Varnyathil Aashanka Review: Fairly engaging

Varnyathil Aashanka Review: Fairly engaging

Actor-turned-filmmaker Sidharth Bharathan’s third outing as a director Varnyathil Aashanka was released today. Morning shows in all the centres were cancelled due to some technical reasons. The movie, scripted by noted theatre writer/director Thrissur Gopalji stars Kunchacko Boban, Suraj Venjaramoodu, Manikandan Achari, Chemban Vinod Jose and Shine Tom Chacko in major roles. From the outset, Varnyathil Aashanka promised to be a fun entertainer but let’s see how it actually turned out to be.

The movie’s basic plot is about four loafers/crooks’ attempt to make some quick money. They hatch a plan to rob a jewellery. This is where they encounter a fifth guy, who has got a back story of his own. Varnyathil Aashanka does not boast of an out of the box storyline but its the series of interesting events that take the narrative forward. However, towards the climax we get the feel of an abrupt ending and the lag in the initial half does not work either.

Director Sidharth Bharathan has done a decent job in making the movie a fairly engaging one. Writer Thrissur Gopalji has added a very interesting satirical tone to this heist movie. Through the course of the narrative, the movie reflects the current socio-political issues in the society. Demonetization, closing down of bars, hartal, political violence are all talked about in the movie.

One major blip that I found was the duration of scenes. Most scenes seemed very lengthy and unnecessarily dragged. Bavan Sreekumar could have edited the movie a bit more tightly, especially in the first half. Eventhough, the movie didn’t have any scope for songs, Prashanth Pillai made sure he impresses with his background score.

Coming to the performance side, it was Suraj Venjaramoodu who scored well above all the other actors. He comes only late into the movie but ensured that he scored the maximum. His growth as a character actor after winning the national award is quite impressive and Varnyathil Aashanka is a testimony for that. His performance as Dhayanandhan, a cunning-yet-fun unemployed family man, is a treat to watch.

Kunchako Boban’s Kavatta Sivan was contrasting to the usual sophisticated roles that one would expect from him but he was good playing this role. Chemban Vinod Jose, Manikandan Achari and Shine Tom Chacko justified their casting especially the former whose unassuming goofiness leaves the audience in splits.

Varnyathil Aashanka is a fairly engaging movie that has its share of flaws. Nevertheless, Sidharth Bharathan and team have delivered a good one time watch for those who seek some much needed entertainment.