Swantham Bharya Zindabad Malayalam Movie
There are some films that take off on a decent note and even show some promise of being a surprise winner initially. And then something atrocious happens that forces it to take a nosedive and all is lost for ever.
This dreadful event in Swantham Bharya Zindabad occurs when Vettur Sivankutty (Guinness Pakru) gets married. The film till then has been having a smooth run, and a quite surprising one at that, narrating the story of a Communist who is barely two and a half feet tall.
Sivankutty has dedicated his whole life to the Communist party and its principles and has no intention of marriage. Not until the Party himself asks him to, since it needs a lady candidate for the upcoming elections. He believes that the girl who arrives in his life, Meenakshi (Sruthilekshmi) is an admirer of Lenin and Marx as well. Little does he realise that his life is all set to go for a toss, the moment his bride arrives.
The toss theory holds true for the film as well. Because, Sivankutty is an adorable character who does manage to strike a chord with the viewer. He has the best lines in the film as well, and as the local politician who is a bit too much concerned about the environmental and other social issues he makes the first forty five minutes of the film enjoyable.
The term bourgeois generates much laughter in the film, especially when Sivankutty tries to wage a revolt among his own dad's farm hands. His excessive concern for the fingerlings in the village pond evokes much amusement as well. In fact, one would never be able to forget the pesticide man who waits for an opportunity when Sivankutty isn't around, to peacefully wash his gear in the pond.
Sivankutty has an excellent foil in Uthaman (Harisree Ashokan), his brother-in-law, who is a member of the right wing party, and together they are a riot. However, with the arrival of Meenakshi, and a film unit led by Superstar Pavan Kumar (Mukesh) in the village, the film degenerates into the mundane, from where it never inches out.
Meenakshi is a character that has been dropped straight into a glass of cliché glue that sticks all over her. And with Pavan Kumar hovering around, the rest of the proceedings turn out to be quite dull. The writing then proceeds from the unimaginative to the improbable kind and the focus of the film gradually shifts away from its small protagonist.
The climax is even more disappointing. Fifteen minutes before the credits finally roll up, the film grinds to a halt. The inevitable happens, and then it slowly splutters up a start again and goes on for another quarter of an hour. Unfortunately, it is never able to deliver the final denouement with conviction.
Pakru is delightful as the tiniest Communist leader ever, and could have carried the entire film on his small shoulders had the writers not taken a deviation. Sruthilekshmi goes overboard at times, and Mukesh is strictly okay in a non-eventful role.
Swantham Bharya Zindabad had everything going for it with an amusing story backdrop. However, the detour that the makers take in the midst of the film make things go wrong; and terribly wrong at that.
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