Cinema: Gopalan Grand, Old Madras Road, Bangalore Status: 50% plus a few here and there Plot: The movie showcases certain events that occur in the lives of the four central characters, exactly what was conveyed by the posters and the trailer. It is not a thriller per se, but I am not going into any further details and spoil the fun for anyone who hasn't watched it yet. Of the four stories, Lalettan's and the girl's were the best of the lot. Though the girl's bit had a bit of melodrama and cinematic liberties attached to it, it does provide some very good moments. The child artists, both of them, were very good. Vennala Kishore does well in his brief onscreen stint. Gautami's storyline was great as long as Urvashi kept her company. Their take on the present day consumerism and never being completely satisfied with anything was hilarious and Urvashi easily outdid Gautami who was very artificial in many scenes. Then comes the weakest storyline, the college student love story. Just not well thought through. Halfbaked and underdeveloped, both of them. All in all, these two narratives really don't serve a purpose and I for one would have certainly preferred it more if the movie concentrated solely on Lalettan and the girl's narrative. Then of course, we come to the best part of this movie. The one and only Mohanlal. His character has been sketched out brilliantly and he delivers after a long time. Usually, when we say we like Mohanlal as a common man, the director or the scriptwriter just makes him a simpleton. For them common man is synonymous to mundu/lungi, chandanakuri, naatinpurathe nanma etc etc. Here we have a proper common man, a man who is selfish when the circumstances force him to be, yet has some good left in him. He is caring, yet he has this cunning side to him. The way he has portrayed it made my day. It has been a very long time since I have seen him going through such a wide range of emotions with consummate ease and he scores high be it the subtle flashes of concern regarding his promotion prospects or his histrionics while pleading emotionally with people. Thoroughly enjoyed this performance , hope he does more characters like this and hope he gets more roles like this rather than being at the extreme ends of being a simpleton or a demi god. The first half was superb for me, all four narratives worked and I did not find it a problem that the director has taken all the time in the world to build up the stories. The interval block does invoke genuine curiosity about what lies ahead. But post interval, the pace drops a bit with unwanted scenes and a song (good music though), and as I said, two of the four storylines just didn't serve a purpose. It is missing something and feels incomplete. And that is where the rating drops for me. 3/5.
