Being relevant for a period of time in any field of profession is no mean task & hence when Ranjith Shankar's "Sunny" was announced as Jayasurya's 100th movie, there was a palpable sense of expectation & anticipation. Whenever the duo have collaborated, it has garnered appreciation from the audience & the trailer of their latest venture seemed to headed in that direction especially it seemed to be quite unlike what they had done in the past. So will this experimental treatment have people warming up to it???
Covid has wrecked havoc across the globe & the life of many NRIs was thrown into uncertainty by the pandemic of which Sunny (Jayasurya) was one among them. He had flown back from the Gulf & booked himself a suite for his mandatory week long quarantine at an upscale hotel. Slowly the story evolves & the audience is introduced to the fact that he was under immense personal & professional turmoil. This resulted in depression & Sunny chose to drown his sorrows in alcohol. With not even a soul to talk to in person, whether he manages to emerges from this crisis or not is the crux of the movie.
Ranjith's credentials as a director needs no introduction & over here as well, he needs to be applauded for conceiving a project that is not quite easy to pull off. In terms of the script which was Ranjith's creation as well, it does not parade itself as some pretentious intellectual mumbo jumbo. It showcases the life of a man who has been pushed on the edge for various reasons, some of which weren't borne out of his folly. So does the story manage to engage us? Well it surely captures our attention early on as we are introduced to his problems but after a certain point of time, it does not quite offer anything different that would keep us invested & culminates in a predictable manner. The movie surely scores brownie points on the technical side as Madhu Neelakandan's cinematography was impressive considering the challenge of shooting within a suite. Similarly, kudos to Shankar Sharma for his music which had a significant role to play.
Close to two decades have passed since Jayasurya made his debut in the industry & over this period of time, he has constantly improved himself to the point that he could be considered as one of the most reliable artists. The efforts that he takes to do justice to his roles is evident & comes across as one who doesn't mind experimentation. As Sunny, he deserves praise & the same also applies to the rest of the cast such as Innocent, Aju, Siddique, Shivada, Shritha, Mamta etc who through their voices conveyed their characters convincingly.
Verdict: Both Jayasurya & Ranjith deserves credit for striving to do something distinct & off beat. Even though, Sunny & the various characters were defined & did their parts aptly; I felt that the script didnt quite have the substance to maximize on their efforts. Anywaz at just over 90 mins, you can give it a try!!!
Rating: 2.25/5
Regards...Ben
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