De Ingotu Nokiye Malayalam Movie
Insufferable. That's what the Balachandra Menon-directed De Ingottu Nokkiye is, on all counts. There is nothing positive to mention about the film. It's the worst film made by Balachandra Menon, who has in times past given us many memorable hits. Why at all was this film made - that's what we keep thinking after seeing the movie.
De Ingottu Nokkiye begins with a short commentary by ex-union minister KPS Kartha on present-day politics and then passes on to Vettikaadu Sadanandan, who introduces to us his family. He is the eldest of the family while his younger brother Vettikaadu Sadasivan is the Chief Minister. He has another brother Sadgunan, a sister and brother in law. He had another sister who is no more, but had left a son Sivan. Sadanandan has a daughter, named Parvathy. Sadanandan, who is a good, honest and upright person, dislikes Sadasivan because he is evil, corrupt and has no values or morals. But the others in the family don't share this view.
It's election time and Sadasivan is back in his hometown, playing the Good Samaritan and seeking votes. Sivan holds his uncle Sadasivan in high esteem and supports and helps him in all ways. Sadasivan tells him that if ever he needed any help, he would always be there. And it is thus that Sivan, who has no job or a means of livelihood, decides to pay a visit to his 'dear uncle'. But as soon as he reaches his uncle's residence, he gets to witness things that make him hate the very same person he had liked so much.
Sivan leaves the place, deciding that it is now his moral responsibility to see to it that his vile and corrupt uncle is no longer the Chief Minister of the state. He files his nomination for the next election and Sadanandan is ready to help him in all ways, including financially, so that Sadasivan is vanquished. Sadanandan shows Sivan some newspaper cuttings which have enough evidence to compromise Sadasivan's political career. But suddenly Sivan changes his mind and withdraws his nomination, allowing Sadasivan to win.
Sadasivan is again the Chief Minister. He is now indebted to Sivan and offers to make him his private secretary. Sivan accepts this offer and tells his uncle that they ought to go to the Mookambika shrine before he takes charge as the CM. And this visit to the Mookambika shrine is to prove a turning point in the story. Something is cooking in Sivan's mind and when he executes his plans, things take a totally new turn.
There are so many artists in the cast, but not one of them makes his mark performance-wise. Jagathy Sreekumar, who does a dual role, as Sadasivan and Sambasivan (Sadasivan's brother who had left them long back and who now makes a living selling fruits), is made to do all kinds of meaningless and clownish things (courtesy the poorly written script and ineffectual direction). As a result this immensely talented actor cuts a poor figure.
All the others in the cast, including Jayasurya as Sivan, Janardhanan as Sadanandan, new girl Sara as Parvathy, and Indrans as Sadgunan turn out to be totally unimpressive. Even the highly gifted Nedumudi Venu is wasted in the role of Dr. Pisharody, the CM's personal physician. The same happens to M.R. Gopakumar, who plays Sadanandan's brother-in-law, a poorly etched character. Thilakan as KPS Kartha, who appears in the beginning of the film and then again at the end, like a sort of a commentator or narrator, is of course good, but of what use is that when everything else is bad?
Mala Aravindan as the Home Minister and Lena as an IAS officer working under him have been brought in to make a reference to a scandalous happening of recent times, but this too is ineffectual. And what is Balachandra Menon doing as the Police Commissioner, playing husband to the character played by Lena? Kalpana too is wasted. All the pre-release publicity was that De Ingottu Nokkiye has as its central theme the love-story of a Chief Minister, but in the film this aspect is of no importance at all, and
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