Lies, laws and the victims

Since we live in the vicinity of Novo Cinemas, it is our first choice for a last-minute movie plan. But most often when we go, we rush in after the movie starts playing on screen hoping against hope that the first 10 minutes would be advertisement time.

Dragging a near-reluctant husband who dislikes new-age Malayalam movies, we walked in to watch Kishkinda Kandam, the new Asif Ali movie that was receiving rave reviews online. We missed the opening scenes and were just in luck to watch the lead characters registering their marriage at a court.

(The experience was further spoiled by the usher's goof-up. Though we had paid premium for balcony tickets, he told us to go one floor down and we found ourselves in the front row seats. Since the movie had already started, there was no point going in search of him and we waited until interval to find our way to the balcony seats in the top floor -- the curious plan of the screen is such that balcony and first class seats are on different floors. I hope Novo employs staff who can read English alphabets and can distinguish between a W and an M!)

Back to the movie: A matronly and plump Aparna fits the role of the wife of a widower, played by AA, whose restrained acting does justice to his role as forest officer Ajaychandran who lives with his ex-service father played by veteran actor Vijayraghavan. The case of the missing gun of the Army man gets curiouser and curiouser; the monkeys that inhabit the canopy of trees, the grandson who has been missing for 3 years are the other mysteries that are unravelled as the story goes on. The climax and ending have an unexpected twist, and the audience is caught by surprise. No wonder the reception has been largely positive .

When a film is written by a cinematographer, nature and its breathtaking beauty has to be a character in it. Kallepathy forest, ex-naxals and wildlife seamlessly merge in the script but above all that, KK gives the audience an idea of dementia or Alzheimer's that is quite different from Mohanlal's portrayal in Thanmatra. Here we have an elderly man trying to combat memory loss in his own way, unwilling to bow down but willing to forget unpleasant truths.
Just a few weeks earlier, we had gone to watch Jeethu Joseph's (Drishyam fame) Nunakuzhi starring Basil Joseph and Grace Antony. Though the title literally means dimple, from the assumption that the hole in the cheek appear when you tell a lie, here it is a pothole of lies that Basil and Grace invent to save their skin. It is largely funny and worth a one-time watch. Jeethu's stories seem to revolve around characters who get on the wrong side of the law and navigate their way around it. Kooman on Prime is another JJ movie where a police man becomes a thief just for the heck of it.


The first half of 2024 has been a roaring success for Mollywood. Can it get any better?


p.s. A discerning audience is emerging, especially those addicted to OTT, and we are seeing parallel, offbeat films in other languages too.

Movie magic season

Laapata Ladies has made it to the Oscars from India, and I hope it bags some recognition. It was a cute film, made cuter by the innocent-looking Phool as opposed to the wily-looking yet determined second bride. 

As young Phool gets lost in an Indian railway station in the UP-Bihar landscape, one cant help feel a bit nervous about her welfare. Surprisingly, she gets into the company of two rail 'workers'/beggars who dont molest her as one would expect in India but gives her refuge until she is taken under the care of a matronly shopkeeper on the platform. Ironically, the brides get swapped because their heads are covered by veils and they blindly follow their grooms out of the train. Not very different from the veils (save for the colour) that women from certain other community wear but are targeted for adopting regressive medieval attire.

I watched the Kiran Rao movie a couple of months back and cant remember much except that it exhorts women to study, work, stand up for themselves or care for the environment. I would classify it in the league of The Lunch Box for its endearing and enduring message. 

The 8 AM Metro that I saw a couple of days ago seemed a bit boring - maybe because it had an overdose of poetry - and a bit over the top as far as the heroine's fear of trains is concerned. It had a little of the drama that one would expect from a Telugu story/ movie.

Netflix brought my way IC 814 and Sector 36 based on the Kandahar hijacking of an Indian Airlines flight and the Nithari killings. I found the former brilliant and engrossing, and watched it in one or two sittings (inviting the better half's ridicule for wasting my time). As for the latter, I skipped the gory killings and fast forwarded to watch it in less than half an hour. 

I meant to add a note on two Malayalam movies I watched in theatre this month. Will do it as a sequel.

The last teen year

Mira celebrated her 19th birthday today with her friends. She cut a cake she ordered on zomato, and got herself some KFC as a treat.

College and hostels can make birthdays fun and memorable.

Onam sadya

We had 3 last-minute guests -- a cousin, a niece, and my old classmate Amos _to our sadya on Onam Sunday. Though planning gives me the jitters, for a change I jotted down what I should be making and managed to make almost all of them - save for the payasam, and 2 side dishes and banana chips we got from Lulu.

In the end, the feast was a success and the male guests were extremely thankful and happy for the best home-made sadya they have had since they left their families back in India. They stayed on and chatted  till 9 pm reluctant to return to their lonely bachelor pads.

In Mira's absence, the next best art director got down to setting the pookkalam or floral pattern. Ash played assistant while I just hovered around.

Amos gifted us a cake that looked like a fruity pookkalam.

Casting doubts

 The  Hema Committee report has unravelled a Pandora's Box of  abuse, gender inequality and violation of workers' rights. A few heads have rolled but the bigwigs remain relatively safe as the whistleblowers are not brave enough to name them.

Of course world over, cinema because of its glamour, power and money has remained a medium for abuse especially of female aspirants in the industry. The casting couch has preyed the unwilling and the willing, but some of the revelations that have come from a small yet classy industry like Mollywood has been shocking. (It is laudable that Malayalam has shown the way where Hindi, Tamil or Telugu movie industry will not dare to tread - the stench will drown them if they do. The democratic way in which Malayalam media and public clamour for the blood of the perpetrators is also exemplary)

It reminds me of a brief period in my early years here when I came across a Facebook page for auditions, and I applied for Mira who was 11. A casting director in his imperfect English replied that she was welcome to join in a Blessy biopic on the centenarian bishop of the Marthoma church, Chrysostom thirumeni. 

"Our recent project is NOT A FEATURE film, its a BIOGRAPHICAL FILM of PHILIPOSE MAR CHRYSOSTOM directed by BLESSY. In this film lot of Historical & Mythical moments included. We preferred almost new comers, because the story and characters are the back-born of this film. 

COSTUMES & MAKE-UP

Costumes and Make-up are based on the era of AD 52 onwards. Interested candidates make sure the above details we mentioned.

LOCATION

Pathanamthitta"

I let it go because the shooting was during school months in February, and he asked me to contact for later projects. I didnt.

Hearing the present tales, I am glad I didnt.

Buyer empathy

I have been a regular buyer on Amazon, often getting stuff for my parents and Mira. The experience has been generally good especially the UAE part of it. 

However, there were two instances in Amazon.in where the deals looked appealing but the sellers never delivered and the message was "delivery may be running late". The complaints were filed a little late but Amazon was kind enough to refund on behalf of the sellers.

A recent volley of deliveries to M at her uni mail room went largely uneventful even though she collected some of them a week after delivery. But a package of McVities digestive biscuits - since she is trying to eat healthy - were missing and the mail room staffer said it wasn't delivered and she better complain to Amazon. 

Instead of making repeated efforts to reason with the staff, she insisted that I lodge a complaint against the delivery boy. I refused, since the Amazon delivery status in the account showed that it was delivered at 1.47 pm on a Monday. I told her she can either go hunt in the mail room again or forget it as it was a paltry amount to complain  about - that too, food and if the delivery boy or the mail room staff ate it, I didnt mind suffering that loss.

A couple of days later, I chatted with an Amazon customer service agent who offered to refund the amount. I said I only wanted delivery information, not a refund (I suspected the delivery boy might face the repercussions of a refund). M finally went again in quest of the packet (the campus doesnt have a store, and the nearest supermarket is a few kilometres away) and hey presto! the missing item was waiting for her. Apparently, they had entered the packet in her surname because the first name was hidden by tape and since no one else had claimed it, she was able to collect it. 

All is well that ends well, but children need to learn empathy and perseverance.

Solo traveller

Soon after his uni semester break began, Ash embarked on a three-week trip to Kerala - alone for the first time. His uncle is at home on vacation too, so the two of them went over the first weekend to visit old friends in Chennai. Ash his friends from KG to Grade 5 and bro his college friends.

Having mollycoddled him all these years (I packed his luggage), we were worried how he would cross immigration and security check but he did them fine. Dubai airport T3 lets passenger's companions in too, so I helped him navigate the self check-in kiosk. 

In two weeks, he has travelled to Kochi to a dermatology clinic and his cousin's place, Chennai, and grandparents' homes without much incident. I had made a checklist of the stuff he was to gift each person and the inventory of the clothes I was sending😜. So far, he seems to be doing fine.

The initial plan of learning driving in Kerala has not happened because of the travel. Bonding with grandparents has been the highlight of the trip. He will also attend his uncle's 50th birthday celebrations this Sunday.

He returns on September 1 via Abu Dhabi, from where he will have to take the bus to XNB or Dubai Bus Station. Both uncle and nephew will depart from Kochi airport, rain and God willing.

p.s. Today is V's birthday. Since the kids are away, we didnt order a cake. I made beef biriyani and biscuit pudding instead.