Dear Vineeth Sreenivasan,
Your film is an uninhibited celebration of Malayali Christian industriousness, capitalism and materialism. You basically hit us on the head with your idea that Dubai is some sort of paradise for people who work hard. It is probably true because a lot of my friends who left for Dubai in the early 2000s are all millionaires. Thought they do complain that they live with a sense of constant dread because they aren't citizens and can be thrown out without even a warning.
The 2008 financial meltdown and a duplicitous Pakistani businessman leaves a Malayali Christian family in a soup. The head of the family - Jacob (played by Renji Panicker) has to leave Dubai and head to Liberia to avoid prosecution for financial fraud. His son Jerry (Nivin Pauly) and his wife Sherly (Lakshmi Ramakrishnan) find it tough to keep creditors at bay. The film is a bittersweet account of how the family gets back on its feet.
The Onam celebration at the beginning of the film was truly cringe worthy. There was this sense of forced glee in which the characters took part in the celebrations. The god fearing nature of the Malayali Christian family and family values are emphasized to the point of boredom. Aju Varghese and his family arriving in Dubai ought to have been chopped off at the editing table. It was plain awful. You peppered the film with characters who could provide comedic relief, Vineeth. It was so obvious.
Renji Panicker's performance was above average. The truth is that he is a very average actor. But he is extremely confident and gung ho. He is like a talented salesman selling an average product. Nivin Pauly is charming as usual. The rest of the cast was respectable without being brilliant. The cacophonous background score did have some good tunes.
It's not a bad film. It does move along quite quickly after the unbearably feel good beginning. The film would almost surely tug at the hearts of middle class Malayalis. It was quite similar to Drishyam because both films have honest middle class families facing a crisis.
Best Regards, Pimpin.
(5/10)
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