Peruchazhi (2014)

Lives up to the name of a political satire. Had read some unfavourable reviews earlier, but when I got to watch, I enjoyed it thoroughly. Though few comedy tracks may have appeared cheap, Mohanlal and his sidekicks (Aju Varghese and Baburaj) score in making the heart light after a hectic work day. This movie is dedicated to making fun of Indian politics and their clichéd ways to woo the public. The highlight is how all this is applied to campaign an election in U.S. His outrageous techniques leave us in splits, especially when the American candidate and campaign officer dance to the tunes of an Indian- return campaign consultant. The romance track with Ragini was quite bearable as Mohanlal doesn't overstep his bounds of playing the romance-stricken hero. Aju's and Baburaj's gimmicks, particularly when Baburaj addresses the air hostesses as 'chechi' and Aju's M.I style suspended retrieval of an important CD were hilarious. These episodes give us laughable memories even after the movie is over. You excuse the redundant corny dialogues, as it is an outright comedy. Mohanlal never fails to impress me whichever kind of role he plays, and he does the same here, entertaining all the way. If you are looking for logic and something to feed your intellect, you may want to stay away from this movie. If you don't mind cracking up for a couple of hours and a half, go for it!

Regarded as the first Malayalam film to be released worldwide in over 500 theaters, Peruchazhi could have been dubbed as a mass-murderer for numbing its audience's senses if it were not for the hardcore Mohanlal fans.In a hall with 60 to 40 ratio of Mohanlal fans and general public respectively, the former managed to clap, shout, whistle, dance, and even mob their non-Mohanlal fan neighbors while we, the general public lapsed into multiple thoughts about Mohanlal's film career. We all came up with a unanimous conclusion: that this film will do to Mohanlal what Mr. Fraud did, NOTHING. I'm positive tha Mohanlal (his Nadodikattu is my most favorite Malayalam film, FYI) will continue to do films, genres notwithstanding.Starting off with how Sunny (Vijay Babu) is desperate to find an Indian political consultant for his boss' governor campaign, the film follows his recruitment of political man of savoir-faire from Kerala, Jagannathan (Lal) and his peers (Baburaj & Aju Varghese) and how they showcase their antics in the US of A in order to succeed in the election campaign. The plot is hands down, ridiculous and that is if you find out what it is. Because, around 3 hours of running time, and all I could see is Lal exercising his portly made-up pinkish brown lips. Jagannathan is supposed to be a politics genius and he tries his local Indian ways to bring about a change in the election in California. The whole US setup is just namesake, because if you were to think about how the story unfolds, you will want to strangle the writers for coming up with such a baseless story. It is flawed, yes, but the proportion of flaws is astronomical.Since the beginning I had a bad feeling about the film because the titles took about 10 minutes to finish and had this auditory dialogs from famous Malayalam films. The jokes are hardly funny, yet the Mohanlal fans managed to overlook that and laugh their stomachs off. He wore a goggles, they clapped. He wore a suit, they clapped. He wore another goggles, they clapped. He wore the US flag as lungi, they clapped. He pouted, they clapped. He shat, they clapped and so on.The direction is bad and I have proof for that. Have you, an Indian, ever seen an American, in films, with poor acting? No, right? Well, you watch Peruchazhi and you will find dozens. The cinematography is the only thing that is average. Lighting, setup, art, music, lyrics (peruchazhi and bandicoot makes about 80% of it, probably written by BlaaZe, last heard from in Casanovva), make-up, choreography, editing, CGI, screenplay - everything is poor. To say that these were poorer than a Santhosh Pandit film would rather be an understatement.Because, the cast, from whom people now have started to expect gold are only delivering cheap copper. It is the time of newcomer directors and writers, but what made Mohanlal take up this project? Why, even the English subtitles were marred with mistakes and typos! Mr. Fraud was a 5/10 for me and when I see my own score for this flick, I am rather worried about what is happening to Malayalam films? Last year, we saw some great films in its history and now, what? Jayaram as a joker in Ulsaha Committee? Mammootty as a joker in Praise The Lord? And now Mohanlal as a joker in Peruchazhi, who falls in love with a fair- complexioned prostitute? Come on!The item song is pure cabaret and has Lal's character ogling at the supposed beauties. Few adults jokes and rants at current affairs of Kerala may have satisfied the niche. Other than few chuckles, brought about by using some famous Malayalam tracks and Lal's old film dialogs, there is nothing to consider. You may as well go and enjoy Apothecary or Mammootty's comeback film, Munariyippu instead.BOTTOM LINE: Peruchazhi, like my partner said after leaving the hall, is only for kids below the age of 10. Because, a kid named Jagannathan, who was sitting beside us was the only person who enjoyed the film the way a person enjoys a film. 2/10 for this debacle. If you were to make a robot watch this film, it would plead you to dismantle it, and after continuous forcing, would do it by itself.Can be watched with a typical Indian family? YES

Well, you rate movies based on what it tries to be. You can't compare a wanna be Shawashank Redemption to a wanna be American Pie... Just because they're of two very different leagues. So, here's a movie that's not to be taken too seriously, and you'll enjoy it...Mohanlal's done many good movies in the past. This one's a bit different in it's presentation, but still is pure form of hero worship...Pros - 1. Lal's charismatic performance and mannerisms. 2. Comedy department - headed b Mukesh, Baburaj, Aju Varghese and Lalettan himself. 3. BGM - Gave a good feel and elevated the mood. 4. A few references to Lal's yesteryear hits/flicks. 5. Some dialogues where the "I" the protagonist refers to is the actor himself, more than the character. 6. The first half and interval punch. 7. Enough scope for claps and whistles throughout the movie.Cons - 1. The second half is not as enjoyable as the first and is a wee bit predictable. 2. The heroine's subplot starts to give a bad feeling initially (but is elevated by the fight that follows). 3. A few scenes in between may not be digestible to everyone. 4. There are one or two words uttered by Lal himself that should've been muted.Verdict - A perfect outing with friends, a paisa vasool entertainer, that lives up to the promos...

Mohanlal delivers an energy packed performance with his exceptional comic timings and dialogue delivering skills. The actor once again proves his capability to perform any character without any flaws. Mukesh shines as the cunning politician and the role is absolutely a cakewalk for the actor. Vijay Babu deserves a special applause for his matured acting skills. Baburaj, Aju Varghese and Ramesh Pisharody are fine in their roles; but the over dosage of adult jokes makes their act look weird after a point. Ragini Nandwani, makes a decent debut as Jessy ; but her chemistry with Mohanlal in the romantic scenes looks odd at places. The rest of the cast did justice to their roles. Peruchazhi, is engaging at some places, shows some real flaws also. Arun Vaidyanathan succeeds in bringing out the real comic elements from the actors; but fails in molding a real political satire on screen. As a result, the movie looks artificial at places. Arvind Krishna's cinematography is outstanding. Vivek Harshan's editing makes the movie slim without any irrelevant contents. Arrora's songs are disappointing. But the background score is good and completely sinks with mood of the movie.