Four Friends

Medium : Malayalam
Starring : Kamalhassan (guest role), Jayaram, Jayasurya, Kunjakko Boban, Meera Jasmin
Director : Saji Surendran
Music : M.Jayachandran

After a couple of hits like 'Ivar Vivahithaaraayal' and 'Happy Husbands', the same team (director Saji Surendran & his associates, script writer Krishna Poojappura, cinematographer Anil Nair, editor Manoj, art director Sujith Raghav, music director M.Jayachandran, choreographer Prasanna, still photographer Mahadevan Thambi etc), once again joined together for a new venture named 'Four Friends'. Jayaram, Kunjakko Boban and Meera Jasmin are doing the lead roles with Jayasurya who was also a common factor in the previous projects. The notable thing regarding this project is that 'Universal Hero' Kamalhassan did a special appearance in malayalam after 'Chaanakyan', breaking a gap of more than 20years.

The movie starts with a song, 'Yeh Dosti...' (remake from 'Sholay), showing the friendship of Roy (Jayaram), Soorya (Kunjakko Boban) and Ameer (Jayasurya). They are reaching airport for a trip to Malaysia. They are waiting for their another companion Gauri (Meera Jasmin) to arrive. In the mean time, their past, the way in which their friendship started, the motive of their journey etc are shown through a flashback. What happened to each of them and how they are prepared to face the life boldly forms the main theme of the story that are shown in the second half portions at abroad.

Unlike from the earlier movies, the presentation of the movie is different; Though 'Happy Husbands' was filled with humour oriented situations, here the story is more sentimental. In the beginning portions itself the problems are revealed, which later takes us to a sentimental journey till end. It shouldn't have done like that, there has to be a suspense element kept for the viewers to stay there. In this decade, you can't expect the people to enjoy a movie made like 'Thaniyavarthanam' or 'Aakashadoothu'. We can't blame the viewers, they are clever enough to identify that the incidents shown in the movies are real, but they don't want to see as it is through an entertainment medium. If the team behind is too particular about taking such a team, then they should tackle such a situation by presenting it differently, here the creators have failed on such a part.

I strongly argued with those people who says that the first two movies of Saji Surendran looks like a tele serial; but here I felt in many situations, such a view point must be right. The situations involving the doctor (Ganesh Kumar) and Soorya's parents (Lalu Alex and Seema) are too dramatic. Most of the time, the dialogues used in the movie felt like narrations or statements. The scenes showing affection between Roy and Gauri, the sudden start of the song after a tense behaviour by Gauri, Salim Kumar's comedy, the lengthy action scene in abroad, chasing done by Gauri's brother (Manikkuttan) , the doctor 's wig, the temple episode etc are few areas carelessly handled here. In general, the overdoze of sentiments creats laughing and humorous sequences are not upto its standards. The bg score given by M.Jayachandran is too loud most of the time. The remix song used in the movie won't make any change.

Jayasurya in the beard appearance is serious and humorous also. Jayaram and Kunjakko Boban did well. The character given to Meera Jasmin suits her well. The visuals given by cinematographer Anil Nair is colorful. If editor Manoj wants to trim certain sad situations, it would be confusing for him to decide, where should he started. It is good to see that Saji Surendran has handled the lengthy and motivating scene by Kamalhassan in an excellent manner, which is the only highlight of the movie.


'Four Friends' is a serious attempt targeting ladies. The presentation of the movie in such a way, won't gives you an attractive sight...


Rating : 3.5 / 10