Ratheesh KrishnaVadhyar (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} ratheesh) wrote,@ 2008-02-02 20:29:00 |
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College Kumaran
In the detective film Nerariyan CBI, there is a scene in which Thilakan comes as a manthravadi, with a pink-colored paint (lipstick?) applied on his lips, and conducts a quiz for Mammootty, the CBI officer. The questions are similar to those asked my Yamadharma to Yudhishtira in the poisoned-lake episode of Mahabharata. Mammootty answers the questions correctly (thankfully, the director doesn't show us Thilakan expressing shock and disbelief at each answer, like Ravana used to express in Ramanand Sagar's TV Ramayana when his weapons failed against Rama's). In the end, Thilakan asks a question which he says is the most difficult one: "Why is Agni the most superior among the Panchabhoothas? Mammootty thinks for a moment, as if he is doing a complex arithmetic computation in his mind. Then he responds, and Thilakan's eyes fill with tears - Ananda Bashpam!! Nerariyan CBI was not that bad, but when I think of that film, this scene is the one which comes to my mind first.
Sreenivasan seems to have run out of ideas, Innocent doesn't act much, Mukesh and Jagadeesh have become too old to do poovalan roles, and Jagathi too doesn't do many funny roles these days, so in Malayalam cinema we don’t really get to see quality comedy scenes nowadays. Therefore we have to depend upon gems like above to have a laugh. In the new Mohanlal film College Kumaran too, there is such a "gem". In this scene, they show the hero's brain operating as a video recorder and processor in a crucial scene near the climax. The crux of the issue is that he has to figure out the registration number of a vehicle which he had seen just once before. So, he visualizes the car passing in front of him, rewinds and freezes the scene, and then zooms in to the number plate, all in his mind! Unfortunately, there are no other such "gems" in the movie.
Until 5-6 years back, every film with Mohanlal in it was a pleasure to watch. However horrible be the theme and direction, the actor provided some relief to the viewers by his inspired performances. Those days are gone and now even for Mohanlal movies we have to depend upon these incidental comedy "gems" to lighten our minds. More than an year back, I wrote that whenever I watch a Mohanlal film, I get a feeling that that is his worst. Amazingly, his films continue showing this trend even now. When I thought Alibhai cannot be beaten, there comes College Kumaran (I haven’t yet got an opportunity to watch Flash and Rock N Roll yet). What is more - even the veteran actor's methods have become too repetitive and horribly boring - for example, when his character becomes thoughtful, Mohanlal shows the expressions of chewing some toffee and then looks through one corner of his eyes and then slowly moves his gaze to the other corner. Perhaps its just that he is tired of the meaningless roles coming to him - I am not sure. Anyways, College Kumaran is a sort of film that would make director Thulasidas's earlier Waste, Mr. Brahmachari look like a classic.
Obviously, I didn’t go for the film expecting it to be a masterpiece, but in spite of all Rasathanthrams and Nattu Rajavus, I still I keep looking forward to every Mohanlal movie, hoping that it would be something different, or at least offer some time-pass. But College Kumaran just made me repent for spending the money for buying ticket. Since it is Thulasidas's film, I won't talk about logic, theme, presentation, characterizations, etc. And in any case the theme is a rehash of the superhero-shinkidis-fans-villains formula planted to a college atmosphere, with the usual "package" of actors playing their standard characters - Siddique and Jayakrishnan playing villains, Balachandra Menon coming in jubbah for revealing the "secret", Jagannatha Varma playing the judge, etc. There is absolutely no "comedy" (except for the aforementioned gem). Songs are of the kind which would really make us wish to have a remote control to fast-forward them on the screen. Can we at least hope that we could make ourselves feel pleasant looking at the good-looking heroine, Vimala Raman? No, as she doesn't have many scenes in the film, and the photography too is just mediocre.
College Kumaran shouldn’t have been made. It's such a waste of time and money of its makers as well as viewers.
In the detective film Nerariyan CBI, there is a scene in which Thilakan comes as a manthravadi, with a pink-colored paint (lipstick?) applied on his lips, and conducts a quiz for Mammootty, the CBI officer. The questions are similar to those asked my Yamadharma to Yudhishtira in the poisoned-lake episode of Mahabharata. Mammootty answers the questions correctly (thankfully, the director doesn't show us Thilakan expressing shock and disbelief at each answer, like Ravana used to express in Ramanand Sagar's TV Ramayana when his weapons failed against Rama's). In the end, Thilakan asks a question which he says is the most difficult one: "Why is Agni the most superior among the Panchabhoothas? Mammootty thinks for a moment, as if he is doing a complex arithmetic computation in his mind. Then he responds, and Thilakan's eyes fill with tears - Ananda Bashpam!! Nerariyan CBI was not that bad, but when I think of that film, this scene is the one which comes to my mind first.
Sreenivasan seems to have run out of ideas, Innocent doesn't act much, Mukesh and Jagadeesh have become too old to do poovalan roles, and Jagathi too doesn't do many funny roles these days, so in Malayalam cinema we don’t really get to see quality comedy scenes nowadays. Therefore we have to depend upon gems like above to have a laugh. In the new Mohanlal film College Kumaran too, there is such a "gem". In this scene, they show the hero's brain operating as a video recorder and processor in a crucial scene near the climax. The crux of the issue is that he has to figure out the registration number of a vehicle which he had seen just once before. So, he visualizes the car passing in front of him, rewinds and freezes the scene, and then zooms in to the number plate, all in his mind! Unfortunately, there are no other such "gems" in the movie.
Until 5-6 years back, every film with Mohanlal in it was a pleasure to watch. However horrible be the theme and direction, the actor provided some relief to the viewers by his inspired performances. Those days are gone and now even for Mohanlal movies we have to depend upon these incidental comedy "gems" to lighten our minds. More than an year back, I wrote that whenever I watch a Mohanlal film, I get a feeling that that is his worst. Amazingly, his films continue showing this trend even now. When I thought Alibhai cannot be beaten, there comes College Kumaran (I haven’t yet got an opportunity to watch Flash and Rock N Roll yet). What is more - even the veteran actor's methods have become too repetitive and horribly boring - for example, when his character becomes thoughtful, Mohanlal shows the expressions of chewing some toffee and then looks through one corner of his eyes and then slowly moves his gaze to the other corner. Perhaps its just that he is tired of the meaningless roles coming to him - I am not sure. Anyways, College Kumaran is a sort of film that would make director Thulasidas's earlier Waste, Mr. Brahmachari look like a classic.
Obviously, I didn’t go for the film expecting it to be a masterpiece, but in spite of all Rasathanthrams and Nattu Rajavus, I still I keep looking forward to every Mohanlal movie, hoping that it would be something different, or at least offer some time-pass. But College Kumaran just made me repent for spending the money for buying ticket. Since it is Thulasidas's film, I won't talk about logic, theme, presentation, characterizations, etc. And in any case the theme is a rehash of the superhero-shinkidis-fans-villains formula planted to a college atmosphere, with the usual "package" of actors playing their standard characters - Siddique and Jayakrishnan playing villains, Balachandra Menon coming in jubbah for revealing the "secret", Jagannatha Varma playing the judge, etc. There is absolutely no "comedy" (except for the aforementioned gem). Songs are of the kind which would really make us wish to have a remote control to fast-forward them on the screen. Can we at least hope that we could make ourselves feel pleasant looking at the good-looking heroine, Vimala Raman? No, as she doesn't have many scenes in the film, and the photography too is just mediocre.
College Kumaran shouldn’t have been made. It's such a waste of time and money of its makers as well as viewers.
