Chanthupottu (2005) : A Controversy

                            Chanthupottu is a Malayalam movie directed by Lal Jose and released in 2005 . It tells the story of Radhakrishn...

Feb 21, 2014

Happy Journey Malayalam Movie Review

REVIEW : Follow The Cinema Company

We have yet another malayalam movie on cricket after the success of Abrid Shine's 1983. While 1983 is fresh and still running in theatres, Happy Journey has reached theatres and so now we have two movies running at the same time that has a sporty backdrop. So how the viewers would take it up is the big question.

Boban Samuel after the success of Janapriyan and Romans direct this film scripted by Arun Lal that has a cricket story. That's the only similarity with 1983 as Happy Journey travail through the emotions and pains of blind cricketers and Aaron our protagonist is one such person.

The film has a well executed first half that has sentiments and humour working and jelling well with the story but the narration loose its grip in the second half. But again some good performances particularly Jayasurya balance that negative factor of the post intermission session.

On a journey to Chennai, Aaron, a blind cricketer meets Siya (Aparna Gopinath) and narrate his story from childhood in a flashback mode. Aaron was a budding cricketer who was selected for the Under15 team but fate has something else for him as a road accident makes him blind and thus he can't represent the team.

Aaron with a positive attitude grows up who doesn't lose hope and now the next step on his door step is cricket for the blind. Here again he has more challenges and the focus of the movie is to show us his journey and also the blind team's journey of representing the team at the highest level and the various challenges they had to face on their way in representing the country.

On the direction side, Boban Samuel has done a decent job especially the first half of the film. A better second half execution could have made the film a better enjoying experience.

Coming to the acting side, Jayasurya as Aaron is the life of the film with a simple acting style without going overboard and he literally fills the gap where the movie lags and falls. Lal as the blind cricket team's coach was convincing in his role while Balu Varghese (Honey Bee fame) as Aaron's best buddy evoked laughter with his Kochi style accent. Lena as Aaron's mother was also able to make a mark with her role, a brief one but good one. The two leading ladies in the film Aparna Gopinath and Srindha Ashab didn't have a major screen presence. Lalu Alex appeared in a supporting role that was also not a character having any big impact in the film.

On to the technical side, the stand out ones are Mahesh Raj's cinematography and Gopi Sundar's music and background score.

Overall, Happy Journey is not a bad attempt but with a better second half, the journey would have been more enjoyable. I am giving two and a half for the movie and an extra qusrter for the performance of Jayasurya who injects life and makes the moments livelier. So my final rating is 2.75 out of 5.

AUTHOR DETAILS :

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

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