The recently released Lollipop and Crazy Gopalan are desperate attempts at hanging on to the comedy market, risking everything including a sane script.
Though nobody expects Shafi to come out with an intense movie, his wannabe singing-dancing entertainer spiced with a few scenes high on emotional quotient turns out to be the ultimate disappointment.
The film works on an insipid and jaded plot and progresses with predictable drolleries and clichéd situations. In Crazy Gopalan with much horror and ire we watch the screenplay turning genuine artists into performing monkeys.
Lollipop is the story of orphaned siblings who grow up as ill-mannered brats. A malnourished Prithvi Raj plays Franco who works at his automobile garage whenever he is not busy bashing up thugs or trying to minimise the tension between his lady love and his sister.
Unfortunately, after her balanced and commendable debut in Notebook, Roma has only got roles overplaying the glam-doll.
She plays Jennifer, an extension of her urban tomboy act in Minnaminnikkoottam and Chocolate.
Bhavana has nothing more to do than keep her femme demure status and watch her macho boyfriend with goose bumps. Jayasurya in his earnest attempt to play a true villain merely keeps middling and the only act expected of Kunchako Boban’s doctor character, the typical goodie with well-off social status, is to charm the heroine.
The introductory scenes of Prithvi Raj and the pickpocket played by Jayasurya progress from boring to irritating, creating nothing but exasperation.
The mediocre screenplay lames the efforts rendered by a few actors including Salim Kumar, Suraj and Rajan P Dev. Even the subtlest of all - Jagathy - gives a strained performance in his small role and lacks his usual charm and pungency. Like the others he succumbs to the total artificiality, his comments reminding us of some radio drama, thanks to the good-for-nothing ghost angle. Though the first half does have a few funny moments, many of the intended comic situations fail to induce even a chuckle. Suraj sometimes lags behind with his extra-goofy performance, but he is responsible for the very few hilarious moments in the film.
And finally the film has some surprising resemblance to the Bollywood films Josh and Ishq.
While the orphaned siblings and the over protective macho brother part resembles the storyline of Josh, the climax misunderstanding part seems to be inspired by Ishq. But Shafi’s falderal with its clichéd plot creates no humour fiesta and becomes a total loser.
Crazy Gopalan comes as the latest addition to Dileep’s slapstick entertainers, but the actor fails miserably to enthral his audience in the role of an endearing village thief. The actor in his mission to specialise in burglar roles makes no attempt to hide the character’s lineage from Meesha Madhavan , or even from another character played by Mammootty in a film with a similar storyline. Like in some of Dileep’s earlier films this plot too requires you to leave your brains behind and gives no scope for using the unwanted common sense. Yes, the hero flies without wings and even does rumble-mumble in the court before escaping in the vicinity of the judge, triggering off on his imaginary motorbike.
Dileep dons the role of Kattila Gopalan, a village thief who makes it a point to leave a note after each robbery. He pathetically fails to create an impact though properly backed by Salim Kumar in a decent performance in the first half and Jagathy’s act as a local thief in the second. But somehow the chemistry that worked in Meesha Madhavan is missing and the screenplay makes it impossible for the actors to score naturally.
The hero’s different makeovers are not even passable as fancy dress and it is almost impossible to visualise Dileep as the bike-riding high-tech thief a la Hritik Roshan in Dhoom, though the film makes deliberate attempts at it. Forget the plot, the film even has familiar situations and scenes and it completely fails to build any tension or excitement at the gimmickry of the thief-hero. If dancing all drenched and looking good doesn’t count as acting, Radha Varma’s female lead is nothing more than a background prop. Manoj K Jayan comes out with his hackneyed and expected villainy making no great impression.
Watching the films will be disastrous for those who expect a laugh riot. Both the films are examples of bad humour coupled with clichéd performances, or in simple terms comedy at its worst.
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