Chattambi Naadu

Medium : Malayalam
Starring : Mammootty, Sidhiq, Vinu Mohan, Salim Kumar, Suraj Venjarammood, Lakshmi Rai, Mydhili
Director : Shafi
Music : Alex Paul

After the hit film 'Thommanum Makkalum', Mammootty, Shafi (director) and Benny P Nayarambalam (script writer) once again teamed up for the new venture 'Chattambi Naadu'. This is yet another film in which the leading actor has done an anti hero character and the enemity between two groups in a village holds the main thread. Since the hero has enjoyed success from his previous films like 'Thommanum Makkalum', 'Thuruppugulan', 'Mayavi', 'Raja Manikyam', 'Annan Thambi' etc which were made in a humor oriented way, here also rendering style is same. As the majority of such films, here also Pollachi and its surrounding regions of Tamilnadu (which has now been over exposed through many projects) is the main location. As usual Salim Kumar and Suraj Venjarammood have been given the role to handle comedy situations. As a specilaity, the central character is casted as a person who doesn't speak malayalam fluently, rather he is using a mixed version of kannada and malayalam languages.

The story happens in a place called Chembattu Nadu, where a group of local rowdies lives. The hero (Mammootty) reaches there to buy a property. The villain (Sidhiq) opposed it and asked him to withdraw from the move. Later that became the reason for a straight fight between them. The villain played some fowl plays against the villagers and put the blame on the hero. Anyway hero was aware of such facts and how he manages to get out of the troubles and how the villagers supported him is shown in the later areas of 'Chattambi Naadu'. In the middle a love tracks of the hero's orderly (Vinu Mohan), the village girl (Lakshmi Rai) who is fond of the hero are also shown. The hero is having a past in which he was escaped from the village in his childhood days, after finding guilty in a murder case and now, after so many years the real truth is revealed, which is the climax of this film.

We have seen almost similar plot in many films. Like 'Raja Manikyam', the usage of a different slang by the hero is incorporated here expecting it to repeat the magic. Though it resembles the film 'Vidheyan', the fact is that it doesn't holds any specialty in this movie. The combination of the hero and the villain and the dialogues used there is a repetitive thing which has happened in many movies; some times it felt un natural also as it is clear that villain is not going to dominate the hero at any cause. Sidhiq's character resembles his role in films like 'Madambi', 'Naran', 'Prajapathi' etc. The flash back portions also had got a flavour of the sequences from 'Raja Manikyam'. Salim Kumar and Suraj Venjarammood created some laughs.

Alex Paul's background score is not appealing. The heroine's introduction song is also not the best. Sreeja's dubbed voice felt stylish for Lakshmi Rai. Fight master Anal Arasu had given some fast action scenes.

In the Yesudas style-costumes (white pants, white shirts, white shoes), Mammootty tried his best to fit in the role. But, we can't complain that the actor is doing hero oriented subjects, since he is coming after doing a wide variety of roles this year like 'Loud Speaker', 'Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja', 'Kerala Cafe' and 'Paleri Manikyam Oru Paathira Kolapathakathinte Kadha'.

'Chattambinadu' is not a fresh subject. It is made in a masala entertainer format which can be watched, if you have got lot of free time to spend...


Rating : 6.5 / 10 (revised)