(#68) Mera Naam Shaji (2019) - [6.5/10]
Updated: Jun 7, 2019
A man finds a disposed sim card of a hitman and receives the money from its call and uses it to his advantage.
How would I describe this film in one word?
Comical.
Note
I went into this moving expecting a total disaster. Maybe that's why I liked this movie more than I should have.
Review
It was quite the surprise actually, at least its story and script. I expected the story to be a dull, disorganized and underdeveloped but it was actually pretty well thought out. It was an interesting series of events. It's comical portrayal of these events were at times hilarious and overall, very feel-good. Better than a lot of Malayalam comedy movies I've seen. Which makes me will wonder whether it would've been better had the script been provided to a better technical crew. It even had a more mature story than my last Malayalam review Lucifer. The script was good too. Not screenplay, but script. The dialogues hit the audience and myself very well and was quite often belly-laugh funny.
Concerning the other aspects, it was the disaster I expected it to be. The acting was poor, editing was clichéd and the production was laughable - not in a funny way, but in a very insulting way. I expected the movie to be mainstream judging from its poster, to its name and finally to its cast and didn't dissapoint cause it was indeed mainstream and clichéd and delivered as expected - pathetically. I thought Malayalam movies had evolved from its noughties movie style but it seems that there is a whole host of generic movies still lurking in the industry that still has yet to learn that we the audience have developed our standards and tastes. But maybe I'm being too harsh. This isn't the generic bore of old, it really was enjoyable, but sadly technically it gave me a glimpse into my haunting childhood of terrible Malayalam movies. But but but but but... The story was indeed as I've mentioned quite often by now, enjoyable and funny.
It's a pity this movie didn't live up to the standard of its story and script. I absolutely adored Nadirsha's film Kattappanayille Rithwik Roshan but he just couldn't reignite the same flare he could with that one with a much less familiar cast. But way to go Dileep Ponnan and Shani Khader. You (and your story and script) saved this movie from the wreck it could've been. RATING: 6.5/10
Director: Nadirsha Rated: U Runtime: 2 hr 14 min Genre: Comedy, Romance Starring: Biju Menon, Asif Ali, Baiju