1000 Malayalam Movie
When they said that '1000 - Oru Note Paranja Katha', would tell the story of a currency note, I should admit that I did find it a bit intriguing. But alarm bells start ringing when you are barely a few minutes into the film, and '1000 - Oru Note Paranja Katha', proves in no time that things aren't as they were meant to be!
Jikku Mon (Bharath) an autistic youngster is sent to the ATM by his dad (Mukesh) with the Pin number written on a 1000 rupee currency note. As luck would have it, the note gets blown away from Jikku Mon's hands, and soon disappears from view. The currency note, that has started a voyage of its own, starts telling us its story, as it moves from one hand to the next until it reaches the owner once again.
Perhaps, the idea that sparked off the plot might have been interesting, but on screen, it's nothing more than one hundred and thirty minutes of torment, that serves no purpose whatsoever. There is nothing much you can do except watch the note traverse from one momentary owner to the next, and stories continue to be told.
Of the stories, there are none that would manage to grab your interest. It lands on the shoulder of a woman before being thrown out of the car in which she travels. A gypsy girl takes it across to her mom (Kalaranjini) from whim it gets snatched by a nasty cop. The man passes it on to a henchman (Maqbool Salman) and orders him to kill his wife (Anju Aravind). However she manages to make him spare her life, and flees with the note in hand.
Later, the currency note is handed over to a man (Kumarakom Raghunath) who helps her out in the bus, who in turn offers it to a temple priest (Rakendu). The priest, with a hope to snatch a job stint at Sabarimala, wraps it up along with a few other bundles and hands it over to the minister (Santhosh Keezhattoor) in charge. Through the hands of his maid servant (Shanta Kumari) it reaches a hospital attender (Beyon Gemini) and his girl friend (Leema Babu) who is all set to board a bus to Karnataka.
I wouldn't let the huge array of characters befuddle your senses, and let me clearly state that very rarely does a film leave you aghast, as it does in the latter half of '1000 - Oru Note Paranja Katha', and I mean aghast in a real bad way. It's appalling when believability gets pulled both ways and the plot starts resembling a awfully written dramedy that threatens to transform into a monstrous sitcom any moment. If the film maker decides all on a sudden to bring in all these characters into the bus that is to set off for Karnataka, would you run for your life or hang on? I chose to do the latter, and suffered an hour more.
There are plenty of moments of real terrible acting around, and it's a pity to see an actor like Bharath strut around awkwardly, trying to pass off as a youngster with a disability, but with very little success. There are several other instances to be quoted as well, but they simply don't merit this space or time.
'1000 - Oru Note Paranja Katha', is one hell of a misadventure that should keep you away from the theatres for a while, if you happen to drop in for a dekko. Ruined beyond recognition by an implausible and frightful storyline, this is film making attempting to be at its worst.
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