ashishjoy Loved the movie. Showcased fort kochi at its best. Fahad awesome and Andrea has acted her part so well.. Malayalam cinema at its best

sesht Romeo and Juliet has been adapted many, many times, and it will go on. In spite of everyone knowing that art imitates life, this is perhaps a singular illustration of how life, repeatedly, across milieus, imitates art, and how no one has ever learned from it, ever.A relationship between 2 lovers is theirs, and theirs alone. No one seems to 'get that', though, and this is another ode to how everyone else screws it up for the main protagonists, who want, nee, need, nothing more than to be left alone, with each other for company, for life.In an era where movies with shorted runtimes are much appreciated, this one is almost 3 hours long, and takes it own time through each of the events that unfold. It lets every character breathe, and delves into their lives as well, showing how the fate that befalls each of the characters ultimately illustrates life itself, in the areas that it is shot in beautifully, and how the fate of one is always irrevocably linked, sometimes even intimately, from the ones around you, even if you want to be left alone.It also depicts how certain acts, that remain on record, never get erased enough when one seeks second chances, and how one will always get dragged back to into something they thought they left behind, and perhaps never wanted to be a part of in the first case.Annayum Rassolum doesn't have anything new to offer, doesn't have anything new to say. But what it does, in depicting life as it plays out, keeping the play as its template to do so, is worth being a part of for the course of its runtime. it is as good when it is following the trajectories of its supporting characters as it is when it allows the main leads to interact, and regard one another silently, as they used to in the good ol'-fashioned ways.Most of the background score is soothing and mellifluous, along with 2-3 of the foreground tracks, which are also very apt, along with being equally, if not more, soothing. There are complete stretches sans the spoken word (but with sounds from the milieu at that time, sometimes interspersed with minimal score), with very minimal use of the background score too, that are wonderful to behold. Also, each track is timely and relevant, and doesn't drown out the plot. Ravi pauses them long enough to move the plot along, and lets them resurface appropriately. It is very rare to see that in action, and this is a very good example that other helmers, especially in the mainstream local milieu, could make a note of, and try to emulate.Fahadh has been great in everything I've seen him in, and this is no exception in that aspect. He owns it, completely, and to me, he is the Sanjeev Kumar of this generation. Andrea Jeremiah. Love her already. And what a voice! All she has to do is say, 'Pokkatte' softly (or however), and no one would be surprised at Faasil's character's falling for her. I've seen her in a mainstream flick before this, and hope she does as much work in front of the cam as she does behind it (vocals). Sunny Wayne acquits himself well, as do the rest of the cast, and I've seen many others pulling their weight in other flicks as well.There is also an undercurrent of subtle irony running throughout, with a parallel tale, and it gets even more apparent in the narrative as the movie nears its eventual denouement, which might surprise those among us who know the bard's tale, and that IS a good thing.I bought tickets to watch this on the big screen, but ended up missing it. Glad I bought the DVD. Recommend a watch, but mostly for those among us who're patient with their movies, and can watch this one in 1 stretch only (watching it with breaks interspersed will be doing the movie a disservice).

pratheek nappady It was one of those movies that stay with you. Even a day after I watched, it would still make you think of the smallest scenes in the movie. That is the thing I love the most about such movies. There would be a small scene in it somewhere that would connect with you, and it would stay with you. That can happen only when the movie succeeds in generating that vibe in its audience. For different people it would be different scenes. Rajeev Ravi had a story in him begging to be told, and he said it in the most heartfelt way imaginable.The general theme is the age old story guy meets girl of a different religion, falls in love, family finds out, all hell break lose. But as with such movies everything relies on the way you narrate the story, and it is in that, that Rajeev Ravi does the magic. Everything felt original, there were probably no other influences other than his own real life experiences. The genuineness of the situations and scenes shone through as though it was biographical, preserving the feelings of the smaller moments. Even the way he showed Kochi felt genuine. There was no effort to glamorize any part of it. The revival of 2 old classic songs were a perfect fit for the movie. They felt as though they were made for this movie.Fahad Fazil steps into a different league with his acting. The guy looked every bit the character he was playing, he did not falter in even a single scene. On the contrary, in some of the scenes he was simply phenomenal. In my opinion, the last scene in which he runs into Anna's house and his reaction to the things happening there was so subtle and genuine that it was on an entirely different level. If i had to pick a flaw it would have to be casting a heroine from a different language. I'm not rubbishing Andreah, she did a great job in almost every scene, but the real issue is that to minimize the awkwardness of lip syncing dialogs, she was given as minimum lines as possible. What results is that her character ended up being almost mute, some of it could be attributed to the depressed nature of her character but at other times it looked like something was missing to me. Otherwise what a movie!

Jay C Bored with the action-drama-family thrillers of superstars, the Malayalam cinema's new directors are trying to find a middle path. If you have been a Malaylam movie fanatic since the 80s, you would have witnessed similar trends in the late 70s and early 80s, with slow movies that mostly have sad endings.Annayum Rasoolum treads a similar path.The story is basic of inter-caste love, but the treatment is new, as religion/caste is nowhere impressed upon much.The Director does well to cover Kochi's life surrounding the lead actors and the cinematography compliments the director's vision.Of the cast, Fahad excels in the role of Rasool, and executes it perfectly.Andrea as Anna however doesn't convince much, and she looks more like an amateur. Characterwise her looks are fine on screen, but her dialogue delivery and emotions leave much to be appreciated.Most of the scenes of the movie are not connected with the core story. This makes the movie a bit lengthy. Some crisp editing would have kept the audience more glued to the screen, who otherwise lose connection with the main story, and the eagerness to know what happens next is cut down quite a few times, upsetting the rhythm.The director tries to keep the story real, but falters at quite a few places, like in the end things happen too soon, after a slow and dreary pace for almost 3/4th part of the film. The climax scenes doesn't do any justice, and it is as if director is in real hurry to give some sort of end to the story.An example would be of how the police came to know about Rasool so soon. When the movie has time to show scenes that is unrelated to the love couples, it should have shown how the police got the information of Rasool, as that was more relevant and important as an audience than showing Rasool's brother fighting with the police for his visa, or the story of the Ashley, who incidentally is the narrator of the story.Here too there is no logic, as the narrator should have an equal meaty or important role to play, but except him being lucky in the end, there is nothing much to Ashley's in Rasool's love story or life.The best narration I could remember is that of Madahavan in Hindi's iconic movie 3-Idiots, and it remains etched in your memory forever. The director tried to create the same magic, but falters.Then there is a character styled on the lines of Bikoo Mhatre from Satya, played by Shine Tom with whom Rasool spends most of the time, and also gets in to trouble a few times.Shine, like Fahad, plays the character to perfection, but until his final act, the movie never does justice to his character too.Overall the movie doesn't lift your emotions to any new level, because it always drifts away whenever there is some kind of hope, and the characters and their stories look half-baked.Commercially the movie did generate quite a lot of attention and did well. The reason, because this is the period of revolution in Malayalam cinema, just like in the 70s and 80s, and any thing new will be grabbed with both hands by the public.However, drama, emotion and family movies will be back to the main stream Malayalam cinema, though in a new avatar and people will slowly forget all about Anna, though Rasool will still stay etched in movie goers mind, especially the young uns, who are part of this new wave revolution.