Pullikkaran Staraa

Pullikkaran Staraa is that film which will give you a tough time when someone asks you what the movie is about. Written by Ratheesh Ravi and directed by Shyamdhar, this movie is pointlessly going behind an elderly teacher trainer. With unreal characters and artificial situations, Pullikkaran Staraa has no interest in having a conflict.

Rajakumaran is our central protagonist. He is this unlucky fellow who had a bad reputation during his childhood due to certain misunderstandings. Now he is a man in his 40’s and he is working as a teacher trainer. The film tells us about the events that unfold when two women enter his life at the same time.

Well the synopsis might give you a feel that it is about a man’s internal conflict in finding a partner. But when you watch the film, it doesn’t have that attire. We have the cliche childhood narration of the hero and then a sudden jump to the present day. He arrives at a new place in Ernakulam to stay, and literally after 1or 2 hours his long lost friend and unfamiliar neighbour decide to find a girl for him. And the very next day they are following someone who smiled at him. This is the kind of logic one would expect in those GV Prakash movies. Hero is meeting one of the leading ladies accidentally and what follows after that has been conveniently written without questioning the practicality and possibility. We do get to know what will happen with the characters as they behave eccentrically.

Ratheesh Ravi’s script has convincing small moments soaked in extreme goodness. Like some of the tips and tricks Rajakumaran uses in his classroom sessions. But beyond that the content is wayward. Sometimes it’s an unconvincing love story and at times it is an unbaked social preach. I have no clue why they included that bus song in the end and the following heroics. Once you finish watching Pullikkaran Staraa, it will be tough for you to believe that 7th Day was not directed by Prithviraj; such an unappealing dull making from Shyamdhar. He has almost made it look like those tacky Tamil comedy movies. Screenplay is scattered and pointless. Cinematography is occasionally interesting, but the excessive visual beautification is a bit annoying. The music was okay, but the placement of almost all the songs was bad.

The role offers zero challenges to Mammootty. It just wants his look and it is interesting how Malayalam screen writers have become “progressive” about age gap between man and woman in a relationship when the superstars became old. (Similar justification scenes were there in Velipadinte Pusthakam as well). Asha Sharath was good in her role. Deepthi Sathi and Raveena Ravi have finally managed to find the rhythm. But Raveena’s diction and the overall nature of that character makes the performance look artificial. Innocent and Dileesh Pothan are given caricature like characters. Hareesh Kanaran’s Kozhikode slang counter dialogues occasionally save the movie from being a dud.

When you try to merge goodness and social preach into a wafer thin plot, a movie like Pullikkaran Staraa is born. Some of the jokes are pretty similar to the ones we saw in Mammootty’s interview with Mathukutty.

Rating: 1.5/5