| 1) Satyan Anthikad is a simple and straightforward chronicler of everydaylife. Satyan usually dwells on family-oriented themes and has anuncanny knack for striking a responsive chord.
In his latest film Achuvinte Amma, the ace Malayalam director has comeup with a wholesome entertainer that has gone down well with anappreciative audience.
If Achuvinte Amma has done well, a lion's share of the credit should goto actress Urvashi, who has staged a comeback of sorts through thisfilm. In fact, the buzz goes that Satyan had only Urvashi in mind whenhe decided to direct this film. And the consummate actress has done afabulous job, fully justifying the confidence the director had reposedin her.
The film devolves on the strong mother-daughter bonds. Satyan hasdelineated the characters of the mother daughter duo with great careand an eye for the detail. No wonder, the frames are suffused with thewarmth of their love for each other.
Vanaja (Urvashi) has come up the hard way in life. Her only pricedpossession in life is her daughter Achu (Meera Jasmine), whom she hasbrought up, lavishing affection. The daughter is in fact the apple ofher eye. The mother would do just anything to keep her daughter happy.Because she is blessed with a glib tongue, Vanaja works as a"Crorepati" LIC agent. Besides, she is also a good tailor.
Everything goes on smoothly in the mother-daughter wonderland untilAchu confronts Vanaja with the one question the latter has alwaysdreaded to hear: who is her father? She shies away every time Achuposes the question by telling one lie or the other. Soon, Achu, who hasa diploma in engineering, lands a job in a construction company. Aschance would have it, the mother and daughter meet Jijo (Sunil).
Jijo endears himself to the mother-daughter team with his GoodSamaritan nature. He is quite an enterprising youngster too. In notime, Achu and Jijo become close friends. Their friendship blossomsinto love in the course of time. But, Vanaja, who is highly possessiveabout her daughter, frowns on the idea of her daughter marrying anorphan, which Jijo is.
Then Achu springs an unpleasant surprise on her when she once againrefuses to disclose the identity of the father. An angry Achu walks outon her mother. The remainder of the movie centers round how the motherand daughter cope with the spell of separation.
The film has its distractions as well. The climax is a bit contrivedand dragging. A few characters who have nothing to do with the maintheme detracts from the tempo of the film. One of them is KPACLalitha's character, who is too loud for comfort. Then there is a bigMuslim family, the attendant songs and dances, which mar the tightnessand cohesiveness of the film.
The first half that way is certainly better, with a lot of comedyscenes featuring the mother and the daughter. They bring down the houseliterally when Vanaja tries to learn English.
The film could have been better if only it had been trimmed a bit.Music is another letdown, with veteran Ilayaraja unable to impart anyfreshness to the narrative.
The saving grace of course is Urvashi, who is marvelous in the role ofthe mother. It is a once-in-a-lifetime role for Urvashi, whose sense oftiming in comedy scenes is a treat to watch. She is equally convincingin the scenes where she is required to bring out the anguish anddistress of a woman, who has to bear the pangs of separation of heronly daughter. No word is good enough to describe Urvashi's quality ofacting. It has to be seen to be believed.
Meera's daughter is second only to Urvashi. She is playful, full ofpranks and a bundle of mischief as befits her character. The Jasminelooks lovely and slim. A surprise package of the film is Sunil's Jijo.Here is a promising actor in the making who will go far in his career.
All in all, despite some narrative flaws, Achuvinte Amma is aneminently watchable film if only for the standout performance ofUrvashi.
2) Satyan Anthikad is a simple and straightforward chronicler of everydaylife. Satyan usually dwells on family-oriented themes and has anuncanny knack for striking a responsive chord.
In his latest film Achuvinte Amma, the ace Malayalam director has comeup with a wholesome entertainer that has gone down well with anappreciative audience.
If Achuvinte Amma has done well, a lion's share of the credit should goto actress Urvashi, who has staged a comeback of sorts through thisfilm. In fact, the buzz goes that Satyan had only Urvashi in mind whenhe decided to direct this film. And the consummate actress has done afabulous job, fully justifying the confidence the director had reposedin her.
The film devolves on the strong mother-daughter bonds. Satyan hasdelineated the characters of the mother daughter duo with great careand an eye for the detail. No wonder, the frames are suffused with thewarmth of their love for each other.
Vanaja (Urvashi) has come up the hard way in life. Her only pricedpossession in life is her daughter Achu (Meera Jasmine), whom she hasbrought up, lavishing affection. The daughter is in fact the apple ofher eye. The mother would do just anything to keep her daughter happy.Because she is blessed with a glib tongue, Vanaja works as a"Crorepati" LIC agent. Besides, she is also a good tailor.
Everything goes on smoothly in the mother-daughter wonderland untilAchu confronts Vanaja with the one question the latter has alwaysdreaded to hear: who is her father? She shies away every time Achuposes the question by telling one lie or the other. Soon, Achu, who hasa diploma in engineering, lands a job in a construction company. Aschance would have it, the mother and daughter meet Jijo (Sunil).
Jijo endears himself to the mother-daughter team with his GoodSamaritan nature. He is quite an enterprising youngster too. In notime, Achu and Jijo become close friends. Their friendship blossomsinto love in the course of time. But, Vanaja, who is highly possessiveabout her daughter, frowns on the idea of her daughter marrying anorphan, which Jijo is.
Then Achu springs an unpleasant surprise on her when she once againrefuses to disclose the identity of the father. An angry Achu walks outon her mother. The remainder of the movie centers round how the motherand daughter cope with the spell of separation.
The film has its distractions as well. The climax is a bit contrivedand dragging. A few characters who have nothing to do with the maintheme detracts from the tempo of the film. One of them is KPACLalitha's character, who is too loud for comfort. Then there is a bigMuslim family, the attendant songs and dances, which mar the tightnessand cohesiveness of the film.
The first half that way is certainly better, with a lot of comedyscenes featuring the mother and the daughter. They bring down the houseliterally when Vanaja tries to learn English.
The film could have been better if only it had been trimmed a bit.Music is another letdown, with veteran Ilayaraja unable to impart anyfreshness to the narrative.
The saving grace of course is Urvashi, who is marvelous in the role ofthe mother. It is a once-in-a-lifetime role for Urvashi, whose sense oftiming in comedy scenes is a treat to watch. She is equally convincingin the scenes where she is required to bring out the anguish anddistress of a woman, who has to bear the pangs of separation of heronly daughter. No word is good enough to describe Urvashi's quality ofacting. It has to be seen to be believed.
Meera's daughter is second only to Urvashi. She is playful, full ofpranks and a bundle of mischief as befits her character. The Jasminelooks lovely and slim. A surprise package of the film is Sunil's Jijo.Here is a promising actor in the making who will go far in his career.
All in all, despite some narrative flaws, Achuvinte Amma is aneminently watchable film if only for the standout performance ofUrvashi. |
This is a b&w and very low budget film made by one of the actors, RustyNails, and while it has its moments, it’s merely OK. Contaminateddrinking water manages to postpone a class field trip by turning NJteens into zit-heads. They are then attracted to greasy food and (ofcourse) chocolate, and they don’t eat it, they rub it on the affectedarea. Lots of zit bursting and pus flowing, if you like that sort ofthing. Problem is though, the prosthetic zits are bald-head wigs, sortof, and there isn’t one of the people involved where you can’t clearlysee that. Anyway, the army gets involved, and they’re a bumbling lot,of course, just like in real life, and they are out to stop the teensfrom reaching Mershey, PA, which is of course the place where they makeMershey chocolate bars. It’s also George Romero country, and there aremore than a few scenes here that resemble bits of Night of the LivingDead. This is somewhat amusing and disgusting, and would have beenbetter had the makeup effects not been so obvious. I’m not sure whathappens toward the end but I think perhaps Clearasil figured insomewhere. A decent attempt, but falls a bit short of the mark. 7 outof 10.