Those good old Malayalam movies...

 "Vidamaatte? Appo nee ividennu enne ingerundu enkeyum poka vida maatte? " Malayalis who haven't been living under a rock all these years would surely be familiar with this dialogue from the blockbuster psychological thriller movie Manichithrathazhu. What a movie and how easily it developed a cult following! Manichithrathazhu' is one of my all-time favourite Malayalam movies. Yesterday I made my son watch this movie for the first time. I say 'made' because he is not much interested in Malayalam movies. But after some time into the movie, he was truly engrossed. And yes, he watched till the end which is a miracle in itself! That is the magic of this movie! So what is the story about? The story revolves around the strange happenings in the mysterious mansion, Madampalli. When young couple Nakulan (Suresh Gopi) and Ganga (Shobhana) decide to stay at this mansion during their visit to Nakulan's native place, they are met with concerned advice and scary stories

  Whenever I hear of Varavelppu I think of my Uncle who is an NRI. It is his all-time favourite and I believe he has seen this movie atleast a million times! Varavelppu (= welcome) is a heart-rending Malayalam movie which saw the genius of three prominent people in Malayalam cinema- Sathyan Anthikadu who directed the movie excellently well, Srinivasan who penned this story and Mohanlal, who put forward one of his most memorable performances ever. Take a look at what this movie is all about. After seven long years Muralidharan (played by Mohanlal) returns to Kerala, India, his homeland. He is happy since he had been missing home so much. His two brothers and their families are eager to receive him. His sister-in-laws are so adoring that they compete against each other by making special meals and seeing to his every need. Everybody is happy that their dear Murali is home. Or so it seemed. Murali soon finds out their true colours the hard way. When he throws in the bomb that he would not

“Njanoru sundaraneyalla doctor. Karuthittanu. Pokkavum kammi...Njanithuvare creamukal onnum upayogichittilla.....Athu thechal velukkumo??” Dineshan (Sreenivasan) knows he is not handsome. And that he is not tall and that he could never be attractive to women. In short, his confidence level points to zero. It is at this point of extreme inferiority complex that he decides to marry. Now the girl {Shobha (role handled by Parvathy)} that he is about to marry happens to be extremely beautiful and taller and fairer! Dineshan is obviously perplexed and finds it hard to accept that someone like her would love and accept him as her husband. What follows is marriage and of course, lots and lots of trouble. Dineshan, in his desperation to win Shobha’s love and respect concocts infinite number of plans and schemes. His friend and adviser is Innocent, who in his enthusiasm to help him, pushes Dineshan into even more trouble. What starts off as a small problem soon becomes serious and affects his r