English Review

Shyamaprasad is one director who has some real admirers among the middle stream movie audiences. With strong plot lines and inspirational performances, almost all of his films earned applauds for their cinematic finesse. Adding to that list is his latest film "English", which takes on the life of a few characters, who are living outside of their native country. Scripted by Ajayan Venugopal of sitcom  `Akkarakazhchakal' fame,' English' is a multinarrative   faithfully showcasing  the life of Malayali expatriates living in London.

The movie has Nadia Moidhu as   Saraswathi who is a happy housewife taking care of her husband Ram, a doctor (Murali Menon) and their two daughters. Basically a Tamilian, she  prefers to get back to her home land than to cling to western lifestyles offered by london. Joy (Mukesh) who runs a small supermarket  is concerned about daughter's hesitance to obey them. He is trying ways to give maximum support to his ailing mother with the help of his wife Sally (Sona Nair), but his busy brother Jimmi hardly cares about Joy's chores. Living in the same city is Sibin Kuriakose (Nivin Pauly), a UK bred malayalee guy  who loves to lead a life of a Casanova. But when his closest friend Rajesh (Sinu Pillai) leaves his  recently married wife Gauri (Remya Nambeesan) in the care of Sibin for a short time,  he  starts to think about settling down. Sankaran (Jayasurya) a Kathakali artiste , is an illegal immigrant who works in a small time restaurant as a cook to make big money and to impress  his fiancee Ammu and her dad, living in his village. The movie has these characters who has to make major amendments in their relationships, beliefs and attitudes before settling down to their new circumstances.

As usual with every Shayamaprasad film, performances are the highlight of the movie, which does not tell any new tale apart from the cliched, expatriate feel and traditional values and ethos. Mukesh definitely has a role that will add to his bests. Murali Menon, Nadia Moidu and Nivin Pauly also make their presence felt with their characters.  Jayasurya, Remya Nambeesan, Sona Nair, Manoj Shiva, Sinu Pillai, and others lends believability to their roles.

Though the scripts failed  to utilise the potential of some of the buildups it offered, the climax was a masterstroke. The poignant moments with controlled and measured emotions, leaves a tenderness in our hearts for the ailing protagonists who are left  amidst prohibited love  and travails of existence.  Top notch direction from Shyama Prasad, made this simple movie a unpretentious treat to watch. Supporting him in his endeavours are  Udayan Ambaadi who has perfectly used the beautiful locales for his thoughtful frames. Vinod Sukumaran's editing was also near perfect .The songs by Rex Vijayan were cool and really carried the mood of the narratives.

All in all, this `English' is a fine flick that will suit the needs of thinking audience, who doesn't run after heavy doss mass films.

Rating-6.5/10