5 Sundarikal Review

Announced  as 'an anthology of love', and  coming from a camaraderie of directors whose bonding enters almost two decades, `5 Sundarikal' packed with five interesting stories of about 30 minutes each is an engaging hodgepodge of thought-provoking  emotions, for the viewers. Though all in the pack are not of equal excellence , `the anthology stands out for its overall finesse in story telling and technical standards.

The movie starts of with `Sethulakshmi', directed by debutante director Shyju Khalid  based on a short story by M Mukundan and the screen writing by Muneer Ali and Shyam Pushkaran. The movie is indeed a shocking take about two innocent school kids, whose life changes following their interest in taking a photograph of theirs. Shyju handles the theme with amazing maturity and his kids  Anikha and Chethan perfectly grabs your attention  with their spotless faces and smiles. With all respect to the master writer, it needs to be noted that Shyju has been able to skillfully translate the pain induced on the reader by the original transcript many fold, while  he attempted it for the big screen.

Even while we sit shaken by  "Sethulekshmy,' arrives `ISha' a much clever and lighter   short by Sameer  Thahir  scripted by Sidharth Bharathan . With plenty of twists, this film talks about two strangers (Nivin Pauly and Isha Sharvani) who falls for each other all of a sudden, amidst their unexpected encounter on a New year eve. Isha is excellent in her Mollywood debut with her dancing and acrobatic skills, though the final twists may not be the very bests you have seen.

The first half ends with Aashiq Abu's  Gouri. Scripted by Abhilash Kumar, the movie is indeed a downer with middling sequences. Gowry tells about the surging love of a  married couple (Kavya Madhavan and Biju Menon), who plans to surprise each other  on their wedding anniversary.  The finale of the plot seems pretty similar to some Bollywood RGV films.

The second half of `5 Sundarikal' is a treat for connoisseurs of good cinema. Amal Neerad comes out of his traditional mould and style with a 'kullante Bharya' featuring Dulqar Salman  as the narrator, about the hypocritical men around him in the apartment complex. The movie scripted by  Unni R  based on a Chinese fable works on many levels and easily connects with every kind of audience with its hilarity of observations. The movie ends up as an extraordinary one with its emotional finale.

Following it with a decent tale is Anwar Rasheed with his Aami, based on Hashir Muhammed's script. It talks about a real estate broker (Fahad Faasil) who travels all the way from Kozhikod to Kochy to settle his deals and about  his wife who calls him on phone all through the night with tricky puzzles to keep him awake. Apart from the finesse of the production what really impress you is Fahad fazzil, who once again showcase what a fine actor he is .This is the character (together with Baby Anikaha of the first tale) who walks back home with you when you are out of the theaters.

The movie vitrines the finesse of women in different situations and how she makes a unfathomable impressions on the lives of men with whom she is . The only problem with the movie is that there are no real lead lines to hold the movie together as they are set in different backdrops.  Apart from that in `Isha', every other movie has the lead women as a subdued and homely face , whose caring face and love is brought to fore than anything else. And quite interestingly, most of these movies  are neither heroine centric and tell a tale  from the angle of men.

The movie is indeed a rollar coaster ride with the best happenings in the first and last hours . The other highlights of the  movie seems to be top notch technical sides with impressive camera works and fine music in almost all the short films.

One the whole, this 5 sundharikal is a remarkable motion picture which  talks of love beyond cosmetic barriers attempting to recapture the lost romance in relationships.  A really  amusing collection from Mollywood's  younger breed of directors.....,quite  emotional, heartrending and also insightful at times.

Rating -7/10