Dhanayathra Malayalam Movie
It's been several hours since I had been through an ordeal called 'Dhanayatra', and my head continues to shake in disbelief. With a female protagonist named Vijila S Nair, here is a film that tries to cash in one of the biggest political scams that had hit the state in recent times, and very unsuccessfully at that.
The story does sound a bit similar despite the customary anticipatory bail that there is no similarity whatsoever to any person living or dead. Devraj (RIaz Khan) runs a finance enterprise that goes by the name M4U, and strikes a rapport with Vijila (Swetha Menon), and anganwadi teacher who is in dire financial straits.
So here is a story that you have definitely heard before, but which is ruined further with an amateurish script that goes hammer and tongs on your patient nerves. The ensuing result is that 'Dhanayatra' runs for a seemingly never ending one hundred and thirty seven minutes that are overly long and over wrought by any yardstick.
'Dhanayatra' does try to bring in some verve with those very vague references to the political scenario of the state, but there is little that can be done with the screenplay that appears unconvincing. It also has trouble getting to the climax and struts and swaggers along the way, making it little better than a badly written telefilm.
There are also the efforts to be suspenseful and when that doesn't happen, 'Dhanayatra' even tries to be titillating, with disastrous consequences. One could probably suggest that the film does try hard to point fingers at victimization, but with the final product on screen, only the hapless viewers remain victims.
'Dhanayatra' flies off the rails in no time, and before long it becomes apparent that nothing much could be done to bring the derailed film back on track. The rest of it hence is stuffed with simulated dialogues and banal sequences, that line up one after the other adding to the wreckage.
Riaz Khan works up his muscles, and yet his performance leaves a lot to be desired, while Swetha Menon does what she has done in similarly atrocious film that she had been a part of earlier. She puts up a confident feat, often paying no heed to the appalling script that looks determined to mess up things. There is also a comedy track led by Bijukuttan and Dharmajan that makes things worse.
Rajamani has scored the music for the film, and none of the songs in it are easy on the ears, and the background score remains equally unfortunate as well. In fact, none of the technical aspects of the film leave an impression either.
'Dhanayatra' is a disposable movie that barely entertains or enlightens. And its only Swetha Menon and her immensely credible act that prevents it from being a total washout.
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