Manikarthik.com

This one’s clearly a winner ! The movie now going in for Oscar nominations and all the hype it’s gathered up along with it, you know.

There are a few things that will easily help you identify “quality” movies. And I can’t think of any good reason to think this one’s otherwise.

A great director, a story with soul, great piece of music, and a big heart. All the reviews so far heard on Slumdog Milionaire are hugely encouraging.

The music is outstanding with performance by M.I.A and A.R. Rahman (Music Director). It’s not the traditional bollywood style music but more aligned towards the story.

Reviews also suggest that the actors (Dev Patel) performance is very promising and some even say he’s the next big thing.

I’m waiting for the release here in India, rumored to be around the time Oscars nominations are open.

I just came back watching the movie Twenty Twenty and the feeling is like returning from a festival. It’s a full on entertainer movie, that has worked out really well for all sections, the fans, the masses and the classes. I was not fully convinced with the movie promos on the TV, and had already voted it as a gimmick just to pull off all Mamootty and Mohan Lal fans. But I’m glad to know that I was wrong. The movie is a good effort and like it could’ve easily been, there are no loose ends in the movie (almost, remember its an entertainer).

I could’ve easily written this movie off as an experiment that went wrong just because of the star cast and the problems that could emerge as a result of it. Stars dates..schedules..budget..but clearly, there has been a sincere effort. The producer (Dileep) could’ve easily gotten all the money back within the first week, even with a mediocre show, just because of the star cast. But I must thank him for not going easy on it and pursuing a good story line. I think the full credits of the movie goes to the script writers Uday Krishna and Sibi K Thomas. Because in such a movie, without a good script there is nothing much the director can do. Joshiy, the director of the movie have done a not so bad job, if not excellent. At least he’s made sure that none of the stars roles overcast each other and where ever necessary, there is intense dram that Mohan Lal fans and Mamootty fans will like.

Special accolades should go for the “Tit for Tat” dialogues by Mohan Lal and Mammootty and also Suresh Gopi. That’s something I really enjoyed. Everyone would irrespective of whose fans they are.

However, the first half of the film was a bit yawn-yawn type with some “comedy” by Harisree Ashokan and team..when the movie catches pace, one feels what was the necessity for those first part comedy moments – if they can be called so. At least, the director should’ve understood that comedy is not just about “mis spellings” and throwing things around, or jumping into water.

Great performances by Dileep, Jayaram (with a mismatch pair that could’ve been avoided), Kavya, Jagathi and others.

A funny fact: Even though Prithviraj, Kunchako Boban etc are appearing only in a song sequence(with no dialogues whatsoever) with a gorgeous NayanTara, in the character names roll at the end, you’ll see that their names are also included. Nayantara – Diana, Prithviraj – Reji.

Overall a great entertainer worth watching with family.The only problem would be get tickets.