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Mullum Malarum Review

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Streaming service Simply South has a #ThrowbackThursday series, and they re-released the classic Rajinikanth 1978 film Mullum Malaram (The Thorn & the Flower) in a crisp newly mastered print with new subtitles by rekhs. It was glorious! I loved seeing Rajinikanth the master actor, without all the gestures and schtick. Some of these old films are on Youtube, but frequently the songs are not subbed. I could fully appreciate the beauty of the poetry of the lyrics with rekhs’s new subtitles.

Do check out this classic on Simply South.

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Happy 60th Birthday Mohanlal!

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I am so grateful I started watching Malayalam cinema a few years ago, and stumbled into the films of Mohanlal.  What a distinguished career for one of the world’s finest actors.  I have only seen a small fraction of his over 300 films.  I thought I’d make a compilation of those reviews here to celebrate Lalettan on this milestone 60th birthday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Manichitrathazhu Movie Review

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I finally saw this classic Mohanlal film!  OMG Shobana was AMAZING!  She won a National Award for this film for good reason.  I was intrigued to see Shobana and Suresh Gopi in a classic film after seeing their chemistry in Varane Avashyamund.  The last 45 minutes of this psychological thriller were absolutely jaw dropping incredible.

1: Nenokkadine Review with Alisa the Bollywood Newbie

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Alisa Rivera, @BollywoodNewbie on Twitter, asked me to suggest a South Indian film we could both watch and discuss.  She’s been watching Hindi films for the last couple of years, and has just started to watch Malayalam films.  She had not seen any other Telugu films other than Baahubali, and did not know Mahesh Babu.  1: Nenokkadine was my first Mahesh film, and I’d been meaning to watch it again.  I’m not sure it was the best one to recommend as Alisa’s first Mahesh film, but she left wanting to see more of his films.  We also talk about the deaths of Irrfan Khan and Rishi Kapoor as we recorded this right after their deaths.

Extraction Movie Review

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Extraction is Netflix production starring Chris Hemsworth and Randeep Hooda (!!) with a script by Joe Russo of the Avengers films.  Frankly, it felt like I was in the middle of a shooter video game for much of the film, with a staggering body count.  But, the movie is at least half in Hindi and Bengali, with subtitles, and it was just cool to have actors from the Hindi industry and Hollywood together in a film.

Bangalore Days Movie Review

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After rewatching this favorite Malayalam film for the It Pod To Be You podcast, I realized I’d never done a video review.  When I first saw Dulquer Salmaan in OK Kanmani, I then sought out his other films and ordered a few DVD’s from India.  The first Malayalam films I saw were Ustad Hotel and Bangalore Days.  These are the films that made me fall in love with Malaylam cinema.

 

Bangalore Days on It Pod To Be You

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EVQlnXMXkAAgfAH I had a great time discussing one of my all time favorite films, Bangalore Days, with Manish Mathur on his podcast, It Pod To Be You.  He normally talks about Hollywood Rom Coms, but he gave me the choice of film to talk about.  Bangalore Days was Manish’s first Malayalam film, and his first time seeing Dulquer Salmaan in a movie.  Bangalore Days, a film about three close cousins and their romantic stories is just the comfort movie we all need right now. Thankfully, it’s streaming on Amazon Prime.  I’ll be honest, the English subtitles on Amazon are not the best, but I still highly recommend watching it!  Video review coming later today.

Hope you enjoy listening to the podcast!