During the time, I was in my hometown last week...the one thing which had caught my attention was that "Munnariyippu" was still being screened. It was definitely a welcome sign as there were a number of Onam releases apart from the fact that very few movies makes it past 2 weeks & also Mammookka's films hasn't been doing so great in the recent past. Anywaz this Onam season, Mammookka also had a release in the form of "Rajadhiraja" which is packaged as a typical mass masala. The tag line of the film is "The King is Back", well the question is whether he is actually back or will it goof up the good work done in "Munnariyippu"???
Shekharankutty (Mammookka) is a serene and amicable individual who made a living with a petrol pump & a modest hotel. His family consisted of his beautiful wife, Radha (Lakshmi Rai) & daughter, who meant the world to him. Life moved along harmoniously, until Radha's cousin Ayappan (Joju) turns up at their doorstep. Ayyapan's nature to get involved in all kind of tiffs, starts creating cracks in Shekharan's blissful abode & leads the latter to some unforeseen predicaments.So was it solely due to Ayyapan's follies or did Shekharan's past also got to do with the turn of events???
Mammookka is always known to have encouraged new talent & this time around, it's Ajai Vasudev's turn. The debutant must have been thrilled to have got the legend's date, but that seems to be the only thing he has done in this film. I fail to understand why he chose to go along with such a stereotyped script which we have already seen in different variants. I believe Udaykrishna-Siby K Thomas barely gave much thought to their creation as it was as predictable as the potholes in Kochi. To be fair on their part, the first half was fine with emphasis on Mammootty's family & Joju providing the humour element but the latter half was down right boring. As a matter of fact, it seemed like a toned down and modified version of "Baasha".
On the technical side, Shaji's visuals seemed average while Mahesh Narayanan ought to have done a much better job as the second half was too damn long. Gopi Sundar has done a decent job with the BGM but the music was pretty much mediocre except for "Midu Midukan".
This should have been nothing more than a cakewalk for a legend like Mammootty, so there's nothing much to be said about him. Joju rocked with his humour in the first half & made his presence felt alongside the legend. As for the rest of the cast, there isnt much to talk about as the Bollywood actors barely had much to do apart from flare their nostrils & get bashed up by Mammookka.
Verdict: It's made with the sole intention of raking in the moolah this Onam by satiating all the whims & fancy of the fans and from what I have seen it succeeds on that front. The film does work for me in the first half but post-interval it's pretty much like watching a Tamil/Telugu movie. In short, if you like Uday-Siby kind of mass movies give it a try!!!
Rating: 2/5
Regards...Ben
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