Malayalam film industry had been the one looked with eagerness by other language filmmakers, so that they can get hold of quality story lines paying low prices. But the latest trend is an increasing borrowing of story lines from other language films to form the base threads for Mollywood flicks. A similar case is that of `Ithu Nammude Katha' where the makers has gone for a duplication of the recent big Tamil hit `Naadodigal'. The director Rajesh Kannankara and his crew has been able to make a quality reproduction of `Naadodigal' (though not anywhere in the league and sincerity of Naadodigal) which works well with new audiences, who hadn't yet seen the original.
The story attributed to Samuthirakani, is quite the same but the premise is shifted to a remote village in Kuttanad. Here we have Asif Ali playing Vinod (Asif Ali), while Santosh (Nishaan) and Kochumon (Abhishek) form his intimate friends. Vinod is trying hard to secure a government job, so that his uncle will allow him to marry his daughter Kalyani (Ananya). Santhosh plans to open a computer training centre while Kochumon is finding ways to fly to gulf. The trio's attempts to get one of their friends Mahesh married with Aishwarya results in the destruction of their own lives. While Vinod loses his grandmother and a possible government job, Santhosh misses a leg and Kochumon turns deaf.
Ananya plays Vindos's love interest in the movie, the same role that he played opposite Sasikumar, in the original. Asif Ali plays his part to perfection giving a mature look to the character. Nishan also plays his character with a comic strains with relatively good success. Devan, Kalaranjini, Ananya, Amala Paul and all others in the cast have done a good job in the film. Abhishek who debuts with the movie steals the show with natural performances.
The director must be credited for intelligent planning of the movie in Kuttanad backwaters and his screenplay and dialogues also works in a restrained manner. The technical department of the movie also gels with the narrative quality. Vipin Mohan's camera gets back to elements capturing the bests of Kuttanad while Mohan Sithara's music is also okay.
All in all, `Ithu Nammude Katha' is a movie that can be prescribed for an one time watch, if you sincerely don't attempt a comparison with its mighty original.
