Popcorn

Popcorn directed by Aneesh Upasana has a really directionless script. I remember seeing a promotional post in the official page of the movie saying, after NPCB here comes one more road movie. A total of 10 minutes shots showing the characters travelling in various vehicles don’t really make a movie worthy of being called a road movie. With only the humorous counters of Soubin Shahir working in favor of the film, Popcorn is a poorly written pointless comedy.

Kinder is this young man who is in love with a girl. He was thrown out from the girl’s house by her father as he lacked the basic conventional requirements like money and manners. Incidentally Kinder also falls into another tough situation which ultimately gives him a chance to make some money and prove his worth. The movie popcorn is about this journey Kinder unwillingly agrees to be a part of. That journey and its consequences are what Popcorn trying to show us.

Just like I said in the case of recent release IDI, if the movie was supposed to be a complete nonsense entertainer there wouldn’t have been much of a complaint to make about the content. In the case of Popcorn, it is not a total nonsense and we have characters with genuine emotions. So whenever pointless jokes and aimlessness in narration happens, it becomes annoying. By the time popcorn enters its last quarter, you are almost backtracking the whole movie just to understand what actually happened in the beginning. The chances of you forgetting the plastic love story of Kinder is quite high. And there are many portions in this movie which were just written to create comedy.

Aneesh Upasana who made a fair enough debut with Matinee and then went on to make the Jayasurya thriller seconds, this time chooses a comedy theme. While a majority of the flaws goes to the writer’s credit, I would still say Aneesh Upasana could have chiseled them to look elegant on screen. The script written by Shani Khader is pretty fragile and none of the humor track in this film happens organically. Forget the humor, the story itself looks awkward when you try to analyze it. The placing of certain comedy scenes reminded me of some poorly made Tamil films. The whole Kidney sentiments and other twists are just not enough to convince you. I would be lying if I say that I never laughed while watching this film. The numerous quirks that come in the dialogues definitely trigger some laughter among the audience. But the content surrounding it is so lackluster that you won’t remember any of those jokes. Aneesh Upasana himself has cranked the camera and has tried to stylize things with all those slow motion shots and aerial shots. The edits at times looked sloppy. The music was average.

Shine Tom Chacko with that straightened hair style was okay playing the role of this screwed up young man. Srinda’s performance lacked grace. Like how Sharafudheen single handedly made happy wedding look watchable, here Soubin Shahir comes to the help of Popcorn. The minimal counter dialogues coming from Soubin definitely helps the movie in creating a temporary happiness. Bhaghath also performed really well as Joy. Looking at the earlier title of the film and the way Soubin comes in the second half, I kind of felt they rewrote the whole script just to include Soubin Shahir.

To sum it up, Popcorn is bearable. If you take out Soubin Shahir from Popcorn, it would be quite difficult to sit through this movie. Out of the three films Aneesh Upasana has made, this one is the least satisfying.

Rating : 2/5