A distraught-looking gentleman (Indrajith) is a suicide risk as he contemplates putting his head out in front of a speeding train, but his mission is thwarted by a quirky, audacious vagabond (Soubin Shahir) who isn’t impressed with the reasons behind the man taking such a drastic measure.
The beggar sarcastically exclaims and brushes off his sob-story with: ‘Why would you end your life for such a simple problem?’.
The viewer is likely to feel a similar sentiment after watching the Malayalam comedy Mohanlal, starring Manju Warrier. The conflict in this comedy is lame and is stretched to tedious lengths (the running time is over 180 minutes).
Directed by Sajid Yahiya, it’s a comic tale about a young woman Meenukutty (Warrier) and her obsessive love for the Malayalam matinee idol, Mohnalal. Her extreme celebrity worship nearly costs her and her husband Sethumadhavan, played by Indrajith, dearly.
Meenukutty, a sweet and gullible young lady, feels a cosmic connection with the actor as she was born on the same day that the actor made his cinematic debut with the thriller Manjil Virinja Pookkal.
But her idolatry isn’t of the sinister kind. There’s no writing his name with her own blood on her wall or stalking him on film sets — just frenzied adoration, like watching all his films on the first day of release, and whistling as he appears on the silver screen. It’s sweet and novel at first, but her crazy worshipping overstays its welcome.
Meenukutty expects her childhood sweetheart, whom she marries, to behave like how Mohanlal behaves in his blockbusters. It’s a ludicrous demand, but somehow Warrier makes it believable with her remarkable command over comedy.
Warrier and Indrajith display impeccable comic timing, but that isn’t sufficient to gloss over the loopholes in the overdrawn storyline. Characters and incidents are thrown into the mix at random and what you get is a series of smarmy fan-boy moments that place their beloved ‘Lalettan’ into a rarefied space.
But one of the redeeming aspects of this film is that it offers a peek into the fascinating world of fan associations or clubs that worship big stars — rampant in Kerala — and their dynamics. The scenes featuring Meenukutty and the Mohanlal fan association group is a bright spot in this limp film.
Warrier’s adorable act may remind you of legendary actress Urvashi and her hilarious blockbusters with actor Sreenivasan and Mohanlal, which brought alive the middle-class milieu and their daily struggles. But this new comedy falters when it comes to holding it all together.
While the first half is watchable, the second half gets melodramatic and you get the distinct feeling that director Yahiya is losing grip on his story. The blind worshipping of Mohanlal demonstrated in the film may also feel overdone as it’s carried out with little tact and finesse.
Varghese as a small-time crook isn’t particularly impressive. While Warrier’s role is more fleshed out, Indrajith’s helplessness as a husband married to a kooky wife isn’t explored fully.
Watch this only if you have a blind love for Manju Warrier and Indrajith and if you are willing to overlook a flawed fable.
Don’t miss it!
Mohanlal
Language: Malayalam
Cast: Manju Warrier and Indrajith
Stars: 2.5 out of 5
