Notebook (2006 film)

Notebook Malayalam is a 2006 Malayalam teen film directed by Rosshan Andrrews and written by Bobby Sanjay. It is about three students at a boarding school and how they face up to challenges in their lives. The film dealt with the subject of teenage pregnancy. The film was praised for handling a rare and relevant subject, but the overall critical and boxoffice responses were mixed.

The filming was primarily held at Lawrence School, Lovedale, Ooty. The director Roshan Andrews says Although it cost a fortune to shoot there, it turned out to be perfect. I had visited many schools in Kerala, but couldnt find what I wanted. The other filming locations were the Medical College Ground and the Indian Institute of Management in Kozhikode. The casting of the film was done through open calls. According to the director, the cast was selected from 5000 applicants. The film was produced by Grihalakshmi Films, a production house known for family dramas. The budget of the film was Rs. 18million.The film was released to an enthusiastic trade because the film was the director Roshan Andrews second film after the 2005 blockbuster Udayananu Tharam. However the film opened to mixed response from the critics. Though the reviewer complemented Andrews for taking up a taboo subject and casting newcomers, he found the film unimpressive as a whole, and gave the verdict as Hohum, just average. Andrews later said that the review came as a rude shock to him and he could not sleep for days. He went on to defend the film and stated that it is close to my heart and its my baby. The Varnachitram.com review was generally positive, calling it an interesting movie. However the reviewer felt that it takes the whole of the first half to reach the first plot point. He goes on to state that the line in the story would have read Boy and Girl fall in love, but stretching it to the entire first half was, lets say a stretch. The reviewer lauded the direction and screenplay when the major theme of the film is dealt with. He also credited the director for extracting great performances out of newcomers. The OneIndia.com review, though at first comments that there are times when you might feel as if the director is very obsessed with periods and pregnancy than the story itself, later adds that the films real theme seems to be something very relevant in todays changing t

Source: Wikipedia