Teja Bhai and Family Malayalam Movie
Tejabhai and Family has Prithviraj playing Tejabhai, an Indian don based in Malaysia, who has fallen in love with Vedika (Akhila), a social activist at heart. Teja has no other option but to head straight for Kerala and find his long lost family, when Vedika's dad insists in marrying her off only into a family that can boast of a noble ancestry.
Tejabhai making an entry with a pussy cat in tow, strangely reminded me of the shaky color films when we used to be real young. Thankfully, the cat disappears after the introduction, or it could have done some serious damage to the Bhai's macho image. It was good seeing the cat back in action, though. We had thought they had disappeared from the crime scene way back in the 70's.
Barring the cat, everything else about this super don is 2011-ish. He roams about in swank looking helicopters, has an array of henchmen the head of whom is called Blade, and when he moves around the city, you would think the President is on his way, going by the number of vehicles that follow suit.
I wouldn't really delve much into the comic scenes in the film as such, because there aren't many that come to my mind. This doesn't mean that the film is bereft of comedy. In fact, almost every instance in it has been twisted beyond imagination to lend a comic flavor to it. Whether we would laugh with it or at it, all depends on our sensibility. Doesn't matter either way, as long as we are having a ball.
I had a great laugh for instance, at the art direction part. Oh. The intention must have been to make Tejabhai's abode all colorful, but sadly, it looks like the cast has been thrown together on a film maker's half completed drama setting. Unbelievable stuff, and you have to see it for yourself.
Cinema they say, is make believe. Perhaps the reason, why a spotless suspension of disbelief is needed to sit through Tejabhai and Family. The don almost bumps off an Indian business man in Malaysia (Ashokan), and isn't it a real small world, when he realizes not much later that it his fiancé's uncle whom he had held at gun point earlier?
Then of course, there is an entire hoard of actors who have arrived to be Tejabhai's family. They compete with each other to be at their hamming best, and eventually it reaches a point when even the word 'loud' sounds soft, seeing their antics. It's all in the name of evoking some laughter. So good for them. And for the reader's information Suraj Venjarammoodu even gets barbecued this time.
Prithviraj is real good as Tejabhai,, and has improved his comic timing terrifically with this role. Perhaps this is the first time, he gets to play a role as this, and almost always the switchover from the deadly don to the spongy lover is absolutely believable. Akhila is appealing as well, and though she hasn't got much to do except look bewildered and all in love, she does so with noteworthy charm.
I am not sure if the term 'mindless entertainment' would be proud of associating itself with 'Tejabhai and Family'. Stuck in Tejabhai's den with a bunch of cacophonic characters, there was just one thing that I wanted to do - to scream out loud.
