After 'Christian Brothers' its 'China Town'

Yes folks, Mohanlal is again teaming up for another multi-starrer 'China Town' by Rafi-Mecartin. China Town will feature Jayaram and Dileep with Mohanlal. This movie will be an action thriller unlike the director duos earlier movies.

Kavya Madhavan will be doing opposite to Dileep, the other two heroines are yet to be finalised. The movie will be produced by Antony Perumbavoor under the banner of Aashirvad Cinemas, the movie will be shot at Goa, Pondicherry and Cochin. Mohanlal's distribution firm Max Lab will distribute this movie for the next Vishu.

While Joshiy's 'Christian Brothers' is planning to hit theaters on September.

Oru Naal Varum: FAMILY HIT (Indian Express Review)

Below is the review of Mohanlal – Sreenivasan’s new movie Orunal Varum posted in Indian express by Unni R. Nair

Orunaal Varum was an eagerly awaited movie as it was after a considerable gap that Mohanlal and Sreenivasan (who is as popular as a scenarist as he is as an actor) were teaming up. The duo had last come together to deliver Udayanaanu Thaaram, which went on to become a blockbuster. This time, they were playing key roles in Orunaal Varum, which had T.K. Rajeev Kumar as the director and was being produced by Manianpilla Raju. And since Sreenivasan was in charge of the script too, the film was expected to do great. Slated to release in May, the film got delayed and made it to the theatres last week. Having got good reviews, families are flocking to the theatres to watch it. The Mohanlal-Sreenivasan team had always been the favourite of family audiences and youngsters alike. 

Orunaal Varum is one of those films that takes a peep into the lives of the ordinary people, the aam aadmi and how they are fleeced by corrupt government officials. Sreenivasan plays a thoroughly corrupt Town Planning Officer while Mohanlal appears in the first half as an ordinary person who is forced to go after the Town Planning Officer in a bid to make him approve his plan for building a home. Of course Mohanlal’s character goes a different route later and so does the plot too. But the plot is well-constructed and the element of satire well worked out. The film retains the interest of the audience till the end. Sameera Reddy plays Mohanlal’s heroine while Devayani is cast opposite Sreenivasan. Suraaj Venjara-moodu, Nedumudi Venu and Siddique play key roles in the film, which has Sreenivasan penning the story and the script too. M.G.Sreekumar is in charge of the music while Murugan Kattakada has penned the lyrics. The film is doing well at all centres, especially with the family audience. 

Manianpilla Raju, popular actor-producer has made Orunaal Varum under the banner of Manianpilla Raju Productions. He also does a cameo role in the film. When asked about the response the film has been eliciting at the box-office, Raju says, “The family audience has accorded a warm welcome to the movie at all centres. We are very happy about it. However, the film was censored on April 7 and we had planned to release it on May 7. But, we could release it only in July; it got delayed by two months. This was due to the strike, the issues that had vexed the Malayalam film industry and had brought everything to a standstill.” This has affected the film’s box-office prospects. “We had planned to bring it out during the summer vacations. If that had happened, it would have done really great. We won’t get the summer vacation audience any longer. And moreover the holy month of Ramzan too is approaching; during the month of fasting, it’s usually a low turn out at the theatres. That makes things bleak for us. Still, it’s good that the family audience has taken it up and Orunaal Varum will soon turn out to be a hit. The delay, however has cost us a lot, in terms of money itself.”

Asked about the budget, Raju says, “Including the print and publicity costs, the film cost me around Rs. 4.35 crores”.

The film released on July 9, but indications are that Orunaal Varum will emerge a hit.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/orunaal-varum-family-hit/649285/2

Jai Hind Film Award 2010

Jai Hind film award 2010 announced yesterday, 'Pazhassi Raja' is the best film and Mammootty the best actor for Pazhassiraja. Mohanlal bagged the 'Chalachitra Ratna Award' Sarath Kumar bagged 'Jai Hind Patriotic Pride Award'.

The other awards and winners are:

Best Actress- Swetha Menon (Palery Manickyam)
Best Director- Blessy (Bramaram)
Best Scriptwriter- Renjith (Palery Manickyam)
Best Lyricist- Vayalar Sarathchandra Varma (Neelathamara)
Best Music Director - Mohan Sitara (Bramaram)
Second Best Actor - Manoj K Jayan (Pazhassi Raja)
Second Best Actress- Samvritha Sunil
Chalachithra Prathiba Award - Sreenivasan
Special Jury Award - Kalabavan Mani
Youth Icon- Prithviraj
Best Emerging Actor- Kailash (Neelathamara)
Best Emerging Actress - Archana Kavi (Neelathamara)
Popular Actor - Dileep
Best Male Singer - V. Sreekumar (Song: Anuraga... [Neelathamara])
Best Female Singer - K. S. Chithra (Song: Kunnathe Konnaykum.... [Pazhassi Raja])
Best Character Actor - Harisree Ashokan

'Christian Brothers' flying high

The movie which is not completed the shooting yet is making news. One of the leading Malayalam TV channel Asianet now break the record of highest price paid for television rights of Twenty-Twenty by taking the television rights of the film ‘Christian Brothers’ for a whopping 3 crores.  For T20 it was 2.86 crores.

It is interesting that both the record breaking film are Mohanlal films and is directed by Joshiy.