Movie Review: Thattathin Marayathu

"Come back to the classic cliches" was the subtitle that Vineeth Sreenivasan had originally intended for this movie. His inability to translate the same into a catchy Malayalam subtitle led him to ditch it. But it still is a very good description of the movie. Boy meets girl at a wedding, falls in love and the story goes on...

But what makes "Thattathin Marayathu" watchable and different? The script, the brilliantly funny dialogues, the simplicity... After all the angst and dark humor of current Malayalam movies, it's absolutely fun to watch a young guy lose his head over a beautiful girl and commit all sorts of indiscretions for the sake of that love. I guarantee that unless you are in a state of untreated clinical depression, this movie will have you exploding with laughter at regular intervals. You don't have to fall in love with the characters - although you are free to do so if an unapporachably reserved ice queen and a feckless youngster are your type...er well!

Nivin and Isha have accomplished what the director has asked them to do - but the supporting characters take the cake - too numerous to be mentioned by name and frankly I don't know most of the youngsters by name, but they have done a superb job. The only one a little too larger-than-life is Manoj K. Jayan as a sub-inspector with a heart of gold - one feels that the role would have been better underplayed rather than in the overtly comic style.

This is one movie that will bear watching more than once and you will certainly want to do it because you would be laughing so hard at one joke that you will totally miss another. And getting the CD when it comes out will be good so that you can watch it without incurring the wrath of fellow spectators who are irked by your loud guffaws. The music made its name long before the movie came out. Suffice to say it is a treat to watch our four-year old sing "Anuragathin Velayil" and run his fingers through his hair Nivin-style. And he also has the "Aa thattamitta kuttine angane angu zoom cheyyanda" dialogue down pat!

I read somewhere that Isha had taken Malayalam classes before she did the role - the preparation has paid off in dialogue delivery (whatever little there was). There must have been no problem dubbing for her - the lip-sync is perfect. I don't know why, but such little things make or mar a movie experience for me! :-)

In short... run and catch the movie in a theater next to you. Or you can even saunter, I think it's gonna stay there for a while!!!