2021, Malayalam, SonyLiv, 8.6/10 IMDB, Directed by Senna Hegde
A subtle comedy that leaves you smiling for its satirical elements and distinctive making. The film dwells on regular familial emotions but turns to be a compelling watch, when it addresses societal and political issues, carefully wrapped in its comical facade.
As the name suggests, the movie is all about a single event – an engagement of Vijayan’s younger daughter. The maker promptly sticks to the happenings of the day, prior to the event. The story ironically reminds of the film Ee.Ma.Yau, which spoke about the sudden death of the elderly man of a household and the family’s turmoil in conducting the funeral. Both the premise are completely different, yet it sure has a strong influence in the making, as here the family scrambles to organize the engagement in a haste, as the groom is leaving to Kuwait in couple of days.
The plot houses a seemingly usual storyline- the girl is plotting to elope with a guy of her interest, as the father is unapproachable due the displeasure his elder daughter had caused him, by marrying against her dad’s will. But certain aspects makes the film work exceptionally well, as it travels the extra mile in establishing the character traits of each individual in the family, the extended family who arrive for the engagement and even the odd job handymen.
The short tempered patriarchal father character also makes the audience empathize with his financial burden that weighs his shoulder. The character played by actor Manoj. K.U, has many layers to it and the actor nails each one of them beautifully. He is the soul of the film and so is the younger daughter Suja played by Anagha Narayanan.
The director brilliantly milks the penultimate scene in concurrence to the satire on ‘democracy’ while the father asks his family members to vote for the disapproval of his daughter’s choice. The scene proves to be an extension of an earlier scene where the king’s rule in Kuwait is compared to the ‘gone to dust’ democracy in our country and all this just seconds after the extremely emotional sequence of the father bringing the roof down in anger, discovering his daughter had gone against his wish.
The invariable effulgence that emit from each character, which keeps narrating a parallel story, in contrast to their explicit roles, is the strength of the film. Rib tickling moments aren’t many, but the satire works really well. The director thoughtfully ends with an antidote to the social media trollers, subtly sending a message across that each human has a right to stay happy, just by ignoring the venom spewers.
Must Watch.