Best Actor review: "Mammotty pulls out yet another ace!!!"

December is one of those months which the film industry always looks forward to for cashing in on the holiday season coming up. Unofficially the release of big films begins from today with Mamukka starrer "Best Actor" being the first among many to follow in the subsequent weeks. Coming on the back of a pretty good year for Mammotty, will this directorial debut of photographer Martin Prakatt continue his purple patch??? The promos has been pretty promising & the music has been ruling the charts...hmm, lets check it out!!!

The story by Bipin Chandran & Martin Prakatt is interesting & keeps the audience engaged for sure. It basically tells the story of a school teacher, Mohan (Mammootty) who nurses his childhood dream of making it big on the silver screen. Inspite of repeated efforts, his dreams fails to acquire wings; but his wife, Savitri (Shruti Krishnan) & son,Unnikuttan (Master Vivas) stands by him. Finally an opportunity comes knocking in the form of a hit director Sreekumar (Sreenivasan), who happens to shoot a film in Mohan's school. Mohan is made to believe that he would be offered a role in the film, but it turned out to be a hoax. This prompts Mohan to make a last ditch effort to realise his dreams & he ends up going to Cochin to meet up with a friend who is making a movie. As expected he faces flax there as well, & he is asked to imbibe the character of a gangster by living among such people. Being true to his efforts, he ends up meeting with such a band of gangsters.So will Mohan realise his dream or will he get sucked into the gangster world ??? The answers for these questions forms the highlight of the movie.

Mamootty has come up with yet another spell bounding performance, he imparts such an innocence to the character that you end up loving the character. Just to cite an example, the scene in which he is told by Sreenivasan that he cant be offered any role is brilliant to say the least; the way he emotes his feelings has to be seen to be believed. Shruti Krishnan has done a decent job though she doesnt have much of screen space. As for other characters like Lal, Nedumudi Venu, Salim Kumar & Vinayakan as the gangsters keeps us entertained with their witty one liners.A host of guest appearances by noted directors like Lal Jose, Renjith, Blessy along with Sreenivasan makes it for an interesting watch.

As for other aspects of the movie, the music by Bijibal though ordinary is pretty hummable especially the track "Swapnam Oru Chak" by Arun Elat. Another aspect which really got my attention were the colourful posters which makes you feel like watching the movie. However, there are a few pitfalls as well....though the first half breezes through...the second half has certain sequences which seems to be too hollow giving it a dragging effect. The background score is below average & its absence at times is one of the main reasons for the above mentioned flaw.

Verdict: The movie has definitely got a decent story coupled with a good climax making it for an interesting family entertainer. It should be able to get the box office bells ringing...I dont feel it would be a super hit but its going to be well above average or hit as well. In short, I would suggest that you guys to definitely watch it!!!

Regards....Ben