#and jaideep in majnu from ajeeb daastaans

[pariaritzia]

AN ACTION HERO (2022)

[amongxylophonesandglockenspiels]

Bollywood Movies Part CCXI: The Mollywood Takeover Part XL

In Savithri, Savithri (Samyuktha Menon) is a communist on the run and hiding as a servant to the lecherous Raghava Pilla (Joju George) in post independence Kerala. In Rachiyamma, Kuttikrishnan (Asif Ali) remembers his romance with the self-sufficient Rachiyamma (Parvathy Thiruvothu) who refuses to be beholden to anyone. In Rani, Cherukkan (Roshan Mathew) wants to have sex with his girlfriend Pennu (Darshana Rajendran) but worries about people finding out.

Aanum Pennum as an anthology about the relationships between men and women doesn't really work out. The best out of the three is Rachiyamma with a stellar performance from Parvathy Thiruvothu. The best part of Rani is Nedumudi Venu as Vasudevan and the ending, although the Eden allegory is too christian for my taste. Savithri is one dimensional and a bit boring. Favorite song is Kadha Padu (no subtitles).

At the beginning of the pandemic, Sherley (Parvathy Thiruvothu) and her husband Roy (Sharafudheen) go to her father Ittyavira's (Biju Menon) house. There they deal with bureaucracy trying to get Sherley's daughter Sophie (Thejaswini Praveen) from her school in Tamil Nadu. Ittyavira decides to sell his house and the land it's on partially due to his Roy's business troubles and partially due to his failing health. However, before he can do it, he needs Roy's help to unearth a skeleton.

Aarkkariyam is a bit slow, but it's a good movie about family secrets. I enjoyed how life at Ittyavira's house was shown and how it compared to Roy and Sherley's apartment in the city. The relationship between Roy and Ittyavira was well done, which really made the movie work. All of the performances were good. Favorite song is Chiramabhayamee (English subtitles).

In Majnu Lipakshi (Fatima Sana Shaikh) and crime boss Babloo (Jaideep Ahlawat) are unhappily married as Babloo is gay and he keeps disposing of the men Lipakshi tries to have affairs with. In Khilauna Meenal (Nushratt Baruccha) is the primary caretaker of her sister Binny (Inayat Verma). When they lose their electricity, Meenal begins working for Vinod Agarwal in the hopes that he will help get their electricity back. In Geeli Pucchi Bharti (Konkona Sen Sharma) is initially resentful of the inexperienced Priya (Aditi Rao Hydari) getting a job Bharti is overqualified for. Soon after they become friends, but when Bharti reveals her caste, things get complicated. In Ankahi Nats (Shefali Shah) bonds with Kabir (Manav Kaul) while dealing with her husband Rohan (Tota Roy Chowdhury) refusing to acknowledge that their daughter Samaira (Sara Arjun) is going deaf.

Ajeeb Daastaans is an anthology that purports to be about strange things but I submit that the actual underlying theme connecting all of the movies is betrayal, as they all feature at least one. Of these shorts, Geeli Pucchi and Ankahi are the best. While Majnu and Khilauna have good acting, their stories are lackluster. Favorite song is Sang Rehna (audio only).