Manjadikuru

If you are someone who still have those nostalgic memories of your childhood days spend in the village of your mom or dad, “Manjadikuru” will definitely take you in to an emotional level of cinema entertainment. Anjali Menon beautifully narrates a story filled with realistic family emotions through the eyes of a ten year old boy.

The movie is made as a narration by a young man Vicky about the most memorable 16 days he had during his childhood. The small Vicky and his family comes to his mothers house to attend his grand fathers cremation. Grand mother decides to disclose Grandfather’s will only after 16 days. So all the family members decides to stay back at the home to know whats there in the will. During these 16 days Vicky meets many people, understands the truth behind many fake emotions.

What makes this movie attractive is its simplicity and realistic portrayal. Almost all the characters in the movie can be found in every home. Like the revolutionist played by late Murali, the frostrated young blood played by Rahman, A sweet and caring sister/ aunt played by Praveena, harsh son in law portrayed by Jagathy, An egoistic and selfish mother played by Urvashi, Crooked but still poor female played by Bindu Panikker and several other characters touches our heart. No one is really crucified in the movie. Every one has their own excuse to be like this. Even the so called comedy character of Uravashi’s husband has an emotional side which the director conveys beautifully through a 20 seconds span shot. The innocence and honesty in the small hearts have been captured beautifully. Never goes to a level that is beyond our sense.

Performance wise everyone delivers a delightful on screen performance. The small ones deserves a special appreciation. Rahman, Urvashi, Bindu Panikker and Praveena shares the maximum screen presense after the small ones and they have done it very impressively. Even though their roles are short Murali, Kaviyoor Ponnamma, Thilakan and Murali gives us some memorable characters. Prithviraj gives the sound to Vicky’s narration. He along with Padmapriya comes up with a sweet and memorable guest appearance towards the climax.

Anjali Menon is undoubtedly a great promise for Malayalam industry. She has successfully handled the script without loosing the importance of any character. Cinematography of Pietro Zuercher is beautiful. A successful execution of sync sound deserves a special mention. Enjoyable music. As the film was made 5 years back you might feel disappointed with the clarity. But who cares about such things when there is a beautiful story infront of you.

Overall, “Manjadikuru” is an emotional and nostalgic journey. Its a movie with a big heart and it will definitely touch your heart. My rating is 4/5 and a thumps up.

By Aswin Bharadwaj

Founder and editor of Lensmen Reviews.

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