Hey Jude Review: A delightful feel good entertainer!

Nivin Pauly’s first outing of the year, Hey Jude has hit screens today. The movie directed by Shyamaprasad marks the Malayalam debut of popular South Indian actress Trisha. Let’s see how Hey Jude has panned out to be.

Hey Jude is basically a coming-of-age story of the protagonist. It follows the life of Jude, an oddball who is obsessed with numbers. Upon his visit to his ancestral home in Goa, Jude befriends with his neighbor Crystal and her father Sebastian, a neuropsychologist. How love and understanding transforms Jude forms the crux of the story. It is a beautiful story of love, healing and self discovery.

Newcomers George Kanatt and Nirmal Sahadev, a former associate of Shyamaprasad, have jointly scripted this movie. They have dished out a delightful story on paper and the ace Shyamaprasad has translated it on screen, like only he can. The movie has only a handful of characters but deals with a lot of human emotions. Like the character played by Siddique says, every single person has some sort of abnormality and the movie is a reflection of the same.

Nivin Pauly has almost nailed it with his performance as Jude. His looks, costumes and even the slightest of expressions add more depth to the character, and it was a truly refreshing act coming from Nivin. He has done some good homework to get correctly the nuances of such a differently abled person. Trisha is her graceful self as Crystal. She plays a character with extreme mood swings and the pretty actress has done her part well.

Vijay Menon and Siddique are the standout performers among the supporting cast. Dr Sebastian is perhaps the best character that Vijay Menon has got in his long acting career. Siddique, as always, is a treat to watch. He lits up the screen frequently with his quirky one-liners. Neena Kurup also did a good job as Jude’s caring mother.

Hey Jude is rich in colours and music. The breezy ambiance of Goa is well captured by the DOP Girish Gangadharan. Music is a major element in the movie and the director has cleverly roped in the services of four different composers – M Jayachandran, Ousepachan, Rahul Raj and Gopi Sunder. Background score is also in perfect sync, especially the ones with the local Goan flavour.

Overall, Hey Jude is a beautiful movie with an inspiring story, endearing performances and some good music. Deserves a watch with the families.