Ananthabhadram

Finally I get to write about the Malayalam film Ananthbhadram. :) Being a big fan of Prithviraj, I wanted to see all his films, so I saw Ananthabhadram.It was a really different film,from all the movies I have seen before,it was about Black Magic.

Story: The movie is basically about Ananthan(Prithviraj) who comes back to his mother's village Sivapuram to light the holy lamps at Shivakavu a dark temple, as per his deceasesd mothers(Reavathi)'s wish. But, the Black Magician, Digambaran(Manoj K.Jayan) there opposes for him to light the lamps, so he can steal the stone that Ananthan's family has been protecting forever. On the other side Chemban(Kalabhavan Mani) and Bhama(Riya Sen) are used for his evil Black Magic.Also,meanwhile Bhadra(Kavya Madhavan) and Ananthan fall in love, but Bhadra is about to become a devi(goddess) so she has to choose between her love and to become a goddess.

This is just the outline of the story. :) The actual movie is more deeper and better and more interesting lol :D

The story (which was written by Sunil Parameswar),like I said before was something different from movies I have seen before. I mean I haven't a movie with Black Magic as its central topic,which I found pretty cool and interesting. Santosh Sivan handled it perfectly, I saw no flaws in the movie,everything was just right. He did both the direction and the Cinematography. Cinematography was awesome! :D Especially in the beginning, with all the lamps, the scene looked gorgeous,and the song Pinakkamano, was shown wonderfully. :D

The performances done by the cast was great mainly: Prithvi,Kavya, Manoj,and Kalabhavan. Kalabhavan was amazing as the blind person,I mean wow! :D Manoj suited really well for the role of the evil black magician,he was really evil looking. :D Riya didn't have much dialogues,but even when she did she had a stone face which was annoying,but she is a good dancer though. :) Okay, Prithvi and Kavya,I would say this is their best movie together! :D Wow, their chemistry rocked in the scenes they had together! :D They looked adorable :D But, Individually they were great too :D Prithvi was really good transitioning from a happy-go-lucky kind of guy in the beginning to a more serious, and a person who understands the surroundings. There is scenes where he has split personalty which he acts out really well,I can't pick out any mistakes. So, this movie also scores for Prithvi,and is one of his bests. :) For Kavya it is the same, she was great in every scene, especially in the second half, when everything started happening. She looked very gorgeous in this movie! :D

Music for this movie had a classical touch to all the, since it the story was based in a village background. It also reminded you of old Kerala,with the beautiful instruments M.G.Radakrishnan used. I liked all of them but my favorites are : Pinakkamano,Malamalooya,Vasanthamundo,and Minnayum Minnum. I thought the best track was Pinakkamano, because it has such wonderful instruments used and the singers were sooting an romantic. :)

Fun Facts:

1.The movie was dubbed into Telugu in 2006 and Tamil in 2009 as Sivapuram

2.The Song Pinakkamano was a tribute to the famous painter Raja Ravi Varma

3.Santosh rejected Vidyasagar for the film's music and gave the movie to M.G Radhakrishnan to get the right tunes.

4.Sabu Cyril was supposed to direct the film,but when he got busy with Anniyan he was replaced by Santosh

5.Meera Jasmine was replaced by Kavya Madhavan.

This movie will be one of the best Malayalam movies and will remain a classic. :) No one will forget the mesmerizing music,either. I love this movie lots, is one of my favorite Prithviraj movies :D Will love this movie forever! :D If you haven't seen it, please see it you will love it alot! :D

Sources:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/38/84616938_1b74d0a216.jpg

http://actorprithviraj.blogspot.com/2010/06/ananthabhadram-unseen-posters.html

Movies with Cinema as its theme

Yay!! Finally posting after 4 days! :D ok so, I really enjoy watching movies with cinema as its central theme Although I haven't seen many like that, I still like the ones I have seen :). Few of the movies I have seen like that are Vellithirai(Tamil), Thirakkatha(Malayalam) ,Pachakuthira(although not fully based on cinema,Malayalam) and Tamizh Padam(Tamil). Some I have heard of
but not seen are One Way Ticket(Malayalam) and Rasikan(Malayalam). But, sometimes they hurt because they make you see the dark side of Cinema also. :(

For Example Vellthirai shows how hard it is to become a director. You can feel the struggle by how Prithviraj acts. Dark side is that how crooked some people can be like Kannaiah/Dilipkanth(Prakash Raj). Also it shows how

some actresses struggle with their family, which I have heard about. And how air-headed some producers could be. :(

Another example Thirakkatha was said to be based on Srividya and Kamal Ha

ssan's relationship which later the director Renjith said was true. Great Acting done by Priyamani. Although the whole thing was'nt some was like Malavika(Priyamani) meeting Ajaychandran(Anoop Menon) during her last days,and their relationship. But Srividya and Kamal Hassan never got married and we don't know about the romance between them. The movie was good and very realistic but there was a dark side to it about how actresses struggle and how some big stars behave(again)...

Pachakuthira,although it doesnt revolve around cinema it shows how some junior artists struggle. Like in the movie Gopika and Dileep are sort of forcedto become junior artists by the position theyare in.It also shows how low they get payed as junior artists..

Tamizh Padam was a Tamil movie which spoofed many tamil movies like:Karuththamma - The first scene where a person tries to kill a new born baby. Periyar Dasan acted as the father in both Karuthamma and Tamil Padam (the spoof version).

Boys - The introduction scene for Siva's friends, who are even named after the actors in the film.

Thalapathi - When the gang leader Devaraj takes his revenge.

Ghajini - When Siva looks at a photo of a criminal whom he has to kill.

Enga Ooru Paattukaran - When he tries to find his father in Cinemapatti.

Kizhakke Pogum Rail - At Cinemapatti railway station, a lady who is sending messages at the back of the train compartment is similar to the one done by Radhika.

Pokkiri- When he is revealed to be a undercover cop.

Baasha - When he meets a so-called villain. The dialogues, settings and even the dialogues mock a similar scene in Baasha.

Annamalai - When Siva challenges the heroine's father on his status in society. Similarly the scene where the villian removes his sunglass while Siva wears his sunglass.

Sivaji - When he meets the minister for repairing the water pipe and his stylish way of putting signatures on documents.

Billa - The Billa tattoo saying "Swarna".

Apoorva Sagodharargal - The hero attempts to kill a bad guy by use of a Rube Goldberg machine similar to the one used in Apporva Sagodharargal

Anniyan - When he tries to kill a person with the help of buffaloes.

Nayagan- When people come asking for help to repair the water pipe.

Dhool - Introducing the local female gang leader Swarna.

Mouna Ragam- when Karthik proposes his love to Revathi.

Nattamai- The village head who comes in the first scene.

Chinna Thambi- When 3 brothers safeguard their sister and place their hands below her feet.

Kaakha Kaakha - When Siva gets drunk at Pondicherry and also when the hero leaves with the heroine to a retreat in Pondicherry.

Muthirai - Siva's cheri home turns out to be very posh within.

Siva Manasula Sakthi

Dasavathaaram

Thirupachi When the heroine gets kidnapped and hidden in a factory, Shiva comes to save her and fights all the rowdies.

Virumaandi - Seen being arrested at Cinemapatti railway station.

Run - When the hero runs away from the rowdies in a subway.

Vettaiyadu Vilayadu - A cop who asks for permission to go to America. Then the commissioner will mention his name as Raghavan which is the name of the character played by Kamal Hassan in this film.

Kanthaswamy - This is interwoven with the Baasha scene in the movie. The man working 'under' the hero is said to be Kanthaswamy.

Mozhi - The hero sees the heroine in a scene where the heroine is beating up a woman. Also, the 'signals' of falling in love as described in Mozhi are also depicted, along with the heroine's friend named Sheela.

Kadhalan - When Shiva goes to Priya's house and dances to win her love.

Kadhalukku Mariyadhai - When Shiva and Priya simultaneously take the same book "Love and Love Only".

Badri - The "Pacha Manja" song has captions which says that the hero sang this song.

Palayathu Amman - When the hero enters Cinemapatti, they encounter movie sets similar to all Rama Narayanan movies, especially Palayathu Amman.

Sethupathi IPS- A cop will suggest that a that the murderer for a murder case hiding in Pakistan and the commissioner will scold him mentioning the name Sethupati which was a character from the film played by Vijayakanth. It is notable that the cop's voice and pronunciation is similar to Vijayakanth.

Chidambara Ragasiyam - Portrayal of the character D. The character was played by Delhi Ganesh as Black Cat in the movie Chidambara Ragasiyam and his identity is revealed only at the end of the movie.

Veerasamy - A girl having a copy of the film's DVD says "Ithu kahai alla kappiyam." meaning "This is not a story. This is an epic.".

People Spoofed:

Kamal Haasan - When a conversation mentions that Virumaandi is a good man and all that he does gets misconstrued.

Joseph Vijay - At the beginning of the film, there are references to his punch dialogues. Later, Siva tenses his muscles like Vijay did in Vettaikaran.

A. R. Rahman - The Judge declares that the Government has to award a Golden Globe award to Paravai Muniyamma, to which she says "Ella Pugazhum Iraivanukke" (a popular dialogue uttered by Rahman at the 2009 Academy Awards.

Nayantara - During the song ''Kuthu Vilakku'', a man dances in a bikini with a tattoo on his back, similar to Nayantara's tattoo in Billa.

Fatima Babu/Shobana Ravi - The TV reporter says her name is Fathima Ravi - a combination of the two famous newsreaders from DoordarshanTV.

One of my favorite Tamil movies ever! :D Oh, and we can't forget the spoofy song ''Oh Maha Zeeya''.!

Note: List was gotten entirely from Wikipedia, yes I know it isn't always reliable but in this case it is.

Even though I haven't seen One Way Ticket I have heard that its about how "One Way Ticket' is basically the story of crazy fans of superstars who go to any extent to promote their screen idols and their movies. They even sacrifice their own career trying to promote their favorite stars." quoted from India glitz's preview of the movie. Which the quote to me sounds pretty bad.! Pretty cool that Kavya Madhavan did some of the lyrics! :D

Some of the upcoming releases that revolve around cinema are BestActor(Malayalam),Glamour(Telugu), and Film Star(Malayalam). Watch out for their realisticness :D

Source: List of spoofed films: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thamizh_Padam

Preview of One Way Ticket:http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/malayalam/preview/9984.html