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Release date:
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November 3, 2017
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Director:
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Thomas Sebastian
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Cast:
Language:
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Dhyan
Sreenivasan, Aju Varghese, Sreenath Bhasi, Hareesh Perumanna, Niranjana
Anoop, Vishnu Govindan, Mamta Mohandas, Alencier Ley Lopez
Malayalam
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There are so many
things director Thomas Sebastian and writer Dhyan Sreenivasan could have done
with Goodalochana. The screenplay
could have been crunched down to make a solid short. Alternatively, one element
in the plot – the one involving an understanding of true art – could have been
developed separately into a full-fledged feature. Or, the jokes in the film could
have been extracted and turned into a stand-up comedy routine delivered by Aju
Varghese, Hareesh Perumanna and Vishnu Govindan on stage.
So many things
other than what they have done.
Goodalochana is about four men friends from disparate
backgrounds in Kozhikode who dream of earning money and conjure up silly
schemes to do so, instead of focusing on having stable careers. Varun – played
by Dhyan Sreenivasan, actor-writer-director Vineeth Sreenivasan’s brother
making his writing debut here – has a strained relationship with his father
(Alencier Ley Lopez) who runs a teashop on a beach. Prakashan (Aju Varghese) is
a painter. The group is rounded off by Jamsheer (Perumanna) and Ajaz (Sreenath
Bhasi). Midway through the narrative the quartet becomes a quintet when they
acquire a new permanent member called Sharaf (Vishnu Govindan).
The problem with Goodalochana is that it does not know
where to begin or where to end, and once it sets off, it lacks focus. The film
is bereft of originality in story and storytelling style, it wanders all over
the place, and it is steeped in a sense of déjà vu.
The
been-there-seen-that feel kicks in from the very start with inspirations
seeming to range from this year’s Angamaly Diaries to the scores of boy bonding flicks Malayalam cinema has made in
recent years. Female bonding flicks are still rare in Indian cinema, but male dosti (friendship) has been done to
death worldwide, and Mollywood in particular has for long been fixated on
unemployed young men hanging out together. Unless you have something new to say
in this arena then, or something old to say in a new way, why bother?
Kozhikode is one of
the most beautiful places in the world, but after a while, even spectacular
aerial shots of an arterial road and surrounding greenery cannot lift Goodalochana out of its aimlessness. The
only reason why the film is not a 100% write-off is because Messrs Varghese,
Perumanna and Govindan can be trusted to elevate even an ordinary tale with
their comic timing. Some of the dialogue writing is infused with comedy, and
these three men in particular get the best out of those lines. Niranjana Anoop,
playing Varun’s girlfriend Fida, though is wasted in a role so marginal that it
is clear it was thrown in because a female ‘love interest’ is seen as essential
to a formulaic hero’s completeness.
The only woman of standalone
worth in Goodalochana, with an
identity independent of the men, is an art gallerist played by Mamta Mohandas.
She – looking lovely, by the way – headlines an episode that provides us with
more insights into the lead quartet’s minds than the entire rest of the film
put together.
Without her and the humour, Goodalochana would have been a zero.
Rating
(out of five stars): 1/2
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CBFC Rating (India):
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U
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Running time:
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148 minutes
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This
review has also been published on Firstpost:
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