Synopsis - Vijay Das (Prithviraj) is a self made businessman who lacks humanitarian concerns as far as business deals are concerned. Enters Pavithra (Andrea) & Merin (Nanditha) to bring changes in his life.
Script - If the synopsis looks familiar and gives you the scent of a typical stereotyped triangle love story, you are not at all mistaken. Infact Prithviraj has asked his audience to go with a mindset for a candyfloss romantic drama. He justifies by claiming that his previous 4 acclaimed films were in the darker zone and he felt he needs to opt for a change as an actor. It is a good thinking but indeed a bad choice. I believe Prithvi didn't realize that those films didn't succeed because of its dark tone but they happened to be good movies. As always the foundation of any well made cinema is its script and this film seriously has problems in that department.
After "Masters", Jinu Abraham is back with another Prithviraj movie. If Prithviraj was going through a grinding period during "Masters", currently he is in the pinnacle of his caeer (or simple on way to achieve it). The biggest issue with the scipt was it was extremely stale and cliched. The moments in this movie reminded me of those "Bold & Beautiful" (An English TV Series) where the characters are in a confusion created by romance. After the initial 15 minutes, we seriously doubt whether Jinu has the mettle to deliver the goods from this point. Unfortunately, neither we saw the mettle nor it was a great experience to sit through. One cliched moment after another were thrown in front of audience and this is the main reason why the film looked boring and thus started to drag. Whats worse, he created too much drama towards the end of the film in order to rejuvenate a lifeless script. All it did was changing the experience from "boring" to "tedious". I simply can't point out a single moment which can claimed good. The dialogues were fine at some places and did provide some kindness to the audience.
Direction - The main reason why anyone would have thought twice before buying ticket for this movie is because of the director, Anil C Menon. Considering his previous films, I can say that this looked quite a different experience. When you get picturesque locales like London or Scotland, almost 80% of the job is easy as far as visuals are concerned. And thats the only reason why I believe someone would have sit through the whole experience. I really wished Anil C Menon could have used the high production values efficiently by taking some sincere effort as far as scripting is concerned. As far as his narration is concerned, we can see loads of melodramas and slow motion to create an impact but sadly none created any impact. At least I wished he could have stopped boring the audience with all those drama towards the predictable climax. One portion you realize that he had no idea what he was doing is the shot where Merin is watching Twenty 20. We can see Anil capturing the interval portion where Mohanlal makes the famous walk and I believe the intention of the makers is quite clear from that shot. So in short, I believe the work was quite ordinary (just like the name of the banner).
Cast & Performance - I mentioned about him during my Memories review that Prithviraj is driving a high speed Ferrari on the path towards brilliance. I seriously didn't expect that to happen literally except the "brilliance" part". If not Ferrari, Prithviraj will be driving a Range Rover through London, wearing designer outfits and charming Merin and trying to win Pavithra's heart. There was nothing as far performance is concerned because his character didn't demand any. Nandhitha looked apt for her character as the damsel in distress but as far as her performance is concerned, its simply "wooden" or "lifeless". While Andrea looked better with her performance. The rest of the cast comprises of Prathap Pothen (quite good as the ageing business tycoon), Mukesh (dependable as always), Prem Prakash (weeping all the time), Lena (just another role). While Sunil Sukhada irritated me once again with his performance. Since the film was shot in London, how can you see a Malayalam Movie without Anil Nath alias Udayam Anil.
Songs & Background Score - Only 2 songs synced well with the movie. "Chinni Chinni..." was meant for developing the relationship between Pavithra & Vijay while "Kannaadi Vaathil..." depicted how Merin & Vijay commenced their friendship (later into relationship). Both songs looked fine onscreen and composed by Rahul Raj. While the other two songs were played during the second half which reduced the pace which was already lethargic. "Ennum Ninne.." was shot in a boring manner which looked like "Sancharam" featuring a couple (Merin & Vijay). It was tough to understand what the heck Shaan was singing. "Venmegham..." was yet another London Tour song featuring the trio. Sreevalsan G Menon did a pretty average work as far as his compositions are concerned. Gopi Sundar's background score was quite good.
Technical Expertise - Jithu Damodar had the luxury of brilliant locales and he did a fine job with it. Praveen really didn't know what he was doing as an editor with such a script. Rest of the department did a fine job.
Bottomline - An Exquisite Looking Boring Piece of Crap. Better catch "Sancharam" instead of this movie. At least you don't have to sit through all those tedious drama.
Ratings --> 3/10 {All 3 points for the London tour}
By:D@rkness Views