Aamayum Muyalum Malayalam Movie
Who on earth would have imagined that Priyadarshan will have the gall to be inspired yet again by the 1998 Hollywood comedy 'Waking Ned' when he set out to make a Malayalam film? The last time Ned had stimulated the film maker in him was in 2006, when he sprung a surprise on Bollywood with a box office hit called 'Malamaal Weekly'.
So Ned Divine becomes Antony (Nandu) in 'Aamayum Muyalum', a drunkard villager who dies of shock with a smile on his lips, when he realizes that he was won a lottery of five crores. The ticket vendor Kashi (Nedumudi Venu) finds Antony in rigor mortis and in his struggle to get the lottery out of the dead man's clutch creates an impression on Nallavan (Innocent), the local milkman that he has murdered him. Kashi pacifies Nallavan and offers him half the prize money, but in their efforts to bury the body, the news spreads further and more people join in to claim their share of the fortune.
Thus it's unbelievable that the story of Ned Divine gets reworked yet again in Malayalam. It's even more astonishing that Priyan might actually believe that there is a sizeable film going population in his homeland that hasn't watched his Hindi film.
Priyan floods his screen with a plethora of characters and the cacophony that they raise in no time is deafening. And the film runs for a drudging one hundred and sixty minutes that is a torment by any extent. It remains that even if trimmed down to half its original length, 'Aamayum Muyalum' will still be a strenuous film that will challenge your tolerance every now and then.
To top it all, there is a romantic track that runs parallel to the key tale, which involves Nallavan's daughter Thamara (Pia Bjapai) and Kallu (Jayasurya). They do make a decent pair, but when they break into a song when the clock has run for two and a half long hours, you just wish they would run away somewhere and spare us the rest of the trouble.
As 'Aamayum Muyalum' heads towards the climax, the film maker brings in some slapstick comedy zealously hopeful of raking up some hilarity, but when individuals are switched and packed off in sacks, you feel for a moment that you have returned to the caves. Surely, cinema down here has grown much beyond that, and Priyan for one, should positively be aware of it.
The question the remains as to what it is that prompts a director like Priyadarshan to attempt a slipshod rehash as the one being discussed. Is there a tremendous dearth of storylines in Malayalam that an erstwhile top director chooses to return to a once successful formula that in itself was an adaptation?
This one is sure gonna be another downer in Jayasurya's career, and there have been quite a few in the last couple of months. It should be pointed out though that the actor has very little to do in the film. Pia Bajpai looks pretty as a picture, while Sukanya as the evil minded zamindarni is aptly cast. Innocent and Nedumudi Venu hog most of the screen time, while Nandu hams it up to the hilt in the couple of scenes that he gets to open his mouth.
'Aamayum Muyalum' is another Chirstmas cracker that has gone down the drain this year. I'd advise you to grab a DVD of 'Waking Ned' and have a fun time cuddled up before your television than waste almost three hours watching these bummer hare and tortoise tediously making it to the finishing line.
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