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'Thaskaraveeran' Mammootty’s flight for flippancy

By P. Sreekumaran
Film critic, ApunKaChoice.Com

The Pramod Pappan-directed Thaskaraveeran represents a paradigm shift for megastar Mammootty. The fast-paced movie has the monarch of Malayalam cinema doing everything he has not done in his earlier films. It is as if the top actor has decided to freak out for a change! Enough of the serious stuff like Sethurama Iyer CBI, Kazhcha, ‘Black’ and Vesham. It is time to let the hair down.

Thaskaraveeran is the result of Mammootty’s penchant for the flippant. Directors Pramod and Pappan are ‘willing accomplices’ in this ‘celluloid crime’!

Of

course, it remains to be seen whether his fans will accept this flight for flippancy or frown on it. Whatever it is, it is an entirely different Mammootty that you see in this movie, which makes no pretensions to being a serious flick.

As a matter of fact, the change was discernible in Shafi’s Thommante Makkal. There also, Mammootty had nothing to do except bash up his rivals, shake a leg or two and deliver punchy dialogues to one and all.

But Thaskaraveeran goes beyond all that. Pramod and Pappan, who directed the megastar in Vajram, spring a not-so-pleasant surprise on the cine goers.

So, in the name of change, our hero wears trendy clothes that are the hallmark of a teenager and sports a new hairstyle. The protagonist zips around the village in a brand new motorcycle with a well-endowed heroine on the pillion. He has also done some intimate scenes with the heroine – again an uncharacteristic departure from the Mammootty norm! Usually Mammookka shies away from doing intimate romantic scenes with his heroines.

The story is nothing to write home about. Arakalum Bhai (Mammootty) alias Kochu Baby is a man with a mission. Baby is a dreaded underworld don in Mumbai who returns to his village Panappuzha on getting a letter from the lover of his late grandfather, Meenakshi (Sheela). The mission: to avenge the death of his grandfather Peeli (Madhu) at the hands of Eappachan (Innocent).

The flashback tells you that Peeli is murdered by Eappachan. In a confused melee, Eapen accidentally kills his father Itty (Spadikam George). But Baby’s father Kuttappan (Rajan P. Dev) gets blamed for the crime. The young Baby, who was a witness to the murder, flees the village to escape from Eappachan.

Much water has flowed down the river by the time Baby, now a mafia don from Mumbai, is back in his village. Eappachan has become a big shot and a wealthy businessman.

In the village, Baby runs into the sexy egg-seller Thankamani (Nayanthara). In no time our hero falls head over heels in love with Thankamani and ends up marrying her. Of course, before that he saves her from her relative Kargil Narayanan (Bheeman Raghu), who has an eye on her. Baby beats up Narayanan, gaining the respect and admiration of the villagers in the process.

From then on, the movie unfolds how Baby, assisted by Meenakshi and Thankamani, turns the tables on Eappachan.

Actingwise, Mammootty has nothing much to do except freak out. The role of the mafia don does not do any justice to an actor of Mammootty’s calibre. So, the actor just plays to the gallery. Bosomy Nayanthara looks sexy and fetching. Veterans Madhu and Sheela (of Chemmeen fame) are adequate in their roles. It’s the comedian-villain Innocent who steals the histrionic thunder.

Music by Ouseppachan is average. One song picturised on Mammootty and Nayanthara “Chenthamaraye Va” has caught popular fancy.

Verdict: Average

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