Naduvazhikal (1989)

Director: Joshi
Writer:    S.N. Swami
Cast:      Mohanlal, Devan, Murali, Madhu, Thilakan
Language:Malayalam

Arjun (Mohanlal) is the son of a man with big influence who made his money through smuggling. He is dragged into his father's affairs who is arrested due to business enmity.

Film is another one in the crime-family drama genre which takes significant influence from Godfather. Mohanlal plays the role of the protagonist who is at first weary and reluctant to enter into his father's affairs. Like in Godfather the situation forces him into taking the mantle and gradually over the course of the film grows into the role. This transformation is done in a very convincing and nuanced way ultimately leading to the climax scene which is among the most iconic action sequences in Malayalam film history. Film is from an era where the scriptwriters took utmost care to flush out supporting characters who are also memorable in their own right. The roles played by Jagathy and Thilakan are prime examples for this. This is another role for Jagathy in which he plays a parasitic character with ambiguous affiliations. Some of his lines are as quotable as you could get ("Panikkare nambinaal....ujwalamaayirunnu prakadanam....").

Film is not uniformly great with some scenes that have not aged particularly well. It is supposed to be based on a real life character in Calicut town even though I cannot substantiate it. I would rank this film second among Joshi's filmography with 'Dhruvam' being his best. It is staggering to think that film got released very close to 'Kireedom' and both were super-hits as the following poster would suggest.

Rating: 4/5

No: 20 Madras Mail (1990)

Director: Joshi
Writers:  Dennis Joseph, Hari Kumar (Story)
Cast:       Mohanlal, Mammooty, M.G. Soman, Ashokan

Enroute via train, one of three friends becomes a suspect in a homicide.

Many people would list Mohanlal's performance as Tony Kurishingal in this film as one of his best in a career that includes many great performances in many great films. No: 20 Madras Mail is by no means a great film. It is a film of two halves with the first one being a really good comedy part of the film and the second half a very average whodunnit action thriller. The entire first half is set on location in a real train and real travel which must have been a logistics nightmare while shooting. That effort really need to be appreciated because even now filmmakers are struggling to give a realistic life look to footage that are supposed to be shot in Indian trains. Mohanlal's performance as the booze filled spoiled son from a wealthy family is so good that one would wonder whether he had gone method during the shoot. Special mention to Siddique's cameo giving an introduction to the three characters in a bar. Mohanlal and Mammooty can really considered as the best two leading men Indian cinema has ever seen and they have acted in many films together especially in the earlier part of their respective careers. In this film Mammotty plays the real life self of him and in 'Manu Uncle' Mohanlal do the opposite playing himself. Interestingly both films involved Dennis Joseph.

Joshi has directed many completely challenging films but some of them have not aged very well. Films like 'Nair Saab', 'New Delhi' and 'Sainyam' are examples for this, being set in very unconventional, expensive and novel circumstances. 'Dhruvam' and 'Naaduvazhikal' are my favorite films of his with both having a slightly larger than life leading characters. Dhruvam is a very atmospheric film with a complex narrative structure.

Rating: 3.5/5