‘Hridayam’ Review: A banal plot, but refreshing treatment makes all difference!

Creating a ‘wow’ factor or impression from a hackneyed tale is somewhat a tough proposition. Theme-wise, writer-director Vineeth Sreenivasan’s latest flick ‘Hridayam’ has hardly anything new to offer. It explores the emotional journey of a young man through his past and present. He tastes failure in love, examination and relationships but finds success when he re-discovers or rather redefines his life. ‘Hridayam’ moves close to your heart when you realise that Vineeth has taken an extraordinary temerity to creatively tame such a cliched plot to make a refreshing film. Aided by in-depth performances by Pranav Mohanlal and Darshana Rajendran, the director has accomplished in treating us to a relatable and absorbing movie.

Albeit it explores the emotional quotient of the protagonist, Vineeth seldom follows the hammy domain of a dejected lover. He is conscious enough not to lose his firm grip on the narration by yielding to regular cinematic fripperies. Vineeth’s keen focus on his treatment negates any scope for the usual depiction of campus events. Yes, there are dismay, love, ragging and teasing but the depth in characterisation and portrayal of relationships give a solid foundation for the flick. A new face of Chennai is also unveiled in the film as the city evokes strong emotions in the mind of the hero.  

‘Hridayam’ is the tale of Arun Neelakandan, played by Pranav, who joins an engineering college in Chennai. There he finds good company in Antony Thadikkaran (Aswath Lal). Once Arun bumps into Darshana (Darshana Rajendran) in college and no wonder, he falls for her. She also reciprocates his love. When their relationship starts to bloom, a misunderstanding arises between them and Darshana breaks up the relationship.

Now, another phase in Arun’s life begins. After a downfall, he meets new friends in college and there happens a revival in his life. After completing his course, Arun meets Jimmy (Aju Varghese), a wedding photographer. Jimmy helps Arun to reinvent his passion for photography and they start to work together. During a wedding function, Arun chanced upon Nithya (Kalyani Priyadarshan) and he likes her. Soon they got married but still, Darshana makes her presence felt in Arun’s life. How Arun redefines his married life and love is the real conflict of the film.

Through his voice modulation itself Pranav permeates the feel of the character’s emotions and he looks badass throughout the film. His mannerisms and mien are really elevating the whole feel of the movie. Here, Darshana rewrites the typical concept of college heroines, largely due to the performance-oriented role she has been assigned with. Her effortless performance with succinct expressions bolsters the tale and makes it adorable.    

Kalyani, who appears late, but gives the latest impact on the proceedings in the second half, is an apt choice for the role. Despite not having much scope for performance, she has been given a prominent space in the plot.

Vineeth subtly conveys the importance of integrity and honesty in relationships, especially being candid to life partners/loved ones. He is keen to disseminate this norm and it is palpable while portraying Arun’s relationship with Darshana, Nithya and his father. Odukkathil Viswajith, who cranks the camera, has given arresting visuals with riveting frames that prop up the richness of the premise. Last but not the least, it’s Hesham Abdul Wahab’s music and songs that hog the limelight. The almost three-hour film has a number of songs but they rarely create an insipid moment. Right from the off, the background score (the violin score is soulful!) has perfectly blended to the theme and it rightly makes the audience enrapt. A must watch in theatre to immerse into the feel of love and relationship!

Verdict: 3.5/5     

‘Randu’ Review: Neat social drama that fulfils its purpose

Here, the theme reflects the perils of polarization in the name of religion and rising intolerance. This is a hackneyed subject but regular cliches and didactic messages are excluded in the narration for good.  ‘Randu’, directed by debutant Sujith Lal, subtly makes a clarion call for communal harmony by eloquently showcasing the frivolous acts that scupper social unity.  Scenarist Binulal Unni has tried to shy away from the conventional way of depicting such a relevant theme. Apparently, it pays off well!

 ‘Randu’ focuses on the life of Vava (Vishnu Unnikrishnan), an autorickshaw driver, who is popular in his village owing to his humane attitude. He is facing the problem of having a loose bowel, which causes him embarrassment quite often. Since he is the sole breadwinner of the family that consists of mother Savithri (Sreelakshmi), father Rajendran (Babu Annur) and sister Kunjumol (Mamitha Baiju), Vava aka Shylendrakumar tries for different jobs also. His family is very close to their neighbour, which is a Muslim family. Ruby (Mareena Michael), the sole daughter of the Muslim family, is very fond of Vava’s family.

Vava has a good relationship with nurse Mercy (Anna Reshma Rajan), a rich woman in the village, and her husband is working in Canada. One morning, while going for jogging, Vava enters the loo of a mosque to answer nature’s call. This becomes a huge issue as he has already problems with one of the priests of the mosque. It becomes a communal issue when fundamentalists led by Mujeeb (Irshad) blow the situation out of proportion. Vava is arrested for allegedly trespassing on the mosque’s premise with the intention of placing explosives.   

This triggers the wrath of people from the Hindu community. Nalinan (Tini Tom), the leader of a Hindu-wing political party, makes arrangements for Vava’s bail. But he tries to exploit Vava against Muslims. Vava, who has friends in all communities, opposes this. The situation becomes grave when Vava is sacred of living in his village. His close friend Shajahan (Sudhi Koppa) also feels that Vava is gradually being converted into a fanatic by certain people for their political mileage. On a positive note, the dilemma of Vava evokes a satirical effect in the plot more than triggering empathy in viewers.  

It’s an impressive directorial debut by Sujith Lal by taking the right approach to the concise script with accurate execution and treatment. The scope of inducing violence into the narration is always there, but it has been tamped down by the director’s creative intervention. Vishnu Unnikrishnan is an apt choice for a character from a middle-class family. Rightly, Vishnu shows intentions of breaking the barriers of his usual roles and he accomplishes his task effortlessly. Female characters have little significance in the movie; other than complementing the actions of the protagonist. The technical aspect of the film can be deemed as mediocre, yet it is a clean attempt to narrate what the makers have intended.

Verdict: 3/5

‘Super Sharanya’ Review: A prolonged time-pass sans engaging moments

Whittling down the rapid mode, the template of ‘Super Sharanya’ bears all the nuances of campus life. Unlike the usual campus flicks, here, you frequently witness senior girls ragging juniors. The wayward boys are conspicuous by their absence albeit a male student can trigger scare-waves in the minds of his collegemates. Post the sleeper-hit ‘Thannimathan Dinangal’, director Gireesh A.D, who has written the screenplay, has opted for an engineering college as the premise of his sophomore flick that throws light on the emotions of teenage girls.

In this familiar plot, Gireesh manages to hold back the run-of-the-mill element from this familiar plot. He presents a slice of campus life that entirely focuses on the eponymous character, played by Anaswara Rajan. Sharanya is a sensitive girl and it’s a concerning issue from the perspective of a teenager while dealing with new faces around her. But the script is devoid of an in-depth justification of her personality. There is no eventful or engaging action throughout the film, which is marked by ordinary events in the campus life of a girl.   

Sharanya Vasudevan, a first-year engineering student from Palakkad, is struggling to acclimatise with the new milieu in her college in Thrissur. She is close to her roommates, including Sona (Mamitha Baiju) but she is nervous while talking to seniors as they quite often subject her to ragging. Her next problem is that she is approached by a senior student in the college, Ajith Menon (Vineeth Vasudevan), with his love proposal. Her teacher Arun Raj (Vineeth Viswam) is always benign to Sharanya, who could decipher his intentions from his mien. Moreover, Sharanya’s classmate Sangeeth (Naslen Gafoor) also has a crush on her, though she is not aware of it.

Such pesky situations give her enough stress. Once she bumps into Deepu (Arjun Ashokan). Within no time, they become good friends and later, they fall in love. But petty quarrels between them create a fissure in their relationship. Still, the essence of a conflict is absent in the film and the campus scenes hardly suffice to trigger engaging moments. Sometimes, the plot gives the feel of a protracted effect, especially in the second half.

Anaswara Rajan is the real soul of the movie since it’s a tailor-made role for her. She could rightly emote the mental conflict and dilemma of the puerile protagonist. Contrary to her role in Gireesh’s maiden film, Anaswara plays a nervous and a little introvert teenager. Arjun Ashokan performs well in portraying the mannerisms of an unemployed youth even as the role offers a cakewalk for him.   

Despite having the prospects of developing the intricacies in the demeanour of the character of Sharanya, the film simply delves into inane campus fun that is pretty familiar to the audience. The songs evoke the memories of the tracks in ‘Thanneermathan Dinangal’ while music by Justin Varghese is quite effective as a whole. Sajith Purushan’s cinematography is apt in making the premise more convincing. Akash Joseph Varghese, who handles editing department, could have ‘tightly’ trimmed the proceedings.          

It’s a simple plot (but stretched a bit too long!) that gradually attains pace and hovers there sometimes by providing fun moments of teenagers. In short, ‘Super Sharanya’ is a real time-pass for those who don’t mind lack of engaging moments and genuine conflict as shortcomings!

Verdict: Above Average