Samadhana Pusthakam Review | A Sporadically Funny and Largely Inert Sex Education Comedy

The previous films written and directed by Arun D Jose, Jo & Jo, and 18+ were films that I personally enjoyed a lot. They all had a very thin plot, but what made them interesting was how those films remained consistently funny. The new film, Samadhana Pusthakam, is co-written by Arun D Jose, and the movie is directed by Raveesh Nath, who co-wrote 18+ and Jo and Jo with ADJ. Set against the backdrop of the early 2000s, when teenagers and others sort of depended on soft porn magazines, the idea is to be a fun film that talks about the need for sex education. But compared to the previous films of the team, this one is struggling to create those genuine laugh-out-loud moments, and what you ultimately get is a preachy film that struggles to create memorable moments.

So the movie is narrated as a flashback story where the 10th standard student in that school, namely Muthalib, takes the initiative to take a foreign soft-porn book for rent from a nearby shop. The plan was to collect money from his classmates for checking out the pics in that magazine. But the smart business plan of Muthalib hits a roadblock when the book goes missing from his custody. With a teacher getting information that somebody has custody of such a book in the school, the situation gets out of hand, and what we see is the fun and drama that happens around this situation.

The theme of the film Samadhana Pusthakam is actually a relevant one. Even now, there is a segment of society that finds it really uncomfortable to talk about sex, and implementing sex education is something we are still trying to figure out. Raveesh Nath and his co-writers are actually trying to take us to a time when people depended on porn literature. While the premise is something that can make things nostalgic for the ’90s kids, the development of the script is struggling to find genuinely funny moments. The first half of the movie ends under the one-hour mark, and you almost feel that you just saw a stretched-out short film. When the second half happens, there is a forced nature to the convolutions they have assigned to the situations.

The movie’s main cast comprises lots of young talents. Dhanus as Appu and Irfan as Muthalib were really good in their respective roles. The other members of the boy gang, played by Yohan, Balu, and a few more names, were also fine. Veena Nair, as the mother of Appu, was really good in the climax. James Elia plays a prominent role as the teacher. Siju Wilson and Leona Leshoy play significant characters in the present-day track of the film. Meghanathan, Nebish Benson, the late Kalabhavan Haneef, Pramod Veliyanad, etc., are the other major names in the elaborate cast of this film.

I wouldn’t say it is a bad film that was made hastily. It has its share of reasons to be made at a time when conversations around sex education are necessary. The issue is with the humor that isn’t flowing the way we saw in movies like 18+ and Jo and Jo. There is a skit kind of feel to each scene, and like I already said, when in the second half, Appu is struggling to handle a situation, a lot of the humor does not have that organic snowballing effect. I am saying this because, in the other two works of Raveesh Nath and ADJ, this gradual and realistic escalation of the humor was what made those movies entertaining. Towards the end, the movie opts for a preachy balloon episode to talk about how sex education and gender dynamics should be implemented on an academic level.

Samadhana Pusthakam is a harmless comedy for sure, but at the same time, it feels somewhat inert. I have heard Vipin Das say that when Guruvayoorambala Nadayil releases on OTT, he wants people to watch that movie while they are eating lunch. Clocking at just above two hours, I would say Samadhana Pusthakam has the capacity to be a side dish for multiple lunches.