Cassanova

Cassanova, the most awaited film in Malayalam of not just this year but for around nearly 2 years. Well, in one word Cassanova is not up to the expectation. It is is not a bad maovie, I wont say it even as an average movie. Its a good enjoyable movie. But when you look at it as a big budget, highly expected commercial entertainer, its a little disappointing.

About the movie, I dont want to disclose the story line completely, because the makers were highly successful in doing it. Its about this man Cassanova, a high profile flower merchant who is almost a love guru. He just attracts every girl with his romantic approach and charisma!! The story is about Cassanova’s effort to give justice to the girl he loved. Out of this simple storyline, Rosshan Andrews and crew has tried to deliver a thriller type movie. Cassanova is a movie that hase different dimensions. It can be considered as a thriller, a love story and a revenge story. But unfortunately the thrilling dimension wasn’t up to mark. The main draw back of Cassanova is that the script couldn’t capture the intensity of Cassanova’s love for that one girl.

In the on screen side, Mohanlal has given a flawless graceful performance as the messenger of love. His dialog delivery was really cool. No other actor can portray this Character in Malayalam. Rest of the cast includes 4 new faces along with veterans like Jagathy Sreekumar, Lalu Alex, Shankar, Riyas Khan, Shreya Saran, Lakshmi Rai and Roma. The four new fellas did their important role in the movie very neatly. Even though the fourth guy (who dies first) has very little to do, he also didn’t made it a bore. I cant find the names of these actors in Google. (Sorry about it). Shreya Saran as Sameera was a pleasure to watch. I liked the on screen chemistry of Lal and Shreya. Lakshmi Rai was also convincing. Roma made the audience howl at the beginning of the movie. But she did it somewhat neatly. (Very small role though). Shankar, Sanjana and Lalu alex also plays a small role in the movie. Jagathy Sreekumar as Lucka was nice. His combination scenes with Mohanlal gave the audience some nice humor to enjoy. I think Riyas Khan should get a special mention in the movie. He is there in the movie throughout as the Interpol officer Joseph.

Technically, Rosshan Andrews is a man with great caliber for sure. His direction style has lifted the Canvas of Cassanova to an all new level of film making. Screenplay is also smooth. Bobby Sanjay has delivered it somewhat neatly in my view. The flash back portion in the second half is enjoyable. But it couldnt make the audience feel the depth of Cassanova’s love, which was essential. The dialogs were really good. Whether it is romantic or funny, it was a pleasure to hear those dialogs. The cinematography and Editing of the movie is simply beautiful. The “Hey Manohara theerame..” song is the perfect example for that. They should not have made Mohanlal dance for that song. But still the cinematography and Editing made that song beautiful. Both these features were also important in making the action sequences look neat. Action sequences were not upto the usual Allan-Ameen standard. But still it was a variety. Towards the climax there is a scenes were Mohanlal saves the life of two of the 4 member gang, a copied scene from English movie WANTED (previously scene in MANKATHA also). That plate throwing scene was also a bore. BGM of Gopi Sundar was really engaging. Music was refreshing. “Sakhiye..” song is not there in the movie.

Overall Cassanova is an enjoyable one time watch. Its a good movie. Only problem is the hype. If you can take it as a simple entertaining movie you wont regret watching this one.

My rating for director Rosshan Andrew’s Cassanova is 3/5.
Don’t expect any extravaganza!!

By Aswin Bharadwaj

Founder and editor of Lensmen Reviews.

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