The last 15-20 minutes of the movie Oru Sarkar Ulpannam, previously titled Oru Bharatha Sarkar Ulpannam, is happening inside a court where a citizen is fighting against the government. Some of the moments in that patch of the movie had an emotional connection that I felt they should have made this movie as a legal drama. With a very slim idea getting pampered with humor that doesn’t really contribute to the soul of the idea, this movie from Ranjith TV is way too preachy and scattered.
Pradeepan, a painting worker from Kannur, is the central character of the movie. He and his wife Shyama have four kids. Divya, the newly joined Asha worker in that Panchayath, is given the task of finding a man with more than three kids to make the Panchayath eligible for recognition by the government by doing his vasectomy. Divya’s efforts to convince Pradeepan to do a vasectomy and the consequences of that is what we see in Oru Sarkar Ulpannam.
Before addressing the movie, let me just say that the adamance of the Central Board of Film CERTIFICATION to change the movie’s name proves how ignorant they are about understanding the soul of films. Mild Spoilers Ahead! Coming to the movie, the issue is predominantly with the writing. The script is not trying to be true to a specific genre. In the beginning, you have untidy humor coupled with some efforts to make it a political satire. There are instances in the film where the story almost becomes a conflict between science and superstition. But in the second half of the movie, the story becomes more emotional, and the final act of the film that unfolds in court feels more like a convenient escapist ending rather than an effective debate about the half-hearted implementation of Government schemes.
Subeesh Sudhi, who has acted in various character roles in movies, has played the part of Pradeepan in this film, and with that dialect and genuine depiction of emotions, he fits the part. Shelly Kishore, as Shyama, definitely looks the part, and the emotions portrayed on screen were also fine. Gouri G Kishan plays the role of Divya in the movie, and even though the dialect wasn’t that perfect, it was an okay performance. Vineeth Vasudevan has played the role of Pradeepan’s close aide in the film. Director Lal Jose is there as this human rights activist character in this movie, along with names like Jaffer Idukki, Joy Mathew, Vijay Babu, Aju Varghese, Gokulan, etc. The performance of Darshana S Nair was very underwhelming as the advocate.
Late Nizam Rawther’s writing takes too much time to crack the movie’s central conflict, and you get this dragged-on kind of feel for this movie that has a runtime below two hours. The desperation to start the film on a lighter note makes the makers go after jokes about sexual performance. There are a lot of such humor bits in the initial areas of the movie that rarely contribute to the film, which sort of shows us that the germ of the idea was not developed in an effective way.
Oru Sarkar Ulpannam feels more like a film that wants to use the “intent” as an excuse to look away from its creative shortcomings. As I said in the beginning, it would have felt a bit more compelling if the script approached the whole idea from a legal point of view, with everything else happening in the backdrop of that legal battle. But with a preachy, predictable, and simplistic approach toward the subject, Oru Sarkar Ulpannam ends up being an emotionally flat film.
With a preachy, predictable, and simplistic approach toward the subject, Oru Sarkar Ulpannam ends up being an emotionally flat film.
Green: Recommended Content
Orange: The In-Between Ones
Red: Not Recommended
