Malarvaady Arts Club

Medium : Malayalam
Starring : Prakasan, Purushu, Santhosh, Kuttu, Praveen, Revathy, Geethu, Nedumudi Venu, Jagathy, Suraaj Venjarammoodu
Director : Vineeth Sreenivasan
Music : Shaan Rahman

A movie done by many new faces in lead characters, 'Malarvaady Arts Club' has caught attention based on the fact that the singer turned actor Vineeth Sreenivasan has taken the role of the writer-director through the particular project. It is a coincidence that the movie is released at the same time in which his father's movie (as script writer) is also there in theaters. P.Sukumar (director of 'Swa. Le.') is there with a good support as the cinematographer; 'Malarvaady Arts Club' is produced and distributed by actor Dileep. We always raise complaint regarding the accommodation of new comers, the lack of new themes etc and the mollywood industry thinks that this movie can defend such a thing to a certain extend if it can create waves.

The five friends (Prakasan, Purushu, Santhosh, Kuttu, Praveen) are living in a village in the north malabar. Malarvaady Arts Club is the place where they gathers and have their enjoyment. The club and the nearby tea stall are owned by an old man (Nedumudi Venu). The group treats him as their god father. As per his advice, they started a small band. Their first program was a success and they were able to settle a financial liability with it. The lead singer among them, who belongs to a rich family is suffering from a big financial crisis now. To save the family, as per his friend's request, he participates in the reality show and becomes the winner, their problems are solved and he became a celebrity now. This has affected their friendship and lead to certain incidents, how it is solved is told in the climax of 'Malarvaady Arts Club'.

The opening few scenes of the movie were good, but as it goes on, the immaturity of the new director in the scripting side is neatly evident. Other than relying on realistic episodes in facing problems, the writer had created cinematic situations for telling the story. The group fought bravely to done the 'harthal' in their village, but afraid seeing their photo cannot be accepted. They assembles with the musical instruments to form the band felt like that only. The way in which an agent (Janardhanan) is giving them a chance to do program, the scene in which one of the club members participates in a reality show and wins it in a fraction of second are other examples. At that time itself, it was known that what is going to be the climax. The hospital scenes and the friends crying to their ultimate level once the old man is dead, cannot be justified as the intimacy in relationship between the two parties were not shown convincingly before. One of the friends coming to his lover's house and take her in front of the parents after a gentle speech is treated neatly, but it can't be realistic. Crisp editing is required in many shots here and there which is shown unnecessarily. Jagathy's characterization felt unwanted. The singer's father character has got the shades of his own role in the movie 'Kastoorimaan'. 'Reality Show Syndrome' has affected malayalam movies in the last few years, it started with 'Makante Achan', then 'Bharya Onnu Makkal Moonnu' and travelled through 'Nalla Paattukaare' to reach 'Malarvaady Arts Club'.

The challenge taken by the director in selecting many new faces in his debutant project is good, but two of them that comes in the lead roles are having identical looks, which should have been avoided. The shorter guy is imitating Indrans in the performance and dialogue delivery. The lover character got some claps for the performance he did in the back stage scene. Though they all did well, among the five new faces no one can be rated extra ordinary. The opening scene of the movie, introduction scenes of Salim Kumar and Suraaj Venjarammoodu, the 'harthaal' episode, the party office scenes etc has been neatly handled by the director. Political satirical dialogues has got Sreenivasan's style. The female characters (the newly married girl and the singer's sister), has not got any thing big to perform.

Songs by Shaan Rahman ('Ee Pattanathil Bhootham', 'Coffee @ MG Road' fame) for Vineeth Sreenivasan's lines, are not the best. 'Avan Kashmalan...' song has got a different lyrics and rendering style, but it has not been included in the movie. Bg score, done in the modern style, has Vineeth's humming dominated in many areas. The climax song lacks punch. This is an ordinary work by cinematographer Sukumar.

Since Vineeth Sreenivasan was born in the movie family of an experienced actor, writer and director, he has got the chance to breath and understand movie right from the childhood days, hence such a debut creativity cannot be accepted simply keeping silence...

Tamil industry has got notable movies like 'Subramanyapuram', 'Naadodikal' etc that deals with friendship related themes, it is our fate that we have got an average movie like 'Malarvaady Arts Club' which also comes under the same category, to project in front of them...

Rating : 5.5 / 10