Padmasree Bharath Dr Saroj Kumar

Just finished watching the highly talked about satire “Padmasree Bharath Dr Sarojkumar”. Well in one word its not up to the expectation. Even though it has successfully did its purpose of teasing the superstars of the industry, it failed to impress the audience due to his totally unconvincing climax. The charm of Udhayananu thaaram was not there in this particular movie.

The film is about the Superstar of malayalam industry Saroj Kumar. Undoubtedly the main victim of the story is Mohanlal. But Sreenivasan hasnt spared any one else. Mammootty, Prithviraj and even Asif Ali (cant say as teasing) were directly and partially mentioned by Sreenivasan. The recent developments and incidents are completely covered in the story. Income tax raids, Mohanlal’s MCR ad, Mammootty’s Pothys ad, Colonel status, Salim Kumar’s national Award, Salt n Pepper, Prithviraj’s english, Copying from English movies, Antony Perumbavoor, Sukumar Azheekode- Mohanlal fight, Film Strikes and severel other incidents were mentioned in the story. The present condition of Malayalam cinema with directors like Ashiq Abu, Rajesh Pillai, Renjith etc making movies with more importance for story is of-cause the reason for the return of Saroj Kumar. The character played by Fahad Fasil (Alex) represents that breed of directors. Almost all the characters of Udhayanaanu Thaaram are there, except for Udhayan and Madhumathi. The character of a young actor, Shyam who has got Gold medal from institute for his acting talent is the key character in the movie. Vineeth Sreenivasan plays the role of Shyam.

The first half of the movie is quite enjoyable as it is mostly concentrated on showing the dark side of superstars. Military camp coaching, advertisements etc were impressive. But the movie goes to a totally different view in the second half. It loses its Satire nature and ends up in being a over melodramatic slice of script. The climax of the movie was supposed to be a shocker. But it shocked me more than that. Because that climax was an absolute downer.

In the acting side, Sreenivasan has done his role as Saroj Kumar neatly. Suraaj is more of a joker. A new avatar of Pachalam Bhasi was safe in the hands of Jagathy. Salim Kumar plays the role of Rafeeq. But Rafeeq is actually Salim Kumar, because Rafeeq is a national award winner in this movie. Mukesh did his role as Babykuttan very effectively. Mamtha’s role was an absolute waste. Vineeth Sreenivasan did his important role without much flaws. The guy who impressed me in the movie was Fahad Fasil. Eventhough total number of scenes are less comparing to Sreenivasan and many others, he did his role very efficiently. The energy and determination of a young director was visible in his face.

In the technical side, direction of Sajin Raghavan is not bad. But at times it flawed due to the imperfection in script. Sreenivasan’s script was enjoyable in the first half but in the second half it was a confused one. The movie became Saroj Kumar’s personal affair. The new generation likes to see sentimence in a practical sense, not in a too much filmy manner. S Kumar’s cinematography was quite good with some refreshing frames here n there. An accident sequence in the second half was technically good. Deepak Dev’s music was catchy. Biji pal’s BGM is not upto the standard of Ouseppachan in Udhayanaanu thaaram.

Overall, “Padmasree Bharath Dr Saroj Kumar” is an average movie. Udhayanaanu thaaram was a cinema about Cinema. But PBDS ended up in being a story about Saroj Kumar. Only good thing about the movie is that it positively Acknowledges the efforts of new directors.
My rating is 2.5/5