Calicut Radha: 11.30 am
Huge turn of ladies for the FDFS (anuraga effect)
Balcony sold out for all shows today.
FC 80%
Atmosphere: As one walks in to theatre, mobile phones from all most all nook and corner plays "anuraga vilochananyi"
Story: A simple and tested love story told umpteen number of times.
Aristocratic family,servant girl, a loving mother at the house of work, the rich hero, rich uncle of the hero helping him get a job,gets his daughter married to the hero, and a temple in the background.
Forget the neelathamara of the 1970's, we saw it latest in Nandanam too.
Performances: In a movie filled with newcomers, it is this area that is going to be critical for such a film.
Solid performances from Archana Kavi(Kunji Maalu),Kailash(Haridasan),Sreedevi Unni(maalu kuttiyamma),Rima kallingal (Ammini), Samvritha(Ratnam) makes sure that the movie is an enjoyable fare.
Script: A cake walk for MTV again. No hard hitting dialogues. But scenes in plenty with one liners that are funny and emotional. With very few dialogues between the hero and heroine, a touching love story is weaved.
Direction: Hats off to Laljose for his work. The creative mind to make such a cliched story work in today's times is a herculean task. Brave to shoot a bedroom scene aesthetically, he has let his visualization sense flow effortlessly.
Camera is superb obviously as seen from the promos and songs, Music is already topping the charts and a good use of BGM too. Could have done better with the editing though.
The movie doesnt drag on, its short, crisp and good. Kunji Maalu doesnt keep crying on and on as we see in tear jerkers. The emotional quotient is well with in limits.
Audience response: Natural to expect comments and boos for a slow paced movie with this. But it was very negligible. Ladies and family would love it i guess.
Box office: With shrewed marketing, Neelathamara should be an easy hit given the shoe string budget.
PS: Archana gave me the same feel when i saw Meera Jasmine in Sootradharan, and Asin in Narendran Makan. She can not only look good, but also act