Maad Dad

Maad Dad directed by Revathy S Varmha is a flawed attempt to narrate a man’s emotional attachment with his daughter and wife. The amount of melodrama and abundant clichés in dialogues are the drawbacks of this family entertainer. The amount of suspense and complexities included in the narration were not pitched correctly and it made the movie a tiring watch especially in the second half.

The story revolves around the character Palachottil Geevargees Kuriyakose Easo who is a 45 year old dad of a 20 year old girl Mariya. Easo lost his wife in a car accident soon after the birth of his child. The mental shock of the departure of his beloved wife takes him to Psycho Psychosis situation and he starts to imagine the presence of his wife and thus lived happily. After many years while the preparations for Mariya’s marriage was going on, some filthy minds try to disturb Easo’s mental situation by calling him Mad for believing that his wife is still alive. The trauma Easo faces after this incident, how well his daughter takes care of him in that period and the mysteries behind the accident that changed Easo’s life is basically the content of this emotional drama.

The basic problem with the movie is the charmless script which has freshness only in terms of theme. The on screen bonding of the Dad-Daughter relationship doesn’t have any extra glow to make that relationship look adorable. We have seen many of these kind of films were a particular family bonding gets an additional sweetness. But unfortunately in Maad Dad, the chemistry is not there between the actors and the lack of juice to make the movie engaging is also a big drawback.

On screen, Lal has done it in an appreciable style. The character doesn’t test him much as an actor as we have seen many characters from Lal with similar attitude. Naziriya is good in the brighter side of the character, but when it comes to emotional sequences her acting and dialog delivery looses grip. Meghna Raj was satisfying in her Annamma avatar. Janardhan showed his experience. Sreejith Vijay was just about ok as the love interest of Mariya. Thanks to Lalu Alex and Salim Kumar for delivering something to cheer about. Padmapriya, Vijayaraghavan and many others did a fair job in their breezy appearance.

In the making, the writer director Revathy S Varmha’s style is quite outdated. A better control over melodrama was required in writing and direction. Cinematography was satisfying and there were a few helicam shots which had less shake. Editing is fine. Music is average.

On the whole Maad Dad is too emotional and loses the feel required. I am giving it a generous 2/5. Watch it if you are willing to accept typical family melodrama.