A movie with so much inspiring thoughts, commercial entertainment and natural presentation is tough to find. If you are looking for such a movie, Usthad Hotel is the one for you. A movie with a charming script filled with inspiring emotions. I believe the spark behind the movie is the real life story of a Taj chef, who sacrifised his 5 star life and decided to live the rest of his life feeding the poor ones.
UH basically is the story of Faizal aka Faizee and his days with his grandfather (Karim). Faizal comes to see his Uppuppa after being kicked out of his house for doing something he loved, learning cooking and becoming a chef. His conservative father, Razaq takes his passport and a helpless Faizee is forced to live with his grandfather for a shelter. Uppuppa runs a hotel in Calicut that is famous for the Calicut Biriyani, “Usthad Hotel”. Through circumstances that follow, Faizee who is focused on earning and building a life through chef job realizes the fact that by serving food you should not just fill the tummy of the customer, but also their heart.
UH works for several reasons and the prime reason is the script. At the end of the movie, you will definitely find so many portions of the movie to remember. First meeting of Shahana and Faizee, Faizee’s ego clash with his father, Shahana and faizee’s second interaction, Uppuppa’s Sulaimani story, the revamp of UH, Faizee’s Madhura Journey and many more are there. The characters are also very bright. Even the guest appearances looked relevant.
Performance wise, Dulqar delivers a flawless show as the young charming boy next door Faizee. His dialog delivery in the calicut slang was really good. After second show, I think he has once more made his intensions clear that he is after scripts rather than show offs. Thilakan as Karim is mind blowing. In his second innings I think this is one of the best characters he got after Achutha menon of Indian Rupee. Nithya Menon is gorgeus and she smartly handled the modern Muslim girl Shahana. Her combination scenes with Dulqar were really good. Only negative in the script was the clarity of Nithya’s character. But in the purpose context of the movie, it’s a negligible error. Siddiq showed his experience as Razak. Mamukkoya, Maniyan Pilla Raju and Thambi Ramaiyyah delivered their roles neatly. Small and sweet roles were there for Lena, Bhagath, Sreenath Bhasi and many others. The cameo appearence of Asif was also an added fun.
Technically, we can see a brand new Anwer Rasheed. He has shown that he has a great talent, which the industry never really used. The main reason for a new Anwer Rasheed is the smart and inspiring script of Anjali Menon with full of catchy dialogs and gentle pacing. The way she narrates thing naturally and finds new things from the details of common things are really fun to watch. Lokanathan’s camera is really good. He has filled a lot of oxygen in the frame. Art department deserves another special mention.
Overall, Usthad Hotel is one gem of a movie with inspiring philosophies. For me it seems to have all the ingredients for a movie to be a blockbuster. No non veg jokes, no powder fights and no clichés. I am giving 4/5 with a bright smile for UH. I take this opportunity to congratulate Mr. Listin Stephen, the producer for giving Malayalies yet another good movie.
Green: Recommended Content
Orange: The In-Between Ones
Red: Not Recommended
