The hero Vasco da Gama (Mohan Lal) lives in Fort Kochi with his family consisting of his wrestler father and 2 sisters. He has 3 friends and all of them are involved in hooligan activities. Vasco and his gang decide to mend their ways and try their luck outside India. In order to get Malaysian visa (for himself and his friends), vasco pledges his house without the knowledge of his father and the agent (Kochin Haniffa) dupes him. Here our villain enters..Kalabhavan Mani, a corrupt but suspended police officer, who kills an honest officer, which is witnessed by Vasco and his father. How Vasco deals with these 2 issues (i.e. pledged house and witness of murder) and how he comes out of it forms the rest of the story. And there is a heroine too, Bhavana who plays an autorickshaw driver.
The movie is able to provide occasional relief with good comic performance especially by Bijjukuttan who plays Susheelan (one of the gang members of Vasco) and Paambu Chacko played by Rajan P Dev.
The movie began well with the narrator describing about himself, his friends, his family, his locality and how he created a mess of his life. I guess the first 30 minutes were like that, but after that, it was a waste of time. Why the story went haywire?
I usually watch movies because of directors and Anwar Rashid whose last movie that I saw (RajaManikyam) was a good masala movie, which had all the elements in the right mix and provided good entertainment value. That was the only thing i expected from this movie (entertainment), but apart from the first 30 minutes, the movie fell flat on its nose......what a crap.....what was the point of this movie....had Anwar Rashid lost his mind..these were the thoughts coming to my mind....While watching this movie, 2 movies were pounding hard on my subconscious, Thirakatha and Udayananu Tharam. In Thirakatha, Ajay Chandran the superstar gives his already committed dates to Akbar (the debutant hit director), who did not even cast him in the first place. Similarly in Udayan Anu Tharam, Saroj Kumar the super star tells the director, he wont do this and do that as it would affect his persona...............my point is, "Was Chotta Mumbai a casualty of Super star syndrome"?? That Ajay Chandran of Thirakatha does resemble Mohan Lal somewhat in manners and looks also adds credence to this theory....Was Ranjith (director of Thirakatha) providing subtle hints to the viewers what our super stars are up to through his movie or is it just a fig of my imagination, can somebody throw some light here....or lets ask Anwar Rashid!!
A city in China is ruled by a corrupt governor. The only savior for the poor and weak is a vigilante named Iron Monkey. The Governor has been unable to capture him so far. This is where Won Kei-ying (Donnie Yen) and his son Wong Fei-hung enter the scene. Won is forced to search for Iron monkey as his son is held captive by the governor. Iron monkey, who is loved by the masses is in fact alter ego of a noble physician Yang Tianchun (Yu Rongguant). Watch out for some breath taking martial arts choreography. This is a somewhat fictionalized account in the life of Wong Fei-hung who is a legend in Chinese popular culture.
A young director Akbar (Prithviraj) whose debut movie was a superhit is planning on making his second movie based on the life of a former heroine Malvika (Priyamani). Malvika had married her coactor Ajay Chandran (Anoop Menon) who is now the reigning superstar of film industry, but their marriage was short lived and after that not many people know of her whereabouts.
Akbar's meticulous research leads him to diary and letters maintained by a close friend Ebby (played by Ranjith) of both Malvika and Ajay Chandran, going through which Akbar's tries to create their life story. His hard work pays off and he tracks an impoverished and terminally ill Malvika in a Nagercoil Hospital.
Getting in real touch with the subject of his script, Akbar loses his will to make a cinema out of her life and is committed to do everything to make her happy including if possible, a final reconciliation with Ajay Chandran.
Loved the movie. Indeed Ranjith is the director with a difference, with movies like Kerala Cafe (his idea), Pranjiyettan and the Saint, and Paleri Manikyam to his credit.....I take a bow.
An ambitious father, Viswan, (Sreenivasan), who is also a village officer, wants his son Manu (Vineet) to become an engineer and has been sending him for entrance coaching for 2 years without success. Manu is a talented singer, but his father wants no singing until he gets through entrance and becomes an engineer. Viswan is also a very honest government official. As it is typical with Srinvasan films, many contemporary social issues have been integrated in the story line and through gags and one liners, actors have been able to put matters in the viewer's head to ruminate on. Issues like bribery, child education, mad rat race for careers, fake swamis, land mafias......all have been touched.....Other important characters include Krishnan Kutti (Salim Kumar), peon at village office, who leads a lavish life and tries to influence Viswan vainly, and Rema (Suhasini), Viswan's wife.
Overall a good family entertainer.
