Ellam Sheriyakum review: "Screenplay was far from alright!!!"

Whenever we talk about light hearted political satire, one of the movies that comes to mind is Jibu Jacob's "Vellimoonga" & hence when the trailer of "Ellam Sheriyakum" hit the screens, there was a palpable sense of expectation. However, this time around he decided to indulge in an emotional drama that dealt with politics and the impact it had on family relations. The title reminds us of the tagline coined by Maitri Advertising Works for the LDF's successful campaign in 2016. So will it be equally successful for Jibu & his team???

K V Chacko (Siddique) is the party president & most powerful leader in the ruling UPF party. Even as the public & party members respected and feared him, all was far from well at his home. A few years back, his daughter, Ancy (Rajisha Vijayan) had eloped with Vineeth (Asif Ali), an active youth wing activist of the opposition & since then Chacko had cut all ties with them. However, things take a turn when he was hospitalized as it paved the path for a possible reconciliation between the father & daughter. So what kind of an impact will it have on the political climate???

With his latest venture, he takes up the topic of politics yet again but the treatment of the subject was quite unlike "Vellimoonga". The script was penned by Sharis Mohammed & the primary issue with it was the urge to include every political issue that has happened in the recent past. Even after touching upon them, none of them were developed & invariably all of them had a hasty conclusion including the one that had Balu Varghese which was supposed to be a major incident. Seemed like they had no clue as to what kind of an image they wanted to give Asif's character with at one time he is that boisterous party worker & at other times, a rather meek one.

Incidentally this was Ousepechan's 200th movie as a music director & some of the tracks were fine, though the one that stood out was his performance as an actor which was ok.. Time & again, Siddique has proved that he is one the finest artists that we have in the industry & over here as well, it was no different. Both Asif & Rajisha were average at best while Indrans (didnt have a single dialogue) Balu & Johny Antony did their parts aptly.

Verdict: There is no doubt that the movie didnt match expectations considering it was Jibu's movie & also the return of Asif & Rajish as a pair that worked like a charm in "Anuraga Karikkin Vellam". In short, more attention was required on the screenplay as it tried to stuff with as much as incidents as possible. In the process, it lacked focus & the core topic wasnt treated in a much more impactful manner!!!

Rating: 2.25/5

Regards...Ben