Short version :
Take out Fahad Fazil from the equation and its just another big yawn. I call it another one of those typical Anthikad soaps, may be in a better, colorful pack this time !
Detailed version:
There was a time when Sathyan Anthikad was one of my favorite directors who delivers simple and fresh feel good movies. But with all due respect to the veteran, I felt his engine ran out of gas(a.k.a 'creativity') at some point around early 2000's. Our actor Salim kumar put it in a better way by comparing it with buses running in the same route ...
Because of all these I was reluctant to go to Anthikad movies lately, but this time after seeing the humorous 'Netavu' song and Fahad's guarantee I finally fell it to it. The movie started promisingly by depicting the life of a young ambitious leader pretty well and the bus seemed to travel in a different direction . The apolitical 'Sandesham' model view of director was quite evident but I can still live with that. As it went on, towards midway the shades of familiar route slowly started to show it signs. And by second half the movie begin to follow the predictable direction with those boring sentimental scenes, cliched farewell moments etc and I started my chain of yawns
There are certain predefined notions in our movies and when you don't have a lot of creative ideas, you tend to move towards safer side and stick to these rules. Like the case of so called 'interval punch' which is defined as a twist or a suspense just before the interval (may be to make sure audience return back to the movie after the break). There was not much hope for it with the way the story was going on. But hang on, here comes some totally unwanted scenes which were cooked up just to get that punch, which unfortunately miss the target. After interval you pretty much know what to expect and all I wanted was the movie to end some how.
You can argue that movie finally gives out a positive political message that politics should not be considered as a primary profession by politicians but rather should be a service. But for political tuition class alone, I would rather tune in to one of those FB groups where these ideas are discussed in more detail and in a more convincing way
(+) Fahad as always was exceptional and Amala paul was pretty good (except for those crying scenes which resembled more like Appukuttan's crying in 'In harihar nagar')
(+) Some hearty comedy in the first half
(-) Pretty much the complete second half and the predictable and boring ending
Verdict - Had a promising take off and a descent flight till interval. After that it was nothing but a gradual decline. It fulfills the promise of a safe family tour, but if you ask about the ride I can only sum it up as 'boring' !
Tail piece : Some of you might be wondering "who gives right to this prick to judge an experienced and proven director like 'Sathyan Anthikad'. Well the truth is that when I spent my hard earned money for these movies, along with those 2.5 hours, I also deserve this right to show my frustration .. fare enough ??
