Writer-director B Unnikrishnan has mish-mashed every technique that he has learnt while constructing his last hit `Madambi' and applied the same for the next movie with the other superstar Mammootty. And the result is `Pramaani', in an age old storyline about a corrupt village leader, who turns a fresh leaf in life following his verbal fights and clashes with his own feudal family members.
Mammootty is Viswanatha Panikkar in the movie, the president of Thazekeezhpadam panchayath. He is an autocrat who has amassed big wealth and land documents by hook or crook, in the names of his cousin brother Somasekhara Panikkar and sister Thankamani, whose family has reared him in his forgettable meek days of childhood. Panikkar is said to have become corrupt and ruthless due to his orphaned shady childhood, which has propagated ideas in him about becoming a front runner with immense wealth. Panikkar is also called by the nickname 'America' due to his ways of playing a big brother to petty land issues which ultimately lead him in becoming the owner of the property.
Panikkar has been making all his monetary dealings through his cousin brother, Soman (Siddique). But in one peculiar sort of a day, they get involved in selling out 100 acres of land for a cyber park, to an infamous Multinational company, for a bribe of 12.5 crores, Panikkar is forced for a second thought as this will end the lush green paddy lands and agriculture of the beautiful village. He decides to go back from the agreement, paying back the amount that he has already received.
Somasekharan now changes his stands and declares that Panikkar has got nothing as his own if he defers from the agreement reached with the company. Realizing that what he believed to be his own for years was never his own, Panikkar now determines to change for good.
The subplots involving idealist panchayath secretary Janaki (Sneha), social researcher Bobby, and Rosy teacher who moulded his life in adulthood , and that of Castro Vareeth and issues of the neighboring panchayath, also boost Panikkar's causes to go for a rework on his ways.
The scriptwriter in Unnikrishnan has been able to hide the real shortcomings on the base hollow thread, by narrating a lot of lesser issues simultaneously throughout. The protagonist character has been etched out in such a way to maintain a real balance between villainy and heroism and so the reasons for transformation, though not convincing, don't affect much of the narratives. But in the direction side, Unnikrishnan has gone by the copy book never ever attempting an experiment, even for a passing shot.
In the performance side, Mammootty is in a real cakewalk as his stereotyped role seldom demands any challenging presentations. He is stylish and charisma personified as usual. Siddique is again in his regular mould, while others in the cast including Lekshmy, Sneha and Sureshkrishna are in their usual roles. Salimkumar is wasted in a non demanding role while Suraj's attempt to elicit laughter fails most of the time. Prabhu appears in a cameo as Varkey while Fahad Fazil as Bobby impresses in the short role.
The technical aspects of the movie are fine with Sham Dutt's camera taking care of much of the beauty of Kuttanad area. M Jayachandran's tunes and their visualizations are okay.
All in all, Pramaani is a mediocre movie though in a old fashioned storyline. For those who love the themes about family bonding that came out in the eighties and for the others who love to enjoy repeat runs of family hits, this can be satisfying.
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