Marykkundoru Kunjadu (Malayalam) - Movie Review

The Thrissur trip this time was full of movies, infact to be precise 5 Malayalam movies in 2 days. The final one that I watched was – Marykkundoru Kunjadu (Mary has a Little Lamb) by Shafi starring Dileep, Bhavana and Biju Menon in the lead roles. Though I am not the biggest fan of Dileep I did find the name cute enough to watch.     

The story takes place in a small village settling on a hill in Kerala and has two Mary’s and one little lamb. Ofcourse not a love triangle because one Mary is the Little Lamb/ kunjaad Solomon’s mother and the other is his lover who is Ittichan, a Rich Landlord’s daughter. Mary has been in love with Solomon since childhood but she knows that Solomon can never fight her father and brother’s for her because of his nature. Solomon is an innocent soul who is afraid of literally everything including the school going kids in his village and hence is nicknamed Kunjadu (little lamb). Ittichan (Mary’s father) is very supportive of the love between Mary and Solomon not because he wants to get Mary married to Solomon but because of a past Ittichan and Solomon’s mother Mary share. Ittichan was engaged to Solomon’s mother but she finds out about Ittichan’s infidelity a day before their wedding and in revenge marries Solomon’s father. Ittichan still has a soft spot for Solomon’s mother. He is supportive of his daughter’s and Solomon’s love affair because he wants they love to reach its peak and then get his daughter married to someone else so that Solomon feels the same pain that he felt when he lost Solomon’s mother. In between all this fight for a less beaten body by Solomon a mysterious man lands up at their village and eventually in Solomon’s house and all of them assume him to be Solomon’s elder brother who had run away from home in his teens. Solomon gets an image makeover in the village with this mysterious body builder of a man by his side but his actions remain very ambiguous and start haunting & behaviourally changing Solomon out of fear for his family.

This is another movie that though not endowed with the best of performances manages to scrape through because of the thriller part in the script. Dileep, Bhavana are very conventional in their performances but Biju Menon as the mysterious man has an author-backed role and delivers it to the T. Though the story starts off very conventionally and we expect Dileep to win over his cowardness somehow, the script takes a complete and realistic U-turn with Biju Menon coming in and the mystery unravelling in the climax packs the punch.   

All in all a good entertainer.

iVerdict: Good. One time watch    

Rating: 2.5/ 5

Makeup Man (Malayalam) - Movie Review

Genuine guy. Debts galore. Confusing situations. Flow with confusions. Big Mess. All is well climax!! A few hundred films with a similar story line and ‘Makeup Man’ directed by Shafi starring Jayaram and Sheela in leading roles is no different.

Balu is an educated young man, presently under huge debts because of a failed attempt at business. The film opens with Balu trying to get into his ‘own’ house like a burglar, a neighbour witnessing this and Balu ending up in the police station where we come to know that he comes into his house in that manner to avoid creditors. To add to the situation Soorya, who is in love with Balu elopes from her house just before her wedding to be with him. Without money for even one meal Balu now has to fend for two people! He turns to his only friend Kichu, who is a film production manager. Kichu helps them get married with a lot of junior artists from films as witnesses and later on helps them spend a night at a hotel by adjusting them into a room assigned for the heroine of the film. The room was vacant for the time being as the director had fired the heroine that morning and it was on Kichu to find another new face as the heroine of the film. Confusions soon follow and Soorya ends up being cast as the heroine of the film. Owing to financial crunches Soorya and Balu have no other choice but to agree to this and to stay close to Soorya, Balu becomes her personal makeup man. What starts as a one-film thing later becomes a chain as Soorya starts getting offers for better projects and she too becomes interested in acting as a profession. Insecurities flow from Balu’s end as he expects her to be his wife but that ofcourse cannot be publically declared. He does make an effort on publicising it but fails as no proofs stand solid and Soorya denies it completely. What follows are efforts of reconciliation by Balu and Soorya and the drama that follows to a happy climax.

Makeup Man has a very conventional story and a very conventional climax too. There is nothing new that a viewer will take home with after the movie. The performances were good but Sheela can do a bit with some expressions also on her face. Overall Makeup Man did not work for me.

Kunchako Boban and Prithviraj Sukumaran were good in their guest roles playing themselves. The saving graces.

iVerdict: Average. One time watch may be.

Rating: 2/5