[Movie] Neelakasham Pachakadal Chuvanna Bhoomi

Last weekend I watched yet another Malayalam movie, this time a movie with a long title, but one that had a beautiful meaning. It was Neelakasham Pachakadal Chuvanna Bhoomi [English: Blue Skies, Green Waters, Red Earth]

Directed and co-produced by Sameer Thahir

Cast: Dulquer Salmaan, Sunny Wayne, Surja Bala Hijam,Ena Saha, Dhritiman Chatterjee,Joy Mathew,Pearle Maaney, Paloma Monappa and Avantika to name a few. But the main stars are Dulquer and Sunny 

Over the past few months, I must have seen close to 10 Malayalam movies and I have discovered they are quite good. Especially since I began understanding the language, I looked forward to watching more of these flicks. Sunday morning 10am show at PVR was what was on the agenda. I reached the theater around 9.45, grabbed a sandwich & cold coffee at CCD and got ready to watch the movie. 

The story is losely based on 2 college guys who head out on a road trip on their bikes. Destination: unkown. Along the journey, Kasi [Dulquer] decides to head over to Nagaland in search of the girl of his dreams, and Sunny joins him on the mission. At every stage, they meet interesting people, come across challenges, are helped by random strangers, leave with lessons learnt from people of small villages, and there is a spark every now and then with the girl in the town they camp in. There is quite a bit of drama, a tinge of humour and a lot of life's valuable lessons in this movie. It basically goes to show that everybody we meet has something to teach us. All we need is an open mind to absorb these points.. 

The one thing that captured my heart in this movie was the cinematography by Gireesh Gangadharan. SImply outstanding. Even though the movie feels long, he kept me glued in with the sights and sounds captured so beautifully. I have never seen our country look so gorgeous and it left me wanting to travel and explore all these places. From the beaches of Puri, to the hills of the North East, the wide highway in the middle of nowhere flanked by red mountains, the visual were breath taking to say the least.  How can i forget the scene where a group of riders help them and take them with the group to Puri. Oh what a sight. Men on bikes- heart stopping !! :D 

The songs and background score was lovely. It blended perfectly with the rhythm of the movie. The songs that stood out were Doore Doore and Thaazhvaaram. The Manipuri actress is so delicate, while Gauri from the small village near Calcutta comes across strong willed, and the surfer chick in Puri the caring one.  But the one who stole the show has to be Dulquer-  He moves between the various roles with ease and grace, be it the playful college kid, the SFI activist protesting against commercialization  the son , the uncle who dotes on his niece and above all, the confused youngster  in search of his goal... 

Overall rating: 4.75/5 [had it been half hour shorter, would have been crisper]  

[Movie] Air Buddies.

Its been raining incessantly here in Chennai, and there was no way i could head out yesterday.. Sunday, spent at home driving myself up and over the wall.. Finally, decided enough is enough and pulled out my external hard drive and started scanning thru to see what movies i had on it...

The one that i knew would cheer me up was "Air Buddies"... What better movie than one with Dogs and pups!!! :)

Air bud, a succesfull ball player finds true love and they bring into this world 5 adorable pups- Air Buddies!!

The next generation comes along with five puppies. Budderball is crazy about football and all he thinks about is his next meal. B-Dawg plays basketball, isn’t exactly a team player, and speaks of himself in the third person. Buddha is into meditation, yoga and  loves baseball. Mudbud loves playing in the dirt and is a mutt who enjoys simple pleasures, including volleyball. Rosebud is the only girl in the clan, loves soccer, and is a true lady, but one who will do anything to protect her brothers!! :)

Five puppies around the house, all of them active and rambunctious, turns out to be too much for the family. That’s made particularly clear when the nanny the family hires to look after the puppies gets tied in her chair  and her blueberry pie completely devoured by the pups, while the family is at a basketball game. 

The movie is all about the family wanting to give the pups up for adoption and they running away just so they can be with each other.. What follows is an amazing tale of how the parents go looking for their pups, and the twists and turns they encounter and what happens in the end has us all going "Awww, how chweet"...

Air bud and his girl are kidnapped all bcos a rich spoilt brat wants a pet he can play with... A tiger was the 1st choice, but Duh, whats the point of having a wild tiger for a pet, right?  What follows it that the bad guys are sent to find the pups as well, cos they are worth quite a lot... This is when the plot thickens and the pups decide to go looking for their mom and dad[ parallely the bad guys are looking for them] , they come across quite a few interesting characters... But the 1st thing they do is to consult the town map to figure out where the bad guys are headed..The chase through the farm involving the billy goat is especially well done, and the showcasing 101 Dalmatians receives while at the movie theater fits in nicely. The dogs run helter skelter, proving to be more than a handful to the bad guys...!! 

Even the silly Sheriff's Sniffer dog is adorable.. How he thinks a skunk's spray cured his sniffing problems... and ultimately helps lead the boys to their pups.. And how can we forget the wolf that takes the pups into his den and helps them find their way....

Air Buddies is a great family film.. how can it not be right? It has it all - Romance, drama, thriller, mystery, comedy...  Was quite impressed with how good the head movements and body language of the puppies works beautifully. Not only that, but the character of each of the puppies is clearly defined and allows them to sound and act unique.

If you are a dog lover, do watch it..