Producer- P V Pradeep and L J Films Pvt. Ltd.
Director- Lal Jose
Cast- Fahadh Fazil, Samvritha Sunil, Gowthami Nair, Anusree Nair, Rohini, Sreenivasan etc.
Music- Vidyasagar
Review By : Unni R Nair/ Kerala9.com
Let me begin with a question, a rhetoric question, about ‘Diamond Necklace’. So, whose film is it? Lal Jose’s…or Fahadh’s? Well, it’s a real good Lal Jose film; it’s the story that’s the star, it’s the screenplay that steals the show, it’s the narrative that holds your interest. At the very same time, it’s Fahadh Fazil, or rather the actor in him, who leaves you wonderstruck. So much of acting potential, at so young an age?! Well well, age is no criterion for talent. So thanks Lal Jose for ‘Diamond Necklace’; and thanks Fahadh for making ‘Diamond Necklace’ so precious a film for any film-goer, err, any sensible film goer.
Let me not dwell too much on the story; it’s totally unpredictable and you don’t know what’s going to happen next. You might have seen so many films that now you can almost predict which scene is going to follow which. You try it out with ‘Diamond Necklace’, but then you understand that the film’s maker is much smarter and not a single scene would turn out to be what you had expected it to be.
Arun (Fahadh) is a young happy-go-lucky doctor working in a hospital in Dubai. He lives the life of the rich- goes about in expensive cars, lives in Burj Dubai (Burj Khalifa), the world’s tallest building, carries a number of credit/debit cards with him and dresses fashionably. But take a close look and you understand that all this is mere show-off- the cars that he travel in get confiscated every now and then, the flat that he lives in is in fact his friend’s, the cards that he uses mostly don’t work and every now and then he gets calls from the Bank asking to clear off his credit card liabilities and loans. He is very much like any other Malayalee working out there in the Gulf. In a sense Venu (Sreenivasan), who hails from Arun’s hometown and who is visibly poorer and lives in the workers’ barracks in Dubai, is much happier and even well off if you get to know things from a different perspective. Arun has as his mentor, guide and friend Dr. Savithri (Rohini), whom Arun calls Akka (meaning ‘elder sister’) and who helps him in every way. It’s then that a new nurse Lakshmi (Gowthami Nair) comes and joins Arun’s hospital. Arun and Lakshmi develop a very close kind of relationship, which gradually turns into love. Arun also comes across Maya (Samvritha Sunil), who is related to ‘Akka’ and who is a fashion designer and who plans to open a boutique in Dubai. In the meantime Arun has to fly back home as his mother gets hospitalized and back home, he is caught in a situation where he has to get married, to Kalamandalam Rajashri (Anusree), a dancer. How these three women- Lakshmi, Maya and Rajashri- shape and influence Arun’s life and how he shapes their lives and how their relationships evolve and what all happens to Arun’s life then on forms the theme of ‘Diamond Necklace’.
What I feel is that ‘Diamond Necklace’ in fact is Lal Jose’s best film till date; it’s his most intelligent film. Of course there are many other Lal Jose films that I like, many that we like to watch again and again, but ‘Diamond Necklace’ is a cut above the rest of them. It’s a multi-layered film, based on a very well-written script. It’s well conceived, well shot and has some brilliant performances as its highlight. The characters stay on in your memory and you wish you get to see such films more often. There are things that seem clichéd and which, you feel could have been done away with, like Sreenivasan’s character for example. But then, you feel the character is very much integral to the plot and that Lal Jose could have handled the character a bit more subtly. Well, despite all this, ‘Diamond Necklace’ is a film that needs to be watched, appreciated and analysed. Hats off Lal Jose and team.
Performance
Fahadh seems to be in full form these days. A friend of mine, a critic himself, was saying that Fahadh, through his acting, seems to be taking lessons in acting. He is exploring and at the same time revealing to us the many aspects of acting. He is definitely the main highlight of ‘Diamond Necklace’. The three lead ladies put in great performances. Samvritha is brilliant as Maya while Gowthami, who was earlier seen in ‘Second Show’, simply excels as Lakshmi. Anusree, in her debut role as Rajashri, does her job perfectly well. She is real good. Thanks Lal Jose for introducing yet another talented actress to Malayalam Cinema. The others too do their respective roles perfectly well.
Technical aspects
Hats off to Samir Thahir. He is proving it again and again that he is a cinematographer to reckon with (and of course a good director too, which he has proved himself to be, with ‘Chaapa Kurish’). Well, without Samir, ‘Diamond Necklace’ wouldn’t have been what it is. Good job, Samir. Mohandas on the art side has done a good job and Ranjan Abraham has edited it well.
Music
Vidyasagar has given us some good tunes that jell perfectly well with the theme and the mood of the film.
Script
It’s the well-written script by Dr. Iqbal Kuttipuram that forms the base of this excellent film. He has handled it with all deftness and he also deserves appreciation for the characterization part. Dialogues too are good.
Direction
Great work Lal Jose!! (Don’t want to say much, his film speaks for his work. Just go and see it)
Verdict: Excellent! Multilayered, well shot, well conceived and with great performances.
Rating: 3.5/5