Latest news with #SophiaPaul
Pink Villa
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Pink Villa
Detective Ujjwalan OTT Release: When and where to watch Malayalam mystery comedy starring Dhyan Sreenivasan, Siju Wilson
Malayalam mystery comedy Detective Ujjwalan opened to mixed reviews at the box office and grossed moderately in terms of numbers. It has been a part of the Weekend Cinematic Universe helmed by producer Sophia Paul, who also led Minnal Murali. And now the movie has finally locked its official OTT streaming date. When and where to watch Detective Ujjwalan Detective Ujjwalan will begin streaming on Netflix starting July 11. The OTT giant confirmed the same with an official post on their X handle. However, it would only be available in its original Malayalam version. Sharing a poster of the film, they wrote 'Case endhaayalum Ujjwalan is always standing on business. Watch Detective Ujjwalan on Netflix, out 11 July in Malayalam.' Official trailer and plot of Detective Ujjwalan The premise of the movie is set against a village named Plaachikkaavu, where a local detective named Ujjwalan resides. Amid leading a mundane life, he once comes across as a somewhat ominous character who readily challenges his skills and intellect. What starts as a mere matter of competition turns into a deadly battle of wits. While the village itself is only known for minor crimes, the presence of this new character causes some unexpected and untoward turns, even in the lives of its residents. As a result, it leaves Ujjawalan with the task of determining whether he will successfully find the culprit. Its seeming connection with Minnal Murali also adds to the climax of the film. The film stars Dhyan Sreenivasan, Siju Wilson, Kottayam Nazeer, Seema G Nair, Ameen, Nihal Nizam, Nibraz Noushad, Shahubas, and Roni David Raj. It is written and directed by Indraneel Gopalakrishnan and Rahul G, and is produced by Sophia Paul under the banners of Phars Film and AP International.
Business Mayor
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Business Mayor
Change of script in God's own country, and she's liking It
That statement might confuse North Indian readers who have grown to admire Malayalam cinema's persistent exposes of patriarchy and have been asking why present-day Hindi cinema fails to replicate the thoughtfulness and acute observation powers of Uyare, Sara's, The Great Indian Kitchen, Ullozhukku, and similarly insightful contemporary Malayalam films. Bear with me. Feminichi Fathima is set in a Muslim home where the wife is burdened by her joyless, despotic, fanatical husband's diktats. Appuram deals with a non-conformist nuclear Hindu household that has broken away from an upper-caste extended family, which disapproves of a woman's decision to marry a man of her choice and considers menstruating women impure. Victoria's eponymous Christian heroine navigates her job at a beauty parlour with clients from varied socio-economic backgrounds, while at home, her father reacts violently to her inter-community romance. These are entertaining films that examine patriarchy with the depth and fearlessness Malayalam cinema is known for. This is the great irony of the Malayalam film industry: when it dives into gender-related issues, it does so better than any other film industry in the rest of India, and takes up subjects that most filmmakers elsewhere in the country either have not noticed, or are too afraid to touch. Yet – and this is a big 'yet' – the percentage of Malayalam films with female protagonists is abysmally small. The number of female directors is even smaller. In fact, the empathy pervading the best of Malayalam cinema tends to overshadow the sad reality that the worst of Malayalam cinema lionises masculinist toxicity as unabashedly as commercial cinema of all Indian languages. Film industries tend to be microcosms of the societies from which they emerge. The Malayalam film industry, thus, reflects the state in which it is based: Kerala, respected for decades for its consistently high literacy rate, progressive government-run social welfare programmes, laudable sex ratio, and other impressive statistics matching the most developed countries in the world, yet also a deeply patriarchal this land of contradictions, the pushback against patriarchy is as strong as patriarchy itself. Most significantly, the one-of-its-kind Women in Cinema Collective has been campaigning for equality in the Malayalam industry since 2017, while women of India's remaining film industries have largely been bullied into silence after the MeToo wave of 2018. The skewed gender ratio in Kerala's filmmaking business has slightly improved too, with the likes of Sophia Paul, Sandra Thomas, Rima Kallingal, writer-director Anjali Menon, and a handful of others emerging as producers in the past decade or so. The past five years have also witnessed a steady stream of noteworthy new female directors. They include Ratheena PT, who helmed the excellent Puzhu starring Mammootty and Parvathy Thiruvothu; Indhu VS, who made the poetic 19(1)(a) with Nithya Menen and Vijay Sethupathi; and Kunjila Mascillamani, whose Asanghadithar was the standout short in the anthology Freedom Fight, in addition to Indu Lakshmi and Sivaranjani. Malayalam cinema is still a long way from a day when women routinely headline Empuraan-sized extravaganzas. But it's clear that change, even if minimal, is afoot in God's Own Country.
