2014 has been another great year for Malayalam Cinema and started right where Drishyam ended in 2013. As 2014 came to a close, we have a handful of movies that have left a huge mark and those movies had immensely memorable moments that still stay with us. Here is a look at some of the most stunning movie moments from 2014.
10) Iyyobinte Pusthakam – ‘Naalu maasam munpu appaave naanum sithappaavum sernthu konnitten’
Jayasurya is about to leave Lal’s house after the latter denies his proposal. Lal asks to check with his father about him before visiting next time. Jayasurya replies softly – “Me and my uncle killed father few months back. He was not listening to us.” – and that with the same innocent smile that he carried when playing the naive guy in Janapriyan. Lal was stunned on the screen and so were we. Jayasurya told in a recent interview that he enjoyed the most when doing negative roles and it clearly shows. He might not have had as much as screen time like many others in Iyyobinte Pusthakam but I felt he left the deepest mark and perhaps gave us our best villain of 2014
9) Vellimoonga – When Biju Menon realizes his bride’s mom is his ex-lover at school
Biju Menon has tried his hands as a solo hero in the past in many ventures including romance, offbeat and action .But fate would be that it was comedy where he had to give his first ever solo hit. Vellimoonga was a laugh riot and most importantly took us back to those good old days where only one brand of humour mattered –”Situational”. Particularly rib tickling is the scene where Biju Menon visits Nikki Galrani’s house for a marriage alliance and realizes the girl’s mom is his ex-lover and her dad his childhood rival. Watch out for his terrific change in expressions first and then when Aju Varghese runs out with Jelabi where he asks – ‘Did you not take anything else’!
8) ‘How Old are you’ Interval
Manju Warrier was back and back in style after a huge break of 16 years in “How Old are you”. We felt as if the actress made Bobby Sanjay write a script to show the audience her version of what happened between her and Dileep in real life. If Bobby Sanjay did add another brilliant entry to their terrific filmography, Manju Warrier showed us glimpses of that gift which made her a heartthrob in the first place. Especially her prowess in handling emotional scenes was in abundant display in the scenes where she bids goodbye to her daughter and husband in the airport and in the immediate post interval portions when she opens up her heart to her close friend. Manju Warrier – We did miss you ! Thanks for coming back !
7) Dolphins Climax:
Dolphins was a pretty average fare for almost 95 % of its run-time until the climax that caught us all unaware. For all the ill repute he has for having too much of sleazy content in his scripts, Anoop Menon was smart enough to instil a pleasant surprise for the audience in the climax ,remind us the values of family and relationships and also leave a good message. Suresh Gopi who made a decent return to on-screen after a while and Kalpana who followed Bangalore days with another great job – both shined equally in the end portions.
6) 1983 – Nivin Pauly’s shock when he realizes his wife does not know Sachin Tendulkar
It’s tough for anyone who are fond of movies, cricket and nostalgia to not fall in love with 1983. Abrid Shine’s next movie would be keenly looked at by many and Nivin Pauly at once took leaps and bounds as an actor compared to his prior movies. In one of the movie’s most memorable and hilarious scenes, on his first night when his wife pointed out at a picture of Sachin on the wall and asked who he is, Nivin ‘s shock was exaggerated in the right amount to create a great impact. Abrid rightly predicted and depicted how an entire nation’s reaction would be later in the year when MariaSharapova claimed she did not know who Sachin was.
5) Bangalore days – Fahad Faazil waking up to colours painted by his wife.
A line I read about Anjali Menon struck me a lot – ‘she must be having an unending reserve of feel-goodness locked up in some wooden box in her attic, from which she draws out dollops of it from time to time’.That seems so true. Following up to the much acclaimed Manjadikuru and Usthad Hotel, Bangalore days was yet another reminder of how talented this lady is. When Dulquar tells Parvathi – ‘Ninte pinnale nadakkanalla oppam nadakkanaa ishtam’ , she uses her flair for writing lines that can go on to be immensely popular. In another scene, after Fahad scolds Nazriya for painting on the balcony doors, the next morning he wakes up on to the same colours finding how beautiful they were. When he writes down how he felt on a piece of paper for Nazriya, Anjali shows us she could warm our hearts sans any dialogues too. The fact that Gopi Sunder continues to reserve his best tunes for this lady helps too.
4) Mosayile Kuthira Meenukal – “Mattoraalude mukhathe santhosham…Annu aadyamaayi Deenayude amma paranju thanna aa rahasyam eniku bodhyamaayi…”
A combination of an awesome background score, arresting visuals, neat script, nice one-liners and decent performances can do wonders. MOSAYILE KUTHIRA MEENUKAL is so good that I wonder if the movie really got the word of mouth and box-office collections it actually deserved during its theatrical run! This particular sequence in the movie where Sunny Wayne finally reveals his love to Swathi and Asif tells the truth to Sunny and asks him to not accompany him back to jail had so much warmth in it. When Sunny still agrees to go with Asif, it gave us one of the best male bonding movies in Malayalam in 2014.
3) Om Shaanthi Oshana – Nivin Pauly’s intro in the first half and re-entry in the second half
This year’s best intro would not belong to Mammootty or Mohanlal. It does not belong to Prithviraj either. The honours goes to Nivin Pauly when accompanied with Shaan Rahman’s rocking background score, he arrives for the first time in Om Shaanti Oshaana through a water slide and slaps Shambu Annan who was holding Nazriya’s hand. After few scenes he disappears for a while but makes another stunning entry in the college in the second half as the diwali crackers go off and Nivin crosses the path of Vineeth Sreenivasan and Nazriya. Om Shaanti Oshaana was a refreshing entertainer- one movie that I watched the most in 2014 and focussed entirely around its heroine. But Jude Anthony Joseph also knew how to use a promising young hero effectively for an extended cameo too. As for Nivin Pauly, with 1983, Bangalore days and Om Shaanti Oshaana, I would have said 2014 belonged to this youngster if not for the man in the below two scenes.
2) Varsham – “Poyi alle”
Mamta tries all she could to save Mammootty’s son’s life. After she fails, she comes near the door and look from far at the father who is standing outside and smoking in the lane outside the ICU. When she steps outside Mammootty walks forward to her taking few more puffs. He comes near her and says two words – “Poyi alle”. His lips tremble, his voice carries tons of pain. Once again Mammootty unleashed that magic which has never failed to leave a soul in the cinema halls without tears in their eyes and lump in their throat whenever this man had emoted on screen. Ladies and gentleman – there you realize why they say “Form is temporary. Class is permanent”
1) Munnariyippu – Ending
I would be too surprised if Mammootty does not win this year’s state award among many other major honors. Because before he wrenched our hearts in Varsham, his vile smile at the end of Munnariyippu hit us like a ton of bricks and haunted a lot of us for several hours. There are lot of perks of watching a movie on its first or second day and one of them is that you are in for a lot of surprises as you would not have started hearing much about the movie. Mammootty’s precisely restrained acting as a man who had an stark different definition for freedom meant that C.K Raghavan was the most talked about character in recent times. As 2014 ended , Munnariyippu remains my favorite movie and its stunning climax the most favorite moment of this year. Mammootty – Why couldn’t you give us movies like Varsham and Munnariyippu regularly than the duds like Gangster, Manglish and Rajadhiraja ?!