Pazhassi raja-magnum opus

Mammootty as Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja
Sarath Kumar as Edachena Kunkan
Padmapriya Janakiraman as Neeli
Kanika Subramaniam as Kaitheri Makkom
Suman as Pazhayamveedan Chandhu
Manoj K. Jayan as Thalakkal Chandhu
Thilakan as Kurumbranaadu Raja Veeravarma
Jagathy Sreekumar as Kanara Menon
Nedumudi Venu as Moopan
Linda Arsenio as Dora
Suresh Krishna as Kaitheri Ambu
Devan as Kannavathu Nambiar
Lalu Alex as Emman Nair
Captain Raju as Unni Mootha
Jagadeesh as Bhandari
Peter Handley Evans as Major James Gordon
Harry Key as Thomas Hervey Baber
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Music by Ilaiyaraaja
Cinematography Ramanath Shetty
Editing by A. Sreekar Prasad

Narrated by Mohanlal (Malayalam)

                    Kamal Haasan (Tamil)
                    Shahrukh Khan (Hindi)
       Pazhassi Raja movie is a historical subject.The movie is all about a King who belong to Kottayam royal family, revolt against the Britishers.A movie on the life of one of the greatest of the rulers of Kerala has been in the rounds for the last two decades. In fact, MT Vasudevan Nair, one of the master scriptwriters of all times, had been on this thinking from the days of his ‘Oru Vadakkan Veergatha’ which came out in 1989. Now after 18 years from this epoch making movie, ‘Pazhassi Raja’ is slowly but steadily shaping up under the directorial ship of ace director Hariharan,to become the biggest epic movie of our times.
Production
The movie which was in the making since May, last year is into its last session which will get completed with another 25 days of shoot. Most of the important scenes of the movie are shot with four cameras working simultaneously. Gokulam Gopalan is the producer of Pazhashi Raj. The total budget of the movie is about INR 27 crores,which makes it the biggest historical movie ever produced in the South Indian film industry and the highest budget Malayalam movie. The entire movie was filmed in Panavision. In the movie no computer graphics are used in the stunt scenes, inspite the actors including Mammootty and Sarath Kumar made the exciting action sequences which uses the techniques of ancient Kerala martial art Kalaripayattu.The movie also includes extreme war scenes. The sound of these war scenes where done as live mixing.Hariharan, MT Vasudevan Nair and Mammootty, are sure that they are in the making of and a film that will become a milestone in Malayalam cinema
THE TEAM
But the legends are legends, and history is never complete unless they are given the right place.Mammootty plays the pivotal role of Pazhassi Raja. The role will definitely be a challenge for him. Tamil actor Sarath Kumar will make his Malayalam debut in the movie as Pazhassi Raja's trusted commander-in-chief Dalapathy. He has allocated special dates for this film and is fully focused on completing it as soon as possible. Venu handles the camera. Music maestro Illayraja creates music for the songs penned by O.N.V. Kurup. The film shot in and around Thalasserry.The freedom movement has not been recorded properly. That is my inspiration for writing the script for this film on the heroism of Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja," Jnanpith award-winning writer and film director M T Vasudevan Nair told PTI. With a motley crowd of tribals, farmers and local people, Pazhassi Raja of Padinhare Kovilakam in Kottayam in North Malabar sprang an uprising against the mighty British, he said. "He was by then dethroned as King at that time and was not a Raja," Nair said.
"The Sepoy mutiny is considered the first organised revolt against British rule. Who knows that in the early 1800s a man fought the British, irked by the wrong revenue policy of the East India Company," said Hariharan, director of the film
SYNOPSIS
Pazhassi Raja’ popularly known as the Lion of Kerala isn’t well known outside Kerala, but he was one of our country’s first freedom fighters. He had to reckon with the armies of the Mysore rulers as well as the British. The British first used him against Tipu’s army and then reneged on their treaty. And more, the Raja was agitated by the unpopular revenue policy followed by the East India Company in Malabar .He then threatened to stop collecting taxes if the Company continued with this mode of revenue collection. Even before the much celebrated Sepoy Mutiny of 1857, Raja spear headed an attack against the British who made a futile attempt to capture the Raja in his own palace at Pazhassi in April 1796.
The British company then made proclamations which forbid people from supporting the Raja, threatening to confiscate the property of all who are supporting Pazhassi. In 1797 the Raja’s men launched attack on the security personnel stationed at Pazhassi, and in continuous battles that were fought over three days, Pazhassi’s men were able to overpower the British forces, using swords, spears, bows and arrows . With an army of thousands of Nairs , Pazhassi inflicted such defeat on the British that they were forced to retreat and negotiate.
Raja tried to continue his warfare with the help of aadivasas and his loyal Kurichiyar tribe. Using guerrilla tactics and informers, he kept the British on tenterhooks for longer than any other regional ruler. But on November 30 1805, the Raja was surrounded by Thomas Harvey Babar, a young British officer on charge of suppressing Pazhaassi and was shot dead in an operation on the banks of Mavila Thodu.Pazhassi Raja’ once again revolted against the occupants when the British decide to take over Wynad in 1799, after the fall of Sreerenga Patanam. This time the British had an upper hand as they controlled most of the south. They confiscated Raja’s properties and proclaimed a reward for capturing him. Raja who fled from the palace, took refuge in the jungles accompanied by his wife and immediate attendants.Raja tried to continue his warfare with the help of aadivasas and his loyal Kurichiyar tribe. Using guerrilla tactics and informers, he kept the British on tenterhooks for longer than any other regional ruler. But on November 30 1805, the Raja was surrounded by Thomas Harvey Babar, a young British officer on charge of suppressing Pazhaassi and was shot dead in an operation on the banks of Mavila Thodu.
 Mohanlal dubs for Pazhassi Raja
Mohanlal has dubbed a prologue for Mammootty’s Hariharan directed magnum opus Pazhassi Raja!
It will be Mohanlal who would introduce Pazhassi Raja to the audiences through a 45 second prologue.
Says one of the producers of the film Praveen: “ Mr Mohanlal went out of his way to accommodate us when we requested him to dub the prologue. His introductory voice over has made the film richer.”
Meanwhile the producers are gearing up for the biggest ever release of Pazhassi Raja, on October 2.
Added Praveen: “We are planning to release in nearly 700 screens in India in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi. In Malayalam alone we are targeting 250 screens worldwide.”
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Unnai Pol Oruvan Review

Banner: Raj Kamal Productions, UTV Motion Pictures

Production: Kamal Haasan, Ronnie Screwvala

Direction: Chakri

Star-casts: Mohan Lal, Kamal Haasan, Santhanabharathi, Anuja Iyer, Ganesh Venkatram and others

Music: Shruthi Haasan

KANTHASAMY- NOT UP TO THE EXPECTATIONS

Today Kanthasamy( 3 hours 12 minutes) Released and just it rocked the theatres.Trivanrum Athulya was absolutely filled with lot of fans on its opening day,opening show. Total tickets were sold out an i had to go BLACK fo its opening show.The power of Vikram fans in kerala was again proved here,Paper raining,huge claps and dancing in front of the screen etc etc... But what i feel is that it is just an average film. Second half,starting disapponted most of the viewers. I dont know what worth they have done the film for the last two years. Vikram has to think about this after this long break he is getting a movie at a below average level. The movie is techinically good in camera and location selection. There is some disappointment in the screenplay area. During first half there is stunning cordination but Something comes from here and there. The director have not concentrated on the screen play.Vikram, Prabhu, shreya, and all the characters done a good job.
ANY ONE CAN TRY IT ONCE BUT EXPECTED SOME MORE.........................
STORY LINE
Kandasamy opens with scenes showing ordinary people flocking to a Murugan temple which has become famous as all your wishes can be fulfilled at the temple. All those who submit their woes as petitions to Kandasamy (another name for Lord Muruga) on a piece of paper and tie it to a tree in the temple, their problems mainly financial are solved.Soon Kandasamy (Vikram) becomes a phenomenon, a caped crusader dressed as a rooster, takes up letters of ordinary folks from the petition tree, and in a Robin Hood way provides cash and succor. The local DIG of Police (Prabhu) suspects that there is something unnatural about it and starts investigating.
Meanwhile there is this brave and daring CBI officer Kandasamy (Vikram), who is on a mission to uncover black money and illegal wealth of rich and corrupt Indians stashed in foreign banks, which he believes is responsible for all the crime in our society. And our hero has the IQ of a genius, the strength of a bull and the speed of a cheetah.Soon he crosses swords with Pallur Paramajyoti Ponnusamy or PPP (Ashish Vidyarti), the man with a golden tooth and conducts a raid in his palatial bungalow and finds unaccounted cash and documents of various foreign deals worth over Rs 1000 crore! PPP is devastated after the raid and his only daughter Subbalakshmi (Shriya Saran) swears revenge and pretends to fall in love with the dashing IPS officer.
What is the connection between masked crusader Kandasamy and the CBI officer Kandasamy? Why is the CBI Joint Director Krishna Rao (Telugu actor Krishna) protecting Mr. Kandasamy? Can the villains- PPP, Rajmohan of RMG group, and Mexican Pitchumani (Alex) expose and bring Kandasamy to trial? Will the DIG succeed in proving that Kandasamy is no God? The underlining message in the film is, “Money (read black) is the root cause of all evil”.
Don’t ask the answers to all these questions, the idea is to have a chill out time. Watch the action which is fast paced even though slightly long , chew on your popcorn as the adrenaline goes pumping. The rooster Kandasamy introduction scene where he comes crashing through the dome of a police station, and plays around with the bad comic cop (Mansoor Ali Khan) is terrific.
But the highlight is Kandasamy dressed as a woman, a la Aishwarya Rai and teaching Charly and Mayilsamy a fitting lesson is hilarious. The verbal foreplay between the quarrelsome Kandasamy and Subbalakshmi is quite ticklish, and Kandasamy’s blindfolded action scenes in Mexico are stunning.Technically the film is chic with slick production values. The innovative camera angles and lighting of cinematographer NK Ekambaram makes the film visually stunning. He has given a different colour tone to the Mexico episode of the film.But it is slightly boring..Thotta Tharini’s set designs are fabulous, the luxury bedroom of the heroine and the interior of the plush bus used as villain’s hide out is fantastic. The VFX work of Movinstilz makes it picture perfect, the night effect scenes especially the fight scene in the corn field.Music of Devi Sri Prasad blends with the mood of the film. Two of the six songs, Excuse me Mr.Kandasamy… and Yen Peru Meenakumari have been well picturised and lavishly shot. There is grandeur and richness in every shot in the film, no wonder it took two years to complete. Susy Ganeshan who does a cameo in the film joins the big league of directors in Tamil for directing an adventurous film with an underlying message.
But the film indubitably belongs to Vikram and he rocks. He is mesmerizing and has given an extra dimension to the characters he plays in the film and steers it to the winning post. There are very few people in Indian cinema who can do the larger-than-life fantasy character as easily as Vikram.
Shriya sizzles throughout and carries the glamorous role with élan and the attitude. Prabhu fits the role of an investigative cop, while the villains are a bit clichéd. But moments with Vadivel‘s comedy track as Thengakadai Thenappan,What for I dont know..
In short, Kandasamy is a roller coaster ride of pure unadulterated masala. So go ahead, make your matinee.ANY ONE CAN TRY IT ONCE
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ARYANS & DRAVIDANS

Some people contend that there was a race called dravidans who were the aborigines of Indian Subcontinent (while some say they too migrated into India) and the aryans migrated towards India from central Asia pushing the dravidans to the South. There are very many variations of this story. But in many of these dravidans are supposed to be of black complexion, short, acquainted with urban culture, worship Lord shiva shakti (pashupati). The aryans in contrast (the real contrast things are put forward, why !!) white in complexion, well built, rural inhabitants and worship the nature. There were fights between dravidans and aryans in which aryans pushed down the dravidans living in the banks of river sindhu Southwards and settled in the Northern plains of India.
There are lots of problems with the above said visualizations. The latest findings on the Indus valley civilization show that it is actually Saraswati valley civilization and the river saraswati which was the lifeline of the people living in those areas dried up, which would have caused them to move out of that area to the more fertile East and South. Also if the epics like rAmAyanam are the victory of aryans over dravidans, how will one justify a black rAmA to be an aryan and a brahmin rAvaNa to be a dravidan (dravidans by the theory put forward did not have castes and only aryans had it) ! So is KrishNa the hero of the other epic is black ! Further Lord shiva is depicted in the flame like color who was worshiped by dravidans. The vEdas which were supposed to be written by aryans by this theory hails the God as pashupati, which is the name of the God of dravidans !!
Then what could have been the truth ? Both these words are found in the scriptures. Then who are they ? The word aarya is used as a respectable title than a word to indicate the race. If people call in English the kings and the royal family with respect as sir, could one say long time later in future that there was a race of "sirs" who ruled over the race called peasant race and other races ? And the word dravida is a term used to indicate the land, which is the southern part of the Indian subcontinent than any race. The word aryAvarta thus means the place where noble thoughts rose than the place of settlement of a race. (Obvious as here is where the pioneer university of nAlanda stood, this is the place where the Himalayan rivers flow throughout the year making peaceful places for the sages to stay - even today). So what appears is a complete misinterpretation of the Hindu scriptures. Whatever it is, this theory has been used in the past to divide and corrupt the minds of the people especially the Hindus and to make them feel faulty of the history of their religion while in reality they have to be proud of a real glorius ancient origin and history.
If the puranas which were compiled very many centuries ago when there was no controversies of Aryan or dravidan present, to be taken into account they describe that the Hindu discipline and the worship of Lord shiva, Lord viShNu and other devas were present throughout this globe in all the seven Continents (sapta dvIpAni). If this is the case then there is no question of which people introduced this Hinduism onto others as all were practicing the same. While in the other parts of the world the roots have got lost in a later period in bharata varSham (India) it stood strong in the spirit of the people.
But accoding to foreign version the separation of Indo-Aryans proper from the Iranians is commonly dated, on linguistic grounds, to roughly 1800 BCE.The Nuristani languages probably split in such early times, and are classified as either remote Indo-Aryan dialects or as an independent branch of Indo-Iranian. By the mid 2nd millennium BCE early Indo-Aryans had reached Assyria in the west (the Indo-Aryan superstrate in Mitanni) and the northern Punjab in the east (the Rigvedic tribes).
The spread of Indo-Aryan languages has been connected with the spread of the chariot in the first half of the 2nd millennium BCE. Some scholars trace the Indo-aryans (both Indo-Aryans and European aryans) back to the Andronovo culture (2nd millennium BCE). Other scholarshave argued that the Andronovo culture proper formed too late to be associated with the Indo-Aryans of India, and that no actual traces of the Andronovo culture (e.g. warrior burials or timber-frame materials) have been found in India and Southern countries like Sri Lanka and the Maldives
Archaeologist J.P. Mallory (1998) finds it "extraordinarily difficult to make a case for expansions from this northern region to northern India" and remarks that the proposed migration routes "only [get] the Indo-Iranian to Central Asia, but not as far as the seats of the Medes, Persians or Indo-Aryans" (Mallory 1998; Bryant 2001: 216). Therefore he prefers to derive the Indo-Aryans from the intermediate stage of the BMAC culture, in terms of a "Kulturkugel" model of expansion. Likewise, Asko Parpola (1988) connects the Indo-Aryans to the BMAC. But although horses were known to the Indo-Aryans, evidence for their presence in the form of horse bones is missing in the BMAC.Parpola (1988) has argued that the Dasas were the "carriers of the Bronze Age culture of Greater Iran" living in the BMAC and that the forts with circular walls destroyed by the Indo-Aryans were actually located in the BMAC. Parpola (1999) elaborates the model and has "Proto-Rigvedic" Indo-Aryans intrude the BMAC around 1700 BCE. He assumes early Indo-Aryan presence in the Late Harappan horizon from about 1900 BCE, and "Proto-Rigvedic" (Proto-Dardic) intrusion to the Punjab as corresponding to the Swat culture from about 1700 BCE.

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List of Indo-Aryan peoples
Historical
Angas
Gandharis
Gangaridai
Gupta
Kalingas
Kambojas
Kurus
Licchavis
Magadhis
Maurya
Nanda
Pala
Rigvedic tribes
Satavahanas
Shakya
Vanga
Varanasi

Aryan Rama Killing Dravidan Ravana?????????????

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Linguistics

Dialectical variation

Substrate influence

Material archaeology

Andronovo

Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC)

Indus Valley Civilization

Gandhara grave culture

Textual references

Mitanni

Rigveda

Rigvedic society as pastoral society

Rigvedic reference to migration

Rigvedic Rivers and Reference of Samudra

Iranian Avesta

Later Vedic and Hindu texts

Puranas

Vedic and Puranic genealogies

Physical anthropology

History and political background

Political debate and implications