Ettekaal Second

For those of you who have abused me for many reviews which were pathetic in your view, I have a happy news for you. I got the punishment for all those mistakes in the form of a cult classic named Ettekaal Second. As the hero and heroine hugged one another in the climax, I was an improved human being who gained a new level of tolerance and an unbelievable height of patience. Most of the mediocre short films I have seen in the past one or two years were much better than this horrendous movie.

Its a love story between a middle class struggling malayali boy and an upper class girl. The girl works as a sound engineer in the film industry. Her friendship with the boy who assisted her in capturing certain voices from the high-range area gradually becomes romance. The girl being engaged to someone else and also the drastic difference between the lead pair in terms of financial strength complicates the scene. How the love birds manage to pass this test is the “story” of this non sense film.

Wow! I never thought I would be able to write the above paragraph, but I did it – Hats off to me. Its one of those rare films where you will appreciate yourself and the guy sitting next to you for being able to sit inside the theater for almost two hours. From the acting to every department in the technical side, this film is a horrible experience. A script that just takes elements from every old malayalam movies to make a story is the number one villain here. Its almost like the director wanted to recreate all the dialogues and scenes he loved watching in his own movie. At some points our dull hero is shouting out one of those Mohanlal dialogues- Kathichukalyum njan pachakku. The character played by Manikandan Pattambi is just there to make our hero a kind person. The brother sister sentiments, the elder brother role of Suraj Venjaramoodu, the villain fiance and father, the bubble romance and the plastic pain can only generate a poker face.

The direction is bizarre from Kanaka Rajan. The screenplay is a disaster. Cinematography is too lame. No control over light in any sequence. I think they have converted the technopark building to an airport and coffee shop (bravo). Hats off to the art director for creating such a deserted airport. Thankfully one thing was hilarious and that was Mafia Sasi’s stunts. “Painful” songs and kiddish BGM.

Over acting from Miya and “what an acting” from Govind Padmasurya made the movie a delightful one. One salute to the guy who played the role of Neethu’s (heroine) fiance and that sequence where he explains the euro-rupees conversion is epic. Devan, Vijayaraghavan, Madhu and Kollam Thulasi – applauds to all of them for selecting a great film like this.

Overall its all over. It is a weapon you can use against your enemies. Ettekaal Second from Kanaka Rajan goes to my hall of fame with 0.5/5. That 0.5 is for me as I suffered a lot of mental trauma. By the way, they have shot a song when the set got flooded and you can find it in YouTube as the longest underwater song.