Malaikottai Vaaliban

Malaikottai Vaaliban follows Vaaliban(Mohanlal) and his group of mercenaries/warriors who fight other warriors in different villages and who never loses a fight. Lijo Jose Pellissey takes his own time to establish Vaaliban as a charismatic warrior with his lengthy scenes and long shots embellished with a subdued background music. The framing, the music and the theme reminds the westerners of yore. Vaaliban ends up at his native village where he fights off the Portuguese ruler who enslaves the local people. The story moves at brisk pace from here on exploring various genres with some unexpected twists, albeit uninteresting, and culminates at an inconclusive juncture.

Lijo Jose Pellissery's obsession with static frames is evident here. The movie plays out like a theater play with long pauses between scenes and overly melodramatic dialogue. The choice of instruments used to provide the background score elevates this feeling which you may love or hate depending on your mood. The movie feels like it overstayed its welcome after a certain point.

Mohanlal as Vaaliban shines with his ever-expressive eyes and flawless portrayal of an arrogant mercenary. Harish Peradi gets an important and meaty role as Vaaliban's mentor which he portrays with finesse. The true star of the movie is the cinematographer Madhu Neelakandan who captivates the audiences with his immersive frames and color. You rarely say that camera work is the main highlight of a movie, and this is one of those.

But in the end, as the saying goes, even the best technicians cannot save a movie with barely any story to hold on to.

In a single word my opinion is it's not the best of Ljp but it's a awesome movie by Ljp. And it's a purely Ljp movie.

*It's purely a slow pace drama, shows in a new way which malayalam industry never saw.and it works perfectly for me *The music work is great that it's perfect,and perfectly balance with the scenes.

*It's fantastic camera work is there, and each and every visuals are clearly one of the best in malayalam industry.

*And I can't forget the art work, it is also awesome, like each department worked in this movie done a great job.

*Coming to the performance lalettan and all the characters done a great job.

If you are thinking about watching the film please understand that *I first thought it's a Ljp-mohanlal film and expected som commercial items. But after some times I understood that it's purely a Ljp movie, and also couldn't go with the flow of movie about 1hour after that I got the flow and I started to enjoy it, So don't expect for a commercial items in this film.

Saw the film yesterday. Was quite surprised seeing the backlash criticising the film. This is a quintessential LJP film. If you want to see Mass Mohanlal movie then this is not one. Beautifully shot , each and every frame is spectacular. Have not come across a Malayalam movie shot like this in the past.

Its shot like a play giving it a Shakespearen touch and second half is enthralling and will give you a feel of Clint Eastwood+ Tarantino style filmmaking and ending on a great note.

A bit slow but enjoyable fare.

Do watch it in theatres. Ignore the silly stupid criticism that's pulling the movie down deliberately.

It is a LJP film that uses Mohanlal in an apt manner as a Mallan.

What If Quentin Tarantino made an Indian movie ? Yes. That's exactly what "Malaikottai Valiban" is on screen.

Brilliantly woven piece, the movie begins where you think it ends. The amazing plot twist will keep you in edge of the seat. LJP's story telling is always unique, the Malaikottai Valiban is like a video game, where you finish one lever after other each one more daunting than the previous and at the end one final big mission which looks impossible with an absolute plot twist.

The movie is filled with wide angle shots and landscapes, Madhu Neelakandan's cinematography is really brilliant. I loved it personally.

It's not a movie for Mohan Lal's fan, it won't have extravagant intro, it's a movie made according to what the story really wants and that makes the movie absolutely a masterpiece.

Danish Sait will bag multiple awards for his role for sure, and I have no doubt it. You can see a director's real talent when you see Danish acting in this movie.

Overall this movie is an art of Indian cinema, LJP has done it again.

It took me a good 30 minutes or so to get sucked into the mystical universe of Malaikottai Vaaliban. Still, once I did, I'm guessing I enjoyed it more than 90% of the audience.. gauging from the varied reactions at the cinema hall. This film marries the sensibilities of a large-scale Puranic opera with the narrative style of a Kurosawa Samurai flick and the visuals of a Sergio Leone western. Since we've seen how much the hype train has damaged a Mohanlal film in recent times, I chose to largely disregard the "claims" made in the promotional interviews in the run-up to its release. And that helped. Knowing I had sat down for an LJP directorial was enough assurance of the film being inherently unpredictable and not your regular fast-paced crowd-pleaser.

This helped me appreciate Madhu Neelakantan's postcard-like frames a lot more (especially the extended static shots that bored most viewers). Yes, they did feel as overindulgent as LJP's use of slow-motion in the action blocks. But I was already sold. This bizarre universe, its distinct plot developments, and oddball characters gradually grew on me. The sudden shifts in tone (from soapy to violent to farcical to philosophical), Prashant Pillai's use of folk instruments to underline some of the set pieces, and even the stupid love-plus-revenge-triangle in the second half, which normally would have killed even the tiniest bit of interest in me - I was able to digest most of it. That said, I did not feel vehemently connected to any of the characters including the protagonist, and it was the aura created through sheer audio-visual magic that kept me fascinated.

Malaikottai Vaaliban heavily invokes the feeling of reading an Indian comic book based on local legends, and LJP has tried to play it to his strengths. It hasn't really fired on all cylinders, but I'd still appreciate him for not half-arsing it. The work of the art & production design departments is essential in letting you connect with the lore of this particular land. P S Rafeeque's writing works when it's busy building to a key moment, but is archaic as hell when it revolves around the tropes of romance or lust. The female characters (and the transwoman), especially, are poorly etched. The colonists are too caricaturish, reminding you of LJP's own Double Barrel. When the film finally poses a pertinent question on an indomitable warrior's existential crisis, it gets too busy building to a sequel that may not even happen. Argh, why even bother?