Uthara Swayamvaram Malayalam Movie
Here is yet another film that talks of the man who has been in love forever with some girl who has never as much turned her eyes towards him, except perhaps to take a closer look at what is actually wrong with him. Sarju's 'Uthara Swayamvaram' takes things a bit further, and blends in some fortune and at times the lack of it, to make it a plot that is flimsy at its best.
Prakash (Jayasurya) has been in love with Ponnu (Roma) ever since he had rescued her from a well, while they were in school. Ponnu never reciprocates his feelings, though they end up getting married. The couple soon calls it a day, on account of a few misunderstandings and go separate ways.
We are talking of a poorly constructed script here that depends on some real broad humor to keep things going. And by humor, I mean the very mediocre kind, with some real lewd jokes and bawdy gags determined to out gross each other on account of their inanity. They need to be real careful with the air in the halls as well, since the slightest draft would blow these paper thin characters away.
So the chuckles are mostly hollow, and if you keep them aside, the rest of it is a labored attempt to cook up a story from situations that are mostly infantile. The lack of inspiration is very obvious, and so is the lack of genuine ideas.
The whole tale is slightly embarrassing for the viewer, in that the bits and pieces are knotted together so clumsily that the artificiality of it all keeps on poking him right on his nose. As someone at the end of it all proclaims, it has all been decided by somebody else, or why else would these characters keep bumping into each other in this huge world where it's possible to be as far away from each other as possible, if someone so desires?
There is hardly anything at all for Jayasurya to do in this film. He is there because somebody needs to be around, preferably as the man who is hopelessly in love. For the most part of it, he remains a loser, and as is expected of him, grows self-standing feet once he gets chucked out of the house. Roma looks luminous, but terribly hams, probably because she doesn't have much of a character to work with here.
It was strangely funny to hear people roar with laughter, while Suraj was quite seriously delivering his lines on his deathbed. It was another matter that the scene looked hilarious. I wonder if that should be seen as a compliment for an actor, that he makes people giggle, even while he is honestly trying to pass away on screen for the first time.
Perhaps undemanding viewers might have some slapstick to choke on in the first half, but as things pile up one after another in a big, unseemly heap, even they would have to let go. And if you are on the lookout for a romantic comedy here, you just knocked on the wrong door.
