Saigal Padukayanu Review

Saigal Padukayanu is the latest Malayalam release of this week and the only one from Malayalam as the Puli fever has got many theaters which made other Malayalam films hold its release for another week. Saigal Padukayanu looks like a small film by its star cast which has Shine Tom Chacko and Ramya Nambeesan in lead roles. But when we look at behind the camera it can be called a big film. Because this family drama is directed by none other than master director Sibi Malayil and scripted by award winning prolific writer of Mollywood, Mr. T A Razaq. So there will be an expectation in the minds of people who wants to watch this flick.

The film which is touted as an emotional family entertainer tells the life story of Chandra Babu who is an auto driver cum singer. His father who is also a singer and he even names his son as Chandra Babu out of his admiration to great singers. His father’s name is Yusuf Saigal played by Madhupal. Chandra Babu grows up as a very good singer but he never reaches anywhere as a singer in his life. He becomes an auto driver and later had to marry a girl who has poor financial circumstances. The life situation and some bad friendship transforms him into an alcoholic. The film focuses on the plight of this talented singer, the struggles he had to endure in life while he keeps music close to his heart. There are many characters who comes to his life in many situations and the film tells us how that affects the course of his life.

The film which told in a very realistic way has not tried to give us anything unusual and follows the age old path of every family emotional drama. But the attempt of the director and scriptwriter is very much honest and that is visible in the film. M Jayachandran’s music really formed the soul of the film and Bijith Bala as editor did a nice job as well. In performance Shine Tom Chacko tried his best and succeeded as well. But sometimes that effort he took is very much visible in the portrayal of the character. Ramya Nambeesan got a matured character with some depth after a long time and she made it look convincing as usual. Notable performance also came from Sithara who played the mother character of Shine’s character Chandra Babu. Artists such as Madhupal, Hareesh Peradi, Rajesh Varma, Siddique have also done their job neatly in the film. Hareesh Peradi and Santhosh Keezhattoor just sizzled as the characters once again.

Sometimes the emotional flavor made it a lagging affair but it will never bore the viewer to death. And also when tried to become too much realistic cliché situations also came by here and there. But on the whole if we have to say Saigal Padukayanu is a honest attempt to tell an emotional family story and they did it with elan. It is a decent film which will remind you of the time when superb emotional family dramas ruled Malayalam cinema.

Director : Sibi Malayil
Release Date : 2/10/2015
Cast : Shine Tom Chacko, Remya Nambeesan

Review : Harikrishnan