 Suresh Gopi has for long been tied to a particular star image, more of an officer on investigation who clears of the big mess taking strains to scream 'bombastic dialogues' all through. His new film Kichamani M B A, is at least commendable for presenting the star with a comic flair, even though that too did not work in the film's favor. As per definition ‘‘A comedy is a movie in which the plot or characters try to make you laugh''. But can a movie be a comedy if it does not illicit any intended emotions in any of the sequences? And more so, the action comedy can be one of the easiest movies to make poorly and one of the most difficult to make effectively. And that is genre that producer turned director Samad Mankada tries to make in his debut attempt as the director .Besides presenting Suresh Gopi in a funny hairdo's, a singsong speech and curious walking styles, nothing is remarkable in this run of the mill stuff, which tries hard to bring in chuckles in every alternate sequences, but with the least success.
This is one of those movies that start off with a lot of promise and slowly degenerate over the next couple of hours. In this Onam offering Suresh Gopi is Kichamani; a smooth talking wheeler-dealer who runs a big establishment specialized in bribing officials and making things done from government machinery. The MBA attached to his name is not the short form for the degree, but it stands for Member of Bachelor Association, as the hero is more a devotee of lord Ayappa. He has his parallel mechanisms in every government offices and with the passes issued by Kichamani, any one can get any deed done, ranging from getting job transfers, smuggling goods including liquor to booking a seat in private medical colleges.
Kichamani has his own reasons to think that the remedy for corruption is not anti corruption, but corruption itself. He believes in his experiences that he got since his childhood working with the bribery machinery in various offices. His immediate core group includes Ginnah(Kochin Haneef), his mentor, Bahuleyan(Riza Bawa) the excise minister , Udhayabhanu(Biju Kuttan) his manager and Gopi(Abey), who is into everything with their leader. And to bring in the necessary clashes with the hero is Devanarayanan, popularly called as Devanji, a shrewd politician, who treats politics as a part of his illegal business. Devanarayanan is hell bent on clearing of the machinery of Kichamani for a variety of reasons as Kichamani extends unlimited support to Bahuleyan, his opponent in the party and as Kichamani is the one solely responsible for sending Devan’s brother to jail. The villain gathers every point to fight with Kichamani, which proves to be singular plot of the film.
Into this turmoil arrives Shivani Menon , an award winning documentary maker from Delhi, with her crew composing of manager Chempakaraman and cameraman Sajan (Jayasuriya). As they are soon embroiled in probing on the illegal land acquisition by paradise group headed by Devanji, and plan to make a documentary on that, they fall into danger .Kichamani saves them and give them a shelter in his big house. The essential love angle in the film is created by Sajan and Kichamani's sister Kalyani,(Priyanka, debuting in Malayalam) which makes the scripter repeat the highlight sequences of the Mohanlal hit 'Usthad' .The film which progress in the unending fights between the Kichamani and Devanarayanan who strives for more power ,hardly gives any solace to the already yawning viewers who never gets drawn into the plot or characters , as all moves around in a perfectly predictable sequences more amidst direct crassness.
The film tries to find humor in silly rhymes, lowbrow gay gigs and unnecessary songs. The performances are unconvincing and the script hackneyed. Suresh Gopi tires to present something different but fails to live it up to expectations. It embarrasses a viewer to see that the star still hasn't been able to catch the nuances of comedy acting after years of working in films. His comedy timing is too inappropriate compared to other known artists of Malayalam, as many jokes fall flat from raising any big laughs. Navya Nair as Shivani Menon, has got more screen space than usual and presents her part perfectly. Biju Menon is wasted as Devanarayanan. Jayasuriya, Salimkumar, Jaffer Idukki, Bijukuttan and Kochin Haneef strive to bring up some lively sequences.
The story by Ashna Ash seems refreshing only for the central character and holds a substantial potential for comedy, if worked out well. But what translates on to the screen is far less engaging than what one expects, particularly considering the ensemble of actors like Salimkumar, Cochin Haneef, Bijukuttan and Jaffer Idukky, all of who have their own unique flair for comedy. The movie's script is like mishmash of old, outdated jokes given a new tenor by situational turns. The film is an example of what happens when a movie uses lame material to tie together an uneven string of jokes The technical side except P Sukumar’s camera are average. The movie's rerecording and music by Alex Paul further adds to the woes of a viewer. Director Samad Mankada, through the debut venture has proved his startling ability to extinguish the humor in the funniest people among us.
Very rarely in our cinema can you say - no significant story, not everybody has acted well, but still go watch it. But that is the case for this Onam, as no good filmy feast is offered for families to get entertained. Watch Kichamani, if you have nothing better to do.
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