Sevens Review

'Sevenes', coming from the stables of senior film maker Joshiy would have been a rave attempt  had its makers treated the subject with a bit more alacrity. Echoing his usual flicks of racy entertainers, Joshiy has moulded this film with a take on today's youth, which has eight lesser stars of Mollywood led by Kunchakko Boban. 'Sevens' has its interesting moments, well shot action sequences, tuneful songs and appealing visuals but some lackadaisical attempts hampers the prospects of the film here and there. The few defining moments in the movie which do make you ponder on the plight of the social system, merely touches the tip of the iceberg.

The movie opens giving an air of altogether a football flick but changes lanes within half an hour. 'Sevenes' has Boban Kunchakko as Shyam, with his six other friends including Suraj (Asif Ali), Shaukath (Nivin Pauly), Linto (Ameer Niyas)and Sharath (Rejathmenon), who always play together in their 'Sevens' team. In an attempt to cement their place in the more famous 'Kozhikode strikers club', they take on an opponent player Aravindan (Vineeth Kuamr) on the field, leading him to serious head injuries.  Gravely hurt by the plight of Aravindan, they now try to arrange the necessary amount for his surgery by taking up a `quotation' which was brought to them by a broker named Habibullah (Manianpillai Raju). As days go by, they come across fresher financial problems for which they go on doing the same and in between take part inadvertently on the homicide of the son of a mafia king. And within hours, the hunters now turn to be the one being hunted by the mafia dons ruling the city.

Joshiy has come up with a run of the mill stuff with its share of positives & negatives. Iqbal Kuttipuram does manage to engage the audience with a racy script which maintains the tempo most of the screen time, though it slackens of in the later half. The problem with the script is that the eight characters in the lead are more than an easy proportion to handle for a two hour film and so the scriptwriter is forced to bring in new characters out of nowhere and without much back grounding.The attempts to push the message about the evils of quotation teams, and how youngsters are forced to become contract killers due to their circumstances and wrong attitudes are depicted in a preachy tone Though the movie has a very predictable, formulaic climax, it doesn't hurt you much as many of the recent so called entertainers. The youngsters, especially the newcomers finds themselves to have little to do in the film as their seniors kunchakko Boban, and  Asif ali  takes much of the share of the screen time. Though all the youngsters have played their parts well, none of them really got a challenging role which may remain in the memories. Bhama & Rima Kallingal, as usual are in inconsequential roles while   Nadia Moidu as the City commissioner manages to live up to the demands of the role. Maniyanpilla Raju as Habibullah is also excellent.

In the technical side, Ajayan vincent's cinematography have its short comings owing mainly due to the large crowd presence in all frames. The credit sequence with a number of real life football clips looks badly done with poor graphics. Renjan Abraham's editing is mediocre and chances are that the veteran director could not have sat all through the post production, after his recent personal tragedy. And it shows in the poor built-up of many sequences including the action scenes.

Music director Bijibal has come up with a couple of good songs, our pick being 'kaalamonnu Kaalal'. The movie also has an impressive background score which adds to the emotions on screens.

'Sevens' is definitely neither in the league of non watchable movies which we are forced to watch over the last few years nor in the list of must-watch movies which unfortunately happens  once in a blue moon. The film should be able to break even owing to a decent story, faster narratives & Joshiy's reputation. On the whole, 'Sevens' meets with the expectations partly. At the box-office, the film may open well, keeping its investors safe in the process. At best, an average fare!

Rating-5/10