Pranchiyettan and The Saint: Good but disappointing

Cross-posting the review I wrote in ForumKeralam.

Show: 25/9/10, 10 PM
Theatre: Innovative Multiplex, Bangalore
Status: Balcony: Full, First Class: Full (I think!)

Lots of expectation from the Ranjith-Mammootty combo, especially since Renjith has supposedly moved away from making typical movies. Sadly, the movie does not meet the hefty expectation.

The movie started off quite well and established the fun part with the graveyard scene itself. The sequences with the Saint were hilarious and consistent through out the movie. The actor that portrayed the saint was fabulous. I was expecting a little better dubbing from Renjith though, still nothing much to crib about. Mammootty was brilliant was Pranchi. Thrissur accent was almost perfect. Innocent was refreshing after a very long time. Siddique, Khushbu, Pranchi's sidekicks...almost everybody did a neat job. In the acting department, Priyamani had nothing much to do and the child actor was misdirected at certain points. The boy looks like a good actor barring a few awkward scenes where things look forced. I would blame the Director than the kid for such sequences.

Script and Direction was top-class in the first half. Pranchi's trysts with chasing fame were hilarious. Quality comedy makes a return after a long time. Co-incidence that Suraj was missing from arguably the best comedy film of the year? I think not! Unfortunately, the things go wrong in the second half. The movie runs out of steam and meanders towards the climax. Priyamani's entrance and character never syncs with the rest of the movie. Helping the kid pass the examination sequences could have been gold, but looks very hurried. Revelation part in the climax looks good on paper, but ended up being not so good. The three revelations are predictable, dud, and lame respectively. The only parts worth remembering are in the first half where Mammootty rules the roost and the saint.

My major gripe is against Renjith. In his interviews, he hyped the movie saying that its something you never saw before in Malayalam movies. I could find nothing like that. Saint reminded me of Guruvayoorappan in Nandanam. So, it has something even Renjith himself attempted before with a lot of success. Movie was supposed to be a satire. Move along, nothing satirical here. Renjith has gone down a couple of notches since Paleri Manikyam.

All that said, its the best among the ramzan movies, derailed by lacklustre writing and direction in the second half. Its a typical commercial movie and not an experimental movie by any stretch of imagination.

TL;DR: Pranchiyettan and The Saint is very good in some parts, competent if not predictable in the rest. A good watch for its humour, performance of Mammootty, and the saint.

My Rating: 6.5/10