Vyasanasametham Bandhumithradhikal Movie Review: A middling mourning comedy that amuses in parts

There’s comedy in the chaos, but too many mourners and muddled threads leave this funeral satire feeling only half-alive

S Vipin’s Vyasanasametham Bandhumithradhikal sets out to be a quirky funeral comedy soaked in situational humour and social satire. While it shows flashes of promise, it ultimately struggles to piece its many threads into a cohesive and impactful whole. The film tries to follow in the footsteps of other dark comedies that thrive on funeral-house chaos but struggles to string its gags into anything memorable. The film begins with a deliciously odd moment. One night, Savithriyamma (Mallika Sukumaran), a woman in her seventies, sees an obituary of a fellow septuagenarian woman she knows. She quietly clicks a picture of it and hands her phone to her granddaughter Anjali (Anaswara Rajan). The request? To make it her WhatsApp status. When a confused Anjali asks why, the reply is pure gold: “Makkalu koottukarude photo birthday kk okke status aakki idille? Athu pole thanne ithum.” Because, obviously, death is just a different kind of milestone. When asked if she wanted a flower emoji added, Savithriyamma ups the ante: “Randu love um koode itto.” The humour lands. That one moment, delivered with deadpan precision, encapsulates the film’s best quality, poking fun at how generational responses to grief have evolved in this digital age. The tone is set.

Director: S Vipin

Cast: Anaswara Rajan, Siju Sunny, Joemon Jyothir, Azees Nedumangad, Baiju Santhosh, Noby Marcose, Mallika Sukumaran

It soon introduces Murali (Azees Nedumangad), a mild-mannered shopkeeper who lives in his mother-in-law Savithriyamma’s house with his wife and daughter. Anjali is engaged to Akhil, a police officer with serious boundary issues and even less charm. Akhil’s idea of love is micromanaging Anjali’s phone calls, asking for screenshots of her call log, and basically being every girl’s cautionary tale. Complicating matters is Venu (Baiju Santhosh), a casteist local leader whose opinion Murali holds in undue regard. When Venu shares that a Muslim college mate named Suhail is uploading Anjali’s photos as WhatsApp statuses, Murali immediately suspects something inappropriate. Anjali insists Suhail is just a college senior who has been persistently stalking her. This subplot introduces Suhail (Siju Sunny) and his equally unhinged friend Shakthi (Joemon Jyothir), whose misadventures bring in some solid comic beats. When Savithriyamma suddenly dies of a heart attack, the story shifts into funeral mode and the ensuing chaos forms the rest of the film.

There is no dearth of characters or parallel subplots. There is a neighbour who refuses to allow cremation near their boundary, a local politician trying to hijack the rituals for vote-bank optics, clueless funeral attendees mistaking Shakthi for a migrant worker, and relatives more interested in gossip and booze than mourning. The tone remains light, with plenty of Trivandrum slang peppered throughout the conversations. Some gags, like the loud band troupe next door practising Tamil kuthu songs during the wake, creating amusing tonal dissonance, work well. But despite its comic potential, the film never quite finds its rhythm. The many threads do not always come together meaningfully, and what starts as an engaging satire slowly turns into a patchy collection of events. By the time the film tries to inject emotion and give Anjali and Murali their big moment of empowerment, it feels like a completely different film. The tonal shift is clunky, and the payoff underwhelming.

The acting is competent to a considerable extent. Azees Nedumangad is solid as Murali, especially towards the end. Anaswara Rajan plays Anjali adequately, though her performance feels indistinguishable from her past roles. Mallika Sukumaran is spot-on in her short but memorable turn. Joemon Jyothir shines as the comic punching bag, and Noby Marcose is consistently reliable as the underappreciated voice of reason. Viji Thampi and Neeraja Rajendran, as Akhil’s absurdly superstitious and stubborn parents, offer some genuinely funny moments. Baiju Santhosh’s role as Venu is theatrical but flat, a sketch too one-note to feel menacing or meaningful. Siju Sunny, sadly, feels tiringly repetitive.

With a runtime of just under two hours, Vyasanasametham Bandhumithradhikal is not a slog. It has the structure of a passable time-pass comedy and occasionally lands the laughs it aims for. But what it sorely lacks is the sharpness of Malayalam satires that have previously dabbled with chaos and comedy of errors. There is nothing particularly new in its observations or execution. Watch it if you are after an undemanding watch with occasional laughs, and not much more.