Balyakalasakhi Malayalam Movie Review by Chandra Mohan

REVIEW : Follow The Cinema Company

Before getting into the review part, let me make it clear that i haven't read the novel Balyakalasakhi but I am very much familiar with the storyline. So I can't say whether the adaptation of the novel is perfect or whether the director has done justice to the novel.

Pramod Payannur directs this film, a movie based on the famous novel by Vaikkom Mohammed Basheer with the same title. This is the second instance where the novel is getting an adaptation to the silver screen. The first instance was way back in the late 1960's when director Sasikumar made it into a film that had Prem Nazir and Sheela donning the roles of Majeed and Suhara with Kottarakkara Sreedharan Nair playing an important role. The script and dialogues then were written by VMB himself.

Now coming to the latest adaptation where Majeed and Suhara (the protagonists who are in love since their childhood days), gets a rebirth with Mammooty and Isha Talwar appearing in central roles, it is not an easy task for a debutant director to adapt a classic novel.

I heard couple of bad reviews of the film while at the same time got some positive feedbacks too. So I approached the movie with my expectation level set to the very minimum.

The film is not a classic but definitely a good attempt by a debutant director. The sluggish pace and a confused narration takes away the shine and had these loose ends been fixed it would have been a different experience altogether.

The romantic angle between senior Majeed and Suhara gets little prominence with more focus given to their childhood days. I am not sure if the novel followed a similar pattern.

Mammooty excels in the role of Majeed's father while as Majeed it was an easy role for the actor but the portrayal was convincing. The character goes through different shades and colors and he was able to bring out the various emotion levels required at each stage. Isha Talwar has a very limited screen presence and the chemistry between the lead pair was missing and the reason is the development and narration of the romantic angle in a confusing manner with less intensity.

For me it was Mammooty as Majeed's father, Seema Biswas, Parambrata Chatterjee and Sasikumar the standout performers. Meena was just ok while Tanushree Ghosh was disappointing.

Couple of scenes were really touching like the scene where Majeed returns back and meeting his father, the scene where Majeed realising that he has lost one of his leg. Mammooty reserved his best performances in the film for these moments.

Another highlight of the film is music. Songs crooned by Raghavan Master and Shahabaz Aman were worth hearing for a second time. Equally good was Bijipal's background score while editing deserved a better treatment and it was poorly done.

Some brilliant performances, songs and background score are the main highlights in the film and for me overall it was not a bad experience watching Majeed and Suhara on screen. I am going with three on five.

Rating : 3 out of 5

AUTHOR DETAILS :

I am Chandra Mohan, a passionate movie buff. Connect with me through my review page

@

https://www.facebook.com/thecinemacompany2