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Mahasamudram
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Mahasamudram
Review :
Mohanlal, sea and football fail to save 'Mahasamudram'
By Paresh C. Palicha, Indo-Asian News Service
Film: "Mahasamudram"; Cast: Mohanlal, Rahaman, Jagathy Sreekumar
and Laila; Director: S. Janardhanan; Producer: Suresh Kumar. G;
Music: M. Jayachandran
Onam celebrations have begun for Malayalam cinema with two
superstar movies making it to the theatres.
First was Mammootty's "Bhargavacharitham Moonam Khandam", and
now comes Mohanlal's "Mahasamudram". Directed by debutant S.
Janardhanan, the film sees Mohanlal in the role of a fisherman
for the first time in his career.
The film has three major components -- football, sea and
Mohanlal. The critic can do no better than consider them one by
one.
Lets start with football. We are just out of the World Cup
hangover and Zinedine Zidane's infamous head butt has started to
fade away from memory, but "Mahasamudram" succeeds in reviving
the euphoria, especially in the beginning.
The hero makes a dramatic entry, sporting a number 10 jersey and
scoring the winning goal.
Then we proceed to a song on the seashore showing off the
dancing prowess of Mohanlal and Rahman along with a few dozen
group dancers.
So far so good.
It is the game in the second half that sounds the death knell
for the film. Despite a typical life and death situation in the
game with all necessary ingredients like cheating, we get a
predictable result in the end.
The blatant brand promotion of a financial company becomes a
major irritant.
The second important element in the film is the sea. It always
presents an opportunity to the director to show a microcosmic
society. But this film is densely populated with characters - a
church priest (Jagathy Sreekumar), a legislator (Sai Kumar) and
his good-for-nothing drug addict nephew (Niyas) are the few who
stay with us.
Technically, cameraman Shaji takes a few panoramic shots of the
vast sea. Otherwise, it is merely an exotic backdrop to the
story.
And last but not least is Mohanlal. The motivation for him to do
this film was that he got to play the role of a fisherman for
the first time in his long career. But his characterisation
offers him nothing to chew upon.
He is the same old golden-hearted and all-sacrificing
protagonist who would go to any extent for the common good of
his people. He has done it umpteen times and looks out of form
when compared to the high standards he has set for himself.
"Mahasamudram" is a disappointment for Mohanlal fans just as "Bhargavacharitham..."
was for Mammootty's.
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