The shooting of charming beauty Charmi's Mangala, directed by Osho Tulasiram, maker of heroine-oriented blockbuster Mantra, and produced under the banner of Mantra Entertainment, commenced at Annapoorna Studios, Hyderabad with producer Bellamkonda Suresh clapping the muhurat shot on Charmi. Sairam Shankar switched on the camera, while Sukumar did the formal first shot direction. I knew Tulasi Ram from the time he was an assistant director. I never thought that Mantra would be a big hit and when I attended the Mantra's opening shot, all the cast and crew appeared in a depressed mood. Later, the movie proved to be a trendsetter. I wish the same for Mangala, Sukumar said. Charmi and Tulasi Ram spoke during the occasion. Music is by Vishwa; cinematography is by Sivendra. Story and screenplay are by the director himself. The cast includes Pradeep Rawat, Yuvaraj, Chitram Seenu, Subash and others.

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After a series of flop movies like Goal (2007) and Minnaminnikoottam (2008), veteran Malayalam director Kamal is back with Dileep-Charmi starrer Aagathan, which finally brings the director back on right track. Aagathan, produced by Mathew Joseph and Rafi Methar under the banner of Via Media Entertainment, has turned out to be a good entertainer for both family and youth audiences, marking the return of actress Charmi to Malayalam, after her rather unsuccessful stint in Vinayan's Kattuchembakam, and the debut of Tamil actor Sathyaraj.

Aagathan begins in a flashback mode in Kashmir where a ten year old boy Goutham loses his family in a terrorist attack. Gautham (Dileep) is now grownup and the CEO of a software company in Bangalore. On his journey to Bangalore, he meets a management student Shreya (Charmi) in the bus and strikes up a pleasant conversation with her.

Though she hates him initially, she soon falls in love with him. She takes him to their house to meet her parents Retd. Gen. Hardeendra Varma (Sathyaraj) and Malathi Thampuratti (Zareena Wahab). Everyone in the family is happy with Gautham and agrees to his marriage with Shreya. But soon, we see that Gautham has done it all deliberately to seek revenge! "Why and how" forms the rest of the film.

The first half of the film is mostly about how Gautham and Shreya fall in love. Things actually begin to happen during the second half and it is exactly when the script start losing its grip. The climax of the film has been messed up and the storyline generally moves on highly predictable lines.

Dileep has trimmed his fat and is portraying a serious character and hence the comedy component is missing. Thanks to the director, no character is added just to create comedy. Charmi looks pretty and cute, but has nothing much to do in the second half. Sathyaraj stands as the epitome of an army officer. His posture and portrayal of character is par excellence. His delivery of dialogue in climax is incomparable. The rest of the cast including Lal, Biju Menon, Innocent, Zareena Wahab and Shilpa Bala have done their parts quite well.

Cinematography by Ajayan Vincent and Ouseppachan's music are the major highlights of tge film. The film looks colourful, fresh and the locations are breathtakingly beautiful. All in all, Aagathan is entertaining enough to be worth watching.

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