Review: ‘Ladies and Gentleman’ will appeal to Mohan Lal fans

The perfect gentleman, as he calls himself, Chandra Bose (Mohan Lal) pines for his dead wife Achu (Meera Jasmine). He seeks refuge in – yes, we saw it coming – the bottle.

One day in an inebriated state, Chandrabose stumbles upon Sarath, (Krish J Sathar) a young IT professional who is on the verge of committing suicide. Bose saves him and from then on becomes his mentor, guiding him to face life head on.

He helps Sarath, who has lost his job, in re-building life and starting a software company. Joining Sarath in this new enterprise are his friends, Anu and Chinnu.

In no time the company becomes well known success makes Sarath conceited. His bond with his friends suffers and ultimately leads to the downfall of the company. Once again Chandra Bose bails him out.

With Malayalam director Siddique and actor Mohan Lal coming together after two decades for this film, naturally expectations were high. For those of us who remember the duo in Vietnam Colony, this story disappoints with a sagging screenplay.

This role is not new to Lal: he has played an alcoholic before, most recently in Ranjith’s Spirit. If you are a Lal fan, you will love Chandra Bose – his comic mannerisms and dialogues will keep you chuckling.

The chemistry between Meera Jasmine (with overdone make-up) and Lal as husband and wife is great but the story needed more conviction to have us believe that Bose is falling in love once again.

Padmapriya, who plays Sarath’s sister, an aspiring air hostess, delivers her role well. Mamta Mohandas fits into her character easily.

Siddique’s signature is seen in the humour and stealing the show was Kalabhavan Shajon as Bose’s Man Friday. He impressed with his flair for comedy.

Satish Kurup’s cinematography is brilliant too.

Ladies and Gentleman, is a mediocre film that will be lapped up by Lal fans.