Athulpower

Lal as a director cannot be compared to the Siddique-Lal duo who shook the malayalam cinema 1 or 2 decades back. His latest direction - Tournament doesn't live up to the expectations and no wonder why it was a bomb at the box office. 90 percent of the cast are debutants but it do contain some common figures like Saleem Kumar and Siddique. It is about a group of young cricketers who sets out their journey from the city of Kochi to Bangalore to participate in a selection camp for the upcoming APL (Fictional tournament based on IPL). Vishwanathan ( Fahad Fazil) is the leader of the pack and Usman is the joker or somewhat the funniest one. They miss their flight due to a bomb scare and opts to travel by a lorry and other means to reach the destination. I would say that the film is heavily inspired from Memento and also the climax scene is a copy of the Kevin Spacey starrer Hollywood film "The Usual Suspects". The first part of the film seemed to be okay but the film lost its touch during the second part with some unwanted twists. It was not a good move from Lal as he had used a similar plot twist from the same family for his last 2 films. All in all, I found the film very boring and wanted to skip through the second half. I wish Lal would concentrate on his acting skills rather than directing films like these. Verdict - Don't go for it!

Rajesh R Pillai with is his second film in malayalam industry after his debut film hridayathil sookshikkan has given something memorable to the audience of Kerala. Though the film has strong similarities to many other Hollywood films, we cannot say that it is a copy. The film is set on a usual urban day at Kochi. We have 4 parallel stories in this movie and the 4 of them gets mixed together after a tragic accident occurs to one of them at a crowded junction in Kochi. The 4 main lead actors are Sreenivasan, Rahman, Kunchacko Boban and Vineeth Sreenivasan. All the actors have given a strong performance and a special mention to Asif Ali. The script looks solid enough to make the film contest for the highest grossing malayalam movies of this year. I strongly believe that movies like these will certainly lift malayalam cinema industry from its current crisis and will help build a unique era the industry haven't witnessed before. I would give the film 8.7 out of 10 (since IMDb doesn't allow that, I would give it a 9). Just go for it and make this movie a hit!!!

Seriously saying, I went out to watch this film without much expectations. But it wasn't what I saw, I must say that it is a brilliant film mainly aimed at the young generation of Kerala. Its about 5 close friends from a northern village in Kerala and how their life goes on as it progresses. All the 5 of them have performed well and a special mention to the lead of the pack - Navin Pauly. I truly believe that Navin would have many fruitful years ahead. Direction & music by famous duo Vineeth Sreenivasan & Shan Rahman respectively is above average and I must say that both has a promising future ahead!. Performances by Nedumudi Venu & Janardhanan were strong and we even have our superstar Sreenivasan in a cameo appearance!. Overall I found the movie very touching and as a nice entertainer. Just go for it!