Pretham Malayalam Movie Review

The going was pretty nice with lots of fun and at the same time shredded with some mystery element of horror in Pretham directed by Renjith Sankar. But with an unconvincing, pretty weak and ordinary second half, the film could not sustain the interest and excitement of the pre-intermission portion till the end. The result is a disappointment to the film and at best Pretham can be categorised as anaverage flick for some but not for all.

Denny, Shibu and Priyan are college buddies and thick friends who are still maintaining their good old day relationship even after leaving from college. They buy a luxurious resort with a plan to expand this business to other parts of the world. Things were going well for the three until they notice strange behaviour and happenings at the resort. The priest of the local church seek the help of John Don Bosco who is a mentalist (a combination of a mind reader plus a hypnotist plus a magician). How John unravel the mystery surrounding the plot is what is Pretham all about.

I read through online media that Renjith Sankar got inspired through a screenplay he wrote for television serial Nizhalukal that was aired some time back. What has worked for the film is the humour part of the first one hour where the combination of Aju Varghese and Sharafudeen along with Dharmajan creating some nice, genuine and hilarious moments. But thereafter the twist and the revealing of the actual truth and reasons for the ghostly presence was very weak and lacked some fire in it to provide a fitting end.

The solace or the relief and the positive side of the film is the comedy angle that has worked out well. Screenplay has given more prominence to the humour part but failed to bring some substance into the plot. Normally for Mollywood audience, the concept of 'Yakshi' is the cliched form of female ghost. Renjith Sankar has tried here to break from that shackles to give a new form of ghostly presence which is a relief.

Aju Varghese, Sharafudeen and Govind Padmasoorya are the three friends and their chemistry filled with good dose of humour created some genuine laughs inside the theatre. The trio especially the first two have done their part very well that helped in forming a lighter mood for the film's first hour. Dharmajan through his own style added more masala into the comedy curry.

A very less number of characters are there in the screenplay thus limiting the number of supporting actors. Among them Hareesh Perady and Pearley Manne made their performance count. Devan, Vijay Babu and Sunil Sugatha makes cameo appearances.

Jayasurya who is also the co-producer of the film along with Renjith Sankar appear in the role of mentalist John Don Bosco. It was an easy role for the actor but nevertheless he did his part neatly bringing in some element of doubt in our minds about his intentions.

Cinematography is handled well and the movie with a running time of just two hours have been given a good treatment at the editing table. Background score was good and a notable work on the sound design side.

Director's efforts in attempting a new genre for himself is laudable but his story is a weak one that can last in our minds for only a very little time. To be precise, until the first half the horror comedy has worked well through the funny moments but thereafter the transition to the next level for a convincing ending didn't happen and back fired.

Rating - 2.5 / 5