeup .

All of them except Thomaskutty have already left Hariharnagar, living apart after their marriages and are into very different jobs. After a big gap they are now planning to come together again to Hariharnagar, to celebrate the marriage of the last of the bachelor in their group, Thomaskutty.

With all their basic instincts still intact, the four men team again go back to their older days when they find that they have a beautiful neighbour bar singer ( Lakshmi Rai).

As the four try out various mischievous ways to get to know the beauty, they ran into newer troubles which form the rest of the hilarious comedy.

‘To Harihar Nagar’ produced by Lal creations and PNV associates, will also feature Rohini, Lena and Fabi as the wives of the characters played by Mukesh, Siddhique and Jagadheesh respectively.

Scripted by the director himself, the movie will be having songs set to tune by Alex Paul. Lal has already shot for a remix version of “Unnam Marannu” the famous hit song from the original movie, for this sequel.

The movie is cinematographed by Venu, who is making a comeback to Mollywood after a longtime.

Expected to be on theatres from this Vishu, ‘To Hariharnagar’ will be one of the most awaited movies of the year.



Song1: Adavukal

Song2: Eakantha Chandrike

Song3: Unnam Marannu

Song4: Unnam Marannu I



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Sagar Alias Jacky

Cast: Mohanlal, Bhavana, Suman, Jagathy Sreekumar, Shobhana, Nedumudi Venu, Manoj K. Jayan, Ganesh, Vinayakan, Baiju, Sumeeth, Sreeraman

Director: Amal Neerad

Producer: Antony Perumbavoor

Lyrics: Rio Joy

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Cinematography: Amal Neerad

Art Direction: Joseph Nellickal

Screenplay: S N Swamy

Story Writer: S N Swamy




Song 1. Melle Melle

Song 2.Osama - Female Voice

Song 3.Osama - Male Voice

Song 4.Sagar Alias Jacky

Song 5 Vennilave




If I had the liberty to re-name a film that's already been released, I'd rename this one as 'Much Ado about Nothing'. But the great English bard, who created a wonderful play with that title, would probably groan in his grave if I did so. Disappointing! That's all I can say about Amal Neerad's second directorial outing, the much hyped 'Sagar Alias Jacky Reloaded'. In fact it was one of the most awaited commercial films in Malayalam in the past few months. And all the waiting has now come to naught.

If it was not for the hype and the hoopla surrounding the film, it would probably have passed off as an OK kind of film. But because of the advertising overkill, expectations ran high, and unless it was spectacularly brilliant, it was doomed to disappoint. And disappoint, it does. Given the build-up that the film was given, being lenient in criticizing 'Sagar Alias Jacky Reloaded' wouldn't be fair.

This is the story in a nutshell. Sagar, alias Jacky, is an underworld don who operates internationally. He gets to deal with the likes of Naina, who bases himself in Dubai and is exactly what you'd expect a typical high profile filmy villain to be. Naina wants to do away with Sagar, because the latter outsmarts him every time. And then there is Michael Rosario and his brothers who operate from Goa and are known as the Rosario brothers. Michael Rosario too wants to eliminate Sagar for his own reasons.

In the meantime Indu, who's the daughter of the State Chief Minister and whose husband Manoj is Sagar's friend, is helped time and again by Sagar in extremely critical situations, much to the chagrin of her brother Hari. Into this scenario comes a television reporter, Arathy Menon, who works for a national channel. She has some bad notions about Sagar, but after meeting him (presumably), she gets to change her opinion and even starts loving him, (a machination by the scenarist/director to introduce a duet song, which of course is greeted with a lot of booing!).

Well, that and not much more, is what you get from 'Sagar Alias Jacky Reloaded'. Excellently choreographed fight sequences and technically brilliant execution, leading alas, to a totally predictable climax that brings you to the end of the ordeal.

Performance-wise the film belongs to Mohanlal and him alone. He passes muster in the title role and proves himself a wonderfully brilliant actor once again. The others in the cast, Manoj K. Jayan (as Manoj), Sampath (as Michael Rosario), Nedumudi Venu (as the Chief Minister), Ganesh Kumar (as Hari) etc fit into their roles perfectly well. Suman, who is doing his first film in Malayalam, is again cast in a stereotyped role like he used to be during his first innings in films. The members in Sagar's gang (played by Sumeeth Naval, Vinayakan, and Anu Anand etc) are good.

One wonders why there is a character like Ashokan (played to perfection by the versatile Jagathy Sreekumar) in Sagar's gang. Or is there a tradition of recruiting such people in the underworld like the court jesters of yore? Shobhana does well as Indu, and it's good to see Amal Neerad has presented her with all her charm, something that was not seen in some of her more recent films like Shaji Kailas' 'Valiyettan' or IV Sasi's 'Shradhdha'. Bhavana is good as Arathy Menon while the same cannot be said of Bala who does a brief role as a Police Officer investigating Sagar.

Technically 'Sagar alias Jackie Reloaded' is a class apart from the usual Malayalam movies. The brilliant technician that he is, Amal Neerad as the director and also as the cinematographer, has done an excellent job. He has also managed to elicit the best results from all the technicians working with him, including the art-director and the editor. The film is stylishly crafted, as was expected by all of us who had seen 'Big B', Amal's debut directorial venture and also his earlier films as cinematographer.

An excellent work on that front, but on the content side, 'Sagar alias Jacky Reloaded' has nothing much to offer. Of the songs, the first one filmed on Jyothirmayi (in a guest role) is rather good, but the second one, filmed on Bhavana and Mohanlal, though good and excellently shot, invites much booing as it hampers the flow of the film. Though stylishly made, the pace of the film is rather slow even when you get to the interval, which is a good one and a half hours into the film.

Post interval, the film fizzles out in about 45 minutes and comes to a screeching halt, rounded off with a Rap number while the screen shows a montage of various scenes from the film. The Rap song might even remind you of the one in 'Chandni Chowk to China', but it's not too bad. The notable thing about this song (with which the end credits roll), is that Mohanlal's son Pranav, who was reported to be doing a guest role in the film, makes a fleeting appearance, only to vanish into nowhere. (Then why create so much hype about him acting in the movie?!).

In short, 'Sagar alias Jacky Reloaded' is a stylishly made film, but lacks in substance and in my honest opinion, is not even as good as 'Big B'. But it must be stated that the likes of Amal Neerad, who are technically sound and very much in control of all departments of filmmaking, will do Malayalam Cinema a world of good in the long run. We only hope that Amal soon 'Reloads' himself and comes back with a film that's slick and has substance to boot.



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