Calender is all about feelings. Mostly 'real emotions,' about the psyche of a single mother ,who hates to face loneliness.And when the handpicked moments essaying the obsession between the mother and her daughter ,fails to relate with the viewers who resist to laugh and cry with the characters ,the movie turns overly melo- dramatic with out the needed intensity.That seems to be the only ,but a grave pit fall of the movie which is mysteriously titled as '' Calender''.
The movie from the actor turned director Mahesh,has a stellar star cast with Prithviraj, Navya Nair,Mukesh and yesteryear heartthrob Zarina Wahab donning the pivotal roles .Calender '' has Zarina as a college lecturer Thankom George,a lady widowed at an younger age ,who desisted to remarry, to take care of her daughter .Building her whole world around her and sharing an intense relation with her daughter, Kochurani ,Thankom is not even able to sleep one night without her. Into the life of Kochurani ,who is now at college arrives Sojappan, a fun-loving ,businessman,who is but a school dropout.Through their mutual friend Manjoorana(Jagathy),sojappan makes a proposal ,but Thankaom tries to discourage him from the relation , as she doesn't like to get separated from her daughter .
Three years after, in another town ,the viewers witness Dr.RoyPhilip (mukesh), a medical officer in Manjooran's hospital ,who starts a liking for kochuRani. Again the same problem of possessiveness between the mother and daughter arises , which together with some mysteries associated with their past ,builds up the tension that finally explodes between Thankom and Kochurani.
The script writer Babu janaardhanan has tried to pack a lot in the available time , complicated and confused a simple storyline based on M D Radhika's '' Oomakkathu'', into unwanted proportions.And at times, he relies on trivial issues and melodramatically hammed scenes ,rather than going for some pragmatic conflicts ,settling down the noble thread into a regular sentimental drama. The director and the scriptwriter could not even cover up the obvious similarities with'' achuvinte amma'', and tries to invite interest more through the comedy track wound all round the main thread ,featuring Jagathy Sreekumar , Manian ppillai raju ,Kottayam Nazir and Mallika Sukumaan.Though the veterans perform the sequences with ease,and with trademark comic one liners to evoke a few laughs ,this construction lightens the grip on the central theme ,drastically.
Zarina wahab is impressive in her comeback ,though the character offers little scope to do justice to the potential of the actress.Navya nair looks beautiful and is getting better with each releases .She impress us with her controlled expressions and manages the affairs pretty well..Prithviraj as Sojappan,in a lighter role than usual, has a humorous undercurrent in his character ,though the character appears to be a little more than a cameo.Mukesh as Roy Philip is in his usual self .But Mahesh has given quality dialogues and space for performances for lesser characters like chichilamma,the servant and even the college peon, which is a engaging freshness
In the music front , Debutante Afsal Yusuf have come up with some catchy tunes , which are sure to grow slowly on you..Benny Johnson also have done their best in rerecording ,with sound tracks that gel well with the sequences.The other technical sides are also in sync with the movie .
The viewers are said to be the greatest teachers for a filmmaker.Mahesh could learn much from their feedback , in what went wrong with his debut flick .But considering the inexperiences of the debutante and his noble intentions ,Calender '' is a film whose dejavu may not spoil everyones' dreams.Have a watch ,if you love rampant family melodrama.
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