The trailer of the film Ennu Swantham Punyalan gives you a clear idea of the plot, and if you have enough movie-watching experience, you can kind of form a story in your head. When it comes to the movie, the story part will have most of the elements we could imagine from the trailer, but there are spikes of situational humor and some mysteries that make it a passable, fun film that never really tests your patience by dragging things far too much. With the final act of the movie having some fun yet drastic twists in the tale, Ennu Swanatham Punyalan manages to be an easy-watch entertainer.
So, the film is set against the backdrop of a church in a hilly area. Our hero, Father Thomas, was sent to this church that has a notorious priest known for his rude behavior after Thomas did something to defame his superior. One night, a couple comes to the church seeking help and Thomas gives his room to the girl that night. The unexpected turn of events that happened in that church after that is what we witness in Ennu Swantham Punyalan.
The excessive panicking of Father Thomas in this movie makes it one of those cinemas where you would feel that if the character had communicated properly, none of the troubles would have happened. Because of this cliched character trait, the first half of this movie feels like a very usual comedy. The entire backstory of the hero, which shows him as the only son of his father with almost half a dozen sisters, is really unnecessary for the movie. Whenever the hero panics hearing someone knock at the door, you would know that it won’t be worth the tension. The gears kind of shift in the second half when you get this beta Charlie character, played by Arjun Ashokan. Even the girl’s character switches mode from whining to an equally puzzled one in that phase.
Balu Varghese is in his usual elements, and like I already said, the over-panicking of the character somewhat exposes the limitations of the writing to create humor in the first half. Anaswara Rajan gets a character that has multiple transitions in the movie. The phase of the story where she has to handle a lot of humorous portions with that irreverent expression was my favorite. And while the agility in the final act was cool, the body language was slightly overdone. Arjun Ashokan, who appears as an intruder in the second half of the film, initially gives you the vibes of a low-budget Charlie with that over-enthusiasm and peculiar costume. But as the story progresses, Arjun manages to get a grip on the character, and that character’s likability increases. With voice modulation and acrobatic energy, Arjun really helps the movie in that crucial phase.
By assigning an elaborate vintage-looking room to the hero, Mahesh Madhu, and writer Samji Antony are somewhat staging the movie like a play, and almost 80% of the movie is happening inside that room. The story here has this mixture of confusion comedy, divine intervention, and some twists. While none of these are peaking at any point, there is a lightness and pace to the story that makes most of the scenes fun to watch. The logical questions one would feel, like the absence of CCTV in church premises, are getting addressed and the overall mood of the movie is maintained in such a way that you will be less interested in looking for logical inconsistencies. The background score by Sam CS, especially for the Arjun Ashokan portions had the required energy in it.
Ennu Swantham Punyalan is a very conventional comedy film that isn’t trying to do anything substantially different. But the shift the movie takes from the form of run-of-the-mill chaos comedy to a fun ride with some twists and quirky characters makes it enjoyable on the whole.
But the shift the movie takes from the form of run-of-the-mill chaos comedy to a fun ride with some twists and quirky characters makes it enjoyable on the whole.
Green: Recommended Content
Orange: The In-Between Ones
Red: Not Recommended
