The World Cup is in the final stages of the robin league & our Men in Blue has been on a roll despite a middling middle order., thanks to our excellent bowling unit. Similarly, Tovino Thomas had also hit a purple patch with box office hits on the trot which is a result of his hard work, smart choice of movies & good fortune. In the past fortnight, two of his movies has hit the screens of which "And the Oscar Goes to" was checked out first. Since it is directed by Salim Ahamed, I had pretty high hopes about it as I have always liked his celluloid creations. So how well did Tovino blend into Salim's style of movie making???
Izhak Ebrahim (Tovino Thomas) is an aspiring film maker who had been trying for quite a while to make his mark in the film industry. After numerous failed attempts to find someone to fund his movie, he decided to take up the mantle of a producer as well. As expected, it was a tough ordeal but he manages to complete it & his efforts bore fruit when it was chosen as India's official entry for the Oscars. So will his movie achieve what Ashutosh & Aamir's "Lagaan" couldn't???
It's been quite a while since we have seen a Salim Ahamed movie with his last one being "Pathemari" in 2015. As in his previous ventures, he has adorned the hat of a director, producer & script writer yet again. With regard to the script, it's surely inspired from his own experiences as his debut movie "Adaminte Makan Abu" had won the National Award for the Best Film in 2011 & was also chosen as India's Oscar entry for that year. Salim tries to discuss quite a lot & I dont think he was as effective in conveying it in the first half though the second half was quite an eye opener as it gave us a glimpse about the influence of money & lobbying to get nominated. Kudos to his choice of actors as all of them have done a fantastic job. On the technical side, Madhu Ambat is a person who needs no introduction & he was brilliant as usual with his cinematography. Bijibal's music was soothing to the ears & Vijay Shankar has done a decent job in the editing dept.
When I first heard that Tovino was the protagonist in Salim's movie, I was excited to see as to how he would fare in a meaty role. He has done a fantastic job as the struggling director & I certainly believe that when it comes to expression, this is his best to date. There are quite a few scenes which are perfect examples for that such as the look on his face when a kid sells the CDs of the latest movies in the train, his anguish of being forced to give an interview even as he is famished, his despair on being forced to accept the buyer's offer after the latter backtracks on his original offer etc. The rest of the cast have all done justice to their role be it Anu Sithara (her chemistry with Tovino was impressive), Salim Kumar, Siddique, Nikki Rae Hallow, Srinivasan, Lal, Appani Sarath etc.
Verdict: Salim has once again given us that is both endearing as well as tugs at our hearts. There is definitely a freshness in the content in the latter half & gives us a fleeting view about the hardships of film makers. Tovino strikes gold yet again with a praiseworthy act & though it might not be a whooping money spinner, but it should still do well at the box office. I certainly liked the movie & I would certainly suggest all of you to check it out!!!
Rating: 3.25/5
Regards...Ben
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