A brave Attempt - Notebook - Malayalam Movie Review

Movie : Notebook (Malayalam)
Credits:
Roshan Andrews (Director)
PV Gangadharan (Producer)
Bobby & Sanjay (Story, Screenplay, Dialogues)
Mejo Joseph (Music)
Vayalar Sarathchandra Varma (Lyrics)

A brave attempt
As the advertisement goes, Notebook comes from the director of “Udayanaanu Thaaram” and the script writers of “Ente Veedu, Appoontem” Quite natural that the audience develops very high expectations about the movie. Roshan Andrews, Bobby- Sanjay team doesn’t disappoint the viewers completely.

The movie is shot against the picturesque Lords Academy campus at Ootty. Saira (Roma), Pooja (Kiran TV VJ Parvathi), Sreedevi (Maria Roy) are close friends and Plus-One students at this school. Saira is naughty and smart, but with a golden heart. Pooja is the head girl and good at academics, while Sreedevi is the quiet and innocent one. Sreedevi falls in love with Sooraj Menon (Skanda) of the same school. Saira and Pooja, are skeptical about it, but later support the pair. During a school excursion Sreedevi and Sooraj end up making love and Sreedevi conceives. She confesses to Saira and Pooja and trio tries to handle the matter all by themselves, without involving their parents or even Sooraj. The racy second half of the movie shows the hurdles they encounter and how their relationships evolve as they face the realities.

The plus-es of the movie include the characterisation of the 3 lead roles, the location, the art direction by Sunil Babu, and the camera by Viswanath. Mejo Joseph, a 19 year old, is the music director of the movie and 2 of the songs (Hridayavum and Changaathikkootam) are flying high on the hit charts. Mejo also does a small role, of Feroz Ahamed – a school drop-out-in the movie. The scenes – Sreedevi’s confession to Saira, Sooraj meeting Sreedevi’s dad, Saira spotting Feroz at the airport are a few scenes where the filmmakers have shown their class.

On the performance side, all new comers deserve praise. Roma has put in an excellent performance, considering the fact that Malayalam is a new language to her. Among the parent roles – Suresh Gopi (as Saira’s father), and Seetha (as Pooja’s mother) are impressive.

The negatives: Poor editing by Ranjan Abraham leading to a bit of boredom during the first half. The dialogues sound a little artificial towards the beginning of the movie, probably the issue of involving too many new comers. Too many events happening in the school – New Year, Christmas, Founder’s day and again a New Year towards the end – Could have been controlled!

Overall, the team has made a brave and brilliant attempt in bringing out a theme of teenage pregnancy before a rather conventional Mallu audience. What our industry needs is such bold experiments that would make a difference. The movie leaves a couple of excellent messages for the teenagers and parents to take home.

Verdict: Worth the time and money!