MALINI 22 PALAYAMKOTTAI MOVIE REVIEW

Veteran actress Sripriya makes her debut as a director with this flick, which is a remake of the well-received Malayalam film, '22 Female Kottayam' starring Rima Kallingal and Fahadh Faasil and directed by new-age director Aashiq Abu. A women-centric film, the original created some stir for its boldness in story telling and for its urbane approach. Can Sripriya recreate the same effect with Malini ?

Nithya Menen is a talented actress, but unfortunately she seems to be the wrong pick for this role. She is hardly convincing in this role of Malini's and struggles to shoulder the entire film, which is to be expected since she is the protagonist. Her changeover in the second half is not convincingly portrayed and she lacks the power and vigor to pull off the emotional climax sequence. Newcomer Krish J.Sathaar is equally less convincing as the sweet-talking Casanova and his pairing with Nithya Menen fails to sparkle, which is a crucial element of the script. Naresh is a total letdown, in the role done wonderfully by Prathap Pothen in the original. Naresh is certainly no match for Prathap. The rest of the cast such as the overbearingly loud Kovai Sarala, Kota Srinivasa Rao, Vidyullekha Raman, Anjali Rao, Janagi, AC Murali, Mohan V.Ram and etc had miniscule roles and has no effect over the script, pretty much.

Anu Parthasarathy could have done better with Nithya's costumes. Though she looked like a modern city girl, some excitement needed for the role was missing. And it applies for the rest of the cast as well. Prem Navas handled the art direction and his works with the posh bungalow setting and its properties was okay. The hospital set though could have been better propped. Bavan Sreekumar's editing was functional and he has kept the duration of the film crisp. But his scene transition is not smooth and is very abrupt, especially in the first half. Manoj Pillai handles the cinematography and his work sufficed the needs of the script. Better visuals could have done more wonders for the script.

Aravind-Shankar duo handles the music department. Their score is pretty much lukewarm and unexciting. "Vinmeengal" is the opening song of the protagonist and shot alongside her housemates, with montages of them and the hospital surroundings. "Kanneer Thuliye" is a pathos song, also shot with montages involving the lead pair. "Madharthammai" is the final song, which highlights feminism and appears towards the end. A remix version of the song, with music video style format was shot for promotional intentions and is available on Youtube.

First things, first. Its a welcome to see a woman director making her mark in Tamizh cinema. But sadly, Sripriya's direction is a major letdown. The film failed to elevate itself into a thrilling revenge-drama, though the script had potential. Sripriya has made some minor changes to Abhilash Kumar and Shyam Pushkaran's original storyline, but the overall effect of the film is a major minus-point. The first half is a very boring proceeding with lacklustre romance episodes, insipid drama, and irritating comedy sequences. Its a big disappointment that Sripriya has overlooked the most important elements of the script and has put her attention more into the dialogues element alone. Her dialogues are full of anger and feministic views and its sort of pretty obvious that this anger looks to be an extension of the memorable character she played in the 1978-released, C.Rudhraiya classic 'Aval Appadithaan'. The connectivity between the character played by Sripriya and the intensity of the dialogues mouthed by Nithya in the climax, is very apparent. Besides that, Sripriya's handling of the characterizations is weak as well, especially of the protagonists'. All the characters are half-baked and has no depth in the artistes' portrayal. The transformation of Nithya from the a naive, sweet girl to the revenge-seeking hardened woman, was badly presented.

'Malini 22 Palayamkottai' - Climax is the only sequence to check out !


Ratings: 2.25/5 STARS

BY:TAMIL