Viswasam Athalle Ellam Movie Review

Story: The film chronicles the coming-of-age story of the wastrel son of an honest police officer, who realizes there are no shortcuts to success

Review: You walk in to watch Viswasam Athalle Ellam expecting something along the lines of Ithihasa. The cast is made up of lesser-known actors and Shine Tom Chacko plays the lead. But, what you get is a disaster that slips into a B-grade comedy. The story begins with an honest, loving police officer Luca (Shankar) kicking out his wastrel son Jomon (Shine Tom) with a clichéd set of dialogues. Jomon – who is about to kill himself – learns that his business proposal for a windmill at Marine Drive has been accepted.

However, the mill crashes down, not once but twice and Jomon is about to be arrested. In between there are two women in his life – played by Ansiba and Archana Jayakrishnan – and three men who are his sponsors (supposedly the comic element) who add to the torture that is the first half of the film along with a host of other characters. It spirals down and after a point you lose track of the story.

Manoj K Jayan plays a senior police officer named Prithviraj Singh (a caricature of Rishiraj Singh). There are also other tacky references to real-life incidents – for instance the hotel employee asking himself if Jomon is ‘doing cocaine or something’. The comic sequences are painful at times and they reduce Kalabhavan Shajon and Indrans to crass comedians.

However, just as you are about to give up, the story picks up towards the end as if the filmmaker suddenly realized the film was going nowhere. Gopi Sunder’s music is the only saving factor besides the lead actor. The film somehow comes to an interesting and funny climax, but how many would have the patience to sit through is the question.