CinephileIndia2023

Tourist Family written and directed by debutante Abishan Jeevinth starring M. Sasikumar, Simran, Mithun Jai Shankar, Kamalesh and Yogi Babu among others is an endearing movie about kindness and humanity. The film portrays kindness without being preachy and this is the movie that made me smile with joy from start to finish. Read on for more details.

Dharmadas and family arrive at Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu illegally from Sri Lanka by boat. It's the time of civil unrest in Sri Lanks due to the inflation caused by the corrupt government. We all know this. Now the rest of the movie is how they integrate into the society. The story is simple, but it is the narration that makes it beautiful.

The writer Abishan establishes the tone of the movie right from the start when the family, when caught by a police officer in Rameswaram, wins him over with their kindness and bonding. Although illegal, it is that sentiment and kindness that they carry through. There was a lot of humor that was generated mainly due to the Sri Lankan Tamizh dialect and the family trying to integrate in Chennai by learning the local dialect so as to not raise any eyebrows. There is a scene while they are on the way to their apartment in Chennai, Dharmadas notices a man lying on the pavement drunk and he immediately calls an ambulance. Such is the kindness.

The writer also commented on today's society. Times have changed since the early 90s when everyone knew everyone else in a colony. That is no longer the case. The director makes a strong case for bringing back those relationships.

The conflict the family has to face and how their neighborhood comes together to help each other form the gist. I absolutely loved the movie, and I felt happy after the movie was done. Highly recommend watching with entire family.

-@CinephileIndia2023.

TL;DR A classy commercial potboiler that needed better writing.

Now the details: Empuraan starts off where Lucifer left us after revealing Kureshi Ab'Raam. In Lucifer Stephen Nedumpally was a mystical force that was elevated by the sheer circumstances. But once the curtains are off, you'd expect the story to double down on his Kureshi Ab'Raam identity to generate the thrill and mass that the story demanded. However, I must say write Murali Gopy could not capitalize on character that he wrote and the kind of set up he did in the first part.

Empuraan is not exactly a sequel to Lucifer. It goes on a tangential, almost like a side quest in a video game, to solve something else. This is where the writer and the director Prithviraj Sukumaran failed to meet me and show me something new, something that I already did not know about Stephen Nedumpally. The story was predictable. It is a commercial entertainer after all. However, the writing and editing missed a lot of opportunities provided to them by making the story sprinkled with sub plots that don't add much to any character. Some important characters' motivations have not been established properly leading to a disconnect.

What I liked though were the cinematography and production design. Some of the best production designs I witnessed recently. And music Deepak Dev adds that exciting flavor that was missing in the script. Mohanlal, Manju Warrier and Tovino Thomas kept me glued to the screen for what I felt like under written characters. I am excited for L3 not because I loved L2, but because L3 is where I get to finally see what I wanted to see in L2. Who is Stephen Nedumpally? What happened to him in the 15 years he went missing as a child?

-YT/@CinephileIndia2023.

Before I get into the details, I'd like to add a disclaimer that I am not a history buff neither do I claim to know Shivaji's family lineage to comment on the authenticity of the history shown in the movie. I have not read the novel that this movie is based on, and I am assuming some creatives liberties have been taken both in the novel and in the movie.

Chhaava is the story of Chhatrapati Shivaji's son Sambhaji who ascends to the throne of the Deccan empire after Shivaji's demise. Aurangazeb continues to pose a threat to the empire and how Sambhaji fights for his vision of Swarajya forms the rest of the story. One of the writers Laxman Utekar who is also the director wastes no time in establishing the backstory. He shined here without resorting to lengthy exposition. The dialogues were written brilliantly to convey the story thus far in a concise manner. Not only the backstory, but also Sambhaji and his heroism were established convincingly. The genre stays true to its theme of showcasing the larger-than-life legend of Shivaji that we read in history books and carries that legacy forward to the next generation.

Actor Vicky Kaushal fit the character of Sambhaji like a glove. He had a lot of scope to portray a range of emotions over the course of the film and he pulled it off with ease. This is his best work yet. I know I am jumping the gun here as we still have ten more months in 2025 but his performance as Sambhaji is award worthy. He is joined by Rashmika Mandanna as his wife. While her scope was limited, she did make her presence felt with the little screen time she had. I did wish she worked on her Hindi a bit more as it felt like the charm was missing in her dialogue. Then we have Akshay Khanna as the menacing Aurangazeb. He conveyed terror with his mannerisms and expressions. This is the most expressive Akshay Khanna I've ever watched.

The editor Manish Pradhan kept the pace at a fast clip. I wished he had done it a bit better as the story moves at a rapid pace skipping a few years in between scenes. This led to some confusion with respect to sticking to the series of events as they unfolded.

Cinematography by Sourabh Goswami helped convey the terror and power by using a lot of low angle shots for both Sambhaji and Aurangazeb. This led to the feeling that both were formidable and equally powerful in their own right. Even the climax portions where Sambhaji is tortured were shot in low angles conveying his heroism despite the suffering. It was beautifully done.

Music by AR Rahman stood out, especially in battle scenes. It provided a lot of breathing room for the cameraman, the director and the actors to portray the raw emotions of war instead of relying on gimmicks of a loud BGM which has become a norm these days in India cinema.

Production Design was top notch. I loved the use of special effects in battle scenes where people are being sliced with sword and pierced with arrows instead of visual effects. Most Indian movies these days are resorting to visual effects to show simple shots like an arrow piercing or even blood. This takes away the organic feel that the scene is trying to convey. In Chhaava I am glad the director opted for special effects instead making the torture and pain organic and hence effective. His team of production designers has done him solid.

I did feel the director had missed a few opportunities to make the emotion even more personal by skipping a few key battle scenes where a key character dies. Instead, he focused on the big picture. This is where I felt he should have leaned in a bit into at least one battle scene where a key character dies and that would have made the Sambhaji's sorrow and rage even more effective. The entire climax is a sequence of torture scenes that Aurangazeb inflicts upon Sambhaji. While this makes sense for the movie, it was hard to watch. If you are squemish like me, then you have been warned.

-YT/@CinephileIndia2023.