It will be very difficult to find a new story for Mohanlal these days. He seems to have done it all. In the event, directors and scriptwriters are better off concentrating on his stratospheric presence and try and build a story around it.
Veteran Joshi has done precisely that and Mohanlal has also not belied the expectations bestowed on him.He carries the weight (if that is the word) of the wafer-thin story on his large shoulders and make Naran worthy of watching. To put things in perspective, the film with any other hero in the lead, may not even last the first ten days course. Mohanlal's charisma and presence see the film through.
It is the story of a rustic orphan Velayudhan (Mohanlal),much like the wild river that brings him to the Mullankolli village. He has just two mentors Valiya Nambiar (Madhu) and Kelappan (Innocent). The former is the good-hearted village chief of sorts of the village. Only these two have any kind of hold on the wild, wily but straight-as-arrow Velayudhan. But there are many who want to make Velayudhan come to grief. For, it is Velayudhan's writ that runs in the village. Valiya Nambiar's son-in-law Gopinathan Nambiar (Siddique) and Kurup (Jagathy) a moneylender want to see the end of Velayudhan.
They try all the tricks. But nothing works (how can it?). Woven into this predictable-patterned tapestry are the strands of three women ---- his love interest Janaki (Devayani), Kellappan's daughter (Bhavna) and a good-natured prostitute Shanta (Sona Nair).
It is a story that is several decades old. But it may work simply because of Mohanlal's rare ability to impose his authority even in seemingly ordinary scenes. The others in the cast just run through their motions.
Deepak Dev's music is pleasant on the ears and fast for the feet. Shaji's photography is breath taking and has captured the locales of Pollachi and Hogenekkal beautifully.
Director Joshi has not really stretched himself. He has left it to Mohanlal. And that, in retrospection, seems not a bad decision at all.
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