{mosimage}Sathyan Anthikaud is improving as writer with each film, Meera Jasmine makes an impact despite the lesser footage she gets, Why can't our 'Maestro' Illayaraja do more Malayalam movies where there are scope for good music.... These are the thoughts that struck me when I left the theatre after watching Sathyan Anthikaud's latest venture "Vinodayatra". The Sathyan-Meera-Illayaraja combination hits the bull's eye for the third time consecutively after the highly successful "Achuvinte Amma" and "Rasathanthram". Dileep manages to shed his crass comedian image and make inroads into the elite audiences.
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Story is a journey of happy-go-lucky guy Vinod's transformation to a responsible man. Vinod was sent to stay with his sister Vimala (Sita) & brother-in-law Shaji Raghavan (Mukesh) as his father feels that Vinod might turn responsible after watching his dutiful son-in-law working as an Engineer in Irrigation Department. After an hour plus long hilarious sequences with a Tamil kid named Ganapathy, Vinod happens to meet Anupama (Meera Jasmine) around the intermission stage, whose engineering education was abruptly discontinued following her constable father's (Murali) injury in a communal riot. She and Ganapathy were instrumental in bringing a sea change in Vinod's attitude towards life.How long it had been that we were able to watch a Malayalam movie that was so simple yet ladened with reality? Only Sathyan can pull it off, not even Kamal or Sibi Malayil. In due course of the movie Sathyan packs with more messages against pirated DVDs, losing touch of letters, private channel's money making techniques at the cost of victim's relatives, awareness about life than International hapenings and messages of love, affection and care. Sometimes he tend to give more than audience could handle actually. Think Asianet's "Munshi" had a serious effect on him.
{mosimage}Coming to screenplay department, it just loses its fizz after 45 minutes and gets a refreshment after Meera Jasmine's entry. Of late Sathyan had started concentrating on the looks of the movie also. Visually he is aided by veteran S. Kumar's lenses. Since the movie was shot in various dams, Kumar had presented Kerala in stunning panoramic views. Sometimes I tend to get distracted by his frame composition. Thekkady looked so lovely without any grand sets. A welcome change from Sathyan's not-so-technically-polished films.
{mosimage}Raja Sir - ennatha solla? He had found a good company in Sathyan Anthikaud. He just fills our hearts with warmth with his music. He had gifted his self-confessed devotee Meera Jasmine with an apt screen voice - Manjari. When Manjari sings it looks as if Meera herself is singing. Coming to the movie, two songs are THE best - "Kaiyetha Kombathu" & "Mandharapoo". The first half looks dry with just one song whereas after Meera's entry both the beautiful songs come as well as short & sweet "Akki Thokki". Raja Sir's music just complements the scene where Dileep blurts out his love for Meera Jasmine.
