TOURNAMENT

TOURNAMENT

Theatre : TVM SreePadmanabha
Showtime & Date : 11.13am, 25-12-2010
Status : Balcony Almost Full, FC 50%

Director Lal, as an independent director, after sequels of In Harihar Nagar, is back with new movie TOURNAMENT with comparitively newfaces & freshfaces in malayalam cinema in lead. The movie had a promising thread, but the paper ads & the intro about the movie by Lal before title cards spoils the whole show.

Story
Vishwanathan(Fahad Fazil aka Shanu), Balu(John Jacob, remember the dancer in the election song in Sakudumbam Shyamala) and Ummar(Praveen, a newface) got selected for APL cricket team selection from the club run by Siddhique. The selection was to be conducted at Banglore. Balu met with an accident. The other two with their friend Aswathi(Roopa Manjari of Thiru Thiru Thuru Thuru fame) starts a road trip as their flight got cancelled along with another competitor Boby(Manu). The rest of the story is the betrayal by everyone to win the selection.

Performances
Shanu was cool and perfect as Vishwanathan. John Jacob as Balu has nothing much to perform. Also the fat guy, Praveen irritates us at times though good at some parts.  Manu with Thrissur slang was the hero of the movie with nice expressions but not at all a hero material. Roopa Manjari offers nothing new. Newface Prajin was apt and Aryan was surprising.

Siddhique as usual made his mark eventhough he had just two scenes in the movie. Kochu Preman was superb while Bijukuttan was not upto the mark.

The real showstealer is SALIMKUMAR. Awesome performance with bad english, typical dialogues with his style and SILSILA song.

Indrans as a tribal person was horrible which evokes no laughter. Thesni Khan & Paravai Muniamma were wasted.

Songs
The real plus point of the movie were the songs by Deepak Dev. Good work!!! BGM by Alex Paul was not upto the mark.

Technical
Editing by V.Saajan was good. Cinematography by Venu was nice at parts. Art Director Prasanth Madhav did his part well.

Script & Direction
Lal handled both departments. Direction was above average. Storyline was good. But the screenplay lags in second half. Since the paperads & intro before the movie by Lal spoiled the whole show as the viewers were vigilant with each and every scene. That negligence by the viewers were the success point of his previous movies. Here he himself spoiled his work. Lal is rehashing the same formula he did in his last two movies, REPLAY everything to see exactly what happened. Here the problem is he starts his replay from the introduction of the lead actors itself. First half was an engaging one eventhough an unwanted action sequence was there. Salimkumar's character was a big plus point for the movie. Second half drags once the lead actors reaches a tribal area. Horrible sequences to make us laugh. Also traces of In Harihar Nagar godown sequences were there.

Overall, an engaging first half and a not so well made second half with expected twists.

Verdict : Strictly Average
BO Verdict : Does not deserve a HIT status, but LAL RELEASE will make it

Lal, you are beating around the bush. These kind of REPLAY sequences once again may not work at boxoffice.

Strong screenplay with innovative ideas only can make a change in Malayalam Cinema.
Rehashing of formulas always wont work.


FANS ASSOCIATION FLEX for John Jacob & Prajin were there in theatre premises. Many don't know who they are. John had a single song and 2 scenes. Prajin had 3 scenes, thats all.

Good Songs & Nice Marketing may help it to be in safe-side as the production cost is low