Chanthupottu (2005) : A Controversy

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

Jan 24, 2015

Mariyam Mukku Malayalam Movie Review

Noted scenarist James Albert turns director with Mariyam Mukku, a movie with an Anglo-Indian background that is set in a fictional coastal village of Mariyam Mukku. As a screenplay writer, James Albert is best remembered for his screenplay of class mates and he followed up that with couple of impressive works like Cycle and Ividam Swargamanu. But his last three scripts were a total washout and at a time when he is totally out of form, the man himself venture into a new area of direction with Fahadh Faasil playing the lead role.

Compared to the director's last few flicks as a script writer, this movie is far better than those but the promise showed in the first half is not sustained in the post intermission session. A glimse of a beautiful and feel good love story gets a backseat in the middle stages and that did not hold any good for the film.

Mariyam Mukku is the love story of Felix (Fahadh), a fisherman and Salomi (Sana Althaf). Felix who lost his parents at a very young age is brought up by Mariyan Aasaan (Manoj K Jayan). Felix meets his childhood friend Salomi but at a particular point he has to choose between his Aasaan and the people of Mariyam Mukku as they stand in his way to own Salomi. The events that unfold thereafter form the basic crux of this movie.

Its a confused script as the scenarist is caught midway through as to whether to proceed as a full length romantic film or add more drama to it. The latter option was chosen and thus that romantic track that was developing well looses its presence.

Direction from James Albert is not that bad and his screenplay had in it to deliver something good but it ended up as an average film that is visually good with all those beaches and sea backdrop beautifully captured by the cinematographer
who deserves credit for that. Renjan Abraham has done a decent work on the editing table while songs by Vidyasagar is not upto the standards set by the music director. Still it was refreshing to hear veteran singer Yesudas singing a song here.

Fahadh did a decent job as Felix. It was a neat effort from the Asin look alike Sana Althaf as Salomi who is also making her tinsel town debut. Manoj K Jayan as Mariyan Aasaan was able to make a good presence along with Joy Mathew, Irshad, Nandu, Sadiq and Neeraj Madhav. Prathap Pothan is also part of the film in a very brief role. Aju Varghese also appear in a pivotal role but somehow he was not able to make a big contribution. A lengthy list of other actors are also part of the supporting casts.

Overall, the film could have been a better one had the love story between Felix and Salomi been better handled and given more prominence than the events that unfolded later. Not a bad film but did not provide the required level of entertainment either. Impressed with his direction somewhat but not with the scripting completely and I am going with two and a half out of five for James Albert's directorial debut Mariyam Mukku.

Rating - 2.5 / 5

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