Ustad Hotel

Young privileged Gulf boy's dreams of being a chef in London with a white woman for a wife are shattered by his father who wants him to settle down with a good Indian woman and run a 5 star hotel. The boy rebels and ends up working for his estranged grandfather at Ustad Hotel, a dingy seaside biriyani restaurant. A film that engages you for the first 30 minutes starts to loosen its grip as it meanders down a cloying melodramatic path that makes you want to throw up at the television.

Rating: * +

Poster licensed via Wikipedia.

Drishyam

Georgekutty (Mohanlal) is a self made man running a cable service in an obscure town in Kerala. His wife and two kids lovingly fight against his frugality and age old ways. Other than his family the only thing Georgekutty cares about his movies. He spends every waking minute getting a tan from his television and going so far as to making life decisions based on movie plots. It is in this simple life that an unwelcome guest arrives as a form of complication and danger. What starts off as a family drama morphs in to a thriller albeit a predictable one. But given the recent history of Mohanlal films this is like a blast from the past and shows us that the man has not lost his skill. Give him a good director and a decent script he can still hold his old Kireedum on his head with pride.

Rating: * * +

Poster licensed under Fair use via Wikipedia.

Kutty Srank

3 women from different parts of the Kerala coast convene to piece together the life and times of Kutty Srank (The Sailor of Hearts), played expertly by Mammootty - clearly a director's actor and the reason why he still gets the best roles in the country. Shaji N Karun's latest film is a deserved National Award winner and it continues to amaze me as to why some of these films do not get pushed to the international stage more aggressively. Must mention the other key ingredients to this wonderful film: brilliant cinematography (by debutant Anjali Shukla), wonderful folk music and great acting by Siddique & Suresh Krishna. 

Nice start to 2011.

Rating: * * * +