Malayankunju: "Survival drama weaved in as a shot at redemption!!!"

Ever since Sajimon Prabhakar's "Malayankunju" was announced, the cast & crew that had assembled for this project expectedly raised expectations among the audience. The biggest news was obviously, the return of the 'Mozart of Madras' to Malayalam after a hiatus of three decades. Another equally interesting development was the decision of Fazil to bankroll the movie which was headlined by his son. Over the past few years, the veteran filmmaker had featured primarily in front of the camera & hence the decision to collaborate with Fahadh as a producer could be maybe a shot at redemption after the disastrous "Kaiyethum Doorathu". Incidentally, Saji also is trying to attempt the same objective through his character in what is presented as a survival drama.

The story takes place in the high range region where Anikuttan (Fahadh) stayed with his mother & earned his livelihood as an electronics repairer. He was a bigoted with an attitude that bordered on being apathetic & at times anti-social who looked down upon people who belonged to the lower caste. A bitter past had contributed to the irritating person that he became to the extent that the cry of a new born in his neighborhood irked him. But little did he realize that cry will turn out to be his sound of hope when everything crumbles around him. 

This is Sajimon's directorial debut venture & he has done a fine job with the script that was penned by Mahesh Narayanan. Though it is marketed as a survival drama (which obviously it is), I felt the first half of the movie that explores the character of the protagonist is what makes it engaging. He has his justifications for being apathetic & bigoted and how a natural calamity makes a change in his whole character is what forms the crux of this movie. However, the change that is brought about felt too hurried & didn't feel convincing which I believe is the shortcoming in the script rather than the performance or execution, both of which were impressive. On the technical side, ARR's BGM did impart the desired effect in many sequences (reminded me of his "127 hours"), but at times it felt like it dominated the scenes & even silence as such ought to have been used more. Kudos to the art department & Mahesh's visuals which brilliantly captured the struggles of the protagonist under the rubbles. 

Fahadh was brilliant as always & he just proved once again that he is indeed one of the finest performers in the country. Jayan Kurup (as Ani's mother), Deepu Navaikulam (as Suni) & Nilja Baby (as Shiny) deserves praise for their performance while the rest of the cast such as Indrans, Rajisha etc did their parts aptly.

Verdict: Until a few weeks back, this was marketed as a flick that would be released on the OTT platform. Anyway absolutely glad that they decided to release it in theatres as the sound design & visuals of the second half definitely needs to be experienced on the big screen. In short, do check it out!!!

Rating: 2.75/5

Regards...Ben