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Totally Filmi Posts

5 Favourite Films of the ’50s Blogathon: Indian Edition

This post first appeared on Totally Filmi on May 16, 2019. I haven’t participated in a blogathon in a while, but when I saw that there was one dedicated to celebrating National Classic Movie Day, I really wanted to dust off the blog and share something.  The idea is to…

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Kalippaattakkaaran (“Toymaker”/ dir. Sajas Rahman, Shinos Rahman, 2015)

This post first appeared on Totally Filmi on July 1, 2019. After the death of her mother, Anna leaves with her father for Madras, leaving behind Seba – before she leaves, she tells Seba he must continue to make toys for her in all colours. As an adult, Seba (Noel…

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Pappan Priyappetta Pappan (“Pappan, Dear Pappan”/dir. Sathyan Anthikad, 1986)

This post first appeared on Totally Filmi on July 31, 2019 Pappan (Rahman) seems to have it all:  his singing career is taking off, and he’s about to be married to Sarina (Lissy).  But Pappan’s career comes at a cost to Umesh (Jose), another singer whose popularity is waning as…

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The Films of Lijo Jose Pellissary: an Overview (Part One)

This post first appeared on Totally Filmi on September 4, 2019. Fans of director Lijo Jose Pellissery (LJP) were delighted to finally see one of his films turn up at the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) – and a recent article in the Toronto Star devoted to “buzz picks” for this…

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The Films of Lijo Jose Pellissery: An Overview (Part Two)

This post first appeared on Totally Filmi on September 7, 2019. The first part of this overview of Lijo Jose Pellissery (LJP)’s films focussed on the director’s earlier work — in this installment, I look at LJP’s three most recent films, starting with the very strange (and sometimes quite wonderful) Double…

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IttyMaani: Made in China (dir. Jibi Joju, 2019)

This post first appeared on Totally Filmi on October 27, 2019. Ittymaani: Made in China gets its title from the fact that its protagonist (Mohanlal) is named Ittymaani and he was, well, literally “made in China”, born there to Ittymathan (also Mohanlal) and his wife Theyyamma (Madhuri Braganza as young Theyyamma,…

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In Ghost House Inn (dir. Lal, 2010)

This post first appeared on Totally Filmi on October 31, 2019. We first met the four friends Mahadevan (Mukesh), Govindankutty (Siddique), Appukuttan (Jagadish) and Thomaskutty (Ashokan) in the 1990 film In Harihar Nagar, a comedy thriller from the writing/directing duo Siddique-Lal which became a massive hit and which remains a cult…

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