`Twenty: 20' and its makers were there all over the net, news channels, and other media for quite some time. This mother of multistarrer '' being the most hyped movie of our times, there is only one big question to answer.... Does it live up to the expectations? The answer is a big 'YES'.
As usual with every other movie industry, every top actor's coming together for a single movie is an occasion of big business and celebration... Here too ,it definitely does that ....and that too in a prodigious manner...Though the movie on a simple well made palette of circuitous script is a piece of mindless entertainment, it rightly is the Mollywood masala in its truest form, and of course in its best.
Apart from its primary purpose of entertaining to the helm 'Twenty: 20' doesn't hold anything great for those who want to burrow deep into the layers. But definitely, that was the least expected from a movie of this magnitude and stars.
The story starts with the retired supreme court Justice Viswanatha Menon (Madhu) who lands at his ancestral home to have his vishu celebrations with his children (Siddhique, Vijayaraghavan, Sindhumenon) and grandchildren.
The big joint family is all set to celebrate the weekend, assembling from many places, but the family's weekend plans gets pale with Menon's grandson ''Arun'' (Indrajith), a medico in Bangalore, is arrested for murder by the tough upright city police commissioner Antony Punnakkadan (Suresh Gopi). Menon hires one of his favorite student and fierce lawyer Ramesh Nambiar (Mammootty) to bail him out. Arun is safely taken care off from the court by Ramesh, but is killed in a few days.
Antony now arrests Devan (Mohanlal), a poor trader who was on an outing to Kochi. Devan's mother (Sukumari) and sister (Kavya Madhavan) pleads for help before Remesh. And here too the ace criminal lawyer finds points to get Devan out of the jail, unscathed. But here starts the tale of twists, which continues form reel to reel for the next two hours.
What works heavily for `Twenty: 20' is that it lives up to its name-just like a 20:20 match, you can't predict what will happen in the next reels. Just when you fix this as the last twist in the tale, will arrive the next that will keep you in tight seats.
Sibi-Udhayan's story and screenplay is definitely the biggest merit of the movie, a fine piece of work keeping intact the thriller aspirant, giving equal footage for the lead stars. Though some of the scenes in the beginning make you sound awry, there is no looking back after the arrival of the super stars.
Both of them, Mammootty and Mohanlal, has done cool and confident presentations throughout highlighting their best sides while Suresh Gopi steals the show many a times from below their feet. Bhavana , Dileep, Manoj K Jayan, Madhu, Siddhique and Jayaram also have some solid characterizations, which they have done extremely well .
Much of the other 55 stars of the movie are reduced to minuscule roles, though it may not offend the fans who are there to watch the biggies in action. The screenwriters also have taken care to prepare apt character mix for each of the big stars that suit their screen image and invite continuous applause from their fans.
Technically too, the movie is well done with excellent camerawork from P Sukumar , though some of the action sequences are outdated. But the veteran director Joshy has showcased his experience in camouflaging some loopholes in the plot with a racy, intense narratives and including loads of one liner in every scenes.
The lavish production values, interesting costumes , packaging and off course slick editing from Renjan Abraham has made the three hour movie ,devoid of much dull moments .
The only letdown of the movie is the music and songs department, though the crew has visualized every song with brilliance, to make up for the loss.
If you are a fan of commercial cinema, 'Twenty: 20' will definitely carry you with its exuberance. All in all, a masala movie ,that delivers what it promises .This is not definitely for those who are looking for more meanings from every shots.
Leave your brains at home and enjoy the big ''masti -bhari watch'' of the splendor of togetherness.
