Originally Posted by george

Courtesy::www.varnachithra.com

uthor: vc Categories: Movies, Editorial at 4:52 am PST

Vishu 2007 saw the release of five movies in genres ranging from Rajnikanth to Children’s Movies. Both the superstars, minor stars, wannabe stars and special effects dominated the screen this time. This Vishu the war was made up of battles in two stages with the first one between Chotta Mumbai and Vinodayatra and the second one between Big-B, Athisayan and Panthaya Kozhi.

One of the fears this Vishu season was the release of Rajnikanth’s Shivaji, but thankfully the release of that movie was postponed. Instead we got Chotta Mumbai which proved that if we get to see a superstar for two and half hours, the story does not matter. Anwar Rasheed is big on treatment and his treatment attracted lot of viewers who came rushing in to see Mohanlal as Vasco da Gama. Bhavana, who could not see Manjil Virinja Pookal when it was released, because she was not born, had her dream come true when played his heroine, Parakkum Latha. According to some reports, the movie has lost steam because some viewers wanted something called a story, it seems.

Sathyan Anthikkad’s template script starring Dileep and Mukesh in Vinodayatra has attracted the family audience. It is all about Chemistry, the Chemistry between Dileep and Mukesh, between Dileep and Meera Jasmine and between Sathyan and his viewers. Sathyan and the viewers have a pact. He won’t surprise you with unexpected twists in the story and in turn we give our money to him. This has worked well in the past and it seems to work even now for families are flocking to theatres and donating money and this the only movie which has not seen a dip in the collections.

Big-B (not Abhishek’s Daddy) was yet another revenge flick, starring Mammootty as the son of Nafisa Ali who is around the same age as him. The movie made by a team of youngsters whose age adds up to Mammotty’s age stood apart for the technical brilliance, tight and moody script which was previously seen only in Hindi and Tamil movies. The overdose of violence seems to have upset some reviewers and the movie after the good initial seems to have dropped a bit.

To the eternal question, “How many times can Malayalees make fools of themselves in front of a Gounder?”, producer Lal said, “One more time” and decided to produce Panthaya Kozhi. Though he himself has acted in movies like Thommanum Makkalum, he decided to make yet another movie to teach the superstars a lesson, both of whom refused to act in his movie. The Superstars are having the last laugh as the movie did not shake the earth nor did it anoint Naren as the action hero.

Vinayan saw Ang Lee’s Hulk and thought, why not remake it with some bad graphics. The end product is Athisayan. Vinayan has consistently given the viewers new but damaged products. Trashed by reviewers for lack of story, half heated direction and tacky graphics this movie suffered at box office. As the advertisement blitz on superstar movies abates, families with children might venture out to see this movie.

To say that 4 out of 5 movies have nothing new or innovative to offer to the viewers is quite appalling. Looks like the reasoning behind releasing the movies during festival season is still the same, prey on unsuspecting viewer, who is out to enjoy a holiday and blow some cash. The process has become easier with movies being released in 50+ centers and viewers are ambushed simultaneously all over the state. Before the viewer realizes that fun trip was not theirs but the producers, the movie has recovered most of it’s cost.