After a short break from movies like ‘Niram’ and ‘Aniyathi pravu’ of yester years Mollywood is suddenly presented with a romantic musical in Anwar Sadik's ‘Ormayundo Ee Mukham’. As the director admits amidst the narratives, it is loosely based on Peter Segal's Hollywood film ‘50 First Dates ‘. With a glossy packaging and fine songs, ‘Ormayundo Ee Mukham’ will satisfy the teens looking for colourful entertainers ala Yashraj films, though not in that scale. But in the final tally, The movie could've been a riveting fare, had its scripts rose beyond the ordinary.
The movie has Namitha Pramod as Nitya, a sand artist by profession who lives with her younger sister Neethu, after their parents were killed in an accident. The siblings too gets into another car accident, which results in Nitya forgetting everything that happened post their accident in every span of 24 hours. As she gets up after a night’s sleep she can’t remember the things that happened the previous day. It is through a ‘remembrance book’ that she shelves the images and events that she needs to remember and everyday she starts her life only after going through the pages of this book.
Everything is fine for Nithya until she meets Gautam (Vineeth Sreenivasan), an MBA holder trying to raise his mother's pharmaceutical company but fails repeatedly due to his forgetfulness. He is trying ways to avoid the ways of his failed father who committed suicide leaving his two children and wife in the care of their mother (Lekshmy) who is ever addicted to reading love stories. Gowtham meets Nithya in a coffee shop by accident and the two spends some unforgettable moments in the very first day they meet. But Gowtham is in chaos as he finds that the girl whom he had fixed his soul mate is the one who forgets everything and even him every morning. Gowtham with the advice of Dr John Kuruvila(Mukesh) takes it as a challenge to find a place in Nithya’s heart which she could seldom forget. Whether he manages this forms the rest of the plot. One expects the post-interval portions to only go forward from this point which could make it an appreciable watch. But, the movie hits a rough patch in the second hour.
The movie is a typical rom-com and with a plot of girl who could keep memories only for few hours, finds ideal for the genre. Though there are plenty of loopholes in the narratives , the debutante director Anwar Sadhik has managed to weave a film that is reasonably well as a watchable film. With ingredients that may be appreciable for new age audience, packaged well with fine upbeat music by Shaan Rahman and picture perfect cinematography by Jeethu Damodhar, the movie has it’s moments though in a predictable route.
The problem with the movie seems to be that the lead pair share zero chemistry between themselves on screen.Vineeth has tried to look himself reasonably convincing, as Gowtham, but doesn’t share the vibes with Namitha who does has a role to cherish. The sand art is made good use of in the film and even the climax works much due to the finesse of the presentation of the artwork. The first half is the highlight of the film which moves in an impressive pace without much loopholes, but the second half longs for the priyadarsan type cat and mouse game with the protagonists trying to hide the ailment from others amidst a packed marriage ceremony. This doesn’t make the necessary effect and thrills as it was expected by the filmmaker. Namitha's sparkling and positive' persona appears good and adds to the feel good factor of the movie. She is fine in many scenes and is lovable . Aju Varghese as ‘Gowtham’s friend Apoorva provides the much needed comic relief, across all sequences which is well controlled and packed with contemporary thoughts. Lakshmi as Gautam's grandmother is elegant commanding screen presence while Rohini as his mother is first rate. Soumya Sadanandan with her unconventional looks and fine timing excels as the heroine's sister.
The technical sides are fine with john Kutty’s appreciable edits limiting the movie to 2 hours and 12 minutes. Shaan Rahman’s music does elate the mood of the film. His songs were very peppy and youth centric though our pick is ‘Doore Doore’ .In fact in the second half Shaan’s music just carry off the viewers safely through many difficult scenes which works sparsely. ‘ormayundo Ee mukham’ can be rightly prescribed to all who like romantic comedies and who doesn’t want to look beneath the colourful layers and glossy finish of the film. Considering as the first time work from a director, the movie can be prescribed for an onetime watch, if you haven’t tried anything else this week.
Rating: 6/10
