Gulumal-The Escape  - Review
By Cine Critic |
7th December, 2009| 16:30:48

Director V.K. Prakash, who has directed Punaradhivaasam, Mullavalliyum Thenmaavum, Police ,positive,and Moonnamathoraal, should be positively complimented for making the clean film Gulumaal, a comedy entertainer.

The story revolves around two young’s Ravi Varma (Kunchacko Boban), whose father (Nedumudi Venu) is arrested and remanded to judicial custody after being falsely implicated in a case of fraud, decides to make money by hook or crook, so that he can get his father out. It’s then that a guy (Salim Kumar) inspires him to make quick money by conning people. And in his very first attempt, Ravi is caught red-handed, but it’s then that Jerry (Jayasurya) comes to his rescue. Jerry rescues Ravi very cleverly and eventually Ravi learns that Jerry is an expert in the con game. He decides to learn the tricks of the trade from him. Ravi manages to persuade Jerry to take him in, as sort of an apprentice.

Soon they are a team and Jerry introduces Ravi at many places as his ‘partner’. It’s in the meantime that they get to try their hand at something big. A rich NRI Harish Abdul Rahman (Devan), who is on a visit to Kerala, becomes their target. Their plan is to sell off to him the copy of a Raja Ravi Varma painting and earn a fortune. It’s not a very easy job. Firstly it’s not that easy to get to meet Harish Abdul Rahman. Secondly, they have to be careful enough so that Harish Abdul Rahman doesn’t discover that the painting is only a copy and not the original. And thirdly, Jerry’s sister Sera (Mithra Kurian), who works in the hotel where Harish Abdul Rahman is staying, doesn’t like her brother and wouldn’t even let Jerry enter the premises of the hotel. What follows forms the rest of the plot.

One of the main factors that make Nueve Reinas an interesting film is the amazing camaraderie that its lead actors share. Gaston Pauls and Ricardo Darin are at it with a vengeance and the kind of energy that is pumped into the film, thanks to its lead actors is simply massive. Gulumaal could boast of the same liveliness as well, with Jayasurya and Boban complementing each other brilliantly well. Jayasurya as Jerry has done a good job while Kunchacko Boban as Ravi Varma is his very usual self and is ok. Mithra Kurian is good as Sera. The rest of the characters are all just as usual about their respective roles.

The songs o Gulumaal disappoints big time. It’s more of disharmony that music as such and it’s a far cry from the usual V K Prakash films, when it comes to their picturisation as well. V.K.Prakash, who knows his job fine, seems to have done ‘Gulumaal’ in a rather uncaring mode. He could have crafted it in a much better manner and then the film would have turned out to be much improved, as an comic entertainer..

Verdict: Time pass