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Thenkashipattinam |
Fast Facts
The story? It has a strong stage drama feel. We wonder what would have happened had Vivek and the songs not spun their magic on the film and rescued it from disaster. It's hard to digest. Napoleon and Sharath Kumar are extremely good friends. Both had made it big in their lives through sheer hard work. There's the sister too (played by Ashwathi). Trouble in paradise starts when they decide to offer refuge to Devayani who had been put to shame due to them. Napoleon nurtures an illusion that Devayani is in love with him. To escape his advances, she declares to him that she is in love with Sarath Kumar. But, Sharath Kumar is in love with the daughter of their sworn enemy (played by Samyuktha Verma and P Vasu respectively). The friends had long ago decided that they would marry only if the other person approves of the spouse-to-be. This leads to a mix-up in the pairs. So, Napoleon assumes that Devayani is going to be Sarath Kumar's spouse and he falls in love with Samyuktha Verma who had actually come to him to seek his approval to marry Sarath Kumar. The scenes and the dialogues only add to his confusion. It gets so worse that at a stage, the friends end up quarreling with each other. And, how does it all end? As usual, on a good note. 
Makes one wonder how a Malayalam film could be made with a stage-play like
story of this kind. Confusions do happen. Once in a while. But, then these
are four people (Napoleon, Sarath Kumar, Devayani and Samyuktha Verma) who
live in the same house for months together. How long would it take to
resolve these confusions? If this was not enough, there is a scene in
which the characters talk about the others second person pronouns. The
scene is the epitome of theatre-ness. God!Vivek enters the picture as the person who is going to marry Ashwathi. There is a long drawn out scene in which he impersonates a cow. We wonder how he manages to make us laugh throughout the scene. Its through scenes like these that director Rafi had cleverly managed to cover up the lack of story. That's his biggest achievement in this film. Sarath has a very realistic role in this film. But, Napoleon? He has had a field day. He plays a character that is a mixture of comedy, heartbreak and anger. Each time he ends up with a heartbreak, the story takes another beautiful turn. The more you see Samyuktha Verma, the more you tend to notice her remarkable good looks. Devayani hasn't changed a bit since her 'Sooryavamsham' days. What's the secret behind that, Madam? P.Vasu is an extremely pitiable villain. In the climax, when he is unable to fulfill his vow, he stands like a lost lamb in front of Napoleon. Suresh Peters has composed some good melodious songs. The words are audible. But, he has done a terrible job with re-recording. Where on earth did he get those pathetic background scores? One couldn't hear such disgusting scores anywhere else. The film is a good entertainer till it hits the climax. But, once Sarath Kumar and Napoleon clash with each other, the audience takes a tiny nap. Napoleon didn't have to display his anger so intensely. The eardrums tear up. Till the very end, Devayani worships Sarath Kumar as her husband. But the moment the conflicts resolve peacefully, she suddenly falls in love with Napoleon. What kind of morality is that? We empathize when Napoleon's love fails each time. We enjoy the comedy feast that Vivek serves us. We lose ourselves in the melodious songs. There's nothing else that this stage play like film offers us.
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