Puthiya Karukkal

A Malayalam thriller movie starring Jayaram, Parvathy, Laloo Alex and M G Soman. Set in a hilly,picturesque Tamilnadu place, the movie right away plunges into suspense just like the actress running away from a man,plunges into a stream and then you know you gotta know the end.

 A story within a story, the movie moves back and forth from the past to the present. Jayaram and Parvathy were in love and planned to get married. But the local village goon gets killed by him when he tries to molest Parvathy. Or rather,supposedly killed. When Jayaram serves jail, Parvathy is married off to a rich, kind-hearted, handicapped Soman and now Jayaram is back to kill her.

You may think, the movie may end in tragedy or with a sacrifice on Soman's part to let the two lovers of the past to reunite. But the surprise comes when people are not what they seem to be and identities are tossed in the air for the viewer to catch and place in the puzzle in the right place.

A nice work of suspense but would have been even better with polished performances and strong script. Events seemed to just happen and story seemed to have been shakily written. Even then if I stayed till the end, I guess the 'who did it?' will keep you rooted.

Swagatham 1989

Imagine a Malayalam movie without Mohanlal or Mammootty.

Imagine a coastline with friends hanging out all the time.

Imagine a story about friendships and general fun without fights and villians.

That is Swagatham movie. A 1989 film with an extensive star cast. With Jagathi's histrionics not-withstanding, there is romance and hey! you can choose which one you want - the sweet and shy kind which Parvathy and Asokan share or the serious one which Urvashi feels later on.

A story about friends, young guns ,youth and their immature nature but true feelings, Swagatham takes you back to your college days and the time when chatting meant meeting for an icecream rather than feeling a 'ping' vibration in your pocket from your android phone.