Finally, it is the time for merriment for the young brigade. Their first union together in Lal Jose's Classmates is harvesting rich dividends and each has contributed to the trendsetter in their own fashion. The film which is expected to be a runaway hit is a refreshing endeavor telling a new tale of love, friendship and nostalgia.
The film revolves around the campus life and reunion of a band of friends who completed their degree in Chemistry in the year 1991-92. The notable among the batch mates is Sukumaran (Prithviraj), a firebrand student leader who lives with left ideologies. Satheesan Kanjikuzhy (Jayasurya) leads the opposite faction in the campus, the representative of the party in power. Vaalu Vaasu (Vijeesh) is his trusted crony who is with Satheesan in his every fowl plays. Pius (Indrajith), a rich and spoiled brat and son of Gulf settled parents, is the campus Romeo who is after different girls day after day. Murali (Naran) with his golden voice is the doyen of the college campus. Thara Kurup (Kavya Madhavan) is the daughter of the political stronghold and a danseuse who wins numerous awards for the college with her performance. And in the group is Raziya always pardha clad which won her the name Penguin. Estappanachan popularly nicknamed in the campus as Vadivelu (Jagathy Sreekumar) is the hostel warden.
The festive campus which explodes in activity suddenly loses ways with the mysterious death of Murali. And the classmates move apart to different circumstances. It was Murali's dream that these classmates should have a reunion few years after graduation. His parents Prof. Iyengar (Balachandra Menon) and Lakshmi Teacher (Shobha Mohan) who both teach at the same college decide to fulfill their departed son's dream and bring his classmates together for a reunion. They find out most of them for the get together. Sukumaran is now a diamond dealer in Mumbai who is in distress following a disastrous married life. Satheesan is now an MLA. Pius is now settled in the Gulf. Thara, still unmarried, now runs a dancing school. The coming together of these classmates is an occasion for the participants to regurgitate the past and go nostalgic. But the reunion offers more than nostalgic memories.
Though Classmates is a campus based movie, this don't relate just to campus stories. Other than the color and gaiety of campus life, Lal Jose's throw in a good mix of emotions and suspense. The film which opens with a little indifference soon falls to tracks to deliver the rest that surprises you and offer you an intimate and passionate viewing. The second half showcases the director's strength in managing a smooth ice walk over continuous sequences of heavy emotions. The new scriptwriter James Albert definitely offers you some classy narratives with adequate well directed twists that you don't see often in recent films.
The film sketches out well made characters with adequate dimensions. Prithviraj and Kavya lead the show with their regular strengths in emoting, but the pick of the mates is definitely, Indrajith, who shows great timing and flexibility in renditions. He definitely proves once again that he is to go distances in Malayalam cinema. Naren ala Sunil as Murali also steal the show in shorter appearances. Balachandra Menon, Vijeesh, Jagathy, Shobha Mohan, Suja and Radhika make stronger characters which stretch all through the film.
