Vellaripravinte Changathy Review

'Vellaripravinte Changathi' from Akku Akbar offers plenty of fresh air with narratives thrown out of conventions and a tale told in three different levels and periods. The movie has Indrajith as Manikunju coming to Chennai in search of a job and to realise the dreams of his father Augustine, who was a failed movie director. As he is offered the job of cleaning up the retro reels at Gemini Labs, he finds to his surprise a dusty print of a film titled 'Vellaripravinte Changathi' that his father had directed thirty years back.

Manikunju attempts for a preview results in a famous banner agreeing to distribute the film, which though made in the seventies is still watchable in the current times. We are also shown the film which narrated the love story of Ravi (Dileep) and Sulekha (Kavya Madhavan) who were fated to be separated in life in the filmy climax. Manikunju realizes that the actors Shajahan and Mary Varghese (again Dileep and Kavya Madhavan) who had played the lead roles, were in intense love as well, and were planning to marry after the film. Manikunju now embarks on a journey to find out what happened to them, who ran off into anonymity after the final shoot.

The movie about a 'cinema within cinema' definitely has a novel theme by G S Anil and much of it is treated with honesty and elaan by the director Akku Akbar, who takes pain to pay brightest tributes to the period settings. Much of the dialogues are also impressive and suits the mood of the film. Akku just misses the post of a big hit by a whisker as the events turn melodramatic in the later half, with the odd makeup taking out much of the charm. Adding to the negatives are that the romance portrayed lacks depth and the coincidences for the twists looks contrived.It is the final few minutes that take the life out of the hard work that the crew has done in the other 110 minutes. This is Dileep's best of the roles  in 2011, who exceptionally plays the 'Ravi' on screens while Kavya Madhavan also looks good, though she hasn't improvised her acting to suit the settings of the old period. Manoj K Jayan looked the most impressive of the actors with a few scenes to treasure.  Indrajith, Sai Kumar, Vijayaraghavan, Ramu and Mamukoya have also done justice to their roles.

In the technical side the cinematographers, Vipin Mohan and Sameer Haq, who had cranked the camera for the different periods have done a fine job. It is stated that the movies like 'Kuttikkuppayam' are the ones that prompted the director Augustine Joseph to go for such a film. And in all sincerity the music director Mohan Sithara's tunes on the lines of  Vayalar Sharath including 'Pathinezhakainte'.' definitely have the magic of the songs of the yesteryears, and is BG is one thing that takes the viewers to the period.

'Vellaripravinte Changathi' is undoubtedly a film that traverses a different path and could have been a bigger winner with a little more careful execution. As of now, it is a worth watch that you are sure to yearn for more.

Rating: 6/10