When it comes to writing reviews, I have usually been moved
to do so by works that in turn moved me .There’s something about a good new
movie that makes you want to talk about it. But that is not why I am reviewing
Sathyan Anthikad’s latest directorial venture “Ennum Eppozhum”,in fact it is
just the opposite . Going by the mixed reviews the movie has been garnering so far,
I felt it imperative to clear the air from my part. The only way in which the
movie moved me was to make me want to make a move out of the cinema hall while
waiting for the ordeal to get over.
Spoiler alert from here
The movie has a wafer thin plot written by Ranjan Pramod
based on a story by actor Raveendran , or so the wiki page says . A lazy
reporter past his prime, professionally and personally, tries to get an
interview with a new-age, up and coming female advocate. Both the lead actors,
Mohan Lal and Manju Warrier, look the part quite effortlessly- delightfully in
the case of the heroine and woefully in the other case. Much to the viewer’s dismay,
both these talented actors have been reduced to playing themselves on screen.
Manju plays a socially responsible, hardworking and talented
advocate who is a divorcee and mother to a seven year old girl child. If you are
a fan of this talented actress and went to the movie just to catch her on
screen like I did, you wouldn’t be disappointed, as she lights up the movie
with her screen presence and gentle charisma. She is in her best shape and
looks inspiringly beautiful in her role as a successful single mother. The
credits end there as her role does not have much acting scope in terms of
character depth or variety since Adv.Deepa is just like any other modern woman.
Manju’s comeback in the dance field has been exploited to good length and even
overused what with her dancing to a full length song and then again
periodically ‘practising’ every now and then .These prolonging techniques had
best been avoided.
Mohan Lal plays the slothful Vineeth N Pillai whose only
reason for still having a reporter job is his late mother’s connections with
the magazine’s senior management. In a bid to oust him from his job, the new
kid on the block in the magazine’s owning fraternity gives him the job of
getting an exclusive interview with Adv .Deepa, who gains overnight fame
through her activist stand in protesting against potholed roads and getting
civic bodies to promise quick action. Including contemporary news items in the
story line is a staple in movies but this movie goes so far as to get the real
Mr.Kouchoussep Chittilappilly to offer the heroine 5 lakhs amount as reward for
her socially responsible stand which she turns down in turn . Comedy sequences
from Lalettan falls flat and the chemistry between him and his comic sidekick,
Gregory of Akkarakaazhchakal fame, does not have the desired impact. The scene
where Lalettan is asked by his friends over a few drinks about his still
unmarried status and his reply of not having found a woman with the qualities
of his mother, a line repeated ad nauseam in Malayalam movies, reeks of distasteful machismo. His supposedly touching
statement to the heroine as the only woman he has seen possessing his mother’s
virtues in the movie’s climax, fails to deliver the punch. It his high time
Lalettan became weight conscious and did something about his looks or stopped
making such frivolous statements to today’s heroines.
Music by Vidyasar and lyrics by Rafeeq Ahmed gets a good
mention from me, especially the song ‘Malarvaka kombathu’, rendered in the
enticing voices of P.Jayachandran and Rajalakshmy . Vijay Yesudas has sung another melody for
the movie which is worth a mention too. Cinematography is fresh and sits well
with the overall mood of the movie. Support roles done by Innocent, Lena and
Gregory are all the usual stuff displayed time and again and goes with the plot
line. Sathyan Anthikad, regretfully, has nothing new to offer and is no more
guaranteed to make good movies going by the string of his latest movie outings.
Overall the movie is a onetime watch, worth catching on TV
during the next festive season for this year’s Christmas if not for Onam; nothing
worth spending multiplex movie watching expenses over. Our take away from this
movie-going was the lovely caramel pop corn that we munched on ,the taste and rich aroma
of which still lingers fresh in memory . So let me wind up this review for now
and go find out where I can find some more caramel pop corn!
PS: The opinions stated here are personal and does not
reflect the general trend. I personally know people who found the movie “okay”
and even “enjoyable”.
