Novel in Calcutta Festival

The prestigious Calcutta International Film Festival, to be held from November 10 to 17 in association with the Government of West Bengal, will feature three Malayalam films in its competition section.

Surprisingly, East Coast Vijayan's debut film Novel, which was not too popular among the critics or masses, will compete in the section, which will also have the State award winners: M.G. Sasi's Adayalangal and Lenin Rajendran's Rathri Mazha.

Adayalangal, directed by M.G. Sasi and produced by Aravind Venugopal, has won the State awards for the best feature film and best director of 2007. The film is based on the life and works of noted Malayalam writer P.C. Gopalan (1926-1974), popularly known as Nandanar, whose novels and stories depicted life in the army camps and battlefields during the 1940s and 50s.

Rathri Mazha has won several State awards in 2006, including Best Director (Lenin Rajendran), Best Music Director (Ramesh Narayanan), Best Male Singer (Sreenivas), Best Female Singer (Sujatha Mohan) and Best dance choreographers (Madhu Samudra-Sajiv Samudra). It was chosen as one of the Indian entries for the Asian, African and Latin American Competition segment of the 38th IFFI.

When it comes to Jayaram-starrer Novel released early this year, the film, intended as a romantic flick, sadly turned to be a pathetic show; what could be told crisply as a short film, was thoughtlessly extended to create hours of drag. The only highlight of the film was actress Sada, who won plaudits for her first Malayalam role.

User Comments

Aju thomas 13 Oct 2008 12:19 pm

great to hear three malayalam movies are chosen for Calcutta International Film Festival ! beautiful songs from rathri mazha and novel!

abhilash 11 Oct 2008 01:08 pm

I hold it true, whatever befalls; I feel it, when I sorrow most; is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all When I saw the movie, I remembered the above lines of Alfred Tennyson. The Novel is a simple love story. I wanted to see the movie in the big screen. I heard that the picture did not get much popularity. The film has its own fate. As per the songs of East coast Vijayan it has to have a rebirth…It seems this movie has been chosen for Calcutta film festival. The selection of heroine could be much better to do with this character. The only thing I felt was that because she have done range of Tamil and Telungu movies she could not show much emotions on her body language. That is not a mistake I am pointing out but if the actress was a malayali then it would have been little better. The heroine’s character has lot of depth in it. But sada did a good work After the interval, the story takes us a turn .The matured sada is very much loyal to her character we feel warm and comfortable when we sees the second part and it had a beautiful ending. This ending makes the film the most successful one. Regarding the story of the novel this is a simple love story which has been told from the heart. Most of the successful films have one thing in common. They may be adapted by great directors from either of the some ones novel or play. But this ‘novel’ is different. The writer of the Story Novel is himself, the Director and producer. The first film itself shows the creativity of his directive skill. Here the script writer helps the hero to come back to the simple and sensational character. Sada’s character is very much similar to many of the girls who experienced this type silent love. They have to sacrifice their love for the will of their parents. Ganesh had very little to do in this movie but he played the role very neatly. In the last song visualization he asked sada to go and meet him. But as a loyal wife she rejected. After the award function, when swami gave the letter which had given by Nandini’s husband we can feel the loss of not meeting her in Sethu’s face. He acted the scene very well that all of them who saw the movie must have experienced the sadness and left the theatre dropping a tear or at least went with a heavy heart. The critical job position on a film is its cinematography. The crew was responsible for all the lighting and visual camera angles that occur in the movie. The responsibilities of camera man are to build the mood and vision of a script. The lighting and the shades to the costumes in the song sequences needs special comments. Special mention must be made to the cameraman, Azhagappan. Once again he proved his creativity through this film. Regarding the music of the film, all the songs have been received great popularity and had won a place in the heart of all malayalis long back through his albums. No malayali will be left without humming his lines. The play back singer Swetha got award for the melodious song kuyile…I think the back ground music in the first half is little bit less. The music and lyrics in the picture was well co coordinated by east coast vijayan .The single most important job he performed elicits the best performer out of the recording talent as well as coordination. . Costume designers will typically seek to enhance a character's personality or to create an evolving plot of color, changing social environment. In every picture the costume designer has to work in consultation with not only the director, but the set and lighting designers to ensure that the overall design of the production works together. The designer needs to possess strong artistic capabilities as well as a thorough knowledge of pattern development, and be sensitive to each scene to the creative direction that the performer wants to take his/her character. In this picture when we watch the costumes of sada and jayaram the color combination of the photography in the walls matches with the dress of the hero and heroine this can be watched in the red dress worn by the heroine and the wall hanging when she is going to meet jayaram to show the magazine. Even the furnishing materials of each sofa suit the dress of hero and the heroine. In the last song visualization we can see that the costume designer has won a good place in the viewer’s heart. In the song (Ithramel enne nee snehichirunnenkil) visualization scene, she is wearing a green sari and was standing near the wall. The picture in the wall and sadas sari color all that blends together making the heroine looks like a Greek beauty. In this picture the blending of the colors was very impressive. Last but not the least I may say Mr.Vijayan has taken utmost care to make every single portion of the scenes to be at its best and make the film a great success .While managing with the proper inventory for a film set he took more responsibility for making the correct position for each scene. In the lyrics of Vijayan it is said that …If you have loved me so much I wouldn’t have gone away from you…….and like a phoenix bird I will take a rebirth ….This picture should have its rebirth. Every one who has experienced the taste of love so much must watch this movie.

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Novel in Calcutta Festival

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