Mollywood Times

A brutal 'Hate Letter to Cinema'. Like the director's previous film 'Mukundan Unni Associates', this film also carries unconventional storytelling. Mollywood Times explores the struggles of young aspiring filmmaker Vineeth Madhavan to achieve his dream. Soon he realises the harsh reality of the film industry. The fight of his self respect and honesty with the realities of the film industry is the key aspect of the film. This time also, the director shines in his way of storytelling and editing. The first half is so good. Superbly written and made his journey. His dream, struggle, failure, restart, everything was perfect. But unfortunately, for me, that first half overshadowed the second half. That doesn't mean the second half is bad. The second half felt more like a narration. The director did this way of storytelling in his previous film and succeeded also. Even the first half of this film also. But in the second half, the narration felt a little bit boring sometimes. Still it holds the film engaging. Like Vineeth Madhavan, his friend's life is also well written. It's political. Through that character, the director conveys the pain of how even successes achieved through hard work are interpreted as those of generosity. It's highly relatable. Editing is the other big positive of the film. Cuts deserve special appreciation. The music lifts every scene. A strong technical side is visible. Naslen did an outstanding performance. Now I understood why the director said, this film won't happen without Naslen. The performance speaks. Roshan Shanavas and Sangeeth Prathap are the other show stealers. Sharaf U Dheen, Jagadish, Malavika Manoj, and all others did their job well. Finally the captain, Abhinav Sundar Nayak. The only name made me to watch this film. The trust in him. One of the best filmmakers Malayalam cinema has now. Man just single handedly exposed how the film industry is and spoke the harsh reality and the dark truths. Waiting for his next; the final film of the trilogy. Overall I enjoyed the film. This is going to be positioned as one of the best Malayalam movies released this year. Not everyone's cup of tea. Not for every audience, every cinephile, but surely for the aspiring filmmakers.