The humour is intermittently effective, and at times all over the place; there is so much happening on one side, and so little on the other. The context is as unreal as it gets, plenty of opportunities are missed, and grace is far from sight.
There are three things that are quite apparently amiss in B C Noufal’s ‘Oru Yamandan Premakatha’ – a convincing premise that holds an appeal, a relatable love tale that would live up to its title and a sense of judgment that its lead actor is renowned for. Of these, one would rather assume that this simply cannot be an error of judgment on DQ’s part; rather this could only be a purposive, planned getaway for the actor from the solemn, sombre kind of films that he had been doing all the while.
This theory could very well be left unproven, but there is a loudness in ‘Oru Yamandan Premkatha’ that has not been witnessed in any Dulquer film till date. So much so that it surprises you many a time, not because it’s a tremendously inflated film that is puffed up in all possible ways, but because it’s a Dulquer film to start with.
Dulquer plays Lallu in ‘Oru Yamandan Premkatha’, a boy born to affluent parents who decides to become a painter, while his younger brother (Arun Kurian) has grabbed a job at an MNC. As someone asks in the film itself, would Lallu be an artist, then? Nope, he’s quick to answer and offers a clarification that he paints walls under the leadership of Panchikuttan (Salim Kumar), and is ably supported by his chronies Vikky Peedika (Soubin Shahir) and the visually challenged Teny (Vishnu Unnikirshnan).
‘Oru Yamandan Premkatha’ runs for an insanely long time – a quarter of an hour short of three long hours – and as the interval card comes up, precisely very little has actually transpired, plot wise. To cut a very long story short, his friends have been on the hunt for a suitable marriage alliance for Lallu, who however rejects almost every girl under the sun, claiming that she lacks the spark that should bond them together for life.
Lallu has had more than his share of admirers back home, and we even get to see him in a scene, where he looks all flustered explaining to a row of girls standing right in front of him, rose flowers held out in anticipation, that he could only be a brother to them. Most of them make a retreat, but not Jesna (Samyuktha Menon) who hangs around for years, hoping that he would change his mind someday.
Lallu does discover the spark finally, when he gets to see the photograph of Diya Francis (Nikhila Vimal) on a newspaper, and sets out to find her, since she has been reported missing. It takes another hour for the mystery to unravel, and it all moves to a climax that you had spotted from afar, before this Yamandan love tale draws to a close.
The garishness pervades throughout – be it in the sets, or the songs, the dance sequences or the jokes. Efforts have been made to make it all appear much larger than life, and while there are a few instances when it looks at best appropriate, for the most part, ‘Oru Yamandan Premkatha’ seems like it has totally missed the boat.
The humour is intermittently effective, and at times all over the place; there is so much happening on one side, and so little on the other. The context is as unreal as it gets, plenty of opportunities are missed, and grace is far from sight.
As such, the sole redeeming factor of ‘Oru Yamandan Premkatha’ lies in its adorable leading star, and Dulquer gives it his very best, leaping right through the holes in the script as if there is no tomorrow. The DQ flair works like a charm without doubt, but the perennial question remains – but why Dulquer, why?
Verdict: Strictly Average