Writer: M. Sindhuraj
Cast: Kunchacko Boban, Asif Ali, Anushree
Language: Malayalam
Film revolves around two brothers- Michael Rajamma known as Rajamma and Vishnu Yohannan known as Yahoo. They were orphaned when they were very young with their only asset being an old bungalow which they cannot sell because of documentation problems. They grew up to be very lazy kind of individuals with their main source of income being through monetisation of their home and its property.
It was first day first show for me and the director of this film was previously assistant to director Lal Jose. Lal Jose is someone who straddles two generations of Malayalam cinema by having a pretty old school way of storytelling in terms of manipulating audience's emotions while being pretty innovative when it comes to visualization and technical qualities. I am not a big fan of his but he was a necessary filler for Malayalam cinema to transition from the 90s style to the so called new-generation style post 2010. Lal Jose picked up this film for distribution as well and there is a minimum guarantee when it comes to films distributed by LJ (Neram, Oru Vadakkan Selfie). That fact and the trailer being quite decent prompted me to take a risk with this film.
It will be an understatement if I describe the experience of watching this film as underwhelming. It is the kind of film that doesn't descend into a level that would openly invite boos from the audience but it doesn't also have any highs that would make it enjoyable even in parts. Kunchacko Boban and Asif Ali are not the kind of actors who can bring an element of comedy into the proceedings without adequate help from the script itself. It is quite a numbing watch as the humor doesn't land well at all and we are paraded with a series of un-interesting and half-baked characters and a parade of unnecessary songs. Trivandrum Lodge was a film which had a similar setting for the characters who were all connected by the home/lodge that they share with each other. The characters in it were interesting and humor was excellent even though the last act of that film was a severe let-down. This film also have a whole set of characters that share a living space but most of them are totally uninteresting. If the comedy doesn't work in what is essentially trying to be a comedy film, then you don't have anything else there to save the audience in terms of enjoying the experience. The basic story-line is really lame. Illegitimate daughter of a rich and powerful figure trying to get justice with the help of the main characters is just a tiresome trope of Malayalam cinema. I am sick and tired of it. You could have forgiven them if there was at-least some half decent comedy in it. The only fresh thing about the film was its ending, which was abrupt and not exactly what you expect. But by that time you are just itching to escape from this tiresome film.
To sum up, it is really a poor film. The only achievement of it is how thoroughly average it is throughout its running time. Normally you get films with some high points and some low points but end up overall as average. This one doesn't have any high-points or low-points. Just average throughout. It seems they have already managed to sell the television rights for this film, going by the opening credits, which should make sure that it breaks even at the least.
Rating: 1/5
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