happiestgirlnow
Bollywood comes to south India. No, i am not talking about Mr.Amitabh Bachchan or Shah Rukh Khan coming to Chennai. I am talking about 100 days of love. At each and every scene, the director brings in the typical Hindi film clichés. Starting from the extremely-identical-to-Barfi background score, which gives the movie a "lazy and loser (much like how the protagonist is shown)" feel. Next, the fatso best friend who provides moral support to the hero during thick and thin, this reminds us of Kunaal in i Hate Luv Storys. The hero getting mesmerized with the lady's smile,obviously this happens in every other movie!The rich businessman "Rahul" as the Mr.Perfect, whom the heroine is currently in a relationship with. The "3 idiots touch" with Romaanch Ramakrishnan as Balan's enemy no.2(not to forget the first day ragging scene). The sudden introduction of the hero's twin brother, a successful businessman again who constantly pulls down Balan's spirits.This particular so called twist in the tale soon disappoints us as the evil twin brother does not return again till the climax scene. The movie ending with a railway station scene where Nithya Menen wears a long-flowing white colour Salwar Kameez. Thus, the clichés go on.. At one point, i started wondering whether this is supposed to be a spoof movie as i saw the hero himself referring to the movie's storyline as a cliché-ed one. Alright, let us look at other aspects. Balan- a feature writer's professional life has come to a low as he is dismissed from his job, and his personal life has also hit a low as his ex-girlfriend finds a better catch. He meets a stranger inside a taxi and falls for her smile. She accidentally leaves behind her camera, an adventure for him. Everything goes well till here, the movie drags from this point. Too much of time goes into searching for the girl. The saving grace is the funny Ummar and his video game strategies. One gets impatient while we are provided with irrelevant clues about details significant to characters yet to be introduced. Even after they are introduced, they have hardly two scenes( the heroine's parents). Agreed, the hero takes immense efforts in finding the heroine's where-abouts and so he does not see her. But, why are we not shown anything about Nithya Menen till the intreval? Nithya Menen as "Sheela Ki Jawani"(that's just how the hero calls her) has done her part. Nithya Menen stops with just keeping Balan mesmerized, her presence in the movie which is capable of keeping the audience equally mesmerized could have been more. Dulquer on the other hand proves to be an all rounder. After watching the optimistic and energetic Adhi in OK Kanmani, he proves quite convincing as the loser Balan. He reminds us of Shah Rukh Khan when he enters into Sheela's house at night, funny with his antics and funny dialogs( a typical Kuch Kuch Hota Hai scene). Coming to the plus points, childhood flashback was good with enough reasoning for Balan's "loser-ness". The process how Balan learns to be an original, to stand on his own feet and earn his living with what skills he has, is excellent. The director clearly conveys the line between self-satisfaction and complacency. To be yourself, to do what you will be happy doing, loving yourself and staying contented. The message of choosing-your-soul-mate and settling-down-in-life-with-Mr.Perfect. The comical Ummar and his video games. Balan getting drunk. The beautiful PPT played in Sheela's parent's wedding anniversary celebrations, which surprises Sheela's parents, Sheela and all of us. For all those people who are spoilt watching Hindi movies for years, this is nothing new. For the others, it must prove to be a hilarious refreshing romantic treat.
sesht
Most of us watching this today were apparently primed on the pairing of Salman and Menen in Mani Ratnam's upcoming 'OK Kanmani'. But that's some time away, and in the meantime, we have this.As always, for any specialty release (read - other than the local language/s, and playing only in 1/2 cinemas for 1/2 show/s for the entire week), there was little to no publicity, and no English subtitles in the showing I got to sit thru (not really bothered nowadays, but many people I watched it with were verbally abusive of theater management, and might well be missing next time around, but I don't think anyone cares).One concern I did have going in, was that this was gonna be the desi ripoff-of/homage-to '500 days of summer'. Phew. Thankfully not.Salman and Menen are getting together after not being in the same frame in 'Bangalore days'.The good parts:Very, very competently made, and slickly packaged. Every department complements the narrative, except perhaps for the departments/persons responsible for pacing (I do not want to single the editor/s out). It....flags....and how. It has almost been lovingly photographed, and both the prod and the art design are simple, yet sumptuous.I've never seen Salman so sure of his character and his performance. I have seen him grow over the movies I've seen him perform in, but in this one, he's in character throughout, and except perhaps for some forced angst in his scenes with his boss, and when it comes to his work, he was almost perfect.Nithya Menen, as she is wont to, right since 'Ala modalaindi', lights up every frame she's in, and this is consistent, especially when it comes to her intro in each and every movie she's been in. The magic does fade towards the latter half, but by then, she's had most of us hooked.The background score was alright, but 2 of the main songs 'Arike Pozhiyum', and 'Ninnekaanaan Kinaakkall' (the former more so) stood out during this viewing. But the overall feeling the music (and, to repeat myself on this, the cinematography) left me with was one of pleasantness. Like taking a vacation at a calm/natural habitat such as a beach or a hill station at an hour bereft of other hangers-on. There'll be no denying from any quarter that the movie looks, and sounds beautiful. 'OK Kanmani' has some living up to do in these departments, even though that happens to be a hallmark of Mani Ratnam, in spite of a few recent mis-steps.The main lead's sidekick has almost as much screen-time as the main leads do, and that's astonishingly progressive, at least to me, especially in the local milieu. It also helps that his characterization was well thought out and executed.Breaking the 4th wall: worked for this. A couple of sleight-of-hand maneuvers that I did not see coming, at important junctures in the tale. Augmented the main lead's characterization, and that's always a good thing, since having the audience field for the main leads is what the makers should be trying for always.The friendly manner in which the makers try subverting the local romantic genre's staples, while also unapologetically using the very same, while feeding us a spiel that it is not the case, seemed clever while watching the movie, but seems a tad weak now, since it is being done to death, and is not as fresh as, say, 'Dum lagake haisha'. The mainstream aspects are not overdone. That IS always good.Someone looked a little roly-poly this time around. Yum.However, it has to be said that the movie is not titled aptly, in addition to which there's not much meat, and there are quite a few clichéd moments in a movie purportedly demanding us to consider it grounded. Almost hypocritical, if only the makers did not keep drumming that message quite a bit. Certain threads go nowhere, and could've have been edited out (there may have been a good joke-in- the-making about the call to Mr. Nair, but I'll be damned if anyone else in the hall got it, and why the makers thought it was so funny - many were actually turning around and looking at their neighbors when it was pursued with in multiple sequences, including the all- important final moments of the flick - I'm missing a metaphor somewhere, perhaps). OSO's Kaanjaani (Aju Varghese) was not utilized t his potential, along with senior Vineeth's always-strong screen presence being wasted. Praveena, playing the part of Vineeth's wife and Menen's mom, who was such a strong force in 'Mili', surprisingly doesn't have much to do in this one. Also, making certain things obvious, like a supporting characters consuming alcohol at her own place, was like hammering a message that we do have progressive characters in this flick (don't bother to check for 'that' correlation, btw), so this is a nouveau-romance....blah blah. No matter how progressive the movie purportedly is, it gives the supporting female characters short shrift. I found that strange, especially since the casting was there (but perhaps the writing was not). And oh, all those annoying disclaimers on booze and smokes littering the beautiful frames throughout, along with blurring out the brands - I really have no idea when certain minds are gonna mature in this...............and have no hope either.However, if living with those irritants is bearable (along with braving the heat, traffic, crowded malls, non-functioning air- conditioning and rude staff et al), this is a good theatrical watch for the weekend. It does not demand much of you, in terms of grey matter, while it purports to be more than it actually is, and though that is misguided, it is not necessarily a bad thing.
Afsal Hussain (afsalthodupuzha)
100 Days of Love is a gentle and heartwarming tale of love narrated refreshingly by director Kamal's son,débutant Jenuse Mohammed with lovable performances from Dulquer Salmaan & Nithya Menon.Even though the basic premise of 'a hero in search of his unknown love' is tried and tested in in-numerous films from the past,the originality in Jenuse's narration added with strong technical support and neat performances from the whole cast makes 100Days Of Love a delightful romcom,one among the best in the genre from Mollywood in recent years.Mainly targeted at the urban youth of today,the movie offers around 150 minutes of feel-good romance filled with fun and interesting sequences.The influence of classic Hollywood romantic flicks is notable,but luckily the freshness in narration by Jenuse saves this from being yet another poor rip off from the west.The rather leisurely pace of the movie mayn't be chewable for a minor share of the audience ,but for all others with a taste for romcoms 100 Days Of Love makes up for a good recommendation to sit and scrap all the tensions for sometime.The dialogs written by Vibin.M.R and Suhail Ibrahim came out really well on screen and added to the overall cuteness of the movie.Visuals by Pradeesh Verma were colorful and gave a fresh urban look to the whole affair.Costumes bySameera Saneesh deserves a special mention with the styles perfectly suiting the backdrop of the narration.The idea to use the names such as Balan.K.Nair,Ummer and Sheela for the characters was interesting and hilarious at the same time.The successful pair of Dulquer Salmaan and Nithya Menon was really adorable with their on screen chemistry working out really well on screen.May it be the subtle emotions or his trademark style smile Dulquer was at his best portraying the lead role of 'B.K.N' with perfection.Nithya Menon too was no exception and portrayed the character invested on her with finesse.Shekhar Menon gets another meaty role as Dulquer's pal Ummar and gave good support along with Aju Vargheese,Rahul Madhav,Vineeth etc did their part well.Music by Govind Menon from the celebrated Thaikkudam Bridge family was really good with the song 'Hridayathin Niramaay" being one among the best love songs to comeout of late.The background score by Bijibal was befitting narration and added to the cool.Overall,100 Days Of Love is a sweet romcom recommended for everyone with fondness towards the genre .Some +Ves :: _________ *Direction. *Music And Score. *Cinematography. *Costumes. *Performances.Some -Ves:: ___________ *Slow Pace. *Lack Of Freshness In The Basic Plot.Verdict::100 Days Of Love is a refreshing dish of romance topped with lovable performance from the pair of Dulquer and Nithya besides notable technical brilliance.The lack of freshnees in the premise is comprehensively concealed by Jenuse's narration,a talent to look out for in future.Go for this one and you will not be disappointed. Ma Rating::7.5/10 _Afsal
