Shashiyum Shakundhalayum Malayalam Movie
A nostalgic approach to 'Sasiyum Sakunthalayum' is unwarranted even as it relates a tale of the late 70s. At a glance, the plot has potential vibes to take us back to an era when tutorial colleges ruled the roost. The competition among mushrooming parallel colleges of that period can generate oodles of tales. Here, the conflict lies in the love affair between two parallel college teachers, resulting in injuring the ego of the antagonists. Right from the outset, director Bichal Muhammed's sophomore, written and co-produced by R S Vimal, is on the back foot owing to its contrived scenes coupled with perfunctory placement of characters.
'Sasiyum Sakunthalayum' exudes a sort of austere emptiness in terms of scenes, costumes and premise. Artificiality meets its summit in the scenes where teachers are taking classes and tackling wayward students. And when these scenes are repeated, the movie itself exposes the vacuum it bears consistently.
The story of 'Sasiyum Sakunthalayum' is set in the late 70s in a remote village called Pooncholakkadavu in Palakkad. Saseendran alias Sasi (Shaheen Siddique) ekes out a living by taking tuition to school children. Once he gets an offer from Sudhakaran (Ashwin Kumar), who runs Harisree Tutorial College, to take English classes in his institution. Sudhakaran is facing a crisis as his rival college, Excellence Tutorial College owned by Sundara Panicker (Balaji Sharma), was able to bring about a good result in the SSLC examination.
Sasi has financial difficulties and he is happy about his new job. But he is harassed by usurer Paramu Asan (R S Vimal) for the money he had borrowed from him. Paramu is a treacherous man with greedy intentions in that village and he used to threaten people with dire consequences if they don't repay the money in time.
Sakunthala, played by Neha Salam, joins Harisree Tutorial College as a mathematics teacher. Now, Sakunthala develops a crush on Sasi but the latter forbids her at first. Meanwhile, Sudhakaran is disturbed by Sakunthala's relationship with Sasi because the former used to help her family. One day, Sasi flees from the village following an unfortunate incident at the parallel college and arrives in the Gulf. Sakunthala's mother Savithri (Sindhu Varma) scolds her for keeping in touch with Sasi, who belongs to a lower caste. Once Sasi returns to the village with specific plans and he surprises those who conspired against him.
Shaheen Siddique appears to be the best among the lot in performance and he has imbibed well the conflict of the hero. R S Vimal, who makes his debut as an actor, tries hard to portray the villain's mannerisms by contorting his mien, especially facial expressions. His features are striking in the initial scene only but the repetitive and trite presentation of the character adds more lukewarm moments.
The acting debut of Neha Salam, who is also one of the co-producers of the movie, hardly leaves any impression as a female protagonist. The cameo of Siddique as Kaliath Sekharan Nair is intriguing in the climax albeit the effect is ephemeral. The creative pursuit of R S Vimal, who scripted and helmed 'Ennu Ninte Moideen,' flounders wondrously and eventually, fails to conceive a coherent plot. The creative attempts of Bichal, a former associate of Vimal, are not yielding any impressive outcome either.
Let alone the story, this flick even struggles to meet the parameters while recreating a period of yore. It is epically tiring due to shoddy casting, plot and performances before eventually turning out to be a crude and lackluster creation.
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