Mammootty’s Katha Parayumbol film news

Like Mammootty and Mohanlal, writer, director and actor Sreenivasan is in an image trap. The audiences in Kerala will accept him only as a sort of common man you find in R.K Laxman’s cartoons. He loves to play the social commentator, the saint who stays within the system and tries to reform it through his barbs and cynical comments.

Once again in Katha Parayumbol, Srini is brilliant as the common man, a barber E.P Balan who is principled and fighting a losing battle against corruption and craze to acquire all creature comforts in life. He makes digs at his own physical appearance, colour of his skin, loaded statements against the Marxist, state of the nation after liberlisation and arrival of multi-nationals in the retail sector, role of Christian missionary schools, and other favourite punching bags. Sreenivasan and Mukesh are the producers of the film directed by the writer’s brother-in-law M.Mohanan.

The story is about a commoner Balan (Sreenivasan) a barber, in Melekavu village somewhere in Idukki district who runs the run-down ‘New Kerala Saloon’ and lives in abject poverty with his family consisting of his wife Sridevi (Meena), two daughters and a son. Balan is struggling to keep afloat with his old tools, as he cannot find anyone who would give him a loan to modernize his shop without taking a bribe and competition from rival ‘Modern Hair Stylist’ run by a slimy character (Jagadish) is killing! Added to that, being a Puniyavalan( principled man) living in a house with no basic amenities, three school going kids in a convent school makes him a butt of ridicule among the villagers!

All that changes one-day when superstar Asok Raj (Mammootty) comes to the sleepy village to shoot his new film Pakshikal Parakate. Life takes a U-turn for Balan as the superstar crazy villagers come to know that Balan is a childhood friend of Asok Raj! Now all the villagers who spurned Balan want to be his friend, so that they can get close to the superstar and go on a celebrity chase. But Balan is made of different mettle and refuses to acknowledge or meet Asok Raj, leading to a stunning climax.

The writer Sreenivasan and his director Mohanan has skillfully caricatured the characters you meet in a remote village- the moneylender and local ‘blade’ Eapacchan Muthalali (Innocent), Das Kattumantha(Salim Kumar), the boring village bard, guy(Mukesh) who runs the local tutorial college, rival hair stylist(Jagadish) tea shop owner(Mamookoya), self centered local politician who always talks about his connections(Augustine). Sreenivasan has also explored the craze among ordinary people for getting close or seen with a superstar. There is also a message that stars become superstars only because of their script writers who have given them memorable roles. The comedy laced satirical song ‘Vyathyasthanaaya…. tuned by M.Jayachandran is a rocker. P.Sukumaran camera has beautifully etched out the Thodupuzha countryside.

The film with a wafer thin story line works big time due to its climax, which has been worked out very well by Sreenivasan and a riveting performance by Mammootty. Everybody in the film from Sreenivasan, Meena to the girl playing his eldest daughter, Innocent, Sooraj Venjaranmoodu, Salim Kumar, Mukesh, Jagadish and others are all apt for the characters they enact which has made the film touching and appealing to the audiences.

Katha Parayumbol is a rollicking comedy that cracks with verve and also pulls at your heart strings. Hats off to you Sreenivasan, you have given us an enjoyable Christmas outing. Go for it!

Sudama was a childhood friend of Krishna, but they lost touch with each other. Sudama remained a poor brahmin and when he went through bad times in his life his wife reminded him of Krishna. Reluctantly Sudama went to meet Krishna and you know what happened. Srinivasan’s version of the story consists of the friendship of a barber and a film actor.

Balan has always been a straightforward kind of guy, who never likes to depend on anyone else to meet his needs. Even when he is in dire straits financially, he doesn’t seek the help of anyone and tries his best to make both ends meet. People always talk good about him and even hold him in high esteem.

In the meantime, there spreads news in the village that Balan is actually a close friend of the popular actor and superstar Ashokraj, who is acting in a film that is going to be shot in the village.

No one knows as to where from this news had originated and who had spread it. But with the news getting spread in the village, Balan becomes sort of a VIP there. Things begin to take a sea change for Balan and his wife. Balan’s wife Sreedevi too boasts much about her husband’s friendship with Ashokraj and all. What all happens then forms the plot of ‘Katha Parayumbol’, in which Sreenivasan becomes Balan and Mammootty becomes Ashokraj.[Katha Parayumbol’: Interesting story]

Srinivasan’s staple plot device is a person with inferiority complex and with that element itself many scenes come automatically. There will be references to his skin color and lack of education and there will be many scenes in which he embarrasses others. We are not sure when this inferiority complex syndrome Nagavalli got into Srinivasan, but he has successfully cashed it from the Nadodikaatu trilogy all way till Yes, Your Honor.
While the people behind the movie are veterans, the unknown factor is the talent of the director, Mohanan who is making his debut. Then, he is Srinivasan’s brother-in-law and we hope he would have got proper guidance from the man who directed Thalathil Dineshan of Vadakkunokkiyantram and Vijayan Mashu of Chinthavishtayaya Shyamala.

In this movie, co-produced by Mukesh and Srinivasan, Mammotty plays the character without the inferiority complex. Srinivasan, one of the talented writers of Malayalam comedy, has written entertaining movies like Azhakiya Ravanan and Maravathoor Kanavu with Mammotty in the lead role, but then no one was impressed with Bhargavacharitham Moonnam Khandam. So, when it comes to this movie, it is like trying to predict the outcome of a Jayaraj movie; it could be either very good or watchable, but one thing for sure is that the comedy will have some minimum standards.