Review for MAHAVEERYAR: 

•Language: MALAYALAM.  

•Duration: 02 Hours 20 Minutes. 

•Genre: FANTASY COMEDY DRAMA. 

•REVIEW BY ARUNJYOTHI.R 

• POSITIVES:

1: PERFORMANCE OF ACTORS 

2: PRODUCTION DESIGN

3: CINEMATOGRAPHY 

4: EDITING 

5: SONGS AND BACKGROUND SCORE 

• NEGATIVES: 

1: DIRECTION 

2: STORY 

3: SCREENPLAY 

4: ENDING OF THE FILM 

•ONE WORD: A pathetic experiment film of Abrid Shine. 

•STORY IDEA: 

Locals and the police arrest Apurnananthan for stealing the god’s idol.  The case is taken to the court and Apurnananthan executes the case on his own. Later on in the court proceedings some unexpected events take place and the rest of the story portrays some fantasy events. 

•ANALYSIS OF THE DIRECTION, STORY, SCREENPLAY AND DIALOGUES: 

MAHAVEERYAR is directed by Abrid Shine. The story for the film is written by M. Mukundan and Abrid Shine also wrote the screenplay for the film. The movie is produced by Nivin Pauly, P.S Shamnas and Abrid Shine under the production companies of Pauly Jr. Pictures and Indian Movie Makers. The movie comes under the genre of fantasy comedy drama with a time travel concept and with a duration of two hours and twenty minutes the movie is currently running in theatres. 

First of all I didn’t like this, the storyline was absurd and the screenplay was less engaging. The making of the director Abrid Shine was ok but the way he had written the story and the screenplay was pathetic. The climax was completely irritating and I felt the movie was making fun of the Indian judiciary and law. The courtroom procedures exhibited in the film were embarrassing. I was wondering how Abrid Shine could come up with such thinking, in the film the final verdict led by the judge in the court and it’s further event was shown in a senseless way. All those scenes are still annoying me, it is one of the worst climaxes I had ever watched in my life. Moreover, I felt the movie was humiliating the honorable court and law of this county, I agree it’s a fantasy concept but the movie had crossed all the limits and boundaries and ended as absurd. 

The first half was offering a nice experience, and the situational comedies crammed with the courtroom hearing were giving a good engaging experience. How the movie is entering into the main plot was told solidly, the monarchy rule and the present laws of the court made a proper connection for the ongoing situations. The interval block was surprising and it was promising for a reasonable second half but sadly the second half of the movie entirely went upside down. I felt the second half dragged, the viewing experience was getting boring and the scenes to the next circumstances felt stretched. The engaging mood created in the first half was not seen in the second half, here the half-baked screenplay was creating issues for a pleasant watch. The fantasy theme that the film was trying to convey was agreeable but the methods which the characters used in the film to do a certain thing were shown in a senseless and annoying way. Those scenes were insanely shot and destroyed the whole impression of the film. 

I was shocked by Abrid Shine’s courage to make the film as he felt his mind and imagination were beyond and it crossed all the boundaries. He was one of my favorite directors but now it’s questionable, the whole experience he had given through Mahaveeryar is depressing my mind. I can’t and won’t agree with his thinking, for a normal audience the climax of this film will surely provoke. Some may say that he had shown the guts to make a shocking climax or some may even say that it is a kind of climax that our industry has never seen, for those people I feel pity. I can strongly imply that the entire climax of this film is a mockery and thinking of absurdness. So nothing more to say, the script and the concept of Mahaveeryar didn’t impress me, it had rather irritated and provoked me to a greater extent. So thanks to Abrid Shine for giving the worst unforgettable cinematic experience. 

•PERFORMANCE OF ACTORS: 

The movie has the casting of Nivin Pauly, Asif Ali, Shanvi Srivastava, Lal, Siddique, Lalu Alex, Krishna Prasad, Sudheer Karamana, Pramod Velliyanad, Mallika Sukumaran, Vijay Menon, Sudheer Paravoor, Padmaraj Ratheesh, Major Ravi, Kalabhavan Prajod and many more. 

Nivin Pauly as Apoornnananthan was brilliant, his performance looked authentic throughout and his way of performing was legitimate. How he had gotten into the character, how he acted and how he maintained the mannerism of his character was flawless. I was shocked by seeing his characteristic qualities, he was performing with the right attitude and various tones and changes in behavior were apprehended rightly by Nivin Pauly. His dialogue delivery went with the proper flow, the timing was also exact according to the various incidents. The outlook of Nivin Pauly was different, his dressing and the props he used matched the shades of character, he had given his best and the overall performance was impressive. Asif Ali as Veerabhadran delivered a shining performance, his way of personality and his dressing matched the satire of the character. The intense look and the keen dialogue delivery were also fine. Lalu Alex did a notable performance as the public prosecutor and Vijay Menon also did a plausible performance as the lawyer. Siddique as the judge was ok, the things and the verdict he made as a judge is unacceptable but he performed decently. Lal as the king was not having much to do and the overall performance was reasonable. Shanvi Srivastava did a satisfying performance, the climax portion and her emotional acting were impressive. Also, she looked attractive and cute in the role. Mallika Sukumaran, Padmaraj Ratheesh, Major Ravi, Sudheer Paravoor, Krishna Prasad, Sudheesh Karama, Kalabhavan Prajod and Pramod Velliyanad did complete justice to their respective supporting roles. 

•MUSIC AND BACKGROUND SCORE: 

The musical composition for the film is tuned by Ishaan Chhabra which includes the background score. The film consisted of three songs and the songs were good to hear. All the songs were giving a unique feel and the songs perfectly matched for the scenarios in the songs. Among the songs “Varanavilley” was melodious, the vocals of Anwesha was taking my mind into a pleasant mood. The meaningful lyrics, tune of the song, the sounds of the instruments used and the magical voice of Anwesha is forcing my mind to listen again and again. The song “Thakaramale Samayamale Unaru” sung by K. S Harishankar and Anand Sreeraj was nice, a revolutionary mood was given by the song and the powerful lyrics of B.K. Harinarayanan made the song strong. The song “Radhe Radhe” was superb, it felt like new, and the vocals and sounds of the old traditional musical instruments were made to draw attention. The background score was fair and for the courtroom scenes, it blended with the right tunes. For the emotional scene also the background score made a good sync. 

•TECHNICAL DIVISION: 

The team behind the camera had done a spectacular job to make this movie unique. The cinematography, production design, art department, editing, lighting, graphics and VFX and every technical work in the film had done a massive hard work, a good teamwork was able to see. The cinematography of 

Chandru Selvaraj was amazing, his visuals had the power to grab our attention. The various shots he used and the types of composition and the lighting techniques were extraordinary. The lighting methods for the indoor scenes, especially the courtroom scene, looked vibrant. The camera work was implemented according to the genre, and the visuals by the cinematographer fitted the concept of time travel and fantasies. The closeup shots placed for capturing the acting skills of the central characters look nice, it helped to showcase their natural acting. The old medieval period and its visuals were attractive, those atmospheres lifted to give extra attention to the film. All the courtroom scenes are important and it plays a crucial role in the film so how the cinematographer apprehended those visuals was a significant task. Here the cinematographer knows the importance of those and he composed the shots, frames and visuals cleverly and as a viewer, I was able to connect and engage with the courtroom visuals. The editing of Manoj was sharp and with clean neat cuts, he had trimmed the duration of the film to a smooth level, and never felt dragged. The transition of the film was cool and the shift from reality to fantasy was synced well with this transition of scenes. The colour grading of the film was excellent, the colour grading was perfectly given according to the type of scene and in the viewing, it was matched for the situations. The production design was precise, the set, locations and the plans were effectively worked out. The work of the art department also needs special mention because they had given and constructed the right sets for all the situations. The fantasy areas in the film and the medieval old times were crammed with the right set and materials, it looked exact and fitted those occasions. So I was impressed by the technicality of the film, every work maintained the right standard and their efforts made the cinematic experience of Mahaveeryar special. 

•CONCLUSION:

So overall to conclude the film ‘Mahaveeryar’ had given me a disastrous cinematic experience and I won’t recommend this movie to anyone. The direction of Abrid Shine was ok but the story and the screenplay were a big disappointment. The first half was watchable with good situational comedies but the second half was boring and less engaging. Sadly the endless climax was irritating and the pathetic ending spoiled a decent fantasy concept. So better to watch ‘Mahaveeryar’ at your own risk, for me it’s like one of the worst nightmares, a highly dissatisfying horrible experience. 

•VERDICT: BELOW AVERAGE 

•RATING: 1.5/5