Romeo and Juliet has been adapted many, many times, and it will go on. In spite of everyone knowing that art imitates life, this is perhaps a singular illustration of how life, repeatedly, across milieus, imitates art, and how no one has ever learned from it, ever.A relationship between 2 lovers is theirs, and theirs alone. No one seems to 'get that', though, and this is another ode to how everyone else screws it up for the main protagonists, who want, nee, need, nothing more than to be left alone, with each other for company, for life.In an era where movies with shorted runtimes are much appreciated, this one is almost 3 hours long, and takes it own time through each of the events that unfold. It lets every character breathe, and delves into their lives as well, showing how the fate that befalls each of the characters ultimately illustrates life itself, in the areas that it is shot in beautifully, and how the fate of one is always irrevocably linked, sometimes even intimately, from the ones around you, even if you want to be left alone.It also depicts how certain acts, that remain on record, never get erased enough when one seeks second chances, and how one will always get dragged back to into something they thought they left behind, and perhaps never wanted to be a part of in the first case.Annayum Rassolum doesn't have anything new to offer, doesn't have anything new to say. But what it does, in depicting life as it plays out, keeping the play as its template to do so, is worth being a part of for the course of its runtime. it is as good when it is following the trajectories of its supporting characters as it is when it allows the main leads to interact, and regard one another silently, as they used to in the good ol'-fashioned ways.Most of the background score is soothing and mellifluous, along with 2-3 of the foreground tracks, which are also very apt, along with being equally, if not more, soothing. There are complete stretches sans the spoken word (but with sounds from the milieu at that time, sometimes interspersed with minimal score), with very minimal use of the background score too, that are wonderful to behold. Also, each track is timely and relevant, and doesn't drown out the plot. Ravi pauses them long enough to move the plot along, and lets them resurface appropriately. It is very rare to see that in action, and this is a very good example that other helmers, especially in the mainstream local milieu, could make a note of, and try to emulate.Fahadh has been great in everything I've seen him in, and this is no exception in that aspect. He owns it, completely, and to me, he is the Sanjeev Kumar of this generation. Andrea Jeremiah. Love her already. And what a voice! All she has to do is say, 'Pokkatte' softly (or however), and no one would be surprised at Faasil's character's falling for her. I've seen her in a mainstream flick before this, and hope she does as much work in front of the cam as she does behind it (vocals). Sunny Wayne acquits himself well, as do the rest of the cast, and I've seen many others pulling their weight in other flicks as well.There is also an undercurrent of subtle irony running throughout, with a parallel tale, and it gets even more apparent in the narrative as the movie nears its eventual denouement, which might surprise those among us who know the bard's tale, and that IS a good thing.I bought tickets to watch this on the big screen, but ended up missing it. Glad I bought the DVD. Recommend a watch, but mostly for those among us who're patient with their movies, and can watch this one in 1 stretch only (watching it with breaks interspersed will be doing the movie a disservice).

Annayum Rasoolum is a two hour 48 minute film. For that duration, I felt the film was long, really long. But I liked the experience that director Rajeev Ravi gave me with his film. I don't believe that the story of Annayum Rasoolum is fresh but the kind of experience that the film brings does evoke a sense of freshness to Malayalam cinema. It had life and romance. For the IFFK that just got over, there was a competition film called ID directed by Kamal KM. This was one of those competition films that I liked a lot cause of it's making. Annayum Rasoolum has been made in a pattern very much like that. The coincidences in the making pattern is not born without reason, of course. Madhu Neelakandan, the director of photography of Annayum Rasoolum, is the same man who held the camera for ID. And that is not it, Rajeev Ravi was also one of the producers of that Hindi-English picture and the makers of both the films have the background of FTII, Pune, if I'm right. The film has employed sync sound for a major part, I believe and quality of audio in the conversation is sometimes pretty less but even then the performance and the life of the scenes stay intact. The casting seems to be one of the greatest strengths of this film with a fantastic actor, Fahadh Faasil, playing one of the title characters and a totally convincing cast doing the supporting roles. There are of course some in the lot who could have been better. Fahadh Faasil is proving over and over again that he is the most promising actor Malayalam cinema has seen in a few years. Andrea Jeremiah is beautiful as Anna. The film makes use of her screen presence and does not demand her to perform much. I would have hoped that Sunny Wayne did a little better. He has got the looks and a bloody charming voice, just that he seems a little lost in the bigger picture! There is also this fantastic actor, whose name I believe is Shine, who gives a stellar performance. I liked Aashiq Abu in the rather short role (than his bigger role as a director of four odd films.) I dint quite like the character or the idea about casting Ranjith in the film. Rajeev Ravi's experience as a DoP must have given him the strange confidence to keep camera at angles that would be unimaginable to at least half of the filmmakers in Kerala! The film does evoke the life and feel that I have experienced in some Latin American films but the length killed a lot of the little fun for me. By the time the film neared it's end, I wasn't exactly getting the emotional impact that was expected. I did hear a few stories that told me about the kind of freedom that the actors where given by Rajeev Ravi to improvise. This has to be one of the greatest pluses in Annayum Rasoolum. The edit by Ajithkumar has definitely picked up all the right shots and the music adds to the flow. But I'm not sure if I would enjoy Annayum Rasoolum again on my repeat viewing or if this film would be worth seeing over and over like many of the better films in Malayalam that never has lost the beauty of re-watch! 'Patience is a virtue' and for this picture you would need that in tons.

Bored with the action-drama-family thrillers of superstars, the Malayalam cinema's new directors are trying to find a middle path. If you have been a Malaylam movie fanatic since the 80s, you would have witnessed similar trends in the late 70s and early 80s, with slow movies that mostly have sad endings.Annayum Rasoolum treads a similar path.The story is basic of inter-caste love, but the treatment is new, as religion/caste is nowhere impressed upon much.The Director does well to cover Kochi's life surrounding the lead actors and the cinematography compliments the director's vision.Of the cast, Fahad excels in the role of Rasool, and executes it perfectly.Andrea as Anna however doesn't convince much, and she looks more like an amateur. Characterwise her looks are fine on screen, but her dialogue delivery and emotions leave much to be appreciated.Most of the scenes of the movie are not connected with the core story. This makes the movie a bit lengthy. Some crisp editing would have kept the audience more glued to the screen, who otherwise lose connection with the main story, and the eagerness to know what happens next is cut down quite a few times, upsetting the rhythm.The director tries to keep the story real, but falters at quite a few places, like in the end things happen too soon, after a slow and dreary pace for almost 3/4th part of the film. The climax scenes doesn't do any justice, and it is as if director is in real hurry to give some sort of end to the story.An example would be of how the police came to know about Rasool so soon. When the movie has time to show scenes that is unrelated to the love couples, it should have shown how the police got the information of Rasool, as that was more relevant and important as an audience than showing Rasool's brother fighting with the police for his visa, or the story of the Ashley, who incidentally is the narrator of the story.Here too there is no logic, as the narrator should have an equal meaty or important role to play, but except him being lucky in the end, there is nothing much to Ashley's in Rasool's love story or life.The best narration I could remember is that of Madahavan in Hindi's iconic movie 3-Idiots, and it remains etched in your memory forever. The director tried to create the same magic, but falters.Then there is a character styled on the lines of Bikoo Mhatre from Satya, played by Shine Tom with whom Rasool spends most of the time, and also gets in to trouble a few times.Shine, like Fahad, plays the character to perfection, but until his final act, the movie never does justice to his character too.Overall the movie doesn't lift your emotions to any new level, because it always drifts away whenever there is some kind of hope, and the characters and their stories look half-baked.Commercially the movie did generate quite a lot of attention and did well. The reason, because this is the period of revolution in Malayalam cinema, just like in the 70s and 80s, and any thing new will be grabbed with both hands by the public.However, drama, emotion and family movies will be back to the main stream Malayalam cinema, though in a new avatar and people will slowly forget all about Anna, though Rasool will still stay etched in movie goers mind, especially the young uns, who are part of this new wave revolution.

Some movies make you feel privileged as you watch them.This one presented many such moments as I got involved in the movie. While you dwell in the beauty of one beautiful moment, another beautiful moment comes along. Very realistic presentation and yet interesting and absorbing.Andrea has done an exceptional job and to some extent overshadows Fahad in terms of acting.While the initial phase of the movie delivers in the unique story telling , soon the romance of the movie takes over. Very very real , very everyday, very relate-able.We watched the movie on Valentine's day and it is indeed a great pick for a valentine's movie.Appreciate Fahad on his choice of movies.Wanted to watch it again today but the movie has changed and got to watch Fargo instead which was a good one in itself too.The sights of Kochi has been nicely captured and as someone brought up in Kochi, I could relate to everything in the movie very well.The lighting in the movie is amazingly realistic. The first shot of the heroine presented as she gets in the way of the car felt real and interesting. The shot of Andrea against the candle prayer lights was very beautiful.The story of the movie is amazing as well. Santhosh Echikkanam whose malayalam short stories has been enlightening when I used to do some reading, has matched himself scripting this one. Missed a second watch today unfortunately.Andrea keeps coming back as the show-stealer. Her performance has been accurate.The movie wins over Andrea though - good work Rajiv.