Rasputin Malayalam Movie
The jokes in 'Rasputin' are rarely funny, and the attempts that it makes at pulling off some adult humour, are excruciating. Susheel (Vinay Fort), his cousin Radha (Sreenath Bhasi) and a neighbour Gopalan (Aju Varghese) have grown up together, and have finally landed in a metro where they work as software engineers. While Radha has evolved into a playboy of sorts, Susheel and Gopalan are still lying in wait for some pretty fish to bite their baits.
When you take one hard look at it, 'Rasputin' reveals itself as being bereft of a tale, and merely talks of two sexually frustrated youngsters who badly want to have some fun. In striking contrast, is a third one, who despite his petite looks seems to be having a ball, much to the chagrin of the other two.
It does strike us as a bit strange that these three young boys in a village school look upon none else than Rasputin, as a legend, since the Russian hero isn't that common a name in this part of the world.
For the most part, the film doesn't even have an iota of an idea as to what it wants to convey and focuses instead on men's briefs for instance, clearly because it has nothing else to tell. So we have one of these characters taking his time to decide on which colour brief he needs to wear for his exploit of the day. We also see him shopping for briefs later, with a salesman pushing brief after brief on his face, and later we have a detailed discussion on how multinational companies have usurped the local brief companies in the country.
The two women who walk in and out of the film - Smitha (Vandana Menon) who supposedly is a doctor and Ambili (Archana Gupta) who happens to be Susheel'c childhood crush - do not even let us know the kind of people that they actually are. The characterization is dreadfully weak, and the writing appallingly atrocious.
There are a few dialogues in the film that would make you wonder if cinema eventually needs to have a purpose. Apparently 'Rasputin' believes in no such thing, and as the end cards come up Susheel and a few girls in bikins get set for a desi version of 'Baywatch'. It's another matter altogether that by then, not many will have the patience left to sit through the sizzle.
It takes a long lecture from Susheel's dad (Joy Mathew) for the youngsters to see sense, and he even asks why they have turned out this way. Radha who has always believed in the use-and-discard strategy when it comes to women, turns over a new leaf, when a pregnant girl friend (Srinda Ashab) declares on his face that he is anything but a man!
Vinay Fort does a decent job of playing Susheel, while Sreenath Bhasi does spice up the role of Radha. Aju Varghese plays it to the galleries with his portrayal of Gopalan. Vandana Menon is remarkably impressive as Smitha, while Archana Gupta is quite convincing as Ambili. There is Shritha Sivadas as well in a cameo.
'Rasputin' is a no-show from the word 'go'. Certainly not my idea of weekend fun, this!
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