Makante Achan Malayalam Movie
V.M. Vinu is seen as a successful director, especially after Balettan. But none of his films can be said to be outstanding. Though Pallavoor Devanarayanan was somewhat different from run-of-the-mill movies, Balettan was more a cocktail of many movies. Mayilattom was unimpressive and Vesham was too sentimental. As for Suryan and Bus Conductor the less said the better. Given this background, we wouldn't expect outstanding stuff from the director. Makante Achchan, V.M. Vinu's latest offering however, exceeds our expectations and is watchable fare, if you aren't hell bent on picking holes.
Viswanathan, a very honest Village Officer, wants his son Manu to become an engineer. Day in and day out his thoughts are about the entrance examination that his son is going to write. He is always after his son, coaxing him to concentrate on his studies. He even asks Manu who has a passion for singing, to forget music till he becomes an engineer. The father and the son often indulge in verbal dual, though mostly in a mutually mocking tone and in a friendly manner. Manu's mother Rema and younger sister Dhanya don't know which side to take in the course of arguments between the father and the son.
On the professional front, there are Viswanathan's subordinates, in particular a peon by the name of Krishnankutty, who urges Viswanathan to take bribes so that he can be more comfortable in life. Viswanathan however, is not one to give in to temptations. In the meantime a fake swami, who goes about by the name Himaval Chaithanya, comes to camp in the town. All this moves on to a rather well executed climax.
Sreenivasan as Viswanathan puts in a good performance. Vineeth Sreenivasan, a chip of the old bloke that he is, matches his father in his performance as Manu. Suhasini as Rema, Jagathy as Himaval Chaithanya, Salim Kumar as Krishnankutty and all the others in the cast have done justice to their respective characters.
As for the technical aspects there isn't much to mention. Cinematography, art-direction and editing are all in sync with the theme and the mood of the film. The two songs have come out rather well, especially "Sukhada sangeetham, sukritha sangeetham…", which comes in the climax scene.
It's the scenarist, debutante Samjad Narayanan, who deserves to be appreciated. He has come up with a well-balanced product and holds full control over the script. There are scenes which could have gone out of control and could have even turned out to be boring. But, thanks to Samjad and Vinu, the whole film is rather enjoyable. There will be people who will find similarities to many other films, but there is no denying the fact that Makante Achchan is rather well-made, especially coming from V.M. Vinu, whose record as mentioned earlier hasn't been all that spectacular.
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