Jilebi

Debutant director Arun Shekhar has come up with a new movie named Jilebi which serves the purpose of being a smart and short feel good entertainer without any heavy conflicts. With the lead actor Jayasurya and the two kids delivering effortlessly superb performances, the under two hour long Jilebi is a smartly narrated simple story.

Kuttan alias Sreekuttan is a farmer and this man with very basic education lives a very simple down to earth life. His cousin sister who is in Dubai decides to send her two kids to home before they join the boarding school at Kodaikkanal. Kuttan uncle has been assigned the responsibility to take them to the school after spending a few days with the family. The days of these kids spent with their uncle and the funny developments that happen are what this movie narrating.

Every movie format has this conflict zone which usually comes in the middle (at times we call it as interval punch). It is interesting that the particular conflict zone of Jilebi gets exposed only in the last quarter of its runtime and still it managed to convey a message. Arun Shekhar has packaged his movie very smartly by creating situations that doesn’t spoil the flow of the narration. There is a good pace for the movie and the conversations filled with witty dialogues and natural emotions keep the movie in that positive track.

It is the performances that gave this seemingly predictable story a good life. Jayasurya is simply too good in portraying the role of the farmer. Mannerisms and attitude of a simple farmer who isn’t that familiar to the upper class lifestyle was evident in his character presentation. Dialect and body language were used smartly to give Kuttan that required enthusiasm. The two kids Gourav and Sayuri were also surprisingly good. Director has done a good job in making these kids perform naturally. Remya Nambeesan was okay in her relatively small yet important role. Dharmajan and Sasi Kalinga offered a lot of hilarious moments. Vijayaraghavan, KPAC Lalitha, Shari, Leema, Minon and the remaining cast did a good job on screen.

Arun Shekhar’s making has this liveliness that keeps thing quite vibrant. The proceedings doesn’t look dramatic and even the drama gets a good polishing through the performances. Screenplay isn’t that surprisingly fresh or something, but it is quite lively and there was enough and more instances that will make you laugh. Dialogues were good. Alby’s cinematography adds a visual beauty to the movie. Bijibal once again comes up with endearing tunes.

Jilebi isn’t an out and out laugh riot or a complex preaching story. It simply captures the fun moments between the three characters who couldn’t stand each other in the beginning. The rating is 3/5 for Arun Shekhar’s Jilebi. It is a pleasing simple film.