Shakespeare MA Malayalam

Recently I had watched a song sequence from a new malayalam movie where I saw many stars in the field like Jagathi, Innocent, Rajan P Dev, Kalabhavan Mani, Jayasurya, Salimkumar, Bijukuttan, Anoop Chandran, Suraj Venjarammod etc coming together. This gave me the strength to memorise the name of that movie, ‘Shakespeare MA Malayalam’. There is also another song from the same movie which was shown frequently, It was done in a humorous way using the drama sequence backdrop.

I was not interested in the project after witnessing all these facts, just because I heard it is directed by new comer director duo, produced by new comers and also scripted by a new comer. But, the very next day of the release of this film, I got a call from one of my friends who watched the movie and told that it is excellent one and he gave a good grade (A+) for the film.

Jayasurya is doing the title role of the film. He is the award winning script writer of the drama troupe owned by Kalabhavan Mani. The hero writes the script using the real life of persons living in the society. So here he is searching for a new thread for their new drama. Thus he reaches the village where our heroine (Roma), who belongs to a lower middle class family lives. He decides to take her story for their new project, in the course he fell in love with her and what happens to her is discussed in ‘Shakespeare MA Malayalam’.

Hearing the story, we felt something new. But on the contrast, here the director has treated the subject with an amateur comic way with many intolerable situations.

The debutant director-duo has created a punch for hero’s character in the beginning as if like a superstar film using the name in almost all the scenes. But when the hero is introduced he is been shown with the mask with a group of farmers, this scene is neither serious nor humorous.

The scene in which the hero narrates the story and all the characters dreaming about their own roles, especially Ponnama Babu comes in the frock is not all acceptable and resembles like a C grade serial in Doordarshan.

The scene in which the servant serving food for the troupe members is silly and childish, may be suited for a film in the laughing 80’s.

The heroine role is not at all suited for Roma, though she was good in ‘Notebook’ & ‘Choclate’. Her body language wont create any sympathy, being a non-malayalee, her dialogue delivery and lip movement sometimes creates awkwardness. Likewise, one cant assume Jayasurya to be in the matured role of an award winning drama writer. Anyway film is a make-belief medium.

The scene in which Salimkumar correcting the script is yet another humorous situation which went in vain since it is deliberately created deviating from the story.

The drastic change happens to the heroine’s family in the last stage is not shown in a realistic way.

Art work in the romantic duet is good only for an amateur album song.

Like this there are many...but I don’t want to mention all those. A good story, hopeless script, a woody house where hero lives created by the side of paddy fields where the most scenes are happening is there to make us felt that this is a village subject. All these things can be supported, if they must have avoided un natural comic situations.

Cinematographer Jibu Jacob & Music director Mohan Sitara has not done anything big to be pointed out.

The drama song in the beginning of the film is picturised humourously, it can be used as a promo for the film to attract the 'innocent' crowd to theatres...

We can smell the mixture of 3 super hit films in the past like ‘Puthukottayile Puthumanavalan’, ‘Ee Puzhayum Kadannu’ & ‘Dhasaratham’ in ‘Shakespeare MA Malayalam’. Inspiration is not a big mistake, but inspiring from the best to create a waste is what we can see here.

So you cant recommend others to watch ‘Shakespeare MA Malayalam’. But the person, I mentioned in the beginning is my close friend. Immediately after watching this movie, I phoned him, he asked me, ‘When did I claimed that "this" is a good film’ ? Once I narrated the whole incident, he said sorry... and told me that, on the particular day he was under the influence of a new brand alcohol and once entered the theatre, he was sleeping all the time...

New comers Shaiju- Shaji ( Directors) and Shiju Ashok(script writer) should realize their mistakes and do their homework well before doing their next project.


‘Shakespeare MA Malayalam’, as the name suggests is not a real degree holder. This malayalee doesn't know how to speak the langauage without any grammatical mistake. So don’t spoil yourselves by going across him as a student.

Rating : 1 / 5