Lucknow: Six Kanwar devotees killed in Hathras truck collision Around 2.15 am today, the speeding truck rammed into the devotees. The Kanwar devotees were going to Gwalior from Haridwar.
The accident happened within Sadabad police station limits in Hathras. Five people died on the spot. One person died while being treated at the hospital. The police registered a case against the truck driver and started an investigation. An investigation is underway into the incident. We have received information about the driver and he will be nabbed soon,” ADGP Rajeev Krishna said. During the month of ‘Shravana’, Shiv devotees perform the Kanwar Yatra on foot to places like Haridwar and Gaumukh in Uttarakhand to fetch water from the Ganga River.
Kochi: Thrikkakara police have arrested a Youth Congress leader who stole Rs 2.40 lakh from a priest by forging a document. Muhammad Hashim Abdul Latif (29), general secretary of Youth Congress Thrikkakara constituency, was arrested. Hashim was remanded. The money was extorted by promising to convert the 92-cent farmland of Father Geevarghese John’s mother-in-law and sister at Thrikkakara at their home in Kunnathunad Aikaranad Vallikat. By using a fake signature and seal in the name of Kanayannur Tehsildar and Village Officer, he made a receipt and cheated.
The Father Geevarghese john reached the revenue officer with this receipt after suspecting this. Then a complaint was lodged with Thrikkakara police. The police suspect that the accused used political influence to carry out these types of frauds widely. The people who bought various certificates through him are also being investigated. Ernakulam Central Police has also registered a case on the complaint of Tehsildar in the incident.
Kochi: The director’s statement in the case of assault on the actress is true, police said. The Crime Branch said that more evidence has been received in the case. Ashiq Abu and Chemban Vinod are witnesses. Manju Warrier and Ranju Ranjimar will also be witnesses. “Dileep moved to destroy the evidence. Evidence was found in the Dileep-Balachandrakumar relationship. Dileep has a financial deal with Pulsar Suni. Evidence of money transfer has been received’ – says the Crime Branch. There are 110 witnesses in the case. Yesterday it came out that Kavya Madhavan will be a witness in the case. And Kavya Madhavan’s father and mother are witnesses in the case. All that remains to be seen is whether Dileep got the footage from Pulsar Suni or through some other source. It is reported that there is no mention in the charge sheet in this regard.
Kolkatta: ED arrested West Bengal Industries Minister Partha Chatterjee. The arrest came after 20 crores were recovered from his follower’s house. 20 crore currencies were recovered from the house of Arpita Mukherjee, a close follower of Partha Chatterjee. Partha Chatterjee is the former education minister in Mamata cabinet.
20 crore rupees were recovered in the raid conducted at Arpita’s house last day. ED suspects that this amount is the income from recruitment scam in West Bengal School Service Commission and Primary Education Board. The money recovered was in 2000 and 500 rupee notes. The money was counted with the help of a note-counting machine.
ED describes Arpita Mukherjee as a close friend and follower of Partha Chatterjee. Arpita is an actress who has done small roles in Bengali and Odia, Tamil films. In 2019 and 2020, she spearheaded the promotional campaigns of Partha Chatterjee’s Durga Puja Committee’s Naktala Udayan Sangh. Partha Chatterjee’s committee is one of the largest Durga Puja committees in Kolkata.
•ONE WORD: A brilliantly executed survival thriller with many emotions.
•STORY IDEA:
Malayankunju tells the story of Anil Kumar also known as Anikuttan. He is a good electronic mechanic but he always shows anger and frustration and he is not happy with the world around him. He lives with his mother and he is always ready to have a heated argument with anyone. He focuses on his electronic work deeply but the crying sound of a newborn baby in his neighbourhood will make him more frustrated. So some of his actions will lead to conflict with his neighbours. Soon a landslide will happen where he lives, and he will be trapped under and the only thing which he can hear under will be the sound of the baby.
What will happen next, will he survive and what will happen to the baby is the rest of the story unfolding.
•ANALYSIS OF THE DIRECTION, STORY, SCREENPLAY AND DIALOGUES:
The film ‘Malayankunju’ is directed by the debutant Sajimon Prabhakar and written by Mahesh Narayanan. The film is produced by Fazil and the production is held by Fahadh Faasil & Friends. Along with the script writing, Mahesh Narayanan handles the cinematography and the legendary musician A.R. Rahman composes the music. The film is distributed by Century Release and with a running time of one hour and fifty-four minutes, the film is currently running in theatres.
Survival thriller movies are less in Malayalam languages and this genre only used to come often so the film ‘Malayankunju’ which comes under this genre had offered a unique cinematic experience. I enjoyed the film, the movie was engaging and at the same time the survival scenes in the film were thrilling. A kind of excitement and curiosity was filled all over the film. Also, the character played by Fahadh was having many interesting emotional sides and his behaviour and the incidents that happened in his had created enough curiosity to keep on watching. The haunting memories that the central character goes through were having a strong connection to establish the upcoming events. So the script gives more importance to the life of the protagonist, and the screenplay has largely focused on his personal life. Therefore the movie follows a style of drama and later the movie is tracked into the atmosphere of a survival thriller.
The survival thriller areas in the film were brilliantly executed by the director, the efforts and the passionate way of filmmaking can be seen through the second half. The first half of the film followed the drama style, the film was taking enough time to get into the life of the central character. So the first part of the film will give a clear indication about the central character like his behaviour, his job, his interest, his mindset, his family and his neighbours. The family tragedy that happened in the life of the central character is also unfolded in the first part so the premise of the central character was established strongly by the writer and director. The first half ends with a solid interval block and it was promising for something big. The second half was haunting and the struggles led by the central character in a landslide situation were portrayed effectively and it will surely blow our minds. The making style of Sajimon was purely realistic and he was also successful in using the acting talents of Fahadh Faasil. The acting of Fahadh and the authentic making of Sajimon was having great chemistry to lead the film, and the storyline and the well-written screenplay also helped the film to reach a safer level.
The storyline was simple, but the kind of way the screenplay was written makes the simple storyline an engaging screenplay. The climax is easily predictable but the emotions surrounding it will melt our hearts. The ultimate ending was emotionally made and the affectionate bond between the character of Fahadh and a baby was momentous. The crying sound of the baby was the thing which he hated the most but when he was trapped under the soil the crying of the newborn baby was the first thing which helped him to make some efforts to survive. So how this connection was made will fascinate everyone, also the changing behaviour of the central character and the survival steps to save himself and the baby is a treat to watch.
•PERFORMANCE OF ACTORS:
The film has the casting of Fahadh Faasil, Jaffer Idukki, Indians, Rajisha Vijayan, Deepak Parambol, Johny Antony and many more. Fahadh Faasil as Anil Kumar had done a marvelous performance, he delivered another natural performance. I was stunned by seeing his acting, the entire performance was crammed with the realistic way of acting. How he exhibits the emotions in the character was shocking, the use of eyes and the different kinds of facial expressions looked pure and authentic. For a survival thriller, an actor always needs to inherit the situation, how can he survive and what all can he do and how can he be safe were easily acted by Fahadh Faasil. The trauma and the mental stress of that situation are beyond imagination and to give that pain and suffering Fahadh had throughout maintained his natural acting skills. While watching we will be able to feel the difficulties of that situation and to pass that depth the acting held by Fahadh stood higher. In the survival scenes, the way he told the dialogue was amazing. His acting was denoting his extraordinary skills because the various emotions like fear, the mindset to survive, the desperateness, the struggles and the hope to overcome were beautifully undertaken by him. Also during the survival scenes, the dialogues were told powerfully by Fahadh, his timing was precise. No doubt I can strongly say it’s one of his best performances of recent times and no new actors can replace him when it comes to natural acting.
The cameo appearance of Jaffer Idukki, Rajisha Vijayan and Arjun Ashokan was good.
•MUSIC AND BACKGROUND SCORE:
The musical work for the film is composed by A.R. Rahman which includes the background score. The film consisted of three songs and both songs were really good. The song “Mannum Niranje” sung by Swetha Mohan. The song was lifting the vibe of and the song really suited the situation. The sounds of instruments used in the song had a nice feel and the lyrics of Vinayak Sasikumar had a touch with good Malayalam traditional and cultural words. The second song “Cholappenne” passed a good mood and the voice of Vijay Yesudas was making the song more beautiful. The sound of the flute in the song was pleasing and the meaningful lyrics of Vinayak Sasikumar made it traditional. The background score was terrifically tuned by A.R. RAHMAN, it’s one of the major plus factors of this film. The atmosphere of the film is intense and to make the visuals more glorifying the background score had helped to lift the mood. The creation of tension and the thrilling mood was easily given by the background score. Each scene was perfectly synced with the background score and all the scenes of survival were crammed with matching background scores. So the BGM was having the power to make us more exciting and engaging. The background score will keep us hooked and the feeling that it gives through is remarkable. What will happen next or whether he will survive or what are the next occurrences etc kept on making me think so here to build that excitement the background score stood higher. So I can strongly say that it’s a great comeback of A.R to the Malayalam film industry, the two songs were melodious and the background score was highly successful to raise the mood of the film.
•TECHNICAL DIVISION:
This movie has incredible teamwork of brilliant technicality, the cinematography, editing, production design, graphics, sound design, colour grading and artwork was top-notch. The making video the makers before two days of release had shown their effort and dedication. The artwork was amazing, it was hard to believe that all the crucial scenes were made in a studio. The materials they used and created were looking real and the made-up surroundings also felt natural. The cinematography was extraordinary, Mahesh Narayanan had done a spectacular job. The wonderful camera movements, the placement of the camera, the frames and the sudden camera shit were flawlessly executed. The cinematography is also one of the major plus factors of this film, the visuals were having the prominent power to attract us. Mahesh Narayanan was having an unmistakable idea of how to capture the visuals and shots, depending on the situation he deals with the camera and gives the right type of appropriate shots. All the survival scenes in the film were magically captured, also those breathtaking visuals will thrill and amuse us. The lighting techniques used in the film were superb, the indoor scenes and the survival scenes were apprehended with an accurate way of lighting and the scenes looked pure realistic. The editing of Arju Benn was faultless, the transition of scenes from one to another was perfect. The cuts didn’t give any kind of mismatches and the colour grading had given an extra appeal to the eyes. Jyotish Shankar had cleverly made a good product design for the film, the set, plans and design on how to conduct the film and the coordination and his research on the natural calamity had lustrously worked out without any errors. The sound design in the film was also favourable and the natural sound happening during a natural disaster and the sounds of rain and thunder was mixed properly and the Dolby Atmos effect was a delight.
•CONCLUSION:
So overall to conclude I enjoyed watching Malayankunju and will recommend this movie to everyone who loves to watch a survival thriller. The movie has many good moments of emotional angle and the performance of Fahadh Faasil will make our money and time worth. The technical side of the film made this movie look wonderful and the music and background score composed by A.R Rahman had given me an extra impact. The movie won’t disappoint anyone, and for getting a unique cinematic experience try to watch the film in a theatre surrounded by 4k and Dolby Atmos.
•ONE WORD: A boring movie filled with cliches, highly disappointing experience.
•STORY IDEA:
The story of Shamshera happens in Kaza which is a fictitious city. In the city of Kaza, the warrior tribe is tortured and held as slaves, they are imprisoned by a ruthless officer named Shudh Singh who works for the British government. And soon a man arrives, named Shamshera. A man who becomes a slave, a slave who becomes a leader and then a legend for his tribe, it’s the courageous and adventurers of Shamshera.
•ANALYSIS OF THE DIRECTION, STORY, SCREENPLAY AND DIALOGUES:
The film Shamshera is directed by Karan Malhotra after his previous movies such as Brothers and Agneepath. The story for the film is written by Neelesh Misra and Khila Bisht and the screenplay is written by Ekta Pathak Malhotra and the director Karan Malhotra. The film is produced by Aditya Chopra under his production company Yash Raj Films. The movie is made on a budget of Rs 150 Crores and it is dubbed into the languages of Tamil and Telugu. With a running time of 159 minutes the film is currently running all over the theatres in India.
The outdated story and the average screenplay is the main drawback of the film Shamshera. I went to watch the movie with high hopes but the routine formula and the repetition of many periodical movies was giving a dull cinematic experience. The whole movie is predictable, from the very beginning and till the end we will get an idea of what is going to be next. The predictability in the movie was killing the excitement and at the same time, the scene which is supposed to make us excited doesn’t amuse us. The cliched way of storytelling in the film was also making the film boring and connecting events to the next incidents are also hard to believe. Also, the film lacked powerful dialogue, good punchy dialogue should have been given for the character of Ranbir Kapoor and Sanjay Dutt. I expected some catchy dialogue in the face-to-face scenes between Ranbir and Sanjay but the final result was a disappointment so their combination scene failed to make a big impact.
The movie had a convincing beginning, and the introduction of the character Shamshera was told effectively. His life, how he leads his people, his dream, his family, his struggle and his sacrifice were directed authentically and all those scenes helped to establish the life of the central character. After the introduction of Ranbir Kapoor as Balli, the movie starts to kick off the hidden truth about his father. The scene in which Balli trying to escape from the prison was shot amazingly, it was filled with clap worthy moments. It was giving me hope for something big, and the interval block was promising. But gradually the movie started to get scattered from the second half. From the second half, the movie was crammed with a bunch of routine cliches. Hero gets to know about his father’s legacy, teaming with a group of people to fight, robbing gold and money and donating them to poor ones, hero-villain cat and mouse play, and finally killing the one and only enemy etc all these typical regular routine cliches were shamelessly brought once again by the writer and director.
The second half was so weak, that all the events which led to the final climax were carelessly written. The Robbery scene doesn’t thrill, the cat and mouse play between hero and villain was never surprising and the twist and turns in the mid-second half were supposed to give a shock but it was utterly upsetting. The climax was so filmy and dramatic, with regular heroic build-up dialogues. Hero gets beaten hard and after a few minutes his loved ones call his name and he gets back strongly to fight, and killing the villain with an overdramatic fight was utterly tedious to watch. In between the screenplay’s focus on the romance of Ranbir Kapoor and Vaani Kapoor, it was messed up. Their romance and their chemistry were not having enough depth. How they fall in love, their marriage, and their combined fight against villains were poorly made. So the weak direction and the outdated storyline with a half-baked screenplay make this movie dull. The contents of Shamshera were less to make an impression, the movie reminded me of the disastrous film ‘Thugs of Hindostan, still Shamshera is far way better.
•PERFORMANCE OF ACTORS:
The movie had the casting of Ranbir Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt, Vaani Kapoor, Ashutosh Rana, Saurabh Shukla, Ronit Roy, Tridha Choudhury, Pitobash Tripathy and many more.
Ranbir Kapoor is the one who was trying to save this sinking movie from not to get falling off. I didn’t love the film, the performance of Ranbir Kapoor and his double role character was the element which made me sit down and watch. His energy and the way he performed the character were charming, and the action sequences and the heroic style he showcased suited the character. Ranbir Kapoor as Shamshera and Balli had given the best, the two character shades were acted out genuinely. The intense look and the perfection in showcasing the facial expression were nicely handled. The dialogue delivery was fine and the action sequences looked rigid. His romantic scenes were impressive and the emotional scenes went firm.
Sanjay Dutt as Kancha Cheena did a good job, we know his calibre when he turns out as a villain but this character was not having enough content to make him a dreaded villain. Still, he performed well and the outlook and his attitude suited to set the negative shade. His way of telling the dialogue and the way he expresses his emotions looked nice, at the same time the funny and fearful face had given an extra effect to his villain mannerism. The satire of a manic police officer and the body language with terrific energy was good to watch.
Vaani Kapoor looked gorgeous, her beauty was dropping everywhere and I couldn’t take my eyes off. Her smile was beautiful and the fantastic body shape was making her sexier. Her dance was a treat to watch, the way she danced was mesmerizing. Her emotional scenes looked fine and the romance with Ranbir was fair. The chemistry between Ranbir Kapoor and Vani Kapoor was not that great, due to the poor writing their love lacked depth. Saurabh Shukla and Ronit Roy did justice to their respective supporting characters.
•MUSIC AND BACKGROUND SCORE:
The music composition for the film is composed by Mithoon and it includes the background score. The soundtrack of Shamshera consists of six songs and all the songs felt fresh. The six songs were matching for the situations in the film and the overall soundtrack was impressive. The song “Fitoor” sung by Arijit Singh and Neeti Mohan is my favourite among the six songs. The vocals of Arijit Singh and Neeti Mohan had made the song beautiful, their voice was having a prominent power to take us into the mood of romance. The choir singing portion in the song was magical and at the time when Arjith Singh starts singing we will be able to feel the real love and happiness. The lyrics written by the director Karan Malhotra were filled with the worlds of true love. The song is already on the top hit chart and while watching in the theatre the song had given me an extra feel and I’m sure everyone will love it. The second song “Ji Huzoor” was influential because of the voice of Aditya Narayan, also the beats and the dance of Ranbir in the song made it enjoyable. The third song “Kaale Naina” was filled with the beauty of Vaani Kapoor, her dance moves were sexier and the grace on her dance moves will fascinate everyone. Shadaab Faridi, Neeti Mohan, Sudesh Bhosle nailed the song through their voice and the lyrics of Mithoon had the style of traditional wordings. The final song “Parinda” had a slow pace vibe to showcase the emotional side, the voice of Sukhwinder Singh and Abhishek Nailwal made the song powerful to exhibit the sentiment and struggle.
The background score in the film was drawing my attention, I loved the background score. It felt fresh and the background score used while narrating the story had given a feel in the beginning. Also during the action sequences, the background score was decent, still the over-dramatic scenes didn’t give an impact for the good background score. Also at the time of the emotional scene, the background score was neatly tuned and given but the tedious way of writing and cliche doesn’t let the background score to produce an emotional attachment.
•TECHNICAL DIVISION:
The film is technically rich, it’s made on a budget of 150 Crores so the technicality of the film had the proper standard. The cinematography of Anay Goswamy was splendid with attractive visuals. The specific culture and the British ruling period in India were undertaken authentically by the cinematographer, the visuals were wrong enough to grab our attention. The wide-angle frames were plentiful and it looked incredible and those were enrolled with beautiful shots of Ranbir Kapoor. The close-up frame of Ranbir Kapoor pointed out his good natural acting. The atmosphere of Kaza was fearful, to make that happen the cinematographer had captured the best shot. The scenes in which the people suffer, the difficulties to survive, the harsh beating and torture and the officer treating the poor as slaves were shot effectively without losing depth. So the visuals were having the power to make an influence, the scene in which Ranbir trying to escape from jail was also shot brilliantly. The dance shots of Vaani Kapoor looked elegant and the visuals of the song “Fitoor” was romantic. The editing could have been done much better because the second half was dragged and it was lengthy. Neat editing could have saved the length of the second half, the transition of scene from one to another was satisfying. The graphics and VFX were of adequate quality and all the crow scenes in the film were top class. The train scene and the crown robbing scenes also looked appealing because of the good VFX. The artwork had done a stunning job to make the place Kazi fearful and the production design was also executed cleverly.
•CONCLUSION:
So overall to conclude the film Shamshera had given me a disappointing experience, the outdated script and the poor making were testing my patience. The performance of Ranbir Kapoor, Vani Kapoor, and Sanjay Dutt was good but even their screen presence was not saving this sinking ship. The predictability in the storyline, the bunch of cliches, and the overdramatic heroic scenes were offering me a boring experience. So I won’t recommend Shamshera to anyone but if you are a fan of Ranbir Kapoor then you watch it for once and still please watch it with fewer expectations.
Thiruvananthapuram: Health Minister Veena George has confirmed that one more (35) case of monkeypox has been confirmed in the state. Monkeypox was confirmed in the Malappuram district. He arrived from the UAE on the 6th of this month. The fever started on the 13th. Spots were seen on the body on the 15th.
He is currently undergoing treatment at Mancheri Medical College Hospital. Those who were in close contact with him were put under observation. With this, 3 people have been confirmed with monkeypox in the state. Their health condition remains satisfactory.
Colombo: Dinesh Gunawardena took office as the Prime Minister of Srilanka. He was sworn in as Prime Minister before President Ranil Wickremesinghe. Dinesh Gunawardena became the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka after the greatest political and economic insecurity that independent Sri Lanka has seen. He was sworn in as Prime Minister before President Ranil Wickremesinghe.
Dinesh Gunawardena is a former Home Local Minister and Rajapaksa supporter. He has previously served as Minister of External Affairs and Minister of Education. Dinesh Gunawardena asked the protesters to exercise restraint after taking oath of office. Gunawardena requested the cooperation of the people to restore peace and improve economic empowerment in Sri Lanka.
Meanwhile, in Sri Lanka, protesters have begun to be evacuated from government buildings. The army has instructed the protestors to vacate completely by evening. All the protestors inside the President’s office were evacuated. The prime minister’s office has also been heavily guarded. The action took place immediately after Dinesh Gunawardene took office as the new Prime Minister. Protesters’ pickets in front of the secretariat were destroyed. Many people were arrested. President Ranil Wickremesinghe has instructed the army to remain alert till the situation calms down.
The army has already taken control of many government buildings from the protesters. After the inauguration of President Ranil Wickremesinghe, the protesters demanded that the offices of the President and Prime Minister of the country be completely vacated. He warned that staying in government buildings is illegal and legal action will be taken against it. This is followed by military action. It is hoped that the change of power in Sri Lanka will end the political and economic instability.
Thiruvananthapuram: The weather department has warned that there is a possibility of widespread rain in the state today. A yellow alert has been announced in 9 districts today. Yellow alert in Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Idukki, Thrissur, Palakkad and Malappuram districts. The warning also states that there is a possibility of widespread rain in the southern districts. As the wind speed is likely to be 40 kilometers per hour, fishermen going to the sea are also advised to be careful. The Central Meteorological Department has warned that there is a possibility of heavy rain with thunder and lightning in isolated places. There is no restriction on fishing on Kerala-Lakshadweep-Karnataka coasts.
New Delhi: CBSE class 12th examination results published. 92.71 percent of students passed and qualified for further studies. The result can be known through the results of the website.cbse.nic.in and cbse.gov.in. Thiruvananthapuram region has the highest pass percentage. The pass percentage was 99.37 percent last time.
