'Snehaveedu' (Malayalam)
Director: Sathyan Anthikkad
Cast: Mohanlal, Sheela, Padmapriya, Rahul Pillai
The ‘Anthikkadan Academy of Film Production’ is one institution where syllabus will not change often. The director of the ‘academy,’ Sathyan Anthikkad, for the last few years has been managing ‘it’ alone.
Earlier, he used to be assisted by some prominent scriptwriters, including Sreenivasan and Reghunath Paleri. No doubt, the ‘academy’ was successful in coming out with hit productions like ‘Mazhavilkkavadi’, ‘Ponmuttayidunna Tharavu', ‘Nadodikkattu’ and ‘Thalayanamanthram’.
But for the last few years, the director himself is penning scripts for his movies and if you a take quick look into some of the recent Sathyan Anthikkad movies, it is evident that he is following a similar formula - a story revolving around either a father-son combo or mother-daughter relationship. His latest offering ‘Snehaveedu’ also follows the same track. And alarmingly, this cliche factor is a major setback for this ‘Anthikkadan Academy’ product.
This time, it is the turn of Mohanlal to portray the role of a dutiful son, Ajayan, who does not even want to get married just because he wants to serve his loving mom Ammukkutty Amma, handled by Sheela.
Like usual Sathyan flicks, ‘Snehaveedu’ is also set against the background of a beautiful village and various innocent characters living there. Of course, there is a toddy tapper, a club, evening get-together of villagers, a cow, cycle, so on and so forth of rustic charm. And adding to the simplicity factor is the Nano car that the protagonist owns.
The life of Amukkutty Amma and Ajayan was flowing smoothly when, one day, a boy named Karthik (Rahul Pillai) comes to Ajayan’s house with a strange claim - “He is Ajayan’s own son.” Twist!
But sadly, from this ‘twist’ onwards, the movie is highly predictable and with a weak second half, the movie ends without answering many pertinent questions that arise in the minds of the viewers.
However, Mohanlal as Ajayan is the saving grace of the film. Some of his comic numbers, including “Then Kudikkunnu, Parakkunnu, Paraganam”, will definitely bring a smile to the viewers’ faces.
Sheela is good as Ammukkutty Amma and Padmapriya, though she did not have much to do, is perfect as Sunanda. The other actors, including Rahul Pillai, Biju Menon and Lena, also handled their characters well. The trio of Innocent, KPAC Lalitha and Mamukkoya, the permanent presence in Sathyan flicks, too is there portraying their cameos with elan.
If it was Vipin Mohan who handled the camera for Sathyan Anthikkad for a long time, it was Azhagappan’s turn for some time. Now, it is Venu’s turn and though there is nothing extraordinary, he did his part well. The scenic of beauty of Attappadi has been captured beautifully by him.
The intricacies aside, ‘Snehaveedu’ is a usual Sathyan flick that flows like how you want an ‘Anthikkadan’ movie to be. Nothing more. Nothing less.