Malaikottai Vaaliban

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.

This film takes its time to settle in due to its normal pacing and drags around a bit after interval. But thats ok since they went into the classic story telling routes of the 70s. Vaaliban has Mohanlal in a strongman avatar which he convinces with ease. The fights are unique so is the brilliant score from prashant pillai. Great cinematohraphy from madhu neelakantan. It was a treat to watch on the big screen. A different but surely watchable flick from the director. All casts are fantastic with lal, hareesh and danish sait doing the major performances. This may not a usual watch so be warned as its quite different kind of genre... To be precise.. Its genre less as said by the director.

This film is not for general audience who expect commercial elements. It's slow paced. Could have been managed better. People who were almost sleeping during the 1st hour are later claiming the film is 10/10. Why? They want to look like pro movie analysts lmao. If you give this 10/10 just because you can claim "Pure LJP film", then your actual standards are low!

For neutrals, If you have free time, go and watch it. Don't watch it out of FOMO due to overrating by wannabe analysts. There is degrading as well by general audience. Overall, it's a different attempt but bang average outcome. Different does not mean 10/10 lol. Don't go with over expectations after hearing fancy phrases like "Visual treat", "Not everyone's cup of tea", "LJP Brilliance"

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?

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.