Guruvayur ambalanadayil - movie review

 I dont the remember the last time i saw a decent comedy movie in tamil. With the advent of mega serials and with their ever growing reach, well into those domains that were considered fit only for big screen viewing, the opportunity for comedy in movies have shrunk drastically. If you make a family subject, which offers good scope for humor, it is branded as mega serial and people feel they get more than their money's worth in tv itself for such stories and refuse their patronage. And you can hardly have laughter unless it is maniacal for the villain, amidst all those blood and gore that rule the mainstream movies. Amidst such trauma/drama comes this movie which has its own laugh out loud moments and some genuinely funny screenplay.

Basil Thomas, i was stunned to read that he was the director of Minnal Murali, looks like a kid just out of school and has so many box office wins under his belt. He plays the hero in the movie and has as much screen time as Prithviraj, the real selling point of the movie. The first twenty minutes sets up the movie for what is to follow and chaos and confusion rules the rest of the movie akin to crazy mohan comedies of the yore. Prithvi wants Basil to marry his sister and is his philospoher/guide/elder brotherish friend. In fact Basil spends more time with his would be BIL than the girl herself tells so much about their relationship. The primary reason for their relationship being, how Prithvi helped Basil out of his heart breaking love failure, it forms the knot for the rest of the story with his ex flame being the current wife of Prithvi. How come they are not aware of this very fact could be a gaping logical hole, which can be excused if it can guarantee so much fun moments. With Basil helping Prithvi reuniting with his estranged wife not knowing she is his ex lover and Prithvi going all out to sell Basil's case with his family as the best groom for his sister, the first half of first half is all syrupy lovey dewy affection between the two. Suddenly when Basil realizes that his about to be Anni being his ex flame, he tries his level best and with the help of his friends to stop the alliance and the marriage. How Prithvi thwarts all those attempts without knowing the reason and how the very same efforts comes back to bite him when he knows about the reason, all makes hilarious viewing. Especially the placement of the song "azhagiya laila" from Ullathai allithaa tamil movie is sheer mass. Whenever that song plays on screen the reaction of the characters involved is laugh riot. The climax scene at Guruvayoor temple is all such chaotic storyline can afford and how much ever illogical it may sound, you would be sold out on the movie by that time. I switched over from tamil to Malayalam half way through just to enjoy the scenes in original language. Even though i dont understand a bit of the language, the subtitles coupled with the performances on screen were a hoot. For a story revolving primarily around the anni character and the sister of Prithvi, the ladies hardly get any screen time which is more than matched by the performances of the hero duo. A real fun movie after a really long time.