Writer: Anjali Menon
Cast: Dulquer Salman, Thilakan, Nithya Menon
Language: Malayalam
An urban chef from a rich family is stuck in his grandfather's old restaurant 'Ustad Hotel' as his passport is confiscated by his businessman father when the son tries to leave India against his wishes. His father wants him to manage a five star hotel whereas he wants to work and settle in Europe where he did his studies. Film goes along all the predictable lines reminding one of the Malayalam saying:' Kala vaal pokkumbozhe ariyam'.
The film was a huge box office as well as critical success upon its release. I had previously tried to watch it some time back but stopped after the first half hour as it went along the cliched path. This time around I stuck with it the whole way through and have to say what comes after the first half hour is even worse. At least there was some freshness in how it was presented at the beginning (especially the story moving opening credits). It would have been a watchable film if it just went along the predictable feel good path with binary characters, but it decides to ramp it up further with the laughably bad and manipulative charity preaching that it does in its last act. It was a cringe-fest.
The songs were good and the different Muslim setting might have given it a veneer of being something different. It is anything but.
Rating: 1.5/5
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