Original subtitles

I think we have our Onam winner in Bethlehem Kudumba unit.

Directed by Girish Adi who co-wrote it with Kiran Jose.

The director previously gave us the blockbuster Premaloo which is getting a

Hindi remake.

Check out my reel if you haven't. And actually you know I knew who the

director of the film is but I you know skipped that while I was watching the

film and afterwards when I realized it is the same director I was like okay

that makes so much sense.

There's so many things so many actors in the film which were you know in Premaloo

2. This film came out with another Malayalam film Khalifa. The review is

out. And there's a fun fact about both these films releasing on onam that both

the film starts with the shot in the airplane while the announcement is going

on and i find that quite fascinating now this film is just a breeze it's fun it's

loving it's heartwarming perfect for family during festival it usually

doesn't happen but my theater had a great occupancy it was the first show

for the film and the audience was having a blast throughout there were genuinely

some laugh out loud moments even for me i really wonder how they marketed this

film because even i didn't hear much about it i just saw the trailer i was

excited for it the bigger film that were clashing were khalifa and i am game

which has now moved on to a different date and it is a smaller film but the

amount of people that showed up maybe it was you know the festival week that was

a reason like there were more people who showed up for this film than for the

khalifa show but that was on thursday so maybe you know holiday thing friday more

people could have come and it is the same producers of premalu it's bhavana

studios fahad fasil dilesh potan so back to back bangers by them there is an onam

video that the team shared and it's like almost got a million views maybe that

was the thing that draw many audiences whatever it may be the film definitely

had a lot of cultural references and i could tell that because of the audience

reaction there were moments they were just laughing out loud and it wasn't the

same for me and i understood there is some cultural thing that i'm not getting

i understood that there were a lot of memes and references from kerala the

people there would know which also roots the film very much in that locality and

the subtitles did a really good job there were moments where they translated

what was said to something else but i understood the original dialogue which

was said in malayalam and what it was referring to now do let me know was

there a slang difference with the malayalam that was being spoken because

the area was different they were talking about angamali which i remember from

angamali diaries and i could feel you know the malayalam is a bit different

you know it's sounding little different which i'm used to did i catch it or am i

just hallucinating let me know now what i like in the film is that we are just

dropped into the world of these characters we are following the

characters who are migrating from their hometown to a bigger city and we explore

this new area this new locality the characters there a lot of humor is

driven from the neighbors who are into making a shot film a lot of small small

meta references about filmmaking which i really enjoyed and the film is actually

about the little things the little moments between different characters a

father and son the mother and son the two brothers the neighbors the group of

friends the nudgy uncle the forever romeo the drunkard friends the ladies

gang of the locality so you know in this ensemble cast there are so many mini

mini groups which just makes the place lived in you would either connect to one

or the other and because of that you as audience feel that you are part of this

you are also a member among them witnessing everything this film

definitely comes under the malayalam chill coined by our own jimmy cage who's

totally ripped now check out his insta but the film you know takes its time

spending time with the characters you know building up the relationships but

the humor is so well placed throughout that you never get bored it constantly

keeps you engaged and even when the plot takes off and we get into the major

conflicts of the story the humor is very well over into that too and the film

never lets it go until the you know end of the film nivin pauli back to back

bangers from him and watching the film i realize he is a heartthrob his film is a

classic which you know kind of taught many people about romance there's a

generation who grew up on that film and to see him play a similar character

which is of his age and it suits him really well i'm sure there'll be a lot

of nostalgia to it his comedy timing is so good he's cute he's adorable and he

really balances that with the maturity his character has to show Which is

really hard to pull off. But yet again, for me, the star was Mamita Baiju. I

think it's time we can declare her a superstar.

Like literally back to back, she's given us age gap romance films. One in Tamil,

one in Malayalam. And she's playing two totally different characters.

And even acting in very different sensibilities, which fits the narrative

that is being told in the style of those films. For Vishwanathan Sons, I said the

same thing. Her screen presence is outstanding.

That too at such a young age, such a young career is just... Yes, we have to

call her superstar now. And here... But again, just like Premaloo, they keep the

love aspect very real. It feels very organic. It almost feels like a

naturally occurring event.

And it fits really well in this world, which is not very dramatic.

And that's where I felt a little disconnected.

Because later in the plot, when things get serious, the film does get dramatic.

But because the love angle was not dramatic, it just doesn't click at the

end. Now, the age gap love story is a very controversial thing. There will be

debate about it. What is right? What is wrong? At the end, it is a choice of the

person. But in our Indian culture, it's also the choice of the parents.

And we can have different arguments about it. Love is love. Age should not

matter. It should be your choice.

And if you look at the family side, especially in our culture, we are so

close to them that you don't want to go against their wishes.

Our parents are also thinking about our welfare in their own way, which we may

not understand. And I like that the film includes this nice scene between mother

and daughter, where the mother is actually emotionally blackmailing her.

But her words make sense. You know, the sacrifice your parents make for you. And

in turn of that, they expect something. A sense of loyalty.

And for the child to give up all that just because they fell in love with

someone, that would definitely shatter any parent and the third way could be

keeping it open you know not taking any sides leaving it to the audience to

decide what is right what is wrong according to their sensibilities now

where this film BKU takes it where the characters are saying that their love is

so deep that they cannot live without each other that for me didn't really

work because you know the way the film portrays it the organic way of them you

know falling in love it almost felt like a fling I never felt that they had this

very deep connection a deep bond which is superior to anything in their life

which most romantic films kind of create that sense the drama that's why i said

the film doesn't go there it doesn't make it very dramatic so when these

dramatic turns happen in the film it feels a little out of place so you know

for these characters it may seem that the love between them is everything but

how much we understand watching the film watching them maybe it's not maybe

jumping to the conclusion would be too soon now with vishwanath and sons which

is dealing with a similar topic my complaint there was that they didn't

really dive deep into the issue they dealt with it at a very surface level

now in bku we actually see the real world consequences of that. Especially

the social strata these characters belong to. For these middle class

characters, this is a very big thing. They will get mocked in the society.

In Vishwanathan Sons, the way the film ends, it is more convincing because

there is that baby angle in it. She is also the mother of the kid. So for them

to say that they can stay together, it feels more convincing. Whereas in this

film, I didn't feel that conviction.

The characters taking that call feels very, you know, too soon. Take your

time. Explore the world. Maybe this is it or maybe it's not. You know, take

your time. There's no need to hurry into it. Now, maybe there's a sequel to this

where, you know, things can go anywhere. We don't get a definite end to the

story. But what do you think about it? Let me know your thoughts.

There are a few actors I want to specially mention because they did a

great job and, you know, made me laugh a lot. Sangeet Pratap as the brother, as

the short filmmaker.

The quirks he brought. Really enjoyed it. Suresh Krishna as Johnny, his

friend, who's also unmarried. He brought so much laughter with his, you know, one

-liners. Vinay Ford as well. always was amazing.

And Roshan Shanawas as Glikson. One of my favorite moments is, hi, Glikson.

Where? Where?

now there's one more thing i don't talk about which is i don't know how to put

it but uh there's this cultural angle that they do in the climax which just

felt a little off to me like you know that could be offensive to some i'm sure

that was not the intention of the makers but the sensitive times we live in it

may create some discourse i'm talking about the kantara moment i'm not sure i

just you know watching that sequence it felt a bit you know inappropriate but as

a whole the film is a great watch i know it's already doing great business and

it's a great watch for owner yet again the producers have delivered a really

good film and i'm sure there's lots more which as a non-malyali i didn't get but

i'll be happy you know to explore what i missed but what i didn't miss was

khalifa check out my review here and my thoughts on the mass problem of

malayalam cinema do let me know your thoughts in the comments below and i

will see you next time