Ividam Swargamanu
By Cine Critic | 29th December, 2009| 20:10:48

After his debut film Udayananu Tharam, one of the classics in Malayalam cinema, the expectations from Roshan Andrews's next superstar film, manages to spring a lot of surprises. Having embarked on an unexpectedly realistic theme, the director and the script writer have made a brave attempt all through the proceedings, to capture the plants and greenery of kerala farmer life.

The story revolves around as Mathews (Mohanlal), in the green lands of Kodanadu along with his dad Geremias (Thilakan) has almost brought about a revolution in bio farming. Until one day when the real estate starts eying his land, Mathews forms a strong opposition to the development, little realizing that trying times lie ahead for him. One would very easily connect with the film and fall in love with the protagonist for such is the script and the story that makes you tail the underlying message. The leading role devoid of his heroic anecdotes comes out with an astonishing screen presence that the plan would love to relate to. Though the film is slow paced, there are plenty of high notes that it delivers. It depicts how Mathews hangs on despite all the pitfalls, and the optimism that the film portrays makes it a delight to watch.

The narration and the script are sturdy mainstays that knit the movie and keep it well groomed. Mohanlal with his stellar and down-to-earth performance steals the limelight. It could undoubtedly be one of his best performances. Lakshmi Rai as the tough lawyer is quite commendable and leaves an impression. Besides Mohanlal and Lakshmi Rai, the likes of Priyanka and Lakshmi Gopalaswami are mere additions to the star cast. While Lalu Alex doesn’t come across that evidently on screen and could have been better.

Roshan wins a major battle by selecting the right actors in the lead, who look every inch the characters they play. The all star cast tries their best to bring in energy and freshness into their roles. Going by the way it is all packaged, the director gets a perfect ten with a different narrative style, camera angles and lighting that match the mood and the background score which fits the storyline perfectly.

Like other films there of course were a few points that the makers could have worked upon to make the Ividam Swargamanu a true heaven of an experience akin to some neat editing. The dragging pacing does indeed at some point take a toll and a few loose ends that could have been well knit with decent editing. Ividam Swargamanu indeed lives up to expectations and a brilliant narration with some strong scripting by James Alberts in addition to Mohanlal’s impeccable performance incites some sort of authentic encouraging and a content feeling among the audience .

Verdict: Good