‘Ente Ummante Peru’ strikes you as a missed opportunity, with a handful of awesome performers lending their very best to a tale that does little justice to them. Despite all its earnestness it fails to connect with the viewers, and comes across as a detached, overwrought cinematic piece.
It’s always a delight to watch Urvasi perform on screen, and occasions when she elevates even the most mundane of scripts to lofty levels with her performance aren’t uncommon. Jose Sebastian’s ‘Ente Ummante Peru’ is a glorious tribute to the acting prowess of this amazing artist, but apart from her, there is little in the film that you carry back home.
Granted that the film is all about Hameed (Tovino Thomas) who discovers the hard way that being alone in the world could be tough. Shortly after his dad’s death, Hameed feeling desolately alone decides to tie the knot. With his heart beating a few extra beats for Sainaba (Saipriya), Hameed sets out to search for his mother, since he realizes that being sans a family isn’t doing him any good on the marriage front either.
There is a whole lot of mystery surrounding Hameed’s dad in the script which you initially believe will work in the film’s favour. But what is unfortunate is that this pivotal character remains as unexplained and as undeveloped as it initially is, so much so that the vagueness and uncertainty merely leaves a lot of unanswered questions behind.
‘Ente Ummante Peru’ suffers in its characterisation with a script that fervently makes you wish that it would explore its characters fully, lending flesh and a bit more depth, thereby blowing in a bit more life into them. The script falls into the much dreaded trap of one dimensionality with the result that several of its chief personae appear flat.
There is also the trouble of the sub plots being all over the place, and as hard as Jose Sebastian strives to tie them all up together, he is left with a jumbo bundle from which pieces keep falling off. It does get slightly better as the film moves towards the climax, but by then most of the undoing has already been done.
What is indeed impressive is the Malabar spirit that has been deftly brought in and the cultural tenor that the film maintains throughout. The quintessential tang of Malabar is splashed all across the screen, and at times it makes you wish that they had opted for some tweaking in the story as well, which could have made all the difference.
Tovino is his usual (good) self in the film, though he does get overshadowed by Urvasi’s presence in most of their combination scenes. She takes over the reins of the film with an astute confidence that has often rendered her acting feats exemplary, and goes about her business with an ease and facility that has to be seen to be believed.
There are also noteworthy performances from the supporting cast, bet it an ever dependable Hareesh Kanaran or the likeable Mamukkoya, or even Siddique and Santhikrishna who make brief appearances. Saipirya looks exquisitely gorgeous, and does well in a role that requires her to do exactly that.
‘Ente Ummante Peru’ strikes you as a missed opportunity, with a handful of awesome performers lending their very best to a tale that does little justice to them. Despite all its earnestness it fails to connect with the viewers, and comes across as a detached, overwrought cinematic piece.
Verdict: Average