Harris Films Blog

    Though the film  Neelavelicham  (‘The Blue Radiance’, Malayalam, 2023) is a remake of  Bhargavi Nilayam  (Bhargavi Mansion, 1964), both must be considered independent creations and comparison must be avoided. However, I couldn’t help comparing some aspects when I watched the new film. Both movies offer excellent visual experiences. To me, Bhargavi herself is the most prominent person in  Bhargavi Nilayam . So, I didn’t have a problem with Tovino or Roshan in place of Madhu or Naseer respectively in  Neelavelicham . However, I couldn’t fully reconcile to Rima’s occupying the place of Vijaya Nirmala. I kept comparing them. It’s not about their performance, but the stark differences in their appearances and countenances. In  Neelavelicham , Tovino became more important than Bhargavi to me. The song 'Pottithakarnna kinavu…’ and the scenes within it are what I loved the most about the movie. The writer’s character, performed by Tovino, makes s...

(Warning: Spoilers ahead!) It's April Fool's Day, and it's a coincidence that I just watched  Chungking Express  (Hong Kong, 1994) in which this young and handsome police officer is jilted by his girlfriend on the first of April. Initially, he thought it was an April Fool's prank, but she had left him seriously. He decides to wait for a month, and meanwhile eats canned pineapple slices, because she liked it very much. He makes sure every can he purchases from the supermarket had May-1 as the expiry date, which completes one month of his loneliness, beyond which there would be no pineapples for him. His lost lover's name happens to be 'May'. The first of May is his birthday too. After the monthlong wait, he looks for someone who could go out with him for the evening. But he's late. Another May, who is a worker at the takeaway joint he frequents was a prospect but while he was waiting for his lost lover, she had found another person to spend the evening wi...

Watch on Sony LIV I happened to watch the new Anjali Menon movie ‘Wonder Women’ (2022), and the following are my thoughts. Unfortunately, most of them are negative. I felt it was a badly made movie. Anyway, I didn't have a lot of expectations from her as a director as my interest in her movies had declined since she turned into a commercial filmmaker. However, just less than a couple of minutes into the movie, the face of Nithya Menen cheered me up as she is an individual I like a lot in Malayalam cinema. But then again, barely two or three minutes more and I could smell disaster. That’s when Nandita speaks to Veni and her mother-in-law. The flaws: Nandita (Nadiya Moidu) is this lady running a preparative centre called 'Sumana' for pregnant women. She educates them on the subject and makes them practice yoga and various exercises for a few days during the gestation period to prepare them mentally and physically for easy and safe delivery and healthy motherhood. And what we ...