It can be said a Malayalee stops being one if he/she does not know the ‘salt mango tree’ joke from Mohanlal-Sreenivasan team’s Doore Oru Koodu Koottaam.
In Rajesh Nair-directed Salt Mango Tree, Biju Menon comes face to face with situations similar to what Mohanlal did in the earlier film - a man with scant knowledge of English has to ‘live up’ to the linguistic expectations put on him - and that justifies the title.
From the title graphic that mixed English and Malayalam to the scene of a German appalled by English-obsessed Malayalees, the movie has an interesting take on language politics. Eventhough at times, the movie falls short on its thematic coherence, it delivers on many other counts, including performances and wholesome entertainment.
Aravind (Biju Menon) is the owner of a small medical shop and his wife Priya (Lakshmi Rajamouli) an accountant. They want to admit their son, Manu (Master Varkichan), to a reputed English medium school to make up for the lack of English proficiency quotient in the house.
One hurdle that shatters their dreams is Aravind’s continued poor show at the parents’ interviews. In order to better their performance, the couple decides to join a week-long coaching for parents of seat-seeking five-year-olds. The classes are headed by a teacher (Suhasini Maniratnam) who believes good manners is good education. The parents are ‘mentored’ to be ideal ones before the day for the last interview arrives.
Biju Menon continues the streak of good performances and Lakshmi Rajamouli looks convincing in her role. Kanaran Harish as Aravind’s assistant has some of the best comic lines in the movie and delivers an excellent performance.