Mechilpuram

It's storytime... 4 pm rolled around today, and like most lazy Sundays with a Manchester United game ahead, I decided to order coffee and snacks from Swiggy Cafe 15 uneventful minutes later, a Swiggy partner glides by with my order and stops. Striding over, the partner handed me my order, mid-call and struck up a conversation with me, enquiring about my home state and language (juggling in both broken Kannada and Hindi can be tough with partners, leading to this interaction). Upon knowing that I hailed from Kerala, I saw a warm smile light up his face and he enthusiastically told me that he admired Dulquer Salman's movies. Hailing from Odisha himself, I guessed that he loved DQ's dubbed movies - which span across varied genres. What followed was a dazed walk back to my abode, with a smile on my face - as the partner glided away, now lost amongst the narrow lanes, on his way to don the role of a superhero, helping subside the tea-time and hunger pangs of fellow earthlings li...

Today, an immortal talent left us for eternal abode. Spanning a career across five decades of Indian Cinema, the bhavagayakan (emotive singer)  P. Jayachandran valiantly battled cancer and passed on, leaving us with many tracks to savor. Indeed, I'm left reminiscing at the words of Thomas Campbell at this time. "To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die." Being a child prodigy at school level, Malayalam Cinema was able to utilize Jayachandran across tracks that explore various emotions, aided with his mastery over vocals. These provided us with precious pearls across the seabed of Malayalam Cinema music. His tracks are a celebration of a soulful crooner and whose works will stand the test of time. What kept him distinct from other vocalists was how youthful his voice sounded, across years. A genuine character with no facade and a flair to persevere.  Here are some tracks to introduce you to Jayachandran's youthful voice and his musical mastery:- "Therarain...

Rosapoo Movie Poster Source: IMBD Being an avid fan of films that handle quirky subjects, Rosapoo is one such effort from Malayalam Cinema, that remains unexplored by many. Handling the subject of the adult film industry that's set on the backdrop of the late nineties and early noughties, and it's impact on churning films that reigned supreme in the cinema kottakas (theaters) at that time .  It provides a curious snapshot of those forgotten and indecorous days of old, in the Malayalam Film Industry. Days that the Malayalam Film Industry would like to forget, memories that are stowed away into a silent and forgotten shutter in the attic of our minds. Director Writer Release Date Genre Vinu Joseph Vinu Joseph 9 February 2018 🖤🎭 Dark Comedy Random Musings - Turning back time Le...

Top down view of the Discman Welcoming the Sony Walkman DEJ016CK Portable CD Player to my little dainty collection. Just in time for the new year! Commonly referred to as a Discman, this model looks sleek and has a certain allure to it's appearance, showing how the most vintage of things could be so simple.  First  rolled out in 2006, the Discman usually came accompanied with a simple headset. To kickstart the Audio CD Collection in 2025, I'm leaning more towards genres such as R&B , Hip Hop and more exclusively, Malayalam Cinema Songs For a cold night with the absolute gentle feel of solitude hanging about in the air, the Discman will make for a good companionship.      Side view of the Discman (with playback control buttons) The Discman in all it's grandeur! Want to buy a couple of Audio CD's online? please visit my  blog article  for credible references. Take an eyeful of my collection as well!

P.S Avanazhi has been postponed to January 17,2025 Made this blog post immediately after seeing a rerelease announcement for Ustad Hotel on r/InsideMollywood . Happy to see more rereleases incoming with that andvent of the new year.  and   with the event of us possibly witnessing a re-release clash for the first time. Avanazhi (1986) Mammootty's cop flick is gearing for a rerelease on January 17, 2025. Rerelease the right movies, I guess. Would love to witness Rajamanikyam and Big B onscreen. However, keep the churn of rereleases coming. Source: Twitter ForumKeralam Ustad Hotel (2012) Coincidentally, we are about to witness Ustad Hotel's rerelease on the same day. Onions will definitely be cut, witnessing Kareem Ikka's performance onscreen. One of Dulquer's best piece of works from the past decade. The director in Anwar Rasheed is due for a comeback too.  The movie is a treat for foodies and had a good movie arc, that kept maintained momentum with every scene. Kunchacko...

Lately, I have been digging into Internet Mysteries, a lot and thought that it would be cool to document Malayalam Cinema's journey since the dawn of the Internet There's something fascinating about rediscovering relics of old. In the early noughties, Internet domains were just sidelined for marketing purposes. However, it's a wonder to see how these are still storied and leave a legacy, over decades later. Note: This is a list that I will keep updating, with new discoveries. For now, I have a very slim list to go through Mayilpeelikavu The KuBo horror thriller from 1998 has the distinction of being the first movie ever to embrace Internet marketing for pre-release engagement in Malayalam. URL - http://www.kerala.com/mayilpeelikkavu Source: Youtube Malayalam Movie Now However, scouring through the Internet Archive did not provide me with any traces of the film's promotional material existing from older archives. This was really a blow, as it would have been interesting ...

Musings Nestled within the forested tops of the Western Ghats, a Rifle Club lays await - to celebrate life and the thrill of a hunt, dispersed with a flair to lay waste. Rifle Club surely marks Aashiq Abu's small win from the setback of Neelavelicham and the man can make a living out of cinematography, if he can't lay hands on a good script during the offseason. However, a visual treat can't make up for a lacking screenplay or fitting dialogues to create an aura around a movie. Co-written by Syam Pushkaran , Sharfu ( of the  Suhas-Sharfu duo), Dileesh Karunakaran and Aashiq (the first two whose body of work speak for themselves), this screenplay may not be up there as a best piece of work, because of a lack of impactful dialogues, unnecessary elevation of Anurag Kasyhap's villain character and a overall sense of pretentiousness hanging about in the air. Despite the second half being a letdown - the fun vibe, a sense of thrill and the drip maintained throughout the f...

                                                                        Random Musings The ambiguity of life and fate, is intertwined and is such, which drives the course of an individual’s timeline on Earth. Lazily we often term fate as God's mischievous play. A walk through a rope bridge, if you will. The ends of the bridge are anchored to firm objects, which remain intact and unchanged. The middle of the bridge can sway, fray, or even break, but as long as the ends stay fixed, the bridge's (now remains) and the state of falling apart, stand as a monument to witness. Onlooker of the reel of a life that was lived  Introspection can be a great way for a attain a temporary state of escapism, dwelling upon those memorable, downright cringe and unforgettable memories, which...

Feeling a sense of thrill would be an understatement when I got to unpack this Walkman after 2 days of anxious waiting. This is a second hand player that I ordered from VintageAudioCart , Kochi and would definitely label it a steal purchase, as compared to the pricey ones that I saw listed on EBay and Etsy. Buying a Fiio Cassette Player took a backseat when I noticed this beauty being listed for sale. This is a WM-FX195 model with a silver finish and was first rolled out in sometime during the mid-late 1990's. As with cassette players designed then and now, it doesn't have speakers and one needs to plug in headphones / earphones to listen to the magic emanating from within Features:- Mega Bass  Mechanism to tune into FM Radio Channels Headphone Jack Front and top view of the cassette player Sliding in the first tape was always going to be a challenge, having received delivery of 15 tapes a couple of minutes prior. Being a big fan of Udayananu Tharam's soundtrack which was c...