The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Middling story, lilting music

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 27, 2005

Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Middling story, lilting music

Bus conductor

Somebody has, correctly, said that films, music and cricket help the cause of national integration.

Of late, there is a welcome attempt to compose Malayalam film songs in Qawwali and Ghazal styles, as in Hindi cinema, the background being Urdu poetry of delicate verve and finesse. The story of this film disappoints. But the music director M. Jayachandran and the songwriter Girish Puthenchery have come up with lilting, melodious songs, including two in Qawwali and Ghazal styles. The film, in the beginning, highlights the real, persisting woes of owners and supporting staff of nearly 30,000 buses running in the State. One will think it is going to shape up on the lines of Varvelppu, a realistic story of a bus owner, a role immortalised by Mohanlal. This film is no patch on that, taking on an entirely new story by interval. Hardly has such confusion seen in storytelling in Malayalam films.

Zakir Hussain (Mammootty) runs and conducts a bus service somewhere in north Kerala. He, initially, faces difficulties from the local police, the regional transport officials and local goons, but finally overcomes them. Then, the sudden twist comes: Sugandhi (Bhavana) makes the scene, pregnant with a child fathered by Hussain's brother, who has gone to the Gulf and refuses to accept her. In between is shown a sprinkling of the hero's love for a teacher, Noorjahan (Nikhitha).

Story and screenplay are bereft of sensibility. Mammootty is colourless and hardly convincing as a local Samaritan, bashing up all, including a local police official, who come in the way of his running the bus and going free.

The saving grace is refreshing humour from Harisree Ashokan and Kalpana, ever failing in SSLC examinations, and Kullapally Leela, in the role of Sugandhi's caretaker. Nikhitha's acting is fresh and assuring. Innocent as Karnavar and Bindhu Panicker as Umma are commanding in their roles. Bhavana hardly has a role and Jaisurya fails to generate expressions of a weak, failed lover. V.M. Vinu, director, has not harnessed properly the angle of communal harmony, though he had a great opportunity.

Rishi Raj Singh

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