The expectations: A Mammootty film after a gap of six months. Add to this, director Shafi, the man with a Midas touch in Mollywood, and a scriptwriter like James Albert. Naturally, viewers will expect nothing less than excellence. But, even without the pressure of these expectations clouding the judgement, one can easily say that the movie “Venicele Vyapari” fails to deliver. The major reason is the inconsistent script. The film also lacks good comedy numbers, the hallmark of Shafi movies.
The storyline: The film is neither the tale of a modern day Antonio nor that of Shylock. But “Venicele Vyapari” narrates the story of Pavithran, a police constable who is assigned to investigate the murder of Ajayan (Biju Menon), a trade union leader. In disguise
of a business man, Pavithran lands in Ajayan’s village, where he meets Ammu (Kavya Madhavan), Ajayan’s sister.
Pavithran ventures into coir business and tastes success in it. Money starts to have such an effect in his life that Pavithran even quits his job and turns into a full-time businessman.
But another family - Chunkathara - in Alappuzha, which have been enjoying the monopoly in coir business, cannot digest the growth of Pavithran. The rest of the dramatic events form the crux the movie.
The retro element: One question that arises in the minds of viewers after watching the movie is why the makers decided to set the whole movie in the 80s.
However, the director, art director, costume designer and cameraman have succeed in recreating the era without much flaws. Credit goes to Shafi, Joseph Nellickal, S B Satheesh and Sham Dutt respectively. The retro element works well especially in two places - the titles and the ‘Kannum Kannum’ song.
Actors: Mammootty as Pavithran has done a good job. Nothing special or outstanding, but he has portrayed the emotions - the innocence of Pavithran as the police constable, the cunning, shrewd mannerisms and then the helplessness of Pavithran as the coir merchant - with elan. Kavya Madhavan as Ammu, Jagathy as Kalady, Salimkumar as Kamalasanan and Suraj Venjaramoodu as Odiyan aka Chandran Pillai and Poonam Bajva as Lakshmi - all play their parts well.
The end result: Shafi has created wonders earlier with scriptwriters like Banny P Nayarambalam, Rafi-Mecartin and Sachi-Sethu. Most of his previous films are a perfect blend of comedy, action and drama.
In “Venicele Vyapari”, there is no particular focus on the script and it seems that even Shafi is clueless in opting for the right treatment for this one. The result, the movie ends as a ‘movie’ made for the sake of ‘making a movie’.