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After much hype and hoopla around its overseas shoot and pattern of political satire, arrives Mohanlal’s Onam offering- ‘Peruchaazhi’ directed by Arun Vaidhyanathan. A movie that depends on Lalism’ to its core, the movie manages to satisfy die hard fans of the star mainly celebrating the vintage ‘Lal’, but fails much in ending up as an overall entertainer. Though the filmmaker demands the viewers to keep away logic while watching the stuff, at times it stoop down to absurdness which cannot be digested even while you just demand entertainment quotient. The title cards are fun with the famous dialogues of Lal’s many classic characters played in the background. The movie then follows the tough times of Sunny Kurisingal (Vijay Babu), the campaign manager of Republican candidate John Kory who is contesting for the Governer elections in California state of U S A. With his candidate riding really low in the ratings as well as in popularity, Sunny pleads his close friends Francis Kunjappan(Mukesh) the P W D minister of Kerala to help him with somebody who can offer innovative ideas to make better the depressing chances of the republican candidate. Francis naturally aims Jagannathan,(Mohanlal), one man who has solutions to every political issues, who is also his political rival and a threat to his ministerial post. Jagannathan who is looking for funds to establish his sports Academi, accepts the offer, though well aware of Francis's intentions, and lands in U.S. with his two close aides Jabbar(Baburaj) and Varkey(Aju). Rest of the film revolves around how Jaganathan uses his Indian political gimmicks in US to success and how he faces some unexpected problems amidst this mission. The movie scripted by the director sarcastically points out that politicians every where are all the same, ready to baffle the public with their gimmicks without values. Arun vadiyanathan has done a fairly neat job with the direction, but the scripts with plenty of nonsense makes it a suffering in the later half and also in the climax . After a fairly neat start, the movie goes on a downward spiral and a nosedive to danger in the latter half. Some of the advices and techniques engaged by the protagonist look downright silly though the film does not take itself seriously. The dialogue writer, Ajayan Venugopalan requires a special mention for penning lines that are hilarious and equally sensible, taking cue from all political developments in the state. Some sequences bring out good old memories of Mohanlal films and beautiful songs. Mohanlal's intro reminds of ‘Pappi Appacha’ where the hero and the sidekicks are playing cricket with children. Lal looks adorable in dhotis and well-tailored suits. The actor plays his role with pretty ease with none of the situations offering challenges to his impeccable timing and immense screen presence, especially in the first half. But the later half fails from the very start and the intention to bring stick elements of slapstick fails big time( Super man to arrival of National president) to the level of buffoonery and cartoon comics. Aju and Baburaj manages to crack an intelligent wit at times, but all others are double ententrade’s that appears inane. Ragini Nandwani as Jessie appears beautiful and makes it through the movie without uttering a word in Malayalam. In the technical side, the movie appears uneven, though the frames are slick and the pacing pretty good throughout . New comer Arrora’s music blends well adding to the punch of montages and the pick of the songs is ‘Njan entu Cheyvan’ filmed on Lal and Ragini. But the item song ‘Po Mone Dinesha’ doesn’t go well with the audience though lal's few dance steps are impessive. The movie at 152 minutes doesn’t bore you much, if you are not looking for any sort of realism in the narratives. In the final analysis, if you like Mohanlal, the movie is a homage to the star’s previous accomplishments as an actor who runs the show owing to his roles immersed in comedies and with twirled moustaches(As it is mentioned by the lead character himself). But if you don’t like the actor in him, this movie could be a waste of money.And since we know, the former group is dominant one in Kerala, have a blast this Onam with Mohanlal in and as Peruchaazhy. Rating -6/10
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