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TAMIL

Mammootty's Marumalarchi tops
SIX films were released during the Pongal festive season. And in keeping with the trend of films with thematic value being accepted by the audience, it is Pankaj Productions’ Marumalarchi that has topped the box-office. Trade circles expect the film to do better business in the moffusil and rural areas.

Directed by debutant Bharathi, the film is about a good zamindar (Mammootty) who is falsely accused of attempting to molest a woman (Devayani) in a distant village. He is beaten up in public at the market place by the rich village youth and sent back. The zamindar asks his driver to keep it a secret fearing that his own villagers might wreak vengeance on the isolated villagers. However, the driver blurts out the truth, and overnight, the village is razed to the ground. When the zamindar comes to know of this he is shocked at the madness of his fellowmen and tries to make amends, but the youth who had beaten him up, mistake it for a conspiracy by the zamindar and vows to finish him off. The girl who mistook the zamindar for a molester, loses her parents and her house in the counter-attack by the villagers and the zamindar marries her as an act of penance. The girl agrees to be his wife but with a motive to kill him. Misunderstood and yet forced to defend his subjects, the zamindar finally takes to violence to bring about peace.

Mammootty’s sterling performance as Rasapadiyachi, the zamindar, and his excellent rendering of the native dialect aided by a gripping screenplay, have made the film a superhit with the masses. Henry has hit the jackpot again after Bharathi Kanamma by banking on a good story to do the trick.

Director C Sundar has banked on comedy and given a storyline of Prabhu Deva playing a conman with and without a beard, wooing Meena and Maheshwari, who play sisters, raising a few laughs. But the film’s main draw are the sexy dresses including a swimsuit worn by Meena for the first time in her career. The film’s storyline is similar to the Karthik-starrer Udaviku Varalamma, released during the same time. The film has opened to good a response but it is doubtful if it can sustain the draw. Sundar seems to be running out of gags to raise laughter.

Another film that is getting a good response at the box-office is Ponmanam, starring Prabhu, Priya Raman and Suvalaxmi. The film has no violence and debutant director Rajkumar banks on the twists in the take to keep the audience interested. A singer by profession, Prabhu lives with Suvalaxmi and a kid. Priya Raman, a model hailing from a middle-class family, falls in love with him. Meanwhile, Karan, a bachelor in the neighbourhood, makes passes at Suvalaxmi. At this juncture Prabhu reveals that he is not married to Suvalaxmi, and was only playing hubby to her to protect her. Karan’s marriage with Suvalaxmi is fixed and when everything looks rosy, Priya Raman’s father requests Prabhu to withdraw, since a rich man has offered to marry his daughter and look after the entire family, which includes two handicapped sisters. So Prabhu pretends that he is a married man who was taking Priya for a ride and she leaves him for the rich man. Karan and Suvalaxmi get married, and Prabhu is left alone. He now asks for the kid so that he can devote himself to looking after the child. The family drama highlighted by an excellent performance by Prabhu, has been attracting family audiences and even though the collections are not 100 per cent, the trade expects it to emerge a winner after a slow start.

Sivasakti Films’ Kadhale Nimmadhi was a much-awaited film lapped up by the trade because of the banner’s track record — it had two hits in a row before this. Kadhale Nimmadhi directed by debutant director Indiran is a realistic love story of a boy and a girl unnecessarily suspected of being in love when in reality they do not know each other. The girl, unable to bear the taunts from her family runs away to Chennai to be with the boy whom she is supposed to be in love with. The boy goes to the girl's village to explain the misgivings. But the girl’s kith and kin do not believe him. They keep him in captivity and thrash him. However, the girl’s mother and her sister-in-law allow him to escape. A case of kidnapping is filed, and the court room drama unfolds the real story. The girl’s husband-to-be, who is a lawyer, asks the parents to see reason and unite the youngsters. Meanwhile, the girl, who lives with the boy’s mother during the traumatic phase takes a liking to her, and decides to stay back in the city with the family as she feels that the boy and his mother are more human than her family. The unusual storyline has given the film a good start, and trade circles are hopeful of its success.

Soorya who plays the misunderstood youngster, has done full justice to the role by cleverly underplaying it. Murali, in the role of the lawyer, is impressive. However, newfind Kavita does not make much of an impression. It remains to be seen if Sivasakti Films can make it a hat trick of hits.

Two films with star draw as their only asset are, Vijaykanth’s Ullavuthurai and Sarath Kumar’s Moovendar. The first, which is Vijaykanth’s 125th film, will be remembered for its extensive underwater scenes shot in London. The film has opened to a 100 per cent response at all centres, mainly because it’s the first Vijaykanth release in a long time. Action scenes which are a trademark of Vijaykanth films, are the main draw of this film. It lacks a credible storyline and this may go against the film in the long run since a good story has been the mainstay of all recent hits. Produced by Ibrahim Rowther, Vijaykanth’s Man Friday, the film has brought cheer to the distributors with a good initial draw.

Sarath Kumar’s Moovendar (on the lines of Janakiraman) is a comedy directed by debutant Suraj. MN Nambiar, Ramadas and Sarath play three generations, the grandfather, father and son respectively of a family notorious for rowdyism. Sarath falls in love with Devyani, a peace-loving Brahmin girl, and how this upsets their lives and eventually leads to a transformation in the firebrand hero, forms the crux of the story. Comedy and action are blended well. But the mainstay of the film is Sarath’s star appeal. The film has made a promising start at the boxoffice.

Kilakum Merukum directed by Kalaignanam with Napoleon, Nasar and Geetha in major roles, is the dark horse which has appealed to audiences in moffusil centres. Based on the rustic subject of an over-possessive brother and his clash with his sadistic brother-in-law, with the sister caught in the crossfire, the low-budget film is meant to woo the B & C centres and seems to have achieved its goal.

The Karthik-starrer, Udaviku Varalamma, directed by Gokul Krishna (dialogue writer to Fazil in Tamil films) is a total farce which taxes the patience of the viewers. Karthik plays a conman, who woos three girls posing as a Hindu, Muslim and Christian, but fails to impress in all three. The film is already a washout despite the festive season.

Kathalikku Maryathai, the Vijay-Shalini-starrer has maintained full houses inspite of the Pongal releases, and shows no signs of a drop in collections. According to the trade, it has already crossed the Rs 22 crore mark. Interestingly, five out of the six new releases have Devayani as the heroine but she makes an impact as an actress only in Marumalarchi.

TELUGU

A Sankranti with no hits!
A popular trade myth that people flock to the cinemas during Sankranti season has been demolished at the box-office this year, with none of the five festival releases standing up to the expectations of trade circles.

Except for the Nagarjuna-Tabu-Heera starrer Aavidaa Maa Aavide, the opening collections of the other four releases — Khaideegaru, Sambhavam, Paradesi and Ooyala — were disappointing.

Aavidaa Maa Aavide, the comedy involving a man and two women, directed by EVV Satyanarayana, attracted encouraging initials, only to fall short of full houses. The film produced by FDC chairman, M Murali Mohan, and released with 75 prints, is expected to do better in the coming weeks.

The much-hyped Paradesi, mostly shot in the US with new faces Vishwa, Madhav, Tanuja and the California-based model, Moni, attracted only below par openings. Even the direction of K Raghavendra Rao, who is known for his glamorous heroines, impressive song-picturisations and never-seen-before foreign locales, could not draw the crowds. The bilingual (Telugu and Tamil) love story was jointly made by senior producers Allu Aravind and Chalasani Aswani Dutt and released with 41 prints.

Khaideegaru, in which Rajya Sabha member Mohan Babu played the lead role of an angry man taking on corrupt cops, finished below par by the end of the first week. The ‘instant justice’ theme with Laila as the heroine and directed by Sai Prakash, known for his women-oriented films, was released with 68 prints and it remains to be seen in how many theatres it will be retained in the coming weeks.

Krishna, acclaimed as the “Sankranti hero”, with a number of his Sankranti releases becoming hits, drew blank this season. Sambhavam directed by Mohan Gandhi, with Krishna playing a cop and Suman a student leader, who form a team to take on corrupt politicians, attracted only average collections. The two heroines, Roja and Saadhika also could not add to the box-office appeal of the film which was released with 44 prints.

The Srikant-Ramya Krishna starrer Ooyala, a family drama revolving around a kid, directed by SV Krishna Reddy is also running to average collections with 41 prints.