Cast : Suresh Gopi, Lakshmi Gopalaswami, Manya, Jagadi Shreekumar, P. Sreekumar, Janardhanan, Irshad, Jayakrishnan, Sukumari
Producer : Sheni Ashok
Director : Harikumar
Music : M. Jayachandranc
Cinematography : Sanjeev Shankar
Art : Boban
Lyrics : Yusuf Ali Kechery
Screenplay
When national award winning directors like Harikumar of the Sukrutham fame plans new ventures, an average Malayalee always lookout for the films like that they witnessed in the eighties-the golden period of Malayalam.
But here in Paranju Theeratha Visheshangal, the director attempted for a relatively new theme, but the creative inputs, styles and pace of the movie just follow that of the film of the eighties. The film also show off the time in which it was shelved, a time when the hero Suresh Gopi was relatively less popular, the film was rather attempted without aiming for any freshness in narrative styles. As it hardly matches the viewing culture of today, the film is getting a very lukewarm response in theatres.
The film is based on a much popular short story Balikalam by E.V.Sreedharan. But when it was converted to the present filmi format, it lacks its grace of the original. The film delves into the lives of two legally separated people, Architect Rajeevan and bank employee Vijayalakshmi (Viji) who had lived a life of four years together. Due to some silly reasons and petty strains, they suddenly proceeded to divorce, but continue to be friends even after their legal separations and talks over phones daily. The court ruled at the time of divorce, that their only daughter Animol should be in Viji’s custody till she attains the age of 10 but Viji doesn’t object to Rajeevan visiting his daughter, even at school in her absence.
After three years of separation, both our protagonists find their life difficult, as they are forced to remarry by their relatives. Viji’s father Meledaththu Raghavan Nair and her brother Mohan try to persuade her to agree on a marriage with Ashok, a widower, who is settled in the U.S. At the same time, Rajeevan’s mother, his uncle and his colleague and well-wisher Samuel also try to persuade him to go in for a marriage with Anjana Menon, a junior engineer, who recently came in to work in the same firm of Rajeevan and Samuel. Anjana, who had some bitter experiences before, on a love relation, gradually starts weaving dreams about her marriage with Rajeevan.
Both Viji and Rajeevan call each other for their opinion on remarriages. And both approve each others new proposals. But something in them still causes constraints either in openly approving their new relations or in communicating their feelings freely. The film takes on a different plot to say the story of sensitive relations in Paranju Theeratha Visheshangal, which progresses into a rather predictable clichéd climax, making you remember many films of the eighties.
Suresh Gopi as Rajeevan and Lakshmi Gopalaswamy as Viji are extremely good in a little under played roles. In fact, this is the best of Lakshmi Gopalaswamy till date. Mannya as Anjana and Jagathy Sreekumar as Samuel make commendable performances. P. Sreekumar, Janardhanan, Irshad, Jayakrishnan and Sukumari are in their usual selves.
The other plus of the flick is its refreshingly new, basic plot of universal relevance, but everything from screenplay by Kaloor Dennis to sloppy paced direction by Harikumar adds to the disarray of events narrated. Utterly weak dialogues leave the viewer clutching his wrists through the movie. The film has three of the best tracks heard in recent times, set to music by M.Jayachandran in the lines of Yousafali Kecheri, but the visualizations of the songs are quite pathetic. Despite the good storyline and good characters, stuffing the screenplay with unnecessary repetitive scenes and interludes makes the film, an unsatisfactory experience.