Suresh Nair has carefully selected the Tamil flick 'Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom' for his directorial debut in Malayalam titled 'Medulla Oblangata'. The movie though remains faithful to its base film in almost every sequences but lacks the amount of fun and believability of the Tamil film, which was a runaway hit. Taking a real life incident to built the amount of mirth around it when looked upon through a different angle, `Medulla Oblangatta' has four young friends at its centre with much of the movie built around sequences featuring them. Saiju Kurup is lovingly called as Appachan by the rest of others in the gang including , Seetharaman (Arjun Nandakumar), Chandru (Rahul Madhav) and Mani kantan(Rakendu) who all works in the same company. Chandru is all set to get married to his lover Nidhi Patel(Avana), a lady from Gujarathi family, after some months in romance. Though after some stiff resistance, their families also agreed to their marriage. Two days before his wedding,to let loose their tensions the foursome decides to play cricket for a while. The game but gets more serious and Chandru in an attempt to catch a ball, falls down only to get injured in his head. He quickly gets back on his toes as the injury is not serious. But soon after the match, the friends are in for a shock as they realise that Chandrau has developed a short term memory loss which has erased his ideas about his impending marriage. Fearing trouble, his friends take him to a doctor, who says that he could recover anytime. Hence, they hide Chandru's problem from his parents, and lover and is trying ways to have him married in the coming days. The basic thread which skilfully shifts a tragic event for an avenue of comedy is the strength of the movie which didn't make any big changes in the script from the Tamil and Telugu versions. But with plenty of scenes to bring the hall down, the movie but manages to make only a few of them work to the intended level. The inexperience of the director shows in many sequences, especially in the marriage and reception scenes, while there are also some directorial flourish to make few others work. The avoidance of any song and fights helps the movie to maintain an even pace amidst which some genuine wits and smiles pops up. The performances by the foursome are really fine for their roles with Saiju Kurup leading the list. The real surprise performer is Rakendu who manages to make you laugh with his humble questions every now and then. Arjun Nandha kumar is effective as a serious Seetha. But Rahul Madhav, with his experience could have tried more to present himself more effective as the patient with memory loss. The amateur extra artists cast in smaller roles are terribly ineffective for this sort of movie, which shows in many scenes making its making a substandard one. The technical sides and camerawork are average while the other highlight is the BG scores by Siddharth Vipin which works big time for the movie. The editing by Sreenivas was also mediocre. Anyhow, this 'Medulla Obalangatta' has got a few sequences to tickle your funny bone. But by trying too hard to make you laugh, particularly in the later half, it looses the charm and reality feel of its original. Rating 5/10
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